what's with the controversy??

while at babies r us, i picked up the november issue of babytalk and happened to read the readers' comments page. it was all about the magazine's last cover photo of a baby breastfeeding. apparently, it was a controversial picture, because there was a "bare" side-view of a breast with a baby sucking on it. there were only a small handful of negative comments on the reader's comments page all talking about how disgusting it was and how disgusting and inappropriate it is to breastfeed in public. one comment i read from a lady said it was pornographic...ha, ha, ha!!! how can a picture depicting the utilitarian use of the breast be pornographic???? and yet these same women who are disgusted by the photo on the cover, make no comments about breasts being displayed in a sexual manner through the media (think Victoria Secret ads or Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition). If a picture of a breastfeeding baby is "inappropriate" then those Victoria Secret ads should be considered inappropriate too. anyway...that just really got me all worked up...it's no wonder not more american women breastfeed. there's still a lot of negative energy out there about breastfeeding in public that it makes women who do feel ashamed (me included during the first month of emma's life). here's a link to another blog by a woman who commented on that photo controversy: http://womenshealthnews.blogspot.com/2006/07/babytalk-magazine-cover-controversy.html
~prasti~

chomp, chomp, yum, yum

lumbar strengthening

so emma's been working her lower back muscles by practicing sitting up on her own. sometimes she'll sit up for a few seconds and flail her arms around to help her balance, and sometimes she'll partially sit up by propping her arms up for balance.

pumpkin carving

just a little preview of what we did last saturday for our pumpkin carving party. more pictures will be posted on our family website.

check out my battle wounds....

...after my 4 mos. check up at the doctor's. i had to get 4 shots all in my legs. good thing i have huge thighs so i didn't feel it as much. by the time i started crying the nurse was on the 4th shot and i was done!

bedtime meltdown

aaargghh...we had a total bedtime meltdown tonight. we (tyler, emma and i) went to the fall dance at ty's school planning to stay there for an hour-any longer and it would be way past emma's bedtime. of course, instead of getting home before her bedtime we get home after. by the time we finished w/ her bedtime routine (and it was cut short tonight too) it was 7:40. Then instead of falling asleep within 5 min. like she usually does, she cried for almost 30 minutes...totally overtired to the point where she can't get herself to sleep (i felt so bad for her!). it's so hard to juggle 2 children's schedules when you're by yourself sometimes, especially when one is a baby. i don't know how single parents manage in that situation...i don't know how i manage sometimes. dinner is like a juggling act between making sure tyler is fed at a reasonable hour and emma is in bed at her usual bedtime. i can't imagine how it will be like with another baby-actually i can, it'll (or should i say i'll) just be a little crazier. at least when the next one comes i'll be a little more seasoned :).

spaghetti squash...it's a good thing

so i tried this new recipe that i saw on martha (i know, i know...i've become a martha stewart show lover...i can't believe it either)-spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs. wasn't sure how tyler would take to the squash (since he's rather picky about his veggies), but it went over great. he loves meatballs and showing him how the squash gets all stringy like spaghetti sealed the deal. suprisingly delicious...here's the link to the recipe for anyone interested: http://marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe4650207&search=true&resultNo=4 (i just used sauce out of the jar instead of making it from scratch-martha would probably kill me). ~prasti~

one more thought that occured to me as i was taking a shower...not related to the nap thing that i just posted. so, i've been researching some creative ways of helping tyler learn. he's one of those hands-on kinesthetic learners so he's got to be moving or doing something while he's learning. anyway, he had to learn the 7 continents and map them on a map for a test. i taught him a song to learn the names and then had him sing it while mapping it...and it worked! he was pretty excited too. now we've been trying sign language to learn his spelling words and it seems to be working well. so...i just thought i'd share my excitement about that. any suggestions on creative teaching resources-i'll take it. ~prasti~

sleep is a wonderful thing...

so emma's latest thing is being able to sleep for 1.5-2hrs in our bed. but a nap that long in her own crib? ha, ha funny joke! what's the deal? we think she likes our bed better because it's not as hard. plus she has mom and dad to snuggle with her (we like snuggling w/ her too) which is not possible in her crib. yet she'll still sleep well at night in her own bed...i just don't get it. we're sleeping with one of her clean crib sheets so our smell will be on it-maybe it will help her sleep better for naps...ha, ha, ha we'll see.

this is what emma really thinks of her parents

click on the picture if you need a closer look...

family weekend

last weekend we went to gram & pap's for Ben's baptism and special music at pap's church on sunday. we sang "i'll fly away" & "when the roll is called up yonder"...gram, pap, corrie & prasti were on vocals, aaron on guitar and vocals, and jon played drums. tons of family came to see Ben get baptised, then everyone went to gram & pap's house for lunch (20 people...all family!). the top picture is emma hanging out with her great uncle alan, and the bottom two are of emma & tyler with their cousin ben. do you see a hint of red in ben and emma's hair??

spartans rule

go spartans...they're 4-1 as of last saturday and 3 more games to go.

Ultimate Lego Land

tyler's social studies project...a map of his own land made entirely of legos. he was the only one that didn't draw his map on paper...very creative.

naps....

why is it that it's so easy for emma to get into sleep mode when it's bedtime, but she cries in protest when it's time for a nap???? why is it such a struggle for her to nap, but bedtime is so much easier? doesn't she know that getting enough sleep makes her a happier baby? someone needs to invent a baby language decoder so i can communicate that to her. *sigh*