Scratch Happy Toddlers

It has been a few days since I last posted. It has been a crazy week. The good news the scale is slowly sliding downward. Woo-hoo!! The bad news I am not sure about the child watch at my gym anymore. I know this is a diet blog but I am a mommy first and foremost.

Yesterday I took Aggie to the gym and left her in child watch. About 15 minutes later a mom comes up to me and says “I am really sorry buy my little girl scratch your little girls face. It is just a little scratch by her eye”. I get off the machine I am on and go back to child watch. I see Aggie and my stomach sank. She had bloody scratches all over her face. Her face is a scratched up disaster. It is horrible and bloody. At this point I am still okay with that it happened. Kids will be kids. I guess the other child wanted the toy Aggie was playing with. The other mom and her kid leaves after loads of “I’m so sorry”s. As soon as the door closes one of the child watch women tell me Aggie is the third child that has been attacked by her! I was pissed! I headed toward to the lobby to speak with the manager. When I got to the lobby the mom was sitting there so I told I was going to ask Tom to remove her child from child watch because she had done this twice before. She looked at me with a strange look on her face and said “this is the first time she had ever been in here”. Huh. I get Tom (the GM) and we all go back to child watch. When Tom asks what they told me the child watch women both say “WE NEVER SAID THAT!” What the fuck?!?! By this time I am fuming mad. They are pretty much saying I lied and made it up. Then the other mom tells Tom that I verbally attacked her by saying I didn’t want her child in child watch anymore. I tried to explain again that I was told her child had attack 2 other kids. I thought by telling her I was going to talk to Tom was the adult thing to do. By this time I grabbed Agnes, signed her out, and went to the front desk to cancel my membership. Now, this isn’t a daily childcare this is child watch for when you are working out. You don’t pay for it. It is a free service so it isn’t like I want this kid to get kicked out of childcare. Tom came up to the desk while I was filling out the paperwork and told me he was going to think about what his decision was going to be. By this time Sean had gotten there and took over for me. He went and talked with Neil who is the head honcho at our YMCA. Neil was extremely upset about how this was handled. He said he would look into it.

Now here is where I need help. Do I leave Agnes in child watch again? I am not worried about the little girl who scratched her but the incompetence of the workers. I still can’t get over that they lied to me and refused to own up to what they told me. I tried to contact the little girls mom but haven't heard back from her. Do I contact her again or do I leave it?

This is enough to make a mama eat loads of cookies and gummi bears!!

Friday Ramblings

Today has been a yummy food day. Miss Agnes and I went to Whole Foods today after I took her to a photo shoot for her “I’m 2” pictures. I can’t believe she is almost 2. Where has the time gone? I digress…we went to Whole Foods to get some raw almonds and bananas. Think I walked out with just almonds and bananas? Uh, no. I needed a Sammie too. Whole Foods has the best chicken salad ever. Stack it on ciabatta bread with some lettuce and it is the perfect lunch. See what happens when I go to that stupid store!

For dinner tonight we are having our Friday tradition; breakfast for dinner. Sometimes we even wear our pajamas. Sean and I thought it would be fun to start our own tradition with Agnes. Something we can do as a family that isn’t expensive, take a lot of work, and is really fun. What do you do for a fun family tradition?

Does anyone else watch the Oscars? I am so excited for Sunday! I have loved watching them since I was kid. I really miss the dance numbers. Hahahaha

I usually make something special for snacks and dinner. I have looked at epicurious.com’s Oscar party ideas and they have some good ones but I am not sure I want to go that gourmet. The recipe for the Guinness pudding (http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/menus/cooknow/recipes/234304) would be amazing. But since I am trying to get skinny that is out of the question. Perhaps if I am a good girl until Saint Patrick’s Day I can make it.

Maybe I could do something along the lines of concession food. Grilled chicken nachos on baked tortilla chips, kosher hot dogs Chicago style, and frozen yogurt with gummi bears. It sounds bad for you but I think it could be made low fat and low cal.

