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.

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.

-Thanks to autism, I’ve also had the pleasure of spending countless minutes on the phone with our insurance company making sure everyone has the paperwork they need and referrals so our 4 year old can (finally) get services.

-Spent just as much time on the phone with the pediatrician’s office here on post telling them that the speech and OT he’s getting through the Intermediate Unit is a joke, and he needs more. This is filed under a different insurance benefit, but I still need a letter from the doctor, and his neurologist has also sent a letter to them, did they get it? Yadda yadda yadda.

-Used every extra amount of brain energy trying to figure out WTF is up with my 9 year old lately. Is it the amoxicillin? Is it the pollen? Is it just because he likes tormenting the rest of us in the family? Is it all of the above?

-Decided school is stupid, but a necessary evil in our lives. My 9 year old loves going to school, and if I homeschooled him I’d most certainly need a prescription of some sort. He’s my #1 button pusher. We’d spend more time fighting than learning. I’ll keep fighting the good fight when they want to put him in that preconceived box of theirs.

-I dread when my 4yo goes back to school in 2 weeks. I am NOT mainstreaming him in August. I still can’t see how they can determine after 8 sessions of 2 hours and 45min each that he’s miraculously “cured” and should mainstream. They boy who is not potty trained and talks in syllables.

-Scheduled an IEP meeting. Evidentally it takes 6 adults to write a 5th grade IEP. Who knew?

Enter the heavyweight

Our younger child is 4. He is almost 47″ tall. He was 43 pounds at last doctor’s visit. Our older child is 9. He fluctuates between 55 and 60lbs. Our younger child comes up to about his mouth.

Our older child still starts a lot of crap with his younger brother. The difference now is the younger brother now usually finishes it.