ok, raise your hand if you ever have this repeated argument with your child:

• you explain to them why a particular action or behaviour is not acceptable because it could cause them to get hurt
• they counter with "but I didn't get hurt"
• you agree, but say the point is that they could get hurt
• they say "yeah, but I didn't"
• and you go round and round like that until you finally end up yelling something stupid like "well those are just the rules around here and if you don't stop arguing I can give you a spanking rather".

someone please tell me what the antidote to this retarded argument is before I lose my mind and continue saying all the "mom" things I swore I would never say...

Thankful Thursday

as always, I am thankful for coffee...in all it's blessed forms (iced, espresso, black, with cream, latte...) ...
...especially after getting up multiple times with a teething, feverish, crabby 9month old Berry Baby (poor thing, and poor Berry Baby too)

For the makers of Baby Advil and Baby Tylenol - I'm fairly certain that I am soley responsible for your corporate success

For naps - because the fussing and crabbiness comes to a temporary end (mine and Berry Baby's)

That I was able to convince Berry Boy that keeping this fellow...

...for a pet was not a good idea (we found him in one of my flower beds and he grossed me out completely - I am SO not a cool mom)

for running with friends in the cool of the late evening, and for a foot that didn't hurt the next day

for all my berry "boys" - my 9month old who says "wow...bwow...bwow" and other sweet gibberish sounds; my 4 (almost 5) year old who is excited about new Spiderman underwear and wants to wear a new pair every 5 minutes; my handsome and hunky 40-some year old ;) who diligently provides for us, calls me "Precious", and thinks I'm attractive even when I don't.

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth...Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together (Psalm 34:1&3)

Morose Monday

Falling off the Wagon (so to speak)....

I've been riding the healthy-eating-regular-excercising wagon for a while now, and it was feeling pretty darn good. My clothes fit nicely, I felt strong and energetic, and Berry Guy was acting (ahem) appreciative of my efforts.

But then, I developed the dreaded runner's injury, plantar fasciitis, which is a fancy way of saying that my right foot REALLY REALLY hurts. And then it was berry season and I was busy and too tired to do the workouts that didn't involve my foot. And my Mom came. Mostly, my Mom came.

I have absolutely NO willpower WHATSOEVER when it comes to food. If there's a dessert in the vicinity, I will eat it. Ice cream - hand me a spoon. Making cookies? - I eat the cookie dough. As as result of my embarassing lack of control in the face of sweets (especially if they come with a hot cup of coffee) I generally do not keep sweets around, and I only make desserts for company.

And so my Mom came, and thought it would be nice if we had dessert every night. And it was berry season, and Berry Guy thought it would be good if we had lots of Coke and Pepsi to drink. And I fell off the wagon. Totally. In fact, the wagon has left without me because I am now too heavy for it to carry me anywhere.

ok, not really. I just feel that way. Because my jeans are tight now, and my belly isn't feeling too firm, and I just generally feel like I look like this

even though I know that I really don't.

I hate struggling with self-image. And it is a huge struggle. Do you ever wonder how you actually look? I often wonder if what I see is the same thing that other people see. And since I'm thinking about it, I guess the same can be said for our insides as well - I often wonder if the way I see myself is in any way close to the way others see me. Are others as hard on me as I am on myself?

I digress. Anyway...today I am going to run and catch up to that wagon. Although I will have to do it slowly, since the foot might be a bit iffy. But I am certainly going to crack down on the eating, and I have a fridge full of fresh veggies to prove it. And I'm going to start right now...or at least as soon as that yummy creamy chocolate-marble cheesecake is gone...crap.