Baby Signs -- the A,B,C's

I have waited a long time to try Baby Signs. I used to babysit about 8 years ago for two girls who signed all the time as toddlers and I knew it was something I'd like to try with my own child. After we had Owen it seemed like a lifetime to wait until they make their first sign (Owen did "dog" at 11 months). After he got the hang of "dog," he began to sign and sign and sign. He probably has 20 or so signs including: dog, cat, hat, head, milk, flower, bird, cheese, shoes, moon, car, truck, train, helicopter, pig, bunny, light, motorcycle, all done, eat, more, airplane, sleep, hurt, banana, what/where and book.

To begin with your child you just keep modeling the signs when you say objects and eventually they begin to pick them up especially when we read books. He seems to learn a new sign everyday now. I could not image Owen at this age without baby signs. He loves to "talk" about everything he sees. It keeps him way less frustrated and happy and I think he really feels like he's part of our world. He doesn't have any spoken words yet but he does "talk" all the time. His sounds are starting to get more consistent but nothing one can really understand yet.

I highly recommend the book Baby Signs and the Baby Signs program. Tami does a Baby Signs class here in Flagstaff but we cannot get enough participants, so if you are interested, drop her a line. I really wanted Owen to take the class because I thought it would be fun, but we are still waiting. :)

I pulled this from the Baby Signs webpage:
Some parents may worry that encouraging their child to use signs might slow down learning to talk. Actually, the opposite is true! Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn's federally funded research showed that using the Baby Signs^® Program actually helps babies learn to talk. They found that 2-year-old Baby Signers had significantly larger verbal vocabularies than their non-signing peers. And by the time they were three years old, the Baby Signers language skills were more like that of 4 years old. Babies gain a lot of language knowledge when they are able to actively engage in communication with signs-knowledge that lays a good foundation for learning to talk. And, just as a child who learns to crawl is more, rather than less, motivated to learn to walk, so also a child who learns to sign is more, rather than less, motivated to learn to talk! More about the benefits here.

I am trying to capture some moment of the Baby Signs, but haven't really taken the assignment seriously. I will try to get a little video together.

Where is Cameron? Speaking of handmade toys...

Some of you lovely people who actually read my blog might be thinking, "where is Cameron?" Cameron is up to her ears in photo editing. I have approximately 9,000 MORE images to edit in the next week.

I promise I'll be active on this blog next year when I figure out this whole "how-to-juggle-your-life-as-you-knew-it-now-turned-upside-down."

Until then, I leave you with this cute photo (shot by Matt) of Owen playing with his GREAT handmade toy from Matt's Uncle Jim (Aunt Phyllis painted all the rocks). It's modeled after a REAL filling station on route 66. Uncle Jim is a real craftsmen. Actually, everyone in Matt's family is an artist of sorts. It's just about the best thing ever!! I included some photos of the artists at work...







One guess how you know this photo was shot by Matt? Take a look...

hummm, Oh, is that a baby on a chair by himself? The other photos had Matt's hand in them just "in case"-- I reminded him that babies shouldn't stand on chairs by themselves. Ah men. They just live a tad more dangerously, eh?

NEW custom blog look!

Yippie! Baby Business, finally got a face lift, thanks to the fabulous Jennisa.

We even have cool signatures... check it out below -- cute eh?

Where's the POOP? baby didn't poop for 5 days

Just wanted to make the note that Owen didn't poop from sometime on Friday until sometime on Tuesday. All was well, but I was worried.

Why? I asked myself did it take 4 days for waste to move through my son's intestines... answer? Just because.

Yes, it was delightful changing urine-filled cloth diapers for DAYS--BUT somehow these small blessings are plagued by the mommy thought

"Where's the poop?"

You have never worried about poop like you when you have a baby. Poop and sleep. Poop and sleep. Hot topics of conversation at playgroup.

So when Kate, (sister and part time nanny -- seriously don't get jealous, 10 hours a week) called from the landing of our house,

"POOP! He pooped." I knew we had reached a new plateau as sisters. We both RUSHED in to change this dirty diaper. The irony was thick. Just a few weeks ago I was dreading changing another poopy diaper and now, I couldn't wait to unsnap that Fuzzi Bunz

She got it. She was worried too... humm, I wonder if she woke up the night prior with a nightmare about poop? I know I did.

At any rate, he pooped. Finally. So don't worry if your baby hasn't pooped. Feel his belly, if it's hard, maybe call your doctor, but if he seems happy, he's probably just processing more slowly for whatever reason.

Teething & Breastfeeding | AAP and Breastfeeding

Owen grew his two first bottom teeth at exactly 4 months. Cutting teeth doesn't seem to bother our boy. One day Matt looked at his gums and said, "hey, honey, our boys is growing teeth." Everyone gives me this horrified look when I tell them I'm still breastfeeding and my boy has teeth. I'll admit, the thought had me a bit worried too. It was simple though, and once again, nature and instinct ruled. When the boy bit me, and he definitely tried out his chompers on my nipple, I simple over-dramatized the "ouch" and he just stopped. I think he did it about 3-4 times the first week they came in and I could tell he was just trying it out and not being spiteful.

