Crimson Tide

After waiting over a month... I finally got my period again... LOL Just wanted to post it so that I'll know about when to expect it next month.

Witchy Woman Update

Update on the 'anti-cat' neighbor.



Friday, after Jeremy came home from work, he went next door to talk to the husband. It was just as I had suspected, he wasn't aware of all that was going on. I didn't go with Jeremy, so I only know what Jeremy tells me about what went on there. He knocked on the door and asked her husband to come out. He did. Jeremy showed him the yellow paper (animal control warning) and asked what that was about. At some point in time, the wife walked out. She kept saying stuff like, "___ get back in the house" "Are you going to believe me or this fucking drunk" (BTW, Jeremy wasn't drunk) "You (Jeremy) need to leave now." And she proceeded to call the police. Jeremy said that he was going home but to send the police over when they got there.



He walked in our house, telling what happened. Said the wife was saying that I was lying. After a little while, we (Jeremy & myself) went outside. Not long afterwards, the husband from next door asked if he could join us. He apologized for what had happened. He also apologized for buying the cat food. Apparently, they both thought we were bad pet owners and decided to take matters in their own hand without ever asking us about what they thought we were or weren't doing.


See, we sometimes go visit my family for a week (usually, if its a week, its me and the kids, not Jeremy & when he does leave for a week, that's the only time we ask neighbors to feed our animals) or even just the weekend. Well, before we leave for the weekend, Jeremy fills Max's (our dog) food bowl (large metal container that Jeremy nailed down inside of Max's house so he can't take it out or it can't be rained on and ruined.) with food (like a 20lb bag). Max doesn't gorge himself so, when we get back, he still has food there. The only concern is the water and Jeremy has asked a few of our neighbors at different times just to make sure he has water while we're gone. Also, our other neighbors have asked us if they could feed Max their scraps which is totally fine with us. He eats anything. And for the few times that we are gone for a week at a time, Jeremy calls our neighbors to make sure Max is okay.


Now, for the cat(s). I've written about how great of a hunter Momma Cat is. She is close to being a feral cat. She brought back many different types of rodents for herself and kits to eat along with birds, snakes, frogs, etc; even when there's food out there for them. Yes, we don't buy cat food too much because we want her to stay a hunter and not get lazy. However, I'm always giving them table scraps.


So, while our neighbor was here, Jeremy asked him if he knew about the metal container inside Max's house and that he fills it full of food when we know we'll be gone. Our neighbor was dumbfounded. He had no idea. They just figured we left the animals with nothing. Which is really stupid since Max is on a leash and can't very well go find food. What kind of people they thought we were, huh? AND, if they thought this, there were ways they could have found out what we do... they could have approached us with this concern before taking matters into their own hands.


Well, that is also the reason they bought cat food and fed them at their house. BTW, they did this while Jeremy was home... me and the kids were the only ones not home for the week.


Of course, they didn't 'fess' up to any of this... this is what we got from their actions and words.


All of this could have been avoided had they NOT assumed the worse and asked us... even then, that didn't have to be a confrontation... the matter could have been brought up during conversation without us even knowing their underlying concerns. And this whole ordeal could have been totally avoided.


So, yes, they created their own problems yet we were the ones that got both animal control and the police called on. OH yeah, the police did show up next door but the husband sent them away saying that there were no problems.


The wife has yet to apologize and I don't see her doing it, ever. This was all their doing; not ours. Our cats don't go to any of our other neighbors' houses; just theirs because they were feeding them.


OH, yeah... another thing... all of the kittens are indeed gone. She said the animal control picked them up but when I spoke to that lady, she said we get 3 warnings and THEN they pick the animal(s) up... so, I'm pretty sure she got rid of the kittens via her mom or someone else they know around here since our female neighbor is so allergic to them, she wouldn't have been able to transport them.


Even after her 'threat' that she'd get rid of the kittens, she only gave us like 4 days to do anything. I wouldn't have wanted to bring them to the animal shelter... I was trying to find them homes.


You know, even if she apologizes at some point in the future (which I don't see happening), there's no way I'd be friends with her again. She's an ass and a major bitch. Yeah, I can be bitchy... but, she's got me beat hands down.


Another thing that really sucks is now her son gets on the bus with my girls. So, I have to see her twice a day during the week. I'm just ignoring like I did.


What was funny this morning, after getting her seat, Calista was looking out the window, at our neighbor, with this super mean eyes... I had to smile to myself. I just wonder if our neighbor noticed it at all. She had to have... I mean, Calista was looking at her for a long time like that. lol

Okay... further on in the day...

Calista & Ursula get off the bus, before that, I see Jude with this sad/mad face. I asked Calista if she told Jude about her mom getting rid of our cats and she said she had and she will tell everyone she can about it.

Missing Kittens

I went ride my bike around 9:30-10:00am today and the kittens were around.

I received a visit from the parish's animal control regarding our pregnant momma cat... yet, nothing about the 5 kittens on that report. I knew about the leash law in our parish, but didn't realize that meant cats too... can't say I've ever seen a cat on a leash in real life. This lady came around 2:00pm. And I hadn't been outside since riding my bike. The kittens weren't around.

My kids got off the bus at 3:18pm and still no kittens.

I suspect my neighbor, the one mentioned in my previous post, had her mom or someone else bring our kittens somewhere else.

What an ass, huh? Report me to the animal control??? I can't help but think her husband knows nothing of what she's done. He likes the cats.

I'm so glad I never opened up to her about our personal lives!!!

I love how people create their own problems and blame others!!!

Update

Biking:

I've been riding my bike 2 miles daily this week and Wyatt has been loving it. Its so nice to just ride, wind in your face, sun tanning your skin (hehe), and having that nice quietness. Wyatt just sits and looks around, barely does he make any noise while we ride. Sometimes he'll touch my back with his hand or foot :D

Along with riding, I've been doing crunches; I can already see results! Gotta love that! Makes it worth doing, ya know!

Gymnastics:

Well, that hasn't worked out. The first one ended up being way more expensive than I had thought. I went to get the information package and Ursula even stayed for a class that day. I read all the mandatory requirements, deposits, etc... I knew Jeremy would say no; and of course, he did. For the end of the year recital, they wanted $300/child!!! That didn't include costumes and accessories even! Not even tickets! Crazy, huh? Then, you had to buy the daily outfits from them which would have equalled no less than $100 for both.

