its a lot harder to find time to blog when you only have a desktop computer. (Faith broke our laptop- its getting repaired now and was still under warranty YAY)

Its been a while

Been a while since I posted something, huh? Things have been crazy lately - my grandpa died last month. He was 97. I had gone to visit my family early in March when my sisters' had spring break. The day before I got there the doctor put my grandpa back on hospice and the day after I got there he went to the hospital. I did get to see him for a few minutes the day we got there. They found out he had contracted RSV so I couldn't see him in the hospital. I only got to see my mom for a few hours. It was sad. He died a week and a half later . I didn't think I would be able to go back because plane tickets would be so expensive, but amazingly it was only $99, booking 2 days in advance! I actually laughed when I first saw the price because I thought it said 1,000 instead of $112 or whatever it was. You can see pictures of my grandpa's life here. I'm going to miss him... but he loved the Lord, so we know where he is. :-)

YAY so Faith and I got to go back to Wichita and just our luck she got the worst cold the day before we were supposed to fly. She had 102deg. armpit temp and refused to nurse for 18 hours and just wanted to lay her head on my chest all.day.long. It was sooo sad. I thought she had been sick before - it was nothing compared to this. all the doctor gave me was cough medicine with codeine and tylenol. My friend suggested the chiropractor, so out of desperation I took her. Right after that started the 18 hours of not nursing so I was pretty mad at the Chiropractor... but in the morning (the day of flying) she was almost 100% better. No fever, she was nursing like normal and even wanted to get off my lap for a little bit!

She did ok on the planes... twice we had the seat next to us empty and twice we had someone sitting next to us. Yikes is it hard to contain a curious baby to 10 inches of space, but luckily she slept through at least 1/2 of every flight.

Faith is almost 11 months old now!!! She has been walking since 9.5 months and rarely crawls anymore. And just recently (yesterday) started wanting/eating solids. I'm a little sad about it actually. I'll give her a piece of food from my plate and she will eat it off my finger, then walk around in a circle and come back for more (if she isn't in her high chair, which is most of the time). She is so funny. She has 6 teeth... and I think she is about to get 2 more, which would make it 6 on top and 2 on the bottom. haha

we have been going to two churches since november. One is on Saturday and one is on Sunday. It's a little tiring. The one on Saturday is a "Sabbath Fellowship"... torah observant, Messianic. We like it, but its like 2.5 hours long and there isn't any space to walk around with a baby without everyone hearing/seeing you, so its stressful... very stressful. The one on Sunday is a family-integrated church and we have gone there for over a year and I love it... well, I basically just talk in the "nursing circle" out in the hall for the entire service. And no one is really our age, but all the kids our age go to those rock concert churches ;-) (not a big deal to me, but guys are different. I think Mike wants to find another video-game & football loving father. haha) Plus, I really like the fact that we are all "forced" to sit in the hall with our noisy babies and chat instead of putting them in a nursery and be able to listen to the sermon (bec. rock concert churches have nurseries lol). Does this even make sense? I need to go to bed. nothing against rock concert churches in general, if thats your thing.

Oh, and Faith broke our laptop. In a moment of weakness (or distraction), Mike was letting her bang on the keyboard. When I get on it the screen is froze and its making a clicking sound. I turn it off and back on - nothin'. Luckily we still have it under warranty. Its probably the hard-drive. Which means we lose everything, but I think its all either on this computer or still on the camera (because all I ever do is upload pictures).

Oh oh, and my younger sister is getting married in Jan I think. Its weird, even though by then she will be a year older than I was when I got married. She is in nursing school right now.

Speaking of "nursing" school -hahaha. I'm applying to be a LLL Leader. yup. I love LLL. I'm excited!

Faithers Day Parade

One of her many nicknames... it was close to Father's Day and there was a mispelling in an email.

I started a journal for Faith. My sister bought it for me for Christmas and I figured if I write 1 page a month I can do it until she is like 20... I'm already behind and it's only the second month. So while I'm stuck here on the couch under a sleeping baby with one free hand- I thought I'd type it on here so I won't forget some of the things she is doing.

She starts tugging on her diaper, trying to pull off the velcro, if she peed in it.

She says mamamama if she is tired and hungry.

She only walks at night when daddy is home.

She loves drinking water out of our water bottles, even if it makes her choke.

I think she may be doing the sign for milk.

I'm super lazy about giving her solids (like once a week) and I hate putting her in her high chair, it just seems like such a hassle. Its okay though, she doesn't really NEED solids yet.

She is 9.5 months, weighs 21lbs I think and wears size 12 - 18months.

She slept through the night without nursing at all for the first time the other night... I kept waking up, trying to get her to nurse and she would latch on for 5 seconds then pull off and roll away. She was sick though and couldn't breathe very well, so I think thats why.

She still takes 3 naps/day. 2 long ones during the day and a short one at night. And nurses before, during, and after all sleeping. :-)

She likes to play in the fridge, pull things out of cabinets/drawers/bookshelves... basically play with anything but her toys.

SO SAD!

This is very sad. Another (a 4 year old boy was murdered 4 years ago also) death by beating by a follower of the Pearls.

"the evidence suggests 7-year-old Lydia Schatz was being disciplined "for hours" prior to the 911 call for mis-pronouncing a word during a home-school reading lesson. When police searched the family's Crestwood Drive residence, they took a photograph of a 15-inch length of tubing lying on the parents' bed next to a children's book about a frog and a toad, which Ramsey said the girl had been reading from."

Pregnancy/birth links

Pregnancy/Birth

Shape of a Mother - warning nudity... boobs and stretch marks, etc

Lotus Birth - we didn't do this, but I thought about it.

Unassisted Birth - I don't know how I feel about this...

Baby Names- the best website!!

Yoga during Labor - didn't do this either...

Placenta Prints - I think this is the coolest thing EVER! It makes a really neat picture, wish I had done it.

Guide to intact perineum

Spinning Babies - I did this when I found out Faith was posterior. She turned...

Weston A Price diet for preg/nursing moms

birth plan

rethinking circumcision

The Bible and Circumcision

Birth as a bowel movement - a great way to think about it!

Safety of U/S - I haven't read this...

Ina May Gaskin - LOVE HER

links, links, links

ya know, I could have just added these in the side bar divided into sections... that would have been smarter. oh well, maybe tomorrow... or today depending on how long Faith sleeps.

Also, my dentist just called to confirm my appointment for tomorrow. I never made an appt for tomorrow. I asked what it was for and she said fillings. Last time I was there (2 weeks ago) I made it a point to ask if that was my last filling and it was. She said I had 3 more tomorrow and that she had quoted me a price of $58. I'm positive they must have scheduled it under my name on accident because if I was having 3 fillings it would cost like $120. Plus, I make it a point to schedule on government holidays so Mike can watch her. so, yeah, weird. she canceled it, but I bet the person will show up tomorrow.

one more babywearing because I just found it today

ethnic babywearing photos - beautiful!

PARENTING - yikes this is a big category

Science of Crying-it-out

10 reasons not to hit your child - Dr. Sears

Gentle Christian Mothers - fav. website EVER

To Train Up A Child - quotes from the book

Parenting Freedom - this website has EVERYTHING!

Mercola - shunning the family bed you might have to enter your email address to read it.

Harvard research on co-sleeping

Stress in infancy

A Parenting Experiment to try before doing Babywise - interesting. This website also has a neat magazine that I want a subscription to.

Time to Abolish Cribs?

Evaluating Ezzo's logic - this is great, very in depth.

Sleep Training Research

Co-Sleeping & SIDS fact sheet

Articles on Sleep

Study on Corporal Punishment - I haven't read this, it looks long...

10 Reasons not to use a pacifier - I like this!

Pygmy Model for Relations - one of my FAV articles. I only wish they were Christian.

Motherhood Bliss - a great article for Christian mothers.

Confessions of Failed Babywiser

next up... BIRTH!!!

Links...again

Case for Cue-Feeding - great article

Watch Your Language - article on how language affects breast/formula perceptions

Canned vs. Formula

Lact-Aid - if you "don't make enough milk"

Natural age of weaning - I'll give you a hint, its not 12 months ;-)

Potential danger of bag-slings - those slingriders you can buy from walmart... aka "I carry my baby in a duffle bag."

Walters Organics Wrap - this is apparently an amazing wrap and cheap too, I heard it referred to as the "Poor man's Pamir" which is a VERY expensive (like $800+), hard to find wrap.

Incase I ever want to dye a wrap

babywearing tutorials

mei tai with interchangeable panel - the first MT I made... not the best, but its fun with the panels

pouch sling - with video!!! This takes like 10 minutes

DIY wrap - I haven't done this yet, but I've heard wonderful things about Osnaburg fabric as a wrap.

Scandi Mei Tai - my fav. that I've made. super comfy, but the hood on this one is super small and useless

BW poncho

hood to headrest MT - this looks amazing, but I haven't gotten around to making it yet

can you tell I'm getting sick of this yet?