And Baby makes 4!

It's been a very long time since i made a post on my blog. Life has been hectic and this blog hasn't been a priority at all, and i apologize to my limited readers.  As you know i have 3 beautiful children, Miss Bug who will be turning 12 this coming Tuesday. Miss Lala Bear, who will be 7 in February and Mr. Chubbs, who needs a new nick name as he isn't as chubby as he used to be.. well he turned 3 back in October.
Well low and behold, I'm pregnant again with baby number 4! I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and due at the end of May.

Hubby and I were not expecting a 4th child, nor did we plan for one at this time, so we have had a difficult time adjusting since finding out back in September. We did go through our choices as to what to do with baby, but in the end we decided that the only thing we could do was birth and love this baby. Really, there wasn't any other choice. Love will always win in a case like this, at least with us.

We've had our 20 week ultrasound

and it's a healthy little baby. The u/s Tech says she thought it was a baby girl, but you never know.
I've bought a few cloth diapers and some baby clothes as well. I've gone thought the items I've had left over from the other children and i don't really need that much. Besides cloth diapers and clothes, we need bigger car. Our little VW Jetta won't cut it any more. So we are looking into vans and the like to see if we can find something that will fit our family better.

Hubby really likes the Mazda 5 as he can get it in Standard, which is the only thing he will drive these days. I think it might be the only van that is a standard. I don't really care if it's standard or an automatic, as long as all 4 kids fit in it and they are comfortable!

Anyways.. it's going to be a wild ride come May!
I'll have to figure out how to parent all these kids!!

The Misunderstood Toddler - My Thoughts on By passing the terrible twos

The Misunderstood Toddler

Well, I bet every mother on earth has dealt with "The Terrible Twos" at some point in their lives...and if not yet.. you just wait.. it's coming. But what if you could by pass those terrible twos?  It's possible.. I promise.

Now I want to remind all of you that I am not a professional, I don't have degree in anything (other than diaper changing) so I'm not trying to sell you on that at all. All i have is the personal experiences I've lived through and the research and other information that i have collected over the years.

so here goes...

Let's be honest ok... Toddlers can be a pain in the butt some times. They whine a lot and they cry and they can't tell you what they want, which just makes them super frustrated and ends up in more crying and whining.

But hold on....I said toddlers are frustrating!  Now what happens if you turn that thought around?  What if YOU were the one that couldn't talk and get your ideas across and a large person just didn't understand you day in and day out? What if you were being ignored because the big person in your life just didn't GET IT.

The first thing you need to do with your misunderstood toddler is remember that He isn't trying to drive you crazy. the crying and whining serves a purpose for him. He's trying to communicate with you. The problem is.. YOU! ironically. You don't get him. Toddlers are very smart.. but people underestimate them everyday. Just because you child doesn't talk, doesn't mean he is incapable of understanding. We tend to think "he's 2, what does he know, he's just a baby" well... yes that's true he is a baby.. but a baby who has been watching, listening and learning since the moment he was born. That's 2 whole years of OBSERVATION. 2 year of taking it all in and filing it away. So while he may not outwardly display all he knows... It's all in there. Everything you've ever done while he's been around is filed neatly into his sponge like brain.

The next thing you must do is become empathetic towards you're misunderstood toddler.  Think about it.  How hard would it be if you couldn't talk at all and you tried ordering a Grande Caramel Macchiato from the nearest Starbucks? and when you try to use hand motions to explain what you want to the barrista, they simply decide that you aren't worth the time to understand and ignore you. How would you feel? Would you get frustrated? would you feel hopeless and sad? would you want to cry?  This is how it is for toddlers. So showing some empathy for them will help you.

Decoding them would be the next step. If you know your toddler, then sometimes it will be easy to decode him. They are resourceful little people and will try to work with you on getting their point across. If you take the time to decode them, they will be less inclined to cry and whine. But what happens when it's not so easy to decode your toddler?  Well then, some creativity is in order. You have a 2 year grunting and pointing at SOMETHING in the kitchen, but you can't seem to figure out what.  Pick him up and ask him "Can you show me?" oh yes he can!! You may have to go around the room touching things a few times until you get to the right thing, but isn't that better than dealing with a screaming child?

