Next up on that crunchy path

This may make some of you cringe. And if you have a son/sons, it's possible you may come away from this with feelings of regret and loss. I felt the same way. It's taken me some time to forgive myself. I just keep telling myself the mantra from Maya Angelou, "I did then what I knew how to do. When I knew better, I did better."
I'm talking about circumcision. Of all the things I've learned about natural living, children, parenting, and raising a family, I wish I had known this first. I wish someone had given me this information--the truth--before M was born.
I was told a lot of untruths and outright lies. I have since discovered that circumcision was promoted in the 1800 to prevent masturbation. Good ol' 1800's, eh? But in the last century, dr's realized that they could make a couple hundred easy bucks off of roughly half of all the children born in the US. Follow the money is a good strategy for questioning any accepted practice. Basically, if I do X, who profits? If that is the same source as your information, start digging!
I won't copy and paste all the info, but I am providing lots of links. I will also give my current feelings on the subject.
For starters, the circumcision rate in the US is falling rapidly, so I'm probably preaching to the choir. It was over 90% in the early 90's, but has already fallen to the low 50% range. That is still way too high.
Let's look at it this way. Say a man had had plastic surgery to remove his nipples. Because, well he didn't want them anymore. But then he has a son. And he decides that he wants his son to look even more like him than he already does. So he asks the dr to chop off those nipples real quick--no anesthesia, just go for it.
Sound ridiculously crazy? Of course it does. But this scenario would actually be more logical than performing a circ. What??!! Well, yeah. For starters, other people are much more likely to see the dad and his son's nipples (or lack thereof). Who really goes around showing off their penis to the general public with kid in tow--no one who wants to stay out of jail and off the sex offender list. Secondly, as far as I know, nipples on a man serve no purpose and are less sensitive than a foreskin. Here is a list of what is lost when that little piece of skin (which actually amounts to a full 1/2 the infants penis).
For a long time, medical professionals told parents that it was hard to care for a foreskin (my doc sure did) and that eventually he'd need a circ when he was older. Infection would follow, along with all kinds of other complications. What they were missing was the vital information on how to actually care for an intact penis. Want to know the complicated secret? Don' t do anything! Nothing at all. Don't touch it, don't pull it, don't stretch it, nothing, nada. Infant skin is very fragile. And the foreskin is attached to the penis. Pulling it back, even a little bit, will break the skin. Broken skin has to repair--y'know, scars? Those scars result in adhesions. It can also lead to infection. Nature has a pretty perfect system worked out. 99% of the time, if you leave Nature alone, Nature does just dandy.
So this "medical advice" actually led to the problems it was warning against. The professionals told parents that if they were crazy enough to not circ, then they had to be extra vigilant about retracting and cleaning every time.
More and more research is showing the effects of stress on babies. Stress leads to a flood of chemicals on the brain. It cause actual physical changes. This stress response effectively turns on "survival mode" in the infant. By not allowing mom and baby to just relax and bond, all kinds of things are interfered with. Breastfeeding, recovery from birth, immune system, and all kinds of things we probably can't even fathom. Operating without anesthesia is certainly high on anyones list of "stressful." Would you have your genitals cut without anesthesia?
Another thing to consider with an elective surgery with a newborn is consent. Who owns that foreskin? Not mom and dad. Not the hospital. It belongs to him. You wouldn't chop off any other part of his body for aesthetic reasons (I hope).
If you or someone you know is expecting, or thinking of expecting. Here is a list of links to read up on circumcision. A lot of times I hear about couples where the mom is horrified by the idea of circ, and the dad thinks his son needs to have it done. So first up is a video of a circ. Make him watch it. Then he can decide. And read him my analogy of the nipple surgery.
The video from Intact. Please be aware that it is NOT work appropriate and should not be viewed by children. It is graphic--as it is surgery on a penis. And it may be just too much if you are sensitive. But it needs to be seen if you are going to make informed consent.
A cute article that puts a few things in perspective.
Organizations committed to educating the public about circ:
Stopcirc
NOCIRC
Mothers against Circ
CIRP
Intact
Circumstitions
Intactivist blog
Birightonwoman's thoughts on circumcision
Stories and quotes

random bits from our week

I am the wrap master. So says a friend of mine. Not sure if I totally believe it, but we can do several wraps now. The kangaroo, the front wrap cross carry (fwcc for short), the rucksack with Tibetan variation, the side carry, and the back wrap cross carry (bwcc). I love wrapping! And so does E.

The diet explorations are going well for the most part. Millet day was improved when Mom invented millet-banana pancakes. Yum.

