But lately I have been feeling guilty about it.

The food they serve is so unhealthy. She comes home and talks about corn dogs and chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. I know that she loves those things, and I am OK with my kids eating them once in a while. But I am really not happy that Emma is eating those things every day.

I have been thinking about starting to pack her lunch. I am already packing a lunch everyday for Ian, so it really wouldn’t be hard to just pack two. Then I saw this post with a great giveaway and I think I am convinced.

I HAVE to have these Goodbyn lunch boxes!

They are adorable and would make lunch preparation so easy! They even have a 3 week menu plan complete with shopping list that you can download.

I’m hoping that I will win one in the giveaway, but even if I don’t I think I will order them.

Healthier lunches for my kids can only be a good thing!

Before bed I felt so achy and my nose was stuffed. I got in bed with a cup of hot cider and a hot rice bag. I took some Motrin to help with the body aches and went to bed early.

I feel a little bit better today, but still tired and achy. Luckily I still don’t have a fever, so I am hoping it is just a cold.

Keep your fingers crossed for me

The instructor was great, and I think we both really got a lot out of it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I liked having Scott massage me, and I enjoyed massaging him too. We learned a lot. It was definitely the best massage I have ever gotten from Scott.

We are both so busy. We spend a lot of time together, but it isn’t always quality time. We are usually shuttling kids, or cleaning up, or running damage control at home. We thought that the massage class would be a nice way to spend some good time together–both during the class and using the skills after. I am looking forward to having Scott give me a massage some night after a stressful day!

There are 2 more classes, and I am really looking forward to them.

I am extremely fussy about car seat usage and installations. I like to frequent car seat message boards and learn about new car seat models. I never let my kids ride in any car without car seats. I take tons of time installing my car seats. I want them to be rock solid when they are installed–like they are supposed to be. Why bother using car seats if you aren’t going to install them so that they protect the kids in case of an accident?

I also keep my kids in harnessed car seat much longer than most people. While lots of people I know are just itching to have their kids get to 30 pounds so they can move them to a booster, I still have my almost 7 year old in a harnessed car seat. Instead of buying a booster, when Emma outgrew her Britax Marathon (in height, not weight) I bought her a new seat that would accommodate her height.

Did you know that car seats expire? I never knew they did until I started frequenting car seat message boards. Most car seats have expiration dates on the seat somewhere. If they don’t you can check with the manufacturer. If all else fails, most car seats expire 6 years from the date of manufacture. I know it might seem like a waste to throw away a car seat that looks fine, but if you watch this video, you will never use an expired car seat again.

I also keep my kids rear facing much longer than most people. Emma was rear facing forever, mostly because she was so skinny and she was almost 2 year old before she got to the 20 pound minimum to face forward. With Ian, I had learned more, and just knew that it was safer. So even though he was 20 pounds when he turned one year, I still kept him rear facing.

Nora has been rear facing until today. I kept her rear facing more than a year than most people. Here is a great article about how much safer it is to be rear facing. I really planned on keeping her rear facing until she reached the rear facing limit of her Britax Marathon, which is 35 pounds, but I decided to turn her around today. The weather is what finally got me to do it.

Since we got back from Maui it has been snowing constantly. Nora has been wearing boots and walking in the snow. Every time she gets in the car her boots are full of mud and snow which melts all over her Marathon and the actual seat of the Sienna. I think it will be better to have the snow melting onto the floor, instead of all over her. Another benefit is that she will be able to watch the movie screen now too.

I know that I kept her rear facing MUCH longer than most people. But I still have some guilt about turning her around. I guess I just need to get over it. I have done everything I can to ensure that my kids are safe while driving.

Hopefully someone learned something about car seats by reading this post. I think I’ll get off my soap box now

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I had a suspicion that she could have strep too, although I know it is really rare in kids under 3. Still she complained of a tummy ache and she had a low grade fever. I looked up the symptoms of strep in kids under 3 and knew instantly I had to take her in.

If you know that your young child has been exposed to strep before coming down with a respiratory infection, you should have her evaluated by her healthcare provider. Strep infections at this age typically have the following symptoms:

Symptoms suggestive of strep throat in infants and toddlers

* Onset of illness is not as rapid or severe as that seen in older children.
* Fever usually will be low grade (99-100 degrees Fahrenheit).
* Irritability and lack of appetite are common.
* Commonly, there will be a clear discharge from the nose.
* Sometimes the nasal drainage is accompanied by a skin infection between the upper lip and the nostrils.
* There may be no sore throat or difficulty swallowing.
* There may be no swollen lymph glands underneath the jaw, and in the front and sides of the neck.

Low grade fever–check. Irritablility–check. Lack of appetite–check.

So off the the clinic we went. Scott came too since his throat was starting to hurt too. Nora’s test came back positive. Even though Scott’s was negative, they treated him too. He opted for the Penicillin injection since he was leaving on a business trip today. He wanted to get better as soon as possible.

So far, Emma and I are still well. Emma complained of a sore throat a couple of times, but still doesn’t seem sick at all. The good news is I can call the clinic any time and get a prescription for her without going in again.

At least we are getting it all out before we head for Maui. Hopefully we will all be well by then, and we won’t need any doctor visits this trip.

I am starting to wonder if someone in our family could be a strep carrier. It seems like we have had so many cases of it in the last few months. Or maybe that is just what happens when you have 3 kids, and 2 of them in different schools.

