Owner: a hippie with a minivan... URL:http://paxye.com/blog Join Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:07:43 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I am a proud sahm of three boys...
This blog is about our life... parenting, unschooling, cooking, sewing and whatever else comes to mind... Site statistics:Click here
Breastmilk vs Formula 2007-09-13 07:14:41 “People need to understand that when they’re deciding between breastmilk and formula, they’re not deciding between Coke and Pepsi…They’re choosing between a live, pure substance and a dead substance made with the cheapest oils available.”
- lactation consultant Chele Marmet. Read more:Formula
New theme… 2007-09-12 22:08:44 Thought this place could use a facelift&hellip
;
Still need to make the header clickable but I am really happy with the outcome…
ughh…. 2007-09-12 08:56:31 I am sick&hellip
;
Last week Colin and Khéna were sick and Khéna is still coughing in a way that makes him throw up a few times a day, especially when he lays down. I felt bad on Sunday and then felt better on Monday… enough to go out on Monday to a friends house with the boys…
Then, right on the way back home…. it hit me…
I feel miserable. My throat feels like it is going to swell shut and it is so painful to swallow that I flinch each time. It is Wednesday morning and I have felt like this since Monday night…
It is SO hard to be a mom when you are sick… I can’t really relax and take care of myself and the more that I try the more the boys need my attention.
Of course, being sick can’t be enough…
Now the dryer broke… We are biting the bullet and buying a new one… it should be here on Friday but until then we can’t do much laundry and I am at the end of the cloth diapers…
It has been raining fo
Homemade Sushi… 2007-09-09 21:35:17 I make this about once a week&hellip
;
I am addicted…
Read more:Sushi
food colouring… 2007-09-09 10:07:53 It has been almost a year since we decided to stop eating foods that have colouring. Our original reason was upon knowing that food colourings can affect behaviour in a negative way, the other reason was that Colin seemed to have a physical reaction to food colouring.
It has been hard to cut everything out but we are getting there and still discovering foods that surprise us&hellip
; the boys are also getting used to it and know that it is not good for them. The battles are getting easier and are almost non-existent now. When Xavier shops with me he points out the foods that have colouring and asks me to check if others do.
Though it was a goal before it has forced me to go toward that whole food, non processed diet that I have been wanting and though there are still some things to work on I am feeling happier about our eating habits. There are however, still a few things that enter the house for us adults and yesterday one of those things confirmed one of the reasons that we avoid co
Support…part 2… 2007-09-09 08:23:31 Well, as I said in my last post&hellip
; we are starting a homeschooling support group in our area. We are at the moment 5 families that homeschool…
However, I am the only unschooler.
The first meeting was last week… we went to the house of the seasoned homeschooler so that the “newbies” could ask questions and see her material. She is not only a homeschooler, but she loves collecting homeschool curriculum, books etc and is even starting a library in which people will be able to borrow material from her to compare different curriculums before buying. So, in her house downstairs she has a classroom set up (a large table for her kids surrounded by bookcases, posters a teachers desk etc…) and she has so much stuff… too much…
The other mom’s were loving looking at everything, asking questions, comparing stuff…. though my friend Isabelle was a bit overwhelmed by it all…
As for me… I was dissapointed by the meeting. I Read more:Support
new found support… 2007-09-08 10:16:20 ok&hellip
; a few things I forgot to blog about…
A few weeks ago I went to my first homeschooling support group meeting and it was pretty nice.. the problem though is that it is a bit far (about 45min/1 hour away)… At the moment that doesn’t matter for me though.
The group seems to be a eclectic bunch… a few the lean towards unschooling or unschool, a few that are a bit more school-at-home… It will be nice to have some planned activities, To get out with other homeschoolers and meet up with other parents that homeschool. I think that the kids will like that also, especially seeing that other kids don’t go to school and it is not only him…
I told my friend Isabelle on that Thursday about the group and how I enjoyed it and how we had planned activities for the upcoming year and how there are a few moms near here that are now HSing and how we are thinking about starting a group…
Anyway…. Her dd had told her that she didn’
Well… that sucks! 2007-09-03 13:39:32 My server had a problem yesterday and it crashed my blog and my message board. I got things working again (as you can see) but the accents are all weird in my old posts… I had had that problem in the past when I have upgraded but I forget what I had done to fix it… (I think I had to go through all my old posts and change them one by one though)
I think I still have a lot of work ahead of me :(
on another note…
Colin turned 3 yesterday!!! (blog post to come… I was writing it last night just before everything crashed)
ugh&hellip
;. more problems… the blog was not linking anywhere except for the firs page… I couldn’t do anything…. Finally got it back though but again… the same problem as before… Read more:sucks
It still amazes me… 2007-08-31 07:27:05 Just after my last blog post last night, Khéna woke up and I went and nursed him back to sleep.
