Breastfeeding in Public

I am taking a nutrition class as an elective to finish up my bachelor's degree, and this weeks topic is all about pregnancy, breastfeeding and nutrition. Our instructor is letting us debate the issue of breastfeeding in public, personally I am all for breastfeeding. I breastfed my own daughter until she was 21 months old, I went to school, worked and gave her up for weekend visitations with my ex-husband. So I can do all of that with an A cup, anyone can breastfeed.
Well during our debate, which I am so far winning because I am educated on the subject. One young female who is childless, said that if you are not going to use a blanket to cover yourself you should breastfeed in the bathroom. (YUCK!) My reply to that stupid comment was asking her if she eats her food in a public bathroom? So why should a baby where it is unsanitary and just plain nasty. I honestly do not understand people, breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world. I do use a cover because it is between me and my baby, but I applaud those who nurse and I support them wholeheartedly.
below are a list of reasons why you should breastfeed your baby in no particular order:
1. It is FREE!!!!!
2. No getting up to fix a warm bottle
3.  The nutrition value in breast milk is wonderful for your babies development
4. Breastfed babies do not get sick as often
5. What ever you eat and drink, changes the flavor of your breast milk so the baby isn't eating the same thing all the time
6. You bond with your baby while you nurse
7. Did I mention that it is free?
8. You don't have to worry about your baby's teeth rotting from the sugar that is in formula
9. Most formulas are soy based,  It is estimated that an infant exclusively fed soy formula  receives the estrogen equivalent (based on body weight) of at least 5 birth control pills per day.  (http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/soy.htm)
There are many more reasons to breastfeed, however I am short for time.

When a door shuts, a window opens somewhere

Change can happen in an instant in your life that you can barely take it in let alone understand why it has happened to you and your family. Yet in God's infinite wisdom we know that he would never let us go through anything by ourselves, He carries us when we need him the most. And I know that He has carried me a majority of the past year.

My family has grown in our walk with the Lord through our sorrow and strife we have had in the past year, and with out his love and compassion, our lives would have been torn apart in many different ways.

The pain of losing a loved one slowly dulls, but the ache is always with us until our time to join them in heaven comes. But until that day arrives I will spend it praising God and keeping those we have lost close to my heart knowing that we will meet again.

Teaching the child

The search is on…..to find the perfect school curriculum to teach my daughter how to read, this is a much harder to find than I had anticipated. After an initial visit to the local library I was very disappointed in their selection that was on hand, after much searching through their interlibrary database for the last several weeks. I still haven’t found anything that meets my criteria to teach my daughter, I have however found one CD that comes close to what I am looking for.

Has anyone found a program that teaches the basic phonics you need to learn to read? That is what I am looking for and it is hard to find, the interlibrary loans should finish coming in to my local library in the next week.

Katherine is so interested in learning to read, I want to capture this time with her and give in to her enthusiasm for learning and teach her everything I can now, before learning turns into a chore.

So the challenge has been issued, it’s time to meet and conquer the challenge.

The pumpkin patch

A field trip should be fun and amazing for children all at the same time, honestly I think it should fun and interesting for the adults who chaperon such field trips. Today my daughters preschool took a field trip to Hozaks Farms over in Pennsylvania, for their pumpkin patch. When someone or thing states that there is a pumpkin patch I automatically think a true field where you go and pick your pumpkin. NOT a bunch of pumpkins thrown in a field, which in my opinion is cheating those who pay to come to your farm and pick a pumpkin.
I do understand that it is for preschoolers and kindergartners, however there is much to learn about pumpkins. For instance how many different ways a pumpkin could be used, that would have been a great thing to teach these young minds. It is irritating as a parent when you try to teach your child something there are many naysayers who think you should just let them go play and have fun. Don't get me wrong playing is an important part of growing up and using their imagination is completely wonderful, with that is learning about what you are playing with is equally important too.
As much as I was disappointed with Hozak's farm, Katherine enjoyed spending time with her friends and being the crazy woman she is.

The Sights and Sounds of Autumn

Crafts are not something that is easy for me to do, I can paint a wall like there is no tomorrow and I can color a beautiful picture in a coloring book. However doing the most basic of crafts is painfully hard to do, unlike my sisters I didn’t receive the “artsy” or “craft” gene as I like to say. So the other day Katherine and I started on our journey of pressing leaves in wax paper, which of course is a very basic craft. 

We put on our shoes and jackets and marched into the woods with a basket in hand to find the most perfect of leaves to keep forever, finding the most perfect leaves is fairly difficult to find if you don’t have a keen eye. The crunch of the leaves echoed our footsteps while Henry the squirrel chattered at us, he was telling us (I believe) that we were invading his privacy and his territory of nuts. We have nut trees everywhere, so Henry eats very well during the winter.

After an hour of looking and finding the perfect leaves and a few nuts along the way, it was time to start our craft. Before our endeavor I had already gotten the wax paper, 2 rags, the iron and the ironing board all ready to go so we could finish our project in one felled swoop.

The results are pretty awesome if I do say so myself, so a person with ZERO crafty ability can do a basic preschool craft with her four year old.