The thing I learned most was that it’s so important to get proper care for your asthma. Sure, a general practitioner can treat it, but if they’re like ours, I got “It’s asthma, give him this this many times a day…..” Not for how long, preventative measures, nada. I KNOW asthma is different in kids than for adults, especially a 3 year old. I know how to manage mine, but what the hell do I do with a kid? Thankfully a referral to the allergist helped A LOT. I was getting treatment fatigued. Using a nebulizer twice a day, more if my son was sick was honestly a pain in the ass. I knew it needed done, so I did it, but as soon as we saw the allergist I asked about transitioning to inhalers. OK, so it wasn’t just the pain in the ass factor, but I was terrified if my son had an attack while we were out. What did I do? Did I need to carry the nebulizer everywhere? That’s not practical.  Our GP while good at what she does knows a little about a lot and we needed someone whose job it was to deal with asthma. This also came in handy as my 9 year old was diagnosed a few months later.

I also spend my time as the SAHM to 2 boys. The boys are 9 and 4. Both are on the autism spectrum. My 9yo has Asperger’s. My 4yo is diagnosed as having moderate autism. Most recently, my 4yo will be starting preschool with speech and OT. We’re pretty excited about that. You’ll also see some various other health topics mentioned here and there around the blog like asthma, eczema, allergies, fibromyalgia, and migraines.

All of what they’re suggesting to help this issue is pretty common sense stuff. One in particular struck me:

Continue to improve access to military families in hard-to-reach areas, such as Reserve Component families who are typically dispersed and are difficult to connect with other Reserve and National Guard families. Promoting social networks among these families could foster relationships among the children, minimize isolation and strengthen the general sense of community.

Why this one? I’ve been seeing an attitude among spouses lately, particularly the reserve component spouses, that the military does not run their lives. They don’t need the FRG. They don’t need to attend meetings. They don’t need to be a part of the phone tree. They don’t want anyone from the unit contacting them, and they don’t want anyone in their business. They want to just live their lives.

Forgive me if I fail to understand this mentality. Even in the reserve components, a soldier is a soldier. If you as a spouse claim ignorance, you’re only hurting yourself. What if your soldier is deployed and there’s a pay issue? Do you know how to read a LES? Do you know who to contact? What about benefits? Do you know what your soldier and family are entitled to? What if (not that we want this) something happens? Do you at least have an idea of what you need to do?

My husband came from active duty to the National Guard. I had been doing ROTC before I was told I didn’t medically qualify. I was preparing for a life of active duty. That was the life my husband had known. The Guard was a whole new ball game. I heard several times, “This isn’t active duty.” And then the proverbial shit hit the fan, and here we are all these years later still going through deployments on a regular basis. Don’t get me wrong. We still had our struggles with deployment, but I did notice that my son and I coped better than some other families because my husband had been gone so much in the years leading up to the deployment, and also because the Army was a regular part of our life. It wasn’t something we swept under the rug at home.

10. I am NOT a morning person. Facebook and Twitter are deceiving because I don’t have to actually talk and listen, and interact with people that early. The ! goes a long way in faking that morning enthusiasm.

9. I love chocolate. I’ve passed that love on to my kids. We love living near Hershey so we can go buy Hershey bars by the case (they’re cheaper that way too).

8. I don’t drink coffee. I sometimes like the smell of coffee, but in general, not a coffee fan. The smell of coffee and cigarettes together gives me PTSD because it reminds me of my mother and my childhood, and, and, and…

7. I love MY kids, but I can’t stand yours (most of the time). Why don’t I like other people’s kids? Because when they’re rude, disrespectful, a jerk on the playground, etc., my kids come home thinking they can act that way too. School is also bad for this. Every year after school starts again in the fall, it takes me a couple months to de-brat my oldest because he picked up bad habits from YOUR child.

6. I have trust issues. During a conversation with Kathleen who is going through the process to be a surrogate, I realized I’m not sure I’d trust my husband to poke me with a needle daily. Maybe that should be in marriage vows or something. Funny that I trust him with the kids, just not a needle and my ass.

5. Tornadoes freak me out. When I was 5, we had an F4 hit close to our house. I don’t think anyone from back home doesn’t know someone who wasn’t affected by that night if they weren’t directly affected themselves. I remember my grandpa had a friend whose family was tossed in their trailer. His wife and oldest daughter were in the hospital for months and months. I remember a time when they didn’t think his wife would wake up from her coma. I remember watching their new house being built, and going with my grandpa to visit them. It still affects me to this day.

