The Friday Five...

I wanted to start something new called- The Friday Five! It will be 5 things about a certain random topic.


Today I wanted to share five random things that people may or may not already know about me....

1. I love chocolate -Yum!!

2. I love TV especially that "junk" called Reality TV =D

3. Yes-that means I totally loved the 1st "Real World" which started my guilty pleasure of reality TV and I just got done watching the Bachelorette ;)

4. I love to take pictures! -Here's a couple of my "best shots"



(These are flowers from a tree in my backyard. I kept trying to get pics of the bees-etc. around them. I finally got a good 1! )


5. I love writing and sharing my thoughts-Part of the reason I started this blog -of course :)

Supermom??

I think as women there's a lot of pressure to be/have it all. And as I've heard before and agree with: I think it's hard to have it all -especially all at the same time!

I mean if you think about it theoretically as women we are to: Go to college,Have a career.Get married,and of course Have kids-All this in a few short "prime years"-From about 20-30;35 years old. I think we all deal with this in our own way. I know there's no "right" way to do it. It's just all such a catch 22! Some may have a family early and struggle with money and getting a career later. Some may have a career and may be more financially ready but, then struggle with fertility because of age-etc. As the recent news hit about how "the oldest mom" had died at age 69 leaving her twin toddlers behind-I find it hard to say that women can/should have babies at any age.

So what do you think about being a Married, Degree carrying,Career,Superstar domestic diva-SUPERMOM?? How do you deal??

Oh! also if you're feeling the pressure of wanting to be Supermom and feel like you need some Mama Merit Badges or a T-shirt to show everyone you're "Living the Dream" of Motherhood-With all those fun chores ;) Be sure to check out my article showing some cool products @ Things Mommies Love! P.S.- There's a giveaway for some Mama Merit Badges on there!!
Edit: P.P.S. -There's also a giveaway for a Living the Dream T-shirt on Things Mommies Love!! Check it out HERE :)

Middle School Worries

It seems like just yesterday that I sent my daughter off to Kindergarten. But, today I sent her off to middle school for their "moving up" day. They have a day in the summer to get used to their new school and learn about opening lockers with combination locks and all-I never did like those things.
It just all makes me kind of emotional-My little girl is growing up!
And I have these anxieties about-Middle School. We might let her ride the bus and everything-I have anxieties about that. I have anxieties about homework-What if I can't help her?! I have anxieities about her getting interested in boys. And I guess the whole puberty thing in general.

I'm sure she'll be ok. As usual I'm the worried overprotective parent. I asked her if she took a tour today?- She said "Yeah" I asked what all she saw? "The school" she answered. Ah-The whole not talking about things much. Finally she talked a little bit more-Didn't seem to be much of a big deal to her and she seemed to have fun.
I suppose this happens at different stages in their life-Sending them to Kindergarten,Middle School,High School, College,then eventually other things like getting married and everything! Such as the life of a parent I guess. It's just hard to let them go and not get emotional.

To lighten the mood...

I realize that my last couple of posts have been a bit on the heavy side-Such as life in the Mom Mayhem. But, I thought I'd do a kinda silly post to lighten the mood!

1st of all -Anyone out there like spinners on vehicles? Have spinners? Know what spinners are?
Well, If you don't know they are they're the part of your hub-cap rim thingy boppers that actually spin-Technically speaking ;)
I don't know why-But, I kind of wanted them! I know my hubby thought I was crazy too -hubby-"So, you want spinner's on our minivan?" Me -"Yeah wouldn't I have like the coolest mom minivan then?" My husband-"Uh-No". Well, apparently the fad has kinda come and gone and is not-so-cool anymore according to This Aritcle(towards bottom of page) So I guess I really won't worry about that now.

In other silly news: Ever caught pics of your kids just being silly? Here's a few I thought were pretty good:









There's nothing like catching your kids wearing silly glasses,wigs,& hats! Or having a Cowboy Superman save the day! =D

Just a couple more things-You may have noticed a cool new button on my blog over that ---> way somewhere. I just started being a guest contributor on another site-Things Mommies love-Yay! So, be sure to check out my occassional tips & info I want to share there!

