Adventures with My Monkeys

Global Reading Project

2016-08-23T10:03:00.000-06:00

We participated in a global reading challenge based on the book Give Your Child the World. My children will help me answer some questions about us to participate in the global link up. To learn more about other families that participated go check out the link up!

This photo was taken a year ago a couple of days after my husband had his PhD thesis defense. This was taken in Oregon.

1. Tell us about your family.
My husband and I have been married for 10 years. We have 3 children (and 3 angel babies). My oldest son is 8, middle son is 5, and daughter is 2 1/2. My husband received his PhD a year ago and because of his education we left our home in Utah and moved to Oregon for him to attend school. He received a job in Oklahoma and this is where we're settling our family!

2. Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We have lived in Oklahoma for almost a year. It's green and FLAT here. We can't see any mountains or hills really-the sky looks bigger than I've ever seen it anywhere else. There is a lot of grass and many trees. We live in a young neighborhood (they're still building houses here) so most of the trees right around our house are less than 8 years old. We can see the huge Devon tower when we pull out on the road near our house. We live very near to a middle school and high school on the same grounds but the children in our neighborhood are bused quite a ways away to school (we homeschool).

3. What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
It's very flat. Several people I know knew someone that died in the Oklahoma City bombing or have a story related to that very horrible day. The people here are very friendly. We like fried food a lot and many of the people say y'all. I was surprised that not as many people as I thought had accents though some do and some are very thick. It's very humid here which is nice in the spring and fall. The wind rarely stops blowing year round. It's very hot in the summer (over 100 many days) with 60-80% humidity. We are so blessed to have air conditioning here. We didn't in Oregon and our house frequently was over 90 degrees inside with 65% humidity which made it very hard to cook dinner. We have very violent storms here. We haven't seen any tornadoes, except on TV, but we have watched several storms very close. Tornadoes are most likely in April and May and October here but can happen any time during the year. They also frequently happen in the afternoon but can occur at any time of the day or night. Our National Weather Service (we did a tour of their facilities at University of Oklahoma last month) is really good about watching the storms and the weathermen watch very closely. The storm chasers (yes they really are real!) follow the storms as safely as they can but mother nature is unpredictable and occasionally some are in grave danger or lose their lives chasing the storms. When there's a storm all TV will be interrupted and all the major channels will have broadcasts that look like sporting events following the storms. They go back and forth between radar and the storm chaser's images and the images after the storm hits. Sometimes the sounds of the winds here are very scary and keep my children up at night or wake them up. We have very violent thunder storms and sometimes the thunder shakes our house. In the winter there are crazy ice storms that knock the power out for sometimes days or weeks at a time. This winter we lost power for almost 2 days when we had caught a stomach illness and I had to move all of our food out of our refrigerator to try to save it and bury it in the ice as best as I could. We now have a generator to keep our refrigerator running when we lose power. Not too far from my house (about 15 minutes away) one suburb area lost power for a month. Okies (as people from Oklahoma call themselves) have at least some amount of disaster preparedness down better than we've seen elsewhere. Many people (but not all) have storm shelters. We don't have basements here. If you don't have a storm shelter or a basement or the rain coming down would flood your storm shelter and you have tornado sirens going you take cover in a bathtub in the middle of your home (preferably holding a mattress over you) or hold on to your toilet because in a bad tornado often all that will remain is the cement pad that your house was on and your tub and toilet.

4. What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
We speak English here but there is an accent that many people have. People will say y'all instead of "you all." If they have plans or are preparing to go to the store they will say "We're fixin to go to the store."

5. What are some traditional foods there?
Fried food, chicken wings, barbecue (ribs, pork, chicken, steak), and breads. Wheat is a major crop grown here.

6. Tell us about the climate where you live.
I already talked about it a bit. The weather changes very frequently. We have hot summers and cold winters. The wind is nearly always blowing which with the humidity in the winter makes it feel much colder and in the summer it brings some relief to the heat index (the temperature feels much hotter than it really is because of the humidity). We have very violent storms here because the colder air from the North and Mountain West (in the spring) hits the warmer air from the South and Southeast and creates super storms.

7. What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Most of the kids ride a bus to school. They start Kindergarten in August when they're 5. They go to Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade in elementary school. Several elementary schools gather students to go to a middle school for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Middle schools gather to go to a bigger high school for 9th grade (9th graders are often called freshmen), 10th grade (10th graders are often called sophomores), 11th grade (11th graders are often called juniors), and 12th grade (12th graders are often called seniors). The arrangement was slightly different where I grew up (in Utah)-Kindergarten through 6th would go to elementary school, 7th-9th in junior high, and 10th-12th in high school. We would have one main teacher in elementary school, have different subjects and go to 7 different teachers in junior high, and in high school we had 8 different teachers but would do 4 classes one day and 4 classes another day. Children eat lunch in a cafeteria. Some bring lunch from home but most eat food that is prepared for the children. Children here go to school from mid August through the early part of May with a small break for Christmas and a few days off here and there for different holidays or breaks. They also get a week off in March or April to celebrate spring.

8. What does school look like for your family?
We homeschool. We start out by having breakfast about 9 AM. We start our school day after breakfast by saying the Pledge of Allegiance and reading scripture stories. We then start in to subjects. My children are at different levels in math, reading, spelling, writing, and some other subjects. They learn science together because we focus on one broad topic each year (we've done astronomy, anatomy and physiology, chemistry and physics, and flying creatures in past years)-this year we will be learning about all types of animals and ocean animals. We take a break for lunch after we've got as much done as we can. I alternate between my children teaching their subjects that they work on different levels and one child will be working on something while the other is learning. My youngest colors or plays with math manipulatives through most of school. We finish up work after lunch and then my kids finish their work and play the rest of the day. We work hard Monday-Thursday so Fridays my oldest just has a math test and maybe a couple other things like keyboarding or something to finish up and we relax or go on field trips or go play at the zoo or science museum (we have yearly passes to the zoo and science museum which are about 20 minutes away from our house). We go to school all year with breaks as we need and we take December off for Christmas preparations and celebrations. We do less subjects in the summer but we do school work throughout the year.

This was taken yesterday at the zoo. We're celebrating "Not Back to School Week" this week as a family because the other children have gone back to public school but we are taking a last week to have fun as a family before starting back to school work.

9. Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
We're so new here I don't know about many yet! There are county fairs and rodeos in the late summer. We've enjoyed different traditions in Utah (there was a huge celebration like Independence Day celebrated on July 24th that we celebrated our Mormon pioneer ancestors coming to settle in the area. We also went to visit the beautiful light displays for Christmas including in Salt Lake City at temple square) and Oregon (we loved visiting our church's creche/nativity display every year before Christmas. They would also put on plays for the children about the Biblical account of the nativity. We would also go to the county fair every year and I would enter something I hand knit for judging and receive a prize. Last year my oldest entered a Lego creation at the fair and he won a ribbon and prize). There are different little celebrations in small towns all over Oklahoma but we haven't had the opportunity to learn about them or attend any yet. We did get to go to the next town over to watch fireworks at the park on July 4th (Independence Day). It was a lot of fun-everyone brought their own fireworks that shot up high in the sky and set them off all over in the park (even on the grass and around trees). It's so humid here the risk of fire is apparently very low and by opening the park up I think it keeps the fireworks pretty contained in the area. It's the most amazing display of fireworks I've ever seen.

10. If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
Probably the people! People here are friendly and many are religious or open to those that are very religious. We are a very religious family and it's a huge part of who we are and what we do. In other places people have discriminated against us due to our religion, not allowing us to participate in groups or being associated with us. Here people find out that we're LDS and they're all very open to it and act more like a family toward us because they truly believe that we're all brothers and sisters in Christ.

11. Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
My favorite growing up was Out of the Dust. I never imagined that our family would end up in Oklahoma. I also love the Little House on the Prairie series but it doesn't take place in Oklahoma at all. The plains are all very similar though so I think it's a really neat read to learn more about the vast plains in the center of the United States.

With love,

The Barrett Family

This was taken a year ago outside of our front door on my children's first day of school last October (we had a late start due to moving halfway across the United States)

Marionberry Cobbler Cast Iron Skillet Recipe

2015-07-16T14:23:00.003-06:00

Marrionberries are a special berry that you can find in Oregon that are a cross between raspberries and blackberries. Since we moved to the Pacific Northwest we have learned about new foods and flavors. We tried marrionberry cobbler first at Moe's in Newport, Oregon and decided to try to make some ourselves. It has taken some experimentation but we finally came up with the perfect recipe to use frozen marrionberries (you could try a mix of half blackberries and half raspberries if you can't find marrionberries for the same flavor). If you are using fresh be sure to just coat the bottom of the skillet otherwise you will have overflow issues- 1- 1/2 pints of fresh berries will do the trick.

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Marionberry Cobbler

10 inch cast iron skillet (be sure to oil it first)

Berry part: (adapted from: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/simple-berry-skillet-cobbler)

1 (10-ounce) package frozen marionberries

1/2 c brown sugar (firmly packed)

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cobbler: (from my sister-in-law Pam’s Peach Crisp recipe-doubled)

2 c flour

1 ½ c sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 egg

2/3 c melted butter

Put all cobbler ingredients (except melted butter) in to a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Mix all marionberry ingredients in a bowl. Place berries mixture in cast iron. Put cobbler over top and then pat down gently. Cook in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or even better serve with a scoop of Talenti Caramel Cookie Crunch (trust me on this one!).

How Breastfeeding Has Changed My Life: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 14

2014-07-31T10:00:00.000-06:00

Or How I Became an Unexpected Lactivist

I never expected to be an activist for anything ever. I am quite opinionated but usually not loud outside of talking about them with family and close friends. Breastfeeding changed me. It started with ugly looks from others while I was breastfeeding, conversations with people of my faith thinking that I should be in a back room AND under a cover because while breastfeeding is natural it is "comparable to public sex or urination or defecation." I'm here to tell you this is a bunch of crap. No woman should feel forced to stay home to feed her baby. No woman should feel like she has to pump and give her baby bottles while out and about. No woman should feel forced to wear a hot and sweaty cover over her and her baby no matter the outdoor or indoor temperature. That is a recipe for postpartum depression in many women who are already struggling. I am a survivor of postpartum depression and I still battle it.

Breastfeeding does make some uncomfortable and I fully recognize that. When it's done in a way that isn't showing skin though, it becomes the problem of the starrer not the problem of the nursing mother. Breastfeeding can be done modestly and typically is done modestly by most breastfeeding mothers. The above picture is how I breastfeed in company of others besides my own family, though sometimes in the company of medical professionals or other women who are breastfeeding mothers or who are comfortable with breastfeeding I may show some skin while latching especially if my daughter is especially upset. If you're uncomfortable, look away. People chewing with their mouths open makes me feel really gross inside and uncomfortable so I look away. It's that easy.

Breastfeeding has changed me though, not only do I feel like I should tell people to look away if they're uncomfortable I have participated in the Big Latch On before to make a statement that breastfeeding should be normal and mothers should feel comfortable nursing whenever and wherever. I also approach nursing mothers even though I get the butterflies doing so and thank them for breastfeeding their baby in public. I was approached by a mother in Corvallis 3 years ago, before we moved here, and she thanked me for breastfeeding my baby in Noah's Bagels (now Einsteins). It brought happy tears to my eyes, I thought she was starring thinking it was disgusting I was feeding my baby but she came up with a big smile and told me that it was great I was breastfeeding in public. The way I felt after that event I've carried with me. I try to have the courage to do the same to other breastfeeding mamas. We need to support each other.

I have become a lactivist as well. I haven't had the opportunity to attend a nurse in but I would. I help pass along nurse in information. I do virtual nurse-ins by posting breastfeeding pictures like the one at the beginning of the post. I also show my support by having my Facebook profile picture be a breastfeeding picture from time to time such as this one:

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

This is my current Facebook profile picture (of course chopped in to a square image). On Tuesday evening this photo was reported for nudity.

I have no idea who reported it, whether it was a "friend" or someone who saw my profile and just decided to report this "disgusting" image of me in my porno getup...you know lifting my shirt to expose a white shirt (two shirt method I mentioned a couple days ago) to feed my baby. How dare our photographer take this "disgusting" image of my daughter and I bonding so I had something to remember something so important in my life as feeding my baby with my body. Our society has perverted the very basic God-given reason for breasts that even feeding a baby is seen as nudity or pornography as some. I really wish Facebook would let me know who reported this picture. I would block them immediately for ignorance because I don't need those kind of negative people in my life right now. At the same time it's probably a blessing and I will continue posting breastfeeding images, breastfeeding articles, and maybe someday ignorance will turn in to support. I'm glad they didn't delete it but in my experience they review and review and review and often people will report the image again, this is horrible for a mother that isn't sure that she is doing the right thing yet but they messed with the wrong mama.

Yes I have lost some friends and I've had family members block me from Facebook but I don't care. I want to support others mothers breastfeeding. I don't want ANYONE to feel the shame I was forced to feel at church by being ignored or getting dirty looks for not using the bathroom to feed my baby. The "mother's room" in my old church building was a chair in the bathroom with a curtain around it. I never fed my baby in there. No mother should feel forced to do that or even to HAVE to use a mother's room if they don't want to.

