Lazy Posting

Pesto Prep

The rain has decided to water my garden today, so it is time to take some of my fresh pesto.  I avoid using nuts in my recipe as a few friends and kids or friends have tree nut allergies.  Today it is Fresh Basil, Fresh Spinach, Goat's Milk Ricotta, and a little love going into that blender.

Beyond the kitchen, I needed to wash off all the heavy soil and other stink from the last two days of gardening, so this morning it was an ultra cleansing round of olive branch to calm down the red from the sunshine overload and clear away the remaining fertilizer from under my nails.  Laundry is going, kids are comfy int their respective seats, one napping and one with a cup of chocolate raw-milk... so I'm off to the kitchen for a bit!

• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 3 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Blend the spinach, basil, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor until nearly smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Drizzle the remaining olive oil into the mixture while processing until smooth.

Pesto Prep by messy-mommy-jeannine featuring Black & Decker

Lucky, A Birth Story in Two Parts (II)

There is this medical myth that second births are faster and easier.  In the grand scheme of things, yes, this one was "faster" but I would never call it easier.  I shared his brother's birth story earlier and now this one for comparison.

I realised as I was writing this that while I use nicknames for my boys, I had not selected one to use for my husband.  To make things simple, I'm using his STEAM handle which fans of the series "Song of Ice and Fire" (or watchers of HBO's Game of Thrones) will recognize.  Just to add to our nerd-score, my handle happens to be the reply.

Nerdy names aside, here is my second birth story:

On the Wednesday before my second little boy was born I had my regular OB visit and discussed my on-going issues with labor being unproductive and the signs of muscle damage in my hips and lower body as well as the continued stress on my kidneys making me weaker.  I was still at just under 5cm according to my OB when he checked and swept membranes again, sending me home with instructions to keep up the walking and allowing me to try anything and everything if it could help break my water or get things moving.

That night, just as we were all settling in to bed for some rest, my water decided to break.  After having to mop up the mess all over the bed and struggling into clothes without waking the sleeping nearly three-year-old it was time to go. I left Valar home with the sleeping toddler and had my mother drive me in with a plan for her to trade with him and watch the little boy once they confirmed this was the real thing.

We arrived at a little before 11:30 at the hospital, meaning I knew we would be having a baby on Beltane (Mday Day for those not familiar with year wheel celebrations). After navigating the world's worst parking garage and improper signage, we the triage department for the maternity ward as my contractions increased from an annoying cramping to drastic squeezing of my innards, making me sure that we made the right call about it.  The nurses hooked me to the monitor and we all watched my contractions at a steady 5 minutes apart and about a full minute long with a healthy dose of "Why am I doing this again!?!"  

And so it went until the attending arrived.  She nicely watched my contractions, asked what made me think my water broke, looked thoroughly squeamish when I mentioned that I was being intimate when it happened - did she not know how the baby got in there to start with - and said she wanted to do an exam.  After finding fluid she said she still doubted my membranes had ruptured because many women mistake loss of bladder control for their water breaking.  I assured her it was not my bladder, but she seemed to have a low opinion of my ability to tell the difference.

Then she went a step farther in being thoroughly inadequate in her diagnosis by saying I was just over 3cm, then seeing that their own hospital OBs had been the ones to do my last exam she said she'd leave it to what he had stated.  At that point she informed me that while they could see I was indeed having contractions and feeling something distinct, she felt I was not really in labor yet or only the very early stages if this was labor.

Curbing the urge to hop off the bed and throttle her as she told me I was not even in labor while mid-contraction... I asked her to simply humor me and she agreed to let me wait a while and see if the contractions did indeed progress things.  My desire to kill reduced greatly once she had exited the room and the nurses were again commenting that from everything they could see in my monitors, this was indeed labor.  Unfortunately, when two hours later I had only progressed a tiny amount that same attending tried to send me home because she did not feel it was safe to follow the advice of the supervising doctor from my OB's office about giving me pain medication and a sleep aid to allow my body some rest before needing to work even harder while pushing.

