12 month pediatrician visit

Ostara had her first pediatrician visit with Dr. Gagnon and it went very well. Carol seems to be just what I've been looking for in a doctor -- very informative, yet respectful of me making MY own decision for my kid. Plus she's just plain old NICE and really gets a kick out of kids. She noticed a lot about Ostara and all of her observations were right on. She was respectful of my vaccine choices. Andrew hasn't met her yet, but she's a keeper!

The stats on Ostara -- she is exceedingly average for a 12 month old. 29 inches high (50th percentile), 22 1/2 lbs. with cloth diaper (75th percentile), and head circumference was 60th percentile. She has met the developmental milestones appropriate for her age (pulls herself up to standing, cruises, takes up to 3 steps, scoots around - no crawling here, says Mama and Dada, Hi, Bye, and Hot, uses baby signs for kitty, puppy, and I want Mama milk!, More, Thirsty, and All Done). Carol noticed that she is very ticklish, her right eye slants in sometimes, and she LOVES social interaction.

I told her that she loves opening and closing board books, playing with water (and the sandpit at Strong), and putting things IN to something and then taking them OUT again. She also loves taking caps off of markers and lip gloss containers and then putting them back again. Nesting toys and cups are another big hit. Her favorite toys are rhythm instruments (she's got amazing baby rhythm), cloth books, cars, her new purse, and her baby doll (she loves rubbing her bangs and laughs hysterically). She hates socks and hats, but mean old mama makes her wear them anyway!

And that's the latest on the littlest Wolf!
Rebecca

Happy May Day!

Well, we just danced around a maypole in the rain! Gotta' love this crazy weather. We had a wonderful feast afterwards and one of my friends made a killer Lentil Sloppy Joe recipe. Don't worry, I won't make you die of curiousity. The recipe is right here:

Lentil Sloppy Joes

1 1/2 cups of dry lentils (can be brown or red lentils)
3 cups of water
1/2 cup broth
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes

1 onion
1 small or half a large bell pepper

1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp. prepared mustard (like French's)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Bring water, broth, and tomatoes to a boil and then add the lentils. Saute' onion and bell pepper in olive oil for 5-7 minutes or until soft. Add these to the lentil mixture.

Combine remaining ingredients and add to the lentils. Cook until lentils are soft.


Enjoy!
Rebecca

P.S. If you like this recipe, I plan to add more to my new site at http://MostlyMeatless.com

Simplifying Your Life

Zenhabits.net has a great entry on 25 ways to simplify your life with kids. I LOVE the suggestions and found that I actually do a few of these already. I like #8 and #15 especially. I think Arianna is old enough to start participating in family discussions. Even though Sunday is our family day when we don't schedule much except Meeting for Worship and get togethers with family and friends, I think it would help us to plan our special day so it's more purposeful and meaningful to all of us.

Enjoy,
Rebecca

Happy Eostre and Vernal Equinox!

I was just reading my post last year about the Switch Witch. This year, Arianna received a craft basket full of stickers, 3 horse friends, and various art supplies. She LOVED it! There wasn't any candy in it at all and she didn't say a word about it. Some of our old neighbors gave their children fruit baskets for Easter and they thought it was the coolest thing. Another friend sets out some of the hard boiled eggs her children decorates and the next morning, the real eggs are gone and the "fairies" leave a few plastic eggs filled with mini M&Ms. No huge chocolate Easter bunny. No jelly beans. No marshmallow peeps. Just a handful of chocolate is all a little kid needs.

Say NO to the Easter tummyache and the sugar crash! Find out what your child really enjoys and fill a basket with some brain candy instead!

Rebecca

Vaccination Alternatives

After the recent Hanna Polling court case, many parents are wondering if vaccines are safe. I read The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears a few months ago, when it first came out, and was very impressed with the details he gave from the product insert of every vaccine currently made for children and what his take is regarding how needed the vaccine is or if it can be given at a later age and what brands have lots of aluminum in them (mercury except in the tiniest amounts have been removed from childhood vaccines except some flu shots, but many have aluminum which has been shown to be toxic above certain levels when given through an IV).

If you DO choose to give your child vaccines, Dr. Sears has a great Alternative Vaccine Schedule to help spread the vaccines out and help minimize possible risk to your child. If you choose to SELECTIVELY vaccinate, he also has some good recommendations for which ones he thinks are the most important for children living in the U.S.

Here is Dr. Sears' response to the Vaccine Discussion on Larry King:

"Well, my Alternative Vaccine Schedule is the answer Larry King is looking for. The three main worries that connect vaccines with autism involve mercury, the measles component of the MMR vaccine, and vaccine chemical overload when too many shots are given at once. My vaccine approach circumvents all three worries and allows parents to fully vaccinate their children in the safest manner possible. Keep in mind that science hasn’t proven that any of these worries are even warranted. Yet, every parent with a young baby is concerned nonetheless. So here’s how my vaccine schedule addresses these issues:

First, mercury has been taken out of all vaccines as of 2002, except for some brands of the flu shot. As long as a parent knows to make sure their baby gets a mercury-free flu shot, this particular toxic metal isn’t a risk anymore.

Second, the measles component of the MMR vaccine can be delayed until age 3 years or later. Next to the mercury worry, this live virus vaccine (given at age 1) has come under the most fire. Because autism seems to occur or become most apparent between age 1 and 3 years, my vaccine schedule doesn’t give the measles vaccine until AFTER that age. Once a baby’s neurological system has matured for a few years, and normal language and social development are in place by age three, autism would be extremely unlikely to then be triggered by a measles vaccine given at that later age.

