Ziggy and the BLack DInosaurs Part 2

I read 30 minutes per day Monday-Friday the week of September 24 through September 28.

This week I finished the last half of Ziggy and the Black dionsaurs.  This week the camp kiddos were all sitting around listening to Noni tell stories of the young Indian braves doing different impossible stunts such as taking long walks naked and barefoot during below zero weather to see if they could come back to their tribe without dying of hypothermia for example.  Ziggy, Ramone and the other boys waited until all the girls had fallen asleep, and they decided to sneak out into the darkness in the forrested area to see if they could be like the Indian braves and find their way back to the camp.  They found an abandoned canoe, and they traveled in it.  They panicked when they found out that there were no paddles to steer the canoe, and they ended up floating all the way to a new island. They were afraid, and when the canoe landed on the new island they got out and started frantically trying to find their way back.  They heard footsteps chasing after them right at their coat tails.  The mysterious footsteps caught up with them, and come to find out it was an Indian man named Hawk.  He ended up being super nice to them.  He told them stories, and he helped them find their ways back to camp.  The boys introduced him to the girls, and told them how informative and helpful he was when they were safe and back at camp.
This is a fun mystery story for upper elementary children to read.

Ziggy and The Black Dinosaurs

I work at a Kindergarten through eighth grade school, and my 7th and 8th grade students encouraged me to read this story with them to make it more interesting for them.  I read for 90 minutes this week by reading the first 5 chapters in this book.
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs is a very funny book so far.  Chapters 1-5 is about a group of middle school aged kids going on a camping trip in the summer to a place called, Camp Cesar.  Ziggy, Rahshawn and Rico are the males; Noni is the leader of the girls and boys; she takes them around so that they do not get lost.  All the children enjoy listening to Noni's stories of past war heros; she is very educated and makes her stories very interesting to hold their attention.  She told them of the story of Tecumsah who ended up being her grand father and how Indian boys had to perform near death tasks to in their pre-teen years to prove they were strong, brave and ready to be a man and head of their Indian tribe.  The boys are silly and immature; they still are at the stage in growing up where they are afraid to admit that they like girls.  Rashawn has a secret crush on Tiana, and she likes him too.  They sit by each other around the campfire while they listen to Noni's story. 
After hearing Noni tell of the brave feats of the young Indian braves the boys are getting interested in trying to find ways to challenge and prove their manhood.  I wonder what they will come up with.
So far, Ziggy is my favorite character.  He is a Jamaican young man that eats weird food like peanut butter jelly sandwiches with pickles on it, and says "yea mon" after everything he says.  He dresses terrible as well, nothing he has on matches: red jeans, huge purple coat and green tennis shoes.  He seems like the life of the party thus far.

Is your marriage headed for divorce (Research)

This week I spent over two hours surfing different internet sites and links to other sites that give warning signs about when your marriage is in trouble.  The last site that I visited was an advice site for how to have the perfect marriage.  The list of visited sites are (I went to other related links from these sites):
http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/signsyourmarriageisover/Signs_Your_Marriage_is_Over.htm
http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/signsyourmarriageisover/tp/signsofdivorce.htm
http://divorcesupport.about.com/u/ua/signsyourmarriageisover/why_you_divorced.htm
http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/isdivorcethesolution/f/divorc_time.htm
http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/isdivorcethesolution/f/sexlessmarriage.htm
http://marriage.about.com/od/advice/a/marriagemagicformula.htm
After visiting several sites and reading the posts from people that are hurting over the outcome of their marriage I discovered that a lot of marriages have the same reasons or warning signs of deciding that it is over or nearing the end.  The most common tell tale signs were:  you often dream about leaving or life without your spouse, no sex or very little sex, no communication or an over abundance of arguing, the bad outweighs the good, you walk on eggshells or keep things to yourself, you always have your defenses up, no intimacy (even sleeping in different beds) or you feel like you are the only one concerned with solving the problems or even acknowledging that there is a problem.  It is truely up to the two parties involved to decide when enough is enough, but it was nice getting advice from others and reading ow they handled things just to give an idea of how to handle such a situation. 
I also looked at the positive which reveiled ways to fix or spark up your marriage if it is still salvageable.  The common ways to make a positive approach are: 

Cuddle with your spouse three times a day.

Kiss your spouse four times a day. A peck on the cheek counts.

Say 'I love you' to your spouse at least once a day.

Share two hobbies that you both are passionate about.

The two of you should have two romantic meals alone together a month.

Call, text message, or email your spouse three times a day.

Twice a month you should have some time alone away from each other.

At least once a year, the two of you need to have one weekend alone together.

Three nights a week snuggle together to watch TV or a film.

Try to celebrate one holiday away together each year.

I learned a lot from my reading experience this week.

Baby Talk Magazine August 2012 Edition

This week I read for 90 minutes in my "Baby Talk" magazine.  My daughter got me a free subscription, so each month we get a new one.  Honestly, this is the very first time I have ever opened one of the magazines and read it.
The August 2012 edition of Baby Talk, covered several different topics that are interesting to moms to be and new mommies.  They covered topics for the pregnant woman that is anxious for her baby bump to show, how to get better sleep at night with a new baby, how to spark up your sex life after having a baby and it was filled with quizzes and coupons for diapers, wipes, strollers and other baby products.  This edition also discussed developmental milestones from birth until school years that chldren will experience.  I will not go into detail about each and every story that was featured, but I will discusss my favorite topic, "kiss, play repeat."
I found this article to be the most interesting in the magazine because it explained in depth the reasons why (other than them being cute) snuggling with your baby is important.  According to the article, research suggests that babies that are cuddled on a regular basis (especially during stressful moments) possessed a hippocampus that is 10 times higher than un-nurtured children.  This section of the brain is responsible for helping children develop their own coping mechanism for stress and processing emotions and memories.  Playing games and being imtimate could be the difference between being a proud parent of the star fifth grade student or one that may struggle.  This is awesome information because I cuddle with my infant children alot and as they get older I do it less, but now I have a purpose for cuddling; a win-win situation.

