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.