If only I had known…

We all live life alongside each other, everyday but do we really see each other. How many of us care to know the person in our lives. So many people feel so alone in this world & like nobody cares. So many people feel like the best option for their life is to end it. It isn’t until it’s too late that you hear others say “If only I had known”
If only I had known, I would have shared my struggles & how I got through.
If only I had known, I would have reached out.
If only I had known, I would have shared a laugh or a good cry with them.
If only I had known I would have called them up & hung out with them.
If only I had known I wasn’t the only one.
If only I had known I would have ……
The thing is, we never know what someone is dealing with. We never know the hurts & demons others are fighting the pains & disappointments they are living through. We never know.
Let us live as if we do know one another’s struggles & give our love, care & concern freely
Because, we never know.
I’d like to see this on everybody’s FB status & would also ask to you put one thing that you would do “if you had known”
This won’t cause you to get to heaven or hell. Mark Zuckerberg won’t send you a million dollars if you forward this to all our friends, but it could show somebody that you care & save them from making the choice to take their life.

Pregnancy brain blunders

A new study came out stating that preggo brain is NOT real, that it’s allll in our heads, yeah right!

I personally had an AWESOME memory, I’m talking SHARP! But after I became pregnant…it started.

I remember feeling so foggy minded. It was REALLY hard to comprehend even sentences my husband would tell me. I would repeat back sentences told to me to that I could ingest it. Learning new concepts was an unsuspecting challenge that threw me for another loop. I had always prided myself on being able o be told something once & I’d get it right away but being so far along, that wasn’t happening like it did 😛 I give pregnant woman who are working in any sort of job that requires concentration or going to school MAJOR props cause it took TWICE the work to not only learn it but retain it for me : D

Take a look on the link above & be vindicated like me!!! lol

What was your worst pregnancy brain blunder?

Are you the parent of a Deaf/Hard of Hearing child?

Is your child age 5 or under? If so you can take a FREE 6 week ASL course which offers more than just learning a few basic signs.

You can view the information here..http://deafbee.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/what-is-lead/

What is LEAD?

In DHHSC services on July 28, 2014 at 12:17 pm

By Cheryl Parreira, Coordinator of Client Services, DHHSC – Merced Outreach Office

LEAD THE WAY TO SUCCESS is funded by First 5 Merced County since 2002.

What does LEAD mean?

L = Learning Signs

E = Empowering Parents and

A = Advocating for

D = Deaf and Hard of Hearing children

Since First 5 Merced County funded this program, we have offered FREE 6-week ASL courses including ASL Storytelling, Early Intervention services and Advocacy for the parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing children aged 0 to 5 living in Merced County.

The 6-week courses meet once a week to watch DVDs to learn 100 basic ASL signs and do fun activities while learning ASL. The ASL Storytelling includes reading stories while using ASL, non-manual markers like facial expressions, and bringing the characters to life.

Our Early Intervention and Advocacy services for the Parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing includes positive parenting training, communication reinforcement, and Advocacy at Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings.

LEAD services are offered to parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, and caregivers who want to learn sign language to communicate with Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.

Research shows that learning sign language can help whether a child is Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Hearing. It can:

• Reduce frustration and tantrums
• Enhance speaking, spelling and reading skills
• Increase a baby’s vocabulary and may even increase IQ
• Increase bonding with parents and families
• Allow babies to communicate long before they can speak – some before 9 months of age.

If you want to receive LEAD services such as the Baby Signing Time classes, the child needs to live in Merced County.

If you have any questions to ask or need more information, please contact Cheryl Parreira, Coordinator of Client Services, Merced DHHSC office at (209) 230-9910 V/VP or email Cheryl at CherylP@dhhsc.org.

To the readers..

It’s been so long since I’ve posted on here. In large part to just being so caught up in life as a wife & stay at home mom. I sometimes think people will never fully comprehend what a  person in my role does.

