Goals for 2015

I don't set New Year's Resolutions, but I do have some goals I'd like to work on this next year.
 

Personal goals:
1. Lose weight and get in shape

• Exercise 4 times a week
• Watch portion control
• Cut back on the amount of soda I drink.  I used to never drink soda, but during my pregnancy with Little Dude, I had major cravings for it all the time and still haven't kicked the habit.

2. Read books and watch movies from my must read/see list.  I have a Pinterest board I add books and movies to whenever I hear about them so I won't forget them later.  The problem is that I never remember to check my Pinterest board.

3. I'm not the world's best cook, but I have quite a few easy--to-make recipes I've developed since getting married (and especially since having kids.) that I'd like to put into a cookbook, partly for my own use, but also to sell as an E-book.  I'd like to have it done by 2016.

Financial:

1. I'd like to be earning $500 a month by the end of the year or earn at least $5000 this year. 

• Write some more patterns for Little Owl Patterns
• Get more products into Annalie's Baby Boutique and work on promoting it better
• Get back into earning Amazon gift cards with my earning websites
• Continue writing articles for the county newspaper and subbing at the local library
• Work on monetizing my blog-don't worry, this won't change my blog!

2. Save money.  I tried doing the 52 week money saving challenge last year, but never had the right amount of cash at the right time so I gave it up a couple of months into it.  Instead, anytime I end up with a $5 bill, I put it in my change jar.  I only started doing that a few months ago, but if I do it for all of 2015, I should be able to save up a decent amount of money.  Don't tell Hubby, but I'm saving up for a trip for our 10th anniversary in 2016.  

3. I have a whole list of money saving tips that I plan to start incorporating into our daily life.  I'll publish a post of the list soon.

Family:
1. Make at least 3 pieces of clothing for each child.  I barely had time to sew anything in 2014 and I really miss being able to make things for my kids.

2. Do attitude charts with the 2 oldest kids.  An attitude chart is basically an empty chart.  Everytime a child has a good attitude about cleaning up his or her toys, getting ready for bed, etc, he or she will get a sticker on their chart.  When the chart is filled up, they get to pick out a toy at the dollar store. 

3. Do a marriage challenge.  I don't have one picked out yet, but I'm thinking of possibly doing the Love Dare.  Do you have something you could recommend?

4. Do character building with kids.  Each week, we'll focus on another character trait from the list.  My sister also plans to do this with her kids.

5. Have 1 tv-free week a month.  This doesn't apply to Hubby as I know he'd never go for it, but the kids will be doing it.  I tried it a few times this year and it helped to "reset" their attitudes about watching tv.

Home:
1. Do the 52 week organizing challenge.

2. Keep the house reasonably clean by continuing to use the Motivated Moms app.

What are your goals or resolutions for 2015?

Random Monday - December 29, 2014

I can't believe that this is my last Random Monday post for 2014!  2015 is just 2 days away and I'm getting my "Goals for 2015" post ready to publish. 

I finally added a Special Needs Parenting page to my blog which includes Little Dude's story, links to posts about him, links to posts I've written about special needs parenting, and links to other websites that I've really found helpful. 

On Christmas Eve night, I made crockpot beef stew for supper.  It was delicious and I certainly didn't mind eating leftovers for several days after that.  The two oldest kids had slightly different opinions though...Little Man would only eat it if he could cover his eyes and pretend it was something else like chocolate chip cookie ice cream cotton candy.  Princess happily ate it, but halfway through she made this comment: "It tastes like dirt but I'm still eating it!"

I spent 6 hours organizing and going through the kids' toys, games, and craft supplies on Saturday night.  Goodwill will be pleased with our generous donation, I think.  I'm planning to buy a lock for the closet where most of the toys are going to be stored from here on out.  #mommastiredofthemess

Hubby's grandma found this hat in her basement while cleaning it out.  It used to be Hubby's dad's hat when he was a baby.

What's something you've done this past week? 

Christmas 2014

This was our year to drive 6 hours to visit Hubby's extended family for Christmas, but Little Dude doesn't do well in the car and is easily over-stimulated so we decided to stay home this year.  It was nice to relax at home with the kids and Hubby and thankfully, no one was sick so we were all able to enjoy the day.

We opened gifts first thing in the morning.  Star loved unwrapping the gifts, but had no interest in actually opening the boxes until Hubby showed her that there were toys inside.  In the afternoon, the two little ones napped while the two big kids played with their new toys.  Hubby and I played John Deere monopoly which he easily won.  Let's just say that I don't have future plans to go into the real estate market.

