Ninja Kick

Cards for a Cause… Hundreds of Cards Made and A Group of Girls Empowered

by Leila on March 6, 2013

Earlier in February I urged everyone I knew to create some smiles for others for Valentine’s Day. This is something we have done as a family for years even before getting involved with Girl Scouts. We get friends and family involved in making cards or being a part of our service projects and this year we put the word out to my online network as well as to a couple local schools.

We have a small Troop right now of six girls and these kids were able to deliver over 300 handmade cards to the Veterans Hospital. That was empowering for them. When we sorted through the cards and made our final count they were in awe of the response.

It made them feel like they can do anything if they work at it and that is a feeling I hope that sticks with them.

Additionally, we had dozens of online friends who reached out to their local community to take action and make a difference in someone’s life. This was an opportunity to talk about how we can make a difference in other people’s lives who aren’t in our own community. The power of influence can spread very far if you try hard enough.

The Valentine’s cards and candies they got from their classmates was exciting for the day but it’s the cards for a cause that made the loving memories.

For those of you who took the time to pass the word along and those of you who participated we thank you all. If you missed this idea… we look forward to next year!

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Camp Fire USA – A Program for All

by Leila on February 7, 2013

I’ve been a Girl Scout leader for years now and I love it. Yes, its a lot of work and all volunteer but it is worth it. The hardest part I have is when our Girl Scouts have had to move unexpectedly… we miss them. But, these things happen and we try to keep them all in touch.

Now that my youngest is in Kindergarten I had to look into his options. He is our unofficial “mascot” and helper for our Girl Scout Troop. This was his idea and the girls run with it. He just loves having fun and his expectations for that kind of program is to be able to do all the things that his big sister does. Every program is different and it seems that the assumption is if you have a girl you go into Girl Scouts and if you have a boy he is Boy Scout bound…

But, there is one for both… Camp Fire USA which is for girls and boys. It’s a non-profit organization that has one main objective: They light the fire within the child so they can become the people they want to be.

Camp Fire USA

That is perfect for us.

I’m the kind of Mom who doesn’t press my own opinion on the kids. If that were the case I would not have supported my daughter being a pretty pretty princess who wore nothing but princess gowns and fairy wings daily until recently. I’m not exactly a girly girl – she is. I embraced that. The kids have had, and will always, find interests that don’t align with my own but I support them regardless. It’s not my decision to tell them who to be – all I can do is help them find the resources to pursue their interests, support them however I can and help them become independent, confident and strong people.

Along the path of craziness they put me on I have some laughs, embrace it and wonder to myself what I have gotten myself into. That is the role of a parent. Fun, isn’t it? I love every moment of it… even when they damage my calm.

Unlike many other kid geared programs that try to mold a child to fit their expectations, I found that Camp Fire USA just accepts the children and families – no matter what. Unfortunately, you don’t always find that.

I also love that Camp Fire USA is for boys and girls. Yes, I love the message of Girl Empowerments from Girl Scouts but at Camp Fire it’s all about kid power. Equality is a big deal for our family. They also include the whole family in events, have an amazing sense of community and their pathway program is very enriching.

I’ve taken many months weighing the options, doing research and when I stepped into the office of our local chapter I knew I found the perfect fit for my youngest. He is beyond excited and so am I.

So, I am now taking on a leadership role as a Camp Fire Leader as well as a Girl Scout Leader. I don’t think there are many who do this. I was honestly apprehensive since I didn’t expect to find many families with boys who wanted their kids to be involved but I did and they are just as stoked as I am.

No matter what controversy there is with other programs I think it simply comes down to finding what is best for your family in terms of expectations and core values. I’m just thankful I live in an area where Camp Fire USA is available to us.

Let’s bring on the new adventures!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not asked to write about Camp Fire USA nor  was I compensated. I’m actually a little nervous about the groups I organize for finding my blog because… I’m kind of a geek ;) I just felt strongly about the program and wanted to share my perspective.

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Valentines Day Cards for a Cause

by Leila on February 5, 2013

Valentines Day Cards for a Cause

Two years ago, when I was single, I wrote about why being single on Valentine’s Day as a Single Mom doesn’t have to suck - one of those ways focused on giving back to the community. We call it “Cards for a Cause”.

Whoa… I’ve been doing this for two years! That feels amazing! Ahem… anyway…

It’s become a regular tradition for us to make cards during different holidays and find a place to take them to. We even have playdates and get our friends involved. We have given to Children’s Hospitals, Women’s Shelters, Deployed Soldiers, Halfway Houses and this year we are making Valentines for Vets. I like to try to encourage the kids to do something to think beyond themselves and give when they can. Small gestures can go a long way.

