Just don't know....

I know that at this moment there are a lot of unneeded worries. Symptoms that could be anything. But the biggest concern to me is the more then a month spotting everyday. My period has been all kinds of crazy since June of 2012. Regulated for a few months and then nothing. Last real period I had was nearly a year ago I think and at that point I thought I was losing way to much blood.

But come Monday morning I am going to call and set up an appointment. Pray that all comes back normal and that dreaded C word is not even a possibility. It scares the ever living crap out of me. But if it does I got this and God is with me. I dont know if anyone actually reads this but if you do and you happen to be on facebook just dont say anything. 

A series?

First and foremost, if you don't want to read this or anything that I write then don't. But please do not read and criticize or "dog" me and my beliefs. Just like people say that they want to educate and spread information, that is exactly what I am doing from my point.

So I have things that mean a lot to me. After being attacked and told I was wrong on more then one occasion because I am not a doctor, I have decided that I am going to write about the things that mean a lot to me. I have reputable sites, and yes the posts will be from my side (except on some topics). So the topics that I want to write on are:

- Circumcision
- Breastfeeding/ formula
- Bed sharing, co-sleeping and CIO
- Car seat safety!!!!
- Baby wearing
- Vaccinations
- Home births, hospital or birth center births
- Doulas and midwives


If I think of anything else I will update this list. I plan on posting one a week so that it will give me time to get the information that I want to provide and also write it out. 

update update update....

So a little update on how life is going here with the Honeycutt's. We will start with Jeremy; he is working and sleeping and eating and spending time with us. Not much has changed on that end. Shiana is doing awesome in school still. Excelling in all course, but not a fan of math. Keylan is wild and crazy as ever, lol. He is growing and learning new things everyday and he tries to do as much for himself as possible. My life. I started working as a seamstress about a month ago. I love my job, work 7-3:30 and making pretty decent money. I finally got our essential oils ordered and very excited to get them in and start using them. Hoping that we will have our own place soon so of course like any wife/mom I am planning all parts. From the kids room to laundry room to outside, lol. I have also been thinking and looking for phlebotomy courses to take online. I still would like to have a career in the medical field and sticking people sounds like fun. Haha, it does sound fun, but I would like to help out in this area and a plus is that all the injections that I have given people I have not had one negative comment from anyone, and those were real, actual patients. So hopefully I can figure something out along those lines and make it to my career and make good money with decent hours. 

Plans

Something that I have been a huge advocate for since before Keylan was born is car seat safety. I feel like I have seen just about everything with car seats and have heard all the excuses that I can hear. I am always willing to help a parent, grandparent, friend, or any one that transports children. When Shiana was born I was not educated and I am so thankful and blessed that nothing ever happened to her in the car. I did everything wrong; straps to loose, buckle on her belly, jackets on under straps, and the worst is forward facing her at 8 months old. I found a awesome group of women that I have learned so much from and from there I have researched and learned even more on my own. I can give advice and tell why not to do something from experience, but people always ask "Why should I listen to you? You do not have any credentials to tell me what I am doing is wrong".  So now I want to take my teaching to the next level. I am looking at getting CPST certified. There is a course that is going to be close to me and I am trying to make plans to attend. After finishing the course I will be certified and can then answer "Well I am certified in child passenger safety" and plan to have cards made to give out if they ask for one. If I can have just one infant or child protected that is all that matters to me.

What's to come in 2014

So 2013 is over and on to 2014. This year the kids will be turning, 4, 7 and 14. I will be turning 26 and my loving husband will be the big 3-0. I have decided that I am going to make goals to work on a little everyday, but I do have at least one big thing that I would LOVE to have happen this year. I want us to be able to have a home of our own. We have been trying to work on that but with the holidays and trying to get the paperwork for the Army advantage fund rolling it has been a hassle. But on to our goals for this year:

- Start going to church more regularly, and grow my relationship with God
- Yell less at the kids
- Grow as a wife and a mother, because both my husband and my kids are always changing and so I must grow with them.
- Be more fun and not so serious about everything. My babies are only babies for so long and then I will be uncool.
- I want to start eating healthier
- and work on losing a little weight and being more active.

