Wordless Wednesdays: Blurry Usies

Sleepytime Shoes

Hey Luvs!

Hope you all are having an amazing time this summer like we are.  Dom and I have spent a lot of time focusing on our dreams, planning our future, and simply enjoying the person that Baby O is becoming.  She’s officially 18 months and has changed so much so I thought I’d spend this week updating you all on her progress with a few things I discussed in previous post. 

To start I want to share a quick update on...Bowed LegProblems

Last time I checked her sleepy time shoes had arrived and I was pleased to announce that she was doing well sleeping in them and doing just about everything the doctors said she wouldn’t be able to while wearing them.  Which really hasn’t changed she still enjoys putting them on at night and most mornings she wakes up in them. However, there has been one or two times her dad has walked in her room and the shoes were completely off her feet while she was straight chilling lol.

But that’s neither here nor there. The real reason I’m here sharing with you all today is because I actually believe here wearing the shoes have helped her “internal tibial torsion” out tremendously.  Dom and I noticed the correction after the first two weeks but I wanted to wait a bit before showing you all. This weekend I was finally able to get my busy little tiny tot to stay still so I snagged a few pics for you all.

Not bad at all for two months of wearing the shoes right?  She still has to wear them until September but there’s no doubt in my mind that upon return to the no eye contact, using big medical words, straight to business orthopedic specialist she will be just as pleased with her progress as we are.

O The Clothes

First and foremost I apologize for being a bit MIA there has been many changes in the mom home front or any exciting stories to share so I’ve been letting other life event take consume me.

On another note I’m here to ask you all where in the world do you purchase your kids daycare/school only clothes from because, I swear Baby O’s school ruins everything. Regardless of what I send her there in she comes home a mess and I feel like they serve spaghetti daily although my menu tells me otherwise lol.

It sucks because she totally doesn’t get them as dirty when hanging with us. However, it’s to the point where I’m strongly sending her to her new school this fall in uniforms. Can any of you help me out? And yes I’ve tried Wal mart the cute little grannamials ripped on the first wear L

Wordless Wednesdays: Morning Sunshine

Mission Accomplished...

Hey luvs!

Sorry I was MIA last week but I had to take the week off to get my mind right for the Strive 4 Success youth empowerment workshop Dom and I held in my hometown this past Sunday.

I spent yesterday OVERWHLEMED with emotion by all the positive feedback we received regarding the event. Empowering youth has been a dream of mine since 2007 so to step out on faith, bring my dream to fruition, and receive words like this...

"This has to be one of the coolest things I had the pleasure of being apart of. I shared the stage with my wife as she told her story of underdog to success and provided the people with the ENRICHED principles that made it happen. I was able to provide financial information on how we overcame 100k negative networth to 1 million positive networth, the 3 things that made us millionaires, goal settings, budgeting and how student loans work. The energy was crazy. Can't wait to do it all over again! Thanks for being such a strong motivator @omb_heartbeat ! I'm lucky to have you. Great job today. I learned so much from you on that stage."

"So proud of Sheena Brown. You and your husband did an amazing job today. Looking forward to seeing how your baby (Strive for Success) will grow. Thank you for having your first workshop here in Rochester and for letting me be apart of it. Keep depositing those gems of knowledge and experience into our youth. You never know how it may change a life. #E.N.R.I.C.H.E.D #StriveForSuccess #SmartGoals#MakeYourMoneyWorkForYou"

"Watching my sis Sheena Brown and her husband Dom give their testimony to the youth, as well as tools tips and encouraging words was very moving! It's always nice to here a success story but to witness one is nothing short of amazing! While they made it easy for the youth to relate and follow along and understand the importance of the words they spoke she made me cry because I know it's all facts no fiction...Phenomenal woman that's you sheena and dom your amazing as well — feeling refreshed."

Warmed my heart and had me deep in my feelings lol.  However this past Sunday I learned that walking by Faith and not by Sight is easier said than done when...I woke up in a spirit of doubt and was beyond nervous about the event. I texted my friend Monique and told her I was nervous and her response brought me to the stage. She simply replied... “Go do it for the little Sheena Davidson sitting in that audience” so, I prayed and left my fears in God hands.

As I watched people come through the venue doors the nervousness returned and though I was cordial with everyone I was a little beside myself. After conducting an interview with the local newspaper it was show time. I got on the stage and was overcome with emotions during my first sentence. However, I grabbed my composure and continued to speak. During my speech I knew I was delivering but I couldn’t tell in I was reaching the kids. So the entire time Dom was performing I was thinking about what I could have done better.

Then at the very end of the workshop a young lady and her god sister walked up to me. They proceed to tell me they’d like to speak with me alone. I asked them to wait while I finished my saying goodbye and answering questions and they did. During our conversation I found out the young lady was my “little Sheena Davidson sitting in the audience”. Sixteen years later this young lady is experiencing my entire story and fighting to make it out. She told me as soon as I started sharing my story her eyes begin to water because she knows what I went through.

Can I just tell you that I was BEYOND grateful for her courage to some forward and pull me to the side. Her words touched my soul and, let me know to continue pressing forward. I’m so happy to share that I accomplished my goal of inspiring at least one person in that room to Be E.N.R.I.C.H.E.D. Now I pray that God continues to use me and I can be a BLESSING to this young lady and others like herJ.

Below is the article from the local paper that captures more of what happened during the workshop for those of you that are interested...

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/06/29/workshop-prepares-youths-success/11718137/

Somebody Can't Count

As I sit here completing the paperwork for Baby O to transfers schools in September I thought it would only be fitting to share another THAT MOM post. Reagrding her current school so, here’s a another one for ya...

