A Promise to Young Girls from a Mom of Boys

As a mom to a little boy, soon to be little boys, some people may wonder why I think it's important to include positive female images in my sons' lives. Why would the mom of a darling little boy who already has calloused knees and a desire to drum on everything care that her sons read about Marie Curie, Jane Goodall, or Wonder Woman?

Ms. Jane Goodall- A woman who followed her heart and changed how the
world viewed primates and what made humans human.

Self-esteem issues among young girls is a two sided coin. We can tell them until we are blue in the face that it's more important to be smart and strong and opinionated but at some point or another, they won't care about be the smartest or the strongest. At some point, most little girls want to get attention from the little boy that they like.

The smart girl, the one who can beat you as Chess and discuss the laws of Physics, she doesn't get asked to the Prom very often. The opinionated girl who will disagree with your interpretation of Poe's later works and carry her own books because she doesn't trust you to not drop them, she probably doesn't have a date on Friday night.

It's not that these girls are any less valuable. It's that we have a raised generations of boys who won't realize until much later in life that these are the qualities they should seek. We let media and peers teach our boys what makes a woman attractive and we create a feedback loop that undoes all the work we do on little girl self-esteem in primary school.

And so, as the mom to a little blonde haired, blue eyed boy, I am going to be intentional about changing this cycle on our end. I want my son to take a young lady to Prom who cares more about what's in her head than on her body. I want my future daughter-in-law to be smart, and strong, and to argue the sonnets with my son over dinner.

I will be intentional to surround my son with great stories of awesome women. Women who changed the way we view the scientific world. Women who did things they were told no woman could do. Women who followed their passions and changed everything. I will surround him with the stories of these women so that one day he will look at that special young lady and fall in love with all of her, not just her outer shell.

A Mother's Day Wish

Some of you may recall when I wrote about Alex's feeding issues I mentioned that he struggled to keep his food down. Others of you have watched my Facebook posts about Alex's reflux. They diagnosed Alex with infant acid reflux at his two month well baby visit and upgraded it to GERD in March.

If you're not familiar, here's some info on infant reflux and GERD. (Alex has ten of the GERD symptoms listed.)

We started doing all the "behavioral" treatments, thickened feeds, keeping upright after meals, no time flat on his back, loose clothes, etc, around his first birthday. We tried the special "reflux" version of Enfamil at his 2 month check, it didn't do any good. (Just a side note: the Enfamil AR is slightly pink in color. If it doesn't stop your baby's reflux, you will have slightly pink stains on everything. You've been warned.) Then, Alex got started on Zantac. Yep, they make baby Zantac, it's even mint flavored.

The Zantac worked for a little while. About two weeks before Alex's four month visit his reflux symptoms started slowly coming back. By his well check, they were getting pretty strong again. The doctor increased his dose and said that would take care of it. Another week or two go by and I start questioning if I remembered to give Alex his meds. By the way he was acting and how much he was puking, I could have been squirting rain water in his mouth.

I call the doc and they switch him to Prevacid. It really seems to help, but after about two weeks he still seems grumpy to me. The doc assures me that he's fine. (He also says that I have too much empathy, but that's a different post.) I tell myself that the meds might just need a little longer. That was the end of March.

Around mid-April, Alex starts whining in his sleep again. He doesn't wake up, but he whines and arches his back. My first thought is that it's his reflux acting up again. Philip calms me down. We don't know that it's reflux yet. It could be teething or bad dreams. We agree to just keep an eye on him. By the end of the month he's more fussy, his still arching his back in his sleep, he's spitting more (and occasionally puking), he's fussing at his food and some of his spit-up is yellow. Now we know. This is reflux.

It was time to renew Alex's prescription. His six month visit is only a week and half away so we don't really feel we need another appointment just yet. When we call in the script we ask for an increased dose. They doubled the dose and we are to report back at the well baby visit. And that brings you to now.

