Goody Bag Winners

The winning numbers were 1 and 4, both of whom are pregnant :-) Congratulations Tara and Kim. Email me your addresses and I will send out your packages right away. I’ll split the prenatal DHA between you.

Thanks to everybody who entered and enjoy the rest of summer. I will see you in the Fall.

One Last Thing

Ok, so I know I said I was taking a break from this blog and I swear I am. But, as I was getting things ready around here... figuring out what to pack and whatnot... I came across a bunch of little goodies I had been meaning to give away.

And then last week, Jasmine over at Windmills and Tulips kindly gave me some MSB Plus V7 samples to give away. MSB Plus V7 is the NuTriVene-D competition.

I have two grab bags of odds and ends, and some Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA samples to give away.







To enter just leave a comment. Please let me know if you are pregnant and I’ll add your name to that drawing as well.

Entry deadline is Sunday July 18th. Good luck.

A Pregnant Pause

I have to tell you that I love this blog but for now I cannot give it the attention it deserves. I have several posts in the hopper, and many many more swirling around my brain. But these days I am suffering from feeling like I am nine months pregnant with a million things to do before my “twins” get here. And so I must take a rest until I go out on maternity leave.

What’s coming up? Lots of birth announcements, a couple financial planning posts, stage three toys, another trip to the library, and an in-depth look at several alternative therapies. There will be more polls, more giveaways, and more gorgeous babies to see.

I thank you all for your support, and your comments which make this blog useful to so many other parents, and I look forward to getting back here at the end of summer with another baby to try things out on ;-)

In the meantime you can always email me if you have a question, birth announcement, or want to get your blog added to the rolls.

And the Winner Is...

Has anybody noticed what a slacker I am? This adoption paperwork is overwhelming me. I nearly forgot that Spring is over which means it is time to draw the winner of the goop giveaway.



Tina in TX. Must be beginners luck, :-) Tina, email me and I will get your gift out to you.

Eat Your Choline

Are your pregnant with a baby who has Down syndrome, or nursing a newborn? A recent study performed by Cornell University has shown that more choline given to developing babies with Down syndrome has lasting cognitive and emotional benefits.

Where can you get choline? There is a lot of it in eggs, beef, cauliflower, navy beans, tofu, almonds, peanut butter, and in Nutrivene-D. The recommended daily dose of choline for infants is about 150 mg a day. For pregnant moms it is 450 mg and for lactating moms it is 550 mg.

I am not sure how many eggs or how much beef liver you would have to eat to pass that much choline to your baby through breast milk, so you may want to ask your pediatrician if Nurtivene-D is right for your child.

To get you started eating your choline, here are two recipes:
For baby...
Vegi Puree (32.3 mg total choline)
1 oz. breast milk (4.5 mg choline) or milk (4.0 mg choline)
1oz cooked navy beans, mashed (8.6 mg choline)
1oz cooked cauliflower, mashed (10.9 mg choline)
1oz cooked carrots, mashed (2.5 mg choline)
1oz cooked sweet potato, mashed (3.7 mg choline)
1tbsp melted butter (2.6 mg choline)
Put in all in the food processor or blender and puree it until you reach the consistency your baby likes.

For you... (and baby, lol)
Nigerian Baked Beans whose leftovers become Summer Stew (284 mg total choline)
(from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian (modified by L.L.Barkat)


(ds.mama substituted navy beans for Great Northern beans and shortened the cooking time.)
Stir briefly over low heat..
1 onion, chopped and already sauteed until light brown (5.7 mg choline)
4 cloves garlic, minced (2.8 mg choline)
1 TB curry powder
Add onion and garlic mixture to...
1 1/2 cups dried Navy Beans, already soaked and cooked until tender (retain cooking water) (144 mg choline)
2 tomatoes, chopped (16.4 mg choline)
1 1/2 TB peanut butter (15 mg choline)
salt and pepper to taste
Bake all together about 45 minutes or until tender and sauce is thickened.

For Stew the Following Evening... ( adds about 100 mg choline)
• cut 4-5 potatoes (22 mg choline per potato) into 1/2 to 3/4 inch chunks, add to beans with enough water to cover, and cook 15 minutes or until tender
• garnish with one onion sliced very thin, browned until crisp
• add a generous scoop of herbed butter (5.2 mg choline) and stir until melted

Picture credit: L.L. Barkat.

