Working on me.

I need to make some major changes in my life.
There are personal issues I need to work on, like Jorge and I, and others like how the heck I'm going to support two kids and just working on my personality; I want to be friendlier, someone people want to spend time with. I've been reading plenty of self-help blogs lately- not to try to fix myself, but more to learn how to simplify my life. While reading these, I came across a few really inspiring posts that I wanted to share! Maybe if I'm ever having a rough day I can just look at these and get up and want to feel good again. :)

The first is a post from Becoming Minimalist. I'm not the biggest fan of the title.. I definitely don't think these things are important so you can "impress others", but I do think this is a great post anyway.

Some of my favorite parts were:

3. Be Optimistic. Always, always, always focus on the good aspects of people and situations. Sometimes you have to look harder than others, but you’ll always be glad you did.

8. Appreciate Different Opinions. While there is nothing wrong with being dogmatic in your beliefs, a healthy appreciation of how others came to theirs is definitely an impressive quality.

9. Love Your Life. Don’t fall into the trap of living life like everyone else. Avoid television and consumerism. Embrace your passions and find enjoyment in your life. The people around you will be impressed… and jealous.

3. Being optimistic is a tough one for me. If I don't see things going right.. I assume they're going wrong. I tend to put things off and say yeah it'll be fine.. so I guess that could be considered optimistic.. But I always know deep down that in the end since I'm putting it off I'm basically screwing myself so that's not really being optimistic ha.

8. Appreciating different opinions is a huuuuge one for me. Jorge and I have been fighting a lot lately, & I believe this is because we are just so different. We come from two completely different cultures and nothing about us is the same. I have a really hard time appreciating anything he does for Betsey because it's not the same way I would do it. This is wrong and I know that, but I just want things to be done the same.. I want my kids to be used to things being done one way, and I want him to put things away where they belong, and I want him to believe what I believe, and talk the way I do............ We are just so different. :(

9. Wow, I don't even know how to love my life anymore. In fact, I don't know how to do pretty much anything on that entire list! I want to print it out and tape it on every wall of my apartment so I can practice it because it amazes me how much I have forgotten how to be a nice, happy person who loves her life. It says embrace my passions. Well my passion would be my baby! Really she is the only think I can think of that I care about anymore. Finding the best way possible to raise my babies. Which to me right now is finding another job. Hopefully one that will pay a decent wage so that I don't have to work too much so that I still have time with my babies! Gosh being a mom is freakin harddddd. Once I can pay my bills and I know I am taking care of my family, while still getting to spend time with them and doing fun things, I guess that's loving life!? WOW, how the heck am I going to do that?

Okay, here's the next post. It's from zenhabits, I'll do the same and add some of my favorites from the post (There are quite a bit. There are 72 in this list compared to the 15 in the last..)

6. Learn to say no. This is actually one of the key habits for those trying to simplify their lives. If you can’t say no, you will take on too much. Article here.

8. Limit your media consumption. This tip won’t be for everyone, so if media consumption is important to you, please skip it (as with any of the other tips). However, I believe that the media in our lives — TV, radio, Internet, magazines, etc. — can come to dominate our lives. Don’t let it. Simplify your life and your information consumption by limiting it. Try a media fast.

11. Edit your rooms. One room at a time, go around the room and eliminate the unnecessary. Act as a newspaper editor, trying to leave only the minimum, and deleting everything else. Article here.

31. Learn to live frugally. Living frugally means buying less, wanting less, and leaving less of a footprint on the earth. It’s directly related to simplicity. Here are 50 tips on how to live frugally.

36. Learn what “enough” is. Our materialistic society today is about getting more and more, with no end in sight. Sure, you can get the latest gadget, and more clothes and shoes. More stuff. But when will you have enough? Most people don’t know, and thus they keep buying more. It’s a neverending cycle. Get off the cycle by figuring out how much is enough. And then stop when you get there.

38. Eat healthy. It might not be obvious how eating healthy relates to simplicity, but think about the opposite: if you eat fatty, greasy, salty, sugary, fried foods all the time, you are sure to have higher medical needs over the long term. We could be talking years from now, but imagine frequent doctor visits, hospitalization, going to the pharmacist, getting therapy, having surgery, taking insulin shots … you get the idea. Being unhealthy is complicated. Eating healthy simplifies all of that greatly, over the long term. Read about how to simplify your eating habits.

51. Live life more deliberately. Do every task slowly, with ease, paying full attention to what you’re doing. For more, see Peaceful Simplicity: How to Live a Life of Contentment.

