December Sonogram

Awesome HEB Toys

If you read my blog you know that I am a fan of HEB.  I worked there just out of high school to pay for college and worked there for three years.  My mother worked at HEB for ten years, retiring when my brother was born.  My mother worked to help put my dad through college.  It's a great place to work I would say.  Everything is about the people.  It's like a small home town grocery store even when you are at an HEB Plus.  I enjoy it very much.

 

HEB makes toy products of their own things such as grocery carts, eighteen wheeler delivery trucks and grocery baskets.  My parents have a picture of me when I was about Evelyn's age, 3, where I am dressed like an HEB bakery employee (my mother worked in the bakery and is still know today for being the greatest baker in the family and among all her friends) and I am sitting on a metal HEB truck that my mother got at work.  I am going to show you two products that I made sure we got for Evelyn, one of which we've had for a year now, the other she just got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa.

 

The first is the HEB grocery cart:

 

 above and below: with nothing inside

 

 above and below: with a 15" doll

 

The play HEB grocery cart is just like the real HEB carts; grey with red accents.

 

 

Next is the HEB grocery basket:

 Outside of basket

 

 Basket sealed up before opening

 

HEB Ketchup, HEB Angus beef hotdog weenies and HEB Bake Shop hotdog buns

 

 HEBuddy chicken nuggets and HEBuddy burgers

 

 HEB MooTopia Lactose Free chocolate milk with 50% more protein and 50% less sugar (2), HEB Toasted Oats cereal (generic plain Cheerios) and what I think is supposed to be the HEB reusable bag.

 

This did not come in the HEB grocery basket but I think this is what the bag above is supposed to be.  This is a little reusable bag from HEB (they have many) that my mom got for Evelyn. 

It's a good size for a lunch.

 

 HEB whole kernel corn (can), HEB Creamy Creations 1905 Vanilla, HEB Creamy Creations Texas Seasons Poteet Strawberry and HEB cut green beans (can)

 

Fresh HEB produce; whole corn, two jalapenos, orange, apple, lime and a banana

Two eggs and HEB Home Style Flour Tortillas (made fresh daily)

 

 

All of the products found in the HEB basket can be found at any HEB.

 

I'd like to point out the Creamy Creations ice cream.  Best ever!  I didn't know ice cream could be so creamy!  If you have an HEB near you, please try some.  If you don't have an HEB near you...then I'd say it's time you come see a little piece of heaven and visit Texas.  The Texas Seasons Poteet Strawberry ice cream is from the annual Strawberry Festival held in April in Poteet, Texas, about an hour south of San Antonio.  I like, a lot, when stores do those kinds of things; bring the spirit of where they come from into what they make.  There are a lot of things in Texas that are only Texas, just like any other state.  The Poteet Annual Strawberry Festival is a Texas treasure and I am happy to see that it is being noticed even in our ice cream.

 

 

I have heard it said that those who don't live in Texas think that Texans are a little too proud of Texas and all that implies.  I think that if you lived in Texas then you might see what we see, but then again you might not.  "I wasn't born a Texan but I got here as soon as I could."  A nice bumper sticker.  I was born, raised and I still reside in Texas and I never want to make a home anywhere else.  I may move to another state for a short time but I will always come back to my home town of Texas even if it was just to be buried.

 

Texas My Texas.

Guess what...

It has been a long time since I have made a post

and I have a good reason for it.

 

At the start of May 2013, my husband and I started to try for a second child.  We had no luck, and no luck and still no luck.  With our first child it took one time.  Really.  We one day gave up on waiting after a year of marriage to start trying, tried that night and bam I was pregnant.  This time was harder to deal with.  I am heavier now, significantly heavier now, so I was afraid that would keep us from getting pregnant again and when I kept getting my period I felt like it wasn't going to happen.  Five months go by and we say that we aren't going to stress out about making another baby and just tried to have fun with it.  That worked.  We got a positive on three at home pregnancy tests before going to the doctors.  I know five months isn't long at all to be trying but when your first child came after one time, five months seems very long.

 

So the reason I haven't made any new posts is because all the big things happening to me were about the baby and Evelyn's reaction and everything like that.  I don't know who sees this blog and we had only told family, not people we work with, go to church with or even friends about being pregnant.  We don't have friends we hang out with regularly, only those we work with, so it wasn't all too hard.

 

