by Sarah | Jul 26, 2009 | Photography, Weekly Winners
Weekly Winners is the brainchild of the wonderfully Sarcastic Mom, Lotus
I took the kids out today in an attempt to do a photo shoot of the kids for my family. I am fairly pleased with the results except that I only got one really decent shot of the three of them together. But, at least I got the ONE, which is great! This is only a small sampling of some of the great shots I got!! There’s a whole section of the kids wading into the creek, getting their clothes soaked…I’m definitely happy with my first official intentional photo shoot!!
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by Sarah | Jul 24, 2009 | All About Family, All About Home, All About Me
For those of you living in a cave…this weekend is the big BlogHer party just a few hours away from me in Chicago. I made the choice not to go back when tickets were available and I had the cash…and now that neither are available I’m sort of regretting that decision. But, I’ve found plenty of ways to beat those blues…
1) This post itself. It’s entered me for a chance to win a $1oo sponsorship from Cozi! They’re sponsoring 15 moms (with the highest comments…so please make sure to say something!) who are missing the big weekend with $100! This would help me afford the technology to improve my webmag, so I so need it!!
2) It turns out I’m so not alone. There are tons of parties going on across the blogosphere. I’ve found 4 of them and added their links to my side bar! Check them all out! Some started last night, some tonight…join in the fun!!
3) I may have a chance to see some of my Indy girls that are home as well…if we can coordinate it!
4) It looks like the weather is finally looking up. Maybe I can finally get the kids out of the house!!
5) My house cleaning is close to compete (only my kitchen and bathroom need major overhauls now)…so I can sit back and just do maintenance cleaning this weekend.
6) I can spend some time seeing just how easy it is to adapt my Cozi account to my Home Management Notebook.
7) I get to do some back-to-school shopping for my oldest. It’s hard to believe that his school starts in 2.5 weeks!
8) I may get some time to myself, too. I have a gift card to JoAnn’s that I got for my birthday to spend…and it’s burning a hole in my pocket!
9) I’m hoping that our potty training journey is just about done. I’ve been trying some advice I got – so I hope it works better than any other I’ve gotten.
10) It’s time to Dave Ramsey it…Total Money Makeover. So I shouldn’t be out in a hotel spending too much money on food and drinks anyway…so it’s all for the better that this homebody is home!!!
I hope you’re weekend is great, and I hope to be back with picutres from our cookout last weekend (croquet! So long since I’ve played!!), and other assorted posts in between all the things I hope to do this weekend!!
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For those coming here for the parties – let me introduce myself!
I’m Sarah, of Casa de Perfect. I’ve been blogging for almost two years now!
My hubby, Archie and I are the parents of 3 great kids.
Brandon (10) is neurotypical and in 5th grade.
Riley (3.5) is mildly autistic and has RSS. She’s in special needs preschool.
Angel (2.5) has CF, severe truncal hypotonia, dysphagia, tibial torsion, sensory disoroder, and anger issues.
Every day we redefine ourselves, our lives, and our definition of perfect. We hope we can redefine yours, too.
Here’s to living life beyond our labels…and to redefining perfect for everyone.
by Sarah | Jul 19, 2009 | All About Me, Weekly Winners
Weekly Winners is the brainchild of the wonderfully Sarcastic Mom, Lotus
Pictures from the week of 7/12/09-7/18/09
This week was busy with cleaning (I’m sparing you those pictures for now), a rebirth of my jewelry making, and ended on a very high note with my brithday!
First, a sampling of pictures from jewelry night and just a day in our yard.
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Then a series of pictures I’ve taken of the sky during the week. One of my favorite activities.
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And last, but not least, my birthday! Archie took me to The Melting Pot. It was wonderful and amazing and he didn’t balk at me taking in my camera. I’d say about 90% of these are straight out of the camera…it was delicious and we had a ton of fun!!! Oh, and the picture of the back of my head was to show off the hair it took me an hour and a half to style 😀 And no, it’s not time to cut it yet.
