Carson's First Race

This past weekend, as you may recall, our family ran three different races. I ran the 5K Friday night, Chris ran a half marathon on Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon Carson ran his first race, a 1K (slightly more than a half mile). Each race finishes at the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium, home of the fighting Illini.

I got to run with him since he's so young. He'd been looking forward to it for a few weeks, ever since I told him I signed him up for it. Before the event he told my parents that he didn't want to run with me because I slow him down....little stink!  Carson and I lined up in the front half of the group originally but we moved and started toward the back of his age group due to so many kids pushing each other at the start line in eagerness to finish first.   The event isn't officially timed because all the kids are winners, but I had Chris' Garmin 310XT with me just to see how fast this kiddo really is. We ended up passing the majority of his age group and even some of the 4 year old age group that started 10 minutes before us! We ran 0.56 miles in 5 minutes and 46 seconds!  He LOVES to run.

Here he is before the race:

And here he is after the race with his medal!

The whole race he kept looking at me saying, mommy I see the stadium, we're almost there! Both of us were encouraging the other the entire way. I loved that he kept turning to me with a smile on his face saying, 'We got this mom!'. He smile one his face makes me one happy momma!

Super proud of himself for running the race and "being like daddy". He seriously looks up to his dad for running races and doing triathlons. I happen to think it's pretty cool too ;)

Ruby Moon Laundry GIVEAWAY

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to host this giveaway!

Based out of Maine, Ruby Moon is a small, family owned business that is quickly becoming a well known name in the cloth diaper detergent world. Their mission is absolutely awesome!

“Our mission at Ruby Moon is to provide you with an affordable, gentle on the earth and your skin, tough on stains and odor, line of products. All of our products and packaging are made with natural and biodegradable ingredients.We rigorously test our products and would never sell you anything that we wouldn’t use on our own families.”

Ruby Moon was created when the owners' recognized the need for a safe detergent that didn't bother their daughter's sensitive skin. All of their products are all natural, making them gentle on baby's skin.  As a mom of a little one with eczema and sensitive skin, I can appreciate their efforts to help others who need a safe laundry option. The wash leaves little to no residue on cloth diapers, which is a great thing since stripping diapers is not only a pain, but is also very time consuming!

Ruby Moon makes wipe bits, laundry wash, and cloth diaper laundry wash. Check out their website here.

Enter below for your own chance to try Ruby Moon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway will run from April 28th until May 4th. Giveaway is open to US only. You must be 18 or over to enter.  Winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. Winner will be notified by email at the end of the Giveaway and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.  Midwest Cornfed Mom s not responsible for prize shipment or fulfillment.

Friday Free For All

I know, once again I have been slacking on the home front, lol.  Truth is, I've been outside enjoying my time with my family. AND training for another 5k tonight! Yes, I am running a night glo 5k! I can't wait to share the experience with everyone. 

This weekend is jam packed with activities. Tonight, I run a 5k. Tomorrow, Chris runs the Illinois Marathon, half marathon. I am attending the Great Cloth Diaper Change. Then Carson is running his first race, the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon Kids Run! He is so excited to be joining daddy and I doing something we all love.

Yes, Running is life for us now...and that's ok! I especially appreciate the BOB stroller I got a couple months ago now that we all can go run together.

As for life lately, here's the scoop!

Carson has been doing fantastic at school since starting the new medication. I wish we didn't have to medicate, and we may be able to stop it in the future, time will tell. He starts T-Ball next week and is super excited for that! 

Jonathan is doing great, I wrote a post about him yesterday actually. You can read it here.

Chris and I have been busy at work and busy training for our races this week.

Sorry it's short this week, I am swamped with things to get ready for the weekend. Oh by the way, keep a look out for a new giveaway opportunity on the blog on Monday! Happy weekend!

~11 Months~

I can barely believe I am writing this post. Tomorrow,  my baby is 11 months old. In just 4 weeks, he will turn the big 1! In the past month we have hit a few milestones!

Milestones
- Walks a few steps alone without assistance or support
- Waves "bye-bye"
- Signs "Done" and "More"
- Started transitioning to the sippy cup, and accepting it finally!
- Says Mama, Dada, Blanket, Minde, Papa, Baba (bottle), Done, and Bye

Teeth
- Three on bottom, two on top, with a third on top coming through

Eating
- Mostly table food now with the occasional food pouch
- Drinks Enfamil Gentlease

Sleep
- He still wakes through the night to eat...yeah I know, he's "too old for that". He's a big boy, he needs his food I guess! 

Clothes
- Mostly size 12 - 18 months. Some 24 month shirts though.
- Size 5 shoes....yeah he has big feet!

