60 Day Challenge Check-In Day 6

Sorry for no check-in posts over the weekend. Post all your weekend fun here.

Comments

[onehappycow]

Have been doing pretty well with my goals in general, but today I had this delectable french toast with carmelized bananas and hot maple syrup (imagine bananas foster with toast instead of ice cream). MMmmmmm, like heaven. So feeling guilty about it, but it does count as a serving of fruit, right? Hope everyone did better than me...

[Maria]

I'd say about as well as could be expected:

1. I did some crunches today, pretty much avoided the whole exercise thing yesterday.

2. I keep falling asleep with my daughter when I put her down, then waking up an hour later, which pretty much puts the kibosh on bed by 10:30, but at least it's a little more sleep.

3. I've rationalized my soda failure by telling myself I need to finish up what is already in the house, then I won't bring more in. I know, pathetic. That caffeine/HFCS addiction is a doozy.

[Beth]

Got on the treadmill today but not yesterday. Doing great on getting my 64 ounces of water in, plus a little no sugar added organic fruit juice or mother's milk tea. Joined Weight Watchers today. I am excited about this week and keeping up with my goals.

[victoria]

I've managed the 10.15 to bed part (although haven't always been asleep ;) ) and have done the veggies - now, I almost have the vitamins organized, but they are so hard to remember in the morning. I have set them out in my pill organizer, hopefully that helps.

[Carla Hinkle]

1. Doing pretty well with the daily showers. Only missed 1 day so far.
2. 5 servings veggies, so-so. I'm probably averaging 3-4, but that is at least an improvement.
3. The T-Tapp book has not been opened.

But I have
4. Signed up for Weight Watchers, trying to shed the last 5 pounds of baby weight. I can see why it works because it is a *minuscule* amount of food. But maybe I can jump start myself back to normal portions.

[Allison]

I've still been sick. So I went to bed early but did not get up early. And I did yoga yesterday, the day before (I think), and stretched today. And I went for a short walk today. So doing pretty well considering the plague that has stricken my household.

[sue]

Doing a-ok over here. I -tapped on Friday and am about to t-tapp in a minute or two. I've eaten no meat, and I cleaned not just the kitchen but the whole dang house (my son's birthday party was today, so it was kind of a necessity). I had been planning to t-tapp last night, but cleaned the whole day and didn't fall into bed until after midnight. All that mopping has to be some exercise, though, right?

[Mommy-O]

We've been sick here as well so I didn't even bother with the previous check ins.

Still waiting for my T-Tapp to arrive so I have been dancing with my 3 year old to the Hi-5 DVDs we got from the library.

Increased fruits and veggies but unfortunately increased comfort foods as well. It's hard when you can't taste anything.

Sick mommy and kids=no sex

I AM GOING TO BED NOW (10:20PM) but will probably read a little (Good in Bed - thanks Moxie).

My husband is returning to work tomorrow after taking 2 months paternity leave with me and our 3 year old and 3 month old. I think that my activity level is about to increase 2 fold. Wish me luck!

[O]

Hang in there Mommy-O! The long (for our culture) paternity leave is a wonderful thing but the rebound effect of my husband going back was a bummer...you are in my thoughts.

1) In the bedroom by 11pm
done well so far but tonight might throw me off
2) 10 min a day paper-clutter-busting in the kitchen/dining room
yes, but depressing--there is no visible difference. apparently it will take 15-20 to make a dent as opposed to just maintain the current level of flotsam and jetsam. Still, if I hit 10 a day, I'm good.
3) Back to weekly menu planning and following it.
Done. Feel better already knowing all I need to get at the store is orange juice and broccoli, and I'll still have dinners for the week. Woohoo!

[Becky]

Doing okay on all fronts, though I'm glad for the check-ins to keep me honest!

Hang in there, O. A little while more and you'll reach a tipping point where you'll start to see progress after every day. Keep us posted - paper clutter busting is a brave goal!