I laid there in the dark and listened to him nurse and swallow the milk that comes from me.
I love that sound.
Lying close to him, nursing him, I smell his sweet scent. My sweet baby boy.
It amazes me that for 9 months now he has been nourished by me, and me alone. That nothing but my milk has made him into what he is today. I gave him those cheeks and those thighs.
He is the third child that have nourished in such a way but it still amazes me. Read more:hellip
recycling… 2007-09-27 22:59:47 Today we went to the Recycling Triage plant with the homeschooling group and we had really great time&hellip
; It was also quite informative because we had quite a few questions on how things are separated since we no longer separate recycling at home.
We got some breakfast and ate on the road and had a nice ride there (about an hour drive). The tour started with a visit to where people bring stuff from their homes that are then recycled (wood, paint, concrete, metal etc) or thrown out (broken furniture, appliances, oil etc)
Then we headed for the triage plant but we were lucky to have a truck arrive and unload in front of us….
Then we had a little information session on what they do, how it is done and where it goes and what is done with it after…
Xavier surprised me… not only did sit and listen he even put up his hand to ask a question…
“Can toys be recycled”
The answer was no.. not because the type of plastic is not recyclable but because the
anti-formula? 2007-09-27 21:53:31 I just got this message in my inbox…
I know you are anti-formula. What about special circumstances?? Premmies??
Preemie Twins?? Just wondering what your thoughts on this are?
What are my thoughts? Hmmm….
First, I think that this is a good read… so that what I say does not look like it was pulled out of thin air or that I am “anti-formula”…
These are a few paragraphs in the main publication on Infant feeding put out by the World Health Organization. (WHO)
Promoting appropriate feeding for infants and
young children
10. Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health.
Exercising other feeding options
18. The vast ma
Just another reason… 2007-09-27 06:54:38 There hasn’t been many times that we have had to wake the boys up in the morning&hellip
; they get up when they are ready… and for Xavier that is getting a bit later and later…
Today we are heading out to the recycling plant and Xavier was still in bed… so I thought I would go wake him up so that he wouldn’t be rushed…
and for the first time… he looked at me and said “just 2 more minutes” and then put the blanket over his head…. we did that three times before he finally got up…
Just another reason for Homeschooling…
yes… I am complaining… 2007-09-26 14:09:18 Today is Sept 26th and we are having record highs and it is 26C but it feels like 34C with the humidity&hellip
;
I am hot…
I don’t like being hot… we stopped the pool motor a few weeks ago… if we hadn’t I would be in the pool right now…
Khéna is wearing a diaper only and is sweating so much there are drops of sweat hanging from his hair and he is so clammy every little hair and piece of dust on the floor is sticking to him… I feel that the floors are gross but I don’t have the energy to clean them right now…
When I am hot like this, I feel that I have no patience either. The boys are driving me crazy today… they are driving each other crazy…
Khéna finally passed out on me but he hadn’t been wanting to nurse because he didn’t want to be too close…
Tomorrow, we are going to the recycling plant for a tour and it is going to be raining so we can’t have a picnic… the person organising
Wasn’t ready for that… 2007-09-24 07:58:33 I have always known I was going to homeschool&hellip
; way before I had kids… even when I was a kid myself…
I was ready
for people questioning me, asking about homeschool, wondering about the legalities and the logistics and the myths.
But… I wasn’t ready for the reactions that I have been getting…
Because Xavier is now “school age” everyone asks about school. When I say that we homeschool some ask the questions that I was ready for… but many others surprise me…
they have no idea what homeschooling is… they have never heard of it.
I wasn’t ready for that. How can someone have never heard of homeschooling?
I know that it isn’t popular in french-canadian circles but I thought the concept was at least known. I remember talking to one of the moms in my area that homeschools and she too had never heard of it until she started searching for information on school alternatives for her son who has leaning problems.
I
unfamily friendly… 2007-09-19 14:42:12 One thing I hate about where we live is the lack of things to do with kids.
