Supermama Rosie : Busy Busy Bees!!!

Is it just me or did last week fly by???

We were SO busy!

From a new therapist for C, a therapy team meeting for SE, a KU study for C, a summer school eligibility meeting for SE and my test to determine my resting metabolic rate! Then the weekend.....we were busy busy busy!!!

So to start the week off after doing some research, I've decided to start some homeschoolish workboxes for the boys. Sue Patrick invented this way of organizing a homeschool program to help her son who has....autism. The structure of the program plays right into the need for routine for our kiddos. Interested? Here's her website: Sue Patrick's workbox system

No, I'm not pulling SE out of preschool or anything. I do think they both need some additional structured learning at home. We already have the appropriate space for it (the therapy room) and I bought a nifty little drawer cart for the work. First time I've been to Kmart in like 8 years.

I also got sucked into Pinterest for some homeschooling DIY activities. So after some Amazon shopping, laminating, coloring and gluing...here's a couple of the things I came up with:

Most are focused on color identification and fine motor skills for C and some counting, color sight words and shape identification for SE.

I also picked up some necessary ingredients to make some marbled homemade playdoh. I'll tackle that tomorrow.

On Tuesday we had SE's monthly therapy meeting, so all 3 of his therapists and his BCBA came that morning and worked on some new goals and things for him. It's always a little overwhelming for him to have 4 people in the room working with him, so I usually stay in there with him. But this Tuesday was a bit different, it was the first day C and I met his new therapist. I really didn't want to have the old one leave, but our schedules weren't lining up anymore and well......that kinda crap happens. Boo.

C's new therapist is pretty cool. She's a BCBA that owns her own company and has been working with kiddos for a LONG time. Sweet. C liked her and she picked up right where our other therapist left off. Then an hour into that, C's Occupational Therapist came and we had 60 min of therapy. Then 45 min later, C's Speech Therapist came and we had some more therapy.

So that meant that I had 7 different therapists in my house that day. 9:30am to 3:00pm. LOL! Wow. I've decided that I'm not going to be too hard on myself for not having the house immaculate when they come over. Clean yes, immaculate...hell no.

Wednesday...yep, summer school is on tap for SE. While that only means 2 weeks in our school district....it's something. Could be nothing, so I'm grateful. SE's insurance covered therapy (and C's too) will increase in the summer since school will be out. Even better.

Thursday a BCBA and another therapist came to complete an assessment for a KU study on joint attention. So far he has met all the eligibility requirements for the study! WOOO!! Hopefully our number is chosen to be in the "experimental" group, which would mean an hour of joint attention therapy a week for 36 weeks! Considering this is an area C needs some work in.....that would ROCK.

So on Friday I had my appointment to get my resting metabolic rate calculated. So basically the amount of calories I would burn if I just sat around all day. So I took C with me and we went to the Army Wellness Center and I got hooked up to the machine...

LUUUUUKKEEE I AM YOUR FATHER........
That thing was so tight on my face!

Here's what C did while I chilled with the mask on:

A little work on the iPad.

Well...they told me I can't really get my full results until I go to the 'Uping your Metabolism' class. If that's not an indicator I need to get to work, I don't know what it. The hubs assures me that everyone goes to that class, but it still sucks. My RMR? 1224. Shit.

That SUCKS. I would like to think that the fact that I have hypothyroidism has something to do with my craptastic rate of burning calories, but my levels are only a "little" low. Not enough for a higher dose of my meds. So I have some work to do. And that means, strict calorie counting and building some more muscle so I can lose these 10lbs.

So while I was meal planning before, this time it will be more structured. Measuring and being exact with portion sizes. I sorta started yesterday, just to feel what it would be like to eat 1500 calories. I was hungry. But I'll get used to it. Drink more water, stick to eating every 2-3 hours. I know I can do this.

Knowledge is power. Now that I know exactly how many calories I'm burning, I've formulated a plan for success.

I should also mention that while the scale was giving me 25% body fat, by ultrasound it was 22.3% !! Yeah Buddy!!!!! Just really 4% more to get rid of! SCORE!!! That was the highlight of my day! I'm just glad she told me that before I got the RMR score.

So, meal planning and portion control. Here we go. The 2 on top are portions for my husband and the others are mine.

Now, while I will be undoubtedly obsessive compulsive about what I'm eating, at least until this portion control habit is formed; I will STILL have my donut day with my kids. They enjoy it and of course, so do I! Can't cut out too much or I'll fail.

Here's the beauty I had today....

Yes, that's a maple iced donut with bacon. Freaking GOOD! I'm proud to say that's the only donut I had though! Power rings, as our friend Vinnie calls them....can be addictive.

Saturday night, was Kids night out at the YMCA, so we dropped the boys off and went bowling. I won! WOOT! The hubs pulled out like a 180 game for the last one though! Sure, he picks the last game to really start playing! LOL!

By the way.....am I MANIC or FRANTIC?!?!?!

Freaking weird bowling balls. I couldn't resist the photo op though. Had to.

And in other randomness......

Here's the valance I made for the therapy room (blue) and the one for the boy's room (red chevron).