So, I called the other ballet/gymnastics place and got their info packet. Jeremy had agreed to their terms; seemed a better deal but when I read it closer, they wanted both the registration and 1st month tuition at the same time. If I could have paid them a week apart, it could have worked out a little better. That, together, would have been about $300. Jeremy said no. I do understand though. This summer, our bills have been twice and three times more than normal making his raise almost nil. There was a water leak the landlord didn't fix until recently. Our water bill was almost $300 for 3 mths. Normally, it would be about $24/mth. Then, our A/C seems to never cut off even when I have the temp set for 80 degrees during the day! Our electric bill has been between $250/320/mth!!! That's frickin' high for us. We're used to it being around $150 or so. Its not like we live in a huge house... its not even 1200 sq ft! Maybe next year, we'll be able to put the girls in dance and gymnastics.

My sister, Cherie, has her girls in dance where she lives and its only $20/child/mth! OMG, we could soooo afford that!!!

The closest gymnastics place is 20 min away. I called but no one answered. Depending on the costs and time the classes take place, it could work. Next closest is in Lafayette... and sorry, that won't be happening. I will not be traveling there twice a week...

Cats:

Looks like Momma Cat is pregnant again... much to our chagrin. Her kittens are barely 4 mths old. We still have 5 out of 6 of them. My sister had taken one home. I did place an ad for the in the local Freecycle group but no one answered it; guess everyone is trying to get rid of their own cats...

Jeremy's ready to drop them off somewhere (like the race track); I'd hate for him to do that but they'd have a better chance to survive than bringing them to a shelter where they'd euthanize them in a short amount of time. I really didn't think we'd still have them by now; looking back at how her other kittens disappeared by the time they were like 3 mths old... of course, those kittens were cuter... LOL This litter has no white ones like her previous kits did.

I like Momma Cat because she a mouser & an all-around hunter. I've seen evidence of her capturing, killing, and bringing home at least 2 rabbits. I've seen bird feathers. I've seen many, many mice she's gone found in the wooded area and killed. She's a good mom too; teaches her kittens how to as well.

I'd like to keep the one male kitten. I want to keep at least one because of the mouse problem we had 4 yrs ago... don't want to have that happen again!!!

Also, I've been complained to about my kittens by a neighbor. The kittens like hanging out there and she's allergic to cats. She's actually cursed at me about it (said the "F" word); something I've never heard her do prior to this week. I was in shock. So, I really didn't say anything at the time since she hurried off after having her say. So, I haven't talked to her since. I don't need friends like that... that will confront me and then hurry off without discussing the problem like adults. I can handle confrontation but can't stand when someone will say something, esp. cursing at me, and then leave after they've had their say. That just really pisses me off.

If she's reading this... here's my advice:

STOP FEEDING MY CATS

If you wouldn't (or your dh, whoever does it) buy and feed my cats, they wouldn't hang out at your house!!!

I've NEVER told you to feed my cats; NEVER asked you nor your dh nor your kids to feed them. Even while we are away, visiting relatives for a week, never asked you to feed them... the cats can fend for themselves; they're hunters; plus, we put out a bag of food for them when we leave that they can eat from.

We have 3 other close neighbors that the cats DON'T visit. You know why they don't? BECAUSE THEY AREN'T FEEDING THEM!!! HELLO??? You've created your own problem! And if it was your husband that did it and not you, then complain to him. I didn't bring food to your house and put dishes out in front of your door and lure the cats there. Nope, not me... I didn't do that.

Okay, I've gotten that out of my system... I feel better.

My Bike!

My New Bike!!!

It cost me all of $1!!!

Last weekend, Jessica & I (along with our babies) went to garage sales. We left her home at 7am and got home at 10:30am. We went to 13 altogether!!! Now, we didn't buy something from every single one. But we did get some good deals!

This bike came with the baby seat as well! Now, it was a little messed up and couldn't be ridden right away but nothing Jeremy couldn't fix in 2 hrs!!! Yep, my man, the handyman :D

What's so great is that he was going to buy me a brand-new one so that I could exercise!!! I had been wanting one for a while now! I have a Raleigh Mountain Bike that I paid $550 way back before I had kids... but, I let one of my sisters borrow it. Plus, I couldn't have put a child seat on the back of it anyways.

So, now I get to ride! Wooohoooo!

I rode it for the first time today and Wyatt freaked when I strapped him in but once I got going, he calmed down. He did hold on for deal life though! heheh I think (I hope, at least!) that he'll eventually love it :)

I also bought an umbrella stroller for $2, quite a few uniforms for my girls, 3 pairs of shorts and a couple of shirts @ 25 cents/piece for Jeremy, about 3 or 4 pairs of shorts for myself, various shirts, velour jogging suits, Bratz tennis shoes for Calista and Reebox tennis shoes for Ursula, both is brand-new condition and about $1/piece along with some tan suede boots for Calista :)

I spent less than $40... probably more like $30 altogether but came away with tons of stuff! I mean, the bike along with the uniforms and new shoes made it all worth it!!!

It was a good trip because Jessica had looked up what garage sales were happening and located them all and then planned our route! It worked out so well! A few of the ones we stopped at weren't even planned, we just happened upon them.

The craziest part of it was that we didn't go to bed until after 2am that morning!!! So, we go to bed after 2am and wake up in time to drink coffee (which we took with us), get our babies & ourselves dressed, and driving out the driveway by 7:02am!!! I was this _ close to not going but like I told Jessica, I'm so glad I did :)

World Breastfeeding Week 2007

Okay, so, I'm a little late... :D But, we all know that I celebrate breastfeeding everyday :))

Here's a small snippet taken from the UNICEF site as to understanding why we have a World Breastfeeding Week:

Why this week to celebrate World Breastfeeding week?

It commemorates the anniversary of the Innocenti Declaration.

INNOCENTI DECLARATION

On the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding. Recognising that:

Breastfeeding is a unique process that:

Provides ideal nutrition for infants and contributes to their healthy growth and development Reduces incidence and severity of infectious diseases, thereby lowering infant morbidity and mortality Contributes to women's health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and by increasing the spacing between pregnancies Provides social and economic benefits to the family and the nation Provides most women with a sense of satisfaction when successfully carried out and that Recent Research has found that: these benefits increase with increased exclusiveness of breastfeeding during the first six months of life, and thereafter with increased duration of breastfeeding with complementary foods, and programme intervention can result in positive changes in breastfeeding behaviour.

We therefore declare that:

As a global goal for optimal maternal and child health and nutrition, all women should be enabled to practice exclusive breastfeeding and all infants should be fed exclusively on breastmilk from birth to 4-6 months of age. Thereafter, children should continue to be breastfed, while receiving appropriate and adequate complementary foods, for up to two years of age or beyond. This child-feeding ideal is to be achieved by creating an appropriate environment of awareness and support so that women can breastfeed in this manner.

Some links:


Breastfeedingworld.net


World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action


The Lactation Sensation

KellyMom

Breastfeeding Blinkies & Graphics

Stupid Argument

Okay, so, Jeremy comes home from work and all is well. We hug hello. The kids hug him. We're talking. Smiling. etc. I'm making Split Pea Soup but there's still a little time left on it and he's hungry so, he makes himself a sandwich. I see he's using the bread and tell him, "That bread sucks." OMG For some reason, that offended him. He got mad and started an argument. Frickin' ridiculas. He's mad because he bought the bread. Because he bought the best bread available at the local grocery store. Because he bought whole wheat bread. Because he bought that kind for me. Because he changed his eating habits to suit me. And I had the nerve to say something negative about this bread. Now, this is, of course, me paraphrasing the gist of the argument.

Let me tell you why this bread sucks. When you try to put peanut butter on it, it tears apart. It falls apart in your mouth before you start chewing. It is too airy. There's no substance to it. I like a more dense bread.

I didn't tell him the bread sucked to argue about it. I told him that so that he'd be prepared and maybe treat his sandwich a little more gingerly. I also told him that so that he wouldn't buy that brand again. I wasn't trying to insult his ability to buy bread. Or even his decision to buy that one. How was he supposed to know it was going to suck so badly?

You should have seen how angry he was about it. Totally uncalled for! I mean, I can't even talk to him without an argument happening. I've already told him that I was going to stop talking. I've done it before. I mean, I don't need to live everyday arguing with him. Its too stressful. I don't need it.

If the roles would have been reversed, I would not have acted that way. I would have said something like, 'oh, okay' and mentally noted not to buy that brand again.

Gymnastics Update

Okay, after Jeremy got to work yesterday, he must have been thinking about it because he called me around 10am. He asked when the registration fee was due. I told him I didn't know but I would leave them a message on their answering machine.

Well, I did call; twice. Left messages. Not sure if they called back while I was outside (no caller ID anymore) but, hadn't heard from them. I hope its not too late.

Jeremy's terms are that the kids are perfect. He will take them out of gymnastics if they aren't the model kids. He wants them to do their chores (Calista's loads and unloads the dishwasher. They both clean up their room and wherever else they made messes). He wants them to listen and follow our directions immediately, without hesitation or procrastination. He wants them (esp. Ursula) to respect me; IE, no yelling or sassiness or backtalk. Of course, I'd love to see this too. However, I don't expect perfection and maybe that's where I'm falling short... and maybe that's why he thinks I don't discipline. I do discipline them. And I am as consistant as I can be. I do believe though, that kids need to be kids and that kids will be kids; they will test you; they will test their boundaries. I know I tested mine as a child. I look back and think of the spankings I received. I think of the way I did sassy my mom. I remember my mom telling me to not look at her that way or to take that look off of my face and me thinking 'what look? how should I be looking at her?'. So, I do put myself in my kids' position. I think of myself and my parents. Things they'd tell me and didn't explain; assuming I knew what they meant.

I'll get back to this later.

Pissed Off

Man, Jeremy makes me so mad!

He told me that he won't give me the money to get the girls registered in gymnastics!!! WTF??? He says they aren't disciplined. He's such a selfish $%%#$. It'll cost $120 to register them and $120/mth. Its not like he can't afford this. I know he spends more than that on beer and cigerettes alone in a month!!! You know, I don't ask him for anything. Nothing. I hardly ever ask him for money. You know what money I get? I get the change from paying bills & groceries. We pay them in cash, in person. So, I get that. I don't ask for new outfits. I don't ask for new jeans. I don't ask him to pay for my hair cuts & colors (my sister does them for me). I don't ask him for hardly anything. You know where the majority of my clothes come from??? Thrift stores or are given to me.

You can't convince me that he doesn't blow $120 or more on crap during any given month... kwim? How is this not worth it? He's trying to hurt me? Because he thinks I don't/can't discipline the kids. So, he's punishing me???

I'm so frickin' irritated with him.

I yelled at him, "You know how well Calista will excell in this! Just think of the pride you'll feel when you see her perform!!!" I told him to think about it while at work.

Dreams

I remember a couple of dreams from last night.

One was a beach scene. The beach scene was probably inspired by both of my sisters-in-law. I just saw pictures of Tasha's trip to the Gulf Shores and Jessica has been going to Florida because my brother is working on a job there; and of course, I've been seeing pics from there. Anyways... its like we were living on the beach and we had a neighbor who just moved in this cool looking house with like glass windows on almost the whole front side of it. I look to the ocean and there's this huge wave coming and I'm like, "Oh NO!!!" There's no time to leave the area and the wave hits us all. I pull my kids out of the mound of sand that we were buried in (and I remember how heavy the sand felt on me in that dream! It took all of my adrenaline to get myself and my kids out). I see both of our houses are trashed. I then go about trying to rescue others that may have been buried in the sand. I find 2 little girls and pull them out. I go about seeking more but that's all I remember about that dream.

The other was me being pregnant. IRL, I know I'm not... I've even taken a pregnancy test. I had lost weight and then recently, I've put on a few pounds. I can see it in my shorts... they're fitting snug now. Okay, so in my dream, Aimee (my oldest sister with 5 kids), looks at my belly and shows me something. My belly's skin is translucent and you can see a baby's body... feet, hands, etc! Its crazy looking but at least I know why I've gained weight! Then, towards the end of the dream, I'm trying to figure out how and when I got pregnant... what 'mistakes' happened...