Anyways, I’d like to hear from anybody reading this post. The tired out mommy, the burnt out father or just the person who is curious about what I could POSSIBLY be tired from : But I’d like a glimpse into all of your lives, maybe just whats going on & hey if you could use a little prayer your way, i’d be more than happy to give it 🙂

20% off All TushMate Cloth Diapers products

If your like me, I love being able to get things I needed to get anyway but marked down!
Right now TushMate is offering 20% off just by using code TM20OFF

Click the link below to check em out

TushMate Cloth Diapers

20 Comebacks for “Was it Planned?”

I don’t know what it is about being pregnant that makes people feel like they can say whatever they want or ask you personal questions as if they are asking you about the weather. But for people asking you “Was it planned?” could be pretty personal.

I saw a AWESOME blog post with 20 comebacks to this question & I had to re-post this!

You can chek out the original post here.. http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/0102201420-comebacks-for-the-pregnancy-question-was-it-planned/

1. “Was what planned?” Toss that at them and just let the awkward moment fester.

2. “Yes, of course. And it was AMAZING.” Awkward x 1000.

3. “I keep meaning to find out how babies are made, but I’ve just been so busy.”

4. “Was that question planned?”

5. “Depends on who you ask.” And then *wink*.

6. “Yes, it was planned by God.”

7. “We’ve always wanted children.”

8. “No, I really don’t know how this happened.” Warning though, that might lead to a whole different conversation you never wanted to have in the supermarket line.

9. “Why do you ask?”

10. “The sex was, but the baby was a bonus.”

11. “This was the best surprise of my life.”

12. “Isn’t everything part of a bigger plan?”

13. “Damn straight!”

14. “Wow, that’s a really personal question!”

15. “Does it matter?”

16. “We are so excited!”

17. “Bow chicka wow wow…” Seriously can someone please do this and report back?

18. “Have you ever read the book Fifty Shades of Grey?….” and then trail off and bite your lip.

19. “The baby was, the stretch marks were not.”

20. “It’s a miracle, isn’t it?”

I suppose the right thing to do is to just go with the flow and hope that everyone means well, even if they don’t. And I know we should all just answer with grace, but really, what’s the fun in that?

My personal favs are #6,9,14 & 18 : D What questions did/do YOU hate being asked?

What would you like to see comeback responses for??

2 under two- 4 tips to help raise two children under the age of two

That’s right, two kids under the age of 2! Some will have 3 under three! In our case my kids are 21 months apart so it wasn’t for long but it is still HARD work!
Even before I was expecting baby #2 I would sometimes wonder what little tips&/or tricks parents of multiple children did. Whenever I came across mothers with more than 1 kid I’d always ask what they did & they just kind of shrugged the question off or would tell me that by only having 1 kid I got it easy…thanks.
So after having my second I wanted to pass along any little tidbits I picked in the hopes that they might be able to help somebody else out 🙂

1. Baby wearing – when they are newborns they LOVE being next to mommy, especially when they’re held close. Hearing her voice, smelling her scent, & even hearing her heartbeat. So wearing a homemade moby wrap with my son inside was great in freeing up my hands. After about 3 wks I would put in the wrap & nurse him while I made myself something to eat or spent one-on-one time with my older son.
If you’re not mom & you want to baby wear that’s great too, for added comfort you can get a shirt mom had been wearing & put it where baby can smell it.
2. Organization!

This is a big one which is also easy to get lazy on. I like to be a little more  baby led on activities, but when my second son was born I  had to organize & prepare more. Now even though I stay at home with the kids, I took some notes from my sister who took her daughter to daycare.

-If you bottle feed, you can prepare the bottles the night before. This is especially helpful if they wake up in the middle of the night or want one 1st thing in the morning.

