Goodbye...

This is my last blog here. I couldn't figure out how to add links how I wanted here, so I searched for other blog sites. I found this new one the be easier to figure out. Maybe it's just me and my lack of knowledge on here but oh well I switched.
Here's my new blog.

http://tracimae.wordpress.com/

Not so bad...

I'm alive. I made it through showing my makeup to ladies...umm two ladies. lol I wasn't really expecting many ppl, I've learned from experience;) At least this is my own business though so I don't have to worry about finding ppl to join me!yuck! If they like then great and if they don't... oh well! I made enough well worth going, soI can't complain.
I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday! Hope everyone is done with this virus now, they seem to be. We are going to try out a new church this weekend, it's called Cornerstone, it's the same name as the one in Ames only it's in Boone. I believe there's no relation between the two. Oh I hope it's good!!!! The other Cornerstone we loved except they were not a child friendly service :( We gained so much from their services, but I would get paged out every time and soon as I made it to the nursery(which was fast) L was crying hysterically. I couldn't leave her there anymore and could not stand sitting in their family room or cafe it was sooooooo boring. I could just watch a service at home in my pj's if I wanted to watch it on tv. Ya know?

Nervous

This afternoon I am meeting with a lady or some ladies from Phil's work and showing them my makeup. I hope they don't expect me to be an expert :-S I am far from it! I have been reading up on make-up tips and will practice some on myself today. Hopefully the kids cooperate, Jazmyn keeps saying she is sick, I thought it was maybe because I had to wake her up to drive Phil to work and she was too tired. She's been laying on the couch all morning and well now is asleep. She was gagging for a bit but I gave her some Nux Vomica, for some reason that remedy ALWAYS helps her when she is nausea. Yay!
Anyways, I hope I can sell some makeup, I'm giving them a discount but it will just make up for shipping cost, so we both win :) I was reading some application tips and one stood out to me. Whenever I exercise and have makeup on my face it starts burning and I breakout, so upon reading I discovered I must be allergic to the zinc oxide or just allergic when sweating. I will have to add some finishing silk to my foundation to low the levels of zinc when applying. Maybe that's one reason I keep breaking out, I'm sure there are many others too though.
This may be off topic but oh well.... I got a call from my BIL(sister's h.) yesterday and he had split a cow with a friend and then had it processed in to ground beef, steaks and such...but my sister keeps biting into grissel(sp?) or something and refuses to eat it(sounds like me!) So he wanted to give it to us if we wanted it! Heck ya! I think I can work around the grissel or whatever it is(bone???) for a free pasture fed cow. He said it was very lean meat, don't even need to drain it when cooking. So excited! What a blessing :)
Okay better go practice putting my face on :-/

On Guard!

I was putting Londyn's diaper in the dirty laundry and saw mouse poop! At least that's what I think it is, I did not inspect it to rule out anything else. I just want to forget I ever saw it! I love Fall except when those evil little critters start looking for a warm home for winter.
Phil and the girls better just get their snow suits on now, because if they are thinking about choosing our warm cozy home, I will turn the heat off! mwahahaha!
Okay, not really. It did cross my mind for a split second though! You would think growing up in the country would have conditioned me to seeing mice. Nope.
I wasn't always a scaredy cat of them, but I had this crappy job at a restaurant/ gas station, with an alcoholic for a boss who was more worried about his next beer run instead of keeping the place clean. Mice infestation is an understatement to describe that place and it has haunted me forever!! Thankfully, the place has new owners and it's cleaner, after my boss(manager) ran the old owner out of business by not paying the bills and gas getting cut off. A gas station doesn't thrive well in those conditions. lol
So, you all will know if I do indeed see a mouse, because I will be sitting here in the chaise with my feet up and giving play by play updates. The kids may have to just fend for themselves! rofl! At least, I'm not 9months pregnant this year and stuck in the chaise, last year was a nightmare. It's not easy for a pregnant women to limit her bathroom & kitchen trips because a mouse is taunting you behind the door that you have to walk by in order to get anywhere in the house.
**sigh**
Pray for me! :P

Sprouted Grain?

The "book" I'm reading about sugar(see previous post) is big on meat so that's good! Also, frowns on the sweeter fruits and breads that feed the sugar cravings. She linked this site https://www.foodforlife.com and talks about sprouted grain to replace flour. Has anyone tried it? The location finder shows it's available at several places around the Boonies...including my usual HFS. Thanks to B for those encouraging words of a two week success story and grainy bread.Rofl! I DO need to just get it over with! I definitely don't want my kids dealing with this down the road. I know I will hear from many people that I'm crazy or they will just tell me to just cut back, but I've realized I'm so sensitive to it, I have to just quit. It's like telling a smoker who's trying to quit to just have half a cigarette a day and don't even think of finishing that other half. Been there too! Only it is much easier quiting smoking, for me anyways. I've only been on high doses processed sugar for 24 yrs!

Anyways,I might have to learn how to be a better cook or we all might just starve.

Clothes,Clothes, & More Clothes

Today is going to be such a busy busy day! Besides all the normal daily things like dishes, laundry,pick up house, cooking,dishes, laundry, pickup house, cook....(do you see a pattern?)lol I have to go through the girls clothes and find winter clothes and put away summer clothes. Blah! I'm glad I don't have 5 kids to do ;) Not yet anyways :-S I'm hoping they have more winter clothes than I think, I don't want to fork out that much money for a season of clothes.lol Frugal? NO! Phil and I need a little update on our closet too. I was asking Phil the other day what he wanted me to pack for him for our trip to osky....he mentioned he wanted his new pair of jeans and some shirt.
What NEW pair of jeans? Then he said you know the ones you just got me. HUH? Well the ones I "just" got him were from LAST Christmas(gift). hahaha! I was laughing so hard, we are pathetic. We don't even realize how long we've had our clothes until moments like that.

