Happy Halloween Krumwiede Style

The Krumwiede Kidlets
Shelby (witch), Avery (flying unicorn), Delainey (fluffy sheep dog), Brody (Franklin)

The Krumwiede Family before the 'hunt'

The Kids' candy

Just for kicks...we weighed the candy...
WAY TOO MUCH CANDY...

Pray for Stellan...

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Stellan and his family are in need of prayers right now... the little guy isn't feeling so hot right now...

Please pray for the entire MckFamily

Weigh in Wednesday - Shrink-a-versary Week 1

Today is the beginning of a new challenge over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. It was almost a year ago (in November) that the Sisterhood came about and there way of celebrating is by having a 9 week weigh loss challenge and then on Nov 9th we will also be beginning a fitness challenge that even I can particiapte in, we will be racking up the miles whether it is by walking or running etc. EVERYONE can do this one :)

So I am starting this challenge at 245lbs....I have found that for some reason if ther isn't a challenge going on at the Sisterhood I just don't pay attention to what goes into the trap of death that I call a mouth... I mean seriously. Part of this gain if from water weight and also poor food choices, but in the same sense it comes down to me being accountable for what goes into my mouth and the fact that I have not done any exercise for almost a month other than a 1.88 miles walk a few weeks ago... GET ON IT KRISTIN!!!! Geez! I have set my 'goal' loss of 16 pounds for this challenge...that would put me at below 230 lbs by Christmas :) I know it is a big goal...but I am hoping that by setting this large goal it will keep me motivated so that I don't let my 'sisters' (and brother) over at the sisterhood down...

Here are my goals for this week, which I know are going to be hard since it is a 'family celebration' week...

• 
  
  Track my points and journal online
  
  
  
• 
  
  Get back on the water train.... one oz for every pound
  
  
  
• 
  
  go for at least two walks
  
  
  
• 
  
  NO SNACKS AFTER 8pm (except for Thursday night)
  
  
  
• 
  
  try to take 10 minutes every day for 'mental' health..
  
  
  

Here is to an amazing week for everyone :)

Some hospital "fun" and a virtual baby shower

An amazing friend of mine and her group are throwing an virtual baby shower so please stop by and see what you can do to help.

Part of the fun is posting some of those 'famous' hospital pictures in which we all look amazing... so here are some of mine...

Looking at my baby girl for the first time...11/28/03

if you look closely you can see the blood pressure reading of 147/88 (this was one of the 'lowest' readings)

Natural labor is beautiful right??? (this is about 14 minutes before I lost consiousness and they told Chad no more pictures 'for legal reasons'... just what a husband and father wants to hear right...)

Meeting Brody...12/4/07

Not Me Monday...

IT IS MONDAY!!! YAY!!! You know why I love Mondays.... BECAUSE OF...




Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This week has been fun...no for real.

First and foremost I am not still holding on to weight from a dinner party over a week ago... ooof. I mean seriously... You know how committed I am to my weight loss journey and you KNOW that I would never do anything to turn my loss into a gain... nope NOT ME.

I also didn't just recently learn that when all my kids were sick a few weeks ago that they did in fact that the delightful H1N1 flu that has now ravaged our town. We had a pediatrician come to our MOMS Club event the other day and she simply stated that IF your kids are sick right now... she is almost 99% positive that they have H1N1 because it is pretty much the ONLY thing going around right now.

I most certainly did not spend the entire weekend doing laundry (AGAIN) to still have piles that are haunting me in the basement... it also has not crossed my mind to just throw them all away...

I most certainly do not have a million irons in the fire this week...I do not have the first Daisy (girl scout) meeting at my house--- which I am not avoiding cleaning my house for or prepping for by creating this blog post--, a New Member Tea for MOMS Club tomorrow, a meeting for the March of Dimes on Wednesday and Night Class, an event for MOMS Club and also at the girls school on Thursday, Friday is just a mess with OT for Shelby, our MOMS Club Harvest Party, Trick-r-Treating @ offices and then of course all the fun of Saturday...And I most certainly am not tired just typing that... ugh!

I hope that everyone has an amazing week!

Perplexed...

Today I was at the grocery store minding my own business when I heard a voice call “Ms Wentz…it is so nice to see you”… I looked up from the potato chips that I was looking at to see a man standing next to me that I sort of recognized and recalled a ‘bad experience’ with… I continued to have a puzzled look on my face and responded with “excuse me…do I know you”.

