he's just hungry, part 2

About a month and a half ago, I posted about Roscoe starting on rice cereal because of his appetite.  Just an update on this situation...

He's been rice cereal free for almost 3 weeks now.  I was reading plenty of articles online about how babies hit growth spurts at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months.  Which explains why little R was so fussy at the start...  He was letting me know he was hungry and I was trying to stretch out his eating times.  I've seen so many dream babies put themselves on 3-4 hour eating schedules from very early on and I was trying to make Roscoe fit that mold as well.  But the little guy needed food.

When you're nursing, your milk supply functions on a supply/demand basis.  The more Roscoe nurses, the more milk my brain is signaling my body to make.  Also, for each ounce of formula (or rice cereal or whatever you're supplementing with) you give a baby, your milk supply goes down.  I was starting to get worried about this because honestly, I don't want to stop nursing any time soon.  A mother's milk is perfect for babies.  Sure, there are things out there to supplement with, and iron-fortified formulas, but nothing better provides the immunity and nourishment that a mother's milk provides.

So, Mark left May 1st for some training and shortly thereafter I declared a nurse-a-thon for me and the little guy.  In a few days, he was becoming more content after each feeding and I was beginning to see little signs of him pudging up (his fingers and feet are a little fatter, he's got more of a gut than before, his thighs have a little roll...)

Yes, this may mean that sometimes I feed him every 2 hours, but I'm ok with that.  I've read that your baby can't control your life and that you need to make him conform to your schedule-- that if you don't do this your baby will be demanding and will exhaust you.  I know this works for some people, and I am very happy for them, but trying to put Roscoe on a schedule and stretch out his feedings only exhausted and frustrated both of us.  Lately, he's gone 3-4 hours between some feedings because he's getting better naps.  And even if he doesn't go that long, he's much happier anyway.

I know I'm kind of all over the place with these blogs and updates on Roscoe, but from what I've heard from friends and family, sometimes parenting is a trial and error experience. 

Sorry little man, bear with me as I'm still learning how to take care of you

excerpt from Roscoe's journal

I may not be a big scrapbooker, and I may not be the craftiest person around, but I do love to journal in various forms.  Throughout my life I've kept personal journals, a shared journal (with Mark when we were dating/engaged), prayer journals, this online journal...

So when it comes to something important and special for my children, instead of trying to force myself into some mold that I don't fit into (scrapbooking, for example), I've decided that I can give them the gift of a journal.  Ask me occasionally if I'm keeping up with the journaling.  If I'm not, give me a good kick in the pants for it.  If all goes like planned, I'll have Roscoe's journal filled with stories and encouragement and records of his life by the time he's an adult, at which time (whatever that occasion may be), I'll give the journal to him.

Here's an excerpt from the most recent:

"You are 3 months (and 2 days) old!  Time flies!  You still turn people's heads when we're in public because you're so tiny, but I feel like so much has changed.  During your first month of life, you slept in our bed with us.  That was such a precious period of time, when at a moment's notice you could be cuddled to sleep.  Now it's not so easy.  So much distracts you when you're trying to go to sleep.  I'm so glad I savored every bit of your tiny-ness.....

.....To say "I love being a mom" isn't really saying much yet.  I mean, you're only 3 months old, and you're my only child.  I have yet to see what true communication is with you.  Sure, you let me know when you're hungry and I let you know that I love you and am here to take care of you; but I have yet to see what motherhood entails beyond feeding you, changing you, and getting you to sleep.  This journey excites me.  Who are you, Roscoe? I'm eager to get to know you, to see your personality unfold, to laugh at you, to cry because of you.  Just please.....don't grow up too fast!

I love you, son."

too good to keep to myself

So, I did it....  Roscoe was straining and grunting and I grabbed my phone to record it.  I am now officially the mom I said I would never be.  I recorded my son pooping.  And now I'm taking it a step further.  I'm sharing it on the internet.  Poor boy.

Enjoy!

(oh, turn your sound up)

my hope isn't in the death of men

Ever since the news of Bin Laden's death I've been very disturbed by the response of those who claim Christ.  Facebook and Twitter were littered Sunday night with celebratory statements over his death.  One person said "I seriously have never been this happy over hearing about someones death. Im not even going to be able to go to sleep. Usama Bin Laden is dead. Rest in hell."

I was at my brother's house with some other friends and we just sat around with jaws dropped open as the night progressed and revealed people's utter glee at the fact that Osama Bin Laden had died and gone to hell.  These were people who professed to be our brother and sisters in Christ.  We're God's kids, guys!  What has happened to our thinking?  Sure, we say that we would never delight in seeing a soul go to hell, but it's like we forgot that Bin Laden is a soul too.

One friend posted Ezekiel 33:11.  " As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"  According to this, God isn't doing a victory dance, so why are we?

The following post is written by a friend of a friend.  But he hit the nail on the head.  Read on.  It's worth your time.


Tragedy of Tragedies: Osama Bin Laden and the Christian Response
There is no doubt that Osama Bin Laden’s life was marked by heinous action and unspeakable terror. It is a tragedy that so many innocent lives were lost by the hate in that man’s heart. And it is a tragedy as well that any man had to live his life engulfed in that same hate.   But today I awoke to a new tragedy. As I read the celebratory response to Bin Laden’s death by Christians whom I love and respect, I grew sick to my stomach. Then dismayed. Then angry.   After all, we Christians are the ones who spend our lives purveying the good news that we are graciously spared from being treated as our sins deserve. I find it ironic at best, that we - as recipients of such undeserved grace - are the very ones parading in the streets that this “bastard finally got what he deserved.” If you’re offended by the language, be more offended by the hypocrisy.   If America has suffered any persecution at all in recent memory, we suffered it at the hands of Osama Bin Laden. He hated us for our wealth, our infidelity, and our religious freedom. And today it’s been told without doubt that the proper American response is to hate him in return. “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:43-46).” Do we really find the Bible infallible when it calls us to actions like that?   The terrifying-to-face truth of Scripture is that the very root of sin that drove Osama Bin Laden to kill thousands of people is vying for my heart too. If we lose touch with that - if we somehow think of ourselves as less debased in the height of our own sin - than we’ve lost touch with the Christian story and the very need for a Savior in the first place.   Perhaps even more shocking is the image of our Abba Father lovingly knitting together Osama Bin Laden in his mother’s womb. It is an affront to consider Bin Laden to be made in the imago dei. But then again, the Bible is an affront. To be clear, I am not at all saying Bin Laden’s actions were godly or anything other than evil. I am not saying God approves his terror or hate, or even that Bin Laden shouldn’t have been forcibly stopped from doing what he was doing. But that does not change the fact that a tragic end to a tragic life ought to give us a more reason to repent and mourn than hoot and holler.   Today it was us Christians who led the festive parade through the streets of culture. Yet God calls his people to respond to social wickedness with recognition of our own guilt, and our own need for humility and repentance. Today we acted even more convinced, cocksure and smug, that God is somehow inherently on America’s side. Yet God used Assyria to judge Israel, then turned around and judged Assyria too (*see bottom). Saddest of all, today we took more joy in the presumptuous thought of a man’s eternal separation from God than the hope that our Redeemer God might have somehow redeemed even this situation.   How incredibly revealing that we take more joy in imagining our enemy rotting in hell than encountering redemption?   How hypocritical that we then claim to have a heart to see the lost come to Christ?   How near-sighted to forget that our beloved Apostle Paul was once the mass-murdering terrorist Paul?   And how blind to not recognize that our riotous celebration over lost life through execution isn’t all that different than Bin Laden’s actions on 9/11?   It’s been said that our love will be the one undeniable thing to help this world know that the Christian story is true. If this is the case, then I wonder what the world knows today?   I know 9/11 hurt a lot of people. And I know Jesus weeps too. But if our reaction to world events is more immersed in our identity as Americans than as citizens of another Kingdom then we’ve lost the plot of the Christian story and the radical call of Jesus’ teaching. We can celebrate a man’s death and potential separation from God all we like. It is, after all, a free country. You can even call it patriotism. But please don’t call it Christianity.   Today I thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a great theologian and pastor. Bonhoeffer found himself in a similar situation as us, face to face with an evil man who had killed thousands (Adolf Hitler). Bonhoeffer’s response is instructive to us – he personally took action against the evil and on multiple occasions Bonhoeffer plotted to assassinate Hitler.  Yet Bonhoeffer knew that just because he was called to take necessary action against evil did not mean he had to succumb to hating his enemy’s soul or rejoicing in their separation from God. His strikingly relevant words below teach us that we can actively confront our enemies without rejoicing in their destruction.   “Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. ‘The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared.’”   *This particular idea admittedly and blatantly stolen from a great blog post by Glenn Packiam at glennpackiam.com.
By: Jordan Warner

going out on a limb here...

....on vaccinations.  Just writing that word is making me cringe at the potential comments I will get from readers.  What?  I'm questioning the use of vaccinations in babies?  Yes.  This has nothing to do with any one thing in particular that I've heard, so before being attacked or accused of not looking into it or swallowing false information, let me assure you that I've poured approximately 10 hours of research into this topic before even thinking about blogging on it.  Also, let me say that plenty more research has to be done on our part before coming to a final decision on the matter.

I probably wouldn't be posting about this if it weren't for a couple paragraphs I came across in an article just now.  But it sums up so beautifully how I feel in general about the debate.  The cool part?  This guy doesn't take sides....  He presents this as an alternative to parents who feel they don't want to immunize their children (he's speaking about homeopathic immunizations, not conventional).


"Start vaccinations later in life. The immune system is maturing very quickly over the first months of life. Possible damage from vaccines will therefore decrease if the application is postponed. Even postponing vaccines so that they are taken only after the age of 6 months can be of benefit"

At the end of the day it is a parents right to choose what they feel is the best choice for their child. It is also a parents right to know what choices are available to them. The governments and the pharmaceutical industries do not own our children, we do. They have no right to turn our children into profit making machines for them to prosper from. Each child is very precious, they have the right to grow up healthy and reach their full potential. It is a parents duty to protect them and to study all the choices available to them. A parent can only do this if they are aware that they do have choices in the first place. What is right for one child is not right for another. I urge all parents to educate themselves in vaccination safety, learn the pros and cons of all the options available before making a decision."



I could give a list of websites that I've gone to during this researching, or you could do it on your own.  I'd be happy to share a list (if I can find all of them) to anyone curious enough ask.  Just do yourself a favor if you're going to look it up on your own, make sure you see both sides of the argument.  It isn't researching if you're only looking for articles that support your already-set-in-stone viewpoint.

Since I quoted from it, here is the website referred to previously:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/194319