Vote

I have been hearing about this remake of a song by some kids in Atlanta. I kept hearing about it on the radio and how great it was to watch these kids dance and sing. It's also great to hear them not be more for one side than the other. Turn up your sound as high as it will go and enjoy!

And the conversation goes like this...

I've had a hard day. Fussy kids and lots of stuff to do. More on that later. Rylee tonight had some of the cutest questions that I have ever heard.

Our preacher left the church this past weekend. Carl was always great to us and Rylee really liked him. Tonight she was talking about being sad that he was gone and not going to be there anymore. I was trying to explain to her that preachers move on to other churches b/c that is was God tells them to do. She responds with "why do preachers hear God but we can't?" I tried my best to explain but I'm still not sure she gets it.

Then right before bed time we were watching my favorite show Jon and Kate plus 8. They were talking about renewing their vows and writing their vows for each other. She comes to me and tells me that "she loved me so much that she would write her VOWELS for me too!" And she did!

If you get a chance, stop by Mckmama and see her miracle. The short story...when she was around 23 weeks preggo she was told her son had a heart defect and he would not survive so she started blogging and inlisted thousands of people to pray for him. Today he was born healthy!

AND THE WINNER IS...

In a random drawing, by that I mean I wrote out the names and folded them and threw them in a jar, I got our bib and burp cloth winner. Elizabeth WON! Congratulations to you! Elizabeth here is expecting TWINS so she could really use this cute little set. Thanks every one for playing.

NOT ME...AGAIN!

How is it that every week I seem to have things for not me Monday that I would normally never tell?

Let's see...Thanks to my sister (Shannon) pointing it out this morning I came through again with a last minute not me Monday. I did not stand there and see my precious little man fall down and hit his head on the coffee table only to pick him up and comfort him with food when he wouldn't stop crying. Actually, had this have happened he would have ate and entire bowl of grits and a whole bunch of dry cheerios just to make him happy again. Nope not me.

I must certainly did not stand outside the church nursery door for a good 10 minutes and listen to Tegan screaming before finally just leaving and going out in to church anyways...while he was still screaming. I couldn't do that!

I'll do one for just me. I did not drop my "pill" in the bathroom sink full of draining soapy water only to stop it from draining and frantically search for it. If I would have found it, it would have been covered with soap and half dissolved but I would have took it anyway! Good thing that didn't happen to me.

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY this week. You have nothing to lose!

Did you enter to WIN?

I have noticed that most people that have entered the giveaway are pregnant or have a new baby (minus a few). This bib and burp cloth set makes a great baby shower gift too. Just stick it with another small gift and it looks like you really splurged! Read the previous post to see how to enter to win. Time is running out!

GIVE-A-WAY AT MY ETSY STORE

O.k. so for all my faithful blog readers (and lurkers) I am doing a small give-a-way. You don't have to have a baby to want this item. All of us constantly get invited to baby showers or at least you know someone whom you could give this to as a gift if you can't use it yourself.
Here are the Rules:
1. Go to my etsy store....button is the picture of the pretty bag on the top right hand side of your screen.
2. Looking (or shop) some of my items. Then go to my profile. Somewhere on the right hand side of the screen it says profile.
3. While under my profile just look for the key words for the blog.
4. Come back here and leave a comment. If you are not a registered user then make sure to leave a way for me to contact you. Your comment must tell me what the key words are. All comments will not be published until the contest is over so that no one cheats.
5. I would love to ship international but since I can't (unless you want to pay shipping) then I can only do this for people in the United States. You have until next Tuesday night at 9:00 pm eastern time. Then I will put the names in a hat and have my hubby draw a name!
Boy that seemed like a lot of instructions. But hey....it's free if you win!
Now for the pictures of what you are playing for....





Let the games begin!

Time to Play!

