5 month milestones - 5/22/12
Height - 24"
Weight - 14 lbs 5 oz
Diapers - size 2
Clothes - 3-6 month
Sleeping - bedtime is usually around 8:30. You were doing so great sleeping for long stretches at night then you started getting out of your swaddle. We were still swaddling you at the first of the month until you and big sis spent the night with Nonna and Poppa. Mommy had a women's retreat with church and Daddy had to work. Nonna was able to get you to sleep without your Swaddle. You had a rough night though.
Turns out you had Roseola. You had the crankiness and fever but the rash came later. Poor baby!
Eating - You eat every 3 to 3.5 hours during the day. You eat for shorter amounts of time during the day and longer ones at night. You started taking Dr. Brown bottles but they still aren't your favorite. Maybe someday. You tried avocados and bananas this month and weren't a huge fan but you didn't hate them either.
New discoveries - Everything you can get your hands on goes into your mouth. Toys, blankets, clothes, sister's hair. Teething has started although I can't see any tooth buds yet. You love to jump in your jumperoo. You enjoy walks in the stroller.
New accomplishments - Rolling over both ways! Sorry, Mommy didn't write down the exact date.
Places you went - OK to stay overnight with Nonna and Poppa.
Special Memories - Staying overnight for the first time without Mommy & Daddy. Your first real sickness (Roseola and a cold). Celebrating Avery's 2nd birthday with an owl party. Your dedication at church with Mommy, Daddy, big sister, Nonna, Poppa, Mim, Papa, Uncle Daniel & Aunt April.
Dear Claire - 5 months old and getting so big so fast. This was a rough month for you. Having your first real illness was a new thing for all of us. You stopped sleeping well and preferred to be held. Which isn't a bad thing, I love it. I just didn't get much done at all. :) Plus Mommy and sister got a cold too and we pretty much were all sick the whole month. I'm hoping next month we all feel better. Praying you are on the mend and the rest of our summer is a healthy one. We love you baby girl!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
Love,
Mommy &Daddy
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Mercy Project
Today I'm taking part in a blogging party of sorts, helping to bring awareness to human trafficking and the Mercy Project in Ghana, Africa.
Mercy Project
There’s an estimated 7,000 children who work in the Ghana fishing industry. Some of these children are as young as 5 and 6 years old. All of these children are slaves. -Mercy Project
Today many in our country will take a day off from our jobs to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers. No matter if we’re celebrating at home or at the beach, we’re entering into a tradition that has largely been shaped by Labor Unions - organizations that are dedicated to protecting workers’ interests and improving their wages, hours, and working conditions. Today as we lounge around or hang out with friends and family, we’re not only celebrating hard work, we’re honoring fair, ethical working practices and the laws that prevent discrimination, abuse, and child labor in our country. Without these laws in place (and enforced), the most vulnerable members of society suffer. Who are the most vulnerable? Children.
Today as we’re celebrating the systems in our own country that strive to prevent injustices like child trafficking and child labor, we’re mindful of the many child slaves around the world who are unprotected and the organizations, like Mercy Project, who are working to free them.
As a mother, it’s difficult for me to imagine my children working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. I’m unable to wrap my brain around the thought of my children engaged in long, hard days of physical labor, eating one meal a day, and then falling asleep at night on a dirt floor filled with other slave children. Yet this is the daily reality for kids who have been trafficked into the fishing industry in Ghana, Africa. As with much of Africa, there is a great deal of poverty in Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many mothers in an unimaginable position: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to Lake Volta where they become child slaves and their mothers never see them again. Thankfully, Mercy Project is working to break the cycles of trafficking around Lake Volta by providing alternate, more efficient, sustainable, fishing methods for villagers – ultimately eliminating the need for child slaves. Because of the work Mercy Project is doing in Ghana, the first group of children will be freed this month from Lake Volta.
We invite you to watch this moving, 10 minute documentary about the issues surrounding child labor and trafficking in Ghana and most importantly the hope Mercy Project is bringing to children and entire communities in Africa. Mercy Project is the only NGO working on Lake Volta addressing the injustice of child labor and child trafficking at its root - by strengthening the Ghanaian economy and eliminating the structures that cause the demand for trafficked children.
