Happy New Year, very late, haha. 

So Monkey, has finished speech therapy and physical therapy. We can have a doctor write another prescription, and she can go again if we ever feel she needs any more help. The medication has been amazing! We were so against medication at first without the doctor showing us some medical reason for it, but he told us to trust him and try it. We are so glad we did. She can handle social situations so much better. We went to a Halloween event with over 3,000 people, she handled it great!! She would have never been able to in the past, and we would have never tried it. She also was fine during birthday parties, Christmas holidays, and football parties. The best part is her appetite. She is hungry now. She rarely was before the medication. Since the speech therapy helped us with her aversions to food (texture, looks), now she is hungry and is eating foods and also difference foods she normally would not have tried.  (She loves barbecue chicken!) She has even grew a couple of inches in a few months! She was in the same clothes for nearly two years until this medication helped stimulate her appetite. We also noticed she is not licking things anymore. Grocery shopping is easier without being worried what she is going to catch germs by licking! It has seemed to help her OCD behavior. She does not have to touch things so much. Again, we are really happy with her medication.  She has an appointment this month to talk about her results with the medication.

Our eldest is still doing great. She is now testing on tenth grade reading level in school, but she is in fourth grade. Wow, she loves to read. She is very crafty, and is learning to sew by hand this year. I just wish she would clean her room! She would rather sleep on a bunch of stuff than clean it, or just climb over stuff to get to her bed! Unreal. 

I am going to make more time for my blog this year. I am going to actually schedule time to write for it. I think that is how I need to do it. I schedule everything else in my life! Since things are going better for Monkey, I can focus on some other things like recipes, and whatever pops in my head.

Diagnosis

So we spoke with the neurologist last week. He stated her EEG and MRI were normal. He ended up given her the diagnosis of developmental delay. Her IQ is good. She is just going to have to have help when learning new things. Whereas she has autism traits, she does not have enough to meet a diagnosis. She also has OCD tendencies and has sensory issues. She will continue with speech until most likely December (her speech teacher said she is close to dismissing her). We will continue working with her with problem eating. She will also continue with Physical therapy for sensory issues. I am not sure how long she will continue that, but she just started a few weeks ago. We just paid all of our deductible with the EEG and MRI so we will only owe 10% on each visit so that will help money wise. We pay out of pocket for speech. She was put on risperidone to help with her moods and meltdowns. We already see an improvement. She is also less wiggly when trying to learn something with this medication. Now, we go back to trying to get the school to do something for her since she was denied. We are happy with the diagnosis.

EEG and MRI

So this week, Monkey had her EEG and MRI. Since the doctor was running late, and he is the one that gives the sedation medication, the nurse tried to give Monkey her EEG without the sedation. Since the sedation would last so much longer than the MRI medication, this was a good thing. Monkey hated it, but she did much better than we would have thought. The nurse took it slow. She stopped many times. We watched the movie Frozen, and the nurse did not wrap her head since she has sensory issues. 

When it came time for the MRI, two nurses came in and gave Monkey her IV. It was very scary for her, but the nurses did awesome at it. They were so quick, and wrapped her hand in bright colorful tape and left her alone for a while afterwards. We watched more Frozen. They even bought her some matching cards that she loved. We had bought her a new Pinky Pie Pony to give her right before the IV so she had something to focus on. Eventually, we took her to the MRI room, and she was given her meds. The medication took effect so quickly. It was scary to watch, but the doctor told us how she would react (facial expression and eyes) and how fast it would be. We were very thankful for his conversation. MRI took a little over 30 minutes and then she was carried in. She slept without moving for about 20 minutes. This child is never still even while sleeping so that was a little nerve wracking. After she woke up she had to drink some Gatorade to see how she was doing. We asked her before her meds what she wanted to do when we left and she said go to Chickfla. 

So after she was released, we took her to Chickfla. She could barely ate without believing she was going to throw up, poor kid, but she ate a bite here and there. She drank some sprite and then played slowly on the playground. We stayed a few hours. 

After we got home, she started to act more like herself and finished her chicken nuggets. Before the evening was over, she was snacking on everything. She was VERY hyper, but other than that, was fine. 

We will find out the results next week.

PT

Monkey has been to two PT sessions because she is sensory driven. Physical therapist is sure she has sensory processing disorder. She also was put in a compression vest with weights and wore it to speech. She never moved. I have never seen her this still in her lifetime. It was quite incredible. I am looking forward to seeing if she has the same response next week. If so, I think, I am going to take the chance and buy one for her. They are quite expensive. PT thinks it would help her sit and learn her letters since she still struggles with this. 

