Happy Easter = Chocolate Overload

I really meant well. I didn't want to buy a lot of chocolate for Lu on Easter... and well that lasted for all of 2 minutes by the time I entered a certain box store and was overwhelmed by loads of brightly coloured foil, expertly packaged cream eggs and oh so sweet, oh so delicious Lindor Easter egg parcels.

What was I to do? I grabbed as many goodies as my arms could hold and dashed to the check out before my PMS-laden psyche overruled whatever sense of responsible snacking I could justify for a few small, measly even, chocolate treats. Indulgently I scarfed down a silky smooth Cadbury caramel egg before reaching the car. I, of course, was able to justify that indulgence because we had gone skiing on Saturday. Ok... a bit of a stretch... but it is all I could think of while dashing to the car in the hopes no one would see me or recognize me inhaling a large, chocolate and sickly sweet caramel-injected confection. It was all done before I reached the car; not one amber coloured morsel left on my fingers to savour, not a speck of sinfully sweet chocolate to melt on my tongue - all I had to show for it was a fistful of foil and a guilty conscience.

But the good thing is ... I didn't buy ALL chocolate goodies.... I did make it to a Craft store and purchased a few small items for Lu. And I did all this because I love the thrill of a good scavenger hunt. I have already mapped out, in my mind, where the Easter Bunny is hiding the goodies on the property. I have the Easter Bunny hiding items inside the barn, under a few trees, at the entrance to the forest, beside our wood pile, up a few trees close to the house and perhaps a few other spots I haven't thought of yet. So in the end it will all work out. And most importantly, I will monitor what and when and how much of the sugar Lu will ingest at one sitting. I also have some great craft ideas to finish both before and during this weekend festivity.

Happy Easter!

Skiing in Vermont

We're back... we're sore... we're exhausted but most importantly we are very happy. We all achieved our own personal bests on the hill at Smuggler's Notch -- a really wonderful and family friendly resort... so much to do in too little time.

We tried to take advantage of all the offerings as best we could: ski lessons for The Husband and I... ski camp every day for Lu... Funzone, swimming, snowshoeing, Top of the Notch candlelight dinner, snow-tubing, restaurants.. but I really should have had a massage... next time for sure.

Lu learned so much and we are oh so proud of her. She rocked the Cookie race and got to meet (and hug) her hero Mogul Mouse.

Definitely going back next year.

Lots of work to catch up on... and lots of memories to cherish.

Enjoying the Great Outdoors

Now that the Olympics are over.. I feel like I am experiencing a bit of withdrawal... no more yelling at the TV during close races... no more inspiration from the wonderful, talented and humble athletes, no more excitement and Patriot pride... and no more access to really great programming on tv!

It's back to the same old, same old. I love watching the Olympics.. any Olympics.. summer or winter... whatever is on. And it was nice too, this year we could watch with Lu... she was really getting into hockey and speed skating, but of course her favourite was watching the "princesses" dance on the ice, or watching the speed demons on the downhill races. It was all so thrilling and magical.

And heck.. you never know.. maybe years from now we will be watching our own daughter excelling at an Olympic game at whatever sport she chooses to pursue... you just never know.

And of course I just assume she will be a great athlete. We spend a lot of time outdoors - playing, walking, riding our bikes, playing games, gardening, shoveling the walk, throwing the frisbee for the dog, hiking, swimming, sailing and skiing... but whatever we do... it is outdoor. I think this is so important not only for Lu's overall development but to also impart a love of sport, activity, healthy lifestyle and love for the great outdoors in her growing mind. This is so very important to us as individuals and as a family.

Recently, I read an article about how to keep our kids active and healthy at the peak of an obesity epidemic in children throughout the western world. The article stated three simple things to do with your kids which will help keep them active and fit: prepare your meals at home from scratch; get outdoors and active with your kids and be sure to eat most meals together as a family.

This really puzzled me... what are people doing? To me, those three simple things were a no-brainer.. we already eat every meal together at the table, we already prepare 98% of our meals from scratch and we already pursue a healthy and active lifestyle. Is it really difficult for the average family to follow these three simple suggestions?

With a little planning and foresight... these three things are very easy to accomplish and ... well, SHOULD be accomplished. I can't understand why someone would allow their child to get fat.. to get lazy and to have such unhealthy and unrealistic expectations. Apparently it is more common than we all know - considering all the overweight kids I see, daily, at the grocery store, in Lu's dance class, waiting at the bus stop, going to the movies with friends...and the list goes on and on.

The Agony of Living with a Withholder

This subject doesn't come up much in regular mommy conversations, let alone conversations in general.... I mean who wants to talk about poop.. and really.. who wants to talk about your kid who can't poop. It's tough.. you can't really appreciate what one goes through if you haven't experienced it yourself.

To the uninitiated... well.. heck.. so your kid can't/won't poop.. big deal.. the sun will still set... the earth will still rotate... it is really no biggie. Right?
Wrong.
My daughter has a fear of pooping. I don't know when or why or how this came to be - we never pushed potty training... she was eager to pee on the potty at the average age of potty training and has done this well ever since... and before then her daily constitutionals were as regular as one could expect from a baby... so I never, ever saw this coming. Until almost two years ago she started experiencing some constipation. But we were on top of that immediately.. to the doctor's... added mineral oil and more fibre to her diet (she already eats a very healthy diet as is... but we figured this couldn't hurt.) and life goes on.

Fast forward to this past summer... when it had already seemed like an eternity... we would cycle from severe constipation to finally getting some relief and then right back to the constipation. And this was no ordinary constipation.. this was raw and painful and bloated and cramping and nauseating... in a word this was bad! By this point too she was living on large doses of mineral oil so the constipation was baffling. Until we figured that she wasn't necessarily constipated, yet her fear of going poop on the toilet led to withholding for days.. which inevitably led to constipation and so on and so on. The cycle would continue and continue.

Finally our family doctor was tapped out of ideas so she sent us to a pediatric surgeon... he was confident at first -- heck.. he even promised that we would have this solved by Christmas (our first appointment was in October).. I was so elated... I could barely contain myself! We left the office that day with a renewed optimism and a prescription for Poly Ethyl Glycol -- a heavy duty laxative to clear her out and get her back on track -- the goal being to make it so she couldn't physically hold in her poop... and her poop would be of such soft consistency that she would be pooping regularly and would then realize it doesn't hurt and well.... pooping on the toilet would be the next logical step.

After multiple visits to the pedi's office... he was happy that the poly ethyl glycol was working. for the most part... and for the most part it was ... she wasn't in agony and constipated after weeks and weeks of withholding... she was willing to try to sit on the toilet (although still would not poop)... but all of these were wonderful positives that gave us hope. The pedi felt that he had done all that he could do.. and if we wanted to pursue this further.. it was time to take her to the bowel clinic.

The bowel clinic? There is such a beast? I had no idea.. and I had no idea that it would ever get to this.. that my sweet and mostly healthy, smart, happy, outgoing, athletic little girl was so afraid to poop on the toilet that she would rather writhe on the floor in extreme pain, all the while, holding back any urge to poop (unless she was desperate enough to put her own pull up on for relief). This has really gotten bad.

What do you do? We have tried everything.. ranging from taking away the diapers completely (which causes further withholding, and constipation as well as a piles of soiled underwear and clothing).. to rewards and bribes to talking, begging ... even pleading. We are so desperate now I don't even know which way is up.

And again.. unless you have been through this... it is not easy.. it is not fun... and it is downright mind-numbingly frustrating.

Our lives revolve around our daughter's bowels.. if the Poly Ethyl Glycol has been working as it should... and she isn't backed up.. we know we are good.. she won't be in agony and grumpy and disagreeable and afraid to leave the house in case of an accident... BUT if she has gone days and days and days again without pooping (despite the regular doses of laxative and other incentives)... you really can't go anywhere or do anything.. she will be tired and irritable and downright difficult.

You feel sorry for her.. you do.. you just want to wave a magic wand and make it all go away. How on earth could she pee on the potty with such confident ease.. and yet... the thought of a poop sends her screaming over the edge with fear and unconsolable sobs. This is really, really bad.

And to make matters worse.. I did the bad mother thing.. I was tired and frazzled and at my wit's end. I had spent two days home with Lu... the Poly Ethyl Glycol was burbling up in her system like a tsunami (she had gone 7 days at this point without pooping..so I had to up her laxative.. and well.. she was about to blow)... and so she did... there was diarrhea all over the place for most of the first morning we were home... accidents galore... messes on the floor and up the stairs... two baths and counting and raw bums and chapped and sore hands from all the wiping and cleaning and clearing away the mess. By the time day two had rolled around I had literally had enough shit to deal with. Time to up the ante so to speak. Lu came to me with a fresh pull up full of poop.. she wanted me to change her.. I was done. I couldn't do it anymore. Please Lu, I begged... let's go and try to sit on the toilet. "NO!!!!!".. I can't....I'm afraid"

This eventually progressed into me taking all her toys outside and "calling" someone to come and take away her toys. The bawling and uncontrollable sobbing continued (from both of us)... after 10 mins or what seemed like an eternity, Lu came to me and said she would sit on the toilet. In we marched to the bathroom and I plopped Lu down on her cushioned seat. She cried and looked at me with her pleading eyes. Ok.. she sat on the toilet, I thought.. enough.. time to end this.

