A Wonderful Day!

It has been way longer than I'd hoped since my last post. This homeschool thing has been quite the experience. I wouldn't change it a bit but it's taken some adjusting to get used to. The boys are doing very well. Just got their first 9 week grades and they all have A's and/or B's! And most of the B's aren't that far from being an A.

Christopher started at a 2nd grade level and has moved up to 3rd grade for his Science and Social Studies! He's doing Math and Language Arts still at 2nd grade but he's moving right along. Since homeschooling him I have had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am so proud of how well he is progressing...but on the other hand, I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated because I feel that no effort was made with him last year at school. I constantly asked last year about what he was learning, what he knew, what he could do, what he was capable of, etc...  I could never get straight answers and the work that was sent home was just pieces of paper where he had to practice writing his personal information. Every now and then a piece of work came home of something he did but it was only ever Math or Spelling (and the spelling was very basic, small words.) They gave me the impression that this was all he knew. After only 2 months of working with him one on one I strongly disagree with that! He has A's in all 4 of his subjects right now! He knows things I was told would be too hard to try and teach him! I just feel that he was wrote off right when he walked in the doors of junior high. No effort was ever made to integrate him into ANY regular ed classes. When he left elementary school he had been integrated into a handful of regular ed classes/activities. I told them last year that was something I wanted but it never happened. He is doing so good and he gets so excited when he sees that he got the right answers! He loves the online program and he can skype with his teacher whenever he needs to. Plus, we meet with her once a week for an intense reading program she is doing with him. It teaches him how to make all the correct sounds and then put them together so he can read. He reads at about a 1st grade level right now but this is helping him progress. She is an awesome teacher, we got very lucky with her.

Matthew is doing good. It's been an adjustment for him but he's getting the hang of it. He misses his school friends but he still sees some of them at the Youth Center or around the neighborhood. His teacher recommended having him advance to 7th grade Math! She said he is very good at mental math and she was impressed with how well he was doing on his assignments and quizzes. He wasn't too happy about harder work but we are so proud of him! He can do a lot of his work on his own so he has found his spot in my recliner. lol He's getting way better at asking for help (this was something he struggled with last year in school.) If I don't know the answer then I can text his teacher and she'll either call him or skype with him. I've actually picked back up on my Math from helping him. lol I was really good at it in school but it's been years since I've had to use most of it.

Ryan is moving right along with Kindergarten. He loves the characgters on his lessons who talk to him. I have to work with him and Christopher one on one and Ryan really enjoys our "mommy and me" time. He gets excited sometimes and accidentally picks the wrong answer but he usually catches himself and corrects it before he hits the checkmark. He's getting good with his writing and we now have his name on almost every wall in our house! lol

Now, on to why it is a wonderful day today...


WE OFFICIALLY HAVE A DIAGNOSIS FOR CHRISTOPHER!!!!!


I think we were first told about the possibility of him having autism when he was 7 and he is now 13. So 6 years it has taken!!! 6 years!!! It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't homeschooled him because it was done through Epic, our new school. I just mentioned with our teacher in conversation that he didn't officially have a diagnosis yet and within a few days I got a call from the Psychologist the school brought on. Her name is Mary Sweet-Darter and she is AMAZING!!! She teaches at the University of Central Oklahoma as well. She first contacted me around the end of September and we had our 3 hour meeting with her on October 19th. She contacted me on Halloween and told me she had everything done. She emailed it to me immediately and I spent the next few hours crying and calling people. She was so thorough, it was 11 pages long! She did everything! He has an official diagnosis of Autism (between moderate to high functioning.) It was such a bittersweet day. Of course we wish Christopher didn't have autism but on the same hand I wouldn't change him in any way. He is my perfect little boy that God blessed me with. God made Christopher, who am I to say I want to change him? Along with our other 2 boys, he has made me the person I am today. Because of autism we have met some pretty incredible people. I have a dear friend, Ramona, who inspires me daily. I am so blessed to know her and her son Nicholas, Christopher's best friend. I have been to different support groups and met many other parents of autistic children and I always leave feeling even more blessed then when I went in. Many of these kids are not able to speak. It breaks my heart every time I hear a mother say, "I just want to hear my son say mommy or that he loves me or just to know that he's ok." I am always thankful that Christopher can speak. He is such an affectionate kid. I may not get what you would consider "normal" hugs from him but when he loosely puts his arm around me and puts his head to my chest that makes my day every time!! The first night he asked me for a hug after he got in bed I just lost it! It was only about 3 years ago. I was almost out the door and he put both arms out and put his head down and just said, "Mom, hug." Blessed, I tell you....

