Questions Answered With First Response

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for First Response. I received product samples as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

I recently wrote about the 10 pregnancy symptoms I had before I knew I was pregnant and it stirred up a lot of discussion because it seems that just about everything can be a pregnancy symptom.

I have heard it all and seen it all. You can have every symptom in the book and not be expecting or vice versa. Take it from someone who has been in both of those positions more than once. The only way to alleviate the uncertainty is through an accurate pregnancy test and the sooner you can know the less you have to wonder! That’s where First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test comes in.

Pregnancy tests have come a long way, even in the past few years that I have been using them. The First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test can detect pregnancy as early as SIX DAYS BEFORE the day of your missed period. That’s like one week less of having to play guessing games with every little potential symptom. What a relief!

Not only is the First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test able to give you results sooner than any other brand of pregnancy test, but they have a new Comfort Sure Design feature that makes the whole experience…um…less awkward. The curve shape is especially design to fit a woman’s hand, the handle is longer, and the tip is 50% wider. When you use this newly designed test you will wonder why no one thought of this sooner! I have taken dozens and dozens of tests over the years and trust me, the First Response Early Result Pregnancy test with new comfort sure design just makes sense.

It’s easy to use, easy to read, and easy to find since it’s available at all major drugstores and grocery stores. The retail price is $8.99-$15.99 . The First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test is FDA approved and can detect all relevant forms of urinary hCG throughout pregnancy ANY time of the day. So you don’t have to worry about taking the test in the morning like you used to. The results are 99% accurate from the day of the expected period and the test only takes 3 minutes. If you are like me and the test shows 2 pink lines then get ready girl because you are pregnant!

So whether you think you are pregnant, want to be pregnant, or just want to quit wondering, I recommend the only test that can tell you 6 days before your expected period and the only test with the comfort sure design:

First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test.

Stop asking questions and get some answers with First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test .

Be sure to go to FirstResponse.com for some wonderful pregnancy planning resources, coupons, product information, and more.

By Natalie|2015-06-10T09:08:27+00:00June 10, 2015|Pregnancy & Birth, Uncategorized|8 Comments

Prayers to the God of Miracles

2 years ago I wrote a post called “We Need a Miracle”. It was one on the most vulnerable posts I’ve ever had to write. We were living in the basement of my brother’s house driving an hour to get SJ to school and the money was about to run out. We knew we needed to move across state lines so that she could qualify for scholarships, which meant we had 3 months to find a job and a home starting from scratch with zero connections. We truly did need a miracle and we got one! We found an apartment crazy enough to accept the pay stubs from J’s temp job he was wrapping up and we lived off of savings for a few weeks while he tried to find work. While volunteering at SJ’s school he met a guy that gave him a job! We knew he still needed a “career” in the long run, so that is why he went back to school. All that happened 2 years ago and the Lord has provided for us this whole time.

Last year I wrote another post titled “We’re Not Moving” where I boasted about the sense of relief I felt by renewing the lease on apartment for another year. At that point we had just moved 3 times in less than 3 years, so I was thrilled to finally not be going anywhere.

However, this year is a different story. We gave the notice to the apartment management that we would NOT be renewing our lease. I am all for “Lots of Hope for the Little Home” and I don’t mind living in a small space at all, but I’ll spare you all the details and just say that we definitely need something more accommodating for a family of six. Trust me. We also need a van because after three kids I have learned that a baby doesn’t need much. However, we can not legally fit all 4 kids in our current vehicles so this is a non negotiable upgrade. As if that weren’t enough J needs a new job. He has to have a co-op for school, so something in the field of computer programming. Do you see how I might be just a tiny bit stressed? The baby is coming in 5 months and all we need is a car, a house, and a job. No big deal.

I say no big deal sarcastically, but it truly is not a big deal for God. You’ve probably heard the songs Oceans by Hillsong United. The line that says “You’ve never failed and you won’t start now” has been resonating deep within me. We find ourselves desperate for another miracle, but thankfully I serve a God of miracles. He is a mighty savior with infinite resources.

