Updates!

Sorry so long without a post - we have had lots going on and nothing going on at the same time. We all have our time off for the end of the summer, so we have been having fun, relaxing, taking care of some business, but nothing exciting enough to write about, lol. On Thursday G went to his "girlfriend" Taylor's house to play - they had their most fantastic playdate thus far. She has autism as well, and they met when they were 3 in their first year of school. They have been friends ever since, and although they are in different schools now, they love each other so much, and her mother and I get them together a few times a year. Usually, things are up and down for a while, and then one or both of them just get too overwhelmed and it is time to pack up. They started off a little rocky at times, and then they sat and had a talk that G initiated, and from that point on, they were fine - and we ended up staying for over 5 hours - her mother and I didn't even realize the way the time was flying until we were suddenly like OMG - its almost dinner time! It was GREAT - we were both SO proud of them! They took turns and shared and really considered each others feelings - apologized for out of line behavior - it was just fantastic - I couldn't be happier.

Then yesterday, we went to the mall for a Kidgits event - basically it's the mall kids club, and it is great, $5 for the year to join, several activities a month for the kids, prizes and games, free pictures every month from the picture people, and discounts at various stores and restaurants in and out of the mall. He had a blast - it was Grandparents day, so he and Grammy got to have their picture taken together at the Picture People, he got to roll a pretzel at Auntie Anne's, and he was just thrilled to learn that the ends of the pretzel dough (after it is rolled out into a long thin strip) are called toes. He did really well making his pretzel - I was very proud of him!

He followed the directions very well, and he is so funny because he always gets so nervous and doesn't want to try something new, then he takes the plunge at the last second, and he does great! Then there was a magic show, and he was the first kid that got pulled up on stage as an assistant - and lucky for him a little girl was called up with him, lol - and they did a cute little trick with him.

G was funny because he was afraid that the magician would either "disappear him", or try to saw him in half. (This fear I am really upset about - we were watching America's Got Talent, which he loves, and they had Penn & Teller on, and they did the saw someone in half trick, only being Penn & Teller, they had to pretend it went wrong, and actually saw the chick in half, blood flew everywhere, and it was like in slow mo as we realized what was about to happen and not being able to get to change the channel quick enough... so then we have to let him watch until the end even though the poor child is horrified just so he can see that it is fake and the girl is just fine... which he did, and he realized what they did and understood it to the best that a 5 year old can, and is not like terrified or anything, but he totally thought about it when he actually came face to face with a magician.) Anywhoo, the magician asked him if he would like to stay on stage to do the next trick to, and G said, "No thank you", and walked right off the stage! I was hysterical, and then the little girl took his cue and walked off as well - it was all good for the magician, and when I asked G at home why he did that, thinking that he was probably happy the trick he got was tame, and figured he would get out before things got crazy, and he said that all of the children should be able to have a turn, and so he only took one turn. I got all teary and proud and stuff... too cute.

Now for my smoking update... ok, I am doing fine with it - it has been just over 4 weeks now, and I feel fantastic. I can do so many more things that I didn't even realize like, how unhealthy I was as a smoker. Like, I can exercise now. Like for real. Like, an hour or two at a time, sometimes I do that more than once a day. It's kind of a novelty right now, because a month ago, I felt like my chest would explode and I would have a stroke after 20 mins of aerobic exercise. Now, I have to be going over 3mph with incline on the treadmill to really break a sweat. My skin feels fantastic, like seriously, even my feet aren't as dry like on the bottom where you usually get calluses and whatnot. It's crazy. Now for the bad part. The one thing I have actually been struggling with. I have had the cold type symptoms, and they are finally pretty much gone. What was really tough to deal with there was that I was having those symptoms from quitting as well as general summer allergies, but I have weathered through. Now I have the WORST headaches. Kind of like ice cream headaches - it's like that squeezing kind of headache that is a million times worse if you like cough or get up too quick etc... Turns out that these are due to the fact that when you smoke, you deprive your brain of a certain amount of blood and oxygen. So when you quit, you can get headaches from the rush of additional blood and oxygen going to the brain. This is largely due to the fact that smoking causes your veins and arteries to narrow, so it is much like with an ice cream headache where they constrict from the cold. This part sucks in plain English, and I can't wait for it to be done with. Especially since I am really doing well with losing weight. It stinks that exercising is actually making them worse as you breathe heavier and your blood circulates faster when you do so. I am dealing with it, and I figure I spent a little over 10 years smoking, the fact that this is the worst thing I am dealing with is not so bad, I just really can't wait for it to be done. That's about it for now... I will continue to update on the smoking, as well as the weight loss - I'm down a little over 10 lbs since quitting smoking which is a little strange, but whatever man - I'm diggin it!