Whether these ideas of child labor, child trafficking, and modern-day slavery are new to you or you’re aware of these injustices, but need to hear some good news every once in awhile, we invite you to become a part of what Mercy Project is doing in Ghana. When Mercy Project frees their first group of children this month, we can all celebrate together.
Learn more and get involved by –
• Watching Mercy Project’s short documentary.
• Following Mercy Project on Facebook.
• Connecting with Mercy Project via Twitter.
• Spending some time on Mercy Project’s website.
• Sharing about Mercy Project’s work in Ghana with your friends.
Although child trafficking, child labor, and the unstable economies that result in these injustices are a tragedy, we’re grateful for what Mercy Project is doing to protect the vulnerable and for allowing us to be a part of this story. While we’re commemorating labor laws and ethical work in our own country today, we invite you to follow along on this journey with Mercy Project to protect and free children in Ghana.
Mercy Project
There’s an estimated 7,000 children who work in the Ghana fishing industry. Some of these children are as young as 5 and 6 years old. All of these children are slaves. -Mercy Project
Today many in our country will take a day off from our jobs to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers. No matter if we’re celebrating at home or at the beach, we’re entering into a tradition that has largely been shaped by Labor Unions - organizations that are dedicated to protecting workers’ interests and improving their wages, hours, and working conditions. Today as we lounge around or hang out with friends and family, we’re not only celebrating hard work, we’re honoring fair, ethical working practices and the laws that prevent discrimination, abuse, and child labor in our country. Without these laws in place (and enforced), the most vulnerable members of society suffer. Who are the most vulnerable? Children.
Today as we’re celebrating the systems in our own country that strive to prevent injustices like child trafficking and child labor, we’re mindful of the many child slaves around the world who are unprotected and the organizations, like Mercy Project, who are working to free them.
As a mother, it’s difficult for me to imagine my children working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. I’m unable to wrap my brain around the thought of my children engaged in long, hard days of physical labor, eating one meal a day, and then falling asleep at night on a dirt floor filled with other slave children. Yet this is the daily reality for kids who have been trafficked into the fishing industry in Ghana, Africa. As with much of Africa, there is a great deal of poverty in Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many mothers in an unimaginable position: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to Lake Volta where they become child slaves and their mothers never see them again. Thankfully, Mercy Project is working to break the cycles of trafficking around Lake Volta by providing alternate, more efficient, sustainable, fishing methods for villagers – ultimately eliminating the need for child slaves. Because of the work Mercy Project is doing in Ghana, the first group of children will be freed this month from Lake Volta.
We invite you to watch this moving, 10 minute documentary about the issues surrounding child labor and trafficking in Ghana and most importantly the hope Mercy Project is bringing to children and entire communities in Africa. Mercy Project is the only NGO working on Lake Volta addressing the injustice of child labor and child trafficking at its root - by strengthening the Ghanaian economy and eliminating the structures that cause the demand for trafficked children.
Whether these ideas of child labor, child trafficking, and modern-day slavery are new to you or you’re aware of these injustices, but need to hear some good news every once in awhile, we invite you to become a part of what Mercy Project is doing in Ghana. When Mercy Project frees their first group of children this month, we can all celebrate together.
Learn more and get involved by –
• Watching Mercy Project’s short documentary.
• Following Mercy Project on Facebook.
• Connecting with Mercy Project via Twitter.
• Spending some time on Mercy Project’s website.
• Sharing about Mercy Project’s work in Ghana with your friends.
Although child trafficking, child labor, and the unstable economies that result in these injustices are a tragedy, we’re grateful for what Mercy Project is doing to protect the vulnerable and for allowing us to be a part of this story. While we’re commemorating labor laws and ethical work in our own country today, we invite you to follow along on this journey with Mercy Project to protect and free children in Ghana.
"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"...in serving the best interests of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity."
-- Carol Bellamy
“When the lives and the rights of children are at stake, there must be no silent witnesses.”
--Carol Bellamy
"God does not want us to merely give the poor perfunctory help, but to ponder long and hard about how to improve their entire situation."
-- Tim Keller in Generous Justice
"If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong."
-- Abraham Lincoln
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