Mom's little place

Diaper Cake motorcycle

2012-06-20T07:54:00.001-07:00

I had an order to make a diaper cake using the new Huggie Hawaiian diapers while trying to do a fireman theme. Mommy to be loves Hawaii and the Daddy to be is a fireman. It didn't work on a regular diaper cake and since this was being given as a gift by someone I love I decided to try the motorcycle. I also made a fireman diaper cake will post that later.

Side view

The bottle makes the headlight the onesie on the bear matches the bib on the front

Closeup of Bear and his onesie

You can do a search on youtub for diaper cakes and you will see instructions for the motorcycle there. I can put them on here if anyone wants them. If your stuffed animal is a bit small I took three diapers and made a seat under him and they put him right where he needed to be.

I used Huggie diapers, one baby bottle with a burp cloth on it, a onesie on the bear, one bib and another burp cloth over the seat. It has two receiving blankets one holding the two wheels together and one for the handle bars on the ends of the handle bars is a pair of socks and one bear and one orange bow they said to put on one to hide the rubber band but mine didn't show up I just liked the way the bow looks.

I had a lot of fun making this hope you will too if you have any questions just leave a comment or message me. I am more than happy to help out in anyway I can. Thanks for reading my blog!!

The University OF Berkley, A Diploma Mill

2012-05-17T15:40:00.004-07:00

The University of Berkley

A DIPLOMA MILL

(This is not to be confused with

The University of California, Berkeley)

A Diploma mill is a “so called” university or college with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by the education accreditation board. These degrees are often awarded based on construed life experience.

Admission criteria consist entirely of possession of a valid Visa or MasterCard.

Universities do not commonly charge flat fees. They charge per credit or per course tuition and fees.

In 2005, Attorney General Tom Corbett filed a civil lawsuit against a former New Mexico State Trooper accused of operating an Erie-based online 'diploma mill' and phony accreditation institution that sold thousands of bogus Associate, Bachelor's, Masters, Doctorate and Honorary degrees to individuals nationally and internationally. The complaint and separate motion for special injunction seeking to shut down the online business was filed in Erie County Court. The legal action investigated by Corbett's Bureau of Consumer Protection additionally seeks to permanently prohibit the defendant from engaging in business in the state and require the payment of fines.

Dennis J. Globosky was court ordered to pay $75,000 and move his business out of the state to settle investigators' claims that he was running an illegal online diploma mill. When he did not pay the fines. In 2009, Senior Deputy Attorney General Carm Presogna went to Erie County Court to ask a judge to cite Globosky for contempt of court and order him to pay $130,035 in civil penalties and costs.
Charges are that Globosky, through entities called "The University of Berkley" and "The University of Berkley Online," sold bogus online degrees, which cost between $2,065 and $4,995. One of the results, this is now found at the bottom of the website:
The owners/operators of this site may not conduct business with residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA

Pennsylvania's attorney general has won a court order to immediately shut down the University of Berkley, an online operation based in Erie, Pa., that he accused of selling thousands of bogus degrees.... The order also freezes the personal and corporate assets of the owner, Dennis J. Globosky.... [The attorney general] believes that Mr. Globosky, 50, has sold more than 12,500 illegitimate degrees, including associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, and has taken in revenues exceeding $34-million.... written by DEVIN VARSALONA iWatch News

 ....AND YET IT IS STILL OPERATING TODAY...

This is on their website:

The University of Berkley website in 2012 Price list: An Associates degree for as little as 2,515. You can get a Bachelors degree for as little as 2,785.00. A Masters for 3,145.00 and a Doctorate for only 3,895.00 and Bach/Mas for 4,315.00.

"An alternative school offering individual, non-residential, specialized college degree online programs in the United States and internationally.”

“We encourage students to try to finish within 9 months, but you may finish in 2 weeks"

At the bottom of their website:"The owners/operators of this site may not conduct business with residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA" - red flag?

“You will earn 20 credits simply by examining your life in detail and completing the forms.”

What's not to love here? You can earn 20 college credit hours just by completing the forms??? Wow! How could they not be legitimate?

These are just a few things you will find on their website which by the way they have copyrighted wouldn't want anyone breaking the law would we? So I didn't copy and paste the long list of degrees you can NOT, earn by paying for them.

“The University of Berkley” happens to have people sign a contract (yes, THEY want this to be legal) stating that they know exactly what they are paying for and will not sue them later. So yes, if you are alright with lying to your boss, family and friends this just might be the phony degree or rather piece of paper of no real value, for you. If however, you are an honest hardworking person you might want to pass on this one.

I read today that people caught holding and using these so called, “degrees” are being charged with fraud. Maybe not such a great idea after all.

Just think how you would feel if your doctor of anything had one from life experience and got 20 of those credit hours simply by filling out the form wonder how many you get for paying. I also wonder where that life experience came from? How many babies did he deliver or how many surgeries has non-medical person done.. Pretty scary when you think about it. I read about a women who claims, she really thought she was getting a medical degree and was a real doctor. I wouldn't want to be her patient that's for sure. Not trying to belittle or put someone down but if you think you can pay money and become a real doctor no thanks think, I will pass.

I have two daughters, nieces and a nephew along with my husband who are working full time jobs and getting their degrees on line, all in colleges which are legitimate so for someone to PAY for what my family members and countless others are working so hard for does offend me but one day they will be able to hang up, with pride, their degrees on their office walls and show off the hard work they have accomplished.

The good news for adult education is that there are two regionally accredited, distance learning colleges, Thomas Edison State College and Excelsior College, they operate primarily as assessment colleges.

These two colleges were founded in the 1970s to help adult and on-line students earn undergraduate degrees through credit-for-experience options. It is possible at these two colleges to earn an entire college degree without taking a single formal course. Most students do however take college courses these two are legal! You can learn more at this site http://www.geteducated.com/diploma-mills-police/life-experience-college-degree/162-is-a-life-experience-online-degree-a-scam

Some helpful resources if you are wanting to earn a degree on line:

Accreditation and Licensing

U.S. Department of Education - A list of all postsecondary institutions that are accredited by agencies recognized by the Secretary of Education.
http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation
U.S. Department of Education - Overview of accreditation in the United States and List of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies.
www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html
National Association of State Administrators and Supervisors of Private Schools - Provides contact information for state licensing agencies as well as links to many of them.
www.nasasps.com
Degree.net - Simple questions to ask about accreditation about earning unaccredited degrees.
www.degree.net/guides/accreditation_faqs.html

sources:
http://diplomamillnews.blogspot.com
teachers.net
wikipedia.org
ed.gov
geteducated.com
http://www.geteducated.com/diploma-mill-police/degree-mills-list/university-of-berkley-accreditation

Princess diaper cake for a baby shower centerpeice or decoration

2012-05-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

A princess diaper cake, my newest creation! I had a lot of fun making this one loved being able to do something girlie!

Finished cake has 85 Pampers diapers

This is a round cake plate you can get them anywhere they sell Wilton. I hot glued the ruffle puffy thing around the edge of it.

These are my diapers rolled with the rubber bands holding them together I like to do do rubber bands to keep the cake in balance.

Top of the rolled diapers

Bottom layer with rubber bands and getting the ribbon put on.

Two bottom layers

Add caption

This is the top layer. I took the dress the doll had on and made her the dress, hand band She also has some of the ruffle at the bottom layer on her as a boa.

Top layer with doll in place her princess wand a Tiara on the from of the middle layer. I also added just some netting glued the end to a tooth pick and twisted them on it. I cleared each diaper so that they didn't get scratched up and be unusable.


This is the top my little princess diaper cake

Diaper baby shower bassinet

2012-04-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

This is another cute baby shower decoration or could be a gift, a bassinet made of diapers. Another pretty easy to make once you know how, just have fun decorating it.
Once again these are my first ones I will do a tutorial later on both the cake and bassinet as soon as I get some more ribbon and diapers. Gonna try size 2 next time. Also I am going to use Pampers since they don't have the design on them which I found for the diaper across the top that showed up more..

Side view of the bassinet I didn't put any wheels on mine some people do thinking theirs are strollers maybe?

This is the very front of it just a little bow since it is a small space and I used two ribbons because I used two rubber bands around the diapers it was trying to flare out around the bottom. I also need more rubber bands need to make a list..

Front side sorry about the crooked pictures.. I have a onesie for the blanket and a matching bib rolled up for the pillow these were thicker since they came from Penny's so they took a little more room but in person it looks really cute.

Side view this is where you can see the print on the Huggie diaper it is ok but Micky and Minnie are upside down. lol

Top view of the bassinet you can see the shirt or onesie a bit better here this is what I had in the house have a friend who is having a baby, she will be getting these.

Here are the two together kind of went with a Noah's ark/jungle theme I hope she likes them. I will do step by steps of each on the next ones.

