Mama Knows Best

Review: KinderCone

Last week, I teared up at the thought of Ethan being old enough to attend school this fall.  How bittersweet a moment it was to realize that so much time had already passed.  His love of learning and desire to be in school melts my heart with pride and then, I too find myself becoming overly excited about beginning this next chapter in our lives.  As each day passes, I cannot wait to celebrate his accomplishments and shower him with love, affection and little gifts periodically.

One of the ways I intend to celebrate his going to school is by purchasing a KinderCone, filled with a KinderJournal “Me, Myself and First Grade,” Karli the Cat plush toy, 5 KinderCone pencils, KinderCone temporary tattoos and a limited-edition certificate.  Of course, I will be adding more personalized items to our KinderCone. Seriously though, is that not a creative and encouraging gift to give to a young child? The KinderCone is based on a German tradition dating back to the early 19th century. In Germany and Austria, parents celebrate their child’s first day of school and present their first grader with a Schultüte (KinderCone).

Despite Ethan not being quite the age the KinderCone was intended for, he has absolutely fallen over in excitement about the idea behind the cone.  He is looking forward to receiving a KinderCone after he graduates from Kindergarten and heads into First Grade!  And while I know the contents of the KinderCone, I have not shared them with Ethan…We want it to be a total surprise to him when he reaches the age.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of KinderCone and received KinderCone samples to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Posted in Education, Family Fun | 1 Comment »

I need a jumbo sized planner.

Why is it that I can go weeks with nothing to do, but just before 2 midterms are to be taken, I am booked to the max? I love getting out of the house and being social, but did all of the “social” activities have to be this weekend?

Tomorrow, we take Addie to the local doctors office to get our out-of-network referral for her visit to the ID specialist on March 15th, which is completely surreal at this point. We have been battling this parasite for six long months and now we are right on target for where we need to be. Tomorrow will also be a big day for Ethan. While Addie is at the doctors office with her Daddy, Ethan and I will drag out the markers and have ourselves a blast. He has been so anxious to learn how to write and draw his shapes- so tomorrow will be the perfect day for doing just that. He gets so frustrated with himself with not being able to draw/write simple things and darn it all, I want to help him so badly. This is truly a big deal to my little man. All of his friends, who are older, can write/draw and he just so badly wants to be a “big boy” just like them. Any suggestions, readers?

Posted in Ethan & Addison, Family Fun | 2 Comments »

Only 5 more days..

Our morning started off as usual, until our good friends Doug and Tiffany arrive. Doug yelled up the stairs when he arrived to tell me to come outside, that we needed to talk and to grab the phone book. Knowing full well that Doug was the goofball he is, I just shrugged my shoulders and headed outdoors empty handed. At this point, I was still thinking things were okay and nothing was wrong, until he pointed out the tree next to our house/garage. A tree so massive in size that it could easily clear out our entire garage and part of the house. The tree that SPLIT sometime during the night and is on the verge of coming down with little to no help. My first reaction was to freak out, then I ran into the house to grab a phone book. After calling several tree companies, we finally found someone who could make it out to the house this afternoon. By the time this “dilemma” was discovered, it was way too late in the afternoon for them to start working.

So, being the calm and collected person I am, I was way okay with leaving the house for several hours today– you know, just in case. Plus, I had promised Tiffany I would ride along with her while she did her Christmas shopping. And soon after arriving back to the house from shopping, we headed directly to my parents house for Christmas with my brother and his family.

And y’all, I am freaked to the max about this tree situation. Our tree experts told us that they would be here first thing in the morning because really, the tree could not withstand more than another 36 hours max. Hence, the reason I am more than willing to sleep in Ethan’s bedroom tonight. It is at the opposite end of the house from where the tree would fall, which makes me feel a little bit safer. Am just hoping to make it to tomorrow afternoon with my house in one piece.

Posted in Family Fun | 2 Comments »

Flirting with medicine

Where to even begin? Last week was a whirlwind of medical terms, medications and doctors. We spent several hours with doctors and their nurses either at the pediatrician’s office or the hospital. After arriving home Saturday evening, we made a list of everything we know is going on with Addison’s, her symptoms and any new observances. It has become clear to us that 1) she still has some sort of bug, 2) she is no longer dehydrated and 3) she is now cutting four molars at once.

Today, her bug was confirmed, as the doctor called to tell us we have another positive result for the parasite. Despite her feeling better, looking better and sounding better, she is apparently still infested and her medication did not work like we had hoped, leaving us to chance another medication. Does anyone else get chills just thinking about a parasite crawling around inside such a teeny, tiny little person? Linda believes that on top of the parasite, that her fevers, excessive diarrhea and dehydration were also caused from a possible viral stomach bug and/or her teething. Makes sense, does it not? Especially now that she is a happy baby again, eating, sleeping and drinking like a mad woman.

