i remember why

how easily i forget why i cant be a sahm (stay at home mom)! but last night dave was kind enough to remind me during a fabulous debate on finances! you see i made the bold decision to purchase seventh generation laundry detergent due to my recent enlightenment on chemical properties (& subsequent health risks) of commonly used household products. you see...i just want to take baby steps...and start changing over piece by piece.. to more environmentally friendly products. albeit, generally there is more initial cost...which is where the debate came in. dave is against spending more on such silly nonsense. this is when i started remembering why it is that i make my own money. bc unless you are married to a saint...there is some power play from the money maker in a one income family...whether it be outright or more subliminal...and yes...i admit..i am "damaged goods" in that I come from a long long too long previous marriage where i was financially violated and thus have a huge ole chip on my shoulder about money power struggles....so long story short. I LOVE MAKING MY OWN MONEY. Its allows me true independence...without the constant need to compromise. So the simple solution to our difference in opionion was to say..." No problem sweetheart...I will just pay for it out of my own account". and thats the end of that. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sweet freedom.

Regarding the pic: The Crab Nebula is a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans. This is one of the largest and most detailed view taken by Hubble, and in addition, the highest resolution image ever made of the entire Crab Nebula

Cosmetics Breakdown

Im going to stop putting poisons on my child's skin. Its one of those things where I was lax - and now im realizing the error...so im going to work at fixing it. Especially since he has exzema. Why did i stop using olive oil & move to lotion? when did that happen? im pretty sure i was lured in by those baby frangrances...only to be tricked into possibly doing more harm than good. why am i using a soap with a 10 yes 10 rating on the following site? (please check it out! it has adult cosmetics too) . Because it was easy and available and .........DER.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/browse.php?maincat=babycare

So the good news is mama is waking up....from her green slumber...and that i really rethinking what i am putting on him...and in him. Please do the same for yourself and your family.

P.S. the pic was from when little grant was 4 months old :)

pro green space

Found this on a thread on space.com...what a cool site! Food for thought:

"A little bit of greenery in urban areas can cool off the hotter and stickier summers that city residents face as a result of global warming, new research show. An additional 10 percent more green space could reduce surface temperatures by 7 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a team of British scientists.

Extra parks and green roofs could counteract the predicted rise in temperature until 2080 when summers are expected to be hotter and drier and winters wetter. Because American cities are more prone than British cities to high summer temperatures, University of Manchester biologist Roland Ennos said green space has an even more important function in the United States.

In cities around the world, planting more grass and trees could keep people more comfortable and reduce air conditioning costs and energy expenditures, Ennos said. "It should make life more pleasant climatically," Ennos told LiveScience. "Many studies have also shown that it improves people's physical and mental health, sense of wellbeing, and can result in reductions in crime." Rest of the story: "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070518/sc_livescience/smallparkscouldcoolbigcities

TGIF!

oh how i love fridays...oh how i love fridaaaaaaaaaaaays..oh how i love fridays...because freedom is so close (to the tune of "oh how i love jesus"...of course)

of course im always in a state of freedom...bc ultimately i choose every step i make, every decision i take..on and on...etc etc...but the weekend is especially free and delicious..even when that freedom includes painting a house, going to lawrence for my kid's chiropractor appt, picking up a freecycle coffee pot, planting my vegetable garden, getting my dogs stiches taken out & maybe even getting the oil changed. sounds fun huh? it is actually bc im all about family...and that requires some maintenance. oh the joys of adulthood. sometimes i would rather be stubbing my toe on the sidewalk.



hopefully we can have another pool party with miss vivian and sarah again soon (pic)...although it has turned cool this week...luckily we were able to sneak it in while it was stil hot hot! those kids do have a good time together...even though they generally act smug and ...like to poke each others eyes out.




grant is doing great. guess the daily dose of singulair is really helping his allergies stay at bay...and that is keeping the respiratory response at bay...which is GREAT..we sure dont miss Mr. Misty (nebulizer treatments).

Have a great weekend!

9 days and countin'

Florida....ahh...Florida...days spent doing nothing but laying on the beach...or swimming in the expansive pool with my family! sounds delicious....and we are so close now i am counting down the days..the hours really. IM SO EXCITED for my boy to experience the ocean (ya i know he is shark bait)...and be around his family. Sure hope my brother and his family make it...they arent positive yet.

Grant took his first steps Monday...while i was playing hookie from work..how kind of him to choose such a day for his momentus milestone! He walked back and forth from my mother and i over and over and over...3 & 4 steps each time. He laughed and giggled and screamed with delight...like OMG...im doing IT!!! It was precious to see and my mom and i both teared up in motherly emotion.

Dave and i officially started painting the house last night!! i guess the stars are alighned just right or something...or maybe its just no precipation for a week...either way...the side of our house is a dark blue (blue on blue to be exact)..so we gotta keep going now...no way out. We didnt get the color just right till last night..after dave spent an hour painting..OOPS...but i just cant have it toooo light..i detest the powder blue look...so lucky number 4..yes the fourth color we had mixed and tried out...was the right one for us. Cant wait to see the finished look! We are going to do lots of white trim to really make the dark blue POP. will post a pic of the final product...be nice if that was before florida...but dave and i are resolved to the fact that this is a HUGE project..and we will just keep pluggin away till its finished...whenever that may be.

