Merry Christmas

May the love of Jesus Christ reach you this wonderful season!

How can I make it more likely that Rooster ends up in prison than graduating high school?

By moving to Detroit.

In exchange for decades of entitlement programs and government spending, the people of Detroit have been rewarded with record high unemployment, failing schools, very little economic activity and a blighted landscape. Steven Crowder reports from the Motor City.

To give you a taste, the average home price is now at $5,700.00.

Once a great city, Detroit is now in ruins because of leftist governmental policies. Watch the video.

Vaccines

We know the importance of vaccinations, but my husband and I are also very hesitant to allow Rooster to have 6 shots at once with 8 different vaccines. So since birth we have been on a selective vaccine schedule that sorta follows Dr. Sears' guidelines.

This article I came across today is quite interesting although rather long.

But getting back to the safety issue, it is my contention that the science used to ‘prove’ MMR does not cause autism is simply inadequate. And I’m not the only person who thinks so: In my research yesterday I came across this video interview where you can see and hear Dr Bernadine Healy, former director of the National Institutes of Health in the USA, express her concern about the way in which a link between vaccination and autism has been so readily dismissed. She accuses the US Government health officials of deliberately not doing the scientific which would show, once and for all, whether vaccines can cause autism, and if so, what the extent of the risk is (so that parents can make an truly informed choice about whether to have their child vaccinated or not). And Dr Healy also suggests that the reason for why the US Government has not done the definitive scientific work is because it is afraid of what it might find when it looks. The interview concludes by Dr Healy stating that the question about whether vaccination can cause autism has still not been answered.

I have read that this vaccine debate is over - there is proof that there is no link. This is false, of course. There is no definitive proof either way. That makes it very, very curious as to why there aren't more studies out there looking into it. Perhaps because there aren't enough non-vaccinated children to study (a theory of Dr. Sears).

Rosie O’Donnell’s knowledge of materials engineering: B+

The funniest thing I have read in a long time! Frank J. is a genius.

A possible end to insulin injections?

My sister emailed a video about nanotechnology and its applications with diabetes. Very cool stuff!

Insulin injections may soon be a thing of the past for diabetics thanks to nano-technology. At UCSF Professor of bioengineering, Tejal Desai, implants millions of pancreatic cells that secrete insulin into tiny capsules that can be implanted into the body in an effort to create an artificial pancreas. When blood sugar flows inside the capsule, it stimulates the cells to produce insulin to control sugar levels. The device has nano pores, pores so small that the body's antibodies cannot get in to attack the cells, but large enough that the insulin can flow out and into the body.

This hits close to home as my husband, niece and nephew all have type 1 diabetes. As Glenn Reynolds always puts it, FASTER PLEASE! Watch the video and let me know what you think!

Reason #1 to homeschool

This is disgusting. Safety is mentioned often - what about nutritional standards?! Our kids deserve a better meal than what they have been provided by the government.

Thanks to Roscoe for sending the article.

13 months

Rooster is walking, talking and pointing all the time now. It's just an amazing sight.

He's also mostly sleeping through the night without me needing to help him back to sleep. Last night he fell asleep at 6:45 pm and he awoke this morning at 6:15 am! What a journey this has been! A wonderful, sometimes tiring journey that, I am pleased to say, did not require any sleep training. If you are a mother who nurses to sleep and/or co-sleeps with your infant rest assured that a time will come when your baby is ready to do it on his/her own. It may take baby steps (we've had so many!). Be patient - your baby will let you know when he/she is ready to move on to the next step. It will happen!

This and that in November

I have looked at my saved drafts list and there are around twenty posts that I have begun and not posted. I am a slacker. That is OK, though. It just shows that I have so many interests and so little time - the essence of this blog.

Rooster is getting all my attention recently (OK, for 20 months now). What can I say, I love watching him walk, talk, read (sorta), figure out how to open jars, try to dismantle the fireplace for the 14th time today...sigh...

Here he is with one of his favorite household items. He actually loves it when I use this thing.

My other blog

I've briefly mentioned my other blog, Real Food Mamas, once here and would like to invite you back over there. I will be posting about Thanksgiving, new foods we are eating as a family, recipes, and various other food topics.

Please let me know what you think!

Those lying eyes

Interesting.

I have to think that perhaps kids are better liars because often they do not know what they are doing is wrong or incorrect. An adult has (or should have) the reasoning and maturity to know that when they are lying they are acting incorrectly. They will give off visual or verbal signals from this incongruity (eye shifting, pitch changes, etc.). A child fails to give off these signals because there is no disparity in what they are saying and thinking.

These are teaching moments for parents. I agree with the article on how to minimise lying:

• Set a good example. Every time you duck out of a boring social event with a fake headache, your child takes notes.
  
• Stay calm. Accusing in a loud, threatening manner is not the way to get the truth out of a child. ‘Usually children do not lie when it is safe to tell the truth,’ advises Parent24 parenting expert Anne Cawood.
  
