It is with great sadness that we have learned that Viola Lennon, co-Founder of La Leche League International and co-author of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, passed away peacefully in the Chicago area on Friday, January 22. Service and memorial details will be made available as soon as possible on the LLLI web page.
Viola Lennon was born in 1923. She credits her mother with having the strongest influence on her philosophy of breastfeeding and mothering, saying, “My mother portrayed breastfeeding as an enjoyable experience that brings you close to your baby.”
In 1951, Viola married William (Bill) Lennon with whom she had ten children. Edwina Froehlich, Viola’s friend from college, invited her to a meeting at the home of Mary White’s home in 1956, and she quickly joined the others.
In 1972, Viola took on the important role of Chairman of the LLLI Board of Directors, a position she held for five years. During this time, she helped guide the LLLI Board in the formalization of the policies and procedures for running this growing organization, as well as in defining the organizational philosophy and principles. When LLLI’s finances took a downturn in 1984, Viola spearheaded our “Second Founding” and later became the Director of the LLLI Funding Development Department, a position she held for many years. Vi developed close personal relationships with many generous donors who supported LLLI’s efforts financially and contributed in many ways to the success of the organization.
When she left her staff position as Funding Development Director, she dedicated her time and effort to the expansion of the Alumnae Association, becoming one of its strongest proponents.
Viola says, “Breastfeeding… led me to self-discovery and to a greater appreciation of the full humanity of the babies who were entrusted to me. Each woman needs to trust her own instincts, her own feelings, and her own sense of what will work for her with each baby. Women in the 1950s had forgotten the wisdom of previous generations in relation to breastfeeding. Mothers who tried to breastfeed on their own were almost always destined to fail.” She laughs when she adds, "The neighbors sent their children to watch me breastfeed because they knew the children would not see it anywhere else!”
Saturday, January 23, 2010
A Not So Lazy Weekend
I think the vomiting thing was a total fluke. I think she gagged herself because she had no fever on Thursday and no other vomiting incidents. Just the one time several times in a row on Thursday. Odd. But to be on the safe side we stayed in on Friday. That and I had a major project to put the car/carseat back together! My parents rolled in for a visit yesterday in the evening for the weekend, so Claire had a blast playing and reading with them. :)
We went to breakfast at Blueberry Hill where Claire had almost an entire cup of hot chocolate...holy cow!!! Then we got a new mattress for her at Sam's since we had jacked one out of the guest room. Ha...my parents got it so they'd have a place to sleep. What a deal. And guess where Claire is sleeping? Yup. On her "Princess Bed!" SCORE!
Then we swam at the Wellness Center. I think swimming while pregnant is quite possibly my most favorite thing in the world. The baby totally wakes up like when I lay down to sleep and goes crazy moving around! I wish to have an indoor pool and swim every day. Chop, chop Joshie. I'd also like our own personal hot-tub and steam rooms. Again, Chop, Chop. :) Claire had a blast and insisted on me letting her go so she could swim/float on her own. What a big step! That is the first she's wanted to do that! She had a life jacket on of course for me to let her go! :) It's a good quality boating one with complete head support. I wouldn't buy any other kind though!
Then we went to a Bday party at Monkey Joes for her friend Abby. Fun. Claire bit her lip jumping in a toddler jump area and bled, but wanted to go right back and play! Then after the party fun was over, she was playing again, went down a slide and smashed heads with another kid. This place was great though...really busy and fun. We'll have to go back! Poor Claire went to bed with a red spot on her face ... between her eyes/nose area from the head smash. Hopefully it won't bruise, but boy did she cry. I don't think I've ever actually heard her cry that hard before. :( I sat down and snuggled/nursed her and she was back to playing in a few minutes. Gotta love that "reset" nursing button.
THEN...we went to get some pizza with my parents/Josh at Mozzis. Claire dumped half her juice down her shirt from an open container, but luckily...I had an extra outfit for her :) Ha...pure luck.
So we got home and Claire wanted to sleep on her new mattress. Sweet. Knock on wood she'll be happy there all night!
We went to breakfast at Blueberry Hill where Claire had almost an entire cup of hot chocolate...holy cow!!! Then we got a new mattress for her at Sam's since we had jacked one out of the guest room. Ha...my parents got it so they'd have a place to sleep. What a deal. And guess where Claire is sleeping? Yup. On her "Princess Bed!" SCORE!