I definitely get the "are you still breastfeeding?" question often. I can remember the days when I thought women who breastfeed for a year (or more) were crazed stay-at-home mothers who would never let their kids watch TV, have a girlfriend, or eat non-organic foods. It's not about that, people. There are significant recent studies regarding breastfeeding. The AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics revised their statement about breastfeeding in 2005. Read full article here. You might be surprised to hear that it includes the following: **note I'm pulling this directly out of the above referenced AAP articles.

• Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.
• Mother and infant should sleep in proximity to each other to facilitate breastfeeding;
• Pediatricians should counsel adoptive mothers on the benefits of induced lactation through hormonal therapy or mechanical stimulation.
• Healthy infants should be placed and remain in direct skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately after delivery until the first feeding is accomplished.The alert, healthy newborn infant is capable of latching on to a breast without specific assistance within the first hour after birth. Dry the infant, assign Apgar scores, and perform the initial physical assessment while the infant is with the mother. The mother is an optimal heat source for the infant. Delay weighing, measuring, bathing, needle-sticks, and eye prophylaxis until after the first feeding is completed. Infants affected by maternal medications may require assistance for effective latch-on.Except under unusual circumstances, the newborn infant should remain with the mother throughout the recovery period. (I believe most hospitals take the infant away for Apgar immediately and return the infant in a swaddled blanket; however, remaining skin-to-skin and all above mentioned procedures are the standard of care for most midwives). I found this quite interesting!
  
• There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.
  
• Infants weaned before 12 months of age should not receive cow's milk but should receive iron-fortified infant formula. I am certainly not sold on the cow's milk for a 1 year old. I will do more research in that dept.

I think we've made some strides in the breastfeeding arena. It seems almost everyone I know breastfeed their baby at least for the first few months. However, that is when society begins to turn their nose up (including my uninformed self). We should be CHEERING to hear that woman and baby have made it to 1 year, 2 years or as long as mutually desired by mother and child. Benefits to the baby are numerous including less ear infections, less risk of obesity, bacterial meningitis, allergies and many more...so if you meet a woman who is breastfeeding into her child's first year and beyond, smile at them, and congratulate them on a job well done.

I enjoy our breastfeeding sessions as does Owen. Now that he's six months, Owen is eating solids... and this boy loves to eat. I am making his baby food with some great advice from a great book, a review is in order.

Nursing Clothes; dressing the part.. how to find something cute to wear

um, okay, so you thought dressing for pregnancy was hard? HA! At least for pregnant gals you can roll into Target and pick up a half dozen outfits for $100.00 or even drop $175.00 on fabulous designer pregnancy jeans. Nursing? Now that's a real problem. Let me count the ways...

1) trying to access your breasts in the middle of the night with a squawking newborn after you woke up wondering why in god's name did you sign up for this?
2) trying to access your breasts 12 + times a day-- period.
3) trying to cover your fat gut while access your breasts 12+ times a day...with 10+ visitors a day.
4) having much larger than normal breasts that seem to take up too much room in your cute t-shirts that used to fit fine, which when and if you find one that still fits, you pull it up to nurse, your entire belly shows...beautiful!!
5) attempting to wear a dress because dresses are cool and comfy in summer time-- but seriously you have to pull the whole thing off to access those breasts I was talking about...

You see where I'm going with this? It's hard and let's face it, historically nursing clothes have been, in a word, matronly.

So I struggled through the first 4 months with renewed optimism that I could simply find the things in my closet AKA my *REAL* clothes that fit and wear them nursing. Sounds reasonable, right? I even drew inspiration from my lovely and very accomplished nursing friends who wear regular clothes. I never see their nipples, so why should it be a problem for me?

Despite my enthusiasm for re-discovering clothing that hadn't fit in months, I had the brilliant idea to supplement with a few nursing tank tops and voila all my outfits would be magically turned into ready-to-flop-a-boob-at-any-moment-outfits! Right? Wrong. How many ways can you wear two nursing tank tops? Let me answer that. Many, many, many, ways but eventually, you just want to wear something else... like something that doesn't include the need to wear pants (dreaded waist-ridden garments that dig into your still pooching belly).

I swear if I try on my real jeans ONE MORE time and they don't fit, I'm going to freak.

Answer to my prayers?

Two fold.
1) Get online and order some nursing wear.
2) lose the gut

I mean surely there HAS to be a company out there that services the poor slobs like myself who are trying to give their kid free nourishment while running a photography business. In my hours of pouring over the world wide web I found two decent sites. count them, ONE-TWO. Luckily both were pretty good and I like what I got.