• Explain the consequences of lying in a calm, rational way, and offer the child the opportunity to tell the whole truth. Don’t start screaming and shouting again the minute he admits to having done the deed.
  
• Avoid labelling your child a liar. Labels can become self-fulfilling prophesies. Give positive reinforcement to the truth. ‘I am glad you were honest. Now please clean up the mess.’
  

I look to the first as the most important. I realize even now how much Rooster mimics me and his father. Our example has to fall in line with how we want him to behave.

Obviously we are not having issues with Rooster - he's only 1. But we do have this to look forward to and we need a plan of action as to how we will approach lying. Not tolerating it is one thing - teaching our child why it's wrong is another.

Home Grown Terrorism

Dr. Laura perfectly sums up the terror at Fort Hood.

Happy Birthday, Rooster!

Our little guy is now a toddler. Wow, the year has just screamed by - so many milestones and so much

development! To go from a tiny 7 pound baby who can't even hold his own head up to a walking, talking, exploring, excitable toddler in one year is just an amazing ride to experience.

He took his first steps last weekend, on Halloween night, and has since been able to walk about 8 steps max. Such a cute sight.

Happy Birthday - we love you, Rooster!

I'm an adult

ha, so funny...

Happiness and sunshine

My next move will be suing Al Gore, The One, and all other loony leftists for the lumps and bruises on my head from beating it against the wall every time they open their mouths or decide on a new policy. Well, why not?

1918 Flu Pandemic

I read The Great Influenza by John M. Barry at the beginning of the year. Wow, did it scare me. But it was very, very interesting and has convinced me of the importance of vaccines.

There is new light on why so many people may have died so quickly and so violently. Aspirin overdose.

The Journal of the American Medical Association suggested a dose of 1,000 milligrams every three hours, the equivalent of almost 25 standard 325-milligram aspirin tablets in 24 hours. This is about twice the daily dosage generally considered safe today.

The pharmacology of aspirin is complex and was not fully understood until the 1960s, but dosage is crucial. Doubling the dose given at six-hour intervals can cause a 400 percent increase in the amount of the medicine that remains in the body. Even quite low daily doses — six to nine standard aspirin pills a day for several days — can lead to dangerously high blood levels of the drug in some people.

Hmm. Quite an interesting lead. It's very possible that some people took 2, 3, even 4 times the recommendation to avoid death from the flu. As they say in the article, it's probably not the reason for most deaths but can explain some, particularly deaths of the young and very healthy.

Beef

Recently Whole Foods had a great sale on their organic, grass-fed beef. I stocked up and froze about 7 pounds. While purchasing it I did wonder where it came from. My husband answered my question by sending me this article. Yay for local foods!

I began incorporating grass-fed beef into our diet a few months ago. It is an phenomenol source of iron, protein, b12, choline, and saturated fats. Yes, saturated fats are good for you despite what you have been told.

This is one of the best recipes I have made with our beef yet. So simple, so good.

Be a Paul Revere

I have yet to read Mark Levin's latest book, Liberty and Tyranny, but hope to do so soon. However, I did take almost 18 minutes out of my afternoon to watch a thoroughly interesting and enlightening interview of him by Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds. Take time out and watch for yourself.

Beyond co-sleeping

So I wrote a month ago that we were going to transfer the little guy into his own room. Well, tonight will be night 4 of him sleeping alone. Yay! A little later than planned (there's that silly word again) but we did it nonetheless. And it seems like the perfect time for all involved.

Over the weekend I tried to put Rooster down in his new room for a nap. I figured the ideal way is to introduce him slowly. Well, after he fell asleep on his crib mattress (it's so, so small compared to his twin!), he rolled over into the wall and woke himself up. I nixed the slow introduction and moved his mattress into the room later that day (with Roscoe's help of course).

That night we did the regular bedtime routine except that he went to sleep in his new room. It went very, very smooth. We have played in his room every day for awhile so he knows his surroundings. He only woke up twice during the night (I can handle 2 awakenings) and slept 12 hours! Yes, I can definitely get used to the new arrangement.

I did feel a bit odd going to bed without Rooster right there, after all when was the last time he wasn't right next to me? Never. But after falling asleep I was fine. It reassured me that I could hear him just fine from across the hall. We both seem to have adjusted just fine.

9/11

We will never forget.

May all the victims of the terrorist attacks on this day rest in peace.

We did it...round 2 is next weekend!

Roscoe, Rooster and I went camping at the Great Sand Dunes National Park this past weekend. What an absolutely beautiful place! It was our third trip there; Rooster's first of course.

We arrived on Friday morning around 11:00, the perfect time if you want the pick of spots as there are no reservations. We set up the tent, etc., then had lunch and headed out for a hike. Several weeks ago we purchased a Kelty backpack to hike with Rooster, which has worked out quite well especially with the addition of a sun shade. On this hike Rooster was able to fall asleep - perfect!

