We're on vacation!

We're leaving for México to see our family over there. It's going to be fun! During the month of July there will be very few updates to this babyblog. Of course I'll come here and write about any special happenings that have anything to do with our baby, but they'll be less frequent. We'll be back to normal at the end of July.

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Families with two children do better.
If you want children who are going to do well at school, have two of them. Those who have one younger brother or sister have better educational results than those in bigger or smaller families. Although some well known geniuses might appear to give the findings some credence, others overcome the odds (natural talent will out whatever the family position).

My wife wants two children and I've always said I wanted three, and since the next best performers were the middle of three, youngest of three and eldest of six, (the youngest of two is not mentioned) then my proposition seems to have a better end result, doesn't it? He he...

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I have to say that it's simply amazing to see my wife grow so quickly, and detect clear changes very frequently. Amazed is also our bank account when we have to -again- buy new clothes and underwear for her. Yay!

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The perils of pregnancy may be akin to those of an organ transplant.
Of the eight and a half million people with autoimmune diseases in this country, nearly 80 percent are women. During pregnancy, a mother and fetus exchange body cells that can persist in one or the other's circulation for years or even decades after birth. Now it seems that this lovely long-term bond can on rare occasions have dire consequences, producing an autoimmune reaction in either the bearer or the born.

Reading this was very difficult. It's now clear to me how I (and my brothers and sisters) may be the reason for my Mother living with one of these auto-immune diseases. Also of course, I'm struggling with the thought that my wife and/or our baby may now be running the same risk. Then again, this is how humanity has survived and reproduced forever, nothing is really different, other than now I'm aware of those risks. Better go read something else...
via Girl Hacker.

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Today we had our fourth month meeting with the doctor. We heard our baby's heart again, beating at around 140+. and like the first time, it was incredible, reassuring, refreshing, exhilarating. Other than that, we just had a few easy questions for the Doc, mostly relating to our trip to México starting next week.

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Turning off the TV cuts children's toy requests.
Reducing television viewing may be a particularly promising approach to reducing the influences of advertising on children's behavior. New research suggests that the fewer commercials children see, the less materialistic they become.

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Dad plays role in improving son's marriage.
Researchers say boys who bond with their parents--especially their fathers--are more intent as young adults on committing to married life, compared with those who do not.

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Child?s Health: A Guide To Resources.
Here is a guide to some of the best general sources available on the Web and in print on children?s health.

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Is the trend toward single moms starting to reverse?
Newsweek's cover story for May 28 announced that marriage and the nuclear family are on their deathbed. In the next week or two, there's a good chance that Time magazine will run a cover story saying almost the opposite. This process is known as journalism.

It's sad, but really, the same numbers can be presented in many different ways, leading to different (sometimes contradictory) conclusions. Like that quote some -wrongly- attribute to Twain: Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

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Happy Father's Day!
The evolution of fatherhood: Fathers, just like mothers, certainly have their work cut out for them and like any other profession, its duties should be fulfilled with great dedication, diligence and passion. The rewards that come after the work is complete, unlike other careers, are immeasurable.

This daddy shouldn't be congratulated today. I'm not a father yet. Next year I'll be more than happy to be called Father.

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GameDad.
Dedicated to telling parents the truth about the video games their kids are asking for.

He, my baby will not be playing videogames for a few more years, but I thought it was a cool site. Besides, it's a fun link after two negative ones.

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Gently does it.
Babies might be killed by even mild shaking. Such injuries couldn't happen just by bouncing a child on your knee, or in normal everyday interactions between mother and child. "They would have to involve vigorous unsupported movement of the head." Most people would realise this kind of force would be dangerous. "But you could imagine scenarios that might produce the damage without it being deliberately inflicted."

Today's news continue to be scary. I don't want to even hear this, but I've found it, and read it. I have to blog it.

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The Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling more than 770,000 children?s products, including the largest-ever recall of strollers.

Man! do they want to give me a heart attack? I wonder if today's products are really worse than the ones available when I was growing up, you know, when there were no safety standards at all.