57. Go for quality, not quantity. Try not to have a ton of stuff in your life … instead, have just a few possessions, but ones that you really love, and that will last for a long time.

58. Read Simplify Your Life, by Elaine St. James. One of my favorite all-time authors on simplicity. Read my review here.

6. I am happy to say that I am finally learning to say no in my life. I have been totally being used in my job by one woman and when I finally spoke up to her, it may have lessened my hours, if not completely destroyed them, but at least I won't be wasting my whole summer working for someone who is totally using me!
8. Limiting my media consumption is kinda a tough one but important. I am doing this already a little, mostly because I can't afford a cable bill ha. I would like to lower the amount of time I spend on my iphone everyday though. It kind of takes over my life sometimes!
11. I have done this already. But I think it could be something that I do every few months, at least every 6 months. I already want to do it again even though I've brought hardly anything new into the apartment, I just feel like I still have too much that I don't use.
31. Buying less is easy when you're broke like me ha. Wanting less is getting easier when you start reading blogs like these and realize that you don't really need any of this stuff that you go shopping for every other day. Leaving less of a footprint can be tough at first because it takes a little while to acquire these things, like reusable grocery bags, so you don't have to continue using disposables.
36. This is kind of the same as the last one, learning what enough is reminds me of myself when I got my settlement money from my car accident. All I wanted to do when I had all those thousands of dollars at first was go shopping! I had everything I needed already, but I still wanted to go shopping everyday because I had the money. Yikes.
38.  Eating healthy is just a good tip all around. Being healthier and curing yourself of all these crazy diseases naturally, which yes, I do believe you can do my eating healthily, is an amazing way to live simply and avoid problems in the future.
51. This one is a little confusing to me, I think it means having a goal and not rushing crazily everyday to reach this goal, but doing everything on purpose, calmly in order to reach your goal. Wow, now that I've written this out, it makes a lot more sense to me! It sounds like common sense doesn't it? Something that everyone would want to do. But dang, if you don't slow down and really think about this, you're not going to do it; you're not going to stop doing 10 things at once and rushing to get to your goal. Wow.
57. Another thing I'm really working on. I haven't been shopping much lately, but when I do, I am trying to avoid the dollar section so that when I get something I absolutely need, I will get something that will last. That is something I never really thought about. I'd get a few things in the dollar section at a time because it's cheap and of course it's cheap and would break so I'd have to replace it a few months later. I'm soooo sick of that! Clothes too. I need to ditch Forever 21 and their holey clothes and start checking out Gap's sale racks more often.
58. I love reading. I have been doing a ton of it online recently and also I'm reading George Orwell's 1984 whenever I have the time, but this sounds like a good book!! Maybe I'll flip through the pages at Barnes & Noble one day :)


There are so many more posts that have inspired me lately but I don't have the time right now to find them.. Maybe I'll add some links later to some good ones. :)



  Edit:
Found one! How to want less. Awesome, awesome awesome.
Here's another. It's more of a reference to other posts.. but still great!

update on us :)

I've been writing a lot lately on what I've been reading and learning about & forgetting to update on my family! So here are some recent pictures of me & my babies. :)

1- I just realized I never put an announcement up when we found out it was a girl!! :O I'm already 17 weeks along, & we found out way early, at 13 weeks at my high risk OB. They were awesome, she was very positive about it being a girl. I was so excited! Jorge was upset for a few hours ha.. but oh well! We needed a girl, we can't afford to buy all new boy stuff right now. This was definitely a blessing :)

2- She made this absolutely HILARIOUS face a ton of times when her dad would feed her! I think it was because he was making a choo choo noise when he would put the spoon to her mouth then laugh everytime, so she would laugh.. I don't know, but it was soooo damn funny!!

3- Betsey's [adorable] evil face... she was ever so slowly inching her hand toward her bow to pull it out while watching me fake cry and smiling the whole time.... brat. Haha.

4- Finally sleeping at my friend's baby shower! She was sooo exhausted afte watching everyone and everything for the first couple hours but refused to miss a second. Finally I got her to sleep and thought I would get a break, but once I laid her down in her car seat I felt so empty without a baby in my arms, I had to go steal someone else's baby! It's so funny how much I've changed in the last few years..

1-Yvonne and Jorge on her 19th birthday. :) Yvonne is Jorge's only sister; Betsey's only aunt on that side of the family! They have a tradition of grabbing a ridiculous amount of cake as soon as they blow out the candles and smearing it all over the face of the birthday person! I think it's crazy, but they have fun! This time Jorge did it to Yvonne and she wasn't having it, she did it right back haha..
2- Jorge being silly! :)
3- This is pretty much our daily routine now when I try to put Betsey down for a nap if she's not already exhausted.... FUN. Mommy-jungle-gym.
4- God she's beautiful. <3 & those are still the only teeth she has ha.. She'll be one in exactly two weeks, but I'm not complaining. Not only do I love seeing her cute gummy smile, but I don't really want her biting my nipples!

