February 2010 - Praying for Parker

The Sick is Back

It was a rough night. I woke up to Parker crying. Our night nurse (we actually had one last night) was trying to calm him down, but sometimes a guy just needs his Mom. He’s sick. The Snot is back. In spades. And to make life even more [...] Read...

Published Mon, Feb 01 2010 8:48 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, down syndrome, People I Love, heroes

It’s (S)not a Problem.

Moms of kids with trachs know that along with those pieces of plastic tubing and velco ties comes a lot of……er……..snot. Hey. Let’s face it. There really isn’t a pretty word that describes the gelled waste that is made...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 8:43 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Advocacy, People I Love, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!

Upping Our Color Game

We’re upping our color game. Instead of simply matching colors, we are matching things that are a certain color. We’ve added a step to the process. And Parker is handling it like a pro. There are several ways you can do this. Parker likes...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2010 5:50 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Special Needs Homeschooling, Fantabulous-ness, Stuff We LOVE!, special needs homeschooling, teaching a child colors, preschool

Emergency Preparedness and the Child with Special Needs.

One of my biggest worries is how to take care of my medically fragile son with special needs in case of an emergency. It’s taken awhile, but slowly I’ve been able to do a few things to prepare and plan in case of unexpected events. I have two Skip Hop...

Published Wed, Feb 03 2010 8:49 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, shtf, 72 hour kits, emergency prepardedness

Melissa and Doug Giveaway!

Parker is just entering into the world of pretend play. He loves to wear his hero cape, drive his little wooden cars, and cook in his kitchen. Yup. He cooks in his very own kitchen. We start ‘em out young at our house. So when Melissa and Doug asked...

Published Fri, Feb 05 2010 8:28 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Stuff We LOVE!, giveaway, Melissa and Doug

And The Voice4u Winner Is……..

Heather! woot! Winner chosen by random.org Heather, email me at hods 5 mom (at) aol (dot) com! Read More...

Published Fri, Feb 05 2010 8:09 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Voice4u

A Frugal Lifestyle: Used is good, but free is best!

When our first child, Bailey, was born Reed told me to be sure and save the outfits she outgrew so that they could be passed on to the next kid to come our way. Me, being who I was then, replied that I wasn’t about to hand down anything. Why, it...

Published Sun, Feb 07 2010 7:35 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: The HIGH Cost of Health Care, A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, hand me downs, frugal, yard sales

Dear Collin Raye, I Think I Love You.

A friend sent me the link to this YouTube video a few days ago. I would have shared it with you sooner, except each time I watch it I sob. Yes, sob. Collin Raye expresses my heart with his words. I wish I had the ability to take my feelings and weave...

Published Mon, Feb 08 2010 8:17 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Advocacy, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!, Collin Raye, She's With Me

Beans in Every Crockpot

During the 1928 presidential campaign, the Republican party claimed that if Herbert Hoover won” There would be a chicken in every pot…” Hoover won, but seven months later the stock market crashed and plunged the country into the Great...

Published Tue, Feb 09 2010 8:10 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Cheap and Easy, Totally Worth The Calories, From Scratch, dried beans, slow cooker, crockpot

Immigrant Families, please move to the head of the Medicaid line.

It’s that time of year. The Utah legislature is in session. In all their glory. As usual, there are those who choose to focus on balancing the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable. Services for the disabled in the state of Utah are a relatively...

Published Wed, Feb 10 2010 9:32 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: The HIGH Cost of Health Care, A Day In Our Life, Advocacy, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!, Utah Legislature 2010, speical needs services iin Utah, SB 44

One provides the inspiration….

I’m certain the love between these two was established way before what we understand as time….began. They are always there for each other, Even when things get a wee bit painful. Never afraid to ask each other for a little bit ” more...

Published Thu, Feb 11 2010 6:34 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Fantabulous-ness, Special Needs, People I Love, brothers, love

Bouncin’

Hi, it’s Parker, your favorite Brave Hero. Yeah, I know that my Mom usually does all the blogging. But today she says it’s kind of hard to write when she is looking at the world through the fog of yet another sleepless night. Seems as if when...

Published Tue, Feb 16 2010 8:47 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, It's a dang good think I'm cute.

From There to Here

It started with a 4% chance of something being not quite right. Parker’s short femurs and my advanced maternal age. I remember my OB telling us not to worry, that these were odds good enough to take to Vegas. That all of the babies he had ever delivered...

Published Tue, Feb 16 2010 9:53 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, adapting in place

Frugality And Using Dehydrated Foods

I feed our family of 8 for about half of what the Official 2008 USDA Food Plan’s ‘Thrifty Plan’ calls for. Only in my dreams could I spend what they list as their liberal plan. This includes Parker’s totally organic blenderized...

Published Thu, Feb 18 2010 8:53 PM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: frugality, Cheap and Easy, Totally Worth The Calories, feeding a family on less, dehydrated foods

Adults with Disabilities and the Beam in Society’s Eye

I was reading a post written by Ellen over at To The Max. Ellen is an excellent writer. She is also a very loving Mom to two kids, Sabrina, and Max, who has cerebral palsy. Max has a smile that will make your day and an unsurpassed devotion to the color...

Published Mon, Feb 22 2010 9:02 AM by Praying For Parker

Filed under: A Day In Our Life, Advocacy, down syndrome, Special Needs, I'm The Mama: Hear Me Roar!, adults with disabilities