And Merry KwanzaHannuMas!

Happy Halloween!

Rest in Peace, Edwina

Edwina Froehlich January 5, 1915–June 8, 2008 Edwina Froehlich of Inverness, Illinois, co-founder of La Leche League International and co-author of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, which has over 2 million copies in print, died at 5 am on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at Northwest Community hospital in Arlington Heights after suffering a stroke on May 25. In 1956, Edwina Froehlich and six other women met in Franklin Park, Illinois to share information on how to successfully breastfeed their babies. The group quickly attracted the attention of other women and became an organization called La Leche League. “In those days you didn’t mention ‘breast’ in print,” Froehlich once said. “We knew that if we were ever going to get anything in the paper we would have to find a name that wouldn’t actually tell people what our organization was about.” The breastfeeding support group took the Spanish name for milk as its name. From these roots grew La Leche League International, a breastfeeding support not-for-profit organization, which has groups in every U.S. state and in 68 different countries. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has been translated into eight languages and Braille. Betty Wagner Spandikow, another of the seven Founders of La Leche League International, said after meeting Edwina Froehlich for the first time, “Everything she said I agreed with. All evening I listened intently as Edwina talked. She was so vivacious and interesting.” Edwina was a member of the Board of Directors of La Leche League, and at various times served as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice Chairman of that group. She also worked at La Leche League International as Executive Secretary from 1956 until her retirement in 1983. Edwina, according to her co-founders, had an indomitable spirit. When difficulties stood in the way of La Leche League she said, “We are not going to let this kind of thing get in the way. This is a problem that we are going to have to live through, and work through, and resolve, so that we can continue to do what we originally set out to do—help mothers successfully breastfeed their babies.” Born Edwina Hearn on January 5, 1915 in Bronx, New York, she attended Mundelein College in Chicago, Illinois, later married John Francis Froehlich and had three children. Preceeded in death by her husband in 1997, she is survived by her three sons: Paul Froehlich, David Froehlich and Peter Froehlich; three daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Edwina Froehlich Memorial Fund, La Leche League International, 957 N. Plum Grove Road, P.O. Box 4079, Schaumburg, Illinois, USA 60168-4079, phone 847.519.7730, www.llli.org. The memorial service celebrating the life of Founder Edwina Froehlich will be on Saturday, July 12 at Elk Grove High School, 500 W. Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove Village, Illinois 60007. Edwina Froehlich Memorial Fund Breastfeeding INFO See New LLLI Apparel Edwina Froehlich January 5, 1915–June 8, 2008 Become a Member Become a Leader

Another One Bites the Dust- or, First I Was Riding My Bike, Then I Wasn't- UPDATED

The phone rang last Friday as we were expecting our friends over for dinner..... it was C.. "I fell off my bike." He'd been riding his bike to and from work (6 miles!) to stay in shape, reduce his carbon footprint, and save gas. He hit a part of the curb at a weird angle and his bike went one way and he went the other in front of a Wendy's on Peachtree Road. He needed stitches in his chin and ended up with a broken radius (it was a stable fracture so he only needed to wear a sling for the weekend) and sprained his wrist and elbow and had some pretty gross road rash. The bike is fine, however.

He was tough through the stitches (didn't hurt that the PA who did them was pretty and kind) and were out of there in less than 4 hours. Thanks the the B/S family for caring for and feeding our kids! He is healing well and will be back at the orthopedist in a couple weeks for follow up. He's got a new pair of glasses on order out of the episode.

Thanks for all your well wishes! Carlton is mostly healed up, and will see the orthopedist this week for follow-up (his wrists are not quite back to normal). Just to be clear, he DID have on a helmet, or else things could have been a lot worse! In fact, I had to clean little tiny bits of black bike-helmet foam out of his PORES on his forehead where his head and the sidewalk were the bread of a bike-helmet sandwich.

Trash to Treasure

I found an old coffee table in a neighbor's trash can just as I was thinking of wanting to do a bench project for her piano recital that we could donate to the Girl Scout hut.

We painted it up in a McKenzie Child style in colors that match the GS hut decor (!) and it turned out pretty cute. I still need to put a coat of polyurethane on it before we take it over there for permanent use. Meanwhile, it's our piano bench, and I need to keep looking for one that matches OUR decor :-)

Bonus- you can see my kitty Butterscotch in the background of the top picture.

M: Bassist Extroirdinaire

Here is M with her Bass teacher, Mrs. B, after her spring recital. She played "Country Dance." As a funny aside, K told Mrs. B that she looked like a mermaid (which she sort of does!). Maren was accepted to a Jazz workshop put on by professors and students from the Jazz Program at the Juilliard School of Music this summer, which is very exciting. The culminating performance is Friday night, June 20, at 6 pm, at North Atlanta High School, and is free, so if you like Jazz music, come on down.

More J Spring Fun

C coached J's soccer team again this spring- they had a tough season since they 'played up' a league to the 9 and 10 year old teams, but they played hard and learned a lot. Here is the cheer she and her dad made up for the team: "Give me a T (clap clap). Give me and O (clap clap). Give me an O, give me a T, give me an S-I-E! Rooooooooooooolllllllll Tootsie Rolls!!!!"

Spring Break Date

Over spring break I took J on an outing to the Chattahoochee River. It was a beautiful morning and great to spend time with Just Juju.

Facebook ?

My blogging sure has suffered this month! Talent Night sucked up major amounts of time, then all the end of the school year banquets, events, teacher gifts, etc. Now there are three kids under foot 24-7!

But my real excuse is spending my blogging time on Facebook. If you are not my 'friend' yet, search for me. Consider this my invitation to you- will you be my friend?

Great parenting site

I recently came across this parenting website when preparing a session I'm giving at the La Leche League of Georgia Area Conference. The resources on parenting 'tweens' were plentiful and very well researched and presented. Here is a tidbit from Dr. Laura Marham who runs the site:

Tweens are emerging teens, but they’re still children. They’ll astonish you with their ability to conceptualize, to argue brilliantly, and then to do foolish things.

The Middle School years are a time of magical blossoming, but like all huge transitions in our kids' lives, they’re filled with ups and downs. As with parenting toddlers, parents who don’t accept and constructively negotiate their child's blossoming independence invite rebellion, or even worse, deception.

The biggest danger for tweens is losing the connection to parents while struggling to find their place and connect in their peer world. The biggest danger for parents is trying to parent through power instead of through relationship, thus eroding their bond and losing their influence on their teen.

How to make a Daisy Chain

Ice Cream Break

The photographer at the Macon Telegraph took this picture of M, K and our friend SB at the Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday. It's on their website (click on the link for Sunday Pictures at the top) at http://www.macon.com/594

These eggs are so dyed they're dead

A rainbow of Springtime Fun.
Are you taking my picture again?
Hmm, what's this for?
Interesting fashion choices....
Gotta love the Paas shrink wrap gimic.
K's first egg

Easter Bunny

She couldn't decide between the bow and the hat.

Locks of Love

M's hair in March (our dining room)

M's Hair in February (Tybee Island)

Updates

If you haven't checked out the Mormon Corner, it's been updated several times lately even though I haven't really blogged much.

Coming soon: Pictures of M's haircut (10 inches to Locks of Love!), J in her new soccer uniform, and our new 'Garden Path' as they say in England. We yanks would call it a front walkway I think.

There- I've said I would do it so now I'll have no excuse not to upload those pics!

Stem Cells in Breastmilk (or, one reason I'm 'still' nursing a two year old)

There is a lot of exciting breastfeeding research being done in Australia. This is from the
Science Network of Western Australia:

The Perth scientist who made the world-first discovery that human breast milk contains stem cells is confident that within five years scientists will be harvesting them to research treatment for conditions as far-reaching as spinal injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

But what Dr Mark Cregan is excited about right now is the promise that his discovery could be the start of many more exciting revelations about the potency of breast milk.

He believes that it not only meets all the nutritional needs of a growing infant but contains key markers that guide his or her development into adulthood.

“We already know how breast milk provides for the baby’s nutritional needs, but we are only just beginning to understand that it probably performs many other functions,” says Dr Cregan, a molecular biologist at The University of Western Australia.

He says that, in essence, a new mother’s mammary glands take over from the placenta to provide the development guidance to ensure a baby’s genetic destiny is fulfilled.

“It is setting the baby up for the perfect development,” he says. “We already know that babies who are breast fed have an IQ advantage and that there’s a raft of other health benefits. Researchers also believe that the protective effects of being breast fed continue well into adult life.

“The point is that many mothers see milks as identical – formula milk and breast milk look the same so they must be the same. But we know now that they are quite different and a lot of the effects of breast milk versus formula don’t become apparent for decades. Formula companies have focussed on matching breast milk’s nutritional qualities but formula can never provide the developmental guidance.”

The rest of the article is here.

Those of you who know me (which is all of you, right?) know I'm not rabid about other people breastfeeding; I want to help if they want to do it, and if they are on the fence about it, I'll want to provide info that might help them climb over to the breastfeeding side, but I try not to ram it down anyone's throat. However, I think there is a lack of information and support for breastfeeding so I do spend many volunteer hours a month helping women with breastfeeding questions or concerns. And just to clarify, I don't think everyone should do things 'my way.' What works for me is not necessarily the best choice for everyone else, especially in terms of how long I choose to nurse my kids. Don't get me wrong; I strongly believe that every baby was born to be breastfed, but I do know that exceptions exist that interfere with this. I look forward to the day when mothers who can't nurse their own babies can have more safe alternatives than commercial formula based on cow's milk or soy protein. Mother's milk is a natural resource that is highly underrated.

White Chili

Here is my friend Kathy's recipe for White Chili that we made for the church 'Linger Longer' this afternoon. It's pretty easy to make and was very well received. I can't personally say how good it was since Carlton and I were too busy organizing to get any of it! We did double the white pepper and hot sauce and didn't bother with the garnishes since it was a pot luck situation. Enjoy, and thanks Kathy!

