Bye-bye Binky!!

Sunday was a sad day. We took the binky away from Brodie. He, like Dillon, is having zero issues with this. Sigh...BIG sigh!!! My littlest is truly growing up. It is such a happy time and I am truly happy, but there is a little part of me that is crying. I am so sad my boys are growing up so fast. Songs have new meanings, things people say to me have new meaning...for once, I think I am truly realizing what life is really about. I work to support my habit and love...my family. When I leave my paying job, my fun job begins - the one I life for. What do you live for???

Rocking Babies:

I think I may have wrote about this before, but I am coming back to it. There is a lot of opinions on whether you should rock a kid to sleep or not. Most people say no, as well as the experts. I consider myself a fairly strict mom, but I say - DO IT!! It is the best thing ever! I rocked Dillon to sleep almost every night (Dad filled in from time to time). I rocked Brodie to sleep the entire 11 months I nursed him (minus a few trips) and I still do. Dad gets to do it more now, but I still jump at the chance.

I will be very sad when I can no longer do this. I always want to be the one that puts my child to bed. On the rare occasion that we get a sitter, I am almost ALWAYS home to put them to bed. I don't want others doing it. I want to do it. There will be a time they won't want me to and that will break my heart. So until then, I rock!!

Things people never tell you...

No one ever told me how hard it is to be a parent. Ok, maybe they did and I did not listen. Being a parent is tough...really tough. Like next to attending my father's funeral, the toughest thing I have ever done. Please do not get me wrong, I LOVE my boys, but it is a challenge!!!

So, the whole reason I started this blog was to write about parenting and the challenges. You see, I want people to not feel crazy when they are thinking of running away (for good) or sending their kids to Bolivia. It is normal and does not mean you don't love you kids. It is hard and we all need to support each other through this journey.

Yes folks, I am back...watch out!!

No time!

Like most of you in Mommy/Working-Land, I have no time. So the sad part is, this blog gets neglected...My one outlet for sharing insanity.

My Brodie is almost one year old! He is taking some steps and is getting better daily! Dillon is also quickly approaching his forth birthday.

I have been wanting to write about this topic for a while now. People who do not have children have NO IDEA what it is like to have children. I was totally that way. I had no idea how hard and time consuming it was. I don't know what I expected, but I sure got a huge kick in the pants. Again, not to say anything bad about my kiddos - I love them. I am just saying...

Jason and I had a conversation the other day about time. We never seem to have enough. Things don't get done around the house. Our "to-do" list never decreases and we HATE it. But, we don't get a sitter to clean, make repairs to the house, etc. When we get our, once in a blue moon night out, we go out!! We came to the fast conclusion that we will not regret it! All the house stuff can and will wait. They will be teens one day and will not want to see us. We can do it all then. For now, my house will be a little messy and things might not be in full repair, but I bet my children will never say - I wish Mom/Dad had paid more attention to me!!! (I hope anyway!)

A new spin!

I have been doing some more reading on weight charts. I was curious to see how much they have changed over the years. Obviously, we as a society are fatter now than we were 10 years ago. (Present company included!) In this research, I stumbled on to a WHO article about weight charts and how they are trying to get dr's to adopt their weight charts. The discussion went on to address how breastfed babies often gain weight fast and then "level off about 5 months". This often leads dr's to recommend supplementing with formula or stopping breastfeeding all together. I find this interesting. My dr recommended we supplement a little with formula at Brodie's 9 month appointment when he was shown to be in the 10% for his weight. I looked up the WHO growth chart and according to it, he is in about the 50%. So interesting. My point...while dr's are great...they are not the be all, end on instructions for caring for your baby. I am supplementing now with some formula, but I have other reasons also for doing it. I am not saying to not use dr's, just PLEASE do your own research too and do not take everything they say as the gospel. I am blessed to have a very analytical husband whom I trust for many health realted issues. I also have a very close friend in chiropractic school. I count on both of them for alternative advice when my children's health is a concern (or mine for that matter).

No one makes it easy or easier for women to breastfed. I know everyone has good intentions, but until we (this is everyone from dr's to the community) all begin to support these new moms in the way they need, we will continue to see breastfeeding numbers go down.

Interesting:

I was doing research on starting whole milk before age 1 and this is something I ran across. Pay close attention to the last sentence. Very interesting...

"The Canadian Paediatric Society says it’s fine to introduce cow’s milk between nine and 12 months of age. However, in the US and some other countries, the official advice is to wait for at least a year. Why are the guidelines different from those in Canada?

“The main concern is about iron deficiency, and that problem starts in the early months of a baby’s life,” explains Robert Issenman, chief of paediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton. “When babies under six months or so are fed regular cow’s milk, they have minute amounts of blood loss in the GI tract. This blood loss makes them likely to become anemic. By nine months, drinking regular cow’s milk no longer causes this bleeding.”

Anemia develops most often when parents who are not breastfeeding find formula too expensive, so they buy ordinary milk for their young baby.

“A recommendation that babies not drink cow’s milk until they are a year old won’t change what those families are doing, so it won’t solve the problem of anemia,” Issenman says. The advice will be followed by those families who are already breastfeeding or giving formula until their babies are nine months old — and for those babies, it will not make any difference in the rates of anemia.

This recommendation does help in the US, Issenman notes, because a government program provides subsidized formula for a year for babies who are not breastfed. This can be important because the subsidy isn’t enough to purchase all the formula a baby needs, and parents sometimes give regular cow’s milk when the formula runs out.

Why don’t we have a similar program in Canada? “We have a different philosophy here,” says Issenman. “The concern has been that if we offer free or subsidized formula, it might persuade women not to breastfeed, or to wean early.” A 2004 study in Pediatrics did find that program families were less likely to breastfeed than families with similar low incomes who didn’t sign up. More than half of the formula sold in the US is distributed through the program."

Slap in the face!

We took Brodie in for his 9 month check up and I received a HUGE slap in the face. Mind you, it would not have been such a slap on the face had I not had so much other stuff going on in my life. He is on ear infection #4! It blows my mind because Dillon had zero ear infections. They are talking tubes, but not quite yet. We will give it a little while longer. The more I talk with people the more I see this is not so bad.

Next, Brodie is on breathing treatments again, as needed. That RSV crap just hangs on in the form of a cough!

Lastly, Brodie has lost some weight. The doctor is a little concerned. He is now only in the 10% for his age!! This has hit me the hardest. Probably because he is nursed, so therefore I am equating it to being my fault. We are supplementing with a little formula and going to start whole milk here in a bit. (I even got my Ped's blessing...under the table of course, he would never admit to it and I would never rat him out!)

So there you have it. I am hoping this kid gets out from under all this health crap he had dealt with the first part of his life. I know that is selfish, because compared to some kids, he is VERY healthy!! When it is your kid though, that is all you see!