My family was taken a back when they first heard me use the voice. It has now been dubbed my "Evil Mommy voice". And Miss C loves Evil Mommy. See example video here:
Works every time! (I think I scared Santa though.)
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Evil Mommy
About 2 months ago, I discovered that Miss C loves my raspy voice. It makes her smile and giggle. So with picture season upon us, I am using this knowledge to my advantage.
My family was taken a back when they first heard me use the voice. It has now been dubbed my "Evil Mommy voice". And Miss C loves Evil Mommy. See example video here:
Works every time! (I think I scared Santa though.)
My family was taken a back when they first heard me use the voice. It has now been dubbed my "Evil Mommy voice". And Miss C loves Evil Mommy. See example video here:
Works every time! (I think I scared Santa though.)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Not Ready
Looking around my house today, I'm so glad Miss C is content to stay put and not crawl around yet.
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Friday, December 11, 2009
Double Dose
DOTY and I took Miss C to a flu clinic the other night so that she could get the H1N1 vaccination.
Our pediatrician highly recommended that Miss C get both flu shots since she is now 6 months old. Our ped's office is doing all flu shots through a clinic so you sign up online for an appointment and then show up to get your shot.
So we showed up. And here is how my convo with the receptionist went:
Receptionist: "How old is the patient?"
Me: "6 months"
Receptionist: "And are you here for both seasonal and H1N1?"
Me: "We just signed up for the H1N1. Can she get both at one time?"
Receptionist: "Yes. They don't interact with one another. Would you like to do that?"
Me: "Do it!"
Receptionist: (laughs) "Poor baby"
Me: (shrugging shoulders) "Better to have one bad night than 2 bad nights."
And bad night we did have.
Our pediatrician highly recommended that Miss C get both flu shots since she is now 6 months old. Our ped's office is doing all flu shots through a clinic so you sign up online for an appointment and then show up to get your shot.
So we showed up. And here is how my convo with the receptionist went:
Receptionist: "How old is the patient?"
Me: "6 months"
Receptionist: "And are you here for both seasonal and H1N1?"
Me: "We just signed up for the H1N1. Can she get both at one time?"
Receptionist: "Yes. They don't interact with one another. Would you like to do that?"
Me: "Do it!"
Receptionist: (laughs) "Poor baby"
Me: (shrugging shoulders) "Better to have one bad night than 2 bad nights."
And bad night we did have.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
12/9/09 Moms in the News
Michelle Duggar is in the hospital. Pray for her safety and the safety of her unborn child - baby number 19!
Need a heart warming story? Meet Serrena Huddleston. When Serrena's neighbor (a mother of nine) started doing drugs, Serrena didn't stepped in and started caring for the nine children. After several years of trying to help her friend, Serrena ended up adopting all of the children under 18 years old - six of the kids! And did I mention that Serrena already had 4 of her own children. Serena is called an Adoption Hero.
Meet Lisa Sacks. A few years ago she joined the registry for a bone marrow center. Basically, they take a swab of cheek tissue and keep your DNA on their books to match with people who are dying of illnesses. Lisa got a call a few months ago that she was a match for someone. This Thanksgiving, underwent a difficult procedure to donate her bone marrow to save a stranger's life. I know I would do this for a family member in a heartbeat, but Lisa did it for a stranger. I think that's really cool.
Need a heart warming story? Meet Serrena Huddleston. When Serrena's neighbor (a mother of nine) started doing drugs, Serrena didn't stepped in and started caring for the nine children. After several years of trying to help her friend, Serrena ended up adopting all of the children under 18 years old - six of the kids! And did I mention that Serrena already had 4 of her own children. Serena is called an Adoption Hero.
Meet Lisa Sacks. A few years ago she joined the registry for a bone marrow center. Basically, they take a swab of cheek tissue and keep your DNA on their books to match with people who are dying of illnesses. Lisa got a call a few months ago that she was a match for someone. This Thanksgiving, underwent a difficult procedure to donate her bone marrow to save a stranger's life. I know I would do this for a family member in a heartbeat, but Lisa did it for a stranger. I think that's really cool.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sick parenting
The Sunday after Thanksgiving DOTY year and I were sick - the fever with weak stomach kind of sick.
