Well, the news is now out. In a few months, we will be the proud parents of six children. His name will be Thaddeus Augustus Gedeon. Stay tuned in about 5 months to find out his height and weight.

Several years ago, in a desperate mission to comfort the burn of my infant’s bottom, I did an internet search and found the best solution for diaper rash that I have found yet. First let me clarify that the type of rash she had was a yeast rash from teething. The doctor usually prescribes Nystatin for it, but it doesn’t seem to work for my little ones.

Candice is now cutting molars and seems to be miserable at both ends. Because my children have fair and sensitive skin, it doesn’t take much to cause a rash. I put this mix on her red and raw bottom last night, and the redness was improved by at least 50% this morning!

Here are the instructions for the (not so) “secret” formula:

1. Clean the diaper area, preferably with a warm wash cloth (wipes can burn).
2. Place a diaper under the child.
3. Spread Desitin on the rash until you have a medium thick layer.
4. Sprinkle baby powder on top of the Desitin and mix it with the Desitin with your finger
5. Spread a thin layer of Vaseline on top of the powder and mix it in.
6. Wipe the remaining goop off your finger onto the clean diaper.
7. Close the diaper and dress as usual.

Now, after you get this on your child, you will think your child should be walking funny with all that goop on his bottom, but believe me, he’ll be much more comfortable by morning. You can use this mix any time of the day, but I see the best results over night.

I would show pictures to prove my point, but I don’t guess that would be appropriate, huh? Not to mention the fact that I didn’t take any! Oh well, you’ll just have to take my word for it, or better yet, try it yourself…I mean on your child….that is, if you happen to have a child in the diaper age range.

I used to be afraid to leave my children with a babysitter, even if I knew them very well. Besides the fact that I tend to worry too much anyway, my children have allergies, and I’m always concerned something will happen, and the sitter won’t know what to do.

Because of this, I always type out a letter, with detailed instructions on how to take care of the children – probably more detailed than necessary. But what really eased my fears even more than my very detailed letter was the realization that my children always have the same caretaker. God is the one watching over them and can do a much better job of protecting them than I can!

For the last 2 or 3 weeks, I have been seeing a lot of Psalm 127. You know what I mean. God puts the same scripture before you over and over until you finally say, “Wait a minute. Are You trying to tell me something here?”

Psalm 127 says:

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Verse 1 is the main one that has really taught me a lesson. To me, this verse is saying that no job is worth doing if God is not in it. That means I should constantly make sure that the way I am  parenting my children is pleasing to God. If it is not, it is all in vain! And who wants anything they have done to be in vain, especially the raising of their children?!

Parenting may not be an issue for you, but whatever the issue, do yourself a favor and give it to God. Give him that something that you are afraid won’t work out quite right. Or you might even have to give him that something that you are certain you have completely under control all by yourself. Give it to God and let him make good use of all the work you put into it!

Today is the day to send in your tea bag. In short, the purpose is to let it be known that you are against a lot of government intervention.

Although the tea bag was supposed to be sent today, the goal was to get the bag to the government office by April 15. Chances are it will arrive on time if you send it on the 2nd. So go ahead. Send your tea bag in. Don’t say “I’ll do it later.” Go do it now.

David Ogden is a man who believes that America is already bound by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child due to International Law because almost every other nation has signed the treaty. That means Ogden already believes that the government has more control over children than their parents.

If that doesn’t concern you, Ogden also believes that there should be no internet filters at the library to prevent children from viewing pornography. He has a different view of such things than many of us.

Wondering why you should care?

David Ogden is scheduled to be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow (Thursday, February 26) as deputy attorney general. That is the 2nd highest highest seat on the Justice department.

Still wondering why you should care? His confirmation could mean that we are no longer allowed to home school our children, no longer allowed to take them to church, no longer allowed to keep them from viewing inappropriate things online, no longer allowed to send them to a sitter and be confident that they will still be there when  you return!!

