Cat what???

I finally made an appointment for a speech language pathologist for my 2 and a half year old daughter. She was a late talker. She is finally saying words and sentences but most of the time we don't have a clue what is trying to tell us. Very frustrating! Here are my top 5 favorites head scratchers:

Ice means yes. When we ask her to say it again it comes out like "icessss"

Cocs means Crocs. That one is not to far off but I still wince every time she shows people her shoes.

Icky translates to Eric(a little boy at daycare). His mother wasn't to impressed with that one!

Boap means soap. When we practice it in the tub she will say "sssss-Boap"

Cat piss means ketchup. The waitress at pizza delight will never be the same after that request.

I can't remember ever having this problem with my son. He talked quite early and it was always quite clear. I had her hearing tested last week just to make sure that wasn't the problem and she passed with flying colors. So now we are waiting for our appointment with the speech therapist. The waiting list is 9 months long! I called "Talk with Me" early language services but the programs they have coming up are all offered during the day. So we wait. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Bummed

I went to my nutritionist yesterday and the first thing we do is look over what I have eaten over the past 2 weeks. She's reading in total silence and I'm thinking CRAP - why didn't I just lie. I had way to much birthday cake, onion rings (900 calories) , cheesecake and chocolate cake(probably 1000 calories), and I ate out twice for my birthday so it was bad! She looks up at me and says "Do you WANT to loose weight" She's totally right - I have been making bad choices and there is no excuse for it. To make things worse, since Monday I have had back pain with shooting pains down my left leg and now my foot is asleep about 70% of the time. I think it is because I didn't move around enough during the crop this weekend. I have been trying to exercise but after about 15 minutes I get the shooting pains and have to quit. There is no way that I can lose weight without exercising! So I am just really bummed and I can't seem to snap out of it. And I'm still so frigging tired from the weekend and it's Friday! The kids have been up quite a bit at night and they call for me, not hubby, since they weren't really keen on me leaving them for the weekend. I would love to have a full nights sleep this weekend but my family wants me to go home on Saturday because she didn't get to see me on my Birthday. I really want to see them but the thought of 4 hours in a car with this pain in my back gets me even more bummed. It probably feels worse because I had such a great time this weekend and was on such a "high" that it's a long way down when you are feeling depressed. So that's it - I'm done complaining. I really hate complaining and I try not to do it often but it feels good to get it out especially when I know I'm among friends. I am making a promise to myself right now to eat better next week and exercise as much as I can and hopefully this funk will disappear. Wish me luck.

0mega - 3 Fatty Acids

In my constant battle to shed some pounds I decided I would try a different approach and I started seeing a nutritionist. On Friday I found out a little tidbit that I wanted to share with you all. We all know that omega-3's are good for you and we need about 300-500mg a day for optimal health benefits but what I didn't know is that there are a lot of enhanced products on the market that do not contain the active form. You must specifically look for EPA and DHA on the packaging. I have been taking flax seed in the morning (and sneaking into the kids diet) to get Omega - 3's but it turns out that it does not contain any of the active forms. Here is the direct quote from the pamphlet "Plant sources of omega three, such as flax seed, nuts, etc. provide the omega three in the ALA form which is considered inactive. Animal based sources, such as fish, and certain eggs and yogurt provide the omega three in its active state of DHA and EPA" So if you are buying a product because you think it is a source of omega-3 then make sure it mentions DHA and EPA on the packaging because if it doesn't then it probably contains the ALA form. The good news is that if you have fish twice a week then you are getting your requirement since your body stores the excess. If you don't eat fish then you might consider looking into a supplement. There are quite a few on the market. Have a healthy eating day everyone!

Oh - I should mention that flax seed is still a great addition to your diet for many other reasons(it is a phytoestrogen, lowers cholesterol, and is an excellent source of fiber to name a few). It just does not any active Omega-3's.

My Wedding Day!