Next week, she has her EEG, and MRI tests. 

Halloween is coming. Both girls are excited, then we have the local Fair, and all our birthdays. Of course, Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and then Christmas. Love this time of the year. Whereas it is fun, it is more time for Monkey to get upset because of all the sights and noises. I am hoping since we are all trying to figure this out, that this year will be easier for her.

Sorry for the late update. We have been enjoying our summer. My eldest is back in school. We are so happy she still loves school and loves to learn. 

Monkey had all her testing from school. We received the results last week. She did not qualify at this time for special services. Once her neurologist gives her diagnosis, they will reevaluate her. We liked everyone at the school. We see how the process works, and have numbers to contact once she is done being evaluated with her neurologist. We know IQ wise, her IQ is good. Her issues are still behavioral. She scored low in adaptive and personal-social areas, but they said even though she was low average, it was not low enough without a diagnosis to receive services with the school system. We have known a few people that went through the same thing. Once the doctor stated a diagnosis, the school changed their decision.

Speech therapy has been such a blessing. Her speech is much clearer, and her problem eating is easily handled. She is trying new foods, still with resistance, but without all the drama, at least most of the time. She now LOVES barbecue chicken. (Happy dance)

She should start physical therapy soon for controlling her meltdowns. The physical therapist will show her how to help herself when her sensory issues are too much. 

She is scheduled for her first brain scan (EEG) at the end of October. 

Monkey is VERY excited, as is her sister, for all the new fun stuff coming up since it is finally hitting Fall. 

Recently I posted about My Buddy Tag. I am impressed. I put it on Monkey and we went to Chucke Cheese, and then to a Halloween store. The tag worked great especially in the Halloween store where she kept running away while I was helping her sister look for a costume. As soon as she started to go to the back of the store, my phone would go off and show me she was out of range. I could then bring her back. I watched her a few times do this and again, the Buddy Tag immediately showed me she was out of range. My only complaint was it was hard to put on. I bought the silicone one. I should have bought the Velcro one. 

Well, I think that is all on the updates.

Locator bracelet

So on Zulily today, they were selling My Buddy Tags. My Buddy Tags' website is here. I ended up ordering one since the price ($24.99) was lower than normal ($39.99). Basically this bracelet uses our smartphones Bluetooth to help locate your child if he or she wanders off. It also has an alarm if your child is in the water. Most GPS locating bracelets need a monitoring fee plus the outrageous price of the bracelet, but with My Buddy Tags, you only buy the bracelet and then download the free app to monitor your child. 

This would be neat when on vacation, at the zoo, playground or a big birthday party. We have been fortunate to not have lost our young child, but I like the idea of having this on her wrist as an added precaution. 

I look forward to updating later once I receive the bracelet.  Does anyone own one? 

School meeting

We met with the school. They agreed she qualifies for testing. She will begin with that in August when the nurses return to start testing her vision and hearing. Then other tests will follow.

She had her second speech therapy appointment. The speech therapist performed another test on her and then started working with her problem eating. My little monkey got highly upset and cried, ran around the room, tried to leave, would not look at the food, rocked, sucked her fingers, and screamed. Just looking at food, she hates, freaks her out. She was told to state she would not care for that instead of I hate that. Last night, we put broccoli on the table just for her to see. She looked at it a few times, but did not freak out. At one point, I asked her if she wanted to try a bite, she avoided my eyes, and stated, “I do not care for that.” Much nicer dinner! As much as I hated to see her upset, I already see progress.

Update after seeing Speech Therapist

We enjoyed speech therapy. She was nervous at first, but she finally warmed about half way in. She enjoyed the testing. She is missing some sounds. She is a problem eater, not a picky eater. Since insurance will not pay, and her speech is not too far behind, we are going to go once a week and work on a few problems. She will give me some ideas for home so the whole family can work with her. She is also going to help when she sees negative behaviors by reinforcing positive ones. I feel really good about this.

I am also going to make her a picture schedule to help her not have so much anxiety about what we are always doing each day. Speech therapist was the second person to recommend this.  

A little funny: Monkey was being asked her body parts by the speech therapist: "Where is your forehead?" Monkey pointed to her neck, then looked at the speech therapist and exclaimed: "I only have one head!"