Miss C sat on the floor and cried while we stared at each other trying to figure out who would get up to change her diaper. That's when we decided to call in the reinforcements.
(We did change the diaper before Mom-in-Law got there - after all, that's a 2 hour drive)
Miss C sat on the floor and cried while we stared at each other trying to figure out who would get up to change her diaper. That's when we decided to call in the reinforcements.
(We did change the diaper before Mom-in-Law got there - after all, that's a 2 hour drive)
12/8/09 Moms in the News
Stefanie Spielman a hero for breast cancer died almost 3 weeks ago on November 20th. Her husband used to play football for the Buffalo Bills. He decided to leave the game when his wife was diagnosed back in 1998. Stefanie was a mother of 4 and during her 10 year battle with cancer she raised a lot of money for a cure.
Meet Debra Gallo. On November 23rd she had her fourth child in the passenger seat of her family truck with the other 3 kids in the sitting in the backseat! She said it all happened in the parking lot of the Mobil gas station - hah! Baby and mom are doing fine.
And...my favorite! Don't mess with mama squirrel. This mama squirrel protected her baby from a big dog. These pics are awesome!
Meet Debra Gallo. On November 23rd she had her fourth child in the passenger seat of her family truck with the other 3 kids in the sitting in the backseat! She said it all happened in the parking lot of the Mobil gas station - hah! Baby and mom are doing fine.
And...my favorite! Don't mess with mama squirrel. This mama squirrel protected her baby from a big dog. These pics are awesome!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Congratulations SB!
SB, you resoundingly won last week's poll for your Fake Wreath story. Thank you to all who voted!
Send in your MOTYM for this week's poll to ashleybeam@gmail.com!
Send in your MOTYM for this week's poll to ashleybeam@gmail.com!
Friday, December 4, 2009
12/4/09 Moms in the News
Meet Dee Lindeman. Dee has spent the last 3 days camped out in front of her state capitol building (Michigan). She has 3 children in the school system and she is tired of funding cuts. Security guards make her leave at night so she only stays during the day.
You probably already know that breastfeeding is good for baby and mom, but a new study shows it also prevents diabetes and heart disease. Check it out!
You probably already know that breastfeeding is good for baby and mom, but a new study shows it also prevents diabetes and heart disease. Check it out!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Fake Wreaths No More!
SB writes:
So, my little C man likes to crawl over to the glass door and look out, beat on the door, and slobber on the door. He especially likes it if Daddy is arriving home when he's at the door. But that is beside the point. The story does have to do the the area around the glass door, though! The other night, little C man crawls on over to the door while I was checking on his warming bottle in the kitchen. Daddy brings C man back into the kitchen not a minute later saying he had something in his mouth. Little C man's jaw is on lock down when you try to open it! Finally he got something out. It was a tiny little fake berry that must have fallen from our fake Christmas wreath on the door. But, that's not all. He was still chewing around. I saw 2 more as he quickly opened and shut his mouth. Daddy tried to open his mouth again, but little C man was on lock down. I was bringing his bottle to him in hopes that he might open his mouth, but instead he swallowed those 2 berries!! Panic! Immediately, baby reflex made him throw up and the 2 berries came with it. Little C man was then ready for his bottle. Whew! I think I'm going to be super paranoid about anything on my floor now!! His little fingers will find anything around to put in his mouth!
