I just wanted to let everyone know that on January 26th, at 9:13 pm, Rebekah Christine arrived. She weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20" long. She did very well and was healthy in the hospital, and we went home only 24 hours later (I don't sleep well in unfamiliar places).
Life is going okay. We've had some rough nights, some fussy times, lots of tears (hers and mine), but everyone is settling in and getting to know one another. My husband has been a huge help. In fact, he has been asleep for almost 7 hours now, and is about to get up to relieve me of baby duty. Which is great, because she screamed from 6 - 9:30 with only some rests. It was not fun, and his "shift" is going to be a heck of a lot easier than mine was!
Things will slowly get back to "normal" for us over the next couple of weeks, as we all keep getting to know each other and figure out our new routines. Soon it will be better...only the beginning is hard. :)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Autism Speaks...Shame on You!
I know this is really supposed to be about domestic issues, but as I may have mentioned, I'm a part-time WAHM who works with special needs kids. Most of those kids have autism, so I like to keep up on recent research and news within the autism community. This post is addressing a very recent and appalling issue.
First some background: Autism Speaks is a charitable organization founded by Bob and Suzanne Wright. It was created when their grandson was diagnosed with autism (their daughter, Katie Wright, is his mother). The goal of the organization is to further autism research in search for effective therapies and/or a cure. You can learn more about this organization here: www.autismspeaks.org.
While this organization is very large, has the support of a lot of prominent people, and has done good work, there are some major problems with their philosophies. Last fall, there was a major family blow-out in response to Katie Wright's appearance on Oprah. Katie made reference to the fact that she believes that vaccines caused or at least contributed significantly to her son's autism symptoms. The general party line among researchers right now is that vaccines do NOT play any role in autism (that is a post for another time, though), and Bob and Suzanne Wright issued a media statement following Katie's appearance saying 'Katie Wright is not a spokesperson for Autism Speaks and we do not believe vaccines play any role in autism.' (That is not a direct quote, merely the gist of what was said.) Subsequently, it was known that Katie had trouble with her relationship with her parents for awhile.
This situation appalled me, because Autism Speaks was founded based on Katie's son, yet Katie's opinions about what caused/augmented her son's symptoms was not only unimportant, but FALSE. How could parents come out and say such a thing? Of course, the likely reason is that if major organizations do not uphold the current party line, they will lose support and funding, which they do not want to do. While there's something to be said about 'falling in line' for this reason (continuing funding in order to do more good), there's something much more important about being willing to stand up for the minority. In this case, the minority happened to be Bob and Suzanne's daughter, and they couldn't even stand up for her.
It's been about six months since that occurred. But very recently, Autism Speaks has been in the media again. This time, a young (14-year-old) girl with autism has started her own parody website, encouraging people with autism to speak for themselves. Her message is that people with autism do not have to be silent, but should stand up and fight for cures and therapies and acceptance on their own. Although the site never achieved incredible popularity (the girl stated that she received about one hit a day, and I never heard of it until this all came out in the media), Autism Speaks took great offense to it.
In fact, Autism Speaks is now SUING this 14-year-old girl for copyright infringement, loss of traffic and revenue (they are claiming they lost up to a million supporters), and other charges. How incredibly ridiculous is this?! Autism Speaks, an organization that is supposedly furthering the voice of those with autism, will not let a person with autism speak for herself. They seem to think they know better what autism is about than any family with a child with autism, or any person who herself has autism. This is absolutely outrageous.
So, Autism Speaks, listen up! Your charitable organization is now doing more harm than good. You aren't allowing anyone who actually experiences autism on a daily basis to speak up about what is really needed in the realm of autism research. Your organization is more political than helpful, and should seriously reexamine its motives...or disband.
If you are as appalled by this as I am, leave comments or go to their website and send THEM comments! Let everyone know about this terrible battle over the voice of someone with autism. Thanks for reading.
First some background: Autism Speaks is a charitable organization founded by Bob and Suzanne Wright. It was created when their grandson was diagnosed with autism (their daughter, Katie Wright, is his mother). The goal of the organization is to further autism research in search for effective therapies and/or a cure. You can learn more about this organization here: www.autismspeaks.org.
