it's just a cold

Ted began barking like a seal late Monday night. Tuesday he seemed fine, but the cough got worse. I kept him home from school today (skiing no less!) to take him in to Dr. Roy. He has a cold with a severe cough. His lungs are clear, he's not wheezing, he doesn't need any nebulizer treatments. He's like a normal kid with a bad cold. This has never happened before. To be able to treat him like a regular kid, not an asthma attack waiting to happen, is very exciting. He is a different kid from 6 months ago. His coloring is good, his lungs are clear and his 'food intolerances' are worked out. We have a plan and it's working well. Finally. It feels great.

Tonight we did our 3rd 30 Day Shred Workout. It's still a killer but not as bad on the legs. I wonder..will we ever make it to Level 3? I think we'll do Level 1 at least 5 times, maybe even 10, before moving on. I think 5. I think two more times and we'll have it down. It helps that I got myself some 3 pound weights. Doing some of the strength training about killed me with the 5 pounders. If you think I'm a wimp, you try this workout! Way harder than it looks. This pic is from Saturday night, when Ted is allowed to stay up later than the others and watch Star Trek with us. We did this first and he did it with us. Too funny.

Big Ski Day

As they say in the vernacular, Ted thinks he is 'the shiz' today. He and Rachel and another boy were the only 3 in their group at ski school today. Moe took them, poles and all, on a bunch of blue runs before lunch, off of the Challenge lift. After lunch, they hit Indian Peaks, the 4-person lift that goes to the Blacks. Oh yeah. They did Hot Dog Alley (after a brief Black run called Psychopath ... yikes), Sundance, and Four 'o Clock. They were totally jazzed and chattered nonstop about how much fun they had. Moe said they "traversed the terrain independantly," whatever that means in ski jargon.

We celebrated my birthday 2 days early tonight, at Wahoo's, where we watched 2 young men snowboard down crazy mountains in Alaska. Ted thought it looked wonderful.

Then we came home and baked a Pamela's Chocolate Cake with Confetti Frosting (no gluten, dairy or eggs). I'll bring a large piece tomorrow for Ted to eat at Alex's party. It was delicious - the best baked treat we've had so far. My only mistake was frosting it too soon. Next time, really let it cool. Really yummy. Hooray! 

shredding

In gluten free news, we are getting the hang of it. While we gradually eat up all the gluten in the house, I'm doing the best I can to keep Ted GF as much as possible. His lunches are the most challenging, but also the best meal of the day, because I can take the time to make sure they are healthy. Today, he got 2 cinnamon rice cakes with peanut butter, a banana, a gigantic carrot, half an orange bell pepper, and some GF cereal for dessert. Snack (at school) was 1/4 cup roasted almonds and an apple. Breakfasts are pretty simple so far, GF pancakes reheated or GF cereal, always with Green Machine juice and a fruit. Dinners end up being a mish-mash of lunch leftovers and vitamins/supplements. He is still going strong as the healthiest member of the family. Save a brief flu and some pinkeye, he's been healthy since August. Amazing. 

So far, thanks to rice cakes, we are surviving without bread for sandwiches. GF rolls work with soup or stew, and the breads I've baked or bought taste pretty lousy on their own but are OK as toast. I've yet to master challah. I tried the pull apart version tonight and it was pretty awful. Next week I'll try L's recipe. I've also tried a few cookie recipes; none of them are good. It seems to me that the GF recipes rely heavily on dairy and eggs; without them, the results are crumbly and rather tasteless. I found this great resource here that reviews lots of products, plus Pam Vagnieres has classes that showcase homemade foods. I'll be looking into those soon. 

We have a big weekend coming up. Tomorrow Ted has Trek (I'll be hanging in the lodge this week...still getting my strength back after 3 days of the sickies) followed by Ninja Nite at TKD. I've worked out a sweet deal wherein I "work" Ninja Nite; in exchange, my kids are free. Once the movie starts, I can clear out and get a bite to eat myself, unless I want pizza. Speaking of, what am I going to bring for Ted to eat? Oy. Sunday School starts up again, at 9am this semester. I'm singing with the Greeks, so Paul will pick him up, and his buddy Jack. I'll drive them both to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for Alex's 7th birthday party. 7! These kids are turning seven! Lordy.

