How quickly holiday weekends come and go. Did you all have a wonderful 4th? I hope that you get a chance to take part in the Hebrew National July 4th Virtual Backyard Barbecue over at 5 Minutes for Mom.
We had such fun during our 4th of July barbecue. The sun was shining, the kids were smiling and the food was divine!
Here's a fun little slideshow from my 4th of July barbecue sponsored by Hebrew National. ENJOY!
I can not even begin to imagine what it would be like to one moment have a happy, healthy baby boy and the next moment find yourself in the PICU praying incessantly as your little one's body works to recover from some very scary injuries.
This is Ian's Story (as told by his mom):
On April 15, 2009, our precious 7 month old son, Ian, was taken to the hospital from sustaining an injury at our babysitter's home. By the time we got to the ER, he was seizing a lot and "very sick," as the doctors put it. They had the entire ER working on our sweet little boy for over 3 hours just to get him stabilized to move to the Memorial Hospital for Children.
We found out that he had a brain bleed and swelling on the left side of his brain. He was placed under drug induced paralysis and put on heavy narcotics to keep him asleep for 6 days.
After being 'awakened' from his drug-induced sleep. He was not moving his right side much at all. He was taken off the ventilator 2 days later. The neurologist examined Ian and determined that he has some issues with vision in his right eye and only time will tell what will heal the lack of movement in his right arm.
We spent 2 weeks of tiring nights at the hospital. A huge strain on our sweet little 3 year old's life as she couldn't quite understand what had happened to her little brother, and why mommy could not come home and be with her. She kept asking when her "baby brother could come home."
Praise God, he is healing my son, and we are so thankful that we were able to return home almost 2 weeks to the minute of Ian going to the hospital. We are thankful he is here!
We still have a long road as he exhibits problems with some right-side weakness and vision issues in his right eye. He is requiring physical therapy and medication to prevent seizures. We do not know what his long-term affects might be from this. Again, only time will tell.
Being a family that has utilized two incomes, we are now reconsidering how to proceed. I've been home and plan on staying home until our son is, what I would consider, stable which could be a very long time from now. We will be under financial strain, but we have no other choice at this point.
As a friend of Ian's family, my heart broke when I heard what had happened. I ached especially for Ian's mom. Like I said above, I truly can not imagine how terrifying and difficult those 2 weeks were.
Her family's strong faith has been so admirable during this ordeal. As Ian fought in the hospital to recover, there were many of us praying, and I tell you what, little Ian is proof of what prayer can do.
Here is Ian two weeks later........
Yes, he had improved significantly, praise God!!! However as his mom stated above, there is still a long road ahead.
Here's where you come in.......
I have decided to hold a giveaway for Ian here at my blog. I am hoping that by gathering together some fun prizes and asking for all giveaway entrants to make a small donation, that perhaps together we can help Ian's family as they pay continuous medical bills.
But, I can't have a giveaway without prizes.
If you have a product you would like to donate for the giveaway, please email me: butterflykissesblog(at)gmail(dot)com.
Thank you for your consideration, it means so much to me.
I found the following post, Summer Song, moving. I am sure that it might have to do with the fact that Audrey starts Kindergarten in the fall. You should take a moment to read it, it's sweet.
Audrey (5 1/2) has summer reading assignments for her new school. Have I told you that I am so excited that she will be entering kindergarten next year? There are 12 books that we are supposed to read together and a little assignment for her to complete at the end of each book.
But, I decided to take her reading assignments a step further and incorporate even more learning into the process. This summer, I am doing several units with all 3 kids, based on her summer reading assignments.
Three of her required books have to do with farms and farm animals. So, we are currently doing a farm theme. I have found such tremendous resources online.
Audrey will be learning a little more in depth about various farm animals. We will also work together on handwriting, spelling and phonics. Isaiah (2 1/2) and Christian (14 months) will be working on animal identification, colors, numbers and letters.