About the point that I was struggling to pull on my pants while trying not to scream from contractions every three minutes, my husband wisely dragged in another nurse in the midst of their shift change and explained that if they were serious about discharging me he wanted both a wheel chair to bring me to the car and the name and number of the best person to call while filing malpractice against the hospital for their behavior.  At this point the nurse, now with the fear of legal action, went back out and returned with another nurse and MY doctor as he had just come in for the day shift.  He assured me that he was not allowing them to send me home, pointing out that had the girl called him as directed he would have told her to admit me and do the transfer from the triage section into a progressed delivery room so that he could have a more experienced doctor doing the care until he arrived.

I was then moved from the initial room to a delivery room with a birthing tub, yoga ball, and far more comfortable bed to rest between what was now a routine of contractions every three minutes. My new nurse assisted us over and assigned husband to run a warm bath in the birth tub as I had expressed in my birth plan how that was the preferred location for my labor.  After another check from a doctor with more than half a brain we were vindicated with the news there was just a pin-prick hole and the baby was pressed tight against it but that they would open it a tad more once I was ready to move to the tub so things could progress.

Having had such an easy first labor, it was a shock to my system when we could hear an audible crack as the bones in my hips and spine suffered with each contraction.  After getting in the tub with my first son, there was such relief and quick progression.  It was exactly what I needed to relax, to allow the steady ebb and flow of contractions in waves, and to reduce the pressure from all the weight and muscle movement.  But unfortunately there is one saying about pregnancy and birth that IS very true… “Every birth is different.” 

Valar puts up with much of my complaining.  He's held my hand through two long pregnancies, and I adore that he has learned to read me so well over our years and can see when a migraine is coming or I need a break because the long term damage to my knees is getting to me. But when even he finally had to excuse himself to go have a cigarette and even cry a little to shake off the concern from my whimpering and howling at the pain in my spine and legs... it is fair to say that something was very wrong.

I would have stayed longer in the water if the intensity and frequency of these contractions hadn't been causing me to slip down into the tub as I started to pass out. The bed was safest this time and I'm thankful for it. Once there, it was easier to focus on breathing and using my mind to overcome the pain.

I asked for something first just to reduce the edge and make it tolerable to ride out without being so aware of how badly my bones were grinding and the least amount of interference with the baby's heart rate. That worked for perhaps ten minutes before I was back to having to bite a pillow to stop the howling and my body fought itself.

Finally it was my nurse who called in the attending and told him point blank that even she was uncomfortable with the level of pain I was putting myself through after all our other complications this pregnancy. He stayed to watch through two contractions before telling me he felt it was time to do something to both push the progression (fourteen hours of active labor at that point and only a single centimeter) and reduce my suffering. Within a few minutes the team was setting up for an epidural even knowing my scoliosis might be problematic.

I am thankful the anesthesiologist was so skilled and steady, placing her line even as my body decided to challenge her with only a two minute window between contractions that lasted nearly as long. After that it was so much calmer. I was quiet and mentally unclouded enough for us to sit and discuss with the doctor about all our options which lead to a safe, healthy birth for our little hobbit baby.  By sixteen hours of labor, I was exhausted mentally and physically.  I wanted it to all just be over. Valar wanted it to be over. Even the doctors must have wanted it to be over as they willingly listened to my concerns and questions if a c-section would be needed based on heart rate for myself and the baby.

My doctors listened kindly, agreed to see how soon there would be a surgical room open as we all felt the baby had been stressed enough and my body was beginning to suffer too.  As they left the nurse reminded us to call for her right away if I felt any change as I had just reached 7cm and with my eldest, all that was required for me to move from there through transition and into birth was the "effort" of standing up after a trip to the toilet.  It took perhaps ten minutes for me to ask Valar to call the nurse back in as I felt a touch of pressure.

I wish I'd been holding my camera at the moment she lifted the blanket to look.  The jaw drop and look of shock told me more than her rush to the room phone to call in my attending.  It was time and Valar just smiled and took his place next to me, holding my hand and grinning.  Since the epidural was doing a good job of dulling the contractions, I was able to resist the urge to push until the were all prepared.  This time took far more pushing as he was much larger, but as they lifted our little boy onto my chest and he opened his big blue eyes for the first time, I was so happy just to make it through all the challenges of this pregnancy and birth.

Epidural is not a dirty word.  Pitocin, though I feel it is used too frequently, is not a dangerous chemical.  In my case, these were the tools that lead us to another calm birth rather than a dash to the operating room or another baby born on a bathroom floor. I may have had to request pain medication and required the use of Pitocin to alter the progress this time around, but I am very happy to know it was possible at all.

