Cadbury Creme Disappointments!

Yesterday, Cadbury Creme eggs hit the shelves in the bookstore. Hallelujah! For those who do not know, I LOVE me some Cadbury Creme eggs. I think I get that from my mom. Anyway. I bought one yesterday. They are a little pricier this year, almost a dollar for one. And you know what? They taste different. And they are much, much smaller than before. I think they've been getting smaller every year. Or is it just me? Looks like I'm sticking with the Cadbury mini eggs. Those are delicious and small, but you get a whole bag so you don't feel like you're getting cheated (I almost said jipped, but I learned a few days ago that jipped is a racial slur against gypsies).

Salma Hayek's wet-nursing

I think I posted about this story before, Salma Hayek telling the media that she is "addicted to breastfeeding".

Well, in the feminist blogs and natural mothering sites this week is this story:

And I'm not sure how to take this. Of course, I think she was doing a great service, taking a starving baby and feeding it. She was promoting breastfeeding, trying to make it less taboo (in African culture, sex while breastfeeding is the ultimate taboo, and as a result, some men will force their wives to stop breastfeeding or will have quite open affairs, etc.), while showing the world that mothering=sexy. But on the other hand, was it a publicity stunt for her? What really are her motives in getting ABC News to film her playing wet-nurse to an African woman's child?

More concerning even is what happens next to this poor baby? Salma Hayek obviously isn't going to stay in Sierra Leone and continue to breastfeed the child. What happened that the cameras didn't capture? And why was this mother not producing milk in the first place? What societal structures are in place that inhibit this woman from keeping her child alive? Was she given formula samples at a hospital? Did her husband heed the taboo and force her to stop? Did she have medical difficulties?

Bottom line: Nice work Salma. But we have a long way to go...

Birth stories

My lovely birth-loving friends Analiesa and Ashley Mae have started a blog collecting birth stories and connecting mothers in our little community. They are collecting birth stories right now: if you want to share yours, go to http://simplebirth.wordpress.com/ and post it!

Some photographic evidence of life

Speed scrabble with Mike and Melinda.



Evidences of offspring.


Once upon a Christmas dinner party.

Can I find old-school videos of Mr. Rogers to raise my children on? I have a newfound love for him....




And I've also adored Sesame Street.

Apostle sightings

Yesterday, I was invited to attend a fancy, shmancy dinner for all of the donors to the Marjorie Pay Hinckley Chair. Since WomanStats is funded in part by these donors, a few of the older coders went to present the research and thank the donors for their contributions. I had NO idea what a big deal this actually was. So I get there, I'm talking to the dean of our college and his wife (whom I worked with on Claralyn's campaign), and then I turn around and there's President Samuelson. I shake his hand, we make small talk, I really wanted to ask him why he's never responded to my letters... but I don't. Then another man behind him comes forward and shakes my hand and talks to me for a bit about where I'm from and what project I work with. He's the only one not wearing a name tag, and he does not really introduce himself, so I'm kind of at a loss. He walks away to talk to Dean Magleby and then it hits me after a minute-- DUH, that was Elder Scott! He doesn't need a name tag nor an introduction. Alas.

Also attending: All five of President and Sister Hinckley's children and spouses. Sister Hinckley's brother and sister. A few random general authorities. It was a pretty cool night.

I'm 10 1/2 weeks. I'm wearing maternity pants. You know what? I'm ok with this. These pants are really comfy. And they were free (thanks Lauren!)

I bought a stroller off KSL. It was only $20. I also bought a really, really cute diaper bag. I got it on sale though, a "second", for only $29. It's made out of recycled bottles. I like that in a diaper bag. Normally I don't buy things until the last minute (think: scrambling for a prom dress two hours before my friend Byrd was supposed to pick me up. I ended up in a pair of fancy black capris instead). But I'm kind of itching to already get baby-ready. Which is silly because we'll be moving twice before we actually have the baby. But baby-bargain-buying (thank you Shay for assisting me with this!) off of Craig's List and KSL is kind of therapeutic in my crazy school lifestyle. It's nice to take some time, look around, and think about what is happening in just seven short months. I'm getting more and more excited to be a mom.

Here's my initial attempt at a real research project--

Behold: The Survey!


If you are a student/former student/spouse of a student at BYU, please take my survey. If there's anything confusing or you think should be reworded, please leave it as a comment. Thanks!

The youngest divorcee

No, I'm not talking about a BYU freshman who had a quickie marriage in Vegas and is now back on the market... (but see this cover story from the Daily Universe a few days ago).

I just read an article that is a follow-up to the 8-year-old Yemeni girl who left the house of her much older husband (remember how this post got me in one of the top 10 searches for "naked yemeni girls"?), was discerning enough to go to a courthouse, and sue for divorce. She was officially the youngest divorcee, and has been hailed for her bravery. As a result of her actions, Yemen has officially raised the legal age of marriage to 18, and is pursuing further action to combat the problem of child marriage in their country. It's so neat to see one person's influence expand so quickly. I'm sure Nujood had no idea the magnitude of her decision. While there is caution to this tale, namely that in honor-shame societies young girls are killed or maimed for this kind of rebellion, I am hopeful that this one little girl's quest will help many others in the same situation.

My poppy seed is real!

I really should be writing my paper that's due in an hour, but I have to talk about my poppy seed. Because she exists for real.

I called my midwife office yesterday after a quite violent vomiting incident and said I NEEDED SOMETHING. Anything. She said they would see what they could do but it was around 4:45 and the scheduling people gone so I'd get a call back in the morning. At 9 am, the nurse called and said they could fit me in today but just to get a prescription. I drove up to Pleasant Grove and arrived about 15 minutes before my appointment to fill out paperwork--although there wasn't near as much as I thought (and the receptionist said I was the quickest she'd ever seen). I went back to see Claudia, the midwife, and she wrote me a prescription for Phenergen but said if it makes me too tired we'll try something else in a few weeks. Then, to my surprise, she offered to give up her break to go ahead and do my first prenatal appointment so I wouldn't have to drive back up next week. First sign that my midwives are awesome!

We did the requisite bloodwork/pap smear which went fine except the tech taking my blood poked around forever trying to get a vein. Annoying. I used to ask to take my own blood after I had finished my phlebotomy class freshman year and sometimes they let me. I'm a little rusty now though so I leave it to the professionals (though I could have done a better job than this one).

After all of that was done, we listened for heart tones! She said it was a little early (10 weeks) and sometimes you can't find them that early, but she was persistent and I got to hear my little poppy seed's heartbeat! So cool. And so fast. I can't believe it's real. I only wish Tim had been there--since it wasn't supposed to be my real appointment he didn't come with me... but there's always the next one in March.

Also, she said I'm measuring really big for how far along I am (though I think I'm even less far along than she calculated because of my remembering of certain activities that lead to babies happening at later dates...). It was good to hear my uterus is actually growing rapidly and this burgeoning tummy is not just my own fat.

Also, my poppy seed is more like an almond. With fully formed fingers. And sealed shut eyelids. Very cool.


After my appointment, I met up with my friend Coralie from EFY and we went to lunch with her adorable almost-2-year-old. After lunch, we went back over to her apartment for crafts. Seriously, me, crafts? I know what you're thinking. But it was fun! I made really nifty little baby barrettes. So here's hoping I have a girl...