Diaper Cake for a Baby Shower

2012-04-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to try making a diaper cake for awhile now I looked for directions on line found several different ones you can Google them or I searched for diaper cakes on Pinterest and found the directions. I then did it my own way in the end but aren't directions there to get us started? Plus they really are pretty simple to make. Rubber bands or not which seems to be the biggest debate about these.. I didn't use rubber bands mainly because I didn't have any but I didn't need them either.

These are not real complected to make and don't take a lot of time however the ribbon gets kind of expensive and the little baby things can also. If anyone knows a good place to buy ribbon please let me know.

The first thing I learned while making my first diaper cake is to buy pampers as they do NOT have a design on them. The design on my Huggies ended up not showing up anyway but I had to make sure to use enough ribbon to cover it. To make a fuller cake you can use size 2 diapers but then the new Mom can't use them right away. I would probably want the cake to sit in the nursery for awhile myself. I used the size 1 so she could use them right away..

I bought some white foam board at Dollar tree and traced around a tray which was about an inch larger than my largest cake pan I would be using. It didn't take much time with a craft knife also bought at the Dollar tree to cut the circle out and I could get at least three maybe more out of it.

I then cut some Noahs ark fabric I happen to have in a circle and hot glued that to the board Just turn it under and glue. Cut off excess fabric if you cut it too large I didn't and had to stretch mine a bit which worked out well. You don't need to do this as it hardly shows up but I did glue that small blue ribbon around the board after I covered it.

There are several different ways to do this and I will be posting my how too soon. Some people roll the diapers and put rubber bands on them to hold them in place, I didn't. I folded the diapers in half and used three Wilton cake pans to lay then in. Put something in the middle I used for the largest pan a large can of Spaghetti sauce it just keeps the diapers for moving all around once you get the diapers in place, you remove the can and roll diapers to fill the middle where the can was at. I also saw one lady had used a paper towel cardboard roll I think this is an awesome idea but I saw that after I was almost finished with mine so next time going to do that in the middle would hold the cake together also.

Once you get all of your diapers in your pan rather you have rolled or folded them tie a thin ribbon around them. Just to hold them in place and then you move on and do the next two layers in my case. The pans worked great for holding the diapers and if this hadn't been my first one I am sure it would have gone pretty fast.

Once you have all the cake layers done and on the top one because it was so small I did roll the diapers. I kind of combined a couple of ways cause well that's what I do.

When you have all your layers finished in my case it was three. Figure out how you want your ribbons. I just guessed when I was shopping at what I would need. You definitely need wide ribbon to help hold the diapers securely. They don't need to be super tight but snug if you are going to be adding things inside like I ended up doing. I used my hot glue gun to glue the ends of the ribbon together.

I wanted my stuff animal to stay on my top layer so I tied a ribbon on him and ran it down the center of that layer and then tied it to an empty ribbon spool I removed a couple of diapers in the middle layer and place the ribbon spool inside that connects those two layers which you don't have to do and can still be easily taken apart again.

I picked up some small baby shampoo, lotion and baby wash next time I will get 2 of each so that they go all the way around. You can place those inside your larger ribbon. I also got those really cute stuff rattles from Walmart Love those and they fit in so perfectly. I also got some soft Velcro sports balls I use to hang things like these on the shopping cart to keep my youngest entertained while I shopped. I got two nuk pacifiers they are tied on the top layer the ribbon is tied to the giraffe. I make a bow with the left over ribbon and tied that to his neck. I also bought a brush and comb which and placed into the middle layers ribbon. Just make sure you secure the ribbons.

So here it is my first diaper cake now which one of the three expecting mothers is going to get this one? Two are having boys which is why I went with the boy theme. I am really wanting to do a girlie one next. I think I am hooked!!

Next time I will take pictures of the process so you get a better understanding of how these are done. I don't know who came up with this idea but I love it. There is also a stroller will be trying that one soon as well!!

How to get shoes clean

2012-04-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

I was sorting through clothes and toys today, trying to get something ready for a garage sale.
I came across a pair of white Reebok shoes I have bought for my middle son they had been sitting in a closet and were looking pretty worn out but just the right size for his younger brother. My Mother in law had told me years ago to use soft scrub to clean shoes.. Well it worked back then and it worked today.
I did have to use an old toothbrush as my boys really like playing in the mud and dirt it tends to follow them where ever they go..

one pair of dirty shoes and some soft scrub

liberally squeeze some on the shoe and since these were so bad I used an old toothbrush and swirled it around. This has bleach in it but it didn't bother the red and blue trim on the shoes.

Wipe off with a wet cloth and looking good!

They look almost new again and at least will give us an extra pair of shoes for the summer.

Easy bridal shower cake decorating

2012-04-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

Finished cake at my daughter's bridal shower

The Cake is an essential element for any celebration! You don't have to pay a lot of money or put in a lot of time, however adding some creative details and decorations to even the simplest of cakes can really make it special and unique as the bride herself.

When my daughter got engaged she wanted the two of us to make her cake. I did a cake for her sisters wedding a said I would never do another one but never say never.. We did the wedding cake together which was a lot of fun!

She and her husband had an outdoor wedding in the what is called the Calendar Garden which is full of flowers so we wanted to put flowers on the cake itself.

My daughter came up with most of this design for the flowers on top and how to keep them out of the frosting we did both play around with it until we got what we both liked.

You will need the circle of cardboard cake plates one smaller size than what your cake will be sitting on, for the topper. Wire cutters, glue gun, wax paper and lots of flowers!

Using the hot glue gun, glue the leaves around the outer edge sticking out just a bit to cover the white cardboard. The leaves are pretty easy to cut off the stems of the flowers you will be using later.

Just keep going in a circular pattern pretty easy and doesn't really take that long I did this whole cake in a day.

Next glue on another row of leaves and then the the middle leaves just like you did the first row.

Start gluing down your flowers I left part of the stem on and glued that part down sometimes you have to glue the flower itself too.


Just keep layering the flowers around your circle just like you did the leaves.


Once it is full it should look like a bouquet.

Use another one of the same size circle and trace out on wax or parchment paper and cut out the circle you need to glue this to the cardboard so it wont stick in the icing..

When you put the two layers of cake on the card board you want to also put a circle the same size of wax paper on that also.

I used a damp washcloth and gently wiped off all of the leaves and flowers before I decorated with them.

Set your leaves in first all the way around I did two sticking out from each flower

Push the flower stem under the wax paper that way when they are taken out and the cake is cut there aren't any stems in the cake itself.

This is the cake without the topper All you have to do is center it up on the top of the cake and lay it easily right on top. This one came up very easily with the wax paper but I think parchment would do even better. The wedding cake stuck just a little bit in the frosting.


Cake all put together with Topping took me a couple of hours not counting baking the cake to do this. It is really very simple and looks beautiful.

This is the bridal shower cake very simple and easy once you get the idea. I will blog the wedding cake a bit later. Have some baking tips also I learned after doing a few of these now. :)
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions feel free to ask!!
Happy baking and cake decorating!!

Easter dress for Emma our little princess/Diva

2012-04-18T23:31:00.004-07:00

I wanted to make my grand-daughters Easter dresses this year, this is the one I made for Emma. She loves pretty things and is our little princess ~ Diva.

Emma hunting eggs, I got her this little denim jacket and I thought it was kind of cute with the dress wasn't the plan but it worked.

The top and waist. I just took the sheer fabric in Purple and gathered it into two spots and sewed the two bows on the waist. The over skirt is done with the same sheer fabric only in pink. I also made two small bows and put them on the shoulder I was thrilled with my seams..


Emma hunting Easter eggs, she loved her dress and hunting eggs at Nana's house! I bought a simply patter and then just added my own things like the bows, the over skirt and the belt out of sheer fabric. If anyone would like the pattern number I would be happy to share it.

2012-04-16T22:50:00.001-07:00

Eating better and getting healthier!

My 2nd time cooking Almond chicken it was awesome!

Almond Chicken - I saw this recipe on Dr.OZ http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/almond-crusted-chicken-sweet-potatoes-and-asparagus
This is the original recipe from DR. Oz website. I did it with the asparagus the first time, I don't think I roasted that part long enough but everything else was great!!!

Ingredients
Serves 2

1/2 cup whole almonds, finely chopped
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, preferably pasture raised
1/2 lb fresh asparagus with the ends trimmed
1 large sweet potato
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 450° F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a small food processor, add the whole almonds and chop fine. Lay a piece of parchment on a flat surface. Sprinkle chopped almonds on top of parchment. Lay chicken on parchment paper. Coat each piece of chicken with the mustard and dredge in the almonds. Place coated chicken breasts on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Lay asparagus next to the chicken breasts. Slice the sweet potato into thin circles and lay next to asparagus. Lightly spray chicken, potatoes and asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cookie sheet in the oven. Bake for 10-13 minutes until chicken feels firm to the touch and is cooked through.

