Monthly Archives: February 2008

Happiness Shattered in 1 Second

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It amazes me how we can go through life doing our routines when something out of the middle of nowhere can shatter your happiness in literally 1 second. I feel like that happened to me tonight. I know that what I’m about to say doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it’s huge to me. My husband has worked graveyard for our entire relationship. We’ve known no different. I mentioned before about how he will be moving to days. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this, but it’s grown on me. His new schedule was going to be 4am-1pm Tues-Sat. It was the perfect schedule! Jayden gets out of school @ 12:30pm so we’d have all day together. Tonight my husband called me to tell me that he checked the schedule and he’s scheduled for 3pm-midnight starting 3/10/08. I LOST IT! I was hysterical on the phone. My poor husband thought I’d be happy and I wasn’t. See, he failed to look at the biggest con to this whole thing. Jayden has had his daddy all day his whole life. You can’t rip that away from a child. You can’t go from having your dad around all day to only seeing him 1 1/2 hours a day. Jayden gets home from school at around 1pm. Gino would have to leave the house at 2:45pm. They’d never see each other and it’s not gonna work. Gino is going to have to go in there and tell them that we based our lives around this new change. Going away from graveyard was a big enough burden on us, but now they’ve changed what was originally planned. It’s not going to work. I will not have this big of a change happen to our son. As I was talking about tonight, Jayden’s already having problems this will make them SO much worse.

Please pray that something happens here. I wouldn’t even mind Gino working 8am-5pm….anything but 3-midnight. That is the worse shift EVER! And I was just getting into cooking dinners and OMG I am so depressed about this.

Friday Favorites

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If you are reading this then the chances are you read my blog. And if you read my blog you know that I participate in a couple of weekly carnivals that involve me giving tips to my readers and linking my readers to another blog where more tips are involved. Believe it or not, I actually spend a couple of hours reading through a lot of the tips and I learn amazing things from them! Life transforming things! So I started thinking my family, friends, readers all need to hear about the things that I have learned from others. So on Fridays I am going to be posting a thread called Friday Favorites. It will be tips that I have learned through these carnivals that I participate in. So here is the first Friday Favorites.

EYE MAKEUP REMOVER
Ingram Gang posted an awesome idea on Eye Makeup Remover: Mix equal parts of baby shampoo and water. She talks of how she used to use Clinique eye makeup remover and actually uses that container for her new cheap creation! AND it works as good! Baby shampoo is tear free – so it works great. I actually tried this and it worked!!!

BEST CHORE/ROUTINE CHART EVER
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers posted about this chart that she made that had me running to the store to buy the supplies. I wish I would’ve thought about this before. I suck at the whole sticker chart thingy and this is PERFECT!! CLICK HERE to go to her blog to read about it – she has pictures and everything. If you are a mom I highly suggest you check this out.

BABY WIPES
CC posted a little secret that I never would’ve thought of in a million years. Baby wipes can be washed and dried many times before falling apart. I would never do this after wiping up my baby after changing her diaper, but baby wipes are great for rags, napkins, and from what she says has saved her money reusing them. She talks more about it on her blog so if you’re interested CLICK HERE

HOMEMADE FEBREEZE RECIPE
Stepford Wife’s Guide to Home Making posted about this and this one just got me downright excited. I have come to realize that I really do not like Febreeze. I love the idea of it, but the smell has just gotten old to me. Well, this recipe that she’s shared is amazing!! Here it is:
1/2-1 Cup of Fabric Softener (your choice of your favorite flavor!)
1 Cup of White Vinegar
2-3 Cups of Water (If you are using 1/2 cup of fabric softener then use 2 cups of water, if you’re using 1 cup of fabric softener use 3 cups of water)

BEST PARENTING ADVICE EVER
Frazzmom posted a few tips when going out w/your children. They are worth reading so if you are a mom of a younger child please read this. CLICK HERE

I hope you enjoyed these tips and make sure you check back on Tuesday for Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Wednesday for Works For Me Wednesday & Friday for Friday Favorites!! And in between all that for a little bit of love, hate, parenting, stress, happiness basically life and me all rolled up in one.

Struggling with behavior

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Every day it seems like Jayden does something wrong at school. Honestly, I get pretty darn tired of the teacher calling me or giving me that “look” after school like ‘He was an absolute TYRANT today.’ I’m almost at my wit’s end with this boy and just don’t know what to do.

Today we went to go and buy Jayden a new radio. He’s been into music and I thought it would be cool for him to have his own CD player in his room. So, while buying it I got a phone call from his teacher. First thing she had to tell me was that Jayden has been poking other students with his pencil. UGH! I knew this was going on, because Jayden comes home and tells me that his friend does this to him. Then when his teacher gave them their work to do, Jayden put an X on his worksheet because he didn’t want to do it. I don’t know what to do! I want him to listen to his teacher, do his work, be a model example in school (who am I kidding!?!?! LMAO) but seriously, I don’t want Jayden to struggle. I want to get down to what it is exactly that’s causing him to struggle with following directions. This honestly scares the living crap out of me. I can’t imagine how hard it’s going to be when he’s in Junior High or High School. I don’t even want to think about how my vibrant little Ella is going to be. Being a mom is the most wonderful gift from God, but man it’s hard! I know I’m good a mom, but a part of me almost is feeling like a failure since Jayden has a hard time. I know shouldn’t, but I do.

I decided tonight to not let him get away with all the little stunts he pulled today. So, we bought his CD player, which he really didn’t even know we were buying, but we get home and I put the box on the floor and watched him get all excited. I’m so evil! I sat him down and said, it looks really cool doesn’t it? Keep in mind we bought the Pirates of the Caribbean Treasure Chest Boombox. Then I told him unfortunately since he didn’t do his work at school and because he was poking other kids w/his pencil that he wasn’t able to watch cartoons or listen to his new CD player. He was devastated, but I’m hoping that this gives him motivation to do good. Tomorrow if he can at least show that he’s trying I will give his CD player to him, but the first day that his teacher tells me that he doesn’t do his work or is fighting with other kids it’s gone again and he’ll have to earn it back w/good behavior. This also goes w/Cartoons, which if you know Jayden you know Cartoons is his everything.

If you’re a lurker on my blog and have some advice for me PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me a comment and give it to me.

Devious Little Minds!

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I swear I don’t understand how kids get to be so smart! I’m not talking book smart, I’m talking downright deceivingly smart. Jayden spends a lot of his time upstairs. The computer he’s allowed to play w/is up there, his toys are up there – it’s Jayden’s world up there. However, there are things of mine up there as well…. of course. I walked up stairs and walk in my room to see Jayden sitting on my laundry basket filled with clean laundry. It not only irritated me that his dirty little body was sitting on top of my clean, white clothes, but that he was bending the crap out of my laundry basket. Jayden looks at me and goes, “Oh, Mom, I didn’t hear your footsteps. Sorry.” Greaaat! I wonder what else he does upstairs when I’m not up there for him to have to listen for my footsteps.

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

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Last night I made dinner and I have to share it with everyone, because it was DELICIOUS! If you know me you know that I used to not cook. I was literally retarded in the kitchen and had no desire. I had a husband who cooked for me every night and didn’t see the point in learning. Now that I stay at home I love cooking! I love to try new dishes and get so excited when I see the nod of approval from my husband as he savors every bite. So here’s what I did last night.

Coat chicken breast in egg & breadcrumbs and bake covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for 10

For the sauce I used Classico (I’m not so good yet to make my own sauce) I mixed 1 jar of Four Cheese & 1 jar of Roasted Garlic and mixed a ton of Parmesan cheese in it. Heat that up on the stove.

Last night for the side dish I made Pasta Roni Fettuccine Alfredo noodles, but next time I will boil fettuccine noodles and make Classico’s alfredo sauce.

When all is done put the Fettuccine Alfredo on your plate, then the chicken on top and then cover with the spaghetti sauce and top with Parmesan cheese. Something about mixing the 2 different sauces together just touches your taste buds in an exhilarating way.

I steamed some broccoli and dinner was a hit. We will definitely be making this again.

