Pampers Through the Stages Giveaway

With 5 kids we have used our fair share of diapers! Now, with Faith finally fully potty trained, day and night we have just finished the final stage of diaper wearing. My best friend is just about to have a baby girl and I am excited to smell the new baby, cuddle her and do the occasional diaper changes...

Some of the PG Moms that I have met through this program created some videos to share with readers about the stages and advice that they have to offer to new moms and parents on the diaper to potty training journey.

Pampers Swaddlers are so soft for newborns! They keep your baby dry and comfortable.

Pampers Cruisers are a great transition for when your baby is on the go!

When we potty trained, we used a sticker chart too!  It was a great instant reward for my kids!

Pampers Village is a great way to get questions answered and collect points for some cool gifts!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I am a P&Gmom. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and
special access to P&G events and opportunities. The opinions on this blog are my own.
By entering the following contest you are accepting that if you win your contact information will be shared with a P&G PR and shipping agency for the purpose of mailing your prize. Please allow 4-6 weeks from the contest closure date to receive your prize.  This giveaway may appear on other blogs as part of the #PGmom program. However, to be fair, you can only win once per giveaway. If your name is chosen more than once, another winner will be selected.

What Defines You?

This is a personal journey that I have been on...unknowingly, for almost my whole life.  I have struggled with this for a long time, the "Who am I"...not just - mom, wife, support worker, etc...but me, Ruth...

Who am I?

I know that I can't be the only woman out there who reaches this point.  There are all kinds of jokes about midlife crises, and while I am not saying that I am having one (don't worry, not going to do anything stupid here, or blow a lot of money on some stupid purchase) I am realizing that I have been alive for 35 years and I really don't know who I am.

It all sounds so cliche, "I need to find myself" and yet, I don't feel like I am lost, or that I need to find myself...I just need some clarification.

This post is a very personal post.  Do with it what you will.  I have decided that no matter what response I get, I really don't care.  This is for me, I need to have an outlet and this is how I am choosing to work it out this way...

I also want to say that I, in no way, regret the place that I am at in my life.  I love the life I have.  I love my husband, my kids, my job.  I feel comfortable where I am and I am glad that this is the route my life took.

What I want to talk about is how, after 35 years, 16 of them married with kids, do I remember who I am.  When I thought about this and talked with my bff, I realized that I have really never known who I am.  I have always been a follower of many people.

Whomever was in my circle at the time, is who I became.  It was like being a chameleon.  Is it the right way to behave? No...but it got me through my childhood and teen years.  Whether I want to admit it or not, it has played a huge role in who I have become. 

I reminisce a lot.  I love to listen to the music I listened to as a teen, which varied from Bon Jovi (Livin' On A Prayer:-), to Pearl Jam (Alive...) to SNAP (Rhythm is a Dancer), The Eagles (Hotel California) and The Ramones (I Wanna Be Sedated) and Sex Pistols (Anarchy in the UK).  And then there was my Christian music which consisted of One Bad Pig and Petra.

See, I could go on and on...I changed what I liked and who I was whenever my circle of friends changed.  I was a follower.  And that was ok then.  Like I said, it got me through.  I never really had much self-esteem and I didn't really like myself.

I made choices that I didn't like and I made mistakes.  None of them were ever that bad, and I did learn my lesson from them. 
Fast Forward:  I am married, for 16 years.  I have 6 kids, 1 in Heaven.  I have a job.  We have a house, 2 vehicles and a dog.  We have it all.  We have amazing friends who are more like family, we have family that we still like...You could say that we have it all!!  And as I said, I am thankful for where I am.

I am now 35, I am not having any more kids.  I am struggling with who I am and I am starting to think it is important for me to have some ME time.  You know, where I do things for myself.  

This time doesn't replace my family time, my time with my husband, or my job.  It is extra.  It is for me to be who I am and to become more confident in who I am. 

BUT...

When I take time for myself, I feel guilty.  Like I shouldn't be having fun without my kids or my husband.  Like if I have extra time I should be doing something productive...like cooking or cleaning (which I hate to do). 