Alex has only been on the increased dose for two days so there's no way to tell yet if it's going to work. He doesn't seem to be spitting as much, but he's still showing some signs of pain. If I could have anything in the world for Mother's Day, I'd want him to healthy. I'd want him to take a nap and sleep peacefully. I'd want him to play on the floor without his tummy hurting or rolling into a pool of his own spit-up. Maybe, by Sunday he'll be feeling better.

Alex made this at daycare for Mother's Day. :)

Do you have a GERD or reflux baby? How do you cope with their pain?

Scariest Moment of My Life

Around noon on Valentine's Day I got a call from daycare that Alex had a fever of 100.0 and needed to be picked up. He had had a cough for awhile, but hadn't been congested in several days. Still, we go to the doctor. The doctor said that he had Bronchiolitis and probably had RSV seems how we both had some cold symptoms. We did a breathing treatment in the office and the doc sent us home with our own little nebulizer and Alburol script so that we could treat him at home. She seemed confident that he would be better and able to return to daycare on Monday.

This is Roscoe Frog, Alex's nebulizer.
All the cool kids have one. ;)

Things go well Thursday and most of Friday. His breathing was rather labored but the treatments seemed to help. Friday I was getting us ready to go pick up Philip from the airport (he had been in California for business) and before doing Alex's breathing treatment I did a respiration count. He took 58 breaths in one minute and 61 the next. I called the on call doc and she said to do his treatment and if it helps, just keep an eye him, if it doesn't, he'll have to go to the hospital.

I already had his treatment set up so I sat down with him and we go started. He hated it. This loud machine was blowing stuff in his face and this big green thing (the mask) was always in front of him. He squirmed and kicked and fought. The nurse had said that they just more medicine that way because they take more breaths. Well, as he's kicking and screaming and coughing, his eyes started to roll back. I immediately called my mom (she used to be a peds nurse) who told me to take him straight to the emergency room.

I already had the diaper bag next to the car seat for us to leave. I grabbed my keys and as I started to put Alex into his car seat, he turned grey. (My heart is pounding as I type this.) I rubbed on his little chest and his color came back. He started screaming at me again (lately he has hated getting into his car seat). I grabbed the diaper bag and ran out to the car. Later I realized that I hadn't locked the door.

I broke every possible traffic law on the way to the hospital and bottomed out coming over a few hills (no damage to the car). Alex was crying. A few blocks from the hospital he went silent. No cries. No wimpers. No little Alex jabber. I don't know that I ever prayed so hard that a baby would cry.

When I got to the hospital (probably less than three minutes from when I called my mom), I went to get Alex out and he was as white as a ghost. I rubbed his chest and he woke up looking pretty startled and out of it. I ran him into the ER and handed him over the counter to the nurse as I told her that he had Bronchiolitis and had turned grey. She took him straight back.

A few minutes later they let me back to his exam room. I texted a friend to go pick up Philip from the airport. Once they had assessed Alex and saw that he okay, they had me sit on the guerny and hold him. They tested him for RSV and it came back positive. They did a breathing treatment and X-ray in the ER. Philip got there just before they put in Alex's IV and sent us up to Pediatrics.

The doctor and the nurse think that Alex had so much thick mucus in his lungs that when he was coughing during the breathing treatment a piece go lodged in his airway. He was admitted and we spent Friday through Tuesday at Hendricks.

He had two types of breathing treatments every 4 hours: a saline solution to help break up the mucus and the Alburol to help open up his lungs. The respiratory nurses also did chest precussions to help loosen it all up. They did eventually start an IV to keep him hydrated so that he didn't have to eat as his stats seemed to dip while he drank.

He's doing much better now. He's still wheezing and sometimes breathing heavy, but that could continue for up to a month. He's likely to develop asthma now and we've been warned that he could wheeze with any respiratory illness in the next year.

Through it all, he only acted "sick" for about a day. He's been a little extra fussy the last few days but he's also drooling like a hounddog so I think he's getting some teeth in. He's such a strong little guy and I am so blessed to be his mommy.

Alex playing with his yellow block in the hospital.
He still used his IV hand to play so I had to give him toys he didn't have to grasp.

