I was just looking through some video we had uploaded the other day, and it is simply amazing the differences I see in Elem in just a couple of months. I mean he has grown so tall since the beginning of summer and his hair is crazy longer and waaaaaayyyy blonder. He went from baby to waddler in literally 2 months. Where did the time go??? I love this video, it captures some of his silly faces that he does all the time. I wish my hair would grow this fast in a couple of months. I think he has gained inches for real since this video. This shot is from late May.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Summer time at the lake
A couple of weekends ago, Seth, Elem, and I packed up in the new jeep and headed to the lake! We ended up going to 2 lakes actually-Lake Catherine and Lame Hamilton, they are both located in Hot Springs, which is just about 45 minutes away from where we live, and the two lakes only separated by the damn. We have friends that have a condo on Lake Hamilton-Tommy and Mandi, and then family who have a house on Lake Catherine-Chad and Leslie. This works out great for us, because we can go either place for free, eat their food, go on their boat, play in their sand, swim in their swimming pool, and simply take advantage of their lakeside views. Fabulous. Just fabulous.
Seth and I are major lake lovers. Beach lovers too, but the beach is a little too far for a weekend trip these days with a 14 month old in the car. This was Elem's first trip to the lake and he ended up having so much fun! We started out at Tommy and Mandi's and got there just in time to grill some hamburgers and head to the pool to cool off. Elem took full advantage of doing what everyone does at the lake! EAT! He liked to share everything with Champ, who is just Elem's size I might add. He loves this dog. Oh and if you check out the picture above and below, you will see how he eats his cheese crackers. I have no idea where he learned to do this or if it is some obsessive compulsive thing, but as soon as he gets the cracker, he pulls and pulls until he pulls it apart, and then licks the cheese out of the inside of each cracker. Very smart, if I do say so myself. haha.
After swimming for about an hour, we headed back to the deck for a little shade, and what else? More food! Handy snack cheese and crackers have become a new favorite of Elem's these days, he likes to dip his crackers into the cheese side and then get as much on his face as possible.
We decided to head on over to Chad and Leslie's for the rest of the day, and Tommy and Mandi joined us. They have a little sand area at the edge of their yard, and it was just perfect for Elem! At first not too sure about the water or the sand.
Felt a little weird to the hands.
But with a little help from Mommy and Daddy (and Bosco the bull dog in the back ground)
Elem got wild and crazy, and there was no turning back!
He loved loved loved the lake and everything it had to offer him. He eventually fell asleep and Seth and I got to spend some much needed time together and with friends. Leslie is about to have her baby-Avery Claire, and we wont be seeing them around too much, so it was good to talk and get some sun. We will for sure be taking Elem to the lake more now that we know he can "make it" the whole day. He is a water baby that is for sure. Oh and yes this was during the Giardia (before I knew it was Giardia) time frame, which means numerous water life and people in the water near Elem most likely were infected by that nasty ole disease! Ewww!
Seth and I are major lake lovers. Beach lovers too, but the beach is a little too far for a weekend trip these days with a 14 month old in the car. This was Elem's first trip to the lake and he ended up having so much fun! We started out at Tommy and Mandi's and got there just in time to grill some hamburgers and head to the pool to cool off. Elem took full advantage of doing what everyone does at the lake! EAT! He liked to share everything with Champ, who is just Elem's size I might add. He loves this dog. Oh and if you check out the picture above and below, you will see how he eats his cheese crackers. I have no idea where he learned to do this or if it is some obsessive compulsive thing, but as soon as he gets the cracker, he pulls and pulls until he pulls it apart, and then licks the cheese out of the inside of each cracker. Very smart, if I do say so myself. haha.
After swimming for about an hour, we headed back to the deck for a little shade, and what else? More food! Handy snack cheese and crackers have become a new favorite of Elem's these days, he likes to dip his crackers into the cheese side and then get as much on his face as possible.
We decided to head on over to Chad and Leslie's for the rest of the day, and Tommy and Mandi joined us. They have a little sand area at the edge of their yard, and it was just perfect for Elem! At first not too sure about the water or the sand.
Felt a little weird to the hands.
But with a little help from Mommy and Daddy (and Bosco the bull dog in the back ground)
Elem got wild and crazy, and there was no turning back!
He loved loved loved the lake and everything it had to offer him. He eventually fell asleep and Seth and I got to spend some much needed time together and with friends. Leslie is about to have her baby-Avery Claire, and we wont be seeing them around too much, so it was good to talk and get some sun. We will for sure be taking Elem to the lake more now that we know he can "make it" the whole day. He is a water baby that is for sure. Oh and yes this was during the Giardia (before I knew it was Giardia) time frame, which means numerous water life and people in the water near Elem most likely were infected by that nasty ole disease! Ewww!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Happy Birthday Memaw
Today marks a very special day in history! I wont go into detail how far back into history, but we will just stick to the special part! Today is Memaw's Birthday!!! So we wanted to give you a shout out and tell you how much we love you Memaw. And how much we miss you and wish we could see you every single day! Once a month is just not enough and we would come to visit more often if Elem was a better traveler. Hopefully, when the days of him being interested in DVD movies comes along, he can stick out the ride a little better and we can get more time with memaw. But for now, it is your day. And we hope you had a great birthday.
