Birthday Presents

My birthday was a week or so ago and one of my presents was Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (thanks mum). I'd been hearing of it around the internet. Having had success with the No-Knead Bread recipe, and finding that my daughter always needs my attention just when I'd trying to get something time sensitive, done this method seemed intriguing. So far I haven't been disappointed.

I'm really enjoying looking through the book and giving some of the recipes a try. I started out (as suggested) with the basic recipe (although I did sub a little wholewheat and a little barley flour in there I must admit) and ended up with a very nice loaf of bread. My daughter has been more than usually excited about having toast and marmite for breakfast recently.

I'm liking not worrying about finding something to cover my loaf while it's baking (as in the no-knead method) and the multiple variations. What I will be on the lookout for is some different containers for the dough while it's residing in the fridge since I'm currently using my large (4.5 qt) mixing bowls which aren't quite big enough for the initial rise really, and take up more room in the fridge (widthwise) than is really ideal. I'd love to find something not plastic.

My second batch of dough is from the bagel recipe (here I subbed one cup of wholewheat into the recipe and used malt extract instead of sugar). Despite some slight water logging issues a couple of times while boiling, the results have been very tasty. I may have a go at pretzels with what's left of this dough, but I definitely want to try the Bialys which sound so good (onions and poppyseeds, mmm). Next up is the oatmeal bread (I actually baked some already but haven't tasted it just yet).

Sort of related (and possibly TMI for some so stop now if you'd not into girl talk), for my daughter's second birthday (almost to the hour which I find very interesting) I got my period (as in the first one since my daughter arrived on the scene)! While I'm not so much enjoying the cramping and other less enjoyable aspects of being (presumably somewhat) fertile, I'm excited in so far as we want to have another baby sometime and this would seem to be a step in that general direction. Time to sew some cloth pads, and perhaps invest in a new thermometer I do believe.

Links for 2007-09-01 to 04 [del.icio.us]

• If you can handle the mess: fun things to do with toddlers - ParentDish
  A few fun ideas in the post. I was hoping there'd be more comments too, oh well.
• angry chicken: not made in china.
  great blog post about toys for children in light of all the recalls recently of toys made in China includes ideas for making toys, where to buy safe toys and how to talk to family and friends about the kinds of things to get your children for gifts
• Results of the cold brew coffee experiment - Slashfood
• Cold Coffee Drinks Without Special Equipment - Instructables
  I am intrigued by this cold brew coffee idea. Not that I'm a coffee drinker myself, but my husband is and I've thought of trying to figure out making him iced coffee in the summertime so this is on my list of things to try.
• How to construct a slash pocket - Instructables
Useful tutorial for incorporation into my favourite trouser pattern.

• Simply Recipes: Perfect Popcorn Recipe
Not that I don't know how to pop corn, but this has a few tips I hadn't come across before.

• Tutowlrial
  A picture tutorial for sewing a cute little owl found via Domesticali
• BBC NEWS World Asia-Pacific Miscarriage prompts Japan pledge
  "Japan's health minister has pledged to address the shortage of doctors in the country after a woman in labour was turned away by eight hospitals."
• BBC NEWS Health Ovary removal 'raises brain risk'
  "Women who have ovaries removed before the menopause could be increasing their risk of both Parkinson's Disease and memory problems, research suggests.
  "Removing one or both ovaries at a young age doubled the risk.
  "Sex hormones made by the ovary may be protecting the brain, said experts from the US Mayo Clinic."
• What do you think of Attachment Parenting? - ParentDish
  "These days, I don't hear much about AP v. traditional parenting. Is it just because I'm out of the baby loop, or is it because like me with the twins, parents have decided to take and use the best of both worlds?"
• BBC NEWS Health Junk sleep 'damaging teen health'
  "Too many teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep and by falling asleep with electrical gadgets on, researchers say.
  "A third of 12 to 16-year-olds asked slept for between four to seven hours a night. Experts recommend eight hours."
• 25 Worlds Weirdest Animals
  Found via parentdish definitely worth a look!
• BBC NEWS In Pictures Beards and Moustaches: Your photos
Fun, pictures from the 2007 World Beard and Moustache Championships!

• BBC NEWS Health Confusion over diabetes testing
"Diabetics could be giving up vital home blood sugar checks because they believe they are of no use, says a researcher.
"Psychologist Dr Elizabeth Peel interviewed type 2 diabetes patients, and found that many were confused over what to do with the results.
"Writing in the British Medical Journal, she said that some doctors simply ignored detailed records kept by diabetics, compounding the problem."

• Top 50 Sites for Kids - The Amusement Park of the Web : All My Faves Blog
  AllMyFaves blog has "rounded up 150+ sites that will provide the children with hours of endless entertainment." (via http://www.parentdish.com/ )
• knittywhipped: Monkey Hooters!
  this blogger found someone's purl free monkey variation and made a pair. I'd been wondering how a purl free pair would look, and suspecting I might prefer them that way and I think I was right! So, next pair of monkeys I make I plan to do this way.
• Lamaze International: The Lamaze Institute for Normal Birth
• Simply Recipes: Tomatoes!A granola recipe from my mom's hippie youth - Slashfood
  This looks like a good ratio of stuff to oil and sweetener and I've been meaning to try my hand at making my own granola.
• The explosion of vileness that followed her death Libby Purves - Times Online
  A reflection on the media reaction after the death of Princess Diana -- I really appreciated reading this article. I was remembering that time and how it seemed to me as though people were rather missing what was important in all the hysteria.
  