Recipe courtesy of Laurie Erickson

These are pictures of my second Almond chicken venture both were good but I learned that I need a food processor for those almonds.. Hammer and ziplock bag in a kitchen towel worked well. I love the taste of the mustard too I ran out of almonds and just dipped a couple of pieces in the mustard and cooked them like that.

I decided to make this one with fresh spinach and some tomatoes for a salad. I use fat free french my kids like ranch on theirs.. I also roasted the baby carrots right along with the sweet potatoes.

Add caption

I have a family of 5 so I cooked a LOT more chicken took up large cookie sheet alone and then did the sweet potatoes and baby carrots on another cookie sheet. I sprayed them with butter flavored cooking spray it gives them a little of buttery flavor and they look better.. I just didn't have any olive oil left.

I am determined to get healthy and will be posted other recipes and how they tasted soon.
I have lost only 5 lbs so far but just really kicked into high gear since Easter will see how it goes!!

My rating for this Almond chicken is an A++ I will be cooking it again really soon my entire family loves it!!!

Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter

2012-04-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

Holy week is the week leading up to Easter day. Starting with Palm Sunday when Jesus rode on a donkey and the people waved palm leaves and asked him to save them. Then there is "spy Wednesday",as a reference to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot, followed by Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Great Saturday and ending with Easter day.

Palm Sunday ~Is traditionally celebrated on the Sunday before Easter, in our church we pass out palm branches, some churches only give them to the children who walk in waving them in celebration of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees.

Spy Wednesday - (Which I just learned about )A reference to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.

Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday Great and Holy Thursday Thursday of Mysteries Covenant Thursday and Sheer Thursday.
The word “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word for “command.” The “Maundy” in Maundy Thursday refers to the command Jesus gave to the disciples at the Last Supper, that they should love and serve one another.

"The Lord's Supper points to Jesus Christ, whose body was given for us and whose shed blood established the new covenant. In sharing the bread and cup, each believer remembers the death of Jesus and God's act of deliverance in raising Jesus from the dead. As we relive this event with a common meal, we give thanks for all God's acts of deliverance in the past and present, for the forgiveness of sins, and for God's continuing grace in our lives."

In our church which is Mennonite, the lights are dim a short message remembering what lead up to the death of Jesus and a prayer. There is then a small meal usually of consisting of a soup. Foot washing and Communion.

John 13:14-17, He instructs them, 14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet." 15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." 16 "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." 17 "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

Good Friday -Many Christian churches celebrate Good Friday with a solemn service, usually in the evening, the lights are turned down low in some services. Christ’s death is remembered with solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Jesus suffering to save all of us from our sins. As Christians, the events of that day should be ever on our minds because the death of Christ on the cross is the paramount event of the Christian faith.

Holy Saturday - Is the Saturday before Easter, the last day of Lent and the day when Christ's body lay in His Tomb. In the early church Holy Saturday was a day of fasting and preparation for the Easter Vigil. In the early church this was always the time to baptize or 'christen' new Christian converts . They were then ready to take their first communion on Easter Sunday, the day of Resurrection. Christian baptisms symbolism death and resurrection and so it is very fitting for them to take place at this time of year. Most churches do not have a service on this day.

EASTER - Easter, which celebrates Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, is Christianity's most important holiday. Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is typically the most well-attended Sunday service of the year for Christian churches.
Christians believe, according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross.
It has been called a moveable feast because it doesn't fall on a set date every year, as most holidays do. Instead, Christian churches in the West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox on March 21. Therefore, Easter is observed anywhere between March 22 and April 25 every year.

We as Christians celebrate our new lives in Christ. He died for our sins on the cross and was raised again after three days. I found a wonderful children's books called What is Easter by Michelle Medlock Adams. This is for younger children and I love the easy way it explains things. Easter is not about eggs or candy it is about the gift God gave to all of us, his son!

Thanks for reading!! God bless you and may you have a wonderful and blessed Holy week and a happy Resurrection or Easter!!

resources: http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/art.13.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday
http://christianity.about.com/od/holidaytips/qt/whatisgoodfrida.htm

My own experiences

Easy to make keepsake candle

2012-04-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of the easiest crafts I have ever done and it looks so nice.
This is one of my youngest son to show you how to make them.

This is the finished candle

This is ALL you need one nice candle, wax paper print a copy of a favorite photo grab a rubber band and your blow dryer

Tape with clear tape the picture you printed a regular photo is too think us photo paper in your printer. Wrap some wax paper around the candle even up the bottom with your candle. Tap the Use the rubber band to hold the top of paper in place.

You do need to start at the bottom remember you taped you picture on the candle once you get the bottom to stick reach in and pull that tape off. Now keep warming up your wax paper until it covers the candle the wax on the paper heats up and will adhere to the picture and candle.

It looks like the picture was made in the candle, completely smooth. This is my youngest at 9 months

Once it cools off you simply, take the left over paper off the wax is now on your candle and covering the picture. I did try the really cheap candles and they chip very easily and white or Ivory candles work best. The color candles ran.

If you have any questions just leave me a comment. I would be happy to answer them.
Thanks for stopping by!!

Other websites and blogs:

http://pinterest.com/sherrymartz/
https://www.facebook.com/sherrymartz
http://bloggingforfas.blogspot.com/

Simple keepsake family book for a baby

2012-03-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

This is a simple keepsake family book I made for my youngest granddaughter it is mostly iron on and glued which makes it pretty simple. I did hand sew the quit binding on and had to stitch with my machine in the middle of the book to hold it together.

I made this little cloth book for my granddaughter when she was a year old for Christmas. My daughter and her family live in another state and we had talked when her oldest daughter was little that it would be nice to have pictures of us for her to point out. It took me awhile to figure out how it would be safe to give a book to a baby and them be able to chew on it and whatever..

This is Emma, the Christmas she got the book, doesn't look real thrilled at whatever Mommy is trying to get her to eat..

I don't have any pictures of the book, as I was making it. I tend to just create as I go so I am going to try to tell you..

I used fabric I had left over from the baby quilt I made for her older sister and the pink ruffle is also from the quilt I used for binding, it worked nicely to cover both edges. One of the few things actually sewn on. I laid it out as a cover and used a thick batting to stabilize it I also to help with that use wonder under and ironed it together both sides of the batting to both sides of the cover this gave it more strength.

since I wanted my pictures to show up I used plain white fabric. I used the iron on printer paper now they have where you can print right on the fabric which would have saved a lot of time.

I cut out all of the fabric so it would be the same size and then took the pictures and laid out how many I wanted to do. I have posted (some) of them here.

I found some cute ribbons and iron on appliques and some small gems at the craft store. I used Arlene's no sew glue to glue those on and last time I saw the book about 6 months ago everything was still in place. The only struggle I had was after so many pages were in it, got thick I ran two seems down the middle pages of the book and it has held up very nicely pretty much looks brand new.

The idea was that she would have a book and could see our faces when she wanted since we don't live that close and only get to see them a few times a year. I wanted it to be something that she could carry around and no one had to worry about her choking on anything or that she was messing up good pictures.

After I glued on the gems I tried my hardest to pull them back off once they dried none of them gave at all so I figured we were pretty safe.. I had a lot of fun making this and I hope this will be something Emma will pass on to her children maybe she will even add some more pictures to it.

This is the front of the book I used iron on appliques I found at the store.

I ironed on the pictures, first this is a picture of my husband's parents and my daughters before they were married this way she had Granny and Pop in it also.

My husband and I, I always tell the kids including my sons that when they see a heart it means I love them so it seemed appropriate to put here.

Great Grandfather


My husband and I with our two granddaughters, this was made for the baby, Emma I am holding.

These are just little butterfly gems I glued onto the page and went around the page with some polka dot ribbon.

Granny Sue (great grandmother) holding Emma, they live 25 hours away so this was a rare occasion.

Stripped ribbon glues around the picture with heart and flower gems glued in the corners.

My three boys, technically her uncles

My husband and I with our daughters when they were in high school at a friends wedding.

Me holding Emma at her first birthday party I made this book right after this.

My daughter, Emma's Mother and my husband


My youngest daughter after her wedding.

Books for children about adoption

2012-03-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Really cool books for children about adoption I found all of these on Amazon.com and thought I would share some of the ones I really connected with. You can go to Amazon and read more about each one or put the name in a search if you prefer I happen to use Amazon. Hope you find something you like!

A Blessing from Above (Little Golden Book)

Patti Henderson (Author), Elizabeth Edge (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2004 | Age Level: 2 and up | Series: Little Golden Book

Every night before she goes to sleep, a kangaroo prays under the stars for a baby to love and hold. One day, as she rests under a tree, a baby bird falls out of its crowded nest—plop!—right into her pouch! Now, every night before they fall asleep, Momma-Roo and Little One thank God for all their blessings . . . but especially for each other.