Please call and let your local senator know that you are against his confirmation. You have at least 2 very good reasons. You can add the amount of children or grandchildren you have to that number too. Their lives could be in danger in a much more serious way than physically!

Here are the numbers for some states. If yours is not listed below, keep reading.

Senate Judiciary Committee Members*

Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman, D-Vermont
(202) 224-4242

Edward E. Kaufman
D-Delaware
(202) 224-5042

Notice that all these numbers have the same area code? That is because these numbers all call a the Senate Office Building in Washington DC. If your state is not above, choose a random number from above and call it. Tell them what state you are from, and they will transfer you to the correct person.

Please call. Don’t think your voice doesn’t count. It does!!! Not only does your one voice count, but you can reach even more voices by sharing this information with others who will call and oppose David Ogden as deputy attorney general of the United States.

*These phone numbers came from HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association).

Parentalrights.org has made it their goal to protect parental rights in America by preventing the signing of the UN Convention on the Rights of the child. I have posted several times on this topic, but if you need a mind refresher, take a few minutes and read to see how urgent this is. It could change the rights of parents and the relationship between parent and child for the worse. Here are the links to my blog discussing the treaty, how it is bad, and what you can do to help.

Parent Versus Big Brother
Time to Move
Call For Help

One of the worst parts is that it will forbid parents to teach their children about God.

Now parentalrights.org is looking to get signatures to put in motion a constitutional amendment to prevent America from signing this treaty. If nothing else, it gets people to send postcards to and call their congressmen to let them know they are absolutely against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Are you willing to be a 10 & 2 Representative? One of these representative gets 10 people to sign a post card saying they are for the constitutional amendment. They also try to find 2 of those people who are willing to be a representative too. It is up to you to mail in all the postcards when parentalrights.org says the word. That means you have to pay postage for 10 postcards, but that seems like a small price to pay for the continued freedom of our children, grand children and great grand children. Please help me spread the word.

If you are willing to sign a postcard or become a representative, please let me know. If you have questions about how to become a 10-and-2 representative or anything associated with it, I would be more than happy to help out. If you don’t have questions, I would still be glad to know that you have joined this cause.

For more information, go to parentalrights.org.

As I mentioned yesterday, there has been talk of trying to get the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child passed in as few as 2 months. I have been racking my brain, trying to think of things I can do to help get the word out about the issue. I am a 10-and-2 representative, but I want to do more. I have to do more.

If you are willing to help, please let me know. If  you know of someone who might be interested in helping, please put them in contact with me. Suggestions of ways to get the word out as quickly as possible are very welcome. Thanks for caring about your country and your freedom as a citizen.

Okay, friends. This is getting serious! The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child could be passed as early as April – two months from now! It is time to move toward defending our country from those seeking to rob it of its freedom.

Aside from the fact that congress is looking to pass the UN CRC in the next 2 months, here is a list of other reasons this is an urgent situation and needs acted on ASAP. If you would like more information, you can  learn a bit about the purpose of the parental rights organization and also find a list of 20 facts about this issue.

Parentalrights.org is an organization that values the parent/child relationship. It has just begun a new push to keep our freedoms and rights as Americans. Please sign the petition, and if you are willing to go a step further, become a 10-and-2 volunteer. The lives of your children and grandchildren may depend on it.

I am a 10-and2-volunteer, and I hope you care enough for your country and the generations to come to step out of your comfort zone and speak out for the livlihood of your favorite country, the United States America!

Parentalrights.org has begun its journey toward a constitutional amendment to keep the government from parenting our children. Want to help them out? The opportunity is here waiting for you to take action. Please do this for the sake of our children and grandchildren!

Stay tuned for more updates.

A friend shared a song with me on Sunday that was very good, but I will probably never be able to sing it. Yet I seem to sing it daily…at least parts of it. I will sing other parts of it when my children are a bit older.