[pnuts mama]

friday my wisdom tooth started bothering me- made my jaw swell up and so painful! was put on antibiotic to clear up the infection and then we'll see from there- the dentist wants to extract now but being 22 weeks now, previous history with pre-eclampsia, pre term labor, i don't know. will discuss w/ my ob and see where we are next week. hopefully i can avoid getting the tooth removed- i'm just not happy with that option right now, but just as nervous for an infection that can quickly enter the bloodstream and harm the bean. augh!

needless to say i've done little writing since friday, damnit. took my fish oil/drank my milk mostly, and even, during a tylenol-induced pain respite was able to get my groove on last night, which was lovely. i am feeling better today, hopefully will be back on track tomorrow.

good luck everyone!

[Kate]

Have kept up with flossing. Yay!

Have been good about eating breakfast.

During the week was good about the HFCS and other nasties, but this weekend Shabbat (at least the muffins were homemade and used butter not margarine) was followed today by a birthday party and a wedding. But the ceremony part took so long we missed most of the dinner! (had to relieve the babysitters)

Must rein myself in tomorrow...

[lina]

pnuts mama- my regrets with your teeth! hopefully it has all calmed down.

got one day of meditation in (on my own, not in class)

initiated a little after-the-todddler-went-to-sleep nookie with the hubs just now

can't even remember my #3!! must review....

[Blythe]

Fell off the wagon over the weekend. Ate cookies for breakfast and forgot to take my vitamin. I did stay off the internet while eating the cookies, though!

Monday is the first day of the rest of my life.

[Jezer]

So far, not too shabby. I've been drinking so much water I'm cold. I only skimped on my supplements one day, and I've managed to do *some* kind of physical exercise each day, be it for only 10 minutes or so a couple of times. Better than nothing, huh? Oh, and I started yoga as some of my exercise--I forgot how much I loved it.

[melissa]

Oh, Lord. This weekend, it was like I completely lost site of the whole project. I'd bet that from Friday to Sunday, I drank less than 64 oz TOTAL. I walked a few miles on Saturday (thus rounding out my exercise for the week). And, I yelled at my husband Sunday...twice.

here's to hoping I'm back on track today.

[heather]

doing pretty good!
1. did 30 minutes of my billy blanks ultimate boot camp dvd on saturday.
2. don't have tea on weekends--not applicable.
3. not so good on the sugar stuff. had a big slice of apple pie at our family gathering yesterday... but it was healthier than the doughnut or chocolate cake alternatives!

[michaela]

I did pretty well on the aimless Internet surfing... although it's still my default habit, which isn't great.

Washed & moisturized my face 2 nights out of three, and it actually seems to be helping my skin. Who knew?!?

Utterly failed to do any yoga at all this weekend. But I'm going to class today!

On a related note: Is anyone else feeling somewhat beholden to other people's goals (in a good way)?!? I'm pretty good about drinking enough water, but I've been almost unconsciously paying attention to my consumption lately. AND I had an interesting realization yesterday, as I sat in my car in the hardware store parking lot, gobbling M&Ms and drinking a ginger ale while reading the first chapter of a new book: I felt LOUSY. I eat that crappy sugary processed stuff very rarely, so when I do get it I think of it as a treat. But I really paid attention to how my body -- not my reptilian brain! -- felt, and it was not good. This project is definitely the inspiration for those thoughts....

[wynlatte]

Doing okay, mostly.
No soda or artificial sweetener in my green tea.
Plenty of walking and walking while babywearing done.
However. Had lasagna for dinner Saturday...Alright, Alright, Alright! AND chocolate truffle cake! We had dinner guests and they brought dessert. I couldn't be rude and not have any, now could I?

[cs white]

Exceeded my goal of t-tapping at least 3 times/week - I did it 5x last week. And already got my first one under my belt for this week.

Over the weekend, I didn't have my "work" thermos with me, but I definitely was aware of drinking water and know that I did better than normal.

Completely skipped spf over the weekend - I think just because I was out of my normal routine, but I've got it on this morning and I'm ready to go!

[Slim]

OK, there were lapses, but they were *educational* lapses, to wit:

I ate some Girl Scout cookies that my bastard husband brought into the house, and sure enough, I just shoved one Thin Mint after another into my maw without ever really enjoying them. I had real homemade treats at another point over the weekend, and I savored, then stopped.

Didn't use the ab wheel every day. I miss the soreness that I get when I'm doing it reliably.

