Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

First trip to Venice

Monday, September 27, 2010

Adventures with Ferynne

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Derek & Ferynne

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Pictures on Facebook.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The Big 35th!

Ah, 35 down, 35 to go! A perfect evening at the KPC at the Waikoloa! Will post an album later! Pics now posted on Willer family album!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Ferynne Pictures

Due to the amount of virtual space left on our Picasa Albums and the inconvenient amount of locations we are having to upload pictures...  any new pictures of Ferynne will now be posted on our Facebook "Ferynne Isabella" picture album.  The amount of people who view photos of her are collectively greater on facebook. The album privacy is set for "everyone" to view... so you shouldn't need an account to view them.  You can find the album here:

Ferynne Isabella



Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause anyone.  But the less of a headache it is for me to upload pictures, the more often you will get pictures. So this is a good thing. ;-)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Ferynne Walks

Monday, July 19, 2010

In need of some new pics

The video of our precious Ferynne beginning to walk was priceless, and we all thank you for that, however, we need to receive more pics....Please!! There hasn't been any new pics in Project 365 in some time and we love seeing how your days are going through your picture album. Love you both!!!!!!!! Grandpa D

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I miss my girls and life is insane!!!

Wow, I was just thinking how much I miss my girls and thought I would check the blog and there is my sweet sweet grandchild trying to walk! It was so random for me to check but I am glad that I listened to that still small voice. Craig has his Dr. appt. tomorrow to see about his achilles and how it is doing. I was picking raspberries for a kuchen yesterday and a branch swung (I know its not a word) back and smacked me in the eye. Needless to say I had to go to the Dr. today. I have an abrasion in the lower part of my cornea! yea!! so much pain and discomfort. I guess I won't be picking raspberries with out safety glasses from now on :( The Dr. said that I could have a scar for up to a year.

Well, My family is growing by leaps and bounds that is for sure. For those of you who do not know, Andrew and Brooke are back together. I hope they know what they are doing and can be mature enough to put the little guy first. I am posting a picture of my beauties and their mommies. I am so blessed.

Aren't they adorable?! I will try to be more regular on this blog, especially now that Melanie and Ferynne are back in Italy.

You Can Do It

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Ferynne Cam- STAIRS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZqwi7__wsg

Friday, May 14, 2010

Hey, we're ALWAYS uncomfortable with things we do not know. So lets change that.

So I guess I don't know why I didn't see this coming. I'm not going to post the reason(s) in its completeness yet though. And yes, this is on my decision to breastfeed until the natural biological  time the baby grows out of the need and stops. Just giving you some food for thought...or thought for food.  ;-)

"If a child can ask to nurse, there's something wrong with doing so."nursing -- something that is an act of love and affection -- is seen as inappropriate past a certain age. Giving children bottles, which were designed to imitate the breast, is also acceptable. As stated in The Nursing Mother's Companion:

Many toddlers are dependent on a bottle, pacifier, thumb, or blanket, and this is quite accepted, but a mother who is nursing a toddler may have to deal with veiled or point-blank suggestions that her child is too old for it.?????
(good one, that's some brilliant thinking there...the same exact thing is happening, you're just giving it a pacifier or blankie instead. Your baby is in obvious developmental need for something.)


"Extended nursing will spoil a child," also known as, "He'll nurse until he goes off to college." This myth touches on peoples' fears that nursing into toddlerhood spoils children and doesn't teach them independence. In reality, it's not breastfeeding, which meets many needs, that spoils a child -- rather, it's the absence of teaching acceptable behavior that causes a child to "spoil." Bumgarner comments:
It is without closeness and loving, and without sufficient attention to the business of teaching good behavior that children are spoiled...things which are spoiled are things which have been left on the shelf to rot.
It's interesting to note that parents can't force a child to crawl, walk, or talk before they're ready, and yet they're encouraged by others to impose early weaning on these same children without recognizing it as one of the more significant events of their lives.

Dr. William Sears, who wrote The Baby Book, states:
We have studied the long-term effects on thousands of children who had timely weanings and have observed that these children are more independent, gravitate to people more than things, are easier to discipline, experience less anger, radiate trust...[after] studying the long-term effects of long-term breastfeeding, the most secure... and happy children we have seen are those who have not been weaned before their time.
Encouraging autonomy and teaching children how to be independent is a very important life lesson. It is the role of parents to teach a child the skills he needs to care for himself, whether that be cooking, laundry, or changing a spare tire. As Huggins (2007) writes:
It is not our job as parents simply to take care of children, but to help them learn how to take care of themselves. So, rather than fretting over toilet training or weaning in the toddler years -- these things which will take care of themselves -- it is more constructive to help children learn to do the things they want and need to do.

But I want my baby to become independent.

And breastfeeding makes the toddler dependent? Don't believe it. The child who breastfeeds until he weans himself (usually from 2 to 4 years), is generally more independent, and, perhaps more importantly, more secure in his independence. He has received comfort and security from the breast, until he is ready to make the step himself to stop. And when he makes that step himself, he knows he has achieved something, he knows he has moved ahead. It is a milestone in his life.