We decided against a fire on the first night, opting to just enjoy a beer with the sunset. With Rooster asleep in the tent, we watched the sun disappear behind the Dunes. Unfortunately we had loud talking night owls next door who stayed up until at least 3 talking about how they don't like their general manager or the way their bonus system is set-up. Um, boring. So in the morning we decided to move to another campsite. Not quite the same view, but still beautiful. It actually turned out to be a bigger spread, softer surface and a better set-up (the fire pit was further away from the tent).

We hiked the dunes for about an hour around lunchtime. Since we have explored the highest peaks during previous visits, and because we (well, one of us) had a 25+ pound backpack on, we decided to stick to exploring the flat base area.

It rained in the evening for about one hour but cleared out for the rest of the night. Roscoe built a great fire while I put Rooster to bed and we enjoyed another beer in front of the fire for the remainder of the evening. The next morning was filled with breaking down camp and repacking the car. We did it in record time for having to do it with an infant in tow. We were on the road by 10 and had a fairly peaceful drive back home.

So, this weekend we are attempting round 2! With an added twist of course - we get to hike in 1/2 mile to our campsite. Yes, a bit burdensome but it will be plenty worth the quiet stillness of back country camping.

Why I keep reading RachelLucas.com

She has an amazing post on her visit to Oświęcim, or Auschwitz as it's usually called, and Birkenau.

One book I have read is on a Soviet soldier's escape from Auschwitz. I have read some, not a lot, but some on this topic and will never fully understand the horrors that occurred. May they never happen again.

US health care system at it's best

I could not imagine being forced to give birth in a corridor because there were no beds available at the hospital. Yes, a home birth is ideal and would thus remove the possibility of a corridor birth from ever happening, but home birth is, at best, a dream for most women. Even me, someone who used to desire such a thing.

Why did I change my mind? Because of the delivery of my son Rooster. Everything went fairly smooth throughout the 27.75 hours of labor; not exactly how I wanted it to occur (ha, when does that happen...) but we got to the delivery stage in good condition. Once he was born (~3 hours after pushing) he had an apgar score of 3 - very blue, not really breathing and had little muscle tone. He was rushed to the baby area as NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) nurses and doctor rushed to his side. While 4-5 people were working on him, 2 doctors (one resident and one supervisor) plus 1-2 nurses were working on me. My uterus would not stop bleeding and was having trouble contracting after the placental birth. Thanks to all these wonderful people (at least 7-9) my son and I made it through this stage of birth just fine. He was placed in my arms within 10 minutes with a score of 6 and we both made a full recovery.

It's times like this that I thank God that I have access to outstanding medical care.

I would be in heaven

I need to figure out a way to plan a vacation like this and convince my husband that it would be a lot of fun.

Hmm...there has to be some road biking he can do while I play.

Danny Dietz

I need to re-read Marcus Luttrell's book Lone Survivor. It is an awesome depiction of how our Navy Seals fight abroad for our freedoms here in the United States.

Danny Dietz was one of his fellow Frogman who showed incredible bravery and gave the ultimate sacrifice for his fellow Seals and for our country. He was also raised here in Colorado and has a memorial in Littleton.

Dietz will soon have a highway named after him.

Read the book and thank God that there are men like him!

Too early to tap dance

One small victory at a time though.

While the President may say he doesn't consider the public option to be the most important aspect of reform, we all know it's only slightly true. The total truth would be that single payer is what he has his eye on.

As for Johnson's (D-GA) comments:

"We'll have the same number of people uninsured," she said. "If the insurance companies wanted to insure these people now, they'd be insured."

I still don't buy it. There are planty of people out there who can afford it and choose to not have it. There are even more out there who just can't afford it and haven't signed up for Medicaid and state options that are available to them.

On the same note, keep informed here. Betsey McCaughey was the Lt. Gov. of New York and is an expert on health policy. She has extensively researched the health care reform bills that are being considered in the house and senate. What she is finding in these bills is scary. Examples: end of life counseling, the actual cost of it, when (not if) you will be forced into it, etc.

Don't be faked out by what Drudge calls a white flag of retreat. They don't tuck tail and retreat - they divert attention and then sneak in the back door.

Kissing my baby's face off

Oh, how I love to do it to Rooster! Hmm, I wonder if I have ever annoyed anyone with my displays of affection to my baby?

If public option health care is such a great idea...

...why is it that a majority of Democrats don't even want to be enrolled?

Tom Coburn (R, OK) is also a medical doctor and posted an article on National Review this morning. In it he poses 10 questions that are being overlooked or simply avoided by the media and Congressmen pushing this "reform." One of the best questions:

5. If the public option is so wonderful, will you lead by example and vote for a plan to enroll you and your family in the public option?

I offered an amendment in committee to force members of Congress to enroll in the public option. Nine out of eleven Democrats on the health committee who back the public option refused. If the politicians creating the public option don’t have confidence in it, neither should the American people.

Can we seriously trust legislation that Congress themselves want to avoid? Of course not. When the people writing the bill lack confidence in it than we should be very, very concerned, especially when they begin talking about rationing of care.

6. Will you vote for a plan that will allow a board of politicians and bureaucrats to override decisions made by you and your doctor?

