Friday, August 31, 2012

Stress, Stress and more stress

Summer is winding to an end and as usual I had good intentions.  One would think with the days being significantly longer in the upper northern plains and no homework to deal with I’d accomplish my goals. Keep up with the yard work – weeding the garden, get perennial plants established around the house and garage.  Care for the ones we have…  Then there are all the things I wanted to accomplish with Spittlefish.  Teach him to swim and ride his bike… 

Don’t get me wrong it’s been a wonderful summer.  Virtually no rain, meaning no mosquitoes.  I’ve been able to spend some time on our patio reading and visiting with friends over beers…  And I’ve been able to walk outside instead of being holed up in the basement on the treadmill.  Still haven’t lost any weight, but at least I’m taking a proactive stance on my health in terms of exercise.  And we’ve been able to spend most weekends at my in-laws lake home so Spittlefish can spend time with his grandparents and cousins.

Spittlefish goes to a daycare during the day while we work.  And one of the things I’ve absolutely LOVED about it, is how they keep the children active.  Walking, trips to playgrounds, swimming pools, sporting activities, field trips… They’re VERY busy!  So when he gets home, the last thing he wants to do is spend any time outside.   After his treatment and supper, he just wants to relax.  Plus two nights out of the week he had gymnastics.  So learning to ride his bike sans training wheels… nope!

Without going into a whole lot of detail, we’ve also had some stress in our household with some behavioral issues.  About mid-July, our son suddenly became obsessed with germs.  I can pretty much pinpoint when it happened and who told him he could get sick from germs, but that’s not going to fix the problems.  Our happy go lucky child suddenly became a worrier, whiney and secretive – evasive in order to avoid conflict.  We’ve tried reason, bribery, punishment…  And things have improved, though are not quite where they should be.  I posted some of this on some of the CF sites and pretty much got even more stressed out (FREAKED OUT) by well meaning individuals talking about OCD and aversion issues.   

While we’re gradually getting over the germ phobia and mostly it happens when he’s overly tired, it’s now lead to eating issues.  Used to be I wasn’t too concerned about whether or not he’d eat his school lunch because he’d get a snack at school (peanuts), at daycare and on the car ride home he’d down a fortified juice drink and eat another package of peanuts or some other snack item.  Then he’d snack during his vest treatment, have supper and usually down another snack before bed or drink juice throughout the evening.

Lately he’s not wanted his “snack for the road” on the way home for daycare, nor has he snacked during his vest…  Last night I opened up his backpack and found 3 packages of peanuts.  So for the past 3 days he hasn’t been eating his school snack.  I should at least be thrilled that he’s not smart enough to squirrel away the food or toss it.  Add to that confrontation, he’d told me on the car ride home that he only had 3 carrot sticks for lunch.  Apparently his French fries had black spots, some food touched some other food and the mustard tasted funny...  Had him step on the scale and he’s lost weight.

So big to do about eating.   I’m beyond frazzled.  Worried doesn’t really describe how I’m feeling these days.  We’ve tried to explain that he can get sick if he doesn’t eat, end up in the hospital with ivs.  That some children have feeding tubes – yep we’ve stooped to scared straight scare tactics.  That’s going to win me parent of the year. 

It’s not about me.  It’s about him.  I DID get him to drink more carnation instant breakfast than usual this morning.  We’ll see how things go.  I’m thinking a vacation far far away involving lots and lots of alcohol needs to be in my future.  Anyone wanna run away with me? 

Monday, August 13, 2012

Second Annual Brewers Ball for Cystic Fibrosis


The Fargo Brewer's Ball for Cystic Fibrosis is less than two months away!
Friday, October 5th from 7 to Midnight at the Fargo, North Dakota Hilton Garden Inn!
Time to purchase tickets, sign up for sponsorships, donate any spare bottles of wine or beer you may just happen to have laying around the house!  Silent Auction items...?


Here's a photo of us last year during set up. 
Don't ask me WHY the heck I'm hiding my beer glass behind my back as if I'm back in high school participating in underage drinking.