Now I'm a Mom

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2012-01-25T12:01:00.001-08:00

Making Dreams Come True

2011-08-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

Now that Hanna is 5... and in kindergarten I've been trying to do more and more things that help her realize she can BE, HAVE, DO anything she wants in this world. I've started doing collages with her, kind of like a vision board. I've had her find things she likes, things she thinks are beautiful and things that speak to her and have her glue them on a nice piece of heavy paper. It's just another project to her, but I'm hopefully helping her to look for what she DOES want in the world.

I've also been trying to help her look at the world in terms of what she does want, instead of what's going wrong, or what she doesn't want. It's a hard concept for a 5 year old, but I figure if I start now, and it becomes a normal way of thinking for her she'll carry that skill into her adult life.

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2011-06-08T18:36:00.001-07:00

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Not all pet strollers are created equal

2011-05-02T08:13:00.001-07:00

I've been getting a lot of questions and interest about flexible handle pet strollers. In my research I have not found any of these type of pet strollers that are quality made and safe for your pet. Unfortunately the way these strollers are made is not as high quality as some of the other strollers on the market. We've seen problems with the zippers, as well as problems with the wheels and steering.

With so many quality pet strollers on the market, like Pet Gear Pet Strollers, and BestPet Strollers there's no need to let one feature pull you into buying a stroller that is not top quality.

Make sure you do your research while looking to buy a pet stroller. Your pet is an important member of the family, you want to make sure they are going to be safe and protected while outside in their stroller.

Choosing the right pet stroller...

2011-04-25T10:17:00.001-07:00

There are some important things to think about when you're choosing a pet stroller.

size: make sure you measure the interior space available for your pet, and make sure your pet is going to fit comfortably inside. Make sure they have room to lie down, but not too much room or it won't be safe for them.

Intent: what do you plan to do with your pet and their stroller? Leisurely strolls around the block, or active running, jogging and biking?

If you're going for the leisurely stroll one of the classic 3 or 4 wheeled pink pet strollers ~ or any color for that matter will be a great option.

If you're going to be more active you'll need a sturdier, more rugged pet stroller. You can find great jogging strollers as well as pet bike trailers that will convert into a jogging stroller. These are perfect for more vigorous use.

Keeping Your Dog Healthy

2011-04-22T08:47:00.001-07:00

One of the best ways to keep your dog healthy is to get them plenty of exercise. Including them in outings with the family is a great way to show your dog just how much you love them and get them exercise. If you're going on a bike ride, get a pet bike trailer and take your dog with you. The Burley Tail Wagon is perfect for large dogs like a Golden Retreiver or a Labrador. There are of course smaller versions of bike trailers for your dog if you have a smaller pet.

Great Gift Ideas for the Kids in Your Life

2011-04-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

A Ride On Toy:

Last year my daughter recevied the John Deere Ride On Gator. While I wasn't super keen on her getting a ride on toy, it's turned into one of her most prized possessions. She not only rides it around the yard, but she helps with gardening, and cleaning up the yard. It's great that she has a way to feel helpful, and it's great that now she drives weeds to the burn pile instead of me having to push them over in the wheel barrow.

A savings account:

This may not seem like a real gift, but what better way to begin preparing your child for the real world, than to get them started understanding money and how it works. Getting kids started working with and saving money from a young age will help them throughout their entire adult life. It will be a skill that will serve them well.

Books:

This isn't that unique, but it is certainly a great gift. You can always make it unique by setting up a treasure hunt, and each book that is found gives a clue to the next one. You could also set them up with a book of the month club or something similar, so each month they get a new book to read.

Hopefully that will give you some ideas for creative, learning gifts for your kiddo.

Birthday Gift Ideas

2011-04-12T11:52:00.001-07:00

Hanna's turning 5 next month, so I've already started thinking about what to get her for her birthday.

She has already told me many "Barbie" toys she wants, especially the Barbie pool, so all her Barbies can go swimming.

I have already picked up a bunch of books from Scholastic this month (that will be put back for next month)

Last year she got a John Deere Ride On Gator... not sure we're going to be able to top that this year... but I have been thinking about a trampoline. We have a mini tramp and she loves to jump on it.

What about you? What are your favorite gift ideas for a 5 year old?

Flip Books and Learning to Read

2011-04-07T16:07:00.001-07:00

Hanna is way into rhyming these days. I was looking around for something to help her learn more about rhyming and to help her learn to read.In that search I found flip books. I was totally clueless... so I looked into it some more, and here we are figuring out how to make flip books and learning to read.

Pet Strollers for the Fellas

2011-04-07T13:16:00.001-07:00

I bet when you think of pet strollers, once you stop laughing, you think of girls with little dogs, in pretty pink strollers. That's IS the way you usually see strollers but there are a few more manly options when it comes to dog strollers. There are some nice blue ones, red ones and there is even a camo pet stroller and carseat! Who would of thought... and no it's regular camo, not pink. :) (although they make those too, for the tougher girlie dogs.

Can a cheap pet stroller be a good one?

2011-03-31T12:24:00.001-07:00

Generally when people think about pet strollers they think they are expensive, and only for the rich and famous.

However, there are quite a few pet strollers under 50 dollars that are quite durable and would work well for people who have pets that need a pet stroller. Inexpensive pet strollers are of the same quality as more expensive ones when it comes to safety and looks.

If you have no idea why people would need a pet stroller check out these reasons a pet stroller might be right for you.

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2011-02-25T15:04:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-11T15:37:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-02T06:42:00.001-08:00

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2011-02-01T11:23:00.001-08:00

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2011-01-29T14:52:00.001-08:00

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DIY Lick and Stick Stickers

2011-01-27T08:52:00.001-08:00

Hanna is a huge fan of stickers ~ and they can be expensive when she's just sticking them everywhere! I read a great post on creating your own stickers with jello today.

Here it is. I think we'll be doing this with some cut out pictures of fruits and veggies from the seed catalog today.

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/01/diy-lick-and-stick-stickers.html

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2011-01-18T12:44:00.001-08:00

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Here's todays: Through the snow fort: http://post.ly/1UX8M #jpg365

2011-01-15T10:15:00.001-08:00

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2011-01-15T10:14:00.001-08:00

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2011-01-15T10:13:00.001-08:00

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2011-01-13T12:50:00.001-08:00

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Found a new healthy recipe site.

2011-01-13T08:31:00.001-08:00

Hanna and I love to cook. I try to create healthy meals. I love allrecipes.com, but I'm always on the search for more great recipe sites. I found this one today (and I don't know why I didn't think of it before since I used to get the magazine!). Great easy soup recipes I can't wait to try. They'll be great for us to do together.

Taste of Home

We're making snow ice cream today!

2011-01-12T10:35:00.001-08:00

I found this great recipe for making snow ice cream. I'm excited about it ~ but hubby refuses to eat it saying that snow is made from dirt. After much disagreement, and a little googling I found that snowflakes do in fact, connect themselves to small particles of dust ~ it's what they hang on to. However... I BET that we breathe in way more dust living on a dirt road than we would ever consume eating some delicious snow ice cream... so on with the show!

Snow Ice Cream Recipe

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2011-01-12T09:31:00.001-08:00

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Great "in between" time activities (with recipes)

2010-09-23T13:41:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple of great options for in between time activities.

Home made playdo, and silly puddy.

We make our own playdo sometimes ~ other times we buy it. Our playdo is made with Kool Aid so the colors are really fun and they SMELL so GOOD! This recipe doesn't call for Kool aid ~ but it looks great none the less.

I haven't done the silly puddy ~ but think it would be fun.

Sometimes when I'm working I will pull out a plastic table cloth, spread it out on the floor and let Hanna pull out all the play doh, silverware (from her kitchen set) and cookie cutters we've collected. This allows me to not worry about the play doh getting on the floor (and everywhere else) and let's me focus on work, and her have a grand old time. This activity can easily hold her attention for at least an hour.

Here's the post with the recipes:

http://simplekids.net/homemade-play-dough-and-silly-putty

Make Homemade Applesauce... YUM!

2010-09-22T19:03:00.001-07:00

We recently picked a bunch of apples from an abandoned homestead with a great big apple tree. (we did get permission first). We finally got around to making applesauce yesterday.

We followed a really simple recipe:

Peel and cut apples (we did a big bowl full, not sure how much)

add a bit of water in the bottom of the pan

Add a bit of sugar ~ maybe 1/2 cup. (the apples were really ripe and sweet so they didn't need all that much sugar)

dash of cinnamon

Cook for 20 minutes or so until soft.

Blend in the blender. (I tried our stick blender and it didn't work all that well) added a little water to help the blender out a little bit.

Pour into plastic bags and allow to cool. Freeze.

Poured some in canning jar and stored in the freezer.

It was delicious warm and even better cold. :)

Our apple tree has apples on it for the first time in 10 years. So we're going to be doing a LOT of apple related cooking and crafts over the next month or so. :) Any ideas very welcome.

Paint Pumpkins for Halloween

2010-09-22T18:46:00.001-07:00

Last year we had some volunteer pumpkins come up (they came up again this year, but not sure they're going to make it). We ended up painting a lot of pumpkins (they were little pumpkins ~ perfect size for toddler craft projects) :) It was a great afternoon activity.

Here's an article to help you paint your pumpkins this year.

http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-paint-halloween-pumpkins-a288808

Shark Tale ~ A fun kids movie...

2010-09-22T18:37:00.001-07:00

Today Hanna and I sat down and watched Shark Tale together. I think it is such a cute movie. You can see our full Shark Tale review at

www.TheBestKidsMovies.com

If you've seen this movie I'd love for you to add your review! Just scroll down to the comments section of the Shark Tale review and leave your review!

Cardboard Dream House ~ Fantastic Afternoon Kids Project

2010-09-21T08:51:00.001-07:00

@noflashcards has done it again. She's come up with a fantastic, imaginative and FUN project idea. This one is a cardboard dream house. I love how she's made it look like a gabled house and everything. :)

Here's the project details: http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/09/cardboard-box-dream-house.html

I'm sure Hanna will turn hers into a horse stable ~ you know she's horse crazy. :) This will be a great activity for this afternoon. Now I just have to find a box around here somewhere...

Monkey Gem: Fun Computer Game for Kids

2010-09-21T08:39:00.001-07:00

This is a pretty cool game. It will help with colors, matching, eye-hand coordination. I thought it was fun, and I'm gonna share it with Hanna when she gets home from school today.

http://games.howstuffworks.com/games/monkey-gems.aspx

This Week's Spotlight Crafts

2010-09-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

This week we can make wallets, pumpkins, finger puppets, and so much more.

How to Make Felt Finger Puppets - Character toys make a child's imagination flourish. This video will teach you how to make some basic felt finger puppets that you can adapt to any character you want.

Drink Pouch Wallet Craft - Follow these directions and you can make a functional wallet using 2 empty juice pouches.

Decoupaged Jewelry or Desk Organizer - Find out how you can make a unique jewelry box or desk organizer using an egg carton and decoupage techniques.

Light Bulb Pumpkin Craft - Find out how to create a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern craft using a light bulb and a few other supplies.

Apple Print Craft - Try your hand at printmaking by making these nice prints using apples and other fruits.

Wizard Hat - Find out how you can turn an ordinary birthday party hat into a fun wizard hat.

Vampire Face Painting How-To Video - A how-to video from RoByn Thompson. Take a spooky vampire Halloween costume to the next level with colorful face paint. You can customize the steps and make your little vampire unique using these tips!

Enjoy, and remember, if you complete any of these crafts, take a few moments to send me a picture and it can be featured here too!
(Photo © 2010 Sherri Osborn licensed to About.com, Inc.)

via familycrafts.about.com

Here's some great craft ideas for kids.

Fun Pre K Reading Activity

2010-09-20T13:30:00.001-07:00

I found this activity on Activities of Downstream Parenting. We started with the book "I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean". I wrote all the words out, and then we laid the notecards out on the floor. We used them like a matching game with the words in the book. It was a big hit.

Hanna then grabbed a new book the next day and began working on note cards for each word in the book. She did a great job, had a lot of fun and stayed busy for quite a long time!

Can't Beat a John Deere

2010-09-17T07:40:00.001-07:00

Hanna got a John Deere Ride On Gator for her birthday last year. She is loving it. She rides it all the time (when it's charged up). She has helped me bring compost to the garden, grab hay from the barn with it, and crate weeds from the garden to the burn pile. It's actually quite handy and a great way to get more outside play time.

Whenever a friend comes over that's the first thing she wants to show them, and she takes them for a ride all around the property (if she can get them to let her drive ~ with the boys the answer is usually not).

It's a little pricey, but I'd say for the time spent on it and the fun had it paid for itself.