4. I LOVE my depo shot. I know some of you out there think it’s evil, but I’m evil without it. It obviously corrects some sort of hormone imbalance the doctors refuse to acknowledge. It keeps me sane. It keeps my head form spinning and pea soup from spewing from my mouth.

3. I’m having a little harder time letting go of my youngest. I know he’s my last child. He’s my preemie. He’s my child that’s needed more help and been more sickly. My oldest always preferred my husband from day one. This little one has me wrapped around his finger.

2. Before TMJ reared its ugly head and I got my jaw realigned, I could fit my fist in my mouth. I can still get it mostly in there, just not all the way like before.

1. I’m frugal (read:cheap). I know just about every restaurant we like that has a kids’ night, what night it’s on, and what they offer. Some offer free dessert, and some offer free kid meals. We prefer the ones that offer the free meals. Example, last night, we took the kids to Chick Fil A. Our family of four ate for under $13. The kids got to play on a clean indoor playground, and they had a table set up with free toppings if your child got ice cream for dessert. We also found out if you turn in the kid meal toy, you get a free ice cream. Another reason we like Chick Fil A – military discount (on non kid nights).

*I also noticed Heather stole this idea too. It seems to be popular and catching on. See what this Calgary Blogger had to say.

I never watched America’s Most Wanted. I’ve heard they’ve helped catch fugitives, but maybe a weekly airing just isn’t necessary.

I’m glad Traffic Light is going. I’ll admit I watched a couple episodes because there was nothing else on, and it sucked. I’m not surprised it got cancelled. Same with Running Wilde. Fox kind of missed the mark this year in its shows.

I’m going to miss $#*! My Dad Says. Maybe I was one of the few, but I thought it was funny. Although I usually find the shows about messed up families funny – maybe because my own is so dysfunctional.

I’ll miss Mad Love too. While it wasn’t over the top had to see it, it was enjoyable and made me laugh. Speaking of Mad Love, wasn’t there a show by this same name in the late 80′s or early 90′s?

I know the soap fans will miss All My Children and One Life to Live when they wrap up this year. Those shows have been on forever. I bet there are a lot of us who remember our moms or grandmothers watching these shows.

I see Smallville is ending too. I never watched, but I’m sure there are a lot of sad fans since it was on for ten years.

And of course, who can forget the big story of the year? Oprah is ending her show this year. Again, another show I don’t watch and won’t miss, but I”m sure there are many who do and will.

It means that I’ve also been trying to buy more organics where I can. Some on purpose, some I stumbled upon by accident. For example, I learned because all of the regular pork looked terrible at the store, that organic pork doesn’t have that icky porky aftertaste. So I started buying only organic pork. Then the regular chicken started looking sickly, so we moved to organic chicken. Then the beef looked 10x better as well, and holy cow does it taste better too! So now our meats are organic that I buy.

I had the same thing happen in produce. All of the lettuce looked sickly so I sucked it up and forked out for the organic lettuce. Little did I know that it’d be a bargain. Even though initially the organic lettuce costs more, I found it lasts longer in the fridge, therefore I wasn’t throwing part of it away each time I bought lettuce. We saved long term by actually getting to eat the entire head before it spoiled. Length of time in the fridge – 3 weeks if stored properly, and still nice and fresh. With other veggies, I buy based on how they appear. If the organics look better, I get those (they usually do). For strawberries and raspberries, I found that those too lasted longer. There were times the “regular” berries were moldy the day after I bought them. I wasn’t impressed until I made the organic switch due to a craving and no other options.

My goals for this year aren’t about losing weight. I’ve let go of that notion with my thyroid deciding to give up on me. Instead I’m just trying to be healthier. What are you doing to be healthier in your life?

*Weight Watchers Smart Ones is making it easier to stay on track with a healthy meal plan without spending time on prep work beforehand. Their products provide a variety of delicious, convenient and portion controlled meals and snacks that contain lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. And now they are offering two new breakfast items – like the new Egg, Sausage & Cheese Wrap and the French Toast with Turkey Sausage. Plus, the packaging tells you the Weight Watchers PointsPlus values in each serving, allowing you to conveniently plan for the day. Visit www.eatyourbest.com for more information.

**I wrote this post while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Weight Watchers Smart Ones and received a promotional item and coupons to facilitate my post.