Five Great Goops

Glop, goop, and goo... some of my favorite things for babies (and mamas) come in bottles and tubes.

Lansinoh Lanolin
There is a good possibility that my breast feeding days would have been over early on if not for Lansinoh lanolin nursing cream. In the beginning, even if you are doing it right, breast feeding can be extremely painful on the nipples. This cream makes a real difference and it doesn’t have to be washed off prior to nursing. If you are pregnant and thinking of nursing, get some. The hospital you deliver in will probably have travel size tubes of it, so make sure you remember to ask for it.

detachol
One of our favorite nurses gave us a bottle of detachol to take home, a PICU parting gift. This magical goo removes anything that gets stuck to your baby’s skin or hair. Band-aids, electrode stickies, medical tape, tree sap, gum... you name it, detachol will get it off pain free.

Boudreaux’s Butt Paste
I’m not sure why this diaper rash cream seems to work better than the rest, but my babies’ bottoms have sworn by it for years. It looks like mud, smells pretty, and clears up irritated skin in record time. For an almost free sample (you pay postage) visit buttpaste.com.

Nordic Naturals DHA Oil
I have written about the wonders of DHA/Omega 3 oil in the past. Since then Nordic Naturals has introduced a DHA product designed for infants. It comes in an easy dose bottle and is unflavored (though I am not sure if that’s a good thing with fish oil, lol).

Coconut Oil
Babies with Down syndrome respond well to body massage and therapeutic touch. There are a lot of massage lotions and oils on the market but I prefer to use coconut oil because it doesn’t clog pores and has a very low allergy risk compared with other nut oils. It doesn’t leave baby’s skin greasy and it doesn’t stain clothes. It smells delicious (if you like coconut :-), has a long shelf life, and protects against dry skin. As if all that weren’t enough, there are even Internet rumors that coconut oil is beneficial against alzheimer’s disease.

Spring Giveaway
It is still Spring... thank goodness I didn’t miss an entire season without giving a little something away ;-) This time you can win a bottle of Nordic Natural’s new baby DHA product (and a cute growth chart for your wall). A representative from Nordic Naturals contacted me to say how pleased the company was to know that their product is especially beneficial to children with Down syndrome, and they offered to donate this season’s giveaway goodies. To be entered to win, just leave a comment on this post by June 20th.

Your Turn
Got a favorite goop? Tell us about it. We love to hear what other people are using and why. If you comment, you will be entered into the drawing so if you don't want to win, make sure you tell me to keep you out of it.

We’re Expecting... TWINS! Sorta...

Well, I promised you big news and here it is... we are adopting two little girls from the Ukraine. They aren’t really twins, in fact they are a couple years apart in age, so it is really more like a two-for-one special ;-)

We invite you to follow along on our adventures.

(And now you know why I have been a bit of a blog slacker for the past two months.)

I'll be there...will you?

Guest post by Kelli

The National Down Syndrome Convention is fast approaching...July 16th-18th in Orlando, FL. I'll be there...will you?

Last year Monica over at Monkey Musings designed badges for all moms that attended and blog about their life with Down Syndrome so that everyone could be easily identified. This year, as she is expecting their 5th child (brave, brave woman)...she has passed the baton, to me! So, if you are attending and would like a badge, please let me know by commenting on this post or emailing me at livinglifewithes (at) yahoo (dot) com.

I hope many of you do attend...I cannot wait to meet you and shake your hand...oh, who am I kidding, I would love to give you a big fat hug... you have become an extention of my family through your encouragement and support. I can't wait to see your smiling faces in person and tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your lives through your blogs.

If you haven't registered yet..make sure you hurry over to the website and do it now, you have to register before June 10th to get the early bird rate (it sounds like I am talking about a meal, doesn't it!). If you haven't decided whether or not you are going...well consider that it's in ORLANDO where there is always an abundance of sunshine and fun, especially for the kiddos!

I would like to make sure that everyone that plans on attending gets a badge so if you woudn't mind helping me spread the word, I would really appreciate you linking back to this post from your blog or mentioning it in some way so that I can make sure that all DS bloggers receive a badge if they want one.

Hope to see you all in July!!!


(Note from ds.mama... Well, we were planning on going and then something big, something huge happened (I'll tell you about it later this week ;-) and we had to change our plans for this summer. We'll miss you guys and Mickey too.)