CDC SAYS MELAMINE IN BABY FORMULA OK?

Just in case there was any doubt that the Food and Drug Adm. was on the industry and the Pharma's side, I am stunned that they had the nerve to say that trace amounts of Melamine in baby formula was OK! How much crap is a tiny baby supposed to overcome? How much toxic substances is an infant expected to asimilate? As if it wasn't bad enough to get Mercury and aluminum injected in your bloodstream on the vaccines, sleeping in matresses loaded with poisons like boric acid, wearing diapers with chemicals and drinking in bottles desthiling BPA plastics... Now the tiny babies are expected to also drink MELAMINE !?!?

Melamine was found in the 3 biggest brands sold in the US: ABBOT LABS maker of SIMILAC, MEAD JOHNSON maker of ENFAMIL, and NESTLE maker of GOOD START. 

This is an outrage! when are we going to wake up and demand that someone puts and end on the special interest of the organizations who's job is supposed to protect our children from all this crap!!! I am so mad!  Sorry I vented here... Thank God I exclusively breast feed my baby or else he would also be drinking all this garbage. 

En caso de que no quedara claro de que la Administracion de Drugas y Alimentos estaba del lado de la industria y las companias farmaceuticas y no del lado del consumidor, como para que no quedara la menor duda, ahora tienen el descaro de decir que esta bien si la formula para bebes contiene MELAMINA un quimico cancerigeno y toxico que ha enfermado de gravedad a miles de bebes en China. Como si no fuera suficiente con que los bebes tengan que beber en chupones que destilan peligrosos quimicos como BPA, como si no fuera suficiente que se les inyectan cantidades peligrosas de metales pesados en las vacunas (como aluminio y mercurio), como si no fuera suficiente dormir en colchones rociados con sustancias venenosas como ACIDO BORICO, como retardante inflamable, ahora tambien para satisfacer los intereses creados, se espera que las pobre criaturas beban formula con MELAMINA !!! que espanto! cuando vamos a despertar y demandar que las organizaciones que se supone que nos defiendan de los niveles toxicos industriales y famaceuticos hagan su trabajo? Despues se asustan de que las tasas de mortalidad infantil aumenten, de que la diabetes infantil, el autismo, el alzaimer y el cancer vayan por los cielos... Que horror! 

La melamina se encontro en los 3 principales fabricantes de formula de los EU: Laboratorios Abbot que hacen SIMILAC, Mead Johnson que hacen Enfamil, y Nestle los que hacen GOOD START. 

Gracias a Dios que tengo suficiente leche para amamantar yo misma a mi bebe o sino el tambien se estaria tragando esta porqueria...

The awesome FISHER PRICE RAINFOREST JUMPEROO

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I love the Jumperoo. It is the best toy we could have gotten for Ian, he loves jumping as you can see. We had gotten a baby gym and he did not care for it. I took it back and got this instead and he loves it! Mommy loves it too because baby stays entreteined for a long time, giving mommy time to get lots of things done. :-))

Yo amo el Jumperoo, es el mejor juguete que pudimos haber comprado para Ian, a el le encanta y a mi mas porque se queda ahi brincando por un gran rato y se entretiene por un gran rato y me deja hacer cosas. :-)  

If you are planning to buy a BUXTON bag... don't!

If you are planning to buy a Buxton Bag... let me discourage you... when the bag is heavy it causes the stuff in the outer compartment to overflow and your things get out of the bag, the outer zipper in the back is upside down also causing your stuff to fall down if you forget to zip it. The only thing I really loved about this bag is the cell phone pouch

 which is very useful but the other issues make it a bad purchase in my opinion. The material is thin, it does not feel like leather at all, more like a plastic, it is got to be an imitation of leather. Mine got stained with some yellow paint from the Winnie the Pooh window shadow during the summer and to be honest I don't even care because I am getting rid of it anyways. This bag is driving me crazy... I can't believe I paid $40 plus shipping for this!

Yesterday I got this one at Kolhs to replace it, I love it! and unlike the Buxton bag this is genuine leather and only cost $20 on sale!

Baby pictures 7 months

For your delight here is Mr. Ian at 7 months!

Para el deleite de todos ustedes aqui esta Mr. Ian a los 7 meses! 

Happy birthday to me!

A couple weeks ago was my birthday. I turned 40. It was special just because a new decade kind of marks a new stage, doesn't it? We went out to eat to celebrate. As every Friday in "getting a little crowded here" city, all restaurants were packed. I wanted to eat at Olive Garden but the wait was about an hour... "no thanks!". We ended up eating at Mimi's Cafe and Ian cried the whole time we were there. No one was able to order what they wanted, except maybe Rachel. James ended up liking his clam showder and I took must of my pasta home for James to eat later, but the most important thing is that we were together and having my family was all the party I needed to have. James got me flowers and balloons and a special present that I have not received yet. He says it is in the mail... I wonder what it could be...   

