Car Seat Safety

I have a 15 page paper on infant hypoxia (low oxygen) caused by infant car seats. I'd really like to post it to the blog, but I can't figure how that would work. Plus, it's not my paper. (It came from an RN at the International Babywearing Conference.)
If you would like me to forward it to you, leave me a note.
Not all 15 pages are words. Some are x-rays!
Trust me, it's very interesting.
The general gist of the paper is: infant car seats are not designed for pre-term and term babies less than a few months old. The shape and size of the baby's head and the shape of the carrier causes the head to jut forward and partially occlude (close) the infant's airway leading to periods of low oxygenation which in turn can lead to various forms of brain damage and even death.
The recommendations by the study authors are: only use car seats for travel and minimize travel in the first few months of life and when traveling, use an insert, like a towel roll, behind baby's neck and trunk to help position the baby's airway.
We've all heard of babies who died in car seats. This is why.

Love, peace, and safe parenting,
Idaho Becky

Boating

This week at church we had a service auction. Two of the services were for family boating trips. My boy LOVES boats. So...I bid hard and fiercely for a boating trip. I saved all my points until the end. I borrowed my momma's points.

 I lost. 

It was sad. 

Then Saturday morning one of the ladies who had put up a boating trip called my momma and invited ALL of us to join them for an afternoon on the river, since all my sisters were home for the weekend.
The Boy was is hog heaven! I was a little less thrilled because honestly, I didn't have TIME to boat. (refer to previous post) but how could I say no?
So at 3:30pm we piled into the van and took a (5 minute) drive to the river. One of my other sisters and her husband met us at the launch.

This is what I brought:

1 Diaper

4 Kleenexes

2 Water sippies

1 cooler of water bottles

2 hooded towels

2 regular towels

sunscreen

2 toddlers

1 sister

We had a blast. However, we were on the river until just after 7pm which, as many of you know, is The Baby's bedtime. Which means my kids missed dinner. You may notice from my list that I did not bring one edible thing. Not one. Not even gum. I also didn't bring a camera. (It was in the car)

Starving my children aside, we had a terrific afternoon on the river. I will NEVER NEVER own a boat, but it was sure fun to play in one for an afternoon! The couple we were with was super funny. The boat is brand new. It's a replacement for their old boat, which slammed into a rock last year. (yeah. that happens in rivers, especially first thing in the spring)
So they kept saying things like, "take off your shoes. No. BEFORE you get in the boat." and "Watch those rocks!"
I got to try boat surfing and The Boy got to drive the boat. The Baby was pretty much not a fan of the life jacket, but she thought the whole thing was interesting.
I couldn't get The Boy to take a tube ride or get in the water or anything like that. He just wanted to drive the boat in circles. Which he did. Very Well.
The End  c

B.U.S.Y. spells: Insanity

My sister was supposed to drive The Hubs to Boise on Friday so he could hop a plane to Phoenix and get our house ready for the renters. She was also picking up her twin at the same airport for a weekend visit home.
But Thursday her baby spent the night in the E.R. with croup (she was a micro-preemie)
So I threw all thoughts of studying out the window and drove my own hubby to the airport. That was the fastest two hours ever. I studied a bit and had kid-free time in which I could talk with The Hubs.
On the way to Boise my sister that was flying in called and said, "I thought I booked an 8am flight, but the airline says I booked an 8pm flight." Here's where I tell you I was planning on being back in town in time to take a test that afternoon.
"But I got placed on stand-by for the 11am". OK. I think to myself. This will be alright. If she makes the standby flight, I can still get home in time for my test.
After dropping The Hubs at the airport I headed down the street to the outlet malls and had way more fun than my bank account should probably have allowed. I got my mom a new set of knives and I got my kids some swim covers and a couple Melissa and Doug Toys.

This is for The Baby. When you put the puzzle piece in, the animal makes it's noise. 

And this is what I got for The Boy.

After I picked up my sister we made our way into town and visited the yarn store for Grandma and then, since we were too late for my test anyway, we found a Taco Bell. I paid extra to have them leave the chicken out of my chalupa and put extra bean in, since I don't eat meat. But guess what? They topped it with bacon. That's ok, since bacon isn't meat. It's a condiment. :)

We made one last stop at Ross, which ended up taking two hours. 

In short, I had tons of fun and lost about 10 study hours. Which means I'm going to have to hit it hard Saturday.

