Breast Milk Baby Doll...Seriously??

First, click HERE to read the full story about this breastfeeding doll I came across yesterday when simply trying to look up the local weather.  The best part truly is reading all of the comments.  So then I googled "breastfeeding doll" and found this article as well - click HERE to read it.   

I did breastfeed all three of my children...but I also used bottles.  Stella and Charlotte openly watched me feed Henry and asked questions and then mimicked the behavior.  I had no problem with any of it.  In fact, I kind of love this doll.  The only real thing I hate about it is the price - $90!!

Some of the articles and comments are just too funny not to share with you...along with my own thoughts:

• American girls own dolls that pee, dolls that suck on a bottle, dolls that burp or sit on a potty -- and all are accepted as appropriate by most adults.   I do NOT want a doll that pees.  Baby Alive frightens me.  I change enough diapers already.
• The doll allows children to imitate the act of breast-feeding by using a special halter top that comes with the toy. The halter top is made from a colorful material with two flowers positioned where nipples would be.  When the mouth of the doll is brought close to a sensor embedded in the flower, the baby makes motions and sounds consistent with suckling. Seriously?  I have no problem with a breastfeeding doll, but not so sure I want my girls to think that milk comes from HALTER TOPS. 
• "They don't understand they just see other moms doing that. Let kids use their imagination and play with a doll and not deal with what it can do," Ewen said. "There's no need to turn it into something that's anatomically correct. Not at this age." Yet, back to the first bullet - we want dolls to PEE and POOP?
• "My take is that anything which reminds young girls that their bodies are something other, and more, than sex objects, is a very good thing," said Dr. Ronald Cohen, medical director of the Mothers' Milk Bank in San Jose, Calif.  "On the other hand, encouraging young girls to want to have babies at a very young age may not be so great," said Cohen, who is also the director of the intermediate intensive care nursery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University.  WHAT?  So by allowing Charlotte to be OBSESSED with baby dolls, I am encouraging her to have her own baby?  hehehehe
• "As kids get used to instructive toys, they need more structured toys," Levin said. "We take the creativity away."  This was a completely political response.  Great way not to be for nor against the "breastfeeding" part of the toy...almost a cop-out.  Just take another stance and blame it for not allowing a child to be creative.  Nice.  Not that it might not be true, I just love the creativity of the statement.
• Best Comment: We've done just fine for decades and centuries giving our doll babies a bottle, and then, when we grow up, THAT's when we learn all about breast feeding. They even have breast feeding coaches at the hospital now when you give birth. By doing this now, it just seems like THEY are making this into something sexual, and yes, before they need to learn about it. Little girls will THINK it's ok to bear their breasts, to play with themselves in public, because this doll says it's a natural thing. Um, no.  First, my 3-year old can tell you all about breastfeeding and she completely understands it.  And no, it's not sexual.  And finally, the doll feeds off of the halter top, right?  How is that encouraging flashing of breasts?

So, what do you think?  And no, I don't want a debate on breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding.  Let's start from the idea that both are real and acceptable...what then about the doll??

And now completely digressing...Surviving Motherhood has a question for locals:   Would anyone be interested in joining an Infertility Support Group in Cincinnati? If so, email Kim for more details at: jennieandkim@gmail.com

Whatcha Might Not Know...I am a Xavier Mentor

<Whatcha Might Not Know are Wednesday posts that are just that...something quick that you may or may not know about me, my family, my neighborhood, my city, my world, etc.>

Many of you now know that I LOVE Xavier basketball.  What you might not know is that back in 2008, I was contacted by someone at Xavier with a request to be a mentor.  At first I just chuckled...how could I be a mentor?  I replied that it sounded like a great program, but they must be mistaken, because I didn't qualify as a mentor.  The very polite and professional Director of the program said something to me that I only heard as "Oh, honey...you are qualified...you are OLD and you are working."  Ok, so it was nothing like that, but again, that's what I heard.  And then I realized...yep, it had been 10 years since "graduation" - I'll save the reason for the use of quotes for another Wednesday.

