Monthly Archives: July 2011

Breastfeeding Support

July 31, 2011 Posted by Issa under Parenting
13 Comments

Rates of breastfeeding in the United States are pretty dismal. Feeding our milk to our young is part of the definition of a mammal, so it’s interesting to note that only a third of 3 month olds are still exclusively breastfeeding. I’m sure there are many different reasons for this, but one that I’ve frequently heard from breastfeeding proponents is “lack of support”. The idea is that it can be hard to breastfeed, and women… Keep Reading

Sooner or Later

July 26, 2011 Posted by Issa under Animals
1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, Joshua was out of town. He normally moves the sheep each day, but with him gone the job fell to me. I walked out one morning with Dylan in a Moby wrap. I fed the pigs. I let the chickens out. I moved the fence so that the sheep could walk from one paddock to another. Three sheep bounded happily over to the new forage. The fourth sheep… where’s…? Baby… Keep Reading

Dylan: 6 Weeks Old

July 18, 2011 Posted by Issa under Parenting
10 Comments

It’s unbelievable to me that six weeks have gone by. I’ve been a mother for six weeks. I’ve had a son for six weeks. Dylan has been alive for six weeks. He’s still so tiny, yet he’s grown so much. I love him; he’s awesome; I don’t have much more to say. Keep Reading

The 4th Trimester

July 14, 2011 Posted by Issa under Parenting
4 Comments

I once heard the phrase, “The mother is the environment of the baby,” and it’s the most accurate description of my life right now. During the 9 months of pregnancy, Dylan was 100% connected to my body. For most of the pregnancy, I would argue that there was nothing but my body, Dylan having not yet become a separate person. Sometime later, perhaps around the end of toddlerhood or so, he will become completely unconnected… Keep Reading

Things Less Important

July 6, 2011 Posted by Issa under Parenting
7 Comments

On the morning of September 11th, 2001 I was a nanny for an infant I’ll call Chrissy. I was hanging out with Chrissy in the living room of her family’s home, watching a Little House on the Prairie rerun. During a commercial, I walked into the connected kitchen to get something. When I turned the corner back to the living room, I saw news footage on the TV of what appeared to be a building… Keep Reading

The Sunday to Forever: Musings

July 1, 2011 Posted by Issa under Pregnancy and Birth
23 Comments

The Sunday to Forever table of contents: 1. Acknowledgments 2. At Home 3. The Hospital 4. Dylan 5. Musings Since I didn’t have the birth I’d imagined in my mind, I thought I would have a lot of processing to do afterwards. It hasn’t worked out like that, though. Already, the birth is fading in my memory and in importance, and I’m just fully immersed in the wonderfulness that is life with Dylan. Here are some of… Keep Reading