Tegan has gotten really good lately at just playing and entertaining himself without me having to sit in the floor beside him so much. Rylee also helps out with this alot b/c she can keep him distracted for long periods of time. They actually play chase. No...he can't walk yet but they both crawl and chase eachother all over the house. She can also go and hide from him and he almost always finds her. It is so cute. He will push around this little truck in the video for a long time!

Not me Monday!

It's that time again. Let's see....

I did not use Rylee having an ear infection as a way of getting out of Cheerleading practice just b/c I didn't feel like driving her 20 minutes away even though she wanted to go and felt totally fine. Not me!

I did not get in the shower Thursday night while Paul was at home and refuse to come out of the bathroom until I could tell that both kids were in the bed. Not me! At least my toe nails would have gotten cut.

The worst of all....I did not forget to shave my legs before going for a check-up at the "Girl" doctor! That is totally gross and did not happen to me!

Click on the picture above to go to MckMama's site and see other peoples not me Mondays!

Missed Opportunities

I seem to have missed many opportunities that I have prayed for. It's almost like I am praying for them but I forget to pray for the wisdom to have the right reaction. After losing Cohen I heard about a girl I went to school with that lost a baby even further in her pregnancy than mine. Her little girl went to the same preschool as Rylee but wasn't in the same class. I prayed for God to let us cross paths so that maybe I could offer a shoulder for her b/c I knew what she was going through. God didn't let us cross paths just once but 3 times. I saw her three different times in the parking lot and nothing! I couldn't even say hello, just a friendly throwing up of my hand.
Almost 6 months later yet another girl I went to school with lost one of her twin boys 2 or 3 days after birth. Once again I prayed to cross paths with her. Well I did at Rylee's swimming lessons. Her son was in the class right before Rylee. The first day we actually spoke I was awkward and said all the wrong things. I said all of those things I hated to hear after losing Cohen. So the next day I stole my chance and really stood there and talked to her and apologized for my words the day before. Finally I got my chance to relate to someone else going through something sort of similar to me.
Then there was today. A few months back I heard about and wrote on here about a girl a little younger than me in school and her daughter. Me and this girls sister were good friends in school so I got to know her pretty well. When the Tegan Mania first started and we were told something could be wrong with him, I heard about this girl and her daughter who is only a month older than Tegan. They too were going through all of this stuff and being told their child may never be normal. I had prayed to God for several weeks to let me and her cross paths, the only problem is that I was imagining us to cross paths in a dr.'s office or in the physical therapy waiting room, not in the middle of a crowded isle at Wal-mart. Yes I went to wal-mart today now that I have no kidney stone....sorry, I got sidetracked. I didn't recognize her but she said my name. Just before that I had noticed this lady was pushing a little girl laid back in a stroller and pulling her buggy behind her. She asked if I remembered her and I was like a deer in the headlights. I knew exactly who she was but all I could say was "Yes and how are you?" I did go on to ask how her daughter was doing these days and she said the same thing I always said when I wanted someone to ask that question and then really listen to the answer, "Better but we still take it one day at a time." Her little girl was beautiful! So I said what everyone who is scared to ask more questions does and I said "well good, I'm glad to hear that. It was nice to see you." Then walked away while kicking myself and wanting to turn around and go back and talk to her.
The lesson learned here.....Make sure that if you pray for something that you also pray for how you will handle it or respond to it if/when it does happen.

God cares about kidney stones...

It's starting to look like I only post on Not Me Monday....sorry about that. By the way, if you click on the big "Not Me Monday" sign in those post, it will take you to a website worth reading. The outcome to her roller coaster story will be coming very soon.

