Toilet Paper Roll Rabbit; Simple Kid Craft

What you will need:
Toilet paper roll
Marker
Scissors
Glue
Paper

Directions:
Cover the toilet paper roll in white paper.
Fold a piece of paper and cut out the hands.
Cut out a carrot and color it.
Glue the carrot to the hands and glue the hands to the toilet paper roll.

Fold a piece of paper and cut out the ears.
Glue on the ears.
Draw the face.

This is an alternative face.

Toilet Paper Roll Train; Goldfish Cracker Box Cars

What you will need:
Card board box ( tea box or a cereal box cut in half works great. I cut a gold fish box in half)
1 toilet paper roll
Scissor
Tape
Scissors
Glue
Marker
Construction paper

Directions:
If not using a pre made box make two boxes.

Cover the boxes in paper.
Cover the toilet paper roll in paper. Use tape to secure it.
Cut 1/4 off the toilet paper roll.
Cut out 12 wheels.
Draw the rims on the wheels and glue them on.
Tape or glue on the smoke stack.

Decorate the box cars.

Recipe Thursday: Not Your MaMa's Sloppy Joes

Image courtesy of find.myrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. Extra lean ground beef

1 can of diced tomato

1 can of diced chilies

1 can of corn

1 can of tomato paste

¼ cup of ketchup

1 tbs. Brown sugar

1 tsp spicy mustard

Hamburger buns

Directions:

Brown hamburger until no longer pink.

Drain!

Stir in all ingredients.

Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Serve on a warm toasted bun.

Serve alone or with a potato salad or coleslaw.

A Baby Story; Before MeloMomma Was Really MeloMomma Part 11

I had been pushing for so long and have had so much will power throughout this pregnancy I asked for one more try. I just knew I could get this baby out without a C section.

My doctor agreed and said I can have 3 more pushes or she will use the vacuum device on my baby. This was one of my biggest fears. The vacuum or the forceps. I had watched way to many baby 911 shows and now I felt I was living one. If she used this she also needed to call and have a pediatrician in the room. Furthermore, my baby's pediatrician was a male!

I knew the dangers of this device and I did not want a man in my room during delivery! This was the moment. I had to get him out. Without having a contraction, I pushed with all my might. I was purple in the face but I heard my doc say, “keep going the baby crowned.” This was the worst time to lose strength. It hurt so bad! Where is my epidural when I needed it? PUSH PUSH PUSH One Two Three Four Five Six Seven PUSH PUSH Eight Nine PUSH... He is out!

My doctor handed him to me immediately. He was placed on my chest where I got a good look at him and gave him his first kiss as a tear slid from my cheek to his forehead. This was a happy tear. Finally the pregnancy had brought me happy tears.

I did it! He is so beautiful! He does have a little cone shape on his head, but he is prefect! He his brown eyes like his mommy and by golly he has my nose! My baby boy is born! This moment was one that I honestly can't put into words.

Finally! After all the hardship we went through... I am holding my son! It is surreal. I feel like I am in a dream. We made it. I gave birth to a health full term baby!

Now, my son is about to turn 5 and is growing and thriving just like a 5 year old should. He is amazing! Thank you God for watching over us and Thank you MeloMomma readers for joining in on a part of my life.

Toilet Paper Roll Castle

What you will need:

7 toilet paper rolls

2 boxes (cereal boxes work well)

2 paper towel rolls

Tape

Scissors

Paper

Directions:

Cover the boxes, toilet paper rolls, and paper towel rolls with desired colors.

Using construction paper make the peaks if desired.

Place 4 tp rolls on top of one box (as seen in photo).

Tape or glue into place. I found tape to work great.

Place another box on top and use tape to secure it.

Tape three more toilet paper rolls on top.

Secure with tape.

Finish it off with the two paper towel rolls on the sides.



A Baby Story; Before MeloMomma Was Really MeloMomma Part 10

It has sure been one scary roller coaster ride, but we made it. It is induction time!