Breastfeeding has changed me. I will continue fighting for breastfeeding mothers' rights and for breastfeeding to become normalized so mothers will feel supported and comfortable to nurse however and wherever they want that they're allowed to be with their baby.

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Sharisse @ Atta Mama-Breastfeeding Has Changed My Life
Krystyna @ Sweet Pea Births-Breastfeeding+AP = Transformation Central
Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-Breastfeeding Made Me, Me
Ashley @ Adventures With My Monkeys-How Breastfeeding Has Changed My Life: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 14
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Danica-Breastfeeding Healed Me, It Made Me

Wordless Wednesday Babywearing: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 13

2014-07-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Lauren @ Hobo Mama-Babywearing While Pregnant
Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Wordless Wednesday Babywearing: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 13
Krystyna @ Sweet Pea Births-Wordless Wednesday: Babywearing
Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-Babywearing and Nine Months Pregnant
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Sophie-Babywearing Wordless Wednesday

Mothering Through Breastfeeding: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 12

2014-07-29T10:00:00.000-06:00

I was recommended a pouch sling like the one in the fist picture. Monkey HATED it!!! I also was recommended to do the cradle position which several babies ended up dying in that position due to positional asphyxiation. I do not recommend that position as a Certified Babywearing Educator but it's funny to look back and see the pictures of Monkey and Kangaroo in there. These are all Kangaroo because Monkey's tiny baby pictures are somewhere else.

When Monkey was 6 weeks I discovered the Sleepy Wrap (now Boba wrap). This opened the door to my love of babywearing, it cured Monkey's colic. Eventually I would end up with multiple stretch wraps by Boba, Boba soft structure carriers and being a Boba ambassador.

When I was pregnant with Kangaroo I started getting in to woven wraps.

When Kangaroo was two I became a Certified Babywearing Educator. I love wearing Roxy, it's our way of life!

Cloth Diapers: Because of all the blowouts from being breastfed I learned about cloth diapers and eventually started making and selling them. Now cloth is our way of life.

I also am fortunate to be able to help other breastfeeding moms through LLL meaning my kids are continually exposed to breastfeeding mamas. Hopefully they will be a difference in the movement to normalize breastfeeding!

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Title: Mothering Through Breastfeeding: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 12
Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-Breastfeeding Gave Me Empathy
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Ada-The Effect of Breastfeeding on Parenting

Milky Friends and Bonds for a Lifetime: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 11

2014-07-28T10:00:00.000-06:00

Katy Rank Lev @ Mommy News & Views-Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival: Favorite Breastfeeding Benefit
Krystyna @ Sweet Pea Births-Extended Breastfeeding: Nursing your baby past the first birthday
Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Milky Friends and Bonds for a Lifetime: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 11
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Danielle-One of The Many Benefits I Love About Full-Term Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding in Public: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 10

2014-07-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/


Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

Another awesome product is an Undercover Mama, similar concept but instead of slits this one attaches to any nursing bra and pulls down when you pull your bra flap down.

I used one of these as well but got one a little too form fitting so it wasn't all that comfortable. I loved it though and still should get another one. I like that they're really long so you don't expose your tummy which makes me feel a lot more comfortable.

Breastfeeding mothers should breastfeed however and wherever they are comfortable. Whether that's using a cover, using two shirts, using a baby carrier (I use the two shirt method while babywearing as well), or just lifting their shirt do what you need to feel comfortable!

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Breastfeeding in Public: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 10
Krystyna @ Sweet Pea Births-Keep Calm and Feed Your Baby
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Elizabeth-Mother’s Rooms Around Utah

Guest Post: Milk Sharing and Helping Another Meet Her Goal: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 9

2014-07-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

My name is Megan and I am a 26 year old mother to an 8 year old son and 7 month old daughter. I am interested in many things, one of which is becoming a midwife.

When I was pregnant with my son, I had every intention of breastfeeding. I was eighteen years old but I knew it was the best option for him. But when he was only five days old I rushed him to the emergency room. He was unresponsive to stimulation and wouldn't latch. He spent three days in intensive care. We found that when he nursed he wasn't receiving anything from me. For the next six months I tried everything recommended to me, yet I remained completely dry. Nearly eight years later I was expecting my daughter, and again my goal was to breastfeed, however I knew I needed answers regarding my troubles with my previous breastfeeding journey. I ended up meeting with an IBCLC and learned that I have IGT.

IGT (insufficient glandular tissue) is a condition in which the breasts do not contain enough glandular tissue and therefor not enough glandular cells responsible for milk production. Based on my history regarding my son and the fact that my breasts had not changed at all at any point of my pregnancy with my daughter, I faced the reality that the chances of successfully breastfeeding my daughter were slim. I took what routes I could (Goat's Rue beginning at thirty-six weeks pregnant, Domperidone, lactation cookies and pumping after her birth) but I also acknowledged that I was not going to be able to supply enough (if anything at all).

It wasn't until after I stocked up on formula that I learned about milk-sharing. I'll admit that at first I was skeptical, and, quite frankly, a bit disgusted. But as is my nature, I didn't shun the idea immediately. Instead, I did a lot of research. My research won me over, and I was on the hunt for donor milk.

I picked up my first donation the day before I ended up delivering my daughter (perfect timing!) and received several one time donations thereafter as well as a couple of donations from a woman I befriended via the private Facebook group for the birth-center I had my daughter at.

My personal breastmilk production ceased at about eight weeks. I could no longer afford the herbs and medications and I was making a maximum of one ounce in a twenty-four hour timeframe. I feared the women who were donating to me would think I wasn't trying hard enough and would therefor not want to donate to me. Not only was I wrong, but I found two long-term donors in my quest to keep my daughter on breastmilk only. One of these donors is Ashley.

Not only is she my daughter's milk donor, but I consider her my friend. We talk about various things completely unrelated to children at all and she's helped me when I was incredibly sick and unable to pick up milk from her by bringing the milk to me and bringing me a care-box.

At the time of this writing my daughter is a little over seven months old and has still only ever touched breastmilk. She's thriving, she's happy, she's incredibly healthy. She is proof that donor milk is beneficial when a mother, for whatever reason, cannot provide breastmilk themselves. And Ashley is proof that when you have an overproduction, whether naturally or by working for it, you can help somebody else out. The gift of liquid gold is one that even when our journey ends, the gift will continue giving, and we will forever be grateful.

