Today I am doing something for a fellow blogger

Today is Kellie Staats birthday... So I want to wish her a Happy Birthday and this is your present to you liked you asked. All Kellie wanted for her birthday today was for fellow bloggers to talk about her daughter Maddie since she cant have her here like she really wants to. I have blogged some things before talking about the Staats family and the loss of their daughter. Maddie is the baby girl angel that has informed me more about SIDS and the reason for my last two blogs to help inform people of SIDS. Maddie left this earth on February 17, 2011 and became Kellie and James guardian angel. Us mom's never think about losing our kids. It is our worst fear and we just try to bury it as far back as we can. But when it does happen parents around bond together to give support to the family during their time of need. The Staats has gained a circle of friends thru their blog and Kellie also now makes bows and has her own page on fb Maddie's Mom Made That. I do not has any pics of Maddie but I do have the link for their blog and wish that anyone that reads this will go over and read their story. Happy Birthday to you Kellie!! I pray for your family all the time and pray that you will be blessed beyond measure in your life ahead. http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/

How to reduce the risk of SIDS

How to reduce the risk of SIDS

We don’t know what causes SIDS, so we cannot say how to “avoid” it, but we can provide you with the most up-to-minute guidelines for reducing the risk of SIDS and other sudden unexplained infant deaths (SUID). First and foremost, educate yourself and everyone who cares for your baby on how to reduce the risks by following these guidelines:

1. Always lay your baby to sleep face up.

Side and tummy positions are not safe; check with your doctor if your baby has breathing problems.

2. Don’t smoke while pregnant and never smoke near your infant.

While pregnant or considering pregnancy do not smoke. Never let others smoke near your baby. Smoking is a major risk factor for SIDS.

3. Don’t let your baby get too hot.

Overheating is a leading risk factor for SIDS. Dress your baby in as much or as little as you would wear. If your baby is sweating, has damp hair, or a heat rash, he or she may be too hot. Room fans have been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS. Consider using a wearable blanket or other type of sleeper instead of a blanket.

4. Lay your baby to sleep in an approved crib, on a firm mattress.

Do not let the baby sleep on soft things, like a couch, pillow, sheepskin, foam pad, or waterbed. Remove all loose bedding, stuffed animals, and pillows from crib. Crib bumpers are not recommended and can be hazardous.

5. Create a healthy lifestyle for you and your baby.

When pregnant, see your doctor often and do not use drugs or alcohol. Talk with your doctor about changes in your baby and how your baby acts.

6. If possible, breast feed your baby.

Breast feeding has been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS.

7. Offer your baby a pacifier at all sleep times.

Pacifiers have been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS.

8. Put your baby on his or her tummy to play when your baby is awake and supervised.

Make sure someone is always watching. “Tummy Time” is good for your baby because it makes neck and shoulder muscles stronger.

9. Don’t share sleep surfaces.

Adult beds, couches, and chairs are not safe for infant sleep and increase the risk of SIDS, suffocation and accidental infant death. After breast feeding put your baby back in his or her crib.

10. Share these tips with everyone who cares for your baby.

Education is the key to keeping your baby safe

Bumpers on Cribs

I felt i needed to share this.. this is a post from a blog I follow her daughter passed away from SIDS.. so my next few blogs i am going to share the information that she has shared with everyone on her blog about how to try and prevent SIDS from happening...


SAFETY ALERT

Crib Bumper Pads Pose a Suffocation,
Strangulation & Choking Hazard for Babies

Do not use crib bumpers in cribs, bassinets
and other sleep environments.

What You Need to Know

-Due to their lack of strength and motor development, infants may suffocate, choke and/or become strangled in a crib bumper.

-The American Academy of Pediatrics, Kids in Danger, American SIDS Institute, SIDS of Illinois, and the Canadian Health Department all warn parents not to use crib bumpers.

-The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is re-examining the safety of crib bumpers.

This is from KeepingBabiesSafe.org

Cancer Sucks

My heading says it all... Cancer Sucks... 19 yrs ago my mother went and had her yearly mammogram... everything went well there was nothing going on .. the next morning she woke up with a golf ball size lump in her breast. My mother fought this disease for three years. During those years it went from her breast and lymph nodes to her back then to her liver and in the end it was back in her back, her liver was completely ate up , and she had tumors on her brain. It has been 16 yrs and I still miss her each and every day. My father back in 1998 decided to participate in a cancer research program for prostate exams. If it wasnt for him participating he would not have known he had prostate cancer. It was on the front side an area where it is hard to detect with just doing regular check ups at the dr. He got lucky and they were able to just take out the prostate without having any treatment. In 2008 my dad was very sick, they were saying he had acid reflux but we knew that wasnt the case. We told the dr that it had to be the gall bladder which we were right. As they were still looking into everything they did a scan of his entire body. Not only did they find out his gall bladder was bad along with 3 huge golf ball size gall stones in his bile duct but we found cancer on his kidney. So in july he had the stones and gall bladder removed and the next month he had the cancer cut off of his kidney. Again my dad lucked out since it did not invade the kidney or surrounding areas he didnt have to receive treatment. My father has always been a swimmer since he was 19. Yes my father did smoke for 20 yrs but he has been quit now for 21 yrs ( he is 79 btw). This yr during his checkups to make sure the kidney area still looks good they ordered a scan on his lungs. At first they thought it was pneumonia but of course my dad wasnt sick at all so they did a biospy. ( Just to add they did a lung capacity test at this time too and he blew 103% which I think is awesome for a 79 yr old man who also swims each day). In the end of it we have now found out my dad has non small cell lung cancer. Of course this time surgery cant fix it. He is in stage 2a but it hasnt invaded the lung wall yet which is good news. This thursday he starts chemo and has to have it once a week for three weeks. Im trying to think positive, my dad is nothing like my mom was. He has always been a strong stubborn man that has never complained about any ache or pain, but I am worried what chemo may do. I watched my mom for 3 yrs go thru chemo and radiation. I saw all the side effects. And after 16 yrs I can say I dont think I am ready to see my dad go thru it. One day I hope there is a real cure for cancer, not just the cure of remission till it shows it ugly head again but a cure for where it is gone for good and u never have to worry about it coming back. That is one thing that kinda upsets me with the drs. They tell u oh we can cure you. I heard that so many times with my mom and then we were finally told at the end oh im sry we were just trying to delay it (her death). Why do drs say cure??? There is no cure, it doesnt go away forever not unless ur lucky. Once it is there it is always there regardless if your in remission. I wish drs would be more upfront with patients instead of sugar coating it , they should tell them look we can try to get this to go into remission instead of saying cure. Why lie to the patients, family, and friends? Reason why I am ranting on the cure part is cause when my father told me the results of the biospy he said the dr could cure him. I had to hold myself together .. I wanted to scream out loud asking why the hell would the dr say cure when it is a lie.. This is the third time my father's cancer has come out, yes it may all not be linked together but still after two remissions he is now dealing with cancer again. Both me and my father are holding positive thoughts that the cancer can be contained and killed and maybe if it is God's will he can live to be 100. But this journey was something I was hoping to never have to do with my dad after seeing my mom go thru it for 3 yrs. Now I basically have come to grip with the fact I will get cancer. I mean heck it is all over my dad's family ( colon, ovarian, lymph, lung (now), prostate, etc) .. on my mom's side it has only been my mom and my uncle who had bladder cancer. Yes my drs know everything about the family history reason why this yr when i turn 30 I have to have mammograms each yr with other testing to make sure when it does rear it's ugly head we find it in time. I just hope and pray that if I have to endure this disease like my parents my kids can be spared. I hate the fact that this disease is in my family genes ( i really think we all have the BRCA gene which is something I am looking into getting tested for and my kids). But this is the journey that has been set infront of my family. Not something we want to do but we half to do. I just pray things go good from here on out.

Busy

So ..  I havent been very good at keeping up with blogging. So much has happened in the past couple of months.. So I do have alot of things I can blog about if I just take the time and blog lol. This past month has been very stressful which i will explain in a future blog. But I think this week has been the worst. My daughter Ava has Hand, Foot, and Mouth.. she is beyond pitaful and has until this morning been screaming none stop in pain. no matter how i keep up with the doses of tylenol every 4 to 6 hrs it seems she is still in pain. It came up on Monday and i knew right then what it was . Hunter had it when he was two but it was only in his mouth. Poor ava has it in her mouth, on her butt, and her feet. So on Tuesday I went ahead and took her to the dr. I normally like to see our regular peditrican but dr moore was off and since ava was going on no sleep and in so much pain I took her in. I had hope that dr hammond would give ava the same med hunter received acyclovir to help coat the ulcers.. well i thought wrong.. the dr refused to give her anything and said that acyclovir would not help her at all.. this upset me very much cuz if i just wanted to be told there is nothing we can do and it was what i thought hfmd then i would have just stayed home. Needless to say we will make sure from now on we only see dr moore. So wednesday morning after another sleepless nite i called and left a msg for moore to call. She did and guess what she called in the acyclovir for Ava. So now today she is feeling a lil bit better.. she at least has eaten some yogurt and drank two cups of milk unlike the previous days of wanting nothing. I am hoping that tomorrow she will feel even better.

http://children.webmd.com/tc/hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-topic-overview

Here is a link on hand , foot and mouth just in case no one has heard of it ... I never knew of the virus until Hunter had gotten it and I really dont remember anyone having it when I was a young kid growing up. The virus does take 3 to 7 days to show signs of the child having it .. normally the child will get a low grade fever first and then the ulcers will start showing up. There is really no medicine to give to make the virus go away. It is something that has to run its course BUT there is medicine that will coat and number the mouth area so their is less pain from the ulcers. This virus generally causes u to be contagious for up to 3 wks. It also causes the patient to lose appetite and if not careful you can become dehydrated so it is good to maintain lots of fluids. All I have to say is that it is a horrible virus and it is very sad to see a child have to deal with tons of ulcers in their mouth and i wish that no child ever had to get this.

Fun day with Jessie

So today my best friend Jesska came over. The kids were thrilled to see her. She is like a second mom to them especially Ava since she watched my kids for 8 months when I was working last year. So she came over today bearing presents for the kids. She got Hunter a kalidascope and got both kids a box of sidewalk chalk. Since it was such a beautiful day we hung out on the back porch watching the kids color. Here is a couple of pics of the kids art.

We had a great time with them coloring. And since they got covered in chalk i decided to hook up the hose and make a sprinkler for the kids to run thru to get washed off. They LOVED it alot. I really cant wait till the pools open up and we can go swimming I know my kids will enjoy that alot this year. Here is a pic of Hunter posing for the camera, he is becoming such funny face person lately and it is just so cute seeing him do it.

After the fun filled day we didnt do much of anything else except wait for the storms to roll in. I am sure tonite it will be pretty bad but hopefully the weather has passed us by now. Hopefully this week if the weather is nice we will get out to the park sometime. I am hoping that my friend Crystal can bring her two boys along with us. I have really been wanting to get our kids together to hang out and since my kiddos are feeling much better I am hoping this week we can have a day to hang and have fun at the park.
This evening has been pretty uneventful both kids ate dinner good and then played for a bit and then they decided to tackle mommy on the couch.. my husband somehow managed to get a fairly good pic of us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful nite.. I am now gonna try to wind down so I can get to bed. Gotta get up early in the morning to make my hunny breakfast to take to work. Nite!

Chicken and Egg Festival

So Saturday morning we got up got the kiddos ready to go to Lele's and then dropped them off and headed off to Lawrence County. In LC they were having the annual Chicken n Egg Festival and this year my dad decided to participate in it. So the Optimist Clubs of Decatur, Moulton, and Athens set up the concession stand to raise money for our programs that we do thru out the year. The Optimist Club is like the Lions Club. We do things for the community and for the youth in the community. Here are the programs we do for the community. One of the ones we do is we help with the local 4H club in Morgan County with their annual roundup and also we help judge the safety cartoons that the 4H does. We also honor an outstanding local Decatur police officers and also someone from the Sheriffs dept each year. We have been doing this for over 18 yrs now I believe. The year before last we got to honor one of my friends from highschool with the decatur police drug task force for his outstanding work he has done. We also have a junior golf tournament each yr. The winner at the international level wins a scholarship. One thing I would like to say about this is that Tiger Woods won our junior golf tournament when he was a kid. Also we have oratorical contest and essay contest for highschool students. At each lvl the winner receives a cash prize in the form of a savings bond and at the international lvl the winner receives a scholarship for college. These are just a few of the projects our club does. There are many more clubs out there that does numerous of things for the community they live in and also for the children. Here is a the link http://www.optimist.org/ . 
Also I would like to share the Optimist Creed with everyone.
Promise Yourself ...
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

So continueing on about Saturday... We worked a long day at the concession stand. Of course since it was a chicken festival most of our food was chicken LOL... We had grilled chicken sandwhiches, chicken salad sandwhiches, turkey dogs, ribbon fries, chips, nachos n cheese and of course our best funnel cakes in the world. We had a really great day and I also got to see ppl I hadnt seen in yrs at the festival which was nice too. Here are some pics of us workers at the festival.

nathan showing off our funnel cakes

Tom and Jim from the Athens club worked hard cooking the food outside

.

So after a busy Saturday we came home and then got ready to go to a going away party for our friend Jennifer who is leaving for the air force in a week. It was fun. We all had a good time and it was nice spending time with Jennifer again. I sure do love that girl alot. So after the busy festivities of Saturday I ended up sleeping all day Sunday. I think I finally woke up at 5pm in time to pick up my kiddos from the inlaws. I dont think I have slept that long in awhile but due to being such an insominac lately and having a bad migrane I think the sleep was much needed. Now to see if I can sleep tonite LOL. Well I am done with blogging for tonite hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. ttyl