A Little Crunchy

Valentine Window Clings

2012-02-14T19:50:00.004-05:00

The other night was a creative night here with the littles. Many nights are creative here because it is our idea of fun. We are not really the "sit and watch sports" types, though we did try and watch the super bowl on Sunday with a friend. Mostly we played with the kids though all together and had a great a time!

It was supposed to be a music lesson night but my husband thought we should do some picking up, organizing, and being together and so plans changed. One little one feel to sleep and then I was left with two others badly wanting to get messy. So I pulled out this project and that is what we did!

I was surprised at how little mess it actually was though, even with our Kindergartner leading the way. Glitter all over the place of course! So very worth it though. We did a few, and then they asked to do some more even. So Daddy set them up and off they went on their own as the adults wondered away to plan for our coming trip. We did manage a few other projects as well and I will be sure to share those soon too!

CLICK to see a tutorial on this project!

Toronto Public Health wants to be Breastfeeding Friendly!

2012-02-14T08:08:00.000-05:00

While I am an American, part of my family came from Canada and I spent many summers there. I do not recall seeming many breastfeeding mothers growing up in either country. I am glad to have read that Toronto Public Health is working with the Breastfeeding Committee of Canada to get the label "baby friendly" by being more breastfeeding supportive. "Baby Friendly" is a international term for standard of care brought about in part by WHO and UNICEF.

TPC has a goal to have 75% of mothers nursing. A very high number considering that right now at 6 months after birth the rate is only 17%. They also plan to combat the unethical marketing of formula products to new parents. Provide support at the hospital but also follow up home care.

TPC want to make breastfeeding the normal. They are aware the standard minimum time to breastfeed a baby is age 2 and want mothers to know it too.

I am joyed that this important topic is getting more attention and that being "baby friendly" is now an aim for more and more places. The only thing left out of this article was the importance of home birthing and the support given to those mothers as well.

A good reason for an elective induction!

2012-02-13T06:30:00.000-05:00

Rarely do I find myself thinking there is a good reason for an elective induction, never mind an early one. This reason however makes me vary happy that it is possible to do and even more pleased both mother and baby are healthy despite it.

This story found on abc news is a tragic one to be sure. A father of 4 beat cancer and was celebrating this past holiday season. With a new baby on the way and no more cancer the family had every reason to celebrate. Only things quickly changed in January when Mark Aulger age 52 found he could hardly breath. Once admitted into the hospital the family learned he only had a short while to live. Pulmonary fibrosis due to the months of chemotherapy had destroyed his lungs and further treatment for the condition was not possible.

At the prospect of her baby never getting to meet Daddy, mother Diane Aulger age 31 choose to have her labor induced 2 weeks sooner than the Guess Date. I am sure every medical surety was taken to insure the health of them both in this matter.

Because of choice Mark was able to hold his baby girl a day before slipping into a coma and passing on. The story is tragic and heart breaking and I can not help but think how brave this mother must have been. Our thoughts are with all those effected by this loss.

Would you have made this same choice?

How do crunchy parents fight?

2012-02-12T23:43:00.001-05:00

The same way you do I would imagine. There is no one right to argue any more than there is a right way to parent. I can however tell you what training in non-violent communication and peaceful parenting has done for my marriage. I think knowing what works for you and what doesn't is so important considering how high the divorce rate is.

They say you should never go to bed angry. For the most part I agree with this. Life is short and we can never really know when a moment will be our last. Maybe this thinking comes more from being s military wife though. So we try not to go to bed angry. Smetimes this means staying up late upset but so be it. We can sleep when we are dead we are dead we joke. (just a joke honestly because sleep is vital to family well bei of course!) so this is a "rule " we both agreed to a long time ago.

second, we choose how our days will go and we know that no matter how something stats, humans best remember how they ended, so we want to end the day the best we can. This is an active choice. Fighting is a choice believe it or not" in the middle of it though it does not seem like there is a choice. One is wrong and the other right, right? So we have a rule, that it is up to us how our day goes. If we want it to be miserable, keep fighgting.....

This brings me one of our rule. Find the need. Both people in conflict are in conflict because they are trying to meet needs and until we can clearly see with they are, we can't see really why there is a problem beyong how hurt we are. Emo
Tions are not the enamy but they do not slone solve conflict. They can inspire the resolution though. "i love us enough to not want to spend this moment any more miserably than we have already." because we all ow it could get worse. When we feel like we are not being heard we can go to extremes to make sure e other party involved is still as vested in the relationship as we are.

So we find the needs and separate them from the possibly harsh or mistaken words uttered in those bad moments if emotional fog. Then we try and take out the actions for the moment and again focus on the needs. This can be very hard depending on the actions and might well need s trained therapist. Thankfully so far in my marriage this has not been needed but that day might well come. Hopefully not though and I have no reason at the moment to think it will. I want to keep my mind open though just in case.

Find the needs and address them because remember it is us together on this path in the world. Often a hard one and we are stringer together. We find the need and we then find solutions. We make plans, take actions, write things down as my husband is always reminding me, paper remembers better than we do. Better than I do at least. Sometimes this leads to my husband taking some quiet creative time to himself to creat something to remind us of our goals. Art or writing or something beautiful to laminate. If you have been in our home, you might have seen such trinkets. They make us smile. Often they are replaced with new ones, and sometimes old ones return to area of our home for reminders. Even the children have picked up on such reminders and have gotten to making their own. They are not often clear, just hints, just something beautiful to look at.

We can then deal with the words and actions and how those had us feeling. By this time we are more clear headed and thinking about one another, not just ourselves. It helps is to move past.

We accept we are not perfect. We accept that we might well fail in our new changes. We however commit to trying forever to meet our needs to support one another and our family.

This is't the end all be all of what works for us. Like everyone else, it is complicated. It might not work at all for you. We know a couple who has to have a screaming match before rough bedroom fun and by morning all is forgotten and forgiven. LOL no idea how that works out, but for them it does.

We choose to not yell, to not call each other names. Now if only we could work on our own egos and the tones we use with one another. LOL

Hotty husband asked me to marry him14 years ago. The moment was not fairy tale perfect and I didn't expect it and I will never forget it. It was as untraditional and the perfect example of the insanity of young love. I was 18 years old and just knew all my adventures I wanted to have with him.

These are some of the things we do in our adventures in fighting. What things work for you.

(P.S. Please excuse an errors, I found myself writing this on an ipad for the first time!)

Giveaway -- $30 Gift Code to personallyyoursbooks.com

2012-02-09T01:21:00.001-05:00

This book and others could be yours if you win this $30 gift code on personallyyoursbooks.com

I think the above book is adorable but then, I love all things Giraffe so this should be no shock!

I was kindly invited to this giveaway by one of the blogging goddesses I know and she tells me it shall run for 20 days. That is lots of time to enter and I really hope one of my readers win it!

Good Luck!

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Valentines Day, Math, and Craft Fun!

2012-02-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

Some believe that math is boring and hard. I am not sure how though, but maybe that is the perspective of a homeschool mother. We use many hands on activities, fun books, fun programs online. Have you seen this one for 3rd grade math?

Maybe it is not just my perspective though! Did you know we are born being able to do math? A study done and published Aug. 15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that babies can do math. If we could do it then, we can do it now!

I love to combine crafts and learning. In this project I sewed a line on a piece of folded felt, then turned it the other way and sewed another line. Then my Kindergartner cut them into strips about an inch long.

He asked to use my very sharp sewing scissors that now come to think of it probably should not have been used on felt.... LOL In any case, one of my parenting goals is to always try to find a way to say yes unless there is a very good reason not to. Being right there with him I choose to say yes and he was very happy about it.

He tried using the needle and thin yarn to thread the little hearts on the string. Again, I said yes as I was right there. He worried he might poke himself and so his 12 year old sister took over and he worked on keeping the pattern going right and moving the hearts down the line. Patterns are important to math, as is measuring and counting of course!

Once done and hung on the mantel our preschooler can be found counting them from time to time and going over the size and color pattern. It is a cute and simple little project!

Of course there is more math and fun that can come from such projects.... such as using this as a Valentines Day jump rope. Counting jumps and playing number games with addition and subtraction! Goodness can these kids jump too!

“It is one thing to show your child the way, and a harder thing to then stand out of it.”
- Robert Brault

Surrogacy, Egg Donation, healing the pain.

2012-02-08T14:47:00.001-05:00

Could you help ease the pain of infertility for a couple with surrogacy or by donating eggs? Infertility is a topic close to my heart. It is not one I have had to deal with personally beyond being a surrogate mother. It has circled me though it seems my whole life.

Over 1/3rd of women over age 35 have infertility issues!

I grew up seeing so many with empty arms and tear filled eyes and I could not picture anything hurting that much. That is I was I became a surrogate, because I knew I could take that pain away and turn it into something amazing. There are so many advances in reproduction the last 20 years. Women can store their eggs for later. They have treatments for infertility for both males and females, and if those do not work, there are options. Surrogacy can help heal the pain of empty arms. It isn't easy so I will not say it is. It is however worth it. I have met many women who say they would love to help but could not carry the baby for 9 months and then say good bye. Could you say good bye though to a few of your eggs to help another couple have the baby of their dreams? It is not easy either, but not as hard. Why donate? Donate because it is in you to do it. Donate because you feel you "Must" do something to help. Donate because it makes you feel amazing to be able to help. That is why I was a surrogate. I wanted to help, and I needed to feel worthy of this life by helping others. There is a selfishness to helping others honestly. It makes us feel wonderful about ourselves, like we did something worthy of our lives. I love that feeling, no other feeling like it helping take the pain away.

Giveaway! -- Love Is In The Air -- $160

2012-02-07T19:53:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the "Love Is In The Air Giveaway"! A Little Crunchy has teamed up with 39 awesome bloggers to bring you this super fun giveaway filled with L♥VE. This one is super easy to enter. All you have to do is like their Facebook pages! Click, click, click and you're done. One lucky winner will get their choice of either $160 in Paypal cash or an amazon.com gift code. So, what are you waiting for? Go enter to win :) Everything you need is on the rafflecopter below. GOOD LUCK!

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What’s Essential?

2012-02-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

As an Army wife, mother of 4, and surrogate mother of 2, the most essential thing in my life is time with my loved ones. Poor health and death are my biggest fears. Every time my husband leaves the house, every time one of us get sick, every time my health takes a down turn. I adore my husband, my children, and my surrogate children. We are all a close and try to spend as much time as we can together. We travel to see one another and in traveling we pick up colds and illness, this takes time away from us being together and having fun. Life is short and so being health is essential so we can spend as much time together as possible. Time to play, to read together, to see the world, to cuddle, to learn together, to create things together, to enjoy lifes beauty. I am so thankful for all I have and I want more time to enjoy it with those I love. I want to make sure they have as much time to enjoy their lives as I can. My beloved grandmother is 95 years old and she still plays with my children. I want to be her age some day, I want to play with my great grand babies too. My grandmother is such a gift in our lives and she helps me see what is possible with time. My husband risks his life all the time to protect what he loves. It is essential he stay in top shape so we can spend his home time healthy and happy. We all need more time, we all need better health to get it!

