"You'll Just Know" - Baltimore, MD. - January 2013

Since I got pregnant with E, not so long ago, there has been a certain 3 word phrase that truly sends chills down my spine and makes me want to grind my teeth.

"You'll just know..."

It was the response to some of the most important questions I asked as a mother to be.

"How do we know we've chosen the right name?"

"How do I know when I'm in labor?"

"How do I know if she's crying because she's a baby or if something else is wrong?"

These days I have been struggling a lot with that inevitable 2&1/2 year old question.

"When should we potty train?" and "How do I know she's ready to be potty trained?"

Unfortunately, the answer is the same and just as ambiguous and frustrating!

The thing is we call her a different name than we gave her (this actually goes for both of our girls), and with MJ I thought for certain I was in labor and the hospital sent me home. I was so afraid to go back and get sent home again that I probably waited too long which may have added to the stress of that whole situation, and E cried so much as a baby because she had bi lateral inguinal hernias that we didn't know about for the first 8 weeks of her life. So that little 3 word answer to those oh so important questions was a load of CRAP. I didn't know!

I don't know why people say this. it isn't reassuring and it just makes me feel like a bad mother when these situations come and go and I once again DIDN'T know!

We have one failed attempt under our belt which I'll write about later, but I am starting to feel the pressure to try again. There is a whispering in my ear that says look around you all the kids her age are potty trained or on their way. You are a failure if your child is still in diapers at 3 years old, especially since she was so close on your first attempt. The truth of the matter is that I feel her failures as my fault, and my failure. I wasn't patient enough, I didn't approach it with enough grace, I quit, I failed her.

So here i sit in my "unknowingness" (if that's even a word) dreading POTTY TRAINING! Not knowing if she's ready and not knowing when to try again. So I'll ask you this as humbly and honestly as I am able. How did you potty train? and How did you know they were ready?

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Cute Girls Hair - Baltimore, MD. - January 2013

I found Adopt A 'Do: Cute Girls Hairstyles a few months back when I was trying to figure out how to do the  Primrose Everdeen Braids | Hunger Games Hairstyles

(via)

**My Attempt**

(It needs a LOT of work! I can't get them to drop as close to the ears as she does, but I'm working on it.)

I've have had a ton of fun playing with E's hair.  I think it's probably important that I start learning now because by the time she cares what her hair looks like I'll hopefully have improved a little.

The site is pretty easy to navigate and has videos to accompany every "do" so you don't feel like you're going it alone. They even have a section of "Daddy Do's" which a daddy actually does in the videos!  I like them so much that I gave their button a little space on my sidebar!  The one thing I have started doing is "Pinning" the styles that I like so they're easier to get back to when I have time.

On my list of "to tries" are:

Simple Braided Bun | Cute Girls Hairstyles

Braided {Kitty} Cat Ears | Halloween Hairstyles

The one question I do have and have yet to answered is, how in the world this mama gets her girls to sit still long enough to do these SUPER CUTE "'Dos"? Impressive!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

My Uncle Wrote A Book... And It's GOOD!!! - North Carolina - January 2013

Well we have an Author in the family!

My Uncle Regie wrote a book

Granny, Lamar & Company

And It's pretty good!

I think he'd be the first to tell you that it isn't perfect and he'd change things if he had it to do all over again, but honestly, what author doesn't feel that way. I think that's probably one of the main reasons so many "writers" never become "authors". It's a frightening thing to put your darlings (a Stephen King term from his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft) out there for someone else to judge. 

But I do know he'd tell you that it's done and he's glad it's out there. I'm so proud and excited to share it with you.

It's available on Amazon.com for $9.95 and for those of you that "eRead", there is a Kendal Edition for 6$.99.

I'll do a review of it in February and hopefully (and interview) so stay tuned.

I'm sure it's really obvious but I am really proud of him and hope I can one day join him as an "Author"!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Cars Eatin' - Baltimore, MD. - January 2013

 I think one of the coolest parts of being a parent is watching these little creatures grow and change. It is so cool to see little parts of yourself and your husband surface and to know that THAT part, weather nature or nurture, came from you.

