Don't call me brave.

I've been sitting on and meaning to post this article (a home birther's reaction to being called brave) for some time. I thought I'd finally post it as it's getting more and more relevant to me now as my second planned home birth approaches.

I urge you to read it, if only to understand me better, or if you are so inclined, to understand home birthers in general. It is fantastically written and explains it all so well, but I'm going to hack it up and give you some excerpts, because I'm doubting that most of you will read the article.  Needless to say I also have some thoughts...

When hearing the news that I had my last baby at home and am planning to have this one at home as well, the first response from most people is, "You're so brave."


This has to be one of the most irritating things that people say to homebirthers. The implication is that birth is dangerous and that we are willing to take on a tremendous risk to do it anywhere but a hospital. It negates the research and planning that we've done to come to this decision.

And after reading this article I started actually responding to these comments, which I also get frequently. Now when you say something like this to me, I respond by saying, "I think people who birth in hospitals are brave." And no, I'm not trying to be funny. Hospital births carry with them a number of risks.  Many are detailed in the article, and I'm quoting a couple...

In 2003, over 20% of women had their labors induced, with a rate closer to 40% in many hospitals... Approximately 40-50% of inductions fail... and most failed inductions end in cesarean section. Inductions increase labor pain and length, and create, among other problems, an increased risk of fetal distress, uterine rupture, and cesarean section.

And in case you think c-sections are a walk in the park...

Over 30% of women in the US have cesarean sections, while overwhelming research has led the World Health Organization to set an ideal standard rate of cesarean sections at 10-12%... Cesarean sections increase the likelihood of maternal death by as much as 4 times, and have other immediate and long-term heath risks for mothers that include, but are not limited to, infection, bowel or bladder perforation, hysterectomy, future infertility, and increased risk of uterine rupture for future pregnancies. Risks for the baby include respiratory distress, fetal injury, prematurity (if result of schedule section or failed induction), and breastfeeding difficulties.

It's difficult to get into a discussion with most women who've had c-sections.  Some of them have had truly emergent situations and I will forever say thank goodness for hospitals and surgeons for those situations; I am personally counting on their availability should any issues arise that my midwife deems emergent.

A trickier set of individuals to discuss this with are the ones who have been told by their doctors that they needed a c-section for x, y, z reasons and then they go off into the world saying, "thank goodness for hospitals, because I would have died if not for my OB."  Thing is... a large baby (obviously not as large as that 19+ lb one in Indonesia) is not a reason for most people, and 'failure to progress' is extremely subjective.  My labor with Regin lasted about 48 hours.  There are few OBs out there who would have allowed me to go on that long.  Even the one I saw recently when my midwife dumped me who was totally pro natural birth and has a great relationship with many of the local midwives (including the one I'm currently working with) told me he wouldn't let me go that long.  But true 'failure to progress' would be more than simply having contractions for several days, because that is actually PERFECTLY normal, and it wouldn't necessarily be something those electronic fetal monitors picked up either.  That increase of information can make OBs jumpier and significantly increases the likelihood of c-section.

Further complicating this issue of whether a c-section is necessitated or not is the set of women for whom the c-section became necessary as a result of a chain of events that began with 'benign' interventions such as the administration of Pitocin - a drug routinely used in hospital births to intensify contractions and thus hopefully speed up labor.  For an illustration of how giving pitocin can lead to problems here is a clip from Business of Being Born.  I much prefer the related segment from Orgasmic Birth, but I couldn't find the clip on YouTube.  (You can start at about 1m 20s without missing much).



And here is another clip about a few of the other interventions that have been used over the years.



Haha.  I love it... "The best thing to do is get the hell out of the hospital."  And this guy (an M.D. himself) used to be the director of women's & children's health for the World Health Organization.  Point is... just because a doctor says an intervention is ok, doesn't mean it is.  Case in point:  I was advised in the emergency room in October (when I went in for dizziness, cold sweats, and chest pain) to get a CT scan of my lungs.  The doctor said they were routinely done on pregnant women, no problem.  My gut said no, but he made it sound like I could die if I didn't get the scan.  Turns out, my gut may have been right.  My own doctor was upset that they did the scan, and didn't think it was at all necessary or safe for the baby, and he was visibly appalled that they hadn't covered my abdomen during the scan.

Anyway... back to c-sections...

