Packing up...

and heading to Washington DC! Whoo hoo!

4 days of me and the boys at the zoo, museums, and riding the metro! I can't wait!

We may or maynot have interzwebz there, so call...

And expect a BUTT LOAD of pics.

Changing the blog...

Let me know what you think, I'm switching colors around.

Canyon is Growing...

I can't believe we are coming up on a year! He is a little over 10 months old now, and is so cute and smart!

Here are a few fun shots of him in the sandbox:

Funny Kid...

Canyon is a funny little kid, really, or maybe it is just that he amuses me and Carl?

Well here is today's amusement:

I have started giving Canyon little sips of water from a sippy cup. Now, I have to hold the cup up and then he can drink/suck from the cup and get a little bit of water.

Today, Carl decided to give him a little water, and Canyon didn't know what to do! He kept biting the cup, scrunching his eyebrows and looking at Carl and laughing/smiling, almost like he was saying "You can't feed me!". It took a little bit, but he did finally realize that daddy CAN feed him a little, LOL!

Maybe it isn't *that* amusing to all of you, but it really got a laugh from me and Carl!

We have TEETH!

Well, we have one, might have two by tomorrow! Canyon is getting to be a big boy!

I made him a hat, but it is too small, so we will have to make something else.


I am thinking about making a shrug for our friend Jess who is having a baby soon...

Happy first birthday Micah!

We went to his first birthday party on Wednesday. He is such a cute guy! Here are a few shots of him... and we found out, he is not a fan of chocolate.

Spring has sprung!

The flowers are starting to appear, and the weather is starting to warm up!



Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I hope you all had your green beer, or something equally as fun. The boys and I spent our day at the Nature Center and the Park! It was gorgeous out. The boys had a blast and wore themselves out completely. I took my tripod with me and am trying to figure out self portraits... meh... I need to figure out some more though. I love the one of me and Arden, other than the fact that it is blurry, lol.




The boys had a blast at the park and nature center... Rory is getting to be so big! He climbed a rope tower that I wouldn't have climbed!


And of course, Arden followed him up (but only made it a few feet off the ground).


And one more b/c Rory is a camera ham:

New Knitting Project...

I just made a hat for Sonya's baby (her blessingway is this weekend) and guess what... it only took me 2 days! I'm getting better and faster! I'm really excited about it!


Jim, I'm making you a hat next! Out of the same yarn I think! It is a nice med/heavy wool and is super soft! I think it will be perfect for being out west! We miss you, I hope to get to see you before too long.

Last of the warm days...

at least for a little while! After a week of mid 70s temps, we are down in the low 40s again. But we did get one last outing under our belts.

We went to the river instead of the Nature Center, and we had a blast.



Rory took some photos of me and Can-Man. I think I have a budding photog on my hands.

My eyes...

The last month? or so I haven't been able to see correctly from my left eye; it makes me dizzy, I can't read a book, or even really focus the camera, every photo I take is "off". Looking at the computer, or even trying to look at anything with light (even going outside) was an issue.

I broke down and went to the doctor this morning bright and early...

Nothing. There is nothing wrong. My eyes are better than 20/20 (20/10 actually) and apparently the only "issue" is that my left eye is slightly inflamed from the cold/flu thing we have been fighting. I got some drops, and the eye should be normal in a few days.

That's it. Nothing.

It is so weird, I could have sworn something was growing over my eye or something. But, I am good. So hopefully my sight will be 100% normal again in a few days! Whoo hoo!

We are going to the Nature Center as soon as my eyes are done dilating...

A Bit of Potty Humor...

Well, it is humorous now...

Arden wasn't feeling well and we decided that he and I should take a bath. So after the bath Arden came out of the bathroom and sat down to play with his brothers, then got up to go poop.

When he "summonsed" us to tell him he was done, Carl went in the bathroom to take care of it...

All I hear is "Oh no son! You have to get back in the tub!!!" Then Carl emerges from the bathroom with two towels that had been on the rack, and looking for spray...