For dinner that evening, I made a 13 pound ham (not surprisingly, there were a LOT of leftovers), mashed potatoes and ham gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and mince pie.

Princess received a Ramona and Beezus dvd, a Frozen easy reader book, a Tardis ornament, and a personalized ballerina ornament in her stocking.  She also got a wooden sewing machine, an Elsa doll, a stick horse, a set of horse figurines, and a coloring Elsa puzzle.  She loved them all, but was especially excited to open the Elsa doll on Christmas Eve.  Her reaction of, "Mommy!!!  How did you know I wanted this?!?" cracked me up since it's all she's been talking about  for months.


















Little Man got a Rio dvd, a Jake and the Neverland Pirates book, a Handy Manny ornament, and a Dalek ornament in his stocking.  He also got a stick dragon, a wooden combine with two heads, an Olaf beanie baby, an Olaf shirt, and a toolset.  His favorites are definitely the stick dragon and the combine.  While driving his combine yesterday, he turned to me and announced, "I'm going to go harvest some weed!"  Um, buddy, I think you mean "wheat."
















Star received an Ice Age dvd, a Doc McStuffins book, an owl ornament, and a Fisher Price telephone ornament in her stocking.  She also received a stick horse, a wooden camera, an Anna doll, a Leapfrog Scout dog (which she's enamored with since it says her name), and Doc McStuffins hopscotch squares.  Her favorite gift is the stick horse though and she loves riding it around the house.  Despite the look on her face, she was happy about her gifts, she just didn't want to pose with them.   
















I got one picture of her with her gifts and then I got this...






























Little Dude wasn't overly impressed with the whole gift opening thing, but has been having fun playing with his new toys.  In his stocking, he received a Happy Feet dvd, a Brown Bear Brown Bear board book, a First Christmas ornament, and a Sven the Reindeer ornament.  He also received an Infantino elephant, a set of stacking cups, a V Tech Catch Me Kitty (which incidentally, doesn't work on shag carpet with which my entire upstairs is covered), a wooden airplane, and a toy phone.  His favorite gift is the stacking cups, but once he learns to sit up, he'll have more fun with the elephant.



























We have some Christmas traditions that we enjoyed this year...

We hung up a stocking for Jesus and whenever someone did something kind for someone else, we wrote it on a piece of paper and put it in the stocking as a gift for Jesus.  I emptied it out to read the papers with the kids and was blown away by how many papers Princess had added on her own, all addressed, "To God."  She's really been making an effort to show God's love to others.

We had our Christmas Eve reading party sans Hubby who is, sadly, not a book lover.  We read Christmas books together, drank hot chocolate (which Little Man says he doesn't like so we called it cocoa instead), and ate cookies.

I took pictures of each of the kids with their gifts as a record of what they received.  It's fun to look back and remember when they got something or look back and think, "hey, whatever happened to that toy?" 

The kids got a dvd, a book, and a Christmas ornament in their stockings.  Actually, I had a forgetful moment and ended up getting them each two ornaments this year.  Oh well.  Next year, I plan to start a tradition of getting/ them pajamas to open on Christmas Eve.  Obviously, that's a totally original idea, haha.

I made small photo books for each of the grandparents at walmart.com with pictures of the kids from this past year.  Hubby looked through one before I wrapped it and wryly remarked that Little Dude must be my favorite child.  No, but he is the one who stays still for the camera the longest.  Next year, I plan to make custom Chatbooks (look for the app on your smart device) for the grandparents with my Instagram pictures which will over double the amount of pictures I can include plus they will cost less. 


How was your Christmas?  What are some fun traditions you had this year? 

Little Dude - 9 Months

Age: 9 months

 
Weight and height: 16 pounds, 13 ounces and 28 inches long which puts him at the seventh percentile for weight and the 32nd for height.  He didn't gain much weight last month since he spent most of the month sick.
For comparison here are the other kids' sizes at 9 months old:
Princess: 15 pounds, 12 ounces and 27 1/2" long
Little Man: 18 pounds, 4 ounces and 30" long
Star: 15 pounds and 27 3/4" long

Wearing size: Size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. 

Likes: He's very sociable and LOVES attention.  He loves being on the floor to play and he's obsessed with paper, which is not good because he eats it and then chokes on it. 

