Oh No the DS is NOT turning on...

I think I had a few more choice words to go along with "Oh No the DS is NOT turning on," but you get the idea.  We were about to leave for Trent's soccer game and, of course, I had to do one more thing before we left.  As Tim likes to say I can't leave well enough alone.  Trent had been playing his DS for a good part of the morning and the screen was all gross, so of course I had to clean it up.  I was wiping off the screen when it slipped out of my hand and onto the kitchen floor.  I said a few choice words, then quickly picked it up and turned it on.  NOTHING!  I tried again and NOTHING!!  Not even a light went on, I just wanted something to turn on.  I then not so calmly, but calm enough as to not alarm Trent called for Tim to get to the kitchen ASAP.  He came in and I told him I dropped the DS and now it wasn't turning on.  He just looked at me and said ok get to the computer and find some troubleshooting website.  Of course, in the 2 minutes we had before we had to leave I was quickly finding a website to help me turn this DS on.  We also plugged the DS in to start charging, my hope was that some power would help turn it on.  Of course, NOTHING!  We were out of time and out of options at the moment.  Oh my goodness what was I going to tell Trent?

We headed off to the soccer game and I was so upset, but of course hiding it from Trent.  I didn't want to tip him off, he needed to have a good game and wouldn't if he knew what had happened to his DS.  The soccer game went great for Trent and heading home he was looking forward to playing his DS.  Oh no how am I going to tell him was all that was going through my mind.  We got home and I was able to hold him off playing DS for a bit while we looked into more troubleshooting and called the Nintendo helpline.  
Eventually, I had to tell him.  Oh the pain!!  I started crying and told him that I accidentally dropped his DS and that it wasn't turning on.  Oh boy, the tears were flowing now for both of us.  And there was a bit of whaling on Trent's part. I just felt so bad and I knew how upset he was and that it was my fault.  My heart hurt for him and I hated seeing him cry.  He eventually calmed down a bit, but he was so upset that there was a possibility that he would lose all the levels he had passed on his Star Wars game.  That was what was putting him over the edge.  He had worked so hard to get so far in the game and now all might be lost.  Oh my goodness I was losing it too.  We told him that we would have to send in his DS to get repaired, but that it would take a month or so.  Again, the crying and again I felt so bad and just keep hugging him.  Maybe hugging him would turn on the DS, no such luck!!  

I then looked at my precious and upset little boy and told him I would take him to Target to get a new one.  Tim looked at me and we had discussed doing this, but he was a bit unsure about the idea.  I wasn't, I wanted to make it all better and buying a new DS would.  I couldn't have Trent wait a month for his DS to come back from the repair shop.  He looked forward to playing his DS everyday and maybe he played it a bit too much, but hey it's a new toy for him and he was getting so good at the games.  

Since Trent was little, Tim and I have been really good about teaching him that if you break something it may mean that you are not going to get a new.  I have to say that Trent is so good with his toys, rarely does he break his toys, so this issue hardly comes up.  Accidents happen and maybe I shouldn't have ran out to Target to get him a new one, but I did and I am ok with it.  I am pretty sure Tim was ok with it too, right Tim?  

Trent was ecstatic to go with me to Target and get a new one, thankfully they had a red one, but he told me he would be ok with a blue one.  We also got a case for it that Trent wasn't thrilled about because it hinders his playing ability, but I told him if he doesn't get a case, he doesn't play it.  I am not replacing another one.

I think one of the things that I was most upset about was having to spend the money on a new one.  Tim (and me with my part time job) work hard for our money and it was painful to have to spend it on another DS.  I know Tim didn't mind, but it really got to me.  I was mad at my OCD self for having to clean the screen of the DS and it dropping out of my hand.  I know it was an accident, but an expense one.  I am so grateful to Tim for providing such a great life for Trent and I.  We are so fortunate to be able to go and get another DS when one breaks and that is all because of Tim and how hard he works to provide for us.

I learned my lesson and yes I will still clean the DS screen, but very carefully and only in the sunroom where there is carpet.

