Monday Movie!

Isla loves trying to get Torii to play with her!

All or Nothing

According to my therapist, I have an "all or nothing" way of thinking. If I can't clean the whole house in 1 day, I don't want to clean at all. If my teeth aren't sparkling white, then they are disgusting. If my hair is bad, my day will be ruined. I could go on and on... Anyway, I never really realized this about myself until she pointed it out. It is really hard to get myself to think in the "gray area". I've been obsessing about my teeth lately, and because they are not super white, I hate them. She asked me what was so wrong about having normal looking teeth. I really didn't have an answer! I mean, nothing is wrong with having white-ish teeth, but why settle for anything less than great?! I'm not entirely sure when this thought process of "greatness" started, but it sure makes my life much harder. There is no way I can be happy with my body as it is. If it's not great, it's not good. If I don't look good, I don't feel good...and I think that has been part of the reason my life has felt very out of control lately. My hair is gray, my teeth are not super white, my body is flabby, and my skin is breaking out! How can I feel in control when I look like a mess??

Obviously, I've been scarred by my years of yellow teeth, big bangs, and bizarre outfit choices.

So I just might have a hair appointment lined up, a huge box of White Strips in my bathroom, and a pending gym membership/personal trainer package ready to be purchased this week. I think once I start feeling like myself again, I'll be able to tackle bigger issues.

I wonder if my therapist has ever spent a whole session discussing the importance of white teeth and the need for perfect hair with any other patient?? Probably not.

Now, despite my imperfections, I do not think I am a horrible looking person or anything. I just prefer greatness over normalness, and I get frustrated when I don't look as good as I know I'm capable of looking. Does that make sense!? Plus, any time I'm feeling gross, I just remind myself that I could look worse....

Eeewwwwies.

Tot Rock and play dates!

Isla had her first "music" class on Friday. I signed her up for the Tot Rock class through the park district, really having no clue what it would entail. Jeannie and her daughter Izzy also signed up, which made going to this class much less stressful (and way more fun) for me. We got to sing, play instruments, play with the parachute, dance, and then play at little themed centers for the last 10 minutes of class. The theme for the 8 weeks is Rainbows, and next week the kids all have to wear red. I'm totally in love with the adorableness of this class. I had to lie about Isla's age to get her signed up (it's for 9 -20 months) but Isla can definitely pass for a 9 month old, so it wasn't a huge deal. Unfortunately, Isla was the first child to have a meltdown. Double unfortunately, I was dressed for a blizzard and it was scalding in this tiny room, and Isla was screaming, which caused me to sweat even more profusely than I already was. Isla wanted to chew on all of the instruments and when I told her no, she had an immediate fit. Thankfully, by the third instrument (the tambourine) she got the hang of shaking it, and seemed to enjoy it more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our next class goes a bit more smoothly! :)

I'm really enjoying being able to do things like this with Isla. I'm trying to fully take advantage of being a stay at home mom, and I'm finally starting to get into a fun routine. We've still been having Thursday play dates...our last play date we got all 4 girls together at Kids Town and had a blast! Isla is the youngest, but she does her best to keep up with the "big" girls. Izzy and Makayla are 16 months, and Stephanie is almost 3 years old. It's really cute to watch them play and interact with each other. I'm looking forward to the girls growing up together and being good buddies!

Less than a year ago I blogged about wanting to be a stay at home mom, and now I'm living my dream! It's been an adjustment, but I am fine with having less money and living without vacations and fancy things. Being home each day with Isla is definitely worth it!

Betsy + Lactose = Disaster?

After having some major stomach issues lately (QSS!) I decided to see a doctor to get this figured out. He suggested I might be lactose intolerant and that I needed to give up lactose for 30 days. Do you know how hard that is for a cheese lover?! Going to Subway and getting no cheese on my sandwich? It's just not right. No Little Caesars. No fettuccine alfredo. No Easy Mac. UGHHHHH. I did good for like 5 days, then over-dosed on cheese over the weekend, and now I've been paying for it every day since. I was starting to worry that I may have a gluten intolerance, and I suppose that would be much worse.

Lactose is in many more foods than I thought...even bread! Right now, I'm only planning on eliminating cheese, milk, eggs, ice cream, yogurt, and any "creamy" foods. So I guess technically I'm going on a low lactose diet. I'm hoping I will notice a difference in my tummy issues soon because I've definitely reached my breaking point.

