check this out

so i was reading one of my mom blogs tonight and she posted about this awesome website. you can look at AN ENTIRE CHILDRENS BOOK on line before you buy it!! amazing go visit!

http://www.lookybook.com/

zoo

we took the kids to the zoo last weekend. i think they had a good time. here are some pics from the day.

recycle baby food containers

i have found a neat and tidy way to store my babes snacks. i kept most of my old baby food containers and she also still eats the fruits @ 14 months. they work great as storage containers for her snacks now that she is older :) this works for me. to find more works for me ideas visit shannon at rocks in my dryer.

sun burn and straw fun

her 1st sun burned cheekers! so dang cute.








playing with mommies cup and straw

what color do you like best?

we need your help. we need to reside our house this summer. currently our house is white with black shutters and a blackish roof. we also have grey rock around the front door which is red.



a couple of things for you to know. we can paint the grey rock and we qualified to get a new roof through our insurance bc of hail damage.



so yesterday we drove around to look at house colors. here are some favorites. which do you like best?







brown siding with cream colored shutters, brownish roof. (keep our red door, paint our rock a brownish color)






white siding, dark green shutters, black roof, our red door, keep grey rock.








tan siding, brown shutters, brown siding (keep our red door, paint our rock a brownish color)






dark cream siding (this house is brick), olive green shutters, black roof. (keep our red door, not sure about the rock on this one)

just.....wow

The earthquake in China unleashed one of the most powerful forces on earth - love.

(Above) Female policeman Jiang Xiaojuan breastfeeding a rescued infant. She is still lactating as she gave birth six months ago. -- Picture: XINHUA

Whether it is a mother saving her child, a female cop breastfeeding lost infants or celebrities moved to act, it was there like a comforting blanket amid the pain, grief and heartbreak.

Perhaps one of the most powerful examples of these acts of love is the last desperate act of a dying mother, trapped in the rubble, trying to save her 3-month-old baby.

Knowing the end was near, she nestled her baby to her breast, so that the baby could survive after she was gone.

Dr Gong Pu, a 30-year-old gynecologist told nddaily.com that rescuers were searching through rubble along a river in Chengdu when they came across a young woman cradling a baby in her bosom.

The mother had lifted up her shirt to breastfeed the baby. By the time they were found, the mother had already stopped breathing.

PROTECTING HER BABY

Said Dr Gong: 'We carried the baby carefully from the mum's arms. The baby started crying after its mouth left the mum's breast.

'It left tears in our eyes.

Actor Jackie Chan (far left) visiting survivors in a hospital. He brought with him sponsored supplies of 120,000 bottles of tea and $195,000 worth of food. --Pictures: AP, ORIENTAL DAILY

'From the way she was carrying the baby, we could see that the mum was doing all she can to protect her child.

A mother's instinct to protect even extended to strangers.

In Jiangyou county, policeman Jiang Xiaojuan, 29, was seen breastfeeding a rescued infant.

Mrs Jiang is still lactating as she gave birth six months ago.

However, when she heard about the quake, she left her baby in the care of her parents.

And when she saw hungry infants crying at the rescue centre, her motherly instincts took over.

She is nursing the children of three women who were left homeless by the quake and were too traumatized to give milk, as well as five orphans.

The orphans had been placed in an orphanage which does not have powdered milk.

Mrs Jiang's selfless act prompted netizens to sing praises of her on various online forums.

READ MORE HERE

# 29

have you ever had one of those moments that just sticks with you throughout your day? the memory just lingers. i had one of those today at the park.

today we took nick and the babe to the park to play after lunch. we went to wills park . we went right after lunch. it was crowded. all kinds of sports events going on. every dad in town had kid duty. the place was a zoo.

and here i am with my little 14 month old who wants to be on the big kid side with her brother. she cant do much on this side except wander around. she is really into steps right now. up ~ down ~ up ~ down. she is learning how to hold onto the sides of the rails to help herself get up without help. we were in the middle of the play area. they have these tunnel like areas that have steps and such that you can climb up to get to the tree house fort like places that lead to all the slides. well there are little step areas all over the place. the babe was in heaven. she was just stepping up down, up down. well all of the sporting games seemed to end at the same time. all of a sudden there were a ton of "bigger" kids playing tag. a bunch of rough and tough boys running ALL over the place. up and down all of these tunnel areas. chasing each other.

one boy who was running away from the tagger came around the corner and needed to go into the tunnel where the babe was going up down, up down. well here is what happened.

he came upon her, stopped, waited for her to finish what she was doing, she lost her balance and fell down. he bent down, and with both hands picked her up gently and said here you go. and off he went.

