Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

You call it horribly tacky. I call it wonderfully festive. 

• be terrible at parking. In my defense, I'm legally blind in my left eye so my depth perception is off. I normally try to park in the back of the parking lot so I'm away from others, but those cutesie, sarcastic "You Suck At Parking" notes people post on the internet make me shudder. It's only a matter of time before I get one on my van...
• actually like "ugly" Christmas sweaters. Beauty is in the eye of the sweater-holder.
• love our Elf on the Shelf. If you don't do it at your house, that's okay. But don't be a hater! 
• to miss blogging. :) I'm baaaaaack! 

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay! 

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• miss watching Thomas the Tank Engine. It was such a huge part of Riley's life for so long before he insisted on growing up!
• hear you kid describe an episode of Bob's Burgers and realize it probably isn't the best show for them to watch. 
• think the word "epic" is way overused. It's epicly annoying. EPIC.
• not give a hoot about Kanye and Kim's baby. I. DON'T. CARE. The amount of care that I don't give is epic. (<-- did="" i="" li="" see="" there="" what="">

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay! 

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay To...

• both look forward to and dread school being out.
• be glad Grace doesn't have therapy this week. She has four awesome therapists that are doing such a great job with her. But we needed a break! (A few minutes after typing this her speech therapist showed up. I had rescheduled it and forgot. Oops!!)
• really hate having the captcha thing on my comments now, but I got a weird rush of spam!
• curse your dishwasher because it's not getting anything clean...and then realize you never actually turned it on. 
• take three days writing a post because life happens.

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay! 

It Should Be Five Cents

Shopping for clothes is the worst. And everything is so dang expensive. I always feel like Lucy from the MetLife commercials.

"It should be five cents!"

My lack of decent clothes became very apparent when I wanted to wear something nice for Brenna's Preschool Graduation. I knew my yoga pants and faded shirts were just not going to cut it. 

It's so easy for me to put myself last, because I'm just a stay-at-home mom. I don't need to look nice for anyone in particular. I mean the people at Meijer don't care what I look like as long as I pay for my groceries before I leave. 

But I should care. Not taking care of yourself can be a slippery slope that begins with wearing sweats everyday and can end with a very negative self-image. I need to remind myself that I deserve more than garage sale jeans that don't fit and my husband's old t-shirts.

So I threw caution to the wind and bought myself a new outfit. And spent a whopping $37. We can certainly afford to spend $40 every now and then to make sure I'm presentable when someone comes to the door.

I think I could get used to this shopping thing.

 

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• read more than one book at a time. 
• love that Brenna is at the age where "Princess" is still a feasible future career.
• want to body check the woman who made a snide comment about Grace screaming while at the library. I don't like it either, but smacking her is not an option. Me slamming you into the bookshelf is a possibility.
•  wonder if anyone does have any practical ways to get her to stop screaming in public? She's two and doesn't listen to reason.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Burgers
Tuesday - Oven Tacos
Wednesday - Cocoa Wheats and toast
Thursday - Pepper Steak
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Southwestern Chicken Salad
Sunday - Nachos

I really need to start planning lunches for the weekends and during the week now that school is almost over! I buy for packed lunches, but lunches at home always end up being a free-for-all.

What do you like to have for lunch?

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Sloppy Joes, slop sloppy Joes
Tuesday - Taco Salad
Wednesday - Biscuits and gravy
Thursday - Chicken Fried Rice
Friday - Pizza
Saturday -
Sunday - Baked Ranch Chicken

The End of One Chapter, Beginning of Another

4 Days Old. Wasn't this just yesterday?

Grace will turn 3 in September. That means she will "age out" of First Steps, our Early Intervention program in Indiana. Our next recommended step for her development is the Special Needs Preschool.

I will be completely honest and admit that I DID NOT want Grace to go to the SN Preschool. All I could imagine was Grace being stuck in her "wheelchair" all day, having to go to school with kids who are severely disabled and/or have serious behavior issues.  Basically, I had a terrible view of a SN preschool, but I had never actually been to one.

Last week Jeff, Grace and I visited the preschool she could attend in the fall. I prepared myself for the worst and was looking for any small sign of the horrible conditions they were surely going to hide from me.

