[Update 11/16/08]

Here is the link to the new SOUTH FLORIDA BABYWEARING meetup.com group. If you live in South Florida and have ANY interest in babywearing (using a baby carrier to keep your baby close, and still remain hands-free) please check out this group. It is a clearing house for the babywearing activities that are happening in the Greater Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. We have several members in Palm Beach county as well. We are working to establish a babywearing meeting in Boca Raton for those people.

We had our first meetup Friday. There were 2 other cool families that showed up! (2x – Mom, Dad & baby girl) It was great to meet other young, hip parents with their beautiful babies! We turned quite a few heads walking down the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk! lol

Get the most comprehensive information on babywearing and meet tons of other babywearers at TBW – TheBabyWearer.com.

Au-Teen recently joined the South Florida Homeschool Key Club (a service-oriented social club). He says all the teens there are cool. He was SO RELIEVED to find others that “feel his pain”. lol (He’s referring to the solitude, which he finds nicer than dealing with standard public school hooligan issues, but is still new and different.)

We are signed up for some core classes through Florida Virtual School – FLVS. FLVS is a FREE, state-run online school in which students may study full-time or part-time. The students are assigned to a virtual class. The teachers are available for questions from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

I have subscribed to several local homeschool Yahoo! groups. I have learned about all types of social activities that the kids can participate in. They all have weekly or bi-monthly park days, field trips, etc.

We also went to a meeting, lecture, and ice cream social put on by the Broward Christian Homeschoolers (BCH) group. The Key Club volunteered to setup, conduct the ice cream and concessions sale/fundraiser, and clean up afterward. Au-Teen met another teen guy that had circumstances that were uncannily parallel to his own. So they really hit it off.

And the BEST part is that I’m now “required” to spend even more QUALITY time with my son. It’s so easy to get caught up in our own thing, while our teens are doing THEIR own thing. This is proving to be a beautiful opportunity for both of us! And it also legitimizes many of the otherwise mundane and seemingly “pointless” household chores… they count as “LIFE SKILLS” in school!

I will continue to post updates as we get even more plugged into this new and wonderful world of homeschool!

Please LEAVE A COMMENT about your experience (or exposure) to homeschool, or ways that you have connected with your teen.

We had what I guess to be about 50-60% “success” rate of catching potties. And we were only having to change a dirty diaper about every 2-3 days, since Twilli does most of her poops in the toilet, first thing in the a.m.

While we were out of town, we really relied mostly on the diaper. But I still took Twilli to the potty in the morning to do her daily “business”. Since the schedule was wacky, she wasn’t as regular as usual. So we were having at least one dirty diaper about 5 out of 7 days.

Since we’ve been home, I’m proud to say that Twilli is doing really well with it again! I think we’ve only had 1 or 2 dirty diapers in the 6 days we’ve been back!

We’re also happy to be starting the transition to cloth diapers! We picked up a small, 1 day supply of 6 unbleached Indian cotton prefolds and 3 covers. I decided to scrounge up enough funds to do that in order to support a lovely mama of triplets, who decided to amp her efforts from an online store to a p/t brick & mortar store.

Cutie Tooties - CLOTH DIAPERS and more

Sunny was SOOOO helpful about making it possible for us to get the BARE BONES minimum “starter” set. Her store is lovely! I wish her the best of luck and hope all of the natural parents in Knoxville support her!

Those prefolds are SOOOOOO soft!!! And I truly believe that wearing the cloth diapers is going to accelerate the EC, since Twilli definitely feels the effect of the wet diaper and definitely TELLS US about it! (She’s always been very laid back about the wet disposables. At least they do their job of pulling the moisture off baby’s bum.)

I somehow feel like we’ve taken an inside out approach to all of this! Everything I read recommended combining EC w/cloth diapering. But my Westernized “modern” ways sometimes hang on with a vengeance! lol

Please leave a comment and let us know if you have any experience with EC or CLOTH DIAPERS.

I’m glad that the Baby Loves Disco wave is sweeping over Fort Lauderdale! I’m surprised we don’t have to drive to Miami to catch something like this. (I know Twilli would LOVE some good Salsa dancing. But I’m not able to move that way! hehehe)

Also, a super cool chic from one of our local Meetup playgroups, is one of the sponsors. (Maybe we’ll bring home some cool SWAG!) Nicole is the head chef and chief bpa-free bottle washer for Rockin Mamaz – for Moms who ROCK the Cradle with the Flyest Gear and Coolest Clothes. Bringing you Hip and Funky Maternity and Infants to Big Kids Apparel. Unique toys, BPA- Free Glass Bottles, Sippy Cups and so much more. I immediately resonated with Nicole when we first met. I can’t wait to see what she’s put together for her shop!

Twilli LOVES music! And she loves to dance! Right now, it looks more like HEAD-BANGIN’ than anything else. Actually, that’s part of the humor! Twilli looks too sweet to be a head-banger! But she loves when Au-teen plays metal on guitar, too! I guess she inherited some of her daddy’s taste in music. Oh, and she looks great in black! lol

Hopefully, Elliott will shoot LOTS of photos of everyone shakin’ it to the Village People! lol And maybe we’ll post a video or two of head-bangin’ Twilli!