Third, many parents worry about overloading a baby’s little system with so many vaccine chemicals and germ ingredients in the large groups of vaccines given at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. Why not spread those vaccines out? Give 2 shots at a time instead of the recommended 6. Spread the shots out over several years instead of bunching them all together in the first 18 months. Give the most important vaccines first, and follow up with the less critical ones later on. My Alternative Vaccine Schedule does just that."

I highly recommend the book!

Best,
Rebecca

New Nursing Tops Designer

For those of you in the neverending search for the perfect nursing wardrobe (why is it so difficult to find this stuff?), there is a NEW kid on the block. Milkdaze will debut this March and I have high hopes for it because it's from the woman who designed the Hotslings pouch.

Know a breastfeeding mom? Here's a little tip: nursing shirts are GOLDEN!

Rebecca

A Way to Recycle Your Used Baby Supplies

CNET NEWS.COM: As kids grow out of their clothes, beds and toys (at what often feels like a daily rate) it's easy to find your home cluttered with unwanted baby products. But instead of hanging on to what the kids have outgrown, green parents are now shipping off those baby slings and monitors to other parents through Zwaggle.com.

Zwaggle.com helps members donate a product like a crib or baby monitor, and in return, earn points to pick up something else that they might want for little cost. Members pay only for shipping for the desired item.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.smartplanet.com/news/household/10000264/parents-swap-baby-gear-on-zwaggle-com.htm

The Zwaggle site doesn't have tons of listings yet, but it is a very interesting idea. The points make it different from craigslist.org or freecycle Yahoo! groups options.

If you check it out, let me know how it goes!

Rebecca

How to Safely Co-sleep with Your Infant

Well, I just watched the news story that WHAM-13 interviewed us for on Co-sleeping. It amazes me how so many parents co-sleep with their children yet public officials just give a blanket condemnation of co-sleeping rather than taking the time to disseminate information on how to safely co-sleep. I have to give Rachel Barnhart credit for tackling this issue on many fronts but also for attempting to get information on how to safely cosleep with infants out to the public.

As a breastfeeding mother, co-sleeping makes it easier for me to comfort my baby when she is sick or wakeful without disturbing my own sleep. This provides my child with the best possible nutrition and it helps me be the best parent I can be because I get a good night's rest.

Other benefits to cosleeping include knowing what's going on with your child. Arianna woke up and couldn't breathe one night. I was right next to her, woke up immediately and was able to call 911 and get her help that much quicker. Many children die in fires, but less do when they are cosleeping because they are woken up and helped to safety by their parents.

In my e-book, I also describe how baby's developing vestibular system is improved by being in close proximity to an adult. I don't think it's natural to have a baby go from mother's womb to sleeping in a crib in a room all by herself. But I also believe that every family has to make choices that they can live with. (I am trying to hold myself back from getting sidetracked by the fact that crib manufacturers have funded the research that claims co-sleeping is unsafe. I would just like to spread the word about how to safely co-sleep.)

So, the long and short of it is: if you are going to co-sleep, make sure you take the necessary precautions. Just as you use your seat belt when driving a car to help mitigate your risk of injury, so you should take care when sleeping with your baby.

Cosleeping Safely
• Make sure that your mattress is firm and fits tightly in the frame.
• Sheets should fit your mattress snugly.
• Loose pillows or soft blankets should be kept away from your baby’s face.
• Always place your baby on his back or his side to sleep.
• No one who shares sleep with your baby should drink alcoholic beverages, take drugs, be exceptionally obese, or be on medication that makes him or her less alert.
• Consider keeping your young baby next to his mother only, because mothers seem to be especially aware of their babies in bed.
• Keep an adult between any older child and your baby.
• Use a crib or commercially available “sidecar”next to the bed.
• Make sure the sides of the bed are either tight against the wall or far enough away from the wall that your baby can’t become trapped. Or use a bed rail on the side of the adult bed.
• Keep the bed low to the ground, maybe even on the floor, to minimize any falls.

Sources: Good Nights by Jay Gordon, MD and Maria Goodavage and Sweet Dreams by Paul Fleiss, MD

Go to: http://www.13wham.com for the news story on Infant Deaths Related to Co-Sleeping.

If you'd like to listen to the ENTIRE interview done with us, rather than just the few seconds you might have seen on TV, go to: http://ThrivingBabies.com/cosleeping.html

What did YOU think of the interview?

Rebecca

technorati tags: cosleeping, co-sleeping, safe+co-sleeping

Switch Witch Surprise

Okay, we don't like Arianna to have battery-operated toys because:
1. They are too loud
2. You have to keep on replacing the stupid batteries
3. She tires of them very quickly
4. She prefers more creative, open-ended play like blocks and clay
5. Did I mention how annoying the sounds can be?

Arianna has recently expressed interest in remote control cars, so the switch witch brought Arianna a remote control Tow Mater and some art stamps and stamp pads and stickers. She was thrilled. The Switch Witch took the candy out of her bag and replaced them with the gifts.

And because the new rule at our house is "One junk a day," she STILL has some Hallowe'en candy left, even though she only took a few pieces from her bag.

The one drawback to the Switch Witch plan? Arianna woke up at 6:00 a.m. the day after Hallowe'en!

Rebecca