One Year, One Month, One Week, One Day

Claire has been "on the outside" now for ONE YEAR, ONE MONTH, ONE WEEK, and ONE DAY. Yay! Goofy milestone? Maybe, but it's today!

Happy One Year, One Month, One Week, and One Day Birthday to you, Claire!

Crazy for Claire?

Well Claire has been throwing toys in the trash. I was trying to teach her how to put her toys back in the bins since she likes to put things inside of containers so well and stacking things. It started out with her throwing away her little kitchen pieces which were easy for me to wash/run through the dishwasher.

This morning I washed her lovey, the Pink Care Bear. Today she threw it in the kitchen trash. Yikes. It hadn't been out of the dryer for more than an hour. Argh. (And I used to wonder why people couldn't control their children better.) So now all of the trash cans have new places. I could try to teach her not to do it, but this is much faster in the meantime.

Well, we have a busy fall! We have lots of family coming in at various times, as well as a whole slew of weddings (and showers). Josh's dad, Brian, and his fiancee Vicki are in town for the weekend. So with company here, I will probably not be posting for awhile.

If you can't get enough Claire, here are some FILE HURRICANE goodies to tide you over: http://www.filehurricane.com/tags/claire So I haven't been withholding Claire videos from anybody! If you get sidetracked, just look for the tag CLAIRE. Have fun! And keep in mind that FH is not for the PG-type person. It's user-based, and apparently, the people who have the most time to upload things are young males.

Cross-Nursing

Amazing Blog Link about babies nursing http://blog.thenatureschild.com/2008/08/human-mama-breastfeeds-calf.html Read this article about Cross-Nursing. Amazing. It shows a woman "breastfeeding" a calf. It basically points out, why give your baby cow's milk when cow's make milk for baby cows. Formula is usually cow-milk based...It also points out that less than 1 percent of women can actually NOT breastfeed due to physical limitations. A big problem that often comes up are usually separation from the baby, like at birth from problems or a C-Section. This makes the milk take longer to come in, and people freak out that the baby is losing weight. Our own pediatrician only breastfeed her 3 girls for all of 1 week each. She said "I just couldn't make enough milk." Well, duh!

Her milk probably never came in because she was supplementing, using bottles too early, and/or pacis...I should ask her next time I go in. Very nice lady otherwise. The other problem, it seems, is that women go back to work before their milk supply fully comes in. At one BF support group meeting, a gal was there with a 3 week old baby and had been back to work for a week already. Her sitter was supplementing with formula because she couldn't make enough milk. Duh. You're still healing from a physical process...birth. The milk supply is not even fully established until 6-8 weeks. That's why babies have to nurse so much in the early weeks!

So I thought this article was very interesting! Tell me what you think.

Filehurricane.awesome=true

We took Claire outside to walk with her walker, but found it doesn't push so well in the long grass.

She loves to be outside! I love the way you can start to see her hair in the pictures.

Click on the pictures twice to make them full-sized and see them up closer.

And here is your video treat for today. I am so happy with my new way to post these.

My Husband Josh and his business partner Alex wrote a great site for uploading photos and videos. Fellow blogging mommies, take note! Simply click here: http://www.filehurricane.com/ and upload your videos to File Hurricane. Then you can embed your videos. NO SIZE LIMIT. AND it is fast and shows you your upload progress. I promise. There is even a place on the lower right where you can copy the HTML. W00T! (W00T is a happy word, like Yippee, but much MUCH cooler.)

I was sooo frustrated with how long it took BLOGGER to upload a video, and Jenica had complained about YouTube and Google Video, so I didn't even want to try those. So I just asked Josh to get embedding videos going. It helps to be married to a l33t g33k. (That means an "elite" or really good "geek" or computer savvy person, my dear Mom.) And thanks, too, to Alex, Josh's l33t g33k cohort. Amanda, you've made a great choice! You've already got a great site going! http://www.formylobster.com/

I love our digital video camera. I don't know how I ever lived without it. This is the one we have http://www.mysmallwonder.com/ And it is actually much smaller than our regular camera. Our regular camera seriously requires 2 hands. It's ridiculous, but it takes great shots! And I have fun playing with the settings http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/

Top 10 Ways

She loves to walk behind her little walker now.

So apparently I've touched some hot buttons with my past 2 posts. So in that line, here's today's post...

The Top Ten Ways my 13-month-old is like an 80-year-old+ Grandpa. (Any resemblance to REAL people, is purely coincidental.)