This is my Entry for the http://www.whatsessential.com/ contest. You should enter too! If nothing else it is a great reminder about what is important! I know I need the reminder some times, specially when I am feeling too busy to get to my own Dr appointments!

Review -- Nordic Naturals -- Contest!

2012-02-07T14:21:00.001-05:00

Nordic Naturals is a supplement company dedicated to bringing the safest and purest omega oils to those who need it. Who doesn't need them? I didn't think I did until my Dr who was running a great deal of tests looked at my low D number and got worried. I had taken Vit D drops for a while now as I am not a sun bunny to say the least and yet it still was not enough. I drink a lot of milk, and that is fortified with Vit D. Yet, it still was not enough, not by far. There is good reason why they fortify Vit D in our milk, near everyone does not get enough. Clearly I need more so when I was asked if I would review Nordic Naturals, I jumped at the opportunity. I honestly was just going to add more drops of the product I was already using and did not have this company in mind at all. I am glad I know better now.

So in short, I have been taking Ultimate Omega - D3 from Nordic Naturals. The pills seemed kind of large at first and I choke on other large pills but because of the thin shape, I have not had any issues at all with these pills. They do not leave a fishy after taste like some other fish oils I have tried in the past do. This one leaves a fresh lemon taste I enjoy and they add 1,000 I.U. of vit D to my day! Goodness do I need it.

www.nordicnaturals.com

Vitamin D Deficiency is no small issue. Symptoms can effect: -

- poor immune system. This is likely to lead to upper respiratory infection, recurrent viruses and many other infections.

- Osteoporosis as a result of malabsorption of Calcium.

- Mood changes in the form of seasonal depression and other mood disorders.

- Development of heart problems and high blood pressure.

- Development of chronic diseases like Crohn’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and other auto-immune disorders.

- Development of dental problems and gum disease through malabsorption of Calcium

- Sudden development of Asthma or worsening Asthma symptoms.

- Bone disease development called osteomalacia. The condition in which the bone becomes soft is called Osteomalacia. - source here!

Please take care and make sure you and your children are getting enough! They have great Gummy Worms for children that you might want to look into if you have children like mine who love such things!

CONTEST!

ENTER HERE!

Complete your name, address, and all the other usual stuff

Submit your 200 word What's Essential story

Submit an image illustrating your What's Essential story. It can be a photo, drawing, anything you like!

Tell your friends, and their friends, to share what's essential
to them!

It's that easy! You could win:

Grand Prize Winner:

One winner will receive a trip for two to Santa Cruz, California with
all the trimmings.

• Round-trip airfare for two to California

• Hotel accommodations (4 days, 3 nights)

• Car rental or equivalent transportation reimbursement

•  One $500 VISA debit card = Spending Money!!
•  2 tickets to Monterey Bay Aquarium
•  2 tickets to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
•  One-year supply of Nordic Naturals award winning omega-3 oils

Travel must occur between July 2012 and October 2012

Second Prize Winners:

Each of the six Second Prize winners will receive one Canon® Vixia HF M400
camcorder and a one-year supply of Nordic Naturals award winning
omega-3 oils.

Third Prize Winners:

Each of the twelve Third Prize winners will receive a one-year supply
of Nordic Naturals award winning omega-3 oils.

GOOD LUCK and Good Health!

A moment for Mommy to Giggle!

2012-02-06T16:32:00.002-05:00

Lets face it, being a crunchy mommy is not "normal" and like all kinds of mothering, it is not easy. Only we seem to have an up hill battle so to speak, so many other people do not know what we are talking about or why we think certain things are important. We sound crazy. I sound crazy! Sometimes I have to take a moment and laugh about it all though. This video from another blogging mother made me giggle. I hope it will make you giggle too. We need to be able to laugh at ourselves and remember we are all in this together! :)

You can find her blog Here!

Parenting Fail Confession

2012-02-05T21:53:00.000-05:00

Too often blogging mothers online seem to be perfect, creative, organised, patient, and so well put together. Everything is beautiful and unicorn poop does not stink.

We all know though that nothing is so very clean and perfect, perfect would be death of course because nothing changes and grows unless it is challenged. So why do mothers not show this very real and needed side online? Simply put, we fear judgement. Women, specially mothers can be the worst to one another, to themselves. Goodness knows I have experienced this myself.

So I try to be real here because while I adore my life, there are parts that suck and I want others to know they are not alone. I want them to know I am far from perfect. I am so sick of being sick. I really dislike moving all the time and losing friends. My husband going away even for short times has gotten harder the last few years. I don't like feeling so over whelmed that sometimes all I can do is try to fight the tears in the shower. I have those days too.

Today is one of those hard days, a parenting fail. Our 4 year old still will not use the potty. She knows how, has before, but she just does not want to. We have tried to be patient and supportive and kindly remind her and such but this weekend it got very hard.

She peed on our old sofa.... We had just talked about getting another one actually, a smaller one for our smaller space and one that would serve other needs as well. Not to mention being clean.

This got me upset and so I asked DH to handle it as I could not do so peacefully. I wanted to ground her to her room and I knew this would not help anything. Keep in mind we try not to spank or yell and we try to peacefully and logically parent.

He had her put undies on and told her no more diapers of any kind and explained why and told her that any messes she makes she will have to help an adult clean up. I am not sure this will help. I can say after 24 hours little seems to have changed, still having accidents and still not seeming to care. I could really use some advice because I am about to start time outs about this.

High light of my evening. 4 year old pooped in her newly changed undies, a piece fell out on to the floor, and the little puppy grabbed it and ran off and then it was family chance the puppy "Ewwww" time and very grumpy parents.

Thankfully the house is clean and we are keeping her close to us and reminding her every hour to go potty even so we are not missing cleaning anything up. However it just should not be this hard. This past year has been very very hard because of her potty issues. She is my biggest challenge, I want to support her, I do not want to fail her.

A Toy Review and Giveaway! -- Ends 2/11

2012-02-03T22:56:00.002-05:00

GIVEAWAY FUN!

I am happy to share a company with you that cares about children, how they grow, keeping them safe, and letting them have fun.

Galison Mudpuppy is kind enough to let me offer one of my dear readers the chance to win their own Wooden Magnetic letter or number set in what ever patter you would like. The set I have reviewed and are in the photos is the Sweet Patterns Uppercase Letters. It includes 40 pieces and retails for $18.00

What I adore about these is that they are not the standard plastic that could well be full of toxins. In a world already too full of toxins and plastics that will outlive our children in a landfill, many of us are choosing to try and stay clear of such items when ever possible. Our children do not have to go without the things we liked as kids though, like letter fridge magnets!

All 4 of my children played with these, making words, taking turns, helping one another. It was a joy to watch our 18 month old using them though as she is always looking for things to do in the kitchen while a taller person cooks or cleans and tries to keep her from hazards. These helped so much to keep her happy while other things got done. What a blessing! Best of all though, they are safe and fun and I have no guilt about having them in my home.

If you would like to get something from this wonderful company you can use this special code for my readers here at check out. Code = zzz2

for 15% off any order at galison.com

Giveaway!

From 2/4 - 2/11 12am est

Good Luck and Happy Safe Shopping!

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Little Loves from my True Love!

2012-02-03T13:31:00.000-05:00

14 years ago he asked me to marry him. The ring was not traditional, it was personal, and perfect.

All these years later our gifts are still not traditional, but personal.

These are my little "yes" anniversary gifts from my hotty husband.

Sugar Gliders -- New Cage!

2012-02-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

Our sweet little gliders explored a new cage tonight while we cleaned their old one that will soon be the travel cage! I need to make a cage set of fleece for this cage, a toy is being made by a wonderful women who makes sugar glider toys and I hope to soon get it and put it in this cage as well. The white food containers will be taken out and the wooden perches will be as well as wood soaks up glider urine and you can never really get it clean.
They enjoyed jumping all over this cage and checking it out.

Petal specially loved the sugar glider "Ball Pit" I put together for them, that I hid meal worms in (Ewww) So much so that she would not let her love come play too. She hung out in this almost all evening and it was adorable watching her hold a puff ball in her paws and rub her face into it! I need to make sure to get another one of these for the new cage too!

There is a pet expo going on a city north of here and I am betting that the mill breeders are there with their gliders and bad information, poor pellet diet, and too small cages. (They sold cages in 2011 that had been toxic and killed many gliders)

Just yesterday there was a new glider owner who went to the boards because her new baby Joey that she had gotten from an expo mill breeder had passes away after only 7 days. She did everything they had told her too and refused to help her further when she lost her sweet little guy. She went to the board to figure out what maybe happened. The first advice was to put the poor thing in a plastic bag and into the fridge till she could take it to the vet to find cause of death. The mill breeder said they only refund before 72 hours and after that they will only replace for another $100. Who would want another Joey from them? The poor lady feels lied to by the company, by the you tube videos from the vet they have in their "pocket" that is sharing bad information and selling food that is far from natural for these animals and I can not blame her. She is thinking about getting another pair of gliders from a reputable breeder. I hope she does not use that crappy cage for them.

A glider cage should be at least. 32" x 20" x 36" and the mill breeder ones they want you to buy on impulse are not even that big. They give excuses, and they warn not to talk to other glider owners even.

A big cage is important. So if your reading this and want a sweet little glider pair, please know they need a large cage and you normally can not buy them big enough at pet stores! (Never get them alone, it is not good for them!) You can find many online though that will work great though!

I got this one from Ebay. Better photos of it to come soon! Getting another one too!

Giveaway -- Win $100 Amazon Gift Card!

2012-02-01T00:27:00.000-05:00

This Giveaway is from Feb 1st, 12:01 EST - Feb 14th!

Wishing you much love and luck!

A lovely group of bloggers have teamed up to bring you this giveaway. It is as easy as clicking and best of all, you have 2 weeks to do it all if you like! Just like the facebook pages of these bloggers and wait to see if your name is picked as winner! I do hope one of my readers wins this one!

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Update to Homemade Light Box

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

My sister/niece/cousin in law mentioned she didn't understand how to make one of these from my last post on them so I though I would update with better photos as sometimes I can be as clear as mud when trying to explain things!

1. Clear Bin

2. Line the inside and bottom with tin foil.

3. String of LED white lights. (So they don't get hot!)

4. Put a piece of wax paper or parchment paper over the top of the bin.

5. Put the clear bin lid on and over top with salt or in this case, colored rice!

(How to make colored rice is a post from yesterday!)

6. And then have fun writing words or pictures!

The kids specially loved making pictures and having everyone else guess what it was.

Sensory Table -- Rainbow Fun

2012-01-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

A sensory table is more than just a spot for your children to have fun. It can be a great tool for helping with child development. It can help with fine motor skills, science, math and more. This kind of open ended play is important for growing minds, just as important as Letters and Numbers. Playing with others helps to also add language and social skills while they learn to share tools and express themselves while seeing others wants and goals.

There are so many options when it comes to sensory tables, and they do not have to be tables, they do not have to gotten from school stores. They can simply be house hold items in a bin or box. Colored rice is just one option for such sensory play.

I love bins as I can close them up and keep them safe for another day of play!