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Amazingdad.com.
You are the most important man on the planet. You are the maker of moments... the creator of memories... the ultimate hero in the eyes of your child!

Apparently the article linked below is -at least in part- based on the book promoted in this site. I'll be exploring... Ooh the links section is juicy.

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The magic bond between fathers and their kids .
Parents are providers and teachers, but they are also entertainers, and when parents are gone, the one thing children will remember most with positive memories is how their parents played.

Wow that brings me such relief. Now I can relax and embrace my envisioned role in the family, that of ... toy.

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Play's the thing.
Play may look like a carefree and exuberant way to pass the time before the hard work of adulthood comes along, but there's much more to it than that.

Have I mentioned that Mommy is showing already?

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Ouch!
The average cost of rearing a child born last year will be about $165,630 -- or $233,530 factoring in inflation -- for food, shelter, and other necessities over the next 17 years, according to an annual report by the Agriculture Department released Monday.

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This weekend we went on a maternity shopping spree.

Of course hand-me-downs are not enough for a new mom to be. So we went to buy a few things of our own: swim suit, underwear, varied clothes, and even a bébésounds monitor (which we can't use until the fifth month).

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Newborn Clothing Tips.
Keeping in mind the delicacy of a newborn's skin, you'll want to select soft fabric with smooth seams and covered zippers. For safety, avoid clothes with loose ribbons or strings, tops with flowing sleeves, or zippers that come up tightly around the neck. more...

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Diapers, playpen, baby and mom. Building bonds in the workplace.
In 2001 more women than ever before are in the work force, including new moms. Several factors have contributed to the fact that sleep-deprived, diaper-changing moms are returning to work in record numbers, and many are going back while their babies are just a few weeks old.

Our baby is due in early December, so we have the holidays right after. Luckily, we have the flexibility of both being able to work from home, up to a point.

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Birth Order Affects Career Interests.
A child's place in the family birth order may play a role in the type of occupations that will interest him or her as an adult, new research suggests.

The examples mentioned in the article go very much against anything I've observed. The reason for this could be that I come from a very different culture. On the other hand, I've heard from different people that my own personality is very much what you would expect from a child "in the middle", with the same number of both older and younger siblings.

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NameZero and Sequoia Hospital to offer free Internet domain name and e-mail for new babies.
"Parents who give birth at Sequoia can register a free domain name for their baby, and have access to free email and URL forwarding, as well as online tips and resources for child care and parenting".

Some marketing gimmick! You may think that's easy for me to say, since we already have this Web site for our baby. See comments on Metafilter about this announcement, including some by yours truly.

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If Men raised the kids

Funny!

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During the last couple of weeks, it seemed that the nausea, tiredness and monster cravings had passed. Mommy was so much better. Today the symptoms appear to be back.

But why? Is it because we spent four hours on the beach yesterday? We got ourselves a good tan, but really enjoyed playing on the sand and being with friends. Oh, don't worry, our favorite Mom-to-be was sunscreen, hat, and umbrella protected, replenished fluids frequently and had a good calorie supply.

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Genetic Deficiency May Explain Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
A missing enzyme (mitochnodrial trifunctional protein) could be to blame for sudden infant death syndrome. It is a key step in providing the energy for skeletal muscles, the heart, and metabolism in the liver. The energy usually comes from metabolism of fatty acids.

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Babies have a different way of hearing the world.
Sometimes it's filled with a cacophony of sounds that makes it difficult for babies to distinguish a single sound from all the surrounding noise. That's because babies are generalists and hear all frequencies simultaneously.

Wow. But, does this mean that they really prefer Mozart? I know some babies that already like Britney Spears. Mommy only wants to play Salsa. Anyway, should I change the way I speak to my wife's tummy hoping the baby will learn to say "daddy" before anything else?

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An orphaned baby Australian wombat

I don't know why I'm posting animal-baby pictures today. We're on week 14 of the pregnancy so our baby should look a lot more human by now.

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Hippos have babies too. ;-)

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