When I first quit drinking over two and a half years ago (it will be three years on May 22nd) (Hold your applause! Calm yourselves, seriously! This isn’t an AA meeting!), I was under the impression that I was a fairly healthy person living an adequately healthy life, but my plan was to step it up and be an incredibly healthy person. Despite the fact that I am someone who is the indoor type, who loves nothing more than to lie on the couch watching Real Housewives and who can’t think of anything less appealing than a hike, I was going to be the opposite. I was going to instantly be a person who wouldn’t turn her nose up at a kale smoothie. A person who goes for a walk “just because” and a person with perfect bone structure and skinny knees. I was going to rock a miniskirt and have an enviable resting pulse rate. READ MORE at my Babble Voices Blog! Please. I get a bonus if I get the most clicks on this post so help an unemployed sista out! If you wanted to share it on FB I wouldn't be angry at you.
Posted by Stefanie Wilder Taylor on January 23, 2012
5:37 pm •
Uncategorized •
PARENTS!!!
– Oprah Winfrey Network –
NOW CASTING FAMILIES:
The company bringing you Undercover Boss has a new family show!
This show is positive, uplifting and will offer solutions.
Raising a family is a challenge for every parent – We’re seeking a family who is at the end of their rope with the kids’ behavior:
• Does your teen break all your rules?
• Is your child a victim of peer pressure or bullying?
• Is your child acting out, talking back, failing school?
• Smoking, drinking, experimenting with drugs?
• Ditching, sneaking out, or hanging out with the wrong crowd?
• Have you tried everything, but nothing is working?
Requirements:
• Families must have at least two children who live at home
• At least one child should be a teenager
To Apply:
Please email us NOW:
• Your name, email AND phone number
• Names and ages of everyone living in household
• City where you live, a little about the neighborhood and type of home (house, condo, apartment)
• Brief description of the family’s problems
• 2 current family photos
Put your LAST NAME and CITY in the subject line – email to:
Kelly at kelly.mack@studiolambert.com
Posted by Stefanie Wilder Taylor on January 17, 2012
6:09 pm •
Uncategorized •
First off, I want to say before I even begin this post that I'm not a whore. I realize that information should go without saying so I'm not trying to come off all defensive like Nixon and his "I am not a thief" speech. I guess I just wanted to clarify that when I like something it's not just because I like everything. To illustrate: I can't stand Good Earth tea. Ewww. Most people love Good Earth tea but I'm not most people. Sorry Good Earth but your tea smells like feet. Another thing I don't like is books about science fiction. Why can't everything be based in reality? Is it necessary to worry about what life would be like if we lived in an alternate universe where a robot was president? Sorry, not into it. Oh, here's a good one: anything crafty. If it involves yarn, glue, beads and especially if there is a booklet of instructions involved, I don't want to be a part of it.
So what do I like you might wonder. I enjoy glittery nail polish, things that are edible, things that smell delicious (ie: lotions, stickers, candles) and books. I have a big old weakness for books, especially kids books. I have written a post about my favorite kids' books on Babble but I forgot to include one of Elby's favorites, Pinkalicious. Yeah, I know, how could I leave that out? I screwed up. Sue me. Let's just move on okay?
So for Christmas, Elby got Pinkalicious The Princess of Pink Treasury.
Now, it's hard to find books that actually please kids. If you have a kid, you know what I mean. To most kids, books are a lot like clothes which is to say that aren't toys. With that in mind, if you can find a book that puts this sort of crazed glimmer in your kid's eye, you can go ahead and pat yourself on the back for some great parenting. Me, I'm always looking for a reason to pat myself on the back. Pinkalicious actually got a "YAY! COOL! All the Pinkalicious stories are in here!" And they are. School Rules -where Pinkalicious tries to take a unicorn (named Goldie) to school, Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink -which has to do with setting up a lemonade stand and not drinking Pepso Bismal as the name implies, Pink Around the Rink -Pinkalicious gets ice skates for her birthday and makes them pink with a marker, Tinkled Pink -where Pinkalicious tries to become a stand-up comedienne using stolen jokes (sort of) and Pinkie Promise -I don't know what this one is about because it's only January 5th people, get off my back!
