Devin's Appt and Day 2

Devin went to a follow up appointment with his pediatric ophthalmologist. Great news! She doesn't believe that there is anything to be concerned about. A couple months back, his left eye would roll up and to the left while his right eye would stay straight. As the months went on, we no longer observed this happening. Thank goodness! He is so young that at this point, his eye is still growing and becoming stronger, so since he passed all his tests with flying colors for the third time in a row and the eye rolling seems to have stopped completely, we are in the clear! We will have another appointment next summer just to make sure everything is still OK!

Ok, so I have to admit, I am a failure once again. I fasted for 43.5 hours, not too bad, but what happened was...I was cooking dinner for the rest of the fam and I accidentally tasted the rice to check to see if it was done. Creature of habit, I guess. Anyway, once I tasted the rice, I just had an overwhelming need to eat dinner. Same as the last fast, this breakdown was not at all due to hunger, but to the craving I had. In my defense, it is really hard to not crave food when you have to cook three meals a day! I guess I have no will power, or I shouldn't totally beat myself up about it, I did fast for almost two whole days. It sure would make it much easier if I could do it with someone. Oh well, I'll try again in a few months and hopefully I won't surrender to the craving (although this time it was more of an accident). Before the accident, I had no hunger and really, do desire for any one food in particular. Even though I prepared three meals a day, plus snacks, I wasn't as tempted as I though I would be. It is hard though when the kids don't finish their meals to not eat their leftovers...such a waste! The birds ate great these past two days! I am not too disappointed in myself. I did learn that each time I do fast, the easier it is to get past the first day and this second day wasn't even that bad. I probably could have done it this time around...maybe next time.

Water Fast- Day One

Today I started the first day of my four/five day water fast. For those of you that don't know, a water fast is where you drink water all day long and do not consume any solid foods or other types of beverages. A lot of people think that it is an unhealthy or dangerous thing to do, but they couldn't be more wrong. This is actually the natural way of detoxing your body...has been done for years and often medical professionals recommend fasting as a means of healing certain ailments. The water will flush out the toxins that have built up in my body.

Today was actually a lot easier than the other first days of my past fasts. I barely had any hunger pains and no food cravings at all! The last few times that I have fasted, the first day was the hardest, but I guess since I've done this quite a few times at this point, those little things don't phase me. One thing I learned about myself the last fast I did, which was a 48 hour fast, was that hunger is mental. Of course part of it is physical, but when you are doing a water fast, you drink water all day long, so the hunger pains are subsided by water. The thing was, that I ended my last fast not because I was hungry, but because I knew we had Cheetos in the pantry and I just can't say no to Cheetos! Pretty quickly after I caved, I was disappointed in my reason to end the fast. Had I ended it because I did not feel well physically, emotionally, etc...or had reached my goal, I wouldn't have been so disappointed. I've learned from that experience and my goal this time around is to complete a 5 day fast, but will not be disappointed if I end it at 4...I always set high expectations for myself, but will give myself a break, if I need it. Anyway, for the next few days, I will use this blog to document how I am doing. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Kyla!

We spent the whole day at Coco Key Water Resort with the Wilson family! Jamie had some left over passes that she got free from last year. So, we celebrated Kyla's 3rd birthday and the kids loved splashing, sliding and floating all day long! Thank you so much for letting us share this special day with you and your family. Happy Birthday Kyla!

Poor Little Sidney

My family dog, Sidney, died this morning. She was the first dog I've ever had and was the inspiration for my love of dogs. She was beautiful and very special to me and my family. Thankfully I had the chance to spend some time with her at the beginning of this month when we went to New York. She was old and I knew that it could have been my last time seeing her. She had a long life and brought much happiness to everyone that knew her. She will truly be missed, but she leaves behind years and years of happy memories. Sidney, we love you and will always remember you.



This day is also Kristian and my 8th wedding anniversary! Hooray for us that we've made it this far. We've had our ups and downs, but are here together still as strong as this day 8 years ago. We've grown so much since then and will continue to grow together.

Trip to NY

We went to NY for the weekend. Keith (Dawn's brother) and Marissa got married. Everything was beautiful! The kids stayed with Nana and Pa and went to the Aquarium. They had an awesome time!

Ecotarium

Jamie, Lisa, and I took the kids to the Ecotarium in Worcester, MA. The weather was perfect and so were the kids. They were so excited to see all the animals and loved being able to touch and play with everything. We can't wait to go back!

We went on the train!



We saw a polar bear!



And a snake!




There was even a giant dinosaur!!



And a playground too!

Ryan and Kyla:


Devin in the sandbox:


Lots of fun stuff!

Murder Mystery Party

Lisa hosted a murder mystery party-chinese take-out. We had chinese food, drank some mai-tais, and got into character. I was Anita Mumm who was a 20 something chinese girl that was trying to scam the wealthy Mrs. Boggs into believing I was her daughter. Mrs. Boggs was murdered and we were all suspects. In the end, we learned the cook was the murderer! It was so much fun! Thanks Lisa for such a great time!

Here is a picture of all of us in character:

When it Rains...

It sure has been pouring on us lately! Kristian got into a car accident...he's ok, but of course the car he hit isn't. The Rav4 has somethings wrong with it too, but the biggest problem of all is that we don't have car insurance! I know, I know, how stupid! We haven't really been able to afford it lately. Yes, it's ironic that now we have probably have to pay 10 times as much than if we had insurance. Anyway, since we opted to follow the New Hampshire motto Live Free or Die (or I like to say Live Free and Die)and not have insurance, we will now probably owe thousands and thousands of dollars to fix the other person's car. It was a Kia, so I guess that's better than a Beamer, but it will still cost us. I bet if it were a Beamer it wouldn't have crumpled so easily though. Oh well, what's done is done and now we wait for the bill...I am preparing my suicide letter now. ;0)

Mom's Weekend Getaway!

A few of us from the group went to Martha's Vineyard for the weekend. I've never been there before and really liked the place. There were cute little shops and great places to eat. We stayed at the Nashua house, which was kinda like a B&B, but not quite. Jamie and I roomed together and needless to say, we had so much fun! Glad to know there are other people out there as crazy as I am! Lisa, Jamie, and I actually went swimming in the ocean both nights, around midnight and one of those nights the remnants of Hurricane Hannah were passing through and the waves were crazy! Hopefully I'll be able to go again next year! We got back on Sunday and I was just so happy to see all my boys and they were just as happy to see me!

I did come home to some bad news. Tom Brady, quarterback of the Patriots and the quarterback of my Fantasy Football team got an ACL injury and he will be out for the rest of the season. I am so bummed about it!

Here are some pics from our weekend:

This is where we stayed:



These are the lovely ladies that I went with (Lisa, Alison, Kyle, Jamie, and me). We had a few...



This is Jamie...she's the best!

Bradstock

Bradstock is a music festival in West Sayville, New York. We sell our pillows there and spend the day drinking and listening to music. We did very well there! Ryan and Devin stayed at Grandmama's house and Grandma Pat and Grandpa Mark came to see them there. They also got to spend some time with their cousin Alex. They had a great time and were on their best behavior! Thanks Grandmama for watching the boys!