When to be the Bigger Person

My heart is broken, crushed and totally confused. A week ago everything that I thought was is now not. As the Fresh Prince of Bel Air would say, "Now this is the story all about how 

My life got flipped, turned upside down."

I had my suspicions lately about a close friend of mine and her true intentions when it came to being my friend. She seemed genuine and was always nice but lately it seemed that she was more concerned with herself than being a true friend. Let me put it a little in perspective for ya. She is a single mom (tough job!!!) and has before come to me and ask me to help from time to time so she could quickly go do something. I didn't mind helping out a friend because that is what friends do. But lately when she and I would talk I would tell her how stressed I have been lately with going on 4 months of Justin gone and then when he was home (for a whopping 3 months) between deployments he was on the evening shift so I was still doing everything on my own during the week. Now with a mobile baby who gets into everything, school starting up for Taylor, keeping up with the housework, mounds of work AND work stress I have been at my wits end and I am counting down til Justin gets home (16 days!). I get the usual response "Girl I don't know how you do it...I can barely do this with one kid let alone two." Yet lately it has been "Can you watch my kid for a few hours?" every weekend. Seriously did you just hear how stressed I am getting and you want me to do what.....AND you don't offer to reciprocate?!? The icing on the cake came when she asked me to watch her kid for 12 hours on Saturday AND Sunday because she had to go into work. I seriously wanted to scream but I initially said yes. Then I thought to myself, "April you don't have to help ALL the time." Little did she remember she had told me a few days before that the kid's father had offered to watch him but because he had made her mad she didn't want him to. Not cool to try to throw this on me. 

So I ask a coworker of hers and come to find out this is her MO. Befriends someone and slowly become good friends and then in a way begin to "cling" to them to help with everything. Like I said before I can totally understand how hard it is to be a single parent. I give props because my 4 month period is really wearing me thin! BUT to then find out that my apparently "close" friend is also gossiping about me negatively behind my back really made it sting. 

Maybe I am one of those hopeless "good friend" who really believes that you treat someone the way you want to be treated. Especially when this person has called you one of their closest friends and then to find out they do this. At first I was sad and then of course...I was pissed. I wanted to scream at her and tell her what I thought of her. But if I did then I would be no better than her. Stooping to her level of meaness and shallowness is not in me. So I thought of what everyone has heard before, "If you don't have anything nice, don't say anything at all." If I said something then she would know someone told me and then it would make it awkward at work since we work in offices next to one another. BUT also what good would it do in the long run? So instead I have slowly pulled away and just sat back and felt sorry for her. Sorry that she doesn't see how lost a person she is to act like this. Sad that she thinks we all don't know how deceitful a person she is. 

But at the end of the day I know that I am a better and bigger person by continuing to be me and that it wasn't me that made her like that. I can only hope for her that one day she can realize that it isn't worth it to be like that.

Empowering Your Kids

So let me start off saying that my oldest daughter Taylor is the sweetest most kindest child ever. BUT she is a chatty cathy and can't pay attention for the life of her. She has been diagnosed with mild ADHD and counseling has been helping but I have been trying different ways to help her remember on her own her daily chores she needs to do. Because at 545 in the morning as I am getting Olivia ready and myself ready the last thing I need to try to remember is to remind her of which chores she has to do. It can be frustrating at time but I think I have found my perfect solution!

When I was at a counseling session with her recently her counselor was talking to her about rewarding for remembering things and how that could help her. While I tend to disagree because these daily chores are something that she does outside of her allowance. Meaning that if she wants to dust she can earn some allowance money and these other chores are her responsibility regardless. So it made me think...

Being in the military as a supervisor one of the things you can do to boost morale and make someone feel important and needed is to empower them! So I made Taylor an "I Can" chart because that tells her that she can do these things and she can mark it off everyday that she does it. With kids being able to use stickers or mark it off makes them feel so important! I didn't want to call it a chore chart or anything like that so I thought that the title of "I Can" makes her also fee important!

Repetition of doing it over and over on her own will eventually allow her to remember to do it without the chart but for now we use the chart!

So it was really simple and I took it to work and laminated it!

So far so good let's hope this continues to work!!

Baby Sign Language

So I have been thinking about teaching Olivia sign language for the past few weeks as Olivia has become more verbal and has started to wave bye bye and clap.So I went onto Baby Sign Language and started to look into what all I needed to know about teaching Olivia to sign. They have flash cards, language charts, and a dictionary of all sorts of sign language stuff! So much information...I love it!

At first I was cautious because I naturally thought that if I taught her to sign that it would delay her talking but actually that is the opposite. Not only do they typically talk first but also even later on in their child years their IQ is higher too!

So my question to you all is did you try baby sign language? If so what is some advice you might have for me? I know I am probably in for some frustration at the beginning but the big point I am going to make is to keep it fun and not let it get to me! 

I Have a Secret!!!

Don't you just love having a secret or finding one out?!?!? Well after reading this you will know my secret (and of course then it won't be a secret anymore)!

I have been given an opportunity to review Mia Mariu Mineral Cosmetics! When I got the email I was very excited because I love makeup and anything girly and also because I might find something new that I love and be able to pass it on to you all!

Of course I went to their website and read through what the company is about and looked through all their products and I must say I am impressed. 

1. They are from Dallas right near my hometown of Arlington. 

2. They offer women the opportunity to become an entrepreneur and own their own business. Girl Power!

3. It is natural mineral based makeup with vitamins and antioxidants in it that help your skin.

4. I absolutely fell in love with them when I read this...They support the Wounded Warrior Wives! Being that I am a military wife and in the military myself this couldn't hit any closer to home!!

So let's just say with all this that I have found out I am beyond excited to be apart of this review. And what is also good about doing a review...a giveaway! It is currently in the works but there should be a giveaway of the products in the near future! So go tell all your friends to stop on by and look for the review in the near future!