Better than 20/20

Surgery success! My LASIK yesterday went great, and at my post-op appointment this morning I am seeing better than 20/20. Yeah! For those of you who wear glasses, you know what a huge change this is! It is really hard to describe. I keep trying to push my glasses up on my nose, but of course they are not there! Thanks for all the prayers!

My kids are being pretty funny about the whole thing. Kalista keeps crying everytime we talk about me not wearing glasses any more. She wants to know when the dr. is going to give them back to me. Isaac didn't quite get the eye shields that I had to wear all last evening. He kept telling me to "take off, mommy!"

Halloween Tag

How much do you enjoy Halloween?
I love it! Besides Christmas it is my favorite!

Do you think Halloween is too commercial these days? Do you miss the traditional costumes?
Too traditonal how? Dressing up is dressing up. I love it all!

Do you give out candy? If yes, what kind?
Yes, we give out candy. Usually little chocolate candy bars. Since having kids we just put a big caldron bucket on our porch and then take our little ones around. I realize this may mean that our neighbor kids take it all, since it is always empty when we get home, but who cares?

What has been your favorite costume? As a kid or adult?

I've had lots of favorites, like the year I was a washing machine and my friend was the dryer, but I have really enjoyed the last few years with my kids. We try to do a theme and last year was Star Wars. Here's a pic. Kalista picked her own character (she has been obsessed with Darth Maul since she was 18 months old, found a figurine and declared that "Darth Maul's trouble".)








When you were growing up what was the weather like during trick or treating? Did you ever have to wear a heavy coat over your costume?
I'm like Angie don't really remember coats too much, but I do remember rain. Yuck!

What was your favorite candy as a kid to get?
Mini chocolate bars and tootie rolls

Do you think Halloween costumes today are too provocative for kids and teens?
There are definitely some provocative ones out there to buy, I haven't see any kids wearing anything too bad.

What are your Halloween plans this year since it falls on a Wednesday?
Same as every year, walk around our cul'du'sac, then go to the Henley's Open House and walk some more around their street!

Now I tag Nancy, since she is the queen of Halloween!

Just catching up

It has been a busy time in the Roades house. . .

It all started last Wednesday with our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch with preschool. Both kids had a great time. Kalista loved the straw mazes and Isaac really loved the train ride.

Then that evening Erin's mom flew in for a much anticipated visit. The kids were ecstatic! They love their Gramme because it means games, stories, playtime, and more games! Normal bedtimes were forgotten, good visit time was had by all!

The second reason for Karen's visit was for Grandpa's memorial service at Jefferson Barracks. It was very, very nice. The kids did great even during the rifle salute (Isaac thought about crying, but it was over too quick) and bugle playing (Isaac did ask "where the tumpet go?" really loud once Taps was over and the bugler left.)

On Saturday morning, Karen left and the kids were to my parents' farm for the evening, so Erin and I could attend a dinner for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. No we are not wrestlers, but Erin's dad, uncle, and several great-uncles were -- big time. In fact the Grubbs family (Erin's grandma's family) is largely responsible for bringing amateur wrestling to the St. Louis area and they were all inducted into the National Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Lots of Erin's relatives that we don't get to see very often were at dinner and it was nice to catch up with them. This is a pic of Erin, his uncle Jay, and one of his dad's old coaches.

That brings me to today where I got to skip school for a 3 hour eye exam. Why 3 hours you may ask? Well, next Friday I am having LASIK surgery on my horribly nearsighted eyes and today was the mapping appointment. I'm nervous, but really excited about life without glasses.

Is this the face of a bully?

Yes it is. Poor Isaac has had a rough week.

It all started this past Friday night when we started breathing treatments again. It was bad enough that Erin took him to the Dr. on Saturday. You guessed, it we were back on oral steroids and breathing treatments for the next five days. We were also given a perscription for Singulair, so hopefully these episodes will subside.

