Foster Care for Dogs :)

Hi all,

Today I just wanted to write a short little thing about doing Dog Foster care. We started doing it just a short time ago maybe a month or two ago and we have just fallen in love with it. We have fostered 4 dogs so far and it has been fun. It feels great to be that family that saves them from being euthanized by taking them in and giving them a temporary home until someone wants to adopt them. Its been so neat to meet and play with the couple different dogs and look forward to doing it with many more. They may come to us scared of people because they were beaten, but by the time they leave us they know that people are there to love them and cuddle them and play! They trust in humans again and it just feels great! I just had to laugh at our most recent foster. When we got him he was scared to go up and down stairs or to jump up onto the couch or do anything that required going up. He would wine at the top of the stairs and you would have to grab him and bring him down, meanwhile he is clinging to you like he is going to die if dropped. But after playing with our two dogs and watching them go up and down about a bazillion times, he is no longer afraid of stairs! Haha. So if you have ever thought of fostering animals, I would suggest it. It is the best thing we have done and it just makes you feel soooo good inside!

*K*

Here to Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not 100% sure how I want this blog to run, but I do know that I am going to randomly post stuff about my life but I do also want to be there for anyone who needs some kind of advice! I am well versed in about everything short of video games, I have a background in law, psychology, cardiology, military, teen mom, parenting issues, marriage issues, I mean A LOT of things.  I really just want to be there to help people, be a support system for them as I know life is not easy…. Please forward my link around and get it out there that I am here to help… kind of like a dear abby thing J

Ask *K*

Hey all,
Please leave comments/ questions if you would like advice in any given field.....

Thanks!
*K*

In the News

It is just awful sad to look at the news these days.... I look and see our Miss America getting arrested for DWI. Our Police officers arrested for DWI. Children beating, harassing, stealing,.... KILLING.... other children. I don't understand why this is going on. I know its not easy for some parents, but you need to know how to raise children. if you do not know... Learn.. ask for help! I am here to help anyone who needs advice on unruly children.... Anyways, just a quick rant because the news makes me sick.

Thanks
*K*

Tiny

My baby.... His name is tiny and is 5 years old. Always by my side and will always need me :)

School Age Children

Bouncing around topics… This one is about our 2 Kindergarten girls. *L* My daughter who lives with us 100% of the time and *A* who we get every other weekend. Both girls are in kindergarten at different schools. *L* is very interested in learning. Before she even went to kindergarten, she wanted to know all the letters and numbers and sounds and math… ect… so we have been using workbooks from like target and she loves it. *A* on the other hand, likes to learn but is more of a “free spirit” If I were to categorize, *L* is more of a book worm and *A* would be more of an activities girl. Well, *L* has not missed one day of school because she wants to get the perfect attendance award at the end of the year. She has excelled in everything in school and impressed the teachers with her quick learning and knowledge. She is a smart little cookie. She even read me a whole book a couple months ago (an early reader book). I have read to here every day since she was born. I believe that reading to a child improves speech and comprehension dramatically more than if you don’t read to them. Now, with *A* we read to her every day when we have her, but we cannot control what *H* (her mom) does. *A* has some speech problems which I believe stems from a lack of being read to and she is having more problems with letters and sounds and things like that…. Which I believe is also from a lack of being read to. *H* does not realize that school is as important as it is. *A* Was enrolled in pre-school and *H* took her out partially through the year because she wanted her to be home more.  *A* has not really had a stable home for quite a while. In the time that I have known them, *H* has lived in 6 different places. Moving around like that is not good for children. Plus… *H* has already had 2 more kids since then. It has taken a toll on *A* and we see it but I don’t think that *H* does. She takes *A* out of school whenever she wants to. She takes her out to go to the mall, she will skip the whole day if they sleep in late. I mean it is just not fair to *A*. We got her 2^nd report card in the mail the other day and the amount of time she is missing is definitely causing problems at school. She has “needs improvement” is quite a few places when she really shouldn’t. She is a very smart little girl and she is not getting the chance to learn because she is not being kept in school on a regular basis. I hope that at some point in the future, we can use all of this information to get full custody of *A*. The girls are getting to the age where they want their privacy and want to be able to do everything on their own. Which is hard for me as a mom because I want to be needed by them haha. *L* was funny, a couple of months ago, she did something by herself and I was sad and said “You don’t need me anymore” and she said “mom, I will always need you” and I asked for what and her response was “to cook dinner and wash my clothes….” I laughed so hard I cried. Such a sweet and honest little lady. So I think in my first blog I said that I separated the girls rooms so they each has their own and I was not sure how *A* was going to do with it. Well, she did very well, she was very excited and she just loved it!! *L* loves it too because she always blames *A* for messing up her room and she was just so happy for her room to stay clean all weekend because *A* didn’t mess it up. She gets excited to the point where she has been making her bed every day and if the dogs jump up on it, she even gets frustrated because they are messing it up J What a hunny! So anyways, I think school is going to be a big competition point for the girls because they are in the same grade and its going to be hard. I am excited to see how they both progress through the years. I just hope that *H* realizes how much she is hurting *A* by not having her attend school on a regular basis. If anyone wants any tips on how to trick your kids into learning before they start school just ask!!! I got a lot of fun tricks up my sleeves. J