Both the Senate and House bills set up a government-run “comparative effectiveness” board that will make final decisions about treatment and care. In committee, I gave senators several opportunities to accept language that would forbid this board from denying care. All of my amendments were rejected, which suggests that the intent is to set up a board that will ration care, as is done in the United Kingdom.

It's hard to discount the government's ability to ration care when it is built right into the bill. How else do you suppose they will reduce costs and cut spending?

Our congressman is holding a townhall meeting tomorrow night and we plan to attend. He happens to be a Republican and has come out against the bill but we are still attending to voice our concern. Please do so in your district too. If your congressman does not have a townhall meeting set up, keep calling and emailing until he/she does set one up. It is our responsibility to communicate with our elected officials as to how we would like them to vote on our behalf and why. Here is the info specific to CO elected officials.

Mark Steyn

He is always spot on.

Obama’s a community organizer. We’re the community. He organizes us. What part of that don’t you get?

Thanks to Roscoe for sending.

So true it's not really funny

From USA Today

Denver Freedom Rally

Good job to my fellow Coloradans in rallying for freedom of health care!

This will probably be categorized as fear tactics and mob mentality not to mention indoctrination of the young (did you see the cute baby!). But seriously, we are exceptionally fortunate and blessed to be able to rally and speak our minds in this wonderful country of ours. Thank the lord that you don't live in Iran!

Now, go report me to the White House.

My body, my choice (Updated)

Update: Please go here and sign a petition to keep our health care out of government hands

This post will be about health care, truly an argument about my body versus another (say the tiny baby growing inside a woman's body). I wrote that title not knowing a recent article had the same. It covers a topic often overlooked - our own responsibility and "self-reliance" when it comes to health care.

Consequences of a government-run program are also often overlooked, which include doctor shortage, long lines, waiting lists, lower-level of care, denial of care, denial of senior-care, denial of certain medications, etc. Plus, it puts our country at risk financially. Oh, and death may occur.

Not to mention the eventual decrease in the number of medications out there. The United States accounts for almost half of the global pharmaceutical market. Why would this continue under a government-run (IE non-capitalist) system?

Another a look at Canada:

...report says that from 1997 until 2005 quality was not existent in
providing health care. She added that managers put a “far greater
emphasis on financial management than on protecting the public
interest.”

Bold emphasis added by me.

What Obama proposes as "cost control" is really reduction in spending. For example, if I set up a budget in my home of how I much is spent on milk and I need to control costs, what do I do? I reduce the milk consumed (limit availability) or I buy cheaper milk (lower quality).

A real-life health care example of cost-control: limiting the number of test strips a diabetic uses in a day. My husband Roscoe recently had an A1C of 5.9. This rocks! He does it by watching what he eats, exercising 6 days a week, and keeping very close tabs on his blood sugar levels. The last part is done partly by checking his blood sugar levels all the time, often a couple times an hour. He obviously uses a lot of test strips to do so. Well, what if he was only limited to 5 per day because some person working for the government deems it as enough because anymore than 5 is too expensive? Suddenly part of what works for this diabetic is tossed aside due to cost controls.

If you have a few minutes (20 actually) please watch this video of Stephen Crowder. He takes the cameras to Canada to find out how their health care runs.

I would rather have tort reform

Thankfully this article is out there to spell out some of the downfalls of Obama-Care.

If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company's Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests -- you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.

I've been following this "other option" that the current administration is pushing and it is not pretty. It's going to cost everyone (not just your really wealthy uncle) a bunch of money, put our country further into debt (who is going to buy it now - China doesn't want it anymore), there are questions about what coverage we will really get (or not get!), and many, many other downfalls that I have a whole other post dedicated to explaining. Think Canadian health care on really bad, out of date drugs.


h/t Roscoe emailed the article

Don't forget saturated fat

Not only does calcium and Vitamin D protect against osteoporosis, but saturated fat will as well. In conjunction with Vit D, calcium is able to be deposited into bone. This article fails to mention it's role, as do most articles and information out there about prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The type of Vit D is also quite important. Ideally both D2 and D3 are in the diet together (whole milk, whole milk products, cod liver oil) and not supplemented separately. D2 alone has shown to actually increase sponginess of the bones instead of hardening them which is why most lower-fat milk is now supplemented with D3 instead (sited here and here). Unfortunately D2 is still used quite frequently in other food supplements, an example being soy milk.

I will be doing a blog series about saturated fats and their healthy benefits to the diet on my other blog, Real Food Mamas. When the first part is up I will link to it here.

I find it incredibly fascinating how little is published about the role of fats within the human body. By reading books and articles recently, I have learned so much about the necessity of saturated fat, the omega fats, and the way certain fats (poly-unsaturated, trans fats) can harm the body.

Humanity perfected on Kool-Aid

A good chuckle if you have three and a half minutes.

h/t IMAO

Things that made me go WHAT?! when listening to the press conference tonight

Did the President really tell us tonight that we are wasting our money when we seek second or third medical opinions? Really?!

