I meant to take a pic...

I have been the lucky winner of two contests the past couple of months from some of my wonderful bloggy buddies. The first one was to win an adorable apron set from the Pinks and Blues Girls, the sponsor was Carolyn's Kitchen and I won a FABULOUS Dorothy Apron!




The other thing I won was at the 5 Minutes For Mom cyber shower. They had so many of their sponsors contribute and give not only great gifts to the new mama's but great prizes too! This is who I got a pair of Flip Hops from! They are these absolutely too cute for words bunny slippers that look like flip flops. And as soon as I get a spare moment to paint my toenails, I will take a pic and share with you all!!

Making Money!!!

Part of what I wanted to do while hubby is deployed is make enough money to pay down our debt quite a bit. I figured out how much I needed to make a day and then did research to try and figure out how to do it. There are a lot of scams out there, I can tell you that. I have been writing articles on Associated Content and make money when I do it, and if people view my writing, I get paid for that too. And I know I could make a whole lot more there if I would sit down and write more articles.
I have been selling books on Amazon, but I don't plan on buying more books to sell, I just list ones we have already read so thats not going to be a continual source of income.
The other thing I have been doing is completing offers on a website called Cash Crate! If you go and fill out offers, most of them are free, then they pay you. I have done it once already and made a small amount. But this time I am seriously going at it and have been doing the free trials that you cancel before you get charged for them. It doesn't take a lot of time to do, and to me its worth it to be able to make some extra cash and stay home with my kids! So if you want to make some money, and help me out at the same time (I get a percentage based on what my referrals make!) Then PLEASE click on this link I got my first referral today, so please go check it out!!!

Missing

This year has been a rather rough year for our family. What with friends being diagnosed with Cancer, as well as my dad, a close friend of ours lost their new baby, one of my best friends moms had a brain hemorrhage, and now today, hubby deployed for 6 months. This will be our third, and it just doesn't get any easier. My Train Junkie is taking it well for now. But my Little Guy was so sad. He kept talking this morning about how we were going to get to say Bye Bye to Daddy and watch his ship go Bye Bye too. But on the way out this afternoon, he fell asleep. And once Little Guy is asleep, its HARD to wake him up. We tried and tried but just could not rouse him. Hubby kissed and hugged him anyway. On our way back to the house, through the DREARY pouring rain, Little Guy woke up. And immediately asked, "Are going to say Bye Bye to Daddy and his boat?"
All the tears I had tucked away came welling up in my eyes. Not so good when its already a monsoon outside! I had to explain to him that we did, he was asleep, and while we tried to wake him up, he didn't want to. I told him how Daddy had kissed and hugged him goodbye. Poor Little Guy began to cry in earnest. "I want to tell Daddy Bye Bye, Mommy!!!" Man, there was NO stopping my tears at that point!
I know that we don't have it so bad, Hubby's not going to Iraq or any place like that. He will be dealing with drug boats though. And half way through, he will be home for 2 weeks. So I keep telling myself, its October now, he will be home in December for a visit. Then out again and back 3 months later. We can handle that. But its still tough. Its hard to be a suddenly single mom with a 3, 4, and 2 month old. It makes things a lot more work. Going to the store becomes a HUGE task. Theres no one to give me a break when I get tired, or don't feel well. Its entirely left to me to kiss boo boos, put kids to bed, feed, clothe and plan activities. Thanksgiving will just be us. Kids birthdays will be just us. And thats tough. I know God is looking out for us, and will help us through this deployment. Just like He has in the past. He will sustain us. And hold us close to Him.
It will still be hard, and we will still be sad and lonely.
Today, we are going to make the best of it. Its rainy and stormy outside. So the boys and I are going to get in our jammies. We are going to watch movies, pop popcorn. I am going to make blueberry muffins, chocolate cupcakes, eat ice cream and drink hot cocoa. And try our best to forget the world outside.
If you think about us, pray for us. Leave me an encouraging comment! I know this won't last forever, but when its piled on top of all the pain of this past year, I think it just was the proverbial straw.

OOOH Its a Baby Shower!

5 Minutes For Mom is always doing cool stuff. And thanks to their dual pregnancies, all their sponsors are participating in a Fun Cyber Baby Shower! Not only do they get gifts, but we get fun prizes too!

Now they have 3 games, and I am going to partake in all three, just beware!

1. Most Sympathy Inspiring Delivery Photo....


As you can tell, I had a water birth, so that meant NO pain meds! I didn't have access to any, and as it was my first birth experience, I had no idea exactly what I was getting myself into. Although I do have to say that out of the three, it was the most amazing. I was in labor for 14 hours and had gone in with self controlled extremely high blood pressure. It was super intense. But the result, was my great little Train Junkie!