Fun and Imaginative Play

2010-09-16T09:10:00.001-07:00

I just saw this Step 2 Neat and Tidy Cottage. It's super cute, with an electronic phone, working doorbell and built in sink, stove, table and seats. I think Hanna would have loved this when she was a little bit smaller. It's a great way to get their imaginations going, and keep them busy for a bit!

What do you think? Does your little one have a playhouse?

Fun Project ~ Make Flubber

2010-09-15T08:56:00.001-07:00

I'm always on the lookout for a fun activity to do with Hanna. I just found this video to make flubber. It sounds pretty fun ~ and I bet she'd like it.

Have you made flubber with your kids? I'd love to know how it went!

Our Scholastic Book Order (round one)

2010-09-14T14:34:00.001-07:00

Today was the due date for the first of our scholastic book orders. (I wish someone had told me last year it would happen more than once lol).

This time around we ordered the "Licious" set ~ Pinkalicious, Purplicious and Goldilicious

I also ordered some I Spy books and some Sight Words books to help her start the reading process ~ which she is dying to do. :)

What books will you be getting for your kiddo this year?

Get Moving Activity Calendar

2010-09-14T09:07:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to Preschool open house. They handed out a great little calendar with simple activities to do with your kids to get them moving more.

I have a goal to stop work for a little bit each hour while Hanna is home and play with her ~ this will hopefully keep her happier when I'm working.

Here's a couple examples of the activities:

turn on some music and shake rock and roll

help put clothes away by balancing them on different body parts as you take them to your room

roll across the yard as a little ball, a long long and a rolling wheel

Simple stuff, but a great way to get moving and stay engaged through the day.

Balance a paper plate on a paper towel roll as you walk.

You can find the whole calendar (and a bunch for the past few years) at www.headstartbodystart.org

Great Ideas for Baby Crib Sets

2010-08-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

One of the things I loved most about being pregnant (other than getting to eat just about anything I wanted lol) was designing our nursery. I decided on the theme of "fairies". I didn't find fairy crib bedding, but instead chose a fantastic Glenna Jean baby bedding set. I pulled the colors for the room out of the blanket and then found some great pictures of fairies. As Hanna got older we did find some fairy toddler bedding and it matched perfectly because I'd chosen green as the main color with pinks and purples for accents. It has been a nursery that was easily transformed into a toddler and preschooler room. If I'd had to choose baby boy crib bedding I'm not sure what I would have done ~ it was so fun choosing for a little girl lol.

Here's some additional ideas for nursery themes:

Disney Nursery Bedding

Ladybug Crib Bedding

Sports Baby Bedding

Winnie the Pooh Baby Bedding

Or you might want to go with a particular designer of crib bedding and use the colors for your room ~ like I did. Here's some great crib bedding designers you might want to check out.

Kidsline Baby Bedding

CoCaLo Crib Bedding

You might also go with a type of style, like modern baby bedding, with bold patterns and colors or classic themes, like plain pink for girls or blue for boys.

No matter what you choose to use as your basis for your nursery theme remember to have fun!

Crock Pot Roast Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Roast Every Time!

2009-03-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Image by shanta via Flickr

It doesn't matter if you are getting ready to cook a pork, beef or even venison roast. There are some basic tricks that will make the end result absolutely delicious. Roast is a great crock pot meal because not only is it delicious the first time around it can be repurposed in so many different ways, so the leftovers never go to waste.

You can make a well balanced meal out of roast with veggies you probably already have sitting in the kitchen. Potatoes, carrots, onions and green beans go great with roast. Make sure you cut your potatoes in equal size pieces, so they will cook evenly. You can add some potatoes to the bottom of the crock pot, since they take the longest to cook. You can even make up a packet of gravy and add it to the potatoes at the bottom. Add your carrots around the edges of your roast. Top your roast with the onions to keep them from turning to mush. If you want to add a splash of color add your green beans about 30 minutes before your cooking time is up. This will keep them from getting mushy.

How to season a roast is completely up to your personal taste. It can be as simple as adding a packet of onion soup mix. Another easy option is adding some cream of mushroom soup. If you prefer a more Italian flavored roast simply grab your Italian seasoning mix and sprinkle your roast liberally with it.

No matter what spices you choose to season your roast you can add dry seasoning in at the beginning of cooking time. It will work just fine. If you are going the fresh route for your seasoning and are using fresh herbs I suggest you wait until the last hour of cooking to add them. Fresh herbs quickly flavor the roast and are best left to the end.

So how long are you going to cook this roast? Generally you can count on at least 6 to 10 hours for your roast to cook. If you look at the cooking directions on your roast packaging you can easily convert the cooking time in the oven to the crock pot. If it recommends cooking it in the oven for 50 minutes to 3 hours you are looking at 4 to 6 hours on high in the crock pot or 8 to 18 hours on low in the crock pot.

Because the roast has to cook so long makes it a perfect meal to cook while you are gone at work. Yes, you can cook a roast in the middle of the week. In fact, you can do it quite easily. Starting with a frozen roast will minimize the chances of overcooking your roast while you are gone. You can even put it all together in the crock the night before. Just cover the crock with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge. You can easily uncover the crock and set it in the crock pot in the morning. Then all you have to do is set it and forget it.

Eating at home is a great way to connect with your family, as well as keep them healthy. You know exactly what goes into the food you eat. You may think of roast as a Sunday meal, but with a crock pot it is now so easy you can have it any day of the week.

Pot roast is not the only new weekday food for your rival slow cooker. You can find more tasty crock pot roast recipes as well as other crock pot recipes at http://best7quartcrockpot.itsawahmlife.com Get your own completely unique content version of this article.

New Product Launch

2009-03-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

I never really imagined myself, when I started this whole internet marketing thing, as a product owner, but here I am with 3 products to my name and more on the way.

I have to say it's way more fun than I thought it would be. It's such a rush to have an idea and then create something out of nothing. After my first product launched I would think back and be like dang, 2 weeks ago this was just a conversation in instant messenger, and now here it is. Real and live. That was LearnItStepbyStep.com a membership site where we give squidoo marketing help. It's based on One Week Marketing by PotPieGirl.

Well actually that was my second product. My first was Keyword Research Revealed. That one took longer to put together and get the courage to launch. I did it on my own and so it was a little scarier, and it was my first product. It was certainly a confidence booster when I started getting rave reviews though. :)

Over the weekend we (my partner at LearnItStepbyStep.com, Andrea) launched a new product. It's basically a niche in a box. You get niche keywords, content to go with the keywords and even products to promote in your niche. It's a really great way to find niche ideas and get your niche websites done quickly.

It's so crazy how once you do one product more and more product ideas just come rushing forth. I'm loving my work from home business. It's taken me longer than I thought but I have finally reached a monthly income that beats what I was making at my J-O-B. The thing is it's pretty much residual too, so whether I take the day off to take Hanna to the zoo or if I sit and work all day I still get paid.

This is one vision that is coming to fruition. :) I love that.

Make Your Own Recipe Book!

2009-03-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

You might wonder why you need to make your own recipe book when there are already tons and tons of cookbooks available, both in the stores and online. You probably already have tons of recipe books on your bookshelves I bet. How many recipes do you use out of each of those books? What if every recipe in a cookbook was something you wanted to make, a recipe your family would really eat?

A Grandma's Recipe Cookbook

Many families have handed down recipes through the generations. Usually though prized possessions they are not all that well cared for. The ink may be fading, the recipe may have food on the card, especially if you use them a lot. You may find some family members have recipes others don't. What an amazing gift to your family, to gather up all the family recipes and put them together in a beautiful hard bound book.

My Picky Family Favorites

Each week it gets a little harder to create a menu for my family. My husband is a picky eater. I can't always remember if he liked or didn't like a particular recipe I have tried. I usually go through the computer in search of something good, and end up losing the recipe or the ink gets smeared and I can't read it when I finally find something he will eat. I would love to make my own recipe book of recipes I know he will actually eat.

Chicken Favorites

Trying to stay fit and healthy includes eating more chicken in our house. My husband is not a huge fan of chicken so I'm always on the lookout for new chicken recipes. Some fair well, and some fall flat. It would be great to make your own recipe book filled with chicken dishes I know we are going to eat. It's such a waste to buy a cookbook and find three quarters of the recipes are nothing we would ever eat.

Seasonal Favorites

I definitely cook differently depending on the seasons. In summer it's lighter fare, and non cooked things when I can get away with it. Winter brings out the crockpot and warm hearty meals. Problem is I can never find my favorite winter recipes after 3 seasons of non use. A cookbook combining all my seasonal favorites would be fantastic.

As you can see creating your own cookbook has a lot of advantages. Recipes are so plentiful, and for those of us who love to cook, like me can have tons and tons of them around. Cookbooks made specifically for my tastes and recipes I know my family is going to like would be fantastic.

Do you want to make recipe book? It's a simple 3 step process. Using this simple system you can make your own recipe book and have it sitting on your bookshelf in no time flat.

4 Ideas to Make Your Own Recipe Book

2009-02-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

Why go to the time and effort to make your own recipe book? You probably have plenty of recipe books on your bookshelf already. Let me ask you, how many recipes do you use out of each of those cookbooks? Can you find the recipe you need when the time comes to use it? What if you had a book of recipes and you knew your family would eat every recipe in there? Would that make life easier?

Generational Cookbook

Many families have handed down recipes through the generations. Usually though prized possessions they are not all that well cared for. The ink may be fading, the recipe may have food on the card, especially if you use them a lot. You may find some family members have recipes others don't. What an amazing gift to your family, to gather up all the family recipes and put them together in a beautiful hard bound book.

My Picky Family Favorites

Every week I try to make a menu for our family, we're trying to eat at home more. The problem is my husband is a picky eater. I usually look online for new recipes and try a couple new things each week, with our family favorites mixed in. Sometimes my new recipes are a hit, sometimes he doesn't like them at all. It would be great to have a cookbook of his favorite recipes. It would be even better to add the new "hits" in as the year goes on. After a years time I could have a whole book of recipes I know he's going to eat. What a time saver that would be.

Chicken Favorites

We eat a lot of chicken in my house. My husband is not a huge fan of chicken so I have to keep coming up with new and interesting (and tasty) ways to keep him eating chicken. It would be great to have a solely chicken cookbook, of recipes that our family likes and will eat. You could do this with any type of food, it certainly wouldn't have to be chicken. We also eat a lot of venision, it would be nice to have a wider range of recipes for that, and not have to look through a bunch of different books to find the one recipe I really like but can't remember which book it's in.

Seasonal Favorites

I definitely cook differently depending on the seasons. In summer it's lighter fare, and non cooked things when I can get away with it. Winter brings out the crockpot and warm hearty meals. Problem is I can never find my favorite winter recipes after 3 seasons of non use. A cookbook combining all my seasonal favorites would be fantastic.

As you can see creating your own cookbook has a lot of advantages. Recipes are so plentiful, and for those of us who love to cook, like me can have tons and tons of them around. Cookbooks made specifically for my tastes and recipes I know my family is going to like would be fantastic.

An Epiphany Leads to Subliminal Software

2009-02-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Cover via Amazon

A few weeks ago I had a parenting epiphany. If you want to read all about it you can check out my post on my other wahm blog. I don't want to rehash the whole thing here, but I do want to say this epiphany has really had me looking at my thoughts and beliefs and how they affect my day to day being and parenting.

It's getting pretty heavy here lol.

I have been a long time believer in the law of attraction, long before The Secret came out in fact. I have been able to manifest many things in my life, including cars (3 as a matter of fact), money and even my daughter was a manifestation.

I have had some things that have troubled me, and I have come to believe it is completely because of underlying beliefs I have. I have used affirmations most of my life, and have not always found that they work as well as I would like them to.

I think that is because when I just say affirmations I'm using the conscious half of my brain, and it's the part that keeps saying "uh uh, that's not gonna happen, no way you can have that", and that's keeping those messages from getting to the nonconscious part of my brain where all my beliefs and habits are held.

If you think I'm crazy I'm not. I just finished reading John Assaraf's new book called The Answer, and answer it did. It is such a cool book. It's about the law of attraction, yes, but it is soo much more. He goes into a lot of detail about the "Vision board story". Here's a quick video about it if you don't know what I'm talking about.

It is completely science based, it talks about the brain and the way the brain works, it brings in recent scientific studies on how the brain works, and how beliefs and habits work. It's wicked cool (yes, I'm a child of the 80's and someday I'm sure I'll embaress Hanna with wicked cool).

It is written in terms of creating your dream business but all the information it contains can easily be generalized to any area of your life. It also gives a step by step system to changing your thoughts and beliefs, which I thought was super cool.

One of the suggestions it made was using subliminal affirmations, which are given directly to the nonconscious part of the brain where your beliefs are held and where they need to be changed. I picked up MindZoom subliminal software after checking out a bunch of different options. It had everything I wanted in a subliminal software program and so far, I am seeing some differences.

These are not over the top drastic differences, and I haven't won the lottery but I can feel changes occuring. I am much more patient, and I seem to not get bothered so much by the little things. This started happening after my epiphany, but I'm seeing it much more since I started using my software and it seems to be coming from a much deeper place now. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's kinda how it's feeling.

I will keep you up to date on how this whole thing is going. If you want to see my tips for choosing the right subliminal software take a look, my MindZoom subliminal software review is there too.

I Think I Need Oprah's Best Life Challenge

2008-12-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

Image via WikipediaWow, It's almost 2009 already.

What a year. Hanna is getting bigger. We got her weaned. We're working on getting her potty trained.

My business is taking off. I've partnered with some amazing people over the year. I wrote an ebook that's doing quite well. I recently launched a membership site to help walk people through my favorite online marketing method.

and oh yeah. My belly is getting really big and so is my butt. (no I'm not pregnant, this is a bad thing)

It seems the more time I spend sitting at this desk I grow exponentially. It makes sense, it just seems a little unfair.

So I guess I'm in the same boat as Oprah, it looks like she's let herself go this year as well.

I've been seeing promo's for the Best Life Challenge, maybe she will be starting that again this year. Maybe I can get motivated and get on the band wagon to get in shape and lose some weight with Oprah.

It's frustrating. I've been getting so many areas of my life in order, and yet this weight thing is getting more and more out of whack.

Ahhh the balancing act that is my life ~ and I imagine any moms life. It just seems I don't move at all anymore. Here's a little bit of my "job progression"

Worked in Brooklyn, only transportation to client's homes was my feet (bus/subway).

Moved here ~ got a car. Drove to client's homes.

Quit job ~ turned WAHM. Don't even have client's homes to go to. Simply slide my butt in a chair in my living room and work, and work and work.

So from 5 miles a day to NADA and I wonder why my butt is growing. lol.

Something has got to be done. Just wondering how I find the motivation and consistency to make it happen.

An Introduction to Children's Summer Camps

2008-05-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

by Karen Thurm Safran

Children's summer camps offer kids a distinct opportunity that enables them to open up their mind to explore new things. They are also provided with a background to have some fun along with learning. You should not end up considering a single camp to be perfect for your kid. A cluster of summer camps that includes sport camps, computer camps, theatre camps etc. are the options available to choose from.

Attending summer camp is often the first time that children spend an extended period of time away from home, but they also have many advantages. Many children's summer camps employ high school or college kids as guides on the camps so that the kids feel relaxed and able to enjoy themselves.

Most children's summer camps offer a unique setting where kids are introduced to lifelong values such as character, integrity, teamwork and leadership. Besides this, most of the activities promote these values also and encourage both independence and teamwork. For example, there are activities such as outdoor adventures, sports, leadership training and carefully selected field trips.

Some options have to be taken into consideration while choosing a summer camp. There is a range of summer camps like dance camps, computer camps, sport camps, theater camps etc. may confuse you which one to choose. Though the summer camps that emphasize the arts are popular, computer camps are more preferred.

There is a computer camp called iD Tech Camps found at www.internaldrive,com is one of the most rewarding children's summer computer camp for your kids. They have been serving as a medium or tool since 1999 that imparts computer programs like computer programming, animation and games.

A children's summer camp is of a great advantage to attend for your kids because it provides them with devoted counselors and brilliant role models to interact with. They inspire them to learn something new and interesting. The children who attend the camp are quite safe secured under the supervising eye of qualified and experienced camp organizers.

Another advantage of attending a children's summer camp is that there are dedicated counselors and excellent role models available for your kids to see and interact with. Also, there are parents and experienced camp organizers in charge of the event, so the children who attend camp are safe and well cared for.

All aspects of the summer camp are organized to the last detail and have been run through many times before. This ensures that your child has the best possible experience. Even things such as the pickup at the airport to the last moment of the camp when the kids are boarding the home-bound flight can be pre-arrange to minimize worry.

Parents often remark how much more mature their sons and daughters seem in just a few short weeks following a summer camp which gives an indication of the huge advantage of having your child attend a summer camp.

About the Author:

Karen Thurm Safran writes for iD Tech Summer Camps which provides number 1 summer computer camps in the summer camps industry. For more information visit www.internaldrive.com

Hanna's first craft project

2008-03-27T09:28:00.001-07:00

Today Hanna and I went to the local library for story time. This is our really local little, tiny library. I must admit though, they have an awesome children's library. Better I think than the one in Wichita.

Today story time was all about cows. We listened to three books about cows, all of which were quite funny and entertaining. Hanna was awesome. She sat in her little chair~ without touching me ~ through all three stories.

This story time is a little different than the Wichita story time we've been going to. In Wichita there is dancing and singing and moving about during story time and of course BUBBLES at the end!!

Here they just read a few books, AND THEN there is a craft project. I wasn't sure how she was going to do with a craft project but she did great!! She jumped right up to the table and grabbed out some crayons she wanted, colored away on her cute little cow. She talked to other children and was actually interactive! Woo hoo.

So here's Hanna and her first craft project. (while she's eating lunch, the cat's trying to get her ham, and she won't put down the olive)

Staying on track!

2008-03-25T15:50:00.000-07:00

Spring is getting here ~ today it was 69 degrees. Those kind of days absolutely must be spent at the . . . Playground!!!

I've been trying to get all my work done in the morning so I can go out and play in the beautiful weather all afternoon with Hanna. Luckily, things have been going well and I can get done what I need to get done before Hanna gets up from her nap.

I have to say it is still so easy to get sidetracked. I think the best thing I've done for my business is to decide who I want to work with in my business. When I figured that out, it was easy to identify WHY I wanted to work with those people, as well as find them!

Sometimes I think if things don't seem enough like work, it's easy to let myself get sidetracked. Even though that is one thing I love about working from home, it doesn't seem like work.

It's getting to know other people, and helping them if I can. That's fun for me, and it is ALL the WORK I have to do!! (just a quick reminder for myself. lol)

Sometimes I just make things too hard for myself when they don't need to be.

I added new Easter and tricycle pictures at myspace if you want to check them out.

The Next 6 Months

2008-03-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

I realized I've gone and done it again, as much as I preach to stick to one thing I just looked around and realized I've been jumping from thing to thing to thing, not getting anywhere, again.

Dang, well that's ok. I've decided to pick up where I left off before I started roaming. I am going to get it together and work on one thing for the next 6 months.

I almost started a whole new blog, but I thought hmmm, that's just one more thing to take care of, so I am going to stick with this blog and make it my new home for the next 6 month challenge!

For the next 6 months I am going to stick to doing ONE THING!! (is there a post on this blog about 3 months ago that says the same thing?) ~ well it's really all about noticing you are off course and getting back on.

I love getting involved in new things, and trying new things. I know if I try to stop myself from doing that I will be frustrated and unhappy. What I've decided to do instead, is apply whatever new things I come across to my ONE THING. I think I can do it.

This one thing is a powerful opportunity to change my financial situation. I was thinking as I was laying in Hanna's bed in the middle of the night about all the things I have worked on in the last few months and I think they can all pretty much be applied to the one thing in some way shape or form. It's just one more way to challenge myself.

So stick around, and if you see me straying from just one thing ~ call me on it!

Jackie Lee :)

OM Chant ~ Fill Yourself with the Vibration

2008-03-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

I found a great blog today, while I was looking through BlogCatalog. It's all about mastering meditation, which I would love to do and find it difficult with a loud and rambunctious toddler in the house, but you know, baby steps.

Anyway, on this blog is a great OM meditation video I thought I would share with you all. If you have never done the OM meditation you will find it a wonderful way to fill yourself with the vibration of the universe.

Give a try and let me know what you think. :)

Jackie Lee

PS. I don't know if I told you, but I have started a new blog just about raising a spirited toddler . If you have one, or would like to follow along with her crazy antics, and my "trying to give up perfectionist" ways of dealing with her please stop by.

Kirtan Kriya ~ Meditation

2008-03-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

I just received another addition of my Yoga for EveryBody newsletter. Today they included an amazing meditation, with a mantra as well as some hand movements. I just went through the meditation with the video and must say it is very powerful.

The Mantra is easy to remember it's just Sat Nam ~ which means truth and Name. When you repeat the mantra you are saying that you are part of the universal truth (which we all are).

The mantra breaks down into 4 parts. Sa Ta Na Ma. You press your thumb together with each of your fingers on each syllable. So for Sa you would press together your thumb and pointer finger, for Ta it would be thumb and middle finger, Na is thumb and ring finger and Ma is thumb and pinky.

This uses aspects of acupressure to change your brain waves. It is said to be very good for managing addictions as well.

The host of the video walks a executive on business through the meditation, and provides excellent instruction along the way.

If during the day you find yourself getting frustrated with the kids, not being able to get done everything you'd hoped, why not take five minutes to stop and do a little meditation to get you back in the right frame of mind.

Here's the link ~ feel GOOD!

Kirtan Kriya Meditation

Nursing a baby

2008-02-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

As you probably know we are still nursing in this house, although we have managed to wean this spirited toddler down to only nursing before nap and before bed.

This post really isn't about nursing Hanna. It's about Hanna nursing her baby. :)

Yesterday I heard her playing with her baby, talking about eating and I turned around to see her with her shirt up and her baby nursing. AAAAH, it was so cute. I was so proud.

I only wish I had been quicker and quieter with the camera and gotten a picture of it.

Do your breastfed kids nurse their babies? I'm just wondering and would love to hear. I hope this means the value of breastfeeding has been truly ingrained in her and she will nurse her babies when she's a mama.

I'd love to hear your stories of your babies nursing their babies, leave me a comment and tell me all about it~

Jackie Lee

Baby Days at Walmart

2008-02-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

If you are getting ready for a baby you might want to hop over to Wal Mart.com. They are having a huge sale on everything baby. They cut their already low prices on everything from bedding cribs to clothes and carseats.

Everything you need for baby is on sale. This sale only lasts from Feb 16 to March 1st. :)

Help Me Stay Top Momma!

2008-02-06T06:27:00.001-08:00

A long long time ago I signed up at Top Momma. It's a site that helps you get traffic to your blog. I promptly forgot all about it, until this morning. I received an email saying I was TOP MOMMA!

Let me tell you how this works. It's a really simple and fun idea. There's a square of 25 boxes on the site. In each box is a picture. Each picture takes you to a Momma's Blog. You get to stay Top Momma (and in the square) by the number of clicks you get on your picture as well as other moms you refer to Top Momma.

Here's where I need you help. Please go to Top Momma and look for this picture of Hanna:

and Click It!

That's all, it's that simple. When you click it will take you to my blog, and I will get credit for the clicks.

If you are a Momma Blogger you might want to sign up to be Top Momma yourself. It's free and pretty fun to see your picture up there in the top spot. The key is picking a really cute/interesting picture people are going to want to click on.

I'll let you know how much traffic I get from this.

Thanks again!

Jackie

***UPdate***

Well I didn't last long at Top Momma ~ just 1 day. But it was fun. I'm not really sure if it drove much traffic to my blog. ~ The logo's cute though?!

Our first bout of Sickness

2008-01-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm really a mom now. Last night Hanna puked all over me. Poor thing. She had a stuffy nose and was sneezing, but didn't really act sick.

I had finished nursing her before bed and she was laying there, getting ready to fall asleep when all of a sudden, BLecK. Yuck. Poor baby.

She's not a sick kid and the only sickness she's had is stuffy/runny nose with teething, never has she had the vomiting.

She looked like she had no idea what to do, and looked so confused. We ended up having to shower off as we were both covered. She stayed up and was super clingy after that. She finally fell asleep about 10, and ended up sleeping until 8:30a. That's completely unheard of.

She's been fine today, sipping on juice and soup. Hopefully she is over the pukey part. She's still got a runny nose and some sneezing. We are using "Sniffles and Sneezes" homeopathics to help with that and it seems to be working pretty well.

Aaaah, passed another milestone. The first puking. The joys of motherhood. :)

Practical Yoga ~ Yoga Quickies

2008-01-25T07:08:00.000-08:00

Wow,
I didn't realize I hadn't been here in so long. Shame on me.

Great things going on for me, South Beach is going pretty well. I've dropped a little over 5 pounds since my last post. I've not stuck to the first phase completely, but I'm doing the best I can and giving myself credit for what I am doing instead of beating myself up for the things that I could do better.

I've been trying to take that attitude into my day to day life as well. It seems to be working. The more I look at what's going right, the more things show up that are right.

I've gotten a couple new coaching clients in the last couple weeks, and I landed an amazing client for some of my writing services. It looks like this is going to be a long term relationship and that is pretty exciting.

I had just been playing the "wouldn't it be nice . . . " game and then along came this client. If you aren't familiar with "wouldn't it be nice" ~ it's a great law of attraction game you can play to lighten up when you get stressed out.

It goes something like this ~

wouldn't it be nice if ~ I got this great client
wouldn't it be nice if ~ I had 5000 dollars each month by the 15th in the bank
wouldn't it be nice if ~ Hanna would sleep all night
wouldn't it be nice if ~ Hanna decided to use the toilet again

I think you get the point. The cool thing about wouldn't it be nice is the energy around it. You don't get the oh, that will never happen for me feeling because ~ yeah it would be nice if all those things happened!!! You get to kind of go with it, and think about how cool it would be and it really raises my vibration.

You know once you get to a vibration that's a match to those things they show up. Last week it happened for me pretty quick with this new client.

Wow, not sure where all that came from, I really decided to post today because I just found the coolest website.

I'm trying to get back into a regular yoga/pilates practice ~ although I've not been as successful as I'd hoped to be by now, I do keep finding new resources that move me in that direction.

Anyway, in a Yoga email I get everyday there was a great little video for a "Yoga Quickie". After I watched it I realized there was a whole website and a video. The website is really cool and they have lots of short Yoga Quickie videos you can watch. Pretty fun.

IF you only have a minute, but want to get in some yoga, maybe you could try a Yoga Quickie. I'm going to try ~ because a little is better than none. :)

Have fun and don't forget to breathe.

Jackie Lee

South Beach Update

2008-01-18T07:23:00.001-08:00

I'm on day 5 of South Beach Diet. I'm feeling really good. I've had the opportunity to eat really badly a couple times this week and have managed to choose wisely.

I've lost a few pounds already which is always nice.

IF you care to take a look, I'm tracking my meals over at Peer Trainer. IF you've never used peer trainer it's a pretty cool website. They have "groups" and "teams". Teams are small ~ up to 4 people. Groups are larger.

With your account you get a "log" where you can update your meals, exercise, any notes to yourself or your team. You can also leave messages to your team ~ the whole team will be able to see them. It's really nice if someone is doing really well you can leave them a way to go message. If someone is not doing so well you can remind them it all starts with the next meal, or the next choice. If you'd like to see my log drop on by

It is a very interactive platform that allows you to really support and help one another. My team is made up of my best friend, one of her friends and one of my friends from CafeMom. It's just another way women can support women in their efforts to lose weight and get healthy. (of course it's not just for men) :)

If you are looking to have some support in your weightloss efforts you might want to gather up a few friends and head over to peer trainer. :)

Best Life Challenge

2008-01-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

South Beach or Best Life Challenge? I know I just started South Beach again today but Oprah got me pretty motivated today. She had Bob Greene on again and they started another Best Life Challenge.

I'm thinking about jumping ship. I put together a nice lens over at Squidoo on the Best Life Challenge.

I'm going to do a little more looking over The Best Life Challenge to see which I'm going to like better and feel would be more successful for me. I'll add to the lens as I do more research.

Enjoy!!

Jackie Lee :)

Do You Squidoo?

2008-01-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

I love Squidoo. It's a great place to get information and it's a great place to earn a little extra cash. IF you've never played over at squidoo you should check it out!

This month over at the 30 Day Marketing Experiment Blog we are delving in to how to make money at squidoo ~ how to build lenses and everything you ever wanted to know about squidoo.

I have put up a couple new lenses recently and continue to add to my little lens collection. Here's a couple of my new lenses.

How to Cure Morning Sickness

Compare Online Diet Plans

Here's some of my favorite all time lenses.

What is a Vision Board?

Cloth Diaper Resource

Breastfeeding Resources

Here's one that brings in a fair amount of change each month.

How to add more friends at Myspace

As you can see you can come up with all kinds of things to talk about over at Squidoo. If you are interested in it, chances are someone else is too! You can easily monetize your lenses with certain "modules" like ebay, amazon and cafepress. The cool thing is you don't have to be an affiliate or do anything other than add that module to your lens to be able to get paid. Very cool, and it's a lot of fun.

OF course there are tons of advanced techniques you can learn to completely spiff up your lenses, and there are tons of ebooks and courses you can get about how to make money with Squidoo. I've bought a lot of them, and gotten some for free. The free ones tell you mostly how to set up a lens, going through each of the modules and that kind of information.

If you want to learn how to do some advanced stuff and market your lenses my favorite is Squidoo Queen, she definitely overdelivered.

Just one word of warning ~ Squidoo can quickly take your lens to number one over at google so if you are talking about stuff you don't want anyone else to know about ~ don't do it. ;) It is true Squidoo quickly ranks high in search results so you can quickly get a lot of traffic to your lens and if you have traffic and a good lens you can make some sales pretty easily.

If you haven't been there ~ check out Squidoo. If you have been there, go make a new lens. I'd love to see it. Leave me a comment, which will also be a nice backlink for your lens.

Until tomorrow,

Jackie Lee

Getting Started with South Beach Diet ~ again

2008-01-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my last post I was trying to lose some weight and get in shape, so I'm getting started with South Beach Diet ~ again.

I was thinking this morning that a great goal would be for me to lose some weight and get in shape by my daughter's birthday which is May 10th. I want to get a family portrait done for her birthday and it would be nice if I was looking good. We will most likely have her birthday party at the lake and will be going on a lake vacation with Ryan's family a month or so after that. So some good incentive.

I decided to start South Beach again because it's the only diet that's ever worked for me that I feel I can actually manage as a life long thing. So I reread the South Beach Diet book and dug out my South Beach Diet Cookbook and put together a meal plan for the first week. I just was over at Amazon and found they have a South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook which I am very excited about. It has 200 recipes made in under 30 minutes. That's my kind of cookbook. The other cookbook is pretty fancy food my husband turns his nose up at, and takes a while to make. I will have to get this new cookbook!!! Aaahhh, another cookbook.

I cleaned out the refrigerator and all the cupboards ~ luckily this time we were pretty much out of food any way so I didn't have to get rid of much. We went grocery shopping and it feels really good to have so much nutritious food in the house again. Yay!! I remember how good I felt last time I did South Beach and I am looking forward to feeling like that again.

I am hoping to find room in the budget for South Beach Online, it's 5 bucks a week so we will see what I can do. I think it would be helpful for making up weekly menus they provide over 1000 recipes, as well as put together a shopping list as you put together your menu. That's the part I usually mess up is the list and then when I go to make dinner I am missing an ingredient, then I get mad and eat junk. Bad me!

My friend Lori is doing Body for Life and has agreed to join me at PeerTrainer to log our food and exercise and keep each other accountable. If you wanna come too just let me know.

I'm also planning to dust off the Power 90 DVDs I have here and do them for exercise. I am hoping to plan this all into my daily routines as I am currently reading Sink Reflections and Body Clutter by the FlyLady. I hope with all this stuff in place I will finally find something I can stick to. The Power 90 is 3 months so that will take me almost to Hanna's Birthday. :)

Feel free to ask me from time to time if I am sticking with the "life plan" and hopefully I will answer a loud and excited YOU BET!!!

I will post on my results on FULL DISCLOSURE FRIDAYs. If we get some people together that want to do this together, maybe we can find a way to do it like wordless wednesdays. All in good time, today I am just going to get started. :)

Until tomorrow,

Jackie Lee :)

What's for Dinner?

2008-01-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

Everyday my husband calls when he's done with work ~ which of course can be any of a variety of times from 5 to 8pm ~ and asks what's for dinner. My car's muffler is busted and we're waiting on a new part so I haven't been able to get to the store. The dinner pickins are pretty slim around here. :( I am really wanting to eat better, lose weight, get more fit I started pulling together recipes. I thought I would put together a plan and a list for when I finally get to go grocery shopping again. I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.

Quick Rosemary-Sage London Broil

Ingredients

Serving Size: 1

2	Tbsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
3	Tbsp. finely chopped fresh sage
2 1/2	Tsp. olive oil
1/2	Tsp. seasoned salt
1/2	Tsp. garlic pepper
2	Cloves garlic, minced
4	9-oz. flank steaks (London broil)

Directions

	Preheat broiler. Blend rosemary, sage, olive oil, seasoned salt, garlic pepper and garlic in small bowl. Spread mixture evenly on both sides of steaks; press lightly to help mixture adhere to meat.
	Place steaks on rack of broiler pan. Broil 2 to 3 inches from heat 6 to 9 minutes on each side or to desired doneness.

If you don't have a great set of mixing bowls, take a look at these, nice tight lids too.
Until next time! Enjoy dinner!

Jackie Lee :)

Wordless Wednesday!

2008-01-09T07:41:00.001-08:00

Hanna using her "outside voice" outside for a change of pace!!!

What a weekend

2008-01-07T07:19:00.000-08:00

We had a "heat wave" this weekend. It was in the high 50's low 60's. We took advantage and got out of the house and went to the zoo. We met up with a friend of ours and her daughter.

It was a good time and it was really fun to see the difference in temperament between the two girls ~ who are only 6 weeks apart in age.

One was all about independance, wandering off on her own, following animals along the glass.

The other was afraid of the gorillas, screaming each time one came near, wouldn't walk at all ~ demanded to be carried most of the day.

Can you imagine which one was mine? lol

It was a helpful thing to see for me, because sometimes I swear she does stuff just to torture me. It really isn't about that, it's just who she is. It's her temperament, and once I just accept it, we will have much easier time getting things done and having fun.

I haven't downloaded the pics yet, but I will probably have them done for Wednesday.

Jackie Lee :)

Trying to go with a schedule

2008-01-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

We tried setting up a schedule before ~ back when Hanna was much younger and it totally didn't work out.

The more I read about toddlers though, the more I think I might need a more consistent plan for our days.

If any of you are using a schedule I would be glad to hear about how you set up your days. I have to manage to fit in Hanna, meals, housework and work. :)

Thanks for the input.

Jackie Lee :)

Calgon Take Me Away!!!!

2008-01-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

AAAAAHHHHH, I'm about to pull my hair out.

All Hanna has done since she woke up this morning is scream. I can't seem to figure out what she wants and get it right. When I fail to get it right whatever it is I have figured out wrong gets thrown back at me or on the floor.

She is tormenting the dogs and cats, and screaming. DAMN

I am reading these positive discipline ~ although they don't believe in discipline ~ books and I don't know, maybe I'm not far enough into the books, because right now all I want to do is yell at her and tell her to stop screaming or I'm going to give her something to be screaming about.

I won't but jeez it feels like it would work. NOT.

Just needed to vent for a minute. We're going to go take a shower. I have gotten a good amount of stuff done today even with the screaming, so maybe I'll give up on getting anything else done until she goes down for a nap.

Here comes the screams again, gotta go.

Jackie Lee :)

Do you ever get really excited about something . . .

2008-01-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

and you look at the clock and realize it's 6:30pm and you haven't done a darn thing all day?

That's what happened to me yesterday.

Earlier this week I joined Wealthy Affiliate. I finally decided to stop being a tire-kicking, free ebook reading, trying to figure out how to make it work without spending any money girl, and just join and learn from people who are really doing it and doing it well.

There is a great saying ~Your income will be a direct reflection of the income of the people you surround yourself with ~ or something similar to that. Wealthy Affiliate was started by an filled with million dollar earners.

I was surprised to see how much "secret" information they are sharing within the walls of WA. One of my mentors Travis Sago (THE Bum Marketer) is an active member. In fact, that's what got me yesterday. There is a 30 page forum thread with over 200 posts where Travis walks someone through the entire process of coming up with a niche idea, how to define the customer ~ the whole process all the way to building a website and driving traffic. It was unreal.

I started the thread early in the day and before I next time I looked at the clock it was 6:30pm and Ryan was on his way home for dinner. What a learning experience. I am doing it all now. I'm following the plan that was laid out in that thread and doing it all myself, finding my own niche and setting up a profitable campaign. It's going so well. I just know this is going to be a huge piece of the "breakout year".

There are so many resources for markers inside Wealthy Affiliate. I couldn't believe it. Kyle and Carson have put together so much information. The only way you could not be successful being a member of Wealthy Affiliate would be if you didn't read it and put it into action!!

It's the best money I've ever spent, and it's been less than a week. I have already learned things that made the price of admission completely worth it.

OK wow, this is sounding very ADVERTISING like. Sorry, didn't mean to do that. I just can't believe what I've already learned and I'm kicking myself for not joining sooner. DUH.

If you join my username is MomtoHanna, send me a PM and add me as a friend!

Jackie Lee :)

Wordless Wednesday!

2008-01-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

I tried to take a picture of my cat this morning and this is what I got instead.

I finally got the cat :)

who is clearly annoyed by the kid. :)

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-01T13:49:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful, fun and safe New Year's Eve. I didn't quite make it to midnight. We watched the ball drop on TV and kissed and considered it the new year, even though it was only 11. (and that's pretty late for me)

This year feels different, this year feels special. I have a feeling this is going to be our breakout year financially!! I can feel it. It's going to be GREAT in 2008.

I am still working on my intentions for the year. I also work with themes, which are a little different. A theme is basically a concept you want to work on throughout the year. You put it out to the universe and leave it. You will find through the year the universe brings you ample circumstances to work on your theme.

I wrote an article about my theme for this month's edition of The Magic Happens if you'd like to check it out.

I want a chance to solidify my intentions before I post them. I have come across a couple amazing resources over the last few days that have changed my way of thinking, and in doing so, altered my intentions a little bit.

Don't worry, I'll keep you up-do-date on my intentions as well as the amazing resources I've found. For today, enjoy your black eyed peas and have fun with your family and loved ones.

Have a wonderful day and I can't wait to see what happens this year!!

Jackie Lee :)

Squidoo Queen Over -Delivers

2007-12-31T08:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve,

I just wanted to pop in and let you all know I have posted a review of Squidoo Queen at my Internet Marketing for Mommies blog.

I am a huge fan of Squidoo. I have so much fun over there, and I'm starting to make some decent money too. If you are looking for a way to make some extra money, and you don't have your own product or a website, or a list ~ check out Squidoo.

If you are really interested in making money quick I'd check out Squidoo Queen it will definitely lessen your learning curve. I wish I'd picked it up sooner. I figured out a lot of it on my own, but it would have been a lot quicker to just buy this book. :)

PS. If you are looking to learn the ins and outs of building lenses and marketing on Squidoo stop by the 30 Day Marketing Experiment. January's experiment is Squidoo!!

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Winter Reading Challenge

2007-12-29T11:27:00.001-08:00

How fun!!! A Winter Reading Challenge. This brings back memories of my Summer Reading Challenges back when I was young. My mom challenged me to read a certain number of books over the summer ~ like 50 or 100.

I have a toddler now so I'm not pushing myself that hard! I did get some new books for Christmas, and have some half finished books here at the house I would like to challenge my self to get finished.

If you want the low-down on the Winter Reading Challenge, how it works and all the details jump on over to InkSplasher and check it out.

Here's my Challenge Book List:

Finish:
Stumbling Toward Enlightenment. This book has been amazing so far, and I want to finish it soon!!

The Happiest Toddler on the Block

Start (and finish):

Sink Reflections . . . ~ A new years resolution to get this house in shape and keep it that way.

Kids, Parents, and Power Struggles: Winning for a Lifetime

Parent Effectiveness Training: The Proven Program for Raising Responsible Children

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

At least one more James Rollins book

I just received a book in the mail I had forgotten about so I'm adding it to the list.

The Gift: Understand and Develop Your Psychic Abilities

So there you have it ~ for the moment. I love books so I'm sure this list will be added to as time goes on. :)

Please feel free to join me int he winter reading challenge!! Maybe we can start a little blogging book club and read at least one of the same books!!

Hanna just woke up, I gotta go!!

Jackie Lee :)

Capture the moments!

2007-12-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

During the "stolen camera" scare I was looking for an affordable small camera I would be able to keep with me. Then I found my camera and didn't think twice about it. I had talked to my husband about the one I would have gotten had I needed it.

I must have been a good girl this year, because even though we said no gifts for each other, Santa made his way to my house, and brought with him the Canon PowerShot SD1000.

It is so little and fun. I have started carrying a little tiny purse since I have this great big diaper bag filled with Hanna's stuff and big fat cloth diapers. This little camera fits right in my purse with plenty of room to spare!!

I got some gift certificates for books for Christmas and we were all at the bookstore the other night. Hanna was getting fussy while Ryan finished looking at his books. We were standing right next to the CD rack, and since she loves music I thought I'd put the headphones on her and see what would happen. (I made sure the volume was low)

There happened to be a NOW ~ pop music CD right there, and it had her favorite songs on it. She started bouncing around the store, laughing, singing and dancing.

I thought to myself, "oh I wish I had my camera" . . . I did have my camera!!!

I whipped it out and took some shots of her and here they are.

This is pretty fun!! I probably should have saved these for Wednesday, but I couldn't wait!!

Thursday Thirteen ~ Books We Got for Christmas

2007-12-27T06:28:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get a Thursday Thirteen in for the last few weeks and always forget and post something else. Today I remembered!!! We happened to have received 13 books for Christmas, between us all. :) Here goes.

I'll let you know how it goes as I finish each one!!!

Jackie Lee :)

Wordless Wednesday!

2007-12-26T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonder-filled and joyous holiday!

We could never get her to seat in a stroller when it was hers. :) Now she won't stay out of it.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . .

2007-12-23T05:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas!!

We had a lovely blizzard yesterday, and now there is snow on the ground ~ where it didn't get blown away.

The gifts are wrapped ~ Hanna's trying to unwrap already.

We are going down to Tulsa today to see Hubby's side of the family. I hope the roads are better today.

Yesterday we made the mistake of trying to go to town. (it hadn't really started snowing yet here). We got to Wellington which is usually a 15 minute drive and realized there was no way we were going to make it to Wichita. We stopped for breakfast and it got worse and worse. We decided to stop in the new Super Walmart and try to wait it out.

After a few HOURS in Walmart I was like, it's not stopping, can we just get home? It took us an hour to get home. There were times when you literally could not see ANYTHING!!! It was really scary. At least, thank God, Hanna picked that direction of the trip to sleep. :) It would have been seriously Awful if she had been screaming the whole way.

So I just popped on before we leave to say hello and Merry Christmas to you all.

Have a wonderful, safe, joy-filled holiday, and I will be back on Wednesday.

I'm cooking dinner on Tuesday here at the house, for my mom, her husband, my grandpa and his girlfriend, so it will be fun. I'm sure there will be pictures. (I did get my camera back!)

Merry Christmas!!

Jackie Lee :)

A Holiday Miracle

2007-12-21T07:20:00.001-08:00

Ok, I'm not talking 34th street kind of miracle here, but a miracle nonetheless.

Wednesday we had our annual Christmas Luncheon and then my mom and I went out to finish (or start) the Christmas shopping as the case may be. I got into an argument with Ryan while I was out and feeling upset, seriously pissed off and a little taken advantage of.

We finished a little shopping, not nearly as much as we'd hoped, I already mentioned that Hanna screamed the whole way home.

I was seriously wore out by the time I got home. I brought in most of the stuff from the truck and put it on the kitchen table. I had this weird dream that night ~ about my camera. I couldn't find my camera.

I woke up yesterday and looked on the table ~ no camera. I thought maybe I had left the camera in the truck, it wasn't there.

I had a pretty strong intuitive feeling that someone had stolen it out of the car while we were in Border's. I was so upset!!! I love that camera. It's my prized possession. I got it for Christmas 3 years ago and I use it just about every single day. (and it wasn't cheap). I called my mom last night to see if somehow I had grabbed it and accidentally taken it in her house when I dropped her off.

I was a little nervous to ask my mom about it, she gave me the camera and I didn't want her to know I lost it. It wasn't there.

I went to bed heartbroken last night that my camera was gone. Christmas is coming and now I had no camera to capture the moments. :(

I woke up this morning and started looking at cameras online. Pricing, trying to find something that I could get just so I would have pictures of the holidays. It wouldn't be my digital rebel, but it would be something.

My mom called to see if I had found it. She said, "Jackie, just call Lois. I really feel like it's at Lois'". I was like, no I totally REMEMBER bumping into it and knocking of the lens cap while we were in the parking lot at the vet. (I DO STILL REMEMBER THAT!!!!) She just told me to call, just to make sure.

I called Lois, just in case, and sure enough. My camera is there.

I don't know how ~ I know I put it in the car. I know I had it with us all afternoon. I know I knocked the lens cap off and put it back on. I know I saw it before we went into Borders. It was there.

Now it's at Lois'. Thank you Universe.

I'm going to go pick it up today. :)

Damn ~ I wish I had my camera. Hanna is putting a tissue paper "diaper" on her dolly. First time she's done that aaaawwww.

No paypal at Amazon?

2007-12-20T05:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was another crazy day. I was finally able to *start* the Christmas shopping ~ kind of~ well that's a whole other story.

My mom, Hanna and I went to Wichita (about an hour drive) to do the shopping. We timed it just right and Hanna napped on the way in. She was a dream the whole day, managed to maintain through all the ins and outs of the carseat.

She finally lost it on the way home and proceeded to SCREAM the entire hour back home. I know there has to be some way to deal with this. Some way to set some boundaries and be able to enforce the boundaries while upholding her self esteem and allowing her to feel her emotions. I know she was frustrated and tired. I was frustrated and tired.

However, driving home with a screaming kid is hard. (and we do it a lot ~ she is either sleeping or screaming in the car ~ again no apparent medium setting on this kid :()

I was reading on an Attachment Parenting list I'm on today about someone else having similar issues and they were referred to the Positive Parenting - Discipline Group over at Yahoo. I stopped by this morning and this looks like exactly what I've been looking for. I firmly believe kids need boundaries and limits, and have been confused about how you do that in conjunction with attachment parenting.

They also provided a long list of recommended reading :) Always a plus for me. As you all know how much I love to read.

So I run over to amazon to check out the recommended books. I found Kids are Worth It: Giving Your Kid the Gift of Inner Discipline and How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk I had them in the shopping cart all ready to go.

I signed in and went to pay, NO PAYPAL!!! What's up with that? Who in this day and age doesn't take paypal?

Most of my income is currently coming through online revenue streams that go directly to my paypal account, so that's where all my money is!! ARGH. It's bad enough I have to wait on shipping to get books these days, now I have to wait to be able to pay?

A friend of mine recently told me about the paypal debit card. It's a mastercard, like any other debit card, but it takes the money from paypal first ~ then you can make your bank account your backup in paypal, so it can also take money straight from your bank account. This is very cool. I applied and they are sending me my card as we speak.

So do I wait for the paypal card to get here, or do I transfer some money into my bank account to be able to pay from there? Which is the lesser/quicker of two evils.

I don't know. Maybe I'll see if the paypal card gets here today, and if it doesn't I'll go ahead and transfer the money. That will take at least 3 days, so it won't be until at least wed I can get the books. Dang, by then I'll probably get a book store gift certificate for Christmas and can just go buy them at the store.

OK rant done.

Maybe I need to read those books for myself. lol.

Anyway, have a great day, and if you've read any of these books or have any other suggestions for positive discipline type books, I'd love to hear 'em!

Happy Thursday!

Jackie Lee :)

Wordless Wednesday!

2007-12-19T05:39:00.001-08:00

Every year my mom and I go to this Christmas Luncheon. Today is the luncheon. This was Hanna last year. :)

Weaning a High Needs Toddler

2007-12-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

I wrote a post on my other blog back when I was thinking about daytime weaning Hanna. After the day from hell on Sunday, she woke up every hour that night. It was like having an infant in the house again. (except she was up every 15 minutes when she was an infant. lol). I decided to not nurse her back to sleep every hour and tried other ways to get her back to sleep.

I recently read a post on one of my yahoo groups of a woman who was having similar problems. She had taken her child to a naturopath, and even though he was a fan of extended breastfeeding, encouraged her to stop all night feeding, as sleep is a pattern/habit.

I wondered if that was true for us as well. I wondered if I had just been taking the easy way out to get her back to sleep at night, and I wondered if she wasn't getting to nurse when she woke up at night if maybe she would just sleep instead.

Why do I keep getting these weaning urges right around holidays? hmm.

Anyway, last night I only nursed her to get her to sleep. When she woke up I went in and cuddled her next to me, and patted her and shhhhed her, and to my surprise she went back to sleep.

~ I wonder who the pattern lays with? Me or her? ~

I fell asleep in her bed, and the next time she woke up she was a little more upset about no num nums but she did finally cuddle up and go back to sleep. The next time she woke up it was morning.

Two times a night has been our "norm" until lately so I don't know if it's going to work or not on getting her to sleep through the night. What I do know is this.

She CAN fall asleep without nursing. She has fallen asleep while sitting on th couch with us, while laying on the bed with me, while laying in her bed next to me. I know it IS possible now. Up until about a month ago I really wasn't sure. :)

So it looks like we are on the road to night weaning now. Hopefully it will go as well as the daytime weaning. I'm still keeping the noon and night nursings, but who knows? I may find that she doesn't want or need them too. :) We shall see.

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How to Manage Joint Venture Product Giveaways

2007-12-17T07:59:00.001-08:00

The latest and greatest way for people to grow their lists is GIVEAWAYS!!!!

Everyone benefits, you get free ebooks and reports, they get lots and lots of names added to their mailing lists.

If you aren't familiar with the Giveaway Model let me explain.

You go to a site, for example here's the newest one lately, Santa Sal's Christmas Giveaway.

When you get to the site you will have to "sign in" ~ this means giving up your name and email address. Once you are in you can go directly to your free gifts or downloads. There will be tons and tons of free products there, yours for the taking.

Here's the catch ~ for each product you want to download you have to give up your name and email address and get on that person's list. You WILL receive more email from this person.

I made a huge mistake the first time I went to a giveaway. I got EVERYTHING!!! It was free. I'm all about free. I had so much email coming to my inbox, I was completely overwhelmed and ended up getting pulled in so many directions because I had too much information coming at me and it all looked like good ideas!!

Here's my advice. Giveaways are great. They are a wonderful opportunity to get some information you've been wanting without having to pay for it.

Here's the trick.

Go in knowing what you are looking for. Get ONLY that.

Make up your mind before going in what you are looking for. (It's kind of like going to a casino or an auction, know how much you're willing to spend or how high you're willing to bid BEFORE you go in)

For example, for Santa Sal's Christmas Giveaway I went in looking for more information on Making money from myspace (for the 30 Day Marketing Experiment blog), information on profitable blogging and anything on Squidoo.

I found something on each of those topics. In fact I was able to pick up a copy of Myspace Marketing Secrets, which I had been thinking about buying. :) I saw some other stuff that caught my eye. But I stuck with what I had agreed to. Just those topics.

If you can set up some boundaries and limits for yourself giveaways can be really fun. Not only will you get some great products up front, but when you start getting email from those who gave the product away, it will be of interest and use to you as well. :)

If you haven't been to Santa Sal's Christmas Giveaway yet I suggest you ski on over there now. It's a Christmas thing and will only be available for a few more days. No matter what your interests are, I'm sure you will find something you like. :)

Good luck and have fun!!

Jackie Lee :)

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Can you say Day From Hell?

2007-12-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

I can.

Damn, I thought this was going to be a good one. Hanna slept until 8:30a for like the first time ever. But it all went downhill from there.

She has literally been crying or screaming since then. I don't know what to do with her. I talk to her, hold her, comfort her, try to get her to tell me what the problems is and then get what she wants, and still screaming sceaming screaming. This isn't a little whiny scream. This is full fledged spirited toddler, purple baby screaming.

I can finally get her calmed down and then bam ~ two minutes later it all starts over again.

She is tormenting the dog ~ of course it's the one that doesn't really like her. So I put the dog outside to keep him from snapping at her. Then she gets mad and screams because the dog isn't inside. I try to put the dog upstairs so she can't get to him, and she stands at the gate screaming.

The dog finally was allowed to just hang out in the living room with us all, and he finally lost his temper and snapped at her. Didn't touch her, but that completely freaked her out and led to much louder longer screaming.

She fell asleep for a nap at a normal time, of course laying on top of me. As soon as I got up to put her in bed she woke up and that was the end of anything looking like a nap. :( I know she is tired, she can barely keep her eyes open, but she just won't do it. She won't allow herself to fall asleep.

Then I get a well meaning comment on a blog post that I just need to keep her on a schedule. Kids love schedules.

PAAALEEEEASE. If you don't have a spirited kid, please don't talk to me about schedules and bedtimes, and just lay her down, or just let her cry, or just put her in time out. That stuff does not work with my kid.

Believe me I have reduced myself to trying it all.

All I can do is just love her. Keep my heart open and filled with love and love her through these days. When she finally falls asleep. (which she finally did around 8pm) go take a hot bath with a good book. and pray that tomorrow will be one of the good days.

Any prayers for a good day tomorrow are greatly appreciated!

Today I Got Lost

2007-12-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

I started relatively early this morning, working the new hour on hour off plan. Here it is noon, and I have gotten nothing done!! Well not nothing, but nothing I had expected to get done by now.

I totally got lost!! I remembered I used to get pretty good traffic through webrings, so I went in search of a web ring that I might join. You will see it on the sidebar. Webrings are pretty fun. Usually they are done with websites, but there are now a lot for blogs as well. Basically, in case you've never heard of them before, people who have websites on a similar topics join together, putting the Webring code on their page so people can go directly to other sites in the webring. Since everyone in the ring must have the code on their page you can get quite a bit of traffic through webrings.

It's important to join webrings that are relative to your blog/site and look at the stats on the webring home page. If there are a ton of sites in the ring and it's not getting a lot of visits you probably won't get much traffic. But if there are relatively few sites and they've gotten tons of hits it's a good bet you'll start getting some decent traffic.

What I forgot about webrings is this ~ it can kind of be like Stumbleupon ~ You get caught up and the next thing you realize four hours have gone by and you are still just looking through websites!!!

I did learn a new thing today though. There are tons of websites that will let you be on their blogroll. For many many different topics. I'm not sure how much traffic this would drive, although I did look through a lot of the blogs on those blogroll sites too. :) You would have a decent backlink though.

I also found a fun community and blog called Mom Gadget. It made my blogroll and I will be checking in daily, at both the blog and the forums.

Check it out, seems like a lovely community of women helping each other be successful with blogging and business. :)

Ok, well now there's 2 tasks out of 4 completed for today, and it's only 2pm.

Hanna's refusing to nap again, so we shall see just how much I get done this afternoon :)

Talk to you all tomorrow, I'll probably be buried under a foot of snow at least that's what the news is predicting ~ at least it'll make nice pictures for wordless wednesday.

Balancing work and baby

2007-12-13T06:21:00.000-08:00

I think all working moms, whether working from home or out of the home deal with the issue of balancing time spent working and time spent with their children.

I think it is a little more complex when your working from home. Your kids are right here, demanding your attention and you can see them all the time. I think it's easier to feel guilty for not playing with your kids more when you work from home, just because you're right here with them. If you work out of the home you don't really have the option of dropping work just to read a book any time you want.

I don't think one is better than the other, they are just different, with different struggles.

I have been dealing with some of these issues myself lately. Hanna's going through this weird thing where she won't take a nap, then won't go to sleep at night. She is getting to a really tantrum stage, and I know it probably has something to do with her age. I'm just wondering if I spent more time with her before she starting having a tantrum if it would alleviate the problem.

I love my work, and I know I can get very involved in it. I get lots of new ideas that I want to implement and time gets away from me.

Here's the plan for balance I've come up with. I know I have 4 specific daily activities I need to get done. A lot of what I do is not directly related to those activities and could be cut out for more time with Hanna. None of them have to be completed by a specific time or in any order.

I've decided to set a timer for an hour. I will work for an hour, then take an hour to hang out with Hanna. During this time we can work on some of the housework, and read books, play games whatever she wants to do.

Then I'll go back to work for an hour. This plan should allow me to be finished with everything by the time she gets up from her nap and leave me free and off the computer once she gets up in the afternoon and through the evening. I can do a final check in once she goes to bed.

It makes me a little uneasy to have such a schedule, when ideas pop all the time. I guess I can just write them down and deal with them in my next assigned hour.

We'll try it for a week and see how it goes.

How do you balance work and kids? I'd love to hear from other work at home moms as well as work outside the home moms.

Have a great day.

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Wordless Wednesday!

2007-12-12T10:47:00.001-08:00

All I want for Christmas . . .

2007-12-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

If I could have anything I wanted for Christmas, I would want this 3 Hour Diet. Can you imagine, having fresh, hot cooked meals delivered straight to your door?

I certainly can, in the middle of the night, while I'm wide awake because Hanna has woken up and now I can't get back to sleep.

In the middle of the day while I'm trying to wrangle the dogs, the kid, cook, do the laundry and get some of my work done.

What a relief it would be to know, three meals a day will be delivered, no fuss no muss.

I think that sounds like heaven.

Added benefit, it says I will lose weight!! I have managed to lose my "baby weight" unfortunately I was trying to lose 30 lbs before I got pregnant. I'd love to be able to drop another few pounds without the work of having to put together the menu, do the shopping, and the cooking, and oh yeah, then find time to eat!

Right now, it's a luxury for me to pop a lean cuisine panini in the microwave and be able to still eat it while it's luke warm. :)

So if the truth be told when I close my eyes and think of what I want for Christmas, what comes to mind is Food. Delicious food, cooked by someone else, delivered to my door, no shopping, planning or doing involved on my part.

Yeah. . . That sounds like exactly what I want for Christmas!

How about you?

Until tomorrow. . . still dreaming of visits from the hot UPS guy bringing me FOOD!

The baby who CRIED wolf.

2007-12-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm just wondering how I will ever know when something is really wrong with my darling little girl when she cries and has tantrums about everything?

Her first response to everything is just to start screaming. Is this a natural stage of babyhood or is this part of her "spiritedness"? It's hard being a first time mom, I just don't know what is 'normal' or generally to be expected and what is just Hanna being Hanna.

I keep trying to tell her to use her words, and to use her signs, but she really just screams.

It seems she screams every time I'm on the phone with my mom and she invariably asks, "what's Hanna fussing about?" Bless her, but come on ~ She's just being Hanna, there's no telling what she is fussing about now.

I have to admit I'm losing my patients with this crying and screaming. My husband seems a lot more patient with her, asking what's wrong and getting her to tell him what it is.

** But he does only deal with it for about 30 minutes a day apposed to 12 hours. **

Part of the problem is she doesn't have different sounding cries ~ it's all just screamy whinyness. I take that back when she's hurt she wails, and I get that one. Otherwise she has this really whiny loud cry she does for everything else. I don't know when it's something important and when she's just doing it to do it.

I feel bad because sometimes I will finally realize she was crying about something real. It's really frustrating, because when she's not crying she is the laughingest happy baby there is. I just wish that was the case more often.

I have read so many books trying to work this out. None of them have worked so far. I think I will try The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old It was recommended on a 'Spirited Child' group I'm on and people say they're having pretty good luck with it.

If you've read it and have an opinion, or if you have some idea how to deal with this behavior in a loving way, please leave me a comment I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks for listening and have a great day!

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Learning Baby Sign Language

2007-12-09T13:40:00.001-08:00

Miss Hanna now knows two more signs. She knows grapes and banana. It took me a while to figure out she was asking for bananas the other day. Sign language wise at least. She dragged me to the kitchen by my finger and pointed at the banana screaming as she does when I don't understand her instantaneously.

She then started signing banana, and I was like OOOOH, that's what you want.

We started teaching her sign not too long ago. I hadn't really planned on it, and I had my reservations about doing it. I kind of thought she just wouldn't talk if she had other ways to communicate. I have not found that to be the case, and in fact the research I've done suggests the opposite. It says that learning sign language really engages the language area of the brain and she will do even better with talking.

I started because she would get so frustrated when I didn't understand her. She understood me fine. I could ask her a question and she would do just what I needed or go to the refrigerator to get what I had asked her if she wanted. But I still had a hard time figuring out what she wanted. She would scream, and get so upset. I finally showed her a couple of signs I remembered from working with children who signed. Just simple signs like eat and more.

It was like the light went on in her world. She started using those two signs frequently and we noticed less tantrums around mealtimes. She picked them up so fast, I couldn't believe it.

I thought if that had worked so well I probably ought to learn a few more to teach her. Problem is those were the ones I could remember.

I went online and found a great program that provided video for each sign and a great ebook that talked about the benefits of teaching babies to sign. It was perfect for us. She is now learning new signs all the time, and we are seeing a lot less frustration on her part now that she is better able to communicate her needs and wants to us.

If you have a baby who is easily frustrated and hasn't started talking yet ~ or not enough to communicate well with you, I highly recommend getting Sign language for Babies and Beyond.

Here's one of the videos. Emotions:

Are you signing with your little one? I'd love to hear how it's going for you!

Talk to you later!

Jackie Lee :)

The Office Christmas Party

2007-12-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

Now wait a minute~ I work from home, how did I end up at an office Christmas party? It was my mom's "office".

She was all excited to show of little Miss Hanna, what she fails to realize, and I don't know why since she's known her as long as I have, that Miss Hanna doesn't do large crowds, loud places and strange places.

She begged me to go to this office party though, it was actually a Christmas Carnival. My mom works at Learjet, and the carnival was in the hanger. There was a carousel, and other rides, as well as carnival games and foods and of course Santa.

Ha Ha Ha, Santa. My poor kid. Grandma soooo wants a picture of her with Santa. We wait in line for like 30 minutes ~ Did I tell you my kid is not patient, at all? Then she sees this guy in a big red suit sitting in a big red chair. I sat next to Santa and had her on my opposite leg. But Grandma had to push it. "Let her sit on Santa's lap, I want her to sit on Santa's lap" So we tried that for a second, just enough time to snap yet another picture of my beautiful daughter screaming.

We finally asked Santa to stand behind the chair so he was in the picture but not in Hanna's line of site. She stopped screaming, but was all kinds of pouty face in the picture.

She started to loosen up in the last 30 minutes we were there. Oh yeah, did I mention this was a 3 Hour carnival? Yeah, it was~ way too long but we had to stay until the end because that's when they were drawing for all the raffles taking place.

Good thing we did too. I won a 300 dollar package of DANCE LESSONS!! My husband is going to be ever so pleased when he hears this news. NOT

I'm excited though and looking forward to a little time alone with my husband. Maybe I can talk him into learning how to two step?!

Maybe next year it will be a little different, but I'm not holding my breath.

Jackie Lee :)

No nap ~ too much poop

2007-12-07T11:08:00.001-08:00

This never happens to me. Dangit.

We usually use Bumgenuis Diapers I love them. Lately though Hanna has been getting a bit of a rash sometimes when wearing cloth, so I've been off and on using disposables.

Today I changed her before her nap and there was big poop. I got her all cleaned up, put her in a nice washed and rinsed three times cloth diaper. We were upstairs and she was almost asleep. I put her in her bed and she woke up a little. I could have gotten her to go back to sleep, but the whole time I had been smelling poop.

I unzipped her and realized she had poop smeared all over the back of her outfit, and down the side. Damnit.

I grabbed some clothes thinking I could just clean it up with wipes. No such luck. I had to throw her in the tub to get it off. Taking a bath winds her up, unlike most kids, and so now she's wide awake. I can see no nap in our future today. Again. Yesterday was the same.

She will be 19 months in a couple days, there's no way she can really be giving up her nap already is there? Please tell me no!!!! I don't think I can give up my 1 to 2 hours of peace in the day. :)

Argh.

Jackie Lee :)

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Your photos on real stamps!

2007-12-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

Have you heard about this? I saw an ad on TV and then did a little research. You can go to PhotoStamp.com and upload your own pictures to a real stamp. How cute would that be. I think I will do this one

Or maybe this one:
Just kidding. . . how's that for the Christmas spirit. I am looking forward to Christmas with Hanna this year. I think it will be a lot of fun. She loves ripping paper, now she can do it without me getting upset!

If you have ever used PhotoStamp.com I'd love to hear your experience and if the stamps really came out looking good. :)

Gotta Go, Hanna's squashing Chex all over the floor!

Jackie

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Look what I found!

2007-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

I had been thinking about starting a personal blog. I keep saying to myself I have too much to do, I already have 2 other blogs I work on, and not enough time for yet another blog.

AND still the idea keeps coming up.

Today I remembered I had started a blog when Hanna was first born, and after quite a bit of looking and updating, here it is!!!

Poor neglected little blog.

So I guess that settles it! I'm going to have a blog, just for fun!!

(and anyone that knows me even a little knows part of the fun is making a little extra money.) I am thinking it will be fun to have a lighthearted place to play and make money in a more fun and light way. (my other blogs are fun but pretty serious) :)

So welcome to the reupstart of my poor little neglected blog.

I'm hoping to do more of the "weekday" posting games on this blog. I am already involved in Wordless Wednesday on my other blog, but I have also seen Thirteen Thursdays, and Saturday Scavenger Hunt, all sound fun and I will start playing once I figure out just what is involved. lol

Ok, this blog has already taken up a large portion of the day, so I'm going to call it quits for today.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Jackie Lee :)

Breastfeeding Photo Contest

2006-07-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

In the wake of women getting kicked out of Victoria's Secret for breastfeeding, and states having to pass laws to give women the right to breastfeed in public, How Cool Is THIS!?

Valley latching on to annual photo contest

By Rebecca Whitney
The Pictorial
Jul 15 2006

Success is only a breast away.

The third annual breastfeeding photo contest is calling for submissions to compile a 2007 calendar in celebration of breastfeeding mothers and their families.

"It's so cool because it honours breast feeding mothers and their babies," says Margaret Moss's Wendy Robb.

Margaret Moss Health Centre, Ts'ewulhtun Health Centre and La Leche League Cowichan are hosting the annual contest to raise awareness about the health benefits arising from breastfeeding.

There were 80 entries in the competition last year and the 12 best were chosen for the calendar, which sold all 250 of the copies printed.

This year the contest winners will be announced at a tea on Oct. 6 and prizes range from getaways to dinners out, all designed to pamper the photographer, so Robb encourages proud dads to get out the camera and start shooting.

The contest is open to all and welcomes pictures of any description - black and white, colour, digital, old or new.

"We've had some very artistic photos with a lot of skin. It's been so successful and so much fun," says Robb of the contest and calendar compilation, and it has really caught on.

La Leche League Canada is following the example of Cowichan Valley breastfeeding enthusiasts and doing a contest of their own.

The Cowichan Valley holds a week in honour of breastfeeding in October. This year the week's events will be held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 and will start off with the annual breastfeeding challenge which hopes to gather together as many breastfeeding women as possible in one location.

The contest closes Aug. 4. To submit to the contest just pick up an application form at Margaret Moss Health Centre, Ts'ewulhtun Health Centre or Kaatza Health Centre and drop off the photo and form to Margaret Moss to have your picture displayed and entered in the contest.

And Robb encourages all breastfeeding women in the Valley to bare some skin and join the celebration.

"Getting photos done to honour the whole process is so empowering for women."

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee

Compensation awarded for Vaccine Injury

2006-07-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

My mom called me yesterday to ask if I knew that there was a fund that paid people that had been injured by vaccines. Of course with all the recent research I have been doing in making the decision to vaccinate Hanna I did know about it. When I asked her why she was asking she told me that she had just heard about a child awarded millions of dollars from the fund. She was talking about the vaccine injury compensation program.

THE VACCINE INJURY COMPENSATION PROGRAM
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (PL-99-660) is a vaccine safety and compensation system which (1) created a no-fault compensation alternative to suing vaccine manufacturers and providers on behalf of citizens injured or killed by vaccines; (2) helps prevent future vaccine injuries through education and an adverse reaction reporting system; and (3) creates incentives for the production of safer vaccines.

I asked her if she was aware that there is a place you can report any adverse reactions that your children get, no matter how minor, from their vaccinations. It is called Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). She told me she was not aware of that, as most parents are not. Doctor's are required to report adverse reaction as well. However, it is stated that only 10% of reactions are reported.

I went online to find the story of the child recently awarded money by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, and found out he was originally from Kansas City, not too far from us. Here's the story:

Kansas City Star, MOPosted on Fri, Jul. 07, 2006

Boy is Awarded $43.1 Million: The 7-Year-Old's Settlement Comes Under a National Vaccine Compensation Program.
By Julius A. Karash, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

In what is thought to be one of the largest such settlements ever, a quadriplegic boy has been awarded $43.1 million under a government vaccine injury program.

Seven-year-old Mario Arturo Rodriguez, who once lived in Kansas City and received a vaccination at Children's Mercy Hospital, will receive the money under a settlement reached this week through the no-fault National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Mario's case alleged that he became a quadriplegic after receiving a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at Children's Mercy Hospital's pediatric clinic on Jan. 25, 2000. The hospital was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Under the guidelines of the program, the litigation was filed against the Department of Health and Human Services. Kansas City attorney Leland Dempsey, who represented Mario, said Thursday that it was his understanding that the settlement was one of the biggest ever reached under the program. "One unusual aspect of the case is that Mario is expected to have a normal lifespan, and therefore will require more years of care that will cost more money," Dempsey said. "He will need round-the-clock care, including extensive medical intervention, throughout his life."Dempsey said the money will be paid over Mario's lifetime, probably beginning with about $2 million this year.

The boy lives with his mother in Oak Harbor, Wash., he said. Bill Hall, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services inWashington, said Thursday that he was not familiar with the case and therefore could not comment.According to statistics on the department's Web site, www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation, in fiscal year 2006 the fund paid out a total of $38.2 million in cases involving 47 awards. The program was established in 1988 to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, stabilize vaccine costs and establish an accessible forum for those injured by vaccines. A small percentage of children have serious reactions to vaccinations. Dempsey emphasized that Mario's injuries are highly unusual and that parents should not hesitate to get their children immunized against diseases."I can't imagine that anyone would refrain from getting their child immunized," Dempsey said. "It would be irresponsible."

To reach Julius A. Karash, call (816) 234-4918 or send e-mail tojkarash@kcstar.com.

Although Mr. Dempsey may feel it is irresponsible not to vaccinate your children, it is my opinion that it is irresponsible to blindly follow your doctor's instructions and not do some investigating for yourself.

No matter what decision you make for your children regarding the issue of vaccinations, please make an informed decision. Know what you are getting your children into, and whether the risks for your child outweigh the benefits.

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee

***** Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting Support Network ********

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Sleeping through the night

2006-07-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't it funny the thing we want most can make us a little nervous?

For the last 71/2 weeks all I have wanted is for Hanna to sleep through the night so I can get some sleep myself. I was only expecting about 5 hours which I would have been totally happy with.

Last Monday, Hanna slept from 10-6. I thought it was a fluke and woke up startled and running to the crib to make sure she was ok. Then the next night she did it again, except she had fallen asleep a little earlier. This whole week she has managed to sleep between around 10 hours a night.

Last night she fell asleep at 8:30p and woke up at 6:30a. It is really exciting, but at the same time I was a little worried. Crazy new mom kinda thing I guess. I called my mom this morning and she said "and you are complaining?". No I am certainly not complaining, I just am making sure that sleeping that long is "normal". Hah, there is no normal I have found when it comes to babies and sleep.

She eats well, has also learned to smile at people this week, she plays happily with toys. I guess I will just be grateful for the sleep and stop worrying.

I guess I have an answer to one of my very first blogs, between 6 and 7 weeks. That's when she will sleep through the night. Ah if I had only known then, how soon it would actually be, maybe I wouldn't have been quite so insane! Well hindsight's 20/20!

We had a birthday party for her step grandpa last weekend. She was looking dazzling in a flowy little sundress.

It is so amazing to me the little things that change so fast. Each day she wakes up and seems like a whole new person. She acts kind of different and even looks kind of different. She has even outgrown a couple of outfits. I never in my life could have imagined how much love I could have for this little person. I guess you never really understand it, until it happens to you.

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee

***** Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting Support Network ********

The first call is coming up July 13.

Feel free to join us this month's special guest:

Ask a Doula.
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July 13 at 8pm CST
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2006-06-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Carseats, Slings and Packs Oh My, What's a babywearer to do?

One of the tenets of attachment parenting is baby wearing. After reading all that Dr. Sears had to say about the benefits of babywearing, I was on board. I researched questions to ask when choosing a sling. I looked at exactly how these things work, and how you put it on. I compared different slings, and decided on a sling I wanted to purchase.

Then I ran into a problem. I was out of cash. So I ended up buying a sling at my local baby depot. And, I don't know, if it's because we live in Kansas or that's just the way the world is when it comes to slings, there was only one available. It happened to be the one they recommend you don't buy, but I didn't realize that at the time, and I had a gift certificate. :)

Hanna was born I excitedly tried to put her in the sling, and could not figure it out. The women at my LeLeche League meeting had told me to bring the baby and they would bring some slings, but I was just not that patient. The LLL meetings are only once a month! I finally called my Doula and she said come on over, we'll get the baby in there.

She helped me get Hanna in the sling, and it felt kind of unstable to me, but I'm assuming that's natural for a new mother and a new sling. Then Hanna started SCREAMING. What's up? Babies are supposed to LOVE their slings. I took her out and tried a few more times over the next week or two, same result every time, Screaming!!

Meanwhile we are using our car seat carrier to take her places in. But here's the problem with that, she hates that seat. As soon as I start to put her in it she starts, you guessed it, SCREAMING. Not just little baby screaming either, I'm talking hold your breath until you turn purple then do it again screaming. Then as you gasp for breath a warble comes out, then more screaming. This is a problem, since the united states government says she has to be in this if she is going to be in the car. It takes some doing but we get her calmed down, and once the car is going she usually falls asleep. She stays asleep for just about long enough to get in a store and then she wakes up and it is not long before the screaming begins again.

So now I'm carrying the baby and this crazy car seat. This is not easy. So I am thinking and thinking, there must be another way.

It is then that I think about when Hanna is the happiest, and that is when she is laying on either my chest or her Daddy's. Then I get this brilliant idea, they have carriers where they lean against your chest. That must be the answer.

I'm still out of money, but pretty desperate to leave my house at some point. I look around the local dept store and sure enough, they have two font loading carriers. My mom generously offers to buy one for me, as we are going antiquing the next Saturday.

Hanna loves it. She is happy and quiet, and falls asleep almost immediately. Woo Hoo. Here's the problem. I can't get her out of it. It's almost too funny. She's good and sound asleep and I can't get her out. I finally got her out of the carrier with arms and legs barely intact, and I look at her beautiful face, bam, wide awake, although she is bright eyed and being happy baby after such a lovely nap.

I was talking to a friend about this problem, and she told me she had a front riding carrier as well. Hers was different though, you can unclip the baby from the carrier and then lay them down without disruption. This is exactly what I am looking for. She brought it to the next La Leche League meeting and told me I could have it, as her newborn doesn't like it at all.

This carrier is fantastic, exactly what I am looking for. We still use the first one around the house, and we still use the car seat for quick trips to places that have shopping carts (she's only 9 pounds and that thing already weighs a ton!), but when we are going in and out, and need to wear the baby so she will be happy, but also need to get her in and out of the carseat we use the new one.

I still want a sling, and am hoping to get together with others at the next meeting to try some other types of slings and see if there is one that she likes.

Babywearing has proven to be a really positive thing for us, she is much calmer when being worn, and it is a surefire way to get her to sleep, even when she is her most fussy. She also seems to have an easier time getting to sleep when she has been worn during the day. I definately encourage people to try wearing their babies. AND I encourage you to get together with others who wear their babies before you buy one for yourself to see what will make your baby the most happy. There are a million choices out there, and you can do all the research in the world, but ultimately, as I am finding out, your baby will decide.

Good luck! Until next time,

Remember, You are Remarkable!
Jackie Lee :)

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30K in 30Days

2006-06-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

How do I get this baby to stop crying?

Well Hanna has been having some pretty fussy periods, and pretty regularly now. It seems evenings are not a great time for her lately.

I was wandering around on the web today and I ran across this article about Colic, and a very interesting viewpoint on why colic exists.

I am reluctant to label Hanna's behavior as colic. Not sure why. I think I just refuse to have a colicky baby. I know, it's crazy, but, well, it's true.

But anyway, back to the article. I found it on DrGreene.com, and here's the link to the whole article.

Dr. Greene states that colic is a necessary part of family integration. He believes that people would just go right back to their normal ways, habits, schedules after a couple of weeks if a baby would just be quiet and cooperate.

That's where colic comes in. The baby gets fussy, loud, frustrating, and makes her family stop and take notice. The new family must take time to figure out what makes baby happy, and what calms them down, thus interupting their normal routine and forcing them to develop new routines which include the new member to the family.

Now this is a very interesting idea. I can definately see how this could be true. As much as I love my new little one, I am definately eager to get back to my routine, my work, my life. I was actually managing to do that when she was quiet and angelic during the day and the evening. Now with this daily fussiness, I am drawn away from my normal schedule and find that I am spending time with her, thus developing new routines, that are center around her.

To tell you the truth, if she had not started getting so fussy, I probably would have worked her into my schedule and continued on as I had pre-baby. Now I no longer have that choice. She is one smart little chicklet! There have been so many other areas where our thinking has definately changed and become more family oriented, but my day to day schedule had not really been one of them.

I am feeling much closer to her, and becoming less frustrated with her fussy periods once I started looking at the positive aspects of our time together.

Yesterday, as she was screaming at the top of her lungs, I picked her up and kissed her on the cheek, and she stopped wailing, just like that. I thought to myself. "I did that." and that felt pretty good. All she wanted was some snuggling time with her mom, and as long as we were snuggling she was fine.

It must be pretty scary to come into this big wide world after being in such a safe cozy environment as a womb. It seems to me that the only thing that remains constant is mom. So it only makes sense that when things get a little scary or overwhelming for a little person, they would expect mom to rearrange her schedule and pencil in snuggling time from 9p to 12a.

And that's exactly what has been penciled in to my new "family" schedule.
9-midnight, Snuggling time with Hanna.

It's quickly becoming my favorite time of day!

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable.

Jackie Lee :)

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30K in 30 Days

2006-06-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

When's this baby gonna sleep?

Hanna will be 4 weeks old in 2 days. Which begs the question, "When's this baby gonna sleep?"

I have come to realize that with an infant there are no two days alike.

One day, she sleeps, eats, sleeps, eats. (not such bad days as there is plenty of time for me to get some work done.) Other days she eats, sits quietly making nice faces, eats, sleeps. (again not such bad days.) Then there are days when she eats eats eats eats, screams, eats eats eats, dozes, eats eats eats, screams (we're having one of those days today, and they are not such great days. Luckily daddy just came home and is trying to appease her for a while) So I have come to the conclusion that there is no rhyme nor reason in this infant sleeping business.

Which is unfortunate because I am a rhyme and reason kind of girl. So I went on a hunt today during the one nap she took to get some info on helping my little angel sleep, which means at times mommy gets some sleep too.

Here's a couple things I found, that I hadn't realized in the front of my brain yet.

Help baby distinguish day time sleeping from night time sleeping.

let baby take daytime naps in well lit room, with noises of the day around
make night time sleep in a dark, quiet room
give baby a warm bath before night time sleep
change baby into sleeping clothes before night time sleep
give baby a massage before night time sleep.

Keep an eye out for signs of tiredness:

eyes closing
quieting down
losing interest in people or toys

Your baby may have others, so keep an eye out for them. If you notice these signs and put your baby down right away it will be easier to get them to sleep. Remember your baby can't put themselves to sleep, so they need some help from you, some snuggling, singing, rocking.

The more tired a baby gets the more difficult it will be for them to fall asleep.

Babies make sleeping sounds:

This was a big one for me, that I only started to realize in the last couple of days/nights.

When a baby is asleep, they may grunt, whimper, or even cry, and they are still asleep! It's important to distinguish these noises from crying due to hunger or other needs not being met. If you resond to their sleep noises by picking them up you may wake them and this may upset them further and make it more difficult to get them back to sleep.

I just realized this recently with Hanna. I assumed that because she was making noises in the middle of the night she wanted to eat. One night it took me a minute to wake up and stumble over to the crib, and by the time I got there she had quieted down and was sleeping again. So the next time she started making noises I waited and sure enough she settled down and went back to sleep.

Sometimes she even wails pretty loud. Those times I get up and put my hand on her back or on her head before I pick her up. Sometimes she quiets down and sometimes she doesn't. When she doesn't quiet down I realize she is telling me she is hungry or wet and we get her diaper changed and nurse.

If I get to her quickly she doesn't wake up all the way and she goes back to sleep quickly and easily, making it easy for me to get back to sleep as well, because, I'm not quite all the way awake either.

So I'm going to try some of the suggestions that I have found today and see if we can make some sense out of this newborn sleeping. If not, I've heard it doesn't last forever!

Until next time,

Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee :)

30K in 30 Days

2006-06-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

DPT Vaccine, Yes or No?

Last week I took Hanna in for her first check up. She had gained one pound, 6 ounces and grown 2 inches since we brought her home from the hospital a week earlier.

I was pleased to see she was gaining and had grown, and began to feel more comfortable about how our nursing was going, and have since become more relaxed about the process, and am just nursing on demand, which feels good to me.

During our visit, the doctor reviewed when our next visits would be, and mentioned that at her two month visit she should begin her vaccinations.

I was a little nervous about having this conversation with the doctor given our recent experience with medical professionals and my daughter. I mentioned that we would have to talk about her vaccinations, that I was leaning toward not vaccinating, except for maybe the polio vaccine, which I still needed to do more research on.

To my suprise and amazement, the doctor was open and friendly about this decision. She encouraged me to do the research and come and talk to her about my decisions, and we could work something out that would be right for my child.

She did encourage me to do more research on the DPT vaccine, as there was a large outbreak of Pertussis (Whooping Cough) in our area last winter. She did mention that she had been born at a good time of year, but it might be a good vaccine for her to have.

She was so positive and cooperative with me, that I took her advice and I did some research in regards to the DPT vaccine. I also did some research regarding homeopathic remedies for Whooping Cough.

There is a lot of information out there, I will give you links to the complete article that I found most informative, and I will share the main reasons I have decided against getting the DPT vaccine here.

Here's the article I found most informative, I got it from NVIC website.
http://www.nvic.org/Diseases/whooping.htm

The first point that hit home for me, as with the mumps outbreak here in the midwest, vaccines don't always work.
"The state of Washington reported 162 cases in ten months in 1984; there were no deaths, no cases of brain damage, and 49 percent of the cases aged 3 months to 6 years had been appropriately vaccinated for their age with DPT. In 1993, Cincinnati reported that 40% of children who caught pertussis were vaccinated appropriately for their age."

The second point is possible reactions to the vaccine:
"Since its development in the mid 1930’s and its widespread use by the late 1950’s, there have been repeated reports by parents and medical researchers that children were dying or being left with medication resistant convulsions, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and physical handicaps after reacting severely to pertussis vaccine. Fifty years of scientific literature in medical journals and books has documented the history of these reports."

The last of which are the "other high risk children"

"Child has had cerebral irritation in the neonatal period (such as head trauma at birth from a difficult delivery."
"Child has a personal or family history of severe allergies (such as eczema, asthma and, especially, allergy to cow’s milk."

In my opinion two of the risk factors for a severe reaction is more than enough for me.

I also found that there a multitude of homeopathic remedies for Pertussis.

Here is an excellent website I found during my research on pertussis:
http://www.hpathy.com/diseases/whooping-cough-symptoms-treatment-cure.asp

Between homeopathic remedies, my kinesiologist, my homeopathic practitioner, and of course the law of attraction I feel safe in not getting Hanna the DPT vaccine. I also feel confident in my ability to talk to the doctor and tell her why I have made that decision for my daughter.

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee

Coming soon: Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting
A program to assist people in eliminating myths and misconceptions, provide information, support and knowledge to allow families to make informed choices and feel confident in their pregnancy, birthing and parenting decisions.
For more information please feel free to contact me

2006-05-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

When I first started thinking about using cloth diapers when I was early in my pregnancy I had no idea how complicated the world of cloth diapers was.

I found a system online and thought "oh great, we'll just use these." The price was kind of high, but I thought it will only be a one time payout, and it'll be great. As time went on and I talked to more people about cloth diapering, I realized the choice I had made might not be the best choice out there.

I started doing more research, and a "cloth diapering expert" came to one of our natural childbirth classes. I realized how many different options there were and just how different the prices could be.

That's when I started really doing some research, and I am going to share some of the great things I found with you.

The first place, if you are having cloth diapering confusion, I would send you is http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/newmom.htm. They have a quick "course in diapering" that is very thorough and easy to understand. It helped me to at least figure out what options were available, and what might work best for our situation.

I truly believe in cloth diapering, for a few reasons, better health for the baby, better health for the environment, and last but certainly not least, cost savings. If you don't believe it will be cheaper, here's a great site that will help you figure out your savings over disposable diapers. http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp

Here's another great site that has a lot of information and spells out a lot of the benefits of using cloth diapers. http://www.hightopbabydesigns.com/diaper.htm.

Well we finally decided to go with prefold diapers and covers. They seem to be the most economical, and even the newborn diapers can be used as extra padding overnight when she gets older.

Here's what I've come up with on how much to buy of whatever you are choosing to get.

2-3 dozen diapers (whether you're getting prefolds, fitteds, or all in ones) in each size. Unless you are expecting a baby less than 7 pounds I would skip the premie sizes.

3-6 covers in each size. These can be made of wool, nylon, polyurethane laminate (PUL), polyester, fleece and vinyl, but I highly discourage the use of vinyl due to chemicals found in that material.

While perusing http://www.ebay.com for good deals on diapers, and possibly finding some used all in ones at a bargain price, I came across this seller of prefolds. http://www.rumpwrapdiapers.com/Diapers-SALE.htm definately the cheapest price I have found yet!. Make sure when getting the prefold diapers you get the chinese diaper service quality ones, or you will have problems with absorbancy. These are a steal.

The "cloth diapering expert" also told me about a company called Proservices, they sell the PUL Velcro covers, among other diapering products, which is exactly what we were wanting. If you call them they will give you a bargain price on seconds. The imperfections are so slight you will never notice them and you will save scads of money. So if you are looking for these covers here's the number: 1-800-397-8594.

Here are some other great sites I have found so you can continue to do research and make an informed decision for your family.

www.fernandfaerie.com Check out the "diapering on the cheap" link to find out how to make your own covers out of wool sweaters and diapers out of old t-shirts and other things around your house.

www.borntolove.com Check out the frugal baby tips to find lots of good ideas and advice

www.tinybirdsorganics.com Tons of great certified organic diapering products.

www.earthbaby.com Great customer service and good prices on prefold diapers and covers.

There is also a yahoo group that you can join called cloth_diaper_supplies. It is a co-op of diapering items and related baby stuff and great discounts.

So that should get you started, and I will have more info on other aspects of cloth diapering in the future.

Until next time,
Remember, You are Remarkable!

Jackie Lee :)

Coming soon: Conscious Pregnancy and Parenting
A program to assist people in eliminating myths and misconceptions, provide information, support and knowledge to allow families to make informed choices and feel confident in their pregnancy, birthing and parenting decisions.
For more information feel free to contact me