And what exactly does he mean when he says that we will still receive the best care, just not the most expensive care?

And when he states that the one thing we will have to give up is paying for things that don't make us healthy, I have one question: who decides that it isn't making me healthy - the government, my doctor, me...?

And that guy who got hit by the bus in his scenario - either way we pay for his care, Mr. President. Why not give him an option of only having emergency health care that he purchases?

Consideration of the child's interests

To judge another these days is wrong. I do it anyway and completely agree with Dr. Laura when she talks about not wanting a 72 year old woman to get pregnant and have a child.

If this woman succeeds, she will have the title of the oldest mother in the
world. I would suggest that she will be the oldest female creature to give
birth, as a real mother would never set up her own child for this selfish foolishness. I wish this fertility doctor would have his license revoked. The same should happen to the American doctor who impregnated the “Octomom.”

Bold emphasis is mine. This woman is just another example of people putting themselves first before their child. Wrong. Before having children your life circumstances should be thought about and if they are not ideal for raising a child (enough money, a mom and dad in the picture, stable relationship, etc.) DO NOT have a child.

I am sick of hearing about ME, ME, ME. If you had a choice to be born into the following scenarios, which would you choose:

30 year old mother or 72 year old mother
Single mother or a mom and dad
Mom and dad who fight all the time or have a stable relationship
Mom and dad on welfare or financial stability

Think about the child please!

Co-sleeping has worked for us

It was never the plan to have him in our room this long (when was the last time everything went right according to plan). We thought 3 months and he would be in his crib in his room. Ha. Well, 3 months rolled around and he had outgrown his co-sleeper, so we moved him into the crib...still in our room. A month and a half later (and many fitful nights) we decided to remove the crib and just have the crib mattress on the floor...still in our room. Then we purchased a twin mattress to replace the crib one...still in our room. We just keep putting it off because we love having him there - and I'm sure he loves us being right there too.

A couple things have changed recently. One is that Rooster is now mobile. He has yet to crawl off the mattress in the middle of the night - his routine is to yelp out, sometimes softly, sometimes quite loudly (I've bolted to a sitting position out of surprise!). But he eventually will and the safest place would be his own room where we can't step on him en route to the bathroom. Another thing is us waking each other up. This was also the reason we avoided bed-sharing - it doesn't work because we both frequently awaken. Currently it doesn't happen all the time, but it does occur and would be greatly decreased in separate rooms. And finally, we are all ready for our own rooms. We like to think 9 months in, 9 months out in terms of where Rooster is in development and (in)dependence from us. He will be 9 months in a few weeks (WOW!) and it is time he slept alone.

We want to ease him in so he will begin to take his naps in his new room using the crib mattress. I'm sure this whole process won't go as smooth as we could hope, but nonetheless we want to start it. It's kinda sad for me and Roscoe. We are so used to having Rooster right there as we sleep, so when Rooster moves to his own bedroom in several weeks, he will be missed.

Garden Updates

Fresh, delicious tomatoes from the garden. I have picked (and eaten) too many to count!

Three tomatoes plants with parsley interspersed. The one pepper plant is being overrun by these 3 beauties.

Hot banana peppers -we are going to pick the larger one today. We had much success with using a pot for these this year! Next year this is all we will use for peppers.

Our herb garden is coming along. No horehound sprouted. The oregano and thyme are doing good though. We will dry some of both for soups and spaghetti this fall/winter.

Choose life...

...with this option.

La Shawn Barber and I always see eye to eye when it comes to a baby's life. One of her more powerful posts on it is here.

One of the greatest blunders in US history is the Roe v Wade decision. First of all, it's entirely unconstitutional, a perfect example of legislating from the bench. And worst of all, it seriously undermines the value of human life. Yes, there is a choice - to have sex or not! I acknowledge there are pregnancies as a result of rape/incest/etc. Few, but it happens. I still take the side of life and the rights of the unborn human being because it is about life and not the reason/situation that brings it. Rather than choice, this is what needs to be the focus:

On the mark again

Dr. Laura never ceases to amaze me with her insight into human relations. I have learned a great deal from her about how to be a better woman, wife and mother. Check out her video clips for ~2 minutes of pure wisdom.

Her most recent one, Divorced, But We Get Along, is on a divorced couple visiting with each other for the sake of their 4 year old daughter. She cuts right through the outer goody-goody layer and goes for the meat. I love it!

Independence Day Tea Party

We attended the Tea Party in Castle Rock. It was wonderfully planned and well attended.

Many thoughtful signs on display:

...and he's off!

Check mark another milestone - Rooster is crawling! Yay!

I thought that all of these steps of independence would be a little sad - he's moving away from me and into his own little person after all. But I haven't found anything but joy! Here I am with my husband continuing the creation of a life. WOW.

This and that

They always say that time flies by once you become a parent. They are right.

Rooster is going to be 8 months old in a week. Wasn't I just pregnant? I can still feel my belly and his little foot jabbing out every now and then.

