Thank you for all your thoughtful comments on yesterday’s post! Learning your trophy philosophy is really interesting! If you haven’t read the post, be sure to check it out and read the comments too. John really put a lot of thought into the post and is working on replying to the comments!
Today though, we have a lighter topic to discuss – my new glasses! I had a great LensCrafters experince with preparing for AccuFit and my AccuFit experience, so today it’s all about the end result.
As you can see, I went from half rimless cat-like glasses to a full rimmed squarer frame. I really like them!!
What do you think?
The AccuFit experience was really interesting in terms of learning about the technology and why the digital measurement system is superior to manual measuring. I would definitely recommend trying it out for yourself! (I was not required to say that – I just really think that!) Plus, all the employees I encountered at my LensCrafters location were friendly and helpful.
Ohh, I didn’t even tell you. LensCrafters have labs where they make the glasses right there! They cut the glass for the lenses and viola! The glasses are usually completed in an hour, but I came back the next day to pick mine up since I came in close to closing time. This actually gave me the opportunity to meet the store manager, who had heard about “the blogger.” Karen was a delight!
Today’s post wraps up my campaign with LensCrafters, so I hope you enjoyed learning about them as much as I did!
Let me know if you like my new glasses!!
LensCrafters offers a clearly different optical experience by helping you find your perfect pair of eyeglasses. AccuFit Digital Measurement System allows for five times more precise digital measurements than tradition, manual methods for crisper, clearer vision.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by LensCrafters via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of LensCrafters.
As mentioned from my week 30 update from yesterday, John’s thoughts deserved an entire post unto itself. I love the thoughtful topics he comes up with and can’t wait to read the comments on this one. Without further adieu, here’s my wonderful husband:
John’s Thoughts: As we are now under 10 weeks until the arrival of our little one, I have began thinking about the ramifications of being a role model and teacher throughout his whole life. Specifically, I spent a lot of time this week pondering the pervasive societal idea that “everyone gets a trophy.” What I mean by that is it seems society is very quick to tell all little kids how super-special they are and this is best seen during youth (sub-jr. high) sports; everyone gets a small trophy at the end of the season. Doesn’t matter if they couldn’t hit the ball with a bazooka or were Babe Ruth incarnate, everyone gets a trophy. I, for one, completely disagree with this ideology.
I am not saying kids aren’t special, because they absolutely are! Every single one is a precious gift and every single one has talents and abilities that make them special. They also deserve praise and recognition for their accomplishments (learning their colors, learning to tie their shoes, winning the game, etc.) However, telling everyone how awesome they are all the time and giving them trophies for nothing is actually detrimental to fostering their unique talents. Incentive is a driving force in life. If you give kids trophies for no reason, you remove all incentive for them to practice their talents so they get better and actually achieve something fantastic (which is then commemorated with a trophy). Currently, they realize it doesn’t matter if they try or not because they’re going to get a trophy regardless. When they play sports or start school, a loss or a mistake shouldn’t be seen as this “OH NO THEY LOST! YOU’RE A TERRIBLE CHILD!” situation; actually those are the best teaching moments.
I believe it is our job as parents to help our child realize that, although he feels bad for making a mistake, he needs to understand and learn from that mistake. He won’t always win trophies for what he does but he needs that incentive to achieve so he does get trophies. This is very beneficial later in life. At work, if you screw up a job for your boss, he isn’t going to come to you and say “Oh it’s OK John! You tried, here’s a trophy!” (also it would be weird for your boss to keep baseball trophies in his office to hand out to employees). No, your boss is most likely going to be upset with you. But as an adult, how do you rectify the situation? You push yourself harder to 1) never make that mistake again and 2) be even better at your job to demonstrate that your previous mistake doesn’t define you as an employee. Similarly, kids need to learn early in life that nothing is ever handed to them. They will make mistakes; they will not be the best at everything all the time; and they are not “entitled” to receiving recognition for their accomplishments if they didn’t actually accomplish anything. They need to not be afraid to mess up and to learn from those times when they faltered to push themselves to be the best. After trying their hardest to improve on their mistakes and to actually be the best, their trophy/recognition is going to be all the more enjoyable.
To wrap up, here is a great quote by one of the greatest basketball players to play the game that I feel speaks to what I wrote above:
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan
What do you think about the “everyone gets a trophy” philosophy? How do you plan on teaching your kids it’s okay to make mistakes?