it was the sweetest tenderest moment i have seen in a long time. this rough and tumble pre teen boy playing with his buddies. trying to win the tag game. stops and takes a moment to help a little girl.

i hope that mags grows up to be like this.

heres to #29 :)

car seat ~ new rules

so tonight in my parent magazine i came across a blurb that made me smile. so i am not crazy after all. you see mags has been riding rear facing in her car seat since she was a wee babe and still rides rear facing even though she is over 20 lbs and is 14 months old. i read a long time ago that extended rear facing is safer for your child. there is more support for her little neck if we crash. i have heard it described that their heads are like a melon on a popcicle stick in an accident.

tonight i read that there is in fact new research out there confirming this. it is now recommended that your child stay rear facing until they reach the seats height and weight limits for the convertable car seat. this is usually 36 inches tall and 30-35 lbs. (depending on your seat of course, ours is 50 lbs)

i cant find any links on the web for this new research but i do have the following you can link to that mentions these new recommendations and will cover all the what ifs. what if my child wants to face forward, wont his/her legs break if we have an accident etc.

anyway i just wanted to share :)

mother's day

my reasons for mother's day


















my mommy



















4 generations

fun being 14 months

the following 2 videos have a consistent theme: the babe is in her diaper and the house is a mess. but hey it is hot outside and she is 14 months and into EVERYTHING!!

pillow fight!!



daredevil mags














daredevil










playing at park




















notice how she and her doll are in the same position











how sweet is this?






a sweet gift they made for me at Waumba. thats the babe's feet.

my co worker michael passed away

you may remember when i posted about michael and his family a while back. michael was battling melanoma cancer. he passed away on monday. his funeral was today. please pray for his wife jen and their 2 boys kaleb and noah.

just some pics

mags said "night night" tonight!! here are some cute pics just cause.







no more pics mom!












talking on the phone











going up!

say opposites

i got it on video :)

day out with friends

a day with friends. marshall, emma kate, ella and maddox.

sibling love

although i am still ok with one child, this morning made me have a tiny desire to add another peanut to the mix. (for those of you who dont know, nick is mm half brother, he does not live with us)

adopting william

you may remember when i posted about this family that is trying to adopt a special needs child from liberia.

william was born with severe needs. mercy ships stepped in a provided the much needed surgery for im. the following are some before and after pictures.













the mom just got a call that they will be getting him soon. they need to raise the rest of the money. if you would like to donate to them please visit their blog.

the following is the latest from them

I got a call today that we have PASSPORT and FINALIZATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And because William already got his Visa pre approval with the US Embassy in Liberia we don't have anything left to wait on!!!!!!!
Well we do...we have to wait for Acres of Hope(my agency) in Liberia to DHL me the paperwork to submit to USCIS Detroit for William's I600. Normally this can take a couple weeks but with my Liberian daughter I found that calling them and emailing them daily(aka stalking)really moved things along. I got approval for her in 2 days. I intend to do the same with William :) Wish me luck ;)

So we are now SO close. I am so excited and a little scared. But God is GOOD! Yee hee I am so happy!!!

Love ya all,

Jen

hair loss mystery solved

i hope anyway..

went to the dr and had some blood taken. we found out that i have almost NO iodine in my system. who would have thought to have that checked? anyway i looked it up and lack of iodine can cause a lot of problems but one of them is:

Iodine is vital to your hair growth. Sheep farmers long ago found that vegetation-lacking iodine 
due to iodine-depleted soil would adversely affect the growth of wool in their sheep. 
Likewise, to avoid hair loss, you need iodine. Iodine is synthetically added to table salt, 
however in this form it is not assimilated well into your body and can therefore cause iodine overload.

An excess of iodine in the body can adversely affect the thyroid. The lack of iodine can cause 
hypothyroidism. In hypothyroidism, your cell metabolism slows down and body cells and hair 
cells don't receive the energy they need to function properly. When you lack iodine, 
you will lose more hair than normal and may even lose eyebrow hair. 

it can also cause breast cancer:

The essential trace element iodine may be the most important least publicized mineral in existence. Iodine is the only element needed in hormones and in the production of hormones. The iodine containing hormones are involved in the creation of embryos, development of brain function, growth, metabolism and maintenance of body temperature. This means that proper amounts of thyroid hormone, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, insulin, growth hormone etc. can not be made when iodine is lacking from the body. One third of all individuals on Earth are functioning with subnormal levels of iodine. Low intake of iodine is the leading cause for intellectual deficiency in the world.

There is strong evidence that iodine lack predisposes to breast cancer.