This year our Girl Scout Troop is asking our local friends, family, troops, dens, groups and classrooms to help with our cause.

But, beyond that we are also asking that YOU take some time to give some love to your community.

Take an hour or less to make V-Day cards for an organization in your community with your family, friends or coworkers. A quick google search for a community organization will help you and your family find a place for you to support. Include your children in this. Not finding anything local?

Take part helping Hurricane Sandy Victims at a Staten Island School with help from the USPS:

“The United States Postal Service is planning a surprise for the students of the John C. Thompson School (PS-52) of Staten Island, NY, hit hard by hurricane Sandy and you can help.

By sending a Valentine card to:
Operation Bear Hug
PO Box 10213
Staten Island NY 10301

Your card will be delivered by the USPS “I Love You” Bear mascot, to each of the 650 students on Feb.14th, along with as many hugs as they can bear.” From USPS Facebook Page

Or follow and support Amanda Greenwood who is collecting handmade cards for the children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Follow these simple guidelines:

 

  • Use Construction Paper and Pre-Fold it to make it easier on the kids. I find that the smaller the cards the faster they will complete them and the more they will do.
  • Provide plenty of stickers, markers, crayons, foam decorations and ideas of what to write. If you do not give kids examples of what to write they will come up with some crazy stuff. You have been warned.
  • Do not use glitter. Why? Because glitter is evil. Seriously. Beyond that… well, I can’t think of much beyond that. If you choose to use glitter just don’t let the kids overdo it. When they spill it, make a huge mess and you have glitter in your house for weeks, then, you can come back and appreciate my anti glitter group! ha!
  • Make it FUN! Let them go crazy (sans glitter) and get creative. Use a paper hole punch and let them thread yarn on the seams. Find ideas and inspiration on Pinterest but don’t forget to actually craft… Pinterest is addicting and we often spend too much time pinning insteading of doing.
  • Avoid including candy. Between it not being healthy, food allergies and messes it’s just better not to do it. If you want to include goodies then think about where you are taking your cards to. A homeless shelter may benefit from a care package full of hotel soaps and non perishable snacks.
  • For safety reasons don’t let your kids put their full names on the cards. If you have a classroom, group or troop then maybe include that.

Let’s do this! Let me know how it goes. Take some time this week or weekend to get your craft on. Find me on Twitter or Facebook and share your pics… I want to show our Girl Scout Troop the power in trying to inspire others.

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Breaking Up With Instagram and Wondering What’s Next in Social Networking?

by Leila on December 17, 2012

If you are anywhere on the interwebz today you have probably seen the uproar over Instagram’s new terms of service. Yes, it’s not a rumor unlike most of what gets shared. It doesn’t apply until January 15th 2013 and hopefully there will be some changes.

“Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

Okay, so they have the right to use our images for promotional purposes and give what info we give Instagram to a company that pays them for it. Our images become royalty free to them as soon as we upload them AND we have no say. Even though they don’t own the images they own the right to do what they want with them… because we used their services.

This obviously sucks. However, it’s their service. They could put in their terms that every picture shared on Instagram would be zombie filtered and put in a zombie calendar for profit. While we may not want to be a zombie, all corpsified and gross (kudos if you know that quote!) we can simply opt out to avoid the whole thing.

Now I want to google zombie collage calendars for 2013…

Anyway, I freaking love me some Instagram. I’ve been an obsessive Instagram junkie for over a year. I’ve met some rad people on Instagram and utilized it authentically for networking and social media marketing.

But, it’s time… for me… to move on.

The world of the internet is forever changing. We went from an age where we didn’t tell anyone our real names, location or shared pictures (unless you were in one of those a/s/l chatrooms where… c’mon… no one was being honest then! Um, not that I would know personally… hehehe)

Ahem…

Now we are in an age where everything is out there. It’s an information age where oversharers (like myself) have fun with it. But, the more comfortable we get with this lifestyle the more I wonder what’s next in social networking? How far will this go? And how much damage will be done until the laws catch up with the technology?

Maybe we are reaching the peak in online information overload and it’s time for it to settle the hell down. 

I’m not saying not to share. I’m not saying to ban the internet, because, then what the crap would we all do?? I think we are just simply at a point where we aren’t protected legally the way we should be because the laws haven’t caught up yet. We give too much trust to these platforms because, let’s admit it, the Terms of Service pages are the most boring things to read.