The book closes with a quote from Ephesians 1:5: “In love he destined us for adoption to himself. . .

From Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375828664/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_ywgDpb0GQJ4Q8

I Wished for You: an Adoption Story (Mom's Choice Award Recipient, Book of the Year Award, Creative Child Magazine)

Author: Marianne Richmond

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2008 | Age Level: 2 and up

I Wished for You: an adoption story follows a conversation between Barley Bear and his Mama as they curl up in their favorite cuddle spot and discuss how they became a family. Barley asks Mama the questions many adopted children have, and Mama lovingly answers them all.

http://www.amazon.com/Wished-You-Adoption-Recipient-Creative/dp/1934082066/ref=pd_luc_sim_01_01_t_lh

Rosie's Family: An Adoption Story

Lori Rosove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001 | Age Level: 4 and up

Rosie's Family is a story about belonging in a family regardless of differences. Rosie is a beagle who was adopted by schnauzers. She feels different from the rest of her family and sets forth many questions that children who were adopted may have.

http://www.amazon.com/Rosies-Family-An-Adoption-Story/dp/0968835406/ref=pd_sim_b_6

This is a pretty cool journal or diary for you adopted child. I am doing a scrapbook for each of my boys and will be putting some of the same type of things in those. I really liked this one though if you are not into scrap-booking!

My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families

Zoe Francesca (Author), Susie Ghahremani (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2007

For the growing audience of adoptive families, Chronicle Books is proud to offer a baby book that suits the wide array of experiences and choices that bring a family and their new child together. This lovely keepsake album contains sections to record all the joyful milestones and cherished family moments that mark a new baby's life, pages to chart the adopted child's unique journey, as well as a sturdy pocket in which to store important documents and memorabilia. Inside the pocket are over 60 stickers you can use to customize the family tree pages. As the pages of the journal fill with memories, My Family, My Journey will stand as a lasting testament of love for the entire family.

From Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/My-Family-Journey-Adoptive-Families/dp/0811857379/ref=pd_sim_b_6

You Are My Wish Come True [Hardcover]

Marianne Richmond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2008 | Age Level: 2 and up

You are my Wish come True, is a tender tale of devotion between a parent and child. Settled into their favorite cuddle spot, Mama reassures Barley that he was wished for, prayed for and waited for. And that he is far more beautiful and precious than she could have ever imagined!Endearing prose and charming watercolor illustrations make these books delightful ways to cozy up with a beloved child.

http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Wish-Come-True/dp/1934082252/ref=pd_sim_b_14

Forever Fingerprints: An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Children [Library Binding]

Sherrie Eldridge (Author), Rob Williams (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2007 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

For adopted children, learning about their beginnings and how they understand what that means to them is a process. It doesn't happen at one point in time, but rather throughout the experiences of life. In this heartwarming children s book, Forever Fingerprints uses a common occurrence a relative s pregnancy as a springboard for discussions on birth parents, where adopted children are before they are born, and how that makes one little girl feel about it. Lucie is excited to feel a baby moving in her Aunt Grace s tummy but it makes her think of how she understands her adoption story in a different way. The tools offered in this book help her to create a unique connection to her birth parents, allow how she is feeling to surface and to be discussed, and give Lucie s parents the chance to reinforce their love for her, to empathize with her feelings and to honor her past. This book book resonates with 7 year olds and adults who have discovered that the feelings and emotions are shared by so many. While it looks like a simple children's book, this book helps parents and children create a family connection and strong foundation for discussing adoption questions. It's a veritable toolbox for adoptive families with a parent guide at the end of the book on how to open adoption discussion and a wonderful connection to birth parents for every adopted person, regardless of their age, with their fingerprints.

From Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Fingerprints-Amazing-Discovery-Children/dp/0972624430/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333035691&sr=1-8

Why do Children lie?

2012-03-28T07:35:00.001-07:00

Why oh why do they lie?

My eight year old son Tyler would be classified as a compulsive liar. I am sure you have heard the saying, “ I know you are lying because your lips are moving.” I needed to find some answers and while these do not cover all of the reasons children tell lies. Some of them have lead me to discover a couple of things like why the lies started and why he holds on to them.

Tyler is adopted, he also has fetal alcohol syndrome. In the past he needed to lie to survive or at least he saw it that way. He lied to get what he needed or wanted. He lied to keep from being mistreated although I doubt this made much difference. He also learned to lie to get people's attention and keep it. The two types of lies, we deal with now is to get our attention and because it has just become a habit. I have to remind myself in all the behaviors Tyler has he thought he needed in the past to survive they then became tools and habits. He doesn't let go of his behaviors very easily and there are somethings no one will ever really know about his behaviors but we keep on working and we do see results, it is a very slow progress but progress is still progress. It helps to think back three of four years ago at where we started and then look at how far we have come.
This is a list of some of the reason children lie:

They don't know what's true. Children who behave impulsively may not be fully aware of what they've done. Children who have trouble with language processing, many children with special needs including fetal alcohol syndrome and autism have this problem. They simply may not have understood what was asked or expected.

They can't predict cause and effect. I can remember watching Sesame street and the little girl has a balloon and she wants to pop it. She thinks it through if I pop this balloon it will wake up the baby. If I wake up the baby my Mommy will be angry with me. Some children with special needs can not connect cause and effect. This is also something toddlers have to learn which is why many of them use the word “no” how many times do they hear it in a day?

They know the truth will make you angry. If a child has done something wrong and you confront the child. Many will lie to try to avoid the consequences for the behavior. Some will lie because they do not want you to think badly of them.

They're just trying to get your attention or the attention of others. Some children will make up stories to get your attention.

They are guessing at what they think you want to hear, My son knows because he lies most of the time we probably are not going to believe what he is telling us so sometimes he will just guess at what he thinks we want to hear. Thus lying again we keep telling him we only want the truth.

They lie because it has become a habit At some time in their lives they learned lying worked for them and now it has become a habit.

They lie because they have oppositional defiant disorder - This just what is sounds like ODD another thing Tyler deals with. He does the opposite of what he knows we want him to do much of the time but not all of it. He has good days and bad days with this. I believe many of his lies come from this disorder. Another special needs.

Now what do you do when your child lies, here are a few suggestions:

Be clear and even-tempered in your expectations. Yelling will likely result in more lies.

Children who are compulsive liars need to be monitored closely so you know what they are doing. Tyler tends to steal also and has other behaviors he will lie about. He has to be supervised when he is downstairs.

Ask your child what they think you believed happened. I found this in Nancy Thomas' book, “When Love is Not Enough." I really like it and use it a lot of the time. It cuts out all the back and forth and the attention seeking also stops anymore lies.

Make sure you have your child's attention when you ask a question. My children are often slow to respond as many special needs children are. Give them some time when they are under the stress of having just been caught stealing or lying they will take longer to respond but you don't have to stand there and wait. I have gotten so I will send them to sit on the steps or to their room to think about it and then they can come and tell me when they are ready. Remember too, some children don't care about the consequences and now have your attention.

Take "I don't know" as an answer at times this is the answer, they really might not know why.

Respect your child's own reality. My youngest son tells me the bath water is too hot for him when it is warm he has to have it at room temperature to him this is his truth. My husband put him in a warm bath the other night and when I came home he told me Daddy put him in really hot water. His truth, reality was it was warm water. To him the water felt hot so this was not a lie it was his truth.

Model honesty in your household. If a child hears you lying they are going to learn to tell lies and they aren't going to understand why this behavior is unacceptable by you.

Try not to become angry and keep your tone even. I know this is not easy to do when you are stressed out from dealing with lying all day long or other behaviors since lying typically doesn't come alone.

One of the things I do also is, when the boys answer me with a lie I will tell them, let's wipe that one away and I use my hand like eraser on a chalkboard and make small circles with my hand, they will follow the motion and then I say ok let's try the truth this time. I only do this twice to give them the chance at working through it.You do have to let the lies they told first go for us we are breaking a habit and that is much more important that it took us going through two lies to get there. Deal with the thing that was lied about not the lies once the truth has been told.

Please feel free to add to my list, I read a lot on line, books on RAD, ADHD, FAS and adopting children with special needs and have take several foster parenting courses, so not all of these are my own findings as I am not an expert and I am sure I left many reason out and many ways of effectively dealing with the lying. For us I think Nancy Thomas' ask they what they think you believe happened has worked well. The other thing that has worked for me is to erase the lie and start over.

Life is crazy..

2012-03-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

I Had a rough morning with my oldest son, Tyler (8) which is pretty normal then I backed up out of the garage and it sounded like I was dragging something.. hmmm maybe because there was a bike under my van.. Got it out and I think only the training wheel was damaged..
I was pretty sure I was late since no one was in the fellowship hall so I rushed up the steps only to find the sanctuary empty. We WERE EARLY! So a couple of men got a good laugh about that.. I was like wow did the rapture happen and I got left behind with the two of you? Just my luck!! Ha ha! My husband had taken our two little ones to Sunday school with him so it was just Tyler and I..
Church finally gets started and of course even though I was there 15 minutes early I am still one of the last ones in. Somehow I manage to be late even when I am early it's ok though they have given up on me being in the pew on time. I am usually chasing one of my boys around trying to get us all in the same place at the same time can be a challenge.
Church was really good this morning really enjoyed the message and the singing.. Not to mention getting to play with the baby behind me. What a joy and blessing to have her and "those adults" who come with her in our church family. Not everything happens the way we want or expect but God's hand it in it just the same.
I did leave right after though wanted to get Tyler home he was in one of his moods and that isn't good. He was not even being nice to people at church which is becoming more and more the case. Some of that is kind of good because they get to see the boy we see everyday and not the fake one he use to show people. I just wish he could be happy.. I have faith that one day he will. Today was not that day, not for him.
My husband put Stephan's (6) loft bed into Christopher's (4) bedroom Oh my the fun the two of them had! The mess and noise they made though, the two of them are best friends and two peas in a pod! We have been trying to figure out how to get Christopher to sleep in his own bed and tonight he went upstairs after prayers and got into his own bed and went to sleep! YAY!! He did come back down one time and my husband took him to the bathroom and then back to his own bed. So far so good usually he is back up again for hours! Well he is now back down here but he sleeping on the couch pretty good it is almost 1 am..
I checked my face book this afternoon to find that a friend who had passed away several months ago, her sister who my friends and I had become closer too, daughter has passed away too. Her daughter was also special needs I believe she was in her early 20's. I don't want to question God because I know he knows what he is doing but wow to lose a child has to be one of the worse pains a parent can endure. My heart has been breaking for her all day. It was so hard to even type on her page how sorry I was because words just can't express it enough. Everything I typed just didn't seem to compare to what I was really feeling for her. I don't think there are any magic words at times like these. The I am so sorry and you are in my thoughts and prayers just seem like so little and yet what else can you say? What do you say to a mother who has just lost her child?
Back to church.. during prayers I spoke about my own daughter my oldest she is flying across the US this morning to interview at two plants both seem to really want her, this would mean she and her family, our two grand-daughters would be moving. It is a great opportunity for her and an increase in pay. I am so very proud of her but as her mother it is hard to let go. They are six hours away as it is so to think of 30 hours is a bit hard. She was also recently diagnosed with EDS, her oldest daughter also has it..She has open heart surgery two years ago which is what lead to the discovery of the EDS in our family. My daughter her mother begin to research and found this which is good since she has a sever case of it. My husband has it and it is also in my family, though it is a rare disorder.. yep leave it to us to be able to make it not so rare.. This is what worries me more than anything, her health has not been good but after hearing about my friends daughter it seems like this is so much more of a blessing than I first thought. I am going to miss her like crazy and the girls too but at least I know they are safe and they are alive! I can pick up the phone and call her and I will still be able to email her.
So I was feeling a bit petty having asked for prayers when my daughter is only moving and we don't even know if she will take either job though pretty sure she will..
Twenty years or so ago.. my husband and I moved our little family at the time from TX to IN. I remember my mother in law crying and I didn't totally understand her pain. Now as a mother I do. I also understand why my daughter, whom my husband and I raised to be strong and independent would do the same for her family. I am going to support and encourage her she is a wonderful young woman and I very proud of her and very thankful that she will only be on the other end of the country from me. I do reserve the right to cry however even if it is when she isn't around.. I know she will miss us too I mean who wouldn't?
So tonight my husband and I got to sit and talk without a child in between us making noise. God has shown me that it is ok for my daughter to move 30 hours away because he will be there with her as he always has been.
I am also very proud of my youngest daughter who is very supportive of her sister and really does encourage her too. When they were little and would fight I use to make them say they were sorry and hug.. I use to always hear when we grow up you can't make me hug her! I don't have too! They love each other so much and that makes me feel so good too.. God has filled my life with so many blessings and while I grieve for my friend's loss I am humbled by the blessings God has reminded me that I have today.

Train Bed

2012-03-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

My youngest son Christopher loves trains, he loves "Thomas the train" so I came up with an idea to build him a train bed..

I came up with the idea so my husband got to do the building.. I drew up a basic plan and he did the work, we went to Menard's and found things like the black pipe for the smoke stack and the round pieces of wood for the face which I painted and four smaller ones all pre-cut for the wheels of the train.

The bed is a long twin size because I designed it with a fairly wide book shelves on the headboard and another book shelf to hold toys on the foot board which I would make a bit narrower if I did it again just because it is longer.

Robert working on getting the smoke stack in

Attached the face and wheels on it and did some of the painting

The face is painted on a round piece of wood from Menard's

Christopher climbing on his new bed

Side view of the train, still have a little more detail to put on it

Head board is a two shelf bookshelf

End view of the bed in Christopher's room

Foot board which has a bookshelf too
if I did this again we would leave off this shelf
as the bed is a bit long

Other than the length I am very happy with the way the bed came out. Most of all Christopher loves his train bed and that is what really matters!

cowgirl skirt made from bandanas

2012-03-09T15:30:00.002-08:00

Emma in her cowgirl skirt

Even petting a real horse don't worry Mom and Dad, its an Amish horse!

This horse might look tamer but it is NOT Amish!

My granddaughter Emma loves horses, Jessie from Toy Story and dressing up like a princess. I had an idea after seeing another skirt to make her one out of bandanas. You can get them in so many colors and with so many different things on them now. This is a pretty easy skirt to make and doesn't take a seasoned seamstress to make it.

This is the backside with a white T-shirt and I just tied a bandanna around his neck.

My granddaughter Emma loves horses, Jessie from Toy Story and dressing up like a princess. I had an idea after seeing another skirt, the scrap skirt, to make her one out of bandanas. You can get them in so many colors and with so many different things on them now. This is a pretty easy skirt to make and doesn't take a seasoned seamstress to make it.

Bandannas I got these are Walmart for a 1.00 each

I washed them all and then folded then into a triangle. I then folded one side to the front and one side to the back.

layout the bandanna after washing

Fold it into a triangle just flip one side over

Fold one side down matching up the points


I folded the last corner to the back side, it is also the corner that says made in China

I cut one of the pink bandannas' like the one above with the hearts on it to make the waist band. I used my son to measure since the two are the same size. I also measured a piece of elastic don't put this in yet.

First fold the tip top of the folded bandanna as seen above. I turned it over about an inch and a half and sewed it onto one side of the waist band. Sew the waist band with the right or front side facing the bandannas. You are going to sew all of them.

The nest step is to close the waist band fold the back side of the waist band to the back and line it up pin it together and sew through the bandannas to attach the back side. Once you do this run your elastic through the waist band this establishes the waits band I used a wide piece of elastic.

Last step I sewed the bandannas together you can do this by hand if you like or on the machine. You just don't want the bandannas separating when your child is wearing the skirt. I only sewed about half way. This isn't a perfect science as some of the bandannas are going to be shorter or a bit longer just sew it however far you feel you need too. I sewed about an inch and a half to two inches. You want to make sure and only sew the edges together and allow the skirt to flow naturally. I basically sewed from the waist down to the first point and allowed the rest to hang down.

The finished skirt


Ok Mom enough already! I only tried it on for my best friend Emma!

had to leave this one!! lol

.. and this ends my sons modeling career at least for now...
Who knows what Mom will come up with next!

http://pinterest.com/sherrymartz/

Potty training made easy for children with and without special needs

2012-03-03T10:47:00.002-08:00

Potty training are you ready?

These are some simple steps which have worked for me to potty train, special needs children two of them with fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive attachment disorder, two with autism as well as three hard to train children. I have also potty trained four girls, two of my own who were trained before the age of two using these same steps.

Christopher's 2nd birthday in his big boy pants

Many children with fetal alcohol syndrome, Autism and other special needs can NOT be potty trained at the age of two, three or even four. This is because the brain doesn't tell the child he/she needs to go. Sometimes they are just simply not ready yet. Your child must be emotionally ready. He/She should want to go and not show any signs of fear or confusion. If your child is extremely resistant then it would be best on parents and child to wait a bit longer. I did use pull ups with my youngest who is very bright even though he does have fetal alcohol syndrome, it took a year of working with him for him to finally get the idea of what he was suppose to be doing. This took a great deal of time on my part but it was worth it to go slow with him. At three he was completely potty trained, he doesn't even have accidents except at night.

Two things you have to remember is to keep it positive and simple.

Take time to stop, watch and talk for a few days!