This man then responded with “why yes, my name is Dr….” this is where I interrupted the man because as soon as I was actually paying attention to his voice I recalled where I knew him from… and replied “Oh yes… I do recall your name… and I have nothing to say to you”… and turned my cart in the opposite direction that I was originally headed and started to walk away…

Something stopped me… I calmly turned around to see the same man standing there and the look on his face switched from confusion to an almost scared look as I walked back to him… I looked this man in the eye and said “actually I do have something to say to you… You have no idea how much I am screaming inside with joy and jubilation right now that YOU remember not only my face but also my name. I am even more happy and joyous about the fact that I barely recognize you. I hope you remember me forever… and again my previous wish for you stands true… I hope someday someone cares for you and your loved ones the way you cared for mine”….

I turned to walk away a little bit lighter and made it all the way to the restroom of the grocery store before I lost it and burst into tears…I did eventually emerge and finish my shopping...

Still not sure how I feel about the entire thing... as it probably to be seen considering I am writing this post at 12:43 AM.

Family Tradition Papa's Pumpkin Patch Krumwiede Style

Delainey Fall 2004

 Delainey Fall 2005

Shelby, Delainey and Avery
Fall 2006

Shelby, Delainey and Avery
Fall 2007

Shelby, Avery, Brody and Delainey
Fall 2008

Delainey, Shelby, Brody and Avery
Fall 2009

Ok, so after looking at the 'best of' all our pictures from the Pumpkin Patch over the past 6 years I have to change my mind about this years pictures...they really weren't THAT bad ;)

Papa's Pumpkin Patch Picture BIG FAIL

Since Delainey was a baby we have made it a family tradition to go out to Papa's Pumpkin Patch and have a pictures taken. Well this year it was kind of a bust... None of the kids were really in the mood and frankly neither was I, so below you will find our attempts to accomplish our family 'tradition'... better luck next year is all I can say... lol

Papa

Please click this and pass it on...

http://www.somerthompson.com/

Shrink for Good Finale

Today is the FINAL day of the Shrink for Good Challenge. This challenge wasn't just about ME losing weight and losing it for good, it was also about an amazing community project in which Weight Watchers and Share Our Strength teamed up for an even more amazing cause to END CHILDHOOD HUNGER IN AMERICA. The idea of this challenge was for every pound lost, you were to donate 1lb of food. at the 'ending' weigh in last week I was at 238 even which means that I lost 7.6lbs for the challenge, so I donate 8 lbs of food. I ended up donating more (and some paper products as well) just because this is such an amazing cause that is near and dear to my heart. But at my weigh in this morning sadly (but not shockingly) I am back at 240.6... I know what I did and what I need to avoid doing that again (but damn it was fun)...

Here is the food that I donated (and if you look in the back you can see my paper products as well) to the local food bank... I know that it will go to a good cause...

Here is to the next challenge and for all of us working toward a common goal of getting healthy and ending childhood hunger... because while I know that this activity was supposed to be just for this challenge... I plan to continue it on with my weight loss journey.

Totally Ticks me Off Tuesday

Ahhhh Tuesday.... my sweet sweet Tuesday... Oh how I missed my Tuesdays... Ok... so probably not but it is of course the day of the week in which I get to go all out and get my bitching, moaning, and complaining out of the way for the week... I stole this fun idea from my dear friend over at Mommy from the Midwest. Stop over to her blog and join in the fun.

So here goes... hold on to your seats folks because this is a doozy.

• You know what really ticks me off??? When people sit down and have a lengthy discussion about things that are bothering them, and then everyone in the discussion agrees that some things need to change for everyone to be happy....and then just a few weeks after the discussion one of the three people that was involved in the discussion has already stopped doing what they agreed to do? I mean really? It is like one stinking thing that was asked of you... I mean COME THE FRICK ON!!!
• Doesn't it drive you completely batty when while trying to help someone (who has asked for your help mind you) they complain and bitch about that you are helping them? I mean again... if you don't want my help don't ask for it... I can promise you that I have PLENTY of other things I can be doing rather than this for you...
• this one is kind of a whine rather than a bitch but here goes anyways... recently I have been working really hard to lose weight and I think I have done a fairly good job (could certainly be doing better but then can't we all right??)...well I was talking about this to someone with other people present and rather than minding their own business someone in the area started listening to the conversation and felt the need to pipe in with " yea you've lost weight but you'll always have a fat face"... WOW... thanks. And when I looked at this person with the shock that I KNOW was on my face they responded with "Well you do have a very round face"... which is true, so I guess based on THEIR logic it was true and therefor isn't being mean... WHATEVER!!!
• another thing that has REALLY been bugging me lately is drama... I know that this is funny coming from me, since it seems like I personally have enough drama in my own life to make 4 or 5 drama based programs myself, but what I mean is how some people FEED on the drama... nuff said.
  
