Deflated...

I am feeling deflated- both figuratively and literally...
This week I started weaning my son. He's eating more and more finger foods and not nursing as much as he used to. I hoped to nurse a full year like I did with my daughter, but my son is a BIG, hungry boy. With my recent breast pumping attempts, I was lucky to collect an ounce of milk. I thought this moment would bring such elation-to be free. Instead, I find I'm feeling quite sad. I won't have that special bond to share with my son anymore. He's growing up.
Or maybe I'm just upset that my boobs have lost their fullness and are once again...silly putty.

A Sense of Style

As soon as my daughter was capable of dressing herself-I was lucky if she asked me to do a button for her. She got so good at buttons and zippers and snaps, she was dressing the other kids in day care-even the older ones. Now, at three-years-old, she wants to also pick out her own outfits. Of course, I indulge. It's good for her to feel independent. Plus, she's learning color coordination and building her own sense of style as well as self-esteem. Recently, a fellow day care playmate, gave his dragon galoshes to my son. The boots are too big for my son, so my daughter has taken custody. I think she even sleeps in them. Here's a pic of her latest (adorable)look . My daughter picked this outfit for a nice, family dinner at a fancy German restaurant...shirt daddy bought her in Galapagos Islands, blue pants, and those cute dragon rain boots!
My friend, Mary, is right-my daughter's quite the Fashionista!

My Laziness...a source of inspiration???

Saturday mornings are meant for coffee and reading the newspaper...lounging and lazy...
oh...yah...I've got kids! Well, I tried to enjoy a lazy early Saturday morning when my daughter pointed out a pen that had fallen between the wall and the snake cage (yes, I wrote snake cage). I told my daughter not to worry about the pen. She kept asking me to get it for her. I really didn't want her to have the pen, but mostly I was being lazy. So my daughter goes and gets a long-handled duster
and tries to drag the pen out from between the wall and the cage. A valiant effort, yet she just pushed the pen further back into the corner. I was very impressed with her ingenuity and completely disappointed with my own slothfulness. Feeling proud (for her) and guilty (of me), I got up from my coffee and Travel section to assist my daughter in retrieving her well-deserved pen. And that old duster did the trick!

Walk for a cause & have some fun

A family that walks together, helps a cause and has a great time. I recently walked 6.2 miles for the APLA AIDS Walk along with my two kids. They got to ride along in the stroller for most of it. My three-year-old daughter and I had lots of fun and my 8-month-old just enjoys taking in the scenery. It's a good way to get some exercise with the kids. Plus, you can teach your children about helping out for a cause of your choice-maybe something that's close to home. Don't think these walk/runs are just for adults-plenty of children participate whether they're walking or riding in strollers or baby carriers. Most of these events provide snacks and drinks all along the way (my daughter even got ice cream) and have bathroom pit stops. There is usually entertainment too.

Your Child can Breathe easier with a Chiropractor...

My daughter has suffered with childhood asthma since she was about 6 months old. At first I thought she was just prone to colds, but the coughing and wheezing proved otherwise. Her coughing and wheezing was especially bad at night or after a fit of crying. It was awful-it sounded like she was choking. The pediatrician prescribed a liquid form of Albuterol to help open up my daughter's airway. The medicine helped, but it made her incredibly antsy and irritated. I tried to use it sparingly. When my daughter was almost two, the pediatrician prescribed an inhaler form of the Albuterol. She hated breathing from the inhaler-it was always such a fight. In April of this year, I started seeing a chiropractor for my neck. Since I'm often on my own, my kids were in tow with me during my appointments. Dr. Matt heard my daughter's cough and asked if she had asthma. I told him her story and he informed me that he could rid her of her symptoms. I was very skeptical. I had never heard or read anything about chiropractic care for asthma. He assured me it was safe and would work-he said he cured his son of his childhood asthma. I then talked to the doctor's son. Knowing he was biased, I still believed his account. I found out that my health insurance covered my daughter's appointments and thought I'd give it a try. She started with one appointment a week for eight weeks. In the first week, my daughter was coughing up the nastiest crud from her lungs. The doctor warned me of this and said she should get plenty of liquids. After a month, her lungs seemed clear and I no longer heard my daughter coughing or wheezing. The results were unbelievable! She loved going to Dr. Matt and he was so gentle & good with her. After 2 months, I would have sworn she had no more asthma symptoms. Her appointments were cut to once every other week. It has been such a blessing to use a natural alternative to medicines to rid my daughter of her asthma symptoms. I highly recommend it. Currently, her appointments are as needed. But, please note-all children are different and so are their degrees of asthma. It could take longer for chiropractic care to work on your child than it did on mine. And chiropractic manipulations don't cure asthma-it works to subside symptoms like medicine but naturally and without all the side effects. Although, I believe my daughter is cured-she has had no symptoms at all in several months. It's worth a try-Dr. Matt is located in North Hollywood, CA-but many chiropractors are specialized to work with children.
"The doctor noted, for example, that although chiropractic management does not
cure asthma, neither does medicine. Quality-of-life indicators have improved..." Dynamic Chiropractic
"Although chiropractic treatment may not be a cure for asthma, the use of chiropractic manipulation to control musculoskeletal symptoms is a major benefit..." New England Medical Journal
NoHoChiro

Less Mess (baby food feeding tip)

My sister taught me a great tip about feeding a child baby food:
Whether it's store-bought or homemade, baby food can be very runny and drippy-perfect for a BIG mess. Simply add a little rice cereal to thicken up the baby food. It's adding iron for the baby and lessening the clean-up for you. Don't get me wrong though, babies are entitled to make A mess while they're learning to eat-especially once you hand the spoon over to them. But, the splatter from drippy baby food is much more encompassing than the thicker version. Plus, you might not stain as many of those really cute bibs!

AAAAAHHHH....

Usually when I drop my kids off at daycare, my daughter is so excited she just runs right in the place. I better have given her a hug before we get to the door. Today, she gave me a big, bear hug and then pointed to her cheek-directing me to kiss it. Of course, I obliged with my heart full of aaaaahhhhhh...

It was pointed out to me recently that my daughter was watching too much TV. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was true. Why now? What has changed. My husband has been home for about a four weeks (in a row). Were we getting lazy in our parenting to spend more time together? Were we just being lazy? TV is a great babysitter while we're cooking dinner or getting things ready for the next day, or while my husband and I are glued to the newest episode of Nip/Tuck. Ok, obviously, there have got to be limits. So I reverted to a previous rule-no more than 2 hours a day. Limits allow our family more play time, quality sit-down-at-the-table-dinner-time, activity and reading time. My daughter used to occupy her evenings playing outside with the boy who lives downstairs. He's now in second grade and has tons of homework (that's insane). I tried playing with my daughter and my son outside yesterday before I started preparing dinner. My daughter really wanted to play with Daniel so we didn't stay outside too long. I prepared dinner for her and fed my son. While he was still in his high chair eating finger foods, my daughter did some coloring. I pulled leftovers from the fridge to heat up for me. After my son was done eating, the kids went to play in their room. I took care of a few chores and then read a George and Martha book to the kids. I told my daughter she had a little time before bed and she could continue playing and/or watch TV. My husband came home in the meantime and we ate dinner. Later, he helped get the kids ready for nightnight and tucked them in bed. It's important to put limits on how much TV your children watch. It takes some work, but the interaction is invaluable.