While this organization is very large, has the support of a lot of prominent people, and has done good work, there are some major problems with their philosophies. Last fall, there was a major family blow-out in response to Katie Wright's appearance on Oprah. Katie made reference to the fact that she believes that vaccines caused or at least contributed significantly to her son's autism symptoms. The general party line among researchers right now is that vaccines do NOT play any role in autism (that is a post for another time, though), and Bob and Suzanne Wright issued a media statement following Katie's appearance saying 'Katie Wright is not a spokesperson for Autism Speaks and we do not believe vaccines play any role in autism.' (That is not a direct quote, merely the gist of what was said.) Subsequently, it was known that Katie had trouble with her relationship with her parents for awhile.
This situation appalled me, because Autism Speaks was founded based on Katie's son, yet Katie's opinions about what caused/augmented her son's symptoms was not only unimportant, but FALSE. How could parents come out and say such a thing? Of course, the likely reason is that if major organizations do not uphold the current party line, they will lose support and funding, which they do not want to do. While there's something to be said about 'falling in line' for this reason (continuing funding in order to do more good), there's something much more important about being willing to stand up for the minority. In this case, the minority happened to be Bob and Suzanne's daughter, and they couldn't even stand up for her.
It's been about six months since that occurred. But very recently, Autism Speaks has been in the media again. This time, a young (14-year-old) girl with autism has started her own parody website, encouraging people with autism to speak for themselves. Her message is that people with autism do not have to be silent, but should stand up and fight for cures and therapies and acceptance on their own. Although the site never achieved incredible popularity (the girl stated that she received about one hit a day, and I never heard of it until this all came out in the media), Autism Speaks took great offense to it.
In fact, Autism Speaks is now SUING this 14-year-old girl for copyright infringement, loss of traffic and revenue (they are claiming they lost up to a million supporters), and other charges. How incredibly ridiculous is this?! Autism Speaks, an organization that is supposedly furthering the voice of those with autism, will not let a person with autism speak for herself. They seem to think they know better what autism is about than any family with a child with autism, or any person who herself has autism. This is absolutely outrageous.
So, Autism Speaks, listen up! Your charitable organization is now doing more harm than good. You aren't allowing anyone who actually experiences autism on a daily basis to speak up about what is really needed in the realm of autism research. Your organization is more political than helpful, and should seriously reexamine its motives...or disband.
If you are as appalled by this as I am, leave comments or go to their website and send THEM comments! Let everyone know about this terrible battle over the voice of someone with autism. Thanks for reading.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Raspberry Hot Chocolate
Cooking is one of my very favorite things. I don't like recipes very much (like in cookbooks) because they usually involve ingredients that I don't really like, such as sour cream and mayonnaise (sorry to those who really enjoy those things). Instead, I find my favorite tastes and dishes at restaurants and I create my own recipes. I usually enjoy these a lot more than any recipe I can find in a cookbook, and I hope you will too!
A word of warning: I really feel strongly about using homemade ingredients and giving food time to "blossom" in flavors. I don't like short cuts (very often) and so if you want things done quickly, you probably won't get that from my recipes! However, they are also "easy," in that once you've done the chopping and the mixing, they usually can be ignored for several hours.
This one, however, is pretty quick and easy, despite everything I just said. :)
Raspberry hot chocolate is a great winter drink. It's warm, soothing, and the mix of the chocolate and raspberry is just wonderful. It can be made very easily for a nice bedtime snack or a group of friends.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. raspberry extract (or to taste)
1.5 cups milk
Directions:
Mix together the first three ingredients in a medium saucepan. Let it cook until it bubbles gently. Then, add the extract and milk and heat on low until warm. Serve! It's that easy.
If you don't really like raspberry, you can use vanilla, strawberry, mint, or whatever kind of flavoring suits you. Or none at all. Mix and match!