Peace

happy 10 month birthday grant!

seems like grant has a new personal joke everyday! something he just cracks up over....yesterday it was the old "high five, down low..too slow" omg..he LOVED it. i tell you this kid is mr personality. yes he knows who his mama is...and he has a bit of separation anxiety..but not much at all! he really warms up to people quick and gives them love and smiles and attention. its great to watch him make people feel good. i sure do love that little guy.

dave and i are working on preparing healthy snacks for our little muncher. he really enjoys picking up small pieces and aiming for his mouth. so far he has enjoyed kix (at daycare), peas , carrots, advocados & apples. in the works are sweet potatoes & a large variety of veggies & fruits cut into little pieces...some frozen...and some fresh...all easy to use on the go and after work. im excited to get this process streamlined. many times im caught at work with no snacks for him (other than breastmilk of course..thank god for that)

off to work...grant is thriving and happy..and so are his parents.

Nursing in public

Read this on the http://thelactivist.blogspot.com/

I agree with it! Breastfeeding is OK - and people who have a problem with it in public..need to get over themselves.

"Tobin had an inalienable human right here that is being denied. The right of a human child to human milk, to nurture and nourish when its psychobiology requires it.The offended onlooker does not have any rights to be protected. The offended onlooker has a personal issue, a feeling of discomfort and unease, that requires handling. A cultural dissonance, that needs acknowledged,responded to, engaged with and hopefully smoothed away. The nursing dyad has no such personal issue in this paradigm. The nursing dyad is not operating out of a cultural context. The nursing dyad has supreme importance and protection in this scenario.There is a simple truth here, that is so awesome and complete in its simplicity, that it's in danger of being overlooked: breastfeeding an infant is not a lifestyle choice. It is not a cultural convention. It is not a personal statement. It is a biological imperative. It is our essential nature. It is an essential element of our species, and the continuation of it. It is a biological norm.We do not choose to breastfeed. We can choose not to. Likewise, we do not choose to breastfeed in public. We can choose not to. Breastfeeding is not a cultural construct. Not breastfeeding, is. Nursing an infant when the infant needs it, is a biological norm. Deciding that this needs to be done in a certain place, at a certain time, or in a certain way, is a cultural value."

i do have an issue... where professionalism and public breastfeeding some in to play. I feel I should be discrete when at work and i even feel that i should be discreet when out in public in tongie...bc i am essentially paula the rec commission asst director 24/7 - an "in the public eye" kinda position. and in tongie i am more likely to see people i know. am i a hypocrite? am i weak and cowardly for not breastfeeding as casually/openly as I do in lawrence? i always try to keep from flashing nipple all over the place..but it is SOOOOO much easier..and sooooo much more enjoyable for grant and myself when im not fighting with a slippery blanket or running for cover. so its an interesting situation i have.......im pretty comfortable with how i am presently dealing with it......but i must admit im not a hardcore lactivist when it comes to the professional crossroads. anyone have an opinion?

I LOVE GRANT!!!!

fountain of youth

Its may its may! may rocks.

grant is turning 10 months on monday the 7th. the year has flown by on one hand yet on the other is has crawled in the way of the tortoise. ive certainly grown in leaps and bounds..infact...im barely recognizable as the same woman.

this hadnt happened in months..but last night over dinner...i had that "OMG we have a baby together" sensation. wierd how that happens.

we had a nice weekend.....starting out on friday with decluttering, laundry & a bit of spring cleaning (our bedroom closet had begun to grow things). you may say...well that doesnt sounds so great...but wait it gets better...that was just the lead in.....then satuday morning grant and cleaned up and left for lawrence...while our super dooper house cleaner kristen did her thing.....ahh to walk in to a fresh house is just amazing...and a PERFECT way to kick start a saturday. in lawrence...we shopped at the farmers market and purchased LOTS of items including pastel eggs, herb plants (chives & dill), english lavender, zucchini & raisen bread, sweet rolls, black cherry jam, 3 potted zinnias & gourmet doggie treats. then we strolled over to zen zero for a fabulous lunch complete with oyster sauce! we also shopped a couple baby boutiques and ended up with 2 cloth diapers & a baby einstein video. it was a great time. of course we missed visiting with sarah, vivian & ben......but serendipity solved that disappointment. sure hope we get to see them next weekend. lastly we ran in the merc for some grant probiotics, rice milk & shampoo. so now you know hehe.

saturday evening was spent at the legends at sharons my space dinner party. we had hibachi at stix and then meanered the mall there. grant had a wonderful time playing in the fountain with dad (pictured). it was sooooooooooo adorable! that was grants first fountain experience. dinner was yum yum and the library land company was very nice. grant was super well behaved and wasnt a terror at all:).

sunday was a hang at the house and chill kinda day. grant and daddy played in the yard under the shade of the tree while i dug up the garden. it was so precious to see them smiling as the breeze tossed their hair around.......i just swelled with love...as i do often. we did manage to force ourselves to grocery shop that evening , then a quick piano lesson and off to bed we ran.

on monday i went on the best date of my life! sharon babysat (a whole nother story) and from 7:30 - 10:30 dave and i enjoyed dave and busters at it best...which is FREE. we ate, drank & played unlimited video games (bartenders ball - distributors paid for it all)........which was a dream come true for me...it was great to play all the big games im usually too cheap to play! oh and i hit it big on a silly tickets game...so we had over 400 tickets and actually could buy something cool. ok not cool...but fun! i got the gigantic clapper, a deck of blues cards & a reaching/grabbing monkey contraption. it was such a blast! even though grant didnt do so well........we needed that time away...it was sweet.

grant is doing wonderful...we are managing his breathing/respiratory challenges and he is a happy , healthy , growing boy. he is scooching around fast now..and pulling up to all kinds of things. neal at day care said he was scooching around the entire house...with the other kids..they run in the circle..and she said he was about 4 laps behind them but he kept on trucking..and the other kids just keep saying..come on grant come on...he really does play with his friends there. i know he gets beat up a little too...but thats kids for ya.

thanks for visiting