Harry Potter

Last night I got to go to the midnight showing of Harry Potter 6 with my brother and his wife and my sis in law Amy and her friend. It was a lot of fun. I really really liked the movie. I think its probably my favorite of all the movies which is good because its my favorite (well tied as my favorite) of the books. It was pretty funny too. Rupert Grint (Ron) was awesome in this movie, so funny, great comedic timing on his and pretty much the whole casts part.

Unfortunatly the problem with going to a midnight showing is that it doesn't matter that I was out to a movie till 3:00 a.m. because I still gotta get up and be mommy the next day, lol.

I wish I would have taken a camera though. Some people had some really cool costumes. Although I have to say it was hillarious to people watch. I also found it funny that girls used it as an excuse to wear their sluttiest Harry Potter outfits (ala Lindsay Lohan on SNL).

pretty nervous

so I'm not a germaphobe, never have been. However to be honest this H1N1 virus does get me nervous seeing as how I'm pregnant. I'm even more nervous for this winter after this baby is born for both him as a newborn and my beautiful 3 year old little girl I have now. I'm already a spazz when it comes to this, so naturally what is the first thing I see on my comcast news today?

WHO says new flu "unstoppable", calls for vaccine
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

Saying the new H1N1 virus is "unstoppable", the World Health Organization gave drug makers a full go-ahead to manufacture vaccines against the pandemic influenza strain on Monday and said healthcare workers should be the first to get one.
Every country will need to vaccinate citizens against the swine flu virus and must choose who else would get priority after nurses, doctors and technicians, said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research.
Several reports showed the new virus attacks people differently than seasonal flu -- affecting younger people, the severely obese and seemingly healthy adults, and causing disease deep in the lungs.
Kieny briefed reporters on the findings of the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE. "The committee recognized that the H1N1 pandemic ... is unstoppable and therefore that all countries need access to vaccine," Kieney said.
"The SAGE recognized first that healthcare workers should be immunized in all countries in order to retain a functional health system as the virus evolves," she added.
After that, each country should decide who is next in line, based on the virus's unusual behavior.
Seasonal influenza is deadly enough -- each year it is involved in 250,000 to 500,000 deaths globally. But most are the elderly or those with some kind of chronic disease that makes them more vulnerable to flu, such as asthma.
ELDERLY ADVANTAGE
The elderly seem to have some extra immunity to this new H1N1, which is a mixture of two swine viruses, one of which also contains genetic material from birds and humans. It is a very distant cousin of the H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million to 100 million people.
A study published in the journal Nature on Monday confirmed that the blood of people born before 1920 carries antibodies to the 1918 strain, suggesting their immune systems remember a childhood infection.
The work by Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka also supports other studies that this new H1N1 strain does not stay in the nose and throat, as do most seasonal viruses.
"The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs," Kawaoka said. Other studies have also shown it can cause gastrointestinal effects, and that it targets people not usually thought of as being at high risk.
"Obesity has been observed to be one of the risk factors for more severe reaction to H1N1" -- something never before seen, Kieny added. It is not clear if obese people may have undiagnosed health problems that make them susceptible, or if obesity in and of itself is a risk.
On Friday, a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Michigan reported that nine out of 10 patients treated in an intensive care unit there were obese. They also had unusual symptoms such as blood clots in the lungs and multiple organ failure.
None have recovered and three died.
The CDC estimates at least a million people are infected in the United States alone and clinics everywhere are advised not to test each and every patient, so keeping an accurate count of cases will be impossible. The United States has documented 211 deaths and WHO counted 429 early last week.
Kieny said WHO would also work to get better viruses for companies from which to make vaccines. She said the strains that had been distributed did not grow very well in chicken eggs -- used to make all flu vaccines.
One exception -- AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit makes a live virus vaccine that is squirted up the nose and it is easier to produce, Kieny said.
WHO said countries should continue with their normal vaccination programs against seasonal flu. Kieny said the seasonal H3N2 strain was also very active now in the southern hemisphere's winter.
Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, Baxter, Schering-Plough's Nobilon, GlaxoSmithKline, Solvay, CSL and AstraZeneca's MedImmune are among those working on flu vaccines.

Happy Birthday Baby...oh I mean Big Girl!

Tomorrow (July 3rd) is my baby girl's 3rd birthday!!! Happy Birthday Taylar you are the best thing that has every happened to me! You make everyone you meet laugh and smile. You have the best personality, say the funniest things, and entertain us all. You are so smart and I marvel everyday at how much I learn from you.

I can't believe time has flown by so fast. I know 3 is not old, but it feels old when I look back at these baby pictures. I'm posting this today because I plan on spending every minute with my cute little girl tomorrow.

Friends of Scentsy

A month or so ago I went to my first scentsy party thrown by my awesome sis in law Aubrey . I have sort of become obsessed with it since. Well I was at Walmart the other day and saw that they had imitation scentsy bars and I thought, hmmm why not give it a shot, only $2.88!! I picked out a couple scents and brought them home, eager to try them out in my burner. I put 3 squares in the first time and my whole house within 3 minutes smelled so overwhelming it was giving me a headache. I took that scent out and decided it smelled too much like grandma perfume. I waited till this morning and decided to try a new scent...cupcake. This time only puting one square into the burner. Still a very overwhelming scent! So in conclusion regarding these imitation scentsy...They are too strong. I was hoping they would be like the original Scentsy products and give a soft subtle smell to my house, but unfortunatly it was too strong I thought. If you don't mind the strong scent or you have a very large house, these might be too bad. I however think I'll stick to the original.

Not all Twilight fans are complete Spazztards, I promise.

And its people like this that make me embarassed to admit I'm a Twilight fan. Seriously, freaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGIEhCJrh8

Also I saw this and couldn't help but laugh.

Terrible Two's? Try Three's!!!

One of Taylar's tantrum's that seem to happen more often than not over the stupidest things. This one was because she couldn't find her Barbie's clothes and refused to got to the store till I found them.

Alohomora!

GUESS WHERE I'LL BE AT 11:59P.M. ON JULY 14TH?

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WOOHOO!

Also I had to take my diabetes test last monday and it came back negative (yay) but I got a call the next day saying that I'm pretty much anemic (boo) so I have to take iron supplements along with my regular prenatal vitamins, which sort of sucks. Although I'm glad to know that I'm wasn't just thinking I was more tired than I should have been, that there is actually a reason for it. Hopefully the iron supplements will help with my energy level (cause right now its at about -10)

crayons and rain

I'm so mad!! Yesterday Joey called me and told me that I had washed a yellow crayon with Taylar's clothes. I am not sure how the crayon got in her laundry basket, but it has ruined her clothes. And It wasn't just a few clothes, her entire wardrobe almost was in this batch because I hadn't done her laundry for a while so I washed almost everything she had. There are yellow spots on EVERYTHING!! Joey tried this concoction he found on the Internet that is supposed to get out crayon so we'll see if it works. But GRRRRR.

And on top of that its our Lagoon day today and its freezing outside and is supposed to have thunderstorms, awesome.

The Return of Zack Morris

This cracked me up. I grew up with Saved by the Bell so I thought it was pretty funny. For those that don't know its the anniversary of Saved By the Bell so Jimmy Fallon is trying to get the cast together for a reunion on his show (also disclaimer I don't really watch Jimmy Fallon)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SImUrVA-N9A

(fixed link)

Chinese Calendar

I thought this was pretty cool. So far everyone I've done has been accurate. Of course I don't know exactly on most people but its not hard to figure out. It was right with my two kids and according to the chart, the baby I miscarried in August would have been a boy too. So if you have kids or even if not do it for someone else and lets see how accurate this thing really is, I've yet to find it be wrong!

http://www.parentingweekly.com/pregnancy/pregnancy_information/chinese_calendar.htm

My Baby's all grown.

My baby is no longer a baby. Joey and I set up the crib in Taylar's room yesterday because I have no where to store all of our actual baby stuff right now and so I thought I would just store it in the crib, plus I wanted to make sure both beds fit okay and look alright in that room. After he got done setting it up, Taylar walked over and looked inside the crib, she was peering over the top while standing almost flat foot on the floor. It made me all sad and nostaligic thinking of the days when she was just learning to stand up in her crib, etc. We didn't even move her out of it until last August!!! Its amazing how much she's grown up in less than a year. I'm so excited to have her grow and learn, but so sad that my first baby is no longer a baby.

Also I know its way early to be nesting, but everyone who was pregnant at the same time as me (minus the ones actually due in sept with me) have all had their babies. Its making me excited and anxious to welcome this little boy. Oh real quick, if anyone has a baby bath they don't want anymore, let me know I'll take it off your hands.

Super Mom? Not Me.

First off a disclaimer: this is not a pity post. I'm not looking for, oh you are a great mom blah blah blah, not fishing for compliments, lol.