I have been working my way through the to-do list (hey, does anyone out there love her AT&T cell? Whatcha got?), and it is making me very happy to see bits of order slipping into our chaotic house. Also, abovementioned bastard husband did one of my to-dos when I wasn't looking. Do I still get to take that as my to-do of the day, seeing as I was brilliant enough to marry him, after all?

Funny about taking on other people's lists. I bought a pedometer over the weekend, so I'm definitely being swayed.

[Shelley]

Not doing so good on the water, but otherwise OK! And it's a new week!

[rudyinparis]

Michaela, I think I know just what you mean... So although right now I'm only meeting one of my goals (taking the multi) I DID screw up my courage and went to a more challenging yoga class on Friday. This was a big deal for me, and the class was great so I'm feeling great about it. Now, stepping up my practice of yoga wasn't an explicit goal of mine, but I do feel somehow hooked in to other people's stated goals and so I kind of feel like I met some requirement! I'm choosing not to think of that as cheating. I've also been, like you said, noticing my consumption of water these last days, and have increased my amounts. The other thing I'm finding about knowing everyone else's goals is that some of the things I actually do--for example, I'm a flossing fanatic--so I'm giving myself license to pat myself on the back for that. I hope other people are doing the same thing for themselves, too--acknowledging what they already do really well.

[wealhtheow]

I was "bad" by getting Chinese food Friday night, but I made sure to get something with plenty of veggies, so I feel good about that. We had a big salad and chicken Florentine for dinner Saturday, so i definitely got in my veggies then. Sunday wasn't so good with the veggies, but I'm focusing on the positives.

Friday I danced around the room with the baby for 15 minutes. Saturday I went to my yoga class, and yesterday I took a long walk with the baby and my husband, so I'm doing great on the 15-20 minutes of activity goal.

I've also been stressing less about the house. We did some cleaning this weekend, but not as much as I wanted (my parents are coming this week). Instead of focusing on how messy the house is, I kept reminding myself that my parents were coming to see us and that they would understand that the house is not as tidy as it used to be.

[hedra]

Did okay on my goals except the exercise machine, though I count dancing/dipping/bouncing/etc. with R for a good hour as a comparable. My arm muscles are still sore two days later, that counts, yes?

Over the weekend, I went to a conference and heard Mariane Pearl speak (wife of Daniel Pearl, the US journalist killed by terrorists). It was, um, life altering. I usually am inspired by these types of speakers, but usually a day later it is hard to remember exactly what they said. Not so this time. She's not what I'd call a 'great public speaker' in the classic sense, but she IS a great storyteller (journalist, and all that). It all came down to values, ethics, personal actions on the small scale (rather than trying to get results through politics, which she firmly believes is useless), and aligning your life with your values, which means taking the hard path instead of the easy one. Not getting comfortable, ever, because growth is change and change is uncomfortable - if you're comfy, you're going backwards. A lot about having to be strong in order to hold to hope and avoid cynicism. Oh, and that as mothers in particular, we have to PROVE the case that the world we're giving our children is one of hope, and that may require action on our part. You can't just say it to them, or they'll know you're lying.

That plus all the seminars I attended happened to line up with exactly the same concepts - granted, I picked them all, but they all went unexpectedly strongly into the values lined up with one's life choices, work, self-talk, actions, career... (and to top it off, I won a therapeutic massage and a life path self-hypnosis class on top of all that). Oh, AND I discovered that two non-profit organizations locally just merged and are now doing what I had wanted to do as a non-profit venture a few years back, but couldn't quite get off the ground... and they always need help. Does the universe need a bigger hammer than that? Sigh. So I have some thinking to do.

By the way, one of the classes recommended making a list of three successes at the end of each day (write them down). Even if they're just 'I remembered what my goals were' or 'I noticed that I wasn't eating mindfully' or 'I got out of bed on time'. Just to counter the mental self-bashing over all the missed items, or the near-misses, or the sorta-kindas. We deserve the kudos, too, for the many things we accomplish over the day.

For me, that meant I said 'I really ENJOYED drinking the almond milk that I was really only drinking to make more room in the fridge, instead of just chugging it.' I think that 'really paying attention to and enjoying eating a treat food' is almost as good as not eating it at all, because I don't need to do repeats as often if I really REALLY got all the pleasure out of it that I possibly could. I did that with some nice sheep's cheese, too. And some home-made fries. And some chocolates. But I did eat fewer of them on the next go-round, I found, having mindfully enjoyed eating them the previous time.

Oh, and on the water thing - one of the things I was told during the twin pregnancy (when many experts want you to drink 72+ oz of water/day, YIKES), was that really, we're looking for clear urine. If it's yellow, you're not eating enough water-rich foods and drinking enough fluids (unless you're taking B vitamins, in which case I don't know what color you're looking for, but yellow's gonna be involved, LOL!). So bump them until you get to clear pee. It doesn't all have to be water if you're eating a lot of water-rich foods (low calorie density as well, there). And the amount will vary a lot, possibly daily, based on health, activity level, etc, etc.

Okay, back to my not-totally-lined-up-with-my-greater-purpose job... (Except that solving people's problems is one aspect of my purpose/values, and that's mainly what I do, is solve other people's problems...)

[Katy]

Did pretty well this weekend - didn't take my vitamins but did exercise and got up early to work both Saturday and Sunday (I have to sneak in dissertation work when I can). I felt good about myself because of that and was able to enjoy the evening out as a reward. I love Hedra's idea about listing your three successes of the day- more often than not I go to bed lamenting the things I didn't do and feeling guilty about them. I'm going to try this tactic and feel better about my efforts.

[clara]

Hi gang -- I am late to the party. Can I still play? Reading everybody's goals and progress has thoroughly inspired me, and with the added bonus of helping me to feel more generous toward myself. (What? There are other people who do not manage to floss and/or wash their faces twice a day? etc.)

My list of goals is pages long, but focusing on 3 will make it manageable. Maybe after this challenge we start again, with the same or a new 3 goals, depending on how much we've managed to accomplish?

So, exercise, sex, healthy family meal plans?? Yeah, that's all on my list but far far too daunting. This is my challenge:

1. Tame the beast that is the interweb. I can check in here once a day, stop by the train-wreck that is DC Urban Moms during my first cup of coffee, check my personal email once at the end of the day, maybe say hi to the gang at TWOP during an afternoon break. But no more checking back in on all these crazy forums compulsively all damn day sucking all my productivity, creativity and happiness (particularly true of the mean-spirited mommy forums) out of me.

2. Get my coffee consumption down to 2 cups a day. Hubby has offered to order half-caff K-cups for our Keurig machine (awesome Xmas gift from my SIL) so I can "cheat" and have 4 cups on rough days!

3. Be nicer to my awesome hubby. This means redeploying my mad skillz as a hippy-dippy mom toward him. I realized I'm great at being compassionate and patient when the bear (one year old in a couple weeks -- woohoo!) has a meltdown, but I've transferred all my crankiness toward my husband when he throws his own tantrums. So of course he throws more of them and we get into a downward spiral. I'm going to try to use the SALVE method from Naomi Aldort's Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves to my interactions with him.

And here is a tip for the flossing-challenged: I keep those individual flossers (GUM makes them) all over the place -- in my purse, at the office, next to the bed -- so I'm bound to manage at least once a day. We do need to start brushing Bear's teeth though....so that's on my unofficial list, to start getting regular about that.

[Moxie]

Friday:

Really really shitty day in terms of challenge goals:

One serving of vegetables, 3 huuuge cups of coffee (two fair-trade and one Cuban cafe con leche, though, so at least it wasn't crappy coffee) and no green tea, and asleep at 1 am while working on a knitting project!

Saturday:

6 servings of vegetables, but everything else I ate was crap (2 1/2 cupcakes was just the tip of the iceberg) that sent me into a sugar coma so I fell asleep at 8:30 and woke up 11:30 and then stayed up until 1:30 again, no green tea.

Sunday:

Green tea, 5 servings of vegetables, asleep at 12:30.

[Julie]

Didn't do as well this weekend. Saturday we had a family wedding to go to, so my eating naturally day went out the window. Maybe some of you out there can manage to say no to wedding cake.....but sadly, I cannot. And I also can't say no to 2 pieces either. Oh well.

