Please read my guest post on Help4YourFamily on how pregnancy and postpartum are affected by eating disorders. Over the course of a single spring, I worked with three women struggling with postpartum anxiety. During our time together, I learned that they all had a history of eating disorders. This connection motivated me to research and [...]
Monthly Archives: August 2012
How Pregnancy and Postpartum are Affected by Eating Disorders
August 31, 2012Improving Birth – Rally for Change
August 28, 2012
Can you imagine going to a cancer doctor or a heart surgeon if only one third of their professional organization’s recommendations were based in scientific evidence? Yet that’s what’s going on in obstetrics in America.
Organizing Kid’s Art
August 23, 2012
As the new school year approaches, how will you manage your kid’s art projects and the heaps of paintings, drawings and craft creations? Whether you have a preschooler’s colorful stick figures or a teen’s 3-D science presentation, here’s a solution that I love!
Many years ago, before I was in the digital mode for photography, and pre-smart phones, I read about an idea that stuck with me: take pictures of your children’s art work and then assemble a book of the pictures. I’ve only done this for the last three school years, but with everything electronic now, it’s a task that’s quite easy, with a little organization. (So why haven’t I started last school year’s book yet?)
When I do start it (writing this is motivating me to get to it) I use and really like Shutterfly. (You can click the link on the sidebar to go directly to Shutterfly). I am comfortable with their tools and products, they offer frequent discounts on photo books and their customer service has been exceptionally responsive when I’ve had any questions. There are other options out there (iPhoto, Tiny Prints, Snapfish, Mixbook, Lulu) for you to peruse. 
When a kiddo comes home with a Groundhog Day hat, I put it on their head and take a picture, then throw away the hat. When the paints come out and the creativity flows into stacks of masterpieces, I snap a shot of each one, and toss them.
Big Sister, Little Sister
August 20, 2012
[caption id="attachment_521" align="alignleft" width="250"]
Our first meeting[/caption]
Our first meeting[/caption]
I met my Little Sister when she was seven. We sat in a booth and started to get to know one another over chicken with broccoli. I remember she politely made sure to empty her mouth before speaking or answering any questions. We were both hoping to make a good first impression, and even more, a lasting connection.
When I toasted, “Here’s to new friends!” this sweet second-grader looked up at me and corrected, “Here’s to sisters!” She has been a part of our family ever since.
Understanding Milk Supply
August 16, 2012Fenugreek for nursing is a popular Google search, and a post I wrote years ago about fenugreek is read daily by someone somewhere in the world. But really what these Moms are seeking is ways of increasing milk supply. I’m a big believer in working to get to the crux of the issue instead of [...]
Healthy Snacks for Kids
August 13, 2012Kids love to snack, and as Moms, we want to give them healthy snacks that they’ll like to eat. I have to say that I get made fun of a little for the unusual things my kids like, so I know I have it a bit easier than others, but maybe one of these [...]
Birthday Party or Heart’s Desire Day – Birthday Rituals
August 9, 2012
For birthday celebrations, starting around first grade, we have offered our kids a choice between having a birthday party or a Heart’s Desire Day for which they design the day and select everything we do. I didn’t coin the phrase Heart’s Desire Day, it’s my neighbor’s term, but we’ve been using it for six years now and it’s become a part of our family vocabulary.
I have my pros and cons for both kinds of birthday celebrations. We’ve thrown some fun, home-grown birthday parties over the years: we had the DeCesare Zoo with a giraffe cake, a foam core cage and animal stand-ups for kids to take pictures as a monkey or zebra. One Mom even RSVPed and said, “I’m sorry, can you tell me where the DeCesare Zoo is? I don’t know that zoo.” Yup, that’s our house.
Rockets, princesses, smiley faces, Ariel, bugs and luaus have all had their run at a birthday party themes at our house but one of my favorites was the one my son invented for his third birthday, the Blue Party. Everything, including the cake inside and out, was blue. Blue pinata with blue candies and my clever husband built wooden cars for all the boys which they decorated with all things blue and raced them down a ramp in our foyer (January birthday) with all the boys dressed in blue.
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The Blue Birthday Party[/caption]
Birth Survey Guest Post
August 6, 2012I’m happy to have been invited to share my Young Women’s Birth Survey and the motivations for doing this work on Birth Literacy. Please read my guest post and share it with women in the 18-26 year old age group who are eligible for the survey. Take the survey here This survey is intended to [...]
Boys and Bruises
August 2, 2012
I remember a time when my son was little and always had a bruise, or two, or three somewhere on his shins, his forehead, his knees. Some of them had hurt, others just seemed to appear. His bruises were badges of his explorations and were part of the process of him learning about his body in space.
A social worker friend once told me that a sign of abuse is a person having bruises in all stages of healing, but that described my non-abused, well-loved little boy and he had made the bruises all on his own. He was 100% rough and tumble boy from his earliest days.
He bumped into tables when he learned to walk and got bruised. He tipped back in a chair at dinner as a toddler and got bruised. He balanced himself to go up the slide backwards and he learned. Experimenting with body mechanics and spacial relations is all part of growing up, and for many boys, it seems they do it with more energy, more gusto and more brute force than girls (though girls get their fair share of bruises, too!).
[caption id="attachment_400" align="alignright" width="150"]
Balancing on the bowsprit of a boat on the playground at Mystic SeaportPhoto by Leah DeCesare[/caption]
Kids who are permitted to test their physical limits, to try things out, actually become better at keeping themselves safe.They understand what they are capable of and gradually build body memory. Before even learning any organized sporting skills or athletic finesse, kids need to be comfortable and confident with their bodies’ abilities. Bruises and all, they learn.
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