PARENTING FREEDOM

.: attachment parenting, homeschooling, gentle discipline :.
  • .: Favorite Quotes :.


    "So in everything, do to others what you
    would have them do to you."
    Matthew 7:12
  • .: Waiting for Baby :.

  • Pregnancy/Family Update… Baby Names Suggestions Welcome

    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… ;-)

    Pregnancy / Health Update

    carol | March 13, 2010

    With my hands cupping my womb, I could feel the baby moving around last night! The date would be just past 16 weeks pregnancy/14 weeks after conception. So far, I can only feel movement with my hands. I can’t feel it in my body yet. When I wake up each morning, a big bump sticks up when I lie on my back, but during the rest of the day, it sort of hides. (To clarify, my stomach doesn’t hide - just the womb. LOL)

    I have my maternity clothes ready to go. I ordered some new things online. I hope they won’t make me look too hideous this time around. Fortunately, this was the first time I could buy tall maternity pants. What a relief!  I still wear my regular shirts, and I can comfortably button at least three pairs of my non-maternity pants, but that won’t last much longer. I recently got out my box of stored maternity clothes and made a ‘keep’ pile and a ‘give-away’ pile. It is funny how the pants style has changed so much in just six years – not only the legs, but the back pockets of jeans. I had a great laugh at myself when I tried on some of my old maternity mom-jeans. If you think regular mom-jeans are bad, you should have seen these! The scariest thing is that they are in the ‘keep’ pile until I have the energy to go shopping for a  couple more pairs in a nearby city. To my knowledge, there are ZERO places to buy maternity clothes locally. Sad, really. What do pregnant women do?

    We stopped at a furniture store last night to look at their rocker/recliners. The one I used for my last baby was a very old chair that came from my grandparents. Years ago, we dragged the matching one to the end of the road on Big Garbage Day after one of the kids threw up on it. Both chairs were worn out anyway. I didn’t find a new one that I liked, but we only went to one place. There is lots of time. Then again, it’s hard to believe that in only a few short weeks, I will be half-way through this pregnancy. Yikes!

    I have a new extra-tall bed rail ready for our king-size bed, and I bought new foam wedges for nursing in bed. These are two of my most needed baby items. My wish list also includes new slings, a wrap-around nursing pillow, a dresser for baby clothes, etc.

    My eight-year-old daughter is knitting a blanket for the new baby. At first, she chose pink yarn, but she was encouraged to get white in case it’s not a girl! I’ll take a boy and/or a girl, but she would LOVE to have a sister. After all, when we thought she was getting a girl kitten, it turned out to be a boy when we took her to get spayed. LOL

    This has been by far my most difficult pregnancy – both physically and emotionally.

    Emotionally: Pregnancy following miscarriage is extremely stressful. I never expected it to be so hard. I also have worries of my husband’s job insecurity and the threat of moving hanging over my head.

    Physically: I  am thankful that the 24-hour morning sickness began to slowly ease at 11 weeks, and the last couple weeks have been much better. It was a rough first trimester. In the fall, I was feeling quite well most of the time, but within just a couple weeks of the pregnancy, the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that I have battled since I was sixteen years old kicked in big time. I didn’t expect to have such debilitating fatigue with this pregnancy. I am particularly grateful for two things in this regard:

    #1 I had the house renovations and house cleaning completely ready just days before I became pregnant. That makes me feel sooooooo much better, because even though I can’t keep up, and I am getting behind with the housekeeping, it is not as overwhelming as it would have been. I pray for strength to be able to cope if we have to move, and also for the basic nesting that I need to do.

    #2 As always, I am very thankful for our homeschooling method. It has been so flexible over the many years of ups and downs with my health. The three oldest children are capable of doing their schoolwork with minimum or even no help from me if necessary. I do not fret over my five-year-old because I know there is lots of time, and as long as he continues to learn a little phonics and math facts here and there, he will do just as well as his brothers and sister. There were many times I was physically unable to put much into homeschooling over the years, yet the children are doing great.

    I haven’t been very chatty on my blog lately because I am just too tired. I have mostly been posting links and quotes with the occasional commentary.

    One interesting change in my lifestyle has occurred after an appointment with another naturopath. I have searched for health answers since I was a teenager. I have tried many, many things – sometimes with good results, but most of the time, nothing helped. During the past few months, I have been desperate to find answers. I don’t know if this time will make the difference, but I am giving it my full effort, even if it kills me. So, with the goal of achieving better health, I have gone vegan! In the past, I was familiar with the vegetable juicing and vegetable smoothies and nut milk and all, but I have never completely eliminated meat/fish/eggs/dairy at the same time before (still using butter). I am also doing no-sugar again. It has been eighteen days, and I have seen no improvement, and unfortunately some negative effects. I will stick with it religiously for a while yet, and I hope to keep at least some of the new habits for the rest of my life. The children have been doing great as well. They are not eating vegan or even vegetarian, but their diets have improved greatly with a salad almost every day and no junk – yet. Over the years, we have gone through many times of eating healthy and eating poorly. I have always found it very discouraging when a strict healthy diet did nothing for my health. Hopefully, this time will be different.

    I haven’t been doing too much during the past few months except trying to cope. One helpful thing has been our amazing winter! I have never seen a winter with such little snow and such great weather. We are having another sunny day, and the forecast is amazing! I haven’t had the strength to enjoy being outside, but in many ways, the weather has been very encouraging.

    Hmmm… what else would you like to know? :-)

    Thankful for Take-out

    carol | December 28, 2009

    Derek makes fun of me for something that is frequently in the sitcom, “The Middle”, and also in the movie, “The Blind Side.” It goes along the lines, “Children, thank your mother for going to town to bring home supper for you.” Well, I tell YOU, I am thankful I don’t have to cook all the time and can bring home pizza or a bag of burgers. It’s a luxury for which I am truly grateful. Home cooked meals are sometimes a complete waste of time and energy. So there. ;-)

    Government Parenting

    carol | September 22, 2009

    Nanny state snatches kids for being too fat
    http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110476

    “A couple soon expecting their seventh child has had their fifth and sixth taken by social workers after warnings that the family needed to slim down their overweight kids or risk losing custody…”

    “At the time, the mother said, ‘They keep making an issue about the kids’ weight. I don’t even own a deep-fat fryer. All my food is home-cooked, and the kids are not fed junk food. Children can carry a bit of puppy fat, but they tend to lose it as they get older. Ours are not being given that chance.’”

    Hmmm… having your children taken away is not exactly the best way to lose weight when you eat emotionally.

    Fattening Ourselves in the Day of Slaughter

    carol | June 10, 2009

    “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:5-11

    Substitute for Love?

    carol | January 6, 2009

    This made me get tears for these women and all the women in the world wounded by abortion, birth control, rape, being used, etc. Many women are not allowed to be the mothers they were created to be. There is such pain out there, sometimes covered up with food, shopping, Facebook, TV, and I guess fake dolls, etc.

    Adult Women Play House With Fake Babies
    http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0109/582097_video.html?ref=newsstory

    I must say, the dolls sure are beautiful.
    http://www.reborn-baby.com/Adopted-baby-gallery-two.html

    Christmas Cookies

    carol | December 22, 2008

    B10, C7, and L4 rolled, cut out, decorated, and ate Christmas sugar cookies the other day.

    You have to eat one bite!

    carol | September 30, 2008

    6 Food Mistakes Parents Make
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15eat.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

    So Good

    carol | May 10, 2008

    Derek took N14 out for breakfast, and he brought home this Mother’s Day treat for me to have for lunch.


    My Favorite Food