Her diagnosis validates everything we have known and felt for 6 years now!! She also doesn't feel he needs any medication! This has been a huge part of the delay in diagnosing because the doctor we kept being sent to wanted to put him on meds and we said no! He is on his non-dairy diet and we've been extremely pleased with the results. We had our appointment on base today with our base doctor and she agreed with the diagnosis and signed off on it so I could contact insurance.

He can now receive the services he needs through our insurance. He's always gotten the speech and occupational therapy through school but he can now get ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis) and they can come to our home!! This is very expensive but will be covered by our insurance now that we have a diagnosis.

I have always felt everything happens for a reason. If I would not have decided to homeschool this year he would still not have a diagnosis. His school last year made no effort to help like this school has. In fact, they never even formally agreed with me on the autism being his diagnosis. I posted recently on facebook a comment that said something about being blessed with the people in our lives and that I believe God gives you the right people at the right times. I strongly believe that. We have some pretty incredible people in our lives between our new homeschool adventure and our new church.

We couldn't be more blessed!

Jenny :)

A little bit of everything...

Well, I had a great girls night out on Saturday! I decided that since I was doing good with my diet I would enjoy myself a tensy bit. :) I paid for it a bit but I'm back on track as of today! lol I know if I would have stuck to my diet I would be a few more pounds down now but it as a great night and well worth it! Just a side note to add. If you haven't seen The Help, GO SEE IT!!!!! I loved it! It made me laugh and cry, but I laughed way more than I cried!

I will be finished with my diet by Friday, September 2nd and I feel very confident that I will reach the goal I set for myself. I've done surprisingly good at not craving any soda. (I didn't have any on girls night out, just lemon water.) I would say my main craving, if you want to call it that, has been for a big homecooked meal! You would think it would be for something sweet but I haven't really craved for anything sweet, which has been a good thing! lol I've still been cooking for Chris and the boys so that has been the hard part, not eating what I'm making them. But I've done very good at not giving in.

I've decided to give something a try that I've never done before but I've heard a lot about. It's called Once A Month Cooking. I thought about doing it once before but with work and the boys it would have been really hard. I didn't want to give up half my weekend for cooking. But since I'm not working right now I don't necessarily have to do it on a weekend. I can do it during the week if I want. I found a really good website that gives you lots of options and has everything there for you to print out. You just enter the number of people you will be cooking for and it figures up the numbers for you. I'll put the link at the bottom. I'm not big on having to cook every night and when I cook I tend to snack on the food I'm making. lol It would be nice to just cook one, maybe two, days and then put it all in the freezer. Then just pull something out every day and popping it either in the over or microwave. (and not snacking on it since it's already made would cut down on all that extra food I'm eating just because...) It may not work but why not at least give it a try?

The boys are getting anxious to start school. The first day is 6 September. I got a call last week from their new teacher. Yes! They are all getting the same teacher! I was so excited about that! She is certified through 8th grade AND she's Special Ed certified so that qualifies her to teach all 3 boys! She is really nice and answered all the questions I had (and I had a lot.) Looking forward to getting to know her better and work with her. :)

I hope everyone has a great day today!

Jenny :)

The link is: http://www.onceamonthmom.com/.

About half way!

Well, I decided to do the monthlong diet so I'm about halfway through right now. I've lost a total of 7.8 lbs so far and I'm very happy with that, considering the few times I cheated. lol I know if I hadn't cheated I would be a bit further along but I've been very pleased to wake up every morning, step on the scale and have it either go down or stay the same. (Checking my chart from last year I had a few days by this point where I had gained a little.)

I will admit that tonight I'm getting a girls night out with some great friends and I will probably get something to eat. I know this is going to hurt my diet slightly so that is why I've decided to go ahead and do the monthlong version instead of just 2 or 3 weeks. I haven't had a girls night out in a very long time! lol I'm not saying I'm going to go crazy but I will probably get a little something. :) If I wasn't feeling good about what I had already lost I probably wouldn't do it but for 11 days (not counting the 2 loading days) of dieting and losing about 8 lbs, I'm very happy with that! Tomorrow I will be right back on track to reaching my goal! Mama and Rolland will be here to visit tomorrow. Hopefully they'll be here for either lunch or dinner but I will do good!

I am still feeling great. I've started walking at night.With this diet you can do a 30 minute walk every day and I did that twice this week. You don't want to do too much. Since your body is taking in fewer calories you don't want to use up all your energy working out or running. The 30 minute walk has been great!

