Winnie The Pooh and Brushing Too…..

I was given an opportunity to host a Mommy Party sponsored by Oral B Stages and I decided to use a totally different way to hosting.  We had a mommy party/slumber party.  I was so excited when I got my email informing me that I was chosen as a host for such a great party.  Our kit arrived in the mail with enough items for ten people and myself.  It was a great way to help my kids and their friends learn so many important reasons why dental health is so important.  My kit included the following items:

• (11) A Mix Oral-B Stages I and II toothbrushes.

• (11) Oral-B Stages Pastes

• (11) Bottles of Disney Lavender Wash

• Disney’s Winnie the Pooh Movie DVD

• Winne the Pooh Movie Playdate Invites

• Recipe & Activity Ideas

• Balloons

• Popcorn for guests

• Guest Gift Bags

   

Since the kit had the movie and the popcorn I decide to do a slumber party option and we had a make shift candy concession stand.  It was a great way to get the kids to try their toothbrushes and toothpaste a try.  I am no stranger to the Oral B stages brand.  I use it with my oldest daughter and son and they both love it.  I was so happy to share this product with other people we know so they can see how great the products are.  The kids loved watching the movie and enjoyed their pop corn and candy.

  

    

The kids loved the movie and they loved all the snacks of course but it was not time to get on to trying the products that came in our kit.  We got the kids together to brush their teeth and it was a load of fun.  The girls loved the Disney princesses on the toothpaste.  All the little girls enjoyed the pink color of the toothpaste and they enjoyed the bubble gum flavor.  My daughter said it made her feel like a princess.  The boys went gaga over the Toy Story toothpaste tubes and the Cars 2 tubes.  They also enjoyed the berry flavor.  I haven’t seen kids enjoy brushing their teeth that much in a while.  The kids loved seeing the characters on the brushes and tubes and it made it more fun for them.  Some comments from the parents were:

“Brushing is going to be a little more fun now and more easy for me.”

“I love the taste of the toothpaste my self, its not too strong and minty where its a turn off for the kids.”

“I didn’t even know that there was a product on the market to help my baby as early as 4 months to get in a healthy habit, I have to tell more of my mommy friends about this.”

“Yes! Coupons for more savings and a great way to spread the word.”

  

  

The kids really loved the whole experiences.  We are already fans of Oral B and I use their products all the time.  It was great sharing it with friends and family and I know they will in turn share the experiences with other people.  My sister already told me a story about her sharing with a co-worker.  We had a blast thanks to Mommy Parties and Oral B.

Be sure to like Mommy Parties on Facebook, and while you are there like Oral B.  If you have Twitter be sure to follow @OralB and join in on the conversation using the hash tag #OralBStages.

Disclosure: I received a free party kit containing everything mentioned in this post in order to host my Mommy Party. All opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own and were not influenced in anyway. No form of monetary compensation was exchanged.

Being Controlled

A few short weeks ago I posted a blog about my battle with hypertension since giving birth to my third child in May.  Well its been a constant battle and after numerous doctor’s appointments and lots of prayers from me, my family and my friends, I am happy to say that my blood pressure is finally being controlled.  Now the file at my doctor’s office reads “Controlled Hypertension”.  See the great thing for me that finally after a test run of three different drugs, I have finally got a combination of two drugs that keeps my blood pressure at goal.  My goal is 140/90, yes I know its not ideal but its way better than it was before.  As long as I can keep it down below those numbers for my next three doctor’s visits then I reduce my trips to Kaiser to just ever few months unless there are issues.  I am happy about this however I don’t like having to drug myself up to feel better and so my goal is to continue with my reduced salt intake and exercise as soon as I get clearance from my doctor.

