MamaGrizzly

Car seats for children are an absolutely awesome technology that can help you keep your child safe. The hardest part about the car seat, though, is knowing what kind of car seat and how to install it. I recently came across a video on Youtube that made me realize the importance of the 5 point harness system with car seats. I will caution you that this video WILL make you cry. But, for those of you who are parents of young kids, it’s an awesome opportunity for you to learn the importance of keeping your child in a 5 point harness system. The family of Kyle David Miller would like to make sure that you know the importance of this system so that his death was not in vain.

Thanks to CarolinaDreamz - I found this blog entry on her site and wanted to share it here.

It’s the Ten Commandment Boogie - this group is awesome! My children really love their music!

All of you Moms out there are going to like this.  It’s a catchy and fun tune and the words are great!  My children like to dance to the music!

Carol Armstrong was robbed of her purse and her car back in 2002. She suffered a stroke and required surgery that removed a portion of her brain. She will forever be bound to a wheelchair. Her current home is not wheelchair accessible and so it makes most tasks nearly impossible for Carol to accomplish by herself.

The Charleston Trident Home Builders Association is having a fund raiser this Friday April 25th . They are going to break ground on a brand new wheelchair accessible home for Carol Armstrong and her family! From an email I received last night:

The groundbreaking and a party to celebrate are being held on Friday night at the Knight’s family barn off Highway 17-A (across from Fisher Rd). The dinner will feature an all you can eat spaghetti buffet (donated by Mr. K’s Piggly Wiggly), open bar, a line dancing show and live music. If you have never been to Knight’s barn, that is reason enough to go. It’s a real site to see. A donation of $30/per person will be collected at the door. Free for kids! No need to RSVP, but I hope to see you there.

I also received two pdfs with the email. One about Carol and the home being built and the other about the fundraiser. I also found directions on Carol’s personal blog. What a wonderful way to have a great time with your family and do some good for another family! Hope to see you all there!

We bought 2 tickets to the “Walking with the Dinosaurs” show that is coming to the North Charleston Coliseum.  The tickets were expensive - even when you buy the cheapest seats.  We only bought 2 so one of us could take our 4 year old son.  It wasn’t worth spending the money for our soon to be 2 year old daughter.  Well, my husband wants ME to take our son and I am SO excited!  I’ll give a report after the show!

I’ ve written about this group before but I found another video this weekend by They Might Be Giants and my 4 year old and soon to be 2 year old LOVED it so I thought I would share. 

This past weekend, I got to see my very first movie at the movie theatre in almost exactly 2 years!  I had the privilege of taking my sweet little 4 year old boy to see Horton Hears a Who - and we both LOVED it!

My son is a big fan of Dr. Seuss books and this book is particularly one of his favorites - his favorite line of all in the book is “A persons a person, no matter how small”!  All parents should remember that on a daily basis!

Anyway, it follows the book pretty closely with some different twists in there - I mean, come on, it’s  a short book and the original version of the movie is only about 30 minutes long.  I think we’ve seen the original version no less than about 50 times.  And for those of you who have “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” on DVD, take a look at the Extra Features - the original “Horton Hears a Who” is on there.  Which makes sense because the Grinch, after all, lives in Who-ville.

Anyway, not very many “G” movies come out these days and so when they do, we try to take our son (our daughter will be 2 soon so she’ll be getting to go in a few more months as well).  It’s a cute movie and enjoyed by both children AND adults!

A little over year ago we made a major purchase that I just want to document and say was WELL worth it!  We purchased the swingset you see below made by “Gorilla” from Home Depot.  And, let me just say that it was a fantastic purchase.  The children are on that swingset EVERY day when the weather is nice - which, fortunately is often when you live in sunny South Carolina.

What do we like the MOST about it?  It’s sturdy - we can swing on it and it doesn’t move.  It is safe - everything is either hidden or covered so it’s hard for children to hit a nail or a screw (actually, nearly impossible).  I also like the fact that my children’s cousins who are 8 and 9 come over and love to play on it too.  So, I think for the money we spent, we will get MANY years of use and enjoyment out of it.

By the way, this is NOT a paid advertisement - just my personal opinion.

I was around someone the other day who told their child that they better “get happy” - ”GET” happy?  How do you do that?  Everything in life isn’t always “happy”.  Why does their child have to be HAPPY?  I’m not happy all the time - as humans, we have a range of emotions - happy, sad, mad, afraid, glad…..

