i must look pregnant February 28, 2007
Today was the tipping point.
I’ve had at least ten people say to me, “Are you pregnant?!”
So I must finally look like it.
angelina jolie and (not) breastfeeding
Any time someone speaks out publicly and often on a particular problem or issue, it’s fair to then ask of that person what she herself is doing to address the issue in question.
Angelina Jolie is a UN GOODWILL AMBASSADOR. She travels the world, speaking out on the plight of THIRD WORLD CHILDREN and the lack of EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES and health care for the world’s women and girls. She clearly does great, important work, and seems comfortable as the most visible spokesperson on the entire planet for these critical issues.
That’s why I am really disappointed to realize that Jolie’s own infant daughter likely isn’t breastfed. I know I heard Jolie briefly mention breastfeeding the baby in the first month or two after she was born, but since then, I’ve heard her mention in interviews that Brad Pitt gives the baby bottles. And this week, Jolie is traveling in Darfur, while the baby is being BOTTLE-FED back in New Orleans by grandmother and Dad.
Maybe it’s pumped breastmilk in that bottle, but I sort of doubt it, and in any event, by having the baby take a bottle in public, instead of feeding her at the breast, Jolie is missing an opportunity to educate millions of women all over the world about the reasons why breastfeeding saves lives, and how bottle-feeding – particularly in developing countries – puts babies at risk.
The United Nations estimates that more than one million children die every year BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT BREASTFED. Imagine the boost in breastfeeding rates if Angelina Jolie spoke out publicly here and abroad about the WAYS THAT FORMULA FEEDING MAKES BABIES SICK and how infant formula companies ABUSE WOMEN AND CHILDREN in the developing world.
It’s a missed opportunity, but not too late for her to speak out. I would really like to see Angelina Jolie become as passionate about this CRITICAL INFANT-MATERNAL HEALTH ISSUE as she is about other important matters affecting the world’s children.
baby names via freakonomics
Here is an article in which the author of Freakonomics looks at BABY NAMING TRENDS. It’s interesting, particularly his predictions for THE MOST POPULAR BABY NAMES OF 2015.
ban the bags!!!
An article in the WSJ TODAY reports that slowly, bute surely, hospitals across the country are beginning to BAN THE “GIFT BAGS” routinely given out to new moms by infant formula companies (pharmaceutical companies).
This is excellent news and testament to the quiet activism of many dedicated public health advocates in the past decade. Not so long ago, this sort of ban was considered impossible to pull off in the formula-loving U.S. hospital system.
Kudos to all involved!!
arson in bell buckle
The rumors WERE APPARENTLY TRUE.
Sadly, a couple of volunteer firefighters were the ones setting all the fires that have been plaguing my hometown of Bell Buckle.
britney’s baby blues? February 27, 2007
Her doctors in rehab SUSPECT PPD as the cause of her recent, unusual behavior.
What do those of you with experience with postpartum depression think?
and we wonder why folks make jokes about tennessee…
An anti-evolution state legislator is demanding that the state Department of Education cough up some answers on THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE.
my current fave baby names - the list
Jon doesn’t dig all of these, but they are my favorites:
BOYS
———–
Thomas
Samuel
William
Anderson
Oliver
Theodore (Call him Theo)
Jonathan (call him Jack)
Ezra
Malcolm
James
Graham
Harris
Tobias
George
Charles (Charlie)
GIRLS
——————
Clara
Anabelle
Beatrice
Josephine
Georgia
Charlotte
Mary
Frances
Molly
Polly
Violet
Louisa
al gore uses hella lots of energy
Al and Tipper - just the two of them - apparently live in a 10,000 square foot Nashville mansion that sucks up about $1,200 EACH MONTH in energy. Yowza.
They need to read some SARAH SUSANKA.
(Although now that I think about it, a 10,000 square foot house that only has a $1200 a month energy bill is probably pretty energy efficient overall. But it’s still awfully ginormous for only two people.)
Our house seems enormous to me, having moved to it from a house under 1500 square feet. It’s about 3500 square feet. Although I love our house, I do often miss the coziness of my smaller house. And I look forward to making our current house more and more energy efficient as we are able. We are starting with small things, like switching all our bulbs to compact flourescent.
when shoes attack
Don’t you hate it when you buy cute, new shoes, and the day you wear them for the first time, you realize within the first hour that they are so wildly uncomfortable that the odds are you will never, ever wear them again?
I hate that.
And they are so cute.
At least they weren’t expensive.
kirsten dunst’s dress February 26, 2007
I know, I know…I am the only person in America who feels this way, but I loved KD’s Oscars dress. I go in for that faded flapper thing, and she’s working it well here. I especially like the neckline.
feelin’ the baby move?
With Baby#1, I felt it at about 18 weeks and he was a VERY active baby. Baby#2, I started feeling at around 16 weeks and she was middling-active. Baby #3 I really didn’t feel ’til around 20 weeks and he wqas a very sluggish baby, which worried me a lot. He moved around far less than his brother and sister had, which is odd, because he’s a very active person in general.
I should be feeling NewBaby wiggling around within the next one to four weeks, so I am psyched. That always makes being pregnant seem more real. This morning when they tried to get NewBaby’s heartbeat with the doppler thingy at my doctor’s office, he/she was moving around so much, they had a bit of trouble. Finally got it, though, and all is well.
When did you first feel your baby move?
bloggin’ the oscars February 25, 2007
So I’m settled in, watching the red carpet arrivals while Jon prepares hot wings and fries for us to eat once the show starts.
I love the Oscars. I usually throw an Oscar-watchin partay, but didn’t get it together this year. I also usually have Jane and her impeccable fashion sense to help me critique the dresses and speeches, but she’s at her father’s tonight, so I’ll have to go it alone.
Favorite Oscar moment so far:
Ryan Seacrest asks Al Gore which actor should play him (Al) in “The Al Gore Story.” Gore answers “William Hung.”
