The next October Birthday-Malia turns 11

Does this mean I'm getting old?

My oldest child is now 11. Yikes. One more "first day of school" in the Elementary years.

One more year of Primary before she heads off to Young Women's.

One more year until she gets her ears pierced. She's really counting down to that one.

It seems like just yesterday this sweet girl who made me a mother made her entrance into this world. I couldn't have asked for a better oldest child. It is such a blessing to have such a caring and responsible child leading the pack.

It's bittersweet to see my kids growing so fast. So many fun things as they get older, but so many crazy things coming down the chute. Only five more years until she's old enough to drive and date. Do you have any idea how fast the past five years have gone?! And I swear every successive year goes faster.

It's a good thing she's a good kid-at least she's not giving me gray hair.

Yet.

Let's hope that's a LONG way off!

October Freebie #2

Does everyone know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month? I sure hope so! If you've missed the pink everywhere, start looking for it. You'll be amazed at how much is out there!

And speaking of pink, remember that other package I said I got this week? I opened it up, and it was pink! This week's giveaway sponsor is so awesome that they generously sent me one of their products in addition to the one you get to win!

(no, that's not me, I forgot to have the hubs take a picture for me!)

What is this wonderful thing?

Blush.

No, I'm not blushing, I'm talking about Blush, the topless undershirt!

Never heard of Blush? You are seriously missing out.

I first ran into Blush at a Baby Expo when I was expecting my youngest. I had seen a product like Blush's topless undershirt (under a different name and at an astronomically higher price), and thought "well, hey-let's try it!"

Love. And convenience and all things wonderful! When I bought my first Blush, I wasn't showing yet, but it was the perfect fix to those shirts that are just a tad bit too short. You know, the ones that fit just right until you reach for something? Yah.

Then it was the perfect transition when I was in those in-between days where I needed to undo the button on my jeans, but maternity pants were still way too huge.

And it carried me all the way through the end of my pregnancy

It was a godsend in the postpartum days. Especially when nursing so my extra flab didn't pop out for public view those first few weeks. (hallelujah for that!)

Now, it is a staple in my wardrobe.

And it can be a staple in yours!

To enter the giveaway for a Blush Topless Undershirt in your size choice, go to the Blush website, then come back here and comment on your favorite.

I'm loving these funky patterns:

And if you just can't wait to see if you win before adding one to your wardrobe, Blush is generously offerin you, my lovely dear wonderful readers, 20% off any purchase of two or more undershirts! Just enter the code welovebloggers at checkout for the discount.

For extra entries:

-Blog about the giveaway

-Tweet it

-FB it

-Become a follower of Random Thoughts from the zoo, or let me know that you already are

-And any purchase from Blush this week earns you two more entries!

Please make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry!

Giveaway closes Thursday Oct 15th at midnight Mountain Time. Winner will be chosen using random.org and announced next Friday Oct 16th, when the next giveaway will be posted.

Wanderlust Bling Winner!

Wow what a great response this week! Thanks to every one for entering, and be sure to stay tuned for every Friday Freebie this month! Some great things are in the works, including multiple packages that will be given away on the last Friday of the month!

And now, I'll not put it off any longer......

The winner of the Wanderlust Bling giveaway is:

Katy and Wes said...

I loved all the earings. My favorite ones where probably little red

OCTOBER 2, 2009 1:01 PM

Congrats Katy!

Original Air Date: 10/8/98

Do you have any idea what you were doing on that date? 11 years ago today?

I do.

My husband was working. He was selling cars at the time. Great money, crappy environment, awful hours.

I was very pregnant. Sitting home alone. Watching "must see tv".

Friends to be exact.

The one where Phoebe has the triplets.

It's a funny episode. We actually watched it again last night. I laughed at a lot of it.

I'd forgotten that her dr was obsessed with Fonzi. That was funny. I'd forgotten that Chandler was a girl. That was funny too.

Eleven years ago when I watched it the first time it aired, I was officially overdue with my first child.

I didn't laugh at all. I cried my eyes out through the entire half hour. While I sat home alone. Kind of bummed to be alone with hubby working, but kind of grateful that he wasn't there watching me have an emotional melt down.

