Half a trip around the sun

Little Liam in six months old as of yesterday. Of course, he isn't really little. Weighing in at 20 pounds 14(I think) ounces, Little Liam is a chunk. As I consider the past six months, I will remember a few things. You are a boy. I ordered a girl, but I guess there a was a mixup. Labor was horrific. The first ten days were marred by a constant extreme headache, the next two weeks by a dizzying double vision. You wouldn't nap, and cried when we put you down. Finally, after a diagnosis of acid reflux, you started taking medicine and calming down. By four months, you were off the medicine and starting to laugh.
Liam, you are different than your brother and sisters. You do things at a slower pace. You smile (almost) as much as your sisters. Caleb was always serious. You cry rarely, except now that you are teething. I suppose this is a love note of sorts, because I didn't think I would get to have you. I thought those days were over.
I wish I could stay with you all day. I believe in the power of attachment, but I also believe in a roof over our heads. In a way, you are such a lucky kid. Your siblings are much older, and able to properly appreciate watching the new life of a baby unfold. I also sigh to think of you alone with your dad and me, as the other kids move to their own places.
Maybe I will find a way to be the mom at home I want to be, maybe I won't. I can only look forward with hope to what is to come. I worry a bit, because the world can be harsh, I don't tend to feel close to boys. But things can be overcome, and you remind me so much of your father, the gentle man I love.

My hope for you is that you will grow wise and strong. I hope you are caring and can see beyond the material trappings of life and see what matters. I hope you live with passion, tempered by good humor and intelligence.

And I hope you always remember to come home and visit your mom, because the surprise of your spirit lifts my heart and reminds me of secrets still untold.

Want to raise the hits on your page?

Apparently writing about the Nestle Boycott will do it. Geez. Anyway, I am tired today. Oh and sleepy.
Liam woke up at least every hour. This led to interesting, fragmented dreams. In one, poor Liam was crying and crying, and when I went to him, he had a big comforter over his face (in the dream). But in life, he just nursed and went back to sleep. His nose is stuffy and I think that is making it hard for him to sleep. He has his six-month check up today, anyway. Hard to believe he is six months already. I wish I could go to his checkup. Maybe I can leave during my last hour prep. I will check. Nothing to say. All energy is directed elsewhere. Creativity is being used in other arenas of my life.

Do Your Choices Matter

If you are a parent, you should have heard of the Nestle food boycott. This has been going on for at least a decade, since I remember it from when Tierney was a baby. Why a Nestle food boycott?

Baby Milk Marketing "breaks rules"

Hawking Disaster in the Third World

The Nestle Boycott

Boycott Nestlehttp://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2007/10/nestle-burma.html

There is a lot more information out there.
In the past, Nestle has been charged with giving out formula, and touting it as the healthier choice, to poor families in Africa. Just enough formula for mothers to lose their milk. After that, the families were forced to spend a large percentage of their income on formula, hurting the whole family economically.

Companies Nestle has an interest in:



From:
http://www.pledgebank.com/boycottnestle




"Nescafe: alta rica, black gold, blend 37, Cap Columbie, Caro, Coffee Mate, Expresso, Gold Blend, Kenjara, Nescafe Organic, Partner's Blend.

Confectionery: Aero, After Eight, Animal Bar, Baci Chocolate, Black Magic, Dairy Box, Dairy Crunch, Drifer, Fab, Fruit Pastels, Heaven, Jelly Tots, Kit Kat, Kit Kat Crunchy, Lion Bar, Matchmakers, Milky Bar, Munchies, Polo, Quality Street, Rolo, Smarties, Toffee Crisp, Tooty Fruities, Walnut Whip & Yorkie.

Mineral Water: Aqua Panna, Aquarel, Buxton, Perrier, Pow-Wow, San Pellegrino & Vittell.

Cereals: Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Clusters, Sheddies, Fibre1, Fitnesse, Golden Nuggets, Nesquick Cereal & Shredded Wheat.

Pet Foods: Arthur's, Bakers, BETA, Bonio, Felix, Friskies, Go-C
at, Go-Dog, One, Purina, Spillers & Winalot.

Other companies: Bio Therm, The Body Shop, Garnier, Helena Rubenstien, La Roche-Possay, Lancome, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Plénitude & Redken."


Most disturbingly, or inconvenient for parents, Nestle now owns GERBER.


Check out this blog

That said, what can your baby eat in a socially concious manner?
Obviously the easiest answer is make you own (just cook and puree with some water in the blender, super easy.

There are alternative brands, but my baby is fussing, so I will leave that research to you.

Hey! I know what's happening here!

That was the look on Liam's face when I dropped him off at my mom's this morning. Typically, he is all grins when I take him, but this morning, when I set him in my mom's arms, there was a shift-a remembering, and it was evident for the first time, he knew he was being left.
I thought about it as I drove to work. I didn't like it.

A New Project

One thing I would like to try is using recycled wool sweaters to make diaper covers and pants for Liam. I have found a few sites with info on how to do this:


Make Baby Stuff.com

And

How to Make Wool Diaper Covers

It doesn't look too difficult, except I don't have a sewing machine and would need to hand sew the seams. Still, it might be a fun project, and it would be a lot cheaper than buying them on eBay.
The real question is WHEN am I to do this?
So here is the plan:

This week, I will purchase one or two used wool sweaters to start. I will purchase thread and needles and possibly some yarn if I decide to go the drawstring waist route.
Then I will begin making the first next week. Obviously, I have to do my college coursework at some point, so I will have to pace myself. My goal is to have two completed covers (I am leaning towards the long pants, since winter is coming) within one month. Pictures to follow.


I am getting excited.

