Twice Blessed Life

Liberty Science Center in NJ! Review & Giveaway

Written on November 21, 2013 by Lara in 1st grade, Fun & Games, Product Recommendations

Recently, we’ve been promoting the idea of S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmatics) to our girls, so when an opportunity came up to do another review of the Liberty Science Center’s new exhibits, we were thrilled!

They have a new Bob the Builder exhibit!

And they have a new NFL Training Camp interactive exhibit, as well as Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

First, we made a bee-line for the Bob the Builder exhibit, and were very happy to see some of our favorite friends waiting to greet us at the entrance!

We were amazed by just how many features and interactive activities there were for the kids! This exhibit blew our minds!

The girls loved helping Wendy with her flower and veggie gardens!

They proudly demonstrated the solar-power feature on Wendy’s camper.

They joined up with other kids to keep the ‘water’ flowing!

Halle got right to work on that pesky plumbing problem Bob’s been having!

We built a rock wall!

And the girls loved getting up close and personal with their favorite construction vehicles!

We easily spent a couple hours here, as there were many, many activities here, before almost literally dragging the girls away for a potty break!

(I strongly recommend that you experience this exhibit as soon as the museum opens. It’s very popular, and with so many children around, a lot of the smaller pieces of equipment get scattered. But at the start of the day, everything is all organized and in its proper place. It’s also easier to keep track of your kids when it’s not so crowded, it’s also a little quieter.)

Then I thought we could chill out for awhile and watch as Daddy explored the NFL exhibit. Boy, was I surprised at how much fun EVERYONE in my family had with the Training Camp! Of course my husband had a ball, but the girls were insatiable and tried each feature again and again and again and….well, you get the picture!

And the LSC staff on hand were very kind and helpful!

Then we took a stroll thru Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and even that was pretty amazing!

After that, we went for lunch in the LSC’s cafe – the food is so good there! (and very reasonably priced)

To give my husband a bit of daddy-time to explore the museum on his own, We took the kids to the I Explore exhibit which is just across the hall from the cafe on the 2nd floor. My girls loved visiting this favorite from a previous trip!

They spent nearly an hour just with the ‘sand’ (rice) box, and made some new friends!

And as we were about to go, we found that LSC had set up some more NFL-themed games for the kids to play in the lobby!

So while the kids were occupied with that, I took a quick look thru the LSC gift shop!

We had a great time here, and I am personally very grateful to the Liberty Science Center for making S.T.E.M. fun for my girls!

And now you and your family can have the chance to win some free passes to LSC and see the new exhibits! Just enter this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bob the Builder exhibit runs until April 27, 2014

Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame runs until March 2, 2014

Here’s some more info on the Bob the Builder exhibit

Here’s some more info on the NFL Training Camp & Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

*This review was facilitated with complimentary passes provided by Liberty Science Center. The opinions expressed herein are my own.

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Frankenstein’s Bride aka The Aftermath of Abdominal Surgery

Written on August 29, 2013 by Lara in Mama Stuff, sickness

Ow.

Let me repeat that to make sure you really get that…

O. Freakin’. W.

Major owwies here.

According to the surgeons who opened me up and put me back together again minus a few pounds of previous me-ness, the surgery was successful.

They repaired my torn abdominal muscles that were non-functional, stuffed my internal organs back into my body cavity from where they’d been hanging out making me look perpetually pregnant lo’ these past 6 years, dealt with the excess of way over-stretched-out skin, and sewed me back up.

It hurts to cough or sneeze, so of course my allergies are acting up to torment me.

Yes, by the way, this is a major kvetch-fest. I think I deserve to have one. Major abdominal surgery kinda puts one in that frame of mind.

And I have to sleep on my back with my top half propped up and my bottom half propped up so I’m not putting extra strain on the stitches keeping my guts from spilling out.

At least the two medical drains that they installed in me are now out – YIPPEE!!!! (I really hated those, can you tell?)

And for some reason, right after the surgery the pinkie toe on my left foot’s gone numb. No idea why. Maybe it’s acting out since my guts are getting all the attention. Who knows?

Everything’s still all sore and swollen and grotesque and it’ll be another couple of months at least until things approach normal, but at least the worst is over and at the end of all this, I’ll hopefully have functional abdominal muscles and thankfully won’t have my internal organs slopping around outside my body cavity any more.

Now I just have to wait and heal and go after the hospital’s financial department which overcharged me grossly on things they shouldn’t have. I got passed around to 9different people the last time I called their financial department – all of them saying I have to contact the person basically sitting right next to them and they have no idea how I can do that.

Hooray!

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Finally the day has come! Surgery, hooray!

Written on August 11, 2013 by Lara in Mama Stuff, sickness

Scheduled for surgery on 8/12 – finally going to get those torn stomach muscles repaired, and close up that all-organ hernia! Insurance covering some, but still plenty out of pocket

Wish me luck!

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My guts – how’re they hangin’?

Written on April 5, 2013 by Lara in Mama Stuff, sickness, Twin Pregnancy

Before I got pregnant, I weighed 125 lbs. By the end of my full-term twin pregnancy, I’d shot up to 184. The girls were born after 39 weeks of pregnancy at 6 & 6 1/2 lbs respectively – which thankfully kept them out of the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), but what that left me with was….

Diastasis Recti.

Basically, my abs did a vertical split and now my guts protrude. Alot. I look like I’m perpetually pregnant. My abs are shot and now my back muscles have to do double duty! This leaves me feeling pretty tired and achy all the time, not to mention having to be careful of my protruding guts.

You’d think that this would be treated as a legitimate medical condition and that insurance would cover the outpatient surgery needed to correct it, but you’d be wrong.

The surgery is generally known as a “cosmetic” proceedure for people wanting prettier tummies – a “tummy tuck” – and on your own dime it’s about $25,000.

Exercises can only do so much (and not much at that) to reduce the gap through which your guts protrude, and binders, cinches, corsets and other shapewear or compression garments are also limited in the actual support they provide.

One of the constant dangers is that your guts will herniate, twist and ‘strangulate’, which means you are in deep doo-doo.

Well, guess what happened to me?

Yep, I coughed a little too much during my recent bout of bronchitis and something went SPROING!!

Hurt like frickin’ heck!

After a few days of lotsa pain, I went to see my doctor who told me that my intestines are herniated – oh joy!

And that I need surgery for it.

The good news, however, is that now that I’ve graduated to an ‘actual’ medical condition, most likely the insurance will cover the surgery to repair the hernia and the diastasis. Hooray!

Good thing my husband’s got some vacay time saved up! He’s the one getting saddled with the kids while I have the surgery and recover from it.

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