At the end of their unit, I will be taking them to a park in a neighboring city, that has a small child's farm.
The other night after dinner, since the kiddos were due for a bath, I had them do a fun activity. We used chocolate pudding to finger paint pigs, giving them a mud bath.
Audrey slopped the pudding all over, she is good at making a mess. :)
Isaiah made tiny blobs of pudding all over his pig.
Christian thought I was nuts, wanting him to paint with the pudding. He was the smart one, knowing that pudding is much more fun to eat!!!! Once he finished devouring his pudding, he decided to try to eat his picture. That boy loves to eat.
So far we have learned about sheep and pigs. We have made several crafts, sung songs, reviewed various vocabulary words and letters and watched several educational videos online, including one that showed a sheep shearing. They have been having lots of fun.
At the end of the unit, Audrey will complete a Farm Lapbook.
Here are just a few of the sites and activities that I have been using for our farm unit.
I admit it, I am on Facebook pretty much all day long. Well, actually it sits minimized on my screen all day long, but I do check it often. The biggest problem with my new found addiction, is that the funny stories about my kids, updates on my family and new pictures are all placed on my facebook wall, instead of on my blog.
That means that some of you, including my parents, are missing out. So, here is a little glimpse into those moments that were never shared on my blog, but should have been.
In April, Audrey (5) and her daddy attended their 3rd Daddy/Daughter Dance, which has become a tradition for them. It is one that I hope continues for many years. My friend, Sara, came over to do Audrey's hair, because I don't do hair and the kiddie salon closed for the day because of the snow storm. Gotta love snow in April. :) Sara did a fabulous job. :) Audrey looked so beautiful. Somebody tell her to stop growing.
Audrey is enrolled in an incredible school for kindergarten next year. I am THRILLED. It is a classical academy, complete with uniforms, but it is still a public school, so it's tuition free. She is going to get a GREAT education at her new school. :)
Isaiah 2 1/2 is now pacifier free. The paci-fairy came, took his pacifiers and left him a grand surprise, a new guitar. HE WAS THRILLED! He loves his new guitar and even sleeps with it every night. Giving up his pacifiers was hard, especially the first couple of nights, but he made it through.
Here he is sleeping with his guitar:
Here is one more photo of the handsome guy:
Christian, 14 months, is still not walking and thinks he needs to hold on to something whenever he stands. Every once in awhile he'll forget and stand on his own, sometimes even while clapping. But once it hits him, "Oh, I am standing up and this doesn't seem right, I prefer to sit and crawl", he plops down and doesn't get back up for awhile. But I say in about another month, he'll be walking right alongside his older siblings. :)
Here is Christian a couple of weeks ago when we all went on a family hike:
Well, hopefully these photos are enough to carry you through until my next blog post, which I promise to write in the next couple of days. I also promise that as I immerse myself in the world of Facebook, that I won't forget about my humble little blog and its few faithful readers who I appreciate so very much. :)
Over at 5 Minutes for Mom, we are working on a very exciting contest sponsored by Kraft Bagel-fuls. Stay tuned, we will be posting about it in the coming weeks. There is a fabulous grand prize valued at over $1,000.
For our posts at 5 Minutes for Mom, I created a video montage of Christian enjoying a strawberry cream cheese Bagel-ful. He LOVED IT, DEVOURED IT! He is so stinking cute!
The Invisible Children RESCUE has made it onto OPRAH!!
I HAVE to tell you that I am so excited, so very excited about the outcome of the RESCUE event that took place on Saturday, April, 25th, for Invisible Children. You may recall that over at 5 Minutes for Mom, I recently told you about the event and why it was so important.
Invisible Children is an organization determined to help the thousands and thousands of abducted children in Northern Uganda and The Congo, who are taken from their homes at young ages, desensitized to violence by witnessing horrendous beatings and killings, and then forced to fight as child soldiers for a terrorist, Joseph Kony.
