Since Riley started therapy I have been doing countless amounts of reading and research on Auditory Processing Disorder, Autism, and Asperger's Syndrome. After reading and discussing with his therapist we have decided to Clean up our house and our eating.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I really like cleaning products. I love the "clean" smell my house has after using lysol, bleach, armstrong, windex etc... There is some evidence that these "cleaners" can possibly aggravate his symptoms. About 3 weeks ago I ordered Shaklee housecleaning products. These products are organic, natural, non toxic and the best part ....... It works! Once I got over not being able to "smell" the clean, (which really didn't mean anything except I was filling my house with chemicals that smelled) and actually evaluated how the products were working I was extremely impressed. I'm not sure that this will make a huge difference with his diagnosis. I do know this isn't hurting him and if there is any chance that we can help even a little bit, we will do it.
The second change we have made is using supplements to help fill in dietary gaps. Children with sensory issues all tend to have eating problems. Thank goodness Riley is a good eater and does not have oral defensiveness. He does however get on food kicks where he only wants certain foods. He has starting having sleep problems and extremely horrid night terrors. I talked with a nutritionist about what to add and we bought some good quality dietary supplements (also from Shaklee). Again we are willing to try whatever it takes. Since starting the supplements there have been no night terrors and he is sleeping a TON better!
This week we started reading "Eating for Autism the 10 Step Nutrition Plan" by Elizabeth Strickland. The first step is getting rid of preservatives, additives, food dyes and artificial sweeteners. It has been an eye opener looking at labels and really trying to clean up the kitchen and pantry. It's been a bit difficult trying to adjust our eating habits but it's a work in progress and hopefully we will continue a bit at a time. We really love our mac and cheese around here so I'm going to start making it from scratch. If anyone has any healthy all natural recipes please email them to me. Raine1974@insightbb.com. I'll try to keep the blog updated if the Epley's don't eat each other first :)
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Yucky two months!
Whew.... it has been a heck of a two months. It seems like we went on Spring Break and had a marvelous time and came back to craziness! While on vacation I had to call my doctor for an appointment and within a week of returning had a complete hysterectomy. (No fun let me assure you!) Bella also had tubes put in a few weeks ago. If this wasn't enough the day before my surgery the world as we know it came crashing around our heads when we learned that crazy, stubborn, off the wall, hyperactive Riley wasn't all of those things but actually has some fairly severe sensory issues. Everyone seemed to think this would make me feel better because "it's not your fault he's wild" but I truly hoped and prayed it was a parenting issue, I can "fix" my parenting skills I can't "fix" a sensory issue. No one can. All we can do is try to learn and teach him how to cope and compensate. On top of my surgery it was a lot to deal with in a short time. I've started reading anything and everything I can about sensory integration, Auditory Processing Disorders, etc... We have also started occupational therapy with Easter Seals (they are fabulous) and have hours of work we do at home daily! We are seeing some improvement but are in for a long road. No one can tell me what caused this and all the high risk factors that seem to contribute do not apply to us. Just seems to be plain ole genetics! On the up side we caught this early (he's too young to even get a firm diagnosis because tests can't be accurate until closer to 6 yrs old) We are trying every intervention available and although he was a bit resistant to therapy at first he is starting to ask for it when he gets out of sync. We are just taking it one day at a time and praying daily for Riley. Any prayers would be appreciated. On a funny note my hubby and kids think his therapy is great because a lot of it involves getting on the ground and getting dirty! Yesterday for instance we made a "dog Kennel" under the kitchen table and we ate our food out of bowls on the floor! (supposed to build fine motor) It was quite disturbing for me which made it that much more fun for everyone else!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Gotta get back to Hogwarts!
I know it has been a while since I've updated but with Spring Break and such, well it has been crazy! I will tell you a bit about our Spring Break vacation because it was such a special time for us.
First of all we cheated. We left Riley (3) and Bella (1) at home with Nana and Grandma. I felt really guilty about this but Syd (12) and Ryan (10) really had to take one for the team last year and do Disney World with a 2 yr old and a 7 week old infant. They had to ride little kiddie rides, stand in line to meet characters, and go back to room often for naps and rest time. I was determined that this vacation was just for them. OK maybe for me too, it was nice to take off with only two suitcases, not use the topper to the car, and be able to drive as far as we could without meltdowns. OK maybe one or two from me and Greg.
We left on Saturday and made it to Jacksonville, on Sunday we stopped in St. Augustine and did the Ripley's red train city tour, fountain of youth and then ate at our favorite sea side spot at Flaggler Beach. It's called High Tides at Snack Jacks and it is a fabulous little dive right on the beach. The crab cakes and steamed crab legs are an absolute fav of mine. After that we headed into Orlando to get the party started. Now we are die hard Disney fanatics but this time stayed at a Universal Hotel. Ok it was actually Comfort Suites which is a partner hotel. They had a special for 4 nights and 3 day passes to Universal it also gets you into the park an hour early which is KEY with Wizarding World of Harry Potter open. We had a free breakfast at the three broomsticks included in that deal and that breakfast was wonderful! The biggest disappointment with this hotel is online they advertise free shuttle service to Universal. However, they do not have a shuttle service. You must to walk to another partnering hotel and wait in line behind their guests who are allowed to "book" times to leave. Some fellow Kentuckians we met at the pool tried to do the shuttle and were told it was booked until 7:00 pm, yes I said PM 2 hours before park closes. Not to mention you cannot get into the park early using the shuttle because they don't run until after the park opens. Even though the hotel was fairly nice I will not plan to stay there again simply because I felt they were dishonest in their dealings. Now we were only 1/2 mile from park entrance and we could have easily walked it but I was concerned about carrying packages back and also the actual park is probably another 1/2 mi to mile past the front entrance. After all of us walking all day I just wasn't sure we'd want to hoof it back to hotel at closing after walking miles in the park. Plus parking was only $15.00 per day and honestly as I told my hubby, "is $45.00 for the entire 3 days really the breaking point on our funds" we spent more than that on Harry Potter t-shirts. It was however disappointing to be told one thing and have it changed and I will look into staying on property next time.
