The Name:

Most of us have heard that the Cesarean section received its name from Julius Caesar, because it was believed he was delivered via surgical incision. However, his mother, Aurelia lived many years after the birth of Caesar, so many historians now believe this rumor was created and distorted over time, because at that time surgical births were only performed on dead or dying mothers.

Cesarean operation was the name until 1598 when Jacques Guilmeau’s book on midwifery … Keep Reading!!!

Did you know that San Quentin (all-male prison) has a lactation booth for breastfeeding/pumping moms who are breastfeeding?

My cousin is a lawyer and also currently breastfeeding, so her visit today to San Quentin pleasantly surprised her when she found out they offered this space.

Of course, no phones or cameras are allowed in, but she did snap a photo of what she pumped in the parking lot:

Here is some San Quentin visiting information I found from 2011:

“Nursing

Brian and I went on a date last night to see World War Z.

I hate zombie movies. Probably because they scare me so much.

…but Brian really wanted to see it, so we went.

THOSE WERE THE SCARIEST ZOMBIES EVER!

The one thing I feel the characters in the movies have going for them is their speed. Zombies typically don’t move so fast, but in World War Z, they were speed racers. I thought I was … Keep Reading!!!

Samuel tells me a story.

Samuel: …And then the princess got really mad and gave him the cold soda.

Me: A cold soda?

Samuel: Yes…

Me: Um…What was in the soda? (I was having flashbacks of car rides where there were no bathrooms anywhere near us and we used empty bottles instead…but that would be warm, so I was a bit confused.)

Samuel: Coke.

Me: I still don’t get it, was it because Coke was bad for him? … Keep Reading!!!

Whenever we brought filters to rural villages in Ethiopia, we are directed to an elder. Elders are mostly men, but in the case of this one village we visted, the elder was a woman.

She motioned to one of the men to cut some of the sugar cane for us, out of great hospitality. However, she looked extremely skeptical about the system and was looking at the water as if it had been bewitched. When we all tried it, it … Keep Reading!!!

Happy Weekend!

We are currently driving up to the SF Bay Area to spend a couple of weeks in the temperate Northern California weather.

Here are some links to check out while we spend the next few hours on the road!

This amazing video this daughter created for her father. (Watch it is worth it- and bring out the tissues.)

19 kid-friendly drinks (and recipes) from around the world.

Dustin Hoffman talks Tootsie (great movie!) and why it was… Keep Reading!!!

Did you know there are still drive-in movie theaters in Los Angeles?

My friend Danica from Everywhere Society invited us to the Electric Dusk Drive-In in Downtown Los Angeles.

Macy’s was putting on a special event for kids as a promotion for the release of Smurfs 2   .

The Smurfs are interesting blue creatures. A seemingly polyandrous society of… gnomes? Are they gnomes? It’s always confused me.

Anyway, as soon as we arrived, Aram locked on to the face painting. … Keep Reading!!!

After our hyena experience, during our stay in Yirgalem, our half-awake crew aroused to a beautiful breakfast. Girma met us and we gathered up supplies and went on an hour hike to an area that had no access to clean water.

We first went to a church that had a shallow well for the community to use. They used half of a tire and rope. This was how they would fetch their drinking water. The small amount they were … Keep Reading!!!

This guest post was written about birth and breastfeeding by Laura Kidd:

I had always hoped that being a mother would be part of my future. I considered it to be the most important role I could fulfill and I still believe this to be true. I have always been very interested in child development and studied elements of child psychology and the attachment theory as part of my teaching degree. When I was pregnant, I read a lot about … Keep Reading!!!

I wrote earlier about the Hamlin Fistula Clinic in Addis Ababa.

We had met with the president of the clinic and our group arranged to head down to Yirgalem to check out the clinic, placed in the more rural area.

Grace, our type-A planner, thankfully took charge when we got news that there was an outbreak of airborne cholera and meningitis in the area we were planning on staying. I was in South Africa with a sick child when … Keep Reading!!!

Toy Talk: Why Lego Stands the Test of Time

Toy fads come and go. Every Christmas season, crowds gather outside shopping malls and crazed parents elbow their way through hoards of shoppers to grab that year’s coveted, must-have toy. The following year, the same toy that was fought so hard for sits under the bed, collecting dust.

Despite these inevitable toy trends, certain toys do manage to stand the test of time. One of the most enduring is Lego, … Keep Reading!!!