Time Out

So today I was reading this article on one of my favorite website babble. And I was a little excited to see it there. It inspired me to write about our parenting beliefs and style. Although I know this is not for everyone nor do I think that we are always right, but this is what works for us! We do not Spank or give Time outs. There are times (a lot) that make me want to and I think I would feel so much better, but thats just it, it serves the satisfaction of the punisher more than it provides any rehabilitative effect for the punished. Spanking doesn't teach children the difference between right and wrong; it just teaches them to avoid getting spanked. We try to reinforce the positive, talk through the negative and use No Labels during this process {good boy, bad boy}.

Labeling is something that we do with out even acknowledging it."Oh my child is shy" when really your child is just more observant and probably doesn't like being called "shy", but eventually they will start to act out those labels even if it isn't who they really are. "I might as well not try and talk to this person because I'm shy." Good or bad labels can stay with a child for life. Labeling is something I catch myself doing all the time and has been really challenging for me in my personal life as well.

We try to respect our children as independent people with there own feelings and reasons for doing things. There are times when we have family visiting and they ask our kids for kisses sometimes they willingly give them out and other times they don't. Usually that doesn't go over well with grandparents. They will persistently ask, then they will try reverse psychology "then I don't want a kiss" when really they do. Which makes me laugh because really when you think about it who is the kiss for and why is it such a big deal. We tell our children "it's ok if you don't feel like giving kisses right now". They should never be forced to do something especially when it involves there own bodies! Isn't that what we teach them when they are older? Respect your body? Well it starts when they are young and we as parents need to respect them.

cousin adventures

I love when I get to hang out with my cousin Sunny and Her kids Georgia and Beau. Hudson and Kingsley love it too! We decided to take the kids to Irvine Regional Park for a fun afternoon. They all had such a great time. Especially when we were having a picnic and all of a sudden Hudson stood up and dropped his drawers and started to pee on the grass next to where we were eating!Sigh... embarrassing mom moment 100. I guess you gotta go when you gotta go, hopefully next time its at least behind the tree.

The year of the Cold!

So this year there has been quite a lot of illness going around. My children have gotten bit by the bug twice and this last time was a doozie for Mr. King he was under the weather for about five days with a fever which means for the past five days I have been doing every thing one handed (including showering) because he cant barer to be out of my arms. When it comes to sickness in this house we try to live medicine free. I have a few friends and family members that think I am crazy and think that this is torture for my children, but I believe our bodies if given the proper nutrients can heal themselves so I choose to avoid the over prescribing doctors and opt for a natural way. Here's what I've learned as soon as you or your children are starting to get sick get adjusted. A lot of our bodies immune defense is in our neck and when our atlas is out of place our body cannot fight off a virus to its full strength. Second we start powering Congaplex it is a vitamin from Standard Process they make kids chewable also, but my kids wont eat them so I put the powder out of the vitamin into there drink/apple sauce 1 cap 3x a day. Next I add a probiotic I use iFlora multi-probiotic for kids its in a powder form and I use 1/2 tsp 2x a day when they are sick also in a drink/apple sauce. A probiotic should be taken daily especially if you're not having raw milk or raw milk products since the pasteurization process kills all good bacteria. And then if there is a fever involved Calcium Lactate this is kinda ah-mah-zing it helps repair the cells and put calcium back in your body which is what you are losing when you get a fever. No need for tylenol just a 500mg every hour until the fever is gone. Obviously avoid sugar when feeling sick, stay hydrated and stay rested!

New Year, No Clutter

New Years equals resolutions. I love this idea, a fresh start to something. I am making a list nothing crazy just a couple things that I want to work on this year. And since it's a new decade a list on what I want to accomplish for the next 10 years or should I say where I see myself and my family. One of the things on the list is complete organization! I am a clean person, a pretty organized person, but when I get in a hurry things get messy. If I need to leave to go pick up Hudson from school and my car is feeling cluttered I will in a hurry empty it on the garage floor which then leaves me with a pile of clutter that I may not tend to for a week. So in my mission to de-clutter/organize I decided to start with my bathroom cabinet.

Those were all old products that weren't even being used. I added a little silver faux croc wrapping paper to make it a little more interesting. I should have mod podge'd it but I wasn't even sure I was going to like it so I just double sided sticky taped it. A much needed improvement if I do say so myself!

A little something Handmade

We rung in the New Year with a Birthday/New Years party for Hudson's best friend Henry he was turning 5 and he loves money. I swear he walks around with wads of money in his pockets and will stop to show you, count it, take out his calculator and add it all up and he likes to take the small bills to the bank and exchange them for bigger ones. It's actually quite genius. So with that in mind I decided to make him a wallet and put some money in it for his gift. I measured one of Alex's wallets and made a pattern with that. The fabric before I sewed it was 9x4. I should have taken pictures step by step, but I forgot until I was half way finished. Sorry!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas. This year was magical for our family. Hudson understands why we celebrate Christmas and wants to know all about Christ and how he is in our hearts and that he loves unconditionally like our Mommies and Daddies love us. It's so sweet and pure. And What a blessing this year to see my boys so excited to play with each other, share toys with one another and see Hudson help his brother open his presents. My family is the best gift of all.

Thank you SANTA!!!

Santa you out did yourself this year, but I must say Im so glad you did. My computer has not been working well for a while. It wouldn't upload photos, it erased my contacts, would randomly kick me off line and only worked plugged into the wall! Beyond frustrating! Until today that is... Santa surprised me with this beauty. Yay! back to blogging, uploading photos, updating my iphone and online shopping:) Thank you SANTA!