So anyways I have that fun stuff to do. Then on top of it, I'm suppose to keep the girls busy during the day so they are sooo worn out by evening they will want to go to bed at 8pm, so I'm told. The shouldn't be full of energy at 6:30 or some nights 8:30 when their Daddy comes home. They just need to eat supper,baths, and go to bed. Then I could play my golf games all night long uninterrupted. Yes!
It's not as easy as one would think..ya know. They usually wake up 7:30-8:45 (9today) and L naps once or twice a day, but that's it. Any ideas to burn some energy off??? (note: I don't have a car to go anywhere so anything involving travel won't work.) We go to the park about everyday for about 45min to an hour. Maybe if I had some craft supplies I could keep them busy. I will just have them run laps around the house. lol! It would be interesting to see "someone" else do this and keep up with the house work. Okay vent over.

I think Jaz is missing her cousins...she keeps talking about them. Poor girl! :(
I feel bad for her.
Hope everyone has a good day!!!!

NoT ToDaY!

I was going to not have sugar today, but I failed and made no-bake cookies this afternoon. I think I'm just going to have to wait until AFTER the holidays to go completely gluten free diet. I think for now I will just try to extremely limit and then completely cut out my sweets. It's going to take a lot of work finding completely gluten free recipes, so I'll just slowly cut back maybe it will make it less work and dramatic detox. *sigh* I wish sugar didn't make me so sensitive and too bad I didn't know this back in school, I might have been a better student. Oh well can't change then ...only now. Hopefully I can find inexpensive gluten free recipes that stay in our low grocery budget!
Okay well off to make supper!

SO BIG!

I can't believe how fast the girls have grown this summer! Not exactly clothes wise, but learning too. Although, Londyn is already into 12-18month pants and 12-24month shirts (depends on item) and Jaz was always a size behind her "age size".
We've been trying to do child-led learning this summer. Well that brought us to umm... the universe.Yep...stars, planets, moon, sun, blah, blah,blah. I guess I had to learn along the way with that boring stuff.LOL! A few weeks ago we bought a cheap "planet" thing at wal mart and it hangs from the ceiling and glows in the dark. Jazmyn thinks it's the coolest thing since mc hammer...okay maybe not that cool. So, she has half of her planet names down and can point them out from the alignment of the "sun"(room light). I have a feeling I will learn more than I ever imagined homeschooling.Yikes!
Londyn is talking up a storm these days, but you have to be "mom" to really catch it, you know how it goes. The other day the girls were taking a bath and Jazmyn and I were practicing phonics...I said "the A says ?" And Londyn goes "AH". Hah! I was speechless. Few days later Phil was changing her diaper and sneezed and he said "bless me" and she followed "bless you". I know it all sounds made up but it's not! She pointed out Jazmyn on the computer, she saw the picture of her and jaz with aunt h's guitars and said "that's jazmyn". Today "Word World" came on and she yelled "Word World" not to mention she has a tendency to hum the tune to any song you play. It's so cute and amazing she can do that! Her favorite saying she has been using for a few months "what's that?!" and points to whatever. lol
Okay so I'll quit talking now, I just had to share how sad it is that the kids are growing up so fast! Where is my video camera???( Dad's of course!) I must pick it up before it's too late!
Okay everyone have a good weekend! See some of you soon!

Ron Paul says it best...

Dear Friends:

The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.

We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.

Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.

Still, at least a few observations are necessary.

The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?

We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.

Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).

Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."

Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?

Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.

It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.

The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.

F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:

Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion.

To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression.

The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.

The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?

Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.

The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.

I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.

H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.

In liberty,

Ron Paul

Guess What!!

I actually went on a run last night and I am NOT sore. BUT, wow did I look pretty ridiculous running! I'm glad it was dark out! We just ran on the sidewalk around the ballpark and playground area. Phil led the way and the girls and I followed. LOL The jogger runs very well, so I'm glad it was an investment and not a waste of $$.

new finding...

I found this website yesterday. I haven't decided whether I like it or not. I've decided to read her "sugar addiction" book (it's free), I NEED to stop eating sugar, completely would be nice. I'm sure it would help in more ways than I already know. I DID read the first few paragraphs and she wanted her book's usefulness to be compared to "What To Expect, When Expecting" only about sugar addiction of course.....I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth, when I read that! She considers that book ADVICE?? Grrreeeeat.
That has dwindled my hope for this book, but only time will tell(100pages to be exact).
Here goes nothing!

Bailout

I think this bailout will do nothing for us! Dave Ramsey has a plan listen to it here.

The Other Side of The Glass- trailer

A new film coming out in Spring of 2009 for FATHERS. I can't wait to see it. Although, I would never go any other way than unassisted. Some parents just can't grasp this idea, so I think they could use all the videos they can get to help them learn to protect their babies in the hospital. We've become numb to our own rights, which I will be posting tomorrow! This movie just makes me sad, it's all so true.

Not OUR fault!

It drives me crazy when media/cdc/govt/ppl point fingers at the unvaxed population for creating these so called "outbreaks". Since when did 131 one cases turn into a "major" outbreak in a country of approximately 301,139,947. Your odds are better are winning the lottery, seriously. Sure unvaxed ppl can spread these "diseases" but we are not the ones purposely injecting virus into our children's bodies in which they go on to shed these viruses making others sick. Example, shockingly the flu will be starting anytime now, when in the past it did not occur until later in the year. FYI- flu vaccine has only been 40-50% effective...basically you will or won't get it.
Sorry had to get this out of my system! Better now:) Article and links are very informative!!!! Educate yourself.
Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

A child gets vaccinated and is from that moment on protected from the vaccine virus, correct? We all realize that vaccines are not 100% failproof, but is that the only concern?

If it only were that simple. The fact is that once a child is injected with a live virus vaccine (and let’s assume that this child is immune as a result of it) there are still other things to consider which most parents do not know about and most pediatricians fail to warn about - which is shedding!

Shedding is when the live virus that is injected via vaccine, moves through the human body and comes back out in the feces, droplets from the nose, or saliva from the mouth. Anyone who takes care of the child could potentially contract the disease for some time after that child has received certain live vaccines. This was a huge problem with the oral polio vaccine, and was one of the reasons why it was taken off the market in the US.

The OPV is still used in developing counties.

Secondary transmission happens fairly often with some of the live virus vaccines. Influenza, varicella, and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) are the most common. On the other hand it may happen very seldom or not ever with the measles and mumps vaccine viruses.

