Hi! Wow, I don't feel so, ah, "abnormal" anymore, there are others like me!

I am Sunny, married to Kris, I am a WAHM to one very big boxer and our 3 1/2 month old baby Jakob! We breastfeed (well, I do), babywear, co-sleep, natural childbirth, plan to delay solids and let him wean himself, plan to homeschool. Right now we are disposable diapering, because I didn't research THAT before birth, but we are saving up to get an "all you'll never need" kit from Fuzzibunz. We currently vaccinate, but after I look into that, we will probably stop that. Jakob is of course intact. The dog, however, is not going to be so lucky (he has the beginning signs of hip dysplasia, so I don't want breeding to even be an option since his litter won't have good lives).

I use only natural products that are 100% safe to use around children and animals- safe yet effective cleaners, vitamins, and personal items. I also sell them if anyone is interested.

Nice meeting all of you! come around more!

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I'm Karen, AP SAHM/student to Dylan 4/20/06. We plan on child led weaning, we are co-sleeping, cloth diapering, selective vaxing and we babywear.

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Karen

Hi, my name is Roxanna and I am a first time mom to Arianna. I exclusively breastfeed, cosleep, babywear (sling/podaegi -- would love to try a mei tai!), CD (prefolds/Bummis SWWW -- though disposables make it convenient when we're out and about). She is getting vax'd. I would LOVE to learn how to make baby food. After a friend of mine had her daughter, there was a recall on contaminated Gerber baby food which unsettles me now that I think about it.

I don't want to step on any toes, but am unsure about extended breastfeeding. I was spanked as a child and feel that I turned out fine (there are other issues such as emotional abuse and low self-esteem which I don't believe to be related to these spankings), although I'm looking into positive discipline.

Hello all! My name is Jen and I have one son, Matthew, who is almost 15 months old. Matthew started to refuse the breast at about 3 months old, I was devastated and pumped until it was all gone. So was heartbreaking, but we managed! I do work outside the home, because I am a single mother I cannot afford to be a SAHM at the moment. But while I'm at work Matthew is with my mother so he is in good hands and with family! I hope to get to know you all a bit better over time!

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- j e n

Looks like this board is pretty slow, but I'll add my intro. My name is Kelly, AP mama to three wonderful girls. Kaitlyn is 13, Celeste is 5 and Camille is 2 months. We are a co-sleeping, bfing, gentle disciplining and happy family.

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Kaitlyn - Jan 1994, Celeste - May 2002, Camille - April 2007

You're family is one of nature's great masterpeices. - dh's fortune cookie

VISIT MY BLOG!

Hi, I'm Heather and I recognize Carmen from elsewhere. I'm expecting in February and planning a UC/UP. I also have an eighteen year old daughter who was born at home with a midwife in attendence, breastfed and CLW (I'll tell you how old she was when she weaned once I get to know you well enough to guess whether you will be shocked or not), slung until she was three, coslept until she chose to move out of the family bed herself, and homeschooled to high school age. I also have a fifteen year old son who was raised essentially the same way, but he's having some problems right now and isn't living with us.

I will have to work outside of the home way too soon after my littlest is born, but I don't intend to raise him/her that much differently than I did my daughter, other than the fact that I can UC and unschool since I don't have husband/ex husband issues to worry about.

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Hi ladies, I am Mama Bear to 2wonderful "cubs"

Brother Bear is 7, Sister Bear is 4. I tandem nursed them until ds weaned himself at just over 5 yrs old, and dd is still nursing. i am a firm believer in child-led weaning.

I don't typically label myself, but if i were to do so, i would say we are attached natural parents as much as possible with our income restrictions (ie- we don't do many organics, lol) ds was cut, but no other children of mine will be. i also had pitocin and then an epidural with ds, whereas with dd i chose to stay home for most of my labor and got to the hospital at 10 cm dilated- yay i got my med-free birth any future childrne will hopefully be born at home with a midwife, or in a birth center instead of a hospital. (i'm not brave enough to plan a completely unassisted pregnancy/delivery, but i know several women who have done so, and my hat is off to them.) due to ds's rough start in life, (thanks to the hospital i delivered in and me not being as educated as i am now), he didn't leanr to nurse until he was almost 6 months old. my pump was my best friend, and thanks to its very frequent use, i had so much milk that i was able to help 2 other moms give their children breastmilk that they couldn't make themselves. ds was fully (over) vaxed for everything through age 2, despite some "mild" reactions. we started solids with him at 9 months, and with dd at around 6 months despite my plan to wait a bit longer. ds shared some banana with her, and there was no looking back fomr there, LOL. i have never used artifical milk for my kids, though ds had a taste of it when one of the nursery nurses said dribbling some onto my nipple would make ds want to latch correctly. (insert rolling eyes smiley here). all he did after she dirpped a couple drops on me was make a face, lol.

with ds we mostly did disposable dipes, and with dd we mostly used cloth, they are of course both potty trained now, dd did it a lot sooner (and on her own) compared to ds, and i think it was partly thanks to the cloth. i also prefer to use mamacloth over disposable pads, and am likely going to get a divacup. i didn't use processed baby foods, but did lots of my ownfor my kids, dd had vaxes at 2 months, and after that er visit that weekend, i was pretty sure i wouldn't do any more, and then when her cousin who was a few days older than her had his 4 month checkup, he was declared perfectly healthy, given his routine vaxes, and less than a week later, he was being buried. (from SIDS). i cancelled my dd's 4 month wbc, and didn't take her back to the ped till 6 months old when i declined any more vaxes for her after doing lots of research.

dd still shares a family bed with us, and ds comes in and sleeps in the bed with dd and i every 3rd night now (my hubby works 24 hr shifts as an EMT for our county) though he moved out of our bed on hisown before dd was born. we used the sling a lot,. with ds i used it for him through my third trimester, and with dd i used it until she decided she wanted to walk with daddy or ride in the cart in stores we don't use cio, we use natural cleaners more than anything else, lots of natural remedies and homeopathics when possible, vitamins etc, and i also am a firm believer in chiropractic care for the whole family. my son had a digestive problem that i took him to the ped, and even the er for, because his stomach was hurtin so bad. i didn't tell the chiro why i was wanting him adjusted, and after only palpating my ds's spine, he was asking about ds's recent stomach pain. oh, and we are a homeschooling family... i *think* that is all covered, lol.

nice to "meet" you

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hehehe, try me. pm me if you don't feel comfortable. my oldest weaned himself at just over 5, and my 4 yr old is still nursing.

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Hi

I'm Poshie (kate)
brand new mom to LC. New to AP but really into it. Never thought I would be.
Could not Breastfeed. Tried it for a week and then me and LC were put in the hospital b/c she was dehydrated. She was unable to pull the milk down from the ducts. We tried and tried.
We are co-sleeping, selective vax'ing, babywearing and child-led parenting
Nice to meet y'all.

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