Wednesday, June 30, 2010

WW@W Update

I attended my first Weight Watchers at Work meeting on Tuesday, yes, I know, its Week 3, but with Olivia being sick last Tuesday and being in Training two Tuesday's ago this was the first meeting I could attend, so in turn it was the first weigh-in for me, so no update on my progress, more just an update on what I am eating...

Breakfast:
140 Calories = 3 Points (And I bought the variety pack at Costco - DELICIOUS)

Lunch

Between 5-6 Points (I bought a whole slew of them at Target last week, packed them up and brought them all to work on Monday, now I just march myself into the Galley at work around lunchtime, pop one into the crazy commerical, heat your food in 10 seconds microwave and ta-da, Lunch is ready)

Dinner:

I am not ready to talk about dinner yet, I haven't been the beacon of success for dinner just yet. Tuesday Night I went to dinner with Allison at The Black Sheep, which by the way, was on Man vs. Food last night (On the Travel Channel - so very cool). I dined on Shrimp Tacos and they were a little taste of heaven in my mouth. Last night I scarfed up the girls Whole Wheat Pasta that they didn't even touch with their grubby paws, but only a cup or so, so I didn't go all crazy and carb it out. But tonight I am planning on fixing a healthy dinner for Brad and I, filled with fish and fresh veggies...

So back to my first meeting, I absolutely love the WW Lady, she is funny and entertaining and full of great ideas. This week she shared some secrets to making the right choices at cookouts and how to eat healthy on vacation. I have training next Tuesday, but I am hoping to skip out of training in time to get weighed and get my sticker for the week. Wish me luck this weekend as we grill out and celebrate our Nation's Independance with Hot Dogs and Cheeseburgers.


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

BostonMed

Anyone else watching BostonMed? I was madly in love with Hopkins when they followed the lives of Doctors and Patients at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and its super cool that they are now following up with another series that will follow the Doctors and Patients of 3 Boston Hospitals. Boy oh Boy do I love that city...if only I had married a man that would allow us to move above that darn Mason Dixon Line I would live there in a flash.

So anyways, the show. I love it. I got all teary-eyed in the first episode when the Police Officers lined the hallways and then at the end when they escorted one of their own home from the hospital...I love symbolism like that. Gets me!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Blazin Fun in the Blazin Heat

(The best of friends...a typical love-hate relationship - Olivia & Zack)

(Zack totally got the hang of it)

(Olivia.....not so much)

(She was really trying this time....)

(Totally given up...just letting loose)

(Not gonna lie, my photography skills are shining through in this one)

(Last but not least...Avery, drinking yucky pool water, from a yucky cycling bottle, thats my girl)

Potty Training Anyone?

Sitting on the Potty - Post Bath


(5 M&M's Later)

We are almost there, she has gone on the potty 6 times in the last 24 hours, and this weekend is DTD Day, (Drop The Diapers). We are going to kick this potty training business into overdrive this weekend, say goodbye to the diapers and hello to the Dora panties

Men will be Boys

(Brad preparing for a slide down memory lane)

(A Slip n' Slide that is)

(Olivia thought her Daddy was a super hero flying through the air)

(He overshot just a bit)

(Next up, Justin & Zack)

(Nice form Justin)

(Notice the red spot on his nose...he hit his head pretty hard, I couldn't stop laughing)

16 Months Old and a Box of Mac n Cheese Later...

Sunday, June 27, 2010

If only...I was as cute as my girls.

(Blonde...did anyone think I would have a blonde child?)



(Sadly this is what my figure looks like now and when you are 31 its not cute)


(I wish I was this cute when I was almost 3 years old)

(We brought out one of Avery's Birthday Presents - thanks KB)


(Too much fun, we wore it out)

A new look...



Not really a noticiable change, but the nice lady with the crazy wrap up your leg shoes (who could stand in those all day? crazy people if you ask me), took off about 4 inches from Princess Olivia's mop. And I am proud to announce no tears were shed...very haircut without tears...and 4th haircut in her almost 3 years of life.

