An interesting read...

This is an article from National Geographic entitled "The Pollution Within". It's a little long, but it is very well narrated by a guy who had his blood tested for common household contaminants. It's not a "boring" article, by any means.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/10/toxic-people/duncan-text/1

This is really not a debate, but I just wanted to bring light to an interesting article. If you've already read it, you may pass it up or read it again.

As for us, we do EVERYTHING we can to find healthy alternatives. If it means buying shampoo that costs 2 or 3 times the "regular" stuff, so be it. I'll take a shampoo without phthalates, please! Our shower curtain is made from a fabric, so we don't have to worry about PVC fumes there. We threw away any non-stick pans we had many years ago after some of my online friends lost their birds to PTFE "Teflon" poisoning (seriously, she had 4 birds drop dead within minutes of each other the first time she used her new toaster oven). We have found a nice dish soap by "Earth Friendly Products" that smells like almond. I would use it even if it weren't deemed natural. All off the make-up I use is by Everyday Minerals. After I read about methylparaben and its negative effects on reproduction, that was enough for me (it is a hormone disruptor). The few times Andrew took a bottle of my milk, it was in a glass Evenflo bottle--they really weren't that much more than the plastic ones. The Playtex Natural Nurser is also BPA-free. I got rid of all my trendy Nalgene bottles I used in college, and opted for a BPA-free one (Nalgene makes one made of Polyethylene instead). After all, I chug water all day long at work; I'd rather be chugging it from a bottle that isn't leaching chemicals into my bloodstream.

My point is, maybe one single thing seems harmless, but my belief is that a cumulative effect of all of the above is never a good thing. I can't avoid all the things I breathe in on a day-to-day basis, but I can control what I put into my body at home.

I think the cold is on its way out - FINALLY!

Although he coughed quite a bit last night, keeping me up and worried (I always think he's going to choke on the phlegm), this morning his nose was snot-free. I am hoping that the coughing is the last stage of this cold--now going on about 2 weeks.

In other news, Andrew started slapping at Mommy the other day! :( I was sitting on the floor and he'd come up to me, stand up, and whip his hand in my face--not hard enough to hurt me, but it did hurt my feelings. Also, I love to sneak up next to him when he's doing something, and then he'll look over and my face is right there. Normally he'll laugh or tap his forehead to mine. Last night--push Mommy's face away! I am so sad. But, I do believe his recent annoyance with me is because for the past 2 weeks I've been coming after him with the snot rag, several times a day. Yeah, that's it!

Oh yeah, and he doesn't hit Daddy. :*(

Walking!

I've been waiting for the time to publish this post. I guess I was waiting for him to take off across the room, but since it's been a week now where he's taken 4-5 steps at a time, I guess he's officially walking. Part-time, as it is, but I'll take it.

Go, Andrew! :)

Image overload! :)

All right, so I have had a lot of cute pictures lately and as they start to build up on my camera, I feel the need to update my Photobucket; and consequently, my blog. So here they are. Enjoy!

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Here's looking at you, kid...

Andrew loves to crawl all over Daddy and/or the couch. I caught this moment on film. I love it! :) Every morning, after he watches me get ready for work (he loves the blow dryer), Andrew rushes out to say good morning to Daddy. He goes straight for the nose and puts his mouth over it. Apparently it's how he kisses (so cute).

Ah, this one. I bought him a winter hat and when we were in the store, the two of us could not stop laughing. I put it back on him when we got home so I could get a picture of it.
Just a random of him...
I told Daddy to hold Andrew like a baby, so he did. :) They both got a kick out of it.

In the carseat. He loves car rides.
He was being super cute this day, so I went crazy with the camera.

Oh yeah!