Anyways, I know you are wondering what my topic means so here you go. A few weeks ago I posted and said that I had to have a CT scan for some pain in my left side. Well the scan showed that all was well from what they could see except one small little thing, a kidney stone in my left kidney! Great! So the nurse continues to tell me about how painful passing a kidney stone is and that I may not be dieing (which I disagree with b/c everyone is dieing on any given day) but I am going to think I am when that stone tries to come out. Now I should disclose that I am a very anxious person so immediately after finding out this information my pain became worse from my head to my kidney. I didn't want to go anywhere for fear that this thing was going to try to kill me while standing in the check-out line at Wal-mart. Let's face it, we all stand in those long lines for countless minutes while wondering why all these registers are sitting empty and if we should go back and trade in our milk but that's another post. Anyways, I decided to throw it out there to God that I was pretty sure that he could get rid of this kidney stone without causing me any pain or even knowing about it. I asked for it either to happen quick or for him just to decide to remove it without the whole process. Apparently he thought I didn't need to go through anymore pain these days and just decided to remove it. I had one or two really short and smalls pains on Sunday but then never anything else. I went to have an x-ray at a urologist on Monday and like an answered prayer, it was gone!!!! Never did I go through the process or even know that it came out....if it did come out....maybe God just said *poof* your prayer is answered. Sorry, I was really hoping to share pictures with you of my kidney stone and I know you are so disappointed by this but what can I say, I'm blessed! Now if the original pain in my side that I had went to the Dr. for would just go away. I'm think I will wait that out before jumping in to more test.
The point is that God cares about all our struggles even if it is just a kidney stone!

What....a late NOT ME MONDAY!

So I am living proof that if you wait long enough something will happen just at the end of Monday so that you can display your mothering skills to the world for "Not Me Monday". I thought I had gotten away with it this week but nope....not so lucky.

I did not try to stuff my 14 month old into a Halloween custom that was to small for him only to have my hand slip and my long finger nails put a cut right in the side of his face. Nope, not me!


"look what you did to this sweet face!"


"Just for that I will drink all the milk I want"


"I think I will just hide over here behind this recliner. Your dangerous"

Needless to say the lion outfit looks more like a skin tight 70's velour jogging suit and isn't going to work. But he has the battles wounds to prove we tried really hard!
And that my friend is not me Monday!

Kindof wordless Monday...

Luckily for everyone involved I don't have any "confessions" for "Not me Monday" this week. We all know that those aren't good for anybody...especially my plug-ins. So here are a few pictures.


Look at those long arms and legs. She is growing up so fast!



Tegan is always trying to eat someone or something! These are pictures of him opening up and saying ahhhhhh....which is something we do often b/c he often has foreign objects in his mouth.

POLKA DOT PIXIE

I have recently opened me up an etsy store so that I can have a place for people to purchase and buy my items. I have to once again give some credit to Kendra (a.k.a the burp cloth babe) for the name of my little business. I tried and tried to think of a name but wasn't having any luck. I ask Kendra and within 24 hours she had me a catchy name waiting on my email for me. I loved it and immediately claimed it for my own. I was going to do a regular website but wasn't sure how I would drive traffic to it so I decided the most cost effective way was an etsy store. I have just gotten it up and running so I still don't have a whole lot in there but I am adding stuff constantly. Right now I am working on some purses so that I have a good variety of stuff in there. Visit the Polka Dot Pixie and stay tune...I plan to do a give-a-way of one of my handmade items. Also, if your interested, I may be giving away a few items to a few popular blogs out there in blogland if you are willing to do a post about my item with a picture and link to my store. But that all will come in the next few weeks as I get a chance to add more to my store.

POLKA DOT PIXIE

Not Me Monday!

Last week I did not have to call poison control b/c Tegan was caught sucking on a liquid plug-in that he himself removed from the wall. If this event would have occurred, it for sure would not have happened while I was watching Oprah about a family addicted to drugs and wondering how they took care of their 18 month old son and thinking how they probably don't watch him like they should.....Not Me!
If said event would have happened I would have felt much better when the lady at poison control laughed and reassured me that this is one of the most popular calls they get.

But since this did not happen to me....I'm the Mother of the week!

"Some people only dream of Angels, we held ours in our arms!

