Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the
best blogposts I've read throughout the week.
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| Nom…nom…car seat. |
The boys and I went to the
Seattle Art Museum this past week. I was hoping we could do something unschoolish like grab a postcard or two that appealed to Mikko and then go on a scavenger hunt to find the artwork. I was hoping we'd have an
Olivia
moment where he'd be so taken with one particular piece that he'd stop and stare for long unwavering moments. As it turned out, I got only a glimpse at
my favorite piece from across the room, a piece that brings me serenity, but in this case was like a distant goal, visible but out of reach.
Probably it was because we were
meeting up with some other friends, and therefore got pulled in multiple directions. Probably it was because my kid is four years old and the elevators interested him more than the exhibits.
It certainly didn't help that the docents were the
least child-welcoming people ever ever ever. They kept yelling at our kids, everywhere, for every perceived infraction. It was like they'd just read a guidebook on "How to Make Sure Children Forever Hate Art." Bah.
Mikko said it was boring and we're not to return. And yet — his joy at seeing the
Hammering Man outside was palpable and limitless. And he told me later he also liked the interior "
big statue of the guy."
I think the next step will be the
Olympic Sculpture Park, where I hope fewer people will be policing his happiness and he can wander at leisure. Also, we need to eat first, because he was really hungry at the SAM. Hmm.
I have a boatload of links for you this week, so hang on and start reading:
Loving this new mantra: “The moment is what it is. … Breathe.”
On opening yourself past frustration and into possibility.
Save a mama’s life this Mother’s Day — consider putting together a simple, inexpensive birth kit to help moms in developing nations reduce maternal mortality. Putting kits together is a great project for a moms group, a homeschooling group, a church group, etc., or you can blog about it and link up at the post, or donate money toward the cause. You can even use your donation as a Mother’s Day present in honor of your own mother or mother-in-law!
Wise take on the point that correlation does not equal causation.
Healthy, balanced diet and activity = important for everyone, lean or fat.
Losing weight = almost purely social goal that may or may not be important to you, gets even more complicated and guilt inducing when you have children and may actually make you less healthy.
You need a poem break. It’s very short, and you’ll thank me — and Seonaid.
As a birth nerd, I’m supremely interested in subjects like how the placenta detaches and leaves the uterus, and what happens after. And as a former sufferer of postpartum hemorrhaging, I love knowledge that can keep it from happening again.
I thought her conclusions were very interesting: In a hospital, you’re unlikely to have a completely hands-off third stage of labor (i.e., the time you birth the placenta); therefore, so-called active management might be best for avoiding PPH, based on studies. However, in a relaxed environment where the birth can be purely physiological, then a physiological birth of the placenta can also be safe and effective. My second birth was like that: low lights, low noise, low stress, skin-to-skin just after birth — and no PPH this time around. I know of women who’ve had serene home births that ended in PPH, however, so I’d love to see more studies on the topic to tease out which method is preferable in terms of maternal safety.
[M]y thoughts are that while elimination diets have their place, like any other treatment or tool, they can and are being abused by well-meaning mothers and their breastfeeding counselors. I think that starting an elimination diet without real symptoms (just over normal baby developmental issues) is not the best idea and may actually be doing baby a disservice when it is used as a first recourse.
I love posts that point out that dieting doesn’t work. Really.
In previous posts I’ve covered
lots of evidence that there’s not much you can do to change your weight. In the midst of all that, it turns out that there
is one reliable way to make yourself fatter.
It’s called “dieting”.
Can you tell I'm gearing up to write a post about fat acceptance and health at every size?
Poetry of a Hobo Mama giveaways
Do a poet a favor, will you?
Please be super kind to these wonderful hosts who are doing their best and boldest to promote these giveaways and go and enter. Even if you don't care about poetry, will you please enter at their sites (
Anktangle &
Hybrid Rasta Mama — two different giveaways; you can enter at one or both) just to brighten their days? I don't mind if you never read my book — you can give it as a baby shower gift, or wrap it up as a Mother's Day present to your mama, or donate it to your local library. I just want to share these poems that have meant so much to me, and support the bloggers who are supporting my dream. I don't say this out of a place of desperation or frustration at all, just truly out of a desire to honor these reviewers for their hard work. Thank you so much!
If you entered my previous giveaway, winners have been notified. So if you didn't get an email, you're free to try, try again!
Touching review from
Amy:
One of my favorite moments as a new mama was when my baby first smiled up at me. Gas? Reflex? Just messing with me? What did I care? It was a big, toothless, engaging grin, and I ate it up.
That toothless mouth soon filled up with teeth, early on. My firstborn, Mikko, started growing them early, at around 3 months. It was one of his primary skills: growing teeth and hair, every parent's pride. Even through the increased drool and the sharp little white points emerging, his smiles never became any less cute!
Our second baby, Alrik, took his time getting started on teething, but now he's making up for it. At 10 months, he seems to be growing them ALL. At once.
Three sharp ones have popped through on the bottom. (Why three? Why lopsided? Come on, kid, think of the aesthetics.) Two fang-like spaced ones on the top have descended, giving him the moniker Vampire Baby. The middle ones are creeping out to fill the gap.
Vampire baby filling in those front teeth!
Since I know how much tooth pain can hurt (boy howdy!), I want to make sure he's comfortable as he cuts all these new chompers.
Baby Orajel Naturals Teething Tablets
So I was happy to try out the new Baby Orajel Naturals Teething Tablets with Alrik. I had thought we would be getting a numbing gel, but the tablets we got are actually a homeopathic treatment. Baby Orajel is a well-established brand (#1 for teething), and this is their first foray into homeopathy. I'm glad the bigger companies are getting on board with natural remedies.
Using Chamomilla as one of its key ingredients, Baby Orajel Naturals Teething Tablets are belladonna-free, benzocaine-free, dye-free, alcohol-free and paraben-free.
The three ingredients with their purpose:
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living. 
