Under Construction...

I'm trying to tidy up/organise/rearrange my sidebars so if you see anything funny then that's probably why.

First tooth!

Baby Girl got her first tooth yesterday! It's such a suprise as hubby and I both got teeth later than this (Baby Girl is eight months and we were nine and twelve months). She's so funny - if you open her mouth she sticks her tongue out so the only way we can see the tooth is by putting a spoon in her mouth so she licks it. :o)

My view of Christmas

I know there are a lot of different views of Christmas floating around so I thought I'd add mine into the mix. I don't want to misrepresent other's views so I am going to provide links to articles to hopefully avoid this.

Some people view Christmas as a Pagan festival in which Christians should take no part:
http://musings-of-a-mountain-mama.blogspot.com/2007/11/origin-of-christmas.html
http://musings-of-a-mountain-mama.blogspot.com/2007/11/yes-i-say-bah-humbug.html

Others celebrate it as if it is a Christian festival:
http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/2007/11/in-defense-of-christmas.html#article

Personally, I celebrate it as a cultural festival.

Pagan?
Yes Christmas has Pagan roots but the meanings have been lost and the mode of celebration has evolved over the centuries and I imagine bears little resemblance to it's Pagan origins. We have many traditions and words which come from Pagan religion/culture. When I was getting married, a friend lent me a wedding planning book. Every so often it had a little fact box telling you about the origins/meanings of many wedding traditions. For example, both the wedding cake and the throwing of grains over the couple (which has evolved into confetti) originate from ideas that grains would bring fertility and make the marriage fruitful. In the same way that most Christians would not have an issue with these wedding traditions, I do not have an issue with traditional Christmas celebrations.

Christian?
The incarnation is an important subject which we should think upon all year round and not just at Christmas. Having said this, the world considers Christmas to be a Christian festival and it can provide a useful opportunity for witnessing. We always send blatantly Christian Christmas cards containing lots of Scripture. Although I do talk about Christianity with my atheist and agnostic friends, I doubt I would get away with sending them portions of Scripture like that at any other time of year. However, there is nothing in the Bible instructing us to celebrate Christ's birth at a specific time of year or in a specific way. The only day we are commanded as Christians to keep is the Sabbath. On the Sabbath we celebrate Christ's birth, death and resurrection. There is a danger that by focusing on the incarnation on this one day, we can forget about it at other times or detract from the Sabbath. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with bringing Christianity into Christmas but just that we must be careful if we do so. Given the common knowledge that it has Pagan origins (and based on feedback from an atheist/agnostic friend who I agree with on this point) trying to talk about "the true meaning of Christmas" as if Christianity is the origin is of little benefit as is not true anyway. Personally, if I wanted to have a "Christian Festival" I would probably celebrate something like the Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles as at least these have a Biblical basis (although they are not commanded to Christians).

Cultural?
If we consider Christmas to be neither Pagan nor Christian should we celebrate it? We are not supposed to the like the world. I celebrate New Year and Guy Fawkes Night, the US has Independence Day and France has Bastille Day. These are cultural festivals too and I personally do not see anything wrong in celebrating them unless to do so would involve sinful practice.

So there you have it. I celebrate it as a cultural festival and acknowledge it as such whilst recognising that many people associate it with the birth of Christ.

What is your view?

I'm back :o)

After a full week of broken and short nights, we've had a week of better nights and Baby Girl has slept through again for the last three. Apart from a slight runny nose still she's pretty much better. I caught her cold but not as bad as her and thankfully it didn't turn into a cough .

Poor Baby

I haven't been blogging this last week because Baby Girl has been ill. She started off with a cold which got worse and turned into a cough. Having slept through since 2 months old, she's been waking once or twice every nigth for the last week and sometimes she just can't get back to sleep afterwards so we've all ended up pretty tired. She's starting to improve now and has passed her cold on to me which should help her as she'll get antibodies through the milk. Hopefully I'll get back to normal sometime next week.

Vaccines use cells from aborted babies

I recently found out that some viral vaccines are made using cells from aborted babies. I've done a bit of research and this is some of the information I have found:

http://www.dgwsoft.co.uk/homepages/vaccines/alternatives.htm

http://www.lifecanada.org/html/science/Vaccines/ABriefHistoryofHumanDiploidCellStrains.pdf

http://www.vaccinetruth.org/fetal_tissue.htm

If you are in the UK then you can find information on which vaccines are currently used here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/Healthandsocialcaretopics/Greenbook/DH_4097254

It seems that currently the polio vaccine used in the UK uses monkey cells so it is only the MMR which is an issue. I was very relieved to find this out as Baby Girl had already had the polio vaccination before I found out. Obviously I can't help having not known but apart from the fact that we wouldn't have wanted to use it if it had been made using aborted baby's cells but it would have made our objections to the MMR a bit more difficult if we'd already had one.