Ethan has been such a trooper through all of his sleepovers at other people’s houses and going to and from doctors appointments.  In fact, he told me this morning that he misses the pediatrician’s office.  While it is sad in one respect, it is good to know he likes the office and personnel so much.  And… before I totally forget to share this all with you, because I usually do forget, Ethan screamed at one of the nurses last week while at the pediatrician’s office.  As we walked into the room, he told the nurse that he didn’t want any “pokes” for his sister this time.  So when they came in to put her catheter in, he screams “WHY ARE YOU PUTTING THAT NEEDLE IN MY SISSY’S VAGINA?” Our nurse kept a completely professional manner about him and once finished, cracked up laughing– along with the other people laughing outside in the hallway.

And on top of all of this, I have decided now was as good a time as any to become working on my weight. I am not looking for quick weight loss, although that would be fabulous, but more of a permanent weight loss solution. I am working on my portions, types of foods I eat and will eventually incorporate some exercise into the mix. I am excited for this challenge and am tackling it head on! Wish me luck y’all.. I am hoping to lose about 15 pounds before Valentine’s Day, which is totally doable!

Posted in Ethan & Addison, Family Fun, Holidays | 2 Comments »

Just lovin’ life.

Ethan, Addison and I have been decorating the house for Christmas. I have spent the past three days chasing Addison around the house, removing Christmas ornaments from her hands and loving every minute of it. Thanksgiving morning, my babies slept in until around 10:00 a.m., which gave me plenty of time to get some of my Christmas wrapping done. Of course, just as I get caught up.. I fall behind again do to Black Friday shopping. I snagged up some awesome deals, checked about five people off of my list and even managed to get several of those presents wrapped.  I am anticipating the moment when it will be safe to put the presents under the tree.

And to celebrate our holiday success, we went out to dinner and finished up with a little bit of shopping afterward to pick out Christmas ornaments. When Ethan was born, I decided to carry on the tradition of purchasing Christmas ornaments for my children. Ethan picked out the Frosty the Snowman ornament for himself and Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer for his sister. And mommy even managed to purchase a few new ornaments for herself.

After a great night out with the kids, I came home only to discover that our water softener overflowed all over the laundry room.

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Putting on my big girl panties.

Waking up in the mornings has been a struggle lately. I am no where near feeling depressed, just overwhelmed by everything– work, classes, house work, finances and sickness. You know how they say when it rains it pours? Well, it’s pouring drops the size of soft balls in our neck of the woods. And this really is not a pity party, feel sorry for me kind of post.  It is my way of venting, I suppose.

I find myself being spread thin in all aspects of my life. Work? Yeah, I have been spreading myself thin here because I have found myself in “survivor” mode. Jeff’s paychecks are not great and without the little bit of extra income I bring in, we would be sinking. I know this is only a temporary situation, as he’s still in training, but our financial struggles have been a major blow to our guts for the better of the past two years.  To make our financial struggles more exciting, the transmission went out in my Escape this past week.  I would ask “what’s next?” except I am afraid to know the answer.

And the icing on our cake? Sickness flooding both sides of the family lately. Of course you all know about my father’s bypass that took place two weeks ago, my grandmother is in the hospital with rectal bleeding or sorts and my mother in-law’s possible cancer diagnosis.  Her OB/GYN believes he discovered a malignant tumor in her breast last Friday, while removing another lump for biopsy.  Tomorrow we will find out if his initial diagnosis is correct, then we will go from there and begin researching our options.  My mother in-law will be looking into alternative treatments to battle the cancer, as she is scared of chemotherapy and radiation.

We have already gathered a bunch of information on alternative remedies such as raw food diets, herbs vitamins and specialists she can consult with in state and out of state. My mother in-law has also looked into travel health insurance in case we need to go out of state for some assistance.  We are prepared for whatever outcome is thrown our direction and praying for guidance.

Growing up, I would never have imagined how hard adult life would be.  From the outside looking in, adult life looked fun and easy.  Was I ever wrong about that one!  In our eleven years together, Jeff and I have endured more than some, but much less than others. Every hurdle we have avoided, jumped over or that has knocked us down has shaped us into the people we are today and has only proven how strong we are when we work together. As my father says, “this too shall pass.”

Posted in Family Fun, Jeff & Jessica | No Comments »

Party planning, at it’s finest.

Earlier this year, Jeff and I made the decision to throw Addison her very own Queen themed birthday party. Without hesitation, we began planning the perfect 1st birthday party. From the napkins and plates down to the invitations and food to be served. With a little over a month left until her birthday party, we have found ourselves calm thanks to our early planning.
Ethan’s birthday party, however, has left us feeling rushed. We asked him what “theme” he wanted this year for his party, but never got a response. I started purchasing items to put into the goody bags when he finally blurted out that he would like a “piwat” (pirate) party. And so now I am busting my buns to pull this off and somewhat successfully. I have planned a treasure hunt for the munchkins, purchased all of the items for their goody bags and working on cardboard pirate themed cutouts to help spruce up our garage a little bit.
Having planned these two birthday parties so closely together and with much success, I am now looking at holiday invitations for our annual Thanksgiving/Christmas bash to see the grandparents off to Florida at the end of October/early November. So many parties, so little time.
Will definitely share some photographs with you of us setting up for the party, as well as during the parties. There are only two weeks left until Ethan’s 3rd birthday party…. and I am beyond excited. It will be his most fabulous party yet!

Posted in Family Fun, Holidays | 3 Comments »