Wednesday Whittles

I had an interesting dream where Brad Thor was hosting his own talk show.  Yes, that is sometimes the kind of thing I dream about.  :)  I thought it was kind of a cool idea, personally.  I mean think about it – political thriller author hosting talk shows.  It would probably generate a lot of passionate discourse.  Heh.  So I went to his website to see what he was up to – in real life not in the dream – and it turns out he’s got a new book out, and is planning on another one later this year and one next year.  And now I’m 14th in line to get the latest one at my library. 

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I felt kind of irritated with Giselle this week.  Yeah, that Giselle, Tom Brady’s wife.  Being a Patriots fan and trying to follow news of them when I can, sometimes she makes the cut too, for the simple fact of who married her.  She blew a great opportunity, I think, in what she could have accomplished.  She said that there ought to be a worldwide law forcing women to breastfeed for the first 6 months of their baby’s life.  Yep, a law that forces women to do something with their bodies that they may or may not want to do.  Worldwide, no less!

Later, after getting a lot of flack about that, she backtracked her comments and said she was just talking. 

What’s irritating is that she had such a great chance here and dropped the ball.  Honestly, I’m a huge supporter of breastfeeding, and I’ve spent a good portion of my life engaged in that activity, and I would (and do!) encourage any woman considering it to go for it.  It’s one of the best things you can do for your baby, and yourself.  But not every woman can, and not every woman wants to.  What Giselle could have done, and didn’t, was express her own positive feelings about it and encourage other women to consider it.  She could have talked about the health benefits to both baby and mother.  She could have talked about how it can bond a mother and child and strengthen their relationship.  Instead she made it sound like it’s something distasteful that needs to be forced on women.  Way to setback, Giselle!   🙄

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I learned a lesson this week – the little strainer, the one that’s like 2-cup size, does NOT help boost a wireless signal.  Repeat – the small strainer does NOT boost the signal!  Mayday!  Mayd– 

Back to the big strainer.

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My son thought that Christine was mislabeled when he saw the “horror” tag on the video case.  My son, the one who hates horror movies.  Now he searches for THEM! and Let the Right One In every week at the library. 

Honestly, Christine was better back in ‘83. 

And how has your August been so far?

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One for the ladies

I had a dream this morning.  (Whoa! Stop the presses, she had a dream! Just kidding.)  Actually, it was a bit unnerving because I dreamt I had a lump in my breast.  I wasn’t alarmed in the dream, but I do wonder what would have happened.  As it is, I’ll never know because a kind neighbor knocked on our door to bring over my copy of SI that the mailman had inadvertently delivered to her.

But it got me to thinking, about women and medicine.  Breast health.  It’s not a secret that I’m a strong proponent of breastfeeding, and if that wasn’t known, it is now.  I encourage it, believe in it, practice it.  No, I am not a member of the La Leche League, although I do think they have done some wonderful things.  Did you know they have techniques that can help adoptive mothers breastfeed their babies?  That just flat out effing rocks!  I wish every mom could nurse their baby, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen.  And this is NOT a “bash the bottle feeding mommy” post, so please don’t think that’s going to happen here.  It won’t.  There are many good reasons why a mom may choose not to nurse: some health related, some work related, some physically related.  We all know the health benefits that nursing provides our babies – the list seems endless and every few weeks it seems there’s something new added to it.  One thing I almost never hear about though is how breastfeeding benefits women.  Did you know that nursing can reduce your risk of getting breast cancer?  The more you nurse, the more you decrease your risk.  Not just for breast cancer either but other “female” cancers as well – uterine and ovarian.  How’s that for motivation?  If you could take a drug that would reduce your cancer risk by 50%, would you take it?  Would you nurse your baby for 2 years?

So we know about the benefits of nursing, not just to the baby but to the mother as well.  I’m wondering though, are there risks if you don’t nurse?  Does not-breastfeeding have some kind of hormonal consequence for our bodies that we are as yet unaware of?  We know that an increase in estrogen can cause cancer to grow faster.  But what happens when our body gets all ramped up to nurse and then we don’t?  Does that increase our risk of breast – or any other kind of – cancer?  Has anyone even cared enough to study this?  I know that in the middle of the 20th century, it was common for women to be given pills that “dried up” their milk supply as nursing was considered – get this – unsanitary.  And now it seems that for the past 30 years or so women are getting breast cancer left and right.  Connection?  Perhaps the popularity of birth control pills had something to do with that as well?  Abortion?  The timing of all these events seems to suggest that something is going on.

And I think it’s something we should figure out.

 

Not Much to Say

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted. So says Captain Obvious.

Last Tuesday was the baby’s birthday – she turned 2. It’s so hard for me to believe sometimes that she’s 2, and other times it seems she should be about 15 by now. She’s so sweet – the night of her birthday, her 5 y/o brother fell asleep on the couch, and she went to get the blanket off his bed and covered him up with it. She does "big girl" things like that a lot. Other times, she’s still my baby. She loves to nurse – I swear I’ve never seen a child who loves to nurse as much as this one does. All my other babies had pretty much weaned themselves by this age, but this one doesn’t seem to have any inclination to do so. So, my boobs still aren’t my own for the time being. :::sigh::: I tell myself to be patient. She’s the last baby and I know I’ll miss it when she’s done. It will be a milestone for us, and for me especially. Plus, she’s one of the most polite babies I’ve ever come across too. Somehow she remembers to say please and thank you, always says "bless you" when I sneeze, and "are you awight?" when I cough. Of course, nothing is as sweet as, "I wud you mommy!"

My son has been doing well in home school. We’re taking a post-quarter break right now, much needed for me. I feel like I can’t get organized, just can’t get it together. I’m hoping this little break will give me a chance to do that so going forward will be less stressful. He can read now though. :::proud mama smile::: And he’s learning math although that one’s a bit harder. I think the whole concept of addition and subtraction takes some getting used to. And, he’s got the most beautiful eyes, which he uses to his advantage. This boy’s going to be a lady-killer when he’s older. I shudder to think of his teen years and all the broken hearts he’s going to leave behind. My daughter, on the other hand, will not be allowed to date. Daddy’s looking for guns already. 😉

So I have 2 of the most awesome-ly cute babies on the planet, an incredibly articulate and creative husband, and I can’t think of a thing to say. I think I’m the straight man in the family. I’m neither funny nor creative but I can heartily appreciate both in other people. When I was little I wanted to grow up and marry Johnny Carson (he, of course would remain ageless until I caught up) because I thought he was so funny, and he looked like he smelled nice. Laughter is one of the 5 greatest gifts God gave to humanity – the other 4 being sex, chocolate, coffee, and ice cream – pick your own order! No need to guess what I like to do on a Saturday morning! 😉

Until next time!