…to get my act together. Will it actually happen? One can only guess. I feel so overwhelmed with how behind I am on some things. My house is pretty much in order; my kids are thriving, but my stuff? Oh boy. I’m way behind on balancing my check book. I can’t seem to keep my desk and office together and I have a bazillion baby things I need to get rid of. eBay? Consignment shop? Give it away? Some of the stuff is in excellent condition, so I’d like to make a few extra dollars off of it. But that takes time AND motivation.

But, let me wish everyone a Happy New Year! We had a wonderful Christmas with the girls loving every second of Santa’s loot. New Year’s was uneventful and nice. J and I were so wiped out; we went to bed when the girls went to bed. He was asleep at 7:30 and me by 8:30. We live it up here in New Jersey. New Year’s Day we went to a friend’s house for the afternoon and had dinner there. Her daughter has a peanut and tree nut allergy, so she went out of her way to make sure we had a dairy-free meal. She made a turkey with ONLY dairy-free margarine. I made all the side dishes and the desserts. I was fine with the extra work b/c any meal I don’t have to worry about Kayla’s safety is worth it. It was the first time I had a worry-free meal outside of my immediate family (not at my house). It’s hard to express the kind of appreciation you feel for someone who lets your child be normal.

Speaking of food allergies, I had a scary moment last night. The girls were in bed and I turned on the History Channel to see they had a Modern Marvels episode on about milk processing. So J and I sat down to watch. It was interesting. But, the scary part came when they talked a bit about Casein, which is one of the proteins in milk. The proteins are what Kayla and other children allergic to dairy react to. Now, I know that lactose is used in some medications, but what I didn’t know is that casein is used in paints, plastic coatings, glue, fabrics, as well as other things. This made me stop and take a deep breath. Now, Kayla has never reacted to Elmer’s glue or touching plastics, or even paint around our house. So either casein is not in those things that we have or the make-up of the protein is changed so that she doesn’t react to it. But it doesn’t make me feel any more comfortable. So I’ll be checking the Elmer’s glue when I get home tonight just to see. Scary stuff them using food proteins in non-food items. It goes along with the desk calendar I got at work a couple weeks ago. In big letters, on the package it said the inks were soy-based. Using the tope 8 food allergens so predominantly in household items can only mean some bad and scary things for the food allergic. The more these things are used, the more hidden dangers there are for those with food allergies.

In the spirit of playing catch-up, Alysa is now in feeding therapy. She is not as cooperative as Kayla was. It is SO hard to get her to try a bite of anything new. Kayla could be distracted by a new toy and she’d take a bite w/o realizing it. Alysa? Nothing gets past her. Her last session, she wouldn’t take a bite until the very end. And there was Kayla, trying to help Alysa along, as well as begging for the food in front of Alysa. See what feeding therapy did for her? Although I hope (since we’re paying out of pocket for this) that she doesn’t need the therapy for too long, I’m not going to hold my breath.

Kayla still loves school – most days she does not want to leave when I get there to pick her up. Our latest challenge with her is I’m switching her to a new gymnastics class. Let’s just say where she is at is not very engaging. They don’t keep her attention and they don’t make an effort to engage her or take time with all the kids individually. But with 15+ kids in the class, how can they? Kayla’s test class at the new place (Alysa loved it there last week) was a mixed bag. She loved all the stuff they had there when she saw it (it’s a real gym, as opposed to a younger kid play place). But…she ended up doing a lot of crying and they let me be with her in the class. It’s a HUGE place with so many other classes going on – many with older kids and older teens. Plus new people, etc. The typical nightmare for a 3 year old. She did well at first, but after about 5-10 minutes it just got too much for my shy girl. She did have fun in spite of herself and the teacher was great. I know she can learn so much and actually have so much fun. So I’ll take her back next week and hope she adjusts quickly, since I have a feeling it will be a struggle to take her back. It’s a fine line – I don’t want to push her into something she doesn’t like or that scares her, but I’m almost positive, it’s just an adjustment thing. I certainly don’t want to pay good money for her to run around an open room with mats and not get much out of it. Wish us luck with her newest transition.

So now, in the spirit of my resolution, I need to go off and see those that I miss and hope they missed me too. Although in order to miss me, they’d have to remember me. ;)

But, before, I go, please also check out this site. You will see the site of a new online homeschooling magazine. My Sis contributes a column to the magazine, and on the first issue’s cover is none other than my nephew, Elliot. Alysa’s equal-in-age-so-different-and-so-alike-in-so-many-ways cousin.