Saturday night at the end of Dava’s party Mike and Dava noticed that Ian felt hot. I took his temperature and he was 101.5 and complaining of a headache. I gave him some Motrin, and he slept all night. The next day he seemed okay in the morning but by the late afternoon his fever was back. He woke up Sunday night crying and complaining that his head hurt.

I kept him home from school today, mostly because I didn’t want him to give what he had to the other kids. He still seemed under the weather, but I didn’t really think he had strep. He just didn’t seem that sick. He wasn’t complaining of a sore throat. His main complaint was a headache. But he just looked sick. He was pale and his eyes looked tired. I decided to take him to the clinic tonight. I figured since he has had a fever for 3 days, I should rule out strep.

In the exam room I was really doubting myself. I felt like I shouldn’t have taken him in. He was climbing on and off the exam table, scooting around the room on the rolling stool, and running circles around the bed. When the nurse practitioner examined him she commented about his “good spirits”

But the strep screen came back positive after all. So I guess it was worth the trip. He is on antibiotics now and I am sure he will be back to himself in no time.

When she first started going to the Utah Music Conservatory, I signed her up for a group class. She loved singing and she loved the class. This fall I signed her up for another group class, but they didn’t end up getting enough kids and they canceled the class.

She enjoyed singing so much, that she didn’t want to quit. I decided to sign her up for private lessons with her teacher, Janet White, from the summer. She started out strong and really enjoyed it. She constantly asked me to put on her music CD in the car so she could practice. But gradually it has gotten to be more and more of a chore to get her to practice.

She is supposed to practice for 30 minutes a day. At age 6 1/2 I think that is a bit too much, but I would like her to practice a few times a week. I have been feeling like she isn’t getting anything out of the class. She goes to her lesson, and then doesn’t open the books or sing again until lesson time next week.

I talked to her about it and asked her if she would like to take a break. She answered with an emphatic “Yes!” Last week I talked to Mrs. Janet about it, and signed the resignation form. She keep going until the end of this semester, which means she has just 2 more classes.

I think Emma has singing talent and I just don’t want to ruin it for her. She loves to sing and I don’t want it to become a chore for her. I think part of what she loved about the first class was the social aspect. Hopefully they will have enough kids over the summer to run the group class again. By then, Emma will hopefully be ready to sing some more.

I wondered if I would be a candidate for the surgery. My dad went for an evaluation a few years ago and he wasn’t able to have the surgery. His corneas were too thin to qualify. Apparently corneal thickness is genetic. I also wondered if my Ankylosing Spondylitis would disqualify me.

This week we had to decide how much money we will contribute to our cafeteria plan. I decided I would have the evaluation as soon as possible, so that we could max out our cafeteria plan to pay for the surgery.

I went for the evaluation today at Hoopes Vision. I was very impressed with the facility and the staff. They have the newest laser, the Allegretto Wave, which looks fantastic. They did a very thorough 3 hour exam. They did tests to measure my prescription, check my intra-corneal pressure, measure the thickness of my cornea, map my eye to check for astigmatism, and a bunch of other things.

I was happy to learn that I am a candidate for the surgery.

I still had a few questions, but I am really thinking that I will have the surgery next year. One of the things I wondered about was my future vision and what will happen when I start to develop presbyopia–or old eyes Right now there is a Lasik surgery where they adjust one eye for close vision and one for far vision. I asked if I would still be able to do that in the future, if I choose to have Lasik now. They said there is no guarantee, but with the thickness of my corneas, if the healing process goes as they expect it will, I should have plenty of cornea thickness left to have future surgeries.

I feel very confident about using Hoopes Vision for my Lasik surgery. I know they will take good care of me and do everything in their power to get me the best vision they can. Now I just need to decided when to schedule the surgery.

Last year when I started out I rode in the first group, level 1. As the season went on, I moved up to Level 1+. Near the end of the year I was tempted to try out Level 2 endurance, but I just didn’t think I was fit enough. Those girls ride fast and never seem to get tired Since it is the beginning of the year, I decided to go with Level 1+. This spring has been so wet and cold, that I haven’t done much biking at all. I have been riding the trainer, and I worked out off and on all winter. I wasn’t really sure how in shape I was, but this ride gave me a good idea.

We rode up a trail called Skid Row. Last year we rode up the street and down Skid Row most of the time. Once, near the end of last season we rode up Skid Row. The first part of the trail is all uphill–fairly steep with a lot of switchbacks. When I heard that was the trail we were going to ride I had flashbacks of stopping and gasping to catch my breath last year. I decided to go for it anyway, and I was glad that I did. The initial switchbacks were hard and tiring, but I wasn’t nearly as tired as I was last year. I was able to ride almost all of it without stopping–I just stopped where I had to, when the rest of the group stopped. And this group hardly ever stopped This was the fastest Level 1+ ride I have ever done. But it was good. It helped me to see that I might actually be ready to move up to Level 2 endurance!

It was a beautiful cool spring evening. It started out a little cold, but once we got riding I warmed right up. The choke cherry trees were blooming and the views were awesome. I was really proud of myself. At the beginning of every ride I get a little bit nervous. I get butterflies in my stomach and I worry that I won’t be able to do it. But, once I get going I surprise myself. I felt great at the end of the ride. I was happy at how I did on the ride. I felt like I didn’t lose much over the winter, and I think this is going to be a great summer of mountain biking for me!

It has been a crazy week. I have cleaned up more vomit this week than I ever have. I have washed 3 beds, 3 car seats, and tons of clothes. Scott is still sick but all 3 kids started to seem better today.

It wasn’t a perfect Mother’s Day, but we are going to celebrate next weekend instead