*K*

A little about Teenage Mothers

I am 23 now… but when I got pregnant I was 16… So I wanted to just let everyone know about my experience as a single teenage mother.

I found out I was pregnant right around valentines day in 2005. I had been seeing the same guy for a while and he turned out to be a jerk when I told him I was pregnant and wanted nothing to do with me so anyways…. I found out I was pregnant. I told my dad and he was very upset about it. He told me that I needed to drop out of school and get a job and that I would not be allowed to live and raise a child in his house. Now I understand his frustration because after all, I was not all that great of a teenage, I would skip school…. I would sneak out… I would hang out with boys (thus leading to the pregnancy) but I thought it a little dramatic of him. Well long story short I found a place about an hour from his house to live. I found a school that let you work at your own pace and take time off to have a baby. Well I worked my tushy off the 9 months I was pregnant and ended up graduating early and getting  a semester of college out of the way before I had my daughter. All the while I had picked up a job as well and worked up until the day I went into labor. Seeing how well I was doing and how much I had changed really got to my dad. He apologized for the way he acted and he supported me from then on out. My parents are divorced. My mom was my main support and would come visit me all the time. Anyways, the time came where I went into labor… It was not fun by any means but it went quickly… then I welcomed my little lady into the world. Her birth father was not there but his parents came and met her. The first couple months were scary and tiring. Doing it by yourself is very difficult I don’t remember too much about it. I just remember that I cried a lot! It was not easy, I was not ready for it, but I made the best of it. I knew that I would not be able to support us on an Arby’s salary and I did not want to rely on welfare. So I joined the National Guard. I became an Army Medic and did the one weekend a month and two weeks a year thing. I think I mentioned in my last post that I am still in and will be getting out in June. My daughter is my world. She is my everything. I never planned on getting pregnant and raising a little girl at 16 but I am happy I did. At 23, I have an amazing daughter who is in kindergarten, I have a husband who I love, I own two houses and have made a great living. Just because you are a teenage mother, it doesn’t mean your life is over. You can make something of yourself. I don’t know the exact stats but I think its somewhere around 20% of teen mothers have a second pregnancy within 2 years of the first one. I wish I could just reach out to all the teen mothers out there and get them some help. I guess this blog does not really tell you too much about my life as a teen mom but it just was not as hard as some people make it seem. It was not easy, but I worked and went to school and was determined to make a good life for my daughter and myself. It was not until the end of 2007 that I met my now, husband, and it was not until a year later that we moved in together. Then, it was not until 2010 that we married. I will do a husband blog another time J. I have no problems sharing experiences with anyone who has questions, Its just hard for me to remember specific things until someone jogs my memory with a question. So please feel free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya again soon!

*K*