It's a boy!!!!

Hey everyone, I'm just dropping a quick note to tell you that we have a new member of our family!

Luke Justus Baethge, born at 9:47am 2/17/09. He weighed 8 lbs, 2.5 oz, and was 19.5" long. What a birth! I'll post pictures and eventually details later, but for now, thanks so much for your prayers and we are doing great, albeit pretty tired. Love you guys.

danielle

Okay Moms..... tell me how it is

You moms out there, you must fill me in. I have some very important questions! Sweet Pea could come at any time in the next two and a half weeks, which leaves me wondering some things.

1. Am I really, I mean, really going to be able to love the second one just as much as I love Max???? Please explain to me how this could be. I love the baby very much and I can feel more and more love each day, but it just seems that Max has such a head start on me loving him! How could I ever be as enamored of #2 as I was of #1????

2. Does breastfeeding hurt as much the second time around? I haven't nursed in I guess six months or so. I just remember the first few weeks were very trying and then things got so much better. Do I need to prepare myself mentally for that challenge again?

3. Is having two kids hard??? I have had some friends tell me it is a breeze compared to having just one, and some tell me that it is double the duty. What do you think?

4. Will you take a minute to say a quick prayer that the Lord would work everything together for the delivery day? We have a 65-mile drive to make, my doctor is out of town for the next week, Max came two weeks early, and with him I had a 3 hour labor and barely made it to the hospital in time. So, I am just praying the Lord will work it all together for His glory... will you pray that right quick???


THANKS!!!!!

xoxo

Continued

3. The Best Calcium Supplement Ever!



Oh, how I love this product! This is a liquid calcium/magnesium/D3 supplement I just recently tried. I don't drink milk, so I never get enough calcium. I only drink kefir and not enough to get me by. I was tired of the famous pregnancy nighttime leg cramps, so I tried this: wow! One serving, which is just two tablespoons, gives you 1000mg of calcium! Do you know how many calcium capsules I'd have to take to get that much?? There are several flavors, but I have only tried raspberry and will stick with it. I love the way it tastes. I tried it thinking it was going to taste like Pepto Bismol or Milk of Magnesia, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it's a little chalky but you would expect that. The raspberry flavor is so tart and sweet and I just have to say - this calcium is the best. This is a great one for pregnant or nursing mothers.

And here's a bonus: did you know that calcium and magnesium are natural relaxants? When I take one serving of this supplement before bed, I sleep like a rock all night long and hardly move. In fact, I have had several nights where I woke up in the morning, in the same position I went to sleep. If you have trouble relaxing or getting to sleep, this is worth its weight in gold. It is natural, something your body needs, and doesn't contain any sleeping drugs or anything like that. This is really great for a pregnant mom in her last month who would do just about anything for some good sleep. :)

Reviews Part II

I've been holding this post in my head for quite some time, trying to organize it and prepare it, but tonight I can't sleep so I thought I'd get started on it and see how far it gets.

To explain, ever since I became pregnant with Max I've kind of been on a kick to try to "be healthier", for the sake of pregnancy. Then, when Max was diagnosed with eczema, I delved in and tried my best to educate myself on true health and nutrition, not just what we call conventional medical thought. I've learned so much!

The biggest thing I've learned is this:

All disease is caused by:

1. Overload of toxins (too much bad)
2. Nutritional deficiency (not enough good), or, as in most cases,
3. Both.

That, to me, is health in a nutshell. Out with the bad, in with the good. God gave us amazing bodies and He gave us everything we need to be in good health. Sadly, we just don't know this anymore! We think that we are supposed to start falling apart by our forties. Why? There are uncivilized tribes still in existence who know of no cancer, heart disease, or diabetes (not to mention the myriad of other diseases) whatsoever. Until..... a modern, processed diet is introduced and within one generation (!) their breeding stock has been compromised. Amazing.

Anyway, in this quest to learn more about health, I have tried a plethora of nutritional supplements, methods, and resources and I have formed various opinions about them. For those who are interested, I'm going to share what has worked for me and what hasn't. This is only intended to be an aid to others; I'm no doctor and everyone's different and all that other disclaimer stuff.
So let's get started. These generally are in no particular order.

My Favorites!

1. Kefir

Basically, this is a specially fermented milk drink, similar to yogurt but more beneficial. You can read more about kefir here. It has protein, probiotics, enzymes, calcium, and it tastes great! This is a wonderful drink for pregnancy, because of the high protein content and calcium. My favorite flavor is Pomegranate. Try it sometime, they carry it at HEB. You can also make your own. I can't stress this enough: this is one of the healthiest things you could consume, and it is to your benefit to consume this regularly.

2. Enzymes

I only recently learned about enzymes, but they are amazing. Get this: enzymes are essential to life; in fact, the definition of death is a complete lack of enzyme activity. There are thousands of enzymes out there. Enzymes are necessary to assimilate our food and to use the nutrients available from that food. Raw foods contain enzymes, but only enough to digest that food. Our bodies produce the enzymes needed for cooked food, but since we eat waaaay more cooked food than raw (in most cases) our bodies are taxed to produce all these enzymes necessary for digestion. Raw meat, and raw eggs also contain enzymes.

Anyway, I had the problem that after eating a heavy meal, my food would sit like a brick in my stomach and I hardly had the energy to move! I started taking digestive enzymes and that put a stop to it; I wish I had known about these years ago. This takes such a strain off of my body.

Also, at Max's 18-mo. check-up, the doctor explained that he was falling off the chart in the weight category and we'd need to keep an eye on his weight. Well, I was puzzled. Max ate adult sized portions, pooped adult sized portions (sorry), and was always hungry. I knew something was up, and so I started giving him digestive enzymes like the ones you see in the picture. The results amazed me. Within less than six weeks, Max had gained two and a half pounds, more than he had gained since he turned one year old. If any of you have a toddler who can't seem to hang on to their food, you might want to try digestive enzymes.

You can learn more about enzymes, and even take an online course, at: www.enzymedica.com.

Well, I can hear Max crying in the next room so I will end here and pick up sometime later. xoxo

Reviews Part 1

Let me bust out a cliche and say that I can't believe how fast this year went by. 2009 sounds so foreign to me. I guess I've got 364 days left to get used to it. :) Let's review.....

January found us in the midst of a big eczema struggle. I was nursing Max and trying all sorts of elimination diets to try to figure out the cause. What a stressful, painful time. I was down to 110 pounds, Max was in misery. He was a great baby but I recall the pain he was in and it still breaks my heart to think about! His hands were like alligators and his skin was red and dry all over. He rarely smiled. :( Boo hoo!

Things got better when spring arrived and the weather was a little less dry. Insert lots of doctor appointments and dermatologist appointments which proved fruitless and intensely frustrating.

Fast forward to June, our Baethge vacaethge! Okay, family vacation is what I meant. We had a great time and found out that we were going to have another baby! WOW.

Then sometime in July/August we took Max to a naturopathic doctor/chiropractor where he received the first treatment to actually help his condition. Candida overgrowth! Follow up with two months of homeopathic antifungal treatment and we have a brand new boy. I still can't believe the difference and there isn't a night that goes by where we don't praise God for His healing. Amazing. Never let any conventional doctor tell you that there is no cure for what ails you..... you just have to dig a little deeper for the root cause of it all. I have a friend whose mother was diagnosed with MS and told there was no hope. Six months of naturopathic treatment and she was a brand new person, healthy as ever and continues to be. But I better get off my health soapbox while I still can!

Anyway, our boy continues to have smooth as silk skin. You should see all his smiles and giggles! He's the happiest 20-month-old I know. :)

In September Randy and I celebrated three years together in San Antonio. We had a blast with Max at the zoo, and got to go out to eat at the Old San Francisco Steakhouse. Yummy!

Fall came and went and before we knew it, it was Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Wow. We put Max through Potty Training Boot Camp, (seriously, that's what the ebook was called) and he is pretty much potty trained, still in a diaper when he sleeps or when we travel. Cool, just in time for the baby too. What a load off our minds. He did great.

Which brings us to 2009. What can this year hold for us? Who knows except God? Lord willing, in mid-February we will welcome with open arms a new addition to our family. I am so excited about having this baby! Will it be a boy or a girl? Who cares! I'm excited about either one. I can't wait to finally, for the first time in my life, be a part of a four-member family. Can't wait to nurse a tiny baby once more, and to cloth diaper a little cutie pie! Shockingly, I am even excited about delivering the baby! I can't wait to see how the Lord works it out this time around. Hopefully we make it to the hospital on time!!! (Even so, I don't think I'd mind too much even if we didn't make it in time, but I'm just weird that way. At least Randy knows how to deliver a baby in an emergency!)

If you happen to think of us, please send up prayers for the delivery. We would be so grateful for that.

Stay tuned for the rest of my blog. Happy 2009 everyone!!!