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Articles from Spina Bifida Moms

Sweetie Saturday #90 - The Return of Sweetie Edition 2008-01-05 11:28:00 Hi there! So sorry I didn't get to posting this already. For a weekend with nothing planned, we've had a very busy morning of errand-running. Four errands in one trip - now that's efficiency!Anyway.... you know what? I think I'm going to take a 1-week break from the Sweetie Silliness. Why? Because...I've personally had enough of silly, crazy, not-behaving-or-listening Sweetie and I don't want to talk about it anymore - that's why!(Ahem.... Sorry... It's just that I'm so tired of that particular "L" word written above that if I have to utter it just one more time, I think I'm going to go all Britney on this house.)BUT - drumroll, please......Houston, we have a Sweetie!That's right. After a big-ol' discussion I had with Her Majesty this past Thursday evening, I do believe that our Sweet Sweetie has finally returned to us. Her ears have been open and she's generally been polite and non-whiney ever since. (Granted, that's only a day and a half at this point, but I have faith) ...

And Now, Back To Our Regularly Programmed Life 2008-01-02 20:48:00 And thank Goodness for that!Today was my first day back at work since right before Christmas. And Sweetie's first full day back on her schedule (today was a Nana Day - tomorrow is school). Hubby's back on schedule as well. And all is right with the world.See, Sweetie has been a bit of a stinker over this holiday break. Not listening well. Not caring about very nearly destroying her piano with spilled orange juice not even a week after receiving it for her birthday (Well... it's okay. You can just buy me a new one.... Uh, what? I don't think so, little girl. Things don't work that way around here.), talking back and/or being bossy to many different people of many different ages and relationships to her, and just generally being a high energy twister of emotions and attitude.That is... she has been an over-stimulated 5 year old who's eaten much more junk than she's used to and not been kept to any sort of normal routine for the last week and a half.Of course she's been a little o ...

A Vote For Me Is - A Vote For Me! 2007-12-31 13:39:00 I've decided to keep this post up top for the time being - just so newbies and regular readers alike get a chance to read my Blog For A Year profile and everyone who's interested can remember to cast their daily votes for me. Thanks again for your support!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey, everyone! I've entered a contest to get Paid To Blog For A Year! Here's my entry application questions and answers. Please read through and then go vote - often! You can vote up to one time per day. The contest will be going on for some time - I'll keep you posted. So get out there and vote!"Why should you get paid to blog for a year?"Why should I get paid to blog for a year? Hmmm – a heavy question. But one that I feel I can more than successfully answer.My husband and I are both successfully employed. We work together in the advertising department of our local newspaper. Additionally, my husband works part time with his father in his construc ...

Mama Monday #4.1 2007-12-31 09:23:00 Theme: Uber List I thought I'd start the New Year off paying homage to MSO. They always had "Uber List" as their first theme of the year, and so I'll continue that tradition. Uber List it is!This is a list of what you hope to accomplish in the coming year. Or, if you're that ambitious, it could be a life list of hopes and dreams. Whatever you wish, this is the time and place to write it down.My Uber List for this year is quite short. It consists of only three items:1) Financial Management2) Family3) SimplicityThat's it.This is the year where Hubby and I are firmly committed to eradicating as much debt as possible from our financial outlook. We've looked at the numbers, we've established a plan, and we know we can do it if we honestly work together!This is also the year to spend more quality time with our families. With Hubby's side, we've (Christmas)-gifted each other with the promise of at least 1 family-based activity/gathering per month in 2008. And on my side - well, it ...

Sweetie Saturday #89 2007-12-29 06:38:00 Hmmmm.... with all the birthday and Christmas activities going on lately, you'd think I'd have a plethora of Sweetisms to share with you. But the only one I can think of right now is how, after I read her one of her new stories the other day, Sweetie thanked me and told me:You're so kind.See? Cute, but not really funny.Oh - and she's also a bit interested in nicknames now. She saw me wrap one of Hubby's presents, addressing it - appropriately - to "Hubby". She wanted to know if that was Daddy's nickname.Yes, it is. Just like your nickname is Sweetie.Yeah!Then, a few days later, when Sweetie was telling Daddy what his and her nicknames are, I asked about mine.Hey - if you both have nicknames, than what about me? What's my nickname?Sweetie only took half a second to come up with something.Curly!Yay. Good for me. Sounds great.Oh! I guess I have more too - I just remembered...Sweetie was humming a Christmas tune the other day when she stopped to tell me,Hey Mom - did you know that " ...

