Authentically Nita

I guess there comes a time when every mother has to come face to face with their teenager and let them know who's boss. Mother/daughter relationships can be difficult during these years. This Thursday's Thought: "Mother Nature is providential. She gives us twelve years to develop a love for our children before turning them into teenagers." ~William Galvin The reason behind the thought: My daughter crossed a line last night. This line crossing showed blatant disrespect and has changed our relationship forever. My daughter turned 13 in March. It's only been a few months and one of my worst fears has already come true. The fear that she would one day forget how much I love her and how much I've been here for her through the years. I've never had a teenager before and this is all new to me, but one thing I am not going to do is play friends with her and allow her to disrespect me.

Check out our Walk Team Video for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. We're getting an early start this year and I am hoping to get more people involved. I chose the song "Some Say Love," sung by LeAnne Rhimes. I think this song is so beautiful. It's like she is singing a poem. Here are the lyrics: Some say love, it is a river, That drowns, the tender reed. Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves, your soul to bleed. Some say love, it is a hunger, An endless aching need. I say love, it is a flower, And you it's only seed. It's the heart, afraid of breaking, That never, learns to dance. It's the dream, afraid of waking, That never, takes the chance. It's the one, who won't be taken, Who cannot, seem to give. And the soul, afraid of dying, That never, learns to live. When the night, has been too lonely, And the road, has been too long. And you feel, that love is only, for the lucky, and the strong. Just remember, in the winter, Far beneath, the bitter

I am putting together a video for our family's JDRF Walk for the Cure Team. The video will be about my daughter's life and struggle with diabetes and will contain text and images. I have everything except the background music. Here is my list of songs to choose from (none of them seem to fit): When You Believe-Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston Some one's Watching Over Me- Hilary Duff Angel of Mine - Monica If I Could - Regina Belle Everybody Hurts -R.E.M. Beautiful - Christina Aguilera Wind Beneath My Wing - Bette Midler Hands - Jewel Because You Loved me Tears in Heaven Okay, so these are basically a bunch of songs that I love and find inspirational, but none of them seem to fit. Does anyone know of a good inspirational song, or a song about hope, or persevering?

Not long ago I posted a Blog about this wonderful organization and how they are helping inner city youth experience life outside of the city. I think this is great because it is at no expense to the children and could make a world of difference in their lives. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so! A group of generous donors has decided to match all donations received in the month of June, dollar for dollar. Please donate by June 30th so that your donation can be matched. If you'd thought about this before and thought to yourself, "$25.00 is nothing." This is the time to erase that thought. This month $25.00 is $50.00. So if you can spare it, and you feel that this is a good cause, please contribute to The Fresh Air Fund .

According to the ADA, the total annual economic cost of diabetes in the USA in 2007 was estimated to be $174 billion. On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order removing the limitations on federal funding of research involving embryonic stem cells that had been in place since August 2001. I know this is old news, but I was online today browsing Diabetes Research (again) and dreaming that there will be a cure sometime during my daughter's life. This makes me so much more hopeful. Even if most of the research is being done for adults and not children, she'll be an adult soon enough and one of my main concerns now, is how having this diseaes all these years, will effect her later in life. As she gets older, it'll only get worse. Right now we have hopes that a cure will be found. But imagine if I could tell her, that once you're this age, you can get this cure. That would be something to look forward to.

Does anyone know what a 3 year old drunk acts like? Loopy and unable to walk straight. Won't sit still. They say stuff that would normally get them tapped in their little mouth, or at least scolded. Once you get them to sleep, they will sleep for long periods of time. They wake up in the middle of the night muttering about events that happened the day before, then quickly fall back to sleep. She will wake up the next morning acting very hyper. My youngest daughter was given medication at the hospital, so that she could have all her dental work done in one shot. This is what happens when your child is under the influence (of legal narcotics). Thank goodness this is all over and I have my little girl back.

It is a breath of fresh air just to know that organizations like this exist. Check out this video from The Fresh Air Fund: The Fresh Air Fund is an organization that gives inner-city youth, from low-income families living in New York City, an opportunity to experience life in the country or suburbs. The program allows these children to enjoy a FREE, Fresh Air Vacation for two weeks in the summer. Right Now, The Fresh Air Fund is in need of Host Families. If you live in any of the participating states (listed below), and if you have room in your home and in your heart, please open your door to a child this summer. Contact The Fresh Air Fund for more details on becoming a host family. There are no financial obligations and hosts get to choose the age group and gender of the child they will bring into their home. So if you have an eight year old daughter, you could host a girl in that age group to hang out with your little girl and vacation at your home for two weeks. The Fresh Air Fund

