WHY DO YOU FOLLOW?

ALOHA FRIDAY # 31


My question this week:


Why do you choose to be a follower on a blog?
Do you comment on the blogs you follow, how often?

Almost daily I go into my blogger dashboard and check out the list of blogs I follow. I like doing it this way because I can see who has a new post, a little bit about it and it helps me decided if I want to read more. I have several blogs that I read every post they make because I love their blogs and I do follow others that I only read on occasion. If I have a blog in my list that I have stopped reading for a while I remove them.

One reason I choose to follow other blogs is because of the interaction. I really like the interaction I have between other bloggers and getting to know them through reading, commenting and the comments they leave.

I use to follow any blog that started following mine. I quickly learned that I think many people fill up their following list but they visit once or twice and never return. I stopped this because as I said I value the interaction so if I really like your blog, our blogs are similar in nature and we start having regular interaction, I become a follower.

I have also stopped following many blogs because I read, comment, read, comment and they just stop interacting with me through my blog.

I hate to say it but I have deleted many from my followers list because they stop talking to me. Some of them had really good blogs but I like the interaction just as much as reading a good blog so I typically will remove someone from my list because they stop talking with me. Sometimes it makes me feel like a teenager having a bad breakup. LOL… Don’t get me wrong, interaction is not a requirement by any means but it is something I value. I do have a few blogs I do follow and they rarely ever comment on my blog however I don’t visit their blogs all the time either just on occasion.

I guess you could say I would rather have quality over quantity any day. All I can say is the interaction is what I value the most and it can be once a week or once a month but it is what I value with the blogs I follow. It just seems like I have really gotten to know so many bloggers on a whole other level that would have never happened had we not commented so regularly with each other.

Play along at An Island Life for Aloha Friday. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at An Island Life. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

Always Going Potty

Recently my 6 year old Luke has started going potty all the time. At first I didn’t think much of it but in the morning he will get up go potty (normal) and then soon after he has to go again. Not much later as we have to go out the door he has to go again. At first I thought this was a delay tactic on his part but then it became a regular morning thing. Now on top of the 3 times we potty at home in the morning he started having to potty the moment I dropped him off at school (15 minutes since the last potty time). Some mornings he can’t make it to school and goes at Thomas’s babysitter’s house because we stop their first each morning. This started to worry me because this doesn’t seem like normal behavior and he didn’t use to have to potty this much.



This morning as I am dropping Luke off at Latch-key I run into his teacher and she informs me that Luke has to go potty all the time during class (at least once every hour). I explained to her we just went to the doctor because he is doing the same thing at home. She was very understanding and said she will just tell him to get up and go when he needs to. I am so glad he has such a great teacher.

Last week I took him to see the doctor and have a urine test to make sure there isn’t something else going on. Everything came back normal. The doctor said to stop taking bubble baths as that might be causing the problem and see what happens. However he said it is just something he might be going through and he will out grow it. Medicine is available to help him completely empty his bladder but he didn’t recommend it. I agree with the medicine but not sure I agree with behavior issue and he will out grow it.

Since learning that he is doing the same thing at school I am not sure I am OK with waiting to see if he will out grow this. What if he doesn’t? I don’t want to put my child through a bunch of unnecessary tests if they are not necessary but then I worry about not doing anything at all and what if something really is wrong.

I started with the internet to see if I could learn more about what is going on. It could be so many things. One of the things that did strike me as interesting is stress.

I know I have mentioned before that Luke has behavioral ticks. They became very obvious to us after Thomas was born. I believe they are caused by stress and they became very obvious to us when his brother was born. He would pop his jaw, flutter his eyes or twist his neck into funny positions, habits that he really had no awareness that he was doing. Long ago we discussed these things with the doctor and they were pretty complacent that it was just stress and nothing to worry about, he will out grow them. These ticks have settled down but now I am wondering if they haven’t been replaced with the urge to go potty all the time.

For now I have started a potty journal. We are going to track every time we pee, was it a lot or a little, easy or hard to go and so on. I am also going to track how much fluid is going into his body. I have stopped baths and we are only taking showers for now. I am giving all this 30 days and I am going back to the doctor.

Do any of you know of a child that has gone through something like this? Any suggestions?

My Boys

For some reason I was really struggling with finding a picture for Wordful Wednesday. Yes, me struggling... with pictures even. I only have a couple thousand to choose from. Really what is my problem today.

Since I was struggling I decided to go back to last summer. I thought I would share my boys (all three of them).

Do you think they look like their father?


Go visit Angie at 7 Clown Circus for more great Wordful Wednesday post.

Motivate Me Monday

So I haven’t exactly been playing Motivate me Monday’s. I have not been in much of an exercise mood these last two weeks. My heart is in the right place but my body doesn’t want to join in the fun. I was doing Jillian Michaels newest work outs through the cable TV’s On-Demand programming. It is pretty cool to have an exercise channel that you can pull up any type program at any given time. Almost like owning a DVD. I found I really like her work outs because she pushes you to use all of your body when working out and this kicks up the cardio a bit. Ok for me a lot as I am sweating to death during her workout. One of the moves that I found to be really challenging were as follows:

-Stand holding a pair of light weight dumbbells over your head.
-Just hold them up, now lung one foot back, drop your knee to the floor.
-Now drop the second knee to the floor so you are now on both knees.
-Now bring a leg back to the =front stand up and repeat.
-Oh and make sure you don’t ever put your arms down.
-Now try doing three sets of 10 or 15 of these in each set. It is a killer!

I really like her concept that you need to incorporate the entire body. I must say this really takes me outside of my comfort zone. That seems to be the ultimate goal in exercise is to step out of your comfort zone and push yourself to do things that are tough and when your mind is throwing up that caution sign you are pushing on knowing that you can do it. Even though you want to cry, quit or whatever when you have done it you feel so darn good. I love that!!!

What type of exercise moves take you out of your comfort zone?


Hey Wii fans, EA Sports Active is coming out with a new one for the Wii this month. I will be buying this when it comes out because it looks like lots of fun and would be a good work out at the same time. Check out the link!

Cleaning Day

Saturday morning I got up and started my day off like I do every Saturday. I turn the radio on and I start my house cleaning. As I was cleaning I started thinking about how I do this every Saturday morning. When I was a kid, ever since I can remember, this was the routine in my house. We got up every Saturday morning, watched our cartoons and then the cleaning began. I always did the vacuuming and my younger brother did the dusting, along with other chores we both did. We always had the radio on and we danced around doing our house work.

What I find interesting about this is the fact that I have carried this behavior over into my life as an adult. Every Saturday is house cleaning day for me. I don’t think about it, question it or anything else, I just do it. I start my laundry, the dishwasher is going, I sweep, mop, dust, clean the bathroom, etc… all while enjoying my music of course. Don’t get me wrong I clean house also during the week but it is picking up, dishes, my vacuum obsession and just general everyday type cleaning projects to maintain the household.

As my boys get older I will incorporate Saturday morning chores for them to do as well. Right now Luke loves to help by (wasting my Windex) washing the windows. This makes me wonder, will my boys grow up with the mind set that Saturday’s are house cleaning day? Will my boys turn into young men that will help their wives someday clean the house? I wonder this because this tradition came from my dad who grew up in a house where Saturday morning chores were a regular behavior. This was such a regular behavior in his life that he passed this behavior down to his family. As I grew up I don’t remember my dad doing Saturday morning chores in the cleaning sense but he was either mowing the lawn, fixing something or building something so in a sense those were his chores.

So I ask you this, do you have an activity that you do that you carried over from you childhood? Is this something you will pass down to your family?