So, my little C man likes to crawl over to the glass door and look out, beat on the door, and slobber on the door. He especially likes it if Daddy is arriving home when he's at the door. But that is beside the point. The story does have to do the the area around the glass door, though! The other night, little C man crawls on over to the door while I was checking on his warming bottle in the kitchen. Daddy brings C man back into the kitchen not a minute later saying he had something in his mouth. Little C man's jaw is on lock down when you try to open it! Finally he got something out. It was a tiny little fake berry that must have fallen from our fake Christmas wreath on the door. But, that's not all. He was still chewing around. I saw 2 more as he quickly opened and shut his mouth. Daddy tried to open his mouth again, but little C man was on lock down. I was bringing his bottle to him in hopes that he might open his mouth, but instead he swallowed those 2 berries!! Panic! Immediately, baby reflex made him throw up and the 2 berries came with it. Little C man was then ready for his bottle. Whew! I think I'm going to be super paranoid about anything on my floor now!! His little fingers will find anything around to put in his mouth!
12/2/09 Moms in the News
Meet Wendi Dolton. Wendi gave birth to a 15.6 pound premature baby! What! Ok so the baby was 37 weeks, but still 15.6 pounds - just think if that kid had gone 40 weeks - whew!
Meet Peg Kennedy. Peg is a high school teacher in Connecticut and the Ronald McDonald House is calling her a local hero. Peg has taught for 28 years and she teaches everything from TV Production to Resume Writing. Her latest project is a Life Skills class where Juniors and Seniors pair up with a peer who is on a lower learning level to help them learn life skills.
Send me any good stories you know of! I love to hear about moms in the news! Send stories to ashleybeam@gmail.com.
Meet Peg Kennedy. Peg is a high school teacher in Connecticut and the Ronald McDonald House is calling her a local hero. Peg has taught for 28 years and she teaches everything from TV Production to Resume Writing. Her latest project is a Life Skills class where Juniors and Seniors pair up with a peer who is on a lower learning level to help them learn life skills.
Send me any good stories you know of! I love to hear about moms in the news! Send stories to ashleybeam@gmail.com.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Bloomers in "tact"
The day after Thanksgiving, my side of the family did our Family Christmas pictures. This is an annual tradition. It's really neat to see how our family changes over the years. Every year there are more people as some get married and some have babies. This year 4 had babies so we had 4 new ones including my own Miss C.
Family Christmas pictures bring one thing to mind - outfits. Especially outfits for those bebes. And this year those bebes had 2 cute outfits to wear - a casual look and a formal look. The kiddos did great for the casual look - smiling adoringly inspite of all the animal sounds their parents were squealing at them. Once that was done we quickly broke off, each parent whisking up their child to change them into the formal look.
I have learned that time is of the essence in these situations. You don't know how long your little one will endure pictures, and lots of people, and lots of noise, and changing clothes. So I quickly grabbed Miss C's formal Christmas dress and ripped off the tags. I then proceeded to put the dress on her. When I got the second arm in, Miss C began to scream. This was an "This hurts!" scream. I inspected the dress to see what was wrong, and discovered the dress apparently came with matching bloomers which were still tacked on to the inside of the dress. The plastic tacking thingy was wrapped around Miss C's little arm and was pinching her!
I started to take the dress back off, but that was making things worse so my sister ran to get the scissors and she cut Miss C loose. But there was no recovery from this tragedy. Miss C was out of sorts the rest of the night. She cried and spit up through the rest of the pictures and through the dinner afterward.
Family Christmas pictures bring one thing to mind - outfits. Especially outfits for those bebes. And this year those bebes had 2 cute outfits to wear - a casual look and a formal look. The kiddos did great for the casual look - smiling adoringly inspite of all the animal sounds their parents were squealing at them. Once that was done we quickly broke off, each parent whisking up their child to change them into the formal look.
I have learned that time is of the essence in these situations. You don't know how long your little one will endure pictures, and lots of people, and lots of noise, and changing clothes. So I quickly grabbed Miss C's formal Christmas dress and ripped off the tags. I then proceeded to put the dress on her. When I got the second arm in, Miss C began to scream. This was an "This hurts!" scream. I inspected the dress to see what was wrong, and discovered the dress apparently came with matching bloomers which were still tacked on to the inside of the dress. The plastic tacking thingy was wrapped around Miss C's little arm and was pinching her!