The only reason I caught any of that today was because I was bored at School pick up!

As we share, companies are taking advantage and creepers continue to do creepy things. As we share too much people are getting hurt in the process because their images are being used for advertising without their consent.

At least Instagram is telling us what it intends to do and the warning is in our faces. I respect that but I’m not going to stick around.

I know a lot of people are angry with Instagram and Facebook for these changes. There isn’t much we can do other than voice our concerns and wait. The new TOS won’t be implemented until January so maybe they will change their minds. Maybe they won’t.

Either way I think it’s time we all start actively protecting ourselves, our content and images. We will need to watermark (I’m guilty of not doing this a lot of the time. Honestly, its a time suck AND I am doubtful anyone would make money off of the silly face pictures I take! ha!). We will also need to start really thinking about what we share before we share it.

I don’t put a single thing out there in email, messages, pictures or tweets that I’m not comfortable with the world seeing regardless if it’s private or not. Once it’s out there it’s just out there and I can’t control what happens.

Oh believe me… there are things even I do not put out there. 

My plan is to be more mindful, learn to love watermarking, find a watermarking monkey that will work for banans and wait until the next best (free and fair) thing comes along for us all to run amok on. Until then… see you all on here, twitter, facebook or google… if I remember to actually login to google!

 Edited to add

Just FYI… these policies are not new and unique to just Instagram. Facebook owns Instagram now… here is a blurb from Facebook. 

“Sharing Your Content and Information

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:

  1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.”

The difference, from what I can tell, is that Facebook’s terms depend on how your privacy settings work. If you just share with friends then they can use your images to your friends. If you post publicly then it can be public. But, I’m not a lawyer.

The big ole debate as to what these things mean is constantly misunderstood. The safest measure of action will always be to use your best judgment. If you are worried about your images or content being used for advertising purposes then don’t share it… or watermark the hell out of it so it’s less appealing.

The internet is here to stay (and it damn well should be!) we just need to get better at using it! Keep on ninja kicking, my friends.

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Severe Egg Allergy, Food Challenges and Overcoming the Impossible

by Leila on December 4, 2012

Everyone Has Misconceptions About Egg Allergies… Even Me

When I was a kid I knew my brother, some cousins and a few friends had an egg allergy. I remember one of my cousins telling me that she can’t eat a scrambled egg because it will make her skin itch but it can be in baked foods and she is fine.

I thought she was crazy for that.

I had, until recently, mild food allergies my whole life. If I ate too much pork I would get a little itchy. Nothing major. I knew it could be harmful but I hadn’t experienced that first hand.

I always figured that if someone has an allergy to something like eggs then it’s as simple as just not eating them. But, it is much more than that.

How Severe Can An Egg Allergy Really Be?

When my daughter was a month old I nursed her after eating eggs and she broke out in hives and went into anaphylactic shock. I knew she was probably allergic to eggs and maybe other things I ate that day. That moment changed me. I didn’t experience the physical reaction myself but it was a feeling that can’t be erased. That is where our journey from her egg allergy began.

She was an infant and I was on an allergy friendly diet when she was nursing. I picked a few veggies and meats out of a chinese egg noodle dish. I didn’t think the small contact would be an issue. She spent the night in pain and covered in hives. I didn’t make that mistake again and I learned about cross contamination.

I made scrambled eggs when she was a toddler. She was on the other side of the room. They weren’t done cooking and I hadn’t gone near her when she started screaming. She was breaking out in hives and having difficulty breathing. It was her egg allergy. She was so sensitive that the tiny proteins flying through the air were enough to make her break out.

Eggs were no longer cooked in the house.

She ate off a plate and her hives, pain and crying were terrible after that meal. I discovered that the last food on that plate was a breakfast burrito and it just wasn’t washed well.

She snuggled on her grandpa’s bed and watched TV with him when she was five. Her head rested on him. Within an hour she started to scream. Her eye and eyeball had started to swell. I rushed her to the doctor and we were all in shock. We flushed her eye, her benadryl had kicked in and she was fine. Turns out he had eggs and toast for breakfast. We could only assume it was her egg allergy.

I didn’t even know most of these things that happened to her were possible.

When Egg Allergies Change and so Does the Research

My daughter’s egg allergies were off the charts along with milk. They have always been the scare-me-to-freaking-death allergies. The slightest exposure to eggs caused her to have serious reactions.  I couldn’t keep them in the house and dining anywhere that cooked eggs was a risk… I always had to stress to them how important her  egg allergies were.

