"I'm fat as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" -- this was my original summary of Fat, Angry Blog. Between July 23, 2010 & April 2, 2011 I went from 278 lbs to 204.2 lbs. BUT here I am near the end of July 2012 at 255 lbs... *SIGH* I've got to stick with it this time! To view blog outside of your country code, enter http://fat-angry-blog.blogspot.com/ncr
Yep, Hubs starts his job and I go see the cardiologist to get fitted for my event monitor.
I'm really stressing over the whole heart thing (yes, counter-productive as it may be) but I do hope that it all gets sorted and that it will turn out that I'm fine and that there's no real reason for concern.
Tomorrow is Father's Day and that always leaves me with mixed feelings... missing my Dad, but glad that Hubs has one of the kids home with us tomorrow (Baby Girl) and I read the little note that Little Man wrote to Hubs and I thought it was really sweet -- especially since he usually does his school Father's Day things for his Daddy rather than for Hubs (who he calls Dad).
Rhyme Girl has plans for what she wants us to make for Hubs the next wkend that she's with us...
*sigh*
But right now I'm too wrapped up in feeling stressed, having a really lousy period (not that I can say I've ever had a good one) and feeling like I need more out of life but I'm not sure what yet...
She was 42 the year she and my Dad got me as a foster child (and then they adopted me 6 yrs later).
My Mom was also a big fan of the royal family. OK, not Charles or really any of the males (other than Prince William) but she loved the Queen, the late Queen mother and the late and beloved of the world, Diana.
The fact that Prince William married Kate Middleton today - on what would have been my Mom's birthday, choked me up this morning.
Right now my son is having yet another meltdown upstairs.
I am really frustrated with this. But again, he was playing video games a bit today and his meltdown was because I decided that he was not going to play additional video games today.
I think I really need to try a visual timer. No playing until save points, no anything else. Maybe if he can visually SEE the time he gets to play he'll understand.
Alternatively, I could just say the hell with it - give his father the Game Cube and any games he provided back and then sell the games we bought leaving only the Wii in the house.
*shrug*
All I can say is that this attitude is hard to deal with. It seems like the medication is helping Son control his impulses at school but then he is having major freak-outs at home after 5 p.m. almost daily.
Had to switch Son's follow-up appointment with the DR to Fri the 6th at 11:00 a.m.
Wondering if there will be any matinees of Thor that day?
Yesterday we went to the Farmer's Market and in one of the buildings they sell models and stuff and I had to take a picture of this one, simply because "Clara May" was almost my first name when my parents were choosing a name for me when I was adopted.
It had nothing to do with the ship -- it was because my social worker's first name was Clara and my parents really liked her (and so did I apparently, though I do not remember my "Auntie Clara").
Now this morning, Son had an appointment with his pediatrician and we are going to be trying him on a low dose of medication.
It is called "biphentin" and is typically prescribed to ADD/ADHD patients.
I tend to be very anti-medication when it comes to autism, so this is a big thing for us to try it but I really have a lot of faith in Son's pediatrician.
I was cautioned that it could impact Son's sleeping and that, if that occurs, that I should pick up some over-the-counter melatonin in such a circumstance.
In 3 wks, I am supposed to have his teacher fill out a Snap-IV assessment and I'll be filling one out re: his behaviour at home and then in a month, we go back to the pediatrician with the information to assess how it's working for Son.
Upcoming medical appointments are:
April 26th @ 10:50 a.m. - Hubs goes in to find out if the Big V was successful and if he is "swimmer-free" or not.
May 3rd @ 10 a.m. I go in to my DR for my physical (btw, my DR mentioned my weight loss when I had Baby Girl in yesterday).
May 11th @ 11 a.m. I have to take Son back to the pediatrician.
June 27th @1:40 p.m. Baby Girl goes in for her 15 month appt.
Still no luck on the job front for Hubs... he followed up with one place and was told they aren't choosing potential applicants for interviews until after April 21st.
