Cancer Survivor meets the Big "M"

I am a cancer survivor and for all my life it was something wonderful-- worth being proud of. I am still so very thankful to be alive, but maybe in the last 7 years I have begun to feel the affects of being an experiment in the 80's. True those experiments saved my life and I am forever grateful to them. But I am also frustrated at not understanding everything thats going on. That might go on.

And I feel alone. Very alone.

I'll ask my doctors a question and they'll respond, we don't know-- we're kind of watching you to see what happens. Sigh.

When I graduated from CHOP I was told that three things could happen-- I would never have kids. Never carry my kids to full term. And most likely go into menopause by the time I was 30. The doctor started to cry and I just sat there stunned. I was one of 4. My dad was one of 7 and my mom ws one of 6. Having kids or not having kids really had never entered my mind until that moment a few months before I turned 18 and began college. And then, before I really had time to process that news, my mom got breast cancer.

Fast forward a few years and my mom was fine and I was a newlywed who had just had a miscarriage. That was such a low point for me as noone directly related to me had ever really had one and it seemed to seal the deal that biological children were not an option.

But, God is so good and he gave us one and then one more, and then a bonus one too. We were good and set. We would def. open our hearts to a fourth, but my third pregnancy was so rough, we just weren't sure it would happen.

And now I am pretty sure I won't as at the age of 28 I am almost positive that I am going through perimenopause. So, at the age of 28 I'll be going through hot flashes with my aunts while my sisters and friends have babies. This has not been an easy pill to swallow. For one thing having been told that I had till 30, I really figured I had to 30. Also, I think at one point a very ignorant and uninformed doctor laughed when I told him this and I really felt like a fool for buying into the whole early menopause thing. I just can't really wrap my brainaround the fact that this is happening and really hate feeling super sad about the whole thing.

But here I am and all the things I look up and read support what I know in my heart to be true. I had to finally break down and call the doctor today and convince the nurse on the line that I wasn't her average 28 year old and wasn't taking any drugs. Fun. How does one even go through menopause with a 2 year old in the house?

Places to Play in PA- St. Peter's Village

Saint Peter's Village is like a little hidden gem of Pennsylvania. It is absolutely amazing. I think the locals know all about it, but it's on the hush hush. Or we're just not in the loop. We have driven through the little village part for years ohhing and ahhing at how cute and charming it was. But then one saturday when we had the kids with us we decided to go for a hike. Somewhere. Somewhere in the village since we alway saw people ducking behind the village going somewhere to hike.



This is the Inn at St. Peter's Village, but we'll get back to that in a second. Anyway, we went behind the bakery and down some steps and were blown away! The view is amazing and there were hundreds of rocks to hop on over and jump across to go explore. However, given the ages of our kids and the fact that they would each need an adult buddy, we knew we hadn't found the family friendly entrance. We went back to the bakery had an amazing lunch, and my husband and I planned to come back kid free and scout it out with the intent of going again as a family.




So, we had lunch at the Inn first-- sooooooooo good, but their pizzas are ginormous and that should be overlooked as you can share and there was one with goat cheese and so out of this world amazing. My husband had something with meat. I'll be more specific, he had the itallian roast beef I believe with Italial potatoe salad on the side and also very good. he even finished his.




Then we went down to the rocks behind the bakery again and started off. I am not going to lie, some of the areas can be tricky and the rock area should be, um, jumped on with caution. But it is a lot of fun!




We kept going down and found a RC course being set up and stopped to watch for awhile and while we watched we kept seeing people with kids, little kids, heading down on a path across the river. So, we kept on and eventually found a bridge that connects to the kid friendly path-- mission accomplished! So, to get to the little bridge, park somewhere past the ghost tour building or arcade. Be prepared to turn into the parking lot quickly as the village ends and the road keeps going and it might be hard to turn around.



The arcade there is all vintage old school games. My husband was in electronic heaven-- seriously-- thats where games go to die ;) Just kidding-- it was really neat and they are open weekends! Throughout the year there are special festivals and events-- we enjoyed the man playing away on the porch! This is a wonderful place to go with a family or without-- we LOVE it and bonus-- at the end of the path there is even a swimming hole! It truly is a wonderful place that PA has to offer!





http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Chester_County/Warwick_Township/Saint_Peters.htmlylvan

Designing a Purple Themed Girl's Room-- At Last!!

When my husband and I had our first baby nearly 7 years ago we decided to be surprised when it came time to finding out the gender. We ended up having our first boy who was closely followed by our daughter who was followed by another little boy. I was always glad we went with a gender neutral theme and would reccomend doing that even if you do know the gender of your first as you never can tell the gender of the next baby... or the next. We had this sweet Pottery Barn lambie theme and it was just so sweet that all three shared the same nursery.

However, since our third was a boy for about 3 years our older two shared yet another gender neutral room this time courtesy of Ikea. I still in 5 years of having a little girl had never gotton to do a girls room. So, it was with much tears but also anticipation that we transformed the nursery into a girl's room. Oh, I'm sorry, a BIG girl's room.

My daughter seems at times like a mini teenager and then a minute later like my sweet little baby and then again 5. She is unique, spunky, sweet, sassy, snuggly, and the only girl in the middle of two boys. I wanted to pick something that reflected her, celebrated her uniqueness, and wasn't too brassy of a theme that it wouldn't pay some sort of homage to an older house.





I got the quilt and bedding at T.J. maxx and her bed online at Wal-mart. This bed is adorable, but if your daughter thinks she is a ballerina-gymnast, she will be swinging from the bars. The adorable little end cabinet is from Ikea and was actually from their bathroom line, but I loved the door and inside the top is an adorable little mirror with some secret storage. her dresser was from a local Thrift store and I painted it and then bought the hardware at Lowe's. The curtain rod is also from lowe's, but was on clearance. We "made" the shelf-- it was a pinterest inspired project mixed with over zealous insanity. Just buy a shelf at Michaels and the effect will be the same. Her little wicker chair is from Ikea too and makes a compfy nook for reading. If you look on the light there is a little clay bird which is a gift from a Highschool friend, Katie. The DREAM decal is from UpperCase Living and I got it in plum.




She loves her room and thats the most important thing. I love her having her own girl space, although I have found her brothers in there using her bed to read or jump on and they all settle on the rug to play games and read more books.

So, there you have it. A labor of crazy love for our crazy girl :)

{a mother's love}

Before I had my own kids, if I had been asked to define a mother's love, I would have said, well, I really don't know as now it means so much more then those three little words.

Its more then loving them when they smell so good after a bath you could hold them forever and just breathe in their scent.

It's more then loving them when they give you that first toothless grin or belly laugh for the very first time.



It's loving them when you have been up all night. for. an. entire. week.

It's loving them when they spill milk-- not just on a clean floor, but for the 87th time that week.

It's loving them when they go through more outfits in one day then a celebrity-- and you know that means you'll be washing every single piece.

It's loving them so much because you are the only one who knows how to kiss their boo-boo, chase away the monsters, and soothe their tummy aches.

It's loving them when they say something cringeworthy in public-- and loving them enough to take them back out in public again.




It's loving them when they hurt you, dissapoint you, throw tantrums, and insist their life would be much better if you were the maid and if you were the nicest mom ever like so and so's mom.

That's what a mother's love is-- loving them when you want to go in a closet and let out a good scream, when you know you can't save them from the world or shelter them from all it's evil, loving them so much it hurts so bad. Because they are yours. Andyou are their mother. And you will love them forever.

Dance Fever!!

I would like to take the time to let the reader know that I love to dance.

Loving to dance and being able to dance are not the same thing, but thats a minor detail and there's really no point in splitting hairs.

I love to dance and have felt it essential to pass along this love to my children. We car dance, we living room runway dance, we disco, we do the bop, we twist, and occassionally my husband will intervene and put something from the 80's on.

That is why when we were at the Pittsburgh children's museum and they announced a DJ dance party, we literally spent more then 25% of our time at the museum dancing. i also like math, but that's another post entirely.



I was the only mama dancing, but that's okay-- as the DJ reminded us every 3 songs, dancing is good excercise and we should dance (he might have said excercise here, but again, lets not get all detailed) 30 minutes a day.


My kids made me proud too-- they new the YMCA, Happy and you know it (it was a kids museum), selena gomez, the twist, and Justin Bieber-- yeah, you know it!! I know it's against kid museum policy but I don't think a little Lady G would have killed anybody, but we did dance for ever! It was great-- the disco ball, the bubble machine all the things I imagine are in our living room. Perfect!

However, I did out dance my little guy. He said "No dance mommeee!" and then procedded to flip al the theater chairs up so noone could sit down. Then he proceeded to reflip them as he was pooped.



Then he was literally so tired, he couldn't bring himself to get all the way onto the chair.





It was at this moment when I, ahem, actually had no clue and kept dancing with the older two and then they two bailed on me and I had to finally do the decent mommy thing and leave the dancing for another day and snuggle all my tired little dancers.

More on pitts trip to follow....

Greek and Salsa Pizza

Yum, Yum, Yummy-- that's how we feel about these two pizzas-- both similar but different and bith equally yummy! I promise your kids will love their veggies-- first the word pizza is in the title and second, both are served on crescent rolls which are pure yumminess in themselves. Moms will love this since it's minimal work and cleanup, easy to make, and super healthy!


Salsa Pizza
Take two packages of crescent rolls and arrange like a pizza. Mix 1 tbs of garlic with 2tbs. of oil and lightly brush over rolls and then insert to bake following package directions.

While they are baking, dice two small tomatoes or one large, 1/4 of a red onion, 1 avocado, 1 green pepper, and some cilantro (my hubby doesn't like this, so must sneak it in small portions) place in bowl. Stir. If your kids can take the heat, add a diced fresh jalapeno.

When pizza crust is done baking, remove from oven and spread on one package of reduced fat cream cheese. Spread diced veggies on top and then sprinkle with taco cheese. Warning-- eating this can get messy, but you'll be licking the crumbs of veggies up, so it's all good!



Greek Pizza
Arrange crescent rolls and bake as above. Do not place garlic oil mix on top.

While thats baking, dice up two tomatoes, green pepper, 1/4 red onion, a handful of fresh spinach leaves, a cucumber, and then add one container of feta cheese. Stir it up.





When crust is done baking, spread garlic hummus all over and then spread veggie and feta mixture on top. Slice it up and enjoy-- would like to add, if you have olive lovers, please apply them to the top of your pizza.

Okay-- see, easy, yummy, and really, really healthy :) I must admit, these are both begetarian and my husband absolutely adores them both-- okay, off to eat some Greek Pizza :)

** Disclaimer, the original recipes can be found on pampered chef, but I tweaked them a bit and upgraded to two packages of crescent rolls :)

Places to Play in Pa: The Please Touch Museum

Hey all!! We're back!! Well, we really didn't leave on purpose, but the reality of the past few months have taken us all over both emotionally and physically. But I did miss doing this so much, so thought I'd start with something current and work our way backwards.....


The Please Touch Museum is in Philly and very very easy to get to-- you dont have to go into Center Coty from the PA side at all-- its right in/near Fairmount park in a gorgeous old building. Honesty, we went years ago in their old location and it was a little skinny thing right in the heart of the city with city parking- ugh! But this is much better location wise esp. with little kids, which I would hope you would have with you as its a kids museum ;)


The grand entrance is grand and the kids ran right to the automobile/mechanic section and began tinkering away. Now, online it says they dont sell lunches, but they totally do-- simple stuff, but you dont have to pack a lunch unless you want to. We packed and their cafeteria was nice, although I would imagine it getting crowded on a weekend.


The kids liked the water play area and the grocery store too-- very cute.

But, I am gonna be honest here, as far as kid's museums go (and this is our 4th), this one gets a C in my book. Here's why it didnt score big-- bad use of space!! This is my biggest complaint as other museums with their size (port discovery in baltimore and The childrens museum in pitts) have floor to ceiling settings for you to use. Floor to CEILING!! Lots of climbing, moving, exploring, etc. PTM just had wasted space everywhere above maybe 20 feet. Also, in the basement, there was tons of empty space. I also felt the museum had way too many 3 and under areas-- way too many! I have a 3 and under and older kids and I paid the same price for both. I felt the whole museum was geared more to this age group in general rather then 2-8 who would like to imagine and explore too. There water area was nice, but not awesome. Baltimore and Pitts' water rooms were memorable-- our kids could have stayed for hours and hours.


So, here is my concensus, and disclaimer-- this is my two cents and the first time I felt somewhere deserved an actual grade--- take a car ride down to Baltimore's port Discovery or stay simple and go to Lancaster's Hands on House and pay half the price.