Baby's best friend

Bronx has single handily or single pawed in this case helped Donato become a speed crawler. Donato tries with all his baby might to catch Bronx. Bronx will be sitting, chewing on a toy and Donato crawls full throttle to get him, Bronx gets up and runs away. It becomes a game of baby and dog. Dog always wins. You think Donato would realize that he's never going to catch Bronx but he never does. It reminds me of Bronx chasing squirrels or birds. He's never going to catch them but he never gives up.

I can tell these two are going to be best friends. While I was pregnant Bronx would lay on my stomach, almost as if he knew his best bud was in my belly. Ever since we brought Donato home Bronx is the first one waiting outside his door when he wakes up. I love to watch their little friendship grow. Bronx takes a lot from this little guy...it's baby's best friend.

The word "no"

The word no simply means, Not any: "there is no excuse". Simple right? Not so much! The word no, to a child means something completely different. It means: maybe if I ask again the answer will change, maybe if I wine a little more she will say yes, maybe if I ask louder the answer will no longer be no, oh wait, how about if I wait a few minutes dad won't say no, and the list goes on and on. We have heard them all. Kids lack patience, they don't like to wait for things, they need instant gratification. The word no does not allow for that. They want it now not in 5 minutes.

As I sit here and type this post I am having a conversation with my 4 1/2 year old about getting her clothes. So fitting considering I am writing about this very topic. I told her no, I am busy, not right now, I will come and get you when I am ready to help you. It has taken me 10 minutes to write this and she has come in here about every other minute.

I guess that's where being able to tell time will come in handy. When I say in 10 minutes it will really be 10 minutes and not every minute. They have no concept of time, there for the word no doesn't really fit into their vocabulary. I guess that is the joy of being a child. Living in a world of yes and living in the moment. I think adults should revisit that world every now and again. Then maybe there won't be so much hate. We need to say yes to the good and no to the bad. We think so much about so many un-important and irrelevant things. We need to take the time to focus on the good things every once in awhile.

Maybe I should take my own advice and stop saying no to my poor little girl who just wants to get dressed? I think so! Hope you all have a blessed day!

drive throughs

How can you not have a drive through with a kid?? they are the best! often determine what errands will actually get accomplished

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!! We are looking forward to a fun filled day with family. It's a beautiful sunny day here in New Jersey. Last night we went to my moms house to have Easter there. It was a great time and Isabella had a huge Easter egg hunt in the woods! Half way through she gave her basket to her aunt because it was too heavy!

Donato got up super early this morning, he must of smelled the Bunny that hopped into our house last night. He played for about 25 minutes before he spotted his basket and slowly tore it open. Isabella slept in, but ran right down the stairs to see what the Bunny brought her. Loved everything in the basket but her favorite was the pink baseball glove she got.

Now it's off to get the troops ready for church and then it's off to Grandma's house we go. I hear the bunny left the mother load at her house!

RIP Lennon Baldwin

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/morristown_teens_suicide_being.html

This really hits home....this boy lived just 10 minutes from us. It is heart wrenching that this ever happens. Bullying needs to end, plain and simple. As parents we all need to sit down today, right now, and explain to our children, on an age appropriate level what bullying means and how if affects people.

Kids may think it's all fun and games now but I have never heard of a grow-up who used to bully be proud of what they did. Most likely them are ashamed of their childish behavior. And only now can they see what affects their actions had on people. It can truly eat away at people for years told come. Almost as a pay back for all the years of bullying they did as a youngster.

I recently heard a story of a father who went into a counselors office at the Feeding Center. He walked into her tiny office and just began to sob uncontrollably. After cried for about 10 minutes he told her he did this. (His son was born with a cleft lip and palate and was missing an ear.) She assumed that he had a relative with a cleft that he passed down to his child. He just kept saying he did this. He told her he used to bully kids so badly when he was younger this was god's way of getting him back.

Parents and teachers need to educate children on what bullying can do to people. The after math of both bullies and the kids that are bullied follow you long into adulthood. It has to stop somewhere because it's never going to go away unless people step up and do something. I know I sound like a broken record but the squeaky wheel gets the most grease! So if you see someone being bullied say something! It's so wrong on so many levels. These poor children are killing themselves!

Thank you Tessa

Yesterday I participated on a family panel at my children's cleft team. We spoke for a group of students studying to be speech pathologists. I was lucky enough to meet a beautiful 16 year old girl who was born with a bclp. The wisdom and maturity this young woman had was far beyond her years. She told the audience that she was once asked if she could go back and be born without her cleft would she. Her answer was no. She told us that it has made her who she is today, it has taught her so many things that many people will never know. It brought tears to my eyes hearing her speak. I worry everyday about my daughter and meeting Tessa made me feel so much more at ease. My daughter is going to be okay and grow up to be a normal teenage girl, worried about all the usual teenage girl things. :) Thank you Tessa

Baby fever

If Babies-R-Us doesn't give you baby fever nothing will! From the moment you walk into the store you are overwhelmed with the smell of a fresh newborn baby. I love, love, love it! I love every single thing about babies. I could buy something in that store every time I walk in. Lucky for me it's close to my house so we go there at least once a week. I just walk the isles aimlessly and reminisce of the good ol' newborn days. They grow so quickly, almost too quickly for my liking.

I have always said that Babies-R-Us and Bye Bye Baby are gold mines! People are always having babies, always. It's a business that is fool proof, it's never going to die as long as people keep reproducing!

They continue to come out with new things. These new things make you wonder how people surrived, even 10 years ago with out them. It also makes you wonder do we really need them? Nope, probably not but they are sure fun to have.

Thank you Babies-R-Us for letting me roam your isles and getting me to buy something every time I'm there!