I was so bugged that Phoebe got to deliver her babies and mine was stuck inside me with no sign of coming out anytime soon.

Last night I laughed. It was much more enjoyable that the first time I watched it.

But then I teared up too. Ironically because this time when I watched it remembering how anxious I was to have my first baby, I find myself wishing there were another baby in there.

Hmm.

Talk about a turn of events.

I guess that whole motherhood journey never makes much sense, does it?

It's the little moments that make a woman proud

Proud of her husband.

Or maybe it's just gratitude that he's willing to embarrass himself enough that no one ever expects me to embarrass myself.

Case in point; The things that happen in the middle of nowhere on a Friday night. And yes, that is the front porch.

(not ours though-our front porch still has it's dignity)

But hey, at least he has the suit going for him.

I will not grow old and complain that my life was boring.

(also, I feel inclined to add that none of us drink. No alcohol was involved in the making of this film. Can you imagine what we'd be like if we did? ha!)

What's more fun that a Saturday night spent at Urgent Care?

A Tuesday night spent in the ER.

Oh wait....that wasn't more fun. In fact it was less fun. Way less fun.

Sadly, the wonder supplement didn't work the way we'd hoped (though I'll certainly try it again to see how it does). Charli's fever kept spiking, and though Motrin and tepid baths would bring it down, it was taking nearly 2 hours for it to come down, and as soon as the Motrin wore off it shot right back up.

It's slightly unnerving to have your child awake from a nap burning hot. Unnaturally hot. You take her temperature and the thermometer just beeps repeatedly and flashes "HI" at you.

Well, hello to you to but tell me how hot she is thanks!

After three tries, I finally got a reading. Of 107.4. Well, heck, certainly that couldn't be right, so I tried again. And again. And again. And again. The lowest reading I could get was 106.6.

Strip down, into a cool bath, call to the dr to see if we have any lab results back yet.

Turns out the lab screwed up and cancelled the swab (what the heck?!).

The dr is starting to get worried, but with my strep history (and the fact that my throat is starting to bug me), he wanted to start her on antibiotics asap, figuring we can reswab here if necessary in a day or two.

Our biggest worry was of course the sky rocketing temps. And the fact that it's taking 2hrs to bring them down.

By 6 o'clock last night she seemed to be doing ok. I took off to run some errands, and the kids all stayed home with dad.

I ventured into Hobby Lobby for the first time and attempted to not spend the kids' college funds.

The good news is that I didn't get the chance to.

The bad news is that a panicked husband calling to say "she's getting stiff, I talked to the dr and I'm taking her to the ER", really sucks.

My husband has been hospitalized with meningitis before. Twice. So anything remotely resembling that possibility kind of freaks him out.

Long story slightly less long, after shuffling kids, fetching my parents to drive nearly an hour to our house to stay with kids while Aaron rushes the baby to the Children's hospital nearly an hour from our house (ironically only about 10 minutes from my parents house), I took off to meet them at the hospital.

Turns out my baby girl has "a RAGING uti". Well now, doesn't that sound fun? Poor kid.

Thankfully they were able to nail it down, and hopefully the meds we were given will take care of it. With any luck the follow ups will reveal that it's taken care of, and that we don't have to worry about her kidneys.

Though she is still miserable as can be, her temperature hasn't gone above 102 for the past 24hrs, so hopefully that means the meds are kicking in.

And with any luck, we won't be seeing this sad face again for quite a long time.

(am I the meanest mom in the world for taking a picture of this?)

Hey Mr Postman

Packages.

Love getting them!

Who doesn't though?

I came home yesterday to find not one, but two packages in the mail box. For me!

Woo-hoo packages!

First-remember that I mentioned I ordered from Wanderlust Bling again?

Who wouldn't love to receive this?!

Oh happy day. I needed a lift today after spending all morning in a doctor's office. Again.

Remember to enter the giveaway HERE and you might be so lucky to receive a beautiful package like this too. Or you could just go buy yourself something beautiful to arrive in a beautiful package! Do both! : )

The other package.....I'll tell you about that on Friday. Because it happens to coincide with the next Friday Freebie. How's that for keepin' you hanging?