William video
Questions for my parent friends
My next one is that I suspect my kid has nasal allergies. He tends to sneeze a lot in the morning and evening hours. Do you have a toddler with allergies? If so how was it determined that they are in fact allergies? Does it require medication?
I know some of you wonder why I am asking you these questions and not the doctor. Well, his doctor thinks I need to fatten him up, others would swear he is two and quite big for his age. I just don't always trust everything the doc says. Thanks for taking the time to help me here!
Vent Day Wednesday
Giveaway winners
Skin Free™ review and giveaway

Now I had to decide which of the Ismail family members were going to try them so it ended up being Briahnna and myself. Briahnna has been using the Super Moisture Butter Creme™ to see if it would help relieve and repair some dry patches she developed on her face. Would you believe that it got rid of it in about 2 days time? I wanted to post photos but a 12 year old girl would NOT be having that! I tried the Niaouli Butter Stick™ and oh boy was I impressed! I have some rough feet (I admitted it) and this Butter Stick was just the antidote! It was not greasy and it keeps my feet moisturized for the entire day. I use it before I go to bed and when I get dressed for the day.
I also tried out the Whipped Tamanu Body Butter™. I am currently using it for massages. I keep it at my bedside for when the hubby is sweet enough to give his old lady a nice foot rub! It is so nice and once again, NOT greasy! I have used it all over and it is really good, leaves your skin baby soft. Now I have not yet used the Extra Moisturizing Soap & Shampoo Bar™ because I am saving it for when William runs out of baby wash. I think it might be good for his skin and hopefully less drying. He is showing signs of nasal allergies so I would think the lack of fragrance will be a plus for him. Overall I really think I will order the Niaouli Butter Stick™ and the Super Moisture Butter Creme™ on a regular basis. Now for the fun part, it's your turn...
One lucky reader can win $30 of Skin Free™ products of their choice. All you have to do is check out the Skin Free™ site and tell us what products you would like to try if you won the $30 gift certificate.
Would you like an extra entry? (you must complete the first method to qualify for extra entries)
1. You can tweet this giveaway and leave a link to your tweet (one tweet per day)
2. You can place our button on your site (leave a link to your site)
**Be sure to leave an individual comment per entry method.
The deadline to enter is July 21st at 11:59 pm EST. Giveaway open to US residents only.
Good luck and a special thanks to Skin Free™ for sponsoring this giveaway. Skin Free™ products are available on cvs.com and drugstore.com
As seen on TV

Flashback Friday & our 400th post!
Getting William to not wake up at night
sick and waking up throughout the night. I knew I had to do something about this since this means Dwayne and I are not getting our sleep either. We do not do the pick up at night thing or the sleep in our bed thing so I had to think hard. I came up with something. As a matter of fact, it is what has worked all along. Strangely William can go 6-8 weeks sleeping perfectly through the night them Bam! He starts waking up a few times at night for about 2-3 days. I end up changing his bedding and voila, he goes back to sleeping through with no interruption. I have even found that moving his crib around to the opposite side of the room seems to do the trick. Your boy Dwayne aka "Ismail the Great" likes to call it Feng Shui. You let him tell the story he would say he made it all up on his own! I find it amazing how subtle changes can make a huge difference.Do you have any tricks to getting your baby/toddler to sleep through the night? If so please share.
What kinda Wednesday is this?
Fundraising for school without the work
Summer weekends are not always good
This weekend the only accomplishments that were made was that Dwayne swapped out an old light switch in William's room that took all of 10 minutes. The hardest part of that was being sure when Dwayne shut off the power that he did not shut down the AC or kitchen appliances. He was successful. The only thing I really did was I purchased some weed eater trimmer string which was not actually used and is still in the bag on the kitchen counter.
Now one really bad part of the weekend was all the unnecessary snacking. As long as all of us are home we eat. ALL day long. Dwayne and I think we need to spend a part of the weekend away from each other in order to be more productive. Being together means being lazy. This much comfort can be a bad thing!
Does anyone find this happening in their household or are we just lazy slobs? Please tell us you are like this too!
Tide® Loads of Hope & a giveaway
If you have been involved in any major disaster that wiped out all of the everyday conveniences of life it would be devastating. We went through Hurricane Andrew back in August of 1992 and we felt those feelings of devastation and hopelessness. You never know how much clean laundry really means until you don't have it for a couple of weeks. Can you imagine that? This is what we went through. Well in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Tide launched a campaign called Loads of Hope to help provide clean clothes for the families affected by disaster.
You can also purchase one of their very cool vintage tees for $20 and
proceeds will go to help affected families. The tees are so comfortable and they feel like your favorite t-shirt you have had for years and you won't get rid of it because it's perfectly "worn in". I was lucky enough to get one from Tide and it is my new favorite tee!Now it's your turn to get a chance to win one of your very own. We are giving away one t-shirt to 3 lucky readers in hopes of spreading the word on what Tide® Loads of Hope is doing to help families in need of clean laundry affected by a major disaster.
______________________________________________
To enter this giveaway please leave a unique comment to this post.
Want an additional entry? (You must complete the above method to qualify for extra entries)
You can Twitter or Facebook this giveaway and please leave a separate comment/link for each entry to count.
You can also place our button on your blog (please leave a blog link in your comment)
Be sure to have a visible email in your comment if you do not have a Blogger profile. Giveaway deadline is July 10, 2009 at 11:59 pm EST. *Open to US residents only.

