Fool-proof antidepressant

This is it.... Once and for all depression can be abolished. I should have known all along. So simple, so easy. The most affordable cure that you will ever come across. Don't let the price deter you: this isn't a back woods home remedy that will do more harm than good... though it certainly can be used in the back woods too.

I have found that even if you have slipped and have started down the path to a bad day that this remedy will cure what ails you... if you let it. Why wait until you are already having a bad day though... start the day out right with this fast and easy cure.

Side effects are minimal. Some test subjects claimed that it caused an almost giddy happiness. There also seems to have been an almost impossible need to share this curative. There also seems to be some degree of addiction involved. However as there are no real drawbacks to the addiction it is not considered to be a dangerous problem.

What you ask can this new drug be and how do you get your hands on it? How much does a miracle like this cost in this day and age? It is free! That's right free! And the best part is that it is at your disposal, no it is easily with in your reach. We all have access to it!!!

Now you can barely contain yourself, the curiosity has you antsy. What could it be, you have this common place thing. It really can make you feel better. I promise that it will, or your money will be refunded. ( Gotcha)

All it is simply put is a smile. Something so simple so easy. I promise you that it will work. I have the best smiler in 100,000 miles and I am willing to share. Please see above for a free sample. If these pictures don't make you smile then you are hopeless. ( although for the record I don't believe that anyone is hopeless. : )

Enjoy! Pass it on... One smile from you can make another person's day... and when it has it will make your day! I Promise.

Baby Mine

Ask any one who knows me fairly well and they will tell you that my favorite movie genre is kids movies. Put on a video that is intended for a toddler while I am in the room and I am a goner. I have a fairly large collection of kids movies that were purchased long before I ever thought that I might need to keep a child occupied and they are watched frequently.

As a little girl these shows were a big deal... back then we didn't have it on video that we could pop in when ever we wanted so I had to catch them when they would play it on T.V. All of the shows had their special time of the year that they were on. Mary Poppins was always on Easter Sunday, so was the Wizard of Oz. My parents were really good about finding out when those shows were on and getting us sat down to watch them. Even when we didn't have a T.V. ( which we didn't get until I was in third grade) my dad would bring us over to Gramps and Granny's or my mother would bring us to Aunt Kathy's house. It was a treat to watch these shows and we would often make a night of it.

Knowing my love of cartoons combined with my love of animals and my need to root for the underdog... it should come as no surprise that Dumbo was one of my favorite shows in the world. I would giggle through the song sung by crows about how impossible it was for an elephant to fly. I would watch through my spread fingers as Dumbo would run to get to the top of the elepant pile... knowing that disaster was about to strike. I would watch enthralled by the color changes and images of Pink Elephants. I loved everything about that movie.

The thing about Dumbo is that it was a bittersweet movie to watch, much like Bambi or Fox and the Hound. There in the midst of this wonderful movie was a sadness that was difficult to watch. Like the death of Bambi's mother and the end of the friendship between Copper and Tod, it was hard to watch Mrs. Jumbo get in trouble for protecting her baby. It was near to impossible to watch as she rocked him while "Baby Mine " played. From a very young age that part of the movie impacted me greatly. I would watch it broken hearted for Dumbo, because I knew how I would feel if I lost my mommy. From the time that I understood the movie I fought tears at that part of the movie.

My mother and I talked once when I was a bit younger about that part of the movie agreeing about how hard that part of the movie was to watch. My mother said that she too had to fight tears at that part of the movie. I took the comment at face value, assuming that she experienced that scene in the same way that I did. I believed that she responded the same way that I did for the same reasons that I did. I am sure that she did at some point, but I know now that there was so much more to it.

The other night I was rocking my little girl late at night. We are having some teething issues so we often don't sleep very well right now. So there I was at three in the morning trying to coax her back to sleep and I started humming Baby Mine. As I was humming and rocking the most precious person that I have ever met in my life, for the first time in my life I realized the depth of that scene. I thought of that scene as a mother. I envisioned the tearing loss that Mrs. Jumbo felt being seperated from her little one and trying to comfort him in what small way that she can. Just contemplating such a forced seperation creates in me a desperation. My daughter is napping as I write this and my arms feel empty and ache to hold her.

