I am a daughter of the King and will live in eternity with Him!
I not only know that I am beautiful in my Father’s eyes, but my husband tells me every day that I am beautiful and desirable. My kiddos help me feel free and vibrant, as they keep me on my toes and challenge me to stay young.
Then again, I *will* always be Young, won’t I?

Find out how you can win $200 cash, for BlogHer, or one of four bottles of Ageless perfume at Our Ordinary Life.

What makes YOU ageless?

My family could be the poster family for Old Navy! From their jammies to their swim wear, all of us literally live in their clothes! I shop both online at OldNavy.com and in their stores, but I can barely believe the kind of savings to be found at OldNavyWeekly.com. Of course, the amount you can save depends on how good of a coupon hunter you are, but a bit of luck might help, too!

Guess what? Since Old Navy knows how important they are in helping to make family life fun and comfortable, OldNavyWeekly.com and I have teamed up to offer you special discount coupons through a very special giveaway. I have NINE coupons , each good for $65 off a purchase of $100 or more, to give to nine very lucky readers (it was ten, but they said I could keep one!)!

This is a short giveaway, because I want to give you plenty of time to shop before these coupons expire on July 9th. All entries must be received, in the comments on this post, by midnight (pst) on July 4th. That leaves you FIVE shopping days.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

• Leave me a comment here, telling me why you love Old Navy. Easy enough, huh?

You may do each of the following for additional entries, but each entry must be left in a separate comment to qualify:

• Tweet about this giveaway, using the hashtag #D2Dgvwy and the following link :: http://tinyurl.com/nhmjja. You can do this every day during the duration of this giveaway for a separate entry!
• Post a link to OldNavyWeekly.com AND this giveaway (using the link above) on your Facebook wall. Be sure you leave me a link to your profile.
• Blog about this giveaway and link to OldNavyWeekly.com AND this giveaway (using the link above). Be sure you leave me a link to your exact post.
• Go on the hunt at OldNavyWeekly.com and tell me what great deal you find and where.
• Subscribe to The SuperModelquins YouTube Channel, watch at least one of the videos, and tell me about it here in the comments.

Now, head over and start clicking around to uncover valuable store coupons…. Right now there are plenty of coupons good for 10% and 15% off your entire purchase, but new ones are added every day!

HAPPY HUNTING and GOOD LUCK!

We spent Father’s Day in San Francisco and had a great time! We stopped on Treasure Island, the kids loved walking around on Pier 39, we enjoyed a fun dinner at Bubba Gump’s, and then topped off the day with an ice cream sundae at Ghiradelli Square. If not for the traffic, it would have been a perfect day!

I wish I could post all of the fun pictures we took, but here are some of my favorites…

Visit more Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom and Extraordinary Mothers.
Visit Wordful Wednesday participants at:

Visit Mostly Wordless Wednesday participants at:

First of all, I want to thank you all who have left me such thoughtful comments, tweets and messages. Also, I’d like to send out a special HUG for all who have stepped in to help Ray with the kids. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that there are so many people who care so deeply for our family. You’ve all been so wonderful!

Now, for the updates ::

Ray took Ethan to see his doctor on Friday and, while he seems to be just fine, he was referred to a neurologist. Just this afternoon I made him an appointment for an EEG, so we’re praying that, after Monday, we can completely rule out a seizure. From what I’m told the shaking and eye-rolling is pretty common when one passes out. I think I’ll rest easier if I’m told that was, in fact, all that happened.

And, me? Well, the doctor in the ER told me that I needed an MRI to determine the cause of my headaches and neck pain, but first I must see my primary care physician… I have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I stopped taking the Vicodin and muscle relaxers, because they knocked me out and I can’t afford to sleep all day and night. I’ve been taking Excedrin Migraine, when my headache seems unbearable, and it seems to help a little bit, without the grogginess. After my appointment, tomorrow afternoon, I also plan to see the chiropractor again. Hopefully Dr. Thomas can help shed some light on my neck pain or perhaps even give me some relief.

But, for today, the kiddos are safe and having fun with our trusted friends, the Bouwes, and I’m supposed to be resting. I’ll lay down for a while and feel okay, so I’ll get up and try to do too much, and the pain screams at me.

It’s taken me way too long just to type out two posts and I’m beginning to hear screaming….

Are you going to BlogHer ‘09?
If you said yes then you already have your ticket and no doubt have paid for it, your airfare and your hotel out of your own pocket. Well, how would you like an opportunity to be sponsored by an amazing company? No joke, you may be able to recoup the cost of the conference, airfare, your hotel stay and other expenses!

