Time & Healing

I don't think I have gone very far into it, but I know I have mentioned or hinted several times regarding my relationship with my in-law family. Anyhow I wanted to share that I am now at a point where I love them dearly and consider them my own family. This realization came upon me like a quiet bird upon your shoulder, and I reflected upon it - why is it so? What changed? My mental health has changed a bit, but besides that, I think it really helped to have this pregnancy with Elisabeth. I was so anxiety-ridden and frightened to share my pregnancy with them, after all the grief they put me through with Rychen. But apparently they learned from that, and are now wiser in-laws: They took their distance and never criticised or asked much at all, throughout my pregnancy. I also took some physical space from them (for fear of them asking about it) but I think that benefitted me. Backing up to get some space, and then coming back fresh. I haven't spoken about our relationship with them, but I just have this feeling that they, especially my FIL, had been praying about it and were directed to leave me alone! (just what I had been telling them all along! But when God says it, you listen...) And so it seems that has really blessed our lives. Spending these past 2 days with them for Thanksgiving has made me realize how much I enjoy them, and also remember back 5 years ago when I met them, how much I liked them and how excited I was to join their family. Also it has made me feel sad to leave them for Christmas because it really seems that they are my family now (Not only my MIL and FIL but I have been bonding with my sister-in-law a lot lately as well). Well, I am so thankful for this blessing and hope to improve our relationship further.

Shampoo or lack thereof

I have posted before about my hair hygeine... To catch newbies up, I stopped using shampoo in May, and went 6 months only occasionally washing with vinegar and/or baking soda. I had really soft, excellent hair.

Well I am here to tell you, it was PREGNANCY. I am humbled and sorry to everybody that I bragged to!!

I am back to using herbal shampoo, about once a week. Yes, I could be doing the baking soda/vinegar thing but how do I know that is any less harmful? Seems pretty harsh to me. I felt great with using only water but now that I need more than that, I am going back to herbal shampoo.

(I first got this idea from the goingbananasblog.com blog, after slowly decreasing my shampoo usage because I could see for myself how little I actually needed it.)

Good reads!

I joined Goodreads.com, a networking website where you share books you've read, rate them, review them, or simply show your friends what you are reading, have read, and would like to read. I recommend this site! It took me a few jabs from various friends to get on it, and now I finally have, and I had no idea I would get so into it. It's fun to just make a list of the best books you've ever read! So I made an extensive list of raw foods/natural health/attachment parenting/religion/natural birth books. I am eager for my skiptical friends to see where I get my ideas from :) Anyhow, join in!! Add me as a friend. Here is one review I wrote (excuse my poor writing, it is late, and I have a baby! Great excuse anytime I need it!).....



The 80/10/10 Diet by Douglas N. Graham

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the first book I am writing a review for - because it is absolutely amazing, both in passion and in science. Here is your book to scientifically explain why the fruitarian diet is optimal and how it's the answer to every disease of malnourishment or toxicity. The 80/10/10 diet contains every nutrient we need and delivers it in a way of least stress and toxic by-products. Not only is the diet spectacular, but this book of all raw food books will bring not only the passion and spirit but also the plain facts, the wisdom, and the scientific data to back up his claims. Hooray for Doug Graham, a true pioneer and soldier in the field of health.


View all my reviews.

umbilical cords

Here is a fantastic article on umbilical cords that everybody should read, anybody who plans to give birth or has ever given birth, or has even spoken with somebody who has given birth! That means you. If you are planning a UC, commit this information to memory for sure, or at least the overall truth that umbilical cords are safe, don't worry!! (Thank you, Pamela)

Been a while!

Wow I haven't posted in a while. Things are so crazy! I have had a lot of projects lately too, like Christmas presents/cards, and printing up a bunch of photography. We were behind 3 years on our albums! Life with 2 kids is just so much busier. We have more laundry, clutter, and just the fact that life isn't flexible anymore makes things more challenging. For instance, my day is so limited to Elisabeth's sleep schedule. She doesn't fall asleep in the car, so she takes a nap in the store - so I have x amount of time to shop (and usually end up wandering, waiting for her to finish the nap) before getting back in the car. This way, she is happy in the car. I am a Type A, high stress person, and I don't know how parents drive with a baby crying in the car! Oh, another thing to note: Elisabeth doesn't fuss. She is either happy or screaming! She goes from 0 to 60 and from 60 to 0 in no time. So even sometimes when she is sleeping or fine, I am still on nerves because I could get interrupted any minute. It's hard for me to relax!