The key to doing WWof HP is to get there early and head straight back, you can't get lost everyone heads back there. Get in line for the "castle ride" (called the Forbidden Journey) first thing. Even being there early it was still a 20 min wait but considering we checked about two hours later and it was a 140 min long ride, I felt very accomplished. After coming out of there head for flight of hippogriff. This is a kiddie coaster and it is kinda cool but it you don't have kids I wouldn't wait for it and even with kids I wouldn't wait more than 20 min for this ride. Luckily the Dragon Challenge ride ( dueling hanging coasters) was at the most a 20 min wait time and Syd and I walked on to the ride 3 or 4 times in a row at one point with no wait. This was our second vacation to WWof HP so we did not do the Olivander's wand shop presentation. It is very nice but we did it when hardly no one was there last year. Currently it is a 2 sometimes 3 hour wait for a 5 min presentation. Very cool to do, but something you might get there early to do and then you'd never do it again.
Universal has really got a hot ticket item here! if you wait more than an hour or two after the park opens you have to follow the hoard of people heading back to Hogsmeade and get "return tickets" to even get into that section of the park, it is THAT crazy. When you come back you have to que to get into hogsmeade. I have never heard so many British accents in one place (OK I'm exaggerating a little, when I've actually been to Europe but you get my meaning) Europeans are hopping the pond in droves to come check it out. The butter beer alone (and yes it's non- alcoholic) is worth the trip in my opinion. All kidding aside if you are a Harry Potter fan this place is for you. I can not describe the tiny details they put into this (they even have moaning Myrtle talking in the bathrooms). At a time when Disney's white glove service is starting to slack off Universal is stepping up with incredible service that rivals the Disney of old. It says something when you have to que to get into the guest shops to buy t- shirts and movie props. Yes people actually stand in long lines to spend money here. Even more exciting is the news that they are planning to expand and make that section of the park almost twice as big :) Team Epley will be going back!
A few side notes to help fellow first year Wizards. First of all their dining plan is worth the money (all you can eat food all day) however, the places you can eat are limited and the food is not that great. We only bought this option the first day. The second day we ate breakfast at hotel and then had lunch at Mythos in the park (it's near Hogsmeade) and then ate fast food on way back to the hotel. Mythos has been voted best theme park restaurant 6 years in a row and I can see why, the food was FABULOUS and we spent the same amount for lunch there that we did for burgers and fries the day before. Make reservations their diner service is almost always sold out and we were very lucky we ate an early lunch and got right in. As we were leaving, the crowd hit and people were waiting 40 min to an hour for tables. Another thing to do is take advantage of the free lockers that they provide while you are in line. Universal has lockers at each "thrill ride" use them. You get entry with a fingerprint and the amt of time you can leave your belongings changes as the wait time changes. After the time has passed they charge fees, but that is just to keep people from abusing lockers all day. So as long as you collect belongings after each ride you should be fine. I heard people in line worrying about having a 25 min lockers but wait time jumped to 40 min - I explained that the locker time would jump also and that you have a grace period. Believe me we used the lockers all three days and never had to pay! PLEASE use the lockers!!! The only Hogwarts casualty we had was Syd's phone. She took it on the dragon challenge and lost it out of her pocket. (USE LOCKERS :) ) Universal staff was helpful and said they would look for it after the park closed but since 90% of the ride was over water they weren't too hopeful. I was fully expecting to be buying a new phone. Greg checked with guest services the next day and Hallelujah they found it and it was in one piece. Their guest services staff were so helpful and nice ..well I just can't say enough nice things about them. Finally take advantage of their package services . If you stay on site they will deliver anything you buy to your room. If you stay off site like us they deliver it to the front of the park and give you pick up tickets to collect your belongings as you head out of the park for the day. I sincerely hope this convinces people on the proverbial fence to go ahead and book that trip. Team Epley had a great time and we would love to see our friends and family enjoy the park as much as we did! OH and I almost forgot Universal has front of the line passes that work like Disney's fast passes. They are free if you stay on property but they are a $60.00 upgrade for everyone else. Unless you are only there for one day and are rushed DO NOT get these. Universal is great but it is not the size of Disney even with wait times we did entire park in about 6 hours. We spent 2 days in Islands of Adventure which is where WWof HP is and one day in Universal and did everything we wanted many times over. Plus the only ridiculous ride times were the HP stuff and the front of the line passes cannot be used at Forbidden Journey. I'm sure it saved a bit of time for those who had them but honestly Jaws was a 10 min wait, Hulk was 30, Spiderman 25.... Just keep checking wait times and adjusting schedules accordingly and it's not a problem. And as the song goes "I gotta get back to Hogwarts, I got get back to school, I gotta get back to Hogwarts where everything is magic-cool" :) Have Fun All
First of all we cheated. We left Riley (3) and Bella (1) at home with Nana and Grandma. I felt really guilty about this but Syd (12) and Ryan (10) really had to take one for the team last year and do Disney World with a 2 yr old and a 7 week old infant. They had to ride little kiddie rides, stand in line to meet characters, and go back to room often for naps and rest time. I was determined that this vacation was just for them. OK maybe for me too, it was nice to take off with only two suitcases, not use the topper to the car, and be able to drive as far as we could without meltdowns. OK maybe one or two from me and Greg.