You are such a great mother and grandmother and always have good advice. Sometimes I dont exactly listen to all of it, but you usually are pretty on target. Like with my being persistent with the docs on Elem's Giardia-just for one example! Thanks for all you have done for us. We love you so much! Here are a couple of pics of Memaw over the past few months with her grand babies-mostly Elem, but you get the picture! Happy Birthday Memaw!!!!!!!
Way back in October, doin a mini photo shoot with me! haha!
At christmas time, opening presents.
Around early May, in the front yard.
On Elems Birthday-he wasnt too into that photo, we only got the top of his head. Geez.
With her newest grand son, at my wedding. With Wyatt.
Trying to catch Elem as he raced into the ocean.
Cant wait till the next visit and wish we could have seen you today. LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Have a margarita for us! hehe.
Giardia it is.
It has taken me about a week to cool off before I could write this post. And by the time I finish you will understand why I have been so angry. So let me just start off from the beginning, which is about 7 weeks ago.
Elem has been having about 5-6 full diarrhea diapers a day for the last 6 weeks as of last Friday. It all started back when I switched him from formula to milk. And I thought maybe it was the whole milk that had upset his stomach. Then I switched him to Soy milk, thinking that maybe that would help. I personally do not ever drink any kind of milk, because it makes me feel yuck! I don't know that I am allergic to it per say, but it doesn't settle well with me at all, so I thought maybe it was having the same affect on Elem. After going to Soy I gave him another week to see if it would finally settle him down. After another full week of diarrhea and a decrease in his appetite as well as major changes in his attitude, I made a doctors appointment, hoping that someone could give me some answers and tell me what was wrong with my baby!
All while Elem is sick, mommy is also deathly sick with the same thing...which is crazy, because we all know how hard it is to care for your self when you are sick and much less care for an infant who is feeling even worse than you are! Then add on top of that, daddy was sick, Aunt Ali was sick, Poppa got it, several teachers from my child care were sick, and several kids-from toddlers to school age were sick as well Uncle Chad and Spoon got it too-they had been swimming with us on the 4th. So I started thinking that it couldn't be the milk-it HAD to be something else.
Here were the symptoms= diarrhea, all day, no stopping it, not fun at all. Awful stomach cramps right below your ribs in the middle. Almost like it stopped you dead in your track and made you tear up it hurt so bad. Nausea, on and off, vomiting, and then of course tiredness and just overall yuck! Now those were things I, a grown adult was experiencing, so I cant even tell you the pain my kid was feeling, which is where the anger starts with me. I can handle feeling sick and taking medication, and grinning and bearing it, but when it comes to my kid, you better figure out what the deal is and what is wrong with him, because he is just a little thing. He cant even tell me what is wrong.
So like I said, I made a doctors appointment and Seth took him in, by this time it had been 3 and 1/2 weeks. Doc checks him out, and says there has been several children in and out with a bug and that it is most likely a virus. So he gives Elem some soy formula and tells us to put him back on that, and then to bring in a stool sample the next morning so they can send it off for testing. The next morning, I get the samples(which was so grose it even made me sick) :) and took them into the doc. They sent them off and then it was just the waiting game. All along we are all getting sicker and sicker sometimes it would go away for a day or two and then come right back, etc. My little baby was so sick, and tired, and angry, and throwing fits, and just miserable and I had no idea when was even going on in his little body because all he could do was cry and scream and hit things cause he cant say anything! It was pure hell. For sure the hardest thing Seth and I have had to deal with so far as parents.
Finally the next week, I cant wait for the results so I cam calling and calling, and the nurse calls me back and says we have one result back, and he is negative for Rotovirus. One down, about a million to go. About 3 days later, as I have continued to call and call, they finally say okay yes we have the results but I have to get a nurse to call you back. So the nurse calls me back and her exact words, "yes we have the results and Elem tested negative for everything". Everything?? Are you serious, what a relief!
She continued to tell me that it must be a virus that he just cant kick and to put him on bland foods and reduce the milk intake. So I do. And another week goes by and it does not good. So I call back, and ask again, what can I do, my kid is still sick and this has now been 5 weeks of this. HE is obviously sicker than we think and we do not know what to do. Still same answer, it must be a virus, take him off milk and only potatoes, rice, bread, things like that. So I do it. I am getting angrier by the minute and my kid is sooo fussy and sick I can see the pain in his eyes and he is not acting like the loving Elem Zane that we know.
'
Last weekend I was supposed to go to Memphis to visit my mom and sister and Wyatt. Before I was going to leave, Seths mom was going to take Elem to the doc one last time for me just to see if there was anything else that I could do for him. Luckily she called one of her best friends who works at the doctors office where we take Elem, and spoke with her and asked her to check it out and look at his file for us. She gets out his file and says, well it says right here that he tested positive for GIARDIA about 2 weeks ago!!!!!!!!! ANd we told you. Uhm no NO ONE told me that! They told me the exact opposite. So Phyllis calls me and the rest is history.
