Five Minutes with a Local Mom: Brayli Hall

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July is Craniofacial and Cleft Palate awareness month. Our fabulous mom today, Brayli, has the sweetest baby girl, Claire, that was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and she is sharing her story with us today.

What are the names and ages of your kids? Warren, Turns 3 at the end of July, Claire, Turns 2 in November, and Wade, my little (soon-to-be) newborn!

Where are you from and how long have you lived in southwest Missouri? I am from Lebanon, Missouri born & raised.

What is your favorite thing to do with friends in SWMO? My favorite thing to do in SWMO with friends is to go and enjoy dinner and catch up, or we will take our babies out on fun playdates!

What advice would you give to other mothers who may have just found out, or also have a child that was born with a cleft palate? Just finding out about your baby having a cleft palate or lip can be SO scary. First things first, find a craniofacial team that you can count on. Just in Missouri there are a few different ones to choose from, we went with Cardinal-Glennon in St. Louis. They are AMAZING.

Secondly, I would highly recommend Dr.Browns Cleft bottles they are life saver. We weren’t introduced to these until a few weeks after birth, using the “squeeze” bottles can be difficult and frustrating for both you & baby.

Remember that your baby and you will make it through this. Have faith and trust your cleft team and your “mom instinct.” They have been through it and will be there for you every step of the way.

How many surgeries has Claire had so far, and will she need to have anymore? Claire has had three surgeries already. Her first surgery was a lip adhesion. The second was a final lip closure along with ear tubes and nasal stents. The third surgery was a palate closure.

Claire has a bilateral cleft lip and palate so she has a more severe case than most. It had affected the way she had to eat, hear, and talk.

She will have to have more when she is older. As of now her next surgery will be when she is about 5 or 6 years old. She will have following “gum” surgeries as her bilateral cleft has made her have empty spaces in her upper gums where some of her teeth should be.

Since having her surgeries we have been told by her speech therapist she talks phenomenally for a child with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. She can eat like a champ, and has the most beautiful little smile ever.

What would you like our readers to know about Craniofacial and Cleft palates that we might not know?Please, please, teach your children that not every child is born without any facial deformities. This can be really tough on children to deal with as they grow up, they have been through countless surgeries, speech therapies, and many more tasks in their life.

If you see a mama out there with a child with a “deformity” don’t be scared to ask her questions, we really don’t mind talking about it, we even enjoy sharing information about it!

One word that describes your parenting style: Two Words: “Old fashion”

5 Minutes with a Mom: Skyler Bowman

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Name:  Skyler (Beebe) Bowman

What are the names and ages of your kids? Oliver B is 11 and Evan is almost 7 mo!

Where are you from and how long have you lived in Southwest Missouri?  I am as local as they come! I have lived in Cassville all my life.  Sure, I’ve tried to venture off a few times but you always come back to a good thing.

What is your favorite thing to do with friends in SWMO? We enjoy Branson.  Our family loves Silver Dollar City and it’s always fun to meet up with friends there and let the kids go nuts.  Also, we love Roaring River.  As I get older I appreciate the park more and realize there really is lots to do there.

Was there anything you wanted to do before becoming a mom? Did you do it?  I had loads I wanted to do before becoming a mom!  Maybe that is why I waited until I was 35 to have my first baby!  I was 31 when I began to practice my mom skills with Oliver B, who was 6 at the time.  I wanted to travel the world,  do wild and crazy things and blow my money on senseless purchases! Yes, that is exactly what I did before becoming a mom.

We understand that you love to travel! Now that you have a baby, do you plan to continue to travel? Any ideas you could share with other moms when it comes to traveling with little ones?  I want so bad for my kids to crave new places and to appreciate this wonderfully massive world we live in.  Books are amazing to spark the imagination but my plan is to impress upon them the desire to touch it, see it with their own eyes, smell it and taste it!  I am excited and maybe a little nervous for our first trip with Evan.  We are heading off on a road trip to Mt. Rushmore and the other sights South Dakota has to offer!  My plan is to see how this goes and then graduate to a destination that requires a plane ticket.   I already plan to make goody bags to pass out around us on our first plane ride to explain and apologize for what may happen during the flight (ear plugs, Tylenol, mints, gum ect).   I think Evan will do good, it’s me I’m worried about.  I never imagined how much “stuff” would be required to get around with Evan.  I’m already trying to figure out how to condense my own bag and I am already a carry on only person!  I have done plenty of research on our itinerary so there will be plenty of stopping and stretching our legs and picnics along the way.   I figure that Evan is just like me and snacks make anything better so there will be plenty of food!

One last important thing, I realize and expect the trip to not go according to plan.  Things will change and we will just go with the flow!