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by Sarah | Jul 18, 2009 | All About Me
The year was 1990. On the jukebox were some fav’s: “What it Takes”, “All I Wanna Do”, and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” My dad and brother were off looking at colleges for the weekend, so my mom dragged me kicking and screaming (really) to go to her good friends campground (yes, that is a pic from the actual place). I hated her friends son, and really…a campground? Like, totally GAH-ROSS!!
Little did I know…that little campground in Franklinville, NY would come to mean everything. I would meet my best friend that would be one of the two people that helped me survive middle school…and that that best friend would be related to that boy I hated so much. It would become so important that I would BEG my parents to buy a camper and they did – on my birthday that year (appropriate as today is my birthday…)!!
I remember everything – and if I don’t, we kept records that remind me of little things I forgot. I have tons of posts I could fill with the memories, but the one that stuck with me tonight and brought it all up again (it has been close to my memory a lot lately as that friend just found me again on FaceBook:D)….was the campfires.
Every night, I mean we were camping, the adults would make a campfire. We would be off playing, not really allowed in the circle where the adults spoke of adult things. We ran and played until “the light went out” and then it was back to whomever’s camper we were sleeping in that night (because really, I think EVERY night was a sleepover there).
Inside the camper (or tent) we’d play rummy, gorge on Doritos and Hot Cocoa, laughing our butts off. Outside of our laughter I remember the adults, still circled around the fire, laughing themselves. We were allowed into the circle for brief spurts, but it always reverted to adult time, adult conversation…and we’d meander back to our game of Rummy.
Tonight it hit me hard that I am now in the adult circle. There is no campfire, but the adults are circled around. Conversations flow. Kids wander in, only to take off again into the night until curfew. Our neighborhood is enclosed, and they’re alwys close…but they are relegated to the night…and I am now among those keeping warm in sweaters and shooing off the children so we can get back to grown up discussion.
It happened too soon. I was never ready to let go of Rain, Rain and more Rain (what we ‘affectionately’ called the campground)…but we moved out of state and parents cancelled our seasonal site…and life moved on. I grew up…and life took a 360 many times over…
I wasn’t ready to let go of childhood when the years didn’t seem to pass so quick, but the summers sure did. When it seemed like I would never be like those crazy adults, or the women on the commercials that suddenly cater to ME and MY (not so) fine lines.
I’m not sad to be over 30 (again). I love my life and my kids.
But the little girl in me still longs for the summers at the cottage, the camper, the blizzards in winter, the life she once knew. She remembers them clearly and fondly. I didn’t have a bad childhood. I haven’t had a bad life, period. I miss the old days, but look forward to creating more old days for my kids…I just have to learn to live with sitting around the campfire – not in the camper with Doritos and Hot Cocoa.
by Sarah | Jul 16, 2009 | Hypotonia, Terminology
Today in email I was asked by a mom with a new diagnosis of Truncal Hypotonia to explain it in layman’s terms for her. She’s new to all of this and is frightened – and I remember that feeling well. It’s been ages since I did a Terminology Tuesday, and today is not Tuesday, but I thought it would make a great post, since I display clearly on my site that Angel has this and what it is may not be clear. I’ve already answered this directly to that mom in email, but I’m making a post now too 😀
Hypotonia is a muscular condition. It means that the muscles do not have the tone of normal muscles – they aren’t as strong or flexible. This is often characterized by a rigidity. In our case, even changing a diaper caused discomfort for Angel. She had Torticollis (definition on Tues.) as a baby, then her arms were stuck in the airplane reflex (arms raised tight and bent at her sides) until we finally got her crawling – and even then we could not get her to use her left arm to reach for anything.
Truncal means the torso. The hips/stomach/chest area is the weakest. The trunk supports us in just about everything from sitting to moving and walking. Angel’s hips and chest are her weakest area, most especially on the left side.
I hope this helps! I’m off to research another disorder to gain an understanding of it before I email this mom back!!
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