Dislikes: He really hates it when I do his G Tube and skin care every morning-not because it hurts, but because he can't roll over and play when I'm doing it.  To get him to lay still and stop fighting me, I play a Youtube video on my tablet for him to watch while I'm taking care of his tube (he's a big fan of Peter Hollens and Baby Einstein).  He also is not a fan of his carseat. 

Eating habits: He gets five bottles a day with 5.5 ounces of water and 3 scoops of the Alimentum formula.  He drinks about 50% of his formula and the rest is tube fed.  Because he was sick last month and was having a hard time tolerating his formula, I backed off on the baby food and am just now starting to offer it once or twice a day again.  He tasted an orange and immediately had excema breakouts all over his body so we're assuming that citrus is off the table for now along with apples which he also seems to be sensitive to.        
     
Sleeping habits: He takes a morning nap from about 9:30 am to 10:30 when I wake him up for his next feeding.  He's such a light sleeper that when I try to tube feed him so he can sleep longer, he wakes up anyways.  He stays up until after his 1:30 feeding and then sleeps until his 4:30 feeding.  He's dropped the third nap of the day and goes to bed around 8 pm at night after his 7:30 feeding.  
Milestones: He still can't sit on his own, but we've been working on that skill.  He learned how to army crawl though and is all over the house now!  He also figured out how to hold two objects (during his OT session while we were discussing how to get him to do that!) and is saying "dada" a lot.  He's only mildly developmentally delayed at this point. 
    
Miscellaneous: Little Dude had his genetics appointment to discuss the results of his last round of genetic testing.  The results were as we expected...everything came back negative except for the MYBPC3 gene mutation which we'd already been informed of two months ago when the results came back.  The gene mutation causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy so we'll monitor his heart with echocardiograms every few years.  His last echo at the beginning of December was normal so there's no concern for his heart at this point.  We'll also probably be tested for the gene as it can be a familial thing.  Because Little Dude is doing well overall right now other than his respiratory issues, excema, and feeding tube, the geneticist will see him back in about a year for another evaluation and we'll decide at that point whether to pursue further DNA testing.   



Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram!

 

8 Survival Tips for When Your Child is Sick

We're in the throes of a stomach flu that's making its way around my house.  A sick 2 year old who doesn't know how to grab the puke bucket in a timely manner makes things very interesting.

To make things a little bit easier, I have some tricks I use to prepare for and survive when my kids get sick.

• Keep empty ice cream buckets under their beds at all times.  My older kids know they're under there and can grab them if need be.  Also, this way, I'm not scrambling to find a bucket for them in the middle of the night.

Read the updated version of this post at Sunshine and Spoons.

Pie Crust Cookies or How to Use Up Extra Pie Dough

The one problem I have with making pie is that I always end up with extra pie dough.  I hate throwing food away so I came up with a way to use it up.

Roll the extra dough out just like you would for a pie crust.  Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the dough.  Re-roll as necessary until you've used it up.

Lay the cutout shapes on a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper) and brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle the cookies liberally with cinnamon sugar.  Sometimes, I skip the melted butter because I'm lazy and they still turn out delicious!
 

Pop the cookies in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden.  Watch them closely because they'll burn fast!

Star's baby doll helped me watch the cookies while they baked

Enjoy!
 

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram! 

Random Monday - November 17, 2014

Star has never been jealous of Little Dude despite how much time I've spent holding him.  However, I picked Little Man up the other day and she went nuts.  She kept tugging on my leg and yelling "Out, out!" which is her word for "up."  When I finally put him down and picked her up, she snuggled in and looked up at me with a smile, "My spot." she said with satisfaction.

Little Man: "Mommy, can we glue this feather to the front door?"
Me: "Um, why do you want to do that?"
Little Man: "So everyone would know we have a feather!"
I'm not gluing a synthetic blue feather to my front door. So everyone....WE HAVE A FEATHER. Just so you know.

Little Man was digging through the diaper bag and happened to find a *ahem* feminine product that I'd stashed in the deepest pocket.  Holding it up, he yelled across the house, "Mommy, what do you use this for?!?"
I'm not going to have that discussion with my four old son.  Just...no.

It's officially winter here.  We had our first snow and bought our first snowblower.  Personally, I think a shovel works just as well and is a lot cheaper...says the spouse who doesn't do any snow removal around here.

Little Man loved shoveling even though he basically just moved it in front of the garage door.

I'd forgotten how two year olds throw marathon tantrums.  An hour of screaming over the fact that I gave you the blue cup instead of the red one is really pretty ridiculous and it earns you a timeout in your bed.  Not that I'm talking about any one of my children in particular, of course.  Especially, the two year old.