Our mutual recovery from this experience has been much slower physically.  I required stitches which I promptly managed to rip open upon getting home and returning to being Mommy to a toddler and never stopping for long.  I had bruising at the spot where my epidural was placed and where one of my IV lines had blown during the first attempt at pain management with Nubain while in labor.  Over all, things have been slow but no more problematic than any fatigued life with a new baby.

The little Hobbit Baby did require a short trip to the hospital's NICU on his second night as he had tried to inhale while still in the birth canal and swallowed fluid and blood.  His lungs required a round of oxygen therapy and antibiotics to fend off infection.  He is on a vitamin D supplement to combat jaundice and steadily gaining weight perfectly.

Thursday Interview Outfit

Interview number two is this afternoon and I'm about to hop in the shower while the baby and toddler are napping now that I nailed down my outfit.  Going slightly less formal today and drawing my color choice from my wedding ring to draw a little encouragement from my family and husband.  I do have to say, thank the powers that be for SPANX.  I still have some swelling in my abdominal area and feet, so compression waist slips and compression socks to help with the water retention thanks to my kidneys.  Anyway, now that Pinterest and Polyvore have eaten my soul, I am sure this blog will be more interesting in terms of fashion, though it can all be taken with a grain of salt since half the time I buy the lower price knock-off at Target or Macy's rather than the high price ones that take my entire food budget for the month in one pair of pants.

Thursday Interview Outfit by messy-mommy-jeannine featuring diamond accent rings

Working Mommy Thoughts

So, the tiny little hobbit will be two weeks old tomorrow, and I've already begun interviewing again to get back to work full time.  I love my kids, both of them, and I wish I could stay home and be the full time mommy for our littlest one that I have been for his older brother.  Unfortunately, the reality is that a family cannot live on just one income unless it is already six figures and while my husband works very hard, few dairy workers make that much.

My interview tomorrow felt a little less than stellar; I had the feeling she had already selected a person from the applicants that would be hired.  It did help to get me comfortable with needing to focus on something other than being a full time mommy, and I have had to think hard about how to change my wardrobe to cope with the remaining weight postpartum.  We had some complications at birth so I have to cope with damaged muscles that are preventing me from jumping into exercise again (this will be explained in his birth story to be posted soon).

Tuesday's Interview Outfit as worn by me!

What I do feel good about is that I have had a chance to use Pinterest to build ideas on what to wear for an interview or work.  I'm thinking perhaps if I keep this up and can get some followers I'll have a chance at making a steady blog update about fashion for moms.  My style is somewhat casual equestrian mostly because we live out in the country and I rode for so many years (up until pregnancy made it unwise to do so the first time).

Instant mommy wear... just add burp cloth and mystery toddler hand-print stains.

I've been up to starting a casual and a business outline and trying to pick things I can wear for both... but oh how hard that can be with a tiny one.  I need to go through my closet and dressers, take out everything and donate so much of what I still have in there.  Most of those things will not fit again any time very soon and since the plan is still to get a new place for our family, I'd like a reduced amount of clothing to haul.

Follow Jeannine's board Fashion Ideas Post Baby on Pinterest.

Follow Jeannine's board Work Wear Post-Baby on Pinterest.

Why I Immunize: Part III

This is the third of a series of entries about disease prevention and medical treatments.  To understand what has been covered and why some topics are mentioned or not, please be sure to read the previous entries about hygiene practice and healthy diet choices for disease prevention. 

While no one method is perfect for all people, the next logical step for most parents in prevention of illness is choosing to provide immunity through vaccination.  Not all people will choose to participate in vaccination due to a number of concerns, but it is impossible to make a reasonable decision if valid information is not available.  I am picky about my citations here and want to avoid false information and shoddy sources; this means while I acknowledge that she is considered an authority in the anti-vaccine movement, I will not be quoting material from Jenny McCarthy

In an attempt to understand the benefits of vaccines and why a parent would take the risk of exposure or reaction, we will explore a vaccine recently in the news for achievements in the eradication of a serious problem as well as known and assumed dangers related to it; I am speaking here about Poliomyelitis, often called "Polio".

