carol | March 13, 2010
I am otter-ly loved: The adorable image of a baby otter taking a nap on its mother’s tummy as she swims across a bay
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1256564/I-otter-ly-trust-Mum-The-adorable-image-baby-otter-taking-nap-mothers-tummy-swims-bay.html
carol | January 16, 2010
Baby Mamas (Put a Sling On ‘Em)
Bæring ( babywearing )
Somebody Loved
Rain turns the sand into mud
Wind turns the trees into bone
Stars turning high up above
You turn me into somebody lovedNights when the heat had gone out
We danced together alone
Cold turned our breath into clouds
We never said what we were dreaming of
But you turned me into somebody lovedSomeday when we’re old and worn
Like two softened shoes
I will wonder on how I was born
The night I first ran away from youNow my feet turn the corner back home
Sun turns the evening to rose
Stars turning high up above
You turn me into somebody loved
carol | December 31, 2009
I am sure you have watched Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride 2. Well, they are based on movies from the early fifties. The original sequel was called Father’s Little Dividend and it was filmed in 1951. I found the following section very interesting in regard to attachment parenting. The father, Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy), and his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) were saying that everyone should stop interfering in her pregnancy. She went on to explain her doctor’s radical views which certainly shocked her father.
Kay: “I guess they just don’t understand the new way of looking at things. As Dr. Nordell says, birth is a perfectly natural thing, a glorious thing, and wants you to be conscious every minute so you they don’t miss a second of it. He believes a woman should be aware of the wonderful thing that is happening to her. And another thing, he doesn’t believe that a woman should be separated from her baby for one second after it’s born. You should carry it with you, right back to your room, and keep it there with you, sleeping right there with you in your hospital bed.”
Stanley Banks: “That is a little new isn’t it.”
Kay: “Oh, Pop, that’s not new! Primitive woman has always done it. Dr. Nordell was in the Pacific and he said the women there, why, they were never separated from their babies. They kept them slung on their backs for the first two years of their lives. He said it was wonderful for the baby. He said if he had his way, all of his mothers would do that. You would carry them on your back while you were doing housework and when it got hungry, you would swing it around and feed it, and swing it back again. He says it gives the baby a wonderful feeling of security.”
Father’s Little Dividend 5/12 (1951) (Clip beginning at 3:40)
carol | October 25, 2009
Saving My Baby
http://fiercemamas.blogspot.com/2009/10/saving-my-baby.html
“In the hallway, the cardiologist turned to me and quietly told me that it was my parenting – the constant carrying – that had allowed her to survive against all odds.”
“My daughter never cried alone, left in a room. Had I ever practiced CIO, I would have woken to a lifeless baby.”
Hat Tip: Megan (Thanks!)
For more on this topic, choose from the following:
Essay ~ Bible Verses ~ Quotes ~ Blog Posts ~ Books
carol | August 30, 2009
Mayim Bialik aka “Blossom”: Celebrity “poster mom” for attachment parenting
http://www.examiner.com/x-17929-Denver-Attachment-Parenting–Examiner~y2009m8d28-Mayim-Bialik-aka-Blossom-Poster-mom-for-attachment-parenting
“Mayim Bialik, star of the hit 90’s TV series “Blossom,” has talked openly about her “strange” parenting practices. While many celebrities give a nod to breastfeeding, Bialik has made a true commitment to the attachment parenting lifestyle. She says she has researched her approach to parenting and chosen what she believes is best for her family. And research is something Bialik, or I should say Dr. Bialik, knows something about. She has a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA.
“So what is it that Dr. Bialik has decided is best for her family? She practices extended breastfeeding (she nursed her oldest son until he was 2), babywearing and elimination communication. She is a huge proponent of home birth and her second son was born at home. They all share a family bed. Though her oldest son is only 3.5, they are part of a homeschooling community and are considering that a viable option for later schooling.”
‘Spotlight to Nightlight’: Mayim Bialik: From Teen Icon to Unconventional Mom
http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/goddess/spotlight-to-nightlight-mayim-bialik-from-teen-icon-to-unconventional-mom/270?nc
“There are so many interesting/somewhat controversial things that she is doing with her family: elimination communication, bed sharing, home schooling, home birth, and choosing not to vaccinate her kids.”
Mayim Bialik: Blossom TV Show Actress to PhD in Neuroscience
http://celebrity.rightpundits.com/?p=6562
What I appreciated the most from learning about Dr. Mayim Bialik’s parenting choices is that she arrived at them through RESEARCH.