I was irate to say the least. Some stupid nurse didn't read the results correct, and couldn't click over to page 2 to see that my kid had a damn parasite in his small intestine. Are you kidding me? I have been calling and calling them and taking him in and pestering them to help me find an answer and every time I called they got out his chart and it never rang a bell that maybe no one told me he had this???Ohhh it was so awful. They immediately called in his prescription and I picked it up within minutes.
And that is it, my baby has been so sick and all it took was one person not reading his results correctly to prolong his illness and the illnesses of about 20 people. If you are not sure of what Giardia is, check this link out:
Giardia
It is disgusting. So contagious and easily spread through water, which is our entire families most favorite thing to do, and one thing I continued to let my son do while he was sick, because I had no idea he had something that was passed via water. He swam at school with the kids, he swam at the lake, at grammy and poppas, everywhere! Which in the end means that we passed it along and had no idea!
I know I got to let it go, but I just cant get over the fact that by human error in reading, my kid has been suffering. I have been suffering. ANd all it took was the nurse to read every page thoroughly. So its over now, and although he still doesn't seem to be totally rid of it, things are looking up. I will keep everyone posted on his situation. All in all it could have been worse, I just hate to think what would have happened if he would have had something even worse, and they would have given us the wrong results. SO I am thankful it was only this parasite thing. The doctor did call and apologize on behalf of his nurse and the staff and let us know in all his years of practicing medicine he had only seen giardia once before in a child this young, so I guess they really werent expecting the results to come back the way they did. I am just glad the whole thing is almost over. It takes everything out of me just talking about it!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Playtime Pizza
How do you get one of these? A 14 month old passed out in the car only seconds after being strapped in.....PlayTime Pizza is the answer! Playtime Pizza is the craziest most fun place to go if you want something to do in Little Rock indoors! Geez! SO like I said, last Sunday Seth and I wanted to take Elem somewhere fun to get him some good ole fashioned spoiling! I will post more on why we had to spoil him in the next post! But for now we will focus on the spoiling. And since it is about 103 degrees here every day and the humidity is something fierce, we decided we really wanted to do something indoors! We agreed on Little Rock's newest and funnest pizza place-Play Time Pizza. This place is so insane and crazy fun for kids, babies, adults, anybody!
It is located right in front of the Rave, and is gigantic!!! You go in and pay about 8 bucks for unlimited pizza, pasta, cookies, potatoes, etc. buffet. And then you can buy money on your card which you use on every game machine inside. Basically a chucky cheese in our day, but now just 100 times better. So inside you have the buffet, a free toddler area with big foam blocks they can run and jump and play on, several free rides, like the car you saw before, a free merry go round (mini), then about 350 arcade games, all the little kid ones downstairs and all the big kid (daddy) ones upstairs, a black light miniature golf, laser tag, mini bowling, and indoor go karts! Now do you see what I am meaning when I say crazy! And boy did Elem love it. And he didnt even do that much but run around like a mad man!
We got there when it opened at 10:30am which was the best decision we could have made. There were no lines for anything and we had the whole place to ourselves for about an hour. Please see the following pictures to see how our day went. There are sooo many pics, but it was so much fun! I had to capture all of it. So skip on through if you get sick of looking at little dude. I never get sick of looking at him. So these make me happy!
First stop-the red race car-which was the car he was in the video with. He loved this so much, I should look into getting him something like this for his next birthday!
And then onto the blue car. Which he loved equally as much.
Off to play his first official "arcade" game of the day-the popcorn game. Which he was fabulous at I might add! hehe.
Put in some time in the block area to work on his large motor skills. He knows mommy is always watching to see that he is actually learning something every where he goes. Good choice Elem Zane.
Time for the man to EAT! Pizza, mashed potatoes, pasta, and a cookie! Are you kidding me? Yes I let him have a cookie that day. Again, I will tell you why in my next post. :)
Again, knowing that mommy is watching and off to work on some small motor skills. Its not all play all the time around here people! You gotta pt in your time at the "school like" stations as well. Just like mommy told him-find something constructive that will make you smarter if ever the chance.
Uhmm...hello? Anybody in there?
FInally a chance to let it all loose.
Cecilia came along for the fun once she got her a good nap in. Here is Cecilia Dustin and Ali play the water squirt game. Elem is down there somewhere by Ali. If you can find him.
Anybody else notice how hard it is to get a good pic of you and your man once you have a little one walking around?? Its next to impossible. I think we had .3 seconds to get this one in before a tragedy occurred because we werent watching. It was decent. I ALMOST got all of Seth's head in there.
Mini bowling. We will get there, but not for another year, hims too small to get it down the ally.
Skeeball with Cecilia (always been my favorite at the arcade)
Elem's first Merry Go Round EVER! At very first sight he was not too keen on it, but after about 2 seconds he was in love, and we had to pry him from it. he would have staid there all day if we would have let him.