So these are all very easy and simple, but they will all take "work" to fulfill them throughout the year. 

LIfe

So life has been, I guess to say hectic. I am finally getting more substitute jobs, which is AWESOME because that means more money to catch up and pay bills and also start buying Christmas presents.

We had a parent teacher conference with Shiana's teacher last week and she is doing absolutely awesome in everything. She is way ahead in all subjects in class and doing things that her teacher said she has seen very very few students do at her age level. I am one super happy momma and she is so bright. But she has also been having some "health" issues. She has been complaining about things far away being blurry and having a hard time seeing the board, so we are trying to get her eyes checked. And betting that most likely she will be needing glasses.

She also had a knot on her throat that swelled up last weekend and continued to for a few days. I took her to the ER and they said it was a cyst on her thyroid. She was then referred to an ENT, that appointment was on Friday. We went in, and since I was paying out of pocket we had several things taken care of. First, of course, was her throat. She was diagnosed with a thyroglossal duct cyst (Thyroglossal Duct Cyst). At this moment since we do not have insurance, he said that we are ok. But when it kicks in and it is not swollen and angry he wants and ultrasound to check it all out and then surgery to remove the cyst. Next, was her nose. She has been having frequent nosebleeds so he checked and she has/had a large "juicy" blood vessel on the side that bleeds so he cauterized it and we are hoping that helps. Last he checked her throat and asked if she snored a lot. She does so I said yes and he then told me that her tonsils are enlarged and that also means that her adenoids are enlarged too. He said that he would like to have them taken out, after insurance is in and after the cyst surgery is finished. So we have a busy few months when insurance is back.

Keylan....what can I say about my crazy little boy? lol. He is 3 and a half years old now, fully potty trained which is awesome! He still is not so crazy about meat, loves him some fruits though. He has also started sleeping through the night now, which also is nice. With all the weather change though his asthma has been acting up so he has been coughing a lot.

Daisy Scouts Ideas

I have already been looking at ideas for this year:

Badges:
I would love to be able to get the badge book and pick a few "big" ones out to do this year and be able to talk to my Asst. Leader about what she thinks. And of course I want all the girls, or at least the ones that will bridge to Brownies, to complete their daisy patches. The daisy patches will most likely take all year, but I have a lot of good ideas that we can use to get them. 

Meetings:
I am going to get a tri-fold poster board and put our Kaper chart in the middle, thinking flower pots with flowers. On the left side I am going to put the Girl Scout Pledge. And on the right the Girl Scout Law. Each law will be the color of its petal and then below it I am going to put a space where as we complete each we will complete it on there too.

I also have some crafts planned for each holiday. Then at the end of the year I will plan a bridging ceremony, but definitely not going to stress about for a while. I have found some awesome sources and blogs that I will reference when I write about my ideas from them. But right now I am in the pre-planning and waiting for books and to get started, but I at least know that I have an AL that is excited about this year as I am.

Daisy Scouts

So some changes will be coming soon!! Shiana has been interested in becoming a Girl Scout so I started to try and get her into it. This past week there was an informational meeting about it and found out that it is really hard to find groups to take girls in, she is a Daisy scout. So it basically came down to waiting till groups would take girls or to have someone to volunteer as troop leader and form a new group for the new girls.....

I was that mom. I volunteered to be troop leader. So I am will be a Daisy Scout Troop Leader as soon as my training is finished, which should not take long. 

I am very nervous about how all of this will play out, especially since it is a new group and my first time doing it. But everyone has "guinea pigs" to test things and learn from. I am just telling myself that as long as the girls have fun and get what they need to and I communicate with the parents then all will be fine and then I will have the summer to make changes and plan ahead.

So now my blog will, hopefully be filled with exciting new things that my scout troop will be doing and how we will be helping out community. 

Keylan's Birth

So I made another post for Keylan's pregnancy because he was my "high maintenance" baby. But this I will start the morning I headed to the hospital. I was scheduled to have a repeat c-section at 8:00 the morning of April 16, 2010. I got to the hospital at about 5:30 to prep and monitor him. My mom dropped Shiana off at daycare and then came up to the hospital to be with us. At 8 A.M. I walked down to the OR and got my spinal block, of course I felt like I was being smothered with the O2 mask on and strapped down. I don't remember a lot, no pulling or tugging like there was with Shiana, but he was cutting away a lot of scar tissue. He ended up having to cut on a different part of my uterus then intended, and it ended up being where my placenta was at. I lost a lot of blood and then it took a minute to get Keylan out. 

He was born at 8:36 A.M. I heard a little cry, saw him for 2 seconds and then he was gone. I can not say what happened once he left because mom and Jeremy were with him while my tubes were tied and I was closed up. I went to recovery and finally got to see him again for another 2 seconds an hour later. He was hooked up to monitors and IVs and tubes in his mouth and a nasal cannula, not how you picture seeing your supposed full term newborn. He had acidosis, from what they told us later that night, really bad. We finally got to hold our newborn after midnight. I got him to latch because I was determined to breastfeed, then they pushed formula on him. He was fed every 3 hours and once they started pushing formula on him he started to spit up really bad and he never gained weight. We had to fight to have him discharged at 6 days old, they wanted him to gain at least a quarter of a pound. Had we not fought he would had been in there for 3 weeks. We took him home, he was partially breastfed and bottle fed and because of weight and spit up he eventually ended up on just the bottle. He was eating 1-2 ounces every 1-2 hours because of spit up. 

At 2 months old, he had gained 1 pound. He ended up back in the hospital for failure to thrive. They tested for everything and finally figured he had a fast metabolism. Started him on Neosure, a high calorie formula, and zantac for acid reflux. He was still fed 1-2 oz every 1-2 hours but from there his reflux was controlled and he started gaining weight. 

It's been awhile

So it has been a while since I last updated. I have not been doing much, just cleaning house and being mommy. I have gotten a little more involved at Shiana's school and she is loving it when I come in. There is nothing like seeing her big smile and hearing her say that I am the bestest mommy in the whole world because I came to her school. She is still in advanced groups in her class which I think is absolutely awesome and she is now a car rider most days because she is tired of having to sit on the bus for nearly an hour to go 2 miles down the road. I love listening to her spell and read and we have been working on math problems (simple adding and subtracting) but my favorite is listening to her read and she loves it. I hope she has my love of books as she grows.

Keylan...what can I say about this charming little man of mine? lol. He is a very hyper almost 3 year old, dang almost 3 when did that happen? He is learning new things everyday. We have been working on our ABCs, he knows some of his shapes and colors, potty training is ish right now but definitely not stressing over that. He eats me out of house and home and I am scared to see what he is like when he is a teenager. And night times have been rough. He goes to bed easily, but has a tendency of waking up multiple times during the night. After having a rather unpleasant encounter with the NP at the place that we are going I am trying something new. 

My kids have both been very touchy, like me. They have to feel, be on, touch something while they sleep. Since they are having a rough time sleeping I have decided that their beds are going to be pushed together. I am praying this helps them and it helps me/us and everyone can get a good night sleep and have good days and not "cranky mommy days" as Shiana calls it. But I will update in a few days with how things are going on. 

Unwanted changes...

So I decided that I am not going for my doula certifications, at least not this year. I am instead going to pay for and take my medical assistant certification and hope that I will pass that. I am also applying to the clinical lab tech program and hoping that I can get into that and move up. We also pretty much have the kids birthday parties figured out, now to reserve since things book so far in advance. I am hoping that one day I can be a doula or midwife, but right now things would be better with me working a steady job and getting into the tech program and making more money. 

But right now I am living the life of a full-time mom, part time student, and part time job along with everything else that is involved with taking care of a home. I am doing alright with all of it though =)

New Years Resolutions

I don't have a lot of resolutions this year, which is a good thing. But my resolutions are:

1. Start my certifications for Labor and Postpartum Doula and also Teen Educator.
2. Hopefully get into the clinical lab tech program (my fall back)
3. Figure out if homeschooling will actually be possible for us (hoping it is).
4. Better myself as a mom and wife and a whole. I hope to spend a little more time on me.
5. Eat healthier and get into a healthier lifestyle for our family.

See.. not that many. I am especially looking forward to starting my certifications. So if you are in Alabama and need a doula next year let me know =)

Changes for the New Year

I love my kids to death and would do anything for them, but there are few things that do need to change. The number one is listening. I have two very strong willed kids and their thought process is that what is in their mind is what matters and that is it. Shiana does very well with the "system" at school so we are going to adapt it to home. If she listens and does what we tell/ask her to do, plays nicely, etc she will move up and if she doesn't she will move down. Then at night before bed she will have a calendar that she can write what number she was on for that day. At the end of the week she will get a treat or she can save them and have a special day once a month. Bedtime is another biggy, the kids share a room now. We have gotten Shiana use to the dimmer nightlight and they listen to music while falling asleep. I am hoping that once we get a cd player and some night music they will both sleep through the night. I am having more issues with Keylan because he constantly wakes up hungry or thirsty and it is cutting into his sleeping or at least getting a good amount of sleep at night. He has NEVER been a good sleeper, like at all since he was born. He had the same issues then plus reflux. I am hoping that with a few changes we can have a more stress-free, calmer and more peaceful home. 

I have figured it out...

What I want to do with my life. I am going to become a doula. I have been trying to figure out what I want to do for a while. I ultimately would love to be a midwife, but they are technically illegal here in Alabama. But, for those that do not know what a doula is, a doula is a person that supports a mom and/or expecting parents during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and post-partum. My first step is to find a good program to go through to get certified. I plan on starting with labor and post-partum first and then working my way to childbirth educator and lactation consultant. There are several programs so there are options, and I plan to pay them with tax return and go from there. I am really excited to start this journey in my life, we know that it will be tough for a little bit but we will get there. I have just felt a calling to this field and believe that more moms need the support.

Controversial parenting tag

Yup I'm joining in, maybe if I put it all out there I can just refer people to my blog. These are my views, I am not calling any one a bad mom just something's I feel more attached to. If you read this and have a blog I invite you to do this too.

The Topics: 
Pro-life Vs. Pro-choice
Baby Wearing
Circumcision
Adoption
Baby Piercing
Breast Milk Vs. Formula
Spanking
Co-sleeping
Home Vs. Public Vs. Private Vs. Charter Schooling 
Vaccinations
Medicating Children
Cloth Vs. Disposable diapers 
CIO

My add-ons:
ERF
Feeding (BLW, etc.)

Pro-life vs. pro-choice: this is a no brainer. I am whole heartedley pro-life! Life begins at conception and deserves to live. No woman has the right to decide to end a life.

Baby Wearing: I wish I had done more of this with Shiana. I LOVED wearing Keylan was the only way to get grocery shopping done and cleaning the house. It made my life easier especially with having Shiana to take care of too. I have learned that there are thins that should not be done. Crotch danglers are especially dangerous to a baby's hips.

Circumcision: Oh where can I start with this. I am absolutely 100% AGAINST infant circumcision. I have been and always will be. A newborn boy deserves to be able to decide for himself when he is old enough to make that decision. 80% of the males in the world are intact. Circumcision is cosmetic surgery to make what you think a penis should look like, this involves ripping thousands upon thousands of nerves away from the head. Keylan is intact and has never had any issues in the two and a half years that he has been alive. If you want more information on it I am honestly open to discuss it.

Adoption: I personally could not give my baby up for adoption, it takes strong and loving parents to do it. I would though LOVE to adopt one day. 

Baby Piercing: This is a new one mostly for me. I pierced Shiana's ears at 1 and wish I never had done it. She fell at about 20 months old and busted her ear. I had to take her earring out because of how infected it got. I decided then that I would wait till she was old enough to tell me she wanted it done. After all that I believe that a girl should be able to say if she wants it done or not. There are press on earrings for special occasions; plus as they learn to crawl and walk as toddlers they will fall many times and why risk a serious injury to a pierced ear?

Breast milk Vs. Formula: Breast is best. I wish that I had stuck with it longer with both kids. I can't believe that I missed out on that special bond. With Shiana I started school and it was really hard to keep up and then she was on formula. With Keylan we made it roughly a month and he had so many issues that he needed to be gaining more weight steadily.

