I saw this on Baby Making Machine's blog and thought it was a cute idea. She did a "Baby Bucket List." What a great idea. Things I'd like to do before my next baby. Since I'm fresh out of ideas for blogs lately, I have resorted to gently borrowing ideas from other people. Here's my before-next-baby-bucket-list:
(1) Get active...swim, walk, yoga....at least 4 times/week.
(2) Clean out the extra bedroom.
(3) Go through old baby clothes.
(4) Go through old maternity clothes.
(5) Read all my birth books (not your old run-of-the-mill books....Ina May, Henci Goer, Pam England, Ricki Lake/Abby Epstein, Jennifer Block are in my library).
(6) Believe in myself and my ability to push out a baby.
(7) Hire a doula.
(8) Get my 3-year-old to sleep in her own bed...all night...without an hour struggle every night.
(9) Eat healthier. (I am on my way to this, so I hesitate putting it on here, but I will.)
Hmmm....sounds more like a to-do list. Kinda boring, but oh well, maybe I'd edit it later.
Now, off to start #1.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
My 3-Year Old Nursling
I never in a million years (or at least my 32 years) thought I would nurse my daughter for 3 years....okay, almost 3 and a half. But, here we are. I was committed to child-led-weaning, but now I would opt for GENTLE mother-encouraged weaning. Obviously, I'm not forcing the issue, or I wouldn't be nursing at all.
Well, lately I've had less and less milk. It has been really hard on A. She struggles at night. She doesn't know how to go to sleep without milk (a whole different story). Our nighttime routines have been challenging at best. Fortunately, I have still been able to successfully nurse all of her stuffed animals. They don't seem to mind. :)
Today, we were mattress shopping. Yea, if you know what I'm going to say, well, let's just say I had no idea it was going to happen! I laid down. She laid down. Then, right there in the middle of the store, my lovely daughter pulled my shirt up and said "MILKIES!" Okay, well, now I was embarrassed. The entire furniture store saw my fat belly and hopefully not my giant milkies! I don't think they heard her say 'milkies', but who cares about that. This coninued....every time we laid down..."MILKIES!" But, I knew better and held my shirt down on each new mattress.
Geez, talk about associations!
Well, lately I've had less and less milk. It has been really hard on A. She struggles at night. She doesn't know how to go to sleep without milk (a whole different story). Our nighttime routines have been challenging at best. Fortunately, I have still been able to successfully nurse all of her stuffed animals. They don't seem to mind. :)
Today, we were mattress shopping. Yea, if you know what I'm going to say, well, let's just say I had no idea it was going to happen! I laid down. She laid down. Then, right there in the middle of the store, my lovely daughter pulled my shirt up and said "MILKIES!" Okay, well, now I was embarrassed. The entire furniture store saw my fat belly and hopefully not my giant milkies! I don't think they heard her say 'milkies', but who cares about that. This coninued....every time we laid down..."MILKIES!" But, I knew better and held my shirt down on each new mattress.
Geez, talk about associations!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Patience
I have no patience. Right now, I'm waiting on two things. Both of which, are out of my hands right now. For both, I've done all I can do. Both will affect me deeply, one more so than the other. One involves my school (I did not-so-hot on a test on Friday...failing by 1 EFFING point). It was one quiz. I'm not the best test-taker. But, I submitted extra credit. So....I'm patiently waiting, while respecting my professors need for a weekend, for her to respond to my e-mails. Patiently, respectfully waiting.
The second thing I'm waiting for involves my uterus. I ovulated 8 days ago. I'm not very patient. I want to know answers right now...okay, yesterday would have been better.
Regardless of what happens in both situations, I know God knows the answer already. I know God will do what is RIGHT and BEST. I may not understand right now. But, I will have faith that the best thing will happen. I have to...it's the only thing that is helping me with the waiting!
The second thing I'm waiting for involves my uterus. I ovulated 8 days ago. I'm not very patient. I want to know answers right now...okay, yesterday would have been better.
Regardless of what happens in both situations, I know God knows the answer already. I know God will do what is RIGHT and BEST. I may not understand right now. But, I will have faith that the best thing will happen. I have to...it's the only thing that is helping me with the waiting!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Going sugar free!
Awhile back, I posted something about how I wanted to give up sugar for Lent. I was still addicted to sweets. Loved them. I love bread, sugar, potatoes, anything with sugar or sugar like substances in it.
