Happy 4th!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!! As always the girls and I spent
the day with my parents (it's also my mother's birthday), brother and sister. It's always
interesting when I spend time with my siblings - I love them dearly but we have completely different views on everything! My sister is pregnant with her first child and is very "main stream" and I have 2 girls, 6 and 11, whom I breastfed, co-slept with, carried in a sling for years and didn't do "normal" baby food with at all... I can't wait to see how the next 7 months go, if they ask me for advice or take any of my experiences into consideration at all.. I know that vaccinations are and always have been a point of contention for them/us. I don't do them at all - they just scare me to death - and no the actual diseases don't scare me at all... I hope that the just do their research and go into the whole vaccination thing informed. When you have an overwhelming urge, instinct, feeling that your daughter will never be the same child she could be if you vaccinated then as a mother you go with that feeling. I went cold and had this feeling. We've never even considered a shot. And my children are completely healthy, no health issues, no behavioral issues, no allergies etc....
I'm sure my brother in law thinks we're horrible parents because of this and because we homeschool! If it's not mainstream we've done it! I'm sure he also thinks the fact that our second was born preemie was somehow our fault too.. but I'm not sure.

On another page... we're contemplating purchasing our first horse/pony.. I can forfeit the money
I'm making at summer camp to pay for a pony and then since we also work every Wednesday at our friends barn most of our monthly fee would be taken care of.. It's something we still have to discuss, my friend and I, (and I'm horrible at talking through things - it's cause terrible problems with my hubbie and I).
We've been there since she took over and for the first year didn't get paid for anything, wouldn't accept payment and wasn't really expecting anything in return.. But now I'm wondering if that shoudn't count for something or if this is just business and we shouldn't get special favors..
My oldest is ecstatic at the thought of a pony and she's been told that she is responsible for helping - I am not buying her a pony - she will be responsible for him and she knows what we're going to expect from her.. We'll see... I'm leaning towards yes because we're the only one's there that don't have a horse and her 2 friends have multiple horses. It's been her dream since she started taking lessons. I would imagine we'll know by the end of the week.

Have a great day!

sarah