A word of warning: I really feel strongly about using homemade ingredients and giving food time to "blossom" in flavors. I don't like short cuts (very often) and so if you want things done quickly, you probably won't get that from my recipes! However, they are also "easy," in that once you've done the chopping and the mixing, they usually can be ignored for several hours.
This one, however, is pretty quick and easy, despite everything I just said. :)
Raspberry hot chocolate is a great winter drink. It's warm, soothing, and the mix of the chocolate and raspberry is just wonderful. It can be made very easily for a nice bedtime snack or a group of friends.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. raspberry extract (or to taste)
1.5 cups milk
Directions:
Mix together the first three ingredients in a medium saucepan. Let it cook until it bubbles gently. Then, add the extract and milk and heat on low until warm. Serve! It's that easy.
If you don't really like raspberry, you can use vanilla, strawberry, mint, or whatever kind of flavoring suits you. Or none at all. Mix and match!
Welcome to Domesticity: Meet the Family
Although in today's world it's much cooler to have a "real" job, the most important job is still the one you do at home: keeping your house and family safe, healthy, and happy. There's a lot that goes into that, including cooking, cleaning, gardening, and making decisions for your family. It might not always be the most exciting thing in the world to do these things, but they sure are necessary! And for some of us, they are pretty exciting!
I'm Kate, and I'm a young wife and soon-to-be mother. My first baby is due Feb. 1, which means she could be born any day now! I'm kind of hoping for tomorrow...but I've also been kind of hoping for everyday in the last week or so. :) If you've ever been pregnant, you know how hard it is to wait at the end, when the baby is so big and squirmy that you can't eat, sleep, or get comfortable in any position. Oh well!
Getting ready for a baby means that I am doing a lot of sewing, cooking, cleaning, and organizing. I've totally redone my daughter's room, I've made her a blanket, I'm making her some cloth diapers (more on that later), I've been cooking tons of food and freezing it, I've been cleaning and organizing, I've been working on all kinds of things! I'm also kind of a WAHM (or I will be when I'm a mom), and so I've been working on my business, too. I'm a music teacher, and I work with a bunch of different kids, including kids with autism.
My husband, Ben, works for a major health company, and also runs his own business from home. We both really love business! He actually has a technology blog, too. (I'll put a link to it later.) He is excited about us having a daughter, too. And, when he's home he helps me a lot with household things (I know, I'm lucky to have such a great husband).
My current obsessions? Cloth diapering (especially making them), natural cleaning products, writing my own recipes, cooking lots of food, researching issues of interest in relation to childrearing (especially vaccines), and...I don't know! There are too many things going on right now to write about them all.
So, if you're interested in any of these things, come back again and read more! I'm going to try to post about my adventures pretty frequently. :)
I'm Kate, and I'm a young wife and soon-to-be mother. My first baby is due Feb. 1, which means she could be born any day now! I'm kind of hoping for tomorrow...but I've also been kind of hoping for everyday in the last week or so. :) If you've ever been pregnant, you know how hard it is to wait at the end, when the baby is so big and squirmy that you can't eat, sleep, or get comfortable in any position. Oh well!
Getting ready for a baby means that I am doing a lot of sewing, cooking, cleaning, and organizing. I've totally redone my daughter's room, I've made her a blanket, I'm making her some cloth diapers (more on that later), I've been cooking tons of food and freezing it, I've been cleaning and organizing, I've been working on all kinds of things! I'm also kind of a WAHM (or I will be when I'm a mom), and so I've been working on my business, too. I'm a music teacher, and I work with a bunch of different kids, including kids with autism.
My husband, Ben, works for a major health company, and also runs his own business from home. We both really love business! He actually has a technology blog, too. (I'll put a link to it later.) He is excited about us having a daughter, too. And, when he's home he helps me a lot with household things (I know, I'm lucky to have such a great husband).
My current obsessions? Cloth diapering (especially making them), natural cleaning products, writing my own recipes, cooking lots of food, researching issues of interest in relation to childrearing (especially vaccines), and...I don't know! There are too many things going on right now to write about them all.
So, if you're interested in any of these things, come back again and read more! I'm going to try to post about my adventures pretty frequently. :)
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