Making a Difference

I know the best way to make a difference in things is to change your actions.  Some examples are:

• If you want more manufacturing jobs in the USA, then buy more products manufacture in the USA
• If you are concerned about human rights and the goods you buy, consider buying free trade items
• If you want small businesses in your community to stay, then buy from small businesses
• If you want more options on organic fruits and vegetables, buy what is available and more will follow

Basically, change begins with us.  The actions we take each day can add up significantly when spread over many people.

Last night I went out with the ladies in our neighborhood to the Ladies Night of shopping at our church.  There were a lot of vendors around the room with really great products - many homemade.  I met some new neighbors and even found out that one - we call her the apple cider lady since she always gives out apple cider to the trick or treaters - self publishes comic books.  They are really great comics!  I think her new name will be the comic lady instead of apple cider lady ;-)  I bought something from the Pampered Chef consultant who is donating all the proceeds she made to the American Red Cross for the Hurricane Sandy support.  I bought a Christmas headband from a 10 year old girl who has her own business of making headbands and Julia is sooooooo excited to wear it over the holidays.  I bought a couple of other items, too, and enjoyed chatting with the vendors.

I feel like my purchases made a difference in my community rather than a multi-national corporation.  It felt great and I had a lot of fun with the night out.  After shopping we headed out for a drink at the local watering hole and had some great conversations.  

If your church or community is putting on a holiday shopping night I recommend attending.  This was the first I've gone to and I'm wondering why it took me so long!

So, today I am thankful for our community.  I'm thankful that we are a part of it and am happy that we can say we know more people around our new neighborhood after only a year than we did at our old house after 11 years!

Community is good.

Bigger girl food

Emma still keeps us on our toes when it comes to eating.  She can go for a couple of days when she doesn't want to eat and will only drink smoothies followed by a few days of wanting to eat everything in the house.  I've learned not to get too worried if we are on day 3 of her not wanting to eat anything and that's when I stock up on some of her favorite foods in anticipation of the feasts she will want again soon.

But frequency of eating isn't the only thing Emma's changing these days.  She wants to eat more and more table food even though she isn't really ready for more solids without choking.  She wants to sit in her Childrite chair instead of her Special Tomato seat.  She wants to feed herself even though she needs lots of hand-over-hand help.  And if any dessert or sweet item is brought out before she is done her meal she promptly refuses to take another bite of her meal and demands to move on to dessert.

And so we are once again following her lead.

We stopped pureeing her food and are either chopping it up finely with the Pampered Chef chopper (that's been hanging our in our kitchen for ages looking for a reason to be used) or using the container that came with the immersion blender we purchased for her birthday.  The container is nice because it is an in-between texture of chopped and pureed and results in a bit of a chunky consistency.  The blender is the Cuisinart cordless rechargeable immersion blender with a couple of attachments.  We thought it would make travel easier if we didn't always have to preplan meals and bring them along - especially for when we are going someplace for a few nights - and would make eating out easier as we could just blend the restaurant food up in the cordless contraption.  We've found that it is very handy at the house, too, and it is often used several times a day.  (Note:  In case you are looking at purchasing one of these blenders, we purchased this item at Bed Bath and Beyond.  Emma and I went to the store to see it in person but it's an online only item.  However, if you order it at the store you can use the 20% off coupon that always comes in the mail.  Emma gave the cashier big smiles and turned on the charm so they also shipped it to our house for free making it a pretty good deal.)

For dinner tonight we had tacos.  Everyone in our house agrees that tacos are great so it was an easy Friday night meal eaten without complaint.  Since tacos would be hard to "chop" and then feed to Emma I just used the container attachment for the Cuisinart and it did a great job of turning the food into a form that Emma could enjoy.  Emma loves tacos and today was one of her eating days (horray!) so we even had to mix up another batch because she wanted seconds.  That made this Mommy quite happy!

For the last few weeks Emma has been putting up a fight when it's time to go into he Special Tomato chair to eat.  I'm not really sure why since she actually likes this chair.  Maybe it's a phase?  Anyway, we've been using her Childrite chair at the table on days when she won't use the Special Tomato.  It's not our preferred chair for meals since she sometimes tosses her head back and bonks it on the hard wood chair.  Also, it's not really secure and we don't want her to tip over and fall out of it so we make sure someone is right next to Emma at all times.  She seems to love this set-up even if we are less than thrilled about it.  I'm sure that, as with all things Emma, she will shake up where she wants to sit yet again and go back to her Special Tomato for eating.

So today I'm thankful that Emma continues to make progress with her eating.  That she is undaunted by the challenges she faces with her oral motor skills and her fine motor skills and is determined to one day eat table food independently.  That makes me very thankful, indeed!

Thankful Day 8

I'm going to be brief.  Today I'm thankful for:

• Getting in a good workout 
• Children who love to ride the school bus
• The support and people I've met since going "online" with my blog!
• Having enough money for the necessities and a little left over to share this holiday season.  As usual we have a few charitable things we are doing for the holidays with the girls.  Julia's school is hosting a food drive for the local food bank and we went through our cabinets for food to donate.  I love showing my children how to live a Christian life.  And Julia seems to be very service oriented and enjoys contributing to our community.  