While this and many pro-homebirth articles focus their attention on unplanned c-sections, I think it's especially important to note the issues with c-sections for those who are planning them.  The whole 'too-posh-to-push' craze freaks me out when you look at all of the data on c-sections.  Planned c-sections are one of the hardest things for me to understand.  C-sections are risky.  They are major surgery.  And the recovery is longer.  (Though I continuously hear of women who go out and shop or do heavy housework within days of a c-section.  We've become so used to the idea that c-sections are no big deal, but I can't imagine anyone doing anything so strenuous within days of other kinds of major abdominal surgery.  My midwife wanted me on bed rest for 2+ weeks after birth and I had a long but uncomplicated vaginal delivery!!)

And this is one point I return to again and again:

The vast majority of women in the US give birth in hospitals, and yet the US's maternal death rate is the worst among 28 industrialized nations and the neonatal mortality rate is the second worst. The Netherlands, where 36% of babies are born at home, has lower maternal and neonatal mortality rates than the US.

We're supposed to have these great hospitals and doctors that people travel from all over to get better medical care from.  And yet... our mortality rate is horrendous!  For more info on what we can do to reduce infant mortality, watch this short film:


Reducing Infant Mortality from Debby Takikawa on Vimeo.



And my final quote from that home birth article:

My decision to homebirth wasn't made in a void, but based upon years of research. I wonder how much research the average woman puts into her hospital birth?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!  That's not to be smug or superior about the research I've done.  That is simply in response to the assumption that we home birth out of bravery or some touchy-feely, new-agey reason.  I, and all those I have come across who've done this, have done this after an unbelievable amount of research and soul-searching.  This is a completely information, data-based, well-reasoned-out decision.  Well, for the first one it was, this time I also have a lot of personal comfort reasons I'm adding.  We have thoroughly assessed the risks (as best we can) on both sides, and determined this to be, to the best of our knowledge, the less risky option.  So to imply to a home birther that they have chosen it for some hippy reason, or because celebrities are doing it, or anything else that isn't based on research and reason is completely offensive.

Basically, when you boil it down, we choose the home for the same reason most of you choose the hospital:  we feel it to be the least risky option and will be most likely to provide the best outcome for mother and baby.

Wow.  I was going to let the article speak for me, but I guess I had some stuff to get off my chest!

---

Another cool thing about this piece is I have a new word to add to my vocab:  iatrogenic.  It is the "inadvertent adverse effects or complications caused by or resulting from medical treatment or advice."  It amazes me how many totally useful and very specific words there are like that in our language.  It's like when I learned the word 'jingoism' after September 11th.

Unschooling in a nut shell

I wish my parents would have known about this when I was school age. I wonder how different my life could have been.



So that really is the principles of unschooling in a nut shell.  He isn't really talking directly about unschooling, but just about how children learn, how it happens naturally, whether they have formal education or not.

I have been meaning to talk more about this for a while, and I just haven't gotten to it. There is time, it's years before Regin is ready for schooling decisions. I'm kind of off my research and reading mode right now, so I might post more on the subject when I'm back in it.

Faroese-Japanese Fusion Cuisine!

There has been this series of short films put out of the Faroes lately, presumably to attract tourists.  Some really great stuff in these little pieces (produced by Kovboy Film).  Some stuff many of us (who've spent a lot of time there) have seen before, but also some totally new stuff like this:



WOW!  COOL!  I'm all for the fusion and introducing such a healthy food into the diet.  That makes it better for me for when I eventually move there.  But I am a little bummed that he has to use the microwave.  I try not to use the microwave at all for health reasons; some question whether it causes elements in the food to become harmful, but I think it's also fairly widely known that much of the good stuff is destroyed in microwaved food. 

Anyway, speaking of moving there... George is getting a little desperate for work at this point.  And I'm getting pretty nervous that nothing has materialized yet.  I want everyone in the Faroes to be on the lookout for software jobs for George!  (People here looking out wouldn't hurt either!) ;)

Why I got into film.

Why I dance

Stuff about the Faroes

I go through cycles of obsession with... well, with everything.  It's no different with the Faroes.  A couple of times a year, sometimes more, a little tickle comes up in my heart, and I begin scouring the internet for anything even remotely related to the Faroe Islands.  In case there are people reading who still don't know this about me: my mom, and my heart, are from the Faroe Islands.

I found a bunch of stuff from the Faroes through my Facebook connections.  I joined Faroe-related Facebook groups.  And when I joined Twitter recently (follow me! I'm "Smaflenna") I did a search for mentions of the Faroes.  I found this guy who has a Faroe Islands podcast, in English!  I still haven't figured out why - he's American, lives in the States, and has never even visited the Faroes.  But it's a thorough and interesting podcast that includes weekly news updates, cultural tidbits, and FANTASTIC interviews.  The only lame thing about the podcast is this regular segment where they play captured audio from various spots around the Faroes (recorded by the Faroese correspondant).  It's a pretty silly segment, but I have to admit to still enjoying it a little.

