Mommin' It Up!

January 13, 2015January 12, 2015

Hitting It Where It Counts

This post is part of my duties as a Together Counts™ Energy Balance Ambassador, for which I am being compensated. All opinions are my own.

So…I never really got around to doing a year-end recap post…that perhaps, was indicative of the fact that 2014 was a little crazy! Jonah started preschool, the big kids both had big academic achievements, and I got a J-O-B. We ended the year running at a very frenetic pace! This past year I was also once again an Energy Balance Ambassador for Together Counts ™ so the family and I made an extra effort to eat, play, and stay active together! That’s because Together Counts™, in case you need a refresher, is an initiative of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation that encourages and provides lots of resources for families to be active together and to work on their energy balance – calories in during family meals, and calories out during family activities.

So what did the Rapsons do together during 2014 to make it count? Well, lots of things of course! One big thing was that the big kids started going sailing with Daddy on Sundays. A great way to be active and spend quality time together! Jonah’s not quite ready for that yet, but someday he’ll be a rational being and he will make a great sailor as well. The best part of this is that they also get to be active with their Grandpa, Bobby’s dad, the original Rapson sailor.

Joshua and Pop — Joshua and “Pop” getting ready to sail

We also took some time to serve together in active ways – once again doing the Buddy Walk for Down syndrome together and during the summer the kids also got to come with me to help deliver shoes and socks to kids who needed them with Shoes 4 the Shoeless, where they got to run and play right along side the kids they helped.

Another thing we did was make sure to be active on our family trips! That’s right, we didn’t just lay around on the beach (although that sounds lovely, and um, maybe I’ll put that on my list for 2015!) – we took a really looooong walk to the Lake Erie beach instead of taking a shuttle, we walked all around Cedar Point, and we played at parks and tromped around mountains at my parents’ place in Virginia. And of course, we took lots of opportunities to swim together, whether at home at our local pool or at hotels when we were traveling.

scrambler — Me and Joshua at Cedar Point!

indian rocks — The big kids with some friends at Indian Rocks in Viriginia.

Jonah Boxerwood — Jonah at our favorite nature play park in Virginia, Boxerwood Children’s Garden

As it has gotten colder, we’ve still tried to keep up the activity (just not this week in the -25 degree wind chill temps!) – and just to make sure we were intentional about it, the kids did swim lessons this fall, too.

And of course, we’ve shared meals together as a family – got to fuel up before we play!

We’ve loved being active as a family together this past year – how about you? What ways have you worked on energy balance with your family? For more great resources and ideas on the why and the how of being active together, go check out Together Counts™!

January 9, 2015

Deja Vu All Over Again

So my big kids went to school 3 days this week. I consider that a win! Because Jonah only went ONE day this week…which is exactly how many days he went this same week last year. It was his first week of preschool EVER, and I cannot even express how much that STRESSED me out! Although you can read about it if you want to go down memory lane.

Jonah and me working hard - me w/ my laptop and him with his Leap Frog writing toy which he ADORES. — Jonah and me working hard – me w/ my laptop and him with his Leap Frog writing toy which he ADORES.

This year it also stressed me out, because well, not only was I dying for him to get back to his routine, having a job and having him home every day really complicates things! I get about 3 hours a day, 4 days a week to workworkwork or solo grocery shop or clean house (gotta tidy up for the sitter on Mondays and Wednesdays at least!) and not having that this week was difficult – primarily because since we were just coming off Christmas break – I hadn’t had it for two weeks!! Plus, speech therapy was also cancelled which stresses me because he had been off that for two weeks because of the holiday, TOO! And you guys know how I feel about my kids’ therapy. It is 30 minutes a week when the pressure is off me a little bit. (See the “Jenny is neurotic” category.)

But, I survived. We were all safe and warm. No two-hour delays, which mess me up WORSE than school being cancelled. I got to wear stretchy pants and my fuzzy bathrobe more than usual and surprisingly, was able to keep up with my no-sugar cleanse. Even though I really miss it. And cheese, DANG I MISS CHEESE!!! (But I’ve lost 4 lbs in 5 days. Woot. Which I feel I deserve because the sugar withdrawal headaches I had for the first three days were VICIOUS.)

And I think I got enough work done to not get fired, too. Knock on wood!

But Old Man Winter, Queen Elsa, or Mother Nature, PLEASE get back to better behavior next week or this might come to blows. I will put on my thinsulate-lined boxing gloves and get in the ring with your icy @$$ because I don’t think I can keep this UP for too much longer. I’m only human. And I’m not as good a human as most people, as we all know! Take some Xanax and sit by your happy light and WARM UP (don’t chill out, I beg you) so we can all get back in the swing of things.

How was your first week “back to normal” after the holidays??

January 8, 2015

Back to Basics

My surgery is scheduled for March 25, and my doctor’s office evidently wants me to be prepared.

Yesterday, I got this in the mail.

It’s a handy little pamphlet full of useful information. Highlights include:

— A hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus. During pregnancy, the uterus holds and nourishes the fetus (a baby growing in the woman’s uterus).

— It also depends on the findings of a pelvic exam (a manual examination of a woman’s reproductive organs).

— A needle may be placed in your arm or wrist. It is attached to a tube called an IV line.

— After a hysterectomy, a woman can no longer get pregnant.

It also contained before and after pictures:

At least I’ve got that going for me.

I guess I shouldn’t be making fun of this, because in reviewing it I learned that I’m not actually having a hysterectomy – because they are removing my ovaries (two glands, located on either side of the uterus, that contain the eggs released at ovulation and that produce hormones) and Fallopian tubes (tubes through which an egg travels from the ovary to the uterus) as well, I am actually having a salpingo-oophorectomy. So there’s that.

Anyway, this brochure got me to thinking about the completely absurd educational materials designed to teach girls about getting their period.

Anyone remember this gem?

I was scarred for life after having to watch Daisy Duck get her period when I was in fourth grade.

And then there was the famous uterus pancake featured in the VHS video Always would ship if you sent them a self-addressed stamped envelope. Anyone remember that? Evidently the video itself doesn’t exist on the internet, but I will say google finished my sentence for me when I started to type “uterus pancake video.” (which I do not recommend doing, by the way)

All of this leaves me with one more question – are men/boys also presented with information about their reproductive health in completely ridiculous ways?
Please tell me there’s a comparable video about Mickey Mouse’s… never mind.