 

Another tricky thing about her sleeping is that she doesn't just nod off while nursing, the way my son did. If she is tired, she won't nurse. She keeps pulling off, or just squirming so much! So I put her in the sling and bounce her. Sometimes she will sleep in the baby swing if it's in a dark room with white noise. Mostly though she naps in the sling, and every time she stirs I need to bounce her some more. This is the traditional way, of course, but you won't have appreciation for it until you try it. Basically, with all the swaying and bouncing, and back-patting, I am working out ALL DAY LONG. I am so physically exhausted at the end of the day!

 

I am not yet in my regular clothes. I have tried shopping a couple times but that is tricky too. You can't really try clothes on in the store, so it's a hassle to go back and forth. But mostly I avoid it. I have been to swaps a few times and gotten lots of free clothes. So that helps! In fact, I love this method. Great for the environment, convenient, saves time, and cost-effective.

 

For a while I was eating a ton of cauliflower and sauerkraut. I learned to make my own cultured veggies to help my gut flora. It worked - I had great digestion and energy with meals that would normally knock me out. HOWEVER......those Brassica vegetables totally bothered Elisabeth, and she was almost colicky for a few days. So I had to stop. I am still culturing carrots and beets though. And I drink the brine in my smoothies--my own idea, I don't know if that is effective or not. But hey, if you like salt-water taffy, this tastes exactly like it! IPut sauerkraut brine (salty water with probiotics) in a banana-strawberry smoothie.

 

So for a few weeks I did low-fruit, lots of veggies, and some cooked anti-yeast foods. It was my own modification of the Body Ecology Diet. Foods like quinoa, millet, raw egg yolk, salmon. (I tried Amaranth but it was yucky! I wonder why) I just LOVE quinoa, raw and sprouted or cooked. It's very nutty-tasting. Anyhow I am not really following the BED rules anymore but I took away some important things: Eat LOTS of veggies with every meal, Eat cultured veggies EVERY DAY (especially with heavy cooked meals), avoid gluten and dairy, and limit flour products. But before limiting my flour products, I had a fun phase with baking with Stevia, gluten-free grains, and coconut oil. I just substituted those in traditional recipes and made some great cakes. I cannot eat raw desserts anymore because the fruit and nut combo is so hard on the body, hard to digest, and really feeds the yeast. So I decided to do moderate cooked foods where they would have a better effect on my system as a whole. But what I do in general to balance the oil/sugar thing is to make sure the oil is cleared out of my system before eating fruit. That way the sugar doesn't feed the yeast. So what I usually do is eat my evening meal pretty early, and then have a late fruit breakfast the next day.

 

Oh, my favorite food lately: raw 100% sheep's whey cheese! No salt, nothing other than raw sheep's whey. It is alkaline, crumbly, and satiates my cheese craving. I eat cheese once in a while when I find something like this at Grocery Outlet. So it's my "treat." 

Parental Rights Constitutional Amendment

This website is about a proposed constitutional amendment to make parental rights an explicit  right. Recent court cases have justified CPS taking away a child for no good reason. Current trends also threaten to take away the right of parents on make decisions, such as in health and education. You can sign the petition on the website.

http://www.parentalrights.org/

A year ago

A year ago today was a very special day. November 13, 2007. I was running through the house yelling, singing, jumping, dancing. I was so excited. Why? Because I got my period, the first since September 20, 2004 (yes, that is more than 3 years) and after many months of waiting for it. It didn't come until I mostly weaned my son, finally. I had been thinking I was pregnant because of the "pregnancy" symptoms that preceed the return of menstration. I wanted so badly to be pregnant, but I was nevertheless excited to get my period because I then knew that NOW I could, and I WOULD be pregnant, just 2 weeks afterward.

And I did just that. Late November we conceivied, mid-December I got my positive test, and just a few months ago, our miracle culminated into Elisabeth.

backwards awkwardness

I am wearing the sling on the wrong shoulder because I had to empty this breast...  And goodness sakes, my whole brain is messed up. It is very difficult for me to type this - typing is hard, I want to type all the right-handed letters on my left-hand, etc. and my brain isn't even processing conversations correctly. This is so interesting!! But if I wear it over my left shoulder all the time (multiplied by several babies) will my muscles get funky? Will my body be lopsided? (I'm already a tennis player with a stronger right forearm...) Anybody else switch shoulders from time to time?

My sister in EC article

My sister Laura Nyman was interviewed for this article about Elimination Communication (which he mistakenly calls Elimination Control) for a Utah newspaper. It contains a good introduction and description of how it works, as well as the skepticism from the other side (of course, wouldn't be journalism without that!)

 

EC for us - lately we've been slacking. I admit it's difficult when you are busy. I have been doing so much rather than the relaxing I did at first. So now, I just forget to do it... and her cues keep changing so now Elisabeth isn't crying before she pees and I am left to guess again. I haven't tried this idea of keeping a log. I will have to do that.