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Yesterday, we returned from our gluttonous trip to our local Carvel ice cream shop on a euphoric sugar high. Oh yeah...The Daily Kool family has officially kicked off our celebration of National Ice Cream Month! Needless to say, we were in a fabulous mood when we walked through our front door. Of course, so was our lovable dog, Pepper...we may have mentioned him a few hundred times or so in our previous blog posts. Well, Pepper (as usual) was beside himself with joy when we came home, wagging his tail a mile a minute to show how excited he was to see us. We're telling you, there's not much that beats the feeling of unconditional love from a furry friend. Wait a minute...did we say unconditional? Because when Pepper got closer to lick our faces (hey, he's a French poodle, after all), he literally took a giant sniff of our ice cream breath and reeled back from each of us in indignant shock. Okay, we realize we're attributing human characteristics to our dog (doesn't everybody?). But seriously, you should have seen the accusatory look on his face before he pointedly turned his doggie butt on us and walked away to pout on his bed. Yep, Pepper's big brown eyes can really bring on the guilt. No doubt about it, our dog wanted to be a part of July's National Ice Cream Month holiday.

It's not uncommon for new mums to feel isolated and alone, especially as she adjusts to a new life that no longer includes chats at work, evenings out with friends, or working on her fitness in the gym.

It's not uncommon for new mums to feel isolated and alone, especially as she adjusts to a new life that no longer includes chats at work, evenings out with friends, or working on her fitness in the gym.

This wonderfully crafted wooden doggy baby walker cart by Viga encourages babies and toddlers to walk around the house or garden, collecting things as they go, to place in the cart. Also features wooden play beads for little ones to stand and can play .

A surrogate mother often faces criticism and judgment from others for the choice she have made. However, those are less problematic when compare to the risks that she takes for her own family, friends and spouse. These risks can be daunting and cause challenges she might not have considered before getting involved. These risks can be anything from medical and health concerns to finances and job security and often family and personal risks as well. Medical risk is a huge factor, when a woman becomes a surrogate often times, she and the donors would have to undergo intense examination. These exams range from blood, health tests to the initial process of the implanting of the eggs from the donor. In the beginning the clinic will bring her and the egg donor together to begin a lengthy process of sequencing ovulation cycles. The clinic would put the surrogate mother on birth control and steroids, such as Luprin. These medications are meant to get both the surrogate mother and the donor's cycles on the same schedule. This is crucial because the surrogates' uterus needs to be ready for the embryos. Just having to deal with the pain of insemination and testing can be unbearable, not to mention the unpleasant side effects from all the medication and actual insemination process. However, that is just part of it. The surrogates are also faced with depression, sleep disturbance, guilt and the difficulty to remain unattached. These factors alone cause many surrogates to face the fact that they are walking a long road that not many others might have the strength to do. Many clinics offer support groups and counseling. Aside from medical and emotional risks, there might also be legality issues with the laws of the state they reside in. What kind of laws protect the surrogate, what rights does she have to things such as privacy? And there are also finances to consider. Generally, surrogate mothers are responsible for all insurance costs. As a surrogate you should be financially

Okay, so we are quite a few weeks into summer vacation, and we've noticed that we're filling out our bathing suits much more than we expected. Somehow, our plans for getting into better shape have fallen by the wayside. What's going on here? Well, though we are not ones to make excuses (yeah, who are we kidding?), we do have several explanations. The kids are home, so we're finding ourselves parked at fast food restaurants more often than not (hey, we're on vacation too). It's been hotter than...well, you know. And, if we're not suffering in the blistering heat, we're getting drenched in the rain and chased by a flock of mosquitoes. Who wants to exercise outside in that? Of course, the heat naturally brings on our cravings for the sweet stuff, so the kids are eating ice cream almost every day...we can't let them eat alone now, can we? Wouldn't it be nice if we had a way to get into shape without the extra effort?