This Would Be Me

WORK AND WEAR

Babywearing makes life easier for the busy mother. Mothers in other cultures have fabricated various sling-type carriers because it's necessary to carry their babies with them when they work or when they are on the go. Mothers in Western cultures are also on the go, they just "go" differently.

Besides mothering eight children, Martha is a lactation consultant and teaches breastfeeding classes. One day, just before a seminar, Mathew, who was then six-months-old, developed an ill-timed fussy period. Not wishing to cancel her class but more strongly not wanting to leave Mathew during a high-need period, Martha wore him in a sling while delivering a one-hour lecture to 150 pediatricians. After mother and baby finished "their" talk on the attachment style of parenting, one of the doctors came up to her and exclaimed, "What you did made more of an impression than what you said!"

Many mothers who have part-time jobs outside the home have been able to wear their babies at work. They call this "work and wear." Jobs such as selling real estate, shop keeping, demonstrating products, and housecleaning lend themselves well to babywearing. Janice, a mother whose business involves cleaning houses a few hours a day wears her baby in a sling while doing housework. A pediatrician friend wears her baby to the office. She often wears her baby during well-baby exams. Her office staff wears her baby if she is examining a patient who might have a contagious illness. Work and wear helped her and her new baby stay together, yet allowed her to continue working in her profession.

Catherine works in the office of a medical practice. Work and wear helped her and her new baby to stay together, yet allowed her to continue working. Imagine what Catherine's baby, Wesley, learns by "going to work" with his mother. When Mom answered the phone, Wesley answered the phone. When Mom talked to people, Wesley heard the conversation. When Mom was filing charts, Wesley was interested in, and observed, what she was doing. When Mom was typing, Wesley saw and heard the typing. He was intimately part of the action, and the action must have been a valuable learning experience for him.

Some employers are initially reluctant to allow mothers to wear their babies to work, but we encourage them to give it a fair trial. Employers often find that babywearing mothers actually do a more productive job, since they so appreciate being given the opportunity to keep their babies with them. They make an extra effort to prove that they can do two jobs at once. One employer even found the baby to be an added attraction for his customers, as if they sensed that a centuries-old custom of working and wearing was being practiced in his store. Their customers felt that something right was going on. Try it and see!

Almost a Month, Again

Okay, so I suck at this blog. I technically use it as a back-up, well, an advertised "opened" one.

Anyway, we had our 2nd Annual Early Thanksgiving at the beginning of the month, and the 2nd Annual Early Christmas will be the same too, as I leave for Hawaii on the 11th. I'm pretty stoked about going home for a month. The husband will only be at home for a good 10 days, and after that, he'll be at home taking care of the animals and working his yucky shifts.

Right now I'm sitting at work (thanks to working in the medical field) icing my knee with one of those cold compress bags (these are awesome by the way--probably not "green" though). I pretty much ate it when I walked downstairs one night the husband was on-call. I think there is no fun in two-story houses anymore, as I have eaten it twice going down, and ate it once going up. Sad. I need to learn to walk up and down stairs.

Well, I should get going and work on a bunch of stuff as I'm going to try and bring Zoey into work tomorrow.

I noticed I was pretty popular, so I would like to say, if you've stopped here, please say "Hi!"

I know I haven't "truly" blogged here in awhile, so I'll take the bulleted approach today.

-Zoey will be 6 months on the 29th, OMG, where did the time go??
-Started working on her party
-My Mom and I decided where it will be held
-Decided on catering
-Finished the birth, 1m, 2m, 4m of her scrapbook that will sit on the welcome table
-Started working on the invitations

-I finally got Zoey's Well Child scheduled for next week; don't judge me!
-Changed Pediatricians, she will now see a Holistic Medicine Pediatrician; I like her 1st Ped don't get me wrong.
-OOOOhhh, what I used to call voo-doo medicine!

-We have our 2nd Annual Fake Thanksgiving scheduled for next month!

-The husband is almost done with his MICU rotation
-We are still married.
-We survived a week of night float!

-Yesterday, we took James to his first RMA playgroup at the park next to his school, he played for 20 minutes while I met 3 ladies w/DH's in residency.

-James is learning to read, it's flippin' awesome - it blows me off of my feet.
-He read a new word yesterday.

-James is very "mouthy", as in, talking back and getting into major trouble.

-Santa Ana winds are back.
-There is a brush fire in Rancho.

Finished Last Night.

This scrapbooking itch has definitely dug deep, I'm actually trying to do a layout a week, so far so good!!

Another One

More Scrapbooking

More scrapbooking...

Catching Up

It's been almost 2 months to the day of the last blog. I feel like I should just give this blog up since I'm not really doing anything with it. I am in deed blogging on Typepad, but that is password protected.

Since the last time I blogged:

-Zoey is now 5 months old (still breastfeeding---yay!)
-James celebrated his 5th birthday
-I celebrated my 27th birthday

Anyway, I've been into my scrapbooking when I have time, which right now, I've been lacking in. When the husband has a day off we try and put the Disneyland Annual pass to use and we make the 45 minute drive down to the theme parks.

Well, here's some layouts I've managed to finish in the past month and beyond....