Filed under: Birth announcement, Midwives, Will

The latest addition to my family arrived today at 1:02pm. She weighed in at 8lb 4oz. The birth was great. We (My wife) opted for a natural child birth this time around. It was a great experience. I got to support her through the process and Killian was never swept away from us by a grumpy nurse. Our midwife Didi was awesome. She definitely knows what she's doing. Every time she left the room she gave me some helpful guidance. The birth was really fast! In fact, just a few hours after the birth we were back home. My dog was pretty curious about the new baby. She was excited, but showed enough brains to be careful around the new arrival. We're all pretty whipped, but everyone is doing great. I'll try to write more about the experience later, but for now I've got stuff to do.

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Filed under: Feeding & Nutrition, Pregnancy and Birth

With everything expectant mothers need to be concerned about during pregnancy, taking vitamin E and zinc may not leap out as an important topic. Yet, according to an article in the current issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, it could be. The authors had previously reported an association between reduced maternal vitamin E intake during pregnancy and Maternal nutrient status was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire and plasma levels. Respiratory and food frequency questionnaires were completed at 5 years and children were invited for measurement of spirometry and skin-prick testing. In the current study, they scientists assessed whether maternal nutrient intake during pregnancy is associated with asthma-related outcomes in children aged 5 years old. Results indicated that in 5-year-old children, maternal vitamin E intake during pregnancy was negatively associated with wheeze in previous year, asthma ever, asthma and wheeze in previous year, and persistent wheezing. Maternal zinc intake during pregnancy was also negatively associated with asthma ever and active asthma. There were no associations between children's nutrient intake and respiratory outcomes. The experimenters concluded that maternal intake of foods containing vitamin E and zinc during pregnancy is associated with differences in the risks of developing childhood wheeze and asthma.

If allergies and asthma run in your family, you may wish to monitor your taking of vitamin E and zinc during your next pregnancy.

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Filed under: Feeding & Nutrition, Gear, Lifestyle, Media, Moms

Often in your attempt to make certain your baby and other family members eat right, you forget about your own diet. This is understandable given the time you need to take care of your new child. Many new mothers, however, may ignore their own eating habits. An article today on HealthDay news described the importance of fiber to a diet. As reported, fiber has been shown to help lower cholesterol, and reduce risks of heart disease and diabetes. An important part of a healthy diet, fiber can be found in many types of foods and is available in supplement form. Suggestions on how to improve your fiber intake, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

• Eat at least 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables each day. Some foods that are high in fiber are: apples, oranges, berries, pears, broccoli, carrots, beans, green peas and cauliflower.
  
• Eat whole grain or whole wheat bread instead of white, and substitute brown rice for white rice. Include bran muffins, oatmeal and multigrain cereals in your diet. Anything whole wheat or whole grain should be a good source of fiber.
  
• Eat a bran cereal for breakfast -- but check the label to make sure it contains plenty of fiber. Try mixing wheat bran with other foods, particularly in dishes that will be baked.
  
• Eat cooked beans frequently.

It's not easy trying to eat right once you become a mother. As a mother your concerns are focused on the nutritional needs of another person and all too often your needs get pushed aside in those efforts. How do you manage? Do you eat a balanced diet or do you find yourself snacking on Frosted Flakes all day long?

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Filed under: Lifestyle

I read about, and was really impressed by, Sarah's family's decision to go carless.

Recently, my husband's car broke down, and fixing it right away is not in our budget. Well, I thought, maybe we can live with just one car. It's nicer to the planet, and think of the money we'd save!

In order to make it work, I'd have to drive John to work and pick him up everyday. Public transit is out, since his workplace is up one windy mountain highway and then further up a tiny winding mountain road. No buses run there, and I really don't want him biking; it's too dangerous. I need the minivan during the day to get the kids to and from schools and doctor visits and the occasional fun outing.

We started the experiment Tuesday, and I am already crying uncle. Getting everyone out of the house together in the morning was a pain, but I expected that. What I didn't consider was that my five year old would have to make both trips with me, putting her in the car for a minimum of two hours each day. On the way to get Papa in the late afternoon, she and her brother both got queasy. Winding mountain roads, you know. Nobody wanted to go anywhere when 4:40 rolled around, so besides the carsickness there was nearly a mutiny!

All during the drive I found myself thinking creatively about our finances. Would the mechanic be interested in trading work for babysitting?

Could you live without your car? Or with just one car to share with your partner?

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Toys

Wild Planet Toys Inc., of San Francisco, California, in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is voluntarily recalling their Jet Streamers(tm) Water Blasters Pool Toys. When partially filled with water, the pool toy can stand upright on the pool floor with the rigid narrow end pointed upward. In this position, the toys could impale children playing in or jumping into the water. Wild Planet has received one report of an impalement injury to an 8-year-old girl who landed on a Jet Streamer left in a swimming pool and received a puncture wound.

The Jet Streamers(tm) Outdoor Antics! Pump-Action Water Blasters are straight squirt guns for the pool. The Jet Streamers measure 9-inches long with a bulbous water reservoir at one end and a rigid tapering handle at the other end. The tapering handle is gray while the water reservoir is either white/green, blue/yellow or orange/silver. Tiny raised lettering on the Jet Streamers' handles state, "(c)2002 Wild Planet Toys, San Francisco, CA, USA, Made in China." The toys were sold as a 2-pack set, in packages with other pool toys, such as dive balls and magnet dive gloves, and with boys' swim trunks.

