Sling Safety

I cannot even begin to describe how frustrated I am by the recent media activity regarding sling and babywearing safety. So much of what is being reported is simply not accurate and only accurate when referring to specific baby carriers that really should have never been available in the first place.
I'm sure a lot of parents have been seeing these articles articles and have been scared and turned off of babywearing.
I am here to tell you that there are TONS of perfectly safe baby carriers that are widely available and affordable.
We as parents have a responsibility whenever we are using anything related to our children's health and safety. We need to understand that just because items are sold in stores does not mean they are safe and fool proof. We need to take responsibility as adults and parents to make sure our babies are safe. When using any baby product we have to make sure we are using them correctly. It seems most recalls on baby items are due to people misusing them. i.e. the bumbo seat specifically says to not use it on a raised surface. However people plop their babies on top of the counter in the bumbo and sure enough Bumbo falls! Like seriously what do people expect?!?!? Bathtub ring. DO NOT LEAVE BABY UNATTENDED IN BATHTUB RING. You guessed it, baby drowned and now those are outlawed.
Granted some of the carriers on the market should never have been as they are quite obviously unsafe. Any amount of common sense should prevail in most situations. If a newborns face is squished so that they cannot breathe that is unsafe and baby should be positioned so that the airways are accessible.
Babywearing is a learned skill and babies expect to be carried. Babywearing has been around far longer than most of us and North America is really just way behind in this "trend".
So for all the fear mongering that has been surrounding babywearing please don't paint all babywearing with the same brush. Get reputable, safe carriers and learn how to use them. Also recognize that lots of carriers can be used for the life of your baby however, different carries apply to different ages and stages. i.e. you are not going to cradle carry a one year old nor are you going to back carry your 3 month old. I have three different styles and have used them all at different stages and for different situations.
Here are some great links for safe babywearing and retailers.
the babywearer
babywearing international
parenting by nature

Lots going on

Well it seems I have gotten too busy again to update this blog. As per my last post I think I have finally decided I am content with my photo blog the way it is.

We are in the process of some big changes in the P/G household. The first one being a possible move. I mean admittedly we had outgrown our little home the moment we moved in however we had to start somewhere and we can at least way this house is ours. (well technically the banks but that is neither here nor there)
When we took possession of our little house I was extremely pregnant. Infact it was only 3 short weeks after we moved in that we had Matthew. Of course a short time later ms Jordyn graced us with her prescense. pardon the pun ;)
So now we are in a little 900 sqaure foot bungalow with 6 people. Oh and don't forget the dumb dog! Well luckily Jayson is handy and so he built an extra bedroom downstairs. That still only leaves though 4 bedrooms for 6 people.
Anyways, all this to say that it is time to move on to something a little bigger and where there are at least rooms for everyone.
We are meeting with a real estate agent tonight to hopefully get the ball rolling and figure out exactly what needs to be done.
We have had our eyes on the Niverville area for quite sometime and the housing costs are substantilly lower there and really only 20 mins from where we are anyway. I hear the schools are pretty good as well.
School, that brings me to another heater topic. I don't honestly know if I should even get started. Needless to say things have been really bad and at this point my kids WILL NOT be going back there next year. It has just been one nightmare after another. Yesterday the school even went so far as to tell me I don't feed my kid enough and that he is so hungry. They questioned every meal I gave him and told me it wasn't enough.
That is just the tip of the iceberg. I also have a report from a dr. indicating that Kianne's teacher has reported she is one grade level behind in all her core subjets.... hmmm this is the first we have ever heard this. So my first question of course is why hasn't the school or the teacher been in contact with me about this issue. Why in the world am I reading it from a dr's report?!?!? So of course this prompted me to check last years report card as we had not received one yet for this year. As of last year all was well and expectations were being met. Something didn't sound right but I wanted to get this years report from the teacher and then review it. Well you can imagine my shock when I received the report card yesterday and again the expectations are all being met?!?!? Okay, now I may not be the smartest kid on the block however, if I have one report that is saying she is below a full grade and another report that says she is meeting all expectations....something is NOT adding up.
Of course this sent me over the edge! Someone is being lied to. Either myself as the parent or the dr. Now the scary thing is that if the Dr is being lied to by the school she is making diagnosis' based on teachers reports and in turn prescribing narcotics.... THIS is a serious situation.
I have put in a call to the dr as I want a copy of the report that was sent from Kianne's teacher. Once I have that there will be a meeting with the school to figure out all this nonsense.
Well I wasn't going to get into it but as you can tell this is a huge issue and one I will not let die.
I don't know what to do about this school we are dealing with but my kids will not be returning.

Fear vs. Fact

It seems the whole world is in an uproar over H1N1 and what to do about it. Everywhere you turn there is some sort of "news". Vaccinate against the deadly virus, don't take this poison, It is too new, There is a pandemic, and the list goes on and on and on.
What are we to believe though? What is the best thing for us and our families? I believe that everyone chooses what they think is the best for themselves and their families and we just need to run with that.
We will not be vaccinating and just practicing very good hand washing etc... I am not comfortable yet with the vaccine although I have seriously considered it for Corey who is asthmatic.
Some of the safe guards we are taking here at home are:
-washing our hands as soon as we come in from any public place
-taking our vitamins
-trying to eat a well balanced diet with lots of fruit and veggies.

All I can do is hope I have made the right choice for myself and my family. If God forbid one of us gets seriously ill I will then of course question my choice and wish that we had taken the vaccine. However, if we get the vaccine and suffer some serious side effects or death due it I will be kicking myself for that choice as well. Is it a lose/lose situation? I don't think so. If we all live today like it is our last day then we should have a fulfilling and happy life :-)

Hypocrite?

As most of you know I am a wanna be hippie ;) I cloth diaper my kids, I wear cloth pads myself (TMI I know...) I use reusable everything I can and only natural products for cleaning as well as on my skin and my children's skin.
I've been thinking a lot lately though about the fact that I don't follow this lifestyle for my diet. If anything I consume more "poison" in my eating habits then anywhere else in my life. With all the chemicals in our foods and additives it is no wonder the human race is full of disease and behaviour problems.
So, I wonder why am I so concerned about our environment and the world we live in but not my own body? The answer I would give is that our world needs to last for generations to come and so my children have a healthy environment to grow and live in. I wonder though wby I don't think my children deserve a healthy mom to grow and play and live with?
I have read quite a bit on "clean eating" and this is something that totally appeals to me. I realize it is quite a task to take on but I would really like to try this one meal at a time.
If anyone has any great tips or books or websites please leave a comment.

Yelling

I do WAY too much of this. Part of it of course it trying to be heard over the chaos of my kids but much more is related to sheer frustration and anger. There I said it. I have known this for quite some time but to actually admit it is a whole different deal.
I consider myself a little bit if an AP (attachment parent) and yelling all the time just does not fit into the life that I want my kids to experience or myself.
I read something quite a while ago about Non Violent Communication. To be totally honest I didn't give it a whole lot of thought or research but I think I might look into this a little bit.
I am also going to count to 10 every time I want to yell. I mean really the things I am yelling about are far from life or death situations so if I need a 10 second countdown to not yell I think it will be worth it.
Anyway that is my thought today. I want a more peaceful house and it needs to begin with me.

Day 1-Canmore Alberta July 19th

What an amazing journey we had for a week in Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Drumheller. A part of me says I could stay there forever with the beautiful mountains and ice blue lakes but the part of me that loves our lakes that we can swim in says I am happy here.
I could have taken sooo many photos of the gorgeous things we saw however I wanted to enjoy our trip in real time so I limited it to 200 ;)
I'm not sure if Jordyn was car sick or what came over her but she threw up and had diarrhea the whole way there :( By the time we got there she had no clothes on and everything we had access to was either poopy or pukey.
Otherwise the ride there was really good. Jay and I took turns driving with of course him doing the most. I just cannot see well enough in the dark so he gets stuck. He seems to enjoy it though and finds it relaxing.
We left Saturday night after a wedding I shot (July 18th) and we arrived in Canmore at about 3pm and after a full night of driving and changing sick babies. Once in Canmore we decided we would hotel it for the first night just to get a good nights rest and cleaned up etc... We found a great little hotel with a pool for the kids and who would let us bring Lacey. Dinner consisted of Dominoes Pizza and then we explored town a bit. A swim and an early evening to bed in lush beds and we were all done for the day.

Hotel was Quality Resort.


View from our room


some friends along the way :)

Bath Hair aka Bad Hair...

This is what happens when Daddy gets you out of the bath ;)

Cherish Every Moment...

This blog was passed on to me and I have been reading it with tears flowing ever since. Too pray for this family and little angel will be a blessing to this family.www.georgialucaswpg.blogspot.com

Getting my butt in gear again

I completed my first session tonight at the Running Room in the learn to run program.
I did this program right after Matthew was born but quit running. I really do enjoy it and really wanted to get back into it again. This was a perfect way to get my butt in gear and get moving.
I've already met some nice girls who hopefully we can keep eachother motivated and accountable!
Tonight was fairly easy with two minute walk and one minute run for 7 sets.
Here's to going 10 and 1 in 10 weeks!

Ewwww

I'm not sure what is worse. Changing a toddlers poopy diaper or picking it up off the floor from a potty training accident!!!!
It seems the only way Matthew recognizes the need to go is if he is running around nekkid :) I'm sure it is cold on the bum so here he is in a long shirt and socks with the heat cranked up in the house.
Because we only have one bathroom in the house there is only one potty. I'm debating getting a second potty for downstairs so I'm not left picking up poop all the way up the stairs because he didn't make it.
As I said, sometimes I wonder if it is easier to just keep it all contained in a diaper?
Ahh the joys of potty training

ugh...

So sick. Everyone is this house is so, so, so, sick. I'm pretty sure Jordyn is going on a month now between a cold and a nasty gastro type illness. Matthew's poor little bum is so red from the symptoms of a stomach flu/cold. Even Kianne who never gets sick was coughing the other day!

I'm hoping this all passes real soon because it is hard enough looking after everyone when they are sick but when I am as well it is nearly impossible.

As they say. This too shall pass.

A sign?

A horrible thing happened this morning.... Our microwave is no longer with us. I'm not exactly sure how it happened but I have a sneaky suspicion that a spoon was put in there with the bowl of instant oatmeal.

Now at first I was feeling devastated. I mean how is one to tell the time when there are no big green lights with the numbers staring you down in the darkness of the kitchen? I fretted over heating Jordyn's bottles and cereals, and that is when it hit me!

Is this a sign that we should be getting rid of it anyways? It was something I contemplated before, knowing that it cannot be good for you. I mean for one they basically destroy the food that you are heating up and cause it to lose all nutritional value, microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer. Of course there was the big BPA scare as well and well now I'm leery of putting any kind of plastic in the microwave oven.

I don't know if this will be the end of the microwave for us but seeing as how I will at least be without one for the day maybe this will be a good trial.