Links for 2007-08-24 to 26 [del.icio.us]

• The Meal Assembly Network
  I've heard of this meal assembly thing before:
  

  "A meal assembly kitchen is the ultimate partner in helping busy families get healthy, tasty dinners prepared. The typical kitchen has 12 to 16 stations that look like salad bars. Each station includes all of the ingredients necessary to put together a main entrée that serves 4 to 6. The ingredients are already chopped, sliced, and/or cut. Customers follow detailed instructions at each station and assemble the ingredients into freezer-ready bags. Buying and preparing the ingredients, as well as cleaning up the mess, is the responsibility of the meal assembly kitchen. The customer typically assembles 12 meals, and takes them home in a cooler or a laundry basket for storage in the freezer. Actual cooking happens at home."

  I like the idea but I don't think I'd actually do it -- but if I had more freezer space and could clear the time it'd be good to try and put stuff together like this at home sometimes for those nights when I don't want to cook but I don't want to eat take-out.
• He has your... fear of veggies | Health & Fitness | Reuters
  

  "In a large study of identical and fraternal twins, researchers from University College London found that nearly 80 percent of children's tendency to avoid unfamiliar foods was inherited."

  I was interested to hear the part about fear of new foods, and the idea of just keeping giving children a new food until it's a familiar food and then they may find it's ok, or even that they like it! I know that for me (somewhat picky eater that I am) I've gotten more able to stomach foods through forcing myself to take a few bites. My mum always used to do this with vegetables we didn't like. We had one bites worth on our plate that we had to try then we could have more if we liked, or not. It hasn't got me to like swede but I could eat it if needed!
• Breakthrough in obesity battle - 25 Jul 2007 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news
  

  "The scientists have shown that if a mother is undernourished, her children's bodies are set up to cope with a life of scarcity.
  "But the energy-dense "hamburger and milkshake" diet of modern Western society is likely to result in children who are likely to become fat - unlike those from mothers who eat a balanced diet during pregnancy."

• Neonatal Doc: Loss
  A wonderful post from a neonatologist - a quote:
  

  "After years of seeing various types of pregnancy and newborn loss, I have decided that there are really no good words of comfort at such a time. The loss is so final, so absolute, so irrevocable, that only time can lessen the wound and even then often not completely heal it. We can express our condolences to the family and offer to do anything we can for them, but beyond that we seem relatively powerless."

  Some great comments too. Made me cry, but in a good way. I'm so glad we also had wonderful staff at the hospital where our first daughter was born, and died.
• Craving for junk food ‘begins in the womb’ - Times Online
  
• not martha - more tiny kitchen storage
  a neat idea for storing utensils -- a good way to keep them out of reach from little hands!
  
• Pattern for “Chunky Braided Scarf” « Butterfly Morning
• Bust Alteration
  A handy how-to on altering sewing patterns to fit your bust size.
• SO busy sewing › Red Instead BLOG
  
  Found the link for bust alteration at this blog post, there are some other handy links there too.
• Six weeks without a wash: The soapless experiment | the Daily Mail
  An article about a woman who decided to try an experiment which I think was recorded for a tv show:
  

  "for 40 days and 40 nights, there has been no showering, no hair washing, no teeth cleaning and no deodorant.
  "She has ditched her make-up and hair styling products, and allowed herself access to just three outfits (her running kit, a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and one summer dress)."

  I found this interesting; I think she went a little overboard, but still. It's good to hear what was good and what was bad about cutting all that stuff out. Clearly she felt all the chemicals she'd been putting on and in her body as part of her daily routine were not doing her a lot of favours (her IBS symptoms improved during the experiment, and her skin seemed much healthier), but at the same time). It was interesting to hear that as long as she was away from other people (and societal expectations) she felt " felt really healthy and good about [her]self" and that when she was tested at the end of the experiment she didn't show a great increase in bacteria and suchlike which confirms we probably don't need to be sanitizing our hands every five seconds!
  
  The article ends with her summing up:
  

  "the experiment worked in that I proved to myself there is no need for all these beauty products on which I've been frittering away so much money. My desire for them was all in my mind, not an actual physical need.
  "It showed me that for years I've been using excessive amounts, and, at the same time, potentially putting my health at risk because of all the chemicals they contain.
  "I was amazed to find that the point when my skin looked its best was after a month of not using anything at all. As a result, I've become far more moderate in what products I use and what I am prepared to spend money on.
  "A bar of soap, organic shampoo and conditioner, and a basic moisturiser are all I need now. I no longer wash my hair every day and I no longer feel self-conscious if I'm not done up to the nines.
  "If people didn't notice when they had me standing next to them during the experiment, I'm sure they won't be aware of small things that would once have got me down, such as a bad hair day or a minor skin outbreak."

• Knitty: Fall 2006 - red herring
  
  Another CookieA sock pattern for my to-do list -- I've been wanting to try colour work again. I'm intimidated by it because of the tension issue but love all the possibilities that would open up if I could master it.
• Choc Fudge Shortbread on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  This sounds tasty, need to make fudge first though!
• eat me, delicious: Chocolate Orbit Cake
  This looks so incredibly chocolaty and rich, mmmm.
• Vanana Cookies (Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookies) » vanesscipes
  These look yummy. [I made some - posted on flickr]

And a couple more tasty looking recipes to try some time:

• Sausage-stuffed portobello mushrooms - The Boston Globe
• Creamy corn chowder with very little cream - The Boston Globe

Links for 2007-08-10 [del.icio.us]

• BBC NEWS | Health | Bones offer new hope for diabetes
  "An international team found the molecule osteocalcin, produced by bone cells, is active in helping to regulate blood sugar levels in mice."
• the barmy baker: Because Some Days You Just Need A Lot of Chocolate
  Saw a picture of these Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies cookies at flickr and thought I needed to add them to my to make list immediately (although I don't like the taste of coffee so may need to modify a bit)!
• 14 Numbers Your Cell Phone Can't Live Without · The Cranking Widgets Blog
  "if your cell phone has no other numbers stored in its memory, make sure it has these numbers." I haven't actually had a cell phone until just now but I was thinking this would also be useful as a starting point for a phone list to go on the wall by the phone (or on the fridge perhaps) at home so you don't need to go looking for numbers in an emergency (especially if the person needing the number is an out of town visitor or baby sitter).
  
