Ha! What was I thinking? As of Monday, it's Melba Toast and veggies for me! Just kidding! ;) The diet my friend has to go on is something similar to the 10 day cleanse I did with Hubby. Remember the one I forced him to do a detox with me? Hubby's just glad that he won't be joining me as I show some support to my friend. He has a strong aversion to cooked veggies. He does like veggies, but not cooked veggies. He's also a farm boy and is more partial to meat and potatoes. Despite his mainly meat and carb based dietary preferences and his love of country music (please help me!), I still love him.

As of Monday, I will be avoiding food from the FORBIDDEN LIST:
No baked beans, bananas, beets, biscuits, bread, breaded meat, breakfast cereal, buns, cakes, candy, chocolate, cookies, corn, custard, honey, ice cream, jam, lima beans, marmalade, nuts/seeds, pasta, pastries, potatoes, preserved fruits, pudding, rice, rolls, sugar, toast, soft drinks (except sugar-free), beer, wine.

The menu is pretty explicit. The serving portions are listed and examples for breakfast, lunch and supper are given.
Daily allowances:
Milk 1 cup
Butter or margarine 3 tsp
Melba Toast 3 slices

Tea and coffee, using milk from above allowance, are not restricted.  Do not sweeten with sugar, but a no-calorie sweetener may be used.

Breakfast:
½ grapefruit, or 1 orange or ½ cup orange juice
1 egg (cooked as you like), or small helping of ham, or 2 slices of bacon
1 slice of Melba toast with 1 tsp butter

Lunch:
Clear soup of any kind (but not thickened with flour) {Add fresh or frozen vegetables to broth and boil until vegetables are tender}
Meat: moderate helping (4oz) of any meat, fish or poultry. (not breaded or battered)
Mixed green salad or cooked green vegetables or both (no limit, sugar-free dressing)
Melba toast with 1 tsp butter and ½ ounce of cheese (any kind)

Dinner:
Main course similar to lunch
Afterwards, same as lunch but you can add one apple or one orange as dessert.
You can substitute the cheese with one egg.

If you take the lunch or dinner to work, it could consist of up to 4 ounces of meat OR 2 hard-boiled eggs, with raw celery and carrot. The ½ ounce of cheese could be eaten afterwards with an apple.

Raw carrot, celery, lettuce, peppers, tomato and cucumber can be eaten freely at any time.

Fluids:
Drink water every 1-2 hours throughout the day
{women: 6-8 cups of water, men 10-12}

If I survived the detox, I'm sure this will be fine. I'm actually really looking forward to this!

Today is the Celebration of Life/Memorial of a friend who passed away on Wednesday. I had full intention of being present today, as she was somewhat of a mentor to me. She made me feel welcomed when I was adjusting to my new life on the Island. She was always so cheerful and always listened. She had countless jokes and funny stories to tell. She was one of my favourite people on the Island.

She made me laugh when we were on stage, because we'd often bump butts or collide into each other! This was in the beginning of our rehearsals, of course! We had things down to a tee for the performances!

She just always made me feel great. I will truly miss her. Which brings me to my dilemma.

With the past week being so stressful and scary with Little One being so sick, I ended up coming down with something. For the past two days, I've been feeling like [insert "four letter word that begins with an S and ends with a T" here]. Though I'm feeling a bit better and would really like to be present to celebrate the life of someone very special to me, I think it would be very selfish to go and share this awful bug with everyone there.

I got a phone call from a friend, asking me why I'm not going. When I said I didn't want to give everyone whatever it is I've caught, my friend sounded surprised and disappointed, and said, "Oh. You're not going?"
I explained again that I didn't want to get everyone else sick. She said, "Just don't shake anyone's hand and don't talk to anyone". I was thinking more on the lines of "Or don't breathe!!!"

As much as I want to be there, I would feel terrible if anyone else catches what I have. I know how awful I felt the past few nights. I would not want my friends to feel that sick. Basically, I was told that I worry too much and that I'm too cautious.

This brings me to the following question. Is it just me? Am I being a bit overly cautious? I don't bring my toddler to play group or other social gatherings when she is sick. I don't go to gatherings or other engagements when I'm sick. For some reason, others seem to think that it's okay to spread colds, viruses, etc. I'm one of those people who believes that if you're sick, don't share your germs with others. In other words, if you're sick, stay home!

What's the general consensus on this matter? To spread (germs/colds/viruses/etc) or not to spread? Stay home when sick or partake in social gatherings and activities regardless if you can make others sick? What do you think?

...You catch yourself getting super excited because your toddler finally "voided" after a few days of no poop and no pee!  Ummm...yeah. It was that exciting (and such a relief)! Sorry if this is way too much information for some of you. Many of you who are parents will likely understand though.

My friend, SuperAmazingMommy was on the phone with me and we were doing the "HOOORAH!"/dance of joy. You see, with Little One having that chest thing going on and the dehydration, fever, and lethargy, it was not looking good. So glad we didn't have to go back to the hospital. There's something so sad in seeing a tiny little waif like Little One wearing one of those heavy x-ray aprons.

Equally heartbreaking is hearing Little One with her adorable little chipmunk voice saying "Ohhhh, nooooooo!" every time she sees us coming at her with her inhalers. She hates her inhalers. It's just so sad to see her like that. My poor baby has lost so much weight since she's been sick. What's crazy is that she didn't have that much weight on her to begin with. She is down to 21 lbs and you can see her ribs and spine. I wonder how we can bulk her up a bit. Poor little munchkin!

All I can say is "Hooray for wet and poopy diapers!" Never in a million years would I have thought I'd ever utter those words.

Me: (in an exasperated tone) ARRRRRGH! I am sooooooooo stressed out! We have absolutely no storage space in this house!!!!

Hubby: No. We just have too much stuff.
******************************************
Me: *sigh* Oh, dear. YOUR daughter is walking around the house in nothing but a diaper and boots...and has Play Doh in her hair. Oh, no! YOUR daughter just took off her diaper!! Oh, wait! Look! No...She's not going to pee on the floor, is she???

Hubby: MY daughter? How come she's YOUR daughter when she does smart, witty, and cute things and MY daughter when she's doing something naughty?
******************************************

Hubby: It's 2AM. Aren't you coming to bed yet?

Me: I'll be up in a sec. I'm almost finished an article. Yay, me! The deadline isn't for another two days. Oh, and I want to rearrange the living room and move some stuff around in the kitchen. I don't like where the shelving unit is...

Hubby: It's 2AM. Go to bed!
*******************************************

Me: Honey! Honey! Are you sleeping??

Hubby: I was.

Me: Close your eyes. I'm turning the light on. I want to move some furniture in our bedroom.

Hubby: Seriously? It's 3AM!

 Little One has discriminating taste for a toddler. From a very early age, the girl knew what she liked and didn't like. Finding the perfect sippy cup was by complete trial and error. Oh, and there were many errors! We tried almost all the brands available, but she didn't like them.

One day, I was researching BPA-free and environmentally friendly feeding products and came across BornFree. Some of my friends used BornFree products and recommended them.

Little One took to the BornFree training cup immediately. Decision made.
She has since graduated to the BornFree drinking cup, and is currently using the BornFree Twist 'n Pop Straw Cup.

Little One loves BornFree so much, that she had to share the Twist 'n Pop straw cups with all her friends at her birthday party! Thanks, BornFree! 
I have to say that Little One loves her straw cup. It's easy to hold and easy to drink from. When it accidentally gets knocked over, it doesn't leak!!! It does leak a bit if your toddler holds it upside down and starts shaking it like crazy, trying desperately to get the water, juice, or milk to spill out! Where do toddlers learn these things??? Early science experiments gone awry, I suppose! Never too young to learn about the laws of physics.

The cup and cover/lid do not leak, but if held upside down, liquid can escape through the straw. Of course, that's a given. Hello, gravity?


What I love the best about the Twist 'n Pop straw cup (apart from being BPA-free!) is that all the pieces are removable for easy washing AND the lid slides to close over the straw for when your child is not drinking from the cup.

I have a little secret. I never leave drinks unattended without covering them. It's one of my many little quirks. I'm afraid of things falling into or flying/crawling into my drink! Ha! I'm totally not kidding. I'm even afraid of dust falling into my drink!

At least Little One won't have to worry about this. Not that I'd ever transfer any of my neurotic tendencies over to my toddler. ;)

I know what you're thinking. YOU'D like a BornFree Twist 'n Pop straw cup of your own for your little one, right? Well, you're in luck! The wonderful people at BornFree are giving one of my readers a BornFree Twist 'n Pop cup!

WIN IT!
To enter, simply tell me what colour Twist 'n Pop straw cup you'd like to win! Make sure you leave an e-mail address for me to contact  you.

Additional entries:
Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. "Like" BornFree Canada on Facebook! Don't forget to tell them I sent you! (2 entries)
2. "Follow" BornFree on Twitter. Tell them I told you to say helloooooo! (2 entries)
3. Grab my button and leave a link so I know where you've posted it. (1 entry)
4. Follow Random Thoughts and Musings from the Island REVIEWS via Google Friend Connect. (2 entries)
5. Follow Random Thoughts and Musings from the Island REVIEWS on Facebook. (2 entries)
6. Follow me on Twitter @chancesmommy and tweet this contest. (2 entries)

You can use the following or similar for  your tweet:
Win a @BornFreeCanada Twist 'n Pop Straw Cup on @chancesmommy's blog! 
http://t.co/sY8p0U4

**Contest ends at midnight EST on January 28, 2011** 

Only one lucky winner will be chosen for this Twist 'n Pop Straw Cup giveaway. You can also BUY IT online here  or at one of the many retailers (Babies R Us, Target, Whole Foods, CVS, etc) near you.

No one ever tells you how heartbreaking being a parent can be. With a very sick toddler, and with her past (being a preemie), I always get really worried FREAKED OUT anxiety ridden NERVOUS when Little One is sick.

She isn't sick often. In fact, the first two years of her life have been unmarred by any serious medical issues. She somehow ended  up with pneumonia before Christmas. She recovered, only to end up back in the hospital shortly after New Year's.

Having a preemie can be stressful. Though for the most part, Little One is a very healthy, active, super busy, happy little girl, I get so worried when she gets sick. Especially this time. Fever for three days, no appetite, dehydration, no wet or soiled diapers, lethargy, and pretty much being a wet noodle (she couldn't even sit or stand on her own!), can be fatal for little ones. I was told that sometimes it's difficult for ones so small to bounce back from something like that.

I was reminded of how tiny she was when she was born. At 28 weeks gestation, she came into the world at a whopping 980 g! That's just a little more than 2 lbs of butter! I look at her first photos and I cannot believe that tiny baby is now the active and inquisitive 2 year old who constantly harasses me for "Pay Doe" (Play Doh) and says, "Ope! Ope! Ope! Pay Doe! Ope!" until I open the container and give her some.

Most people who talk to me and see Little One's earliest photos tell me  how terrified they would have been if they were in my shoes. They tell me how freaked out they would have been and how scary the whole situation was.

There must be something wrong with me, because I never had any doubts that Little One would pull through. I was sure that she'd be fine. Which is really crazy, if you ask me! Babies born so early often have medical issues (respiratory, neurological, developmental, etc). Nope. I was sure she would be okay.

That must have been my fight or flight response...or me just being on autopilot. Those first few weeks and months in the NICU were insane with so much going on. It's all a blur now. All I could think of was making sure my baby was being taken care of and finally getting her home.

With Little One being so sick for the past few days, and the news of a fellow thespian passing away this morning, I've been feeling two things.

1. Really sad for the loss of a wonderful, funny, caring, friendly, giving woman.

and

2. Very blessed to have been able to have her friendship, sing with her in the Island Singers a few years ago and be on stage with her at the Burns Wharf Theatre last year.

Life can get so crazy sometimes and I realize that we need to make time to stop and savour precious moments...and be thankful for what we have been able to have.

I am thankful for my family. I am blessed with good friends. I have my health and a warm home to come back to after work. I sometimes complain about things, but I know I am pretty darn lucky.

It was my first day back in the classroom teaching TOEFL grammar and writing. The Monday after a holiday always seems so draining. It didn't help that Little One was very sick. Just before the Christmas holiday, she had pneumonia. She got better. We took her on a 12 hour drive across one province and into another. She partied with the family, went from house to house, dinner party to dinner party, and was a trooper through it all.

Then we came home.
She started coughing up a lung. It seriously sounded like my two year old had a smoker's cough. It was that bad. She had a fever that lasted two days. It broke. She got the chills. The fever returned.

Seeing as I had to teach, and Hubby had a few days off from his off-farm job, he stayed with Little One and took care of her. He didn't want me to have to drag her out into the cold and bring her to my parents' place while I was teaching. I thought he'd just bring her over to his mom's so he could to farm chores. Ever since my father-in-law passed away, the farm has been a one man operation. That one man being Hubby.

Nope. He didn't bring Little One to Grandma's place. He stayed home with her ALL day. He held  her in the steam-filled bathroom with the shower running (in hopes of loosening up her congestion). He rocked her back and forth in front of the humidifier. He gave her Baby Tylenol and lots of fluids to keep her hydrated.

When I came home from work, he warmed up the braised beef ribs I cooked the other day and cooked rice to go with it.

I was so proud of my husband. He survived an entire day with the toddler. He took good care of her. In fact, he took such great care of her that she kept calling out, "Daddy! Daddy!" and reaching for him. Oh, and he cooked rice in the rice cooker for the very first time!

I love my husband. He is such a good father.
 Pic of Hubby and Little One taken in December 2008 when she was still in the NICU at Mount Sinai. Hubby looked just as exhausted after looking after our sick toddler today!

In case you were wondering, I did ask him how come the house was a disaster, why the dishes were piled up in the sink, how come the laundry was all over the place. I was joking though! To my "What on earth did you do all day?" question, he retorted: "You will not believe how busy I was just being home with the baby! It's a lot of work!" :)

Or is it "Who! Who! Whooooo!"?  I can't remember what sound an owl makes, but these three cuties have something to show you.

I think I mentioned on the blog before that I intended on keeping My Dandelion Wishes a secret since I didn't want to share these super cute owl hats! I'm telling you...EVERYWHERE I go, people always ask me where I got Little One's owl hat from! The hats are so unique, warm, and downright CUTE! Little One sports her owl hat whenever we leave the house. Now everyone wants one!

So much for Little One being the only kid on the block with an owl hat! I wanted Little One to be different from all the rest of the kids. Just kidding. We live in a place where she *is* the only kid on the block! Anyway, I just had to get some owl hats for my twin nieces as part of their Christmas present.

Since I love My Dandelion Wishes so much, I figured I couldn't possibly keep this secret any longer.  Each hat is handcrafted by Kady herself. All the details are superb and each hat is original! Yes, even the button eyes are different on each hat! Too cute! Wow. How many times can a person use the word "cute" in a blog post?

Since my sister-in-law always dresses one twin in pink and one in purple, I got the hats made in purple and pink. Of course, I had to get the pink one in a different shade from Little One's. The funny thing is that Little One and her cousin (the pink twin) act more like twins! They share more similar personalities, gestures, and mannerisms than they do with the purple twin. They even speak a language of their own, which none of us can comprehend. 


My Dandelion Wishes has an assortment of other handmade items that will suit your fancy. You'll find everything from handmade baby washcloths, crocheted necklaces, crocheted Mary Jane slippers, hair clips, crocheted beanies, and so much more!

Oh! This just in! My Dandelion Wishes has a NEW monkey hat on her list of shop items! In fact, they are so new that they're not even in her Etsy shop yet! You can view these adorable monkey hats on her Facebook page though! Head on over and show My Dandelion Wishes (aka: Take A Mom's Word For It) some love!

Okay, just so YOU can love My Dandelion Wishes as much as I do, My Dandelion Wishes is sponsoring a fabulous giveaway on my blog! What's up for grabs? A crocheted toddler beanie (with or without a flower) and colour to be determined by the winner!!! How awesome is that?!?! If you've got a special little girlie in your life, or know a mama who is expecting a baby girl, this is a great gift to give!

I love that my first contest/giveaway of the New Year is from one of my favourite Etsy shops!

To Win
All you have to do is go to Take A Mom's Word For It on Facebook, and "like" them. Leave a message saying I sent you. (3 entries)

For additional chances to win, you may also do one or more (or even ALL) of the following! Make sure you leave an e-mail address so I can contact you. For each entry, please post a separate comment.
1. Add My Dandelion Wishes to your Etsy favourites! (2 entries)
2. Follow Random Thoughts and Musings from the Island REVIEWS on Facebook. (2 entries)
3. Follow Random Thoughts and Musings from the Island REVIEWS via Google Friend Connect. (2 entries)
4. Grab my button and leave a link so I know where you've posted it. (1 entry)
5. Follow A Mom's Word on Twitter! (2 entries)
6. Follow me on Twitter @chancesmommy and tweet this contest. (2 entries)

You may use the following or similar to Tweet:

" Win a super cute @AMomsWord crocheted beanie @chancesmommy's blog! http://fb.me/PKC8y4JY "



**Contest open to Canadian AND U.S. residents! Ends Friday, January 21st, 2011 @ 12AM EST!**

Many of you know how much I loooooooove Wean cubes, yes?  I try to make myself believe that it's my toddler who loves them (she does!), but it's really yours truly that has an obsession with these amazing eco-friendly, BPA-free glass baby food/snack cubes!




I can't even contain myself. They are just the coolest! They fit perfectly in a food bag, lunch bag, diaper bag...and yes, even in a purse! They do not leak, they're tiny enough for little hands to hold onto, yet big enough to store just the right amount of food or snack items!

Not only do we love Wean Green, but we also love the lady behind the cubes! Melissa is fab! Oh, and here's yet another reason to love her...

She's headed down to LA to go to the Pre-Golden Globe's Boom Boom Room and will be meeting up with tons of companies. Melissa, can you please pack me in your suitcase? She may even bump into a celeb or two (or more!). With all the swag she collects, she'll choose a winner (live from Hollywood)!

For your chance to win this awesome Wean Green Boom Boom Room Swag, simply subscribe to the Wean Green newsletter before January 13th (and be automatically entered in the contest). To obtain additional entries, share the contest on Twitter and Facebook, "follow" on Twitter, "like" on Facebook, and leave a comment here on the Wean blog when you're done!
Even if you don't enter the contest, you might be interested in buying some Wean cubes for your own little one! Trust me, you want to get some! We use ours all the time and love them!

Born Free is giving one lucky pregnant Mommy $300 worth of Born Free products! Just post a photo of your pregnant self on the BornFree Facebook fan page or e-mail it to moms@newbornfree.com !

Not pregnant? Know someone who is? You can still enter by spreading the word! Just tell them that when they enter, mention that you sent them! If you refer someone and they win, you can earn $50 in BornFree products!

Kind of makes me want to be pregnant right now! ;)


Pssssssst! You can mention that I sent you, but I won't be eligible to win anything since I'm on the Mom Panel.