Friday, January 29, 2010

Milestones

Since this is sort of my online baby book, I thought I'd keep a post on milestones, and update the post as needed. So, since Elliana took her first (well, first-sixth) step(s) yesterday, 1/28/10, I thought I should get started on that post. :)

Elliana:
First rolled over: 6/27/09
First sat up unassisted: 8/14/09
First solid food: 8/7/09
First crawled: 10/14/09
First steps: 1/28/09

Sunday, January 24, 2010

potty trained

Noah's officially potty-trained. YAY! Waaaay easier than I thought it would be.

I can hardly believe that E will be 11 months tomorrow. She definitely reminds me how big she is everyday. She's been cruising along the furniture, and walking while holding my hand. Can she really be old enough to start walk?!?! Here's a cute video I took this morning:



Check out Noah at around the same age

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

silly girl

This is how I found Elliana after her nap today:

When I put her down for her nap she was wearing a long sleeved shirt...not sure how she got it like this. :)

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Voting still open

Click here: http://www.voteforsma.com/ vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation in the Chase $1,000,000 giveaway.

If you don't know what this is about, read my post here.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Noah's room

**Update**

Ok, so I do like the firetrucks...but a friend made a good point, he may grow out of fire trucks before he'll grow out of the beach. He loooooves the beach...that's something that he'll love for a long time...I think I'll look for something that I like in beach/surf theme. Here's one I came across:Original Post:

Since we'll be moving next month, I've been trying to figure out how I want to do Noah's new room. At our current house, his bedroom is nothing special...in fact, it's our guestroom turned Noah's room, complete with a queen bed. :) I knew (hoped) that we'd be moving and didn't want to create a room for him without knowing what his new room would be like. Well, now I know and now I need to decide what I'm going to do. I don't want to do something overly "theme-y" but I do think it'll be fun to have some theme. Firetrucks? Surf/ocean? Construction? I think I'm leaning fire truck. I found this quilt set that I like:






What do you think?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Top 5!!

**If you haven't read my previous post about voting for the Chase $1,000,000 giveaway, read that one first**

The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is in the top 5!!! While that is incredible news, the $1,000,000 only goes to the non-profit organization in spot #1. Please continue to vote (if you haven't already), email your friends, post to Facebook, Twitter (Tweet? I'm still learning that lingo), pass on to your coworkers and family members. Every single vote counts - this is one step closer to getting rid of SMA! If you have a blog, post now!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Vote for The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation

I recieved this e-mail yesterday and wanted to share it with all of you. PLEASE take the time to read it, and follow the instructions that follow.

Hello Friends and Family,
My daughter's best friend, Gwendolyn Strong, is the same age as Reese, and has a terminal illness called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Children with SMA lack a protein in their DNA that keeps the motor neurons thriving: Gwendolyn's body is completely paralyzed, she breathes from a machine, and eats from a tube. Her mind, however, is completely normal and is actually a quite spunky little gal. She loves to play with Reese and has an affinity for princess items :) Reserachers at UC Irvine are really REALLY close to a cure for SMA, but they need funding to push it towards FDA approval. It is so exciting (yet frustrating) to know how close it is! JP Morgan Chase Bank has committed to donating $5 million dollars to non-profit organizations, $1 million of which was already distributed in December. Through a Facebook voting system, the top 100 non-profits were awarded $25,000 in cash. The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation was one of these winners (yippeee!), and 100% of the funds were sent directly to UC Irvine's SMA research team. Next up is the final round of voting for the BIG prize: $1,000,000. One million!! This voting is all done through Facebook, and it starts tomorrow: Friday, January 15th, 2010.This video sums it up: Gwendolyn Strong Video Imagine this: $1,000,000 towards SMA research could actually end this disease. Not "get the ball rolling" on research, not "hope for a cure," but actually end it. And, most importantly in my eyes, it could save Gwendolyn's life. The research that is sooooo close to FDA approval is one that could affect babies who already have SMA (like Gwendolyn), and could completely remove them from symptoms. Can you imagine Gwendolyn running into our playgroup and giving the kids high-fives and hugs without a breathing machine? I CAN!!!!!!!