1- Betsey being naughty. She likes to shovel all her food onto her lap now........ I go "noooooo" and she starts shaking her head and smiling really big like this. :/ Also, she hates peas. I tried to give them another try that night and she practically started gagging! So dramatic for a 11 month old.

2- The view from my mom's kitchen window of her new apartment......... & YES, that's the back of my car. Parked in MY spot. Of MY apartment. That I've lived in for like SIX months. UGH.

3- Finally started reading George Orwell's 1984. I've had it for a few years, I think I picked it up before I got on a plane but didn't end up reading it. Then I heard them talking about it on Natural News Radio the other day & I was like hey! I have that book! So while I was at work the other day I started reading it. Very interesting so far.....

4- Betsey being such a good big sister & looking through the baby name book. I think she wanted to help me pick out her little sister's name. ;)

1- This was taken a few days ago, but today I'm 17 weeks and 1 day pregnant!! It's going by soooo fast. I feel a little bad that I'm not paying so much attention to this pregnancy than I was when I was pregnant with Betsey, but I think I have an excuse-- I didn't have an almost one year old keeping me so busy back then! I am eating healthy and doing the best I can. :)
2- Betsey being a big freakin kid and standing all by herself!! She is starting to walk already too, but I haven't gotten any decent pictures of her taking steps.. It's hard with my phone because she's so damn fast haha.
3- She gets so comfy back there. :) I can't wear her on the front anymore because my belly's getting too big.. I just realized I'll probably never wear her on the front again! :''''( But at least she's good back there, she falls asleep when we take nice long walks. I looove babywearing. <3
4- My strawberries! I suck big time at gardening so these are a big accomplishment! Now if only I hadn't taken the big one off too early. :/ It was still sour and I had to throw it away. It sure was pretty though!!

Good stuff!

Just want to update and share some of what I've been reading about, listening to, & websites I'm enjoying right now.  :)

-First, I am absolutely LOVING listening to Natural News Radio! More specifically, I'm loving the Robert Scott Bell Show. I'm learning soo much about vaccines and other diseases, even politics sometimes. They just have an awesome show! They talk about the most interesting, sometimes controversial topics and it's great!

The whole Natural News site is also very informational, & they have the super helpful site naturalpedia.com that helps you find a book that is just what you're looking for.

-Sanevax.org is another great website. Lots of into on HPV.

-I am also a little obsessed with my Netflix account. :) Here is my Instant Queue.. I haven't seen most, this is just where I organize all the ones I want to watch in the near future.

 

haha, I think it's pretty obvious why Yo Gabba Gabba is on this list.. :) 

Also, the documentary on Burzynski is reeaaally good.

 

Yeah, long list! But what can I say... Netflix is doing a good job of keeping us staring at the screen. :/

-Following pages is another great way I've gotten lots of information. I've been stocking up my liked pages for a while now, I think I'll just number my favorites! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

-Something I can't get too excited about right now, since I'm nowhere near Chicago, but will be definitely going to when it comes back to Long Beach in February is the Health Freedom Expo! Tons of amazing speakers & booths & people who all want to know the same stuff I do. Ahhhhh I wish it were February already! Robert Scott Bell keeps talking about how he's going to Chicago soon for this & I couldn't be more jealous.

Patience.......

-This vaccine seminar on Webseed is soooo tempting! If only I had $40 to spare right now.... :|

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest— but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic." John F. Kennedy 

 & that's exactly what doctors and drug companies are doing nowadays, telling myths (and lies). They can be quite persistent and persuasive but that's why I'm doing all this research, so I can be prepared for them and keep my family as healthy as possible! 

"Symptom free in the presence of drugs is not health."

-Dr. Sherri Tenpenney

Okay that's enough for now! I'm going to go take my poor dog on a walk and maybe go to the park with my baby! I've been online all morning. :/

unwilling to learn

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” -Benjamin Franklin

 

I find myself getting awfully frustrated lately with people around me that just don't want to learn about what's going on around them. Some will listen, few will really become interested, but most just hear what I'm saying and let it go right out the other ear. I don't really understand this.. I guess people just have to be at a time in their life where they to want to learn things on their own. It seems to me that most adults have already reached that, but not all. I am having a hard time not shoving every bit of information I learn down people's throats; I just want them to know what's going on so that they can protect themselves! But I need to remember that not everyone wants to hear it. This is tough for me, but if I continue throwing this stuff at them, soon they will begin to ignore everything I have to say and I don't want that...