One more point to make, because it's really funny. And painful. This is a random way to fall into an exercise program, but Crunchy Chicken, or was it the Crockpot Lady?... one of them anyway, mentioned the 30 Day Shred, an exercise program by the woman in charge of The Biggest Loser TV show. Since we don't have TV, I don't know that I've ever seen the show, but I know what it is. And suddenly, since reading that post, the 30 Day Shred is popping up all over the blogosphere. So I thought I'd try it. It arrived yesterday but I was sick as a dog. Amber fixed me up with homeopathic remedies and I feel about 90% today ... amazing. So I did the Level 1 workout today. It was hard. Totally do-able, but I am NOT moving up to Level 2 until it feels easier. My 5 pound hand weights might be too heavy for my wimpy self. Wish I had some 2 or 3 pounders. Oh well. Seriously though, I will be curious to see my level of "toning" after 30 days. Paul has agreed to do it with me at night (we usually do situps, pushups, curls and the plank while watching Star Trek at night...are we living large or what?) This program plus my mellow running or walking with Ole will make for a nice winter program, I think.

*update* Paul found the abs sections hard and I found the arms sections hard. Interesting. Is that a male/female thing, I wonder? 

imagery

President Barack Obama rests his hand on President Lincoln's Inaugural Bible as his wife Michelle Obama holds it as he takes the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

We're famous!

What an incredible experience. It was so fantastic to be there and feel a part of things. When the crowd was told to stand, we stood! When there was a moving moment, we cheered. When we were particularly excited, we rose to our feet. Awesome. Good luck, Mr. President. You have a lot of work to do, but we are behind you 100%!

MLK Day

This morning, the kids played outside for hours. Still high 50s and sunny. When they came in requesting a snack, we munched and then watched Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. Ted, as expected, was very interested and full of questions. Horizons did a good job both last year and this year discussing the Civil Rights Movement, I think. Tomorrow, he and I will go the Boulder Theatre to watch the Inauguration live. Yee haw!

I thought this editorial cartoon was fantastic this morning. Well done.

And in piano news, Sam had his 2nd lesson this afternoon. He has four new songs to learn, 2 for the LH and 2 for the RH. Way cute. He loved it (I was outside with the others, but Karin said he was totally engaged the whole time.) He is really liking this. Sam got into the van after his lesson and informed me that he had piano "work" to do at home. He is so proud. Cutie!

I'm really excited to "go to the Inauguration" tomorrow. Horizons' 2-3 and Middle School grades will be there, with other sections of students from all over Boulder Valley. Strangely, the 100 "extra" seats didn't sell out (perhaps people, like myself, didn't realize they were available to the layperson) so we got lucky. I'm sure Horizons will do a good job doing activities related to the inauguration, but I really believe being there is the best thing. It's so historic. The next time a president is elected, Ted will be almost 15 (assuming Obama makes it 2 terms, which I highly expect he will). Very exciting!

ski pix

My kid is such a goofball. Eldora does "official class pics" but of course Ted was being silly. Cutie.

Anything is possible

Tomorrow there are lots of MLK events going on in Boulder. We'll make sure to go to one of them. And then on Tuesday, Horizons is spending most of the day doing activities related to the inauguration and the civil rights movement. What an exciting time.

Poles!

