Category Archives: Life

Life

Winds of Change

I need to get back to blogging. The last few weeks have been so crazy that I have been struggling to put two thoughts together, so typing something down on the screen has been particularly difficult.

I don’t know why it’s been so hard. I suppose I could blame the LONG winter here in Portland that seems to suck the energy out of me or my husband’s new job or changes Samuel’s new daycare or just the day to day grind of working full time while trying to keep the house on track. The truth is that I feel as though I’ve been living in a fog. While I’ve been here in body, my mind has been absent and I am desperate need to find some motivation to move and get connected to something beyond work. I need to make a few changes – do some Yoga, spend more time outside (as soon as the rain stops), eat better, go to bed earlier, find some time to exercise and spend more time just enjoying life.

This week’s I Heart Faces challenge is “Wind”. I took this photo on Sunday while the boys and I enjoyed a sunny day outdoors. We painted, the boys burned some energy chasing each other around  the yard and Samuel found a dandelion. Winds of change perhaps? Let’s hope so.

Battle of Wills

My second born child. Closest to me in birthdate and personality. Cheeky, funny, smart – and also the one who is currently pushing me to the edge of sanity.

This weekend was tough. Oh, it had it’s wonderful moments filled with laughter and play and putting on shoes without debate. But, for every good moment or two we experienced a major backslide – and when the meltdown begins there’s no knowing how or when it will end.

When Thomas was this age, he’d quietly go and stand or sit in timeout with very little resistance. After 2 or 3 minutes we’d talk and hug and it would be over. We’d move on. In fact Thomas’ meltdowns were so rare that I honestly can’t remember a single traumatic parenting event – at least as far as tantrums were concerned.

Samuel, however, is headstrong. He refuses to sit in timeout despite the number of times I pick him up and place him back on the step. If I close the door, he sits and kicks it with his feet until it sounds like the house will collapse around us. On Saturday it got so bad that I had to leave him screaming upstairs for at least 30 minutes while I regained my composure. This morning I carried him out to the car without bothering to fight the battle of putting on his shoes and the only reason I was able to get him out there at all was because he was a little terrified at the prospect of being left home alone (a veiled threat of course).

The thing is that he’s a relative angel when he’s with other people and we’ve received nothing but good reports from his new daycare. I really hope that this is just a bump in the road of his development and that Samuel’s responding to changes in daycare and the stress of potty training (it’s gotta be stressful, right?). I know my sweet baby boy is under there somewhere and I want him back.  In the meantime, I’m prepared to read as many books as it takes to find a solution. Feel free to share recommendations.

I Can See Clearly Now…

Laser eye surgery is truly a miracle. I can now see more clearly than I could when I was a teenager. 20/15! Last night we went to an Ice Hockey game and watched from a box. I could see the expressions on the players faces – it was incredible.

The downside is that I can now clearly see how much I neglected my eyebrows over the past few months while I plucked blindly.

As for the surgery itself – I spent a lot more time waiting for the Xanax to kick in that I took for them to complete the surgery. It was weird and uncomfortable but painless. The worst part was the anxiety involved in having someone prop your eyes open and then place you under a large machine. They gave me a stuffed animal to hold to keep my hands occupied during the procedure and I didn’t realize how tightly I was gripping the poor thing until I was done. But they talked me through the whole process as it was happening and there were few in-the-moment surprises. I felt as though I was in good hands and, judging by the pace of recovery, I was.

Immediately after the procedure I was given some very sexy Bono-type goggles and instructed to head straight home to bed and go to sleep before the pain set in. Unfortunately we had a bit of a drive in front of us so the pain did begin before I was finally able to go to sleep. I slept well (could have been the medication) and when I woke up I could see perfectly without need to reach for my glasses.

So now I’m religiously following the post op instructions (eyedrops every hour!) and wearing goggles to bed to avoid eye rubbing during the night. Honestly, the goggles and fact that I can’t put my face under water are the most difficult side effects of this whole process – and they’re temporary. Brilliant!

So I’ll end this post with a photo that I took last night at the Hockey game. It’s my “slice of life” photo for this week’s I Heart faces challenge and one of my first opportunities to take photos without looking through the extra lens of my glasses.