He's changing every day and becoming more independent.  He loves to roam the house and chase the dog around.  He also loves to play with his big brother. The bond between these two seriously makes my heart feel like it will explode!

Our Easter

Here's some photos from our Easter day festivities. The boys had four, yes FOUR, egg hunts on Easter Sunday. We had a great time with all our family!

School Domain Meeting

Yesterday morning I met with Carson's school for a "domain meeting".  This meeting was to determine the need for special education evaluation and services. The meeting consisted of the school's principal, counselor, psychologist, special education teacher, myself, and Carson's classroom teacher. Honestly, I'm still not sure how I feel about the way it all went.

The verdict? There will be no formal evaluation for Special Education and accommodation services at this time. I felt like they had already decided to not evaluate for services before we even had the meeting, but alas we had the meeting.

They asked me what my concerns were at the start of the meeting. I expressed that Carson's anxiety and behavior began to manifest itself more once he started school. We gave him time to "adjust" to being in school, but after 3 months of school, I had decided it was more than just adjusting to being in school.  I had requested an evaluation or a plan to be made, and for him to see the counselor then. Nothing was done. We started taking him to a counselor in January, and saw his pediatrician in late January. We requested an evaluation at that time too. I even followed up with the teacher a week later, but nothing was ever done. I told them how it is impacting him emotionally and socially as he isn't asked to play with the other kids. We don't get invited to parties or play dates. We've had to take him out of certain activities/sports because of it.

They questioned how his baby brother impacted things (not at all!), how he acted socially, how he played with others, how his school (academic) work was, was he just being a copy cat, what are his triggers, what behaviors are indicators he's getting anxious, etc. I answered, the teacher answered, then I was told my son is "a very smart boy". Yeah. I know that!  They told me to create a behavior chart...yep already did that. They said to take away privileges...yep done that too.  I told them that he responds best to positive reinforcement...they acted like I was a genius! They are going to go off that they say.

They decided to put a plan in place to address his anxiety, and to have him see the school counselor once a week...Isn't that what I asked for last fall?!?

They will be developing a plan (or so they say) to provide him a quiet "calm down" period of 5 or so minutes when they notice his anxiety increasing. The counselor is supposed to work with him to identify his anxiety triggers and for him to recognize the cues that his anxiety is increasing so he can get to his "quiet place".  As part of the plan, he will choose what behavior to work on and the time frame to do it. When he achieves it, he gets to choose a buddy to go with him for his reward (taking a letter to the office, going to the gym for 5 minutes, coloring, etc.)  The whole time they kept saying "communication is the key"....I agree but the lack of communication wasn't on my end! The principal even admitted that they dropped the ball and will be having an inservice this week to address what to do when a parent requests evaluation...a little late to help us, but at least it will help someone hopefully!

Anyways, I'm not terribly optimistic about this all, but we will see where it goes. Hopefully they hold up their end of the plan.

Tomorrow's the day...

Tomorrow I meet with my son's school to discuss their lack of action on my concerns. This meeting will consist of myself, the school pyschologist, the school guidance counselor, his teacher, the principal, and the school's special education teacher. Since November, I have made two requests for the school to evaluate my son and his behavior for the impact it has on school as well as how it is effecting his well being.  Both of these requests went UNANSWERED. His teacher acknowledged the requests, told me she would look into getting things started, but that's as far as they ever went.

According the the Illinois State Board of Education, "Within 14 school days after receiving the written request, the district will decide whether to evaluate the child or not. If the district determines an evaluation is warranted, then the district must provide the parents with the paperwork to provide formal written consent. If the district determines that the evaluation is not necessary, it must notify the parent in writing of the decision not to evaluate and the reasons for the decision".  So that makes what has happened so far ILLEGAL! As a parent I am outraged about their lack of concern for my son and his well being.

You may recall in my post last week, I mentioned that I had gotten his pediatrician involved and the school FINALLY responded. It took her writing a letter, me distributing it to the counselor, teacher, principal, and psychologist, before they decided to agree to meet to discuss my concerns.  We are having a "Domain Meeting". They will decide if they have enough reason to conduct an evaluation for services, and then go from there. I'm not too hopeful going into the meeting as the pyschologist says the teacher said "lots of positive things about Carson, and has seen great improvements".  I told her I found this hard to believe since the "Behavior" section of his report card has gotten progressively worse throughout the year.


We will see though....hopefully we can come to some sort of agreement and get a plan in place for his education. I'll let you know later this week!

Womb To Walking Giveaway!