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Guest Post: Milk Sharing and Helping Another Meet Her Goal: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 9
Cassandra @ Sweet Pea Families-Helping Others Reach Their Breastfeeding Goals
Krystyna @ Sweet Pea Births-Helping Others
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Claire-Social Media as the New Way to a Support Moms

Non-tradition Support in a Modern World: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 8

2014-07-25T10:00:00.000-06:00

Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Non-tradition Support in a Modern World: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 8
Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-Finding Support Through a Book
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Rachel-The Power of Finding Community

Breastfeeding Goals Then and Now: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 7

2014-07-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival! This post was written as part of the Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about how your breastfeeding goals have changed. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th-31st!

Today will be a more detailed version of how I got to my goals and the difficulties we went through which helped shape my goals. At times it was just a daily thing-just get through the day and go on to tomorrow if we can get through today.

Monkey: When I had Monkey my goals was to breastfeed for 6 months. Right around the time he was born I learned that it was beneficial to breastfeed for at least a year. I set 6 months as a stepping stone. When he couldn't latch at birth I was devastated! I thought that by taking a breastfeeding class in my Maternal and Infant Nutrition course as part of my degree that I would learn everything that I needed to know to be successful but it didn't. I did everything right and he still couldn't latch.

Everyone told me to give up and just pump until I dried up but a nurse said he was tongue tied. The Pediatrician refused to clip it. I hated bonding with the pump. I couldn't feed my baby be ause I had to have my nipples ripped apart by a pump. I wasn't allowed to take one home. I was sent home with formula and at a loss of what I should do other than contact an Ear Nose and Throat doctor the next day that one of the nurses recommended. My parents bought me an Avent Isis hand pump because I NEEDED something and couldn't afford an electric. That first night was miserable. I was pumping almost constantly with absolutely NO result whatsoever. He screamed all night because we had no idea what we were doing. A car ride at 2 AM finally put him to sleep but I don't think any of us got more than an hour total that night.

The next day I called the ENT and they squeezed me in that afternoon. He slept through the clipping with scissors. He latched on to me one time. He nursed for 30 glorious minutes. Hope. He never latched again though. I cried.

My goal became to see an IBCLC the next day and figure out if I could SOMEHOW get a pump. I still had no insurance to cover it. That night, my milk started to come in and Monkey refused formula. I wasn't pumping what he needed though (pumps are not nearly as effective as baby and I've never been able to get much if any colostrum out for my baby to take but fortunately I didn't HAVE to pump from the get-go after Monkey). I pumped 2 hours straight, changing bottles and handing off the couple ounces to Spencer so he could give it to screaming starving Monkey.

The next day I saw an IBCLC and I got a nipple shield and he latched on to the shield. A few weeks in I heard horror stories again about how I would dry up if I didn't wean him off of it. I tried everything. He never was able to wean from that nipple shield. Now I know that he had a lip tie that prevented his mouth from staying open to stay on my nipple. I wish I would have known about them back then. I also wish I would have known about an SNS and donor milk so that I wouldn't have had to put Monkey on formula from the beginning. I wish I wouldn't have had such pushy nurses and a REALLY rude Pediatrician. All I can do with these wishes is try to help new mothers learn about breastfeeding, teach them who to contact for immediate help, and hopefully someday as an IBCLC I can help educate doctors and nurses about breastfeeding (in my experience though they often don't like to listen to someone they don't consider their equal) so that moms and babies don't have to suffer. I wouldn't be surprised if some of Monkey's allergy issues were made worse by giving him formula in the beginning. He also was extremely colicky which I think was due to the ties and his gut health not being so great not getting the colostrum in the beginning.

With Monkey we hit 6 months breastfeeding and I used that stepping stone to get to a year. We made it a year. I decided I wanted to nurse him until he was 18 months. He had other plans and weaned at 14 1/2 months.

Kangaroo: When I was pregnant with Kangaroo I set my sights on 18 months. He had a really rough 8 weeks. He was also tongue tied but it was clipped with scissors within 2 hours of birth. We had a REALLY rocky 8 weeks. At times I just hoped we'd make it through the day. Finally we hit our groove. When he got teeth I was in a lot of pain most of the time. I know now that he also has a lip tie though not as bad as Monkey's. I believe his tongue also reattached and he has had major gagging issues and vomiting because of his oral defensive sensory issues. He's been in Occupational Therapy for it but we plan to get his tongue and lip ties revised with a laser as soon as the insurance allows. Fortunately, I was able to breastfeed him until I got pregnant with Roxy. I started bleeding the day I found out, Mother's Day, so I had to stop breastfeeding him but when the bleeding stopped the next day I decided that he could nurse one more time so we both had good memories of our last session. By the time I helped him finish weaning he was only nursing to go to sleep and not every night. He was 2 +4 months.

Roxy: I have hit the 6 month mark with the little gal. We had a very difficult first 4 months-even more than with the boys. Now my goal is to nurse until she is at least 2 unless she has other plans and we'll just see how it goes afterwards. With her it was just let's make it through this nursing session for many weeks. It took two tongue tie revisions (5 weeks and 3 1/2ish months) and the lip revision she had at 5 weeks and some time afterwards before we hit a groove. I was screaming in pain from weeks 2-5 every time she nursed. I cried much of the time afterwards. I knew it wasn't normal or right but had a hard time getting some doctors to listen so fortunately I knew who to turn to and was super pushy because I refused to give up. She is our last baby. I am trying to savor every moment. Once she reaches 2 I guess we'll see where breastfeeding takes us. Right now I'm just trying to love every single moment with her.

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Katy Rank Lev @ Mommy News & Views-Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival: How Have My Breastfeeding Goals Changed?
Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Breastfeeding Goals Then and Now: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 7
Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-The Evolution of my Breastfeeding Goals
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Jeana-Breastfeeding Goals and Tandem Nursing

Wordless Wednesday Breastfeeding Edition: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 6

2014-07-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

Here are more post by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

The What in my Breastfeeding Journey: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 5

