Little Right Leg

missing seven!

2012-09-04T09:22:00.002-07:00

Rory very good at counting. She has been counting for some time, and can count up to 14. We try to count as much as possible, weather it is bagging peaches at the grocery store or counting animal crackers before we eat them. The only problem with Rory and counting, the number 7.

Counting her cereal!

Rory always forgets to add the number 7! She goest straight from 6 to 8 and doesn’t look back! Even when we do her number puzzles, she turns the 7 upside down and calls it an “L” and will then proceed in singing her ABC’s. We are now trying to add a 7 into everything. She is such a funny girl!

custom made book!

2012-07-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know my love for custom-made things for Rory. I love making everything from cups, to plates, to books. I love making Rory books because I get to create stories and put pictures of her family in it, and Rory loves reading books! A few of her favorites include: Rory’s ABC’s and Go Shanny Go (made by my sister)! It is so much fun to see her face as she sees pictures of herself, of me, daddy, and her aunts and cousins.

Many of you also know my love for bargains! I found one today for a custom made book. It is through the company SNAPFISH; www.snapfish.com It is for a 5*7 softcover photo book for free, all you have to pay is shipping and handling, which is $1.99!

This is an amazing deal! Whenever it is time to check out, add the promo code HPREWARD and all you have to pay is $1.99 for shipping! I'm already making a book right now, Im going through all my pictures and thinking of fun stories! I hope you enjoy making these books. If you have any problems feel free to send me an e-mail and I'll be more than happy to help you. Time to get creative!

Modifying playgrounds for Rory!

2012-06-26T13:06:00.001-07:00

One thing I never want to take away from Rory is being a wild and crazy toddler. I want her to be adventurous: run around, get dirty, be crazy, and have fun like most other toddlers her age. The only problem is the 6 centimeter lift on her shoe sometimes makes things difficult for her (and for me).

Although Rory does not let the shoe hold her back, it causes me reticence. The shoe is so tall that it often causes falls, bruises, scrapes, bumps, and other catastrophes. I find my stomach sinking in my belly every time I see her take off in a sprint or jump around the house. The realization has set in that I can't keep her in my own little bubble for the rest of my life. Rather than accept the bumps and bruises I have found myself modifying every day activities so that she can still enjoy herself, but just a bit safer.

Playgrounds are a big part of our weekly, if not daily, routine. Rory loves them and there is no keeping her from climbing up and down and jumping all around the equipment. When she was younger we would just hold hands the whole time on the playground, I would do everything she did, but now that she is getting older she wants to be independent and do things on her own. I have to find ways that allow her to feel independent but also still protect her from injury.

Playground Obstacle #1-

Many of the new playgrounds have wonderful astroturf that is almost bouncy when you walk on it- which is really great to have when you have a sprinting toddler! Most of the older parks have wood chips, sand or sticks which is really hard for her to walk in. Whenever we encounter rough playground terrains I make sure that I walk everywhere with Rory so that if she does fall, I am right there to catch her.

With Rory’s new “independent” stage, somedays she doesn’t want to hold hands and walk. To avoid the upcoming fall, I will pretend to “walk” race her or “baby step” race her. This way she isn’t running, she feels like she is still independent, and mommy is still within reach to catch her falling beauty and avoid injury.

Playground Obstacle #2

When she first attempted going down a slide, we quickly learned that her shoe created an issue. The shoe often will catch on the slide and she will fall forward hitting her head on the slide. Because of this, we have taught her to go down the slide on her tummy, just a little modification, but helps minimize injury.

Minimize injury is the key phrase.

Now that Rory is older, she notices older children going down slides in the sitting position, and in turn, wants to do so herself. She attempted this the other day and fell, hard. Although I am always waiting for her at the bottom of the slide, this was a big slide, and it left a big welt on her head. So now we opt for playgrounds with small slides to mitigate seated side slip-ups. Many playgrounds we go to have two slides together so that Rory and I can go down the slides at the same time, that way if she falls I am right next to her to get her!

Playground Obstacle #3

Climbing is another issue we have. Many of the playgrounds have little square holes cut out that kids can climb up to get to the big playground equipment. These don't seem to work well with the shoes- Rory’s shoes are just too big to fit in them. Rory is so determined to go up the obstacles she will do it with our without her shoe. When she does attempt to go up these, I stay behind and cheer for her. Little does she know my hands are right underneath that little body and often times my hand will act as a hole for her foot to push off of.