Still fighting this cold, so no exercise. Not even BWo+

I did manage to brush on Sat. and Sun. so that was good.

Water consumption: average. I am hoping to get back on the wagon today, since I am staying home from work to take care of Alex, who has contracted my cold. I am planning on a day filled with unreasonable, contradictory demands delivered in a whiney or screaming tone of voice. Should be a blast. My tentative plan is to dull his senses with lots of TV and regular doses of Dimetapp. Please don't judge me.

[Nikki]

Not toooo bad over the weekend... I was not so good re. the water on Saturday, and I drank a soda with my (fast food--sigh) dinner. But, I was in bed by 10:30, and asleep by 11. Sunday, I did better w/ the water consumption, but stayed up too late playing Guitar Hero w/ the husband. Which, while tremendously enjoyable, was not conducive to sex. I was too tired from rockin' like a hurricane. :) But! Today is a new day!

[pennifer]

I did sorta okay. (Anyone else having trouble remembering what their goals are? Sigh.)

Gold star on daily facewashing, and if I floss today AND tomorrow, I'll meet my goal of 3xweek.

On the carpal tunnel issue, I bought new wrist braces and have been wearing them at night and occasionally during the day. The doctor visit was predictably useless, although she did tell me to keep her posted and that we could pursue other options if need be. And thanks to Moxie for some offline suggestions.

My 3rd goal.......hm, can't remember it right now and I've got to dash.

[Joceline]

Ouch, it looks like the weekends might just be the kicker for me. I still did the Omega 3s Saturday-today, but I have realized that it is much harder to remember without the morning smoothie to remind me. Not to mention, when I don't make it, I'm missing an easy way to get down (and enjoy!) several servings of fruit and veggies, as well as all of those live and active cultures in the yogurt. So the smoothie needs to make a weekend comeback from now on.

I walked to get breasfast on Saturday, not at all yesterday, but I walked to the office this morning with The Boy in a sling.

Veggie servings were down this weekend, but I went grocery shopping yesterday, after picking several veggie laden meals from some of my favorite cookbooks, so I've got great plans for the week ahead.

We've all been sick this weekend, so even though it wasn't one of my goals, I've gotten lots of extra sleep, allowed The Husband lots of extra sleep, and tried to get The Boy to sleep whenever possible. All of us sleeping so much was more work than I would have thought.

This check in is really helping me stay on track. I look forward to it in the mornings! Thanks, Moxie!

[peaceinyourcrib]

i am so all or nothing...

i've had no chocolate- yet...
i've also had no sex, and honestly- i haven't even considered it...
so i failed there.

and lastly-
to stop fretting/obsessing;
i'm doing okay.

glad to be doing this with all of you.

[Nick]

Ah, weekends. . .

Friday: Fine on HFCS, only one veg (I think)-- but ate three fruits which will mitigate the damage, right? off day on gym so took stairs when able.

Saturday: Fine on HFCS, at least four vegetables (soup is a head scratcher), ran (slowly).

Sunday: Fine on HFCS, two vegetables (but two fruits), and ran (slowly).

Some rules of thumb are now apparent:

*crap at the office is my biggest by far source of HFCS. Avoid those, which I should be doing anyway, and avoid HFCS.

*vegetables are slightly harder to find in convinient snack size-- often, you have to do a bit of work. And eat salads. And mitigate the impact with dairy, legumes, protein, Beeno, whatever.

*when I run regularly, I should eat bananas regularly.

*the impulse to absorb others' challenges must be moderated or I'll collapse.

[caramama]

I'm pretty happy about my goals over the weekend, though they were not perfect.

1. We had breakfast at the Amish Market, and I'm pretty sure the Amish don't add HFCS to their stuff. Right? But we ate lunch out also, and I got a BBQ sandwich and didn't think about the HFCSs which I'm sure is in the BBQ sauce until after I started eating. And it was good, so I didn't stop. I still think I was very mindful all weekend and have indeed cut back.

2. I did yoga both Sat and Sun nights! The problem was that I haven't done regular yoga since before we moved (while I was pregnant), so we couldn't find my yoga DVDs and tapes (and I need someone leading me to get back into it). The only one we could find was my prenatal yoga video (bought after the move). So I did that one. I kept cracking up at first ("put one hand over you heart and the other over your growing baby"), but I did do yoga, so I'm proud of myself.