I am however sad because while there I was given another medication to help treat the unexplained headaches I have been experiencing since giving birth.  As a migraine suffer I am used to headaches but these are new and like nothing I have ever dealt with before.  Its very hard getting much rest with two toddlers and a newborn, but at times I can’t even get up because my head hurts so badly.  I hope this medication works well because if it doesn’t soon I will be undergoing a new series of test to make sure that something is not being missed.  Between sleepless nights, baby bottles, doctor’s visits, and everything else life has its just been so tiring.  Now its officially been six weeks since the birth of J.B. the new worry becomes Postpartum Depression.  This too is no stranger to me.  After the birth of my second child I was in a horrible tail spin of depression and it took me a while to get myself out from under it.  This time I am hoping to combat it by taking out all that I feel and not bundle everything.  Yes I am overwhelmed but I am blessed that Steve sees when I just can’t go on even though I try hard to seem like Superwoman and he steps in and take over, even when he has to get up early for work.  So I toast to my blood pressure being controlled and I hope that this is not a lifelong health battle but if it is my burden to bare I continue to ask God for the strength to get through for my kids.  I do want to get old and travel the country with my hubby.

 

The Submissive Wife

Nicki

Silent Killer

So if you are my friend on Facebook and have been paying any attention to my statuses you would know by now that for the past few months I have been battling Pre-Eclampsia and Hypertension.  My third child was delivered early by emergency induction because I developed severe pre-eclampsia and since the delivery it had yet to return to normal.  High Blood Pressure is not stranger to me at all, both my mother and father suffer from high blood pressure and since I am no longer sporting my skinny college figure it could one day affect me.  Well that day has come and is shinning on me ever so brightly and it just doesn’t seem to want to leave any time soon.

Now that I have a combo of two different medicines working together to try to manage my hypertension i figured it’s time to really take a look and what’s plaguing me and what I can do to help get this fixed as soon as possible.  The first thing I get in my Google search brings up the words ‘The Silent Killer’.  As I search more and more pages I see facts about heart disease, stroke, angina, and heart attack just to name a few.  Now I start to think to myself, I am only 29 years old and now I am looking at so many possible serious aliments in such a short space of time I went from being healthy (aside from a few symptoms of pregnancy) to facing some serious life altering decisions regarding me health as well as my family.  Stressing about this is useless because it will only make my current condition worst so I have tired my best to not allow it to bother me.  Whenever anyone asks I always respond with “Oh I am doing fine,” but deep down I wonder what would happen if this proved to be of some detriment to me.  I have decided to change my family’s eating habits and try to cook healthier meals and snack options for us all and I plan to eliminate salt from my diet.

I am going to beat this and be healthy again soon.  Keep watching as I update my progress with my fight against a silent killer.

Nicki

The Submissive Wife.

1.2 – One week and Two Days….

One week and two days ago I had an emergency induction and delivered my son three weeks early due to Severe Pre-eclampsia.  He was not my first baby but it was the first time I experienced high blood pressure in pregnancy and had to face all I did to bring him into this world, however I would do it all again in a heart beat because his eyes light up the room and when he smiles it the best thing anyone can imagine.  He is a blessing and an amazing gift from God and a testament of love and commitment.  This is not my first baby and the gap between J.B. and Trey is only three years, but this once again new mom is wiped out.

It just seems like I am not alert as I was before, or maybe I am just getting readjusted to have a newborn baby who wakes several times a night.  I feel like I am in collage again, 2AM is now my best friend and me, Steve and J.B. have sunrise watching parties, or so at least it feels like we do since I am not doing back to sleep again for more than twenty minutes until 5AM has passed.  This guy is a night baby just like his older brother.  I figured that much especially since when he was in the womb my bladder and ribs got the most kicks between those same hours.  I just hoped he would somehow change those habits at birth.  Boy was I wrong.  It wouldn’t even be that bad if I could sleep in late but I can’t its summer and the sun rises so much earlier and than means once its bright in my room I have to get up, but J.B. is also a late riser.  I hope that translate to him being a big time mogul.  He seems to not need much shut eye but then again like the doctor said he just doesn’t know when its night or day yet so in a few weeks he could turn around and we all could be sleeping like babies during the night.