Items I think EVERY nursing mother should own
1) 2 great nursing night gowns
2) 2-4 great nursing tank tops (seriously, they do turn those cardigans into an outfit)
3) a couple nursing dresses. They make these. *hooray* They are wonderful in the summer
4) a few interesting, cute nursing tops... for those times when you HAVE to be in public and you would prefer not to get pulled for indecent exposure.
5) last but NOT least. An arsenal of AWESOME nursing bras. You'll need one larger one to wear at night (these boobs are too heavy to go bare), and a few others. My favorite one is a strapless nursing bra by La Leche League. It allows me some freedom to wear some fun summer tank tops and dresses. Thank you, La Leche League.

Solution #1 Expresssiva and Boob, which I got at Baby Center.com
(I also like my Target nursing tank top for $14.95. I have two Glamour Mom tank tops and well, there are all sorts of internal structure issues that are annoying, but I still wear them).
Solution #2: hit the gym: HARD. Matt and I have been going to the gym first thing in the mornings and Owen enjoys the "nursery" and kids club. I was freaked out at first that he would contract some horrible flu virus, but hey, it's summer. I'm playing the odds.

Circumcision

You want my opinion: here it is...Don't do it. Sorry to offend family and friends who have chosen otherwise, but unless you have a religious purpose to circumcise your boy, it's purely a COSMETIC procedure. You are snipping your boy's genitals, genitals, I might add, that have a purpose. Foreskin actually helps to extract lubrication from the vagina to make sexual intercourse easier. Sounds good, right ladies? There is all this "old" poppycock about the penis staying cleaner with the foreskin removed. If you can teach your child to clean behind his ears, he can clean his penis. How about the "I want my boy to look like me" argument. Seriously? Would you detach his earlobes surgically if yours were detached and his were attached? What about the "I don't want my son to be teased in high school/college"- Thirty years ago, up to 90% of American newborn baby boys were circumcised; currently, around 60% are circumcised. On the west coast, this figure has gone as low as 40%, and in parts of Canada, 25% and less. Worldwide, the uncircumcised penis is clearly the norm: 85% of the world's male population has "intact" (uncircumcised) penises.

In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement that says the benefits aren't strong enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns. Today, the AAP leaves the decision up to parents — and supports use of pain relief for infants who have the procedure.

If you choose not to have your son circumcised, simply wash your son's penis with soap and water during each bath. There's no need to clean beneath the foreskin until it retracts on its own, often by age 5. Then teach your son to clean beneath the foreskin during each bath — gently pull back the foreskin, clean the area with soap and water, rinse and pull the foreskin back over the head of the penis. After each bath, pull back the foreskin again to dry the area.

Please read this article for a really good unbiased facts including the history of circumcision.

American Consumerism

I hate stuff. I like to reuse things. I hate lots of trash. I love this video about The Story of Stuff. Please click here to watch a great video that explains why I live in a small town that cares about the environment.

Here are 10 things you can do.

I can say honestly that I do the following religiously... I use my own bags at the grocery store, use my own coffee mug at the coffee shop (or ask for a mug 'for here'), ask at restaurants for tin foil instead of a "to-go" box of Styrofoam (if you know me, you know I HATE Styrofoam), I use cloth diapers and biodegradable diapers, I power down my computer and unplug unnecessary devices, buy local foods, I don't shop at Wal-Mart and I recycle glass and electronics, plastics and paper. Oh and when possible I support green companies like Patagonia, ship everything GROUND instead of overnight, live in a community where I can use alternative transportation: ride my bike and walk.

Things I should do: get a compost bin and compost food (every gardener should have one), buy an outdoor laundry line, purchase used clothing, get a plug-in hybrid vehicle, have an awesome garden with my own veggies, install solar panels in my home and have a rain water collection system.

Things I do that I know are bad that I try to do less of: fly in airplanes, use my car, buy things at big box stores, ship express packages, replace electronics and vehicles.

If we all try really hard, we can change things, slowly.

Vaccines, Innoculation and the TRUTH

Okay so Owen had his 2 month check up. He's 11 pounds 3 oz (naked) and 23.5 inches. That's 50% for weight and 75% for height. He's a growing boy!

Since we had a home birth, Owen didn't get the hep-B shot that hospitals give babies at birth (we also opted out of the eye ointment, the Vitamin K shot and he's not circumcised just to bring you up to speed). I need to write a post about circumcision.. I will. So we are just now crossing the vaccination bridge. Oh what a bridge it is! I am diving in head first into both sides of this gnarly issue. Man, parenting is really cutting into my pleasure book reading time. Our doctor will let us make our own decision about the vaccinations so long as I'm informed. Our state will allows parents to opt out of vaccination.

