100th Post - Win A $25 Macy's Gift Card

100 posts.  I wish I could say they were 100 fun filled posts, but I can't.

So much has happened since I started this blog.

Instead of making this a sad recap of what this blog is about, I figured I'd give 15 things about me, and a giveaway.

1. I was born and raised in Illinois.  We moved to Vegas when I was 16 because of my sister's asthma.  I wasn't happy at the time, but I know now it was the best for all of us.
2. My dad died when I was 14.  I was devastated for a long time.  Now going through all that at such a young age has helped me help my kids.  I know what they are going through.  What they need.  What will help them the most.
3. I met Tin Man when I was 17.  I knew when I met him that I was going to marry him.  We married when I was 18.  So many people tried to talk us out of it because I was so young.  I knew this was for us.  We celebrated 14 years together this past January.  We were planning a vow renewal ceremony for our 15th anniversary.  
4. I was 19 when Warrior was born.  My pregnancy with him was great up until 37 weeks when he stopped moving.  Thanks to that one stubborn moment, The next 3 weeks were pure hell.  Filled with many doctors appointments, ultrasounds, and in the end, being induced, 48 hours of labor and an emergency csection.  Topped off with him being in distress, heart rate dropping to 60 then skyrocketing to 250+ and him aspirating on meconium. 
5. When Warrior was a baby, we lived in Oregon for 2 years.  Issues with my lovely mother in law made us want to get as far from her as possible.  My mom lived up there and got me a job where she worked.  I hated living there.  It rained 7 months out of the year, and I was just miserable the entire time. After 2 years we decided to move back to Southern California.
6. Sugar Pea was born 3 weeks after I turned 23.  I wanted to try a VBAC, but my body, more like my uterus, had other plans.  After 36 hours of labor (10 hours of strong labor), my uterus ruptured so I was rushed into another csection.
7. Warrior was one of those kids that can make a mom scared to have other children.  He constantly had to find out why mom said no.  He constantly stuck things in every opening.  Styrofoam and erasers in his ears.  Cereal up his nose.  And he ate anything he could get his hands on.  I was constantly having to check to make sure what went in came back out.  Oh and then there was the 6 different times to the ER because he ate things he found on the ground outside.  He has always kept me on my toes.  
8. Sugar Pea was the complete opposite.  I just had to tell her no one time and that was it she never did it again.  However she was my daredevil.  She constantly tried to climb things.  Only once, but the next time she'd find something else.  Living in earthquake country, I had everything bolted to the walls.  Little did I know, she'd be the real reason they had to be bolted to the wall.
9. I cried when Warrior started school.  His first day of Kindergarten was hard on me.  He walked in, told the teacher what his full name was, and that he was ready to learn how to read.  After the first week of the school, he wanted to quit because the teacher was teaching him shapes, colors, numbers, and letters.  He knew all that already, so wanted to move onto college because they might teach him to read.
10. Sugar Pea's Kindergarten year was a nightmare because she didn't talk very loud and she had a speech problem.  The speech teacher treated me like I was the world's stupidest mom and didn't know how to take care of my own child.  I still resent that man and the way he treated me and my baby.
11. We moved a week before school started when Warrior was in 5th grade and Sugar Pea 1st grade.  It was the best move for us.  Tin Man had a much less stressful job.  School here is 1000 times better than the school they were at, and at the time we didn't know it, but we were much closer to Stanford.  It took a year before that reason was known.
12. The school the kids went to is a parent participation school.  Meaning the parents are required to put in 4 hours a week per child.  At first I wasn't sure I was going to like this, but I love being in the classroom.  You get to know the kids better, not to mention the teacher.  I also love knowing what they are doing in class and not just what's going on with the homework.
13. Sugar Pea was diagnosed in 1st grade with an Auditory Processing Disorder (APD).  Last year, the end of 4th grade, she was also diagnosed with a Visual Processing Disorder (VPD).  I'm still learning ways to help her, but I can give advice to other parents.  If you think there is something going on with your kid, push it.  Push to have them tested.
14. I have had many people tell me I was to honest with my kids about what was going on with Tin Man.  They always told me "less is more."  This is one thing I learned not to do from going through my dad's cancer and death.  We weren't told what was going on.  We over heard adults talking and that's how we found out he had cancer.  We weren't told that doctors told my mom and dad, that there wasn't anything they could do for him.  That the chemo would only give him a few extra months.   I didn't want to put my kids through that.  I was honest with them from day 1 about what was going on with Tin Man.  Even with everything that happened the day he passed away, I made sure my kids knew and didn't have any lingering questions that might haunt them.
15. Congenital Heart Defects have been a part of my life since I met Tin Man.  I didn't know anything about them until then.  Over the last 3 years they've become a big part of my life along with organ donation.  Tin Man and I had plans for after his transplant.  Things we wanted to do.  Not just fun things, but serious things, having to do with awareness.  Now that Tin Man is gone, I will do what I can to make our plans a reality.

There you have it.  15 things about our family.

 To celebrate my 100th post, I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Macy's.

a Rafflecopter giveaway