There was a time several years ago where I was an independent business woman… and a stay at home mom.

I sold kitchen products. I sold lots of kitchen products. I very much enjoyed what I did. I began selling the kitchen tools because I was absolutely head over heels for them. I wasn’t a good salesperson. I was simply very good at sharing my excitement about the products and that is what sold them.

I only left home one or two nights a week to do cooking demonstrations and I got to bring home a few hundred dollars a month to help out with household expenses. I got to do some things I love: cook, develop relationships, share great tips and products, and make money. Why did I quit? I had another baby (Brennan) and I could not bare to leave him even if it was only for a few hours. We won’t mention the cost of gas to get to and from those parties. But still, it is something I have missed.

Then recently I received an email from someone offering me a similar but better opportunity. What convinced me to accept?  I don’t ever have to leave my Ian!

I simply invite you to my home online. On occasion I will share my excitement about a certain product. You can add your thoughts and open the door for additional communication. It will be our own little party. What I like even more about this party is that we are not limited to just kitchen tools or scrapbook products. The range of choices will be just as eclectic as I am. If you want to buy a product then of course, I welcome you too and I thank you in advance. My goal is that the money I make will go toward extracurricular things for the kids. I am going to try especially hard to earn enough to take Gevan to the Little People of America Conference every year.

If you don’t want to buy anything then don’t. It’s no big deal. Some people don’t like it and that is fine. I used to oppose it myself until I realized that I am not forcing anything on anyone and if someone does like a product that I am excited about and share with them, then it helps my family and they get a great product. We both win.

I also realized how much I am helping others, the store owners, to support their family simply by sharing the products that I love and would probably recommend anyway. Which reminds me, if you have a store front and would like to put it in front of thousands of blog readers every day then you can become a supplier on Open Sky too. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s worth it.

I’m hoping to get some Cajun storefronts to join in.

Want to join me on the OpenSky team? Apply here to open your own shop. Do you have a storefront and want to expand your audience? Go ahead and apply to be an OpenSky supplier.

My promise is that I will never recommend something that I don’t love and would not purchase myself.

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Ian is just not cooperating. I don’t know if he is spoiled or what could be going on. The doctor says he is normal but I have never had a baby act like this before.

For the last 2-3 weeks he is only happy when he is sleeping, eating, when someone is holding him up on the shoulder while walking or if he is in the stroller or car. That’s it. Otherwise he is crying. He stops crying the moment you pick him up. Then the moment you try to sit down he starts screaming again. I don’t have time to do anything and both Ryan’s and my back (& legs) have been in pain for almost two weeks from the constant walking – Ian is getting heavy. It is taking a tole on us after almost three non-stop weeks of this. I am only writing this now because Jacob is holding him and pacing. I really don’t know what I’d do without Ryan and Jacob. They are such a big help with Ian.

He doesn’t like his swing, bouncy chair, sling (he must be on the shoulder while being held), or the scoot scoot (walker). All he wants is to be held and walked.

Anyone else experience this? What did you do?

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“Input. Need more input.”

Does anybody remember what movie that is from?

The input I need is in regards to my little string of webisodes. You know the ones where I sport bad hair and cook in my retro kitchen? Those.

And I did get a haircut finally, thankyouverymuch.

I’m just not liking the name I originally picked. I’ve been watching the Next Food Network Star (go Herb! go Aarti!) and I like to play along and well that has posed a problem. You see, when Herb was being drilled about Cuban food and why he was avoiding his very obvious area of expertise I had to pretend that the judges were talking to me and I felt ashamed. Not because I was pretending that they were talking to me but because I too have avoided my obvious niche.

I make Cajun food of today. It has nothing to do with being retro even though my kitchen does. I think I got my intro for my webisodes right. It is the title that is wrong. I think.

So I’m really thinking of changing it. I know which one I like but I’d like your opinion.

Here is what I do:

I take classic Cajun recipes and make them healthier than my mama and her mama made them. I put twists on the old favorites. I also continue with the tradition of my people by taking the cuisine of other countries and giving it some Cajun flair. My tag line will remain, “this ain’t ya mama’s kitchen.”

Here are the names I thought of:

1. Today’s Cajun Kitchen
2. Cajun Inspired
3. Rustic & Robust Cajun Cuisine

Now let’s pretend that you are Bobby Flay. Which do you like best? Do you have a better idea? Let me know! I have a new video and I want to get the name decided on before I publish it.

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When we went to Nashville for the conference one of the things we were  hoping to do was get a definitive diagnosis. Gevan’s doctors here have been slow to confirm Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia because he does not have one of the more common issues associated with it: the immune deficiency.  The awesome thing, okay just one of the awesome things, about this conference is that you get to meet doctors of all kinds who specialize in skeletal dysplasias. Gevan had four appointments: geneticist, genetic counselor, orthopedist, and a nutritionist. But, wouldn’ t you know, we seemed to get confirmation after confirmation that Gevan does have CHH from other little people and that was just on the first night.