2014-07-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

Boppy: I love my Boppy pillow to help my arms have a little bit of a break!
Nipple Shield: These are thought to be evil but for some babies they are necessary. I would pick using one any day over not being able to nurse at all due to latch issues that can't be resolved otherwise.
Breastfeeding Box: I will talk about this in a minute!
Lactation Cookies and tea for growth spurts: I will talk about these in a minute!
Leftovers, frozen meals, and easy prep meals: I HIGHLY recommend freezing some meals in advance. Use a friend or neighbor or someone at church's freezer if you need to but get some meals frozen that you can toss in the oven or crock pot especially in the first 6-8 weeks. If you can use a few a week you can spread them out further and be sure to double to make it a little easier on your wallet so you're preparing one recipe for that night while you're expecting and then freeze the doubled part.
Nursing bras
Nursing pads especially cloth ones. I really love Bamboobies.
Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter: This was an absolute must with Roxy. I tried lanolin in the past but I tried this for Roxy and I'm SO glad I did. All of my cracks that I got were healed very quickly and it smells really yummy.
Tongue tie revisions: for my babies these were a must and I recommend everyone learning a bit about how to identify them. This blog is by Roxy's doctor and it's very informative.
IBCLC: A necessary part of my tool belt. Find one as well as your local LLL information before baby arrives so that you can contact them IMMEDIATELY if you need some help.
Speech therapist: For Roxy this professional was a must. She needed a lot of extra help because of her strong gag reflex. She is orally defensive like Korver and we use a tool like the Z-vibe to help desensitize her mouth using various z-vibe tips. She really enjoys this. Some people find electric toothbrushes do similar things but for sure use these tools ONLY under the advice of an actual medical professional which I am not :).
Water bottle: Keep one of these handy all the time. I just got a Hydroflask (This is an affiliate link-purchasing through this link gives a small portion of the sale to me to help support buying homeschooling books for my children, thanks!) and so far I really love it. I've only used it for a couple days but it has kept my water refrigerator temperature all day even when left in a car when it was 70 outside.
Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (again affiliate link-see note in bullet point above): Many moms refer to this as the "Bible" of breastfeeding.
Nursing necklaces: These are just a fun way to keep baby's attention on the breast. There are a lot of them out there. If you want recommendations feel free to comment

Now for a few details.

I love the breastfeeding box put out by 16 Minute Club. I learned about the box from The Mommy Dialogues and decided to order after seeing a box in person at the Portland Big Baby Shower event. They are great and packed with information, full size products that go along with your baby's age, and a bunch of samples and coupons. I really look forward to each box, Roxy does too. These are a couple of items that came in the teething box:

The Appeteether and Drool Cloth were really fun surprises in the box. Ironic though because Roxy is allergic to broccoli :).

Lactation Cookies-I like to have these as a milk boosting treat especially during fussy growth spurt times.

Here is the recipe I use to make mine:

1 C Butter
1 C Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar (dark brown is better because it has molasses)
4 Tbs Water
2 Tbs milled Flax Seed
2 Eggs
1 Tsp vanilla
2 C Flour-1 C wheat 1 C white
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
3 C Oats
1 C Chocolate Chips (ok I add a whole bag...I'll admit that!)
2-4 Tbs Brewer's Yeast
1/2 C-1 C Raw Pumpkin Seeds (the green ones)
1 C Raisins (I like to do 1/2 C Raisins and 1/2 C Pomegranate infused Craisins)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flax seed and water and let sit 3-5 minutes, set aside. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well. Add eggs and mix. Add flax mix and vanilla. Beat well. Sift together flour, brewer's yeast, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the rest. Stir in oats, chips, pumpkin seeds, and raisins, feel free to add other seeds or nuts as you wish. Drop on to baking sheets. Bake 12 minutes.

I love herbal teas now especially yummy ones that I just need to add a little raw local honey to. My two favorite lactation teas are Anna's Naturals which I first heard about from Adventures of Lactating Girl and Bird's and Bees Teas blend which I received a full size tin in one of my 16 Minute Club boxes. Yummy!

Do you have any breastfeeding products that you've enjoyed using?

*I did not receive any compensation to "advertise" any of these products. All affiliate links were noted otherwise I'm just sharing links to awesome products that I enjoyed.*

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Ashley @ Adventures with my MonkeysThe What in my Breastfeeding Journey
Lauren @ Hobo Mama10 favorite products for starting to breastfeed
Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating GirlAn Ode to the My Brest Friend
Krystyna @ Sweet Pea BirthsT op 3 Tools That Helped with Breastfeeding
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is StephanieBreastfeeding Products

My Breastfeeding Mantra: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 4

2014-07-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

Katy Rank Lev @ Mommy News & ViewsBreastfeeding Cafe Carnival: My Breastfeeding Mantra
Ashley @ Adventures with my MonkeysMy Breastfeeding Mantra
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is BridgetFeeding my Child with Love

The Who in my Breastfeeding Journey: Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 3

2014-07-20T10:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival! This post was written as part of the Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about people who have supported your breastfeeding goals. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th-31st!

I have a long list of thank yous for each kid. Writing these posts has brought back memories and emotions and I just wish I could go back and give everyone a huge hug because they all were SO important in our breastfeeding journey!

Monkey: A nurse in the hospital looked in Monkey's mouth when he was a day old and noticed that he had a heart-shaped tongue and told me he was tongue tied and it was the cause of him not being able to latch at all. I had no idea about this or how it could effect breastfeeding but she also tried to get him to suck on her finger and his suck reflex wasn't triggered until she was almost touching his throat. Another nurse told me about LLL and I looked them up when I got home from the hospital and started attending meetings a couple months later. A wonderful ENT that was willing to get Monkey in the day I called helped so Monkey could even attempt to latch. He was clipped with scissors and slept through the procedure. An IBCLC helped by seeing my technique and helping with a nipple shield the next day. Carin was the LLL leader in Layton who originally helped me feel supported. She gave tips for weaning from the shield (never was successful though) and reassured me that I could continue feeding Monkey even with the shield long term. My husband was always there for me though he struggled with the tears and didn't offer the best advice because he was worried about me. I could always feel his love through my struggles. Amy was a great leader who helped me on my journey to become a LLL leader even through losses #2 and #3. My mom was always there to remind me that I could do anything I was determined to accomplish.

Kangaroo: Before Kangaroo arrived, I searched for a new Pediatrician and an important quality was that they could and would clip a tongue tie within a couple hours of birth. Ties are usually genetic and frequently occur in siblings so I waned to be prepared. For this reason I name our old doctor's office as a support. They were able to clip Kangaroo's tie within 2 hours after birth. I also had a great IBCLC in the hospital that taught me the "nipple sandwich" aka "asymmetrical latch" technique and to get a deep latch toward the chin and flip the nipple in very last so it would be way up by the palate forcing a deeper latch. Various moms at LLL meetings and a few other leaders helped support me. When we moved and I was fortunate enough to finally become an official leader I found that even through leading I still felt the love and support from other moms.

