To my dear friends,

Thanks for blogging about me on your blogs! It has made me very happy this morning despite the fact that I arose at 6:03 a.m. It topped off my really very spectacular birthday.

• Here's sarah's blog. Yes, the American Academy of Pediatrics is full of total crap, almost. They just had that new study about pacifiers/co-sleeping in all the news, but they still make good recommendations about breastfeeding. For example, they say "that exclusive breastfeeding is sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first 6 months of life." Which is true. In Jerry's case he hardly ate crap until he was well over a year old. They also say that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child." So while many new mothers may have heard about the pacifier crap on the news, their pediatricians, if they've got any brain at all, should pass along the real important info that the AAP provides. Jerry's very first pediatrician was a real dumbass and told me I should not breastfeed more than every two hours. I was a real sleep-deprived, nervous-new-mother, dumbass as well and I believed him. (He also said that Jerry's hair wasn't red...but I digress.) The AAP says that while a newborn will nurse about 8-12 times in a 24 hour period, the mother shouldoffer ^"the breast whenever the infant shows early signs of hunger such as increased alertness, physical activity, mouthing, or rooting." On demand nursing! Anyway, I got this info here (go to breastfeeding recommendations, then #10 on that list), and I'm not sure if it's the most up-to-date (Feb. 05), but they're not complete boogers at AAP, just partly boogers. All that being said, my best advice to a new mother would be read The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (titty shot), from La Leche League. And go to a La Leche League meeting. And breastfeed! And even though it's hard sometimes, keep breastfeeding!
  
• Stepping off my soapbox. Oh, and if you want more about titties (hello pervy googlers), I thought this pattern and story about knitting your own breast prostheses - tit bits! - was funny and touching. I think you will, too.
  
• Here's trach's blog. I have this trick I use because I'm totally always unsure whether I'm spelling things right or wrong, or using the right words. First I use the Mozilla Firefox browser. Then when they asked me if I wanted a google toolbar at the top of the page, I said sure. That way, instead of wasting a second going to the google homepage, I just type my search in the toolbar. For example: pheramones. See! They're so smart! They say, "Did you mean: pheromones?" And you say, "Yes! Yes I did! Thank you, google!" And then you click on it and you're so happy. And sometimes, if they don't say, "Did you meanwhatever?," then I just search "dictionary" and it's all good.

Good day. I will see you all soon in blogging universe.