We left on Saturday and made it to Jacksonville, on Sunday we stopped in St. Augustine and did the Ripley's red train city tour, fountain of youth and then ate at our favorite sea side spot at Flaggler Beach. It's called High Tides at Snack Jacks and it is a fabulous little dive right on the beach. The crab cakes and steamed crab legs are an absolute fav of mine. After that we headed into Orlando to get the party started. Now we are die hard Disney fanatics but this time stayed at a Universal Hotel. Ok it was actually Comfort Suites which is a partner hotel. They had a special for 4 nights and 3 day passes to Universal it also gets you into the park an hour early which is KEY with Wizarding World of Harry Potter open. We had a free breakfast at the three broomsticks included in that deal and that breakfast was wonderful! The biggest disappointment with this hotel is online they advertise free shuttle service to Universal. However, they do not have a shuttle service. You must to walk to another partnering hotel and wait in line behind their guests who are allowed to "book" times to leave. Some fellow Kentuckians we met at the pool tried to do the shuttle and were told it was booked until 7:00 pm, yes I said PM 2 hours before park closes. Not to mention you cannot get into the park early using the shuttle because they don't run until after the park opens. Even though the hotel was fairly nice I will not plan to stay there again simply because I felt they were dishonest in their dealings. Now we were only 1/2 mile from park entrance and we could have easily walked it but I was concerned about carrying packages back and also the actual park is probably another 1/2 mi to mile past the front entrance. After all of us walking all day I just wasn't sure we'd want to hoof it back to hotel at closing after walking miles in the park. Plus parking was only $15.00 per day and honestly as I told my hubby, "is $45.00 for the entire 3 days really the breaking point on our funds" we spent more than that on Harry Potter t-shirts. It was however disappointing to be told one thing and have it changed and I will look into staying on property next time.
The key to doing WWof HP is to get there early and head straight back, you can't get lost everyone heads back there. Get in line for the "castle ride" (called the Forbidden Journey) first thing. Even being there early it was still a 20 min wait but considering we checked about two hours later and it was a 140 min long ride, I felt very accomplished. After coming out of there head for flight of hippogriff. This is a kiddie coaster and it is kinda cool but it you don't have kids I wouldn't wait for it and even with kids I wouldn't wait more than 20 min for this ride. Luckily the Dragon Challenge ride ( dueling hanging coasters) was at the most a 20 min wait time and Syd and I walked on to the ride 3 or 4 times in a row at one point with no wait. This was our second vacation to WWof HP so we did not do the Olivander's wand shop presentation. It is very nice but we did it when hardly no one was there last year. Currently it is a 2 sometimes 3 hour wait for a 5 min presentation. Very cool to do, but something you might get there early to do and then you'd never do it again.
Universal has really got a hot ticket item here! if you wait more than an hour or two after the park opens you have to follow the hoard of people heading back to Hogsmeade and get "return tickets" to even get into that section of the park, it is THAT crazy. When you come back you have to que to get into hogsmeade. I have never heard so many British accents in one place (OK I'm exaggerating a little, when I've actually been to Europe but you get my meaning) Europeans are hopping the pond in droves to come check it out. The butter beer alone (and yes it's non- alcoholic) is worth the trip in my opinion. All kidding aside if you are a Harry Potter fan this place is for you. I can not describe the tiny details they put into this (they even have moaning Myrtle talking in the bathrooms). At a time when Disney's white glove service is starting to slack off Universal is stepping up with incredible service that rivals the Disney of old. It says something when you have to que to get into the guest shops to buy t- shirts and movie props. Yes people actually stand in long lines to spend money here. Even more exciting is the news that they are planning to expand and make that section of the park almost twice as big :) Team Epley will be going back!
A few side notes to help fellow first year Wizards. First of all their dining plan is worth the money (all you can eat food all day) however, the places you can eat are limited and the food is not that great. We only bought this option the first day. The second day we ate breakfast at hotel and then had lunch at Mythos in the park (it's near Hogsmeade) and then ate fast food on way back to the hotel. Mythos has been voted best theme park restaurant 6 years in a row and I can see why, the food was FABULOUS and we spent the same amount for lunch there that we did for burgers and fries the day before. Make reservations their diner service is almost always sold out and we were very lucky we ate an early lunch and got right in. As we were leaving, the crowd hit and people were waiting 40 min to an hour for tables. Another thing to do is take advantage of the free lockers that they provide while you are in line. Universal has lockers at each "thrill ride" use them. You get entry with a fingerprint and the amt of time you can leave your belongings changes as the wait time changes. After the time has passed they charge fees, but that is just to keep people from abusing lockers all day. So as long as you collect belongings after each ride you should be fine. I heard people in line worrying about having a 25 min lockers but wait time jumped to 40 min - I explained that the locker time would jump also and that you have a grace period. Believe me we used the lockers all three days and never had to pay! PLEASE use the lockers!!! The only Hogwarts casualty we had was Syd's phone. She took it on the dragon challenge and lost it out of her pocket. (USE LOCKERS :) ) Universal staff was helpful and said they would look for it after the park closed but since 90% of the ride was over water they weren't too hopeful. I was fully expecting to be buying a new phone. Greg checked with guest services the next day and Hallelujah they found it and it was in one piece. Their guest services staff were so helpful and nice ..well I just can't say enough nice things about them. Finally take advantage of their package services . If you stay on site they will deliver anything you buy to your room. If you stay off site like us they deliver it to the front of the park and give you pick up tickets to collect your belongings as you head out of the park for the day. I sincerely hope this convinces people on the proverbial fence to go ahead and book that trip. Team Epley had a great time and we would love to see our friends and family enjoy the park as much as we did! OH and I almost forgot Universal has front of the line passes that work like Disney's fast passes. They are free if you stay on property but they are a $60.00 upgrade for everyone else. Unless you are only there for one day and are rushed DO NOT get these. Universal is great but it is not the size of Disney even with wait times we did entire park in about 6 hours. We spent 2 days in Islands of Adventure which is where WWof HP is and one day in Universal and did everything we wanted many times over. Plus the only ridiculous ride times were the HP stuff and the front of the line passes cannot be used at Forbidden Journey. I'm sure it saved a bit of time for those who had them but honestly Jaws was a 10 min wait, Hulk was 30, Spiderman 25.... Just keep checking wait times and adjusting schedules accordingly and it's not a problem. And as the song goes "I gotta get back to Hogwarts, I got get back to school, I gotta get back to Hogwarts where everything is magic-cool" :) Have Fun All
Monday, March 14, 2011
Cake Pops and Friends
This week has been very eventful in the Epley Household. We have continued renovation of the Dining Room and it looks amazing! We are down to the staging aspects now so it's about 99% complete. We have never had a completed, huge formal dining room and are so excited to have one now. We love to entertain and now with our basement and DR completed we have a significant amount of room to do that.