On that first night I met a lady named Ms. Lee who also has CHH. She picked Gevan out of the crowd during the newcomers luncheon. She knew he had CHH. Then I heard her talk and she had an accent that was a dead giveaway as to where she was from: Ms. Lee is a Cajun. In fact, she lives just an hour or so away from us. Ms. Lee is a real go getter. She had a running list of all of the CHH diagnosed little people and was ready to connect me to each and every one. I was so thankful for that. She is one amazing lady! What shocked me though is the number of little people here in southern Louisiana who have Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia. This condition is supposed to be rare outside of Amish and Finnish populations but it isn’t all that rare around here. I now know at least 11 people from south LA who have this condition. That is enough to suspect that we had a Finnish or Amish ancestor who introduced it to our people. On about day three we got to attend a workshop specifically for Cartilage-Hair Hypoplasia and I asked the geneticist about the number of CHH diagnosis’ here in south LA and she said she had suspected that for a while and that some genealogical research may be in order.

All of these photos were taken by Gevan from inside the car. I didn’t even know he was snapping away. He is quite the photographer!

In any case, no matter where it came from, during our doctor visits we learned that since Gevan has not displayed any of the immune problems then it is not likely that he ever will. I cannot tell you what a relief that is for us. I have always had this fear that he would develop these problems later on. It is so good to know that he probably won’t.

On another note, he won’t ever grow more hair either.

I think that bothers him more than anything. The fine, sparse hair that he does have is barely noticeable from far away. Ms. Lee did tell me about a place in New Orleans that can perform a procedure to give him replacement hair but it is a costly procedure. I mean, they offer $500 off coupons if you know what I mean. *sigh*

But that is okay. My baby is healthy. And he is growing up.

We did discover that the issues with his elbow (they have been causing pain for some time now) may require surgery. We will have to take a trip to Maryland to the John Hopkins hospital to take care of it. We’ll be planning that sometime in the future.

Other than that he does have the stomach issues associated with CHH – I think. I say that because I have the same issues so I’m not sure if it is CHH related or not. It could be a bit of both. Stomach problems tend to be prevelent in our family.

I learned so much while we were there. I am so grateful that we were able to go. We now have a wonderful circle of support and answers that we didn’t have just three months ago.

I also learned a lot from Gevan. I used to hardly ever blog or write about his condition because I have always felt that certain things were his story to tell, not mine. That all changed at the conference. There, he overheard me speaking to lots of parents about how we wished there were more websites or resources devoted to parents of little people, especially average sized parents of little people just because we don’t know what it’s like and we can learn so much from each other. So after hearing about it a few times from a  few people Gevan comes to me and says, “Mom, you make websites. Why can’t you do one about raising little people?”

Great idea but I was still worried about sharing “his” story so I talked to him about it. My thirteen year old reassured me that this was “our” story and not just his and that if I could help another parent of a little person be a great mommy like me (his words) then I should.

I’m so proud of him.

Then he also decided that we should let other kids take part in a project that we had started. It’s called, “The Way I See It” and it consists of photographs taken by Gevan to show the family and others exactly how the world looks through his eyes. So we added that feature to the site. I’m just hoping that now we can get some other parents to participate with the site by contributing. Gevan hopes to get some more little people involved by taking pictures. Below is one of the photos he took and here is the site we created: Raising Little People. It is far from done but please let us know what you think!

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Yesterday we had a wee sick baby. He cried all day and so finally by two o’clock I called Ryan at work to let him know I was bringing Ian to the doctor. It turns out he only had a stomach bug. *phew* Anyways, here is how the rest of our Little People of America conference trip in Nashville went.

In case you missed it, you can check out the first post here: 2010 Little People of American Conference Nashville or Bust!

One of the things we got to do while we were there was attend Mrs. Marples Mystery Theatre. It was hilarious and the kids loved it. The got to meet Elvis Parsley, Lady GooGoo, Barely Manilow, Dolly Darton, and Morticia Adams’ cousin. for real.

Put your CSI hats on boys…

Who done it?

She done it.

Of course what kind of trip would it be if we didn’t go sight seeing dowtown?

silly boys…

This is their absolute most favorite shirts in the whole wide world. I think they would have worn them every day had I let them. I take that back, I know they would have.

Gevan says, “I found the real Woody!”

Gevan taking a picture of Grandma’s picture!

The gang’s all here!

Oh my. Is it really time to go? Peace, peeps.