And also noteworthy, I got my bangs trimmed...hold onto your seats!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Ahhhh....Childhood.






Note to self: It is still VERY cool to run through spinklers, fully dressed when you are chubby and 31 years old...and what makes it extra cool...is carrying your wee ones around, running until your sides hurt from all the laughter.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Life through my eyes...today at least.

(She's channeling her inner Jack "crack" Ware)


(Did someone say Hand, Foot, Mouth and Butt Disease)

(She is working on her Zoolander pose in this one)



(Her father's daughter)


(Everyone needs one of these laying around)


(Apple of My Eye)

(I've got my eye on you...check out her wound, looking 10 times better than it did yesterday)


(A different view of the damage a little one can do with a butter knife should they choose to stick it in their eye.....TWICE)


(Marmaduke and his Dome)


(Doesn't everyone use Tupperware as their canvas?)

(Mr. Helpful, sure glad he caught the early flight home from San Diego...I mean Atlanta)


(Peace on Earth)

*Disclaimer - Jack Ware was a janitor at my high school who always displayed his crack for all to see, hence the name "Crack" Ware instead of Jack Ware, only funny for those of you that went to Pioneer, but it should still give a small giggle to those who are just reading about it now. I mean, picture him bending over to wash the floors, fix the broken lockers...just about anything, its funny right?


Perspective

Well if I thought I was having a tough week a phone call from home smacked me with the reality that I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and stop wallowing.  I don't know about all of your hometowns, what they were like, or how big they were, but one thing is for certain, when you grow up in a small town like mine (Northfield, MA) people know people and people love people.  It's that small town USA feel, people wave as they pass you on the street, you can't stop for milk at the local Mim's Market without running into 4 people you know and catching up on the time that has past. And for those reasons and for many more I am thankful that I had the chance to grow up in such a small town, did I feel that way at the time, probably not, but soon after I left, I realized how good I had it...but the moral of my story, doesn't have anything to do with small towns really, it more has to do with when you are from one, everything feels "close to home", but when you live far away and tragedy strikes you feel less than "close to home".

Like I mentioned, one of my close friends from home called this morning with some very tragic news (Is it just me, or do you all feel like I have had a lot of tragic news to report over the last few months, I swear my life is generally not filled with such doom and gloom, its usually sunshine and cupcakes). One of my high school classmates took his life last night, and while I wasn't uber close to him, at one time I was very close with his wife, and many of his friends. My BFF Beth just had him and his daughter over for dinner not too long ago, my heart aches for my friends that are grieving such a tragic loss.

I wish I could yell "Enough is Enough" and the Gods would just take pity on our town and grant everyone safety and health for years to come, but that isn't the reality we live in.

And its ironic, the timing. My Mom's best friend, Pattie Jo has been just waiting for her dear, sweet Mother to pass, and prayers were finally answered and she finally has gone home in peace. A very tragic death and a very peaceful death all in one day, strange how the world works.

Grandma Perry as I knew her, was and will always be one of my favorite people, and if you ever get the chance to meet her daughter, Pattie Jo (Pat to everyone else, I just call her Pattie Jo) you will realize the apple doesn't fall from the tree. Man oh Man, they are angels, now we have one above looking down over us while the other still walks among us. My favorite recent story about Grandma Perry...she has been receiving Hospice care for quite some time, but don't let that fool you, she has been kicked out of Hospice a few times for being "too strong", at 101, being too strong is something to be reckoned with. So anyways, the Hospice Nurse was there to see her a few weeks back, and she looked right at the lady and said "I am sorry dear, I don't have time for this today, I have an Ice Cream Social to attend and I need to get my nails done" - and if you could hear her sweet voice delivering that message it would make your heart sing. I will always think of her a smile, and when I close my eyes real tight I can hear her saying "Leigh-Leigh" (as she always called me). God Bless Grandma Perry and her very large, loving family who I hold near and dear to my heart.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Double Limeade Day...

So if you are just now reading this, skip ahead and read this post first so you can catch up.



So like you read, I had planned to leave Olivia with Molly while Avery, Riley and I went to visit Dr. Lauren (Riley's Vet), well I mentioned my plan to Olivia after picking her up at school around 4pm and to say that she was less than thrilled with the idea of being left behind would probably be an understatment, I mean the child was downright adament about accompaning us to the vet, she was not about to left behind. Between you and me, I think she knew it was going to be one for the books and she just didn't want to miss out on the action, she's no dummy.

I called Molly, told her about the change of plans and off to Dr. Lauren's we went. We arrive as the clock in the Yukon is just turning 4:27pm, 3 minutes to spare, not too shabby Leigh Turner. This is where it gets good...do you have the popcorn? A diet cherry coke handy? You won't want to miss this...

4:27pm - Get out of the Yukon and realize that my behind has been sweating in the leather seats and now my grey knit dress has a wet butt print on it, awesome.

4:27 and a half pm - Get Olivia out of the Yukon and ask her to go stand on the sidewalk, God Bless Her, she listened.

4:28pm - Go get Avery out of the Yukon and grab Riley's leash

4:28 and 21 seconds - Open the back of the Yukon, only to find that Riley has thrown up not once, not twice, but THREE times, just missing a dress I have back there (no idea why its back there, and clearly not smart on my part) by a hair.  At this point, I look up at the sky, a 27lb almost 16 month old on my hip and I say outloud. "Really? Really?" and just hook his leash on, he jumps down, and off we go.

4:29pm - Riley poops or pees out of his butt, however you would like to picture it, it was nasty right on the front lawn of the vets...which by the way sounds like its just adding to my perfect day, but in reality this is a ritual for him, he is a nervous pooper, usually its poop in the car not puke.

4:30pm - We ALL make our way into the vets office only to find 3 other dogs in the waiting room.  Awesome, please make us wait, because I have all the time in the world and not to mention time, I have all the patience in the world too...and clearly my two children, two and under do too.

They finally take us back after about 7-10 minutes...Riley wigs out, starts bucking and bronking, the "Vet Tech" yells "Assistance in Exam Room 4 Please", I felt like saying "Assistance in my everyday life please", but I held back, looking back I should have just let it rip.

Dr. Lauren does her thing, checks out his broken ears, tells me that he needs to wear the cone, needs to be on a crazy amount of medicine and then releases his anal glands while the three of us are in the room, I almost puked on the spot. WOOF. I should mention that during all this, we have some downtime for her to run some tests and wait for labs to come back, so all in all, the appointment took about an hour and only sucked up about 1 semester of the girls college tuition.

Holy cow, how could I forget...right before they take care of his anal gland issue Olivia looks at me and says "Mom, I have to POOOOOOOOP". Awesome. Get it girl, poop it up. So at this point the room smells like death warmed over. GET ME OUT OF THERE, and with a quickness.

So we are all back in the odorous Yukon, Olivia with a diaper full of poop because the only place to lay her down is now covered with Riley's Puke...Riley's Puke, a old, stale swim diaper that clearly had been peed in (don't ask, I didn't see it before). At this point, the only thing on my mind is whether I am going to get a Route 44 or a Large Strawberry Limeade from Sonic, and again, I consider spiking it, but this time, with vodka.

I talk to my Mom, she suggests I run through the McDonald's Drive Thru and grab the girls dinner, genius idea, and I totally wouldn't have thought of it on my own. Oh and did I mention that Dr. Lauren wants me to start feeding Riley a mixture of Barley and Cottage Cheese through the weekend...I asked her where one would procure some Barley, because I could just see the whole brood of us making our way into Southern States and trapsing up and down the grain aisle looking for his new diet. But she calmed my fears and said "Near the Rice, Martin's or Kroger should have it". Okay, but that also means a trip to the grocery store...which clearly isn't going to happen today.