It also hit me this week that our sweet beautiful Bella is almost a year old. I praise God for the continued health and blessings that he bestows on us. This year has gone so fast and it's a bit sad to realize that the "baby" stage of our lives is rapidly coming to an end. I rocked Bell last night and thought there might not be many of those days left as she already tries to say "down" and would prefer to be on floor instead of being held. I have bought party invites and started getting them addressed since we will be gone on vacation the week before her birthday. I'm trying to stay ahead of the game:) This led me to the Birthday cake and cake pop discovery!
I LOVE cake. ABSOLUTELY LOVE cake! I love watching cake shows and started dreaming about having a topsy turvy cake for Bella's first birthday. I don't know why I thought the cake would be $100-$150 imagine my surprise when I called and they START at $250!!!!!!!!! Now as I mentioned earlier I LOVE CAKE but even I cannot justify that amt of money on a cake. Especially for a 1 yr olds birthday (that's Wedding cake prices there). So I rolled up my sleeves and made my own. It turned out fairly well if I say so myself. I used box cake to practice, but for her birthday I might get some of my friend Tehea's cake recipes. She is the bomb at homemade cake/cupcakes! I bought fondant and then made some so see which I liked better. The homemade tasted better (if you like fondant which I think is OK but I prefer buttercream icing yummo) but the premade was considerably easier and faster to use. I had a few structure issues and I learned that I need to decorate each layer then stack them but I think I'm going to try it. BTW even with buying some new cake pans total cost of this cake was maybe $40.00 next round even cheaper since I have most of ingredients. I mean who keeps cake glucose and glycerin around the house? I will try to post a pic of the cake. No promises as Greg is at work and he's a bit more on top of computer/ iphone dealings than I am (don't judge)
A few days ago when it was yucky and cold out, the older girls asked for Starbucks after school. Now our family has a severe Starbucks habit. They know our order at two or three starbucks around town and the 3 yr old tells the speaker that he wants Chai and Sconces when we pull up. Well they have a new product called cake pops. Again my love affair with cake causes me to use some extra Weight watchers points to indulge in a cake pop. They were FANTABULOUS!!!!! but they cost $1.50 each there are 6 kids during the school week and two adults. If everyone gets their drinks, an artisan sandwich (sometimes), Scones (sometimes) and now cake pops well our starbucks bill per year could easily add up to the cost of a vacation. I went home and did some research and made my own cake pops (again I will try to add a pic later) They were awesomeness on a stick!!!!!! I gave some away to friends because we didn't need those sitting around the house they were that good! Trust me when I say there is nothing good for you about these! I think we are going to serve these at Bella's party also for those who just want a bit of cake. I will blog the recipe soon :)
Friday morning a dear friend of mine watched Riley. It was such a blessing because Ryan had his annual "muffins with mom" at school. Now it is a great thing to do every year but lets be honest it's a total gimmick to get moms there for the Book Fair going on in the library! I don't mind the book fair we love that our kids love to read and we always buy books, but it is wall to wall craziness. Took me 30 min to check out and then 10 min to get out. They really need to think about doing K-2 and 3-5 on different days! I can't even imagine what it would have been like trying to hold Riley down in line after feeding him donuts (yes muffins with mom includes donuts )
After Ryan was settled at school and my nerves calmed down from M-W-M, I made my way to pick up Riley and his friend Simms Simms was staying at our house for the weekend. Riley and his friend are both high energy 3 yr old boys but I am not lying they are sooo good when they are together here! We had such a fun weekend with those two. It doesn't hurt that Simms also LOVES our older children and they adore him. Usually Riley and Simms play in the basement with Syd and Ryan. Friday night Simms even crawled into Sydney's bed and fell asleep. Today, I miss Simms' sweet little voice saying "Ms Araine, Ms Araine" I also miss his stories. He is a bit more vocal than Riley and he can spin a 10 min tale that will keep you giggling for an hour! All in all a busy week but a good one :)
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Home Improvement
This week has been pretty busy for the Epley household. We are remodeling our dining room it's getting new paint, picture frame molding, lighting, curtains, furniture etc... First off any work we do on the house we try to do as much ourselves as possible to save money. My hubby is very crafty and can do many home improvements himself. The first problem with this is that tools, dust, and general messiness invade my usual semi well-ordered home. The second problem is well of course..... Riley!