Then we swam at the Wellness Center. I think swimming while pregnant is quite possibly my most favorite thing in the world. The baby totally wakes up like when I lay down to sleep and goes crazy moving around! I wish to have an indoor pool and swim every day. Chop, chop Joshie. I'd also like our own personal hot-tub and steam rooms. Again, Chop, Chop. :) Claire had a blast and insisted on me letting her go so she could swim/float on her own. What a big step! That is the first she's wanted to do that! She had a life jacket on of course for me to let her go! :) It's a good quality boating one with complete head support. I wouldn't buy any other kind though!
Then we went to a Bday party at Monkey Joes for her friend Abby. Fun. Claire bit her lip jumping in a toddler jump area and bled, but wanted to go right back and play! Then after the party fun was over, she was playing again, went down a slide and smashed heads with another kid. This place was great though...really busy and fun. We'll have to go back! Poor Claire went to bed with a red spot on her face ... between her eyes/nose area from the head smash. Hopefully it won't bruise, but boy did she cry. I don't think I've ever actually heard her cry that hard before. :( I sat down and snuggled/nursed her and she was back to playing in a few minutes. Gotta love that "reset" nursing button.
THEN...we went to get some pizza with my parents/Josh at Mozzis. Claire dumped half her juice down her shirt from an open container, but luckily...I had an extra outfit for her :) Ha...pure luck.
So we got home and Claire wanted to sleep on her new mattress. Sweet. Knock on wood she'll be happy there all night!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
My Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day
Claire learned some new words today. Barf. Vomit. Throw up. Yeah. NOT words you want to experience first hand. But, I was also thinking about how it's about time she got sick...we've managed to escape the entire winter without even a runny nose. So strange...she just threw up in the car about 6 times in a row today. YUCK! She was so sad and pathetic though because after the first time she says, "Mommy, what's happening?" in a worried/concerned voice and then starting crying and saying, "Wipe it! WIPE IT!!! SO YUCKY!" Ok...you better just stop reading now if you get grossed out...(cough ahem, Dad!!!).
She had had about 8 oz. of grape juice, cheerios with milk...maybe about 4oz. of milk, and then was in the car drinking chocolate milk...she had consumed about 8 oz of that as well. SOOO needless to say...there was a lot too clean up. NOT HOW I PICTURED MY MORNING...pulled over on the side of the road with cars whipping by while I tried to wipe vomit off of Claire's face, neck, and the chunks off her her...I used up about 40 disposable wipes...sigh.
I ALWAYS have a clean outfit with. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS. Today I did not. Figures. I had taken the shirt out of the diaper bag because I was too lazy to go upstairs one day when Claire spilled food on her shirt, and I had yet to replace it. But I don't think I would've changed her anyways because I didn't see a way I could change her on the side of the road in 35 degree weather without freezing her to death...not to mention spreading the mess.
So looking on the bright side of things, I AM SO GLAD that our washer is immediately inside our backdoor. Several times a week when I schlep laundry up and down the stairs I wish we had our washer/dryer upstairs like my parents house is set-up, but today...boy was I glad I could just strip her clothes right into the machine which I promptly turned on along with our coats. It had soaked though the blanket on her lap, through to her undershirt and everything. It was on my coat from carrying her in. I didn't want her to walk in and spread it all over the garage floor. Sigh.
Looking again to the positive, I am VERY VERY glad we have a full bath downstairs. In a 2 story house, it would totally suck to carry a barfy toddler up the stairs for a bath. I was able to plunk her in and get her cleaned up and warmed up right away.
But that was only the beginning of the clean-up. That was just the clothes and the kiddo. I had to get her redressed and snuggle/nurse with her a bit. I turned on the TV...ha...but she was more interested in watching what I was doing...then I had to take the trash bags out to the car and gather up all the wipes and Cheerios chunks...without gagging myself. So I'm standing there cleaning, and Claire's asking "Why I throwed up?" Good question!!!!!! NO IDEA!!!!
I washed the 2 rugs in the backseat in the next load along with a bag that was in the middle, so none actually got on the floor. I put a bag of random crap under her carseat basically as a step so she can get up in her seat on her own. That was load 2 of barf laundry.
