Helping Out Cora's Cause!

Several weeks ago I came across a young family's blog. Tragically this family had just lost their beautiful baby girl Cora who was diagnosed with cancer just three weeks earlier. There has not been a day that goes by that I don't think about how their hearts must be breaking. On more than one occasion it has made me hold my girls just a little bit tighter and give them just a few extra kisses.

During there time of pain they have decided to honor her memory by building a playground in her name. The family has just opened up an awesome Etsy shop to help pay for the playground. Everything in the store is absolutely gorgeous! I personally can't wait to get my hands on a onesie dress for Stella just as soon as one is listed and not immediately sold! You seriously need to check out the shop and purchase something to help out their cause. Not only will you be doing a good deed but you'll be getting something soooooo adorable in return! Now go and check it out!

A Christmas Update Through Pictures

This time of year is always so crazy but ours has been topped with Madison getting by far the worst cold she has ever had and then sharing it with Stella and I. I guess I can't complain 'cause I'm always telling her she needs to share. Anyway I'm trying desperately to get our home in order and back into a routine (which includes blogging).

Christmas was great despite the fevers, coughing and runny noses. Madison was the only one under the weather Christmas Eve but she seemed to rally so me made the decision to go to Justin's grandparents with the rest of the family. Christmas Day was spent with my parents hanging out in sweatpants and eating way more than any human being should. It was really nice having a low key day complete with an afternoon nap 'cause I think we all needed that. We have been hanging home ever since trying to make everyone better. It is nice but so strange because I think the last time I have ever been home for so many days straight was when I gave birth to Madison! Justin originally had a week vacation but since we can't do any of the fun activities planned and he is not sick he opted to go to work. We miss having him home but since he is technically getting paid for two weeks (vacation and work) this week I can't complain. Here is a recap of the past week in pictures. Enjoy!

Stella's favorite new spot to hang.

Visions Of Sugar Plums Danced Through Their Heads!Christmas Eve. Somehow the only pic of them together. Didn;t even get a family photo :<Madison and cousin Kayla

Whoa! Santa came!

Trying to wait patiently for Stella to wake up.

The only Christmas pic of the girls and I!Poppy (my dad) and Stella

Stella and baby cousin Mackenzie (please ignore the red eyes)

I Have A Winner!

Happy Holidays everyone! I haven't been blogging lately 'cause life has been crazy to say the least! Between the girls, Madison being sick, Christmas and looking for a dog to adopt (yep I caved) I really haven't known which end is up. Now instead of catching some z's while the rest of the fam is sleeping I stayed up late to play with the family's new Wii (so addicted to Mario Kart) and let you know who the winner of my My Baby Can Talk giveaway is. Congrats to abcdbanda for winning! As always if the winner does not contact me within 3 days I will select a new winner.
That's all for now folks. I'll catch up with on the holidays, my new do and hopefully a new dog soon I promise! DOn't worry there will be lots of pics to go along with the update too!
TTFN!!!

A Winner And An Awesome New Giveaway!

Congratulations to Elsie for winning the $25.00 gift certificate to Beadedbling.etsy.com!

Now for everyone else how about another giveaway? This time it is for the little guys. Baby sign language has always been something that has intrigued me. I bought a book on it when Madison was an infant and signed with her a little. The result was her knowing how to sign "more" and that was about it.

This time I've taken a much more active interest with signing with Stella and have already begun introducing some basic signs to her. I've also decided to use only ASL (AmericanSign Language) signing with her that way she can not only communicate with us but also friends of ours that are non-hearing. What is really fun to watch is Madison's interest in learning to sign also. One morning she inquisitively asked "Whatcha doin' non?" when I was signing with Stella and immediately wanted to learn too. It turns out she has already been learning the ASL alphabet at school!

I know that some parents don't agree with teaching babies to sign. They feel that this will prolong them from speaking. I disagree. Personally I beleive that babies can communicate much earlier than they can form words and signing allows them to do so. Many times toddlers throw temper tantrums and parents get frustrated because they can not figure out what the baby wants and the baby can't tell them. Having a baby that can sign may be able eliminate or at least reduce these types of tantrums! Here is a story and a video of my friend Danielle's baby Eliza signing that help to prove my point.

I recently got a collection of DVD's and Board Books in the mail from My Baby Can Talk. This collection is ASL based and has loads of awards. The books and dvd's were created for babies 10 months and older. Madison loves to watch the DVD's and both girls enjoy looking at the vibrant pictures in the books. I personally love the signing for dummies sections in the books. Every sign has diagram of how to hold your hand as well as directions as to how to move them. Trust me I need them!

Wouldn't you love this collection for your little one? Well lucky you 'cause I have one to give away too! The My Baby Can Talk collection includes...

• 3 dvds First Signs, Exploring Signs and Sharing Signs
• 3 board books First signs, Sharing Signs and Exploring Signs

If you were to purchase this it would cost over $75.00. It is well worth the cost but isn't everything better when it is free? To enter this giveaway...

• please post a comment about who would be using the collection and why you want to sign with this little person.
• Receive a second entry by blogging about this giveaway linking back to me and commenting letting me know that you blogged about it.
• Make sure to leave me a way to get back to you.
• The winner must contact me within 3 days of being announced or else I will select another winner.
• This giveaway will end on Christmas Eve next week.
• The winner will be announced Christmas Day.
  Good luck to all that enter!

Stella Update

Stella was checked out by her pediatrician after the incident on Friday and she is fine. In the meantime we have begun cereal with her. She has taken to it like a champ and after just a couple of feedings is already opening her mouth and lunging towards the spoon. This is completely different from Madison who was such a tough baby to feed. That has all changed now 'cause the kid will even eat sushi (no raw fish) and seaweed salad!

