Apron Giveaway

I LOVE aprons, I just bought a bunch of patterns to make aprons for both Addy and myself. I found a great Apron Giveaway over at The Apronista. If you win, we'll have to do a time share agreement, I get it one month, you get it the next, it's only fair since I sent you there! My favorite part about these aprons... they are built for us larger ladies! YEAH!

Giveaway you won't want to miss!

I stumbled upon a blogger, named Michelle who writes a blog called Getting Unstuck. Her latest post is a giveaway post. A friend of hers has offered to take her on a girl's vacation to celebrate her 40th birthday. She's looking for suggestions of where to take this vacation. Make a suggestion in the comments section of her blog and you'll be entered to win a necklace from Cookie Lee Jewelry! I figured this tied in to my recent post about planning a getaway so this was a great tie in. So, check it out, there are two ways to win!

Guest Posting - Pre-eclampsia

Today you'll find my post over at Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles. My friend Jessica (aka JessieLeigh) asked me to write about my experience with pre-eclampsia, which was the reason our daughter, Addyson, was born 15 weeks too early. Check out MY STORY in it's entirety and don't be a stranger... poke around to see what else JessieLeigh writes about. I find her posts filled with informative details and a passion for parenting... and not just the tiniest of miracles!

works-for-me wednesday

For those loyal readers, I first want to apologize for being absent from blogging the last few weeks. I'd love to say it was because I was on some wonderful vacation with my family, but that's just not the case. We've been dealing with some ongoing health issues with my daughter, Addyson (nothing too serious, the the typical feeding issues and LOTS of vomiting... TMI!). And now on to the good stuff...

What's a better cure for the daily burn out than a weekend getaway with the hubby?! Since Addy was born in April 2007, Nick and I haven't really had much time to ourselves. And, that used to be OUR THING. We used to get away for a weekend at least 3 times a year. It's the time we would reconnect and replenish. We never traveled far, staying in Indiana. The lodge at Brown County State Park, tent camping in the heart of covered bridge country, a Bed & Breakfast in Southern Indiana, a cabin at a small campground, we found ourselves immersed in the local atmosphere, exploring the wilderness, and reliving history at the historical sites. I miss that time we had together and our relationship could use a good dose of rekindling. So, drum roll please.....

This upcoming Saturday morning, we are heading out on our first back pack camping adventure! We've always been tent camping kind of people, but it's always been at a campground... a fire pit at each site, outhouses or bath houses nearby, you know the kind. Pull up in your car, park, and unload your trunk. Hop in the car to go sight seeing around town or to run to the gas station for a bag of ice. This time is different. We are camping on private property owned by a friend of Nick's. There is a huge wooded area with a pond. We'll park at his house, load up our backpacks, and hike to the opposite end of the property to set up a campsite. We're trying to go as rustic as we are comfortable with. Obviously, we won't be miles and miles away from civilization, but I think it's a great way to prepare ourselves for future back pack camping adventures. Here's the hitch... according to the most recent weather.com forecast, Saturday we will see a high of 39 and a low of 24. That's pretty darn cold to be tent camping. Last year, we were able to get away for a camping night and it was pretty cold, but I don't think it was that cold.

I've been busy planning the trip, which has kept my mind off of dealing with the day in and day out crud. I've gotten our meals planned, our gear organized, and our warm clothes purchased and washed. New hiking boots were on my list and I was finally able to get some tonight. A bit more than I'm used to spending on shoes, especially since they are not everyday type shoes, but I hope to do a lot more hiking and camping in the future, so I think it's a good investment. I just need to figure out the best way to carry and keep clean water for the trip without it freezing. Nick thinks we may need to get a tent heater, just in case. I'm well prepared and don't think it's necessary, but we'll see. We plan on wearing layers of the proper clothing and our sleeping bags are really top notch and built for this kind of thing.

I'm looking forward to enjoying nature, my husband, peace and quiet, and trail mix! A toasty fire and a night under the stars works for me. I'd love to know what your ideal getaway with your significant other is, as we are always looking for new travel destinations. Share in the comments below, then read what works for other bloggers over at works-for-me wednesday hosted by RocksInMyDryer.

Prematurity Awareness Day

November is Prematurity Awareness Day and November 12th is Prematurity Awareness Day. The local Indianapolis chapter of the March of Dimes is having a Candlelight Vigil tonight and a Preemie Roll Call. The city is dyeing the canal purple and there are purple ribbons tied around trees downtown. See what else is happening here or visit this link and enter your zip code to find out what's happening in your area.

Addy Update

Addy's next test (Gastric Emptying Test) is scheduled for November 24th. We'll hope that it leads us to the answer for Addy's constant vomiting. I was cleaning up Addy vomit twice yesterday and once this morning at 6:30. I hate to see her getting sick like this. I mean, really. The poor girl has been vomiting almost every day of her 18+ months!

We are STILL waiting to hear about the synagis shots that Addy should be getting. I spoke with nurse Collette today. She sent the paperwork in to the insurance company on Oct 29th (You'd think it would have been done sooner, since RSV season is Nov-March 31st this year!). She said she'd call to let us know as soon as she finds something out.