The rugs turned out so well, I decided to wash the 2 in the front as well! I think my car is going to need to smell as fresh as possible!!!!! It was about this time Claire started asking for lunch. Eeep. Of course she was hungry. She didn't have any food in her! So I gave her an applesauce cup and then a 2nd one and she was still hungry. It kind of felt like that very hungry Caterpillar book. Then I made her a peanut butter sandwich (she doesn't eat jelly...can't get her to try it!) thinking bread is on the BRATT diet...right...TOAST? Hoping the peanut butter would sit well, and it did. I heated up 2 pancakes for myself (we love breakfast for dinner around here about once a week!), but then she wanted those too!!! So I gave them to her, and by golly, she ate those too! I figured those were mild as well for digestion.
I kept her busy at the table by giving her playdough. I was afraid to let her down and onto the carpet in case she chucked up her lunch. I was so glad she was happy to play for so long alone...so then I went on a frenzy. I decided that since I had just cleaned out all my expired meds/toiletries, I should check my cupboards/fridge!! Nothing bad in the freezer since I just did that recently to make room for the freezer meals I made. The only thing bad in the fridge was some salad dressing that expired in Nov. 2009. Not bad considering I don't eat the stuff, and it usually appears after we have company.
Moving to the cupboards, it wasn't TOO terrible since I just trashed some rice/oatmeal cereal seemingly not too long ago because Claire...well never did eat that crap although she does love cream of wheat now....I wonder if she'd like it now! HA! I did find some kidney beans that expired in 2005...eep! I guess I normally buy the canned ones since they don't have to soak. Otherwise there was nothing else too terribly old or interesting. I did dump a few spices from 08/09, but that's not too terrible! The one really old spice I found was ALLSPICE from 2003...yikes! And some peppermint extract from 2005.
I had decided that there had to be something in my cupboards that Claire had perhaps recently ingested in the past couple of days to make her sick...I WANT A REASON...no such luck...nothing that she had eaten was bad. So anyways, then she took a three hour nap...score!!! Meanwhile I tried to get the carseat out, but had to wait for Josh to get home to start the next load of laundry...the carseat cover and protective pad under it. That thing was strapped in there so tight! I was able to leave my windows in my car down and the garage door open to get some of the smell out. Thank goodness we actually keep our cars in our garage vs. junk like seemingly half of the neighborhood does.
So where did Claire catch a bug? Who knows? Did she even have a bug??? She ate like a horse the rest of the day, which made me nervous...especially because she wanted a bowl of cheerios with milk for a bedtime snack. Along with a pudding cup, and applesauce cup, a full string cheese stick, oh, and some chips. Holy crap. I've been expected to hear the sound of chucking come from the baby monitor, but I think we are past the worry time zone.
Then I was talking to my mom. She suggested maybe Claire gagged herself on something and wasn't actually physically sick. Hmm...except her sippy cup wasn't the straw kind and couldn't have gotten back in her mouth far enough. She had 2 rounded type toys, but that's it. Oh, and those toys, TRASH. One was a McD type toy that someone had in a free box at a garage sale. Ha...bye bye! And the other, sadly, was her much beloved "real" toy cell phone. But I wasn't wasting anymore time cleaning puke out of little button holes that would still smell a week from now. I'll have to dig out another "new" old phone for her.
Anyways...my day...I pictured having fun and playing with friends...reality...NOT SO!
Then I screwed up the carseat by getting the straps wet in the tub. Apparently, they are now CRAP and won't work right. I have to buy new ones. But I think she needs a taller carseat anyways. Looks like we're not going anyplace for a couple days. But how the crap else are you supposed to clean so much liquidy vomit off of the straps without getting them wet...they were already wet. The carseat actually made a puddle on the floor in the laundry room when Josh set it down in there for me to strip the cover off. Should I have pulled over the first time she barfed?
If I would've and gotten her out quickly, she probably would've barfed ON ME...sigh. Thankfully the trash gets picked up tomorrow so we won't have that garbage lingering in the garage.
I told Claire happy half birthday, and she goes, "Me get cake?" HAHA! She connects birthdays with cakes already!!! So we made a carrot cake this evening! But she wasn't interested in eating it after tasting the cake mix...we'll frost it tomorrow and see if she's interested then!
