My Birthday Buddy

When I was eight years old, my family adopted three children. When I was eleven, we adopted three more. Add that to my original sister and brother and there were nine of us. Because there were so many of us, everyone had at least one birthday buddy. That is, someone else with whom to share their birthday month and party. Two in February. Three in March (plus Poppaw John), Two in May, and one shared September with Mama. So, all of the children had a birthday buddy. All except me.

I was the lone January child. January 10th to be exact. I was alone and lonely. I wanted a birthday buddy. I wanted one so bad that I tried to get Mama to adopt another child (one with a January birthday). Apparantly, God had other plans. I spent seven years waiting for my birthday buddy.

When I was 14 years old, I met and secretly fell in love with a young man that lived down the street. From the first time I met him, I knew that he was special. As it turned out, he was the one I had been waiting for since I was eight years old. His birthday was also January 10th. I had found my birthday buddy. We not only shared the same month, but the same day (one year apart).

By the time my 15th (and his 16th) birthday rolled around, our love wasn't much of a secret anymore.  On Valentines Day 2005, it was offical. Time went by, however. People grow up and change. We were not the same people we once were. Our love was not the same love. Life goes on. People have to follow their own paths.

Luckily, our paths happened to be going the same direction. We were not the same people we once were. We were closer. Our love was not the same love. It was stronger. I grew into a woman and he grew into a man. We got married and had a baby. These days, I call him Hubs. He is my best friend, my hero, and still my birthday buddy.

Today is our birthday. The sixth birthday that we have spent together. They have been the best six birthdays of my life. I love my birthday buddy! He was worth waiting for. Hopefully, we will spend many more birthdays together!

Happy Birthday Hubs!

An Enchanted Childhood~ Daycare: January 3rd-7th

We have been asked many times to write up our "lesson plans" so others could use them.  Honestly, we just spend a little time thinking about how we want the "school year" to look and go from there.  We wing-it a lot, doing impromptu things that add to our plans.  I am always amazed that anyone would think what we do is worthy of writing down for others to read, but here it goes!

This year, we are doing "Childhood Classics"--reading great children's books--you know, the kind every child should get to know, and then doing little activities to go with it.


For the next few weeks we are using the childhood classic Goodnight Moon as the foundation of our preschool activities.  We are then adding in many other great books.  We started off the week reading our beloved Goodnight Moon and doing several activities related to the moon. We also read  The Moon Shines Down by the same author.  It is great book about the moon shining down on children from many different lands.  Since we have been learning our continents, we were able to point out the England is in Europe or Zimbabwe is in Africa and so forth. This book is based on the very poem we have been memorizing this week~

I see the moon

And the moon sees me.

God bless the moon

And God bless me.

Sharig with: The Nighttime Sky (Discover and Explore)

Breastfeeding ~ Normal Or Nudity

I have to admit that I am a little nervous about writing this post. For some reason, it is kind of a touchy subject. So, these are my opinions and feelings about it, sorry if you do not agree...

I breastfeed my baby. I support other mamas that do the same. I have many reasons for doing this. First, I believe it is the healthiest option (both physically and emotionally) for both mama and baby. Second, it is cheap (I like cheap). Third, I believe that, as Americans, many of us have been "Americanized" into thinking and living in such a way that neglects the fundamentals of family. Fundamentals that should be second nature to parents (especially mamas). Ironically, "Americanization" is choking out the American dream. A dream that begins with family, happiness, and love. To me, and others like me, breastfeeding is all of these things and more.

My sister, who is one year younger than me (19), is not married and has no children. She works at a grocery store. A store that, at the checkout stand for all to see, sells health and fitness magazines (as well as others)that show women in bikinis. Bikinis, as we all know, show a good bit of skin (legs, midriff, and breasts). This store has no problem selling these magazines and customers have no problem seeing and even buying these magazines. It is "normal" to see women in bikinis, or even lingerie, in magazines, on TV, and everywhere else we look. It is "normal" for a store to sell magazines that display a woman's body for all to see. However, when a new mama, who is desperately trying to juggle shopping for her young family, pushing her cart, and feeding her baby, nurses her baby while she shops, people are shocked and critical of her and her "nudity". People (including employees) are disgusted with her actions and the fact the that "Most of her boob was showing!".  Yet these same people have no problem seeing (or selling) "nudity" in other forms such as magazines and movies. One of my favorite quotes is "Breasts are for babies, not for selling beer and buffalo wings!", but sadly this is not always realized in America today. The truth is that, to people today, boobs equal sex, and sex sells.