I started to take the dress back off, but that was making things worse so my sister ran to get the scissors and she cut Miss C loose. But there was no recovery from this tragedy. Miss C was out of sorts the rest of the night. She cried and spit up through the rest of the pictures and through the dinner afterward.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Special Edition: DOTY!
DOTY had a big "moment" this week so I just had to include it. Here is how the story goes:
DOTY teaches our Sunday School class at church. This week he wanted to do something special and introduce our topic with a clip from The Office television show. He needed to leave 30 minutes early to set everything up with our laptop and speakers. We decided to ride separately so that I could get Miss C ready and fed. So off he went.
30 minutes later...
Always rushing - I sweep up Miss C and we are out the door. I get to the car, open the door to put her in and realize there is no carseat. DOTY has the carseat with him in that vehicle. I call DOTY to tell him what has happened. He is still trying to get everything set up and he is struggling himself.
Thankfully, we have another carseat and base in Miss C's closet. They are the Graco brand whereas our normal carseat and base are the BabyTrend brand. Because of that I knew I would have to install the base itself - not just pop in the other carseat. I put Miss C on the floor to play while I go get the carseat and base down from her closet.
I immediately notice that the carseat straps are at the shortest setting. The last time we used this carseat, Miss C was 8 weeks old! She is much bigger now, so I had to rethread the carseat straps.
Once I had the base installed in the car, I buckled Miss C into the carseat and popped the carseat onto the base. We were finally off. About 5 minutes down the road I notice that Miss C is holding her head up off of the carseat. This was because the carseat base was on the lowest setting - a setting for newborns - all the way reclined. Miss C is used to sitting much more upright in her carseat. She rode the whole way to church holding her head up and away from the carseat.
Miss C and I made it - about 10 minutes late - not too bad considering.
DOTY learned a valuable lesson - Never leave the house with the carseat =)
To send in your MOTYM write ashleybeam@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your signature and a title for your piece. No poll this week because of Turkey Day. Posts sent in this week will be included in next week's poll.
DOTY teaches our Sunday School class at church. This week he wanted to do something special and introduce our topic with a clip from The Office television show. He needed to leave 30 minutes early to set everything up with our laptop and speakers. We decided to ride separately so that I could get Miss C ready and fed. So off he went.
30 minutes later...
Always rushing - I sweep up Miss C and we are out the door. I get to the car, open the door to put her in and realize there is no carseat. DOTY has the carseat with him in that vehicle. I call DOTY to tell him what has happened. He is still trying to get everything set up and he is struggling himself.
Thankfully, we have another carseat and base in Miss C's closet. They are the Graco brand whereas our normal carseat and base are the BabyTrend brand. Because of that I knew I would have to install the base itself - not just pop in the other carseat. I put Miss C on the floor to play while I go get the carseat and base down from her closet.
I immediately notice that the carseat straps are at the shortest setting. The last time we used this carseat, Miss C was 8 weeks old! She is much bigger now, so I had to rethread the carseat straps.
Once I had the base installed in the car, I buckled Miss C into the carseat and popped the carseat onto the base. We were finally off. About 5 minutes down the road I notice that Miss C is holding her head up off of the carseat. This was because the carseat base was on the lowest setting - a setting for newborns - all the way reclined. Miss C is used to sitting much more upright in her carseat. She rode the whole way to church holding her head up and away from the carseat.
Miss C and I made it - about 10 minutes late - not too bad considering.
DOTY learned a valuable lesson - Never leave the house with the carseat =)
To send in your MOTYM write ashleybeam@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your signature and a title for your piece. No poll this week because of Turkey Day. Posts sent in this week will be included in next week's poll.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
In a bag by the door
Isn't that where everything is? - In a bag by the door. That's where my pants have been for 2 weeks now - yup, the ones I was supposed to give to the lady in choir. I finally gave them to her today and she is going to hem them - yay! (What am I talking about? Click here for previous blog about hemming pants.)
