To DS or not to DS

I'm torn right now about whether to get my kids a Nintendo DS for Christmas this year. They have both been asking for one for what seems like forever. A lot of their friends have them; so they've played several games and really enjoyed them. I know it would be a gift they'd love and would play all the time, but there in lies the problem. They would play it ALL THE TIME. I already limit the amount of screen time they get each day, and we have a lot of screens. They play computer games, Wii games, old Nintendo games and Leapster games. Adding another screen then saying "No" when they ask to play it seems unfair. So I can get it for them and let them have unlimited access to it, or get it for them and tell them they can only play it a few minutes each day (which makes the big price tag seem even bigger), or I can not buy it for them at all.

Although I don't want to, I'm letting the fact that most of their friends have one influence my thinking on this. I don't want my kids to think that they get something because "everyone else has one", but there is some social acceptance component that comes into play here. If most of the kids in daughter's circle of friends are talking about something and she can't talk intelligently about it, that will make her feel left out of that social circle. Now, I didn't' have one of everything my friends had growing up and I think I turned out OK. So I'm trying to not let this line of reasoning influence me...but I'm not exactly winning that battle.

The other thing is that with a big price tag, they would only be getting a DS on a major gift-giving occasion like their birthday or Christmas. I also don't really want to get one for one child on a birthday then have to wait 6 months for the other child to get one simply because the fighting it would cause would drive me crazy. I'd like to get them one at the same time, which basically means Christmas. So if I don't get one for them this Christmas, it will have to wait a year until next Christmas before we'll consider it again.

So, I'm torn. Thoughts?

Cleanse: Day 14 -- The last day!

Day 14:

• Breakfast: Cleanse friendly pancakes, banana and pure maple syrup
• Lunch: Amy's lentil soup and WW crackers
• Dinner: the LAST of the leftover soup and a chicken sausage. For dessert I had a piece of my no sugar banana bread and a drizzle of honey.

The cleanse is over! It really wasn't that hard this time as the eating isn't that much different from what I eat normally. Other than a piece of dark chocolate after dinner and going back to eating that yummy grass fed beef I have in the freezer, we'll probably keep up a very similar way of eating going forward. I think I lost about 3 pounds during these 2 weeks, which is good but a little frustrating when others lost between 7-9 lbs doing the same thing. I guess I'll look at it as a good thing meaning that I'm not regularly putting many toxins or unhealthy things into my body that need to be removed by cleansing. Yeah, I'll look at it that way. :)

Cleanse: Day 13

Day 13:

• Breakfast: Guess!
• Lunch: WW wrap with sundried tomato hummus, baby spinach and pico de gallo, leftover chicken leg from last night
• Dinner: Sushi and green tea

Cleanse: Day 12

Day 12:

• Breakfast: same old, same old
• Lunch: WW wrap with hummus, baby spinach and pico de gallo, dessert of dehydrated bananas and cherries, chamomile tea
• Dinner: Will probably be grilled chicken, corn on the cob, salad and maybe brown rice

Cleanse: Day 11

Day 11:

• Breakfast: Cheerios, rice milk and banana
• Rode stationary bike 30 minutes
• Lunch: Jamba juice all fruit smoothie and chicken veggie wrap (this came with a mango sauce that contained sugar, so I just didn't use it)
• Dinner: Leftover chicken veggie soup with brown rice crackers and pears

Cleanse: Day 10

Day 10:

• Breakfast: cheerios, rice milk and banana
• 1 hour of yoga class and 1/2 hour of stationary bike
• lunch: peanuts and raisins, dried veggie chips, peach green tea
• 1/2 hour swimming with the kids
• Dinner: leftover chicken veggie soup from sunday

Cleanse: Day 9

Day 9

• Breakfast: Cheerios, rice milk and banana
• Lunch: Amy's Lentil soup and a few whole grain crackers, Pseudo Banana Pudding
• Dinner: Will probably be salmon, some garden veggies sauteed in olive oil with garlic and salt and some whole wheat or brown rice pasta.
• I'm also planning to take a walk with the kiddos in this nice weather!