White Chili

12 servings

3 cans of White Northern Beans

1 small can of fire roasted green chilies

1 stick butter

2 large onions, chopped

½ cup flour

4 cups low sodium chicken broth ( can add a little more broth to stretch)

3 cups half and half

4 cups shredded cooked chicken (I use one rotisserie chicken)

1 TBSP chili powder

1 TBSP ground cumin

1 TBSP Hot Pepper Sauce

2 teaspoons Salt

½ teaspoon white pepper

Garnishes:

Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese (6oz)

Sour Cream

Fresh Cilantro

Melt butter in a heavy large stock pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until tender. Add flour and stir 5 minutes (do not brown). Gradually whisk in chicken broth and half and half. Simmer gently until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add drained and rinsed white beans, roasted chilies, chicken and seasonings above. Chili is better made one day or several hours ahead.

Our 2005 Christmas Letter

I ran across this while cleaning out piles of papers I had 'filed' in boxes in my study. Since I never got around to mailing it out, I thought I'd scan it and put it up here since it really is cute.

Instead of writing a boring, braggy Christmas letter, I decided to sum up our year in stick drawings. Carlton tidied it up on the computer. I printed out a bunch and we were each going to sign them but as you can see only Maren got around to doing even that much!

Click on the picture to see it larger.

Current Obsessions:

Old Navy T Shirts
Sunny Seed Drops
Marinated Mozzarella Balls
Reading Memoirs
Classifying Shapes and Angles
Making To Do Lists

Inspirational Obama

Here is the 'viral video' going around about my (now) favorite presidential candidate, Barack Obama (I was in mourning when John Edwards dropped out.... I had just ordered my lawn sign and bumper sticker the day before!). And here is an article about the video.

As Promised

J on the piano. I have to brag just a little bit. She just started in the middle of November and is already almost halfway done with Suzuki Book One (as well as working on a theory and practice book). She does have a really good teacher and had several years of violin lessons to help her along, but I'm proud of her hard work.

The Mormon Corner

Some of you may have noticed I added a little Mormon Corner to the sideblog. There is a lot of interesting Mormon stuff on the internet and I thought I'd put a few links up when I see something some of ya'll Mormons might want to read. Feel free to suggest something or put it up on your own blogs if you see something worth reading.

Finally- Some snow!

We got a little dusting of snow last weekend, and actually even went 'sledding' at the golf course. K wasn't sure what to make of it at first. At least she was warm.

Place Your Order Here

Yes, J is taking orders for cookies! She really wants to sell 400 boxes so she can earn a 'campership' at GS camp this summer (plus a stuffed dog and other cheap crap from China to fill up her room). She is also selling boxes to donate to the homeless shelter. Chances are she has already called you, but if not or if you want to add to or change your order, the comments are open!

Things K says a lot lately

I need mo' na-na! (with musical tone- also often with hand clapping for emphasis)
I 'ove yew tew, mama. (I love you too)
Bye, Man! Or Bye, Yady! (Lady) She is pretty accurate about who is a man or a lady.
I sho shad! (so sad)
I nee' yew, da'ee. I nee' ha' befuss wiv yew. I ha' ceerul wiv you. (I need you daddy, I need to have breakfast with you. I'll have cereal with you.)
I go Chah-ee's hahwse. (Wanting to visit her friend Charlie, who is almost 5 but one of her favorite people).
I shaw Pee Pan! (I watched 'Peter Pan'). She has several words she reverses: watch is shaw, fish is shif, etc. She 'shaw's her hands as well.
I wan' shaw my Tee! (I want to watch TV)
Go 'way Ju Ju!! (or Da'ee or MeMe) or Tat (cat). Especially said to anyone trying to get physically near me. Or in general, Go 'way me!
Hi, Baby Phrat mommy! Hi, Baby Phrat Daddy! (Baby Phrat is her friend Rhett, her other favorite person).
K: "Hi! I Ten-Tie" (Kensie)
Stranger: (confused look) "You're twenty?"
I need yo' back now Mom! (My dad had taken her for a piggy back ride, then Carlton did, and she came to me for another ride.)
Okay, Mom (said in the same tone her much older sisters use).
I tee-tee you! (tickling me).
I fow'n you!!! (as if she were playing a one-sided game of hide and seek).
San' Cahws coming to town! (Santa Claus).
Stranger: "Hi little girl, how are you today?"
K: "Two"

Quick Movie Reviews

Recently I saw Atonement, The Water Horse, and the Great Debators.

Atonement: Saw this with Carlton on our Anniversary (15 years!). It was very well done, and a compelling story and really great cinemetography, set design, sound design, etc. There is an amazing five minute shot of Dunkirk with 1800 extras.

The Water Horse- Saw this with my dad, stepmother, Carlton and kids over the break. It was okay- a few big holes in the story, and actually pretty scary at moments, which was not the way the film is sold during the previews. Kensington declared it "too yowd" and also "too tary." The kid who plays the lead was excellent though (also loved him in Millions).

The Great Debators- Saw this last night with two friends. Very compelling story and imagery, some weak casting in my opinion. Will want to see deleted scenes when it comes out on DVD since I think there was minor story line that was cut out (Wilson, the butler at Harvard) that left me wondering.