Anyway, that is also where I left something very important on Saturday. Specifically, it was the diaper bag by the door. And in the diaper-bag-by-the-door was Miss C's 10:30 bottle. And also in the diaper-bag-by-the-door was anything and everything that could stall/distract Miss C if for some reason stalling/distracting were necessary - things like pacifiers, toys, sippy cup, etc.
Way to go MOTY!
PS Miss C was a real champ about it. She hardly made a whimper. I was so proud. She finally got her bottle at 11:45! I could hear her little tummy rumbling. Getting her bottle during what would have normally been nap time really messed up the rest of our day, but that's what happens when you leave the bag by the door.
To send in your MOTYM write ashleybeam@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your signature and a title for your piece. No poll this week because of Turkey day. All posts this week will be included in next week's poll.
Anyway, that is also where I left something very important on Saturday. Specifically, it was the diaper bag by the door. And in the diaper-bag-by-the-door was Miss C's 10:30 bottle. And also in the diaper-bag-by-the-door was anything and everything that could stall/distract Miss C if for some reason stalling/distracting were necessary - things like pacifiers, toys, sippy cup, etc.
Way to go MOTY!
PS Miss C was a real champ about it. She hardly made a whimper. I was so proud. She finally got her bottle at 11:45! I could hear her little tummy rumbling. Getting her bottle during what would have normally been nap time really messed up the rest of our day, but that's what happens when you leave the bag by the door.
To send in your MOTYM write ashleybeam@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your signature and a title for your piece. No poll this week because of Turkey day. All posts this week will be included in next week's poll.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Super Sweet Gravy
DB has given us our very first Thanksgiving MOTYM. Enjoy!
Several years ago, my Mom and I were cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. I was making gravy and I couldn't get it to thicken. I kept adding what I thought was corn starch to no avail. The problem - I had pulled down the powdered sugar canister which was identical to the one I kept corn starch in. (In case you've never noticed, corn starch and powdered sugar look exactly the same.)
I added a bit of corn starch and my concoction started to thicken. What to do? Everything else was ready, so I served it and told no one (except Momm as she watched the entire fiasco).
To me, it tasted really sweet, but noone else seemed to notice! I think about this every year when I'm making the gravy!
To send in your MOTYM write ashleybeam@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your signature and a title for your piece. No poll this week because of Turkey Day. Posts from this week will be included in next week's poll.
Several years ago, my Mom and I were cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. I was making gravy and I couldn't get it to thicken. I kept adding what I thought was corn starch to no avail. The problem - I had pulled down the powdered sugar canister which was identical to the one I kept corn starch in. (In case you've never noticed, corn starch and powdered sugar look exactly the same.)
I added a bit of corn starch and my concoction started to thicken. What to do? Everything else was ready, so I served it and told no one (except Momm as she watched the entire fiasco).
To me, it tasted really sweet, but noone else seemed to notice! I think about this every year when I'm making the gravy!
To send in your MOTYM write ashleybeam@gmail.com. Don't forget to include your signature and a title for your piece. No poll this week because of Turkey Day. Posts from this week will be included in next week's poll.
Turkey Week
Ok. Ok. I realize I may have been a little demanding requiring that Turkey related posts be in by yesterday at 9 pm. So I'm going to give some leeway. You can still send in your Turkey related posts until Tuesday at 9 pm - how bout that!
Here's what I'm looking for:
Thanksgiving/Black Friday funny mom moments - cooking fiascos, social blunders, clothing disasters, travel mishaps, etc.
Thanksgiving/Black Friday tips - cooking ideas, eating ideas, leftover ideas, shopping tips, etc.
Thanksgiving/Black Friday teachable moments - I dare you to come up with a Black Friday teachable moment =) Maybe this will be this week's competition in lieu of the poll =)
Here's what I'm looking for:
Thanksgiving/Black Friday funny mom moments - cooking fiascos, social blunders, clothing disasters, travel mishaps, etc.
Thanksgiving/Black Friday tips - cooking ideas, eating ideas, leftover ideas, shopping tips, etc.