So McDonald's goes well, the girls enjoy their dinner in peace in their respective chairs, Riley stalks Avery's high-chair for fallen soldiers he can scarf up and all is now right with the world.  I call Molly, ask her to please come over, bring that darling child of hers so that I can step outside and clean up the puke stained Yukon without taking the girls outside in the 114 degree heat. Being the amazing neighbor and friend she is, she comes right on over, just in time to witness Avery stab herself in the eye, not once, but twice with a knife that she managed to pull down from the middle of the dinner table. So I hear her scream, go running and her eye is bleeding and already starting to swell....I almost lost it. Who stabs themselves in the eye with a knife, and if they do it, who does it again? Clearly...Avery. So she is crying and I mean REALLY crying. Poor Molly and Campbell, they had to witness a lot of tears and it was L-O-U-D. Olivia got in on the action and threw her own fit. I got a few minutes of peace and quiet by bringing the girls outside on the deck. Avery stared in a wet t-shirt contest by dumping a bucket of water from the water table down the front of her (and she was wearing a white shirt, so it was perfect) and then it happened....Riley....threw....up....on....my.....foot Yup, you read that right, he threw up on my foot. Again, I looked to the skies and said "Really? Really?".

Avery then kicked it into overdrive and the tears just kept on coming. She cried through her bath and finally calmed down around 7:45pm just in time to watch some Diego while she chowed down on some Fruit Snacks, great for her teeth, I know. It was about this time that the heavens opened up and God sent down an angel...YaYa. She will be here tomorrow at 11:07am. What would I do without my Mommy? I mean really, how much can one girl take? In all seriousness, I tried to talk her out of it, but she had made up her mind.

So here I am, sitting on the couch with Riley, its now 9:15pm, Olivia has been in bed since 8:42pm and as I close out this post all I can think about is how my sheets are going to feel in about 45 seconds when I hit the hay. It was, like I said, a Double Limeade Day for sure...

Goals for Tomorrow:
Pick up YaYa at the airport
Procure Barley & Cottage Cheese for Riley
Procure Milk for the girls
Prevent my youngest child from stabbing out her other eyeball and last but not least....solve World Hunger.

God Bless Me

Sit back, relax and enjoy the next few minutes of your life as you read about the last 24-36 hours of my life. .

Monday Afternoon - 4:45pm - TCH calls and Olivia has a fever of 104. God Bless Me, Brad and Karen, the nice manager who gave Olivia a popsicle at school.

Monday Night - Olivia doesn't rest well, she is up a few times during the night. God Bless Me and Brad

Tuesday Morning - 5:30am - Avery wakes up God Bless Me (and Brad)

Tuesday - Brad leaves for Atlanta and I work from home with Olivia God Bless Me and those pilots that are carrying my darling husband to Hot-Lanta.

Tuesday Afternoon - I pick up Avery at school and notice she has an icky rash all over her that her teachers clearly missed. Avery is a complete grouch, she threw a major fit, threw herself on the floor, screamed her face off, and was so loud that Insley heard her and came over. God Bless Me (and Insley)

Tuesday Evening - Its still 103 degrees outside so I have to keep the girls inside - if you could be a fly on my walls you would know how painful that is, they live to be outside in the evenings. Avery just stands at the doors and yells "side, side, side" at the top of her little lungs. I gave the girls a bath and after Avery's bath I noticied that her rash was worse, and I saw that it was covering the bottom of her feet and her hands were starting to show signs as well - not good. Avery went to bed fairly easily, Olivia on the other hand made it her personal mission to drive me to drink, she was still up, chatting to herself until after 10:30pm. It wasn't until the girls were down and Riley and I were cuddled up on the couch enjoying each other's company that I realized both of his ears were broken and were filling with blood - simply awesome. Just what I need...and did I mention that the odor seeping from his behind was making my eyes water and my nose hairs burn? Brad thought that part was hilarious, he giggled like a school boy when I talked to him. He will get his!!! God Bless Me

