As part of the Sun & Earth “Sunny Seven” I’m excited to share with you my experience with their “On The Spot” Instant Stain Remover Pen.

As with all of their products, Sun & Earth uses the latest technology to create cleaning agents from plant, fruit and vegetable oils that are non-toxic to your family and safe for the Earth.

Last weekend, while on our way to our Family Reunion, my husband hit a bump, and made me then “I” spilled my French Vanilla (with extra sugar) Dunkin’ Donuts coffee all over my WHITE shirt.  Thank goodness I had thown my “On The Spot” pen in my diaper bag and had it handy.

Just a little dab of the pen…then a quick dry with a tissue — the coffee-stain was gone!

Wha-la!  It saved the day since I was wearing the “official Family Reunion t-shirt” which I could not (for fear of being chastised by the entire family for “not wearing the shirt”) be changed.  Whew!

It really impresses me that even the Sun & Earth “On the Spot” Instant Stain Remover Pen is formulated with natural ingredients (enzymes).  These enzymes attack and loosen stains and dirt in fabrics on contact allowing you to blot the stain away!  It is safe to use on clothing (even children and baby clothes), draperies, furniture and will not discolor fabrics.

This weekend I also had the opportunity (how did I survive without it?) to use Sun & Earth’s Stain Remover Pen. 

This time the culprit was myBuddy’s ketchup fingers.

Here is how it went:

Just a little dab with the marker-type pen:

Quick dab with a dry cloth:

Stain averted…all traces of the toddler-ketchup-print was gone!

You want to try it?

Sun & Earth is giving one of my readers a chance to try their “On The Spot” Pen…along with a sample of some of their other wonderful products.  Click here for the Giveaway.

You can always head over the Alice.com right now and order ALL of your Sun & Earth products too.

Look for MORE reviews of Sun & Earth products and EVEN MORE giveaways in the next few months!  I didn’t know of Sun & Earth until recently (boy was I was missing out!), and they are actually based “my own backyard” (King of Prussia, PA) – I’m in love.

PS – I caught PapaBoss making off with my Sun & Earth Glass Cleaner to clean the stainless steel exterior of his grill today — it worked BEAUTIFULLY on the stainless steel…I’m going to have to catch him next time for a spy-review-video hehe!

Baby girl had her round of 1 year old shots friday morning.  One of them was Prevnar which she also had when she was 6 months old.  Had a nice afternoon and evening with no problems.

Fast Forward to Saturday morning.

Changing her morning diaper I noticed her ankle was all bit up!  She had one big bite and 5 smaller ones right around it.  She wasn’t itching them, so I applied some “after bite” and we packed up and headed out to the family reunion with both iTwins.

I said to hubs in the car that she “just doesn’t look good” :(

We arrived 1 and a half hours later to find the bites had swelled up and she now had a fever.

The day went on and the fever got worse (even with doses of Tylenol and Motrin)…her ankle also got worse and the “bites” were now forming a huge red sprawling area on her already-chunky ankle.

We had to leave and just get her home and cooled down.

On the way home I kept checking on her (Thank goodness she’s 1 and we were able to turn her carseat around!) – she became unresponsive to her name, her eyes rolled to the back of her head…her arms straightened out and she started to shake in a way I’ve never seen before.

Hubs was already on the phone w 911 to send an ambulance.

Within 20 min. we were at the hospital in Harrisburg, PA.

She was having febrile seizures from her high fever.

Long story short here…her fever came down a bit with more Motrin, they gave her antibiotics and we were heading home within a few hours…they didn’t want to keep her…didn’t take blood and said that she had cellulitis on her ankle….the medicine would take care of it.  The seizures were “normal” they told us.  There is nothing “normal” about that in my book, but we left.

Ugh.

So eventually got home.  We were all still upset and had NO ANSWERS.

By 10:30 pm her fever spiked again at 104 — and would not come down.  Her ankle was severely swollen, red and HOT to touch.

Back to ER we went.
(Thank goodness my parents had planned to stay overnight and could stay back w/myBuddy)

More Tylenol, more waiting, more doctors…this time they said it was MRSA!

What?!?!

They needed to take blood and run an IV, but couldn’t get a vein after almost 2 hours of screaming a pinning her down (A PURE NIGHTMARE for hubs and I to witness!)

Finally drew blood … her white blood count was through the roof … they gave her an oral antibiotic, no IV could be set in place.

More waiting. This was 4am.

Discharged her with MRSA diagnosis and since she was taking a bottle/fluids on her own — plan to see Dr. in am (in a few hours).

Got home at 5am to sleep, but not, you know.

