Baby Belt Giveaway

My amazingly talented friend has just started up a new etsy shop -- One Little Belt -- and it's just fantabulous -- to say the least. Check out her shop...and then leave a comment to be put in the raffle for her giveaway!


"You have three chances to win. I am giving away two girl's fashion belts and one boy's leather belt raffle-style on Valentine's Day. Each belt will be your choice of style and size with free shipping. You can see styles here. To enter leave a comment on the giveaway post here with your e-mail address.

As an added bonus you can get a second entry if you post this giveway on your blog. Leave a extra comment here with the link to your blog.

The giveaway ends on February 14th at 7:00 pm. MST. Results will be e-mailed February 15th.

I really need all of your help getting the word out about our belts. We have them ready to go, now I just need to let people know about them. You can copy any of this post and use it in your's. Whether you need a belt or not, I will just be thrilled to have your support. Thanks everyone!"

Summer of Anger, Summer of Peace -- Rick Dean

Very interesting book. Author, Rick Dean, grew up in a family of 7 kids. His older brother, Dennis, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and the disease slowly took away the use of his body. Rick was responsible for taking care of Dennis for much of his young life. During the '60s, not much was known about muscular dystrophy, and the prognosis was grim. But Dennis was an incredible boy...and man...who outlived the odds. His story was truly incredible and extremely uplifting.

I found it extra interesting because of our Samantha. The book begins with the fact that Dennis is approaching the days when he needs a wheelchair...and he is NOT happy about this. I was reminded of last year when our physical therapist talked to us about getting a wheelchair for Sammy one day. That was very hard for me. On some level, I felt like a wheelchair signified "giving up" or failure. Logically I understand that's not true...but that's how I felt. I was able to empathize, on some level, with Dennis...with how hurt he felt as they took his wheelchair home for the first time. But it was also wonderful, and extremely encouraging, to read from Rick's point of view -- how much he helped his brother, loved him, and actually enjoyed being Dennis' wing man. I often worry about Callie...if too much will be asked of her if she will be resentful. I've had plenty of opinions given to me about what I need to do so she doesn't feel put-out. And that only makes me worry about her more. This book was encouraging. Even if a sibling may need to help out a lot, they can do so happily, with no hard feelings. I hope that for Callie.

One wouldn't read this book to marvel at the literary techniques or the beautiful imagry. Rather, you would read this book to be inspired, to hear a great story. After reading this, I had the desire to be a better person.

I was able to meet the author this week, and it was an honor. He is a lovely man and I'm so impressed with his compassion and love. I'm glad he wrote this book in order to share his brother's story. May much goodness come from it.

How To Teach Your Baby to Read -- Glenn Doman

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Recently I have had a desire to help my daughter love learning. She already does, so I wanted to find a way to help maintain that throughout her life. She is two years old and I marvel at her enthusiasm to learn and, plainly, at how bright she is. So when it was recommended I read this book, I loved the idea...and I loved the book. I have begun to implement the plan to teach your young children to read and Callie loves it. She looks forward to seeing her words everyday. The materials are extremely easy to make and the process takes very little time each day. But already, she is recognizing words. It's been really fun for both of us.

Climbing Out

It's official. Callie is climbing out of her crib. We've rearranged the furniture several times hoping to get rid of this newly developed problem. It hasn't worked. So, from now on I suppose we'll be waking up in the morning by Callie opening our bedroom door and announcing to us that she is awake and ready to get going. Yikes. It's been a long two days already. I can't imagine what the next 16 years will do to me!

Cookies!

The other day I decided I wanted to spend some special Mommy/Daughter time with Callie. Cookies. She loves cookies and she loves cooking. Great idea Jen! Sometimes I can just be so smart it kills me. We washed our hands -- which Callie loves doing. Starting off real swell. I had already made up the cookie dough (I know, making the cookie dough seems like it would be fun to do together, but she has a very short attention span, so I thought we'd just skip that part) so I just gave her little balls of cookie dough and she plopped them down on the cookie sheet. I started telling her where to put them, but then I thought "Jen-babe, relax. Let these be her cookies" and she started putting them where ever she pleased. And really, it should be that way. We were joyfully preparing our cookies when with such speed she grabbed one of the uncooked cookies and shoved it in her mouth. Wow! I was impressed, a little annoyed because there was raw egg in there afterall...and the fact that she decided she needed to be so quick about it illustrates the fact that this smart cookie knew I would have discouraged her from putting raw cookie dough in her mouth...but that's neither here nor there. I've had my share of raw cookie dough. A girl's got to start some time, right? So, here's Callie, in all her cookie glory -- having it ooze out of her mouth as I ask her to smile for me. What a sweet little girl!

Cold in Cali

Yes, we even have our cold days and weeks here in sunny California. This past week has been much cooler as we've had some rain. I had to pull out the winter coats for the girls, but they still enjoyed being outside and running around together. This little video isn't amazingly cute or anything, but it does show a little bit of how much fun the girls have together. Callie runs around yelling "Sammy get you, Sammy get you" because that's what we tell her is happening as Samantha stumbles her way over to Callie and follows her around in circles. I love hearing the pitter patter of little running feet on the deck and the squeals of laughter. Even if I am low energy, it lifts my spirits. I have some great girls.

Trees

Callie's starting to explore and climb trees. I love it! She's so full of adventure and has so much fun trying out new things. I can't wait to get her on a community soccer team or tree-climbing league.