I'm Starting to be Convinced...

A little while back I got Alex an Amber Teething necklace through a co-op with some other moms. I've heard moms rave about baltic amber and it's ability to soothe teething babies and with Alex starting to teethe early (he showed obvious teething signs shortly after one month) I decided to give it a try.

Well, Alex pretty much always wears his. At daycare and bedtime he wears it on his ankle under a sock or footed sleep and play. One day, I forgot to put it on his ankle before day care and so they took it off because it's a choking hazard (but really only if not supervised properly). That day, they also reported that he was very fussy which is not like him.

Tonight I went to change Alex and had to change his outfit because the daycare lady didn't put the diaper on right (she's new). I took the necklace off his ankle and put it next to the change mat with the intention to put it on his neck when I changed him. Well, I forgot to put it back on.

Alex normally sleeps from 6:30/7 until we wake him for bath and feeding. He normally falls asleep easily and stays sound asleep that whole time. Tonight he fought taking his nap and woke up after only about an hour. He fussed a bit but did eventually fall asleep. It was when he woke up that I realized that he didn't have his necklace on.

Now, two events are not enough to prove that the necklace works, at least not to this skeptic, but I'm starting to think I might get convinced soon.

You can see Alex's necklace peaking out just a little here.
A teething necklace if worn around the neck should be tucked
into a shirt so little hands can't grab it.

You can find more info about teething necklaces and the one I bought for Alex from Inspired by Finn here: http://hyenacart.com/stores/inspiredbyfinn/index.php

*This is not an endorsement for Inspired By Finn or their products. I'm just providing the link if you want more information.

**Please note: There are safety concerns involved in using amber necklaces. All parents should use good judgement when choosing products for their children.

One Stressful Week

Saturday:
Alex and I were out running errands. He had been napping pretty soundly for awhile and had slept through a feeding. He had been pretty hungry the week before so I figure he's having a growth spurt and that's what made him so sleepy. We're at Drug Emporium when he wakes up. I change him and fix him a bottle. I feed him while looking at some of the baby/toddler foods they had available, after all it won't be too much longer before he starts solids. He eats most of his bottle and then throws up, big time. He's covered, his carseat and stroller are covered; it's gross. I change him and wipe up his seat as best I can. He still had about an ounce or so left in the bottle so after a few minutes, I offer that to him. He pukes again. Well, I only had one set of clothes with me so we high tail it out of the store and back home to get him cleaned up.

Sunday:
We stayed home from church. Philip had a migraine and with the vomiting the day before, I'm thinking Alex's reflux meds aren't working and I don't really want to have him spew at church. Later that day he throws up again. Again there are two spews close together. I make a plan to call the doc in the morning so we can discuss his reflux meds. My mom recommends giving him a tiny bit of rice cereal and mashed banana to help soak up the extra stomach acid. He enjoys his first tastes of real food, but his tongue thrust reflex is still pretty strong so he only gets a few bites. Alex sleeps a full eight hours plus some that night.

Monday:
I have the day off for MLK Jr. Day but Philip has to work. Alex has a large, loose bowel movement in the morning. He eats about half his bottle, then vomits and falls back to sleep. I call the doctor's office and leave a message for the nurse. When Alex wakes up again he has mucusy, bloody diarrhea. He eats a half bottle then falls back asleep. I call again and the receptionist says there's no appointments until the following morning so I leave another message for the nurse and call my mom. She thinks its serious. I debate on taking Alex to the walk-in clinic near the apartments. I want him to be seen but don't want to expose him to the flu which will be in all those waiting rooms. I send mom a picture of his bloody stool and she calls back and says to take Alex to the doctor or the emergency room. I text Philip that he needs to come home now and call the doctor's office again. I tell them I will be taking my infant to the emergency room if they cannot see him that day. He has an appointment at 1:30.

