Written By Mama

Archive for January, 2012

Lately I have been thinking of transferring my blog to my own domain. The more I think of it, the more I like it.
One problem, I don’t know the first thing about designing my own webpage. I am also worried about losing my old posts and losing all my subscribers.

I enjoy WordPress and they have worked great for starting out, but I am ready to spread my wings (lol).

I have done some research on how to transfer blogs but I am still not seeing the answer I want. It seems easy enough to choose your domain name (which I have) and pay for it (great prices when you search around).

Hm…just a few thoughts I’m having and wanted to ask all my followers your opinion.
Feel free to add your thoughts and opinions! You, my readers, have the loudest voice.

We finally went for a walk down Private Drive, where everyone kept telling us the castle is.

And, we found it!

This was the best picture I could get, but you can tell how big it is.

There is also a nice little creek that runs from our house down past the “castle”.

I have decided I am going to “friend” them so I can also see the inside of their house (LOL).

As most of you know, we are a military family and have military health insurance. We are seen on the Army base next to our home. There are doctors that are troops in the Army and doctors that are not in the Army. When you are given health insurance from the military, they give you a clinic and a doctor to see. Well, if you have to see the doctor on short notice, you may not get the chance to see your given doctor because he/she may be full that day. So you don’t always see the same doctor as if you were to pick a clinic off the military base that has less patients.

Today, we took Little Man to the doctors because he has had a gnarly cough and super runny nose for 3 days.
With Hubby having strep-throat and me having tonsilitis, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t catching some awful combination of the two.

After staying up all night with him, spending 10 minutes to find parking, parking where there are no parking lines (which I didn’t care if I got a ticket at that point or not), having them make me wait to check in and having to chase Little Man all over the pediatric clinic we finally got called back.

We saw the nurse, she weighed him, took him temp & got his height.
Then we waited another 15 minutes before the doctor could see us.

Finally, the doctor walked in and gave Little Man a quick once over. She pointed out his excema and asked why we were there. I told her why, which she should already know since I have to give a reason to be seen when making the doctors appointment.
ANYWAYS, she heard him cough, looked at his nose and listened to his breathing.

The next part I am typing is what she said exactly. What she said is in bold lettering, what I said is not bold.
When she was finished giving up another look over,

“Did the other doctor tell you that excema is an allergic reaction to something”
“uh-uh”
“Really? Well, yes it is. And his cough is nothing more than part of his allergy.”
“So, is it a food allergy or what?”
“Oh, it could be a number of things he’s allergic to. The weather, an animal or food. Try giving him Benadryl and using Saline Solution. If the Benadryl doesn’t make a difference then don’t worry about using it. But give him some Tylenol. Think of it like this, if you were feeling crappy, you would take Tylenol or something, right? But, don’t give it to him if he’s running around and acting fine.”
“Okay…..?”

Then, she gets up and says have a good day and leaves.

My poor baby has been coughing so hard it’s making him throw up. He didn’t eat any dinner and went to bed at 6:30-by himself!!!
Little Man is 16 months old, I don’t know any 16 month old children that walk themselves to their room and lay down in bed.
So, I guess we will see what happens tomorrow. I am a little frustrated with her short-manner.
And to top it off, I caught his cough last night staying up with his “allergy”. Maybe I should go to the doctors, get “diagnosed” and then I will know what’s wrong with Little Man.

Dad and I have talked about taking switching Little Man’s health insurance so he can see an off post provider. He will still have health insurance through the Army, but it will be a different kind. We will have to pay co-pays, but if the doctor can fix my child the first time he is seen, then it won’t be a big deal.
This is also not the first time I have dealt with an issue like this through this clinic. Nor the first time I have had to switch his pediatrician.
I am between a rock and a hard spot right now, but mostly angry that they don’t care enough to give my family the time we deserve.
Has anyone dealt with anything similar? Weather it’s through the Military or a different health insurance company.

I will allow comments on this poll as long as they don’t get out of hand.
This is a pretty controversial topic and I don’t want any hurt feelings or negative words to anyone.
Remember every child learns differently, which means they also discipline different.
As long as the flat hand on a bottom doesn’t turn into a closed fist to the face, it has been proven to be an effective form of discipline.

Now, VOTE!!!

Today I received my Panda Express Chinese New Year package!

The kit is used to educate children on The Chinese New Year. My kit contained several activity sheets, a learning disc and about 50 bookmarks. On the back of the bookmarks there are coupons to Panda Express.
Buy any 2 entree plates and get a kids meal FREE!

I want to give away many of these as they expire March 31st and we will be unable to eat at Panda Express 50 times by March 31st.
If you are interested in 1 (or more!) of these Chinese New Year bookmarks please email me at [email protected] leave your COMPLETE NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS and I will get them in the mail within 2 days of receiving your info.

Thanks!

Dad and I decided to take Little Man to Zoomerang (formerly known as Wazoos).
When we took Little Man to the doctors last week for a rash (diagnosed as excema) the doctor went on to tell us how advanced she thinks he is. She said she felt he would do very well with the 2 year old group at a tumbling class or something.

So, that’s when we decided to take him to Zoomerang for the day.
Zoomerang is an inflatable center for children ages 10 and under.