Hace un par de semanas fue mi cumpleanos. Fue especial porque cumpli 40. Cada vez que se cambia de decada representa como una nueva etapa, verdad? James me regalo este arreglo de flores y fuimos a comer afuera. Es dificil aqui donde vivo porque los fines de semana todos los restaurantes estan saturados, pero por fin encontramos un lugar y aunque no era lo que queriamos comer e Ian lloro todo el rato, la pasamos bien, estar con mi familia es el mejor regalo que podia tener.

Victorian Knitting bedroom

I am planning on redecorating my bedroom in a victorian theme, so it occurred to me to collect some old prints and frame them to give the bedroom that old victorian feeling. I started searching online for prints related to ... "knitting" of course! I found some great paintings but the reproductions were very expensive. I ended up buying buying 3 from Ebay studios for a very reasonable price. This is the first one I got on the mail yesterday:

The picture is actually more beautiful in person, I will show it here once I frame it. I only paid about $11 plus shipping for this one. Isn't it gorgeous? you can order it in any size you want from this ebay seller: quaintcards

Homeschooling

Wow! time flies by when you are exhausted ! LOL 

I can't believe I haven't post in so long. These had been some really hard days, mainly because I have been putting all of my energy in redesigning Rachel's schedule to catch up with her curriculum, we are so behind... it makes my stomach hurt when I think about it. My whole goal right now is to bring her up to grade level, so we are homeschooling day and night to try to catch up. I love homeschooling but I don't want Rachel to get behind so if we can not bring her up to grade level I might seriously consider putting her in school next year.

Well I am glad Halloween is over, I am not a fan of Halloween, this year James took Rachel to church for the Harvest Festival and I stayed home and turned off all the lights in the house and went to bed with the baby at 7:00 p.m. It worked! no body came to my door... Call me a grouch, but I was exhausted and all I wanted was going to bed. I have rested quite a bit during this weekend and I feel much better now, ready to start the week. 

We hired a awesome person to help tutoring Rachel and I am so thankful to have her, she will be helping me 3 mornings/week, I really need help so I have time to take care of the baby, cook, pick up messes, etc. Otherwise, the house falls apart. Besides, it is nice to be able to work with Rachel without interruptions, one of biggest problems is constantly having to stop the work to attend to the baby, this really disrupts Rachel's already difficult attention span, so been able to sit down and work without interruptions is important.

Here is a picture of Rachel, she was Hannah Montana for Halloween of 

course. I had bought a skunk outfit for Ian but it was too warm to wear it and besides he ended up staying home with mommy having a great nap instead of going out in the rain. :-)

 

My 3 kids! / Mis 3 hijos

Mi three beautiful kids, Luz 19 (just dyed her hair blond -the only color she hadn't tried before), Rachel 8, and Ian (5 1/2 months). This is the first picture of the 3 of them together since Ian was born.

Aquí están mis 3 lindos hijos, Luz Mariel que cumple 19 años la próxima semana y que se acaba de teñir el pelo rubio, el único color que no había probado antes; Rachel de 8 años e Ian de 5 y medio meses. Esta es la primera foto que les tomo a los 3 juntos desde que Ian nació.

Sock progress / Progreso de las medias

Here you go, I just finished the heal flap. I can't believe it took me 2 weeks to get this much done! That means it is going to take me 1 month per each sock! Wow! that is horrible! I guess they will be ready for Christmas... I hope. I had a lot of doubts about this pattern since you leave a strand of yarn on the front of 3 stitches, I wasn't sure how that was going to turn out, but now I really love it. It looks great! I did not have the 150 grams of yarn that the pattern calls for, only 100 gr. So, I calculated I would probably use 5 grams for the ribbing, 10 for the leg, and the remining 35 gr for the actual foot. This should be enough to finish each sock and have some left over yarn. Of course my leg is shorter than the pattern, but it was the only way to make sure I will have enough yarn to finish the pair. We will see how this turns out.

Esto es lo que llevo de las medias. No puedo creer que me haya tomado 15 dias hacer esta parte, a penas es la mitad de una media! quiere decir que me va a tomar 2 meses terminar el par si sigo a este ritmo... por lo menos tal vez las termine a tiempo para Navidad... Qué frustrante es no tener tiempo para tejer! Tuve que hacer magia con la lana para que me alcance porque solo tenia 100 gramos en lugar de 150 gr que pedia el patrón, para esto hice la pierna mas corta, espero que resulte!

Ya tengo varios encargos de otras cosas que quiero tejer así que mejor me pongo las pilas!

I am an aunty !!! again!! / Otra vez soy tía!

My brother R just had his baby boy. Isn't he gorgeous ? His name is Daniel. I am so exited! I can't wait to go see him...