More skeeball....just like mommy. I mean who passes up a skkeeball when you walk by. Not me! And not my kiddo. He was even trying to take other peoples balls. They didnt seem to mind. Thank goodness.
And of course, we wended the day with the initial favorite. The red race car. He took Cecilia out for one last spin. Even though he was in the passenger seat, he was totally running all of the buttons.
It was such an amazing day! It has been so long since we have gotten to do something like that! I was so thankful for the time with my family and the good simple fun we had just looking at the games and the lights and enjoying each others company. The funny thing is, the stuff that was free was what Elem enjoyed the most. Daddy on the other hand, had quite a spectacular day on the arcade games. We will be sure not to let him wonder off there on his own on pay day. He might not come back with anything left! I kept looking up when Elem was ready to go, and seeing Seth sliding his card "just one more time" to get in one more game. And then he would just flash this big smile as if to say, please I just want to play this one okay? haha. My boys. I love em.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Look at him go
Well I dont have time to do a full post on what we did this weekend, but I do have time to show this video. Since it was a rainy day yesterday, Seth and I wanted to get out of the house with Elem and do something fun! So we went to this new place that just opened on Wednesday that is called PlayTime Pizza! I will tell all about it in the next post, but this was ELem's favorite ride. And the best art -it was FREE. He loved loved loved it, and totally figured out how to turn it on all by himself. Too smart.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Mowin with daddy
Seth has actually been out of town for a couple of days in Chicago for work, so since I am missing him, I thought he deserved a blog. We miss you daddy. Come home fast. He actually is coming home tomorrow afternoon, but the sad thing is, we will just miss him because we are heading to Memphis for the weekend for a visit with my mom and dad and sister and Wyatt. We had thought he was going to be gone this weekend and that it all would have worked out we were gone at the same time. But dont ya know, work always changes at the last minute. So oh well. We will see you when we get back daddy. I know Elem will be excited to see you!
Since we cant see him, we will just talk about him. :) Right before he left, he of course wanted to mow the yard to make sure it didnt get too out of control while he was gone. Seth is a big yard man, and LOVES to keep the yard looking good. I dont know if he actually loves the manual labor part of it, but I know he loves the end result. A nice green, fairly tall, even high grass, with a good straight and deep edge. Haha. Sad.
And it turns out that somebody else just LOVES the mowin of the yard too. No matter where Seth went in that yard...Elem was closely observing.
At first, he was super serious about it. Very interested in the noise and how Seth kept going far away and then coming back close to us again.
But once Seth started getting really close, he was all smiles.
I actually got in trouble a few times because I was so busy with the dang camera and trying to (as always) get that perfect shot to capture the moment, that I didnt realize Elem and I were standing on grass that was needing to be cut. Oopsy.
Nothing like a happy baby. And the best part was, this was a free activity, right? At no cost, I got to see my hubby in a wife beater, working out in the yard, and Elem having a blast. While, another perk, I got to do my thing with the camera. Sounds like a pretty perfect night to me.
Yes, I guess I am a bit strange for wanting to take pictures of every little thing, but I love it. I just can not get enough of pictures. They are just so beautiful to me. All of them, whether Elem is smiling, or starring, or in action. I just love capturing moments that I am able to look back on and remember exactly how I feel. During this photo session, if I recall correctly, I was thinking how much I love my family. My husband and son are the greatest gifts I could ever have asked for. And I think I was thinking how crazy hot I was, and how I was annoyed that sweat was dripping from my forehead into my eye sometimes when I was trying to take a pic. Thats about it though.
Since we cant see him, we will just talk about him. :) Right before he left, he of course wanted to mow the yard to make sure it didnt get too out of control while he was gone. Seth is a big yard man, and LOVES to keep the yard looking good. I dont know if he actually loves the manual labor part of it, but I know he loves the end result. A nice green, fairly tall, even high grass, with a good straight and deep edge. Haha. Sad.
And it turns out that somebody else just LOVES the mowin of the yard too. No matter where Seth went in that yard...Elem was closely observing.
At first, he was super serious about it. Very interested in the noise and how Seth kept going far away and then coming back close to us again.
But once Seth started getting really close, he was all smiles.
I actually got in trouble a few times because I was so busy with the dang camera and trying to (as always) get that perfect shot to capture the moment, that I didnt realize Elem and I were standing on grass that was needing to be cut. Oopsy.
Nothing like a happy baby. And the best part was, this was a free activity, right? At no cost, I got to see my hubby in a wife beater, working out in the yard, and Elem having a blast. While, another perk, I got to do my thing with the camera. Sounds like a pretty perfect night to me.
Yes, I guess I am a bit strange for wanting to take pictures of every little thing, but I love it. I just can not get enough of pictures. They are just so beautiful to me. All of them, whether Elem is smiling, or starring, or in action. I just love capturing moments that I am able to look back on and remember exactly how I feel. During this photo session, if I recall correctly, I was thinking how much I love my family. My husband and son are the greatest gifts I could ever have asked for. And I think I was thinking how crazy hot I was, and how I was annoyed that sweat was dripping from my forehead into my eye sometimes when I was trying to take a pic. Thats about it though.
