Family Musings

Guess what! I am one of 15 finalists in the Delicious Moments video Facebook Contest. That means if I get enough votes, I will win $10,000 towards a dream family vacation. And you can help. Would you please go to http://apps.facebook.com/delicious-moments/ and vote for my video? My video is titled "The Truth." And that is what you will see on my video - the brutally honest truth about what I would probably do with an extra 30 minutes in my day. You only get to vote 1 time in this contest, which ends on November 9th. And you will need a Facebook account. If you vote for me, I promise to send you a postcard while I am on my dream vacation... just make sure you tell me that you voted for me so I know who my friends are. :)

Charlotte has been wearing size 18 month clothing since she was about 20 months old. She has always been on the tiny side so I didn't anticipate moving her out of those clothes for quite some time. And that time is now. Not because she gained a lot of weight, but because she is getting taller and well, her head is getting bigger Yep. Big surprise there. I am raising a daughter with a big head. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with all of the people in her life who tell her how smart she is. That can't be it. She won't tolerate pulling tight shirts over her head very well so I have no pictures of that, but I can show you that she is getting taller. First piece of evidence: When she first wore this outfit at 20 months, it dragged on the ground. Now, well, yeah, you can see for yourself. And as an aside... I was planning this post yesterday because I have finally switched Charlotte into her 24 month wardrobe (except for some pants, she still has an it...

I don't normally link to giveaways on other blogs, but this one I'd have to link to even if I didn't earn an entry. The creator of Grosgrain Fabulous is an amazing costume designer and this year, for Halloween, designed a Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set. You have to see it to believe it! Really, go take a look. And remember, when you see pictures of Charlotte's scrubs costume (unless we win the Grosgrain giveaway of course), don't laugh. Please.

I've thought since the beginning that Mary was the spitting image of Charlotte when Charlotte was a newborn. And several people who were around for Charlotte's early months agree. What do you think? Which baby is in the first picture and which in the second?

I must be a mom-blogger. Because I took my camera to therapy today so I could get pictures of Mary with her physical and speech therapists, just so I could put them on my blog. Well that, and this blog is my scrapbook of their lives because I just don't have time nor space for a lot of stickers and paper. Mary had her first actual physical therapy session this morning, after the evaluation on Monday. Antoinette (pictured left) is her lovely physical therapist and she seems to really enjoy Mary. Below are some pictures of the various exercises she does with Mary's tiny body. Mary's arms are stretched and her joints are flexed. The basic treatment idea for hypotonis, as I understand it, is to provide sensory input to Mary's nerves and muscles to "wake them up" so to speak.  Antoinette has also recommended we had a second physical therapy session to our weekly schedule. So we are going to try that and see if it helps her improve. I also learned today that...

    Nah, no zombies here... just a little girl happy to be painting a bird house for Daddy. For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom Extraordinary Mothers Momspective Look What Mom Found Wordless Wednesday 7 Clown Circus - Wordful Wednesday Ordinary and Awesome - Mostly Wordless Wednesday

It has been a few weeks since I posted an update about Mary. In that time, we have continued to visit a speech therapist once a week as well as practicing some oral exercises at home to strengthen her mouth muscles. Additionally, Mary went to her one-month well baby visit. At that visit, the doctor diagnosed her with hypotonia, which basically means she has low-tone in her muscles. This results in delayed milestones and possibly delayed speech. We really won't know what affect, if any, this could have on Mary for the long term. The doctor also gave us an additional referral for physical therapy and we followed through on that just a few days later. The physical therapy (PT) evaluation went well and I was happy to confirm that Mary has just a mild case of hyptonia. We don't know the cause (and may never), but we do believe that with additional exercises, time, and motivation, this is something that we can over come. For those of you who know and love Mary, please don't s...

College! While my mom didn't actually come to college with me, she managed to know all my friends names and favorite foods, and made sure to include them in this scrapbook that she gave me and that I am now sharing here. The group of friends I had in college were great. Actually, they still are! In this first picture, I can say that I am still in touch with all but 3 of the people in it. After 11 years I think that is pretty good. Though, I have Facebook to thank for that. Without Facebook I would't know where at least 2 of them were. You may be wondering what BSU stands for. No, it isn't the initials of my college. BSU stands for Baptist Student Union, the student organization I spent the most amount of time with during my days at the U . And that girl next to me, her name is Amy. She went on to become the Maid of Honor at my wedding. And then we lost touch. And now we are back in touch. Thanks Facebook! I was surrounded by talented people in college. Some of them g...

I think Charlotte is the most adorable toddler in the world. So, I entered 5 photos of her into the Gap Casting Call . Won't you go and cast a vote for her each day until November 17? Thanks! Here are the photos I submitted, all taken within the last month or so.         Which one is your favorite?

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here are the duck pictures... Remember I said Minda and Fischer joined us? Now I have photographic proof since I didn't get any decent pictures of Fischer yesterday. Totally my fault though, because clearly he is wonderfully photogenic ! We don't go to visit the ducks without some sort of yeasty offering. Fischer liked it too. (So did Charlotte, she never gets white bread so it is a treat for her.)   And here is the only half-way decent picture of Charlotte from our duck feeding excursion.   And here is why. After about 5 minutes, it became clear that protecting our children from the giant swans was more important than taking pictures! I have never seen them as aggressive as they were today.  

Last year , I took Charlotte to play in a local pumpkin patch and feed the ducks with our long lost friends Cayman and Jackie. I decided to take Charlotte back this year, along with Mary, to play among the pumpkins. When we arrived, after losing a shoes first, Charlotte decided the pumpkins needed to be rearranged. Good thing most of them were "too heavy!" for her. Did you know pumpkins make cool drums? Especially orange and white striped pumpkins. Or so Charlotte says. Time for the annual blessing of the pumpkins... More drumming and more declaring, "mine! mine!" God forbid another child, even her friend Fischer, try to play with one of "her" pumpkins. I really wanted to get a great shot of Charlotte looking right into the camera amidst this great field of pumpkins... this is what I got instead. Repeatedly. The girl won't sit still! Oh wait! There is her face! But not for long... she was on a mission to tire mommy out! Finally! A...

Start with an eager toddler and a clean, white pumpkin... Carefully dip your clean paint brush into the first color... Then dip your next brush into the second color... Spend a few moments keeping your colors separate and neat, like Mommy tells you too... And then throw all caution to the wind and just go crazy with mixing the colors... If you follow these directions very carefully, you can end up with a masterpiece just like this... For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom Extraordinary Mothers Momspective Look What Mom Found Wordless Wednesday 7 Clown Circus - Wordful Wednesday Ordinary and Awesome - Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Charlotte gets excited every time I tell her that Mary can sit in her lap. This morning, Charlotte wanted to just lay down with Mary and this is what we ended up with.   Oh, and this is as close to matching outfits as we get right now. They are both in blue.

I have been asked several time recently how I manage to find such great deals at grocery and drugstores. And the answer is always the same. I combine coupons with store sales to get the best deal possible. It isn't rocket science and it doesn't have to be scary. But it does take a small investment of time. I'd been thinking about sharing my tips here for a while and then a few nights ago, I went to a class on how to use coupons. The teacher is obviously a mega-couponer with a few years experience and no babies or toddlers at home. But, in my opinion, she gave the class too much information considering most of the attendees were coupon novices. So, now, I want to share my ideas with my friends near and far so you can bring down your grocery budget without having to buy 200 boxes of cereal. Today, I'll just share a few tips to get you started. Let me know if you have any questions. First, and most obvious, buy a Sunday newspaper for the coupons. Actually, buy 2. The...

Yay! The weather has finally given us a glimmer of Fall here in FL. I know it is fleeting, but we took advantage of it and met some friends at a local park for the first playdate of Fall. Swings and bright blue skies are a great combination! Follow the leader... anyone else surprised that Charlotte isn't in the front? This is Charlotte telling me she is scared to get on a toy dragon that I had just seen her sitting on a few moments earlier. I told Charlotte to say 'cheese' for the camera and instead she decided to pretend she had her own camera and was taking my picture. But lest I think she was going to stand still for too long, she made a mad dash for the gate. Fortunately, we are working on obedience and she stopped when she got to the gate. Given the chance, she will always swing. And that's it... time to go home!