Even when I tried to come up with every excuse last night, I thought of you all and reporting to you all, and I just changed and did it!

3. Again, we went to the Amish market, and I'm pretty sure their stuff is organic. You know, they are Amish afterall. We didn't make it to the Farmer's Market, nor did we buy anything to bring home from the Farmer's Market. I should have bought stuff at the Amish Market, but we were planning to go to the Farmer's Market on the way home (until the Pumpkin fell asleep in the car). But I plan to go to the Farmer's Market next weekend.

And you guys are getting me drawn in to the t-tapp stuff. I'm going to start to look into it.

Mommy-O - Good luck! We're here if you need moral support!

pnuts mama - So sorry about your tooth! I hope it gets better without needing to be removed.

michaela - I know exactly what you mean. I've been thinking about all things that other people are doing and thinking maybe I'll do some of that too. It's really inspiring!

slim - haha! I've been eating some GS cookies, too. But Tagalongs and Samoas don't have any HFCS in them, so I'm still meeting my goals! And you can definitely count the to-do hubby did. Totally counts. Cause you're a team and all that, right?

rudyinparis - I've also been patting myself on the back for those things I already do that are other people's goals. I think it's important to be proud of what we are doing, not just guilt ourselves about what we aren't doing.

hedra - Dancing till your arms are sore definitely counts! Thanks for sharing what you heard in the conference. I've heard that Mariane Pearl is really inspiring. Doesn't she have a book out?

clara - Good luck with your three!!

Julie - No judging. Good luck, and hope little one is better soon.

Nick - Tip for veggie snacks: I used to cut up carrots and celery as soon as I got home from the grocery with them and store them in smallish tupperware. That way, I had good, healthy, portable snacks ready to go ahead of time. I should still do that. But that is an impulse on others' challenges, and I am also going to overwhelm myself with those if I don't stop.

[Maureen]

Not really checking in as I didn't "sign up" but that said I have to completely agree with Michaela... you guys are sooo inspiring. I have many of them in the back of my head now through my daily life. Just this weekend, when I was done brushing my teeth, I thought of this group and said just floss already to myself (I'm kind of a 3-4x a week flosser normally). So I did... thanks!

Still doing plenty of sugar but from time to time when I would just shove in extra sugar without really enjoying it, I now am eating those so less frequently. And walked 2 days last week. HUGE for me.

Kudos to you ladies... you are doing so great. And I really like the approach everyone is taking - so this weekend wasn't the best, today is a new day.

[joy]

I had to actually go back to the original post to check to see what mine were. So far I've:
1. Been on the elliptical once.
2. Forgotten completely about the water.
3. Not had even a smidgen of chocolate.

More water and more excercizing. Check.

[joy]

excercising. Oops. I hate typos.

[Maura]

Didn't get up early to exercise on Friday, but did take the hound to the park and totally wore him out.

Studying has been good. I actually feel like I might maybe sorta kinda have a chance of getting a passing grade on my exam tomorrow.

Sex has happened. It was fun.

Set the alarm to get up early to exercise today, but I'm finding that my get up early goals has led to a fourth goal of going to bed earlier. I've never been able to work on small amounts of sleep, but 11:30-5:30 used to work. Not anymore. I need to be in bed NLT 10:30.

[gansgirl]

-I had a day off in the T-Tapp cycle Saturday and I missed doing it, so it felt good yesterday to really do it mindfully. I'm a little sore again today. :)
-Skin brushing, 3X.
-A major item on my To Do list was to finish a work table. I'd stripped and refinished an old door to be the top of a standing-height table, but was waiting for some kind of cabinet or dresser to support it. A Craig's List find, a bit of new hardware, and I'm done with that one!
-I've been thinking about all of your challenges, too...I haven't increased water or vitamins or flossing...but I did increase the number of times my husband and I have had sex this year to ONE! (pathetic, isn't it.)

[Katie B.]

Let's see. Lots of water; not as much as I'd like, because this weekend was payday, which means we ate out a lot, but I did have only water with my ribs Friday night instead of soda. Saturday I sipped on a big cup of root beer (my biggest pregnancy craving) much of the day instead of drinking water, but at least it was uncaffeinated. Sunday had lots of water.

No sex or massages, but a good amount of snuggling, which counts by my definition (and since I'm defining it, it works!).

Did a few Kegels here and there, but not nearly enough. I'm thinking I might start running the warmups of a bellydancing tape I have; that has a whole bunch of awesome core muscle exercises, including some pelvic muscle isolations that are very like Kegels.

No readings over the weekend; DH is very not into that sort of thing, so it makes it hard to do it when he's around.

[pennifer]

Ah yes, my last one was reducing computer time. Yesterday and today have been good - too busy with other stuff.

[hedra]

caramama, Marian Pearl has two books out. The first is A Mighty Heart, which is about the actual process around when her husband was killed, but I'd avoided it as 'a grief processing book' - but she said it was a book to honor the multi-cultural/multi-religious network that helped her through that entire time. That made me want to read it. I now have a signed copy, but Oh HOLY PETE it is hard to read, knowing how it came out, and knowing she was pregnant, and being far too thin-skinned about children and parents and loss to find it at all comfortable.

Her other book I've forgotten the name of already, but that's the one I'm majorly interested in owning. Since she'd decided that filling the world with hope was her best revenge, she's been going all over the world documenting women who have become sources of hope and change for their communities. Young, old, mainly NOT in power, women just choosing the hard path instead of the easy one. The first twelve of 20 stories are in that book. I want that book. (They sold out, dangit.)

Anyway, yeah, inspiring. Nowhere near a model citizen, but a grand human being, flaws and all. Flaws perhaps particularly important to it all.

And she has a fabulous kid. I will repeat the story she told, just because I think we can all relate in SO many ways no matter how old our kids are:

Her 4 year old son, Adam, asked her if she was going to teach him everything she knew.

She clearly reveled in that mommy-moment, telling him in all her Mommyness that yes, she would indeed teach him everything she knew.

Which he promptly followed with, "Good! Because I'm going to teach *you* everything you *don't* know!"

Oh, so many layers there. And yeah, that's pretty much mommyhood, isn't it? them teaching us everything we don't know?

[caramama]

hedra - That is a great story. Oh, I love it! Thanks for the info. Considering my sensitive emotional state and ability to cry at the drop of a hat at anything involving children and parents, I should probably not read the first one at this time. But that second one sounds so inspiring. I'll go look it up now and order it! Thanks!!

[Julie]

I am wondering if vitamin deficiency is the cause of this bald spot on my head that I've had for the past year or so......I kind of forget about it b/c my hair is long, but I took a good look at it this afternoon and it's kind of freaking me out. It's BALD. It's about 2 inches tall and 1 inch wide.....right behind my right ear. Is this still a hormonal thing from pregnancy? I would think so, except Alex is 2.5 years old. So really I'm thinking it might be something else. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

[NannyLady]

well, the weekend was not so successful as the week, but not too horrible.

friday, i exercised but didn't take my vitamin or floss.

saturday, i exercised and took the vitamin, but not flossing.

sunday, i took the vitamin and flossed, but didn't exercise.

could be better, but not too bad.

[Kristie]

Sheesh, I can barely remember the weekend already.

I completely fell off the wagon as far as getting to bed on time and doing my Bible reading. I'm starting to think I need to give myself a day off, perhaps Fridays.

I've hung in there with the exercise, but only because my goal was so easy: 20 mins a day of some kind, even walking. This is easy when you don't have a car. BUT, my husband totally made it possible for me to go jogging on Sunday by 1) going to buy groceries and 2) taking the baby with him!!!!

[hedra]

Julie, could be alopecia? (Not sure if that's right spelling, or disorder, even - autoimmune killing off of hair in patches). I think those types of things can kick in from pregnancy (auto-immune), or it could be endocrine, or something else entirely. I'd definitely go check it out, though it is unlikely to be something scary, it is worth knowing what it IS, yes?

[Julie]

thanks Hedra. I'm going to definitely start taking a good multi-vitamin......and will be seeing my obgyn soon b/c we are going to start trying for #2 soon, so that will be a good opp. to ask.

[hair growth]

watch TV. ^ ^