Monday, August 4, 2008

Another Pay It Forward!

Do you all remember the fun Pay It Forward contest bomb that Swistle started last month? I finally received the second prize I'd won (apparently my husband isn't the only one who forget things -- K's Mama's husband left this lovely box sitting in the back of his car for ... awhile!).

Now it's time for me to pay it forward. See below for deatils, but first check out the cool stuff I won!



When I opened it up, I saw all sorts of cool stuff to love (and do you like how I've spared you yet another shot of the carpeting on my stairs? Welcome to the chair in my office).



Magnetic Cars stickers. They attach to fridges. Or in my case, the three inches of the side of the fridge that's visible. Yes, the Word Whammer has lost its coveted spot. The wee ones love these.


And I think I've mentioned once or twice that we like to go swimming. And spend just a touch of time at the pool. Definitely need something to toss around so we don't have to be jealous of everyone else. Check out the Tootsie Roll beach ball.

There's also a very cool book about animals that's a board book but with tons of words on it. As we're always trying to reinforce being kind and gentle and friendly towards animals just like we are to our friends. And we do read just a tiny bit....

And this is a great motivator to actually print out some of the pictures I take. I tend to ummm forget to do that sometimes. Like since 2000. Or so. December of 1999 to be exact. But I need motivation!



There's also this great notepad. It's supposed to be for a locker, as I believe it's magnetic, but this will go great on the top part of the side of the fridge that the wee ones don't have access to. Maybe then I'll remember to write down when I'm out of things I need ... like powdered sugar!



And I really needed another reason to drool and covet an iPod Nano. Of course I didn't win the one that the SITS girls were giving away *sigh* but I still want one. And my husband just bought one for himself since he was jealous of me having one when I went to work out and everyone else at the club having one. Me? I can't bring myself to buy one for myself quite yet, but ... now I have even more reason to get one, right?


Mister Man loves doing anything academic, as you may well know. We don't have any flash cards, but my husband is excited about trying these out on him. And I'm sure he'll learn addition even quicker now!

And what kid doesn't need more stickers? It seems like everything we do involves stickers. And a new stock is always appreciated!


Thank you K's Mama! And now it's my turn!

Quick refresher, post a comment answering the chosen question below. If you enter, you're agreeing to host your own Pay It Forward contest if you win.

The contest will be open until Friday August 8 around 5pm CST. I'll use a random number generator at that point to choose the winning comment. If a comment I make it chosen, I'll rerun the generator.

The prize will be a mystery prize again, but I will say that it's likely to include two silicone 9" (I believe) round cake pans. As I was baking my cakes this weekend, I realized that I have four of them, and that means that two of them are really just taking up space. If you'd rather not win those, let me know. The rest of the prize will be whatever I choose, but hopefully something the winner likes.

If I don't hear from the winner within three days of the end of the contest, I'll select a new winner.

So tell me about your worst parenting disaster (of your children, children you babysat, etc). Good luck!

16 comments:

ya ya's mom August 4, 2008 at 6:40 PM  

oh i'm the first to comment...great gift you won and i soooooo need round cake pans...i really hope i win!

worst parenting disaster...you can actually read about it on my blog...it occurred a couple of mondays ago...we were at the dentist and my short person said she needed to go potty...i wasn't buying it and she peed on the floor while my teeth were being cleaned....fun times!

Gina August 4, 2008 at 7:09 PM  

Well - that would be this week, when I discovered a HUGE cavity right in the front of my daughter's front teeth. I mean HUGE - as in, clearly had been there for a while. I felt like the world's worst mother.

Mom August 4, 2008 at 7:40 PM  

Oh Man what a cool package to get!

My worst parenting disaster has to be when my daughter feel off the changing table when she was 4 months old I turned my back for a second and boom she was fine but the doctor thought I was a mess!!!

Michelle August 4, 2008 at 8:29 PM  

Ya ya's mom - Since you need the cake pans (and silicone rocks, I must say -- I use them for EVERYthing. I'll have to post my collection one day and you'll understand how I didn't realize I had four round pans!), I hope you win, too! And your story made me laugh out loud. My no fun husband didn't see why I thought it was funny though.