I almost forgot. My new laptop arrived on Tuesday. It's identical to the hubby's--a Dell Latitude D420. I ordered it off Ebay, and it was eligible for LiveCash so I'll get $135 back in cash (they're offering some deal right now; you just have to sign-up for an account at Microsoft Live...read about the deal on FatWallet)! The computer was $530.44 with shipping (shipping was $17.97 and I paid the $2.50 insurance, just because it's a computer), so my cost after CashBack will be about $400. Not bad for a computer that still has remaining warranty. My other one was just too slow and bulky. I love this one because it has a 12" screen. It's also really lightweight and part of the computer is made of metal instead of plastic.

Dragon is sick...

He's had a cold for a few days now. I hope he feels better soon! When he nurses, he has to take a breath every 5 seconds, so it's constant latching and relatching. He works hard for it though, because apparently he still wants the milk!

I suctioned out his nose tonight and he didn't like it one bit. I don't really know how much good it did, because it seems like it's a never-ending supply of mucus.

Hopefully this weekend he catches a break.

On a side note, I've had a sore throat for 2 days and it's the same one Daddy had. I think it's a separate illness from Dragon's, becuase Daddy's sore throat just went away without a cold. I guess time will tell.

I voted!

I am so excited for tonight. I love election night. I love watching the map of the states turning colors. I love it when they say, "Oh, wait...we have just heard...", and then they give an exciting update about a state being called. I love it when the polls start closing, because I then feel that the end is getting closer.

I was pissed after the 2000 election results and I was pissed after the 2004 election results. I am SO ready for a change and cannot wait until we have a new president!

Get out and VOTE today! This is an historical election.

My little dragon!!!!!!!!!!

Some Halloween pics for your viewing pleasure. I apologize that the pics are kind-of big...I uploaded them "small" but oh well. Hopefully none of you are still using dial-up! If you are, then you have more problems than I can help you with.

Anyhow....I took the day off of work so I'd have a nice 3-day weekend...and I knew we'd be busy for Halloween. I didn't want to have to run around after 4:00, trying to cram everything in.

The first few here are from my work. I stopped in for the 2:00 Halloween party. Sorry this first pic isn't the greatest. Rob took it and it's a new camera...not sure what setting he had it on.


You can see the side of his costume here. Look at the cute little wings!
The back of the costume. That tail is so darn cute!
Everytime Andrew visits me at work, he can't resist playing with the thingies on the side of my desk. You know, they are for putting cords through? Yeah, he LOVES playing with these things. So funny.
My mom took this one with her camera. Not the greatest shot, but I love that he was clapping for no apparent reason.
Finally, have you ever seen a cuter dragon than this??? I took this shot at my mom's house.

Later on, we went back home. I was sitting on my computer reading about all these other moms taking their kids trick-or-treating and I figured, what the heck! So, I asked Rob if he'd want to go, put Andrew's costume back on (it was 7:15, so we still had 45 minutes left of trick-or-treating time), and packed him into the stroller. It was so cute to look down and see this little dragon in the stroller. The look on his face as we went door-to-door (we just went around the neighborhood) was priceless. He would smile at all the people. He even left his hood of his costume on, which surprised me. The ladies ooohed and aaahed over him. This one dude seemed kind-of rude, like we shouldn't have been taking our son trick-or-treating because he was so young. He said, "oh, he looks like he's real into it. Good luck with that..."... WTF? We took him out because he had this adorable costume and I wanted him to experience the dinging of the doorbell, waiting, and then yelling, "Trick or Treat!" He loved that part of it. He couldn't care less about the candy. Poo on him. I will say that 99.9% of my neighbors were really sweet. The best part was when we stoppeed by the neighbors' house (across the road). They have a little boy named Parker who is 2 months older than Andrew. It was fun to see them interact! Andrew would crawl up to him and reach out and touch his hair. Then he'd quickly scoot back and giggle. They were chasing each other around. It was adorable. Parker's mom and I agreed that we have to do a playdate sometime!

That's about all for now. I apologize to my small following of readers that I haven't been very talkative lately. I've been very busy at work and stressed about my messy house. We cleaned today, so now I have peace in my mind. Does anyone else feel that way? That they can have a better day, knowing that the house is clean? Discuss amongst yourselves. Respond back to me on this. :)