picnic at the park with dad

Today we had lunch at the park with dad. Possibly our last picnic of the season. I think fall is officially here!

antm anyone???

I love the show America's Next Top Model. (Wednesday nights at 8, channel 11) I have watched every season since it started.(it's now on season 9) I love to see the transformation of "regular" girls to top models. Maybe it is mostly my ego that likes the show. :) These are girls that often I look at and think "no way can they be a model", but then their picture turn out amazing. I think it puts things into perspective for all of us "normal girls". And I appreciate that.
It is not a show for boys. Justin never watches it with me. They have done photo shoots in the past that are very provocative and revealing. But for the most part it is just a show about modeling.
So...here are my picks for this season. I usually root for the underdogs, so most likely my girls won't win. But I have my reasons for picking them!


Heather: She has a mild form of autism, and is VERY socially awkward to watch in their everyday life on the show. But she wants to win because she wants to show girls that are awkward and in the shadows that they can do anything. I think that is great.


Sarah: They debated back and forth about her because she is too "big" to be a high fashion model and too small to be a plus size model. But in the end they put her through to the top 13. I like that she isn't super skinny (she still looks really skinny to me), but she has more of a average body. I would love to see someone not the typical model type win the show.


Victoria: She is a college student and I think said she started it as a joke. Her first photo shoot ever occurred on the first show. I appreciate her because she isn't a "dumb girl" (you all know how I feel about dumb girls).


Those are my picks. Anyone else watch the show? Let me know your picks.

Chocolate?

I read online the other day that Hershey's is moving some of it's production to Mexico, and they are planning some in China in the future.(link here) I am not bothered by them taking jobs from American workers...although maybe I should be. But the thing that gets me is that now we will have no idea where some of the food we eat is coming from. I know that Mexico isn't the most sanitary place, and Hershey assures us that the factory conditions will not be a reflection of the outside conditions, but how will we know? After all of the toy recalls lately who can you trust? I assumed that when I bought something at the store it was safe. That toys did not have lead in them that are harmful to my child. That my candy or other food was safe for eating. But it seems like "in the name of saving money" we are also cutting quality. Just another reason to buy local. :)

Also, I was looking at our bottle of Mott's apple juice and on the side of it is imprinted: China, Argentina, and USA. I assume this means that the apples are from these places...or the juices were made in these places and I could have any combination in my bottle??? So it isn't just Hershey that is doing this, I have never looked into it I guess I assumed our food was made here in the states or Canada. But now I am curious to research where things really come from. I know fruit and things we get from overseas when it isn't in season here. I understand that, and they can't "cut costs" on the growing of fruit to make it lower quality. But what else?

I want to add that I do understand that accidents happen. We often have products from the States pulled from shelves for e-coli, etc. Sometimes things just happen. Unless you grow all of your own food I think you will always be at somewhat of a risk for getting contaminated food. It just seems our government should be doing more to protect us. And I don't think sending food production to Mexico is moving in the right direction.

we did the puyallup

We went to the fair yesterday.
I was very disappointed in their rule that you had to be over 2 years old to ride any ride. Even the train and carousel. We were looking forward to taking Judah on those. Instead Judah and I rode this ride :)



Judah said "woof, woof" to all the animals we saw. We finally got him to say "moo" at one cow, only to move onto the next cow to be repeated with a "woof, woof". He also enjoyed watching the kids on the rock climbing wall, and the big "tower-like" ride that goes up and then drops. We searched for a balloon for him...but no luck. Mom and dad had some good food. Mom's favorite is always the cow chip cookies, cotton candy, and scones. Yummy fair food.

Then and Now Part 2

After I put the pictures of Judah up I was looking through our other pictures and saw these. I can't believe how much we have changed! The first 2 are before we were married, so 3-4 years ago. The last one is from Judah's party a couple of weeks ago.

Then and Now

Sometimes I forget how much he's grown!

vaccinations

Judah had his one year check-up a few weeks ago, of course vaccinations were included in this visit. He hasn't had any of the side effects that are mentioned in the pamphlet: high fever, seizures, and even death. I am now feeling quite a bit of apprehension about vaccinations for him in the future. I KNOW why we vaccinate and I know it is better to be safe than sorry. But do these diseases really happen? And are they so rare ONLY because we are vaccinated against them? Or does it have to do with our modern living conditions and sanitation? I am amazed at the side effects that are listed for vaccinations. Why would we willingly inject our children with foreign substances? At what point does the risk of the shot outweigh the risk of the disease?

I have been trying to do research on each vaccination and the individual diseases, but am having a hard time finding neutral information. Everything is either

1. By a doctor or medical site and they strongly support vaccinations and turn their heads at any side effects of the vaccines.

Or

2. Information written by people that have had horrible experiences with vaccines. And imply that you are a horrible parent if you choose to vaccinate.

But then I wonder what the point is. I don't feel that I have much choice in the matter , my kids have to have vaccinations to get into school. Granted, you can be exempt from them if you have a doctors note (i think that would be if your kids are allergic to the vaccination) or religious reasons. Our reasons aren't religious. It isn't "against our faith" to vaccinate our kids. I just am not sure it is what is best for my kids. And we would choose to do some of the vaccinations, but probably not all of them.

For now the only one Judah hasn't gotten is the chicken pox vaccine. Seems silly to me. I had the chicken pox, Justin had the chicken pox. We lived. Sure it was uncomfortable, but lots of things in life are uncomfortable. It is better to get the chicken pox because then you have a life-long immunity to it. They are unsure of how long the vaccination will last and if there will need to be a booster to it. In our ideal situation we would wait until Judah was 13-14, and if he hadn't gotten the chicken pox by then we would have him vaccinated. (it is worse to have it as an adult, and at that point can even be life-threatening) But they require him to have the vaccination to enter school. So we will probably hold off until he is ready to start school and then do it. Hopefully someone will get the chicken pox and we can force Judah to play with them. :) But...I don't know if the school would accept that he's already had them, or would they still require proof of the vaccination?

My other "riff" at this point with vaccinations is the MMR. (I have heard A LOT of negative things about this one. Among those things is the thought that it leads to autism. I am not sure I buy into that idea.) So Judah had this shot at his one year check-up, and he has to have a booster for it in the future. Now this is what gets me. We give all kids the booster, but really it is only necessary for 5% (or something like that) of the population because the first one doesn't provide enough immunity for that 5%. I don't understand why we don't have some kind of test that will provide us with the info to know if our kids are in that 5%. It would save the other 95% of the kids from people injected with something they don't need, and has some of the highest side effects.

I am really frustrated by all of this. I am not into the whole "conspiracy theory", but I really hate that I feel I don't have much of a choice as a parent in this circumstance. I know some will say "you always have a choice, you can always turn down a vaccination". And yes that is true, but what about getting my kids into school?

So...does anyone have any good resources for neutral info on these things? Or what are the choices you have made in this area?

new diapers!

We are still cloth diapering. I am loving it. I am using my g-diaper covers with my prefold inserts. It has been working out very well for us. Justin still isn't thrilled, but I change more diapers than him, so I think I get to make diapering decisions. :) I just placed a order to try out bumgenius diapers. I am thinking these will work great for us once Cohen is born as they are a one size/adjustable diaper. I will be able to use the same diapers on both boys. Anything to make my life easier! I have heard really good things about them, and am very excited to try them. I also bought a package of flushable liners. You lay them in the diaper and then for poo's you just take the liner out and the poo comes with it. Supposedly it eliminates the "dunking" step.

Thats all I've got to say for now! :)

The Big 27

My birthday was on Monday and I am now 27 years old. I am very happy with where I am at this point in my life. Being married, owning a house, having (almost) 2 kids, being a stay at home mom. Those are all the things I would have wished for. I am content. :)
This was the first year in a long time that I had things that I really wanted for my birthday. Lately it had just been things I kinda liked, but this year I really had my hopes up for things. I am very excited about the things I got.

I got a sewing machine. I am VERY excited about this!


My new necklace. For more info on the necklace click here. (thanks again to Anita for a great suggestion!)


I had been unsure on how I felt about crocs. Then I saw these and I love them. Justin is jealous that I have crocs and he doesn't. :)


I also got a bunch of other stuff that I am equally excited about, but don't have pictures to show you. I got stuff to make my own laundry detergent. Very excited about that. I found a recipe for it awhile ago and added the ingredients to my birthday list. I got some clothes, earrings, gift cards, a hair dryer (mine started sparking a few months ago, I have been without one since then!), hair stuff, candle holder, wii stuff (from Justin), and I'm sure other stuff that I'm forgetting. :)

This post makes it sound like I'm all about the presents! That is not the case at all. After being on a tight budget it is such a treat to get so much stuff that is completely for me, especially all at one time. :)

Today I made some bread and some more dill pickles. I've been canning applesauce the last few days and have a big box of pears that need to be canned. I am a little sad that the season of canning is coming to a close. I have really enjoyed doing it this year. It will be weird not to have fruit sitting around waiting for me to can it!