Christina, Author at A Mommy Story

Feb 15, 2012

Twuu Wuv

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Or as we preferred to call it in our house: Tuesday.

The day started with me getting home from work to give Aaron a Valentine’s Day card that he was already aware of because someone forgot to hide it when putting away the groceries and accidentally left it in plain sight this weekend. But unlike when he first saw it, I had signed my name. So, you know, it was still new.

Aaron then gave me a card and a box of chocolates, despite an agreement I thought we had made to not buy anything for each other. Apparently he had said I didn’t have to buy him anything, not that he wasn’t going to get me a gift. He should be coaching politicians on doublespeak, because he totally got that one past me.

Those actions were all accomplished from 8:00am until 8:05am. And that was pretty much our Valentine’s Day.

What about the rest of the day? Oh, that was pretty uneventful. He left for work, I went to bed. I got up early to go to a work meeting in the late afternoon and found Aaron and Mira in the living room. (He had to get the sick child from school.) Then I went to my work meeting, came home, we ate a quick dinner, put the kids to bed, watched a little TV, and then I fell asleep on the couch until it was time for me to get ready for work again.

It’s true, we’re romantics.

All joking aside, Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal for us anymore. When we were dating we took it seriously, but with our wedding anniversary less than a month away from the national holiday for hearts and expensive jewelry, we’d rather save most of the romantic (and pricey) gestures for our anniversary – a date that actually has a significant meaning to us.

(And don’t get me started on all of the cute Valentine’s Day gifts and crafts I saw on Pinterest for moms with way more time than me to make for their kids. I do not feel obligated to whip up a special day for my kids, or create homemade Valentine’s cards for their classmates. Generic Care Bears valentines worked for me, so Tinkerbell valentines will work for them.)

I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day and got to celebrate it as much as they wanted it to be celebrated. For me, I got a little surprise chocolate in my day and a reminder that my anniversary is less than a month away!

Filed Under: Aaron, daily life, domestic zero, holidays ·

Feb 9, 2012

Slim-Fast Women of Wow Update (& Giveaway!)

By Christina ·

Alternate title – 166: So We Meet Again

I’ve been using the Slim-Fast shakes and bars for about three weeks now, so I thought it was time for an update. As you might guess from above, my weight is currently at 166 lbs, which just happens to be the lowest weight I’ve ever been as an adult. I hit this same number late last year, but never managed to get beneath it.

I started the year at 170 (after my holiday hibernation), so four pounds lost in a month isn’t shabby at all! But 166 is a tough number. I was actually at 166 a week ago, then jumped up to 168 out of the blue, and now I’m at 166 again after days of being diligent about my calorie intake.

I’m wishing on a star that this might be the week to officially get past this number on the scale, but I also know that my body seems to have some kind of threshold at 166. Apparently no one gave my body the message that insurance companies and doctors don’t consider me at a healthy weight until I weigh 158.

I have to admit that the past few weeks have been very easy when it comes to food. I have a Slim-Fast shake in the morning before I go to bed (I work night shift, remember), I eat a Slim-Fast snack bar or piece of fruit when I wake up, then I eat a normal dinner with my family. When I go to work, I either eat a low-cal frozen meal or Slim-Fast shake for my “lunch” and have one or two snacks of about 100 calories each. Overall, my daily calorie intake is usually between 1400-1600, which I keep track of by using the Lose It app on my iPhone.

On weekends, we tend to eat out more, but even eating out isn’t a trap for me – I keep to small portions and take the time to enjoy every bite. I’ve found my stomach is smaller now, and so it doesn’t take as much food for me to feel full. And surprisingly, the shakes really do help me feel full despite being liquid calories. (The vanilla one tastes like melted vanilla ice cream – yum!)

With my food intake under control, I have to turn my attention back to exercise now. I’m averaging about one workout a week at this point. If I want to get this weight off, I know I’ll need to move more. I’ve got eight more pounds to go until my goal, and I’m determined to get there.

Giveaway!

Not only has Slim-Fast given me the tools to help me reach my goals, but they want to help you have your moment of wow, too! I’ve got one $50 American Express gift card to give to one lucky reader – use it towards new workout gear, an outfit to celebrate a milestone, or whatever you’d like!

To enter: leave a comment below telling me your favorite type of exercise. What type of exercise gets you motivated and keeps you coming back for more? Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you’re the winner, too.