• the knitted blog: Make your own envelopes.
  seen at :Craft
  
• Nearly half of early breast cancers missed by mammograms, research suggests |Guardian
• London looks at bike hire scheme | Guardian
  "Ken Livingstone yesterday confirmed he wants a network of hire pushbikes for London. The capital's mayor ordered officials to investigate a scheme to mirror the one introduced in Paris, where the provision of 10,000 bicycles at 750 dedicated hire points has been hugely successful. The study will also look at other cycle-friendly cities such as Barcelona, Lyon, Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Oslo and Copenhagen."
• BakeSpace.com - Recipe Swap and Food Social Network
• tumbling blocks: oilcloth lunch bag
  seen via flickr, this is a blog post with a tutorial for making your own lunch bag with oilcloth.
  
• The Link Between Estrogen And Pain | Scientific Blogging
  "Estrogen plays an important role in determining how sensitive a person is to pain, and the estrogen receptor known as ER-beta is particularly significant in this context. These are the conclusions of a study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet."
• baby led weaning :: The NHS agrees with us that finger food is A-Okay from 6 months.
  "some links from the NHS Breastfeeding People and NHS Healthy Start that say finger food is fine from 6 months"

Links for 2007-08-06 thorough 09 [del.icio.us]

• Birth The Play :: Bold
  
  "Birth is a play based on over one hundred interviews Karen Brody conducted with mothers across America who gave birth between 2000-2004. It tells the true stories of 8 women painting a portrait of how low-risk, educated women are giving birth in America today."
  
  I don't know whether I'm likely to be able to see this play, or go to a Red Tent event, this year but it sounds really interesting to me (I read more birth stories than I have time for). During September there are groups all over the USA (and further afield) putting on the play, and/or organizing events in order to raise awareness about labor/birth and to make birthing more mother friendly -- look for an event near you.
• A pause before parenting -- PJStar.com - Journal Star Features
  
  "Women who began their families later in life share the rewards - and regrets - of delayed motherhood"
• August '07 edition of MagKnits, your friendly online knitting magazine
  
  I like the look of Lemonade (a fitted cotton cardi), Jenora (a cardigan that makes me think of the Bloomsbury group) and Summer Sky (a nice shrug/cardigan) Also there's a sock pattern, and a slinky knit dress pattern.
• A pioneer in an experiment called open adoption - Los Angeles Times
  
  The second part of the story is here. Interesting look at one story of an open adoption, you should really read both parts of the story. I've been reading several blogs where adoption is an important part of the bloggers life - as a first parent, an adoptive parent or a person who was adopted - and it's really expanded my understanding of adoption enormously. It's given me far more insight than I've got from people I know personally who've placed a child, adopted a child or been adopted (probably in part because I've never really talked about adoption in any depth with those people). I'm really grateful for the people who have shared their stories and helped me understand more about the long term implications of adoption for all involved.
  
• How Much Salt Is Safe? | Scientific Blogging
• Latent Memory Means Genetic Learning | Scientific Blogging
• Freebirthing: Should women give birth alone? -- Daily Mail
  
  Freebirthing scares me personally, I had drug-free easy deliveries but I really valued having the nurses, midwives and my doula around (and I know my husband would have been terrified without them). Of course we were at a hospital that knows how to support "normal birth". Hearing stories of being in labor at hospitals that have epidural rates so high that the nurses don't know what to do with a naturally laboring woman, and hearing of the rising and rising c-section rates around the country (US and UK), (not to mention how hard it can be to find midwives and doctors to attend a homebirth what with malpractice insurance and not enough OBs and midwives around) I can see where freebirthing becomes a more attractive option for many women.
• MAGPIE » “Bread and Puppet continues, more than 40 years on, to live an ideal of art as collective enterprise, a free or low-cost alternative voice outside the profit system.” - Arthur Magazine blogs for you...
• Baby Videos May Hinder Infants' Language Development | Scientific Blogging
  
  "Rather than helping babies, the over-use of such productions actually may slow down infants eight to 16 months of age when it comes to acquiring vocabulary, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute.
  
  "The scientists found that for every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them. Baby DVDs and videos had no positive or negative effect on the vocabularies on toddlers 17 to 24 months of age."
• Online movie guides for parents - ParentDish
• BBC NEWS | Health | Diabetes problems 'vitamin link'
  
  "A simple vitamin deficiency may be the cause of many of the side effects of diabetes, a study suggests.
  
  "Researchers found people with the disease expelled thiamine - vitamin B1 - from their bodies at 15 times the normal rate in a study of 94 people.
  
  "The Warwick University team said thiamine helped ward off complications such as heart disease and eye problems, the Diabetologia journal said."
• The Phrontistery: Obscure Words and Vocabulary Resources
• Owl Hat Pattern
  Seen in a flickr photo
  
• BBC NEWS | Health | Diet food 'may fuel obesity risk'
  
  "researchers believe low-calorie versions of usually high-calorie foods disrupt the body's ability to use taste to regulate calorific intake."
• Monkeys, Humans Learn The Same Way | Scientific Blogging
  
  “'Like humans, monkeys benefit enormously from being actively involved in learning instead of having information presented to them passively,' said Nate Kornell, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in psychology and lead author of the study. 'The advantage of active learning appears to be a fundamental property of memory in humans and nonhumans alike.'”
• BBC NEWS | Education | Academic study 'not always best'
  
  "Parents should encourage teenagers to pursue a wider range of courses, not just academic ones, campaigners say.
  