And I got to look at this the whole way home. Hey, I’m not complaining!

Next post: What we found out about Gevan’s condition and his new little project.

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Last year Gevan was blessed to get a full paid scholarship to the LPA conference (Thank you, thank you, thank you!). He has wanted this for so long. We were all so excited to finally be able to go. We registered as soon as we were able and I do believe Gevan packed a couple of weeks in advance.   And yes, I made sure I checked, double-checked, and rechecked Brennan’s suitcase so that we would not have a repeat of past trips.

The SUV was loaded and we weren’t even out of Baton Rouge when I began to hear this:

“Mom! He is touching me with a Triscuit!”

Really? I mean c’mon boys. We have nine hours to go!

We stopped several time to feed Ian and to get snacks and coffee. Between Grandma Bayliss and I we must have drank 3 pots of coffee. Yes, we woke up that early.

We finally got to Tennessee, checked into our hotel, and tried like crazy to get some sleep. That was hard. The next day would be like Christmas. The anticipation was numbing. I wasn’t sure how Gevan would react or feel. I wasn’t sure I was ready to learn more about his condition – if it meant that it was something I didn’t want to hear. And this last fear may sound a bit ridiculous but I was afraid of him growing up; afraid of him not needing me.  He had been all ours for years and now he is going to meet a group of people who will love and accept him just like we do. We would have to share him. That really scared me.

That fear was short lived.

Once we walked into that building and Gevan looked around I saw something that made my heart melt. My baby was glowing from top to bottom. He could not stop himself from smiling. He stood there, blocking the entrance, trying to take it all in. I had to push him forward so he didn’t get run over by a stroller that was about to zoom by. He had found comfort. There were no stares, whispers, or pointing. Well, except for the little girl who pointed and said, “That boy is fine!” (Yes, I will have a chat with her mama just as soon as I figure out who she is. *smiles*)

Gevan ate it up.

Then, as if it could not get any better, when we were going to check in guess who got in line RIGHT BEHIND US! Mr. Roloff himself. I thought I would have to pick Gevan up off of the floor. He kept pulling on my shirt and grinning ear to ear. I wanted so bad to have a chat with him and get a picture but he was being mobbed. Person after person came up to him until finally we had to go check in. He did notice Gevan’s joy a few times but we weren’t able to get to him for a chat. I WISH we would have but I didn’t want to be rude and jump in front of others or anything like that. I just hoped we’d get to see him later.

After we got our itinerary and passes, we took a seat in the diner to formulate a plan. And low and behold who walks in… no not a Roloff but Martin Klebba. Gevan thinks he is the coolest! He played in Pirates of the Carribean. Then, while we were walking across the hotel to our first event we saw Amy, Molly, and Jacob Roloff! They were too far away to make contact and we had to get to our meeting so we just smiled as we walked past.

While we were in the newcomer’s reception my mom-in-love stepped out to feed Ian and she runs into The Little Chocolatiers. We were pretty much star struck on the first day. My only regret about the whole trip is that each time after that when we saw them we either didn’t have a camera or didn’t have time to stop. I wish Gevan would have had the opportunity to actually talk to them. He adores them all.

There was no where to stand to get a good photo of everyone so I used the escalator. Of course, that meant that it would be blurry but I actually like the way it looks.

Gevan was already making friends by the end of the first day. During an icebreaker exercise he got to go around and meet and greet. They wrote their names down for each other so they could be found on Facebook. Oh the wonder of technology!

We got to meet some amazing little people, like Ms. Lee, who has the same condition as Gevan. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I was also able to meet lots of other moms & dads and chat with them.

Gevan had a teen ice cream social to attend. After they got their ice cream they could retreat to the teen room for fun and games on the XBox, Wii, and Playstation. I could not get him to go in the room. I finally had a chat with him and that is when I realized something. He said, “Mom, no one wants to talk to me.”

You see at home people flock to Gevan because he is different. Once they are drawn in then they tend to stay because of his great personality. Gevan has never had to work a day in his life at making friends… except here. Here, everyone is just like him. He doesn’t stand out. He had to actually make an effort to meet people.

And he finally did… inch by inch he walked into the room. I kept going back and forth checking on him and finally he looked at me and was like, “Mom! Quit hovering over me!”

Oh my. Yes, he did. I went back to sit down and I almost cried. My baby is growing up, y’all..

But, I couldn’t help myself. I had to go back and take one more picture.

I finally resigned myself to sitting on the bench with Ryan and taking pics of the child who isn’t old enough to tell me no yet. Then we actually left Gevan alone and went to get more coffee. He didn’t even miss me. *sigh*

There is so much more but I’ll post again tomorrow. I have a little one who is requiring my attention as well as some other work to do. More to come!