Mmm, gummi bears! This will definitely be the desert for Oscar night.

"Wanna gummy bear? They've been in my pocket for a while, so they're nice and warm..."

Feeling Fiesty!

Am I the only one who misses trans fat? Isn’t that a horrible question? Fat girls shouldn’t miss trans fat. We should be rejoicing the fact that it is being phased out of food!

Even though I try to buy, cook, and eat organic there are times when I just want to be bad. And, I want my bad to taste good. Potato chips don’t taste the same, Girl Scout cookies don’t taste the same, Wendy’s has gotten so bad I won’t eat there anymore. It isn’t that I eat these items often but when I do I want it to be good since it is a treat.

Wendy’s was my treat of treats. The last time I ate there everything tasted like fish. Oh, and this is before the restaurant even served fish! GROSS!! The bun was grey and soggy. It was just a nasty treat. I called the restaurant to tell them and I was informed it was because they no longer cooked with trans fat. I haven’t eaten there since and I won’t. We bought a bag of Lay’s potato chips, which are now made with Sunflower oil. They tasted fine but were completely stale and funky a few days later.

I understand the government is trying to make all of our lives better by restricting trans fats but it sucks that some foods will not taste the same. Maybe this is how I will lose weight since I don’t want to eat any of my good behavior treats anymore. I don’t want to get into a political debate but is it truly the place of our government to tell us what we can and cannot eat?

Maybe I do want to have a debate. Here is another topic that really made me made last night.

Last night on the ABC news program Nightline there was a story about a school district in Pennsylvania that weighs every elementary school child. If the child is overweight a “report card” is sent home to the parents. This seems really mean to me. There was one little boy in Kindergarten who when told he weighed in more than his classmates he sat down, started hitting himself in the head, and calling himself stupid. He is in KINDERGARTEN! Does he really need a blow to self-esteem? The school nurse talked about some of the bigger girls would try to hang a foot of the scale when they were weighed in front of the other students. I haven’t always been fat. In fact in high school I weighed 118. That is very skinny considering I am 5’10”. But in elementary school I was a big kid. I would have wanted to die instead of being weighed in front of my classmates. Is this the schools responsibility? Shouldn’t this be a matter between parents and doctors?

Is a thin child really worth destroying a child’s self-esteem? Maybe schools need to look into healthier school lunches, more gym classes, and some nutrition classes. I think all of our children would be much better off with this plan instead of embarrassing them into the world of skinny.

Terrible Tues.

Today sucked. I woke up, weighed myself, and I am 10 pounds heavier. What the hell?

I have been in the absolutely worst mood all day. Every time I took a bite of something I felt guilty and would end up throwing it away. For lunch I shared a turkey Sammie with Agnes. Dinner was baked chicken, honey glazed carrots, and mac & cheese. I had a few bites of mac & cheese but mainly stuck with the chicken and carrots. So, here I sit on the couch wishing I could have skipped dinner.

I know this is not a healthy view of food. But, I have done something about it. I made the phone call. I have an appointment with my doctor next Thursday. Of course, I lied to the receptionist and told her I need to see him for insomnia. I do have trouble sleeping, but that isn’t why I want to see him. I was too embarrassed to tell her I need to talk to him about how fat I am.

What an uplifting post, which is sure to inspire the masses!

Spawn of Satan

Daughters of Satan leave me alone! I beg of you!

We went to the grocery store today to do our weekly shopping. There was a table of Girl Scouts out front of the store. Sean got me past them on our way in and on our way out. When we got home I notice a few things were missing from our bags so I had to go back to the store. So annoying! Anyhoo, I go back to the store, get my items, and as I am walking out I hear “Would you like to buy some cookies?” I couldn’t resist. I ended up bring home 2 boxes of Thin Mints. I am a bad, bad girl!

Hopefully, if I eat enough Thin Mints it will make me thin! Maybe not but a girl can dream can’t she?

Hives, Heels, and Happiness

What a weekend!