So here we go again. We need a house, a van, and a job. We need a miracle. Will join me in praying and believing for that?

By Natalie|2015-06-05T21:32:36+00:00June 5, 2015|My Life, Uncategorized|9 Comments

Are Unexcused Absences Ever Excusable?
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Are Unexcused Absences Ever Excusable?

Schooling, Uncategorized

Are Unexcused Absences Ever Excusable?

I take school and academics very seriously, but I am not opposed to missing a day every once in a while even when the reasons aren’t related to death or illness. Maybe you’ve seen some of the headlines in the news lately.

Mike Rossi is a dad who wrote a very passionate letter to the school’s principal which then went viral. The letter came as a response to the disapproval of him taking his kids out of school to watch him run in the Boston Marathon.

Then there was a mom, who was also a substitute teacher that was ARRESTED because her 10 year old honor student had too many unexcused absences. He was allowed 6, but had 12. Some of those were excused with a doctor’s note, but the mother, Julie Giles, claims they were all illness related. Giles says:

“The truth is, l cannot afford a copay every single time they are sick, but I never want to send them to school when they feel bad or could possibly get others sick,”

No doctor’s note, no excuse. Sometimes your child is too sick for school, but not sick enough to have to see a doctor. I completely understand what that’s like! On the other hand there are always two sides to every story. I do realize the importance of rules and protocol, but it’s like Mike Rossi said in regards to his children’s Boston Marathon absences

“Zero tolerance equals zero common sense, and in this case, they made this blanket rule and say, no exceptions? It’s silly.”

Thankfully I haven’t run into this problem with our schools. My children have missed school for various reasons, including trips and family events. I know their classmates have too. I haven’t heard or experienced any backlash from this.

When my husband J was wrapping up his last semester he wanted to bring Z to his college campus to see a project he had been working on. J had spent months working to perfect a Tic-Tac-Toe game. I know that might sound ridiculous for a grown man who is in college, but maybe a little less silly when you realize he was programing software that would enable a robot to play Tic-Tac-Toe. J had been sending updates and videos to Z every step of the way and now that it was finally complete he really wanted Z to be able to see it in action. So I emailed his teacher and told the school exactly what was going on knowing that this was technically an unexcused absence. His teacher and the faculty were extremely supportive. Z was able to be a part of invaluable learning opportunity visiting a college campus and playing Tic-Tac-Toe with a robot in 1st grade! Not to mention the priceless memories with his dad.

I really hope these irrational standards for school attendance are isolated incidences and that the majority of our schools really do support the families they are serving.

So, let’s chat.

Did your parents allow you to miss school for certain events when you were growing up? What about your children? I think you know how I feel.

By Natalie|2015-05-29T09:28:46+00:00May 28, 2015|Schooling, Uncategorized|16 Comments

What I Wore My First Trimester

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I will have to do a separate post explaining why this pregnancy (my 4th) will also more than likely be my last. It has always been my preference that I would know when I was done having children so that I could really go out with a bang. What can I say? I like closure. So this is the end of a child birthing era for me and I want to finish in style.

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These days my style usually consists of jeans, a t-shirt, Toms, no makeup, and a messy bun. That’s not to say that there aren’t occasions that I do try to coordinate just a little bit. Those are the outfits I’ll be focusing on for What I Wore Wednesday.

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This shear pink striped top was featured in a previous WIWW last summer, only this time I added a belt and paired it with some comfy black leggings and flats. The first trimester can be tricky because you are’t quite “showing”, but if you are like me you certainly aren’t fitting in your regular clothes. That’s why I was all about large tops and leggings these past couple months.

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Next up I have the same outfit I wore for my profile pic. This shirt is NOT maternity, but I always feel like I look pregnant when I wear it, so I finally just packed it up with my maternity clothes. I am also wearing some Old Navy maternity skinny jeans that I LOVE and my fave pair of Gap sandals.

