pink eye?

I think my little guy has pink eye. He has horrible allergies (both our children do, of course both of their parents do too) and yesterday was a bad allergy day. His nose was leaky and he kept coughing. His eyes were fine at first but soon started to have a little green discharge in the corners. It concerned me but my husband told me not to worry, said he probably wiped his nose funny and got it in his eyes or something, he is 2 after all. Of course, it didn't happen until right as the doctor's office was closing so I couldn't call to get him in. I started watching and finally got on to WebMD to see if I could find anything about pink eye since I just had a feeling. Since his eyes were only leaky at the time and not pink I just took note of the symptoms and started to watch him. He fell asleep on my lap and when he woke up his eyes were red. It definitely looks like pink eye. Dh had to run out last night to take a video back (August Rush... awesome movie!!) and he stopped by Walmart and picked up some drops for the little guy's eyes. We put them in last night and within 20 minutes the discharge was gone as was the watering. His eyes are still a little pink this morning but not at all like yesterday. I'm just watching him closely to see what happens. I hate to be that parent who runs to the doctor for every little ailment but I also don't want to be that parent that misses something important because they are afraid of looking bad if it isn't important. Catch 22, isn't it. This parenting stuff isn't always easy!

So... Easter is on its way. What will the bunny bring to you? I am hoping for some new digiscrap goodies since I haven't done a layout since early February. I was over at DST yesterday just browsing layouts and I really want to scrap!! Anyway, the kids aren't getting a ton this year. We are to the point of being over ran with toys and I can't see bringing many more in the house. They are getting a big water park toy. It doesn't have the best reviews on Amazon, but it holds water and my boy will LOVE it. I only paid $6, including shipping, so no complaining here! The bunny is going to hide it in the yard and have the kids do a treasure hunt to find it. Fun stuff!

In design news... Elemental Scraps is getting ready for a new look. It is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait! I wish I could give a peek but Joedee would probably hang me by my toe nails if I did! Anyway, because of that I'm up to my eyeballs in redoing previews with the new template. I love the new preview look but I hate doing previews in general so I find myself doing everything but. I have 30 some done and another 60 some to do. A lot of products are retiring, some simply because I dread previewing them again! LOL Here's the little ad I posted at DST. More products will be added.




It makes me a little sad to retire things but its time. My design style has changed so much that I really need to move on. If anything catches your eye though, get it before its gone!

Happy Belated 'Irish Day'

Top o' the mornin' to ya! I hope that you all had a great St. Patty's day yesterday.

St. Patrick's Day is one of those holidays I thought was stupid when I was a kid (I had an aunt that used to pinch me even if I wore green). As an adult, however, I see the beauty in it.

I married in to an Irish family and since having children I have grasped on to that culture. My own family history is sketchy at best. I know all about my mother's mother's side but nothing about her father's side or my own father's side. I have never met my father and little is known about him. I'm told he's Irish but who knows. I'm sometimes told what they think I want to hear. Its nice to finally have something concrete to share with my children since I only know a quarter of my own lineage.

Over the years, St. Patrick's Day has become something we celebrate bigger and bigger. We started out just going to the parade in town and maybe wearing green but now we have a leprechaun who plays pranks on us and this year I even added some Irish food to the mix. I made reubens for the first time. I know, not your traditional St. Patty's day menu but Irish none the less and something that looked easy enough for me to make quickly. I had never had a reuben before but my husband had them quite often growing up. I was nervous because he's picky, especially when it comes to things he has had in the past and feels should taste a certain way. Personally, I've never liked sauerkraut so I figured I'd end up scraping it all off of mine in order to eat it. I was pleasantly surprised though. Not only did DH like it (and ask for seconds) but I really enjoyed it too. They are likely going to be something we eat at least once a month. Yum!

Anyway, our leprechaun did come yesterday. He made the kids' milk green, poured green salad dressing on my salad and turned our potty water green. He also played around moving the kids little stuffed leprechaun around the house and finally hung him up on the chandalier. The kids had great fun discovering where he would next end up and they laughed as I made faces and ate green salad dressing (quite tasty I might add). We didn't go all out like I wanted to. We usually go on a late night leprechaun hunt but it was raining so that didn't happen. We also usually get the kids some sort of little toy but right now we're overloaded on toys and I just couldn't see bringing another in. I'm already planning for next year though!

Caity was in the parade this year. It was on Saturday so we did most of our celebrating early. It was windy and cold and hardly no one showed up. It was fun none the less and we were excited for her to get to ride in the parade.

On Sunday I sat down and put this kit together so that I could scrap some of my pictures from Saturday...

2 for 2...

Can you believe I'm posting again? I can't. LOL! That's okay, I seriously doubt anyone even read my post from yesterday given how often I usually blog! I wanted to jump up and down and scream to the world that I actually DID post on my blog but I refrained. Maybe after I have made more than two posts in 9 months!

So, yesterday I mentioned my boy and how he was sorta playing around with the notion of going to the potty... well, yesterday he went on the potty, by himself, TWICE! Woohoo!!! I'm so excited. He went upstairs and was sitting on the potty when my hubby went up to grab some clothes. He asked the little man what he was doing. "Going potty" he said. DH went in to grab the clothes and when he came back out the little one had gone. The evidence was all over the front of the toilet seat and down the back of his sweats. We were so excited despite the mess! He's only 28 months and he's taking it upon himself to potty train. I wouldn't have started until he was 3.

Anyway, I mentioned yesterday that I am working to make positive changes in my life. One of them has to do with taking better care of myself. I've made no secret of the fact that I have an addiction to diet pepsi. Drinking a 2 liter bottle a day just isn't (wasn't) unusual for me. If I was stressed out, I'd drink even more. I'm happy to say I've all but given up the habit. :) I haven't sworn it off completely but it is amazing how much I have cut back!

