8 months!

I know I am like a broke record, every time I blog I say how how it has been first so I will skip this time. I am going to stay I need to start doing shorter updates more often.

Anyways..

Our little miracle is now 8 months old. 8 months, can you believe it? You would think I'd be used to having her around, but nope...sometimes I still look at her and cry because I am so thankful we were blessed with this amazing child. One thing I always remember hearing (sometimes I even found it annoying) DON'T BLINK time will go fast.... now I catch myself saying it almost every day. It really does so fast every day she does something new. 

I don't remember the last time I even blogged but she started sitting up between 5-6 months, which I was very happy about. We are doing baby led weaning and we gave her avocado for her first food a few days after she turned 6 months. She started staring hardcore at food around 3 months, grabbing around 4, and it was hard to keep it away between 5-6 months. Finally around 6 months I let her have a taste (I waited because of the open gut). She ate a little here and there but not much. I gave her food and she really just sucked on it so then it would be one a week if that. About 7 months I started giving her food more often- every couple days. Now at 8 months she gets food every day. I just give her strips of whatever I am eating. We tried giving her ONE jar of baby food because Justin wanted too. I think he was sad that he never gets to feed her so we were at walmart and he asked, so I said fine. We got all all natural stuff she hated it. He offered it a few times and she wasn't having it so we gave her real food and she was good even since. Now she wouldn't let us feed her off a spoon if we tried, haha. I try to get her mashed potatoes sometimes and it doesn't go over so well. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way though. Watching her eat while we eat just looks so natural. 

She starting working on crawling between 6-7 months and finally was full force by 7 months. Shortly after that she was all over the house. Now she follows me from room to room. It is been over a month since she started crawling and I am STILL amazed when she follows me into the bathroom:) She is getting really good a furniture cruising and loves to pull herself up on EVERYTHING, even the dog. Which reminds me -not so sure Bella likes her now that is so active. Alyssa's favorite thing is to pull Bella's ears....adorable. :) Speaking of pulling herself up on things...she showers with me daily now. I know a lot of moms like showers to be their alone time, and believe me when I do take a shower alone it is nice but it does feel really weird (I really enjoy being able to take a long shower and not worrying about what she is doing because she is with me)...anyways back on topic....so I used to drain all the water and leave her sitting in the tub while I dry off, get dresser, brush my hair, and teeth she would sit and play with her toys......now that pulls herself up she decided she is a big girl and can get out of the tube herself. Problem is -she can't! LOL. So TWICE now she pulled her leg up and flipped out..... so needles to say we don't do that anymore ;) 

I don't know if I already say this but our family is about to PCS to Hawaii!!! We leave Texas in just one week...very excited. We will be going to MI for about a month and then will be in Hawaii by the first of the year. :) We are very excited. I am not sure how Justin feels because you know, he talks about his feelings so openly and everything. I know I am excited but nervous. The move is very bittersweet for me. 

I know this wasn't too long...but I gotta run, I have to get ready to go to your going away party<3 div="div" nbsp="nbsp">

PS I also think I should try and figure out how to get pictures of my beautiful baby on here for the next blog. 

Controversial Parenting Tag

There are blogs going around called controversial parenting tag going around, so I thought I would chime in since I am very opinionated :) I don't know how to tag people, so if you read this then I am tagging you to do one as well :) 

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 Method

Everyone has their own views -here are mine.


Pro-life VS Pro Choice - I am very pro-life. I have recently started understanding a little more the pro-choice side, but I am still very pro-life. I believe that life begins at conception and we shouldn't have the choice to take that life away. The only time I am on the fence is for rape cases.. and even then I personally would never have an abortion regardless of rape.

Baby Wearing - I really don't understand why this is controversial, but here are my views on baby wearing. When I first had Alyssa I knew nothing about it. I was lucky enough to be given an ergo that I hung on to. I also had a bag sling (awful). I didn't know there was a right or wrong way to baby wear but there DEFIANTLY is. For instance -crotch dangler are NOT okay. Other then that, I am a big baby wearing fan. I used to use a stroller with Alyssa when she was an infant but I found that I would end up pushing the stroller and holding her in my arm regardless. With my next baby I will use a sling from day one and I will not purchase a stroller. I now wear Alyssa EVERY WHERE. We actually just went to the zoo about a month ago and we brought the stroller just in case, she sat in there maybe 5 minutes. So I am a BIG baby wearing fan I think EVERYONE should do it, but I am not going to judge you because you use a stroller. 

Circumcision - This is obviously a HUGE controversial topic and I feel very strongly about it. When I was pregnant with Alyssa the topic came up a few times but I didn't know anything about it, to be honest I didn't even realize what happened durning a circumcision. After I had Alyssa I found support online for breastfeeding and the pages talked about circumcision a lot. After a while of reading the debates over and over again I noticed the pro-circ people would say the same things and they were ALWAYS debunked they ended the debate with 'well it is my child, my choice. The anti-circ crowd had so many facts, I couldn't believe it. I decided to research it. One I did I realized right away I was against, and I couldn't believe all that I learned. I also watched SEVERAL videos of the procedure being done because I figured if I couldn't sit through them without cringing I shouldn't do that to my child. I probably have watched 5+ videos now (because people always say it isn't like that in real life) they are all the same and I cringe every time. It is unnecessary and not to mention all the wonderful functions of the foreskin ;) I don't understand how anyone could do that to their prefect baby boy after knowing the facts. I am not going to go into it too much because I could write a book, but leave a comment if you have any questions. (If you are wanting to know where to start your research the whole network is a great place to start. Over all, if we have a son he WILL remain intact. 