Oh, and I have to mention my little side kick sporting his Wal-Mart jammies. He always likes to copy me when we do these shoots.

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Lastly, it’s back to leggings with a big shirt. On the left I am wearing a dress from the Gap (I consider it more of a shirt though!). On the right is a “Pinned it Spinned it” outfit which I had posted on Instagram. A lot of these clothes I wore to camouflage my big secret, but now the secrets out and it’s a good thing because my bump is less and less conspicuous everyday!

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So those are some of the highlights from the first trimester. Now that the weather is warming up it’s probably going to be summer dresses for the win. I’ll have another installment of What I Wore Wednesday maternity edition further down the road.

That’s all for now!

By Natalie|2015-05-27T01:02:25+00:00May 27, 2015|Uncategorized|9 Comments

Ten Pregnancy Symptoms I Had Before I Took the Test

I have so much suppressed details to write about this pregnancy. Three months into it and I have not blogged about any maternity stuff, other than the announcement. That might not sound like a big deal, but I have a chronic case of documentia. It’s a disorder that I made up to label my impulse to document everything.

So I do plan to catch up on all the first trimester updates, but let’s just start with how I knew I was pregnant.

First of all I was not expecting to be pregnant. Here is the TMI version of the story.

I don’t do birth control pills or anything like that. I did once when I was a newly wed and have decided against it for the past 14 years due to personal medical reasons. However, we were trying NOT to get pregnant through every NFP (natural family planning) method in the book. Now some of you might laugh and say “Yeah, that NFP stuff is a joke and it never works”, but let me repeat I have not been on birth control for 14 years and the three children that I have were not accidents. Let’s just say we had a good system going. At one point at the beginning of this year we discussed the idea of having another child soon. Except we decided it wasn’t good timing and we wanted to wait a bit to be completely ready. From that point on though I will admit to being a little more laid back with charting and all that. It’s not the first time I have taken the casual-trust-my-gut approach to NFP. However, it is the first time it resulted in an unexpected pregnancy.

I knew pretty early on what we were in for. I made this list on March 23 (which would have made me almost 5 weeks pregnant). I even titled it-

“Am I Pregnant?”

1. Weird Dreams

2. Fatigue

3. Late period

My period used to be all over the place so this one isn’t that big of indicator for me, but I was expecting to start any day.

4. Nausea

5. Ear problems

This is something I commonly struggle with when I am pregnant. That is part of the reason I had to go to the Doctor recently.

6. Forgetfulness

Not that I want to attribute everything I do to pregnancy, but there have been some CRAZY mix ups. I feel like I am in such a fog.

7. Insomnia

I knew when I woke up at 3:30 am hungry and unable to sleep that something was definitely up.

8. Metallic taste

During those first few weeks I had a slight metallic taste in my mouth. Which was probably the biggest indicator.

9. Numb Arm

My right arm had a lingering numbness to it. It’s not even a pregnancy symptom I have ever felt in the past, but when I looked it up, sure enough, it’s a pregnancy symptom.

10. Gas

Bloating and intestinal issues. Bleh.

From there the list just grew and was of course later confirmed through a pregnancy test. Even though it was kind of a tough first trimester I considered all the symptoms a blessing because it was a constant reminder that this was real. I knew it probably meant I was having a very normal healthy pregnancy.

Did any of you other mamas have tell tale signs when you were expecting? Did you know right off the bat, or were you oblivious for the longest time like those women on the show I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant? Just kidding, don’t even get me started on all that craziness!

By Natalie|2015-05-21T19:23:06+00:00May 21, 2015|My Life, Pregnancy & Birth, Uncategorized|8 Comments

Welcome!
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Welcome!

Uncategorized

Welcome!