Thankfully my initial view of the preschool was very wrong. The kids were happy, comfortable in the environment and as well behaved as any preschool class. The teachers did a great job leading the class, but also took cues from the little ones and changed the game plan as they went. (They were a little more rambunctious than usual, so instead of expecting them to sit and do circle time, she took them outside to the playground to run around.)

I'm still in pretty deep denial about having a "special needs" child. Grace is normal in so many ways, but she does need some extra help in others. Deanna from Everything and Nothing in Essex wrote a beautiful post that put my attitude in check. Please read it here.

In the fall my last baby will be going to preschool. We'll start her out at the special needs program and see where life takes her from there.

I may need a large support group for that day.

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• not understand why everyone hates dandelions. They are such a cheerful weed.
• be so ready for my kids to be out of school. And know I'll be ready for them to go BACK to school within a few weeks of summer break.
• wish that life, like some schools, required a uniform. Clothes shopping is the worst.
• think the best thing to do on super-nice days is throw the windows open and nap.

Check out Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

Menu Plan Monday

Nothing to major on this week's menu. It's so much easier to have simple dinners that my family will actually eat! And now that it's warm, I can't wait to break out the propane and propane accessories (name that cartoon!)  and grill out!

Here's what we're eating...

Monday - BLTs
Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday- French Toast
Thursday - Stir Fry
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - BBQ Chicken
Sunday - Cavatini

what are you having this week?

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• be a little sad my son doesn't seem to enjoy sports. He has no interest in playing baseball, football, etc. We agreed not to push him into anything he doesn't ask to do, but I still want him to fall under that grubby Little League-er stereotype. He loves to run and wants to do the Turkey Trot 5K with me this year, so maybe I have a little Cross Country runner on my hands!
• be SO ready for the weather to figure out what it's doing. My poor sinuses can't take anymore.
• STREAK! May is Pediatric Stroke Awareness Month. Many of you know that my daughter had a stroke before birth. Every single day in May I'm going to run a mile because my daughter can't. I'm also going to share a pediatric stroke fact on my Facebook account to help raise awareness.

Check out Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay! 

Menu Plan Monday

Can it really be almost May? After this month, I will have a second grader, a kindergartener and possibly a preschooler (more about this in a different post!) My babies are growing!

I've planned out the menu for the month using this template:

Mondays - Sandwiches
Tuesdays - Mexican
Wednesdays - Breakfast for dinner
Thursday - Asian
Friday - Pizza Friday, of course
Saturday - Mom's favorites
Sunday - Family Favorites

Figuring out what to eat is so much easier when start with a template to follow. I'm also changing my grocery shopping a bit this month. Normally I would make one giant list and buy the groceries to feed my family for two weeks. I only have to go to the grocery store twice a month, but it's a LONG trip and after the first week is over, we are out of bananas, lettuce, milk and other fresh foods and our grocery budget is emptied. So for May, I'm increasing our grocery budget by $100 ($600 instead of $500) and going to the grocery store weekly. The trips will be shorter, I can buy exactly what we need that week and we'll have fresh fruit/veggies more often.

Monday - Burgers (black bean burger for me)
Tuesday - Chicken tacos
Wednesday - Breakfast burritos
Thursday - Sesame noodles and vegetables
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Chicken Parmesan
Sunday - Pot Roast

What are you eating this week?

Are You Sleeping? (And a menu!)

Sleep is an elusive thing at the Rudd household. Our older two do just fine normally, but the little one...ah, that little stinker. She seemed to think that 3 AM was Dance Party time! WOO HOO! She'd finally go back to sleep around 6, which is just in time for me to get the other kids up and ready for school. This arrangement was NOT working for me. We tried co-sleeping. She LOVED sleeping in the "big bed". I did not enjoy sleeping with a bed hog. And we still had our 3 AM dance parties.

A few weeks ago, my older two were on Spring Break. I had them bunk together and started some hardcore "Cry It Out" bootcamp for my little night owl.

To my surprise, it worked! It was so much easier than I expected. She did cry for about an hour the first two nights, but now requests to go to bed. "Bed...sleepy...nigh-night"

I think we were both ready to get a good night's rest on a regular basis.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday - Fast food. We only eat it about twice a month and tonight was treat night!
Tuesday - Cool Ranch Chicken Tostadas
Wednesday - Taco salads
Thursday - Roasted Ranch potatoes and salad
Friday - Pizza Friday!
Saturday - Leftovers

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday! (Plus, My Menu!)

It's been a while! But it's still okay to...

• be hurt by a situation that seems trivial to others. You don't need permission to have feelings, just deal with them wisely.
• to have never heard a Luke Bryan song. 
• have so many books you want to read, crafts you want to do, and projects you want to sew that you feel paralyzed and just do nothing. 
• Love British TV. My new favorite is Call The Midwife. So good! I love Chummy.
• think people who buy my kids microphones should be tortured by being forced to listen to loud, off-key versions of Taylor Swift songs. Just. Like. ME. 

I'm keeping my menu simple lately. After trying new recipes my family was less than enthusiastic about, I'm sticking to old favorites for a while. 

Monday - we had chili
Tuesday - we're having goulash (which is just leftover chili with elbow macaroni)
Wednesday - Hamburgers and Fries (I'm making myself a black bean burger)
Thursday - Baked Ravioli
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Hot Dogs

Don't forget to stop by Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

Menu Plan Monday

Our first meatless Monday was a hit last week! Well, it was a hit with the adults. The kids were pretty sure I was trying to poison them. I topped my black bean burger with avocado and tomato. YUM! I'm looking forward to trying more meatless meals. And I'll keep those frozen pizzas on hand for the kids.

Monday - Middle Eastern Rice with Black Beans and Chickpeas
Tuesday - Chicken and Biscuits
Wednesday - Penne and Meatballs (We didn't eat this last week.)
Thursday - Leftover Buffet
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Cheesy Beef Enchiladas

What do you have planned for this week?

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• shave one leg and then give up.
• need about a day and a half to catch up on my DVR. I still haven't even watched the last episode of Downton Abbey.
• have a very love/hate relationship with the game Candy Crush Saga.
• Do this to your family:

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

Menu Plan Monday

In an effort to trim our grocery budget (and my waistline!) I'm going to try and start having a "meatless" Monday. I didn't discuss this with my family because I'm pretty sure they will hate the idea. But I will press on! And buy extra frozen pizzas just in case...

Monday - Black Bean Burgers and fries
Tuesday - Cheddar Chicken and Potatoes
Wednesday - Penne and Meatballs
Thursday - Leftover Buffet
Friday - Pizza, Salad
Saturday - my nephew's birthday party and I'm eating out with friends!
Sunday - Cowboy Quesadillas

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• join the mini-van crowd. I've been spoiled by the huge amount of room and stow-and-go seats. As a friend said, "Once you go minivan, you never go back!"
• think that adult women should not have Easter egg colored hair. A few interesting highlights are nice. Pink to support Breast Cancer Awareness is good. Anymore than that and you should leave it to the 18 year olds.
• track your daughter's poop. Grace has constipation issues and our current tactics don't seem to be helping, so we're tracking and trying to figure it out. And before you ask, yes - there is an app for that.
• love the fact that Brenna had a hard time choosing between a light saber and a princess doll at the store the other day.
• try Flylady again. I really think she's on to something.
• promise to try and blog more. As long as the stomach flu stays away for good!

Check out Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

Menu Plan Monday

We ate out waaaay to many times this weekend because I failed to have a plan. I don't mind the occasional fast food dinner, but its so expensive for our family of five, it normally makes us all feel sick afterwards and honestly it never really tastes that good. So I'm determined to have a plan from now on!

This week will be:
Monday - Baked Chicken Breast
Tuesday - Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas
Wednesday - Chili
Thursday - Goulash
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Kielbasa
Sunday - Beef and Noodles

What are you eating this week?

52&7 : Half-time Report

26 days ago I posted my resolutions and explained I was going to follow Jon Acuff's lead and focus on certain things for 52 days at a time. So how am I doing?

