Snap-EZ/Snap-EZ 4 Life Stocking and Sales!

We finally were able to do some restocking!

Today we restocked for Snap-EZ the 2T Cotton Trainers, 3T Nap-EZ Trainer in Solid Colors, and 3T AIO Trainers in Solid Colors!

We also have a lot of White/White for Snap-EZ 4 Life in Extra Large, Large and Medium Pocket Diapers (Regular and Low Rise)!

PLUS we are running a Fabulous February Sale!

Check out the Details using these links:

Snap-EZ Specials

Snap-EZ 4 Life What's New

And last, but not Least! We are discontinuing the Snap-EZ AIO Diapers, and they have all been moved to the DealZ Pages! They are marked down to under $15 ea! As low as $11 for small solid colors!!!!!

And don't forget, as always we offer Free Shipping for all orders over $125 - to anywhere in the world!!!!!

Sale ends 2/28 so hurry in to order to get best selection!

When you need a laugh!

Real quick - I had some really tough days lately, and on one of them, Daryl told me to check out Tim Hawkins on UTube - I love it! He's so funny!  Just do a search on You Tube for Tim Hawkins - be sure to watch "Things You Don't Say To Your Wife", "I Don't Drink Beer"

One warning I saw may be good to point out - don't watch these videos on a full stomach or a full bladder - you'll regret it!  LOL!!!

To get you started, here's a link to my absolute favorite one - A Homeschool Family

Man - I saw this one a while ago and forgot about it - What a HOOT!!!

Let me know what your favorite is!!

Have a great day!

Long Week - Phew!

Man, this was a long week - but I got a lot accomplished in spite of having a cold!

I finally got back to working - I put together over a dozen bins for our seamstresses (had to do a lot of cutting in order to do this as we didn't cut anything for a long time due to the impending CPSIA ruling that was delayed!).  I also got behind on emails while I caught up on production - so much so that I spent around 2 hours digging through nearly 400 emails -replying to at least 50 of them!  All that in about a week of trying to ignore most of the emails while still keeping urgent things replied to!

I wanted to relate a couple of unique things that happened this week.  Yesterday while waiting for Esther's physical therapy session, another lady waiting asked me if Esther was my first baby - to which I replied, "no, she's my 11th".  The lady was shocked of course, as most people are, but there was a man in the waiting room as well.  He didn't say anything at first, but looked a little surprised.  Then, when the lady left, he turned to me and said something like,"that's a really big number"  followed with a comment like "if everyone produced like that, our world would be in caos".  I said that not all people intend to have lots of children, and that it is quite out of the ordinary.  He then said that with population growing as it is, it would take 3 earths to support the current population and that our current trends will end up with total chaos.  I pointed out to him that the entire population of the USA could own a home on a nice sized lot and everyone could live in Texas and use the rest of the USA to product food for everyone in Texas.  He then countered with something about overpopulation in some small country in Africa and some island in the Caribbeans.  This man has obviously been reading some really liberal garbage and believing everything he reads.

I then said to him that I invest my life in raising my children to be productive, responsible adults that will make a difference in the world around them.  He then said that past 8 children, they would be substandard.  WHAT?  So, any child past 8 children in the home would automatically be stupid?  I couldn't believe he would even believe that, let alone say that to me!  I pointed out to him that if you studied people who have made great impact on our world for the better (like Mozart, Einstein, and those types of people), many of them are 6th or greater in their families!  I also pointed out to him that our 11th is just 3 yos and she counts, knows her colors, runs like the wind, can balance on anything and seems to be smarter and more athletic than any of our other children! So There!

He was quiet for a while, and then said something that I don't remember, and then I got my last comment in before his wife came out - I pointed out to him that having a few or many children is not the point, it's how you raise them that is the important matter.  I know many families who have only two children, yet the children are complete detriments to our society - drug addiction, violence, alcoholism, laziness, lack of morality etc...families where the parents are so self centered as to think that children are a burden and the sooner they are out of the house the better.