  "Educational foundation Edge warns of 'academic snobbery' against vocational courses. It says a fifth of pupils think they are on the wrong path.
  
  "Going on to study for a degree for its own sake is not always suitable for the careers they really want, Edge says."

Links for 2007-07-31 through 2007-08-05 [del.icio.us]

• Burma: A plight we can ignore no longer - Independent Online Edition > Asia
• Burma: Forgotten and locked in the shadow of the past - Independent
• Pregnancy Depression May Affect Baby
  '"Anxiety and depression don't predict [a baby's] total sleep, but do predict sleep problems and disruptive sleep," says researcher Thomas O'Connor, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. "The babies may sleep just as long, but they wake up more often and they have trouble falling asleep."'
• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » » Interfacing Guide from Amy Butler
• Wheat-Free Baking Recipes
• BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Orangutans use 'charades' to talk
  "Researchers from St Andrews University have shown that the animals intentionally modify or repeat their signals to get their messages across.
  "The scientists said they believed all great apes could have this capability, suggesting that the skill may have evolved millions of years ago."
• Soft Drinks Linked To Increase In Heart Disease | Scientific Blogging
  "Drinking more than one soft drink daily — whether it's regular or diet — may be associated with an increase in the risk factors for heart disease."
• Magnetic Capsules Protect Insulin Cell Transplants in Type I Diabetes | Scientific Blogging
• Green Toys Brand Toys - Platsic Toys Made From Corn!!
• Soaker pattern - Just Jussi: New free pattern
• Scientists issue warning about chemical in plastic - Los Angeles Times
  "In an unusual effort targeting a single chemical, several dozen scientists on Thursday issued a strongly worded consensus statement warning that an estrogen-like compound in plastic is likely causing an array of serious reproductive disorders in people.
  "The compound, bisphenol A or BPA, is one of the highest-volume chemicals in the world and has found its way into the bodies of most human beings."
• CorePsychBlog: Who Cares about Estrogen Dominance?

Links for 2007-07-27 to 30 [del.icio.us]

• Corrections: The Bread Bible - Real Baking with Rose Levy BeranbaumA handy link for me. I've had this book for a year or two now (having got it out of the library and baking lots of bread during my first pregnancy). I've made some of my most succesful sliceable loaves from this book. I'm feeling like baking more bread again (perhaps because I've been eating more bread because of frequenting our local bakery) so the book is coming out again.
• BBC NEWS | Health | Sunshine 'protective' against MS
• BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | When suffering gets personal
  
  "On his return from Afghanistan, BBC world affairs editor John Simpson reveals how his attitude to covering stories about violence and suffering has changed."
• BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Veteran, 109, revisits WWI trench
  
  "The last known surviving British soldier to have fought in the trenches of World War I has revisited the site where he fought 90 years ago."
• Vinnland socks -- ¡The AntiCraft!
  
  I saw a pair of these in some striking yarn at flickr. Nice cable pattern for warm socks.
  
• David Lebovitz: Making Ice Cream Without A Machine
  
  Definitely want to have a go at doing this sometime. I think maybe we tried something similar once when I was a child. Anyway, ice cream is very popular in this house so it seems as though it would be a fin thing to try.

Links for 2007-07-24 [del.icio.us]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Nerve gas antidote made by goats

Multi Grain Rolls Recipe at Mothering.com

Wendy Cooling: I want to get every child in the country reading for pleasure - Independent

Identity theft: parents who steal from their kids - ParentDish
Well this is horrible to contemplate; sabotaging your own child's life.

The peace of paper » Little Boxes
A tutorial for making a cute little gift box.

Medical Imaging News Articles | Cholesterol-lowering diet can modify fetal Doppler velocimetry in mid-pregnancy | Radiology News

Links for 2007-07-20 & 21[del.icio.us]

joybucket: Peek-a-Boo Bunting Tutorial
found via Craftzine, a tutorial for a baby quilt that attaches to a stroller so the baby can't kick it off. Excellent idea!

Mandela turns 89 and launches 'a robust force for good' | Guardian Unlimited
Nelson Mandela marked his 89th birthday today with the launch of a group of world-renowned leaders who plan to use several Nobel peace prizes and "almost 1,000 years of collective experience" to tackle global crises that governments are unable or unwilling to confront."
Using their collective experience, their moral courage and their ability to rise above nation, race and creed, they can make our planet a more peaceful and equitable place to live," said the former South African president.

perfect pikelets ~ My Way or the Highway » Wear it. Eat it. Deny you are responsible.
Mmmm, pikelets.

By request. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
A great knitted top (cardigan/jacket) seen at flickr. I think this would make a great garment for a nursing mother -- may need to make myself one!

Your Gamete, Myself - Egg Donation - Reproduction - In Vitro Fertilization - Infertility - Women - Peggy Orenstein - New York Times
An interesting look at the implications of egg donation.

Magazine Box Tutorial - a photoset on Flickr
found via Craft

Snicket Socks - MagKnits, your friendly online knitting magazine
"These socks were inspired by the dress Violet Baudelaire (Emily Browning) wears in the movie Lemony Snicket – A Series of Unfortunate Events. I wanted to translate the net-like sleeves into knitting.