Princess: "Look at those huge ice cubes hanging outside!"

If you don't read the MommyShorts blog or follow her on Instagram, you're missing out on some hilarious stuff.  To up the ante on the hilarity, her two year old now is gramming as well.  

The Best Time to Be a Kid

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.  By purchasing items through those links, I will earn a commission. You will not pay more by buying a product through my link. When you buy through my affiliate link, it helps me be able to offer you free items and giveaways. 

Yesterday, it snowed for the first time this year.  Normally, I'm breaking out the Christmas music by this time in November, but I'm running a little late this year.  Something about having four kids and being insanely busy, I think.  But Christmas has definitely been on my mind more in the last week and I've started thinking about everything I have to do to get ready.  Christmas shopping, decorating, cookie baking, ordering Christmas cards, etc.  Last year, we didn't set up our Christmas tree since space was very limited in our apartment so I'm really looking forward to decorating our new house.  The kids keep sneaking downstairs to the basement to peek at the Christmas tree in the closet under the stairs and whisper to each other about how they can't wait for it to come upstairs. 

One of my favorite Christmas traditions from when I was a kid is our reading party.  Yup, you read that right!  A party where everyone picks a cozy spot to read a Christmas book or two and snack on treats while Christmas music plays.  Of course, it's a little harder to relax and read a book when you have young kids, but last year, I was able to have our first Christmas reading party with Princess and Little Man.  I put Star to bed, made hot chocolate, and broke out the Christmas cookies.  Then the three of us sat on the floor and I read Christmas books out loud.  They didn't last long before they started getting tired, but it was fun to see them enjoying a tradition I loved so much as a kid. 

What holiday traditions are you passing on to your children?  Share how you make the holidays the best time to be a kid on Instagram or Twitter and use the hashtags #BestTimetoBeaKid #Contest for a chance to be featured in Gymboree's end-of-year video and to be entered to win a $2,500 shopping spree at Gymboree.  To see official contest rules and checkout all the fun visit this link.  And seriously, a shopping spree for adorable clothes and accessories for your kids...that definitely would make it the #BestTimetoBeaKid!

The Only One?

I recently read this article about a 12 year old boy who is starving because he can't eat and it was upsetting to me.  First of all because this boy and his family have to go through something like this and secondly because of this statement in the article: "He lacks all impulse to eat or drink. And he might be the only person in the world burdened with this bizarre medical condition."  (Italics mine)

The only person in the world?  Really?  Apparently, the reporter didn't bother to do much research on the subject other than on the boy featured in the article himself.  I belong to a support group on Facebook called "Pediatric Feeding Disorders/FTT/GERD/Kiddos with Feeding Tubes" with over 6000 members.  Six thousand members.  That's six thousand parents and caregivers of children with feeding issues.  It's estimated that approximately half a million people worldwide have a feeding tube.  The lack of understanding for pediatric feeding disorders is astounding and quotes like the one in the article only perpetuate the lack of awareness.  

Eight month old Little Dude is one of the many children who have a feeding disorder.  He rarely shows hunger cues and, if it were not for his strict feeding schedule, would go all day without eating.  Every three hours, I make a bottle and work with him to get him to drink it.  Sometimes he drinks the whole thing, but more often then not, he drinks very little or none so I have to feed the rest of his formula through his feeding tube.  Despite my constant efforts to feed him orally, he gets about 50% of his food via his G Tube.  After running dozens of tests, his doctors still have no idea why he doesn't eat.  The lack of diagnosis means that it can be hard to get people to take his feeding disorder seriously.  I've been accused of overreacting or just not trying hard enough to feed him.  Some people see the feeding tube as the easy way out (Sorry, but having a hole in your child's stomach and dealing with tubes, syringes, infections, etc, is actually NOT easy).  Let me tell you, until you have watched your child waste away and starve in front of you, you cannot understand how absolutely heart wrenching that is.    

Little Dude at 2 1/2 months old, shortly after having his G Tube placed

Little Dude at 7 months old, 5 months after getting his G Tube

The article concludes with a plea from the parents.  They're desperate to find others going through the same thing as them both for the support and to help them find answers.  It's heartbreaking that they think they're alone in this struggle.

