CCC#1: Heads

OHMommy over at Classy Chaos is having a photo challenge. Click HERE for more details.

Soakin' Up Some Sun....Safely

Summer is here. This means different things to different people. For some, it means no school. Staying out late and spending time with friends. For some, it means long days spent at the beach, sipping lemonade (or whatever) and soaking in some rays. And for others it means wild rides at amusement parks. For me, it means anxiety attacks and excessive worry as I supervise my children in the swimming pool.

This morning, I read this blog. A blog that belongs to a mom who recently lost her daughter, who was only slightly older than Alaina, in a horrific drowning accident. My heart aches for her. I can not even fathom the loss that they are feeling right now. It's so hard. I have never "met" this woman, but she has been a part of my life (almost daily) for the last year through the blogosphere. My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this. After all, I have a pool and a hot tub in my backyard. I try to do all I can to keep my children safe, but I imagine this mom was doing the same. It only takes a second, as I imagine all accidents do. You turn your head for a second in the store and your child is gone. You let go of their hand for one second in a parking lot and disaster can strike.

I read somewhere that drowning is actually the number one cause of accidental death in children under 5 years. This applies not only to drowning accidents in pools, but also in hot tubs, buckets (such as mopping buckets), bath tubs, fish tanks and toilets. It takes only one inch of water for a small child to drown. ONE INCH!!!!

We get things in the mail or see things on tv all the time about how drowning has been dubbed "the silent killer." If your child goes underwater, you can't hear him/her scream. They can't cry. They may flap their arms and kick their legs, but if they have not been taught how to relax and float, they immediately sink when they go in the water and you can't hear any splashing sounds when they are completely submerged.

I live in a state where swimming is a part of everyday life. We go to pool parties and have BBQ's on the beach. I teach my children how to swim, in hopes that if something were to happen, that might give me a few seconds longer to get to them. This all has reminded me that I really need to brush up on my CPR. I learned infant/child CPR when I had my first child, and I have brushed up on it numerous times since then. My problem is that as I am going through the motions, my mind starts to wander and I begin to panic about actually having to USE what I am learning at some point and I think that tends to be somewhat distracting and everything I am trying to remember doesn't sink in as well as it should. Does that happen to anyone else??

So, I have decided (I have been thinking about doing this for a month or so, now, and after reading about the tragic death of such a beautiful little baby I have decided for sure) that I am going to do water survival lessons with Alaina. These lessons don't teach her how to swim, they will teach her how to float and keep her face out of the water in case she ever were to fall into the pool or hot tub. I found this video on YouTube that shows what I want her to be able to do. It makes your heart pump a little at first, but dont worry....just keep watching. My children gathered around and were very interested as to what was going on.



Now, I am going to go hug my babies and tell them each how much I love them.

Aren't Sisters Great??

I can remember doing this kind of thing to my little brother. We used to dress him up and take him outside and introduce him to all the neighborhood kids as "Molly." Evan has an older sister that makes him put on a leotard here or a dress there. When my borther was Evan's age (3), he had 3 older sisters (5, 6, and 8 years old at the time). He was lucky to make it 2 hours without one of us trying to put his hair back into a clip or paint his nails or put a tutu on him. But, ya know, what else are little brothers for?? :)

Quote of the Week

Evan: "HEY!!!! Somebody put grape juice in my peaches!!!!" he exclaimed as he bit into a pear.

This Years Must-Have Birthday Accessory: Polka Dots!!

Last Thursday, my baby woke up looking like this...

COVERED IN SPOTS!!!!! I ran her to the doctor to get her checked out and it turns out it's hives. Although, these are not hives caused by any sort of allergic reaction, they are hives caused by a virus. Now, normally this wouldn't be such a huge deal to me, except for the fact that LANEY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY WAS LESS THAN 48 HOURS AWAY!! Go figure!! Thankfully, with a little Benadryl and a LOT or praying, by Saturday morning the hives were more of a light pink color and hardly noticeable.

I can't believe it has been an entire year! Does anyone have a tissue?? I still get all choked up thinking about what a big girl she is.


We had some family come into town and, since Laney loves the water so much, I threw her a little pool party.




To go along with the pool party theme, I decided to make cupcakes. In fact, I ended up making over 40 cupcakes!!!



We don't give our babies any kind of sweets before their first birthday, so the first real treat they get is their cake. Laney didn't really know what to make of it at first. She stared at it for a minute....then she kinda pushed it around with her finger. She got a little icing on her finger and licked it... and she absolutely LOVED it!! She smeared it all over herself and actually ended up eating almost the entire cupcake.



She had a blast opening her presents. Ok, well, so she didn't so much OPEN her presents as she did climb on and suck them.


Po-Tay-toe.......Pa-tah-toe!!
She got a cute little outfit from her Aunt Jello that, coincidentally, matched an outfit that her cousin has!! :)

I think they may be the two cutest babies, EVER!! (And that is a totally and completely unbiased opinion).

We went outside after dark and played with sparklers.....and by we, I mean the adults. :) The kids came outside with us, but they are all too chicken to hold a sparkler, so we frolicked around in the cul-de-sac skipping and twirling. It was fun.




Happy Birthday to the most beautiful, sweetest little psycho baby there ever was!! I love you, my little Laney.

The Little Punker!!

Well, I had this massively long post that I had all ready to go, with like a million pictures from our weekend in Orlando. I was making one last change and switching around a chunk of it (as in half of the post) and I copied it....then I cut it.....and at that exact moment Blogger, of course, autosaved the changes. Then, my little PUNKER of a daughter who has decided that there is nothing better than pushing buttons hit the power button and turned off my computer BEFORE I pasted the chunk back in. Which means, I lost the entire first half of the post. Ugh! She is such a little punker!! So, I will get the first half written and up asap!

GOOGLE Photos

I saw this on another blog. I didn't officially get tagged, but I am doing it anyways. The whole point is to answer the questions using pictures from GOOGLE images. It was lots of fun.

Age on my next Birthday:


Place I want to visit:


My Favorite thing:


Favorite Place:



Favorite Food:


Favorite Color:



Town I Live In:


Name of a Past/Present Pet:


Nickname I've had:


College Major:


First Job:


Goal for the next Year:


Ok, so I am going to tag a few girlies just because I can....
LISA
LEAH
MARQUESAS