The Case Against Breastfeeding
I really liked this article. Yes, I nursed Andrew for a long time (19 months, I think), but I hate seeing people get all beat up when it doesn't work well for them or suffering forever. I really think that, to some effect, the benefits are probably over-rated. Now you can't take just one case - but Andrew sure isn't some paragon of health. And there are negatives that are never mentioned - for example, Andrew's feeding issues with solid foods, while uncommon, are much more common in breastfed babies.
I also loved how she said she wanted to hurt people when they said that breastfeeding is free. It's true - breastfeeding takes an ENORMOUS amount of time that is ignored and rarely talked about. Like seriously, when you're feeding every two hours, for half an hour or more and only the mom can do it. That never felt very free to me.
Yea for showing both sides of the coin.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Katsu is a superstar!
Katsu has been really productive in the lab and is starting to churn out the papers. He has 2 first author and 2 other papers published. He was one in review and is submitting another this week. And he has probably 3 more before he graduates sometime this year. That is amazing to me, since I will hopefully have 3 when I graduate ... maybe.
He got featured on the U of M web page today. Yeah, Katsu.
Katsu is super smart!
He got featured on the U of M web page today. Yeah, Katsu.
Katsu is super smart!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Pictures of Andrew
Here are some recent pictures of Andrew.
Also, a few things about him I forgot to mention before. Andrew is in love with "girly" stuff lately. He loves to wear necklaces. He loves to play with my makeup (thankfully he doesn't know how to open it yet). He also loves to carry my purse. And is really good at finding it when I don't know where it is (yeah!).
Andrew also has figured out that things are "scary". He gets really frightened and comes to me and wants to be held and says "scary, scary, scary". Sometimes it's at night when he wakes up. But usually it's during the day - he thinks some cartoons are scary, any menacing pictures in books, and even some classical music! I think it's kind of cute, poor kid.
He also has figured out how to open doors ... hmmm.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Books for the year so far
Well, my depression seems to have been better. That plus having a really nasty illness (a bad cold or something) and I've actually been reading! Plus, a few books here and there over the last couple months. Time to share.
The Associate by John Grisham I usually like Grisham's books and the nice easiness of reading them. I read this in like a day or two (half of in the early hours of the morning with insomnia). Basic premise - Yale Law Review editor ends up taking big-law job out of black mail. I found the descriptions of big law quite harrowing and appalling. I really do not understand why anyone works that much. Yuck! The poor families.
The secret of play : how to raise smart, healthy, caring kids from birth to age 12 by Ann Pleshette Murphy Good title, but relatively worthless book, IMO. The descriptions of what to do with your kids where absolutely nothing new.
The fortune cookie chronicles : adventures in the world of Chinese food by Jennifer 8 Lee I really loved this book. And I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of American Chinese food. But I found the story interesting, as she tries to track where fortune cookies came from (hint: not from China or even Chinese immigrants), and learns all about everything - the soy sauce that comes with it, the take-out boxes, where all the immigrants come from, why the food tastes virtually the same everything, where General Tso's chicken come from, where the fortunes come from, etc. I even wouldn't mind a Chinese buffet right now.
Trading dreams at midnight by Dianne Mckinney-Whetstone I couldn't finish this book about a either bipolar or schizophrenic or both mother, her own mother, and her daughter and the ties around them. But it was just a little too crazy and had a little too much sexuality for me. Not recommended.
The day I ate whatever I wanted : and other small acts of liberation by Elizabeth Berg This is a collection of short stories which usually is hit-or-miss. Some of the stories I just found kind of boring. Some of them were okay. Nothing really stellar and of course, a lot of them focused on food. An okay read.
The story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp I admit, I did not finish this book as I felt like I read it before (albeit, back when I lived in OK in my pre-16 year old days) and I just wasn't riveted. Of course, that had a lot to do with my depression at the time, too. But basically Maria of the Sound of Music (the real story) writes about her life. I find her up-beat look on what could have been a very hard life refreshing. Recommended.
A natural history of seeing : the art and science of vision by Simon Ings I loved this book, though I have to say that it is at times quite technical and not an "easy" read which might dissuade people from picking it up. But I learned SO much about how we see and how the eyes work. I was fascinated the entire way through. He approaches sight from many different angles - studying the evolution of eyes (fascinating stuff ... especially illuminating in understand how/why our eyes work the way they do), how eyes work, how our vision works, how vision varies among people, etc. Vision is WAY more complicated than I thought, and not really a simple picture appears on the eye and gets transmitted to our brain, but with a lot of interpretation inbetween. Learning the effects of a Vitamin A deficiency actually inspired me to pick up Katsu's Nutrition textbook and peruse it again. And I learned that humans actually have really good night vision - we just don't smell very well. Interesting. Definitely recommended if you can tolerate reading about science in a nice, meandering way.
Grace by Richard Paul Evans While the story itself was okay, I find (like many of his books) that this would be better told as a short story instead of a short novel, because there just wasn't that much story there. That said, a typical book by Mr. Evans.
The Associate by John Grisham I usually like Grisham's books and the nice easiness of reading them. I read this in like a day or two (half of in the early hours of the morning with insomnia). Basic premise - Yale Law Review editor ends up taking big-law job out of black mail. I found the descriptions of big law quite harrowing and appalling. I really do not understand why anyone works that much. Yuck! The poor families.
The secret of play : how to raise smart, healthy, caring kids from birth to age 12 by Ann Pleshette Murphy Good title, but relatively worthless book, IMO. The descriptions of what to do with your kids where absolutely nothing new.
The fortune cookie chronicles : adventures in the world of Chinese food by Jennifer 8 Lee I really loved this book. And I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of American Chinese food. But I found the story interesting, as she tries to track where fortune cookies came from (hint: not from China or even Chinese immigrants), and learns all about everything - the soy sauce that comes with it, the take-out boxes, where all the immigrants come from, why the food tastes virtually the same everything, where General Tso's chicken come from, where the fortunes come from, etc. I even wouldn't mind a Chinese buffet right now.
Trading dreams at midnight by Dianne Mckinney-Whetstone I couldn't finish this book about a either bipolar or schizophrenic or both mother, her own mother, and her daughter and the ties around them. But it was just a little too crazy and had a little too much sexuality for me. Not recommended.
The day I ate whatever I wanted : and other small acts of liberation by Elizabeth Berg This is a collection of short stories which usually is hit-or-miss. Some of the stories I just found kind of boring. Some of them were okay. Nothing really stellar and of course, a lot of them focused on food. An okay read.
The story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp I admit, I did not finish this book as I felt like I read it before (albeit, back when I lived in OK in my pre-16 year old days) and I just wasn't riveted. Of course, that had a lot to do with my depression at the time, too. But basically Maria of the Sound of Music (the real story) writes about her life. I find her up-beat look on what could have been a very hard life refreshing. Recommended.
A natural history of seeing : the art and science of vision by Simon Ings I loved this book, though I have to say that it is at times quite technical and not an "easy" read which might dissuade people from picking it up. But I learned SO much about how we see and how the eyes work. I was fascinated the entire way through. He approaches sight from many different angles - studying the evolution of eyes (fascinating stuff ... especially illuminating in understand how/why our eyes work the way they do), how eyes work, how our vision works, how vision varies among people, etc. Vision is WAY more complicated than I thought, and not really a simple picture appears on the eye and gets transmitted to our brain, but with a lot of interpretation inbetween. Learning the effects of a Vitamin A deficiency actually inspired me to pick up Katsu's Nutrition textbook and peruse it again. And I learned that humans actually have really good night vision - we just don't smell very well. Interesting. Definitely recommended if you can tolerate reading about science in a nice, meandering way.
Grace by Richard Paul Evans While the story itself was okay, I find (like many of his books) that this would be better told as a short story instead of a short novel, because there just wasn't that much story there. That said, a typical book by Mr. Evans.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Andrew is 22 months old
This was kind of a long month. Andrew got sick several times in February and for a while there, between him and me, we were averaging 3 or 4 doctor appts a week. They put Andrew on a controller corticosteroid he breathes through an inhaler. This takes a lot less time than the nebulizer, which is great. But because it's a controller drug, he has to take it every morning and evening, which is kind of a pain. Plus, these drugs really make him a lot more intense - he is more aggressive, more hyperactive, and just a lot more emotional in general. Plus, being a stimulant, it makes going to sleep more difficult. But Andrew got sick on Sunday night and has yet to wheeze, which is just amazing. So, I guess the medicine is working - now I just have a normal sick kid, not one you have to continually listen to him breathe and then rush him to the doctor everytime he gets a runny nose.
Other than all that drama, Andrew has been having a good month. He loves to play. He really like to play with his puzzles and his train set and the Easter eggs that we already got out. He has spent a lot of time just playing with the cat, too. He likes to dance to music a lot and loves to sing the songs he learns at his First Steps class. He doesn't really sing a long, but he does the hand motions. He really likes playing with magnets and putting them on the dishwasher.
Andrew really likes to clean up now and makes sure that everything goes in his place. He likes to be clean and still is not into art (especially markers or finger painting) because it makes his hand dirty. He wants a napkin at dinner every day. He also hates to be undressed and if I am lazy after changing his diaper and don't put his pants back on, he follows me around saying "Pants. Pants".
Andrew is quite talkative, but he really like to babble away even if he isn't saying any words at all. He also whines A LOT, but I think its just the typical amount for his age. Andrew loves to count, but unfortunately he only knows the numbers 1 and 2. So, as my co-worker says, he counts in binary. He is not the kind of kid who will repeat what we say (he has NEVER done this), so attempts to overtly teach him his numbers completely fail. But watching him count is very cute.
Andrew still loves to read and has an insane attention span when we read. We can read for up to an hour and go through like 20 or 30 books! But I like reading to him, so it works out okay.
Andrew watches more TV than I like because we let him watch a short Mickey short (like 5-10 minutes) when he does his inhaler. It is really the only way we can get him to cooperate. We also are starting a movie night once a week and Andrew and Katsu love it. Plus, we took Andrew to his first movie - Bolt - this month at the dollar theatre. He sat on our lap and only wanted to leave once. He was really good - I was very surprised.
Andrew loves to say "No" now - I guess it was about time. Thankfully, I think he likes to say "Yeah" more, so it's not too bad. And thankfully, when he has tantrums they are short.
Andrew is a pretty big eater. He eats TONS at his babysitter. I just can't believe how much he will eat. His favorite foods are veggies (corn and peas), fish sticks, rice, cheese, blueberries, strawberries, and meat. He also loves chocolate.
Andrew still loves nursery though he missed it for about a month when he was sick and while we were waiting for his controller medicine to be most effective. He does not like sacrament meeting at all and is quite loud and embarrasing. Last Sunday he just said "Car" over and over really loud during the entire Sacrament. Oh, well. He just doesn't want to sit still and do one thing. And he wants to talk.
I'll try to upload and post pictures later. Andrew and I are both sick, so we'll have to see what I feel up to.
Other than all that drama, Andrew has been having a good month. He loves to play. He really like to play with his puzzles and his train set and the Easter eggs that we already got out. He has spent a lot of time just playing with the cat, too. He likes to dance to music a lot and loves to sing the songs he learns at his First Steps class. He doesn't really sing a long, but he does the hand motions. He really likes playing with magnets and putting them on the dishwasher.
Andrew really likes to clean up now and makes sure that everything goes in his place. He likes to be clean and still is not into art (especially markers or finger painting) because it makes his hand dirty. He wants a napkin at dinner every day. He also hates to be undressed and if I am lazy after changing his diaper and don't put his pants back on, he follows me around saying "Pants. Pants".
Andrew is quite talkative, but he really like to babble away even if he isn't saying any words at all. He also whines A LOT, but I think its just the typical amount for his age. Andrew loves to count, but unfortunately he only knows the numbers 1 and 2. So, as my co-worker says, he counts in binary. He is not the kind of kid who will repeat what we say (he has NEVER done this), so attempts to overtly teach him his numbers completely fail. But watching him count is very cute.
Andrew still loves to read and has an insane attention span when we read. We can read for up to an hour and go through like 20 or 30 books! But I like reading to him, so it works out okay.
Andrew watches more TV than I like because we let him watch a short Mickey short (like 5-10 minutes) when he does his inhaler. It is really the only way we can get him to cooperate. We also are starting a movie night once a week and Andrew and Katsu love it. Plus, we took Andrew to his first movie - Bolt - this month at the dollar theatre. He sat on our lap and only wanted to leave once. He was really good - I was very surprised.
Andrew loves to say "No" now - I guess it was about time. Thankfully, I think he likes to say "Yeah" more, so it's not too bad. And thankfully, when he has tantrums they are short.
Andrew is a pretty big eater. He eats TONS at his babysitter. I just can't believe how much he will eat. His favorite foods are veggies (corn and peas), fish sticks, rice, cheese, blueberries, strawberries, and meat. He also loves chocolate.
Andrew still loves nursery though he missed it for about a month when he was sick and while we were waiting for his controller medicine to be most effective. He does not like sacrament meeting at all and is quite loud and embarrasing. Last Sunday he just said "Car" over and over really loud during the entire Sacrament. Oh, well. He just doesn't want to sit still and do one thing. And he wants to talk.
I'll try to upload and post pictures later. Andrew and I are both sick, so we'll have to see what I feel up to.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Pregnancy Update
Can I just say I am not loving this pregnancy much at all? Not one bit. So for anyone who cares, this is why. This will have to suffice for an Amanda update since we pretty much only post Andrew updates on here.
First of all, this pregnancy in general was a little bit early than I would have liked (like 9 months to a year). First, I wanted to be mostly done with my dissertation first so I wouldn't have to juggle two kids and a PhD. Also, I really wanted Andrew to be sleeping better (ha!) or at least weaned before I got pregnant. Neither of which happened, of course. Is it really too much to ask to have a little break between nursing and pregnancy, like where I get my body back? Plus, three years between kids just sounded way better to me from day one than a two year break. Especially with a PhD. Anyways, not of that really matters anymore, since I am obviously pregnant.
So, here is how this pregnancy stinks (disclaimer - I have pretty decent pregnancies. I don't get really really sick and throw up all the time. I don't (fingers crossed) have any complications. And I am in general healthy as is the baby. So, I really don't have any right to complain. But whatever - I'm pregnant, so I am going to complain anyways).
Good point - I didn't feel quite as tired in the first trimester as before. Bad point - I think I just didn't notice how tired I was because I was so tired to begin with.
Good point - I didn't throw up at all this pregnancy. Bad point - I had lots of nausea every afternoon and evening until New Years and basically laid around on the couch the whole time. (My advisor notes: you can still type while you're on the couch). I guess this is technically not "morning sickness" since the mornings were mostly okay.
Good point - Katsu takes over and really lets me sleep in a lot and wakes up with Andrew a lot at night. Bad point - my insomnia is back (it was finally going away ...) and there is at least 1 or 2 nights a week where I am awake for 1-3 hours and can not go back to sleep. This seems to be lasting the whole pregnancy this time.
Good point - My pain feels a little bit better than last week. Bad point - My second trimester, as with Andrew, is full of lots of pain. I did have some sciatic pain to the point where one day I literally could not move. I have been much more careful since then and thankfully I only get it occasionally and just a little bit now. Mostly I have my pelvic/groin pain. This is, according to my doctor, not round ligament pain, as I had thought previously, but some kind of special Amanda-2nd-trimester pain I get somehow from how the baby irritates my nerves. It was getting to the point where the pain was excruciating and I was having it 25-50% of the time. It is seeming to get a little bit better and I mostly just have it when I stand up, walk, or lay down. Usually sitting is okay. I also have not been able to sit on the floor for the last several months because I get into pretty intense pain and sometimes am worried I will actually not be able to get up. Okay, enough about pain.
Good point - ??? Bad point - I, the lone member of my family without allergies, have suddenly developed allergies. In the middle of the winter. In Michigan. When it is like -10 outside every day. How is that possible? Oh, the irony. And of course, allergies in pregnancy are wonderful, because really what medicine can you take? So, I have been constantly sneezing and in a brain fog since January when these allergies suddenly developed. Or else, I have a more than 2 month long cold.
Good point - ??? Bad point - I guess I had post partum depression with Andrew. I pretty much knew it but figured it was pretty much related to how well he sleeps (ha ha ha) and I kept thinking that once he starts sleeping better it will go away. Well, it was starting to fade until I got pregnant. But now it has turned into this much much worse pregnancy depression. Which really really stinks. I tend to not be really emotional in pregnancy (well, at least I wasn't too bad with Andrew), but now we are talking several time a week crying for hours. Plus, all kind of other lovely depression symptoms. Like I even stopped reading for a while because I had no energy or interest - is that possible? And of course, antidepressants in pregnancy will cause withdrawl in your baby - something I don't really want to mess with. So, we'll see how therapy works. But this totally stinks.