So why aren't they aware that so many others are dealing with similar issues?  Probably because pediatric feeding disorders are not usually talked about.  The general consensus is that children who won't eat are spoiled and manipulating their parents.  Telling someone that your child has a feeding disorder opens you up to a lot of criticism and critiquing of your parenting skills.  Not being able to feed your child, the most basic of parental care, makes you feel like a complete failure as a mother or father.  Parents of children like my Little Dude often hear statements such as "He'll eat when he gets hungry enough.  Babies won't starve themselves!" or "Let me take her home for a while.  I'll get her to eat!"  Both of these comments are untrue and hurtful because they only make a parent who is struggling to feed their child feel even worse than they already do.

If you have a child with feeding problems, know that you are not alone.  There are many groups and pages on Facebook for support and information, internet forums and websites (www.feedingtubeawareness.com is a good place to start and has many resources), and some areas even have local groups where you can meet other parents with similar issues.

If you are blessed to have children who eat normally, don't take them for granted and please don't jump to conclusions or judgement when you see another parents struggling to feed their child.  You can find tips on how to support a parent with a child or children with feeding disorders here.       



Thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate each of my readers and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram!

Little Dude - 8 Months

Yes, I know I skipped Little Dude's 7 month update. Oh well, I wasn't aiming for mother-of-the-year so I'm fine with it!   


Age: 8 months

Weight and height: 16 pounds, 4 ounces.  I'll find out his height at his 9 month checkup next month. 

Wearing size: Size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes.  He must have had a growth spurt because all of a sudden, his 3-6 month clothes were too short for him. 

Likes: He's very sociable and LOVES attention.  He loves blankets and snuggling.  His favorite toys are ones that play music.  He LOVES rolling over and has figured out that he can get places by doing so. 

Dislikes: Being where he can't see me.  He also really hates it when I do his G Tube care every morning-not because it hurts, but because he can't roll over and play when I'm doing it.  To get him to lay still and stop fighting me, I play a Youtube video on my tablet for him to watch while I'm taking care of his tube.  He's a big fan of Baby Einstein, Peter Hollens (his favorite is Ashland's Song-he smiles whenever I turn it on), and Lindsey Stirling. 

Eating habits:  He gets five 5.5 ounce bottles a day which means that I don't have to stay up late to do the last feeding of the day while he's asleep anymore.  He takes about 50% of his formula by mouth and the rest is tube fed.  He usually gets baby food three times a day-2 tablespoons of rice cereal in the morning and 2 tablespoons of baby food each for lunch and supper.  His excema flared up when I gave him applesauce so after trialing it again with the same results, apples are on his do-not-eat list.  He does seem to have some issues with staying full longer than he should.  He was able to eat a 4 ounce jar of baby food in a sitting and so we tried cutting back on his formula since he was eating so much food, but he ended up losing 11 ounces in 6 days when we did that so for now we're focusing on formula.  He also stays full a lot longer when he eats baby food and isn't able to handle taking formula for long periods of time after eating (longer than normal) so the most baby food I give him at a time is 2 ounces which is still pushing it a little.  He is developing the same eating habits for baby food as he has for formula-sometimes he eats it well and sometimes he doesn't.
     
Sleeping habits: His sleeping habits have seriously improved.  It kind of happened overnight (pun intended) when I moved Star out of the crib and moved him in about a month ago.  That night, I laid him down awake and he fell asleep.  ON HIS OWN!!!!  Ever since then, I've been able to lay him down awake in the crib (he won't do it anywhere else) most of the time for naps and bedtime and he will fall asleep, usually without crying too much.  Every once in a while, I still have to rock him to sleep, but I find that I can appreciate that a lot more now that I'm not spending literally half my day rocking him.

That smile kills me with cuteness

Milestones: He has SIX teeth already!  They didn't seem to bother him much when they came in so I didn't really notice until they had already popped through.  He has two on the bottom and four on the top.  He's also rolling over like crazy in both directions (right and left although he still prefers rolling to the left), and I saw him push himself up on his arms the other day.  We've been practicing sitting unassisted a LOT (I sit behind him with my hands close enough to catch him without touching him).  He's not ready to sit on his own, but at he's getting better at keeping his balance for short periods of time.    
    
Miscellaneous: He's gotten sick twice in the last month and a half which, obviously, is bad, but, he managed to stay out of the hospital both times so that's awesome!  His G Tube site looks great right now, thanks to the Granulotion and thankfully his Strep has not come back again so no infections lately.  We're watching it closely though and if there's any change in his stoma, we'll be taking action immediately because it worsens so quickly. 



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