I discovered that The Mom Song was actually written by Anita Renfroe, whom I will be posting more about later. For now, let’s watch it sung by someone else. I am posting this particular version because it has the words to help you attempt to keep up with the speed of the song.

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

I posted previously about parentalrights.org and their goal to prevent the government from interfering with parental rights. I would like to point out that the phrase “parental rights” is not about putting the rights of the parent above the rights of the child. It is actually about giving parents the rights over the government to train their children in a way beneficial to the child.

I discovered today that parentalrights.org gives you the opportunity to get the word out about  their site and their important truths. They have a banner to post on your blog or website. To me it is a worthy cause that people need to know about. You will see my banner on the top right part of my blog. You can also see an example below.

If you are interested in adding this banner to the sidebar of your blog or site, go to this page and scroll down a bit. You will see four different options for your banner. If you have a WordPress blog, you can copy and paste the html code into a text widget. If you want your banner centered, use this code around the code for parentalrights.com.

<div align="center">
.
.
</div>

If you are not quite sure how to do this contact my  husband Luke for help.

Today I received an email from the parentalrights.org blog about an issue that I had just barely been introduced to in the past. I was introduced to a threat to all parents across America that got my full attention and caused me to be afraid in a way that I have never feared in my life. This fear is caused by the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child. Please read the article. Please. Here is an excerpt.

Since its adoption by the United Nations in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has become the most widely accepted international agreement in history, ratified by every nation of the world except for the United States and Somalia. All signatories pledge to protect children’s rights, foster their development, and uphold their best interests by re-writing their national laws to conform to the standards set forth in the treaty.

While all this may sound harmless and even commendable, the reality is that the Convention allows and even demands that national governments interfere in the decisions of individual families and parents. By invoking the “best interests of the child ,” policymakers and government agents have the authority to substitute their own decisions for those of the child or parent. In short, parents lose their rights to be parents, and become merely caregivers. The result, as parents across the globe are now discovering, is that the family is being steadily undermined, often with tragic and devastating results for the very children who are supposed to be protected.

Without research and/or understanding of what “The Rights of the Child” refers to, the idea sounds like a great one. Everyone wants their children to have rights. Unfortunately the idea that the United Nations is pushing allows parents to take care of the physical needs of their children but takes away any other influence that the parents may have on their children. The children are expected to learn what the UN approves of and nothing else (including morals)!

Parentalrights.org is taking it upon themselves to keep track of countries who have already accepted this proposal of the United Nations and post about it every 2 weeks. Please go to their site regularly or put their posts in your RSS feed. Also, go to the site of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights site and read the declaration for the Convention for the Rights of the Child. The second statement in Article 2 was most disturbing to me. It states that

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians, or family members.

Read that again and think about it. Think hard about it. It says that parents have no influence on the thoughts, activities, opinions or beliefs of their children. Is that what you want for your children? It most definitely is not what I want for mine. According to “Imagine If…” by parental rights.org, the Unites States is only one of two countries that have not accepted this. If you disagree with the things written in “the Rights of the children” please do yourself and everyone around you a favor and do everything you can to discourage America’s agreement to it. You might want to start by signing a petition showing that you are against the interference of government on your right to parent your children. Then you might want to consider getting down on your knees and having a long talk with the Person most able to prevent this intrusion on our parental rights.

Update (1/3/09): I now know that this convention was signed by president Clinton but was stopped by congress. Now president Obama is planning to get it passed.  This is very urgent! Go here to do all you can to help.

Note: Although it was not my original intent when writing this post and it is a bit late, this post has a lot to do with the government. If Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings is willing, please consider this my submission for this month’s “What I Learned From” project.

We have developed a method to our madness! (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Seriously, we have found a way to help motivate our kids to help around the house. We give them money!