• and lastly...you know what REALLY ticks me off this week?? One of my children's teachers. I mean seriously... this teacher is on my last stinking nerve when it comes to the child in subject. I have given you the information, I have given you the tools, don't make me beat you with them. USE THE DAMN TOOLS I have given you.
  

"Not Me" Monday

YAY!!! It's Monday... I love Mondays for several reasons, some you may know...and some you may not but of course the MAIN reason that I love Mondays is the fact that MckMama has created an awesome game for everyone to participate in. If you'd like to take part, please do... She is of the "more the merrier" variety...


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So this past week I have cleaned like a mad woman, avoided laundry like a champ and did several other things that like most moms I get absolutely no credit for. But this is the amazing life that I have been given and rather and complain about the things in it that a I absolutely can not stand can't change, I am choosing to fully enjoy the things that I have ... I have decided to have a "Have" attitude instead of a  "have not"... But here is my my 'not me' week in review...enjoy

This past week I literally did laundry all day, every day... I most certainly did not lose my cool and pop a cork (as y 5 year old says) when I found that my little monster angel of a 22 month old had decided to clear off the table in which I had about 6 loads of laundry folded and sorted into who's who's... nope not me. I would never yell and scream about something that I can't change and I most certainly did not put that little monster precious baby into baby jail (ie. the jumper). Nope... not this mama!

I most certainly was not looking forward to training out of town this past week soley on the fact that I would have access to a hotel and a bed TO MYSELF... nope not me. I of course loved spending time with my new co-workers and learned a lot about my new position, but still I have to admit the bed all to myself was rather nice..

That's it for this week...as sadly everything else I did... I have to take full credit/blame for since there are pictures/videos/evidence...

Shrink for Good Finale

Today is the FINAL weigh in for the Shrink for Good Challenge over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans
And I am proud to say that my weight today was the same as it was on Wednesday 238 lbs. That means that for this challenge I have lost a total of 7.6 lbs.
I didn't realize that we were supposed to take pictures of our food but I know that Melissa took some pictures of the food that I brought to her house last night for our amazing LOSE FOR GOOD house party, which was a blast... sadly pictures and video have already been released on the internet... I just hope no one recognizes me in the videos... :) But at least I weight 7.6 lbs less in them than I would have at the beginning of the challenge.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in this challenge... you all did AMAZING and just think, not only did we lose weight, but we did it for an amazing cause too....

I've got a new job...

As some of you may already know, I recently started looking for work outside of the home. I submitted a few resumes and had a few interviews. I was offered an amazing position with a local company and I took it...and was instantly filled with regret. You see the job while amazing and something that I could see myself doing in the future (like when all the kids are in school full time) it just wasn't going to work out for me personally right now.

While I was agonizing over how I would call the company and tell them that while I was honored to have been considered for the position, I received  a call from Karin with the March of Dimes North Dakota Chapter. As you all know the entire Krumwiede Family is VERY active in the March of Dimes (as you can imagine because of our love for the cause) so I have made several connections with the local chapter over the past 4 years of involvement with them, and apparently there is a part-time position available for something that I basically do already which is motivate others to join the cause, find fun ways to get those who are involved more productive and so on. Well it was a no brainer ...hands down this mama wanted to not only be a proud March of Dimes mama, but jumped at the chance to be a March of Dimes employee.

So after this past Thursday, I am officially a March of Dimes employee. I have the position of a Family Teams Specialist and I only hope that I can do the job the justice that it deserves. This amazing job literally fell into my lap and I am so grateful and blessed to be given this honor. It is an amazing job, with an even more amazing group of people... I am truly blessed.

I went to Fargo, Thursday and Friday for training with the State Director and the Community Director and really got my feet wet with what will be expected of me and so on. I am just now waiting for HR to get all my paperwork and get me set up with system access as well as my 'official' email address, and then I will be able to hit the ground running.

Today I am working on setting up my home office, so I will update with pictures after I get that done, but right now I am waiting for Chad to come home and help me move some items and hang up some things so I can get it just the way I want it.

Weight in Wednesday SFG Weigh in 7

It is Wednesday and we all know what that means… WEIGH IN DAY!!!

When I started this challenge my weight was 245.6 lbs and my weight today is 238, on the nose. That means that so far for this challenge I have lost 7.6lbs. I of course am completely stoked and excited about the weight loss, but more importantly I am excited about the fact that my 7 lbs weight loss isn’t just for me… it is for a cause to end childhood hunger.