Everything started so simply.  For the first month (not including the two weeks they count for the due date) I had not a bit of morning sickness!  Which was so awesome!  Almost the instant I was pregnant with Evelyn I had morning sickness.  I threw up for three months straight.  No joke at all.  The only thing I could keep down regularly was cheese enchiladas and I had a very small window of when I could eat.  If I ate before or after that window there was no chance of keeping any of it down.  So I was very happy when I didn't even feel a bit of nausea with this pregnancy.  I did have spotting twice at the beginning of the pregnancy leading us to believe that I was starting my period but it stopped almost immediately each time and then we had positive home pregnancy tests.  Everything was smooth sailing until Halloween night.  I spent the two days before making our costumes.  Evelyn wanted to be Jake and me to be Izzy and Daddy to be Cubby.  So we bought different shirts to make the costumes.  My dad even went as Sharky.  Of course I made the costumes, it meant sewing so no one could really help me with it when we have one sewing machine.  Halloween night we get to our church's Halloween Party.  I leak, apparently, when I'm pregnant, so I always wear a pad.  I felt more leaking than usual so I went to the bathroom as soon as we got to the church.  I was bleeding like a period.  I came out of the bathroom and told Tom that we needed to go to the ER.  Just then my parents walk in so we were able to leave immediately and still let Evelyn have fun with her cousins and friends.  We got to the ER and it didn't take long for me to get to the back.  They took blood from me from one arm and were about to take more from the other.  I asked the girl to wait because I wasn't feeling well.  I took a moment to try and regroup.  I told her to go ahead.  She pricked me and the next thing I remember is Tom squatting in front of me calling me and asking me questions.  As an EMT he does this regularly and almost everyone in the ER we were in knows him which made this next part easier.  They quickly put me into a wheel chair and rushed me into a room.  I don't remember it.  It took me until they were all done with hooking me up to machines and gone until I knew what was going on around me.  I could hear Tom close to me as he assisted the nurses and I felt like I didn't need to struggle to wake up to know what was happening to me so I rested while they hooked me up.  I had an internal sonogram done and it showed the baby was fine and had a strong heartbeat still though there was a clot of some kind.  The ER doctor said to do nothing until I could see my doctor.  I made an appointment for the next Tuesday, the earliest time I could get.  Had more sonograms done and the doctor told us that it's possible that the clot could've been another baby that didn't attach correctly or it could be something rubbing that is causing internal bleeding.  Between the two we were hoping it was the Vanishing Twin Syndrome.  After doing research about why this happens we were surprised to find out how common this is.  So often that many times women don't know.  With the technology we have now, being able to see into the womb so early, we now can see how many eggs were fertilized and then later see that, usually, only one attaches correctly.  The reason we were hoping it was the Vanishing Twin Syndrome was because then that meant the bleeding would stop on its own.  If the bleeding was due to something that could cause more bleeding then the blood clot could move or get large enough to detach the embryo that was still going strong causing that one to miscarry.  I was put on moderate bed rest; I had to be a couch potato, I didn't have to stay laying down, just hardly move.  I was given an appointment a month from that day and told to come earlier if the bleeding continued still.  I bleed threw that weekend and some of it was bloody mucus.  I went back that following Tuesday, a week after I had first gone.  The clot was still there and then I was put on bed rest, this time I had to do even less.  I spent about the next two weeks laying in bed.  During that time I got morning sickness.  Bad too.  I threw up less then I did with Evelyn, or so I thought.  After a month, I was finally able to get around to doing things.  It had taken a few days to get back to having energy again.  At my next appointment I was given a prescription to help keep me from vomiting; Diclegis.  I don't like to take pills when pregnant, just my prenatal.  So often you hear of things that later have been found to cause problems and I don't want my child to suffer because I wanted to easy my pain (can you guess that I want to do a vaginal, natural birth?).  I didn't get the pills.  I was holding down more than I had been with Evelyn so I wasn't worried.  At the next doctors appointment my ketones were at -3.  The doctor told me to get my pills, take them and come the next day.  If my ketones weren't down, then I would be hospitalized.  My ketones were in the negative because there was too much acid in my system because nothing was being digested.  The baby was fine but she told me something could happen to the baby if things didn't change.  My doctor lives in a city about 40 miles away.  The hospital closest to us it not a hospital I want to deliver in.  Many women in the area choose to deliver at the hospital I will be delivering in.  Same place I did with Evelyn.  They are known in our area as being the baby hospital.  So since we needed the medicine right away, we stopped at a Wal-Mart next to were we planned on eating, still in the city.  They didn't have it but could get it the next day, no good.  So we went to CVS after eating, same thing.  Then to Walgreens.  Again, no.  Then we went to HEB Plus.  I have mentioned HEB several times but not HEB Plus.  Our town doesn't have one but this city does.  It is bigger, with much more.  It has clothes and much larger toy, book and outdoor sections.  It even has a full electronic section.  Anyways, we get to HEB Plus and they don't have it.

"Sorry, the only stores that have it are in ---ville and -----ville in our area," the woman tells me.

 

"Wait, did you say -----ville?" I asked.

 

"Yes I did."

 

"So -----ville has these pills?" I double checked.

 

"Yes," she still kindly spoke.

 

"Oh good!  That's where we live!  We were here for the doctors appointment and needed the pills right away so we were trying to get them here.  Oh yay!"  The women smiled and made a chuckle.

 

We get back home and we were able to get the pills.  Well, I didn't have to take them until I go to bed.  We rushed everywhere for almost no reason.  If we hadn't done that I don't think we would have found the pills on time though.  The next day my ketones were at zero again.  The pills didn't do it.  That's not what the pills are for but the possibility of being hospitalized caused me to change a little.  I took the pills but was still throwing up every other time I ate.  I was told to take another pill in the morning and the nurse said if that stops the vomiting but still not the nausea, I'm just going to have to deal with the nausea.  So since the start of December I have been going back and forth, everyday, between being dizzy and being nauseous.  The dizziness comes from the pills.  It makes me drowsy.  I can't drive and I sleep so much.  It's near like being bed ridden again.  I can't do the dishes because bending over putting the in the dishwasher or taking them out makes me even more lightheaded.  I try to do things around the house that don't require bending like sweeping.

 

So it comes to the end of the year now.  Three days from the new year and we have much to look forward to in 2014.  In order; we will find out the gender of our second child and will ready ourselves for that, the baby will be born, Evelyn will start school for the first time and my brother will be coming home from his mission.

Much to look forward to.

It's been a Year

I just realized that I have had this blog for a year now (on September 21st) and I thought I should mark this occasion with an update on my family.

