Our Impossible Adoption Story
If you're looking for the unbelievable account of how "impossible" became "done" in 5 business days, start here.
Spring Swing
We tried the baby swings last weekend while we were out with some friends.
May be a little small for those still.
How To Convince Yourself You Have PPD
It’s been 4 months now, so I think we can go here. I’ve had time to gather my thoughts. You’ve had time to realize I’m not depressed. So let’s talk about this without then talking about medicating me.
I think I took this test three times in three months. This little, 10-question quiz that would probably diagnose a grandmother with post-partum depression. You probably have PPD.
Observe:
3. I have blamed myself unnecessarily when things went wrong:
A – Yes, most of the time
B – Yes, sometimes
C – Not very often
D – Never
Really? Pretty sure I’ve been doing this since high school.
4. I have been anxious or worried for no good reason:
A – Not at all
B – Hardly ever
C – Sometimes
D – Very often
You know you’re asking new mommies this, right? I thought I was required, as a mommy, to be anxious and worried for no good reason. Growing up, I seem to remember my mother constantly anxious and/or worried for no good reason. If I was five minutes late coming home at night, or didn’t answer my cell phone when she called, it surely meant I was dead in a ditch on the side of the road somewhere. I thought “anxious and worried” was the job description. … Is this a trick question? Read more…
Good Reads
Fight Junk Food Marketing to Kids {WebMD}
But how much influence does food marketing have on your preschooler, grade-schooler, teen, or even you? A recent study showed that after viewing snack food advertisements, children and adults were more likely to eat more, regardless of reported hunger. Seeing the commercials trained them, in a way, to want the food.
HT: Sarah
Rear-Facing Seat {Be Seat Smart}
New recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration state that children should ride rear facing until age 2. Many parents and care givers have questions. “Why so long rear facing? Won’t his legs get hurt? What’s he do with his legs? Won’t she be squished? It was good enough for my kids 20 years ago, why isn’t it good enough anymore?”
Sounds of Arguing Affect Babies’ Brains, Even While They’re Asleep {HuffPost}
Graham and her colleagues scanned the brains of 20 sleeping infants, ages 6 months to 12 months, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (a technique that measures blood flow as a proxy for brain activity). Inside the scanner, the babies heard nonsense sentences spoken by a male adult in very angry, mildly angry, happy or neutral tones.
Strollers, Baby Carriers, and Infant Stress {boba}
But the truth is that the average Western infant between three weeks and three months of age is carried a little more than two and a half hours a day (Heller, 118.) We end up carrying the baby to the car in a container, through the store in a container, to eat lunch in a container, back to the car in a container and home in a container*. Sometimes from there to the swing that we can click right into without touching the baby so we can make dinner, into the bouncy seat while we eat, and soon after to sleep in a crib. The west has diverged from eons of child rearing and has gotten to the point so that objects are defining our baby’s existence more so than our bodies.
Move {Rick Mereki, Tim White, Andrew Lees}
Anger – An Open Letter to Dads Everywhere
I think it was Tuesday morning that I woke up angry.
It started Monday evening, but I assumed I was just tired and went to bed. By the time Meatball decided we were going to get up on Tuesday morning, though, it had blossomed.
An-gry
Husband noticed right away. “You okay?”
“I’m pissed off.”
He looked worried for a pause. “At who?”
I disregarded his grammatical error, and stopped to consider. I wasn’t immediately sure.
I wasn’t angry at God, convenient as it would have been. I know better. I wasn’t angry at my dad; he fought harder than anyone that doctor had ever seen. I wasn’t angry at Husband or myself or my mom or our prayer warriors back home.
I was angry (“was?” “am?”) at every absent, deadbeat, abusive, uninterested father the world over. “I want to line them up, everywhere, and scream at them.”
So here it is.
Dear Inadequate Fathers and Grandfathers,
I hate you. Read more…
In The Meantime
Dear Hananiah,
You’re one week away from being four months old as I type this.
And we’re about one week past saying goodbye to your Pawpaw.
Someday, when you’re older, I will explain the mechanics of a stroke, but for now it is enough to know that Pawpaw got really sick a couple of weeks ago. Nana went to the hospital with him, and the doctors worked really hard to make him all better, but he didn’t get better.
Someday we’ll talk about Bell’s Palsy and how the early signs of a stroke can easily be misdiagnosed. We’ll make sure you know the difference – that trouble swallowing is a sure sign of a stroke and not Bell’s Palsy, in case, Heaven forbid, you ever need that information. But for now we will choose to continue believing that it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway … because it probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.
Someday you’ll know why we treasure the few pictures we have of you, in your first three months, with this man you don’t remember – someday when you have children, or grandchildren, of your own and your heart finally understands this kind of love. But in the meantime, we will point to that face and repeat, “Pawpaw,” over and over and over again.
In the meantime, we will tell you about how he slept on the floor of the hospital waiting room the night you were born. Read more…
Spits and Wiggles 