When my husband and I went to Cuba we had a blast.  We got to know each other again and we enjoyed the kidless time...we plan to do this every year from now on, we have realized how important it is for us to do that and to connect without kids around.

We took a family vacation last year and it is the first one that was really enjoyable.  We saw things and went places that the kids talk about to this day.  We realized that we need to do this more often, so are planning our next family vacation this year (and even the next one after this year)...it is important for us to enjoy this time with our kids while we can.  Soon they will be grown and gone and will have families of their own...time flies!!

And while all of this was very satisfying and things that we will do again and again and again...I need to do something for me.  Not just going out for apps, or going to a chick flick with the ladies...(which is all fun).  But somewhere where I don't have to be "MOMMY" (that is my kid screaming;-) or have to worry about the cleaning or cooking (which I have to credit my husband and kids for doing alot of...), where I don't have to remember medication or be on the lookout for seizures.

But to have time to hang out with ladies, with girlfriends.  To build that bond and that relationship.  To be who I am and to define myself as a person who can be free of "titles"...

Does any of this make sense?  Am I just going through a mid-life crisis?  Am I crazy!? 

Do any other ladies feel like they have lost their identity?  What are some realistic ways that you have to deal with it...to hit it head on and bring yourself to a place where you are confident in who you are that it makes you a BETTER MOM and WIFE? 

What is the secret that I haven't found yet???

Dyslexia: How Do You Know?

This post is about Hope.  She is my 5 (almost 6) year old.  She has an amazing, loving, caring and fun personality.  We absolutely love her zest for life. 

However, we have been noticing some things about her that we are starting to become concerned about.  She is busy.  Busier then normal kids.  Her teacher last year asked me if she was always busy, even at home.  I had to say yes.  Hope has a hard time sitting still.  It doesn't matter what she is doing, she bounces.  She is constantly wiggling and moving.  It is like she has no control over it...the movement has control over her!

She talks, non-stop.  Her talking doesn't always have a direction, it is just to talk.  She will randomly scream and screech, with no instigation or trigger.  Seriously, imagine sitting in your house, it is fairly quiet, the kids are playing and all of a sudden you hear "AAAAHHHHHH" and it is done and she goes back to whatever she was doing.  Can freak you out sometimes!!

She is so emotionally charged, will cry about the slightest things, and if she knows she has done something wrong she will start to laugh, hysterically sometimes, uncomfortably sometimes.  She has serious speech issues.  Gotta love the 2 year wait list at school for speech therapy...her language skills are above normal for her age, but the speech is so immature.

And this weekend I noticed this:

This is the God Dictionary we made at Sunday school this week. 
This is the front cover.

  

The directions were to write the alphabet, one letter per page.
She started at the back of the book.

Then the kids were to write a word that describes God.  Every other page
was written backwards, letters and all.

But, on the left pages she wrote all the words in the proper direction.
I had written the words down for her to copy.

Again, the word is backwards, even though she is copying from
my properly written word

And then the proper way again.  It is kind of baffling to me...

Remember, she is also going from the back of the book to the front,
even after I had given very specific directions

She was thrilled to write her name as a descriptive word for God:-)



She got to I.  This was the length of time she could sit still. 
I worked 1:2 with Hope and another child.  She still could not focus on the task.


I worked with Hope and another child, to help them get through the book.  I couldn't believe how much Hope moved.  It took everything in her to sit still, and even when she was writing the words, she was moving, hugging or kissing me the whole time.  She was giggling, complaining, and talking the whole time. 

It really opened my eyes.  We need to figure out how to help her be successful.  She is not reading yet.  We noticed when she was sounding out her words, a capital D was pronounced as a b.  She has a hard time putting all her sounds together.  She can barely make the proper sounds...(and yet there is a 2 year wait).

The other amazing thing she did, which seriously astounded me was...

I had written the word awesome on the paper for the kids to copy from.  I held it up for the kids on the other end of the table to see and Hope was sitting behind the paper.  She was looking at the letters through the paper, backwards, and writing them down in the right order....seriously, who does that at the age of 5???

She is brilliant, talented and amazing.  She sees the world in a whole different way.  The problem is, the world doesn't work in the way that she sees it.  We need to get some help, get a diagnosis, talk to someone...I am just not sure where to start!!

