Driving Miss Baby.

When you have a baby that hates the car, driving becomes a dreaded, white-knuckled race to your destination.

When you have a baby that hates the car, the first and only photo of Babe coming home from the hospital looks like this:

When you have a baby that hates the car, they soon learn how to arch their backs so that you can't buckle them into their car seat and then everyone watches you and tries not to laugh. And it looks like your child is throwing a temper tantrum but really they're just a little baby and don't know how to be naughty yet. But then you realize that your baby is so advanced that they already know how to be a jerk. Lucky you.

When you have a baby that hates the car you get to play taxi all the time. You drive and your partner sits in the backseat like Grandma. The person in the back has the very important task of keeping the baby from screaming so that the taxi driver doesn't veer off the road...or into a tree. This may happen by accident because of the inability to concentrate or on purpose just to make the noise stop.

Keeping the baby quiet means doing WHATEVER it takes:

• Make a favorite sound over and over until you think you may grow cysts in your throat.

• Pull the string on a toy until the fucking thing breaks and you have to detour to the nearest Toys R' Us before the baby explodes in rage.

• Morph into a white noise machine and keep the sound up until you run out of air. Then take a deep breath (at which point the baby will start screaming again) and start the sound all over.

• If you're the mommy take off your seat belt (risking your own safety), kneel on the seat and stretch your boob into the car set. Watch for sudden stops because you'll be launched into the front seat - boobies flailing.

• Play 'Don't Worry Be Happy' over and over on the stereo. Sing along at the top of your lungs like a jackass.

• Understand that taking the baby out of the car and then putting them right back in is the worst thing you can do. Their anger will double. For this reason stopping for lunch is a no go. Your meals now consist solely of foods that can be purchased from drive-thru windows (and only drive-thrus which have no line-ups). This may mean that you gain a lot of weight but sacrifices must be made.

• Plan your route ahead of time to avoid as many stop signs, street lights and construction zones as possible. This will shave valuable seconds off the trip. Use alleyways, sidewalks and bus lanes to achieve this.

• If you get stuck in traffic your life is over. NEVER let this happen.

When you have a baby that hates the car and you're driving without your partner get to where you're going as fast as you can. This often means speeding, which is inappropriate because you have a baby in the car.

• Plan your trip with an arsenal of distractions at your fingertips. Cover the passenger seat with any toys, noise-makers and Cd's that at one time have calmed the baby for even 15 seconds. Rotate accordingly.

• Dislocate your shoulder and reach behind you to rub Babe's head or shake a toy. Try your very best to stay in your lane like a vigilant parent would.

• Curse everyone who gets in your way: Anyone who takes an extra two seconds to complete a turn, anyone who doesn't jump off the line like a dragster when the light turns green, anyone who doesn't run the yellow, is your worst enemy right now. Don't they understand how horrible and all-consuming the screaming, car-hating baby is? Don't they know how desperate you are to get this kid home?

• Change lanes every 30 seconds because it'll be faster if you can just get around this one asshole who knows how bad it is in your car and is driving the exact speed limit just to make you suffer!

• Sing beautifully to your baby to try to calm them while you flip off everyone in your way.

Now I realize that the Baby On Board stickers aren't for safety. They're to let other drivers know why you're driving so badly and road raging on everyone else!

Just Sharing: Good ol' parenting advice from my favorite hockey team.

Here's a fun clip the Canucks made awhile back for fellow teammate and expectant father Mason Raymond. I love Bieksa even more after hearing him tell the daddy to "chip in" and "pull your weight".

The First Trip: part two.

See Previous Post For Part One.

So after hauling ass on the Vancouver Island highway we caught the ferry to Denman Island and actually managed to make the last ferry onto Hornby Island. Babe had her first three ferries in one day! We even saw a pod of dolphins leaping in the waves off the side of the big ferry - a rare sight these days. I think they came out just to help celebrate the occasion for Babe.

When we finally arrived at the cabin it was dark and stormy and I was thoroughly exhausted. So I was irritated to find a big white van blocking the driveway. It turns out that a pipe had burst in the cabin and one of my uncles (who was staying next door) had called an old family friend to come help get the water running again. It was great that the men were trying to fix the problem for us, but it was sucky that after such a long trip we arrived to such chaos. Soaked floors and wet carpets, boxes pulled out and tools everywhere.