Speech therapist evaluation

Today, we are seeing a speech therapist for an evaluation.  We saw the pediatric neurologist, and he wanted her to be evaluated by a speech therapist. After she had a social and physical evaluation, he ordered a bunch of testing, which will begin in October due to the only clinic being able to sedate a small child is booked up until then. He does suspect autism spectrum, but she still needs more testing before we are sharing that with everyone. (not many of my friends read my blog so I am still putting it on here to maybe connect with others that have been through this). For my friends that read this blog, please just keep this to yourself now as we go through this journey and find out more as we are trying not to worry our family right now. She is still the same child and we know that she will be excepted by them, but we do not want them worrying until we have all the information and testing done. We know something is going on as we are with her all the time. We still have a long ways until a diagnosis. There still could be other things going on besides autism or with autism especially since she is verbal and pretty social. She shows autistic traits, but not in the "classical" or "what most people know about autism...nonverbal or in their own world". There are many different degrees and not any one child is the same. We will do whatever we need to for her. Sadly, so far insurance has been a joke. They will not pay for any kind of therapy. 

We will meet with the school system next week for an evaluation. So we are hoping for some kind of help there. If they will take over speech therapy (If they believe it is needed), then we will not have to pay for it. That will help us out a lot and leave money for other therapies. We are also hoping to get her in the atypical preschool program (again school system has to approve it). She would attend half a day (she could not handle more than that so it is perfect for her). 

Anyhow, this is where we are right now. More questions answers soon at least with the school. 

New Journey ....not one anyone wants

We have started the process to have monkey (our 4yo) tested with the school system. Yesterday, I took her to her pediatrician to talk to him. She hasn’t been sick in a long while so it was time to just talk to him about her slow learning and quirky behaviors. He was going to have her hearing tested even though she seemed fine, but the machine was broken. He said we will do that at another time. We were referred to a pediatrician neurologist for early July. Our pediatrician believes she needs some type of behavior therapy. We all see sensory issue problems, but he believes there may be some autism traits. I filled out new milestone forms and her old ones were pulled and scored. Whatever is going on, he believes it is not “bad” or severe, but needs to be figured out. After the neurologist, we will be sent to a Developmental Clinic to test her for many different things. Besides the behaviors, she does not learn as fast as other kids.

Why would a stay at home mom want an Apple Watch?

So why would a stay at home mom want an Apple Watch? Here are MY reasons:

1. I do not always have pockets to carry my iphone around the house (our cell phone is our landline). I am bad about moving my iphone room to room and forgetting where I placed it. The apple watch will ping my iphone if I misplace it even if it is on silent so I can find it. Also, no more running around the house wondering where the iphone is when I hear it ring (I am hard of hearing so I cannot always figure out which direction sound is coming from). By the time, I find the phone, I have already missed the call. Since you can ping your iphone, I do wonder, can you ping your watch from your iphone? I think this would be really great when you are out with your child, maybe a very crowded fair or circus. Why? You could put the watch on your child as added security. If your child is out of your sight, ping your watch. I do wonder how loud the ping is, and if the watch does have this feature, maybe it will be more like the find your iphone feature but that one has GPS. So that may only be in the second generation of this watch. 
2. Grocery shopping: I can keep my shopping list on the watch instead of my iphone. I hate to keep pulling my iphone out of my purse when I am in the store. Apple Pay is very useful too. I use Apple Pay on my phone but NOT taking it out of my purse would be great especially when keeping up with my kids. Some apps, such as Target’s, will let me know when I am getting close to an item on my list when using the Target app.
3. Keeping time of course. How many times have I taken my iphone out of my purse or pocket to only tell the time?? More times, haha, than I can count.
4. When the school nurse calls to tell me my kid is sick, I will know immediately that she is calling instead of missing the call. I can also take that call on my watch if my iphone is not handy.
5. Whereas, I am not into fitness as much as I should be, I would really like to take advantage of the fitness app. I love the idea of keeping up with my heart rate. I had some heart rate issues a while back and this would be great to keep up with it and show my process to my doctor. I like knowing I can see how active I am, and will get reminders to move around. I would love to believe I would get in better shape with this watch, but until I receive one, I do not know. I am really curious about this.
6. Once my little one starts kindergarten, I will be back in the work force, at least part-time. I feel more comfortable knowing that the watch will notify me of calls and messages. Not all jobs will allow you to carry your phone around and since I only have to have my phone within a certain distance (Bluetooth, from searching online, suggests about 30 feet or more, and the watch will use Wi-Fi if the company I works for has it), my watch will help me stay in touch. Also, when my phone vibrates, it is loud. I need it loud because I do not always feel it, and I found the loudest setting has a better vibration. The apple watch will vibrate (Taptic) on my wrist quietly where only I know something is going on. Then I can discreetly look at it and decide if I need to response. I feel I will be less anxious starting back in the work force with the Apple watch, and will not bug my coworkers with my loud vibrating iphone.
7. I love listening to music on my iphone. It is nice to know I can with the watch.
8. I use Siri so much to ask her questions. I LOVE that Siri is so useful on the watch. From directions, dictating, calculating, setting alarms, calling, etc.
9. I use many alarms! From getting the kids up to making sure I make it on time to any appointments that are scheduled. I hate to be late. It is nice to have those reminders and alarms right on my wrist, and having the ability to change them. It will be great to have my timer on my wrist too when I am cooking.
10.  Weather. Who doesn’t check the weather? I love the watch faces with the weather right on the face. I am excited about that. We receive a lot of rain so it would be nice to have an idea about what hour the rain is coming today!
11.  I am horrible at remembering to take my medications. Walgreens and other health related apps will have a medication reminder with information about your medication. Sure, I can still set a reminder in my calendar or alarms, but I am interested in trying this out.
12.  I keep my iphone locked. After all, I have little ones. I love knowing that I will not have to find my iphone and then unlock it. I can just look at watch for information I need. It also makes me wonder if my iphone will last longer using it less? I know that the Apple Watch will use the iphone to run certain apps, but it just seems if I am using the iphone less, than the battery and iphone will last a longer time. I am curious about this.

