Pampers

Zachary got his very first rash a few days after we ran out of Pampers & started using the cheaper brand of diapers. It was not a normal rash it was the Goliath of diaper rashes. An angry and scary looking rash; the kind that screams at you and makes you wince in sympathy every time you change him. The ENTIRE TIME he was using the generic brand, I tried every different type of diaper rash cream, Caldesene powder, butt paste, you name it. NOTHING WORKED! It lasted the entire two weeks until we bought another pack of diapers (Pampers) and then went away when we started using Pampers again.
Every single time we have run out of Pampers and bought a different brand of diaper, Zachary gets a rash within the first two days. I'm sold! For us, it is TOTALLY worth every extra penny that we spend on the Pamper's brand for him not to be in pain with a diaper rash. The money that we were saving on diapers, we were having to spend twice as much in diaper rash cream/treatments that didn't work PLUS he was in pain because of it.

I am now a devoted Pampers fan! NOW, here is the best part! At wal-mart, Pampers cost $40 for 180 diapers. On diaper.com, it only cost $45.00 for 252 of the exact same diapers PLUS THEY HAVE FREE SHIPPING within 2 days of delivery! Seriously, why hasn't anyone told me about diapers.com before? Free shipping and way cheaper! How awesome is that? I will never buy diapers anywhere else again! Tell all of the Mom's that you know who use Pampers or Huggies to check out diapers.com.

If you are more eco-friendly and prefer not to throw thousands of pounds of non-biodegradable waste into the landfills each year like myself, I have a friend who manufactures these precious cloth diapers! I have heard people rave about them. Check them out at http://www.mommystouch.com They have the most adorable patterns!

Card Box Boutique

Well, business is great! We have been very busy here at Card Box Boutique. If you are wondering why the change of name, it's very simple. Envie is a french word that nobody here knows how to spell. Also, I used the term "designs" in the name of my website and people were having A LOT of trouble logging onto the site. They were typing in envy and design instead of "envie" and "designs". Lesson learned! :) We are excited about this new adventure and praising God for our success so far!

WoodsEdge, our church, is sponsoring a Christmas Market on November 7th with over 40 vendors and we are going to have a booth to display our products. We are excited about the market and are looking forward to promoting the business in a Christian environment. If you are interested in coming to the market, they are having a raffle and all that you have to do to get a ticket is bring in canned goods to feed the needy! The grand prize is a Wii! What a great Christmas present that will make some lucky person!

If you are on facebook, please become a fan of the business. See the fan page at the bottom of this blog!
http://www.cardboxboutique.com/

The Bling

Getting together with friends in Lafayette always brings back old memories. Before I met Ryan, when I was in the dating world, my friends Karen & Marie Claude were my biggest support! Having been through a divorce, I knew exactly what I wanted. I made a list of everything that I was looking for in a man and decided that if I found someone who had 90% of everything that I was looking for, we could pursue the relationship further. The ONE non-negotiable was that he had to be a Christian. Someone who actually attends church, knows the word of God, and would be a spiritual leader.

Needless to say, I went on a lot of first dates, but not too many second dates. I didn't want to waste my time with the "wrong guy" when I knew that there was a man that God had created just for me & all I had to do was trust Him. Little did I know that the man God created for me was 100% everything on my list and so much more. You can read about my wonderful husband here.

Back to the story. I met this guy in Barnes & Noble one afternoon. He was really handsome and just so happened to be a strong non-denominational Christian. We talked, he asked me out on a date, & I accepted. My friends used to make reservations wherever I was going on a date for a few reasons. They wanted to check the guy out to see if he met friend approval. And if it was going horribly, they could save me. We had scheduled dinner at Tsunami & I was actually excited about this date, however Karen couldn't come this time for some reason.

In Barnes & Noble, the guy was wearing wind pants and an LSU t-shirt. He had blonde hair & was athletic. When he showed up at my front door, the image had changed drastically! He was wearing a diagonally striped button down with an obscenely large collar that was UNBUTTONED to like the forth button exposing his chest with no undershirt! It looked like a pimp shirt that you would see on T.V. I was shocked, but thought to myself that it's just a minor detail. He can learn later on about the fashion world & the art of buttoning your shirt.

But there is more. He had on A LOT of jewelry. A LOT of jewelry. There were about 7-8 different size necklaces dangling on his bare exposed chest. I tried as hard as I could not to look at them, but they were screaming at me the entire night. It looked like he was wearing a Mr. T starter kit! If you forgot who Mr. T is, see the image below & you'll get the idea.

We talked over dinner and it didn't take me long to realize that we were not a match. He was a nice guy, but there were no sparks for sure & he talked about cars(and what type of engines...blah blah blah) 80% of the time. When I thought that it was about as bad as it was going to get, he put his hand on top of the table. My eyes got really big as I saw the GIGANTIC gold nugget ring on his finger. Seriously, it was about two inches in diameter. WOW! I'm not a big fan on man jewelry in the first place, but this guy was WAY OVER THE TOP with his bling.