So I whisked her off the toilet and into her room.. got her cleaned up and she helped me bring her toys back inside. I gave her a really big hug after that -- more for me than her... but I still felt awful. I let it get this far, this bad, this out of control.
I am such a bad mom. How did I let it get to this. And how do I make it end? How do I get Lu to sit on the toilet and poop without fear or whatever it is that is holding her back?

I really would do anything to help her.. to get over this irrational fear and to get off this brutally difficult treadmill we are on.. this horrid unending cycle of "has she pooped, when was her last poop... please, please try to go on the toilet... mommy is begging you... mommy is proud of you... mommy is tired of all of this.... "

How do I make it stop? How do I reassure my daughter that all is fine.. she has nothing to fear.. and that she is a big girl now...
This has been going on for more time than I care to remember. and it is time to stop....

The Cat Came Back...

Why is it that some people won't take responsibility for their pets? Whether they neglect them or abuse them or refuse to have animals under their care spayed or neutered? I just don't get it. And these same people who probably use the excuse that spaying or neutering is too expensive... well they are probably saying that as they sit in front of a giant screen tv and a 24 of beer. I just don't get it.

Then these same people figure if it's an animal.. it can survive in the wild. Why anyone would think that a domesticated animal could survive out of doors, in the cold winter without any survival skills is beyond me. So what do these people do? They spinelessly drive out to the country in the middle of the night and drop off their unwanted pets. Why can't they take them to the humane society... or find another home for them. What makes them think that dropping off a kitten or loyal dog in the middle of nowhere, late at night, when the temperatures are dropping below -25 celsius... that everything will be fine. Or I guess in probability these people just don't care. I'd love to catch someone - red-handed - doing this cowardly deed. I'm not sure what I'd do... but for sure I'd get a license plate number and call the police.. and then fantasize about beating the crap out of said cowards!!

So this is one "perk" of living in the country - the constant stream of unwanted animals clamoring to your door. Over the years we have rescued countless dogs, tons of cats, and even one time a poor, starving, young mother cat with her litter of equally starving and frightened kittens. Luckily we caught all cats and were able to get them safely to the humane society for warmth, food and I am hoping, a happy home!

Just this past November we came across a starving black kitten and decided to get him healthy and keep him. He is very cute and lovable and now looks the picture of health. Chippy is one of the lucky ones. Then, just this past weekend when the weather was so unbelievably cold, we found yet another black kitten. We brought her in for the night and fed her and gave her a safe place to sleep. All the while we frantically called neighbours and anyone we could think of - Hey.. do you want a cat?? Unfortunately most everyone's cat buckets were full. So all we could do was take her to the local Humane Society. The Humane Society graciously took her in and we hope, will be able to find her a home.... soon.

For now, I hope we will be free of any unwanted kittens, cats and dogs for the next little while. And I would love to see, one day soon, a society who takes better care of our animal friends. Is this too much to ask?

A Little Off-Topic...

.. but is it just me or were the Grammy's really, painfully boring? I don't know, maybe I am too old and I just don't "Get" the music industry anymore... everyone seems so overly manufactured and insincere and well... untalented. Where are the independents and the ground-breaking new sounds and the truly talented? Nowadays it is about who has the biggest hair, the biggest boobs and can sell the most albums? And is most certainly NOT about the music because basically today's music just sucks.

Sure there are many stand out, unique and highly talented artists - and of course many, many are from Canada (too many to list here).. but the big names from the US who always shape the trends and of course make the most money are all so bad, and boring and bland and run of the mill.

I am sure (hope) I am not the only one to feel this way. But after watching barely an hour of the Grammy's last night, I had to turn it off. Good riddance!

It's Bloody Fr-fr-fr-eezing!!!

Winter has arrived in all her freezing, windy, bone-chilling, frosty, breath-stopping, bitter glory!

Thus far this winter we have had it fairly easy with moderate temperatures, little snow and easy driving conditions. I knew.. deep down inside... I knew this winter was finally going to arrive... the real winter.. not the mamby-pamby winter we have been experiencing.

Today's the day... the temperature has steadily been dropping, the wind has been picking up its crescendo like a crazed, blustery, frozen omen and the sky resembles the steel grey hull of a giant, imposing, monstrous cargo ship. And life doesn't stop -- it can't... wood will still have to be chopped and brought around for the wood stove (which has been churning out warmth and ambiance all day)... I will definitely want to feed the birds on a day like today and will need to go out for a walk with the dog. But alas Lu is still sleeping soundly in the next room and I'll have to wait until she wakes up in her usual grumpy stupor. It is days like today that you crave the warmth of an early summer sun.. walking outdoors with sandals and maybe a light jacket to keep the breeze from making you feel slightly chilly.

But not today... today winter has arrived and it is bloody well fr-fr-fr-eezing!!