I have given all my medical information and I look so pretty in the hospital gown provided. LOL. It is time for the IV. The poor gal who tried my IV screwed up and got a butt chewing. I really hate getting the IV and I was furious she needed to poke me again.

The nurse had me figured out all ready. I am a spit fire. She got another nurse, with more experience, to do my IV. Lickedy split... it was in.

Now I just needed to wait for my doctor for the cervidil drug to start the contractions.

My doctor arrived and she checked me prior to giving me the medicine. She gave me a look I had seen before! I just knew it. My cramps the night before were contractions! This was it!

She could not give me the meds since I was begining labor.She did manually break my water and start me on pitocin. I was dilated to a 4! Here we go. Giddy up!

My mom arrived right after the pitocin was administered. We were relaxing and having a nice conversation when I started feeling the sharpest pains in my back. It felt like a knife being twisted in circles against my spine. The baby was in the right position for delivery, but I was having back labor!

I tired the rocking chair as a pain reliever. It was a sad attempt. Five minutes later I asked for an epidural.

The epidural scared the crap out of me but I sure did feel good after it was in. I was up cracking jokes and feeling really happy! I was pretty impressed by the epideral. I had my husband take pictures. I just had to get a look at the wire hanging out of my back.

I was 11 hours into my labor and told it was time to push!

I had not urges to push at all, but I guess I am a first time mom, so I do what the nurse says.

I pushed for 30 minutes and there was no progress. My nurse had me change positions.

I pushed for another 30 minutes and I was getting a little tired. This was not at all like how you see it in the movies. I got a 2 minute break and was asked to change positions again. I felt so frustrated. The baby moved down with every push but then went right back up the birth canal. I had very little feeling from the epidural, so my doctor said to yank the meds. I was going to push this baby out all natural! Now, I was seen more scared than before!

We are 1 hour 55 minutes into the pushing. She is making me push every second. Feeling frustrated, I told her to let me breath. My mom, who was waiting outside thought I had said “I can't breath”. She was then put into a panic and worried mode. She was standing in he hall scared to death not knowing what was happening.

My doctor said it was time! Time for a C Section.

A Baby Story; Before MeloMomma Was Really MeloMomma Part 9

I have been on bed rest now for too long. Bed rest in the hospital is one thing, but at home is a lot different. In the hospital there is really not much to do. I was going a little stir crazy. I was fortunate enough to land a contract “work at home” job that kept me busy for 3 hours a day. Again, by the grace of God, another dilemma has been fixed. I had supplemental income.

I had the occasional friend stop by, but I wanted to get up and do stuff. There are things to be done and I can not do them. UGH! I am a neat freak and the mess in the house is killing me. My husband really tried but is not a house cleaner. Lucky for me, my dear Aunt came up to help me out! With a clean house, I felt a little less anxious.

Let's fast forward. I am now 32 weeks pregnant. I can hardly believe it myself, but I have carried this baby almost to term. It really is a miracle to me. It often just feels like a really long and drawn out dream. This was not what I expected to happen when I learned I was pregnant. At last, we have made it to a safe point in case of early delivery.

I had not been removed from bed rest by the doctor, but the nesting phase has set in, so I gave myself permission to get off of bed rest. I had been a really good girl and even my doctor said it would be safe to deliver now. Looking back on this decision, it was silly. I let the bed rest get the best of me. I felt overwhelmed. I still needed to finish his room.

I had formed a daily routine now. I had to make sure the floors were swept and mopped perfectly. I made sure the carpets were vacuumed and even steam cleaned if needed. I pretty much kept the house in perfect condition. I wanted to make sure that if I went into labor, my baby was coming home to a perfect house. Pretty silly huh?

My water broke once already, so now my question is when will it break again?

I am now going to the doctor weekly. Yep, I still get anxious about the appointments, but at least I am not puking now. I don't know that I will ever feel comfortable with this part of being pregnant.

