Theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2008

Announcement: Theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2008 announced!

“The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action has released the theme for next year’s World Breastfeeding Week celebrations. The theme “Mother Support: Going for the Gold” coincides with next years landmark Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was designed to direct focus on the need to support mothers in achieving the gold standard of infant feeding practices: exclusive breastfeeding for six months, followed by appropriate complementary foods and continued breastfeeding for two years and beyond.

 

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated October 1-7 in Canada, and August 1-7 in the rest of the world.”

 

 

>> Sisters, let’s get on board with our own celebrations for World Breastfeeding Week. To be honest, I’m starting to feel a little funny about being the ONLY Black woman out at some of these events. If we’d feel more comfortable doing our own thing, by all means let’s do our own thing. Are any sisters out there organizing events for WBW? Let us know what you’ve been doing. Send some pictures!

 

 

I have to say I can really appreciate the theme. When I was a new mother just learning how to breastfeed, it really DID seem like an Olympic sport and, let me tell you, I was FAR from winning any medals! At least that’s how I felt anyway. But I persevered…if my son could remember, I’m sure he would be telling some pitiful stories about me. Yes, I stuck it out and now I am a breastfeeding guru with healthy children to prove it. Yes, when you see that woman nursing a baby on the park bench, in the shopping mall, in line at the grocery store, in church (before “security” escorted me out — no food or drink in the sanctuary, I’ve been told!), wherever…when you see her, come on over and say hi because it might be me. Then again, it might be somebody else but say hi anyway.

 

 

Find out more about WBW at www.infactcanada.ca.

Practical Application: RSS Feeds

Feel free to congratulate me! After I spent the whole weekend immersed in the world of eNewsletters, SEO, digital editions, old code vs. new code, SNS, del.icio.us and God knows what else, I came home to my three kids (and football-watching husband), headed for the kitchen and executed an admirable RSS feed!

RSS feed might mean something hip and tech-savvy in the online world, tonight in my kitchen, it stands for Really Simple Stew. Here’s the recipe if you don’t have a lot (or any) time on your hands:

• 2 cups of red lentils
• 3 cups of water or vegetable broth
• half a jar of tomato sauce (or whatever was left at the back of my fridge)
• seasoning (mixed herbs, bebere, Caribbean green seasoning,, whatever you have)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (or crushed, it’s faster)
• 1 onion, chopped (watch your fingers)

Put it all in whatever medium-sized clean pot or frying pan you can find. Bring it to a boil then cook, semi-covered, on medium-low heat. Try not to let it boil over (but that always happens to me, I just wipe it up and turn on the fan to get rid of the burning smell). When the lentils are soft, it’s ready (about 10-15 minutes).

Toss it over some couscous, quinoa or rice (couscous is faster — I pour it in a bowl with boiling water from the kettle and cover it. It will steam while the stew is cooking and be done right on time).

Well, my children ate it down and asked for seconds (OK, maybe they were just that hungry). It might not have been the RSS feed that I had in mind at Web Weekend but it worked! And on top of that, here I am blogging away. I guess it was a double success.