WonderDads

:)

That is me totally flattered that a few weeks ago I was contacted by WonderDads.com. They are a WONDERful site for fathers (or anyone caring for a child) with all the local information for some seriously fun play dates and activities. Just type in your zip code and it will give you local events, fun places to sight see, cool kid friendly restaurants, and great places to play on a rainy or sunny day. I totally forwarded it to hubs!

They have a great on site store where dads can purchase swag, books, and "daddy emergency kits" for your car.

The flattered part begins now. Me & Mine has been featured in their Life Lessons section for "best blogs to tell your wife about" I am so excited and grateful! So If you are stopping by from WonderDads, THANKS!

WonderDads is offering one of my awesome commenters a copy of a WonderDad book of your choosing.

*for your local community*

Thank you WonderDads!

winner winner

Today was a wild day! It was filled with fish tank buying, baby sitting on during diaper changes (like literally sitting on him), balloons at red robin, 911 calling because Ryan locked himself in the car, learning how to break in a car thanks to my neighbor, and big spooning in the crib to get him to sleep.

I almost forgot to announce the book giveaway winner!!

The winner is... 

MISS MOUSE AND ME! 

Baby G will love it :)

Email your address to 

storieshappen@gmail.com

Giveaways are fun, if you have a product or service you would like to donate for our next giveaway send us an email!

100 words giveaway

Me and Mine's second giveaway is starting TODAY!

via

We absolutely love love love this book. It has everything every toddler needs in a great book. Big bright pages- the book is about 12"x12" the pages are extra thick board pages. The colors are bright and the babies in there are cute. The pages are divided into topics- food, outside, inside, animals, toys, transportation, eating, sleeping, and bathing.

This book has been a huge blessing to our family. After 1 month Ryan knows 80 of the 100 pictures. This is huge for our little man! He is so smart and can point to everything but its his verbal skills are whats improving. The pictures are helping him learn new signs at a rapid rate and the pride he feels knowing he is a smarty pants sure brightens our day. 

So we want you to have as much fun with this book as we do! You have a few ways to win.

leave a comment for each entry.

1. follow Me & Mine the blog

2. Be a fan of us on facebook

3. Share the giveaway via facebook or twitter

4. Blog about this giveaway.

The giveaway closes February 24th at midnight. Ryan will be announcing the winner with the help of random.org the next day. 

happy drugs.

I never did drugs in high school, or college. ya know in that wild stage of life- but I am thinking now that I missed something incredible! Another 26 hour stay in the hospital and so far:

• got a diagnosis of Papilladema and/or Pseudotumor Cerebri (shame on you blogger, these words are spelled correctly)
• got 2 morphine injections which made me try to scratch my skin off in the middle of the night, apparently I am allergic from coming off that stuff. 
• 3 MRI's
• 3 pokes for a lumbar puncture
• got migraines once back at home and got super naseaus
• had to take Zofran and Vicoden. Feeling guilty for taking the Zofran, that stuff was gold in a pill form while I was pregnant and here I was popping them back like no tomorrow (as in following the dosage correctly)
• back to the ER. in 20 hours before actually seeing a Neurologist. 
• they gave me some crazy drug that I cant remember but I felt like my head was not attached to my body, it was a nice change from the feeling of it exploding out my eyes. I was lucky to get it 2 more times on my stay. 
• Neurologist promptly said my charts make no sense to her and that the diagnosis's from earlier in the week are wrong. I dont have high pressure problems, I have LOW pressure problems
• Yet she wants me to keep taking the diuretic which keeps pressure low. huh say wha?
• gave me a back brace (to keep pressure up) for a normal sized person so obviously it doesnt fit me, my boobs are at my chin and I cant go potty with it on
• liquid diet for 26 hours=grumpy Lauren
• hubs on business trip, my son doesnt like me anymore cause hes been shuffled from place to place.
• got cabin fever so I walked around the floor in my gown, dragging my IV pole behind me so I could see something other than the popcorn ceiling above my hospital bed.
• they also gave me an IV of CAFFEINE. and I went to sleep. go figure, 1 diet coke keeps me up all night long
• I sound like a drug addict so with that I will say good night, I also took a vicoden to keep the headache at bay and its taking its toll.

Before I go, I've seen some VERY cute pages and sample cards so far in our HM challenge. Dont forget to link up here  Remember entries must be in by Oct 19th at midnight! Happy scrapping.