Yesterday was spent taking care of my sweet Miss Agnes. Most of her hives have gone but she still has a couple of scary looking ones on her cheek. Hopefully, those will go down soon.

Today was very special as we watched Cole become a Bar Mitzvah. Cole is the son of one of my very good friends. She has been planning this celebration for over a year! It was one of the most moving ceremonies I have ever seen. It was absolutely beautiful when Ben (Cole’s dad) spoke of arriving at Temple with his child and he would be leaving with a man. There was not a dry eye in the chapel. Even the Rabbi was crying. There is something very special watching a father tell his child how much he loves him and how proud he is.

After the ceremony there was a small Kiddush lunch, which was amazing. I completely behaved myself! I had a few bits of spinach salad, part of a Challah roll, hummus, and a couple bites of carrot cake. I can’t say no to carrot cake it isn’t humanly possible. We were supposed to go to a cocktail/dinner party tonight to finish the celebration but my back was killing me after this morning. I wore high-heeled boots and did a lot of standing. Not so smart after back surgery.So, instead of going to the party I threw together a pretty tasty turkey chili.

It was wonderful seeing my friends today. I was so HAPPY to see them. A couple of my friends whom I haven’t seen in a few years were amazed at my weight loss. It took me by surprise. I see myself as the big, fat girl in the room. I am a big girl. But perhaps I am not as fat as I still think I am. My clothes aren’t as tight as they were last month so I know I must be getting smaller but I don’t see it. I wonder if I should take my measurements every month. Would that be helpful or hurtful? Hmmm, something to ponder.

The Itchy & Scratchy Show

Not much diet stuff to report on today except I didn't go to the gym and I didn't eat much. Agnes had a severe reaction to a prescription of Amoxicillin that she was taking for an ear infection.

I noticed hives all over her legs yesterday when I took off her tights. I called the doctors office to ask them about it. The nurse was a complete *itch. She told me it was the tights and I really should have washed them first. Then she added "Next time you will think twice about not washing her clothes before she wears them or YOU can wear the tights and get the hives.” Every time I tried to explain what I was seeing (hives on her legs, butt, privates, and hands) to her she kept saying “Just give her some Benedryl. It's the tights.” She wouldn’t except anything but the “tights theory”. Not once did this nurse ask for my name or Agnes’. A call that lasted less than 6 minutes made me feel like the dumbest mother on earth.

Okay, maybe I was overreacting. We all overprotective with our kiddies. I called Sean and asked him to pick up some Benedryl. By the time he got home she had these huge bumps ALL over her body. We called after hours and made an appt. for today.

We wake up and they are 1000x times worse. Her entire back, stomach, legs, arms, and some of her face are covered in welts. The poor thing was in hell. We called to see if they could get her in earlier and were told no. Guess what? Wrong answer! We packed her into the car and went anyway. Screw them! We get there and we are taken back to an exam room within minutes. I told the doctor about my phone call with the nurse and she was PISSED! She said she was going to find out who talked to me because it was an obvious reaction to a medication and the outcome could have been a lot worse. And, who threatens a mother with an allergic reaction?

She asked us about our allergies too. Sean isn’t allergic to anything (LUCKY!). I am allergic to Penicillin, Sulfa Drugs, and Steroids. Allergies aren't genetic but if I have them Agnes is more than likely than not to have them. The doctor had 5 of her partners come in to check it out too. They all said it was one of the worst reactions they had ever seen. She prescribed a bunch of stuff for Agnes and it has started to help. A lot of the bumps are going down and she isn’t scratching so much. Poor Baby.

What makes me the angriest is the person I talked to wouldn’t listen to me. If she had Agnes wouldn’t have had to gone through 24 hours of hot, itchy hives. I wanted to find the woman today to say “HA! See, I wasn’t overreacting you stupid cow!”
But, for now I will just cuddle up with Agnes knowing she is going to be feeling much better tomorrow morning and hoping the woman I spoke with wakes up with hives head to toe.