BBC NEWS | From Our Own Correspondent | Losing the taste for China's delicacies

BBC NEWS | Health | Healthy weight link to longevity
"Keeping a healthy weight may help people live longer by limiting brain exposure to insulin, say US scientists."

Celtic Braid Socks: Tuulian omia juttuja:
Another sock pattern, this one with a nice celtic looking cable pattern

Black Dog Designs
A collection of knitting patterns from the blogger of the blog Black Dog Knits
. Quite a few I would like to try sometime, probably going to stick with the socks for now (and there are several sock patterns that caught my fancy there.

Shetland Lace Rib Sock Pattern: Stitches of Violet
And, yes, another knitting pattern for socks!

Links for 2007-07-19 [del.icio.us]

• No-Knead Bread - OregonLive.com
  I made some of the no-knead bread after it was in the NYTimes a while back and the second batch came out really nicely and I've been meaning to make more. It's a great way to make bread for someone like me who doesn't have much time to bake, but plenty of time to let things hang around to mature for a day! And I'm entering a bread baking phase at the moment.
• BBC NEWS | UK | Education | The dead parrot curriculum
• Guardian Unlimited | A precious provision
  "We were unlucky in the tragic hand dealt to our son, but blessed to have had British healthcare "
  This article resonated with me. It made me remember after my first daughter died at birth (I had a 40% placental abruption at 23 weeks) getting the hospital bill for the delivery and the autopsy and everything: Obviously those people who took care of us and our baby and were doing there jobs so well deserve to be paid, but (especially as someone who grew up in the UK and still hasn't got used to the way it works in the USA) it seems unthinkable that I should have to look at a bill for that when my baby just died. And thankfully we have good health insurance, but what if we didn't? In the midst of that experience or some other unexpected turn your life upside-down event I think people should be able to focus on the very real things happening in their lives and not have to worry about what their insurance will cover, and how to afford the rest. The money wasn't really a headache for us in our situation, but it could have been, and it certainly made me think.
  
• Knitty: Spring 2007 - Clessidra Stockings
  I think my mum would love these, she likes nice long socks. The question is should I just send her the link to the pattern or should I attempt to make her some for Christmas?
• Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less - New York Times
• Warming Report Warns of Increased Flooding - New York Times
• Dewey? At This Library With a Very Different Outlook, They Don’t - New York Times
• V-Neck Hippie Dress w/ 6 Strips - theElektron
  found via :Craft
• Top 7 Tutorials for Making Your Own Shopping Tote
  found via :Craft
• Tickle Turdle Wool Wrap Pattern
  I've been knitting wool soakers for my daughter since before she was actually here to wear them but I've never tried to crochet one. I'm definitely much more of a knitter, but I do crochet sometimes and I hear the crochet soakers make up faster and may be a bit denser too. (Of course I should also work on my ripple blanket again one of these days.)

Links for 2007-07-18 [del.icio.us]

• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » Tutorial ~ Zippered and Slip Pocket Tutorial
• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » Tutorial ~ Lining Tutorials
• BBC NEWS | Health | Breech birth women 'choice call'
• BBC NEWS | Health | Right foods 'may help drugs work'
  "Combining medicines with the right food could improve the effectiveness of drugs and reduce the costs of treating patients, experts say."

Links for 2007-07-10 [del.icio.us]

• Fish oil may save preemies' vision
  After a study in mice discovered that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and other oils may protect against blindness in premature babies, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston are ready to test the results in a clinical trial.

• Do Sunscreens Have You Covered? - New York Times
  '"Most sunscreens are deceptively and misleadingly labeled, most perniciously to give consumers a false sense of security," Mr. Blumenthal said last week. "In my view, the F.D.A.'s failure to act is unconscionable and unjustifiable in any public sense.”

• Williams syndrome - Social Inhibition - Personality - Developmental Disorders - Brain Disorders - David Dobbs - New York Times
  "If a person suffers the small genetic accident that creates Williams syndrome, he'll live with not only some fairly conventional cognitive deficits, like trouble with space and numbers, but also a strange set of traits that researchers call the Williams social phenotype or, less formally, the “Williams personality”: a love of company and conversation combined, often awkwardly, with a poor understanding of social dynamics and a lack of social inhibition. The combination creates some memorable encounters."

• Crazy Kiwis « BitterSweet
  Fun blog post with a pattern for a knitted kiwi bird!

• DollQuiltFront on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  Cute little quilt with appliqué.

• Björk interview: 'I didn't like being a celebrity. It's a service job. Like washing toilets' | Woman | The Observer

• Johann Hari: Free speech must apply even to the odious - Independent

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sausage additive linked to cancer

• BBC NEWS | Europe | Vatican text angers Protestants
  "Pope Benedict has approved a new text asserting that Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism are not true Churches in the full sense of the word."

links of the day

Links for 2007-07-06 [del.icio.us]

ON THE JOB / Life at the intensive care nursery: Making a living amidst parents' worst nightmares

Two-Hour Tote Bag - BeSewStylish

This looks like a simple sewing project that results in a nice, fairly roomy bag to use to carry supplies to the beach or park.

hedgie bias tape bag on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Another cute tote bag (this one's a little smaller), there's a link to a tutorial. I love the hedgehog embroidery on this one, it's what initially caught my eye.

Instructables - Ice Cream Pint Cozy

One of those things that I could totally make myself but it's so nice to find someone else has done the thinking and written it up so I don't have to! A good gift idea for my husband too as he eats straight from the pint tubs more often than me.

Instructables - Gift Bags for Bottles

Another one of those projects I could have figured out for myself, but someone's made it that bit easier for me! So nice not to have to think more than necessary when there's a baby draining your brainpower.

