Blog like you mean it

here comes my hero

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:06:05 +1200

You better watch out, you better not cry ... Bruce Perry is coming to town!
This, combined with the knowledge that my best buddy is going to see our favourite and beloved George Michael (yeah, I am a geek) in Melbourne later this year WITHOUT ME ... I got me a mild case of FOMO.

Last time Dr. Perry was here, I hung out with him, had dinner with him, drove him from A to B, even kissed his wise and knowledgeable cheek. Just sayin’.

For now, I formulate plans.

Plan A: to take Baby Girl to the Bruce Perry seminar. Plan B; a return to the determined practice of gratitude. I am at home caring for my longed-for baby!!! Nothing could be better.

A couple of links for the tenacious geeks who have been gently reminding me that THIS IS WHAT I DO!! This is about the benefits of baby-led weaning (ie, letting babies self select their solid food) and here is a video of an interview with Dr. Gabor Mate on the stress-disease connection and the links to childhood.

But for now, I’m going to curl up next to Baby Girl and have myself a minor nap before I gotta pick up Big Girl from school!

ladies and gentlegeeks! LINKS!

Tue, 1 May 2012 12:20:48 +1200

Seriously ... this first link is so deluxe it kind of pains me that I did not compile the list of links. You know what I mean? I love it so I wish I’d created it myself? EnJOY!

Here is a new gift from the good people at the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University, and this is a little blog/podcast featuring info about the ordered nature of brain wiring. Now for a couple of links to remind us of why studying the brain leads to slightly more irreverent discoveries, too: like understanding brain freeze (aka icecream headache) or how our brains deal with cocktail parties (ie blocking out distractions).

Here is good reason to eat more berries, and another contributor to ongoing health and wellbeing is surely meditation. NOT always easy in between cooking, clearing up, doing laundry, collecting from school, getting firewood in, driving to swimming lessons, breastfeeding and brushing one’s teeth. Unless we find a way to make those things our meditation? Hmmm mmm worth considering!

Phones are ringing here and life is continuing faster than I can tick ‘em off my to do list. In amongst all of this I am trying to be peaceful and responsive to my baby!

kia ora te whanau

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:38:58 +1200

greetings, friends. Life continues in its busy, happy way here on the autumnal orchard. Highlights include pushing the stroller around the trees, cooking dahl in the crock pot, and the purchase of this beautiful nursing dress. (Happy Mother’s Day, Myself!)

A couple of links for my geeky friends: this about the benefits of play, and this about a link between children’s early sleep disorders and later behavioural problems.

Here is a link to an abstract describing research outlining the brilliance of babies (in this case, receptive language). Speaking of language, check out this interesting movement from our pals in Sweden, to get a gender neutral pronoun into our mouths.

Finally for today: a fascinating something about the importance of favourite colours in the lives of little children.

More will follow, now I gotta fold a mountain of laundry and lay down my weary head. zzzzz

a spot of writing

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:44:13 +1200

this charming picture is from the most recent issue of OHbaby! magazine, which features an article I wrote late last year.

I would tell you all more about my life and include some interesting links and make witty observations, but I am suffering the bone crushing exhaustion that creeps up on the breastfeeding mothers of eight week old (almost!) babies. So I’m gonna hit the hay. xxx

yes. no. and maybe.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:10:55 +1300

one of the many blessings during this intense chapter of newborn care is the clarity with which I get to say “Yes” and “No”. And the scarcity of the “Maybe”.

YES, I will feed this child whenever she is hungry.
NO, I will not be able to be a peer reviewer for this journal submission.
YES, I will take a nap now.
NO, I cannot manage to write a 3000 word article in the next 2 weeks.
MAYBE I will get into my neglected vegetable garden this weekend.

For one of us gals who has been socialised by our wacky culture to please others and bend over backwards to be impressive, it’s delightful to make my barriers and boundaries robust. YES! Making dinner for my family is a priority, NO! serving on the board of your training institution is not (seriously, who calls a family home at 5.45pm on a school night and expects anything but to be shot down?).

Some yummy links today, for all y’all who have been so patient with my non-link-sharing in recent weeks.

FIRST: LOVE this idea, it’s 10 tips for raising happy parents. Enjoy. And help each other out! While we’re looking at parent-y lists, here is a list of 50 things that Dads of Daughters need to know/do (LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT), and another list for the Mommas of sons. Just 25 things for you, though!

HERE is an amazing blog ... “Science at Home” - cool ideas for children of all ages. Love. And this is a resource from our neighbours in Australia about sustainable teaching.

Wanna present at the Public Health Association conference in NZ in September? I would apply to, were it not for my self-declared maternity leave this year! ANYhoo, link for abstract submission is here. Speaking of public health, I know it’s kind of odd to be excited about anything relating to child abuse, but I am delighted by the conversation that is happening here ... talk of re-classifying media exposure & commercial exploitation as abusive to children. Cos I reckon it is.

And your Friday angst can be found here: links between stuff we eat and use every day and hideous health implications. But I won’t leave you like that ... enjoy more, new research that reinforces the power of maternal love for creating a juicy brain for a lifetime!!

sleep like pastry

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:01:51 +1300

GEEKS! Since last I posted, I have had a birthday, eaten cake, transformed it into milk, and my baby has turned it into fuel for her growing self. I love being a mammal!

She is three weeks and 5 days old. Like most newborn mommas, I am finding the trip to be a mostly joyful, always tired, occasionally fraught, often weepy, profoundly grateful one.

So here is how I cope with the tired thing ... I have taken what little I understand of sleep research and embraced the notion that a complete night’s sleep is a post-industrial revolution phenomenon! Here is a little something to get you thinking about the value of “broken” sleep ... With this understanding in my corner, I imagine that sleep is like pastry, or cookie dough. you know when you’re rolling it out and then cutting out the shapes and at some point you smush it back together and roll the scraps into one cohesive piece again? YEAH. Like that.

Also, I sleep WHENEVER I can (napping day and night ...). I accept help from all who offer it - and seek it from those who don’t.

If this means letting go of some of my - ahem - control issues, so be it. For example, I have had to accept that having hubby in charge of groceries EQUALS having tons of potato chips and broccoli and never quite the right variety of muesli. But for the short term? I DON’T CARE.

articles

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:33:26 +1300

hello brainiacs ...
the most recent issue of Tots to Teens magazine features a li’l something written by this here baby geek. You can check it out here.

Also: a remarkable article about perineal re-education in France is to be found here. I am inspired!!

Baby Girl is 10 days old today, (asleep right now, hence posting!) and we’re all smitten ‘round here. Going to elevate feet and re-educate pelvic floor now.

She’s HERE!

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:03:28 +1300

Beautiful baby girl. One week old today.

Posting may be a tad sporadic for a while, beautiful baby geeks, as I walk the talk around prioritising relationships and rest in the early weeks of caring for a new life.

grumpy ol’ me

Thu, 9 Feb 2012 16:05:59 +1300

38 weeks pregnant and CANTANKEROUS. look out. Actually, I love being pregnant and I am super grateful for the experience and for the promise of BABY ... but I am kind of leaning hard on my props right now - like this wicked blog. Missing grunty exercise, not to mention goopy egg yolks (and gin & tonics!).

Anyway. I’ll pull through.

A little something from Australia, here, about promoting play in spite of increasingly sterile back yards as created by modern easy-care design aesthetics. And did I share this from the American Academy of Pediatrics? Promoting play especially for families in poverty.

I have loved this for a while, about the power of well-timed opportunities for enriching family relationships, THIS is a download from Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child about lifelong health beginning in childhood, and here is a TED talk about growing fresh air. Just cos.

Good Golly ... February

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 09:02:41 +1300

Mornin’ geeks. Let’s share some links.

First, the power of physical affection to cure everything - even poverty. Thanks, New York Times. Certainly those early relationships impact all our later relationships ... another reason to question “crying it out”. Our needs don’t change just cos it’s dark.

Here is an article about using play to teach mathematical concepts (ummm .... of COURSE!) and some thoughts from the wonderful Action for Happiness whanau about how it is the simple stuff that makes us happy. (I repeat: ummm ... of COURSE!)

Here is a little something about happiness and wellbeing in schools and a wee gift about mindfulness meditation can be found here.

Also via Action for Happiness (and from our Geeky Stats Girl ... HOLLER!) is a write up about expansion of the Roots of Empathy programme into the UK.

I spoke at a celebration event for our Christchurch Roots programme - but I’m pretty sure that the venue from the day is now defunct due to earthquakes and suddenly I find myself worrying about the schools in our Roots programme ... can anyone tell me if they (and the programme) have survived? These are crazy times.

May I finish with a shout-out to the beautiful, wonderful, amazing placenta, currently wowing the science world with her magnificence in ways we hadn’t guessed - enoy this sneak preview of an article from Scientific American.

various thoughts

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:06:16 +1300

OK, so my thoughts are not all that varied at the mo. Pretty darned focused on preparing for the little one (resting as much as I can, doing laundry, and keeping up my Hypbirth practice).

Of course, us mommas of school-agers are also v. busy preparing for THAT whole trip, with most kids in New Zealand headed back to school this week (mine: tomorrow). Baking, uniform organising, swim-bag locating, all that. Makes me crave a lie down.

A few other links for today: ONE is the blog that accompanies the Happiness Project book. I just read it and have enjoyed it a lot (although I do wonder how the author has so many hours away from her kids??). I’ve been appropriately inspired, and intend to re-read it when I’m not massively pregnant and kinda one-track-minded.

speaking of one track minds: OH my goodness ...hilarious perving for pregnant ladies (or anyone who’s ever BEEN pregnant) can be found here.

Also: here is a link to an abstract about some research dealing with the quality of sibling relationships in families, and the maternal role in keeping it all groovy. Of course, mommas show up everywhere in the research - like our relationships with our toddlers having implications for their levels of obesity in teenagehood. Speaking of teens, it would seem that they’re gettin’ the blues in record numbers.

And here are some deluxe pro-play resources for all y’all.

massive geek, more links

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:19:05 +1300

time to share some new links. Like everything I do at the moment, I’m aiming to not linger too long here. 35 weeks pregnant, friends, and BOY am I large’n’slow. And honestly? Fairly cantankerous. Better try to set unborn babe a better example ... s/he is already learning!

And y’all better check out these links before you feel my wrath! (it’s not all my fault: pregnancy changes our brains ...) First, behold this amazing collection of brainiac documentaries. Make yourself a cuppa, get comfy, and explore.

This abstract is a tantalising one ... those geeks out there who work with families know the challenge of getting engagement between services and people.

Check out this fab interview with one of my heroines, Ina May Gaskin, a legendary midwife from Tennessee. Meanwhile, infant sleep resources can be found here, as another incentive to learn options other than the whole ‘cry it out’ sadness. ‘Cos you know there is overwhelming evidence about how the early experiences with our babes shapes their future relationships.

A few interesting links relating to stress, now. This one deals with how stress in early pregnancy is associated with fewer baby boys (fascinating!), this is about low rates of stress in infancy being associated with fewer allergies, and this is another reminder about the risks of childhood stress in general.