The Fam

…while burping the kid:

• “Go Zayne, it’s your burp-day”
• “If you love your burp, set it free”
• “The burp is not your friend. Send it away”

Generally followed by:

• “Did he get it on me?”
• “Don’t rub your face in it, kiddo”
• “How far did it go?”
• “It came out your nose again?”
• “Aw man, I gotta wash my goatee!”

I’ve added a new link under “Pages” so that I can post some of the small movies we’ve been taking with our digital camera. Quality’s not great, but I’m sure most of you won’t mind if you can see and hear Zayne.

We’re going to try to teach the little guy some sign language. We’ve picked up some books put out by Sign2Me, which look to be very informative. For some reason, a lot of the other techniques on the market will teach your kids signs, but they aren’t based on American Sign Language. Sign2Me is based on ASL, so given how well any of us retain it, it might be a good introduction into learning full blown ASL.

There seem to be many benefits to signing, chief of which is the fact that the little guy will be able to communicate some of his needs before he can verbalize them. Anything we can do to reduce frustration on his part or our own is certainly worth looking into.

Okay, here’s a scary story from DaddyTypes:

“Thimerosal, ever heard of it? A preservative containing mercury compounds that was used in vaccines in the US until 2003, including some of the most commonly administered immunizations given to infants and children: Hep B, Haemophilus Influenza B, and diptheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP)? Has an alarmingly high correllation to rises in learning disabilities and autism? Has been covered up by the FDA and CDC and all the vaccine-producing pharma companies since a secret emergency conference at Simpsonwood, Norcross, GA in 2000? Has Senate Majority Leader/HMO exec/major Pharma campaign contribution recipient Bill Frist making multiple stealth attempts to shield drug companies from liability for the injuries caused by their neurotoxin-laden vaccines? Ring a bell?

If any of this doesn’t sound familiar–and since it’s largely based on very recently fulfilled FOIA requests, it probably doesn’t–go ahead and read Robert Kennedy Jr’s long, damning article on the Thimerosal cover-up in Salon today.”

The article from Salon can be found here.

The CDC has some information about Thimerosal here.

I just wanted to remind everybody that this is intended to be an interactive website. Every post has a place for readers to leave comments. Simply click on the link at the bottom of the entry that says “No Comments” (or “1 Comment”, etc.). This will take you to a page where you can leave feedback. You don’t have to sign up - just enter your name and email (which will remain private).

I don’t know what you like or dislike about the site if you don’t tell me!

I’ve had a couple of comments about the pictures on the site. Some people would like to have access to them for printing, emailing, etc. Others would like to be able to view the pictures outside of the site. This is all very doable.

The pictures themselves are hosted on a website called Flickr. Flickr is a place where you can upload pictures, organize them into sets, tag them with unique keywords, and share them with other users. It’s really neat to be able to be able to view other people’s photos, or be able to view all photos with a certain tag (baby, for example).

You can access our photos directly at Flickr at this address. While you’re there, check out some of the services people have built that work with Flickr. You’ll see there’s even a screen saver in the list!

This is a bit off-subject, since it’s not directly about the boy, but I figured it’s a good forum. The Mom and I have been trying lately to make more conscious decisions about what we buy - especially what we eat. We have been doing our best to buy organic when we can, and are avoiding companies that own or operate factory farms.

There are some really good resources available to get more information about these topics. These are some of my favorites:

• Store Wars - A look into organic foods, and the dangers that are increasingly appearing in store bought products.
• The Meatrix - Talks about factory farms, and their impact on our environment and economy.
• Farm Aid - The original. More “serious” than the previous two links, and a great wealth of information. I wear my “Stop Factory Farms” shirt with pride.
• Bad Corporation - Want to know who owns a company? Want to know all of the products a company makes? Want to know all of the things a company does that will make you not want to patronize them anymore? This is the place. Take a look at the dirt on an innocent-sounding company like Sara Lee.

Okay. Off my soapbox. Back to the regular programming.

Starting Tuesday, I go back to work. The first week I’m back I only work half days. When I arranged this plan with my boss of one full week off and one week of half time, it seemed like a good compromise. Now, I’m not so sure.

I don’t want to go back. I’ve gotten very used to being able to see and hold the little man whenever I feel like it. Sure, the first couple of days home all I could think about was getting back to work, but now that the initial culture shock has worn off, I think I like being around the little guy.

Everybody told me that I was very lucky to get almost two weeks off for the birth of my son. I want more. The Mom gets six weeks of maternity leave. Where’s my paternity leave?

According to this article, 45 other countries in the world ensure that fathers get some kind of paternity leave. Where’s mine? Sure, under the Family Medical Leave Act, I’m eligible for 12 weeks of leave when my child is born. The catch? The 12 weeks are unpaid, and only companies with 50 or more employees are required to comply. I don’t think my company is large enough, and we couldn’t afford to lose that much income anyway.

Are we still so career-driven as a society that men are afraid for their jobs if they take time off? Yes, my job is important, but it’s not something that can’t be delegated and lightly managed from home. I’m not worried about someone stepping in and stealing my limelight because I’ve already established myself.

I don’t know what the answer is. I just know I want more time with my kid.

I’ve added a couple of new features to the site. Both show up in the right hand sidebar. (Over there ->)

First is a link to a new feature: the Zayne Picture of the Day. I’ll do my best to actually get a new picture up every day.

Underneath the link is a little item that says how old Zayne is. No practical use, but it’s cute.

Remember that this is an interactive site! Feel free to leave comments on stories and let me know what you think of things.

The little guy’s a bit yellow lately. This is apparently quite normal for boys and preemies. It’s caused by an excess of red blood cells in the system that break down. The parts, called bilirubin, are then processed by the liver into bile. In jaundice, the liver usually can’t process the bilirubin fast enough, and the infant may have an excessive number of red blood cells anyway.

Treatment of jaundice is usually with UV lights. Apparently the UV rays do something, but I haven’t been able to figure out what yet. All of the information I’ve found treats is like a “then magic happens” phenomena, but I’m a science geek and want to know more.

Anybody care to enlighten me?