So today is October 4th...(that is for those of you who don't look at a calendar). And for those of you who don't know, today has been 2 years. Two quick and painful years since I gave birth to and lost Cohen. All in one day! I remember and relive it all like it was yesterday. Recently I realized that a lot of what I grieve for is not only the child I don't have but the future I don't have with that child. So the quick version: It was discovered at a 20 week ultrasound that Cohen was missing his right kidney and it looked like his left kidney was completely blocked my cyst, this is a lethal condition and there is nothing that could be done. When asking how or why this happened we were told that it was just something that happens sometimes.

When you walk into my house the first thing to your left is a sofa table against the wall. Just above that is a picture. At first glance it looks like a beautiful piece of artwork but when you look a little closer you will see that it is so much more than that. I had approached a true artist about doing me a drawing. I wasn't sure what I wanted but I wanted it to symbolize Cohen. It just so happen that I saw a piece of his artwork which was his own child that he had lost and I knew he was the right person to do this for me. It was the most emotional and touching thing I had ever seen. I had to have something like that for myself. He was more than happy to do it for me and wouldn't even let me pay him for it. Him and his wife went about a thousand steps further than that and donated tons of his prints to raise money for us while I was out of work and on bed rest with my pregnancy with Tegan. By completely donating everything to us they raised for us over $5,000! With the money came a note that sits in my nightstand draw that told me that they were just paying it forward and our gift to them one day will be to do the same.
Sorry...back to the picture. When I was getting the picture and was so excited while waiting on it I was telling everyone about it. Most people were excited for me but one comment one day was "that they didn't know if they would want something hanging on their wall as a constant reminder." At first this bothered me but then I realized who cares what anyone else thought, I for sure don't need a picture to remind me of the pain of being told my child would not survive the pregnancy and the emotional pain when I felt my body release him after 24 hours of labor. Most definitely I did not need anything to remind me of the moment we saw and held him and I run my finger over his entire tiny body to the point that I could probably draw him out perfectly with my finger. So I went back to being excited about my picture. When I got it I realized that it was way better and meant way more than I could have ever imagined. He couldn't have done a better job had he been there drawing Cohen in person. It is a peaceful baby, laying on a cloud with his wings and it reads...Cohen Minish, October 04, 2006, "Some people can only dream of Angels, we held ours in our arms." It took me until about 6 months ago to actually hang it on my wall. I don't know why...it has been framed since the day I brought it home but hanging it up just meant something different, maybe a sense of things being final...I don't know. Jamie Calkin is his name....if you Google him you can see his website. Him and his wife are two very amazing people! My walls feel complete....Rylee, Cohen and Tegan! All three of my children will be on my walls forever!

Sick and needing alone time

My poor little man is a little under the weather. His nose is pouring snot and he seems so miserable. He didn't sleep good the night before but last night he didn't wake not once. Here it is almost 8:30 and I still haven't heard a word from him. Below is a picture of our sofa table. The bottom shelf only stores the humidifier. Well Tegan had been crying and playing all at the same time and he got very quiet. This is what I found....




Yeap...the boy just sat there for a good five minutes. He must have been feeling really bad!

Books, books, books

I have to give a shout out to my friend Kendra who is a sales rep for Usborne Books. I have been looking through the catalog and online store for days and can't decide which books I would like to order for my kids and as Christmas presents. You can go and check out her website at the link over on the right hand side of my blog. Also I am doing an eshow for her so if you click on Tabatha in the top right hand corner then I get credit for your order. These are some great books. Go and book a eshow party with her now. It doesn't matter where you live.
Books are the best gift you can give a child...Plus its better than adding to the ever growing toy collection!

O.k...since I apparently know nothing about connecting links to my blog just copy and paste this address in to your tool bar to get to Kendra's Usborne books!

http://www.ubah.com/ecommerce/default.asp?sid=S2533&gid=37912669

Can anyone tell me how to link things to my site??????????