This will require a lot of self discipline. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Ohhhh pizzzzzzzzzzzzzza. I will miss you.

Things I'm Currently LOVING!

1. Adult gummy vitamins! Sometimes I really want to take more than I should.

2. Yoga! Abb and I started a class yesterday through the park district and I'm completely in love. Our teacher is in her 70s and has been doing yoga for over 20 years. She looks fabulous. I think I definitely need to get on the yoga train. Plus, it's great for my lower back which I've been currently having lots of problems with.

3. My Glee soundtracks! Totally getting me in the mood for next week. I CAN'T WAIT for April 13th!

4. The smell of spring.

5. Isla's kissable cheeks and big smile. Melts my heart. And now with her 2 little teeth she is starting to look like such a big girl!


(Seriously...a little junior sized Andy. Female version.)

6. Sleeping with the windows open.

7. Baseball season! Although I'm not liking the 9pm Twins games these past few days. Andy, me, Abb, and her friend are headed to the Twins/Sox game on Friday! GO TWINS!

The Fussles

Fussles is our nickname for Isla when she is really fussy. Often her fussiness is rated on a 1-10 scale basis. (Today, I've got a stage 8 Fussler. It's intense. Thank GOD she's napping right now!) Anwyay, she recently discovered the fine art of throwing tantrums, and I'm at a loss for how to handle it! Any time Torii takes one of her bones away from Isla, Isla begins screaming. Any time Isla can't reach something, she immediately stomps her feet and begins crying. This morning, she wanted my apple, and when she couldn't get it she threw herself onto the floor and proceeded to have a very dramatic tantrum. Later, she did the same thing when I wouldn't give her my cell phone. I can get her to stop crying by distracting her with a book or a toy, but I'm not sure how much attention I should be paying to her during these tantrums. I don't want her to think crying and screaming is a good way to get attention. I seriously didn't think I'd be dealing with tantrums at 8 months old! I can't even imagine what her "terrible twos" will be like.

Emergency Kits

Since moving to Illinois and realizing we are living on a major fault line, I've had to take some serious action. Say hello to my lovely emergency kit.

This is one of the two car kits I made, we also have a larger backpack kit for our home. I keep trying to picture scenarios where we will actually use these things, and really I can't come up with anything. Our home kit might be a big more necessary during tornado season. We live on the 5th floor of an apartment, so when sirens go off we have to leave our apartment (and tv updates!) and head into the stairwell. If our building collapses on top of us, we'd have the supplies we would need to survive 3 days. Yes, I realize I'm super dramatic. Anyway, I bet you are wondering what is inside of these things huh?!

I purchased a lot of the supplies from this website.

Each car kit has:

-Water boxes or water bottles...pretty much the bare minimum for 3 days, but I plan on keeping a gallon of water in the trunk as well.
-Emergency food bars. Check out the size of this thing! This is a 3 day food supply.

-Formula packets, bottle, tubs of baby food, and baby snacks for Isla.
-3 diapers
-Small pack of wipes
-3 packets of Kleenex
-Hand sanitizer
-3 tampons
-Medium sized emergency kit
-Emergency blankets
-2 cold packs
-1 flashlight (a shake flashlight, not one that requires batteries)
-2 boxes of water proof matches
-4 in 1 tool
-Glow sticks (bigger than mouth size) ;)
-Whistle
-Sunscreen
-A small toy for Isla

In our large backpack kit we pretty much have the same things, except instead of formula packets I have canned formula. There is also a larger first aid kit, dog food, emergency radio, and no sunscreen.

Making these emergency kits helped curb a little of the anxiety I was having about earthquakes and tornadoes. They make me feel a little more prepared, even though I'm guessing we'll never use them.

I plan on keeping the emergency kits up to date, by switching diapers, formula, and baby food out regularly. The emergency food and water has a 5 year shelf life, so in 5 years I'll replace those things. After researching emergency kits, I've realized that although mine seems slightly excessive, many websites suggest putting much more in your kits! Things like extra clothes and shoes for each family member, knifes, duct tape, candles, etc. Andy would probably pass out if he saw me assembling huge emergency kits in monster duffel bags, so I'm going keep my kits small and pray that we never need to use them in the first place!