Okay, I think I'm pretty much done complaining. I am participating in a study at the hospital where they do ultrasounds of the baby every month or two, so we've already had like 5 ultrasounds I think. I keep hoping this will make me more excited about the baby. But it is most definitely a boy. And hopefully will be born sometime in the beginning of July (my original due date was the 5th, they switched it to the 12th, I'll shoot for anywhere in between). We are hoping for a much better delivery and recovery than last time. And really really really really really really hoping I don't have to be induced again (shudders).
That's all folks.
First of all, this pregnancy in general was a little bit early than I would have liked (like 9 months to a year). First, I wanted to be mostly done with my dissertation first so I wouldn't have to juggle two kids and a PhD. Also, I really wanted Andrew to be sleeping better (ha!) or at least weaned before I got pregnant. Neither of which happened, of course. Is it really too much to ask to have a little break between nursing and pregnancy, like where I get my body back? Plus, three years between kids just sounded way better to me from day one than a two year break. Especially with a PhD. Anyways, not of that really matters anymore, since I am obviously pregnant.
So, here is how this pregnancy stinks (disclaimer - I have pretty decent pregnancies. I don't get really really sick and throw up all the time. I don't (fingers crossed) have any complications. And I am in general healthy as is the baby. So, I really don't have any right to complain. But whatever - I'm pregnant, so I am going to complain anyways).
Good point - I didn't feel quite as tired in the first trimester as before. Bad point - I think I just didn't notice how tired I was because I was so tired to begin with.
Good point - I didn't throw up at all this pregnancy. Bad point - I had lots of nausea every afternoon and evening until New Years and basically laid around on the couch the whole time. (My advisor notes: you can still type while you're on the couch). I guess this is technically not "morning sickness" since the mornings were mostly okay.
Good point - Katsu takes over and really lets me sleep in a lot and wakes up with Andrew a lot at night. Bad point - my insomnia is back (it was finally going away ...) and there is at least 1 or 2 nights a week where I am awake for 1-3 hours and can not go back to sleep. This seems to be lasting the whole pregnancy this time.
Good point - My pain feels a little bit better than last week. Bad point - My second trimester, as with Andrew, is full of lots of pain. I did have some sciatic pain to the point where one day I literally could not move. I have been much more careful since then and thankfully I only get it occasionally and just a little bit now. Mostly I have my pelvic/groin pain. This is, according to my doctor, not round ligament pain, as I had thought previously, but some kind of special Amanda-2nd-trimester pain I get somehow from how the baby irritates my nerves. It was getting to the point where the pain was excruciating and I was having it 25-50% of the time. It is seeming to get a little bit better and I mostly just have it when I stand up, walk, or lay down. Usually sitting is okay. I also have not been able to sit on the floor for the last several months because I get into pretty intense pain and sometimes am worried I will actually not be able to get up. Okay, enough about pain.
Good point - ??? Bad point - I, the lone member of my family without allergies, have suddenly developed allergies. In the middle of the winter. In Michigan. When it is like -10 outside every day. How is that possible? Oh, the irony. And of course, allergies in pregnancy are wonderful, because really what medicine can you take? So, I have been constantly sneezing and in a brain fog since January when these allergies suddenly developed. Or else, I have a more than 2 month long cold.
Good point - ??? Bad point - I guess I had post partum depression with Andrew. I pretty much knew it but figured it was pretty much related to how well he sleeps (ha ha ha) and I kept thinking that once he starts sleeping better it will go away. Well, it was starting to fade until I got pregnant. But now it has turned into this much much worse pregnancy depression. Which really really stinks. I tend to not be really emotional in pregnancy (well, at least I wasn't too bad with Andrew), but now we are talking several time a week crying for hours. Plus, all kind of other lovely depression symptoms. Like I even stopped reading for a while because I had no energy or interest - is that possible? And of course, antidepressants in pregnancy will cause withdrawl in your baby - something I don't really want to mess with. So, we'll see how therapy works. But this totally stinks.
Okay, I think I'm pretty much done complaining. I am participating in a study at the hospital where they do ultrasounds of the baby every month or two, so we've already had like 5 ultrasounds I think. I keep hoping this will make me more excited about the baby. But it is most definitely a boy. And hopefully will be born sometime in the beginning of July (my original due date was the 5th, they switched it to the 12th, I'll shoot for anywhere in between). We are hoping for a much better delivery and recovery than last time. And really really really really really really hoping I don't have to be induced again (shudders).
That's all folks.
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