I`d love to have something to say right now, but its all a blur. Little teeny is 5 weeks, almost 6, and time is flying by.

The littlest boy

Rant-o-rama

asinine article about cows milk

The Washington Post had an article about another genius move by the American Academy of Pediatrics. These are the same wizards that decided last October that all pediatricians should dissuade their patients from cosleeping with infants to prevent SIDS. They had a study that was funded by the Juvenile Furniture Manufacturers Association that showed that a very small number of kids had suffocated in adult beds or sleeping on sofas. The vast majority of SIDS deaths still occur in cribs, not to mention, suffocation is not SIDS. So, they put out a sweeping statement against cosleeping, which is stupid, because it is a very safe way to sleep,when done properly & the majority of the world cosleeps. The statement came across as treating all parents like idiots who can`t make decisions for themselves about how to get the best sleep. For many people, having a baby next to them helps everyone to get the most sleep. Japan has always been a cosleeping culture and they have the lowest rate of SIDS in the developed world.

So today, I see that they are recommending that even lactose intolerant kids get some cows milk. They did admit this, "None of the authors of the AAP guidelines received dairy industry funding. But over the past three years, the AAP has received $100,000 from the National Dairy Council to support the industry group's "3-A-Day of Dairy for Stronger Bones" campaign and a new calcium information brochure." So as usual we can see that real information gets blurred by $$, especially when it comes to the AAP.

I have a lactose intolerant 6 year old, who will lay on the floor doubled up in pain if he has more than one slice of pizza. It was a challenge to make sure he didn`t have to drink milk in the cafeteria. I think cows milk is WEIRD, I think drinking it is just GNARLY. I do love cheese though, ha ha . But... cows milk is designed to take a 90 lb animal to 900 lbs in one year, it is species specific milk, and that is not our species. Because its so heavy and strong, we have to add chemicals, process it and make it thinner just to drink it. Why bother? There is calcium in many other healthier sources that is easier to absorb. I could go on all day but I hate this myth that cows milk is important. With babies, there`s a rush to get them off the breast and into drinking cows milk. From species specific milk to thick weird milk from a huge animal. Does that make any sense? Also, kidney stones are proof to me that we excrete milk before we get any of the calcium. Cows milk goes right through us b/c its so wrong for us and then calcium builds up in places where it shouldn`t, like kidneys. The AAP is proving to me to be a bunch of lunchboxes, just do some real unallied-with-industry research and be real with us. Another reason why I take my kids to a family practice doctor, better care & less agendas.

Here`s the most adorable 1st grader finally:



And the King of the living room!

I have been thinking so much about the most precious baby girl in the world, baby Abigail. She is the 2 month old daughter of my oldest friend.

Baby Abby

She was born with a blockage in her intestine and after 2 surgeries that was fixed. She is a very strong little girl. Now she may be facing a blockage in her liver. In researching this condition, which in its most severe form is called biliary atresia, I found this blog, also about an absolutely beautiful girl baby,

Team Serena

I hope the author (Mira)doesn`t mind, but I have to quote her here as I pray for both of these girls to get better.

"In the famous questionnaire by Bernard Pivot, famously used by James Lipton, Pivot’s final question is:

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

To that, my answer is:

“Now Mira, now I’ll tell you what I meant for humankind to learn by allowing children to suffer with illness…”"
That is exactly what I`d like to hear God say to me too.

It`s the 1st day of school and Creature is bitter about it. He misses his brother and its my first day alone with the kids. Scary! Its also been a year since I`ve been blogging in my slacker way , yay! Here`s a pic of a mad boy & then he`s happy when he thought about all the fun we can have now, ha ha.
Pictures of the 1st grader to appear later...

The Creature/Muffin is very taken with his new brother. I worried he might have a problem with the baby, but he is very loving, so far anyway.

The boys trip to the aquarium

The man of the house took the older boys to the Baltimore Aquarium for a special outing. They loved it and as soon as Muffin saw the first fish he said, " Thank you Papi!"

More pics of Teeny Joaquin

Ok, Plans did change & Joaquin Xavier arrived on August 22!