I always expected that when I "Grew Up" that the effect that scene had on me would change. That the sadness would disappear, like the dread of Wendy having to grow up in Peter Pan did. Or there would come an understood acceptance of the honesty of the scene, as there is when Copper and Tod realize that their childhood friendship cannot carry over into adulthood. This one time however a children's movie effects me as profoundly as an adult as it ever did in my childhood years.

Strategic Battle won in the fight against Eczema!

Previously on Eczema War: ( cue up music with an undertone of dread)

Melissa and Dave fight valiantly to save their young daughter from the cruel grasp of the eczema that has taken over her skin. It was starting to look as if all of their struggle was for naught and that they would spend the rest of their lives slaves to the eczema and the exhausting conflict with the skin rash. A week ago Saturday they had gone into the doctor's office and been sent home with yet another prescription. This one so strong that Melissa's mother and Aunt ,both nurses, questioned the use of it on a baby so young. At the appointment Melissa and Dave asked the doctor to please refer them to a dermatologist or an allergist... The doctor agreed that Ashlynn was bad enough off that he would usually refer to a dermatologist at this point.... however because they are using Medicaid, due to Dave's part time status at work, there was not a dermatologist that would take the child. They were given instead a list of Doctors in Chicago to go to. This broke their hearts as their car is not in the condition to take the baby to Chicago and Dave does not get paid time off, again due to his part time status. (duh din duh) What are they to do : O

(cue up fast paced music with a hint of panic)

...Meanwhile Ashlynn continues to get worse. She is itching and in pain. She wakes every two or three hours in need of lotion and soothing. Mommy and Daddy are at their wits end.Last Wednesday she got so bad off that her eyes were swollen nearly shut. Melissa in desperation called the doctor he told her to use the cream on her eyes. Melissa confered with her mother and her aunt both who advised that was not such a good idea. Melissa looks on the internet: the medication in question is not supposed to be used on children at all let alone on their face. As a matter of fact it is not to be used on an adults face let alone the eyes. Melissa stands wringing her hands near to tears with frustration and worry.

Will the eczema win??? Is there a daring hero who can save this family?

(music steps up pace becomes frenzied and frantic)

... Melissa's mother calls a dermatologist that she has worked with in the area, and explained the situation. Alas, there is no way that the doctor can take the medicaid patient. Melissa's mother is more insistant telling her of the swollen eyes and the fact that the baby literally is covered head to toe in this rash, explaining about the cream that was prescribed .... there must be some help. The office help agast at the suggestion that this awful cream be used in the eyes works what magic she can. Ashlynn is fit in that day. She is able to see the doctor..... albeit at the out of pocket expence of mom and dad. Mom and dad willingly take on the expense and go to see this doctor.

(Music slows, becomes triumphant)

... A cream that is rated for pediatric use is prescribed and an oral antihistimine to stop the itching. Mom is told that it most likely has nothing to do with her diet and that we most likely won't find the reason until the baby is older, if at all. Mom is also told that we have to control the allergic reaction because the inflammation would move to her lungs if not. She is told to keep the baby from good and bad stress and to set up a schedule for her in order to keep from flaring up. Aquaphor ( which is what had been used for the last week) is the best thing and keep putting that on her. 100% cotton clothes and see the doc back in 3 weeks. We will see when we go back then.

( Music becomes happy resolution music, Smiles all around)

...SIGH! The baby slept most of that night (aside from usual feedings)... the rash was starting to look better by morning. The baby is a new person... or at least her old self come back. They call me mellow yellow.... quite right....SIGH!

Now 5 days later the baby's skin is back to baby skin. The red is gone and the pink is back. So pretty so beautiful. The doctors office has set up a payment plan for the 169.00 per visit. Melissa and Dave are grateful for the care of their daughter, and move forward with confidence that the right person is treating their daughter.

