Weekend Wednesday?

Casadena

My roommate and i used to call it that in our early 20s - it was never the start of the weekend, we would just drink together on Wednesdays. I miss that sometimes, lol. 

Casadena

I successfully navigated bedtime with 2 clingy toddlers by myself last night and I'm super proud. H went golfing with a buddy so i had the boys all night and it went very well! We need to start doing more stuff out of the house and getting more comfortable with bedtime individually and this was a good start. 

I'm going to my favorite yoga class later today and H is handling dinner. 

SSDD otherwise!

ei34

Hooray for the successful bedtime @Casadena

I've mentioned my oldest's up and down outbursts/big feelings moments once or twice.  She'd been having a strong stretch for a couple months but has had three outbursts since Saturday, the most recent last night from around 1:30-2:15 (which is around the time I got her calmed down and back to sleep...I obviously laid awake until 3:50)...screaming, crying, trying to hit me, throwing pillows and stuffies at her siblings until they woke up, etc.  I'm so tired of worrying about her mental health, I guess I really naively took all of their mental health for granted, I've always hoped and prayed the kids would be physically healthy but in their earlier years I never really thought there'd be a mental health concern and I feel so ignorant and stupid for not thinking about it.  Ironically she had counseling yesterday evening and her therapist showed her a new breathing/five senses trick using her fingers, she was excited to show me, show my mom on Facetime...I tried doing it last night and she swatted my hand away.  I really like her therapist and instagram people like DrBeckyGoodInside, etc., but the truth is no one is there with you to help bring a kid down at 2am. And laying awake spiraling I'm obviously jumping ahead and thinking if this is her at 9, what on earth is 13 going to look like?  And 18?  Ugghhh the lack of sleep mixed with my period coming soon has combined for the most intense headache.  I could really use a cool, dark room to lay in where no one talks to me or needs me for like three hours.  

Okay. Vent over, how's everyone else?

Casadena

oh wow @ei34 that sounds so much like my G. I have attributed a lot of that to his cancer and generally poor physical health, but it's definitely possible it's much deeper than that. And I totally feel you on having all the "right" tools but feeling super alone in the middle of the episodes. I'm so sorry you guys are having a hard time and that she continues to make progress in counseling and that some her tools stick with her in the moment going forward. It's a really hard place to be. *hugs*

missJeanLouise

Hi everyone.

Oh @ei34 that sounds incredibly difficult. (((Hugs))) I hope the length of time between outbursts continues to grow. You are a good mom to even be concerned about her and doing the work you are doing.

Congrats on a smooth bedtime @Casadena. That only happens for me solo if DS watches way too much TV, stays up too, takes melatonin, or some combination of those. Mom medal for you too!

It's been a minute since I posted but I still lurk sometimes. @banana468 I hope your daughter is recovering. I missed what happened but I know she was hospitalized for some time. @charlotte989875 I think it was your H that had surgery. T&Ps for your household as well.

Things are pretty good. My sister and her husband came to visit in April, and now I am homesick for her company. DH and I took the kids to Zanzibar at the end of May. That was amazing, a seriously perfect vacation. I am still plugging away at school but may have bitten off more than I should have this term. Basically Ssdd over here. 

banana468

Hi @missJeanLouise!  We are home and recovering and have been since the 3rd.  After days of pain, a transfusion, CT scan, endoscopy and colonoscopy she's being treated for Ulcerative Colitis which is an autoimmune Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  She's responding well to treatment and I'm truly thankful for the thoughts of the group here.  

MissKittyDanger

@Casadena yay successful bedtime! I always feel accomplished when evenings go smoothly.

@ei34 it's absolutely not ignorant to ignore it. Since I struggle with it, I view it as optimism that BK won't have same struggles.
The senses thing is good - it doesn't work for me, but I can see why it would help.
For BK we have to get her to take 3 deep breaths before we can even engage with her about anything.
One of my bff's has sensory issues and when being tested, we all fully anticipated for her to be autistic diagnoses - nope, ADHD with sensory disfunction.

MissKittyDanger

My anxiety is bad today.
Last night was fine - we got dinner done, I even got BK's lunch done early so all I had to do after she went to bed was coffee.