When you first walk in you see HUGE inflatables everywhere! There were at least 5 large inflatables in the main play area and then off to the side was another medium sized one.

The prices are VERY fair. Children 18 months and up are only $8.25 for all day play (come and go as you please!). Parents and children under 18 months are free. So, with Little Man being only 16 months, our first trip was free!

Going in to the play area made me nervous as the children seemed so big compared to little man. I didn’t want them to hurt him.
Then, the light I was looking for; a “toddler room” only children 3 years and under are allowed in this room.

The room consisted of childproof gates and latches, a crab themed bounce house, a play house, large soft blocks, a changing table and more toys!

After playing for about 30 minutes in the Toddler Room, dad got bored and decided to take little man to the main play area.

We have a trampoline for little man, and he loves loves bouncing on it, so I knew he would love the bounce houses.

I was wrong though, he was more interested in just running around the room. Dad helped him into every bounce house and little man would climb out and go running. So dad took him to the mega slide. This slide was the height of the building and has 2 slides large enough to lay me sideways and slide down comfortably. I think it was supposed to be a shark.

His first time down he went with his Uncle.

Then, he slid down by himself! His look was priceless, but we were unable to capture it on camera

Little Man then went back to play in the toddler room for a while.
He played house, took a ride on a magical swan, went fishing in a red canoe and made new friends!

Not only did Little Man have a good time but dad and I had a blast too!
We will definitely be going again. I do encourage everyone with children in the Central Texas area to take your child to Zoomerang. Even if I had to pay the $8.25, it would have been worth it, because the nap that followed was priceless!

4006 E Stan Schlueter Loop  Killeen, TX 76541

http://www.zoomerangplay.com/

Print this coupon for $3 off and you can score Planet 51 (our favorite children’s movie) for $1.75 at Target.
If you don’t have a Target near-by you can go to Walmart. Planet 51 should be in the $5 movie section, making it only $2!!!

You can also use the coupon for Open Season or Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (another favorite)
This coupon is free, but please print responsibly.
Please remember, IT IS ILLEGAL TO MAKE PHOTOCOPIES OF COUPONS!

http://www.sonywonder.com/parents/partners.php

Ah, the time of year everyone is anxiously waiting for. Tax season.

Every year-mid January, I sit down and look over bank statements and receipts from the following holiday season (from October to New Years) and every year I thank my lucky stars that it’s tax season.

The average American family spends between $700 and $900 on Christmas ALONE!

This year, we are having Jackson Hewitt do our taxes for us.
Mostly, the commercial they have made up my mind for me.

Oh man, makes me laugh every time!

The other reason we chose Jackson Hewitt, is because they will check to see what your ESTIMATED refund will be, for FREE!
That’s right, and no appointment needed! You can walk in whenever it’s most convenient for you.
Most locations are open 9am to 9pm. So even if you work till 5pm, you can go home, eat, shower, gather all your tax info and still make it there before they close. Your Jackson Hewitt tax pro can also provide you with information about the various products and services available this year.

Jackson Hewitt also offers an “at home” option. File in the privacy of your own home while using your own computer.

Free Accuracy Guarantee – it’s our Basic Guarantee

To see other perks Jackson Hewitt has this year, including free apps for your phone; please visit http://www.jacksonhewitt.com/

Here’s one more for the road.

If you are interested in getting a pair of FREE earrings, head over to Five Dollar Jewelry Sale on FB.
“LIKE” their fan page, and send them an email with your NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS.

http://www.facebook.com/fivedollarjewelrysale?sk=app_167969729896883

Ocean Spray Fruit Flavored Snacks are made with real fruit juice (very important when choosing a snack for Little Man). Colors & flavors come from natural sources. One pouch contains 100% of your daily Vitamin C and there are only 80 calories per pouch. Great for mom & dad too!

Here, is what I received;
1 box of Cherries & Berries flavored snacks
1 box of Assorted Fruit flavored snacks (flavors include strawberry, grape, cherry & mixed berry)
10 coupons for $1.10 off when you buy two (2) boxes of Ocean Spray’s New Fruit Flavored Snacks
And a nice letter from Pssst…explaining about the package.

The first thing I noticed was each box has 2 box tops. That’s right, 2 box tops per box!

The next thing I noticed, and I was VERY surprised and stoked to see; there are 10 pouches (Yes, you read that right, ten pouches!) of individual snacks. I have seen 4, 6 and 8 packages per box, but NEVER 10.

Then, I decided it was time for my son & I to try them. The hard part was picking which flavor to try.
I chose Berries & Cherries and Little Man decided to try Assorted Fruit.

My first thought was how sweet they are. Then I realized how juicy they are! They aren’t dry like most ‘off-brand’ snacks. Before I knew it, my pouch was empty.

Overall, I am very satisfied with Ocean Spray’s New Fruit Flavored Snacks. I have recently seen them around stores. Prices are the same as store brand snacks and most stores I have seen come with coupons stuck on each box!

I do have some coupons left that I received in my package. If you are interested in trying them out, send me your mailing address at [email protected]

I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above. The product or service was given to me for review purposes only. I was not required to write a positive or negative review on that product or service. All opinions are 100% my own unless otherwise stated. Regardless, I only recommend products and services I personally use and think others would benefit from.