I pack a simple diaper bag thinking we'll only be gone a few hours and go to the doctor, bloody diaper in tow. They weigh Alex when we get there. He's 11 pounds, 14 ounces! We see Dr. L who confirms that it was blood in his stool. That stool combined with him sleeping through feeds has her worried. She gives us orders for him to be admitted to the hospital for tests and to make sure he stays hydrated. The office is on the hospital campus so it's a quick drive to the main hospital. Philip drops us off at Admissions and goes back to the office to wrap up the project he was working on. I fill out the admissions papers and we wait for his room to be ready.

Once we get the room, the nurses start his vitals and the tests that Dr. L ordered. He's a full two feet tall! He hated the infant pulse-ox and blood pressure cuff. They take him blood, but not from his heel like I was used to, they take it from his arm and both nurses have to hold him down to do it. This was worst part of all the tests. He screamed and screamed. When he caught my eye, he just stared at me and cried his lungs out. I held his little hand and stroked his hair and they were done not nearly soon enough. I held him for a little while and then we were off to get his ultrasound done. The tech tells me that the scan looks normal but they will have to wait for the doctor to give the all clear.



On the way back to the room (themed after the Berenstain Bears Go On Vacation) the nurse tells me that he's positive for Rotavirus so we have to be very careful to wash our hands, especially after any diaper changes. The nurse doesn't know if that's the problem though. He can't eat until the doctor gives the all clear on the ultrasound so the nurse gives me some sugar water to make his paci sweet and help keep him happy. A little while later she brings in some Pedialyte and says the doc gave him the okay to try to eat as his ultrasound was clear and he wasn't going to be needing surgery.

He drinks some of the Pedialyte but obviously isn't happy with it. I think he only drank it because he'd gulp it so fast before he could taste it. When Dr. L comes by for rounds she says he can have formula again. He loves that idea! He eats a whole bunch and sleeps pretty well that night. When they weighed him he had lost a little weight, but the nurse assures me that it wasn't much (they weighed him in kilograms so it was hard for me to tell as I was never very good with the metric system).

Resting after a long day

Tuesday:
In the morning, Dr. Su. checks on him. She says that if he keeps his food down he might be able to go home that night. She assures me that his weight loss was minimal and was the difference of having eaten or peed recently. All his tests had come back except his bacteria cultures which could take 24-48 hours and the only positive so far was the Rotavirus, but she couldn't say if it was from the vaccine he got a week ago or if he caught a wild strain. He does really well that day and is on full formula feedings by about midday. He spits up quite a bit a couple of times, but it's not enough to be clearly vomit. He does still have very liquid stools during the day. Dr. Sh. sees him that evening. He's not quite comfortable letting him go home yet, especially since the bacteria cultures aren't back and he wants to rule out Salmonella and E. Coli both of which can cause bloody stools.  He suggests Alex get Similac Sensitive formula as it's made for those with lactose sensitivity and having diarrhea can lead to temporary lactose intolerance. We switch his formula and he does well that night.

Wednesday:
Dr. L sees Alex in the morning. His bacteria cultures came back negative. He's free to go home. He can even return to daycare after a day of no diarrhea or vomiting. Because he got sick so soon after getting his first Rotavirus vaccine (it was just a week prior to symptoms) there's no way to tell if he got it from the vaccine or if he just caught it. He won't be getting the second dose of the Rotavirus vaccine. He got the virus so he has the antibodies now. She'll note this incident in his chart for when he goes to school. We go home and I bleach all his diapers and sanitize everything in sight. That night we try going back to his regular formula and he throws up again. We call the doctor. Dr. Su is on call and says to put him back on Pedialyte and try formula again later. She says that if we want, she will readmit him, otherwise we can just bring him in in the morning. He does well with the Pedialyte but shows a few symptoms of dehydration so I decide that I will make sure he takes at least two ounces every two hours. He also develops a bit of a cough during this time. It doesn't sound like his regular reflux cough. He also has a low grade fever.

Thursday:
Alex still has some very loose stools. Some of them look a little red. I'm pretty sure it's just the dyes from the Pedialyte but I bring a diaper with us to the doctor just in case. Dr. Su sees him that afternoon.  She says that he looks good and he's okay to stay at home as long as he doesn't do any more backsliding. She also says that he could have diarrhea for a week and that would be okay. She takes a listen to his chest. It appears he picked up a cold at the hospital. We don't have any vomiting or bowel movements that night but he does spit up a bit when we try a thickened feed.

