Family Blog!!

I have neglected my personal blog in favor of updating our new family blog.

The Art of Discipline

Recently I have been engaged in a forum discussion concerning discipline. First, know that my presuppositions are that the application of Scripture’s principles to all areas of life is required to live as a Christian. The term would be theonomy: believing that God gives us an answer for every issue in His Word.

That being said, I have been greatly assisted in the practical application of Proverbs by Michael and Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy Ministries. Please note that I do disagree with some of their other teachings, but on the subjects of discipline and submission I find no fault nor find them to stray from Scripture at all.

My first point is to give the verses oft quoted in defense of my position, and the Hebrew definitions behind them.

Withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. (Prov. 23:13-14 KJV)

Health – Eating, Breathing and Drinking

It’s funny – I was flooded with hilarious (though not at the time!) memories after reading one of my husband’s cousin’s notes on Facebook. She recalls not having sugary cereals or Kraft singles – and remarks at the very end how she is doing the same now that she’s a mom. I recall that I was about 5 before my mother was unable to keep a grain of sugar out of my mouth (a friend gave me a lollipop which I POPPED right in before my mother could take it from me graciously) and how until I was 13, we did not even have actual sugar in our house. I remember eating several odd things over the years:

Tofu burgers (which have the consistency of wallpaper paste)

Tofu Chili (which isn’t that bad, though lacks a good bit of flavor)

Soy Milk (which we now know isn’t so good for us)

Rice Milk (which was runny)

Almond Milk Cheese (I don’t know how to milk an almond but I’m not sure I want to know)

Soy Milk Cheese (which doesn’t melt even when said child attempts to light a fire to it)

Resolutions

Resolutions for 2009:

• 1. Figure out a bit more about my Roth IRA. I don’t get it. I should!
• 2. Read more than a magazine in a month. Writing in my journal and reading a real book should be prerequisites to eating an ice cream sandwich. (And a good excuse to do so! As if I need one….)
• 3. Write more frequently on my blog – that’s what they’re for, right?
• 4. Update my resume, which hasn’t been touched in nearly 2 years. I’ve managed to add quite a bit to my repertoire of “can-do.”

Parent Proverbs

All’s well that ends in a nap.

All that glitters is not a Disney princess costume.

Once bitten, twice afraid to go on a play date.

And my favorite:

A binky in hand is worth two under the car seat.

I think I could come up with a few more like:

When baby sleeps, let not dog see neighbor children.

A penny saved is a penny baby’s now earned.

A change in time saves nine squirts of pre-wash stain remover….

Ok anyway.

Thanksgiving Day – Feast and Family

Thanksgiving Day is in just 2 weeks approximately, and I have to say that I am looking forward to being this year’s host for Joe’s family.

Hopefully I won’t age quite that much in the process of doing so….

I don’t have a hard time being thankful all year, but I must admit that as the chill fall air strikes the world around me and the wind swirls colorful leaves across the road of my life – I tend to take a little more thought into the general goodness I have been blessed with and become a little more aware of just how much I have to be thankful for, especially this past year: 2008.

1. I celebrated a year of marriage.

2. We visited one of the most amazing historical sites in the country, Williamsburg.

3. We still have 5 days of vacation left over.

4. We have the most beautiful, fun, enjoyable baby I’ve ever known. (Slightly biased, I’m aware…)

Christmas is in the air

Christmas is in the air!  We took Reese to Portrait Innovations and then promptly spent way too much money on photos because they were so darn good.  She was laughing her head off and talking and we got some really great shots…..irresistable.  They’re posted on Facebook, for those of you who read this and not that (which highly probably is very few if any….).

My little munchkin has had a slight cold the past week – probably caught from her daddy. She’s fine except her nose is stuffy and requires much cleaning out every day.  Other than that you’d never know.  She’s as happy as can be and currently standing and sitting while holding on to me while I type.  Maybe I should hold on to her….

Hospitality

We had some folks over for supper last night which was really fun! I’m working on getting over my inhibitions to hospitality which have been: Our house is not exactly built for large groups. Our table seats 4 comfortably, not 8. Our living room seats 6. We have 4 plates that match. 6 glasses that match. A tight meal budget that doesn’t allow for “fancy” food. So I did spaghetti (and yes, I threw some of it out because I got it on sale anyway and made way too much of it……), we ate off mismatched plates and cups while our plastic 6 foot table from the wedding and our regular table made their way into the living room, where the guys talked and the gals gathered on the master bed. And you know? It was great fun and good conversation abounded. We have another round of dinner guests on Nov. 7 and we’re working our way around the office. Anyway – a hospitable home is a happy one. I’ve always known that. I’m glad to be able to start working on being one!

My child now groweth

My little baby is 14 some pounds now, growing like a little weed and has begun burbling at me, then cackles at whatever she is burbling about.  It is quite a fun stage in life.

I feel extremely tired.  Not sure why, because she’s pretty much sleeping all through the night or at the very least, almost all through.  We go to bed at 10 and get up around 6 or 7 depending on what day it is, and most days she sleeps from 9pm til about 6 – sometimes gets up at 4:30 to eat.  But I am literally about to fall over dead asleep almost all the time.  Yet when I try to take a nap, I can’t.

I’ve read two great things lately which I will share.

1 from Money magazine: People seem to forget around about every 4 years that the man elected will have less to do with the big decisions/changes than this little thing called Congress…..thank you, people!  I am so sick of people acting like whichever is elected will make SUCH a huge difference.  You’re more likely to get “different” if you try worrying a little bit more about your local judges and politicians and then your state representatives.  The city of Griffin, for instance, is run by horribly corrupt politicians.  Yet the people are more concerned with who owns the title “Mr. President” because in their deluded little minds they really believe that THIS time it WILL be different than LAST time…..and the time before…..and the time before….  Yes.  I am a realist and not a pessimist.

2 from Parenting magazine: Ignore the common “rule” of not worrying about the housework when you have a baby around.  Reality is that falling into a state of chaos does not help a new mom’s stress level.  AMEN!  I’m kind of sick of that advice, actually.  That and sleep when the baby sleeps because as I just said, I can’t get to sleep on the drop of a pin.  My body clock says to be awake during the day regardless of how much I wish my bodyclock would go on daylight savings time or something.  lol

I remembered a third thing of interest.  There’s such a thing as a Jane Austen Society.  Guess what I will not be joining?  :-p

Quack Doctors

First, research and other pediatricians have stated that a bilirubin level under 12 on the first day after birth and under 15 on the second day after birth is completely fine and NORMAL. 

Reese had a 9 on the first day, a 10 on the second day.

Also, hospital paperwork itself states that breastfed babies lose up to 10% of their birth weight within the first 72 hours and that this is NORMAL.

Reese had lost 7%.

Stephen Carter was our attending pediatrician. Word to the wise – if you think the dr. you want goes to that hospital because the hospital says he does, check with the dr. so you’re not stuck with the pediatrician that comes in who may or may not be an idiot and a quack…..

Ok. Carter wouldn’t let us go home the first day when she was a 9 saying that was a dangerously high level for a baby and that her 7% birth weight loss was dangerous and scary too. He talked to us for like 10 minutes about how she could have brain damage and that we had to put her under bilirubin lights.

Bilirubin lights are medieval torture instruments. When a baby is most vulnerable (first 2 days after birth) and need warmth and swaddling and cuddling, our poor baby was instead required to be naked under bright lights, thus also requiring her to have a scratchy mitt over her eyes that was too big and thus she was always pushing it off. I will hold that guy personally responsible if she goes blind from UV ray damage at 10!

He almost wouldn’t let us go home the second day, stating that because her bilirubin level was rising, she was very dangerous and needed to be monitored by a doctor at the hospital. We pushed back because I had called someone who told me what the true concerning levels were, and he came back and said we could go home IF they could get us bilirubin lights to come home with us. We had to stay an additional 5 hours in the hospital while they attempted to find us these lights – but the insurance company wouldn’t pay for them because her level was not a dangerous one thus the lights were not required.

So we finally get home, and the only requirement is we have to get an additional bilirubin test the next day to make sure she’s ok.

Guess what?

First, we get a bill from the insurance company for “partial” payment for the two additional bilirubin tests. Why? Because they were not required tests because she was not in a dangerous position at all. Basically we were just curious to see what her level was and that’s why we had two more tests done. (By the way, just ask what it feels like to stand in a room while a nurse uses a razor to cut open your baby’s foot and then squeezes on it for 10-15 minutes trying to get blood out while your 2 day old baby cries piteously.)

Second, the hospital sends us more bills to pay for the remainder of those bilirubin tests (so we’re paying 100%) because the insurance company now claims that these were to go under Reese’s account which meant another $1,500 deductible, even though she supposedly is under my account with my already paid $1,500 deductible…..

Third, the quack doctor who put us through all this and caused us another $400 in costs, sends us a bill for $50, which is the cost of his two visits to us.

Add in that I’ve been on the phone with the insurance company for 2 hours and 27 minutes about one situation or another, waited at the hospital for over 30 minutes two different times for those additional tests, the additional 29 hours we had to be at the hospital, the two torturing tests done to my poor baby, and the horrible lights she had to endure.

ALL because one doctor out of the whole bunch needed an adventure and think that her perfectly normal self was dangerous. 

Oh yes, and when I complained heftily that day I was told we could go home IF we signed a release saying we were leaving against medical advice (which is an immediate insurance won’t pay one penny situation).

Lovely?

Stay away from Stephen Carter! He is the reason I will never go to a hospital for a birth. It is also a sign to me that I should have listened to my intuition and my research and ignored the “free” hospital birth option and simply gone with a midwife at home.