In a nut shell, playgrounds are hard for us, but Rory loves them. For all you special needs mothers out there, try to find ways to give your child “independence” while still maintaining peace of mind

Happy Father's Day!

2012-06-18T09:37:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day! I think that Mother's Day and Father's Day is always such a great time to thank and appreciate how extremely difficult it is being a GOOD parent. (I stress the good, because it is easy to just be a “parent”). I never, in a million years, thought being a good parent was as difficult as it is. Today I want to share a little bit about our special Daddy!

I am going to write today about the best father anyone could ask for, my husband Jon. Jon is the best father to Aurora. Although I always knew he would be an amazing father, he has completely exceeded all of my expectations. I felt so upset because yesterday we didn't have a lot of time to celebrate Father's Day. Rory was insanely crazy, we were backed up on our house duties because of our busy week both jon had at work and I had here with Rory.

Rory and I woke up making him “Jelly doughnut muffins” and then gave him his father’s day presents. We gave him the tie we made and showed him The matching dresses that I made for Rory and I to match. We also made him some coasters and I barbecued for him on our weekly “grill night.” I really wanted Jon to have a great Father's Day. I wanted to plan a whole weekend just to let him know how much we appreciate him and how much we love him, even though I know he knows.... it is always nice to have a little remind.

Jon has always been there for me and Rory. It is one of the many reasons why I love him so much. He always puts us first before anything else in his life. Jon I have been married for almost 7 years to be seven years (next month will be our anniversary) and although we do have our ups and downs we could not be more compatible together. Part of what makes our marriage work so much is our communication. I could not be more happy as a wife and mother and part of that is because I have such a great husband who is there for us no matter what. I always knew that Jon would be a great father, but I didn't know just how good! Once Rory was born Jon just turned into super dad! He is amazing! I am so lucky to have him!

Rory loves him so much! It is so funny because when Jon is home, all Rory wants to do is spend time with her daddy! Even when Jon is outside cutting grass Rory and I are by the window watching him waving every time he passes us! She always wants to do what her daddy is doing...And who could blame her! I love watching the two of them play together- nothing makes me smile more than watching the two of them play!

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day. I am very happy and lucky that Rory has the best daddy! Jon, happy Father's Day and I love you!

Potty Training!!!

2012-06-16T09:13:00.002-07:00

Thank you to P&G and Kroger stores for celebrating “Team Mom’s Everyday Victories”! Please visit the P&G's event page to play games, win money off your next Kroger trip and more fun!

Rory always amazes me. Everyday she does something new that completely blows me out of the water! Today, was no exception...it isn’t even noon and yours truely has used the potty chair twice! Yesterday she used her potty chair 3 times! Of course; we now have a whole new toilet paper budget, but it it is no doubt cheaper than diapers!

Rory loves to take pictures with my phone!

I know everyone has their ways of potty training and different methods work for different kids. Currently, Rory loves to use her potty chair for:

lots of toilet paper
Mommy singing and doing a happy dance
She often will ask to call Dada, Mimi, or Papa after she goes potty- and so loves to use the phone

Growing so fast!

I can’t believe that Rory is getting so big! The other night we were looking at pictures and videos last year of her and I am completely shocked at what one year can do! I bought pull ups yesterday because I know that is our next step. She is just growing up so fast! And I am so proud of her for doing so well with her potty chair!

Since Rory is in that "in-between" diapers and pull ups stage, I am not going to go all 100% pull ups. Which is good for me because Kroger is having a big P&G sale June 10-23 and I know they are going to have a huge sale on Pampers and other items throughout the store, which is good for this coupon-clipping-mamma! They will also have sales on Charmin Basic, which is good since Rory uses SO much toilet paper!

Before hitting the store, visit P&G’s event page on Kroger.com: http://bit.ly/KG6dw5

I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective.

Things special needs mom do NOT want to hear!

2012-06-07T09:35:00.001-07:00

This weekend was really difficult for us. Jon, Rory and I went to a local K9 Festival and had a great time seeing all the dogs. There was only one problem; Rory’s shoes were quite a distraction for many people. She was in her bike/stroller so if people saw her from one side, they would only see her one big shoe.

We had so many people come up to us talking about her shoe; the usual comments: how they have never seen platform shoes for babies, if she has trouble walking in her platforms, where they can find heels for their babies, and of course how cute it is. Jon is better about shaking things off than I am, but after a while these comments start to get to me.

K9 Festival!

Which brings me to today’s post. There are a few things that people have said to me that have made me feel nothing less than awful. I just want other people to know

“What did you do to cause this?”

