family Natasha Chiam family Natasha Chiam

Happy Passover-Easter-Bunnytime Everyone!

I hope all of you have had a great long weekend however you celebrate this time of year. The weather was great, the kids were excited and we are exhausted!

We have one more day 'off' tomorrow and we are looking forward to spending most of it outside!

Love & Peace,

Natasha~

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Family and Breastfeeding

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival! This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about family and breastfeeding. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!

My husband is Chinese.  He has two sisters, a brother and his parents.  Now don't get me wrong, I actually really love my in-laws, even though it took my MIL a good four years to love me back.  They are SO, so good to my kids and at least once a week I don't have to cook a meal. But, to be honest, they are kind of an uptight bunch - DH included!  Throw in a dash of crazy white chick breastfeeding your grandkids FOREVER and well....

...actually, they have been great about it!  I was and still am sensitive to their needs, ie, to NOT see my boobs and they, in turn, have been very supportive of me breastfeeding my kids for an extended length of time.  Maybe they say things to each other when I am not around, but never do I hear any of it.  I have breastfed my babies at our monthly (sometimes weekly) family dinners at our favourite Chinese restaurant, at dim sum Sundays and at their home. I think it is more important to them that we have family time then it is to make a big fuss about me nursing in public.  So they don't question me, tell me to stop or seem otherwise bothered by it.  Now granted, at first my poor brother-in-law could not even handle being in the same room when I was nursing one kid or the other, but he has come around and is way more mature about it these days.

My family is likewise very supportive of my decision to breastfeed my babies for a long time.  My sister has an 8 month old baby too and when we are all together, the boobs are being popped out and into someone's mouth left, right and center!  We are also an EC'ing family (my sister too) and so there are also potty breaks for the baby girls in the middle of the living room when we all get together.  We are just not a shy bunch.  (For those who don't know, EC=elimination communication.)

So here's the thing, I have plenty of things that I could complain about with regards to my in-laws and my own family (and who doesn't), but their acceptance and I believe genuine respect for my breastfeeding practices is NOT one of them.  And because I know that this is not the case for a lot of mommies, I wholeheartedly thank each and every one of them for that!

Peace out my mama peeps, Natasha~

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

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breastfeeding, family Natasha Chiam breastfeeding, family Natasha Chiam

The Importance of Breastfeeding: X-Men and Faberge Shampoo.

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival! This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on The Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about Importance of Breastfeeding. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!

Why is breastfeeding important to me?

Breastfeeding is important to me because it is not what is 'best' for baby it is what NATURE intended for our children. It is this incredible function of our human bodies that in some miraculous way produces THE perfect food for our babies, at the perfect time and in the perfect amount. Now a lot of you are going to say, no way Natasha, that is not true, it doesn't always happen like that, and you are right, for some mamas it is not perfect. But that does not mean that it was not intended to be and I think that everyone should at least TRY to breastfeed their babies, if only for a few months (but please try for the recommended 6 months).

Breastfeeding is also important to me because I know that breast milk is the most amazing liquid known to (wo)man. It has healing powers, immunity building powers, and disease fighting powers. It's like the Wolverine of baby food (he can heal himself and he fights the bad guys in X-Men)!

Why is breastfeeding important to my children?

That is an easy one. For my son, my breast milk was the most important element of his growth and health. I felt like it was my duty to give him as much of it as I could and for as long as he needed it to ensure that he kept growing and developing as close to his peers as possible. He is probably always going to be on the small side, but he is one healthy little guy. The kid has rarely been sick, and when he was and food was not something he was interested in, he would always still want to nurse. When my daughter was born, I think the transition to big brother was easier for him as well because he was still nursing. We never had any real jealousy issues and he loved to tandem nurse with 'his' baby sister.

Nursing has also always been a place of comfort for my kids. It is the universal bandage for all wounds, emotional and physical and I am so thankful for that and sometimes amazed as well. And sometimes it is simply a nice place for them to hang out and for the most part, I am OK with that.

Why is breastfeeding important to my family and my community?

My family has always been incredibly supportive of my decision to breastfeed my children and to extend breastfeeding as well. I am sure it was not always easy for them, my brother-in-law is just now starting to NOT leave the room when I am nursing my daughter, but they know how important it is to me and don't question or tell me to stop or any of the other things that I know happen to a lot of other mamas.

As far as my community goes, I think that breastfeeding is an important activity for new mamas that needs to be encouraged and seen as the norm and not the exception. I kind of look at it like that old '80's Faberge shampoo commercial, you see two mamas nursing and they see two more and so on and so on and so on.....at least that is my hope.

Happy Nursing Everyone! Natasha~

Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

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family, healthful living, parenting Natasha Chiam family, healthful living, parenting Natasha Chiam

Happy New Year Everyone!

So, it's a new year, a new decade and yes, I am a year older (my birthday is January 1st).  I am not sure how I feel yet about being two years away from 40, but so far it is OK.  I mean, really, isn't 40 the new 20??  Or is that just in Hollywood? I have not made resolutions this year. I would call them more like life commitments.  I started doing Bikram (hot) yoga a few months ago and have fallen madly, deeply in love with it!  I have rheumatoid arthritis and had always assumed that I could not do yoga because of my joint limitations.  Well, thanks to a friend who dragged me to a class, I am a complete convert.  And the heat (it's between 95-105 degrees Farenheit) and 50% humidity just help to loosen up all my joints.  I wish I had started doing this years ago!

Life commitment #1 - Bikram Yoga at least 2 and hopefully 3 times a week.

Now onto number 2.  And this one involves baby #2 as well.  I am sure a lot of you feel like this, that baby #2 just does not get the same level of well, pretty much everything that baby #1 did.  I have been feeling like this lately with DD.  With my son, I did so many mommy and me activities his first 2 years and he had quite a few friends all the same age as him. With my daughter, I feel like she is not getting the same level of exposure to these kinds of activities or to kids that are her age, and so I am going to change that.  We started our library 'Fun for Ones' program today and we start swimming lessons for both kids in February.  Our local community league also has a Tot time weekly and we are going to start attending this to--hopefully we can all make some new friends!

Life Commitment #2 - Increase the amount of activities geared towards my daughter and find some new friends for both of us!

I am finding that as I am getting older, I don't want the next best thing as much as I used to.  I want to simplify my life, reduce my eco-footprint as much as I can and just find joy and peace in the simple things.  I find that I am purging drawers, closets, storage rooms, toys, etc... constantly these days.  We really just have too much 'stuff', which I am sure is the case for a lot of people.  And in doing all of this, I hope to teach my kids a lesson about giving as well.  Most of what is purged in our house goes to Goodwill or our local women's shelter.

Life Commitment #3 - Reduce the amount of excess 'stuff' in our house and our lives, re-use what we can and/or give to someone else to re-use and rejoice in the simple joys that everyday can bring.

I am sure that I will continue to add to this list, but I think it is a good start so far.  I hope that everyone else has a chance to make their own life commitments and that each and every day is a good one (even for a few minutes)!

Cheers all, Natasha~

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