And so I said "Sure" and started reading mentee applications and bios.  That's when I realized the seriousness of the program - due to the depth of the applications that these mentees had written.  I played matchmaker for myself based upon what the Director sent me and on March 18, 2008 I got the final email saying that I was now the proud "guidance-giver" to "J".  Yikes!  We had our first blind date and it seemed to go really well.

The program was somewhat easy for me - Xavier basically asks that you meet in person 3-4 times a year and that you are available to answer questions via phone calls or email and that you connect them to others in the professional world when possible.  I did all of that and we even had her and a friend over for dinner at our house.  I told her she could "fire" me at any moment...but she kept me around.

The past 3 years have flown by and I'm happy to report that my mentee is now an XU grad and full-time employee.  We've had many conversations about her life in general (family, hobbies, vacations, etc.) and decisions she was making about her studies while at Xavier (whether or not to drop the double-major, whether or not to be a part of certain school projects, interviewing tips for internships, etc.). 

I was thrilled to have lunch with her downtown yesterday and discover that she's not only enjoying but doing great in her new job.  As always, I brought her a book to add to her "business book" collection.  We chatted away over lunch and filled each other in on occurrences since our last meeting right before her graduation last May...way too long ago.  Afterwards we embraced with a hug and went our separate ways.  I'm already looking forward to the next lunch - we promised to have Thai at Teak on the patio when the warmer weather is here.

I've really enjoyed this opportunity.  And I'm lucky that my company sees it as an important thing to do - never questioning my time away from the office for the 3-4 meetings each year.  It's been fun to "relive" college life and the start of a career.  However, it definitely reminds me that I'm getting older.  As we're discussing the upcoming summer opportunities for her - Party in the Park, activities on Fountain Square, her company's Kickball League, and her evenings hanging out in Mt. Adams and Mt. Lookout....we discuss my summer - swim lessons, teaching Stella to ride her bike, choosing Michigan over Kiawah for vacation due to the drive time, etc.  And right now, although enticing, I wouldn't trade those activities with her for anything!

I requested to go "inactive" after my mentee graduated last May.  With Henry coming in September, I wanted to take a break from the mentoring during that transition.  However, I plan to reengage this fall.

For more information on Xavier's Mentor Program, click HERE.

10K Tuesday - Crafting for a Cause

So...there was no 10K training this past week.  I experienced a sinus migraine for the first time ever last Monday evening.  And it never truly went away until Saturday.  And I had early morning meetings this past week.  And it rained.  And then the temperature dropped 30 degrees.  And then Henry got sick and didn't sleep for two nights.  And I hosted two events at my house over the weekend.  And...the excuses just keep coming!

I also fell off of the healthy-eating wagon over the weekend.  After 1/2 box of Girl Scout cookies, beer, grazing all evening at my crafting event, carrot cake, lots of pasta, lots of bread and oil, wine, chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven, I decided to start over today!

Speaking of crafting.  Saturday's Booze & Bows fundraiser was a SUCCESS!  Not only did we raise money for Girls on the Run (click HERE to add your donation), but we had a lot of fun doing it.  Here are some pictures of what was created during our time together:

And Then I Figured If They Can Keep Adopting Kids, We Could Take One More Paper Kid

Backstory: Three weeks ago after church you could grab a paper "kid" from the board in the foyer to take home.  Each "kid" had a real name and address of one of the children about to have his/her First Communion.  Instructions were to pray for this child and his/her family and possibly send a card to him/her if you felt comfortable with it.  So I had Stella pick one on our way out - she chose the pink one above.  Fast forward to this past Sunday and an announcement was made that there were still children available...please consider taking one or an additional one.

Me, the mommy - Stella, let's leave church from the front doors, because there are still "kids" to take off of the board.

S - Ok!

