Parenting

My Bookshelf: The Optimistic Child

~ katiebonn ~ 3 Comments

OptimisticChild

On Friday I wrote that I would post about the book Dave and I are reading that I hope will help me with my desire to raise emotionally healthy children. I started reading the Optimistic Child by Dr. Martin Seligman over a decade ago for a mentor program I participated in when I was in high school for which I studied depression independently. It has a slightly different meaning for me now and I feel as though I understand it a little better.

Seligman’s theory is that depression is caused by learned helplessness. Continue reading →

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Does Holding Your Baby Make You a Bad Person?

~ katiebonn ~ 7 Comments

I don’t usually post on Thursdays unless I’m running a little behind, but since I missed Monday of this week, I think I can swing a little bonus post.

Today someone posted on Freecycle asking for a Baby B’Air flight vest. I didn’t know what it was and since I’m more aware of baby products lately, I was curious. After a quick search on the Google I found a Youtube video.

Two questions: Continue reading →

Accepting Pain to Lessen Anxiety

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I’m feeling crappy today so this is an experiment in seeing if I can get a blog post out on a day when I am not feeling up to it, or doing anything for that matter.

I’m not sure why I’m feeling icky, sad, depressed, or whatever you call it, but I have a couple of ideas. One is that it’s so darn dreary today. It was warm and sunny the past few days so it’s surprising that one day like this can trigger such bad feelings, but it has happened before. Could just be that the crummy day is one ingredient in a cocktail of crappy mood. Continue reading →

On Women Not Wanting Babies, Part I

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It’s true. For years I did not want kids. Not all that surprising for someone in her twenties, I think. Your life on your own has just begun, you’ve moved out of your parents’ house, finished or are just finishing college, and beginning to build a career. If you are married, it has only been for a few years. You and your husband/wife are still trying to figure who should take out the garbage and how you can get to sleep at night when one of you is always in bed at ten while the other wants to read until midnight. Babies would just complicate things further.

But here’s the problem, once you’re married people ask about babies a lot. Continue reading →

It’s a Secret to Everybody

~ katiebonn ~ 2 Comments

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At twenty weeks we had another routine ultrasound. This one took about an hour, during which time the sonographer took photos of every part of the baby that a baby has. She checked the size of my uterus, size of the baby, looked at the kidneys, limbs, spine, face, and spent quite a while getting different shots of the heart. Actually, she spent an extra long time on the heart because baby wasn’t quite in the best position for viewing that particular organ. She pushed on my belly a bit to try to induce some fetal shifting, but really only got shoved back and produced some wiggles, not a half somersault that I think she was hoping for.

I’m not really sure what exactly they look for in all these pre-natal photos, but apparently we should be getting the results soon. All I knew is that we would likely discover the gender, which we did. Continue reading →

Me Want Foooood!

~ katiebonn ~ 2 Comments

Victory
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Written on November 9th:

I’m finally feeling better! Yay! It was for about a month that I was feeling sick and extremely exhausted. Even after my dr. prescribed me drugs, the nausea felt better, but I just didn’t feel as though I could do much. I think I was just feeling weak from being so exhausted and from not eating enough.

Even after the nausea mostly went away I didn’t feel as though I could eat. Everything seemed gross or at the very least not at all appetizing. It’s hard to explain how I feel better now because there isn’t much I can specifically put my finger on. I just feel better. I can eat without feeling like I have to choke food down. I guess that does make a big difference. I’m still not super gung ho about eating, but it does feel a little easier and there are more things I can imagine myself eating.

I’ve even started craving a few things, like olives, or apples and bacon. Yes, apples and bacon together. A crisp, tart Granny Smith apple topped with a crunchy salty slice of bacon. My pregnancy tongue has invented a new appetizer! Does it sound tasty?

*Photo by Alan Berman