We were all congested because we had an electrician come and there was dust kicked up as it was a lot of moving stuff.
Well apparently BK was worse than we realized, she rubbed her eye so much it was puffed up so bad.
Allergy meds and cloth on it.
Today another round of meds, and we had to watch because we started thinking pink eye.

This morning wasn't crusty - no more than usual - and wasn't as irritated.
So since no signs, she went to camp.
Clarified with them it's not pink eye, it's just nasty allergies but if it gets worse or anything changes they'll call us.
There was some bruising so I think BK really hurt her eye by rubbing it hard  


Edit:
BK this morning

VarunaTT

Oof, @MissKittyDanger, that's rough.  I've done the same thing as an adult, so I get it.

There is a sh!t show at work right now.  I'm somewhat tangentially involved and I'm just kind of in shock about it all, so I've been doing grunt work.  It's not my fault and it's not my problem, but it's still big. 

I have so much damn work to do and of course, it's all coming into my vacation week.  Part of me is thinking about coming in Monday and Tuesday, but dammit, I don't want to.  The other part of me thinks, All of this shit will still be here when I get back.  Really, most of this is still me working to fix the mistakes of the previous co-worker that was let go.  It's exhausting.  I might just come in at 5 am for the next 2 days and ignore the world until it's all finished.  I hate staying past 5, but that's looking like a possibility as well.

Otherwise, SSDD. Still feeling mentally out of sorts and just not sure what to do with/about it.  I'm thinking about going back to therapy, but I'd like to get these allergy shots spaced out first.  Then have to find a new one, which blows.  My old therapist retired.

short+sassy

@ei34, ((hugs)) you've been doing everything you can to help your kids' mental health.  Including pre-emptively starting therapy for them when the separation/upcoming divorce with your stbxh was out in the open.  Mental health progress takes time and sometimes it will be setbacks instead of moving forward.  But I know that doesn't help in the present moment when everyone is suffering from a lack of sleep!  I hope she starts responding better to treatment so she is in a better place for herself and also makes life easier for the rest of the family.

Work has been better for me over the last couple weeks.  I've been a lot busier which is great and has improved my mood.

Overall, I'm also feeling positive about my health changes.  I found out from my health insurance that I can get a different type of long acting insulin for free (Lantus) than the old fashioned stuff (NPH) I've been taking.  I took Lantus years ago but had to stop because of cost.  My stepfather had mailed me some fast acting insulin that he wouldn't be able to use before it expired.  It's almost the same as what I was taking, but works a little faster.  I have liked it a lot better and it's also free with my insurance.  My last endocrinologist appointment was on Friday and he gave me the thumbs up to make those changes and wrote me the scripts.

I also upped my dose of Mounjaro from 2.5mg to 5mg/week.  It's a powerful medication that needs to be "worked up to" over months, though a lot of folks never need to get to the highest dose (15mg/week).  Forums recommended breaking it in half.  So I took 2.5mg on Thursday, which would have been my normal weekly dose, but then took another 2.5 mg on Monday morning to make it 5mg for the week.  Thankfully, I did not have the 2 days of intestinal disaster that I did after my first dose ever, lol.  I think breaking it in half was a big help for that.

It didn't reduce my insulin usage any further, but the higher dose seems to have ramped up my weight loss.  I'd only lost 1.5 lbs over the last 2 1/2 weeks, which was frustrating considering how healthy and low-cal I've been eating.  But then I lost 1 lb. Tuesday morning (the day after the second 2.5mg for the week) and another 1.5 lbs. this morning!  Finally some progress (phew).  I'd like to end up at a place where I'm losing about 1.5 lbs./week.  But I have a lot to lose, so I'm hoping it is faster than that for the first 20-30 lbs.

A lot of people complain that they feel more lethargic taking this medication, it's one of the negative side effects.  But some people talk about feeling more energetic and I swear I do also.  I don't know if it's the medication itself or if it's psychological.  But either way, I have more energy and motivation to get stuff done and that has been a big benefit that I wasn't expecting.

STARMOON44

VarunaTT said:

Oof, @MissKittyDanger, that's rough.  I've done the same thing as an adult, so I get it.