Here are the vaccines that shed or have been known to result in secondary transmission:

Measles Vaccine - Although secondary transmission of the vaccine virus has never been documented, measles virus RNA has been detected in the urine of the vaccinees as early as 1 day or as late as 14 days after vaccination. (1)

In France, measles virus was isolated in a throat swab of a recently vaccinated child 4 days after fever onset. The virus was then further genetically characterised as a vaccine-type virus. (2)

Rubella Vaccine - Excretion of small amounts of live attenuated rubella virus from the nose and throat has occurred in the majority of susceptible individuals 7-28 days after vaccination. Transmission of the vaccine virus via breast milk has been documented. (3)

Chicken Pox Vaccine - Vaccine-strain chickenpox has been found replicating in the lung (4) and documented as transmtting via zoster (shingles sores) (5) as well as “classic” chickenpox (6) rash post-vaccination.

Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) - In areas of the world where OPV is still used, children who have been vaccinated with it pass the virus into the water supply through the oral/feces route. Other children who then play in or drink that water pick up the vaccine viruses, which can pass from person to person and spark new outbreaks of polio. (7)

FluMist Vaccine - The mist contains live attenuated influenza viruses that must infect and replicate in cells lining the nasopharynx of the recipient to induce immunity. Vaccine viruses capable of infection and replication can be cultured from nasal secretions obtained from vaccine recipients.

Transmission of a vaccine virus from a FluMist recipient to a contact was documented in a pre-licensing trial. The contact had a mild symptomatic Type B virus infection confirmed as a FluMist vaccine virus. (8)

Rotavirus Vaccine (RotaTeq) - There is a possibility that one strain of rotavirus which is presently circulating may be an “escaped” vaccine strain, from an old Finnish rotavirus vaccine. (9)

Following are excerpts from the discussion by the FDA Advisory Committee on RotaTeq vaccine shedding: (10)

Page 50:

The latest shedding that we saw was 15 days from dose one.

We had no subjects that shed after dose two, and only one subject shed after dose three. He shed four days from dose three.

Page 51:

A: The quantities were low, similar to what we saw in phase 2 studies, as well.

We also had two placebo recipients that shed, and of course, this raised a red flag for us.

B: Could this have been transmission of vaccine virus from vaccine recipients to placebo recipients?

A: We did a very thorough investigation looking for opportunities for a vaccine transmission to occur and did not find anything. These children were not siblings of a vaccine recipient. They didn’t attend day care with vaccine recipients. They didn’t have a common caretaker with the vaccine recipient, and in the office and clinic in which they were vaccinated, they were not exposed to vaccine recipients.

So going on then to summarize general safety, Rotateq was well tolerated….

Page 70:
Question and answer section -

Then with respect to the possibilities of how these children ended up with vaccine strains in their stool, we really could not find the answer for that. We even went so far as to look and see like on the day that that child was in the clinic, were other children getting vaccine, you know, right before or after them?

And that was not the case. So it has been a puzzle, and we don’t have an answer as to why these children had vaccine strains in their stool.

(One has to ask: Could the reason have been that someone mixed up the placebo with the actual vaccine vials and consequently some kids of the control group got the real vaccine?)

Source:
(1) Detection of Measles RNA
(2) Detection of measles vaccine in the throat of a vaccinated child.
(3) MMR II
(4) Vaccine Oka Varicella-Zoster Virus
(5) Chickenpox Attributable to a Vaccine Virus
(6) Genetic Profile of an Oka Varicella Vaccine Virus
(7) Polio Outbreak in Nigeria
(8) Flumist
(9) Human and Bovine Serotype G8 Rotaviruses
(10) Products Advisory Committee

Great Blog! A must READ!

I've seen her before on tv shows which she usually gets the cold shoulder, but she knows her stuff.
This last blog I find to be quite frightening! It's a glimpse in America's future.
http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2007/12/sticking-it-to-children-in-new-jersey.html

Oh and we went out and got our exempt forms on Tuesday! Never know I might need them.lol Should get some for us as well, forgot about that!

Copy Cat

I'm bored so I'm stealin' this from B's blog :)

I AM … mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, new business owner

I WANT… my house to magically be clean and ORGANIZED every day

I HAVE … 2 wonderful little girls and one angel baby

I WISH I COULD … have the house sold right now!

I HATE …when people judge someone especially when they haven't walked in their shoes.

I FEAR …the unknown.

I HEAR … the trees blowing outside.

I SEARCH … for things Phil keeps misplacing. lol

I DON’T THINK … I will EVER lose this extra 30lbs from pregnancies!

I REGRET … not always living in the moment.

I LOVE ... watching the girls sing and dance.(L hums to the tune of the music)

I ACHE FOR … being closer to our family and friends.

I ALWAYS CRY …after coming back from a trip to keo.

I AM NOT … an emotional person. nope :)

I DANCE … and you call 911, you can't tell... maybe i'm having a seizure...what?

I SING … children's songs all day long!

I DON’T … like sarcasm. or do i?

I RARELY … see ANYONE I know.

I CRY WHEN I WATCH … biggest loser.haha I get so happy for them.

I AM NOT ALWAYS …analyzing everything.

I HATE THAT …it's 2:30 and I have yet to clean the house.

I’M CONFUSED ABOUT …why people think we are SO "free" have they not been keeping up with the govt.? We are losing our freedom people.

I NEED … MEEEE time BAD!(usually defined as shopping and NOT by myself..with friends of course)

I SHOULD … not complain so much and be thankful for what I HAVE and not what I don't have. I suppose. :)

Wednesday's Wonder on Pregnancy/Childbirth

I'm having trouble deciding what to post first about Pregnancy & Childbirth. So, maybe I'll just start out with the "traditional"(only in the united states) birth. Since almost all women in the U.S. birth this way.

* Check out this site too!* http://www.aimsusa.org/

HOW THE UNITED STATES RANKS

There are precious few situations in life where the cheaper alternatives is also the better alternative – and maternity care is one. If we eradicated the unjustified obstetric monopoly in the United States, with its extreme medicalization of birth, and replace it with a humanized maternity care, we can vastly improve the care of women and babies, lower death rates for both women and babies, and save vast sums of money at the same time.