Then, I started nurse practitioner school. I learned so much my first term. But, two very important things I learned affected me personally. I started putting things together. I realized I had to change. But, I was changing a culture, something I had "known" my entire life.
First, I learned insulin is really the root of all evil, not fat. For so long, I have thought fat was bad. I never ever used butter, full-fat milk, or anything like that. As I learned more about insulin, I grew scared of what I was doing to myself. I learned that insulin causes cells to grow abnormally, causing tumors. Insulin causes you to store body fat.
Next, I learned about aspartame. See, one professor, made a comment, obesity was never a problem in the U.S. until the introduction of aspartame. That really made me wonder....did we eat more because we thought it was okay, since we were using aspartame OR did the aspartame make us fat? I learned it was really a combination of the two.
I put those ideas together. Here's an example to illustrate my point: you drink a diet coke (hmmm, I miss those), you drink a lot of aspartame. Your body TASTES something sweet. Your poor little pancreas thinks you've eaten sugar. They really did a good job making aspartame, to trick your body like that. Your pancreas releases insulin because it thinks you have eaten sugar. Your body must release insulin when you eat sugar, to be able to move the sugar into cells. What results, from the aspartame plus rise in insulin, is extra insulin. Your body stores body fat as a result. Plus, because you have this extra insulin, you ARE hungrier...it's your body's attempt at balancing the insulin/glucose teeter-totter in your body.
So, yes, aspartame is making us fat. But, it's because of insulin.
On July 12, I gave up all sugar, grains, breads, and good that act like sugar (aspartame, splenda, honey, all sweeteners basically...except stevia). As of last Friday, I had lost 11 pounds. Then, I did something dumb (well, what I ate was dumb)...I went on a date with my husband. We went to the movies. I drank a diet dr. pepper (not as good as I remembered), ate popcorn, and had some lovely junior mints. Wow! That's a lot of sugar, I know. Then, we went to dinner. I did drink some red wine there (that's okay in moderation) and ate some bread (ugh!) and a lovely molten chocolate cake (I would do that again, but it was homemade!). I felt like crap!
I gained about 5 pounds in that one day. I tried to eat a pancake the next morning...I was trying to get all the sugary cravings out! Fortunately, the pancake was gross. That was 4 days ago. I'm only 3 pounds away from my 11 pound mark.
So, what do I eat? Eggs, cheese (not fat-free), butter (not by itself), meat (organic, usually local), all the fruits I want (except watermelon, because of it's high glycemic index), all the veggies I want (except peas, corn, and all potatoes, because of their truly starchy nature), nuts, nut butters (lots of peanut butter, but we eat local peanut butter with peanuts and salt listed as the ONLY ingredients). For dinner last night, I had grilled chicken legs, brussel sprouts, chilled tomato soup, and salad (with blue cheese, tomatoes, olive oil, and red wine vinegar). It was yummy.
We buy fruit, veggies, and eggs every week now. I have more energy and feel better about myself. I have already noticed a difference in my clothing!
Officially, I am following Dr. Olson's Sugar Free Challenge. I love it!
Then, I started nurse practitioner school. I learned so much my first term. But, two very important things I learned affected me personally. I started putting things together. I realized I had to change. But, I was changing a culture, something I had "known" my entire life.
First, I learned insulin is really the root of all evil, not fat. For so long, I have thought fat was bad. I never ever used butter, full-fat milk, or anything like that. As I learned more about insulin, I grew scared of what I was doing to myself. I learned that insulin causes cells to grow abnormally, causing tumors. Insulin causes you to store body fat.
Next, I learned about aspartame. See, one professor, made a comment, obesity was never a problem in the U.S. until the introduction of aspartame. That really made me wonder....did we eat more because we thought it was okay, since we were using aspartame OR did the aspartame make us fat? I learned it was really a combination of the two.
I put those ideas together. Here's an example to illustrate my point: you drink a diet coke (hmmm, I miss those), you drink a lot of aspartame. Your body TASTES something sweet. Your poor little pancreas thinks you've eaten sugar. They really did a good job making aspartame, to trick your body like that. Your pancreas releases insulin because it thinks you have eaten sugar. Your body must release insulin when you eat sugar, to be able to move the sugar into cells. What results, from the aspartame plus rise in insulin, is extra insulin. Your body stores body fat as a result. Plus, because you have this extra insulin, you ARE hungrier...it's your body's attempt at balancing the insulin/glucose teeter-totter in your body.
