On Monday I was lucky enough to meet internationally bestselling author Kathryn Fox. She was touring the south west region of Western Australia speaking at libraries as part of the Sunday Times Big Book Club.
Unfortunately all her books were out of the library before the talk so I didn't get to read her book beforehand. She was a really interesting speaker. She spoke about influences in her life that influenced her writing. KF grew up in South Australia just after the Beaumont children went missing. Kathryn Fox is a medical practitioner with a special interest in forensic medicine. She lives in Sydney. She has worked as a family physician, medical journalist and freelance writer having written regularly for publications including Australian Doctor, CLEO magazine and the Sun Herald. Her debut novel, Malicious Intent, received international acclaim and was the 2005 Davitt award winner for adult fiction. Kathryn is currently working on a TV project.
I bought a copy of her first book 'Malicious Intent' and she signed it for me. She appeared quite taken with Natalya. Natalya was very well behaved during the talk, especially as I had woken her to get there on time.
When we got home Natalya fell asleep in my arms so I read and read and couldn't put the book down until I finished it. It is a great book, I recommend it! Now I need to get my hands on her second book, 'Criminal Inient'.

Today I decided to give Natalya some nappy free time. Then I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce her to the potty for the first time. Too late! By the time I went and got the potty there was a puddle on the floor. About 20 minutes later I took "miss clingy" with me to the toilet and stuck her on the potty in front of me - it's easier than holding her while I'm busy. When I picked her up afterwards she had done a little number one in the potty. I was so excited I think she was surprised by my reaction.

For those of you doing or contemplating 'full-term breastfeeding" here is some information to use when you get the "are you still breastfeeding?" or "don't you think it's time you put her on a bottle" or "I think breastfeeding an older child is un-natural/disgusting" comments.
A natural age of weaning.

I just read this interview with an anthropology lecturer about human weaning. Extended nursing the human norm.
I read a comment on a Minty article Extended breastfeeding  yesterday that maybe instead of extended breastfeeding we should call it full term breast feeding because breastfeeding beyond two is not abnormal. Yet the use of the word extended implies that.

Don't you hate it when...
you are holding a sleeping baby who will wake if you try to put her down and the need to go to the toilet starts to get desperate.

Lately I have noticed people reporting their own images to clean up their photos. There is the option of deleting your own photos. Select photos from the orange bar at the side of your homepage. Click on the photo and then choose delete instead of report.

I just read this scary news article. I can't imagine what the parents must be going through.

I was just reading through some older articles on the Minti archives and came across this great article
If breastfeeding fails

Just bit my foot then laughed when I screamed

Don't put your hand in it. Arghhhh, no, don't touch that. Let Mummy wipe your hand, ok, I guess we need to wipe your foot as well. Oh heck, you got some on me too. Please lay still and let Mummy change your nappy.
Don't you just love parenthood?

There are some nice highly rated breastfeeding articles on Minti, but for some reason a lowly rated rather opinionated article keeps appearing in the activity log. If people keep voting and commenting on it then it gets to stay in view and more people get to read it and be upset by it. However if people just ignore it then it will sink to the bottom.
Please stop stirring it and it will sink to where it should be.
If you want to read breastfeeding articles on Minti then try some of these

Extended breastfeeding

Breastfeeding problems

Breastfeeding- when baby bites

Support and confidence while breastfeeding

Hey, I just discovered that there is a terrific Minti article by MCM with the same title as my last blog. Here is  a link to it.
Extended breastfeeding - Minti Article by MCM

I just read this great article. I really enjoyed it.
Why I still breastfeed my four year old.

I hope that I am still breastfeeding Natalya when she is four (cheeky little monkey just bit me). She is now 11 months old and still breastfed on demand. She wont eat off a spoon but she eats fingerfoods such as steamed vegetables, puffed corn, rice cakes etc.

I have just come back from the local family centre. We had our tenth anniversary celebration as an open day with a sausage sizzle, market stalls, local fire brigade display, free activities for the children (and face painting for a small cost), raffle etc.
We had advertised it in the social column of the local paper, on notices in shop windows all around town and on the local radio station.
We had quite a poor turnout. Those that came had fun but so many people would have enjoyed it if they had come. People say there is nothing on but when you organise something they can't be bothered coming. It is very frustrating!

