Found a neat quote

I found a neat quote online and that I would share:

"It is the nature of the child to be dependent, and it is the nature of dependence to be outgrown. Begrudging dependency because it is not independence is like begrudging winter because it is not yet spring. Dependency blossoms into independence in its own time." Peggy O'Mara

Found at The Natural Child Project

Elfie at 8 weeks

Here's a link to what Elfie is up to now:

8 weeks

Calling for Links!!!

Awhile back I lost all of my bookmarks. Yikes...because I bookmark everything! Soooo...I need some help finding all of my long lost bookmarked sites.

So here's what I'm interested in. Feel free to send me links galore.

Baby-led weaning

Cloth diapering

Cloth diaper online stores

Natural/homemade toy stores

Online toy stores that sell European-made toys (i.e. not made in China)

Online baby clothing retailers

Breastfeeding information and resources

Homeschooling information and resources

Unschooling information and resources

Charlotte Mason and Ambleside online stuff

Natural living sites

Attachment parenting sites and information

Gentle christian mothering sites and information

Home daycare resources and retailers

Blogs - specifically for friends

Healthy/Vegetarian recipe/blog/cooking sites

Blogs that are inspiring - Soulemama and ones like that

Well, this is all I can think of right now. So feel free to link me up!

Elf at Seven Weeks

I can't remember if I mentioned that I'm calling the baby Elf until we're able to give him/her a more definite name. This is for a couple of reasons. Elf came to be during the month of December and we watched the movie "Elf" the night I found out I was preggo. I found out after the movie!

Anyways, here's little Elffie now:

Seven weeks

Hitting

Boo's hitting is making me insane. I know it's a phase. I know we'll get through it, but AGGGGHHHH!!! Of course one doesn't have to look too far back in this blog to see that hair pulling was a big issue at one time and he's pretty much set that aside. So that gives me home. But it is still very frustrating somedays...especially when it's an all out "bitch slap" in the face. Ugh!

An Interesting Post

I thought this post was interesting:

12 Years Ago Post

Doesn't it suck when we allow government to take away choices that should be ours? Ugh!

Cloth Diaper Update

What we're currently loving: The Bumgenius that we finally broke down and ordered. They're the one-size. LOVE them.

What we're going to do for little "Elf": I think Bumgenius may be too poofy for a newborn. I'm thinking I'll build a newborn stash for the new baby. We don't have a newborn stash because we didn't CD Boo when he was newborn. I will probably hold onto the small pockets also in case I need a trimmer option for under clothing - not sure if the one-sizers will be too poofy with certain outfits in the size small. I'm going to sell off a lot of the medium pockets, as well as fitteds and wool that we don't use.

I wanted to love wool and I really do. If I was just a SAHM with no work responsibilities I'd be feeling the wool love. But they take so much time to wash/dry/care for, I just don't have the time for that.

Also currently loving: Pre-folds and thirsties covers. I LOVE the thirsties covers and wish that I'd discovered them sooner. I will be ordering a few of these in small and in medium as I only have larges. I will also be getting prefolds in smaller sizes as we only have toddler size prefolds. They're the most economical option. I love just putting on the bumgenius - so much easier and less effort, but prefolds are essential to keep the cost down. And once you get the hang of it they're not a big deal. They're also extremely absorbent. Of course the bumgenius are too. I was pleasantly surprised as Boo will wet through anything that's not wonderfully absorbent!

Birthing Resources Please????

I have become much crunchier, for lack of a better word, since my last pregnancy. So, for those of you who are into natural birth, what are some resources you'd recommend? Books, videos, websites, etc... I'm really hoping T and I can take a class this time around. It's hard for us to do this because all of the birthing classes are an hour away. With T's work schedule this is just about impossible for us. The one that our local hospital offered was honestly a big joke and a waste of our time.

Are there any birthing classes via DVDs that we could order? We got this one called The Pink Kit last time and it didn't work for us. The material was good, but it was a lot of reading and printed stuff. T is a visual learner and I think we would both do better with keeping up with videos. Are there any local classes that I just don't know about? As far as method goes I want something with a natural focus. I read a book on the Bradley method and that seems interesting, but I know there's other approaches out there. As long as the focus is on natural birth, I'm probably interested.

Here's where baby's development is at right now:

Week 6

Feeling Good

I'm asking for trouble by writing this. So far I haven't been nauseous or sick really. Just incredibly, insanely HUNGRY. Seriously, if you're anywhere near me, don't bring food withing ten feet of me. I might eat it!

Okay, now that I've posted this I'm sure sickness will set in!

Well here we go again!

Well, here we go again with the whole pregnancy thing! Yes - I'm preggo! We're pretty excited about it and think that Ayden will be the cutest big brother ever. We'd be happy with a boy or a girl and have reasons for wanting either one. I think there'd be something incredibly cute about having a boy, so that there's a set of brothers close in age. It seems that brothers have kind of a neat bond with each other. However, I'm dying to have a girl also. I mean, come on, the outfit options and accessories are way better! And there is something sweet about a big brother with a little sister to take care of!

So much for fertility friend. I won't be charting for awhile - at least not that kind. I do feel it necessary to add a note here as natural family planning gets such a bad rap. This was not a failure on the part of our prevention method - natural family planning. Last month was the first month that it was even possible for me to get preggo. And we knew I was fertile and um...didn't take um necessary precautious...ahem...um. We just kind of figured, "What are the odds???" Hmmm...famous last words. And here we are.

I'm five weeks along at this point in time. The baby is roughly 1/8th of an inch big. Crazy! Life is such a miracle to me. It boggles my mind how it's not there one minute and then there the next. I think the whole process of pregnancy and childbirth is extremely fascinating!