Playing Soccer

Trent started playing soccer a few weeks ago and is really enjoying it.  This is his second year playing and we are hoping for a better year than last.  Last year, he had three teenage girl coaches, which at first I thought were going to be ok, but the season turned out to be a disaster.  In the beginning, I was giving them the benefit of the doubt and time to prove themselves.  I know how hard it is to be a young coach.  I coached high school swimming at 19 years old.  I know the looks the parents give when they see a young coach on the deck coaching their child. When you are a young coach you have to prove yourself worthy to coach kids. So, I knew what these three young girls were facing when coaching boys soccer. I gave them several chances to get it together and do a good job.  By the end of the season, I was done with them.  Their practices were a joke, which would include playing duck duck goose and tag.  They had a challenging and young team of boys to deal with, but they never took control and taught the boys much of anything except to run around the field like a chicken their head cut off.

My expectations are not too high for this soccer season; I am just hoping it's better than last season.  It is turning out to be pretty good.  Trent seems a lot more aggressive in getting and keeping the ball.  He did really well at his first game and we hope he continues to improve his soccer skills.

A few pictures before heading to Trent's first soccer game.

Awesome team banner. 

Some cool action shots of Trent. 

Go get'em Trent!

And the Growing Up Continues...

When I woke up Tuesday morning, September 21st, I did not think by the end of the day Trent would be minus a tooth.  It had been the farthest thing from my mind.  His loose tooth had been loose for a month or so and it wasn't bothering him, so like I said before it was the farthest thing from my mind. When he got home from school I noticed that his tooth was off center, his gum looked a little irritated and I asked him if it had gotten looser and he said yep.  I wiggled it and sure enough it was pretty loose.  Then I looked behind the tooth and saw that his adult tooth had popped thru.  WHAT!!!  When did this happen!!  No one consulted me about my baby getting his adult teeth.  I wasn't emotionally prepared for this!  I thought I had time to prepare myself for Trent loosing his baby teeth.  Oh my what was I going to do?  I didn't have a tooth fairy pillow to put his tooth in, I just wasn't prepared.  I was in denial that this was happening.

Trent was excited that his tooth was loose and during the entire hour of tball practice played with his tooth.  It brought back memories of me playing with my loose teeth and my Dad using a string to pull out a few of my baby teeth.  Trent made it through practice and dinner without his tooth falling out.  Tim got home and Trent was so excited to show him his really loose tooth.  We were tucking Trent into bed and I was snuggling with Trent and all of the sudden Trent said, "Mommy I need the mirror."  I said, "No, your tooth is fine."  All of the sudden I felt his tooth on my shoulder.  I told Trent your tooth just fell out and we started looking for it and found it immediately.  We jumped out of bed and I started yelling for Tim to get in the bathroom with us.  I was worried about how Trent would do with the bleeding, but it didn't phase him and the bleeding wasn't too bad.  I gave him the mirror and he thought it was so cool to see his big tooth and the hole in his mouth.

One of the funniest parts of this whole thing was when Trent was running to the bathroom he yelled to Tim and I to text everyone, text everyone that I lost my tooth.  It was so funny that that was what came to his mind.  We didn't text everyone, but we did do a post on Facebook.

We got Trent to bed and then I started panicking about what were we going to put under his pillow.  What was the tooth fairy going to bring for Trent?  I got out my stash of unique coins and we found a roll of gold Sacagawea dollar coins. Tim thought Trent would love to find a gold coin under his pillow, it would be a cool treasure.  Tim hid the coin in Trent's pillowcase and Trent was super excited to find it in the morning.  I loved seeing Trent's expression when he found his gold coin.

So, I wasn't prepared for Trent loosing his first tooth, but I got it together and in the end all the matters is the jack-o-lantern smile that Trent is now sporting.

Check out Trent's loose tooth.

And a big tooth popped up.

Missing a tooth.  Yay!! 

Proudly showing off his baby tooth. 

Trent checking his pillow case to see what the tooth fairy left him.

Trent found a cool gold dollar coin. 

The treasure from the tooth fairy. 

Getting into a Routine

The first week of school is behind us and we are all getting into our routine.  The alarm going off at 6:00 a.m. is really early and I wish I could get more than one snooze, but I have to drag myself out of bed and get the day started.  I think Trent was in shock the second day of school when I woke him up at 6:45 a.m. He could barely get his eyes in focus and he told he was soooo tired.  
This week has been better and yesterday morning he woke up before I did and wanted to play his DS in bed.  I told him it was too early for him to get up and to get back to bed.  I finally got up, tucked him back into bed and told him to sleep a bit longer.  I don't think he did because about 20 minutes later I heard  little footsteps run to the sun room to get the DS and go back to bed.  I found him playing his DS and told him he could play for a few minutes, but it was almost time to get up and have breakfast.  He said ok and was happy to get just a few minutes of playing his DS in bed.  It's the little things that make him so happy. Tim even got to snuggle a bit with him before heading off to work.

