Happy Birthday to The Pure Baby!

The Pure Baby (PB) recently celebrated his second birthday!  We had a fun family day together, enjoying a trip to the zoo followed by cake and presents at home :)  Due to Spring Break, PB's brothers were able to share in the entire day's celebration of the sweet little brother who they adore.

THE ZOO:

DINNER AND CAKE:

PRESENTS:

Feeling the Kanga XT Love :)

Thanks to some sweet mamas at The Babywearer, The Pure Baby (PB) and I are now feeling the Kanga XT love!  I'm so, so happy about this, as the Kanga XT is the only real arms-out carrier - and PB requires arms-out.

The Babywearer mamas made a few super-helpful suggestions:
(1) Wear the waist belt at my waist - or higher,
(2) Make a deep pocket for PB's bottom, and
(3) Loosen the arm straps.

This has worked perfectly :)  No more lower back (or any) pain.  No more feeling like I am going to fall over backwards.  And, no more feeling like this carrier won't work for me!  I'm not going to need petite straps, after all :) 

Yesterday, on a family outing, I successfully wore PB in our Kanga XT!  I really love it.  Our Kanga XT is so easy for ups and downs, which was really great yesterday when PB     frequently decided he wanted up or down :) 

Magnificent Mind at Any Age

Magnificent Mind at Any Age:  Treat Anxiety, Depression, Memory Problems, ADD, and Insomnia is an impressive book by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

I just finished reading this remarkable easy-to-read guidebook to healing and helping both oneself and others.  Dr. Amen is a psychiatrist, who amazingly is taking a new approach to treating brain conditions.  While most psychiatrists throw medication at their patients, Dr. Amen performs SPECT scans to determine what is going wrong in the brain.  After he makes his assessment, he is able to *effectively* prescribe supplements, diet, exercise, and medication if truly needed. 

Dr. Amen's approach to brain health is refreshingly different from that of typical mainstream psychiatrists, who are basically educated by pharmaceutical companies.  And sadly, the pharmaceutical companies really do not care to much about the patients but rather care about money.  Unfortunately, our family has had first-hand experience with this.

Even without having a SPECT scan, it is easy to use this Dr. Amen book to help oneself with various "mental health" issues. He writes of:
(1) Six "First Steps to a Healthier Brain",
(2) "Fourteen Bad Brain Habits That May Affect All Age Groups",
(3) The Prefrontal Cortex,
(4) The Deep Limbic System,
(5) The Basal Ganglia,
(6) The Temporal Lobes,
(7) The Cerebellum,
(8) Six Types of ADHD - and appropriate *healing* treatment for each,
(9) Seven Types of Anxiety and Depression - and appropriate *healing* treatment for each, and
(10) Natural Ways to Heal Memory Disorders, Insomnia, and Pain
PLUS much, much more!

I do have to add a little disclaimer to my raving review of Dr. Amen and this book...
While I am very impressed at Dr. Amen's approach, I do feel that his treatment uses slightly bandaid-ish methods rather than addressing the root problem.  For example, much research has shown that most depression and anxiety conditions are actually due to dysfunction in the thyroid and adrenal glands.  Therefore, treating thyroid and adrenal deficits *appropriately* would provide true and permanent healing.

With that said, I am still a huge fan of Dr. Amen!  He provides amazing help and surely has saved many lives that would otherwise have been ended due to pharmaceuticals.  I am hoping to soon be able to take my oldest son to see Dr. Amen and get a SPECT scan.  I'd love to get a SPECT scan of myself, too.

Our Kanga XT Arrived Yesterday :)

Yesterday, I was so excited to find a fluffy package in the mailbox! I thought it might be there, as it was shipped to me on Monday - and it was :)

When I nervously opened the package, I was dazzled by the amazing beauty of our new Kanga XT.  The Amy Butler fabric is stunning!  I absolutely love a chocolate and light turquoise fabric - and that is what we have now in our new Kanga XT :)

Last night, The Pure Baby (PB) enjoyed riding on my back in our new Kanga XT for a couple hours.  PB is such a happy little babywearing baby, and I adore wearing him as well :)

The big disappointment last night, though, was discovering that my lower back hurt quite a lot by the time I took PB off my back.  Lower back pain is not supposed to happen with babywearing, and I knew that was a bad sign for our future with the beautiful Amy Butler Kanga XT :(

I expected the possibility of our new Kanga XT not fitting quite right, but I was so hopeful that it would...  This Kanga XT has "regular" straps, as opposed to "petite" straps.  The Kanga XT straps do not run overly large (like some SSCs), but it ends up that I do indeed need petite straps.  The petite straps will allow for better support of PB, since I am truly petite.