So I went to the 2 month appointment pretty sure I was going to do the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) and Hib (nasty new meningitis: infections of blood, brain joints or lungs). I couldn't do any of them, Yet. I'm definitely caught between a rock and a hard place on this issue. I don't want Owen to be a public health risk nor do I want him to die of the measles but I have to do more research before injecting my son with all sorts of random medical acronyms. I just can't ignore some personal accounts I've read and heard. I just can't take the FDA and CDC at face value. Everyone has a motive, right? Hopefully the conclusion will be that FDA and CDC has the best intentions in mind for my son, right? I know it's way more complicated than that. Where vaccines are concerned, big drug companies are making a huge profit when their vaccine makes it to the "must-have" list, right? Where money can be made, greed will flourish, when greed is flourishing the bottom line is not what's really truly BEST for my son, or yours, but rather what's best for someone else's pocket. Money, I believe, is the root of all evil, so with that in mind, I must dig deeper and find out the advantages and disadvantages to both sides. If anyone has opinions or resources, please, let's get this conversation started. I just believe deep down this industry is reactive instead of proactive. That's it's history, anyway. You can't dispute that. It's hard to know what epidurals, ultrasounds, mercury and increased inoculations have done to our kids until a generation or TWO or THREE have gone by. It seems that we have eradicated polio, measles and much much more. What a public health success story! Then again, we have new strains of old diseases and many more cases of Autism and ADD/ADHD and more. Oh, but maybe they weren't "counting" the cases of Autism property before recent times. Okay, then, where are all the Autistic adults? Don't eat tuna when you are pregnant but it's perfectly safe to shoot your 8 lb baby up with mercury laced vaccines. Something is fishy here and I intend to find some truth, maybe not the whole truth, but enough truth to make a decision. Stay tuned....
Read this: Origins of the Autism Epidemic
or
MSNBC article
or
What to Know
or
CDC website
or
FDA website recalls
or
FDA vaccine info

Change is constant | BE FLEXIBLE and you can win the lottery

Today I feel like I won the lottery. First, Owen slept a 5.5 hour stretch last night and only woke up twice ( if you count 4:45AM, which I do) Yippie. He also put himself to sleep with wide awake eyes this afternoon.

I wanted to write a quick post that if something isn't working with your child, try, try again. Babies and kids change so fast, so you never know. I'm a huge believer in "if it didn't work this week, try it again next week." So today, we were out taking more photos with KDI studio (she had an intern in town and offered to have the intern shoot Owen for free) sooo we were NOT following his normal morning routine. I was thinking it was going to end in disaster, but I was willing to push it and be flexible.
Which brings me to my next point, BE FLEXIBLE. If something interrupts your schedule for the day, GO WITH IT... just get back on your schedule the next day (just don't do it every day, right?). So he had been up for 2 hours and I was just so SURE he was going to scream bloody murder any second and especially when I put him the car seat to go home. Instead I nursed him off his 3 hour schedule and he fell asleep during the photo shoot on my shoulder, something I haven't allowed to happen in a LONG TIME, that is, if you consider 3 weeks a long time. So, I put him in the car seat and, of course he woke up, but was just sitting there sweetly. So then I'm thinking "great, he'll scream when we get to the car." Nope! He was fine all the way home, mind you, he didn't sleep in the car seat, but I got him home, changed his diaper and then he seemed wide awake... so I put him down in his crib (of course on his belly) and he's looking at me with big eyes, so I'm thinking, "GREAT, now he's going to scream bloody murder and only get a 15 minute nap on my shoulder and my day will be a hellish cycle of an overtired baby trying to catch up. Nope. He put himself to sleep. Yes, you heard it here first, he talked himself back to sleep at 10 weeks old. I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true. Now, yes, he's been working on this skill and admittedly, he has been drowsy but awake when I've put him down in the past, but he hasn't been WIDE EYED and bushy tailed. I stuck to my guns, though, and crossed my fingers and I shut the door. I knew he was tired and I guess he knew it too. He didn't even whimper, just goo goo ga ga, and then boom ASLEEP. I'll relish in this moment, thank you very much-- why? Because it could be different next week, so I'll remind myself to take my own advice, change is constant with babies and kids.

Baby hates car seat

Now I know every other parent in the U.S. is able to drive his/her child around the block and the baby just gets drowsier and drowsier and falls asleep. Not mine. He loathes the car seat. Owen cries the entire time he's in the car (okay that's an exaggeration, 90% of the time). I did another test today (just for giggles) and he cried for 15 minutes, which was the whole car ride. It's hard to hear him back there wailing so we don't get in the car much. My new strategy is to purchase the car seat adapter that is available for my stroller and begin breaking him in with that (he doesn't EXACTLY love the stroller either). Ah Owen... We did have some groundbreaking moments in the stroller yesterday and today. I can put him in the bassinet part on his tummy and he sleeps then when he wakes up, I roll him onto his back and he's happy (or hungry). If you aren't privy to the fabulous stroller I own, check it out at Uppa Baby.

