Be Stinky, A Mom’s Blog

What is your typical Thanksgiving Day like in your family? Do you have lots of family and friends around you to share the holidays?  Well growing up I had twenty one cousins on each side but only my dad’s side of the family celebrated holidays.  My mom’s family was Jehovah Witness’ (not my mom).  So holidays for us were always very easy.  We always went to my Maw and Papap’s for every holiday (my dad’s parents).  All of my cousins and aunts and uncles went there too.  I miss that sometimes now because my grandparents have both passed away so our once so large family has now kinda split up and we now spend it with our immediate family, my parents, my brother and his family and my husband and three sons.  I wish everyone would still get together but I think my grandparents were the glue that held us all together so now my dad’s brothers and sisters spend the holidays with their children and grandchildren.  But I really enjoy having a lot of family over at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We all play games and have fun and I don’t want my kids to miss out on the kind of fun I had growing up. So this year I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our home and we are having my family and my youngest son’s godparents and their kids over as well.  So that alone is about sixteen people.  I have also invited my husbands family which is another eight people but according to my husband they probably won;t bother coming because they don’t like big family events.  They prefer to sit and eat with little to no family there at all.  Which can cause a bit of a family friction in our home because I was raised in a large family and when we were dating way back when he shared with me that he and his family were also very close and he enjoyed large family events.  Which is now so not the case.  So I still invite his family to every event we have but they rarely show up ever.  I have finally decided that my kids are more important to me and I want them raised around all their cousins and family the way I was raised and if his family doesn’t want to be included then that is on them.  All I can do is try to include them but the showing up is up to them.

So what are your family holiday dinners like? Share with us your fun family traditions.

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Still haven’t decided what to be for Halloween? Well maybe some of these quick and easy throw together costume ideas will help get those juices flowing and the ideas a coming.

Start with a particular time period, something not too current like the 80’s.

This year my 14 year old had his first teen Halloween party to attend and really wasn’t into dressing up so we thought of the Greatest American Hero costume.  We made it very simple.  I bought him a long sleeved red shirt and printed out the Greatest American Hero logo from his costume and printed it out on iron on fabric paper.  The reds were hard to match up so I cut on the black round circle and just had the red shirt serve as the outside box.  He just wore jeans so he felt cool enough but he also had a costume type shirt on.  Then my husband went online and downloaded the Greatest American Hero pilot and burned it on a DVD and then watched it with our son so he would know what the show and character were.  They had a blast watching the shows and it was some good, clean quality time together as guys.

My 9 year old, my husband and I chose to go trick or treating using a group costume idea.  We decided ot be The Bad News Bears from the original series in the 80’s. I went to our local sporting good store that sold team uniforms and ordered three baseball warm up shirts, white with golden yellow sleeves and trim around the neck. then printed out the Bad News Bears logo on iron on fabric paper and ironed the logos on the shirts. We just wore jeans because that is what they wore sometimes in the original series.  The three shirts combined were the same or less then one Halloween costume for just my son.  Each shirt was only $8.89 and the cost was low and its a shirt we can all wear again instead of just a costume for one day only. And this way he got to be something with my husband and I and it made for a cute family photo opportunity.  My son loved it.

Another idea is just to wear a shirt with your favorite 80’s superhero logo or sign on it. Nothing too major but enough to be something.

I hope this helped you come up with something if you are still stressing over your costume.  If you have any neat ideas, please share them.

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I just started creating a new line of shirts for Bstiny Moms.  Go to CafePress.com/bstinky and take a look at them.  I have two samples on there so, a white long sleeve tee and a white tank top.  I am still working on the black long sleeve tee shirt.  I think it is a really cute idea.  I added my kids names on the shirts to personalize them more.  If anyone would like one please email me at JenK@bstinky.com and tell me the number of names and the names with correct spelling and I can personalize a shirt for you.  If this becomes a hit I will definitely expand and use more colored tees and switch up the designs to offer more of a variety.  I hope you like what you see there.

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Teen Pregnancy

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The time is here for kids to begin their holiday seasons of crafting.  Kids love making special crafts for the entire family.  It’s a great opportunity for parents to spend time with their kids and create a memory they both can look back on and remember with fondness.  I came up with some of the following ideas and some I stumbled across on a some crafting websites. Thought I would share them with you and your families.  I hope you enjoy them.

