I Breastfeed Because…

We haven’t written about it in a long while, because it’s been a long while since Emily and I have had nursing babies, but we are big fans of breastfeeding around here.  I loved nursing my babies, even though Sophie wanted to hang on a lot longer than I did (guess who won? She did!  Because really, it’s all about what baby needs, even if baby is 23 months old!)

So that’s why we are posting today, during World Breastfeeding Week, about the “I Breastfeed Because” campaign from Ameda, a company that makes great breast pumps and provides allll kinds of support for nursing moms.  To spread the word about  how important and wonderful breastfeeding is, Ameda has launched a new website at I Breastfeed Because and is encouraging all moms who did or do breastfeed upload a short, 20-second video about why you breastfeed. Here’s mine:

For every video, comment or tweet shared, Ameda will make a donation to the Human Milk Bank Association of North America (HMBANA), a non-profit association of donor human milk banks established in 1985 to set standards for and to facilitate establishment and operation of milk banks in North America.

And, every mom who uploads a video will be entered to win the grand prize of a $2,500 nursery makeover or one of 25 secondary prizes — $50 American Express gift cards. Woohoo!  So go check out the site, share your story, and enter!

And tell us, if you breastfed – why did you breastfeed?  We’d love to know, too!

And in the interest of FULL disclosure, we are posting about this fully for the love of breastfeeding, and because the campaign was brought to our attention by one of our loyal readers, Cara, who works for Evenflo headquartered here in our area, the parent company of Ameda.  A cause we love & support + a reader we can support, + a local business we can support = perfection!

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What can I say? We are good at partying!

The Ultimate Mom’s Night Out party was last Thursday and it was AMAZING!  My fellow hostesses and I were shocked when we opened registration a couple of weeks ago and the party sold out in an HOUR!!  We ended up with a wait list of over 30 people!  So we will have to find a bigger venue for the next big event!  I want to say a very special thank-you to our Primary sponsors One2One Network, Old Navy, Lifestages Centers for Women, A Modern Eden, Chick-fil-A, Oakwood Massage, and At Peace Wellness for showing our attendees an AWESOME time!  Here are some photos of the fun!

Chick-Fil-A!!!
Hello! Yummiest party food EVER! I *love* Chick-Fil-A!

Amaaaazing pastries from Rinaldo’s Bakery. (Thanks Amanda of My Everyday Blog for the pic!)  And there was even MORE sugar in store…

amazing cupcakes
These cupcakes made by Kristi Demeter were to die for!

Lollies Lollies Lollies!
My BFF Luanne made these amazing cake lollipos – she calls them Lulee’s Lollies. It’s CAKE ON A STICK, people!  Go order some!!

So as you can see, we were on *quite* a sugar high!

Which is, I’m sure what led to whatever is going on between Katie and Becky in this photo:

*Ahem* (thanks again Amanda for this shot!)

But mostly, the night was of eating, drinking, mingling, meeting new people, winning awesome prizes, relaxing (MASSAGES, hello!!) and just having FUN together:

moms partyin'

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(I love this nerd girl!)

Thanks again to our sponsors for a wonderful, wonderful much-needed night!  You can see more photos of the fun at our Flickr stream here.

Secondary Sponsors

Product Sponsors

Were you lucky enough to attend the Ultimate Mom’s Night Out?  If so, what was your favorite part?

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Gender Watch 2010: Is it a Boy or a Girl?

Photo by Davezilla on Flickr

In fifteen days I get to find out this baby’s gender.  It’s a good thing I have some distractions between now and then (party! vacation!) because the suspense is about to keeeeeel me.  For seriouslies. I know some people don’t think it’s important to know the baby’s gender before he or she is born, but as previously discussed, those people are sadistic nutjobs, ranking only *slightly* above those who do not choose a name until the child is born.  (Hmm, and I know someone who is BOTH kinds of CRAZY!  Can you guess who??)

Here’s what “evidence” I have to go on for my gender guesses:

Girl – because I was sick for a long time like I was with Sophie (I am 18 weeks, and this is the first week I have not had to take the Zofran every day!)

Boy – because I am craving cola, which I did with Joshua.  Bye Bye, Mountain Dew, hello Pepsi, Coke, and Dr. Pepper.  Yellow is out, brown is in. Um, wait, did I totally revert to a potty training post there?

*Ahem*

Fifteen days.  Fifteen days.  In fifteen days I will know what kind of  baby clothes I need to buy (gave both sets of 0-6 away loooong ago!), whether I’m in for more draaa-maa or more train track (ok, that’s not fair, Sophie loved trains.  But dangit we gave all those away TOO!!), whether as I so delicately put on my facebook status a few days ago, this baby has a “pee-pee” or a “hoo-hoo” ( I know, I ooooze class!)

And I. CAN’T. WAIT!

So here’s the belly in question – what do YOU think?

18 weeks belly

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