Today his 3rd tooth came through. It has been bothering him for several days while it was just below the surface. He was soothed only by cuddles of which we have an endless supply.

His personality is starting to emerge more and more every day. We are in trouble - he's adventuresome and rambunctious. He's a boy.

I need to slow down, enjoy this stage while he's in it. It's a good stage - everything is new, everything is exciting and he's not quite mobile.

Tea Party or bust

We wanted to attend the last Tea Party on tax day but unfortunately Rooster started coughing the day before so we decided to skip it. We get another chance in July for Independence Day. What a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July!

Visit the site asap if you don't quite know what the Tea Party is about. Please look up where an event in your state is being held (chances are numerous places) and attend one on July 4. Bring your kids, a picnic lunch, create a neat sign and make a day of it.

Ready, Set, Sleep!

When do you wake a sleeping baby? Ideally, never, but in the real world it is bound to happen out of scheduling necessity or accident (or nutrition if they are newborn).

This week we are doing a mommy and baby swim class that begins at 10:05. Monday and Tuesday our schedule was perfect. Rooster woke from an hour nap at 0915, we pottied, nursed, and arrived several minutes ahead of time. Yesterday was different. He did not want to fall asleep with rocking and nursing for our usual routine (possibly distracted by the dishwasher - note to self, do not run until after morning nap!), so we headed outside for a walk in the stroller. 20 minutes later, at 0845, he fell asleep. I tried to rouse Rooster after a 30 minute nap but he would not awaken. This is not the first time I've tried to wake him up because we have needed to go somewhere, but this is the first time I was not able to gently do so by calling his name. Really?!

So what does a mama do in this situation? I could have been more forceful with my technique, louder voice, picking him up, etc. Quickly I weighed the con and pro: missing a class that is already paid for or letting the little man sleep? Hmmm...2 seconds later I was walking away hoping he would stay asleep a long time. And he did. He awoke from his nap at 10:15.

Sure we missed a day of class (which I was really, really looking forward to because he enjoyed himself so much on Tuesday) but two good things came out if it: a long nap for a tired little boy and another lesson to mama about babies and schedules - follow his cues and go with the flow.

Success in baking

I'm not an expert like my good friend V but I do really, really enjoy baking. After seeing the ingredients (wheat!) and price (really?!) for commercial teething biscuits I decided to bake Rooster some from scratch. I found a basic recipe from several different sites:

3 TBSP oil (I used olive oil)

1 cup rice cereal (can be flavored, IE banana)

1 cup flour (I used brown rice flour)

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (I added this to the recipe for flavor and to mask the taste of olive oil)

ice cold water

Mix dry ingredients, add oil, and start with 1/4 cup water. Add more water until dough is sticky (very sticky!) and pulls away from the sides. Roll out (or press with fingers like I did) to 1/4" thickness, cut into desired shapes, place on cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes (I kept adding more time, probably about 20 minutes total - keep checking on them because you definitely want them cooked through so they don't break easily).

After they completely cooled I gave one to Rooster. He kinda looked at it and then looked at me, looked at it again and did nothing. So I grabbed one myself and starting mouthing it. He's a smart cookie and did the same thing. And continued slobbering all over it for the next 25 minutes. A success!

I do have to say that despite the simple ingredients these biscuits are quite tasty. But then I do love, love, love cinnamon!

Oh, and a warning: these are very, very messy. I would suggest having baby wear only a diaper and definitely have him/her in a high chair (or whatever you use). The goop will be everywhere!

Here is the door

Bye, bye vegetarianism, hello omnivorism.

I prepared some bison meat for Roscoe's birthday dinner the other night. My husband proceeded to imitate the scene from Dances with Wolves for Rooster's benefit. Tatanka, tatanka? Tatanka! Very amusing.

The bison was quite delicious I must admit. It didn't take very long at all to prepare. I sauteed a few patties in some olive oil on the stove top, plus additional time in the microwave (ahem, a wee bit bloody on the inside still). I didn't want to over cook them because I guess it's easy to do that with bison meat.

I also made some chicken a couple of nights last week. Pretty simple when you have a silicone steam cooker from Curves (thanks to my mother in law!) that can be popped into the microwave and done within 10 min. Look for something similar at Amazon, Wal-Mart or William Sonoma. A must have for moms who need to make a very quick dinner. It came with recipes and cooking instructions for chicken, salmon, shrimp and white fish. I'm wondering if red meat can be prepared too...?

This is how I prepared the chicken on night one:

Olive oil to coat bottom

8 oz raw chicken brushed with olive oil and topped with cilantro, black pepper & ginger powder

2 cups frozen veggies

1 TBSP lime juice

Cook in steamer on high for ~8 minutes or until chicken is at 165-170 degrees

And to wrap up a week of new experiences I prepared some salmon on Saturday for an early father's day celebration. It turned out perfect! Quite an achievement for cooking it for the first time . I put the salmon in tin foil with olive oil, parsley and cilantro and baked it at 375 for 20 minutes and then broiled it for 1 minute. Easy. I also made some tabbouleh salad for a side dish, which was much more time consuming with all the mincing and chopping, but worth it.