Life is Good! Stay tuned for more exciting developments in Eczema War!

A Daddy to be proud of!

I watch my husband and my daughter play together and all I can do is smile. Dave was understandably standoffish about her when I was pregnant. It is hard to get too excited about a pregnancy when you have a track record like ours. It wasn't until I was so huge that there was no question that we were going to have a big healthy baby that he got onto the excitement wagon. Who could blame him. With the miscarriage we had already gone and scoped out baby sections for a registry when I started having trouble at 8 weeks. We started getting excited with Aislynn when we made it through the first trimester. With Aidan we literally had a conversation about how we would stand together if we were to lose the baby. So you can see we were a little gun shy.

That is not to say that he wasn't a part of the pregnancy. He went with me to nearly every appointment that we had and there were alot. I counted them the other day and we had over 50 Dr.s appointments. He held my hand as we prayed that the cerclage would be enough to hold our little one where she needed to be, and he sat with me on the couch counting contractions on the nights when my uterus decided it was time to exercise a little. There is no question that we both spent the entire pregnancy waiting for the other shoe to fall. We then had a beautiful little girl and brought her home and again waited for the other shoe to fall. We had been disappointed so many time. We are breathing a little easier now, although we both check on her 50 times in a nap, and she sleeps with us in our bed. It is amazing that the child gets any sleep at all, though for all of our fears she seems to thrive.

There was a look in Dave's eyes though when our daughter was born that I will never in my life be able to forget. He watched them take her out of me and I watched him watch. I love everything about the man, but on that day I adored what I saw on his face. He watched his little one with awe and so much joy that it brings tears to remember. As the stay in the hospital progressed he fell more and more in love with his daughter. He would come to visit me and look for his little girl first. The day after she was born it took 45 minutes before he came over to give me a kiss hello. He was a goner. I knew he would be, but it sure was wonderful to watch. I thought that it was the best thing I had ever seen.

Then we got her home and I watched him care for her. But the real began when she started to smile and laugh. I think that Dave would happily stand on his head for a smile. When she makes it clear that what she wants is her Daddy, that look from the hospital comes back. When we snuggle together in bed holding hands over her head and she nuzzels into her Daddy he relaxes into happiness that I have seldom seen on him. She always manages to wiggle her way into her Daddy's arms at night finding a spot in his armpit that she marks as her own. Dave has started showering at night so that she doesn't stink in the morning. When we have a little bit of time in the morning and we all have a lie in and mommy and daddy watch as the little dumpling wakes up. She is one stretchy little baby. And just like her Daddy with every stretch there is a stinker. Stretch (fart) stretch (fart). It goes on indefinately with the two of them. He laughs and proudly proclaims "That's my Girl!"

With Dave going off to make the donuts everyday, he misses some of her firsts. On Wednesday she rolled over from tummy to back. A HUGE first. Dave was at work of course, and missed it. But Mommy gives him a running commentary when he gets home. Dave listens to every word as I tell him what we have done today: Little things like looks she gets on her face that crack me up. Funny things like when she sneezed at the same time that she spit up so that it was all over my face and hair and dripping from my glasses. Gross things like when she had a cold and coughed while she was pooping. It came out of every single opening in her diaper all at once. (Thinking about it that is kind of funny. For the record it was very not funny when it happend to me.) Play things like her sit up routine where I go "One Two Three" and at three she flexes all of her tummy muscles and her face turns red. These are the fun things that make being home with her the best job in the world. These are the things that you regret that you were at work for. ( Except that poop thing! I would have gladly been told the story about it.) So I tell him and he looks at his daughter and talks to her about it. A part of it all still.

For all that working though, he makes up his time when he is with her. He coaxes smiles and wins laughs from her. He goos her up with lotion to avoid the exzema. And he is a very gifted baby putter-to -sleeper. She adore him... he adores her. He is a daddy in a million. Now if we can just get him to change that diaper.