The reactions were so extreme that people thought I was crazy and making it up. I would simply say screw them but understood that it was something you had to see to understand.

But, I should not ever have to justify the measures that I took to keep her safe. People are going to believe what they want. I can’t change it. Makes me less stressed being able to accept that. I’ve just always wanted to see those allergies drop so they weren’t so scary.

A couple years ago there was a slight drop in her egg allergies. It was very very very slight. But that drop was something I noticed. It didn’t even drop a category but it was the first glimmer of possible hope.

Slowly that egg allergy dropped on her tests. I didn’t even talk about it. I was sure it was going to go back up. We wanted to be sure. Her allergist and immunologist and I had talked about the advancements in Oral Immunotherapy and how they are proving that most people with egg allergies can tolerate eggs in baked goods.

When egg is cooked for at least 30 minutes at a high temperature it breaks down the protein that causes the body to have an allergic reaction. It’s as if the body doesn’t recognize it.

He felt she was now ready to start introducing egg in her diet following strict procedures. Usually, a food challenge would happen in a clinical setting but he was confident we could do this at home since he feels I am educated, capable and trusts I can follow the procedure.

At that moment I told him I wished I sucked at this and he should just make me do the challenge in office. He laughed. We could have but why drag out a 5 hour procedure in the hospital when we have options?

Please do not ever try anything on your own without consulting your doctor. Ever. 

Egg Allergies and Food Challenge aka OMG I WANT TO FREAK OUT BUT CAN’T

I bought organic, free range eggs for the first time in ten years. I placed eggs in my own refrigerator for the first time in ten years. I baked with eggs instead of applesauce. I cracked an egg… which I lost my touch! I had to fish out shells. I was still in paranoid egg allergy mode so I immediately tossed out the egg shells and wiped everything down. I cleaned up every bowl and utensil as I was done with them.

The gluten free brownies went into the oven and I made myself busy.

I was freaking the frack out on the inside but on the outside I was trying to be cool.

I will save all the details of the boring procedure of the food challenge. Needless to say she passed.

SHE FREAKING PASSED.

My daughter ate eggs for the first time in her entire life.

And when it was in the clear and we knew that she was for sure okay. We started to cry. I cried harder. She was crying for joy of all those things she will be able to eat and I was crying for feeling a huge weight lifted off of us.

It will be some time until she can eat a scrambled egg. The egg allergy may go away entirely or it may come back in full force. We just don’t know. Which is why we focus on the here and the now. Right now… it’s freaking amazing to say that her egg allergy is easier to control.

I shared this on facebook and the 125+ likes and dozens of supportive comments meant the world to us. I always show her those supportive responses. To all of you that stop by, read our updates and are a part of this journey we are forever grateful. You all rock and are the reason I share these moments. Thank you for all the awesomeness.

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Life Threatening Food Allergies and Painful Eczema – A Ten Year Journey That Continues

by Leila on December 1, 2012

You Don’t Expect This with your Infant

Food allergies are not unknown to me as I have battled my own minor allergies and watched my brother struggle with her allergies and eczema our entire childhood.

Does anyone ever expect their children to be unhealthy? I think we focus on what will they look like? Who will they take after? Will they have my big feet? Will they love me?

You don’t wonder… will my child be born with a life threatening condition like food allergies? Or will my child’s skin be so sensitive that they bleed, scar and spend days crying in pain?

We know about these things but we don’t really dwell on them. Or, we try not to.

At a month old my daughter broke out in hives and went into anaphylaxis shock from nursing. I was holding my infant and she turned all shades of colors, swelled up and broke out in hives.

I will never forget that terrifying moment.

Figuring Out How to Manage Allergies and Eczema isn’t Easy

I went on a food elimination diet to figure out what she was allergic to. It was over 20 things by the time she was a year old. There was no formula on the market that she wasn’t allergic to so I had to nurse (which was better for her anyway) and I had to be on her diet. Boy was I skinny!

She was so sensitive that if I cooked eggs in the house she would break out. If I touched cheese then touched her then she broke out in hives. If friends came over and sat down on our couch and she sat on it after them she would break out because of the different foods, outdoor allergens or pets they were exposed to. Dyes, caffeine and medicines caused adverse reactions.

It sounds crazy. I felt crazy. Each day presented a new challenge.