Tuesday Night - Olivia didn't rest well again, was up a few times during the night God Bless Me

Wednesday Morning - 5:00am - "I want to watch Dora", that is all I heard over the monitor, Olivia was wide awake. So into our bed she came, I thought for sure I would get her back to sleep by cuddling up with her, but no such luck, I opened my eyes to find us nose to nose and her big browns staring me down. God Bless Me

5:30am - Avery screams for the first time God Bless Me

6:00am - I get into the shower

6:15am - Avery screams for the second time, still in her crib God Bless Me

7:00am - Avery wakes up happy but her rash is now in full force, covering her legs, feet and hands. God Bless Me

7:15am - We all pile into the car and set out for TCH. We dropped Olivia in her classroom and talked to a wide variety of teachers about Avery's rash and the consensus was "she needs to get checked out". God Bless Me 

8:30am - Avery and I make our way to Chippenham Peds, see our favorite NP Lauren and within seconds of seeing Avery she said "Yup, Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease". AWESOME....and here is the kicker. She has to be out of school for the rest of the week. Sure, no problem, not like Capital One needs me, not like I don't have a job to do, not like Brad is out of town until Friday at midnight...God Bless Me

8:43am - I order a Diet-Cherry Limeade from Sonic...and debate spiking it with Gin...and lots of it. God Bless Me

8:51am - I deliver the news to my Director...the news being that I will be "working from home" for the rest of the week, and when Avery is the one at home, that basically means I will be worthless because she requires so much attention, whereas Olivia can entertain herself. God Bless Me

9:30am - Avery takes her morning nap and I get some work done - God Bless Her

11:00am - Nancy our heroic cleaning lady arrives God Bless Her

11:52am - Avery has her first fit of the day God Bless Me

11:59am - Avery has her second fit of the day God Bless Me

12:15pm - Avery has her third fit of the day God Bless Me

12:19pm - Avery has her fourth fit of the day God Bless Me

12:40pm - Avery goes down for a nap - God Bless Her

And thats it so far...I am going to get some work done while she naps, pray she naps for at least 2 hours, run out and pick up Olivia when Avery wakes up, leave Olivia with Molly while Avery and I take Riley to the vet, shake the money tree to pay for Riley's vet bill and then we'll go from there...

Any takers on whether Olivia will be home from school tomorrow with a nasty rash? Over/Under on that?

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Single....ready to mingle



Not me of course, but Jake sure is...Jake and Vienna split, no reason was given, but he is as single as June 21st is the longest day of the year. And speaking of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I am just not sure how I feel about Ali and this season of The Bachelorette, I caught about 30 minutes of it last night and I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.  First of all, the guys are very random, and not so great looking, but hopefully she finds her prince charming...

104 degrees

Yup, sure felt like it outside yesterday, but 104 degrees was what the thermometer said when they took Olivia's temp at school yesterday afternoon. Brad got the call at 4:45pm, the little angel had a fever of 104. She was on the couch shivering with a cool washcloth on her head when I got home, but within an hour of taking some Motrin she was basically back to normal, I have never seen a 104 degree fever go down so quickly...but she didn't rest all that well, so I am guessing we aren't out of the woods just yet. Needless to say I will be home with her today and tomorrow too if she has a fever today.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Single Momma Week

No, its not like Breast Cancer Awareness week, or Weimaraner Appreciation Week (I totally made that one up, but it totally SHOULD be a real week), this week I am going to be a Single Momma while Brad jets off to the ATL for one of those fancy schmancy sales conferences I miss so very much, man, those were the days, a week at the Torrey Pines Lodge...oh Careerbuilder, you were too good to me. I digress...

