Full-Body Airport Scanners

In November, Tait and I will be flying to Dallas for a few days for a business conference. Tait's parents are keeping the boys while we're gone, to enable me to focus on the conference (and have a little alone time with my hubby!).

I did some research, and it looks like Dallas has those new, invasive, immodest, just plain wrong full-body scanners. (I'm obviously not a fan; can you tell?) Apparently, not every one is selected to be digitally undressed, but ... what if I am?

According to my research, you can opt instead for an old-fashioned pat-down - not my favorite idea, but definitely a better alternative.

What have your experiences been with full-body scanners? Have you found any viable alternatives? Any other advice on how to refuse a full-body scan? Have you had any problems refusing one?

List of Airports with Full-Body Scanners

A Boy and His Boots

For some reason, he wanted to take his shirt off and put his boots on this afternoon. That boy's got style! He's pretty good at posing for the camera too. : )

Thank you for the awesome bear boots, Grandma Z!

Sorry about the wadded up tissue in the background. We all have colds now. Oops!

The Best Price for Coconut Oil

Recently, I read through and joined in on a discussion about healthy oils on Kim Coghlan's blog, Life in a Shoe. Many people buy their coconut oil from Mountain Rose Herbs, where it costs $165 for a 5-gallon bucket of organic, unrefined coconut oil. Shipping up here to Alaska is about $80. That puts the cost right around $50 a gallon.

From what I've heard about coconuts, they're not a high-pesticide crop, so the organic aspect isn't all-important. (I tend to concentrate on buying organically the Dirty Dozen foods and highly genetically modified foods, such as corn and wheat.)

Glory Bee Foods has a 5-gallon container of extra virgin, inorganic coconut oil for $153. If I remember correctly, shipping to Alaska was no more than $40, putting the price per gallon at just $38.50 - a saving of almost $12 per gallon (nearly $60 total!) from the Mountain Rose Herbs price!

I split the 5-gallon container of coconut oil with Tait's mom, and we use it for all cooking and frying in our household (except for rare times when butter is preferred) because it is a healthy oil that keeps its stability under high heats. Olive oil gets used for raw foods like salad dressings and such.

The Weston A Price Foundation, Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions, and Lindsay Edmonds' website Passionate Homemaking are all great resources for healthy oils and healthy eating! They all dispel some of the health food myths and politically correct diet ideas that are so prevalent today!

Coming May, 2011!

We were excited to be able to give Miles such an exciting birthday present this year! On his birthday, October 1, we discovered that we have a new little blessing - a future best friend for Little Tait and Miles - due some time in May!

We are so thankful that the Lord has blessed us again!

I'm feeling well - no nausea this time around, which is a welcome change! (My hopes are high that it might indicate a pink baby. ;D) I'm definitely more tired than usual, and am battling some crankiness (sorry Tait and little guys!), but of course it's all worth it! Comparatively easy pregnancies are definitely something to be thankful for!

Haha, I just realized that just because I'm not sick constantly during pregnancy doesn't mean that my pregnancies are "easy"! Honestly, I'd rather battle severe nausea than premature labor!

Please be praying with us that I'm able to take it easy as much as possible, that we don't have to deal with any bedrest, and that this little one arrives much closer to his or her due date than the boys (who were born at 27 and 35 weeks respectively).

Thank you for your prayers!

Are They Boys or Monkeys?

They spent the afternoon climbing up the back the couch to watch the moths (they're the new fascination around here). The Big One also enjoyed crashing down onto the cushions as soon as the top was reached. But Mommy soon put a stop to that, since it definitely seemed to qualify as Furniture Abuse.

And when that ugly old green couch gets replaced with nice "new" leather Craigslist couches, Furniture Abuse will be a very serious offense around here.

Little Tait modeling his new "Camera Smile"

A Big Announcement About Someone Who's Still Very Little

Care to take a guess?

Hmmm ... I Knew Things Were too Quiet!

This is a first. (Not that our bathroom doesn't usually look at least a little messy, but that's the first time an entire roll of toilet paper has been unrolled.)

The weird thing is that his big brother helped him with this one. Little Tait knows that unrolling the toilet paper is off limits, and is very obedient, but sometime when his little brother starts on something, the peer pressure is just too hard to resist.

Might there be a little bit of guilt on that face? : )

Happy Birthday, Mr. Miles!

Yes, one year ago today our second little guy was born! I had been on semi-bedrest since 25 weeks, and we were so thankful, by God's grace, to make it to 35!

We went into the hospital on the morning of last October 1st because of some minor spotting. When they got me hooked up to their monitor, they discovered that I was having fairly strong contractions about every 3 minutes, which was a surprise to me, since I don't feel most of my labor contractions.

Yes, I can see you turning green with envy.