Financial
*Update the checkbook daily.
- I'm not doing this daily, but at least every other day. I can see me needing to do this less eventually(since I don't spend money everyday), but for now I need to stick with making this a serious habit.

 *Reduce grocery budget by $25/month.
- The funny thing about reducing your grocery budget is you have to know how much you spend to begin with. I know how much our budget allows, but I don't actually follow that when I'm at the store...oops! I'm going to start taking out the cash and using the envelope system with this to help me track it better.

Physical
*Exercise 4 times a week for 30 minutes.
- My 10k training plan gets me moving three days a week. That fourth day has been a challenge, but I'm doing it!

*Lose 12 lbs in 52 days.
- I hate this resolution. I gained a few pounds back over the holidays and they just don't want to let go. Since the exercise is there, I really need to re-evaluate my diet. I won't make the 12 lb loss by my goal date, but I'm hoping to at least be back down where I was before Christmas.

Social
*Refrain from any complaining, whining or ranting social media posts.
- This has been surprisingly hard. I always thought of myself as a positive person, but I find myself second guessing posts. I have a lot of "friends" who don't know me in real life, I want them to know me as a positive person and not a Debbie Downer.

 *Reach out to encourage friends weekly.
- While I hope this comes naturally, this is not something I've actively focused on. 26 days to make it a priority!

Mental
*Read a non-fiction book every month. (This month is Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst)
- I finished Unglued (It was a nice read, but nothing life-changing.) And have moved on to The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber.

Job
*Do dishes every night.
- This is not a habit yet, but waking up to an empty sink is so much better than a sink full of dishes. A work in progress.

*Wake up 15-30 minutes earlier than everyone else.
- I've actually started a Hello Mornings Challenge to wake up earlier for sometime to read the Bible, exercise and just generally get myself prepared for the day. So far so good! (It's day 1!) :)

Family
*Stay off of iPad, phone and laptop from 2-8 PM
- Major fail on this one.

*Focus attention on family when they are talking to me.
- I'm making more of an attempt, but I'm not doing this 100%.

 Spiritual
*Read Joyce Meyer's devotional daily.
- I have already read this devotional and got bored with it very quickly. This resolution is in limbo.

*Fill my mind with only positive things - this means I'm giving up my love of ghost stories and shows about murderous wives for 52 days. Goodbye I.D. and Bio!
- Surprisingly hard for me! I did watch one episode of Dateline on ID. And felt wonderfully guilty the whole time.

How are your resolutions coming along?

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• downgrade your cable package and be the only one in the house who misses the 24 hour cartoon channels. Nick Jr. I miss you (specifically Olivia and Peppa Pig)!
• search for everything you might possibly need on Amazon. I signed up for the Prime membership (huge diaper savings!) and I'm determined to use it as much as possible!
• be sad that Grace doesn't want to cuddle much anymore. She's a busy two year old with too many things to do .
• to buy the book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems but wonder if you'll ever stay awake long enough to actually read it. I feel like I have narcolepsy lately...zzzzzzzzzzzz

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

State of Grace

I realized I haven't written about Grace for awhile. I think she is the reason most of you read my silly blog to begin with, so you deserve an update. :)

Best friends Grace & Jessie. 

Where do I begin? I guess we'll start at the top and work our way down.

Grace's new wheels. We ordered it in purple. 

• Grace's shunt has been working wonderfully since it was replaced earlier this year.
• Her vocabulary has exploded within the last few months thanks to the tips of our speech therapist.
• Her occupational therapist continues to work with Grace on using her left hand/arm consistently. She'll use her arm briefly, but it's something we'll have to work on for years.
• Grace is now able to get in and out of sitting by herself, climb over cushions, and take steps with assistance. She is a little pro with her gait trainer (a big walker) and I'm hoping she'll be standing on her own by this fall. 
• Today we ordered a "wheelchair" for Grace. It's basically a glorified stroller. She is getting almost too big to carry and has nearly outgrown the umbrella stroller. The main concern was if we decided to send her to the special needs preschool, they would want some way to transport her from room to room. It breaks my heart that we will have a wheelchair for Grace, but I just keep reminding myself that it's temporary. She is expected to walk. This is just some assistance in the meantime.
• Speaking of the special needs preschool, in a few months we will have a  meeting about her "aging" out of First Steps and what she will do then. It fills me with anxiety and is a good topic for a whole other blog post.