Arden went with such force that it blew up his back, all over the wall, and all over the towel rack!

GROSS!


As for an update, all of us except Carl have the flu or something. I feel like I was standing on the railroad tracks.

Oops...

I think that I might have made a BIG mistake... it is a little funny... well, a lot funny really...

We had to go to the grocery store today, and while there Arden needed to use the potty. So, Carl stayed with Rory and Canyon while Arden and I ran to the bathroom.

Anyone who has a little boy knows how hard it is to get their little stream to clear the edge of the potty while they are sitting, and this particular potty, you have to sit the little guy pretty far back to make sure he didn't pee all over his pants and the floor...

As I pushed him further back on the potty, I realized that he didn't have a way to hold himself up, and before I knew it...

He FELL IN.

Yup. I dropped my kid off in the pool. (Pun intended).

I had to grab him out, find paper towels and dry him off before going back to finish shopping.

I don't think he will ever use a public potty again. He already has issues using an adult potty... now I don't know what will happen...

Oops.

(And yes, I did laugh, a LOT. Arden even thought it was funny by the time I was done cleaning him up.)

Taking Turns...

yup. We are taking turns with the yuckies.

Rory seems to only have had a 24 hour thing. Canyon has been puking/fever for almost 24 now. Arden didn't eat dinner or breakfast, but had a biscuit with jelly for lunch... I'm thinking he isn't on the top of his game either.

Fun times.

Blueberry Pancakes...

Are off the menu at our house.

Cleaning them up 5 hours after they are consumed, out of the top of a bunk bed, is NOT fun.

Oh, and in case you didn't gather, Rory is sick.

The Things They Say...

Yeah. The things that kids say...

Rory has been visiting local schools for the last 2 weeks and we have finally submitted the applications for the lotteries and have our fingers crossed.

One of the schools invited the incoming children to go to classes and walk through a morning at the school. So Rory and I (and Canyon) got up early, and spent a day in the class room.

The children were learning about money: how to count it, the presidents, what it is made out of, etc. It was very interesting and fun! It made me see that Rory definitely has the social skills he needs, more so than some of the other visitors who are in pre-k! I'm very happy about that.

The teacher, Mrs. R, was talking about penny-jars or piggy banks, and asking each child if they had one. Rory very excitedly told her he had a Grinch Bottle! While describing it to her, he said, "So, I just keep my money in a big beer bottle!" I about fell through the floor! All the other moms in the room thought it was hilarious... even the teacher had a hard time not laughing!

For the record, it is NOT a beer bottle!! But rather a large plastic soda bottle type bank. Sigh.

Now to Arden. He is pooping in the potty wonderfully. Not many issues. He has taken to looking at his excrement now. After he poops, he has decided that he has to tell me what kind of poop it is. Lately it is "Snake Poop!" It doesn't matter where we are, or who takes him to the potty, he comes out yelling "Snake poop mommy! Snake Poop! BIG Snake poop!"

Yup. So is my life. I definitely have boys; my life is full of potty humor and tattling on mom for having beer.

Trains, Tree Trunks, and Trout...

Well, 2 out of three isn't bad... we spent Saturday running about and having a blast!

Saturday was the last day for the local model train display, and it was fun. There weren't quite as many trains as I expected, but the boys had a blast anyhow! Even Canyon was enthralled!





The boys got to operate Thomas, and we got to see a number of hand made exhibits that were amazing!




One even had skinny dippers!


After the show we went to Big Creek for a hike/fishing trip. We walked out to Midnight Hole, and fished and played for a while.



We didn't catch any trout, or even have a bite for that matter, but we did have fun on the 3 mile hike!

Arden decided to try to walk up a tree that had fallen off the cliff, and Rory tried to crawl up it.




Over all it was a beautiful day, warm, sunny, and clear as can be.

I think I have spring fever... isn't it a bit early for that?

Sunday is about Boobies...

No, not about the Denny's Nurse In or the negative energy that everyone is putting into it.

We are all on the same side, all for BFing. But not all for the motive/method. But it is neither here nor there.

Rather than focusing all this energy on the negative and the bad, let's harness it for good.

I am going to be fasting on Sunday for the boobies. For Breast Cancer Awareness and Support.

Please join me in a day of fasting, and please, if nothing else, do a self exam.

You think I posted LIBEL information about the Denny's Nurse-In? Really?

Crystal has contacted me and threatened me with Libel. Nothing I have posted about the situation with Denny's is libel, and I will continue to talk about MY POINT OF VIEW AND MY OPINION.

Some of this I already stated but, I feel like I should reiterate it. And yes, I have read the first-right stand being taken. This is a bit of a rambling rant.

I will not be going to this nurse-in, there are too many questions as far as the reason for it and where/when/how, etc. My biggest reason is that nurse-ins are for education and not punishment.

Denny's here in Asheville is NOT corporately owned so an apology from corporate is not going to happen. Each franchise will handle things their own way.

A national nurse-in is not going to achieve much when there is no real organization or firm reason behind it. An apology is what she wants, and she will "call it off". Is that what we are after? An apology for one person?

If you are going to do this, you need to do it RIGHT. You schedule a sit down with Denny's, you explain the law, you discuss what went wrong, and what BOTH sides could do in the future. You try to come to a positive conclusion before taking it to the media and making a fuss.

You get national breastfeeding groups on board first, before the press.

Has anyone been informed of the laws as far as picketing? Has anyone secured a permit? Do we know that these things are happening?

No, no one knows anything, that is the issue.

More information is needed as to what steps were taken first, and what is going on.

Even Crystal is confused, she doesn't/didn't even know if corporate or local management issued a statement.

Nurse-Ins are radical forms of protest, and when used properly are great! But this doesn't seem to be happening the right way or for the right reasons.

Education should be the reason, not just an apology.

I have been discriminated against for nursing in the past, I know how she feels, and what is going through her head, but you have to expect equal and proportional reactions to how you act towards a group of people.

There are a group of moms who are going to try to host a day of "awareness and promotion of breastfeeding" in March at Growing Young Café that I will attend. They are in the early planning, but it is stemming from the discomfort from the Denny's publicity. I'll help them out and put together a Press Release for them as they figure it out.

My main concern with how it came about is Crystal's tendency to bare breast nurse. I'm saying that there are places where it is more appropriate to "bare breast" nurse than others.

It isn't that others are necessarily offended either. It is embarrassing for some people to see a bare breast. It isn't that nursing, or a quick flash, or even belly or partial breast is showing, but an entire breast.

My father is someone who nursed until he was well into toddler-hood, (my grandmother still boasts about that), but has such a strong respect for women, that he is embarrassed at the beach, when boob flashes on a movie screen, or when I wear something revealing. He doesn't mind me nursing, but if I am too "lenient" with my exposure, he will ask me to cover up because he gets embarrassed.

Had he been in the restaurant, and see her bare breast nursing, he would have been so mortified that he would have literally gotten sick. He gets nervous, begins to get the hiccups, his hiatial (spelled wrong) hernia acts up, and he will then throw up his meal. I have seen it happen, and it isn't a choice. He would have asked management to do something, then would have addressed her himself IF he was still able to speak, but so long as she was exposed, he would be too embarrassed/upset/sick to approach her or even to finish his meal.

I think of the public in general the same way I do my father. I have enough respect for him, and for anyone else, to be fairly modest. That doesn't mean use a tent, or a blanket, or even to bunch your shirt right on the baby's face, but try to cover most of the breast that is not in use. Don't FORCE someone else to be uncomfortable. Crystal herself says things about making YOU go away and things, these comments are disrespectful and rude, if she wants respect from people, those comments and attitudes aren't going to do it for her.