Back in March Baby O’s school announced that they were doing an optional fundraiser which I totally decided I’d ignore. Because, in my mind there was no way they expected my tiny tot to go out and raise money for the school. I honestly assumed that although the email went out to everyone it was only applicable to the older kids at the school.  Whelp, I wrong, I arrived at the school and found a crisp white folder, with Baby O’s full name on it, and all the fundraiser information inside.

Being the parent I am I politely went to the front desk to determine exactly what they were raising funds for since that little detail was missing. The director informed me the funds raised would go towards having technology in the classrooms.  I thought it over for a few days and decided it was a good enough cause to support even though I didn’t agree with how the school was enticing parents to compete (I say parents because we all know the kids weren’t actually doing the solicitations).

However, I’m very competitive and when I decided to support I knew I had to give it 100% so, I begin my solicitation efforts. Thankfully the items were very easy to sale so Baby O sold a ton of stuff; I turned the packet in, and just knew my baby was the schools winner. 

Wrong Again! After all the submissions were handed in the school sent the following email (Names have been changed to protect the innocent)...

The results are in for our Claire's fundraiser from last month. We are thrilled to report that our participating families sold $5,379.40 worth of items, which resulted in ...... $2,156.75 in funds raised to improve technology for our classrooms! We also have some private donations that have not yet been accounted for in that total.

As promised, our 2 top-selling families will receive a $100 credit on their tuition. Congratulations to the Wrong and Doe families on raising a combined total of $1438.75 between them! Also, every family who participated received 1 entry for every 10 items ordered into a lottery drawing for $100 cash. Congratulations to the Right and Doe families- you can pick up your winnings today!

Again, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who participated. We are blessed to have such wonderful families invested in their children's education!

Upon receiving this email my first thought was...Hmmm that’s very interesting but, I totally wish they would have broken the totals out so I’d know exactly how much we lost by. But, that’s awesome the school raised so much.

Then pick up day came and things got interesting.

When I arrived at the school to pick up the items everything was sorted nice and neat. My lovely order form was printed for me so I could confirm my order. So I did and it was accurate however, the total amount raised was off. They had totally miscalculated Baby O’s web orders.

I Informed the front desk because, at this point I wasn’t sure if they school had even got the credit for those orders. I was instructed that the person I needed to speak with was gone for the day so I’d have to send a follow up email. The next morning I sent the following;

Good Morning Ashley,

As promised I logged into my Claire's account to get the names of everyone who purchased in support of Olivia and the school.  I've provided the details below for your review.  Once again I would like to make note that everyone did receive their order either direct shipment to their homes or via my school pick up yesterday. However, I'm not sure the school received credit for all of Olivia's orders because based on the totals I received in my packet yesterday Olivia didn't receive credit for all of them. Please let me know if there is anything I else I can provide to assist in your research in this matter.

Basically... Based on my calculations your fundraising total is incorrect and we actually raised the most funds lol.

To which I received a follow-up phone call saying... Hi Sheena! We totally received credit for your web orders and it looks like we owe you $100 credit on your tuition so, we will be putting that on your account today.

Ummmm thanks I guess. I’m grateful for the credit that I worked hard for but, totally don’t appreciate the way they handled the situation. Like...

• Sure we can go ahead and disregard the fact that you can’t count. So you got the credit but didn’t think enough to give it to the correct family...shady boots
• No you don’t owe us an apology or at least a thank you.                              
• No the school community doesn’t need to know that my infant raised the MOST money for the school.
• After all, our family and friends only helped raised a little under $1,000.00 for your school. The least you can do is pretend you care.

Oh The Judgment!

This morning I woke up to an article posted on FB by my co peep Jessica that totally reminded me of a conversation that a few other co peeps and I had last week. Where I informed my co peeps that I had to refrain from cussing a women out in a restaurant for a comment she made regarding my parenting style.

Long story short...

The hubs, Baby O, and I were at brunch one Saturday and because Baby O is so active and hates just sitting waiting on the food, we brought a few things to entertain her (One of which was an ipad for her to click through abcmouse.com or watch videos on youtube). We were at the table chatting, playing with the ipad, and signing songs when a large party was seated across from us. The group seemed to be enjoying themselves and begin to get really loud. So Baby O turned to join in on their fun, she begin to try engage in their conversation and they all chatting back. Except one woman (she had two older kids) who kept staring at Dom and I. I’d notice her watching our table beforehand but didn’t pay much attention. However, she abruptly received my attention when we made eye contact and she made the comment “Sorry she’s not entertained by the TV any longer, looks like she wants some real conversation sorry.”

Hold the MFing phone!

Is this chick judging me?

Bye, Felicia!

ITCH I did this as a curtsey to you, and the other restaurant patrons. I’m 100% cool with letting her loose to tear this place up but, I figured you’re a** wouldn’t like that. So I brought her some entertainment.

NOW! Go have several seats in the back of a stadium by your darn self until you remember how your kids used to act at 14 months.

Oh sorry guys.

YIKES!!! Anyway before I have a darn flash back here’s the article she posted... IT AIN’T EASY HAVING ONE OF “THOSE” KIDS. 

The title caught my attention and after reading it I immediately knew I had to share it with you all.  You see before having a kid of my own I can admit that I was a silent judger. Not that I wanted or meant to judge others it would kind of just happen. Mostly because I didn’t understand, all I would see is the child’s behavior and the parent seeming to not be bothered by it. Now that I have a child of my own I know differently. And as I told my co peeps who I discussed this with last week... I apologize to every parent before me who I secret or openly judge in my ignorance.

To future parents, parents of older children, people who don’t want to be parents, or parents who kids aren’t quite toddlers yet please believe me when I say the trials and tribulations of apparent are REAL. And every kids is different so no one will ever be able to explain it, it’s honestly one of those things you just have to experience. With that being said, next time you think to judge.