Memory Foam

Yesterday, Jeremy bought us a Memory Foam mattress pad. Its 4" thick. He said he was tired of us both waking up with a sore back :) Hey, if this helps, woohoo! Of course, we probably need to buy a new mattress set altogether... a bigger one... maybe even a King size! One can dream... hehehe

Last night was okay. My back wasn't so sore... but, to be quite honest... I'm not sure if its due to the Memory Foam pad. For the past couple of days, I've been taking this homeopathic remedy for backaches and I had noticed a difference before sleeping on the new mattress pad. I'm just sick of having a sore back... I've been in chronic back pain since being pregnant for Wyatt! I'm sure exercising will help. I will try to get to doing that regularly once school starts again (Aug. 10th! Already!).

My back is the reason for not wearing Wyatt like I did Ursula (in a backpack carrier). Its also the reason I don't like going to anywhere that I have to stand/walk while carrying him... Its just too hard on me.

I'm hopeful that these homeopathic pills, the Memory Foam, along with exercise will get me back to where I need to be... PAIN FREE!!! I'm too young to be in constant pain! Geez!

While I'm blogging, I'll go ahead and mention that Jeremy also bought me a new broom (woohoo! Last time I told him I needed one, he bought me the frickin' cheapest thing and it sucked!) AND the Swiffer mop thingie :) Yay!

I LOVE home improvements! :D:D:D

OOOOHHHH, another thing... I heard on the local news that by January, Medicaid will be accepting higher levels of income! So, a family of 4 that makes $60,000 will be covered! Wow! So, that means my kids will have medical insurance again! lol We don't use doctors too often, but at least I know that if they do need it, we'll have it covered!

While I'm typing about income... what's crazy is that even with Jeremy making good money, our kids still qualify for reduced lunch! Here I was, thinking that we finally got out of the poverty level... cause quite frankly, it feels like we have! We aren't stressing about the bills anymore. But noooooo... we aren't even in lower middle class, apparently. Crazy, huh? I mean, how much money do you have to make? I mean, I guess I see things differently having been pretty bad off and all. Maybe I appreciate/value things differently then those who have never been so far down.

Oh, this just came into my mind... I am guessing that the income levels are different/higher due to both parents working.

One more thing... in regards to my previous post... my period is so slight, its crazy. I mean, no heavy flow at all and this morning, no blood even in my pad. I guess I'll blog about it again next month and see if its 'normal' again. I mean, I never had a heavy flow but there would be at least 2 days of heaviness and the rest of the days would be light... usually 5-7 days altogether. Yeah, I know everyone wants to read about my period... LOL But really, this blog is for me.

The Return of the Red Tide

LOL I was just trying to think of a 'clever' way of saying that my period is back. Yep. After 28 mths... it returned early this morning... good thing I had to go pee in the middle of the night! Well, at least now I can know for sure when I'm ovulating and use extra precautions!

So, here's the rundown:

It returned when Calista was 18 mths old.
Returned when Ursula was 15 mths old.
Returned when Wyatt was 19 mths old (he actually just turned 19 mths yesterday).

Soooo... I've gone 79 mths with no period altogether since May 1989. Soooo... I've gone 6.583 yrs without having to worry about my 'flow' :D

Oh the benefits of breastfeeding :)) Of course, 27 of those months were spent pregnant. So, I can only say that 52 mths (4½ yrs) were actual breaks from my menstraul cycle due to breastfeeding & extended breastfeeding.

Wyatt does most of his nursing for napping or sleeping purposes nowadays. If we're home, he'll come nurse for short periods of time and go off and play. He still nurses at least 3 times during the night... probably more.

He is just so cute :) I think he'll be funny... good sense of humor... wanting to make others laugh or at least smile... its just the things he does and the way he does them that are so cute and funny :D

Big Butts

You know, all of my life, I've been told (esp. by family members) that I have a big butt... well... I have found someone who seems to have a bigger butt! Of course, you have to keep it in perspective. I have no idea what size she is but, I know whenever I am wearing a size 3, or even a size 5, my butt isn't that big! LOL And please, don't think I'm critizing her either! I'm not, by any means! In fact, I feel relieved by her! She seems to relish her bottom! And that's awesome! I just wish I have loved mine back in the day instead of being embarrassed by it and trying to hide it by wearing huge shirts!!! I had such a bad self image back then :((

Anyway, without further ado, here's Kim Kardashian! And again. And yet again.

Home Improvements (Rental, that is)

The floor in the first bathroom in this house has always been messed up. The vinyl flooring was all cut up and stained. Well, finally, Jeremy decided it was time to fix it. So, I went to the Family Dollar with my sister, Angele, and bought a pack of those stick-on vinyl squares. Calista picked out one that is whitish with a blue diamond. Its pretty. Jeremy put them in this past Sunday and MAN, does it make a difference!!! Brightens that bathroom up. Makes it look cleaner. Also, the tiles match the shower curtain we already had up there. We did it the cheapest way because we rent. If it was our house, we would have put more into it. He also fixed the toilet innards of both bathrooms and the faucet in the first one. He'll be fixing the faucet in his soon. This was all done very recently. In the past, he has put new seals under both toilets and has put in better shower heads in both tubs.

Another home improvement has been the new blinds he bought from Home Depot for the living room. They look so nice! Those ended up being $100 for 2 windows! But, we'll take them with us.

Also... Jeremy bought us a new 30" widescreen flatscreen fatback TV! We like it a lot! What's really cool with it is that it has a digital tuner. NOW, I can finally watch local channels without static!!! woohoo! That's the only reason I wanted to get cable (which we can't get here anyways) or Satellite (only Dish Network and DirecTV are our options). Now, I don't need it (well, didn't need it before but it was just irritating watching TV all fuzzy for the past 6 yrs!

Since I'm posting stuff... next month is Jeremy's court date for his wreck! FINALLY! It'll finally get resolved and hopefully, we'll have a little extra money for it as well! Get to pay off my credit card that was used to buy J's car over 2 yrs ago! Its been 2 frickin' years. Ridiculas. At the time of the accident, J's lawyer said it would be just a matter of a couple of months until it was settled... over 2 yrs later now... J should have done what I told him in the first place... go to Morris Bart or some other lawyer that we constantly see on TV regarding auto accidents. I bet it would have been over with sooner had he done it that way. Anyways, at least now there's an end in sight!

Oh, the other weekend, on the way down to visit my family, I got a front driver-side blow-out on the interstate! Thankfully, some guy on his way home from work stopped and changed it to my spare tout suite! He looked like he worked at the mechanics part of a car dealership.

