I found this in the August 2008 American Baby magazine and I found the same information on the web. Do I totally buy into?  Not entirely - it was a small study, but why would a pregnant woman really want to say No to chocolate - especially when it might have a fabulous "side-effect" like this?!

Here it is:

A Choco-delicious Pregnancy

Chocolate ice cream? Check. Dark Chocolate Bar? Check.  Chocolate Chips? Check.

New Research shows that these treats should be a regular part of your diet.  Yum!  Yale University scientists studied 2,291 pregnant  women.  Their findings:  those who ate at least five weekly chocolate servings were 40 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia, a condition that's life threatening to mom and baby, than those who had it once a week.  So eat up!  And go for dark chocolate when you can - it has many more disease-fighting flavonals than the milk variety.
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Eating Chocolate May Decrease Risk for Preeclampsia

Today is the first day of the County Fair and we have made a tradition of going for a few hours to see the animals and then allowing the kids to go on the Kiddie Rides for a little while.  We then stop for a drink or cotton candy and head home.  It's a nice day as the rest of the carnival rides do not open until two hours later so not so many big kids running around.  One of these days maybe Punkin will want to take some flowers or even her rabbit to display/show.  I really need to look into 4-H stuff more!

In other news, Punkin got her cast off on Monday.  We were invited to a pool party on Tuesday so I simply phoned to ask about waterproofing it as it was coming off Wednesday.  The nurse had me bring her in and they took it off and did the follow-up x-ray.  The doctor said there was one spot some might say was a slight fracture, but he did not feel there was enough new bone around that area to agree.  We're going with a very bad sprain.  The time in the pool really helped her work the stiffness out on Tuesday.

The vegetable garden is doing very well this year.  I had Punkin get out with me this morning to transplant some of the flowers he had planted as the giant pumpkin vine is taking over one side of the garden.  We got about 10 plants moved to the other side and hopefully they will survive their move as they are so pretty.  I didn't pull up my cucumbers, but they are going to be overtaken soon but I figured they are a vine too so they will probably still be okay.  I did pull up the zucchini to make room for the flowers.  We've had several already so no big loss.

I'd love to share something fun and exciting about Sweetie Boy but he hasn't really been living up to that nickname this week.  He is Trying Boy this week!  I get tired of the constant discipline, but that's what it requires.  It was reassuring to know it wasn't just geared at me as dh found the same issues after he was home for the evening.  He's still pushing limits today but not as steadily so I think we're on the downhill side of this go around!

Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and his esteemed collegue Congresswoman Mazie Hirono (D-HI) are trying to prove one more time that the government can raise our children better than parents.  According to the two new bills they have sponsored Education Begins at Home Act (HR 2343) and the
Pre-K Act (HR 3289) respectively.  Military and impoverished families are a prime target for their "services."  Well, I for one say keep your services and your laws OUT of my homeschool and OFF my children.

It's time to rise up people, contact these EDUCRATS and tell them you do not approve of their brand of "service."  What can we do?  MAKE OURSELVES HEARD!

1. Read the WorldNet Daily Article
U.S. government: We know parenting better than you
Proposals would give Washington unprecedented control over kids

2. Contact these representatives along with your own.  Don't forget your senators. don't know who they are?  Find out here:
House of Representatives: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Danny K. Davis (D-IL)

2159 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC  20515-1307

We are half way through summer!  This is the time of year  when homeschool parents start planning for the Fall.  This time of year can also be a great time to start working on some fun review items with your kids to get them ready for the new school year.  Here are some great Math items we just added to the schoolhouse Store.

E-Book: "Adding Alligators" and Other Easy-to-Read Math Stories 

25 Engaging, Reproducible Stories with Math Problems That Build Early Math Skills.  Kids read easy and adorable math stories, then solve companion word problems! Reinforces addition, subtraction, shapes, patterns, time, money & more!

E-Book: 15 Easy & Irresistible Math Mini-Books 

Reproducible easy-to-read stories and activities that invite kids to add, subtract, measure, tell time, and practice other important early math skills.

E-Book: 15 Fun and Easy Games for Young Learners: Math 

Reproducible, Easy-to-Play Learning Games That Help Kids Build Essential Math Skills
Play Hickory Dickory Clock, Pocket Change, and other games to build skills, such as time, money, patterns, and more!

To view our Mathematics Category click HERE.

The Pre-K Act (HR 3289) and Education Begins at Home (HR 2343) are two bills that if made into law could give the government control over how to raise your own children. Click on the links above to read the full bill or you can go to World Net Daily to read a summary of the bills.

Education does begin at home but the teachers are the parents, not the government. While this bill seeks to intervene for those infants that may be at risk, the bill does not clarify whether or not a parent has the right to say no.  Instead it reads that if the child fits under this category or that category they are at risk and must be given help. Not everyone with a low-income is a drug addict or an abusive parent.

The Pre-K Act would encourage parents to put their children in a government approved pre-school, with a degree holding pre-school teacher, so that the government can raise them up.  This of course would happen with a visit by a state trained employee who will know how to make preschool sound like a wonder no child should miss and make you feel neglectful for not even considering it.

As it stands right now, many hospitals already have a visiting nurse come to your home after you have had a baby, on the premise "to help you if you need it".  I had a friend who lived just across the street from me who had a visiting nurse come by and then turn her in for child abuse because her house was a mess.  Imagine that, a mom with a newborn baby and a three year old running around in a messy house. The nurse claimed that it was unhealthy for the baby.  There was no mention of how unhealhty it was for the three year old and the baby couldn't even roll over yet or pick up things off the floor to put into its mouth. I asked my friend why she had even allowed the woman to come visit her.  She said, "I didn't know that I could tell her no." The charges were later dropped and my friend learned a lesson, it's your house, it's your child, you can say no.  Especially to someone who isn't there just for the purpose they are claiming to be there for.

Both bills point out that states, teachers, and parents must comply with the law in order to gain the funds and services, as always.  It's their way or no way.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

Welcome to the Thoroughly Organized Thursday Meme!  I hope you are having a good week.  Well, I started this meme, not because I’m some major organizational guru, but quite the opposite, this is an area I REALLY struggle with.  I have found over the years that not only has the lack of organization cost me time, but it has cost me a lot of money.  I really hope to learn from others as well as being a blessing to you.  Something to remember as you are considering organization is, that no one does it exactly the same.  Just because it works for one person, does not mean it will work for you, so don’t feel like you are doing something wrong, if it doesn’t work, just set it aside an try something different.  Organization should save you time, energy, or money, and sometimes they will save in more than one category.  If it is causing you to stress out or is costing you time and energy, it’s not really helping you be more organized.

My tip for today:  Put it in a basket

Have you even noticed things just seem to look nicer in a basket???  Baskets don’t just have to be the wicker kind, plastic bins can work really well also.  I have quite a few smaller science books for Little One that just did not fit well on the book shelf.  I bought an inexpensive dish tub (in bright red no less!!!) from Walmart for less than $2.00 and piled the books in it.  It works perfectly.  No more books falling off the shelf and it is easy to look through.  The bright color also looks really good in the schoolroom.

I’m still working on my Home Management Binder.  Here are a few forms I made this week for it if they could be a use to you.

Books to Read

http://www.savefile.com/files/1685030

Movies to See

http://www.savefile.com/files/1685031

Videos/ DVDs to Rent

http://www.savefile.com/files/1685032

Websites

http://www.savefile.com/files/1685033

Here are some forms and sites I have found on the internet to help me with my binders. (I DID NOT make these!!!)

Fitness Journal

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/s/stayingfit/50511.pdf

Subject Planner

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/uploads/t/TheNotebookingCorner/59533.pdf

Lots of Home Binder Stuff

http://lynnsorganizationspace.blogspot.com/2008/07/home-school-management-sites.html

Motivated Moms (Click here to view more details)

I love this site and right now they have their organizer stuff on sale for ½ off, only $4.00!!!

Please feel free to join in this meme, just sign Mr. Linky and link back to my blog on your post.  If you need a button, you can go to this website that I have several of my site buttons at:

http://lynnsgrababuttonplace.blogspot.com/

Thank you and I hope you have a great rest of the week.  Please don’t forget to leave a comment so I know you were here!
 

Today's appt. went well (other than my bp flipping out for them again, lol).  On our way home, we got the lab results from the doctor via phone call!  My protein level is below 300! 

The bedrest & Prayers (most likely the prayers!) have worked!  While I will still be watched closely from here on out and am still on bed rest, I think I will actually be able to relax better!