CAUTION: Put Down Your Milk Before You Read This

Otherwise it WILL come out your nose.
http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2010/6/23/how-to-fight-a-fake-looking-monster.html

Your Daily Dose of Laughter Brought To You By: Idaho Becky

(and Scott Meyer, the awesomest cartoonist, EVER)

Dear Dad,

I miss you. I've been thinking about Father's Days past and how we'd make meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli (because mom insisted on a vegetable) every year. It was your favorite meal. We'd get you a pair of dockers or a white shirt or socks or a tie EVERY YEAR and EVERY YEAR you would act surprised and so happy. Even the years you picked out your own clothes.
Then there were the years the little girls went though the phase of making gigantic signs from rolls of news print, screaming HAPPY FATHER'S DAY in awkward print with the letters getting smaller and smaller toward the end, since the girls were spatially challenged and ran out of room...
How I love you, Daddy. All the Saturdays spent learning to drive in the boonies. All the late hours spent at work making sure we had enough to get by. That one barefoot walk, on the way to the canyon with the wind howling and our feet freezing on the blacktop, when you told me you loved me more than anything and I meant the world to you, but not with those exact words.
The bedtime stories that came straight from your own childhood, brought to life with your amazing oratorical skills.  I wish I could tell the "Shimmy/snake" story with half your pizazz. The way the entire world seemed to love you, to bask in your presence, even if no one outside our little corner of the state knew you those who did all loved you (except that one guy, but you showed him!) and trusted and admired you. People still tell me how amazing and strong you were in life.
And I remember how scared you were for every surgery or treatment, but also how hopeful and excited you were that "This would be the ONE". The long months that were bone marrow transplants, and finally giving up and coming home, knowing the end would be wickedly brutal, and long. And it was. Just awful.

I got so mad when you wouldn't just give up! After all hope was gone I begged you to let go, but you would not, because you didn't want us to grow up thinking giving up was OK. How I hated and admired that stubborn determination of yours, especially at the end when you couldn't eat and weighed less than mom.

Heavenly Father must really love me, to have sent me to be your daughter. You are one amazing man, Dad.
Thank you for your love, your guidance, showing me how to love the Lord and serve Him, be a parent and most of all, for believing in me. And thanks for trusting me when I got engaged after two weeks. It worked out. He's a great Dad, just like you.
Save me a spot in Heaven. I'd like to live next door, if that's OK. :)

Firefighters

The room for A&P lecture shares a semi-permanent wall with another lecture room. This week the other room was filled with BLM firefighters. Firefighters are NOT quiet. My instructor is deaf. (Really. He reads lips and signs and everything.)
This made for a week of hard-to-hear lecture.
I did talk to their instructor once, and he tried, but really, it was just too many firefighters talking simultaneously.
So the next day I got to class early and wrote the following on the board:

ATTENION: Medical students next door learning about the treatment of burns. 

It may be in your best interest to make sure we can hear the lecture. 

All of which was totally true. But that day the firefighters weren't in class. 
Maybe it's for the best. :)

Shhh!

I'm taking a break from homework, but don't tell. 

Every second I spend doing something NOT school or kid-related currently qualifies as  

GUILTY PLEASURE.

 This would not be the case if, say, I were getting all 'As'. That B in Anatomy and Physiology is REALLY bugging me. OK, back to studying for my practical lab exam on Monday, which I'm totally going to ace...since I can tell the difference between simple cuboidal epithelium cells and dense connective tissue under a microscope. Oh, wait...no I can't. 

Yeah, back to studying. 

Prayers for my sanity and/or grades would not go amiss. 

Loves, Hugs and Kisses,

Idaho Becky

Idaho Becky Proudly Presents:......What's For Dinner

ZUCCANOES!

We were SUPPOSED to rent a canoe and visit the river with the kids, but a certain kid who shall remain nameless did NOT take his nap, so the trip was cancelled. Instead, I made Zuccanoes. You can make them too! They are yummy.

Here's a picture.

And here's how.

 This recipe is from Moosewood Cookbook (My Fave)

Make Some rice. You'll need 1 1/2 cups. (we had some left-over from last night)

4 Zucchini, split length-wise to make boats. Scrape out innards and reserve.

1 Onion, sauté for a few minutes in a little olive oil

Add the chopped zucchini innards
garlic 

1/2 lb minced mushrooms 

salt

cayenne pepper

black pepper

Put the rice in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups finely chopped/ground almonds and mix well. Toss in the sautéd vegetables and some fresh parsley. If you have other fresh herbs like dill or marjoram, go ahead and toss those bad boys in, too.

Load up the boats with the stuffing. Sprinkle with swiss cheese 

(Or not. We only had cheddar so that's what I used but cheese is optional) 

Bake for 30-40 minutes. 

PEPPER SAUCE (this stuff is GOOD)

steam hulled red bell peppers (2) for about 10 minutes, covered

put in blender with a little salt and pepper and a garlic clove. 

YAY! It's dinner time!

WARNING: 

The Bell Pepper Sauce WILL stain. We lost a pair of The Baby's cutest pink checked shorts to the evil that is Red Bell Pepper Sauce. If you're feeding this to kids, I suggest doing so in the buff 

(the kids, not you) 

and possibly in the bathtub, because it also stained white linoleum. 

MORE School

Wish me luck. Tomorrow I start three more summer classes: Anatomy and Physiology, Algebra and Athletic Weights. Now you know why I won't be blogging as frequently.
Wish me luck! I'll try and check in periodically.

If you don't hear from me in the next six weeks, you know why.

The Mid-Mid Life Crisis: During Which I Briefly Consider Running for Elected Office

I'm having a mid-life crisis. Or to be more exact, a mid-mid life crisis. Since I'm not OLD old or anything.
Recently I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grow up, but then I realized I was ALREADY grown up and had missed my window of opportunity (i.e. pre-children) to finish the 'ol education and become a fully vetted Naturopathic Physician and/or Regular Old Physician.
Briefly I decided that didn't matter much, and I just go to school anyway.

Then I tried it.

School is FUN!

School and raising kids at the same time is not.

Possibly if I didn't have these very opinionated views on attachment parenting, I'd have an easier time leaving my children in the care of others to do whatever the heck I wanted. But my children, particularly The Boy, were so difficult to come by it feels WRONG to just up and leave them to go to school. Even when I leave them with family.

So we're back to the original question that started it all: How does Momma go about feeling self-fulfilled and worth-while?
Option One: Time/money wise it seems best to just finish my Bachelor's Degree. I'm about 40 credits away, so three semesters if I go fast.
Option Two which qualifies as dream-fulfilling, is to go to medical school, probably naturopathic, which can't happen until after Option One anyway.
Option Three is get a nurse midwife degree and attend VBACing mommas illegally. This is almost as much time and not as much money as Option Two.
Option Four is not an option: Do nothing. I've been doing nothing. Do Nothing is NOT working for me.
For kicks and giggles, here's
Option Five: become a state legislator and change the rules surrounding who's allowed to attend births.
I am now officially open to any and all suggestions. If you say, "Talk to The Hubs" though, I will scream. He wants me to be an illegal midwife. Yeah. Not so much.

A Perfect Day

Sometimes I wish I could live forever if all the days could be like yesterday. Here's what we did.
Before I was even dressed, The Boy, The Baby and I did a "science" experiement involving water, food coloring, extra bowls and a turkey baster. :)

Momma went grocery shopping by herself ( I would rather have taken The Baby with me, but the car seat covers were in the wash) and the kids stayed home and made frosting with my sister, because when I got home

we made sugar cookies shaped like our hands. The one in front on the left is The Boy's. His hand isn't really that puffy, it was the dough.

And then we made lunch.

I bet you wish you were invited to lunch yesterday so you, too, could have millet with Alfredo sauce and peas topped with a veggie dog cut to look like an octopus complete with mustard eyes and GOLDFISH. Yes, Gold Fish, for lunch. Come on, I KNOW you're jealous. :)


After lunch the kiddos took a nap and I ran over to the college to get some paperwork signed, met with my adviser and got yelled at for taking too many summer credits...again, but I didn't care because when I got home, the kids were up and

frosting hand-shaped cookies with their daddy. :)
And they made me one too. It was sugary.

Then I made Stuffed Eggplant for dinner. It was awesome. My mom ate it and did not barf, which says a lot because she usually barfs after consuming eggplant.

After dinner, I went to class, where I answered all my questions right (which makes me happy), got asked by a classmate to review his essay (which also makes me happy, since it means OTHER people think I'm smart) and then I came home and got to nurse The Baby and then snuggle with The Hubs.

The only way the day could possibly have gotten better is if someone had handed us a million dollars. That may not even beat it, because it was a pretty swell day.

Zsa Zsa eating the gumdrops off her hand cookie.

(also the cat trying to get out and AWAY from the kids)

Did I mention that there were ZERO temper-tantrums yesterday? Yeah, it was awesome.