THEN, this past Sunday, I leave Jeremy with the kids (Wyatt was napping) to go get some Little Ceaser's $5 large pepperoni pizzas and I get a blow-out on the front passenger-side tire!!! Yeah! Believe the luck??? Again, thankfully, someone stopped... actually, two different vehicles stopped to help. The guys helped one another get me on my way and suggested I get that spare tire some air! So, thankfully, I was right there by Wal-Mart Supercenter, which has a Murphy gas station in front. So, I pulled in, put in 75 cents and pumped up my spare to 60 PSI... it was like at 20!!! whew! I got the pizzas and went home. Jeremy is supposed to be getting me a new tire today.

Each time before the tires blew, my car was driving weird. I thought I needed an allignment. But noooooo... that wasn't the problem. Even with the spare tire on, my car drove almost perfectly!

I hate worrying about reaching my destinations while driving alone or with just my kids!

June 2007 Update

Hmm... this month, I did a lot of driving... lol Mostly to the Houma/Thibodaux/Raceland area.

Roman (my nephew) had his 10th bday. My bil, Shane, also had a bday. For Roman, we celebrated by bringing all 15 grandchildren (my blood-related nieces and nephews) to JumpingKids. They... well, we all had such a good time!

Racquelle, my niece, was in a play... so, I went down to see her acting & singing. She was in The Jungle Book. It was held in the Jean Lafitte museum in Thibodaux. All of the kids in it did really well.

Jeremy had a scare. He called me while I was visiting (he came for one of the weekends I was down there but had to work the other weekends) and told me that he had thrown up blood! He was at his brother's house... so, he stayed there and left in the morning. I also left in the morning to come back home. He didn't go see any doctor... just looked up info online and in some of my health-type books. He seems to think it could be an ulcer. Funny thing, though, he hasn't had heartburn (which he did prior to the blood vomit) since that incident and he's been feeling fine. So, really, we don't know what happened. We do think that he must have irritated his stomach lining due to taking OTC non-steriodal anti-inflamatory meds (like motrin) for his knee that he hurt playing softball... since that's a side effect.

One really good thing is that Jeremy received a raise!!! woohoo!!! Yep! After being at his job for about a year, they finally gave him a raise! A $2/hr raise!

Wyatt turned 18 mths old this month :D He's such a cutie :) He still looks like a little man... hehe His personality is really starting to show... he's a little character. He already pretends play... like... he uses anything (even the kittens!), points it, and 'shoots'! Going 'pow pow' with it!!! Where'd he get it from? I've NO idea! Even Jeremy's video games aren't shooting games. We don't have play guns for them to play with either. Oh, and he just has to take his diaper off all the time. Recent pics of him are in his blog.

Ursula may be in Pre-K this year... that's gonna be crazy. Both of my girls will be gone during the day this school year... just me and Wyatt.





Oh, I also decided to go back to being a brunette. I like me blonde, but it was just that I'd have 2 inches of roots before getting them redone due to the fact that I live 2 hrs away from Cherie, my sister, who's a beautician. Believe me, if we lived closer, I'd keep my hair lighter! I just didn't like those roots! lol


Calista took the picture to the right. She also put the pearl necklace on me along with lipstick... she gave me a 'make-over'... LOL Excuse the black around my eyes... that's leftover mascara from the day before... I didn't wash it off good... LOL So, basically, that's me make-up-less and tired from driving...


And yep, there's Wyatt sleeping on my lap... after nursing, of course :)

Freebirthers dismiss fear and bring babies home

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL2148514320070522

LONDON (Reuters) - They insist they're no superwomen, they have no special powers, and are certainly not pain or adrenaline junkies.

But 'freebirthers' choose to go through what some call the most painful and potentially frightening experience of a woman's life with no drugs, no midwife and no medical help.

Delivering their own babies at home, often alone, they dismiss what they say is "fearmongering" by doctors and midwives and confidently catch their offspring as they leave the womb.


"Birthing uses the same hormones as lovemaking -- so why would you want anyone poking and prodding you, observing you and putting you under a spotlight?," said Veronika Robinson, an Australian based in Britain who sees growing interest in freebirth among readers of international magazine, "The Mother".

To read the rest of the article, click on the link at the top!

My Kittens

Here's Momma Cat's latest batch of kittens. Six in all; 4 girls & 2 boys. This first pic to the left is right after she brought them home... she had them elsewhere... so, I set up a box outside and she brought them to us... they were about a week old there.

The rest of these pictures were taken within the last week. The kittens are so cute :) They have really cute faces and are very playful. Some are more friendlier than others. Some purr if you pet them :D

They're like 6 weeks old I think... :D hehe

This is one of the boy kits in these two pictures. He's a sweetie.

Thinking back, I really believe it was always seeing momma cats and their kittens nursing that made me see breastfeeding as 'normal'. We always had a plethora of cats and kittens growing up... because we lived on 10 acres of land and people would drop their animals off at our place... LOL We just fed them and took care of them while they were at our house.

This last pic of the kitty sleeping cracks me up... she was cleaning herself and fell asleep :D hehe

My Present

For my birthday, Jeremy came home with a photo printer! I love it! Since these past couple weeks have been financially lacking, I have to wait to buy photo paper. It did come with a few sample photo pages that I used. Let's just say that I can't wait to start printing!!! I'm way behind!!! hehe

Jeremy worked all 7 days last week, so this Friday, we should have a good paycheck! woohoo! Also, since we HAD to pay those other bills with the meager funds we had, these next paychecks will almost be free! Of course, rent is due on the 15th... I plan on getting photo paper, groceries, and The Sims 2 Seasons :D heh heh heh I can still wait if need be... but, I don't see why... Jeremy has 15 hrs of overtime on this check! Doncha just love overtime??? :D

I can't wait to get a new PC though... ours is okay... but it does crash often while I'm playing The Sims 2... even with a good graphics card.

What's cool, too, is that Jeremy doesn't get all irate when I talk about us buying our own house (or building it, for that matter). Maybe that means he's thinking about it too. Really now, we've been paying monthly rent for 6 yrs now...

I just hope Jeremy's work keeps having work!

About me... my lower back is still hurting... all day long... I'm taking calcium with magnesium, shark cartilage, and MSM daily (mostly). I'm noticing some difference... but... man... sucks. I don't like being in constant pain.

Its My Birthday Again...

Yay.