Crystal made comments that she was "looking for it" that day. Right or wrong, mis-spoken or not, this is an issue. Many people saw that quote on MDC, it was deleted, but I did find where someone referenced it in the thread and told her she needed to delete that b/c it made her look bad. I can copy and paste it into a JPG if you want to see it.

I am ALL FOR BFING in public, no matter how old the child, where you are, or who is there, however, we need to be mindful of others. RESPECT must be earned.

The point of this nurse in is NOT about education. It is b/c she wants an apology.

LM

ETA: Denny's official stance:
“We at Denny’s work very hard to insure all guests have a pleasant dining experience. Breastfeeding is absolutely allowed in our restaurants; we do request that it be done with respect and discretion, as we are a family restaurant. We defer to our managers to carry out the company’s position.”

Mostly Naked Serenading ??

Yup... Arden bestowed a wonderful gift of pants-less serenading on me this afternoon while we are out hiking...

How did this happen you may ask? Well, it starts with the fact that mom forgot to take the portable potty with us, that Arden won't poop in public, and we were out on a hike... I took off his pants to let him go, he decided not to, and then he refused to put his pants back on.

After a few minutes, Arden perched himself on a rock and began singing to me... loudly with a lot of dancing! It was adorable! I did snag a few photos (for embarrassment later in life) and a video~ but I won't be posting them here, lol.

Here are a few photos I took during our hike, I am editing a few more from the Nature Center now.

Enjoy!

More about the Denny's Nurse-In "thing"

This has stirred up a huge can of worms here in Asheville and across the country, and I have to say, a lot of breastfeeding moms are not getting on the bandwagon for the nurse-in, and I am happy about that. Some of this might repeat what I have said before on the subject, but I feel it needs said again.

I'm having a hard time with this nurse-in. From day one, I have spent hours reading all the articles, rude hurtful comments, and the posts by Crystal herself. She was "within her rights", but the thing is, there is a time and a place for everything.

Nursing should be allowed to happen at anytime and in anyplace, but we as advocates for nursing, need to be considerate enough of the others around us to make them a *little* more comfortable with the situation.

Just because something is acceptable in some cultures, does not mean it is acceptable here. And just because we have the right to do something, doesn't mean we should. (I don't walk around screaming at my kids and hitting them b/c the law protects me as a disciplining parent...)

Here are my main issues with this particular nurse in:

1.) Denny's (both local management and corporate) have not been given a fair chance to make things right and to educate the staff or make amends for the situation. You need to give them a chance to make things right BEFORE you start on a media rampage. Someone who truly is looking for change would not have made an immediate call to the media.

2.) People who are involved or want to be involved are not being informed of what is going on, and are actually being misinformed in some places. It is hard to support something when there is no information being given to supporters.

3.) There are comments that were deleted from MDC (mothering.com) that were inflammatory by Crystal, implying this is what she wanted to happen. I truly feel that she is twisting things and not being completely forth coming about her intentions or the entire situation.

4.) There seems to be no organization, and if you really want to make an impact, organization is key. There are a LOT of little things that need sifted through before this happens/should happen. No one wants to see nursing moms separated from their babies and sent to jail.

5.) A nurse-in is NOT about punishment or "putting it in their faces". It is about education and information. And in order to inform or educate, we need to be mindful and respectful of those we are trying to educate. We really should not "all be ourselves. Do what we are comfortable with" by letting it all hang out and not using discretion, because the majority of the people we want to educate are going to be so uncomfortable we are not going to achieve what the goal is.

6.) I'm not sure what we expect Denny's to have done. They were losing business b/c of her actions, they had complaints from more than one customer... what should they have done, what could they have done? They were between a rock and a hard place and were trying to find middle ground. This is why we need to give them a chance to try to find a solution before jumping the gun.

LM

The Nurse-In at Denny's, my prospective...