I know that as a mother of a child with special needs, I have guilt about Rory’s leg. I know that there was nothing I could have done differently during my pregnancy that would change Rory’s getting Congenital Femoral Deficiency, but I still have the motherly feelings of guilt that there was something I could have done; because she was in my womb. The last thing a mother wants to here is that they did something to harm their baby- trust me, they have enough guilt, even if they had no control over what happened.

I remember the first time an older woman said this to me (at a church no less). It killed me, I came home and cried for hours. I wasn’t sure if she expected me to say that I smoked during my pregnancy or what (I did pregnancy by the book) but I do know how much it hurt.

All I know is that if I could have done something to prevent Rory from getting this, I would. I would cut off my my leg and give it to her, I would do anything I could to help that little leg grow to be the same size as the other leg; so for someone to ask me what I did to cause this...It just hurts.

“It’s so cute!” (whatever the disability is)

I know Rory is adorable, and that everything about her is adorable; but sometimes it is really hard when people tell me how cute her shoe is. Having people tell me about how cute it is makes me feel like people think it is a “privilege” to have a special shoe. That her shoe is some fancy accessory, other people want to have. I wish that Rory would never have to wear her shoe lift again, that we could go to any shoe store and pick out any kind of shoes there and Rory could even wear them home.

Anything on Rory looks cute! It is Rory that is cute, no the shoe!

I know people want to just try and make me feel good, but hearing about how cute it is is difficult to hear.

The last thing, isn’t saying anything- it’s an action: a stare.

I am pretty sure any mother of a special needs child would much rather have someone ask a question about their child's condition than have someone stare. Sadly, many of the stares come from adults, other kids seem to always ask.

When we were leaving Florida from one of our visits to Dr. Paley, there was a husband and wife couple across from us in the airport. The wife couldn’t take her eyes off Rory’s shoe. After a few minutes, she nudged her husband and whispered, “look at that baby’s big shoe.” Just what every mother wants, people looking at your child like she belongs in teh circus. I was a few feet away from her and would have much rather her ask me about the shoe.

I always welcome questions about Rory’s condition because I want to make people more aware of her Congenital Femoral Deficiency. I think other mothers of special needs kids would much rather answer a question than have their child being stared at. No one wants their “imperfections” pointed out (I am not sure if “imperfection” is the right word, since Rory is completely perfect in my eyes...but for now it will have to do).

Just remember: Mothers are extremely sensitive with their children. Before you say anything to a mother with a special needs child, just think about if you would want someone to say that about your child (or loved one). It is hard to be a mom....especially when your child has special needs.

Father's Day Ties!

2012-06-05T17:22:00.001-07:00

It is almost Father’s day!

Because Rory has the best Daddy we are trying to make some great gifts for him Father’s day so he truly knows how much he means to us. Daddy loves all of Rory’s art work, it is hung up all over his office; but for father’s day I wanted to make something different! I thought we could make him something he could wear to work. We decided to make Daddy a nice fancy tie!

Materials needed:

Tie
fabric crayons
paper to color on
iron

*It does require an iron, but I made sure to use the iron when she was napping.

This activity really affordable and easy. We bought a nice white tie and some Fabric crayons and started to color!

I have always wanted to use Fabric crayons, just to see if they worked and how well they worked. I had Rory color on a big piece of white paper, we went through each color and she had a great time scribbling. I made sure she pressed hard with the colors, so when I needed to iron the drawing on the tie the colors would be bright and vibrant!

I cut the paper up into strips so that the whole tie would be covered. When Rory went down for a nap; I put the paper, colored side down, on the tie. I held the iron down on the coloring for a few minutes at a time. The crayons worked great! When I removed the paper there was beautiful scribbles all over the tie! The color was so bright and I know Daddy will love it!

Then your done! A beautiful, one and only, Rory designed tie! I can’t wait for Father’s day!

Homemade maracas!

2012-06-05T07:44:00.001-07:00

I have mentioned before how much Rory loves music. She is always asking to play my guitar and loved her Easter basket filled with musical instruments. At a recent dinner with our friends, we couldn't pull Rory away from the piano and drums! Although she has many musical instruments in the house, she doesn't have a set of maracas. I knew Rory would love them because Rory has a lot of “shaker” toys, and (somedays) they are a big hit!