Let's all do our part and take action to protect and preserve our world :) Here are a couple of things you can do to make a difference: 1.) Switch out your inefficient lights bulbs to Compact Flouresent Light bulbs and convince a friend to do the same. 2.) Make a pledge to save energy at home. (The following steps are from the E.P.A. ) Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room. Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.) Purchase "green power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.) Have leaky air conditioning and refrigeration systems repaired. Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can. Insulate your home, water heater and pipes. Things I am doing: Switched out the bulbs, making sure I continue to recycle, got rid of the car awhile ago and I am using Philly Car Share (most of their cars are Hybrids) and I'm taking the bus too. This means I drive le

For Tabi's 13th b-day I took her out shopping, and to get her pictures taken. Then she had a sleep-over later that evening. Early that morning. Photos taken at the Gallery: Children at the party singing Happy Birthday. (I don't know why she's looking down at her phone) A bunch of girls in the kitchen. My house was so crowded. Tabi & Puff dipping ice cream. Naeemah & Salimah eating yummy cake. The little girlies. Gifts were pretty much just gift certificates and cards. This one is a gift cert. for Borders, I thought that was a good one :)

Glorious had her first picture day on 3/11/2009. These are her first professional pictures since her newborn photo. The outfit Waiting for mommy... Getting her hair done. Getting ready to leave. "Bye-bye daddy, gotta go!" The Finished Photos:

Back in the day my mom used to use Snuggle Fabric Softener. I used to think I had picked it out for her because I would always say, "get the one with the bear on it," and she would. Now that I'm older I know she bought it because it's a good product and it made our clothes smell good. If you're a fan of Snuggle brand fabric softers (like I am), you have to check out the new Snuggle Creme! Sweet Almond Essence If you have not heard of Snuggle Creme yet, see the video: Right now you can get $2.00 off. (So, take advantage of it while it lasts, it sure beats paying full price for Downy)

Over the past few days I've been reading some stories, blogs and comments bashing families that have a large number of children. This is all due to the controversy over Nadya Suleman and the Octuplets. My how we judge. It's crazy and a little disappointing that people are so angry. We are raising eight kids together now. 8 It takes a village, and we have a strong support system of family and friends. The children are 12, 8, 7, 7, 5, 4 , 4 & 1. One child has juvenile diabeties, one child was born premature and one child has Biliary Atresia. Somedays we want to pull our hair out and we yell at each other because we are frustrated. Those days don't over shadow the good ones. We are a step-family and it's very challenging. The Jeub family posted on their website that they received this message recently: "You guys who say we want to have as many as GOD gives us sicken me. This is not the medieval times, this is an advanced age [where] everyone has access to b

Nadya Suleman Mother of the second set of Octuplets to be born in the U.S. She's going through a lot right now and so many people have something to say about her situation. Regardless of how it happened, these babies are here now. All eight babies: Noah, Maliah, Isaiah, Nariah, Makai, Josiah, Jeremiah and Jonah These babies are the world's second set of Octuplets to be born alive. They are also the only set of Octuplets that has had all babies survive this long. Everything else aside, that's amazing to me. I hope they all make it. I don't think that what this woman needs right now is the entire world telling her how stupid she is or people sending her death threats. This is a crucial time in these baby's lives and she is probably worried about them all making it. Especially since multiple births have an increased risk of death.

In December my computer caught a virus which stopped me from blogging for about a month and a half to two months. I have purchased a new one, I'm back online and I'm ready to blog again. I noticed today, that I have finally reached my 100th blog. -Yay for me! :) There were so many things I wanted to blog about while I didin't have a computer, and now I don't even know what to write. I guess I just have to get back into the swing of things.

Right now: MIA's dumb ass is on stage pregnant with the worst outfit on that I've ever seen singing "Swagger Like Us" and Kanye's hair looks stupid. WTF? I still love their music though. The performance is great...

I tried my hardest to catch these dollies on sale this year. I planned to buy four. One for each of the girls. But they were selling out like crazy. My daughters just love Brat dolls. I don't know why. They have big heads, they break much easier than Barbie and they seriously overdue it on make-up. I was happy when MGA came up with the Bratz Kidz Dolls. These dolls don't where as much make-up. What I liked most about these Big Kidz, is that they are NOT dressed in slutty clothes. Although Yasmin's outfit still shows a little tummy, it is much more appropriate than others I have seen on this brand of doll. So anyway, as I searched the net for the new Bratz Big Kidz Music Stars, I could not find Sasha anywhere. I found the Bratz Big Kidz Snap-On Doll Sasha (who's skirt is way too short), but I could not find the Music Stars doll. I checked everywhere I could think of, (in the US) and found nothing. However, while searching the net I found that many stores in the UK ha