A Day of Firsts!

Today was chock-full of firsts.

• Bella's first day of Pre-K
• Laney's first day wearing big girl panties on an outing (we made it for a couple of hours!)
• Luke's first deliberate, if wet and sloppy, KISS!  (Is there anything better?)
• Bella's first pop - she had a Sprite with her celebratory Happy Meal today.
• First run-away dog in our house - Her name was Shay
• Laney's first backpack

I'll post pics of the first day of school after Laney has hers, too.  But for now - here's our new friend, Shay - who lives across the big street behind us:

A Place for Everything, and Everything in it's Place!

So, a while back, I mentioned something about PROMing the desk in the kitchen.  The cabinet above the desk was virtually useless, except to throw the things that we didn't want the kids to reach.  Meanwhile, my cookbooks were shoved in a kitchen drawer, and NEVER, I repeat, NEVER looked at, let alone USED!  Such a waste!  So, here's my result... it may seem a bit random to anyone else, but it's what works for our family's needs.  And I'm sure it will change throughout the years as our needs change.  By the way, we threw away dozens of candles we had stowed in there.  We rarely light a candle, because we have little people who aren't quite old enough to know that fire is not fun.

Before now I would never have let anyone else look in this cabinet!

Hair accessories easily accessible to adults but not kids on top, coffee table books we can't bring ourselves to get ride of in the middle, along with the charging cord for the camcorder, cookbooks and binders with kids school and activities info in them on the bottom.

Tea lights in container on top (these I still use at holiday time), more coffee table books, heavy duty flashlight, stapler, and checks in middle, lotions, smelly-good sprays, and files on bottom.  We have files for kids school work, bills, coupons, things to file in the BIG file cabinet, etc - mostly mail organization.

On each door I attached a magnetic white board.  On this one I have our meal plan for the week (not completed, I know - I'm far from perfect!), the Daily 7 list, and some inspiration for me.  On the other side, I post random things I need - invitations, papers to send to school, etc.

Palmer Labor Day

We may not play well, but DANG we look good!

We had a fun-packed weekend in my hubby's home town of Palmer, KS!  Jerry played softball in their Labor Day tourney.  They lost... twice. I have successfully gotten out of playing on the co-ed team every year since I've been going (I think we're up to 9 years?).  So now, I'm the team mom. I even decorated team koozies for the players. :) 

The girls spent the weekend playing with their cousin, aunt and "Taka".  Lots of outdoor play for them and LOTS of dirt!  The result was two extremely exhausted little girls. 

Luke was pretty much toted about to different people all weekend long.  Aunt Tess really seemed to enjoy getting her snuggle time in with him.  He also started to crawl this weekend and can get from a crawling position to sitting (well, he did that once... on accident). 

We love when we can make it back to Palmer for Labor Day weekend.  It's always lots of fun to catch up with family and Jerry's old friends - and some new.  I'm a suburban girl, myself, but I'm getting used to the small town thing more and more.  This does NOT mean that I want to live in a small town, mind you.  But I don't mind visiting.  I really missed my phone having reliable service.  We did find that our GPS is worth squat when we get out in the country.  Hmmm... that's where I need it the most!  Good thing Jerry always knows where he's going!

Monday, we had fun at the quarter carnival "downtown" - do they even call it that?  Probably not.  The girls won enough tickets to buy them each a Barbie, and Luke some balls to play with in the bathtub. 

THE END

I need a break after our "vacation".  LOL  Isn't that always the way? No rest for the weary, however.  Have a meeting today, then getting rid of some clutter, and home to get the house back in order after the contents of our van threw up in our living room.

Breeders

Breeders: Those who have produced or will produce offspring.

I am one.  Some may say I'm a super-breeder because I have produced *GASP* more than two!  The trend seems to be for most families to have two kids (preferably one boy and one girl), and then they stop.  We did not stop at two.  It was not because we didn't have a boy yet.  Honestly, it's because God decided to bless us with another child.  Luke was a surprise blessing, and we are thrilled to have him be a part of our family. 

When I am out with all three kids, I get many looks and comments from passers-by about how full my hands are, and questions about if I'm done or not.  Because, surely I am, right?  I mean, only crazy people have more than 3, right?  And it's perfectly okay for complete strangers to ask me about my procreation plans, right? 

Well here are your answers, folks.  Yes, I'm a breeder, and proud of it!  Yes, we have three kids.  We are not actively planning on having any more, but if God decides to grace us with another child, we will welcome him/her with open arms.  This does not make me crazy.  I love children.  That's why I have chosen the path that I have.  And, no, we are not "done" having kids because we "finally" got a boy.  That's just the pattern that we happened to get - girl, girl, boy.  We are not actively planning a 4th purely because I'm kind of freaked out by the logistics of getting all 4 children to each of their activities as they get older.  That's really it.

So, yes, I'm a breeder.  But I would much rather be a breeder than the alternative... When I taught Nature and Science, we had lots of rats in cages.  They fell into two categories: breeders and feeders.  Hmmm.... What would you rather be?

Breastfeeding

Yep, that's right, I'm thinking about breastfeeding today. This morning I attended a training for Parent Educators (that's me!) on how to support breastfeeding for the families that we serve.  It was very informative!

Now, I have 3 children, all of whom I have breastfed.  In fact, as you can see from my ticker on the right, I am still proudly nursing my youngest.  I thought I knew pretty much all there is to know about breastfeeding.  There are some major benefits that Jerry and I learned about at our "training" back when I was pregnant with Bella (they gave us a list of 100, but I only remember a few):

• 
  
  More immunities for baby
• 
  
  better bonding for mother and baby
• 
  
  It's free! (Jerry's fav. benefit)
• 
  
  Helps mom lose weight (one of my favs!)
• 
  
  Can't beat the convenience - lift shirt, place baby
• 
  
  reduces risk of SIDS
• 
  
  decreased ear infections for baby
• 
  
  decreased risk of obesity for baby when older

Plus, there's the biologist in me that just looks at breastfeeding as an extremely natural way to feed our young.  It is why we are called MAMmals, by the way.  And, as Mr. Jim Lockard (biology / environmental studies teacher at SME) pointed out to me years ago - it's one of the reasons we have lips!

But - there's always room to learn more!!

Did you know....

• 
  
  Research shows that short and long-term illnesses are linked to artificial feeding.
• 
  
  American Academy of Pediatrics recommends BF until at LEAST a year.
• 
  
  The AAP also recommends waiting until 6 months to introduce ANY other foods if you are breastfeeding.
• 
  
  BF reduces mom's risk of osteoporosis.
• 
  
  A mom can re-lactate within 6  months of weaning if they change their mind.
• 
  
  Breast milk is a living fluid (much like blood), and under a microscope, you can actually see the antibodies killing the viruses and bacteria.  Take that!

As you can see, I'm pretty passionate about breastfeeding.  I know it's not possible for all mothers, and I am by no means putting anyone down. I just want to get across how I personally feel about the importance of breastfeeding.  I'll end with a quote that shares my excitement:

If you had a wonder drug that was safe, effective, readily accessible, engineered for individual needs, environmentally friendly, painless, had immediate onset, offered long term protection, was free, and had, as a side effect, weight loss for the provider, would you use it? 

We have that drug: BREAST MILK!

- Nancy E. Wight MD, FAAP, IBCLC

Breastfeeding: Join the Boob-olution!

I'm a little late on this since August is National Breastfeeding Month, and this is the last day in August.  :)

Great Weekend

I'm taking a break from making my kitchen desk an efficient, working family HQ (pics to come when it's done) to write about our eventful weekend.  Friday night, I had the kids all by myself because Jerry was doing stadium supervision at the high school. Not too exciting here at home, but I did get them all to bed without a hitch!

Enjoying some pampering

My mom on top, Laney on right, Me on bottom, and Bella on left.

Saturday was originally going to be a "girls' day" with Ooma, Bella, and me (and Luke since his snacks depend on me!).  Since Jerry missed us so much on Friday -leaving before the kids got up and returning after they'd nodded off for the evening - he decided to join us.  So we ALL headed out for a fun family day! (much better than a girls' day anyday)  After being sick for weeks, I needed a pick-me-up to make me feel whole again.  I got my hair cut, eyebrows waxed, and toes painted.  Bella and Laney got fancy pedicures, too!  Then we all headed over to Town Center for some back-to-school shopping.  Not digging the styles for kids this season.  Plaid - yuck.

Saturday night, we got together with our "book club".  Funny, we haven't read a book for book club in well over a year!  But, it was fun for us all to get together with the kids.  We reflected on when we started our book club just a few years ago (less than 3, I think) - we had 5 kids between the 6 couples.  Now, we have 13 beautiful children from 3 months to 7 years old!  Maybe we should stop drinking the water... er ... wine at book club!

Me (with Luke), Kim (with Lily), Stephanie, and Liz

Luke was comfy cozy with a double stroller all to himself.

This morning started early with the Head for the Cure 5K. We walked for "Team Quiz" in memory of Dan Quisenberry.  I took Luke and he slept nicely the entire time.  I walked, of course, because I refuse to run unless someone is chasing me - or unless I must chase one of my own. 

Now, I'm on organization mode.  Time to get back to that, I guess.  It was a fun-filled weekend.  Looking forward to a relaxing week.