You see, a bunch of Johnson & Johnson brands - including Acuvue, Carefree, Johnson’s Baby, Listerine Agent Cool Blue, OB, Splenda and Stayfree - are going to pay the way to BlogHer ’09 for 20 bloggers!

Entering is simple. All you have to do is visit blogher.com to take a short survey and you’ll be able to sign up to win $1200 in cash to cover all of your BlogHer ‘09 expenses, courtesy of Johnson & Johnson! The sweeps ends on July 7th, so get over there and enter!

Other prizes include products from the brands and five of the winners will receive a flip video camera to document the BlogHer experience. To qualify to win you must be a registered user at BlogHer.com and already registered to attend BlogHer ‘09.

Be sure you follow the link above to enter. Comments here do not qualify as an entry, but I would love to know if I can plan to see you at BlogHer this year!

Since I am barely able to function, let alone compose a coherent blog post, I’ve asked my hubby to update ya’ll on the reason why I have been MIA…

It’s been quite a trying week, to say the least.

It all started on Tuesday when I got a call at the office around 10 am. Ethan’s had a seizure and the paramedics are insisting he go to the ER. But that wasn’t the last of my visits to the inside of the ER this past week, unfortunately.

Friday morning at the office, at about the same time as on Tuesday, Christine called saying she’d been taking a shower, nearly passed out and had to lay on the bathroom floor until she could manage to get to the phone. Her neck and head were in massive pain, she was extremely dizzy and her arms were numb. Not good, not good at all.

I rushed home and found her laying on the bed, barely able to move. Diane, our next door neighbor, was kind enough to watch the kids until Christine’s sister, Sara, could get here so I could take Christine to the Med 7, a type of emergency room. I dropped her off because I needed to take Ethan to his scheduled appointment to follow up on his incident on Tuesday. We returned and watched as Christine was tested for the next four hours for all sorts of things from the flu to mono. Everything was negative, thankfully. But that didn’t help explain why she was hurting so bad.

After Chris was prescribed pain killers and muscle relaxers, I took her home and she slept for the next 24 hours straight, until Saturday afternoon. By then, her pain was worse (when the pain killers wore off) and I knew we needed to get her head examined to be sure it wasn’t something more serious.

We dropped the kids off at our good friends’ house and I took Chris to the real ER. Hours later, the CT scan came back negative, which was a huge praise, but it still didn’t tell us why she was hurting so bad. The doctor thinks that it is a migraine mixed with severe muscle tension. But who knows. They used the IV to inject hospital grade pain killers and the result left her feeling better than she had in days.

Still, Chris hasn’t been able to move her neck or head much. She’s very stiff and in a lot of pain. Monday we’ll hopefully see the neurologist and get an MRI. We’re beginning to think it may be a pinched nerve, but getting any real diagnosis has been difficult.

In the meantime, we are very thankful to friends and family for stepping in to help in this difficult time, especially by being there to watch our children. I can’t imagine my wife functioning with six kids, not being able to stand for very long or move around much. May God grant us wisdom on how to proceed.

Ask any one of my family members or friends and they will tell you that I am not typically the type of mom who coddles her children. When one of my boys falls, I tell them to get up and keep running. My kiddos (no more babies here) play in the tub while I grab their p.j.s and throw yet another load of laundry in the dryer. My half dozen even explore the playground while I watch close by, not once hovering over them. No band aids unless you’re bleeding and that bump? eh, he’ll be fine.

I’ve never been a helicopter mom.

Until yesterday.

While Ethan has been fine, yesterday’s episode has had me on edge. I have kept Ethan in close proximity for the last 36 hours, much to his chagrin. I haven’t even allowed him to play outside, without me, and I made him take far too many breaks at the pool, insisting he sit by me.

I’ll admit that I’ve always thought those helicopter moms were a bit paranoid. Today, keeping all of my brood more close by than normal, making sure they stayed well hydrated (even though this has never seemed to be a problem, since they all drink water like it’s going out of style), jumping at every little whimper or whine, and this evening even giving in to every-single-little-request, I felt like “that mom.”

Even though I know that each of my children’s lives are in the hands of our Father and that I have no need to be paranoid or worried, tonight I was reminded…

“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” ~Matthew 10:29-31

During the month of June, Scott Common Sense is all about making the most of the time you spend with family and friends. The Scott Common Sense Community is your go-to destination for tips and advice, and can help you plan fun and affordable get-togethers.

This month, we’ve teamed up with Scott Common Sense to give away one $100 Visa Gift Card to put towards your backyard barbeques, along with coupons for Scott Long Lasting products.