What you talking about, Mommy? 

Our biggest news has been with her vision. At the recommendation of a friend, I took Grace to the Low Vision Centers of Indiana. Dr. Windsor was so patient and helpful. Instead of being told that we "have to just wait until Grace can tell us what she can see", we were given so much more information on how to help her and what to expect. Grace has hemianopsia - which is very common in stroke victims. To get an idea of what Grace sees, place your hand over the left side of each eye. While she doesn't see just black, the brain blends in the space she can't see so it just looks very blurry, it does definitely limit her vision. It explains why she turns her head to the left to see (like in the picture above.) It helps open her line of vision. Try covering the left part of both eyes again. Now turn your head to the left. You can see a lot more! We go back in 6 months to see if she is ready for glasses.

I think that's about it! She's basically your typical two-year-old. She gets into anything she can, learning lots everyday and thinks the world revolves around her. And basically it does.

4.5

I went to Brenna's preschool on Monday to celebrate her half-birthday. Her real birthday is during the summer and she wouldn't have been able to celebrate it with her class.  Cupcakes and party games are a BIG deal to preschoolers and I didn't want her to miss out. So we arranged to celebrate now with pink cupcakes (she helped with the sprinkles) and two rounds of the Limbo.

 I can't believe she's almost 5. She's growing into such a wonderful little lady.

 

She's so loving and gentle. Very artistic. Thoughtful.

 

She's known for taking her time with everything. She's my "Pokey Joe" and I get so frustrated with her sometimes. I think we're learning to compromise - she speeds up a bit and I make sure to give her plenty of time if possible.

 

Brenna often falls victim to that "Middle Child Syndrome" and can get unintentionally overlooked. She's so quiet and agreeable that it's easy to just drag her along for the ride instead of focusing on her and what she may want. I'm working on that - trying to give her individual attention and affection I know she needs. She's such a sweet girl, I hate that she gets lost in the shuffle!

 

How do you combat the middle child syndrome?

 

 

 

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

 

• Think that Swiffer pads are super expensive. But with my track record of mopping, that box of 12 should last me about three years.
• Feel like I'm constantly buying clothes for my kids (because they refuse to stop growing!) but not be able to remember the last time I purchased clothes for myself...
• Fall off the wagon again. And again. And again. As long as you always make sure to keep getting back up.

Head to Airing my Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

I Saw the Sign {Pt. 2}

Have you seen Pitch Perfect? You should. I will forever think of that movie whenever I hear Ace of Base. I loved that movie! Anyway...

I needed some fresh inspiration around Ye Olde Treadmill so I pulled up Pinterest and got to work. Here's what's hangin' now:

Source

Source

Source Unknown

Source

Source

What motivates you??

52&7

   The new year. A clean slate. Everyone's full of hope for the future and no one has messed up their resolutions...yet.

Starting today, I'm following Jon Acuff's 52&7 method of goal setting. The idea is to break your goals up into smaller chunks and focus on them for 52 days at a time.It's hard to plan for an entire year - who knows what may happen? But you can do anything for 52 days.

So here are the 7 areas of my life I hope to improve and a few things I'm going to focus on for the next 52 days.

Financial
Update the checkbook daily.
Reduce grocery budget by $25/month.

Physical
Exercise 4 times a week for 30 minutes.
Lose 12 lbs in 52 days.

Social
Refrain from any complaining, whining or ranting social media posts.
Reach out to encourage friends weekly.

Mental
Read a non-fiction book every month. (This month is Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst)

Job
Do dishes every night.
Wake up 15-30 minutes earlier than everyone else.

Family
Stay off of iPad, phone and laptop from 2-8 PM
Focus attention on family when they are talking to me.

Spiritual
Read Joyce Meyer's devotional daily.
Fill my mind with only positive things - this means I'm giving up my love of ghost stories and shows about murderous wives for 52 days. Goodbye I.D. and Bio!


What are your goals for 2013? Are you setting goals for the whole year? Or doing it in chunks?