Saturday, October 2, 2010
Thank You
I would like to say a HUGE thank you to the 97 women, over 100 children and all of the proud papas who filled the mezzanine area of Mahon Point to bursting this morning at 11:00am. We more then surpassed our goals! To put it in perspective, last year in Ireland, around 75,000 babies were born. Of these, 41,250 were latched on after birth, 21,000 were still nursing at 4 months and 938 were still being exclusively breastfed at 6 months. To get 97 breastfeeding mothers and their children to simulataneously nurse in a shopping center in Cork City with ten days notice (a number which is equal to 10% of the babies who are exclusively feeding at 6 month) is nothing short of AMAZING!!!!! I am so proud of us all. It was incredible, it was beautiful, it was Natural. Most of all, IT WAS NOT OBSCENE!!!!! To the many, many mums who turned up on the day and to everyone rooting for us at home, to everyone who travelled from as far afield as Dublin and Galway and those from up the road, to the mothers of newborns, wobblers, toddlers and school age kids who came out and nursed their babies because it's the normal thing to do, Thank you. From the bottom of my heart (and boobs;D) I thank you.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Irish Women aim to Set Breastfeeding Record!!!
I have organized "AN EVENT" (Please note the use of capslock to portray importance of said event.)
As part of World Breastfeeding Week (is it just me or does this week seem to happen fairly often?) I have signed up Cork City as a location for the 2010 Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge.
As I have been holed away at the computer and thus dodging my motherly duties for the better part of the last three hours, I'm simply going to have to do some cutting and pasting of my oh so fancy press release to fill you in on the details.
On October 2, 2010, breastfeeding women and children at sites around the globe will compete to set the record for the most children breastfeeding at one time.
Why this challenge? Breastfeeding has many well-documented benefits including better health for both mothers and babies. However, many women fail to meet their own breastfeeding goals and wean their children prematurely, well before meeting recommended guidelines. Two of the biggest hurdles for mothers continue to be lack of support and marginalization by the community.
Ireland has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world, if not the lowest of all. The Quintessence Breastfeeding challenge is a great way to show support for breastfeeding mothers and to reinforce the message that not only is breastfeeding the best way of feeding a child, it is the NORMAL way of feeding a child.
The Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge began in 2001 in British Columbia Canada with 856 children at 26 sites. By 2008, there were 7632 children in nineteen countries at over 300 sites with a total of over 20,000 supporters.In 2009 even though the H1N1 pandemic coincided with the Challenge,there were 4,766 children at 246 sites in 21 countries. We hope for even greater support in 2010!
This event takes place as part of the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week. The theme for World Breastfeeding Week is Breastfeeding – just 10 steps referring to a WHO/UNICEF document which outlines in ten steps, key ways in which health care facilities and communities can support women to achieve their breastfeeding goals. One key step is welcoming mothers to breastfeed anytime!
The Breastfeeding Challenge is sponsored by the Quintessence Foundation, a non-profit group providing education to parents and professionals about breastfeeding.
The Cork area challenge is set for Saturday, October 2nd at 11:00 am in Mahon Point.
Check out (and Like!!!! Please, please like it and pass it along to your friends!) my hastily made facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=breastway&init=quick&sid=0.6764741685255888#!/group.php?gid=155336247828160&v=wall
As part of World Breastfeeding Week (is it just me or does this week seem to happen fairly often?) I have signed up Cork City as a location for the 2010 Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge.
As I have been holed away at the computer and thus dodging my motherly duties for the better part of the last three hours, I'm simply going to have to do some cutting and pasting of my oh so fancy press release to fill you in on the details.
On October 2, 2010, breastfeeding women and children at sites around the globe will compete to set the record for the most children breastfeeding at one time.
Why this challenge? Breastfeeding has many well-documented benefits including better health for both mothers and babies. However, many women fail to meet their own breastfeeding goals and wean their children prematurely, well before meeting recommended guidelines. Two of the biggest hurdles for mothers continue to be lack of support and marginalization by the community.
Ireland has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world, if not the lowest of all. The Quintessence Breastfeeding challenge is a great way to show support for breastfeeding mothers and to reinforce the message that not only is breastfeeding the best way of feeding a child, it is the NORMAL way of feeding a child.
The Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge began in 2001 in British Columbia Canada with 856 children at 26 sites. By 2008, there were 7632 children in nineteen countries at over 300 sites with a total of over 20,000 supporters.In 2009 even though the H1N1 pandemic coincided with the Challenge,there were 4,766 children at 246 sites in 21 countries. We hope for even greater support in 2010!
This event takes place as part of the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week. The theme for World Breastfeeding Week is Breastfeeding – just 10 steps referring to a WHO/UNICEF document which outlines in ten steps, key ways in which health care facilities and communities can support women to achieve their breastfeeding goals. One key step is welcoming mothers to breastfeed anytime!
