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Terran McCabe: The Air Force Breastfeeding Mom Finally Speaks Out – I Am Not the Babysitter
Here’s a perfect example of how breastfeeding should be viewed, and what’s wrong with how it is often viewed.
Terran McCabe: The Air Force Breastfeeding Mom Finally Speaks Out – I Am Not the Babysitter.
In praise of Kangaroo Care for premature babies | Dr. Jen Gunter
Anyone with a premature baby should know about Kangaroo Care.
In praise of Kangaroo Care for premature babies | Dr. Jen Gunter.
Home Again and Back to Work
That was quite a week! I’m back home after the big celebration of my FIL’s 90th birthday. We were kept pretty busy all week, which was nice. Down time is overrated.
Not only did we pay homage to my husband’s father, but I got to spend Mother’s Day with my #4 child. She’s lived down south ever since she went away to college way back in 1999 or so, except for a brief interlude in Napa, which still is not exactly next door. So being together for Mother’s Day was a momentous occasion for both of us. We also spent the day with Tayde, Mary’s mother-in-law, who has been a perfect “mother” to Mary in my absence.
Of course, we also included the husbands and kids while we explored the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla!
Now, alas, it’s back to work. I bought groceries, went to water aerobics, and checked on the garden. Some critter dug up my carrots while we were gone. Glad something’s getting use out of it.
Next up is editing of Worlds Apart and I have new childbirth series starting tonight. So I should stay out of trouble for a few days, at least.
90 Years Young
We’re in Oceanside to celebrate my father-in-law’s 90th birthday. I figure anyone who reaches 90 this healthy and sharp, deserves a big hurrah. Last night was a cozy family get-together and tomorrow will be a big bash for friends.
Happy birthday, Dad. You’re amazing!
A Day in the Life
Continuing the alphabet meme. Such fun.
D=DMV
It’s not a big deal, it’s just that I’ve had to deal with the DMV a little more than usual this year, specifically this month. I just renewed both my car registration and my driver’s license. Had to get the car smog-checked. Happy to report it’s still going strong even after 14 years. It’s been a good little car. And while I’ve aged a bit since my last DL picture, I can still use the old picture. The one without any gray hair!
E= Exercise
That’s probably too obvious, but if it’s true, it’s true. Exercise is a significant portion of my life these days. We joined the YMCA about a year and half ago. We both go MWF to do the weight machines and stationary bikes. I go again on Tuesday/Thursday for a water aerobics class. The purpose is basically for health – losing weight would be nice, but the exercise didn’t do a bit of that for either of us. I think it’s helping with blood pressure. Until about ten years ago, I always had BP around 110/70. It’s been creeping up toward higher levels, and for a while I was seeing it in the range of 140/90. I think that in general, it’s a little lower on a regular basis, say about 120/80. That’s still not great, but it’s better. ‘Cept just now I took it, and it’s 111/73. That’s an average of two checks on each arm. Awesome!
F=Frenetic
That describes my upcoming schedule, now through the end of the year. I think in September, I have three days in a row that aren’t spoken for. Get ‘em while they’re hot!
Writing Prompts for Life
There’s a meme going around that I’m going to grab. I don’t know what it’s called, but I think of it as the ABCs of Life. It’s just writing prompts, really, and ghoddess knows I could use some of that. So every once in a while I’ll write a post using the alphabet.
A=Awareness
It figures that the first letter would trip me up. Boy, do I ever need writing prompts these days! I went with “awareness” because it’s the first word I saw that made me actually think of something. Perhaps I should warn you that I had a sleepless night. Plus, today is a fasting day. Given that I usually use food to make up for lack of sleep, I’m in a lot of trouble today. It’s probably not surprising that I wasn’t inspired by a list of words.
So what’s with awareness? It’s a state of being, one that I aim for. Awareness of the world around me. Awareness of my place in the world. Awareness of my breath, my body, the path I walk. Awareness of people, and the joy or sadness they experience. When I am in the state of Awareness, I feel anchored to the planet. I feel useful. It’s something I have to work on because I can go around quite oblivious to everything around me. This is even more true when I’ve no sleep. I cannot say that I am Aware today. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open.
B=BayCon
I went most of my life without ever knowing about science fiction conventions. In the last five or six years, we’ve been attending Baycon in Santa Clara. It’s become an important part of our lives. Every year, we register for the next year’s con before we go home. We are still terrible about getting to know people – we are both introverts and this gets worse when we’re placed in a crowd of people. We tend to stick with each other because it’s easier than figuring out who we can talk to. I really want to make some good friends, people that I can look forward to seeing every year. Perhaps some of that awareness will help.
This year, I’m doing something different. A group of South Bay writers very kindly let me crash their party to rent a table in the dealer’s room. We’re going to sell our books. I’m really looking forward to this – not least because I’ll get to meet some people! I’ve met one of them in previous years, but I don’t think I’ve chatted with the others. Oh please, let them like me…
C=Calories
It has to. I’m fasting, so of course, I’m thinking of food. It’s actually not that bad. We’ve started on a 5/7 eating schedule, where we fast two days out of seven. Tuesday and Thursday are the elected days. We eat breakfast, then nothing else until breakfast the next day. I do get hungry, but it seems to come and go – I’ll feel hungry for a few minutes, then get busy with something and the feeling goes away. Rick says he experiences the same thing. But we’ve also noticed that we don’t get as much done on these days. We feel more tired and less able to concentrate. Yet I’m able to go to water aerobics on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and I’ve been teaching a childbirth class on Thursday nights. I’m always energetic during that and never even think about being hungry. Which is amazing, considering that when the class starts, it’s been almost 12 hours since I’ve eaten.
The pounds are not melting away, but I did get below a plateau, as I mentioned in a previous post. I think I’m still losing, but it’s very slow. Maybe I need to fast three days a week. That would be hard to do, because Rick does NOT need to fast that often. He would be much too thin if he tried that. Yet it’s hard for me to not eat anything when I’m fixing him a meal.
It’s something we’ll be working on.
So that’s all the alphabet I’m tackling today. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll see the word for D will be.
When Chenille Is Not Enough | Lani Longshore’s Blog
Lani is one of my critique partners. Her new book, When Chenille Is Not Enough, is the hilarious sequel to Death by Chenille. Both are available at Smashwords, and as an paperback on Amazon or B&N. It’s funny science fiction and quilting!
You Know What They Say, “You Are What You Eat.” | Life As I Understand It.
Urban legend? I dunno. Do the experiment and find out!
You Know What They Say, “You Are What You Eat.” | Life As I Understand It..