1. They both drool.
2. They both spill more food on the floor and clothing than actually enters their mouth.
3. They both have trouble chewing and swallowing hard foods.
4. They both have thin hair.
5. They both have problems coherently talking and being understood.
6. They both think that the world revolves them.
7. They shouldn't be driving.
8. They both like boobies.
9. They both wear diapers.
10. They both have trouble walking without a walker.

12-Month Shots

Here Claire is reading the Alumni update for ISU. She is an avid reader already.

Today Claire had her 12 month shots. She did great. They let me hold her and even leave her in her front carrier. She cried while getting stuck 4 times, but as soon as I stood up and started swaying, she was fine! I was really surprised! They offered her a sucker, but she wasn't very interested. So I ate it. It was good. :) Haha!

I love our Health Department. Not only are all the shots free (cough, ahem, already paid for by our tax dollars), but they (the people) are really nice! They recommended a lead-check screening at 12 and 24 months. So we made an appt. to go and get her tested for lead, which is just a finger-prick test. The results will take about 1 week.

I know a lot of people are uneasy about shots. Rightfully so, I think. I love Dr. Sears and all of his great advice when it comes to co-sleeping, breastfeeding, and baby-wearing. I have not read his new book called THE VACCINE BOOK, but it's on my to-read list. Not because I will change my mind to not get shots, but because I think it's interesting to see what other people read and keep up on things. http://www.askdrsears.com/ I love the Dr. Sears site and his newsletters.

I am very pro-shots. I feel like there is enough out there that can go wrong without adding previously eradicated diseases to the list. As I've heard before, diseases are only a plane ride away. And that doesn't mean that baby is flying somewhere, but someone is flying in from someplace. Since we go to church and a lot of people go on Mission Trips to Third World Countries, I feel like not vaccinating, would be leaving Claire open to exposure. I think it would be like not putting sunscreen on her when we plan to be in the sun for awhile. She might not get burned, but she might. And I don't want to get burned when it's not necessary.

Also, I know we are a very "international" family. And of course when you travel internationally, you have to have all your shots up to date. I figure why delay and mess around with anything. All of the clinical trials for the shots were developed on a certain schedule, so why mess around and do it "later?"

I've gotten the flu shot yearly since I lived in the dorms in college at 18. Hello...communal living/sharing restrooms/yuck. I know that now colleges are requiring more shots than ever to live on-campus. I think that's great. I think in general campuses, like our government wants people to be healthy. NOBODY wants a Pandemic on their hands!

Today Claire got her MMR (measles, mumps, & rubella), the Chickenpox, the HEP A, and the Pneumococcal shots. The office is of course full of propaganda for getting all your shots on time. A sickly, blotchy 4-month-old baby with meningitis on the bulletin board looked so horrible. I didn't even know NOT getting shots was an option until Claire was probably about 4 months old. I am just glad that shots have been developed. I had the chicken pox. AND it was HORRIBLE. If I can spare her pain and suffering with a tiny needle stick I will. I had it in my throat and in my privates. It was by far the sickest I have every been.

I know some people are concerned about the preservatives in shots, like thermisol because it could cause "autism." Right. They used to think Ultra-sounds caused autism. It is nice though for parents to have something to blame for an otherwise unexplainable thing. Autism is not caused by shots.

Josh also works at a company where there are a lot of people traveling domestically. Josh is a software engineer at http://www.greatcdltraining.com/ So since we actually leave our house to go the store, etc...I feel like not getting shots is not an option for us. I guess I trust Western Medicine. And in general I do trust the government. They put a lot of time, money, and effort into disease prevention. If only they would put that effort into public education...

There is a reason we have not had a plague in the past 3/4 century. I asked my mom, about not getting shots. Ultimately, she said it's my decision, but to review all of the diseases and see if I would be comfortable with Claire coming down with them. Smart lady.

Then I saw this ad over and over in magazines called DO IT FOR YOUR BABY. http://doitforyourbaby.com/ Basically, it's encouraging moms and dads to get up-to-date on their shots. Josh and I were able to get free flu shots and our TDAP (tetanus, diptheria, pertussis) boosters this year from the Health Dept. W00T! I listened to the Whooping Cough baby. How sad. I would not feel comfortable with Claire getting that. I am sure that she would agree.

Well, I guess the schools have things figured out. I asked today about exemptions from shots. They said, there is no philosophical exemption from shots. So you can't just say that shots "could be" bad and not get them and still get enrolled. And the only way you can get a Doctor's exemption is if the child has had a shot, had a severe reaction to it, and is essentially allergic to it. Many kids get rashes and fevers from the chickenpox and MMR, which is normal and not a sign of allergies. And the only other exemption: Religion. I think it's the Christian Science "cult" that thinks that shots are evil and bad. And of course, they don't like to use antibiotics either. I guess it's what Darwin would call: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. Remember, from Biology class? It's where the weak die out on their own.