Samuel wasn’t a fan of the noise that erupted each time the Winterhawks scored a goal – and with 7  goals in the game, that was a lot of noise.

Saying Goodbye to my Glasses (and, temporarily, visible eyelashes)

Tonight I say goodbye to the two little pieces of glass that have been perched on my nose for the past few months – ever since the day late last year when my eyes decided that the contact lenses that had been treating me so well for so long would no longer be an option. Of course I’ll likely need reading glasses in a few years ,because apparently old age is going to get you no matter how hard you try, but I’ll take the compromise if it means:

  • I spend just one less minute trying to remove that annoying smudge that predictably appears in the center of my vision.
  • I no longer have to wish for teeny tiny little windshield wipers every time I walk out my door in Portland – possibly the rainiest place on earth. You think I exaggerate? It has rained 23 out of the past 24 days.
  • I no longer have to wonder if the blur through the camera lens is because the camera is out of focus or because I inadvertently looked over the top of my glasses while getting the frame.
  • I can wear sunglasses again (yippee!)
  • I can swim, run, cycle, dance and do somersaults without having to worry that my glasses will fly off my face – not that I do any of these things on a regular basis, but it’s nice to know that I now have the freedom.

I won’t be able to touch my eyes for an entire week which I’m sure will be no easy task in the middle of allergy season (I tried it yesterday and lasted about 15 minutes) and I’m not allowed to wear mascara during that time either (the most horrifying part of all).

But I’m prepared.

I got my new drivers license photo taken today before the mascara restriction begins, removing my glasses first of course. And I have a plan to milk what little simpathy I can get from my loving family. Oh, and I have a Karaoke night on the schedule for tomorrow so I can really test drive the new peepers. Who knows? A whole new world of lyrics might be revealed.

So wish me luck tonight. Actually, wish my surgeon luck. No, not luck. He shouldn’t need luck. Scratch that. Wish him lots of skill and a steady hand.

And pray they don’t run out of Xanax before I get there.

Spring Change

The Portland sun came out for a full hour or so on Saturday – just enough to spur a burst of energy so powerful that I went for a run. Those who know me will be able to appreciate just how much of a big deal that is.

And it didn’t stop on Saturday. Each day since, I have been motivated to power up the Wii and spend 15-30 minutes with my virtual trainer to do a little yoga and a few toning exercises. It’s not as much as I would like to do, but it’s the most I can accomplish in the brief allotment of time that I have between walking in the door after work and when Kei brings the boys home. The upside of all this movement is that I feel a little more energetic and the stiffness in my joints has eased up. The downside is that it hurts when I sneeze and, thanks to Spring allergies, I am uncomfortably reminded of my new workout commitment many times throughout the day.

The emergence of Spring has also brought with it a few changes for the Ishidas. Samuel started at a new daycare this week – a big shift given he started at his other daycare way back when he was four months old. Thomas is also attending the new daycare for Spring Break and, so far, they both seem to be having a wonderful time making new friends and engaging in new experiences. I was told this morning that Thomas has quickly brought the other kids of his age up to speed on the full Star Wars saga and that Samuel is nearly up to full chatter capacity after a couple of shy days. Yes, it seems they’re settling in nicely.

And, finally, one more big change coming on Thursday. My date with the laser is imminent. I’m a little nervous about the whole CUTTING INTO MY EYE thing, but looking forward to  some Xanax and the promise of 20/20 vision. More to come on that soon.

For the moment I leave you with a few photos from our brief, but wonderful, sunny Saturday. Oh, and note to the ice cream vendors of Portland – next time can you wait until the temperature rises above 50 degrees before you start trying to cash in on the families coming out of winter hibernation? I don’t need to hear Greensleeves while I can still see my breath.

This mischevous look captures my youngest child perfectly.

I like to think that Samuel was pretending to be asleep, but I think he was actually playing dead. The joys of role play with a two year old.

Thomas was just shielding his eyes from the blinding sunlight (OK, it wasn’t THAT bright). And, honestly, he looks a little uncomfortable lying on the sidewalk. What won’t a cruel mother do for a photo?