Baby from Birth to One Month

This week I used my free reading time to research teh developmental stages of an infant from birth to one month old because my baby had his two week appointment, and the doctor gave me a hand out that laid out the developmental milestones for infants at this age.  I read approxiamately 2 hours between my web searches and the typed hand-out given at the doctor visit.
The sites I searched were:  http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-development-1-month?page=3
http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-4-week-olds-development_1477174.bc
Pamphlet:  Infant Growth and Development from Two Weeks to One Month.  Author Mark Springer (pediatrician)
I learned from my research this week that infants from birth to one month still will spend from 12-20 hours of their day sleeping.  I learned that the slep they receive will be non REM sleep, so they will be easily startled or awakened.  I also learned they will still have their days and nights confused, but if parents make day light hours playful and active and night very quiet and dark they will get the hint a little sooner.
I also discovered that tummy time can be introduced at this age although they are not yet able to hold their heads up very well.  I way told they are developing their eye sight, so objects must be 8-12 inches from their face for them to focus in.  They also show favor in looking at human faces rather than toys or other objects.  Infants also favor higher pitched tones, so baby talk is helpful at this stage. 
Some infants can coo, grunt, smile and even try to laugh at this stage.  They are just finding out that their legs and arms are attached to their bodies, so playing with their legs and holding their hands in front of their faces is good to help them become familiar with their extremities. 
Babies should be back to their normal birth weight by now; after birth infants lose 10% or more of their body weight, but should be gaining an ounce per day by now.  Breastfed babies should be eating every 2-3 hours and bottle fed infants 6-8 times per day.  Breast fed infants should make a wet or poopy diaper after each feeding, and bottle fed infants should have at least 6 diaper changes per day. 
I learned a lot, and I plan to make sure my son is developmentally appropriate at every stage; if not, I will stay in close contact with his pediatrician.

Bedtime stories

This week my focus was on putting my baby to bed by reading him stories every nigt before he went to  bed. 
I read "I love you forever"  which was a story of a mother taking care of her son and making it a radition to read him a bedtime story each nigt.  At the end of the story the grows old and sick so the son holds her in the same rocking chair she held him in and reads her a bedtime story.  He also passed the tradition down to his own child.
I read "Guess How much I love you".  This is a story of a little bunny and his father.  The little bunny keeps trying to find things that he feels are huge and compare it to  how much he loves his daddy.  He keeps picking larger and larger items until at the very end the daddy tops it off by saying he loves him just as much times two! Very cute story for children that are beginning to make size comparisons.
I read Dr. Suess "Fox in Socks".  This story is hilarious.  My children and I never get tired of reading this story.  It is a series of tongue twisters throughout the book that begin with a different letter or blend each page.  Dr. Suess' use of made up and real words to work the eyes and mouth is a great reading exercise. We giggle the whole way through this story, and we try reading it as fast as we can so we can keep messing up!
I read Dr.Seuss's classic "Green Eggs and Ham".  This is the story of a man  trying to get another man to try green eggs and ham.  All throughout the story the man is reluctant to taste even one bite of the dish, but Sam I am will not give up trying to persuade him that if he would try it he may like it.  Finally the guy tries it just to get Sam I am out of his face, and he ends up liking it alot.  This is a great book to share with a child that is a picky eater.  It could help persuade them to at least try food before declaring that it is nasty or that they don't like it.
I read Dr. Seuss's "Marvin K. Mooney would You Please go now".  This is a story of a very stubborn little guy that refuses to be moved from his spot no matter what is happening around him.  It is a serious of adventures going on all around his head, yet he stands there unmoved without even chanign his facial expression.  I like this story because Marvin stood his ground, and he never moved from the spot until he was ready to do so on his own.  This teaches children to stand up for what they believe in, and don't change their minds unless they want to.
I read over 90 minutes this week due to the length of the Dr. seuss books; they can get rather lengthy, especially green eggs and ham. My exact time was 101 minutes of reading.

Jaundice Research

I read over 90 minutes this week doing research June 26, 27, and 28th over what jaundice is.  I just gave birth to my third child June 24, 2012 at 2:42pm, and before we were discharged from the hospital I was told to make a follow-up appointment with a pediatrician to have my son's jaundice levels checked. I have never experienced this illness with any of my other children, so I decided to deeply research what jaunice is.  I visited several websites and looked up the causes of jaundice, the signs and symptoms and treatment methods.  I was releived to find that this illness is very common in infants and it causes a yellowing of the eyes and skin tone due to the liver being under developed and unable to rid the body of toxins at a normal rate.  Lower levels such as in my son (under 20 points; this is determined by poking the infant in the heal of the foot and drawing blood to have tested in a lab)  do not require a hospital stay.  His levels did get high enough for the doctor to rent him a "biliblanket", a light that goes on his back 24 hours a day to decrease the the amount of toxins.  It is also recommended that direct sunlight exposure helps with jaundice.  Sadly babies with levels exceeding 20 points must stay at the hospital or be readmitted and placed under special lamps with their eyes covered for a few hours until they reach a safe level.  Once levels begin decreasing they never rise again; te hard part is getting the levels to begin their decrease naturally.  I learned a lot of information that was helpful in treating my son; he is now eight days old and we were informed by his pediatrician today that he has reached a safe level and he can stop treatment from his biliblanket.
I got my information from:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-jaundice.htm
http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/baby/whatisjaundice.asp
http://www.medicinenet.com/jaundice/article.htm