A few facts:

• Percentage of gross national product spent on health care
  • 1966: 6 percent
  • 1992: 12 percent
• Percentage by which U.S. health care expenditures exceed those of
  • Canada: 40 percent
  • Germany: 90 percent
  • Japan: 100 percent
• The twenty-two countries with lower infant mortality rates than the U.S.: Japan, Sweden, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands, France, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Australia, Northern Ireland, Spain, England and Wales, Belgium, Austria, Italy.
• Percentage of countries with lower infant mortality rates than the US that provide universal prenatal care: 100 percent
• Percentage of US women who receive little or no prenatal care: 25 percent
• Chances that a woman with little or no prenatal care will give birth to a low-weight baby(less than 5.5lbs) or premature baby(less than 37wks): 1 in 2
• Factor most closely associated with infant death: low birth weight
• Percentage of infant deaths link to low birth weight: 60 percent
• Average cost of long-term care(through age 35) for a low-birth-weight baby: $50,5588
• Average cost of long-term care (through age 35) for a baby of average birth weight: $20,003
• Cost of newborn intensive care for one infant: $20,00 to $100,00
• Cost of prenatal care for thirty women: $20,000 to $100,000
• Percentage of births attended principally by midwives (CNM’s and CPM’s):
  • United States: 10 percent
  • European Nations: 75 percent
• Percentage of countries with lower infant mortality rates than the US in which midwives are principal birth attendants: 100 percent
• Average cost of a midwife-attendant birth in the US: $1,200
• Average cost of a physician-attended vaginal birth in the US: $4,200
• Health care cost savings obtainable by using midwifery care for 75 percent of pregnancies in the US: $8.5 BILLION per year
• Cost per year of using routine electronic fetal monitoring during every childbirth: $750 million
• Number of well-constructed scientific studies in which routine electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) during every birth has been proven more effective than the simple stethoscope to monitor the fetal heart: zero
• Health care cost savings obtainable by eliminating the routine use of electronic fetal monitoring in every birth: $675 per year
• US C-section rate: 1965: 5 percent, 2004: 29.1 percent, 2007: 33.3 percent
• Cesarean section rate targeted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): 12 percent
• The eighteen industrialized nations and states with lower C-section rates than the US: Czech Republic, Japan, Hungary, Netherlands, England and Wales, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Scotland, Bavaria, Australia, Canada.
• Percentage of women in the US with C-sections who undergo repeat c-sections today: 91 percent
• Ratio of women dying from C-section to women dying from vaginal birth: 4 to 1
• Average cost of a C-section birth: $7,826
• Health care cost savings obtainable by bringing the US C-section rare into compliance with recommendation from WHO and the federal Department of Health and Human Services: $1.5 billion a year

Source: Born in the USA by Marsden Wagner,M.D. , 2006

"Ms. Turtle"

Jaz was sitting on the side of the bucket and fell in. Then her butt was stuck when she tried to get out. So she announced "Look! I'm a Turtle!!" What a weirdo!

(((Chelsea)))

Do you see this? Londyn has some little blond curls!!!! Thought you would like to see :P

Dangers of Hospital Birth

Why Birthing in a Hospital Causes More Problems
Than It Solves for Normal Birth

by Ronnie Falcão, LM MS

There's a saying that birth is as safe as life gets. Sometimes birth can become dangerous for the baby or, very rarely, for the mother. This is when hospital-based maternity care really shines, and we're able to save mothers and babies who might have died a hundred years ago. Thank goodness that there are skilled surgeons who can come to the rescue when truly necessary.

There's also a saying that when you've got a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail. So it is that for hospital-based birth attendants, it is easy to become accustomed to treating every birth as a disaster waiting to happen. Many obstetricians have lost touch with the possibility of normal birth, so much so that even a pitocin induction with an epidural, fetal scalp electrode and vacuum extraction is called a "natural birth". Some hospital staff seem offended by the idea of minimizing interventions, as if preferring not to have a needle the size of a house nail inserted near your spine is the same as declining to have a second piece of Aunt Sally's Fruit Cake. Sadly, some of today’s younger doctors may never even have seen a truly physiological labor and birth—a birth completely without medical intervention.

This is how the saving grace of the hospital can become the scourging disgrace of maternity care. In their rush to prevent problems that aren't happening, hospital personnel may aggressively push procedures and drugs that can actually cause problems. Pitocin can cause uterine contractions that are so strong that they stress the baby and cause fetal distress. [1] IV narcotic drugs affect the baby so strongly that the baby may not breathe at birth [2] ; there is even a specific drug that is used to counteract the narcotics to help these drugged babies to breathe . [3] There is considerable debate as to how epidurals affect the progress of labor, but they certainly affect a woman's ability to get into a squat, which opens the pelvic plane by 20-30%; anyone can understand that this could affect the possibility of the baby's fitting through the pelvis. Epidurals can lower the mother's blood pressure so that the baby isn't getting enough oxygen through the placenta; this can cause fetal distress and the need for an emergency c-section to rescue the baby . [4]

In addition to the specific dangers of individual obstetric interventions, hospital births suffer the effects of any form of institutionalized care. Perhaps the best-known risk of hospital birth is hospital-acquired infections. Those most susceptible to hospital-acquired infections are those with compromised immune systems, such as newborns. In particular, babies are born with sterile skin and gut that are supposed to be colonized by direct contact with the mother's skin flora. If antibiotic-resistant hospital germs colonize the baby's skin and gut instead, the baby is at high risk of becoming very sick from infections that are very difficult to treat. The overall infection rate for babies born in the hospital is four times that of babies born at home [5], and these infections are more likely to be antibiotic-resistant.

More people die every year from hospital-acquired infections (90,000) [6] than from all accidental deaths (70,000), including motor vehicle crashes, fires, burns, falls, drownings, and poisonings. An additional 98,000 people die each year from general medical error . [7]

Another obvious risk of institutionalized care arises from the piecemeal nature of the care. Because there are so many different kinds of personnel performing so many different procedures, there is a lot of potential for miscommunication about critical matters. In an astoundingly progressive admission of institutional shortcomings, Beth Israel Hospital published a paper [8] about a tragic miscommunication that resulted in a baby's death. To their great credit, instead of covering up this horrible mistake, they used it as a wake-up call to revise their protocols, in an attempt to reduce miscommunication and increase safety. Unfortunately, other hospitals are slow to adopt the reforms of Beth Israel Hospital.

