The Toilet

Is it just because I EC? Or does every kid find the toilet fascinating. You throw something in there, flush it, and it goes away! Well, Ben certainly finds the toilet fascinating. I have had to fish out and sterilize numerous toys. I have had to have the plumber come previously to unclog our toilet. $80 later, the plumber told me that it was just a toy that had been flushed down the toilet, and we couldn't get it out without the right tools.

Well, today, Ben threw in my electronic metronome. The kids have thrown in so many toys that it didn't even phase me. I just calmly used the toilet brush and fished it out. Are you wondering if it still works? The answer is no, so it's now in the bathroom garbage. Well, since I teach music, and I'm about to get three new students in the new year, I need a metronome. I may just have to break down and buy an old fashioned one where you set the weight, and it ticks back and forth. It's too heavy for my kids to throw into the toilet.

A Very Merry Christmas!

I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas. We did at our house. The new toys are a big hit at our house, but the Fondue pot, Deep fat fryer, silicone cupcake liners, kitchen mandolin, and cooling racks are even bigger hits. All of those were scattered between us, but I am so blessed. I have a great family, and I also have a husband who really wants me to grow and become a better person. People who know me know that I am not a real cook. I can follow a recipe as long as it only requires exact measurements, but once it says something like "season to taste" or the like, I'm in big trouble. All of the above items came with step-by-step instructions for how to use them, so with the mandolin and deep fat fryer, my husband and I will now be able to create the southern delicacy of sweet potato fries. (Don't knock them until you've tried them. I'm not a sweet potato or yam fan, but these fries really are great!) We have already tried out the fondue pot. It worked really well, and we had a great dinner tonight. We have also had a glorious time just having our family around ourselves. It's our first year where we've had Christmas in our own home. It was lovely. Smile big all, Merry Christmas, and be safe with New Year celebrations!

Christmas Eve

It's the night before Christmas, and I am sitting here by Jackie trying to help her go to sleep, so Santa can come. I realize that he isn't real, and Christmas is about Jesus, but we went to the Christmas Eve service at Mom and Dad Robinson's church, and we came home and watched Mr. Kreuger's Christmas. We also told Jackie the Christmas story in our own words. Last night, we went caroling, and Jackie LOVED it. We took candy to a couple of our neighbors and sang some Christmas carols that Jackie knows. We had fun. Tonight, we will put together some things from Santa, and Jackie can wake up in the morning to the wonder of Christmas as a child. I'm so excited!

Holiday Traveling

Christmas should be all about family. It's even better when traveling and family go together. This weekend, we got to go to Greensboro, GA to visit Rob's grandmother. It's wonderful to celebrate Christmas with family members. Discussions with Rob's cousins are so interesting, and I laugh so hard. I love Christmastime!

Sleep

*Feels music* Sleep! Glorious sleep! I'm eager to try some.

If anyone has seen the movie Oliver, the song is my own version of the Food! song. The song is straight from my heart right now, at 3:38 AM. Ben has been sick all weekend and would only sleep if I was holding him. Sleeping sitting up in a chair is not restful to me. I have taken a couple naps in the past few days, but I would really like to get more than one hour of sleep at a time. I don't remember the last time I had 8 hours of sleep in a row. At this point, I don't remember the last time I had a good 4 hours of sleep in a row. Tonight, Ben has not gone to bed yet. Maybe it has to do with the shot of antibiotic he took today and the other one he had yesterday. But honestly, with the thrush and then this, I'm really starting to get tired. For those people in internet land who didn't know me my senior year of high school and for much of college, I didn't sleep a whole lot then, but compared to now, it seems like the lap of luxiry. I really need my kids to start sleeping though. I'm getting truly tired. I think that if I don't get sleep by tomorrow night that my body will force me to sleep by getting so sick I won't be able to stand up straight. Ben still is not showing any signs of wanting sleep.

Jay Gordon

I love my pediatrician. I know he cares about my kids and I know he really works hard to keep up with modern medicine. However, I just don't think he understands attachment parenting. He doesn't really seem to care whether or not I breastfeed my child. To him, formula is just as good. I guess he makes money if my child gets more ear infections. I know he doesn't want my kids to get sick, but he just doesn't care. He is a crib sleeping proponent. I can see why a Dr. would follow the CDC. All in all, he knows what he's talking about, and he does not berate me for my attachment parenting ideas. In the end though, if I want an answer that supports attachment parenting, I need to go somewhere else. One resource that I have found is www.jaygordon.com He's a licenced pediatrician who supports co-sleeping and breastfeeding. He also has a GREAT article on treating thrush. Happy surfing.