And to make matters worse the little bassinet that I brought to put Babe into while I unpacked everything and got her bed set-up had managed to get soaked by the leaky window in the canopy on the truck, so I had no where to put Babe down when we arrived. AAAGH!

But finally the guys managed to get the water running again (thank you, thank you, thank you) and I had dragged all our gear from the truck to the cabin and set up mine and Babe's beds. Babe and I were ready for sleep.

But...I didn't get much sleep. Babe seems to be sleeping less and less as the days go by and on our trip she was waking up every 20 minutes or so all night. Which drove me nuts. On top of her waking up constantly I hadn't packed enough blankets for myself because I had planned on arriving in the daylight and unpacking the extra bedding that I store in "my" little cabin at the back of the property. But when we arrived it was too dark to try to and find the blankets, so I was making do with one thin one and after the fires burnt out I was freezing.

Babe was OK because she had her sleep sack plus some extra blankets but even so her little hands were icy cold and I tried to warm them up every time she nursed.

And as if the cold and the baby weren't enough to keep me out of dreamland the wind was also playing with me. The property is just filled with tall skinny pole trees and in high winds they sway like flowers. I spent almost all of the precious moments that Babe was asleep laying wide awake terrified that a tree would crush us in our beds!

I've spent hundreds, probably thousands of nights on Hornby before and never worried much about the trees, but now with my darling daughter to protect I worry about everything - falling trees included. I'm actually going to talk to my counsellor about how much I am worrying about Babe's safety, I think it's getting too extreme.

Anyway, that first night really kinda sucked. I prayed a lot and the trees on the property were still standing by morning.

Here's some of the trees outside the bedroom Babe and I were in. That's my Grandmother's cabin in the background.

I had a lot of things I wanted to do on the trip: Take Babe on some beach walks. Collect shells at low tide. And take advantage of all the family babysitters on the property to go for some runs by myself. But the weather didn't really co-operate. It was too wet and slippery to walk the rocky beaches and try to bend down to collect treasures with Babe. And I was so tired in the days that I didn't have the energy to go for any runs. I never even unpacked my iPod.

But it was still nice just to hang out on the island with my family and take Babe on some of her first Hornby Island walks.

Here's a pic of Babe trying to keep her eyes open in the high winds at Helliwell Park. The family was doing the whole walk through the forest and out around the cliffs, but because of the nasty winds Babe and I just walked with them through the forest and then back by ourselves.

And Babe asleep on her very first walk on Hornby.

It was also nice to watch all my little cousins play with Babe. She loved listening to their little voices and watching the funny faces they made at her. All in all it was some good family bonding time.

We also visited with my good friends and Babe loved playing with their kids too. We got together to eat Hornby's famous pizza and my friend J knit Babe an adorable hat but it's still a little too big.

The rest of the nights were variations of the first. Cold, windy and a lot of fussing on Babe's side. But it was still great to get out of the city and take Babe to my beloved Hornby for her first visit. I can't wait to go back this summer!

Babe chilln' out on the last ferry home. She's already logged six ferry rides! An old pro, just like her Momma.

The First Trip: part one.

So I decided to be brave and take Babe on her first trip to Hornby Island. My cousin and her son were heading up and said that I could bunk with them in their cabin, which is much, much nicer than the one I usually stay in (used to stay in pre-baby). With Babe never wanting me to put her down it simply would have been too difficult for me to venture up to Hornby in this cold weather by myself with her. I couldn't imagine trying to keep the fires going, water boiling etc. without any help so it was a great opportunity to go.

This isn't even all of the crap I packed for Babe for five days. Not included in this shot is her co-sleeper bassinet, her just-hanging-out-in-it-bassinet, her stroller and car seat, her baby monitor and other stuff. Turns out I didn't need half the clothes that I brought. Surprise! Surprise!

After I loaded up the truck we headed out...into the snow?! Mid-March and it was snowing. I had a reservation on the 10:30am ferry so we arrived at the terminal just after 9:30. When the time came to board the ferry I ignored the announcement on the loud speaker assuming that it was the standard pre-loading instructions. But after people started turning off their cars and leaving the lot or pulling a u-turn and driving out of the line altogether, I decided to roll down my window and listen up. Turns out the ferry was cancelled due to high winds. F**K! In all my years of travelling on ferries (and I have taken A LOT of ferries) I have never missed one because it was cancelled. But of course the first time I attempt to travel with Babe we get stranded. We were told the 3:00pm sailing might go and we decided to wait. So I spent the next four and a half hours sitting in a nearby coffee shop with my cousins and aunt taking turns trying to keep the baby happy.

