Happy Mother's Day

It's still strange to me that this holiday applies to me now!  In saying that, I was very surprised when I woke up yesterday morning to two cards on the kitchen counter:  One from Dietrich to me and one from Claire to me :-) along with some Ferrero Rocher chocolates!!!

The cards were so sweet and thoughtful and also in the card from Dietrich was $5.00 and a note telling me to go to Starbucks!  If anyone knows my husband, they know that he is not a fan of coffee or my addiction to it, so this gift was a very generous and selfless one :-)  I could not have asked for a better husband to be a wife to, nor could I ask for a better daughter to be a mother to!

As Dietrich was at work all day yesterday, I spent my morning with the family of my friend Danae and had a wonderful brunch with lots of my favorite foods.  It was so nice to be welcomed into their home and fed such a wonderful meal!  Claire had so much fun playing outside with the girls and even fell into some chicken poop somehow.  But even that couldn't ruin my perfect day.

I finished off the day spending time with my dad's side of the family as we celebrated Mother's Day with all the mother's on his side of the family (where Claire stepped into horse poop over there!!).

Overall, my Mother's day was almost perfect!

Now, if I could just have my son here in my arms, life would be perfect :-)

And one more makes four :-)

So, as of Wednesday January 10th at 10:05 a.m., we found out that the newest addition to our family is a boy!!  I cannot even put in words how happy I was at that moment.  I have always wanted to be a mom, but even more, I've always wanted to give my wonderful husband a son.  Someone he could sword fight, play G.I. Joe's, and share his love for guns with.  I was at peace either way as I know either gender would be a blessing from God, but man was I thrilled to see that God wanted to bless us with a little boy!!

Shortly after we got home from our appointment, Dietrich took a trip to Wal-Mart and got our son (oh I just love the sound of that!) his first G.I. Joe toy (Snake Eyes).  It made me so happy to see him so excited about getting a son.  I am looking forward to Claire being a big sister to her little brother since I loved being a big sister to my little brother's.  Also, so many of my friends have little boys (Colette and Stephan have TWO!!) so I'm looking forward to all the play dates we will have in the future :-)  God has been so good to us and it's at times like these that I wonder how people could not believe in our amazing heavenly Father.  Everything I have ever been given in my life has reflected God in so many obvious ways.  I am so looking forward to this next chapter in my life and am excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family!!  

One more thing, isn't his profile so beautiful already??

And now, the anticipation for the day of his birth begins :-)  

Round 2. . .

So, as everyone probably already knows by now, we are expecting our second bundle of joy in mid-June of 2012.  We feel so blessed and yet a little scared at the same time.  As much as we love and enjoy Claire, we have learned her to be a strong-willed child and that has made these past two years very challenging!  But I wouldn't have my life any other way.  Maybe baby #2 will be extremely weak-willed ;-)  

Anyway, exciting news for us is that we are having this baby at HOME with a midwife instead of at a hospital with a doctor.  I am sooooo looking forward to it this time so I know what to expect.  This decision came after a lot of talking and weighing our options/risks/benefits.


On another note, I can't believe that Claire will be 2 in little more than a month!  The time has passed by so quickly.  It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time and never wanting to let her go.  That feeling still remains although she will hardly let me hold her anymore since she is such a big girl now.

As of today, I am 15 weeks pregnant (only 25 more to go, yay!) and in just two short weeks we will be finding out if Claire will have a little brother or sister.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  We sure did.  But I know next year will be even better since we will be a family of 4 :-)

Cancer-Free

Since I have become a mother, I have unfortunately become more of a worrier. I'm sure this happens to everyone, but here as of late, I have been increasingly worried about my well being and how much I want to be around to see Claire grow up. I know that I need to take good care of myself not only for me, but for my family as well!! So, I started re-reading a book about preventing and healing cancer (the non-toxic way).

I just have to tell you, this book is one of the most innovative, interesting, and informative books I have ever read. The main reason I got into reading this book was because, 1) My mother-in-law highly recommended it, and 2) Cancer runs ALL over my family. So, I decided to buy my own copy. And since I am in the business of doings things the "organic" way more or less, this book was RIGHT up my alley!

Here's how I see things. I never understood how cancer became such an epidemic the past 50 years. It's always puzzled me. I decided to do some research and learned that due to the changing environment, the processed foods we eat, the chemicals put on our produce (fruits, veggies, etc.), and the lifestyle of the average modern day person, more and more people have been diagnosed with cancer.

Now, here's where I got into looking up things on chemo. Here's one website I found that literally shocked me when I read it:

http://natamcancer.org/page65.html

Seriously, MUSTARD GAS? That right there should make you curious as to how something that is a bi-product of MUSTARD GAS could be the one of the most common treatments for cancer?????
I don't want to drag on this subject, but seriously people, if you are even the slightest bit interested in learning ANYTHING and EVERYTHING about cancer, I highly recommend you buying this book or even checking it out at your local library. I would be MORE THAN GLAD to lend you my copy also!! You will be amazed and fascinated at what you will learn.

Here's the link to the website about the writer (Bill Henderson) and the book Cancer-Free: Your guide to Gentle, Non-Toxic Healing

http://www.beating-cancer-gently.com/

I now have an open mind and comfort in my heart about cancer and am no longer scared about it :)

The Lord has really put this on my heart to share with any and everyone who is curious about it. I am going to end this blog post with a couple of excerpts from the book :) Feel free to bombard me with any questions!!!

Oil Cleansing Method Challenge

A little off the subject of parenting but also along the lines of organic :)


First of all, I am in no way trying to endorse any kind of product nor am I selling anything.  I just felt the need to share my story and experience with other people who might be interested in trying something different and natural in a world full of products that are not even remotely natural and contain mostly chemicals....

Okay, so I have never really had what you would call "pretty skin".  I have struggled with blemishes ever since puberty.  I noticed that after 3 years of working in a restaurant, my skin was at it's worst.  Then, I got pregnant and for reasons unknown, my skin was almost instantly beautiful.  Pregnancy did wonders for my skin and hair and I didn't have a single blemish until a couple of months after I stopped breastfeeding!

After that, my skin went back to being awful.  I tried everything you can think of as far as face wash/moisturizer goes.  After washing my face, I found that my skin was either greasy or extremely dry.  It seemed like I had to either have dry itchy skin or greasy oily skin.  Either way, I was still getting tons of blemishes.  Then, my mother-in-law mentioned something called the Oil Cleansing Method.  I was very interested but also a little repulsed at the idea of putting oil on my skin.  It seemed almost ridiculous to add more oil to an already oily face.  But then, I figured, nothing else has worked, why not!!!  After the first time of doing this, my skin looked absolutely radiant! I kid you not! I could not believe my eyes! Not only did it look good, but it felt like baby skin!!  I also noticed my skin had a sort of glow to it similar to a glow you would get after working out.  Seriously though, I highly recommend this to any man or woman looking to get healthy, beautiful skin for next to nothing!!  Not only that, but you know EXACTLY what you're putting on your skin as there are only one or two ingredients in this method and its 100% natural and good for your skin !!   In most cases, you won't even need a moisturizer!   Please don't shun this idea at first...Give it a try!  I promise you will be happy with the face you will see in the mirror.  I guess God knew what he was doing when he made oils!

For anyone interested in learning more about this amazing Oil Cleansing Method, here is the link explaining everything you need to know about it!!  http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

Also, here's a link of an article I read about the oldest woman in the world and her secret to her longevity and young looking skin at her old age of 122 :)  Super interesting! (See the header titled Calment's Secret to Longevity) http://anson.ucdavis.edu/~wang/calment.html

Why I chose to opt out....

Before you read this blog post, please keep in mind that this is only my OPINION, although, I have done lots of research and talked with quite a few other mothers who share the same opinion as I do on this matter.

So, while I was pregnant, I read TONS of pregnancy books.  In almost all of these books, I read excerpts regarding vaccinations covering everything from importance, schedule, and possible side effects (including side effects that suggest your child is rejecting the vaccination and having an allergic reaction). 

We decided to go with "parent" scheduled vaccinations--meaning we would allow Claire to get her vaccinations when we decided it was best for her instead of the recommended scheduled of vaccinations.  Here's the main problem we had with the recommended schedule for vaccinations. First of all, in all honesty I don't see how its even considered humane to inject a newborn baby whose immune system is so weak and new to the world with all these vaccinations so early in their life.  Also, vaccinations weaken the immune system making you vulnerable to many other diseases.  Here's how I see it, if the baby is on breastmilk the first year of life or longer (which is full of many God given antibodies that protect the baby and give them a sort of super immune system), why fill their bodies with vaccinations that they don't need just yet?  There are many other dangers to vaccinations that I will reference to this page for anyone interested in learning about http://vaccinedangers.com/.   I have read a couple of books and even talked to a few people whose children have been healthy and happy babies before the vaccinations and started showing signs of autism and lethargy hours to as long as WEEKS after having the vaccinations. 

Here's my experience--While in the hospital, we chose to not give Claire any shots, but the doctor told us that we would be putting her in danger by not giving her the hepatitis B vaccination and they would call child protective services on us for child endangerment (which is not true!!!).  So we were bullied into giving her the shot even though she was already tiny and weak and extremely jaundice.  She never learned to latch on and nurse after that.  I had to express milk and feed her by a bottle and even then, she was lethargic and very jaundiced.

Then, we took Claire in for her two month vaccinations.  She had her DTP shot (which is a 3-in-1 shot for Diptheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis).  First of all, the nurse literally stabbed the shot into Claire's tiny leg.  Claire screamed for hours after the shot.  I have never heard her scream so hard and for so long.  We couldn't get her to nurse, sleep, play, anything.  We gave her some Tylenol and she finally fell asleep.  She didn't sleep long, but when she did wake up, she screamed over and over again.  We couldn't get her to calm down.  She also had fever (which is a common side effect), but it persisted all day and all night and into the next 4 weeks.  Those four weeks were the scariest days I've ever experienced.  Claire wasn't her usual happy baby self.  She also had a large knot on her leg where the lady had jabbed the shot into her leg and it was red and swollen.  To my knowledge, this should not have persisted longer than a day after the shot was induced. Five weeks later, she was still acting strange and her leg was still swollen.  I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would please protect Claire from any kind of side effects and heal her body from the vaccination that was put into her body.  The next couple of days she got a little better, but she visibly didn't look the same.  She looked like she had no "spark" in her eyes.   I called the doctor and he told me to bring her in to have her shots finished, even though she was still sick.  I fired him and have never been back.

Since then, Claire hasn't had anymore vaccinations.  We know this was the best choice for her.  We pray that God will protect her little body and give her a strong immune system.  To date, Claire has never had a serious illness nor has she ever had to go to the hospital and seems to have a very strong immune system. 

I thank God (and Claire's extremely healthy diet of fruits and veggies that she has chosen for herself) for that :-)

Could this get any worse?

From the day she was born, Claire had trouble nursing.  I blame this partly to the fact that they didn't let me try to nurse her until she was well over 3 hours old.  She never could get a latch.  We finally tried a nipple shield and she would latch a little bit but still couldn't get much out.  We had to stay in the hospital for five days after she was born because she had jaundice so badly.  We had to put her under the Billi-Lights which I did NOT like but Claire seemed to enjoy the warmth.  We finally got discharged home after giving her formula to help get rid of the billirubin.  One week later, I got a horrible case of mastitis because my milk had come in and she had still not figured out how to nurse right.  I finally got the mastitis cleared out (after feeling like I was on my deathbed for a solid week) and she still wasn't nursing right or gaining weight.  Then, I got mastitis again (double mastitis at that).  This go round lasted much longer.  By the time Claire was four months old (and I was still trying to nurse her through the nipple shield every 2-3 hours even at night time), she still could not latch on and was hardly gaining any weight.  I decided to start pumping and feeding her through the bottle.  It took me about four weeks or so to really get my milk supply up. She instantly gained weight and started sleeping better at night time.  I still tried nursing her up until she was six months old.  She never did get a good latch and eventually quit trying to nurse.  I guess she just wasn't meant to nurse.  I pumped and fed her bottled breastmilk until she was one year old.  It was definitely worth it!  She didn't get sick one single time that entire year.

Although, the week we took her off breastmilk, she got a cold believe it or not!!  Coincidence?? I think not :)