The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Outside my window…
it's overcast this morning, but still very nice & much much nicer than the 90 degree & above temps we could easily be having this time of year

I am thinking…
about how much laundry I have for today & how much house cleaning I need to get done so I can have a "fun day" this week

I am thankful for…
my health & my family's health, my son that I was told I would never have--he is a blessing that I can't even explain in words

From the learning rooms…
still doing daily Bible study with little J & the "your baby can read" program

From the kitchen…
what to make for dinner tonight? chicken or fish? or hot dogs? we got some new turkey hot dogs recently & we LOVE them--great ingredients too

I am wearing…
a navy blue tank top & denim shorts--I never bother to dress up at all on laundry day cuz I rarely leave the house on laundry day

I am creating…
this blog post at the moment, later on I am going to work on little J's baby book & print out all the blogs that pertain to him & put them into a binder & store it away so he can see it when he's older

I am going…
to spend my day doing laundry.

I am reading…
my Bible, every day, we are in 1 Corinthians at church, so that's usually where I read these days; also reading "knockout" by Suzanne Somers, very good read; hope to finish off "educating the wholehearted child" soon & then also pick up Francine Rivers new novel.

I am hoping…
to take little J to a small "zoo" they have in San Dimas soon & to get a new wading pool for our yard for him to play in & to find time to take him to the community pool soon

I am hearing…
little J playing with his toys--he is truly all boy & plays very rough & loud, LOL

Around the house…
little J is now into absolutely everything, it's a bit of a struggle to stay on top of him constantly....hubby says he didn't have this problem with the other 2, but I pointed out that they had their own bedrooms & played in their rooms, while little J doesn't have a bedroom (still with us, we need a bigger house) & plays in the living room, dining room, & kitchen.

Some of my favorite things…
reading, playing with little J, playing guitar

A few plans for the rest of the week:
clean house, take little J to a "zoo", visit hubby's new job


I am praying…
for hubby, for wisdom in raising little J, for my stepkids salvation, for our legal battles, for emotional healing & wellness for hubby's ex wife, for friends & extended family & my own health

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Outside my window…
it's beautiful....after a little over a week of a heatwave it's cool enough again to turn off the a/c & open the windows & enjoy the fresh air & breeze

I am thinking…
about how I'm spending my week--laundry all day today, tomorrow going to visit a friend, the next day at a doctor's appointment, & the next day grocery shopping probably. On Saturday we are going to a car show in Pasadena.

I am thankful for…
how blessed we are, that I am able to stay home & raise my son & not leave him to someone else to raise.

From the learning rooms…
well my little dude is only 15 months, but we work on reading & Bible study mostly....and on speaking, he is almost saying "thank you Jesus"

From the kitchen…
made chicken curry last night & no one (not even myself) liked it.....planning to make ravioli for stepson's lunch & fish & potatoes & salad for dinner tonight.

I am wearing…
a heather gray tank top & denim shorts

I am creating…
this blog post at the moment, will be working on praise & worship on the guitar soon though.

I am going…
to spend my day doing laundry.

I am reading…
my Bible, DAILY, I've been working on reaching this goal for about a year now & I have finally made it there. I am also reading Knockout by Suzanne Somers. But I'm craving a good novel too.........Francine Rivers has a new one out that I can't wait to get my hands on!

I am hoping…
to find time this week to take little J to the pool. He looooves to play in the water & I have fun too, even though I don't know how to swim.

I am hearing…
the breeze blowing outside & the birds chirping & oh is it precious. I LOOOOOVE how peaceful & quiet the morning is, that's what makes me a morning person, it's just so beautiful.

Around the house…
I spent all last week cleaning, cleaning, & cleaning. After hubby was here for a whole month my schedule got really wacky & I wasn't cleaning like I usually do, but his first week back to work & I had the house right back in order.

Some of my favorite things…
books, guitar, playing with little J

A few plans for the rest of the week:
tomorrow going to visit a friend & her new baby, Thursday have a doc appointment, Friday most likely grocery shopping, & Saturday going to a car show.


I am praying…
for hubby's business idea, for wisdom to raise little J in the way of the Lord, for my stepkids salvation, for our legal battles, my health, my mother's health, 2 good friends--for health, finances, & marriage, for my friend's mom's health, & hubby's co-worker's mom's health.