• Visit the Scott Common Sense Community and keep an eye out for summer tips. Leave me a comment below, before July 10th, with a new tip you discovered, or one of your tried and true favorites, for your chance to win!
• You may also tweet about this giveaway, up to once a day through the duration of this giveaway, for additional entries. Please use the hashtag #D2Dgvwy and leave a link to each tweet in a separate comment below.

While you’re browsing around in the Scott Community, be sure you enter for a chance to win more great prizes, including a $500 gift card!

Today started like so many other days, although a few of my kiddos decided to sleep in a bit. Not entirely abnormal, I wasn’t surprised when Ethan said, shortly after 10am that he hadn’t eaten breakfast. He came in from saying hello to his neighborhood friends, hopped up on the counter and drank from the faucet as if it were a drinking fountain.

Here our day turned into anything but normal.

Ethan cried out that he had a sharp pain and I instantly knew something was really wrong. Just as I made it to him, he collapsed in my arms. Had I not made it to him in time, or shrugged off his cry - like I have so many times, knowing he wasn’t really hurt - he would have fallen to the floor from the counter top. But, as he fell into my arms, he began to shake, his eyes rolled around in his head, and he was drenched with sweat.

Calling for Zach and Julia’s help, I carried Ethan to a chair and dialed 911, informing them that my son had just had a seizure. They sent help.

After an exam from the EMT, I was urged to get Ethan to the emergency room for brain scans. Actually, they wanted to take him in an ambulance, but I had no one here to stay with my kiddos yet, so I waited for my amazing friend, Mindy, and drove him myself. All the way to the hospital I prayed for my oldest son, and begged for God’s mercy. It is the scariest thing to not know what is going on with your child or whether or not it will happen again, but to trust in the Great Physician is so very comforting!

Ethan had test after test - EKG, CT, blood, urine - show everything as “normal.”

Doctor and nurse said there was no explanation and sent us home with information on what to do if Ethan had more abdominal pain or fainting spells, totally discounting a seizure. I just have to say, as Ethan’s mom, I know what I saw.

While we are very thankful that Ethan appears to be fine now, he still seems a bit out of sorts. I just have a feeling something isn’t right. God, how I pray I’m wrong. While we are both hoping this was an isolated event, I am taking Ethan to see his pediatrician tomorrow, and Ray insists on finding a pediatric neurologist who can see him.

This afternoon, Ethan looked at me and sighed, “Wow, it was kinda stressful today.”

No kidding.

It’s time again for Blog Popz and From Dates to Diapers is your source for the Cute! popz to give to all of your blogger friends whose blogs you find cute!

{What are Blog Popz?}

A blog award. A blogger recognition program. A virtual version of the lollipops you gave in school to friends and admirers. Each color represents a different theme. Get popz from authorized candy stores, receive them from admirers, and register your pop for a chance to win fantastic prizes for distributing and receiving the most popz.

Go to the store of the pop you want to give and follow the directions on that site.

“Yours is one of my favorite blogs.”
Fav! Pop Store: Cool Baby Kid


“Your blog is cute.”
Cute Pop Store: From Dates to Diapers


“I love your blog.”
Love Pop Store: The Not-So-Blog Blog


“You’re a great blog friend.”
Friend Pop Store: Ohana Mama


Thanks for being a blog mentor.”
Mentor Pop Store:Suzy Q Homemaker


“You’re a blog star!”
Star Pop Store: Life Starring the Kids & Me

{Cute Pop Candy Store}

Complete any one of the following to “buy” your pop (grab the code.) Once you complete all five you can give unlimited pops without leaving more comments!

• Subscribe to FromDatestoDiapers.com and leave me a comment telling me that you are.
• Follow me (@YoungMommy) on Twitter and leave me a comment telling me you are a follower.
• Blog about Blog Popz (include the available prizes) and leave a comment with the link to your post.
• Tweet this message: I grabbed a CUTE POP @ FromDatestoDiapers.com. Give Popz & YOU can win prizes :: http://tinyurl.com/nvyp73 @YoungMommy RT PLS
• Share this post by any means possible (ie, Stumble, Digg, Kirtsy, email, etc.) and leave me a comment telling me that you shared.

<a href="http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/2009/06/give-cute-popz-and-win-big-blog-popz-summer-solstice-edition.html" ><img src="http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p159/youngmommy99/summerpopcute.png" border="0" alt="Cute Pop"></a>

A full list of prizes, a full list of available Popz, and answers to all of your questions about Blog Popz can be found HERE!