Remind yourself that we live in a downtown community where I can walk to the doctor, hair appointments, dentist, bank, grocery, etc. etc. Thus the stroller is essential to Owen's portability. The car; however, is not. He didn't even ride home in the car from the hospital since we had a a home birth.

My experiments will continue. I am told they "grow out of this" but it's seriously limiting for a Mom and Dad who like to go on adventures that are usually further than walking distance away.

I have found the positive in this. Owen sleeps well in his crib and is getting lots of great non-motion sleep that all the experts say he needs. FYI: sleeping in car seats while they are in motion is poor sleep according to all the experts I've read. They recommend keeping your errands to the late afternoon or at least only once a day, but infants who sleep exclusively in their car seats are NOT getting proper deep restorative sleep. Good thing I'm accustomed to working from home and spending lots of time in our house. Good thing I love our house. Good think we live downtown.

Swimming during Pregnancy, Birth, and make the Olympic Team?

If anyone thinks I exercised a lot during pregnancy, how about training for the Olympics? My new hero, Dara Torres, did swimming workouts during her pregnancy and will attempt to make the Olympic team, AGAIN but this time with a 3 1/2 month old. Oh yeah, and Torres is 40 years old. Please, if you want to feel inspired, read this article. Just for your information when I was 7 years old I could swim 25 meters in 20 seconds allowing me to be make the "B" meet. My best friend, Kathleen, could swim it in 19 seconds. Dara Torres does 50 meters in 24:63 seconds. Thanks to Karla, my sister-in-law, for sending me this article.

In my "Mommy exercise news," which seems to pale in comparison, I completed my first mountain bike ride yesterday: 1 hour 45 minutes. YEE HAW! It was the inaugural ride on my custom made Coconico bike, which is pink, thank you very much. It felt great to feel the cool Flagstaff mountain air rushing through my lungs again. I was smiling the whole time. Owen slept at home while Mommy got to stretch her lungs, I mean legs. I can feel the residual fat melting away. On a weigh loss note... I'm down to somewhere around 145-147 pounds. I don't have a scale but occasionally stop by the midwifery to weigh myself (it's 3 blocks away). I have lost approximately 33 pounds in 8 weeks! I assure you I haven't done anything special to accomplish this. I have been walking about one hour a day maybe 3-4 times a week. My "usual" weight is about 135lbs, so I've got 10 pounds to go (I was 140 when I got pregnant, which is WHY I got pregnant but we won't get into that). I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to get back to teaching spinning (indoor cycling) but perhaps in July I'll be ready to put the mic back on. It depends on if Owen can handle the nursery and if it fits with his schedule.

Bottle update: Owen is still fighting it but I have another short wedding on Saturday (my last until June 6). I just got a Playtex drop in style, so we'll try that one today. I've spent a small fortune on bottles.

Sleep update: Owen is now sleeping 3-4 hour stretches at night. Yippie. Ex: down at 7:45, up at 11:45PM, down at 12:00 up at 3:30, down at 3:50 up at 6:30. He did wake at 1AM but Matt put him back down quickly and quietly. I accomplished this by focusing on Owen taking a full feeding on a single breast each nursing and having quality daytime naps. For nursing: 12-18 minutes each time. I have always done single side nursing to avoid the extra lactose (can make for colicky babies) that is found in the 'fore milk*,' but hadn't been watching the clock or him closely enough. Now I try to offer the breast to him until he's at least reached 10 minutes and usually he'll go for an extra 2-8 minutes. This affords him the 'hind' milk, which is rich in fat, proteins and apparently stuff that makes them sleepy. I also focus on nursing when he awakes from a nap during the day and conclude the session with playtime, so that he's more tired when he goes down for a nap, thus he naps longer.

* if you didn't know, one of the most amazing things about breast milk is that it's composition not only changes as the baby gets older, (ie: milk for a 6 week old baby is totally different than milk for a 3 month old baby) it changes as the baby is nursing. First comes the fore milk, which is mostly water, next up is the richer creamy hind milk, which has more protein and fat. If you find your baby gets hungry quickly, you might focus on single side nursing with some burping or diaper changing to keep him alert. You can witness this phenomenon by expressing some milk. If you cannot see the difference with your own eyes during expression, try refrigerating it and you'll see the hind milk separate and rise to the top. Note how much time it took to express that milk and you might have a guideline about how long your baby should nurse. Take into consideration how the pump relates to your baby's suck.

When Mommy's Mommy is here

My Mom is here for a week, and it's been great and she's only been here two days. I've already learned so much from her. She is a wiz with kids and babies and reminded me of my baby manners. I forgot that they just want to play with you.