Today was a fantastic day for skiing. The weather was in the high 30's and sunny. I was really hot during my lesson (I started out worse than I ended last week, but really got the hang of the parallel turns this week. I just had to let up on my uphill ski...it feels like such a loss of control but it sure feels better!) Ted had a great day. Because of the holiday weekend only 4 of the 6 kids were there today. We found out that Moe, his instructor, is his 1st grade teacher's ex (they are very amicable and we saw a lot of Moe last year when their son Sam was an 8th grader.) So that made the world a little smaller. They did the Challenge (Challenger?) lift today and did 2 very steep runs and the rest long runs all around that side of the mountain. Ted was quite jazzed about it. Moe said they kids were ready for poles. It's not a requirement, but they are ready for them if they want them. So we forked over the dough and got him some cute poles that will extend long enough to last him til high school, at least. And if he's short like his parents, maybe even longer! He is very excited.
Wednesday they go up with school (I'll have him leave the poles til next Sunday's class) and it's hard to imagine that a year ago he had never been on skis.

back to the restrictions

The results of Ted's stool tests are in. His IgC levels for gluten, dairy, egg whites and pineapple were very high. Now, this is not an anaphylactic allergy (that's reserved for the shrimp), rather, these tests show that his stomach can't properly digest these foods. Ted has been complaining of a mild stomachache for as long as I can remember. We've gone GF before, and it's a struggle for him, because he loves bread and bagels. We are going to go the cracker route this time, and try (bribe?) to get him to eat grains like rice and quinoa etc. 

Dairy is easy; been there, done that. 

Eggs are also easy. He won't eat them straight but they are in everything I prepare (muffins, breads, pancakes etc.) so I'll just go back to my egg substitutes that I've used in the past. 

Pineapple is interesting. Apparently it's a very high allergy food. Who knew?! Ted loves pineapple, so in the summer I'll be careful to not have it in the house so he can enjoy it when he's out and about with friends. 

The gluten is the real bummer. I am, of course, so lucky and relieved that it isn't an actual allergy, but rather an intolerance. 

Back to the drawing board.

And Sam had a fall on Tuesday. He fell backwards into an almost-empty hot tub at swim class. Being a kid (i.e., a rubber band) he was unharmed. I have to forcibly stop myself from playing the "what if?" game, because it's too scary. We did keep him home from school today to watch him, but he was fine. Oy. 

Today I met with 2 therapists, one for Ted and one for Mae. Geesh. I'll blog more about those sessions tomorrow because they were both excellent. I have some great tools for Ted and am feeling hopeful about my improved interactions with Mae (caustic Mae, that is. I get along just fine with nice Mae.) ;-) 

Ski Day #2

Yesterday was Ted's 2nd day of Trek. It was freezing and windy, so the 3 girls were all crying by lunchtime. I did buy Ted a fleece (which is why I saw the weeping) but he was fine. The new mittens with hand warmers + liners seemed to work. Sam had a half day lesson after lunch, with 3 other kiddos, and learned how to pizza. He still can't stop, but the pizza somehow prevents him from falling, so he is happy as a clam. I think he could ski this way for a long time and be thrilled. And I had a lesson too. We started on the Magic Carpet (hee) and progressed to the carrot  and then to Little Hawk. I did great! Ken was really mellow and nice to me, and taught me how to link turns, rather than staying in a ridiculously gigantic wedge the entire time. I'm so encouraged. He says the EZ lift (technically the Green lift) leads to runs that are 3 times longer than Little Hawk, but are actually less steep. So we're going to to there next week. This is a real breakthrough for me. Hooray! 

Ah...back to the routine

It's nice to have the kids back in school, although today (Thursday) I spent the whole time with Ted and Mae. But anyway, I digress. Everyone seems happy to be back at school. Ted's been a TKD maniac. Now that he's in Leadership, he's allowed to SWAT (assist) in any class, so he went to 3 classes yesterday. He was exhausted but happy. I was hungry. I need to plan for this in the future. 

Today Ted had his first swim class with SwimAmerica. There were only 3 kids (all boys) in his lane with 2 instructors, so they had lots of attention. Today, the first day of the session, they reviewed. Since Ted didn't know any of the terminology, I was impressed with how carefully he was watching and listening. Afterwards, I told the instructor that Ted hadn't come from SwimAmerica, and she was surprised. She said she always had him go first in drills because he seemed so on top of it. She thinks he's doing great. Hooray. Ted had fun and liked the other kids and the teachers, so I think this'll be great. I'll totally put Sam in with him next Fall. Maybe even Mae too! *gasp* I can't imagine bailing on Judy, but the concept of all 3 kids at the same time is pretty appealing. We'll see. One step at a time. I knew almost all the other parents from Rock Creek Flyers; I didn't realize they were so connected, but I guess with Gretchen as the head coach of both, it makes sense. That was fun. 