We kept our insurance through COBRA even though it costs $700 a month for Addy and I because it was her only chance to qualify for the synagis. Our other option would be to be put on Nick's insurance ($550/month) but synagis is NOT covered by his insurance. Since the shots are about $1000 each and she should get 5 over the RSV season, we figured we'd stay on the COBRA insurance until after RSV season. If her insurance company says she doesn't qualify this year, I'm going to be really upset! Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

EDITED TO ADD: Collette called to say Addy has been approved for synagis. We should be getting a call this week to schedule her first shot!

The good news... Addy's physical therapist through First Steps visited Addy this week and said that Addy is doing so well, she doesn't need physical therapy anymore! Renee will visit us one more time to see if we have any concerns before she does the release paperwork. It's a great step for Addyson. Of course, Addy will still get her Occupational Therapy that works on fine motor skills and feeding skills. We are in the process of adding a Dietitian and a Psychologist to the mix too, so we can give Addy all the tools she needs to feel better about eating. Of course, who wants to eat when you're vomiting all the time, so we really need to get that vomiting thing under control before we can expect to see any progress in the eating.

I'd love to hear from other families who are going through DGE or motility issues as well as oral aversion. Any info or suggestions help.

Huggies Coupon Winner

And the winner is...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2008-11-07 19:22:38 UTC

Congratulations Jennifer. I will be emailing you for your mailing address.

I'll try to do more of these, as it seems to be an easy way to brighten someone's day!

Thanks for playing along.

Giveaway of my own.

Contest is now Closed. See next post for winner.

Well, with all the Giveaway love going on around the bloggy world, I just couldn't be left out. I don't have much to give, but I'm sure with all the frugal mommies out there, someone could use these.

I have two (2) coupons sent to me by Huggies for $1.50 Off any package of HUGGIES Diapers (expires 02/02/2009). By combining these with sales and such, I'm sure a Huggies user could find these useful.

So, all you need to do is post a comment (if your name isn't clickable, please leave your email address so I can contact you.) I will randomly choose a winner the afternoon of Friday, November 7th post the winner, and will contact the winner for their address. I will mail these coupons out on Saturday morning.

I'd love to link this giveaway with the electronic signing of the March of Dimes Petition for Preemies button located in the right column of my blog, but since I have no way to track it, please just promise you'll check it out and sign it if you think it's important.

Back to our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I have chosen NOT to blog about politics, like many other mom's whose blogs I read. However, I will say that YES, I voted. And YES, I am glad the campaigning and elections are over. Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Besides, our house is divided, so we don't discuss politics at home either... it works for us.

Org Junkie's Monthly Organizing Round-Up

Well, I have to admit that I am not as organized as I used to be or want to be. I go through nesting phases where I have to stop everything and reorganize a closet or a room. There are many places in my house that could use a good clean sweep.

You may recognize the mention of the blog I'm an Organizing Junkie. I participate in her Menu Plan Monday on occasion and have recently been interested in another blog idea she hosts. It's called Org Junkie's Monthly Organizing Round-Up.

Each month, she calls out a particular space in the home. Participants usually take before and after photos of the space that they are organizing. Many times, she offers a giveaway to a winner. Last month, participants were asked to organize their craft/sewing rooms or spaces. I didn't participate, but was motivated by the before and after photos.

So, for the month of November, Org Junkie has announced that the Laundry Room will be the space of choice. This couldn't be a more perfect place for me to begin this Round-Up. You see, I don't mind doing laundry, but I hate putting it away, so I have a basket on top of the dryer that all the clean clothes have been going into and I pull stuff from it when I need them. This weekend, I pulled a sweater from the basket that had been there since last spring when I stopped wearing warm sweaters. I got a spider bite from a little spider that was hiding in the sweater, so I decided to rewash all the clothes in that basket, just in case! I keep all the extra cleaning supplies, paper products, lightbulbs, and other types of junk in the laundry room and I haven't reorganized since we moved in about 5 years ago... it's desperate!

You can join me and others by playing along with the Laundry edition of Org Junkie's Monthly Organizing Round-Up.

Want to win something great?

This morning, I found two unique giveaways that I thought you might be interested in.

The first one is from Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles. She has been given the opportunity to share Basket of Indulgence gift baskets with her readers and is giving away one each week. Visit her blog to enter this giveaway and to learn more about the wonderful miracles we call micro-preemies. I won a pumpkin book from Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles just last week!

The second one is from Extreme House Wifeing. She is giving away a vintage Culinary Arts Institute encyclopedic cookbook from 1962. There are three ways to enter her giveaway, so be sure to visit her Etsy store, leave a comment, sign up for her newsletter, and post about the giveaway on your own blog.

I encourage you to visit these blogs... come on, branch out. IT'S TIME FOR CHANGE!

Smile

This photo was taken when Addy was only 2 months old (photo dated June 29th). I'm sharing this in response to the My Story Monday post over at Parenting the Tiniest of Miracles. She didn't ask for a response, but I loved her photo of "C" so I thought I'd share one of my favorites of Addy on the c-pap machine too. This little machine makes her look like a little elephant with that long nose tube.

Trick or Treating with a GIRAFFE