Life is so good!

Thankful Day 7

Did you hear?  I wore my blue striped shirt to vote.  And my candidate won!  Our family is thankful for another 4 years with President Obama.  And we really, truly hope that we see some major changes in our government.  More collaboration, more working for the American people, less doing nothing!  The American people deserve representatives who get things accomplished while in office.  That means you Senate and House.  Let's start with the fiscal cliff, shall we?

Julia treated us to a show tonight.  It was 3 songs long and incredible.  I just love her shows!  This is something I will definitely miss as she gets older.  Here is a clip:



After the show she signed autographs and posed for photos with her fans.  Luck me!

She autographed napkins just like a real star would ;-)

Posing with one of her biggest fans!

Yesterday Emma sat on the couch like she has been able to sit forever.  I took a photo of her so I'd remember it.  She didn't fall over, either, like she usually does if not surrounded by pillows.  What a cool thing to see!

Today I'm thankful for:

• Obama winning the Presidency
• Living room shows put on by my sweet girl
• Emma's improving sitting skills
• A warm house on a cold, rainy night

Life is good!

Thankful Day 6

A bit of a mish most today.

First up, the election.

• Today I'm thankful for the right to vote.

I'll share a badly-kept secret.  I voted OBAMA.  I also voted for local representatives who will likely have much more impact in our lives.  I've been very heated this campaign cycle.  I care who wins.  I'm no longer disinterested in politics like I was when I was a child.  I am now fully engaged in the political process.  I contact my representatives often to tell them how I want them to vote.  I follow-up with them  so they know I noticed if they listened to me.  I care.  The main reason I care is that I continue to experience the direct impact the government has on our life.

Here are a few reasons I chose Obama.

1. Obamacare.  I like it.  It prevents insurances from excluding customers due to pre-existing conditions.  It removes the lifetime cap on how much they will pay per patient.  Both of these clauses directly effects our family and we are better off for having them.  I also think that in the USA everyone should have health insurance.  We give so much money to other nations why in the heck can't we take care of our own people????!!!  I was talking with a friend from England earlier this year and he asked me what is the deal with the Americans and why are so many people against health care coverage for our fellow citizens.  I had no answer for him because I wonder the exact same thing.  I also find it ironic the the Republicans who want to rollback health care reform are the first to say they are Pro Life.  I don't understand how you can be pro life and then not want to take care of those very same people when they are alive.  How you want to take away coverage for children and adults with disabilities - oh, you wouldn't say that's what you want to do.  Around here all we hear about are illegal immigrants and lazy people getting the benefits while it is left out that the majority of people that receive services are the elderly poor and the disabled.  News flash to everyone who is not walking our path in life - private insurance will do you little good if you have a child like Emma.  You will find out quickly that all insurances are not created equal and that although they say they cover X, Y, and Z...it is often not covered if you have a chronic condition.  And your plan could exclude certain classes of coverage as not medically necessary.  For example, our insurance doesn't think hearing is medically necessary and does not cover any hearing services for Emma.  You will spend thousands dollars each year for insurance that denies your child some of the services she needs.  You will thank heaven that your child has state health care because after paying all the money you do for primary insurance (that doesn't meet all your child's needs) you don't have another blessed cent left in your budget for health care.  And you will feel like your representatives have abandoned your child when they tell you that it's not enough that you pay thousands and thousands of dollars in health care to your primary insurance company and that you now have to pay thousands of dollars more for the state health care coverage (our state did just that and then decided to reconsider and are in the process of deciding how to proceed) your child needs to have an acceptable quality of life.  I consider this a tax on the disabled and the families of those with disabled children.  And I want no part of it.  
2. Women's rights.  Come on it's 2012 and employers can pay men higher wages than women for the same job?  Seriously?  Obama signed the Lilly Ledbedder Act.  Romney opposed this act before it was signed.  Also, I like having Planned Parenthood so ladies can have easy access to mammograms, birth control and other services.     
3. His outlook.  I like that he wants to grow the middle class from the middle out.  I don't want to go back to the financial situation and collapse we had during the Bush years.  Obama signed the Financial Regulation Bill and I'm all for the tighter regulations based on my first-hand experience in business.  

Next up Emma's care.

• I'm thankful that we have easy access to world-class hospitals, doctors and service providers in the area where we live.  There are 3 different hospitals with great reputations within a 45 minute drive from our house.  

With such easy access to health care it is sometimes difficult to determine which place we should go for her care.  I feel that other than us, there isn't one go-to person looking at Emma as a whole girl.  People see her for specific areas - hips, eyes, ears, brain, etc.  Her new pediatrician doesn't seem to have a lot of experience with children similar to Emma and so she doesn't seem to be coordinating most of her care.  Perhaps we need to consider changing pediatricians or adding a Physiatrist or Developmental Pediatrician to her doctor list.  Not I'm looking for more doctor appointments but I sometimes feel like she would do well to have someone looking at her as a whole who can make suggestions.