2 years ago... The Unhindered Birth of my youngest daughter Taegen!

Today we celebrate her 2nd Birthday! It's amazing that she's two.. I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I love her so much, I love my girls so much. They are amazing siblings.

Taegen was due sometime the middle of May. I wasn't ever really sure what the "EDD" really was. It was sometime between the 15/20th of May though, based on Alex's return home, when I got a positive pregnancy test and my cycle.

May 15th came and went, May 20th did too. Alex had a four-day weekend coming up! We were excited. We had joked about how perfect it would be if I had the baby that weekend because he'd also get a 10-day on top of it (the army gives 10 days of free paternity leave). Friday came, nothing more than the prodromal labor I was used to. Saturday came and we went to a memorial day party, "mandatory fun" with his battalion. I chased Becka, who was 2 1/2 at the time, around and just had a blast. I was 40 weeks and some odd days there and people were shocked. "Aren't you going to be induced?" and other questions were asked, I just laughed and said "why?". I was definitely a giant though. It was neat, as I'd never been this pregnant (Becka was an induction at 38 weeks).

Even with all the activity and walking and being on my feet all day, we had no baby. Sunday and Monday were similar stories. It looked like Alex was definitely going to have to work on Tuesday.

4:30 am on Tuesday morning I was awoken by a strange feeling. I got up, went to the bathroom, and just felt off. I couldn't go back to sleep. Contractions were pretty regular, but I figured it was more of the prodromal labor that I had been having the last 2 1/2 weeks. I was on facebook chatting with my friend Cathi, who told me to time them, and who then told me I was definitely in labor. I was in denial the whole time apparently.

I woke up Alex, it was after 5 by now, and warned him he'd probably need to get up. I walked around, got in the bath and listened to music, I did little dances whenever my body needed to "wiggle". Around 6 I told Alex that he had to get up, this was labor, and Becka was starting to wake up so he needed to help me and her. It was interesting and the contractions suddenly became crazy intense, a feeling I wasn't prepared for. It's like suddenly my body was going from nothing to BAM having a baby. It was super hard to breathe through and work through. I was in the bathtub and began pushing. I wasn't doing it on purpose, my body was. I was making very animalistic groans (for some reason this helped me work through the intense contractions.

I made my way from the bath to my bed and I could feel my body pushing, I felt down and there was my amniotic fluid bags; intact. They broke moments later, all over the bed. I felt bad, I hadn't gotten down any of the sheets so our entire bed was soaked in amniotic fluid. I was on my hands and knees but needed to move. Alex got the pads down on the floor next to the bed and I kneeled there, head and arms rested on the bed. My body did everything it needed to, and this position was heavenly. Gravity worked with me, not against me. I felt down and I could feel a head. I called to Alex and asked him if it was a head and he said "that's definitely a head" haha. In 3 pushes Taegen was out. We hadn't known the gender so the first thing Alex said was "Definitely a girl" haha.

He helped me maneuver over the umbilical chord and brought Taegen to my chest. She latched on right away, doing her own version of the breast crawl. it was amazing. Becka came in as soon as she heard Taegen's cry and kissed her on the forehead. The blood and slime didn't bother her, she was so happy to see her sister for the first time.

I delivered the placenta shortly after, fully intact and amazing looking.

Taegen and I laid in the floor for over an hour, just enjoying each other. She ate for 45 minutes. We cut the chord, got dressed and snuggled on the couch. It took us hours to name her too. We fell in love with Taegen Savela (Savela in honor of Alex's mother's side of the family).

She has grown into a beautiful and crazy toddler. It's amazing how quickly the time passes. It seems like just yesterday I gave birth to her.

Her day of birth, after clean up of course!

Here she is now! My crazy toddler!

This is me flipping Congress the bird.

Yes, you read that right. This is my big "eff you" to Congress. (Probably unbecoming of a military wife huh?) But, in light of recent events it's more than justified.