I wanted a church wedding – But I wanted it small. Nothing extravagant – just immediate family. I wanted to keep the cost to a minimum. I didn’t want to go in debt before we even began our life together and I didn’t want to spend $10,000 on one day. But my mom wanted to invite everyone she knew - she has 6 brothers and sisters all with kids and grandkids and she wanted them all there. And DH’s mom has 4 siblings with kids and grand kids and she thought they all should be invited too. This is pretty normal – parents always want to invite everyone right? I gave in because I figured my family is pretty low key so they wouldn’t expect any huge celebration - just a few sandwiches and sweets and dance and everyone would be happy. I also figured since all of DH’s relative lived in Ontario there wouldn’t be a huge turn out from his side. Wrongo! Every invitation that was sent to Upper Canada, except one, came back with a “yes” reply! The one “no” response that came back was because she was due to have a baby the day before the wedding. I don’t know why she didn’t just have the baby in the car on the way here – it could have been a double celebration. So Holy Crap – 150 people were coming to my little wedding! My sandwich and sweets idea went right down the crapper! Since everyone was coming all this way we decided that we should have a big turkey dinner. I had never planned anything this big before so I really had no way to know what needed to be done. And my mom – God love her - was no help. I was SO not prepared for what happened that day! My reception was at the Legion in Hillsborough. We show up after the rehearsal dinner to decorate and they wouldn’t let us in. They didn’t want us in there until after the legion has closed. I’m sure the 2 old timers playing cards wouldn’t have minded but whatever! We twiddled our thumbs until they finally let us in at about 10pm. So we stayed up until 2 blowing up balloons and putting up streamers. By the end of it we were all exhausted and I was just throwing things on the walls to get rid of it all. But it looked ok – I was happy with the results. The next morning we get up bright and early to go to the hair dressers and are there for about 3 hours because all of DH’s aunts also had to get their hair done. But we were ok – we still had lots of time – I thought! We get out of the hair dressers and are told that no one picked up the flowers. My maid of honor and I head over to the co-op in full make up and hairdo’s to pick them up. We got some strange looks let me tell you! We then had to figure out a way to get them to the groom and groomsmen without seeing DH. We managed to get it done! – one crisis adverted. We rushed back to the B& B to get dressed and things go pretty smoothly until just after the ceremony. (I had one little panic attack just before going down the isle but I guess that’s pretty normal from what I hear) It was really hot inside the church so once the ceremony was over we stood outside for a while just enjoying the slight breeze and chatting with the guests. We head off for pictures and all seems good. After we are finished my photographer is packing up his stuff and I see DH’s aunt storming in my direction with a really nasty look on her face. She informs me that it is tradition that DH’s whole family have a group picture taken at all weddings. She is bitching to me that they all didn’t get their hair done for no reason. I had no idea that there needed to be a family picture. Holy Crap – the photographer is all packed up. I rush over and ask if he would mind taking one more picture. Thank God he said yes! Well by the time we found a place for the picture and got everyone organized, this one picture took about 20 minutes. And by this time it was stinking hot – the hottest day of the year so far! I am sweating bullets and my feet are swelling beyond recognition. My hair has fallen out of the updo that I had going on and I want to just sit down and relax. We head over to the legion and we had a great surprise. When we opened the door it was like walking into a wall of heat! It was an oven in there! The elderly ladies that did all the cooking and setup look pale and sickly. One of the ladies walks directly over to me as I step in the door and says “why didn’t you have salads and cold cuts dear?” I know they were just hot and tired but holy crap – I had no idea what a scorther it was going to be that day. It is usually quite nice in Hillsborough because we are right on a river and there is a cold breeze. Not today! Everyone had been asking for water while our pictures were being taken and the ladies got very frustrated trying to cook the dinner. So everything is running late. We decide to have the reception line before we sit down while the ladies were still setting up. We all stand there like idiots because nobody comes up! I felt like I was at a grade 9 dance. It turns out that since most people talked to us while we were standing outside the church nobody felt the need to go through the lineup. Very Embarrassing! After the longest 5 minutes of my life I call it off and we head to our seats. The ladies start to serve the food. Well I notice that there are quite a few empty seats – it’s just too darn hot in there and everyone is outside! And then one of the ladies that is serving passes out cold from the heat. Could it get any worse? They