Right now I'm in the process of asking around for a good midwife. I'm changing things from how they were done with my first child. I want things a lot less "medical", a lot less intervention, that sort of thing. So I'll update on that when I have more information.

Why????

Why does chicken stock come in such large containers? I don't get it. I usually only need a cup or so for my recipe and then the rest of it rots before I can use it. I just realized today that I have two cartons of rotten chicken stock in my fridge and I just opened a brand new one for lunch today.

Current struggles with attachment parenting

* Saying no blah blah blah or stop blah blah blah from the couch instead of getting off my butt and helping my child to listen to my words.

* Being "AP" with my husband. No, I don't mean I'm trying to parent my hubby. However, the principles of AP, respect, gentleness, nurturing, support could do a world of good if I could apply them more consistently to my marriage.

* Finding the balance between all of the housework, daycare stuff, and giving my child the attention he deserves.

* Being consistent when Boo is having a "tantrumy" day

What brought this list on? I don't know. I guess I'm just tired today and my mind is preoccupied. That's when my AP skills tend to break down.

Last Year's Progress Report

Well, since the focus of this blog is supposed to be progress on all of these wonderful changes that I'm making, I thought I'd do a little progress report for 2008.

Cloth Diapering

Satisfactory - I'm pretty proud of how I've done with this. I decided to cloth diaper, and come hell or high water I've stuck with it. I admit that there were a few times I got behind on the diaper laundry and used disposables for several changes in a row, or even several days in a row. But, overall I'm happy that I've stuck with it. Keeping up with diaper laundry can be very difficult. When I was working full-time it was really hard. It's a bit easier now that I do home daycare (still hard as I'm still very busy). It took awhile to figure out what we like. I have prefolds and LOVE Thirsties Diaper Covers. T and I love Bum Genius. I don't have to worry about T cheating as much and using sposies now that we have invested in some Bum Genius one-sizers. Of course I have them stuffed, sized, ready to go for him. When I stop procrastinating I will sell off a lot of the pockets, some fitteds, some covers, and eventually get more BGs for the next time around.

Natural Medicine

Somewhat Satisfactory - I'm giving myself a little bit lower score as I think I could be doing better in this area. I really want to learn more about herbs and homeopathy so that I feel confident in what to do about different ailments. Also, I keep forgetting to take my probiotic daily as well as make sure Boo gets some. I think this is especially important now that we're in winter season and sickness abounds. Hopefully this will be a good reminder for me. It's time consuming to read and educate myself on this subject matter. Also, materials are not always readily available when I need them. So ordering some basics that I can't find at the local health store would probably help me on my way. But I'm still trying. So that's why I still get satisfactory tacked on to the end!

Crafting

Somewhat Satisfactory - I don't think that I'm making this a priority like I should be. I get the satisfactory because I have done some successful scrapbooking and knitting towards the end of the year. But in order to maintain my mental health and creativity I need to get better at carving out a time for this. There's a local group that gets together to be creative. I've only gone once out of several opportunities. I need to make it a priority for next X-mas as I did no homemade gifts this year. That made me sad. I did homemade last year and loved it. I want to get back to that as it's so much more from the heart.

Attachment Parenting

Satisfactory - This is an area where much of my effort, research, reading, etc... went last year, especially as we went from infancy to toddlerhood. For me, AP wasn't horribly difficult with an infant (I have an easy baby), but it's gotten increasingly harder as he's entered toddlerhood and become more sure of himself and is so able to get to everything in this house! Overall though I feel like I really try to keep my voice gentle and get off my butt when I discipline him, rather than shout from the across the room. Easier said than done a lot of days though. I try to treat him in a way that's respectful and I try to acknowledge his feelings. I could definitely use lots of improvement, but who couldn't? One can always be a better parent. One thing I would like to improve on this year is work on the kitchen area so that there are less "no"s in the environment. Of course a room like a kitchen is always going to be full of hazards, but I'd like to have more things in there that I can direct his attention to if need be. For example, I'd love to have a child-size broom and mop set in there as well as some fridge magnets, things that are okay for him. I've even toyed with the idea of putting a play kitchen set against one wall in there, so that he can cook at his stove while mommy cooks at hers.

I have gone through periods where my patience is not what it should be. I think this is a result of not caring for myself and not giving myself time that I need (see crafting above). So I'm going to work on this so that I'm mentally and emotionally able to be more loving and responsive.

I also think that I could improve on babywearing. There are times at home where Boo simply needs to be worn because he's exhibiting a high level of need at this moment. And sometimes I'm just lazy and don't want to wear him while working around the house. This is okay when he's content playing, but it's really not okay for me when he's unhappy about it.

Environmental/Social Responsibility

Somewhat Unsatisfactory - Well, we're much more consistent with recycling this year. But I feel like that's about all we've done. I do buy clothes used a lot for Boo. But I still tend to enjoy consuming quite a bit too. I did look for responsibly made things though for Boo's X-mas gifts. However, I broke down and bought mass-produced stuff from companies that aren't so great for other gifts. Part of the reason is that I didn't make time for crafting and was buying a lot last minute. Better planning could go a long way in this area.

Also I've talked to T about doing more in the way of contributing regularly towards a social cause that we believe in. For me, I definitely feel burdened by the issue of clean water. As a mom I can't imagine watching your children get sick and die from lack of clean water. It just breaks my heart. But being sad is about all I've done for this cause. So my goal for 2009 is to research this issue and organizations and how I can help.



Well, I'm sure that there are other areas that I could comment on, but I feel like I've touched on a lot of important things already.

New Year's Resolutions

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!

Here's my resolutions:

* Attend weight watchers meetings regularly.
* Be more social. Have people over more and go out with others a bit more.
* Get Boo's scrapbook done through year 2 before his second birthday so that I can put it on display.