Singulair

For anyone that has a child on the medicine Singulair you might want to rethink it. My son has been on and off of it for a year( my fault for not keeping him on it the whole time or we would have found this out a year ago. There are many people that have found problems with their kids being on this drug. It has even been the cause to bring some teenagers to suicide. Scary. Well Braydon got really bad allergies not too long ago and I brought him to his doctor, who by the way is a GREAT doctor, she told me that he needed to be on his allergy medicines all the time and even sent us to a specialist who tested him. That was the worst ever. Braydon had been a the sweetest little boy. He would always listen to you for the most part ( face it all kids have those bad days) but after him being on this medicine for just 4 days he wasn't sleeping through the night, he wouldn't listen and he was just plain out MEAN. (He is only 2) My mom was the one that finally came to me and said that I needed to check out the medicine b/c there was an article about it in our local paper. I went online and found many sites about the effects this has had on lots of kids, teenagers, and adults. I took him off the medicine and have had him on Zyrtec ever since and he is back to Braydon! He sleeps through the night again and is so sweet! I am happy to have my little boy back! Please check out google for the forums on this medicine. You would be surprised what people have done while on this drug and all the side effects. It's sad.

scary experience at the park

This past Sat., went took Natalie & Lily to a local park after supper. The park has a wooded area, a duck pond, playground and a baseball field. There are several dirt and cement paths through the woods as well. Natalie wanted to play hide and seek. Lily doesn't really get the concept yet, so she asked Coult to play. They took turns for a few times. When Natalie hid the last time, I saw her walk into the wooded area where there was a little dirt path. I thought that she stopped right there, but apparently as Coult got closer to her, she moved along the perimeter of the woods further away from him. After a few minutes, he realized that he couldn't find her. So, I walked to the area and called her name and told her to just tell me where she was and I wouldn't tell her dad so that they could keep playing the game. She didn't answer me. After a few times of calling her name I told her that we weren't playing anymore and that she needed to come out. She didn't. We were really getting concerned by this point. Natalie is 11 yrs old, so she knows that if we tell her to come out and the game is over, that it's time to come out. I started thinking of the worst things that could happen. I was scared that there might have been some adult or teenager hiding in the woods. She was only missing for probably 5 minutes, but it seemed like forever. She finally came up from behind us and felt really bad about how scared we were. She had skirted around the edge of the trees and had come up from behind us. She had no idea that we were so scared. I told her that it wasn't entirely her fault. We should have been more specific about where she could hide. We didn't want to scare her about the possibility of someone hurting her, but we discussed how there are really bad people in this world who don't care who they hurt. We've had this talk before, but we really wanted to make sure that she understood the danger. After I finished shaking, I got angry at how unfair it is that our children can't even play hide & seek, ride bikes down the block or anything out of our sight because of the evil people in this world. I know there are lots of good people too, but it still makes me so sad to think of the freedom that our children miss out on due to the dangers out there. I hope that I never have that sick feeling again that I had when we couldn't find Natalie. I can't imagine what it must be like to have your child kidnapped. My heart goes out to parents who have gone through that horrible nightmare.

Kids Craft Weekly

I don't know if any of you get these weekly newsletters from Kids Craft Weekly or not, but I love 'em! They come full of great ideas to do with the little ones. This weeks letter won't disappoint either. They have spot lighted a great blog on there called: http://artandkids.blogspot.com/
It's free to sign up and to do so go here: http://www.kidscraftweekly.com/

Happy crafting this week!!

Braydon (2) and Maren

Alisa You have done such a good job with this site! I am really glad that I decided to join you guys! It always gives me a little boost when I need it! I really enjoy reading all the posts that have to do with the church! Thank you so much everyone!

Finding inspiration

"As you create a home, don't get distracted with a lot of things that have no meaning for you or your family. Don't dwell on your failures, but think about your successes. Have joy in your home. Have joy in your children. Have joy in your husband. Be grateful for the journey."
-Sister Majorie Pay Hinckley
My Dear Sisters pg. 5

I read this quote last night and it really touched me. I just wanted to share it!! This is a great book full of great inspiration from Pres. and Sis. Hinckley. I've been have some "downer" weeks and reading this book last night really touched me and lifted me up, so to speak. I just love this quote, but especially this part: "Don't dwell on your failures, but think about your successes."

Alisa, Tye (2) and Kenadie (1)

Mother's Day is coming up, and I thought it would be nice for everyone to post pictures of themselves with their little ones. Email me if you have trouble posting! We look forward to seeing all of the beautiful "Happy Mommies" on our blog!

Starving for me.

i am a recovering anorexic/bulimic. all day long all i think about is how fat i look. when i eat in public i just know people are looking at me and thinking "she should stop eating, fat slob." when i look in the mirror i see a 400 lb girl in the when i am only 150 lbs. when i got married i wore a size 3. now i wear a size 10 and can't stand to be me. when i make love with my husband i feel like he thinks about me when i was skinny or just doesn't think about me at all to get the job done, although he tells me over and over how wonderful and beautiful i am. i feel like my friends lie to me when they tell me i am beautiful. i have two beautiful children who i know are worth it all but i am afraid that they will be embarrased by the way i look. i have a daughter that i do not want to doom with this horrible fate and i don't know how to help her when i cannot even help myself. i have friends who ask how i am so normal coming from such a crazy family (literally) but they have no idea the thoughts that go on in my head. i want to be normal, in my thoughts, but i don't know how. i know this seems intense but it is me, the me i don't want to be. i want to see myself the way everyone else says they see me.

Recluse

Does anyone else ever feel like hiding from the world? Knowing you are the one hiding but feeling like you are just alone. Like it's because you are alone that's why your not doing anything. You don't want to answer your phone, leave the house, or do ANYTHING!! Nothing.

An out of body experience were you are just not you. Feeling weird. Just can't put you finger on why you feel like you are not there. Together. In one piece. There are two pieces, one doing all the things you have to do to survive. The other watching the other half. Wondering what is going on. How do you pull your self out of...whatever it is. Pulling you down. Making you feel heavy and burdened from some unseen weight.

It's nonsense. Not real. You aren't alone. So why do I feel like I am? I have no new heavy burden to carry. Nothings changed from last month when I was one piece, myself. How do I pull it all back together and feel like me again?

For now I will blame it on hormones. How cursed we are to be moody and crazed women.

How to explain death to a toddler?

On Sunday morning our neighbors dog ran into the road and was hit by a car. He died later that day. We were all at home when it happened and Jess went to help, it was a very very sad day. Levi(the dog) wasn't ours but we all felt really horrible and upset. Avery has always loved Levi. We also felt really sad for our neighbors because he was their baby. He meant so much to them.

So, to the point...Avery has been asking when Levi is coming back. I explained to her that he was hurt, went to the doctor and they couldn't help him so he died and went on to heaven. Then she was asking when he'd be alive again. I tried to explain that it doesn't work that way and we wouldn't see Levi again till we went to heaven. At first she said she wanted to see Jesus too. Didn't know what to say to that. Except it wouldn't happen for a long time. Avery was getting a little upset by then. She started telling me she didn't want to die and started rattling off every family member and friend we know saying she didn't want them to die either. Of course I explained to her that no one was dying anytime soon (knock on wood) and that I felt the same way that she did.

We had this conversation a few times today. I helped her make a card and we took flowers to our neighbors. I hope by doing this it may help her understand we can lean on one another, to comfort each other.

The hardest part for her to understand is that Levi is not coming back. I really don't know how to explain it any better to her. How do you explain something like death to a child?

Privacy

Hi Moms! The voting is not quite done, yet, but not too many are voicing their opinions. I did not realize that you could "turn off" the search engine thing, and that will help...thanks Mary! So, for now, we will stay public, and I will continue to monitor our visitors! I want everyone to feel comfortable to share their thoughts and feelings with us! Also, if you do not want your name attached to a post, please feel free to email me with your thoughts and I will post them under my name! That way, you can get feedback, but you still have your privacy.

Thank you again for all of your input!

Would anyone in the future be interested in purchasing a printed copy of Happy Mommy? I don't think it is very expensive, I am actually working on publishing Vol. 1 for my family. I don't know, I just thought it would be neat.

I found this on CNN.com

The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, the company concluded, and works at least 10 jobs. In order of hours spent on them per week, these are: housekeeper, day-care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive officer and psychologist. By figuring out the median salaries for each position, and calculating the average number of hours worked at each, the firm came up with $138,095 -- three percent higher than last year's results.

Even mothers who work full-time jobs outside the home put in $85,939 worth of work as mothers, according to Salary.com.

This is an excerpt from the homemaking journey blog. I had to share it, because I thought it was so sweet and inspirational. This is from a mom of 7.




If I instead wondered what would happen if Jesus Christ came to visit, what would he see? I think I'd still be just as mortified at the state of my house, but you know, HE would know my kids had a good afternoon playing together downstairs, how good I felt that I got caught up on laundry and only had one more load to fold and that little hands tried to help, but instead got caught up in the fun of wearing mom and dad's clothes and using baby blankets as capes. I think He would know and understand that today was a day that the baby needed love and comfort and extra snuggles for an upset tummy he's not quite accustomed to experiencing yet, and therefore, why I'm wearing my pajamas from last night still, and my hair was only combed by 8:00 tonight when Hannah and Curtis offered to play with it for me. I think he would understand that I just couldn't get to mopping the floor today because Joshua had a melt down about not getting a ba-ba and slipped on half an orange he dropped on the floor and then needed me to hold and kiss him until he felt better. He would be happy to be served pumpkin pancakes and sausage for dinner.

A Homemaking Journey

I found this site through the sitemeter. This was the referring URL to happy mommy. I think it is a pretty neat site, and they have Happy Mommy as one of their friend links!

ahomemakingjourney.blogspot.com