Been away

I have not taken any time for my blog recently which is a good thing, because I've been busy! I've got a number of entries that I've been thinking about for a long time which I hope I can get to, but I'll start with an update.

Belle is a healthy, sort of rolly-poly baby. I recently weighed her at a friend's house (our scale has been broken) and she weighed 18 pounds at four and a half months old. Based on that alone, breastfeeding is going well. Thankfully, we have no more choking on let-down so no more screaming. She sleeps well, usually from 10 pm to 9 am with one or rarely two wake ups. She sleeps in the side-car so when she does awake, she's pulled into bed along side me to nurse. We started ECing, which I hope to write more about in a separate post. Most poops are into the potty and upwards of 80% of pees. I was surprised how easily that became apart of our lives.

Willem is learning many things. With some neighbors, we started a twice-weekly preschool co-op where we are using the Letter of the Week theme. I'm having a lot of fun preparing curriculum for the once a week I teach. Its very nice to put my education and training to work. Our biggest challenge with Willem is sleeping. He hates napping and going to be at night takes a long time for him to settle to rest. I've been tempting to not let him sleep one night to demonstrate to him so much he really does appreciate and need sleep! Because of the challenges to get him to sleep at night, he often sleeps in another room from us, although we all prefer when he shares the bed with us. He is also learning to use words to communicate his feelings. So often he hears from me "words!" when he tries to communicate with crying. He's becoming interested in games with rules so we have introduced backgammon, Uno, dominos and Yahtzee.

The projects I've been busying with are writing an journal article with a Nov 1 deadline, the letter to the Presidential Advisor Against Women, the poster of my thesis findings for a conference in Nov, the journal article of my thesis for publication, and the preschool lessons. I've made some headway in applying to PhD programs for next year, although I'm discouraged in finding an advisor who is a good fit. Because I've been so busy, really, the best way to keep up with me is by following my facebook updates (www.facebook.com/jenneology).

I've also been taking a yoga class once a week. I think due to it, that the problems with my hip haven't returned since August. I'm also feeling stronger and leaner. At this point my postpartum weight loss is to the point where I weigh as much now as I did before I got pregnant the first time.

The blog posts I want to write:

The beginning of our EC journey
Becoming a Mythological Midwife
Reviews of Birth Crisis, Permission to Mother and The Caesarean
More Silly Songs for Infancy and Toddlerhood
The Gain Equals Loss Phenomenon of Babywearing
The Parental Rights Amendment

I hope to get to them.