He did get a pre-screening call from a warehouse but he won't know if he made it past the pre-screen for at least a week.
It's not even 1 p.m. and Son is being a giant P.I.T.A.
I know he has autism and I know he's a kid but even when I ask him to do as he's told and not argue, he argues. Then I tell him and he argues then I remind him of the consequences of not doing what I've said and he STILL argues!
Arrgh!
And then I've got Baby Girl, with one molar through that I can see... crappy sleep for days and a massive headache.
My mood has taken a sharp downturn re: Son's behaviour and it's times like this where it is the hardest for me not to stuff my face...
Although they are not viewable to the general public.
But I thought it might encourage them to work on spelling, grammar and writing skills in general as well as being a way for the kids to share their feelings.
Son has already written some things that have cracked me up...
Here is one post, in its entirety:
"I am a goodbad boy.I am a goodbad boy because I am good at kung-fu but bad at math. I looooooooooooove chocolate milk.And I looooooooooooooooooove chocolate sprinkled,double fudge all the junk in the world donuts!And I looooooooove video games.I don't like school so much.When I grow up I want to be invincible!I want a blackberry.I have a muscle."
And here is two sentences from his Saturday post: "I liked today because we got to eat cupcakes and play Lego rock band. Except that I had to have a lot of healthy food."
*Edited to add: I'd really like Stan Lee to know what an impact he had on Son - so I am hoping that if you read this - you'll Tweet this to @TheRealStanLee in the hopes that he actually gets to know how much gratitude we feel towards him...
OK, so you all know that this blog is mostly about my personal journey into health and wellness for myself and my family.
Most of you have been around long enough to see pics of Step-Daughter, Son and Baby Girl.
And some of you may even remember that Son has high-functioning autism.
Well what you may not know is that the key for me first really getting through to Son was all thanks to Stan Lee because that magical key was SPIDERMAN.
Some children under the autism spectrum disorder "umbrella" fixate on things like trains or cars or dinosaurs but Son fixated very early on, on Spiderman.
Yes, I mean the movie with Tobey Maguire.
Son actually kind of ruined that movie for me because we had to watch it SO MANY TIMES!!!
You see, Son was diagnosed in Dec 2004, about a month after my Mom died and about a month before I finally called it quits on my marriage to Son's father.
Son would get caught up in things, lost in his own world a LOT more before he was diagnosed and even early on but he was so fascinated and fixated on Spiderman that it always gave me an "in" to his world.
I got Son Spiderman posters, games, cuddly toys and action figures. We had the movie and some of the cartoons on DVD. He wore Spiderman shoes, clothes (especially hats) and received Spiderman stickers when I *finally* got him potty-trained.
As he eventually learned to communicate better - I started to introduce more of the Marvel heroes to him. The Incredible Hulk (via the old TV show), the X-Men (via cartoons and then the movies), Ironman (via the cartoon and then the movies) as well as some of my DC faves... Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman but Marvel was always Son's favourite.
Well, last summer, Hubs, Son, Baby Girl and I attended FanExpo in Toronto with S-girl and Jeebus. (Step-Daughter was with her mother).
Why did we go?
Because Stan Lee was going to be there.
Son thought that it was one of the most awesome things in his entire life (to date).
We had Deluxe passes and that enabled us to attend the Stan Lee Q & A.
To ensure we got in, I sat in a large line and ended up breast-feeding Baby Girl while I was sitting there since Hubs and Son were out checking out the rest of the Expo.
Well, I have to say that listening to Stan Lee was a highlight for Hubs and I also because he is so engaging and personable.
The coolest part of the Q&A was when Stan was taking questions from the crowd and Son actually got to ask him a question.
(His question was: "Was Spiderman the first character you ever created?")
We had no idea what Son was going to ask - but I was tearing up when Son was about to speak because when he was first diagnosed, I had no idea on what his capacity and ability to communicate with others would be.
