Governmental Prejudice

Apparently, one needs to have his/her children pedigreed by the government in order to claim them on taxes. This seems simple enough, tag the mutt or don't get money off your taxes, right? Will we have to put collars on them? No, the card that must be kept safe is fine at this point, but eventually will they treat our children more like animals with the ID chips?

I drove on over to the local Social Security office this morning because BB hasn't been SSN'd yet. She was born peacefully at home with no midwife and shortly after her birth we registered in that county and received her birth certificate (pedigree?). When tax time came around, we didn't know that we *had* to have her SSN to use the child tax credit (heck, he works and has children, doesn't he deserve the credit? he's furthering the system just by giving them future users!), but we learned that this last year when we began getting billed for it.

We checked online and we need birth certificate plus verification of identification. Cow should be easy enough, we have the form from our midwife stating she was there the moment Cow emerged in this world. How much more could you need? But, BB wasn't attended at birth and all we have is the immunization form from her doctor's visit when she was 3 days old. We hoped for the best.

I walked in, got my number and sat down. BB patiently sat and looked around, a little upset that the door guard wouldn't let her have her water bottle, and Cow nursed. Our number came up and I gave the lady at the window the information. She looked a touch disheartened when she asked what hospital they were born at and I said none. She went over all the possibilities and took BB's info and processed her. But, Cow cannot be given a social security number with the midwife's info.

She went over the possibilities. She made suggestions..
Hospital record: no, not born in one, never needed one
Doctor record: don't have one.
Passport: no, I can get one without the SSN?
Religious certificate: no, I'm Christian, we don't baptize babies.
Child care or Preschool: no, I'm a housewife.

Excuse me? You can accept a form from a childcare facility or preschool that states that my child is enrolled there, but you won't accept a LICENSED MIDWIFE form that states all the vital records from a PERSON WHO WAS THERE??? No, I'm not getting a doctor's note that excuses me to have a child, thank you. I'll go get her a passport. Then maybe I can take a vacation.

Are there any other midwife clients out there who think this is prejudice? The gal was nice enough to tell me my Congressional Representative and suggest that I send him a note about this.

It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To

Happy Birthday to me!

This week, thus far:
a) the landlady changed her mind, we can't have chickens now. (we've got 7 banty pullets that need a home in the Bay area, CA)

b)Ben took almost ALL my stuff out of the craft/school room. The built-in shelf still has many many craft books and school books, that's about all that's left. He moved the couch and standing bookshelves in there and now we have a sitting room where he plays guitar whilst the children play. We spend our reading time in there now.
so, now the family room is piled close to the ceiling at places and I have to go through my accumulated crafting supplies (crochet, knit, sew -machine and hand- -clothes and quilt-). I haven't found the camera yet.

c) I had a quiet birthday. I was a bit down this morning, but the children insisted that I make my birthday cake for breakfast and they sang to me over cupcakes and each got to blow out a candle. And this evening I've talked to all my sibling and Dad and MIL! Wow. Everyone called me, how much more special can it get? Ben's gone to the airport to pick up our friends, they've spent the summer on the east coast and we miss them terribly!

d) School started (like it ever really stopped..) with a new system. TJ's in fourth grade now, so I'm implementing the letter grade system. I meet with him in the early morning and go over all the classes, if needed we go in depth over the material, then he gets to work on his schoolwork while I care for the girls. AJ's lessons happen during one of Cow's naps -today we worked on reading and math.

e) Oh! I almost forgot. I stabbed myself in the hand with my ginghers (sharp sewing sheers). I kept ice on it that most of that day and it's not that bad now...

Dabbling With Henna

Here's the lineup so far: top row: henna&water, henna&vinegar, henna, tea tree oil, &lemon juice

Those first two were mixed and let sit maybe a half hour before the sample wads of hair were added, they were in maybe 3 hours. The third was mixed, allowed to sit in the sun, then the hair was added and let sit 4 hours.

bottom row: all samples were mixed up last night, allowed to sit on the fridge overnight (trying to think of a warm place), then split. Tea tree oil was added to half of each and let sit another hour (oops, hour and 3/4...), then hair was put in and soaked for 4 hours. Left 2 are lemon juice, TTO on the right of those, right 2 are with vinegar, TTO again on the right.

So far, the plain vinegar is my favorite, followed by the sun lemon.

Note: no mane was injured in the making of these samples. All hair was previously shed and collected for making of the samples. All cut hair in these samples was the result of impatience to make thicker wads for first samples. As seen in the pictures, bundling thickly does not make for better coloration. Best coloration is done by massaging henna into all hair.

The Travesty!

I washed my hair.

I know, read it again. Let it sink in. I'm upset that I washed my hair.

