maternal celebration day

Dear Readers,

Today is Mother’s Day. So, let me take this moment to wish all Moms a wonderful day, whether they be First Time Moms, Last Time Moms, Fur Moms, Wishful Moms, Adoptive Moms, Surrogate Moms, StepMoms, Foster Moms, Angel Moms or Grand Moms or GrandER Moms.

And as Wendy says in Peter Pan, “ Well, a mother, a real mother, is the most wonderful person in the world! “

A special shout out to my own mum and my mother-in-law, both whom I appreciate and care about greatly. Even if my cards are always late!

Have a great day you all!

Yours in Friendship,

Stacy

a few of my favorite things

Dear Readers,

A few weeks ago I went to a concert with my favorite concert buddy, my mom. We went to see Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle on his solo tour So Let's Go. We went out to eat before the concert at a pub near the venue, we ordered Fish and Chips and received Chicken Strips. We didn't have enough time to correct the mistake, so we just ate the chicken. We drank a beverage and then before leaving, used the lady's room.

Heading over to the Cedar Cultural Center where Alan was playing with his band, The Beautiful Gypsies (not sure if that is just what he calls them, or if that's an official title, but in any case, I love it). It was general seating, so we bought some merchandise before sitting down. I bought a soft gray hoodie with the tour's logo on it, and my mom also bought one plus a few other items. We sat down and waited for the concert to start.

My mom is a great person to go to concerts with, she likes similar music to me, and we get along. Not to mention that she rarely flakes out on me, unlike a previous experience I had when I bought tickets to see David Bowie with a friend of mine, and when the date neared, suddenly I didn't have a concert buddy, so who did I call? My mom! She had to work out coverage for her job at work, but managed to switch with someone in order to go.

We've gone to many different concerts in the past- Bryan Adams, David Bowie, Rascal Flatts, Great Big Sea, and more. I think that she brought me to my first concert, which, if I remember right, was LeeAnn Rimes and Bryan White! 

The Cedar is a small venue, which is great, to see someone like Alan Doyle, not to mention that he announced at the beginning of the set that he would be staying afterwards to sign autographs and meet fans.  You bet your bottom dollar that we stayed afterward and I got my copy of his book, Where I Belong autographed! I also got my photo taken with him!

What are you supposed to say to someone whom you've been a fan of for over 15 years? I felt like a bumbling fool when it was our turn, which didn't take too long because we were about 4-5 people back from the front of the line. I mentioned the fact that I loved that they played Sea of No Cares because that was the Great Big Sea song that I chose to include in my husband and my wedding! I think I giggled foolishly and asked for a picture and signature after I garbled out that factoid and basically was star blind after that.

We ambled back to my car and I drove my mom home. I don't know what band we will see next but I know that I always have fun when me and Mom go to listen to music together.

Who is your favorite concert buddy? Do you have a memorable experience meeting someone famous? I'd love to hear about it.

Yours in friendship,

Stacy

feeding your infant

Dear Readers,

I asked for a topic to write about yesterday on my Facebook page, and someone asked for me to talk about "what age do infants start food, other than formula? what kinds are recommended? what foods should you avoid?" Well, I will talk about this, but I have to preface that I am not a Pediatrician or a Dietitian, that this is my experience with having 3 children, and what I have done with each of them. I will also share what I have read on different parenting websites and their recommendations, but when it comes down to it, the parent has the last and only real say in how and what their children eat.

In short, I am not the Parenting Food Police.  ;)

How should I write this? Long hand, with a story or just a cut and dried list of what I now do? How about both. I'll do the list first and then my story, that way you can read the list first and if you want to still read the story, then you can, but you aren't forced to in order to get the information you want to read (I hate those types of blogs).

Here's what I do now (note: I don't say I have always done this- you know better, you do better, right?).

