Target... You have upset me

Let me start by saying I love Target, it's one of my favorite place to shop for almost anything. Not only do they have great prices, they also price match, you get 5% off when you use your Target card and they the have some of the best clearances deals I've ever seen! Oh and I do love that all I need is my credit card if I have returns. When I was pregnant with Hadley I got all of her baby stuff (swing, pack and play car seat/stroller,highchair,bedding bouncy seat, exersaucer along with lots of little other things) I needed for 75% off along with a 10% off coupon. I was so happy that everything was cute and girlie but most of all I only paid a little more for everything then what the stroller/car seat cost at full price! So yes I love the money I save shopping there. I have found many other great deals like this over the years. I never pay full price for anything at Target

As much as I love this store I'm deeply disappointed how they have treated yet another breastfeeding mom. Read her story HERE. My thought after reading this was to call corporate, cancel my credit card, transfer all of our prescriptions and return everything in my house that was still returnable (which would take several trips) and never shop there again. Instead I have decided to send a letter (which I'm still working on) and cancel my credit card. I'm not sure if I'll stop shopping there all together, but instead of  it being my "go to place" they will become only a last resort. Some of you make think this is a little extreme , but breastfeeding is so important to me that I'm not gonna help support a business that CONTINUES to bully breastfeeding moms!

If breastfeeding is important to you and you hear of a place of business that bullies breastfeeding moms, let your voice be heard and tell their corporate how you feel. Maybe with enough voices they will educate themselves and their employees on the breastfeeding laws and this will never happen to another mom!

 Breastfeeding Laws by State

She's back...Elle, Our Elf on the Shelf.

I love when Elle returns from the North Pole!  I found her Sunday morning in the kitchen sitting on a Christmas plate surrounded by M&M's. Since her return, she has been doing a pretty good job staying up high so Hadley can't reach her. She's been hiding in stocking's and sitting on picture frames. Yesterday she was up on a high shelf in the living room. After lunch,  I hear Kira screaming "MOM, Hadley has Elle she's could lose her magic!" My first thought was this is not good. How am I going to convince Hadley to give her to me and not touch her anymore?  She gave her back without a problem and I put her back on the shelf. Kira explained that Elle was special and could lose her magic if we touch her.  Kira spent the rest of the day worried, that Elle had lost her magic and she wouldn't be able to do her job for Santa. I told her I'd send Santa an e-mail explaining what had happened and hopefully she would be fine. I think it worked...

this is what we found when we woke up.



It's been a while... Time to get back into the blog of things!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. Summer was really busy with friends, playdates and ongoing projects around the house. Now that summer has left us, we will be spending more time indoors. Hopefully I can find some time for blogging.  Between K12 with Kira chasing Hadley non stop  I'm super busy, not to mention very tired. I find myself letting the laundry pile up,(which I hate) and letting toys be anywhere and everywhere until "Ms. Tornado" goes to bed. Guess we shall see...





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Friday Favorites

After yesterday's post, I really wasn't sure what to blog about today. So I decided to do something a little more positive, and blog about some of my favorite things of the week.

I'm gonna start with something that someone posted on Facebook. I absolutely love it, and it sums it up pretty well.

"Infant formula has only been around for about 100 years, and has only been widely used for about 60. Every time a deficiency is fixed in the product, it is heralded as being 'closer than ever to breast milk'. I could take a step out of my front door and be 'closer than ever' to California. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m still thousands of miles away."

My favorite morning was Thursday... Hadley slept until 9:30. This never happens, she's usually up by 7:00.

I definitely enjoyed the extra sleep.

My favorite book of the week was "If your a monster and you know it..." by Rebecca and Ed Emberley.

It was read at story time this week. I thought it was really cute.

Wednesday night had to be  another favorite. It was the first night we didn't have to work on the retaining wall until 2 or 3 am.I never stayed out that late, but Andrew and Madison had to for 4 nights. Wanted to get it done asap. Time to start working on the patio and deck.

My favorite sweet moment was last night with Kira and Hadley. I needed to go outside and ask Andrew a question, so I asked Kira to watch Hadley. When I came back in, Kira was rocking Hadley to sleep. Of course Hadley jumps up when she hears me open the door. Seeing that Hadley was tired I wanted to get her PJ's on and rock her to sleep. With in a few seconds, she is trying to get down. I put her down and she walked right over to the couch and climbed up by Kira. She laid her head in her lap. Kira picked up up and started rocking her. She wanted her big sister to rock her, not me.  Once Hadley was asleep, I took her and put her in bed. Although I was happy that Kira got to love on her, I was a little sad, I'm always the one who rocks her at bedtime.