Invisible Children decided that it is time that Joseph Kony is captured and arrested and his child soldiers are freed. So they organized an event called The RESCUE, where thousands and thousands of people gathered in over 90 cities all over the world to abduct themselves to bring media, political and cultural attention to the longest running war in Africa and to the situation affecting the 30,000 abducted child soldiers. On April 25, 2009, I was a part of this incredible event in Denver.
We gathered at the state capitol and then walked for a couple of miles in a single file line, holding a rope, just as the abducted children are forced to do. Finally arriving at a nearby park, we set up our sleeping bags and blankets, wrote letters to our senators asking them to rescue the child soldiers in Africa, and waited for a political or cultural figure to come out and rescue us by pledging their support to do something about the situation in Northern Uganda and The Congo.
Here is a little video montage I made of the event in Denver. 1500 people showed up in Denver, for the RESCUE! 1500!!!!
We were rescued by a representative from Senator Udall's office at around 9:30 P.M. The majority of the cities in the U.S. were also rescued Saturday evening. But there were several cities that by Monday had not been rescued yet.
Yesterday, there was still one city left, waiting to be rescued, Chicago. Since Saturday, many had been going from location to location in Chicago, even in the middle of downpours, waiting to be rescued and spreading the word about the child soldiers.
Many Invisible Children staff members and volunteers drove from all over the country, to join the group in Chicago. Deciding that they TRULY needed to do something spectacular in Chicago, to get attention, they came up with a choreographed version of the song, "In the Name of Love." They rehearsed it several times before heading outside of OPRAH'S STUDIOS to sing it to her, asking her to rescue them.
Here is a video of all 500 of them rehearsing "In the Name of Love." It will give you goosebumps.
As they sang in front of her offices and then studio, Oprah's staff members came out and watched, proud of them. But there was no sign of Oprah. Soon they were told by Chicago police that it was time to leave, they were trespassing on private property.
Determined, they showed up again this morning, and what happened next, was incredible. Oprah came out, handed out cupcakes, found the 3 filmmakers of the Invisible Children film who are also the founders of the Invisible Children organization and brought them into her studio. She changed her show schedule around and today INVISIBLE CHILDREN will be on OPRAH! She will rescue Chicago and share the story of the child soldiers, today, on her show. So, if you are able to, tune in. You will NOT want to miss it. :)
I am so proud to have been a part of such an incredible event. I KNOW that what we did will make a difference and I can not wait to see the outcome of this event.
There is also the Lobby Day event planned in June where Invisible Children staff and volunteers will head to D.C., take part in symposiums, hand out thousands of letters written to senators during the RESCUE event and spread the message that "the time for peace is now, and this is how it ends. The program will include lobbying trainings, VIP speakers, a kick-off rally and will culminate in an unprecedented outpouring of activism on Capitol Hill, with hundreds of meetings taking place between Members of Congress and their constituents." I WOULD LOVE TO ATTEND and hope to save up the money to do so.
Please let me know if you are able to watch the Oprah telecast today.
RESCUE group in L.A. (5,000 showed up and were rescued by a host of celebrities including Kristen Bell, Ben McKenzie, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Arnold)
Here's my post all about his home birth last year. It was such an amazing experience.
The little guy had 2 parties. One was a couple of weeks ago with friends and family, while we took a trip back home to Arizona. The other one was yesterday with the 5 of us, at a nearby play place. He also enjoyed a yummy chocolate cake last night. :)
The boys share a room. Christian's crib is on one end, while Isaiah's toddler bed is on the other.
Some nights we wait for one of the boys to fall into a deep sleep before putting the other to bed. Other nights they go to bed at the same time, usually staying up for a good 40 minutes or so just yapping away at each other.
Isaiah usually repeats Christian's ha-dah's and yi yi yi's. Sometimes there is laughter. It can be quite cute.
What really makes me melt though, is when late at night, before heading to bed myself, I quietly tip toe into their room to find Isaiah's bed empty.
And there, resting on his quilt on the floor, is Isaiah. He lays himself under the crib with his head barely peeking out......positioning himself almost directly under his brother. It is so cute.
I guess they won't have any problems when it comes time for bunk beds. I have a sneaking suspicion that Isaiah will choose the bottom bunk.
I have many memories from my childhood, up to about age 9, of my mom. Those were the years before Multiple Sclerosis, so I know that that person I remember, truly was "my mom".
She had spunk, and I mean SPUNK!!! She was strong-willed and determined. She cherished time with her girlfriends, always having a game night with them. She loved to socialize!!!
I remember always doing fun things, going fun places. We would take walks a lot, even walking to the library at least once a week. My mom did a lot for me. She drove me from dance practice to play practice, recitals and performances. I was one of those children that could never sit still, so I know that I kept my mom busy!
She cared about my education. She made sure I went to church. She was even involved in Sunday School. You know, my mom was a lot of fun. ...a hoot. We played cards often. It was my mom who got me hooked on games, especially Rummy, Boggle and Scrabble. I have memories of her breaking out her Flashdance records, helping me get dressed in my leotard and leg warmers, and then joining me in crazy dancing all over the family room. The more I look back on those years, the more I see that I am a lot like my mom.
In 1989, we moved from our small town in Connecticut to a big city in Arizona. Things drastically changed for all of us. I was no longer the popular girl with many friends. Instead, I was the weird girl that didn't quite fit in. I was bullied a lot. That year, my mom was also diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and it slowly began to eat away at and change her.
She was very fatigued. She constantly had painful tingling sensations throughout her body. There were even mornings when she would wake up unable to see out of one of her eyes. Putting myself in her shoes, she must have been so terrified. She too moved away from her closest friends and family, she was diagnosed with a life changing disease and she had a ten year old and five year old to take care of.
As I hit my tween/teen years, I became an emotional mess, of course. My mom and I fought like crazy, we were both very stubborn. We both HAD to have the last word. And man, did we hurt each other gravely with our looks and our words. You know that saying, if looks could kill?
We threw such daggers at each other. I was already fragile. Being the rejected kid in town did a number on my self-esteem. The words, the hateful words my mom would shout at me during our disagreements, just made the wounds worse.
I soon began to distance myself from my mother.
I wish that I could go back in time and smack my adolescent self upside the head. Here was my mom, away from the part of the country she had lived in her entire life, faced with a disease that many didn't know THAT much about. Her body constantly ached. She was horribly fatigued. Some mornings she would wake up unable to move one of her legs. She worked full time and would spend 45 minutes driving home in rush hour traffic, only to be greeted by my every demand, as soon as she walked through the door. She would quickly scarf down dinner and then get back in the car to take me shopping or to choir practice or wherever I just HAD to go at that VERY SECOND.
She sacrificed so much and I was VERY unappreciative. But I know we all are at that age. What I wish the most though, is that I had cherished those years with my mom. The Multiple Sclerosis hadn't completely destroyed her memory yet.
I wish I would have had long, bonding chats with my mom, where I could hear stories of her teen years. I want to know what high school was like for her. I want to know about all the crazy things that she did in her twenties. I want to know what it was like when I was first born. I want to know the silly things that I did as a toddler. I want to know what it was like for her raising a five year old and a newborn baby.
I want to know about all of the guys she dated and the first time her heart was broken. I guess, I just want to know who my mom was.
My mom and I are still distant, but it is no longer by choice. Once I had children, I realized just how much my mom did for me. You really can not fully appreciate the sacrifices your mom made, until you become a mother yourself.
That longing to know more about my mom's past has grown even stronger since having children. You know all those crazy moments as a young mother when you just don't know what to do, but thankfully your mom is a phone call away? Well, I don't have that luxury.
My mom has had Multiple Sclerosis for twenty years and I have watched it completely change her. I have watched her deteriorate before my eyes. Watching something like that, is not easy!
I will say, for having had MS for twenty years, my mom is doing GREAT! She can move around, although she does need assistance from a walker or scooter. She has lost her bladder control and quite a bit of weight. I think she is at a frail 89 pounds. She has to have a caregiver with her during the day while my dad works, but I think it's wonderful, because my mom is a social person, and if she was in the house all day long by herself, I know that she would lose her mind.
My mom is still a firecracker and she still says things that make you drop your jaw. She always will.
But the myelin in my mom's body is being ravaged by the disease and this does affect her memory and thought processes. My mom's short term memory is pretty much shot. She will go to a movie with my dad and will of course enjoy it, but once the credits start rolling, she has already forgotten what movie she saw or what it was even about.
Sometimes she forgets that I have children.
While my mom does still have a pretty good long term memory, it is scattered. She has forgotten many things. It must be so hard for her. I couldn't imagine. I am so thankful that I took up blogging, and that if I wanted to, I could print out every memory that I have on my blog. My mom didn't keep journals, I so wish she had.
I would love to get in touch with the women who were the closest to my mom when she was in her twenties and thirties. It would be great to just meet for lunch and hear the crazy stories, that I know my mom would have shared with me by now.
This May, I am finally taking part in the MS Walk. I have wanted to for several years now, but have always been either pregnant or with a young baby to take care of. This spring, I am finally getting out to the walk. I am walking for all the family members who have been affected by MS and who watch their loved ones try their best to battle a debilitating disease. I am walking for the daughters who will never truly know their mothers, because of this disease. I am walking for all of the courageous men and women who have been diagnosed with MS.
But mainly, I am walking for my mom....for my BRAVE, STRONG, BEAUTIFUL MOM!!!
Please visit my donation page, if you would like to help.
The other day, I wrote a quick post telling my hundreds of few readers that my blog would soon be password protected. It was brought on by a post that I recently read about a mom blogger who had discovered that there were tons of pictures of herself and her children on a site run by some scary dude or something...I don't know all of the details.
I do know that I mainly write on this blog for the grandparents as well as GG and Papa..and for my 4 or 5 readers or so, who I do appreciate greatly. :-) Since it's primarily for the family, I like to post pictures and videos of my kids, but I don't want to be putting them into harms way at the same time.
But for now, I am going to keep my blog as is. I won't use a password just yet. But I may consider it at a later date.
:-)I am sorry if my post was hard to follow...I feel the writing is not the best. Blame it on my Sudafed brain, okay?!?!?
My loverly friend, Faerylandmom, watched my two older kids for a few hours twice last week. On one of those days, she caught the mister getting "boogie" with it. So she recorded it and I am so thankful that she did. I HAD to post the video here for grandma, because I don't think she has gotten to see it yet.
I am a Christian wife and mommy of three.
I work from home assisting Janice and Susan over at 5 Minutes for Mom.
I love sunny days with a gentle breeze, peach iced tea, and any and most sweets. I love to make my kiddos smile and laugh. I also look forward to times when my hubby and I can cuddle and watch a movie together.
Optimistic, lively, and almost always happy with the world...
You can truly appreciate the blooming nature of spring.
Whether you're planting flowers or dyeing Easter eggs, spring is definitely your season!
You are an interesting blend of fun and wisdom.
You definitely make people think about themselves and their place in the world.
But they'll have fun doing it. You definitely epitomize laughter therapy.
You are a very enriching and entertaining friend!
I found the following post, Summer Song, moving. I am sure that it might have to do with the fact that Audrey starts Kindergarten in the fall. You should take a moment to read it, it's sweet.
I have many memories from my childhood, up to about age 9, of my mom. Those were the years before Multiple Sclerosis, so I know that that person I remember, truly was "my mom". 
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