So there you have it why I would LOVE to own an Apple Watch. I know others will enjoy storing flight info, controlling your Apple TV and things like that, but we hardly travel, and I do not have an Apple TV. You just have to see if there is a reason for you to have this watch. Sadly, my funds are low so I do not see an Apple Watch in my near future. I am hoping the prices drop before Christmas. Hey, I can hope, right? I love technology. Just love it. I normally do not buy first generation items, but I would love to own this one.

I do wish the watch was more affordable especially being a first-generation device. No way, I can afford a second watch band without buying a third-party band later. I really do not mind charging it each night because I charge my iphone anyhow. I HATE that the nearest Apple store is nearly 2 hours away. I wish the watch was being sold at other stores such as Best Buy. I am hoping in the future that will be what will happen. It would be nice to try one on in person and to see the watch. I will have to depend on someone I know buying one. I need the 38mm as I have a very small wrist.

Are you going to buy one, wait for the second-generation or pass all together?

Bullying.. and not always physical, but still hurts!

This is a long post, and probably an all-over-the-place-post. This “happened” and by happened, I mean what we did, a couple months back, and I wanted to let this rest for a bit before I posted.

Our neighborhood (not the neighbors on each side of us as they are fabulous) has gotten uncomfortable. I have thought about this post often, and have not written as I really do not know what to type. We asked two girls from two different families (would have been three girls but two are sisters so only two families, but only two were there this day) to not come over again: to not play in our yard. We are a VERY relax family (forgiving), love kids and know nothing is perfect, but it gets to a point where you have to do something. Our house and yard should be a comfortable, happy place.The un-relax part of our personality comes when someone in our family is hurt.

For years, my daughter (Aw, my kid is the nerdy-3^rd grader-that-reads-on-a-6^th-grade-reading-level-takes-genius-classes-in-school-piano-playing-minecraft-lover-archery-not-good-at-other-sports-but-running-8-year-old) has been playing with three girls in the neighborhood. I state all that other stuff cause she is different than some girls, and we know that, but it doesn’t excuse all of this. These girls are not the friendliest kids, but she enjoyed playing with them when they were in GOOD moods. She would come in when it was a BAD day, and play when they were in a friendly mood. (Crazy situation, but she wanted to play with them, and at the time, it was more … the kids just run wild and stay out all day (some days, mom would come by talk to kid and I would find out she left and didn’t tell me no one was home… and didn’t ask me if I would be here all day)… and probably have never been told no in their lives) When they were younger, I could walk outside and state, “Hey, girls, can we please be kind to each other?” or something to that fact. Usually, that fixed it and the three girls would be nice to my daughter again, and they would have a lot of fun. At the time, we thought it was just immaturity problems even though things said, made us wonder other things… can you help us find our dog.. where are your parents… they don’t like to get dressed and up on the weekend… etc, etc.