Items Used:

20lbs or cheap white rice (Uncooked)

7 colors of washable kids paint. (non-toxic of course)

7 bowls and spoons

Plastic Bin

Spare Kitchen Items for Play

Separate the raw rice into the 7 bowls.

Add as much paint as needed to color all the rice.

Mix. Mix. Mix.

We left ours out over night to dry because we planned it that way, I am sure it dried sooner though.

Our oldest daughter helped with this project and using two books we added the rice to the bin that we used as our sensory table. Nice and deep in the hopes some of the rice would stay in the bin. LOL

It came out beautifully and both our preschooler and kindergartner jumped up and down with excitement when they saw it and learned it was for them to play with.

We gave them extra kitchen items like measuring cups and containers to do with as they pleased. Even our tween loved to play with it.

They loved to feel the rice falling on their hands.

Even our 18 month old loved this bin.

We included small things to hide in it.

Homemade Light Box Fun

2012-01-29T15:32:00.000-05:00

Homeschooling is not all books and the kitchen table for most of us.
For my family we love being creative and hands on working!
Helping our pre-k daughter and Kinder son with writing is a lot of fun! We are always looking for ways to keep it fun! This time we made our own light table.

We used a clear storage bin, put tin foil inside on the walls and floor, then we put an led holiday rope of lights inside as they do not get hot.

Then we put wax paper under the lid and closed the bin and plugged it in. It was a night light that was not blinding, perfect. I put a container of salt, about 6 cups, on the top bin. The lid has a small ledge to help keep the salt on top.

The best part of this bin top is that it has three indents in it that some of the salt settles into making great lines for our kinder son to use for writing letters! When they want to start over we move the salt around gently with hands and then gently shimmy the bin to make the salt flat again. This does not work with flour! We are going to try though with rice soon!

I was surprised at how long the whole family, husband included spent playing with this. Our 18 month old even enjoyed it and she was the only one to get salt on the floor! Our 4 year old was so so careful to not spill any salt as she adored the project. We played games with it and had a wonderful time. I think next time we pull this out to use with salt, we will use more of it!

Getting the salt into a plastic baggy was a fail however, most of it hit the floor! I hope to get a smaller container to fit in the bin to hold the light table objects like salt so I can just dump the salt into that and unplug it, tuck the cord in, and close it up ready for next time!

Don't pee in my cheerios!

2012-01-26T23:57:00.001-05:00

Ever have one of those days when it seems people just want to pee in your cheerios?

Sound funny? Do you have a son? LOL Our son when potty learning would try to pee on cheerios. It was fun and helped him focus.

So the saying it very fit for our house hold. It seems like some people just have to pee on your cheerios, for fun!

Goodness, if you can't back a loud and rude opinion up with facts, don't pee them out in my direction please! I have enough to clean up already!

Bright side: I will forgive them and I am sure they forgive me when I have foot in mouth disease! (like yesterdays blog fumble!)

Our children, our reflection.

2012-01-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

(A long ago photo of my oldest daughter, always watching!)

“We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching.”
- Roy L. Smith

Our children are reflections of us in so many ways. While I believe they are born with personalities all their very own, they learn from watching us. Words can have an impact but I truly believe that watching us is how they learn best.

A friend posted about raising her sons in her faith, how they watch her. My first thought was that they watch how much she does, they must see her stress. They must see all those times she needs help and Dad is taking a nap or watching TV. I worry for her and wonder how she can be so amazing while doing so very much on her own and being so upset by it. I did not tell her this so clearly though but rather commented like this:

I remember often that our children are always watching. I remember that I specially want my son to see how he should grow up to treat his wife, like a partner, like a treasure, and I hope he goes up be like his father, a man that changes diapers, washes dishes, and does laundry! I hope my daughters grow up knowing they can find a guy that will treat them like a princess, that they can strong, and that they can take turns with their loves saving one another. I joke with my husband often, only one of us can be having a hard day at a time, tomorrow we can switch!

I think on my own situation, my worry, and how this troubles me. I have a pain condition that has been effecting me for years but was not understood till recently. Often it keeps me from going out, from having a lot of energy, from doing as much as I once did. It makes it clear that my husband does so so much. Some days I homeschool from a sofa, some days is even a PJ day in bed with the kids and a bunch of books! What might they learn from this? My husband tries to make it clear to them that I do a great deal that they can't see. I am not sure words help though. Some how I hope there is a balance, and I really really hope that soon my Drs find a treatment to help make things at least a little better.

I am far from perfect, I know we all are, we must keep trying though. Our children are watching, they are our reflections.

Birthing without screams!

2012-01-26T00:54:00.000-05:00

There is a wonderful peaceful car birth story up that you can fine on Cafe Mom.

It has a video of a father driving and filming the birth of his daughter in the front seat.

One of the best parts of the actual post there for me though was this:

But when Jennifer Russell gave birth to her baby girl in her car, it was the easiest birth I've ever heard of in my entire life. So easy, in fact, her husband was filming it while driving down the highway. And the loudest noises you hear come from the baby, and dad saying, "Oh my goodness."

Writen by April Peveteaux

It makes me wonder what Aprils experiences have been like when it comes to birth. So often in our society we are shown images of screaming helpless women on their backs in hospital beds spread wide with a ring of nurses and Drs. We gather for baby showers and it never fails that the worst stories of birth are shared and it ends up being a "who had it worst" game of sorts.

It is not often in the mainstream community that we hear of peaceful birthing, like this car birth. Jennifer Russell the mother who gave birth in the car said she pushed once after her water broke and then she had her baby in arms. It is a video worth watching, and our society needs more of them.

Simply put, birthing does not have to be on your back, and screaming. I have had two very peaceful none medicated home births. My husband was deployed in Iraq for the first but got to hold me during the second. He was just commenting tonight about comparable pain and said that everyone compares pain to childbirth but that my last birth was so easy and quiet and simple that he does not think of things like that anymore.

I can't tell you what makes the difference for some women. I can tell you that for me the number #1 thing between an out of control painful loud birth, and a quiet peaceful one was fear. I had a natural hospital birth before my two home births, I had planned for it to be with medication like the others. Labor though was painless so by the time I got to the hospital I was at 7cm and when they said I could not have pain killers I freaked out and it hurt so so badly, and baby was in arms 20 minutes later. I was scared of the setting, of not being educated on natural birth, I was scared I could not do it because of all the hospital birthing shows, because of the culture I grew up in where birthing is scary and loud and painful and curse from god.

After baby was delivered though it hit me, the Dr had done nothing. Nothing but stress me out, argue with me over my birth plan, and push pitocin in an IV that I did not medically need. I was up very quickly and in the shower and feeling great. I never had that energy and allertness with my epi births. I was shocked. I knew then that labor COULD be painless and it was, and I knew that fear is what caused my pain.

So I put it to the test with a homebirth and it was a near silent birth with me just whispering. I could do it. I did do it. It was amazing. Why had no one told me birth could be like that? And then I tested it again, another state, another kitchen, another midwife and it happened so beautifully. Easy.

So when I see this car birth, I don't think how amazing and lucky it is, as if it is rare and scary, but how amazing it is that the mother knows whats possible, and that because of her and her husband and baby, now many other people do it!

Fact or Fake? Callista Gingrich gets Breastfeeding mother arrested!

2012-01-25T20:15:00.002-05:00

This afternoon a "news" story crossed my desk and I was quick to share it with my readers because I know it is a topic that is relevant to crunchy parenting. However soon after I posted it, I went looking for further details and could find none. This caused me to pull the post I shared.

My apologies for sharing something without first fact checking. I am normally very good at that.

To see what sparked this post you can look here, Weekly World News.

If any of you learn more about this, I would love an update.

Please follow me on twitter for any updates on this story!

The Versatile Blogger Award!

2012-01-24T19:39:00.002-05:00

A Little Crunchy has been given the versatile blogger award by Kat and Mel at Two Moms A Little Time And A Keyboard. I never thought of this little corner of geektastic eclectic crunchy chaos as versatile before but thinking on it, it really does fit! You should see the fun these two moms share on their blog! I think two mothers together blogging is a things of beauty!

Recipients of this award are asked to:

Thank the person that nominated their blog for the award with a backlink to them.
List 7 things about themselves.
Award 15 newly discovered blogs with the award and notify them of the award.

7 Interesting things about me:

1. I believe in True Love.

2. I sit on my hair.

3. My moods change faster than the weather!

4. I love the feeling of birthing, that moment when baby slides free into the world is amazing.

5. I Love books but don't tend to read books twice unless they are children's books!

7. My dream vacations will always have to include a huge tub of hot water and my hotty husband!

15 awesome blogs that we are awarding with the Versatile Blogger Award are:

Love, Joy, Feminism

Humanist at Home

Frugal Wanna be

ahimsamama

Unperfect Moms
Mama Natural
Ecocrazy Mom
Attached Moms
Mommy Luscious
Free Range Kids
Gecas Realm
acadianasthriftymom.com
Patricias Randomness
Milk and Cuddles
Make and Takes

Hope everyone takes a little time to check out all of these wonderful blogs!

Sneak Preview!

2012-01-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

Feb 1st starts a $100 Amazon Gift Card giveaway!

Fellow bloggers are welcome to join in! To learn more click HERE!

Declawing -- For the love of the cat NO!

2012-01-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

While this blog is mostly about crunchy parenting, it is also about the crunchy home.

Intactivism is not just for humans in my opinion, it should extend to animals as well. Animals should be not mutilated with unnecessary surgery and amputations such as declawing and docking. This is a strong statement I am aware. I am also aware of the other side, much like the circumcision side. "It never hurt a cat I have had" and "it's normal to do to these animals for the last such and such years" and "my vet said it was ok" and "I can't teach my cat (son) to scratch (clean) the right areas" and so on.

For the love of the cat please research this. Know the facts! Like how 52.4% of declawed cats were reported to exhibit litter box avoidance, compared to 29.1% of non-declawed cats. Declawed cats seem to lose their homes BECAUSE they were declawed! There is evidence that declawed cats are disproportionately abandoned to shelters, and that declawed cats may be euthanized more often because of the behavioral and physical problems that the cat begins to exhibit because the cat was declawed. - http://www.pawproject.org/faqs/

You might say that there is a different surgery that does not amputate the cats claws (Actually fingers!) that is not as bad.

Laser declawing causes less bleeding and swelling than other surgical techniques. This reduces pain and complications in the first few days after surgery, but the long-term consequences of the procedure remain the same.

Long term effects have not been shown to lesser with tendonectomy and have the added risk of the unretractable claws still growing and if not trimmed often they will grow circular and into the cats paw pads. . Because of its complications, tendonectomy may lead to declawing anyway. Although tendonectomy is not actually amputation, a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found the incidence of bleeding, lameness, and infection was similar for tendonectomy and declawing. The human society does not support it. http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html

Infact in many countries it is illegal, and many places like the ASPCA do not support any kind of declawing.
In England declawing is illegal. It is regarded as animal abuse. Other countries where declawing is either illegal or is not routinely performed unless under extreme circumstances are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales, and Yugoslavia. The list continues to grow.

