LDS mammas #7 - Page 2

[G-Dawg]

WooHoo! I just found this thread! What could be better than other LDS granola mamas!! What a wonderful spirit you sweet mommies have. Well, I don't really have anything to say, just hello, and I am so glad I found you!

[Stacymom]

Wow! I feel like I haven't been around forever. My computer was in the shop for a few days, and it seems like I have barely had time to read, let alone type. Welcome to G-Dawg and Quella- it's so good to have you.

I have so appreciated everyone's thought about priorities and how to integrate more spirituality. Things like this really got brought to the front of my mid after conference- I had the thought that I was spending all this time on the computer and reading novels (mostly at night before I go to bed) but how much time am I spending reading my scriptures? DH and I have really been making an effort this week and it's amazing what a difference it makes in our spirits. I mean, we take time to nourish our bodies and our appetites, but often we neglect the nourishment of our spirits. I want so much to take full advantage of the spirit. I can't imagine how much richer my life could be. I'm so grateful for the kick in the pants that comes from conference!

About the Discipline discussion... I know that I'm a little bit late. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this one, especially since dd is getting so much bigger and so much more mobile. I've been thinking a lot about modeling my parenting/discipline afer the way our Heavenly Father parents. What better example could there be? I think that He is so loving and so involved, and wants nothing more than for us to be happy. He doesn't remove all the challenges from us, but is always there whenever we might neeed to turn to Him for answers or comfort. I don't think that the scriputre about "Reproving sharply" is baout yelling or spanking, I think it talks more about firmness or direction. There have been more than a few times in my life where I think that Heaveny Father has been scolding me, or I have felt very certain that the things that I was doing were not what He wanted me to do, but I never felt humiliated, demeaned or unloved. I think that's the key- always disciplining and guiding with love. I don't think that obedience should be forced, (Do this because I said so) but I also don't think that children should be taught to obey without question. Some of my greatest testimony building experiences and learning moments came because I wasn't afraid to question the things that were taught to me. (I think that's a large reason why I started believing in AP- more "mainstream things weren't working! ) Anyway, all these theories might be tested as dd and I grow together... I hope what I said made sense!

Hey, I'vebeen thinking about KatherineinCA. Has anyone heard from her? I'm wondering how her pregnancy is going- I think she's due fairly soon....

[momnloveit]

dd seems to be on a roll. long about midnight, she gets cranky and only holding her, standing up helps. if shes consistent, i have about an hour before she finally dozes off. i'm trying not to worry too much, though, cause we're going to japan in a week, and that will throw everyone off.

welcome g-dawg!

wow, she's nodding off...

[Quella]

Enrichment...help!

I am a newly called Enrichment night teacher....aH!
The topic this month (our mtg is tuesday, tomorrow, night)
is Marriage and Family relations. One of the classes is even on parenting.
I am thinking of incorporating the talk from (I'm not sure who) conference that included topics on "kindly disciplining" our children...other responsive parenting issues...what do you think? I mean basically using the example of Christ on how to develop our family relationships, expounding on avenues, however subtle, into gentle parenting...
Ideas? As you probably guessed I'm procrastinating a bit by reading the boards here...

I would love your input!

Ella

[KatherineinCA]

What a great discussion. I especially liked the idea of having a FHE on obedience, setting the family rules--thanks, momnloveit. I'll be pulling out my FHE manual.

Welcome to Quella and G-Dawg, this is a great list.

Drewsmom, you mentioned a scripture in Proverbs saying "the rod and reproof give wisdom." I haven't read closely enough to know if someone has already addressed this, but I have heard several times that "rod" means the iron rod--the gospel. So when the scripture says "spare the rod, spoil the child" it's talking about neglecting to teach our children the word of God, not about spanking. What a huge difference in meaning!

Quella, your ideas for you lesson sound great. That's a lesson I would enjoy hearing.

Okay, time to go start breakfast...

[Bekka]

I shouldn't be posting now--it just means dds will be getting an even later nap , but I've missed MDC the couple days it was down ...

Anyhow, KatherineinCA I just wanted to say there is a good discussion on the rod in the OT on this discussion board--just do a search. It actually refers to the shepherd's crook (one description).

Also, I would say that it's totally appropriate to use talks from conference for enrichment night. If it introduces something that *could* be called AP, that's okay. Just grounding it in the words of the apostles and the prophet and other great church leaders would always be appropriate.

And now I have to go get them to bed/rest with a story.:

[ldsapmom]

Hello, Ladies. It has been a while -- I had a busy summer and soon found if I stayed away from the internet I did not really miss it! But then I came back here and found Lisa (Laurel) had a NEW and IMPROVED signature. I scrambled back (far!) to see when and how this came about, and, well, here I am again. By the way, Lisa, congratulations on this most wondrous blessing! I also wanted to let you know there is a mom on an LDS board I frequent who has adopted and nursed 2 babies. http://www.ldsmoms.org/cgi-local/Ult...assCookie=true
Her name is luvmygirls and you can find her intro here: http://www.ldsmoms.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000019.html

So, expect me to be around again -- from time to time

[youngnhappymamma]

Hello again ldsapmom. I was wondering about you the other day as I was trying to remember what the address was for the lds ap mom's site was. Thanks for re-posting it!

[Laurel]

ldsapmom- That is my very good friend Elaine! I know her from an infertility list I'm on, and she and I have done tons of emailing and been nursing buddies. I'm so sad that she's not able to continue, though I knew she was having troubles.

Thanks for the congrats. We are doing really well at the moment. Ds has mostly come through the fussy stage, and we are just starting to have more fun. He's all smiles now and is becoming such a little flirt.

Glad to have you back!

[ldsapmom]

I am so glad things are going well. One thing to keep in mind is what some refer to as the 4th trimester of a baby's life. Something almost magical seems to happen at about 3 months of age. I have talked to many moms about this. It is not unusual at all for a baby to have fussy periods, especially in the evening, for the first few months after birth.

What an exciting time for you! Is it everything you dreamed it would be (because now you are probably not dreaming a lot with lack of sleep!)? What has been your biggest surprise? What is one of your favorite things about your baby?

What a blessing! Many of us who "procure" children with such ease have no idea what it would be like to try to have patience and long-suffering in order to receive a baby. With my first it took us over a year to get pregnant (and I know that is still within the range of normal). That period of time was the roughest patch I have had thus far in my life. I felt betrayed by HF and my body. I became very depressed and stopped going to church. I made excuses and come SUnday I would always be "sick". I knew the reason I could not face church was it hurt me so much to see all these little children climbing over their parents. I eventually realized I needed to talk to my branch president and get back on track. Because we wanted a family and were not getting anywhere through normal means, I started to think a lot about adoption. I guess I had no reason not to as I saw it all around me in my life. For a few months I was totally focused on adoption and we were even getting ready to proceed with the paperwork. Then I found out I was pregnant.

I think there was a reason why, though. If I had gotten pregnant right when I wanted to, I never would have thought of adoption. But after going through this experience I feel we will have the opportunity to adopt later down the road. I feel when it is the right time, HF will let us know. I kind of feel like we will have the opp to adopt an older child, not a baby, but who knows.

I have had a few friends and family members who adopted. I can testify if you do not already know you and your baby were meant to be together, you will know soon (after 2 months, though, I am sure you already know this). Even my family members who are not LDS and parents through adoption have had this confirmation.

How blessed we all are!

[momnloveit]

Hey everyone! Check out p 31 of the BOM reader. It has a lamanite woman bf her baby in a sling! My boys got a kick out of the baby getting its num-nums.

[onediaperinmama]

?? Utah mamas?

I read a while back that Audrey was doing a get together, Oct 16th at Liberty Park from 10-4 at the new N/W playground.... I wrote it on my calender and off we went this morning... but I couldn't see anyone I thought might be any of you, and if I remember right, Audrey, you have strawberry blonde hair and a black and white sling? I couldn't find anyone that matched the description. Did I write the day down wrong? *sigh* The one day I get out... but at least Jake had a great time watching the ducks.

His birthday is TODAY!!!! (Since it's 3 a.m. and it is technically the 17th) I can't believe he's already one. It was just yesterday I was counting contractions...

No time to catch up... must get me bum into bed.

[Bekka]

Lamanite mama

So I get out the Book of Mormon scripture story book and open it up. I was thinking it would be this really discrete nursing pic which didn't look like much, and there it is! Okay, so my question is, did the *Nephites* do the same? Probably, but b/c the Lamanites are pictured as the "wild" unrighteous undisciplined group, does this mean that this open way of nursing was in that category?

Thanks for sharing that momnloveit! That's great fun!

Bekka

[Drewsmom]

Interesting..I haven't been able to look yet. I feel like I've been running on fumes the past week, so hectic. When it rains it certainly pours.

I just wanted to clarify one thing, I didn't mean to imply in any way that I meant that the rod of discipline meant to spank, sorry if it got inferred that way. I'm just quoting scripture and that's unfortunately the way that it's often interpreted. I do think that it means that HF expects us to guide our children to do what is right. I do like the interpretation that it means the rod of iron, ie the scriptures.

I hope that's not what the Lamanite picture is implying is that the unruly people are the ones who are openly bf'ing. I had a great time at LLL this morning and it was funny to think back of the time when I felt like I had to throw a blanket up to nurse ds in public. ha ha, I think that's about the time when I met you Bekka right .