To make the maracas we used:

mini water bottles- emptied
beads (or beans, just something to put in the water bottles that will make a fun noise when your little one shakes them up!)
tape
a paper towel roll, or toilet paper
crayons or markers to decorate (these are optional)

Once we drank all the water from the bottles, we filled them up with some pretty red beads, shells, and gold stars. You can put as many beads as you want in them. Rory loved grabbing the “red” beads since red is her favorite color, and putting all the beads in the water bottle is great for hand eye coordination! When you are finished putting all your beads and other shakers in, just make sure to screw the top back on the bottle!

Because I didn’t want the maracas to have paper towel roll colored handles, we decided to color on some paper to use as decoration. I took the paper towel roll and cut it down the center so I could wrap it around the mouth of the bottle.

Wrap the paper towel roll over the mouth of the bottle, ours over lapped a few times. Once you have the paper towel roll wrapped around the mouth of the water bottle, add some tape so the paper towel roll sticks together. I added a little tape connecting the top of the water bottle to the drawing (just because I know Rory is a little rough on her toys).

I measured Rory’s drawing so that it fit the size of the paper towel roll, and with glue, wrapped them around the paper towel roll. For a change of pace, I put two water bottle maracas on one paper towel holder.

We now have new musical instruments in our house, and Rory couldn’t love them more!

mothers day weekend!

2012-05-14T11:18:00.002-07:00

I had such a great Mother’s day! It was kind of a “mother’s Day Weekend.” Jon did all my normal “mom duties” of cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc and went completely above and beyond for me.

Saturday we had a family day, we had so much fun! It started with me waking up to Jon making some delicious banana cream cheese filled muffins and Rory still in bed! The muffins were SO delicious! After some fun family playing we went to the K-9 festival at mount trashmore. Instead of us all driving there, I ran there and met Jon and Rory! I normally don’t get to go on long runs, Rory doesn’t ride in her stroller longer than 10 minuets (unless there are busses out for her to look at), so I normally just run for 30 minuets in the morning. This nice long run was quite a treat!

The K-9 festival was so much fun too! Rory loved seeing all the dogs, and they were all friendly pups too! It was such a wonderful day to be outside; it wasn’t too hot or too cold. It was perfect out.

When Rory went down for her nap, I was able to have uninterrupted time and got so much work done! Jon brought me lunch and did all my chores- it was so nice to have uninterrupted time!

Then we had family fun time!

I then got the best present of all- Rory slept! She was up at 5:30am; but I will take it!!! It was SO nice to have more than 2 hours of sleep!!!!

Sunday was great too! Jon made me a delicious blueberry coffee cake which I devoured more than I should have! Rory’s blisters were doing so much better- she was still hurting but could walk better and wasn’t so fussy! I got to go on a nice long 8 mile run too and came home to the smell of charcoal and got to play outside with Rory while Jon barbecued.

I am so lucky to have such a great family!

Easter Bunny Fingerprints!

2012-04-02T17:58:00.001-07:00

Rory and I were already upstairs playing, so I thought we could play with some of my old stamp pads and make some more Easter decorations!

This activity was so much fun, and Rory really got into it. As most of my little crafts are; this one is very inexpensive and can take as little or as much time as possible. Ours took a long time, but it was mainly because we were having so much fun!

Materials:

stamp pads- for the bunny ears

paper- whatever colors you want- we chose dark colors of paper because we had a white stamp pad

paper to make the bunny faces and bodies

pens to draw faces

pom poms for the tails!

optional: any stickers you want to use!

We stamped our fingers on the stamp pad and pressed them down on the paper. It took a few tries to get them right- Rory wasn't too used to using the stamp pad. We tried several different ways to make the ears- we tried just using one finger and then tried using two fingers. We just had fun playing with the stamp pad.

(As usual, we used this to reiterate colors: put your fingers on the WHITE ink pad and press it on the PURPLE paper.)

I thought this would be a really cute Mommy and me project, so we did both of our fingers on the same piece of paper! We waited for the stamp ink to dry, which is not very long, and while we were waiting we cut out circles for the bunnies heads and bodies. (Rory colored on some of the bodies, but I think that adds to the cuteness of the activity.) We drew faces on the bunnies and glued them to the paper.

We added a little “Some bunny loves you” phrase with stickers, and we will probably add a note on the top for Rory’s dad!

Presto! you now have cute mommy and me finger print bunnies- perfect for cards for grandparents, to hang on your walls, or to put in dads easter basket!

Find the time...