Its just another day... nothing planned. Nothing is ever planned. I don't expect anything either. Never celebrated my birthday growing up... not much has changed in that regard. Plus, we don't have much extra money to spend anyways... Jeremy's company has been slow since February... sucks. He has a baseball game tonight (every Friday night), so I know we're be there. And its not like I can drop Wyatt off at someone's house while we go out... the girls, yes. But, not yet for Wyatt. Not even if I nurse him to sleep first... he always seems to wake up an hour after I put him down and nurses again. So, yeah, no high expections on the birthday front. I think Jeremy will come home with something... maybe flowers. Probably food (we usually get take-out on Fridays). Maybe even the newest Sims 2 expansion pack (Seasons). But, who knows. If not, oh well. It'll be around later for me to buy when we have the extra money. Today is supposed to be when you feel your most powerful... I don't feel anything... maybe even numb (probably shows, huh).

Well, here's something positive... Jeremy and I haven't been arguing as much as we used to. I think it has everything to do with us now having cell phones. He calls me at least once a day while he's at work... sometimes 3 times a day. We talk more now that we have those phones. Crazy, huh? Never suspected that to be a bonus; definitely NOT complaining... happy that we are a better couple.

Happy Birthday to me.

Bosom buddies

I'm posting the entire article because I liked it :D

Bosom buddies

We're told that breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world - but for children of two, three or four? Viv Groskop meets the mums who swear by late feeding (but not on the bus)

Saturday April 30, 2005
The Guardian

With blond pigtails flying, Peri runs in from the garden where she has been making mud pies in towelling pants. She would like a drink of milk, please, or nun-noo, as she calls it. She hops into her mum's lap, curls up her long legs and pulls up her mum's cardigan. Moving from left breast to right, she pulls and pokes, kicking her feet against the chair until she is comfortable, holding a breast with two hands. Sucking loudly and talking as she sucks, she eventually falls asleep, snoring. Her mother smiles contentedly and continues the conversation as if nothing had happened. Standing, Peri comes up to her waist. She will be three in August.

Peri's mother, Helen Butland, 36, from Wolvey, near Coventry, sees breastfeeding not just as a means of boosting a child's immune system, but also as a mothering tool. It's for feeding morning, evening and in-between times, if Peri asks for it, but it's also a glorified cuddle, for when she has a knock or scrape. Helen fed both her other daughters - Erika, now eight, and Frances, now five - up to the age of four, including during two pregnancies and periods after both births when she "tandem-fed" baby and toddler. There was a time when her middle daughter, Frances, then three, stopped feeding after baby Peri arrived, but then she started again: "She came over when I was feeding the baby and said, 'I used to have that - can I still have some?' So I said, of course you can. And after about half an hour of sucking, she was actually getting some again."

Helen is a full-time mother and nonexecutive director of the family business(husband Ian, 32, is an engineer), to which she will return once the children are all at school. Once a radical feminist, she is now deadly serious about the business of being maternal. Indeed, the expression "matronly bosom" could have been created for her. She has been lactating for eight years - "but I know other women who have been for much longer". Peri, she says, can feed as long as she likes - certainly up to her fourth birthday, just as her sisters did. Helen believes that babies should be allowed to be babies for as long as possible. She is only, she says, following the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef guidelines, which state that breastfeeding should continue to two years minimum: "I do it in the knowledge of the long-term health benefits - protection against diabetes, heart disease, cancer." There is a benefit for her, too, she adds: breastfeeding mothers are less at risk from breast cancer.

She realises her choice is unusual - "I remember feeling shocked myself the first time I saw a woman feeding a child in outdoor shoes," she admits - but over time she decided it suited her and her children. She chooses not to mix with parents who don't subscribe to the same views: "Early on, I did seek out mother and toddler groups, but I found the disapproval from them quite a knock to me - not about breastfeeding per se, but about the way I do everything - sleeping with my babies, holding them all the time. Other mothers had rules about separation, cots and so on." Cots, she says, are cages.

Her view is that, after a certain age, babies will find their own way off the breast. Her philosophy after the age of two is "don't offer, don't refuse". Gradually, when the child is ready, they stop asking. She believes it has made her daughters more independent, because they have well and truly had their fill of being babies by the time they stop feeding. "When they're three or four, it's still so much part of their emotional needs. Ideally, the nursing relationship will continue until the baby outgrows the need. In their early years, a baby has a powerful need to be with their mother - it is only by fulfilling that need that it will ever go away. The risks of depriving them of that are evident in society today — alienation, diminished capacity for truly loving others. And it serves the marketplace that we grow up unhappy."

In a country where we have one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the developed world, Helen's experience is rare. She is one of a largely invisible group of mothers who practise "extended breastfeeding" - defined as feeding a child after the age of 12 months. In the US, these mothers belong to associations such as the Militant Breastfeeding Cult and IncitefulMamas. They breastfeed exclusively to six months, continue breastfeeding beyond a year and hate dummies, cots and prams (breast, sling and mummy and daddy's bed are best). American militant breastfeeders refer to themselves as "global lactivists", and if their spouse is supportive (which he would have to be) he is described as a "lactivist husband".

In the UK, extended breastfeeders are less aggressive and don't form a cohesive group, but you only have to peek into the internet forums for breastfeeding support organisations to see that these women exist in their thousands. Breastfeeding statistics count only babies who are fed up to the age of nine months - when 13% of babies are still breastfed, according to the most recent Infant Feeding Survey - so beyond that age there is no record of how many women are continuing to feed their children. (This figure would mean there were around 70,000 babies still being breastfed at nine months — and 530,000 on formula.)

Certainly the stereotype of the baby-addicted, neurotic breastfeeder puts some women off continuing. As one mother of two toddlers puts it, "It's going to bite, it's going to talk, it's going to walk - no way." However, Rebecca Kennedy, 38, from Kingston, Surrey, couldn't be further from what she calls the "hairy-armpits, grow-your-own-lentils" image of extended breastfeeding. With a supermodel figure, immaculately coiffed and looking about 10 years younger than she is, she is a walking advert for long-term "nummies" - as her boys called it once they could ask for it. Mother of Archie, 10, Hector, seven, Rollo, four, and Sorrel, 15 months, she fed all her boys to the age of three (including the first two simultaneously) and intends to feed Sorrel for as long as she likes. A former tax consultant in the City (her husband works in banking), Rebecca gave up her career when her first child was born and threw herself into full-time motherhood. She yanks up her Juicy Couture tracksuit top to feed Sorrel (who can talk, walk and has teeth, as well as long, bobbed hair held back with a pink glitter clip), and looks pretty close to "the most natural thing in the world" - the smiley catchphrase of every extended breastfeeder.

