Aunt M. recommends Dr. Dobson’s “The New Strong-Willed Child.” It changed the way she talks to her children.

A friend’s favorite book is “The Sinner’s Guide” which is available from TAN books.

An excellent, comprehensive, balanced book about vaccinating or not vaccinating children is Aviva Jill Romm’s “Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives”.

Love,

Luke, Corinne, Catherine, and David Dashjr

Disney (including Baby Einstein) – twists classic storylines; makes “sexy” female main characters like Pocahontas; uses foreign sweatshops; and more as detailed in the Schweizers’ book “The Mouse Betrayed” (used products you didn’t pay for like a Pinocchio are generally okay)

American Baby magazine – content makes it a waste of paper

clothing that advertises brand names instead of being cute or pretty (example: saying “Baby Gap” on the front of the shirt instead of just on the tag)

conventionally grown apples – we buy organic applesauce and apples because the skin is so nutritious, and pesticides stick to the skin or go right through: same with pears and grapes

trick-or-treating – we want to celebrate Saints on the eve of All Saints Day, not glorify witches, demons, vampires, etc. & get a ton of junk food . . . Catherine likes pumpkins so we might decorate one and try to make a pumpkin pie, and pass out Catholic or healthy things to anybody who comes to the door that night (or just keep the porch light off if it’s too cold to keep opening the door!)

sugar – except when cooking for Luke, I substitute with stevia because it doesn’t hurt my teeth or mess with my blood sugar levels, and I minimize the sugar I feed to Catherine

hydrogenated oils – these are unhealthy so we use butter instead of margarine, and buy natural Smart Balance Omega-3 peanut butter for our celery

gluten – no, I haven’t been diagnosed as having an intolerance to gluten, but I do sometimes feel yucky and have diarrhea after consuming it so I avoid it because both David and I can’t afford to lose nutrients through diarrhea, and gluten is not a necessary food

soda/pop – only Luke drinks this and only occassionally; as long as you don’t give it to us or try to give any to Catherine, you’re OK putting some in the fridge for you when you need to

music with a defining beat – I can’t stand it but we love piano, a tiny bit of country, some ethnic music, classical, Gregorian (played most often upstairs), etc.

pacifiers – babies are so beautiful without them, they can interfere with breastfeeding by causing nipple confusion (and I wonder if I would always be able to tell when our babies are hungry if they were using pacifiers), and they can be hard to take away from the baby when the parents want to stop giving it to him – and fingers are better than plastic when Mama is not available!

vaccines – many of these are made from aborted babies. Most, if not all, have toxic ingredients such as mercury and fermaldehyde. Some do cause autism in some children and many other severe health problems in some children. Mass vaccinations can lead to mutated viruses that people are unable to fight. Our children will not be exposed to the germs at school except on Sundays, and our healthy diets will help their immune systems to be prepared for whatever trials God leads us through.

jeans – none of us wear jeans because they emphasize the shape of the buttocks and make an upside down V pointing to the private area instead of taking attention away from it like skirts, dresses and some baggy pants

shorts – none of us wear shorts so that we will have more protection against sunburn for our fair skins and because Marylike modesty entails covering the knees

tank tops – see shorts and substitute shoulders for knees

V-necks – these go too low to be modest on me but are OK on some women in terms of not going too far down to the chest when exposing skin

tv – we don’t have a hooked-up tv, we only have cable for the Internet connection, and we watch some movies on Luke’s computer – this lack of a tv gives us peace and quiet when we don’t want to play music and helps protect our innocence

cribs – we’ve done the research and decided to continue with our happy family bed

http://skindeep.ewg.org will tell you which ingredients in cosmetics should be avoided (we don’t use Johnson & Johnson because of this and stick with safer, organic and natural brands)

Gerber All In One Waterproof Trainers
Gerber webpage

Cheapest price so far (same as at Babies R Us if I recall correctly, about $7):
Store webpage

The Google link:
Google search results

I was reading Sheila Kitzinger’s book “The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth” this morning when I realized how offensive parts of it are to us. I am writing to ask for your prayers and any other help you can give me so that we can publish a pregnancy and childbirth book written by and for Catholic mothers.

It would not have any nude pictures of laboring women that you would hide from your husband or sons. Most pictures would be of women in dresses.
The term “family planning”, if used at all, would refer to helping the mother and father allocate funds for medical care and baby supplies, and think about how living arrangements will change after their baby’s birth.
Contraception will never be endorsed as a valid option. If mentioned at all, it will be in the context of helping the woman’s body heal from past contraception. NFP will be presented only as a means to conceive, with relevant Church teaching.
Abortion and sterilization will never be presented as valid options or “choices”. There could be a section for mothers whose bodies have survived an abortion or a reversed sterilization, perhaps with a piece by a priest about repentance, forgiveness, and healing.
The baby, whether born or unborn, will never be referred to as an “it”. I realize that many Catholic authors have done this, but it is especially disconcerting to me as a mother in third trimester to continually read “it” in place of “him” or even “him or her”. Our children have souls, therefore they are never “it”s.

Catholic teaching about the beauty and responsibilities of motherhood will be sprinkled throughout. Sections written by priests are welcome! Breastfeeding will be given precedence over formula feeding, and healthy alternatives to conventional formula will be presented. There could be a short discussion about circumcision with medical facts, and instructions on how to care for an “intact” penis and a circumcised penis.

I would love to include information about breastfeeding from Catholic professionals. I’ve heard that La Leche League was begun by Catholic mothers, but I have yet to find a Catholic LLL Leader.

Are you interested in accomplishing this with me? Do you think this is needed, or at least a good idea? Will you pray to St. Anne, St. Gerard, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague for this effort, that it may be pleasing to God?

By Samantha Singson
     (NEW YORK — C-FAM) The US delegation to the UN sharply scolded a top UN official this week for perpetuating the falsehood that there is a new UN mandated global goal related to “sexual and reproductive health.” The exchange came during the Executive Board meeting of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The US also criticized UNFPA’s promotion of abortion.

     UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid was presenting UNFPA’s strategic plan and its proposed global and regional programs.  In her report Obaid claimed “The target on universal access to reproductive health under Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 paves the way for further progress to improve the health of women, reduce maternal and newborn deaths, expand contraceptive choice, and protect reproductive rights.” The US representative interjected that there is no new global target on reproductive health and that the only thing that could generate one was a resolution of the General Assembly.

     The Millennium Development Goals were first negotiated in 2000 by more than 150 heads of state, the largest such gathering in history, and included eight broad goals none of which included the controversial issue of “reproductive health,” a term that is frequently used by UN agencies to promote abortion. Pro-abortion radicals, including UNFPA, tried to get a new goal on “reproductive health” negotiated by heads of state in 2005 but they were defeated. Since then, they have tried to get a ninth goal or at least a target as part of an existing goal but continue to be defeated. Their defeat has not stopped UNFPA and others from continuing to claim that such a new target exists. Governments around the world are being told such a target exists and are being asked to change their laws accordingly, most recently in the Philippines.

     The US also complained to Obaid about UNFPA’s promotion of abortion and asked Obaid for a clarification. Obaid claimed UNFPA was neutral on abortion and only tries to prevent “unsafe abortion.”  “UNFPA does not speak for or against the legalization of abortion,” said Obaid. UNFPA, however, has a history of promoting the legalization of abortion most recently when the agency intervened when Nicaragua’s National Assembly banned all abortion. UNFPA, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other UN agencies directly intervened to stop the law which eventually was passed unanimously by the Nicaraguan Assembly.

     In contrast to the US position, the Swedish delegate urged Obaid to “make sure that sexual and reproductive health and rights remain squarely on the agenda.” A final decision by the country delegations on the UNFPA strategic plan and programming will be made when executive board meetings wrap up this week.

     On Friday, the United States announced that it would suspend its contribution to UNFPA for the sixth year in a row. The US first suspended funding in 2002 upon receiving evidence that UNFPA was complicit in China’s draconian one child policy.

For more news visit us at www.c-fam.org

Thanks for sharing your spiritual wisdom and letting us feed you and playing with our daughter today! We hope to welcome you back soon.

http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/ralstonlibrary/ Ralston’s public library – don’t ask me why it’s on the Omaha Public Library page, since Ralston isn’t annexed into Omaha because the Masons don’t want to and the Ralston library is not part of the OPL system: link

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/11/news/health.php?page=1 Former Surgeon General Cites Political Interference, an article I haven’t had time to read yet: link

http://johnplaceonline.com/stress-management/11-causes-and-cures-for-procrastination/ Eleven Causes and Cures for Procrastination, a link from Dr. Mercola’s site: link

http://tinyurl.com/3a8rzo Plastic Shopping Bags Being Banned, an article on Dr. Mercola’s website: link

http://traditio.com/comment/com0707.htm TRADITIO commentary for this month; normally I don’t recommend their site because they are not yet sedevacantist but they have good pictures and report the news better than most other sites I know: link

http://tinyurl.com/379bsx Ten things your grocery store doesn’t want you to know – this could be a very useful Dr. Mercola blog webpage! Read the comments his viewers posted if you have time, too: link

And the best for last – our photo gallery in case you haven’t seen it yet: DashJr Family Photo Gallery

and I can’t finish editing this entry without crediting TinyURL! :)

2. No diapers to change yet!

3. The mother can sleep for a few months. If she keeps herself hydrated and eats right, she should not have a big problem with going to the bathroom a lot at night.

4. The mother has a huge reason to eat healthy: no smoking, no drinking alcohol, no taking drugs (this includes most if not all pharmaceutical drugs), no junk food, less fast food, no caffeine . . . more healthy food, more clean air, more water, more vitamins.

5. People like to give things to pregnant people. I could list a lot of things people gave to us during both pregnancies and I might if someone asks in a comment.

6. No cumbersome menstrual cycles for the mother for several more months, especially if she will breastfeed her baby.

7. Many dreams, and a great time to become closer to God in time for the baby’s Holy Baptism (for babies who will be raised as Roman Catholics).