still breathing

What a whirl wind of a week and its only Thursday. If you have been reading for a while now you know of my headache problems and visits to the Neurologists office (if not get caught up here) So Tuesday night my Neuro's office calls to tell me that I need to come if first thing in the morning. 3 phone calls and 2 voice mails with in 10 min of each other. Why not just tell me that my life will end tomorrow instead- that would probably be less stressful on a girl.
9:45 am and driving to the office, got my cute shoes on and saying a prayer all for good luck and when sweet Dr. Samuel walked in I knew that the day was not going to be rainbows and cupcakes. She said that she had been worried about me and the fact that insurance still hadnt cleared me for the 2 more MRI's I needed. So she saw it fitting to admit me to the nearby hospital for 24 hours. While I was there I would be having the MRI's and a spinal tap. This was all to be happening today. As in right now, no I could not go home to gather my things. I needed to be there 5 min ago. Sheesh, lets add on the stress. So after wicked sweet talking and convincing on my part they at least let me go home and check on monkey and change into sweats. Mostly I went home to grab my laptop. I had way to much blog reading to catch up on not to take advantage of this mandatory chill time.
11:00 am check into hospital, and put on a super sexy one size fits all gown and sprawled out on my hospital bed, I was going to make myself as comfortable as possible.
Everything from here on out gets hazy I was so out of it. I remember wanting Edward style hearing because I swear the conversations at the nurses station were so crazy. I wish I could have heard what they were really saying about me and my brain. I asked for a sedative for the MRI, I was going to be in that tube for an hour I might as well get some good sleep. Problem was that I kept having weird dreams from the drugs so I would startle awake and move which is a big fat no-no. The scans came back clean!
1,2, 3 times the charm was how it went with my spinal tap, after crawling into a little ball and yoga breathing while they stabbed me in the back, they couldnt get any fluid. Twice. So then it was up to x ray where they could see what they were doing. I remember the nurse telling me sometimes they will hit a nerve going in and it will feel tingly. HA HA HA. It was more like a bolt of high power electricity going down my butt cheek. Twice. It was the craziest/weirdest feeling ever. So they let some of the fluid drain because the pressure was high and tested it for infection (came back clean) I got put on a prescription that helps manage the spinal/cerebral fluids and hopefully my eyes will start to cooperate and my headaches will go away.
It could have been so bad I am just glad to be home and to be somewhat healthy. Poor Ryan is so sad mommy cant hold him today, I cant get out of bed or lift anything over a pound, I am SO sore.

If you are planning on making a scrapbook page for the Heritage Makers challenge here are some things to keep in mind:
*you must sign up on www.storieshappen.com to be placed as my client. I will not be able to assist if you sign up on straight heritagemakers.com.
*any projects made with premier studio must be completed by noon on Oct 18th you will not have access to edit them after this date without purchasing a membership. You can still order them though after that date.
*Don't be afraid to CALL me, ya know talk other than the computer! This is my job and I want to help make sure you LOVE this as much as I do. See contact info page.

a giveaway/challenge weekend!

In case you still dont know what it is I do for work, ya know instead of changing diapers and wiping noses. I wanted to fill you in.


At Heritage Makers, our goal is to make preserving family stories simple, fun, and rewarding.
Heritage Makers helps people everywhere create beautiful, heirloom quality storybooks
which document the priceless relationships, events, and experiences of life.
We also believe the company can strengthen family, improve relationships, and build
children’s self esteem. Once just one book is made, storybooking will become an integral part
of everyday life. All it takes is for one heart to be touched, to know that a Heritage Makers
storybook has the ability to change lives for good. And we have a lot of fun in the process!


Ok, lets get to the juicy stuff! At HM we always offer a free, basic account but for next weekend we are unlocking the premier studio for anyone to play around and make projects using the over 47,000 pieces of digital art. Here are the details

We’re so excited to announce our first Free Premier Weekend! That’s right, from October 14 - 17, you can get full access to a Heritage Makers Premier account, absolutely free. This is a no-risk opportunity for you to try designing storybooks, canvas prints, greeting cards, playing cards, photo books, and more with over 47,000 pieces of digital art and thousands of pre-designed templates.

Imagine having free reign on a scrapbook store. That’s what it’s like when you use Heritage Makers Premier account. Unlimited creativity and fun is waiting for you! Join us!

Here’s a sampling of some of the art you’ll find in Premier:

To participate in FREE Premier Weekend, simply log into Studio and click on the “unlock Premier” button. This button will be available from 7:00 p.m. October 14 until noon October 18 MDT.

If you don’t already have a Studio account, get a free account here. and click sign up in the top right hand corner.

I have made christmas cards, family year books, my wedding invitations and album, baby books, birthday invitations, framed posters for my walls, single pages and put them on tiles to decorate my home or give as gifts. There are so many possibilities even if you dont want to make a whole a book right now.

the challenge:

make a 12x12 scrapbook page of your choosing, using any pictures, any theme, just make sure you choose PREMIER during October 14-17th.

the rules:

you must post the link to your blog with it in Mr Linky below by midnight October 19th

you must link back to me

if you dont blog, email me your finished product. (see contact info page)

the giveaway:

a few lovely Heritage Makers consultants and I will vote on our favorite page, the winner will be given a FREE flip book valued at $17

as it is my job, pretty please with a cherry on top email or call me with any questions or help navigating the site! I look forward to seeing what you have created :)

wanna win

My lovely, gorgeous, creative, sweet, amazing, mommy of the year girl friend Shawntae is hosting a giveaway on her blog a little king and i she is giving away this super cute

sock monkey hat

My monkey needs a monkey hat right!? Go visit Shawntae and her little man, Kingston they have an incredible blog and I love reading her posts everyday. Its worth following I promise :) Also find them on facebook!