So far, so good with adding meat to our diet. I am going to be very picky with the type and quality of my meat consumption though. It's not going to be a on the daily menu for sure but I do like the idea (and Roscoe digs it too!) of additional options. Especially additional options with high nutritional value.

Best part: campfires and hiking

We love camping and will eventually take Rooster (maybe this summer - fingers crossed and Roscoe-willing).

Until then I will post pictures from past trips in fond remembrance.

This is the view from our tent at the Great Sand Dunes National Park back in 2005.

We are better

A fantastic piece by Stephen Green today.

Already, the government runs our children’s education and our parents’ retirement. Now we’re allowing it to usurp our banks and nationalize what remains of our auto industries. Within weeks, Washington promises a plan to dictate our health care. To do all this, we’ve let Washington run up enough red ink to impoverish our grandchildren. As if all that weren’t enough, the president still found the time to kick our friends in London and Tel Aviv while courting a genocidal, election-stealing maniac in Tehran. He even gave a speech in Cairo — that oppressed, impoverished Old World megalopolis — in which he assured the world that America really is no better than anywhere else.

bold emphasis is mine

We live in a time were it is uncouth to proclaim one idea/thing/action/outcome/etc. is better than another. Baloney. Not everything is gray, there is black and white. America is better than every other country.

A short non-comprehensive list of why America is superior:

freedom
U.S. Constitution (or what is left of it)
military
history
access to education (or what is left of it)
healthcare
families
states
religion
guns
corporations
small businesses
responsibility (ditto)
self-reliance
innovation
economy (ditto)
individual ownership

Please add to my very, very short list in the comments.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
- Abraham Lincoln

Real Dairy

I never thought I would regularly drink cow's milk again. I was wrong. Milk delivery service from Royal Crest Dairy began last week and I am so impressed! There is no after-taste, it doesn't taste scorched, and it has a texture to it that is absent from not-so-fresh milk.

I am hooked. Not only for the taste, but also the fact that it's packed with nutrition.

Now, my hunt for raw milk has been less successful. Here in Colorado I am unable to just walk into a store and purchase a 1/2 gallon and be done. There is a share program requirement. So, I got to thinking about our travel plans to Nebraska and Iowa this summer. Could I possibly try some there? My hunt continues...

Rooster has tried various new food items recently, one being yogurt. He's loving it! I bought Brown Cow plain yogurt with the cream still on top. Wow! Very yummy.

UPDATE:

I realized Rooster has access to unlimited raw milk on a daily basis, the lucky little guy!

Summer Treats

I like to garden, both flowers and vegetables. I am not a pro at either! But I love learning new things each year - what works and what doesn't work for our home.

Last year I planted way too many veggies in our garden (tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, basil, and rosemary). The broccoli and brussel sprouts were a bust - everything else was yummy!

This year I stuck with just the tomatoes and peppers. Something from last year came back, though. I left it to grow. So far it looks like nothing I planted last year. Weird.

As for flowers, I have an assortment of annuals (snapdragons, zinnias, pansies, lobelia) and perennials (roses, phlox, tulips, etc.), some of which were here at the house when we bought it. Such as this lovely flower:

There are also raspberries and grapes from previous owners. Oh, I can't wait for the raspberries to ripen. They are the best right after picking or on some yogurt and oats in the morning.

Something new for this year is an herb garden. A few small sprouts are emerging from the seeds I planted 3 weeks ago. It's a smaller garden so I stuck to horehound, oregano, and thyme. All should be hardy perennials here in Colorado unlike the rosemary and basil. Eventually I will expand it, maybe by an herb or two a year. Suggestions appreciated!

Pink!

Now the new color of Rooster's cloth diapers (at least the size he currently wears). Silly me - I washed my moby wrap with the diapers. What was I thinking? I wasn't.

A positive thing came out of it though. The few stains on the diapers are now barely noticeable thanks to the new color.

Flag Day

Our flag on display with pride!

Breastfeeding, fathers, and the benefits to mothers

My husband follows this blog because he is a type 1 diabetic. I will write about that soon but for now I will stick with her post.

I love that there is more research being done about the benefits of breastfeeding to both mom and baby. Yes, I see it as superior to formula in every way. Yes, I know there are some reasons why a woman cannot breastfeed and formula is a miracle in these cases. That doesn't change the facts.

I do disagree with this though:

OK Gentlemen, you are excused for today. No hard feelings.

The role a husband plays in breastfeeding is crucial. The more informed men are about breastfeeding and all of it's wonderful benefits and rewards the better it will be for the mom and baby. Roscoe has been so supportive of my breastfeeding relationship with Rooster. He is quite knowledgeable of why I wanted to do it so he has always been there cheering us on. At times I did get very frustrated, and with the emotions and hormones present in my system, it was very refreshing to have his unadulterated encouragement. I'm afraid there are moms out there who do not have supportive husbands that either never try to breastfeed or cut the relationship way short (I've heard sad stories of such at LLL meetings I attend). Support comes in positive words, encouragement, offering assistance, bringing her water/food/anything she needs, etc. With Roscoe's support our breastfeeding relationship has been successful.