Here is the short version of what I understand to have happened after reading and hearing MULTIPLE accounts:

A mom was "forced" to leave a local Asheville Denny's this week b/c of nursing in public. Observers say she was completely exposed, and at points was exposed and not nursing. She was politely asked to be more discreet b/c there were other patrons leaving and uncomfortable. She threw a FIT and would not stop screaming, and was asked to leave b/c of the screaming, not because of the breastfeeding... the police came. Denny's supposedly chose not to press charges on her for the disruption she caused.

I nursed my middle DS when he was 18-20months old, at that particular Denny's, with my parents, while very pregnant and never got a second glance... and we all know how hard it is to be discreet while you are that big and with a toddler...

I don't think that women should have to cover up, or even be forced to nurse a certain way while in public. A little flashing is inevitable. I have been places where I have had to pull my top down rather than up and have been more exposed than I liked... I'm rather large breasted, and that makes not exposing myself harder... but I manage to nurse and not expose the world to my droopy breasts ;) They just get the luxury of seeing my mama-belly rolls.

Having said that, we need to think about how we look to others who are not used to moms nursing in public, and how we can encourage others to feel comfortable around it, and to feel comfortable enough to do it themselves.

I too have been embarrassed by the lack of humility some women have while nursing (the mom in question is actually one of them). It is not necessary to expose your entire breast to a restaurant full of people while nursing, by being more discreet, you receive more favorable responses and teach young women and others that it is ok and easy to do. I also don't see the point in walking through a store with your breast hanging out of your shirt completely exposed withOUT a child attached to it. I have seen this mom in local stores with her entire breast out. There are times that a child is not even attached to it. She herself says that she "bare breast" feeds in an attempt to "make others see it is normal". But by doing this, she is defeating her own goal.

I almost feel like this is all a reason to start a fight and that a scene was caused just to make a scene. Sensationalism is not they way to educate. My opinion is that this mom is wanting the attention and drama, and does each time she exposes herself the way she does.

I support a nurse-in for the fact that people need to be educated on the subject. Things didn't go smoothly on either side. However, I feel that we need to be mindful of those around us while we do this. By exposing ourselves unabashedly to prove a point, we are making it about us, and not the baby eating.

Again, please remember it is NOT about our right to breastfeed, but about the baby's right to eat. There is a difference.

People keep talking about other cultures where it is acceptable... we aren't in other cultures, and while I wish we could all walk around topless, we just can't here in the US. If we expect people/our culture/etc to be respectful of us, we need to at the very LEAST be respectful of them as well. Not to mention, most of Europe does not support complete exposure either...

The way to teach others is NOT through embarrassment or disrespect.

I personally am getting a feeling that she is searching for the sensationalism. There have been some reports from bystanders that her "account" isn't exactly factual. Right or wrong, did you know that Denny's chose not to press charges on her for the disruption?

I have been to nurse-ins, I support moms breastfeeding anywhere. I nurse in church, and I never use a cover. I feel that she was disrespectful. She was just asked to be more discreet, and wasn't respectful enough of others to do so.

While NC law is currently in our favor, incidents like this, and IMO this particular nurse-in, can change that, and the law can be repealed or changed to make it harder.

We need to think of the overall goal, respectfully encouraging breastfeeding in our culture.

(Please remember I am pro-breastfeeding and do it anywhere and everywhere my little ones needs or wants it, for as long as they want it.)

Buzz is BACK!

Buzz, the turkey vulture at the Nature Center, is back! They caught him recently after a while of being free. He is ok, and fairly healthy after losing 35% of his body weight.

We met some friends at the Nature Center and had a great time... Arden and Canyon acted like goof balls, while Rory was almost impossible to get a photo of...




The warm weather melted the ice covering the turtle ponds and we got to see a few of them as they warmed themselves in the sun...


The wolves made an appearance and showed off for the boys...



So did the bobcats...


They took turns on the tractor...



And got to see something amazing... one of the rattle snakes shed its skin while we watched!