Against declawing are the ASPCA, Humane Society of the United States, Massachusetts SPCA, Denver Dumb Friends League, San Francisco SPCA, SPCA of Texas, and the Animal Welfare League (Chicago, IL, the Midwest's largest humane society). The SPCA of Los Angeles puts it in no uncertain terms: "We do NOT support, nor condone, the act of declawing cats. It is cruel, unnecessary, and inhumane." The Cat Fancier's Association, the world's largest pedigreed cat registry, opposes declawing as "without benefit to the cat" and involving "post operative discomfort or pain, and potential future behavioral or physical effects."

In 2006, the USDA - normally an extremely conservative federal agency - amended the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit declawing of exotic carnivores, saying that it "can cause considerable pain and discomfort to the animal and may result in chronic health problems."

In 2007, the California Court of Appeals upheld a ban on declawing enacted by the city of West Hollywood, CA, in 2003.

In April 2007, the city of Norfolk, Virginia outlawed declawing.- http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/declaw.html

In short, the risks are many, from the physical to the very common behavioral.

While there can be medical reasons, near all cases I have seen are from owners who are not educated and choose an unnecessary surgery over training their cats and taking other responsible steps to insure quality of life for everyone in the home.

I would normally say I could always be wrong at this point. I honestly though do not believe declawing a healthy cat should be an option in our society, I think we should know better by now.

Hug your little ones, and your fluffy ones close, declawed or not, and vow to do what you always do, the very best for them.

Hear the love? Giveaway!

2012-01-23T00:19:00.000-05:00

A blogging goddess in the blog mom world is having another giveaway. I wanted to share it with my readers as I know that love is in the air and many of us are getting very twitterpated with excitement. To enter is very simple and I do hope one of you wins. Just thinking of this prize has my favorite love songs floating through my mind and I can not help but smile!

Prize Includes:

Personalized Love Song CD’s

Contain five custom recorded songs with your chosen name included in each one
Come with a personalized dedication that is included and printed directly on the CD
Come with various name options, so make sure that the name you are looking for is included in the Personalized Love Song database
Available in both male and female versions
Backed by excellent customer service / help in placing your order
Allow you to customize the spelling of the name you are looking to personalize on a CD
Can be given for various occasions such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, etc.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best for Baby or Toxic?

2012-01-22T01:53:00.000-05:00

It is known by many that quaternium-15 and 1,4-dioxane are toxic and thought to be cancer causing. There is a boycot against baby shampoos and washes and creams that still contain these ingredients.

Are they in the baby shampoo your using? Do you feel safe using them even after researching them?

I don't!

There are many that do not have them though, Like Johnson's Naturals, California Baby Calming Shampoo & Wash, Nurture My Body Baby Shampoo & Body Wash, Zoe Organics Gentle Hair & Body Wash, Earth Mama Angel Baby Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash and many more! You can check out your shampoo and find trusted ones on this site: HERE

For more information on this topic see: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-20128253/group-johnsons-baby-shampoo-a-cancer-risk/

Update: In the coming weeks I will have a great product to share with you that is actually safe and it might even be a giveaway as my readers are amazing and deserve to try some of the very best products! Stay tuned!

Teaching Hard Work

2012-01-21T23:37:00.000-05:00

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." - Tim Tebow

The best way to teach hard work is by showing how hard you are willing to work.

A dear friend has gotten her first house. She was going to pay someone to paint the walls for her but DH and I told her we would love to help her with that.
We thought we would do a room a weekend and be done in a month.

So she had us over and we got to work. However there was a misunderstanding and she wanted the whole first floor done in a weekend. So that is what we did!

Oh the pain.... the pain.

Our 4 children played and keep busy and made a heck of a lot of noise in the big house while we painted. The best time though was when they asked us if they could help and we let them. I wish we had let them do more actually as they did great, but I think our friend was worried that they would mess things up. They didn't thankfully!

The very best part was the day we took off the paint tape, they ran around getting the little pieces and then started to take the tape off themselves and it was a great game to them and it made it much faster and I just could not stop smiling at them and how much fun they where having.

The paint job looks great, evil orange walls that took forever to prime over and all!

I love working on things like this, Fibromyalgia gets in my way so often and some days makes basic things near impossible. It will not stop me though, not when I have little one pulling me along and helping me smile through the pain.

Win $50 Fridays giveaway!

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

Everyone loves cash, right? How would you like a chance to win $50 EVERY FRIDAY? Well, I am very excited that I have joined with an amazing group of bloggers to offer you a WEEKLY cash giveaway! Cool, yes?

Well, there is only one catch, the giveaway begins THIS FRIDAY and is ONLY opened from 12:01 am and will close at 12:01am on Saturday, so it is only OPENED ONE DAY!

This week you have the opportunity to enter in TWO groups of $50 Friday's, Group A and Group B BOTH FOUND HERE on THIS POST- so, if you are VERY Lucky - you could WIN $100!!!

This week's $50 Friday will be for BLOG Follows...
Now, this event will take some time, since it takes time to follow each blog. Please do not get frustrated or upset - because Blog Follows are VERY important to not only the BLOG, but for YOU!

Let me explain why it is important to follow a blog - in order for us Bloggers to apply and receive wonderful products to GIVEAWAY to YOU, we have to prove we have readers. To do this, we have to show our numbers, such as Google Friend Connect (GFC,) RSS/Feedburner, and/or Email Subscribers. When we show that we have readers, we are approved for BIGGER and BETTER AWESOME GIVEAWAYS!!! That is why we all ask you to follow our blogs! NOT only that - we also know that our posts get lost on Facebook and Twitter, so by SUBSCRIBING to our blogs you are guaranteed a personal email to let you know about our wonderful events, such as giveaways, as well as, all the other amazing opportunities we find to SAVE YOU MONEY!!

So, why not take this opportunity for a chance to win not only $50 BUT $100 just by following some awesome blogs?

BLOGS to Follow for THIS GROUP:

Group A

Africa's Blog – via Email – click HERE

Adventures of 8 – via GFC – click HERE

Insights by April – via Email – click HERE

Coupons and Freebies in TX – via GFC – right side of the blog – click HERE

Shore Savings with Patti – via Email – click HERE

My Pet Savings – via Email – click HERE

The Kids are Grown, Now What? – via email – click HERE

Lemonade Mommy – via email – click HERE

Mommies with Cents – via email – click HERE

Mahlzeit – via feedburner – click HERE

Travels – via feedburner – click HERE

Doodles – via feedburner – click HERE

Kat's Café – via email – add your email on the right side of her blog – click HERE

Postcard Perfect – via feedburner – click HERE

Frugal Experiments – via email – click HERE

Techie Kids – via feedburner – click HERE

Thedealmatchmaker – via feedburner – click HERE

Frugal Finder – via email – click HERE

Coupon Scribbles – subscribe – click HERE

Saving With Scissors – via email - click HERE

My Un-Entitled Life – via Feedburner – click HERE

GoingCrazy!!WannaGo??!! – via email – click HERE

This N That with Olivia – via networked blogs – click HERE

A Little Crunchy – via GFC (right side of the blog) click HERE

Frugal Plus – via feedburner - click HERE

Frugalicious Marie - via GFC (right side of the blog under followers) click HERE

In order to win this giveaway - YOU MUST:

Follow each blog above (as stated)
PUT A Little Crunchy as your answer to entry #1 (in the entry form)
Verify any email follows
Fill in the Entry Form BELOW by following the page in each entry, then clicking I Did It!

To enter GROUP B's Giveaway for another chance at another $50 - CLICK HERE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you want to win $50?

2012-01-19T13:59:00.001-05:00

Well, there is only one catch, the giveaway begins THIS FRIDAY and is ONLY opened from 12:01 am and will close at 12:01am on Saturday, so it is only OPENED ONE DAY!

This week you have the opportunity to enter in TWO groups of $50 Friday's, Group A and Group B BOTH FOUND HERE on THIS POST- so, if you are VERY Lucky - you could WIN $100!!!

This week's $50 Friday will be for BLOG Follows...
Now, this event will take some time, since it takes time to follow each blog. Please do not get frustrated or upset - because Blog Follows are VERY important to not only the BLOG, but for YOU!
Let me explain why it is important to follow a blog - in order for us Bloggers to apply and receive wonderful products to GIVEAWAY to YOU, we have to prove we have readers. To do this, we have to show our numbers, such as Google Friend Connect (GFC,) RSS/Feedburner, and/or Email Subscribers. When we show that we have readers, we are approved for BIGGER and BETTER AWESOME GIVEAWAYS!!! That is why we all ask you to follow our blogs! NOT only that - we also know that our posts get lost on Facebook and Twitter, so by SUBSCRIBING to our blogs you are guaranteed a personal email to let you know about our wonderful events, such as giveaways, as well as, all the other amazing opportunities we find to SAVE YOU MONEY!!

So, why not take this opportunity for a chance to win not only $50 BUT $100 just by following some awesome blogs?

BLOGS to Follow:

Group A

Africa's Blog – via Email – click HERE

Adventures of 8 – via GFC – click HERE

Insights by April – via Email – click HERE

Coupons and Freebies in TX – via GFC – right side of theblog – click HERE

Shore Savings with Patti – via Email – click HERE

My Pet Savings – via Email – click HERE

The Kids are Grown, Now What? – via email – click HERE

Lemonade Mommy – via email – click HERE

Mommies with Cents – via email – click HERE

Mahlzeit – via feedburner – click HERE

Travels – via feedburner – click HERE

Doodles – via feedburner – click HERE

Kat's Café – via email – add your email on the right side ofher blog – click HERE

Postcard Perfect – via feedburner – click HERE

Frugal Experiments – via email – click HERE

Techie Kids – via feedburner – click HERE

Thedealmatchmaker – via feedburner – click HERE

Frugal Finder – via email – click HERE

Coupon Scribbles – subscribe – click HERE

Saving With Scissors – via email - click HERE

My Un-Entitled Life – via Feedburner – click HERE

GoingCrazy!!WannaGo??!! – via email – click HERE

This N That with Olivia – via networked blogs – click HERE

A Little Crunchy – via GFC (right side of the blog) click HERE

Frugal Plus – via feedburner - click HERE

Frugalicious Marie - via GFC (right side of the blog underfollowers) click HERE

Group B

About A Mom – via email – click HERE

Adventures of 8 – via email – click HERE

More From Mom – via feedburner – click HERE

Vienna and Beyond – via feedburner – click HERE

Planet Weidknecht – via feedburner – click HERE

Sonya's Happenings... – via email – click HERE

Utah Coupon deals – via email – top right corner of the blog– click HERE

Sweeping The USA – via email, click HERE

Been There Done That with Kat – via GFC – left side of theblog – click HERE

Mark Your Savings - via feedburner – click HERE

Teach Me 2 Save – via email, click HERE

Naddez's Tidbyts - via GFC, right side of the blog –click HERE

Life's Cheap Thrills – via email – click HERE

Gypsy Mama Logs - via email – click HERE

Gone Klippin' Krazy – via feedburner – click HERE

Style 'n Decor Deals! – via GFC on the right side of theblog – click HERE

Koupon Krazed – via feedburner – click HERE

Mom Does Reviews – via email – click HERE

My Crafty Life - viafeedburner – click HERE

The Blog Café – via GFC, left side of the blog – click HERE

BeachMonkeys – via GFC on the left of the blog – Click HERE

Practical Savings – subscribe – Click HERE

Upcycled Scrapboking - click HERE

Daily Mom Deal – Sign up – click HERE

Have Fun Savings – via Feedburner – click HERE

Smart Spending Spot – Subscribe - click HERE

This week's $50 Friday's is a Blog follow and remember, in order to win, you have to follow all participating blogs ABOVE. This will take a little bit of time, so I suggest starting NOW, so you are ready on Friday!!!