"Away We Go" and breastfeeding

Last week, Karl and I watched the movie Away We Go in which a couple learn they are having a baby. The start a trek around the country (and Canada) in search of the right place to live and raise their family. At one point, they to, I believe, Madison (Wisconsin, presumably), to meet an old friend of the father. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the extreme attachment parenting mother. Although her character was comical (her seemingly literal fear of strollers), I felt her character was more a caricature than a real attachment parenter. Sure she breastfed, and wore her baby in a sling, and used a family bed, she went overboard. For example, she didn't want to use a stroller because she would be "pushing her child" away from her. That's not it people. It's about doing what comes naturally and keeping baby close in a sling, like the natural world does. Furthermore, although I have my babies sleep with me, I protect them from adult activities I just thought it was a little overboard.

Upon further thought, I am not a good attachment parenter. I use slings for convenience, and I use strollers for convenience. I breastfeed because it's not only healthier but a heck of a lot easier than messing with bottles. And it's free.

I find myself frustrated because I am so...contrary. When someone says they can't breastfeed (especially when they say they can't make enough milk) it irritates me. Noone has enough milk the first week. If you go back to work, of course your milk supply drops if you aren't pumping. You will still have milk as long as you nurse on a fairly regular schedule (unless you get pregnant-mine dried out when I was pregnant with Taryn, but Caleb still nursed anyway). If you run low or the baby hits a growth spurt, it will nurse more often and in 3 or 4 days, you will have more milk. Simple. If we lost our milk so easily, humanity wouldn't have made it this far.
At the same time, it irritates me to no end, when people put people who don't breastfeed down. Yes. I admit, I don't get it. I could say a whole lot on this. But in the end, it isn't up to me what someone else feeds their child. And you know what? Chances are their baby will be just fine.
As breastfeeders, we know we tend to be better educated. We know breastfed babies tend to have higher IQ's. We know how nice it is to snuggle our babies, and know they are alive because of us. But you know what? I will wager a bet that those non-breastfeeders love their babies just as much. Imagine that.

Important Considerations

Children have two parents. When the parents decide they don't get along, the other parent (hopefully) doesn't disappear. He or she continues to influence the children for better or worse. I don't believe in using the internet to air griefs. I think the internet is a tool to share experiences and give and receive information for decision making.


Choose your partner carefully. I was lucky in that my exhusband supported my parenting. He supported breastfeeding, cloth diaper, my staying home. This support was paramount to the success of my children's early years. Unfortunately, we differ in values. Last night, after my daughter made a filthy comment on facebook , that her father had told her, regarding someone she was angry with, I was rudely reminded of this. I can't give her a new parent. She loves her father and he loves her. I can't force him to use positive words. I can't force my worldview on him or her. I can only choose to influence with my methods.

Choose your partner carefully. My current partner uses positive words. He believes in innocence and preserving innocence in childhood. On the other hand, he thinks breastfeeding past a year is weird and cloth diapers are gross. He would like me to stay home (at least in words), but I make more money. I prefer this case. If I buy and wash the cloth diapers, he will use them. If he really wants paper (and I do understand the attraction; they don't leak, they are easy and trim), he can buy it. I will breastfeed past a year. I am the mom, I have the breasts. But I know he won't say crude, shocking comments to my children which ultimately undermine the sexual roles that women play, and make them seem degrading.

Think. Words have immense power over the world. Use them carefully. And again, choose the parent of your children carefully.

Sweetness

There is nothing so sweet as an early morning nursing session and cuddle. I got those cold hands warmed up, and wrapped him snug in a blanket, and I feel ready to face the day. I love having a baby!

Baby Feats

Liam is now at the uncomfortable stage where he flips onto his belly a few seconds after being placed on the floor. Unfortunately, he cannot get back over or go anywhere, and he gets rather fussy. I know I should enjoy this short-lived fussy stage, because next he will be off, and everything will be fair game for his mouth. Meaning we will be sweeping constantly.

As I watch him now, content and hypnotized with a thumb in his mouth and a cozy blanket clenched in his other fat fist, I feel a bit of guilt, that I have succombed to letting him stare at the TV. But I needed a quick break, to write this, and he does love the Teletubbies. A book I read recently, "Einstein Didn't (or never?) Use Flashcards" suggested that shows like Teletubbies and Barney are better for a young person's development than Sesame Street. Thank goodness, because Sesame Street always seemed like it was trying a little too hard to me. Why on earth does a one or two or even three year old need to know letters and numbers?

I know, I know, it's a global economy and a rat race out there, but I am going to raise Liam on the belief that childhood is a precious, short, and special time. If he doesn't learn his letters until four, I am betting his life will still be good. I think when we start pushing our kids we need to stop and think about what we are really pushing for. I am thinking now of my daughter, Taryn. She has recently entered middle school and is struggling a bit more than in elementary. We told of this. I warned her of my own experiences. Elementary is easy if you have a decent amount of natural academic intelligence. Middle school is different. Middle school requires organizational skills and a fair bit of drive and ambition to excel. But when I think of why it worries me so much, it is because, she is my pride. She was the one child I thought would redeem my single mom's aren't a good environment status (not that the others couldn't, they just don't seem interested). But when it comes to her, she wants to be a hairdresser. Taryn has always been interested in the aesthetic, and caretaking. Who am I to push my pride onto her? I don't know.

Today, I sat Liam on the floor before, propped between my legs, and demonstrated how to make sounds on his little wooden xylophone. He reached for the small wooden mallet (?) and immediately smacked himself on the head and then foot. After that, though, he started hitting the instrument with about 60% accuracy (sorry, education is all about data now). As I praised his efforts, I started looking forward with wry amusement. Sometime, in the not so distant future, he will be banging something with pride, and I will wonder-why won't he just be quiet?