The Breastfeeding Challenge is sponsored by the Quintessence Foundation, a non-profit group providing education to parents and professionals about breastfeeding.
The Cork area challenge is set for Saturday, October 2nd at 11:00 am in Mahon Point.
Check out (and Like!!!! Please, please like it and pass it along to your friends!) my hastily made facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=breastway&init=quick&sid=0.6764741685255888#!/group.php?gid=155336247828160&v=wall
Sunday, September 19, 2010
New Look, Same great Taste...
In case you haven't noticed, I've been having more then a little trouble keeping up with my blog of late. It started waaaaaaay back in the spring of the year when I was nominated and then subsequently shortlisted for, an "Irish Blog Award."
It continued on through the summer when one by one, bloggers I'd grown to love packed it in and said goodbye to the blogging world.
I thought a lot about packing it in myself. I mean really, there's only so much I can say about teething and night wakings and all the other joys that go with raising a toddler and having said it all before with the snot queen, it really isn't so much of a shock when it comes to the tiny one (who incidently is cutting all four of her molars -
simultanaeously.)
But I'm not ready to say good bye.
I'm not ready to throw in the blogging towel.
Instead, I'm having a re-vamp. Doing a bit of the old Trinny and Susannah if you will. Taking a new path, but still heading in the same old, mother and child friendly direction.
So stay tuned, because there's life in the old girl yet...
It continued on through the summer when one by one, bloggers I'd grown to love packed it in and said goodbye to the blogging world.
I thought a lot about packing it in myself. I mean really, there's only so much I can say about teething and night wakings and all the other joys that go with raising a toddler and having said it all before with the snot queen, it really isn't so much of a shock when it comes to the tiny one (who incidently is cutting all four of her molars -
simultanaeously.)
But I'm not ready to say good bye.
I'm not ready to throw in the blogging towel.
Instead, I'm having a re-vamp. Doing a bit of the old Trinny and Susannah if you will. Taking a new path, but still heading in the same old, mother and child friendly direction.
So stay tuned, because there's life in the old girl yet...
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Dear Moon...
Dear Moon, Whatever crazy tide/water/magic no sleeping effect you have on my daughter, could you please turn it off now? As much fun as surfing the internet is at 2:45am with a 14month old, I really would like some sleep... Thank you. x
Sunday, August 15, 2010
What are the odds?
My weighing scales are broken.
I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, maybe a loose connection? A low battery perhaps? Whatever, the end result is the same in that it keeps insisting that I am 9 pounds heavier then I actually am.
This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that my measuring tape is off as well! I don't know how this one happened. Probably someone accidentally put it in the wash and shrank it and then panicked when they realized what had happened and so put it back in my sewing box exactly as they'd found it. No matter, the end result is the same. The numbers are now so close together that it is saying my measurements are a full inch BIGGER then what they should be.
It probably got put in the same load that shrank my pants last week and had me standing on the scales in the first place...
I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, maybe a loose connection? A low battery perhaps? Whatever, the end result is the same in that it keeps insisting that I am 9 pounds heavier then I actually am.
This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that my measuring tape is off as well! I don't know how this one happened. Probably someone accidentally put it in the wash and shrank it and then panicked when they realized what had happened and so put it back in my sewing box exactly as they'd found it. No matter, the end result is the same. The numbers are now so close together that it is saying my measurements are a full inch BIGGER then what they should be.
It probably got put in the same load that shrank my pants last week and had me standing on the scales in the first place...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Dear Volcano...
Dear Icelandic Volcano,
YOU SUCK!
I didn't ask for much you know, just a few puffs of ash, maybe a little ominous rumbling, whatever... Just enough to close Irish airspace for a few days. But Noooooooooo.... Stupid volcano, you had to remain calm and settled and cool as a flippin' cucumber while my lovely, wonderful mom who I've gotten to spend the last five weeks with, got on a plane and flew back to Canada.
WTF?!?!?
A few months ago, we couldn't PAY you to turn it off! My in laws got a week's extension on their holidays because of you! Oooh look at me! I'm a volcano! Fire and ash spewing everywhere! Spew, spew, spew, all day long. That's what I do! Irish airspace? HA! No one's getting in or out of there until I say so!
Everyday, the papers and tv's were full of you! You were everywhere!!! You couldn't spit without hitting yet another report of how you'd affected someone else's life/holiday/business.
Now though? When I really needed you?
Not a whisper.
Not even enough heat to toast a marshmallow.
You let me down Volcano.
And no, there's nothing you can do to make it up to me.