– Before you begin to potty train, you need to stop and watch your child, watch for facial expression that come just before they pee or have a bowel movement. Watch to see what time of day your child normally goes poop and pee. Watch for signs your child is going pee or poop in their diaper and let them know this is what they are doing. This helps them connect going pee or poop to the feeling they have at the time. Most children actually have a natural schedule of when they go each day. This way you can make sure you have them on the potty when it is time to start training at those critical moments this will help your child to succeed and feel proud.

- Watch to see what foods your child is eating that causes them to go more. This might be carrots or broccoli could also be a milk product. Each child is different but it is always good to start out having them try to go after each meal if their bodies do not have a consistent schedule. I give my children Raisin bran if they have not been going regularly for breakfast and they go pretty quick after they eat it. Apples are also a great way to get your child going poop or apple juice at a certain time each day will help you know when they need to go. Watch to see how long It takes them to go after they eat the apple or drink juice. Also lots of water is always important for your child.

- Buy a good potty chair, explain to the child he is a big boy/girl now and you are going to pick him/her out a special potty just for them. Keep this very positive and if possible allow your child to help pick out his/her “big boy/girl potty.

Be excited and your child will be excited too.

- Buy“big boy/girl pants", make sure to buy plastic pants also at least 8-12 pairs. Expect your child to have accidents and deal with them calmly. The thicker training pants are best to start with and are more cost effective.

- Talk to your child, explain that they are big now and big kids go on the potty. Explain to them that you as parents use the potty, you could also let them see a slightly older sibling if there is one using the potty. I know some people take their child in the bathroom with them that is fine if this is what you chose to do..

Christopher being silly with his new big boy pants

Time to Potty train

You are going to need to have a piece of paper, some stickers and some toys from the dollar store.If you child is special needs there are other suggestions at the end.

Now
that you are ready, lets get your child ready!

Step 1 - Is your child ready to try out his potty chair? You can put the chair in a common room at first so he/she can sit on it when they want. This gets them use to this new special chair just for her/him. It helps to relieve the fear of it all. This is a new concept to your child don't rush it.

I am gonna figure this out I promise!

Step 2- You should still be talking to your child about using the potty. Explain to him or her that they are now ready to go pee and poop in this new special child and how proud you are that he/she is so big. Again always be excited and positive and always expect some hesitation. Your child most likely is NOT going to jump up and down for joy if they think this is going to be a chore.

Step 3- Take a piece of paper and write your child's name at the top of it. You can have your child color it, if you want. Hang the paper on the wall with tape or put it on the fridge with magnets. A place where it is easy to get too. This is where you will need your stickers. Explain in simple terms that when your child is a “big boy/girl” and goes pee or poop on the potty he/she will get a sticker on their paper. Now you take out the bag of toys, not too many toys only 3-5 since you don't want to over stimulate the child when he sees them. Now explain to your child once his page is filled up with stickers he will get to pick a toy out of the bag. Start off with a lower number of stickers so your child is able to reach his goal and get one of those toys. I would suggest five or six for a few days then you can move up the number needed.

Another first for me when all else fails, was giving my son M&Ms when he went potty. For children who have special needs you will have to do more and this worked well for him. Just make sure you have enough of them on hand.

Step4– Ask your child if he wants to try to go pee or poop on his new big boy potty. If he says no, this time wait and try again later. Keep positive and know some children just take longer to train.

Step 5 – The "BIG MOMENT" comes and he wants to sit on his potty and try to go pee. You go into the bathroom with him. Do not expect your child to go his first try and give him time. Have a couple of books already in the bathroom you can sit down on the floor next to him and read one of them to him. If he doesn't go tell him that it is okay, he can try again later and praise him for trying to go.

If he goes then praise him, clap your hands, dance around with him, hug him, this is a huge thing he has done. Tell him, “I have a big boy/girl now!!” Have him call Grandma and tell her he is a big boy and went pee on the potty or other supportive family members or friends your child is close to. Make sure he tells Daddy and make sure everyone knows ahead of time that their role is to be supportive and they too need to make a huge deal out of his first time. This will set what he does or doesn't do next into motion. All children love positive attention and I have found children with special needs need it even more. You want all the positive attention you can get for him/her going pee or poop on the potty.

Step 6 – “The accident” and there will be many. Know it, expect and accept it before it happens. Tell your child that it is okay, we all have accidents now we need to get you cleaned up. Clean him up and have him help wash out his underwear in the bathtub or sink, never the toilet, that is demeaning for a child or anyone else. Have a bucket ready in the bathroom to put the wet underwear in. Do not scold your child this is something he has not learned to control yet. Cleaning his underwear out should be just something you need to do, not a punishment but a fact. They are wet and need to be washed this teaches him how to clean them himself for later on. Don't dwell on the accident giving him too much attention for the accident will cause him to have more.

Step 7 – He goes on the potty again, praise him, hug him, clap for him or dance with him but make it fun! Once again, you have to set the tone and you have to always praise the behavior you want in any situation with your child. This is what you want to give him lots of attention for. Have your support people do the same rather it is Daddy, Grandma or other people. Make sure to give your child a sticker to put on their potty page.

Step 8 -Once your child has done well on the potty with only a couple of accidents. For children without special needs this should happen within two weeks. He should have been able to fill up a couple of sticker sheets by now and has the hang of it. At least one a week, If he hasn't done well the first two weeks continue as you have been. Make sure to give very little attention to the accidents, no scolding only tell him he is a big boy now and pee goes in the potty if you believe he is able to do so.

It is very tiring to go on the potty all the time!

If there are more accidents than not, your child might not be ready yet. This is the only time I would ever put a pull up on a child as I believe them to be very confusing. You can use them at night however explain to the child this is just because it is harder to go potty at night but you expect him to use the potty during the day. A pull up feels too much like a diaper and for over two – three years they have gone potty in a diaper. You want them to know when they have gone in underwear they will feel when they go pee o poop and they will want the dirty underwear off, so they are more likely to tell you they are wet.

Step 9 – If your child is getting it down, then increase the amount of stickers needed to get the new toy. This will help him to have more motivation to make it to the potty on time. Most children will get busy playing and not want to stop playing to go potty, this is normal. You need to tell you child at this point he is a big boy and you expect him to go pee on the potty. These days the praise is not as strong as you want him to get in the habit of going. You still need to give praise however and a hug can never hurt a child.

The more praise you give in the good times, the more good times you are going to GET!

Step 10 – Your child is dry during the day now but not at night. Bed wetting is very common in special needs children as it is in normal children. Some simple things you can do to help, is no more drinks two hours before bedtime expect for a small one right before bedtime. Make sure to send your child to the bathroom each night just before they go to bed, they should try rather they need to go or not this should become part of your bedtime routine. You also need to send your child to the bathroom before you leave your house tell them to try if they can't go no big deal.

If they pee at night do not make a big deal out of it simply get them dry underwear and PJ's. Do not give a lot of attention at this time either. Just help them get changed and back into bed. If this happens keep them in pull ups. Then give them a sticker each morning they wake up dry on their paper. This will also encourage them to try to stay dry if they are able. If they are not able, then they just don't get a sticker.

I am such a big boy now!!
Christopher age 3 fully potty trained

For hard to train or special needs children

If your child is special needs and is not using the potty you can stop and try again when he is older. Do not force it as I said in the beginning some children with FAS, Autism, mental retardation and other special needs are not able to control when they go potty or to even feel when they need to go. Also many special needs children are not at the same emotion level as other children. You have to learn your child and what he/she is capable of. Don't give up completely, even if you have gone to pull ups encourage your child to use the potty chair and continue the over praising when they go.
It took me a year with my youngest but I am so glad we went slow with him. Yes, I praised him every time he used the potty for a year we gave him M&Ms and sometimes sour patch kids which he seemed to like better. When you have a child with special needs you have to do things differently. Plus every child is different what works for most might not work for one or two. You have to be fixable.
The most important thing you can do for yourself and your child during this time is to keep it stress free and positive.
Another thing to expect is that they are going to at some time check out peeing on the floor maybe even going poop on the floor. Remember expect it and accept it, this is just part of learning something new to your child. Let them help clean it up and with a normal tone explain that this goes in the potty you can have them repeat it. Pee goes in the potty or poop goes in the potty. Once again no punishment, it wont help and could very well set your child back.

I made a picture chart showing each step of going on the potty. I took a picture of the potty chair, then a picture of Christopher sitting on the potty chair, a picture of him smiling and then a picture of my husband and I clapping, and ended it with a picture of Christopher washing his hands. I put a caption under each picture not for him but so that we could read the potty picture story to him. I put it up on a wall in my living room because that is the room he is in the most.
This is also the time to use candy or other small treats as a reward you can slowly stop giving these as the child gets better at going potty. Christopher has been potty trained for over a year now but once in awhile he will ask for a sour patch kid and I give him one. Most of the time he doesn't even tell me he is going potty anymore he just goes.