If you have any more information about this issue, please do post in the comments.

My Theological world view

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Reformed Evangelical You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 79% Fundamentalist 71% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Neo orthodox 64% Roman Catholic 39% Emergent/Postmodern 32% Classical Liberal 21% Modern Liberal 18% Charismatic/Pentecostal 18%

We've started weaning

Baby Girl is now seven months and we started weaning on Monday. We gave her a couple of sticks of parsnip which she sucked a little bit but she was much more interested in the high chair and sucking on her apron. We gave her parsnip again on Tuesday and today we gave her onion. She did play with the onion a bit more (I guess because of the unusual feel to it) but she's still far more interested in sucking her apron than food!

Christmas cards

Today I made our Christmas cards. This is the text I have on the front

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

כי היום ילד לכם בעיר דוד מושיע אשר הוא המשיח האדון׃

οτι ετεχθη υμιν σημερον σωτηρ ος εστιν χριστος κυριος εν πολει δαβιδ

ܐܬܝܠܕ ܠܟܘܢ ܓܝܪ ܝܘܡܢܐ ܦܪܘܩܐ ܕܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܡܪܝܐ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܒܡܕܝܢܬܗ ܕܕܘܝܕ

որովհետեւ այսօր՝ Դաւիթի քաղաքին մէջ՝ Փրկիչ մը ծնաւ ձեզի, որ Օծեալ Տէրն է:

因 今 天 在 大 卫 的 城 里 ， 为 你 们 生 了 救 主 ， 就 是 主 基 督 。

denn euch ist heute der Heiland geboren, welcher ist Christus, der HERR, in der Stadt Davids.

오늘날 다윗의 동네에 너희를 위하여 구주가 나셨으니 곧 그리스도 주시니라

ибо ныне родился вам в городе Давидовом Спаситель,Который есть Христос Господь;

เพราะว่าในวันนี้พระผู้ช่วยให้รอดของท่านทั้งหลาย คือพระคริสต์เจ้า มาบังเกิดที่เมืองดาวิด

Luke 2:11

Inside I have Luke 2:8-16:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Weaning update

Well, we've made 29 weeks of exclusive breastfeeding and counting. I'm amazed we've managed to do it for so long!

Bread

Here's my first loaf of bread before I put it in the oven:

As you can see it kind of overflowed a bit so I've tried to make slightly smaller loaves since then. I've been doing two at a time which seems to work well as more wouldn't fit in the bowl or the oven (plus I only have two tins) and less wouldn't last long enough so I'd be making it constantly. I've been modifying the recipe slightly and once I've got it all sorted out I'll post it.

Nicene Creed Part 1

"I believe in one God,the Father, the Almighty,maker of heaven and earth,of all that is, seen and unseen."

This is the God of the Bible. He is Father to the Son. He is all powerful (as the Bible tells us) and he created everything that we can see (e.g. the sea) and can't see (e.g. gravity).

It turned out!

The bread turned out well (although some of it did overflow from the tin) so I'll hopefully make some more and also post some pictures soon. I'll try to get back to the Nicene Creed tomorrow too.

Bread

I started making bread today. I just made one loaf in case it doesn't turn out right and it's currently sitting near a radiator to rise. Poor Baby Girl - she cried when I was grinding the wheat as she didn't like the noise.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

I just finished reading this book from cover to cover. Hubby is going to read it too but as he doesn't have the same time I do for reading (I can read while breastfeeding), I worked out which chapters where most relevant to read in terms of making personal dietary changes and the reasoning behind it.

This is the list of chapters I have made for him:

• any two from ch 3-14
• ch 15-19
• ch21

Reading just these chapters saves reading a lot of repetetive or more involved/technical stuff but still gives you a good grounding in the overall message of the book.