Mi hermano R acaba de tener a su bebé. Verdad que es lindísimo? Se llama Danielito. Estoy tan feliz! Ojalá que lo pueda ir a conocer pronto...

Baby is 5 months!

My gorgeous baby turned 5 months last Friday. He is wearing clothes size 9-12 months and PJ's size 18 months! I am guessing he is about 17 pounds by now. Isn't he adorable? I need to get a new camera soon or all of his baby pictures are going to be blurry. This is one of the goals for this week. So much to do and so little time...

Mi precioso bebé cumplió 5 meses el viernes pasado. Esta usando ropita talla 9-12 meses y pijamas para 18 meses! Yo calculo que está pesando unas 17 libras. Verdad que está divino? Tengo que comprar una nueva cámara pronto o de lo contrario todas sus fotos de bebé van a ser borrosas... Odio esta cámara vieja! Así que esta semana sin falta me compro una...

Dad's socks - Medias para Papi

Started: 9/16/2008

Pattern: Rockin' Strat Men's Socks

Yarn: Schachenmayer Cotton

I started these socks when my dad was visiting. I measured his foot and started the toe kind of on my own pattern. However, as the toe grew it seemed soo huge, I started fearing I had miscalculated my gauge and my number of stitches, so I frogged it and started all over. This time I am following a top down pattern from Whimsical Knitting. The pattern calls for a size 0 cast on and ribbing. I know by experience that it does not matter how loose you cast on, it is always better to cast on a size bigger needle. At least that is the only way the cuff will be big enough for me, so I casted on a size 5 needle and continue the ribbing in a size 1. This cotton yarn is very fine so I am afraid if I use size 0 I would probably get a gauge of 10 instead of 8.5 which is what I am supposed to end up with. As always I am too lazy to make big swatches, I don't have time for that... so I am doing my best at calculating. If these socks end up too small, I can always keep them for me :-) or give them to a lucky female friend or family member. I love the colorway. Will be perfect to wear with jeans!

Estas medias las empecé cuando mi papá estaba aquí. Le medí el pie y las empecé a cálculo, pero luego me dio miedio por que las vi muy grandes, así que las deshice y empecé de nuevo con un patrón. Espero que queden bien, pero si acaso me salen muy pequeñas siempre se me las puedo dejar yo o dárselas a alguna dama en la familia... Me encantan los colores, son perfectos para usar con jeans!

Great men's sock patterns!

I have been knitting a self designed sock for my dad. The yarn is beautiful but I am afraid my calculations were a bit off. I started researching for men sock patterns and I came across this wonderful website:

http://whimsicalknittingdesigns.blogspot.com/

It has many patterns. The owner offers them for FREE!!! They are all wonderful, I want to make a pair of each. There is also a great pair of fingerless gloves, I want to make those too!

She will be publishing a book on socks soon. I already went to my Amazon page to put it in my "whish list".

Out of respect for her I did not post any of her pictures here, but go to the website and see for yourself what a wonderful designer she is and the best of all is that she is giving all her designs for free!

Sarah Palin

I usually don't like to post about politics but tonight it is an special occasion. The speech delivered by fellow mother of a special needs child/former beauty queen/basketball star; Sara Palin was outstanding. The ferocious attacks by the liberal media indicate to me their fear, in fact they are furious! And it is understandable why. They thought they had already won the election. That was until tonight. Hold on democrats... not so fast...

While many of us were voting for McCain as the "least of evils", we now feel exited and convicted to cast our vote. I am sure the polls will change drastically after today. Consider that in addition to the regular republican votes, McCain will pick up all the votes from families with special needs children, he already has the votes from the military families (I am sure), and a bunch of soccer/football/hockey moms. What a smart move for McCain!

For the first time in history a president or vice president nominee even mentions the special needs children and their families. I have to admit I cried during this part. Only those who have experienced been ignored and discriminated against by the "system" because of your child's condition, can understand the sense of victory and hope this represents for us.

For ones, a political speech that was heartfelt, for ones a chance to identify with a political leader. For ones, someone who cares about children with special needs and family values... What is not to love about Sarah Palin ???

I must admit also that I had little hope to win this election, but now I am starting to actually believe McCain has a real chance!

Go Palin !!!! I will be praying for her and her family !!!

Snappi prefold

I got my prefolds today but I can not figure out how to put on the Snappi thing. So I went to YOUTUBE and found some videos. I can't believe how easy it is! This is the one that I liked best:



Prefolds are so cheap (only $1.50 to $2 each) that there is not excuse to not use cloth diapers...

Hoy recibí mis pañales predoblados chinos pero no sabía como poner el SNAPPI que es una liguita que se usa en lugar de gasillas. Así que encontré este video en YOUTUBE que muestra como hacerlo. Es super fácil! Las mantillas predobladas son tan baratas que no hay excusa para no usar mantillas de tela y con el SNAPPI es un dos por tres y muy seguro!