One of the most dangerous aspects of hospital care is that those providing most of the direct care (i.e. the nurses) are hierarchically subservient to those managing the care from a distance (i.e. the doctors). This kind of a power structure can prevent knowledgeable nurses from mitigating the potentially dangerous actions of the doctors.

Many people feel that the hospital must be the safest place to birth because of all the equipment they have. Well, the equipment is only as good as the people using it. In many hospitals, there are not enough Registered Nurses to cover all the patients, so they use Medical Technicians, who are trained to perform procedures but not necessarily trained to interpret fetal heart tracings. Most labors start at night, and women birthing second or subsequent babies often birth during the night. This is the time when the senior staff are home sleeping in their beds, because their seniority allows them to opt for the more desirable daytime shifts. A recent study confirmed that outcomes at births are worse during the night, because even the most sophisticated equipment is useless in the wrong hands . [9]

(For the record, many homebirth midwives now carry equipment that is as sophisticated as that in most hospital birth rooms. This includes continuous electronic fetal monitors and equipment for performing neonatal resuscitation if necessary.)

Institutionalized care also suffers from the economic pressures of running an efficient organization, regardless of how this might interfere with the normal process of labor and birth.

Sometimes doctors recommend pitocin without true medical necessity, simply to hasten the birth. This may be due to a need to free up a birth room to make room for other patients, or because the doctor has other responsibilities elsewhere. Stimulating labor artificially overrides the baby's ability to space out the contractions if the labor is too stressful. This increases the risk of fetal distress.

Hospital staff have a strong bias towards confining the laboring woman to the bed and requiring her to push in a reclining position. This often puts the baby's weight on the placenta or umbilical cord, possibly restricting the baby's supply of oxygenated blood from the placenta. In contrast, upright positions put the baby's weight downward, towards the open cervix and away from the placenta and umbilical cord, reducing or eliminating fetal distress caused by cord compression.

A rush to clamp and cut the umbilical cord within seconds after birth is one of the most dangerous hospital practices. This premature severance of the umbilical cord cuts the flow of oxygenated blood to the baby before the baby has established the lungs as the source of oxygen. Premature cord clamping also deprives the baby of the blood that would naturally fill the pulmonary vasculature as it expands in the minutes immediately after the birth. This practice is documented to increase the risks of neonatal hypoxia, hypovolemia, and anemia, thus increasing the need for blood transfusions. [10]

There is some very new research showing that placental tissue itself may be a rich source of pluripotent stem cells, in addition to the blood stem cells in blood drawn from the umbilical cord. [11] We do not yet know whether premature cutting of the umbilical cord halts the migration of pluripotent stem cells from the placental tissue into the baby's body to repair damage from even minor birth trauma.

Perhaps the most egregious and unnecessary interference with the normal birth sequence is the separation of mother and baby immediately after birth. Even a ten-minute separation is too long during this critical first hour after birth - it prevents the natural nipple stimulation that increases the mother's oxytocin to contract the uterus and prevent a postpartum hemorrhage.[12] Instead of baby-provided nipple stimulation, hospitals are now routinely using synthetic oxytocin by IV or injection after the birth to control bleeding.

Similarly, early cuddling of mother and baby stimulates oxytocin production in the newborn, thus raising the baby's body temperature to help with the adaptation to the extrauterine environment. The mother's body is the best warmer for the newborn. [13]

Because different personnel are involved in providing piecemeal care for mothers and babies, providers do not always see how their actions in one area may cause problems in another area. For example, because obstetricians are not involved in breastfeeding issues, they may not realize that cutting an episiotomy hampers a woman's ability to sit comfortably in order to nurse her baby. Likewise, the pediatricians also are not involved in breastfeeding, so they may not realize that separating the mother and baby right after the birth in order to do a routine newborn exam also interferes with breastfeeding. Nursery nurses often do not seem to appreciate the importance of minimizing the separation of mother and baby and thus also unwittingly interfere with breastfeeding. They tend to ignore the World Health Organization's recommendations to delay initial bathing of the baby until at least six hours after the birth, even though bathing causes the baby's temperature to drop so dangerously low that they do not return the baby to the mother for an hour or more. [14] [15]

I emphasize the hazards to the breastfeeding relationship because breastfeeding is so vital to a newborn's well-being, reducing infant mortality by 20%. [16] This is a huge health benefit, and hospitals should be taking the lead in tailoring their routines to support breastfeeding. But because the functions of caring for mother and baby are separated into the roles of maternity nurses (who care for the mothers) and nursery nurses (who care for the babies), sometimes the mother and baby are also physically separated. Most of the time, there are no lactation consultants in the hospital - they are often only available during weekday business hours. But babies need to be fed around the clock, and if a Lactation Consultant isn't available to help a struggling mother/baby pair, it might become necessary to feed the baby artificial breastmilk with a bottle, which further interferes with successful breastfeeding.

Because the entire model of hospital birth is based on the birth as a medical procedure, hospital staff seem to miss the fact that they are interfering in a delicate time in a new baby's life. Perinatal psychologists describe the first hour after birth as the "critical period", during which the baby will learn how to learn and whether or not it is safe to relax and to trust the outer world. This has tremendous implications for mental health and stress-related disorders. [17]

There was a time when cesareans were acknowledged to be a risky surgery reserved to save the life of the mother or baby. Now even cesarean surgery has become almost routine. Some obstetricians and hospital administrators are advocating for a 100% cesarean rate as a solution to liability and scheduling problems that are inherent in providing maternity care. [18] Unfortunately, cesarean surgeries increase risks for the mother and for this baby. They also increase the risk for subsequent pregnancies, with higher rates of placenta previa and placenta accreta, and small but non-zero risk that a pre-labor uterine rupture could result in the baby's or even the mother's death.

When someone needs to be in the hospital and needs to be receiving medical treatment for a life-threatening condition, the risk-benefit tradeoff comes in heavily on the side of benefit.

But for women who are hoping to have a drug-free birth, it makes no sense to expose themselves to the infection risks associated with simply being in the hospital. Most people know that it is unwise to take a newborn baby out and about in public because of the risk of exposing the baby even to ordinary germs. It is even a worse idea to expose the baby to the antibiotic-resistant strains of germs commonly found in hospitals.

When a woman planning a homebirth needs medical care and care is transferred to a hospital-based provider, the phrase "failed homebirth" is often written in her chart, even if she goes on to have an outcome that is better than if she had started out in the hospital. I would like to propose the concept of a “failed hospital birth” as any birth where hospital procedures specifically cause more problems than they solve. When you consider hospital infection rates, surgical complications, and the damage to the breastfeeding relationship caused by routine separation of mother and baby, we might find that close to 95% of planned hospital births are failed hospital births. They failed to support the mother in an empowering birth experience to better prepare her for motherhood, and they failed to satisfy the baby's overwhelming need and desire to enter and adapt to the outside world as nature intended.

Our society has an obligation to improve maternity care services as much as possible. Consider that the countries with the safest maternity care rely on midwives as the guardians of normal birth, reserving risky medical procedures for cases of true need. "In The five European countries with the lowest infant mortality rates, midwives preside at more than 70 percent of all births. More than half of all Dutch babies are born at home with midwives in attendance, and Holland's maternal and infant mortality rates are far lower than in the United States..." [19] The United States needs to return to a model of midwives as the default maternity care providers, reserving the surgical specialists for the highest-risk patients. We need to educate pregnant women so that they understand that the choices they make about drugs during labor affect their baby, just like the choices they make about drugs during pregnancy. We need to offer women realistic pain relief alternatives to dangerous pharmaceuticals; warm water immersion during labor provides risk-free pain relief that many women find as satisfactory as an epidural. (Mothers who are uncomfortable with the idea of waterbirth can easily leave the tub to give birth "on land", while still deriving tremendous comfort and safety benefits of laboring in water.) Hospitals need to develop new routines that protect mother-baby bonding and the breastfeeding relationship as if they are a matter of life and death, because they are.

Obstetricians would do well to practice according to the wisdom contained in the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This means supporting healthy women with normal pregnancies in birthing at home if they choose and encouraging women planning hospital births to work with them to minimize interventions that turn normal births into risky medical procedures.

[For references, see gentlebirth.org/original or e-mail midwife@gentlebirth.org]

_______________________________
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, is a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, California. 650-961-9728

1) Oxytocin for labor induction.
Stubbs TM.
Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2000 Sep;43(3):489-94.

2) Neonatal Resuscitation Textbook from the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, p. 7-3, "Narcotics given to the mother to relieve pain associated with labor commonly inhibit respiratory drive and activity in the newborn."

3) Neonatal Resuscitation Textbook from the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, p. 7-3, "In such cases, administration of naloxone (a narcotic antagonist) to the newborn will reverse the effect of narcotics on the baby."

4) A comparison of the hemodynamic effects of paracervical block and epidural anesthesia for labor analgesia.
Manninen T, Aantaa R, Salonen M, Pirhonen J, Palo P.
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2000 Apr;44(4):441-5.

5) Outcome of elective home births: A series of 1146 cases.
Mehl–Madrona, L. E., Peterson, G., et al.
J. Reproductive Med., 1977 (5), 281–290.

6) http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/healthDis.html

7) http://www.cdc.gov/washington/overview/patntsaf.htm

8) A 38-year-old woman with fetal loss and hysterectomy.
Sachs BP.
JAMA. 2005 Aug 17;294(7):833-40. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16106009&query_hl=112&itool=pubmed_docsum
Articles at:
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2005/08/17/a_babys_death_prompts_reforms_in_care/
http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/Pregnancy/tb/1559
http://www.rmf.harvard.edu/risklibrary/cases/r_dec2001news-C-TeamworkFlaws-incP.asp

9) Time of birth and the risk of neonatal death.
Gould JB, Qin C, Chavez G.
Obstet Gynecol. 2005 Aug;106(2):352-8.

10) Neonatal transitional physiology: a new paradigm.
Mercer JS, Skovgaard RL.
J Perinat Neonatal Nurs 2002 Mar;15(4):56-7

11) Stem Cell Characteristics of Amniotic Epithelial Cells.
Miki T, Lehmann T, Cai H, Stolz DB, Strom SC.
Stem Cells. 2005 Aug 9

12) MISSING

13) Randomised study of skin-to-skin versus incubator care for rewarming low-risk hypothermic neonates.
Christensson K, Bhat GJ, Amadi BC, Eriksson B, Hojer B.
Lancet. 1998 Oct 3;352(9134):1115.

14) THERMAL PROTECTION OF THE NEWBORN: A SUMMARY GUIDE from the WHO

15) The effect of bather and location of first bath on maintaining thermal stability in newborns.
Medves JM, O'Brien B.
J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2004 Mar-Apr;33(2):175-82.

16) Breastfeeding and the risk of postneonatal death in the United States.
Chen A, Rogan WJ.
Pediatrics. 2004 May;113(5):e435-9.

There's a newish book, "Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding" by Mary Kroeger

17) This statement is a summary of a number of different books, papers, etc. The two key books for someone interested in this topic are:
"The Magical Child" by Joseph Chilton Pierce
"The Scientification of Love" by Michel Odent, MD
There's a group of psychiatrists dedicated to the topic:
Association for Pre- & Perinatal Psychology and Health
http://www.birthpsychology.com/
Summary of key points:
http://www.birthpsychology.com/violence/odent1.html
http://www.birthpsychology.com/primalhealth/primal6.html
This last article contains numerous additional research references.

18) Who is responsible for the rising caesarean section rate?
Usha Kiran TS, Jayawickrama NS.
J Obstet Gynaecol. 2002 Jul;22(4):363-5.

http://forums.obgyn.net/forums/ob-gyn-l/OBGYNL.0006/0219.html

Phelan, J. P. (1996, Nov.). Rendering unto Caesar cesarean decisions. OBG Management.

Cesareans: Are they really a safe option? by Henci Goer

Bruce Flamm: "I have heard some doctors say that all women should have babies by C-section, that vaginal births are archaic. " from Are Women Having Too Many C-sections?