1) Babies love to hear you talk to them. Talk to them all the time when they are awake
2) Get closer-- babies have bad eye sight but they can focus at closer distances. Little Owen loves it when I get really close and talk right to him.
3) When they are crying, pay attention and begin to identify different cries and what they mean.
4) Sing to them -- oh boy does my Mom have some great songs for Owen and he loves them. I've been singing the Sound of Music and South Pacific to him... because I know all the old musical tunes by heart.

This visit with my Mom reminded me that we've lost touch with our families as a society. It used to be that your Mom, sister, neighbor and grandmother came over and helped you with baby. They made you dinner, cleaned your house and let you nap...and they lived just a phone call away. Now we have lactation consultations, bouncy chairs, swings and car seats. As a result, we all spend less time around babies and have lost the art of "babytalk." I think we even forgot how to put the baby on the floor on a blanket and let them be entertained by your voice. It's kinda funny when you think about it, all the products and gizmos on the market now to "help" the modern Mom. Luckily my family has come in waves, one week Matt's Mom, next week my Dad and now my Mom is here. It's been nice to have the help and lucky for me, my sister Kate lives around the corner. Good friends are the new "family" for most new Moms...

Tiá Kate

The look on Matt's face is priceless (Owen is crying)

typical morning: laptop, Owen in Moby wrap chatting with sis..

too bad I cut off her neck...

TUMMY TIME: look at that great head control!
(I love that my Mom is wearing my old Grateful Dead t-shirt, it make her look like a hippie Mom)

gDiapers : environmentally friendly diapers

Okay so on my personal quest to find the best diaper solution for my child... I've tried a lot (even Pampers the first week-- even though they are OUT of the question). My favorite solution so far is gDiapers. Why? Well most Americans are spending lots of CASH o-la on disposable diapers, why not invest in a few 'little g' diaper covers and call it a day? PLUS... you are doing great things for our environment. These diapers are flushable and ACTUALLY compost-able. I really like them, they are cute, they seem to fit Owen comfortably and they work well. Right now I just have a starter kit but am planning to have a bigger supply when he sizes up to medium.

Check out this amazing segment on Good Morning America about
Americans' huge human footprint (gDiapers included in the tips to
reduce one's footprint!) Elizabeth Vargas, from "20/20" and "National
Geographic", shows the impact of 18 billion disposable diapers with
fantastic visuals here:

Watch the story Friday on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET. You can also see the
premiere of the "Human Footprint" on the National Geographic Channel
Sunday, April 13th. And if you have any free time after the bub's go
to bed, you must visit their interactive site to view the data and
awesome animation. Very impressive and definitely thought provoking.

Loving Hands, Calm Minds and Sleeping Babies

I just read the book (it takes about an hour to read it) Loving Hands: The Traditional Art of Baby Massage by Frederick Leboyer. The concept of baby massage is that it will help soothe the baby and release any tension in the baby's body and of course that it will be a good bonding time for mother and child--keeping them connected as a unit. I'm sure Daddy could do it as well. I used this technique before bed last night and I thought I'd try to do it regularly each week or as often as possible. The book notes that baby massage should start around the age of 4 week and Owen is 4 weeks this weekend, we are going to try to get into this routine.

Right at this moment our child is swaddled up sleeping in his swing listening to our "Sounds from the Womb" record from the late 70's. This is after I vacuumed the carpet to put him into a calm state. We got these great ideas from reading (and watching the video) The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. This book has been an enormous help (Thank you Jenni for giving it to me) In fact, I think all new parents should check out Dr. Karp's five S's outlined in his book. They are: 1) swaddling 2) side-lying position 3)shhh's 4)swinging and 5) sucking. Karp claims (as many professionals have hypothesized) that the first three months of a newborn's life should really be considered the 4th trimester. In other words, your baby is really still a fetus and needs to have the "comforts of home" which is where the five S's come in handy. The swaddling helps make them feel tight and secured like they were in your womb, the side lying position is just more comfortable and offers a natural calming reflex than their back (back is still safer for sleeping), the shhhhh sound is similar to what they heard in the womb, which happens to be as loud as a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer (Owen loves both noises), swinging imitates the constant motion they felt for 40 weeks and sucking is a natural calming reflex, like the icing on the cake. Swaddling alone doesn't help Owen relax, he has to have about 3 of the S's to really calm down, his favorite being white noise which stops his crying immediately. We have him sleep with a constant white noise machine that makes a hissing sound (supposed to be rain) and I think it helps Matt and Kaibee sleep better too! The first couple of weeks it seems like Owen cried a lot each time he was awake and I wanted to soothe him but it seemed like nothing worked. The reality is most newborns cry often. All they are capable of is pooping, crying and sucking. It isn't until three months that they even have control of their hands and legs... so for all practical purposes I treat Owen as if he's still inside me-- he needs a lot of holding, nursing, cuddling and calming. The techniques we learned from Dr. Karp's book and his video work like a charm-- REALLY. Additionally, it was important to burp him vigorously and he enjoys the pat, pat, thump thump style on his back as a calming method. Owen sleeps 3-4 hours in his bassinet the first time I put him down, I nurse him, burp him, change him then he sleeps 2-3 hours with me each additional time I put him down until morning arrives. When he seems really relaxed, I can put him back into the bassinet. Since I can nurse in the side-lying position with him, it's easy to take him to bed with me. If he's sleeping with me, I just dress him in a onsie but if he's sleeping in the bassinet I usually swaddle him. As with any advice, you must take it with a grain of salt. I don't like to swaddle Owen each time he goes to sleep, I prefer to wear him in either his Moby Wrap , sling, or put him in his bassinet without being swaddled. I guess I don't want him to get used to any one thing too much. Flexibility is key!!