In my experience, parenting decisions that have been influenced by RESEARCH, unwounded INTUITION, and CHRISTIANITY all arrive at the same place, ATTACHMENT PARENTING.
carol | May 10, 2009
Some of the best moms live at Zoo Atlanta!
http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2009/05/09/some-of-the-best-moms-live-at-zoo-atlanta/?cxntfid=blogs_momania
“I’m sure they don’t know it, but many of the animals practice the Dr. Sears Attachment Parenting theory. All the mammals usually nurse their babies. Many “wear” their babies. And co-sleeping is all the rage…”
carol | January 12, 2009
Study: Away-facing strollers stress babies
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/family/11/21/baby.buggies/index.html
“Parents who choose a stroller that seats their baby facing away from them could risk long-term development problems in their children.”
“Parents are less likely to interact with children in forward-facing strollers.”
“Children not facing the person pushing them were significantly less likely to talk, laugh and interact with their parents.
“Parents using face-to-face strollers were more likely to talk to their children, who were less likely to exhibit signs of stress.”
http://parentingfreedom.com/babywearing/
http://parentingfreedom.com/quotes-babywearing/
http://parentingfreedom.com/category/parenting-babywearing/
carol | January 8, 2009
Needed to make a new post about the interviewer’s notes…
http://johnziegler.com/editorials_details.asp?editorial=182
“At 9 am, without a security guard or handler within sight, Bristol Palin, eight days removed from giving birth, politely answered the door and Governor Palin, not yet fully put together, rushed out to tell me and our crew to make ourselves at home.”
[Sarah Palin] “then posed for pictures and signed autographs for the entire crew and casually discussed all sorts of topics, including how the local newspaper is absurdly still trailing the ’story’ that her youngest son is not really hers at all (this while Todd walked around with Trig on his back and Bristol cared for her newborn Tripp in a nearby bedroom.”
I already linked to a portion of that interview…
http://parentingfreedom.com/2009/01/08/sarah-palin-takes-on-the-media-exclusive-interview-for-media-malpractice/
carol | December 8, 2008
Due Date
http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/2008/12/due-date.html
“when I tell you that I held you for the first three weeks we were home, I mean that every single night, I slept with you draped across my chest, feeling your every breath and thanking God with every soft sigh and sweet whisper. I never put you down.”
carol | November 11, 2008
http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/2008/11/im-a-very-happy.html
I learned to do that more and more with each baby. My goal with my fourth was to almost never put him down. I would babywear even more with another baby.
Edited to add my link:
http://parentingfreedom.com/babywearing/
carol | September 3, 2008
(Scroll down for 40+ pictures of Sarah and Family)
My grandmother was conceived in 1920, the same year that national women’s suffrage finally came to America. My grandmother, living in New York, is now 87 years old, and at last, after all these years, a woman will be elected Vice President of the United States. Governor Sarah Palin is not just any woman. Governor Palin is a woman with Christian, conservative family values and principles. She brings hope and enthusiasm to this election with her strength, character, and courage.
Sarah Palin is obviously one very intelligent lady. She became mayor and then governor and cleaned up her state and even her own party while maintaining a very high approval rate.
She has respect for all life – born and unborn.
I love that Sarah embraces her role as a mother and does not hide her children or view them as inconveniences. I am very impressed with her belief in mother/child togetherness. She takes her children to work, breastfeeds, and wears her baby in a sling. It seems that Sarah’s husband plans to homeschool with distance education.
Strong, healthy women CAN have it all, but keep in mind, they are not necessarily DOING it all. Most women ARE working women whether in or outside the home. Some delegate the cooking, dishes, laundry, and cleaning to hired staff, and replace it with talking with people, paperwork, and giving speeches. Either way, a woman can still be a devoted wife and mother – as long as she stays connected to her children. It seems that Sarah Palin has the energy, strength, and courage to be a wonderful vice-president, while at the same time, she will continue to be a great mother to her children.
“Palin has carefully portrayed herself throughout her career as someone committed to both family and profession — and tough enough to handle both. She made a show of dismissing the chef at the governor’s mansion saying she wanted to do her own cooking, and that the kids were old enough to make their own sandwiches. And no one can recall her ever having a full-time babysitter.
(I understand that before this time, she did have a nanny when her oldest children were little.)
“‘You walk into her office and Piper is sitting there, the baby is in the crib — that’s just the way it is. This is how she lives her life. Someone who was in a meeting with her recently said she was discreetly nursing Trig,’ said Palin’s biographer Kaylene Johnson.”