Vote for Elem
My friend Megan told me about this cutest kid contest that Little Rock Family Magazine is doing, and the grand prizer is a free photo shoot for your little one! So please show your love and vote for Elem! All you have to do is click on the link below:
And then you have to register to vote! All you enter is your name and email address and then pick your zip code. Now it says it is only open to Arkansas residents, so all you people who dont live here, can just use my zip code: 72022! Come on people it is for a prize!!!!! And plus I just think Elem is the cutest little man in the world so I think he deserves to win! Now you can only vote once, so make sure you pick the right one! It is a beach picture where he is clapping if you are having a hard time finding it!
And then you have to register to vote! All you enter is your name and email address and then pick your zip code. Now it says it is only open to Arkansas residents, so all you people who dont live here, can just use my zip code: 72022! Come on people it is for a prize!!!!! And plus I just think Elem is the cutest little man in the world so I think he deserves to win! Now you can only vote once, so make sure you pick the right one! It is a beach picture where he is clapping if you are having a hard time finding it!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Yogurt routine
Yes, there is a such thing! At least in my household there is. And although it is new, it is one of Elem's favorite parts of the day, and he enjoys every single second of yogurt time with mommy! A couple of weeks ago, I bought Elem some O'Soy yogurt, to see if it was worth trying. If you know me at all, you know I don't really eat too many sweets , and I most certainly do not let Elem have hardly any sweets at all either. I just feel like he doesn't need cake and brownies, and cookies every day of his life to live, which is why yogurt has popped up to be a good alternative, and just a better, slightly healthier choice.
The routine goes much like this: I open the fridge, and Elem goes right to where the yogurt is, and pulls on it to get it out. Then I take it from him, and he goes to the spoon drawer where we keep all the silverware! haha, yes I swear he does ( he also does that when he knows it is time for dinner, kind of like to tell me, "hey they are in here, get it, quick!) I strip him down to his diaper, give him a spoon, and then I open the yogurt, while he goes and sits down on the floor! Yogurt can be quite messy, so I would rather clean it up off the floor and off my naked babies body, rather than detail the high chair every single night.
One thing he hasnt quite figured out is exactly where the best place to sit would be. In this case, as you can see, right next to Sage's dog bowl, looked pretty comfy.
From that point on, he is all on his own! He keeps it right between his legs on the floor ad just feeds himself till it is all gone!
Yum, yum yum!
I wanted a pic with my yogurt face baby. He didnt think it was worthy enough of his time to actually put the spoon down to say cheese.
But while I was down there he did want to share the goodness with mommy. Sweet baby.
It is so cute to watch sometimes, cause that slippery yogurt will fall right off the spoon. But bless his little heart, he tries his hardest to make sure he gets at least a little something all the way to his mouth, every single time!
In the end, he will give it up quietly, but not until he gets that one last bite.
And that, is what we call the yogurt routine. After the yogurt, he tends to get up and run laps around from our kitchen to the dining room, to the living room, and on into the kitchen. That is also something new that is going on around here and it is just about funnier than the actual eating of the yogurt itself. :) Now as a side note, please take note of the outfit in these pictures. First of all I would like to point out that these are Elem's very first pair of boxer briefs. Too cute, so I had to buy them. Secondly, you might think you have seen these before in a recent post. And that is because you have! This yogurt routine occurred only minutes after the insane fit that I documented on about 2 posts ago. So as you can see, he forgets about them quickly and moves on. But during them, you think you are going to pull your hair out! Thank goodness for yogurt time.
The routine goes much like this: I open the fridge, and Elem goes right to where the yogurt is, and pulls on it to get it out. Then I take it from him, and he goes to the spoon drawer where we keep all the silverware! haha, yes I swear he does ( he also does that when he knows it is time for dinner, kind of like to tell me, "hey they are in here, get it, quick!) I strip him down to his diaper, give him a spoon, and then I open the yogurt, while he goes and sits down on the floor! Yogurt can be quite messy, so I would rather clean it up off the floor and off my naked babies body, rather than detail the high chair every single night.
One thing he hasnt quite figured out is exactly where the best place to sit would be. In this case, as you can see, right next to Sage's dog bowl, looked pretty comfy.
From that point on, he is all on his own! He keeps it right between his legs on the floor ad just feeds himself till it is all gone!
Yum, yum yum!
I wanted a pic with my yogurt face baby. He didnt think it was worthy enough of his time to actually put the spoon down to say cheese.
But while I was down there he did want to share the goodness with mommy. Sweet baby.
It is so cute to watch sometimes, cause that slippery yogurt will fall right off the spoon. But bless his little heart, he tries his hardest to make sure he gets at least a little something all the way to his mouth, every single time!
In the end, he will give it up quietly, but not until he gets that one last bite.