1) THE THANKFUL BOX!

This Thanksgiving season, ask your child to share their thoughts by writing one sentence on each slip of paper (3 slips per child) about what they are “Thankful for”. Your child will practice his/her sentence development, and may get a whole new appreciation of the holiday season! Then the kids decorate their “Thankful” box and put the slips inside. When they get home they can have the rest of their family add to the “Thankful” box with what they are thankful for. You can open the box at Thanksgiving dinner and each person take a turn reading one of the sentences out loud. This will be a good family activity and the kids will appreciate the true meaning of Thanksgiving. You can use any little plain gift box that you can find at your local craft store and have the kids decorate it however they want.  You can be decorate your box as creative as you want. You could use decorative scrap booking paper, ribbons, glitter, markers, stickers or whatever else your child can come up with.

2) PUMPKIN HANGING

This project is easy for school aged kids to craft, is lots of fun and adds a warm fall look to your home. The hand-stitching give it an additional country charm. A fun idea is to find an interesting tree branch outdoors and insert this in a vase and hang your pumpkin on it along with other fall and Halloween motifs. You can also glue a green painted wooden skewer to the backside to create a plant poke

Supplies needed:

- orange, black and green card stock
- orange, black and green sewing thread
- piercing tool with mat
- 2 white sequins and 2 white seed beads
- orange raffia
- wire for hanging
- craft glue
- pinking shears or decorative edged scissors with zig-zag
edge

3) PAPER MACHE PUMPKIN

Blow up a balloon and cover it with strips of orange tissue paper using paper mache glue. Leaving the top area opened to when the pumpkin is completed your children can use it as a little nick knack bowl or something like that.  After the shape of the pumpkin has formed and hardened, pop the balloon and your kids will have a hallow pumpkin to decorate and display  in your home. Again with the pumpkin decorations they can get as detailed as they like. You could even take it a step further and cover the balloon all most all the way leaving only a small slit opened at the top of the balloon like a coin bank opening.  Also leaving a small round opening at the base of the pumpkin to place a plug of some sort there to hold  the change inside it. This hole will allow you to remove the balloon pieces after you popped it and your child would have made their very own pumpkin piggy bank.

I hope some of these ideas were interesting and helpful to you during this holiday season. You can always change some of the ideas around and make them suitable for Christmas as well. Just by changing the colors of paper and decorations that you choose to use.

Let me know how your crafts turn out and if you have any craft ideas for kids, please feel free to share them.

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I was in one of my favorite stores at the mall a while back and my 6 1/2 month old (then he was 3 months) was getting really worked up and hungry. I had tried to hold him off a little longer to finish in the store and then I was planning on finding a quiet place to nurse him or go to Nordstrom where they have a great mother and baby area to feed and change the babies. But he wasn’t going to be able to wait. I felt bad so I went to the dressing room and asked nicely if she wouldn’t mind if I used one of the dressing rooms quickly to nurse my son? She was not very receptive. She paused for a long time meanwhile my infant was screaming by this point. She did not look like she was going to say yes so I finally out of frustration told her that was fine, I didn’t have to nurse my son there, but if I did leave to do it elsewhere I had planned on filing suit against the store immediately. She rolled her eyes and pointed to a dressing room. I just think so many people still think of nursing as this dirty thing. Where are we expected to nurse our children in a bathroom stall? Would you eat your meals in a bathroom stall? Ignorance is still so evident when it comes to nursing in public or in general for that matter. The I was in another store at the same mall about two weeks ago and that store was awesome. She even gave me one of the larger stalls because she said no on uses it that often and for me to take my time. She was so polite and respectful of what I was doing. And no I don’t think a women should just whip it out there for everyone to see but there are ways of being discrete about it and not infringing on anyone else. I also try to wear layers so that when I pull one shirt up to nurse the bottom shirt still remains down and covers my stomach and back. So you never see anything but the back of my baby’s head. And all three of my sons that I have nursed have been very small eaters. They maybe nurse a few minutes at a time instead of 20 minutes on each side like a lot of babies. So it would take longer for me to walk to the other end of a mall to find a designated area then to just feed him and be done. And if you weren’t staring right at me you would think he was just asleep wit me holding him. I think it’s only a big deal when someone makes it a big deal. For me it is the easiest most natural thing a woman’s body was meant to do. It is a bonding time between mother and baby and it’s lasting effects are healthy for mom and baby.

