Warning: Lactivist on Premises

I discovered a new little shop on the same block as my office the other day. Its called the Nursing Station. I went in a couple of days ago to meet the owner. She is a parttime neonatal nurse. We may have worked together at a local hospital because we looked familiar to one another. Anyway, I was very excited about this little business venture of hers. Her little shop was filled with merchandise for the nursing mother, even a few things I haven't seen before-like the pump bustierre. I took my daughter-in-law over there to get a sling. I got tired of watching her lug the baby around in a bulky, heavy car seat. Why on earth do women do that when its so much simpler to wear your baby? She picked out a really cute sling with seahorses on it. I'll come back later and get one for myself (since my last baby was eight years ago, I've gotten rid of EVERYTHING). I wouldn't dream of having a baby without a sling. As far as I'm concerned, its the most essential piece of baby equipment there is. Breastfeeding makes for such simplified mothering. I just shake my head when I see young moms lugging around cadillac-sized strollers packed to the brim and an overstuffed diaper bag on top of that! Babies don't need all that crap. I just threw my babies in a sling with a couple of diapers and out the door I went. Because of the sling, my carseat never left the car. Someone remind me to write a book on simplified mothering when this is all over. (and Sling people, send me my endorsement check!)

I plan to start posting pictures now. I had Dotty's son Arielle over last night to help me polish up my blog. He and his wife and 4 month old came over for dinner. My daughter-in-law was there with my grandson as well, while my son was teaching a CPR class at my office. Both are breastfeeding moms but oddly enough they both fed their babies breastmilk in bottles at the dinner table. I felt like I was in the twilight zone! I wanted to yell, "What the hell are you two doing??? Get those breasts out!!!" It felt quite surreal that in my home, the home of the most rabid lactivist in town, anyone would feel shy about breastfeeding, of all the places on the planet. But of course, Arielle and my husband were at the table, so perhaps they thought it was the proper thing to do. God forbid that the presence of anyone in any place should keep me from breastfeeding my baby. (And God help anyone who has anything to say about it!)