Riley is a child that thrives on schedule.... ok not so much with the "he" surviving on a schedule, but I survive Riley with a schedule. Anytime that schedule is off, well things get really crazy. This week has invited a LOT of attention seeking behavior which includes but is not limited to : naked runs around the house, stuffing toys in his underpants for laughs, trashing big brother Ryan's room, and lightsaber duels in the family room. I am trying some different redirection tactics that seem to help and looking into an organic dye-free diet. We have noticed that any type of candy or sugary food seem to send him into overdrive.( If anyone has any info or has read any good books on this type of diet I'd appreciate it) I'll let everyone know how that works out for us :)
Riley is a child that thrives on schedule.... ok not so much with the "he" surviving on a schedule, but I survive Riley with a schedule. Anytime that schedule is off, well things get really crazy. This week has invited a LOT of attention seeking behavior which includes but is not limited to : naked runs around the house, stuffing toys in his underpants for laughs, trashing big brother Ryan's room, and lightsaber duels in the family room. I am trying some different redirection tactics that seem to help and looking into an organic dye-free diet. We have noticed that any type of candy or sugary food seem to send him into overdrive.( If anyone has any info or has read any good books on this type of diet I'd appreciate it) I'll let everyone know how that works out for us :)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Nakey Boy, Tea Makers, and Star Wars
Eclectic mix of things going on this week. First we'll start off with the adventures of Nakey Boy.
We have reached that wonderful age where Riley is learning to dress and undress himself. The past few weeks have been comprised of a delightful mix of clothing and PJ's. We have about 4 or 5 changes a day and sometimes we end up with shirts inside out and on his legs instead of arms. He throughly enjoys taking his clothes off, turning them inside out and then showing us his accomplishment. He is also doing much better at potty training and will now go sometimes without us reminding him. All of these things are stages we have went through before with Sydney and Ryan no big. My friend Tehea and I even laugh about the craziness of Ryan running around the house for months on end with nothing but a pull up! Riley has taken it to a whole new level! Of course he has he always does!
Ryan had a friend over one night. Well of course Riley took off his clothes and ran around. Two 9-10 yr old boys thought it was hilarious and flipped out running from him and laughing and calling him "nakey boy". Riley has decided that this is a great laugh and that all of our company wants to see "nakey boy". Needless to say I have had moments of utter mortification such as when our Pastor, his wife, and their 2 yr old daughter came over for dinner. I felt like the announcer from the song the streak yelling "Don't look Ethel". Hopefully poor Alivia isn't scarred for life from the escapades at our house!
On to the tea maker. I have to start by saying my husband LOVES his sweet tea. When I say sweet tea I mean deep south, southern parts of Georgia sweet. He adds sugar to McDonalds sweet tea if that tells you anything. So we have a tea maker. Now with both of us trying to be healthier, we do not keep soda's in the house or sweet tea in the fridge. We try not to even buy soda's unless we are having a get together and only make tea when people are coming over. Most of the time we grab water or milk. On this night we had company coming over so we broke out the tea maker. In the mean time I'm trying to make dinner, no big, I do it all the time and Riley knows the rules about staying past the fridge when I'm using the stove. I don't want anyone getting burned, cut, etc... Well this night he was really over the top hyper. I asked Greg 3 or 4 times to watch him because something was going to happen and either Dinner was getting burned or something would get broken or destroyed. I just had that "spidey sense". It was a weird night too because Greg's OCD was in overdrive and when he gets like that he can't focus on more than one task and all his attention goes to that (gee I wonder where Riley gets it LOL) So I had called him to help me probably 4 or 5 times and finally I had to go to the bathroom so bad I couldn't wait any longer! I yelled downstairs for hubby to help and I ran to bathroom. Greg runs up to see what I need and I say "I need to to watch Riley". He goes downstairs and I hear a crash and Greg yelling at the top of his lungs "NOOOO" . The entire tea jug's contents were all over my newly mopped floors and the tea maker jug was busted into bits. I would like to say I was a paragon of wifely/motherly virtue and did not taunt my husband a bit with the "I told you so.." but I couldn't help it I HAD to do just a bit of it while laughing (hey, I don't drink sweet tea ). Anyway we got it all cleaned up and now we need to buy a new tea maker..... It could be worse :)
Lastly, Star Wars.... Nothing big or dramatic here just watched Star wars for the first time with Riley and yes we started with the very first one. With Anakin as a little boy. So funny to watch them in that order, which none of the rest of the Epley's have. Riley sees Darth Vader in A New Hope and calls him Ani...kinda sad and disturbing. (Yes we are ALL Sci Fi nerds in this house and proud of it). So right now we are on a Star Wars kick at our house. Riley calls it Alien Wars (don't ask me, I have no clue). So anyone if you see us out and about and Riley tries the Jedi mind trick on you, you'll understand why. Is it Friday yet????? :)
We have reached that wonderful age where Riley is learning to dress and undress himself. The past few weeks have been comprised of a delightful mix of clothing and PJ's. We have about 4 or 5 changes a day and sometimes we end up with shirts inside out and on his legs instead of arms. He throughly enjoys taking his clothes off, turning them inside out and then showing us his accomplishment. He is also doing much better at potty training and will now go sometimes without us reminding him. All of these things are stages we have went through before with Sydney and Ryan no big. My friend Tehea and I even laugh about the craziness of Ryan running around the house for months on end with nothing but a pull up! Riley has taken it to a whole new level! Of course he has he always does!