For additional entries (1 per method – leave a separate comment for each):

– Follow me on Twitter and leave a separate comment with your Twitter username.
– Like Slim-Fast on Facebook
– Leave a comment on one of my Women of Wow posts on the Slim-Fast Facebook page (leave a comment here with your FB name)
– Write on the Slim-Fast Facebook Wall that you entered to win a $50 AMEX Gift Card at Losing My Hind with a link back to this post.

Entries will be accepted until Friday, February 17 at 11:59pm EST. One entry per method, for up to five entries total, US residents only. After that date, one winner will be selected at random to receive the $50 AMEX gift card. Winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond or an alternate winner will be selected.

Also, visit these other Slim-Fast Women of WOW for additional chances to win!

Being Alison
Shop With Me Mama
Hollie’s Weight Loss Blog
Blessings Abound Mommy
Yellow Tennessee

Good luck!

Full disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in the Slim-Fast Women of WOW! Program. Visit www.facebook.com/slimfast to join the conversation.

Filed Under: Sponsored-AF, weigh-in · Tagged: Women of WOW

Feb 9, 2012

Adventures in Social Skills

By Christina ·

Yesterday at school, as reported to me by Cordy’s teacher:

Teacher: Cordy, what snacks do they have in Room 14?

(Note: Room 14 is the special needs class Cordy visits at the end of the day.)

Cordy: It’s a secret. If you want a snack, then you need to go home and cook.

Thank goodness her teacher has a sense of humor and found it funny. Although I’m not entirely certain Cordy meant it to be funny. If that’s the case, then I’m REALLY glad her teacher has a sense of humor.
Every social interaction is a learning opportunity, right?

Filed Under: Autism, Cordy, school ·

Feb 6, 2012

Early To Bed, Early To Rise

By Christina ·

When Cordelia was a toddler, our friends and family marveled that we had her on such a great sleep schedule. Around 6:30 or 7:00pm each night, she would actually crawl (or later walk) to the stairs and point up to her room, letting us know that it was time for bed. We’d change her into her PJs, read her a book, and take her up to her crib. Then we’d place her in her crib and walk away. She’d often babble and talk to herself, but rarely did she cry or protest.

Comments like, “Wow, you’ve sleep trained her SO well!” were not uncommon, often followed by stories of how their child would fight bedtime, get up repeatedly, or cry at being imprisoned in the crib. It would be easy to pat ourselves on the back and take full credit for the amazingly peaceful nights we had with Cordy, but the truth is we had very little to do with it: Cordy was the one who determined her own bedtime.

At this point, you may still consider us the winners of the bedtime lottery. A toddler who goes to bed by 7pm every night, leaving you free to spend time with your spouse without interruption? We even had a period of several months where Cordy would sleep until 6am each morning. Yes, I’ll admit we were spoiled. (If you consider spoiled to also include a child who refused to nap during the day at all and had violent tantrums that we would later find out were symptoms of autism. But that’s not today’s topic.)

It did have its benefits, but there were downsides. First, she was always awake by 6am, meaning someone had to get up early with her. Second, her sleep schedule made it hard to do anything with her in the evenings, because no matter where we were, she was asleep by 7pm, and grumpy if moved. If we had a family gathering in the evening, we could count on finding her asleep on the floor long before 8pm.

Or asleep mid-cookie at Christmas (2007)

And then there’s one other problem.

While being asleep that early in the night is great for a toddler or preschooler, it isn’t as useful for a seven year old. To this day, Cordy still goes to bed early. It’s not a strict 7pm anymore, but she still has trouble staying awake any later than 8pm.

Visiting friends 2 weeks ago, 7pm

The problem with this situation is that going to sleep so early makes it impossible to get her involved in many after-school activities, or even have a lot of time to spend with her family in the evening. She’s home from school by 5pm, does her homework, dinner by 6pm, and then it’s time to get ready for bed. We pushed bedtime back to 7:30pm (from 7pm), although there are still many nights when the clock has barely crossed into seven o’clock and Cordy is complaining that she is tired and wants to go to bed.

Occasionally we ask her to stay up late, and sometimes she can keep herself up until 9pm, but it takes a lot of effort. For New Year’s Eve this year, she was awake (although very groggy) until 11:30pm, but only because she slept for 40 minutes on our way home from the zoo that night.