How has parenthood been different than you imagined?  I had no idea it would be like this.  I thought I would just magically know what to do since Evan and I are bonded, we share DNA, we are in tune with each other.  I would be able to calm him with my soothing momma voice and simple touch!  I imagined during nap time I would develop the most beautiful artistic baby book ever. I would take my own monthly pictures to save money and they would come out frame worthy every time.  I now know there is so much wrong with those ideas!  I can remember him crying in the middle of the night and I had tried everything to soothe him.  Finally, I just sat in front of the dehumidifier (for the white noise) and we just cried together.  Everyone told me I would be tired and get little sleep.  I wasn’t scared, I have been up for 48+ hours on long layovers with uncomfortable trains, planes and cabs, I have been tired.  This, being a parent to a newborn sweet tiny human, is something else!  This is Exhaustion beyond comprehension!  I didn’t even know I could function on such little sleep.  I cherished the little things, taking a shower eating an entire meal from start to finish without microwaving it.  But, I also never imagined I would love it so much either.   Now with Oliver B, I never imagined having the discussion of “Why do I have to wear a coat when it’s snowing outside?”

How has it been better than you imagined?  I wish I could put into words how happy and fulfilled I am with being a mom.  I didn’t know how good it would feel when I walk in a room and Evan lights up and starts kicking his feet because he recognizes me or how fun it is to see him experience something for the first time and be amazed.  Hearing Bye love you from Oliver B is always wonderful but when it’s yelled while running off with his friends or around witnesses it’s amazing!

You have such a happy, fun demeanor. What is your secret to having such a positive attitude? We know you have to have hard days too!  I wish I could expose a secret but it’s simply because I have so much to be happy about!  I have been so blessed in life with amazing family, great friends, good place to work, incredible good looks (I’m kidding!) that it just comes easy to be happy.

Being positive is a choice and I just try my best to always choose to be happy.

It does help that I am naturally an excitable person.  I do have hard days and since they don’t come often they come hard.  I’m sure, to my husband, I over exaggerate the severity of those bad days.  I find a good cry in the shower and box of cookies will usually do the trick to get me back on the happy train.

What’s something your friends might not know about you?  That I am extremely claustrophobic.  I blame this for the fact that I never could swaddle Evan tight enough because it stressed me out thinking of him being so tightly bound!

One word that describes your parenting style:  Engaging.

Mom Talk: Preserving those childhood memories

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With technology ever present in our lives, it’s doesn’t take much effort to snap pictures on a smartphone and store photographs and milestones. But what about the funny things they have said or done? How are you preserving those memories?

Some of you might keep a journal, write letters to your children to open when they are older, or you may even email them. I recently created email accounts for my daughters to preserve their childhood memories. I started out with journals and when something amazing or silly happened, I wrote it down. Then I would forget to do it and it was a cycle of continuing to forget.  I didn’t want to forget how awesome, silly and amazing they were so I thought an email account might be easier. I am on a computer all day anyway.

Creating an email account for your kids is a great idea for several reasons. By creating an email early you get to reserve their name hopefully before it’s taken and you have to add those silly underscores, symbols and numbers.  It’s also, for me, the easiest way to keep an online journal for them to read when they are older and can appreciate the memories.

Now, you might want to create two email addresses for them. I know you are questioning this, but hear me out. Go ahead and reserve their first and last name at gmail.com. This account can then turn into their daily account for school and friends. Then create a second account titled dear, with their name, for example, dearfirstlastname@gmail.com. Make sense? You can also give this email address to the grandparents or other family members. When your child is old enough, tell them about their email address and let them read the emails they’ve accumulated through the years.

Can you imagine the impact this will have in your childs life when they are adults and their grandparents, parents, or friends have passed? They can relive their words as often as they wish.

Here are some other great ideas on preserving childhood memories:

  1. Question them. Write out a list of “interview” questions for your child such as their favorite food or their favorite holiday memory. Collect their answers yearly and keep them in a binder or album.
  2. Organize it. It takes a considerable amount of time, but albums that chronicle each year of your child’s life are beautiful keepsakes that can be placed on a shelf or coffee table. There are countless websites to make your own albums. MyPublisher creates exceptional, high-quality albums.
  3. Online Scrapbooks. Scrapbooking is fun, but it can also be expensive and time-consuming (not to mention that not all of us have been blessed with the creative gene!). Sites like ScrapBlog (www.scrapblog.com) and SmileBox (www.smilebox.com) let you create unique scrapbooks featuring your best baby and family photos.
  4. T-Shirt Quilts. Your child is going to go through a lot of clothes during his or her lifetime, and instead of throwing these items away or donating them, you can use them to preserve your child’s memories. Keep shirts or other articles of clothing that can help jog a memory for your child, and then use these items to create a t-shirt quilt.
  5. Keep a video diary. You don’t have to be a show producer to keep a video diary. Record the moments you never want to forget and always be ready to capture the moments that might end up being a little funnier than you expected!

5 Minutes with a Local Mom: Angela Rose (Liv’s Run for Life)

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We wanted to share this amazing story with our momma’s once again. The Liv a Life of Love Foundation has such meaningful, heartfelt and emotional story behind it. This year marks the 4th Annual Liv’s Run for Life 5k. This will be held on Saturday, April 21st.  Thanks for sharing your story with us Angela!!

familyName: Angela Rose

Kid’s names and ages: Olivia Lauryn 17, (7.4.96-6.27.14), Alexander Lee 16, Emilee Grace 13, and Stella Rose 3 1/25

Where are you from and how long have you lived in Southwest Missouri? A lifelong resident of the Show Me State. I was raised in Springfield and moved to the community of Republic in 1999.