What I've learned about what to do when your wallet is stolen. - not martha
A very informative blog post which I hope never to need to use. But just in case....

It's Easy Being Green: playhouses with a conscience - ParentDish

Need to come back to this link when my daughter's a bit older. Although for inside the house my brother and I used to do very nicely with the clothes horse and sheets and blankets quite often!

Links for 2007-07-05 [del.icio.us]

BBC NEWS | Health | Organic food 'better' for heart

"A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant."

Baby Food

There seems to be quite a bit of media attention (in the UK at least) being given to baby food and baby-led weaning (BLW) just now. I noticed an article at the BBCNews website yesterday - Pureed baby food is 'unnatural' - and there's a wikipedia entry on baby-led weaning too. And ParentDish has picked up on the BBC article too.

I came across Gill Rapley's Guidelines for implementing a baby-led approach to the introduction of solid food via a comment (I don't know where I saw that, but there's a post about introducing solids here)at the Ask Moxie blog when I was reading around about introducing solids. I think that a lot of what Rapley's saying has been distorted but the media unfortunately -- putting the general population on the defensive perhaps because purees and jarred baby food have been the norm for so long?

Although I haven't done things exactly according to her guidelines, so much of what Rapley says makes a lot of sense to me. I've done a mix of spoonfeeding and giving finger-foods to our daughter. Against my better judgement I did try giving her rice cereal mixed with breastmilk as one of her first foods, she was so unimpressed; she ate some but kept giving me these looks that said Really? I'll eat this, but you realise it's breastmilk that tastes nasty? Why are you making me eat this? So we didn't do that again, and if she doesn't like something I don't try to force her (not that getting her to eat something she's taken against is much of an option) -- sometimes I'll try again another day with a different prep method.

At 11 months she eats a fair variety of foods, and clearly prefers food with texture, and things she can put in her mouth herself. She'll give most anything a try, but isn't afraid to reject something that doesn't taste good to her. One aspect of BLW that I think makes a lot of sense is trusting the baby to tell you when it wants to eat food, and how much. It seems to me that it follows on naturally from breastfeeding on demand which is what we've been doing since she was born. Hopefully she's learning to eat when she's hungry/drink when she's thirsty and stop when she's had enough (she certainly seems to be maintaining a healthy weight and developing on track). I sit down with her in her chair for meals, but she also gets to snack throughout the day (as do I, not only because breastfeeding makes me hungry a lot but also because with PCOS the idea of more small and frequent meals is more valuable than ever).

Our daughter hasn't yet shown any food sensitivities (so far so good), started teething before we were introducing solids, always had good head control, was really interested in food (trying to steal it from us and mimicking our chewing motions while watching us eat) and could sit up before we got started. She's also never had much trouble swallowing so long as whatever she was eating wasn't too much at once. She figured out how to cough forward anything that she wasn't going to be able to swallow so that she could gum/chew some more and try again or spit it out. There's been very little gagging, and nothing she couldn't handle herself. Here's hoping that continues. I imagine this would be a lot harder if she had allergies, reflux or developmental difficulties that make eating a challenge. I'm sure she'll get fussier when she's asserting her independence (and really I was a terribly fussy eater so I keep thinking it can't be as easy as it's been so far).

I'm really pleased to say we haven't used any jarred babyfood so far (although right now I'm having trouble preparing for going away from tomorrow through Sunday to a place with no kitchen access and no idea what food will be on offer...). I have bought big jars of applesauce to mix with barley or oatmeal. There are some other processed foods she eats now -- teething biscuits (although sometimes I bake those myself), unsweetened breakfast cereal, pasta, bread, sheets of nori (the hands down favourite) and rice cakes for snacking. Mostly though I just cut up fruit and tofu (she'll only eat it plain in cubes), steam veggies, poach egg yolks and chicken and boil up oats, lentils and pearled barley. I do puree prunes in the food processor but mostly she doesn't like purees, prunes are the exception. She thought pureed peas were a horrible idea but whole peas are her candy. (Oh and she also nurses plentifully still -- I'm not worrying too much about which solids she eats because I'm remembering that breastmilk is still her primary source of nutrition.)

I'm definitely moving more and more in the direction of giving her what we're eating simplified. I've been more focused on introducing foods one at a time, and holding off on a lot of the common allergens (although she had wheat pretty early on) than one perhaps might be when following the BLW guidelines with not much of any food allergies on either side of the family. She's getting pretty close to a year now, her digestive system is getting stronger and able to cope with more and more new things so I'm looking forward to introducing her to lots of tasty things in the next year!

If you're interested in reading more about Rapley and baby led weaning there are links at the wikipedia entry I mentioned. I just listened to the interview on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour from 2004 with Rapley and Annabel Karmel (author of Feeding Your Baby and Toddler). Karmel voices some concerns that I think a lot of people might have about Rapley's approach, and Rapley explains her approach. I found it interesting (although I found Karmel's delivery a little off-putting but that may be just me). The segment's about 12 and a half minutes long -- check it out here.

Part of what spurred me to write a blog post about this was the coincidence of the news stories and a new Ask Moxie post that led to a mention of the baby-led weaning introduction of solids yesterday. I had another look at today and saw that someone had posted in the comments with a link to another interesting sounding site that I've taken a brief look at. It's a site started by two mums following Gill Rapley's guidelines called simply baby led weaning

I'm also planning to read through this webchat Rapley did at IWantMyMum.com the progressive parenting site. This is a new parenting site to me but it looks right up my alley -- they say:

We are strong believers in each baby being an individual and each family have unique sets of circumstances. We also think a parent’s best asset is their instinct but that instinct has to be an informed one.