Godly parenting is the most important this we can do in this life - our children can do far more to impact our world than we can do alone.  If each godly married couple invested their lives in parenting 4 or more children in the course of their lifetime, in less than 30 years, I believe we'd have a majority of godly people in the USA and that would translate to a moral majority in politics as well!

Vision, people.... it's all about the future.  Looking beyond today to what our children can accomplish to impact their world.

I know that now all married couples are blessed with children, or 4 or more children.  But God is not limited to creating godly families biologically is he?  Personally we have not adopted any children as God has not called us to do this, but most of my dear friends have adopted children and brought those children into godly homes and are nurturing their bruised and broken spirits and seeing the fruits of their labors - what a mission is that!

So I challenge you today - are you doing all in your power to make our world better by parenting your children to glorify God and make a difference for him?  Are you letting God lead you in the area of children?  Is He calling you to have more children (biologically or adopted)?

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now.

Have a great weekend everyone - off to shepherd my flock!

4x4 Tag...I'm it! Updates and Good News!

OK, So Jennifer tagged me (Squacreek Ranch Blog )

So I went to my fourth folder and it happened to be my blog photo file!  Yeah!  And the fourth photo was Esther!  yeah!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Esther and her Butterfly Swing"][/caption]

This is so cool, as I was just looking back at photos earlier this week and praising God that Esther doesn't need the feeding tube anymore!  While it saved her life, it was such a distraction from her cutness!  It scared little children, and made adults squeemish!  This photo was taken just a few days before we got to take it out!

Here's a recent photo - taken at the biggest birthday party we ever put on!


Isn't it cute - they even match! Renee is my dear friend who inspired me to start this blog! Don't you just love the hair!  Esther has a very special signature hair doo - the mohawk is getting longer so we usually put it in a pony tail, but on this day we let it all hang out!  LOL!

Renee was also there for me the day Esther was born, and took that ohh soo sweet photo of Esther on that first day when photos were so hard to take in the semi darkness and through the oxygen tent!
So, back to the birthday party! We missed celebrating 5 birthdays (the youngest 5 above Esther) while Esther and I were in the hospital! Three were in September and two were in December. So we decided to celebrate them all at once - and boy did we ever! We invited entire families, and ended up with 6 parents and 28 kids coming! The kids were from 5 families - Renee brought her entire family (13 children and her husband too!) so that made up for more than half the attendees! I was so glad they all came - we had a wonderful time and it was so fun to have so many kids around! It was loud and crazy, but everyone had a blast! I learned not to get caught going down the stairs when the kids all think the treasure hunt is leading them upstairs! Talk about a fish going upstream! It takes a while for 37 kids to push their way up the stairs and around me!
So here's the head count for the party - Bergerons - 13 kids and 2 parents, Jardinskis - 1 parent, 4 1/2 kids (her baby is due very soon!), Doyles - 2 parents, 5 kids (including the most adorable 4 week old twin boys!), Andersons - 1 parent, 2 kids, Clarks - 2 kids. And, of course 9 of our kids (Jeremy's still in California, Jason was working) and Daryl was home, making a very full house at 43 bodies! It was the most fun/exciting/crowded when it came to opening the gifts, as everyone tried to cram into the livingroom:


And here's thos adorable twins I mentioned earlier!



These two boys have three older sisters - age 2, 3, and I think 10!  Their mom is a wonder - out and about with these little ones and their sisters already!  She's a pro, that's for sure!  God knew she could handle these little blessings!

What's funny, is that all that morning I just couldn't remember the mother's name!  I could remember their dad's name, but not the mom's!  Then us moms were all talking about mom stuff, and she mentioned how funny it was that recently she couldn't remember my name and had to ask her husband what my first name was - what a hoot, as we both have the same name!  Ruth!!!  LOL!! Is that funny or what!  I don't think either of us will forget eachother's names ever again!

Oh - and that beanbag chair that the twins are on?  I thought it was generally a one or two person seat - I was wrong - here's a photo of it seating 5 (I was told that it had held 6 earlier!)