State and local laws also require cats and dogs to be vaccinated for a reason. You can't even take your animal to be groomed without current shots. If everyone were innoculated, the diseases would get wiped out. It's really sad to see this pockets of smallpox and other things breakout.

I looked at some Amazon reviews of the new Vaccine book. http://www.amazon.com/Vaccine-Book-Decision-Parenting-Library/dp/0316017507/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219802693&sr=8-1 I thought the 2nd comment was hilarious as the commentator wrote, "Dr. Sears is the darling of LLL." I love LLL and breastfeeding, but I think for me personally, I would not feel comfortable with the decision not to vaccinate. Claire has gotten all of her shots on the public-health prescribed, on-time schedule.

I asked Josh about his stance. He is also for shots. He said, if a baby is going to die, it will be in the first three years. You need to immunize as soon as possible to prevent issues. I also have worked with several autistic students and read a lot about autism. It is such a spectrum disorder, and I have enough to write about that for a whole new posting.

I am not trying to judge any other parents for their decisions, as I think parenting in general is a tough job full of tough decisions. I think what is important is that a parent has read about it and made an educated choice. And I think, like one gal on a delayed schedule said, she feels comfy with her choice, and I think that's what is important when it comes to all parenting choices. I feel comfy with this choice.

My Beautiful Booby Baby

So my little squalling newborn has grown and thrived on essentially my milk alone. She is still not a big solids eater. If she eats 2 green beans for dinner, I am thrilled! I think this is natural, and the way things probably used to be before Big Formula and Big Baby Food. She never was a fan of us feeding her solids... ever. When we started at 6 months it was more every few days trying solids, but now that I've been reading more, our culture is one of the earliest weaning and solid feeding cultures out there. Most other cultures read the baby for readiness signals when it comes to solids. Can Baby push to sitting alone? Does baby have at least one tooth? Does baby have a pincer grasp to self-feed? Claire had none of those at the 6 month mark!

So we just would try some solids every now and then. Finally about 2 weeks before she hit 12 months, she finally started "liking" solids. I am not sure if liking is the right word, though. I think she just wasn't ready. So on the same page, she's definitely not ready to wean yet. She doesn't drink well out of a sippy cup yet, but that's ok...I have plenty of milky for her needs!

Magical Mama's Milk bar is open 24/7/365 for Sweet Baby Claire. I read that only about 10% of babies are still nursing at the one-year mark, despite the US stats that 70% of moms leave the hospitals nursing. I don't know how the stats stack up at the 2 year mark. But I do find it incredibly interesting that the AAP only advises nursing mothers to do so for one year. This may lead many mothers to wean before they or their baby is ready.

Here is what it comes down to: "Even though the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends breastfeeding "for at least 12months, and thereafter for as long as mutually desired," extended breastfeedingis not a common practice in North America. Some even frown on the practice,saying it spoils the child or keeps the child from gaining independence.However, there are many benefits to breastfeeding beyond oneyear."Ok, so keeping that in mind, it's almost TO ME, like the AAP doesn't want to "upset" anybody who views things differently. Why breastfeed past one? Well, they are making toddler formulas now that go until age 24 months. Hmm. Seems like they are finally starting to realize that maybe 1 year olds need MORE nutrition. I would copy and paste this article, giving it credit of course, but I don't want to violate any copyright laws.

The English teacher in me would cringe! So read this short page: http://breastfeeding.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_benefits_of_breastfeeding_beyond_one_year All of these benefits do not suddenly stop at a certain age. It's not like I'd wake up one day, and find my breasts leaking water instead of Magical Mama's Milky (OR MMM). When I first fed Claire at the hospital, it was pretty amazing, and it has only gotten better. I think that a lot of the pressure to stop prematurely is sad. It's mostly due to a lack of education. I'd actually be interested in reading ANYTHING that promoted early weaning. A child will not initiate self-weaning until 18-24 months. (If it happens earlier, it's Mother-Led weaning or a nursing strike.) I believe very strongly in child-led weaning.Even though Claire isn't eating tons of solids or drinking from a sippy, she is down to very few nursings during the day and when she does nurse, it's very fast! It's not like when she was a newborn and nursed every 2 hours for 30 minutes plus per session!