I always gave my kids two stickers for going poop for some reason kids really fight that one if you are doing M&Ms give two for poop and one for pee. It helps.

Tips for children and babies who have special needs

2012-02-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Helpful tips for babies and children with Fetal alcohol syndrome

Sleep problems: Try a quiet, dark room I like to rock babies to sleep however Christopher wanted none of that. A nice warm bath and lotion after can help relax them. Avoid sensory stimulation before trying to get them to sleep like watching cartoons on TV.
FAS babies and children usually do not sleep as much as other babies. My husband would sit at night with our youngest, Christopher on his chest as he watched TV while I got some sleep. My six year old Stephen and my four year old Christopher, sleep better with music or nature sounds on in his room as well.
Tyler is over stimulated by the same sounds so it doesn't work for him
All three of our boys still wake up through the night. I have tired lavender soap and lotion, teas to relax them, there are only a couple of things we have used that have helped, Melatonin and Clonidine. We do have a bedtime routine to help them calm down also. Usually a story, snack, rocking and bedtime prayers.

Christopher in his favorite place to sleep

Eating problems: With an infant, try using a preemie nipple, with my son I changed to Nuk and that helped him. It sometimes takes them much longer to eat than other babies the sucking reflex isn't always as strong. You can gently stroke their cheeks to help encourage sucking. Expect feedings to take longer and you might try feeding them less and more often.
We found out at the age of 2 when we were still dealing with major eating problem with Christopher that his tonsils and adenoids were very large they were removed when he was almost 3. This greatly interfered with his eating, it has improved, however he does still have problems eating. We offer a reward for what we call a “happy plate” which means he ate all of his food. We give him small portions so he is able to achieve his goal and get the reward usually a small piece of candy, he can always have more food if he wants it. We also still at the age of 4 find ourselves feeding him about half way through the meal. He can use a fork and spoon but once he has enough in his stomach so that he doesn't feel hungry he wants to be up and running. We do time out now that he is 4 when he gets up from the table he understands he has to sit if he is going to be in the dinning room while we are eating. He is allowed to go up to his room and play if he doesn't want to eat. Meal times are very hectic in our home still but we are slowly getting there. While we struggle to get Christopher to eat. Tyler doesn't know when to stop eating and will eat very fast he has gotten sick many times so it is up to me to be his external brain and have him slow down and tell him he has had enough.

Christopher weighed only 5lbs 3 ounces at five days old.

Failure to thrive: Try not to worry about the height and weight charts. It is normal for the child with FAS to be in the 5% percentile. As a baby, Christopher did much better once I started giving him baby cereal in an infant feeder. He also ate better when I started spoon feeding him. It took him a long time to catch up in his height and weight he and Stephen were always at the bottom of the scale while Tyler was always at the top.
Ask your doctor about giving your baby vitamins. I give my children vitamins still just to make sure they are getting what their bodies need.
Use your best judgment when trying to get them to eat, you know your baby or child better than anyone else. If your child starts loosing weight consult your doctor.


Christopher 8 months old stealing my ice cream

Developmental delays: Your child might need speech therapy, occupational therapy, and/or physical therapy.
We used first steps with Christopher, a therapist came to our home once a week and worked with him. Occupational therapy, OT includes Sensory Integration therapy. He responded well and we felt good that he was on target.

Normal milestones for FAS children are typically: walking at age 2, talking around age 3. All children do things at their own pace so don't worry if your child is early or a bit late on these. Christopher was rolling over at only a couple weeks old he liked being on his stomach, he was scooting around on his stomach at that time also, he started climbing at 3 months, that was a bit scary at times. He was pulling up at 8 months and walking at 14 months and he was talking using one to two words at 6 months, he didn't start using sentences until after 2 years.

IQ tests for preschoolers often show higher scores than in they do in school years. Christopher was tested once he was 3 and moving out of first steps, he did test very high. The delays in social and emotional development might not be really obvious until around age ten. Don't wait till your child starts school you can teach them with the world around you.
Christopher is very bonded to my husband and I and is pretty social around people he had known all of his life. Since he was so bonded and also advanced we have put him in preschool two days a week for 3 hours each day, he is very quiet totally unlike at home, though his teacher says he is getting better at singing and playing in a smaller group of children. We do see the emotional delays in hi. While he is very intelligent he is easily frustrated and throws some fits more like a 2 year old child would. Stephen is emotionally more like a 2-3 year old also. Tyler is closer to a 4-5 year old now. We are having them tested again soon.

Stephen at age 3 2009 the date on the picture is wrong

Stephen was very delayed in his speech at age 3 the only word he said was Mama. He was also very small for his age and still is. He had a difficult time learning his colors and letters. It took over a year for him to learn colors. We focused on each color we had red day, red week ect. I spent a lot of time on colors everyone kept telling me he is color blind but he would have it one day and it was gone the next. This seems to be a normal thing for some children with FAS.F

My husband and I worked with him on his speech a great deal and we still do and he is now close to where he should be at age 6. We didn't know about First steps when he first came to us at almost 3 or we would have used them to help. We also didn't know he had FAS at that time.

Potty training: Some FAS experts say: "It is common for the child with FAS to still be having issues around potty training at age 6 or even later. The neural pathways are not yet well-formed, as the brain development progresses, there will be progress. Sensory input is sometimes not functioning properly, and the message does not get from the body to the brain in time to act. Also, some sleep-aid medications (like Clonidine) may increase night-time bed wetting. Absolutely avoid punishment for accidents, no matter how old the child is. This is almost always a neurological issue, rather than a psychological one."

Stephen (Tig) feeling proud in his big boy pants age 2.7

I have potty trained successfully my three children with FAS. My 6 year old never has accidents day or night anymore. It did take some time to get there though. He was potty trained at the age of 3 but had accidents once in awhile until he was 4.
My youngest Christopher wanted to start using the potty off and on at 2, I never pushed him and we did use pull ups something I have never done before. It took a year of only positive encouragement and except for night time wetting, he is 100% potty trained. It seemed going slow with potty training was the right thing to do with our boys!
I will be posting a blog about how I potty trained my boys in more details later.

Some of the things FAS children deal with:

Poor impulse control – More recently, the study of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Developmental Characteristics and Directions for further Research (1994) reported that children afflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) are less able to delay gratification; indicating, perhaps, that poor impulse control might originate biologically, in the brain.
Source: Wikipedia

These special children need close supervision at all times. Child-proof the house as much as possible. I packed up everything I really didn't want broken still at the ages of 4, 6 and 8 my important breakables remain packed up. I also had my husband and a good friend make me some shelves that are very high up, well out of the boys reach even if they climb.
Going to friends houses that are not child-proof can be a nightmare at best it proves to be very difficult. I am running the entire time after one of the three. A four or five-year-old child with FAS will likely be closer in psychosocial development to a child of two or three. We give them lots of reminders, simple instructions and understandable boundaries. Make sure you go over what is expected of your child or children before you ever them in the house also we keep our rules the same thing every time we go to visit. The same goes for taking them shopping. Let them know what you expect and stick with it. If they are old enough have them repeat back to you what is expected often. We do time outs and we also take along some toys the boys will play with, their Leapsters have been life savers!!

Short-term memory and attention deficits disorder. Some FAS children have short term memory while others like my oldest son can remember the smallest detail. Stephen, my 6 year old struggles with this at times, I have found showing him what to do is more effective than just telling the him. To teach him how to spell his name I wrote it for him, then we used fuzzy stickers and he stuck them to a paper we also glued a picture of him. I had him try to write his name several times and we went over the letters singing them. We then used stickers and did another paper with his name on it he wrote his name under the stickers.. You can also put salt on a cookie sheet and have your child make each letter. This is very helpful once they are in school for learning how to spell words it help children who are sensory seeking to have different ways of learning he learns well when he can feel the shapes like with the fuzzy stickers.
I also made a picture story for Tyler to help him to get ready for school in the morning more independently. When my husband took over morning routine with the boys he told he found it very helpful in getting the boys ready for school for him as well. I guess you can teach old dogs new tricks! I also did this while I was potty training my 4 year old. Both seeing and hearing the steps helped a great deal with my sons. You then go over the steps many many times. I always even when they aren't reading yet write the steps below the pictures.
My oldest was diagnosed early on with ADD but he is not hyperactive at all. He was out of control which is entirely different. My two younger boys are hyperactive and have attention problems. Christopher is super nova hyperactive but he isn't a bad child and he can't help it. He is on medication Intuniv, which was helping really well however the past couple of months his hyper activeness has increased greatly.