There are almost no SAHM’s in my area and if there are they stay away from the outside world.. when I go to the park if there are other kids there they are with a daycare worker, or another babysitter, grandparent etc&hellip
; no parents… not unless it is the weekend…
but there is also almost nothing to do here as a family…
I wanted to see if there was a free swim at the local pool (the only pool in the region) and yes, there are… there are 2 hours in the morning for adults only, 2 hours in the late afternoon for adults only, an hour at 8pm for all and then an hour after that for adults only… So the only time you can go swimming with kids is when most kids are going to bed… who goes swimming with kids at 8pm?! I called and talked to the pool director and she said that she tried to do a free swim for kids a few years ago in the daytime but there were only about 4-5
Confession… 2007-09-19 07:32:10 I feel that I have to confess something&hellip
;
Yesterday, I went out and bought….
a new stroller….
Yes, I feel guilty… I hate strollers, I hate the way they look and the way that they are overused… I hate that people choose strollers and distance over babywearing and closeness. Don’t get me wrong… We do have a small compact stroller that we keep in the car…. we use it mostly to carry our stuff when we are out or in case one of the boys get tired…. or to put Khéna in when we sit down to eat somewhere and he is on my back etc… but with it’s very small wheels it doesn’t go far on our streets or in the park and would not have been usable in the snow…
Anyway, I would like to walk more and though I LOVE to carry Khéna he is getting heavy and though I don’t mind putting him on my back for a few hours it tires me out pretty quickly… especially when I am not walking on flat surfaces…. So
the “rules” of the park…. 2007-09-18 06:18:31 Yesterday I brought the boys to the park&hellip
; There was a mom there that I have never met before with her almost 5 year old that was a head taller than Xavier and a 8 month old babe…
The boys ran around like they always do… going up and down and all around…
At one point the mom struck up a conversation and upon knowing that Xavier was 5 she assumed he was in school… when I told her that we homeschooled she had no idea what it was… she had never heard of homeschooling.
As the boys played, they went down the slide as they often do… it is a double slide and they sit on the middle part and go down that way… or sometimes they go head first or sometimes they sit normally… they also *gasp* climb up the slide…
Well…. yesterday, they were going down the middle and running up the slide and having fun… no one else was on the slide, no one else was near it… the other little boy was playing on the other module an Read more:ldquo
, rdquo
My sewing space… 2007-09-17 21:23:55 I am almost finished fixing up my sewing space downstairs in our guest room&hellip
;
The office and the guest room have been sore spots since we moved in here. It has been a rare occasion that they have stayed clean and uncluttered… actually… I don’t think that they ever have….
With the water heater disaster… and now new floors and being able to start out new, I have made a nice little sewing space. Simon uncluttered a lot of his clothes and his dresser is now in the closet and out of view. The bed frame was broken so we put that in the garbage and now the mattresses are on the floor, which may not be ideal but it will have to do. My sewing table fits perfectly and I have space to work without cluttering the office space up.
I also got rid of a lot of scraps and placed all my material in a bureau that used to be in the kitchen…
About 2 months ago I found a junior size dress form for 15$…. and last night I had an idea… I put some ba
Hives… 2007-10-02 07:41:40 Last week Khéna had his first bits of solids&hellip
; a few pieces of puffed rice which he seemed to enjoy playing with more than actualy eating…. He has had a few since then also but probably only a dozen have actually entered his system…
Two days ago we were having supper and I gave him a bit of mashed potatoes to play with and he got a bit in his mouth too.. Not thinking though… I had mashed them with a bit of milk….
The morning after….Yesterday… Khéna started having bumps on his skin… and today full blown hives…
I am 90% sure that it is an allergic reaction to milk… I think in my gut I kind of knew because he would get green mucous stools when I would drink cow milk when he was younger…
Ah… I think I am about to enter more into the world of food allergies…
Read more:Hives
omg… this is sick… 2007-10-14 18:52:21 We keep on getting phonecalls since yesterday about “an add”&hellip
; after asking a few people who called we figured out that our number was put on a sex add….
Today we found the add and contacted the newspaper and the site that appears on but this is SO annoying….