Gardasil.

 

Mike Adams

 

Dr. Tenpenney

Everyday I find myself reading more and more articles/blogs online on different subjects. Finding out new information and gaining knowledge has never been so entertaining to me in the past.. I'm glad it is now though! I have learned so much in the last year and I wouldn't be the mom I am now without having learned so much.

Right now I'm in the middle of researching the vaccine Gardasil. This all began earlier tonight when I saw this post on Facebook. It takes you to this article, but it also says that she thinks the article should have mentioned how Gardasil has devastating effects on the reproductive systems of both little boys and girls. I read the article and the comments, there was some interesting stuff! I have already learned about the one-child policy in China. The author talks about how "the elites" love China's laws and wish we could do some major population controlling here. It says we are their number one problem.. I don't really want to go into detail on the rest of the article, you should read it! However, I do want to talk about some of the comments that were made on that original Facebook post I read. This is one person's comment, "I've been trying to tell my family for 2 years now to NEVER give this vaccine for the same reason....they want us to stop re-producing. I wonder if in 10 years or so when all these young women are unable to get pregnant if they will ever connect those dots. But it will be too late by then." Another comment, "speaking of Dr. T, the slogan for Gardasil is "one less girl" which proves they are being up front about "their" intentions."  Wow, these comments really got my mind going. I was a little upset when I realized what has been going on right in front of my eyes. I felt even more upset when I remembered, probably a year-year and a half ago, trying to get my mom to have my sister's vaccinated. :( I had heard somewhere that once they have sex, it's too late to protect them. I thought it was a good idea, I'm now glad my mom didn't do it! I had no idea what I was talking about.

Here are more articles on this topic. This info is GOOD. I highly recommend checking out each one.

-Gardasil HPV Vaccine Hoax Exposed In FDA's Own Words  VIDEO. "Didn't anyone tell them, little boys don't have a cervix?" Haha.. wait, not funny..

-"The World Health Organization (WHO) and its subsidiaries have been actively researching and funding the development of contraceptive / anti-fertility vaccines that prevent full-term pregnancies to take place, for over 20 years."
-Gardasil May Be Causing the Cancer It Pretends to Prevent

-How Gardasil is Being Used to Reduce Population Control This guy has it all figured out! This is just audio and really easy to listen to while you're reading the other stuff on here :) or browsing facebook if you need a little break. But really, you should listen to it!

-Girl Rejects Gardasil, Loses Path to Citizenship.. Wow, they're doing a swell job of making sure the immigrants don't come here and make more biracial babies.. :O 
-"But the meaning of those words will not be one less victim of cervical cancer, but perhaps one less citizen who has the right to choose."

-"Say No To Vaccinations" VIDEO by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny

-ONE MORE GIRL Documentary. Appears to be a work in progress, I'll be checking up on this later!
- "Vaccines and even staple food crops have been modified to achieve these goals" Food crops.. that's the first I've read of this, but I don't doubt it.

The more I read, the more I am afraid for my life, I'm not even kidding. I'm going to sound like my grandma here and go ahead and say the government is really trying to kill us off. Freakin scary. I never thought I would believe such things. I don't know why they think they have the right to decide how many people are on the planet, but it makes me sick. :( Well, I know that they think it's for the greater good of everyone, but it's still not their right to be making those types of decisions in my opinion. So until I find a way that I can have a greater impact on all of this, I guess I'll just keep making blog posts about it and sharing the info with as many people as possible! We can try to get "one less" person vaccinated with this disgusting stuff.

EDIT: I'm a little upset right now because I know all this insane stuff about Gardasil and the effects from this specific vaccine and others, yet when a friend of mine told me today she has already gotten the Gardasil shot "because her family has a high risk of cervical cancer", I fell completely blank on what to say. I know from what I've learned that the Gardasil shot is not going to prevent cervical cancer, but I didn't want to say the wrong thing at that time. So I figured I'd come back here, add more links for her and send her this way. I hope I'm doing the right thing! :)

-HPV does NOT cause Cervical Cancer- Great site with lots of evidence. Probably too much for anyone to read, but if you're really interested you might find this to be a really good one!!

-Physician speaks out: Gardasil vaccine dangerous, completely useless at preventing cervical cancer.