Ryan had a friend over one night. Well of course Riley took off his clothes and ran around. Two 9-10 yr old boys thought it was hilarious and flipped out running from him and laughing and calling him "nakey boy". Riley has decided that this is a great laugh and that all of our company wants to see "nakey boy". Needless to say I have had moments of utter mortification such as when our Pastor, his wife, and their 2 yr old daughter came over for dinner. I felt like the announcer from the song the streak yelling "Don't look Ethel". Hopefully poor Alivia isn't scarred for life from the escapades at our house!
On to the tea maker. I have to start by saying my husband LOVES his sweet tea. When I say sweet tea I mean deep south, southern parts of Georgia sweet. He adds sugar to McDonalds sweet tea if that tells you anything. So we have a tea maker. Now with both of us trying to be healthier, we do not keep soda's in the house or sweet tea in the fridge. We try not to even buy soda's unless we are having a get together and only make tea when people are coming over. Most of the time we grab water or milk. On this night we had company coming over so we broke out the tea maker. In the mean time I'm trying to make dinner, no big, I do it all the time and Riley knows the rules about staying past the fridge when I'm using the stove. I don't want anyone getting burned, cut, etc... Well this night he was really over the top hyper. I asked Greg 3 or 4 times to watch him because something was going to happen and either Dinner was getting burned or something would get broken or destroyed. I just had that "spidey sense". It was a weird night too because Greg's OCD was in overdrive and when he gets like that he can't focus on more than one task and all his attention goes to that (gee I wonder where Riley gets it LOL) So I had called him to help me probably 4 or 5 times and finally I had to go to the bathroom so bad I couldn't wait any longer! I yelled downstairs for hubby to help and I ran to bathroom. Greg runs up to see what I need and I say "I need to to watch Riley". He goes downstairs and I hear a crash and Greg yelling at the top of his lungs "NOOOO" . The entire tea jug's contents were all over my newly mopped floors and the tea maker jug was busted into bits. I would like to say I was a paragon of wifely/motherly virtue and did not taunt my husband a bit with the "I told you so.." but I couldn't help it I HAD to do just a bit of it while laughing (hey, I don't drink sweet tea ). Anyway we got it all cleaned up and now we need to buy a new tea maker..... It could be worse :)
Lastly, Star Wars.... Nothing big or dramatic here just watched Star wars for the first time with Riley and yes we started with the very first one. With Anakin as a little boy. So funny to watch them in that order, which none of the rest of the Epley's have. Riley sees Darth Vader in A New Hope and calls him Ani...kinda sad and disturbing. (Yes we are ALL Sci Fi nerds in this house and proud of it). So right now we are on a Star Wars kick at our house. Riley calls it Alien Wars (don't ask me, I have no clue). So anyone if you see us out and about and Riley tries the Jedi mind trick on you, you'll understand why. Is it Friday yet????? :)
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Shameless Plug
I'm not one to shamelessly plug products. However, there are a few out there that I really have to say I will shout from the rooftops how good they are. For example, When Sydney was 18 months old and spilled tea down the front of her beautiful white church dress and I could not get the stain out Oxyclean saved the day. I don't think anyone can fully appreciate how dire the situation was. Sydney was little I was pregnant with Ryan, Greg and I both worked and I had spent all our "extra" money on this dress for Syd. Now at that time "extra money" might have been $30.00 but at that point in our lives $30.00 might have been the difference in eating real food that week or ramen noodles (I digress). The point is she wore the dress once and it was ruined. I won't even go into the grief I caught for buying said dress and to have it ruined after wearing it to church once was unacceptable. I even tried to "tea stain" it so it could be an antique white but I couldn't get color consistency. I tried everything and oxyclean really came through for me. I had everyone buying oxyclean that week. I would have to say that is the most amazing product I've ever used... UNTIL NOW!!
Any of you who have been reading my blog might remember the "Riley writes on dining room chair" incident. After contacting the manufacturer of the chairs and finding that they no longer make them, and then contacting my interior designer to check into re upholstering, and then talking to husband about just getting entirely new chairs... We decided to try one last thing. Kids 'N' Pets instant All- Purpose Stain and Odor Remover. You can purchase this at Walmart for $5.00 a bottle. It is endorsed by Animal Planet and says it's non-toxie, biodegradable and cruelty -free. It says Guaranteed to eliminate Urine, Blood, food spills, beverage spills, coffee, grease, red wine, pet accidents, skunk, grass, horse body oils ??????, smoke, gasoline, iodine, INK (yay) and more...... Praise!!! it got every bit of the ink out. If you have Kids, Pets, husbands, parents, siblings I suggest you buy THIS. Ok commercial over.
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| Chair Before |
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| Chair After |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat
I'm sure everyone has felt the "Thrill" and "Agony" at some point during their lives. I'm no so sure everyone can say they have felt this within the same 24 hour span.
I have to preface this to say I have NO CLUE how single parents do this! My husband's busiest time at work is the entire month of February. I know this, I try to remember this, I try to be understanding, but halfway through the month after feeling like a single parent while my house is falling around my ears I finally lose it. The dining room chair incident had me in tears for a bit but I held it together. A few horrid three year old melt downs yesterday had me at my wits end.
We had a ton of things to do yesterday and Hubby was gone most of the day and when he was here he was working in his office. Ryan had an upwards game at the church and it was such a blessing to watch him play . (Thank you dear daughter Syd for babysitting).
We also had a family movie PJ night at church last night. It was great fun except Riley decided it was more exciting to throw popcorn, sit on top of his friends, and scream out all the words to the movie while others are trying to watch. I finally start taking him out to do time out in a quiet part of the church. I proceed to listen to him scream on and off the next half hour. The child isn't dumb, he learned at an early age his voice is his greatest weapon. I will put that child in a screaming match with any shrill little girl and guarantee he'll top them by a few decibels. He truly has the loudest scream I have ever heard in my life! The rest of the night went downhill from there.