He is here! It was a smooth C section and an excellent hospital stay where I actually roomed in for the first time. The nurses were awesome, my doctors were excellent, and Teeny slept in my bed with me the whole time, nursing like crazy. And the most amazing part... we left the hospital together!! It was the greatest surprise, my antibody left my little boy alone, and he looks very strong & healthy. His brothers are adjusting, but mostly they are very excited and affectionate. Here are some photos: Joaquin and I leaving the OR together, Joaquin and his godmother,Joaquin in the sunshine on my bed. The courtyard was right below us and a huge tree was next to the window, it was all so nice.

Thank you to blogger for fixing the picture problem!

His days as the baby in the house are numbered

I cannot figure out how to post pictures anymore, I`m so unhappy about it. I love putting pictures here so much & it just won`t work, blogger will tell me the picture is here & then its not!

So, its 3:03 am and I can`t sleep. I had contractions about 5 minutes apart most of the day yesterday and then they left last night at 10. Now, its just too hard to sleep at night so I`ll just hang here for a minute & try again to sleep in a few.I may have to watch an episode of Miami Vice`s first season. ( the greatest birthday present!)

Yesterday I was folding laundry and watching beach volleyball b/c nothing else was on. I`m sorry if you`re a big fan or a player, but that has to be the most inane sport on earth. Except for maybe rhythmic gymnastics. The male players wear shorts that come to their knees, but the females have to wear a bikini that doesn`t have any support (luckily the players all have identical small chested physiques) and the bikini bottoms literally leave half of each butt cheek exposed. Its funny to me again how people are so freaky about nursing in public, but these ladies are playing a sport and jumping around on TV almost naked. Of course my dear huzband loved it. I thought the game itself was boring too though & then each coach sits down with each team all serious like its boxing & goes over strategy. Like anyone cares, its just an excuse to get hot mamas in bikinis on TV on Sunday afternoon. After a few seconds, I was bored, but it was entertaining to see all the ways the players tried to casually adjust their bikini bottoms. Also, since they had no other place to advertise, each girl had temporary tattoos that said stuff like Crocs & Gatorade. I don`t know what would bother me more, if I had to be on TV fighting a constant wedgie or have my super toned volleyball body covered in goofy brands like a human race car. It was weird.

Working on Gratefulness

Trying to get our minds off the obvious thing we could be doing yesterday, we went to a beautiful park that is close by & free. I didn`t even discover it until this May and I`ve been here since 1984, off and on.

What a gorgeous day & the boyz were so taken with everything. They didn`t want to go, then they didn`t want to leave, there was so much to explore. There`s a lot to be grateful for. And... check out the super healthy elephant ear (my favorite) and the lotus flower in the pond.

Plans have changed...

Look at this drawing, amnios are creepy! This baby is much smaller, this drawing is like a 15 weeker, just your basic genetic testing amnio. I had to have one to see if Teeny`s lungs are mature enough to be born tomorrow, the scheduled day.

Because I have an antibody (a low level of anti-d) the baby could get anemic and usually in this case would come out as soon as possible, which would be 37 weeks, or at the early edge of full term. So... I wasn`t sure about doing this, I felt like maybe little boy #4 didn`t want to be forced out early, yet I could see the logic of getting him out before the antibody "sees" him. To come out early, it is required by American College of OB/GYN to do a lung maturity amnio. I had one with Chunky # 3 for this reason & it wasn't a huge deal.

We agreed to go on with the fun amnio. As soon as the doctor put the needle in, just to the edge of the uterus, not even in the amniotic fluid sac at all, I had a huge contraction that was ridiculously painful. Then, little Joaquin went bananas and smacked his hand right where she was hoping to get the needle in. After trying again to advance the needle, and Teeny again going crazy, she had to end the amnio. I think it happened like twice but it felt like she was in there for half an hour. Ditching this hellish amnio was great for 2 reasons, a. she never burst the private bubble, so I didn`t have all the worries that go with that,like it can raise my antibody level, it can cause infection etc. and b. I felt like my baby took control in a way and wanted to be left alone. He proved his vigor by being so wild & they were pretty amazed with his strength.

The bummer of it all is that OUCH I was in so much pain yesterday & I have a new scheduled section date of August 25th. Damn it!

A lovely birthday

Here`s a perfect hibiscus last night in front of the Belgian restaurant we went to for my birthday dinner out.

On second thought, now that I see this picture in the daylight, its not completely perfect-but neither is anything else in nature. Look around, nature is comfortingly filled with imperfection.