Mom

Mom
Mom

Art

Art
Art

Yoga

Yoga
Yoga

Me

Me
Me.....being grateful for every thing, every breath, every day of this life
Powered By Blogger

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Potties and big girl beds, help!


SO it has been quite a ride learning about toddler-hood! Why did no one warn me about any of this madness!!?? I got multiple handouts of pearls of wisdom for the first year stages (most of them appreciated ;)....and have had NO advice or warning about potty training, temper tantrums, MMRs, hitting, biting fits, etc. What is the deal people!? Have you all just hidden from theses stages because they are so scary and hideous? Have all you seasoned parents blocked these times out? Or, is it simply that my daughter is just a little bear and giving me a harder time than most kids. While, I do see that she has more energy than the average 20 month old, I do not think she is doing anything too far out of the ordinary.


So I am reading about when to transition from a crib to a toddler bed. She has not (luckily) started to try to scale or torpedo herself out of it yet......knock on wood. But I do feel she is getting ready for the next step. But the articles online and at babycenter.com are not really telling me much. I normally visit babycenter.com regularly, love that site BTW. So advice would be good. I think we will wait until she has already turned two....maybe until we've moved to our new country of Japan before trying that switch. Dunno!


I have to say though...potty training. Ew. I really need help here! It is far worse than I expected. How can I possibly attack this! Mirabelle is telling me when she needs her diaper changed...about half the time. Good sign! She DOES show interest in the potty. She loves her potty books, treats and stickers we do only on the potty. But she simply DOES NOT ever go in the actual potty. She did at first and then completely stopped. She will sit on it all day long, but still only ever goes on the floor or in her diaper. Yeah. My life in a nutshell. Poop on the floor. Slinging diapers. Worse than having a puppy. She could care less about girly panties, pees right in 'um. I am at a loss as to how to have her TELL ME before she has to go. Hopefully we get this by accident! Someday with persistence! Advice is always welcome in that department :)


Alas, her beauty is getting me through. I think the biting has stopped and I believe I taught her this by constantly reinforcing love and being gentle. I personally do NOT agree with spanking in MY household. I do not judge anyone who does in theirs, but in my house there will NEVER be hitting of any kind allowed. Ever. Now... Mirabelle still hits me! I try very, very, very hard to just take a breath and tell her, "Mommy does NOT like to be hit, it hurts Mommy. Instead, please touch mommy like this," and I gently brush her cheek. I enforce what I do NOT allow through words, calmness and opposite actions of the bad actions. I feel good about that so far :) And living with my baby is a gift each day. I have so much gratitude for my soldier husband. He supports me in staying home with her. He likes me home with her. And she makes us laugh constantly. Thank you Mirabelle. Thank you Chad. Thank you all fellow parents who give me good advice.


Much love,

Bec

Monday, March 30, 2009

Love, Gratitude and Understanding

I think I will try to post a new thought, tip, question or intention almost every day!? So visit me often, if you'd like! Today I am needing to reflect on one of my very favorite quotes that is by one of my very favorite authors:

"Everything you experience is for the benefit of your soul." ~Gary Zukav

That one is a tough pill to swallow. When we deal with loss, death, anger, sadness, abuse or any kind of heartache or trouble, it is almost impossible to know, in the acute sense of that feeling, that this experience could actually be a gift. Good for us! BENEFIT us. I have re-quoted and revisited this quote so many times in my life. I always send it to friends and my students when they are going through a hard time. They might want to throw it back at me?! HA! It really is a tough pill though, huge one, to actually believe that we can benefit from our struggles. And then to take it a step further I have also studied the theory that we actually subconsciously CREATE our problems! Well aint that lovely! Oh, so I attracted that abuse? That drunk driver that hit ME was MY fault? No! No way. Well I believe it is this way. I don't really like to use the word fault either. It is the law of attraction. Once you realize what you can create and control, it can be so magical. I believe our conscious and subconscious are dancing together to God's music. We create everything on our worlds. I totally love and believe in the study of quantum physics. This goes right along with the law of attraction. I am sure you all have heard of, or made fun of the book/movie The Secret. There are things I love and not so much love about that book and movie. One thing I love is that it reminds us to every single day in baby steps try to stay positive and have gratitude. And that right there is really the key to everything, I say! Thank you to my old friend Laura Valerie who gave a copy of the Secret to me years ago...that is when my life started to truly turn around for the better for the very first time. Also, I have not finished it yet, but the book called The Slight Edge, Secret to a Successful Life by, Jeff Olson is truly awesome amazingness. Thank you David (my LFI business partner) for passing that along to me. It is all about making good choices in little tiny opportunities every day, all day. He says, about many topics, over and over in the book, "It is easy to do! But it is also easy NOT to do." So pick up that litter you walked by on the road and throw it in that trash can!!!! Smile at that upset-looking stranger. It is all easy to do. Success is easy to achieve. It is also easy NOT to achieve.

