Crashes, Cleansing, and Summer Fun

Since I have 2 weeks of "Fessions" this is a little long. 

EVERY day it seems I am telling my boys:

Don't jump off that!

Don't jump on that!

Don't jump over that!

I wonder how severe the natural consequences will be if I let them happen. I remember the doc telling me once, "if you are going to let them have a "natural" consequence, just be prepared to go to the emergency room."

Back then, they were two and three. The disasters were smaller and there was certainly less power and force behind their motion!

Monday afternoon my middle fella, while I was sorting through their dressers getting summer clothes cleaned out and quickly chatting some party details with a friend, dove head first onto our sofa trying to do a flying somersault (at least that's what I figured out from my CSI style interrogation of the three of them). The shrieks sounded more angry at first, then pained and because sounds like these happen semi-frequently, I didn't run flying into his aid. I quickly finished my call, climbed off the floor over the piles and went to see what happened.

He was crying big tears as I wrapped my arms around him. I felt his neck where he said it hurt, EMT and Sports Medicine training kicking into gear. It was warm to the touch, sweaty (when he gets hurt he tenses up so hard so fast he starts profusely sweating), and slightly swollen. I tried not to panic, but placed a call to the Dr.'s office and my friend who's a chiropractor. Both were unavailable. I gave him an ice pack, settling him on the couch and a dose of ibuprofen. My Love came home from work and we agreed we'd see how he was in the morning. He prayed for him when he tucked him in. I went in, after my meeting and prayed over him too.

He woke up the next morning, not a single sign of any injury at all. No heat, no swelling, no nothing. WOW!

The Dr checked him out later and not a single sign of injury. He was as busy and happy as ever all day long. What a huge blessing to see him playing at the park, sliding, and spinning the merry go round.

Twice this week I have left my kitchen with the muffin mix spilled, the spaghetti sauce splattered, pancake batter jumped out of the bowl, my 3 year old put his leftover milk in the fridge leaving a sticky trail behind him (I didn't notice until after it dried), and crumbs coating the floor like remnants of a food fight. And the worst - I didn't really care.

WHY?? You are dying to know aren't you!?!
I was cleansing. I love my product I use to cleanse, when my body isn't as toxic as a cesspool! When I eat well and do a regular cleanse I feel energized and enthusiastic about cleaning my body from the inside out. When I have been a few weeks submerged in what I can only call "life's a party might as well eat!" living - the cleanse is a little rougher. The post sugar headache withdrawl, the cranky attitude, the grumbly tummy, the wishing I could eat the entire stage of Iron Chef America... all converge to remind me that I have GOT to take better care of myself.

SO I AM.

One meal, one day, one week, one month at a time. Conquering my worst foe with discipline and commitment on my side. Like a Jedi of Nutrition I am going to fight to the death my destructive eating habits, shooting them down with my positive blasters made of a passionate desire to live my true destiny, not some artificially preserved substitute for healthy living.

SO THERE. I really mean it.

I know it's hard work. I confess I don't want to do it if I think about it droning on and on like that annoying neighbor mowing his lawn at 7am on Saturday morning.

Instead I am focusing on the hard work I have already done.
LIKE:

- I convinced my 7 year old he did not HAVE to wear THAT shirt today, but he could pick a different, cooler one that matched his shorts.

- I convinced my 6 year old that playing the Wii with his little brother is part of "teaching" him and not complete torture.

- I convinced my 3 year old that my keys for the Kroc are "Secret Agent Keys" that he can only hold when he behaves well.

- I cooked spaghetti sauce for 12, froze it and will deliver 2 containers of it to the boys teachers hoping that will convince them I am on their side.

- I blanched 20lbs of peaches and froze them in neat packages while only getting one glob on my shirt that didn't come out.

- I completed my first triathlon , my second triathlon , my third triathlon (haven't blogged it yet, but hope to this weekend) and swam a mile in less than 1 year.

Surely I possess enough strength and self control to actually eat healthy.

Yeah, I confess I want to quit already. But not this time. I am grabbing it with all I have, consistency, focus and determination and some good old fashioned discipline. The same things that got me across those finish lines - they will get me to my goal of real life no kidding no going back weight loss. Period.


We went peach pickin' - yeah, it makes me feel like a farmer to say it that way. This year I let the boys climb the ladder... well, let's just say they got up there before I could do anything about it... it was fun watching them when I wasn't trying to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach over the thought of them having a "natural" experience of gravity.

Thankfully only one of them really liked it up high. Whew!

We finally took the kids to our local amusement park this year. They earned their tickets by reading 600 minutes in 2 months. It was great to see their reading level go up and I am a little embarrassed to say I was motivated to help them get free tickets because park admission is STEEP!

They had never been before. We had no idea how it would go. Here are a few amusing moments:

This was the last happy moment my lil guy had before he found out he was too small to ride the bumper cars with Daddy. It was devastating, until we talked about going on another ride.

My favorite part of the day... My key obsessed youngest grilled the operator of this ride for roughly 45 minutes about the use of his key, where it went, when he should turn it, when the button should be pushed, etc.

He also helped "unlock" the gate...

My big fellas (one showing here, the other one was next to my youngest) thought this giant swing was a great idea.

My smallest shut this ride down with his screaming. Everyone had to get off and get back in line. He was NOT a fan of the giant swing.

This was the best ride of the day as far as I was concerned. Big Boys independent in their own boats they can drive, shooting their dad, little brother and each other and getting shot by random strangers. They grinned and laughed the whole time!

This summer we had lots of fun. We ate out more than usual. It wasn't on purpose. I just kind of lost interest in cooking and saved the grocery money to spend on less quality food.

On one of these outings - just me and the fellas we found out some handy restaurant trivia.

 The servers at one of the fellas favorite restaurants sat us near the bar. I was then asked to explain why the girl kept pouring drinks into the counter, where did the drink go and what is that white fluffy stuff on top of it? Explaining the "head" on a beer was really something I hadn't planned on discussing with my sons for several more years. Thankfully, they went on to other pressing questions like:
- How many dishwashers are there here?
- How long until dinner?
- Can I have more rolls?
I was relieved to go back to normal little boy questions.

Next week we'll talk about the comical first couple of weeks of school. Happy Weekend to all!