Well, off and on for a year, the nicest way to state this is they are just mean! I hate to refer to any kid as mean, but I really do not have another word for it. For a while, if my husband or I sat outside or walked outside, they would be kind, but that stopped a few months back. It didn’t matter who was watching. The two youngest are in the same class at school and started playing with each other more, which is the only thing beside just getting older that I can see that changed. The two youngest girls would come home, ask my daughter to come outside and then as soon as I came back in start yelling how much they hated her and how ugly she was, laugh and run off leaving my kid standing there in tears. (Now, here is the kicker, they would do this RIGHT in front of my kitchen window, right where I just walked past. Thin walls around. I could hear it ALL!) I would bring her in crying, “Why, are they treating me like this?” I really had no answer for her as they had not had a fight. This went on and on. They would ask her out and do it again and again. For days, we would say she was busy, but she still wanted to talk to them. Later, I would talk to them, nicely, and ask them why they are doing it. I would receive, the- “We didn’t do that.” -Answer. Then it was, come outside to my daughter, and then they would say, we will be right back, then they would run somewhere to play and laugh at her and point and not come back, sometimes sticking their tongue out at her. One day it was, “hey, we got invited to a party.” My daughter, “Oh, that’s neat. I hope you have fun.” Them, “Well, you weren’t invited cause no one likes you.” Followed by laughter. (Again, in front of my window) We talked and talked to our daughter about how these girls are not her friends. That true friends do not treat others like this. She has sweet boys next door that play with her well. Yet, she wants friends that are girls. It finally took these incidents happening over and over again for her to realize that this wasn’t a relationship that she wanted and that girls at school were not treating her like this.

I started making playdates with friends with girls so she could see that this is how it is suppose to be…. You play with girls and you are treated well. So she stopped wanting to play with them, but when they all live and play in the same neighborhood, and attend the same school, you see each other. It got where my daughter would run into the house as soon as she saw them with me telling them she could not play. Or my daughter hiding behind TREES!! That really got us, she is hiding from them outside because she cannot handle it anymore. This is when we decided it was time to tell the girls that they cannot play with our daughter anymore and that they were not welcome in our yard.

Now let me back up a bit. I keep stating three girls, but refer to really only two. The older girl, one of the sisters, was bullying my daughter really bad a while back. Yelling at our daughter, in her face, grabbing her shirt and yelling. Then yelling at me when I told her to stop. Bad stuff. This started when she found out my daughter was not able to ride a bike and was afraid too. This girl used to sit with me outside and my youngest child and we would watch my daughter and her sister play. She was always very quiet and quite nice. We were scared that something was going on in her life that needed help. I asked the youngest girl to have her mom call me and I talked to the mom and it did get some better, and her mom said she was being like that with everyone and they were worried. The situation did not become perfect, but it got better and she behaved, but we also saw how the mom treated the other daughter, totally different. We actually felt sorry for the eldest daughter. It was obvious that she is treated differently. The youngest could do no wrong. Well, when we told the girls they could no longer play in our yard and with our daughter, that is when things got really interesting!

Okay, so the day everything went crazy in the neighborhood… my daughter was trying to get in the house not being seen by the two younger girls by hiding behind trees, but they saw her so she runs in a panic. I asked her if this is the day she wanted me to tell them she is not going to play with them anymore, and she stated yes. (We had talked to her that this is what me and her dad wanted to do and she didn’t want to talk to them anymore). I told her she could go inside and I could do it alone or she could stay. She decided to stay. The girls ran up and I stated, very nicely, that she would not be playing with them anymore and that they could not play in our yard anymore. And I told them what I had been hearing them saying and I bought up a few incidents. They nodded their head and walked away. I really thought it was easy and over.

First, we got a visit from the dad across the street, he was rational, and we can still talk to him, and we understand each other for the most part. It is uncomfortable, but okay. Now, we didn’t agree on everything, as he wanted the kids to be immediate friends again, cause in his words… this is how girls play. Um, sorry, but yes, girls do play different than boys, but doesn’t mean they can and should play like this. I do not see this as playing. We as parents, teach our kids how to behave, whether girls or boys. Then we got a visit from the girls’ mom. WOW!! I mean, WOW! Now, I have talked to her many times in the past, school, my house, etc, so this was something. We were not friends as there has always been some coldness there (no idea why, but we thought just personality), but I still thought, okay, she took care, for the most part, of her other daughter that time, and come on, why would we do this unless there is a problem? My husband was in shock about the mom’s behavior. He really, really believes if he had not been there she would have jumped me. She was in my face! First off, she was ANGRY that her daughter woke her up crying. She was taking a nap and did not like being woke up. (Funny, saw her daughter an hour before her mom came over and she was outside playing happily, no crying) She said her daughter is the sweetest kid in the world, ask anyone. I said quietly, “Not in my yard she isn’t” She then stated that her other daughter will not play with mine either and my kid will have to just deal with it when her kids are playing next door. Of course we knew, we cannot control the neighborhood. (funny, boys aren’t fond playing with them as they aren’t too nice to them either) It was a crazy, one-sided conversation with her just yelling at me. She walked off and my husband said, “Well, now I know where the girls get their personalities from.” 

