My turn to copy and paste!!

I thought Sonya would like to add this article to her stash of pro-breastfeeding papers. It's very interesting..


Breastfeeding decline in Asia-Pacific region linked to infant deaths



WEDNESDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) — A decline in breastfeeding is associated with the deaths of 160,000 infants each year in the Asia-Pacific region, UNICEF regional advisor Stephen Atwood said Wednesday at a breastfeeding conference in the Philippines.

UNICEF told delegates that just 35 percent of infants in the Asia-Pacific region are exclusively breastfed in the first four months of life, Agence France-Presse reported.

Infants less than five months old who aren't exclusively breastfed are much more likely to develop diarrhea and pneumonia, conditions that can be deadly in developing nations.

UNICEF and the World Health Organization told delegates that the low prevalence of breastfeeding poses "an alarming threat to child survival" and urged Asia-Pacific leaders to do more to promote breastfeeding and to warn their citizens about "the dangers of breast milk substitutes," AFP reported.

-- HealthDay News

Source:
Copyright © 1997-2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
What you can do
Breastfeed your child if you can. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding your baby for at least the first year of life, and longer if both you and your child wish to continue.

Beef for Breakfast!!!

This is what we woke up to this morning!!!! I couldn't stop laughing, I just thought it was so funny. We live in a cul-de-sac and behind the bend of the cul-de-sac there's a house and then a cattle farm. We can hear the cows and sometimes smell the cows, but we enjoy it, that's why we moved out away from the city. Well we've seen the cows get loose over on the road, but not in our backyard!! It was hysterical. There was a lot of babies too. I've been up for 40 minutes and they're still out there. Jasmine is now going nuts over them, we kept her away at first, so we could watch and take pictures. They seemed to really enjoy our grass and I know Steve loved having the help!!! We just stood and watched them for over 20 minutes, it was so cool!!!

9 DAYS TILL BIG BROTHER, PEOPLE....9 DAYS!!!!

A weekend to remember

HELLO!!!!! We had a very nice weekend. I drove up to Columbus early Friday morning, picked up Steve, dropped off Jasmine and went to the Christian Home Educators of Ohio Convention. Basically the convention is broken up into two different parts, one is the vendor hall full of curriculum providers, book sellers, all sorts of different things, there were over 200 booths and the second part is all of the workshops. Each workshop is an hour long and there are over a hundred to choose from. We tried to figure out what workshops we wanted to do before this weekend, but when we got there we realized we really like one speaker and didn't care much for another, so our schedule got shuffled, but it worked out really well. We got some great encouragement and tips as well as advice for beginners. We also attended a workshop about the legalities of homeschooling. It was taught by the Ohio attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and that was a really interesting and informative session. Basically right now at this moment we're protected under the law, but because it's falls under the category or implied right and not a fundamental right (one actually written in the Constitution) many things could possibly happen that would endanger the legality of homeschooling. It was very interesting and we learned that we ccan help by visiting parentalrights.org where they are trying to get an amendment to the constitution for parental rights that would keep it legal. Basically allow parents to have the choice of how their kids will be educated. It was also very eye opening on how the people who founded and support public schooling actually see it. They refer to it as the new religion of humanism and the ministers are the teachers. They are government schools that carry out the agenda of the government, not of God or what a parent believes to be in the best interest of their child. They even said that education is not about education, but about society and socialization. Basically our children are putty in the hands of the government and they mold them into what they believe is best, not the parents and certainly not God. I just found this workshop to very informative and I was glad I attended it. We also went to a workshop entitled Gems for Beginners and after that class we changed our whole plan for how we were going to homeschool our children. The class was taught by Jessica Hulcy the creator and writer of KONOS curriculum. She didn't talk a whole lot about her specific curriculum, but instead did give a lot of tips and help for beginners. But what she did touch on about KONOS really intrigued us. When I decided to homeschool I wanted to be sure that every subject my kids studied, I wanted to help seal it in their memory by providing them with an experience to back it up. Basically I wanted to either find somewhere to go, something to see or something to do that corresponded with what they were learning. I thought I had to look for and find these things on my own. But KONOS is exactly what I wanted to do and it includes all these things written into it. Basically you buy a teachers manual and the rest is either checking out (or buying ) books they suggest, acting out scenes, writing papers, creating crafts, going on field trips, etc...to learn a specific thing. She sells three volumes of her curriculum each volume contains about 2 1/2 years worth of curriculum and all three can be used interchangeably for K thru 8th grade. Each volume is 99 dollars. So for 300 dollars you have curriculum for 8 years. There is also a really cool timeline you can purchase to go along with it if you want, I wish I could describe it to you, but it's way cooler than I can every put into words. If you're interested you should check out the site Konos.com. The only thing is that it doesn't cover math, phonics or grammer. It does do reading and writing once they are capable of doing that. We found some great choices for that as well and got them 20% off this weekend. After the class we went downstairs to learn more and Jessica actually came down and showed us everything for almost an hour. It was awesome!! How often do you actually get to sit down with the author and go over everything. It really sealed the deal for us, we were both hooked!! Up until that point we hadn't found anything we both were excited about, but rather one of us just relented!! I can not wait to get it all in my hands and start preparing!!