As of yesterday, I’m officially 31 weeks! How is 75% of my pregnancy over already? I really need these weeks to start slowing down because I have things that still need to be done! Anyway, here is a peek at week 30 of my pregnancy journey:
What’s Up With Baby: According to BabyCenter,Baby H. is about 15.7 inches long now, and weighs around 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds baby and that volume will continue to decrease as he gets bigger and bigger.
Weight Gain: This week’s gain was 1.6 pounds. This now makes my net difference +13.9 pounds, but +22.9 if you include the 9-pound regain.
My midwife discussed weight with me a bit and she said not to include the 9 pound regain and that I am on track with just my net difference (based off my pre-pregnancy weight). This made me feel really good. Plus, baby measured 29.5 when I was 30 weeks 2 days. By “measured” I’m talking about the fundal height measurement. The measurement is from the top of the mother’s uterus to the top of the mother’s pubic bone in centimeters. It should match the baby’s gestational age within 1-3 centimeters.
Yayyy for baby and yayyy for mommy’s on track weight gain, regardless of the regain!
What I’ve Been Eating: Some of my foods this week include – taco salads, pancakes, spaghetti, plenty of side salads, Outback Steakhouse, mac & cheese, apples, carrots & dip, and cheese slices.
How I’m Feeling: Other than needing to ice my tailbone on a regular basis, I feel great. My energy is back to normal now that I’ve been sleeping better too!
How I’m Changing: I think baby boy is sitting lower and my belly button is shallower. I’m not convinced my belly button will actually pop to an outie, but this is really the first noticeable difference for my button.
I’ve also been having more Braxton Hicks contractions – makes sense as I’m getting further along.
Baby Movement: This week has been so fun for movements! He’s pretty much active anytime I’m sitting or laying down now. When I’m up and busy, I think I lull him to sleep or just don’t recognize that he’s moving.
Midwife Stuff: Our midwife orientation went really well and the midwife giving the session said all the right things! I don’t have to be confined to my bed during labor and can labor in many ways – birthing ball, walking around, in the whirlpool tub. I also don’t need to have continuous IV’s (unless it’s medically necessary), and just need to have the IV port. They will also do intermittent monitoring of baby so I’m not confined to the bed.
Two days after the orientation session, I had my first midwife appointment. The first midwife I met was wonderful! John was able to come to my first appointment and really liked her as well. She was very thorough with us since I’m a transfer patient and took her time reviewing my previous prenatal care. We got to hear baby’s heart beat and he is measuring on track!
Buying for Baby: Our dinosaur decals arrived for the nursery! We had a little date night over the weekend placing the decals in his room, and they look so cute! Here is a sneak peak:
Buying for Mommy: I found a nursing bra sale through Zulily.com and they arrived this week! I also had ordered a few more maternity shirts via Old Navy clearance and they arrived too! Everything is so comfy. Below you will see one of my shirts from Old Navy (I bought it in navy and black) and I love it! I really liked pairing it with this bright yellow scarf – but it was funny to see how pregnant (or not pregnant) I looked depending on how I wore the scarf.
John’s Thoughts: John will actually be having a whole post regarding his thoughts of the week tomorrow! Stay tuned – his thoughts bring up a really interesting discussion.
Baby-Related Accomplishments:
Decals are up!
Midwife orientation session and first appointment were both a success!
What We’re Looking Forward to This Week:
My sister arrives on Friday for the weekend!
Our Pennsylvania baby shower is this weekend!
Completing a big project for me.
Starting an exciting an project for me.
For all pregnancy-related posts, please visit mybaby page!
Today’s post is part two of my LensCrafters experience. Last time, I briefly discussed the AccuFit technology and showed you before pictures. Well, this week I had the opportunity to experience the new digital measurement system first hand. I visited the LensCrafters in Gaithersburg, which was the closest location to our new home, and was helped by the wonderful Katie. She had to be wonderful with a name like Katie, right?
First, I went around the store and picked out a few frames that I thought would be a nice fit for my face. John helped me during this process and then my optician, Katie, started helping as well! It was fun to have them both “dress” me. Here I am in my current glasses, excited to get started!
The first thing was did use the visual mirror. The computer Katie is using, has an image capturing device on the back of it, that allows you to capture up to four images at once. This was really neat to help us compare which glasses looked good on my face.
Hello, lots of Katie’s!