-For my older child I made his snacks & meals ahead of time. PB&J, goldfish in a baggie, a cup of milk in the fridge. He was old enough to the pantry door, so I would  put his prepared snacks in the pouches. This saved me SO much stress in running back & fourth trying to get him more food or a different snack after he’d finish. It also allowed me enough time to nurse my younger one & lay him down uninterrupted.

3. Getting up early

I’m not a morning person, like..at all. I also hate waking up earlier than I have to : p BUT it was REALLY nice to have a peaceful start to my day where I got to read my bible a little bit & eat my bowl of cereal : D

You start to know when your kids will wake up & 15 mins can go quick but give you those few mins to yourself that you may not get until nap time : p

4. Establish nap/quiet time

My mom told me, “Even if they don’t sleep, put them in their crib, give yourself an hour, this will help you soo much” & she was right. When my youngest fell asleep for his nap time, I put my older son in his crib as well. If he wasn’t tired I gave him a book & 2 toys. That boy LOVES his bed & would even ask to go to it in the middle of the day or when HE wants a break from his younger brother : D

But it was a HUGE boost for me to get through the rest of the day & a nice little break for everyone.

Do you have any tips for raising multiple children? What things would you add?

Free diapers with insurance/Medicaid

I am learning so much more about the benefits insurance companies can really
provide.
In a previous post I talked about getting a free breast pump & now I’m learning that insurance may even be able to help with diapers!
If you have a child who is allergic to disposable diapers, you can have your pediatrician write a prescription to your insurance company & get cloth diapers!!
Now I’m not sure which kind of diapers you get or can choose but still, if your kid needs them, every bit will help!

Also, if you have a child with special needs, insurance can send you diapers after a certain age. The age varies by state but the earliest I saw was age 3. Again, you’ll have to submit a prescription from your pediatrician. Some parents said their insurance required specific wording such as ‘required’ & even stating what your child’s need is. All details will probably vary with different insurances but for some children who will be in diapers longer it can be a financial help. You’re already paying into the insurances so why not get the full use of which they were put there.
I hope this helps some parents out there & be sure to pass the word along to anyone who could use it 🙂

We must stop these crazed half naked psychopaths from feeding their children in front of other people!

Breastfeeding; from a mans point of view

The Matt Walsh Blog

What the hell is wrong with us? We’ve made porn into a billion dollar industry, we put sex into everything from fast food advertisements to family TV shows, we allow our daughters to idolize teenage pop stars who dress like hookers and sing about fornication; we are a culture that is permissive, hyper sexual and overtly hedonistic, yet, in spite of all of this, BREASTFEEDING is somehow offensive to us. We suffer from a special brand of insanity, so unique that it needs its own name: Progressive Puritanism. For the most part we carry on like we’re living in Sodom or Gomorrah, but if someone goes really crazy and decides to feed their child in sight of other humans, all of the sudden we turn into Victorian prudes. It doesn’t make any sense.

In the last few days I’ve seen a few stories dealing with the “controversy” surrounding breastfeeding in…

View original post 585 more words

Free breast pump!? Uh, Yes please!!

Free breast pump? No it’s not a scam :-p
2 years ago, after having some nursing issues, I found myself searching for a decent breast pump. I settled on a Medela Pump in style which is a single pump. Fast forward to last weekend….I’m now on my second son & due to nursing issues (yet again, sigh)I am exclusively pumping & this pump is rapidly declining!

I begin the dreaded search for another pump when I come across a review. The lady in the review is talking about how her insurance covered 90% of the pump! With some of these pumps costing up to $300+ it was COMPLETELY worth looking into.

Sure enough, I call my insurance & they say they will cover a breast pump 100%!!!!!!!!

The thing is though, that you MUST order it through one of their medical companies that they work with. After the operator provided a list of companies I looked on their website to see which pumps they provided & researched them.

They are not cheap-no name brands either but well-known & quality pumps.

I found a pump that I LOVE (You can see the review here ) & it is DEFINITELY worth a call to your insurance company, no matter what type it is.