Roxy: Roxy has had a crazy journey. I had a lot of help from Lisa (my home birth midwife) but I also got to teach her about posterior tongue ties and lip ties. My doula Katherine was there to talk when I needed it. A great IBCLC named Debbie whom I originally met in local breastfeeding coalition meetings was able to specifically help after Roxy's first revision and taught me a new-to-me position which baby straddles my leg and encouraged laid back breastfeeding. Dr. Ghaheri in Portland revised her tongue and lip ties and revised her tongue tie again when scar tissue restricted her tie because it healed closed. A wonderful home visit nurse named Jan weighed Roxy frequently to let me know that she was gaining weight adequately. A speech therapist helped with suck training. A Pediatrician who is up to date on breastfeeding information and colic helped quite a bit. My training through the Babywearing Institute was a huge help so that I could further meet Roxy's needs which eventually helped her struggles by wearing her constantly. LLL leaders, especially Kelly who had similar LONG term struggles, were helpful to remind me that one day things would "click" and become so much better. All of the moms and babies I see breastfeeding remind me that it is normal and it's ok to breastfeed. Stories online of other moms who struggled that I happen upon help. I love reading breastfeeding research articles and helping other moms through their struggles because it helps me get through the tough times because I know I'm not alone. And of course, Womanly Art of Breastfeeding which has helped me quickly look up things and follow along with ages and stages through my younger 2 (the newest version was released July 2010 and I had the older version with Monkey).

Who has helped you on your breastfeeding journey?

Here are more post by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

My Breastfeeding Story: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 2

2014-07-19T10:00:00.000-06:00

Newborn little Ashley with my Mama

Tell me about your breastfeeding story!

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-The Beginning
Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-My Breastfeeding Story
Lauren @ Hobo Mama-Why it matters that we experience breastfeeding
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Krystyna-My Breastfed Story

The Goals in my Breastfeeding Journey: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 1

2014-07-18T11:32:00.000-06:00

Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-Until...
Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-The Goals in my Breastfeeding Journey: A Breastfeeding Carnival Post Day 1
Amy @ Anktangle-My Goals for Breastfeeding Joel
Timbra @ Bosoms and Babes-On the way to the Finish Line: Breastfeeding Goals
And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Carol-My Breastfeeding Goals

Introducing Baby #3!

2014-07-17T15:17:00.001-06:00

Introducing Roxy!

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

Baby #3 arrived December 31 on her Daddy's 30th birthday. She had a rough start with breastfeeding and things have been CRAZY since her birth so I still haven't even written her birth plan but I wanted to do a quick intro with a few pictures :)!

Blessing Day

Great Cloth Diaper Change

Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/


Photo by Alicia http://unique-u-photography.com/

"But You Went to Public School and You Turned Out Just Fine."

2013-06-07T19:24:00.001-06:00

I know it's been a while since I posted. I've been super busy between just being a mom (especially a homeschooling one :) ), LLL, my babywearing group, becoming a Certified Babywearing Educator, knitting, etc, etc. So bare with me. I'll post when I can :). Today I'd like to start a series of FAQs about homeschooling. These are FAQs that often come up and what my responses are to those. Among these are "Every homeschooler I've ever met has been anti-social." "You went to public school and you turned out just fine." "How will your kids make friends?" "What do you do all day? Sit in a stuffy room and read to your kids?" "How do you teach over all the grade levels?" "You aren't a certified teacher, why do you think you're qualified to teach your children?" "Why the heck are you homeschooling your 4 year old/5 year old already?" "Homeschooling isn't something I could ever do (for x, y, z reason)." Some of these sound really blunt and rude and I've been asked all of those at one point or another phrased in this way and some of course put a lot nicer. We're still learning of course.

I guess I should start out by saying we used to think homeschooling was weird. We didn't ever see doing it and I used to actually be against homeschooling. I received a feeling one day that we should look in to it. I thought about tuning that out but just felt like it was really important to start looking at. My husband had received a similar feeling. I determined this was more than just a feeling but a prompting and something we should take seriously. I started checking out books from the library on homeschooling. I really like the Everything series so that was the first one I ended up reading-The Everything Homeschooling Book.

We had a lot of the same fears a lot of people do but especially the social aspect. This book REALLY opened my eyes. It was simple but full of a lot of information that really helped me on my homeschooling journey. After reading the book I started looking in to local homeschooling groups even though Monkey wasn't even a year old yet. I wanted to learn what I could learn and find out more about homeschooling so we had a solid foundation of information. My husband and I are planners. We like to have a general idea of what's going on and what our budget is. We like to plan years down the road of where we'd like to be, what types of trips (including where) we'd like to go on, where we'll be living, and so on. We have always had discussions about this even before we got married (which I think is the absolute key to a good marriage!). We had planned that I would be a stay at home mom and that kids were really important as well as finishing education. Education is very important to both of us and when I started doing research I found that the public school system isn't what it used to be which leads to the question I'm going to answer in this post today.

"But you went to public school and you turned out just fine."

As a homeschooler I like to just smile at this statement. It's really becoming much easier by the month for me to handle this criticism or the simple question of WHY do you homeschool because for us these are almost one and the same.

My public school days were years ago. Not MANY years ago because I did graduate high school in 2005 but enough years ago that things have changed even with the graduating class a year behind me. I remember taking a stupid test in high school that was supposed to decide if I was allowed to graduate or not and I was very very anxious about this test as I don't do well on standardized tests. I had good grades, was smart, did very well picking up new concepts but only scored a 23 on my ACT test which was super disappointing as I would have had a full-ride scholarship my first year with 1 point higher. Test time came and I was SO anxious. The day after we finished the testing (I believe it was a full week of taking the stupid thing) we found out that it didn't count for graduation but would for sure the next graduating year. EVERYONE had passed the test because the two years prior they had informed the students that the test didn't mean anything to their graduation status so most students just filled in bubbles and handed it in. The standards were set way too low and our class was the one that set the standards for the next graduating class. I believe this was just a Utah thing but I don't know. The point I'm making here is that standards are often set way too low and they just get set lower and lower especially with Common Core. I won't go in to Common Core here but it is something that you should be aware of and when I read actual information from the government on Common Core I was horrified. I have read a lot of interpretations as well but I knew from my experience with the standard test for graduation in Utah that standards are just plain set way low and when you're looking at students all across the country of course they're going to set them to the point that intercity kids can pass and graduate rather than where the Ivy League bound students are.

I was super bored in public school, especially elementary school, and saw way more crap than I needed to see while at school. Most of my subjects were too easy. I could have gone ahead in math but because I didn't have that foundation in elementary school it was too hard to just skip a level when I got to the point I could chose a math class. Honors math was a total joke because my teacher got up in front of the class to teach, a kid in the back was too social, he'd sit down and say do the homework on the syllabus with absolutely no instruction. I got my first C. I was HORRIFIED. I had math nightmares. I spent ALL of my free time in the class room trying to get help on homework that I never was taught at all how to do because the teacher didn't want to compete with a social kid that sat in the back. I dropped that class and went in to regular math and was again bored after a month of catching up. I also saw way more crap and heard way more crap than I ever should have heard. In 4th or 5th grade a boy wrote the F word on my paint shirt. I didn't know what it meant, I'd never heard it, I knew it was bad. That same boy groped me on the playground. I didn't understand but I knew I didn't like it. I heard WAY too much information about sex in Junior High in the hallways, bus, lunchroom, etc. There was no need for me to hear that garbage. It's getting worse too as more and more elementary students are offered condoms and having sexual relationships across the country (I read these headlines and about pregnant 12 and 13 year olds often). Call me a prude or too overprotective but I don't think my kids need to hear a lot of graphic details as a young teen or elementary student they also don't need to be exposed to the foul language I heard all the time.

