Moving to a NEW BLOG!

I have come a long ways in the last few years and I felt it was time I changed the name of my blog as well. My focus is now on Traditional Real Foods and minimalistic living. I would love for you to join me at:

Bunk Beds

We took out the boys beds (1 single and 1 bunk with a double mattress on the bottom) and are in the midst of building some out of pallets. Aren't they cool?! I am really please. We still need to make some rails and shelves, etc, but it's coming along nicely. :-)

Sidewalk Chalk

Jesse and Stephen did some artwork on the sidewalk today:

Our Etsy Shop

(Visit our Etsy Store here)

I've been on a creative kick lately... maybe since I'm staying away from refined sweeteners I'm so oragnized that I have time to be creative. LOL Or, it could be that my husband has been out of work so I have more time to play around while he chases after Titus (who gets into everything!) I don't know. But I've been having fun! (BTW, he has found a job and I may fill my time with this type of stuff instead of those darn facebook games... and continue my creative kick!)

So I wanted to make a photo collage for this post, but our MAC is so old it doesn't run Picasa. Sad, I know. So I searched online for a collage maker and found one, but it made it too big and chopped half of it off when I published it on Blogger. I can't win. So I just uploaded some photos and here's my "sampling:"






So, please stop in and see the cute little aprons and baby things I have for sale!

Illusarts Quality Handcrafts

Easter 2010

Here we are cracking our eggs: (Find out how to color them here and why we crack them here)

Hanna's Visit

Our friend Hanna stopped by the other day and Titus was playing with some hot pads. So she joined him.

Titus' First Haircut

I was quite sad to cut my baby's hair. But according to some people, he was looking like he had a mop on top of his head. So, I broke down and cut it.



Here is the sad little pile of hair...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Hunting

The creek was frozen solid!

Happy First Birthday Titus

It's hard to believe a year ago I was still pregnant, having contractions and thinking I was going to have a model birth... :-) He's beautiful, I am so glad he's in our family, God knew we needed him and he was worth that horrible 45 minutes of excruciating pain! (Brow Presentation- 45 minutes of pushing that didn't feel good in any way, shape or form.)
He is such a sweet baby, and definitely all boy! He loves to crawl into the bathroom and so far has not played in the toilet water, only because I run after him and grab him first. I have had to dig so much nasty stuff out of his mouth now all I have to do: "Say Awww!" and he opens his mouth and spits out his tongue... and whatever happens to be hidden away there, rocks, mud, wood, chunks of carpet...
He claps when he nurses, guess it makes him happy. :-)
And yes, he said "daddy" and still doesn't say "mama."

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

For more visit Wordless Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday

For more visit wordlesswednesday.com

More on Vaccines

Last week I posted on vaccines. I've found some more information that I thought I would share:

From the CDC website:

Does MMR vaccine contain fetal or embryonic tissue? If so, what kind?
The rubella vaccine virus is cultured in human cell-line cultures, and some of these cell lines originated from aborted fetal tissue, obtained from legal abortions in the 1960's. No new fetal tissue is needed to produce cell lines to make these vaccines, now or in the future. Fetal tissue is not used to produce vaccines; cell lines generated from a single fetal tissue source are used; vaccine manufacturers obtain human cell lines from FDA-certified cell banks. After processing, very little, if any, of that tissue remains in the vaccine. Human Cell Cultures webpage and Summary of Vaccine Contents (2/27/03)

I would encourage you to read through the Human Cell Cultures webpage.

Jesse and Titus

Jesse was carrying Titus around and he was really enjoying it- but every time he saw me looking at him he had to show off and stand up in the container.

Vaccines

I don't take the kids to the Dr. much. I don't really believe that there is a valid reason to have well child checks. Most mothers watch their children very closely and if they notice something isn't right, they take them to the dr. Well Child Checks are there for the children who's mothers don't pay enough attention. If you have a group of 1000 doctors, I bet only 1 would be able to say "yes, I found something the mother didn't mention". Mothers watch. They just do.
I did delayed vaccinations with the boys. Japan raised the minimum vaccination age to 2 years and found that SIDS decreased GREATLY. Also, the same amount of vaccine is put in a baby as it is put in a 5 year old. Why?
I had given Luke his 2 month shots and he reacted SO badly. It was a completely horrible day for him. I didn't give him any more until he was 2- in fact, I waited with Jesse and Stephen until they were 2. Stephen got a fever with one. That was it. They didn't react so horribly.
Naomi turned 2. I didn't want to take her in. My trust in the medical and pharmaceutical community has decreased greatly since the boys were little. I finally decided to make an appointment. I have a doctor that I know and like listed on all the kids papers for school, etc but figured I better get them all in, so we have "established care" with her, so I can have her as their dr. in case something ever does happen.
I had to research vaccines again.
I found this article to be one of the best I've come across.
Also, we were hearing things about what the H1N1 vaccine (which appears to be fine) was made with and so a friend looked around and found this list of ingredients for all vaccines. I remember hearing that vaccines were being made with aborted fetal cells, but then I remember hearing that they quit because people threw such a fit. How naive I am.
It makes me sick to my stomach to know that I have allowed some of these to be given to my children and also to myself. How stupid of me!

Naomi...

Naomi is quite bubbly and sweet. In the morning I normally hear her sing-song voice saying "Nomee's awake!" "Nomee needs a juice!"
Brian left for work this morning and I was standing at the door with him when Naomi who just finished eating said:
"Nomee's all done Mom!"
"ok"
"Nomee's all done Mom!"
"Ok, just a minute"
"Nomee's all done Mom!"

Brian was laughing. So I related what happened a few days ago: She was sitting on the pot and I was doing something. I hear:
"Nomee's all done Mom!"
"Ok, just a minute."
"Ok. Nomee's all done Mom!"
"Just let me finish this one thing."
"Ok. Nomee's all done Mom!"
"Just 30 seconds Naomi, Mama's almost done with this."
"Ok! Nomee's all done Mom!!"

Brian laughed and then reminded me of a commercial we saw the other night in which I laughed so hard. I don't like Family Guy, I don't watch it- but this had me rolling on the floor:

Guess Who Guessed Correctly?!

Saturday we went to the mall and there was a "guess the number of candy" contest.
Brian guessed 250.

He won!

The amount was 242.

Now how am I going to get rid of all that candy???