The myths about droopy breasts, biting and never ovulating again are nonsense, says Rebecca. Your breasts are affected not by breastfeeding but by your experience of pregnancy. You don't feel the child's teeth. In terms of affecting fertility, it depends on the woman - some ovulate at five months if they're still feeding, others not until 15 months. Despite Rebecca's evangelism, though, she is discreet. "Most people don't know how long I fed my children because I don't go around advertising the fact. If they do know, they are very surprised about it." She has always avoided feeding her children in public after the age of two ("I would just distract them or say mummy's not wearing the right T-shirt") because of adverse reactions.

She admits that lactating for 10 years with only a few months' break during her pregnancies has been tough: "Breastfeeding is a bit like eating Mars bars - the first one is delicious, but then the more you have, you start to feel sick. I have mixed views about it finishing."

You don't have to eat more, as you do with a tiny baby, to maintain your milk supply, but ultimately it is tiring, especially around pregnancy. So why does she continue?

"There is always a nutritional benefit to breastfeeding," says Rebecca. "The real advantage is if they get a tummy bug or something, they can still feed." Aren't they overly dependent on her? "I think that, by allowing your child to be with you, you allow them to leave you when they're ready. We never had the terrible twos - if they were hungry or frustrated, they could feed."

There is no medical reason why a mother shouldn't feed her child as long as she - and the child - wants. Dr Miriam Stoppard, author of The Family Health Guide (Dorling Kindersley), says the health benefits to a baby continue no matter how long they are breastfed. "Breastmilk contains a hormone that helps the digestive system," says Stoppard. "In breastfed babies, the system is then mature enough to take mixed feeding [with solids] and robust enough to resist allergies. Breastmilk also contains some great mood-enhancing chemicals - opioids, which make the baby contented and sleep well. And breastfed babies definitely cry less."

Psychologist Dr Ros Bramwell of the University of Liverpool argues that it is only our societal attitudes that militate against later breastfeeding. "The breast is very sexualised and people's attitudes to seeing an exposed breast are very negative - even in private," she says. "The issue of 'who are my breasts for?' can cause a lot of conflict in women. Emphasising the benefits of breastfeeding is great, but it doesn't address the difficulty of this problem. I think with extended breastfeeding, it gets worse - there is a huge conflict between the sexuality of the breast and using it to feed. The unusualness is what makes it shocking." This is also connected to our perception of children and how quickly they should grow up, she adds. "Breastfeeding is seen as something that is only for babies - we see it as a babyish thing to do."

Lisa Cavadias, 30, a pensions administrator from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, says that, on the contrary, her breastfed daughter, Marie, two, is more advanced as a result. Marie learned the baby sign for breastfeeding (hand squeezing the fingers, as if milking a cow) at the age of one and now speaks in seven-word sentences, including: "Please can I have some mummy milk?" (When asked why she likes mummy milk, she replies, "Because it tastes nice.") A sunny, salt-of-the-earth type, Lisa is more like the traditional 1970s breastfeeder: long hair, flowing, flowery dress with breastfeeding flaps, literally barefoot and pregnant. She obviously enjoys her relationship with her daughter - who is unusually bright and lively, stomping through the house in yellow Tweenies wellies - but it has not always been easy. "Once they get past a year," says Lisa, "they feed in all sorts of different positions. And she is a nipple-twiddler, which can be very painful. Sometimes I just want to say, 'I'm not just a breast, there is actually a mummy in here, too.'"

Lisa has had to contend with disapproval and hassle (she expressed at work in the early days, so her daughter could still drink breastmilk during the day). "I try to put her off feeding in public, because you get looks and comments once they start to walk. There have been comments I was meant to overhear: 'That's disgusting'; 'She shouldn't be doing that in here.'" Despite being eight months pregnant, she has continued to feed because her daughter enjoys it. "We hope it will help with jealousy issues," says Lisa. "She'll know that she is still my baby, too." Gaby Jeffs, 38, a video director from Herne Hill, south-east London, also faced opposition to her breastfeeding. Her son, now four, was fed to 13 months. Sitting at the kitchen table on her mum's lap, daughter Elizabeth, three, is still delving around in her mother's shirt looking for "boo-boo", although she gave up feeding a few months ago. Despite this, she is no more clingy than any other three-year-old, and within seconds is distracted, running off to fetch her own baby doll - whom her mother allows her to feed with a bottle, with reservations. ("That is quite extreme of me, isn't it?" says Gaby. "But you can't exactly let a child breastfeed a doll, so I had to give in.") "There were times when my parents were saying, 'This has gone on long enough.'" I got pleurisy and had serious antibiotics when Elizabeth was about 12 months, and you can imagine what everyone said: 'Oh, yes, now is the time to stop.' Also, Elizabeth has had problems with the enamel on her teeth - a gestational problem, it turns out - and the consultant at hospital said, 'Hmm, that's breastmilk for you.' In public, even now if I am carrying Elizabeth, she will put her hand down my top and I get raised eyebrows." As another glamorous militant breastfeeder (she and her mini-me daughter have huge, brown eyes and Louise Brooks bobs), she, too, hopes late feeding is losing its links with the "brown rice brigade".

Anecdotally, at least, there is a suggestion that their numbers could be on the increase. UK-based international lactation consultant Pamela Morrison "strongly suspects" there are a lot of secret late breastfeeders around. Late breastfeeding is like co-sleeping (having your child in your bed), she says - no one likes to admit that they do it. "There is extremely strong cultural pressure to wean an older baby and the pressure becomes more and more intense the older the child, more or less forcing mothers to 'closet-nurse'."

Valerie Goedkoop, 37, was one of these women. A doula and breastfeeding counsellor from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, who until recently ran Breast Friends, a support group, Valerie fed her first baby to eight months and the second to 19 months. "At the time, when I went past a year, I didn't tell anybody. I couldn't be bothered having the criticism. When someone makes a comment, it's often a negative one - which comes from ignorance or guilt. I think there are lots of secret breastfeeders out there. I think people do it in the evenings and don't tell anybody."