We spent one night in a hotel in Columbus and it was so nice to not have to worry about putting kids to bed or anything, just being able to relax. At 10:30 they closed the indoor pool to kids so adults can swim alone, and we went down for that. The pool was heated and there was only 3 other people there, so it was nice. We got to splash and play around and remember how much fun we can be together. It was very rejuvenating. It was a nice weekend. Yesterday we had church and came home and didn't leave again. We all took a nap until 4 and then just sat around the rest of the day. What a great end to the weekend!

I forgot to mention that last Saturday we went to see the sneak preview of Ratatouillie (the new Disney/Pixar movie) and I wanted to give it a good recommendation. I think it officially comes out this weekend. We all really enjoyed it (Steve and Noah the most). I liked it, thought it was funny and clever, but not as cutesy as I like. I prefer Toy Story and Cars type cartoons and this was more Incredibles, Nemo type. It was very good though, so go out and see it!!

This week Abby is in a princess dance camp where she normally takes dance lessons. Today was her first day. It's only from 10 to 12. It was really cute, they watched a little movie of a ballerina and had a snack and made crafts and of course practiced dancing. She really enjoyed it!!

This weekend we are leaving to go to London Kentucky with Steve's family. We're excited to go out on Laurel Lake Saturday to do some tubing and maybe fishing. The Howard's always know how to have a good time and I can't wait to see them. They were definitely a fringe benefit of marrying into that family, they're the best. It's basically two of Steve's uncles and their grown children and their children (some grown, some not). I always have a good time with them and I can't wait to see them again. I'm excited about it, but it also means I have to find somewhere for our dog to go, pack everything up again, clean out the car, and then spend at least 3 hours in the car with them. Why does it always take so much work, to have so much fun???

I also wanted to give Sonya the hugest apology, because she has no idea how terrible Steve and I both feel over the whole ticket fiasco. I hate that that whole evening was crazy and hectic to begin with and then that happened. We should of warned you, we knew about the speed limit thing. I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY!! If you will let us, we'd love to help cover the cost of it. Steve even suggested it to me as well. Please let us alleviate some of the burden, we're really sorry. We sincerely appreciate you being there for our son though. He was excited to hear that you were coming. I know you made him feel special, thank you!! Thank you for the teddy bear too, so cute and thoughful. You're just the best and please let us make it up to you somehow, however you see fit. You are appreciated.

Well I must go and try to get all the clothes clean so I can pack them all up again. Have a good day.
Jamie

Weekend Update!!

Like my SNL reference! Well, where to start? I guess with Father's Day. We had a visitor at church...Sonya and family!!! It was such a nice surprise to see her there. I hope she felt comfortable and enjoyed it! So after church we let Steve pick the drive-thru lunch on the way to my parents and he chose White Castle. We very rarely eat there and he loves it so that's what he got. We then went to visit my Dad and then we left to go to the Butterfly show at the Krohn Conservatory. We had a good time there again this year. We went last year on father's day too, dad's get in free!! We got one to land on Daddy and he was able to give us all a turn with it before it flew away. The kids were thrilled! So we went home and I made Steve a steak dinner which was marvelous!! He was a happy man!! This week we've been busy getting ready for this weekend. Steve and I are going up to Columbus for the Christian Home Educator's of Ohio Convention. It's tomorrow and Saturday. The kids are staying with my Mom and Dad. It turned out that a million things were also going on this weekend with the kids. Noah's team won their game tonight which means they are playing in the championship game tomorrow. I am devestated about missing it, but my Sonya has so graciously agreed to take him for me. My parents weren't able to go because my grandparents are celebrating their 50th anniversary tomorrow night with a special dinner. HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY PAPAW, SORRY I HAVE TO MISS THE DINNER!! I LOVE YOU!! So Sonya's gonna take him and I'm relieved that we could work that out. Abby also has t-ball practice Saturday morning too. So there were a lot of different things I had to get ready for them. Lots of lists were made this week! Steve's been in Cali since yesterday. He'll be flying into Columbus in the morning and I"ll pick him up there. I am excited about a night in a nice hotel though. We got a free night at an Embassy Suites with his hotel points. I am also excited to see all the curriculum up close and personal and also learn from the different workshops. I hope I get a lot of good information! Actually out of the next 4 weekends, we are busy 3 of them!! This weekend is the convention, next weekend we're going to London, KY for two nights to see Steve's family and celebrate the 4th. We'll be boating and tubing on Laurel Lake again, I can't wait!! And then the Second weekend in July we're camping. We're getting very excited about that too. There's so much to buy and I love to shop!!! Well I need to go clean the car for my drive tomorrow and I'm making some yummy snacks for us. Have a great weekend, and I'll post again Sunday. I love you all, you're the best

ok, ok...

See, I am alive, picture taken today at 5:13 pm!!


ok, I just have a few minutes before I have to leave again, but I just wanted you all to know that I am alive, I have been pretty busy this week and when I get home from Noah's game tonight, I'll post a big update. Steve's in Cali and the kids are going to grandparents tonight, anyone for a party????!!!!! If my house wasn't destroyed I'd let you all come, but nah!!! More later.

Jamie

Fun Day

Abby in the water




Noah and Sammy's puppet show before things got crazy and they destroyed all the scenery!!




Abby and Samantha




Abby and Sawyer, sorry about the redeye, I fixed it in our software but when I put it up here it showed up again and I'm too tired to fool with it!!




Noah in the H20


Today was a crazy fun day for the kids. We met Sonya and the kiddies at the museum for a few hours and that was great. There was only a few other people in the whole place and we enjoed lots of quiet time! It was really fun. And then I took the kids to the park to visit with Abby's preschool friend Samantha. The park has a really nice water play area for the kids to cool off in. We ended up being there 2 1/2 hours. Again that was very nice as well. Then we came home ate a quick dinner and let Noah rest for awhile before his baseball game. He didn't win this one, oh well!! I came home watered everything down outside and then put the children to bed and now here I am typing to you!! It was a nice day full of fun and if we can just have 96 more of those our Disney trip will be here in no time!!

A few pics from the bay

Just a few pics from Boomerang Bay tonight. Noah tried some of the big slides tonight and loved them. I have pictures of him coming down them but they contain images of certain people who'd rather not be included so I had to leave them out. Riley did not enjoy the water. He cried everytime it touched him, maybe it felt really cold to him. It was fun though and we enjoyed to the quick heat relief it provided!!

another post

Well I did get up today and do a little. I cleaned the dishes and did a load of laundry. We went to wal-mart for awhile and now Riley's on his way over. We're keeping him until about 10:30. We're all gonna go to Boomerang Bay tonight, that should be interesting!! I'm feeling better about my sluggishness, and it's not that I hate having relaxing days or something, but the more I just lay around the worse I physically feel. It's like I get more tired and yucky feeling the more I lay there and then it gets harder and harder to get up. I hate that feeling, that's why I wasn't liking what was going on. Monday and Tuesday I didn't leave my bedroom until after 11. The kids and the dog all joined me in there of course, but I just hate doing that. Oh well, I'm doing better today and tomorrow I have plans so that'll get me going. I'll try to get pics tonight at the bay.

This is me on summer....

Ok, so the last two weeks I took the kids all over and did tons of fun things and now it's all catching up to me and I've become a slug!! We haven't left since Sunday and not much has gotten done around the house. I cleaned up a few rooms, did the dishes and took out the trash, but that's about it. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I just can't seem to get motivated. The kids love having time at home. Sometimes they beg to stay home, so I know they don't care about being here, I just start to feel guilty when there's so much out there!! Maybe today I can get it together, we'll see!!

zoo, birthday, fish and more

Abby and Noah




Noah and his rocket fishing rod




My aunt and uncles beautiful pond and yard




Me and Riley hanging out pondside




Noah's first fish


Our weekend was really nice. We picked Steve up Friday afternoon at the airport, went to Skyline for lunch/dinner and then went to the zoo's member night. Noah was excited to see the superhero show with Spiderman, Storm and the Green Goblin, but the show was lame-o!! It ended up being like a PSA (public service announcement) on nutrition and stranger safety and bullies, which are all nice things, but it was done in such a lame fashion. We left before it was over to avoid the mad dash of people going to the carousel for free rides!! We also got to see the Cheetah encounter and that was pretty cool. They basically talk about the cheetahs for awhile and then they set up this lure system to get them to show you how fast they run. Well the cheetah never got even close to full speed, but it was so cool to see how they just seem to glide across the grass. We were the first ones in the stands and got front row center seats, but as the show was starting, a large stream of people poured in, one was a family with 5 kids probably 8 or 9 to 13 in age and their dad told them to sit at our feet right in front of us, and we annoyed, but gave them room, well the boy right in front of Abby kept standing in her way and she couldn't see. I know it probably seems silly, but I was so frustrated because we sat there for 30 minutes to get the seats we got and they just come in late and block my daughter's view. Steve politely as he can told him to sit back down so she could see, but he was more upset than I was!! I was just frustrated about it. So Saturday we had baseball for both kids, and both at 9am. So I watched Noah's game while Steve coached Abby's practice. That's the last time we have a schedule conflict for the summer, thank goodness. We came home and I worked on flower bed some more and then we went to my cousin's graduation open house. Steve and Noah went fishing in their pond. Noah got to use his his rocket fishing rod that he got for Easter and it was a big hit. All the kids wanted a turn and the adults thought it was awesome. Noah ended up catching three blue gills. Everyone caught something, but it was gross because several of the fish were caught on bodyparts that were gross. We caught one on his gill and we couldn't get the hook out, so we cut the line and kept the hook in. My uncle caught one right through the eye, yuck! When he put that one back in, it stayed near the surface, flopped around awhile and eventually passed. I was lucky enough to keep the kids distracted so they didn't notice, it wasn't pretty! But we had a nice evening there. Sunday we went to church and came home for a few hours. Then we went to my newphew Aaron's 9th Birhtday party. The kids had a great time and it was a nice party as it always is at my sister-in-law's!! It was a nice fun weekend.

Amanda

Thank you so much for the card, I got it today in the mail. I also love the e-card you sent the other day. Thank you for the greetings, they make my day!!!!

Two of me!

Hello all, just a quick post before la la land. The kids and I went to Boomerang Bay twice today, once in the morning and once in the evening. It was a lot more crowded than last week, but they have so many great kid attractions that we never really had any problems or waits. That water felt so good today, it was really hot out!! I only got a couple pics, I'll try again next time. It's so hard when we walk all over the place to worry about dragging the camera around too. Steve will be home tomorrow afternoon, he got his flight moved up a few hours because the zoo is having a special members night and spiderman and other heroes will be there as well as lots of other great zoo things including free train and carousel rides!! They are predicting rain though, so I hope it won't ruin the evening. Yesterday I bought a new file cabinet for our house. I haven't had a real file cabinet since I had a pink metal one when I was growing up. I've been using the cheap folders you get when it's back to school time for like .10 a piece to organize our stuff, but it's just not working. So I got 50 files to start with and already made labels for all 50 with my labelmaker and got started organizing the piles of papers we have all over the house. Other than toys, paper is the biggest problem we have in the clutter of our home. I can't stand it!! I hope this helps, otherwise I'm out of ideas. At night I dream of a completely organized home, someday!!! If only there were two of me!! Well I'm exhausted now, all the swimming, karate, organizing paper and waiting at Sonic for free rootbeer floats has drained me!! Goodnight!!

A zooper day

Here's some photos from our trip to the zoo today. My brother, Riley and my mom all met us there today and we had a great time. It was a little crowded, but it wasn't too hot and we were able to see everything we wanted to. We were there for quite awhile. My mom and my brother hadn't been there in a real long time, so they wanted to see pretty much everything!! We saw the new baby rhino and several peachicks!! They were very cute!! Now I have to get everyone ready to go again, Steve is leaving again tonight. He'll be back Friday night this time. Have a great one!!

Posty, post

Hello, just thought I'd write a post before the day gets going. We're meeting my mama at the zoo today. She loves the zoo. It supposed to only hit 80 today, so hopefully we won't be too hot. Our kids really love the zoo, we could take them every week and they'd be just as excited to see an animal as they were last week. They love it!! I think tomorrow is supposed to be up near 90 and we might try to go to Boomerang Bay in the morning when they first open at 11 for a few hours. I didn't take them there at all last year, but they seem to really enjoy it, so I like taking them there now.

I forgot to mention in my last post that we also got the kiddies signed up for the summer book program at the Lebanon Library. I love that library, it's so old and neat. I really love all of downtown Lebanon. It's a really neat town. I really enjoy old towns with so much character. My dream is to open a children's book store in Downtown Lebanon, so I can live out my fantasty of being like Kathleen Kelly in my favorite movie, You've Got Mail. Hopefully though, I won't be closed down by a big box store!!! There was a store for sale one time, and I begged my husband to let me buy it, but it was over 600,000 dollars so there was no way!!!

Noah's team won again last night, but it was a close one. It was tied in the last inning, but we were home team so we batted last and were able to score the game winning run!! Yay, now we're 8 and 2!!! Noah got to be the catcher for two innings last night and he had to wear the whole catcher's outfit, pads and helmet. He had never done that before so that was interesting, but I think he really liked it. Well I'm off to do a load of laundry so I can stay caught up, and then I need to get everyone ready for the zoo. Have a magical day!!

Sorry

Ok, Ok, I'm sorry I've been a very bad blogger buddy lately. I have been having such a good time having both kids home for the summer. Let's see, where to start. Well the five butterfly cocoons that Noah brought home all hatched. We got them Friday and by Sunday they had all hatched. It was very exciting when it happened. Apparently they can leak a red fluid after they hatch that resembles blood. Needless to say, initially we were very worried parents until we read the little instructional booklet. But all five survived and we let them go on Tuesday. It was very cool to see them take their first flights. I think we'll do it again next spring.

Last week while most other school kids were still in school we went to Kings Island/Boomerang Bay 3 times. All three times we enjoyed very light crowds and short lines. It was great. We did almost all of kiddie land plus the Scrambler and a stop for blue ice cream all in two hours. The kids are also enjoying boomerang bay, well Noah more so than Abby. She likes the pools and the lazy river, but she's not big on water splashing her in the face, so we're working on that. Noah loves it all and can't wait until Daddy's there to take him on the big slides!! I'm glad we got to go those three times before the big crowds and high heat become problems.

We also met with Abby's preschool classmates at a park in Mason. We've decided to meet with them once a week during the summer and hopefully maintain their friendships. That was a lot of fun, but it was very hot that day. Luckily there was shaded Mommy areas and we brought a cooler full of drinks, so we survived!! There also wasn't very many people there that day either.

Noah's baseball team is still playing, they have three regular games left and then a tournament. Currently they have won 7 and lost 2, so they're doing really well. It feels so nice to finally be on the team that's to beat, usually it's the other way around for us!! We've had lots of practice being good losers, now we can be good winners a bit!!! Abby's t-ball just had there first practice on Saturday. Daddy is one of her coaches and she was thrilled about that. They don't start games until July 14th. They were delayed starting this year because they had such high demand that they had to create a third diamond to play on. I'm not sure if she'll really be that interested in it, but last year when Noah was playing, she really wanted to play too and I promised her we'd sign her up for it this year now that she's old enough. We'll see how it goes as the season progresses!!

Abby also just finished her dance class for the year. She had a recital at Mason High School on Sunday. She did awesome!! I was so proud of her. All of her grandparents came and she was so excited to see the balloon and flowers we gave her at the end. She also got a gold medal and certificate from her school. She did decide to sign up for dance class again next year, so we'll be starting that back up in September. I was so nervous for her, I don't really know why, but right before she came on, I could throw up for the nervousness!! But she did great. She found her spot on stage each time and did all of the dance. I couldn't ask for more.

We've also spent some time just hanging out with our family lately. Steve's mom invited me and the kids to lunch last Friday and we enjoyed that. Saturday we went to my parents and then Steve and Noah went to the father/son dinner at my grandparents church. They ended up having Steve, Noah, my dad, my grandpa, my brother, my nephew, two uncles and a cousin with them, so that was great. Meanwhile me, Abby and my mom spent the evening at her house. We ordered a yummy barbecue dinner from a local place and watched t.v. We also bought Abby a new booster/car seat so we cleaned up her old one to give to Riley. He's outgrown his baby seat now. It looked pretty darn good after I got it all clean.

Other than I've finally gotten all my laundry caught up, finished shopping for Father's Day, bought my brother his Birthday gift for Saturday, bought my nephew Aaron's Birthday gift for Sunday and taken Steve to and picked up from the airport. He was only gone during the day yesterday. We dropped him off at 8 am and picked him up at 10 pm!!! Oh and I'm still working on my side of the house flower bed. I have fine new things planted, and have already dug big holes for 5 arborvitae bushes. I'll probably get those done today. So far, it's been a great summer and hopefully it will continue to be so. We have two Birthdays to celebrate this weekend, and then it's Father's Day, and then we're going to a homeschool convention in Columbus and then it's 4th of July weekend....... so much going on!! This summer will probably fly by, but that only means it's getting closer and closer to Disney!!! Well have a great one and I'll try to be more active, though no promises!!!

the pics