General Mills Reduces Sugar in Cereal

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

If I had a dime for everytime I have heard that line, I would be a millionaire.  Heck, we all would be.  There’s truth behind it, though.  Studies have shown that eating a healthy breakfast will enhance your performance throughout the day.  Not only will you be able to concentrate better at school or work, you will have more strength and energy for more physical aspects of your life.  Plus, you have seen the comercials – healthy breakfasts can lower your cholesterol!

In December it was announced that General Mills would be reducing sugar in their cereals ever more than they already had been.  They committed to reducing the sugar in their cereals to less than 10g per serving!  *goes to look in pantry*  Now, I can tell you that we have other brands of cereal (that are not General Mills) and not one of those cereals have less than 10g of sugar per serving.

I was provided 4 coupons for General Mills cereal from My Blog Spark to try out the new and improved cereal.  All I can say is “wow!”  These are cereals that I grew up with, prior to their commitments to our children of today.  Which means when I was eating these cereals, there were less vitamins and more sugar.  And while it could be that I am older, I don’t find any difference in the taste I remember, to the taste of now!

Constantly looking at nutrition information, I want what is best for my kids.  I want them to grow up happy and healthy, and I was them to succeed in life.  My confidence for their breakfast needs is with General Mills.

For more information about the relationship between kids and cereal, visit General Mills’ Health & Wellness page.

Prepping For Relatives and Mobile Babies….

Ariana will meet her grandma for the first time in about four days.

Visiting from West Virginia, Justin’s mom flies in on Thursday, February 4th, 2010.  She will stay with us until her flight leaves on Sunday.

The day she flies in Ariana will be 8 months old.  Where has the time gone?!?!  We are three quarters of the way to her first birthday.  Wowzers.

So this week I have to clean.  I don’t just mean pick up the living room and kitchen and dining room.  We are talking a full, top to bottom, deep clean of my house.  The thought makes me sick to my stomach.  Having a little 2 bedroom apartment doesn’t always mean just a little bit to clean.

Also on the agenda, while we are at it, is baby-proofing.  Don’t get me wrong, I have been baby-proofing the house, but this will be an all out baby-proofing. 

That leads me to a question (or four)…. How do you prep for visits from the in-laws?  What should I expect?  Oh my gosh, I have never done this before! YIKES!

Also, so I don’t miss anything, give me a rundown of how you baby-proofed the house when your little ones decided to become mobile.  As much as I wish she wouldn’t do this just yet, here we are.  Ariana is crawling and apparently climbing too!! HELP!!!!!!

Cards For Kayla

I remember growing up with my best friend, Becky.  In the back of my mind, we knew she would never grow old.  Never experience all of the wonderful things life had to offer.  I knew one day I would have to miss her like crazy. 

At the age of 10, all of these realizations came crashing down.  I lost her. 
Becky passed away June 28th, 1997 to Cystic Fibrosis. 

Thank you, Becky. For being there to guide me through all of life’s challenges. I can feel you watching over me when I feel like this world is too much for me. You guide me. You lift me up when I’m feeling down. You are everything a best friend should ever be. Even if you aren’t physically here on this earth with me.

She taught me to live life.  That good things come in small packages.  That life isn’t always fair, but everything happens for a reason.

I met Kristin when we were both pregnant with our daughters on a mommy board on the internet almsot a year ago.  Later finding out we lived in the same city(ish), we cliqued.  Talked about our pregnancies, our babies, our lives.  Eventually, we will meet.

When I found out about her BFF, Sandra, and the struggles she was facing, I felt helpless.  Her young daughter, Kayla, has Leukemia.  She was diagnosed in December of 2008 and has been fighting since.  Recently, she has been hospitalized again. 

Kayla is six.  She is a fighter.  When I read about her, it’s like reliving the battle with my best friend so many years ago.  Different battles, but much the same.

So what do I do to help?  She lives a state away, so I am limited.  Praying is a powerful thing, but personally, that doesn’t satisfy me.  What I want to do is take the sickness from Kayla and make her better!  Let her live the life the a normal little girl should live.  Without her knowing, Kayla has a special place in my heart.  Right next to me inner child.

Well, practically, I am unable to take it all away and make her better.  As much as I wish I could, I can’t.  So when I read Kristin’s post, Cards For Cancer – Kayla, I knew it was something I could do.  Such a simple gesture to make the day of a child.  You better believe I have a card, addressed, labeled, and stamped.  All I need is to put that card in the mail!!

Want to send Kayla a card?  She would be thrilled!!!

Cards may be mailed to:

Kayla Gronley
P.O. Box 5634
Blue Jay, Ca 92317

To Contact Sandra (her mom) by email ~ sanderella192003{at}yahoo{dot}com

Thank you, Kristin, for bringing awareness and starting (you started it, right?) this awesome idea!!!

ETA::: you can also visit here for more information.

Deeply Inhaling…

Sometimes life sends us on weird, crazy, absolutely terrible paths that seem bumpy and completely impassable.
Truth be told I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get through the holiday blues this year. As each minute drug into an hour which later became a day, I wanted to curl up and be DONE with it all. Things couldn’t get worse. Struggling to get up each day, running away seemed to be my only getaway.
Waiting for the inevitable, I watched the depression blanket my heart. Konnor and Ariana no longer seemed to warm my heart, and I thought for sure I was going to give up. I could see them drifting further and further away. Writing, blogging, photographing were all chores not, not happiness.  No fight left in me, I waited for the storm to pass. Or engulf me into eternal sadness.
As I waited, however, I realized something. My name is Alexandra. The one that ran away as a Sophomore. The same girl that dealt with death, sadness, divorce. I have a mother who has been to hell and back in life, and raising me was far from easy. Emotional as I may be, I am stubborn and strong. Why in the hell am I sitting here, feeling sorry for myself? I have been in worse situations. Now I am a mother, and life has thrown me curves, but those two little faces mean more to me than this world could ever give me.
Standing up and brushing myself off, my determination to get through this darkness in my life started.
Between positive thoughts and a strong support system, I broke through. Knowing that two little smiles, four beautiful eyes, and voices as loud as my own, needed me was what really pulled me. You see, one’s heart is not really able to be full of sadness when you are consumed by so much unconditional love.
Over the last month or so, I have learned that I need to slow down. Take it all in. Realize that I have come so far to get where I am today. Things don’t always go how I want them to, but that is part of life. For a moment in time I forgot the saying I live by: everything happens for a reason. Fact.
And all of a sudden, the little things, which is most important to me, matter again. I have a new appreciation for the world around me. Again, I am happy.

Ariana’s Scary ER Story…

“Mommy, baby sister is throwing up.”

That’s how it all started.  Normally, this wouldn’t cause much concern, since Ariana sometimes does throw up after eating.  Rarely, but it happens.  This time, however, was different, because she hadn’t eaten in a couple hours. 

I walked over and it looked like she was kind of choking but she was definitely throwing up.  Thinking maybe her tummy was upset or she was sick, I sat on the floor, legs extended, and put her over them.  Patting her back, I got her to throw up a little more and then she seemed okay.

About that time, and great timing it was, my friend Kelly showed up with her little boy.  She sat on the couch, a couple feet from me when Ariana started to choke and throw up again.  I put her back over my legs and patted her back.  Gasping for air, she rolled herself over and was looking at me with this helpless little look. 

The time frames are so off, I’m sure.  It felt like this whole thing took hours when really it was mere minutes. 

She stopped gasping for air and started choking again.  Kind of throwing up.  But most definitely gagging.  She took one deep breath and that was it.  Something was stuck, because her face started turning purple as she started struggling to breath, and her lips turned blue.

I handed her to Kelly and dialed 9-1-1.  The scariest thing a mother has to do, and the feeling of helplessness was overwhelming for me.  Had Kelly not been there, I guarantee I would have been in hysterics.  She held Ariana while I talked to the dispatcher, and within minutes (again, felt like hours) paramedics were here.

By the time they got here, Ariana had stopped choking.  Whatever was blocking her airway either went down or came up.  We aren’t sure.  Her breathing wasn’t normal, but by the time we got to the children’s hospital, it was.  I did opt to have the paramedics take us in the ambulance, only because I didn’t want to run the risk of her choking again in the backseat of my car on the freeway.  No chances.  No way!

X-rays showed nothing.  Doctor’s were pleased with her color and breathing when she arrived.  So we were told to watch her breathing for anything out of the normal, keep an eye out for a fever or other sign of infection, and check out any poopie diapers for the foreign object.

They did also say it could have been that she was choking on her vomit, which I suppose is possible.  Do I find that a likely cause for what terrified me so? No.  That doesn’t seem accurate.  Konnor was playing with her about 10 minutes before it all happened, and I wonder if he brought one of his small toys to share with his baby sister.

So we are watching.  Waiting.  Hoping to find something in her stools to give answers to what caused such a heart-wrenching catastrophe.  I honestly believed that they were going to need a second ambulance for the heart attack I was about to have. 

Children are amazing.  I love mine to pieces.  You better believe after all has been said and done, there will be a more careful eye from this mommy.

Happy Belated Monday Mingle!!!

Late, per usual.  Lol!  However, I did make it this week.  That accounts for something, right??  Lol, head on over to 80 MPH Mom for other fabulous minglers!  She is the queen of MM and hosts it every week for us!

Without further ado, here we goooo!! (And my editing sucks, sorry, Konnor was being a turd and Movie Maker didn’t like my file format.  Le Sigh)

And it was Neve Campbell!! People used to say I looked like her..

And here is the horrendous pic of my face.. See that cheek?  Yeah… I had a fat bruise for a few days too. I’ll post that pic some other time.  This is enough humiliation for one day 🙂

I Came Back!!

After a little over a week since having the teeth yanked (and I took a few days before hand to prep for it), I am back!!  Yay, right?  Lol.  Almost fully off the drugs (pain pills, people!), my head is finally in a clear enough state for me to write again.  That last post……… Totally don’t remember actually writing it, much less posting.  Yikes!

So having wisdom teeth pulled sure does make you feel stupid for a while.  Thanks Mr. Oral Surgeon for contributing to that.  Honestly though, I was out of it for at least a week.  Trying to remember what events occurred is next to impossible.  Including my going to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Did everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving?  Lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, and PIE??? Mmmm, pie!  My favorite dish of Thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce.  Yummmmmmy!

Whelp, I have a couple things coming up here.  Couple videos of the monster children, and I *need* to get my Monday Mingle done.  With that said, I’m off!

~Alex

Wisdom Teeth Yanking…

Yep, it happened.  Had three of them yanked out.  I am officialy wisdom-free (feel free to laugh, i don’t feel very smart today).  The last 48 (or is it 72 now?) hours of my life are a complete haze.  They have me on antibiotics, Percocet, and Motrin.   Yes, this mamma has been feeling NOTHING since having the surgery.

They also gave me sedatives prior to surgery because I am deathly afraid of the dentist.  Apparently, I was extremely friendly Wednesday morning.  Dr. Surgeon (who knows what his name was) said I was a model patient.  Oh how lovely.   Sedatives are a great thing!   Wish I could have them EVERYTIME I go to the dentist.

You will have to excuse any rambling or non-sense that comes out here. 

Do you think, by the way, it’s normal to still have numbness?  My lower lip and chin are still pretty numb.  That freaks me out just a little bit.  I can’t stand to have it touched, because it feels so weird! 

Also, I am so thankful for my insurance.  That was over $1,000 worth of procedures that I paid $95 for!

Anyways, thought I’d let everyone know I’m alive!  Back to sleeeep!