-no foods except breastmilk or formula before 6 months of age
-I do a mix of purees and baby led weaning(BLW)*
-Avocado is a good first food or Banana
-Stay away from Dairy before age 1 (no cheese bits, no cow's milk)
-I don't tend to feed meat before my kids have most of their teeth
-Most people suggest veggies before fruits when doing purees

A few good websites that I tend to look at for parenting experience are:

Kellymom
Babycenter (some people have problems with babycenter but I find most of the information there to be pretty helpful. As long as I stay away from the forums)
La Leche League International

So, there's the short version, I hope my information was helpful. Please, if you have the need or desire for more detailed answer, feel free to leave a comment, and I will be happy to answer any questions!

The Long Answer:

When I had Colton, I was very new to taking care of a newborn (obviously), but even more so because I wasn't one of those girls who enjoyed babysitting when I was growing up. Mostly because I was a youngest child and really from age 7-8 on, an only child because my older brother moved out when he was 16-17 years old or something. He's 8 years older than me. ANYWAY, back to Colton, our little guy was in the Nicu for 5 days after birth so he was given a mixture of formula and breastmilk. I did alright pumping for awhile, but after a few weeks, I just felt it was super difficult and gave up. We switched to formula full time.

I still kind of regret giving up. And although, he had a tongue-tie, I feel now that I just didn't try hard enough to continue to breastfeed, and I just gave up. It's fine though, and his tongue tie was corrected at 6 months with an in-hospital procedure.

At 4 months, our pediatrician told us to start giving him rice cereal and that at 6 months we could start on other purees. At 1 we were told to stop giving Colton formula and to give him milk in a sippy cup. We still gave him a bottle of milk at nap time and bed time until he was probably 14-15 months, I think. But soon after that he was completely off bottles.

With our middle child, I breastfed exclusively until we started doing baby led weaning at about 6 months. I actually had a bit of a hard time with JD at the beginning of our nursing relationship too. I pumped and gave a bottle for the first few weeks, and then used a nipple shield before we finally were able to wean off the shield and just plain ole breastfeed. It was an accomplishment! He started having milk at around 1 year old but we continued our nursing relationship until he weaned himself at about 25-26 months old because I was halfway through my third pregnancy and my milk had changed back to colostrum. His last official nursing session was about one minute long right after we brought home our third son, JD was 2 years and 4 months old.

Currently with our littlest, who is almost 5 months old, he is exclusively breastfed. We've always had a great nursing relationship, as if we are old pros at it. Thank goodness! I plan on doing a mixture of Baby Led Weaning and giving him purees as well.  Just for fun.  Because I love the mantra, Under 1, Just For Fun! (pertaining to any food other than breastmilk or formula.)

Well, the littlest is waking up from his nap!

Yours in Friendship,

Stacy

P.S.


*Baby-led weaning (BLW) means forgetting purees and weaning spoons, and simply letting your baby feed himself.

Many parents follow BLW without even thinking about it. This is particularly the case with second or later children. Babies love to copy their older siblings. They often try to grab food from other children's plates, happy to feed themselves just like their big brother or sister does.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a1007100/baby-led-weaning#ixzz3UaCG9xrn

prologue

Dear Readers,

I don't have anything specific to talk about today, so I thought I would just write my introduction post. I've written so many of them over the years, and I don't think that I have ever gotten any better at them. I have a problem waxing poetical about myself. I'd like to say that is because I am a humble person, but I don't think that's it because I can be pretty narcissistic.

(Can I just enter here that I have a real issue using only one space at the end of my sentences, I'm so used to doing two!)

What should I start with? How do you begin these? Should I start with my name? Are you supposed to use your name on the Internet? I always have in the past when writing these because I always used a private or friends only journal. Well, anyway, here goes, my name is Stacy. I have been using the handle, thegreylioness, or some form of it for over 5 years. Well, before it was thegreylioness, it was just thelioness.

A lot of the way I see myself has been formed from this handle, I got the inspiration to use it from my favorite books. Maybe that is a good way to describe myself, by my favorite books? I suppose I can, at least, start there. I first read Alanna: the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce when I was in middle school. I should state that the Song of the Lioness quartet was not my first books that I read of Ms. Pierce's. I first read Wild Magic. But, that was the latest book out by her, so when I was finished I hustled back to my school's library and looked up her bibliography so that I could gobble up the other books that were available by her. And that's how I found my favorite books, because there on the library's computer screen was listed:

Alanna: the First Adventure
In the Hand of the Goddess
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Lioness Rampant

Although.. they were probably listed like this?