Numbers are also likely to be increasing because of birth trends. Nowadays better-educated, middle-class women are giving birth later in life - all factors linked to the uptake and continuation of breastfeeding. Morrison explains: "The baby with the greatest chance of being breastfed to a year appears to have a mother older than 30, who was educated past the age of 18 and lives in south-east England."

Abigail Thompson, 18, from Bolton, Lancashire, mother of Jake, 22 months, and Arabella, seven months, is a rare exception to these statistics. A full-time mum, her partner, Colin Doyle, 22, is the manager of a skip company. She left college at 16 to have her first baby and found out about breastfeeding by surfing the net. "I have never met a mum of my age breastfeeding. The information and support available to young mums is terrible. I had the frequent advice of 'give him a bottle of formula'."

Abigail was recently breastfeeding her daughter outside a cafe in the local precinct and was asked to "go and do that somewhere else". She regrets giving in to "the aggressive advertising of follow-on milk" with her son, and was determined not to let anyone stop her breastfeeding her daughter, whom she is now happy to feed up to the age of four. Everything she knows about breastfeeding comes from the internet — the only other breastfeeding mothers she knows are in cyberspace. She now expresses 5oz every two days for her son ("so at least he'll still get some benefits"), as she notices a direct comparison between her two children - Jake got colds as soon as he went on to formula; Arabella, who has been fed exclusively on breast milk, has never been ill.

Of course, the well-publicised crisis in the breastfeeding world is the small number of women who stick with breastfeeding in the first place, let alone to a year or beyond. In the first week, 69% of babies are breastfed. By the end of two weeks, that figure drops to 52%. After six weeks, it's 42%. At six months — the age at which all babies should, according to government guidelines, remain on breastmilk exclusively — only 21% are still at it. Despite the semi-closeted militant mothers, there is a huge stigma attached to feeding a baby beyond this age. The fact that we are shocked by anyone other than the tiniest of babies suckling a woman's breasts cannot help. The "bitty" sketches in the BBC2 comedy Little Britain, in which actor Geraldine James is seen feeding a fully grown David Walliams and squirting milk everywhere, represent a fear that persists - that breastfeeding is weird, freaky and embarrassing.

It is perhaps because of our bitty-phobic attitude that we lag behind every European country with the exception of Ireland and France. In Norway, for example, according to Rachel Myr, a lactation consultant and midwife at a hospital in Kristiansand, breastfeeding initiation rates are at 95% (compared with the UK's 69%), with 40% of babies still breastfed (along with solids) at one year. In the UK, the rate is less than 13%, and the figures don't even go up to a year. Myr says, "I have worked on a maternity ward for 16 years, and I can't recall ever having met a Norwegian woman who would willingly admit to not having a desire to breastfeed. We never ask them whether they 'want' to breastfeed. It is assumed they do. It would almost be like asking, 'And will you be doing your own perspiring, or have you decided to go with commercial sweat?'"

Longer breastfeeding is the average in developing countries (where five is a normal weaning age) and in certain US outposts. There is extreme and there is extreme. One US survey by breastfeeding guru Kathy Dettwyler suggested that the minimum age for stopping breastfeeding should be two and a half years, and the maximum seven years. Dettwyler's 2004 survey of 1,280 American children who had been breastfed beyond the age of three found that more than 200 children breastfed over the age of five (a few dozen fed to age eight or nine). In 2002, one Illinois mother was investigated by child welfare officials after she was filmed breastfeeding her eight-year-old son on the TV show Good Morning America. (Madonna declared at the time, "That's incest".) For even Britain's most militant breastfeeders, this is beyond the pale: most take the view that a child will self-wean by the age of four.

Morrison argues that our distaste for older breastfeeding is not a given - it's purely cultural and has existed only over the past 50 years: "In a society like we have in the UK, where most babies are breastfed for only a matter of days, weeks or months, we describe breastfeeding beyond one year as 'extended'. On the other hand, if we are thinking in global terms, where most young children continue to breastfeed for two or three years, we would describe most children weaning before that time as 'premature'."

Cultural resistance is slow to break down, however. Vicky Johns, 34, runs a Bosom Buddy network in Blandford Forum, Dorset. She fed her first child to 18 months, her second to the age of three. "Even at breastfeeding support groups, women don't tend to breastfeed the older ones. I was quite embarrassed about extended breastfeeding. It is something that is done in private. It's such a shame." She used to think that, with the breastfeeding awareness initiatives, attitudes were changing, but now she's not sure. "Now that my son has started school - he's four - and I'm back in the real world [with non-breastfeeding mothers], I don't think there has been a change at all. More people have started with breastfeeding, but they're not continuing beyond a few weeks."

The biggest obstacle to making longer-term breastfeeding seem at all normal is that living as these women do is not an option for many mothers. If you want your baby to be exclusively breastfed and you work, you need to spend time expressing milk in your workplace. By choosing to breastfeed your child - especially exclusively, if you want the child to have no other milk until after the age of one - you are effectively choosing to become a stay-at-home mother.

While women are bombarded with messages of the importance of continuing breastfeeding, the support system available to them is shaky: organisations such as the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), La Leche League and the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers are staffed largely by volunteers. The danger of bottle-bashing is a big problem: all the extended breastfeeders are keen to stress that what they do is their choice, and is not for everyone. Gaby Jeffs believes that if breastfeeding for any length of time was considered more normal, there could be an open discussion about the problems with formula versus breastfeeding: "We should be telling people not that breast is best, but that breast is the norm. And the bottle has risks. There is not much information about that tells you the truth - that with formula your baby will be more ill, will see the doctor more often, will have more chance of heart disease and childhood diabetes."

Meanwhile, back in Coventry, after half an hour three-year-old Peri slips off her mother's breast into a deep sleep. Helen Butland laughs when she thinks about her own previous attitudes to parenting. "I used to think full-time mothers were letting down the sisterhood." She herself never intended to breastfeed past three months, and here she is eight lactating years later. "I don't see what I'm doing as altruistic - I just want my children to be happy adults and to fulfil themselves in whatever way they want, and to be independent from me. I think that introducing premature separation is not going to guarantee those things the way this form of mothering does. I would like society to breastfeed like this because I believe it would be a better place — people would be emotionally fulfilled."

· For further information on breastfeeding, contact NCT's
Breastfeeding Helpline, 0870 444 8707; La Leche League, 0845 120 2918;
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, 0870 401 7711.