My goals for this week are the same as last but with one added piece (well two actually) be careful with the food choices I have Thursday and Friday and be careful at Melissa’s house Friday night…it could be bad .

Good luck everyone and remember together we can FIGHT CHILDHOOD HUNGER and LOSE FOR GOOD.

Then/Now

A friend made me think about this today after she commented about how in the picture that I posed with my LOSE FOR GOOD shirt, that I had really lost weight (I myself haven't been able to see it).... well that is untl now:

THEN (this wast take 5/15/09)

Now (taken 10/5/09)

Lose For Good Plus a Give-away

My amazing friend Melissa has the opportunity to join the folks at Weight Watchers in August so that she could help us gear up for this amazing campaign, and now there is an even better given away going one right now over at the Shrinking Jeans... you've got to check it out.... Come on everyone :) You know you wanna :)

Check out the AMAZING t-shirt that I won during one of the previous give-a-ways... OH..and btw it is a size Large :) Doesn't fit perfect by any means, and I hadn't washed it yet, but here's hoping it still fits when it comes out of the washing machine :)

Bill of Rights for Parents of Kids with Special Needs

I stole this from a friend who stole it from a friend who is the author but I felt the need to steal it as well because it NEEDS to be shared... Please read and pass along (with credit to the author of course)...

We, the parents, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure tranquility (and sanity) and promote the general welfare of our families, do ordain and establish this Bill of Rights.

* We have the right to expect our kids to be seen for who they are as individuals, not as labels or diagnoses.

* We have a right to trust our instincts about our kids and realize that experts don't always know best.

* We have a right to ignore the remarks, questions and stares and not give explanations or excuses for why our children are the way they are.

* We have a right to choose alternative therapies for our kids.

* We have a right to roll our eyes straight out of our heads when we encounter certain mothers who brag nonstop that their kids are the smartest students/best athletes ever.

* We have a right to wonder “What if…” every so often.

* We have a right to play aimlessly with our children. Not for therapeutic or educational purposes—just for fun.

* We have a right to blast Bruce Springsteen/Tom Petty/Any Rocker, down a glass of Pinot Grigio, get a pedicure, go out with the girls or do all of the aforementioned at once if that's what it takes to avoid burnout.

* We have a right to react to people’s ignorance in whatever way we feel necessary.

* We have a right to not always have our child be the poster child for his/her disability and some days be just a child.

* We have a right to go through the grieving process and realize we may never quite be "over it."

* We have the right to give our kids chores. Even better if they can learn to make breakfast in bed for us.

* We have a right to stretch the truth when we fail to do the exercises the therapist asked us to do this week because we were too darn tired or overwhelmed.

* We have a right to have yet more Pinot Grigio.

* We have a right to fire any doctor or therapist who's negative, unsupportive or who generally says suck-y things.

* We have a right to tell family and friends that everything may not be OK—at least not how they mean it, anyway.

* We have a right to hope for an empty playground so we don’t have to look into another child’s eyes and answer the question, “What’s wrong with him?”

* We have a right to bawl on the way back from the playground, the birthday party, the mall or anyplace where our children’s challenges become glaringly obvious in the face of all the other kids doing their typical-development things.

* We have the right to give our children consequences for their behavior. They may be “special” but they can still be a royal pain in the ass.

* We have a right to take a break from Googling therapies, procedures, medicine and treatments for our kids to research upcoming concerts, exotic teas or anything not related to our children’s disabilities.

* We have a right to talk about how great our kids are when people don’t get it.

* We have the right to not always behave as inspirational icons who never complain or gripe about the sometimes awful realities of raising a child with special needs.

* We have a right to expect quality services for our children not just when they’re infants, preschoolers and elementary school age, but when they’re in older grades and adults, too.

* We have a right to adequate funding for those services and to not have to kick, scream or endure a wait for them.

* We have a right to get tired of people saying, as they give that sympathy stare, "I don't know how you do it."

* We have a right to wish that sometimes things could be easier.

* We have a right to cheer like crazy anytime our children amaze us—or weep like lunatics.

* We have a right to push, push and push some more to make sure our children are treated fairly by the world.

Sensory Processing Disorder Conference

Yesterday a friend of mine and I went to an amazing conference on SPD… it was overwhelming. I can speak for myself when I said that while I left with a lot of additional knowledge in what I can do to help my precious sensational child, I also left with a very heavy/hurting heart and in fact my head was hurting too.

