Swine Flu Too Close to Home

I’d like to say I’m one of those completely rational people unaffected by the news reports about the Swine Flu. We are a “news family” — my husband is a journalist and I’m a former journalist. But the emphasis is on the word “former.” These days, I’m first and foremost a Mom. I’ve got three kids, one being an 18-month old, and I’m a little scared, especially now that the news is reporting a case of Swine Flu in Ellisville, MO, which borders Wildwood, MO, where I live.

I know the case in Ellisville is actually a college student from Chicago who was diagnosed there and came home to Ellisville to recover. He says he is putting himself in voluntary quarantine. It still makes me nervous. What if someone from his household becomes infected and then goes out in public before showing symptoms?

So, I’m doing a few things differently and taking a few precautions.

• First of all, I was almost done weaning my 18-month old and had actually nursed her for what I thought was the last time on Tuesday night. Then I reconsidered yesterday and even had a conversation with my pediatrician. He said that it is extremely unlikely/almost impossible that my breast milk would have any antibodies to protect my baby from Swine Flu. But he acknowledged that there is research that breast milk does contain some immunity strengthening properties for babies. His advice: “If it makes you feel better to continue nursing her until this Swine Flu thing plays out, then do it.” My decision: Keep nursing her. What difference does it make whether she is weaned at 18 months or 19 months.
• When I heard yesterday that all area Walgreens are out of face masks, I decided to visit a small private pharmacy to see if they had any. They did, so I bought some “just in case.”
• I’m planning to keep my baby home from Moms Day Out and away from the YMCA nursery for a little while. I’ll run with her in the jogging stroller, or run on my treadmill, or let my in-laws watch her while I’m at the YMCA.
• I plan to nag the kids more about hand-hygiene, particularly when we’re out in public and when they return from school.

So far, that’s it. I know worrying about this won’t do any good. So, I’ll do what I can, pray about it and then go about my life as normally as possible minus the above-mentioned changes.

PS — my former employer, Standing Partnership, has a great post about reliable sources of information on the Swine Flu on Twitter. Check it out.

Win a 3-month Membership to Weight Watchers and Lose Weight!

Weight Watchers just launched the Momentum Walk-It Challenge, and to celebrate, they’ve given me two 3-month memberships to give away on my blog!

These memberships can be used for Weight Watchers in-person meetings or for Weight Watchers online. Meeting attendance costs $12 per week, plus the one-time registration fee unless you join during a free registration period. And the online membership costs about $65 for three months. So, these 3-month memberships are pretty valuable. Plus, you can get healthier and thinner and learn new/better eating habits, etc. etc. So, they’re actually priceless.

I’m a huge believer in the Weight Watchers program and I’ve written about that here and here and here. I lost all my baby weight on the Weight Watchers program and trained for my first marathon while also attending  meetings and learning to eat better. I’m  a lifetime Weight Watchers member, which means I attend meetings for free as long as I stay within 2 pounds of my goal weight. Unfortunately, I waned in my commitment over the last few months and I’m no longer within that range.  But that’s okay. I went back to my meeting today and re-committed myself to the program and to meeting attendance. I plan to be “free” again within two weeks. (There, it’s in writing).

I also signed up for the Momentum Walk-It Challenge (I’m a runner, so I’ll be “running” it) and I created a Walk-It Challenge team. That’s because my DH is joining Weight Watchers, too, and will be doing the challenge with me. We’re going to train for a 5K together sometime in the next eight weeks. I haven’t chosen our 5K event yet, but when I do, I’ll be writing about that, as well as my progress and my DH’s progress in the Walk-It Challenge training, here.

The Momentum Walk-It Challenge encourages all Weight Watchers meetings members and Weight Watchers Online subscribers to get active this spring. Between April 12 and June 6, set an activity goal for yourself — like walking 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) — and Weight Watchers will give you access to the tools you need to get there. Join or create a walking team, or sign up for a 5K event and you can get a FREE 8-week online training program to help reach your goal. (I downloaded my free 8-week online training program and it is very cool and fun to use). So, if you win one of my free memberships, you’ll want to consider signing up for this challenge.

Now, onto the contest:  I’m giving away one 3-month Weight Watchers membership between now and May 8 and one between May 9 and May 15. To enter the first contest, all you have to do is post a comment below about why you want to win the membership and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Be sure to include your email address in the post so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. The contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. May 8. The winner will have three days to respond to my email or the prize will go to someone else.

For additional entries:

• Subscribe to this blog in a reader or via email (see the buttons in the upper right sidebar). Be sure to post an additional comment that you did this.
• Tweet about this contest, and again, post an additional comment with the link to your tweet.
• Blog about this contest, and post an additional comment with the link to your blog post.

Good luck.

Happy Baby

My “baby” was 18 months old on Friday. She’s talking up a storm. She jabbers constantly and in that jabber, you can hear words you recognize. She’s also talking and using her sign language together now. She’ll give the sign for plane while she says “aplane.”  She does the same when she sees a bird. She can clearly demand her favorite TV shows:

• “A Cue” for Blues Clues
•  ”Bop” for Barney because, sadly, her favorite character on that show is the ever-annoying, whiny Baby Bop
• “Mo” for Sesame Street and the lovable Elmo.