Christmas is Awesome 2007-12-26 11:43:00 Santa brought Hubby and I a new coffee maker - that doesn't keep the coffee hot for very long (which is why we wanted a new coffee maker in the first place). I got 2 pairs of too big PJ's (seriously - I feel invisible. XS isn't small enough for me. I need Petite XS. And even that may be too big). Hubby had to give me a couple pictures of things that have not yet arrived in the mail. They're awesome - I just don't have them yet. I didn't really get anything to "play" with (Hubby - you want to play with my plaque with me?), and the one really fun game I got requires at least 4 players.Not that I wanted them as gifts, but I still need socks and dish towels. And a vacuum. Santa brought Sweetie some new underwear - which is at least 1 size too big. And she needs new undies. Sweetie is happy with (although seemingly not over-the-moon thrilled about) her 78 Scooter (I guess Santa only could bring me a 78 Scooter instead of a 78 Toy). Hubby and I are sorry we showed Sweetie how to ...

Mama Monday #3.1 2007-12-24 07:22:00 Theme: RoomSo here's a funny story... last week I was thinking of something I wanted to blog about. And - hey! - I could turn it into a Mama Monday thing! And the theme could be "Room"! That's perfect!But...ummm.... see....I can't remember what I wanted to write about. But the theme is "Room"! I know that!Guess I'm running out of room in my head for important information like this.Could I have wanted to write about making more room in our house? Purging out the junk and establishing space for new, more meaningful items?Perhaps...we're always wanting to declutter and refresh.... but, no.....it wasn't that.It must have had something to do with Sweetie.... maybe redistributing her older toys to less fortunate kids so that Santa has room to bring her new toys?Hmmmmm.... well, we did do that. But I don't think I thought that was interesting enough to blog about.Still, something about Sweetie. And "room". Huh - the only real bloggable thing I've wanted to say about her lately is abou ...

Sweetie Saturday #88 - Birthday Wrap-Up Edition 2007-12-22 08:12:00 Sweetie's birthday party was scheduled for last Sunday, but a huge snow/ice storm canceled that. Instead, Nana and Papa were kind enough to relocate the party to their house on Monday evening.Upon opening her stash of cards and gifts, Sweetie was very interested to read the greetings from each person.One card in particular was great! It was from my brother's family, including my niece, Abby, and her steady boyfriend, Conor.When Sweetie heard Conor's name, she was thrilled!Conor?! He's my favorite boy who lives with Abby!(Great! Not entirely accurate - they don't yet live together - but still... really cute. Sweetie looooovvves Conor!)----------------------------------When we left Sweetie's party, she decided to ride home with Daddy in his car rather than with me in mine. Fine - that's the way it usually is. If Daddy is an option, you better believe she's going with him!Upon arriving home, I walked into the house to hear Sweetie declare:We're a strong family, a smart family and ...

5 Years Ago 2007-12-19 19:34:00 Five years ago today I was awakened in my hospital room by several friendly professional faces telling me, You're going to have your baby today. (More accurately, they said, You're not leaving here without a baby in your arms.)Approximately 18 hours later, Sweetie was born, at 12:50 am, December 20th, 2002.As I told this to Sweetie this morning, I was surprised to hear myself choking up a bit. Surprised to feel tears come to my eyes. Surprised to feel so emotional over my daughter's birthday.(Surprised to have the tears well up again as I write this....)Growing up, my mom had always told me that on each of her kids' birthdays, she always takes a moment to remember the actual day. How events transpired for her. How she felt. What she hoped for, dreamed of, feared, and worried about. The joy of each birth, as well as the pain.When I became a mother, mom reminded me to do the same for myself with each passing year. Sweetie's birthday will always be special not only for herself, but f ...

Mama Monday #2.1 2007-12-17 07:00:00 Theme: NoticeI seem to be noticing more and more things about myself.We had friends over a few weeks ago. During the course of the evening, I mentioned how I've been experiencing blank out moments when, say, I'm reading a book and all of a sudden I just can't process the next few words in the sentence. I see the words just fine, their meaning is just not able to make it to my brain. But after about 10-30 seconds, everything comes to again and I continue on my way.I thought this all had something wonky to do with seizures. I've had one grand mal seizure (a month before we got married), so I thought these strange episodes were somehow related to that. As a result, I'm back on seizure meds (which is why I was bring it up, I think - I'm finding that the meds still aren't fully preventing the episodes).Very interestingly, our friend then related to us how the exact same thing happened to him years ago when he was being tested for hypoglycemia. Whenever his blood sugar dropped too low ...