-More, more, more, more & more stories from Gardasil victims. Pretty freakin unbelievable that dr's are still giving this out after all of these injuries & deaths! Not just a coincidence people...

-Sanevax also has a section of stories and lots more info!! 

-Here is Audrey Kitching's scary Gardasil story. I also grabbed this from her story; it's some of the ingredients in the Gardasil shot. :/

Some of the ingrdeients of this shot are listed below.

Gardasil vaccine ingredients include amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, sodium chloride (table salt), L-histidine, polysorbate 80, sodium borate, (roach killer), and water for injection.

Polysorbate 80 injected into prepubescent rats caused a rapid growth of reproductive organs, but growth was abnormal and the rats were sterile, unable to have children. When used intravenously with vitamins it has been known to cause anaphylactic shock. According to the Polysorbate 80 MSDS, it may be a carcinogenic, (cause cancer), as well as a mutagenic, (birth defects).

Sodium Borate is a dangerous poison. Two of the medical uses of the past were for disinfecting wounds, until people started dying from repeated cleaning), and cleaning nurseries, (until too many babies started dying) Side effects of Roach killer,  Sodium borate are vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, blisters, collapse, coma, convulsions, drowsiness, fever, lack of desire to do anything, low blood pressure, decreased urine output, sloughing of the skin, twitching of facial muscles, arms, hands, legs, and feet.

Gardasil contains 225 cmg of aluminum in each shot. There are 3 injections in each vaccine that is 675cmg of aluminum. Do you understand how toxic that is alone without all the other ingredients.  

Now, what can you do if you've already gotten the vaccine and you're worried about the effects? If you read the above links to victim's stories, you may have seen that many started detoxifying their bodies with different cleanses. I've read that many holistic doctors recommend a heavy metal detox. You can also easily cleanse with your body with good food! Cilantro is known to bind with heavy metals and help detoxify. Here is a list I put together of more things people are using to detoxify themselves/their families against this harmful vaccine.

-Gluten-free diet

-Lots of bottled or distilled water

-No sugars, no high fructose corn syrup

-No dairy

-Nothing containing aluminum

-Chorella- binds onto toxic metals in your system,

-Zeolite- binds onto particularly aluminium (one of the most potent aluminium eliminators) cage it in your system, prevent reaborption (which is important) Doing a detox along with this will help to speed up the digestive system & eliminate this stuff from your system. 

-Extra vitamins: B12, multivitamin, fish-oil/castor oil type of supplement, vitamin B and C.


What can you do to actually prevent getting cervical cancer? 
-Get a regular Pap smear!
 

 

I hope everyone takes this information seriously and that it opens your eyes to some of the lies from Dr's (well we can give them the benefit of the doubt and say most just don't know, but some do) and the pharmaceutical companies. This shot is especially bad, but this vaccine is not the only one we need to avoid. Maybe one of these days I'll do a post about another specific vaccine, like the flu shot or something.. If you know anyone who is thinking about getting the Gardasil vaccine, please feel free to send them here!

perfect day at the beach

Jorge, Betsey & I went on a spur of the moment trip to Oceanside yesterday! It was sooo fun. We brought plenty of food, my iphone for pictures, the jogging stroller and we were set! We spent hours walking up and down the beach collecting shells and rocks, mostly shells.. We're going to try to make a shell windchime type thing. :)

 

 

I adore my family. ♥ I can't wait until #2 is here. I feel bad calling her #2, but we just can't agree on a name yet!! Jorge keeps calling her Sor Juana.... annoying haha.
While I'm thinking of names, these are some I have on my mind lately.. (no middle name ideas yet)
-Berlyn
-Beverly
-Jane
& of course Jorge doesn't approve of any.. but we'll see what happens!! :)



Also, the other day I had the best time creating my first Treasury List on Etsy. I am kind of using this as list of things I'll need for the new baby since I already have basically everything I will need and for the things I do need to get, I want to get mostly natural & organic products. Check out my treasury list and some of the awesome sellers!

 click!

Is nursing longer than a year beneficial?

I'm pretty sure by now everyone has seen the new Time Magazine cover with the mom breastfeeding her three year old. It has definitely racked up quite a bit of comments on Facebook, both good and bad. I haven't had a chance to read the whole article yet, but from what I've already read, it looks to me like the author didn't quite make attachment parenting sound all that great. I'll have to pick up the magazine one of these days and take a look.