But it's really not a good thing for me, since I'm supposed to check myself into OB Triage as soon I start feeling any out-of-the-ordinary contractions. It's kind of hard to know when to go in if I can't feel anything. You see, I tend to have very early babies, and have to have C-sections each time because of the kind of emergency C-section I had with my first. (So much for all of my homebirth water birth aspirations! But God had other plans....) It's all very complicated, and I won't bore you (or gross you out) with all of the details now. : )

Meeting Miles for the first time, while still on the operating table

Miles was born by scheduled C-section (much more laid back than my emergency C-section!) around 5 that evening. He had some trouble keeping his oxygen saturation up, which meant he couldn't nurse, which meant his blood sugar dropped too low ... which meant he was sent to the NICU. After a 3 month NICU stay with our firstborn, who came by surprise at 27 weeks, we really were not looking forward to another NICU stay. We agreed that our goal was to be out in one week at the most.

In the NICU, hooked up to all of the IV's and machines.
Those scalp IV's are no fun!

By the grace of God, exactly one week later we took Miles home!

Together with his brother at last! : )

Miles is a very happy baby, and such a joy to be around! His outgoing personality and quirky little smiles are a constant source of entertainment! He's a great sleeper, and has been known to sleep the day away more than once or play happily in his crib for hours after waking from a nap (which Mommy doesn't mind, of course). ;D

Little Tait is just 10 1/2 months older than Miles, and Miles loves playing with his big brother! He's picked up a few of Little Tait's favorite words - "fish" and "uh-oh" - in addition to "Mama" and "Dadda." Every time something falls to the floor, Little Tait utters a concerned "uh-oh," and Miles echoes with an adorable, almost subconscious "uh-oh" of his own.

Little Tait is extremely attentive to Miles, and constantly brings him toys, or makes sure he has food.

"No Little Tait, Miles can't eat almonds because he doesn't have any teeth, but thank you so much for sharing with him!"

Little Tait gets very worried when Miles gets into something he shouldn't and comes running to find me with his signature concerned expression (his lips have this adorable way of forming into a little "O" when something scares, bothers, or excites him), pointing in Miles' direction and yelling "Mom! Mom!" to get my attention. : )

I look forward to watching these little guys grow up together as best friends!

A few highlights from Miles' first year....

Meeting his big brother for the first time, a few minutes after he was born

Meeting Great-Grandma Ruth (my paternal grandmother, who is one of the kindest people I know)

Meeting Great-Grandpa "Pop" (my paternal grandfather)

Meeting Great-Grandpa Ed and Great-Grandma Betty (my maternal grandparents)

Playing with and learning from his big brother

Watching the home construction project from the safety of his playpen

Going hiking near Seward with Mommy and Daddy
(photo by Peter Serven)

In his Auntie Ashley's wedding
(photo by Erin)

Meeting Gramps (Tait's maternal grandfather)

Eating rocks on a rocky Alaskan beach near Kachemak Bay

Buried in the sand on a sandy South Carolina beach while visiting the grandparents

Meeting and playing with the Bradrick boys
(Can you believe they're all four looking at the camera? Well, more or less....
And some of them are even smiling!)

Playing outside with his brother in the driveway

Eating dirt, leaves, sticks, and rocks - obviously a favorite activity of his

A few pictures from his birthday (we'll be celebrating Sunday)...

Finding a banana that his brother dropped under the table and subsequently mutilating and eating every single edible bite (the peel wasn't very yummy, apparently)

Ah yes ... the old game of Put-the-Refrigerator-Magnets-in-the-Ice-Cream-Maker, a favorite of theirs!

S'Miles giving one of his engaging smiles during a lunch of pureed spaghetti

Doing his evil eye "sniffy" face - what a ham!

Happy Birthday S'Miles!!!

A little bit of Zimmerman Family Blog Trivia:

The background for the header of this blog was captured on the way into the hospital in Anchorage early on the morning that Miles was born.

The Story of Our 2010 Moose Hunting Season

Dear Moose,

We very much missed the opportunity to meet one of you in person this year. However, now that the season is over, we do look forward to seeing plenty of you out and about, clearly confident that you are safe from the hands of hunters such as ourselves.

Yes, we will watch you from the comfort of our homes as we dine on inferior store-bought beef, mourning our empty pocketbooks and wishing that we had had the privilege of getting up close and personal with you while the season lasted.

Sincerely,
A Disappointed Hunter

Our first hunting trip of the season, back in August, up in the Moose Range

This...

...is why this particular hunting trip was unsuccessful.

Just as we spotted a legal bull, the fog rolled in....

More pictures and stories from Moose Hunting 2010 coming!

The New Profile Pic...

...was taken by Philip Leclerc, of Leclerc Brothers Motion Pictures, on a recent expedition to Exit Glacier.


Over the course of the summer, we've had some visits from a few awesome photographers, who captured some really great photos of our little family, a gorgeous wedding, and the beautiful state of Alaska! I'll work on getting some of those epic pictures up soon! : )