With last week behind us, I began dreading Monday because I knew I would have to say my good-byes to Trent at the entrance gate of his school.  We had been told a few times last week that the kids would be just fine being dropped off at the gate.  We didn't have to hang around to wait for the bell to ring and walk our kids to the class line.  The message from the principal was that parents needed to take a small (big for me) step back and let the kids feel the excitement of school and independence of being dropped off at the gate.  At the New Parent Orientation the principal made a joke that she had been doing this for a long time and hasn't lost any students and ours wouldn't be the first. Obviously, I got what she was saying and knew she was right, but seriously dropping Trent off at the gate was giving me an anxiety attack.  I needed to know that he would make it safely to his class line when the bell rang and then Mrs. C would take them to class.  

The dreaded Monday came and I put on my big smile for Trent's sake.  I am not yet to the point of driving through the car drop off line (maybe when he's in 5th grade).  I had to park and walk Trent to the gate.  We had gone over where he would put his back pack when he played and that when the bell rang he would get his back pack and go the class line up.  Trent was all smiles, but I could tell a bit nervous that I wasn't going inside the gate, but he was going to be just fine (I kept telling myself that).  He was fine and again all smiles when I picked him at 2:45.  He was excited to tell me that he had chocolate milk with his lunch. Again, it's the little things.  

Let the exercising begin...

How did I get here? I think I ask myself this question on a regular basis. How did I get this body? When did it happen? I think it happened slowly, so it hasn't been such a dramatic change, but definitely not a wanted change.

I was 6 years old when I started swimming competitively and working out on a regular basis. The older I got the more hours I swam in the pool. For a majority of my childhood I swam 6 days a week for at least 2 1/2 hours, which doesn't include the weekend swim meets that occurred at least twice a month. I swam for years and years. It was great, don't get me wrong, but it was tiring. I didn't realize it then, but do now that I didn't really have to watch what I ate. For the most part I ate healthy and if I had sweets here and there it didn't really matter because I would just swim it off. I was in great shape for years.

I started feeling burned out with swimming my junior year of high school. I had been swimming for so long and was just tired of it. I decided to stop swimming year round and in my senior year I basically just swam during the high school swim season. Needless to say, it wasn't my greatest year of swimming, but I was happy to be done with swimming. I look back now and I feel sad because all the hours I put in at the pool in someways didn't reward me in the end. It was a way of life for me for so long and how quickly it disappeared along with my in shape body.

At 18, I started college and didn't know where exercise was going to fit in. I worked and went to school for the next 4 years, with no real exercise program in place. I kind of watched what I ate, but for the most part not so much. I was still eating like I was swimming 2 1/2 hours a day. I was living at home and my Mom's cooking is very good, so eating was so easy. At almost 22, Tim and I got married and moved to Connecticut. For the next 2 1/2 years I had access to the university gym and pool, which I used, but not on a regular basis. I was maintaining my weight, but not losing weight. Looking back, I was slowly gaining weight a few pounds here and there.

When we moved back to California I was still in a rut, no exercise plan to speak of. How did this happen? I had a intense swimming regimen for years and years and why couldn't I have held on to any part of that intensity and dedication?

Then I got pregnant with Trent and everything was thrown out the window. After I had Trent I lost the pregnancy weight pretty quickly with nursing and pumping the weight came off. Then the nursing and pumping slowed down over the months and the weight crept back on. Lucky me! I joined Curves for about a year, tried walking in the mornings, tried swimming a few nights a week and then I got so discouraged I just stopped everything altogether. I just couldn't get into a routine and couldn't get excited about exercising. Ugh! Excuse after excuse was not helping me get into shape. What was wrong with me, why couldn't I get my act together? I know I lead a busy life, but seriously why couldn't I get it together and lose weight? I saw Tim lose an incredible amount of weight (so proud of him for doing that). I know it wasn't easy for him, but he did it and I had to do it.