I don't know if the wind actually did die down a little or if B.C. Ferries just realized they hadn't needed to cancel the sailings in the first place (because they were still running from Tsawwassen) but the 3:00pm did run!

But now it was looking doubtful we would make it onto Hornby Island because the ferry stops running at 6:00pm. In order to make the last boat onto Hornby I would have to haul ass on the hour long drive up Vancouver Island. With shitty weather and my precious cargo on board it was an added stress I didn't need.

Anyway, here are a few photos of Babe's first ferry ride (a big deal to me considering how many she and I will be taking in the future).

I wanted to buy Babe something from the gift shop on the boat to remember the first ferry by but they don't sell a ton of baby gear on board. I finally settled on this cute nautical-themed box with a compass inside. Definitely not baby-friendly but a fun little memento.

I liked the quote on the trim which reads:

"We knew the merry world was round and we might sail forever."

Just Sharing: health warning.

I'm just sharing a new warning that Health Canada put out recently about Domperidone - a medication that increases lactation.

I'm currently on Domperidone because I'm trying to increase the milk supply in one of my boobies (yup, just the one). But now I'm thinking I'll stop taking the meds. I'm surprised that this information is just out since Domperidone has been used for years.

The warning includes patients taking over 30 mg per day. My perscription is for 60 mg per day and that isn't as much as most nursing moms are told to take!

Anyway, here is the link to the Health Canada warning.

Judge Not.

I don't have a picture of me being judgemental so here is a picture of me and Babe.

I've noticed something interesting lately. Something about myself and something about the Mommy Club. There's a lot less judgement than I thought there would be.

When I was pregnant I tried to picture the new people I would meet and the people I would be friends with. I admit I didn't think that I would fit in with other Vancouver moms. This was partly because of how standoffish people in Vancouver can be, but mostly it was because of my personal situation. I thought that most of the new moms I would meet would be happily married and had intentionally started a family. J and I aren't married and probably never will be. And while I'm so happy to have Babe she was not the product of "trying for a baby".

During my pregnancy when we still lived in our apartment in Vancouver I watched as couples our age bought and moved into the new townhouses behind us. I saw their fancy strollers on their glass patios and wondered where I would fit in. I thought that the moms I would meet would all be of this variety. Property owners, not renters like us. They'd have their new condos and having started their careers ten years ago would now be coasting on great maternity benefits. Their husbands would all be working long hours in the hopes of making partner at their law firm.

I couldn't imagine having much in common with them. Or them wanting to befriend me. Despite having years of experience with babies and children I thought these other moms wouldn't see what I had to offer.

I would be the mom who had just transitioned from student to mommy. Who instead of launching her new career had to return to her old job and work her pregnant butt off to accumulate enough hours for EI maternity. Who was seeing a counsellor to ensure I kept my head above water and whose relationship fit neither the married nor happy category.

After Babe was born and I started to venture out I met lots of new moms at events and groups and I made a lot of snap judgements. I sized them up, expecting that they were doing the same to me. I watched them. I took cues from their clothes, their baby gear, their cars and their mannerisms. I thought I had them figured out. They all seemed so together.

But then I started listening to them and they started to listen to me and it turns out there's way less judgement among new moms than I thought there would be. It's not a competitive sport like work or school is. Instead of trying to get a leg up or shoulder someone out of the race everyone seems to be supporting each other. Maybe this part of life is so damn tough that we lay down our arms and all the tactics we use to assert our independence and finally reach out.

And none of us are so together. The ones I thought were rich, aren't. The ones I thought were happy, cried. And the ones I pegged as probable bitches lent me a hand. I have consistently been surprised by how helpful everyone is. When one mom does something one way and another mom does it a different way they don't each try to prove theirs is the right way. "Hey whatever works," seems to be the standard response.

There's a lot of sharing of information. A lot of helpful hints. A lot of offers of help and a lot of social gathering.

It's not just the moms either.

I'm so frazzled much of the time that when I'm out in public I just need people to get the F out of my way. But so many times someone who I thought was going to give me a hard time was surprisingly helpful or managed to provide a moment of sweet relief.