Let's take a look at what's going on, shall we. Congress sits in cushy offices and they make, on average, $174,000 a year. Thats $14,500 dollar a month. They are also sitting in these offices, with their $14,500 a month while the rest of the american government workers who make far less a month are at risk of going with out pay. You read that right, GO WITHOUT PAY. Why? Because the douche-bags in Congress can not agree with a budget. They've had since October 2010, and numerous extensions, and here it is April 2011 and what do we have? NOTHING. There's no progress. Why? Because a government shut down wont really effect them will it? It wont effect our President's $400,000 a year salary either. Why? Because of a nice article in the constitution that states "members of Congress shall receive a compensation for their services, as ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States." (Article 1, Section 6)

So who does it effect? Our troops overseas and at home. It effects their families. It effects all DoD workers. It will effect even the on post library, which might be closing, depending on the verdict tomorrow, April 8, 2011.

So while Congress, and the President, wear their 2,000 dollar shoes our men and women in the dessert and at home will be working their asses off even without pay, to protect them and this country. The government workers at HUD and other agencies are at risk of losing their jobs too. It's rather unsettling and upsetting.

A government shutdown happened in 1995. Sure people got paid, but how long did it take? Do you know how it actually effected the government? The shutdown COST taxpayers $800 billion dollars, including $400 million in wages to workers who didn't show up to work. (source here)

Doesn't that sound fun?

So here I am, flipping our Congressmen the bird. Regardless of the verdict tomorrow, my "eff you" still stands. This back and forth, and scare tactics, and worry that has made me sick to my stomach all because you can't work together: and for what? To prove which party is the bigger jerk, which one has more power? Well good for you! From this day forward Democrats and Republicans are the same in my book: egotistical, maniacal, agenda pushers without regard to the little people; the people actually effected by your bureaucratic bullshit.

So Congress, when was the last time you looked at the Declaration of Independence?

Remember this?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"

Or what about:?

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Remember that, Congress works for us. We put them there, we allowed this to happen, and we can fix it.

Breastmilk: Nature's medicine

So I burned myself last night. It wasn't a minor burn either. We're talking one where you could hear the skin melt and see it turn white and blister. It also didn't feel good and was one of those moments where you just couldn't really say a word, but just stood there tears filling your eyes. Ah, fun times.

My first reaction, from my years at waffle house, was to grab a pickle. It's a really simple and effective trick to neutralize the burn and a cold pickle is super soothing.

My next reaction comes from being a mama of two, and having a total of 4 years of nursing under my wing; I put breastmilk on the burn. It worked, within minutes the pain in my hand began to subside and by morning there's no pain and the burn feels so much better. Breastmilk not only soothed the pain, it prevented the burn from blistering even more.

My husband thinks I am crazy, but did you know that there are dozens of uses for breastmilk? It helps conjunctivitis (pink eye), ear infections, stuffy noses, burns, scrapes and bug bites. It's a pretty fantastic, and free "medicine" that any nursing mom has "lying around".

Don't believe me? That's ok, my husband still doesn't; but for those of you reading and on the proverbial fence there is a lot of fantastic articles and research on the subject.

Breastmilk & It's Many Uses

Antimicrobial Factors of Breastmilk

AntiViral Factors of Breastmilk

AntiParasite Factors of Breastmilk

Associated Content article on Breastmilk uses

Kids can bake too!

My daughter, Becka, turned four January 15, 2011. It was an amazing birthday party with good people and she was spoiled, in a good way of course. My friend Brittney gave her this cute cook book, Kids Can Bake by Nicola Graimes (2009). It's a seriously cute cookbook with some amazing recipes.

We've tried some different ones but baking is so tough with a 22 month old awake and around since she wants to "help" which always involve a giant mess, and as fun as it is it really slows down the baking process.

Yesterday was perfect. The youngest went to sleep. Becka and I had been trying to find time to make the Caterpillar Rolls recipe for a couple weeks now and this seemed perfect, since we had no other obligations and we both just wanted to bake. The recipes and ingredients are relatively simple and Becka has fun pouring the ingredients in and helping mix. It's such a fun time for both of us really.