Adoption - I am in favor of adoption, I think it is wonderful and would love to adopt an older child. I really don't know what else to say about this topic other then being pro-life I would much rather you put your child up for adoption then have an abortion. I know a lot of friends who struggled to get pregnant or stay pregnant (myself included) so yes I am defiantly a fan of adoption! I think it is amazing. 

Baby piercing - This one gets pretty ugly too. When I was pregnant with Alyssa I was planning on when to get her ears pierced, I was on that same Facebook page (milkie mamas, in case anyone is interested) and they were discussing how using guns to pierce ears isn't ideal. The debate got pretty heated and I read all the comments. I looked into piercing with a gun, talked to my mom (who didn't do ours as a baby) and I realized that it isn't my body to modify so I was going to let her make the decision. I wouldn't say I am an anti-ear piercing but I don't really see the point. I loved that my mom made us wait because it was such an awesome day, knowing what I know now I am thankful that she let us chose (that wasn't why but still lol). 

Breast milk VS formula: Obviously if you follow my blogs you know I am vey pro-breastfeeding. Breast is best, and that is that. My mom always told me about the amazing bond and told me I should breastfeed. I didn't do much research or anything while pregnant I just knew it was something I wanted to do. Since having Alyssa I have realized just how amazing breast milk is. I plan to let her self-wean. She has had formula in the hospital and NICU (I am STILL not happy about that). Knowing what I know now for MYYYYY child if I ever had to stop breastfeed or couldn't breastfeed my next baby I would use donor milk, goats milk, or make my own formula. Formula would be a very last option. That being said: I will say it again if you CHOSE formula I think that is selfish, my opinion, you don't have to like it. I know there are a lot of misconceptions about 'not being able to breastfeed' actually only 3% (either 2 or 3) of moms actually can't breastfeed, but I believe that WAYYY more think they can't. 

Another huge one SPANKING: I believe in gentle discipline. I won't say I will NEVER spank Alyssa, but I don't plan to nor do I ever want to spank her. The way I feel is that if you hit another adult it is abuse but if you hit a child it is discipline? And why would I teach my child to do something by hurting her? I just don't understand that concept of that.  I believe in discipline NOT punishment (yes there is a difference). Justin is pro-spanking but I am working on that one ;) He knows how strongly I feel about not hitting our child, so I hope that he will come around like he is come around on the other topics we disagreed on. 

Co-Sleeping - I am very pro co-sleeping and also pro-bed sharing.  A lot of people don't realize there is a difference. Co-sleeping is with the baby in your room, I believe that everyone should do that for the first couple months. It makes life so much easier and then the baby doesn't have to be alone. Bed-sharing, is just what it sounds the baby in your bed. I am a huge fan of that too. I brought Alyssa into our bed just a few days shy of two weeks and I am very happy about that decision. We plan to let her stay in our bed until one of us is uncomfortable, more then likely when she tells us she is ready to leave. We just LOVE having her in our bed. I do think if you are going to sleep with your baby you need to look into the safe ways of doing. 

Schooling: I think homeschooling is great but I don't feel like I could teach Alyssa everything she needs to know, if we did chose homeschooling I would get a tutor for sure and do the co-ops. I don't really have a strong opinion homeschooling/private/public schools, and I have no clue what charter schooling is. i think whatever you chose is great. 

Vaccinations: I am probably going to get judged for this one, whatever. :) I am not pro or anti vaccinations. We do vaccinate Alyssa because my heart tells me too. I have looked into them a little and I understand why people whose not to do them with their children, but for Alyssa I feel like it is best we get them. We do selectively vax and split them up though. 

Medicating children: I am not exactly sure what this means. I am thankful for medicine because sometimes I think it is needed but I believe it is way to over used in this country. I hardly ever give Alyssa medicine, I try natural things first. We use a amber teething necklace that I swear by, so need for medicine for teething. 

Cloth VS disposables: I am a huge cloth diaper fan, it is way cheaper, cuter, no chemicals and better for the environment ..what is not to love? I personally would hate if I had to go back to disposables. My main reason for using cloth was the price, everything else is just an added bonus. I don't care what other people do with their kids I do get annoyed listening to people cry about money but they refuse to cloth diaper. So, don't complain to me I won't pitty you. lol. Oh and I am the laziest person on the planet and I don't find them any harder then disposables. 

CIO Method: Yeah, so I am totally against CIO. This includes the ferber method or any other kind of 'training'. Personally I feel like nothing says I don't care about your needs like CIO. My personal opinion is that anything over 5 mins is cruel. Our children are only little for a short time, no one said parenting was easy. Also, I hate crying myself to sleep so I would never do that to my child. I want her to know that I will always be there for her no matter what her needs are. 


So those are my views, it doesn't mean I won't be friends with someone if they have different views because I get along with almost everyone. :) Oh and now I know why I don't blog anymore it took me an hour to write that haha. I will be posting an updated blog about Alyssa, who is 8 months old, btw..very soon<3 span="span">