I've been trying the "no shampoo" thing this summer. Then we went camping and I was thinking that washing out the grime with shampoo would be good. Seriously wrong answer. Sure, my head and hair are clean, but it's not a good feeling. It's like using plain soap on your skin and ending up with super dry tight skin and within hours sudden oily breakout. But, it's my hair.. So, the best description is super clean hair that's left really fragile! Without the 'poo, the hair has a natural barrier that keeps it from breaking as easily and I don't need other 'products' to keep a style looking nice.

What? Oh, how do I clean it without 'poo? Easy peasy: oil.

All my babies have had cradle cap to some degree. Cradle cap is yellow scales on the scalp. Basically, it's the accumulation of natural grease and whatever grime that doesn't get released. No matter how clean you keep a baby, it can happen. Well, when AJ was tiny someone told me to try olive oil. Oil? Okay... I put a few drops on my baby's precious scalp and worked it in and in the morning brushed her hair and after a few *now white* flakes of dandruff came off, she had a clean pretty head again.

That leads to what I do. After using this method on and off for the babies, and visiting the hair boards occasionally (I might ought to more often, but I'm forgetful), and then I started the no shampoo kinda commando style (nothing at all), I realized that I could use the oil to work the gunk off my scalp. And, it worked beautifully. I started off with the jojoba oil at hand, and next I'll try olive oil or coconut oil.

Natalija recommended the Castor oil and/or olive oil for the skin. I've just learned that Castor Oil cleanses while Olive oil moisturizes. I have a bar of olive oil and honey soap that I'm trying, this leaves my skin really soft, but needs more moisturizing! So, may be that I'll use this, then use pure EVOO for moisturizing. I'll try this out and get see if I can work out a routine!

Zoo Trip

Mom: "Hey, T.J., later in the week would you like to go to the zoo?"
TJ: "Yeah."
Mom: "Okay, I'll check online to see how to get there." Types in "city, state, zoo" thinking we'll be heading up to San Fran sometime. Came up with Happy Hollow Zoo and Park just over 5 miles away.
Mom: "Oh wow! Do you want to go now?"
T.J.: "Yeah!!"

We got there and parking is $6. Uh oh, I thought, I haven't cash.. But, I had just 7 dollars plus coinage. Yippee! The gate is $6 per person from age 2-59. Hmm.. getting expensive, but the family membership is only $60. That's 2.5 trips with my children. Even better deal when we drag Daddy along! (um, Ben, you may be going to the zoo a lot this year).

Happy Hollow is such a cute park. It reminded me of England in how quaint it was. There were plenty of beasts in enclosures to see, and several goats and miniature horses and a donkey and some zebu for feeding and petting.

We didn't make it past the carousel, but there are several children's rides, a snack bar and a play area (lots of grass, a couple playsets). And, they sell sweatpants and shorts (what every Mom could wind up needing), and with the membership they're 10% off.. Ask me why I know, if you need to.

Nursing Slip

I stayed up late last night, and it was worth it.


I've been thinking about this for a month or so, even dabbled with my jumper (that's American for a looser dress you wear over another dress or blouse).


See an ordinary jumper: in this case, New Look #6590, made in the shorter length with an added ruffle. Then I took a pattern that has back shaping (N.L. 6750) -but not overly fitted, I wanted to pull this on- and lined it up at the waist with the jumper pattern and shaped the back to reduce bulk. I also want to be able to wear this as a slip under a dress, especially the lower or open front types, so I raised the neck opening (which I may make a little lower on the next one so that it's covered better at the neck edge when under t-shirts and the like). My butterfly dress covers the neck edge completely when buttoned.

Considering the fact that I wanted to wear this as a skirt, the slip is self-lined. I sewed the back seam first, then the shoulder seams, and the neck hole seam; Flipped right side out and pressed it, then understitched the seam to the lining. Next, I folded the armhole edge around the dress to sew the armhole seam, then pulled the dress right side out (like a tube or strap) and repeated for the other side. Then the side seams are lined up (making sure not to put in a twist) and sewn. Then the choice was to hem the lining and let it hang or just line up both layers and sew to the ruffle. I chose the latter.

Girl’s Night Out

The boys are camping.

Ben really enjoyed our family trip last week and I'd talked him into signing up the week before for the Father and Son campout. They were even nice enough to call and remind him (good thing, too, as I had it jotted down for next weekend).

Why do the events generally go around the theme that only boys like to get dirty? Maybe it's the percentage of nursing moms? I dunno, I was camping last week and had a nice time (Ben did take over cleaning duties, sweet man!). Maybe I'll eventually suggest a family camping trip to the church - I loved those as a child.

So, where was I? Oh yeah, the boys are camping. So, the girls and I went out to dinner.
Mom: Where do you want to go?
AJ: Booty dih Beppo!!
Mom: "Booty" or "Cheesecake?"
AJ: Cheesecake!!

We went to the Cheesecake Factory. I had delicious chicken Madiera and they split a grilled cheese. For dessert, they chose Pineapple Upside-Down Cheesecake, and I ordered an apple dumpling but received apple blintz. It was good, too.

We wandered to the bookstore (Borders is in the local mall), and they wanted to be in the "Children Aisle." I decided on a dictionary and thesaurus for the schoolroom. They have smaller sets, so I bought one for TJ, I think he'll enjoy that once he tries it out. He's in fourth grade and I've moved to alpha-grading his papers.

The schedule is a nice spine for the day. It'll take a few to get used to it, but it was a great help today. The children seemed happier with all the attention.. (Is one to toss 'em out back for giddiness?) I think as we hang in there and get used to it, we'll even out a bit. In a couple weeks, I should receive the new grammar program and that's exciting.

I'm going to read The Latin-Centered Curriculum, and Climbing Parnassus. The general description sounds more like what I'm interested. I have the original The Well-Trained Mind, and I like the general idea. I just don't feel I have that much time to fully devote to school. I've been watching the clock this week, the baby nurses at least 3.5 hours a day. There's 2 ways to use that time: quiet time with just her (probably falling asleep) nursing in the rocking chair in the room, or on the couch (maybe reading aloud) in the midst of the family. She's been more focused in the room, but that leaves the other children running amuck doing what children do unsupervised. I guess next I should try finding the couch for the laundry and reading aloud during the non-pre-nap sessions.

AJ's 'kindergarten' age, and Ben's asked me to start her reading. We're at lesson 10 of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and she's loving it. She's only disappointed that there isn't more to the writing assignments! I know the basic idea is to keep her focused on the sound of each letter, but doesn't it make more sense to use words, also? We do the 'write this sound' and then she reads and copies the word I write. She's much happier with that. (Note: phonics, repetitive, based on the letter makes the sound not the picture makes the sound is the best way to learn to read; the 100 lessons is just -what?- 20 weeks, so by Christmas she's able to read on a 2nd grade level).

I love MathUSee with TJ. But, I really like the Saxon with the 'meeting' for the lower levels (one could combine, but the teacher book is rather expensive for just the meeting info) and the hands on with different manipulatives. I'll be doing the Saxon-style meeting with AJ, though I'm on the fence over which I'll keep in the long run!

And, I've just heard of Shurley Grammar. This we will try.

If I haven't mentioned before, the core classes in my school: Bible, Math, English, History, Language, Art & Music. We're beginning Latin. We've dabbled with it, so now it's time to roll up the sleeves. Prima Latina is a nice start - the videos can really show you how to begin, but they're not necessary to go on. The pronunciation CDs tell you how to say it and then you just go through the words in the book. I'm going to begin a review of Prima Latina and get on into Latina Christiana in a couple weeks! So, all the prayers for persistence are appreciated!

The baby is six months and I'm going to tackle full-time homeschooling.
Through Christ all things are possible.
I'll try to post once in a while..

Yosemite

was beautiful.

Friday, the children had fun hiking up to Vernal Falls. AJ (4.5yo) is a fantastic hiker, if you go her pace. TJ kept up with Ben. BB was carried by Ben most of the way (up and down). On the way down, we wrapped a towel to her back and tied her to his back to make it easier. Cow was content in the sling, she slept most of the way down.

Saturday, we played by the river.

I would share pictures, too, as I thought the camera was on my desk...

Now I must get back to life. Cow's wanting to be held constantly. She and AJ may have caught a little bug -AJ's hoarse and Cow wants to nurse constantly (but, that could just be to make up for being fascinated with her surroundings all weekend).

I'm beginning working on my MoTH schedule. First thing, Ben told me 9PM is bedtime -he gets up really early- so that means the children should be put to bed by 8:30PM. Next is to decide on nursing and nap times. Hopefully, Miss Cow will help me stretch out the time between nursings to over 2 hours.. That's only like 7-8 sessions between 6AM and 9PM, the goal would be 6 if/when she gets to a 3 hour schedule. I'm thinking we'll try for 2-2.5 hours for now and see how it works when we start feeding her regular foods. BB nursed about every 2 hours until I made her reduce during my last pregnancy. This will be my first scheduled baby (I tried it for a short while with AJ, but she lost weight, so I quit. But, that was also closer to a 4 hour schedule and it just wasn't right for my babies), and making the schedule according to how the baby nurses well and fits well with our family life should be a great help.