Oh well, I guess it's good to have a crap day once in awhile to make you appreciate the normal ones. Like the ones where you don't feel like you need to have a big bowl on hand in case your toddler starts to make a coughing/retching noise. It could've been worse, but it could've been a whole, whole lot better.
So where did she pick it up? Who knows? We've only been like 20 places at least in the past week...dry cleaner, grocery store, library yesterday while getting her her very own card....how long do the barf bugs take to go into effect? Maybe it's from leaving her in the church nursery on Sunday...but aren't these things 24 hour bugs? Why do I always want to have a reason for an illness? Thank god the barfs are not an everyday thing. I better go to bed.
Night!
She had had about 8 oz. of grape juice, cheerios with milk...maybe about 4oz. of milk, and then was in the car drinking chocolate milk...she had consumed about 8 oz of that as well. SOOO needless to say...there was a lot too clean up. NOT HOW I PICTURED MY MORNING...pulled over on the side of the road with cars whipping by while I tried to wipe vomit off of Claire's face, neck, and the chunks off her her...I used up about 40 disposable wipes...sigh.
I ALWAYS have a clean outfit with. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS. Today I did not. Figures. I had taken the shirt out of the diaper bag because I was too lazy to go upstairs one day when Claire spilled food on her shirt, and I had yet to replace it. But I don't think I would've changed her anyways because I didn't see a way I could change her on the side of the road in 35 degree weather without freezing her to death...not to mention spreading the mess.
So looking on the bright side of things, I AM SO GLAD that our washer is immediately inside our backdoor. Several times a week when I schlep laundry up and down the stairs I wish we had our washer/dryer upstairs like my parents house is set-up, but today...boy was I glad I could just strip her clothes right into the machine which I promptly turned on along with our coats. It had soaked though the blanket on her lap, through to her undershirt and everything. It was on my coat from carrying her in. I didn't want her to walk in and spread it all over the garage floor. Sigh.
Looking again to the positive, I am VERY VERY glad we have a full bath downstairs. In a 2 story house, it would totally suck to carry a barfy toddler up the stairs for a bath. I was able to plunk her in and get her cleaned up and warmed up right away.
But that was only the beginning of the clean-up. That was just the clothes and the kiddo. I had to get her redressed and snuggle/nurse with her a bit. I turned on the TV...ha...but she was more interested in watching what I was doing...then I had to take the trash bags out to the car and gather up all the wipes and Cheerios chunks...without gagging myself. So I'm standing there cleaning, and Claire's asking "Why I throwed up?" Good question!!!!!! NO IDEA!!!!
I washed the 2 rugs in the backseat in the next load along with a bag that was in the middle, so none actually got on the floor. I put a bag of random crap under her carseat basically as a step so she can get up in her seat on her own. That was load 2 of barf laundry.
The rugs turned out so well, I decided to wash the 2 in the front as well! I think my car is going to need to smell as fresh as possible!!!!! It was about this time Claire started asking for lunch. Eeep. Of course she was hungry. She didn't have any food in her! So I gave her an applesauce cup and then a 2nd one and she was still hungry. It kind of felt like that very hungry Caterpillar book. Then I made her a peanut butter sandwich (she doesn't eat jelly...can't get her to try it!) thinking bread is on the BRATT diet...right...TOAST? Hoping the peanut butter would sit well, and it did. I heated up 2 pancakes for myself (we love breakfast for dinner around here about once a week!), but then she wanted those too!!! So I gave them to her, and by golly, she ate those too! I figured those were mild as well for digestion.
I kept her busy at the table by giving her playdough. I was afraid to let her down and onto the carpet in case she chucked up her lunch. I was so glad she was happy to play for so long alone...so then I went on a frenzy. I decided that since I had just cleaned out all my expired meds/toiletries, I should check my cupboards/fridge!! Nothing bad in the freezer since I just did that recently to make room for the freezer meals I made. The only thing bad in the fridge was some salad dressing that expired in Nov. 2009. Not bad considering I don't eat the stuff, and it usually appears after we have company.