My husband, Tom, is getting a new, much better paying, job this month.  A friend of his started a new buisness and has clients already and has shown to be very promising.

Evelyn is in soccer but has yet to play since the game fields have fire ants and they aren't 100% sure they are all gone.  Recently a thirteen year old boy at football practice fell into a fire ant pile and died three days later.  The whole area around us are taking extra precautions this year because of that happening.  Evelyn is only three and at this age, she doesn't do practices, she only does "training" on Saturdays at the game fields then her group scrimages another group her age.  That's why she hasn't been able to play yet, expect in our yard.  Evelyn is in the middle (I wish it was the end) of potty-training and her big motivation is being ready to go to school.  We practice the alphabet, numbers, writing and drawing, even some "psychology."  I have faces each with different emotions and we talk about what we do when we feel that way and also what we can do for others when they feel that way.  Evelyn wanted to go to school this year but she isn't old enough yet, plus she needs to be potty-trained.  That is her great motivator.

We are still trying to have a second baby.  By Monday we should know if we are.  How do you wait for such a thing?  Since I was very young I knew I was meant to be a mother.  I've always wanted children, and lots of them.  We want to have six kids, four at least, but it is hard to see that number right now when we can't even get to Baby 2.0.  We've only been trying for five months and from my research, you don't need to go to a fertility doctor until you have consistantly been trying for a year.  Tom works a lot and we have a three year old so it is difficult to try as much as we should but with Evelyn, it took only one time.  It was also quite random.  One night after a football game we looked at each other and asked, "Should we?"  Let me translate that; "Should we try to have a baby now even though we said we wouldn't start trying to have a baby until a year of marriage so that we would have the first year as just us without getting ready for a baby or should we just throw all of that out the window?"  Yes, we threw it all out the window.  We wanted both really, us time and a baby, but we were very ready to have a baby to love so we tried once.  I think we wanted to see if we were really meant to have a baby already or not and then a month from that day, we got three positives using home pregnancy tests.  I read back on the journal I had at that time and it was very obvious that I was pregnant.  I was dizzy, tired, breast were tender, I didn't like food much and I was getting random headaches.  Right now I feel like I'm have pre-period aches but I am praying everyday that it is all baby-aches.

I prepare further aheah then when I need to; I'm a forgetful person so I do this to be sure nothing is over looked.  I have been planning the nursery, in detail, since we have started to try again.  We have names planned out, nothing concrete yet, mainly because we aren't pregnant yet (or maybe we are?), and we have general colors picked out for the nursery also; grey and yellow.  If it's a boy, more grey, if its a girl, more yellow.  Recently I've been thinking that I just need to find a nursery geared picture from Etsy and then make the nursery off of that.  I like the idea of grey and yellow (sunshine!), but...we will see.  Right now the nursery is Evelyn's room.  We need to move her to her new room before we can even decorate the nursery.

Evelyn's room is going to be Doc McStuffins from Disney Junior.  Mostly using teal, purple and just Doc bedding.  Doing that will make it easier for her to grow with her room; all we would need to do is get new bedding.

So my life is revolving around getting Evelyn ready for school next fall and getting ready for a baby that hasn't been concieved yet (or maybe...).  Plus Tom of course.  He is a big part.  Without him...we couldn't be a family.  I'm glad to have both of them in my life.

H-E-Buddy Training Pants Review

(Discloser: HEB did not pay me or ask me to do this review, I am doing this on my own accord.)
While Evelyn has potty trained, we have tried three different brands of training pants; Huggies (Pull-Ups), Pampers (Easy Ups) and H-E-B (H-E-Buddy Training Pants).

I will be doing a review, specifically, on the

H-E-Buddy Training Pants.

They come in two syles.

Butterflies & Race cars

Sizes 2T-3T, 3T-4T, and 4T-5T.

Evelyn prefers the blue ones, blue is her favorite color.  We were worried that they would not cover the appropriate areas but from what we can see and have experienced, the only difference between the blue training pants and the pink training pants is the outer design.  They absorb the same as Pull-Ups or Easy Ups but unlike Easy Ups, they have reclosable sides.  You can put a new training pant on your child without them needing to take off shoes and pants which is a great benefit when you are at a public restroom.

They also last just fine through the night.  If you put a fresh training pant on your child before bed (like you always should no matter the age of your child), there will be absolutly no worry about leaking as long as your child is at the potty training stage.  They don't absorb like regular diapers, of course, as no training pants do (though these seem close to it), so be sure to use them when your child is ready for them.

The H-E-Buddy Training Pants fit Evelyn nicely around her thighs and her waist.  Evelyn is a three year old that wears size 6 clothes, so many times, things that fit other children her age, will be too small on her (especially down here in South Texas, where we have a lot of Hispanic children, and we aren't the biggest and tallest children in the bunch), but these training pants fit her just fine.  The waist is not elastic, it's not puckered, so it is not trim fitted at the waist which may cause some problems for children who are lean but since the sides are reclosable so you can fit them to your child.  If you are not careful, and pull too roughly on the tabs, you can pull off the reclosable strip which then would make the training pant unusable.  I would say that every tenth package has one training pant that the reclosable strip comes off a bit easy making that one unusable but the price makes it worth it even if there were a defective one in every package (which there isn't).

At our local H-E-B, they are a dollar cheaper than the Easy Ups and you get the same amount of training pants in each package.  Example with real numbers:  The Easy Ups are $8.97 each and the

H-E-Buddy Training Pants are $7.97 each.

Overview of H-E-Buddy Training Pants

• Comes in two designs
• Comes in three different sizes
• Neither is internally gender specific (so your tough girl can pick race cars or your bright color loving boy can pick butterflies)
• Great absorbency
• Reclosable sides
• Fitted legs
• Not fitted around the waist [but has the reclosable side making it easy to adjust]
• Cheaper than name brand

I hope that this helped those who are interested in H-E-Buddy Training Pants.  I am all for buying

*H-E-B brand products, it saves me money and they are guaranteed to be the same or better than their name brand counter part.

Note: We tried Pull-Ups for only a short time. When Evelyn was first born we used only Huggies (including only Huggies wipes), they fit the best and she also didn't have any reaction to them. When she was about to turn two, for some unknown reason, she would get horribly red. We changed wipes and it lessened, then we changed from Huggies to Pampers and the redness completely vanished. We tried out the Pull-Ups to see it she still had the problem, she does so we didn't use them long at all so I don't know too much about the Pull-Ups in comparision to the

H-E-Buddy Training Pants.

*H-E-B brand products are not to be confused with Hill Country Fare brand products, which are also made by H-E-B, which are made to be affordable first, when the H-E-B brand is first made to be the same as or better than the name brand counter part then second to be more affordable than the name brand counter part.  There is another H-E-B brand, Central Market, which is the designer line of

H-E-B products, concentrating on quality only.  Good stuff in nice glass jars but is much more expensive, even more than name brand most of the time.

H-E-B Books

In Texas we have an awesome place called HEB.  It's a grocery store.  My mother worked in the bakery for 10 years and I worked there for 3.  It has sentimental value to me and the food is fresher than anywhere else in town.  They sell local food and Whataburger ketchup, Whataburger spicy ketchup, Whataburger mustard and Whataburger fries.  A while ago, our HEB put in a reading area for kids.  Most HEBs did this.  It has a colorful stage where HEBuddy comes to visit and special visitors (like the university football team) come to read to children.  Evelyn loves to stand on the stage and "read" and "conduct music."

But all this isn't what this post is about.  Something that HEB always tries to do is better the community.  They try to be a part of any community event and they strive to bring quality products to their costumers at value prices.  HEB has also been concerned with the children of our communities. In the HEB reading area you can find books for $1, $2, and $3.

HEB have printed books of their own that are only $1.

I have made it a tradition that everytime we shop at HEB, I buy Evelyn a new $1 HEB book.  Inside the cover you can read a mission statement (Note to parents) that talks about HEB wanting to not only nourish bodies of children with fresh food but also nourish their minds with easy to afford books.  Now all these books are for the younger children but I know that it is essential to build a love for books in children to better their future and in turn our own future, the parents' furture.

"How can you work with us to nourish the future?  Read 3.  Commit to reading three books a week to your child, and you'll improve the future.  We've committed to getting good books to you.  Now you can commit to making a difference.

A,B,C and 1, 2, 3

Reading is important for me,

It's easy and really fun,

And it's important for everyone,

I pledge to read 3 times

It help grow little minds"

Taken from "Note to parents" found inside each book

We have several books but I know we don't have all that HEB has put out and I know that not all of them that we do have are in the picture.

Titles in order they appear

The Lamb-a-roo

by Diana Kimpton and Rosalind Beardshaw

That Yucky Love Thing

by Michael Catchpool and Victoria Ball

Bunny Loves to Read

written by Peter Bently Illustrated by Deborah Melmon

Underpants Thunderpants

words by Peter Bently pictures by Deborah Meimon

My Favorite Food

by Tiziana and John Bendall-Brunello

Just One More Swim b

y Caroline Pitcher and Jenny Jones

Wide Awake Jake

Written by Rachel Elliot Illustraded by Karen Sapp

If Big Can...I Can.

By Beth Shoshan and Petra Brown

The Adventurers

Written by Rachel Elliot Illustraded by Valeria Docampo

The Cuddliest Cuddle in the World

by Sarah Nash and Baniel Howarth

These are not all that we have.  If you are like us, you have books in almost every room of the house.  HEB also had books that were about mother and son, father and son, father and daughter, mother and daughter, grandma and me, grandpa and me and a book for each letter of the alphabet.  We have "E" and "G" for "Evelyn" and "Ginnett."  I colored the girls hair on each page to be the color of Evelyn's hair.  If they still have them, I plan on getting the initial of each child's first name but as plans change I don't want to jump the gun and get an "A" when we might need a "B" for the next baby.  We did get the books about the parents and son because we are sure we will have a boy at some point.  We plan on have about six kids so I'm sure at least one will be a boy.  The way that it has worked for my father in law (twice) and 5 out of 6 children is that you have a girl first then all boys.  At least four boys next.

I'm not sure how HEB does this.  I have seen some books be around for months because they have restocked them and others I have not seen come back again.  The letter and parents and me books I have seen come back but with less on the shelf than when first brought to the shelves.  So if you see a new one, grab it before it's gone!

If you have an HEB near you, please, buy these books.  They are different stories with different illustrations, kids will not get tired of these books and they are only a dollar each.  Just don't get a soda from the vending machine at work that week, or skip on getting cookies and buy a couple of these books.

If you don't have an HEB near you, find books to read to your child.  There are many places you can go to find children's books; dollar stores, Wal-Mart, Target (look for specials), Half Price Books, Barnes and Noble sometimes has their books on sales (ones that have been beat up a bit can be a great deal and the inside has no damage, only the cover).  I'm sure there are places that have great deals on children's books in your area.

Read when you are pregnant, read anything.  You don't even have to read out loud if you don't feel comfortable doing that.  If you have the habit of reading before your child is born, your children will see that you enjoy reading and want to read just like Mommy and just like Daddy!  If you already have children, it's not too late to be a good example to them.

Children are never too old to see their parents be good examples.

Read to your children.  With books at a $1, you can't afford to skip out on giving the gift of reading to your child.  Any child.  It's become more common for couples to ask for a book with a message inside instead of a card at baby showers.  If you go with a $10 bill and change to HEB (or similar place) and buy 10 books for a baby with a new mommy and daddy, they will be extatic.

Build your childrens' library and encourage their love for reading now so that when they are in high school and have to read a book by the end of the week and give a ten page report on it, they won't see it as much of a bother.  At least to read the book they won't.  Can't say they would be happy about the report but I know that when I enjoy what I read, it's not hard to talk about it or write about it.  And what is writing if not speaking in type?

I will say one last time on this post...

BUY YOUR CHILDREN AS MANY GOOD BOOKS AS POSSIBLE AND YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT AND WILL ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL FOR IT!

The Broken Cup

On September 8, 2013, at church, we talked about Unity.  One woman used the example of a cup that is broken, that it always would have something in between, either the crack or what you used to mend it.

I thought of that.  I liked the use of a broken cup.  With a broken cup, you can lose pieces if it has been broken too much, epecially if the pieces have been ground and beaten into a fine powder, and if you try to piece it together, but do so unevenly, you can't use that cup anymore.  If it doesn't fit back the way it should, if all the pieces don't come back together, then the cup is useless; but if you have all the pieces, if you fit it back together right, then you can use that cup again.

Unity in marriage is crucial to the survial of a family.  Unity of the members of church is crucial for the building of God's kingdom.  Heavenly Father will still be there even if we are not, I know I want to be there with him again.

If you break unity, it can be put back together, as long as you don't break it so harshly and lose pieces and as long as you put all those pieces back in their proper place.

"Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid.  I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand."

With Heavenly Father, anything can happen.  He can turn that fine powder back into a cup if you let Him.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I wanted to talk about the picture I just put up for my profile.

Taken September 8, 2013

There are several things I want to talk about in this picture.  To start with, I wanted to have a profile pic that would show off my curly hair.  How can I be the Curly Texan without it?  It's all natural too!  When I was younger I didn't know how to keep them nice so I desperatly wanted straight hair.  I got my curly hair from both sides of my family, but my parents didn't have curly hair.  It skipped them.  They had uncles that had really curly hair like me, so they didn't really know what to do either.  I have learned through experience what to do with my curly hair and I am so gitty that I have them!  I recently got my hair cut, really short on the back, the girl needed help from another stylist on the back because it was curling so much and she need skinnier fingers to cut it.  The girl giving the extra help said, "Oh, do you know how many people want your curly hair?" she asked me as if I was only going to straighten my hair (yeah right...) and I said, "Yes I do.  I hear it all the time."  And I really do, and I like that something that God gave me that is special can be seen so easily.  Sometimes the gifts a person has can be over look by the person that has it because its something inside making it harder to find and easy to dismiss.

How to take care of Curly Hair:

1-Use hydrating shampoo: Use shampoo that is meant to hydrate hair.  You don't have to get shampoo for curly hair, just as long its made to hydrate.  If you don't put in hair products to style, shampoo only every other day.  Washing your curls everyday will dry them out causing frizz and your locks to seperate.  If you use hair products to style, wash your hair everyday otherwise it will get greasy.

2-Use conditioner: Anything to help hydrate.  Leave-in is good to use also.  Follow the instruction.  Too much can be really gross.

3-Styling products: You need these much of the time.  Use hair oil if you have regular to dry hair.  If you have oily hair then use moose to hold down frizz.  When putting in moose, gel, oil or anything like that, cover the ends first then the crown of your head.  If you start at the crown of your head when using oil, you will make your hair uneven, the crown will be very oily since that's where the oily-ness starts and with the moose, it will weigh down your hair or make it harder than the rest of your hair.  Never start at your hair line!  Not only will your hair get uneven and oily but so will your skin causing break outs.

Tip: Until your hair is dry, keep it off your face.  I would always break out on my cheeks and then I noticed that it would get worse after I cut my hair again and since then I have been very careful to keep the wet styling products off my face so I wouldn't break out anymore.

I have really short hair, but if you have long hair, when using styling products, start application as if you were making a ponytail at the base of your skull and work it down to the ends then do the crown of your head.  I used to have my hair reach down to my lower back, so I have experience with long curly hair too, I'm not pulling this part out of the air.  For my curls, medium hold has worked best for me with both long and short hair.  I like my curls to hold but not be crunchy.  If you use a blow dryer, please use products that will shield your hair from the heat.  Too much heat is one of the worst things for any hair. 

Different kinds of styling products: wax, moose, foam, gel, silk drops, hair oil, creams, pomades, hair spray (I don't like that for my curls because it makes them crunchy but give it a try for yours), heat shields, and hair glue...I'm sure there are more than that but those are ones I have tried.

4-Try everything!: Try from the $0.99 shampoo and conditioner up to the $25.00 bottle of shampoo and conditioner.  Save up money if you need to be able to try all these things, but don't be afraid to explore.  It will take time.  I have been trying different products since I was about 13, so I have over 10 years of trying new and old products and I am still finding better products than before.  It will take time.  You need to use each product at least two weeks before you really know how it effects your hair.  Buy the smaller bottle when trying to find what's best for you; you don't want to get the big bottle when the conditioner weighs your curls down and you try the shampoo without the conditioner and the shampoo dries your hair out.  Waste of money.  When I was younger the professional and the super cheap stuff would dry out my hair (I tried two or three brands for each), now its different, so as time passes, try new things also.  Explore to know what is best for your curls and remember it will take time to know what you like best.  Right now I am using Regis Enchanted line (it smells just like Victoria Secrect's Love Story and I like their heat shield!), before that I used Evercurl from L'oreal, before that Everclear, before that I can't remember, it might have been Clear.  I used Everclear when I first saw it and as soon as Evercurl came out I got that.  It worked better than the original.  Sometimes you will find a brand you like but the type is not the best.  Try different products from the same brand.  Companies make diffents products for a reason: to fit the needs of more people.  Keep a small notepad and pen in your bathroom and after using a product for at least two weeks, take notes of what products you used, the results and if you like those results.

My Ring

When my husband proposed, it wasn't really a proposal, we just said, "Okay, what date do we want?"  Sweet in a way, it had been two months or so since our first date.  The ring I got for our engagement was a perfect snug fit, as well as the wedding band, so when I become pregnant, they didn't fit me anymore.  I didn't loose the weight, still "working" on it, and Tom gained weight during my pregnancy also, so we got new wedding bands after Evelyn was born.  We went to James Avery.  A Texas love. 

Tom had wanted a hammered ring before, so that is what he got. 

Amore Band by James Avery.

I got the Claddagh ring.

Adorned Claddagh ring by James Avery

The Claddagh ring symbolize giving ones heart to ones love.  My mother in law has a lot of Irish in her and her birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, so Tom likes things that are Irish and I always thought the Claddagh rings were romantic.

My Shawl

The shawl I am wearing in my picture was made by my sister in law for my birthday.  When Jer and Emma came in July for vacation, Rachel had a ball of red yarn that she had been working on everytime I saw her.  She even took it with us when we went bowling.  I asked her, "You've really been working on that, do you have a date deadline you're trying to make?"  It didn't even accure to me that it was for my birthday.  I got it just this last week.  She has four kids, three of which are home schooled the fourth is a year old...she had plenty of reasons why it took a while.  My favorite color is red, that's why she made it red.  The accent color of our living room is red too.

The Backround

What's in the backround?  Behind me in the picture you can see two things: a painting I made that says "Love" and a sign that says "Bless This Home" with faux glass knobs and large name tags hanging off each knob.

I painted that Love while watching Love Actually.  I can't remember when I did it but it had to be before 2007.

The "Bless This Home" sign I bought at Hobby Lobby at 60% off!  I cut out tags from scrapbooking paper and hung them with red ribbon.  They kept spinning and flipping around because they were so light, so I cut cardboard and glued them together to weigh them down.  Each tag has one of our names on it; Tom, Erica and Evelyn.

I like to be playful in my pictures, cheesy and totally young, yeah, but to me, curly hair means playful.  I've gotta show that!

(1,509 words, give or take a two, not including this or links)

Baby Showers

For the past four baby showers and 1st birthdays, I made things; three blankets and one carseat canopy.

Most recent was a blanket for a woman having her third child, a boy. 

Best picture I ended up getting

I went to high school with her and her husband.  We were all in JROTC together and me and April were also in band/marching band together.  They are a year or so younger than me.  Tom works with the husband also.  Tom had forgotten to tell me that they put up the baby shower invite at the station.  Luckily, I saw them at Wal-Mart the day before the shower.

"Hey!  You never said if you were coming to the baby shower or not," April said.

"What baby shower?" 

Yup.  That's how I found out.  So Evelyn and I went to see if there was any fabric/pattern I would like to use for a blanket.  Evelyn picked out a robot print.  I wanted to use orange fleece (April's favorite color) but gold was the closest I could get to it.  April was suprised to hear that I made it.

"You made it?  But I just told you about all this last night..."

"Yeah, I made it last night."

If you make blankets, to make a baby blanket, you know it doesn't take long.  I have been sewing since I was 12.  For Christmas I asked for a sewing machine, I still have it too!  So making the blanket wasn't a long process, 'specially since I have been making a lot lately.  I have fun with it too!

My cousin just had her third child, a little girl.  My aunt held a baby shower for her about a week and a half before she delievered.  I wanted to try to make a carseat canopy, so that's what I made her.

Cotton on one side.

Minky on the other.

Reversible makes it possible to add toys inside for the baby!

I made it reversible to make it more interesting and have a place for the toys.  I wanted to use white Minky for sure.  My cousins favorite colors are pink and black so that was a given too.  Turns out that they bought new covers for the carseat that were pink and black and she had wanted to also get a canopy to go with it so she got very excited about it.

Before that, my oldest cousin's youngest turned one.  It was a Toy Story themed birthday party.  I made a blanket.  I stitched a star in the center.

Not the best blanket I've made.  The fabric I used for the back was thick, fluffy and moved a lot.  I tried very hard to make it work.  It think that it turned out nicely but it was harder to work with.

The first blanket from the four recent sewing gifts was for my second oldest cousin's youngest boy at his 1st birthday party.

This blanket took so long.  I put batting between two cotton fabrics.  I kept doing it wrong.  Over and over and over again.  About the fourth time is when I got it right.  It was worth it.  It turned out better than I expected.  I stitched boarders to keep the fabric from moving.  The very middle square had a little extra stitching.  You can see it a bit in the picture.

I love to sew!  Have any tips from your experiences?  Please tell me about them!  I can use guidence to better my abilities.  I'm not that good.  Average I'd say, even though I've been sewing for so long.  I would like to get better.  Help me in anything sewing, please!

Thank you blogging world!



Summer Vacation

A tradition that my husband's family have started a couple years ago was that we would visit each other every other year.  My husband has two (of three) brothers in Tacoma, Washington and his two sisters live in Texas, one in Houston and one down the street from us with my mother in law there and across the street from them.  This summer was their turn to come down to see us.  Sadly only one brother and his daughter were able to make it and not also the other with his wife or little girl Madi.  Last year, she and Evelyn had so much fun together.  They are a year and a half apart so Evelyn was able to have a lot of fun with her.

We spent two days at the beach.  When the Washintonian Brothers come, they say, "I can spend the whole week at the beach."  So we try to spend at least two days there.  I grew up in this area and my sister in law and her family have lived here for over 10 years so the beach is something we always have, as well as the heat and sun.  So the Texans usually limit it to two days, especially for the little kids.  We always have fun though, using bodyboards and making mountains of sand.

Heading to the water!

We spent three days in San Antonio at a time share.  Its a time share only hotel and very nice, felt like a home and not a hotel.  We had a four bedroom, three bath suite. 

The great room.  Looked bigger in person.  Love the beams!

Looking at everything all I could think is, "If only our house looked this put together."  Everything matched so well.  Everthing!  The table was an 8-12 seater.  I want a table that big!  We have a big family, Tom's side sounds big huh?  His is the small side.  It's only me and my brother but all of my mother's sisters and brother are here and most of all their kids and grandkids which means that we see them regularly.  I would love to have a larger table like that.  Then we could have stuff at our house too!  I'm going off track though...

The first day that we got to San Antonio, we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Evelyn with two of her cousins.

Evelyn absolutely loved it!  We bought a cup from there and now when she sees it she tells us that she wants to back there.  So maybe we will go again next year with my parents or wait for Stevy (my brother) to get back and take a long weekend.

We also went down the Riverwalk.

Evelyn and Tom

We had a fun time with the family.  Sometimes family can make you frustrated or annoyed but family is what completes you, makes you whole.  Family is what can make you smile.  Family is what can bring you back from even your darkest times.  Family is a big melting pot of personalities, love, excitement and especially a little craziness.  How else could you still go on loving each other?

Examples of craziness! 

Love you my family and I'm constantly looking foward to the memories we will make together!

Evelyn's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 3rd Birthday

This July, Evelyn turned three years old.  I always start her birthday plans in January.  I am forgetful so to keep myself from forgetting anything needed for a smoothly flowing child's birthday party, I start the plans six months ahead.  So in January, I was planning to do a Disney Cars themed birthday party since it is one of Evelyn's favorite movies.  I had been finding things all over Etsy and getting ideas from different sites online since Thanksgiving last year or so and January comes and Evelyn loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so much.  I had to change it.  I couldn't keep her from having a Clubhouse birthday party.
So Evelyn's 3rd birthday party was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

To start the party plans, I needed to plan Evelyn's outfit.  I asked her if she wanted to dress up as Minnie and she told me, "No, I wanna be Mickey Mouse!" and threw up her arms with excitment.  So I asked her again a few days later, to be sure that's what she wanted and she said the same thing.  Evelyn doesn't care about being a boy charcter as long as she has fun being that character.

The Outfit

I planned on making her outfit simple.  I used red shorts (borrowed from my nephew's pajamas) and cut two large circles out of white felt and sewed them on making two verticle stripes.  She wore a black shortsleeve shirt, plastic Mickey ears and white gloves.  In a neighboring town (5 minutes away), there is a music store that carries marching gloves in both black and white for middle school to university aged marchers.  I bought a white pair and cut the fingers off to the edge of her fingers.  I used a black permenant marker to make the three classic trademark black lines on the back of all the gloves of Mickey and friends.  I could've stitched on the black lines but like I said, I wanted it to be simple.  I was going to sew two of the fingers together but didn't since I knew she would want to wear the gloves most of the party; eating and playing would become difficult.
I wore a red shirt with Mickey on the front.  My shirt was a last thought so I got it late.  The only place I had to find one was Wal-Mart.  They didn't have one in my size that was red, white or black.  I went to the pajama section and found one easy and right away.  Even better that its just a t-shirt made from jersey.  Can't tell its a pj shirt.  Tom already had a red polo so he was covered.  That was one reason why I forgot that I needed a shirt.  Evelyn had her outfit and Tom had his shirt and I went out of my mind...in a sort.


The Place

Evelyn's first birthday party was at my parents, we didn't have the floor in our house finished so we had it there.  A water party.  Her second birthday party was at our house and was also a water party.  This year's birthday party was at a park in our little Texas town.  It's at the very edge of town so the wind blows nicely through and there is a large open crop field next to it so it's easy to see the sun setting making it even more lovely.  There is another park in town that houses all the baseball fields but it has very old equipment.  The park we had the party at is almost all new equipment with a new walking path that little kids ride their bikes on and a pavilion that was built earlier this year in addition to one that is still in very good condition.  This park is usually the one we visit so we decided to have the party there.  We ended up arriving ten minutes before the party started with nothing set up.  We were lucky though that we were able to get the new pavilion which is also closer to the play area.  The kids played before the games and while we still set up.  The weather was nice for being South Texas; in the mid 90s or so with good wind.  At the end of the party a storm went around our town so it became very cool for mid July in Texas.  I think we picked a good spot.