There is a sh!t show at work right now.  I'm somewhat tangentially involved and I'm just kind of in shock about it all, so I've been doing grunt work.  It's not my fault and it's not my problem, but it's still big. 

I have so much damn work to do and of course, it's all coming into my vacation week.  Part of me is thinking about coming in Monday and Tuesday, but dammit, I don't want to.  The other part of me thinks, All of this shit will still be here when I get back.  Really, most of this is still me working to fix the mistakes of the previous co-worker that was let go.  It's exhausting.  I might just come in at 5 am for the next 2 days and ignore the world until it's all finished.  I hate staying past 5, but that's looking like a possibility as well.

Otherwise, SSDD. Still feeling mentally out of sorts and just not sure what to do with/about it.  I'm thinking about going back to therapy, but I'd like to get these allergy shots spaced out first.  Then have to find a new one, which blows.  My old therapist retired.

Nope nope nope! You don’t need to come it at 5 or sacrifice your vacation. It will still be there when you get back and taking care of yourself is important. 

short+sassy

A travel magazine (Travel+Leisure) listed favorite vacation spots based on polling.  For both the US and internationally.

Charleston, SC has been #1 for the US, for the last 11 years.
2. Santa Fe, NM
3. New Orleans, LA
4. Savannah, GA

A little surprised the top 4 are fairly small cities.  Though Chicago and NYC were also in the top 10.

#1 International city was Oxaca, MX

mrsconn23

It’s weekend Wednesday for me because after the longest short week ever, I am on vacay for 10 days. Woohoo!

Tomorrow is cleaning and last minute stuff. We leave at zero dark stupid on Friday morning. Have a good one y’all! 

ILoveBeachMusic

short+sassy said:

A travel magazine (Travel+Leisure) listed favorite vacation spots based on polling.  For both the US and internationally.

Charleston, SC has been #1 for the US, for the last 11 years.
2. Santa Fe, NM
3. New Orleans, LA
4. Savannah, GA

A little surprised the top 4 are fairly small cities.  Though Chicago and NYC were also in the top 10.

#1 International city was Oxaca, MX

We love the Charleston area and are there now. I've been to Santa Re but not the other two - well I was in New Orleans as a child on a family vacation but that doesn't count.

short+sassy

ILoveBeachMusic said:

short+sassy said:

A travel magazine (Travel+Leisure) listed favorite vacation spots based on polling.  For both the US and internationally.

Charleston, SC has been #1 for the US, for the last 11 years.
2. Santa Fe, NM
3. New Orleans, LA
4. Savannah, GA

A little surprised the top 4 are fairly small cities.  Though Chicago and NYC were also in the top 10.

#1 International city was Oxaca, MX

We love the Charleston area and are there now. I've been to Santa Re but not the other two - well I was in New Orleans as a child on a family vacation but that doesn't count.

I thought of you when I saw Charleston!  I know you all visit frequently and remembered you're there now.

For one of your trips, I think you all should check out Savannah for a few days.  It's only a 90 minute drive further south from Charleston.  If you all like Charleston, I think you'd like Savannah also.  @CharmedPam and I were there a couple years ago and it's a really neat city.  There's great food, especially seafood, and a lot to do.  Including a river walk.  Like Charleston, it's a historic city with beautiful architecture.  Apparently it's considered very haunted, lol.  So there are also tours with fun stories and folklore about that.

I did find it interesting that 3 out of the 4 favorite destinations were Southern and very old/historic cities.

There were touristy shirts in Savannah with "advertisements" like Savannah, GA Est. 1733.  Pffft!  New Orleans was established in 1718 and we've already had our 300-year anniversary.  Suck it, Savannah, lol.

Now I had to go look it up to complete the info.  Charleston was established as a city in 1783.

STARMOON44

banana468 said:

Hi @missJeanLouise!  We are home and recovering and have been since the 3rd.  After days of pain, a transfusion, CT scan, endoscopy and colonoscopy she's being treated for Ulcerative Colitis which is an autoimmune Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  She's responding well to treatment and I'm truly thankful for the thoughts of the group here.  

A friend reminded me today that she was diagnosed with UC when she was 17, and is now nearly 40 and has done really well.  Occasional
flare ups, medications, and a full rich life. If you need a dose of positivity. 

banana468

STARMOON44 said:

banana468 said:

Hi @missJeanLouise!  We are home and recovering and have been since the 3rd.  After days of pain, a transfusion, CT scan, endoscopy and colonoscopy she's being treated for Ulcerative Colitis which is an autoimmune Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  She's responding well to treatment and I'm truly thankful for the thoughts of the group here.  

A friend reminded me today that she was diagnosed with UC when she was 17, and is now nearly 40 and has done really well.  Occasional
flare ups, medications, and a full rich life. If you need a dose of positivity. 

That's great news!

I have to hope that as Chiquita ages her taste may change and that may help.

She's pretty picky which makes it hard to get her a decent diet because it's a taste and texture issue for so many.  To give an idea she's not loving a lot of fruits except for under ripe bananas, likes few veggies and obviously likes the standard tasty kid stuff like chicken fingers and fries but that amount of fat is what can trigger a flare. 

So we're working on smoothies, ways to hide flavor in tomato sauces, maybe make more pestos but the kid is very headstrong which is great if she knows what she wants but hard when the answer is telling her "Your colon tells you it hates this!"

MissKittyDanger

@VarunaTT good news is BK wasn't swollen later but there's some mild bruising ... so that's super

levioosa

@banana468 the way I make my Italian spaghetti sauce is to purée veggies (carrots, celery, onion, parsley, etc—you can pretty much experiment, every sauce I had from Nona growing up was different depending on the veggies she had in her fridge/garden at the time) then I simmer them down to get rid of the water content, then I throw in the ground beef (or you could do Turkey but I always do 95-99% fat free ground beef even though it’s more expensive and the taste isn’t quiteeee as good), brown it, add in the tomato sauce and Italian seasoning with some sage and clove powder (clove and sage optional, but I like it), then simmer for 1-3 hours on low heat. If you make a big batch it freezes well and makes for a quick dinner. Just make the pasta and defrost the sauce and you have dinner in like 15-20 minutes with low effort. Hides the veggies super well and my picky father will even eat it. 

I also recently found a super quick protein pasta to eat. I use the Rao’s vodka sauce, puree it with cottage cheese, and serve with a little Parmesan and high protein pasta. Obviously the pasta choice depends on what Chiquita can eat but it’s really quick and tasty and you can’t even tell there’s cottage cheese in it (I was a skeptic and I hate cottage cheese on its own). No veggies but at least she gets the protein in it. 

banana468

levioosa said:

@banana468 the way I make my Italian spaghetti sauce is to purée veggies (carrots, celery, onion, parsley, etc—you can pretty much experiment, every sauce I had from Nona growing up was different depending on the veggies she had in her fridge/garden at the time) then I simmer them down to get rid of the water content, then I throw in the ground beef (or you could do Turkey but I always do 95-99% fat free ground beef even though it’s more expensive and the taste isn’t quiteeee as good), brown it, add in the tomato sauce and Italian seasoning with some sage and clove powder (clove and sage optional, but I like it), then simmer for 1-3 hours on low heat. If you make a big batch it freezes well and makes for a quick dinner. Just make the pasta and defrost the sauce and you have dinner in like 15-20 minutes with low effort. Hides the veggies super well and my picky father will even eat it. 

I also recently found a super quick protein pasta to eat. I use the Rao’s vodka sauce, puree it with cottage cheese, and serve with a little Parmesan and high protein pasta. Obviously the pasta choice depends on what Chiquita can eat but it’s really quick and tasty and you can’t even tell there’s cottage cheese in it (I was a skeptic and I hate cottage cheese on its own). No veggies but at least she gets the protein in it. 

Love that!  We're dipping a toe to more smoothies, adding purees to sauces.  Kiddo is not a lover of the veggies even in salads so it's an uphill battle but we're also trying to tell her that she now knows that she has a reason to avoid foods that are triggers. 

Next month on vacation is going to be interesting and hopefully eye opening.  She's getting better at trying more proteins but the veggie and fruit thing is rough at the moment.