The toys were sold at Target, Kohl's, internet retailers, discount department stores and toy stores nationwide from February 2003 through August 2006 for between $6 and $13 a set. If you have some of these, stop using them immediately and remove them from the pool area. Contact Wild Planet for a replacement with an angled handle that prevents it from standing upright. For more information, contact Wild Planet Toys at (800) 247-6570 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, e-mail the company at help@wildplanet.com, or visit the firm's Web site.

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Filed under: Child Development, Lifestyle, 4 years

Since my husband is often away on business trips, our family has never been able to have a morning routine. And I know sometimes it is hard for our sons. There are a lot of last-minute changes and consequently, we are either running behind schedule and/or very stressed. I would like to give my children more consistency, more quality time and attention in the morning before they go to school, but I don't know how.

I read about the "Breakfast Club" this morning: "each morning after everyone is dressed, fed and chores are completed, they may enter the Club. Most mornings the Club consists of a rousing game of Crazy 8's, other mornings a simple art project or special book to be read. But whatever it is, the Breakfast Club has worked magic on our morning routine. " I think it's a wonderful idea.

What's your morning routine like? What works best for your family?

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Filed under: Gear

Bathtime is one of Nolan's favourite times of day, but not mine. Even though I change into shorts and a tattered tank top, I still emerge at the end of the 15 minutes covered with water, soap, and (since we often feed Nolan in the bath - it saves me and my kitchen) various foodstuffs.

Our routine is bath, story, and bed, and by the time I scoop Nolan out of the tub, change him, and put him to bed, I am too exhausted to pick up the remaining shrapnel in the tub, which includes but is not limited to:
1) Plastic toys
2) Soap
3) Baby cloth dispensers
4) Tupperware
5) Perhaps a little leaked poop. (not all the time, though, really)

So when I saw this little device, I thought, excellent.

The Frog Pod helps with children's bath time clean-up, with trainable scoop for collecting and rinsing toys and a wall-mounted base for storing bath products.

It attaches semi-permanently to virtually any bathtub wall with adhesive strips that can be removed without harming tile or wall surfaces. Plus, it's very cute! Who doesn't like a frog!

The Frog Pod and other Boon items can be found in various retail stores, search able here.

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Filed under: Blogging Baby Laughs, Sean

We all know that kids say the funniest things. Every day, my sons say or do something very small yet so spiritedly ridiculous it draws a smile on my face even during the hardest times. I believe these are the moments that most count, and that I want to remember for the rest of my life.

Sean: "Oh no mommy, look at all those people one behind the other!"

Me: "Yes, there are a lot of people, we'll have to wait for a bit"

Sean: "No! I don't want to wait!"

Me: "We have to wait Sean, I know you're tired but we have to wait and pay before we go"

Sean: "No! Mommy, now I'm going to get mad like French fries!"

Tell me, what did your kid say or do today that made you smile or laugh out loud?

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Filed under: Pregnancy and Birth, Blogs

No matter how many times I see pictures of a pregnant woman, I can't get over how magnificant the human body is. I mean, hello, it creates an entire human being inside of a woman's belly!

Our own Roger Sinasohn wrote about a man named Matt Pressnall that took a picture of his wife, Carlin, every few days during her pregnancy a few weeks ago.

Since then, the two have become Internet sensations. She kept the exact same pose in each picture, though her clothing did change.

You can find the end result here. It really is pretty cool. My husband and I took a picture of my belly every week from week 4 to 41 with my daughter and the end result is really neat. I encourage anyone that is thinking of getting pregnant (or even if you are now) to document the amazing changes that happen during the course of nine months!

Besides, if you put the pictures on the 'net, you never know how popular they might become!

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Filed under: Media, Preschool, Television, Feminism

Karen and Roger both wrote earlier this summer about Sesame Street's newest muppet, Abby Cadabby.

I haven't seen her on the show; we don't have cable tv or even an antenna. Still, my first response to the criticism quoted in this article, which I read in my local paper, is to bang my head on the keyboard.

Please, people. Get a grip.

I do have some gripes (okay, a lot of them) about pop culture and the way women and girls are under and mis represented. I'm not convinced, though, that Abby Cadabby is harmful to little girls' development. Yes, she is pink (meh, I am lukewarm about pink at best), but isn't Zoe orange? And Rosita, she's blue, right?

It seems that the critics all want Abby Cadabby to be something that fits their own definition of feminine. In the article, Susan Linn, co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, is quoted as saying Sesame Street has, "bought into the girlie, girlie commercialized image of what it is to be feminine. . . They could have had someone who's just more complex."

But, Blogging Baby reader Kristin is thrilled with Abby's complexity: "As a former tomboy who is finally (!) letting herself embrace her girly side, I think this is great. My 4.5 year old daughter loves pink and as well as all things girly but also thinks worms and sports are cool too. I think it's important to let girls know that they don't have to abandon their feminine side in order to be cool, successful and smart. Yay for Abby and Sesame Street!"

And, Roger, you were wondering what the anti-Harry Potter group would have to say. From the article I read: "parents say they're unhappy with Abby's supernatural powers because they imply witchcraft."

I think that they just need to add MORE girl muppets to the show, instead of trying to make the five they have represent the countless ways girls are in the world.

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