pregnant mom with breast cancer ... PLEASE SHARE

Friends, I need your help. It's not a lot that I'm asking, and it's well within reason. My friend Danny's wife, Michelle, is fighting the battle of her life. A beautiful, loving mother of three is now pregnant with her fourth baby while battling Breast Cancer. Diagnosed in March of 2013 she is doing everything she can to heal her body naturally hoping to avoid chemotherapy. Unfortunately, these natural cures are not covered by her health insurance. Please take a second to think about your own life. How YOU could very well be Michelle. Can you imagine the tremendous pressure? Pregnant and willing to do anything for your unborn baby yet knowing that you need to aggressively heal your own body in the most gentle way possible. Or you could be Danny. A father and husband so determined to give his wife everything she needs to heal knowing that he can only reach so many people and do so much. That's where you guys come in.

I am simply asking you to view the link to her fundraiser and pass it along to your friends and family. Share it on Facebook and Twitter. After all, isn't that what social media is intended for? Certainly not only to share flash mob videos and make "Gangnam Style" an overnight sensation. If you have a few extra dollars to donate - it would make a great impact. If you can't donate just simply share the link. And share it again tomorrow. And the next day. Danny and Michelle need to reach as many people as possible in a short amount of time. We can all help them in the most simple way, it just takes a few seconds. And why wouldn't you want to help? What would be your reason to NOT share the link? Can't think of one can you? Just do it.

You can even donate right from my blog just click the "give" button on the right side of the page!

You can copy and paste the link below to your facebook or twitter account or email it to everyone in your address book: 
https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/ds82/healingcancernaturally?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fb_share_stream.share&utm_campaign=vanity_page_T1&fb_ref=949395


Michelle and Danny deserve to be elated by this wonderful pregnancy and focused on the joys of being parents. Let's reach out for them and help Michelle to kick cancer's ASS!!!!! (this fundraiser ends on June 1st, 2013)


Punky Longstocking

The doctor's office... perhaps the only place that a toddler can get away with wearing white corduroys.

Scarlett had her 18 month check-up today (even though she's 19.5 months old) and she is doing great! My super tall girl, who remains in the 90th percentile for height, is now at 34" and quickly catching up to her mama! She's gained ten ounces since January, bringing her to 25.13oz, and is now in the 80th percentile for weight. That's the stats!

As far as skills, she's doing really well in most areas. I think we need to work on meal-time junk. I tend to hold her back a bit when it comes to drinking from a cup (without a straw or spout). She does great - as long as I'm holding onto the cup. I'm sort of afraid to let it go completely because I don't want to clean milk out of the curtains. BUT I am slowly letting go more and more. She's also a little lazy when it comes to using utensils. She CAN do it, but it's easier to hold the fork in her right hand and shovel food into her mouth with her left. She's shown improvement over the past couple of weeks and I'm trying to enforce it as much as possible. Along with her "please"s and "excuse me"s. She's coming around.

Scarlett can count to ten - sometimes perfectly, sometimes out of order. Today she counted my fingers by grabbing one hand and saying, "1,2,3,4,5" and then the other hand saying, "6,7,8,9,10". I was impressed by that.

She knows some shapes: circle, triangle, rectangle, square, diamond, heart, star and oval mostly.

She doesn't really know her colors - sometimes she picks the right ones out of her crayons but I think a lot of times it's coincidence.

She still loves music at meal times and in the car and her current favorite television show is Super Why. Recently she's been able to recognize the letters M, O, B, I and P. Off to a good start!

We went to the aquarium and zoo on Gregg's vacation and she wasn't impressed by the fish or animals. She had the most fun running around the playground getting soaked in the water-play area.

We bought her a sandbox this weekend (in which I liberally sprinkled cinnamon because I read that it keeps bugs away) and she loves dumping that sand everywhere.

I've been taking her to the beach in the mornings on nice, sunny days and she loves playing on the shore. Yesterday she bolted into the water, shocking the crap out of me. Thankfully I was right next to her - holding her hand until she briskly let go. She fell to her knees in the cold water almost immediately. She was a bit stunned but was ready to keep playing. I was kinda pissed because I thought I was prepared for anything yet didn't have a towel or change of clothes. Scarlett- 1, Mama- zip. We managed to dry her off with a sheet and salvaged the trip with a slide and swing at the playground.

She's a roughneck. For sure. She's bold. She's not shy. She falls down and gets up saying, "ok" over and over. Definitely not a delicate flower.

One thing that is pretty adorable: She gets behind my father's motorized wheelchair and thinks she is pushing him from room to room (while he uses the controls). She even makes the grunting noises like it's soooo hard!

Scarlett continues to be the light of my life. I post a tiring amount of her photos on Facebook but I want my friends and family to know that the little faces she makes, the sweet smiles and smirks - they are so accurate in depicting her personality. She's such a little maniac. She's a dash of Pippi Longstocking, a heap of Punky Brewster and a pinch of Dennis the Menace. She's our sweet Scarlett June... and she's growing up too fast!



 

I'm wearing dresses... end of story

Dresses. Yup. I said I was going to wear them this year and I am going to ... come hell or high water.

I've always loved dresses...especially the pretty little sixties styles donned by Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. I've just always pretended that I loved jeans and hoodies more. I am proud to say I have gradually evolved from the hoodie and I'm on to cardigans and jackets now. I realized that I feel one thousand percent better when I'm wearing appropriate apparel in any given situation. For years I was the girl wearing heels to the backyard barbecue. Or a black hoodie as a pitiful and embarassing attempt to dress up an outfit. I would have on a t-shirt and vest shoveling snow during a blizzard - no gloves, no hat - just a stupid vest and probably a double ear infection. I just didn't seem to care. But deep down I always wished that I had the body to wear the clothes that I loved. The trends and the pretty things. Who doesn't want that???

Well, this year I've adopted a new motto - F it. I am never going to be a size two. I'm not going to reach a height of 5'9" ... or even 5'2". My sprouting days are long gone and I am what I am. A stocky little shrimpo with hair that's probably too long for my age and pink shoes that are too young for me. What's that motto again? Right. F it. So my torso isn't very long and I have hips, my boobs are too big for my frame and my legs are wicked short. I'm wearing these dresses, end of story. I refuse to live the rest of my life worrying that people will whisper behind my back. Can you believe she's wearing that jacket?? She looks like a linebacker! What about that skirt?? Her hips look enormous! She shouldn't wear scarves - they just make her double chin look bigger. People may or may not say these things - I'm pretty sure it's mostly me who thinks about this crap anyway. Regardless, it's time to move on.

I have bought four new dresses so far this year! I haven't worn any of them. In my defense it's been too cold... and two of them are sundresses... and I can't reach the zipper on a couple so I can only wear them when Gregg is home! Shut up, I'll wear them soon. And you'll be the first to know.