She had terrible eczema. The kind where her skin bled and she couldn’t stop scratching. She could only wear cotton. Do you know how hard that was? Organic was preferred but back then it was so expensive. I had to sew gloves and socks to her clothes so she couldn’t get to her skin and scratch them. No matter how hot it was she had to be completely covered. I barely slept when she was an infant and toddler because I would wake up trying to keep her from scratching. She has scars on her legs, feet and arms from her infant eczema. It’s fading over the years and looks like a faint discoloration in areas but it still breaks my heart to see remembering the pain she was constantly in.

Doctors only wanted to pump her full of medicine that would cause long term damage and one even told me that children with these extreme issues don’t often live full lives because there isn’t much that can be done. He said that kids who can’t experience a full life, who spend it isolated also develop depression. Everything out there in the world and everywhere we go is centered around food. It was impossible, he said.

I refused to accept that. I was told these things often. Medicate, give steroids and pump her full of medicine and deal with the long term side effects later.

I saw what traditional medicine did long term and I wanted a solution not a medicine to cover up symptoms. Not an isolated life. All of this just sounded like bullshit.

Not Accepting Limitations and Never Giving Up aka Why I Believe in Ninja Kicking

I wanted to figure out how to let her live a full life where her body could grow without an insane amount of medicines and her to be healthy one day.

I wasn’t told it was impossible just improbable. It was assumed to be too hard.

I studied. I became active on forums and I learned as much as I could. I charted everything she ate, her bowel movements and her sleeping patterns. I was able to determine a soy allergy based on the change in her bowel movements and sleeping patterns before her blood tests came back positive. I realized how much of what we consume directly influences our bodies, mind and temperament. I went through a lot of shit doctors and I, thankfully, found some amazing ones.

I had found an allergist who worked closely with a wellness nutritionist and homeopath. I went into that appointment when she was a toddler expecting to get a mountain of knowledge and direction. Instead, I was given confirmation that exactly what I had discovered on my own was what I needed to do.

Even the supposedly extreme measures that some people thought I was crazy over. Things like not allowing friends to bring food inside my home because my daughter could get sick from it. Or expecting friends to wash their hands when they came over. They thought I was being a bitch and it was all in my head. I don’t miss them.

I found solutions. When I took her to the park I wiped down the swings so there weren’t issues with allergens. I had a blanket that she would use on the slide. We never sat on benches but I always had a picnic blanket. When we went to an amusement park or museum then we avoided food places and I took extra precautions. I just made it work.

If others judge me for my choices all I can ever say is they have no idea what it’s like to be in my shoes. I don’t ever want anyone to pity my journey in motherhood just as I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for my daughter. We are better for it. We are stronger for it. I would not be the same person that I am had I not been down this road and she would not be the same amazing kid she has become. A kid who still has typical flaws like attitude, not cleaning her room and “forgetting” her homework.

Yes, it sucks that anyone has to endure some kind of pain and I would never wish this journey on anyone. I refused to allow it to be a crutch for us no matter how hard or isolating it was. I refused to allow her health hurdles to prevent her from having a life like any other kid. We have accomplished just that to the point where daily considerations over her health are as natural as breathing.

Allergies and Eczema Studies Are Finally Making Progress… And so are my daughter’s

When it comes to allergies and eczema we only have two solutions: Avoid and Suppress. Avoid all your allergens (which actually is easier than you may expect) and suppress the reactions. Those options kind of suck.

Sometimes the body “forgets” it is allergic to something. It is less reactive and on alert. This is part of the way a person will “grow out of” an allergy.

Now there is a new way. Oral Immunotherapy which is basically giving your child a small amount of the food they are allergic to and over time it builds up a tolerance. This study has been done over the years and researches have confirmed this year that egg is among the allergens that are successful in oral immunotherapy.

When eggs are cooked at a high temperature for at least 30 minutes the egg proteins break down so the body doesn’t recognize them as egg proteins.

Over the last few years my daughter’s egg allergy has gone from off the charts high to a category 3 and now a 2. This is amazing. It’s huge. I honestly never thought I would see a drop like this in an allergy that I couldn’t even keep in the house! I never thought we could eat so many different foods together. I didn’t expect her to have so many options. She went from over 20 allergies and slowly started to “grow out” of them over the years. Now she is down to around 5. It always changes and always will and we embrace that. And we enjoy the hell out of the progress!

As we figure out how to control her diet then her general health improves and especially her eczema. I don’t have to smother her in steroid creams. She can wear synthetic fibers in her clothing.

Food. Skin. Asthma. Temperament. My sanity. Food allergies. It’s all connected, but, not in a continuous cycle but more like a finely woven web that depends on each strand to stay strong.