My favorite recipe this week was my sister's Chicken Taco's in the crock pot. I also shared this with a friend, who really liked it too.

My favorite TV show this week is " The new adventures of old Christine." I never watched it when it first aired, but staying up later and nothing being on I decided to give it a try. It is so funny and I laugh at every episode I watch.

These are some of my favorites of the week.

What were some of your favorites?

I have a blog stalker... and I know who it is!

Have you ever crossed paths with someone that you wished  you never did?

But since you did, you wish you could make them go away and leave you alone? Or just get the hint that no one wants anything to do with them.

Well we have.

Let me start by saying I was not planning on blogging
about this. It's just time to get it off my chest, and let her know,that I know what she's up to. I know shes a little obsessed or perhaps jealous of someone in my family.

Yes I know this blog is public and anyone can read it.

But why would you continue to go to my blog several times on most days?

There is nothing here that concerns you, or anyone in your family for

that matter.

 So why is my blog so important to you? Are you that obsessed with our life and what we are doing?  Or perhaps your just a nosey bitch. Or maybe you just wanna steal my pictures? Maybe start blogging to my child, again?( Which she thought was creepy and hated it). Just do anything besides worrying about people who can't stand you!!

So if you really must know whats going on with us, I will tell you...
 We are doing absolutely amazing without any child support, and without having to deal with you.  I just assumed with a husband and wife with such great careers would be responsible and pay whats court ordered. I can't wait to see what a judge says to the bullshit reason for not paying. She might would come visit if you were not so crazy and obsessed. And not have to hear you bitch and complain about who she has chosen to call daddy. Maybe you should research the difference between a dad and sperm donor, and you might just understand.  Maybe you should save all the extra money you have for back child support.

I assume with 2 great careers and you being in school you both, spend 40+ hours a week having someone else raise your kids. With that being said, you should spend your spare time with them and not reading my blog.  (By the way I don't consider working at a gas station once a week great. Having a job that you can only go to if the weather is nice, or if you can find work  isn't that great either.)

I figured you would get the hint after calling and texting her a million times with no reply, but you didn't. I guess blocking you from facebook didn't do it either.

 You still have to come read my blog. I guess it's to see what M is doing. So what's it gonna take?

I must ask, why are you so concerned with mine and my families tweets if you think you to good for twitter?

There is so much more to say to you... but since I know you enjoy my blog so much I will wait for a later post. Gonna get back to more important post such as the importance of breastfeeding, vaccines, and mine and my husbands great life with our 3 amazing daughters.

Again, no one gives a shit about you or your feelings, so why don't you do us both a favor and stop being a blog stalker!!!!!!!!
You can share this with you husband if you must!

By the way,  I'm glad you enjoy reading our blogs.
You should become a canary and join twitter.
Tweet Tweet!

Stay At Home Mom... The Best Full-Time Job I Could Ask For!!

You hear most people welcome the weekend. A couple days off  from work, and lots of much needed  family time. I guess you could say I'm one of the lucky ones. Being a stay at home mom, is almost like the weekend all week . Don't get me wrong I'm not saying its not a full time job because it is. Besides my husband, who works full time and then comes home and spends several hours doing improvements and upgrades to our home. I probably put in more work hours then most people, who work full time and get a pay check! 

Some of the best things about my "job'' is that I can stop and take a break when I want for as long as I want. If I  want to spend a few hours just doing something with the kids I can. If I want to drop everything and take off the whole day, I can do that too. I don't have to ask for permission or worry about not getting in enough hours to pay the bills. I don't have to deal with rush hour traffic, or worry about finding the time to run the household. I  don't have to worry about getting off work if one of the kids are sick, and need to go to the Dr. (With all my kids being breastfed, I'm happy to say they don't get sick very often anyway.)

I know not having a job isn't an option for all mom's, and I respect that. It hasn't always been that way for me. I was a single mom at one time myself .With very little child support that never came regularly, and usually wasn't the full amount. I  had to work and work a lot. I'm so thankful now that I don't have to depend child support one bit. If we did we would be screwed. Can't remember the last time I got 1 penny.

 I also know that 1 income isn't  always enough for some families especially in an economy that people are taking pay cuts just to keep their job. So, yes both parents having to work is very understandable.