I learned amazing things that I can do to help Shelby to not exhibit the symptoms that get her labeled as “naughty” or “hyper” , but I also received a lot of amazing information that I am going to beat her teacher over with the head with and down her throat it if I have to, to get the teacher to listen. You see Shelby has come home several of the days saying “ Teacher XXX hates me”, and Chad and I have been trying to tell her that isn’t the case and that her teacher loves her…well that is hard to continue to say to her when Avery (who is in the same class thank God), says “No really mommy…Teacher XXX doesn’t like her”.

So I will be calling this teacher and setting up a meeting to give her this information, and to also tell her what I expect from the situations because frankly… preschool is WAY too early for this bull crud!! I will fight for this child as well as for the rest of my children (Hell I’ll fight for YOUR babies too if need be)…and apparently giving the teacher the information hasn’t been going well since apparently nothing has changed…except Shelby NOT wanting to go to school, and having to be made feel like crap in a world that already thinks she is a brat.

I also want to put a little shout out to Dr. John Taylor who is the physician who gave the conference…he is AMAZING… absolutely amazing. He specializing in SPD/ADD/ADHD/Autism Spectrum, and frankly it was the best $$ I have ever spent… HANDS DOWN AMAZING… you can find more on Dr Taylor and his work at his personal web site www.ADD-Plus.com . Again he was AMAZING!!! Another awesome thing that I learned at this conference is that hopefully when the 2012 DSM comes out SPD will be included so it will be an official psychiatric condition and rather a 'list of symptoms'.... and then I will be able to tell not only the schools system to take a big ole big of my rear end and help my baby... but others who struggle even worse with things like insurance etc will also be able to do the same thing...

Amazed...

Today I finally remembered to go to the Weight Watchers web site today to enter in my weight from yesterday, I realized that while I have been tracking my weight loss with my friends over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans but that I haven't been tracking my weight online. So when I put in yesterday's weight of 239.2 I got a really exciting little pop up and that was that since beginning my weight loss journey on 5/27/09 I have lost 20 lbs. I was like are you freaking kidding me? I personally think that is amazing... GO ME is all I can say, so you see I have earned this amazing little button below and you can bet your arse that it will be joining my sidebar :)




But last and certainly not least... THANK YOU SISTERHOOD because without you I KNOW that I would haven't have been able to do this... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Decisions and choices gone ....BAD?

Well last night Chad and I talked about the choices that were in front of us. We made a choice and we both agreed that if this was what I wanted that I should go for it, but that if it wasn’t that it wasn’t the end of the world…

So I tossed and turned for several hours last night before I finally gave up on sleep, and went to the living room. I finally was able to go to bed at 5am (so you know ALL moms work amazingly on 2 hours of sleep)… I got the kids off to school and called the company that had offered me the job and accepted the job. The moment I hung up the phone I burst into tears… within 5 minutes of that I could hardly breathe… obviously this was not the right choice for me.

I had thought that I thought everything through… and it wasn’t until I heard someone else say that 3 nights of the week I wouldn’t see my babies for the whole day…you see I would be leaving by 6:30am and wouldn’t be back until well after bed time, and the two other nights of the week I have night class so I wouldn’t have seen them then either… it was certainly my own personal ahhh moment.

My husband helped me through the crisis and I was able to come to my own choice that this position probably wasn’t going to work out for me… he helped me to understand that while the extra money would be nice, that our children come first…even if they drive me bonkers…I think this was JUST the kick in the pants I needed to realize that I GET to stay home with them and not that I HAVE to.

As I was calming down further, an amazing friend called. She and I have worked closely for years on different pet projects and such, and she has offered me an amazing position FROM HOME for a cause that I fully believe in and would put my own life on the line for… I have of course accepted this position and will travel for training next Thursday and Friday for work J YAY!!! Amazing position and also a small mental break in the car on the way there :)

So I fully believe that I apparently got the direct line to God today in my prayers… because in the matter of moments all the pieces fell into place for me and my family…

Weigh in Wednesday SFG Week 6

It's Wednesday and you know what that means... time for my big ole butt to hit the scale and then hit the pantry so that I can add food to my bin to deliver to my local food bank for the Lose for Good Campaign.
This week I am at 239.2 so that means that I am down 1.6# this week and a total of 6.4# for the entire challenge. I am kind of bummed but I know that at least I was able to say good bye to the 240's again after my gain last week.
Same goals as last week, but I had add a fun new element and that is that I joined the EA Sports 5K challenge. Thankfully I have a local motivator and she will hopefully be kicking my ass into gear soon since I haven't run in over two months and the race day is November 8th... can I even possibly be able to accomplish this??? With Melissa on my case side I know I will be scared shitless and VERY afraid coached properly and will accomplish the goal.

Good luck everyone!!!