Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind

Recently, I had the opportunity to review the newest book written by Phillip Done.

Phil’s book, titled “Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind- Thoughts on Teacherhood” was such a great read.

If you ever wanted to know what it’s really like to be a teacher, this book gives a behind the scenes look at what goes on in a classroom. Phil, a third-grade teacher, delivers funny and heartwarming stories from his classroom… the silly moments, like one student perfectly burping the entire alphabet and the profound moments that really shape a child’s life and brings meaning to the important life lessons teachers impart on our children.

Much of the book focuses on the hilarious interactions between Phil, his students, and other teachers. It makes parents like myself wish I could be a fly on the wall for just ONE day in his class.

One of my favorite passages from his book is this one, in which Phil describes one of the many roles teachers play in the lives of children…

“Teachers as memory makers, too. We know that the stories, paintings, and plaster of paris hand prints that children make at school will someday become family treasures. Each day we create experiences in our classrooms that our students will someday look back on and laugh over and talk about and perhaps even try to re-create in their own children’s lives. We understand that kids are like wet canvases. We help paint the backgrounds.”

Another especially heartwarming part of the book was Phil describing the importance of “giving” back. Something as simple and important as putting bags of groceries and toys together during the holidays for families in need- leading to unexpected results when one of the families in need is a student from his own classroom.

Thanks Phil, for giving us an inside view to a third grade classroom and reminding us why we love our teachers.

Check out Phil’s website for more information and where to find his book… http://www.phillipdone.org/

Winner of the EcoStore USA Giveaway is…

Natalie!

Congrats Natalie…  I’ll be contacting you for your infomation to claim your prize.**

 

**winner was selected as follows: all eligble entries were numbered, and a random number was generated to select the winner using the service at random.org

Win a gift certificate to EcoStore USA!

Ever clean your kitchen or bathroom and almost pass out from breathing in the harsh chemicals?

Gosh, I hate that.  I love to get things clean, but I often wonder what nasty stuff my family is breathing in for the sake of cleanliness.  So I was excited to try a few of the new products from EcoStore USA.  All of their products are plant/mineral based and environmental friendly.  And Non-TOXIC, so no more worries you are breathing in anything bad for you!

I tested a few of the household products.  The products were heavenly.  Nice scent, and really had great cleaning power.  Best of all, I was able to clean without shooing my cats and son out of the room for fear they could be overcome by nasty chemicals.  And their packaging, so darn cute.  This is a company that really is taking the lead to “walk the walk” when it comes to environmentally friendly.  Even the packing materials they use to ship the products to you is recycled.

And they don’t just produce household cleaning products.  They also sell baby care, bath & body, and even pet items.

I just fell in love with these products, and I want to share them with you! 

So….I am giving away a $25 gift certificate to EcoStore USA!!

To enter, leave a comment below answering this question:

“What’s the latest ‘green’ thing you are doing (or thinking about doing) in your household?”

The Giveaway Rules:
-Answer the above question in the comment section and provide your e-mail address.
-One entry per person.
-I will choose ONE winner at random from all correctly submitted entries received prior to 12:00PM EST on Wednesday, June 24th.
-This giveaway is open to legal U.S. residents ONLY, 18 years or older.

After you enter the giveaway, you might want to click on over to sign up for their No Nasty Chemicals newsletter which can be found on at the EcoStore Blog here and stay connected!

Good luck!!

Winner of the 23andMe DNA Testing Kit! (and a special offer)

The winner of the 23andMe DNA testing service is…

Melissa (Momlissa) !!

Congratulations Melissa!  I’ll be contacting you with the details.**

I have to tell you, it was really interesting to read all of your comments… and I thank you for all participating.

I’d like to spread a little more love to my readers to those who did not win with a special offer:

The first 10 people who order a DNA testing service from 23andMe using the following code at check-out will receive $50 dollars off one kit.

But hurry, because the code will expire Thursday, June 18th at midnight!

The code is: VYQP46

**winner was selected as follows:  all eligble entries were numbered, and a random number was generated to select the winner using the service at random.org

Win a free DNA testing kit from 23andMe!

  
So, you’ve been reading over the last few months about my little side project** as a writer for 23andMe. The posts I’ve written over the weeks have been a real accounting of how the results have been profound for me and my family. I may sound like a broken record on this, but I can’t adequately describe to you how informative and eye-opening this has been for me…. and I want to share this experience with one of my readers, so….
  
Now, you can win your very own DNA testing kit from 23andMe! This kit has a retail value of $399 and gives you access to detailed information about your traits, ancestry, and health predispositions.

All you need to do is comment to this post and answer one of the following questions:

“Why are you interested in winning the DNA testing kit?”

“Are you concerned about a specific condition or disease that has a history in your family?”

“What kind of mysteries would you love to uncover about your ancestry?”

  
The Giveaway Rules:
-Answer one of the above questions in the comment section of this post and ALSO provide your e-mail address within your comment.
-One entry per person.
-I will choose ONE winner at random from all correctly submitted entries received prior to 12:00PM EST on Monday, June 15th.
-Winner is responsible for any applicable taxes.
-This giveaway is open to legal U.S. residents ONLY, 18 years or older. Contest winners can ship kits to any state listed in the www.23andme.com store.

Here’s a link to the official rules.
  
Remember, don’t forget to include your e-mail address in your comment. Valid entries must have an e-mail address to which I can notify the winner!
  
Good luck!
  