Rotating had made a mess of the freezer. I've always planned leftovers, and our family loves eating them. The problem with this diet is that we have to wait 4 days to eat them. So things were thrown in the freezer. Then, 4 days later, we had to remember what was there and decipher the contents of packages. So I hauled everything out of the fridge feezer (threw out too much stuff) and cut up some formula boxes. I made dividers out of the box tops and labeled them for the meats and grains we rotate. Now, if we have leftover injera, it goes in the teff compartment until the next teff day. Then, that morning or night before, viola! Out comes the teff. Ain't it purdy?

G in his class at Village Home. Doesn't he look all grown up? They learned about their 5 senses. Here he is watching a class mate shake a tin to decide if there is lots of beans or a little bit of beans. I caught him in a moment of concentration before he declared class over for himself--and walked out. He does have his own opinions about these sort of things. Good thing I'm not trying to put him in preschool!

For your baby fix

E's first time in the stroller. I hadn't really intended for him to ride in one so early (I prefer to wait until they sit very well and do better at regulating temperature and are too heavy to carry), but I threw out my back and was glad to have a way to take him outside for a walk. It helped a lot! E really seemed to like seeing the world in this way too.

Grandma J gave E a gift certificate for Christmas. He got some snazzy new contour diapers (organic!) and a sweet doll with a rattle in it's head. It is organic, colorgrown cotton too. He also has a new T-shirt on back order. It is sage and natural stripe. We'll show it off when it gets here.

E is my only child who has been so determined to remove his diapers. Yes, yes I know, I should be doing EC, but can't figure out how to work that in yet. Maybe soon. Anyway, with a gift certificate we were given for a shower gift, I got some adorable flannel. I sewed up this diaper yesterday as a sample. It snaps instead of velcro--much more baby proof. He likes it! But he kept grabbing the front of it as I took a picture. The pic of the diaper I have is all funky because of the lighting. I'll take some pictures when I get more made. Just look at those chubby thighs!

Awww, cute kids

Happy Valentine's Day, all my loved ones!

Washing lettuce is oh, so fun. And he likes to eat it too!
My happy baby. I love how he is so cheerful-most of the time!

GramRe sent bubbles. And no sugar. Way cool! They even blew bubbles outside.

GramRe also sent a toy for E. He likes it. A Lot! He sat and played with it long enough for me to load the dishwasher. I guess that means I like the toy a lot too.

We've had more spring-like weather lately. Yesterday we had a stunning rainbow. Not sure that it comes out very clearly here. I'm not the best photographer, but it was a full, thick, and double rainbow-triple actually. There was the main rainbow that you can see. Starting at the bottom of this rainbow was it's mirror. So, from the top, reds, yellows, blues, yellows, reds. Then above this rainbow was a full rainbow above it. It was gorgeous. And then we had a sunny afternoon to play outside.

For Papa Coyote

Here's the menu for this week. Subject to change.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner	Tomorrows Prep
Monday amaranth fish	amaranth pancakes smoked fish	amaranth pancake sandwiches sb&j fruit	fruit amaranth crackers	fish salad quacamole	pack amap make granola thaw chicken&broth make G&mom lunch
Tuesday quinoa poultry	quinoa granola	salad chicken &quinoa relish peaches	fruit rollups chips	chicken green bean casserole salad	biscuits from freezer start injera
Wednesday sorghum beef	sorghum biscuits	G-noodles leftovers	fruit salad cookie dough	london broil sweet potatoes salad	muffin mix
Thursday teff pork	teff pancakes bacon smoothies	ham salad	fruit&veggies	injera leftover bbq pork sweet potatoes greens	thaw fish & chicken make salmon salad & flatbread
Friday millet fish	skillet biscuits smoked salmon smoothies	salmon salad millet flat bread	peaches	millet casserole w/onions, mushrooms broiled fish w/ dill
Saturday amaranth chicken	amaranth pancakes smoothies	amaranth tortillas avocado & chicken strips		crockpot chicken
Sunday quinoa beef	quinoa granola beef sausage	leftovers		quinoa tomato soup meatballs

For M

Here's couple of recipes for M. I don't know if these are my favorite or not. My favorite recipes we pull out in the summer when all the garden produce is on. And I'm enjoying the book, Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.
We also love smoothies. We use frozen fruit (fresh when in season--so we have fresh mangoes and oranges right now), a leaf of kale, fresh ground flax seeds, hemp oil, coconut milk and orange juice. I'd use some raw milk if I could.

Quinoa granola

4 C quinoa flakes
1 C shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 C ground flaxseed
1/2 C honey or maple syrup
1/3 C melted coconut oil
Mix all ingredients together in a 9x13 glass pan. Bake @ 325F until golden, stirring often.
Cool and store in an airtight container.

