Carol | May 14, 2010
Video: Sarah Palin’s Keynote at Susan B. Anthony Celebration of Life Breakfast
http://www.therightscoop.com/video-sarah-palins-keynote-at-susan-b-anthony-celebration-of-life-breakfast/
Carol | May 11, 2010
I used to post more of my own material for my website, but for the past long while, it seems I only link to other articles with the occasional personal comment here and there. I am sorry that I haven’t had the strength nor the inspiration for creative writing during the past six months. I haven’t been able to blog the story of this pregnancy either because it’s been just too emotional and difficult.
I apologize for either not responding at all or only half-heartedly to the encouraging comments and emails I have received during the past several months. I used to reply every time, but lately it has been exhausting, and sometimes I just don’t know what to say. I do appreciate when you take the time to write to me, and I will try to do better in replying. Thank you!
I am doing better healthwise. I still get extremely fatigued, but unlike the first 20 weeks of this pregnancy, I have been improving instead of getting worse. That was so scary. I can finally cope and even do things which makes me very encouraged and hopeful. I am also beginning to stop worrying about miscarrying.
I went to my first (and only so far) prenatal appointment and heard the baby’s heartbeat. I get Braxton Hicks contractions. I feel the baby kicking some. The hiccups seem to indicate that baby’s head is down. If that is the case, I pray it stays that way.
Me – Almost 25 weeks pregnant
(I can’t get Derek to stop taking worm’s eye view pictures.)
I stuck to the vegan diet for about six weeks, but since I kept getting more sick, I made some changes. I still make vegetable smoothies, almond/grape milk, take all my supplements, and continue to make better choices and avoid most unhealthy foods. I have continued to make Sunday night fruit smoothies for the family, and I bought quite a few containers to make homemade smoothie popsicles, both of which the children love.
Vegetable smoothie that turns into a bubbling crude
Vegetable smoothie and fruit salad
Fruit smoothie ingredients
Homemade smoothie popsicles in the freezer
I haven’t scrapbooked for 3 1/2 years, so I felt bad that I was so far behind with a little baby on the way. Just because this baby is the fifth child shouldn’t mean he or she doesn’t get pictures in an album. Inspired by the very talented Kelle of Enjoying the Small Things, I have discovered the wonderful world of photobooking. Kelle does digital scrapbooking and then has her beautiful pages collected in photobooks. I would love to do digital scrapbooking, yet I can’t figure out how to get started at all. Photobooking has been wonderfully easy with delightful results (not magnificent like Kelle’s, but satisfactory to me right now). I finally feel productive after many months of getting nothing done. That has been very hard on my head since my mind wants me to go, go, go. Just during the past few weeks, I completed three albums (January – June 2009, July – December 2009, January – June 2008), and I almost have July – December 2008 finished. Hopefully all of 2007 will fit in one album. I will then have only January – June 2010 to finish before the baby! Lovely. I look forward to taking family pictures this fall.
We thought we had our baby names, but it seems there are too many people with the same names. I would welcome any baby names suggestions (in the comments below). I can’t find a good baby names website, so I would appreciate any tips in that area as well.
It has been a sad week in our community with the tragic death of a fourteen-year-old girl who lived up the road from us. She died in a car accident. Her mother is one of the sweetest, friendliest people I know. She is the kind of person who would get voted Miss Congeniality in the real world. What a devastating loss to their little family. Unbearable. http://nethymnal.org/htm/b/e/bestill.htm
The children are continuing to do their school work. Usually they have most subjects finished by mid-May, but this year, most subjects will likely go until the end of June. The 3 R’s will continue throughout the summer because of the baby and Derek’s job situation. The older boys have been dipping into their next year’s book stash. They just can’t help it – especially those Glenn Beck recommendations. They also received a new box of books with Canadian content yesterday. http://www.freedompress.ca/
Jean Chretien: A Legacy of Scandal ~ Paul Tuns
As I See It ~ Michael Coren
Standing on Guard for Thee ~ Michael Wagner
Loyal to the Core: Stephen Harper, Me and the NCC ~ Gerry Nicholls
The Great Canadian Comedy: From Laughter To Tears ~ Joe Campbell
Stop the Presses! ~ Joseph Farah
I bought another Willow Tree ornament because of the new baby. This will be our family in August. 
I would love to hear from you. Certain blogging decisions I have made over the past couple years has resulted in less reader feedback, so it is encouraging to hear from those of you who still visit my website.
Now, back to politics as usual… 
Carol | May 11, 2010
Here are some of our spring pictures that I am willing to share publicly. Go here for the private pictures: http://parentingfreedom.com/2010/05/11/spring-pictures/ (Send me information about yourself if you want access.)
First backyard soccer of the season – April 6, 2010
B11, L5, C8
C8 enjoys listening to audio books on her MP3 player
April 12, 2010
Inspired by a library book
Paint – April 23, 2010
Brushes
Backyard soccer with Daddy
April 25, 2010
We got our trampoline last year, and I am surprised that it continues to be greatly enjoyed by all of them – especially when they use nerf swords and have jumping battles.
The day the trampoline was put together again
May 1, 2010
Father and Daughter
May 2, 2010
Derek and the children at the beach
Note the American Girl doll in the doll back carrier
with foam rollers in her hair while her mother plays soccer.
May 8, 2010
Fiddlehead picking on Saturday (Not so pretty, eh?)
Carol | May 11, 2010
Obama nominates Elena Kagan to Supreme Court
http://www.jillstanek.com/obama-to-nominate-elena-kagan.html
Carol | May 11, 2010
Britain’s hidden gendercide: How Britain’s Asians are copying Indian cousins and aborting girls
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1276902/Britains-hidden-gendercide-How-Britains-Asians-copying-Indian-cousins-aborting-girls.html#ixzz0ncSwhsPD
“For the hospital sonographer, it’s just another routine 20-week ultrasound scan. The baby is developing perfectly and, helpfully, is lying in the right position to make identification of its gender straightforward. ‘Would you like to know the sex?’ she asks. The anxious-looking Indian woman who has been staring so intently at the monitor, smiles nervously. ‘Oh yes, please,’ she says, her slight Midlands accent betraying the fact that she was born in Britain.”
“‘Well, you’re having a little girl. Isn’t that lovely?’ If the sonographer had been a little less tired, she might have noticed the slight hesitation before her patient’s reply, the fleeting look of desperate disappointment that crossed her face. But both are gone in a split second. ‘Oh yes, wonderful news, my husband will be pleased.’”
“But the woman is lying – just as hundreds of other British women of Indian origin do every year. Their husbands certainly won’t be pleased by news of another daughter and nor, more often than not, are they…”
“What was it daadi (grandmother) used to say? Bringing up a baby girl is like watering a neighbour’s garden. What her grandmother meant, of course, is that it’s an absolute waste of time and money.”
“As she straightens her clothing and walks out of the hospital, the woman shudders, knowing full well what lies ahead. The long flight to India, the noisy taxi ride through the crowded Delhi streets to the clinic, and the pain and horror of a late abortion. But her husband was adamant; they simply could not afford another daughter…”
“And so, ten days later and despite the fact that abortion on the grounds of gender is technically illegal in India, the life of yet another British Indian baby girl ends on the bloodied operating table of a Delhi abortion clinic before it has even begun. She is killed simply for being a girl…”
“Traditionally, unwanted girl babies are fed opium and left to die; others, I’m afraid, meet far nastier ends as India’s poor do what they have been doing since before the Raj – murdering their unwanted daughters…”
“Estimates vary as to how many Indian women are now ‘missing’ from the population, but it’s thought to be somewhere between ten and 35million over the past 20 years. Female foeticide, gendercide – call it what you will – it’s a terrible and chilling statistic…”
“A British-Indian friend of mine recently gave birth to a daughter and while there was a younger generation of Indian women like me, keen to celebrate the arrival, we were outnumbered by an older generation of female cousins and aunts, some of whom were in tears at the wretched fate that had befallen my friend. It was as though someone had died, not just been born…”
“They pass on to the next generation what they have learned from bitter experience: that they are subservient to men; their usually loveless marriages will be arranged for them; and the size of their dowry matters more than their education…”
“Recently, I was in Mumbai, the heart of India’s booming stock market, and yet in this bustling, metropolitan city the bodies of newborn baby girls were still being washed up on the beach…”
Carol | May 8, 2010
Apple – iPad App – Hello Baby
GE First Time [Old Ad]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1P1wSbMvCQ&
Q&A [Asperger's Syndrome]
http://vimeo.com/11305685
Hat Tip: http://www.jillstanek.com/
Carol | May 8, 2010
Sarah Palin welcomes you into her home for a family first
http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20100507/HOME02/100505003/-1/health/Sarah-Palin-welcomes-you-into-her-home-for-a-family-first
Carol | May 8, 2010
Food: There’s Lots Of It
Hat Tip: http://www.pop.org/
Previous videos: http://parentingfreedom.com/2010/02/17/not-enough-children/
Carol | May 8, 2010
Time Travel Is Possible, Says Stephen Hawking
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/03/time-travel-possible-says-stephen-hawking/
Time travel? Maybe
As posited by Einstein, wormholes might work, though the fine print is daunting.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0507-goldberg-20100507,0,5609620.story
Carol | May 8, 2010
One teenager in five leaving school unable to read or do maths
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1274947/One-teenager-leaving-school-unable-read.html#ixzz0nKxBZqfH
“One in five teenagers leaves school illiterate and innumerate despite two decades of education reform, research shows…”
“About 17 per cent of 16 to 19-year-olds are functionally illiterate…”