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Hello, and welcome to my brand spankin’ new website! Please don’t look too closely because this site is still heavily underconstruction. I don’t know if you should even be reading this without a hard hat. Seriously though, J and I spent all weekend day and night working on getting everything transferred from Blogger to WordPress and trying to customize and organize over 1,000 posts and all the many features that go into the pages of a blog. It’s not done yet, but we are both exhausted and I didn’t want to delay the launch any longer. I can’t thank my husband enough for everything that he has done to invest in this passion of mine.

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Now I do realize that some of you might be thinking this site doesn’t look that dramatically different from the old site.

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Or maybe you like the old site better, but you’ll just have to trust me that from a blogger’s standpoint the bones of this site are thousand times better.

Since this is a blog move, let’s compare it to a real move. Messy Mom was renting a prefab home before. Blogger (owned by the google empire) owned my home. The rent was cheap (free) and it was great, but I was wanting my blog to grow and I didn’t think house would be the right size for what I was dreaming up. So last week I had a little going away party! I showed a movie, had some party favors (The Starbuck’s giveaway ends tonight at midnight! There is still time to enter if you haven’t already), and I even invited everyone to my next party (a link-up party).

Then I packed up all of my content and moved it over to this new site, which does cost a little more, but it’s a customized home that my husband J built it by hand. So it is a completely one of a kind and comes with amenities I never would have dreamed of in my old virtual house. Now I just have to learn my way around and figure out the fancy bells and whistles of it all.

As with a real move, getting into the house is only the beginning. You have to unpack and set up. Sometimes you get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore or purchase some new window treatments and such. Then it’s time to organize everything. Even when you think you have it all set you then realize you want to rearrange because you think the couch would look better on the other side of the room, or you can’t find your waffle iron and you wonder if it got left behind in the move. You just keep tweaking your crib until eventually it feels like home again.

So that is where I am at in this process. I still have a lot of work cut out for me. There may be some glitches here and there, but please be patient. I will have it all sorted out soon and then we’ll have a house warming party. You know how much I love a good party.

Click edit button to change this text.

By Natalie|2015-05-18T22:28:07+00:00May 18, 2015|Uncategorized|9 Comments

Messy Mom Giveaway!

I love giveaways! I have won A LOT of free stuff from blog giveaways. My favorite was probably the wok set that I won from Barefoot by the Sea. It came with loads of non perishable asian cuisine and other items from Blue Dragon.

The day the two huge boxes were dropped at my doorstep was like Christmas! We have made several items from the stash so far and my husband volunteered to make spring rolls again tonight.

Sadly the giveaway that I have for you today isn’t that great. In fact this is probably the most anticlimactic giveaway in blog history, but it is from the heart!

As a thank you for joining me on this journey I would like to give you the chance to win a cup of coffee on me. Actually, depending on what you order with your $10 Starbucks gift card you will probably be able to get TWO drinks! This deal is getting sweeter by the minute.

And because this is from me personally I am going to be sending it the old fashioned way through snail mail (because I could send you an electronic gift card these days) and it will come in an adorable handmade card from fellow blogger Karrilee from Abiding Love, Abounding Grace. I WON the notecards in a giveaway that she had and I love the idea of having it go full circle to another giveaway.

To enter just use the rafflecopter below to sign up.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I have kept it simple this time with the options of following on Twitter and Facebook. I will do another giveaway for subscriptions sometime after I launch the new site and I can’t wait to host more bigger and better giveaways for you guys as the site grows.

If you want to keep up with MessyMom.com, but don’t care about the giveaway then by all means you can still follow along. My social media buttons are the first thing in my sidebar.

Then come back tomorrow as the party continues and I reveal a new weekly link up I will be hosting!

“Giveaway ends May 18th at 11:59 PM EST. Open to Residents of the US only. Prizes cannot be shipped to PO Boxes. Winner will be selected by Random.org and be notified by email. Winner have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Facebook and Twitter are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone. I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.”