**Full disclosure: I was a paid subcontractor for 23andMe, and also received my DNA testing kit for free.

A Mystery Solved?

My Dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer a few years ago. It was a nervous time.

My Dad, the rock of our family… physically strong and strong-minded was handed news that stopped us in our tracks.

Even more devastating, a close family friend was also diagnosed with the same cancer curiously around the same time my Dad was diagnosed. Unfortunately, our friend later died from the disease, made even more heartbreaking because he had ignored symptoms (of which if he had intervened early), could have saved his life.

I remember very clearly when my Mom and I first researched the disease. There were few risk factors, and none seemed to fit my Dad (except that he was male). Most notably, we constantly came across information that mentioned a large portion of men diagnosed with bladder cancer are smokers.

Smoking?? My Dad never smoked a day in his life.

It’s that same sort of thing when you hear about people having lung cancer who have never had a history of smoking. That collective extra “gasp!”, followed by, “oh, how could that have happened??”

The reality… we didn’t know HOW or WHY, but there it was and it had to be dealt with. And, not many answers on lifestyle changes that could make a difference in the future. It seemed a random stroke of misfortune.

After many treatments, he was declared “cancer free”, but really… is anyone ever really pleased with that? He will always be reminded of his experience (he requires checkups periodically for the rest of his life).

Flash forward to now, and imagine our collective surprise when my Dad’s test for 23andMe revealed that he had a marker in his genes that elevates his risk for bladder cancer.

Color me dumbfounded.

Could his genes have held the key to the mystery all along? What a revelation.

Sure, it still could have been attributed to environmental factors along the way, but how coincidental to see this result. I wonder what might have been different if my Dad had been tested by 23andMe prior to his cancer diagnosis?

Would it have changed anything? Perhaps if he had mentioned it to his health care provider? Could the diagnosis been uncovered even earlier?

This example shows how powerful the data can be. And more importantly, can help guide us along the path to being more engaged in our own health care.

This post sponsored by 23andMe.

Pregnancy Loss and Genetics

So, having personal experience with regards to recurrent pregnancy loss over the years, it’s a natural question to wonder how genetics play a part in miscarriage.

Is there some sort of mystery that lies in my genome that holds the answers? For my situation, I think not likely.

My losses have a lot more to do with the age of my eggs, I think. But it doesn’t keep me from wondering about it.

You see, my specific diagnosis for my infertility and loss is “unexplained”.

Unexplained is a pretty loaded diagnosis. It can mean I’ve had some really bad luck, or it could also mean there is something else wrong with me that no doctor has yet uncovered.

My Mom had my brother and I in her early twenties. Prime gestating years. It’s possible that she may have had issues if she had waited longer, but in the 70’s, that wasn’t the thing to do. Nor did she have any visions of a large family back then, so at 24 years old, she was done reproducing.

Ironically, I didn’t even start on the road to thinking about a child until I was 34. Consider me lucky that year. I conceived and gave birth to my son not even nearly trying… looking back (before the five pregnancy losses) my son is pretty much a miracle.

Are there reasons for miscarriage that might be inherited? Probably. After all, some of the bigger moments in a female’s reproductive years (onset of menses/menopause) have been thought to be linked/inherited Mother to Daughter. So does that mean that a woman’s ovarian reserve can also follow suit? Could a gene possibly give us that information so that we might know when our egg quality is set to expire? Uncover more about the autoimmune disorders that directly impact fertility?

Intriguing to think about, no?

23andMe is just at the beginning of researching so many mysteries when it comes to fertility in men and women. I hope that miscarriage and infertility can be an area of focus that will someday give us a few answers. To maybe cut down on the “unexplained” situations like mine. To shed a little more light on a subject that is very much still in the dark.

I hope.

This post sponsored by 23andMe.

…and why am I here again?

When I decided to get involved with this project for 23andMe, I was a little apprehensive. Not with the technology… I was totally excited to get my DNA analyzed… but because the premise of the project was “Pregnancy”.

So if you are an newer reader to my main blog, or if you are a new reader to this site I need to explain this.

You see, I’ve been pregnant. Many times. SIX times, in fact. Out of those six pregnancies, I got my lucky star (my son) right out of the gate. And then, secondary infertility became part of my life.

Five losses, all with a likely culprit- Aneuploidy, which is an abnormal number of chromosomes. As I got older, wiser, and in touch with a Reproductive Endocrinologist, I discovered that my aging ovarian eggs were most likely the sole reason for my bad luck.

So, how in the world did I agree to write for a Pregnancy Community? Why would I torture myself writing occasionally on topics that make my heart sting?

One good reason. I’m not done yet. I’m currently on my second attempt at my first donor egg cycle. Yes, that’s right… an anonymous genetic donor.

Now you can see my interest.

Any future children will be biologically mine, and genetically my husband and the donor.

So, for me… Being a participant in the research 23andMe is doing in the area of pregnancy is highly interesting. Not just because I wonder if being genetically pre-disposed to “gestational diabetes”, for example, could play a part in a future pregnancy, but will some this new technology fill in the blanks that I could potentially always have for a child in which I only have half the genetic equation?

Definitely food for thought.

The other part of me wants to acknowledge that, yes I can still provide valuable insight even if my last full-term pregnancy seems like a million years ago.

And last, for future mothers and my fellow sisters in infertility. Who knows what science can uncover around fertility, or lack of it. Uncovering the mysteries of female reproductive health is something under-studied, but highly important. Important to all of us.

This post sponsored by 23andMe.