I am...

A bottle feeding, public schooling, disposable diapering, immunizing mother and proud of it!!!!

I'm not sure what set off this argument in my mind, actually I do know....someone made a comment that they were having to explain to their child why they would not be homeschooling and someone else asked them if they had seriously considered the idea. That, combined with the fact that all the new first time moms I know are going all new-age on me and not immunizing and the fact that Chelsea has her 1 year shots on Friday have got me arguing in my head with these people. I mean no offence but am not ashamed to declare the following:

1. If you judge those who bottle feed you have obviously a) never had a baby or b) have been fortunate enough to have been able to breastfeed. Next time you look at a bottle feeding mommy and tsk, consider that maybe she would love to breastfeed but has chosen not to starve her child with her lack of, or insufficient supply of milk.

2. I am a mother and it breaks my heart when my little girl comes home from school and says " so and so told me they aren't my friend anymore" it makes me want to go to the playground and beat up the little booger who hurt my baby's feelings. But know what? The next day they're best friends again. Kids are resilient. Quick to make friends and quick to forgive and quicker to forget. So to home school my kids to "protect" them is pointless. Yeah peer pressure is tough. But can you imagine how much tougher it will be when they reach adulthood and they can't keep a job because you've taught them that when the going gets tough you quit and stay home? Some people might say they get enough socializing with the friends kids. Well...hate to break it to you....but that's not real life. We all wish we could live in a little bubble of people that love what we love but we are meant to live IN the world. Teach your children to pray and they will know the difference between being IN the world and being OF the world. God will watch our little ones as they set out on the journey through public school if we ask him to. Besides our little lights might be the only bible some other child reads.

3. Cloth diapers - all I have to say about this is "we all had great plans when we only had 1 child". Heehee. Actually I have no problem with this and would likely get more interested if a) I only had 1 child and thus less regular laundry to do b) we didn't have to be careful of our water consumption and c) it wasn't so expensive!! Yeah. I priced it out. I spend the same amount in 2 years of disposables as I would on a set of disposables.

4. To those who don't immunize because they are afraid of autism. Have you truely done any research??? Do you know that when the numbers of Autistic children rose that it was around the time that Autism changed to "Autistic spectrum disorder" which included a range of disorders and not just Autism?? Of course the numbers are going to go up!!! And how dare you rely on me to keep your child safe. And now we are all scratching our heads wonding why the incidents of Polio and menengitis and potentially FATAL childhood diseases are back on the rise. Sigh...

So yes. I guess I am old fashioned. I do all the "wrong" things when it comes to rearing my children. I even.....get ready for it....spank!! Yes when the children are being turds they get disciplined. There is only 1 child in this house that a time out works best for and the others could care less if I put them in a chair all day. Ya do what works with each child.

So there is my rant. I guess it's good I am done with babies. Oh my.....what kind of a grandmother will I be???!!!

So on the other side of life, Steve is doing some work for Mark and Dan so it'll be a week of evenings and weekends where I get to do bedtime. Today they were all snoring by 7:30 so I guess I did good! The evenings go fast when you run from piano to supper and by then it's already bedtime.

The other day it was nearly snowing and now I see that it is supposed to be 20 this weekend!!!! I am so thankful to have nothing to do but yard clean-up this weekend. I am hoping that the weather stays mild-nice for our long weekend. We are both sooooooo excited to get there where there are no computers or work or alarms.....the TV even has terrible reception. It will be pure relaxation. And this year the fall colors will be out for sure!!! I will post pictures.

Well I see it is time for tea and bed.

Love you all
Jen and the 5 loves of her life.