I don't know how I turned into a Lactivist. It just sort of happened. What is a lactivist? Go here to find out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactivism Basically it is a person that is active in promoting lactation. I really enjoy attending LLL meetings. So much that I attend multiple groups! It's great for Claire to socialize with the other babies and toddlers, and I love how educated and well-read all of the attending moms are. I always learn something.Perhaps it's my inner-dork that loves learning. Gotta feed that! It's also an incredible comfortable environment for Claire and I. And as another mom once said, "I can never get enough of the Mommy/Baby/Booby talk." Perhaps it's the irritating comments I've gotten about the sling or the front-carrier. I really want to sit down with someone who says something negative and talk with them, but who has the time?

Just yesterday at church, some old lady said, "You carried her for 9 months in the womb, and she turned one, and you've still got her in that thing?!" I said "Yup! I sure do!" in an overly cheery manner and walked away. I'm not sure if it was just a conversation starter, but I didn't have the desire at the time to talk to her. :)So don't you find that picture of Claire nursing really gorgeous? It's from a mom's-eye-view. I have several other ones, but they are mostly for me, and for Claire when she's older and wants to know about her nursing stage in life. (Like if she has a little sibling or more and asks if she was a baby, did she do that?) So I have some pictures to show her.ALRIGHT. So back to the AAP guidelines. WHY, may I ask, does WHO advise mothers to breastfeed for a MINIMUM of TWO years. Why 12 months different? Well, clearly America is lagging behind in the area of breastfeeding knowledge, which I think goes back to the whole prudishness of the USA in general. Just take the example of all the nude beaches in Europe. It's normal. It's NOT a big deal. It's not even a big deal on regular beaches and at pools for people to change openly and for women to go topless. It's normal for kids to go naked until much later (think pre-puberty-age). Now I'm not one to go flashing my boobs around while nursing in public. I always am discreet, but I don't think a woman should have to be, if she wants to nurse openly like she does normally at home. Check out this information http://www.breastfeedingbasics.org/cgi-bin/deliver.cgi/content/International/recommendations.html

It says that both the AAP and WHO recommendations for solids are 6 months. MINIMUM. So why do so many doctors say 4 months is ok to start solids? Sad, really, very sad. No wonder America has a weight problem. Too much, too soon. I am not dissing any mom who has chosen to use formula in her baby's diet. A few months ago, I would have dissed more, but everyone makes their own decisions. I think every prego woman should read this site, as well: http://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/what_should_know_formula.htmlI just think more moms would breastfeed or TRY HARDER if they knew the risks of NOT breastfeeding.

After reading all the stories in the LLL publication NEW BEGINNINGS of difficulties breastfeeding preemies, through cancer with one breast, etc, etc, I just think some people give up too soon, which is sad. I think formula should only be available with a doctor's prescription for babies that are in need of a medical intervention due to failure to thrive, or for adopted babies, of course, or for women with special circumstances when it comes to the breasts or milk issues. I think doctors need to be better educated as well, but perhaps BIG MEDICINE wants us to be a nation of formula feeders, so we get sick more and pad their pockets better.I thought twice about posting the picture above, and tried to find one that showed as little areola as possible, but why? Is it any more offensive than say, the statue of DAVID (where you can see his "junk").

I personally find the whole bottle and pacifier culture more offensive because these are substitutes for the mother. So that 4 year-old you see walking around the store with the paci really just has a breast dildo hanging out of his/her mouth.I didn't mean for this post to get so long, but I find I still have more to say on this topic. Basically, no, we are not weaning yet. I would be honored to nurse Claire till she's 3 or even 4. But I know by that point as well it will be at bedtime and other occasional instances. Nummies are her world. And I can't take her world away. Nor do I want to. If she still wants it; she still needs it. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can NOT make it drink." Because as any mother knows, you can't make a baby take a breast if it doesn't want to. Perhaps I've said too much, but I feel like it's too little. But that's it for today.

Stomp your Feet!

Claire likes to do "SO BIG!" She will often initiate it and start laughing so we say it! :)




She can cruise around the furniture super fast now while holding a toy or two.

And she can climb onto the coffee table. Sigh. So she can climb up the stairs and onto our furniture, now she's mastered this. At least she *generally* has figured out how to back down and slide safely down.

We can't put anything on the end tables or coffee tables that we expect to find later. It's bound to end up under some random toys and books.

She has always loved things with buttons like on our Blackberries, remotes, and Daddy's controllers for his big-boy games. She knows what is fun! I fear when she can walk as she will be able to reach so much more stuff like the printers, microwave, and dishwasher buttons.

This is a cute video of Claire stomping her feet, which is her new cute trick. (Climbing on the table cannot be considered cute!)

In her fascination with the table, I showed her how to dust. Hehe. At least this kept her occupied and not climbing on it! She mimics more everyday. I'm amazed. She can click her tongue now, too!