I've had a few conversations with some people close to me that happen to be on the "bad" side of the topic of  extended breastfeeding. They believe there is nothing beneficial to nursing past one year and that it can even be labeled as "incestuous". :/ I thought that was a bit extreme, especially since I am only still breastfeeding an eleven month old. But I have no intention on stopping just because she's going to be one in a month. I did plan on weaning when I found out I was pregnant, but it never happened and it is just not a priority. (La Leche League's page on tandem nursing has been helpful for me, as I'm not sure if I will still be breastfeeding Betsey or not when baby #2 gets here.)

One of the pictures from the Time Magazine shoot.. I'm thinking if they had used a different picture, there might be a slightly less people complaining that the boy can already go and get his own glass of milk.. That's advertising though!

I've decided that since I am always alone on my side of the conversation, pro extended-breastfeeding, and have never really done the research to back up my decision to continue breastfeeding. I have always felt that it's my decision to continue doing what I'm doing, and as long as Betsey and I are happy and healthy, why not? I didn't care to have to explain myself to anyone, but I am curious now and would like to have some facts to back myself up, so it's time to do some research.

Everything in pink, I grabbed directly from this page on Kellymom.com. This page has a TON of info and references.

• Although there has been little research done on children who breastfeed beyond the age of two, the available information indicates that breastfeeding continues to be a valuable source of nutrition and disease protection for as long as breastfeeding continues.

• “Human milk expressed by mothers who have been lactating for >1 year has significantly increased fat and energy contents, compared with milk expressed by women who have been lactating for shorter periods. During prolonged lactation, the fat energy contribution of breast milk to the infant diet might be significant.”
  — Mandel 2005

• “Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins.”
  — Dewey 2001

• In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
  • 29% of energy requirements
  • 43% of protein requirements
  • 36% of calcium requirements
  • 75% of vitamin A requirements
  • 76% of folate requirements
  • 94% of vitamin B12 requirements
  • 60% of vitamin C requirements
  — Dewey 2001

• Studies done in rural Bangladesh have shown that breastmilk continues to be an important source of vitamin A in the second and third year of life.
  — Persson 1998

• The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that children weaned before two years of age are at increased risk of illness (AAFP 2001).

• Nursing toddlers between the ages of 16 and 30 months have been found to have fewer illnesses and illnesses of shorter duration than their non-nursing peers (Gulick 1986).

• “Antibodies are abundant in human milk throughout lactation” (Nutrition During Lactation 1991; p. 134). In fact, some of the immune factors in breastmilk increase in concentration during the second year and also during the weaning process. (Goldman 1983, Goldman & Goldblum 1983, Institute of Medicine 1991).

• Per the World Health Organization, “a modest increase in breastfeeding rates could prevent up to 10% of all deaths of children under five: Breastfeeding plays an essential and sometimes underestimated role in the treatment and prevention of childhood illness.” [emphasis added]

• Many studies have shown that one of the best ways to prevent allergies and asthma is to breastfeed exclusively for at least 6 months and continue breastfeeding long-term after that point. Breastfeeding can be helpful for preventing allergy by:
  
  1. reducing exposure to potential allergens (the later baby is exposed, the less likely that there will be an allergic reaction),
  2. speeding maturation of the protective intestinal barrier in baby’s gut,
  3. coating the gut and providing a barrier to potentially allergenic molecules,
  4. providing anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the risk of infections (which can act as allergy triggers).

• Extensive research on the relationship between cognitive achievement (IQ scores, grades in school) and breastfeeding has shown the greatest gains for those children breastfed the longest.

• According to Sally Kneidel in “Nursing Beyond One Year” (New Beginnings, Vol. 6 No. 4, July-August 1990, pp. 99-103.):
  
  “Research reports on the psychological aspects of nursing are scarce. One study that dealt specifically with babies nursed longer than a year showed a significant link between the duration of nursing and mothers’ and teachers’ ratings of social adjustment in six- to eight-year-old children (Ferguson et al, 1987). In the words of the researchers, ‘There are statistically significant tendencies for conduct disorder scores to decline with increasing duration of breastfeeding.’”

• According to Elizabeth N. Baldwin, Esq. in “Extended Breastfeeding and the Law”:
  “Breastfeeding is a warm and loving way to meet the needs of toddlers and young children. It not only perks them up and energizes them; it also soothes the frustrations, bumps and bruises, and daily stresses of early childhood. In addition, nursing past infancy helps little ones make a gradual transition to childhood.”

• Baldwin continues: “Meeting a child’s dependency needs is the key to helping that child achieve independence. And children outgrow these needs according to their own unique timetable.” Children who achieve independence at their own pace are more secure in that independence then children forced into independence prematurely.

• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that “Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child… Increased duration of breastfeeding confers significant health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother… There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.” (AAP 2005)

• The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that breastfeeding continue throughout the first year of life and that “As recommended by the WHO, breastfeeding should ideally continue beyond infancy, but this is not the cultural norm in the United States and requires ongoing support and encouragement. It has been estimated that a natural weaning age for humans is between two and seven years. Family physicians should be knowledgeable regarding the ongoing benefits to the child of extended breastfeeding, including continued immune protection, better social adjustment, and having a sustainable food source in times of emergency. The longer women breastfeed, the greater the decrease in their risk of breast cancer.” They also note that “If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned.” (AAFP 2008)

• A US Surgeon General has stated that it is a lucky baby who continues to nurse until age two. (Novello 1990)

• The World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of nursing up to two years of age or beyond (WHO 1993, WHO 2002).

• Scientific research by Katherine A. Dettwyler, PhD shows that 2.5 to 7.0 years of nursing is what our children have been designed to expect (Dettwyler 1995). 

Another picture from the Time Magazine shoot. Would have made a more appropriate cover photo if you ask me..

MOTHERS also benefit from breastfeeding past infancy

• Extended nursing delays the return of fertility in some women by suppressing ovulation.

• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer. Studies have found a significant inverse association between duration of lactation and breast cancer risk.

• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of ovarian cancer.

• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of uterine cancer.

• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of endometrial cancer.

• Breastfeeding protects against osteoporosis. During lactation a mother may experience decreases of bone mineral. A nursing mom’s bone mineral density may be reduced in the whole body by 1 to 2 percent while she is still nursing. This is gained back, and bone mineral density may actually increase, when the baby is weaned from the breast. This is not dependent on additional calcium supplementation in the mother’s diet.

• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

• Breastfeeding has been shown to decrease insulin requirements in diabetic women.

• Breastfeeding moms tend to lose weight easier. 

Another picture from the Time Magazine shoot.

Everything in purple is from this site.

Breastfeeding for at least one year has been associated with better oral development due to the unique sucking action required with nursing at the breast. There is also evidence that extended breastfeeding results in earlier reading in boys and fewer speech problems.

The closeness of nursing enhances the child's relationship with his mother and provides a sense of stability during a time of rapid growth and development.

Another picture from the Time Magazine shoot

Handling criticism from friends and family is apparently a very common thing for those who decide to breastfeed their children longer than a year. Dr. Sears and La Leche League have given some great advice.

Reformatting my Macbook..

So this morning I had my second appointment at the apple store. After I did the safe boot the other day, my computer ran just fine for about 24 hours, then decided to lose connection again and the exact same thing it had been doing. :/
So I finally made my appointment with the genius bar. I went in the next day and told the guy what was going on. His recommendation to me was to completely wipe out my computer and start fresh, like when I first bought it! He said it was more than likely a software problem (instead of a hardware problem) because it happens intermittently. His suggestion was that I take my computer back home that night, run time machine and back up everything onto my external hard drive so that when I go back the next morning we can easily put back the things I need.
Now I was a little nervous about this for a few reasons, but I also had some reasons to be excited about this change!

Pros
-this would more than likely fix my internet problem
-I have a 120gb hard drive on my computer that has 8gb left. I would get sooo much space back!
-just be able to start fresh, no more junk on here that I don't use and don't know how to delete.

Cons
-I could lose Microsoft office because I don't have the installation disc anymore. :(
-I learned that night that backing up my computer to my hard drive with time machine would have erased everything I had on it already (thousands of pictures/files) I would have to do it manually.

I decided I needed to do this even though I was worried about losing Microsoft Office, especially Word, so I started doing my research online about what people do when they lose their installation discs. After a few minutes, I found a number to call to get a replacement disc on their website! I called immediately and told the guy my problem. We went ahead and got everything all set before he told me that it was going to cost me $30! I was pretty upset about that.. I know this stuff is expensive, but I really can't afford that right now.. I asked if their was anything else I could do so I could keep my stuff without having to pay so much, and he put me on hold for a little while. When he came back he told me he was able to waive the fees for me! I was soooo happy! So now my only worry was time machine.

I did as much research as I could and no matter what, because I hadn't already programmed my hard drive to use time machine, it would need to erase everything. :( I was definitely upset when I realized there was no going around it. I saved all my pictures and music onto my hard drive manually, and everything else I could find. I was up until 1 am doing this stuff, then back up at 7 this morning so I could get ready for my appointment at the genius bar to tell them I didn't complete my homework as planned. (I ended up being late to my appointment too, and they rescheduled me for an hour and a half later! Lame. I totally could have slept in!)

So anyway, once I got there it was pretty simple! I had a new guy helping me this time, who was super relaxed and hippyish and couldn't stand the way I was speaking so fast to get him up to speed on everything that had happened the night before. I had also had a giiiant coffee just before I came. :) So basically he did everything he could to get my stuff done and get me out of there! He did however listen to my speed-talking and inform me that it would me wise for me to transfer everything I have onto another hard drive, format mine with time machine, then put my stuff back. Then I would be able to back my computer up with time machine and not have to worry about everything I did last night again. He was a very smart guy!! As soon as I left the store, I called my dad and asked if he had any hard drives with enough room for my stuff, and he just happened to have one! I went straight over there with my practically brand new computer and started moving folders from my drive to his. It took hours, and I did have to leave for work and come back and finish it, but I got time machine formatted on my drive and all my stuff put back on! Also, I have a beautifully clean computer with so much space I don't even know what to do with it all! I'm a happy camper tonight.

So pretty much all I want to do is go through the ridiculous amount of music I have on my drive and put select artists back on my computer. I don't even know who half of them are, but I like most of the music so it's hard to do.. it takes time! I have 44gb of music on my drive right now, so you can see how long this is going to take me.. I'll get to that another time! I'm just happy my internet is working right now :)

Fixed my internet problems

Thank you, Mich_Efro. Message boards are life savers.

I have yelled at plenty of Mediacom people over the phone and had countless tech guys here trying to fix my wireless internet, all for nothing as I am now finding out.

Apparently losing wireless connection on a Mac is a pretty normal thing.. Lots of people in these message boards are having the exact same problems I'm having. Isn't there some kind of freaking recall for this yet?
The top right corner of my screen will still show that I have full connection, yet nothing will actually connect, then when I go to try another network and go back to mine, it says "connection timeout" and "invalid password" over and over until I want to break my computer in half. I'm obviously putting in the correct password, it just wants to be a pain in the ass and not let me on.
So finally, I figured out that if there's obviously nothing wrong with my modem or the box outside, it must be my computer (which is still working perfectly other than this).

Soooo....
After researching from my computer when the internet was working and using my iphone when it wasn't, I came across quite a few methods that people have used to get their internet going again.
-Some go into System Preferences, then Network and delete airport on the left and recreate it and it works. This didn't work for me.
-I tried going into Macintosh HD, Library, Preferences, System Configuration and deleting all of it's contents. That worked a couple times when my internet was really slow, but didn't end up being very useful when my internet went completely out.
-Someone else said to move that System Configuration folder to the desktop, then restart your computer. That didn't work either...
-Some others in the board were also getting all technical with IP addresses and stuff....... yeah, I didn't even want to start with that!

Thank God I found that tiny little post from Mich_Efro (at the beginning of this post). He saved the day over here. I'll be trying that every time it goes out from now on. & if it one day decides to stop working for me, I guess I'm screwed since I tried pretty much everything else! :/

Also, I want to mention this before anyone else tries to make this mistake:
The System Configuration folder that you have to delete from 'Macintosh HD, Library, Preferences, System Configuration' IS NOT THE SAME AS 'Macintosh HD, System, Library, System Configuration'!!!
I went on a bit of a deleting spree when I was super annoyed and just wanted my internet to come back on, so I deleted ALL the contents of the second System Configuration mentioned. I was pretty terrified when I restarted my computer and it looked like it did I had first bought it! The dock on the bottom of the screen was totally reset, the background, everything.. I quickly realized that nothing had actually been deleted, but my computer thought it was the first time I was using everything, so that was find of annoying.


So, I'll be on the phone with these guys tomorrow, trying to find out some kind of permanent solution to my problem. I really don't want to have to deal with this forever! I'm really hoping there's some kind of recall I don't know about and they can just take my computer for a few days and voila! all fixed. :) Is that too unrealistic? Hope not..





Edit: I just got off the phone with Apple! The guy I talked to didn't sound too surprised that I was having this problem... must really be a normal thing over there. :/
Anyway after I gave him all the info, he just had me restart and do what they call a "Safe Boot" on my laptop. He told me this resets data.. It didn't reset anything that I can see but apparently anything that is running a little funky, it should fix it.

To do this I just turned off my computer and turned it back on. As soon as I let go of the power button I hit the left shift key and held it down until I saw a loading bar on the bottom of the screen. This lasted about 7 minutes on my computer. Once my computer was all loaded, I just restarted again and here I am! He said if this doesn't fix my problem, it would be best to take it to an apple store and have them run a diagnostic test. I'm hoping this fixed it though! :)