Sarah and Piper in the Office
Baby Trig with Mommy and Daddy
“From interviews with those closest to Palin emerges a description of a hectic lifestyle, but one in which the hominess and rural community of Alaska have enabled her to have her kids around her while she works and have offered a deep bench of family and friends for child-care support. She has shown up to meetings and news conferences carrying Trig in a baby pouch.“
Sarah Working with Baby in Sling
Happy Baby / Happy Mother
On the Job with Trig in a Baby Carrier
Sarah Babywearing
“She and her husband kept their family house in the small town of Wasilla, where her parents, three siblings and closest friends live. Most of the year, she is able to commute back and forth from Anchorage daily, except when the legislature is in session in Juneau. Todd Palin is currently on leave from his job as an oil field worker, making it possible for him to be a full-time dad, said two friends. Sarah Palin’s mother said in an interview Sunday that Palin’s two youngest girls, Willow and Piper, attended school in Juneau for the second semester last year when the legislature was in session to be near their mother. The baby was also with Palin.“
Sarah Holding Trig At Work
Sarah Palin Working with Baby Trig
“Even in the story of Trig’s birth, Palin paints herself as feisty and fearless. She told the local media that she noticed her amniotic fluid was leaking right before she gave a speech in Texas last April. After her keynote address to the National Governors Association, and obtaining the consent of her doctor, Palin boarded an eight-hour flight to Anchorage. She never told the airline she was in labor. She and her husband drove 45 minutes to her hometown medical center; the baby was born seven hours later.”
I like the fact that she didn’t treat pregnancy as an illness. I think it was awesome that she gave a speech after her water broke. I thought I was pretty smart in shaving my legs, labouring at home for the first 24 hours of a 26-hour labour, and going for a walk around the hospital just before giving birth. But, obviously, I am no Sarah Palin. 
Sarah Palin Giving a Speech During Her Pregnancy
Sarah Palin Expecting
Sarah, Pregnant with Trig
I also think it is awesome that Sarah Palin had another baby at 44 years of age.
Sarah Palin chose life for her son even though 90% of prenatally diagnosed babies with Down Syndrome are killed before birth in the United States.
“The McCain campaign said it could not confirm that Palin was still breastfeeding Trig, but the governor said as much in a interview with People magazine on Friday. “What I’ve had to do . . . is, in the middle of the night, put down the BlackBerrys and pick up the breast pump,” she worked into an answer to a question about whether she was a morning person.”
“Palin kept her pregnancy secret for seven months, stunning even her staff with the announcement. She pointedly said at the time she would not miss work. ‘I had Piper on a Monday, and I was back to work on a Tuesday. I even brought her to work with me,’ she said, referring to the birth of her daughter.”
Again, this demonstrates great strength. Sarah has wisely chosen the kind of work that enables her to have her children with her. There are so many photos of Sarah and her daughter on the job.
Working with Mom
Daughter Piper with her Mom (on the job)
Staying Close to Mom
Working with Mom Can Be a Lot of FUN!
Working with Middle Daughter Willow
Piper Having More Fun Working with Mother
Piper working with Mom
Sarah and Piper Palin
On the Job with Mom
Piper Helping Mom at Work
Piper Working with Mom Sarah
Piper and Sarah Palin
Sarah and Daughter Piper
In Mother’s Arms When Sarah is Speaking
Working Mom
Working without Neglecting Her Child
Sarah and Daughter Piper at Work
More Fun at Work
Family Working Together
Sarah Palin Taking Care of her Child
John McCain & Sarah Palin on Shattering the Glass Ceiling
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20222685,00.html
“Sarah Palin, in ruby red peep-toe platform heels that showed off a pink French-style pedicure, first ducked into a holding room to change the diaper of her just-up-from-a-nap 4 1/2-month-old son, Trig.”
Sarah Palin with Baby and Future President and First Lady
SARAH PALIN: “Morning person. Yup. We don’t sleep much. Too much to do. What I’ve had to do, though, is in the middle of the night, put down the BlackBerries and pick up the breast pump. Do a couple of things different and still get it all done.”
Sarah Palin with Baby and Blackberry
“As a new mom, how are you going to juggle all this?”
SARAH PALIN: “I am thankful to be married to a man who loves being a dad as much as I love being a mom, so he is my strength. And practically speaking, we have a great network of help with lots of grandparents and aunties and uncles all around us. We have a lot of help.”
“So will your husband be on leave now indefinitely to be Mr. Mom?”
SARAH PALIN: “I would say so, yes.”
Her husband is a capable full-time dad. As vice-president, she will also have a huge staff. And she will be able to continue having her children with her.
Todd Palin and Baby Son
Sarah Palin with husband Todd holding Baby Trig
On the Job with Sarah
Todd Palin holding Daughter Piper
On the Job with Sarah
Todd Palin holding Daughter Piper
Older Photo of Palin Family
Todd Palin Holding Piper
“Mr. Palin, you have this tiny baby with special needs. Do you worry that people may wonder if she’ll be giving short shrift to her family?”
TODD PALIN: “She’s heard that her whole life – the challenges of being a female and mother in the work force. I remember the first time she ran for mayor one of her fellow council members told her you can’t run because you’ve got three negatives: Track, Bristol and Willow. Those are the three kids we had at the time. So when you tell her that kind of stuff, she just gets fired up. We’re an Alaska family that adapts.”
Supportive Family
Sarah’s Oldest Daughter Bristol Holding Baby Brother Trig
The daughter who is pregnant is seventeen years old. My grandmother married at seventeen, and my mother married at sixteen, and I had my first date with my husband at fourteen. I think Sarah’s oldest daughter will love being married and having a baby. I think she will also love being the daughter of the first female vice-president. The young man Bristol plans to marry was homeschooled. Sarah said, “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. . . . Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.”
Sarah’s Middle Daughter Willow Holding Baby Brother Trig
Sarah’s Youngest Daughter Piper Holding Baby Brother Trig
CINDY MCCAIN: “I disagree with anyone who would say she can’t do both. Any woman who’s been in a situation where they are working and have children know that you give 300 percent; no one will be slighted in any of this, least of all her baby. She has a lot of energy, she’s a woman with great drive and great vision.”
“Mrs. McCain, do you even remember the last time he changed a diaper?”
CINDY MCCAIN: “No. And I’m not sure he does.”
JOHN MCCAIN: “Heh-heh. I remember. There’s some experiences you never forget.”
Todd and Sarah Palin
(Note Baby in Sarah’s Arms)
John and Cindy McCain
MCCAIN/PALIN 2008
For many more Sarah Palin Family Pictures, click here and scroll down.
http://parentingfreedom.com/category/politics-sarah-palin/
Pictures courtesy of Yahoo and Google.
carol | August 31, 2008
Due to a mini-vacation, I haven’t been at a computer since Friday morning. At that time, rumours were floating around about a certain plane flying from Alaska. Eventually I learned that it was confirmed that Sarah Palin had been selected as John McCain’s running mate. She was my number one pick all spring and summer, but I wasn’t sure if John McCain would choose her. I hoped and I hoped (just ask Derek), and you can only imagine my excitement when it was confirmed. My only disappointments were that I couldn’t get access to a computer or even watch FOX news. As a last (pathetic) resort, I turned to CNN and laughed at them calling it a “shocker” and scrambling to find “something” negative about Palin.
It is exciting to see such a contrast in the two parties. The Republican party represents a REAL choice for LIFE and conservative values. It stands as a stark contrast to the radical liberal pro-death Democratic party that is supported by both the mainstream media and Hollywood.
I found links to these images in my inbox as soon as I got home.
Sarah Palin with her baby in a sling
When I checked my blogroll, I was delighted to read that some of my favorite bloggers like Sarah Palin as much as I do.
http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/
http://www.tulipgirl.com/index.php/2008/08/all-mothers-are-working-mothers/
http://adventuresinmercy.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/palin-rocks/
http://mommylife.net/
http://whitewashedfeminist.com/
http://conservativeintelligencer.com/palin-for-vp-woot/540/
carol | August 23, 2008
We went to see The Clone Wars last night. B9 has been playing Star Wars Lego all summer, so I knew he would love the movie. L3 was also right into it, and N14 didn’t mind it. The girls (C7 and I) didn’t expect to be impressed, but we had fun anyway.
What I liked best about the movie was the baby carrier/backpack in which they carried the Baby Huttlet (AKA Rotta or Stinky). They could have chosen any fancy wheeled method of carrying the baby, but they chose the most efficient, safest, and BEST way! Love the babywearing!!
carol | June 12, 2008
My sister-in-law is expecting her long-awaited first child. I don’t know what choices she will end up making, but I did my best in trying to influence her toward attachment parenting. 
Here are the books and things we gave her as soon as we found out she was expecting.
I also gave her a printed book-form version of all my parenting essays and collection of parenting Scripture verses. (See header or sidebar.)
And a pink baby outfit and a blue baby outfit.
Here are the presents my mother, grandmother, and I gave her at her baby shower the other night. I am hoping she will choose babywearing over using a stroller, so I wanted her to have a couple choices:
Zolowear Sling (Blue Paisley) (with DVD)
Ergo Baby Carrier (in Black with Camel) (with DVD)
Ergo Backpack (Diaper Bag) (Black)
Ergo Front Pack (Black)
Ergo Infant Insert (Camel)
And probably most of all, I am hoping she will choose to listen to her baby, instead of letting her baby cry it out. We gave her this brilliant DVD that helps to educate mothers about understanding their babies’ communication skills.
carol | May 19, 2008
Babies need parenting to a T
http://www.bradenton.com/278/story/613124.html
“In many cultures mothers walk around with their babies attached to them in some way. I don’t think I put my babies down until they were around six months of age. If I put them down they cried, and I could not stand to hear them cry, it broke my heart.”