The add says…
ABSOLUMENT SEXY et provoquante, belle grande femme sensuelle et plus encore, viens me découvrir, tu seras comblé. 450.xxx.xxxx
translation:
“Adsolutlely sexy and provoking, beautiful tall sensual woman and more, come discover me, you will be satisfied”
looking around… we found a few other adds…
they got the area code wrong…
We probably have another week of this…. I feel like strangling someone…
independant homeschooling study… 2007-10-12 06:52:37 Home schooling improves academic performance and reduces impact of socio-economic factors
TORONTO, ON—Home schooling appears to improve the academic performance of children from families with low levels of education, according to a report on home schooling released today by independent research organization The Fraser Institute.
&hellip
;
“The research shows that the level of education of a child’s parents, gender of the child, and income of family has less to do with a child’s academic achievement than it does in public schools.”
The study also reports that students educated at home outperform their peers on most academic tests and are involved in a broad mix of social activities outside the home.
Research shows that almost 25 per cent of home schooled students in the United States perform one or more grades above their age-level peers in public and private schools. Grades 1 to 4 home school students perform one grade level higher than their public- and private-school peers.
What a great feeling… 2007-10-11 13:53:44 Last night&hellip
; I treated myself to an hour of luxury… a full body massage.
What an amazing feeling…
The massage therapist that I called lives 5 houses away and I kept on thinking about calling whenever I saw her sign on the front of her house. I went after supper so Simon did the evening routine and the boys didn’t really notice that I was gone much… Khéna was sleeping on Simon’s lap when I got back home.
I am very happy that I called there… she is really professional and nice… and the space is so relaxing and calm. We decided together that she would do a mix of therapeutic massage and relaxation… she released a lot of tension that I had in my back, shoulders and my left arm… and when I got back home and went to bed I slept so well….
It is something that I will definalely try to do again… and soon…
Camera troubles… 2007-10-10 22:36:40 We have had our Canon G6 for 3 years now&hellip
; everything was going fine until I put my card in the card reader yesterday… put it back in the camera and found that the card reader had messed up the card and then messed up the camera.
So now… all I get when I put a card into the camera is “Memory Card Error”… (*eta: I have three cards that I have tested it with that work in our old camera)
I called quite a few places and no one wants to give estimates over the phone… and if I bring the camera in it cost anywhere from 30-45$ for an estimate…
Our other option is to send the camera to Canon, have them look it over and then call us with the estimate. There is no change but there is a longer wait time..
I have been drooling over a dSLR or a long time so I started looking into that option… Getting a dSLR and having my G6 would mean that I could have a camera for quality pics and another for portability and video option…
Now that I Read more:Camera
new appointment… 2007-10-04 15:50:29 After venting a bit on my favourite message board someone gave me an idea&hellip
;
Call back the hospital and get onto the cancellation list.
The secretary asked me a few questions and though I had said it all yesterday it seemed to register a bit more today and after realizing that he was pretty much EBF, that it was most likely something that he had just had contact with and not had eaten etc.. she said that she would talk to the doctor to see what he thought and then she would call me back in the afternoon…
so I waited…
She called back and said that the doctor would like us to come in sooner and that they could give us an appointment
for Nov 8th… of this year….
So… I feel a bit better… Just a few weeks and we will be able to maybe start knowing what he is and hopefully isn’t allergic to…
My Day… 2007-10-03 20:39:21 So this morning the Hives were a bit better but were still there and were on his limbs and face and I decided to go have it checked out&hellip
; not for the hives of course, because really, there is not much to do for them, but I would like to know what he is allergic to officially.
So I called our family doc in Montreal and I was told that we could have an appointment in 2 weeks… I took it grudgingly and then opened the phone book…
Our city has 4 peds, I have met three of them. I HATE three of them and do not trust them at all…
I called the fourth… In the past he was not been taking new patients… I think the way that I called and asked made all of the difference though. I asked her if I could take an appt with the ped for my son… she said that she had a place at 10am (it was 9:15)… I said that we had never been there before and though she was a bit taken back she just asked a few questions including how many kids I have, why I wanted to
Today… 2007-10-18 06:56:15 Colin’s Torso a lot better today&hellip
; still blotchy but not raised like yesterday…
However… his face and arms and legs are now like what his torso was yesterday…
I few good friends suggested that it looks like fifth disease… and it could very well be… though they do not have the “slapped cheek” or the usual presentation it would fit the timeline and the symptoms…
I need to go to the ped office today to pick up a referral for a blood test for Khéna so I might mention my suspicions to the secretary to pass on to the doctor…
I am going to be so happy if this means no allergies… but of course we will officially see that in a few weeks… Read more:Today
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