Gina - Oooo cavities are no fun at all.... Poor girl! How did she do with the filling?

Steph - That was an awfully cool package! Glad to hear your daughter was ok when she fell. I had a similar experience in college when I was a nanny. But everyone was fine!

Cookie August 5, 2008 at 12:07 AM  

Ok, am I only that giggled at the mention of those big round silicone gifts?! ;)
Hmm... worst parenting moment... could that be when my youngest was 6 months old and the older one was 2 and broke his leg at the park? Yeah, that was a fun summer. But carrying a 2 year old with a cast on one side and a 6 month on the other is a great way to build upper body strength!

Anonymous August 5, 2008 at 7:06 AM  

HI,

It's probably best you don't put me on the prize list, as I'm in the UK, and postage would be hideous!

However, my worst babysitting disaster was when I was driving my friend's twin girls. As I am not a brilliant driver I made some kind of mistake, and said loudly "B*gger, b*gger, b*gger" before my wife prodded me!

We thought we had got away with it until we got back to the twins' home, where they both promptly, and very loudly shouted "B*GGER!" Ooops!

The Broken man

http://theblogofabrokenman.blogspot.com/

Kori August 5, 2008 at 8:25 AM  

Ok I want those cake pans. I have been tempted by silicone and not just in the breast area. But I'm too chicken to buy silicone bakeware just because I'm scared it's going to melt. But I promise if I win. I will be chicken no more.

Ok so for my worst parenting story.

I was over at a friend of mines just visiting. I was pregnant with my youngest and Jacob was 2. My friend had a little boy of the same age. Her and I were in the living room and the boys were in the playroom having a good time. After about 30 minutes of them laughing and playing it got quite. So we both went to check on them.

And there they were a dirty poopy diaper on the floor. And them using it as paint for the walls. Yes my son was the one who pooed and took his diaper off. And he was the one who was doing most of the fingerpainting not just on himself but on his little buddy too as well as all over the wall.

Mortified? Absolutely.

MaBunny August 5, 2008 at 8:43 AM  

Cute prizes!
Hope all is well with you and the wee ones:))

Anonymous August 5, 2008 at 10:37 AM  

Very cool prizes you've got there. I bought a beach ball similar to that for Z this year, but instead of Tootsie Rolls, its Sugar Babies.

I'd have to say my worse parenting disaster happened actually when I was pregnant with Z (does that count?). We'd had a huge storm in St. Louis that knocked the electricity out for 6 days....it was over 100 degrees in the shade and I just had to put my dog to sleep. I was a mess. My 2 cats and my other dog and I were staying with my parents because of the electricity. I was carrying a basket of clothes to my car when I tripped on the last step. I went flying forward and landed on the concrete sidewalk....on my belly. I just rolled over and bawled....bawled like a big ol baby for everything that had happened to me in the previous couple of days....and now I thought I was going to lose my baby too. I was 6 months pregnant. My baby was fine, I just scratched myself up a bit. Wow...I just wrote a whole post on your comment section....sorry about that...

Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday (bet your kinda sorry you did now, huh? I talk a lot) :)

Kellan August 5, 2008 at 1:06 PM  

My worst parenting disaster - I can't hardly think of one. I've had my share - I just can't think of one that is a good story. I think I was a disaster with all my kids during potty training. I never quite could figure out the best way to go about it - when was the right time - etc, etc. etc. It was a disaster with all my kids - but, they all eventually became trained.

Have a good day - Kellan

Courtney August 5, 2008 at 2:00 PM  

Parenting disaster #212:
I took a shower and put the (very stationary I might add) baby wedged in the boppy thingy on the bed (IDIOT). When I came out she was off the pillow on the edge of the bed, nearly on the floor.

Thanks for the chance to win!