By taking the time to understand our children, we are reenforcing to them that they are WORTH it. that they mean something to us. A Child that is told everyday through actions and words that they are important to their parents is a child that is self confident and assured. It is the child that is ignored or shown that they are not worth it by the people they love the most, is the child that internalizes their thoughts and strives to find what they are lacking at home, somewhere else.

The best thing you can do for your misunderstood toddler is give them your time. The road to success starts early. It is our job as parents to build up strong, loving, independent children who are shown on a daily basis that they are equal members of society.
That brings me to another point as well. If we are to raise well adjusted children then we have to respect them. They are just small people, not 2nd class citizens. They deserve to be treated with dignity, love and respect. Think of it this way... If you wouldn't speak to your boss that way, or disrespect your grandmother in that fashion then maybe it's not something you should be doing to your child either.

Remember when i spoke of your child being a sponge and that he has been watching and listening to you since the moment he was born?  Well remind yourself of this every day, many times a day if needed. They model the behaviour that they see... If you aren't on the straight and narrow, no amount of "do as i say, not as i do" will keep them straight either. 
We can not depend on Teachers, friends or the media to teach our children right from wrong, or how to behave in a public place, or how to treat others with love and respect if we are not doing it ourselves, if we are not loving and respecting THEM.

You can totally by pass those "terrible twos" but you have to put the work in first. Everyday is a new challenge, and i for one am not perfect in my parenting. but once you get the idea of Respecting your toddler and seeing things from his point of view... he will no longer be Misunderstood... He'll be your Wonderful Child.

The age old Battle between Formula Feeding and Breastfeeding

Ok so EVERYONE has a side to this issue.. You have the people who either COULD NOT breastfeed (for whatever reason) Did not WANT to breastfeed (for whatever reason) and then you have the breast feeders. It's pretty natural to breastfeed. I mean this is how we've fed our infants from the time of man.
Formula is a new invention.. started up about 50 years ago or so. It's basically MOCK Boob Juice in a can. Now i admit it, I'm a breast feeder. I don't like formula, even though my oldest was  fed it. I regret everyday that I gave her formula, under the ignorant guise of it being what is best for her. It wasn't, plain and simple.

So I'm on one of the online message board i go to daily (www.cafemom.com)  and I happened to come across some pictures of people's "emergency stock piles"  and i kept seeing cans upon cans of formula.  It made me think.
If you were hit with a tornado or something and had to use your stock pile... wouldn't it be better to breastfeed rather than formula feed? so say that the public water system was contaminated or something and you had to live off of the water storage you had... mixing formula would deplete that storage quicker than if you were breastfeeding (since only the mother is drinking from the water storage, and not mother and the formula fed baby)

So i posted these thoughts and asked the ladies why they had formula in their stockpiles when it seems that it's more of a resource depleter than if you just simply breastfeed.  I never ONCE said anything about them as mothers, or anything about formula feeding. I was hoping for a logic based discussion about this....

But i got slapped with angry mothers that formula feed. basically saying "saying I'm a bad mother for formula feeding is hurtful and mean"

Uh.... Where did i say that you were a bad mother?  NEVER!
I was just curious as to see what they thought. that's all.

This age old battle against each other has GOT TO STOP.  It doesn't matter how we feel about formula feeding or breastfeeding... As long as the parents understand that formula is NOT breast milk and have done the research on it, then it's not a huge deal.
We put each other down because of our convictions on this matter... when we should be supporting each other, spreading correct information to each other and loving each other for who we are.

It's time to give up the fight about who and what is better.. and just embrace our humanity and strive for a healthy, happy race.

Don't you think so?

Going Gluten Free

Ok so I've been having gut issues since LalaBear was born 5 1/2 years ago. I truly think that my pregnancy and birth with her is what triggered the issues i;ve been having because i can not for the life of me remember having any of these issue before then or even when i was pregnant with Bug.