New Year’s Eve

All of the advice books say to gradually step back the bedtime and in return the child will gradually start waking up later as well. Ha. Not this girl. No matter how late she’s up, her bedroom door still opens promptly at 6am and Little Miss Sunshine strolls down the stairs for the day. Only if we force her to stay up too late, Little Miss Sunshine turns into Little Miss Crabbypants quickly during the day, and keeping her up late again still does nothing to change her wake-up time. (But does make her progressively more grumpy.)

At this point, I don’t know what to do. I have the opposite problem of most parents: I want my child to stay up later! I’d like to give her the chance to take a class or be in a Girl Scout troop, but unless it’s offered on a Saturday it isn’t possible at the moment.

Anyone have any advice on how to convince a Sleeping Beauty to stay up later and enjoy the night?

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life · Tagged: advice from readers

Feb 2, 2012

Dog Person. Sort Of.

By Christina ·

When I was six years old, my mom adopted our first cat. From that moment on, we always had cats in our house. Sometimes it was just one or two, other times a pregnant cat would find her way to our doorstep and suddenly we’d have a house full of whiskers and fur. My mom has a soft spot in her heart for a sad kitty, and even if we had no room, she’d still take the cat in and then work to find it a good home somewhere else. (She still does this today. But now she lives on a farm and can let them be barn cats if needed.)

It’s only natural, then, that I’d be a cat person, too. While I didn’t always like some of our cats, I still enjoyed sitting on the couch in the evening with a cat curled up next to me, purring loudly. As I settled in to my first apartment after college, one of the first must-have things I needed to make it feel like home was a cat.

Dogs? Dogs were cute, but I wasn’t as attached to them. I’d never pass up the chance to pet a cute puppy, but I’ve always been a little more cautious of dogs than I am with cats. This is probably due to a bad experience with a dog owned by one of my mom’s friends when I was younger. She was a large doberman that we had to pass by in order to get into the house.

I understand now that she was just a happy, excited dog that liked to bark and jump on people, but that same exuberance, in the mind of a four-year-old, translated to dog-wants-to-kill-me-and-eat-me. I was terrified. And we lived with that friend for part of a year,which meant I had to get past that killer dog in the backyard on a daily basis.

Since then, I’ve lost any fear of dogs, but I’ve still preferred my cats. Even when we decided to adopt a dog last month, my first concerns were to how my sweet kitties would handle the stress of a dog in the house. Loving the dog wouldn’t be a problem, but my cats would always come first.

Now that Cosmo is here, I’m forced to confess: I’m a sucker for that dog.

Not that Cosmo has made it easy for me, though. He’s chewed thru nearly every toy I’ve bought him – some in as little as an hour – costing us a small fortune in dog toys. When I’m not looking he’ll try to chew Mira’s shoes. Not any shoe he can find – just hers. He likes to lick me, which I generally don’t care for. He drools.

While I expected him to be a decent-sized dog, I didn’t expect him to double his size in a month. He’s stubborn, refuses to give up sitting on the couch (a habit he picked up in his foster home – at least we have compromised to have him only sit on one side of the couch), and even at 55+ pounds still thinks he’s a lap dog. He knows his basic manners, but all that puppy energy means he often forgets his commands when excited.

And he burps in my face. Ewww.

Unlike my cats, however, there is this constant desire for acceptance in his eyes. Each time he wrinkles his forehead and looks to me, I can see his mind furiously working, wondering if I’m pleased with whatever he’s doing, waiting for the next command, hoping I’ll just scratch his belly or give in and let him lick my hand. I know if he’s done something wrong before I even know the details of the actual offense: it’s written all over his face. (The guilty dog look may just be one of the best dog traits ever. I wish my kids had that look.)

Cosmo hangs out with us while watching TV. He can go with us to the park, or walk around our neighborhood, or travel in the car to spend time with friends at their house. As much as I refer to my Siamese cats as being dog-like in nature, they still want nothing to do with the world outside of our house, and generally wander off if the TV is on. All the dog wants in life is some food, a place to sleep, and most importantly, to be with us.

So I’m a dog person now. Sort of, I guess. I still don’t like being licked, and I refuse to budge on letting him on any furniture other than one corner of the couch, but I love when he greets me at the door each day with that wagging tail and I am thrilled at how well the kids respond to him.

I continue spending a fortune on new dog toys to keep him entertained. We even enrolled him in a doggie daycare program to give him more chances to socialize with other dogs and run out some energy one day a week.

Doggie daycare…seriously. The old non-dog-person me is shaking my head in disapproval right now. But he’s a part of the family now, so we’ll take care of his every need, including his need for socialization when we have busy weeks.