Why I Immunize: Part III - Polio and Vaccine History

On January 13th of 2014 the announcement came that India, a country known for massive outbreaks of otherwise preventable diseases because of widespread sanitation problems, was declared "Polio Free" for a full three years.  This is still being verified by the World Health Organization and other sources, but marks a huge step along the path of eliminating a disease lethal to children and adults because of the regular practice of vaccination.  Two years free of disease is often the time at which efforts to continue vaccination begin to fail in public view that the risk is already gone.

The CDC defines Polio as "a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis.  Because polio has no cure, vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and the only way to stop the disease from spreading. The spread of polio has never stopped in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. Poliovirus has been reintroduced and continues to spread in Chad and Horn of Africa after the spread of the virus was previously stopped.".

The virus is spread by fecal-to-oral contamination, meaning poor hygiene is once again a factor in transmission.  While this means that proper washing of hands and other sanitary practices should be instituted to lower risks, the lack of clean running water can prove problematic.  Fecal contamination in the water supply has already shown in widespread Cholera outbreaks in even the most modernized areas, making sanitation a problem at all levels and thus an ineffective method of prevention in this situation.

The vaccine for Polio was created by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1952 and released for public use in 1955.  By 1957 the American government made their first push into inoculation by starting a well funded campaign to provide vaccines for families with young children.  At the time Polio was such a disturbing epidemic that many medical professionals flatly refused to see patients in those wards or with a suspected case.  According to numbers from the Smithsonian Institute as many as 11%  of nurses and doctors working in Polio wards in Los Angeles would contract the condition while treating those with an outbreak.  The push to use the only viable prevention was so huge that one New York City doctor reported giving an estimated 700 vaccines to children in the course of one week.

Polio Vaccine promotional poster from the Smithsonian Institute.

Unfortunately, no vaccine is without risk and the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) had some of the worst.  Children with highly compromised immune systems resulted in cases of Paralytic Polio. This is caused by the type of exposure and the use of an attenuated virus* (sometimes called a Live Virus).  Though the virus is intentionally made weaker through a preparation process it will reproduce and begin the pattern of infection to trigger the body's immune system to respond properly and build an effective protection.  As one might guess the risk lies in how some bodies may not provide timely reaction for any number of reasons and will allow the weak but present virus to spread too quickly, thus leaving an infection too large for natural solution and just as risky.

In more than 95% of the population there is no infection and the body develops the immunity as expected.  4 - 4.5% react with a-symptomatic polio which causes no complication and will be fended off in a slower building of immunities.  In the remaining 0.5 - 1% the outcome is no antigen reaction resulting in paralytic polio which may become permanent.

Much of this risk was removed when the second form of vaccine was released a few years later.  The Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) became the standard form of treatment by 1963 and was credited with the eventual removal of the disease from regular outbreaks in the population.  These vaccines use an "inactivated" strain of the virus which has been treated to prevent infection but can result in allergic reaction to the other components (neomycin, streptomycin, and polymyxin B) which are used to keep the virus in stasis while allowing the body to form antigens. 

By 1979 the widely promoted use of vaccines meant that the number of reported cases was small and reduced mainly to those areas where religious law did not allow for the use of vaccinations.  An estimation of ten confirmed cases of Polio through exposure to the wild form of the virus was given as proof of eradication due to the general population's immunity and began the theory and study of herd immunity as a viable method to control disease spread.  

Antibody: A protein found in the blood that is produced in response to foreign substances (e.g. bacteria or viruses) invading the body. Antibodies protect the body from disease by binding to these organisms and destroying them.  

Antigen: Foreign substances (e.g. bacteria or viruses) in the body that are capable of causing disease. The presence of antigens in the body triggers an immune response, usually the production of antibodies.

Attenuated Vaccine: A vaccine in which live virus is weakened through chemical or physical processes in order to produce an immune response without causing the severe effects of the disease.  Attenuated vaccines currently licensed in the United States include measles, mumps, rubella, shingles (herpes zoster), varicella (chicken pox), and yellow fever. Also known as a live vaccine.

Booster shots: Additional doses of a vaccine needed periodically to "boost" the immune system. For example, the tetanus and diphtheria (Td) vaccine which is recommended for adults every ten years.

Community immunity: A situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Even individuals not vaccinated (such as newborns and those with chronic illnesses) are offered some protection because the disease has little opportunity to spread within the community. Also known as herd immunity.

Sleep Like A Baby

The next person who uses this phrase is going to have the joy of experiencing my semi-psychotic cackling first hand.  Honestly, anyone using that phrase has NEVER had the joy of having a baby.  

