We visited the pediatrician, just to meet him. We figure it was a good time to get to know him since we'll be seeing each other quite often in the not too distant future. Dr. K. welcomed us and we chatted for a little while. Both Mommy and I gave him our golden seal of approval. Dr. Lowry wasn't there so we'll have to meet her on another occassion.

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Doctor visit today.
This time to test for possible diabetes complications.

Everything was Ok, we just had to wait for about an hour after mommy drank a solution before the actual blood test could be performed. Also she had a routine check monitoring our baby's growth, mommy's weigth gain and cardiac rate/pressure. Things will move faster from now on: We start next week with Lamaze classes and our doctor visits will be more frequent from now on.

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Breastfeeding for Longer May Boost IQ.
Scientist were unable to find a correlation between breastfeeding and motor skills, but found a positive association between duration of breast feeding and mental development even after adjusting for maternal age, maternal education, maternal intelligence and smoking at the time of conception. A longer duration of breastfeeding benefits cognitive development.

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Finally it worked!
Back in June 11 I mentioned we had bought a Bébésounds monitor, or "prenatal heart listener" as they call it.

After 25 full weeks of pregnancy and several previous failed attempts, we were finally successful at hearing our baby's heartbeat through this device. Of course we heard it before with the doctor's doppler machine, but this is different. We'll be spying on baby more frequently now...

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Our favorite Mom-to-be had the most beautiful bellybutton in the world. Not too long ago she made the decision to pierce it, and I thought it was a tragic decision, but it was still beautiful.

After nearly six months of pregnancy, the former innie is just about ready to turn into an outie. Right now it's simply flat and we're waiting for it to "pop". I hope that the post-partum recovery includes a return of the loveliest innie I ever saw.

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Men, Women, Babies, Business.
"When you're a guy at home, to other guys you are guilty until proven innocent. And it's difficult to prove your innocence... Women almost never seem to think I'm a bum. I get credit for being a man comfortable with his wife's working success (which I am), and additionally, unlike men, women understand that staying home with a kid actually constitutes work."

Wow, he he, I can relate, and see that in a few months it'll be me in that picture since I work from home too (Web development), and I like it.

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I want to open it!

A few days ago we bought a mattress and then the crib online for our baby. The crib finally arrived and now it's sitting here inside this big flat box that I am so ready to rip open and start putting it together.

The problem is, of course, that our baby is not due in another 3+ months, until early December. And we'll be moving in a few weeks. So it wouldn't be too smart to do that now.

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Thirteen myths of your child?s health.
Clarifying common misconceptions that have grown over time.

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Photo quiz.
You've probably seen these everyday items before - but never like this.

Entertainment for youngsters, only not too young. Even I (an adult) found myself taking the quiz.

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How to raise a hero.
Empathy, altruism, and caring, some of the basic building blocks of heroism, naturally develop in most children. But then society and parents often quash it by enforcing simplistic rules about obedience and failing to encourage kids to keep helping. Here are seven techniques to strengthen the inner hero in just about any youngster.

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Cheap CDs.
This is a great e-commerce website. They threw all bells and whistles out the window, and focused on making a very fast site, with low prices, and they do have the music available (even in Spanish music from my own childhood).

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Womb Music.
Babies remember tunes they were played in the womb for as much as a year after birth.

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Kick Out The Jammies.
[Flash] KOTJ is an Internet radio station for toddlers from David Bowie.

The idea seemed great to me. However, I haven't been able to listen yet. It must be some network traffic bottleneck.
via the babyblog at babynames.com

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Ultrasound Pictures.
As promised last week, here are nine images of our baby at 22 weeks.

In many cases we had to wait for the doctor to explain what we were supposed to be seeing. It's hard (for the untrained eye) to make out body parts, so the pictures are labeled. Enjoy.

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Why children must forage.
When a child loses the ability to roam free, much is lost indeed. Recreational foraging may impart a sense of ownership in local natural environments. On the other hand, denial of access to forests may result in political indifference to their fate and damage by persons who use them but do not care about them. The only way we can recognize what is being lost is by first discovering what we have around us. The importance of foraging goes beyond conservation - it helps produce a sense of shared cultural identity.

Yes. My wife is a biologist, and I too love to be out (except that I also love to work at the computer). We've talked many times about frequently taking our kid(s) to explore our surroundings. We were fortunate that our parents did the same for us with hiking tours, kayaking, visiting the tide pools, etc. Letting us acquire what Rachel Carson called The Sense of Wonder.

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So we just went to the doctor for our 5 month checkup, "the ultrasound visit".

We have several pictures that I will be posting here soon. We told the doctor that finding out the sex was not a priority, or even important. Our baby decided to show off. It's a boy.

Knowing that, we've been thinking more of the name we'll be giving him, but there aren't many options for boys that we both like. For some reason Mommy doesn't feel the name "dot-com" is good. Mh.

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Newton In a Bottle.
An early learning video. Using 3-D animation it demonstrates fundamental principles of physics to the youngest viewers. This video is appropriate for children age 3 months and up.

Ha! you would also think this has to be a joke, but at least there's one convinced reviewer who swears the video works and it is appealing to babies.

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