So for the better part of 5 days now, Isaac has been hyped up on lots of drugs. Needless to say we all (Erin, myself, and Isaac) are all suffering from lack of sleep. While that is not a good situation the other side-effect of steroids -- agression -- has reared its ugly head at pre-school this week. Isaac hit one of his favorite friends on Monday and then hit 3 more kids today (one of them 3 times) all before 10:30. Ms. Jeanne did a great job of putting him in time-out, but after the third victim mom stepped in and laid down the law. After 2 hard swats on the booty and another 2-minute time out (with him hyperventilating the whole time - he is quite the drama king when he wants to be) I think he got the message and had no more incidents the rest of the day.

It was hard to discipline him while he is sick especially since I know this behavior is not typical for him. Those 2 minutes I sat with him were very hard, but drying his tears, snuggling him afterwards, and having him say "I no hit my friends" told me that all was well and he learned what he was suppose to. . . until the next time! :)

ps Thanks for the great glasses, Aunt Nancy! As you can see, he loves them!

Dieting, I-Pods, and Reality TV

This will be a misc. post as there is really nothing new going on at the Roades' house.

Dieting, yes I am at it again. I am going through a 6 week diet class at Curves. I have had a lot of success with this in the past. In fact pre-babies I lost 30 lbs in about 5 months. Then I had kids. After finishing nursing Isaac last Aug. it was time to lose all those baby lbs for good. One year later (and after taking the summer off from dieting and gaing almost 10 lbs back) I am really close to my goal. I think I need to lose about 15-20 more lbs. That's not a really specific number because I am more concerned with getting my body fat percentage into a healthy range (25%) Right now it is closer to 30% . Those of you from pre-school that read this blog know this already and are probably sick of hearing me talk about it . Don't worry only 4 1/2 more weeks of class to hear me complain! Hopefully I will be very close to my goal when this diet class is over. This week hasn't been very promising though. . .

Me and my Ipod. Erin got me a Ipod Nano for my birthday. I love it! For those of you that know me, I love music and sing a lot. With two kids though it is hard to get to listen to the music that I want to. There is constant fighting over whose turn it is, and some days it is just easier to let them listen to the Wiggles or Mickey's ClubHouse than argue. Enter my new Ipod. I can now plug in one ear bud, listening to my music and tuning out theirs. Only one ear of course, so if I am needed I can still hear them!

I am so glad that the new season of TV is starting soon. I am a TV junkie. Seems weird, since I am also a very avid reader. While I am not a big reality TV person, Erin and I do really enjoy The Biggest Loser and Survivor. It is so amazing to watch the people on the BG so completely change their lives and get healthy. Survivor is just fun.

I'll try to make my next post more exciting. . .

Sweet Kalista

Just a cute story from Kalista this week. . . She loves church. In fact every other or day or so she asks me if it is a church day. Well this Wednesday she was still feeling puny from her HFM episode (see previous post) that we decided not to go to Wed. night class. I decided not to tell her, since I knew it would be a huge issue. All was going according to plan, until about 6:00 when out of the blue she asked me if it was a church day. Now Erin and I have a policy of not lyng to our kids, so I told her that yes, it was a church night, but she was still sick and we were going to stay home so we didn't get any of the other kids sick. Her response? "But mommy, I promise I won't kiss anybody, so they won't get sick!"

School's in session -- bring on the germs!

I have always had very good immune system, so has Erin and Kalista. Isaac on the other hand is my sickie. Since birth we have dealt with reflux, RSV, countless colds, eczema, allergies, and cold-induced asthma. He had a great summer, but of course school started three weeks ago, fall allergens started flying and I gave him his 1st breathing treatment of the season. Of course when I got the nebulizer out I was missing a vital piece of the machine (I think it got thrown away), so I had to resort to his inhaler. This is of course on top of his bout with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease this weekend. (Thanks, Kennedy!) Poor boy hasn't eaten in days because his mouth hurt (it got so bad he even spit out his binki!), his sleeping has been poor, and now he is having breathing issues. Oh well, like I told his dr. at his 2 year appointment two weeks ago. . . "see you soon!"

Oh, by the way. Kalista just came and told me that her feet hurt. I looked and she has spots all over her feet, hands, mouth. . . Nice way to start the week. Sorry Ang, I guess your kids were exposed. . .