All I wanted was one more day (week, month, a year would have been lovely...)with my mom, but you couldn't even manage that.
Stupid volcano.
Your (disappointed) friend,
Maria x
YOU SUCK!
I didn't ask for much you know, just a few puffs of ash, maybe a little ominous rumbling, whatever... Just enough to close Irish airspace for a few days. But Noooooooooo.... Stupid volcano, you had to remain calm and settled and cool as a flippin' cucumber while my lovely, wonderful mom who I've gotten to spend the last five weeks with, got on a plane and flew back to Canada.
WTF?!?!?
A few months ago, we couldn't PAY you to turn it off! My in laws got a week's extension on their holidays because of you! Oooh look at me! I'm a volcano! Fire and ash spewing everywhere! Spew, spew, spew, all day long. That's what I do! Irish airspace? HA! No one's getting in or out of there until I say so!
Everyday, the papers and tv's were full of you! You were everywhere!!! You couldn't spit without hitting yet another report of how you'd affected someone else's life/holiday/business.
Now though? When I really needed you?
Not a whisper.
Not even enough heat to toast a marshmallow.
You let me down Volcano.
And no, there's nothing you can do to make it up to me.
All I wanted was one more day (week, month, a year would have been lovely...)with my mom, but you couldn't even manage that.
Stupid volcano.
Your (disappointed) friend,
Maria x
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Lost art of House Husbandry
Must. Write. Blog.
Must. Come up with. Witty. Musings. On day to day life.
Must. Not. Get. Distracted. By.
A. Abnormally nice weather we've been having lately.
B. Blissfully relaxing new three seater swing in the back garden.
C. Life in general.
Honestly, you'd think that with my husband home full time, I'd now have oodles of empty hours in which to write to my little heart's content. Strangely, that does not seem to be the case.
For starters, said husband has needed a little training up in the art of House - husbandry. Lessons such as "Where to locate the washing machine and how exactly to operate it" and "Why having a lie in and then proceeding to come into the kitchen and turn on the internet while I'm busting my hump feeding the kids, cleaning the kitchen, creating world peace, etc... is likely to get you killed or at the very least seriously maimed," have been a complete and utter success!
In fact, I'm pleased to say that operation "House Husband," has - aside from a few small growing pains - been going very well indeed! My student is showing a particular proficiency in the area of laundry and every day becomes more and more aware of the chaos around him to which he was previously oblivious(Dirty dishes in the sink? Didn't see 'em! Giant pile of clothes on the stairs? Walked right over it!)
He is even... dare I say it? Beginning to self motivate. Just yesterday I caught him putting a load of nappies in to wash and for the last two weeks, the bedtime routine of the snot queen has been his domain while I've looked after the (not so) tiny one.
Things are going so well. I suppose I'm a bit afraid to rock the boat and throw him into the deep end (i.e in full charge of the house AND the girls for an extended period of time) lest he suddenly decides that this whole "at home" lark isn't all it's cracked up to be and does the unthinkable...
Goes back to work.
Registration for the next session of "House Husbandry" commences soon. Places are limited. Early booking is recommended.
Must. Come up with. Witty. Musings. On day to day life.
Must. Not. Get. Distracted. By.
A. Abnormally nice weather we've been having lately.
B. Blissfully relaxing new three seater swing in the back garden.
C. Life in general.
Honestly, you'd think that with my husband home full time, I'd now have oodles of empty hours in which to write to my little heart's content. Strangely, that does not seem to be the case.
For starters, said husband has needed a little training up in the art of House - husbandry. Lessons such as "Where to locate the washing machine and how exactly to operate it" and "Why having a lie in and then proceeding to come into the kitchen and turn on the internet while I'm busting my hump feeding the kids, cleaning the kitchen, creating world peace, etc... is likely to get you killed or at the very least seriously maimed," have been a complete and utter success!
In fact, I'm pleased to say that operation "House Husband," has - aside from a few small growing pains - been going very well indeed! My student is showing a particular proficiency in the area of laundry and every day becomes more and more aware of the chaos around him to which he was previously oblivious(Dirty dishes in the sink? Didn't see 'em! Giant pile of clothes on the stairs? Walked right over it!)
He is even... dare I say it? Beginning to self motivate. Just yesterday I caught him putting a load of nappies in to wash and for the last two weeks, the bedtime routine of the snot queen has been his domain while I've looked after the (not so) tiny one.
Things are going so well. I suppose I'm a bit afraid to rock the boat and throw him into the deep end (i.e in full charge of the house AND the girls for an extended period of time) lest he suddenly decides that this whole "at home" lark isn't all it's cracked up to be and does the unthinkable...
Goes back to work.
Registration for the next session of "House Husbandry" commences soon. Places are limited. Early booking is recommended.
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