To learn more about the Tide® Loads of Hope program click here. Thanks so much Tide® for sponsoring this neat giveaway!
I went a little nuts

Vent Day Wednesday
This really scares us



New Books, Low cost
This kid is so smart that he has a favorite book called Kitty Up! If you ask him where Kitty Up is he will find it underneath other books and say "up!" It's just the cutest thing. I love to read to William especially when I catch him glancing over at my face to watch my expressions. I get all into it to keep him interested. He will look at me at the exact same sentence every time I read a particular book.Suave® "Shower Yourself Beautiful" giveaway
Dwayne and I are really big fans of the Cocoa Butter with Shea Body Lotion. I used it especially during my pregnancy with William to keep my baby bump extra smooth and moisturized. I really love the way it makes my "Summer glow" look even more glowing too!

Now for the fun part, 1 lucky reader has a chance to win the 4 products pictured above! This prize includes one 18 oz Advanced Therapy lotion and 3-12 oz bodywashes (one of each scent) in Wild Cherry Blossom, Ocean Breeze and Apricot Exfoliating. Just leave a comment telling us if you are a Suave® user and what your favorite product is or visit the Suave® Skin site and tell us what you would like to try. Be sure to leave a valid email address if you do not have a Blogger account or ID. The deadline to enter is June 25th at 11:59 pm EST. Giveaway open to US residents only.
Would you like an extra entry?
1. You can tweet this giveway and leave a link to your tweet (one tweet per day)
2. You can place our button on your site (leave a link to your site)
**Be sure to leave an individual comment per entry method.
We're not done yet...
Suave® Skin has a really cool campaign for the Summer called "Shower Yourself Beautiful" that offers great tips from Holly Robinson Pete, actress and celebrity Mom. Each week running from June 15- July 20, you can create a different registry for a chance to instantly win your chosen prizes and also be automatically entered for a chance to win the ultimate at-home shower for you and your friends! Be sure to visit ShowerYourselfBeautiful.com for your chance to win.
Vent Day Wednesday
William and his firetruck



