Kim, Dawn and Mason

A place for me to share the next phase of our lives; being mommies to Mason!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas 2011




Christmas was a blast this year with Mason. He was very much aware of what was going on and knew that Santa was going to be bringing him a John Deere Gator. Whenever anyone asked him what he was getting for Christmas he always said without hesitation, a John Deere Gator. And as you can see above, Santa held true to his word and he brought the John Deere Gator.  He also brought a special kitchen set made just for little boys, some books, puzzles and a couple of Thomas trains.  We had so much fun this year at Christmas. It was incredible.

Until next time......



Thursday, November 10, 2011

We Must Speak Up And Be Willing to Talk About Child Sexual Abuse


Many of us have been shocked to learn of the horrific child sexual abuse allegations recently brought to light at Penn State University. These reports leave us all wondering how such atrocities could happen. Sadly, the necessary steps to end the abuse were not taken, the offender was continually given access to children, and parents are left wondering how they can protect their own children.

The accused is a talented man who was revered by the public as a coach and trusted mentor for many years. Unfortunately, he allegedly breached that trust to gain access to children for his own gratification. Tragically, this scenario plays out all around us every day. Hundreds of thousands of children are sexually violated by adults every year and unbelievably, more than 90% of the time, the child is abused by someone the family knows and trusts. Shock, disbelief and outrage are the first reactions when we learn of child sexual abuse in the news . However appalling this particular incident is, it can serve as a stark reminder that adults must be able to recognize the signs, have the courage to react responsibly, and ultimately, prevent child sexual abuse before it happens in the first place.

As there are more than 42 million adults in America who were sexually abused as children, it is very likely that we all know someone who has abuse of this nature in his or her past. The immediate impact to a child is devastating, and the long term impact costs society more than $35 billion annually. Child sexual abuse is linked to mental health issues, teen pregnancy, violent crime, substance abuse and sex trafficking, among other harmful societal issues. The health and future of our society depend on a stronger resolve to protect kids from the scourge of sexual abuse.

Penn State’s culture of protecting colleagues and image seems to have eclipsed the instinct to protect children. Avoid embarrassment, handle things internally and hope it goes away is the classic, old-school response to child sexual abuse. Abusers depend on this cultural climate, as child sexual abuse thrives in an environment of denial and fear.

We should expect our youth-serving organizations to have policies that govern how adults may interact with youth. Further, these organizations should offer regular trainings to that no one is left wondering what their legal or moral obligation is when there is suspicion of abuse. The youth serving organizations should hold staff and volunteers accountable while our communities, parents and students in turn should hold these organizations accountable. Penn State could have benefitted from educating its staff and administrators so that witnesses would not have worried about losing their jobs by speaking up. Having protocols and procedures in place; and having their employees empowered to hold others accountable to those policies would have made all the difference in the lives of the children and families involved and the reputation of the institution.

At the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, we are committed to child protection and prevention of child sexual abuse. We have collaborated with Darkness to Light to spearhead the Stewards of Children initiative in our area, starting by training our in staff in the program, Stewards of Children is the only evidence-based training available nationally that is proven to increase knowledge and change child protective behavior. When adults actively seek to make a difference, a cultural change can occur. We’re working to shift from a norm where child sexual abuse is taboo and children are easy targets; to a community where every child is protected through a community of trained and aware adults. Knowledge is empowerment!

We encourage the public to continue the dialogue and find hope in the fact that there are things we all can do to reduce the risks in your homes, neighborhoods, and organizations. Get involved in your local school, church, youth service organization, youth camp or sports league to ensure that prevention is being addressed and comprehensive policies and training are in place to identify areas where the safety of children is not the first priority. This week’s news should emphasize the necessity to talk openly about this painful, uneasy subject. Now is the time to shine a bright spotlight on the much avoided subject of child sexual abuse. We must talk to our kids and each other about prevention. Public dialogue about child sexual abuse helps shape better societal beliefs and empowers individuals to take action. The more we talk openly about child sexual abuse signs or perpetrator patterns, the better we are able to recognize behavioral red flags and speak up for our kids.

As a mother to a precious 2 year old, an authorized facilitator for Darkness to Light and an employee of the Chapel Hill - Carrboro YMCA, I am committed to making my community a safer place for children.  If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved and how you can make your community a safer place, please contact me via email at kgrooms@chcymca.org.

Until next time......