Then, I had a great talk with my sister the other day about feelings and emotions and how critical it is to let children “have” and experience feelings.  We talked about our experiences as children and she remembered that none of the family pets when she was growing up ever “died” - because our parents didn’t want the kids to have to deal with that emotion.  Why not?  Grief is a part of life - it’s something both my sister are dealing with now with the recent death of our Father.

What is MOST important, with children and emotions, is that they learn exactly HOW to deal with those feelings and what is appropriate.  I can’t “command” that my children be happy - I think that is actually absurd.  But, I CAN help them learn how to handle their feelings.  I’ve been working with my son on how to express his frustration and I have no problems with him telling me that he doesn’t like something - as long as he is respectful in the way he presents his feelings.

You see, I’ve been around people who have no CLUE how to express that they are mad at you or upset with you - and it can be incredibly frustrating to be their friend because you never know what you’ve said that upset them.  And, it certainly doesn’t promote a very healthy relationship.

The other day, my son wanted a snack 5 minutes before dinner.  I told him that he could not that dinner was almost ready.  I was so proud of him because after his bath, he said, “Mommy - can we talk about it?”

“Talk about what, sweetheart?”  I said.

“Well, I wanted a snack and you wouldn’t let me have one.  That made me mad”  he said very politely.

“Sweetie” I said as I put him on my lap, “I knew you were hungry and I was working hard on preparing a really nice dinner for everyone in the family and so I was busy and you were about to eat in 5 minutes.  It would have hurt MY feelings if you hadn’t eaten any of the dinner I had fixed and Daddy and your sister would have had to wait longer for dinner.  We can’t ALWAYS have what we want WHEN we want it.”

We talked a little bit longer and at the end of the conversation, I got a big hug with an “I love you Mommy” that almost moved me to tears.  I was so proud of him - he didn’t like something but he had learned HOW to tell me that in a very respectful manner.  He’s learning to express his feelings and emotions - a big step for children.  I don’t want my children to think they always have to be “happy” - that’s not a realistic expectation  - I’m certainly not always happy.  I DO want them to know how to handle their different emotions and how to express and discuss those feelings those.  THAT is a very important lesson to me!

I get a LOT of hits on people doing google searches on Pulmicort and Xopenex - and the other day, someone was even searching Pulmicort with the words “infant hype”.  Pulmicort IS a steroid and it most DEFINITELY affected our daughter.  She’s always been a good sleeper but we definitely noticed that we couldn’t give her Pulmicort at night.  If we did, bless her heart, she was hyped up for half the night - it was pitiful.  When we DID give her Pulmicort (and we tried not to), we wound up giving it to her in the morning only - it definitely affected her during the day, though, and it was harder for her to fall asleep for her naps -  nothing a little extra snuggling and nursing couldn’t fix though!

My parents did a LOT of things right - those are the things I most definitely want to mimic.  One of those things was always making healthy snacks available.  I could eat at any time of the day if I was hungry.  My Mom always made sure that there were plenty of healthy snacks available around the house for those times.  We had fruits, nuts, crackers - oh yes - and peanut butter!  We never had sodas around and cookies and cake were special treats but ALWAYS home made.

I learned a lot from that growing up and it’s taught me some very healthy eating habits.  And although my Mother always prepared healthy dinners, I’ve been able to learn even more about health and nutrition.  It’s interesting that my children, 4 and almost 2, are naturally hungry and want something to eat about 6 times a day.  Why do I find that interesting?  Because every diet out there known to man preaches that you should be eating 6 small meals a day - and my children are just acting on their natural hunger.   I won’t bother naming any of them because EVERY diet and diet book I’ve read makes that recommendation.

And I think that is critical to the success of our children - to teach them that food is simply energy - it’s not to be a controlled substance.  But, I’m also considered “odd” by many of my friends because, you see, we don’t bring sugared foods into the house.  Children don’t NEED sugar.  What they need is a steady stream of healthy carbohydrates, protein, and the right fats to maintain their energy.   When my children are older and able to fix their own snacks, I intend to give them free access to the kitchen pantries and refridgerator.

A friend of mine told me about a group called “They Might be Giants” that has some really fun music for children - the music is geared towards learning and both of her children love the music. Well, they have quite a few videos on YouTube and here’s one I found that my son LOVES! I think I’ll be getting some of their CD’s!

I get a lot of hits on this blog for people doing google searches on “Xopenex and Pulmicort“.  When my daughter was diagnosed with RSV in November 2006 (at 7 months), we had to give her breathing treatments of Xopenex and Pulmicort off and on throughout that Winter.  I was told to be prepared that we would probably be on both drugs throughout the second Winter of her life as well.

