so, i got to thinking the other night while i was wondering around my local walmart picking up paper towels and the like… seriously, i sometimes look *forward* to buying household supplies as an excuse to get out for awhile… in the seasonal aisle at the store all of the back to school supplies were being stocked.  how can that be?  wasn’t it just july 4th?  wasn’t the summer supposed to last forever?  i guess some parts of the country do literally go back to school at the beginning of august (we here in new england don’t go back until around labor day) but i guess that means parents can start planning ahead. 

i then saw a little girl with her mom and a “school supply list.”  we never had those as a kid, but just in passing, i noticed there had to be about 40 things on there!  the poor mom was going a bit insane… and then i noticed she had two other daughters with her!  wow… that’s a lot of school supplies!

as i was packing up the car, i started to think what my life will be like in a couple of years.  two school supply lists, two new backpacks, two new lunch boxes… two new “oh-i-must-have-that” wardrobes.  better start saving!  what about those kids whose parents can’t afford all of these supplies?  are those kids left in the dust without the fanciest graphing calculator?  i recently saw this story… what about those families… especially in this economy!

i was so glad, then, to find that i am honored to be one of 50 bloggers who had the opportunity to bag it forward this summer.

this is a great idea.  while you are shopping for your other items in the store or even your own supplies pick up a few extra for someone who can’t buy supplies for their children.  (just an aside, if you are looking to get the most for your donation, i have to say that walmart was a great place to start!  they had amazing back to school prices (hi, a notebook for 15 cents!  not kidding!) 

can’t get to the store right now?  well, there’s one thing you can do to make an impact right this minute (ok, and maybe tomorrow morning too if that works better) 

help elmer’s help adopt-a-classroom

helping classrooms in need this back to school season is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3

1.  write a post about this charity blog meme

2. send a virtual bag of school supplies to another blogger and challenge them to join the #bagitforward movement

3. link up your post at bagitforward.org

sweet!  elmer’s just donated $10 for your post to adopt-a-classroom!

ok, so here are the details of the program again:

elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to adopt-a-classroom with your participation. join now!

the elmer’s virtual bag it forward is charity blog meme, where bloggers can raise $10 per blog post for Adopt-A-Classroom (simply by writing a blog post and donating a virtual bag of school supplies), up to $10,000.

 you can give as many virtual bags as you want.  the elmer’s virtual bag it forward will officially begin at 12a est 7/22/10 and ends at 12p est 8/12/10.  the blog post link has to be submitted in the comment section below for your participation to be counted.

wait. what?  what do i do?  can you just give me something to copy and paste into my blog to make it easy?  why sure!  here you go… copy and paste the following text into your blog post:

elmer’s virtual bag it forward rules:

• copy and paste these rules into your blog post
• create a blog post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your back to school shopping trip (or trip to pick out your latest sunglasses or socks or exercise equipment) 
• link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies
• let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag
• leave your link in the elmer’s virtual bag it forward comment section. you can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
• elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the virtual bag it forward donation to adopt-a-classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by august 12, 2010).
• please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

i’m sending my virtual bag to caryanne at “about the small stuff” and am challenging her to #bagitforward with elmer’s!

we are home and ms. molly is doing great.  she kind of looked around once we got into the house and looked at me and then gave me this big smile.  it made me happy but also sort of broke my heart.  i certainly hope we stay out of the hospital for a long time now… her heart catheterization went as well as it could… after the procedure, you would have had *no* idea that she had just been sedated and intubated.  when we went into the recovery room, there she was peering through the bars of the crib, munching on her cannula.  hello?  what are you doing?  then they told us she needed to lie “still and flat” (neither words are in her vocabulary) for a couple of hours… well *that* didn’t work.  pete climbed into the crib with her to try to get her to chill out, but then she took to trying to munch on his fleece snaps and zipper.  can you tell the girl is teething?  she now has just about three teeth on the bottom and almost four on top!  her and madeline are starting to look even more like each other.  i love it!

so, it looks like molly is going to be on oxygen long-term.  no big deal, we say.  that’s something *we* can handle.  we’re used to it (i mean, the big rocket launcher-looking tanks and twisting tubes and having to pick up two other bags (one backpack for the feeding pump and the o2 tank) when we pick her up is just sort of the way it is).  when i pick up my nephew and he’s sort of just free from all wires and tubes it’s kind of weird.  i know… but i have to say… i had better not hear anyone complain to me about their full-term baby (or babies for that matter)… you have no idea who you’re dealing with

growth and oxygen are molly’s friend as well as a course of sildenafil.  we started it last night and while we don’t see an immediate effect, we’re hopeful it will be helpful long-term.  that’s given three times a day, so between that and her medications given twice a day, and then one given four times a day and one given every other day… well, i’m organized, but it’s enough to drive someone batty!  i need to sit down and just make a schedule, but i didn’t get around to it today.  (and friends, you know me… i want to make it all pretty and creative-like with my 400 colors of sharpies so i need a day or two to get my act together…)

madeline is superwoman.  the girl has been off the vent since sunday (i still can’t believe it) and all of her tests are coming back awesome (meaning her blood gases, etc.)  we couldn’t be more excited and i cannot wait to have her home.

we got approved for some nursing hours for molly for the next couple of months, but the place is having a hard time filling the weekends… if any of you favorite former nicu people are reading this, please pass the word along (or get in touch if your interested).  i am so thankful we’ve been given this opportunity to get the house in army-tight medical fashion before madeline comes home and to help with everything molly has going on. 

i may be strong, but even strong people need a break.

conference call hell
meeting about a meeting
WTF people

that is all…