We would eliminate the images with glasses that weren’t the best, and take more images until we narrowed it down to our top two. Katie then took side images of our top two.
As you can see, the side view images really allow you to see how much of your peripheral view would be blocked. I really was comparing very different frames!
After selecting my frames of choice, Katie did a brief manual fit of the frames before attaching the fit sensor.
Then it was time for the fit sensor!
The fit sensor then works in tandem with the AccuFit Digital Measurement System to get precise measurements. All I had to do was stare into the image capturing device while Katie took some pictures.
Then it was time to analyze! I’ll tell you, this was all pretty cool. The nerd inside John and I were both excited to learn about this technology.
We learned about my pupillary distance and ocular center. We also learned that the AccuFit technology is so sensitive that it helps fit the frame of the glasses to your face with an accuracy of a tenth of a millimeter! Very cool stuff.
Stay tuned for my final post on Friday about the AccuFit technology and the big reveal of which glasses I chose!
LensCrafters offers a clearly different optical experience by helping you find your perfect pair of eyeglasses. AccuFit Digital Measurement System allows for five times more precise digital measurements than tradition, manual methods for crisper, clearer vision.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by LensCrafters via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of LensCrafters.
They’re the anonymous commenters on our blog. They’re the Facebook friends who leave passive aggressive statuses about you without them actually mentioning your name. They’re the sneaky twitters followers who snarkily reply to you, yet we hardly know who they are. They are social media meanies.
I’m a positive person in probably 95% of all situations – it’s something I pride myself on. Therefore, social media meanies have no place in my life.
First off, I don’t think I’ll ever understand why people act that way. Are you having a bad day? Are you jealous? Are you just that negative? It doesn’t seem like any of these are good reasons to be a meanie.
Well, NEWSFLASH meanies, you don’t have to read my blog. You don’t have to be my friend on Facebook. You don’t have to follow me on twitter. Unsubscribe. Unfollow. Defriend. Put me on limited profile. Block me! I don’t care what you do – just stop being a social media meanie.
I love being connected through social media – that’s the great thing about it… however, what people forget is: you choose what level of connectivity you have! Why keep reading something if you don’t like it? There’s no point. Disconnect yourself!
So, just as bloggers need to take responsibility for their content, I have a responsibility message for all those social media meanies out there:
Take responsibility for your eyeballs and stop reading or looking at things you don’t like! If you take this small step of responsibility, you’ll probably no longer be a social media meanie.
The end.
PS. When I read this to John last night, he informed me that the correct term for social media meanies is “forum trolls.” I like my phrase better. That is all.
I almost forgot about picking a winner for the BTB Sunglasses giveaway! I hope the winner enjoys their sunglasses as much as I do…
Lisa G. please email me at HealthyHeddleston@gmail.com. I’ll need your mailing address and which pair of BTB Sunglasses you’d like to receive. I’ll forward all the information on to my contact!
If you didn’t win and want an awesome deal on new shades, just enter KATES30 for a 30% discount upon checkout!
Holy smokes, I’m 30 weeks pregnant today! Entering the thirties seems to final. I can’t believe 75% of my pregnancy has just flown by! Before I get ahead of myself though, it’s time to tell you all about week 29!
What’s Up With Baby: Baby H. now weighs about 2.5 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. During this trimester, about 250 mg of calcium are deposited in baby’s hardening skeleton each day!
Weight Gain: This week’s gain was 2 pounds. This now makes my net difference +12.3 pounds, but +21.3 pounds when you include the 9 pound regain (which you need to include for me being on track).
What I’ve Been Eating: Ohh this week was a yummy round of food: lasagna with salad, steak with mashed potatoes and salad, quiche, pizza (three different varieties until I used up all the dough), and pancakes.
Workouts: Let’s just say that dealing with my lack of sleep this past week was a workout in itself. I didn’t have the energy to do anything formal in terms of workouts, but I have since started to sleep better (see below).
How I’m Feeling: Aside from the sleeping situation, I’m been feeling great! It feels awesome to be getting more and more down around the house to prepare for baby.
How I’m Sleeping: Sleeping last week started our atrocious. However, we bought a $10 body pillow from Target and things have been improving. I even slept for a full 5 hours without waking up to pee! I couldn’t believe it! Hopefully the improvement in sleeping is here to stay for awhile.
Baby Movement: Baby boy loves to move around when I’m relaxing! He has been crazy active this week, which is awesome! John has been able to feel him move and kick and drag his little limbs around!