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

No more we suspect.... or there is a history of... or most likely she has....  Yesterday, the Geneticist diagnosised my 7 year old daughter with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and depending on a few measurements that need to be confirmed from her birth records she may be upgraded to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).  There really is very little difference between the two, the latter has more facial anomalies.  We always had heard the stories that her birth mother was "fall down drunk" as we moved through different departments of the government such as WIC and DSS, but it seemed strange to us and the doctors that Goldilock's younger brother (Tom Sawyer) showed no affects of Alcohol and just the opposite, he is very very bright and growing like a weed.  Because of her brothers success the doctors in the past felt that although she may be labeled with FASD someday it was probably that her environment had been so poor/abusive in infancy and that once she was healed from RAD~Reactive attachment disorder, her development, academics and behavior would catch up.  She is considered to be mostly healed from RAD but her behavior is still very upredictable, processing is very slow, academics are coming out very poor on tests (as if I didn't already know that), she came out again with an IQ in the high 70's and now her growth has slowed down a great deal.  She hasn't changed shoe sizes or clothing sizes in 2 years, but has grown taller, a bit.  So back we went to the doctors for another evaluation.

In some ways I feel relieved and in other ways devasted.  My little girl really is bonded to us and knows and wants us as her parents.  I figure it took her 5 years and many many hours of therapy to get her here.  This is great news.  However, FASD is permanent brain damage and there is no recovering from or healing from it.  There is only learning how to live with it and helping her meet her full potential with in it.  I knew in my heart that this was coming for a long time but it is still hard to digest.  This new diagnosis means that she will most likely qualify for CAP, a program that provides a one on one to help her with school, behavior managment, and so on.  This is great since her mental health support is drying up rapidly.  It also means more books to read and a new support group to join which may afford me more trick of the trade.

I am not at all new to raising complicated children and searching out and finding the gifts God as bestowed upon my little ones.  I have been raising complicated children for 18 years now.  My big teen is meeting his God given potential and turning into a wonderful young man (who will always need support) despite dier predictions that he would only be able to function in a group home/institution.  So we embark on this new path with our Goldilocks.

Please pray that we will find the right support and answers to help our little girl.  That she will meet her fullest possible potential.  That we will continue to see her grow and develop. That we will find her true gifts and figure out how to help her bring them to life.

A side note~The doctor begged me to never put her in to public school! She said that public school would destroy her fragile self worth that we have worked so hard to achieve. She said Goldilocks was so blessed to be homeschooled and that I should never give up and think that the school system could do better. No worries there...

Blessings,

Dawn

I read an article today by a mom who was wondering if her daughter was ready for kindergarten.  In some ways she is and others she may not be but the "professionals" told her not to worry about it.

This mom has some valid concerns, she wants her daughter to love learning.  One of the professionals she heard or read from said, in short, that a lot will depend on how good the teacher is.  (You can read the full statement in the second to last paragraph.)  So what happens if you get a teacher who is not good at helping a child who needs extra help in a given area?  What if there is no time?  What if the teacher just stinks all together? 

For any mom, I'd encourage you to take a deeper look at homeschooling.  You may decide it isn't for you, but I noticed that it wasn't even addressed in the article.  Homschooling will fit all of your child's needs because you know exactly what it is they need.  You'll be able to keep that love of learning in them as well. 

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

I am off the couch for an upright moment (I am finding I need those periodically - gets my blood flowing).

My Dad and Carol are on their way back to OK.  I believe they stopped in St. Louis for the night.

Monday's appt. went okay - I guess.  My weight is stable and while my blood pressure was again elevated, I was able to compare my cuff to their's (very close!) and then able to show them that my bp was FINE out in the waiting room and in the van 15 min prior to that.  Soooo, the one thing that we are watching closely is the protein levels being spilled.

I am in the midst of the joyous task of completing a 24 hour urine collection (such a joy, lol).  We should know either tomorrow night or Thurs. morning the results of the protein from that.  We will be going forward from there.  If they have not come down (or heaven forbid, gone up), then the doctor wants to give me steroids to help (potentially) speed up the maturation of Jr's lungs and help prevent brain bleeds in case he has to be delivered early.  I am praying that we make it to the middle/end of Sept. at minimum and preferably into Oct.  I know that God can make that happen if it is in His will.  I simply need to remember that hourly (sometimes by the minutes). 

Interestingly, the day I took that walk to the library, I stocked up on a bunch of books to read while I was there.  I am glad of that now. I thought I was a little crazy at the time, picking up so many books, but God knew what I needed and put it in my hands - literally.  I will write at a later time the neat series that He put into my hands - a wonderful read - I started & finished the first book today (can you tell I was on the couch all day!?!).

I need to go brush my teeth and get ready for bed.  I am actually tired - can laying down all day really make one that tired?  I will update again after I get back the next set of lab results.  My husband is off tomorrow still so he can do the driving (yea!).  After that, it is the children and I during the day for the rest of the week.