We made the decision that is was more important for me to be home with kids as long as we could live comfortably. With that being said we don't have the biggest house on the block. Nor do we feel we need to.  We are happy with what we have and I don't ever see us needing anything bigger. We don't go out a buy brand new cars just to have them. I love not having an unnecessary car payment. We don't just go out and spend money on whatever. We shop very smart, with sales, coupons and clearance. These are just a few of the small sacrifices  I'm willing to make, so my kids don't have to spend 40+ hours a week with someone else.

I really do love my job and  hope to be able to stay home with my kids for many more years. The girls and I have a blast! I recommend to anyone that can afford staying home with the kids, to give it a try. You might just love it.



Casey Anthony- Not Guilty!! No shocker to me

This trial seemed to be forever long.... I have been following this case since the beginning.  I have always thought Casey was guilty. A grieving mother just doesn't do any of the things she did in the time "Caylee was missing."  Its hard to say how I would react if one of my children were missing. I don't think anyone could say for sure unless they have lived it.

 The one thing I do know is I would  have called the police the second she was gone. I definitely would not be lying to anyone about anything. I would not be making shit up for no good reason at all. I would not be out partying every night, getting tattoos, or acting like nothing was wrong. I really don't understand how anyone can have a smile on their face, day after day when their child is missing.( Which was Casey's claim.) Just doesn't make any since to me.

I watched the jury selection day after day. I was surprised at some of the people that served on the jury.
I watched the trial from beginning to the end. And even though I thought she was guilty, I would not have been able to convict her just based on the states evidence. I know most people disagree with me, however we have to keep in mind that you can only convict on the evidence, not emotion.

I think there were too many holes in the states case. I think the whole family was in on the theory of the defense. I truly believe that the Anthony family would do whatever they had to, if it meant saving their daughter. Yes, I think they love and miss Caylee very much, but they already lost her and they don't want to lose Casey too (Nancy Grace said she would do the same thing for one of her children). There were just too many unanswered questions.

 I was writing this as the verdict came in, so of course I stopped to watch as did everyone else in the country.
I was not surprised by the verdict at all. I said that the states case wasn't strong enough in the very beginning.
Now that the jury found her not guilty they are being criticized and talked about like they are stupid. Everyone wants to blame somebody. I can think of other people to blame before the jury.

 The area where Caylee's remains were found was searched multiple times, by many different people. They found nothing. In early Aug. 2008, there was a call asking for someone to come out and search, because they was something suspicious.  The caller was told no, that the area had already been searched. That happened more then once, to different callers.  Maybe if they would have followed up on those leads, the body would have been found much sooner. And just maybe they would have been able to determine the cause of death. So why would'nt you blame them?

There is so much more to this case.  I will have to blog more on this later once I can get my thoughts together, and the media dies down some.  I know most people don't agree with me and that's fine. Keep in mind innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Unfortunately that state of FL. was not able to do that.

More to come soon...

Fun and Not so Fun Weekend...

I have to be completely honest the weekend started out not so fun. Andrew woke up Friday with his elbow red, swollen and not able to move his arm. He really didn't have an explanation as to why it would be hurt. He kept ice on it  all day. Well that did not help. Saturday morning it was even worse. We decided to go to the ER to find out what was wrong. I was not looking forward to taking Hadley, but Madison and Kira were still out of town.

We got to the hospital around 10 am. I was so happy to see it was pretty slow. I was hoping we would be out within a couple hours. He was called back within 2 minutes and the DR was in our room about 5 minutes later. It was so nice he came in, took a look and diagnosed him with bursitis. It took him a few minutes to drain it, wrap it up and give him his prescriptions. It was so nice to be in and out of the ER in about 35 minutes. It couldn't have gone any better. 

We get home and everything seems fine, he's working in the garage.  About 3 hours later he comes in the house in more pain, and its swelling all the way down to his fingers. So guess what?... Yep we were on our way back to the ER. I had a feeling this visit wasn't gonna be as fun, so I got a couple toys and snacks for Hadley and out the door we go.  When the Dr. comes in the room he starts drawing on his arm so we can see if it spreads even more.  They do some blood work and can't find anything else. A couple hours later there was no change, so we headed back home.  Luckily Hadley slept most of the time.


Now on to the fun part of our weekend.. The girls got home early afternoon. Hadley was so excited to see them. She kept smiling and was grabbing on to their legs. It was so cute. We decided to go do some shopping. Madison and I got matching purple mountain bikes, and I got a new grill.