Saturday, November 5, 2011

25 Pounds before the 25th of December

Back in August, I set a goal for myself of losing 25lbs by the 25th of December. I was (am) determined to lose this extra weight that I have been carrying around for too many years. I looked back through my blog posts and found this one about losing 25 pounds. That was four months shy of two years ago and well I can say one thing for sure, those 25 pounds stayed put for a solid twenty months.  But, I am proud to say no more. I joined weight watchers once again and this time have stayed with it. I weighed in yesterday for week 13 and I have lost 20.8 pounds thus far! 4.2 more to go before I reach my goal of 25 before the 25th! I can do it. I know I can. The first 15 pounds were a breeze to lose. The last 5 have been hard and I have a feeling the next 5 will be even harder.  Once, I reach my goal, I would like to set another goal of 10 more for a nice total of 35 pounds.  Then I will work really hard to keep it off - forever!

It has been wonderful hearing all of the wonderful comments from friends and co-workers. They are noticing the pounds go away! I can see it too which is awesome. Most of my clothes are too big for me. The best thing was I had purchased some new dress pants for myself back in September and had not taken the tags off of them and I was able to take them back for 2 sizes smaller. Yeah me.  :-) I had to even exchange the shirts that I bought from a large to a medium. Because, I have been such a yo yo dieter, I still had several pairs of pants from a few years ago when I was smaller that I was able to pull out of the closet and begin wearing. I will continue to wear those until I lose all of the weight that I want to lose then I am going to treat myself to a new wardrobe. Look out Tanger Outlets here I come!!

I must tell you that it feels great. I feel so much better and know I am much healthier.  I plan to keep it off and plan to continue to focus on what I eat, how much I eat and will continue to exercise. I want to be a healthy "older" mommy.

Until next time......

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween Fun

Mason has so much fun this Halloween. It is really the first one that he understands what is going on. We talked with him the week leading up to Halloween explaining to him that he would get to "dress up" and go say Trick or Treat for candy. He doesn't get to eat much candy but does know what it is especially M&M's and Skittles. He was dressing up like a cowboy and once we got his costume he understood a little more.  He seemed excited to tell people he was dressing up like a cowboy. He'd say, my gonna be a cowboy! We went to a Trunk or Treat over the weekend so he was able to see other children dressed up and continued to get the whole idea.

His preschool did trick or treating with the residents of the retirement home campus that the preschool is located on and everyone seemed to enjoy that very much. In the afternoon, his class had a little party which was simple but fun. One of Mason's teacher's dressed up and well I'll let the picture speak for itself. This man is awesome and is a fabulous teacher that Mason loves dearly.


We went trick or treating with our neighbors and it was so much fun. Mason was a trooper and after several houses, he was saying trick or treat and thank you to everyone. He was super cute and so many people commented on his cowboy costume.  Enough with the writing, I'll show you just how cute he was as a cowboy.  Enjoy....



Below is a picture of Mason with our neighbors children. We are very fortunate to live next door to and across the street from wonderful neighbors.


Since Mason was the youngest of all of the trick or treaters, we took the wagon along in case he needed to ride instead of walk. Great idea, neighbor Dawn. It was very helpful for everyone.  Before we completed the one mile loop around our neighborhood, Trent and Quinn took turns riding with Mason. At one point, they were all three in there. 





Mason enjoyed looking at all of the Halloween decorations and was fascinated by the people as well.


He was too cute. We had a great night with him and have enjoyed watching him enjoy his candy a couple pieces each night. At this rate, the candy will last him until Christmas. Yes, we are those moms that limit the amount of sugar and candy our little guy eats!! No harm done. He is eating candy just in small increments!!

Hope all of you had a wonderful Halloween as well.

Until next time......








Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

It's Been Awhile

One of the things that I just have not had time to do lately is posting on this blog. I don't have many followers so there aren't many to disappoint with my lack of attention to blogging but it still disappoints me since this is supposed to be my "journal" of life as a mommy to Mason. I will make every effort to do better!

So what has been going on with us lately. Let's see...Mason has adjusted really well to his new preschool. It was a rather rocky start as he screamed and cried every morning for almost 7 weeks. It got progressively shorter and shorter each week and his teachers tell me it only lasted for 5 - 10 minutes but it was still HARD! I absolutely hated leaving him crying every day. The first couple of days, I even left crying. I know I am such a whimp. Thank goodness, he has not cried and has been much better at drop off for the past four weeks. He has adjusted well to his new teachers. He loves them both but talks about "Mr. Greg" all the time. We were on our way to school on Friday and out of the blue he said, "I wub Mr. Greg". He has learned so many new songs and sings them every day. He has brought home tons of art work and seems to really enjoy doing art. He is very proud of his art wall that we created for him. He walks by it and says, "my did that at school" and proudly points to all of the pictures. Below is a picture of his "art wall". Enjoy!!