I actually went online and there are specific laws for each state protecting nursing moms and babies rights. Check it out. I found it to be very educational.

Have any of you out there had any bad experiences with nursing in public?

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As a mom of three, my interests are very wide spread as a results of having all boys of all different ages, 14, 9 and 6 months old.  I am dealing with the teenage years with my oldest son Tyler and the very independent age of 9 with my middle son Hunter and all of the baby stages all over again with my youngest son Jordy.  I love having the boys so spread out that I am able to share something different with each of them that is special and unique to only them and not having to share everything with each other as brothers.  I think it is very important to spend quality time with each of my children individually and as a whole family.

Tyler is very artistic and a  big collector of anything that has to do with Godzilla.  He has collected just about everything he can find from the oldest black and white Godzilla movies in Japanese to action figures and drawings.  Tyler and I both share in our artistic talents.  So I enjoy him showing me all his drawings that he does on a daily basis.  He’s really really good.

Hunter is my outdoor, always on the move kids. He plays baseball Spring and Fall every year. The Orioles and Yankees are his favorite teams. I think the Yankees a little more though.  He actually got to meet Cal Ripkin for his birthday last January.  He received a signed ball from Cal and got the chance to have several photos taken with him. He tried basketball one season but it wasn’t his thing.  We both share the love of sports and the outdoors.  He’s now getting into football. One sport I’m not too interested in. My sport has always been fast pitch softball so I’m glad he’s more into baseball. He’s always wanting to go, go, go. I often joke with him that if I said I was going to park to pick up poop he would still want to go. He hates staying home.

Then there is my newest little one.  It’s amazing how much you forget from baby to baby but then how quickly it all comes back to you also.  Jordy is a lot like Hunter. He loves being outside.  His little face just lights up in the fresh air.  He’s always a happy little guy full of energy.  I just wish he would stay a little baby for longer. He seems to want to do everything faster then he should.

Our new family activity we are enjoying right now is the Rock Band PS2. The boys love it. Jordy even gets into it when I do the singing part. I think mainly because I look and sound so silly. What more could a baby ask for, right. I just wish they offered some better songs. Some of them are really hard and not to mention a little out there as far as content for the boys. But they are concentrating so hard on the instruments that the words usually don’t even get heard. Heavy metal is definitely not our thing but the band in general is really cool. They also really enjoy play Boogie on the Wii.

So what are your interests and hobbies? What do you as moms really want to read about? Suggestions are encouraged and very welcomed.

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Mirena^® is an estrogen-free intrauterine contraceptive (IUC) for women who are looking for a contraceptive option to help simplify their lives. It’s for women who have decided their families are just the right size, it’s for expectant mothers to consider after they have had their baby, and it’s for women who aren’t satisfied with their current form of contraceptive. And, it can be removed at any time for a quick return to fertility.

Has any of my readers out there tried Mirena as a form of birth control? I have heard many good things about it and some not so good.  My decision to try Mirena was a long thought out process. I didn’t have much a choice as far as birth control because I am still nursing and it was very hard for me to get pregnant this time around. We had to go through fertility treatments with Shady Grove Fertility (who by the way was awesome) using IUI so my doctor recomended that we try Mirena.

The placement of the Mirena was by far one of the most painful proceedures I have ever had done.  I had a biopsy before I got pregnant and that did not hurt as bad as the insertion of the Mirena.  But I must say when all is said and done I am very glad I chose to get the Mirena as my choice of birth control.  I really haven’t had any problems with it but I would love to hear if any of you have had any different experiences so far.

Have those of you using Mirena had any side effects?

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Well I have been to Mommy Bootcamp for two days now and all I can say is thank God it was Friday because I really needed the weekend to recoup.  My thighs are so sore still that my husband laughs at me when I walk up and down the stairs at home.  But other then that I feel better, healthier and happier about myself.  But I still can’t wait till the muscles are not so sore.

This Mommy Bootcamp group have some of the nicest ladies there.  Have any of you found your Healthy Life Challenge yet?

I can’t wait to go back on Monday.  I am going to go three days a week to start, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to see how well I do with that first.  Then if I can I’ll step it up to more days each week.  My husband is getting motivated to do something now too. He’s going ot try the Sat. classes with us when they start next month.

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Emphasis on the BOOTCAMP. WOW! It was so awesome but boy am I exhausted.  Considering it has been 1 year and 3 months since I have worked out I think I did ok.  The moms at Mommy Bootcamp are very down to earth and very nice, even to new 1st timers.  It’s usually very hard for me to meet other moms that I have common interests with because I was pretty young when I had my first two kids so most moms were much older then me.  But now that I have a new little one, I have more in common with other moms especially with our ages being closer now.  If any of you live in Loudoun County, VA. you should definitely give the Mommy Bootcamp a try. I promise you won’t be disapointed.  Like I said in an earlier blog, the price can not be beat and it’s very, very kid friendly.  The instructors encourage you to interact with your babies while your working out.  Whenever you do sprints, you push your baby in the stroll up and back.  The music is loud and gets you pumped up.  It kept my baby, Jordy entertained. He never got fussy or bored.  The workout is very high energy, fast paced and they really push you, but that’s what I need so it was great.

After the cool down all the moms have time to socialize and meet newcomers to the group. They made me and Jordy feel very welcome. I have never been to gym or workout group that I worked so hard at and still did not have to neglect my kids at the same time. The inventors of this idea really knew what they were doing.  On my way home, I stopped and bought my yoga mat for tomorrow.  I can’t wait to go back again tomorrow. My goal is to look good again before we go away in December to Florida.  Wish me luck!

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I have decided to join a Mommy Boot Camp in Loudoun County, VA. Check out your county or town, I’m sure you will be able to find something like it, if that’s what you choose to do. This Boot Camp is so COOL! You get to bring your babies. That was a deal breaker for me. My son is just 6 months old an I still have not left him at all. I just so see the need to leave him. My feeling’s on the subject are, there’s nothing I can’t do when he’s with me that I wouldn’t do anyways. But hey, that’s just me. I’m not critcizing any other moms out there. I know everyone needs a break sometimes.

The prices at Mommy Boot Camp are very reasonable.  They also give you three free passes to try the classes before you join and pay.  I’m very excited to try this.

Mommy Boot Camp

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It was actually very simple.  I didn’t do anything that you couldn’t start today and lose pound after pound.  I have never been able to diet and honestly was never heavy enough that I ever felt like I really needed to. I used to be very active, played sports and was always on the go with my kids.  But after my divorce back in 2003, I became depressed and slowly put on weight from lack of exercise and just eating when I was bored or depressed.  So about a year before I met my husband I was trying to get my college degree, finally and one of the courses I was stuck with taking was Physical Fitness. Which I dreaded, however it wound up being my lifesaver. In this class we either had to try an already famous diet like Atkins, Weight Watchers, etc. or change something about our habits in order to create our own diet through exercise and keep a log everyday of the changes we made and of our progress.  It was cool because I finally had incentive to get back to my old self.  For every pound lost you received another point on your grade at the end of the semester.  We got weighed din at the beginning and the end of this course.  Also, the person in class who lost the most, had an extra 10 points automatically added to their final grade. So there was no way this person wasn’t walking away with an easy A if they tried.  Well that person wound up being me. I lost 36 pounds during the 5 month course.  I received my points for losing weight and also the 10 extra points for losing the most.  We also had to make a contract with ourselves at the beginning of the class.  In the contract we listed what we were going to take to become healthier and what rewards we would give ourselves when we met periodical goals, like a new shirt, a cd player, or whatever.  This would help keep you going when you start to get into a slump.  The you had one huge reward at the end of your contract if you succeeded and met your final goals set in your contract.  This really help me to be accountable not only to a class of others, the professor, but to myself.  So this is what I did. I simply committed to changing only two life changing habits.  I stopped drinking Starbucks (cold turkey). That was really tough.  The lack of caffeine in my diet really caused me to have lots of headaches and migraines on a daily basis for the first two weeks. But once I passed that hurdle I was home free.  The other life change I made was I promised to move at least 20 mins. a day, everyday. This could be anything, walking, biking, exercising, swimming, it could be anything as long as I was moving.  2o mins. how easy is that? Well, what I found was that after I started moving for just 20 mins. a day I wanted to increase it each day. Once I started feeling healthier and saw my self losing a little bit, it encouraged me.  I got psyched and would increase my daily exercising at the gym I joined for 6 months to an hour in the morning before work (20/30 mins. treadmill or eliptical and the remainder of the time free weights).  Then as the weight really began shedding off I would want ot hit the gym on the way home form work for just 30 mins.  I worked at a private golf club, so on my lunch hour I would go to the driving range instead of eating a huge lunch. I would still eat something light.  What I found was that the more I was moving the more I wanted to keep moving. I was able to eat more when I wanted to but even my appetite decreased. It was awesome.  So my goals were met and it didn’t seem that hard at all.

But now since I just had my son in March. some of that weight has come back. Yuck. So this is my challenge to you: If you need to lose weight too, let’s do it together. Be accountable to someone, don’t weigh yourself everyday. Sometimes the weight comes off but in some cases you lose inches but gain muscle and that weighs more, so don’t freak your self out and get discouraged. But if I can do it again so can you.

Are you up for it. Join now and challenge not only me but yourself. Make a contract, post it, enter in your starting weight and measurements and let’s get started  now. If I can get a few of you to try this with me I will create a section on this site where we can enter in all of the information.

Sign up to do the ‘Healthy Life Challenge 2008-2009‘ and buy your ‘Healthy Life Challenge’ t-shirt today.

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Wow, the price of diapers seems to keep going up along with the rest of our much needed supplies in life. But here is a very easy way to save a little. Every baby needs diapers so if you have to buy them you at least want to buy them where you are able to get the best deal.
I am constantly cutting out coupons each and every weekend from the paper but still the coupons are always like a $1 or $1.50 off a box of $40 diapers. What a savings, right? But with Diapers.com you can save a lot. If you click on Diapers.com you can save on $10 on your first order with FREE shipping when you spend $49 or more. $49 or more, I can spend that in one trip to the local baby store. That’s nothing in the big picture of buying baby stuff. Diapers.com also sells lots more then just diapers. They sell baby rash ointments, bath products, baby food, Halloween costumes and much, much more. And not only can you save on your first order with Diapers.com, you can then sign up for your own referral program and then email out your own referral code to friends and family and for every person who makes an order using your referral code, you receive credit towards your own purchases.

These credits/dollars add up fast. Before you know it you are receiving free diapers and more. Who can’t afford to save money in this economy? This deal can also work if you know of a baby shower coming up soon for someone you know. If you mail the coupons out in the invitations and a guest brings diapers as gifts, they are saving money and at the same time and you are getting money/credit if they use the coupons.

Try it and let me know how it works for you, just click on Diapers.com and get started today on saving and making money.  Can can use the above links to get to your $10 off coupon or if you are ever on Diapers.com just enter the referral code below.

Referral
Code
JEKX2819

Another idea is if you use Pampers you can collect points from every bag/box of diapers you purchase.  It works for Pampers wipes also.  You enter your points on to Pampers.com before you know it, you have collected enough points to trade them in for goft cards to places like Macys, L L Bean, or for toys and books. Take a look at the site, it’s also very helpful with saving money. Good Luck!