I wish this was the end… sigh.. the girls started hanging out just outside our yard and just STARE at our house. We must be interesting. Cause they did it for DAYS!  Anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. One leans against a tree and the other rides her bike in a circle. After a few days of this, my daughter went outside cause one of the boys came over. They played and the girls watched. They yelled a few times, but unknown what they yelled. A couple of times my daughter and the boy started to walk next door, then the girls came running into that yard, so my daughter and the boy came back into our yard. A few more days later, my daughter was playing with the boys next door in their yard, the girls came over and started walking within an inch of my daughter not saying anything, but just walking really close every time she moved. Really crazy. My daughter and the boys went inside the boys house (girls aren’t allowed inside, girls’ family’s rule). So this is pretty much how it is now. The girls followed my daughter around, she either comes back home with the boys following or goes into their house. You would think they would get bored. One day, they stood in front of my driveway (in the street) when I was trying to leave like they were not going to move out of my way. They didn’t know my husband was home, I texted him stating they are doing something and positioning themselves in front of the driveway, so he walked outside. They took a look at him and took off running. No idea what is was about, but happy he works really early in the morning so he is home in the afternoon. 

School hasn't been too bad as they are in different grades than my daughter. My daughter does see them much, but she doesn't look at them when they do if anyway possible. So far only thing that has happened has been really ugly looks and one of the girls telling another kid at school to not look at my kid (dressed up on Halloween) cause my kid is mean. That shocked my kid. I told her that she has to justify something to herself or it might even be what her mom told her. Don't worry about it. 

Not sure what the law is about all of this stuff. I know if my daughter is physically hurt, we can do something, but we really do not want anything like that happening for more than one reason, biggest, I do not want my kid hurt, and two, I hate this kind of stuff. I would just love to have a happy neighborhood, where people control their kids. We didn’t go directly to the parents due to how the kids just run the neighborhood, things that come out of their mouths and conversations in the past, more with the family with the two girls. We might have walked over to the dad we talked to, but we didn’t notice he was home, and do not really know his wife well. He works a lot, and again, we have never had a problem with him, personally, we were just trying to stop things that day. We just really didn’t see why us telling two kids to not play in our yard would turn into this. It's our yard.

We hope the kids just get bored and move on. It has been really, really cold weather wise so everyone has been staying in a lot. Or my daughter plays inside with the boys. Thankfully, she is really busy with after-school activities now. She is not home right after school anymore so that really doesn’t leave too many days open to play. We will figure out the summer when it gets here.

Really, I have so much more to type, but I really don’t want to. It brings so many emotions up. I would be so upset if someone told me my kid was behaving like this, but upset on the level of.. okay, kid, you are going to behave, not, how dare you tell me my kid acts like this, or how dare you tell me my kid cannot play with your kid or in your yard. Because she was not physically touched, they did not see it as bullying. Also, I told both parents, “I am not telling you what my daughter is saying is happening, but what I AM seeing and HEARING.” That meant nothing to them. I really had thought it would have. I really have been shocked by all of this. My husband is too. I could have video taped it, but then probably would have been yelled at for video taping someone’s kid!! I really thought me telling what I saw, and what my husband saw, was good enough! Sigh… I will never learn, people continue to surprise me!

November is National Adoption Month

In honor of National Adoption Month, I have reduced my Kindle version of December Babies to .99 cents for the whole month of November. 

20% baby sale. Here is the coupon for Amazon!

Amazon has a great coupon on baby gear going on right now. Expires September 30, 2014.  Baby item has to be SOLD and shipped by Amazon. Head there now to save on strollers, car seats, etc. Use coupon code:   WHATADEAL to save 20%

Pear Pie with Gruyere crust

Pear Pie with Gruyere crust

Filling:

6 Bartlett pears, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon melted butter

3 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

Crust

½ cup ice water

2 sticks of butter, softened

½ teaspoon brown sugar

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

½ teaspoon salt

Filling: Melt butter in pan, add sliced pears, vanilla, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and salt. Cook for 5 minutes. Add cornstarch and turn heat off and let cool. My husband likes a crunch to his pie this is why I do not cook the filling for long. If you prefer a softer pie filling, then cook for at least 30 minutes until pears are softer.