Friday Letters

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For Works For Me Wednesday I thought I’d share something special that I do for my kids with other moms. There’s so many memories with kids and not enough space in the baby books to put them. I want my kids to be able to go back and read about milestones they had, funny things they said, and even the bad stuff. I want them to be able to know how much they truly were loved so a few weeks ago I went and bought 2 journals. One for Jayden, one for Ella. I set a reoccurring reminder in my phone calendar for every Friday @ 10:00pm and every Friday I write a letter to each child in their journal. Some letters are a short I love you, and others are detailed. I only wish I thought of this when Jayden was a baby, but better late than never. In the first letter I promised that they would have a letter every Friday. When they’re 18 I’ll wrap the finished journals up and give them as a birthday present. It will be a lot of reading for them, but what a special gift that will be for them.

For other tips on what works for others visit Rocks In My Dryer

A Little Bit of Ella – A Little Bit of Jayden

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Ella has decided to say forget crawling and has resorted to rolling to whatever location she wants to go. It takes her a few minutes, but she gets there. This sorta started last night, but went full blown today. Sadly, she also rolled into a tall candle stick thingy of mine and that fell on her head… so she has her first bump. I really have to get to baby proofing now and that sucks. She is still trying to crawl and is almost there, but she’s loving this new rolling game.

We went up to my Grandma’s house today to work on a quilt that I’m making and I took a couple pics of the kids. I really wanted to take more, but Ella just wasn’t into it…maybe she’ll be more into it on Thursday when I go back. ALSO!!! Jayden drew my cousin a picture and wrote To: (Then asked me how to spell Jill) From: Jayden all by himself!!!!! He didn’t even ask me how to spell To & From ~ I couldn’t be prouder of my little man.

Dinosaur Bites – Fun Recipe to do w/kids

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Jayden’s school made a cookbook that all the students were able to participate in. I found one that is pretty cool and am sharing it with everyone for Kitchen Tip Tuesday

1/4 Cup Dirt (Cocoa)
1/2 Cup swamp water (Milk)
2 Cups crushed bones (sugar)
1/2 Cup fat (butter or margarine)
2 Cups dead grass (Oatmeal)
1/2 Cup squashed bugs (Peanut Butter)

Combine dirt, swamp water, crushed bones and fat in medium sauce pan. Boil for 3 minutes. Add squashed bugs and dead grass. Stir until melted and mixture starts to thicken. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Stand on hind legs, eat one and ROARRRRRR!!!!!!

For other Kitchen Tips please visit Miss Tammy’s Blog and I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday!!

Ella & Boo

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Do you see the resemblance? Ella didn’t eat that whole cake – she just had a couple licks ~ but if she had her way she would’ve had that whole cake. We went to my little cousin’s 2nd birthday and I had been saying all day yesterday how Ella looked like Boo from Monster’s Inc. and when we showed up to the party today that’s what everyone else was saying. When Jayden was little and used to watch Monster’s Inc. my sister Jessica always said that if Gino and I were to have a little girl she’d look like Boo…. well, she sure was right!!

6 Month Pictures and Stats on Miss Ella

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6 Months old – Crazy!!! I know this post is a little late, she turned 6 months old on the 14th Valentine’s Day 🙂 But I’m just now getting around to recording her stats and updating on her doctor’s appointment. She’s 17lbs 10oz. 26 inches long. New things she’s doing: She’s discovered her shadow. She started this past week saying Gagagaga. She’s still trying with all her might to crawl, but can’t quite figure it out yet. She basically falls on her face 🙁 Poor baby girl!!! During her 6 month doctor’s appointment her Dr. was talking about how pretty soon she’s going to develop separation anxiety and blah blah blah well, in the middle of him explaining this all to me she’s watching his every move. Then out of the middle of nowhere she screamed her head off. Ever since that moment Ella has separation anxiety and screams every time I walk out of the room. She loves Jayden. She get so excited when he walks in the room and whenever he actually pays a little attention to her, her face lights up. She still hasn’t gotten any more teeth, but she has the 2 on the bottom. And when she bites they hurt! She loves other babies and gets all excited when she sees them. Already my social little butterfly. She discovered splashing the other day in the bathtub and I’m putting a video of that on here. I know that almost every picture of her she has no clothes on, but I promise you she has plenty of clothes….she just loves to be naked w/a diaper on. With how much this girls spits up I love her to be just in a diaper too.

EDITED TO ADD: I was just reading on my blog and it looks like I already did a little update on Ella’s 6 month stuff – see what having kids does to you? It sucks all the brain cells out of your head UGH – oh well, I hope you enjoy the pics and video of my little princess.