I started reading “The Sinner’s Guide” by Venerable Louis of Granada and it is now on my list of favorite books. I am very excited to see that it is online here!

Edmund Francis Eugene joined our family on October 2nd, the Feast of the Guardian Angels, here in Omaha, Nebraska at Methodist Hospital. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20 inches long. He has the beautiful red hair that Catherine and I share, and the sweetest smile. He started wearing size 2 diapers and drinking up to 5 ounces in an hour in December.

I just tried to upload a relatively current picture of our family and was unable to, so if you use Facebook and want to see pictures, add me (Corinne Dashjr) as a friend and mention this blog in your friend request if you don’t already know us.

In September 2009 we moved closer to Mary Immaculate Catholic Church here in Omaha, Nebraska. We are very blessed to live five minutes away by car and fifteen by foot (in good weather)! Two of our three children, both boys, were baptized there and we have received other Sacraments there, and will continue to do so as long as we live here, thanks be to God. Our rental house has three bedrooms and we are using similar to how we used our three-bedroom apartment in Kansas City, Missouri: Luke, me, and Edmund are in one bedroom; Catherine and David are in another bedroom; and our books are contained in the third bedroom. (In Kansas City the three of us were in one bedroom on two queen size beds and one bedroom was an office, with the third used as a library.) We have a crawlspace instead of a basement and too much stuff so our car is parked in the driveway instead of in the garage so that we can use the garage for storage until we get rid of most of it – thank God for that garage! Catherine and David get along well most of the time in their room; usually the only problem is that it takes them longer to fall asleep when they are both in there because they talk to each other.

In October my mother brought us costumes that my brothers and I wore when we were small. Catherine loved the bird costume so she wore that, and David wore the fireman costume that Aunt M. bought. Maybe Luke can figure out how to post pictures of them. Edmund was a cute smiling jack-o-lantern, thanks to the Onesie that Grandma D sent.

On December 5 I celebrated my one-year anniversary of discharge from Lasting Hope Recovery Center. I’ve been out of psych wards for a full year and counting! Thanks to Luke, our therapist, God, our priests, family, and friends for helping me along in my recovery from last year’s postpartum depression.

Here’s to a productive Advent and a wonderful Christmas. God bless you!

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)

2. Dress in layers (shirt under dress, shirt over dress, tights, socks, etc.)

3. Bake as often as possible and keep the oven door open after baking to let the heat out into the kitchen

4. Pray, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” when we wonder why people don’t give us things we really need more often (instead of stuff we already have – like clothes!! – at David’s baby shower)

5. Wait for warm sunny days so we can open the windows and warm up the house again

6. Try not to think about it

7. Hope David won’t come until we are financially able to turn on the furnace

Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
Aspartame (Nutrasweet) Toxicity Information Center
Aspartame Kills
Aspartame & Aspartame Poisoning Informational Site
Aspartame And Other So-Called “Artificial Sweeteners” News and Articles
What is aspartame?
Aspartame, cause of diseases? Nutrasweet Equal Spoonful Equal-Measure
Aspartame – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aspartame, Nutrasweet – the danger of consumption
Aspartame controversy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aspartame – most dangerous of all artificial sweeteners! (also has information about other artificial/chemical sweeteners)
Animal studies suggest aspartame is toxic to the nervous system. It was shown to cause damage to the brains of infant mice. Approved by the FDA, with a warning label required for those with PKU.

Acesulfame-K (or Acesulfame Potassium)
Acesulfame-K Toxicity Information Center
Life After Aspartame
Acesulfame-K from a college website
Sample Quotes From Cancer Experts’ Letters On Acesulfame Testing
Whole Foods Market: Whole Body: Ingredients: Acesulfame-K
Acesulfame potassium – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animal studies suggest it may cause cancer and breakdown products shown to be toxic to the thyroid gland. Approved by the FDA.

Cyclamate
Cyclamate Update from the FDA
Cyclamate Controversy
Cyclamate – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animal studies indicate it causes cancer and may increase the potency of other cancer-causing chemicals. A National Cancer Institute study found that heavy use of blended cyclamate and saccharin was associated with a higher incidence of bladder cancer. Like saccharin, it was created early enough to be considered GRAS at first, so it was likewise not examined until independent non-FDA investigations exposed the possible dangers. It has been banned by the FDA, but may be considered for reapproval.

Neotame
Neotame Toxicity Information Center
Neotame Artificial Sweetener Approved by FDA: But is it Safe? Mindfully.org 7/6/02
For Better or Worse: A Quarterly Commentary
Neotame from the Feingold ADHD dietary management website
Neotame (Near Clone of Aspartame) Now In Spain? The Latest on Nutrasweet
Neotame – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aspartame plus 3-di-methylbutyl, which can be found on the EPA’s list of most hazardous chemicals. Approved by the FDA.

Saccharin
Saccharin
Saccharin – the sugar substitute we’ve all heard about – but how bad is it really?
Saccharin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animal studies show it can cause cancer of the bladder. Saccharin has also caused cancer of the uterus, ovaries, skin, blood vessels, and other organs. Created early enough to be considered GRAS at first, it was not examined until independent non-FDA investigations brought the potential dangers to light. The FDA required a warning label on it for a while, but it no longer does.

Sucralose
Whole Foods Market: Ingredients: Sucralose
Sucralose Toxicity Information Center
Splenda (Sucralose) Toxicity Exposed
The Potential Dangers of Sucralose: Reader Testimonials
BodyTechnician.com – Splenda Sucralose Causes Pain
Sugar-Free Blues from the Weston A. Price Foundation (also contains information about other artificial chemical sweeteners)
Sugar substitutes and the potential danger of Splenda
Sucralose – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Preapproval data showed evidence for antifertility effects, immune system toxicity, potential mutagenic activity, and fetal edema in offspring. Approved by the FDA.

The Delaney Clause:
“the Secretary of the Food and Drug Administration shall not approve for use in food any chemical additive found to induce cancer in man, or, after tests, found to induce cancer in animals.”
Delaney Clause – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So as long as you have people willing to share clothes, help with food once in a while (or at least give you ways of buying very healthy food inexpensively), and work out diaper solutions, children can only add to the family in many ways! Deo Gratias for our little ones. Please Lord, bless us with many more!

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

TFP Student Action volunteers handed out flyers and took surveys in front of the Allen Street Gate in State College, Penn.

Americans have good reason to distrust China. The recent contaminated Chinese exports remind us of a problem larger than tainted produce or toxic toys: China is still under communist rule and its people suffer brutal oppression, proven by continued forced abortions, religious persecution, and human rights violations.

Tradition Family Property Student Action members alerted university students about the China scandals at the Allen Street Gates located at the heart of Penn State University on Monday, September 10. Leaflets were distributed all over campus titled “Warning: Made in China.” Students received the information eagerly and questioned whether unrestricted trade with China will come back to haunt us. “Aren’t we feeding a communist giant?” was a sentiment shared by many, concerned with closer ties with communist China.

More on the website:
TFP article

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?