This is how you can be sure you have the chance to enter this week and each consecutive week–

“Like” me on Facebook – by clicking here... this event will be tweeted, posted on my Blog, and on my Facebook Page… (But remember, with all of Facebooks new changes, to ensure you don’t miss it, I would still recommend signing up for my daily emails.)
Follow me on Twitter – click here to get my tweets
Mark your calendar – to come back here EVERY Friday to enter!

COME BACK this FRIDAY to ENTER!

Middle of night thoughts on co-sleeping.

2012-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Many know that co-sleeping is safe, for studies and resources on this fact, and for ways to safely co-sleep you can learn more here

<------ A photo from 2007 of my then 18 month old son co-sleeping in his adorable green wool soakers. (Diaper cover!)

(Above is a photo of Mr. Handsome a few months old and his joy at waking me up after a night of cuddling co-sleeping)

That aside let me dive into the reality that was my night. 2am and my 18 month old was wide awake. Normally she would be playing in our room and smiling at me from her bed. Tonight however she had a co-sleeping need that she thought was more important then her parents actually sleeping. You see at 18 months old, this little dear thought co-sleeping meant having her parents entertain her till she was ready to play with the sand man. Wonder husband tried, and failed, and as he had work it and I am a night owl by nature, it was my turn. This meant though, no blog fun would be had for our smillie baby demanded all attention. An hour goes by of cuddling and hushing and singing in whispers and still she was awake. On top of this she was hurting me.

Our little sweet heart seems to show her love by smacking us. I kid you not. So why have we not stopped her from doing this? Where did she even pick this up in a non-spanking home? We think it is a sensation and reaction that she enjoys. We have been tried to be peaceful about trying to change this but so far, we are not winning this battle. So we are stepping it up with a hard "No" and at this she falls to the floor to hit her head and have a tantrum as if someone physically hurt her. You might have guessed, NO, is not working either.

No crying though as I knew being stern would not bring sleep to any of us. I kept my patience and kept practicing calm hands with her. Another hour goes buy, things are calmer at least. Every time I think she is out I get a toddler hand in my face to remind me "not a chance mom."

I actually layed there day dreaming about what it would be like to be parents that thought Crying it Out was an option. She would be in her room, in her bed, and I would be asleep right? Right? Reality of course crashes in remembering all the negatives to CIO, so very very many. Not to mention it is not in me to not respond to crying and I know babies have a need to not be alone. I badly though wanted to sleep. The arm my toddler was pinning was really hurting (fibromyalgia) and I felt like I could hardly take a deep breath without attracting her attention.

And so I thought about posting here about the "fun" of co-sleeping with an 18 month old. Meanwhile she was kicking me in the belly and snapping my PJ top against my shoulder.

Thinking about writing calmed me, brought me some mental piece, and before I knew it, she was asleep with a little grin on her sweet face and the night time parenting all seemed worth it. Every moment.

So I held my sleeping baby peacefully, blissfully watching her sleep and wondering why one would ever want to miss this moment by letting a baby cry it out in another room. There is a biological need that is met in me holding my sleeping baby. It all passes so quickly I was reminded there in the dark, thinking about how blessed I am. I wished then like I do so many nights to be able to keep those feelings, I wished for them not to pass so quickly, and in wishing I fell to sleep happy. A night very well spent.

More Squeee!

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Did you hear about my Secret?

A while back I posted that I had a secret here on littlecrunchy.com and on my facebook page. I would not of course tell anyone what is was just yet, partly because I wanted to prove a point to those who often post things that make no sense and have no context and make all of use a bit nuts wondering. Pay back baby! :)

Many people guessed that we would be announcing another pregnancy and many where sad when we let them know that this was not the news. They where very happy about our new addition though when we finally did share!

Puppy!

An adorable little Pineranian, father was an AKC Blonde Pomeranian and Mother was Min Pin!

She weights all of 2lbs!

I wanted to add this photo because friends that are helping me be a better amateur photographer have noted that I post too many "happy" photos and need to add some with some other depth. I know the lighting on this of my teen and puppy is all wrong but I tried!

Her name is Kaylee!

I named her after the Firefly character as I am such a fan of the show and because this little one is so happy and sweet and smart.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Internet Strike -- Many Sites Go Black!

2012-01-18T02:55:00.002-05:00

Today, January 18th, is a day to remember as many sites across the internet go black in protest of bills about internet censorship, SOPA & PIPA.

I would be black as well if I knew how to be. I am talented I admit, but alas, I simply do not know how to make my blog black and the thought of making a mistake and killing my beloved creation is just too scary.

So how scary is the idea of censorship online to you?

For me it is very frightening. I understand the copyright issues, and wanting to protect our children, and the issues of national security for our government online. However I do not think these bills will help in those area but rather harm the whole, and hurt our freedom of speech. Being a military wife all these years I very much support our constitution and I do not think these bills fit with it.

We have ways to protect our children, we have laws about copyright violations, and we have a growing government internet warfare presence at the NSA and other places. We need to support those three areas that are already on their feet. Not make more bills that would harm our freedom of speech and put blinders on the internet for our country.

If we believed in censorship we would be no better than North Korea and other dictatorships that try to brain wash their populations by limiting media and filtering or blocking the internet.

I do not support these bills. Do you?

Sugar Glider Leu Love!

2012-01-17T22:26:00.001-05:00

I am so very excited.

Why you ask?

Because the above little Leu glider will be coming home with us next month!

Her and her WFB love will be our second breeding pair.

My hotty husband is getting them for me as a Valentines Gift!

What a fantastic gift they are.

We got to meet her last week and she is a sweet heart. Her love on the other hand is a crabby little boy but that is ok, we will love him anyway!

Gliders are not easy pets, but they are worth it! Now to get the BML diet as that is what this pair eats and we feed HPW so there will be a transition time. All efforts are worth it!

Squeeee, adorable!

Any ideas on names?

Finding some tips for my creative writing

2012-01-16T18:25:00.003-05:00

Guest post written by Ryan Woodward

I'm really trying to explore my creative side through writing. I've always been very into reading and they always say that you have to love to read if you want to write. It does make a lot of sense. But I haven't really done a whole lot of creative writing in my life, so I'm really trying to find some really great tips to help me move along and be at a much higher writing level.

One of the best resources for writing is other writers, so I've been reading a lot of advice online from other creative writers to see what really helps them along during the process. When I was browsing some blogs for that a few days ago, I ran across some info on debtcounseling. I read through it some and decided that it would be worth a try because I have some debt that I need to get rid of. So I am going to get some of that counseling.

I guess that the biggest piece of advice that I've read about really improving your writing is writing practice. It's very obvious, but it's just one of those things that you only get better at if you practice.

Martin Luther King Jr.

2012-01-16T18:20:00.003-05:00

Today the country and possible many around the world celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, or more so maybe the things he did in his life to all of us. He was the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace prize and said to be the best social activist the world has ever known.

I have known some amazing social activists I look up to, respect, and are so thankful to. I can only picture how those he actually touched must have been changed by him. Here so many years later his good works vibrate through the times and actions of our country though maybe not as strongly as I think they should be.

He once said: Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist -- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

I wonder what he would think of the occupy movement? He wanted us to be activists for peace and love, of the golden rule. I think that the occupy movement is in agreement with his views.

As always though, I could be wrong.

National Oatmeal Month!

2012-01-16T18:10:00.004-05:00

Did you know January is National Oatmeal Month?

Did you know I am doing a yummy giveaway for oatmeal and had no idea myself till today?

Link: GIVEAWAY

I think with this in mind I will ask the littles if they would like to make oatmeal cookies and some steal cut oats to make as well!

NaNoWriMo January Update!

2012-01-16T17:59:00.002-05:00

Sadly like other NaNoWriMo writers, I have left my novel behind. I am very sad about this and want to pick it up again but find it so very hard. My goal was to have something nice to publish mid-year and I am really not sure I am going to be able to do that now. I still have to finish and then let my inner editor run free to shred it and rebuild it into something readable. "Not enough time" says the little voice in my head. "You might as well give it up" it adds to my misery.

But I loved it... and yet I have let it fade. Is this what happens to some couples in love I wonder? I have not experienced that in 13 years and never hope to. I guess this a reminder that love is work and you have to put constant effort and energy into it. For me love comes easy, taking the time to write however, not so much! -sigh-

I sit here tonight with my three youngest children having an indoor picnic while hotty husband and our oldest are out at guitar lessons. They take the time for things they love so why shouldn't I? I wish NaNoWriMo carried through the whole year as it really does motivate and clearly I need the motivation!

Thrifty Fun!

2012-01-16T17:52:00.000-05:00

I love to find the very best items at the best prices, sometimes though the most healthy items, the most earth friendly green items simply cost more because they do not cut corners. I am happy to pay for guilt free quality. On other things however, I cringe when I have to pay full price so I hunt for deals a lot of the deal of the day sites. Over the holidays I found some great deals from clothing to toys and games. It can be a pain though jumping all over the place. There is a site that can help you find best san francisco deal and deals in many other cities. Just look up your city and it does the work for you letting you know when items you looking for are being offered, and it e-mails you too.

Sometimes there are even green times and services on the deal sites. I have not tried any food establishments this way yet, but I have gotten deals on green baby product types more than a few times. I think being thrifty is important to those of us who want to spend more money on the best items but can't afford the very best of everything all together. It is worth the time to look for deals, it is very worth the time to sign up for a site free to do it for me!

Where to start with home buying dreams?

2012-01-16T17:35:00.000-05:00

Do you own home? Are thinking about it soon? It seems this past year a lot of our friends have gotten new homes and many more seem to have plans to jump in as well. A few of us have talked about where we should start. Getting our credit report of course! You would think that I would have a plan before now but being a military family and moving so much it really has not been much of a thought till now. Wonder Hubby has about 7 more years in the service before he gets out. Who knows how many moves. We think though we might have a chance of staying in the area we are at and we really are wanting to get away from living on a military post. So with others we are looking into where to start.

Many of my friends are following Dave Ramsey as is, so they get a free credit score with their reports and see where they need to start. Paying off old debts I have read hurts your credit card score, don't effect your car score, and helps your home buying score. Before a few weeks ago I didn't even know there where different scores! Banks also seem to want to see that you have paid things off at least 6 months before trying to buy a home. Given what we have learned, a few of us are now planning out for 2 years. For my family personally 2 years is good because by then we should know if the military wants us to move, so then we would look at getting a home in the new area.

While dealing with our credit reports we have another task, how to buy a house that meets our needs to be green, or that is cheap enough that we can make the additions we want to. Just what additions do we think are the most important? A lot to think about, first step though is making sure we have good credit. Wish us luck!

The power of books on children.

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

We know that there are down sides to TV time and how it effects how we think and even behave because of how it effects our brains. It is not all down sides in my mind, though most waldorf homes are TV free. Ours is not one of them as we want to bring modern balance into our children's lives. Movies can have a powerful impact on children, they get ideas for pretend play, see places they never have before, and feel emotions because of a story in front of them. TV however is no substitute for books.

Today I was reminded of this when my oldest daughter came and asked me for a hug with many tears falling down her face. I embraced her and waited for her to tell me why she was upset, in her own time. She cried for a bit and then told me all about how in a book she is reading an animal died. She knows the book is based on a true story and this made it all the worse for her. This sadness wound it's way into the bigger topic of death and how all living things die. It was a special, and sad moment, for us both. It was important.

I think we have all cried while watching movies before. Have you cried when reading a book? I have. The emotions from books I believe last longer, and bring a larger impact because the images in ones mind that we make while reading are personal to us. Everyone is going to see and feel a character in a book differently even with the best of descriptions, because we use our imagination to fill things in. I believe books are building blocks of character in ways TVs just is not.

On a personal note, my oldest is a child that rather Do, or Make, than sit and read. When she falls deeply into a book, even a sad one, I am glad because I know it is for the best, tears and all.

Keep Warm

2012-01-14T03:11:00.000-05:00

The importance of keeping warm is something I was not always aware of. Doctors, Nurses, Books, all seemed to say the same thing, dress the baby, the child, as you are dressed. As in, if I am comfortable in shorts at 80 degrees, my baby should be to. I did not really believe this though because just from observing people I know that not all people feel the same way in the same environment. I run hot and rather be cold, my husband runs cold and rather be hot just as an example.

The waldorf world educates us in the importance of keeping children warm. Something good to read on this topic is: http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/sjohnsonwarmth.pdf

While I do not follow all things waldorf this is one area I try to be mindful of because I know I am always looking for ways to be cool and that is not what is helpful to my growing children. I can tell you first hand that they do not tend to pay attention to their own bodies as far as warm and cold go. This was very clear to me the other day when it was a nice afternoon and we all piled into the van with a mission to go help a friend paint her home. So much to remember and some how the children forgot their jackets. The van is 5 feet from the door so I do not always insist that they get jackets on while going to the warm van. Jackets are not safe in car seats because of compression. We normally buckle them in and place their coats over them. Hats of course are always ok! When it was time to go home, I could not find the children's coats and they admitted they had forgotten them at home. I felt foolish even though we had wool blankets in the van and it was very warm in it. The car was 20 feet from our friends door, what a dash we made with them! Forgetting coats is very very rare for us, more often it would be hats or mittens. We are getting better though, specially with our oldest child loving to make hats. The above adorable baby has a hat on that her oldest sister made. Behind baby is the sugar glider home, and the small cage that they stay in for travel and when the larger cage is being cleaned. Yes, I know, our glider home is not big enough.... working on that too! :)

Keep Warm! It is more important than simply trying to keep illness away, it is about letting childrens bodies focus on the important things rather than simply trying to keep warm. Stay Safe!

A Yummy Giveaway!

2012-01-13T15:31:00.000-05:00

Seneca Farms has Oatmeal is a quick to prepare, you don't even add anything, only 45 seconds till yummy goodness. It is portable and nutritious oatmeal that provides an excellent source of Vitamin C without trans fat or cholesterol.Currently available in Apple Cinnamon and Vanilla Peach in 6-oz. microwaveable cups, Seneca Farms Oatmeal can be found nationally at a wide variety of retail grocery stores. For a detailed store list, visit www.seneca-farms.com.

They just added two new flavors Seneca FarmsCranberry Apple and Maple & Brown Sugar. They would like to share two of each with one of my readers.

My husband is a military man and mornings can be rushed between PT (workout) and then work. Getting something healthy between those times can be hard. He tried these and found it perfect for the time he had and his nutritional needs after his workouts. He specially loved the Cranberry Apple.

My children like the Maple and Brown Sugar best so we will be getting both from now on.

So here is your chance to try it and see what one you love best!

Enter below! Ends 12:01am Jan 18th 2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway

$50 Friday Giveaway 1/13

2012-01-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

Well, there is only one catch, the giveaway begins THIS FRIDAY and is ONLY opened from 12:01 am and will close at 12:01am on Saturday, so it is only OPENED ONE DAY!

This week you have the opportunity to enter in TWO groups of $50 Friday's, Group A and Group B - so, if you are VERY Lucky - you could WIN $100!!!

This week's $50 Friday will be for Google+ Follows, so if you have yet to set up your Google+ Account, click HERE for information, then go on to add the following pages to your Google+ Circle.

BLOGS to Follow via Google+

THIS GIVEAWAY is GROUP B $50 Friday Event -
Click the Blog Name to go to their Google+ Page

ONE DAY to ENTER!

Entering is easy, just add each of the blogs in the entry form below to your Google+ Circle then click I did it! Now, to be eligible to win this giveaway, you MUST add ALL 25 Blogs to your Google+ Circle to be eligible to win!

Don't forget to put Little Crunchy as the Blog who referred you, in Entry #1!

TO ENTER GROUP A - CLICK HERE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ways to recycle Holiday Cards!

2012-01-12T02:32:00.000-05:00

I love holiday cards and we received many this year.

Like years past, when the holidays are over, I am left with the dilemma of what to do with them all.

As one of the goals this year is to organize and minimize keeping them all isn't helpful.

There are things to do with them though, such as making the photo cards into a coffee table book to be stored with the holiday items and added to each year.

The other option we choose to do was make gift labels out of the cards, a way of recycling them before they go into the recycling bin.

This was easy to do with my Kindergartner. Just cut out shapes, punch holes, and string! Place in the holiday box ready to go for next year!

What do you do with your holiday cards?

I found these great ideas here: http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2011/12/recycling-christmas-cards.html

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

(Ok, a few words. This is Mr. Handsome with his hamster Snowy, and his sisters hamster Ponyo)

Friday will be exciting!

2012-01-11T00:40:00.000-05:00

Well, there is only one catch, the giveaway begins THIS FRIDAY and is ONLY opened from 12:01 am and will close at 12:01am on Saturday, so it is only OPENED ONE DAY!

This week you have the opportunity to enter in TWO groups of $50 Friday's, Group A and Group B - so, if you are VERY Lucky - you could WIN $100!!!

This week's $50 Friday will be for Google+ Follows, so if you have yet to set up your Google+ Account, click HERE for information, then go on to add the following pages to your Google+ Circle.

BLOGS to Follow via Google+

Group A $50 Friday Event - Click the Blog Name to go to their Google+ Page

KeenlyKristin

Adventuresof8

TeachMe 2 Save

TheKids are Grown, Now What?

County LineElementary

Group B $50 Friday Event - Click the Blog Name to go to their Google+ Page

Abouta Mom

Adventuresof8

MarkYour Savings with E

GoodSteward Savers

1FrugalMom

Shore Savings with Patti

MyCrafty Life

ThisN That with Olivia

DeepSouth Dixie Couponers

Coupons andFreebies in TX

MomBlog Society

Cori'sCoupon Corner

Little Crunchy

This week's $50 Friday's is a Google+ follow and remember, in order to win, you have to follow all participating blogs via Google+. If you don't have Google+, you can learn about Google+ by CLICKING HERE or wait till next weeks event to enter. This will take a little bit of time to Add each blogger to your circle, so I suggest starting NOW, so you are ready on Friday!!!

This is how you can be sure you have the chance to enter this week and each consecutive week–

“Like” me on Facebook – by clicking here... this event will be tweeted, posted on my Blog, and on my Facebook Page
Follow me on Twitter – click here to get my tweets
Mark your calendar – to come back here EVERY Friday to enter!

COME BACK this FRIDAY to ENTER!

Tuesday Blog Hop

2012-01-10T00:13:00.001-05:00

To enter the blog hop, scroll to the end of this post!

I like this blog hop because it reminds me that we should all strive to be more frugal, to live simply and joyfully.

One of the frugal things I love to do is to use fleece to make sugar glider cage sets and also dog and kitty toys.

While organic fabrics are what I adore, fleece I find very useful for many pet items.

It resists water, does not snack little claws, is warm and soft.

Pets are not the only ones that seem to love this fabric, children do as well. When ever I am working with it, it never fails that one of my children will borrow a large peace to wonder away with and cuddle and play with. Not on sale though it can be $10 a yard, find sales! I really love 1/2 priced fleece and Jo-Anns tends to have sales and great coupons. (Coupons on your droid phones now too!) I am not connected to this craft store in any way but a customer who loves it by the way.

You might want to look on the forums at sites like diaperswappers for cheap fabric and any other site you know of that has a for sales area. Don't pay full price though.... there is always a sale or one around the corner for this fabric.

You don't have to pay a lot for pet toys, it can be very frugal and a yard goes a long way!

Metal Stamping Love

2012-01-08T23:05:00.000-05:00

I have always loved seeing hand stamped jewelry on etsy. I didn't understand though why so much of it was so costly. I understand now though and see them as worth every penny. I spent over $200 on the above kit, with a lot more on silver and things to make gifts. I am simply not fantastic at detail work and with my pain condition, it is just not wise. So I am selling it on ebay, check it out!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330669244803#ht_642wt_1120

Weekend Flash Giveaway Contest -- $175 in Prizes

2012-01-07T00:11:00.000-05:00

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't you love Vague status updates?

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I think I must be the only one that is bothered by vague status updates.

I get them near daily and sadly sibling are the worst offenders of this public torture.

Every now and then I like to give them a taste of their own medicine so to speak.

Yesterday in an effort to distract myself from some hard life situations and my pain condition I choose to post that I had a secret and that I could not tell anyone yet. Having 4 children, many are guessing it is a pitter patter announcement coming. Others are just annoyed that I would dare torture (them back! LOL)

I really do have a secret though, and maybe in a bit I will share it!

Public Service Announcement: We the people really dislike being tortured by vague status updates!

Payback however can be at least a little sweet.

Sorry to my dear loved ones who are now being tortured, I promise not to do it again.... Ok I promise not to do it often! :)

Girls Grow Up, Period.

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here is another topic many parents seem to not want to talk about. For us homeschooling parents we have to think about the best ways to explain puberty giving our children all the information the need, there is no public school to help with this. We are the health class teachers. This might be why I feel all the more pressured to make sure things go smoothly and factually for my children.

Girls tend to get their period between ages 10-14. I think one of the things that might help both mother and daughter is putting together a moon box. A special box that is maybe a sewing box, wooden, hat box type. A nice box to keep her special moon time items. All kinds of pads, maybe cloth pads with a wet bag to keep them in. Chocolate of course, heating pad, any homeopathics or essential oils Mom likes to use. There are many things that can go in this box so that you can be ready and your daughter can feel like it is a special time for her and that she will have all she needs.