I'll have to check it out more and see what else is there.

Eating our vegetables

I read at Slashfood that June is National Fruit and Vegetable Month. I think I'm more inspired to eat fresh fruit and veggies around now every year just because 'tis the season. And of course there's all kinds of inspiration on the internet. These days I'm also trying to interest our daughter in fruits and veggies. Current favourites are steamed spinach, peas and most every fruit she's offered (especially peaches, plums, kiwi fruit and mango).

As suggested I had a go at the Chocolate and Beetroot Cake seen at the Great Big Vegetable Challenge. There weren't pictures from the blog, or the site with the recipe so I thought I'd take some to share. You can get an idea of how pretty the batter is! And you can see the slivers of beetroot in the slice of cake too. The recipe says that the beetroot makes the cake moist so I was surprised at how dry it looked when I cut a slice. I wonder if I should have grated the beetroot more finely (I did it in the food processor for speed and in the interest of keeping my hands closer to their original colour!). Actually it doesn't taste dry, although mine's quite crumbly. It's very chocolaty, I don't particularly notice the beetroot but maybe it's what's enhancing the chocolate so well.

I noticed that I also have a chocolate and beetroot layer cake in my chocolate cookbook. It uses canned beets though and I'm not sure how one would substitute canned for home cooked in terms of liquid. Perhaps I'll have a go some other time. *** edited to add -- I just came across another chocolate-beetroot cake while looking for recipes for my daughter. This definitely looks like something I want to try -- Beet Chocolate Cake with Banana-Peanut Butter Sauce**

Here are my purchases from the mid-week farmers market last week.

I've bought both rosemary and mint at the farmers market recently which naturally got me to thinking about lamb. So, I went to the coop and got lamb chops, new potatoes and heirloom tomatoes (I already had the mushrooms and peas).


For dinner I made a dressing of balsamic vinegar, oil, scallions, garlic, mint and rosemary, a little of that went on the lamb and mushrooms in the frying pan, and the tomatoes in the oven. I boiled the potatoes with some mint 'til soft then added the peas (the were frozen so just needed warming through). Once the meat and mushrooms were done I served them onto the plates and put the potatoes and peas in the frying pan and tossed them in the lamb juices and the rest of the dressing. So good, the mint is so refreshing with the rich taste of the lamb and I just love the brief opportunity for boiled new potatoes (which seem much harder to come by in the US).

Some of the strawberries from the farmers market cut up went very nicely with a slice of the chocolate/beetroot cake for dessert too.

The gathering of the links and other random musings.

Public 'unaware' of food origins - "Many British people are unaware that the ingredients for produce such as bacon, porridge, bread and beer come from farms, a survey suggests." [BBC]

The diary of a 14 year old Polish girl who lived in the Jewish ghetto and died in the Holocaust has come to light after being kept safe for 60 years by a friend. [via Parentdish] I was absorbed when I first read Anne Frank's diary (still am), this sounds as though it would be similarly fascinating, if more harrowing to read.

I read that Darcey Bussell is retiring from the Royal Ballet, the BBC has an In Pictures set of photos covering her career there. When I was in high school I was lucky enough to be taken to see the Royal Ballet by the family of one of my best friends and saw her dance. It's something I never would have done with my family. We had a cultural exchange going on -- we would take my friend to folk/traditional music and dance things and her family too me to see ballet and plays in London and Stratford, and sometimes we and our mothers would go see plays and movies at our local theatre. When we got into our later teens my friend and I , sometimes with a larger group of friends would go up to London for some of the Prom concerts in the summer too.

It's something I miss about my life in England, I've barely been to the theatre at all since living in the US and not that many musical concerts, and no ballet at all. Of course we do a lot of music so it's not as though I'm completely bereft, and it's not as if we even get to watch movies these days what with having a baby. It's definitely time to be organising a babysitter and a date for me and the husband.

Late risers unite in Denmark - "If you find it hard to get up in the morning, don't despair - you're not lazy, you're just genetically programmed that way, says the B-Society in Denmark." The link is to an article at the From Our Own Correspondent site, the story's part of the most recent episode (you can listen online or download the most recent episode). I like this idea of adapting society to the way different people's body clocks work. Of course I would since all of our household tends toward late to bed and late to rise!

Cod liver oil 'treats depression' - "It may make the stomach turn, but scientists in Norway suggest that taking a spoonful of cod liver oil each day could stave off depression." [BBC]

Parenting stuff

I actually started a post on mothering stuff for mothers day that my computer ate and haven't got back to reconstructing that. Here are some other parenting related things I've come across.

Breastfeeding

I gather (from articles that have popped up in my google news alerts) that it's been breastfeeding awareness week in the UK. I came across the BreastfeedingManifesto website (the actual manifesto is a pdf) which launched its campaign for greater awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding this last week:

Guiding Principles

The Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition looks forward to a society where:

• Women feel enabled to initiate and continue breastfeeding for as long as they wish
• Parents are supported to make informed choices about feeding their babies
• Everyone is aware of the significant benefits associated with breastfeeding

Aims

The Breastfeeding Manifesto was produced in 2006 by over twenty UK organisations working to improve awareness of the health benefits of breastfeeding and its role in reducing health inequalities.
The aim of the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition is to achieve widespread cross-party support for the Breastfeeding Manifesto, and to ensure that its principles are reflected in government policy and legislation in the UK.

Specifically, the Coalition’s aim is to ensure that the Manifesto is adopted by all of the UK’s main political parties by the time of the next General Election.