19) Midwives Still Hassled by Medical Establishment," Caroline Hall Otis, Utne Reader, Nov./Dec. 1990, pp. 32-34

The Doctors *show*

Has anyone seen this yet? I watched today's and yesterday's show. Yesterday was about the Gardasil vaccine...I won't even go there. Today was about homebirth vs. hospital birth. But more like your baby will die or you will die in a homebirth or birth center scenario. Did anyone notice Dr. Bill Sears who seems to be for homebirth in low-risk pregnancies did not get to speak today? Or the lady who was there to talk about her wonderful homebirth experience and only had maybe 20secs to talk about it and when she started naming off book resources that she read the ob cut her off? (wow that was one long sentence):P Obviously the OB is going to willingly pass out the "death card" it's their job. If they didn't where would there income come from???Other than swabbing women's crotches. lol So I think for the next several wednesdays or until I run out of info. I will post some info about pregnancy/childbirth. I really don't care if anyone choses a hospital over home, I just wish ppl would educate themselves before they decide. I had to live and learn. My info may only help couple of ppl but at least it would help someone. We will see..I guess. :)
I'll post an article later when I have time to myself!

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

We made this yesterday and had it for supper last night. It was delicious!!! So simple too since it was all crock pot. I'll post the original recipe and then **note what I changed to our preference.

3 large carrots - cut into 1/2 inch slices
4 celery stalks, chopped
1large onion
1/2tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1tbsp parsley
kosher salt or sea salt to taste
1lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast
1lb of boneless, skinless chicken thigh
3cups of low-sodium chicken broth
2cups of water
1 (9oz) package refrigerated linguine
Combine all ingredients, except linguine, in a slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8hours. One half hour before serving, remove chicken. Shred chicken into bite-sized pieces and return to pot. Cook 30 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

** We changed some things for our personal taste. Only used 1/4 of a medium onion, only 2 lg. skinless boneless chicken breast, "Rachael Ray" chk broth I don't know if it was low sodium or not, 12oz of dried homemade amish noodles. We cooked on high for about 6/7 hours and then added noodles and shredded chicken...then cook for about 45 more minutes stirring once in a while so noodles didn't stick to the sides.

It looked more like just noodles w/ veggies and chicken...so we decided to make some mashed potatoes and it was awesome!
If you try it let me know what you think!

BOoNiE GOoNieS

Weirdos!! That's about all I can say and in the nicest way. lol! We went to the Boone Pufferbilly Day Parade yesterday morning. Well the girls and I did, Phil was working as usual. So, that means we walked ....a mile...one way.... to downtown boone. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but my legs were feeling it by the time we reached home. I've been walking a mile everyday, so if I hadn't been doing that I would've passed out I'm sure.
I swear everyone and their dog smokes in this town. I had at least 7 people standing near by smoking I was going to move but everyone else appeared to be smoking too! Worst thing is they all had little kids with them (under age 4). Even as a former smoker I think that is absolutely crazy!!!Selfish at the least.
Last night we went out to the fairgrounds and Jaz road a couple rides and then we went home. People there were just WEEEEIIRRRRDDDDDD. Maybe a few "normal" ones but that's about it.
Today - Phil just got done making Jaz a "Robot" costume out of boxes...maybe I'll post pics later! haha! The rest of the day we'll likely just relax on our only day off...put some things on craigslist and play outside. My favorite weather(fall type)!!!! This week we're having soup a LOT! TOday chili and homemade chk noodle...yummm!!

Where do I start?!

This post might be just a little reminder for me to keep me on top of things, so it may bore you. I have such a ginormous to do list, I don't even know where to start, not a clue. It's an exciting list though! Something I'm anxious to get started just need a little "moo-la" $$ and kid free time. We decided to put our house on the market as soon as we can get it in tip top shape. Then head over to Ames and rent there while we try to find a GOOD job for Phil closer to home, something he will really enjoy and put our students loans to good use!No point in wasting good talent. Then we'll go from there! So it might take a year and a half or so to do this but surely the holidays will make the time fly. I hope!! Along with teaching Jaz some preschool which doesn't take up a whole lot of time, just another thing I have to put a little thought into. And trying to lose the weight which does take time and a lot of thought. lol I've been good though...eating better, walking everyday, playing basketball w/ phil few times a week, and the dreadful sit ups 'n stuff. yuck.
So here's a * note to self* things that need done!

Living Rm- new paint on walls, shampoo carpet(hope it doesn't fall apart), new curtains, new outlet covers.
Jazmyn's Rm - Paint closet doors/put back up, outlet covers, shampoo carpet
Hallway - Paint walls, take out all the floor tacks the stupid carpet guys put in front of all our doorways!ouch! shampoo carpet
Bathroom - PAINT Walls, Window trim, & shelves.. install vent, re grout any tile, new outlet covers
My Bdrm - Paint walls & closet , shampoo carpets , new outlet covers
Kitchen - Touch up paint, repaint door, outlet covers, paint baseboard and put it ON, tile under fridge and repair broken tiles/re grout,
Outer hallway - clear out junk, repaint, clean carpet
Basement - sort through keep & trash, haul all the trash away, scrub any mold left by the flooding ugh, die from mold poisoning(jk...sorta:-S)
Garage - Trash about all that too (flooded) scrub garage as well, fix the bad dry wall
Last but First on the list - Outside - get $$ for new siding, do little landscaping, finish fence and playhouse, de-weed driveway
SO I hope Phil hasn't read this as he is probably on the other side of the world by now.
If anyone else just read that...sorry that you did! It was long and dreadful. I hope I didn't leave anything out , the list is long enough!!

Kids say the funniest things!

Sunday or maybe it was Monday afternoon Phil, Jaz, & I were hanging out in the living room(L was sleeping). Jazmyn was peeking out the window watching "keb" aka FRED(70yr old man) swimming in the pool. It's a pretty routine thing for her to be spying on him, since he always has to have his afternoon swim. She will usually wave or say "Hi KEB!!!" of course window is usually closed! Well sunday/monday the window was open and "Keb" is swimming in his pool. She sits there for a couple of minutes just watching him, then out of nowhere she says, " He SURE is CUTE!!" hahaha! Phil and I just looked at each other we couldn't help but laugh. I just hope Fred didn't hear her say that..lol!!! Probably not since he always has in earplugs but ya never know!I've been laughing about it ever since. Well "keb" took down the pool today it's too chilly to swim...so Jaz will just have to watch out for him through the other window raking his leaves this fall. Speaking of fall, I'm in the mood for pumpkin pie. Yum! I might have to make some tonight :P

Some Progress.....