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That’s right. I played a trick on some of you. Not a mean trick but a trick nonetheless.

We have been gone since last week. I scheduled all of my posts ahead of time so that crazy local internet stalkers who might rob our house or try to kidnap us no one would know we were gone. But we are home now and we are safe. No one robbed our house either, probably because we took almost everything with us on a 9.5 hour trip in a cramped SUV but I’ll refrain from venting. *gasp*

just.breathe.amy.

Okay, back to the matter at hand. Here is where we were:

Yes! Gevan attended his first ever Little People of America Conference. I have so many pictures and so many experiences to share about our trip but I’ll post that next week. I need some time to recuperate; rest; unpack all umpteen suitcases that we brought.

In the meantime you can check out this article (LPA Conference Comes to Nashville) to learn more about LPA and our gathering in Nashville. Watch the video below too. We got to meet pretty Ms. Allie Messier on the first night we were there and she is just precious. I secretly prayed that she was younger than I thought (she is a very charming, mature, & intelligient young lady) so that I could talk to her parents and perhaps go back to the good old days of arranged marriages. Oh, I kid. (not really)

…and yes we did get to mingle with famous peeps and got lots of answers about Gevan’s condition. I’ll tell you all about it!

While I was gone I posted this: Some Really Good Yard Sale Finds. I mentioned that I would do a series of posts on how I sell things on eBay for profit. Is this something you are interested in? Let me know, k?

Oh! I almost forgot. I got a hat tip on Home Ec 101 because of a comment I left on Jo-Lynne’s blog!  Go over and try the dry roux method. It is such a time/waist saver but don’t worry because you don’t sacrifice any of the “yum” factor!

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The other day when I was picking up clothes I walked out of the room for all of five minutes and left Ian in his bouncy chair. By all accounts he should have been fine. The dog was outside and the younger kids were in the garage playing. Gevan was on the sofa watching TV. He is 13. That should make him responsible, shouldn’t it?

Well, when mama walked out of the room, this child who is “too old” for cartoons began to “vroom vroom” his little brother around the house while he was in his bouncy seat. Ian just enjoyed the ride.

I walked out of the room and saw what was going on and I was a bit shocked for a second (you know how you are with your new babies and all) so I sort of yelled like, “what are you doing?” That is when he looked up at me and ran Ian into the wall.

mmm hmmm. Yes, he did.

He looks up and laughs. Then he gets all serious and says, “Uh oh! Time to call OnStar!”

Because he has experience with them and all.

Ian just smiled. I think he liked it. He quit smiling when I made Gevan stop.

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Yeah, so I definitely gained some weight during my pregnancy. I have about 40 lbs to lose. I lost a good bit right after Ian was born but then I just stopped. I think being up most of the night with Ian and having to eat at midnight is a big problem. I wish I could get him on some kind of schedule but I know that will come with time. He just still likes eating every 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

I had no problem losing weight after my other boys. I am finding it difficult now especially since I had a C-section. Okay, and the fact that I am a bit older. I’m really going to have to work at it this time. I just don’t know how to lose the weight after this baby. I mean, I know how but it seems that it is taking so much more effort.

Can I tell you that I’m still wearing my maternity clothes?

Encourage me, mmm kay?

I must say though that I can think of lots and lots of ways to get rid of the muffin top when I am awake at 1 am. The problem is getting off my behind and exercising. So far the most I am able to do (for lack of energy) is go walking a few times a week. I must say that I do enjoy it. I just have to make myself do it. The family likes it too!

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This was by far my best garage sale deal over the last couple of months. I scored 2 large boxes full of like new AND some new with tags Gymboree clothes for a little girl – size 2t, 4, and 6. You might be thinking, “but Amy you don’t have any girls” and you would be right but I don’t intend to keep these. No, ma’am. I am going to sell them on eBay.

I paid $20 for all of these clothes and I know (from experience) that I can turn around and sell them for about 10 times as much. I’ll walk you through the whole process in a series of upcoming posts. Then you can watch my auction live just to see the potential here. I also have a large box full of Ian’s clothes to sell – all brand names – because I get them cheaper than Wally World prices and the clothes last much longer. This is how I keep my kids in great designer clothes. There are other tricks too.

I also got these items:

I am in the mood to redecorate my house so these will come in handy. The pillar in the back was actually free since it was on the side of the road. I didn’t pay anything for it.  I’ll show you what I do with them once I get things going. Then the eclecticness of my choices will make more sense. I only spent $45 total on this stuff (clothes: $20, chair: $15, rest: $10). That is not bad for two and a half hours of shopping and I am going to make a profit on the stuff!

Did you recently find anything good at a yard sale? Share!

Check this out:  Where to purchase items to sell on eBay

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