2. The Best Baby Bump



Also from being pregnant with Train Junkie, because I had such high blood pressure, I was incredibly swollen, this was taken a couple of days before I went into labor. I was huge, and was down to my last pair of pants! Not only that, because I had midwives, they didn't care how much weight I gained and encouraged me to eat all the time....


3. The most remarkable, interesting, or brutal Birth Story

This is something that could go either way. The birth story for my Train Junkie was interesting because I had a water birth. We chose a birthing center because I have always had issues with medical intervention, and with needles. So I wanted a birth that would allow me to make my own decisions, eat when needed, and move around to assist with the process. I had 5 amazing midwives who were with me through my entire labor and delivery. When we went in, I had been having contractions for a couple of days, but with little progress. They had the birthing tub ready when we got there, and after being checked hubby and I got in. Thats right, my hubby GOT IN the tub with me! 2 of my midwives were strong christians and prayed with us before we got started. We had brought a CD player and played worship music, mostly Delirious, throughout the birth. My water had broken earlier, but mine breaks on top. So when it got time for me to push, I pushed for 4 hours without anything happening. The reason why, was that the bag of waters had collected and was what I was trying to push out. They broke it and then everything sped up. I actually gave birth in the tub, I remember being very aware of the pain, but it didn't bother me. I knew the outcome would be a beautiful baby. Once I had my little Train Junkie, it was time to birth the placenta (gross, right?) but I just couldn't. Nothing happened. They gave me herbs to help, and also a shot of Pitocin and that didn't help either. So we all piled in cars, somehow that doesn't sound quite right, and headed up to Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) to have a D&C to get rid of the placenta. I lost a liter of blood, and was getting pretty weak. But I was able to walk in on my own. They admitted me quickly,and had the procedure done, and they said when I could get up and walk out, I could leave. So after about 30 minutes I did. We went back to the Birthing Center and spent 2 nights there. The room had a 4 poster king size bed and it was like staying in a bed and breakfast. Homemade meals and incredible care. It was an incredible experience, and should we, or God intervene, and we change our minds, I would definitely do it this way again!
My second child, Little Guy, was born at the Naval Hospital. NOT a good experience at all. My water broke in the morning, so I called hubby to have him come home from work and take me in. They looked me over and declared NO BABY SHALL BE BORN TODAY! Yeah right. I was already dilated to a 4, and they sent me home. But I knew the contractions were different then the ones I had been having for 2 months. So we went home with the intentions of heading out to dinner, and then to the mall to walk. Hoping to get that baby moving! We had Train Junkie with us, but had set up with out nanny agency to have a sitter on call for us that week. We went to eat at Souper Salad, one of my favorite places, but I just didn't feel good, and didn't want to go walking afterwards. We headed home and hubby went to run me a bath to help me feel better. But I didn't make it past the front door. I felt horrible and then the contractions started full force. Back into the car we went, my hubby will tell you I looked like I was going to climb out of my seat in pain. Once we got to the base hospital, they took me up to look me over, although I was obviously in labor. Let me tell you, Military Hospitals are not the best place to give birth in. And now the one my son was born in has several law suits against it for various reasons. Nice, huh?! Anyway, they decided I was in labor and took me up to L&D. I wasn't in very long before I was asking for drugs and an Epidural. However, the urge to push took over and I couldn't stop it. They kept telling me I wasn't ready, until the nurse looked down and saw the top of Little Guys head. He was on his way and nothing was stopping him. It took probably 4 pushes and he was out, as the man with the Epidural made his way in. The entire time, hubby was holding Train Junkie who just watched the whole thing with interest. I had a 2nd degree tear and the Dr. proceeded to sew me up without any local anesthetic. I stopped him, asking"OOOOWWW WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" He replied, "Sewing you up". "WELL STOP IT! That HURTS!"
He didn't although the nurse finally brought over something to numb me.
Suffice it to say our Baby Girl was not born in the Navy Hospital, and my experience with her was normal and easy.

