Photos from the mudroom

I've been waiting to get the mudroom "just perfect" before taking and posting the photos. Three months later, I've concluded that will never happen and if I don't take them now I never will. So here they are. These are all the cabinets we've ordered so far and probably will for the foreseeable future. The lighter wood cabinet was from my grandparents' house and although it doesn't match the rest, it is the perfect size for the location for now. The room has passed the snow/cold/wet test with flying colors, even with the addition of my nephews and their snow accouterments this past weekend, so we're good until somebody takes up a sport that requires lots more storage space or we acquire more kids or something.

View from the garage door (facing west).


Turning more north (clockwise).

Another clockwise turn, facing northeast.

And, facing south.

The halfway point

I have been 40 for just over a week, and I feel I can now look at this supposed monumental birthday with some objectivity. Really, I wasn't very worked up about it to begin with. At the turn of each decade (which for me coincides with the whole world starting a new decade - being born in a year ending in zero will do that) so far, I have felt like I wanted to be in the previous decade's age for just a little longer. Maybe decades could last 15 years?? I distinctly remember turning 10, have vaguer memories of turning 20 (21 is more momentous at that point), and was quite pregnant with Greyson when I turned 30. So for me, the 20s represented my "free" time as an adult, and the 30s were my young parenthood years (when I feel I aged 20 years just due to lack of sleep and exposure to whining). My doctor said she really enjoyed her 40s, when the stress of raising small children and building a career were done and things got more fun. I can already see that, especially since I will finally be done with all my schooling and training and be able to feel like a true adult in my field.

Since the life expectancy of an American Caucasian female is now 80.1, in statistical terms, I have lived half my life now. I know many people make some sort of bucket list of things they want to do by a certain time (often by 40, or they make them when they turn 40), but I don't have a desire do that so formally. I have, however, been thinking about the things I used to think I would have done by now and have reassessed whether or not I 1) still want to do them, or 2) realistically could do them. Here are the big ones, and the verdicts:

1) Learn to fly a plane.
I've always held this in the back of my mind, and I could have arranged to learn fairly easily at many times. However, I tend to get motion-sick on small planes, and what I really wanted to do was fly a jet (really, just do the take-off) without having to go through the training on a small plane. So I've quite happily given this up and instead try to enjoy every time I get to ride in a jet (and quietly pretend I'm actually flying it).

2) Learn to paraglide.
This one's pretty similar to the first, and I was reminded of it when we saw paragliders in Hawaii in October. I still would actually like to do this, but I'd be fine if I never get to. I just hope that if the opportunity arises, I will take the chance and do it.

3) Visit all 50 states.
I've already been in 35, so this is still high on the list of manageable achievements. The aforementioned Hawaii trip made it way more likely that I'll accomplish this, since now only Alaska has any serious barriers to my visiting it. One slight problem is that although most I haven't visited are in specific geographic regions (extreme southwest and northeast), there are a few in the middle of the country that I managed to skirt and don't see making a special trip just to visit (Nebraska, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, to be exact).

4) Bungee jump.
OK, I came up with this when bungee jumping first became popular, and before I had kids, and I can safely say I no longer have an interest in this.

5) Compete in the Olympics.
Also gave this up when I realized I didn't have either the talent or the dedication to be a contender in any of the sports, summer or winter. And now that I'm watching the winter ones, I realize that almost none of the competitors are even near the age of 40, and those who are are referred to as "seasoned" or "veterans". Good for Dana Torres - I'm out.

6) Become a concert pianist.
See #5.

7) Visit lots of countries.
Slightly less doable than the 50 states one, and a bit less specific, but still high on my list. Dan and I recently made an actual list of where we'd each, individually and together, like to visit outside the US. It turns out, we're both more interested in first world countries and amenities, so that should make it easier to accomplish as we get older. Highest on the list are Belgium, Germany, and areas where our families came from to do some genealogy research (Lithuania for me, Hungary/Slovakia for him). I'd also like to visit some South American countries, specifically to see Incan ruins and the Amazon, and we'd both like to go to Thailand and Korea just to eat the food.

Mostly, I'm right where I thought I would be at this age, so I'm just trying to be grateful. My boys made me cards and gave me hugs and kisses, and those truly were the best gifts. I never believed my mom when she would tell us that's all she wanted, but now I know. And I really only have one complaint. Is it too much to ask that the acne stop when the gray hairs appear??

Food, weight, and booties

We took Reece for his 5-year checkup recently and discovered that he hadn't gained any weight since his last visit in May of 2009. Now, when your child is in the 90th percentile, nobody really notices this kind of thing or gets concerned about it. However, when he is in the 6th percentile for height and weight, red flags start flapping in the wind. We're used to people being concerned with our boys' development, or at least with monitoring it, and we've chosen doctors for them who understand the genetic aspect and don't get too worked up. But when something like this happens, they (and we) still want to cover all the possibilities to make sure that nothing is going on.

So Reece has had an X-ray of his wrist to determine his bone age (fine) and been seen by a pediatric gastroenterologist (actually 2 - one was in training), and we met with a dietitian. First of all, they were reassured by the fact that Reece's weight to height ratio is still right on his growth curve and even think that the previous weight (when it did seem like he'd made a rather large jump) was inaccurate. And then they checked him out and talked with him and said he seems to be one of the healthiest kids they've seen. The following video seems to support this view:

But we're still doing some things to make sure that nothing strange is going on, so he has to have his blood drawn (I will no doubt be the lucky one to hold him down) and we're keeping a 3-day food diary for him that started yesterday. The day that we have Gymboree right after work/school and therefore sometimes get take-out to make life easier. Which is what we did yesterday, before I realized I was going to have to write down that he had half a cheeseburger (we forgot to ask for ketchup only so he didn't really like it), fries (Wendy's only other option is Mandarin oranges which the kids don't like - at McD's and BK we actually do usually get the apples or yogurt), and a kiddie Frosty (we had a free coupon). And 1% milk, when he's supposed to be having 2% at least. I will not be awarded the Mom-of-the-Year award this week, I'm afraid.

In the midst of all this, Greyson has managed to really fill out and is now on the upper end of the growth curve for weight, so we've been focusing on working with him to make healthy choices and have cut back for all of us on our fat and caloric intake. Which may have inadvertently kept Reece from calories he needs. Until we get the results of his food intake back we won't know for sure, and if it turns out he's not eating enough we're just going to add Carnation Instant Breakfast mix to his milks and that will add all kinds of goodness (and some processed food not-so-goodness) to his diet. In the meantime, I'm finding myself offering Reece food any chance I get and telling Greyson no almost every time he asks for anything beyond the main meals. And buying full-fat and fat-free versions of everything that has those choices. Gah!

I really believe that the result of all the testing will be that he's fine and we just need to monitor more carefully what he actually eats (and maybe give him more snack opportunities between meals). And in the meantime I get some chances to spend time with just him (even if it is holding him down for needles).