One rainy evening I was rushing to the supermarket to get food for dinner. I was exhausted and Babe had screamed all the way to the store. I was carrying her through the parking lot towards the line of shopping carts and there was a woman who was standing there with her cart. It was dark and pouring rain and I was hurrying. In my head I was already cursing her for being in my way because I could tell that she wasn't going to move. But as I approached she not only moved to let me get under cover, she gave me her shopping cart (which you have to pay for with a quarter) and then stood in the wet cold looking though her purse for a new coin for herself.

I almost cried with gratitude and I felt so foolish for having assumed she would be in my way.

Everyone has been so much nicer and so much more accepting than I would have expected. I've met so many different moms and they all have a different story but there are similarities too; rich or poor, happy or sad, married or single they're all doing the best they can and they all seem to recognize that in each other.

I'm so relieved to be letting my guard down.

PS: I'm not losing my sarcastic outlook...I promise.

The Sleep Standoff.

This is a rare sleeping Babe shot taken months ago.

Babe doesn't sleep. EVER!

OK obviously that is an exaggeration. She sleeps, just not as much as I would like her too. In fact, there is a deep echo-ey valley of difference between the amount that she does sleep and the amount I would like to have her sleep. And as far as I can tell there is no rope bridge or other means of connecting the gap between the two sides. So Babe and I are at an impasse.

Oh God. I don't even know what I'm rambling about. Something about a rope bridge? I really am that tired.

I read in one of my fairly useless baby books that a newborn baby can sleep for up to 23 hours a day. Ba hahahahaha ha - for all you future moms out there; that's crap! My newborn didn't sleep more than eight hours (total, not consecutive) a day in the early weeks.

Currently Babe is sleeping in an Arm's Reach Co-sleeper beside our bed. Correction: my bed. J abandoned this noisy little creature a long time ago and has taken up residence on a foamy in the nursery. I resent this greatly. Sometimes at four o'clock in the morning when I am feeding Babe for the fifth time since she went "down for the night" and J is snoring in the other room I lay there and think up new reasons to hate him. Some are legitimate; he leaves all the cupboards in the kitchen open so that every time I walk into the room it looks like a poltergeist has been there. Other reasons are not good reasons to hate someone; he puts the soap on the tub ledge instead of the little seashell soap dish on the wall. Actually, neither of these are good reasons to hate someone but he's not losing any sleep so F him.

Anyway...Babe usually goes to sleep between nine and 10 at night (this is a vast improvement from two months ago when she usually went to sleep between two and four am). It usually takes me at least half an hour of nursing to get her to doze off. This wouldn't be a big deal if I could nurse her in the rocking chair and lay her down once she was asleep. But that's not how my baby rolls. She needs to be already in her bed and then be nursed to sleep. This is the real shitty part. In order for her to be in her bed while nursing I have to lay on my side and stretch my tit like silly putty into her open beak. I'm not sure, but my guess is that this won't play out real well for the appearance of my boobies later on. Especially since her co-sleeper is forever on the same side of my bed so it's the same tit that gets stretched night after night.

All this effort and booby sacrifice on my end only to achieve a state of perpetual light dozing in Babe. She must have some ailment that keeps her from ever falling into a deep sleep. I don't know what it is but if I find out what's causing it I'll post the name of it here and I'd encourage you to donate money to the cause. Personally I think there's a little troll inside her with a zapper and when she shifts into REM he shocks her awake. If this is in fact the cause of her wakefulness I suppose I could try to flush him out with some sort of baby enema. But the baby books say nothing about the safety of baby irrigation. It's also possible that it's gas and not a troll with a zapper.

She's been to a pediatrician. He knows about the gas - even saw it on an x-ray. He referred her to a gastroenterologist but that was a month ago and she still doesn't have an appointment. I tried being the squeaky wheel and calling his office but I still didn't get an appointment. The secretary told me that he has the file and will basically make the appointment whenever he bloody well feels like it - only she said it politely.

So the sleep standoff continues. I try and try to get her to go down. It takes forever. She finally falls asleep. I lay down and close my eyes and hers pop open and she gives me an adorable but absolutely infuriating grin as if to say - now what?

It's been four months. At what point do you shift from really, really tired to throwing feces at the walls of your padded cell? I'd like to nip this in the bud before I get there.

