JAK CHAT

Putting Thoughts Into (60 Second) Action                Just Add Kids welcomes Mollie Bartelt, a Caledonia mom, as JAK's guest blogger Do you want to make a difference in your life this summer? Or make a difference for a child who has a life threatening illness? Or win $1000 in a fun challenge? Game on! My story began six months ago, when my happy, healthy nine year old daughter came in from outside playing in the snow feeling dizzy. We became alarmed when she couldn’t stand up after resting a bit...her legs were wobbly and criss-crossing and she appeared to have no balance. A few short hours later in the emergency room, the situation looked worse as she was starting to slur her speech and not even be able to get words out correctly... and she couldn’t get her hands to work to put a snack in her mouth. Read more... The hospital ER staff then sent us up to Children’s Hospital where Hannah stayed for nearly a week, undergoing tests and having therapy. While all the tests were negativ...

...Clothing: Corduroys and Boys                                   I’ll just start out and say it...not a good match! After having 3 girls in a row, I’ve had a lot of experience with the girly wardrobes.  My two oldest daughters are 22 months apart, so you know #2 got all of #1’s hand me downs.  With the exception of being  the projectile vomiter and having the normal diaper blowouts in her baby years, #1 did very little damage to her clothes.  Damage to mom’s and dad’s clothes absolutely!  It was as if a target was on us, with regurgitated or digested breast milk and rice cereal as the ammo.  Read more...   But that was pretty much it.  Her clothes were quite impeccable, which interestingly, has carried over into her teenage years.  Poor  #2, rarely ever had her own original clothes.  That, however, has changed, now that she is a teenager.  There is a distinct difference in the fashion tastes of daughters #1 and #2, now 16 and 14. So where does daughter number #3, next in line, fall?  ...

7 yrs pt 2 by JAK's guest mom blogger from Caledonia, Beth Gilmore Today is your opportunity to be courageous and choose the priorities in life that are most important to you.  Today is your chance to take the things that are most important that have been coming in last and put them first. In order to do this, you have to first be able to view your life with your eyes wide open.  It was because of a fluke that that a bright, revealing light was shone on my life.  I was forced to stay home for an entire week last month.  I was told by doctors to cancel all appointments and stay “quarantined” until the results of my TB test came back.  I had been exposed a few months prior and had just gotten the news.  Read more... Stuck at home, I worked with my daughter Anna on her school assignments morning and night.  Usually, she was on her own with her work.  I would give her some guidance and check it once I got home from my job, but all in all, it was her responsibility to get it done.  My a...

Or So I Wish It Were I suppose it depends on the day, the hour, the weather, the circumstances....It's pretty unpredictable. Sunday marks yet another one of my kid's birthdays.  Not that every birthday isn't special, it absolutely is, yet this milestone is my oldest daughter's "Sweet 16" birthday. Just like a lot of moms and their teenage daughters, our relationship is a bit strained.  All I want to do is, especially in light of her birthday, is to create a special, happy memory. So I threw a couple of "surprise party" ideas past my husband asking him what he thought she would like to do, on top of the standard big family party (including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and a few other VIPs considered family). You never know, as he answered, "Honey, you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't"  You see, on top of the challenged relationship, my daughter suffers from clinical depression and January is a real beast ...

Yes Victoria, There is a Santa Clause One would think that with having two teenage girls who have worked through the ranks of the "tween" years, that I'd be exceptionally prepared for just about anything my 8 year old daughter might throw my way.  Yah, right! I just finished the gihugic project of sorting through the clothes of all four of my kids. Discard.  Carry over.  Donate.  Those were the 3 major stacks that consumed my life for way too long.  I'd be embarrassed to share with you how long this process took. There's about a six year gap between daughter #2 of 3 and daughter #3 of 3.  So all of those cute bib overalls....bye bye.  (I finally got rid of my own beloved bib overalls last year.  Love 'em!  Waiting for that comeback!) Among one of the few things I am storing for my 8 year old's future use is all of the training bras we have. As I start loading the 11/12 year old stuff into a rubber storage tote, darling 8 year old grabs them....

Insurance Hikes Maybe the holidays, coupled with two of my childrens' December birthdays is making me a bit more melancholy these days.  Depression really hasn't set in (I am quite happy, thank you!), just reflecting on the gift of ordinary days in the life of this aging parent.  So yeah, if you read last week's JAK Happenings , I shared with you my thoughts on my "baby" turning seven.  This weekend we'll celebrate child #2's fourteenth birthday. Happy Birthday to my gorgeous, talented, brainiac daughter. Another milestone we're experiencing in our household is Read more. our oldest daughter's new adventure in learning how to drive a car. Yup, she's got her temps.  It seems like just yesterday I was pushing her around in the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe .  Now, she is grabbing at the car keys and every opportunity to hop into the driver's seat.  Though she lacks in experience, she is quite skilled.  Still, my feet make it up to the...