Here is Natalya playing at home.

and with her new tricycle

My 13 month old daughter just carried 5 of my shoes - one at a time out of the bedroom and put them in the laundry basket in the family room. Do you think she might be trying to tell me something?

Here is the link to the article. What do you think?

I stumbled across a group on the internet called the Militant Breastfeeding Cult. It's about truth.

The goal of the woman who started it is to "advocate for breastfeeding based on facts grounded in solid research"

Here is a short extract of what they are about

• No, wedo not believe breastfeeding is the measure of good mothering. Breastfeeding is one of only a multitude of choices a mother needs to make. A mother can formula feed, and be a wonderful mom. Another mother can breastfeed and be a terrible mother. One choice does not determine it.
  
  We do hope to encourage more good mothers to make the choice to breastfeed their babies rather than use an inferior substitute when it is not necessary.
  
  
• No, we do not think mothers who are truly unable to breastfeed should feel guilty and wedo not intend to make them feel guilty. We all must make choices based on the the situations we are in, and if you cannot breastfeed, you cannot.
  
  We do think these mothers should have other options, such as human milk banks and wet nurses, but these just aren't easily available in most societies. We hope by speaking out, more people will become aware of this deficiency and perhaps do something to provide these services.

Today my daughter is 13 months old. I am not sure where the time has gone. I see people carrying little babies - I know she was once that small but I don't really remember it.

She is an amazing little being. I love watching her learn about the world.

She is still breastfed on demand. I still use cloth nappies when we are at home. I am rather proud of myself for persevering with the cloth nappies. I thought it was paying off from a toilet training perspective but recently she has decided to get off the potty and pee on the floor- on several occasions.

She is now walking. She started Christmas day. She had still been crawling more than walking up until about yesterday. She was in the stroller most of the day (or being carried because she wouldn't sit in the stroller!) as we were out but then last night at my friends place she kept walking down the garden path and back again. When my husband saw her at home after that (without me even telling him she had been doing that) he saw her walking at said " you have been practising". She had improved that much.

Mother hood is even more amazing that I thought it would be.

I love my amazing little daughter and I am very lucky to have a husband who goes to work so that I can stay at home and look after our little girl. I am very lucky.

For the last few weeks Natalya has been using the potty pretty well. I try to sit her on it when I go to the toilet. Usually she will sit there until she has done what she needs to do and then get up. Sometimes she will sit there for several minutes while she does her business.
Today every time I have put her on the potty she has got straight up again. The classic was about 10 minutes ago when she got straight up and came and hugged my leg then did a wee - on my shoe! Given the mood she has been in today I am not convinced it was an accident.

"If breastfeeding is sexual, bottle feeding is the equivalent of whipping out a dildo."

Sorry but I just came across this quote and it made me laugh, so I thought I would share it.

It doesn't matter if you use a breast or a bottle it  is feeding a baby there is nothing sexual about it!

My one year old daughter is sitting here with my credit card in one hand and the phone in the other. Should I be worried?

Is your doctor prescribing placebos?

A friend told me about a child they met with a placebos asthma inhaler. Apparently placebo inhalers are a specific colour. The placebos had been prescribed because the mother was convinced the child had asthma- which they didn't but at least it made the mother happy and didn't expose the child to unnecessary drugs.

What do you think?

Out sourcing breastmilk

Would you, could you?
I could-I think.
Would you do it for money or just for a close friend or family?
What do you think

I just found this interesting article on wet nursing in modern times.
Not your mothers milk
Would you nurse you sisters baby if she asked you? What about a friends baby?

Here is a link to a side by side comparison of human milk versus formula.
Tell me again why we don't have human milk banks!
How many people would prefer a much inferior artificial blood substitute than donated blood from a blood bank? Give me the real thing (screened for viruses etc) any day!

A friend commented that my zucchini slice was a bit like a quiche without pastry. That inspired me to try making it with mushrooms and spinach in place of the zucchini and onion. I just tried it- it works but next time I will make one deep one instead of two shallow ones.
I enjoy modifying recipes. I have come up with some good ones that I call my own.

I let my parents sleep in the big bed with me

I love it- we co-sleep. Poor Haydon gets kicked all the time.

Some mothers are unable to breastfeed. Why is it that in our society these women are forced to give their babies the fourth best option instead of the third best?
Some people think and I have seen it written on many sites that formula is second best. Actually it is not that highly placed. According to the World Health Organization hierarchy:
1) breastfeeding;
2) the mother's own milk expressed and given to her child some other way;
3) the milk of another human mother; and
4) artificial milk feeds (4).

Some countries operate human milk banks, here in Australia some hospitals offer donated human milk for premature babies. We have blood banks why can't we have more milk banks? I would be happy to donate as I am sure would many others.

Here is an article  " The language of breastfeeding" about how by saying how breastfeeding is best or optimal is actually encouraging some mothers to bottle feed. It is better to use wording that says breastfeeding is normal. An interesting read What do you think?

This little piece  ' The formula for deceiving mothers on line' reinforces the need to be careful of where you get your information from and being aware of the underlining agenda. The IFC actually won the bronze Falsee for it.
The website they refere to is 'interesting'. They recently removed the ability to comment  on their "expert's" blogs - censorship!!!!!!! Read with a bucket of salt.

I just found this article, 'How to help baby like fruits and veggies'. Interestingly the site it is on is the infant formula manufacturers site.

Here is a link to the article. I don't think the damages awarded were really sufficient for the experience, do you?