And that, is what we call the yogurt routine. After the yogurt, he tends to get up and run laps around from our kitchen to the dining room, to the living room, and on into the kitchen. That is also something new that is going on around here and it is just about funnier than the actual eating of the yogurt itself. :) Now as a side note, please take note of the outfit in these pictures. First of all I would like to point out that these are Elem's very first pair of boxer briefs. Too cute, so I had to buy them. Secondly, you might think you have seen these before in a recent post. And that is because you have! This yogurt routine occurred only minutes after the insane fit that I documented on about 2 posts ago. So as you can see, he forgets about them quickly and moves on. But during them, you think you are going to pull your hair out! Thank goodness for yogurt time.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Homeless Children Who Need Your Help!
As most of you know, I currently am the Director of Child Care and Youth Programs at Our House Homeless Shelter-a nonprofit organization for the working homeless. Let me just tell you a little bit about what we do. As an organization our direct purpose is to provide more of a holistic opportunity in regards to the basic needs of homeless people. When you first arrive at the shelter, you are informed of the opportunities as well as the requirements you as an individual must do in order to maintain your living space. That includes having a full time job, putting a certain amount of money in savings ever 2 weeks, attending job training and other classes, etc. and simply abididing by rules such as curfew etc.
So that is on the campus. Now down the hill in my area, we currently provide FREE child care for homeless children 6 weeks to 5 years of age, and a FREE summer program for children 6 years to 15 years of age-all residents of the shelter. Included in that, we serve them meals, give them clothing, provide them with school supplies, give them a daily structure, take them on field trips, provide them with anger management classes, deal with all of their individual issues (both physical and mental), and most importantly give them lots of LOVE. Which is the main thing that most of them need and are dying to get.
Until now, I have been so wrapped up in ensuring that my program is perfect, and that each child gets everything that they need every day, and I have forgotten one of my most important roles is to raise money. And I am like, raise money?? When in the world would I have time to raise money, when I literally have children tugging on my arm from 8am till 6pm every single day. And then not to mention my own family who I do not want to disregard ever. So I am posting this blog as an intial effort to help fund my program. I know it is a longshot and I have no idea what could come from this, but I feel like it is basically a great opportunity to get the word out about what we do, and hope that I might pull some heart strings on some of you out there. I would love to ask that anyone who has been looking for a way to help others and doesnt know where to go, look our way! haha!
If you would like to donate to the child care or youth programs, I can personally assure you that your money will soley go to help meet the needs of children who are currently homeless, most likely sharing a bed with a mom, and another sibling up at the shelter, wearing the same clothes every other day, who just overall needs your help. All money donated will go to help those kids. Not their parents, not their friends, just my kids!
No amount is too small, every little bit will help and be more than I am starting out with. If you would like to donate to help me meet my goal to rasie money this year for my kids, then you can send it to my personal address if you have it, or you can send it to the Shelter PO Box.
Our House Homeless Shelter
Attention Mindy Madewell
P.O. Box: 34155
Little Rock, AR
72203
Please make all checks payable to Our House Homeless Shelter and at the bottom you can write blog or something on it so Ill know where you saw this. And good news-it is all totally tax deductable! Please be sure to put your return address on the check and I will be happy to complete and send you a tax receipt to save for your records, that you can write off at the end of the year! Hey thats always a good thing right! And there is no shame in doing it-I did it last year and I tell everyone to do it! ha! Seriously though, please please, I do need your help to make our community a better place for these kids, who have been put in this situation and not by their choice or their fault. We all know how hard it is just to be a kid anyway, with peer pressure, school, making friends, etc, but then to add living in a dorm room of 40 beds with other woman and children right next to you, and never knowing what it feels like to have a real home, is a burden I can not even imagine at my age-much less a little kid.
Wow so there's my schpill. :) I hope you all pass this along and let people know, who want to make a different-there is a place right here close to home that needs you right now. Thanks to all who have already donated, and to those who simply send your prayers. I can not tell you how much we appreciate you.
Happy Monday!
So that is on the campus. Now down the hill in my area, we currently provide FREE child care for homeless children 6 weeks to 5 years of age, and a FREE summer program for children 6 years to 15 years of age-all residents of the shelter. Included in that, we serve them meals, give them clothing, provide them with school supplies, give them a daily structure, take them on field trips, provide them with anger management classes, deal with all of their individual issues (both physical and mental), and most importantly give them lots of LOVE. Which is the main thing that most of them need and are dying to get.
Until now, I have been so wrapped up in ensuring that my program is perfect, and that each child gets everything that they need every day, and I have forgotten one of my most important roles is to raise money. And I am like, raise money?? When in the world would I have time to raise money, when I literally have children tugging on my arm from 8am till 6pm every single day. And then not to mention my own family who I do not want to disregard ever. So I am posting this blog as an intial effort to help fund my program. I know it is a longshot and I have no idea what could come from this, but I feel like it is basically a great opportunity to get the word out about what we do, and hope that I might pull some heart strings on some of you out there. I would love to ask that anyone who has been looking for a way to help others and doesnt know where to go, look our way! haha!