Sweetie Saturday #87 - Bad Mama Edition 2007-12-15 07:11:00 Not much going on in Sweetie Land this week, other than to note that by the time I write next week's Sweetie Saturday, she will have turned 5 years old.Oh... and that I completely ruined her.How did I ruin Sweetie, you ask? By playing the song Something's Stuck Up In The Chimney for her.... on Youtube. (Sorry - no links today. Sweetie was so freaked out by this video that I don't want to risk going back to it to make the link. If you're that interested, kindly find it yourself).I know, I know... I should have completely realized the potential consequences. I know the song is about Santa himself being stuck up in the chimney. But I just didn't know what the video would show. I made a bad judgment call and I've ruined Sweetie.On the other hand, we heard the song spoof "Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire" the other day, and I immediately thought that I should turn the radio dial away from the song. But Sweetie heard only the very first line of this song and she was laughing. A lot! ...

Click Awaaaay From The Cranky, Tired Lady... 2007-12-12 20:20:00 I'm very tired, very sore, very cranky and very hungry. I must be.... pregnant!Uhhhh... No. I'm rather confident in saying it's not that.But whatever it is, I don't feel like writing much tonight. Sorry about that.However, I did just write this post tonight. So if you really feel like you're missing out on something here, visit me here instead.Until next time... ...

Mama Monday - A New Beginning 2007-12-10 09:02:00 Note: There's some hopeful news over at MSO - talks are going on as we speak, with the Mamas trying to figure out how to keep the site up in one form or another. Yay! Fingers crossed - we'll get an update soon!Until then, I'm going to continue on with my Mama Mondays as usual. If you'd like to join me, and/or have theme words to offer up, please do so/let me know.As for today - the theme is:DoorWhat a great word to start off my New, Independent, Mama Monday?! I'm opening the door to all new possibilities - for myself and anyone else who'd like to join in! Let's boldly and bravely walk through together, shall we?"Door" is also a highly appropriate word for me to expound upon because there happens to be a particular door in our house that is someday - possibly very soon - going to deliver me right into insanity. Ugh!See, Sweetie's bedroom is really more like a 2-room suite. You enter her main door and you're immediately in her play room. Then, off to the right, is another door w ...

Sweetie Saturday #86 2007-12-08 07:12:00 Here's one more for last week's That Not Make Any Sense edition:Upon picking up the cup of orange juice I placed in front of her last weekend, Sweetie looked in and exclaimed:Hey! My juice looks like Nana!Sorry - I've got no explanation for this. Something to do with the bubbles on the surface looking like Nana's hair. I don't know - Sweetie's crazy.--------------------------We had an old friend and his wife over for dinner last Saturday. We all - including Sweetie - went out for sushi (with Sweetie eating a peanut butter and jelly roll-up sandwich I had brought along with me, then cut into small, sushi-style pieces).Sweetie was mostly well behaved, but she did finish her sandwich before our dinners even arrived. So to entertain herself, Sweetie decided to go back and forth between our table and the nearby row of chairs near the sushi bar.Sweetie and the sushi chef had a great time making silly faces at each other, and eventually - with our permission - he offered Sweetie a uniqu ...

Good News/Bad News 2007-12-05 20:28:00 Good news! We're hosting Movie Night for our friends this weekend! (Bad news. Movie Night has dwindled - most likely - to only 2 friends coming over, instead of the 4-5 that it used to be). Good news! I'm hosting Book Club this weekend! (Bad news. That's dwindled to only 3 people coming over - 1 of whom is my mom - instead of the 5-7 people it used to be. Plus? None of us finished - or particularly liked - the book we're discussing. Except, perhaps, Mom. There's still hope for her finishing and/or having a positive review). Good news! We 3 were all excited about and had a great time at the Spina Bifida Association of Massachusetts Christmas Party last weekend. It was a fun-filled day shared with some really great people! (Bad news. Hubby was sad to lose the jester-style Santa hat in the Yankee Swap, and Sweetie is frustrated by her inability to draw exactly what she envisions on the Doodle Bear Santa gave her... And I ended up with so-ugly-they're-cute Christmas-themed plates fro ...