Neal McDonough

If I watched TV I would follow this actor.

He's a family man and a Catholic, and he's always made it clear that he won't do sex scenes. ... "It has cost him jobs, but the man is sticking to his principles," a source explained to me.

Good for him!

Happy Birthday, Rooster!

Our little guy is now a toddler. Wow, the year has just screamed by - so many milestones and so much

development! To go from a tiny 7 pound baby who can't even hold his own head up to a walking, talking, exploring, excitable toddler in one year is just an amazing ride to experience.

He took his first steps last weekend, on Halloween night, and has since been able to walk about 8 steps max. Such a cute sight.

Happy Birthday - we love you, Rooster!

Breastfeeding, fathers, and the benefits to mothers

My husband follows this blog because he is a type 1 diabetic. I will write about that soon but for now I will stick with her post.

I love that there is more research being done about the benefits of breastfeeding to both mom and baby. Yes, I see it as superior to formula in every way. Yes, I know there are some reasons why a woman cannot breastfeed and formula is a miracle in these cases. That doesn't change the facts.

I do disagree with this though:

OK Gentlemen, you are excused for today. No hard feelings.

The role a husband plays in breastfeeding is crucial. The more informed men are about breastfeeding and all of it's wonderful benefits and rewards the better it will be for the mom and baby. Roscoe has been so supportive of my breastfeeding relationship with Rooster. He is quite knowledgeable of why I wanted to do it so he has always been there cheering us on. At times I did get very frustrated, and with the emotions and hormones present in my system, it was very refreshing to have his unadulterated encouragement. I'm afraid there are moms out there who do not have supportive husbands that either never try to breastfeed or cut the relationship way short (I've heard sad stories of such at LLL meetings I attend). Support comes in positive words, encouragement, offering assistance, bringing her water/food/anything she needs, etc. With Roscoe's support our breastfeeding relationship has been successful.

Update: more research

My inspiration

To preserve some level of privacy and anonymity (especially for my son) I will be using fake names for my husband and son. Plus it seems like so much fun!

My husband, Roscoe, and I met in 2004*. We married in 2006, bought a house in 2007, and had our first child in 2008. Hmmm, what will this year bring? He is an amazing man and husband who provides a wonderful home (and much more) for the three of us. We think alike so often it's sometimes scary, although very refreshing when it comes to parenting and politics.

Our only son, Rooster, is a lively little boy who brightens our day (and night for that matter). That's a strange name, you say...well when he wakes up consistently at the first sign of daylight it's very, very fitting. He turns 7 months in a couple days. What an incredibly fascinating stage of life he is in. It was just a few months ago that he could barely hold his head up and now he's sitting alone and inching toward crawling every day.

I never thought I would be blessed enough to have the above. But I am and I thank God for it every day.

*Update/Correction: Oops. Roscoe reminded me that we actually met in 2003. Sorry, dear.