Along with a special box you might want to consider sharing the latest science having to do with menstruation with your daughter. There are now menstruation blood banks! As it turns out menstrual blood has stem cells and they can be use like other kinds. While they are not yet using stem cells from menstruation on humans, they expect the time to quickly come. Here is more information: http://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/Menstrual-Blood-Banking-Scope-and-Future-95616-1.htm

Giveaway Alert

2012-01-06T02:00:00.000-05:00

It's finally calmed down after the holidays for a lot of us bloggers- and I am thrilled to say LittleCrunchy has joined a group blog giveaway to give my readers a chance to win some $$$ by having a Flash Giveaway this Weekend!

The giveaway will open at 12:01 am on Saturday 1/7 and going until 11:59 pm on Monday 1/9!

The amount is adding up and will be posted when the giveaway opens. Be sure to check back!

I am not a wally world girl so I hope someone wins the paypal! :) Course if you love walmart than you can't go wrong with this contest!

Surrogacy

2012-01-05T11:49:00.000-05:00

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

Edward Everett Hale

Surrogacy is a gift like few others.

I learned about it when I was 10, growing up around couples who could not have children, or not have more children. It seemed the most heart breaking thing to me then, and still does now. I vowed then to a surrogate some day.

After I had my first child I knew it was time. I helped two amazing parents have their first baby. Lets call her Star Baby. A few months after her birth, I choose to help them again. In exchange, they helped pay for child care for my own child (specially when my husband was deployed!) and lots of lots of books and eating out so I had less work at home. They also paid for a vacation for my family after the babies came. We do not often take vacations and it was a blessing to have that away time. Many people think surrogacy is very costly, it does not have to be, it depends on the people involved and the situation. I know of a surrogate that just wanted child care and a gym membership for a year. When it comes to agency Surrogacy, I can only say that 10 years ago it started at 18k for the Surrogate and another 8k for the agency and legal support. I had no interest in that and we managed it all on our own. It went so well. I will not say surrogacy is easy, I will however say it was one of the things in my life I am most honored to have been a part of.

My surrogate family is my family. Like the rest of our relatives who live far away we do not get to see them often and honestly there is no hand book on being an involved surrogate mother so I am bit lost about that part. It is an adventure to be sure. I love the parents and the girls and feel blessed to know them all.

A few months ago they came to visit for a few days. It was so amazing having all 6 children together.

5 girls, 1 boy.

The time with them was exciting and I am so grateful for it. We hope to travel in a few months to go and see them as well, and their ducks! :)

So you can see that we are a close surrogate family. Not all are like this, some in fact never talk to or hear from the surrogate again. It is all about what they planned and what worked for them.

Surrogacy isn't for everyone, and it can be complicated and costly. It is an option though and not one many people know much about. If I can help at all, please let me know.

Raising children with a healthy and scientific sexuality.

2012-01-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

First Love is Love.

With that out of the way I want to dive into a too often scary topic of raising our children to have healthy sex lives. We can not leave this task to society. We need to give our children the facts and help them make the right choices for themselves. Of course this is all my opinion and you mileage may vary.

My oldest daughter is 12 and without getting into her personal life too much, I will simply say that she is a young 12 and this is not a world she is much aware of yet. The day is coming though and I want to be ready.

When a friend on Facebook mentioned that girls do not have mature hips till 18 and thus should not be allowed to have sex before that age and of course only after marriage I found myself wondering why I don't believe that. After some research I noticed the number 18 came up on church sites but science sites said that female hips can be fully mature between 15-17 and of course that is just an average. So the number 18 seems like an arbitrary number to me. Another way to push a view that sex should wait till marriage. And that view is valid and I support any parenting teaching their own children that, however I do not support those parents expecting others to believe as they do and teach as they do.

I teach my children tolerance and science and to not stop asking questions and looking for answers. My choice is to teach my children about the history of human sexuality, about how it is thought that we of the 4th Ape family of Africa have only been monogamous the last 5% of human existence, since we started farming, and "owning" things as individuals and not as a tribe. It is very interesting. A quick view of this can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/27/ryan.promiscuity.normal/index.html

Along with history will come current views of reality, the divorce rate, and how divorce has a biger impact on children than was once thought. I will teach them that I think monogamy is best for ME but other people make other relationships and families work as well. I will let them know that getting married is a commitment and natural wondering thoughts are not a failed marriage, just part of being human, and we don't have to do everything that crosses our minds. I will let them know that sex is not dirty, just private, and it something special to do with someone special. I will let them know that I did not wait till marriage but that I married at 18 and got pregnant 6 months later and that still being married has shown me that I dating others helped me see just what kind of man I fit best with and that we lived together first to make sure we made a good match. It might be perfect for everyone, or even them, but I will share how a marriage I adore started. I will also let my husband tell them that I was his first in every way. We came together in different ways and it works. They can choose to wait, or not. I will ask them to please wait to have children till they are married because I think the more dependable people in a childs life, the better. I will teach them about birth control, self defence, STDs, and the current science on when humans are physically mature and have full grown brains. I will give them books to explain the acts of sex and I will remind them they can ask me anything. And when the time comes and they think they are ready, with tears in my heart about them growing up, I will listen to them, and I will try and help them make the choices that are right for them, even if they are not what I would have or did choose for myself.

These are my plans.

Of course if your a parent of an older child you know how plans go. What we expect to happen and what does is not always similar. And always, I could be wrong.

Would you ban certain words?

2012-01-04T12:44:00.001-05:00

I think that many parents have a mental list of words that they do not want spoken in their home by their children. Most of those are cuss words and hate words. This is parental responsibility to help our child be polite and kind. Those words aside, would you ever add any of the following words to your banned list?

AMAZING

They say this word is over used and used incorrectly. While I can see that, it is an adjective to describe something and is an opinion. How can we judge how something makes someone else feel? What is amazing to them, might not it is amazing to us, but should we tell others how to use the word and what to feel?

This old word goes back to about 1593 and means :causing amazement, great wonder, or surprise.

It seems to me that what is a surprise to me might not be to you. In other other words, I am amazed this harmless word is on a banned list!

BABY BUMP

They say this word reduces pregnancy to a celebrity accessory and makes a deep important choice look trendy. Again, I can see why some do not like it. I do not use it personally but not for any of those reasons. I think it is a simple way of saying pregnancy, it brings a lightness to a natural event that I believe our society sees as so scary and burdensome. It does not in my opinion take away from a reverent pregnancy and I do not think it reduces motherhood for those who look at it differently. Baby bump is a simple visual and I would not be surprised if it was something picked up from young children. It seems innocent to me. Why bother banning a word that is not harmful?

SHARED SACRIFICE

Aside from how some politics use this term to get others to give up what they are not willing to, I think this is an important notion. Our country has fallen into this commercialism that is all about "me" and no long about "us" like it once was. We are mammals that are supposed to live in groups and would not be here if there had not been groups supporting one another. On our own or in just pairs I do not think we would have evolved the way we have. Add to this the fact that I am a military wife and my husband and I try to instill sacrifice for service in our family. We believe that it is important to serve society in ways that not simply about the self. If our neighbors are starving, it is on us to help if we are able. We believe the true evil would be looking the other way and giving excuses as to why the other family should not be lazy or yadda yadda and get their own. We can't possibly know the whole situation, if we however help at all, it is our duty to do so as good human beings. We believe this as humanist, not because a higher power or book tells us we should. We believe it because it is logical and morally right. We must take care of one another so that our society can survive and thrive. Being selfish and only looking out for #1 plays to the human weakness that left unchecked will crumble society in our opinions. Ants know how to work together better than we do, they don't all go out to live alone. They collect resources for them all. We have these wonderful minds and yet we are lagging behind ants in that we don't support one another so we can all thrive.

OCCUPY

A year ago few people used this word and now it seems to be all over the place. I think that was the point of the occupy movement and while some jokingly use it to occupy their couch, it still has meaning and is still important I am not sure why anyone would want to ban it. The occupy movement in my opinion would be something our founding fathers would have supported, though I think they would have done so with guns in hands. We are a peaceful nation within our own walls and while other places have violent revolt against their 1% when it become oppressive, occupy has chosen a more civil path. I hope it makes the history books.

BLOWBACK

Not a word I hear often and not one that I see the point in banning either.

MAN CAVE

While my husband does not have one, my father does. I think it describes his personal space simply and clearly. His is a garage he says is his man cave. My father is one of the least trendy people I have ever met. He is however an old fashioned hunter, fisherman, and handyman. He is a blue collar machinist tool maker. His personal space is being used for rebuilding a classic car these days. It has a pellet stove in it to keep warm and many other things he enjoys. No TV, not comfy chair, and no cooler for beer even. It is his man cave though. I see it much the same way I do my crafting room. It is moms room because it is in no way child safe, because chances are no one knows where anything is in it but me even with everything having a place. No tv in it and just a workable chair. It is my space. Many women have them, no cute name for them that I am aware of. A man cave has often been a special space for Dad in a garage, office, or basement. While they do not all look the same, the concept is simple, a space for him and the things he tends to do alone. Sorry Dad, I have no interest in welding. LOL It's ok Dad, its not your fault that you could not find my snap press when you went into my craft room. :) I don't see the harm.

THE NEW NORMAL

Our family has found a new normal with our son starting school this year like his older sister. We homeschool so it is a bigger change than if we would just drop him off at a school I am thinking. There is no choice, he must be educated and so we must adapt and hopefully do so well. I think "the new normal" is a fitting phrase and again, not sure why anyone would want to ban it.

I have just talked about the first few words in this list and I will spare you my opinions on the rest. I am a mother who believes in attachment and peaceful parenting, one that tries to not say no without a very good reason. Maybe that is why I want a very good reason to consider banning words that are not rude or hateful. Please feel free to share your opinions about them. In the end, I could always be wrong. For me though, there is no real reason to ban any of these words. To me it seems the "trendy" thing to ban words.

PET PARENT

WIN THE FUTURE

TRICKERATION

GINORMOUS

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

Lake Superior State University 2012 List of Banished Words

Homeschooling - Real Education.

2012-01-03T01:14:00.001-05:00

While schools are narrowly focused on teaching to test, they are missing so much involved in real education.

This is my oldest showing you what she loves doing. She is a builder, a creator, and loves working with her hands. Sitting for test day in and day out will hurt her bright spirit I am certain. So in our world, this is homeschooling and it is perfect. She is a child that needs time to follow her bliss, to work with her hands. So while book work is done, she thrives in other places as well.

She got this 1000 + piece Lego ship and dove into it as soon as could. She wanted to finish it as quickly as possible and with younger siblings distracting you, and grandparents requesting her help on different things, she still manage to get it done in less than 4 hours.

But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance.
William J. Wilson

How do you make sure your children get the time to do what they love?

Her 95th New Years!

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Left is my Mom (My second Mom) and Right is my Meme.

Meme did a great deal of my raising and I adore her. We have lived so far from her for so long and I love that wonder hubby does all he can to make sure we can travel north to come see them. It is a blessing to start enough year with Meme, it is her 95th New Years and it just seems so amazing to me.

Vacation is coming to an end now sadly. It has been a restful recovery I needed though I am in a great deal of pain still from the drive up here. The Dr says I have Fibromyalga and has had me on a few things, they helped take the edge off the last few month. The past 2 weeks though.... nothing seems to work. I hope the Dr figures it out soon! I want to see 95 too!

