Sick sick sick

The worst days are days when my baby is sick! Poor Reece has been sick for 2 days. I hope it goes away soon! I don't think I can handle many more clean-ups this week! Only 5 more days until my baby is 2yo! I'm very excited! Sorry for the short post... Sickness in this house exhausts me!

Colgate Optic White

I got my VoxBox from Influenster in the mail yesterday. I started using my Colgate Optic White toothbrush today. It was super easy and hardly took any time out of my daily routine. Even with being a mom, I felt like it could become a normal everyday thing for me. I have heard that when people use those whitening strips or other whitening products, it leaves a goo on your teeth and with the Colgate Optic White there was no goo. It left my teeth feeling clean. I can't wait to see what my teeth look like after tomorrow. I took a picture before brushing my teeth today but I will wait to post it until after I brush my teeth tomorrow night so I can post the before and 2 days later pictures together.

Grieving an unborn baby... miscarriage and abortion

Recently, I read a post by another blogger on her experience with multiple miscarriages while surrounded by pro-lifers (friends, co-workers, ect). After reading her post which you can find here, I was inspired to write about my story. I have only spoken of my experience with my unborn child to my family and my husband's family and my closest friends. Please read my whole story and be kind in your judgment of me.




“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” John 8:7




Thanksgiving day of 2008, I was in the passenger seat of my car while my boyfriend was driving. We were following my mom and her wife to a family member's house for Thanksgiving lunch. While at a stop light, we were hit from behind by a boy home from college. He was driving 55 miles per hour and looked down at his radio to change the station. He didn't realize that the light was red and when he looked back up it he was too close to us. He slammed on the brakes, but his car still careened into mine and mostly ended up crushed underneath as it threw my car forward into oncoming traffic. At the time, we considered ourselves lucky because my mom had put the propane tanks in my trunk but moved them at the last minute to my sister's feet in her car.




I was going to be 18 in a few short weeks. My body went into shock and they took me to the hospital. At the hospital, I was taken to the pediatric section of the ER. I told them I was due for my period the next day. They didn't check for a pregnancy. They did x-rays on my back and neck. I didn't think anything of it. We left for the beach that night.




A week later, I came back from the beach with my family and returned to my college campus. I was supposed to go for x-rays on my foot (from another incident on campus) but the doctor made me take a pregnancy test because I had still not started my period. I thought it was just the stress from the accident. She sent me upstairs and told me to wait for the results before I got the x-rays. She called upstairs and I was asked to return back downstairs to talk to her. I was pregnant.




I spent the next week crying and praying and talking. My boyfriend told me it was my decision, but he wanted to keep the baby. His mother was Catholic, so in her eyes abortion was not an option. My mother told me she would stand by me no matter what. I thought about everyone in my life. I thought about what might happen if I kept the baby and my boyfriend and I split up. I thought about what would happen if I decided to give the baby up for adoption, then realized that if I kept the pregnancy I would never be able to give the baby up. I thought about all of those x-rays I had done at the hospital and how far along I was and the damage they may have caused on my little peanut.




I went to the doctor exactly one week before my 18th birthday. I was 5 weeks pregnant. Since I am rh-, they gave me a shot for that and then gave me another shot which killed the little peanut. They sent me home with some pain killers and told me that I would "miscarry" by next week. I lost the baby on my birthday. I cried and grieved for the life I took. I cried with my mom. I cried with my boyfriend. I cried with his mom.




I broke up with my boyfriend less than a month later. I made excuses, all of them true. The whole truth is, I was just not comfortable being with him. I felt like I had betrayed him. And I moved on.




For the next six months, I hardly spoke to my dad when I was at his house. On the fourth of July, my aunt and her family came to visit on their way to Maryland. My older cousin (by 2 years) was pregnant with her first son. His due date was eerily similar to what mine would have been. They were in town for a week and were staying at my dad's house. So was I. I made every effort to be out of the house and away from them as much as possible. I picked up extra shifts at work and on July 4th, I went out with my new boyfriend to his hometown, 2 hours away, to watch fireworks. When I returned, I confided in my aunt. I told her why I had been avoiding her daughter. I told her that I loved them so much, but I was not ready to deal with this pain. My dad still didn't know. I told her that, too.




A week after they left, I went back to see my dad and have lunch with him at a fast food place. I did not want to taint his home with the memory of the conversation I wanted to have. While we were sitting at the table talking, I told him that I had given away my virginity and that I had gotten pregnant and had an abortion. I cried. He held my hand. He told me that he already knew. My aunt betrayed my confidence. She told her mom. Grandma told Dad. I cried more. I told him I was so sorry. I apologized for not telling him sooner. I bawled my eyes out. (I hate crying in front of others, so this was a big deal for me.)