It could be lots better but I'm just bad/lazy about figuring out how to organize and store stuff. Especially when I won't buy anything unnecessary until we are closer to our debt free goal. Which has been slacking since we have sold the rodeo. It took the guy a MONTH to get us the money after initially writing a back check and kept lying to us about having the money each week!! ugh! I thought I would be able to trust him since he was a Bishop of a local church! What's the world coming to? So now it's said and done we're getting back to our strict strict budget!
Anyways enough ranting....here's Jazmyn's closet. I also did the computer desk but it's not much better. I don't know where to put everything!!(cd's, photo albums...) I skipped the bathroom painting for now...I have no rollers for my paint thingy. :)

Fearless!!

That would be describing Jazmyn and Londyn taking baths!! They both LOVE water! I have a feeling they will be little fish when they get older. I use to be when I was a kid and not so self conscious about my body. So was my father... I remember stories he told about racing at the keo pool and he would swim (the long way) up and back without taking a breath! I wasn't that good, though. I miss the swimming pool, maybe that will be another goal of mine(working on self image). I have yet to let Londyn go swimming in a pool...only the bathtub. She is so crazy, I don't think I could keep up.
Jazmyn 12 months @ Aunt Jodee's lil' pool....can you imagine Londyn is worse than that!!

Alright, off to bed....company coming for the weekend I need to be able to get up early to tidy up the house...so it can become a mess all over again! Doesn't make sense does it???

Awwww....

Londyn started taking steps! Well, she only gets one little step then she dives into us. I can't believe it, Jazmyn was 12months when she started taking steps and not until like 14months before she was walking all over. I guess Londyn just feels the need to keep up with her big sister! She's also climbing on everything her stubby little legs can reach. :(

Tada!

I finished the kitchen late last night and it was so nice to wake up this morning to a clean kitchen. All the clutter made it's way to the basement packed into boxes, so next time we move(hopefully sooner than later) I get the privilege to go through it all again. I just needed it all out of site! I'm the type of person who normally throws everything away just because I get tired of looking at it, but Phil's a little bit the opposite so I put my desire to trash everything aside this time. lol! Next project will be bathroom it needs painted..bad!!

Challenge Anyone???

Not like a competition type challenge... I'm talking about more of a self help type challenge :) Saturday morning I was online looking for tips on organizing 'n such and thought maybe if I held myself accountable on here, it would get done!!!! I posted the web page at the bottom. : ) So feel free to join me on this declutter the house adventure. I'm going to post before and after pictures, so everyone can see the progress...especially myself! It's easy to get caught up in daily routines and I tend to ignore the "weekly" chores. Do you?! Or am I all alone! LOL! I'll just post one room at a time, it's just stuff that piles up only in certain places. ...such as corner counter in kitchen, top of fridge, girls closet, etc. All weekend we take it easy and really do a whole lot of nothing except enjoy our very little family time! I'm sure some of you can relate, so when Monday rolls around you wonder if you missed the tornado that went through your house...maybe while you were sleeping?! So here goes nothing :-S BTW, I'm starting in the kitchen it's been neglected too long!
http://www.organizedhome.com
Look to see what your clutter personality says about you! I'm both deferrer and perfectionist.
http://www.organizedhome.com/clutterer-within-whats-your-clutter-personality

WHOOPS!

Okay, well Phil puts ME... yeah ME.. in charge of cutting his hair. Let's just say we've had better ...umm... hair days. So I was cutting his hair last night and as usual I start off with some stupid look, just for fun. Last night was "Mohawk" night. hahahaha!!!! Then I set the clippers on the bathroom counter, because Londyn was crawling into the room. Jazmyn just happen to get tangled up in the cord and the clippers dropped on the floor...and they broke!!!!!!!!! Phil was not so happy. :o)

I'm back.......

So, it's only been like 2 months since I've blogged. I don't see that as a long time at all, but all you in blog world waiting to read my next fascinating thoughts might be getting a little antsy. Speaking of antsy, that just reminded me of something funny that a very smart little boy once said, so I must share. One day this little boy's father said, "Hey, Anthony what are you eating?!" He replied, " I'm Anthony, I eat ants!" His smart little 2 yr old brain put together the relation in spelling between "Anthony" and "ants". So, since the word ant is found in his name, it must mean he is suppose to eat ants. Okay, well if you didn't find that funny, you really just have to know the kid.
Anyways, I have a few things I think I can write about in the next few days....we will see if it happens. I just thought I'd better write something down to feed those blog addicts and give them their "Traci fix". LOL! I know what addiction is like, only mine is chocolate. "Hello everyone, my name is Traci and I am addicted to chocolate. " All other addicts reply, " Hi Traci."
-The End-

what a week...

It's been a long one and it's not over until 5:30 tonight when Phil gets home from his new second job! We're working on becoming debt free, Dave Ramsey style! We've calculated our finances and it should be all paid off (including house) in less than five years! That's going "gazelle" crazy and paying stuff off left and right. We have put ourselves on a very tight spending budget, so that means no more "just for fun" family visits. Sorry guys! It won't last forever though, just until everything but the house is paid off(2/3yrs). As D.R .would say "live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else." It will be so worth it in the end.
So, that is partially why it's been such a long week. We have added hours to Phil's work schedule, so our 8 o'clock supper will need some getting use to! Along with the kids adjusting to the MORE mom time and I thought being here 24/7 it was impossible to have more mom time. lol! It somewhat reminds me of when Phil was working in Cedar Rapids during the week and traveling home to Boone on the weekends! Only it's not just Jaz and I (old preg. self) anymore! We have Miss Londyn here to keep us on our toes too! She's crawling, crying, teething, chewing, sleeping, playing, eating, pooping, coughing, crying, drooling, snotty, crying a lot these days :-) Those darn teeth won't budge either! She had an opening in her gums the past couple days, I was so excited! Then I checked this morning and it had closed back up :( Oh well!

Anyways, L is at her crying,eating, sleeping phase...better go!