I mentioned to Paul the bonus: at least Ted will get one shower in a week! He's been having some "personal hygiene challenges" lately, but wants a hot shower to warm up after swimming. Win-win! (Is this normal boy behavior? Lordy, you'd think he was allergic to soap or something, the way he carries on!)

First Piano Lesson

I just love this picture. So adorable! Today was Sam's first piano lesson with Bestemor. To say it was sweet would be an understatement. And Sam had a blast. Which is the point! They started at the table, tracing his hands and labeling the fingers 1-5, writing LH and RH on them, etc. Then they played some Orff instruments, learning the proper way to put the mallets, or what-have-you, down afterwards (instrument care 101?) and then went downstairs to the piano. She showed him the groups of black keys and had him find all the 2s, all the 3s, then showed him where C and F were (1..2..C...1..2..3..F...) and had him find all those. He was very interested in the recorders so they did that too. Then they went back upstairs and did some more Orff instruments, had a snack and did some more drawing, this time of whole notes, half notes and quarter notes (not that Sam knew what they were, but she showed him how a circle can be a note, a circle with a line can also be a note and a circle colored in with a line can also be a note.) Kewl. When I taught piano, I only ever had 2 kiddos as young as Sam, and it was slow going. But they learned and they liked it. Sam wiggled "his 1's and 2s" etc for the rest of the day. Surprisingly, Ted already knew where C and F were on the piano (?) but was very interested in the finger numbers. I told Sam to teach him. Love it! 

Ted had his 1st Leadership class today, following his regular class. He loved it. They reviewed Songham I (which Ted learned when he was 5...it'd been a while!) and talked about SWAT (can't remember what it stands for but it means they can go into any lower rank class and assist, if they teacher wants them, or they can just do the class for review.) and about their GOALS for the next 90 days. Ted wrote "My goal is to get my Brown Belt by March 5, 2009." That's a very attainable goal! He was so jazzed to be there. Now I'm on a mission to lower the cost of the program. Mr. D agreed that if I could find the same stripe material, I could just sew the stripes on his collar rather than spend $150 on a new uniform. Can you say, heading out to the fabric store tomorrow? hee. We're also going to hold off on the new double weapons (same weapons, different color, and two of them. Why? I don't know.) Anyway, very cool. 

Everyone starts back to school tomorrow. Can you hear the whooping from where you're sitting? I love my children, but I really really cannot stand the constant fighting. No wonder I was an only child. Oy. Welcome back to structure! Hooray! 

I caved

Do you see it? The ads? On the right side? After 3+ years of blogging, I finally caved and put ads up. Why not, I figure. Google does a nice job of tailoring the ads to your blog's content. I know I've discovered quite a few services and products from other people's blogs, so I know it works. Anyway, just to avoid someone gasping in horror at the sight, yes, I know. You'll get there eventually too!

And, on a similar note, I've published my first x-post to BlogHer, a network of "women bloggers" that provides a sort of "one stop shopping" for blog reading. It's cool and I'm honored that my humble little "musing" post was accepted. A small goal for myself this year is to focus more on the blog, to think more about the topics I want to write about, rather than a bulleted list of what we did that day. Which is pretty interesting to me, but the rest of you? Not so much, I imagine. So, expect a bit of a change on the blog, with more "thought" and a little less "daily summary." Only a bit thought. Because truly, with kids as cute as mine, who wouldn't want to know every detail of their lives? *ahem*

a reminder of who I was, before...

Today was a very thought-provoking day. I had a church gig this morning, so got up and out the door fairly early. I listened to my favorite Flicka CD in the car. Listening to my beloved Monteverdi that early set me up for a contemplative day, I believe. We had our rehearsal and then sang the mass. Afterwards, my friend Dawn and I had brunch at a cozy diner a few blocks from the church. Everything about this morning reminded me of my time in Chicago, living in Lincoln Park, going to DePaul, taking the El or walking everywhere, rehearsing constantly, listening to opera every second I wasn't practicing, and generally having the time of my life. It was stressful too, of course. I didn't like the constant homework (counterpoint assignments ...blah! music history tests...oy!) but did enjoy the consistent work (church jobs, recitals, opera roles, lessons, etc.) that kept me 100% focused on my "career path." 

I love my life, but it often lacks the small spark of who I once was, before kids. Having children is, without question, the true purpose of my life. But, every now and then, it's a kick to revisit that lifestyle. I hope to return to it some day, but until then, I'll thoroughly enjoy these brief sojourns into who I am, at my core. It's funny, isn't it? that raising a family is so all-encompassing, yet it isn't (at least for me) ALL of who I am. There is this other life, this other person, this singer-performer-teacher, that lurks beneath the surface of homemade bread and cloth diapers. The time will come when that facet of my life can pop out again, but happily, and most importantly, joined and supported by the family Paul and I have created.

But it was really fun today, living that life, if only for a few hours. 

(This post is x-posted on BlogHer, my very first post there! 

A big day for Sam

Today was Ted's first day of Trek. Sam wanted to come along and do some skiing with me. So I took him along and we had a blast! I expected him to hate the exertion and effort, but he loved it! He was very annoying in the lodge, but he had lots of fun on the Bunny Hill with Magic Carpet and was actually mad at me when it was time to return his skis to the rental place. I think he'll do a half day lesson next Saturday. My friend Tara broke her wrist snowboarding and spent the afternoon at the ER. She has a cast up past her elbow and may need surgery. Yikes. Hope you recover soon, Tara!

I am so pleasantly surprised at Sam's enthusiasm. Who knew?!

Happy New Year!

Well, Happy January 1, everyone! I hope your first day of this fresh new year was all you hoped it to be. Isn't it funny how special Jan. 1 is? A blank slate, a fresh page... I love it. I also love "Back to School" which is many ways feels more like a new year (aha! and it is for me!) but without the satisfying change in numerals. I spent some time planning my running for the year, or at least the next few weeks. I'm not going to spend the $$ to join the Bolder Boulder Training Group as I had planned, but I did devise a running schedule based on chats with Sarah (who is a member). I'll run Tempo Runs on Tue/Thu. I have a 4 week program to get me up to a 20 minute tempo run, with a 10-15 minute warm up and cool down. This is supposed to help you increase your speed in racing. Because, you know, I've got those races to win. Ha. Mon/Wed/Fri I'll either hike or run easy. Saturday or Sunday will be the long run. While Ted is at Trek, there is a nice 10K route at Eldora I may try out. Otherwise, I have plenty of choices for Sunday runs. I have a singing gig with the Greeks this Sunday, but it's not a weekly commitment, so Sundays are good days if Saturdays don't work out. I signed up for the Frozen Foot 5K on Feb. 8 for my next race. They actually changed my Colder Boulder time on the website to 29:55 (I KNEW I was under 30:00!!!!) so my goal for this next 5K is sub 29:30. Gotta get far enough below 30:00 to make it a habit, not a nail-biting hold-your-breath wish. And this race, I promise I'll set my own watch! 

At today's New Year's Party, I brought the crockpot brie dip. It was devoured. I love my crockpot. I love the crockpot lady. Do you have a crockpot? Do you have any fun recipes to share? Check Stephanie's blog for SURE, because it's just chock-full of recipes. I think I'll be eating a LOT more vegetables this year, thanks to all the scrumptious crockpot dips (not that they are all that healthy! The fantastic garlic dip (that I pretty much inhaled all on my own, thank you very much) had an entire block of cream cheese in it. Heh.)