Question
Feed your baby fat
I took little William for his 15 month check-up. He is developing perfectly on target and is doing all the things that are expected at this age. There was only one concern, his weight. It turns out that my once chubby baby dubbed "the Michelin baby" or "baby Sumo" is now in the 30th percentile for weight (22.9 lbs). I really do not know how percentiles work but I know it is on the low end. Maybe it is because he is in the 80th percentile for height. It's really funny that every person that sees William seems to think he is really big for his age but according to his doctor he is a bit on the thin side.
Hello to all of our momfiles.com fellow bloggers and advertisers. This is Ismail the who, the what, the black Archie Bunker. I want to take the time to share with you a great way to expand your businesses. Our friends at PAYPERPOST that is PAY PER POST has just designed a great and simple to use strategy that assist bloggers with “monetizing” their blogs. ** That is fancy internet talk for making some money with your blog** and an easy way for advertisers to get their products out to the world. This new strategy is called PayPerPost v4.0
I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to learn more about this home based and fun opportunity. Trust me, I like easy and this my friends is an easy way to make money from home for stay-at-home (SAHM) or working moms and dads. The best thing is you get to help companies small and large compete in this hard economic time. This is win/win/win for advertisers, bloggers, and blog readers. I say that is a good thing. You better not say I sound like that lady from the magazine and cooking show. I am a man! And in my manliest of man voice I am saying CHECK THIS PAYPERPOST PayPerPost v4.0 out. Everyone knows we are in a depression. (My money recessed so I am (what) De-pressed). You know you said it! So really, check it out and let me know what you think. Have a great day! Now give me a high five! ( Manly man moment again)
Vent Day Wednesday
Home for the Summer

I would like to think that I will not hear "Mom, I'm bored!". Seriously, if they pull that I will make them clean baseboards, cabinets, closets, and anything else that cure boredom. I'll take it old school if I have to!!

We purchased a membership to our State museum recently so that will be a good cool, indoor thing to do during the blistering months we will endure. It has already been in the 90's and I don't like it at all. The girls love to be outside and I only let them go before 10 am and after 7 pm. William still does not understand what "outside" is and something tells me it won't take long before he does! Happy Summer everyone :)
No Vent Day
I love my husband
why do kids remind you all the time
Get out and play!
Flashback Friday before & after
Vent Day Wednesday
I'm back
Growing up...
Chardie was all glammed up for her 8th grade semi-formal dance.


Dwayne + daughter that looks like this = SHOTGUN.
Vent Day Wednesday
This makes me smile
Weekend Randomness
When William gets too quiet


He "reads" to himself. How cute is that?? Look what I won
I won all this great stuff from Mommydaddyblog! How cool is that? I usually never win any big prizes so I am extra excited about this one. I have already started using the Brita pitcher and LOVE it! I encourage you all to check out all the great things happening at Mommydaddyblog, especially the Buzz. You just never know what you will get! Thanks Sheena!!Vent Day Wednesday
Been out of town
Today is the day!
Vent Day Wednesday
Garden update
Flashback Friday
Vent Day Wednesday
Keep out!
I had to put a stop to this sneaky boy getting into anything and everything there is. I am not going to kid myself and think this will solve his curiosity. Maybe just keep him a bit more contained.Look at him wondering what this thing is.
He just had to give it a taste test. Needless to say he made the barf face!
Then he decided to cry when he realized he was being kept out of trouble. Don't go feeling sorry for William especially you Tanyetta.

Oh and last thing, he called me dad the whole time. LOL!
My kid calls me daddy
Has this ever happened to you?
Gain Giveaway Winners
- Barterbabe
- Janetfaye
- Taylor
Thanks to to all of you who participated and especially those that shared some great laundry tips! I will have to put them all together in one post someday. Who knew there were so many simple things you can do to improve your laundry skills?! Be sure to check back again soon for more giveaways and prizes.
It's the weekend baby!
I am going to have to come up with some sort of a barricade even though he finds a way to get through.
Gotta have his Dora and Diego!
Look at that face! He is always bothering poor little Milo. Will prefers to play with the dog's toys over his own. Maybe we should buy him his own dog toys? Maybe not.
The little guy can be caught at any time sucking on his tongue. I guess this is him getting back at me for when I took the paci away when he was 3 months old.
William is not walking as yet but he sure is busy all the time! He is learning his alphabet and numbers and LOVES to read. His favorite animal is the lion. If you ask him what sound the lion makes he will roar for you! Now trying to capture that on video is not working out so well. He is now going through this phase that he just does not care for the camera unless he gets to play with it. Ah, little boys....