Public schools could never cater to the level I could have been at. I can encourage my kids to do better in subjects they struggle with, allow them to move ahead in subjects they do well at, and have plenty of extra time that they can learn more about the subjects they really want to learn more about. I was invited to join a special program for gifted and talented students but it cost too much for my parents and after learning more about it it was just full of busy work and that I wouldn't really be able to work ahead of where I was working in normal public school and eventually I'd be dropped right back in to my grade with everyone else. Monkey is a super smart 5 year old. I know every parent thinks their child is bright but Monkey really pushed me to teach him how to read at 3. He started to learn to count and add and subtract items. I realized a year ago that he was already doing everything a preschooler needed to learn before entering Kindergarten so I decided to start our Kindergarten work. He picked everything up super quick. He has done 1st grade work this year and turned 5 in April. I don't say this at all to brag but I do use it as an example because I know he would be incredibly bored going back to Kindergarten level materials even if I hadn't worked with him like I have this upcoming fall. Socially though I don't know if he is completely ready for Kindergarten though he may be by September. I am able to cater curriculum to what HE needs rather than what the average student needs. I'm able to spend longer on topics that he needs extra help with or skip ones that he has a firm grasp on rather than reviewing for a couple of weeks. I'm able to specially pick out things he would like. He's really in to space right now so we will be doing Apologia's Astronomy curriculum this next school year. I'm also able to use curriculum to get my 2 year old interested in learning because he likes to "join in" in our school (for him that usually means coloring while his brother writes, playing with linking cubes while brother adds and subtracts, "helping" me set words up for reading and spelling, etc) and knows that it's fun and important to me. Kangaroo has already learned the value of books and knows that they're important to us.

Public school isn't all bad. I don't think my parents are horrible for sending me or anything like that. I also don't think that any parents now are horrible for sending their kids to public schools. I'm in a position I can do better though and as the world gets further and further away from having any morals I'm going to take advantage of my right to homeschool my children and prepare them to have an even brighter future. I can help them be even more prepared to do what they want to do with their future.

What do you say when someone says "But you went to public school and you turned out just fine" to you?

I Am a Mormon

2013-05-10T17:55:00.003-06:00

You may have noticed my link on the side of my blog that says that I Am a Mormon with a link to the LDS church's website Mormon.org. It used to be a pretty button but now it just says "I am a Mormon" and links to my profile on Mormon.org. I have always been hesitant to post about why I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for a few reasons-I don't like to toot my own horn or try to look self-righteous and I have had people treat me differently because I am LDS and have different beliefs including being told I'm not welcome in several moms' groups or even treated differently by people I know. Being a member of the LDS church is a huge huge part of my life though and I decided to write a post about what my beliefs are and another post about my feelings about the Savior Jesus Christ. I ask that you please be kind in your comments-if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all. As a child I learned about the Articles of Faith which were written by the Prophet Joseph Smith just a couple of years before he died to a news reporter who wanted to know more about what members of the church believed. I am going to copy those here:

13 Articles of Faith
1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Along with these I would like to share my experience as well as my testimony. The LDS church is very pro-family. As a child I sang a song called "Families Can Be Together Forever." I also sang a song called "I Love to See the Temple." Both talk about how a family can be together forever. I wanted to be with my future family forever. I wanted that blessing in our life. I knew I wanted to marry a great guy who would take me to the temple to be married to him for eternity. I am grateful to know that I will be able to be with him forever and my children and my future posterity. I am also grateful to know that my three angels who I never had the opportunity to meet will be with us forever. I learned this because I prayed when I was going through my miscarriages for comfort and instead of just comfort I had a voice whisper to me that I would be able to raise my children someday after this life.

I am so grateful for Joseph Smith who as a teenager, 14 years old, read in the Bible James 1:5: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." He went to the Bible when he didn't know which church was the true church that he should join. He decided to go to a beautiful grove of trees to kneel in prayer and ask Heavenly Father which church to join. He was visited by God and Jesus Christ who spoke to him and said that none of the churches were true and that he would be key to restoring the Gospel as it was in Christ's time on the Earth.

I recently learned that one of my ancestors was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost to be her constant companion to help her recognize right from wrong and to receive spiritual inspiration by the prophet Joseph Smith. She was very close to Heavenly Father and had very strong faith. She could have ran away when the mobs were burning down her neighbors' homes. She could have given up when she actually died from lightning striking her home as a teenager as could her father who gave her a priesthood blessing which brought her back. She could have not crossed the plains to get away from the persecution to a new home. She didn't. She knew that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was true as did many of my other ancestors who crossed the plains to Utah.

I don't know everything about the Gospel. I do know that it is true. I have prayed about it and I believe Heavenly Father answers our prayers. I knew in my heart when I prayed if the Book of Mormon was true that it was as promised through the last chapter of the book of Moroni:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your chearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

I was only a teenager in the seminary program when I did this but I felt a burning warmth in my chest that the Book of Mormon and the Gospel was true. I know without a doubt in my mind that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church with the full truth. All other churches have pieces and fragments but I know that the LDS church is true. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and my family and knows ME as an individual.

I am a Mormon and I'm proud of it!

If you would like to learn more about my church I would recommend visiting the Church's website found here.

Breastfeeding Carnival Day 11: My Mothering Decisions

2012-07-26T00:30:00.000-06:00

This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Blog Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Timbra Wiist landslidephotography {at} hotmail {dot} com. Today's post is about Motherhood Views. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed in the comments section at www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com The Carnival runs July 16th through the 31st!

I went in to pregnancy pretty open and ready to do research to determine what I needed and wanted to do for my kids. I had NO idea when I first became pregnant with our first baby (that I miscarried at 8 weeks of pregnant) what I was going to do other than breastfeed and make my own baby food. When I became pregnant the second time (with Monkey) I started the research. I was part of an awesome online community on iVillage. I learned about all sorts of things like how parents didn't let baby cry it out (CIO) (I was always told it was necessary to help them "self sooth"-after research I found the complete opposite!), parents that babywear, etc. I was totally closed off to the idea of cloth diapers at first, then it became maybe I'll try them once we're doing solid foods, then there was a horrible time of having multiple blowouts in a row and my little man having to be naked because he'd burned through the few outfits we had in the diaper bag. I started in my intense research and decided to make the switch to cloth diapers.