Get Out of My Bedroom: An attachment parenting article review

Co-sleeping is an integral part of attachment parenting. It is common knowledge that breastfeeding is the best food for an infant. However, breastfeeding is a lot harder when the mom and baby do not co-sleep. Peggy O'Mara, the editor of Mothering Magazine, writes a wonderful article in response to the idea that it is automatically unsafe to put the baby in the bed with the mother. In her article, Get out of My Bedroom!Ms. O'Mara makes a profound argument for co-sleeping using studies of entire societies that co-sleep and mother's intuition for hard evidence. Some people would say that a mother's intuition is false. However, I don't think that you can convince any woman who's been a mother for more than 4 days that it doesn't exist. Also, the article mentions that safety in co-sleeping is important. Just as people publish safety instructions for babies sleeping in a crib, people should publish safe co-sleeping practices.

I believe that if one takes precautions, co-sleeping can be even more safe than crib sleeping. When the baby is in bed with the mother, the mother can hear the baby's cues. If the baby does stop breathing or get stuck, the mother is right there. If the baby is in the crib in the other room, the mother is less likely to notice.

The Growth Mindset

My sister-in-law, Jill (her link is to the right) is a teacher, and she emailed the link to this article: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids. The article talks about how children view intelligence. Some children view intelligence as stationary. You get what you get, and that's it. If you're dumb, you're dumb. Other children view intelligence in relation to how hard you work. If you don't know something, then you can make an effort and learn it. This article talked about changing the way we praise our children to help them learn that they CAN learn! I loved this article, and I really recommend reading it. I've always heard Success is a journey, not a destination. I believe it. I believe that we can do anything if we work hard enough at it. However, I also believe in ingrained intelligence. Different people are good at different things. Different types of personalities like different things, and people have their own talents. For instance, I am creative, and I love music. I attribute my musical abilities to both my innate sense of rhythm and the time and effort I've spent practicing. I know people who have practiced and practiced but figuring out the rhythm just doesn't make sense to them. Are these the people who just aren't talented, or do they feel like they can't learn? It's an interesting idea. I will however try to teach my child that efforts are worth something. You don't have to do something perfect to have done it well, and through doing things we get better at what we have done.

I love my FLYlady timer!

I just sent in this testimonial to FLYlady.net. If you haven't checked out her website, now would be a great time. She's phenominal.



Anyway, this is why I love the timer.



I've been fluttering for about five months now, but I got the timer about a month or so ago. That has truly changed my life! However, my favorite thing about the timer is that it doesn't just help me do my chores, it makes them even more fun too. It reminds me of the fun I used to have while I was growing up.

When I was younger, I would ask my mom if I could go play with a friend. When I got a positive answer, I would run to the phone, dial the number of my best friend, and ask if she could play. There were times when she would answer that she couldn't because she had chores. I would say, "That's OK." Promptly put down the phone, run across the street to her house, and help her with her chores. The favors were reciprocated. Chores are always more fun to me if I have someone to talk to while I'm doing them. Therefore, the FLYlady timer has helped me immensely. Now, my best friend lives across the country from me, but she's a FLYlady fan, too. (She's the one who talked me into my LOVELY timer). We don't get to see each other often, so when we get a chance to talk or chat, we could spend all day. (We are SHE's). We chat online with each other. Now, we use our timers. We do our chores together too. We each sit down to chat, and then one or the other of us will comment on how our houses are coming along. One of us will say, "I need to do. . and name a chore" and the other will say. Start the timer for 5, 10, or 15 minutes. Then, we'll both go start our timers and go to work. It's just like doing chores together all over again. At the end of the 5 minutes, we chat for 5, then work for 5 over and over.

Every time after we finish a session, we get to tell each other what we've accomplished and what we have to do. We have our own little cheering section.

Thank you FLYlady for helping us to strengthen our friendship and for creating such a wonderful tool to help us. I always tell people to smile big. Well, I'm smiling big too.

Flying in South GA

P. S. The FLYlady timer is truly superior to the microwave, egg timer, or oven timer. The best part is that it beeps for a long time, so you want to either stop work and stop it or get up from whatever you're doing to stop it. It gets you working and then stopped again on time. :) YAY.

