1. The first, and most excellent to me, is that I tapered down and finally quit pumping at work. If I had a different job I think I’d have kept going, but with my new schedule it just wasn’t feasible. I’m surprised at what relief I feel, like a big burden has been lifted. No more pumping 4 times a day, no more stressing about low supply, no more washing bottles or lugging a pump around. It’s delightful really.

2. The downside of course is more infrequent nursing even when I’m at home. It’s all supply and demand, you can’t quit pumping without a drop in supply. It’s a little sad, but I’m also OK. We’re down to nursing about twice a day, Henry would like to nurse more, so if I’m home I let him nurse and if he gets frustrated that the tap is dry I distract him with something else or give him some cow’s milk.

3. Henry is drinking cow’s milk! He has no issues and took to it immediately.

4. Henry can drink through a straw! We tried everything we could think of to get him to suck, but how do you teach someone to use a straw? Finally a friend recommended the Playtex Little Gripper First Sipper, you can squeeze the cup so some liquid comes up through the straw, one squeeze and it all snapped into place for Hen. Now he is a straw fiend.

5. Sometimes at night now when Hen wakes up, Josh just takes care of it and lets me sleep. Blissful.

6. Henry figured out that I hide the boobs inside my shirt. Now if he wants some boob, he just reaches in and helps himself. So my boobs are making a whole lot more public appearances.

With only nine inches between the driveway and the house we didn’t want to put in plants that would require a lot of watering and lead to us soaking our foundation. So we opted for window boxes.

In the two boxes outside the living room window we put a variety of flowers including some petunias, snap dragons, marigolds, dichondra, and a few others, with some tall guys in the back and some hang-down guys in the front.

Then, in front of the kitchen window we planted some basil, mint, cilantro and parsley. This way we can just reach out the kitchen window for fresh herbs without having to go outside.

Out on the patio we also planted a selection of other herbs; some thyme, and a variety of mints (chocolate mint, apple mint, pineapple mint – think of all the mojitos and ice cream toppings!).

And last, but not least, our neighbor no longer has to stare out her kitchen window and look at our drab, blank wall.

The winner of this beautiful size 6 Didymos Lisca Berry is Rebecca Bentley, but I feel like a winner too, not only did I get to enjoy all of your comments but my Mother In Law enjoyed them too, and decided she wanted to learn how to wrap! So thank you for bringing even more good fortune into my life.

I’ll say this first.

It’s not a competition.

And I will not be goaded by the media into judging other women for their choices.

This kind of hype, designed to breed contempt and competitiveness isn’t good for momkind and it isn’t good for womakind. It doesn’t matter if you have children or not, you can be a part of the problem or a part of the solution.

How easy it is to judge another woman for what she’s wearing, what she’s eating, what kind of diapers she uses or how she feeds her kids. And all for what? It only serves to divide us, make us look catty with our infighting, make us look petty and foolish.

It isn’t always easy, choosing the path of least judgement. But a worthy indeavor. So I’m inviting you today to fight back. Not with a  letter writing campaign or a boycott. But peacefully, by showing restraint and kindless to each other.

As you know we are big time into healthy living- to me this is more important than ever now that we have a kid. We reasearch everything before we decide on something for Henry; extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby led weaning, sippy cups vs. straws, you name it. We grow our own food and try to make everything we can at home to avoid processed foods, but we aren’t Superparents. One thing Josh and I have always enjoyed is eating out. Whether it’s because we want to try a new restaurant or cuisine or just because on Friday nights we are downright exhausted and just don’t feel like cooking, we still eat out regularly.

Last weekend I had the incredible opportunity to participate in an event put on by Kids LiveWell from The National Restaurant Association.

The Kids LiveWell program is a collaboration with Healthy Dining to help parents and children select healthful menu options when dining out. Restaurants that participate in the voluntary program commit to offering healthful meal items for children, with a particular focus on increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and low-fat dairy, and limiting unhealthy fats, sugars and sodium.

Kid’s nutrition has been in the news recently, and stories like this one about congress proposing that pizza count as a vegetable in school lunch programs and this one about the Senate stepping in to prevent the Obama Administration from limiting the abount of potatoes and starcy foods served to kids at school honestly have me worried.   That’s why when Kids LiveWell approached me regarding spreading the word about their initiative I agreed. It’s not a perfect program, but it is a great start and I am excited about and impressed with the tools they are launching to give parents access to better options and more information.

Kids LiveWell launched a mobile app that lets you enter your zip code and find menu items available in your area that meet the following nutritional guidelines (taken from the Kids LiveWell website)

Kids LiveWell Nutrition Criteria for Full Kids’ Meals (entrée, side option and beverage):

• 600 calories or less
• ≤ 35% of calories from total fat
• ≤ 10% of calories from saturated fat
• < 0.5 grams trans fat (artificial trans fat only)
• ≤ 35% of calories from total sugars (added and naturally occurring)
• ≤ 770 mg of sodium
• 2 or more food groups (see below)

Kids LiveWell Nutrition Criteria for Side Items:

• 200 calories or less
• ≤ 35% of calories from total fat
• ≤ 10% of calories from saturated fat
• < 0.5 grams trans fat (artificial trans fat only)
• ≤ 35% of calories from total sugars (added and naturally occurring)
• ≤ 250 mg of sodium
• 1 food group (see below)

Full meals must include two sources & sides must include one source of the following:

• Fruit: > ½ cup = 1 star (includes 100% juice)
• Vegetable: > ½ cup = 1 star
• Whole grains:  contains whole grains = 1 star
• Lean protein (skinless white meat poultry, fish/seafood, beef, pork, tofu, beans, egg):  > 2 ounces meat, 1 egg or egg equivalent, 1 oz nuts/seeds/dry bean/peas = 1 star (lean as defined by USDA)
• Lower-fat dairy (1% or skim milk and dairy):  > ½ cup = 1 star (while not considered low-fat, 2% milk is allowed if included in the meal and the meal still fits the full meal criteria)

Healthy Dining Finder is a website (and mobile app!) that allows you to enter your zip code and find healthful dining otions in your area.

There are currently 96 restautants voluntarily participating in the Kids LiveWell program.  My conscience requires me to point out that there are a few restaurants that I cannot, for moral, ethical and political reasons give my money to, however there are plenty of restaurants on the list I’m happy to patronize.  I believe in voting with my dollars, and I’m happy to use my hard earned money to tell these participating restaurants that I support what they are doing to make healthful foods available and appealing to children.

Disclosure: I received compensation from the National Restaurant Association’s Kids LiveWell program for my time reviewing and writing about their program.  The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Josh loves his Ergo (more on that another day) but I’m always trying to get him to find the wrap love.  In my continued efforts to do just that I bought him this half-buckle Mei Tai (a wrap conversion by Olives and Applesauce) and instead of him finding the wrap love I found the SSC (soft structured carrier) love instead!

I love this beautiful conversion, it is made from a dyed-black Didymos Hellblau Silk Waves, it has a buckle at the waist but straps that tie at the shoulders and it can be worn on the front or the back.

It’s not as snuggly as a wrap, but it is more moldable thatn a full-buckle SSC, and it’s a nice, less intimidating (than wrapping) way to introduce someone to babywearing.  I’m hoping to use it to spread the love to my mother in law and my mom soon.

Don’t forget to enter The Big Didy Giveaway!

If you’re unfamiliar with the show, five millionaires/billionaires sit and listen to pitches by entrepreneurs and inventors and if the richies (or Sharks, hence the title) like the idea then they invest their own money and go into business with the person. It’s pretty simple, and surprisingly addictive to watch.

A few weeks ago two parents were on featuring a cup they had designed for kids. It had a straw, which, to paraphrase the speech pathologist community is a good thing because sippy cups are the work of the devil (their words, not mine). And the straw is weighted, so it bends to get all the liquid in the bottom corners of the bottle, not just straight down. Smart, right? Throw in the detachable handles/base, the fact that it’s made in the USA and the great design sense and we were sold on the Lollacup (and so were Shark investors Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec).

Oh, right, and the bird’s head flips open and closed to prevent spilling in the diaper bag or on the go. So smart.

We bought two of them immediately after watching the show and so far Henry loves them.

You can find out more at lollacup.com

No product or monetary compensation has been given for this post. It sounds like a sponsored post but I really just like the cup.

I love trying different kinds of baby carriers. This one is a particular favorite for a couple reasons; it’s simple, it’s traditional, it’s beautiful, and it’s comfortable.

Working in the garden wouldn’t be as comfortable ergonomically for me in a traditional German woven (whwat I normally wear) because I would’t have as much range of motion.

My first big wrap purchase was a Mystery Box, a box of three wraps of Barb’s (the Birdies Room proprietor) choosing from the clearance section.  It was a great way to try a few different wraps in a few different sizes… the rest, as you know, is history. I was hooked, and I’ve been enjoying trying new wraps ever since.

So, you know where I’m going with this I’m sure. I was the lucky grand prize winner of a non-mystery mystery box, three wraps of my choosing, from any wraps she has in stock.  What a fun prize, but I admit I was overwhelmed with Barb’s generosity, so I decided to pay it forward a little bit.

I picked two wraps that I’ve been curious about and asked Barb to pick a third, a cotton wrap in a size 6 so that I could give it away to one of you.  She did not disappoint!  This is Didymos Lisca Berry

Organic cotton, herringbone pattern of purple, orange-red and zyklame. It is so much prettier in person than in this picture.  Now that I’ve seen it in person I think I’m going to order one for myself!

I’ve been lucky to do some giveaways before, but this one is special to me.  Babywearing is so important to me, such a special part of my life, I’m so happy to have this opportunity to share it.  This endorsement is not sponsored by anyone at all, I’m not being compensated for this, I just wanted to share the wealth.

This is an easy contest to enter, just leave me a comment telling me what you love about babywearing. In a week, I’ll draw a winner. That’s it. (US and Canada only, sorry international mamas and papas)