Here's a question for y'all: If we know that we are supposed to obey the laws of the land and the law says to vaccinate (with religious or medical exemptions-I know that some states have philisophical but not mine) then am I not obeying the law when I choose not to have my child vaccinated?

[Bekka]

Drewsmom,
IMO, wrt what I've read/thought about vaccination, at least in MY state vaccination is MANDATED, not legally required. Our church/gospel allows parents to make decisions (such as BF and vaccination) for our children. There isn't any church "policy" that takes a stand one way or the other, yet if you can say that your religious beliefs "lead you to the conclusion that vaccination is not the best choice for your family", isn't that a reason enough to use the religious exemption.

It's interesting that many of the people who choose not to vaccinate also choose to Homeschool their kids.

I've read examples of preparedness in the Ensign that include having your child's vaccinations up to date, but when a parent chooses not to vaccinate her child, she is usually accepting responsibility for potential consequences (you may have a serious bout of chicken pox, for example) and dealing with them in an educated and organized way (you may need to prepare for you child to have diptheria, for example).

Anyhow, dd is asking to NURSE! And so I must go.

[chumani]

WELCOME quella and g-dawg there is quite a group of us here!

I have wanted so much to reply to all the great threads these last few weeks. I am too impatient to type with one hand while nursing though. So I just read and absorb all of your great thoughts!

I feel that we are to teach our children obedience as our Father in Heaven expects obedience. I see nothing wrong with the occasional "because I said so." There are some things I don't have to justify to my children. It also depends on age, the older my children get the more understanding they have. Dh and I feel the "rod" so often quoted is in actuality a reference to the shepherds staff that gently guides the sheep rather than hurts or intimidates them into obedience.

Drewsmom- Every state has at least one exemption for vacs. In my opinion, the law is then best interpreted by the parent. Just as with "compulsory education" there are exemptions. We are prepared in the event our children contract one of these diseases. We have researched and discussed with our dr what treatments are available. We have received confirmation of our decision and feel it is best for us. We choose to homeschool not for the fact that our children aren't vaxed but because we disagree with the school system in general. We know wonderful people who are teachers and we even teach workshops every year in three different school districts. However we prefer to educate our children in our home.

Well my ds Jonah is demanding my attention! He has an ear infection poor baby. He was weighed at the dr today and is 19lb10oz at 4 months! That's super creamy mommy milk for ya!!!

Sarah

[G-Dawg]

I think that you have an interesting point about vax and the whole "law of the land " thing.

I feel that my decision not to vax Spencer came from inspiration. I wasn't at all educated yet, Hannah is fully vaxed, up to 2 yrs I think. Anyways, I physically COULD NOT bring myself to get Spencer's shots. I didn't know why. Then a friend gave me a book called, "How to Have a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Pediatrician." That made me SICK and even more unwilling to give my baby shots. My husband and I had not discussed not vaxing so after being sick about it for days I brought it up to him. He said that for sure a mothers intuition is a very important thing, and we decided to research and learn. Then suddenly anti-vax literature starting landing in our path! He even had a lady tell her story about her twin boys affected by the DPT and how the medical profession blamed the PARENTS for abuse! Sooo... anyway, I don't worry about the law of the land, because I feel that I have it direct from the Lord not to vax my sweet Spencer!


I will look for the Lamanite woman I don't think that it was a "heathen" thing at all! That was just the way it was done!

[G-Dawg]

Chumani - BTW, how are you treating your little one's ear infection? Spencer has one now and we are doing apple cider vinegar and vodka! In the ear only of course! It works very well! I am always open to new ideas!

[chumani]

Hi G-dawg

I use herbs for kids ear oil. It has garlic, mullein, and usnea in olive oil. I warm it before I put it in his ears. The dr prescribed an antibiotic I haven't decided whether I will use it as he is just getting over thrush. I didn't even realize he had an ear infection we were just in for a check up, measurements etc. I like to know how they are growing.

Sarah

[GratefulMommy]

Just wanted to add a quick response on the earache remedies. My daughter had her first earache a few months ago, at about 18 months. When I took her in, the doctor looked in her ear and said, whoa, she has a pretty good ear infection. It was almost like she was relieved, because she found something she could now prescribe antibiotics for. I actually filled the prescription, first one ever, but knowing full well it would be my very last resort. I had heard about the garlic oil drops and also searched for more info on them. We picked some up and they worked immediately. I never gave a drop of the antibiotic. We used the drops for a few days, although the pain was gone the first day, and she has been fine since. I know several people who go this route for earaches and are equally enthusiastic about their results. Good luck!