My son has two construction worker toys, both of whom look like Village People. His favorite thing to do with them is to position them so that they are “running to joy”, “dancing to joy”, or “jumping to joy.” He also likes to make them talk about their feelings to one another.
This morning I accidentally washed my son’s mouth out with soap. Pro-tip: when you go to wash your kid’s face, check to see if their mouth is closed first.
(via ilovecharts)
This pressure cooker is my new best friend. Soup prepared from start to finish in less than half an hour, including chopping? Check.
Last week, Fresh Air on NPR interviewed Florence Williams, the author of Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. Seriously, listen to this story. It is amazing. It covers everything from breastfeeding, to cancer, to plastic surgery, to male breast cancer, to chemicals in the home. I would love to go into more about it, but I can’t even figure out which topic to focus on. She goes into so many things, each more interesting than the last. If you listened to it, tell me what stood out most to you about this story.
“We used to think that breast milk was just a food and that it was filled with fats and proteins and vitamins and that formula companies were successfully able to mimic this. But we now know that there are substances in breast milk that exist almost at the same levels that are not digestible by infants. So what are they doing there? It turns out, they’re digestible by beneficial bacteria. So over millions of years, the mother has been creating a substance that will recruit useful bacteria into her infant’s gut and this sets her infant up for life. So as much as breast milk is a food, we also now understand that it’s also a medicine.”
(via yellowsparkleonionrings)
I had an abortion.
I’m not going to tell you how old I was when I had it.
I’m not going to tell you what the circumstances around the pregnancy were.
I’m not going to tell you whether birth control was used or not.
I’m not going to tell you whether it was a wanted or an unwanted pregnancy.
…
(via jessamama)
the31styear replied to your post: Waiting…
Missed the cancer memo. Hope you’re doing as well as you can be and treating yourself right.
Yeah, I didn’t do much of a post on my cancer diagnosis. I’ve mentioned it once or twice, but didn’t detail how it came about. The story is that back in February, I had a miscarriage and it was found to be an “invasive molar pregnancy.” Molar pregnancies are a form of gestational trophoblastic disease or gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. Those are just fancy ways of saying that your pregnancy turned into cancer. I never knew that it was possible to have cancer because of a pregnancy. But hey, ya learn something new every day!
Most molar pregnancies are treated with surgery alone, but a small portion of them require chemo to treat the cancer (which can metastasize—usually to the lungs.) Given that mine was invasive (meaning that the tumor spread into the wall of my uterus) I’m not surprised that I needed chemo. You can’t get those cells out without doing a hysterectomy, and they were trying to preserve my fertility…so chemo it is.
I’m just over a month into my chemo, and will probably have another two months to do. So far my “numbers” are looking good, and showing that the chemo is working well. I’m super tired (fell asleep last night at 7:45 pm and slept until about 6 am) and foggy-headed but doing ok.
Thanks so much for your support and concern!
electradaddy replied to your post: Waiting…
I don’t want to bother you with questions. I want you to know that i’m thinking of you as you go through this journey and I hope you are ok.
Thanks electradaddy. You rock! I always love your comments on my posts, and your ongoing support is so very much appreciated. Questions aren’t a bother though. I’m happy to answer. They can be a welcomed distraction!
I’m at the doctor’s office waiting for my chemo, so I’ve got some time to waste. Feel free to ask me something. I’ve turned on anon, but will only answer questions that wouldn’t make my mother blush (she read this, you know. Hi Mom!) I’ll turn off anon after I get my treatment, or if someone gets mean. So stay nice, and ask away!
Great post on the “War on Moms” by David Vienna. Want to do something about the injustices parents face? Support MomsRising and become one of their members.
Dear Everyone:
It seems parenting has re-appeared as a hot topic in the news and not for reasons I would have liked. One stupid comment from a pundit and suddenly there’s a “War on Moms.” One muckraking cover from a magazine and everyone’s parenting style comes into question. One …