So back to Hospital/Pediatrician at 8am.

This doctor was a joke – for real…he looked like such a slob and had nothing to tell us except that “we’re destroying our baby’s liver” by giving her Tylenol and Motrin (alternating) — he said she was stung (and there was no stinger) and that it was not MRSA.

OK, now what????

So back to another Doctor for MORE advice.

This time, my hubby’s brilliant colleague (who happens to be an amazing & highly knowledgable MD and friend).

We’ll call him Doctor D.

So far – Doctor D said that this second Prevnar immunization was spaced out too far from the first one at 6 month old.  Pinkie’s body was building antibodies this entire span of 6 months, so when they re-introduced the shot on Friday, her body began to reject/fight it off — hence the high fevers….leading to the febrile seizures (which tend to happen in little ones with high temps as a “protection method”).

As for her ankle… (which you can see in the photo from last night)

… and today …

(the marks with the marker are from the hospitals to document the size/expansion over time)

He thinks that a mosquito may have bitten her and this is a reaction/cellulitis.

It’s pretty bad…and looks worse today.

Poor baby girl.

She’s napping now and still has a fever — back to more doctors in the am….still waiting for MORE answers.

I’m more exhausted than a year ago after giving birth to her.

Keep you all posted.

Thank you for all of your little thoughts and prayers for recovery.

Little ones shouldn’t have to suffer like this. [heartbroken mom]

UPDATED: 6:16pm

We have blisters :(

xo
m a m a j o s s

{Ok, go on with your Polack jokes…I can take it!}

So I’m out of here for the weekend. 

Thank you for all the 1st Birthday wishes for Pinkie and 2nd Birthday wishes for MyBuddy this week.

So they have their dreaded 1 and 2-year-old check-ups tomorrow.  I hate that they have to get shots, but I’m way behind in scheduling them and well, feel it’s perhaps time.

Then we’re off to cetral-ish PA for our once-every-other-year BIG Family Reunion on Saturday.  We missed the last one because well, I was giving birth to our son.

So I’ll (ah-hem) set the stage for you:

– my Father’s cousin’s house on lots of land (which to pitch tents on) out near Harrisburg, PA

– 130-150+ Polish descendants/family members…lots of children!

– Everyone in must-wear! matching red and white T-shirts with their “number” on it (as to when they entered the family through birth or marriage) [I'm #46, hubby is #106, myBuddy is #107...and I think Pinkie will be somewhere around #114?]

– Lots of kegs Kelbasa & Kiszka

– Mutiple turkeys in deep-fry baths and a roasted pig (that should be a fun one for my son to see…that’s enough to stir up some “Old McDonald Had A Farm” nightmares)

– Three-legged races, sack races, egg toss, the “schlong dong” race (oh boy!…that’s not good for indexing in the search engines), beer pong and much more! (says the flyer) — last reunion I attended keg-tossing was included in there too…oh it gets pretty rowdy.

– Lots of laughs!

– port-o-potties (and big lines to go with ‘em)

– Food out the Polish wazoo!

– Polkas, singing, family meeting, more eating, more drinking, more beer pong, drunken tent-assemblage, over-tired cranky kids…coffee…

…then we’re heading home.

(when the kids get older perhaps we’ll “tent it” like everyone else, but good-grief could you imagine attempting that with a 1 year old and a 2 year old — no thank you :)

You know I’ll have some photos to post of THIS EVENT :)

So, what are YOU doing this weekend?

Na zdrowie!

The easier the cart is to push…the more you can put in it and the MORE you will spend…brilliant marketing over there at “the Target”.

The NEW Target cart even won a few awards.

“The all plastic design not only provides aesthetic value in custom design and color, but it also provides better impact-forgiveness, long-term appearance; and handling. By eliminating paint and chrome plating as well as improving end of life recycling, the cart eases the effect on the environmnent. (<- rock on Target!)
…
The cart design virtually eliminated sharp edges – providing a safer and durable child seat (the iTwins like this too!) – and it is significantly less likely to damage in-store facilities and other components such as racking, checkout areas, shelving units, and merchandise. (because we all know Mama is a crazy arse driver!)The cart is easier to turn, has better caster design, and is lighter weight than other carts on the market. The features and benefits of the Target cart assist in the goal of making the consumer’s shopping experience more pleasureable (and the checkout receipt LONGER!) at Target.”

So while pushing the iTwins around (in the shnazzy new carts) – MyBuddy insists on saying “HI!” to E V E R Y O N E.  If he doesn’t get a response, he will keep repeating himself…”hi”, “Hi”, “HI!”  It’s cute, but sometimes people get annoyed and they don’t say “hi” back and just smile at him.  He doesn’t like that very much, so just say “Hi” back to the dang kid, would ya?  GEESH.

Other than that…

I snagged some new Rubbermaid storage containers (and got rid of old Chinese food take-out containers) to upgrade my stash.

Other than that…

Pinkie’s new skirt for our family reunion next wekeend arrived! 150+ Polish People with numbered T-shirts — you know I’ll have a post for you!  Huge Thank You to Josie at Oh Baby Boutique for an Amazing Job!

Other than that…

I finished Foofa this weekend.

Here is a sneak peak of the Pink Yo Gabba Gabba Amigurumi doll:

You can see I stuck the yarn needle into Foofa just for the photo, but man, after watching this show ALL WEEKEND with the iTwins, I was about ready for some Foofa VooDoo.

You’ll have to stay tuned to see the whole Yo Gabba Gabba set which should be finished in a few weeks :)

Other than that…

I had a dream that MckMama was taking photos of me for some kind of photoshoot.  I guess I’ve been thinking about her and Stellan a lot (uh, her Twitter stream is on my first iPhone page so I can check it multiple times each hour of everyday – obsessed much?)

I just think she is such a courageous, talented, amazing woman and my heart goes out to her and her family as they struggle with Stellan’s heart condition.  Plus, I’m totally in love with her photography, so maybe that’s why the dream about the photoshoot — maybe wishful thinking :)

A small one of millions, I continue to pray for Stellan.

Other than that…

Our central air broke last night.

On the hottest, stickiest night of the year.

Pipes froze up and water was everywhere.

Thanks to my husband and his trusty strap-on head lamp (oh how I wish I had photos)…and a a thorough hose-down of the outside AC unit (with 10lb. frogs he tells me were also out there watching him) – we had some cool air pumping by the time I went to bed.

That’s about it.

Pinkie’s 1st Birthday is on Tuesday.

MyBuddy’s 2nd Birthday is on Thursday.

We are not meeting up with family until the 15th to celebrate though, so photos to come later this month.

For now I leave you with their birth photos…

MyBuddy was born Aug. 6th 2007:

Less than one year later…

Pinkie was born on Aug. 4th 2008:

More photos to come this week as we celebrate their birthdays!

As we do most weekends, packed up the Camaro (psych!) Ford Edge (like shoving 1,000lbs. of toddler “you-know-what” into a 2lb. bag) and made the 200+ mile trip into NJ (for one night) to see our family. 

We celebrated “Dada’s Day” (’cause that’s what the iTwins call him) with my hub’s family (including his brother’s family) at his parent’s house. 

It was a sneak-peek into the week we’re going to be spending with “all of them” (all 7 children and 8 adults total) at the Outer Banks in NC for our newly-traditional family reunion in two weeks (just add many more sandy feet and got-sun-screen-in-my-eyes screaming children).  You best belive my Margarita Machine is coming with.

We’re going to need a heftier supply of that’s for sure!

The kids built this gem in .02596 seconds yesterday!

…and knocked it down and were bored again in .01287598 seconds!

So what’s next on the list…

…oh just feed them again.

You know this just a sampling of the amount of sugar that will be consumed that week with Grandma & Grandpa at the helm…

(Notice the fresh and healthy slices of cantaloupe on the tray going to waste back there – can’t say we don’t try!)

It WAS a wonderful weekend and we loved spending the time with Grandpa and Dada.

(Hubby’s Father, Hubby & myBuddy)

As of this morning, the sugar has worn off.

The iTwins are napping.

This is all that the huz left in the fridge before departing on another business trip…

Nah…actually he left me some goldfish crackers for the kids too.

No parties here this week people.

However, THIS is what he goes away and does…

(sent me this iPhone pic this morning)…a Camaro for a rental…are you kidding me….for real, must you rub it in…

..you’re driving around in THAT having a good ol’ business-trip kinda time…

…while I’m imprisoned home with this?

The toddler melt-down machine.

The SAHM is overrated (sometimes I think).

Sometimes I think it might even be a scam when I receive photos like above from the go-to-work half of us.

I might need to remind him while he’s away joy-riding that he does have a wife and children at home!

For real:
He is a very wonderful man and I love him with all of my heart (even though his socks need GPS to the laundry basket) — he is also an amazing father who will be missed this week :( Hurry home Dada.  But sorry no, you’re not getting a Camaro when you return.

Did you see what we got made him for Father’s Day? Here is the post in case you missed it.

This post was TOTALLY brought to you by…

Mega Bloks – they are a must. have. in every home.