Teff Sunbutter cookies

In a food processor, blend until smooth:
1/2 C maple syrup
1/2 C coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 C sunbutter or (nut butter if you can)
Mix in
1 1/2 C teff flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
Shape into walnut sized balls, flatten gently with a fork. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.
Cool on pan 5 minutes. Transfer to rack to finish cooling

pictures at last

Momma and the oldest. Also a reference picture of his face for later. This was before the peanut incident. I look a little odd because I'm trying not to drop the camera while G bounces around like the little electron he has been named after.
My three boys. The joy of my life, the cause of all the insanity and deafness. Ain't they cute? Ignore the state of their room. They're in the process of stalling the cleanup process. Showing mom how cute you are sometimes buys you a few minutes. So does guilt tripping her about how long it's been since she last took your picture.

Sleepy, stuffy baby. He's all better now--just stuffy for a few days. But you can see how all this menu planning and recipe re-writing has just worn him out. Me too.

A week's menu--rotation style

So, the rotation diet is underway since Monday. Below is the week menu I have come up with so far. I need to now sit down and plan out farther so I can make a reasonable grocery list. It is going alright so far. I'm way to stressed about it. But now that I have one week planned out, and 2 days having gone off alright, I'm feeling a bit better about the planning aspect.
I found out that the waiting list for a side of grass fed beef is over 2 months--same for pork. But it is only $2.30/# hanging weight. Not sure exactly what that will translate to dressed weight, but it will still be far better than the $15+/# I'm paying currently for grass-fed beef.
Then I called a woman here in town who gets free-range chickens from couple who raises them south of here. I got three 6# chickens at $2/# and ordered 7 more. They should be here next month.
But I'm still a bit worried about what this whole food thing is going to cost. Not to mention visits to the nutritional therapist, and a nutritionist (an appt I still need to make so I can get these menus more balanced), plus any supplements the therapists recommends. And then of course there is the sheer amount of time I spend in the kitchen and making menus and finding recipes and making recipes and shopping lists.
Here's the menu this week:

	Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner	Tomorrows Prep
Monday	Teff Muffins Chicken Strips Smoothie	Hot dogs Sweet potato chips leftover muffins	lunch stuff	Teff Flatbread Chicken and veggies	pack amap make muffins thaw pot roast make beef patties
Tuesday	pot roast leftovers with shredded squash & apples smoothie	beef patties millet spoon bread relish peaches	fruit rollups chips leftover bread	beef stew	thaw bacon?
Wednesday	amaranth pancakes bacon smoothies	G-noodles M&M-toasted amaranth with avocado dressing	fruit	amaranth tortillas pulled pork avocados	muffin mix
Thursday	quinoa muffins smoothies	salmon salad oranges veggie soup with friends	quinoa granola	quinoa/veggie soup	pancake mix
Friday	sorghum pancakes smoothies	hot dogs rolled in pancakes	sorghum cookies	pizza	pancake mix thaw beef patties
Saturday	teff pancakes smoothies	beef patties carrot & celery sticks leftover beef stew from freezer	apple sauce teff cookies	meatballs made with leftover teff flatbread from Mon veggies in palm oil and nut. yeast
Sunday	millet scones bacon	leftover pulled pork from freezer	apples and oranges after church	ham and millet balls carrot and raisin slaw

We learned more about M's peanut allergy yesterday. He had a reaction to peanuts in the air. His class made those peanut butter bird feeders that you make a shape and press bird seed into. His friend came out and asked if M could be around peanuts. My fault--I assumed she meant she wanted to eat a pb&j around him. I should have said no, but told her if she washed her hands and was careful, it should be alright. I never imagined the teacher--who knew he was peanut allergic--would have a mass peanut butter craft in the classroom! She brought gloves and thought that would be enough. Yikes. He knew not to even get near the craft or the kids doing it. He said in the far corner of the room. But that peanut smell was strong. And enough.
His face broke out in hives and another parent in the room noticed, thank goodness. I made a frantic trip to the store (too many red lights) to get Benadryl. He is okay--still a rash on his face and he's a bit scratchy. Thank goodness it wasn't a full blown reaction.
I've learned to be more careful. I had admittedly gotten too complacent. Letting people be around him with nuts. Not packing the epi-pen or benadryl. But now I know. Hopefully, I won't get relaxed again. And some other parents with food allergic kids and I are going to help write a food allergy policy for Village Home. Too many people think food allergies mean you have to eat it to have a reaction.

ETA: I have one more column on the right of the table. It's not showing up. Hmm. Anyway, it is a prep for tomorrow column. I'm especially proud of that one!

You need a good laugh

So go read this.

I know, I'm turning into a regular plug for my parents.