My dad comforted me and told me that he loved me. He showed me God's love. I grew up with Jesus in my life. Church was never forced upon me, but was somewhere I chose to be. I have always loved God, but everyone strays from Jesus at least once. I was afraid that Jesus would never love me again, but my daddy showed me that Jesus will always love me no matter what. And at that moment, he was my daddy and I was his baby girl again. I sometimes wish that I could go back to being a little girl, but then I look at my boys Ray and Reece and I don't want to give them up.




I still have not completely forgiven myself for the abortion. I grew up wanting a baby girl and have often wondered if God is punishing me for the abortion by not granting my prayer. Times like this, God sends me someone to tell me that He loves me. He sends someone to listen to my fears. He sends someone to push those fears aside and remind me that I have a baby in Heaven with God. She was able to grow up with God as her Father. I will see my baby again and I will recognize her immediately.




I think my baby was a girl. There is no way to know for sure, but her earthly father now has two daughters, so it is highly likely. Besides, sometimes a mother just knows. I still pray that one day God will send me a daughter to raise. I will tell her and my boys the story of their unborn sister. I will tell them of the pain I experienced, emotionally and spiritually.




I have not ever had a miscarriage, but I have seen several of my friends miscarry or deliver a stillborn. I even have a friend who was pregnant with twins, miscarried one of the twins and then later delivered the other stillborn. It is so hard to watch these people I care about go through so much pain. I cry alone in my room thinking about all the misery they have to endure and how people tell them "it'll be okay," because no it won't be okay. One day their heart will heal, but it will never be whole again. I will never be whole again. And that? That is okay.




Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Health & Wellness

I have been trying to lose weight for a long time. I began running, as well as doing crunches, jumping jacks, planks, and even attempting push ups (which are extremely difficult for me). As of today (February 20, 2014) I decided that at least for the next month, I would give up fried foods and limit my milk intake to one glass a day, as well as my coffee/sodas. I woke up with a horrible migraine which had me confined to the couch for most of the day, however I stayed true to myself and had no milk, half of a can of Sierra Mist and no coffee. I drank only water for most of the day and the other half of my soda was stolen by "Reece". Despite my pounding head, I still managed to fold some laundry.  At the beginning of this experiment, I weighed in at 135lbs. Some people would say that 135lbs is nothing, but when you are only 5'2", that is a lot of weight. And very little of it is muscle...

I will say that I have some very strong calf muscles though. Everything else might be weak, but I have strong calves from running up and down steps all through high school! :)

Sleepless Nights in the South

Okay so it's 3 am and I am now wide awake thanks to a little monster I like to refer to as "Reece." Poor booger can't sleep through the night yet for some reason. I was almost asleep when I heard the first cry. I could sense him getting closer and sure enough "bang bang bang" goes my door. And then I hear that dreadful moan of "mama" as he whimpers outside my door. Reluctantly, I climb out of bed and tiptoe across the floor. I wouldn't dare to let him whine too long for fear of the other terror awakening, leaving me to battle two sleep deprived young'uns in the morning.... 

As I open my door, I look down to find little Reece standing at the bathroom door holding a cat toy, attempting to shut the bathroom door because the bright light is too harsh to his dreary eyes. As I step out into the harsh light, he stops what he is doing and reaches out to me, dropping the cat toy. His arms are like wrought-iron bars as they tighten around my neck, and I begin to wonder what awoke him. 

Cooking 101

As a young lady, I never showed much interest in learning to cook. I never even really learned how to boil an egg until I was already a mom. I mean, I understood the basics. Start with cold water make sure egg is already in water and then bring to a boil. That was the extent of my knowledge concerning boiled eggs. Then again, I had never really had much use for boiled eggs until after I was married seeing as I don't like boiled eggs. I like devilled eggs, but I had never been in charge of preparing them.

Now, as a mom living in an area where everyone knows how to cook, I get picked on quite frequently for not knowing how. I have begun to push myself to learn how to cook. I have learned to prepare quick meals and also to do many slow cooker recipes.

One of my favorite slow cooker recipes is Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak. It takes a little bit of prep work, but it turns out so good it just melts in your mouth!

 Picture from allrecipes.com

I also love Lawry's marinades and my favorite is their Steak & Chop marinade. I know that I can throw some pork chops or steaks in a zip lock bag in the morning with some of the Steak & Chop marinade and put it in the fridge to defrost and marinate at the same time. Then, when I get home from running errands, I can just pull them out and grill, broil, or pan-fry them. So tasty no matter how they get cooked! I try to pair it with easy sides that are kid-friendly like mac & cheese, baked beans, green beans, or corn & peas.