Games

game 1)   I wanted to make a Toodles.  I had to make Toodles!

inside

outside

I bought a tri-folding poster (what children usually use for Science Fairs) and used construction paper to make Toodles.  I traced a large serving bowl for the face and a top from a smaller storage bowl for the ears.  Dinner plates could work too but we have square plates so I had to find something else.  I put Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gift wrapping paper on the outside so it didn't look so plain and incomplete.

I used Toodles to play an on going game that lasted through most of the party.  Just like Toodles in the show, our Toodles would help us with the party.  Our Mouseka tools were Mickey Mouse ears, a number 3 candle, a pinata stick and the mystery Mouseka tool (which was a bag of Minnie bows).  I used a staple gun to staple it to a light pole.

The children at our party ranged from ages 2-10 with one 1 year old.  The ten year olds are twins that didn't participate in the games, just played at the park and hit the pinata which was what we expected them to do at a party of a three year old.  All the others knew all about Mickey's Clubhouse so it was easy to play this game.  It started with the children gathering around the pole with a "closed" Toodles, then I welcoming them to the party and told them that we were going to start the games.

"Does everyone have their Mickey Mouse ears?"

"Evelyn doesn't!" my nephew shouted.

"Oh no!  We need a Mouseka tool to help us!  Everyone say 'Oh, Toodles!'" I instucted.

"OH TOODLES!" they all shouted.

I opened Toodles and the game began.  We continued it; a bag of Minnie's bows for a game (see game 4), the candle for the cake (which we couldn't lite because of the wind) and the pinata stick for the pinata.

game 2)   My mom found an inflatable bean bag toss game that was of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It was unexpect and was pretty much at the last minute but I was glad she found it.  It was awesome for the kids!

(We hooked it on a rebar that supported a tree so it would stay in one place)

game 3)   I wanted to play a fishing game.  Evelyn likes fishing, I think it reminds her of my brother who is half way through his two year mission in Mexico right now.  So for the next game I made fish out of construction paper and magnets and put them in a baby pool.

(I put large rocks inside to keep it from flying away)

"Uh oh!  With all the noise from the birthday party we woke up Pete!  And Pete gets grumpy if he doesn't get his nap!  We need to go to Mickey pond and catch him some fish to make him happy."

The children fished in "Mickey Pond" and all recieved an extra large lollie pop when they caught a fish, which they all did, we made sure of course.  They had fun fishing!

game 4)   I wanted to do a "Pin the Bow on Minnie" game but I couldn't find anything online that I could buy from a store except Etsy but even then it wasn't what I wanted.  So I made one myself!

(All these pictures were taken after the party so they are a little mess now as you can see)

I got a picture off Google Images, enlarged it and printed it up in quaters and used it as a templet.  I used black construction paper and a red marker for Minnie's tongue.  I cut out different colored bows and each child had a different color.  For this game we needed to call for Toodles.  We picked our Mystery Mouseka Tool and recieved a bag full of Minnie's bows.  Evelyn did the best.  She didn't have her eyes covered though.

A storm was forcasted to come in, which we didn't know about until we saw it coming, so we rushed after the games.  We called Toodles for the candle and cut the cake.

We called Toodles again and then hit the pinata.

The Goody Bags

My cousin made the goody bags.  I picked out the picture and wording and she made the bags.  We put mini composition books, a mini skateboard of Mickey's Clubhouse, Mickey crayons, mini flutes and I think one other thing that I can't remember right now.

The Pinata

My cousin, Bob, wanted to buy Evelyn her pinata and Evelyn had said, from the first day that we told her she would have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party, that she wanted a Goofy pinata.  If you are unfamiliar with pinatas, it is a, usually, large character from a children's movie or show made of paper mache.  It is filled with candy and sometimes small toys.  You tie it up on a tree so that you can pull the pinata up and down.  The children beat the pinata until all the candy falls out.  It's a lot of fun!

The children weren't able to break it on their own.  I had to break it.  That's what a Mommy must do.  Wink, wink!

Rules that my parents made when we were kids was that every child would get three hits and no one could run to get candy until the child hitting has done all three hits, and the child is to drop the stick if kids run to get candy.  We have a marked off area too that we tell the children not to cross.  This is one thing I see children obey better than about anything else you tell them.  I think it's for the candy.  Kids love to hit things and get candy.  The only time it could ever possibly be allowed.  Evelyn had gotten very good at hitting a pinata, tough like Mama!  She is ready for t-ball next year.

(Pictures of Evelyn with her pinata coming soon!)

Decorations

While looking for ideas for the party online, I saw that one mother used fluffy, pointy paper decorating balls in black and I thought, "I can do that with regular paper lanterns and add black ears to make Mickey heads and red paper lanterns and add white paper dots to make Mickey pants."

I hung them with fishing line.  I underestimated the amount I needed so only one side of the pavilion had them.

I also made signs that I put next to the bag of Mickey Mouse Ears and signs next to the food that was hot dogs.

(Pictures soon to come of the decorations)

It was a long day but it went very well.  I enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did too!  Time to start preping for Evelyn's Fourth Birthday Party!  Thinking Jake and the Neverland Pirates or Doc McStuffins...hmm...or maybe something not even out yet!  She does love anything of super heros.  Maybe it can be a super hero party and as a "goody bag" they would get a cape instead?  Sounds fun already!  Yay for childrens birthday parties!