Love, Life and Appreciation

I was recently selected to test out the new Pampers Cruisers #SagToSwag VoxBox through the Influenster program. I was really happy to be selected because of the new structure of the diaper (it's supposed to hold up better with fluids, therefore lessening the sag of the diaper) and also having two little ones in the house, it's always nice to have diapers. I've done VoxBoxes in the past with Influenster. My last VoxBox was back in May for the Bella VoxBox. From my four years in the Influenster program, I've received about six VoxBoxes. Before getting the boxes though, a survey is sent out and if the answers provided qualify, than the box can be sent out. Recently the company has been doing Virtual VoxBoxes which offer products and those VoxBoxes appear on the dashboard and there are specific tasks to do to get the VoxBox. Those VoxBoxes appear for everyone in specific categories, I think.

Today Rex has his first day of school after work. He'll be going to Hartford Community College. The college is about 45 minutes away from the house but he'll only be going Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 pm to 9 pm. That's for now, when he gets further in the schooling the days might change. I'm so proud of him and I know he'll do well. It's going to be tough especially with work and school and family life. I know when he has assignments he'll need space. I will try to give him the space from the kids. I am now with them 24/7 and hopefully within the next month I can get back to work. I know then too, for me it'll be work and family life and these next few years will be interesting.

We got a chance to go back to NJ for the day this past weekend. We spenyt time with my grandparents and parents. Money is still tight but we gathered up some of our funds and made the trip. We are actually about 20 minutes closer, than when we lived in Laurel. It's been at least 7 months since the last time we had been to NJ.

The ride was pretty good though we had to wait for a good 15 minutes for around 500 bikers to go down Interstate 95 North with a police escort. Actually we were ahead of the bikers at first. At one point we saw them all lining up off the side of the road with police nearby and I was thinking that they were going to be going on the road and using the escort. We stopped at a rest area down the way so I could nurse Nia and as we were heading back to merge onto 95, a police offer riding a motorcycle blocked our path and the train of bikers followed. Before that people were standing on the bridges above 95, waving and holding American Flags. Rex thought it was flag day. I knew it wasn't flag day and knew it was some event but when I search it online with my phone all I could really find was Bikers Ride August 22nd. That train pushed us back a little bit, though we weren't really in a rush.

We stopped to see my grandparents first. It was the first time my grandparents saw their new great-granddaughter. Both my grandparents are having more health problems and they did not come down to the hospital after I gave birth like with May. I understand. I know as we age, less works. My recovery from the c-section seems to be a bit quicker this time. I have my check-up with my doctor on Thursday. My grandparents kept saying for me to wait until I felt better after the surgery to visit as well and thankful I feel more like myself in the last couple of weeks. It was so great to see them. May had a good time and when she saw her great grandparents before she would be so shy but now she was is very comfortable even though she doesn't get to see them that often. Nia was resting well in her great-grandmothers arms. She was just listening to the stories that were being told. My grandfather came in later and May ran over to him. It was so nice.

I had the opportunity to read Shoo an ebook by award-winning Isreali author Hana Goldberg. The book is about 12 pages long and features rich and colorful illustrations that fit the story line perfectly. The story features Shoo, a stray cat who is hungry and has no place to call home. Shoo dreams of having a home and meets a little girl named Maya, who upset about moving to a new home. They comfort each other and soon Maya has a new friend and Shoo has a new home.

Finally got around to another blog post for the 30 Things list.

Here's number 4: List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could. Much of these you will still be referring back to as your future self.