At some point this Spring, I was starting to feel the pressure I was putting on myself to lose weight. I wasn't taking a too active role in losing weight, just maintaining the weight. It was getting to me and I knew I had to make a change. What had happened to the girl who worked out everyday for years? I know at times working out everyday wasn't by choice, it was what I had to do, but I knew it was a good way of life and a healthy one. My 34th birthday was coming up and I told Tim that I wanted an Elliptical Trainer as my birthday present. He was so excited to hear that and could not wait to start shopping for one. We found one and it was delivered and set up a few days before my birthday. I was excited to get started.

I have had the Elliptical for about 3 weeks and I have to say I love it. It does help that I have been watching Friday Night Lights (I have no idea why I wasn't watching this show before, I love it) on Netflix, which I play on our notebook computer. The computer fits perfectly on the Elliptical console and it's a 45 minute show, which is perfect for my workout. This past week, I have noticed that I have been looking forward to working out and not just because I can watch Friday Night Lights, but because I want to workout. I am starting to remember the muscle burn that hurts, but feels good because you know you are working hard.

It has taken more years than I would have liked, but I have come back around on working out and getting healthy. I am committed to pushing myself and getting back into shape. I have come to terms with probably not having the same body I had in high school, but I am going to have a body that a 34 year old should be happy with.

First Day of 1st Grade

The day finally arrived...Trent's first day of 1st grade. How did we get here so fast? I have said this before, I am not ready for Trent to be 6 and to be starting 1st grade. I want him to stay my little boy forever (I know in my heart he always will be my little boy).

I took a few days off work to enjoy the last few days of summer with Trent before he started school. We started off on Friday with sleeping in, having a yummy lunch at Casa and then enjoying a few hours at Jump n' Jammin'. The 3-day weekend was fun and relaxing. Tim and Trent went hiking and camped overnight at Spruce Grove, which is about a 4 mile hike from where they parked the car. Monday, again slept in late, played in the tree house and enjoyed having the day off. Tuesday, slept in a bit, Trent got a hair cut, went to the mall to get new shoes for school, enjoyed lunch at McDonald's and then went to school for a Meet and Greet with Trent's teacher and classmates. The meet and greet was great, I think it helped Trent and I get over our nervousness. Trent found his desk right away and was feeling pretty comfortable. While the parents met with Mrs. C, the teacher's aide took the kids outside to show them where they would line up for class, where they would eat lunch and where recess would be (the most important part of the day for Trent). I was really happy to meet Mrs. C and to get a feel for the classroom. After the meet and greet I felt that Trent and I were ready to start 1st grade.

The anticipation and maybe a bit of nervousness was growing as Trent went to bed last night. We prayed for a good first day of school and for all to go well. I told Trent he needed to get to bed early because 6:45 a.m. was going to come real fast. I didn't have the best nights sleep and I was hoping that wasn't my alarm going off at 6:00 a.m., no such luck, it was mine and it was time to start the day. The morning went smoothly and waking Trent up went pretty well, but one of the first things he said was he was nervous. Oh boy, did I know how he felt. Tim and I reassured him that there was nothing to be nervous about and he was going to have a great day. Trent told me that Daddy had prayed for him and now he was feeling a little less nervous. I love this boy!! We got to school early and Trent showed us around a bit and then he wanted to play basketball and soccer, which we did. I think playing awhile before the bell rang helped Trent get the butterflies out. When the bell rang we made our way to his class line up spot. Mrs. C was there greeting the children and they made their way to the classroom. Most of the parents were taking pictures (me included of course!) and kind of following the kids to class. I was a bit unsure if we could go to the classroom, but a few parents started walking that way, so of course, in the hopes of taking more pictures I followed. I took a few more pictures, said my good-byes to my little boy and Tim and I made our way to the parents breakfast. I am happy to report that I didn't shed a tear, but the day isn't over yet.

As I am writing this, I have noticed that I can't stop checking the clock and wondering how and what Trent is doing. 2:45 cannot get here fast enough.

I am happy to report that Trent's first day went great and he wants to go back tomorrow. We are looking forward to a great year!

A few pictures before heading off to school.

Playing around before the bell rings.

All lined up and ready to go into class.

Trent's desk area.