Well, I think that's all I will share for now.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Ferynne Updates

-Ferynne has finally started jumping in her jumper. She now rocks out to her favorite music: Bit Shifter (hahaha)

-Ferynne's second bottom tooth came in this morning!

-EC is going great. She woke up at 7 this morning with a dry diaper and told me she had to use the lou. Which sucked at first because I didn't want to get up and she was just doing her usual morning fussiness. But then after awhile of fussy I realized she was actually trying not to go in her diaper and was trying to wait for me to respond to her... so my heart melted and I got up and asked if she had to go lou lou. Of course, she smiled at me and I went ahead and put her on the chair. Then all at once I realized that her diaper was still dry and she was at that moment going all in her chair! Wow! So I was able to put her diaper back on her, the same diaper I had put on her before bed last night!
She really is loving our communication. =)
Things I've learned:
-There is absolutely NO TRAINING involved what-so-ever. It is the natural response to a natural need.
- It's SO EASY! No really, it is! It helps you realize more and more that a baby is just another human being and this is such a great bonding process. She just needs your help, she is not yet able to do things. We deliver babies into this world and yet cannot commit to mothering them enough to help them fullfill a human need?  Yes, there are times we need to slap a diaper on them... but not ALL the time. If we ignore their basic needs then what other needs will we ignore as well?  Like I said, we cant do it all the time, but they deserve for us not to completely abandon them in their own dumping grounds(poor kids)!
-This is the sort of thing you don't have tot commit to right away, all you have to do is decide to pay attention and begin practicing "signals" with your baby. No mess, no stress. You most likely will not be able to grasp how normal it is until you start and realize there is a whole other world that is right, that Western civilization has blinded you to(don't be a victim of the singular lie you were raised on, recreate your idea of who babies are).
-If you think it will require extra attention of your baby,  it wont.  Just extra awareness. =)
Each day it gets easier and easier.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Elimination Communication(not potty training)

 

I am doing EC with Ferynne.
It's really quite a simple concept people tend to make complicated and sound intimidating. In fact, when I first learned about it, though I recognized it was an amazing idea, I was very intimidated about 
it. What is it? 

Women, mothers, all over the world(apart from Western Society) have listened to their babies attempt at communication for years. Since time began, babies have got a certain set of needs. And those needs are to eat, to be warm, to sleep, and to eliminate when they need to. When a baby is hungry he/she tells us, when a baby has any sort of discomfort it is communicated. Babies have the ability to communicate when they need to eliminate straight from birth.  ECing is simply taking the time to learn how to understand such communication, letting the baby know you understand them, seeing their faces light up when you do, and providing a healthy safe environment for them to eliminate and not sit in it. When you wait until the baby is a few years old to "potty train" by that time your baby has to relearn what you have made him/her forget.

* Babies are aware of their elimination needs from birth and communicate about those needs through various vocal and bodily signals. Within the first few months of life, babies have the ability to consciously release their bladders and bowels. By taking them to appropriate elimination places during infancy, we enable them to maintain a connection with their bodily sensations and learn from an early age what to do when they experience those sensations.


* Elimination Communication should always be gentle, non-coercive, and based on babies' interests and needs. Communication is the most important aspect of Elimination Communication, and should be the focus.

* Elimination Communication can be done using diapers all of the time, some of the time, or not at all. By reducing the number of diapers used, Elimination Communication provides a more environmentally-sound option than conventional cloth or disposable diapering.

* Elimination Communication can be practiced full-time or part-time, by stay-at-home parents or by working parents. Elimination Communication can be practiced by people of all income levels and physical abilities.

* Prompt loving attention to our babies' needs promotes strong baby-parent bonds, fulfilling natural human instincts. The bond of trust built through feeding and comforting is strengthened when caregivers respond to the baby's elimination needs. 



Here is a website, if you scroll down you can see her 5 day old baby practicing EC:

http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/elimination-communication.html


If your still not convinced, there are youtube videos you can watch for more info, or you can go here:
http://www.freewebs.com/freetoec/

Monday, March 1, 2010

Sonya and Brendan Get a Home!

After a long Saturday of house hunting up in Seattle, this house stood out like a shining star! Sonya and Brendan made an offer, and when we went to the open house on Sunday, the agent called to say it had been accepted! [Notice Brendan is on the phone with her in this pic!] So, if all goes well, move in should be around April 5th! For more pics, check out our Web Album!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Brooks Family Album

Here

the link can be found on the side of the blog as well!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Float and a Move!




Mom and I went to Lincoln City for her 79th birthday and I had made reservations for her to make her own float! It turned out fabulous!!

And the move? SONYA AND BRENDAN ARE MOVING TO SEATTLE!!! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!! Happy Dance!!!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Ferynne Cam 2.5

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

And New Ferynne Pictures