Teen Dreams of iPhone

My 13-year-old is asking for an iPhone because a few of her friends have them.  I'd be worried about the dog chewing it up or her losing it.  Do you know how many times I have to call her cell phone so we can find it?  I'd need to find insurance for iphones to set my mind at ease.  Maybe when she's older and can help pay for it, I'll google iphone 4 insurance and see what we can do about insuring an expensive item like that if she'll help pay for it.

It doesn't help that I have an iPod Touch that looks like her friends' iPhones.  I got my iPod as a gift for a job well done.  Considering a need a crow bar to even get her out of bed in the morning, or by noon, she's not earned anything!

How to tell if a child or adult is drowning - very surprising information!!

Do you know the drowning you see on television isn't usually the way drownings occur?  Every parent should read this article here.  I had no idea.

Another important article to read, about dry drowning, can be read here.

Baby Walker for Baby Shower Gift

My husband's second cousin (or is it cousin once removed?) has a baby shower next week that she invited me to.  I can't attend but I'd like to send a gift so I am looking at a baby walker.  We used them safely for our children on the lowest level (do not use them around stairs) when they were developed enough and they loved it! 

I remember my daughter had an activity walker but I don't remember what brand it was.  It looked like this Chicco Activity Baby Walker.  That one was a favorite.  Then there is the Disney Botanical Baby Walker that is just too cute.  What child doesn't like Tigger and Winnie the Pooh?  My stepson carried his Winnie the Pooh with him everywhere when he was a baby! 

Choices, choices.  I know whichever I decide, it will definitely get put to good use.  They're great for entertaining the little ones.

How did Father's Day go?

I hope everybody's Father's Day went well.  I'm sure there were dads everywhere getting big ticket items like a LCD TV, fishing gear, golf gear, etc. My husband got a new guitar and our four kids adoring him (his older two children didn't bother to contact him).

Bikes and guitars are his thing so we went with a Yamaha acoustic guitar.  He's been trying to get me to give up my Yamaha acoustic to him for months now so now he has his own! You would think that would stop him from wanting mine but, of course, it hasn't.  He always wants what he can't have until he gets it.  It drives me crazy.

Gift Ideas for In-Laws

We are going to visit the in-laws next month and I am looking for outdoor gift ideas for them.  We've bought them garden fairies and made homemade stepping stones with all of our kids' handprints in them.  They have statues and a water fountain already.  I am looking for other ideas for their rural setting like perhaps garden windmills or something like that. They come in different colors so it'd be easy to match their house. 

I have no idea.  Gift ideas for the in-laws are getting more difficult each year because they buy what they need when they need it.

Forgetting the Woman You Were

The weight scale is starting to come down again.  Since having my fourth child, it's been impossible to get the weight off because of my thyroid disease so it's been nice to see the weight come off now with my new thyroid medicine.  It makes me feel better in my clothes and revving up interest again in finding some pretty lingerie to sleep in again.

Between four children, two stepchildren, work and my health, it becomes too easy to forget to feel pretty about myself sometimes.  Losing weight is helping me feel like me again.  I used to be a fun "me" so it's nice to remember she still exists underneath all the daily "mom" needs that can sometimes swamp a mother.

Pecked to Death by a Duck

I saw this little sign in a country store and couldn't resist buying it and hanging it in my house.  Of course, my kids don't appreciate it but they will...when they have their own kids. 

It's amazing how much love you can feel for these little people and in the next minute, they're frustrating the heck out of ya.  It's enough to send me to prototype 37c in fear of wrinkles!

We have about nine weeks together and I'm trying to figure out how to keep things fun but organized, interesting without major frustration.  It's the last summer before my littlest one goes off to school.  Then she turns into one of THEM and she's no longer my baby anymore.

"Before" Fat Picture

I forgot to tell a little tidbit one of my kids did today when I was talking about weight in my previous post...

My oldest daughter snapped a picture of me today, unexpectedly, in my pajamas.  I was horrified!  I can't stand the way I look in pictures.  I guess they tell the truth and I can't stand seeing how much more weight I still have left to lose.  I looked like I needed to find diet pills that work. It took me all of three seconds to delete that picture to ensure it never showed up on facebook or anywhere else. 

What I should do is take a "before" picture of me now in the hopes that eventually I will have an "after" picture to compare it too.  I've thought about doing that before but I'd be really horrified actually.