Crust: Cut up 2 sticks of butter, and put in mixing bowl. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, and cheese. Then slowly add ice water as needed while mixing. Kneed and roll out two balls on a flour surface. Use extra flour as needed.  One ball is for the bottom crust, and one is for the top crust.

Add the bottom crust to the pie pan, then add filling. Add the top pie crust, use a fork around the sides to seam the pie up. Then cut slits on top. Cook 350 until brown, usually 35 minutes. I put a pizza pan or cookie sheet under my pie in case some of the filling pours out.

My husband loves this topped with vanilla ice cream. 

Help with school lunches?

School is in full swing. What do you do when you have a picky eater? I sure would love some suggestions on what you pack for your child for lunch. Leave some comments, and I will update this post with your suggestions. Maybe we can all help each other out? 

Right now these are the items that she likes and would like to take to school (not all at once): cubed cheese, fruit slices, flour tortilla with cheese (she is not a big meat eater), crackers with cream cheese, jelly sandwich (she does not like peanut butter), boiled egg (rarely but sometimes she will eat a boiled egg), pistachios or cashews, loves Lima beans and mac n cheese (items to keep a thermos warm by lunch time?), candied carrots, yogurt, sometimes will eat chicken nuggets (again, how to keep warm?), sometimes chips, and a bagel with cream cheese.

So any ideas on food, and help to keep her thermos nice and warm by lunch?

 

Beef Vegetable soup. Crockpot or Stove.

Our favorite and an easy beef vegetable soup that you can cook in crock pot or on stove. 

1 pack frozen soup vegetables with tomatoes
1 pack of cubed beef (uncooked) (Really use as much as you like. I buy a small package)
1/2 cup sliced Pepperoncini (these are not hot, but have a great taste)
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups beef broth (you can use 1 beef bouillon for 2 cups water. Knorr does not have egg if you have an allergy like me)
2 packs of Italian salad dressing seasoning mix (1 to add while cooking, and one before you serve)
4 cups water (you may need more depending on how much meat you added)
1 teaspoon Cajan seasonings (you can use seasoned salt if you do not like Cajan)

Add everything BUT one package of Italian seasoning mix. Cook in crock pot on high for 5 hours or more depending on how much meat you added. We also like to put this on low and cook all night. It is sooooooooo tender. If you are cooking on the stove, cook until meat is cooked. About 2 hours for it to be tender. 30 minutes before you serve, add the last Italian seasoning mix.

Serve with crackers or a yummy sandwich.

Epiphanie Lyric Camera Bag that I won (review)

I see giveaways online all the time for camera bags, and I started entering. Imagine my surprise when I won the giveaway by Sew Many Savings. I really had my eye on an Epiphanie Camera Bag for a long time.

I picked the Lyric in brown. I wanted brown since it would match more clothes and Fall is here. First off, I am a short gal. I am 4' 11". The last thing I need is a big bag weighing me down. Currently, I only have one lens for my DSLR, but I still carry many things with me, and I am working on saving money for more lenses. One of the reasons I picked the Lyric is because it is a slim bag at 4 inches wide, but the bag can still hold many things. Most camera bags are twice that. The exact measurements for the whole camera bag are: 13"L x 4"W x 15"H (This is from Epiphanie's website). I also still have a preschooler so I do carry around wipes and a change of clothes. (I did not factor that in when I was taking pictures, but I still have room in this bag to carry both)

Okay, now let's get to my new bag. What a wonderful surprise when the mailman brought this to my door! I was expecting another package so I did let out a thrill of joy knowing my camera bag had arrived. It really did feel like Christmas!

I opened the box and was met with this cute sticker:

Once I took the plastic off, I was met with this sturdy dustcover:

Here is what you are waiting for:

 

I love the feel and look of this bag.

The cutest charm EVER:

The shoulder strap is adorable as well, not to mention very soft. I did take the pad off the extra long strap that came with the bag and put it on the braided strap (I found a small tiny tear on the shoulder pad when I was putting it on, but it is not noticeable. I will watch it as I use it and see what happens. I am sure I can buy a replacement pad later if I need to either from the company or ebay)

Here is the back of the bag. My kindle fit easily with plenty of room to space. Would easily hold an ipad.

A few stickers that were in the bag waiting for me:

The inside of the bag: (These later pictures were taken with my iphone)

In these pictures you can see my Nikon with lens attached, wallet, kindle (in pink case), battery charger, two black cases that have my lens filters, lipstick, hand sanitizer and pink/white case that holds my camera accessories such as lens pen, memory card, etc. Plenty of room for more items. The bag comes with four inserts that you can move around anyway you want. I took one out as I only need three right now. The back zipper held my kindle. I used the zipper compartments on the front to hold my battery charger, lipstick and hand sanitizer. I did not even use the one inside the bag. I do not always carry such a big wallet so when I carry my smaller one, I will have even more room, and I will most likely put that in the inside zipper. I usually do not carry both filter cases. I just wanted to show how much room you have. Also, love this..... I could easily put a small jacket inside on top of all of this and zip it up!

The bag feels soft next to my body with everything in it, and it did not feel too heavy. I did carry the shoulder strap over my body, but I could have put on my shoulder and not felt too short. 

I hope this review helps. I plan on reviewing this on video soon as I could not find any online. I will post a video link once I have used this bag more.
 

Sick... Check the date! Learn from my mistake!

Do you use the TimeHop app? Well, today, I was looking at it, and it reminded me what happened three years ago. We (kids and husband) were shopping after a day of fun at the beach and eating out. We had just started shopping when my skin was starting to hurt, and I felt extremely nauseated. I am extremely fair skinned, and I ALWAYS wear a high number of sunscreen. We also sit under either a tent or umbrellas especially since we have kids. I have an allergy to egg whites and wondered if I was having an allergic reaction. All I knew is I was getting extremely sick and very fast. I was tired, my head was killing me, and I needed to sit down, and I knew, very soon, I was going to throw up. We left and headed home, after a big dose of Benadryl, and trying to figure out what I had eaten that had caused this. 

As soon as we got home, I started throwing up. I took a shower to try and feel better. This is when my skin started to get really red, and even redder. The pain was unbearable, unlike any sunburn I have ever experienced. What in the world was going on? I used sunscreen. I used it more than once. Why was I so burnt? I still was throwing up. I took more Benadryl and finally got some sleep. 

The next morning I woke up the true red color of a crayon. My back felt worse than anything. I was still extremely nauseated. I could not keep anything down, and my head was still hurting. Benadryl was my best friend.

Before the day was over, my upper back was hurting even worse. My husband looked and discovered blisters all over my back. Later, they had covered my shoulders and back.

Since this was three years ago, I do not remember the days so much. I cannot remember if we arrived back Saturday night or on a Sunday, but knowing us, it was Saturday night as we do not like to miss church. I do know I missed church that Sunday due to being so sick. Anyhow, at this time, I was working at a hospital so I called in sick that Monday. I cannot remember if I called the doctor Monday or Tuesday, but it was one of those days. They easily said I had sun poison and told me to take vinegar baths, put aloe on it, and prescribed me pain killers until it got better, steroids and phenergan for the nausea. I was out of work for only a couple of days since I did not have many days to take off (all our day off were together: holidays, sick days and personal days (haha, try and take a personal day) and we only had so many we could have before we were threatened to lose our jobs or insurance). I ended up going back way before I was ready and had to wear really big tanks under bigger t-shirts since I could not wear a normal bra due to the pain in my back and shoulders. The blisters took a really long time to heal as did my skin. 

So how did I get sun poison if I used sunscreen? Expired sunscreen! Yes, seriously, expired sunscreen. I had bought new sunscreen, but did not know I had grabbed an old bottle that I probably didn't even know we had. Now, we buy new, EVERY year. One expense that we are not frugal about and I only buy Banana Boat, after talking to a dermatologist, since it stays on really well. Thankfully, the kids were okay. My eldest had a really good tan that day. I do not like my kids to tan as we know that is not good for their skin, but at least she was not in any pain. She will make decisions to tan or not tan as she gets older. My youngest had a small blister on her nose. It broke my heart to see it, but thankfully, she did not seem to be in any pain, and we kept Vaseline on it, and she did not scar.

If you get anything from this post, it is PLEASE, check your sunscreen expiration date!!!! I felt worse than any flu I have ever, ever had or anything since.

Those Sweet Moments..

I think my favorite moments of the day are when my three-year-old wakes me up. This morning, she sweetly leaned into my face and softly asked if I wanted to keep sleeping or go downstairs. We continued to snuggle for a while. I will miss these moments when she gets older and does not want to cuddle anymore.

Now there have been a few mornings, when she slaps me awake, haha, but still, she will grow up and not "need" me anymore. Kinda makes you sad, ya know? I see this more and more with my eight-year-old. She is becoming so independent.

So what are your favorite moments of the day with your kids?