Bottles and Breast Feeding

With each new kid I learn something new.

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on T.V., so please consult with your pediatrician first.  There, now I am free to tell you my observations and opinions as a mother without fear of litigation, and you are free to do with it what you like.

My sons who breast feed completely refused bottles of any kind.  We bought all kinds of bottles, some that even looked like boobs, but no luck.  My boys wouldn't even drink out of sippy cups, they went straight to straws.  I had no expectations that Amber would be any different, and didn't plan on even trying.  If you read breastfeeding literature, this would come as no big surprise, many breast fed babies completely refuse bottles.

Then about six weeks ago I got the 24 hour stomach flu.  First time in my life I had ever gotten one, first time in my life I had ever vomited from illness.  I lost six pounds.  I continued to breast feed through it but it did permanent damage to my supply.  After he recovered, Chris tried to give me some sleep and stay up with Amber.  She got hungry shortly after I laid down and Chris made the decision to try and give her a bottle.

The hospital had given us three different types of formula.  Knowing that Amber didn't let me eat or drink any kind of milk, he chose the "Similac - Sensitive for Fussiness & Gas Due to Lactose Sensitivity" Formula.  Wonder of wonders, she drank it!

Since it worked, we decided to keep it up.  I started going to bed early so I could get a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.  She was still only going about four hours between breast feedings so it seemed like a good and harmless plan.  

Then one day out of curiosity, I read the ingredients in the formula, "Corn Syrup Solids, Sugar(sucrose), milk protein isolate...".  I stood dumb founded.  I remember people my grandmother's age talking about feeding babies Caro Syrup and being appalled.  Here I was, standing in my kitchen, realizing that's basically what we were feeding Amber.  Caro Syrup with "Less than 2%" vitamins added.  

I immediately went into research mode, looking for an organic lactose free infant formula.  To my frustration, my original search turned up nothing but recipes for making your own infant formula.  Since I was still breast feeding, powdered goat milk was a viable option.  By itself you would need to make sure you supplemented certain nutrients that were missing from goat's milk alone but as a supplement it appeared the easiest alternative.

I picked up the powdered goat milk, brought it home and gave it a try.  This is when I had my epiphany.  She totally refused the bottle.  Maybe my sons had not been refusing the bottle, maybe they had been refusing the formula in the bottle! Duh. *forehead smack*.

Next, I tried mixing a little in with the Simliac and still she refused to drink.  When I gave up and made a bottle of pure Similac she drank it right down.  So I was back to square one, looking for a better formula.

Then I came across "Baby's Only Organic Lactose Free Formula".  Problem was it was labeled as a "Toddler Formula".  What did that mean?  So I read around, and ended up at the "Nature's One" website where they warned in typical legal fashion to "consult your pediatrician" before feeding to children under 12 months old", then they added "and when you do bring this print out".  The print out is a point by point nutritional comparison between Similac, Baby's Only and breast milk.  The three are essentially the same, I was a bit amazed, and comforted.  So why was it labeled "toddler"?  They didn't say exactly, they even said they meet the FDA guidelines for infant formula, so I figure its one of two things, their commitment to breast feeding or the FDA not allowing the label.  Either way I was satisfied, I had found a better alternative. 

I quickly ordered Baby's Only from Amazon and gave it a try.  SHE LIKED IT! SHE LIKED IT!  Ironically the Similac had made her rather gassy but she had no such issues with the Baby's Only.  My guess is its the the use of Organic Brown Rice Syrup* instead of processed sugars.   They say they use the Brown Rice because it is a more nutritious carbohydrate, and easier to digest.  Based on our experience, this formula is great no spit-ups or excess gassiness and the ingredients don't make me cringe, especially after learning what they do to non-organic corn.

*There has been some concern recently about Brown Rice Syrup containing arsenic but this page should alleviate those concerns:  www.naturesone.com/brown-rice/

Health - Killer Profits

I've read a lot of about nutrition over the years but the accountant in me was blown away by this video.

Did you know that most breast cancer is environmental not genetic?  

Did you know that tests have not been done for the new proteins that have been introduced into food production since the 1990s, and food allergies have increased exponentially?  

That these created proteins are not allowed in Europe, Australia, New Zealand or Japan.

That if you move to the United States you are four times more likely to get cancer?

(Think there's a connection?)

Did you know Starbucks spends more on health care costs than they do on coffee?

Got your attention?  I knew we were getting sicker as a nation despite improved health care but I never understood why.  Taking the 15 minutes to watch this video might change the way you shop forever.

 

I'm not sure about the plug for Erin Brockovich but the money trail makes perfect sense.  

I've been meaning to post more nutrition blogs since my first blog on the concern over Soy.  This is the motivation I needed.  I will start outlining what we do nutritionally and what the logic was behind our decisions.  

The more I learn, the more I want to have a farm of my own and grow all my own food.

Recycling Curricula & Planning

I think I have purchased an equal amount of resources that are currently on my shelves, as are now on someone else's shelf.  No matter how much research I do ahead of time, sometimes I just don't know if a curricula will work until I try it.  I'm a frugal person, but I'm not going to keep using something that just isn't working because I paid for it.  Flexibility of curricula is one of the main reasons I homeschool.  I've been warned not to be a slave to my curricula, and I believe that is sound advice.

I was asked by a non-homeschooling mom at the park the other day, "How do you find time to plan?".  Tired and not ready for the question I glibly answered with a smile, "By the seat of my pants."  Afterward, I took some time to think about "How do I plan?" and thought I'd share the general process here.

First of all, its important to understand we homeschool year round (June to May).  I think this has a couple advantages:

• We don't have to vacation in the summer when everyone else is, which lowers costs and avoids crowds.
• We can take breaks when ever we NEED them, due to mental fatigue, physical illness, special events, visitors, etc.
• My kids don't loose their brain over the summer causing us to lose time at the beginning of each year finding their brains again.

I do try to have their core curricula complete by the end of April each year.  May is usually very busy with vacations, birthdays and my state's annual homeschool convention.  Therefore, I generally use May to plan the next year and do homeschool lite that month.

I never really stop planning or evaluating curricula but May is when I sit down and try to put together my plan for the new year, understanding that once we start anything could change.  First, I go to the convention usually wanting to see and touch a certain number of items that have piqued my interest.  I like to see and touch, I find it hard to make purchases on the internet if I've never actually seen the resource in person.  That's also where knowing other homeschoolers can really help.  I have saved myself a lot of money over the years by asking if anyone has a certain resource I could look at and after seeing it my opinion sometimes changes completely.

I try to spend our summer really focusing on Science and History.  I try to complete both curricula between June and August. I find not trying to do all subjects, all year long makes our days go better.  The rest of the year I put a stronger focus on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.  However, I choose Science and History curricula that incorporate all those things, so we never really stop the basics, we just change the focus.  Also I try to find a curricula I can use for both my older children for Science and History, I just expect a little more out of my older child when we do the curricula.

After I go to the convention for looking at curricula and other resources, my next favorite event of the summer is a HUGE Used Curricula sale held the week after.  This is where I look for living books to support our Science and History theme for the year, and a few just to have fun reading.  It's always a relief to come home with so many bargains after spending a bit too much at the convention the week before.

I have chosen to do history over a three year cycle:  Ancients, Middle Ages/Renaissance, American History.  However, I like to go deep instead of wide.  For instance, this year we are in the American History Cycle, by year end we will have covered Columbus through the Revolutionary War. Next time through we will gloss over these areas and go deep maybe Revolutionary War through Industrial Age.

That's the general idea of how I plan on a Macro level.  On a weekly level, planning is just as flexible, especially since the arrival of our new baby.  Each week I try to get in at least three days of Core Curricula work.  Fridays I find they are physically and mentally drained so we focus on more hands-on activities, like Fine Arts and reading Living Books.  

In keeping with my understanding of Charlotte Mason's principals, we do NOT try to do the same subject at the same time every day.  She felt children did better with short periods, that varied in order from day to day.  I have tried to keep to the short periods but timing our subjects caused a lot of stress in our homes.  What does work is to keep in mind the idea of short subject periods when determining how much work they need to do each day, ie. for my older son I only have him do half the review questions for math and sometimes I will split a spelling lesson into two days.

To further organize our "Stack System" and chores, I have recently implemented the use of the "Reminder" program on their iPads.  I made a reminder list with all the possible things they would need to do in a day from "Getting Dressed" to the "Journal Writing" word of the day.  Then each night I go through, check as "completed" the things I don't want them to do the next day, which leaves them with a list of things they must complete.  Rinse, Lather, Repeat....  It's working better than any other system we've tried.  They are doing their "Xtra Math" and "Push-ups" app on the iPads, and frankly they like them so using them isn't a chore.  This could be done in a more low-tech manner, but my boys have an innate ability to avoid the obvious reminders when they aren't interested.

I've made the mistake of trying to re-create a school environment a couple of times by having a very detailed and strict schedule that followed a typical school day.  Our idea of homeschooling is to do things differently and hopefully better.  In my previous life in corporate America I had a saying, "I've never met a process that couldn't be improved." and this is the mentality I now apply to our homeschooling journey.  Its the reason we are always changing, at least in some way, what we do and how we do it.  The goal of perfection is unachievable, but that is what we strive for in homeschooling.  Despite more failures in this area than I can count, all we can do is to get up and take the next right step as best as we know how and try to have fun along the way.

Smile Mile 2012

The "Smile Mile" was last weekend and as you can see everyone had a great time!

PO River Gang Celebrates!

Coach Hanif is such a great role model and teacher for the kids.

I'm so thankful we found him.

Lance chose to just have a fun run.  

When he decides he's ready to compete he'll blow the field away.

The surprise of the day was Jared deciding to run.  He took off on his own, then Chris joined him to walk and (with permission) cut the route short. 

It was good for him to have a chance compete/ be included and as you can see everyone really supported his effort.

The mighty Titus joined in the "Kids Fun Run".  

When he wants to he can really motor those little legs!

Lance still wants to do the Watermelon 5K in July, so hopefully if Chris' knee gets better soon that will be their next challenge.

This is the first time in six years we were not responsible for photographing this race.  It was a little bitter sweet seeing everyone we had enjoyed working with for so many years.  However, seeing her precious face, and me carrying her with the camera, I realize once again His will is always better than my own.

Where's my Little Boy?

I'm sure it was just yesterday that we were laughing all over town exploring new places with all his little friends.  It must be time to go to music class, the gardens or some other playtime activity.  This is my little boy....

Lance at 6 months.

How did he become this young man?

Today 9 years old at his Birthday Baseball Game.

And what a wonderful young man he has grown into!  

He has a smile for everyone he meets.  

He is kind and thoughtful. Sometimes he changes Amber's diaper without me even knowing it. 

He's patient.  He takes the time to listen to his little brother, help or redirect him.

He's loving and compassionate.  He's so sensitive to other people and wants to help.
He's intelligent and curious.  I like nothing better than to cuddle with him and talk about all that's on his mind.

He's fun.  Never at a loss for energy to play.
He's my Lancelot.  Loyal and protective, especially of his little sister.

He's handsome. My little Adonis, girls watch out!

I've been telling him since he was little to find his passion.  He says its baseball and he certainly has a lot of potential and works very hard.  At the same time, he wants to be an entrepreneur and make his own line of toys.  He has drawn up plans for different toys he wants to build and has encouraged Jared to design a line of clothes to go with, which he has.

My prayer for you Lance, is that you will always stay close to God, follow His path for you life.  That you will do it with that incredible smile on your face and joy in your heart, may His will always be yours.

You will always be our precious little boy, no matter how big you become!

Baseball & Derby Weekend

We survived last weekend and the boys had a great time.  The first event of the weekend was opening day for little league.  This is Chris' third season managing Lance's team and Jared is the official bat boy.  The boys were thrilled to be one of the teams to actually play a game.  Amber wasn't fond of the speaker system so Grandpa Harv took her for a short walk away from the noise, which gave me time to take some pictures of the team.

Chris is truly enjoying coaching the team.  He is blessed with a great group of kids and parents.  I was really hesitant starting baseball because of on all the bad press Little League has received over the years. Thankfully it has been a very positive experience for everyone.  Lance's favorite position is catcher.  It was nice hearing that Jared is getting to know the kids on the team.  I also appreciate the league getting him a team jersey.  It was very hard on him when his cardiologist said Jared could not play baseball, especially since he's shown such promise (He hit a whiffle ball from the backyard over the garage the other day).  

The team won the game on Saturday and again on Wednesday.  We remind the boys winning isn't what's important, having a good time is what matters.  They are to praise Him when the win and praise Him when they loose but winning is a nice way to start the season.

Sunday was not a day of rest and recovery as it should have been. It was the Pinewood Derby races for Cub Scouts.  After weeks of preparation, I was so impressed with how the boy's cars turned out.  They chose the templates, sanded them down, painted them, and chose how to place the "accessories".  All Chris did was cut them out with the jig saw and handle the super glue.  Lance got third place for "Looks" in his den and Jared's car was second fastest in his den, which qualified him for the pack finals. Next year, Chris says they can do it ALL by using rasps. :-)

Jared's Christian Tiger

Lance's Dragster

Lance's car finishing 2nd in the fist heat.

Jared's car racing in the final pack heat.

Fine Art Friday

Over the years I have purchased a number of "Fine Art Curricula".  I eventually learned that my children did not enjoy them because they were too structured and had too many instructions.  My boys just want to use the media at hand; to experiment and explore.  I was hung up on them learning good technique. I'm finally over that issue.  When my boys are given gentle instruction they soar.

One incredible library find over the summer was a DVD series by Donna Hugh called "Art Lessons for Children".  Simply ready the supplies and the kids paint with the artist.  The instructor is extremely calm and constantly reinforcing having fun with art and that each piece should be unique. I think their work was stunning.

This was the instructor's example.

Lance's version.

Jared's version.

Titus' version.

Charlotte Mason's method on Fine Arts is to simply choose one artist and one composer, then immerse the children with their work for one month.  It was so easy, I jumped right in and gave it a try.  The cheapest way I found to "surround them with art" was to buy calendars featuring the artists work, cut them up and you have twelve prints to hang about the room.  (Hint:  wait until May to buy all your calendars and you can get them for $1-$3 at Calendars.com).  Exposing them to a composer is even simpler, play the music whenever you think about it and take a moment to tell them what they are listening too.  In addition we have had fun reading living books about the artists and composers also.

However, I still craved a little structure to our study.  That's when I found "Harmony Art Mom".  I don't know how I stumbled on it originally but I was intrigued that it presented itself as following a Charlotte Mason approach to Fine Arts.  I eventually went ahead and purchased the First Grade Curricula and most of the supporting materials (all except the coloring book, my boys don't even like the structure of coloring books).

In February we finished our study of Renoir and Vivaldi**.  The program does not follow the CC artists and composers exactly but I think the overlap from different cycles only serves to enhance their learning.  This month we will be studying Manet and Bach (BTW I did not misspell Monet, it is a different artist named Manet).  It's a great way to end the week or start the week slow if you need too, like we did after a super busy weekend. Here's there final projects for Renoir, impressionistic painting of them taking baths.  They were definitely careful not to have strong outlines :-)

I'm always impressed at my boys attention when it comes to fine arts.  They watched a full DVD of "Swan Lake" the other day.  I read them a short summary of the plot before and they were asking questions about what was happening the whole time.  Afterwards they even voluntarily wrote journal entries about the ballet.  Henry Trumball says poor taste and short attentions have a lot to do with expectations and exposure.  I agree.

**Here is one of four awesome videos of an artist drawing in sand to Vivaldi's Four Seasons:

Old Times

At the last minute, I found out about a "Pioneer Day" Festival that was going on Saturday.  So we spontaneously decided to table our previous plans and go.  I'm glad we did.  

They had an Indian Dancing demonstration....

Amber wanted to see the show too.

 An old fashion gun fight....

Civil War reenactments and artisans demonstrating skills/trades of the past i.e. medical amputation procedures and sewing.  They sort-of "tied" together (bad pun I know).

Most of the people in the reenactments were from my parents or grandparents generation.  It got me to thinking.

Last month Chris lost his grandmother at 101 and my last grandparent passed last January.  With these generations passing on, I wonder who is going to help my children remember and appreciate the way life used to be?  When all they know is "the good life", never knowing real work or hardship, will they still be able to appreciate all they have?  Will they honor and appreciate the sacrifices of those who went before us to allow us to live in freedom and plenty?  I don't know, but I am certainly going to try to impart that appreciation on them.  I think festivals like this are a good way to start.  I wish my grandparents were still around to share their stories, but I do have some of them written down and hope to collect more.  It's a start.

If you have a chance to attend one of these festivals I highly suggest making the time.  The boys had fun and they learned a little too.  Maybe some day they can apprentice to learn some of these old skills.

Our day Saturday tied in a strange way to our visitor on Sunday, in that we ended up talking about the "good old days".  My Aunt Diane came for a welcomed visit.  We had not seen her since our wedding sixteen years ago.  I like to harass her about being my children's "Great Aunt", the humor comes from the fact she's only three years older than I am.  Don't feel bad for her though, she dishes it out just fine, she still calls me "Squirt" even though I've been taller than her most of my life :-)  We had a lot of fun reminiscing over our childhood antics and catching up on the happenings since.  Hopefully, it won't be as long before her next visit.

Amber 4 month Milestones

Chunky Monkey is growing fast.  At four months she weighed in at 14.8lbs and 25 3/8in.  She's keeping pace with Titus' statistics at the last few milestones.

Shortly after turning three months, she started to roll, not roll over, but actually roll (back-to-front, front-to-back).  Then a week later she either forgot or ate too much and couldn't for a few days.  Now she's back to rolling and scary as it is, scooting forward in focused efforts to reach toys.  She's one strong little girl.

Walking the dog.

She has definitely found her voice.  However, she's done so differently than her brothers, she prefers to allude soft cooing sounds in different pleasant ranges, they just liked to scream all out or belly giggle.  She's apparently too dignified to belly giggle.

She's already out grown the usefulness of her bouncer and play-mat.  She's happily graduated to the exer-saucer and big stroller.  However, she still continues to enjoy holding court while her brothers eat their breakfast at her feet.

We are working on properly brainwashing her brothers on how to treat a lady.  That they are always to be gentle, never rough, give her deference at all opportunities, protect her and most of all love her.  The best part of this training is that it seems to come naturally.  Now I just need to lose my baby weight so I can change my wardrobe to a more lady like collection myself.  I always knew having a girl would be expensive :-)

 

Smile Mile - Time to Train

The "Smile Mile" is a popular local "kids only" race that is conveniently located near my home.  The race is separated by age and sex, and as you probably guessed, they run one mile.

Last year we convinced our boys swimming coach, who is also a triathlete coach, to run a nine week training camp to prepare the kids for the "Smile Mile".  Eight kids participated and seven ended up competing.  All the kids beat their best time and had a great time.

This year Coach Hanif was already running a "Fit Club" for the kids.  The "Fit Club" is basically what Physical Education used to be.  The kids learn and play a different sport every four to six weeks.  So instead of forming a separate club to prepare for the "Smile Mile" it was decided he would spend the month before preparing as part of the "Fit Club".

However, me being me, I decided that Lance needed to start earlier.  So I enlisted the help of Chris and Sgt. Block.  We needed Sgt. Block because Chris is a biker, not a runner, or least he wasn't before I started messing with him (a personal pastime/wife privilege I like to invoke).

I got this idea from reading a funny blog about a program called "Couch to 5K".  When I read this blog it was conveniently ten weeks till the "Smile Mile" and it was a nine week program.  Perfect, right?  The program is very simple.  You dedicate 30 minutes, three days a week and they say at the end of nine weeks you'll be running a 5K.  Each day they tell you exactly what to do, basically combinations of walking and running.  You can print out the schedule from their website or you can buy the app.  We bought the app and that's where Sgt. Block comes in.  Sgt. Block is one of the three personalities you can choose from to walk/run you through the program.  Nice part of the app is it does all the timing for you and tracks your mileage.

My theory was that if Lance could run a 5K, a mile would be simple.  I've since been told my theory is a little flawed but I'm sure Coach Hanif will fix that this month.  What I do know for sure is that its been great bonding time for Lance and Chris.

If you are looking to loose a little weight and spend quality time with your kids, this program just might be the ticket for you too.  There are lots of fun 5Ks all over the country.  Chris and Lance are aiming for the "Watermelon 5K" on July 4th for their first 5K, who can say "no" to free Watermelon.

Boys racing a bulldozer down the block the other day.