I wanted to share a personal victory with you all.  You may or authorized not know that I used to body building, before I hurt my back.  Over the past 10 years,  I have allowed my weight to get a bit out of control. I was walking about 25 miles a week but with Lizze's failing health, I've not been able to get away.  Anyway, I have decided to make some more subtle lifestyle changes, so that I'm at least doing something.  I really try to watch what I eat but I make sure to include tons of whole grains, fish, fruit etc.  Something that I hadn't been paying much attention to was how much water I wasn't drinking.  For the past week, I've been drinking nothing but water and…

Elliott has a new fascination, er, more like obsession.  He absolutely loves the new game, Bad Piggies. This is very different from Angry Birds in the sense that it requires you to think, imagine and plan ahead.  Basically, you have to create these contraptions to help the Bad Piggies to navigate their world and complete objective.  This really is a thinking game and Elliott loves it.  Anyway, it wasn't long before he began pre-planning his contraptions by sketching them out on paper first.  Below are a few of his favorite ideas that he built inside the game and managed to successfully transverse the level.  If you haven't played Bad Piggies yet, grab it in the Google Play Store or in the App Store.  It's a free game,  and worth every…

I feel like I have put my overwhelmed, exhausted and unmotivated butt into gear today, at least a little.  I gave both boys tubbies this morning and went to the grocery store.  It's so nice to be able to leave Lizze and the boys at home, while I make a quick run to the store. Both boys are still struggling quite a bit. I think that until we get them in a better place, there won't be much time for rest and recovery. However, the very fact that we are even living in this moment means that we have made progress. Even if only temporary.  My goal for today is to end the day with the house a little more organized than it was when we woke up. While it…

Gavin has been moved out, at least temporarily.  What now? How do we begin to move forward? How do we start to put the pieces back together? These are all things that are racing through my head today.  I think the initial response to the reprieve was one of rest.  However, we have to figure out how to move forward and where to begin. That seems to be a stumbling block for me. Our lives are in a state of dishevel, how do we chose where to start? The only thing that I know is that we have to make sure Elliott and Emmett get what they need to recover from years of their big brothers behaviors. As of today, they are both struggling to process that Gavin is not…

This question may be more difficult to answer or it may be very easy.  Regardless of how tough it is to answer, it's so important to focus on as much positive as you can. Trust me when I tell you that this isn't always easy.  There are plenty of days that I really,  really have to look to find anything positive.  Others days seem to be filled with positives.  What I thought we could do is share our child's best qualities or qualities that we most admire. Share your thoughts in the comments and share this post so we can get more people in the discussion. :-)

I posted about this before but I wanted to share this because I'm really having fun and so is Emmett. Elliott got an Angry Birds game while he was in the Hamptons this past summer. Emmett has sorta taken it over and Elliott's been really good about that.  Emmett and I spent many afternoons building our own levels and using our imaginations.  For something as simple as this game is,  it really is a lot of fun.  We take turns building levels and flinging the Angry Birds at the egg stealing, green piggies.  I would highly recommend this game as it will pass the time, encourage use of your imagination and have you spending time with your kids.  :-)

Lizze has been worse for ware these past few weeks.  Today has been one of the worst fibro days she can remember.  Even if she hadn't shared that with me,  I would know it was bad. How would I know this? That's easy,  every animal in the house is piled on top of her lap. They always do this when she's in great amounts of pain.  In the picture below, Maggie in under the blanket and Bella is one top of Maggie.  Cleo is there somewhere as well.  They always make her feel better.