Gratitude for Reading and I wish a wonderful year!

21 days to a clean organized home

2012-01-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

I think it is time that I dive into something I have been meaning to do.

Become more minimalist. Meaning that I want to free my home of things not really needed and loved, get more organized, reduce waist.

This is another blog, with a plan, and that is more than I have so far so I am going to try to keep up with it even though I will be out of town for some of those days. Wish me luck!

I wish you all the luck in the changes you wish to make and if there are no choices, I am thankful your happy with everything as they are, that is a blessing. I am happy, but I think I could do better in this than I have been.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Vacation Fun!

2011-12-31T22:25:00.000-05:00

This little crunchy family of 6 are busy enjoying our holiday fun! I could not leave my beloved readers without something fun to look at though so here is a photo of Mr. Handsome and his fantastic goofy smile and adorable hamster shirt. (Made by my favorite WAHM Westmama)

Let it snow!

2011-12-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

Christmas brought our first whisper of snow here in southern MA. It was just that though, a whisper, nothing stuck. All the while El Paso TX, once our home had inches to play in. Why oh why did not more of the country have a white Christmas?

Very few places in America saw snow this holiday.

Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average over the 30-day period ending on December 22, 2011. Image credit: NOAA/CPC.

November ranked as the 25th warmest November in the 117-year record and it does not look like that is likely to change over the coming winter months. But still the question is why? Global warming?

Positive Arctic Oscillation (PAO)! The hard winters are seen in the negative arctic oscillation. Is PAO rare? Not at all. For the century before 1970's they went back and forth turning from on to the other. However since 1970's there have been more PAO winters than NAO ones.

So during this time we can expect that states east of the Rockys will be warmer than normal, not all places though are as lucky.Greenland is bracing for a very harsh winter.

This is by no means an area I am an expert in, but one I do have an interest in as a parent looking to be more eco-friendly and informed. Not to mention being a lover of snow!

2011-12-30T16:35:00.000-05:00

This is how they advertised Lego with girls in 1981.

Way to go Lego!

These days though not every company is so respectful our our children, or childhood.

These days this is the kind of thing marketed at our young daughters.

While the one of the left at least is not too short, and I am ok with goth as well, does a young girl really need to be marketed at like this? What happen to childrens songs? When did our young children suddenly have to become overly sexual young adult music stars?

The above might not both you as it does me. I shared a blog post a bit ago though about little girl crotch-less panties that are sized all the way down to kindergarten and of course is the more common little girl thongs. Do you see a problem with those? Maybe not. But I really really do.

Sometimes I feel like our society is in a handbasket.

Marketing is every place we look, our children are not immune to it and research shoes it is causing issues for both boys and girls. Where do we draw the lines though in wanting to support our children and their identity while protecting their childhoods and trying to help shape them to have a healthy adulthood?

If breastfeeding is sexual, than a bottle is a Dildo!

2011-12-29T14:20:00.000-05:00

Once again ignorance raises it's head, this time in a Target store in Houston TX. A mother needed to nurse her hungry baby while shopping and went to find a quiet spot in the store to do so, she found a less populated area and did the natural thing, fed her baby. However she was told by employees that she shouldn't be doing it, and then tried to embarrass her so she would stop.

This has sparked nation wide plans for Target Nurse Ins. A nurse in is when mothers come together in an area to feed their babies. This does not mean they are flashing people, it means they are making an effort to try and change a sick society that can not seem to understand that breastfeeding is not sexual.

There is a saying, if Breastfeeding is sexual than a bottle is a dildo, and I think it makes the point, though vulgar but really isn't the act of telling a nursing mother she can't breastfeed where ever she is a vulgar rude thing? This tells the women you have been looking at her feeding her baby and thinking sexual things about her and her nursing baby. I really do not know what is wrong with people who can see a baby eating normally and think sexual things about it. Is it not kin to some kind of pedophilia to look at a baby and think sexual things? I really think our many in our society have a sickness that makes it so that they can not see something natural as eating in a normal way. Something is wrong. I am thankful to all those mothers who nurse in public, you are brave, and doing what is best for your baby. The shame is on the shoulders of those who either can't control themselves to not look, or can't be mature enough and educated enough to know that there is nothing sexual about breastfeeding.

In the end, I could always be wrong but this is just my not so humble opinion.

A source for this blog post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/target-nurse-ins-to-show-that-breast-feeding-is-not-exhibitionism/2011/12/20/gIQAzZZj7O_blog.html?wprss=on-parenting#weighIn

Loved

2011-12-29T11:00:00.000-05:00

Was there something in your home that was gifted to one person but others can't keep their hands off it? LOL This seems to be the case with many items here. The first time on Christmas that it happened was with this scarf. Our oldest daughter made it for her brother who was so happy and put it on right away. A bit later he was hot and put it with his pile of gifts. His baby sister saw him put it down and went right over and gracefully wrapped it around her neck and started to toddle around with it very happy. I think she wants her own now!

Hamster Love!

2011-12-28T17:34:00.000-05:00

All my children love their Hamsters. We have three little guys. Knowing their hamster love I knew I needed special shirts for our 6 and 4 year old children. This is Mr. Handsome very happy with his new shirt on Christmas morning. He later insisted on putting that shirt on for the day. He actually ended up wearing his matching little sisters shirt as they look just the same though one is a 4T and one is size 6. The shirts are beautiful and so so so soft and lovely. I am so thankful to my friend Kimberly at Westmama http://www.westmamadesigns.com/ for making these customs for me. She did it so fast and beautifully even though she had never made a hamster shirt before. This one my son instantly said looks like his hamster Ponyo and he is right! I paid for these custom shirts at a great price, her prices are always great for the quality and designs.

Did your husband need a doula too?

2011-12-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

Everyone I know who has hired a doula for a birth has raved about the benefits. It is so common these days that I do not think I need to go into all the supportive things a doula does in a birth for the mother and baby. A new question though is now buzzing around the parenting world. Do fathers need a dudela?

A Urban Baby Ad is circulating around the internet sparking this question along with others such as, is this actually a real Ad?

A DUDELA? IS THAT LIKE A DOULA? Yes, think of a dudela as being a doula for the mother's partner. Let's face it, our plugged-in modern culture is always making us feel like we should be updating something or checking in somewhere. As a new father myself, I know how tempting it can be to check the Knicks score or respond to comments on Facebook. Let me worry about that kind of thing, and keep you updated on developments in an unobtrusive way. I am there to let you be with your partner so that you can enjoy every second of your child's birth. What I offer: MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT. We will meet before the due date to craft an announcement statement, which I will send via text message to contacts of your choosing within the first hour of your baby's life. During labor and up to two hours after delivery, I will respond to all incoming texts and phone calls, taking messages when required. The battery life on all of your devices is safe in my hands. And what if she's not feeling that Bjork playlist you made for her iPod? I'll put on some Sam Cooke instead. SOCIAL NETWORK COORDINATION. Check you in at the hospital on FourSquare? Check. Update your Facebook status with baby's first picture? I like. Tweet the birth announcement? #Yes FANTASY SPORTS ASSISTANCE. The world of sports will not stop for the birth of your baby. Don't worry whether Curtis Granderson matches up well against David Price (he doesn't) or if the 49ers defense can stop the run (they can). As a veteran of many fantasy leagues, familiar with both the ESPN and Yahoo! platforms, I will ensure your team doesn't miss a beat, so you won't miss a beat in the delivery room. CONCIERGE SERVICES. You're going to want to get some celebratory cigars. Good thing I've been a subscriber to Cigar Aficionado for the last 10 years. (All of these services are also available as part of a Postpartum Package.)

A dudela it would seem would be like a birthing secretary of sorts, fetch your coffee, answer your calls and e-mails and texts so the father can focus on the birth. I wonder though, who would actually need that.

With my hospital births my husband I can tell you often found himself board with little to do. This does not mean he was not supportive because he really was, but there is a lot of waiting with birthing and anxiety sometimes as well and distractions can help. For couples who get an Epidural, the mother might well be sleeping for hours and Dad has to pass the time some way. So would he really need someone taking his phone and internet life?

But what if the birthing is fast, or at a birthing center or a home birth and Dad and Mom really do not want to be distracted, what are they to do? Shut. Off. The. Phones. Is it that hard that one can not let go of the rest of the world for enough time to support ones wife who is birthing your offspring? Did your husband not have enough self control and common sense to know when to use his phone and when to support you? Maybe my wonder husband is just that amazing, really though I think stereo type of men being useless in birth one society made a long time ago, not one that is valid today. But in a society that teaches fear of birthing to mothers, is it any shock that it also teaches men they have little place in helping?

So do I think a husband needs a Dudela, no. In fact I think doulas are trained to support husbands as well and will go get coffee and will screen calls and reply to e-mails if you ask them. They support the family, not just the mother.

In the end, I think we need to give our Fathers more credit, they can unplug for a few hours or days even to focus on something so amazing. They don't need some dude updating them about sports scores while their wife is in labor... IMHO. I could always be wrong, and your millage may vary. (Maybe Mom wants those scores too, in that case they can look for them on cell phones together don't you think?)

In the end, my opinion doesn't matter. Do what works for you! My husband however, has no interest in a dudela, thankfully!

Most Funny Face of 2011

2011-12-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

This is our 18 month old smilie baby. She is such a joy and so often just so happy. This photo was taken by our 12 year old daughter while all the children and Daddy where at a homeschooling umbrella school winter Solstice party. Neither remember why she made the safe but I am glad this picture was taken as it is just so funny. This is a normal photo of our sweet baby that evening:

Do you have a photo that you think is the most funny face of 2011 for your family?

Sugar Glider Cage Set Love

2011-12-26T00:40:00.000-05:00

This is our sugar glider cage. Inside is the newest no sew cage set. It is all fleece and safe for the little loveable fluff balls. Normally I would sew cage sets, but alas, both my sewing machines are broken and have been for a while now, so I had to get creative, and it really worked!

In this set:

2 Standard Sleeping Pouches
1 triangle corner pouch
1 nap pouch
1 Extra Large Hammoc
1 Climbing braided rope
1 Circle toy perch
And a few little glider blankets for them to move around as they please.

So you might notice that this cage is... a bit small! It is big enough by most standards for 2 gliders but I would not ever go any smaller. We have a small travel cage but that is all together different and only for travel, glider recovery, and cage cleaning times.

How big should a glider cage be you ask?

The minimum size your cage should be for a pair is about 32" x 20" x 36". The more gliders in your cage the larger it should be. The bars of your cage should be 1/2" wide or less and horizontal if possible because sugar gliders like to climb.
http://www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?Housing

Our next cage will be much bigger and we hope to get it soon! Oh and someone mentioned that they would like to give me an old sewing machine! Yay!

Shiny!

2011-12-25T18:00:00.000-05:00

One of the gifts I adore! Mystic Topaz!

It is hard to photograph, for this amateur at least.

It is not as blue as the top photo on most light but the second photo does not catch all the colors either. This stone has a lot of purple in it and teal and a bit of other colors as well. It is very special to me.

Wishes

2011-12-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays

May all your wishes be within reach!