Damned if You Do and Damned if You Don't: The great vaccination debate.

photo courtesy of getbetterhealth.com

Babe just had her first vaccinations last week. So what? you ask. Well, she was getting her two month vaccinations at the time she should have been getting her four month vaccinations. Why? Because it took me an extra two months to come to a decision about her shots. Really, I haven’t made up my mind yet but I had to at least decide yes or no on the first round of shots. Now I have another two months to toss and turn over the next round.

It’s a tough decision, one I don’t take lightly and one that wasn’t made easily. I had an entire pregnancy and the first two months of Babe’s life to decide and for me that still wasn’t enough time. I needed two extra months and I still felt rushed. Rushed by what friends were doing with their babies, rushed by what the health nurses were preaching, rushed by my own mother’s warnings and especially rushed by a local outbreak of Pertussis.

In trying to educate myself I sought out many different sources. I read The Vaccine Book: Making The Right Decision For Your Child by Dr. Robert W. Sears and I thought it was surprisingly well-balanced and had a lot of good points. So I was feeling pretty confident in my decision to space out the many vaccines over an extended period of time. That was until the local health nurses told me that Dr. Sears’ research is flawed and that much of what he says in the book is incorrect or misleading. Sure enough, if you search online you can find a lot of sources questioning his book. Of course you can also find a lot of people who are following his vaccination schedule and many of the naysayers are the medical community - which supports vaccination. Here is a link to an article in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics which raises concerns about Dr. Bob's book.

When I called in a panic to cancel Babe's original vaccination appointment the nurse, who was polite yet clearly irritated at addressing this issue for the umpteenth time, told me I should instead read Your Child's Best Shot by Dr. Ronald Gold. I grabbed it from the library but I didn't find it very helpful. First of all, it's published by the Canadian Pediatric Society so its going to be biased. Second the book isn't so much about the risks and benefits of vaccines as much as it is just about the different diseases and how the vaccines work. I was more interested in learning about the ingredients and the possible side effects.

But finding what I as a journalist would consider an unbiased, reliable source for the anti-vaccination side of the debate is a tough thing to do. Trying to wade through a pile of information online is never easy and with an issue as contentious as pediatric vaccination it is especially difficult to find reputable sources.

There is a new documentary out called The Greater Good which I desperately want to see but can't seem to get a hold of. It used to be available for free viewing online, but not anymore. It's not on YouTube and we have tried a few times now to download it with no success. As soon as I find out where to get it I'll update this post and if anyone knows where it can be found please post in the comments section. Until then here is the trailer:

Of course I watched this trailer the night before Babe's appointment and immediately broke down in tears and then spent half the night laying beside her in bed picturing morbid images like tiny little baby coffins.

Coming to a decision on the issue, even a temporary and tentative decision comes with very permanent consequences. For better or for worse Babe now has the vaccinations in her little body. While I remain very concerned about the safety of the vaccinations and the sources and legitimacy of the studies that claim they are safe I have to admit that I feel very grateful to live in a country that allows me the choice. Too many millions of people don't vaccinate their children not because they have opted out but because they can't get their hands on the stuff. It was photographs and news stories of people lining up by the hundreds with sick children in their arms desperate to get a shot that helped make my decision. Actually I have seen first hand the damage that can be done by simple diseases that have been left untreated due to poverty.

Because we have basically eliminated many of these previously common illnesses we often see the vaccines as the danger because we no longer see the devastating results of the actual illnesses.

My trust in my doctor also helped me decide to take Babe in for her shots. I put my health and now the health of my baby in my doctor's hands and I believe that she wouldn't knowingly mislead me or keep pertinent information from me. I believe that she felt well-informed when she chose to vaccinate her own precious babies. While I am skeptical about the accuracy of the vaccination information and study results that the doctors are given, at some point I have to trust in someone more knowledgeable than me on the issue. That is what we journalists do - seek out experts to inform us.

It was also a relief of sorts to learn that the link between vaccines and Autism has been proven false. Although as with any medication I'm sure over time many of the current ingredients in the vaccines will prove to be toxic in one form or another.

Here are some interesting articles on vaccination and autism:

About.com special children. There is also a link to a couple blogs about autism.

CBC News: Autism-vaccine study retracted.

Ontario Adult Autism. This site has a ton of links to other articles as well including this one which links to even more articles.

Science-Based Medicine article exploring two possible reasons for the increase in Autism diagnoses.