Kid’s who were so allergic to peanuts that they couldn’t be in the same room as them have gone through oral immunotherapy successfully. As the studies continue there are huge improvements with food allergies from when my brother and I were growing up, til ten years ago when I watched my infant break out in hives and swelled up to now.

It makes me hopeful for the future for not only my daughter but all kids who deal with the pain, fear and difficulties both physically and emotionally from food allergies.

She may always have food allergies. She may one day have the freedom to live without fear. Either way we are going to make the most of it, enjoy each moment and be as silly as possible.

Related Posts:

Food Allergies and School Issues

Food Allergies and Girl Scout Cookies

When Your Child Tries to Push the Food Allergies and Limits

When people wish Harm on your child because of food allergies and because they are assholes

When Food Allergies Empower an Independent and Thoughtful Child

How to be cool about food allergies at Birthday Parties

And something really funny about PEANUT allergies <– this will make you laugh. Lots. Give it a read.

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Tips on Making the Most Out of Visits to the Doctor

by Leila on November 29, 2012

Since my daughter has chronic illness and life threatening food allergies we tend to frequent the doctor’s office more than most people. Over the years I’ve figured out simple tips on making the most out of visits to the doctor. It’s never easy but it can be fun.

No matter what… it sucks that you have to take your child in for a checkup, shots or to deal with any type of illness. It seriously just sucks. You have to go for a reason that is usually unpleasant. It can still be a fun time with the right perspective.

Each time something unexpected and unpredictable comes up we make the most out of it. Sure, it doesn’t make all the issues go away but it makes it easier to get through it.

This is not the list about bringing papers, charts, records or information. That will be another list. This is all about how to make the visits suck a little less and find some laughter during those less than awesome times.

Tips on Making the Most Out of Visits to the Doctor

  • Stay positive. That means you first. Even if you are freaking out and stressing! Your child will feed off of your energy and take cues from you. If you take the advice from Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction and just BE COOL then your child will more than likely follow. When my 5 year old son got his teeth extracted I went in there like we were shopping for dinner. I kept my emotions, worries and fears in check and even when they started to examine him I kept cool. He kept looking at me the whole time. I smiled at him, we made jokes, we talked about what he would buy when the tooth fairy visited.
  • Pack some fun stuff. First of all toys and play centers in doctors offices are nasty. Other kids who are sick were playing with them and I still do NOT understand why offices keep germ factories in there. We pack a bag that has a few small toys, a notebook or coloring book, crayons and pencils. If we are in for a long haul I will pack the DS and a few games. My ten year old always has a simple craft (this past visit she made bracelets) and she has a book. Keep it light and simple and have a variety to change it up.
  • Wear comfortable layers. I’ve always found that if we are comfy and can shed clothes or add layers as needed then it makes everyone in better spirits. It can go from hot and unventilated to antarctic in minutes. What is with that?!
  •  Take pictures. Sure, not every family is like mine where we like to take silly pictures. However, I found that having my child pose during the process made it fun and something they can show off. I have dozens of pictures of my daughter at different ages flexing on a scale. I have multiple pictures of her with a big grin on her face pointing to how tall she is this visit. Sometimes we wear masks and take silly pics. Once my daughter tried to wrap herself like a mummy in the tissue paper that covers the exam table (we asked.. they thought it was funny). When you spend anywhere from 3 – 12 hours in appointments, xrays and labs you have to have some fun.
  • Always make a chicken glove. We have never found a doctor that wasn’t okay with sparing a glove for us to make a chicken out of. Bring stickers and markers to color it and “dress” it up. We use stickers like tattoos. Then my kids pretend that the chicken is attacking them. Then we take pictures! haha
  • Maybe bring your ipod and listen to some music. Something upbeat and fun. My daughter likes to listen to “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz. It is fitting. We listen to rock out empowering music. Or something fun like the soundtrack to Little Shop of Horrors. There is always a lot of car dancing and silliness on the way to and from the appointment.

I hope these tips on making the most out of visits to the doctor are helpful! Try to make the most of it and keep on ninja kicking!

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How Do You Deal with Unpredictable Moments?

by Leila on November 28, 2012

I’m a planner. I’ve always been a planner and I like having a plan. But, after growing up (mostly), becoming a Mom, dealing with many life changes (good and bad) and everything in between I can no longer plan.

Oh there can be a general outline of what I want to obtain. There are always goals to work towards.

However, you have to learn to be flexible. Nothing is ever going to turn out exactly as we want it so the way to deal with that is learning to accept and appreciate what we have… and, as always, make the most of it. Keep on ninja kicking right?

On top of me dealing with personal medical issues and what seems to be an endless phase of feeling sick I got a double whammy this week. Unfortunately, it was my kids not feeling so awesome.

On Sunday my son said, “Mommy, I thought there was food behind my teeth but it’s another tooth!”. He was so excited. I was devastated. He isn’t a complainer (thankfully) and I had no idea he had teeth coming in behind his baby teeth that hadn’t fallen out yet.

It is the end of the year so that means everyone is trying to book up dentist appointments to use up their insurance. After a few calls yesterday morning to pediatric dentists that said they couldn’t get us in until around Christmas, on Christmas or mid January I was starting to freak out. I called my old Dentist who my Dad still goes to. I didn’t even know they took kids. They made us an appointment the next day since they just got off the phone with a cancellation.

Rad and… yikes!

My daughter has been exceptionally healthy lately and her autoimmune disease seems to have been in remission. I’ve constantly voiced how thankful we are for that but know it can change at any moment.

Well, that moment hit us. Nothing major… she is just in pain, her body aches, the cold doesn’t help and she is having chronic urticaria (hives) without any real connection to what is causing it. Okay, that sounds really freaking major but it’s been worse and she handles it with gusto. Life threatening food allergies, an autoimmune disease and arthritis flaring up at once isn’t fun for her… but she still has a smile on her face.

She stayed home from school yesterday but had to go with us to the dentist appointment for her little brother. We still laughed, joked and did some car-dancing. He was bouncing off the walls. She was quietly reading though I knew she was in pain.

I was trying to make the most of the situation but I was internally freaking out and feeling terrible. I’m a strong person who can and will take on the world but some moments I just want to break.

I should have seen his teeth. I should have seen this flare up coming. I should be able to do more. I should have… what? Expected everything to be unpredictable?  How about I should stop being so damn hard on myself (as my dear sweetie points out to me often).

Life is exhaustingly and terrifyingly unpredictable. Everything is unpredictable and always will be. There isn’t a parenting book titled “How to make being a Parent Predicable and Easy” because that would be bullshit. 

It is part of the reason life is so exciting, beautiful and amazing. It’s the great moments that balance out the bad. It’s the silver lining that makes it all rock. It is seeing positives that keep you sane rather than drag you down.

My 5 year old son embraced two teeth extractions with only one moment of saying “Ouch”. That was it. He was comedy the whole time. He was cracking jokes, didn’t cry, was being silly and embraced it. Everyone in the dentist office was so impressed with him and so was I!

On the way home my daughter started breaking out in hives and I needed to pull over since she thought she was going to throw up. My son lost his gauze and bit his lip. I spilled the water and hit my head on I-still-dont’t-know-what. When my daughter opened the door to throw up she farted right in my son’s face who was looking for the gauze while he drooled all over himself. And I was losing my shit because his bleeding wouldn’t stop.

Kesha’s song “Tick Tock” came on right then and we went from falling apart to car-dancing in the parking lot. We laughed. There isn’t a lot that beats a gassy 5 year old who can’t feel his mouth singing and dancing to that song.

None of this is what I expected this week. I had an event to attend today that I can’t go to. I have work I need to get done. I have projects due and a huge backed up todo list. Stressing and focusing on that isn’t going to do anything positive to get me through the day.

It will get done or it won’t but the important thing is to realize… it could be worse. It has been worse. And no matter what we make the most of it.

I don’t want to be miserable. I don’t want my family to be. I don’t want to allow the unpredictable to bring us down. So, I make the choice to not allow it.

Okay, so my daughter still feels like crap and I still feel terrible about his teeth. My daughter and I are going to be off in a bit to see her team and she is going to get a lot of lab work done. I’m concerned about the turn in her health and I always get nervous before she does labs. We may have good news or it may be shit.

While that IS all unpredictable it is part of our routine. We will ge through it until the next.

All of every unpredictable moment is still part of the plan and routine… I just need to continue to consciously pencil that in and embrace it when it comes our way. I can feel like I want to break down, throw my hands up and say it’s “Fuck This Shit O’Clock” …

But, I won’t. It doesn’t do anything. I’ll kick myself in my own ass and keep on ninja kicking. It’s a moment… and there are many more to be had.

Please send some happy healing thoughts for my babies and if you find yourself in an unpredictable moment just try to find the positive or make one. It’s better for you. Trust me. Keep on ninja kicking my peoples.