In the last few months our little monkey's level of imaginary play has grown by leaps and bounds. She has whole conversations with stuffed animals. She turns her crayons into people, marching them around her little desk. She takes her babies to the doctor where they "get shot". And she builds fantastic structures with blocks that her little people and cars explore.

A few weeks ago we found this.

When we asked her what they were doing her response was, 

"Cars eating dinner".

Silly me!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Hub Stories: Forty Books - Baltimore, MD - 2013

I'm not sure if you remember THIS POST, but over the last year reading became a sort of competitive sport around our house.  It started as a project based in curiosity, but when all was said and done, I honestly sit dumbfounded and sincerely impressed at how the Hub has stepped out of his comfort zone and broadened his love of books and reading.  As of December 31, 2012 the Hub finished his 40th book.

He read mysteries, and history, thrillers and biographies.  He read Popular fiction and The Classics.  He even stuck his toe into the waters of my silly "chick lit".

THE LIST

1	steve jobs	walter isaacson
2	odd thomas	deane koontz
3	11/22/1963	stephen king
4	david copperfield	charles dickens
5	thou shall prosper	daniel lapin
6	romance that lasts a lifetime	zig ziglar
7	postmortem	patricia cornwell
8	A history of the middle ages	crane brinton
9	all that remains	patricia cornwell
10	how will you measure your life	clayton cristenson
11	wild at heart	john eldredge
12	founding brothers	joseph j ellis
13	First Family: Abigail and John Adams	joseph j ellis
14	hunger games	suzanne collins
15	the first american: the life and times of benjamin franklin	h.w. brands
16	the help	kathryn stockett
17	the mist	stephen king
18	1776	david mccullough
19	revolution 1989	victor sebestyen
20	abraham lincoln: vampire hunter	seth grahame-smith
21	a farewell to arms	ernest hemingway
22	the amateur	edward klein
23	the millionaire next door	thomas stanley
24	mary tudor	anna whitlock
25	the millionaire mind	thomas stanley
26	calico joe	john grisham
27	stop acting rich	thomas stanley
28	catching fire	suzanne collins
29	mockingjay	suzanne collins
30	roots	alex haley
31	the great influenza	john berry
32	casino royale	ian fleming
33	killing kennedy	bill o'reilly
34	the greater journey	david mccullough
35	duma key	stephen king
36	the coming of the third reich	richard evans
37	call of the wild	jack london
38	entreleadership	dave ramsey
39	the reagan diaries	ronald reagan
40	the river of doubt	candice millard

Least Favorite: The Hunger Game series. I read them “just because”, and at the end I was like “just kill them and get married already”.

His Favorite: 1776. I’ve read this book several times and I always take something away from it that I didn't know before. Plus, it’s one of those books that I can’t put down.

Although he says he doesn't have any specific reading goals for 2013, I, the biggest thief of books off of his reading list, am interested in, and excited for what this years reading will bring!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

An Update On Kitty Sticks - Baltimore, MD- December 2012

The last few months has been crazy, but that's the holidays, right? I know it's been a few weeks, well really 2 months, but I wanted to update you on Kitty Sticks.

After MY LAST POST I let you know that we had been told She was in acute kidney failure and they were treating her dehydration with the hope that her phosphorous level would go down. If that happened her nausea would decrease and she would start eating again.

(You can see from the x-ray that one of her kidneys, the fuzzy spots on the middle at the bottom of her rib cage, is GIANT and the other is very small.)

We did every thing we knew to do to help boost her spirits. 

We visited her, brought her her favorite shirts to sleep on. but the vet kept telling us that she wasn't improving as drastically as she needed to. Well, after 4 days in the kitty cat ICU we brought her home. We continued administering fluids and medications ourselves over the next week and brought her back for blood work at the end of that week. All of her levels had returned to the extremely high end of normal. Not perfect, but PROGRESS!!!

Now, about 8 weeks later she is what we'd call her old self. We are continuing to give her Sub Cutaneous fluids 2 times per week (which she tolerates reasonably well), an ace inhibitor pill twice a day.  She also eats a strict Kidney food ONLY diet with a powder Phosphate binder sprinkled on it. I know this all sounds like a lot of stuff but it's quickly become routine and we hardly think about it. Thank you so much for your prayers. We are so thankful for what her vet thinks will be a few more good years with her.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!