A site supporting Dr. Andrew Wakefield (whose research claims a link between vaccination and Autism).

A Globe and Mail article about Wakefield's flawed research. One of thousands of similar articles about his allegedly bogus findings.

Here are some interesting articles on the preservative Thimerosal (one of the most controversial ingredients in vaccines):

The Public Health Agency of Canada's Q&A on Thimerosal in vaccines and Autism.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) 2007 statement on Thimerosal.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thimerosal.

A 2007 article about Thimerosal in The New England Journal of Medicine.

*Note that the message on Thimerosal in these articles is basically 'yes it's safe but we're going to try to remove it anyway.' mm hmm.

I could go on forever but with my own little baby who never wants to sleep, I simply don't have the time for the kind of in-depth research I would like to do on this topic - which is a big part of my concern.

So I asked some of my friends with kids if they vaccinated or not. Here are some of the replies I got:

• Yes. Because a ton of idiot parents haven't and now there are measles/rubella breakouts in BC. Anyone who says not to vaccinate your kids is a dipshit in my opinion. You do everything to protect your child why would you ever put them at risk for small pox or polio? Impoverished people around the world would kill for those vaccines.
• No. Shitload of research against it. My doctor in Vancouver didn't vaccinate her second child and did 5 years of research. I can send you some of the research if you want. Haven't regretted it yet and my kids get less sick then others.
• Yes. We did after consulting with 3 different health pros (from drs to...you name it). Came down to a personal judgement call and we just found more evidence for it then not.
• Yes, most of them. My son also gets pneumonia shot every year. He has a heart defect...it is important for him not to get really sick. Immunizations are important to prevent cluster diseases. I did NOT immunize my daughter for HPV in grade 9. That immunization had no double-blind tests before it was released...it was pushed out very quickly. 40 girls in one year in North America died shortly after receiving it.
• Yes. And shit, that reminds me I need to take him in for his 18 month shots this week! (thanks!). The reason I did is because I didn't want him to get polio or some other disease that could be prevented. I know there is a lot of controversy out there about whether to vaccinate or not, but I feel it's worth the risk.
• No. Agree with the theory but don't like the shelf-life chemicals. Fear of autism. Worst decision ever and even though you have to make it, you're fucked either way.
• Yes they got the shots. I don't want them to get Polio or any old school disease that is preventable.
• Yes. I did my own research at UBC library. I decided the benefits far out weighed the risks. That said I advocate for high vitamin D to keep my family healthy. Also if I had a daughter I would not vaccinate for HPV.
• No, I didn't vaccinate them. Their dad didn't believe in it. I regret it though. My ex thinks that their bodies are strong enough to fight off illness on their own. Disease exists, and so does some of their cures. So, if we have access to things that can help our babies, why not use them?
• Yes I did vaccinate them.. 1. Because I was when I was young 2. I believe it helps prevent them from getting illness's. 3. I was just told it was the right thing to do and I have heard of kids who haven't gotten them and have gotten really sick from illness's that the vaccinations help prevent.

So Babe ended up getting her first round of vaccinations. As I said earlier I panicked the night before and I was a nervous wreck all the next day while we waited for the appointment. I peppered the nurse with questions about the vaccine and the possible side effects. I probably came across as suspicious and defensive because she picked up on that right away and for the first little while seemed irritated and defensive herself - as if she felt I was accusing her of personally trying to injure my baby. But as I began to cry she seemed to soften and realize that I was just really scared. I finally signed off on the vaccinations choosing to forgo only one (which I decided was unnecessary).

Babe only cried for a minute and it was over and done. Her little legs - dotted with band aids were dressed again and we walked back home. Babe then napped on my chest, her upset already forgotten. And I cried again. Being a mommy is hard.

Hopefully by the time the next round of shots are due I will have a more clear idea of where I stand on the issue. However draining and upsetting this choice has been I have to reiterate that I am extreamly thankful to have been given the choice. We are so lucky to live in a country where we have access to life-saving treatments, medications and procedures. And even more lucky that we have the ability to publicly voice our opinions about them without fear of persecution.

After Bath.

I just thought I would quickly post a few Instagram photos of Babe after her bath this evening. She loves her rubber duck that her aunt J gave her. Well, she usually loves it - not so much in the last shot.

Tomorrow I will post my long overdue vaccination post. But for now I am exhausted so I am going to bed. Goodnight.