Me - Alright, choose one for Charlotte.

(Stella chooses the orange "kid" and I start to leave.)

S - But mom, we need a kid for Henry!  We need one more.

Me (hesitantly) - Ok, pick another one.

And so we left with a yellow one as well.  I did hesitate for one moment.  Was it worth explaining that Henry really didn't need one?  He couldn't draw a picture for us to send.  But there were still quite a lot of "kids" left behind.  And then I immediately thought of my dear friend and her foster/adopt situation.  She wouldn't think twice about taking in another real kid in need.  And here I was hesitating to commit to one more piece of paper - a prayer and a card.  How silly of me.  It definitely put my situation in perspective...big time.  (Now if Stella had asked to take all of the paper "kids" home, another conversation would have occurred.)

Even though our kids are young, we are always trying to instill in them kindness towards others...giving of their time at an early age.  Even if the "volunteering" of time looks different. 

Here are some things we have done:

• I learned that one of my aunt's friends in Florida was in the hospital for awhile and craving "real" food.  Stella and I had actually met this person while visiting my dad.  So Stella helped me make some zucchini bread and drew him a picture.  He apparently enjoyed his care package very much.
• There is a man in our neighborhood who decorates for Halloween like Clark Griswold decorates for Christmas.  Stella just LOVED it and we drove by every night.  We put a drawing with a note in his mailbox dictated by her, "Dear Man, I love it!  I love it!  I love it!  Thank you for decorating!"  Andy introduced her during Trick-or-Treat.  He was thrilled to meet her.  He even admitted to scanning her drawing and sending it to his friends/family that question him for doing this each year!
• We recently went through all of the toys and Stella and Charlotte both picked out a couple of items that they don't play with anymore.  I don't know why I was surprised, but they actually picked out more once I told them we were giving them to kids without toys.
• I made a meal yesterday for a family in a friend's neighborhood that has a very sick child.  I want Stella to see me do things like this.

So tonight after dinner we'll work on our cards for the paper "kids".  Our own kids aren't old enough to understand the complete concept of money yet.  Although Stella is collecting coins with her Sunday school class "to buy chickens for the poor".  The same friend as above has a Sharing Saturday concept with her family.  Click HERE to read more about it.

How do you involve your children in helping others?  How do you instill in them the concept of good deeds?

Conversation between Stella & I after church school on Sunday:

A Picture Says 1000 Hillbilly Words

This definitely sums up our week...

Gentle Vapors - This Saturday's Shout-Out

With all of the sinus gunk in our house this week, these vapor plug-ins are AWESOME.  We use them in Henry's room and he sleeps so much better.  If you haven't tried them, you can find them at Target or Walmart.  And it's even a night-light. 

I'm so glad a friend suggested them - THANK YOU!

Birthday Parties or Politics?

Birthdays.  Such joyous events.  Such political nightmares.  What? 

One of the fun things for me about being a mommy and having kids is being able to celebrate birthdays.  Not that Andy and I didn't celebrate birthdays before having kids, but it's just different now.  Celebrating a child's birthday let's you be a kid again yourself.  I'm sure many people have their own family traditions for birthdays.   One of ours is to have the kid pose by this inflatable cake each year on the actual birthday.

Since our kids are only 3, 2, and 7-months, we haven't had to navigate the party scene very much yet.  However, I've listened to multiple friends (especially of older children) try to answer the hard questions:

• Do you have a party every year?
• Do you have only one party a year, or one for family and then one for friends?
• How many friends do you invite?  The whole class?  Just the same gender? Friends only?
• Do you invite the whole family?  What if the kid you are inviting has multiple siblings?  Do you include them?
• Do you make the parents stay to monitor their own children?
• What about sleep-overs?  That brings up a list of questions all on its own.
• What about gifts?  Do you ask for donations to charity instead? 
• What about treat bags?  Kids feel entitled to them today.  What do you do?

The list goes on and on.  So my question for you today is this...what are your birthday traditions, rules, party guidelines, etc.?  How are you sensitive to kids this age?  Has your child been left off of the invite list?  How did you handle it?

I currently have a girlfriend asking some of these questions and needing some advice, so please give us your opinion.  Her daughter is in grade school and will be having a birthday soon.  The mom is considering only inviting the neighborhood friends and a couple close friends at school that the daughter actually likes and plays with.  BUT, recently the daughter got an invite to a party of a child at school that's not on "the list".  Should she go?  Should she skip?  Should the girl be added to my friend's guest list? 

Here's a bit more.  My friend asked her daughter about this child and the daughter admitted that she never plays with her and most likely only wants to attend the party because of its location.   AND there is a major trouble-maker girl in the same class.  SO, my friend doesn't want to have to invite everyone because she doesn't feel it's necessary to invite the girls in the class that aren't "friends" nor does she want to deal with the trouble-maker at the party...it's caused problems in the past.  So now she's not sure what to do!  Who would you invite?

Here are a few more pictures from the past...from Stella's 2nd birthday:

Embrace the Camera - Daffodils

We've all been suffering sinus yuck at our house this week and I'm posting this late, and then backdating!  I'm linking up with Emily again for Embrace the Camera.  It really has me focusing more on getting in the picture instead of always behind the camera.  And if you need some new music to add to your playlist, check out Emily's at the bottom of her blog - it's awesome and playing LOUDLY in my kitchen right now.

Here are some photos of me and the girls picking our backyard early spring treasures before the cold spell hit us this week.  It's now supposed to snow over the weekend and I'm bummed that the rest of the daffodils probably won't make it.

We did this quickly after dinner one night before the rain started to fall.  Love my attire?  I had been feeding Henry (apron due to the fact that he loves blowing jarred food raspberries at me & a headband because he tries to grab at my hair) and the yard has become quite the swamp (all of our boots).  I am in desperate need of one of those cute girlie pairs of rain boots from Target or Walmart (mom, you know my size and my b-day is approaching!) so that I can quit wearing Andy's around the yard.

Charlotte massacred the flower heads:

Stella was an expert picker...running her hands down the stem and yanking at the very bottom...who taught her?!?

I LOVE Charlotte's face in this one:

One of our 4 vases.  Normally we would have left more in the yard to look at when we are sitting at the kitchen table, but the couple that are left are drooped due to the drastic change in weather.  So I'm glad we picked, picked, picked.

Whatcha Might Not Know...My Dining Room on a "Normal" Day

<Whatcha Might Not Know are Wednesday posts that are just that...something quick that you may or may not know about me, my family, my neighborhood, my city, my world, etc.>

Anyone remember that episode of Friends about Monica's secret closet? 

Chandler discovers that there is one closet in their apartment that has never been opened. Monica claims that there's nothing important inside, only "feminine stuff".   Later, Chandler finally opens the closet and finds out that Monica has her own "chaotic space", as all obsessive-compulsive people do. (from IMDB)

I am a neat freak.  That is a fact.  However, what most of you don't know is that when you are not at our house...the Dining Room becomes the "catch-all" place for everything and anything - especially for my craft projects.  And this is unbelievable to some of you. 

True story - A friend came over a couple of months ago on the weekend to pick up something.  She came in and we were getting her item from my dining room.  I could just see her looking around at the mess in amazement.  I laughed and acknowledged it and told her that she should see the kitchen at the moment.  She then asked, "Can I?"  She had never seen my house in that state of chaos and I think it was an ah-ha moment for her...my house is not always presentable.

Some of you would still not believe this without the following

photos taken over the past three months:

The arrow is pointing out our "thinking spot" for Stella & Charlotte.  Although I'm not sure how well it works with all the clutter at times!  I'd be so distracted sitting there...makes me wonder how much thinking actually goes on.

Yes, the Nativity Scene was still up in February.  Past Valentine's Day. 

