Uh, Gross. Sophie the Giraffe!

Okay, so I stumbled upon a post regarding a Mom finding mold inside of her child’s Sophie the Giraffe. Now, I am so not a fan of this particular teether for this exact reason. They can’t be cleaned properly, even with the best of the best cleaning care you can’t get every corner – and for the record if you could get every corner you’d never be able to tell, since you can’t open up these toys / teethers. 

Moving on, I think that the parents with this toy should simply discard it – I know it’s no fun throwing away a $25 teether but think about it! It’s molding. Besides, I’m all for Dr. Browns teethers. Easy to clean, BPA Free and my kid loves it! 

No shaming Sophie here, it’s a super cute accessory but come on, for $25 it should at least be mold proof! Don’t you think?

The photos below are of the moldy Sophie the Giraffe. The other teether (also a Giraffe..only $15 cheaper.) is the easiest to clean teether we use for our Daughter. 

You be the judge! 

My Birth Story

There’s so many things that went through my mind that Wednesday. I was only going in for a sonogram to check my babies growth, at the sonogram they not only confirmed that my baby breech, I had extremely low fluids which meant I’d have to be admitted to the hospital.

 I called my husband and explained that I’m unable to do a natural birth and didn’t know when a c-section would take place so he had to get to the hospital ASAP. I was scared, anxious, nervous, worried and so happy all at once. I couldn’t stop shaking when the doctor came in and rescheduled my section for the third time. He told me they’d scheduled my c-section for noon. It was 11:32 and I was shaking uncontrollably. My husband was nervous too, we didn’t even know if our baby was a boy or a girl since the tech told us a boy and another said a girl. 
It was time. 

The C-section was starting. I started to feel dizzy and I laid back holding my husbands hand. I remember looking around at the lights, I remember them saying to “calm down” and them telling my husband to hold a bag for me since I was nauseas. I don’t remember much, but the best thing I remember hearing was a cry. A small beautiful little cry. “It’s a Girl!”

 I remember smiling, kissing her and waking up in recovery. I couldn’t wait to see her. She is amazing, beautiful. 

I remember thinking “She looks exactly like her Daddy.”  All of my little ones do, and I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful Family. They’re all perfect in their very own way. 

When I was finally in a room of my own, they let me hold my baby. I didn’t want to sleep without her next to me, I felt needy. Although I was in so much pain, I felt she needed me and I needed her. I began nursing, which made me bond with her. I am so happy she’s a girl. Even after months of expecting a boy. She is beautiful and my babies love their little sister. I’m now the Mother of 3 beautiful girls and 1 handsome boy. 

In my eyes, I am the happiest Mother in the entire world right now. 

There are millions of reasons why I love my husband. For starters, he’s understanding. He can make me smile, even when I feel like crying. He listens to my feelings; even when I’m annoying and just want to vent. He lets me take “breaks” and be with the kids while I go out just to have “me time”. He makes me want to be a better person!

I could go on forever, because he is my soulmate BUT today is about Daddy’s, so I’ve dedicated this blog post to just that. My husband as a Father. 
I took the time last night to sit down with the kids, each one individually to ask them what makes their Daddy so great. 

Zoe:

Why is Daddy special to you?

* he lets me play games and he feeds me food that’s not bad for me. 
What do you love most about Daddy?

* when he gives me love and lets me play his iPad. He makes me happy. 

What is something you’d like Daddy to see on Mommy’s blog for Father’s Day?

* Happy Fathers Day Daddy! 

You are the best!

Eli:

Why is Daddy special to you? 

* because, he lets me jump on the bed and play wrestling. “From the top of the ropes.”

What is your best memory with Daddy?

* when he got me a scooter! 

Tell me something you want Daddy to read for Father’s Day on Moms blog!

* Happy Fathers Day Daddy, I love you!

Autumn:

Do you love Daddy? 

Yeah! 

Is Daddy the best Daddy ever? 

Yeah!

Want to give Daddy a surprise for Daddy’s day? 

Yeah! Daddy Birthday cake! 
The kids had a lot of fun answering the questions and making Daddy Father’s Day cards. I hope Daddy is reading this post and sees just how much we all love him! 

Happy Father’s Day to the greatest, smartest, silliest, coolest, most awesome Daddy we know! 

& Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddy’s who make each and every day wonderful for all the little babies out there. We appreciate you all today.

My kids are spoiled.

I’m told (often) that I spoil my kids.

I let them have an extra ten minutes of screen time when I need the extra “Mommy time”, I take them to dunkin donuts before they’ve had lunch and I can’t always say “No” when they ask for a toy that’s “out of our budget” or a small candy from the local candy store.  

 My kids know that they can ask me for anything. They also know that if I say no, they can try their luck with Dad. Ha. 

What I notice is that when I need a break or some space my kids behave; simply because I’m asking them too. In a way, I feel I’m kind of spoiled too.

Growing up, I had everything I needed but most of the things I wanted were too much for my single Mother so she’d always manage to make our Holidays extra special (with loads of help from Grandma & our Aunts) our holidays filled with food and happiness. 

Christmas time was great our lists were under the tree in no time, one after the other. Though; I couldn’t help but feel badly after for not giving my Mom anything that she wanted. She always told us she just wanted to see us happy, so when she did ask us to “stop playing ball in the house” or told me to “leave my brother alone” 9/10 times I think we just listened. We felt it was the least we could do. 

Now, I’m not saying every child should be spoiled, or to buy every toy in the book, but I feel that every once in a while is kind of nice. It just feels good as a Parent seeing your child/ren smile. It’s one of the greater parts of Parenting that I wouldn’t trade for the world – their silly smiling cocoa faces make my days, I just can’t say No. 

 

Why we Home School

On a daily basis my kids drive me bananas (and that’s the nice way of putting it) My husband thinks I have some kind of “stomach problem” because, my only escape is in the bathroom. However, when my kids started school I couldn’t help but feel distant and incredibly guilty. 

I should be teaching them like I have been for the past few years prior to starting school. I felt it was just too much so I signed them into a public school. 

After a few weeks I noticed my oldest wasn’t really herself, she was so eager to learn at home yet her Teacher said she was struggling in class and she was behind. Dad and I ordered so many home school books and first grade level books for her and began teaching her at home on a daily basis after class. She picked up so fast and just seemed to know it all, but still at school she “struggled“.  It wasn’t until late January – early February that an incident happened and my daughters school refused to change her classroom. I was furious. The teacher was not only lying about my child’s progress but, verbally abusing so many children. I had to do something but felt hopeless. I signed her out of school and looked for other options, there weren’t many “zoned schools” in our area that we liked so we tried a private public school for two days a week – great curriculum and so many home schooled children. 

  

The “school” truly motivated me to try it out so I wrote my first letter of intent on February and was approved for Home School by March. I feel home schooling is A LOT of work, and takes loads of patience but you don’t have to stay home! You can take trips, travel and see the world the way it should be. We love going on walks and finding rocks and painting them, we love learning new things about our children and we love spending time with them. (Even if they do drive us out of our minds – sometimes.) Ha. 
I wouldn’t trade being a Mom for the world. Plus, I get to learn new things too. I learned about “Kiwi” today, a very old, interesting bird. 

 

It’s A Boy!

I’ve planned about writing an “It’s A Boy” post for months. I still can’t believe that we’re actually having another boy, it all just seems too perfect and I can’t really remember all of the great things I planned to write, ha.

When I gave birth to my “older” son, (4) My Husband and I were thrilled! We had our “pair” one boy and one girl – it was magical. When my youngest daughter came, we couldn’t imagine life without her, and we were so happy to have a baby girl – for our daughter to grow up with. I wanted another son, we felt our son needed a brother. We just didn’t plan on having four children, three was a blessing and that’s the number of kids we both loved and wanted for so long.

When I found out I was pregnant again, I felt excited. “Is this really happening?!” I didn’t know how to tell everyone, it was all just so much – when I did tell, everyone was convinced I was having another boy, and I couldn’t have agreed more! I just felt it – maybe mothers instincts, maybe out of hope but again, we didn’t feel anything but happiness as we prepared for our new boy, or girl.

We love our kids more than anything in the entire world and honestly, finding out the gender was such an amazing experience, especially when it’s what we had predicted – hoped for. Don’t get me wrong I’d love another baby girl but knowing it’s a Boy is so exciting! Not only for us, but for our son as well – he’s more excited than we are. Our Daughters too!

We’re in the process of picking names now, you’d think we’d have one picked out after almost three years of thinking them up, we can’t wait to meet our little guy. An addition to the Family that we haven’t yet met, but love more than words, already.

Parents BEWARE!

Today we went for a walk with the kids and decided to make a (not so quick) stop to the 99 cents store. I went there to pick up paper plates and the kids ended up seeing a Peppa Pig section. The prices were incredibly reasonable and I told them they could get one toy each. They all agreed on the “Lego” Peppa Pigs which turns out it’s spelt LGBQ..NOT LEGO. (In other words a bootleg Lego.)

We didn’t mind the difference especially since the kids didn’t notice the difference in characters and we didn’t mind the $2.00 price tag for each character. 
Well, upon arriving home the kids went straight to the living room and got to work building their new toys. 
From the other room I hear my older two giggling. “Daddy Pig has a Gun.” I looked at my husband and immediately walked in to see what was up, My daughter than turns to us and says “My Peppa Pig has a gun too!” I couldn’t believe it. The box clearly says Peppa comes with a banana and a dollar and Daddy Pig comes with a Farm yard tool (pitch fork) It says NOTHING about guns. 

  

I mean, I get the saying “You get what you pay for!” But, honestly we were only expecting the characters to look a little off or some pieces to not be included. Instead we had an unwanted, much different experience… We won’t ever buy any other toys from any 99 cents stores. This is a real disappointment. Luckily the kids have forgotten and moved passed it. We will stick to Lego when buying any kind of Peppa Pig blocks! 

  

St. Patrick’s Day Color Fun!

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, Let the Kids celebrate too!

I wish everyone lots o luck today and everyday. Many blessings to you we hope all of your wishes come true. (: 

   

Kids Playhouse!

There’s this pretty great Playhouse in Astoria. We were last there about a year ago so, today we went to visit. A lot has changed in a year. (It has upgraded in some ways- for example: There were some fun arcade games added.) and I believe it’s under new management which is pretty much the only thing that has changed- The old management charged $7 for open play, the new management charges $10– still fair but prices went up by $3 so we are paying $30 for three kids, so we wish they offered Family packages!

     

However, disregarding prices The best thing about this place is the slide! My kids are obsessed and it’s lots of fun. I almost wanted to climb up myself and slide down. There’s a infant section too, which I thought was pretty neat; it’s surrounded by a small fence and filled with toys, mini cars and bikes for younger kids aged 5months-1year. (Although, it’s not limited to that age range. It’s the safest spot for them.) 

* The age limit for the playhouse is 6. *   

 

The Playhouse offers food, snacks and drinks for both Parents and Children which is another plus because, you’re not allowed to bring your own food or drinks. Also, Socks are required to play. (They sell socks if your child isn’t wearing any.) I say for $10 (2 hours of play time) is worth it. Especially on a rainy day. My kids enjoyed it and we plan on heading back this weekend, Maybe we’ll see you there!

 
  

Wake Up, Kids! (Parents)

I’m sure everyone is familiar with the saying “Early bird gets the worm.” I was never an early bird, and I never got the worm. After having children, I was forced to wake up and find the worm, because if I didn’t my baby birds would starve. Right??

  
One thing I noticed I was doing wrong was not wanting to wake the kids up early, it’s funny though, since they naturally wake up early, every. single. day and most of those days earlier than me. okay..all of the time! No matter what time they go to bed they will awake at 7AM on a daily basis, sometimes even earlier. (on my not so lucky days, Ha!) 

Well, one thing I’ve come to realize is that when they wake up early they’re in a better mood. They have this powerful energy in them and I’m just like oh lord, where is that mute button? Today however, instead of trying to sleep in and get them to be mute I decided to get up with them at 6:45, get ready, eat breakfast and play in the park – before school. We were alone in the park, no parent or kid in sight. The entire park belonged only to my littles. They felt unstoppable. They played on the swings, went down the slides – no waiting in line, no getting pushed down, no limits. & I got to enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa. I used to take them on rainy days for the same feeling but, now they get a fresh start and they stay dry. They loved it so much. 
The walk to school was fun too! They didn’t complain, they sang, they laughed and even said “Good Morning” to everyone they saw. It was cute and I think it’s because, at school they don’t get to enjoy the excitement of running around and playing. It isn’t until after school that they’re all hyper and ready to play. 

  
That being said, I’m going to try this again daily. Like a bit of an experiment. We got a lot done in the morning and now after school we can have other types of fun like going for walks, adventures & the play houses instead of being jammed in a kid packed park.  I like parks on weekends but school days give me a headache. I don’t know if it’s because the kids are all wild and excited or what but I just can’t deal. Weekends are better, the kids seem more chill and understanding. 

Today, we plan on going to a playhouse after school, if the kids are up for it. We’ll try the getting up early and going to the park again tomorrow. I’m real excited to see the results.

Has anyone else done this? I know I’m not alone. I feel great, who knew waking up early could be so much fun?!