15 month updates

So little J is 15 months old today. Time is flying FAST is all I can say. I feel like before I know it he will be turning 2!!!

He now weighs 26.0 lbs (50-75%), is 31" tall (25-50%), & has a head circumference of 19.5" (>95%). Basically he gained one pound in the last month & his head circumference & height have stayed the same. The only percentile change is for his height, but I'm sure he'll catch another growth spurt at some point, I'm not worried about it.

Not much has changed, still eats 3-4 times a day, still eating basically the same foods & drinking the goat milk & goat kefir & diluted juice. I'm still putting veggies in his fruit juice & fruit & veggies in his kefir. He doesn't mind at all.

As far as the natural treatment for asthma, we have finished the 4 month supply of transfer factor. But I am still giving him beta glucan, vitamin D3, folic acid, & vitamin B12 daily. I REALLY love the beta glucan--neither me nor little J have been sick at all since we started taking that. I am pleased that he is such a healthy boy. I know good nutrition has a lot to do with it, but it's still not EVERYTHING in that aspect.

He has been slowly moving out of his size 18 month clothes, he's still in some of them, but some of them (like pjs & shirts) no longer fit. I haven't bought any winter clothes yet because I don't know what size he'll be when it gets cold. I'm just waiting. But we have plenty of pants in both 18 month & 24 month sizes, so we should at least have shirts (just short sleeved though) & pants & we have a couple of jackets. We can always get more when the weather finally changes & by then it may be on the clearance rack even. All the more reason to wait! I did recently buy him new socks because his were way too small now.

He now knows how to walk backwards & to run & to climb up on the couch (I taught him how to get down from the couch a while back because I knew the day was coming when he would learn to get up there & then he wouldn't know how to get down & he might fall & hurt himself). And he LOVES to play in water!

He is trying really hard to talk. He still says "Gizzy" (for our chihuahua named Gizmo). We often say "thank you Jesus" & he tries to repeat it. We can hear it when he repeats us, but I don't think it's clear enough yet for others to "really" hear it. But he's definitely working on it. I am sure there are other things he is trying to say, but I'm just not making them out yet. He has a lot of gestures that he uses now, which is VERY helpful. He appears to be very observant & a quick learner.

I do believe the so called "terrible twos" are upon us. It's a little early, but hopefully that means it will end earlier as well. He always has his own agenda & if someone causes any interruption of that he will arch his back & scream & kick. He also likes to shove you away if you're interrupting him. He has always had this incredible independent streak. Like when he was first learning to pull himself up to standing--he wouldn't let anyone help him up, he had to do it on his own. He will shove you away if you try to help. And it's a very rude attitudey shoving. He's like that with a lot of things. And he's still like that now, but we are now working on breaking him of it in some areas. For example, life would be much easier if he would walk around when we're out, but he refuses to hold onto our hands. So we are forcing him to learn to walk while holding one of our hands. He doesn't like it & screams & fights us, but we're still working on it. I'm sure at some point he will realize there is no other option & he will give in.

He is still full speed ahead with TONS of energy constantly. Although he is starting to take some time out here & there throughout the day to sit quietly & look at his books, which I really am pleased to see him doing. He knows how to hold them & how to flip the pages. And in the evening when he starts to get sleepy he is getting very cuddly, which I absolutely love.

I am so looking forward to being able to start teaching him things, like reading & math & Bible, etc. And I am also looking forward to being able to take him to the zoo & amusement parks, etc--I know I CAN right now, but for him to be old enough to REALLY enjoy it. But of course I do always focus on enjoying EVERY stage. I am actually enjoying this stage, even though some days are exhausting & hard with the terrible twos.

That's all the updates I have for now..........until next month.

Whooping Cough

The government is declaring an epidemic in the state of California for an increase in cases of whooping cough.

My first thought is of how they declared the swine flu epidemic last year.

I see that they try to create a panic. The attempts to control the public & get them to do what they want (vaccinate) they use fear to do so. If they scare the people enough the people will give in & accept just about anything. (I am reminded of the whole 911 issue in regards to this, but I don't want to get that far off topic)

I would bet some serious money that there is another reason behind them pushing the whooping cough deal. They have an excess of vaccine sitting around or some other reason like that.

Now there are more cases than usual of whooping cough in the state of California, but of the 900 & something cases there have only been 5 deaths. And those deaths were all in children less than 3 months old.

As a nurse I know that whooping cough is most dangerous for those less than 3 months old & it's still somewhat of a risk for anyone less than 1 year old. My first thought is that no vaccine is ever going to protect a child less than 3 months old. The whooping cough has a series of 3 or 4 vaccines (it varies depending on which schedule you're following). Full immunity is not achieved until all of those shots are given, which certainly isn't going to be at less than 3 months of age. Sure you can argue that even if your kid doesn't DIE it can still get sick. But I have to scratch my head & wonder about everyone acting like getting sick is such a bad thing. I was sick as a kid, many times as I recall. It's a normal part of life & helps build the immune system. It's the way God designed it. There's nothing abnormal or wrong about getting sick. And we are way too rushed in this day & age & country--and I very strongly dislike this attitude I see of not having time to deal with sickness, especially for a parent to not have time to deal with a sick child. That's just totally ridiculous to me.

I know that in the Mexican culture (at least in the old days) you weren't supposed to take a baby out of a house until it was at least 3 months old. This may sound silly & it may be hard to do in this day & age & country, but it really is good advice. By keeping the baby at home you decrease all the germs it will be exposed to out in public, etc during the early days when it's immune system is weakest. I know there's the other side of the fence that likes to argue that exposing the child to germs builds the immune system. And I do agree, up to a point. Being exposed to germs DOES build up the immune system, but I don't think it's a good idea to just let them be exposed to absolutely everything under the sun. There are some really deadly man-made germs out there these days. I personally was not able to keep little J at home at all when he was brand new. Life was just too busy & I had to go grocery shopping & banking & other errands, etc & of course there was church. He's been in a church nursery since he was 6 days old!

And my second thought in regards to the whooping cough issue is this: the vast majority of adults are no longer immune to whooping cough. You must get a booster shot every 10 years to maintain immunity. So I have to wonder, & I am quite irritated about, the govt pointing the finger at unvaccinated kids spreading whooping cough when all these adults are perfectly capable of spreading it to all kids that are unvaccinated & also those too young to have completed their vaccine series.

I am sure there will be some who think I only feel this way because little J is already over a year old & out of the supposed danger zone. But I can assure you that is not the case at all.

I did stop to consider what I would do if little J was a newborn RIGHT NOW with this going on. Would I change my mind & get him vaccinated? But no, I wouldn't. To me our biggest risk is the nursery at church. When we were at our last church little J got sick from there twice I think. Of course the system there was not very good in retrospect. You weren't allowed to take children into the sanctuary & the so-called "family friendly" overflow building asked us to take him to the nursery the one time we went there with him. And no one at the nursery ever spoke up if an obviously sick kid came through, especially if it was a pastor's kid, etc.

Here at our new church they turn away obviously sick kids & kids are welcome in the sanctuary (though they do ask you to sit in the back & they have seats reserved in the back for parents with kids). While little J had the chicken pox we left him at home with big sister for 3 weeks because he was contagious, but once all his scabs were off we went back, he was no longer contagious. They have a pager system here & not even 5 minutes after we dropped him off they were paging us. We went back & they had him in a quarantine room (with one of the nursery workers holding him, he was totally calm & fine about it, they didn't do it in a way that scared him) & they wanted to know what all the spots on him were. They said they couldn't have him with the other kids until they knew what they were dealing with. Once we explained that he had just had the chicken pox they were totally fine, but we were glad to see how thorough they are.

Anyways, back to the point. When little J was a newborn the whole swine flu thing was going on. I did take him to the nursery (at our old church even), which was a risk, I just prayed over him each time & when I went out in public, like grocery shopping, he was in his car seat & I would put a thick blanket over it to try to keep any germs flying through the air away from him, since flu is airborn transmission (so is whoopping cough). I know that the germ particles are small enough to pass through a blanket, but at least it's one extra layer of protection, better than having nothing there at all.

That's my ranting for now, I just wanted to share my thoughts (& possibly give an alternate way of looking at the govt's doings) on the whole whooping cough issue that's going on.