So, yes, aspartame is making us fat. But, it's because of insulin.
On July 12, I gave up all sugar, grains, breads, and good that act like sugar (aspartame, splenda, honey, all sweeteners basically...except stevia). As of last Friday, I had lost 11 pounds. Then, I did something dumb (well, what I ate was dumb)...I went on a date with my husband. We went to the movies. I drank a diet dr. pepper (not as good as I remembered), ate popcorn, and had some lovely junior mints. Wow! That's a lot of sugar, I know. Then, we went to dinner. I did drink some red wine there (that's okay in moderation) and ate some bread (ugh!) and a lovely molten chocolate cake (I would do that again, but it was homemade!). I felt like crap!
I gained about 5 pounds in that one day. I tried to eat a pancake the next morning...I was trying to get all the sugary cravings out! Fortunately, the pancake was gross. That was 4 days ago. I'm only 3 pounds away from my 11 pound mark.
So, what do I eat? Eggs, cheese (not fat-free), butter (not by itself), meat (organic, usually local), all the fruits I want (except watermelon, because of it's high glycemic index), all the veggies I want (except peas, corn, and all potatoes, because of their truly starchy nature), nuts, nut butters (lots of peanut butter, but we eat local peanut butter with peanuts and salt listed as the ONLY ingredients). For dinner last night, I had grilled chicken legs, brussel sprouts, chilled tomato soup, and salad (with blue cheese, tomatoes, olive oil, and red wine vinegar). It was yummy.
We buy fruit, veggies, and eggs every week now. I have more energy and feel better about myself. I have already noticed a difference in my clothing!
Officially, I am following Dr. Olson's Sugar Free Challenge. I love it!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
"There's no breastfeeding here!"
Yesterday, on twitter, a coffee shop in Tulsa, OK posted that they saw a woman breastfeeding and that there is no breastfeeding in their store. Of course, they quickly said they were joking (how convenient). In Oklahoma, there are 2 very specific laws regarding breastfeeding. The Oklahoma State Health Department gives cards to women, after they give birth, with the laws on them. I happen to carry one in my purse.
HB 2102 (since 2004) gives women the right to breastfeed wherever they have a right to be AND they shall be excused from jury duty upon request.
HB 2358 (since 2006) allows moms to use unpaid (boo!) break and meal times to breastfeed or pump at work. This law also urges employers to provide a place for women to pump, other than a toilet stall.
When my daughter was a newborn, I always used a cover-up to nurse her. I was modest. Of course, I'm not entirely comfortable with my large breasts. And, there is hardly a way to nurse without exposing half of my upper body. So, I use a cover-up. I'm not sure what I'll do with the my next child, but I will breastfeed it public. Maybe I'll cover up, maybe I won't.
It's frustrating that women are being harassed to either not breastfeed in public at all or to cover-up. For one, we don't eat our meals on the toilet. And two, we don't eat under blankets. Babies, of all people (and yes, they are people), should be afforded those same rights.
Perhaps next time I'm in Tulsa, I'll stop by the Double Shot. It's not that I'm against them, I just think it's a sad example of how our society views breastfeeding. The ultimate reward would be for them to have a "Nursing Mothers and Babies Welcome Here" sticker from the Oklahoma State Health Department.
Maybe I'll take them one!
HB 2102 (since 2004) gives women the right to breastfeed wherever they have a right to be AND they shall be excused from jury duty upon request.
HB 2358 (since 2006) allows moms to use unpaid (boo!) break and meal times to breastfeed or pump at work. This law also urges employers to provide a place for women to pump, other than a toilet stall.
When my daughter was a newborn, I always used a cover-up to nurse her. I was modest. Of course, I'm not entirely comfortable with my large breasts. And, there is hardly a way to nurse without exposing half of my upper body. So, I use a cover-up. I'm not sure what I'll do with the my next child, but I will breastfeed it public. Maybe I'll cover up, maybe I won't.
It's frustrating that women are being harassed to either not breastfeed in public at all or to cover-up. For one, we don't eat our meals on the toilet. And two, we don't eat under blankets. Babies, of all people (and yes, they are people), should be afforded those same rights.
Perhaps next time I'm in Tulsa, I'll stop by the Double Shot. It's not that I'm against them, I just think it's a sad example of how our society views breastfeeding. The ultimate reward would be for them to have a "Nursing Mothers and Babies Welcome Here" sticker from the Oklahoma State Health Department.
Maybe I'll take them one!
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