Because natural isn't always possible — or easy.
Posted in Preventative medicine, Safety, toddlers on Jan 30th, 2012
I am on a hunt for a new car. If it wasn’t for my kids, I’d be fine with my current car. After all, it’s a hybrid, it runs, and it’s paid for, but unfortunately, the backseat isn’t big enough to fit more than two booster seats and that’s a problem. Right now, I’ve got [...]
Posted in Health, Illness, Preventative medicine, Things that make me go hmmm on Jan 11th, 2012
Early in December I was putting out the garbage — barefoot, of course — and the pinky toe on my right foot caught on one of the driveway cobblestones. (Another one of my crazy, wacko injuries like my self-inflicted black eye and toddler-induced cut finger.) With blood pouring out, I hobbled inside, wrapped the wound, [...]
Posted in babies, Birth, parenting, Pregnancy, Preventative medicine on Dec 20th, 2011
Hey, thanks so much for your recent letter to me. You know, the one congratulating me for being a mom-to-be and telling me how important it is to wait to deliver until 39 or 40 weeks? I really appreciate it, and I must tell you that I am completely on board with you on the [...]
Posted in babies, Health, Illness, parenting, Preventative medicine, Vaccines on Nov 28th, 2011
Today the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on a study (seventh story from the top) — Washington State Pediatricians’ Attitudes towards Alternative Childhood Immunization Schedules — which appears in the December 2011 issue of Pediatrics, the organization’s journal. The study asked 209 Washington State pediatricians about their overall willingness and “comfort” to use an alternative [...]
Posted in Eating Healthy, Food, Health, Illness, Preventative medicine on Nov 11th, 2011
Little Girl came home on Monday with her first preschool cold. No sniffles, just a cough. She’s actually really good about covering her mouth with her elbow, but she’s also only three. Sometimes she coughs on Mommy. Yesterday I started getting that tell-tale burning in my sinuses as well as a pain behind my left [...]
Posted in Health, Preventative medicine, Research on Oct 24th, 2011
Every so often — when I am not leaping up to care for children –Â I wake up, lie in bed, and wonder what kind of animal would have trampled me had I been born before the introduction of modern ophthalmology. Because someone like me with such a case of myopia (nearsightedness to me and [...]
Posted in Birth, Health, parenting, Pregnancy, Preventative medicine on May 10th, 2011
While I was pregnant with Big Girl one of the things I was most afraid of was stretch marks. I knew my skin was a candidate. When I was in my early 20s, I gained 40 pounds and soon after the insides of my thighs sported purple yet translucent marks. What would pregnancy do to [...]
Posted in Health, Illness, Preventative medicine on Feb 7th, 2011
Big Girl is sick. Yesterday she had a swim lesson, and did amazingly well. (So did Little Girl.) It was a tiring 30 minutes for everyone involved, though — including the mommy who had to shower them both at the swim school — so when we got home, Little Girl went down for a nap [...]
Posted in Environment, Health, parenting, Preventative medicine, Safety on Jun 7th, 2010
Sunday was overcast and windy. Still, we made plans to celebrate a good friend’s birthday so we were all sitting on the beach. I was covered head to toe. Spinster hat (a phrase coined by my friend because he says it makes me look like a spinster) on head. Towel over legs. Umbrella attached to [...]
Posted in Environment, Going Green, Health, Illness, Organic, Preventative medicine, Safety, Toxins on May 8th, 2010
Yesterday the President’s Cancer Panel — I can’t believe I didn’t know it existed — released its most recent annual report, Reducing Environmental Risk: What We Can Do Now. Download it. It’s worth a read. The report explains that, in 2009, more than 1.5 American men, women and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 [...]