They don't look like they're having fun - but all day those two were smiling, I just didn't catch it at this moment!  This photo was taken way after the party though - spontaneously we invited the Bergerons to stay for dinner.  They didn't have plans, so I sent Jessica to the store for more food, and we had a great dinner of EZ lazagna, garlic bread and corn - service for 27!  There was even some leftovers!

The weekend before last, we were able to go bowling with the Down Syndrom Outreach group!  It was great fun - pizza, pop, and bowling - a special treat for all the kids.  We met some incredible parents, and some special kids, and had a great time!  Here's Esther with daddy and Jessica that night:



(sorry Jessica - I know it's not the best photo of you, but it's so cute of Esther and Daddy I just had to post it!)

So, a quick update on all things!  I've got good news on all fronts!

Esther - had her 6 weeks post-op appointment and she passed with flying colors!  She doesn't have to have another cardiology appointment for 6 months!  Yeah! She does have an appointment next week for her thyroid check though, but I'm not worried about that one, it should be a quick visit.  Other than post-snow traffic being a mess on the way down, the day went smoothly.

Esther also started physical therapy two weeks ago and is progressing nicely!  She's doing much better at holding her head up, and she's discovered she has feet and loves to kick the ball that hangs from her play gym!

And best of all, as of 11 days ago, Esther has been home longer than she has been in the hospital!  yeah!

My sister, Lisa had her surgery this morning, and they removed two cysts and there was no malignancy!  So she is free of cancer!  Praise the Lord!!!!!

I actually got caught up on laundry late last week (well, some of it is only in the right room and not in the closets, but that's close enough for me at this point!).

And best of all, Jeremy will be coming home in less than 2 weeks!  Jessica will be flying down to visit my sister, Lisa, for a few days, and then Jeremy is going to drive up from 29 Palms to San Fransisco to pick up Jessica and they'll drive the rest of the way home together!  Jeremy is leaving his car here while he's away.  He's even given me permission to use it while he's gone (we are down to one car right now) - I don't mind as it's a 1996 Camaro Z 28!  That will be fun!

We are planning an open house for him while he's home - to celebrate his time at home, our new home, and Esther too!  So if any of you want to come and join in on the fun, bring a snack to share, and show up here sometime between 1 and 8 pm on Saturday, February 28!  Email me or post a comment if you need directions to our house!

Busy Times

It didn't take long for life to ramp up into overdrive around here!  Our weeks have been full of dentist appointments lately.  This coming week will be the first week in over 2 weeks that we don't have any dentist appointments - twice I double booked appointments now!  We'll have more dentist appointments starting in just over a week, and then on the 9th and 18th I'll be taking Esther down to Children's for follow-up appointments too!

We've also dug into school and are making good progress, finally.  It's so nice to have all the school age kids reading this year - last year was so difficult teaching 4 kids to read at different levels.  I still have all the school age kids reading everyday, but only one is still learning some phonics.  We're studying amphibians and reptiles for science, reading from the Mayflower Series for early American history - they are almost up to the Salem witch trials now,  Everyone has math, of course, and three of the bigger kids are doing Engish/Grammer together with Switched On School House and we have been studying the origins of the English language and spelling.  We are also working on penmanship - the oldest three are working on their cursive, and the younger ones on basic writing.

Esther is doing really well.  She's growing, slowly, but is growing.  She's gained around 9 ounces since she came home, which is 3 ounces a week - the cardiologist said that he wanted her to be gaining around 3 1/2 ounces a week.  Since she's doing this without a feeding tube, I'm happy with the progress.  She's been gaining faster the last week, but I've noticed that she does better with feeding (more volume throughout the course of the day) when we are home than when we go away for appointments, so I'm trying to delegate appointments more.

Esther is talking up a storm now - she was talking off and on before her surgery, and seemed to lose the skill after the surgery, but the last few days she's been talking like there's no tomorrow!  It's sooooo cute!  She has a very feminine voice that is soooo sweet!  She's smiling too, but not as much - it's harder to get smiles out of her - it's like she likes to talk more right now.

She's also starting to try to hold up her head now.  That was something she really lost after the surgery - but I've been working with her, so she's been gaining strength and now she's starting to try to hold up her head on her own - but she's like a bit bobble head doll right now.  But it's progress and she's progressing faster everyday now.
For those of you who love photos, here's some recent ones of Esther:

Here's a cute shot of Rachel cuddling with Esther this afternoon:

And here's Esther last Sunday, just before we left for church:

Here's our family (minus our oldest son, Jeremy) at Esther's dedication:

And here's Esther this morning, all dolled up for church:

And here's Rachel and Esther - Esther is wearing a new hat made by my friend, Laurie, who knitted this hat out of wool that she had purchased to make socks for herself, but after she read about Esther's problems with polyester and acrylic, and some prompting from her son, she made a hat for Esther instead - and she told me that with every stitch (and there is probably well over a thousand stitches) she said a prayer for Esther! Isn't that the most wonderful thing!

And here is the latest photo of her scar - taken just moments ago...doesn't it look marvelous!!

And last, but not least, we found out this week that our son, Jeremy, will be coming home on leave on February 21, and staying for 2 weeks. He'll be deploying to Iraq following his time at home. We are all very excited to have him coming home since we haven't seen him in well over a year now!

Esther's Dedication

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - my laptop is in for repairs, and I've had a very busy week.

I'm behind on everything it seems, but I'm making progress - paid some bills and went to lots of appointments (5 dentist appts in one morning, at two different dentist offices - I would never have scheduled it like that, but it worked out surprisingly well!).  I've been working on laundry, but have so much more to do!

Esther is doing well - still no feeding tube, and she's gained some weight - not as much as the doctor was hoping for, but close enought for her first entire week without a feeding tube.

The best news of the week is that we are going to be deicating Esther this Sunday - Sanctity of Life Sunday!  How special is that!  I was just checking to make sure I have my stats correct and it was - as quoted from Wikipediae "A 2002 literature review of elective abortion rates found that 91–93% of pregnancies in the United States with a diagnosis of Down syndrome were terminated." 

Isn't that sad!  So having Esther dedicated on Sancitiy of Life Sunday is just so special!  It is our pro-life statment!

Many you know that Sarah Palin (who ran for the vice presidency last year) has a baby with Down Syndrome - here's her statement about how she views her son, Trig - "Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."

In case you missed it, here's what I had to say about Esther and Down Syndrome in a post last month -

"We believe that God has created Esther exactly the way He wants her to be. The way we needed her to be.  She is a precious gift from God.  She is exactly what God saw as best for our family.  I wouldn’t have her any other way.  God is working in our family through her and her circumstances."

If you want to be there for this special event, it will be at Silverbeach Community Church in Bellingham, WA at the 10:30 service.  Show up early to ensure you get a seat as last week the second service was full and it was just an average Sunday!  There's refreshments served before the service from 9:45 - 10:20 also!

So pray that God will protect us from illness so that we can all be there together when Esther is dedicated to the Lord, and that her life will continue to touch many live for His Glory!

Quickly, so I can go to bed...

Just thought I'd let you know that Esther's first 24 hours without the feeding tube went great.  She even slept for 7 hours straight last night.  And, the greatest thing was that she gained weight!  So we are just finishing day 2 without the feeding tube, and she did better today that yesterday even!

I'm really tired tonight, so I'll have to keep it short - I was up early this morning to feed Esther (4 am) and couldn't get back to sleep, so I did some more investigating on the lead testing and found that our existing products can be sold without the testing that will be required when the Aug 10 deadline hits - I only need certification from the mills/manufacturers of the component parts.  That I am able to do, and already have several certificates already!  Yeah!

For my customers this means that for now our Snap-EZ line (including all those cute prints) will still be available for at least another 6 months or so.  I'm hoping they will come up with some exclusion for garments as fabrics are usually lead free (I've never heard of a fabric having lead, it's usually paints).

We are hoping to bring Esther to church tomorrow (but we aren't going to let anyone hold her yet, as this soon after surgery a cold could land her back in the hospital again), and I'm really lookng forward to going again as I've only been to church twice since the first of September!