The book also has a CD and activities like instructions for setting up a lemonade stand, spot the differences pages, jokes, a page on "how to write your own story" and a lot more good stuff. So every night Elby goes to bed with a flashlight and her Pinkalicious book and reads it under the covers like I have no idea what she's doing (hello, did that for years myself, my friend!). So cute. And so irritating because she is incredibly difficult to wake up in the morning. You'd think she was in a coma and wanted to stay in it by the way she refuses to move or respond to human voices at 7 a.m. but I digress.
So the book the twins are in love with is "If You Give a Dog a Donut." Originally it was also going to be for Elby because apparently they read it in her 1st grade class and she was all jacked up because she's read the other ones in the series. You know the cat and cupcake, moose and muffin etc. These animals all have a serious eating disorder if you ask me but maybe that's why I like them. I can relate. ANYWAY. "If You Give a Dog a Donut" was a huge hit with the twins who love the fact that the dog drinks apple juice just like they do (and Brittney Spears' boys). There's also something less, I don't know, fantastical (seeing as I don't like the sci fi) about this book, as opposed to the others in the series. Something a bit more simple more grounded in reality, just a classic tale of a boy and his dog who likes to play pirate and hit home runs. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the whole series but this is the best one.
So there you go. Enjoy my recommends and I will get back to you soon with my thoughts on The Seven Chinese Brothers which I just received from Amazon.
Posted by Stefanie Wilder Taylor on January 6, 2012
12:11 am •
Uncategorized •
You're welcome.
http://youtu.be/75PYYXnbdqw
Posted by Stefanie Wilder Taylor on January 4, 2012
10:20 pm •
Uncategorized •
Every time I type out a post about Sadie and her petite size I promise it's the last time I'll talk about it. Not because I think I'm boring (come on, no one can insert "twat waffle" in a post about toddlers like I can) but because I feel lucky that Sadie has overcome so many challenges already so why focus on something so non-tragic - something quite possibly inconsequential to her overall well being?
Sadie just crossed the 27 pound mark and she's four-years-old as of last month. She wears a size 2T and even some of those pants are a little long. She is still far below the height/weight chart. She's doesn't have a percent yet. I know it doesn't matter what other people think but it's still jarring for me when people exclaim, "Oh my God they're twins? How can that be? She's so little!" Or when people straight out ask me what's wrong with her. Her preschool teacher told me that she forgets how tiny Sadie is until once in awhile she looks at her tiny starfish hand and realizes it's no bigger than a baby's.
Matilda continues to grow at a normal rate. She's forty pounds and is literally heads and shoulders above her sis. So Sadie's size still nags at me. How could it not? I'm her momma and if there's something wrong I want to leave no stone unturned to make it right. I want to go all Lorenzo's Oil on this thing. But I can't. Because there's really nothing I can do. Sadie eats completely typical for a four year old, she's long since graduated the feeding tube.
After all my research, after speaking to tons of other parents of SGA (Small for Gestational Age) and IUGR (Intra Uterine Growth Restriction) kids, after all the intervention she's had (PT, OT, speech, development, feeding, nutrition) I know that the only treatment is HGH (growth hormone). We just aren't prepared to go there because there are too many unknowns and zero long term studies of the side effects of synthetic hormone -especially in the amount she would need (larger amounts because she isn't hormone deficient -long story). Sweet Sadie has caught up in every other way besides height and weight. She's feisty, hilarious, did I mention feisty?, and able to do most things Matilda can do. But not all.
She needs help getting up on most toilet seats (which may not seem like a big deal but if you're four you may not always want someone helping you get up there), she's not as strong as she should be because she doesn't have the muscle mass of a typical child her age, She can't wash her hands on her own in most sinks (at home we have a big step stool but how many other places have that?), but most disturbing, she's treated by strangers like a baby. They assume she's only about 18-months or 2 and talk down to her. Of course this isn't a big deal now because I actually like to see their face when my four-year-old ball of attitude gets in their grill and gives them an "I'm a big girl. I'm four! I'm not a baby, asshole! (the asshole is implied)" But how will this be for her when she's 12, 13, 14 or 40? Will she be treated differently? And if so, are we wrong for not giving her growth hormones? I don't know. Probably not because I'm rarely wrong when I go with my gut. But what if I am?
Posted by Stefanie Wilder Taylor on December 28, 2011
6:33 pm •
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