Alanna: the First Adventure
In the Hand of the Goddess
Lioness Rampant
Woman Who Rides Like a Man, The

Maybe. You know, my memory isn't really what it used to be, so that could be totally wrong, and why is it even important? It's not. I just like things to be Right. Sometimes, liking the Rules and the Right Way to do things is very comforting, and others, it just makes Life more complicated and hard.

I have to mention these books when I introduce myself because they helped form who I am today. I read them in Middle School, like I mentioned, the time of your life when you are, in my opinion, the most mold-able. I really connected with the main character in these books, Alanna. The red haired girl who wants to become a knight. Something that women aren't allowed to become. Tamora Pierce writes strong female characters, she writes about human rights, she writes about equality, she writes about right and wrong. I love her writing!

I mention her books and Alanna because I think that those books really cemented my love of Medieval history and the idea of Chivalry and Knightly Romance.  It probably had a hand in creating the love of the Renaissance Festivals in me as well, and the love of Sword and Sorcery type movies. These are all things that I love and I think a lot of them were effected by my reading and love of those books.

Deep down, I guess I always just wanted to be Alanna. Want to be. I still think of Alanna as my role model and who I would want to be if I could be anyone other than myself. Plus, she looks totally cool. Who wouldn't want purple eyes and red coppery hair? And to be King's Champion and one of the greatest sorceresses? I definitely would.

Ever since reading her books, and before, really, I've wanted to write. But, like most failed novelists, I lack the dedication of sitting down and actually writing. I get distracted or I simply just don't have time to write, it's one excuse or the other, when it comes down to it. I find that the fact that I have three kids under the age of 4 makes it hard to find time to sit down and write. I used to write a lot of poetry that only I really liked, as well, my writing has simmered down to utilitarian journaling as of late, and however useful that is, it's not very fulfilling.

You know, I've always really loved Media. My favorite love being movies. In High School, I would sometimes see 2 movies a weekend, and at the least, one a weekend. Sometimes, even movies I wasn't all that interested in, or that went over my head because I just loved movies so much. I remember seeing A Civil Action in theaters, the movie starring John Travolta about a lawyer who helps two families whose children died due to toxic waste being dumped in the water, and not really understanding the story, plus it was long, but I loved movies, so I went to see it anyway. I saw a lot of movies those days, now, I have a hard time getting to see all the movies that I want to see while they are in theaters.

My parents are probably surprised that I didn't wear out our Disney's Cinderella VHS or when The Lion King came out, that VHS. I watched those movies over and over, just stopping it at the end and re-winding to start it over again.

You know? As I am thinking of it, another thing probably had a turn in influencing my love of the Medieval time frame- King's Quest. It was one of the games that we had for our Amiga computer, and I played it a lot when I was little, I never did beat it. I miss that game! The times that were had directing Graham around the kingdom in search of the Magic Mirror and other items for the King. Aw.

Also: Horses. Horses have always been important to me, and their offshoot of Unicorns. Seriously, I remember asking Santa for a pony in all of my Christmas Wish letters, and always being disappointed that Santa never listened to me. It probably was one of the reasons I stopped believing in Santa. I rode a pony at a girl's birthday party that went to the same childcare place as me when I was in Kindergarten, and that sold me on horses. Before that it was books and movies, but riding that pony, being led around on it's saddle blanket with the owner's hand on the lead rope just opened up the possibilities of horses to me.

This is a pretty good start at who I am, I suppose, some of the other things that are important to know about me is that I have 3 kids. All boys. I have a husband, of 5 years, who I have been with for over ten years. We live in Minnesota, where it's Winter too long and it's too cold for my taste but it's where our small extended family live, so we're kind of stuck here.

Until next time.

Yours in friendship,

Stacy/thegreylioness