I was at 38 weeks now and visiting my doctor again. She worked with a team, so if I went into labor during non business hours I would get who ever was on call. She worked with a group of men. Enough said! This was her weekend on call and she had said to me that it would be really nice if I could go into labor this weekend. She tried a technique to start some contractions and sent me home.

I had three days to go into labor if I didn't want to take the chance of a man delivering my baby.

How ironic is this? Just a few weeks ago I was saying my prayers and on bed rest just to keep this little man inside my belly and now I am trying to get him out in a hurry!

My husband and I went to Mexican food for dinner. It was not really a craving at the time, but we asked for the HOT salsa, hoping the spicy foods would start up a few contractions.

NO LUCK!

I had been going to three walks a day. My doctor strongly encouraged this, so I was on top of it. Still...

NO LUCK!

My husband went to the drug store and got me black and blue cohosh and camomile tea. I drank so much tea I was sick. The cohosh did nothing.

We moved on to bigger and better things. I felt desperate at this time. I had only 1 day left. I opted to try the castor oil. I was a FOOL! I spent the next few hours periodically, on the toilet. (I can not believe I just shared this). It was awful and discomforting to say the least.

The last thing to try was Sex. To the bedroom!

NO LUCK!

Time is up! It is Monday morning. I did not go into labor and now there is a male doctor on duty. It is just my luck!

Chain Of Love; A Family Valentine Craft

What you will need:
Construction paper
Tape
Pen
Scissors

Directions:
Cut out strips of paper.
Take turns sharing "why" and "what" you love about one another and write it down.

Tape the paper into circles forming a chain.

A Baby Story; Before MeloMomma Was Really MeloMomma Part 8

The doctor had so much compassion and was really just as sweet as could be, but what he had to say was devastating.

Since I was 27 weeks pregnant and my water has broken, I stood a 99% chance of delivering my child within the next 48 hours. Because of how early he will be born he stands a great chance for several complications including, cerebral palsy, under developed lungs, and he probably will not be able to walk. There were so many possible things that could be wrong and the thought of seeing my fragile little baby hooked up to monitors with tubes up his nose broke my heart. Furthermore, I was going to give birth and go home empty handed. He would be in the NICU for up to 3 months. This was too much for me to handle. My brain could not process it all and work through it. The only thing that seemed fitting at the time was to cry!

I decided to let my mom and dad come back into my hospital room. They had been waiting in the hall per my request. I was not up for talking at this point. I was busy processing all that had been told to me.

I closed my eyes and just envisioned all the possibilities and tried to envision my life long term and how I was going to take care of my son.

I made a decision. There is a 1% chance that my bag of water would seal back up and my son could stay stay in the womb and develop longer. I will be this 1%. I am a very strong willed person and have been known to get what I want. Sounds silly, but if you say I can't I will! I don't care if he stays in a month or 4 months. Each day I do not deliver is a blessing.

I shared with my family, the nurses, and the doctors what I was going to do. The nurses and doctors pretty much laughed and said good luck with that. This only gave me more determination.

I stayed on bed rest and did everything I could to keep from giving birth, including laying only on my back. I was pretty dang uncomfortable as a week went by. The doctors and nurses were very surprised I was still in the hospital and even more impressed I was still pregnant.

It was a really long week and it almost felt like I was in jail. The food was nasty, I was uncomfortable, and I had no outside light. All my discomfort was pushed aside as I remembered the little man growing in my belly!

I saw those babies in the NICU and I knew I was going to do all that is within my power to keep my son out of there. My mom shared my story with all of her friends and I am very lucky to have been in their prayers as well. Between my strong will and the power of prayer I was sent home after staying a week in the hospital. Thank GOD!

I was told to remain on strict bed rest! I had to take a leave of absence from work,I did not care what I had to do. My only job now was to be an incubator for my baby and keep him healthy.