Time for Bed?

Miss S attends a local preschool from Monday thru Thursday each week. She begins at 9 and I pick her up at 3. They do "school stuff" in the morning, have lunch, playtime and afterwards...they sleep.

When S first started this school back in September she would despise the nap times and lie on her "cot" pretending to be asleep.

All was good. Now, she actually sleeps and it's awful. The dreaded naps have turned our bedtimes into more hours of silent play, getting out of bed for every excuse out there and late nights.

S doesn't want to sleep nor do I think that she can after a long comfy nap at school.

It's a vicious cycle. She stays up late, is tired the next day, needs a nap at school and therefore isn't tired at the normal bedtime.

What do we do?

J

Need to Catch up

I cannot figure out why my blogging time has been cut down so much. I've been home for a couple of months now and it seems that I'm busier now than when I was working full-time. Why is that?

For the past several weeks I have been preparing to participate in the Baby & Toddler Expo which was held last weekend. We spent some time writing new brochures, gathering volunteers and ordering give-aways for the children. The event was successfull in that we met many parents, parents -to -be who still were not aware of the dangers of furniture tip-over. Most were very receptive to our mission and I feel that for those who were learning about this type of danger for the first time, they were taking our warnings to heart.

Some people had heard about us at one time or another and thanked us for what we were doing. One mom cried with me, for my little girl and for her children who remained safe.

I think I can say that as compared to our first shows 4 years ago, more people were aware of the danger and their furniture was secured. This makes me feel good.

Now, for the rest???? Maybe if the pediatricians would come on board and start mentioning furniture tip-over during well-baby, well-child visits...then perhaps more parents would be aware.

Did you all know that over 42,000 people were injured in 2006 from furniture tip-over? 42,000!!! That's an extreme amount. 16 people yearly die as a result of falling furniture. Out of the 180 deaths from 2000 to 2006...80% were to children. PEDIATRCIANS Where are you?

Sorry for the rant.

A few pictures from the event.

A Long Time

It has been a very long, long time since I have last written and boy do I feel guilty. Life has been very busy and it's all good.

We are enjoying the nice weather and anticipating the coming of Spring. The boys are getting back into the swing of baseball and S is continuing karate twice a week. We decided to enroll her in karate to help her attention/focusing and to make her use her right arm. I have seen such a big improvement since she first started and I am very proud of her.

The boys are now playing for East Abington Little League on two different teams so our Spring will be filled with practices and games.

The Katie Elise Lambert Foundation will be participating in the http://www.babyandtoddlerexpo.net/index.shtml on April 18th anf 19th. I have been working with a graphic artist on an updated butterfly logo, creating new brochures, thinking about Monarch butterflies in the summer and another safety fair in 2010. Lots to think about...lots to do. Life is good.

I will definitly post more as time permits...but for now, I will post a few pictures.

Until the next time,

J

VALLEY FORGE PARK

These are just a few miscellaneous photos taken at Valley Forge National Park yesterday afternoon. The kids had a good time and E took many pictures of the herd of deer that we found. I tried to post the best pictures but sometimes it's hard to see which pictures on blogger when trying to upload.

Enjoy.

J

S's PARTY

S's birthday party was held last weekend at our home. I began to worry about how to enetertain 10 five year olds so I decided to hire CHIPPY THE CLOWN. She was awesome and did a fantastic job with the kids. They did a short craft then she had them dancing, singing hopping and then did some magic. She was well worth the money considering that it was 17 kids here along with parents and not the original 10.

I have not been posting much lately and I am feeling a tad bit guilty although I see most of you on FB each day which is great. I think I'm becoming one of those FB addicts and although I try to limit my time there to just a few minutes I still find myself logging on several times a day checkin status updates. UGH! Last year I was addicted to RumorQueen and now it's Facebook. Is there any help out there for this addiction?

I am presently looking for a part-time job somewhere out there...(are there any) in which I might be able to use my nursing knowledge. Not patient care but perhaps continuing chart reviews as I had been doing. Part-time is perfect as it will still allow me to be home with the kids often. I am finding that homework has increased tremendously this year for the boys and even though most of the day to day homework is done independently, the projects are complicated enough where a parents guidance and supervision is needed. The job at Maximus was 25 miles too far.

My photography class continues to be a lot of fun and I'm disappointed that we are off tomorrow due to President's Day. I have been spending some time traveling to parks and out my front door snapping pictures and hoping for a good turn out. I've downloaded hundreds of pictures, our most recent ones from Valley Forge National Park taken yesterday. I will upload them later in it's on post.

Everyone has been healthy, knock on wood, and the kids are well. Even though the now can be beautiful, if and when we see it, we are all looking forward to the start of Spring and hanging outdoors. Yesterday was a good day as the Philadelphia Phillies pitchers and catchers were to meet in Clearwater, FL. Yes, Spring can't come soon enough.

Until the next time,
J

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today I was able to celebrate a wonderful gift which was given to me by a woman with whom I will never know. Somewhere, on the other side of the earth in a country called China, an unknown woman is grieving for one of life's greatest losses, greatest devastation's, biggest tragedies. This loss... is the loss of one's child. Five years ago today a woman gave birth to a beautiful, precious little girl, perhaps not realizing the events which were to unfold. I often wonder about this courageous woman who shares a bond so deep with me that words cannot describe; Is she old?...does she have other children?... is she very young?....Is she married...or is she very poor?... does she live in fear of a "one-child-policy?...These things I will never, ever know about her. What I do realize, is what she has done takes more courage than I will ever have gained in my entire lifetime. Her actions have given me one of life's greatest treasures....a child. My daughter, S. My precious daughter, S, will always know that she has the gift of two mommys...one who gave her life...one who gives her a chance... To S's birth mommy in China, " thank you, thank you, thank you."

J

Fun in the SNOW

Several days ago we had a very small snowfall which the kids enjoyed to the max. We live on a hill and even though there was maybe only 2 inches of snow outside the kids found their sleds and our driveway became a wonderful sledding mountain.
I was able to capture several pictures of the fun.

On another note, I contacted the school district today just to make sure that S's China paperwork would be sufficient for her kindergarten registration in two weeks and to my surprise...NO, it wouldn't. I either need a U.S. birth certificate or U.S. passport and of course, I have neither. We did not readopt S on U.S. soil, as we did not think it was absolutely necessary.
Now we need to attempt to get a passport for her....ASAP. Great..but it is what it is.

Until the next time,
J