Over the last 5 years I've had horrible bouts of what i think was Norwalk Virus . The first time i caught it i was 2 weeks post Partum with LalaBear. I was sick for a week. So sick in fact that i was living in the bathroom because i could not move more than 3 feet from the toilet. It happend again at 4 months pp and again i lived in the bathroom for a week. (all of this WHILE exclusively breastfeeding)  My gut settled down for a while but was never really quiet. when LalaBear was 16 months old i basically stopped eating. I was still nursing her but every time i would put a bite or two into my mouth my guts would twist it seemed and everything would hurt. I'd automatically feel over full. A friend of ours saw me one day and said, in the most frank but caring way..
"You look like death, please see your doctor"
I had noticed that i was slimmer, but death? i couldn't see it. but i felt like utter crap by then and so i made an appointment with my GP.  That's when we found out that in the 2 months since this issue had started i had lost 15 lbs. Now that wouldn't really be much of any issue to most, but then you are already 122 lbs soaking wet... losing 15 of those lbs is a HUGE deal. I  weighed 107 lbs and when i laid back on the exam table, my stomach area was concave.
My GP ordered tons of tests and even an x ray to see if my intestines had some how twisted. Everything came back clean. WE didn't know what was wrong. I was given some medication and it helped alot and for 2 years things were good again. It took me a YEAR to gain back that 15 lbs i had lost though.
REcently the issues are starting to crop up again. The days spent in the bathroom, the unability to eat very much, the tiredness and lack of focus.

 this past week I seemingly lived in the bathroom again and took imodium just to function.
I  decided that I should over haul my diet. I chose to start off by going gluten free. this isn't exactly easy as my whole house is like a gluten factory. But it's been 3 days now since i went gluten free and things are slowly turning around. I think i may have Celiac Sprue... basically a sensitivity to gluten. i have not been diagnosed with any of this though.

I will be taking pictures of what i buy and make in the posts to come. Hopefully i can help my gut out a little by doing this.

Miss Cherryville.....

It's JUNE! where'd the time go! Well now that we are into the start of summer, although i must say it's not really looking like summer here most days, more like a wet spring. None the less it's working it's way toward hot days and warm nights.

On June 4th was the start of Cherryville Days! basically a big party for the community. and every year they have a Miss Cherryville pageant. Now This isn't the Toddlers and Tiaras type of pageant. We don't do outrageous hair, spray on tans and flippers. Oh now! This is Cherryville! We have more Cows than Humans here! So  we just have our girls in nice dresses and they answer a few questions about cherryville, then the community votes on who should be Miss Cherryville.

This year, Bug and Lala Bear decided that they wanted to be in the pageant. How it works is that you have a Queen and a Princess, working as a team.. so if you vote for one girl you vote for the team. Also, Each team represents  the road they live on so my girls, were Miss Creighton Valley Rd.
They girls got to walk in the parade, they were up on stage answering questions and generally just had a good time. The next morning was "Crowning"

Unfortunately, My girls didn't win, Miss Cherryville. Bug was very upset about it all. I can understand that. she was very sure that she'd win and when she didn't it hit her like a tonne of bricks. Poor little thing. but I had told her many times that she shouldn't just assume that she would win. I also think that family members of the winning team voted more than once. I just think that's a bit unfair. I also think that the pageant should have a Queen, Princess and then their "court" so that the girls who didn't get the title of Queen or Princess, still get a title. That way everyone wins. We actually had a group from a nearby community in our parade and they were the "Royalty" of that area. A Queen, Princess and their court... they even had Jesters! very cute! I think Cherryville should have the same thing. I also think that there should be something similar for the boys in our community as well. But since I didn't plan it, I have no say. I might try to be on planning board for next year so i can put my 2 cents in.

We did have a good time all around though. Lots of Sun, Lots of Fun.
Here are some pictures!!

My Princesses!!

Lala Bear saying "Vote For Me!!"

My Lovely Bug!

Me and the Littles!!!

At Home Businesses - La Bella Baskets

So as promised in my last post, here is the first installment of the At Home Business Post Thread!
I'm going to try every few days or so to interview a independant sales rep and post about a different at home business that you can join up with and run from your own home.

Today is La Bella Baskets!  Here is my interview with Gift Consultant, Jennifer McClain!

La Bella Baskets sells gift baskets for every occasion and then some! New baby on the way? They have baskets for that! New Graduate? They have baskets for that! It's Father's day and you want to give the husband or father in your life something special? They have a basket for that too!!! So check out the interview and contact Jen for more details!


