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I know my Mom taught me...

I know my Mom taught me, if you don't have anything nice to say then keep your mouth shut!  Is it that others were not taught this?  Or have we all forgotten our Mother's words?
It's always astonishing to me when others go out of their way to be negative or hurtful.  It's a great reminder of how naive I am. To me , if I don't like someone or something I stay away from it.  It makes perfect sense and is very logical. Why would I seek out things that upset or bother me? If something scared me I would not go looking for it, if something hurt me I would not touch it? So why do others feel the need to go out of their way to find things they do not like and then have the nerve to be mean and hurtful?
Earlier this week I was on Facebook and saw a picture of a young couple and their son on a tattoo page. Now this was a Fan Page. Therefore you have to be a fan of this page to see it's content in your news feed.  Anyways, both Mom and Dad have some tattoos, hence why they're on this page! The Mom is a pretty well known blogger that I happen to follow. As I'm scrolling through the comments under their picture I was appalled. There were so many negative, hurtful, and judgemental comments!! I immediately felt so sorry for them. Especially since they did not submit the photo and were not asked permission first. The wonders of the Internet! So this is what I do not get, most of the negative comments were in regards to having tattoos.  Not just their specific tattoos, but about having them in general. People wrote that they were bad parents and that they were horrible role models to their son. Why oh why are you on a tattoo fan page if you do not like tattoos! And how dare you comment on their parenting! If you don't like tattoos then don't look at them and stay off the tattoo page! End rant...
I think this has hit close to home for me since we frequently endure criticism.   It never fails that some ignorant person will stop Josh and ask him if his gauges hurt while they're holding their own ears! It doesn't matter where we are or what we're doing, people do not respect our boundaries. People frequently touch his ears with out asking, which is way worse the belly rubs when pregnant. Every time we're in public we catch people pointing out Josh's ears (and tattoos) while making extremely rude comments.  I have to say, Josh handles it way better than I ever would. Maybe that's why I was given a fear of needles and have no tattoos or "out of the norm" piercings. When approached, no matter how rude or disrespectful they are, Josh always speaks in a kind voice with a smile on his face and answers every silly question. Meanwhile I'm throwing daggers at them with my eyes by his side!
My point is, if you don't like something don't look at it! I will never understand people who seek out things they don't like to then be mean and hurtful. Just because it's not my taste doesn't mean it shouldn't be your's.

One of those days

I've been having a crappy day today, nothing crazy, but one of those days!  You know what I mean right?  When you drop everything you pick up, when the girls don't nap and you had a HUGE list of things to get done, when you turned your central air off and it's a thousand degrees in your house now!  I'll spare you the whining and stop. 
So I finally get 5 minutes to check my emails and I come across this letter from a fellow Voiceboks blogger that made me feel like a fool.  This poor woman and her family have been through a horrific ordeal and hear I am whining over spilled milk (literally).  It reminds me of my Mom always reminding me "Things could always be worse, be thankful for what you have.". 


http://helptheokeefes.blogspot.com/2012/07/letter-from-dannys-mother.html


Here is a link the blog, if everyone could please donate and spread the word that would be great.

Summer loving

It's only July 12th and I can't even remember what the cold weather feels like!  This has been my favorite summer since entering adult hood by far!  The big difference this summer is definitely Corinne's age.  She's at this wonderful age where everything new is so exciting to her.  The ability to see the world through a toddler's eye's is invigorating and refreshing and has a way of simplifying things.  Corinne's happiness is not affected by the size of a tv or the kind of car you drive.  It's the little things that make her happy.  It's seeing ants outside, or anything to with water, or a bumble bee on our balcony.  It's hearing Call Me Maybe on the radio when we're riding in the car.  It's letting her pick out a "pretty dress" every morning with her "big girls panties".  It's the look of pure pleasure when she's in a pool.

I'm a huge fan of warm weather and all the goodies it brings!

Flying Solo

I'm sure I am not the only Mommy that dreads leaving their baby, right? Or maybe I should say babies?  Corinne is 2 and I still struggle when I have to leave her!   I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking that I am crazy, and you may be right!  I think I'm addicted to my children!  I'm totally that Mom in the Capri Sun sun commercial that jumps in the Dodge Ball game so her son doesn't get hit!  I'm definitely that Mom that will follow the bus to school on their 1st, 25th and last day of school.  I'm that Mom that cries every time I box up the clothes they've outgrown.  So now that you know how far gone I am you have some understanding as to why I have Mommy separation anxiety. I'm not exactly sure what my anxiety stems from?  It's not that I feel that I am the only one that can take care of them.  Josh is an amazing father and my girls absolutely adore him.  I do not question his capabilities in the slightest.  It's not like I think they will be rolling around on the floor sobbing while asking for me.  I really think that this is my issue.  I know for a fact that I do not want to miss a minute of their lives.  I want to be there for every little thing.  And I mean EVERY little thing.  No matter how many times Corinne sings Justin Bieber's Baby I want to hear it. 
On Saturday I co-hosted a Baby Sprinkle and this was a ladies only event.  So this meant that this little mommy was flying solo for the afternoon. This was the first time that I would be away from McKenzie during the day for more than two hours at the most.  Since I'm still exclusively nursing her (besides solids) she was going to have to take a bottle so this was also a very big deal for her as well.
Now I really hope that I'm not offending anyone.  Just because I have separation issues it does not mean that I look down on Mommy's that don't.  Parenting is a wonderful thing and what works for you is what makes me happy.  I get very frustrated by the passive aggressive comments I get by other Mom's.  Or when I'm told that it's bad for my daughter's to not be in daycare, that they will lack socially.  It's unfortunate how bad the Mommy Wars have gotten, instead of us supporting one another we are so quick to be defensive.  It's sad that I even have to put a disclaimer with my post, when did life become such a comparison?  Oh well, that's a conversation for another day.
So anyways...Saturday afternoon went off without a hitch.  The girls stayed home with Daddy and had a blast as usual.  McKenzie never even noticed I was gone.   

Shout out!

Hello everyone!  So remember when I was telling you about the Voice Boks website?  It has turned out to be the find of 2012!  Voice Boks is a website dedicated to Women Bloggers and Women only!  There's everything, there's personal blogs, parenting blogs, crafting blogs, blogs about blogs about blogs!  I follow a few different Mom blogs and I enjoy reading them for the most part.
I stumbled upon Gina's blog Full of it... and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

 http://www.totallyfullofit.com/

 What I really like about Gina's blog is that she isn't sugar coating Mommyhood.  I find myself shaking my head in agreement and laughing out loud as I read her posts.  As a Mom it's always helpful when yo feel like you're not the only one.  Gina writes on a personal level but is easy to relate to.  I suggest everyone checks her out!

Researching away

I've started the research for my certification paper. The teen pregnancy statistics are saddening and appalling. I knew that teen pregnancy was bad but I was naive as to how bad it is and disappointed to hear that where we are now is considered to be better.  I was out to lunch with my Aunt today discussing my paper.  My Aunt teaches a Teen Mom program in a public school system.  I was alarmed to hear her talk about how many of these girls were planned Teen Moms.  Many of these girls even stated that their Moms were proud of them and and excited when they told them!  Clearly, more education needs to be done with families.  How do we break a cycle that does not want to be broken?  Evidence shows that areas with Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs in the public schools have seen a decline in teen birth rates.  In 2006 CT was granted a $6 million federal grant to help public schools provide more services to pregnant and parenting teens.  These programs are at full capacity serving approximately 2,000 families with an estimated need of 4,000 families.  Clearly, more is needed.  As parents Josh and I plan to do our best to make ourselves approachable to our daughters.  To make them feel as if they can and should talk to us about anything and everything.  
 I read on a website that 1 of every 3 young women will become pregnant by the age of 20.  So that means that 1 of our 3 girls will be a Teen Mom!  I can't tell you how much this scares me.  I know that we would be supportive in every way possible but I can't even imagine what my initial reaction would be.  I can say what it should be but you don't know until you're in the moment.  I give lots of credit to all the parents that have dealt with this.
Now I want to start focusing on the statistics involving second time Teen Moms.  CT has implemented programs into public schools but still greatly lacks in programs/services for Teen Moms.