So thats right folks, send in the troops, send up your prayers, I will be working my butt off keeping those kids, clean, fed and alive for the next several days. Brad won't be home until very late Friday Night (because of course the 5pm flight was a tad more expensive, it broke the bank and along with the bank, company policy, so he is on the 11pm flight - awesome) and won't see the girls until Saturday Morning. Wish me luck!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day Weekend - Turner Style


The weekend kicked off bright and early for me on Saturday Morning, Avery has been on the 5:45-6am wake up schedule for the last week or so, so being that Brad let me sleep in both days over Mother's Day weekend I repaid the favor and took one for the team :) Avery was up, right on schedule at 5:49am, we spent a solid 45 minutes outside, which by the way is her very favorite thing in the whole wide world, she finds the nearest door and just stands at it saying "side, side, side". That girl loves being outside.

(What's that you said...oh its a boat...of course)

(Still rockin the funny face after almost 16 months)

We had to get Brad up so that I could shower and get the girls ready for our morning at Lewis Ginter with The Miller Family (Susan, Scott and Lil Mary), Brad packed up his bike and blazed the roads at West Creek for the better part of the morning while the girls and I splashed around at LGBG and enjoyed the crazy hot Richmond temps. The girls had a blast at the Splash Pad, as you can tell by the photos...







(Right in the kisser that time)


(Sisters)


(Time for a snack)


(Mary and Olivia in the Treehouse)


(Fast Friends, just like Susan and I)

Avery has no fear, and for the first time in Olivia's 3 years on this planet she grabbed life by the horns and just met it head on and in she went...I was so proud of her, usually it takes her a while to warm up to things. On the way home the girls and I stopped at Conte's Bike Shop, Brad's Home Away From Home and picked up the main attraction as it relates to his Father's Day spread...a trailer to attach to his bike, so the girls can join in the fun.
Saturday Afternoon was spent celebrating Miss Juliette Grace Koehler.  She turned one this week so it was only fitting that her First Birthday Party was yesterday afternoon. That girl is so stinkin cute I could eat her up...just like she ate up that green frosting on that too cute cake her Momma had made for her. Avery wasn't quite herself yesterday, I am guessing it was the shots on Friday, and her "not so much herself" behavior carried into today too, so we aren't sure what is going on with her, lots of tears, lots of fits.

(The Birthday Girl)

(Not quite sure what to think)

(Totally digging it now)

Saturday Night I hit the hay early, I was one tuckered out buckaroo. Sunday Morning was a bit strange, Avery woke up a few different times, starting at 5:38am and finally for good around 7am, so I was basically awake from 5:38am on...awesome huh?


We were all in the honeywagon on our way to our traditonal Father's Day meal at The Black Sheep by 8:40am, all packed and ready for a day at the Pocahontas Pool as well, pretty impressive don't you think? Needless to say, our breakfast was quite tasty (as always!) and everyone had a blast at the pool. Avery likes to drown herself by just falling over while she walks through the water, and she ends up just floating on her stomach, it looks very scary, but we are always there to grab her within a split second, doesn't seem to really phase her a bit. Olivia loves to jump in the water, and have you catch her, but the problem is, she doesn't jump out, she basically just jumps up, so it freaks me out that she is going to pull a Greg Louganis (sp?) and crack her head on the side of the pool (diving board in his case), so we are going to have to work on that with her because she really likes to jump in, and we can't allow it for fear she is going to crack her skull on the side. Scary stuff.


Brad and Justin went for a quick ride this afternoon while the kids all napped, myself included, too bad mine lasted a solid 9 minutes, you read that right folks, 9 minutes. Avery woke up throwing one of those fits I mentioned above, I let her cry it out, but once I was up, I was up...so I organized my shoes. We set up for dinner with the Koehlers, hearts set on Firebirds, but no reservations were to be had before 6:30pm and that sure as heck isn't going to work for my starvin Marvin's, so off to Outback we went with a call ahead reservation for 5:45pm, clearly that means its okay to make us wait for at least 30 minutes, so we said "Thanks, no Thanks" and took our sorry behinds to BW3's for a very well thought out, heart-felt Father's Day meal.
(Attempt #274 to get the 3 of them to pose together)