I didn't really get into the details of how the restaurant handled the situation the other day because ultimately none of that matters but for inquiring minds.... All of the wait staff immediately rushed over to see if Stella was okay. At that point I couldn't even tell you what the waiter looked like because I was too preoccupied with the baby. My mother noticed the guy making pizzas behind the counter looking over but he never stopped to see if Stella was hurt. After the initial shock the waiter came back several times to offer his heartfelt apologies and to even offer any personal information that we may need from him in case something was wrong with the baby. At the time I just wanted to scream get the F%^$ out of my face! Now I feel for him because accidents do happen and being the mother I should have never placed Stella into a situation where she could potentially get hurt. No manager or owner EVER came over willingly! Justin stopped the hostess and demanded to speak to the owner or a manger. She explained that her husband owned the restaurant and she went to go get him. Turns out it was the guy making pizza! He lied through his teeth and said he didn't know anything had happened and his wife said she came over to check on the baby but she seemed fine. I'm not sure if she did or not because I was in complete shock. Now we are not the suing type but as a business owner don;'t you think it is in your best interest to make sure no one is hurt and to demand a doctor be seen to CYA? I'm just saying. All the guy kept saying is dinner is on us! We didn;t care about who was paying for dinner. We just wanted someone to acknowledge what had just happened. As we were leaving the owner finally got out an accident report and filled it out once we told him we were going to the emergency room. Again all he kept saying is the bill is on me. Okay buddy we got it. The accident itself would not have stopped me from going there again after all it was an accident. The owner's behavior however has made us decide to completely write off this restaurant (If you need a name I'll be happy to email it to you). It is not like decent
Italian restaurants in NJ are hard to find!

My blogging has been scarce to say the least but we are neck deep in Christmas here. All the gifts are bought and wrapped, the house is decorated and Madison is wired! If we could only harness her energy I'm sure we could solve the world's energy crisis! I've even attempted to bake a few Christmas cookies although it doesn't seem like there will be any to give out this year. The first two batches were eaten almost instantly on Sunday and I either forgot to add flour or oats to the third 'cause the results were not pretty. If the weather isn't too bad today we are off to the mall for pictures with Santa. I'll admit I'm completely exhausted doing all that is Christmas with two kiddos but I remember how special my mom made Christmas for my brother and I and I want to do the same for my girls! Thank goodness the breast feeding has stopped because I am surviving on Rock Stars at this point (yes I know waaaaaaaay unhealthy)!

Don't forget today is the last day to enter my Beaded Bling giveaway. I'll be posting a new awesome giveaway either today or tomorrow so keep checking back!

My Most Important Post Ever... Please Pass Along!!!

With presents to buy, cards to send, cookies to bake and decorations to hang it is easy to get lost in everything that is commercially Christmas. I'm not going to lie I've been guilty of it myself. Consumed with what has to be done before the big day as if the world might stop if it doesn't. Ultimately none of these things really matter. The only thing that truly does matter during this time of the year as well as every other day of the year is that your loved ones are happy and HEALTHY.

This reality check hit me last night while we were out to dinner. My parents, Justin the girls and I all went to one of our favorite little Italian restaurants. There was no booth large enough to accomodate all of us so one of the restaurant employees turned a high chair upside down and a placed Stella (who was sound asleep) and her carseat on top. No big deal. I've done it dozens of times before and have seen hundreds of other parents do the same thing. We all munched on bread, ate salad and were waited for our entrees when CRASH! A waiter knocked into the high chair holding Stella and her car seat. the chair fell over and the car seat fell floward, upside down with her in it. Before it was even settled on the ground Justin and I had it picked up and were checking out our little girl. She was slowly waking up with a look on her face like what the heck happened and why is everyone in my face? Not a single tear. Thankfully everything seemed to be fine but we wanted her checked out just in case. After all she did fall to the floor upside down in her car seat!

We took her to the hospital where we were quickly greeted by a rather gruff doctor. He diagnosed her as fine even before looking at her because she had been strapped securely in her car seat. He examined her quicklky (I think just to appease me) and we were released. In and out of the ER in under 1/2 and hour. She seems completely fine, not even a scratch but I'm taking her to the pediatrician tomorrow to put my own mind at ease. (Yes Danielle for the first time ever I am overreacting. Probably).

Although I beleive in God I don't tend to be very religious, I'm not the best at getting up and going to church every Sunday or even remembering to say my prayers. I know though that God was looking down on us and kept our baby safe from harm. This situation could have had such a tragically different ending. If her seat had hit the table or if she hadn't been strapped in I can honestly say I don't know if she would be with is right now. I'm sure that we are not the only family that this has happened to but it is not something that is ever really discussed or addressed. I know that there are car seat slings that can be used at restaurants but they could have been knocked over just as easily. There has got to be a better, safer way to hold car seats and as parents it is up to us to demand something. If you could please share my story with other mothers or maybe even link this post to your site I would really appreciate it. People need to be made aware so that this does not happen to them!

Take A Picture It Lasts Longer

After nearly a day of decorating and already having to readjust just one day later I've decided to take a picture of our Christmas tree. Madison is much better about not touching this year and even insisted that we wrap some gifts to place under the tree "to make it look pretty". I'm still not convinced that the tree will go untouched through the whole season and fingers are crossed that it doesn't come crashing down this year. So I've taken this picture of what the tree looks like now JUST IN CASE!

P.S. Thanks MckMama for your ISO lesson. I played with the shutter speed and turned the flash off. I liked this pic the best although my skills need some more practice!

P.P.S. Make sure to enter my giveaway for a $25.00 gift certificate to Beaded BLing before Dec. 17th!