Bliss at Home

There is a party going on over on Facebook right now.  It is one that you don't want to miss.  It is called Bliss at Home and is for those of us who just can't seem to make it out of the house to conferences like Blissdom.  It is a place for us to network, learn from each other and just let loose from home!  Come and check it out!  The hosts for this wonderful party are:

Shash, from Shasher's Life
Krisin, from Peace, Love and Muesli
Maija, from Maija's Mommy Moments

I know that I am not the most well known blogger, and I don't claim to know it all.  I really wanted to share a post with the Bliss at Home folks this week...so, I thought and I thought and I thought.  Just as an introduction and maybe as a way to help out someone else who may feel like this sometimes!  Feel free to add your comments and ideas here too because I am still learning!!

What is my "expertise"? What is my "niche"? Sometimes, I feel like I am so all over the place that I really don't fit in anywhere. So, I have made my own "niche". It is for those of us who may not be so focused on one particular thing. Some people focus on:

•  Mommy Blogging (I fit in here because I am a mommy, but I don't only blog about "mommy stuff")
• Reviews and Giveaways (I fit in here because I do some reviews and giveaways on my blog, but I am just starting at that and I don't only do reviews and giveaways)
• Special Needs (I fit in here because I have and blog about my daughter, who has some special needs, but I don't only blog about her)

I could go on and on...but you get the idea. I "fit in" to all of these topics, but I don't want to limit myself to just one. I am not alone here, right?

What I have learned in my 5 years of blogging is that my blog is about me. That is my niche! It is me!! I have been up and down with my blogging and have just started picking it back up in that past 6 months to a year. It has been hard to not make it all about my daughter who was born with many problems and I think I am just figuring it out now, how to keep the blog about everything in my life (that I am willing to share!).

Some pointers that I would have for those starting out, or for those who are trying to figure out where they sit in the wide world of blogs would be:

• Be yourself. First and formost, be true to who you are. Most of the time, readers can tell when you are being real. Writing flows when it is real.
• Comments aren't the be all and end all of blogging. I know that I have readers. I have received quite a few emails from people lately, instead of comments. It is exciting when a comment comes, but I no longer gauge my blogs value by the comments I receive.
• It is ok to blog on varying topics. We all have so many different interests that is what makes us all unique! It is the individuality that keeps people interested.
• Don't blog about everything in your life. Pick some things that are private, that you will never share. It is nice to be open about things, but you still need to have your life outside of blogging.
• If you have nothing to blog on a certain day, put up a picture, or just don't blog. I have used funny headlines instead and many pictures. Those are better then filling your blog with just words. Your content should be valuable!
• Participate in daily blog hops, when you can. It gives you an easy day for content (sometimes) and you get to meet new people along the way.
• Return the comment love!! If someone has left you a comment, go back and say hi. Find out who they are. You never know what kind of connections you may find out there:-)

I know this is not the whole list, there are so many different things that can make a blog successful. 

What other advice would you have to give to others wanting to learn more?

Blog Party Break and Potty Talk:-)

I am having a blast meeting so many new bloggers...I have found a number of blogging friends that I will be following regularly...they are the ones that I went there to thank them for visiting me and an hour went past while I was reading their posts:-)

I still have my giveaways going on below, it is cool to see so many entries coming in...my first time hosting giveaways has been a great success, I think...

Anyhow, for now I am doing a regular post, yup...one about life again:-) Because I am still here...I do exist...My blog is not just about the party or the giveaways...though it is a lot of fun...

We have an issue going on here, and while so many people are visiting me, I thought I would look for opinions and advice...even though it has to do with my 5th child...cause it all seems so new again:-)

Potty Training...So, Faith is my number 5 kid. We have successfully toilet trained 4 kids before her, it wasn't that difficult and the kids started showing they were ready to train by 2 or shortly thereafter.

Faith is 2 and a half now. She has started showing signs that she dislikes her diaper. She is constantly taking it off, and wants desperately to have panties on. We have let her run around in panties too, just to see if she catches on.