Does anyone else every feel like they are a bad mom? I know that as long as your kids are healthy, happy, and safe that you are doing your job right? Well a lot of the time I don't feel like I am. I swear my kd eats more candy than vegis, has more temper tantrums than smiles, etc. I know that she's only 3 (in a month anyway) and that they whine a lot and think that candy is actually a food group, but I can't help but feel like I'm not doing my job. I often times find myself giving in and giving her chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese for the 4th day in a row for lunch just so that I can avoid a fight. Add a fruit or vegi with these meals as a side? Forget about it. I feel like television has raised my child lately because I have no energy to do anything. I know she's not getting out and getting as much activity as she should because, well I'm not. I look at all these other mothers around me and am so envious of them. They seem to be have grasped this mothering thing, add their own little spin, and are left with these happy healthy, and safe kids. Right now I feel like the only thing I've got down most of the time is the safe thing. These super moms that I look up to have their kids watch only the educational shows, and a very minimal amount at that, they can actually get their kids to eat healthy snacks and meals. They get out and play with their kids at the park (while I seem to be out of breath just walking up to the swingset). On top of all this, they seem to have energy for their own hobbies, crafts, sewing (another super mom attribute I have no idea how to do, make my daughter some clothes, ya right), reading, etc. On top of everything their houses are always spotless. I know what some of you are thinking, oh but Heather, you're almost 6 months pregnant its normal not to have energy. But to be honest I'm not much better when I'm not pregnant.

This September I will be adding a new addition, baby boy Hooton. I'm even more afraid now than ever. You'd think it would have been easy with just one kid. I've had 3 years to get used to this parenting thing, to become one of these so called Super Mom's, but here it is June, only 3 1/2 more months to go until he's here and I am still trying to figure out how to handle one, let alone two.

Anyway just a little note hoping I'm not the only one that feels this way. I know no one is the perfect mother and even these super mom's don't have it all together as it seems, but they seem to have something I must be lacking.

Oh well, I guess I'm learning and growing along with Taylar. So I will sit back, continue to have my tantrums as I watch Taylar have hers, try and justify why dinosaur chicken nuggets are okay for lunch for the 4th time this week and look at the mess in my front room hoping that the cleaning fairy will soon come....

Recipes

I'm in desperate need for some new Recipes for my family for dinner. We eat the same things over and over. Anyone tried some new recipes that are kid friendly that they want to share?

Snip Snip

I went to go get Taylar's bangs cut today and while I was there I was looking at her messy hair and decided that I needed to get her whole hair cut. No matter what I did unless I pulled it up it always looked messy so we decided to do a little bob cut. I think it looks cute and it will be so nice for this summer.

Thankful

I am the luckiest person in the entire world. I get to be Taylar's mom. There is nothing better than that. I love everything about her. She makes me laugh more than anyone in the world. So while, yes, today is Mother's Day, I really should be thanking Joey for making me the mother of such an amazing little girl.

Some current interesting facts about my little Stinky Pete:

1.) She LOVES LOVES LOVES Dinosaurs and Jurassic Park. She loves the theme song to the movie so much that when we go on vacation I can put it on my ipod for her and she's asleep in 5 minutes.

2.) She loves sharks and loves to tell me about her dream where the nice shark laid in her bed and then ate Fraggle Rock (don't ask, lol)

3.) She speaks very well, but she also is bi-lingual. She speaks Taylarneise. For example her dog's name is Shrumple-able. And when she gets excited its a whole lot of stuff I don't understand.

4.) Her favorite song is the Taylar Ann Song. The lyrics are as follows: "Taylar Ann, she's so cute even though she likes to toot."

5.) She loves water and swimming. I think she may have been a mermaid or fish in another life.

6.) She LOVES animals, although she is allergic. poor thing.

7.) She love the book Brown Bear and reads it to herself all the time (brown bear brown bear what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me...)

8.) My favorite thing in the world that she does....comes up to me and gives me a big kiss and says "mom I love you so much, you're the bestest mommy." and this is for no reason.

There are many other funny, cute, not so cute, amazing things that she does that I could list all day, but I won't. I'm just thankful this mother's day that God gave me the privilidge of being her mother.

Also a special Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful mother. She does so much for my brother's and I and I don't think she knows. I hate that she is so far away but am so grateful that we got to go visit her. I can't wait for her to come in September when this new little bundle of joy is due.

And a Happy Mother's day to all of the other beautiful mother's in my life, both old, new, and soon to be.