Update: more research

Really, this makes me sick

Life is precious. Even a staunch pro-lifer like me did not realize the extent of it until I held my son in my arms for the first time.

"There is no such thing as a 'free abortion,'" said Newman. "It costs the life of an
innocent baby and puts the women at risk for increased problems in their lives.
The loss of each innocent life diminishes us all."

I couldn't say it better myself.

h/t La Shawn Barber

Meat as food?

We love food in our household. Roscoe loves a salad for dinner every night (me too!). Little Rooster has always loved breastfeeding (with such frequency I sometimes wondered if I was producing enough milk - bad thought!) and now digs most foods I've introduced (avocado, banana, sweet potato and prunes are favorites of his).

I have been limiting my meat intake for 11 years now, eating tuna, salmon, and, every couple of years, some chicken. Don't worry, I'm not some hyper-vegetarian who is going to lecture you about the dangers of eating meat. I became a "vegetarian" because meat is rather yucky tasting and I couldn't stand the way most of it is raised. Roscoe does eat meat, just very little at home. It's not that I ban meat in our home (maybe pork...), we just don't buy it or desire to prepare it. Well, things will be changing as we both want Rooster to be a thriving little boy by eating meat.

So now I need to figure out the best way to introduce meat into our household. It's been years since I have cooked anything other than chicken and even then I had to check the Internet and call my mom to make sure I was doing it right. The first major question is should I begin to eat meat again to set a good example for my son? Probably. Others are what type of meats, how should I cook them, do I only buy organic, how often do we eat them, etc.

I happened across the book Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck at the library. Excellent timing! I think I glanced through her first book, Real Food, awhile back and liked the basic idea: purge processed foods from your diet* and stick to foods nature intended. We basically already do this with some exceptions (soy milk {or juice as she refers to it}, cereals, granola bars, popsicles).

The ideas I've gathered from her that we will implement is to drink cow milk not soy/almond/rice "juices" (I may even try raw milk -this freaks my husband out) and meats from animals fed according to their natural diets plus hormone-free and antibiotic-free. She mentions that organic doesn't necessarily mean any of the above and to read all labels closely. I learned that my aversion to the taste of meat may be because of the quality of meat I was consuming, so by sticking with "real" meat it should be quite tasty. Hmmm, sounds tempting especially combined with all the nutrition packed in meat that she discusses.

I have much more to learn, of course, but I have a good place to start. Updates to come. Until then I will be perusing my recipe box to see what I can make with meat.

*diet will always refer to overall normal food intake during the day, not to a calorie-restricted food intake like it is often referred to. I don't believe in "dieting" - eat right, eat in moderation, and exercise .

My inspiration

To preserve some level of privacy and anonymity (especially for my son) I will be using fake names for my husband and son. Plus it seems like so much fun!

My husband, Roscoe, and I met in 2004*. We married in 2006, bought a house in 2007, and had our first child in 2008. Hmmm, what will this year bring? He is an amazing man and husband who provides a wonderful home (and much more) for the three of us. We think alike so often it's sometimes scary, although very refreshing when it comes to parenting and politics.

Our only son, Rooster, is a lively little boy who brightens our day (and night for that matter). That's a strange name, you say...well when he wakes up consistently at the first sign of daylight it's very, very fitting. He turns 7 months in a couple days. What an incredibly fascinating stage of life he is in. It was just a few months ago that he could barely hold his head up and now he's sitting alone and inching toward crawling every day.

I never thought I would be blessed enough to have the above. But I am and I thank God for it every day.

*Update/Correction: Oops. Roscoe reminded me that we actually met in 2003. Sorry, dear.

Well, here I am...

...beginning a new journey of writing a blog. Why does this sound intimidating to someone who has made the choice to go through with it? Well, I'm a very private person, that's why. Alas, sometimes aspects of our personality need to be overcome.

It all started years ago when, after 9/11 occurred, I became a full-blown conservative. I'd like to say I've been this way my whole life. Not so. I didn't use to care about the national deficit (by the way it's currently $11,381,003,533,303.50), I assumed the government always had the interest of the people at it's heart (right?...), and I figured taxes were a necessary evil (yes and no). Fast forward to today. Thanks to reading tons of books, listening to hours upon hours of talk radio, and getting to know sites on the Internet that actually provide accurate info, I am now a very well-informed and opinionated American.

I will not only sound off about politics though. Yes, it's the major driving force behind this blogs creation, but I have come to be strong-willed in many other areas of life too (an effect of becoming a wife and mother). In addition to being conservative, I'm an attachment parenting, running, cloth-diapering, ECing, health-conscious, happy, freedom-loving wife and mother who seeks joy in life through all of the above plus reading, gardening, sewing, cooking, etc.

As the title suggests there are many interests I will touch on. My time with each may be limited but by no means does it lesson the passion.