For my birthday my husband bought me this fancy electronic water bottle called a HydraCoach. It keeps track of your water intake, suggests how much water you should be drinking a day and gives you the results of your efforts in either ounces or % of your goal met. After 24 hours it starts blinking and you have to reset it so there is no cheating and drinking for 3 days just to meet your goal. LOL Apparently some girls he works with use them at work and try to get in their 64oz while they are at work each day. He thought they were nifty and took note of what they were called. That very day I started talking about how I wish there was something to motivate me to drink more since I had realized I went 3 full days without a single drop of water... only diet pepsi. He sat down and ordered one of them for me right then (without me knowing it). When I first opened it up, I felt a little cheated. I'll be honest. It didn't seem like much of a birthday present. I have every type of sports bottle under the sun. I always buy them and think they will help motivate me to drink but it never happens. What did I need yet another bottle for?

The first day I used it and drank a little from it but I just wasn't feeling it. The next day I tried again. The third day I let it sit all day and drank more diet pepsi than normal. My 5 year old asked me why I wasn't using my new birthday present. I guess you could say she guilted me in to trying it again. This time I actually managed to drink a full 64 oz. The next day I did it again. I've been using the cup now for about 3.5 weeks and I've bumped my goal intake up from 64 oz to 80 oz. Most days I drink around 100 oz. Today I got a late start and just reset my bottle from last night. Its been 33 minutes and I've drank 33 oz, or 41% of my goal for the day. I really love my sports bottle now and I have felt SO much better since starting to drink more water. I haven't missed the diet pepsi at all. Every now and then I think that one would taste good, and sometimes I even indulge in a drink but for the most part I've given it up. Now, instead of buying 10 2 liters every week (and sometimes going back for more), I'm buying 1 for the week and last week I didn't buy any! The most exciting thing to me is that I can have a bottle of it sitting here in the house for days on end without me touching it. Its not a willpower struggle at all, I just don't feel I have to have it.

I am a sucky blogger

Yes, it is a harsh statement, but it is true. I suck at blogging. I go full force for a few days and then slack off. Its been like 9 months since my last entry and I have no excuse as to why I haven't been posting. Heck, I don't even have a reason why I am posting today. LOL

I guess my thinking is that I have been making some other very solid and positive changes in my life lately that I should be able to start blogging again and incorporate it as one of my new lifestyle changes and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to keep up with it.... you think?

So, let's see... what is going on? Well, nothing much has changed other than the fact that I have a kindergartner now instead of a preschooler. My kids are growing, changing, developing and flourishing. It is amazing to watch them. I am fiercely proud and in total awe of them. Recently we had parent teacher conferences at the elementary school. Since the girl had dance class the same night, daddy took the kids to dance while I walked down to the school for the conference. I was met with a teacher who was smiling ear to ear and immediately burst out "If only I had a whole class of her" :)

Her report card (no grades, just plus marks) was fabulous and every word was a glowingly positive review of my little girl. I was beyond thrilled. Obviously I think she's the cat's meow but she's mine... I'm a little obligated to that that way. I look at her and see a bright little girl who makes friends easily but I'm not 20 5 year olds all day so I have nothing to compare her to. I know she's on track with the benchmarks she needs to meet but without knowing the curriculum or where others her age stand its hard for me to judge how she is doing. I was blown away to hear the teacher say that they can't challenge her enough and that she is far beyond what they have tested for. They were using a reading program and having the children read one book after another, each slightly more difficult, to see how far they would get. The teacher said they got so far with my little girl that they just had to stop her.

She is, at very least, reading at a 2nd grade level. She seriously only started reading around October so this is amazing to me. The problem we have now is finding books that are difficult enough to keep her challenged without being too involved to make her lose attention. She is, after all, just 5. She's not quite ready to sit and read chapter books on her own yet she needs the level of difficultly that those chapter books provide.

And then there is my 2 year old. He's 2 going on 12. He is such a mature little boy for two. Well, most of the time that is. The other night we baby-sat for a friend's 2 year old foster son. The two had several little tiffs and I discovered that my boy didn't like to share so much. It really surprised me because he's never had a problem sharing before. Of course he doesn't play with that many children his exact age and I think that there a little feeling of competition between them. When the little boy dirtied his diaper and ended up wearing a pair of my son's spider man pull ups... well, I could definitely see that he was feeling as though this boy was coming in to take his place. After the boy left though, D stood there waving, half teary eyed and said "when he come back?" I'll have to arrange for some play dates.

D is trying to potty train himself. The problem is, mommy isn't ready. I hate the whole potty training ordeal and I wanted to wait until spring/summer so that I don't have to worry about pulling off 40 layers of clothes to get him to the potty. So far his training attempts amount to him pulling off his clothes from the waist down and climbing up to sit on the potty. I find myself wondering if a potty chair is even necessary since he sits so well on the big potty. Anyway, next month we'll probably start working with him pretty enthusiastically. I would LOVE to be rid of the diapers for a while, that's for sure. We only had a break of about 3 months between the time his sister potty trained and he was born so I've basically been changing diapers for 5.5 years.

So.... are you still reading? Maybe this is why I don't blog... I'm so long winded! LOL

Anyway, as for me... I'm still around. I don't post often anywhere outside of ES these days. I'm still designing and still exclusive to ES at this point. I went through a period of time where designing just wasn't doing it for me. I had no creative energy and no desire to design. I did the bare minimum to get by with my commitments and bascially took a much needed break away from designing. In January my creativity returned and I've been slowly making my way back since then. :) Its nice to WANT to design again!