I excuse myself & go to the bathroom to call Karen. I'm trying to describe the extent of the Mr. T starter kit and we are just laughing at the entire situation. At one point, I thought he was actually wearing the "costume" to be funny, kind of like the blue tuxedo scene in Dumb & Dumber. Then he pulled out a few pictures from his wallet and all of the bling was staring at me in the photo. It was definitely not a joke & I was definitely not looking to change anyone.

This date was not even close to the worst date that I went on during that period, however, I still giggle when I remember the Mr. T starter kit. All of those experiences just made it so much more special when I met Ryan. Coincidentaly, the only jewelry that Ryan wears is a James Avery cross ring and his wedding ring. :)

We're Back!!!

Took an unexpected week long trip to Lafayette and had a blast! A few interesting moments:

My Mom picked up Popeyes one night for supper & my sister pulled this out of the box! GROSS!!!!!

I made this card box for my brother's wedding reception. They had a flat screen playing the LSU/Florida game during the reception so we did an LSU themed box.

Five of us went to get a mani-pedi done and the eye brow guy tried to pick up one of my friends.

Slowing down to catch up!

Whew, inhale....exhale! Let me slow down for a minute here. My life has been one crazy blur since our wonderful labor day vacation. I've never come back from a trip and so shortly after felt like I needed another. Let me break it down.

J got sick. Zachary got sick. Then I got sick. While at the Dr.'s office for the respiratory virus(fever, sore throat, bad cough) that we all had, my beautiful precious sweet little baby boy picked up the swine flu from the other kids hacking in the waiting room & subsequently developed high fever, pneumonia, and a nasty ear infection. NICE!!!!!

Since then, Zachary recovered completely, none of us got it THANK GOD, we've had homework, school functions, baby showers, a girls night out, I've had to bake things for the PTO dessert bar, I started a new business, and oh yeah, I turned 30 this week!  Busy? The word busy just doesn't cut it!

My 30th birthday was the best I've ever had. I have everything I've ever wanted and more! I have two precious healthy children who I am madly in love with. I have the best husband in the entire world! We both have wonderful families and to put it simply, we have a great life and great friends! So even though we are "busy" we have not forgotten that we are blessed! I have two blogs that I am determined to post this week!

One, a funny dating story that I just have to put out there. Another, about the GROSS AND DISGUSTING things that happen with infants living in the house. The last one will need a disclaimer, but I have to do it. Stay tuned! :)

Joy Comes In The Morning

Okay, I'm still recovering mentally from everything that happened, but I have to say that we are so incredibly blessed. It seemed like Zachary would never get well from his respiratory virus and then caught H1N1 swine flu from the doctor's office and the walls came tumbling down. He is completely healed and healthy! God reached down and touched him and healed his sick little body in a way that only He could do. He is sleeping all night again and hasn't coughed in days. He hasn't had fever since September 21st and is his normal, happy, precious self again! PRAISE GOD!

He also started crawling(a little) and is eating like a champ! He went three entire weeks without eating solids and I was a nervous wreck. It's such a blessing to have everything back to normal again!

In the meantime, I have been working hard on launching my new business! I am praying that God will just bless this business and through it, others might also be blessed. It took me two entire years after deciding that I was going to do this to actually "do it." I realized the thing holding me back was that I was afraid to fail. It's hard to put yourself out there, but I am going to stand on the word of God that "I CAN DO ALL THINGS through Christ!" I am praying for God's favor and abundant blessings for my business and my family. Here are a few pictures of what I've been working on this week. To see everything, visit my website at http://www.enviefloraldesigns.com/

Great News!

Took Z back to the Dr. & have great news! His pneumonia has cleared, ear infection is getting better, and he will recover from the swine flu. He said that Zachary will probably be feeling much better by the weekend. He's still very sick with the flu so I don't have time to call everyone individually, but we are VERY EXCITED about the pneumonia clearing up. Every member of the pediatrician's staff told me that they worried about Zachary all weekend. Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers! He is still very pale and sick, but he is smiling and starting to show signs of improvement. No fever since 3 a.m. Monday morning! :D Thank you Lord!!!!

Since Jordyn has asthma, and Zachary has a confirmed case of swine flu, we have definitely been "exposed" so they treated us all with preventative medicines so the rest of us will get it! PRAISE GOD FOR THAT TOO! We all finish our meds on Tuesday. Ryan, Jordyn, and I have all remained healthy and symptom free and the doctor assured me that we are not contagious. I was worried sick about sending Jordyn to school if she might be contagious and just not be showing symptoms yet. :) What a relief!