 On the day she turned 18 months, she started clearly saying “Happy Baby” while playing or when I released her from the bondage of her high chair so she could continue her hurricane destruction of my house. Early that evening, my husband and teen ran some errands and took her along. The errand-running ended at Silky Freeze (Dad’s are so much more fun when they run errands). On the way home, my teen fed spoonfuls of that delicious frozen custard to the baby, who expressed her gratitude by loudly proclaiming that she is a “Happy Baby.”

Her “happy baby” status is evident in this picture, which was taken on our visit to Vlassis Park in Ballwin, MO on one of those glorious spring days we had in St. Louis last week. She is delighted with the slide and so proud of her ability to navigate all by herself.

Don’t Eat the Mangoes

I did my grocery shopping yesterday and I was particularly organized this week because I’m really trying to get back on track with commitment the Weight Watchers way of eating. I gathered recipes I wanted to make on Wednesday, made my list on Thursday and went shopping on Friday. I have a list taped inside my cabinet of the recipes I plan to make, and one is a Weight Watchers Momentum recipe that includes mangoes. My older children LOVE mangoes, so I had to resort to this tactic to make sure my recipe ingredients didn’t disappear:

My 14-year-old thought this was hilarious. If you’re interested in the recipe, it’s from Book 6 of the Weight Watcher Momentum Plan and here it is:

Black Bean, Mango and Tomato Salad/serves 8 (I plan to triple this recipe, thus, three mangoes in my picture)

• 1 large mango, diced and divided
• 3 TBS fresh lime juice
• 3 TBS water
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 15 oz canned black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 C diced tomatoes
• 1/2 C diced sweet onion
• 1/4 C fresh mint or cilantro, cut into thin slivers
• 1 TBS minced canned or fresh jalapeno peppers

In a large bowl, mash 1/4 cup of diced mango with a fork; whisk in lime juice, water, oil, cumin and salt. Add remaining diced mango, beans, tomato, onion, mint and jalapeno to bowl; toss to mix and coat. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 1 day. Yields about 1/2 C per serving.

Volunteers Just Don’t Get Paid Enough

I have a couple of friends who stepped up to the plate last year for a rather large volunteer commitment.  They are both outstanding individuals with complimentary skill sets and personality traits. One is soft-spoken, kind, organized and technologically savvy. The other is more outspoken but respectful, logical, direct, determined and no-nonsense. They have done a good job in their new positions and may actually do a great job in the future, given the chance. But as so many volunteers have learned — myself included — no good deed goes unpunished.

I am amazed at the nastiness and back-biting BS that is sometimes directed at volunteers — in the case of my friends and in many other situations. I also am impressed with the ignorance of those who attack these volunteers. I am particularly humored by the protestations of those who claim to be attacking volunteers for the “good of the children” or the “good of the organization” yada yada yada. If you are undermining the work of someone who is a volunteer, or if you are bad-mouthing someone who is a volunteer, or if you are spreading gossip and criticism of the work of someone who is a volunteer, then you almost for sure have a personal agenda. Check your gut! Volunteers simply DON’T GET PAID ENOUGH to put up with your crapola.

SIDE NOTE: One of my favorite bloggers, Jenn at Mommyneedscoffee.com, has written some hilarious posts on volunteering, particularly with the PTA.  Jenn recently was elected PTA president, so I suspect she’ll have some very interesting posts on the subject in the near future.

Been Busy Running (in more ways than one)

I realized today that I hadn’t posted anything since my daughter’s birthday on Aprl 10. I’ve been too busy running (literally and figuratively). I recently bid on two freelance projects, secured and started one of those projects and was told that I am the “chosen one” for the other project when the funding is approved. The first project has a deadline of next week, so my workload has increased and I’m very busy again.

A few other updates:

• I celebrated my 42nd birthday, so I guess it’s time to update the header on this blog. But that requires spending a few minutes figuring out how to do that, so it may have to wait until my 43rd birthday.
• I took custody of my neighbor’s three daughters – ages 7, 5 and 3 - for 24 hours to help fill in the gap between when she and her husband left for a vacation/wedding and the arrival of the Nana. It was a busy day and night and gave me new respect for her ability to manage her household, be a good mom and friend, and cook and bake more often than I do. My 17-month-old loved having the girls in our house and she spent much of the day following them around and mimicking them as best she could.  The girls were very well-behaved, but taking time to blog was out of the question.
• I ran the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon (in the rain) with a time of 1:55:14, meaning I met my goal  to finish in under two hours.  I placed 45th out of 568 in my age group and was the 1,539th person out of 8,530 runners to cross the finish line.

Now it’s time to get back to work.

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!

• Heart:                                      10
• Personality:                          10
• Smarts:                                    10
• Inward Beauty:                     10
• Outward Beauty:                  10
• Strength of Character:       10
• Conviction:                             10

Okay, so I’m her Mom. I’m supposed to biased. But it’s all true.