 

 

 

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A Better Workout and Family Bonding Fun with Just Dance 4

by Leila on November 21, 2012

Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. #UbiChamps

I’m Just Dance obsessed. Just Dance is perfect for party entertainment. It’s also great to break up the summer routine with some indoor fun. I love Just Dance for fitness and getting my butt in shape. Just Dance is also great for family bonding and hilarious footage. Want to do a fun girls night in add wine and Just Dance.

We’ve had Just Dance 4 for a few weeks now and it’s the best version yet. The new features are AMAZING! The kids have picked this game over any others lately and the song selection is SO good!

The dances have stepped it up a LOT. You will really dance it up. It is much more challenging than the other games and I found that the choreography has improved dramatically.

Just Dance 4: New Just Sweat Mode

The brand new workout sessions and calorie counter is exactly what I needed. I’ve used the previous versions of Just Dance to get my sweat on but I just focused on the really hard ones… and I danced til I felt like my legs were jello. Now you get to personalize your workouts with different types of music and length of time for your workout: 10/25/45 Minutes.

Just Dance 4: Battle Mode

Are you competitive? I am… shocking, I know. The Battle Mode is rad because you get to dance off and try not to allow your health bar to deplete. It’s like an ultimate battle fighting game with dancing… no physical contact in this fight! Well, unless you are my Dad who tends to swing his grand kids into others in order to win. Seriously.

Just Dance 4: For Thanksgiving and Family Bonding

The holidays are here, my ninjas! We have entered massive calorie consuming time and we need to get moving more. Just Dance 4 has such a wide variety of music that anyone in your family or at your party will find a song they just love. The game is so much fun that you forget you are moving so you forget it’s like working out. It’s hard to play this game and not laugh and have a great time.

I dare you to select Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” on Just Dance 4 and not laugh. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! Ubisoft found a way to Rick Roll everyone… brilliant!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving aka Dancegiving and if you follow me on Instagram then you will be seeing many pictures of food and Just Dance 4 moments. I will probably be making faces… and I am hoping I get enough embarrassing family footage that I can put together a wonderful video to show at Christmas.

 

Disclaimer: I was selected to review Just Dance 4 by Clever Girls Collective because I am a UbiChamp. I was not compensated for this review. I was given the game to review. All opinions are my own and yes I am that much for a Just Dance freak.

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Ornaments to Support Starlight Children’s Foundation and Chronically Ill Children

by Leila on November 12, 2012

As you may (or not) know by now my daughter has life threatening food allergies, chronic illness and special needs. She is sponsored by the Starlight Children’s Foundation that helps chronically ill children in many ways. We are thankful to have been part of many amazing events like a Mommy and Me Makeover thanks to Forever21.

Starlight Children’s Foundation has given my daughter (and I) so much support and cherished memories that will last a lifetime. Every event is filled with love, fun and laughter. For those moments my daughter is treated like a rock star (because she is one) and is able to forget her health challenges.

Sometimes we know we want to help an organization like this but don’t know how. We may not have the time. We may not have the extra money to donate. Sometimes it just slips our minds.

I’ve been really sick the past few weeks but had to make it over to Michael’s to pick up supplies for school projects for the kids. While we were there I spotted the 3rd Annual Starlight Children’s Foundation ornaments. These made my day and my daughter was feeling proud to be a Starlight kid.

These ornaments are adorable and $1 for each sold will be donated to Starlight. My daughter, who has life threatening food allergies, picked out the little baker one. She always talks about opening up an allergy friendly bakery one day. She says she wants those who have food allergies can have a safe and delicious place to get their baked goods.

I just love her.

Some Friends and family will be getting these from us for Xmas (oops… spoiled the surprise).

My Daughter Asks For Your Support and Help

My daughter and I are asking that you pick up an ornament from Michaels to support children with chronic pain and illness. We would LOVE to see pictures of them on your tree or with you holding them in support.

We want to help Starlight in any way we can because they have been such an important part of my daughter’s life and helping her cope with the obstacles she deals with.

If you blog about this and link back to me I will give you free advertising on my site through December as a token of our gratitude. Link up below and share the love!

My daughter is also making thank you cards for those of you who want to help show support with pictures and blog posts. Not sure how we will work that out but we will!

Even if you can’t purchase an ornament the fact you are reading this and any shares, comments and RT’s you can spare are greatly appreciated.

Thank you and keep on ninjakicking just as my brave little girl does despite her obstacles!



 

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