I know I could have loaded him up and taken him home or like Greg said "just not have gone knowing it was a bad day". I look at these situations a learning opportunities. Would it have been easier to stay home? (We own the movie, he knows all the words for goodness sake and we also have popcorn) Yes it would have, but how am I teaching/training him if I never put him in public settings. It's the same with restaurants, we take him and if he acts bad then we go sit in the car until the rest of the family is done with their meal. Believe me I have eaten many meals boxed up. I want to teach him to sit in a restaurant but I also need train my family to have a servants heart... In other words once anyone in our family starts taking the joy of the experience away from others seated around us... Well that person wins a trip to the car. I refuse to have our entire family leave because the child is then learning that if they are in a situation they aren't happy about a meltdown will give them their way.... they get to leave. Believe me sitting in the car with mommy when she hasn't finished her meal is not a pleasant experience.
Needless to say we made it through the entire movie, we were all grouchy but we made it through. Maybe/hopefully next time will be better but I refuse to stay home like a recluse :-)
Today Riley woke in a great mood, as did Bella and Ryan..... after feeling so defeated last night I thought maybe God was giving me a break LOL. Then out of nowhere comes preteen angst and over emotion (and no it wasn't me). There was crying and hugging and poor Daddy was totally out of the loop. He really doesn't know what to do with two emotional females in the house :-) We left in time to get Starbucks and bonded over our Chai latte's.
Daddy had practice today after church so we are on our own again. I decided to splurge some money and weight watchers points and get 5 Guys burgers to go. (They were sooooo good it's the closest thing we have to IN N OUT burger here in Kentucky and will have to do when you just can't get to Cali!) After unloading all the kids and getting the burgers out I look over and see Riley eating a burger and fries and he stops and says his prayers, then he smiles and tells me it's good, after eating he gives me a kiss and says he wants to go night night. He also tells me about Jesus in his heart and that he loves me. You know that gives me hope that he does listen and that I'm training his heart the proper way. For today that's good enough :)
I have to preface this to say I have NO CLUE how single parents do this! My husband's busiest time at work is the entire month of February. I know this, I try to remember this, I try to be understanding, but halfway through the month after feeling like a single parent while my house is falling around my ears I finally lose it. The dining room chair incident had me in tears for a bit but I held it together. A few horrid three year old melt downs yesterday had me at my wits end.
We had a ton of things to do yesterday and Hubby was gone most of the day and when he was here he was working in his office. Ryan had an upwards game at the church and it was such a blessing to watch him play . (Thank you dear daughter Syd for babysitting).
We also had a family movie PJ night at church last night. It was great fun except Riley decided it was more exciting to throw popcorn, sit on top of his friends, and scream out all the words to the movie while others are trying to watch. I finally start taking him out to do time out in a quiet part of the church. I proceed to listen to him scream on and off the next half hour. The child isn't dumb, he learned at an early age his voice is his greatest weapon. I will put that child in a screaming match with any shrill little girl and guarantee he'll top them by a few decibels. He truly has the loudest scream I have ever heard in my life! The rest of the night went downhill from there.
I know I could have loaded him up and taken him home or like Greg said "just not have gone knowing it was a bad day". I look at these situations a learning opportunities. Would it have been easier to stay home? (We own the movie, he knows all the words for goodness sake and we also have popcorn) Yes it would have, but how am I teaching/training him if I never put him in public settings. It's the same with restaurants, we take him and if he acts bad then we go sit in the car until the rest of the family is done with their meal. Believe me I have eaten many meals boxed up. I want to teach him to sit in a restaurant but I also need train my family to have a servants heart... In other words once anyone in our family starts taking the joy of the experience away from others seated around us... Well that person wins a trip to the car. I refuse to have our entire family leave because the child is then learning that if they are in a situation they aren't happy about a meltdown will give them their way.... they get to leave. Believe me sitting in the car with mommy when she hasn't finished her meal is not a pleasant experience.
Needless to say we made it through the entire movie, we were all grouchy but we made it through. Maybe/hopefully next time will be better but I refuse to stay home like a recluse :-)
Today Riley woke in a great mood, as did Bella and Ryan..... after feeling so defeated last night I thought maybe God was giving me a break LOL. Then out of nowhere comes preteen angst and over emotion (and no it wasn't me). There was crying and hugging and poor Daddy was totally out of the loop. He really doesn't know what to do with two emotional females in the house :-) We left in time to get Starbucks and bonded over our Chai latte's.
Daddy had practice today after church so we are on our own again. I decided to splurge some money and weight watchers points and get 5 Guys burgers to go. (They were sooooo good it's the closest thing we have to IN N OUT burger here in Kentucky and will have to do when you just can't get to Cali!) After unloading all the kids and getting the burgers out I look over and see Riley eating a burger and fries and he stops and says his prayers, then he smiles and tells me it's good, after eating he gives me a kiss and says he wants to go night night. He also tells me about Jesus in his heart and that he loves me. You know that gives me hope that he does listen and that I'm training his heart the proper way. For today that's good enough :)
Friday, February 11, 2011
Mommy Needs A Sick Day
We've all had THAT feeling. Wake up with a stuffy head, itchy eyes, sore throat, headache, and stuffy nose. Yes I caught a cold from my baby, Bella.
Back in my working days I had a few options. A.) Get up and go to work and trudge through it. (Thankfully my job had some leeway and I could usually rearrange things to have a "lite" day) .... B.) call in on a sick day, let hubby take kids to school/daycare and hang out in bed watching chick flicks and daytime TV all day. (It was almost a treat except for the being sick part!)
