Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Sign Up Please!!!

I thought you might be interested in taking a look at zulily, a fabulous new online store offering daily sales at up to 70% off on top-quality apparel, gear and other goodies for moms, babies and kids.  Membership is free.  I've become a huge fan of the site and think you will too.

http://www.zulily.com/invite/jkoukas985

Its been fun..

So I have had a pretty complicated past couple of weeks. First off Sara is full breech and big so the docs aren't sure she will turn, then I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes :/ I want to say i saw it coming, i have had a big sweet tooth during this pregnancy. I have to test 4 times a day. A fasting test, and then 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thankfully my numbers have been pretty good, a few high ones but not to bad. So far... We this past wed and thurs night i started having contractions on and off. We went to awana thursday night and i had 6 in an hour and a half. One of the other moms timed them for me, they were long and strong. When I got home i showered and went to bed and didn't have anymore. So i went to the docs the next morning, turns out  i haven't started to dilate ( thankfully) but my cervix is thinning out. She didn't tell me the percentage but said she could feel the foot. Ive been put on limited activity till friday when i go back into the docs (oh and they have moved me up to weekly instead of biweekly apps for now). So thats means No lifting (sorry laundry baskets). no long walks, refrain from "adult activity", no lifting the kids.. and sitting on my butt all day. Sure thing Doc.. except can you tell that  to my 4 and 2 year olds? Thankfully all the laundry has been done, the house is clean and i have lots of people offering to come over and help out. I'm praying that this fridays app shows no more thinning out and esp no dilation! I had pre-term labor with Emma at 28 weeks, and was put on bed rest, not fun at all. Soo yes, thats whats been happening to me this past couple of weeks, sounds fun huh!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

formspring.me

Ask me something fun :) http://www.formspring.me/jadeyk

What are you most looking forward to right now?

its been a long day for me, so currently I cant wait for the girls to head to bed and i can sit and relax on my sewing machine with my new ribbons that Nick bought me and make some cute bows:D

Ask me something fun :)

Saturday, March 5, 2011

What's your favorite type of flower?

Lily any kind i love love love Lily's

Ask me something fun :)

What a 4 Year Old Should Know

I cannot take the credit for this, i found it this morning and i love it...


We are such a competitive culture that even our preschoolers have become trophies and bragging rights. Childhood shouldn’t be a race.
So here, I offer my list of what a 4 year old should know.
  1. She should know that she is loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time.
  2. He should know that he is safe and he should know how to keep himself safe in public, with others, and in varied situations. He should know that he can trust his instincts about people and that he never has to do something that doesn’t feel right, no matter who is asking. He should know his personal rights and that his family will back them up.
  3. She should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use her imagination. She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky orange and give cats 6 legs.
  4. He should know his own interests and be encouraged to follow them. If he could care less about learning his numbers, his parents should realize he’ll learn them accidentally soon enough and let him immerse himself instead in rocket ships, drawing, dinosaurs or playing in the mud.
  5. She should know that the world is magical and that so is she. She should know that she’s wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvelous. She should know that it’s just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practice phonics. Scratch that– way more worthy.
  6. But more important, here’s what parents need to know.
    1. That every child learns to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks, reads or does algebra.
    2. That the single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but mom or dad taking the time every day or night (or both!) to sit and read them wonderful books.
    3. That being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children “advantages” that we’re giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood.
    4. That our children deserve to be surrounded by books, nature, art supplies and the freedom to explore them. Most of us could get rid of 90% of our children’s toys and they wouldn’t be missed, but some things are important– building toys like legos and blocks, creative toys like all types of art materials (good stuff), musical instruments (real ones and multicultural ones), dress up clothes and books, books, books. (Incidentally, much of this can be picked up quite cheaply at thrift shops.) They need to have the freedom to explore with these things too– to play with scoops of dried beans in the high chair (supervised, of course), to knead bread and make messes, to use paint and play dough and glitter at the kitchen table while we make supper even though it gets everywhere, to have a spot in the yard where it’s absolutely fine to dig up all the grass and make a mud pit.
    5. That our children need more of us. We have become so good at saying that we need to take care of ourselves that some of us have used it as an excuse to have the rest of the world take care of our kids. Yes, we all need undisturbed baths, time with friends, sanity breaks and an occasional life outside of parenthood. But we live in a time when parenting magazines recommend trying to commit to 10 minutes a day with each child and scheduling one Saturday a month as family day. That’s not okay! Our children don’t need Nintendos, computers, after school activities, ballet lessons, play groups and soccer practice nearly as much as they need US. They need fathers who sit and listen to their days, mothers who join in and make crafts with them, parents who take the time to read them stories and act like idiots with them. They need us to take walks with them and not mind the .1 MPH pace of a toddler on a spring night. They deserve to help us make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work. They deserve to know that they’re a priority for us and that we truly love to be with them.
I'd argue that older children and adults need to know these things too. An awesome post...
Hat tip to Tim Lauer: http://twitter.com/#!/timlauer/status/11484746932551681

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Addicted to my sewing machine!

So Nick fixed my sewing machine for me (thank the lord!) and I have become obsessed the past couple of nights! I'm going to the store while the kids are at awana and grabbing some more fabric. I want to make my own burp cloths on top of the bows and headbands I'm making. I ordered 56 1.5 assorted colored crochet headbands, 200 alligator clips, silk dahlia, jewel centered flowers, and ribbon, lots of ribbon the other night.  I can NOT wait to see my UPS man next week haha. Grabbing a new hot glue gun tonight, Nicks sure we had one, but i cant find it any where! If you don't hear from me for a while, send help... I might become the fabric lady!