Baking with your child is so rewarding. You can teach them numbers and measurements and math. You can even teach them about science (yeast reactions, rising dough, etc). You can also teach them about textures and the senses. It's such a big learning opportunity for kids, and parents, because you're learning about your child. The quality time is amazing, even if it's a little frustrating because they do things their way. Patience is definitely a virtue, and remembering that they are kids, they will make mistakes and play with flour, causing a huge mess all over your kitchen! haha.

My youngest woke up before we were finished. We had to let the dough rise. The mess that the two of them made with the flour on the table was pretty big. The laughter that ensued as they played in the flour, was priceless and worth cleaning up a giant flour mess. (Hey it could have been worse, it could have been syrup or honey).

The end result of our Caterpillar Rolls tasted fantastic. Everyone, including my 22 month old who doesn't really eat bread, loved them..

So here's our baking escapade, from start to finish! It was rewarding, fun, and a moment I will cherish. There may come a day where she no longer wants to bake with me, but I'll still have these memories .

(I also recommend you finding this book, I'm sure it's on Amazon.com or even in a book store!)

The Book:

The recipe:

My Little Baker:

Mixing!

:)

The rolls:

Her Sister woke up! :)

Oh what fun!

They have risen, and are decorated:

The finished caterpillar, she wanted chocolate chip eyes. She loved it!

Rearfacing longer? Is it really that important?

The simple answer is yes, rear-facing past the 1 and 20 minimum required by law (or proper use of the car-seat) is really that important. The not so simple answer is the reasons behind it's importance.

This year the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their stance on car-seat safety. This issues has caused some controversy as many parents don't feel the need to rear-face their children past the minimum, or they think that their other children were fine being turned around, why should they start now? Parents don't want to change what they've been doing for years.

The best response to all of these questions and refusal to change is "when you know better, you do better." That statement rings true about so many things. Becka, my Four year old, was turned around at 1. She was well over 20 lbs, she was a good height and we didn't know about extended rear-facing. We just did what we knew to do. So here she is, healthy as can be, at 4 years old, and perfect. Obviously turning her around had no negative side effects right? Well, I've also never been in an accident with her in the car, thankfully I never had to put her car-seat to the test.

Well, May 2010 came the time where I had to make the choice again. My second daughter was turning 1 and I had the option to forward face her or leave her rear-facing. We didn't turn her around for awhile, and then my husband reinstalled the car-seat forward facing, and I just left it like that. Maybe it was laziness, or ignorance, but I just didn't do it. I never felt comfortable with her like that though, not at all. I talked to Alex (my husband) and we went over all the info and she was back rear-facing the next day. It is now April 2011, she has her very own Safety First Complete Air that she LOVES and she is still happily rear-facing. She turns 2 May 26th. She is a 22 months, 30 lbs, 32 inches tall and is very happily and comfortably rear-facing.

The chest clip is a smidgen to high in the pictures, it should be even with the armpits!

What exactly do the AAP recommendations now say? Well, see for yourself! HERE

"The AAP advises parents to keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. It also advises that most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age."

12, you ask? Yes, 12. If your 12 real old is short and tiny then for safety reasons they should remain in some sort of booster. No one is saying that your 12 year old needs to sit in a high back booster or a 5-point harness, but the fact is that even at 12 a tiny framed, short child, could be at risk of internal injuries or lacerations from a seat belt that doesn't fit right.

So where is this information coming from, and is it really that new? No it's not. In "2007 study in the journalInjury Prevention showed that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing." (APP, 2011)

Now 75 percent is a big number, that's 3/4th's, that's not a small amount of children who can be saved by rear-facing longer.

If you still don't believe me, or the AAP, check out some helpful links and videos from all over. Crash tests, and real-life crash, have shown us how much safer a child can be rear-facing until the minimum of a seat; and with new seats out like the Safety First Complete Air and the Graco MyRide 65 your child can rear-face until 40 pounds.

Helpful Links:

AAP article

Child Passenger Safety Resource

Healthy Children.org

Picture Guide to Carseat Safety

Youtube Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

*warning, videos can be really sad, please be warned. Especially video 2 about Joel BUT these are important, we NEED this information out there.