Well, the year is about to wrap up. It has been one of the best years, and one filled with much growing.
I think every year is filled with both growing and learning experiences. God takes each and every day to teach us what He wants us to know, and to bring us closer to him. As you look over the past year, you can sometimes see what He's been teaching you...and what He's been doing.
In the past year:
My son has turned 1
My daughter has learned to use the potty
My daughter has decided that she MUST use each and every public (and some not-so-public ones) that we pass while we are on outings.
My husband and I have managed to make our marriage even stronger.
We suffered the very first loss of a child: the loss of an unborn baby.
I finally received the diagnosis as to the cause of the horrid hives that have been plaguing me for years.
I want to thank you all for sharing this year with me. I pray that God blesses each and every one of us in the year to come, and that He blesses us with His love and a peace that we find only through Him.
God Bless and Happy New Year!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Perfect Mothers
There's one thing I have learned from spending time around my loving, if not frustrating, family is that there is this: there are no perfect mothers, and every one is a perfect mother.
It takes all kinds of mothers to mother all kinds of children. Be the kind of mother you are!
It takes all kinds of mothers to mother all kinds of children. Be the kind of mother you are!
That is, there isn't one set of rules to be a perfect mother. Ever child is different, every family is different (even among grown children becoming parents, their family is different than the one they grew up in), and every mother is different.
I got badgered all weekend long, my blouse wasn't nice enough, my son's hair is too long (even though we're growing it out since he IS half Native American), my son is too whiny, if I do "A, B, or C" then "X, Y, and Z" will happen (and X, Y, and Z are not "good" things). Rant after complaint and it drove me NUTS!
I apprecaite well meaning advice. The Good Lord knows I give out enough. But I take all advice with an open mind, an open heart, a grain of salt in some places, and with the spirit it is given: trying to help. I have learned SO MUCH from other mothers through their well meaning advice, most of it regarding what kind of mother I want to be, and how to make decisions that I feel is best for my family (such as how chiropractors and medical professionals are now saying babies shouldn't be in hard soled shoes until they are closer to 2 or 3). You would not BELIEVE the flack and nasty comments I get from people IN MY FAMILY as well as IN MY CHURCH regarding my son's footwear! HOLY SMOKES people! They are SHOES! I feel that they are best for him, I have seen him stumble around more in hard soled shoes and thus HIS FATHER and I TOGETHER made the decision to keep him in soft soled shoes! If I disclosed his shoe size I'm sure he'd have been bombarded with SHOES for Christmas!
I am still breastfeeding. There. It's in the open. Why am I? IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!! But, breastilk IS still better than cow's milk in a child...especially a child that is, um, ALLERGIC to cow's milk! "So give him soy milk, or rice milk," they say. WHY???? Why give him a product that isn't anywhere CLOSE to being as good for him as what I am giving him? Why put him through that emotional trauma of being forced to wean? He wants to, I want to...so we are. You don't like it? TOO FRACKEN BAD! MY CHILD, MY BOOBS, MY CHOICE!!!
So, if people could only see how every mother is different, every child is different, and every family is different and STOP GIVING MOTHERS FLACK! You want to give your advice? SURE! I'll continue to take it with an open heart and an open mind...and continue to learn about the kind of mother I want to be (and may NOT want to be). If I don't want your advice, I'll tell you...and I'd hope that others would do the same for me.
So, to all my friends who are mothers: YOU ARE AWESOME MAMAS!!! You all make the best decisions you can for your children. While I may feel that breastfeeding, cloth diapering, babywearing, and attachment parenting are the bottom line best, they are not right for every family. I understand this and it doesn't bother me in the least if you don't do these things.
So to those that don't do these things STOP GIVING ME A HARD TIME FOR DOING THEM! Go tend to your children (regardless of their ages) and let me tend to mine.
Now, for your viewing pleasure, a picture that captures the wonder of a child at Christmas.
I got badgered all weekend long, my blouse wasn't nice enough, my son's hair is too long (even though we're growing it out since he IS half Native American), my son is too whiny, if I do "A, B, or C" then "X, Y, and Z" will happen (and X, Y, and Z are not "good" things). Rant after complaint and it drove me NUTS!
I apprecaite well meaning advice. The Good Lord knows I give out enough. But I take all advice with an open mind, an open heart, a grain of salt in some places, and with the spirit it is given: trying to help. I have learned SO MUCH from other mothers through their well meaning advice, most of it regarding what kind of mother I want to be, and how to make decisions that I feel is best for my family (such as how chiropractors and medical professionals are now saying babies shouldn't be in hard soled shoes until they are closer to 2 or 3). You would not BELIEVE the flack and nasty comments I get from people IN MY FAMILY as well as IN MY CHURCH regarding my son's footwear! HOLY SMOKES people! They are SHOES! I feel that they are best for him, I have seen him stumble around more in hard soled shoes and thus HIS FATHER and I TOGETHER made the decision to keep him in soft soled shoes! If I disclosed his shoe size I'm sure he'd have been bombarded with SHOES for Christmas!
I am still breastfeeding. There. It's in the open. Why am I? IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!! But, breastilk IS still better than cow's milk in a child...especially a child that is, um, ALLERGIC to cow's milk! "So give him soy milk, or rice milk," they say. WHY???? Why give him a product that isn't anywhere CLOSE to being as good for him as what I am giving him? Why put him through that emotional trauma of being forced to wean? He wants to, I want to...so we are. You don't like it? TOO FRACKEN BAD! MY CHILD, MY BOOBS, MY CHOICE!!!
So, if people could only see how every mother is different, every child is different, and every family is different and STOP GIVING MOTHERS FLACK! You want to give your advice? SURE! I'll continue to take it with an open heart and an open mind...and continue to learn about the kind of mother I want to be (and may NOT want to be). If I don't want your advice, I'll tell you...and I'd hope that others would do the same for me.
So, to all my friends who are mothers: YOU ARE AWESOME MAMAS!!! You all make the best decisions you can for your children. While I may feel that breastfeeding, cloth diapering, babywearing, and attachment parenting are the bottom line best, they are not right for every family. I understand this and it doesn't bother me in the least if you don't do these things.
So to those that don't do these things STOP GIVING ME A HARD TIME FOR DOING THEM! Go tend to your children (regardless of their ages) and let me tend to mine.
Now, for your viewing pleasure, a picture that captures the wonder of a child at Christmas.
Twas the Day AFTER Christmas...
and all through the house,
gifts are unwrapped,
and tossed gayly aside.
Boxes are opened,
the playroom a mess
and waiting for wee ones
to clean up said mess!
"MOMMY!" they whine,
"Can't we please,
just play with this one
just one time?"
I tell them no,
that the mess they must clean
and what do I get
but irritating whining!!!!
I threaten to toss
the old toys away
and to return
the new ones on day
They whine and they beg
but they clean up their best
and after all
that is all that I ask!
No one to be
a perfect child
I only ask
that the be not so WILD!!!
<>< <>< <><
So, can you tell that it's been crazy around here?
I had to bake 10 loaves of pumpkin bread, make 2 batches of homemade hot chocolate powder, package into jars (and decorate said jars), make 2 batches of cookies (and package them), and decorate 10 wicker baskets, sign cards, etc...all on Christmas Eve. We didn't get home until 11pm that night and I passed out while feeding the baby. Christmas morning wasn't any less wild. I insisted that we clean up the family room before we begin opening gifts so that we wouldn't loose anything. It worked, no lost toy parts. But we now have to go through the playroom and clean it up and make room for all the new toys and finish weeding out the ones to go to Goodwill.
All in all, though, it was a nice day. Sweet Pea was excited to be celebrating "Baby Jesus' Birthday" and kept asking when we were going to go to Baby Jesus Birthday Party, and asking what dresses she could wear to said party. I told her we would be going to Grandma and Abba's to have a special Christmas Day Dinner. That seemed to help ease her sadness over Baby Jesus not getting a party. At Grandma and Abba's they (that is, Sweet Pea and Little Dude) found they had a bike, trike, red wagon, and train table (to go w/ the train set opened a few hours before) waiting for them. We ended the day by taking the kids to the Drive In to see "Enchanted." It was a cute movie, but the kids were SOOOOOOO tired! They were both asleep before we got back onto the interstate.
So, how was YOUR Christmas?
gifts are unwrapped,
and tossed gayly aside.
Boxes are opened,
the playroom a mess
and waiting for wee ones
to clean up said mess!
"MOMMY!" they whine,
"Can't we please,
just play with this one
just one time?"
I tell them no,
that the mess they must clean
and what do I get
but irritating whining!!!!
I threaten to toss
the old toys away
and to return
the new ones on day
They whine and they beg
but they clean up their best
and after all
that is all that I ask!