When my daughter was born, and during the first few years of her life, I wrote letters to her that I keep in her scrapbook. I’ve kept up with the scrapbooks for the most part, but I haven’t written her a letter in a long time. She thinks the letters are goofy. I hope someday she will feel differently. If she wasn’t a teen and wouldn’t think me completely crazy, this is what I’d say to her on her birthday:

Dear Girlie,

You amaze me. You possess wisdom beyond your years,  discipline toward your school work and your sport that are admirable and determination that most adults cannot muster. Your ability to analyze a situation and problem-solve your way through life’s challenges are two of your greatest strengths that I know you will continue to hone. Your sarcastic and quirky sense of humor make me laugh (most of the time). Your Great Grandmother says that you were “never a baby.” I think that is her way of saying that you demonstrated “old soul”  maturity and intuitiveness, even in the innocence of childhood.

Your “childhood” is nearing an end. It’s hard to refer to you as a child now that you stand taller than me and may soon surpass my shoe size. I know you are anxious to shed the “child” label and that you are looking forward to high school, driving and general independence. But I hope that your remaining teenage years will still contain aspects of childhood. I’m anxious to see the woman you are to become, but not too anxious. You’ve grown up so fast. Every once in awhile, I get a glimpse of that baby I held 14 years ago, and and helped walk 13 years ago, and taught to cross the street 11 years ago, and practiced letters with 10 years ago . . . Now and then when you taste a food you don’t like, you make the same face you made when you were 2. Or you give me the same defiant look you gave me when I wouldn’t let you go out front by yourself. These days, when you argue vehemently about some aspect of your independence that you feel we are infringing upon, you resemble that preschooler who would stomp her fat foot and sometimes throw herself on the floor in a full-blown “drop and flop” — and you were usually protesting the same thing: infringement upon your independence.

Just yesterday, you were 4 years old, and today you’re 14. Happy Happy Birthday, Baby!

Here are some pictures from yesteryear to commemorate your day.

Three days old

First time in a pool, 3 months

First professional picture -- your eye is still swollen from an injury at birth.

1 year -- another day at the pool

Time to Speak Out and Forget About “The File”

I feel compelled on the eve of Good Friday to declare that the United States is, indeed, a Christian Nation. Sadly, our president chose to say otherwise on world stage during this, the holiest of weeks.

Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Our earliest laws came straight from the Old Testament of the Bible. These are simple facts that even those who rewrite/revise  history books would have difficulty arguing.

I was raised by a police officer and as a much younger woman, I entertained the idea of possibly joining the FBI or the CIA. For this reason, my father warned me against ever attending student protests on my college campus or ever putting in writing anything that could be construed as critical of our government. He told me that those agencies monitored that type of activitiy and would create a “File” on me if I were to ever ever go “on record” as being anti-government, regardless of my political party leanings. He said such a “File” would hinder my prospects of working for the Federal Government. I believed him, and thus avoided all student protests, didn’t sign petitions, and for the most part, I’ve steered clear of politics in my writing life — all in the name of avoiding the “File.”  

Well — bring it on. I’m absolutely willing to have my “File” established and let the first notation in said “File” state that I BELIEVE THE UNITED STATES IS A CHRISTIAN NATION. I disagree wholeheartedly with President Obama on a lot of issues, and this one just moved to the top of that list.

Great Hotel in Oklahoma City

We recently traveled to Oklahoma City for a swim meet and had a great experience staying in a SpringHill Suites by Marriott. The price point on this particular hotel is about $109, which is certainly reasonable. It’s even more reasonable when you factor in the  size the room, the breakfast, the amenities and the service.

SpringHill Suites, South MacArthur, Oklahoma City

There were four people in our party — my husband, my 10-year-old son and our 16-month-old daughter and me. The room was so large that we were able to put the portable crib (provided by the hotel at no extra charge) in the little cubby area by the sink, creating a perfect “out of the way” place for naptime and bedtime.

The living area provided enough room for the toddler to run around a little and for the rest of us to relax and watch TV.  I was able to work on my laptop, thanks to the free Wi-Fi, but the lobby also sported two updated computers with large screens and a nice printer.

Lobby

Our swim team also stayed at the hotel, and the complimentary breakfast was perfect for them. There were the usual eggs, waffles and pastries, but there was also a steaming pot of oatmeal with brown sugar, raisens and chopped walnut toppings, a vast array of fruit, yogurt and several healthy cold cereal choices. I was particularly fond of the multiple flavored Coffee Mate liquid creamer choices and the high-quality coffee that was available around the clock. And the employee who worked the breakfast was eager to help and kept everything fresh and refilled.

The desk staff was equally helpful and friendly, and Ryan was particularly courteous and efficient as he  helped us remedy a slight mix-up with our reservations. Then, the staff went above and beyond in the customer service department after we checked out. We left behind a bag FULL of dirty clothes and didn’t realize the clothes were missing until about four days after we returned home. We called the hotel and they had found the clothes in the room and were waiting for us to contact them. We received our stale, smelly laundry in the mail less than one week later. 

This stay — which was our first at a SpringHill Suites — definitely put this hotel on our radar for future travel.