Gone by St. Patrick's Day.

Sometimes I feel like the dining room is a parking garage for baby doll strollers and grocery carts.  Not too many in there today.

Still a mess!  However, a lot of the mess has "turned over" - not sure if that is good or bad.  The arrows point out that I've moved STACKS of papers from the kitchen to the dining room in order to have a cleared space on our island.  I HATE clutter on the island.  Somehow, I have just closed my eyes to the dining room over time.  However, I must have it presentable by Saturday afternoon for CRAFTING with the ladies!

There it is - my own chaotic space.

What's yours?

10K Tuesday - Neighborhood Walks

I posted this picture a few days ago when I shared with ya'll how much I love my stroller.  It's been so nice to take my exercise routine outdoors lately and get out of the dungeon-like basement and off of the treadmill.  It's also nice to catch up with neighbors that I haven't seen since the fall.  Why is it that we all stay "hidden" during the cold months?!?  However, the DVR is filling up quickly!  I believe the series Big Love is now actually OVER and I'm still quite a few episodes behind...can't wait to see how they end that show.

This weekend I'm actually hosting a "Bows and Booze" fundraising event to raise money for my 10K and Girls on the Run.  I'm basically charging people to hang out at my house and craft with me on a Saturday night!  Not sure how all of those hair bows are going to turn out with booze mixed into the evening...but I'm really looking forward to it.  Must clean out the dining room.  Some of you won't believe it, but you can barely enter it right now due to the clutter.

Weight Watchers Update:
I have to say I am really enjoying the challenge.  Andy called me an "OAK" when I turned down both beer and candy last week.  I'm happy to report that a pair of pants that didn't fit two weeks ago...I'm wearing TODAY!  They are still a bit snug, but, YAY!  Now just to stick with it. 

Hair Bow Holders and a Fat What??

Last week a friend sent me this LINK and I just had to make the hair bow holder above - because I needed another craft project, right?  But seriously, the girls so desperately needed a spot for all of their hair bows to be displayed instead of crammed into a bin inside their dresser drawer. 

The instructions stated I needed a "fat quarter".  I had NO IDEA what that was and from process of elimination assumed it meant fabric.  So I headed to Jo-Ann's and strolled around looking for scraps of cool fabric.  I was about to leave when I was pulled toward their version of the dollar bin...I'm a sucker for them at EVERY store.  And there, right in front of me was this:

A Fat Quarter!  Then I kinda got it...it's a scrap of fabric rolled up like a quarter, right?

So wrong!  My dear co-worker set me straight the next day.  She was laughing so hard when I told her my story.  She does TONS of awesome things with fabric.  So she explained that Fat Quarter is a SIZE defined HERE.  I found a few more fat quarters that were not indeed rolled:

Armed with a lot of supplies, I matched up fabrics with ribbon color and got to work: 

Here are my first few samples:

This is the one I'm keeping for Stella & Charlotte:

Want one?  The steps were pretty easy to follow if you are also a crafter.  Or check out the Headbands, Hair Bows, & Holders updated page for more information if you want me to do the crafting.  I'd love to make one to match your daughter's room or if you need a unique gift for someone!

How do you contain all of those bows??

phil&teds Stroller - This Saturday's Shout-Out

We love our stroller.  In fact, other than the Snap 'n Go for the infant car seat, we only own ONE stroller.  A phil&teds.  For us it was a really smart buy since we knew we were planning on having multiple kids back-to-back.  It was an expensive purchase, but we justified it by only having one stroller and not having to buy any furniture for the nursery when we were first expecting due to a hand-me-down crib.

And it has definitely been worth every penny.  We use it A LOT.  I can even jog with it through the neighborhood.  People are always shocked to see a second kid in the "back seat" of the stroller.  And the kids fight over who gets to sit there.  Here are some pictures of us using it all the time, everywhere...so nice that it's all-terrain.  Henry even got his first rides in it over the weekend: