Chicks dig scars.

You can kind of see in this way close picture of Joaquin that we took his stitches out.  I was going to take him to the ER to do it.  But I just waited for Camden to get home and we took them out in the kitchen.  I used to pull out NG tubes and heart caths so this was no biggy.  Joaquin was so good and held pretty still. The cut has healed nicely.  I don't think there will be much of a scar.  We have to be good about putting sunblock on it and I do that anyway.  I am a bit agro about the block.  If you don't want to look crazy old then use it!  Everyday no matter what! Even on cold crap days like this one.  Are we ever going to get more than two days of sun again?  Seriously.  I am freezing.

Lack of iron makes me RANT!!!

I have decided to wake up early before the kids in order to get things done and work on projects and whatever.  This is the first morning I have done it, so I have no idea what to do with myself.  I am bloggin.'  I have been scary low in the energy department and anemia has seeped out the remaining stores I had.  Bah.  I am getting better with the help of Camden and my supplements.

I saw this morning on the news that some of the mothers of the children caught up in the FLDS fiasco claim that the Texas government have lost two of their children.  WHAT?!?  What the hell is the Texas attorney general doing? What is the plan with these families?

The FLDS people have been living in Texas for decades.  Obviously, everyone sort of knew what was going on there, the men  have multiple partners and millions of children.  They have been left pretty much alone until this hoax call was made by a woman in Denver.  The Texas government busted in and separated hundreds of kids from their moms, seemingly with no plan whatsoever. Except for DNA tests for some reason, I guess the kids aren't telling who their parents are if they even know who their parents are that is, and now some of the kids might be lost!

I don't agree with any of the FLDS philosophies.  What I know anyway, I think is weird.  I think that if old men are getting teens pregnant then the MEN should be thrown in prison.  Duh. That is the law after all.  But why are the women and children being punished for the men's sex crimes? If it is true that the women are subdued  and the men are completely in charge in this society, why haven't they arrested any men?  Or why hasn't the Texas government separated the men from the women and the children?  Why are they doing this now when for years the FLDS sect has lived in Texas being freaky and weird?  Plenty of people have left the church with claims of under age sex and abuse, why have no other charges been placed until now?  Why is no one asking these questions of the Texas government?  I just don't get what is going on here.

This whole thing also reinforces the FLDS churches fears of the outside world.  Those who remain faithful after all this is somehow taken care of, are going to wrap their families into tighter little bundles and create more fear of all who are outside their church.  The Texas government seems to be taking the gestapo approach.  I feel so horrible for these mothers and kids, who probably don't even know if any crime has been committed or what the hell is going on!  If I am confused imagine how they feel.  

As my babies sleep in the next room, imagining them being taken from me creates a deep sinking nauseating feeling all through out my body.  How those children got into this world may have been a crime or even unconventional, but they are here now and they need their mommas to take care of them.  Why can't the moms be with the babies?  If they think that the mothers are brainwashed and will put the children in harm's way, then the government should psychologically evaluate the mothers.  They do that in all custody cases.  But that will not happen, the moms won't talk out of fear.  They have every reason now to be afraid, if the government can just take your kids with no real reason and hold them indefinitely who wouldn't be afraid?

I am going to figure out how to get an email to the Texas attorney general.  Moms if they are not hurting their babies, should be with their babies.  PERIOD.  I know we find their lives strange and their hair is freaky, but if the moms are not breaking the law we shouldn't judge them for their out there lifestyle and let them have their creepy ways and kids back.   

I wonder what the Mormon church and Mormons thinks of all this.  They keep getting lumped in with the FLDS people in the media.  As a citizen of Utah, I know that this is no longer so, but what do the leaders of the Mormon church have to say about all the lumping together?  I haven't heard if they have released a statement to the media.  If they have I would like to read it.  Those poor missionaries out there having to explain everything to people when they knock on doors.  Well, I guess they have had to do that anyway even before all this Texas stuff.  The whole plural marriage really sticks in people's heads.  I hope all the kids are okay, and hope they aren't too traumatized as well as the moms.  I think if my kids were about to be taken from me, I would have to be shot with several tranquilizer darts like a crazed polar bear.  Lack of iron and energy be damned, I would loose my mind!  Hold your kids tight and be grateful.  I know I will.

Num num num!

<----Joaquin on his first birthday!---:::

One of the great things about having a baby is feeding it.  Nursing is so lovely at times.  For me I loved it when we were all alone at night, by the light of the television, and the only sound was my baby's snorts as it was trying to breathe under my enormous breast.  Yeah, the mams got big, scary big! That is one reason why I packed it in and went to bottles.

Oh bottles... They spill, they stink, and now it seems they are poisoning babies and making them hyperactive.  What?!? Frightening how many everyday things are doing or not doing serious harm to our babies.  Meh.  It is an amazing feet that we survived.  I don't think I even wore a seat belt until I was 14, but I digress.

The point of this rambling blog is that we are almost finished with the bottle stage all together. Elodie is turning a year in two weeks and we will be finished with formula forever!!!  She really has weaned herself.  She is down to about 24 ounces a day of formula and getting most of her nutrients from real food.  She loves to eat.  She especially likes trying new things that she can feed herself. 

Today for her lunch Camden gave her cheese, pepperoni, and strawberries.  It was sensory overload. Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy she really was into it.  She was throwing back her head and saying, "Num, num,num!"  When my girl likes something, she dances.  She throws her arms up with happy fist, shakes her waist, and smiles big, free and easy.  It is the best thing ever and gets me moving as well.  She will even do it if I sing a swinging tune to her.

 

I can't wait to give her her birthday cake.  It is also my last first birthday cake.  Boo.  Monro when he had his, shoved in the cake with such gusto and licked his tray until he fell back with a look of pure cake euphoria.  Joaquin was a little more subdued.  He took a lot more coaxing.  I think that his reluctance stemmed from a cookie incident at Christmas.  He ate a huge sugar cookie and then barfed it up.  But eventually he dove right into his first cake and the love for sugar was born,(: see picture above :).

I will be so happy to see the bottles and their messiness go in two weeks!  But most of all I will be so very proud on her birthday.  Proud that I did my very best to feed, grow and love a perfect little girl.   That's my Elodie!  Now the question is... what kind of cake do we give her?  Hmmm. Chocolate I think, yes indeed!  Bollocks to carrot cake, that is what Camden and Monro always choose.  What do they know about birthday cake?  

    

So this is MY blog

Since my son Joaquin was born I have been sending out a picture emails with updates on our family and the every day events we experience.  I decided that I should start doing my updates here on the web for more than just my email list to see and experience.  We have friends and family all over the globe now.

Ta-da!  A blog is born.  I was blogging for Camden on the Cavedoll blog, but I think that is better left an MP3 blog.  Here I will have my hilarious ramblings that make me so unique and lovable and I can say whatever I like!  HAHAHA!

So subscribe, send this link to other friends and family, pass it around to all who are near and far. The content will be much the same as my picture emails.  I will probably post more here, because I don't usually  send out too many emails.  I don't like to bug people.  It is clearly your choice to tune in and see your favorite family The Chamberlains (or Chambanguones all 3 last names combine, wah!).  Send me a link to your blog or website and I will post it to my "Lovely Links."

I hope you read along and comment often and create a blog for your own family if you haven't.  Loves to all! ~Knessa~