Friday (today):
We had healthy stool today! It was a bit dark and pasty, but definitely not diarrhea! He's still had a slight fever and a bit of a cold. He seems to be teething too. He's done really well. He's spitting up a bit, but I think that's because we haven't been thickening his feeds. He's happy and eating great.

This has been the most stressful week ever. I hated being at the hospital but it was better safe than sorry.  I'm so relieved that he's feeling better and that it wasn't something more serious. I just pray he's never in the hospital again (unless he decides to become a surgeon).

Preventing the New Chicken Pox

When I was little everyone got the chicken pox. It was just a part of growing up. One day you'd come home from school all itchy with little red dots on you. You'd have a nice a oatmeal bath and spend a few days at home then it was on with life as usual. It seems today we have a new chicken pox: ADHD. Now, you might think I'm overstating, and I am being a bit facetious, but it seems like everyone has ADHD. Instead of oatmeal baths, every kid is being treated with Ritalin and Adderall.

I make these observations based in my education and experience. We are over diagnosing ADHD. Any kid who doesn't want to sit through a history lesson or a 45 minute sermon is quickly diagnosed with ADHD and often without a psychological evaluation and is medicated without attempting any behavioral intervention.

Here are my suggestions for helping children escape this seemingly overpowering diagnosis. (These are based simply on my observations and have not been researched. Discuss any behavioral changes with your therapist should you be involved in any current treatments.)

• It's okay to be bored. Allow your children to not be entertained for every waking moment. It seems like kids today always have something to do. Even waiting in line at the grocery store they're playing on mom's iPhone, kids don't get a chance to get bored. Why is boredom so important? We aren't always entertained. When you go to work, there aren't always bright lights and fancy jingles keeping your attention. Sometimes we go to work and we're bored. It's important for children to learn to be bored so that they learn to apply their attentions by choice. When you're bored, you have to choose to give your attention to something, a skill very few children have any more. A child who was bored when they were young will grow into a student who can choose to pay attention during a long lecture and an adult who can sit through meetings at work without issue.

• Limit and Delay Exposure to Technology. Nowadays it seems like parents are introducing technology earlier and earlier. They even make iPad covers for babies. Technology is great for many things, and it's especially good at giving us instant gratification. If you want to know the weather you can touch a single icon on your phone and poof! there's the weather, no need to even walk to the window. If you want to know who is guess staring in an episode of a show you're watching you don't have to wait until the credits, you can just ask Google. Too much technology too soon teaches children that they get what they want immediately. They never have to wait and therefore they don't learn to do it well. A child without technology who learns to wait will grow into a student who can stand in line when asked and an adult who can wait at the DMV without becoming a royal pain to everyone around them.

• Turn Off The Tube. Television has one great secret for keeping your attention. It's so great because it happens in all programing and it's always happened and you've never noticed. Next time you're watching a show, pay attention to how often the perspective changes. You're watching the same person talk and looking at them straight on, then from five feet away, then a close up, then over the shoulder, it changes back and forth every few seconds, and you've never noticed. We don't notice this because our brains have been taught to expect a new image every few seconds. When we put our children in front of the television to watch some show or movie (even special "kids" programs that supposedly make your baby smarter) we are teaching their brains to expect a new image every few seconds. We are teaching our children to be ADHD by introducing television earlier and earlier and letting kids watch it more and more. Limit how much television your kids watch and encourage them towards activities they require they pay attention for longer periods of time like listening to music or books on tape, or reading. A child who learns to enjoy other forms of entertainment will be a student who thinks more creatively and an adult with a greater attention span.

