Disclosure (in accordance with the
FTC's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and
Testimonials in Advertising"): Many thanks to the Propeller
Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of
winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary
compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for
this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per
giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not
eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility
verification.
About the book:
A cute, illustrated story about a girl's imagination and her magical
pajamas. In this adventure, Ellie's cupcake pajamas pave the way for she
and her Sis to take a journey to a land filled with all kinds of sweet
treats. Their journey quickly turns into an adventure to help the
Cupcake Queen find the missing sprinkles needed for her coronation
ceremony. In searching for the missing sprinkles, Ellie and Sis uncover a
life lesson that is important for every child to learn.
The book teaches that stealing is wrong and also about forgiveness. The lessons were taught in a way that was fun and entertaining. I also love that the lead character, Elli, prayed for a sweet dream before she went to bed and ended up having such a fun one. Princess is sometimes upset about having bad dreams and this gave her the idea to pray about it every night. My girls loved the artwork in the book, and Princess enjoyed reading it to her little sister.
I do wish the book was written in prose instead of in poem form since it doesn't flow very well sometimes, but other than that, the book was perfect.
About the author:
Sandra Hagee Parker lives in San Antonio with her husband, Ryan, and
their daughters, Olivia and Elliana - the original pajama girls. A
practicing attorney, Sandy is also a part of the music ministry at
Cornerstone Church where she and her husband are leaders. When not
working or writing, Sandy enjoys traveling with her family and mastering
the art of making Pancakes a la Pajama Girl with her two girls.
How would you like your own hardcover copy of The Adventures of Pajama Girl? Enter to win on the Rafflecopter widget below.
This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada. If you've
already won this book in a different giveaway, you are not eligible to
win it again. All entries will be verified so play nice! The winner
will be emailed and their name will be displayed on the Rafflecopter
widget.
Disclosure (in accordance with the
FTC's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and
Testimonials in Advertising"): Many thanks to the Propeller
Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of
winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary
compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for
this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per
giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not
eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility
verification.
About the book:
Wanda is in serious need of an attitude adjustment! She doesn't want to
accompany her family to the Rubber Duck Days Festival, and once there,
she won't participate in any of the events or join in with her friends.
Soon Wanda receives some helpful advice and learns that "sometimes you
have to believe something will be great before it actually is. Being
positive is a choice that makes everything better, not to mention, a
whole lot more fun!"
Sometimes, my kids have attitude problems. And, as dear Hubby pointed out one day, there's a pretty good chance they inherited them from me.
Ouch.
When I sat down to read Whatever Wanda with the kids, I really appreciated the message. It was easy for my kids to understand what the book was saying about bad attitudes and how to fix them plus, I got a good reminder of how to work on my own attitude problem.
Whatever Wanda has a great story line and adorable artwork. It's definitely a must have for our bookshelf! I also plan to look for the other books in the Shine Bright series (Can't Wait Willow and Must-Have Marvin) and will be utilizing the many resources available for kids and adults on the Shine Bright Kids website such as posters, coloring sheets, reward charts, and more!
About the author:
Christy
Ziglar, financial planner, mother of twins, and niece of legendary
motivator and the world's original optimist, Zig Ziglar, is bringing the
same timeless wisdom and ageless advice to an entirely new, younger
audience through her Shine Bright Kids picture book series.
How would you like your own copy of Whatever Wanda? Enter to win on the Rafflecopter widget below.
This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada. If you've already won this book in a different giveaway, you are not eligible to win it again. All entries will be verified so play nice! The winner will be emailed and their name will be displayed on the Rafflecopter widget.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I've finally figured out a way to make the bedtime routine go smoother. Bedtime has been an issue since Little Dude was born because he's so needy. Granted, he has gotten much easier to care for, but he still requires a lot of attention. I've always had the three older kids get ready for bed at the same time which involves going to the bathroom, getting a drink, and brushing their teeth. As you can guess, sending three kids into the bathroom at the same time to brush their teeth is chaotic to say the least. Last night, I had each of the kids pick out a book to look at while they sat on the floor next to me as I fed Little Dude. Then, I had them take turns going into the bathroom to do their bedtime routine before returning to finish looking at their books. When they were all done, I set Little Dude down for a minute to tuck them all into their beds and rub their backs. SOOOOOO much easier!! Now, if I can just figure out a way to keep Star from getting out of bed 874 times before she finally falls asleep...
Have you heard of Target's subscription service? I use my Target redcard to get free shipping and 5% off on all my orders from Target which means that I shop online there a lot. I recently discovered that Target has subscriptions to just about any household item that gets used up (toilet paper, paper towels, feminine products, office supplies, etc), and that the subscription service covers diapers and wipes! Plus, I save an additional 5% on all subscription items I order. So now, I have diapers and wipes shipped to my house every month and even save money on them! Disclaimer: This rave review was not sponsored in any way, shape, or form. I just wanted to share something really cool with my readers :)
When people ask me what's wrong with Little Dude, I usually say that he's medically complex or special needs because it's too hard to explain his issues any other way since we don't have an actual diagnosis. My sister, however, called him special edition the other day. I like that way better than special needs :)
I recently opened an Instagram account for my boutique (@annaliesbabyboutique) and will be posting special deals, flash sales, Instagram-exclusive products, and giveaways over there! My first giveaway is actually running now so make sure you head over there to enter.
Follow me on Instagram at @annaliesbabyboutique to enter my giveaway!
Due to being pregnant or having a small baby for the past 3 years straight, I kind of dropped out of the craft show circuit for a while. This past Saturday, I was able to set up a table as a vendor at a craft show again! Princess and my younger sister came along to help out. My mother-in-law babysat Little Man and Star at her house, but couldn't watch Little Dude because they're remodeling their house, and his lungs can't handle the dust and paint smells, so I got to take him along as well. It was a lot of fun, and I realized how much I'd missed doing craft shows. Princess was very courteous and informative to everyone who stopped at our table. She also took it upon herself to make sure that everyone had my business cards "because it's free." She was adorable and definitely an entrepreneur in training!
Being a parent is hard. When I got pregnant with my first child, I read all the pregnancy books and a ton of parenting books. None of them even remotely prepared me for the reality of being a mom. Sure, friends and family try to warn you what it's going to be like to have a baby, but until you are there in the trenches, there's no way you can actually know.
No one told me just how much poop, vomit, and other body fluids I would deal with as a parent, a lot of it with my bare hands and a few baby wipes.
No one told me that I would learn to survive on 3 hours of interrupted sleep and still get up and keep the kids alive the next day. And no one warned me that I would live like that for 6 months straight after my youngest child was born.
No one told me that the constant demands from four kids all needing something from me at the same time would be enough to make me want to hide, rocking, in a corner somewhere while my blood pressure skyrocketed.
No one told me that I would cry when my babies got shots or how much my heart would ache when my kindergartner tearfully told me that kids on the playground were making fun of her because of her hair.
No one told me that there would be days when I would sit down to eat supper with Hubby after the kids went to bed and realize that it was the first time I'd eaten or sat down all day.
When you read all of that, being a mom sounds awful.
But here's the secret...no one tells you how your heart nearly explodes with love when that tiny baby is placed in your arms. No one tells you that one ounce of the good stuff in parenting is so amazing that it cancels out 2 tons of the bad stuff. No one tells you that no matter how hard it gets, you'll just keep on going and know in your soul that it's worth it.
Honestly, no one could have told me because until I became a mom, there's no way I could've understood.
Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram!
I woke up on Tuesday morning with a slight cold and some asthma issues. Not a big deal, I just declared the day to be "Watch as Much TV As You Want While Mom Sits on the Couch and Does Nothing" Day. Except that, a few hours later, I realized that my asthma was getting worse. Fast. I called my mom and asked her if she could come help with the kids because just keeping them alive that day was obviously going to be more than I could handle. She quickly arrived and despite a nebtreatment and over a dozen puffs of my inhaler, my breathing was quickly deteriorating. At one point, while sitting on the floor, I tried to stand up and was immediately very dizzy, to the point where I couldn't even keep my head up. At that point, my mom called 911. The kids thought it was cool when the ambulance came to our house and took mommy away. I ended up staying the night in the hospital and my mom babysat for us until Hubby came home for the night.
So the point of that kind of boring saga was that I realized how unprepared I really am. As I sat on the floor with an oxygen mask on my face while the EMTs got ready to take me to the hospital, all I could think of was how much I needed to tell my mom about taking care of Little Dude. Thankfully, I had an outline of his feeding schedule written up already so I could just hand that over to her, but when it came to his tube care, his skin care, his breathing issues...that's all stuff that I do everyday and I know exactly what works and what doesn't work with him. I know what to watch for and when to change something in his routines. I know what therapies he needs to work on that day and how much he can handle. I realized that I'm the only person who knows how to fully take care of him.
Also, the thought that I could've been alone with the kids when I nearly passed out and was unable to even reach for my phone is a terrifying thought. Thank God my mom was there when that happened.
Because of my severe asthma, I've often had to rely on others to help me out. I hate having to be dependent on others and constantly ask for help, but I don't have a choice. And now that I have four kids, one of whom is medically complex, it bothers me even more. My asthma has nearly killed me on several occasions, and I've always been very aware that I have a potentially fatal disease.
If something were to happen to me, I need to have the peace of mind that Little Dude will continue to receive all the care he needs, but his care is complicated and I'm the only person who knows all of the details. Over the next week, I'm going to put together a word document detailing everything I can possibly think of regarding his medical conditions, his feeding, the storage of his supplies, etc and print it off so anyone who needs to take care of him can do so. I already have a binder with an overview of his medical history and the names and contact info of all of his specialists, but I definitely need more information on the day-to-day part of his care. Every month or so, I'll need to update the word document, but will be able to easily do so and then print off an updated copy.
And just to end things on a good note, I put new batteries in our ball popper and Little Dude was a huge fan :)
Weight and height: 17 pounds, 6 ounces and 28 inches long. For comparison, at a year old, Princess was 17 pounds, 13 ounces and 29 inches long, Little Man was 20 pounds and 31 1/2 inches long, and Star was 17 pounds and 29 inches long.
Wearing size: Size 3 diapers and 9-12 month clothes.
My little monkeys wearing matching shirts!
Likes: He loves attention and pretends to be shy now by ducking his head into my shoulder when someone smiles back at him. He likes to put things in something and take them back out again (for example, putting toys in a bucket). He loves army crawling all over the house, and we have to be super vigilant about things on the floor because he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and chokes easily. At least several times a day, you can find me hurdling furniture to sweep his mouth with my finger and pound on his back. I've been very close to calling 911 because he was starting to turn blue, but thankfully, I've always gotten him breathing again before it gets to that point.
Dislikes: He doesn't like having things taken away from him and will scream and cry. For example, here's his face after I took a crayon away from him:
Eating habits: BIG news here! For the last several weeks, Little Dude has been trying to catch up after not growing since November due to being sick so much. When he was sick, his motility slowed down so much that I had to vent him at every feeding because of the extra air in his stomach (which happens when food sits in the stomach longer). When I would vent him, the entire last feeding would still be in his stomach, even several hours later. His GI doctor diagnosed him with illness-induced gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach) which has since resolved itself. Now, he's actually been HUNGRY and asking for food, and then more food. It still blows my mind that he cries because he wants food. I actually had to increase the amount of his feeds because he was finishing them and crying for more. I've hardly had to tube feed him at all since he started this. I know that it may not last, but we'll take what we can get!
We're in a transition phase of trying to lessen the amount of formula he takes in lieu of solid foods. Right now, I'm still tweaking his feedings, but the goal is 4 solid food feedings (baby food) a day with several opportunities to practice eating table foods as well and then however much formula he wants to drink after that. It's slow going since he has such a strong gag reflex and chokes easily, but I know he'll get there eventually. He likes eating solid foods, but hasn't been very happy about getting less bottles.
Because we don't know for sure if he has any food allergies or Celiac's Disease (we were told that a test showed a strong possibility of it), for the time being, we are not giving him gluten, dairy, or soy. He'll be having more testing done soon to determine what foods are safe for him to eat.
Sleeping habits: He takes a morning nap from about 9:30 am to
10:30 and an afternoon nap from about 1 pm to 3 or 4 pm. He sleeps okay
at night, but does still wake up several times. He usually goes right
back to sleep when I give him his pacifier.
Milestones: No new milestones this month, but he's been getting better at sitting unsupported. We're currently working on getting him to crawl on his hands and knees instead of army crawling on his tummy because being on his tummy that much is irritating his G Tube site and causing breakdown of skin. He wears a special belt when he's on the floor now and that seems to be helping to protect his G Tube, but we still need to get him up off of it.
Miscellaneous: His therapist has put his development at an 8-9 month level which seems very appropriate to me. He may be a little behind, but he's making progress and that's what's important. Every once in a while, I get a little sad that he's so far from where my other kids were at this age, but my best friend helped me get some perspective on that that's really helped. She pointed out that he's my last baby, and I get to keep him as a baby a little bit longer.
I tallied up Little Dude's first year, medically speaking. Some of the numbers, I wasn't 100% sure on since I didn't start marking everything down in my day planner until we were several months in to his medical journey.
Procedures (included 1 surgery and 2 sedations): somewhere between 15-20
Blood draws: somewhere between 10-15
Hospital stays: 5 (14 days total)
ER visits: 8
Doctor appointments and therapies: 80
That's more than my other three kids combined and that's just in his first year!
Next Friday is Little Dude's first birthday. In the year since he's been born, our family has been blessed in so many ways by family, friends, and complete strangers. We've received meals during and after Little Dude's hospitalizations, money to help cover gas and other expenses from his many doctor appointments, visits, phone calls, and messages of encouragement, help with household chores, etc.
I believe in paying it forward when someone blesses you. So, in honor of Little Dude's birthday, I'll be donating 20% of the amount of each order placed during the month of March at my Etsy shop, Annalie's Baby Boutique, to Gracie's Gowns. I plan to make this an annual event and will pick a different organization to donate to every March. I'm excited to kick off the first annual "Little Dude's Birthday Blessings Bash" month!
You can also support Gracie's Gowns by sponsoring a gown for a child.
I've written about Gracie's Gowns before, but just to refresh your memory, Gracie's Gowns is a non-profit organization that provides personalized hospital gowns to chronically ill and special needs children at no cost to the family. Gracie's Gowns is very special to me because not only was it founded and run by a very sweet friend of mine, but because Little Dude received a gown from her as well.
Little Dude with his hospital gown from Gracie's Gowns. It's personalized with his name in the corner.
Let's make this month a memorable one for Gracie's Gowns!
I had planned to write this post yesterday, but decided it would be more fun to get the flu and be miserable all day instead. Side note...that was a terrible plan.
Star's bedtime and naptime ritual includes a "huh and a mah." She
gives me a big hug (huh) and a kiss (mah) on each cheek. Then she leans
back to look at my face, says, "uh-oh!" and, wipes her kisses off my
face before laying down to go to sleep.
Tattling is not allowed in my house. It's okay to tell on someone if they're hurting someone or breaking something. So, when a child comes to me with that tattling look on their face and starts their sentence with, "So-and-so did...", I cut them off and ask them if someone is hurt. If the answer to that is no, I ask if someone is breaking something. Princess came to tattle on Little Man to me the other day so I asked her both questions. Her first answer was no, but when I asked her if someone was breaking something, she replied, "Just the rules!"
Touche, my dear.
Little Man: Mommy, can I take my sweater to grandma's house?
Me: Sure, I guess. Why do you need your sweater?
Little Man: In case I get sweaty, then I can put it on.
Last week was Tube Feeding Awareness Week. There are so many myths and wrong beliefs about tube feeding that raising awareness is important so kids and adults who are tube fed don't feel ostracized or abnormal. I shared Little Dude's tube feeding story on the blog and shared posts on Facebook and Instagram to help raise awareness.
Can we just take a second to talk about how a certain little guy is only 2 1/2 weeks away from turning ONE?!?! I've always looked forward to my kiddos going into the toddler stage as it's so much fun (and work!), but it scares me a bit with Little Dude because I have to face the fact that he's slowly growing out of being a baby and that means that we will have new challenges soon. So far, he's unable to eat any table foods without choking except for gluten-free puffs that I break in half for him, we don't know for sure if he has Celiac's Disease or not, we know he has food sensitivities, but not sure to what, and he is nowhere near ready to drink out of anything other than a bottle. I'm excited and nervous to see what this next year brings for my sweet little boy. We'll just take it one step at a time and I'll keep reminding myself that he won't be going off to college getting all of his nutrition from formula in a bottle.
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Yesterday, Little Dude had a full day at the doctor's with a 4+ hour long gastric emptying study (results came back normal, yay!!) and two appointments. We had some time to kill between appointments so the two of us headed over to the mall. I hadn't been to Gymboree for a while, and so I loaded Little Dude in the stroller and made a beeline for the store as soon as we got through the mall entrance.
I found some adorable things for Little Dude that I wanted to share with you.
I love the nostalgia of paper airplanes so when I saw that there's a whole line at Gymboree dedicated to them (search for paper planes to see the whole collection), I couldn't walk away empty-handed. I found two onesies and an adorable knotted beanie hat for Little Dude.
I thought the "Dream Big" onesie was especially fitting for my special needs little guy
Gymboree is currently having a Presidents Day sale on EVERYTHING with up to 80% off! You can't beat those prices and when you shop now, you won't pay full price for anything online or in store.
How sweet is this little hat!
What's your favorite collection currently available at Gymboree right now?
Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram!
This time last year, Little Dude was still a month away from being born,
and we had no idea what he would face. If someone had told me that he
would have to be tube fed, I would have completely freaked out. In fact, after one of Little Dude's many doctor appointments when he was about a month old, I stopped at the Target Cafe to attempt to feed him before driving the 45 minutes back home. While I struggled to get my screaming baby boy to take even one drink from his bottle, a family at a nearby table struck up a conversation with me. They could definitely see that something was wrong and asked about him. We talked for a while and at one point, the mom asked what the doctors were planning to do if we couldn't get him to eat. I remember standing there stunned when she asked if he would have to get a feeding tube. I stammered out that I didn't know, but in my head I was in complete disbelief and denial that it would ever come to that. I mean, only kids who were seriously ill, disabled, or premature got feeding tubes, right? Little did I know that less than a month later, I would be signing a form allowing a surgeon to place a G Tube in my baby's stomach.
Little Dude had an Ng tube for 5 days before getting his G Tube