When we encourage her to sit on the toilet, she genearlly cries to get off after a very short time (less then a minute) occasionally she will pee and we will make a huge deal about it, she does well with a lot of praise, and literally minutes later she is peeing on the floor and is oblivious that she did so.

Her latest is taking her diaper off in the middle of the night. We no longer have those 1 piece sleepers, and some nights she sleeps with pj pants on and other nights with just a shirt and a diaper on - it is hot in our house already!! She comes and climbs into our bed...because she doesn't really sleep and we realize that there is no diaper...

It is getting kind of old. Has anyone else experienced this? It really is new territory for us. I haven't been sure about her toilet training, with the developmental delays that she has and the fact that her ABI has affected the memory area as one of the main areas of injury. I really have not had much hope for training at a decent time, but what can I do other then have her in onesies all the time, or sleepers?

She can get the diaper off even if she is wearing pants...she is very quick too...

Anyhow, that is our dilemma...I don't know if it is a sensory issue (which she scored WAY above other kids in - needing lots of sensory stimulation) or if she really is showing that she wants to train now...

I am perplexed:-S

The Bullying Dilemma...

I homeschooled for 6 years, Mr Hockey and Princess started school in Grades 7 and grade 3/4 and Cutie Pie started in Grade 1. This year I wanted to homeschool Cutie Pie, but really struggled with all the "life" things on my plate. So, she went to school 2 weeks into the year.

Last year, there was a boy in Cutie Pies class who would constantly chase her and try to kiss her. She was not ok with it and the teacher handled the situation fairly well. I believe it did stop, mostly, during the year and all was well.

This year, Cutie Pie ended up in the same class as this little boy again. Now I wish I had of spoken up in the beginning and had her or him switched.

Yesterday we got a call from the teacher informing us that Cutie Pie was being "tormented" by this little boy. To the point that she stood outside the classroom yesterday, in tears, scared to go into class...oh my goodness!! He has been hitting her, pushing her and spit in her face yesterday. I am so happy that Cutie Pie is confident enough to let someone know. I want to deal with this boy myself!!

I phoned this morning and talked with the teacher a little more in depth. She had given him a warning and then when that didn't work, she phoned his mom, who was not home...she told me that she was going to be letting the office know about what has been happening and if it started again she would be sending him to the office. They would deal with it and potentially he will be suspended if it doesn't stop.

The mommy in me wants to pull her out of school and homeschool her again. I want to protect her at all costs!! There is this joke that I heard through the homeschool community all those years...about socialization...That if we, as homeschoolers, wanted to socialize our kids the way they are socialized at school, we will just take them into the bathroom at lunchtime and tease them and take their lunch money...funny? Well, now that is a reality for my kid in the school system...

Apparently the teacher thinks that it is starting during the walk from breakfast club to school, and suggested that Princess take Cutie Pie under her wing a bit and keep her away from the boys...we will see how that pans out. I could keep them home from breakfast club, but don't think it is fair, or right, to teach the kids that when there is a bully situation we need to run away from it. We shouldn't have to be the ones to change...

Which leads me to my other thought. I really wanted to suggest to the teacher that these 2 be separated during class time. Even having one of them moved to the other grade 3 class. But, I don't want my kid to have to change...she should not have to be penalized for someone elses actions...

Which is why I probably won't pull her out of school again...unless it becomes obscenely unbearable (like my big words? That is how you know I am upset!!)

I hope that this boys mom takes this seriously. The rest of his life, and how he will behave, is dependant on how this situation is handled at home...that is what I believe anyways...I know his mom is a single mom and they have a younger child (toddler) and I think it would be an eye opener to have to find care for him while he is suspended...maybe that is what it will take?

I am planning on going to the school this afternoon to walk Cutie Pie home...should I talk to this kid in my "mom" voice? Do you think that I should encourage Cutie Pie to walk away from him and say things like - I am not allowed to play with bullies? Do you think this will put a target on her back even more? I don't know what to tell her to do...there is only so long that you can ignore it...I plan to follow up with the teacher next week to see how things are going, and what has changed or not changed...

I am just kind of stuck on suggesting the right thing to do...how have other people dealt with it? She is such a sweet kid, and has the worlds biggest heart...it breaks mine to see her hurting like this...