I just read this news article. I am not sure what to think. Has the law gone too far? What do you think?

Here is a link to an obituary for an amazing woman Pilot,parachutist, midwife and confidante.

I just read this recent UK article. It seems that there is an increase in the number of women breastfeeding but it varies by locality (why is that?).
The sad thing though is that many mothers are still scared to feed in public. What can we mothers do to change society's attitudes and help other mothers to feel comfortable feeding their children in public?

0

Every woman has the right to the support and information she needs to birth and breastfeed her baby as nature intended, without pressure from the marketing techniques of multinational drug and breastmilk substitute manufacturers influencing the professionals guiding them along the path of motherhood.

That is the closing paragraph from this article I just read on the Bellybelly website. I enjoyed the article. I thought that the comparison of how we feed versus how we conceive was a good point. At the end of the day we are all mothers. We should support each other. I think that it is very important that the information and support be available to mothers so that they can make informed decisions and be supported in those choices.

Don't you just love trying to change a nappy or dress a baby who is rolling over and trying to crawl away to play with something she shouldn't

Last week at Montessori playgroup I lent my camera to Karen so she could take some photos for the Early Years Project. She took this great photo while I was feeding Natalya. I really like the photo because it is natural, un-posed and discrete. It shows feeding a baby as a natural part of the scene. What do you think?

Natalya enjoying the sun (and actually wearing her hat!)

Haydon built a baby barrier gate with a doggie hole in it so the dogs could get through but it was supposed to stop the baby. It didn't as you can see. He has now had to put another piece over the doggie hole with a smaller opening.

Minti parenting articles were about peoples own parenting experiences. Now they just summarize a whole pile of stuff from the web (usually without any acknowledgement of their sources )about a medical condition or some other topic and all their friends vote 5 stars and tell them what valuable advice it is.
I miss the old Minti.

I get quite emotional sometimes when I look at my daughter. Love just bubbles up inside me. Last night after I fed her to sleep and was holding her in my arms it occurred to me that
five and a half years ago when I left my first husband I decided that I was never going to get involved with another man, and so I was never going to have children.
I nearly missed out on this amazing experience. I am so glad that nearly two years later I met an amazing man who changed my mind. Thank you Haydon. I love you, and I love our daughter. I am so glad that you came into my life.

you cook baby a meal and then catch her feeding it to the dogs.

One of the reasons I chose to study speech pathology was the importance of language and how it influences how we think (and how what we think influences the language we use).
This article "Is breastfeeding truly best?" has just reminded me of the importance of wording.

We took Natalya to the local show this evening. She had a great time. She love the balloons and the little toy she got in a free showbag by one of the large businesses in town. She also loved the straw from Daddy's drink and watching the bellydancers and some of the other dancing. Or maybe it was just the music. She was rather interested in the miniature horses. The only other animals there tonight were some animals brought by the local animal rescue group. She had a good look at them too.
We take her to the zoo in Perth nearly every trip (I recommend getting a zoo membership!) and sometimes take her to the petshop when we go to Bunbury. She really loves our pet dogs. Insists on saying goodmorning to them first thing every morning. I am looking forward to taking her to a petting zoo. Hopefully on one of my next visits to Perth I will be able to take her to Landsdale farm.
I bought a couple or bottles or wine from the local winery stall. Not that I can drink very much at the moment. I do love breastfeeding her but I have to minimise my consumption of  wine, chilli, caffine and chocolate. Small sacrifices to make for the benefits though.

Yesterday, even after the accident and Haydon's first trip to the hospital he still thought he would be ok to lay 20 square meters of turf today. So we ordered it  and the guy was due to have it cut ready for me to pick up at 8:30 this morning.
Then last night we ended up at the hospital again - see previous blog for details.
At 2 am Haydon was laying awake in a lot of pain. He took another pain killer and managed to get back to sleep but this morning he was still in a lot of pain. So much so that he agreed that he was in no state to travel 40km each way in our old ute to pick up the turf and certainly in no state to help load the stuff onto the ute. Fortunately a friends husband was able to help me get the turf.
Then this evening when it had cooled down enough to lay it, I laid the turf! Haydon helped - he couldn't help himself, but by Haydon standards he was reasonably unphysical. He is a terrific worker, very motivated. Trying to keep him from doing things when he is injured is almost impossible. Two years ago , just 8 days after his third brain surgery in 6 weeks he was out mowing the lawn.
As this is Haydon's 8 day break he had already booked a skip bin to load the stuff in from when he demolished the old shed. The bin is sitting in the back yard empty at the moment. He swears that he will be ok to load it before the week hire is over. I might have to start trying to load that tomorrow evening. In the morning I am baking biscuits to say thankyou to Tony for coming down to get the turf. Ginger biscuits, yum, might have to make a double batch.

This morning we pulled down the old shed with the ute, some rope, a bit of frustration and muscle. The I went inside to get Natalya to sleep for her morning nap. I had just got her to sleep when Haydon came in and asked me to take him to the hospital as he had  just cut his leg open with an angle grinder. It was very deep and needed a few stitches.
This evening it suddenly started gushing blood again.
I took him back to the hospital. We waited about an hour for the doctor and then it took ages for the doctor to fix the problem. He had to cut Haydons leg open further to find the 'bleeder'. We got there at 7:50 and left about 10:15. The wonderful thing about country hospitals is that you don't have the same long waiting times as city emergency departments. It was really busy there tonight. Unusually so. The poor afternoon shift nurse had not had a dinner break. - I went and made her a cup of tea while I was waiting for Haydon.
Poor Haydon. Today was day two of his eight days off on holiday leave.

I have not left the house today. Makes a nice change. I even managed to mop the floor and to get some baking done. I tried out my new biscuit machine. You put the dough in it and use different discs to squeeze out different shaped biscuits.
This morning I planted some plants I bought at a garage sale yesterday and moved some other plants around in the garden.
Haydon has been really busy. He is pulling down the old shed and finishing off some of the trim on the lining of the shed room. Next he just has to paint it then we can put up curtains. Soon it will be ready for guests. It has a toilet but the shire wouldn't let us put in a shower. Our friends will just have to come in and use the inside shower when they stay.
Natalya has enjoyed staying home today. She loves going out but she also likes staying home playing with her toys. She is a busy girl.

Please stop throwing Rae Rabbit out of your pram Natalya Rose! We will never get there if Mummy has to keep backtracking to look for her.
Don't you just love this stage?
We lost her pretty pink hat at the zoo the other week because it had gone when we went back to look for it.

We went to Bunbury again today because Haydon had another eye specialist appointment. The specialist thinks things are finally going well and that the next appointment in a months time will probably be his last one. Yeah
Went to Homehardware first to look at a bbq. we have ordered one and we also bought a cute little rainwater tank for $129. I am hoping it stops us needing to put in a soakwell near the kitchen window. Luckily Natalya slept for most of the 60km journey there. We also went shopping. Dangerous business - so easy to spend money.
I got a cake cooling rack, two baking trays, a biscuit machine for piping biscuits, some new pyrex bowls with lids for freezing meals, some ramikens, a set of 100 cookie cutters and a cute little christmas outfit for Natalya.
Haydon got a woodworking book and some stuff at the hardware shop.
I have also borrowed a cake decorating book from a friend. I am already thinking about Natalya's first birthday. It is getting closer. I want to go with a nursery rhyme theme and at this stage I am thinking I will tackle a dolly varden cake to be little bo peep. Maree said that she thinks her mum has a dolly varden tin. Did I mention that I have never done any cake decorating before? Recently I have gone baking mad. I have been making microwave cakes - and they are actually pretty good! I have also been baking biscuits in the normal oven. My repetoir is increasing. Next I want to try to find a good cup cake recipe and start decorating them. I figure starting with cupcakes for decorating will be a good way to gain some confidence and try experimenting.
It is getting harder to get Natalya to sleep lately. Tonight it was after nine oclock. up until about a week ago I used to be able to get her to bed and feed her to sleep by 7. Maybe it is this bloody daylight savings, or maybe it is just the longer days?
Well, better go. Now I need to research bbqs. Are they better with enamel hoods or stainless steel. Is jackeroo or red centre the better brand? Lets hope Natalya stays asleep for a while. Given recent events I am not holding my breath.

Natalya is now over 10 months old and still being breastfed - she is now finally eating some solids. I plan to keep breast feeding until she is ready to stop. I just found this beautiful blog entry on another site about extended breastfeeding. Breastfeeding a toddler is the new black

A few months ago in an effort to help Natalya's tummy I took some of my favorite foods out of my diet. It worked so now I am slowly re-introducing them to see which I can eat in small amounts without upsetting her. I have had a bit of chocolate lately and now she has a patch of rash on her leg and nappies that indicate that chocolate is definitely a food I have to avoid.
Once things settle down again I will try reintroducing onions and then garlic.

Natalya has been waking and grizzling and having difficulty sleeping tonight. Now she is asleep but I am wide awake. Her favorite food at the moment is chick peas. I think that is part of the problem because she wakes up and grizzles and then farts.

I just found this article titled
Pureed food 'isn't natural for babies' very interesting, especially given the difficulty I have had getting Natalya to eat puree of a spoon. She much prefers finger food.

We participated  in relay for life this weekend to  raise money for cancer research.  Here is a press release i  just found on the Baby Milk Action website about breastfeeding reducing cancer risk called Breastfeeding reduces cancer risk says comprehensive scientific review -
Will the UK Government act now to control formula marketing?

Media Release from ABA website
2 October 2007
For immediate release
BREASTFEEDING and ALLERGY STUDY FLAWED
Let’s be clear — breastfeeding does not cause allergy. On the contrary,
most studies show breastfeeding protects against allergy.
A study published yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Allergy and Immunology showed
reduced risk of asthma, eczema and food allergies in children aged seven and under who
were breastfed for three months. The children also had less episodes of bacterial or viral
infection. Interest however focused on the adult onset of allergy, which appeared to be
linked to ‘exclusive breastfeeding’ for three months.
The question that needs to be asked is — how exclusive was the breastfeeding? The
studied group of people were all born in 1961. Giving every newborn baby a nightly feed
of artificial formula was routine in the 1960s. This was often without the mother’s
permission or knowledge. One exposure to non-human milk can sensitise a baby’s
immature gut and make them more prone to allergies.
In a West Australian study by world-renowned researcher Dr Wendy Oddy, it was shown
that introducing artificial formula before four months increased the risk of asthma by
20%.
“Exclusive breastfeeding is very important. Giving any formula before four months also
doubles a baby’s chances of being admitted to hospital for chest infections and decreases
brain function,” Dr Oddy said.
The increase in allergies has happened in recent times and also at the same time as the
move towards artificial infant feeding. Yet the good news from this study is that even a
small amount of breastfeeding gives such important protection to children.
“Given the many benefits breastfeeding provides, it should continue to be promoted as the
best way to feed infants — exclusively for the first six months and then to two years and
beyond along with solid foods.” said Dr Oddy.
According to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, there is nothing in this study to
justify calling for any changes to the recommendations on breastfeeding. The causes of
allergy and asthma are complex. Breastfeeding mothers should be reassured that one
study is not a reason to ignore a large body of evidence that shows breastfeeding is the
best way to feed an infant.

Friends please forgive me, it has been quite a while since my last blog.
Just to catch you us on what has been happening around here
Natalya is now crawling and is getting into everything she shouldn't.
Haydon had eye surgery to remove a pterigym from his eye. He had a few weeks off afterwards to give it time to heal. When he did go back to work the aircon aggravated it. His recovery went well until the stitches came out, then it went backwards a bit but is now going well again.
Haydon turned 31.
I have been baking a lot lately. I have now mastered two different microwave cake recipes,two microwave self saucing pudding recipes, microwave bread and butter pudding and some recipes for biscuits in the normal oven.
I am still struggling to get anything done around the house while Natalya is a
awake and most of the time I hold her to get her to sleep during the day. I used to hold her and Minti one handed but since the flaming I just sit on the bed and watch her while I watch telly. Yeah Oprah.
Lately a few of us have been taking turns to play with each others bubs at their houses while the Mum gets some time to do what she needs to eg study, housework, cooking, or just have a shower without a baby in the bathroom.
I am now taking Natalya to a Montessori play group one morning a week, in addition to Mums and bubs club one afternoon a week and fitball whenever we can get there. Not to mention committee meetings for the family centre, plus other social events. Natalya just loves going out. She also loves being home too.
We stayed down in Bunbury for relay for life this weekend. Natalya had a great time but she was so happy when she got home to her toys and her dogs.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods
cheers
kim