Happy Birthday, AnnaB!

E has become dear friends to a wonderful child who just celebrated her 4th birthday last week. We spent the better part of yesterday celebrating with her and her family. These two friends get along so well it's astounding. They do disagree but are masters of conflict resolution with each other. It's rare that we parents intervene at all. They stay busy and happy for hours full of energy and enthusiasm for each other and whatever they are doing. They encourage each other to explore and to rest. It's completely refreshing to see such ease in a friendship. Like most days with this child, I walk away inspired to be at peace.
playing at panang
eating rice and laughing.
treats at locopops.
popsicles are certainly on ouf the four food groups.
the sweet cheeks.

Warning: Ranting about Birth and Breastfeeding

This website is supposed to be about all things environmentally friendly. Recently, as I was reading a review of books done by a pregnant mother, i was alarmed and angered that she wrote, "But are these green baby titles worth their weight in Similac?". Why did she positively refer to one of the most non-green products out there? Is she not planning to breastfeed...which would be the most environmentally sound thing to do for about 101 reasons. I worry when people get it about so many "green" things then totally miss the boat 7 months into their pregnancy about the connection to individual/planetary health and breastfeeding. Certainly as a journalist this person spends time and lots of energy doing research. Why compare a product made by a corrupt corporation that causes so much damage (even death) to both individuals and the planet to gold?

Also, I was a bit confused about her sentence about a certain book, "Sections on greening the home, diet, and school are straightforward, but Imus walks a fine line between reality (suggesting a gradual switch to organics due to cost constraints) and fantasy ("If you're not planning to do a home birth, you should choose a green hospital or birthing center")."

Okay, has anyone else ever heard of a "green" hospital? What would make it green, even? And, let's just go along with it for a minute and pretend they are recycling or being somehow "green"...Just b/c there is VOC-free paint on the walls doesn't make that a reason to feel comfy having one's baby born there. I am worried that she thinks a home birth is just a fantasy beyond the obvious lack of green hospitals. Worried for a few reasons, of course but in this instance it bothers me that she doesn't mention anything about how a home birth or a birth at a free standing birth center could be "greener" in various ways.

happy dada day!

a couple of days after we found out that we were pregnant! march 2005
the day he became a dad. lil after 3am in november.
happy father's day!
happy father's day this year! february almost 9am.
happy, happy day.

Hospitals Flunk Breast-Feeding 101

This afternoon, while taking a break from making birthday and father's day gifts, I looked at a local website. It has a calender of local events for kids that I like to check every once in a while for play ideas. There was a link to this article from www.cbsnews.com with the subtitle "CDC Says Hospitals Not Promoting Breast-Feeding In Favor Of Formula". I had to read on, of course as a nursing mother and someone who spends many hours helping moms and babes breastfeed. Here is the article:

Most U.S. hospitals don't do very well when it comes to promoting breast-feeding, according to the first national report to look at the issue.

The average hospital scored 63 out of 100, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

"There is a lot of room for improvement," said Deborah Dee, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the report.

About a quarter of hospitals reported giving formula or some other supplement to more than half of their healthy, full-term newborns. The practice was common even when mothers were able and willing to breast-feed, Dee said.

Of hospitals who gave supplements, 30 percent gave sugar water and 15 percent gave water.

Experts say there are no good nutritional reasons to use those, but it is commonly done to quiet crying babies separated from their mother. Sometimes it's done to test a baby's ability to feed - even though such a test is usually not necessary, Dee said.

Breast-feeding is considered beneficial to both mothers and their babies. Breast milk contains antibodies that can protect newborns from infections, and studies have found breast-fed babies are less likely to become overweight that those fed with formula.

But breast-feeding can be frustrating for new mothers because of nipple pain or the misperception that they're not producing enough milk. It's crucial that moms get proper breast-feeding advice and encouragement those first few days after birth, said Dr. Sheela Geraghty, a lactation expert at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

"It's wonderful that hospitals and birth centers are being examined because if moms aren't helped right there, where are they going to be helped?" Geraghty said.

The research was based on questionnaires filled out last year by about 2,700 U.S. maternity hospitals and birth centers. Hospitals were scored on supportive efforts, like offering breast-feeding tips and keeping the mother and the infant together. They also were evaluated on practices detrimental to breast-feeding, including supplemental feedings or including infant formula samples in gift packs for mothers.

Hospitals may regard the gift packs as benign, but the practice interferes with breast-feeding, said Laurence Grummer-Strawn, chief of the CDC's nutrition branch.

"They don't understand they're implicitly endorsing a product and they're giving an easy out for when parents are tired" to use the formula, he said.

States in New England and on the West Coast scored highest, and the South did the worst. Vermont and New Hampshire topped the list, tied with a score of 81. Arkansas had the poorest score, 48.

The highest score for a hospital or birth center was 98; the lowest was 12. The CDC did not release individual scores.

Outer Banks Foreva

so many mosquitoes that i hid in the tent.
here, i have a visitor.
you do not want to know what kind of restaurant nancy made us eat at.

eating sand crackers
thank you for coming today to see y performance.
dory and glenn joined us for a day on the beach! so good to see them! here's dory chillin with e in the sand and shells, balancing her beer oh so well!
the first thing she said upon waking was, "i want to see a crab today." request granted, my dear one!
since she's a bit young for even the non-toxic sunscreen, we kept her in the shade and covered up this day at the beach. the hat is from ubud, bali when she was inside of me!
hottie mchotness.
we met up with my ole high school friend at the restaurant where his girlfriend works which just happened to be a short walk from the beach.
asleep in his arms, as usual.
that ole friend now makes surfboards and cool clothes like the shirt he is wearing. http://www.rideability.com/
how is this much stuff necessary for one week of camping at the beach?
so happy in the hat from granny jenny that finally fits.
shark tank dive.
checking out the fish.
how tall are they?
digging for shark teeth...and gold...and fire...and truth. she's a curious one.

"i'm taking the view"

at the aquarium.

beach trip (part 3)

You know that you are a busy person when it takes 3 different posts to get up all the beach pictures from a trip one took two weeks ago! We went out of town separately last week and then we went to a wedding out of town together last weekend. I want to post some great pictures from those times of our life, as well. One day I will journal all that we have been enjoying, again but for now...see my life in pictures.

ocracoke beachy
thanks for the buckets, granny jenny!
the boys digging deep
making pancakes, she told us.
"i made a pancake for you, dada."
after you live at the beach for a while, you learn to make these cool trees, like harp's dad showed him.
big ole frisbee, lots o' fun.
side shot. see the truck in the back? still allowed to drive on parts of the OBX, at certain times.
she wasn't super comfortable with the sand shifting beneath her feet.

she did enjoy sitting in the chair though!
we love each other and the obx and each other at the obx!!!
my fave rising 3rd grader...we like to eat snacks. check my rad "gum smile".
so much fun covering her up with sand!
a wee little family. he nurses their love child b/c he is a co-parent like that.
i love this kid's enthusiasm for watermelon...and life!
mama and babe.
two sweet lovers at sunset
two more sweet lovers at sunset.
a bunch of fabulous people holding hands!
so much love it just radiates out of their heads.
a great night walking the streets of ocracoke with dear friends.

PS. I think there is going to be a Part 4, as i am sleeeeeeeepppyyyy now but there are more pictures in my library to share!

we're lost.

we are totally addicted to the television show "lost"...and we don't even own a television. we found that this show is available to view online so we've been watching it for many weeks now. we're already up to watching season 3. as people who have ethical dilemmas with television viewing, we're feeling pretty pathetic about our interest. our commitment to watching it surpasses our need for sleep some nights as we stay up past midnight to watch "just one more". having spent many a year as a social worker around addicts, i should know better. we have all the symptoms and should probably be reading "the big book" at this point.

Wendelll Berry had this to say about the TV ownership:

"My own idea of an ideal negative action is to get rid of your TV set. It is cheating to get rid of it by selling it or giving it away. You should get rid of it by carefully disassembling it with a heavy, blunt instrument. Would you try to get rid os any other brain disease by selling it or giving it away?"

My own positive thoughts about not having an actual television set have recently been challenged b/c of the amount of television show viewing that we are doing. Yeah, we do get to skip commercials. And, yeah, it's just one series (although we have watched grey's anatomy, as well!). I could spend some time justifying other reasons why it's not as bad as owning an actual television...but we should all start to worry when we begin to "rationalize and justify" any thing. Another lesson from Bill W.

We are still exposed to the same portrayal of images whether they are seen on a tv set or a computer monitor. With "lost", we are seeing repeated images of violence, violence with weapons and physical violence between people and other animals, including animal cruelty. There is lots of blood and gore. There is also lying, cheating, stealing, crime, sexism, racism, infidelity, kidnapping, meat consumption, murder, drug use and various forms of manipulation. Not to mention the things it fails to show...such as a newborn who is never shown breastfeeding. (And, why doesn't anyone have a sunburn or lighter hair? How do ther bodies and clothes stay so clean when they are living outside?) Gosh, that list makes it sound pretty rough. why the hell are we spending hours with it. like i said, we're addicted.

we've gotten totally sucked into the plot of the show...they mystery. we're intrigued and curious. even though we know better. we could simply stop watching it. but then we'll never know what happens! we gotta know.