AMAZING GIVEAWAY!!!

Lucky you!The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.
The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!
Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Good luck!

"It's Not Working!"

So, Friday night we went to a production my friend and her husband were performing in. About two-thirds of the way in, Caio asked if he could go to the bathroom and use the toilet. I wasn't sure if he was serious because he has never really been able to make any magic on the mini throne at home, but I wasn't going to tempt fate by refusing his untimely request. So the two of us trudged off to the bathroom and when I took his diaper off, it was surprisingly dry and clean. He jumped on the toilet and got all ready and then smiled up at me.
"Want to hear my poop sounds, Mommy?" he asked.
"Sure!" I responded. I thought it was funny and cute, but I wanted to see what he would do.
"Get ready, hear my poop sounds!" Then he looked like he was focusing. I have to admit that I think I was way more excited than he was. I couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be our first celebratory Mommy/Caio potty dance? I was poised to cheer and wave my arms and make people in the hall wonder what was wrong with the crazy lady in the bathroom. We both sat there in silence until he looked up and asked, "Did I make a poop sound?"
"Not yet," I admitted, "But you can try again if you want." I could tell that he was dissapointed but my enthusiasm renewed his spirits.
"Okay," he smiled and focused again. He looked into the toilet after a minute and despaired, "It's not working!!!" I kept myself from laughing but continued to try to be encouraging, just in case he really did need to use the bathroom.
"It's okay," I soothed, "do you want to try some more?"
"Yes!" he said. He got serious one last time and really tried to make something happen. This time when he finished trying he looked pretty deflated. He looked up at me a little sadder and said in a smaller voice, "Maybe if Daddy help me do it."
I told him it was okay and that I was sure that next time he would make it work. We went back to our seat where he asked Marcio to have a try helping him go. I guess he only tried once with his dad before giving up for good. It was cute and funny and sad all at the same time. He really wants to do it (he asked again this morning and tried with no luck) and I want to help, but neither of us have done a good job of figuring out how to make it work. I am trying not to be pushy with it, though, because I don't want to cause anxiety over this. I just know how much he wants it (all of his friends are out of diapers by now--good peer pressure) and I would love to see him succede (for multiple reasons *every day* if you know what I mean ;-D).
Anyway. I am sure one of these days it will work. I hope!
Ginger

My New Music Find—Enjoy!!!

My sister came to stay for a week with her family. While she was here she wanted to show me this music video on you tube. The name of this song is “The Show” by Lenka. (It didn’t embed into my blog, so you probably will need to click on the darkened screen to view this video… or click here) I really, really LOVE it and it has helped me be happier, so I hope you will enjoy it too.

“I want my money back!”

“Just enjoy the show!”

LOL!

Ginger

Picasa Content

Hooray! CPSC Might be catching on...

At least, I hope they are catching on! I found this link to the L.A. Times through the link that Marcio left in his comment on my last post. I found it enlightening and encouraging to think that our voices were heard.
Thank you to all of you who did something about this!
Ginger

Help!

I know I have been worried about some of the problems with toys and other goods coming from China lately, and I definitely would like something done about it, but I think the US legislature is about to make a serious mistake to try and over-correct this problem. As of February 10th they are planning on making it illegal to sell something second-hand or homemade without spending a prohibitive amount of money. There are some grassroots movements to try to stop this outrageous problem. This blog has many links and ideas. Please, please, please check it out! We can make a difference!

Thanks,

Ginger

No Place Like the ICU For the Holidays

So… since last I wrote:

Halloween was great. We did the ward trunk or treat with Caio dressed up as a dragon and Jordan dressed up as a pumpkin. I will post pics later. Thanksgiving was at my house and I did all the cooking. Everything tasted wonderful and this also turned out great. Then came the day after Thanksgiving and the trip to the ER—Black Friday indeed.

My mom became ill Thanksgiving night and got worse and worse over the next 24 hours. Friday night we took her to the ER and they said that she would need to be operated on. Without going into too many details, she has had problems with hernias since she was in the hospital following my birth and she was told that because she was a poor candidate for surgery she would have to wait until it was an emergency situation to take care of any of it. Well… this was her emergency situation.

The following Monday she went under the knife for a four hour procedure. When it was over she was in the ICU for over a week. She stayed in the hospital until about a week before Christmas and then she was moved to a Care Center for rehabilitation across the street from the hospital. We hoped she would be able to come home for Christmas, but she wasn’t strong enough. I prayed she would be home for New Year’s Eve, and she stayed in for that too.

My mom is doing much better now, but she is still in the care center/nursing home until further notice. She is getting stronger and looking healthier each day. I can’t wait for her to come home. I visit her as often as I can, but it isn’t really quite the same.

In the meantime we did manage to celebrate Caio’s, Marcio’s and Jordan’s birthdays, Christmas and New Year’s Eve and we threw a birthday party at the church house in there to boot. The last couple of months have been pretty intense and interesting to put it mildly, but I hope to get in and give a few more details (with pics) about as much of it as possible over the next few days.

Ginger