Here are some facts:

  • Dr. Kierstad (UC Irvine) has dedicated his life to spinal cord injuries. He has already successfully performed a lab experiment on mice that allowed the previously-paralyzed animals to literally get up and walk. He is now focusing on SMA research, which is closely related to spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophies, ALS/Lou Gehrig's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. It is his belief that a groundbreaking surgery (so close to FDA approval!) could allow the body to re-build the proteins that are missing in children with SMA. That means Gwendolyn has the potential to be symptom free! Forever!

  • Money is holding back a cure. Other diseases, such as breast cancer and AIDS, have massive amounts of funding and reserach behind them, but "cures" are still unknown. The "cure" for SMA is just around the corner, but nothing can be done until the funds are there to continue the research.

  • SMA is the #1 genetic killer of children under two years of age, and 1 in 40 adults (unknowingly) carry the gene to pass it on.I really dislike forwards and spam emails, but I am going to send out an email, Facebook posting, and blog entry EVERY single day while the voting is open (Jan 15 - Jan 22). It's really simple, just three easy steps (I'll list them in tomorrow's email once the voting is open). In turn, I ask that you do the same...post it on your Facebook accounts (or heck, create a FB account if you don't have one already!), your blogs, your email contacts, etc. This is an effort sheerly driven by people voting: the GSF needs every single vote it can get. Reese wakes up each morning and asks to play with Gwendolyn. She loves to hold her hand and help wipe her mouth when it is wet. I'm looking forward to explaining to Reese why Gwendolyn doesn't have to wear a breathing machine anymore ("she's cured!") instead of giving her the opposite devistating news. So, please, please, please, PLEASE vote and spread the word to every person you know. Don't ignore me...I'll be stalking you all week :)

With love,
The Paskins (plus Gwendolyn)...and Happy New Year!

Here are the voting instructions:

If you're already a member of Facebook:
1) Click Here (you might need to log in if you've not already)
2) Click on "Vote for Charity"That's it! It'll give you the option of posting on your status that you voted (do it!! with a message to your friends!!). How easy is that?!

If you're not a member of Facebook yet:
1) Click Here and sign up for a (free) account. Even my mom has one!
2) Click on "Vote for Charity"A box will appear that allows you to show your friends that you have voted. Even if you don't have any friends (yet), follow the instructions so your future friends will know!It's so easy, it's so quick, and it's so important. And remember, I will stalk you until you vote :) And pass it on to everyone you know!

From Jodie:

Sarah and her husband, Mike, have joined Gwendolyn's family in their fight to find a cure for this terrible disease. Once you watch the video, visit Gwendolyn's blog, and get to know her a bit, there's no doubt you'll want to help too. Your vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation can help get this family, and several others, one step closer to seeing their daughter/child cured! How incredible would that be?

I can't wait to post an update when Gwendolyn is cured!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A few "mommy" sites

I always love finding good websites that have special savings, coupons or just really great deals. I have a few that I like, so I thought I'd share. If you have any that you like, please leave a comment and share them with me!

Mamabargains:

Baby Steals:


Kid Steals:


Baby Half Off:


Money Saving Mom:


Mommy Saves Big:


Ebates:
www.ebates.com If you don't already use ebates for your online shopping, YOU SHOULD! Go and sign up (free membership) you'll even get $5 just for signing up (and if you say that I referred you we BOTH get the $5) Ebates is great...you get an extra % off your purchases just from using ebates...if you want more info, let me know!
Happy saving!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas cuties

My handsome Christmas boy:
My sweet Christmas girl:Just couldn't resist:
Together with their Christmas jammies:

Noah and Elliana love each other so much. I just love how they love to snuggle: