milksharing

For all new moms or new moms to be, are you aware of the concept of milk sharing? That is, if you are unable to feed your baby breast milk (or enough break milk), for the variety of reasons that can occur, there are very possibly women in your area who are willing to pump and share their extra milk FOR FREE. This is for no other reason than that the milk sharers believe in the health benefits of breast milk, even for babies not their own, and will put their boobies where their mouth is. Or rather, where the baby's mouth is. Okay, babies' mouths, plural. 

Anyway, I just love stuff like this, where we go at it old school. 

World Milksharing Week was in September, so I'm a little behind the curve, but I suppose it's always the right time to pass along a good idea, just in case it helps somebody. There has been quite a bit of discussion about milksharing at my sister's blog these days, so I am going to direct you that way. The posts you're looking for (if you don't get side tracked by all the other hilarious and interesting things she writes about) are from late September, early October 2011. She supplemented with donor breast milk for her son, Bennett, as she wasn't able to supply him with 100% of what he needed. She has recently been working on the other end of things, helping to find donors for our friend, who was at her wit's end with formula (and who wrote this moving post at her cool blog).

If you have extra milk or need milk, you could start at this link to find a recipient or donor in your area. I also saw some face book pages that were U.S. state specific. Others of you more in the know, feel free to mention further resources in the comment section.

white on black on white on black

strolls and rolls - late summer and fall

 

 

We debated: leave Z in the backpack in an obviously uncomfortable position,
or put her in bed at the risk of waking her. We opted to leave her.
Half hour later we heard a crash. She had fallen over and bonked her head on the desk.
A Plus, Number 1, Professional Parents right here, folks.

"Just keep watching that blinking camera light,"
thought the hungry wolf as he crept closer to the unsuspecting family.

 

We're wondering if this pic represents more life to come.

 

 

(photo credit to Monsieur Jason for the shot of Kaladi up on the hay bale)

9/11 memorial

We attended the 9/11 memorial this year at the International Peace Gardens. On the way there, we listened to radio interviews of people involved in ongoing memorializing efforts. A poet, whose name I am sorry to not be able to find, wrote a poem that became famous in the aftermath of 9/11 and then wrote one this year specifically about steel workers - those who built the towers and those who, some 50+ years later, dealt with the wreckage. These guys involved in the clean up, she said, knew which pieces of wreckage belonged throughout the building, where people would've been in their last seconds. They knew that the large numbers written across beams were floor numbers, marked back at their initial installation. They have an understanding of the building, a skeletal knowledge of it that lends a different heaviness to the events.

Also interviewed was the creator of the new memorial at ground zero, the reflecting pools. It was especially moving to me to hear some of the thought and intentionality that went into the plan. Around the pools are name placards of everyone killed in the attacks, and the designers spent a year discussing with families the idea of adjacent placard placement - names placed next to friends' names, etc. There were all kinds of considerations and connections, more than you'd ever think, and the designers wanted to accommodate all requests. As a small instance, one woman lost her father on one of the airplanes and her best friend in one of the towers (!). The names of those two victims are beside each other.

Here are a few pics of the service.

an unidentifed batch of U.S. Border Patrolmen and Royal Canadian Mounted Police

 

some of the tower wreckage, I assume from the 58th floor (??)

I am not clear on why the Scottish/Irish bagpipe and kilt thing is so heavily connected to funerals and memorial services in our country, and to the military and law enforcement. Tradition brought by Highlands type immigrants, no doubt, but why has it stuck? Don't get me wrong - the bagpipes are rad. In fact, we knew a bagpiper in Montana, and he could've totally played at Jason's and my wedding. Dad and I were all for it (rad, right??), but Jason and Mom voted it down. That's tough - bride and father of the bride against groom and mother of the bride. Somehow they won. Total side note.

*    *    *

A week later, Zoralee asked more about the events of 9/11. It sure is hard to know how much to say to a two-year old. I've continued with the philosophy that seems most right to me - tell the truth, even if I leave out some of the scariest or most confusing details. I told her there were people who were mad at our country and decided to fly airplanes into tall buildings in New York City. But even in plain, over-simplistic language, that's a pretty weird and scary notion. Never the less, that's what I told her. And we looked at her map to see where NYC is. 


As an afterthought, so that she could make geographic connections, I told her that now cousins Taylor and Dalton are going to college in NYC. She went to her play room for a few minutes, then came out and asked me if Taylor and Dalton died in NYC. I explained that no, the 9/11 things happened a long time ago, and Taylor and Dalton were in NYC now. She then wanted to know the names of the people who died. So we looked it up online, and I found lists of the deceased. I must've said aloud (though I didn't realize it) that oops, this particular one is a list only of those who died in the towers, but we would go ahead and read it anyway. Then I read aloud a dozen or so names, and she said, "Oh" after each one. I went to something else on the web, and a few minutes later, Zoralee asked for the names of the people who were in the airplanes.

Later that day, Jason suggested I watch Loose Change, a provocative documentary that purports there's a lot more to the events than what we've been led to believe. Of course, I'm familiar with this notion, but haven't read or watched a whole lot on it. If I do take time to hear ideas, get better informed, etc. and develop a more complex narrative about 9/11, hopefully Zoralee won't ask about it until next year, at least... Some of you who have had seven, eight, nine years to explain this to your kids, what have you opted to say?