I lost my superpower!

And I'm okay with that! I've been nursing an infant, toddler, or preschooler since May 29, 1999, with a 1 year hiatus during pregnancy. Ingrid is my last child and my last nursling. Now we are on to another era. My body is once again my own.

So there's some bittersweetness here. A few months ago we came to the conclusion that our family was complete with two kids. No third or fourth baby. I'm a little sad about that, but now I'm Auntie (or Tia) Julia! How cool is that? I'm an only child, so I never really thought about the prospect of being someone's aunt until my sister in law got pregnant.

I'm a bit of a breastfeeding evangelist. I'll hold back for now, except to say that I loved breastfeeding and at times I hated breastfeeding. Plugged ducts, thrush that wouldn't go away, nursing strikes, night nursing, nursing while sick, nursing a sick baby, nursing in public, nursing in front of people who made their disgust apparent, nursing while walking down the street, I've been there, done that. I have heartwarming breastfeeding stories, and stories that would make me (and you) blush. I wouldn't trade any of it. I won't judge any woman who cannot breastfeed and I am a firm believer that breast is best. Period. The more encouragement women get from their families, care-givers, and the rest of the world, the more healthy a nursing relationship she and her baby will have. (stepping off the soapbox now.)

The best thing about weaning is that now that Ingrid is older, I can see that goal of being a midwife with much more clarity.

The thing I'll miss most is that I never got a tee-shirt that said, "I make milk! What's your superpower?"

While we're on the subject...

This is a tangent from a conversation happening elsewhere online.

The African American Woman's Headwrap: Unwinding the Symbols

Terry Howcott: Ravaged Cultures Spark a Cultural Revival.

Dreamation Drama!

See this from Stone Baby Games (which is me, in case you didn't know). I mean drama in a good way!

I'm really looking forward to Dreamation this year! I'm also going to bring Werewolves of Miller's Hollow to play, inspired by the awesome story that was created in the Knife Fight Werewolf forum game. I'd like to play this bluffing and strategy game with lots of character development and story.

The picture above is of the character in Brotherhood of the Wolf who was the inspiration for my NPC Parthenia, who was the twin sister of my PC William Christian Ellsworth the Printer. Wrong time period, but I imagined her wearing red. How could an unmarried woman named "Parthenia" not wear red in a story about werewolves? Poor Will, by the way, was the next to last character to be hanged.

Parthenia's Dad

My parents visited us from December 18 to the 28th. It was a fun visit, except I spent the better part of their stay concerned about my dad's health. The last time I saw him was in March in Atlanta (see above) and he was almost 6 months post recovery from congestive heart failure. This time he did not look well. Apparently he wasn't feeling well.

Without getting into the particulars, he was admitted to the hospital on Saturday, and has been in ICU since then. He was a blockage of the large intestine. They performed a sigmoidoscopy Monday and biopsied a section. We'll know more tomorrow.

My dad will be 66 in about two weeks. I am very concerned about him.