2012-03-28T04:37:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately and can't believe how long it has been since I posted! Things here have been crazy, as normal, and I have been 100% overwhelmed. Something today made me smile and laugh.
My husband is always up to date with his current events, unlike me, whose current events include play dates and doctor appointments. Today he told me about an article in USA today about two women who was leaving the house without their beauty routine, makeup, not shaving their legs, etc....
My first words was "Did they both have kids?"
I could not believe this was in USA today!!!!
Perhaps I am not much of a "girly girl" but I don't have a lot of time for a beauty routine! I guess you could consider my workouts my beauty routines, but I really don't have much of fancy routine.
Jon said, "So are you going to do your 15 min beauty routine," referring to my shower....
I don't wear a lot of make up- I usually smell more like deodorant than perfume, and the thought of spending 30 minutes a day on getting pretty seems awfully pointless to me when I have an insane toddler running around.
There is always something that needs to be cleaned, paperwork that needs to be filled out, errands to be ran, or something else I have to do....
I just choose to spend my time differently. I have to remember that people choose to spend their time on different things. Some people choose to beautify themselves, and I choose to work out.

New running shoes!!!!

2012-03-13T13:36:00.001-07:00

There is something about getting a new pair of shoes that makes me snjme from ear to ear! Today I got my new running shoes!

I went all out on trying new things! 99% of the time I get nikes- they fit my feet so nice and snug, and I love how long they last. My husband, however; never gets nikes- he's an acics and saucony type of guy- so I decided I give his shoes a try since I get a new pair of running kicks every 6 months.
Another anti-Me thing to do- I went with a bright color- they are yellow green! I'm hoping they make me faster!
So far I haven't been able to try them out- just been wearing them around the house- but I can't wait I run in these puppies!

Something about a new pair of shoes!

Proud Mommy!

2012-03-05T11:04:00.002-08:00

I could not have been more proud of Rory- I know most moms feel this way (as they should) but I just can’t even begin to explain how much I love my daughter! I was thinking back to last year, and how far she has come in her development. She has learned to scoot, then crawl, then walk, and now she is running. Our days went from being just me and Rory and now we have such great friends.

Just the other day Rory got her 2nd certificate from the Winter Reading Program at the Virginia Beach Public Library. Last year, we read so many books, and she liked to look at the pictures and would touch some of the pictures. She now grabs the books, runs to my lap and loves to point and sign at every animal in the book.

I am just so lucky to have her, and be able to stay home with her!

Stressed....desserts....

2012-02-29T11:52:00.002-08:00

I always heard people talk about Stressed being Desserts spelled backwards but never really cared- I just figured that was something people said that couldnt' control their eating.....and then i became stressed!

Food and I have had such an off again on again relationship- its awful! Lately with being sick, traveling, having my husband being gone, having my husband coming back, getting new shoes, looking for respite care, interviewing people for respite care, etc etc etc....I have turned to my long time love of ice cream, cookie dough and teh occasionally spoonful of peanut butter.

I work out almost everyday for at least 45 min to an hour, so i know I am ok, its just that I feel so disgusting and gross when I eat so many sweets! its really frustrating- last night I literally felt like my stomach was bursting through my shirt because of how much i ate.

So sweets....we are breaking up for a while....I will call you when I have had my space. Until then, please don't call me!

A Bed for Kind of!

2012-02-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

A Bed for Kind of!

Rory has nothing but love for her baby, Kind of. (Yes, that is her name, “Kind of”, she was Rory’s 1st birthday present from my 4 year old niece, Shannon who originally named her.) One thing that we like to do is pretend that Kind of is a real baby; Kind of eats with us, plays itsy bitsy spider with us, dances with us, etc. We have recently started to get Kind of ready for bed, but it was really hard for us to put her in Rory’s big crib so we decided to make our own bed for her!

Materials:

A box: a shoe box, or any small to medium size box
old wrapping paper, or paper to wrap the box in
tape
decorating supplies: we used crayons, letters, stickers

The first thing we did was get an old box and cut down the top flaps.

To cover the box, we used some old wrapping paper left over from Christmas. I turned the wrapping paper inside out, so that the white side was on the outside for Rory to draw and decorate, which was a huge part of the fun. Rory could hardly wait to color in it, so it was being colored on while I was wrapping it!

I wrapped it up like a present, I cut the wrapping paper large so some of it would overlap and fit on the inside of the box as well (if you choose to wrap the inside of the box, this will help make wrapping the inside of the box easier).

If you are struggling for time or your toddler is being crazy, you do not need to wrap the inside of the box, the baby and blanket will cover up most of it; however I chose to wrap it. I cut slits in the corners so they would wrap nice and pretty. Again, it does not need to be really nice and pretty looking on the inside since the blanket and baby will be covering.