We had our first ever parent / teacher conference yesterday. They had all great things to say about him. They said he was very mature for a young 2 year old, that his language was really developed and that he was a very sweet little boy. The one area that he needed to work on was his table manners! I asked for examples from them to see what it is he needed to work on. The one thing they said was keeping his food on his plate instead of putting it on the table. I told them that was my fault since for many months we would just put his food on the tray of his high chair or when we would be out to eat directly on the table. Now while this may seem weird to you, it made total sense to me since that was much easier than picking up the plate and all the food off the floor. You see, Mason went through a plate slinging phase and me being the OCD mom that I am, my solution was to put his food directly on the tray. That was for solid foods of course. I am crazy but not that crazy! Below is a picture of his "progress report" from preschool!

Mason has has a huge language explosion over the past month. He is very good at articulating what he wants and needs and does so in complete sentences. We have had several people ask us if he was 3 or 4 years old since he speaks so well. With the good language also comes the bad. No, he isn't swearing yet but he has learned to use NO often and always in the right context. He has really become an independent little boy and wants to do everything on his own and in his own time. He doesn't mind telling you he doesn't want to do something and doesn't like something. I keep asking myself where he got his little attitude and well I cannot help but hear my mom saying, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree you know!!". True, so true. Well, these are a few things that have been going on with Mason. There is so much more but I will try to put those in seperate posts.

Until next time......

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Weekend Field Trip to the NC Zoo

A few weekends ago, we took Mason to the North Carolina Zoo. He loves animals so we knew he would love it. We had been waiting until the weather cooled off a bit. Everyone that we know that has been told us that the animals are more active when the weather is cooler. They were right. We got to see pretty much all of the animals. Some of them were up close so we were able to get some great photos. Here are a few for you to enjoy!



Mason had a great time running all over the place and taking his picture with the cool statues of monkeys, bugs and rhinos.
It seems Mason has a bench fettish or maybe it was his way of telling us he was tired. Every time we came to a bench, he would say, "I want to sit down! He would climb up and sit for a minute or so and be on his way. I was able to capture some pretty cool pictures of his while he took a break!
Well, that was a little snapshot view of our trip to the zoo. Hope you enjoyed it. We sure did! We had so much fun that we decided to purchase a membership. If we go just one more time, our membership will pay for itself. I hope we will get to go again at the end of October, They are doing "Boo at the Zoo" to celebrate Halloween. Until next time......

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Weekend Field Trip - Museum of Life and Science

We have been keeping really busy on the weekends. Last weekend, we took Mason to the Museum of Life and Science. It was the first time we had gone together as a family.  I have been several times with children from the Y but this time I was entertaining my own child. It was very different than I remembered. Maybe that was because I was actually able to enjoy the museum this time. Mason was excited about all of the cool exhibits inside.  He was most fascinated with the "cloud" making machine.

After spending awhile inside, we ventured outside to see what was going on. Mason was quickly drawn to the huge musical instrument area so we spent a little time enjoying the "music" he and the other little ones were creating.


After enjoying some fabulous "music" we moved on to the butterfly exhibit. There were tons of beautiful butterflies in there. It was great watching Mason hold out his hand in hopes of the perfect butterfly landing on it. We were not fortunate enough to have them land on his hand but I am certain the butterfly was fortunate that it didn't.  Below is a picture of him trying so hard to get one to land on his little hand.


Then we were off to the dinosaur trail. It was a really cool trail with lots of huge dinosaurs. There was even a section where the you could dig for fossils and dinosaur bones. Mason really liked this area. Below are a few pictures that should tell the story of our time on this trail.




We enjoyed looking at all of the animals and riding on the train but unfortunately, we did not get many pictures of either of those things. We didn't get to finish going through the museum. Mason was getting sleepy and cranky so we called it a day and headed home. But before we left, we decided to purchase a family membership so we can enjoy the museum more often over the next year. Going just 2 more times will make the membership pay for itself so we thought it was a great idea. We are already planning another trip in the next couple of weeks and are planning to take the Santa train in December.

I abslolutely love spending time together as a family. It is awesome watching Mason as he is exploring new things. His mind is always working and he is such a little sponge.  I love him more than anything in the world and am looking forward to our next field trip!

Until next time......

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Change Stinks

Now that Mason is two years old, he is old enough to attend preschool at our YMCA Children's Center. This is something I have been looking forward to for a long time. My child gets to finally start participating in YMCA activities. This is exciting on many levels. One is that I have a child that can grow up in the Y and enjoy all of the great programs that we offer. Another is, he will be attending a school that is only a few miles from where my office is located which is convenient if I needed to get to him quickly one day! And another is...that he can attend our program for FREE!! Yep, that's right FREE. As of now, I no longer have a monthly preschool payment to pay. One of our employee benefits is our children are allowed to participate in our programs for at no charge to the employee. Huge benefit that I am extremely thankful for! While all of these reasons are great and I have been looking forward to all of them, a few weeks ago I found myself getting really worked up about him have to move to a new place. I had so many thoughts running through my head. Things like, how am I going to do drop off and pick up everyday? What will I do with him on teacher workdays? How will my staff feel about him being there? How will he adjust? Will he like it? Will he cry and be sad? On and on and on. Everyone kept telling me things would work out and that I was stressing over it too much. For those that know me well, know this is how I am. I have a tendancy to over analyze everything. Let me fill you in on how the past two weeks have been for us.