Newborns need to feed from either breast or bottle about every three hours, this does not change no matter the time of day for adults.  For this reason, and many others, you will notice sleep deprivation being a common link between all parents of very young children.  Let me explain is easier terms here...

Thanks to random images on Facebook for this one.

Babies know when you are attempting to sleep.  Young children wait until the exact moment when you have completely relaxed and faded into that first level of dreaming where you are caught between conscious and blissful nothing.  As your breathing slows, your muscles finally drop tension, and you stop processing thoughts clearly, that is when they strike... screaming like their hair is on fire and the world is ending.

It seems that post birth, the saying should be "sleep like a husband".  So many of my friends have said it seems like their men can sleep through anything, and now that our boy is older I agree.

I actually got very lucky.  On those early nights with our newborn it was hubby who gave him the night-time feeding while I sat hooked to the machine in the next room because even with the battery our pump model was so loud it could wake the dead.  It was only after our boy was in his own room all night and only waking once that he suddenly gained the ability to sleep through anything.

Sleeping like a baby seems to only happen in fairytales and movies.  I'm convinced that "sleeping through the night" is a myth too, but we all have our quirks.  The one with my boys (the tiny and adult sized one) seems to be only sleeping when I am awake.  Cool trick, really.

Pregnant Pants: Why I Hate Clothes While Expecting

I loath maternity clothes.

I'm one of those women who always has trouble bending over due to a top-heavy figure, so the idea of slowly inflating a balloon in my belly is torture.  Add to it that this pregnancy has sparked some big complications with my health and it becomes torture to find clothing I know will look flattering.  I'm round in all the womanly places and the stick figure that swallowed a basketball that most designers go with to model the rare designs deemed maternity just make it a joke when trying to get an idea if something will give me a positive outcome.

A few nights ago I was perusing the web for something to cover the fact that I have gone from looking like a "well rounded woman" to a "small beached whale" and stumbled across a horrifying new trend in maternity fashion, something I can only describe as Lolita pregnancy gowns.  Not only am I fairly sure the models are all underage (this worries me on a personal level) but the dresses are seriously fashioned after what I believe are anime school girl uniforms. 

Now I'm a big fan of anime.  I will even admit to having watched some films that could be called hentai back in the days when hubby and I did not have to worry about anything animated being mistaken as "kid friendly".  What I am not a fan of... creepy stories that run right up to the line of things I think are or should be illegal and then use that to attract viewers because there are those online predators who will pay to watch that kind of smut.

Found via George Takei on Facebook.

I'm not saying all anime is evil, I am still a fan of many anime and manga series like I said before, but it should not be used as the basis for maternity fashion.

Well then what am I saying? I am saying the basis for fashion for a round bellied woman should be something comfortable and round bellied!  We're growing an entire person inside our body, that is more than difficult enough when it goes smoothly.  Add in more of those psychological pressures to be frighteningly slender and you are aiming for a new level of health risk via mental disorder.  My exact phrasing was something less direct when I posted for input from friends, but I will share it unedited.

"Fashion companies should ban the idea of a "size zero maternity model". All women feel huge and uncomfortable at some point when they are pregnant. The idea that you still have to manage to be skinny and perfect while growing an entire living person inside your body is part of the screwed up body image issues already rampant in the female psyche!"

 So this is my question to the world of women who have carried a child, do you feel like your body is being fairly represented by the models showing off the clothing you are being sold?  What would you like to see if you are not happy?  What do you think designers should know about your body while pregnant so they can offer something better for clothing and for modeling?

Tiny Monster: Picking an Online Identity for Kids

My son's birth announcement photo.  Perhaps the one and only time he
posed and stayed exactly as I wanted while taking the picture.

We all do it.  In this digital age there is hardly a day that goes by when we parents are not checking our facebook or sharing those cute snapshots of the kid doing something.  I'm guilty of being *That Mom *.  You know what I mean, the one that has an obsessive number of albums documenting everything from the first ultrasounds to his most recent slapping of some crayons on paper that prove his the next Picasso.  I make sure to balance the "perfectly posed cute" with "look at this giant wad of gum he tied into his hair while I was trying to pee with the door closed".