Doctor Stuff: Tonight we are attending an orientation session for the midwife group we want to use for my OB care. Then on Thursday we have our first Maryland baby appointment!
Buying for Baby: My baby shower in Pennsylvania is less than two weeks away and we received a big gift in the mail: our jogger travel system! My dad and step-mom bought this for us and John and I were excited to get it out of the box. The travel system includes the car seat and base, as well as the stroller.
Later in the week we had our first overnight visitors: John’s parents! They brought our crib with them that we had made from a local Ohio Amish furniture store. It is gor-ge-ous! We are so thrilled with how it turned out!
This week we also order baby dinosaur decals for the nursery and they arrived yesterday! They are SO cute. Over the weekend we also took advantage of a diaper sale and bought Baby H. his first round of “poop catchers.” (Yup, that would be a John phrase).
John’s Thoughts: With the arrival of the crib and the baby dinosaur decals, I can really envision the nursery coming together and our little boy being fast asleep in the crib. I remarked to Katie this weekend that it’s amazing to think about being parents…I still go to my parents for help with a lot of things! It’s nerve-wracking to think that very soon we’re going to have to be the answer for all our little boy’s questions. We only need a few more items for the nursery and then it’ll be Baby H. ready!
Baby-Related Accomplishments:
Crib is assembled.
Mobile is assembled and attached to crib.
The mirror is now attached to Baby H.’s dresser.
Nursery decals have been ordered and arrived.
What We’re Looking Forward to This Week:
Midwife orientation session.
First midwife appointment.
Getting Maryland driver’s license.
Hosting my aunt and uncle, who were our eyes for this townhouse, for dinner.
For all pregnancy-related posts, please visit mybaby page!
Well, today you get the chance to win your very own pair!!
BTB Sunglasses has graciously offered to let one lucky reader pick out whatever pair they’d like! They have all different kinds to choose from too: mens sunglasses, ladies sunglasses, polzarized sunglasses, running sunglasses, and more!
To Enter
Answer the following question(s) in the comment section below: When are you most likely to wear sunglasses? During which sport are you most likely to wear sunglasses?
For Extra Entries (leave a separate comment for each extra entry you’ve completed)
Contest closes Monday, January 16, 2011 at 11:59 pm. Good luck!
I truly love the sunglasses I have from BTB Sunglasses and know you will too! If you don’t win the giveaway or if you’re excited to order a pair of sunglasses right away, BTB has offered my readers a coupon code as well! Just enter KATES30 for a 30% discount upon checkout! WOW!
This is just a super basic snickerdoodle cookie recipe. They taste delish and are probably one of the best gluten-free cookies I’ve made.
Ingredients
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
2 teaspoon cream of tartar (you have to have this)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar (for rolling)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (for rolling)
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Beat together sugar, butter, shortening, and eggs. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt.
Shape dough into 1-1/2 inch balls — this is going to be trickier with a GF batter because it’s sticky. What I did was took to spoons and made a “ball.” I did not roll the ball around in my hands to make it smooth — this would have been messy and sticky. Just simply drop the “ball” into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and roll it around. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Viola! Just a basic recipe that tastes so good.
Do you like snickerdoodles?
Please chime in on my “Can’t Sleep” post if you have any advice for helping me sleep better during my third trimester! Thanks!
This is where I twiddled my thumbs until 3 am. Then I finally fell asleep there from 3 am – 6:45 am; the time at which John was getting ready for work.
This is where I migrated to and slept from 7 am – 9:55 am.
I slept nestled between those pillows on my left side. I wish I would have slept longer. I’m thinking the little boy inside of me likes to have dance parties when I’m trying to rest. The other issue seems to be that I’ll be exhausted but my body just won’t let me sleep!
The night before last, I felt like a little baby who needed to cry herself to sleep. John woke up to me sniffling at 1:30 am and before you know it, it was a full on sobfest. After calming down and blowing my nose, I slept until 5 something that morning.
Sleeping hasn’t been my strong suit since entering the third trimester. This is just so unlike me.
Advice for a third trimester pregnant gal who desperately needs some sleep?
I am a Registered Dietitian blogging about my life and resources as one; however, everyone's health and nutrition needs are different.
Please contact me or your own RD for an individualized plan. This blog is for educational purposes only and should not replace individual medical advice.