Happy Cooking!!!

Gender rules

OIf you have been reading my blog, then you already know that I have two boys (Ray 32mo, Reece 17mo). Ray is all boy. He has never been mistaken for a girl; however, Reece has been mistaken for a girl several times. Both boys have bright blue eyes and blonde hair (although Reece's is much lighter). My husband "Daddy" told me not to put Reece in an elephant costume because it was too gender neutral. I did it anyways because I thought it was super cute and at one house he was referred to as 'she' over and over again before we moved to the next house. It was not a big deal to me, but Daddy was embarrassed.

I recently began crocheting again and decided I would make the boys some leg warmers just for fun. Yesterday, it was warm enough to go outside and play but I couldn't find Reece's clean pants to I put his leg warmers on and said let's go. He was warm enough and had a blast playing outside but after posting pictures on my personal FB page I got some backlash from family friends (namely my mom-in-law's friend).

I thought he looked adorable. They are comfy and cute. Does it matter if he is a boy? Not to me. And it's not like I took him out to the grocery store that way or something. We were in my yard. I'm not putting him in a dress or putting bows in his hair. What do you think? Did I break the rules by putting him in leg warmers?

Homemade Holiday Sandwich

Ingredients:

Food Lion sub rolls (6"), cut in half

Sliced turkey

Stove Top stuffing

Turkey gravy

Whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:

Prepare the stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce according to the directions. Next turn the oven on low broil and place the rolls open face on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in the oven on the center rack for 1-2 minutes, flip rolls and repeat. Remove from oven. Put sliced turkey on the sub, add stuffing and top with gravy. Add cranberry sauce to top bread and place in oven for 3 minutes. Close sandwich, cut in half, enjoy!

One day at a time...

I have a hard time remembering to be patient. I often get flustered easily when I want something done a certain way but the people around me cannot manage it. I suppose I am a tiny bit OCD. Towels especially have to be folded just so (half, half again, thirds). Due to my impatience, I often lose my temper with the other people in our house (my 16yo brother-in-law with a developmental disability, my mother-in-law, and my husband). I try very hard to control my temper, but I get frustrated easily. Therefore, potty training and switching beds and taking away Ray's binky has been very hard on me. I have gotten little sleep since the kids have trouble going to bed plus potty training is hard!!!

End rant. More later!

November Changes-More Than Just The Leaves

Okay, well "Reece" has been saying "peepee" a lot and every time he says it he goes to the bathroom or I'm changing his diaper and he touches his "peter-bob." So today, after his nap, I took off his diaper and put cloth training underwear on him. I then took him to the bathroom and set him on the potty and said "go peepee" and then turned on the water in the sink. I took a cup (we keep two in the tub for the boys to play with) and dipped it in the warm water from the sink. I poured it over his "peter-bob" a little at a time and waited a couple of seconds. Sure enough, he went peepee and that was that. I jumped up and down, and clapped and "Ray" came in and celebrated and told Reece good job. We went in the living room and played for a while. He had an accident so I ran back and forth with him saying "no peepee in our pants peepee in the potty" about 4 or 5 times. After putting him on the potty I put new training pants on him. He had 4 accidents before I decided that wearing underwear was not going to work. After the fourth time, I took him to the potty and this time I left him bare-bottomed. He had one wet accident on the floor, but the rest of the day was much better and we went to the bathroom about every 10-15 minutes. At one point, I realized that he smelled, but there was no poop anywhere on the floor around us. I looked and he was just beginning to have a little accident. I took him to the potty, but once seated he did not go. By this time, it was dinner time, so we ate dinner and he remained dry and clean throughout dinner. After dinner, I put him back on the potty and he went peepee while I ran his bath water. After his bath, he sat on the potty again and went peepee, then I put a pull-up on him. I got him dressed for bed and read him a book. After reading him a book I put him in his toddler bed. We put the toddler bed in his bedroom at some point late in the summer (August/September). I wanted him to be familiar with it before I transitioned him out of the playpen and into the toddler bed. He laid in the toddler bed for about 1 minute before decideing that he wanted to get up and play. When he got up, I picked him up and put him back in bed. I spent about 10-20 minutes repeating this process over and over again. At that point, I got tired of putting him back in bed. I then picked him up and took him into the dining room where we keep the computer and turned on youtube. I found a 2 hour long video of Mozart music with calming moving pictures. I played it and waited as he fought sleep eventually giving into it. Now, I have to get my 2.5yo, Ray, to also go to sleep.... I guess it's back to Mozart.

CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN

I feel like I'm in a never ending cycle. I get one room clean and move to the next and by the time I get that room clean I have to go to another room to clean and when I think I'm done I have to start all over because the boys have destroyed the first room already. Ugh! I wish Ray would help clean instead it feels like they devised a plan to divide and conquer. I need a vacation. Who's with me?