If you would like to donate to the child care or youth programs, I can personally assure you that your money will soley go to help meet the needs of children who are currently homeless, most likely sharing a bed with a mom, and another sibling up at the shelter, wearing the same clothes every other day, who just overall needs your help. All money donated will go to help those kids. Not their parents, not their friends, just my kids!
No amount is too small, every little bit will help and be more than I am starting out with. If you would like to donate to help me meet my goal to rasie money this year for my kids, then you can send it to my personal address if you have it, or you can send it to the Shelter PO Box.
Our House Homeless Shelter
Attention Mindy Madewell
P.O. Box: 34155
Little Rock, AR
72203
Please make all checks payable to Our House Homeless Shelter and at the bottom you can write blog or something on it so Ill know where you saw this. And good news-it is all totally tax deductable! Please be sure to put your return address on the check and I will be happy to complete and send you a tax receipt to save for your records, that you can write off at the end of the year! Hey thats always a good thing right! And there is no shame in doing it-I did it last year and I tell everyone to do it! ha! Seriously though, please please, I do need your help to make our community a better place for these kids, who have been put in this situation and not by their choice or their fault. We all know how hard it is just to be a kid anyway, with peer pressure, school, making friends, etc, but then to add living in a dorm room of 40 beds with other woman and children right next to you, and never knowing what it feels like to have a real home, is a burden I can not even imagine at my age-much less a little kid.
Wow so there's my schpill. :) I hope you all pass this along and let people know, who want to make a different-there is a place right here close to home that needs you right now. Thanks to all who have already donated, and to those who simply send your prayers. I can not tell you how much we appreciate you.
Happy Monday!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
My super hot hubby
The other day we were with friends and family at our cousin's house. It was early evening, and we headed there for some food and simply a chance to get out of the house and let Elem be with relatives he doesnt always get to see. So while we were there we HAD to take advantage of the awesome pool in their backyard. So I had brought mine and Elem's swimsuit, just in case Elem wanted to swim, and I knew I would have to get in with him. Of course, as soon as Elem saw the pool he wanted in, and as soon as Seth saw the diving board, he wanted in! Only problem was, he didnt have a bathing suit, and we were in his brand new jeep, so he didnt want to get his clothes wet. So he went upstairs to find something in our cousin's parents bedroom. hahaha, and this is what he came out with:
jean shorts, with a few holes in them, and really blue. I can not stop laughing out loud when I look at this picture. Because it looks like he really wears them out swimming, like it is a regular thing. Too funny!
jean shorts, with a few holes in them, and really blue. I can not stop laughing out loud when I look at this picture. Because it looks like he really wears them out swimming, like it is a regular thing. Too funny!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Its just one of them days
It all started like a normal day. A quick bath to calm ones nerves after a long day at school. A quick rub down with some lotion, brushing of the hair, and tossin' on of the pj's. Then onto a little low key play time, before a bottle and bed. Off to the back room where Elem appears to be happy with his usual amazement and interest with the vacuum. He looks, he touches, he plays.
Eventually, the vacuum loses its excitement and onto daddy's shoes. Which have become another new obsession. The desire to put on daddy's shoes, has proven to be a lost battle. The baby foot is jut not big enough to hold it on without slipping.
Which can always lead to frustration.
And in that moment, I would like to introduce our newest phase.The fits.
Where faces turn red, cries turn into shreaks, eyes fill with tears, and all reason goes right out the window. All that in only a matter of seconds.
Bodies flail.
Legs are kicked, and objects are attacked (both people and/or anything in the immediate area)
Then something distracts you, and the fit is over. Sometimes only moments later, and sometimes 20 minutes later.
One never knows when the fits are coming. Because the fit thrower has no idea one is coming either! They just HAPPEN. And boy do they suck! Elem has most recently welcomed the stage of what I can only guess, are the early stages of the Terrible Twos!!!! My calm, laid back, hard working, mommas boy, has somehow discovered the idea of fits! And Seth and I were totally not ready.
A few weeks ago, Elem threw himself about on the floor and screamed to the top of his lungs for about 20 minutes. Seth and I looked to each other upset thinking that somethings must be wrong with him and he must be hurting, because of how insane he was acting. After it was over, although we were both upset and worn out just by watching it, we stuck to it and just assumed physical pain. Then it happened again, and again, and again. And we have finally realized that these are just fits! I am almost in shock because I work with kids every day and I see more fits, and upset children than most people would ever care to in their lifetime. But from a 14 month old. Neh-I thought those were easy-just sidetrack em, pick them up, take them away from the situation, right? Well not with my kid! I could only have wished to be so lucky. Elem seriously flails around and screams so loud at the drop of a hat.