By Natalie|2015-05-18T01:50:45+00:00May 11, 2015|Uncategorized|23 Comments

Mothers Are Like Clocks

Long ago, before we even had children we bought this large clock for our kitchen. It actually set itself automatically and changed when the time changes twice a year. It was just a simple analog clock, so I never did figure out how it could adjust the time like magic, but it was faithful to do so.

The clock moved from Texas, to Kentucky, and finally Ohio where it adorned our kitchen once more. It wasn’t the cutest or trendiest home decor item but it had an important purpose. Our son even learned how to tell time the old fashioned way thanks to that clock. I’ll admit that it had gradually sped up over the years to the point that I knew it wasn’t perfectly accurate, but it still helped me stay on schedule. It just kept faithfully ticking away.

That was until recently when the clock stopped.

I thought it was 12:55 pm for two hours before I realized what happened. I panicked and rushed out the door to pick up my kids from school. When I returned home I immediately went to change the batteries. The problem is that it still didn’t work. We tried different batteries. We tried reseting it. Even the fixer of our family couldn’t revive it. So we had to face the fact that after ten years of service to our family the clock had come to the end of it’s life.

Time of death? Unknown.
Bad joke. Sorry.

Anyway, into the trash it went and about a week passed by without the clock hanging on the wall. Even despite our phones, computers, and other various digital clocks I had relied on that one for so long that I thought I would loose my mind if it wasn’t replaced soon. I looked up at that blank spot on the wall probably 20 times a day. I expected to see the time only to be repeatedly disappointed. I feel lost when I don’t know what time it is.

Today we finally replaced the clock and life can proceed as normal.

With mother’s day around the corner this got me thinking. Moms are a lot like clocks. As a child you rely on your mother to keep time, to get you where you need to go, to maintain a steady rhythm, to be there to keep the machine running non stop… like clock work! Then one day you grow up and enter adulthood and you realize just how much you looked up to your mom. It’s in hindsight that you can fully appreciate the depth of what she did for you.

When I think about my old clock I see so many parallels to my mother.

I don’t know how she did it all- all the time, but it happened. Like magic. And if sometimes her timing wasn’t perfect it didn’t matter because she got the job done. She served our family faithfully. She was committed every second, minute, and hour of every day. Her purpose was and is invaluable.

She taught me how to cherish the time.

So this is for all the mother’s out there that are constantly running. To the moms that are a source of reliability and consistency for their families, and those who are trying to embrace every moment as time marches on. Your role in your family is obviously deeper and more intimate than any old clock, but maybe next time you look at the time you can think about the bigger picture because whether you feel it or not, I can assure you that you are appreciated.

Happy Mother’s Day.

By Natalie|2022-03-15T22:46:04+00:00May 1, 2015|Family, Motherhood, Uncategorized|16 Comments

Are Breasts the New Shoulders?

I’ve seen a lot of children/family movies lately where some of the women looked like they got their sexy wardrobes from a Bond girl. Seeing cleavage everywhere is nothing new, but it seems to be getting more prominent and mainstream everyday. Don’t even get me started on swimsuits. When I am talking to a woman whose breasts appear to be coming up for air, I try to think like a good ol boy. Don’t gawk. Look at her face. Be respectful. Unlike with men, it’s not because I’m stimulated by all that skin. It’s because some girls have their “girls” pushed up so high and their necklines so low that it really is an art form how they even manage to keep their nipples covered. Sorry to be so descriptive.

For years I have tried to ignore this. I don’t want to be judgmental or legalistic. I was hoping that eventually I would just get used to it. Surely once we see enough boobs we’ll all be desensitized and we won’t even notice them anymore.

Being as open and objective as I possibly can, I tried to compare cleavage to going sleeveless.

Not that long ago showing your shoulders was scandalous. My mother in law told me about a time her daughters were scheduled to sing a gospel song at church, but one of them had a sleeveless dress and so it was considered inappropriate for them to be on the platform and they were turned away. Pants used to be immodest as well and there are still plenty of cultures and religions where some of these practices are still in place, but it’s certainly not the norm.