Jenny :)

Fell behind lol

Well, so much for checking in every day! lol I didn't realize how busy I've been this last week. But I actually have some quiet time right now so thought I'd hop on here (no Mama, not literally lol) and give an update.

Since I last posted my diet is still going strong. Before I get into it though, I will admit that on Monday I had a weak moment. When you do the drops you have to not eat/drink anything for 15 minutes before and after to give them time to absorb. Well, I took my afternoon drops with every intention of eating! lol I had an afternoon appointment downtown so I washed my hair and did my makeup. Then I got Ryan ready, the appointment was for him, and we left. We did the appointment and came back home, getting here about 4pm. That's when it hit me that I hadn't eaten lunch! So I ate my lunch, which included Melba toast (side note the roasted garlic flavor is really good) and as I was putting the box back in the cabinet I saw a bag of chips and a jar of salsa...I don't know what came over me because I really was full lol but I got them out and had some. A serving of chips is 12 chips, I think I had about 20; a serving a salsa is 2 Tbsp. and I did stick with that. To make myself feel better I reminded myself that the salsa is All Natural and the chips are the kind I get for Christopher so they are really healthy. lol So, I ate my regular lunch, then the chips and salsa...then the chocolate chip cookie Ryan left laying on the table! I felt horrible for that last one. lol

I was so mad at myself the rest of the evening for giving in like that, especially because I wasn't even hungry. I was so sure it would add to the weight I'd lost. Thankfully, it didn't add...but I didn't lose either. Which is totally fine with me! I'm still on track and doing great!

As of today, I have been on the diet for 10 days now, 2 of those days being "loading days" so 8 actual days of the diet itself and I've lost 6.2 lbs. I realize if I hadn't cheated the 2 times I did it would probaby be a little more but I am thrilled with the amount so far. Today when I woke up and weighed myself I was so excited to see I have reached my first goal I set for myself! That was a great feeling! I feel really good and am looking forward to starting the gym when my diet is finished.

Oh, inches wise, here is what I've lost so far:

Waist: 2 inches
Hips: 1 1/4 inches
Bust: 1 inch
Thighs: 1 inch
Arms: 1/2 inch

These measurements were done Monday. I do them again on Friday.

Oh, and I can't remember if I mentioned in any of my posts about the "jeans." Well, I have a pair of jeans that I haven't worn since last Fall and I have them laying out to remind myself how bad I want to fit back in them. I can almost wear them again!! I'm so excited!

Jenny :)

Days 4 and 5 :)

Yesterday went great! Woke up, weighed myself and I was down 2.2 lbs for a total of 3.2 lbs since Monday. I had my fruit and coffee for breakfast, chicken and salad for lunch,strawberries for a snack and chicken and salad for dinner. They say you shouldn't do the same protein twice a day but I was just really wanting chicken again last night. lol

Today I'm down another .8 lbs for a total of 4 lbs. since I started Monday. I still feel great! I know weighing yourself every day doesn't work for everyone but it really keeps me motivated to see the numbers going down. lol I found my charts I kept last year when I did this and so I've been able to check it against my new charts everyday to see how they compare and so far they are about the same.

I decided to do this diet again for a handful of reasons. I wanted to lose a little bit of weight, I wanted to get back in the habit of eating healthier and I wanted to feel better. What has been a nice little bonus is sleep. :) For months now I've had a horrible time falling asleep at night! I'd be up til 2, 3, or 4 am just trying to fall asleep. My doctor gave me some meds but they didn't help. They only thing I found that really helped was actually over the counter, Tylenol PM. But I hated knowing they only way I could fall asleep was if I took something. A bad part of being up all hours of the night is eating at all hours of the night, which I know is a huge NO NO! LOL But since I've started this diet I have been asleep almost every night this week by midnight. I know that's still late to a lot of you but for me that's great! lol Add in the fact that since I'm in bed earlier I'm not snacking at night! I've tried to be in my bed by about 9-9:30, after I get the boys in bed. All I have with me is my bottle of lemon water and my book. :) Let me tell you, being asleep by midnight and getting to sleep til about 8-8:30 is wonderful!!

A little side note, since Monday and Tuesday were my "load days" I was allowed to have soda. Well, I only had some on Monday so it's been 4 days with no soda...I haven't gone this long without ANY soda in I don't know how long! I actually haven't craved it yet and I'm feeling great so that's a good sign! :)

One little thing I will admit I cheat on with this diet is my coffee and tea. During this diet you can only have water, tea and coffee. The catch is that the coffee has to be black with nothing added to it and the tea has to be unsweetened. Well, that's a problem for me. lol I CANNOT do black coffee!! Never have, never will. So my coffee does have creamer in it (Coffeemate-Italian Sweet Creme or Hazelnut) and I've switched my sugar to Truvia. With my tea, I honestly don't mind unsweetened tea but I also like lemon sweetened tea so I do both. I did this last year on my diet and it didn't effect it at all. For my coffee, the creamer is low fat and the sugar is calorie free.