And 1 last thing for now...So,I like to say we've got a pretty weird family. Take for example we have 1 cat and 1 dog. I swear at times our dog acts more like a cat wanting to be in your lap and all. And our cat acts more like a dog. Sometimes they even eat each other's food! My cat also likes to play fetch like a dog! (When he's the mood of course). And I'd like to share a video of my cat doing just that-Playing Fetch! It was taken several years ago in our old apartment. So, my cat and my daughter both were a lot smaller. If you can turn the volume up and listen to my daughter-She's pretty silly herself. Anyways -Enjoy!

You can also see this video on YouTube: Shadowthecatplaying fetch :)

My day yesterday...

Since Wed. I had a sharp pain in what I would describe maybe in my right lung? Cause it hurt when I breathed especially a deep breath. I figured it would get better once I got a good nights sleep. But, it seemed to hurt even more when I was laying down and tried to switch sides-etc. I woke up in excruciating pain about 2 or 3 am. When my hubby said he would see about staying home the next day if needed. I eventually got more sleep and once I woke up yesterday and got all ready I called my Dr. unfortunately there wasn't any open appts. I went to the minor care place then.
I described my pain and pointed to where it hurt. They said that wouldn't be the lung but,more around the abdomen. Well whatever -I just know it hurt!! After they checked me out a bit-they said it could be the gall-bladder. They were really starting to worry me asking if someone was with me or if I could call someone to take me to the hospital /E.R. I called my hubby who had stayed home with the kids. Before we were on our way to the E.R. they gave me a shot that made me a bit woozy. The E.R. took awhile of course even though the minor care said they'd call ahead to make it faster-Yeah right!
Once I finally got seen I layed in a bed they talked with me and took my blood. Then they said ok time to get an ultra-sound. I was getting up to go-When they said N0- just lay down and they proceeded to wheel the whole bed with me in it to get an ultrasound. Then took me back to the room. Later they again wheeled me to get an x-ray. I kept thinking it's not everyday I travel by bed! =D After awhile they came back with all the results and said everything looks fine with my gallbladder. And said it's probably just a pulled muscle in the abdomen wall they gave me some pain-killers and sent me on my way. So after about 5 hrs. that was it ?! Geesh! So that was my day. Now, it may take a few weeks to fully recover. I still don't really know what happened to cause it. I just know I told my husband even though he thinks I don't work hard-I must be to pull a muscle like that ;)

About my son...

After becoming pregnant with my 2nd child I decided to be a Stay-at-home-mom. I knew it would be a transition. And I know each kid is different but there have been some difficult times. I've probably mentioned that ever since my son was a newborn we've dealt with his milk/dairy allergy. There have been other things that stuck out as "different" to me like when my grandma visited us and said my son "is different -he's very wiggly"-This from a woman who had 4 boys of her own. So, often times I would think I know my son is active but that's pretty normal for a little boy-Right? But could he be too hyper?
I think as much as we don't want to admit we go over in our heads "evaluating" our kids -Are they "normal" ? Of course I know some of it is the transition of being a stay-at-home-mom. So this has been a constant round and round in my head -Maybe he's normal and I'm just not used to being around and dealing with it all day. He's just a rowdy little boy that does different things or is there something else ??
So, just to be sure we went to the Dr. last week-They evaluated his speech/behavior. It was interesting the Dr. gave my son chalk to draw on the chalkboard. Then he threw down some blocks to see what my son would do...At 1st my son just ignored them. Then he picked them up and put them on the little kids table and proceeded to line them up. The Dr. asked if he lines things up a lot?- "He does" I answered. (I had always wondered about that too). The Dr. would just observe and talk with me -It was kinda difficult cause my son tried to leave the room a few times and sometimes I would stroke my son's hair. And the Dr. kept reminding me to not "interrupt". The Dr. would say as a mom I'm trying to protect him and our roles are different in that way -But really try not to interfere-So, I tried not to.

So what all came of this Dr's appt? Well the Dr. said that obviously he is intelligent like when he started counting the blocks. And he's not too bad on his speech. But, his brain does work a little differently. The Dr. compared him to Bill Gates(obviously he's smart but, Bill didn't talk until he was 4 and was a bit "different")
My son does exhibit some ADHD behaviors and some Autistic behaviors but,would not be fully considered that. So he falls into the category of PDD or PDD-NOS. I still don't know much about it but of course have researched it some. I have found this website informative. At this point there's not really any treatment just another evaluation in 6mo's to see his progress. I think it will be 1 of those things that we'll have to see if this affects him at school or not too. The Dr. did say a few other "tips" like when my son kept trying to get into my purse even after saying not to. The Dr. said I should move my purse -That it could fall into his "repetitive behaviors" so it may not be him disobeying on purpose and that we should move him or the object away. Another thing that was interesting is that my son has always been "underweight" part of it is not being able to utilize milk,creamy sauces,etc. Some is also his picky eating/behaviors. The Dr. said that my son probably does have a bad association with food since his allergy experience-Causing pick eating behaviors. Which does make sense-I never thought of it that way. So, it was all interesting and at least I know more. As they say knowing is half the battle-And we will continue on.

Our 4th of July ...

I hope everyone had a nice holiday! We had a pretty good 1-Although it started out raining we decided to head out to my family's cabin off the Illinois river as planned...

As we traveled the highway and getting through the storm-We had a bit of a storm of our own going on. The hubby and I had a tiff -Because what I saw as "typical" for him being "cranky" about taking a trip to the cabin and visiting my family. Although we take a 3-4 hr. trip to visit his family all the time and he makes sure we do no-matter what. For instance-just a few days ago my son had a Dr's appt.(more on that in an upcoming post) and my hubby couldn't take off work for it since he has no more vacation time. But, we're planning to visit his family in the up-coming weeks I thought we'd have to leave Sat. since he doesn't have vacation time-Oh! But of course he's trying to finagle his way to be able to leave Fri.-again all "typical" in my mind. Anyways once we vented a bit -We got over it. And back to being on our way to a fun 4th of July...

On our way-we stopped at 1 of my Fav. places -The Castle in Muskogee! In July they sell fireworks,Christmas time they have a huge display of Christmas blow-up decorations, and in May of course they have a Renaissance Fair. So we bought fireworks there and then stopped to eat lunch at this place with a bull on top and pretty cool decorations inside too and of course pretty good food.

Then back on the road -We finally got to the cabin and it stopped raining! Our cabin is a primitive place in the woods-It has electricity at least but,no running water-So it's more or less like camping. We had fun-we swam in the river,the kids even went fishing,we got back to the cabin-ate dinner,and of course-Fireworks! We decorated a little tree-For our 4th if July tree! =DAnd after seeing some of the big fireworks we headed out-We didn't stay the night like some other family members. On our way back home we saw fireworks going off in the distance-Everywhere! And at 1st I thought it was just fireworks but,we also saw lightning! So, we were glad to be headed home. We got home pretty late-And unfortunately found a couple ticks when we got back. Once we were all cleaned up we all went to bed. And that was our 4th of July! All in all pretty good.

Happy Early 4th of July!

I'm here! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or anything ;) I guess for once I haven't had a lot to say. We're kinda in a Summer lull even though we've done a few things here and there like gone to my hubby's work summer picnic,taken the kids to a couple of playgroup outings, and just general summer hanging out.

Next up 4th of July! I'm still not quite sure what all we're going to do- maybe head out to my family's cabin off the Illinois river. Hang out with some family,do fireworks, have fun! Whatever we do I'm sure it will be better than my worst 4th of July-Let me tell you: When I was working I worked at a business that was never closed-Not even for Christmas! I guess you can tell 1 of the reasons -I decided to be a Stay-at-home mom. I could go on about how our world is so 24/7 ON But, I digress. So, even though I was pretty lucky and got out of working most holidays I did occassionally have to work. A few years ago I had to work a 4th of July and my hubby decided to visit his family and take my daughter-So I missed the fun :( That was bad in itself but, then I was also starting to get a cold. So, finally after I got done working I just wanted to get home and go to bed. But, seriously have you ever tried to sleep early on 4th of July? Yeah-Um Fireworks!! That didn't work out so well. So, that was my worst 4th of July ever. How about you?-Any great 4th of July's? any bad ones? I hope everyone is having a good summer and has a fun 4th of July! And enjoy this video-Yep! You might have guessed that I took it on our vacation/laser show:

Happy 4th of July,Or Canada day, or whatever you may celebrate where you are!!