This morning a friend and fellow mom shared an absolutely brilliant piece that appeared last February on another great parenting blog.  This article covered something many parents in the technical age are guilty of, depicting their parenting life as *so perfect*.  The writer described it as lies by omission... we use cool filters to make it look like everything is awesome and hide the spots where the newborn just vomited an entire feeding full all over that new onesie. 

I do it too as a portrait photographer working with kids and brides to make everything picture perfect!  That photo of my son up there, that hat is covering the fact that his cute little baby butt had constant diaper rash until we figured out the right combination of cream, diaper type, and detergent for his delicate little infant skin.  Years later, I am still posting him all over the interwebz like a cool kid but with one big detail still in omission... Unless you spend time around us in person, chances are good you'll never know his name. 

A baby monster.

I posted the first camera phone images to facebook from the less than relaxing new location on the maternity floor.  Those cute, wrinkly faced images came along with the one and only time I ever shared his birth name and have long since been changed to reflect the nick name we keep for him. I have friends, co-workers, even family we are not exceptionally close to and only rarely see that know him only as "The Tiny Monster".  The name came about while I was pregnant and not yet aware of the gender of the tiny person attempting to kick an opening through my belly button like one of those creatures that haunted my nightmares for months after watching a certain scifi film.  

It is cool over time his name has proven to stick even off the digital realms because, well, it fits him so well as a toddler.  His babysitter, our friends that spend any time around him, even my parents who have seen the true evil look in his eyes that comes out when he is plotting to draw on the walls with my expensive artist's pigment pens.  

But it helps in another way too.  

You see, we are all guilty of over sharing as parents in the digital age.  From the moment we have counted those ten little fingers and toes the proof of their existence pops up on the live feeds of our entire social circle.   This means that any random bloke on Twitter, Facebook, Google, Vine, YouTube, (and whatever else I missed listing but is part of the social media insanity) is going to know all about them.  I'm not saying your child will be facing the public awareness craze of pop-culture personalities who feel the need to post selfies or even allows documenting for a TV series(I'm looking at you Snooki and Kim Kardashian), but any child who's mother is tweeting from Labor&Delivery is going to face the reality that their whole life is out there for the world to see.

Don't want to believe me, here's everything you could learn quick glance at your previous posts:

1. Birth Date: This one is seriously easy, when did you post that first picture with the "He's finally here" tag?

2. Gender: This is normally obvious well before birthdate because unless you fall into the slowly dieing group of parents not finding this out with "the big ultrasound".  If you do decide to wait, that first picture and post of the new family member is a pretty safe bet for figuring it out.

3. Name: Unless you choose to do what we have and use only a nickname, this is also often found right on that first little birth announcement post.

4. Hospital/Location: Not a big deal until you start to consider what I am listing now is not only obvious from just that first week is all you will need to apply for a copy of the baby's birth certificate... the first step to identity theft.

5. Parents Name(s): I'm sure you can guess this is one of the most obvious details for that identity theft thing I mentioned above.  It is also a good detail if you are just going for the creepy stalker factor that comes in with recent problems of child abduction. 

6. Home Location/Address: You know that little "Hometown" tag you get from profiles, yeah, consider that when you tag the location where you live and make it obvious that you are the primary parent.  This info is now out in the world and means that a dishonest person has an easy in for finding any of the many expensive items in your home left unattended while you are in the hospital with a newborn, or getting a track on that cute little bundle of joy.

I could keep going, but honestly now I want to run back and check that my profiles are all safely set to not sharing anything with anybody because I know how dangerous it is to have that out on the web.  What should we adults really be doing?  

Well, following the guidelines listed here are a good way to keep things smart and safe.  Limiting the insane sharing of details online is a great starting point for everybody, your own safety is included in that part too.  Using a nickname for kids and never listing the name of schools, day cares, or other daily activities where people can find a way to contact your child is another great idea.

So there it is... I call my son "The Tiny Monster", I don't share the name of our home town, and I over share about his self feeding habits because if you can't humiliate your kids with those cute spaghetti-in-hair photos as a toddler, their teen years will be devoid of good reasons to complain about you talking to their first girlfriend/boyfriend.

I'm fairly sure he was supposed to be eating mashed potatoes and meatballs with peas.  Yes, I feed
him in the nude after he learned to lift and "paint" under the bib with his food... I'm not a fan of
laundry even on a good day, so this lowers the rate of complete mess clothing to wade through.