I tended to understand him fairly well but most people couldn't. He didn't even have many words.
So seeing him get to ask Stan Lee a question, that Son thought of on his very own was incredible to me.
It reminded me how thankful I am that Stan Lee created Spiderman because without that character - who knows how accessible Son's world would have been to me?
And the fact that superheroes are still a large part of his world really works for me because I can understand the joy that they can bring into a person's life (not just a child's).
Ever since I attended FanExpo, I have thought about writing a post about the experience - and especially to thank Stan Lee but I am a procrastinator so I thought I would do it today.
Thank you, Stan Lee for creating so many heroes that I began to enjoy in my childhood and that helped me and the world relate to and communicate with my son.
Here's Son before he was diagnosed, having a freak out (Sept 21, 2004).
July 10, 2004 - Spiderman shirt
This is one of the items Stan signed via mail (not at FanExpo)
Myself & Son wearing 2 of his Spiderman hats in '09
Friday night, Son said that he wished that I could be his cuddly (term we use for the 2 older kids' stuffed animals that they sleep with) because I am "cuddly, warm and pretty."
My Son can be a real charmer sometimes :>
Shortly after my previous post, Baby Girl stood up in her playpen for the first time.
She pulled herself to a stand last wkend by grabbing the handle of one of the filing cabinet drawers - which was the first time she'd done it outside of her crib (where she's been doing that for awhile).
It's getting pretty exciting!
Though she's stopped calling me "Mama" and has started calling me "nummanumma" which is also what she says when she wants food.
OK so only one of the single dads I met today was the type of guy I'd give the classification of "hot" to but while I was crawling through the play structure - a number of other dads with kids paused to make conversation with me.
I usually made a quick reply and then kept looking for Son because, I'm happily taken and didn't think it was advisable to plop down and hang out with strange men while crawling around on all fours - LOL!
In all seriousness though, it was a different experience for me today. The hot dad I was chatting with was well aware that Hubs and I were together as we joined hot dad on one of the sofas.
But the dads who were talking to me in the play structure - that was odd to me. One actually said he was tired of chasing his kid around and was going to just stay where he was and relax and told me, "You should think about it."
Because of this, I was surprised to see the scale drop at all this week as in the years between having Son and then having Baby Girl, I would almost invariably throw on 5 - 10 lbs a few days before my period would start and then go back down shortly after it was over.
It didn't happen last month or this month so I do hope that THAT continues! I still feel bloated but not nearly what I used to.
And this one is worse than the one last month but not quite as bad as I remember that they used to be.
But after going over 500 days without a "real" period - I can't really complain. Last month's was uncomfortable as hell but not normal but this one, it's business as usual... except for the lack of water bloating weight (which i don't miss).
weight: 212.8 lbs
I feel like I'm in a bit of a slump. Still not sleeping well and that really has an adverse impact on my days.
Was busy with co-op stuff this week (I'm the President of our Board of Directors where I live and on the Personnel Committee) so last night and the night before I was out at meetings.
With my period, I've been dealing with hormone-related headaches and cramps.
At the moment I am re-watching this week's episode of "Glee", sipping some tea (one bag de-caf green tea and one bag herbal lemon tea steeping in the teapot) and blogging.
Baby Girl seems to be really enjoying the Glee boys as "The Justin Bieber Experience" singing "Somebody to Love."
Son said on his way out to school that he thinks that he could sound more like Justin Bieber if he tried, but he thought the Glee boys were "OK."
The whole Justin Bieber thing is kind of entertaining. I can't remember if I've mentioned it on here before or not but Son used to have a major hate on for the Biebs.
When asked why, his explanation was as follows:
"All the girls are in love with Justin Bieber and when I am a teenager and want a girlfriend, they will all be in love with Justin Bieber so I can't have one."
Once he finally realized that not every girl will be in love with the Biebs once Son is old enough to want to have a girlfriend, Son then admitted that he likes Bieber's music and hair.