So, it looks like our time with our lovely Amy Butler Kanga XT is sadly limited.  Right now, I'm in the process of trying to buy a cute brightly-flowered Kanga XT with petite straps :)  Let's just hope it works out!  My amazing luck on TheBabywearer FSOT needs to continue :)  After I secure a Kanga XT with petite straps, I'll be selling the Amy Butler Kanga XT to a happy mama.

The Pure Baby is now on Facebook and Twitter :)

The Pure Baby has joined both Facebook and Twitter!  It would be super to have you follow us there, so please become fans of The Pure Baby :)

Our New Carrier: A Toddler Bamberoo Delux!

In my quest for a new carrier for The Pure Baby (PB), I have discovered that the really great ones - which, of course, are the ones I want! - are quite difficult to obtain.  My three top choices for a toddler carrier have been Kanga XT, Bamberoo, and Dream Carrier.  All three of these are made by the business owner/work-at-home-mom.  And therefore, the production is definitely limited.  Kanga XT opens a small customs list a few times a year.  Bamberoo offers one custom per week.  Dream Carrier sporadically offers customs.  To acquire any of these, you've got to be quick on the computer and have some great luck.

Another option for acquiring these in-demand carriers is through the For-Sale-or-Trade (FSOT) forum on TheBabywearer.com.  There, you can buy a previously-loved carrier.  Still, the popular carriers are not that easy to find on FSOT - unless you've got some amazing luck!

And, the lucky one of late would be me!!!  A week and half ago, I was quick on my fingers and bought a like-new beautiful Toddler Bamberoo Delux mei tai - and for a truly amazing low price!  The fabric is Marimekko Unikko, blue on blue.  This was apparently a custom for someone that ended up not needing it.

In addition to being beautiful, my new Bamberoo is super comfortable for both PB and me!  It is such an improvement over our BabyHawk.  I do still love our BabyHawk, but I think we will mostly be saving that for our next baby, as it just can't comfortably accomodate PB's weight anymore. 

Another bonus of buying an in-demand carrier from FSOT is that I can easily sell it for the same price that I paid!  In fact, I already have a "dibs mama" who wants to purchase my Bamberoo when I'm done with it :)

Yesterday, I had a bit more amazing luck on FSOT!  I bought a previously-loved Kanga XT soft-sided-carrier (SSC) in a beautiful Amy Butler fabric :)  Kanga XTs are next to impossible to find, so I am extremely thankful.  The Kanga XT is especially made for 1 to 5 year olds, who like to ride arms-out.  Given PB's strong desire for arms-out and the fact that no other SSCs allow for easy arms-out, the Kanga XT is a must for us!

After our Kanga XT arrives, I'll give our review and post some pictures.  In the meantime, here are pictures of our new Bamberoo!

The Pure Baby is back from Spring Break

The Pure Baby (PB) has been absent for the past couple weeks, due to a combination of Spring Break and a new computer.  But, now The Pure Baby is back, with an abundance of upcoming posts :)

The new computer is super, and I love it!  But, moving everything from the old computer to the new computer has been a bit time-comsuming.  We've almost got everything taken care of now, though :)

Spring Break was filled with local activites.

We spent an unseasonably very-hot-day at the zoo.  Yuck Yuck Yuck.  I'm am so not a fan of hot days.  As you may notice from the pictures below, it was also PB's Birthday!  (I'll have more about that in the next few days).

We went on a picnic at a local park, where PB enjoyed gathering nature items for his bucket.  Even though PB's brothers love the playground, PB is not yet interested.

We also visited the nature center two times, where PB's brothers are able to participate in the nature exchange.  When you bring in nature items, you can exchange them for points.  The better your item, the more points you earn.  PB's brothers have found very interesting items to turn in - such as a deer jaw and turtle shells.  So far, they have used their points to buy deer antlers, a deer antler rack (that can be mounted!), and a snakeskin. 

We spent a morning at our local Anne Frank exhibit, as PB's brothers have great interest in Anne Frank as well as the overall Holocaust. 

We also had a fun day at a local historic-themed amusement park.  It was super crowded!  We had no idea that the place would be overflowing with tour buses.  We had a nice day, but it sure is a lot easier to get around when there aren't crowds!