That sounds pretty excellent, they seem to have a lot of current MPs signed up in support already.

I also noticed the story about the mayor who's taken her local council to court for sexual discrimination [BBC and Telegraph articles]. I'm pretty sure there's more to the story than the articles can cover fully so it's difficult to know exactly what to think. Personally I can't imagine take on being mayor knowing I'd take office with a two month old (which she presumably did), and it's not the kind of job where you'd expect a 6 month maternity leave since surely that would be a substantial portion of the term of office? However I'm not a career oriented person in that way and it sounds as though she has a lot going on in her working life besides motherhood. Still, it sounds as though she got poor support from the council ["The council leader allegedly replied: 'Get him on the bottle as soon as possible.' " - Telegraph]

The council denied her the use of a civic car for her first month and for the rest of that year allowed her access to it only when she found or paid for an adult to accompany her. - Telegraph

I can't see why the baby couldn't ride in the car. I would think it's a positive example that mothers are capable of holding office, ditto for her breastfeeding the baby being the reason for the baby to travel with her. I don't think expecting her to have someone travelling with them to care for the baby while she's attending to her duties is unreasonable. With a newborn if you have a carrier you could probably get away with doing most things being a mayor would entail without a babysitter. But you never know when a baby might have a melt down or need a diaper change at an inconvenient moment so having someone available to deal with that would seem sensible.

I've been in meetings with babies present (my baby, and other peoples) and it does make you lose focus when you have to divide your attention between the proceedings and a baby unless the baby's nursing or asleep so I'd want a babysitter. And obviously her attendants shouldn't be expected to babysit, I don't imagine that was part of their job description. (Jane Swift got fined for having aides babysit.) Still the fact remains that there's a long way to go before society is set up to support working women breastfeeding in the way that medical experts recommend (go breastfeedingmanifesto organisation).

More Attachment Parenting

In my bloglines feeds I keep track of the ParentingSolved which in turn means I see when the "Pediatric Grand Rounds" get posted. I have yet to actually make it through the most recent Grand Rounds and a lot looked interesting, and I guess the next set is due to be posted already. Still I did go to look at the post recommended at Parenting Solved and also loved it, I want to go back and check out more of that blog (Laughing Baby: Adventures in attachment parenting).

And finally, I came across a link to an interesting and informative article at Mothering.com entitled A Tale of Two Diapers with some of the recent history of diapers cloth and disposable and information about environmental impact.


Oops... One more thing I forgot when I hit publish post.
10 Steps to Letting Dad Do It, an article at 100 hats by thismom. Now my husband is pretty excellent with our daughter, but his helpfulness goes in waves. Sometimes has to get to a point where I've become totally overwhelmed and can't hold it together before he notices I need help. Some of these steps I definitely need to internalise better. I'm not good at asking for help, and I'm not good at remembering that the glaringly-obvious-to-me-things that need doing are invisible (or not important to him). We do try to get together to brainstorm about how to parent, which is good. However, my husband's memory is abysmal and he doesn't always remember. Sometimes he comes up with a strategy we agree to try (and sometimes I'm doubtful) and I diligently try it for days, then he'll have her for a little while and it'll be too difficult (or he'll have forgotten) and do things differently and wonder why I get annoyed. This whole parenting together thing is hard, but not as hard as it must be to do it all alone so I'm very thankful to be with my husband.

And while I'm adding things to this post I just saw an article at the BBC -- Pre-birth apples 'benefit babies' -- "Children of mothers who eat plenty of apples during pregnancy are less likely to develop asthma, research suggests." It also says eating fish once a week reduces the baby's risk of eczema.

Difficulty of Knowledge

I came across this article: Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus (NYTimes): With the increase in prenatal testing for it, some parents of children with Downs Syndrome are moving to educate people in general more about the condition. They're worried that with more testing there will be more terminations and fewer people with Downs and that could further disadvantage their children (oversimplification, go read the article if you can).

As I started reading the article I wondered whether these parents were being selfish in trying to pressure parents into keeping a child they didn't think they could parent so that their children would have more people with Downs around in the future. Then I was stunned to read in the article that "[a]bout 90 percent of pregnant women who are given a Down syndrome diagnosis have chosen to have an abortion." I guess people do need to hear more about Downs in that case. I'm not saying that raising a child with Downs isn't going to be a challenge, that you're not going to have more to worry about for longer as a parent, but all the people I know with Downs are such valuable people. I can't imagine choosing to end a pregnancy with that diagnosis, although I know I'd be feeling even more overwhelmed by the responsibility of parenting.

All the testing that's available now (and I'm sure that what can be tested for and how easy and "risk free" the testing is will only continue to increase), I see as a curse as much as a blessing. [add: another interesting article: Genetic Testing + Abortion = ???.] Same with fertility treatments, and testing for things like Alzheimer's, cancer, Huntington's etc. that you might develop in the future [see this interesting article: Facing Life With a Lethal Gene also in the NYTimes]. For some people it's empowering to have this kind of information available, for others it's daunting or even destructive. Even pregnancy tests you can take before your period is due can make you crazy if you're struggling with infertility, that's why after a few years of ttc I stopped taking tests until I was 18 dpo (which would usually indicate a pregnancy in and of itself).

When is it better to learn to accept what life throws at you as it comes, and when is "forewarned is forearmed" the way to go? One problem I see is that being forewarned doesn't always allow you to find a way to deal with the problem, sometimes it makes things more complicated/difficult. It can give an illusion of control where you have very little. I guess I think it's important to think about what the implications of the possession of greater knowledge are and whether we're equipped to deal with them before we move forward in some of these cases and I'm afraid that not enough people think that through.