I am about to embark on an east coast odyssey, of sorts. I am taking my 2 and 4 year old girls from northern New England to the greater Washington D.C. area. By myself.
Yep, 10-12 hours on the road with two energetic, vocal, independent minded and sometimes surly (and whiny) little people strapped in. Wish me luck.
It really can’t be worse than the time my youngest decided to go on a 20 hour nursing strike while on this very same drive (any nursing mother can imagine the suffering–), can it?
In any case, I am packing today and thinking about how to green up road trips. Here are some of the ideas I came up with that might be helpful if you too are taking a road trip this summer, and want to be a little more green than in your younger (and more wasteful) days. Read the rest of this entry »
After the Air France plane crash a month ago, search parties were not likely optimistic looking for survivors of the Yemenia Air flight that went down in the Indian Ocean.
But they found one. Bahia Bakari, 14, is so far the only survivor known. She can barely swim, but survived in the choppy waters in the dark and among bodies. Amazingly, she had no serious injuries, but reportedly had cuts to her face and a fractured collarbone.
Physically she is fine… She clung to a piece of debris.
She was conscious and speaking but described in the Sydney Morning Herald as “fragile”.
But lately, I’ve noticed that something is lacking with a few vocal members of the attachment parenting community. Empathy. Yep, that’s putting yourself in another’s shoes.
You don’t have to agree. You don’t have to sanction. But it’d be nice if some APs would understand that it’s not as easy as popping a baby on a breast or in your bed. Life is not the same for everyone out there. Our experiences are different. Our reactions are different.
And until the Attachment Parenting community isolates the elitists, it will be hard to gain ground.
HappyMais building blocks are made by Ecotoys in Italy and sold through PeekaGreen.com. The building blocks are made from Mater-Bi, a GM-free certified cornstarch dyed with non-toxic food coloring.
I just read that San Francisco, in another moment of environmental health leadership (brilliance, I would call it), just launched the most ambitious recycling program in the nation. For a city that already diverts 72 percent of its trash from landfills, San Francisco didn’t sit on its laurels. Mayor Gavin Newsom promoted the law that adds mandatory composting to the program and forwards the goal of achieving 75 percent diversion and zero waste by 2020. Read the rest of this entry »
Police charged the Grand Forks mother after receiving a domestic disturbance call and witnessing her nursing her 6-week-old daughter. Officers say she appeared drunk, but there’s no report of her blood alcohol content. They booked her on child neglect charges.
And for some reason, she has pleaded guilty to the felony charge. But don’t worry. She won’t have to register as an offender against children.
But she now faces 5 years in jail.
So what’s worse: separating an infant from her mother for half a decade, or making the mistake of BFWD?
The Endocrine Society, a medical group representing the research of hormones, issued an intake warning at their annual meeting earlier this month.
The group is concerned over bisphenol-A and similar hormone-disrupting chemicals, found in plastics, pesticides, and other products. It said in a statement that bisphenol-A is a
’significant concern for public health’ and that it’s important for consumers to take a ‘precautionary approach’ to limit their exposure.
This follows on the heels of a few more studies regarding BPA. First–and most worrisome–is the recent study that showed that human exposure to BPA is likely much higher than previously thought and much higher than deemed “safe” by the FDA. That study’s author, Dr. Frederick vom Saal, who presented his study’s findings at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, said of the chemical:
BPA is now known to be a potent estrogen.
Human and animal studies indicate it could be related to diabetes, heart disease, liver abnormalities, miscarriage and other reproductive abnormalities, as well as prostate and breast cancer
I get it, folks. If you’re going to use cloth, you might as well go super-eco and go for organic cloths. Especially when it comes to your baby’s precious skin.
So I did my research, and found a very interesting organic CD: The Gro Baby. I am so excited about this soft, eco-friendly diaper!
I have high standards when it comes to CDs. So let’s see how this one measured up to my bum snobbery, shall we?
A common prescription for ADHD is a stimulant medication. You’ve probably heard the brand names Adderal and Ritalin.
Problem is, stimulants like these make kids who take them 7 times more likely to die suddenly.
What we found — to our surprise — is that even if you take out confounding factors, the association between stimulant use and sudden death was still significant.
I am about to embark on an east coast odyssey, of sorts. I am taking my 2 and 4 year old girls from northern New England to the greater Washington D.C. area. By myself.
PeekaGreen.com