No one to be
a perfect child
I only ask
that the be not so WILD!!!
<>< <>< <><
So, can you tell that it's been crazy around here?
I had to bake 10 loaves of pumpkin bread, make 2 batches of homemade hot chocolate powder, package into jars (and decorate said jars), make 2 batches of cookies (and package them), and decorate 10 wicker baskets, sign cards, etc...all on Christmas Eve. We didn't get home until 11pm that night and I passed out while feeding the baby. Christmas morning wasn't any less wild. I insisted that we clean up the family room before we begin opening gifts so that we wouldn't loose anything. It worked, no lost toy parts. But we now have to go through the playroom and clean it up and make room for all the new toys and finish weeding out the ones to go to Goodwill.
All in all, though, it was a nice day. Sweet Pea was excited to be celebrating "Baby Jesus' Birthday" and kept asking when we were going to go to Baby Jesus Birthday Party, and asking what dresses she could wear to said party. I told her we would be going to Grandma and Abba's to have a special Christmas Day Dinner. That seemed to help ease her sadness over Baby Jesus not getting a party. At Grandma and Abba's they (that is, Sweet Pea and Little Dude) found they had a bike, trike, red wagon, and train table (to go w/ the train set opened a few hours before) waiting for them. We ended the day by taking the kids to the Drive In to see "Enchanted." It was a cute movie, but the kids were SOOOOOOO tired! They were both asleep before we got back onto the interstate.
So, how was YOUR Christmas?
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Bloodwork is In...
After the sever outbreak of hives I had in August, my allergist diagnosed me as having chronic hive (aka, Chronic Uritcaria or UC), told me to finish up the prednisone, and started
me on 5 antihistamines. He sent me in for blood work. Most of it was back at my last apt. but not all of it. He said my thyroid was fine, and my glucose levels were beautiful. We were waiting on the results of the testing to see if the cause was genetic or autoimmune.
My dad is adopted so we don't know anything about his history.
The results are in: my allergy levels were perfect, showing no real allergic reaction to anything. The autoimmune levels were high. Really high. I believe she put it as through the roof? I see my
allergist after the 1st of the year (no openings due to Christmas) and he will go over everything with me more.
I discovered the hives.com web page after getting the CU diagnosis. I
read the symptoms of auto immune and it lined up. So this isn't a big
surprise to me. Looking back, I've always thought I was allergic to
menstrual pads as I always break out in horrible hives during that
time. I guess it wasn't that.
So this is what I'm facing for the rest of my life. I get to start a regime of strong meds, I'll never be able to get private medical insurance to cover this part of my health (pre-existing condition), and we can't drop the $500 a month insurance we have right now w/ DH's work b/c I HAVE to have medical coverage for it all. The good news: during pregnancy the hives tend to go away. I am NOT going to be getting pregnant just to make the hives go bye-bye though. LOL
me on 5 antihistamines. He sent me in for blood work. Most of it was back at my last apt. but not all of it. He said my thyroid was fine, and my glucose levels were beautiful. We were waiting on the results of the testing to see if the cause was genetic or autoimmune.
My dad is adopted so we don't know anything about his history.
The results are in: my allergy levels were perfect, showing no real allergic reaction to anything. The autoimmune levels were high. Really high. I believe she put it as through the roof? I see my
allergist after the 1st of the year (no openings due to Christmas) and he will go over everything with me more.
I discovered the hives.com web page after getting the CU diagnosis. I
read the symptoms of auto immune and it lined up. So this isn't a big
surprise to me. Looking back, I've always thought I was allergic to
menstrual pads as I always break out in horrible hives during that
time. I guess it wasn't that.
So this is what I'm facing for the rest of my life. I get to start a regime of strong meds, I'll never be able to get private medical insurance to cover this part of my health (pre-existing condition), and we can't drop the $500 a month insurance we have right now w/ DH's work b/c I HAVE to have medical coverage for it all. The good news: during pregnancy the hives tend to go away. I am NOT going to be getting pregnant just to make the hives go bye-bye though. LOL
Christmas to Carseats
My local mom's group had our annual Christmas Party today (and shockingly enough, we called it a Christmas party...the muslim/jewish/athiest/agnostic members didn't care! LOL). As we usually do when we are together we got to talking about safety, and since we all do things out of the norm, we got to talking about extended rear facing in carseats. The conversation was started by someone saying, "Hey! Did any of you see the special CBS 10 did on car seat safety last month?" It went from there. LOL
Anyway, we got to talking about extended rear facing...since most of us practice this...and thus to the famous video on YouTube that shows pictures of toddlers rear facing, as well as footage from test crashes with carseats both rear and forward facing. I told them I have this video on my MySpace page, and decided to post it here as well for those that don't have a MS act to be able to view it (since my MS page is set to private: no seeing anything unless you are a friend).