Thanksgiving/Black Friday teachable moments - I dare you to come up with a Black Friday teachable moment =) Maybe this will be this week's competition in lieu of the poll =)
11/23/09 Moms in the News
Meet Linda Blockus, mother and Director for Undergraduate research at Memorial Union in Columbia, MO. When the Life Sciences Center was being built, Linda asked the planners to include a room for nursing mothers to pump. She became committed to the cause after seeing a student who was also a mother go to the restroom to pump.
Meet Lavlee Mollik and Moira Kelly. Mollik is the biological mother of Trishna and Krishna, conjoined twins from Bangladesh. I've been following the story of these twins all week! They were joined at the head and were separated in a 34 hour surgery! Amazingly both survived and it appears have no brain damage - Praise the Lord! Mollik could no longer afford to care for her daughters so she gave them to an adoption agency. She was overcome with joy upon finding out that her daughters had survived the surgery, but she wants them to continue to be with their guardian Moira Kelly so that they will be able to get a good education and have good medical care. Both of these women sound amazing to me. One has painfully given away her daughters because she knows she can't give them the medical care they need. The other has taken on this huge financial burden of medical care for babies she didn't even know and decided to care and love them.
Send me any good stories you know of! I love to hear about moms in the news! Send stories to ashleybeam@gmail.com.
Meet Lavlee Mollik and Moira Kelly. Mollik is the biological mother of Trishna and Krishna, conjoined twins from Bangladesh. I've been following the story of these twins all week! They were joined at the head and were separated in a 34 hour surgery! Amazingly both survived and it appears have no brain damage - Praise the Lord! Mollik could no longer afford to care for her daughters so she gave them to an adoption agency. She was overcome with joy upon finding out that her daughters had survived the surgery, but she wants them to continue to be with their guardian Moira Kelly so that they will be able to get a good education and have good medical care. Both of these women sound amazing to me. One has painfully given away her daughters because she knows she can't give them the medical care they need. The other has taken on this huge financial burden of medical care for babies she didn't even know and decided to care and love them.
Send me any good stories you know of! I love to hear about moms in the news! Send stories to ashleybeam@gmail.com.
Congratulations Dot!
Dot won this week's poll with her tale of the Red Frilly Panties. If you missed Dot's MOTYM, click here to read it.
No poll this week since this Friday is Black Friday and I expect all of you to be out shopping - Yes, I am one of those! But please send in more MOTYMs. I will continue to post them and we can just have more stories to choose from next Friday.
No poll this week since this Friday is Black Friday and I expect all of you to be out shopping - Yes, I am one of those! But please send in more MOTYMs. I will continue to post them and we can just have more stories to choose from next Friday.
Friday, November 20, 2009
11/20/09 MOTYM Poll
Today's poll is different. Leave a comment telling me your vote for the week. I have the comments moderated so I will get an email with all of your votes. This way, the winner will be a surprise on Monday. I know you are all on pins and needles =) In your comment, you can post the letter or the title.
So here are your choices one more time!
A) Finger nails
B) The Midnight Cry
C) Meeting Great Great Grandma
D) The Case of the Red Frilly Panties
So here are your choices one more time!
A) Finger nails
B) The Midnight Cry
C) Meeting Great Great Grandma
D) The Case of the Red Frilly Panties
11/20/09 Turkey Week's almost here
Don't forget to turn in any Thanksgiving posts by Sunday, November 22nd at 9 pm. Posts can be on any of the following topics:
MOTY - Your Mommy of the year moments as they relate to Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday
MOTY to MOTY - Your tips as they relate to Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday
Teachable Moments - Teachable moment ideas to use around Thanksgiving
Send any of these to ashleybeam@gmail.com! Thank you!
MOTY - Your Mommy of the year moments as they relate to Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday
MOTY to MOTY - Your tips as they relate to Thanksgiving and/or Black Friday
Teachable Moments - Teachable moment ideas to use around Thanksgiving
Send any of these to ashleybeam@gmail.com! Thank you!
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