Cloth Diapering

One thing that often goes along with ECing and is one of the staples of attachment parenting is cloth diapering. I am a part time cloth diaper user. This comes partly because I truly believe in the idea that kids are more likely to potty train more easily if they can feel the sensation of being wet in their diaper and associate that with the feeling of letting go of the sphinxter muscle. Also, attachment parenting is all about reading the child and truly meeting their needs. Elimination and the need to keep the elimination away from one's self are basic human needs. Therefore, I also believe in trying to change my kids as soon as they are wet. I'm not perfect at this, and I do use some disposable diapers. Ben is allergic to the common brands of disposable diapers, so for awhile, I used Tushies brand diapers http://www.tushies.com/. They are filled with cloth and chlorine free, so they're better for the environment. I'm not really much of a tree hugger, but I do think that those are good diapers if you want to go with something you can still throw away but the baby can still feel the wet. Ben is doing great at pooping on the potty, and he pees on it when I set him up there, but he's not interested in having to pee on there every time yet. That's alright with me, I'm all for what's the most comfortable for me and my kid. In the end, I think that there is a place in the world for some good, cloth diapers. However, I think that parents can still be attached to their children without them.

To Infinity. . .

If you've seen Toy Story or Toy Story 2, you'll understand the reference of "To inifinity. . . and beyond!" Well, Here is Jackie's take on that.

More on the toddler bed cap

In response to requests, I am posting some close-ups of the embroidery on Jackie's bed. I'm also posting a picture of Ben on the bed, too. He loves it as much as she does!

Orson Scott Card and Theology

I almost never post two posts in the same day, but here is number two. This one's important!

I love Orson Scott Card. In fact, his book Ender's Game was one of the things that brought my husband and I together. I think he's a great author. He also happens to share my religion, which my husband didn't know when he started reading Card's books. Well, here is a link to a MUST READ essay printed in the Deseret News. Whether you are a member of my church, or you aren't one, this talk addresses some issues that are going on with Mitt Romney in his campaign for President, but more importantly, it addresses issues that come up against me at least weekly as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Here's the link: http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695233910,00.html

This essay came as a response to a speech given by Mitt Romney about his faith. The video is in two segments. The first segment is found here.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/launchPage.html?120607/120607_romney_speech1&Romney%27s%20Test&Americas%20Newsroom&Part%201%3A%20Republican%20White%20House%20hopeful%20delivers%20speech%20focusing%20on%20his%20Mormon%20faith&Politics&-1&Romney%27s%20Test&Video%20Launch%20Page&News&http%3A//media2.foxnews.com/thumbnails/120607_120607_romney_speech1_320x240.jpg

The second segment should automatically come up after a short commercial.

Some readers may be wondering why I'm talking about politics on an attachment parenting/elimination communication blog. That's because I truly believe that politics and parenting are interrelated. I cannot parent my way unless it is legal to do so, and I will support candidates who support my moral values, so I can still be free to teach those to my children.

A Great Big Thank You!

A HUGE thank you to all who responded in one way or another to my post on Thrush. I now have a few more options to try. Currently, I'm on another round of Fluconazole (generic for Diflucan) for seven days. I'm looking forward to that. Also, the best suggestion someone gave me that I hadn't tried or heard of was chamomile tea. You seep three chamomile tea bags in one cup of water for 20 minutes and then put that on your nipples. It does seem to help them feel better and heal. If Ben ever gets it back and gets another rash, I'm putting it on his bum, too. Another good thing I learned was to go to www.breastfeedingonline.com for any breastfeeding questions. There is a hotline in Greenville, SC for the lactation consultants there, but I'm not sure they want their number posted on the internet. If you need that info, feel free to contact me for it. Again, THANK YOU TO ALL!!!! YIPPEE!

Thrush

Does anyone know how to get rid of thrush??? Ben and I have been passing it back and forth for more than a month now. I cannot get rid of it! We've tried Gentian violet, Nystatin, Terconazole, (I'm allergic to Monostat), and yogurt. We've had yeast infections over and over, and now, I'm peeling, cracked, and bleeding, so Ben has had to wean some. I have just nursed him until I couldn't take it, but I'm to the point where even thinking about nursing makes me want to cry. I have seriously broken down twice now just thinking about nursing him. So there I am, holding my son and we're both bawling. He's mad because I won't nurse him, and I'm heartbroken because I can't! Please, anyone out there in internet land, HELP!!!