One of the best interviews I've heard so far was with a writer for the New York Times who apparently wrote an amazing travel piece on the Faroes a couple of years ago.  I tried to separate the interview out from the rest of the audio, but it was becoming a pain to actually put it online for you, so you'll just have to listen to that couple of minutes of news first or you can fast forward passed it if you want.  Either way I think it is worth it.  Anyway the interview part 1 is in episode 9, and interview part 2 is in episode 10.  Wonderful, wonderful interview.  Then again, I have loved almost all the interviews so far.

There are a bunch of webcams now around the Faroes if you're interested to see what it looks like right at this moment.  This one shows you an alternate view of the scene in my unfinished painting. 

Here is a crazy little film about doing something VERY unusual in the Faroes:



A nice video about the Faroes:




There's LOTS more videos on YouTube to watch. I'll probably put some more up soon.

Regin at the park

The Good Life

There was this very cute series in the UK once upon a time called "The Good Life" (apparently renamed "Good Neighbors" in the US, but I prefer the original title).  When I watched re-runs as a kid I didn't get the social significance of what this cute couple was doing.  I just thought they were eccentric and loved gardening a little too much.

A few days ago I was looking on Netflix for something to watch instantly to kill my boredom during kitchen chores.  I found this show and put it on for nostalgia's sake.  I found myself not only laughing loudly at the jokes, but suddenly understanding what it's all about!  These guys were urban homesteaders before it was eco-chic to farm your own land.  Here's a clip from the first episode when they decide to leave the rat race to beat "it".

Regin dancing and learning shapes

Regin learning A-E-I-O-U and playing in the parking lot

This is the first in a series of iPhone videos that I will be posting. The current iPhone doesn't capture video very well and there are some artifacts that you may detect. At any rate, this video show Regin learning his vowels in spanish (while in Malaysia) and playing in the parking lot with Mamma (in Colorado).

Awestruck by Lyric

SO here is Regin watching Lyric watching Regin. Confused?
Teddi posted a video on her blog of her and baby Lyric watching Regin's last vocab video. Lyric's reaction to Regin was so cute (and pure love I might add). I thought Regin's reaction to her might be fun, but it turns out... he turned into this totally stupified, gawking zombie at the sight of her.

So after that quick change in demeanor it's pretty boring to watch. See for yourself.
Note:  "Da-da" means both "Thank you" and "baby"  - here it means "baby."



I don't know if it's my camera or the new iMovie (which I hate) or what, but I keep losing frames and snippets all over the place. Anyway, at that one point where I'm laughing at Lyric's smile, I also told Regin that Lyric was smiling at him.

P.S. in honor of Teddi's video, I am also sans make up!  A rare sight to see.

Happy Birthday Omma!

Regin has a special message for Omma.  We've been working on this the past couple of days.  It was much better yesterday, but anyway here goes...

Something is wrong with my camera so a chunk of this is missing.  I tried to get him to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", which is the one he sings the most, but he sang more "Little Boxes" instead.  He can actually sing almost the whole song (and it's recognizable) with "Twinkle, Twinkle" but I haven't gotten him to do it by request, maybe I will have to be sneaky and hide the camera sometime so you all can hear his beautiful humming.  :)


Another video:

Some of his current vocab...


I hope you like your present.  It should arrive today.  Let me know when it does so I can post it up here for people to see.

How Colorblind Are You? And Other Videos

I may be a little colorblind as it turns out.

I came upon this little ad a while ago in one of my daily blog reads.  I love it!  This little guy is just so perfect, and have you ever seen a more joyous facial expression?



Trouble is, the ad's message is a little bit lost on me, and I wonder how lost it is on you.  It's aimed at the Malaysians and hopes to bring more unity between the races, but the persuasiveness of this piece is absolutely dependent on your immediate recognition of these two little cuties as being from different racial groups.  I can easily make out that Tan Hong Ming is of Chinese heritage, but as often is the case with me here, I have more trouble recognizing the ethnically Malay.  Judging by the subject of the video, I have to assume the little girl is the latter.  It's actually quite a controversial piece if she is Malay since that also means that she is, by law, muslim.  So that makes them an interracial as well as presumably an inter-religious couple.  That's something we see sometimes in Penang, but we're told Penang is more liberal.

It's relative of course.  How liberal do you call a place that just had a big raid, complete with arrests, on a suspected gay party?

I won't go too much more into the social politics as other bloggers have been arrested here for suggesting the wrong things on their blogs.  Soooo.... here's this totally unrated video.  I was feeling sick and down yesterday so I searched YouTube for a comedic pick-me-up and came across this.  Hilarious!  Enjoy!

Penang -- Week 18 -- Gecko Poop

MONDAY - WEDNESDAY, July 14th - July 16th

You won't believe it.  George has yet another Monday off this week!  Gosh I'm going to miss all the holidays when we go back to the States.  I've gotten really used to George working short weeks.  We're not able to make the most of this one because George is sick and I'm only just recovering from that gastronomical slip I had on Friday.  

George is at home, sick, Tuesday and Wednesday and I take the opportunity to do an intensive cleaning of the kitchen.  It's about time!  It's just so hard to dig into anything real with a little one constantly taking my attention.  I end up not doing anything worthwhile on days when I'm home alone with Regin.  

I'm in such awe of the mothers of the past.  I just don't have the wherewith all to be a modern June Cleaver.  I am speaking to that older generation now.  How on Earth did you manage to look after children and keep house?  Is it all because I didn't train him to hang out in the play pen?  Part of my problem is my selfishness.  I fight all day long for snippets of time that I can use to rebel and focus on what I want for just a few seconds.  So then neither my time with Regin, nor my time for myself is of any quality.  My best days are when I give in wholly to the mom thing and focus on only my child, the whole household is brighter for it, but I just can't seem to keep at it, so I keep fighting.  And the fight is tiring.  So on days when I have another body with me, another set of eyes to notice the falls and another pair of arms to answer the cries with hugs, I do better.  Shanti, our part-time maid, helps, but I can't really rely on her.  

Maybe George shouldn't have to watch Regin in his condition, but then again no one ever thinks about all the moms who continue to care for their children when they themselves are sick and hubbies are skipping off to work for the day.  I have done it.  And the worst is having to breastfeed when you can't even keep food down.  

So Tuesday and Wednesday I have my opportunity to tear apart the kitchen and scrub everything.  Oh this feels so good!  I'm finally putting all the dishes away in the cabinets!  

You may or may not want to know what finally pushed me into a kitchen-cleaning tizzy, but either way I'm going to tell you.  Gecko poops.  Gecko poops, gecko poops, GECKO POOPS!  They're everywhere.  Remember when I posted this?  I thought they were fun then.  Now they're just little jerks that poop all over my apartment, but mostly all over my kitchen.  The poops on the floor are sometimes daily, the poops on the walls are every once in a while.  But this time, I found poops inside a drawer and on a kitchen utensil!  YYYyyyyilch!  AAAAArrrgh!  Get me away from the filthy little beggers!

With our snake in Colorado, some of you have seen how careful we are.  After handling her or anything from her vivarium, you must sanitize!  Egg layers often carry salmonella, so you have to be safe.  Especially with young children in the house.  But now?  We're flipping living in the vivarium.  We're like the cheesy plastic plants decorating their living space.  We're decor and entertainment in their house.  So there is no sanitizing.  

I have found two non-toxic means of reducing the population currently residing in our place.  The first involves a very cruel trap with sticky paper inside.  You just wait till the box gets heavy and throw it away.  Translation:  kill them by slow starvation/dehydration.  Method two:  spray this oil stuff on the walls that makes it so they can't stick to the walls.  This sounds hilarious to me, but effective?  I see them on the floor a lot, and I am supposed to use this to keep away new geckos, after getting rid of the ones I have, by spraying it around their entry points, but I don't know where those are.

If anyone else knows of some non-toxic tricks, please clue me in.  I'm desperate.

Photos etc:

This bracelet is brought to you by the letter 'P.'

Regin is suddenly obsessed with wearing his sunglasses (that he previously despised).

We went for a dip in the pool upstairs, but no sunglasses now -- he was tired of them by then.

Penang -- Week 17 -- Sleep Disturbances

MONDAY - WEDNESDAY, July 7th - 9th

I have visitors all day Monday.  I receive three deliveries of mail which include some more knitted toys by my mom and sister JoAnn. We enjoy ourselves, playing with the new toys.

The song is appropriate.  "Los pollitos dicen, 'pío, pío, pío'..." means "The chicks say, 'cheep, cheep, cheep'..."  You know, the toy is an interesting lesson for children.  Basically, food = life and we're eating something cute!  We didn't get into that yet (not sure if he understands anything quite so conceptual just yet).  He had a great time playing with his little eggs and pulling them open.  Then when he was done with that he attacked me on the floor and tried to get me to eat a piece of cracker he found.  That last picture is kind of funny.  Not sure you can make it out in the video, but my nose is at the bottom of the image.  Just my nose, peeking up.

Something else that was among the items delivered was George's new iPhone.  George's previous iPhone stopped functioning a while back.  He called and found out that it was still under warranty.  So he shipped it to the States and they tried but couldn't repair it so they shipped a replacement to my parents who sent that along to us. When the guy appears at the door to deliver the new phone, he's asking for RM125 for the duty.  George has mentioned something about being annoyed that his iPhone was stuck in customs for a while and that there might be a duty, so I figure I have to pay it, so I do.  Come to find out, George was going to try and fight that.  Then he gets a call from the person who helped him get the import permit and they want RM380 for their trouble.  So altogether that is about $160 (US) that he has to pay for the iPhone that he really already owned!  I wonder if we had something other than "Apple products, $300" on the customs label if we'd have had this trouble.

You know, the mail carriers here have this highly annoying habit of ringing the doorbell over and over and over, three times at a time and at about five-second intervals, until you answer the door.  The first time it happened, I scowled at the guy for being so rude, the third time, I asked the guy, with a very curt tone, if he wouldn't mind ringing only once since there is a baby sleeping.  Now I know it's just the way it is.  At least I know that they aren't discourteous people, they're just doing something that is generally accepted here.  But I am thinking of hanging up a sign for them to only ring once for the sake of the sleeping baby.  The bell is pretty loud!

Not that Regin can't sleep through the doorbell.  He can.  But not if he's on the verge of waking or sleeping.  Actually he's quite gotten used to a lot of noise when he sleeps.  We're surrounded by traffic noises, but I don't hear those much over the air conditioners.  Mostly it's the honking horns and car alarms which Regin always labels as "duck!" (=bird).  The maintenance guys think nothing of making all kinds of hacking, sawing, drilling, hammering noises, even if they see Regin sleeping.  At night we have a vendor on a bike that rides around the area and bangs some kind of metal -- like a triangle -- all night.  He seems to have a special affinity for our block.  Most nights of the week there is also this horrible caterwauling that penetrates our walls, windows, and brains.  It's this woman who sings these incredibly loud covers of the most obnoxious songs.  We hear everything from pop to disco to 80s rock screeched from the open-air restaurants right below us, but it doesn't keep us from sleeping.  I think parents of a young child, especially cosleepers, learn to snatch sleep where and when they can.  Regin doesn't seem to have any problems with it.  It's mostly an annoyance when we're awake.  Sometimes it's so loud I can hear it over the AC and TV.

I also have visits from maintenance people on Monday and they are back again on Tuesday.

They are creating horrible metal-on-metal screeches as they are hacking and filing a hole in our stainless steel sink to install a new faucet.  I have come to expect the debris laying around after such a visit, steel filings, drapery hardware, bits of old rusty metal and such.  They're like Easter eggs for Regin to find.

The sofa guys (below) are using a power screwdriver which is a little noisy too.

Meanwhile, here's my boy, asleep on Mamma's back.  

The sofa saga continues!  Our sofas are finally delivered on Tuesday.  Yeah, that's plural.  They took one but are returning three and are ready to take our two perfectly good ones with them.  They brought steel instead of wood legs, and they put black fingerprints all over the new sofa again!   They were even going to unwrap it in our dirty hallway before I stopped them and asked them to open it inside!  I don't understand it.  These are white sofas!  Why (especially given the history with us in particular) would you not take care not to dirty a white couch when you deliver it??  

Not only do we have a repeat fingerprint situation, but there is also one tuft missing in all the tufting, so George has to call them back again.  We're upset and we won't let them take any of their sofas back until everything is perfect.   So now we have three pieces in the living room and two without feet in the bedroom.  I'm holding them hostage.

Penang -- Week 15 -- Bawas and Disposed Cloth Diapers

MONDAY -- THURSDAY, June 23rd - 26th

Days 102-106

The sofa people finally came to pick up our sofa for repair.  Now we have to wait a couple of weeks for it to be fixed and sent back.  In the meantime we pushed our ottoman next to the chaise part of our "L-shape" sofa that still remains, but it doesn't work great.  Only one person gets a back rest at a time, and it's usually me because I have to nurse.  

Guess what?  Turns out I am a totally insecure, completely paranoid freak, as we all suspected, and I have not been ousted by my playgroup.  I was called for another gathering this week, and this time we were at Rachel's pool again.  Here is a shot of Regin with one of our security guards while we were waiting for the taxi.

Her name is Rada, and she totally loves Regin, and she sometimes complains that we hardly ever come out of our apartment so she doesn't get to see us (him).  He's not so in love with her.  She's so nice and friendly with him, but he's generally so shy and clings to me when we stop and say hello.  This time she pushed a little harder and he let her hold him which she was thrilled about.

At Rachel's pool, I took more photos, but I couldn't get the shots I wanted because I couldn't do the camera thing, AND keep my eye on my boy who was floating adrift in the pool. 

Missy &  Brandy's littlest ones were home with their dads today -- who are enjoying summer breaks from their teaching jobs --  so there was no one there Regin's age.  At first he just hugged his ball in his floaty and said "nigh-nigh" a lot -- another outing during nap time, yes, I'm a horrible mother.  Later, he perked up, I took him out of his boring floaty and then suddenly he was this independent boy who thinks he can manage in the pool (with water that would come over his head) by himself and that I should just let go of him!  Last time we were at the pool he was clinging to me for dear life!  I guess this sudden fearlessness in the water may have something to do with the amount of time I let him play in the bath with a running shower hose.  Hey, some people use a TV to babysit their kids, I use the shower/bath.

Anyway, sadly there are no decent pictures, but the time was great fun, even though I didn't get to sit and chat with the ladies much.  Regin's age is particularly demanding of one's attention, which would be why Paul and Tyra weren't present today; that way Brandy and Missy were able to relax a little more.  Rachel was so kind to drive me home.  But before she did, Regin and baby Abe played a little on Rachel's apartment floor.

We received our first piece of mail from home!  YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!  It's this awesome knitted toy that my mom made for Regin.  He took to it immediately and he began insisting that he carry his "bawa" everywhere.

Someone came to fix the power issue and wahoo!  The washer no longer has to be on an extension cord that's running through the middle of my kitchen and out the window, and now we have hot water in the kitchen sink again!  The electrician was not too happy to see my solution to the no washer/power issue.  He said that the extension cord should NOT be used with that amount of power, then George confessed that he knew that it could possibly start a fire.  Whuh?

The laundry had so piled up by now that I couldn't do the diapers all in one go, so a bunch waited another several days or maybe another week before they were washed, and, sadly, we had to throw them out by then.  You don't just risk mold in Malaysia.  Apparently when you have moist diaper laundry that sits in the heat for almost two weeks, mold actually becomes mushroom.  Ugh.  Gross.  Yeah.  Had to throw them out.  But I was so sad about it.  It was about a third of my stash, they were such good quality (organic) diapers and also some training pants that weren't too cheap.  I had to throw the bag that holds them out too.  And it looks like it will be difficult if not impossible to replace everything.  Cloth diapers are hard enough to find here, and organic you just can't find at all.  The online store in the States where I got most of them no longer sells diapers online.  The bag was custom made and it takes like 6 weeks (plus international shipping time) to get another one made.  And it's hard to justify buying more of this stuff now when we're trying so hard to get him back on his EC track and out of diapers altogether.

Here are some other random shots for the week:  

Regin and Papi off to the mall to webcam with Abuela.

Regin eating some strawberries.

Celebrating One Hundred Posts -- And a Birthday!

Wahoo!!!

Here is a photo-video of Regin's birthday, enjoy!

Can you say...?

We're having crazy, developmental spurts right now. Regin is making up for lost time. First, there was the walking (we've regressed a little there, but we'll be back on top of it soon) and then this past Wednesday, when I was giving him a bath, and I was talking to him about his rubber duck, he spontaneously started repeating "duck" after me!



Other words he says that aren't on here... "Wow," "MmmmmmMa" = Omma, "Naa-aa, Naa-aa" = nada, nada, "Wawa" = water, "Baw"= ball, etc. It's funny, some words he doesn't want to try, he just does the sign instead. Oh and he's been doing the sign for "change" (as in diaper change) for I don't know how long -- I only started realizing that's what he was asking for a few days ago.

He did it a week before his first birthday!

Observe Earth Hour Tonight!

Last year Sydney Australia sent a message about ecological impact, this year the world tries to make a difference.

And you can too!
Saturday, March 29th, 8pm (your time)
Turn off all your lights and non-essential electronics for one hour for Earth Hour!