Friday, February 27, 2009

Birth Order of Children

Ok so I wanted to share this with everyone. I finally got around to checking my e-mail today and this was sent to me by a good friend. All the mommies out there, ENJOY! I laughed at how right most of it was. :-D (Kat, this is what you have to look forward too.)

Clothing

1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as
your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.

2nd baby:
You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.

3rd baby:
Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
_____________________________________________________

preparing for the Birth:

1st baby:
You practice your breathing religiously.

2nd baby:
You don't bother because you remember that last
time, breathing didn't do a thing.

3rd baby
: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.
__________________________________________ ____________

The Layette
:

1st baby:
You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.

2nd baby:
You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and
discard only the ones with the darkest stains.

3rd baby:
Boys can wear pink, can't they?
______________________________________________________

Worries:


1st baby:
At the first sign of distress--a whimper,
a frown--you pick up the baby

2nd baby:
You pick the baby up when her wails threaten
to wake your firstborn.

3rd baby:
You teach your three-year-old how to
rewind the mechanical swing.
______________________________________________________

Pacifier:


1st baby:
If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until
you can go home and wash and boil it.

2nd baby:
When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it
off with some juice from the baby's bottle.

3rd baby:
You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
______________________________________________________

Diapering:


1st baby:
You change your baby's diapers every hour,
whether they need it or not.

2nd baby:
You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.

3rd baby:
You try to change their diaper before others start to
complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
_______________________________________________________


Activities


1st baby:
You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing,
Baby Zoo, Baby Movies and Baby Story Hour.

2nd baby:
You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.

3rd baby:
You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaners.
_____________________________ _________________________

Going Out:


1st baby:
The first time you leave your baby with a sitter,
you call home five times.

2nd baby:
Just before you walk out the door, you remember to
leave a number where you can be reached.

3rd baby:
You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.
______________________________________________________

At Home:

1st baby:
You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.

2nd baby:
You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.

3rd baby:
You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children
______________________________________________________

Swallowing Coins (a favorite):


1st child:
When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays

2nd child:
When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.

3rd child:
When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!
______________________________________________________


Pass this on to everyone you know who has children . . . or everyone who KNOWS someone who has had children. .
(The older the mother, the funnier this is!)



GRANDCHILDREN:

God's reward
for allowing your children
to live!

Finance...

...the word that sends chills up the spine and has the effect of nails on a chalk board...

...yes...that Finance.

Tom has had to go to Finance twice now because of them paying us too much. They are giving us double BAH. What's worse is they saw this coming! They knew it was going to happen, yet they have no idea how to fix it right now. Hmmm...how hard is it to replace the '2' with a '1' or delete one of the entries? Truthfully how complicated is it? Well, it is Finance and you know they have the best people they can get to overlook our pay. Ugh...I guess we have been lucky. We've only had one or two other issues with pay since Tom re-joined. (For those who don't know, he was enlisted back in the early '90s and got out, went to college and went back in as an Officer).

Little Minion Updates

Ok so it's been a busy week. We've had Victoria's 4 month well baby and dentist appts for Gabriel and Katheryn.

We'll start with Victoria. She is 13lbs 2 ozs and 25-1/2 inches long (81% for height!). I think she is working on her top teeth and going through a growth spurt. She's nursing every 2 hours at night (UGH!) and about every 2 - 3 during the day. She's almost rolling over, she just needs to learn to get her arm out of her way. She sits up really good in her Bumbo chair (which Katheryn uses for her teddy bear to sit in and eat, thankfully she is using the play food from their kitchen).

Katheryn had her first dentist appt yesterday. She did really good! Her teeth aren't as close together as her brothers and she has a bit of an overbite (probably from sucking her fingers when she gets tired). We were waiting to get appts for the next one in 6 months and she grabbed her toothbrush they gave her and brushed her baby dolls teeth. So cute!

Gabriel did good too. They did x-rays and his 6 year molars are getting ready to start coming in and he has his first loose tooth! So I guess I'm gonna put on a new hat...the Toothfaerie! LOL

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Mommy's Milk - The Organic Choice for Babies

So I have been thinking alot about Breastfeeding and choices lately. I've never really considered myself a extremist on the issue mainly because I am not publicly outspoken and I don't go bearing all just to prove a point in public. Yes, I have fed my babies in public, but I have also done so "discretely". I have found that the older I get and the more children I nurse (I have 3 now), the more comfortable I am. But why should I have not been comfortable? There are probably several reasons, but are those reasons the same for those who choose not to feed their baby "mommy milk"? I was talking with a friend the other day who said she had never heard anyone say they were "too lazy to bottlefeed" (I said this jokingly). She had only heard the opposite, that they were "too lazy to nurse". That got me to thinking...how hard is it to nurse?

Bottlefeeding you have to:
  • buy the formula,
  • buy bottles/liners,
  • * sterilize bottles and nipples,
  • hopefully use filtered water,
  • heat the water to the right temperature (shouldn't microwave formula already mixed),
  • mix it,
  • feed baby
  • repeat *
Breastfeeding you have to:
  • buy nursing bras,
  • buy nursing tops or wear loose shirts and sweaters,
  • buy nursing pads (either disposable, washable, or lilypads)
  • put boobie in babies mouth
  • wash boobie
Which would be easier to do at 2am with a screaming baby? I can say, having done both, that feeding mommy milk to my baby is WAY easier than bottlefeeding. I look back at when I nursed my first and "gave up" at 6 months and wish that I had stuck with it. I had gave in to social pressure that I had nursed long enough and anything more than that was not "normal". If I had known then what I know now! I do believe that social "opinions" need to change on this issue. In such a knowledgeable country as we are, we seem to be pretty closed minded and stupid (I'd say ignorant, but we are educated and still choose not to do what is best). It is sad when a mother who makes the right choice and nurses her baby has to have laws in place to protect her baby's right to eat in public! Recently, Facebook chose to delete photographs and user accounts because mother's chose to upload pictures of them feeding their child. In looking at ones that were deleted they ranged anywhere from completely covered up to no shirt on at all nursing two babies. Some showed nipples, but most just showed the baby eating. With my first I was told by the pediatrician that he HAD to be on a schedule, wake him up to feed him, he HAD to nurse 15 mins each side, yada yada yada. Do you know how hard it is to wake a baby who is sleeping and force him to eat? No wonder it got tireing and wasn't as enjoyable. With my second I threw that out the window and adopted the "on demand schedule". It worked out a WHOLE lot better. I woke up and fed her when she was hungry for however long she wanted. She gained weight consitatly, had enough wet/poopy diapers, and was happy! I use the same "method" with my third. While I know that she eats every 3 hours or so, I try to schedule being home for feedings (because it's quieter and more comfortable for me to sit), there are times when you can't get home. Then you are faced with the decicion...do I feed a hungry baby or do I make a baby wait who is hungry now? Hmmm...this should be a no-brainer! Feed the hungry baby. What is bad is that I know women who have breastfed their babies make comments on how "she shouldn't do that here" (oh and the mom that feeding her baby was at a restaurant with a blanket covering everything up). I think that is a shame! Hooray for the mom who feeds her hungry baby. A lot of people would say, give the baby a pacifier and feed it when it is "appropriate". LOL Maybe if we used the same "logic" on some people there wouldn't be issues with obeicity! Ok, back to the Facebook issue. So I did a search for breastfeeding groups and came across the "Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is not Obscene". So I decided to look at it and joined. Take a look at their Content Code of Conduct and tell me what catagory photos of a baby eating are grounds for deletion:

"Inappropriate Content

While we believe users should be able to express themselves and their point of view, certain kinds of speech simply do not belong in a community like Facebook. Therefore, you may not post or share Content that:

  • is obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit
  • depicts graphic or gratuitous violence
  • makes threats of any kind or that intimidates, harasses, or bullies anyone
  • is derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive or hateful"
Hmm...I personally don't see any catagory it would fall under. Now, in doing more research, how could nursing a child fall into any of those catagories when the Pope publicly approves of paintings of Mary exposing her breast to feed Jesus? I'm not Catholic and I do disagree with many of their stands, but I'm with them on this. Here is another article.Virgin and Child, by Joovs van Cleve, painted in 1525

"The Holy Family" by Rembrandt

Breastfeeding has also been "imortalized" through the centruries and in different civilizations.

Wow, this turned out to be a much longer post that I had initially intended it to be. I will join the "nurse-in" that will be held this saturday. While I am well aware that my one act will not change how feeding a baby in public is viewed in my lifetime, maybe it will help to change it for my children and theirs.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Organic Seedling Offer

Ok so I am going to start growing the plants for my garden this year and I always start more than I need. So if anyone would be interested in any of the seedlings let me know. I am also going to start a compost bin, so if you're interested in any of that let me know. If you would like them, but don't have room for a garden we'll work something out where you can get some of the produce. lol

In case anyone wants to know what I'm using to start them and what type of seeds they are here is the list of what I'll be using.

Ferry~Morse Peat Pots (about 1" sq)
Ferry~Morse Organic Seed Starter Mix

Vegetables (Organic):
  • Sweet Corn, Luscious Hybrid
  • Turnip, Purple Top White Globe
  • Cucumber, Straight Eight
  • Tomato, Sweetie (small bite size tomatoes for the kiddos)
  • Radish, Cherry Bell
  • Sweet Pepper, California Wonder
Vegetable (non-Organic):
  • Carrot
  • Garden Beans, Stringless Variety
  • Peas, Alaska (wilt resistant)
Fruit (Organic):
  • Watermelon, Moon & Stars
  • Cantaloupe, Hearts of Gold
  • Pumpkin, Small Sugar
Flower/Seed (Organic):
  • Sunflower, Mammoth
Herbs (Organic):
  • Basil, Sweet
  • Chives
  • Dill, Bouquet
  • Cilantro
  • Parsley, Single Italian Plain-Leafed
Herbs (Non-Organic):
  • Thyme, Common
  • Chamomile, German
  • Mint, Spearmint
*All organic seeds are USDA Certified Organic.