Survivors

We all survived the first day of school. The back-to-school season is frenzied fun. Who can resist the lure of new school supplies, backpacks and lunch boxes?

I Think The Beads Add A Nice Touch

Ride-On, Lexi

Hymnody

As luck or providence would have it, we’ve been a part of several churches that take hymnody very seriously. Currently we are members of a church that reworks older hymns “RUF-style” (I suppose) and I have learned the text of several of Gadsby’s wonderful hymns this year. Back in Austin, we went to a church that had a magnificent choir and sang more traditional church music, but they introduced many new rich older hymns to me, particularly ones related to the church calendar, that I have stored up like treasures. They also reworked hymns to new tunes, though theirs were still in a traditional vein. This week the girls were begging for “sweet songs” in the car and I was able to pause the ipod (dj-ing during “take back the highways” week is not encouraged) and sing Watts and Aquinas and Noel (to RVW “King’s Weston.”) I was glad to share these old songs with young listening ears and hope that they will love the songs of the church as well.

Laurel

Laurel 5
Hanging out with some friends I snapped a few pictures of this cutie on the fly.

Progress

We acquired a 4 door VW Golf with 45k in Atlanta this weekend and we are thankful for that. It should be a good commuter car for Michael for years to come and fits all of us in a pinch. I am looking forward to remembering how to drive manual!

Kate as Cinderella

The Princess Poses
Now that she is three, she needs a whole wardrobe of princess dresses.

Waiting for September

August has never been my favorite month. It’s hot, for starters, and by August I am usually tired of the heat. All four of us start school next week, so we’re in a crunch with that, and also trying to get rid of the immobile Volvos and acquire a new used car for Michael to drive in the next week so we can return the car we have been borrowing for several months. (Thanks again, S. family!) So, it’s crazy around here.

September will come and the cars will be straightened out and school will be going and autumn will come slowly and life will seem much more normal. At least, that’s what I am telling myself.

Thinking

Contemplative

WBW Conclusions

I was going to write today about weaning or tandem nursing (what I have to say about pumping, you probably don’t want to hear.) But, in the last two days I have read and heard several discouraging things about World Breastfeeding Week and mocking breastfeeding in general.

THAT is why I do this year after year. As much as it can seem like breastfeeding is the easy choice (free! convenient!) there’s a reason so few moms make it to even three months of exclusive breastfeeding, even if they want to. It’s hard, and our culture doesn’t make it any easier. When women no longer stop me at church to say how much they admire me for nursing in public UNDER A BLANKET, when I turn on the tv and no one makes a breastfeeding joke, when moms have the resources they need to get through rough patches, I’ll stop blogging about it.

Stories and Storytelling in the Christian Tradition

I am in the midst of writing a handout about stories and storytelling in the Christian tradition for my literature classes. What do you think is necessary to get across to 11 and 12 year olds?

WBW: First Feeding in the First Hour

This year’s World Breastfeeding Week theme is to encourage the practice of mothers breastfeeding immediately after birth. Especially in hospital situations, when a baby is born people start doing things — suctioning, swaddling, measuring, medicating, warming, etc. All of those things CAN wait and its usually most beneficial if they do (barring emergencies, of course.) For example, skin to skin contact between baby and mom is more effective at warming babies than being swaddled (a blanket can be placed over baby and mom to hold in the heat.) Most babies do not benefit from being suctioned (only those having difficulty breathing.) If you elect to do things such as eye ointment or vitamin k injections, they can wait for an hour or more. When newborns are first born, they are typically more alert than they will be for the first day or so, and it’s usually easiest to get them to latch on then it will be later. Also, did you know that newborns can crawl and find their mother’s breasts? They lose this instinct very quickly, but its there! The videos are pretty amazing. So, in overview, those first few feedings of colostrum are so important for the health of newborns, initiating them quickly ought to be a routine practice. When you are doing your birth plan, remember to consider what will happen after the birth, and talk to your care provider about how you would like to breastfeed immediately.

Cooling Off

Cooling Off