Oh did I forget to mention I have already been peed on three times?  Yep I sure have, every time I give him his sponge bath and he gets the out his diaper for too long I get wet.  He just relaxes and soaks up the whole place, LOL.  I know that was coming but I didn’t think it would be this soon.  Not the mention the diapers.  I forgot just how many newborn diapers a new baby can go through.  Thank heaven for my friend Theresa who got us a box as a gift and Amazon Mom for the great diaper deals.  Soon I’ll have to start stacking up on size ones from Costco.  He changes clothes like a run way model and it seems like I have to change blankets twice a day.  I am reminded that no matter how much I think I am prepared things could and sometimes does go differently that what you prepared for, I should have gotten those blankets from Babies R Us last week then they had that good sale, but such is life.  I am sitting here looking for something to watch on Netflix and and writing this blog and I see my newest bundle of joy is fast asleep and it dawns on me that I am breaking the biggest rule of being a new mom.  You must sleep when baby sleeps in order to get rest and not feel so burned out.  On that note I think I am going to say TTFN and hopefully I will write again soon.

Nicki

The Submissive Wife

Motherhood x3 – The Arrival of John-Benjamin (J.B.)

Today I was meeting with the lactation consultant about getting John-Benjamin (J.B.) to latch on and maybe adjust to breast feeding and she asks, “How old is your baby?”  I though about it for a little and then me and Steve both replied, “He is exactly a week old today.”  It didn’t dawn on me until then and the clock has already started ticking fast on baby number three and than soon my response will be in months and then before I know it he will be in Pre-School, Pre-K and then Kindergarten.  See even though I am not a first time mom, I have definitely had some new experiences with this baby.  Enough to make me declare him the last in the Steve and Nickida Stephens linage.

About five weeks ago while in for a regular prenatal check up the nurse noticed that my blood pressure was a little elevated.  She asked me to lay on my left for a few minutes and retook it again hoping it would be lower, when that didn’t work she left me on my side to relax and bit and then have my doctor discuss with me the possibility of something developing.  She had me do some blood work and then explained to me that I could be showing signs of early Preeclampsia.   She explained some signs I should be aware of and then I was off to rest until my next visit in two weeks.  Within a week I noticed that none of my tennis shoes fit any more and all I could wear where my slippers.  Thank God for my comfy Bass flip flops that made it easy to just walk around.  However I hated looking down at my constantly swelling toes and just thinking I hope this is not serious.  Two weeks later I was in her office again and my blood pressure was still elevated.  This time I had to do some more test and start my weekly check up until it was time for delivery.  Of course those visits got more and more interesting because the blood pressure was still getting higher, protein was found in my urine but my blood tests were still showing that things were safe for me and baby.

Everything started to get more crazy on Trey’s third birthday.  It was May 27th and when I went in for my visit, (which was now twice a week and I had to arrive an hour early each time to be hooked up for fetal monitoring ) I was on the fetal machine and it seemed like my blood pressure would not decrease at all.  Nothing they tired seemed to work so my doctor sent me to Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) for lab work just in case my now Chronic Hypertension had indeed turn out to be Pre-eclampsia.  I was having the worst day possible, it was Trey’s birthday, I was still on bed rest so I wasn’t able to do much with him and on top of that I had misplaced my wallet and now I was being sent to the hospital.  I was praying that I would just have to wait it out a few hours and then return home in time so spend at least some of that time with Trey.  Thankfully four hours later we were home and I was enjoying time with my family.  On Saturday I baked Trey a birthday cake and had it ready when he returned home from his daddy and son boy days out.   I noticed my feet were extremely swollen and my fingers were getting fatter.  I figured I was a little tired from baking and so I just brushed it off.  Sunday our family grilled for the holiday weekend and I tired to sit and relax all day but I  noticed that night my back started hurting really badly so I just tried to get to bed early and lay down.

Monday 30th May arrived and I started to get Braxton Hicks contractions pretty early in the day.  As the hours passed I noticed that they were not stopping.  I tired to time them but they seemed so irregular and all over the place I just couldn’t get a good handle on them.  My back was hurting so bad and all Steve could think about was Memorial Day 2008 when I was sick all day and wouldn’t go to the hospital, when we finally arrived after a three hour wait only to discover not only was I in labor but I was 7 and a half centimeters dilated and fully effaced.  He didn’t want this to be a repeat, but we all thought it would be funny if I started labor on Memorial Day and delivered this baby boy just like I did with Trey.  As the day progressed I started to feel more and more sick, finally I asked my mom to take my blood pressure, and just like I suspected it was high.  I called my doctor and was told to go to Labor and Delivery for a Labor Check just to be certain I wasn’t in active labor and that baby was doing fine.  Five minutes after being placed in the triage room I was told by the midwife on duty that I wasn’t going home that night.  We were either going to be there to get my blood pressure, which was 184/121, down to a much better number or they were going to induce based on what my blood work showed.  I was moved to a birthing suite while I waited for them to tell me which way we were going to be going that day.  Forty five minutes later I was being told that I was going to have my baby today.  From Friday to Monday I went from being fine to my labs coming back showing I had developed Severe Pre-eclampsia.  It was 7PM when they started to run the meds to induce labor.

Everything seemed to be going fine until around 11:45 PM and I told my mom that I was having lots of pressure in my back like I had to push but the doctor had said less than two hours before I was only half way there and the magnesium they were running to keep me from having a seizure during labor was slowing down the process a bit.  I pushed the button to ask the nurse to come to my room to tell her how I was feeling when the new midwife on duty ran into the room asking me to turn on my side because baby was in distress.  Before I knew it four other nurses were in the room rolling me over in all kinds of positions to find out where the baby was sitting and to get his heart rate up.  When the doctor arrived she said I was only 8 centimeters dilated and the baby’s head was still high up next she was asking me to sign a consent from for her to perform and emergency c-section and I had an oxygen mask on my face.  I could barely hear what she was saying all I could think about was I hope my baby was safe.  Then she told me I had to go into the OR alone because of an earlier power outage the ones in Labor and Delivery were not ready for the procedure.  I began to get scared and just said a quick prayer to God hoping it would all be fine.  Next Steve was being given scrubs and being told he could come with us.  Waiting for the bed to arrive and take me out the anesthesiologist noticed that the baby’s heart rate went up and he suggested that maybe I could try to start pushing.  Within five minutes I when from 8 to 10 centimeters but the doctor was still concerned that the baby’s head was too high.  I told that I could feel pressure like I had to push so she decided to try it first before doing a c-section.  It took muscles and strength I didn’t know I had but I gave a big push and waited.  The next two minutes seemed like it was twenty and I gave a big push again and his head was right there and then the problem was clear the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck.  I had to stop pushing while the doctor removed it from his neck and finally with one big push he was here.   John-Benjamin Charles Stephens arrived at 12:03 AM.  Just like his older brother he started his journey on Memorial Day but was born the day after.  He had arrived in grand style.  When they handed him to me he was blue and his lips were purple.  It took him a few to cry but then I heard the best sound any expecting mother could hear, the sound of your newborn for the first time and I was relieved.  I didn’t have to have surgery and my baby was delivered safe and after a check out from the NICU he was given a good and healthy seal of approval.  Even though he was three weeks early and we hadn’t finished all our last minute loose ends to be ready we were blessed to have out new bundle of joy healthy and thriving.  I am blessed to be a mother of three and I hope this post will be the first in many about my journey with the Stephens Kids.

 

Nicki

The Submissive Wife.

What Would You Do As A Parent?

So today I am reading my Facebook posts and I come across one from Cafemom about a teacher in California that got suspended from his job because a student called 911 to the classroom.  You can read the full article here.  Now to just give you a gist of what happened.  This teacher was trying to get the attention of his class so he rattled a desk and one student was disturbed by his behavior so she left class and called 911 reporting the teacher saying that he was angry and possibly throwing objects.  When the police arrived the rest of the class was quite while the teacher was in the middle of the lesson.  However the school placed him on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation.  He has never had any complaints filed before nor did any of the other students felt the teacher was out of line.

Now I have long realized that I didn’t grow up in the some society as my younger siblings and as a parent I know that when my kids are in school it will be even more different.  What would you do as a parent if you received a phone call from your child’s school saying that they are responsible for calling 911 into the school for this same issue?  What the teacher wrong?  Was the student wrong?  What should the parents of this child do?  Its so much you can say about this story and just makes you think what we are doing and how it affects our children and they things they do in life.

I Forgot I Had a Blog

It has been so hectic recently I just haven’t had to chance to do much of anything. I don’t bake, make new dishes, write in my blog or anything else hobby wise. I do however spend loads of time with both my kids and lots sitting around since I have to take it easy for the next couple of months. We’re growing and expanding and that takes sacrifice. I am a year older and wiser but other than that not much I can really say. Oh yeah the Stephens Family is expecting our second son sometime around mid June if he is on time and not early or late. Its gonna be rough summer. Steve and Trey have birthdays in May and Kennedi in June. We are gonna be doing lots to get ready for baby and to keep the current kiddos happy. Hopefully I get time to check in here often while we prepare for our new arrival.

Peace and many blessings,

The Submissive Wife
Nikki

American Girl Doll Giveaway

I wanted to share this link.  Be sure to visit the blog and read how you can enter.  Good Luck if you do try.

AMERICAN GIRL CONTEST

Super Happy

Have you ever gotten news that made you so happy and it wasn’t about you? Well today I heard some of the best news I have heard in a long time that had nothing to do wih me but all I could do was smile. These days people seem to be so consumed with jealosity that we can’t be happy for one another. God is truly amazing and I thank him for blessing me with all that he has and I am even more thankful as he bless the ones I love as well. Stay posted for an update of the news I have to share when I can say more.

Real Food Project.

Check this out and there is also a chance to enter the contest.  Be sure to sign up with Mom Select and Maria Bradley first if you plan to enter.

Dear Nickida,

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay and actress/mom Lori Loughlin have teamed up with Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® Mayonnaise to unveil the Real Food Project on Hellmanns.com, a comprehensive online resource offering tips and ideas on how to create real meals made with Real Food.

Because videos are great for multi-tasking moms, The Real Food Project features a series of entertaining how-to tutorials, hosted by Bobby Flay, to give us tools and techniques to prepare great-tasting, at-home meals for our families.  Just by visiting www.Hellmanns.com, you can access a wide range of recipes, including sandwiches, entrees and side dishes, all designed to please picky palates. There are even chances to win great prizes like a kitchen essentials bundle, Bobby Flay Grill It and Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® products by playing the “Wheel of Real” instant win game and entering the Real Food Sweepstakes.

Speaking of winning great prizes, we have a little something extra to offer our fantastic bloggers. Just by sharing the details of this great campaign with your readers, you’ll be entered to win an awesome prize, guaranteed to get “Real Food” on your table- a $250 grocery store gift certificate and a 6-months supply of Hellmann’s® Mayonnaise!

To enter, simply publish a post on your blog between March 25th and April 30th that includes the following elements:

• Description of The Real Food project
• Link to www.Hellmanns.com, encouraging your readers to visit.
• Disclosure attached to your blog post.  Sample copy for this disclosure would be:  “Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a Hellmann’s® prize package in exchange for this post.  No monetary exchange took place.”

Please send the link to your post to Amy@bsmmedia.com to be entered into the contest.

What are you waiting for? Head over to Hellmanns.com to stock up on tips and great tasting recipes.

Thanks for your participation and we look forward to hearing from you.

Warm Regards,

Your Friends at Hellmann’s® and MomSelect