Me: What is the history of La Bella Baskets as a company?
Jen: La Bella Baskets was founded by friends and co-founders Janis Rodriguez and Mia Florides, who formed the company to help single mom be able to work and support their children. La Bella Baskets has consultants throughout the United States. The company is based in Texas. Our products are made and ship from our warehouses in the United States. All orders are shipped with in 1-5 business day.
Our purpose is supporting single moms with hardships through our Baskets Of Smiles Program:-)


Me: What is it's BBB Rating?
Jen: We do not have a rating, because the company is still fairly new. They are 100% legit because I receive a check every 2 weeks and I received a w-2 form in the mail for taxes.(known as a T-4 in Canada!)  If you do a search, there is nothing but great reviews on La Bella Baskets.


Me: What was your life like before you joined La Bella Baskets?
Jen: My life was pretty boring with nothing to do while my son is in school and had no money, until I found La Bella Baskets. I'm meeting new friends and networking, which is so much fun!

Me: What made you look for legit at home businesses?
Jen: What made me want to look for a legit home business, is because I have been scammed so many times and never seemed to get anywhere and wasted my money on every other company I've done. So happy I found La Bella Baskets!!

Me: What is it about La Bella Baskets that made you want to work for them?
Jen: It's an affordable home business. I don't have to meet a quota, hold inventory, or put to much money into it.You get to make money 3 ways and I love that!:-) I also like the fact that the company has a purpose to support single moms.

Me: How do you draw your customers in?
Jen: I'm working on the marketing part of the business right now and have a feeling by this summer, I will have customers very soon. I am working on radio advertising, banner advertising, free listings, post cards etc.

Me: Why is La Bella Baskets such a great company to work for?
Jen: La Bella Baskets is a great company to work for because there is so much support, everyone is always helping you and giving you ideas to build your business. La Bella Baskets is always making things better and bigger for us consultants and customers. You are never alone, someone is always there to help:-) We are going residual next month, not mlm just one level:-)More new and great things are happening for the company, consultant and customers.

Me: What level of success have you achieved with La Bella Baskets?
I am still Gift consultant but I just won the Team Spirit Award, and I'm very close to being gift director soon:-) I also have been buliding a great Big team with our referral program.

Me:  What are your continuing goals for your at home business?
To help my team succeed and My goal is to make it to diamond gift   director one day:-) I have been doing so many ideas for marketing: Currently have a radio staion commercial ad broadcast over the radio, having a review for our womens spa gift basket, a banner on a vendor site, post cards being mailed out to churchs, events, etc, and working on being on an other radio station, I was offered to be on their wedding portal on their site along with radio stream ads. So doing a lot of marketing on our gift baskets.
  So There you have it folks! If you are tired of the rat race and just want to work from home while caring for your children.. consider La Bella Baskets as a choice of Home Business!

If you are interested in learning more about La Bella Baskets and becoming a part of Jen's Team
Please contact her!

lovely-gifts4u@live.com
804-238-5425 eastern time
http://www.ajenslovelybaskets.biz/
http://jensbaskets.blogspot.com/

Wanting Something Better...

I think it's an age old dilemma. There isn't enough hours in a day to do all that you need and want to do.
You have to provide for your family, and for most of us that means working outside the home. spending 8-12 hours a day away from our families. We work for a paycheck that in this economy doesn't cover all the bills. Many of us are living paycheck to paycheck, and very few of us have money stashed away for emergencies.
My family and I are this way. With my hubby out of work because of a work related injury things are tight and I know I'm tired of it.
I want to be debt free, i want my children to be able to go to college and  not worry about needing student loans to help them pay for it. I want to have money saved in the bank so that if something happens we are ok. The icing on the cake for me would be being able to take my family on trips to places all over the world.

It's seems like most of us think the having some debt is normal. I don't think this way. Why would you be ok with  OWING someone else money that you've worked hard for?
There has to be a better way then killing ourselves working for minimum wage!

another dilemma is child care. If both parents work, then you're child(ren) have to go to daycare. Well the price for putting 2 in daycare (which would be what we would have to do) is alot, even with the government's child care subsidy. Most of the paycheck i would receive for work would go to paying for childcare... and what would be the point of that? If the point of working is to get ahead and your money is eaten up by childcare.... then you aren't getting ahead and merely surviving. I don't want to JUST survive.... i want to LIVE and enjoy it!

So, I'm on the hunt for a legitimate home based businesses. something i can work from my home computer and make some decent money at. Enough money that will help pay the bills and push us ahead.

I'll be putting up ideas on here about home based businesses in the weeks to come, as i weed out the scams and learn more about different businesses.
If you are interested, keep your eye out on the coming blog posts!!