Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Emily: 5 Months




Little Miss Em turned 5 months yesterday. According to our bathroom scale, she's now 14-15lbs. She's growing like a weed. News from this month? She finally rolled over back to belly all the way but has yet to figure out belly to back. I find that kind of funny because you would think belly to back would be easier and the fact that she hates tummy time would be motive to roll over. She has decided to skip that for now and is working on sitting up on her own. She can sit up on her own for a short time as long as she doesn't get excited. As soon as she does, her arms and legs start going crazy and she tumbles over. It's pretty cute and she thinks it's funny.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Farewell Keme

It's a sad day here today. Hubby brought Keme, our mutt, to the SPCA this morning. We had a pretty scary night last night. Just like every night, we got the kids to bed and then hubby fed the dogs. Last night Keme got done eating first and went to eat Annabelle's. Annabelle didn't take kind to that and gave her a warning growl/bark. Keme responded by biting Annabelle's neck. Just as hubby got to them, Keme lifted Annabelle a little over the floor and gave her a shake. Hubby fought with her to release Annabelle but because she had locked her jaw, it took awhile. It probably wasn't a really long time in hind sight but in the moment, it felt like it lasted forever. I instantly knew that Keme was no longer welcome in our home. I love Keme but with small children and small animals, that's way too much of a risk to have in our house. I'd never be able to live with myself if something happened to a child, mine or otherwise. Annabelle was in obvious pain but seemed to be doing better than I thought she would; she even tried to jump on the couch. I called my brother who agreed to drive hubby and Annabelle to the emergency vet; I had to stay with the kids. The next couple hours seemed to drag on. Finally, they were home. Annabelle was still a little drugged up but she was good. She's on pain meds and an antibiotic. We're making sure she rests and are watching to make sure her wounds heal well. I'm sad not to have Keme here anymore but I know we made the right choice. I would never feel comfortable with her ever again. Sean hadn't fallen asleep by the time this all happened and came out to the living room while we were checking Annabelle over. I briefly explained that Annabelle was hurt but ok and was going to go to the doctor. After they left for the vet I sat down and talked to him about what happened. This is when him cracking his head open and needing stitches last year came in handy. It helped him understand. I also explained that Keme did it to Annabelle and since we don't want anyone else getting hurt that Keme was going to go to a new home. He was ok with this thankfully. He then proceeded to stay up until everyone was home, around 1:00! The one time Sean got really upset was when he told me that he wanted two dogs. That was before I could explain to him that Annabelle was ok. Two dogs is not out of the question but it won't happen anytime soon. When it does happen, it'll be a small dog, probably a pug. For now, I'm beyond thankful that Annabelle is ok.
Annabelle resting up


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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Raising Chickens and Better Health

We would love to have a few backyard hens. At first, it started with Sean falling in love with some petting zoo chickens back in 2009. Back then they were just some pets we wanted. After finding out that the city wouldn't allow us to have them, we just pushed the idea aside.

Here's my little cutie holding his first chicken. 
He even ended up being a chicken farmer that Halloween!


Fast forward to 2012. We got Netflix and I began watching food documentaries like Food, Inc. If you have not seen Food, Inc, you should. I knew our diet was not ideal, far from it. But I didn't really realize how bad the food industry really is. Something needs to change and it needs to start with our diet. And that's what we're slowly working on. I do mean slowly too. There's a lot we want to change and we'll never stick with it if we change it all at once. We're changing a few things at a time so the things we change become habit. A couple things that I changed before that are now habit is my water intake, no more white bread and breakfast. I'm actually cooking breakfast now. It's an odd morning now when I'm not scrambling eggs and grabbing a banana and some yogurt.

So that was before Food, Inc. Eek! Those poor animals! Poor us because that's what we're eating! I vowed to change that. First thing, eggs. Now that we eating so much more of them, what are we going to do? Us wanting chickens came back but of course the laws are still the same. However, I found some like minded people and we're petitioning the city....more on that in a minute. In the mean time, I found a local chicken owner and we now get our eggs straight from the source. They're not only healthier but tastier too! There's still one more problem: meat. I'll be honest. I love meat, especially pig. I can not be a vegetarian. The next best thing would be get meat straight from the source too. Whoa, have you seen how expensive that can be!? We're on a tight budget so this creates a problem but I proposed a solution to hubby. He wasn't too happy at first but he hasn't seen Food, Inc yet! My solution was if we cut back on the meat we do eat, we can afford the fresh meat. That's where the whole creating a habit comes in. We need to make eating meatless meals a habit. We're starting with 1 meatless day a week and will work up from there.

Now back to chickens. Before I found out about the petition, we signed up for the Rent-a-Chick program. We got to raise 5 adorable little chicks for a couple of weeks. I dreaded the day we had to return them to the farm. I so badly want hens of our own. Why? We have an affordable fresh egg source. Why worry about having them ourselves? Eggs are just a small part of the benefits of having a few hens. As I mentioned, they make fun pets. But there are more reasons. They eat pests like mosquitoes, ticks, and termites; less pesticides! They also eat kitchen scrapes; less city waste! Talking about waste, their waste would make wonderful fertilizer for our garden! I can't think of a negative. Noise..well, I'm not too worried about that because we just want hens, not roosters! Currently, the only residential district that is allowed to have chickens has a minimum of 3 acres. 3 acres is a lot more land than you need for just a few chickens!

If you agree, would you mind signing and sharing our petition?

And last but not least, the beautiful little girls we raised:











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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Feeding Time

As you probably know, I run a small daycare out of my home. I currently have 3 daycare kids. One is full time, two are part time, meaning two days out of the week there are 6 kids here all 4 and under. Crazy? Maybe. But it's a lot of fun. Meal times can get crazy but usually it's just entertaining. Today was a little comical. So, for your entertainment, feeding time at Mama Dani's house:

Today's story starts an hour before lunch. Sean begins asking me "Is it lunch time yet?" I swear we just had snack not long ago! He keeps asking every 5 minutes or so until I ended up making lunch a little early. The big kids get settled down at the little table. I surround the littles around me and begin the one bite for you, one bite for you, one bite for you, one bite for me. Here's where it gets funny. The sound track to lunch begins: "mmm" "more" "yum" "that". And the fingers start going: pointing, signing "more", signing "milk". I look over at little Emily, who's sitting next to me in the bumbo. She's watching everyone closely and starts pretending to chew. Soon baby but let's not grow up too fast! I must have slowed down because their mouths are empty and the anxious, panic sounding "more" and "that" beginning. Fingers are moving faster, signing and pointing. I give them each another bite and hear "mmm" "mmmm!" "yum!" I give them each their last bite. The littlest one signs and says "done!" and that's it! They are off to go play. I look at the floor. It's amazing the mess they can make so I call Annabelle, our canine vacuum. Annabelle loves the babies!

I love my job!
My littles:

*Used with parents' permission*

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