Cloth diapers: a brief (HA HA) manifesto

I haven't posted here in so long; I've just been enjoying reading about Cameron's amazing journey. Let's all give the lady a hand, hear hear! (Clap, clap, clap, etc.)

OK, let's talk about cloth diapers.

Science will tell you that cloth diapers are better than disposable for the environment. This is a fact; look it up. If you find research to the contrary, keep in mind that it was, with absolute certainty, funded by diaper-making companies. This is also a fact.

Now, I know this, and yet I myself have used (and still do, sometimes) disposable diapers. No one is perfect. And the kind of diapers you use has nothing to do with whether you are an excellent mother. But if you are interested in cloth diapering, I thought I’d share what I’ve found out through personal experience (especially since a few people have been asking me cloth diapering advice lately).

Fending off the well-intentioned
I’ve heard a lot of stories from other mamas and friends of mamas about well-meaning family members trying to dissuade them from using cloth diapers. It makes sense when you think about it: everyone wants a new mom to be well-rested (HA HA HA) and happy (HO HO HO), so they encourage her to keep things easy, uncomplicated. Something these folks might not realize is that cloth diapering is a totally different story from the days of our mothers and grandmothers—or even diapering moms 10 years ago. It’s positively easy these days. The level of ease varies depending on what kind of diapers you use (keep reading!), but all in all, it’s not so hard when you get the hang of it.

A rainbow of butt coverings
If you get into cloth diapering to save money (as I did), stick with the basics: cotton pre-folds and covers. Pins aren’t necessary any more with the invention of the blessed Snappi; and that might not even be necessary with certain snap-on/Velcro covers (as opposed to pull-up covers; think underwear, more or less).

If you have a bit more dough and are primarily interested with ease, consider pocket diapers (with removable inserts, such as Fuzzi-Bunz) or all-in-ones (just what it sounds like – no inserts, just one solid piece of diaper, such as bumGenius).

Personally, I scored a small army of Fuzzi-Bunz second-hand, which is a great way to ease into cloth-diapering. But (maybe because they were second-hand), Tommy would get more rashes with them, and so I generally stick to pre-folds. For covers, I’ve both inherited and hand-knit a few pull-on covers (sometimes called “soakers”) that I use with a Snappi. I also use Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, no Snappi needed. (Don’t you love those brand names?)

What about poop?
Ah, yes indeed, what about it. Well, my friends, once babies start eating solids, their poop correspondingly gets solid. Shake that mess in the toilet, man. I keep a small bucket next to the changing table to facilitate trips to the bathroom. Easy-peasy.

Washing
If money is no object, consider a diaper service near you. The one where I live supplies diapers (but not covers) and a handy diaper pail (for, like, $12 extra or something). It’s so easy: once a week, you leave the dirty diaper pail outside near your door, they come by and empty it and leave a pack of clean diapers. The price is comparable to buying name-brand disposables.

I choose to wash diapers at home, again to save money. It is not nearly as gross as you think. I use Charlie’s Soap for this (and for all of our laundry – super cheap when you work out how many loads you get from one bag). The diapers pre-soak in cold water, go through a hot/cold cycle, and then an extra rinse. Some people add baking soda and/or vinegar for extra freshness (or to get rid of yeast); recipes and methods abound online.

I happen to live in an area that’s been hit with a historic drought. We save water like insane people preparing for the apocalypse otherwise, but that does bring me to…

Drought: A word on composting and E.C.
I’ve tried and enjoyed gDiapers, which are basically cloth covers with a plastic liner, in which you snap inserts that can be flushed or composted (the ones that aren’t poopy, and don’t have diaper ointment on them). They’re too expensive for us to use them regularly, but the upside is I use those cloth covers constantly with regular cotton pre-folds.

I’ve never had the gumption to try Elimination Communication, which involves no diapers at all – but I personally know women in real life who use and swear by this method.