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Ok, ladies, now I’m the one asking for advice.  What is it about the holiday’s that makes even of the best and closest of families bicker and become so irritated?  In the past I have looked forward to the holidays every year however since I was remarried almost three years ago, the holidays seem to be more of a stressful time for me rather then a happy time.  So here’s my dilemma.  My family is very involved, being my parents and my brother’s family, which like any other family, we can have our disagreements sometimes but all in all we very much love and count on one another.  Since I have been out of work my parents have and still do continue to make sure while we are strapped for money, that my children have everything they need, for example: school clothes, back to school items, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc. They even pay for my nine year old to attend after school activities that he enjoys once a week since we could not afford it right now.  My parents are also paying the monthly payments on my 14 year old sons braces that are being put on this month (above what the insurance does not cover).  My son Jordy (6 months old) and I spend most of our days with my mom who doesn’t work either while my two older sons Tyler and Hunter are in school.  To say the very least my parents do far more fo rus then they shhould ever have to but they love to be able to help the kids and Ian and I whenever they can. In fact they would giv eus their last dollar if the boys needed anything at all.  Which is how I was raised. But then we come to my husbands family who are completely uninvolved.  They live just as close to us as the rest of my family. We all live in the came county.  My husband’s family consists of his grandparents, his father and his sister’s family. None of which we are close to because they are not very socialable people in my opinion.  Part of the problem with his family is that his father lives alone with a huge chocolate lab that stands taller than a dining room table and taller than my two yougest kids.  Don’t get me wrong we have a dog as well however, it is much smaller and she is getting up there in age so she’s not very active and she is only allowed in two rooms of our home, which only started when we had our baby in March. She has long hair and I didn’t want her to keep shedding all over and not allow my baby to ever lay on a blanket or his play gym on the floor.  She’s not a bad dog just very hairy.  My older two sons love her and spend lots of time with her.  So anyway’s back to my point, I have repeatly asked my husband to hav ehis father put his lab outside or in another room when we are over to his house visiting.  But his father never will do this.  He allows his sog to drool on everything in his house including his guests.  When he wags his tail, it actually hurts your legs andin my kids case, their stomachs or backs.  I have only taken our new baby there once and I kept him in a front back on me the entire two hours we were there and still as upset and uncomfortable as I appeared to be, no one would put the dog anywhere else.  I was not even able to sit down because when I do the dog is all over me and then stands taller then the baby and me. His father never calls us, never comes to see the kids.  Hunter has played lettle league baseball for at least three years now and his grandparents and father attended only one of his games in all that time where my parents have missed only one or two games in all that time.  His sister recently got a second dog which is a pit bull.  I let her and my husband know right up front that under no circumstance would I take the children there to visit now.  My husbands grandparents agreed with me on that fo safety reasons.  I may sound neurotic but they are my kids and I’m allowed to feel that way especially when it comes to their safety.  So this leaves us with the questions of holidays every year.  This year my plan was to ask his family here for Thanksgiving along with my family to solve that problem. But as my husband so kindly reminded me yesterday, his father doesn’t like to be around my family (I think it’s because he’s afraid of looking bad because my kids are not close to him and are to my parents).  And as far as Christmas goes, I was inviting just his family to come ot our home for Christmas Eve to have lunch with us and stay as long as they would like to . Which is never more then 4 hours, max. And then see my nephew at my parents from 7 to 9 pm that evening (by brother has joint custody and he would be with his mom on Christmas day).  But my husband wasn’t happy with this arrangement either.  His grandparents are in their 90’s and still drive however they won’t/can’t drive at night, so I thought lunch was the perfect compromise then everyone would be home with the little ones in time to get to bed for Santa’s arrival.  The have dinner with my family Christmas day. But still none of this is good enough for his family.  My point to all of it is, why just because my parents put the effort into having a relationship with Ian, our kids and I and see us all the time should we have to not see them on the holidays just to make his dad happy when the  other 363 days of the year he wants nothing to do with us? Since Jordy was born in March, father in law has seen him, once in the hospital, once at his house (baby in the front pack) and once at Jordy’s baby dedication (which was back in June). He did not see us for Tyler’s birthday in June or even call to see how the first day of school went.  My husband adopted Tyler and Hunter legally so we both have three kids together. That is how Ian thinks too. The boys have always called him dad. But my father in law refers to Tyler and Hunter as Jens boys, which he has told my husband he thinks they are antisocial because they don’t enjoy being at his house either with the dog.  And he knows that Tyler has General/Social anxiety disorder so it’s hard for him to get comfortable when we go to other peoples homes.  Not too mention my father in law never has any food at his home when we are invited there, that my kids would eat.  He know Tyler is very picky but he never asks us is there anything Tyler or Hunter would like when he is cooking out?  So the kids usually don’t eat or drink anything while we are there, so of course then I don’t because it’s rude to not have the boys eat.  I just think his family is very inconsiderate of the blended family unit and trying to make us all feel welcome.  I invited his father over for lunch the week before Father’s day this past June because we were going to be out of town for a graduation party Father’s Day weekend, but he told my husband no, because he didn’t want to come here because he said I didn’t pay him enough attention at Jordy’s dedication the week before that.  I had hosted Jordy’s dedication at our home and had about 50 people there to entertain and cook for.  And be able to spend time with my own kids on this special family day.  So what do you do with families like this? I went ahead and mailed out cards today asking that read like this:

I know with the holidays approaching us we all become more and more busy

with which what feels like les and less time get it all done in. So with that

being said, I would hope you would allow us the honor of having you to our home for a

wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, November 27, 2008 at 4pm.