Photo: 1′Up

Hello everyone. Long time… I JUST NOW got DSL hooked up at my parents’ house in TN. Yea! So I should be posting with a bit more frequency now.

I returned from the Babywearing Conference in Chicago on Sunday. The conference was amazing! I learned so much and met SO MANY wonderful people! It is amazing to see so many like-minded people in one place. And it was very refreshing to be in an environment where I can wear and nurse my baby at any time, and still be part of the goings-on! Twilli responded REALLY well to everyone there too! She got to play with a lot of little babies and toddlers.

The TWILLI PIE PODEGIs were well received! I will be requesting testers soon, so please contact me if you are interested.

I met SOOOOO many influential people in the babywearing and attachment parenting realm! I probably don’t know the HALF of it! I plan to continue seeking wisdom from these people who have “walked the walk” and continue to share with us relative newbies!

It was awesome to traverse the city via public transit. (Gas was $4.47 – $4.89 per gallon there. Eeek!) And I did a LOT of walking! Babywearing makes a HUGE difference in that regard. And I was very pleasantly surprised at how much people helped me with my luggage on the train or in the train station/transfers! I guess I was quite a spectacle with a baby strapped to me, a backpack, a diaper bag/purse, and my suitcase pulled behind it all! lol

I will write more about the conference in the next few days. But I wanted to touch base and let everyone know that we are still alive and kickin’!

I’ve been providing moral, social, and logistical support to a dear friend who is living in a condo that is deep in foreclosure. My friend “Joe” has been dealing with this stress for some time. His parents, who live out of state, actually own the property but let him live there while he was in college. But they have not discussed ANY of the financial matters with him. Personally, I think they are doing a disservice to him AND themselves by not sharing these vital matters with such a willing and fast learner. Instead, they tried to handle things on their own and told him “it is being taken care of”.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am like family to him and none of our relatives live in Florida. So we’ve been trying to scramble and find resources, advocacy, etc. Unfortunately, Joe’s parents are not very internet savvy and he doesn’t have internet access. So I have been doing a lot of legwork.

While the information is very sobering and disconcerting, I am learning a lot. It seems like there are soooooo many people facing foreclosure or other financial crisis. But there are legitimate agencies that can help. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to NOT WAIT to seek help!!! A real estate attorney told me, “These things are like cancer. If they are caught early, often they can be stopped.”

I am grateful that I have been able to be there for my friend. I pray that everything works out. And I would like to “pay it forward” by sharing some of these resources.

• HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agencies – There are so many scams happening now. Find a reputable agency through HUD: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department website.
• NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES – This is the local Miami, Florida agency we are dealing with. (It is HUD approved.)
• Broken Credit Blog – This blog has some interesting information about consumer rights and foreclosure.
• Aging and Disability Resource Center of Broward County, FL – Here is an agency for senior citizens and disabled people in Broward County (Greater Fort Lauderdale).
• Legal Aid of Broward County, FL – Provides service provides legal advice and representation to low income residents. They have a department specializing in housing.
• National Consumer Law Center – This agency claims to defend the rights of low-income consumers. I haven’t fully browsed the site, but wanted to include it just in case.

Please share by LEAVING A COMMENT and let us know if you have found any other good resources or have experience with these matters.

Check out the FORT LAUDERDALE/MIAMI CHANGING TABLES MAP here. This will have to be a community effort. So PLEASE COMMENT about your favorite places to hang out, in the Greater Miami and Fort Lauderdale area, and how they fare on the changing table scale. And I’ll add the places (and your link, if you like) to our new changing tables Google map.

I recently ranted about several chain restaurants that do NOT have changing tables. Elliott, from 21stCenturyDad.com commented that we should follow the lead of DaddyTypes and his NYC mens room changing table map and give props to businesses who DO provide changing tables. So far, DT and a Finding Balance in San Francisco are the only places I’ve found changing table maps. I’m thrilled to be among the few.

Well, I created the map and made it a page of it’s own. It features YES (green) and NO (red). I’ll probably highlight businesses that also have changing tables in the mens room with a different color or special icon/marker.

It is so easy to get caught up in the shuffle of the season. But the TRUE Holiday spirit is one of thanks, love, sharing and appreciation.

I express my GRATITUDE for everything I’m blessed with. And I hope that I may be a blessing to everyone I encounter.

Happy Holidays!!

~renee

Last weekend, they took a field trip to the Coast Guard Station. At yesterday’s meeting, they learned about the parts of an airplane, and how these parts allow the plane to fly.

This coming weekend, the Cadets will be marching in the Candy Cane Parade – Hollywood Beach, FL. If you are interested, and in the Fort Lauderdale area, the parade is free. It starts at 7:00 p.m., on Saturday, December 8, 2007 at the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk & A1A at the Beach Theater.

This is the first time Au-teen has been in a parade. I assume they will be showcasing their marching drills and cadences. It’s wonderful to see my son getting involved with an organization that instills discipline and responsibility. And it’s not every day that he gets to march in a parade!