What I experienced with babies "crying it out"

My thoughts and opinions on babies crying it out might be different than what others think.
Now this is simply an opinion, I don't want this to turn into an argument. I have seen subjects like this get people upset. I'm not meaning to upset people this is simply my experience on this subject.

When my son was a day old I wanted to be there for him no matter what happens. From when he gets his first boo boo to goin off to college. I wanted to be there whenever he cried or was upset. I was that mom that every single noise he made I was by his side. When he was in between a month and 2 months I realized that he needs to learn that every time he cries I'm not gonna be there.
"Crying it out" not only helps your baby but it helps the mommy. I would have gone completely insane if I didn't let him cry it out. With a lot of nieces and nephews I have done this before. I remember when we had to put babies on their tummy's to sleep, putting alcohol on there belly buttons when they where a newborn, an of coarse crying. Times have changed we no longer put them on their bellies cause of the risk of SIDS and suffocation. So far crying it out is still something mothers do to this day.

My older sister has twins. I can't imagine having 2 the same age, one is enough for me. She was having troubles having them go to bed and take a nap. She asked her pediatric doctor what to do. Her doctor said fill their bellies, give them a clean diaper, and possibly a pacifier. Lay them in their crib for nap time and put earplugs in and let them cry.

When I left the hospital the nurses and my doctor said that crying it out helps lung development. I started the crying it out stage when he was almost 2 and a half months old. I might have done it earlier, I can't remember haha. I would completely fill his tummy, give him signs that its either nap time or night time, change his diaper, give him some gas drops, kiss him goodnight and turn on his lullaby machine. There is a whole explanation on how I got my son to sleep through the night on this blog here is the link https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8759251115420404384#editor/target=post;postID=6118805706114324307;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=13;src=postname
I would let him cry for about 5 min than I would go in and rub his belly, give him his pacifier, and hum a song. I wouldn't pick him up unless he is screaming. Mommy's can usually tell if there baby is whining, angry or in pain just by how they cry. My son usually whines cause he's bored or doesn't want to sleep. Once in a while he will fight goin to sleep, Ill just keep doin what I usually do and wait till he's so tired he falls asleep.

Now on the other hand people have told me that crying it out is bad. It causes brain damage, makes the baby feel alone, and makes him resent you. For me I don't believe in all that. I have done this several times and all my nieces and nephews are just fine. If this is causing babies to actually get brain damage from this than why did my doctor and all the nurses at the hospital tell me to let them cry.

My son is now almost 6 months and he is doing great. He's a healthy, bouncing baby boy. I do let him cry it out once in a while, depending on how he feels.

Everyone has an opinion on this subject some people live by not letting them cry it out and some people do it. I will gladly hear other opinions on this, but I will not tolerate arguments.

You are more than welcome to leave comments on my thoughts and or corrections.:)

Tonkatsu とんかつ (fried pork cutlet)

this is what the kewpie looks like.

I learned how to make this dish in my Japanese class. It is so good, one of my favorite Japanese dishes. This is great with a cold glass of mugichia tea (roasted barley tea). You top it with kewpie (sweet mayonnaise) and tonkatsu sauce (sweet bbq sauce). I get all my items on this website:  http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/.

What you'll need:

• Pork (i use pork chops without the bone or any kind of sliced pork)
• Panko
• Oil for frying (I use vegetable)
• Egg
• Cabbage (optional)
• Tonkastu sauce (optional)
• Kewpie (optional)

What to do:
You can cut the pork thinner if it needs to be.
Put egg and panko in separate bowls.
Prepare pork to dip and fry. Wash off any access blood and other things.
Put oil in frying pan. I just use enough to cover the bottom. Heat up.
Dip pork in egg on both sides than in the panko on both sides. Make sure you completely cover it in panko before putting it in the pan.
Cook pork on med heat so it wont splatter everywhere.Turn over, if its light brown you should be good. Make sure you cook pork fully through.
Place cooked pork on plate and drizzle kewpie and tonkatsu sauce over. Cut cabbage in slices and set on the side and enjoy.

I do not take credit for photos

Natural cleaning tips

I won't have pics for this sorry. These tips really work, I have used them over and over again. I like using them especially when I was pregnant so I wouldn't have to smell all those chemicals.
For most of these tips you'll need:

• Distilled vinegar, either apple or original
• Baking soda
• Dawn soap 
• Bleach
• Squeegee

• Cleaning washing machine: 

     First, mix a cup of vinegar with the machine full of water. While its filling put vinegar in, put on hottest water and on super load. Stop it before it starts its cycle.
Leave for an hour or two.
Let it finish its cycle
Wipe down and fill it again this time put bleach in.( Make sure you do this separate so you wont be mixing chemicals)
Leave for an hour.
Let run cycle and wipe down really good.
Boom! a clean washing machine.
The bleach helps disinfect it and the vinegar helps get rid of smell and clean it.

• Squeegee cleanup:

Use a squeegee for cleaning up dog hair and dirt. I used this on a couch and it was gross! It took a couple times but now I know that I got it all.
Also you can use a damp rag or rubber gloves.

• Oven: 

Make sure your racks are out.
This you'll need an empty spray bottle for the vinegar.
Spray the oven down really good.
Shake the baking soda every where.
Let it sit for 30 min or longer.
Wipe off.
You might have to do it more it depends on how dirty your oven is.

• Pack and Play:

O yes I've done this and it works very well. I had to do it a couple times till the water wasn't dirty anymore. Everything is waterproof. I washed the pad and everything turned out fine.
Fill tub with hottest water possible.
Add baby detergent or free and clear.
Splash of vinegar
1/4 c or more baking soda.
Mix it up and place P&P in tub and everything that comes with it.
Leave and soak for 30 min while turning it every once in a while.
I had a hard time with the mat, I just kept pushing it down.
Keep doing this till the water is clear.

• Dishwasher:

Place a cup of vinegar on top rack, only this.
Run cycle on hottest water.
Tada clean smelling, shiny dishwasher.

• Air vents:

Get a butter knife and place an old rag on top.
Spray vents with 409 and stick knife and rag in vents and clean.
Whooohoooo!! cleaning is fun

• Microwave:

Place a cup of half vinegar and half water in microwave.
Heat for 5 min.
wipe down.
Boom! easy cleaning.

• Jewelry cleaner:

Place baking soda in small bowl and add water to form a paste.
Rub paste on jewelry.
Wash off.
Polish and dry with lint-free rag.

• Stainless steel cleaner

Get some vinegar on a paper towel and wipe down fridge, microwave, oven, and dishwasher. It worked wonders for me. Or you can use pledge.

• Window grime cleaner:

Mix 1 1/2 c of vinegar with 2 c water. Get scrubby sponge and dip in vinegar mixture and scrub away. I would show you the before and after but I forgot to take pictures. It worked amazing and it took the grime and hard water right off. I hardly had to scrub.

More to come! soon

Finally Free

I apologize again. This isn't part of my blog but I feel like I should write about this part of my life. No one should go through these kinds of things and I know some people that are, people that I love. Those people are in my prayers and I pray that they can over come this. There are also people that have it way worse than I did and I pray for those people too. These are my feeling toward what happened, I never really told anyone about how I felt during this time. Most of this stuff I don't remember at all.

Ahh to be 10 again. Running around playing with friends without a care in the world. Having grand mal seizures and wondering what is going on. Your thinking a 10 year old shouldn't be going through that. I certainly did. I have been having a hard time talk about this part of my life, its hard to explain the feeling I feel when i talk about it.
When I was in high school the seizures showed up again and went away for a couple of years... till October of 2009. I have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, clogged artery's in the heart, and something to do with my frontal lobes in my brain and oxygen. All of this wasn't what was attacking my body. From October 2009 - mid March of 2010 maybe longer I was having 7-8 grand mal seizures a day and passing out 5-7 times a day. At first I would just  pass out than they started to become seizures. Than I started to stay awake during them. I was taking 2 different seizure medications, 1 or 2 different kinds of blood pressure, anti depressants and anti anxiety I think I was taking more but I cant remember. Also I had heart monitors put on me for 2 weeks and an EEG that I took home to sleep in, that was so uncomfortable and I looked like an alien haha. I heard somewhere that I was going to get a pacemaker put in but I ended up not. During these I sometimes can hear people talking but I can't react. Something was controlling my body and I didn't like it. I would bang my head to the wall to make myself pass out so I wouldn't have to see myself go through this.
In the month of November I had the flu, bladder infection, ringworm, chest pain, the seizures, and ear aches. That month I wanted to die. For those 5 months I was depressed and was planning my suicide. I had no reason to live, I DID NOT want to live like this for the rest of my life. I couldn't walk, take a shower, sleep, sit down, lay down, eat, or be alone without someone there helping me. Whenever I would wake up from these I couldn't remember who I was, where I was and be in extreme pain either from falling or muscle aches. I would always get bad head aches after I had an episode.Everyday I worried, I wondered what was going to happen. If I would have that seizure that would kill me and if I would be a vegetable. I didn't want days to end so I wouldn't have to start over everyday.  I put my parents through so much. My mother would take me to St. George once in a while just to get away from everything and to see if it would help. I have never seen them cry so much.
Once in a while I would see my now deceased grandma and grandpas. I would talk to them and laugh at what they were saying. They would hold my hand and try to talk to my parents too. ( this is what my parents told me).  My parents were so confused.
I have lost so many friends because of this. They either say I can't handle this or just leave and never talk to me again. This is when they witness my seizures. Even during school I have been called stupid and dumb. They would tell me that I wouldn't be able to go to high school cause I'm to stupid and the school won't have resource classes. Well look at me now people you all were wrong.
I lost count on how many times I've been to the hospital, neurologist, cardiologists, seizure specialists, and just doctors. Some of them would say I don't know and send me on my way. Some thought I was faking it to get attention. Now why would I fake something horrible like this and put my body and mind through all of that.
We went to a cardiologist in Provo. We told him practically my life story and he knew exactly what was wrong. I had neurocardiogenic syncope, low sodium, and low blood pressure. Neurocardiogenic syncope is a temporary loss of consciousness associated with a drop in arterial blood pressure, quickly followed by a slowed heart rate.  http://www.nwocc.com/Pt%20Education/neuro_syncope.pdf  this website will tell you about it.
I started taking blood pressure medications and I was back. I still had seizures here and there. Usually 3-4 a month. But I was glad I wasn't having 7-8 of them a day.
Now because of what happened throughout my life, it has effected my learning skills. I took resource classes and special testing from elementary to high school. In college I failed math 970 (pre algebra) twice, and math 1010 (algebra) 4 times. I finally seeked help from vocational rehab. They did some testing to see why I'm failing math so much. They said I had social anxiety, math learning disability (dyslexic) and mild depression. My math level was at a 4th grade. I took the test again in 5 months and it went down to 3rd. I try really hard to do math, its not my fault I don't know how to do it. It only happened when I mainly took tests. I did the one on one, math tutors, and isolated testing and it still didn't work. I would get the answers wrong but the problems right if I wrote them out. I would type it in my calculator and when it goes from the calculator to my brain to the paper that's when I write a whole different number and not the one on the calculator. I'm thinking the whole time its the right number, but its not.  My numbers would get so mixed up during this time. So they ended up me skipping math 1010 cause of the grants and the disability program at Snow. I went straight to Quantitative Literacy ( math history) and I passed with flying colors. I graduated Snow College in 2012 for a arts degree that took me 5-6 years to get when it was only a 2 year program.
 They sent me to therapy cause they thought I needed it from what happened and also Snow College gave me a peer mentor and I went to therapy there also. The peer mentor helped me on my good days when I wanted to go to a class, mainly Japanese class, even though I dropped out they let me go to that class. The therapy helped a lot. I went from being depressed, jobless, no money, seizures all the time, and failing school to getting engaged, having a wonderful job, happy, and starting a new life. I graduated from Vough rehab after I got married. Life couldn't get any better, and it did. I knew the day I went to Wal-mart without using a wheelchair was the day I could take a breath without worrying. I came home crying to my dad and said "Dad I didn't use a wheelchair today. I could walk around on my own for the first time in months".
My husband took me to a herbalist and she helped me so much. She was gradually getting me off my meds and it was working. This was when I was having 3 a month. We were trying to make them stop before we got married so we wouldn't have to worry. We didn't the wedding was amazing and nothing went wrong.
Today, I have been seizure free for a year, haven't had one since I got pregnant. Have and amazing husband and a very handsome baby boy. Although pregnancy scared me, I didn't want to put my baby at risk if something went wrong. I was afraid I would have an episode if when I actually had the baby. I had a couple of scares during pregnancy and labor but I kept saying "if I do this right now it will hurt my baby" and I would get my mind off of it. Pregnancy was hard on me especially 1st and 3rd trimesters. But I heard  other people had it worse so I was grateful I was healthy and the baby was. I had people helping me 24/7 so if something did go wrong I had help. I wasn't gonna let this stupid disability prevent me from having children. My baby is growing everyday with no health problems at all. He did have breathing problems and was 2 weeks early but he is as healthy as can be and I am grateful.
 I have been off my medication for a year and haven't had any problems since May of 2013. I am grateful for all the people that have helped me throughout these hard times.