Now we are seeing that he is throwing fits if his food isn't ready fast enough, he gets hurt, he wants to go outside and we wont let him, if we have to come inside at all, when he gets frustrated with toys, he wants to eat something he cant have, because he woke up, and just for no reason at all. ANd it wont ever just stop with a scream or two, but there has to be the rolling around on the floor, hitting and kicking things while rolling, and so on and so on. I just do not know what to do. He will not let you pick him up AT ALL either. Which is annoying too, because sometimes he just needs to be calmed down and moved to another room. So I have resorted to the easiest thing which eventually always works, which is the ignoring game. When he starts a fit I initially try to console him and distract him right at first, but if it doesnt work and he is already in the go wild mode, I simply ignore it. And I have to leave the room, or simply stand back. It is really hard to watch though because I see him there so sad and just so hurt by whatever it is that rubbed him the wrong way. And after a while I go back over and say "up", and hold my arms out and if he holds his arms up then he is done and if he tries to hit or something I just walk away. But if he does hold his ars up I pick him up and put him on my chest, tell him its alright, and I love him, and then he stops crying on the spot. And sniffles for a little bit, then wants right back down and off to playing again.
It is a vicious cycle I tell you, and seems never ending when it is happening. Maybe not the best way to do it, but like I said, it does work. What else can I do? I DO NOT want my kid to be spoiled, and I feel like this is the first stage of him testing me. Just to see how far he can get with the whining. But it is not gonna work, and I am going to stick by my policy until he understands that he cants always get his way. And if he would just try to compromise, he would be happier in the long run.
This is definatley not one of the high points of parenting, and trial and error for a solution is no fun either. And I still cant believe it is happening so early. I can only hope and pray that we get through this one as a much stronger family and eventually with a calmer well mannered baby! ALl I can say is...I think he gets it from his daddy. :)
Eventually, the vacuum loses its excitement and onto daddy's shoes. Which have become another new obsession. The desire to put on daddy's shoes, has proven to be a lost battle. The baby foot is jut not big enough to hold it on without slipping.
Which can always lead to frustration.
And in that moment, I would like to introduce our newest phase.The fits.
Where faces turn red, cries turn into shreaks, eyes fill with tears, and all reason goes right out the window. All that in only a matter of seconds.
Bodies flail.
Legs are kicked, and objects are attacked (both people and/or anything in the immediate area)
Then something distracts you, and the fit is over. Sometimes only moments later, and sometimes 20 minutes later.
One never knows when the fits are coming. Because the fit thrower has no idea one is coming either! They just HAPPEN. And boy do they suck! Elem has most recently welcomed the stage of what I can only guess, are the early stages of the Terrible Twos!!!! My calm, laid back, hard working, mommas boy, has somehow discovered the idea of fits! And Seth and I were totally not ready.
A few weeks ago, Elem threw himself about on the floor and screamed to the top of his lungs for about 20 minutes. Seth and I looked to each other upset thinking that somethings must be wrong with him and he must be hurting, because of how insane he was acting. After it was over, although we were both upset and worn out just by watching it, we stuck to it and just assumed physical pain. Then it happened again, and again, and again. And we have finally realized that these are just fits! I am almost in shock because I work with kids every day and I see more fits, and upset children than most people would ever care to in their lifetime. But from a 14 month old. Neh-I thought those were easy-just sidetrack em, pick them up, take them away from the situation, right? Well not with my kid! I could only have wished to be so lucky. Elem seriously flails around and screams so loud at the drop of a hat.
Now we are seeing that he is throwing fits if his food isn't ready fast enough, he gets hurt, he wants to go outside and we wont let him, if we have to come inside at all, when he gets frustrated with toys, he wants to eat something he cant have, because he woke up, and just for no reason at all. ANd it wont ever just stop with a scream or two, but there has to be the rolling around on the floor, hitting and kicking things while rolling, and so on and so on. I just do not know what to do. He will not let you pick him up AT ALL either. Which is annoying too, because sometimes he just needs to be calmed down and moved to another room. So I have resorted to the easiest thing which eventually always works, which is the ignoring game. When he starts a fit I initially try to console him and distract him right at first, but if it doesnt work and he is already in the go wild mode, I simply ignore it. And I have to leave the room, or simply stand back. It is really hard to watch though because I see him there so sad and just so hurt by whatever it is that rubbed him the wrong way. And after a while I go back over and say "up", and hold my arms out and if he holds his arms up then he is done and if he tries to hit or something I just walk away. But if he does hold his ars up I pick him up and put him on my chest, tell him its alright, and I love him, and then he stops crying on the spot. And sniffles for a little bit, then wants right back down and off to playing again.
It is a vicious cycle I tell you, and seems never ending when it is happening. Maybe not the best way to do it, but like I said, it does work. What else can I do? I DO NOT want my kid to be spoiled, and I feel like this is the first stage of him testing me. Just to see how far he can get with the whining. But it is not gonna work, and I am going to stick by my policy until he understands that he cants always get his way. And if he would just try to compromise, he would be happier in the long run.
This is definatley not one of the high points of parenting, and trial and error for a solution is no fun either. And I still cant believe it is happening so early. I can only hope and pray that we get through this one as a much stronger family and eventually with a calmer well mannered baby! ALl I can say is...I think he gets it from his daddy. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