So, here it is!
I probably won't keep it up long since YouTube videos start automatically...and that would get REALLY annoying after a while. LOL But, for those that asked to see it, here it is!
And, for your viewing pleasure, here are pics taken earlier this year w/ both kids rear facing. Heather at 3 and William at 1.
(to the friend that called and asked about turning her child forward or remaining rear, this is not geared towards you...it is in answer to a discussion I had earlier today w/ my mom's group. *hugs*)
Anyway, we got to talking about extended rear facing...since most of us practice this...and thus to the famous video on YouTube that shows pictures of toddlers rear facing, as well as footage from test crashes with carseats both rear and forward facing. I told them I have this video on my MySpace page, and decided to post it here as well for those that don't have a MS act to be able to view it (since my MS page is set to private: no seeing anything unless you are a friend).
So, here it is!
I probably won't keep it up long since YouTube videos start automatically...and that would get REALLY annoying after a while. LOL But, for those that asked to see it, here it is!
And, for your viewing pleasure, here are pics taken earlier this year w/ both kids rear facing. Heather at 3 and William at 1.
(to the friend that called and asked about turning her child forward or remaining rear, this is not geared towards you...it is in answer to a discussion I had earlier today w/ my mom's group. *hugs*)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Logan, Sky Angel
An online friend shared this with me, and I wanted to share it with y'all. It's SO touching. You might want to have a tissue in hand. This child is wise beyond his years.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Merry Tossmas
http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm?eafref=1
I got this from another blogging friend of mine, Guinevere. She rocks and this link does too! Check it out!
I got this from another blogging friend of mine, Guinevere. She rocks and this link does too! Check it out!
I've Got a SECRET!!
But I'm not telling...yet that is.
Back to you're regularly scheduled nothingness. LOL
Back to you're regularly scheduled nothingness. LOL
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Text Messages...
...are evil. Sure, they allow people to have conversations without having to make phone calls...a plus in the corporate environment, but they also cost money. A lot of money. As my poor husband just discovered.
We use T-Mobile for our cellular service. We've been very happy with it. There's this really cool feature where you can dial #646#talk and a little screen will pop up telling you how many minutes you've used this billing cycle. It's VERY nice to make sure we don't go over. You can do the same thing for text messages, only dial #674#talk. My poor husband hasn't figured this out yet...or else he forgot.
I just got off the phone with customer service finidng out WHY we have an almost $300 cell phone bill. Some charges I'd forgotten about and was fine with. But they were small. I did find out my husband went over his monthly text "allowence" of 400 texts. By a lot.
A whole lot.
A REALLY whole lot.
He went 750 message OVER his 400.
At $0.10 a text.
He went over $75!!!!!! I about had heart failure.
...
...
...
and it gets BETTER!!!!
...
...
...
He went over THIS month too! That was just OCTOBER! He was already over THIS month to the tune of $50!!!!
...
...
...
...
The customer service rep was AWESOME and she got his plan bumped up and backdated so we won't get hit hard as well on this next bill. DH has to curb his texting...by a LOT!
We use T-Mobile for our cellular service. We've been very happy with it. There's this really cool feature where you can dial #646#talk and a little screen will pop up telling you how many minutes you've used this billing cycle. It's VERY nice to make sure we don't go over. You can do the same thing for text messages, only dial #674#talk. My poor husband hasn't figured this out yet...or else he forgot.
I just got off the phone with customer service finidng out WHY we have an almost $300 cell phone bill. Some charges I'd forgotten about and was fine with. But they were small. I did find out my husband went over his monthly text "allowence" of 400 texts. By a lot.
A whole lot.
A REALLY whole lot.
He went 750 message OVER his 400.
At $0.10 a text.
He went over $75!!!!!! I about had heart failure.
...
...
...
and it gets BETTER!!!!
...
...
...
He went over THIS month too! That was just OCTOBER! He was already over THIS month to the tune of $50!!!!
...
...
...
...
The customer service rep was AWESOME and she got his plan bumped up and backdated so we won't get hit hard as well on this next bill. DH has to curb his texting...by a LOT!
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