Spanking: I personally hate spanking! I may do a pop on the butt, but that is it. I want to be more peaceful and show my kids that they can make good decisions without having to resort to spanking them.

Co-sleeping: I love co-sleeping. Keylan has been in our room/bed every night of his life. I love the cuddling and snuggling (cuggling as Keylan calls it). There are nights that Shiana sleeps in the bed and I do let her. 

Home Vs. Public Vs. Private Vs. Charter Schooling: Shiana is in public school and we love her school and teacher. It has helped start the growing and learning process. But we have decided that we are going to Homeschool them. We had it decided while I was pregnant with her and she is really excited about it. She has so many things that she wants to learn about that she won't get to learn about in school.

Vaccinations: I will honestly say that at this point both kids are fully vaccinated, but I have been giving it serious thought to discontinue getting them. There are so many that are not needed and they are so full of junk that who honestly knows what is in them and ultimately into our kids?

Medicating Children: I think this means giving unnecessary amounts of medicines? I am not sure. I give my kids benadryl for their allergies and when absolutely needed they get tylenol. I do use herbal supplements to help boost their immune system, etc...

cloth vs disposables: I used disposables on Shiana. And for a while cloth on Keylan, till we moved home and were sharing washer and dryer with my parents and what not. I loved my cloth diapers!!! So cute and fluffy and a thousand times better for the environment  I am still using sposies on Keylan and hoping though that we can have him semi-potty trained by his birthday.

CIO: I am 100% against Cry It Out. It can cause issues in kids. And I just can't see how a person can just leave their screaming, crying upset baby in a room by themselves. I do not have the heart to do that to my kids; I brought them into the world to love and take care over, not just to stick in a room to cry when i see fit.

ERF: extended rear facing; this is another one of my heart felt passions. I do NOT see how in the hell a person can think it is okay to turn their baby around at 6 months old. I learned from my mistakes with Shiana and thank god that nothing ever happened to her. ERF is 500 times safer and is the easiest thing in the world to do. Know how easy it is? Just don't turn the seat around, be lazy leave it where it is. But turning is not the only thing in keeping your kid safe, no coats in the seat (use in backward or a blanket), Keep the straps tight and the chest plate at hmm where? the chest. 

Feeding: Rice cereal should be skipped all together. Jar food is crap. Baby led weaning is awesome as is homemade purees. With both you know what is going into your kids foods. Purees take maybe an hour or two a month and fresh fruits and vegetables. BLW is feeding baby what you eat. The best time is when they have met all "requirements" that you know they are ready. 2-3 months old is not the right age for any baby, they still need only nourishment from breastmilk/formula.

I made this because I am honestly tired of saying that I shove things down people's throats. I have never done such a thing, I have never once told a mom that she is a bad mom because she does things differently. I expect the same respect from other moms just the same. These are all basic things that affect every single mom and baby and should always always be researched. 

Organic-ish and Schools and Birthdays

So I have decided that once we get moved into our own place I would love to go organic. There are so many additives to the processed foods that we eat and organic food is a little more expensive but it is overall a better and healthier choice. I also hope that I can start making more homemade things: laundry detergent and cleaners, etc... I want to live healthier and essentially cheaper. I also know that my children's health will benefit from it more. 


I was accepted into Jeff State Community College and I am withdrawing from Kaplan, so I can have full coverage at JSCC. I register for classes on July 23rd, I have a few more things to turn in (documentation to get in state tuition). Then I have to get books and supplies and I am hitting up the thrift store for "new" clothes. Looking for another pair of pants (maybe and hopefully I can find some bell bottoms) and t-shirts and a pair of canvas like shoes. Shiana will be getting registered for school August 1st. Then parent night is Aug 14th, orientation is Aug 16th and she will start Aug 20th. I also have a few outfits to get and school supplies and come closer to time I have to get lunch stuff. 


Birthdays! Umm can I say that I can't believe that my little girl is about to turn 5? Where in the world did the time go? Our plan for her birthday are: her spending her birthday with my mom and Barb, probably movie, lunch and then shopping ( new toy and outfit), then on Saturday I am hoping I can take her to Oak Mountain to go horseback riding, then that night we will have choice of dinner and her pony cake and open presents. Also hard to believe that my step daughter will be 12 at the end of this month too. I have known her since she was a little thing and have been blessed to be able to see her grow. 

New happenings

So Jeremy has been working a few days now. He works Thursday-Sunday, 6-6, and then off Monday-Wednesday. We are finally going to be able to save some money and finally get out on our own and in our own place again!! YAY!!! I am starting "back" to school in August. I am retaking some classes so that I can get into the nursing program at Jeff State Community College. I know come August when everyone has things going on I am going to be exhausted. I get up at 4:30 with Jeremy on the days he works, at the moment I go back to bed, but when school starts that will be the start to my day. Once he is off to work then I will get Shiana breakfast ready and her off to school and then add me getting ready for school at the same time. I know I can do it, I am working on some organization things for all of us. I just hope it goes as smoothly as it does in my head. The only issue that I am seeing right now is the car...

Life Goes On

So we have been living with my parents for roughly a month and a half now. It has had its ups and downs, but for the most part it is going well. Jeremy finally got a job at Boatright. He is suppose to start sometime next week, they are waiting for equipment to come in. I am so excited because he will finally have a steady paycheck coming in and we can actually save up some money and get a place of our own. It will be nice to have our own home again, lol. I started volunteering for Brookwood hospital. I am making blankets and hats for the NICU, hopefully once I get a routine going I can add in Shelby Baptist NICU in and then maybe blankets for Children's Hospital. We are now at the two month mark till Shiana starts school. I still cannot believe that my little girl is starting school. She is so grown up in a lot of ways, but still little (which I do have to remind myself about) and she still wants mommy snuggles. Keylan I think is ready for his sister to be back in school too. They were so much better together when they spend the day apart. I cannot believe how much he is growing up everyday. I need to make an appointment for him though to have his clotting factors checked because he may have a touch of free bleeding. He is also a mess, his pinkie nail on his left foot was coming off and he ended up getting it ripped off some how. With it he took a huge chunk of skin with it and the poor baby is in pain from it. Hopefully it heals soon and won't cause him any more pain.

New Things

So life is still going. Jeremy still has not found a job yet, but he continues to put out applications and call around. Just need August to get here so he can take the tests that he needs to. We have lived with my parents for a month now, and it is definitely time to have our own place again. It will be weird to be on our own again, living in Alabama, but we are looking forward to it greatly. I am very appreciative of my mom and dad for letting us stay here though. 


So the new things in my life are I have decided that I would love to be a midwife. That is going to be hard here in Alabama though because it is actually illegal here, which is really depressing. I am going to still continue with my nursing degree and pray that by time I get out it will be legal and I can be a certified nurse-midwife. I want to bring babies into the world, without the medical intervention that this country has made into the norm. I am also starting down the homeopathic route and when we have extra money I am getting Ben Feingold's book: " Feingold Cookbook For Hyperactive Children. And will also have biofeedback done on both of them. I know the way that they eat is not beneficial to their body at all, but like the saying " when we know better we do better" 

Parenting

Yes this is going to be a touchy post but I think that it is time to write about it. My parenting styles are my own; but I have a wonderful group of ladies that believe the same things that I do. I am a co-sleeping, cloth diapering, use to baby wear, extended rear-facing, and intactivist! I am proud of everything that I am. Yes, my son is 2 years old and co sleeps, he starts in his bed and ends up in ours and I love that he is there. I love the snuggling and waking up to my handsome little boy next to me. Cloth diapers save me money and they are cute, granted we use disposables at night because he is a heavy wetter. I loved to wear Keylan and wish that he was not so independent that he would let me wear him more but I did it because he felt secure and he knew that his momma was right there no matter where he went. Rear-facing, I made it 26 months and wish it was longer. I made a compromise; I do intend on extended harnessing Keylan though. And I love my whole son! There is nothing wrong with the natural anatomy of the male body! The circumcision rates are dropping so when he is old enough to be changing in the locker room there will be more boys that are intact then circumcised. It is an unnecessary procedure that the American Academy of Pediatrics is against it. I have never shoved my opinions down anyone's throat nor will I. But when I see a post that I am adamant about I will speak up and say something; whether it be through experience or research.