&

For Christmas Eve Lunch

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at 2pm.

This will allow us all plenty of time to spend with each of you and still hae time

to get the little ones in bed before Santa’s arrival.

Does that sound to over the top? I figured they could either come or not. The ball would be in thier court.

What is your advice to me on this subject? HELP!!!

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With the holidays approaching us quickly I thought I would share some of my families traditions and what ways I still am able to keep my kids excited and not loose the Christmas spirit.  For starters, my parents started a tradition with my brother and I back in 1978 when I was only 5 years old.  They took us to Merrified Garden Center, VA. to see Santa Clause.  Not just any Santa Clause, :THE REAL ONE”. Below are just a few photos of my family throughout the years at Merrifield Garden Center visiting Santa.

Yes that’s right, I said it, I still believe in Santa! Well at least in the spirit of Santa. This Santa was amazing. He would know your name. He would tell you things like, one time he told my little brother that he had to start sleeping in his room instead of my parents. That shocked him because he did in fact still sleep in parents room most of the time.  He would also tell us that he was going to do something special for each one of us each year and give us instructions to follow for example: one year I asked for french hook earrings so he told me to put my favorite pair of shoes outside my door with a potato in one for the reindeer and on Christmas morning there would be something shiny in my shoe in exchange for the potato. And there was, my french hook earrings. He would tell my brother to put his favorite Dallas Cowboy blanket under his pillow and when he woke up Christmas morning there would be something special wrapped in the blanket and there was.  We have gone there every year since 1978 and I have continued the tradition with my own kids.  I started with my oldest son on his first Christmas 14 1/2 years ago and have never missed one with my three kids, ever.  Santa spends lots of time with each family in an authentic antique sleigh.  The line to see him is usually about three hours long. So Santa will take a break from seeing the kids and come out and sing carols with the families in line to help occupy the kids who have still been waiting for their turns.  He gives each child who steps in his sleigh a special ribbon to hang on the Christmas tree and quotes this rhyme every time, ” Hang this ribbon high in the tree, on Christmas morning under the tree,  there will be something special from me to thee.” The when the kids wake up in the morning there is always a special gift under the tree wrapped with the ribbon wrapped around it. I think it is very important to pass down special family traditions to their children, it’s keep the idea of family alive and really like sharing my childhood memories with my kids and I can live through their excitement all over again.  Just to wake up on Christmas morning and see what instructions Santa gave them carried out and how it effects them is amazing.  The looks in their eyes are PRICELESS!!!!! We have many more traditions and funny stories to tell on how my parents helped me to stay a believer in Santa and how it has helped my children too. To hear more you’ll just have to visit again.

What are some of your family holiday traditions that you still enjoy and are passing on to your children? Let me know, I love this kind of stuff.

Same Santa every year, since 1978.

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 My 14 year old son was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety, Social Anxiety Disorder, depression and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) a little over two years ago.  I have heard of people having panic attacks but until you have actually witnessed one you really have no idea how bad they really are.  I used to call them total melt downs. My son couldn’t hardly speak, and what he would say he would just repeat over and over.  He would be shaking and trembling all over.  Pacing and crying always accompanied these attacks. He couldn’t sleep at night which made it all the worse because the more tired he would become the more intense the attacks were. He would get to the point of vomiting.  Since he was diagnosed he has seen a psychologist once a week and a psychiatrist once a month who monitors his medication along with different cognitive behavorial treatments taught to him to help talk himself down when he does feel and attack coming.  I was very hesitant to medicate him because of all the horror stories I have heard. But what he is on, truely does not change his personality at all, it actually clears his head from everything he obsesses on constantly to give his brain a break an and be able to show his true personality which was hidden for so long. It does not make him tired and does not increase his depression. When starting Lexapro we were told to look for any major mood swings or suicidal/homicidal thoughts, none of which he has experienced.  So many teens