The True Problem with being Sick

It is true, I suppose, that you can adjust to just about anything. I've been sick so often this winter that I've adjusted to the actual symptoms of being sick. They just don't bother me as much as they did at first. So I go another few days with sinus congestion or a cough or a sore throat. Post nasal drip, body aches, runny nose, and sneezing all get to be old hat. I'm certainly not saying I enjoy it. I'd much rather be healthy. I'm just saying that it's hard to get all worked up and self-pitying about it after the 15th time.

The thing that bothers me about being sick it the effect it has on my parenting. My children are actually at a pretty great age these days. When I am healthy, I sleep well and wake up energized. I look forward to spending the day with my children. The time flies by and we do all of our regular activities and some bonus ones too just because we are all enjoying our time together. There's a positive feedback loop. The kids are in a good mood because I'm in a good mood and I am in a good mood because they are in a good mood. When small conflicts crop up, they stay small because no one (mama) over-reacts and blows things out of proportion.

All of that seems to disappear when I'm sick. I am tired and cranky. Waking up and facing the day with the children seems more like a chore than a pleasure and privilege. The hours creep by. I pass the time by letting them watch television more than I'd like. They are cranky because I am cranky. I get even more cranky because they are cranky. We do hardly any fun activities and just get through the day as best as we can. That's what I regret most about all the time I've spent sick this winter. I feel like the illnesses are stealing some of my quality time with my children. That is the true problem with being sick.

Here's hoping for a healthy spring and summer.

NutriiVeda Achieve - Reformulation of NutriiVeda

NutriiVeda has been reformulated. The claim is that it is richer and smoother with better flavor. They are now calling the flavors French Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate instead of Vanilla and Chocolate. They have also changed the packaging. Now it will come in a single 30-serving resealable pouch rather than the two 15-serving canisters.

I cannot find much information on the specifics of the reformulation. So far the company has not released the new nutrition panel. The website looks exactly the same to me except that they have changed the pictures to show the new packaging rather than the old packaging. I should get my first shipment of the new formula by the end of next week. I'll let you know more then.

We have been using the original NutriiVeda for about 5 weeks now. Originally Ava was getting about one scoop a day. We're now using closer to one and a half to two scoops per day. I continue to see improvement in Ava's speech. She is continuing to talk more frequently. She's using longer sentences and trying to string several sentences together to tell a single story. All of that is new. It is possible that she would be making these same improvements without the NutriiVeda, there is no way to tell. It certainly isn't hurting though. As always, I also take comfort in the nutritional boost that the NutriiVeda provides for my picky eater too.

Mother's Day Recap 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I slept in a little and then came downstairs to discover two vases the children had made for me. Their daddy took them to an activity at Lowe's on Saturday where they made "surprises" for Mother's Day. Turns out the vases were the surprises. Daddy filled them with flowers from the yard before I came downstairs. There was also a very sweet card and my favorite special occasion treat. A local restaurant has the best apple pie ever and I only get one on special occasions. It was a beautiful way to start the day.

My parents came over and we all enjoyed a decadent lunch and then took the children out in the yard for a couple of hours before nap. The slide on the playset had gotten extremely hot in the sun and we decided on a whim to try to cool it down with the hose. That turned into a giant water slide adventure. Daddy climbed into the playset to turn on the hose every time Michael climbed back up. Michael probably went down that slide 50 times. He loved it. Ava tried it once, but it was too fast when wet for her. She couldn't control her landing and decided to just sit on the sidelines and cheer her brother on. We all had a blast.

After getting the children down for nap we had apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was a really nice family centered Mother's Day.

As an almost completely unrelated tangent, I took this picture in the backyard today. It's two baby birds hungrily awaiting the return of their mother. You're looking at the nest from below. The nest rests under where our deck used to be before it rotted away and had to be demolished.