                                                                         

I was so happy. I've wanted a bigger/nicer one for a while. I wasn't expecting to get the one I did, but Target had it 50% off and I had 10% off coupon.  By the time I got back Andrew was almost done working in the kitchen. The only thing left is installing our cutting board (which I haven't ordered yet, they are expensive.) and tile under the breakfast bar.

That's all for now... Hadley is ready for a nap.

Random's of the Week

The weather this past week has been so crappy... It has rained everyday. Not only is it rainy its cold!   Hadley and I have been stuck in the house everyday  :(  
It definitely doesn't feel like summer. Madison and Kira have been gone for almost a week now. I know they are having fun with their cousins, but we miss them so much! Hopefully when they come home they will bring the sun with them.

We found out yesterday,  Andrew has to have another knee surgery in the next few weeks. He re tore his meniscus, which means more down time and more rehab. They are saying about 6 months, which puts him around the time his unit is scheduled to prepare for deployment. So if his knee is healthy he will have to go, if not I'm not sure what will happen.  I want his knee to be healthy and pain free, but I don't know if I'm ready for another deployment. Guess I better get ready, I may not have a choice.

On a happy note, I found out earlier this week that Kira was accepted to WIVA. (K-12)
She is going to be so excited. She has wanted to homeschool for a couple years now, so we are gonna give it a try. If  for some reason it doesn't work for us, I can send her back to public school anytime.


Well that's all for now, Hadley is ready for a nap.

Breastmilk can benefit your whole family ;)

When I started nursing Hadley almost 15 months ago, I never thought there would be so many other uses for my breastmilk. The more I thought about how amazing it was, and the wonderful things it did for Hadley I decided to do more research on breastmilk.  Breastmilk contains millions of  live white blood cells and antibodies to fight diseases. Most mothers know about the nutritional benefits of breastmilk however the antibacterial and healing properties are often overlooked. Human milk, is a sterile solution and can be used in a variety of ways to promote healing and clean wounds. Here are some things breastmilk can treat, usually quicker and better then antibiotics or other treatments normally used: ( I have used breastmilk on most of these things and yes it works!)

• Pink Eye
• Clogged Tear Ducts
• Stuffy Nose
• Cold Sores
• Ear Infections
• Cradle Cap
• Cuts and Scrapes
• Burns
• Acne
• Cancer Treatment
• Insect Bites
• Eczema
• Diaper Rash
• Skin Rash
• Chapped or Cracked  Lips
• Sore Throat

The next time you our your baby has something that can be treated by breastmilk, give it a try. You will be so  happy that you did!!

Picking strawberries

The kids have been out of school for a week now. I am doing my best to keep them outside while the weather in nice. We went to the park couple of times this week. We went to a strawberry farm, with our neighbor April and her son Caleb (who is Hadley's age) to pick our own strawberries. Hadley didn't do much besides sit in the stroller taste testing . Between Madison and Kira we came home with a little more then 6 pounds.  They taste so much better then buying them from the store. Looks like we will be picking our own the rest of the summer!!  Now then fun part is figuring out what to do with them

We also went to the park so Hadley could play and have lunch.. She is so funny she loves to just run around carrying handfuls of wood chips. She kept losing her hat and this little girl was chasing her trying to put it on her head. It was so funny to watch. Hadley is such a social butterfly. She loves when the big kids chase her.



Hadely showing me the wood chips, right before she tries to eat it!



Today at the park

Today is day 2 of summer break for my kids. I can tell they are already getting bored. Madison has spent most of her time working on a puzzle of New York City. Kira has already finished a 260 page book, and has started on another.  Hadley really likes playing outside, so I decided to go to the park and have a picnic. I have been many times with Hadley and there are always other kids there. 

All the moms I have met have been very nice, until today. It was a play group of about 6 moms. They just seemed very stuck up like they were better then everyone else. It was just weird. Their kids on the other hand were throwing sand and wood chips, running up the slide while kids were trying to come down pushing little ones out of the way, etc, etc.  And that's not what bothered me the most, it was that the moms that said nothing. They just stood there like they were doing nothing wrong.

Now I'm not saying my kids do nothing wrong, but when they do, they are corrected. Kira tried to run up the slide, she was told "no." I really don't want Hadley trying to do and get hurt. Slides are for sliding down, not running up.

Hopefully the next time we go it will be better, I don't like to leave someone my kids are having fun because mom's don't control their kids.

My New Blog!

Here's my new blog! Now I have to start posting.