My own experience
To be honest, I hated cloth diapers at first. I just didn’t get it, and part of it was my hang-up in those early days of parenting that there was a Right Way to do things and a Wrong Way. I couldn’t figure out how to fold the diapers the Right Way or use the covers the Right Way. Later I realized that there is no Right Way or Wrong Way, just Your Way. I have since come up with various ways of folding and snapping that suit our needs well. Learn to embrace deviation and invention, if you can. That might be the hardest part of all.

We still use disposables, as I mentioned — Tommy seems prone to eczema and other rashy episodes, so putting them on at night and while traveling really helps. There are days where we use only cloth diapers, and days where I go through far too many disposables. I figure that anything we can do to reduce waste is helpful, and the goal is to do your best.

Diapers: the cloth episodes

So I am determined NOT to fill the landfill with poopy Pampers. The first two weeks we went through like 150 diapers or something insane. Yes, they wick moisture like the dickens and yes, they are fairly Daddy friendly. Yes, it's easy to toss them in a bag, snap up the onsie and call it a day; however, is this really what's best for the environment, my baby's bottom and most of all my guilty conscience? Nope!
In my noble quest, however, there is a bit of a learning curve and lots of pee on my shirts. I think I've got it now, thanks to my friend Aurora who came over yesterday and helped me learn the ancient art of "pre-folding" diapers. Now the term pre-fold is a bit like clipless bike pedals. Both terms don't make any sense considering the actual application of the item is the opposite of the name itself. The diapers are NOT pre-folded.. YOU have to fold them. The pedals are not clipless-- they indeed have clips. Anywhooo, I digress...the big innovation in diapers in the last 35 years is a little do-dad called a snappy. Yes, snappy is my friend. He holds the diaper in place instead of pins. Pins are for the birds but snappy is for Cameron and the modern mommy. Anyway, so Owen is wearing cute little cloth diapers with a wool cover. They get wet but we change him approximately 2,000 times in one day so it doesn't matter. I would love to hear other reviews and comments about cloth diapers (even though I know no one reads my blog besides my family... one can dream, right)...

GREEN SMOOTHIES

OH oh, I've got to tell you about GREEN smoothies... they are the best. I've been eating so much Kale and collard greens it's ridiculous. I read this book, Green for Life, which talks about all the benefits of green leafy vegetables and how we humans don't eat enough ... so the magic solution, because otherwise greens require cooking, which can lead to losing some nutrition, is to blend 4-5 leaves of any green (kale, collards, dandelions, romaine, spinach, NOT arugula) up in a blender with 8 oz juice + 2-4 oz water, (juice like apple, orange, grape-- preferably something without added sugars) and then add 1-2 bananas and slowly add 1-2 other pieces of fruit: mango, apple, kiwi, orange, pineapple whatever OR (1/2 cup to 1 cup frozen berries), it will appear green but taste like bananas and strawberries AND you are getting all the amino acids of GREEN leafy vegetables, which helps digestion, bowels, REDUCES GRAY HAIR, defies aging and promotes increased stomach acid and has helped people to have more energy and less craving for bad foods. The trick is to change your vegetables daily and mix up your fruits. Too much spinach or anything is never a good thing. Kate & Norm and Matt & I drink at least one a day, 16 oz, if not 32 oz. This way you never have to eat greens. It's great for kids, but start them slow because it can mess up their digestive systems if you add too much greens too fast. Sometimes kids want it to taste a little sweeter so I add a teaspoon or more of agave nectar (it's got way less glycemic index) or maple syrup. I have it for breakfast and it's quick, easy, portable and CHEAP. You can make them at night, shake them up in the AM and they are ready to go. They will keep 1-2 days in the fridge. TRY IT!! I'll post a photo.

The Business of Being Born

BACK BLOGGING: We saw a great documentary film called "The Business of Being Born." It was shown to a sold out audience in the downtown Flagstaff theater, the Orpheum. It was about the current business of birth in the US. It focused on the alarming rate of C-sections in this country and the general OB practices that are going on in the US today and how that compares to other 1st world countries (without ruing the film for you, we spend more money per birth than UK, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, France and yet have 2nd WORST infant mortality rate). I recommend everyone see it. It was the only film which received a standing ovation at the Tribecca Film Festival in NYC recently. In Manhattan hospitals alone, c-sections have reached an alarming rate of 40-46%. In most other developed countries in the world the rate is less than 12% I knew all the stats in the film because I've done a lot of research on American birth but it was great because they also showed 3-4 home births, all of which were amazing to see. I have seen a live birth 2 years ago when our neighbor delivered at home. It truly was the miracle of life. **Note** Let it be known that every woman who gave birth at home complained in the footage how painful it was (and thereby questioned their decision and ability) but each triumphed in her own way and it seemed like a neat experience. Matt and I were glad we went. If you have Netflix you can save it now and watch it when it's released. You can view the trailer here: Check out their website HERE