I told you I'd be honest on here so there you have it! lol

Jenny :)

Days 2 and 3 so far :)

Yesterday went good. It was my second "loading day" and I took full advantage of it! lol

When I did this last year I had a routine of waking up and weighing myself first thing every morning and so I'm doing it that way again. Today I am down 1 lb. This is also my first day of the actual diet (no more loading days.) I feel great and I'm not hungry. I've had 2 cups of coffee, I'm almost done with my water bottle w/lemon juice and I had an apple at breakfast. Getting ready to have some tilapia and broccoli for lunch. Last year I bought a steamer and used it almost every day of my diet. I've done pretty good at using it quite a bit throughout the year so it'll be no problem getting back into using it everyday again. :) It's so easy to use and it's a double stacker so I can do my vegetable on the top and my fish on the bottom and it's all ready in 20 minutes. :)

I know it's only day 3 but I feel great and am really looking forward to the next few weeks. :)

Jenny :)

Day 1 of my diet :)

After my post on here about me going on my hcg diet I got some fb messages asking me about it. So I thought, what the heck, school for the boys doesn't start until September 6th so I can use this next month to blog about my diet! Why not? It's a great way for me to share how it works and keep track of my progress all at once!

I got my package in the mail today and got a nice little surprise. I had ordered one 1oz. bottle but I got two 2oz. bottles! I called and they said I could keep them both! Even though it wasn't my mistake, I feel really bad for the lady that got my order, sorry Donna in New York! But they assured me they would make it right with her and give her something for the mixup. So, now I can put one bottle away. It's good til 2/13. And the bottle I have to use is twice the size I was expecting so I can lose a few extra pounds I hadn't planned on. :)

These first two days are called "loading days." You take the drops 3x a day starting today but these first two days you eat high calorie foods like fries, ice cream, burgers, bacon, eggs, cookies, chips,etc...this sounds wierd but it is really important. You'll gain a few lbs. from this but you lose it by day 4. (The guide says this helps to aid in hunger the first few days starting on day 3 when you eat way less.) I remember last year when I did this for the first time I thought this sounded so stupid. To spend 2 days eating whatever I wanted? But, honestly, starting on day 3 I lost a pound a day for the remainder of my diet. In total, I lost almost 22 lbs. in a month.

The reason I'm doing it again is not because the diet didn't work, it did! But, I got lazy and went back to eating/drinking things I knew I shouldn't. I had given up ALL soda for about 5 months...and then one evening I thought it wouldn't hurt to have just one Dr. Pepper. Then slowly I told myself it was okay to have one soda a week, then one every few days, then eventually I was back to almost one soda a day. Also, I am a really bad "night eater." I have a really bad problem with snacking at night after all the boys go to bed and I'm reading or watching a movie. I had done so good and breaking this habit last summer...but slowly I fell back into it again. I've gained back a little over 1/2 of what I lost a year ago. I'm still proud of myself for keeping off those other pounds but very disappointed that I didn't stick with my goals I had set for myself.

Plus, last year I had told myself once my diet was through I was going to join the gym here on base. But that never happened. I've told myself, this time I WILL be joining the gym and continue my running at night. After my diet finished last summer I felt better. I was drinking LOTS of water, I had more energy, I slept at night, etc...I want to get back to that.

I know not everyone agrees with this diet but I have done my research and I have spoken with my doctor. For me, it worked last year so I have every confidence it will work this time as well and I plan to follow through with my goals after the diet is complete.

If anything, I hope my blogging about this will give those who are interested in trying it but not sure an idea of how it works and decide if it's something they want to try.

I've debated putting my actual numbers on here but just can't do that. lol I will, however, put how many lbs. I lose or gain every day. Maybe, if I'm happy with the outcome, I will divulge the numbers at the end. :)

The websites listed below are where I went to calculate my BMI and make sure I was getting my measurements right.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2307504_measure-waist.html
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-get-your-body-measurements.html
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

This is my first day! I've started my drops and so far I've had a pretty good sized hamburger and bbq chips and iced tea. (We were up late so slept in and missed breakfast lol) Having a snack when I'm done on here :)

Wish me luck!!

Jenny :)