Now, I get to pick my top 3 gifts, and HOPE and cross my fingers, that I WIN something!!
1. First Choice Lucky Mom necklace
2. Flip Hop Slippers!
3. Peekaboo Baby nursing cover

Now, its your turn! Let me know if you play, I LOVE reading birth stories :)

My Too MUCH To Do List

I am sitting here eating my bowl of Count Chocula cereal, do you guys remember this cereal? We were at Wal-Mart last night and needed to pick up some groceries since hubby has duty today, and went to the cereal aisle. We ALWAYS neeed cereal. Come to find out, hubby's ALL-TIME favorite cereal is Boo-Berry. And since Wal-Mart carries this uber nutritious breakfast fare for the low low price of $1.88 a box, we got 4! One of which was Count Chocula, or as my Little Guy calls it Chocky-do da.
So here is my To Do list for the day....
* CLEAN my house, living room, kitchen, dining room, master bdrm
* Strip beds and wash and change sheets
* Laundry in general
* Work on my sewing project (and if anyone has any sewing machine usage pointers, PLEASE share them with me!!)
* Make "something" (I know what it is, but she reads this..)for a friend of ours for her birthday
* RE-CLEAN my kitchen since my boys will be helping with above task....
* Finish hanging pics upstairs
* Pay some bills online
* Workout

Now, if I accomplish even half of this, I will feel pretty good about my day. I also have to find time to hang out with my kids, make meals, take a shower, and bath my boys! Maybe I will just go back to bed.

So, 2 questions for you guys, 1. What is your favorite KID cereal?? and 2. Whats on your To DO list today?

Issues, We All Have Them...

Some of us more than others! Reading here earlier in the week, led hubby and I to start talking about our oldest childs food issues. And how TRULY bazaar some of them are. The topic, in case you haven't made it over there yet, was basically, how do you handle mealtime meltdowns? Go read it, and the comments, some are HI-LARIOUS! Ok, I know that took stinkin' forever, but it was worth it, right?
Train Junkie started life out pretty good, I nursed him full time (like its a job, right? And you all know it pretty much is...) until about 4 mos and then we did the usual starting food routine.(He breas*tfed until 11 mos, when he cut himself off) And he did well. Ate like a champ. LOVED green beans. Which in and of itself should have signaled my inevitable demise. Because according to my mother, when I was little I also held the green bean dear to my heart. To the point of asking for more, and at the tender age of two, I made my way around the dinner table taking them from peoples plates. Now I HATE them.... As does TJ. And all veggies in any form unless its tomato sauce and isn't that a fruit? He will eat most fruits.

But here is where it gets weird. I will start with the juice issue. We have always given our boys juice that is half water. For sugar reasons. Well, TJ HAS to have his juice with the water down (meaning put in first) and juice up. If it is any other way, and he sees you do it, he will NOT under any circumstances drink it.

The main foods he eats are Mac & Cheese, no preference to brand, so I could make it homemade if I was insane and had all the time in the world, hot dogs, ham and cheese, pb&j, and pizza. Most cereals, and breakfast foods. No eggs, he used to love them, then only wanted them if they were scalding hot. No sausage or bacon. Who doesn't like BACON??? He will eat pancakes. But hates Poptarts.

TJ will not eat a ham and cheese sandwich unless the ham is first and the cheese on top. The newest neuroticism, (is that even a word?) is he loves a ham and cheese rollup. This is a tortilla, with mayo, and ham and cheese. Ham first, cheese next, ROLL it up, do not cut it at all. If I make a quesadilla, same rule applies. We had a complete meltdown the other day when I made it WRONG. Ham on top, cheese melty on bottom, and oh the humanity, cut into the evil triangular shape. Instead of a circle....Which must be to symbolize the halo hanging over my little angel...
On a side note, I did refuse to make him anything else and he eventually picked at it and ate some of it.

Oh, and hot dogs, yeah they need to be COLD. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little thinking about that one. He will even go so far as to eat his Mac & Cheese cold. Like for lunch yesterday. All COLD. ICK. His chicken nuggets, if they are already cooked, he will eat them COLD from the freezer. And everything is to be dipped into ketchup and ranch.

He does, however, like grits. Yep, you heard me correctly. Something he picked up at school. I pay good money for my son to go to school and develop a taste for grits.
You know, for all the time we spend watching The Food Network, you would think some of it might rub off on him. So far, just the desserts have caught his attention. As he asked me to make him a CREAM PIE today. Too bad I can't camoflauge the veggies and mix them into that!

Do any of you hide foods within other foods? What are your kids weird food behaviors??

Pink With Excitement!

5 Minutes For Mom is at it again! October, as most of you know, is Breast Cancer Awareness month. And name brand products usually come out with something in that fabulous pink in support. A percentage of the sales typically goes to the charity. Dyson and Target are exclusively offering the Pink All Floor Vacuum, with 40% going to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. And for all my effort posting here about it, I am entered into the drawing at 5 Minutes For Mom to WIN my VERY VERY own! You can too, all you have to do is head over to here leave a comment and then link back! Easy Peasy! Or don't cuz that makes my chances a little greater.... Just kidding! Go, comment, link, and then support a great cause!