We’ve got next to nothing on our plates, which is a welcome change. There will, however, be a lot to do in order to finish DD’s Flat Stanley project. It’s a written report, oral presentation and a visual element. Her visual is a scrapbook. Let’s just say I might have gone a little helicopter mom on the scrapbook element… but the written report is all DD, I swear! 

If you haven’t already done so, please consider making a donation to a fund for musicteacherk and her four beautiful children. The link is here.

What’s on your mind this weekend? Chat away!

I hope everyone enjoys their Friday.

Since I can’t find the words, I have decided to act. For years I have wanted to participate in a Relay for Life walk in memory of my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather, both of whom died from cancer. Yesterday I decided it is time. I have a little over two weeks to form a team and pull this off, but I am walking on June 1 in memory of my Abuelita, my Grandpa and for A. I will walk for 24 hours straight if I need to. I hope you will support me by making a donation or dedicating a luminaria in memory of A. or any other loved one you have lost to cancer. If you know and love a survivor, you can dedicate a luminaria in their honor, as well. Please join me.

I love and appreciate this community. I am grateful every day that in this little corner of the Internet, we all have each other’s back.

Please share your words of support and love for C. and family, and feel free to chat about what else is on your mind today. Love to you all.

I and my co-workers at MomsRising created the clip in celebration of National Women’s Health Week this week:

Among the activities we have planned is a BINGO card of activities to do. We have been posting images of our members on Tumblr and Facebook. Here’s one of me stretching before a run.

Please join us! You can download your BINGO card here. Thanks!

Here is a story that, on the face of it, doesn’t seem intuitive. But looking back on the supplemental formula I gave my babies until my milk came in — this was exactly my experience.

Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco found that giving newborn babies a little formula took pressure off of the mother while she waited for her milk to come in and increased the time that she breastfed.

The study enrolled 40 full-term newborns between 24-48 hours old who had lost more than 5 percent of their birth weight. The babies were randomly assigned either to receive early limited formula (ELF), which consisted of one-third of an ounce of infant formula by syringe following each breastfeeding, or to continue with their intention to breastfeed exclusively. So as not to interfere with breastfeeding 8 to 12 times a day, the ELF babies were only given small amounts of formula. The syringe was used to avoid the babies developing nipple confusion – when a baby develops a preference for a bottle nipple over the breast. The ELF babies stopped the formula when their mothers began producing mature milk, approximately two to five days after birth.

At the one week assessment, all the babies in both groups were still breastfeeding. However, only 10 percent of the ELF babies had received formula in the last 24 hours, compared with 47 percent of the control group.

After three months, 79 percent of the babies in the study who received early limited formula in the first days of life were still breastfeeding, compared with 42 percent of the babies who did not receive early limited formula. Additionally, 95 percent of the babies who received limited formula in the first few days were breastfeeding to some extent at three months, compared with 68 percent of the babies who did not receive early limited formula.

For those of you who breastfed, did your milk come in right away? Did you supplement with formula while you waited?

In other health news: I was very moved by actress Angelina Jolie’s Op-Ed in the New York Times on preventative breast cancer surgery. This is definitely worth a read!

Finally, one more New York Times story that is worth a read: “Poverty as a Childhood Disease”. I found this story disturbing in so many ways, especially the finding that, “after the first three, four, five years of life, if you have neglected that child’s brain development, you can’t go back.”

In the middle of the 20th century, our society made a decision to take care of the elderly, once the poorest demographic group in the United States. Now, with Medicare and Social Security, only 9 percent of older people live in poverty. Children are now our poorest group, with almost 25 percent of children under 5 living below the federal poverty level.

When Tony Blair became prime minister of Britain, amid growing socioeconomic disparities, he made it a national goal to cut child poverty in half in 10 years. It took a coalition of political support and a combination of measures that increased income, especially in families with young children (minimum wage, paid maternity and paternity leaves, tax credits), and better services — especially universal preschool programs. By 2010, reducing child poverty had become a goal across the British political spectrum, and child poverty had fallen to 10.6 percent of children below the absolute poverty line (similar to the measure used in the United States), down from 26.1 percent in 1999.

I hope we come to our senses as a country. As the article pointed out, there are so many links between poverty and diseases — like high blood pressure and mental illness — we can’t afford not to address poverty among our young.

What else is in the news? What’s up with you?

I have been blessed(?) with a crazy precocious daughter. She was 5 when DS was born, so I bought her a couple of books for kids about having babies, etc. One of them was very factual in explaining that a baby was like a puzzle, made by a sperm from a man and an ovum from a woman.

Even after DS was born, she would ask to reread the book on occasion. A couple of years later she started asking, “But HOW does the puzzle get put together?” I would give short, factual answers about male and female anatomy and hope she would let it drop. But she wouldn’t let it go.

One day she blurted out, “HOW does it happen? Do you have to touch privates?” Yes, I replied as matter-of-factly as I could. “Can I watch?” she asked innocently. Um, no, I explained. It’s private. GAH.

Fast-forward to last week: she has to make a scrapbook for her Flat Stanley project, so I pulled out the scrapbook I made after our trip to Italy so she could see an example. It was in Florence that we discovered I was pregnant with DD, and there is a picture of me in the scrapbook holding up the positive pregnancy test.

Two days later we’re at Trader Joe’s and DD asks, “HOW did you know you were pregnant and should take a test?” Oy vey. I have always told myself I would be honest about these things, without going into gory detail, so I decided to stay factual.

“When you’re woman, every month you release an egg. When there is no sperm to make the puzzle, the egg gets released from the body as part of something called the menstrual cycle. When your menstrual cycle doesn’t come, it means you might be growing a baby,” I said. I shared no other details. Did I mention we were in the produce section at Trader Joe’s? 

That seemed to satisfy her for the moment, and she let it drop. Until last night when, just before bed, she said, “Next time you have a menstrual cycle, can you show it to me?”

Have I mentioned she is 8 years old?!

I explained to her that no, I wouldn’t be showing her my menstrual cycle as it is private. I also told her that this summer we could start reading books on the subject (I already bought American Girl’s “Care and Keeping of You” book; any other suggestions?). Then she asked how old I was when I got my cycle.

“Almost 12,” I told her. “So I probably won’t get it until I’m 12?” she said. “Probably,” I said. “You’ve got plenty of time.”

ACK.

So here’s the part where I beg you to tell me I’m not royally screwing this up somehow and unnecessarily traumatizing my daughter at an early age.

She’s just SO. DAMN. CURIOUS.

And perceptive, to boot.

How did you tell your kids the facts of life? Any advice, guidance, recommendations?

What else is on your mind today? Chat away!

Here’s one of those health news items that clearly shows arming children with information is the best defense. Researchers at Penn State found that children whose parents talked to them about drinking before leaving for college were less likely to drink or drank less than those whose parents did not address it at all, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

And a popular list around these parts — baby names! MSN Living listed the top baby boy and girl names for 2012. Enjoy!

What else is in the news? What’s up with you?

…Which was clearly inspired by the original “Evolution of Mom Dancing” with this fierce mom:

Last but not least, I want to thank each of you, MotherTalkers, for being great mommies to your children and children everywhere. Thank you for voting, for signing MomsRising.org petitions, for showing up to rallies and doing all that you can to help create a truly family-friendly country.

I want to give a shoutout to Ellen Bravo over at Family Values @ Work for this wonderful Mother’s Day essay, and for doing her fabulous work.

Happy Mother’s Day all!

We had an impromptu date last night: an invite to a family friend’s birthday dinner at a Greek restaurant that we’d never tried before. My cousin watched the kids and we enjoyed the company of grown ups and a delicious meal. After dinner we headed to the second run movie theater and watched Admission with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd. It was enjoyable but not great, a lot more melancholy than I’d expected. Still a fun night out!

For Mother’s Day I requested brunch at a great Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica. We will be joined by my parents, my grandma and two of my favorite aunts (one of whom is Gloria, of course!). Moms will get bottomless mimosas. HOLLA! 

What are your plans this weekend? Chat away!