So maybe that’s how it is with cleavage now. It’s something that used to be a big deal, but now it’s not. There are modest ways to expose your breasts and I just need to embrace change.

Except I don’t buy that. To me it’s still a big deal. Keep in mind this is my personal conviction and opinion as a christian woman. I have decided that breasts are not the same as shoulders. People don’t get shoulder implants. There aren’t restaurants named after women’s shoulders (ahem Hooters). Women don’t sustain a newborn life with their shoulders. Children and men have shoulders, but they do not have mammary glands. I know those are weird examples, but what I am trying to get at is that breasts are still sacred in my book. It’s not just the nipples, I’m talking about the whole organ. Medicalook explains “The glands are associated with the female reproductive system in part due to their assistance in attracting a mate as well as their role in nourishing a baby.” In other words, from a scientific standpoint female breasts are not sexual organs, but they are largely associated with sexuality because they are in some ways part of reproduction. No matter how much we try to normalize it breasts are sexual and cleavage is provocative.

There are so many different lines that can be drawn when it comes to cleavage and it’s not a one size fits all issue (literally). My well endowed friends know what I’m talking about. This isn’t about shaming women for having curves. It’s about loving our curves enough to have some dignity. I wear what I feel comfortable wearing. I went through a season where I beat myself up about the issue of modesty. Everyday I would obsess about every detail of my jeans, shirt, or dress and whether or not it could be something that would be a trigger for a man. This was bondage I had because of my past which I have thankfully been delivered from. I still want to dress modestly, but I feel like it’s a who I am as a transformed and renewed daughter of the King not because of a modesty checklist. That’s another topic entirely, but I just want to be clear that this isn’t me looking down on other women because of how they dress. It’s simply the stance I take for myself and the message I want to send to my daughter.

I am not ready to just accept that breast are the new shoulders. It’s such a lovely, complicated, mysterious part of the body and I don’t want to exploit that. I want my daughter to know that unlike what you see on TV you can be beautiful, elegant, and feminine without having your breast on display. That’s where I stand.

By Natalie|2015-08-05T18:25:30+00:00April 28, 2015|Uncategorized|10 Comments

What Is Going On In This Picture!?

There are a lot of photos on my phone. Most of them never get posted anywhere. Some of them are pretty strange too. Especially if you don’t know the story behind it. That’s why I decided to pick 5 random phone photos and see if you can figure out for yourself just what in the world is going on in these photos. Or maybe I’ll just tell you. I hope you’ll have fun with this as I introduce my first installment of…

ONE

What is going on in this one is pretty obvious. Batman is sitting in his highchair watching cartoons. This is not an abnormal occurrence in our home.

TWO

My parents humungous cat is laying on the dog bed.

THREE

SJ is wearing my knee high boots with her pajamas and they fit perfectly!

FOUR

Speaking of pajamas, I came into the living room one day to find that Ezie had started up the Yoga DVD and was doing his morning workout.

Here are some bonus shots I took while spying on him.

Hey, sometimes I need to grab the console for balance too. There’s no shame in that.

He’s a little behind Rodney here in the upward dog position.

Lastly, the warrior pose. Namaste.

FIVE

What is going on in this picture is “Discreet bladder protection”. I had J pick up some pads from the store and let’s just say you should never send a man to do a woman’s job.

So those are my 5. Show me what you’ve got by posting one of your random phone outtakes on instagram along with the hashtag #whatisgoingoninthispicture. That is not a one of kind hashtag, but if you tag @messymom I’ll know what it’s about. If you don’t have Instagram feel free to share with me on Facebook, Twitter, or via email. I’ll pick one to post on the blog along with a shout out next month when we do another round of #WhatIsGoingOnInThisPicture?

Now go check that photo stream!

By Natalie|2015-05-18T04:08:18+00:00March 31, 2015|Uncategorized|11 Comments