CAQuincy August 5, 2008 at 3:51 PM  

Too many disasters to tell. But the one comment reminded me of the time that the THIRD was an infant, and we were co-sleeping. I had a really, really bad cold and so decided to take a cold pill (which I NEVER do, but I just. couldn't. BREATHE!). I woke up in a fog in the middle of the night and could faintly hear the baby crying. I finally started to come around and realized she wasn't in the bed beside me. I jumped out of bed and looked all over for her (thought maybe I put her in her crib for a change?). I finally was able to follow the sound of her cries--she had fallen off the side of the bed and was enclosed in the blankets. THAT is why you should NOT mix meds and co-sleeping, folks!! BAD MOMMY. Never took another cold pill while nursing/co-sleeping again.

pinkelefant August 5, 2008 at 8:49 PM  

how about allowing my husband to buy a dirt bike for my 5 year old and build a jump in my back yard for it?

Michelle August 6, 2008 at 12:38 AM  

Cookie - Sad for me, but I hadn't even THOUGHT of that. Way to point it out! If it makes you feel any better, I had a friend who broke her son's leg on the slide and another one who's daughter broke her arm at Disney and then didn't take her to the doctor until three days later when she was back home (ironically, both incidents happened within a couple weeks of each other)?

The Broken Man - Good point! I forgot to mention the only in the 48 contiguous rule :) Way to go on introducing swearing to small children! Especially ones that aren't your own....

Kori - Silicone is good up to 500 degrees or so. There are VERY few things you're cooking at that high of heat (homemade pizza comes to mind), so you're fine. They're the same idea as the spatulae you use on the stove, and stoves run far hotter than ovens (a fact I can attest to based on a baking error I made shortly after graduating college). Go for the silicone! And as for the poop -- hey, at least it wasn't your house, right?

Mabunny - Thanks! And yep, we're all doing good, thankfully!

Z's Mom - Welcome! And how freaky for you. I fell once when pregnant but not ON my belly. So glad that it all worked out for you and Zander! And I remember that power issue... my in-laws went to my SIL's lake house up in Vandalia because power was on there.... That was also when my FIL gave up the internet phone since it didn't work with the power out!

Kellan - My mom made the comment to me today (Little Miss had an entertaining pee accident with my husband yesterday that I relayed to my mom) that no kid goes to first grade still drinking a bottle or wearing diapers and it will all work out for my kids, too. Not so easy when you're the one in the midst of it though, is it?

Courtney - Welcome! And I'll go with the reflection from someone from yesterday -- if there's no blood, few tears and no bones protruding, it's all good. No harm, no foul, right?

CaQuincy - Welcome! Now THAT would freak me out. Fortunately, I never had that issue with co-sleeping (which I did up until 6 months for both wee ones as I don't do well when I should be sleeping -- see today's post! -- and getting up and down to nurse just wasn't going to happen). I was always paranoid of it, but... phew!

Pinkelefant - Welcome! And you either win the parent award OR you have a budding prodigy on your hands that will pay off in about 10 years... I'm not sure which! ;)

Kati August 8, 2008 at 1:49 AM  

I was following some other blog links and somehow ended up here - I can't really remember how :)

I've been needing round cake pans too and have also wanted to try out silicone bakeware so I thought I'd comment :)

My worst parenting disaster happened a couple of months ago. While I was returning some stuff to Babies R Us my 3-year old daughter was pushing my 7 month old son in an umbrella stroller. I heard him crying and looked over to see the stroller had tipped over. Long story short, he had a depressed skull fracture (he's 100% fine) but we got to experience a CT scan, neck x-rays, two ambulance rides, and a night in the ER. All of this was just as a precaution. He never showed signs of a problem and it will heal itself, but as you can imagine, that day was a living nightmare.

smylekt(at)msn(dot)com

Robin August 8, 2008 at 7:20 AM  

I love baking in silicone. I made a penguin cake for my son's last birthday and it turned out great.

I have way too many parenting disaster, but here is one that the comments reminded me of.

One we were at Tumble Drum (one of those tubes and slide places) and I noticed on the floor was a used (thankfully only wet) diaper. And I thought, "What kind of parent would just leave that diaper on the floor?" Later my son comes by and as I pick him up, there is no diaper on him. Apparently he had worn his diaper for so long and it had gotten so heavy that it slid off of him. That poor poor third child can really get overlooked.

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