on the 13Th day of Christmas Santas helpers bought

Another dinosaur. I thought these toys looked so fun and what boy wouldn't like playing with them. This one is for a boy of three too.

On the 12TH day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

A dinosaur. Basically same kind of toys as the last child. It's for a three year old boy.

on the 11Th day of Christmas Santas helpers brought

A dinosaur to for a three year old boy. I don't have a clue on who he is so mostly just making sure that I got a toy that was safe for a three year old.

This was my first week of not having to work the ten hour overnight on Sunday night. I really hated it. Well, it was kind of nice because I would bring dvd's and the little computer to keep myself awake. So, in some ways, it was like free money. However, getting up on Sunday at 9 am to babysit at the church and not getting to bed till 8 or 9 am on Monday was just too hard on me. It would take me until late Tuesday just to feel normal again.

I love watching Amiah. She is fun to have around and is a pretty good baby. She does cry when you tell her no. It was funny today, I pulled her chair up to the table, without the tray, and she tried to lick the table and I said no, don't do that and she cried. Girls, have that high pitched cry and I can hear her in a year or two screaming for a toy. Or maybe, she will be so spoiled she won't need to scream. She will just give you the look and people will buy.

When I feed her baby food, I play like the spoon is an airplane and I make airplane noises and sometimes it runs out of gas and just barely lands in her mouth. She does really good at following the spoon.

So, I only work three nights a week now. I hope it will give me some of that feeling back of actually liking my job. On Sunday nights, I felt like I babysat the tv and I am hoping because I am only going to be with my client three nights a week that I will get less bored with her. I figure by the time, I get so tired of the endless repeating of stuff. (memory loss) that my week will be over.

On the tenth day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

A bug game. I chose this game for a 3 year old. I admit that this gift and the ones to come, I really didn't have a child in mind. I mean I had a name but I couldn't think of who the kid is. One of the next children maybe the one that came in only a few times. The first time, he cried no matter what I did. He was a very heavy child so it wasn't possible to carry him around, but I tried. Even when I would set him done he would follow me and cry. Finally, I got him to work on puzzles and he stopped crying. So, the next time he came in and cried only for a minute and worked on puzzles. I can't be sure who got what anymore. However, I picked this game because it's one of those early games that mom's can play with their children

On the ninth day of Christmas Santas helpers brought.

A doctor set. Both my kids had one of these and it was a fun toy. It's for a little boy of two years of age. He hasn't came in on a regular basis but when he does he plays really well.

On the eight day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

A little farm set. This gift is for this little girl about a year and half. I always know she is coming because I can hear her crying before I see her and I say I can hear my (girl's name) coming in. She likes to be held and I wish I had more time to do that. This last ten weeks I have been the one juggling the young babies so my helper has been the one to comfort her more than I have been able to. She is such a cutie. Of course, you all know that I tend to favor the girls. It's weird though because the newborns boys were not on my list. So, I don't know what happened to them. I hope all is well with them and their Moms.

On the Seventh day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

A cute little soft feeling pant and shirt outfit and a teething book. It's for a little girl about six months old. She has only been coming to group with her for the past ten week session. She is a really happy baby and I enjoy her.

On the 6th day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

Mr. Potato head. This gift goes to a little boy who is just a little over 2 years of age. He is at that age that his language skills are growing fast. He has been coming really regularly for the past 3 ten week sessions. It has been fun to watch him grow. This boy has always played really well, but I fear that the behavior of the older children is affecting him. I really hope that he doesn't get too wrapped up in watching the bigger boys because he was such sweet kid.
Both my kids had Mr. Potato head and he provided good times and it's really a good learning tool for learning about eyes, ears, noses and well you get my point.

I have been enjoying this Christmas season. It's not always true. A lot of times it's been too much focus on getting gifts and not enough on creating some memories of the season. We always do the tree but this year we did two of them.
Tyler and I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I can't remember the last time that I did anything like that. Normally, I do the break and bake type. I was surprised at how easy and quick they were and they are actually still soft after the 24 hours.
Having contact with my daughter makes Christmas more of a reason to celebrate. It's still a dream come true.
Tyler and I made a ginger bread house and we worked on a homemade Christmas present. It's been fun.

On the Fifth day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

A 4 pack of soft blocks and a pair of Dora Pajamas. This gift went to a baby girl about six months old. I believe I have only seen her a couple times. The Mom's don't have to bring their children with them to group. You will probably notice that most the girls are getting clothes too. I admit that is because it makes me feel good to buy girl clothes. I find it fun. I like to imagine the little girls wearing them.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought.

A ride on toy. This is the same toy that if my memory serves me right that both of my sons had. I could be wrong and it was just one of them. Well, anyways, this toy is for a boy of just a little over one years of age. He can walk but it's that cute baby style walking like a duck type of deal. He plays really well and doesn't cry much. When I seen this toy it brought back sweet memories of both of my sons. That's why I think they both had it. He can walk behind it or ride on it. The seat doubles as a door for his toys and it makes sounds to annoy his Mommy. When I seen this toy, I just had to get it for him.

On the third day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

My friend gave me a really nice diaper bag to donate and it gave me the idea to fill it fill of baby goods if I had enough money to spare from what was raised. I won't probably get a picture up of it because my camera died and I want to deliver this stuff tomorrow. So, please for this one gift settle for the description of it.

I gave the guy who runs the MELD group to a card asking him to pass the diaper bag on to a new Mom and it should go to one having a boy.

Inside the diaper bag is

20 diapers (came from my diapers that we bought for my dolls) don't laugh.
Matching onsie and sleeper in boy colors.
pack of two binkies.
2 new receiving blankets
one thicker blanket
baby wipes
baby soap
teething rattle
nasal Aspirator and meds dropper

So, this now will be the 13 days of Christmas because this is a gift to a new Mom for her new baby. I again want to thank all those that helped me with the donations. I also gave the new Mom a Christmas card giving her a brief history on why I put the diaper bag together for her.

It is my hope that I can do things like the diaper bag again. I don't mean by asking for donations but just here and there buying items and a couple times a year put together a bag for a new Mom.

On the second day of Christmas Santa's helpers brought

A memory game for a boy who is about five years old. I remember good times playing this game with my sons. He has only been coming for this last 10 week period. I imagine he be starting school soon and I think this will be good practice for sitting down and working on something other than hyper boy energy.

William came over and we decorated our tree. It looks so pretty. However, the bunnies chewed up some of my ornaments and totally killed my angel. So, we bought some more ornament but not another angel. :(
Then, we put a tree up and decorated it in Williams room. It looks good too. I had a good time doing Christmas stuff. The kids and I wrapped all the MELD gifts for the kids. I will post pictures of the the gifts. I plan on dropping them off on Tuesday.
Well, got to get ready to go to church for the Christmas service.

I finished my Christmas shopping besides two more things that I hope to get Tyler. I am all done with my shopping for MELD. I had a blast shopping for the little kids. It's feels great that I was able to get the donations. I couldn't have done it without help. It might be a couple days before I post pictures because Tyler is at his Dad's and wants to help. I figure I should encourage his excitement over giving to others.
I was at work and my client was being her weird self. She just keeps going on and on about stuff, but it's because of her memory. Well, anyways, she is looking for a tool to tune her Harp and I am helping. I reach into the pocket and pull out 3 twenty dollar bills. I was shocked and gave her the money. I reached in again and pulled out a fifty. Do you know easy it would have been to keep the money? But that would have been stealing from an old lady and I am just not that type of person. Plus, I strongly believe in Karma and it would have stuck me twice as hard.
Well, I should get my blanket and get comfy and sleep soon.

On the first day of Christmas Santa's helper brought..

The first girl to steal my heart at MELD was this sweet little girl about 1 1/2 years of age. She is two now. She was the first girl from MELD that I got to hold and cuddle and care for. She is a gentle girl. Likes to be held and comforted and I never mind doing that. I haven't touched the money that was donated yet. I personally wanted to use my money to buy for this special girl.
I will post each child's gift just like this. All of it's own because while she is my favorite they all are getting a gift because of the help given from Santa's helpers. excuse the dates on the camera. I don't how to fix it.

Hey all... How is everyone? I am good. Today, my friend Rachel stopped by for a little while and we hung out. Amiah was fun as ever. I let her play with one of my dolls and I don't let just anyone play with them. It was cute. She had her hand on his head and the other on his hand. It looked sweet until she went to bite him. lol

Tonight, Tyler and I made a pencil holder for one of his friends. We used a can of corn. It came out pretty nice. The school is doing a Christmas party and the kids are suppose to dress up for it.They said no jeans. We don't agree with that because basically they are telling us to buy clothes because we don't have any dress clothes for him.

I went to the YMCA tonight. I am kind of mad at them. I talked to someone about maybe buying someone a gift membership for a month and basically making the person giving the gift pay 1/2 of the joiner fee. It's makes it to be too much money and how do we know that the person receiving the gift could or would continue to have an membership. It seems like offering the month gift membership would be enough. It would probably be almost giving away free money. Because if the person isn't in a routine of going to the gym they might not use it as much as someone who has taken months to get my routine down. First, they take away my hot tub and just build a wall to tease me with and then they be jerks about the gift membership.

I have done some of my Christmas shopping. We haven't put up a tree yet. I might work on at least getting it set up tomorrow. Then, try to find time to get William over to decorate it.

My Mom donated 20 towards MELD. So, I will be matching it. That brings my total to spend for the children to 145.00. I plan on getting the gifts to them by Tuesday at the latest. I haven't started yet. Check back in a week or so for pictures of the gifts. I wish I could share of the children but not allowed to take pictures of them. I have a few favorites! Girls!!!!

My official list of children to spend the 100 dollars on for Christmas gifts is 12. That is a lot of children. I never see 12 children. I really wanted to buy for the ones that I really see each week. But I will be shopping for 12. I really wanted to be able to shop at Kmart, walmart or target. I didn't want to go buy cheap toys that will break. I think sometimes people think well they would rather have a cheap toy than none at all. I agree but I wouldn't shop at a cheap dollar general for my sons and I wanted to search out the same quality of toys that I would have done for my sons when they were little.

Right now, I am at work. I have been awake since 9 am and it will be about 9 am before I can go to sleep. Then, I have to be up for Tyler. He has to do his homework and then get ready for MELD"S Christmas party. Santa will be there and maybe I will get my picture taken with him. haha. Tad and Tyler is coming with me. I am not sure if I will go get Will or not. It's at 5 30 and we will already be running short on time. I am excited to show off the little kids to Tad. He has never been there.

Ann is still on her diet. It's going well. She hasn't chewed her leg off yet. The dishes are much harder to clean now. That's the worst part of her being on a diet. But I don't want to carry her around because she can't walk.

Well, I better clean up any messes and walk her dog. Almost time to drive home and take William to school. I am so glad that 3rd shift is going to be a thing of the past for me soon.

I have been invited to the Meld Christmas Party and I am making my husband come with me as my date! I am bringing Tyler too. He really likes to help with the kids. Well, mostly he likes to play with toys! I keep telling him that I am going to buy him baby toys for Christmas and he says noooo! Santa is going to be there and maybe I will get my picture taken with him. I want presents too! I am going to start my Christmas shopping next week.
I am so excited! Tad has been putting the lights up and this weekend we will get our tree up. Well, I am going to try to sleep for a couple more hours and then go to the Y and get some form of a workout in. I haven't been to into swimming lately. The water seems so cold. I am sure it's the same but in the winter I spend enough time being cold. I should keep swimming though. I know it's good exercise.

Sometimes you just have to dance

I have been watching Amiah for four weeks now. I can't express the right words and how much fun I am having. She is a doll. She hardly ever cries. Today, she was holding her bottle on her own. I of course was holding her. She is beautiful.

We took our first trip out of the house. We went to Walmart. We kind of were on a mission for Christmas! She isn't telling my secret though. We were walking around and all of a sudden an upbeat Christmas song came on and we just had to dance. Yep, we danced in Walmart. So, we might be in the crazy walmart pictures but sometimes you just have to dance.

I am really happy for this Christmas. I have a great family. Between Tad and I we have five kids and I love them in my own ways. Reuniting with Ashley has been a life changing moment. She is beautiful. Having Amiah to call as my granddaughter even though I am only 34 is awesome. I know I am the third Grandma but coming from a girl who didn't have any living Grandma's I don't think that it's a bad thing. A girl can't have too many people in her life who love her.

I can't wait to get our tree up. Also, some lights outside. It's going to be a great Christmas. Love you all.

MELD

Tonight, was my final night of volunteering for Meld. Well, at least for this ten week session. I am signed up again. I really love it. Tyler told me that it would be nice if they paid me 3.00 to do it. Isn't he so young still? That 3.00 is a good amount to have in your pocket. I don't want to get paid for it.
However, I wish there were more people to help me take care of the children. The average amount of kids is six to seven this past session. They range in between 4 months to 5 years of age.
I really enjoy the younger ones. The best child was the one that can't talk yet. At one point, I have the 4 month in my arms. A crying girl sitting between my legs and a little boy hanging on my arm. The other three children were acting all crazy and wild. I really like going and all, but I wish I could do more hands on play. It's hard to give that attention to them because with only two of us that means three children per person. It's not that they are being mistreated or anything. All the children who wear diapers get changed and everyone gets attention. It's just not as much as I would like to do.

I was told that next week was a Christmas party. It sounded like I am invited. I got a list of the six kids that were there tonight but it changes from time to time. So, I will probably try to buy a few extra gifts just in case. I have to call and get more details. I don't know if it's a party for all the Meld kids. I wouldn't want to bring presents for them and the other children from other nights don't get anything. Either way, if I am invited. I am going and taking Tyler with me. He likes to go to "help" play with toys. haha. He does try to boss the wild children around. He gets this mood going that I am bigger than you. It's so cute.

I have to get ready to go to the church and babysit the kids while their Mom's and Dad's are in church. Lately, it's only been one or two kids there. It's so easy compared to watching the Meld kids because there has been 6 to 7 kids and that it a bit much for two people. So, sometimes, I have to call the driver to come back and help. It's his job to do that if we need him. I have been having two to three babies under the age of six months and it's hard.
I have raised 105 dollars and this week, I am going to request the money from paypal and start my shopping for the children. My biggest issue is that sometimes the kids change from week to week. So, not sure if I should just label the presents according to the age and boy or girl. Then, let Meld hand out the gifts.
I am using half the money for gifts and the other half on baby items. I don't know if I will go with a bunch of small items or get something big. I suppose either way it helps someone, right?
If anyone wants to still donate it's kind of the last call for Christmas. No pressure though. I am satisfied with the amount that was raised through blogging. But I do love to shop for baby items.

second chances

I believe in second chances in life. I really do. Not everyone in life is lucky to get a second chance, but I am. I have to be the luckiest girl in the world.

My doggy is on a diet. She is getting too big. Tad likes to feed her way too much. So, now it's only dog food and we are sticking to it. I can't just allow her to get too big and have trouble. She is really the best dog. We bought her a crate for crate training and she is the best potty trained dog.
Lately, though we haven't been locking her in there at night but she likes to sleep in there. Last night, my husband had already went to bed and she went in her crate but when I came in there. I had to tell her good night. Then, she came to my side of the bed to tell me nite. She is so sweet. I like that we don't need to lock her up because if any bad guys decide to break in then she can have a snack. lol Enjoy a picture or two of my beautiful dog.

The picture with the leash hanging down is us sitting in the grass on a hot day and I don't have to hold the leash. But on that day, she made me forget my cell phone in the grass and I had to go back and get it. She can't be too perfect.