No, not real money; we made fake money that we call “wishers!” Whenever the kids do chores around the house, they get wishers. If they do a spectacular job or remember their chores without being reminded, they get even more wishers. If they fight or have a negative attitude while doing their chores, they lose wishers.

Now I am sure you are wondering why it is so exciting to have fake money. Well, they use the fake money to buy stuff! When there is one lone juice box in the refrigerator, they can buy the privilege of being the only kid to get a juice box while everyone else drinks out of a boring old cup! When someone wants to sit in a favorite chair, he/she can buy the privilege of sitting in the chair.

So, you can see that wishers also come in handy for settling disagreements! For example, if Peter and Phillip both want to play on the computer, the chance to go first can be auctioned. If Peter wins, he feels good because he gets to play on the computer first and Phillip feels good because he now has more wishers than Peter and can win the “auction” next time (as long as Anna doesn’t have more than Phillip)!

Other examples of times we give wishers are:

• When potty training kids use the potty.
• Phillip paid Peter to make his bed once.
• When school is finished on time.
• When they go above and beyond what they have to.

Note: We are being very careful not to let our kids think they can “buy” anything they want. We are making it clear to them that wishers are pretend and are not to be used on their friends to persuade them to make a toy trade…unless it is unfairly tipped to their advantage. Teasing……just teasing!

Having a large family makes for some interesting conversations sometimes. Here is how the conversation at breakfast this morning went:

Peter: Can I have yogurt?

me: Yes

Bethany: Can I have yogurt in a bowl?

Phillip: Can I have applesauce?

me: No

Bethany: I want yogurt

me: It is already in a cup. You don’t need a bowl.

Phillip: Why can’t I have applesauce?

Bethany: Can I have yogurt?

me: I never said you couldn’t have applesauce.

Phillip: You said ‘no’

Bethany: I want yogurt

me: I didn’t hear you ask

Peter: I’m just getting yogurt for Bethany

me: I was talking to Phillip

Peter: Phillip can have yogurt?!

me: No, he was asking about something else

And on and on it went. And that was with just three of my kids. Anna had not entered the room yet, and Candice was behaving fairly well.

I think a little bit of confusion will be eliminated once I learn to use names before responding to my children. It is conversations like the one above that will eventually push me to remember their names, so I can use them.

Notes: Peter did eventually get thanked for helping out with Bethany, Bethany did eventually get yogurt, and Peter was surprised that Phillip might be getting yogurt because Phillip has a milk allergy.

Today Luke had a discussion with our boys about being tough. Because Peter was crying over nothing, Luke told them that only some things are worth crying about. Examples would be when you lose a loved one or when you realize you hurt someone else’s feelings. Of course there are other instances, too, but the point was that not being able to play with your favorite toy is not a good reason to cry.

A couple of hours after this conversation, I overheard Peter having this conversation with himself while sitting on his bed:

“I don’t cry because I can’t have candy. I’m trying not to cry but the water keeps coming out.” Then he scolds himself saying, “Stop, me! I don’t like this” and wipes tears from his eyes.

It was so cute! I just wanted to take him in my arms and love on him! Time is going WAY too fast for me!! It won’t be too long before he is taller than me (of course that isn’t really saying much)!!

As a breastfeeding mom of a 7 week old baby, I have been seeking ways to get back to my pre-pregnancy size. While I know exercise is important and has its place, it also makes sense to watch what you are eating.

I have been told with all my children that I should have an extra 500 calories per day in order to give my body enough energy to make breast milk. While I know that is a great thing to hear and very tempting to do no questions asked, it did not make a lot of sense to me.

This is the most sensible answer I have every heard or read on this topic. It makes so much sense it is almost hard to believe.

Think about it. Adding 500 calories to a diet of a woman who consumes 2000 calories per day (the amount most food package labels assume you will consume) increases the intake by 25%. Adding 500 calories to the diet of a woman who normally consumes 1200 calories per day increases her calorie intake by 41.6%! So tell me. Wouldn’t it make more sense and be more realistic to say that breastfeeding mothers should increase their caloric intake by 25%?

Okay, I know many of my readers aren’t interested in learning about how to be successful at breastfeeding a newborn. I am always forgetting what I did in the early days, and what I did this time (under the advice of nurses and lactation consultants) was very successful. The best way I know to keep track of it is to put it here in my blog for reference. So bear with me as I use my blog as my memory!

The first day or two in the hospital I nursed on demand. She did do a lot of cluster feeding, probably because she had to nurse often to get enough colostrum to satisfy her. After the first 2 days, I fed her every three hours night and day, even if I had to wake her up.

It is also probably useful to mention that you cannot use wet and dirty diapers to determine whether the baby is getting enough to eat during the first few days. They are only expected to have 1 wet diaper for each day in age for the first 3 days.

Once she reached her birth weight, I was able to feed her on demand as long as she wasn’t going more than 4 hours in the day or 6 hours at night without eating. She reached her birth weight very quickly using these guidelines! And she is now a little over the 50th percentile for weight, length and head measurement!

Candice has been having occasional wake-up spells in the evening. During these spells, she nurses about every hour and is awake and fussing in between. This tends to last for 4 hours or so. I think it might have to do with growth spurts, but I’ve never experienced this with my other little ones. I found a great online article that addresses this evening fussy time. Kellymom.com is a great resource for parents regardless of how many kids they have! It gives more details than you could imagine and is very well put together. Check it out!

This is an from an email I sent Luke in November of 2005. Anna was five years old and going through a bullying stage.

I just caught AM shaking her fist in front of P’s face. I told her not to ever do it again and that shaking her fist in someone’s face is part of being a bully. Then I asked her if anybody had ever done that to her, wondering where she had learned it. She said “no,” so I asked her where she had seen it. She said she had seen it on a movie and that it was a bad guy doing it. I said, “You saw a bad guy do it, right?” She nodded. I asked her if she wanted to be like a bad guy, and she said “no.” I told her that if she doesn’t want to be like a bad guy, she doesn’t need to do things she sees bad guys do. I think that impacted her more than anything else I could have done.

I am a little discouraged with Ph’s potty training. He does not care if he is wet!! Both AM and P cried when they wet their underwear, which let me know exactly when they went. This helped me know how often to send them to the potty. Phillip started out great this morning! He made it several hours with no accident. He even woke up dry!! But he has now wet his underwear twice and did not care either time!! He just walks around until I notice that his pants are wet!! He doesn’t go much at a time, so there are not usually puddles to clean up. I am thankful for that!I know what you are thinking. He has not even been training for a week, and he woke up dry and made it several hours without an accident. Be thankful for that! That is probably true! I am so glad you gave me such wonderful advice!! Good thing I can read your mind, huh?
Seriously, though, if anybody has suggestions other than the one above, I would be glad to hear (or read) it!!

Ph is officially potty training. So far today has been good. He really does not seem to know when he needs to go yet, but he knows when he has gone, and he knows what he is supposed to do when he sits down on the potty. He is definitely learning, but when it comes to recognizing the urge to go, I am the one trained so far. I send him regularly, and he has only had one accident in his underwear today. Eventually he will learn to tell me when he goes instead of me sending him and hoping he has to go. He works with me some, though. When I send him, he goes, even if it is just a tiny bit!

This is all better than when we tried about a week ago. I set the timer for 45 minutes, so I wouldn’t forget to send him to the potty. Guess what? He went three times in that time period, once in the potty and twice in his underwear! I don’t think he knows how to empty his bladder. That is why I am now sending him every 20 minutes or so. He’ll get the hang of it!!

I am not pushing him too much. I don’t want him to know how bad I want him potty trained! I am pushing just a little, though, by reminding him that the diaper rashes will be history when he starts going in the potty (he is getting awful rashes!). This way maybe he will think it was his idea to go potty!

Speaking of potty training, P has decided that the age of 4 is too big to have accidents. He even said once that he didn’t want to go in the little potty because, “I’m four now!!” I did not argue!! Now the little potty can be mainly for Ph, and P can be the “big boy” example for Ph!!

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Just a short little update about AM’s punishment. It has been over now for a week. She has been able to use everything she did not have access to for a while due to her bullying. I am happy to say that the grounding seemed to work!! Not only has she stopped hitting, but she has stopped yelling, and her whole personality seems to have changed for the better. She plays with her brothers rather than at them, if that makes sense. She allows them to make the rules sometimes (although she still may alter them a bit), and she does not yell like she’s in pain every time something doesn’t go her way! I am thoroughly pleased!!

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It is interesting that I am writing about a movie experience including AM, since she can’t watch them right now, but evidently she remembered something from a movie she watched a while back.
I just caught AM shaking her fist in front of P’s face out of frustration at him. I told her not to ever do it again and that shaking her fist in someone’s face is part of being a bully. Then I asked her if anybody had ever shaken their fist at her, wondering where she learned it. She said “no,” so I asked her where she had seen it. She said she had seen a “bad guy” doing it on a movie. I started to tell her that she didn’t need to watch movies like that b/c they taught her bad stuff. But instead, I said, “You saw a bad guy do it, right?” She nodded. I asked her if she wanted to be like a bad guy, and she said no. I told her that if she doesn’t want to be like a bad guy, she doesn’t need to do things she sees bad guys do. I think that impacted her more than anything else I could have done. I actually thought to do something that would teach her to discern right from wrong instead of protecting her to keep her from wrong! Of course, we will still monitor what she watches b/c there are some things 5 year olds do not need to see or hear! (and some times good guys do things they shouldn’t). More later, I’m sure!!

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AM is in the midst of her first grounding. She has been fast becoming a bully, and we have been very unsuccessful in getting her to stop hitting, pushing, yelling, and other things that go under the bully category. We decided to make her go a week without TV (which she watches very little of anyway) to remind her not to hit or push others. Yet she kept hitting and pushing, so we extended the restriction to no TV and no computer priveleges (which is what she had been doing when the boys watched a movie). That did not seem to be enough, so we took away toys. That sounds harsh upon first hearing it, but if you think about it, we took away the things that children in the past didn’t have access to anyway.

Anna is really beginning to use her imagination more and is able to keep herself entertained without toys, computer, or TV! It is interesting that we only disciplined her for hitting and pushing, yet her tone and whole manner is more kind (most of the time) than it was before. She is also more willing to help around the house, probably to fight off boredom. I think she is really learning from this. Hopefully it will stick when she finally gets those priveleges back. In a way, I can’t wait until she has access to them again.

Honestly, it is almost as hard on me to stick with the discipline as it is for her, but she and I are both learning so much that, deep down, I am glad this is happening. It makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be good for every child to have to take a brief time off from modern entertainment just to learn some of the lessons that AM is being forced to learn (hopefully). I will probably post more on this topic as it is a big part of every day.

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We came up with a fun game. We call it hide the snake. We hid a long stuffed snake of P’s. It is neat to hide the snake because it can be rolled up and put in a small place or stretched out and placed across a curtain rod or on a ceiling fan. The snake had to be hidden in a place where it could be seen without moving anything. AM and P did pretty good at hiding it, but Ph would hide it and then show everybody where it was. I tried to arrange it so that P found it when Ph hid it b/c AM could find the harder ones. Ph actually found it several times! He was so excited when he did! When I hid it, I tried to take turns with the heights and where I put it, so that whoever had not found it in a while had a better chance of finding it! Of course, sometimes I had to make it more difficult (for my sake) by hiding it so that only a small part of it could be seen! If they had difficulty finding it, I would tell who was the closest or whether they had to look behind something. This game kept them entertained for about an hour!!

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