Finished Bed!

Then comes the fun part....DECORATING! I had many old stickers laying around from my scrap booking days, and let Rory pick out what kind she wanted to use. We also found letters to spell out “Kind of.” (Of course I had to help spell them, but Rory put them on herself!).

After it was made, we were able to put Kind of in her bed and sing to her. It has now become a daily activity where we put Kind of to bed, get her changed in her pajamas, give her a blanket, sing her “Twinkle Twinkle,” give her kisses, and tell everyone in the house “shhhh, Kind of is sleeping.”

Kissing Kind of Goodnight!

We have a Winner!!!!

2012-02-24T10:43:00.004-08:00

Congratulations to our Journey to Virginland book Winner!!!

Your copy will be sent to your Seattle home!!!

I would like to thank everyone for entering the book giveaway! It was my first blog giveaway and I was extremely excited. Things could not have gone smoother and I appreciate everyone for entering!

Fitness Fun!

2012-02-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

Its been a while, but its time for another fitness video! Today I worked arms, legs, and abs. If you do this workout really fast it becomes a cardio workout. I did 30 reps of each workout, and I used 5 lb weights, but you can use more or less weight, but feel free to use more weight or less weight. Here is the workout breakdown:

one leg push-ups 15 each leg (feel free to do push ups on your knees or on your toes, whatever you can do!)
weighted squats with a military press
knee up's with a twist, and a sprint back; I did 20 knee up's and then sprinted back and I did this 3 times...so its 60 reps instead of 30
weighted walking lunges with a knee up and bicep curl
straight arm weighted overhead crunches
plank position knee to elbow lifts- 15 each leg
curtsy lunges with weights and a up right row- 15 each leg
twists with a weight

Have FUN!

Cousin Love!

2012-02-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, something so wonderful happens that it leaves you completely speechless.

The other day, I was left completely wordless; just silent, but with a huge smile on my face. My uncle John and Aunt Melissa sent Rory a package today. It was as if they knew everything she liked because they sent her a puzzle, a stuffed dog, those goofy glasses with the mustache and big nose, a bee bubble blower, and some stickers. It was like Christmas morning for Rory.

Rory loves the puzzle, she makes animal noises as she puts the animals in their spots.

The package made me smile from ear to ear. It just reinforced what I already knew: I have the best family ever. While Rory was putting stickers on me, Jon and the Dogs, I opened up the cards that were inside; and that is when I went speechless.

Inside was a card from my cousin Jack, who I haven’t seen in a long time. Jack is older now, and in his pictures he looks like a bundle of energy. (I have a few favorite memories of Jack; see below.)

I love how he wrote her name at the top of the card. Rory kisses the puppy on it too!

Jack wrote a sweet note to Rory about how he knows she will be OK at the Doctor’s, because he was in the doctor and they took care of him. I am by far not a crier, but this brought tears to my eyes! It was the cutest thing ever.

It makes me wish that we were closer so Rory could play with her cousins all the time, but until then; Rory will be sending Jack some mail ;). No one can argue with me, I do have the best family ever!

Favorite Jack Memories

The day after my wedding, all of our family went over to my moms house and we went swimming, had a bbq, and opened presents. Jon adn I were outside with Jack adn he was very curious about our cat. He kept touching its tail and then letting go, adn he asked us, “What happens if you pull his tail?” (Little did he know, Jon and I say that all the time when ever we see a cat or when Rory yanks on their tails!). This is my favorite memory #1.

My second favorite memory of Jack happened at my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. It was towards the end of the night when all the kids were all hopped up on cake, candies and soda. My cousin Jack was running around with my other cousins, and you know how little boys run- their arms flail at that magical height for men. Yep thats right, in an instant jon had his head between his legs and informed me he felt like throwing

King Cake; with Rory's help!

2012-02-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe online, adn then tweeked it a bit!

Dough

1⁄8 cup butter

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream (I used reduced fat)

1/4 cinnamon

1⁄4 cup sugar

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 envelopes active dry yeast

1⁄2 tablespoon white sugar

1⁄4 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)

1 egg

3 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour , divided

Cream Cheese Filling

2 (4 ounce) packages cream cheese , softened (16 ounces total)

1⁄2 egg

1⁄2 cup sugar

1⁄16; teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Colored Frosting

1 1⁄2 cups powdered sugar

1 1⁄2 tablespoons butter , melted

1 1⁄2 tablespoons milk

1⁄8; teaspoon vanilla extract

Food coloring

Colored sugars

I didn’t use colored sugars but they are really easy to make...Rory just woke up too early!