Well, the first two days were transition visits so he could only be there a couple of hours. Those two days were a breeze. He went right in and joined the class like he had been there before. I was excited that this change might now be a big deal at all. His teachers were impressed with him and said he is going to do just fine. Our first full day was on a Monday. He had a doctor's appointment that morning so we didn't get there until 11:00am. We walked in and he immediately asked to be held. I picked him up and told him it was going to be alright. He held on tight while I talked to his new teacher, Mr. Greg, for a few minutes. When it was time to go, I handed him to Mr. Greg and the screaming and tears instantly started. I continued to walk out of the classroom and could hear him all the way down the hallway. I waited a few minutes to see if he would calm down and he did not so I waited a little longer and he started to settle. I proceeded to leave the building when I heard screaming again and this time it was, mommy come back! Mommmmmyyyyyyy! I kept walking and could hear him outside and it BROKE my heart. I left in tears and continued on to work. About 10 minutes after I left, I got a text message from Mr. Greg telling me Mason had calmed down and was OK. I was ok by this time too so we were all good. Day 2 went about like day 1 so needless to say all my fears seemed to be coming true about this whole change!

Day 3 and 4 progressively got worse. Day 3 he started crying as soon as well pulled into the center parking lot. Day 4, he started crying as soon as I put him in his car seat to leave the house. He seemed to be really sad and very clingy and at night started to wake up during the night and very early in the morning screaming, "mommy come back!" It was breaking my heart and I felt so guilty for putting him through all of this. Day 5 was very similar to the others but now we had the weekend to spend some extra time together. Great you say. It was great but he started to TEST every thing possible and was being a little turkey! We use re-direction as much as possible with him but after so many times and that not working, I had to move to time outs. I even had to "pop" him on his bottom (well, diaper) a couple of times throughout the weekend to get him to listen. It was a complete 360 for him. I feared the terrible two's were in full force now.

We made it through the weekend which was exhausting because he was in to everything and woke up before 6:00am both days. Now it is on to week two of a new preschool. The crying and screaming continued during drop off but when I picked him in the afternoons he was playing and didn't immediately run to me. Mr. Greg continued to text me to reassure me he was calming down quickly and was ok. He also sent me a picture showing me he was starting to play with the other children.


Fast forward to day 3 of the second week and he walked right in his classroom and started playing in the sensory table which was full of dried oats and farm animals. I was a bit surprised but went with the flow and tried to leave in a hurry. Mr. Greg called me back for a second and Mason turned around and ran to me and started crying. I told him it would be alright and put him down and left. He screamed for a few minutes and that was it. I saw a few of the other teachers as I was leaving and they all told me he was doing great. I told them that I knew he was but it was still hard leaving him like that. I know it gets better and this is all normal but it has been emotionally draining having to have him crying and screaming when I leave. Below are a few more pictures showing that he does fine after I leave.





Today is Friday and there was a teacher workday today so no school for Mason which meant no work for mommy so we are spending the day together and will hopefully have a great weekend.

After two weeks at his new school, we have noticed that he has been singing new songs in the evenings when he would be playing. He even started saying his ABC's and counting to 10!! He must be getting something out of his day even if he does appear miserable and sad in the mornings. I know he was ready for more structure and being around children that are his age or older. I hope the crying stops and he gets back to his happy, go lucky self when I drop him off in the mornings. I miss my happy little boy and I am not ready for the terrible two's! Here's hoping week three continues to get better.

Until next time......

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wordless Wednesday





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Earthquake, Really?

We had an earthquake here yesterday. Yes you read that right. We experienced the tremors from an earthquake that hit Richmond, Virginia. It rated 5.8 on the richter scale. I was sitting at my desk, talking on the phone with a co-worker when all of a sudden my chair started vibrating and the pencil holder on my desk started shaking. I said I think we are having an earthquake. My co-worker laughed and we went on with our conversation. Soon after I got off the phone, another one of my co-workers came in and said his wife called and she said their entire how shook and things fell off of some shelves. I said see I am not crazy. Of course soon after that it was everywhere on the internet and people were commenting about it on Facebook. Crazy, huh. Earthquakes in NC. Who'd a thunk it?

Until next time......

Kim


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Pool Fun













Until next time......

Kim

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad