Free Range Family

I finally was fed up with Anna's nurses telling me she just had a cold over the phone when I knew it was something else. Call it motherly instinct, but I think the fact that I had spent the past few nights sleeping on the hardwood floor next to my daughter's bouncing chair just to keep it bouncing because she could not comfortably sleep in her own bed and was still waking up every few minutes to cough might have clued me in also. Maybe just a little lol. So I caved and took her in to see the doctor yesterday. Let me tell you a little something about doctors and I. Being the naturalist that I am, I just plain do not like doctors and do not always agree with them. My personal philosophy is most ailments can be taken care of by drinking more water. We are mostly liquid creatures afterall, most of our ailments root from dehydration or lack of water intake. The next step is food and nutrition. When it comes to me, personally, I will do just about anything to get out o...

I found this on my Facebook breastfeeding group the other morning. How funny is it? I think some of them look a little sexual but you can tell that it was made in Japan. But its to go with the co-sleeping meme (I will have to find and post that one later). I think its cute. :) Between both of my children, I have done around twenty of these positions. How many of these positions have you done? Which one is your favorite? I enjoy nursing while laying down with Anna the best but my favorite one on here is the tribal one! Too cute!

I just love to wear my babies. When Alan was little, he didn't like it too much unless he was tired. Then he would let me wear him all over lol. But he was too big for the wrap we had by the time he was only four months old. As for Anna, she loves to be worn. I wear her all the time at home and have worn her several public places. I just love how calm she gets when worn and how close I feel to her. I also love that I am hands free and can get stuff done around the house or play with Alan but she is still near me and happy. We use the Moby Wrap but I would love to explore and try other wraps! I have been looking at the Ergo Wrap because its for over thirty pound children. This would have been perfect for Alan, in fact he probably could still fit in one! :) Baby wearing is such a wonderful, empowering thing for a mother to do. And it is everywhere. Baby wearing has existed since the beginning of time and even animals technically baby wear. Here are some pictures of beautiful mother...

It has been a rough past few days for Anna and I. Well and probably Alan too, since he stays home all day with us as well. I have a feeling that maybe Anna has an ear infection because in my family if a baby cries more than usual and won't sleep all randomly, they have an ear infection. We all have the same waxy, ear infection prone ears. I know, too much information lol but its true. Unfortunately, I did not remember this until yesterday so when I called to get her a doctor appointment, they were booked until next week. And not even with her doctor. She is booked until November! So I might as well just wait until their well child appointment in October. Ugh, I am glad she is so fantastic but I hate the popularity that comes with it. Rats. Let's just hope that it is just constipation or minor colic and we do not have to go through the waiting to get it treated. Up early agian with Lon and Anna. This is crazy that I am able to do it this morning without much issue. I mean, I...

I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend! Alan, Anna and I are alone again today because Lon had to work for the holiday rush at both jobs. Poor hubby, I love you strong man! Today we are trying to figure out a playdate with someone or maybe just Grandma and Uncle Kalvin. Who knows? We just really need to get out of this house lol!   Here is this week's Darling Dozen post (only three more left after this one! Sob!)! I can't believe that next Wednesday Alan will be three and next Friday Anna will be two months old!! How crazy!    Week: Eighth Week Playing in her play gym Weight: 8 pounds and 5 ounces Height: 23 inches Diaper Size: Still Size N- They are still huge on her too! Clothing Size: Still mostly Size N, especially for pants, but she is starting to wear Size 0-3M onesies This Week's Developments: Anna has started to develop her leg muscles. She can put some weight on her little legs now while being supported. She can d...

During the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Anna, I got a letter in the mail from the municipal court calling me for jury duty. I was a little frustrated because I planned on exclusively breast feeding Anna and didn't want to introduce bottles until after she was a couple weeks old. So I went online to research breastfeeding laws for jury duty and was relieved to see that I legally would be excused. After calling a court clerk, I was told that as long as I got my explanation notarized I would be excused. I thought it was funny that if you were doing jury duty all you needed to do was fill out a form but if you were excusing yourself for whatever important reason you had to get notarized. But oh well lol. I had never been notarized before as far as I had known. I knew what a notary was but had no idea how to get one or how much they costed. My mother knew of one that only charged a few dollars but by that point I had already had Anna. So when she was th...

Being a hippie and a mother, I have been told several times that I must follow AP or Attachment Parenting to a tee. This may come as some surprise to you readers, but I don't like to think of myself as a follower of Attacthment Parenting. Though I follow some of their principles, I like to think of myself more as a Natural Parent because I think about how a human child would be raised in nature and try to replicate it to the best of my ability. I will share with you today the differences and similiarities between an Attachment Parent and myself. Here are the eight principles of Attachment Parenting: Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting This principle I followed. They ask that you research, research, research the best options of care for your child- breast vs. bottle, to circumcise vs not circumcise, you get the idea. I did do this to the extreme with Alan and not so much with Anna but that was really only because I already had all the knowledge from my other pr...