I fully expected, after talking to the pediatrician, as well as, friends and family members who have children who have had RSV that this Winter (2007) was going to be rough but I am happy to report ( and a little nervous since it’s not QUITE over) that we’ve only had to do breathing treatments for about 3 days since October 2007.    We’re very relieved that she has stayed as healthy as she has and I hope that next year we won’t even need the prescriptions for Xopenex and Pulmicort.  Anyway, since I get so many hits on those 2 drugs, I just thought I would post an update.

Our church has Baptism as a part of the church service. I love that it’s a part of our service because it means I regularly get to witness a Baptism - and every time I do, I cry. In our church, for an infant Baptism, the parents make a commitment to raise this child to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. As a congregation, we take part in the Baptism as well and make the commitment that we too will help this child to grow up to know Jesus. We are specifically asked to respond to questions, the same way the parents are asked to respond. But, the part that I love the best is that just before the Baptism occurs, our Pastor invites all of the children to go up and sit down at the alter for the Baptism. He wants the children to have the opportunity to witness and be a part of the Baptism. After the Baptism, he talks to the children about what Baptism means and as our Pastor, he has Baptised almost every child that is sitting with him. He has Baptised both of mine. He tells the children how they too can be a very important part of this child’s life and how they too can help this child grow to learn Jesus. He then asks them if they will promise to help this child learn about Jesus and they all say, “yes”.

My son always comes back to sit with me after a Baptism and wants to talk about his Baptism and I tell him all about it. We talk about how important Baptism is and then he asks about his sisters Baptism. I do so love that it’s a part of our church service - it’s always a reminder that we too are making a commitment to help others with their faith and their journey towards a life with Christ.

OK - I’m going to be a little bit cynical in this post.  But, I just had to laugh.  A very young soon to be new Mom friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago about a regular “date night” and what my husband and I do for a date night now that we have children.  I asked her what she meant and she said that some friends of hers from her church have been telling her that she and her husband really need to have once a week date nights after they have the baby.  I was sipping on a glass of tea at the moment and almost spit out my drink in laughter.  She asked me why I was laughing?

Well, I was laughing for a lot of reasons.  First of all, I don’t think people that make these kinds of statements live in the same world that I do.  First off - it’s EXPENSIVE to find a babysitter - especially when your children are younger.  And as for a newborn?  Well, there just aren’t that many people qualified to take care of a newborn.  And let’s not even discuss what a breastfeeding Mom is supposed to do.

Secondly, let’s suppose that I COULD afford the babysitter.  Now I have to find someone that I trust - and when you don’t have any family in town, that gets even more difficult.

Third, OK - let’s suppose that I DID have someone I could trust and afford - NOW I have to be able to afford going OUT!  UGH!  Do you see where I’m going with this?

Fourth - you know, children get up EARLY at our house.  So, now that I’ve got someone I can trust and afford taking care of my child AND I can afford to go somewhere, I better not stay out LATE because those children are going to wake up BRIGHT EYED and BUSHY TAILED (as my Dad used to say) and RARING to go.  Now, my children are awesome sleepers and they’ve been known to sleep in until 7:30 sometimes - but, I still better not stay out very late.   I really like my sleep!    :wink:

So, I asked my friend why the emphasis on actually going OUT and she said that it was important that they focus on their marriage as a couple even when the children arrive.   OK - Well, this I can agree on.  But, my question back to her was, “Why do you have to go OUT on a date every week?”    I guess my point back to her was that through the ages, families haven’t been able to “afford” this type of a luxury and they were able to stay married for a lifetime.   I know for a fact that my Grandparents didn’t go out on a “date night” - heck, they lived on a farm and had 4 boys and many sharecroppers.  They didn’t even have a car to drive until the youngest child was 13 years old.  But, somehow, my grandparents stayed married their entire lives without going every week.

I’m not trying to trivialize the time spent with your spouse - it’s important.  But you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have quality time with your spouse.  My husband and I spend time together talking every night when the children are in bed - we don’t have to spend a lot of money to have that quality time together.  I think the “once a week date night” was actually invented by the restaurant industry just like I think the greeting card company’s keep inventing new “holidays” so that they can sell more greeting cards.  Spend quality time together with your spouse - but just know that you don’t have to leave home and spend a lot of money to do that!

These young ladies are magnificent! Turn up the volume and enjoy!