3⁄4 cup white sugar

Food coloring

Directions: Cook first 5 ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts.

Dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until foamy.

Add butter mixture, egg, and 2 cups flour; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until smooth.

Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes; Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top; Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

While the cake is rising, with an electric mixer, mix cream cheese until smooth; Add egg and blend well; Add sugar, salt and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy; Set aside.

Punch dough down; roll out onto a lightly floured surface; roll to a 28- x 10-inch rectangle.

Spread cream cheese mixture on dough; Roll up the dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at long side.

Place dough roll, seam side down, on parchment paper. Bring ends together to form an oval ring, moistening and punching edges together to seal.

Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 15- 20 minutes or until golden.

Decorate with bands of Colored Frostings, and sprinkle with Colored Sugars.

Rory did SO good with her frostings!

for the frosting: Stir together powdered sugar and melted butter; Add milk to reach desired consistency for drizzling; stir in vanilla; Divide frosting into 3 batches, tinting 1 green, 1 yellow, and combining red and blue food coloring for purple frosting.

For the Sugars:Place 1/2 cup sugar and drop of green food coloring in a zip-top plastic bag; seal; Shake and squeeze vigorously to evenly mix color with sugar; Repeat procedure with 1/2 cup sugar and yellow food coloring; For purple, combine 1 drop red and 1 drop blue food coloring before adding to remaining 1/2 cup sugar.

Journey to Virginland- I read an "Adult" book instead of Children's book!!!

2012-02-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

I was eagerly anticipating reading this book, Journey to Virginland, by Armen Melikian. I haven’t read a book for “me” in quite some time- Mostly just parenting books or easy reads that I can read in the last 10 minuets of my day before I fall asleep, so I set aside one night completely devoted to reading. Journey to Virginland was the “adult” book that I could not wait to dive into, and it exceeded all my expectations!

This well written satire was a joy to read. It is about the main character, Dog, who is on a journey to find the meaning of life and self discovery. He is a very deep, raw character, and I highly believe a little bit of everyone lives in Dog. Melikian will rivet you into Dogs journey and you will not want to leave.

Journey to Virginland is a book where one must not get offended. Melikian gives the reader a myriad of topics to reflect on as they travel with Dog on his journey. Dog lashes out on religion, gender roles, sexuality, leadership, politics and the reader must be willing to laugh with it. The Reader must go into the book with an open mind, and relish the wit and sarcasm of Dog. This is my kind of humor, I love when people can poke fun at themselves, and other people; and Dog is an equal opportinity employer when it comes to his

His sarcasm will make you snicker and thinking as you turn pages. There were times in the reading where I would have to go back and reread a paragraph or two. This is not an easy read for someone to read in there last minutes of falling asleep- I stayed up quite late to make sure I could finish it uninterrupted. I always can tell of a good book when I find myself thinking about the book after I have read it; and this was one book where my mind would not shut off.

Id love to share the love and wit of this book, I'm going to give it away to a reader!

One lucky US reader will be picked at random on Friday February 24. To enter: Please send an email to me at littlerightleg@gmail.com with the subject “Virginland,” for an additional entry, become a follower of this blog! Happy Reading!

For more information on this book, go to Journey to Virginland's website.

Here is more about the Author Armen Melikian:

Armen Melikian (b. 1963) holds a Master's in International Relations from American University, Washington, D.C. He has also studied mathematics at Harvard and elsewhere, and was admitted by the Mathematical Institute of Oxford University to pursue graduate studies in Analytic Geometry, Mathematical Physics, and Topology. However, he eventually abandoned both politics and mathematics in favor of literature and dedicated his life to writing. Melikian lives in Los Angeles.

Melikian is one of those rare thinkers whose intensity of passion matches their sharp wit and intellect. His poignant observations take to task the core tenets of metaideologies and jockeying civilizations, helping to discard layer after layer of entrenched misinformation and dogma.

Melikian brings a fresh, prodigiously layered voice to contemporary literature, not only expanding the boundaries of the novelistic endeavor as an artistic medium per se, but infusing it with extraordinary urgency and relevance in terms of sociopolitical, cultural, religious, and philosophical thought as well as mythological exegesis.

To date, awards and honors earned by Melikian's debut novel, Journey to Virginland, include the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for Best Fiction. The novel was selected by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards as one of the year’s top five books in Humor/Comedy, and received the only Honorable Mention in the Literary Fiction category at ForeWord Reviews’ Book of the Year Awards. These awards were based on a limited prepublication copy of the book that was made available by the publisher before its release.