8What is the most enjoyable thing about being a mother? What I enjoy the most about being a mother, is the front row seat I’m blessed with to observe the successes both great and small of my children. Watching them grow into determined, creative individuals with a great sense of humors reminds me that the blunders I’ve made and will continue to make in raising my kids will mean very little in the end.

What is the most challenging part of being a mother? As a mother to both a preschooler and teenagers I have to remind myself, and be willing to, let go as they grow from needy toddlers who attach themselves to my pant legs, into capable self sufficient adolescents.

Loving abundantly while simultaneously giving them the freedom to experience their own life lessons.

We understand you have established a 5k run to remember your daughter Olivia. Tell us about Liv’s Run for Life:  Liv’s Run for Life annual 5K event will be held on Saturday, April 21st in Springfield. The run was created to help fund both the Liv a Life of Love Foundation promoting organ donation awareness through community outreach and offers financial support for transplant recipient families.

Liv a Life of Love Scholarship Fund annually offering  a one time financial gift to deserving graduating seniors.

How can others get involved in Liv’s Run for Life? Register to run/walk at this year’s upcoming event, sign up as a volunteer, sponsor with a tax deductible monetary gift or in-kind donation. If you know a donor or recipient family, encourage them to participate in honor of their loved one.

Click here to learn more about the fun on Facebook.

Click here to register to run.

rose friendsHow does this run inspire others to sign up for organ donation? My hope is that by bringing our community together, sharing Olivia’s gift of life story, educating and dispelling the myths behind organ donation others will choose to follow Liv’s altruistic lead. I believe as she did, that each of us has the power and potential to save a life.

livWhat do you want the world to know about Olivia? Olivia lived a life full of purpose and exuberance. She was genuine, kind hearted, and no respecter of person. Liv was uninfluenced by consideration of someone’s popularity, but was rather a friend to all. Those blessed to know her, love to recall memories they shared and have spoken not just of her outer beauty but also of her contagious laughter, sweet spirit, and vibrant personality.

She made the personal decision to register as an organ donor at age sixteen. In her passing she selflessly saved the lives of five individuals. That precious gift required  monumental heartache for those who knew and loved her in exchange for joy to those she offered life.

The unfathomable grief of loosing a child holds as much power in it’s ability to change our lives as love. I’m forever grateful for Liv’s selfless decision to be a life giver. By choosing to Liv(e) Twice she afforded me the opportunity to channel my personal heartache into hope for other families. Remembering daily that her big beautiful heart continues to beat, helps mend my own that is still broken.

7Advice for other moms and families that may be dealing with loss: There is no time limit on grief. Don’t let anyone tell you how to feel, and don’t tell yourself how to feel either. Don’t stifle it, but allow it to heal you and make you stronger.

One word that best describes you: Unwavering.

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How to find the perfect bra

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Do you struggle to find the perfect bra? Do you constantly tug on it throughout the day? Is it the first thing you take off when you get home and breathe a sigh of relief? *sigh*

Let me ask you this question: Would you wear a pair of shoes that didn’t fit? NO! Then why do you were a bra that doesn’t fit?

Well, we feel ya ladies. But! Have no fear we do have some tips on how to find the perfect fitting bra.

A lot of you probably don’t know this but I, Kelli, used to be a store manager for Victoria’s Secret. So you could say I know a thing or two about finding the perfect fitting bra.

Let’s dive into the mistakes most of us make when buying a bra:

  1. You’re choosing the wrong band size. The myth is that you are supposed to wear your bra on the tightest fitting hook. FALSE. You actually want to wear your bra on the middle hook. This allows for you to have slack if you ever gain weight, the bra shrinks or you lose weight.
  2. Choosing too small a cup size. Stop worrying about the size ladies. Who cares what letter of the alphabet you are wearing. Just worry about if it fits. Most women are wearing 3 cup sizes to small. You might actually need a larger cup size to avoid unattractive lumps.
  3. Tightening your straps up to high. Yes, we do need to tighten the straps up once in a while. However, if the back of the bra isn’t centered on your back, you’re wearing it wrong. You have the straps way to tight girl.
  4. Choosing the same style. Venture out. Try new styles. You may have once hated a push up bra, but you may just surprise yourself and fall in love with it. Also try different brands. Bras are always changing as the styles and seasons change.
  5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Yes, it can be embarrassing. But, take it from me no one cares but you. Ask for a measurement not just once in your life, but often. You change bra sizes quite often throughout life. Who out there has had a baby? Hello! Umm those ladies aren’t the same as they once were. So don’t be afraid and ask for a measurement.

Are you ready to go out and try on new bras? I know I am! A new bra that fits perfect can be a game changer ladies! Let’s ban together and say NO to the ill-fitting bras. Let’s lift our ladies high and be proud of what our momma gave us!