Now however, I have no back up plan and no one who can fill in for me. I'm the mommy and rain or shine, good or bad, I'm the only mommy my kids have. Now I do have to say here before I sound too "poor pitiful me" that my remarkable husband did in fact offer to call in sick. He volunteered to stay home so he could take older kids to school and take care of the two preschoolers. I sent him on in to work because I'd rather have him at home when we all feel good and can have family time together.
I did what tons of sick parents do everyday, got up and got to it! I did decide to stay in PJ's all day which will come back to haunt me later. I took a hot shower, used my netti pot, took 2 tylenol, and started getting older kids out the door. Sydney had a school dance today so I even helped her get make up on and hair curled.
After Greg and Sydney left for work and school, I got little kids ready to take Ryan and Em to school. I let the big kids keep Riley occupied and waited a little later to leave than usual. I still had plenty of time to get them to school. I also decided since I just drop the kids off and no one would see me I'd just put a jacket over my PJ's and drop them off and head back home. NO PROBLEM. Except that there was a wreck of some sort and I couldn't get onto the main road heading to the school. I had to take the expressway and cut up the back way to the school. Problem with this is it takes about 3 times as long to go that way. I caught every red light. Now you'd think I was worried about them getting to school late right??? NO not really, my concern is that after the bell rings you have to walk the children into the school and sign them in the office just as everyone is being released from gym to go to their first class. I had visions of poor Ryan and Em being escorted in by a crazy woman with Christmas ornament PJ's, track shoes and a Harry Potter Hoodie. Talking about being scarred for life. Thankfully we made it to school on time with one whole minute to spare. Years of therapy for Ryan and Em avoided!
We then get home and this is where the fun begins. In the time it took for me to change Bella's diaper Riley found the pen that Ryan had used for signing Valentines this morning. My dining room chair cushion paid the price and I have a 3 yr old in a lot of trouble today. Mommy really needs a sick day! On the plus side my interior designer wanted to discuss adding chair covers ...we might be doing that now!
Back in my working days I had a few options. A.) Get up and go to work and trudge through it. (Thankfully my job had some leeway and I could usually rearrange things to have a "lite" day) .... B.) call in on a sick day, let hubby take kids to school/daycare and hang out in bed watching chick flicks and daytime TV all day. (It was almost a treat except for the being sick part!)
Now however, I have no back up plan and no one who can fill in for me. I'm the mommy and rain or shine, good or bad, I'm the only mommy my kids have. Now I do have to say here before I sound too "poor pitiful me" that my remarkable husband did in fact offer to call in sick. He volunteered to stay home so he could take older kids to school and take care of the two preschoolers. I sent him on in to work because I'd rather have him at home when we all feel good and can have family time together.
I did what tons of sick parents do everyday, got up and got to it! I did decide to stay in PJ's all day which will come back to haunt me later. I took a hot shower, used my netti pot, took 2 tylenol, and started getting older kids out the door. Sydney had a school dance today so I even helped her get make up on and hair curled.
After Greg and Sydney left for work and school, I got little kids ready to take Ryan and Em to school. I let the big kids keep Riley occupied and waited a little later to leave than usual. I still had plenty of time to get them to school. I also decided since I just drop the kids off and no one would see me I'd just put a jacket over my PJ's and drop them off and head back home. NO PROBLEM. Except that there was a wreck of some sort and I couldn't get onto the main road heading to the school. I had to take the expressway and cut up the back way to the school. Problem with this is it takes about 3 times as long to go that way. I caught every red light. Now you'd think I was worried about them getting to school late right??? NO not really, my concern is that after the bell rings you have to walk the children into the school and sign them in the office just as everyone is being released from gym to go to their first class. I had visions of poor Ryan and Em being escorted in by a crazy woman with Christmas ornament PJ's, track shoes and a Harry Potter Hoodie. Talking about being scarred for life. Thankfully we made it to school on time with one whole minute to spare. Years of therapy for Ryan and Em avoided!
We then get home and this is where the fun begins. In the time it took for me to change Bella's diaper Riley found the pen that Ryan had used for signing Valentines this morning. My dining room chair cushion paid the price and I have a 3 yr old in a lot of trouble today. Mommy really needs a sick day! On the plus side my interior designer wanted to discuss adding chair covers ...we might be doing that now!
Surviving Riley
I started this blog because people encouraged me to do it after hearing stories about Riley. I always joke that I'm going to one day write a book called "surviving Riley". Since I don't have time to keep a written journal of my day to day I decided to try my hand at blogging.
First of all let me start by saying I do not think of myself as the end all be all in parenting. There are days I feel like a complete failure in all areas and I look to the Bible to give me hope and encouragement. I have to say parenting a "high maintenance" 3 yr old has helped me become very acquainted with the book of Proverbs. I have four children and all of them have their own personalities, quirks, and special qualities. Riley, however, is my strong willed, crafty, and freakishly coordinated child. He really keeps all of us on our toes. He is also the first one I stayed home with, I stopped being a working mom when he was a little over a year old. I only have myself to blame :)
Sit back, enjoy life through my eyes and have a good chuckle on me :-)
First of all let me start by saying I do not think of myself as the end all be all in parenting. There are days I feel like a complete failure in all areas and I look to the Bible to give me hope and encouragement. I have to say parenting a "high maintenance" 3 yr old has helped me become very acquainted with the book of Proverbs. I have four children and all of them have their own personalities, quirks, and special qualities. Riley, however, is my strong willed, crafty, and freakishly coordinated child. He really keeps all of us on our toes. He is also the first one I stayed home with, I stopped being a working mom when he was a little over a year old. I only have myself to blame :)
Sit back, enjoy life through my eyes and have a good chuckle on me :-)
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