Chex Mix

I am a SAHM. My husband works two jobs but we still can't afford childcare for me to get a job or go back to school. As most of you know, the economy-I'll just come right out and say it- has gone to shit! I am praying that it will get better but to be honest I don't see that happening any time soon. We were hoping that Ray would qualify for an IEP which would get him into the preschool program at the local primary school for free, but we aren't sure if that will be happening now. OFF TOPIC!
Okay, so because we are a one income family (basically), we qualify for WIC. I know a lot of other families are also on WIC nowadays. One of the things you can purchase on WIC is a LOT of cereal. We don't actually eat much cereal because we own chickens and we mostly eat eggs and sausage and bacon and grits for breakfast. So our cereal has kind of piled up a LOT!

My mother-in-law found a BUNCH of Chex Mix recipes online at Chex.com (and some can be found on the back of the box itself) but we have slowly begun to try all of the different ones. So far we really like the Chex Barbeque Snack Mix, Taco-Seasoned Chex Mix, and Peppermint & Chocolate Chex Mix. We found all of these on Chex.com and each of them have the nutritional information at the bottom which is great. One serving is 1/2 a cup of mix and the Peppermint & Chocolate Chex Mix has only 190 calories per serving and I think it is the mix with the most calories. I don't normally like chex but some of these recipes are really tasty! Plus, it's healthy snacks that my boys (all 3-husband included) LOVE!

Christmas Book

Ok, so we are starting a new tradition this year where each child gets a Christmas Eve Box. Inside will be a new pair of pajamas, a bag of ready-to-pop popcorn, a box of theater candy, a movie, a pack (or k-cup for all you keurig users) of hot chocolate, and THIS year we will be adding a special book. Like I said in my first post, we live in the Carolinas, and while browsing at Walmart the other day we saw a book called Santa is coming to the Carolinas. As I flipped through it, I recognized the names of all the major cities and thought it was very cool. My children are too young to recognize the names of the different cities but in a few years they will really enjoy it!

Christmas and presents

I don't know about y'all, but I am a mama on a budget. I just scored an awesome buy of a bike cart for my babies at only $30! :) now I can ride my bike with my babies! 😀

Influenster

I just joined influenster! It sounds great! Hoping to get my influenster badge high soon! I want to get that voxbox! 😉

Cooking-without burning down the house

Before I met my husband, I could only make three things: potato soup, green bean casserole, and pancakes. I mean, sure, I could bake brownies or a cake from a package or heat up some canned soup, but I didn't realize how many culinary skills I lacked until I moved in with him. "JR" taught me how to make spaghetti, fish, baked chicken, pork, roast, hamburger helper, and pretty much everything else! His mama, "Julia," taught me how to make fried chicken in a pan, desserts from scratch, and a myriad of other delicious things I wouldn't have dreamed about making before.

When I visit my parents, I ask them to let me help in the kitchen now; something I never would have asked to do before becoming a mom. My dad is a great chef.  He taught me to make some goodies as well and I hope that one day I will be just as good as he is.

When I try new recipes, I will post on here as to whether or not my family enjoyed them. If they loved the recipe, I will post either a link or the recipe on here as well.

Little Mens

I am starting this blog a little later than most. I currently have two children. "Ray" is my first born. He is 2.5 years old. He has childhood apraxia of speech and has been in speech-language therapy since his second birthday. Ray went from having approximately 10 words in January to speaking in full sentences now (6-8 words per). He still has problems with forming some of the words.

My second child is also a boy, "Reece." He is almost 1.5 years old. He has over 25 words and has already begun putting words together.

I want to have a daughter some day but I decided to get an IUD to give me some time to enjoy my boys first. Ray is almost potty trained so there will be a few posts in the future on our potty training adventures with him, our successes and failures. Reece has already begun to show interest in the potty as well so we may begin working with him soon as well.

Back Story

I grew up thinking I was from The South. I am from The Carolinas and I lived on a farm for the first few years of my life. I never realized how privileged I really was. My mama always told me that we didn't have any money. I thought we were poor. I never understood how we could live in a nice house and still be poor. My daddy always took me to church and one day after church he took a homeless man lunch. I knew then how poor people actually lived.

I never had a country accent like most of my family but I thought that was because I spent my summers in Texas and California and Colorado. Now, I live in the true country. When I was a child I would have referred to people like my in-laws as rednecks or hicks. What's so funny, is that they call themselves rednecks. Now, I go home and my mama asks where I got this thick southern accent from. Well, I guess I must be turning into a Southern Mama…