One of my New Years resolutions was to make sure that I was reading to my children EVERY night for a minimum of 30 minutes.  Let me just add that our time stretches much closer to 45 minutes these days which I LOVE!  I’m not sure who looks forward to the reading of the books now - me or the children!  We have rapidly been expanding the books we like to read.  Every night, I get a stack of books, throw them on the bed and the kids get all excited and climb into the bed for reading.  They each get to take turns picking books from the pile on the bed!  It’s ever so sweet.  So, here are some of their favorites:

Hop-on-Pop - Dr. Seuss

Anything with the character Arthur and his sister DW

The Napping House - if you’ve never read this, it’s AWESOME!

Level 1 readers for children -  my 4 year old son has taken to memorizing books like CRAZY.  He loves ANY of the Level 1 reader books because I can read them to him twice and then voila!  He has them MEMORIZED! 

Anything with Winnie the Pooh

Anything with silly fun rhymes

Are you My Mother - P. D. Eastman

Anything with Scooby-Doo

Goodnight My Duckling - by Nancy Tafuri - the kids love this because at the end, the Mama duck and her ducklings all cuddle up at the end of the book to go “night night”.  My son loves that part because he always says, “Mommy!  The Mommy duck is laying down to go to sleep with HER babies - just like we do!”  AHHHH!  What a sweet little boy.

These are just a few of our/their favorites.  The children keeep venturing to the bookshelf every few days to grab more books to read - I expect that our list of books will change and grow over the next few months.

There are no words to describe the preciousness of this little miracle:

This picture was take from the blog Confessions of a CF Husband. Nate says that the CF stands for Cystic Fibrosis (his wife was born with Cystic Fibrosis and just gave birth to this precious little miracle baby). But, if you read this blog entry first, and then this blog entry, you might have to conclude that CF stands for Christ follower. They have completely and unconditionally trusted God throughout this whole ordeal and continue to place their trust in Him knowing that whatever the outcome, they will accept it. I am inspired, encouraged, and more than anything, sent to my knees in prayer that I might have the kind of faith that this family obviously has displayed. Please visit this site, pray for them and marvel at the wonder of God’s miracles.

My blogging friend, TulipGirl, recently wrote a post about the books she Hopes to Read in 2008.  Someone posed the question to me - what books do I plan to read this year?  Well, with 2 small children, my list is a little different.  But, one of my resolutions this year was to get back to reading to the kids EVERY night before bed and so far, it’s working.  The problem is that my children are 4 (boy) and ALMOST 2 (girl) and so their reading interests are VASTLY different.  So, the dilemma is what books do you read to them that BOTH will enjoy and BOTH will be challenged?  You know what I’ve found to be some of the BEST that fit that category?  DR. SEUSS!

I’ve always loved Dr. Seuss books and I’ve found that my son loves to hear the stories and study the pictures and my daughter loves the “sing song” of the words.  I didn’t want to read to them separately which is what we had been doing.  It’s hard to get her to sit still but we’re getting there and I LOVE reading to them every night.  My son is really into finishing off the last couple of words in “Green Eggs and Ham”.  The rhyming of Dr. Seuss is great for him too because he loves trying to make things rhyme. 

So, for now, here is my top 10 list of books to read this year (OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER):

1.  “OH the Places You’ll Go” - by Dr. Seuss

2.  “Green Eggs and Ham” - by Dr. Seuss

3.  “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket” - by Dr. Seuss

4.  “Guess How much I love you” - by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram

5.  “Time to PEEEEEEEE”  (that’s for my daughter) - by Mo Willems

6.  “Sleep Book”  - by Dr. Seuss

7.  “Mr. Brown Can MOO!  Can YOU?” - by Dr. Seuss

8. “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” - by Dr. Seuss

9.  “Horton Hears a Who” - by Dr. Seuss

10.  “The Sneetches” - by Dr. Seuss

I know - kind of a boring list but I know that some day I’ll be able to get back to pleasure reading for ME.  But, in the meantime, we plan to start with the list above and expand. 

My husband went to a local credit union the other day to close out his account.  He was tired of the poor service he felt he was receiving and tired of paying to bank with them.  He had a savings account that had $30 in it.  When he explained to the teller what he wanted to do, she said he couldn’t close the account because he owed $157 on the credit card that he had with them.  (What were they going to do?  Hold the $30 hostage?)  He said, “Fine.  I’ll write you a check now and pay off the credit card”.  They said, “Sorry!  We don’t process credit card payments - you’ll have to call this number.” 

VERY annoyed, my darling husband left.  He paid off the credit card and went back the next day or a few days later.  The same teller was there and she remembered my husband.  Then he told the teller he was ready to close out his account.  She said, “Can I ask why you want to close the account sir?”