TGIF

Today is Paxton's last day at the feeding clinic!! Woo hoo!
Today he also has a neurological exam as a follow up from his heart surgery. Busy day! Be back Monday with a regular post.

Hair Color....which to choose?

In September, I got my hair highlighted.  I liked it at first, but then my roots started growing in.  It was at that point that I remembered why I stopped coloring my hair in the first place.  Ugh.  So, now my hair looks a mess.  I want something closer to my natural color, but I don't want it to drown me out or make me look pail.  I have fair skin so I don't look good with really dark hair.  What do you think?  Which color would you choose?


I'm not sure what color this is, but I like it. 



This is close to my natural color, but a little lighter in the front I think.



This is a little darker (I think), but I like it.



I like the variety of colors in her hair.

Need suggestions please :)

So What Wednesday...Calling All the Single Ladies

Today is not just a So What Wednesday post, but I'm also going to play match maker today (hopefully). 
Today, I'm saying So What:

• If I am totally excited to have made a new "mom" friend in town.  I love having someone to meet up with for crafts, drinks, or dinner.
• So what if I'm bribing my daughter with everything under the sun to just poopoo on the potty.  Seriously...she is totally potty trained, but will not poop unless it is in a diaper or pull up. 
• So what if I promised not to go overboard on the kids for Christmas, but have already blown that promise.
• So what if I'm going to use the rest of this post to play matchmaker.  So...here it goes.

 Chris and I are friends with a really nice guy, named Mike.

 Mike is single and I'd love to hook him up with a NICE, NORMAL (aka--not crazy) girl with no drama.  Please note, this guy lives in MD. If you do not live in the MD, DC, VA area.....or if you do not have a single friend who does live in the area....you may not want to read any further.

He's nice, kind, he has a job and a car, and he needs to find a nice girl. He's 37 or 38 and he has an ADORABLE 1 year old son, whom he shares custody of.  Is that kid not adorable? 

He goes to our church and he is super nice.  He is funny, and would be a great catch for the right girl. He is looking for a relationship. He is not looking for drama, liars, or cheaters.

If interested, please comment or contact me at kfinck4@gmail.com

Favorite Kid's Books

I am always on the hunt for a new awesome book to read to my kids before bed.  Here are a list of our current favorites:

Mia:  Most of her books are about little girls or princesses, except for Elf on the Shelf.  She loves Alex, her Elf. 

Elf on the Shelf  We read this book year round. 

Madeline  Her favorite line?  "To the Tiger at the zoo, Madeline just says Poo-poo."  I think she just likes wants an excuse to say a "bathroom word"

Pinkalicious  These books are so fun.  We have all of them and have even made some Pinkalicious cupcakes. 

Do Princesses Scrape Their Knees  Super cute book about a big sister and little brother (or sister)

Winners Never Quit  Mia is getting this for Christmas...for obvious reasons.  1.  The girl in the book's name is Mia and 2.  It's about soccer.  I read it and it is super cute!

Paxton:  Notice most of Paxton's books are about sleeping.  I think we are trying to tell him something :).

I Love You Stinky Face  Cutest book ever.  Seriously, so sweet. 

Time for Bed  This is such a sweet and easy read.  He likes to point out the animals.

Pajama Time  This is a fun sing-songy type of bedtime book.  I really love all of her books.

Honk Honk Beep Beep.  This is probably his favorite.  He loves jeeps and it's a really cute story.

The Going to Bed Book  Another going to bed book.  I don't like how they take a bath and then exercise, but whatever.  He likes it and that is all that matters.

What are your kid's favorite books?

Thankful Tree

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and this year, I wanted to do something different.  I found the Thanksgiving Tree on Pinterest and knew I had to make it mine.  You can make one on your own, but since I have ZERO crafting/artistic ability, I decided to buy mine.  

You can do it however you want.  We all took turns writing things on the leaves that we are thankful for this year.  Even the kids participated (though they needed a little help with the writing).

Some of the things we are thankful for this year are Mommy, Daddy (the kids of course), our health, our health insurance, the ability to telework (especially important given Paxton's feeding therapy schedule), and our family and friends. 

What are you thankful for this year?
 

Forget it Friday...the time I got taken advantage of by a homeless man

Let me start off by saying this has been a really long week.  There are a few things I'd definitely like to forget this week!

1.  The nasty facebook, twitter, and blog comments about the election.  It's over.  It is what it is whether we like it or not.

2.  The gloating over "my Candidate won", etc going on around my building.  The office is not an appropriate place for that regardless of your political affiliation.

3.  I HATE being taken advantage of and that's exactly what happened to my coworker, Lauren and I this week.  We went to 7-11 for an afternoon snack (aka, a dark chocolate milky way) and there was a homeless guy outside.  Of course, we offer to buy him lunch.  He then proceeds to follow us into store and buy a ton of stuff (big giant cup of soup -literally the size of a soccer ball), the largest hot cocoa I've ever seen, a liter of soda --note, that is after he handed me a small one first then took it back and exchanged it for the 1 liter, a king size pack of Reece's Pieces,  and a medium size bag of chips.  Please don't send me hate comments about this.  I help the homeless ALL the time.  I always buy them food, water, etc and I'm happy to do it; however, I do not like it when you take advantage of my kindness.  I felt like he did his grocery shopping at our expense and I was not prepared for that.  Also note...while he was handing us stuff to buy him, another customer handed him a bag with pizza and a drink so he had food for lunch (we didn't know that at the time).

Things I don't want to forget:

1.  I appreciate that I have the right to vote in this country and I don't want to forget how awesome that is.

 

Facing Fears, Paxton Week 6 Feeding Therapy

The Doctor at the feeding clinic said something last week that got me thinking.  She said, "the only way to help Paxton move past his fear of food is to help him face his fears".  This morning, as I was speaking to a group of new employees at Orientation, I thought back to the moment she told me that.  At the time, I just nodded in agreement, but I realize now how true that statement really is.  For example, I used to be terrified of public speaking.  I'm shy anyway, but put me in front of a group of people and I'm a mess.  I used to sweat profusely, stumble on my words, and talk really fast.  Now, I really could care less.  I've faced my fears so many times that even speaking in front of 100+ people really doesn't bother me. 

Paxton is facing his fears too.  He seems to be doing better this week.  Even with the "hands down" restraining technique, he isn 't as fussy about eating his crumbs now.  The first week of this new technique was brutal.  He screamed and cried for us.  My heart broke.  While he still doesn't like it, he seems to be tolerating it more.  I'm hoping that means we are heading in the right direction.  This is our last week at therapy, but I'm hoping we make progress on an outpatient/weekly basis as well.  Although this has been inconvenient in many ways, I can see a difference and I wish they could continue for at least another 2 weeks, but there is a waiting list of kids just like him so our turn is almost over.  If you have a child who has or has had a severe feeding disorder, please feel free to share any ideas or tips you may have!