CAPD – Central Auditory Processing Disorder, the child might hear only part of what is said, it doesn’t all register with the brain. Stephen has problems in this area as well. An example of this was when he was 4 we were getting ready to go to a doctors appointment he was all ready to go and it was time to leave. I told him to go upstairs and put on his shoes. He didn't come back down so I called up and asked if his shoes were on yet. He said no so I told him just bring them down and I will help you. He came down the stairs in his Pj's! I didn't say a word because I knew he couldn't control what he was doing so I took him by the hand back up the stairs and I changed him back into his clothes and put his shoes on him.
He has times when he zones out it can last for an entire day especially if he is over stimulated by his environment.

A child of 5 might have the emotional development as a child of two or three. Give lots of reminders, simple instructions and understandable boundaries. Repeat what you expect from your child many times. If your child CAN'T do something you are asking then just do it without punishment you can't punish FAS out of them. When you know they can do it but wont that is the time for a time out and you will learn the difference.

Stephen making cupcakes (no we didn't eat them)

Other disorders that can go along with FAS:
RAD – Reactive Attachment Disorder and mood disorders, bi-polar disorder is common also. My oldest son, Tyler struggles greatly with each of these along with anxiety disorders.
Christopher and Stephen both have sleep apnea. We just got the results from a sleep study done on Christopher and he does stop breathing while he is sleeping.
Children with FAS are prone to a number of health problems since it is unknown which organs were damaged as the birth mother drank. ODD oppositional defiant disorder, children peeing on the floor or other places besides the toilet is also very common even in older children.

My four boys, Tyler, Robert holding Christopher (Peanut back then) and Stephen (Tigger/Tig)~ 2008

Behavior problems in FAS often includes but not limited too, unpredictable and extreme mood swings, poor judgment, irresponsibility, attention deficit, impulsiveness, lack of normal self-discipline, and difficulty taking social cues.

Resources used: Personal experience, Wikipedia and Medicinenet.com

fun things.. or at least I thought so..

2012-02-24T19:05:00.001-08:00

TOP TEN THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU ARE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

10. Try to catch your thumb

9. Count the cracks in the walls

8. Play with your imaginary friends:

7. Count the crazy relatives you wont have to be around during the holidays..

6. Catch up on all that writing you never wanted to do to begin with to people you don't really like anyway...

5. Create story lines for your favorite shows that you don't get to watch anymore..

4. Name all the spiders and mice..

3. Catch up on your reading.. Don't count on Internet you might have to have a real book!

2. Pretend you are Bat Man and this is your bat cave..

1. Play Solitaire

Disclaimer I have never been in solitary confinement or even in jail sorry I am boring like that but if you have and would like to add feel free.. if you plan on being in solitary confinement anytime soon feel free to copy this list and take it with you!!

Eleven things you should NEVER put into a friends request

2012-02-24T18:54:00.000-08:00

THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER

PUT INTO A FRIENDS REQUEST!

1. Hello, Is it me your thinking of? Wanna be friends?2. I have been following you to work and home everyday and noticed you don't have a girlfriend wanna be friends?

3. Since you don't have any friends and no one likes me.. Wanna be friends?

4. Hey, I see you have money I am looking for a new sugar Daddy, wanna be friends?

5. I am really desperate, wanna be friends?

6. Add me or die scum bag!

7. I see we have lots of common people who hate us, wanna be friends?? ( warning I have used this one and I got the add)

8. Your X (crazy, stalking) girl/boy friend wants us to be friends..

9. I am your crazy X-stalking girl/boy friend on a fake profile will you marry me?

10. Hi, I heard you were sleeping with my husband wanna be friends? My lawyer says it will be easier that way.

11. I have been in prison for the past 20 years but will be getting out soon.. wanna be friends??

Please add more to my list!! Just having some fun..

Fall Colors - another poem by me..

2012-02-24T18:47:00.004-08:00

Fall colors
The beauty of God's pallet,
painted or chiseled with a mallet..
By any man on his creation,
no artist in any nation..
can match it's wonder
or the roar of his thunder..
Only God the creator could bless our world with such splendor..
as fall with all it's beauty and color.

So long ago

2012-02-24T18:46:00.002-08:00

Innocent and sweet,

so long ago..

She had her hopes and her dreams,

so long ago..

He came and crushed them,

so long ago..

In the dark of the night he came,

so long ago..

she thought she would die,

so long ago..

she was strong and carried on,

so long ago..

He thought he could stop her dreams,

so long ago..

She grew to be a woman

so long ago..

He could not destroy
what God meant to be,

so long ago..

Her dreams have all come true,

not so long ago..

Change...

2012-02-24T18:39:00.004-08:00

The guards lead him down the long dark hall
roughly laid stones were the walls..

He held onto his faith,
He was at peace knowing, his very life was at stake..

He thought back to many Christian men he had captured,
in his minds eye, he could still picture

Their only crime was their beliefs, their lives he had shattered
he jerked back to now as his chains clattered

Down the steep steps he walked
As the other prisoners gawked.

Now he stood tall knowing his God,
was with him through it all..

Chained to a cold dark wall of stone,
He guided his fellow Christians from his new home..

For once he was an evil lost man, called Saul,
Now a humble God loving man, named Paul
Whose eyes were open when by God's touch he did befall..

Dreaming.. a poem about Fibromyalgia

2012-02-24T18:15:00.002-08:00

Dreaming of a place far away,
to escape the pain if only for little while,
if only I could just sit and stay,
in this new place that makes me smile.

Only in my dreams I can be free,
free, to roam and love life again.
The sun shinning and the air breezy,
everything so beautiful and then...

I am pulled back to what is real,
to a life of pain and loneliness.
my legs stiff and brittle.
the sharp jabs of pain in my body feel like prickly cactus.

Jerked out of my dreams where I could be me,
back to a life that I can barely stand.
I know that some think I am only lazy.
So much blame as though this illness I had wanted and planned.

I prayed for healing, I prayed for death,
I prayed for my family to be able to withstand.
I hoped and prayed with every breath,
that somehow they would understand.

An invisible illness is what they call it,
I see the stares and hear the whispers, "she looks well to me"
They can't see how bad it hurts just to sit.
The sharp jabs of pain they don't want to see.

I still have the joys in life,
day dreams can come true.
I have fought my illnesses with all my might.
God has made my body whole and anew.

Maybe one day I will go to Africa,
not in my dreams but in this new life.
Then next to the arctic to see the tundra!
An explorer, or maybe just another dream of a housewife!!

Mom's little place

Diaper Cake motorcycle

The University OF Berkley, A Diploma Mill

Accreditation and Licensing

Princess diaper cake for a baby shower centerpeice or decoration

Diaper baby shower bassinet

Diaper Cake for a Baby Shower

How to get shoes clean

Easy bridal shower cake decorating

Easter dress for Emma our little princess/Diva

Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter

Easy to make keepsake candle

Simple keepsake family book for a baby

Books for children about adoption

A Blessing from Above (Little Golden Book)

Book Description

I Wished for You: an Adoption Story (Mom's Choice Award Recipient, Book of the Year Award, Creative Child Magazine)

Author: Marianne Richmond

Book Description

Rosie's Family: An Adoption Story

Book Description

My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families

Book Description

You Are My Wish Come True [Hardcover]

Book Description

Forever Fingerprints: An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Children [Library Binding]

Book Description

Why do Children lie?

Now what do you do when your child lies, here are a few suggestions:

Life is crazy..

Train Bed

cowgirl skirt made from bandanas

Potty training made easy for children with and without special needs

Tips for children and babies who have special needs

fun things.. or at least I thought so..

TOP TEN THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU ARE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

10. Try to catch your thumb

8. Play with your imaginary friends:

7. Count the crazy relatives you wont have to be around during the holidays..

6. Catch up on all that writing you never wanted to do to begin with to people you don't really like anyway...

5. Create story lines for your favorite shows that you don't get to watch anymore..

4. Name all the spiders and mice..

3. Catch up on your reading.. Don't count on Internet you might have to have a real book!

2. Pretend you are Bat Man and this is your bat cave..

1. Play Solitaire

Disclaimer I have never been in solitary confinement or even in jail sorry I am boring like that but if you have and would like to add feel free.. if you plan on being in solitary confinement anytime soon feel free to copy this list and take it with you!!

Eleven things you should NEVER put into a friends request

THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER

PUT INTO A FRIENDS REQUEST!

Fall Colors - another poem by me..

So long ago

Innocent and sweet,

so long ago..

She had her hopes and her dreams,

so long ago..

He came and crushed them,

so long ago..

In the dark of the night he came,

so long ago..

she thought she would die,

so long ago..

she was strong and carried on,

so long ago..

He thought he could stop her dreams,

so long ago..

She grew to be a woman

so long ago..

He could not destroy what God meant to be,

so long ago..

Her dreams have all come true,

not so long ago..

Change...

Dreaming.. a poem about Fibromyalgia

He could not destroy
what God meant to be,