Weaning

As Baby Girl is now six months I've been thinking about weaning quite a lot recently. Officially we are supposed to wean at six months - no earlier and no later. To me it just seemed crazy that all babies would need weaning at exactly the same age. After all, they don't do anything else (sitting, standing, laughing, walking etc.) at the same time so why would this be any different? Baby Girl was showing no signs of needing food when she turned six months so it didn't feel right to start giving her food. The only thing was that supposedly they need solids because of needing iron. (Although apparently you don't need to worry about iron if you are formula feeding - another example of breastmilk being portrayed as inferior!) This just didn't seem right to me. I know we live in a fallen world but surely if the milk provides enough energy then it will provide the right nutrition including iron. Well I did a bit of reading around and found out that there was a study done (Pisacane A, et al. Iron status in breast-fed infants. J Pediatr 1995 Sep;127(3):429-31) which found that babies exclusively breastfed for seven months had higher iron levels at 12 months than those who were not. I found loads of helpful information at Kellymom and we've decided to wait and see rather than starting just because she's an arbitrary age.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

We're back

We just got back on Saturday (well technically Sunday morning) from visiting the in-laws. We had a lovely time but are all really tired now as we came back via a wedding reception and haven't caught up our sleep yet. I'm just trying to get caught up on things in the house and get everything unpacked and sorted out. Also need to finish making weaning food for Baby Girl as she'll need to start weaning soon.

I made flour!

Here’s the wheat:
Here’s the coffee grinder:
This is my first attempt:I didn’t put much wheat in and it turned out quite coarse.

This is my second attempt:
I think I put in slightly more than double the first time and it’s turned out much finer.

I’ll have to grind some more so that I’ve got enough to make something. I can’t at the moment though as it’s so loud and the kitchen is right below Baby Girl’s bedroom where she’s having a nap.

Wheat

I ordered some wheat yesterday and it should be arriving today. I read in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration that in a trial to improve diets of American children they used an electric coffee grinder to grind wheat. My husband was given one a few years ago but rarely uses it so we decided that we'd test it out and see if it will grind wheat. It'll certainly be a lot cheaper than buying a special wheat grinder assuming it works. I'll hopefully post tomorrow on how successful it has been.

Baby Footprints.

Here are Baby Girl's footprints when she was ten days old. They're so cute.



We're planning to do some more soon so we can compare how much she's grown.

Whoops

I didn't leave the cream cheese making contraption in the fridge. I must've left it out too long as the cheese went mouldy. Hopefully it'l be better next time!

Yoghurt and cream cheese

Yesterday I made some yoghurt (with a little help from the slow cooker) and I set some of it making some cream cheese. Last time I left ot in the fridge but this time I've kept it out and I've also tied the muslin cloth up so the cheese should end up in a kind of ball shape rather then a thin layer I have to scrape off. If it goes to plan, I'll post some pictures.

Busy weekend

Well, on Saturday I left Baby Girl with Hubby for the first time while I went shopping. I needed a couple of new skirts as I don't quite fit into enough of my skirts yet since Baby Girl was born. I missed her so much even though I was only out for about 2 1/2 hours. They got on okay apart from a little mix up with feeding times. :) Then we decided to have friends from church for Sunday lunch (again first time since Baby Girl was born) so that kept us pretty busy getting that organised. Now we just need to finish off that mountain of washing up...

Toilet training?

Toilet training. We think of this as one of those necessary parts of raising a child. However, we do not intend to "toilet train" our daughter. This is not because we intend to leave our daughter in nappies (American = diapers) for the rest of her life but because we have not nappy-trained her in the first place. Think about it. Why train a child into a habit when two or three years later you are going to expect them to start doing the complete opposite? I suppose you are probably thinking that it is necessary because a baby has no bowel or bladder control. This is simply not true. Babies are born able to control both their bowels and bladders. If we recognise this, we can avoid the difficulties of toilet training by allowing baby to use the toilet (or potty) from birth.

A quick post

Baby girl is sleeping at the moment so I thought it was a good time to get in a quick blog post. The perfectionist in me wants to get the layout of this blog sorted out before I let people see it but then I realised that it will always be a work in progress and that I will never have the time to "perfect" it so I've decided to let my blog be seen by others.

You might have noticed the link about elimination communication on the sidebar. We (that is my husband and I) practise elimination communication with baby girl. I will write a bit more about it soon.

My Family

I thought I ought to start with an introduction to my family: my family consists of my husband, myself and our baby daughter.

Here they are at a wedding we went to a couple of months ago:

Baby girl is 3 months in this photo. She is 5 months now.

Wahey! I've managed to change the settings so the second column works properly. Now to see about changing the background...

First Post

Well, I've got my blog set up now but I need to work on the layout. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get time to work out how to add another column.