Given its prescient vision of the shape of things to come, Melikian’s novel has been compared by critics to some of the masterpieces of contemporary literature, among them the politically explosive works of George Orwell. It has also been compared to Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, and even to the book of Revelation.

Rory makes me laugh!!!

2012-02-17T15:05:00.001-08:00

So Jon just farted really loud and Rory signed "diaper change" and said dada! Hahaha

All About James

2012-02-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

Rory normally doesn't do much interactive play with other kids, but James and Shannon were different. She loved just watching them adn doign whatever they were doing! It was so sweet to see them all interact together.

Since we have been back, Rory has asked to see James many many times. When she does I just pull up his picture on the computer and let her look at a slide show of them playing. She often cries when I decide its time to stop looking at his pictures!

This is a video of my sweet Nephew James smelling Rory’s feet. Rory went crazy- she loves smelling feet so naturally, when James smells them and acts crazy she is going to be hysterical!

Sick husband- Sick house

2012-02-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

We are quite blessed with good health, aside from Rory's leg, so now that Jon, Rory and I have all been sick within the week is just dreadful! Its so hard on everyone!

I've been trying to get everything done for him since he feels terrible. I kind of feel overwhelmed since when he gets home from work he helps entertain Rory, so now I get to entertain her all night and let me be completely honest....there is no good way to load a dishwasher with a curious toddler!

I didn't want to wake him up this morning by me leaving the room to go work out because I knew he had to get up early to go to the doctors anyway, so we slept in (till 6-woohoo!). I was really hoping to get a good workout in while he napped today with Rory, but I only got 30 minutes of my bike because I couldn't stop thinking about all the things I had to do!

Now I am such a workout junkie that all I can think about is ONLY 30 minutes of riding the bike. But hey...the floors don't sweep themselves, and I know Rory will be up any second and the last think I want is Jon to feel bad and have a gross house.

Hopefully the worst of the sickness is behind us!

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-15T11:27:00.003-08:00

Rory and I were 98% better yesterday- no dizziness, no vomiting, nothing; and it was Valentines day so we had to make a few Valentines! We made some for her friends, but didn't go out and give them to them- but can’t wait to give them out! Rory colored on them and we cut out hearts, then put on one of her favorite Trader Joe’s Cereal Bars on them and wrote “I love you Berry Much.”

We were pleasantly surprised by Jon coming home from work early so we could go to the playground! Of course, Rory loves the slides more than anything else in the world, so we spent about an hour there, just going up and down the big slides and little slides hanging on the monkey bars and being tossed in the air by daddy! (Mommy was NOT happy about it!!!)

We came home and gave each other our Valentines. Rory got a ZhuZhu pet, she loved it when her cousin and her would play with it in St. Louis, so I had to buy her one! It was so much fun to see Rory have such a good day!

Rory's card to her Dad

My card to Jon

Zhu Zhu Pet!

I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day!

Great Grandparents Visit!

2012-02-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

So, Rory and I had a great trip to St. Louis, however, on our flight back home- we both got sick sick sick! I was sick in the airport and Rory was sick in the airplane and on the car on the way home. It was the worst way to end a great trip! One of the highlights of the trip was Rory getting to see her great grandparents- Both Sets!!!

My Grandma and Grandpa Murphy live very close to my parents, so Rory and I frequented their house- which was nice because Rory and my Grandpa have very smiliar nap schedules ;)

My Grandma and Grandpa LaGue live in Kansas City and drove in 4 hours to see us. It was SO wonderful! It was just great to see both of them, and Rory was so good with them, she didn’t hesitate to go to either set of Great Grandparents!

It really meant a lot for them to drive in and see her, because we have no idea when we will be able to make it back to St. Louis again. I was very fortunate to get a great deal on my flight where it was 50% off, so it was a miracle I was able to come in for a visit! I almost didn’t book the flight because I was fearful of Rory on the airplane, she does not like to sit down in the airplane, she just wants to move all around (things were so bad- in Chicago they let me and Rory on the airplane first because she was so crazy!) But with our upcoming trips to Florida for Rory’s surgeries, and the one and four month recovery in Florida, I doubt we will be back in St. Louis for a few years.

It really meant so much to see my Great Grandparents, I know Rory and I loved seeing you and can’t wait to see you all again!

Dont’ worry- More St. Louis Pictures will come!