Moving to the cupboards, it wasn't TOO terrible since I just trashed some rice/oatmeal cereal seemingly not too long ago because Claire...well never did eat that crap although she does love cream of wheat now....I wonder if she'd like it now! HA! I did find some kidney beans that expired in 2005...eep! I guess I normally buy the canned ones since they don't have to soak. Otherwise there was nothing else too terribly old or interesting. I did dump a few spices from 08/09, but that's not too terrible! The one really old spice I found was ALLSPICE from 2003...yikes! And some peppermint extract from 2005.
I had decided that there had to be something in my cupboards that Claire had perhaps recently ingested in the past couple of days to make her sick...I WANT A REASON...no such luck...nothing that she had eaten was bad. So anyways, then she took a three hour nap...score!!! Meanwhile I tried to get the carseat out, but had to wait for Josh to get home to start the next load of laundry...the carseat cover and protective pad under it. That thing was strapped in there so tight! I was able to leave my windows in my car down and the garage door open to get some of the smell out. Thank goodness we actually keep our cars in our garage vs. junk like seemingly half of the neighborhood does.
So where did Claire catch a bug? Who knows? Did she even have a bug??? She ate like a horse the rest of the day, which made me nervous...especially because she wanted a bowl of cheerios with milk for a bedtime snack. Along with a pudding cup, and applesauce cup, a full string cheese stick, oh, and some chips. Holy crap. I've been expected to hear the sound of chucking come from the baby monitor, but I think we are past the worry time zone.
Then I was talking to my mom. She suggested maybe Claire gagged herself on something and wasn't actually physically sick. Hmm...except her sippy cup wasn't the straw kind and couldn't have gotten back in her mouth far enough. She had 2 rounded type toys, but that's it. Oh, and those toys, TRASH. One was a McD type toy that someone had in a free box at a garage sale. Ha...bye bye! And the other, sadly, was her much beloved "real" toy cell phone. But I wasn't wasting anymore time cleaning puke out of little button holes that would still smell a week from now. I'll have to dig out another "new" old phone for her.
Anyways...my day...I pictured having fun and playing with friends...reality...NOT SO!
Then I screwed up the carseat by getting the straps wet in the tub. Apparently, they are now CRAP and won't work right. I have to buy new ones. But I think she needs a taller carseat anyways. Looks like we're not going anyplace for a couple days. But how the crap else are you supposed to clean so much liquidy vomit off of the straps without getting them wet...they were already wet. The carseat actually made a puddle on the floor in the laundry room when Josh set it down in there for me to strip the cover off. Should I have pulled over the first time she barfed?
If I would've and gotten her out quickly, she probably would've barfed ON ME...sigh. Thankfully the trash gets picked up tomorrow so we won't have that garbage lingering in the garage.
I told Claire happy half birthday, and she goes, "Me get cake?" HAHA! She connects birthdays with cakes already!!! So we made a carrot cake this evening! But she wasn't interested in eating it after tasting the cake mix...we'll frost it tomorrow and see if she's interested then!
Oh well, I guess it's good to have a crap day once in awhile to make you appreciate the normal ones. Like the ones where you don't feel like you need to have a big bowl on hand in case your toddler starts to make a coughing/retching noise. It could've been worse, but it could've been a whole, whole lot better.
So where did she pick it up? Who knows? We've only been like 20 places at least in the past week...dry cleaner, grocery store, library yesterday while getting her her very own card....how long do the barf bugs take to go into effect? Maybe it's from leaving her in the church nursery on Sunday...but aren't these things 24 hour bugs? Why do I always want to have a reason for an illness? Thank god the barfs are not an everyday thing. I better go to bed.
Night!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
ANOTHER tooth!
And we have another tooth! I discovered about 1/4 of her bottom lower right hand 2-year old molar upon flossing Claire's teeth tonight. Crap that came in fast!!! It's so strange...she got almost all of her teeth in pairs within mere days of each other. I wonder if that's common.
Among other recent excitements, she can now sing the alphabet perfectly. There are a couple letters she doesn't pronounce perfectly, but you can tell what they are...now I just need to get a video of that posted!
But perhaps the most exciting thing is that I left her in the church nursery Sunday without a single tear, and she played happily the whole time!
Among other recent excitements, she can now sing the alphabet perfectly. There are a couple letters she doesn't pronounce perfectly, but you can tell what they are...now I just need to get a video of that posted!
But perhaps the most exciting thing is that I left her in the church nursery Sunday without a single tear, and she played happily the whole time!
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