Welcome to the Womb to Walking Giveaway Event

I'm so excited to share this amazing giveaway with you all! Jamie over at Momma Without a Clue has seriously put together an awesome prize packaged. There are fantastic baby items that any new mom would love to have up for grabs in this giveaway!

hosted by Momma Without a Clue

co-hosted by Addicted 2 Savings 4 U

Spring is in the air, everything is blooming... It's definitely baby shower season!  What better way to bring in Spring than with a giveaway??  We've brought together some of the top baby products that you would need from womb to walking - the best for baby's first year - into a great product guide and now we're giving those items away!

Prizes include:

Combi Coccoro convertible carseat - ARV $200

BABYBJÖRN Baby Carrier One - ARV $170

Ju-Ju-Be - Better Be Diaper Bag - ARV $120

$100 Gift Certificate to Mimi and Maggie - ARV $100

One month supply of Luvs Diapers - ARV $30

Classic Alphabet blocks from Uncle Goose - ARV $35

Evenflo Feeding Bottle Set - ARV $20

Baby's First Book Set - ARV $25

For a grand total of over $700 worth of baby gear!

To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  All entries are optional, but the more you complete, the better your chance of winning!



Giveaway will run from April 14th until April 28th. Giveaway is open to US only. You must be 18 or over to enter.  Winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter. Winner will be notified by email at the end of the Giveaway and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.  Momma Without a Clue and the other participating blogs are not responsible for prize shipment or fulfillment



Good luck!





a Rafflecopter giveaway





Disclosure: Momma Without a Clue received the above items in exchange for review. This blog did not receive financial compensation or product in exchange for this giveaway. Facebook, Twitter, & Pinterest are in no way associated with this giveaway. Prize fulfillment and shipping will be handled by the Sponsors.

Friday Free For All

This week has been a whirlwind! I can't believe it's already Friday?!

Spring had sprung this week and we've had a lot of time outside playing as a family. Watching my boys bond is seriously one of the most heartwarming and rewarding experiences a parent could ever ask for in life.   The memories we are making can't be topped.

His first time getting to purposely ride through the puddles!

Aside from lots of family time, work has been at a dull roar lately, which is a welcome change!

Carson has been signed up for his first kids fun run in just 2 weeks and we've been training for it together. He's such a good runner! I think we found his sport!  School has still be a struggle for him, as you may have seen in my post about his anxiety. Next Tuesday I have a meeting (Chris can't go due to work) with the school to discuss possible evaluation and putting a plan in place for addressing his behavioral and emotional needs.  I'm not too optimistic about it, but that's more than I can fit into today's post. I will have to write about it next week!

Jonathan is so close to walking all over! He will let go and take a few steps but doesn't venture all the way across the room just yet....I'm thinking he will do it before he's one next month though for sure.

Anyways, enough rambling for now! Time to enjoy the nice weather some more before it cools off again next week.

I ran a 5K!

A couple of weeks ago I ran my first ever official race! I ran a 5K with my husband...well he ran and finished 6 minutes ahead of me, but still, we ran the same race.

Pre-race Selfie, haha!

I had set a goal of 45 minutes for the 3.1 miles.....to my surprise I finished in under 39 minutes! I was so proud of myself when I crossed the finish line. Here's some pictures from that day :)

"Oh I see the finish!"

Almost there!

Finally done...yes I shared this even though it's an awful photo of me!

Anxiety and My Son: April Update

Carson has been on anxiety medication for a little over two months now. Last week we had a follow up with his pediatrician. We discussed his behavior and the little glimpses of improvement we see. Little things such as not biting his nails constantly. I never have been so excited to cut my son's nails! It was a great moment for us both, haha.  Other things we have noticed are less frequent crying spells, less "gloom and doom" talk, and better sleep! He doesn't wake up during the night and isn't nearly as restless as he had been prior to starting the anxiety medication and the iron supplementation.

His behavior is slightly improved, but the busyness, angry outbursts, and oppositional attitude still is very prevalent. He still has trouble at school, but its not every day anymore, so that's an improvement! During our visit to his doctor last week, it was decided that it is now time to treat him for ADHD as well as Oppositional Defiance Disorder. The treatment for these is the same thankfully, but it is a stimulant drug. So far after a week of medication, we haven't had any negative effects of the medicine, but really aren't seeing much improvement yet either. I wouldn't expect to see much improvement yet though, as medications like this take some "tweaking" to get to the right dosage and right medication for your child.

You may be thinking "Oh my gosh! That's a lot for a child." It is, but it's not uncommon. Anxiety or depression disorders are often found as a comorbidity of ADD or ADHD.

So this is our life now. A child on three medications, that sees a counselor every other week. Myself and my husband are both committed to only the best for our son. Stay tuned for an update to my "Parenting a child with anxiety" series later this week!

Throwback Thursday

2 years ago this week <3