Gary Zukav, (my fav) wrote a few books in the 80's and 90's. The book I quoted him out of today is called The Seat of The Soul. He and this book were a topic on Oprah but seriously like ten years ago, so he might not be so well known anymore. And the fact that I am still quoting him and read his book in about ten minutes flat....well....that really says something, cuz Mamma aint a good reader!!!

Another quote I have needed recently was from the Mayo Clinic on the subject of Forgiveness:

"Forgiveness takes away the power the other person continues to wield in your life. Through forgiveness, you choose to no longer define yourself as a victim. Forgiveness is done primarily for yourself, and less so for the person who wronged you."

hmmmmmm. Juicy, good, stuff says I.

So everyone out there find yourself some love right there in your own heart! Give some gratitude to yourself, the check out lady or to God! And try to understand even the hardest things to understand. Open yo mind :)

Love ya! ~Bec
check out these sites:
http://www.zukav.com/home.html
http://www.topachievement.com/slightedge.html

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Health Care for Children


So I picked up this book yesterday and would love to share the main idea of it with other Moms or anyone interested in medicine.

The book I am currently reading is called Healthy Child, Whole Child. It is written by two M.D.s and a forward by Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. (who I adore). It explores the integration of Conventional and Alternative Medicine to keep your kids healthy.

A good quote or two from the book:
"How does integrative medicine differ? Unlike conventional medicine, integrative medicine is not focused on fighting disease or suppressing symptoms, but on supporting the body's own natural healing processes. The principle is especially important in treating children, who have the potential to heal so much faster than adults. As most parents have witnessed, a child can bounce back from a fever or heal a cut virtually overnight.
With its emphasis on prevention, self-care, and the importance of trying gentle non-invasive therapies first, integrative medicine upsets the whole American paradigm of medicine as a war between doctors and invading diseases. Integrative practitioners work with the whole person-not just a collection of unconnected body parts-enlisting the patient's mind, body, and spirit in healing. They look for the underlying casues of health problems instead of only addressing the symptoms. An integrative practitioner offers a wider range of theraputic options. We look at possible therapies-conventional and otherwise-with a cautious scientific attitude, choosing those that are most likely to offer safe and effective treatment for a particular individual."

~I am extremely interested in this type of care and had this type of care for my child in Savannah, before we recently moved. My daughter's pediatrician was Dr. Ramos. he has a conventional pediatric practice involving integrative medicine. Loved that guy! I am concerned because being in the Army, although the free care is fantastic, it does not give you the room to choose an integrative practitioner. Currently my daughter is prescribed to be on a steady dose of antibiotics every single day, forever until they "get her in" to be tested for a possible obstructionin in her urinary system. I love her new pediatrician at the Army hospital but do NOT love giving her meds every day until they can fit us in!!! Frustrated. So I am reading this book to make my own decisions in the future and also to discuss with whatever doc we get from here on out about this type of care.

Dr. Andrew Weil says in the forward (and I could not agree more and wish everyone agreed):
"These are the basic principles of Integrative Medicine:

-A partnership must exist between patient and practitioner in the healing process
-Good treatment should include appropriate use of all available methods to facilitate the body's innate healing response
-Physicians must consider all factors that influence health, wellness, and disease, including mind, spirit and community as well as body
-Doctors should not reject conventional medicine nor accept alternative medicine uncritically
-Good medicine should be based on good science and open to new paradigms
-Doctors should use more natural, less invasive interventions whenever possible
-Medicine must address the broader concepts of health promotion and disease prevention as well as the treatment of illness
-Practitioners themselves should be models of health and healing, committed to theprocess of self-explorationand self-development"

Go Dr. Weil!!! You so totally rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will let ya know what happens with Mirabelle's health.
Love to all!!!!