The other day, I saw something interesting, A Breastfeeding Baby Doll. Though I think you could make your own breastfeed baby doll simply by not using a bottle, I am glad to see this (Spanish) toy maker supporting breastfeeding and breast feeders. However some of the commentators were not impressed and down right offended by this doll. I have also known mamas (as well as others) who were shocked and even disturbed to see a little girl put a baby doll up to her chest to "nurse".

So I pose a question... Why do people think it is OK or "normal" to see semi nude women in many aspects of day to day life, but a mama, breastfeeding her baby, is thought of as weird and even offensive?

Personally, I do try to be modest while breastfeeding in public. I often use dressing rooms to nurse (bathrooms are too gross in my opinion). I nurse in the car before and/or after going somewhere. I toss a light weight blanket over my shoulder and chest (the shoulder piece of a Moby Wrap also works well). But, every now and then, I run out of options. I just sit down and nurse my baby. I stay out of the highly populated areas. I try to cover as well as I can with what I have with me. Whoever is with me attemps to help. But if someone was tyring really hard, they could probably see. I have squatted down behind a pile of lumber or sat on a stack of shingles in Lowe's. I have plopped myself down in the women's section of Target. I have even walked, while nursing, through the middle of our field (a road runs right by it). Sometimes, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Winter Woes

So... The gas is out... It was working fine this morning, but when we came home after lunch time, it was out... Our oven, our stove, our furnace, our dryer and our hot water all rely on gas... Dad and Hubs will have to check it out this evening... Until then, we will have to rally.

We were planning to make tea and cookies after nap time. However, we will have to settle for something else. Our dinner is already safe. We are making venison roast, potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot to take to Mama's house for my family.

It is starting to get chilly in here. Right now, all the children are napping and covered up with thick fleece blankets. When they get up, however, I will have to make sure they keep warm. Babies and young children often can't tell if they are cold or not. So it is my job to make sure they are bundled up properly.

Before Bunny went to sleep (she was still up when we realized that there was no gas), I re-dressed her in warmer clothes. She already had on an under shirt (as she always does this time of year). I topped that with a sweater dress, added fleece pants, socks, and booties (mostly to keep her socks on). I also put a knit hat on her head, but it didn't last long (I'll try it again when she wakes up). For myself, I have on wool socks, fleece pants, a tank top, and a sweater. If the cold gets unbearable, Hubs will set up the propane heater.

For the older children, I made sure that they kept socks on their feet, wore sweat shirts, and gave them bunches of hugs to keep warm.

So... Dad and Hubs plunged the line. So now we have gas!!! Our dinner was delicious, not to mention completely organic... Bunny and I took a warm bath and she is now sleeping in our warm bed... I plan to join her soon... I love my life!

Wordless Wednesday--A Day Late

New Year ~ New Possibilities

New years are full of resolutions. Some are fulfilled and some are lost or forgotten along the way. This year, My family and I have resolved to:

• Live healthier (eating better, exercising more, and doing so as a family)
• Dream and live out our dreams
• Do the To Do List

New years are full of changes. Some good, some not so good, some planned, and some completely unexpected. Either way, God is there, and God is good (all the time)!

New years are full of possibilities. Anything is possible.

Happy New Year!

An Enchanted Childhood~Muffin Tin Meals

While we are allll about routine and rhythm, it is fun to stir things up a bit from time to time, with special little treats.  After a morning of playing out in the snow, it was time to head in and warm up with some hot cocoa.  It was also time for lunch.  It was decided that a picnic lunch, while watching a Peter Rabbit video, would be a fun way to end the morning and head into NapTime.  The cook (me, Nana Kerri) also decided it was time for a Muffin Tin Meal!

A Muffin Tin Meal is exactly what you see--a meal made up of small amounts of a variety of foods, served in a muffin tin.  We just happened to own 4 snowflake-shaped muffin tins, bought on clearance last winter (75% off)  In our meal, we had gingerbread men-shaped and flavored marshmallows, mandarin oranges, mini carrots with ranch, yogurt, "snowflake cookies" (otherwise known as cereal), and green beans.  They children had 1/2 cocoa&1/2 milk for their drink--warm of course!

Lest you think we are all creative and cool, with this idea...we stole it!!!  LOL  This mama Muffin Tin Mom has many cool meal ideas.   While googling the previous link so I could share it with you, I came across a whole photo album on Flickr devoted to Muffin Tim Meals.  And WHO KNEW, Facebook has a Muffin Tin Meal page , which I am headed to now!

So have fun, be creative, make memories for your children!!