I've always wanted to be a mom. When I was growing up and people would ask me at school what I wanted to be I remember ALWAYS saying I wanted to be a mom. My husband knew how important it was to me before we even got married that I wanted to be home with my kids all the time and not work. I think it's very important for a mother to be home with her kids. We agreed before we were married that we would make that happen.

To my great surprise I became pregnant and wasn't done with school yet. I actually found out before school was out for the summer just before our 1 year anniversary. I lost that baby just a couple days after our anniversary. At that point I started to look in to how I could finish school faster so I could be done in about a year and a half or so. THEN much to our surprise I got pregnant with Monkey just a couple months later and started scheduling appointments with counselors so I could get a whole minor and the rest of my major done while pregnant. My due date was during finals week but I knew I could do it. I was in 20 and 21 credit hours my last two semesters while battling hyperemesis (and not being able to go to class A LOT because I was either in the hospital or couldn't leave the side of the toilet) and then battling preterm labor and bedrest. I did it though and walked with my Bachelor's degree when Monkey was 2 weeks old (he arrived about a week before his due date). I had 3 incompletes-one that I needed to do in the summer, one that I just needed to finish a test, and one that I needed to write a paper. The class in the summer didn't work out so I ended up having to do an online course through another University to fulfill the requirement and transfer the credits. It was so so so hard to do the course with a newborn but I knew I HAD to finish school. The paper was also super hard to write because it was an in-depth paper about the research and readings I did the semester I was on bedrest. I did it though and was able to be a stay at home mom while doing so.

I also started a business while Monkey was tiny and was finishing my courses. I knew it would help give me something that was MINE that I could look forward to (changing diapers and being a housewife are not my favorite things in the world in all honesty) while being able to be with my baby and take care of his needs all the time. My business has changed from strictly sewing to strictly knitting over the 4 years I've been in business but it's still my passion besides being a mom.

When I became pregnant with Monkey I knew I needed to eat healthier. It was really hard for me because I was SO sick about the only thing I could hold down was Ramen Noodles. My habits couldn't change a lot while I was pregnant so I made a new goal to do my best and once he was born to change the way I ate. I would say that helped a lot and I still eat pretty healthy though I still like treats and to have what many would say is unhealthy sometimes. We eat a lot of fruit though and I pay a lot more attention to our fruit and vegetable intake and eat organic as much as possible.

I learned a lot through my pregnancy and still learn a lot. I think it's really important to try to be open minded and do research for everything you do raising kids. I am trying to remain open to new things and in doing so we decided we'd homeschool (and we used to be pretty closed off to it), rear face the carseat past the standard age of 1 (Monkey was 18 months, Kangaroo will be at least 2), etc. My idea of motherhood does change quite a bit but my main goal to breastfeed has always remained the highest priority.

Breastfeeding Carnival Day 10: Wordless Wednesday Babywearing Style!

2012-07-25T00:30:00.000-06:00

Monkey

Kangaroo

Photo Credit: Lynn Bettridge

From a Facebook Picture posted following the Babywearing Flash Mob August 2011

Photo Credit: Lynn Bettridge

Rockin Green Soap Giveaway Winner!

2012-07-24T17:45:00.002-06:00

Thanks to all who entered! Congrats to Chelsea M. for winning a bag of Rockin Green Soap! To everyone else be sure to like Rockin Green on Facebook for special discount codes, giveaways, and to keep up to date on Rockin Green News!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Breastfeeding Carnival Day 8: Pearls of Wisdom

2012-07-23T21:11:00.002-06:00

Breastfeeding Carnival Day 7: PAST breastfeeding

2012-07-23T20:39:00.002-06:00

Breastfeeding Carnival Day 6: Weaning

2012-07-21T00:30:00.000-06:00

This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Blog Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Timbra Wiist landslidephotography {at} hotmail {dot} com. Today's post is about Weaning and the family. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed in the comments section at www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com The Carnival runs July 16th through the 31st!

I will talk about Monkey more than Kangaroo in this post because Kangaroo hasn't fully weaned yet :).

The weaning process begins when you introduce solid foods. We have had to do so cautiously because we knew there was a risk of food allergies in my kiddos due to my food allergies. Monkey had some severe carrot and peanut allergies and was originally allergic to peas, bananas, cinnamon, apricots, and several other things the first time he had them (we think barley was among them because he would throw up every time he had some organic animal crackers and that was the only new ingredient in them). We started feeding him homemade baby food when he was 6 months but didn't really push it. He started out by just having tastes once a day and I tried a second time a day when he was about 8 months but he wasn't really interested. We didn't start trying too hard until he was about 10.5 months and was more interested in having meals with us at the table (about the time he started really feeding himself).

Monkey continued the weaning process and at about 14 months started dropping feedings and just wasn't interested in nursing at times that he used to be. By about 14.5 months he determined he was done and dropped his last couple feedings over a few days. I was very upset because I wasn't quite ready for him to be done but he wanted nothing to do with it and never looked back.

I've done the same things with Kangaroo. Kangaroo COULDN'T keep solids down until he was about 9ish months and still wasn't super interested in having more than a few bites here and there (that he had to feed to himself) until he was about 11ish months. Kangaroo loves solids now and eats every meal with us. He still nurses a lot too. I keep feeding him on demand (except of course if it's super inconvenient or if he's been nursing for a couple hours straight and I simply need a break or to go to the bathroom or whatever. I don't believe in letting a toddler COMPLETELY demand everything because I think he needs to start learning boundaries a bit and understand that it's a relationship not one sided. That being said normally when he asks me I will nurse him and if it has been a while and he hasn't asked I'll ask him if he wants to nurse (usually the answer is signing milk to say yes or he'll run right over to me).

With both kids I've set smaller goals. With Monkey it started out at 6 months which was the age I was weaned because I bit my mom. I determined that biting wasn't going to keep me from nursing him since that's all he COULD do for the first few weeks and I had to train him not to bite me to nurse but to suck instead. Once we came closer to 6 months I said I wanted to nurse him AT LEAST a year and then take it from there. When Kangaroo arrived I said that I really really wanted him to nurse until at least 18 months but 2 if possible and we are now at just over 18 months and going strong. I don't know if I see myself going much past 2 but if he still needs it I'm not going to stop him. I don't have a date set on a calendar of when I will wean him and I'm already ignoring a lot of pressure to wean him. I plan on just taking it a day at a time!