get her revived and she seems fine but everyone is visibly shaken. They are eventually able to get out the rest of the meal but guess what – nobody is eating! Who wants to eat turkey when you are sitting in a room that is about 100 degrees! And all the wine that we had out is gone. This makes for a great combination by the way – lots of wine and no food : ) After dinner we wanted to do speeches but again everyone is outside. Brad and I stand up to say “thank you for coming” to the five people that are inside standing at the bar and the kitchen staff (minus the lady that passed out) and that is all that is said. All the speeches that we had planned never got said. What are you going to do? I understand why everyone was outside – but it makes for lousy wedding. We eventually just went outside and chatted with everyone out there. The DJ shows up to set up and the nice little old ladies in the kitchen doing dishes won’t let him bring in any his stuff. They want everything cleaned up before he is even allowed in the door. And they are running at least an hour behind. So by the time he gets in and sets up it is about 10:30 pm and a lot of people have already gone home. Thankfully, when the DJ set up, he put a fan on the dance floor and we are able to get some kids up dancing. I’m excited because people finally seem to be enjoying themselves. My MIL had planned a very elaborate spread for 10:30 which would have been a godsend because nobody has eaten. She goes to the plug in cooler that she brought (because she wasn’t allowed to use the fridge in the kitchen) and the dial on the cord has been turned to heat instead of cold. Everything she made was rotten – shrimp salad, crab dip, pate of some sort, meats, cheese - all bad. She is in tears. She spent hours and hours making all of this stuff and nothing is salvageable. She has a few bags of chips and some buttered rolls and that’s it. I felt so bad. But what could I do? Not a damn thing! So it finally starts to cool down inside and people start dancing a bit and I finally think that thing are going to ok when the bartender storms out from behind the bar tells the DJ to stop the music. She announces that if she sees one more liquor bottle in the legion that does not come from her bar she is shutting the whole place down. Well you could have heard a pin drop! Everybody sat down and just sat quietly. I am totally mortified! I’m thinking - I just can’t wait for this evening to end. I try to mingle around and improve the mood but it’s just no use – nobody is having any fun. At midnight I just can’t take it anymore. I borrow my friend’s sandals because I can no longer walk in my shoes because my feet have swelled so badly and I start walking to our B&B. DH’s mom comes running out to ask what should be done with all the gifts and I tell her that I’m sure that my mom and dad can handle it from here. She called me ungrateful but I just kept walking. DH caught up to me about halfway there and we walked in silence until we reached the B&B. I just wanted to go to sleep and forget the whole day even happened. During the night some idiot decided that my car needed to be trashed. They jimmied the window and filled the entire car with rice crispies. The put shaving cream on the tires and door handles. They toilet papered the outside and put confetti in all the air vents. They put an entire tube of toothpaste just under the windshield wipers where we couldn’t see it. We noticed it when we reached Cape Breton and it started to pour. Did you know that toothpaste REALLY foams up when spread in a thin layer across your windshield in the rain? To top it all off the best man passed out in my maid of honors bedroom after he walked her home and his wife wouldn’t speak to him for a month. I thought that I was going to be the reason for their divorce! Oh yeah – and since none of DH's family had ever been to the Maritimes we all went camping together in Cape Breton and PEI for our honeymoon. Never, never do that! We always said that there would be lots of opportunity for a honeymoon later on but it just never happened. So that’s my wedding story. It was long and painful to write but hopefully I will be able to read it over in a few years and laugh at it all. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Secret Santa? What's that?

I'm struggling with the next 25 on my list so I have to switch gears for a bit. I totally suck at this Secret Santa thing. I can't even give you the details about how stupid I am because it would make it worse. I am afraid that I have said to much already. There is no way that I am going to make it until December. My only hope is to buy my gift now and put it away and forget that I am even involved because every time I open my mouth - Wham - I am an idiot again! Even writing this post is probably a big no no. So the people that I was an idiot in front of - please forgive me - and please please please don't tell anyone what I said. The only good news is that I have narrowed down one person from the list of who might have me - it's a start! I have a suspicion about who it might be but nothing to back it up. I guess you could say my spidy sense is tingling. Man I loved that cartoon! So don't be surprised if when you start to talk about SS I get that glazed look and totally tune out - it's on purpose. The less I know, the less I can spill.