• Add More Quiet Time. For many children the only time it is quiet is when they are sleeping. If the child is awake there's some sort of noise either television or music. This can be very stimulating, and for young children, overly stimulating. Add in more times of quiet (you'd be amazed how this adds peace to your life as well). In particular, start the morning with quiet. When you're getting the kids up in the morning turn off the TV, radio, or iTunes. When a child wakes up to a stimulating environment that's what they expect for the rest of the day. Give your children a peaceful start to the day. Wake them with a soft voice and soft lighting. Let the day get more energetic and stimulating slowly. My suggestion would be to not have any extra noise until after breakfast or until you've left the house in the morning. A family that wakes up peaceful will have less stressful, more calm mornings and everyone's day will be better.

For some parents, you're already doing these things. For others, these are foreign concepts. For some of our day cares and child care givers these are strange concepts. Like I said above, these aren't proven in any sort of research, just my observations of typical things that are counterproductive for many families.

I do want to say that ADD and ADHD are serious conditions that honestly do affect many children. If you believe your child is having symptoms of either disorder talk with your doctor. If the diagnosis is to be considered, please speak with a professional trained to diagnose and treat mental health disorders and consider behavioral interventions prior to or in conjunction with medical treatment.

How I'm Teaching My Son To Sleep

The issue of sleep "training" came up recently through an article I found on Facebook. It got me thinking. There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to infant sleep: let the baby cry it out or respond to every little sound. I would like to present a different perspective based on our experience with our son.

Some background information. Alex is just over two months old. He is formula fed as he didn't gain weight when exclusively breastfed. Alex had been showing some pretty bad reflux symptoms the last month or so. Alex goes to bed around 10 pm each night. He currently sleeps in his swing to keep him upright. (He spits up if he lays flat on his back.) Alex sleeps about 5-6 hours at a time pretty regularly which has him getting up at around 3-4 am for a change and a feeding, then back to sleep for about another 1-2 hours. He's starting to get where he will sleep until I wake him around 6am, therefore getting about 8 hours of sleep.

We started trying to find a good bedtime routine for Alex almost immediately after birth. Babies learn from routine what they can expect. Our routine is still in flux, but Alex gets a bath every other night (every third night right now as we're waiting on a rash to heal). After bathtime Alex gets his nighttime diaper on and gets dressed and swaddled. We then sit on the couch for his last bottle. We try to make this bottle a bit more on the warm side. After he finishes the bottle, he's usually starting to look sleepy and so we put him in his swing (was crib). If he is particularly alert we will dim the lights and keep it quiet for a little while and rock him. This is usually enough for the sleepies to step in.

This helps Alex get to sleep, but what most parents struggle with is the baby staying asleep. Here comes the tricky part. While I was pregnant I read Bringing Up Bebe which tells various stories of French parenting techniques. Part of the book talks about sleep and about how French parents will pause when a sleeping baby cries to see if they will keep crying or if they will go back to sleep. They don't wait long, maybe just a second or two to see if that little cry means that baby is waking or if baby will go back to slumber.

Here's the science behind this wisdom: a baby's brain is learning how to sleep. Just as babies learn to suck and swallow, breathe, and hold their heads, babies have to learn to sleep. When the baby reaches the end of their sleep cycle, they might wake up ever so slightly. At this time, they might let out a quick cry or two. If they are just cycling their sleep, the baby then goes back to peaceful slumber without a problem. If there is something the baby needs, they will continue to cry to let you know. You can tell the difference within 2-3 seconds.

Now, we've told parents, particularly nervous new moms, that they mustn't delay in responding to their baby's cries or their baby will turn into some emotionally stunted psycho. (That's an exaggeration but the message is the same: let your baby cry at all and it will damage them emotionally.) This leads to parents who rush to the bassinet at the sound of the slightest whimper ready to change a diaper and offer the bottle or breast so they can soothe their baby.

If the baby really was waking and needed one of these things, that's great that mom was there and eager to see to their needs. If the baby was just transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next, you've just interrupted the brain as it was learning an important skill. The brain learns to connect sleep cycles seemlessly (letting mom and baby sleep for longer times) through practice. The brain has to work at connecting those sleep cycles without interruption and it starts learning to do this from day one.

We have a video monitor and it is a lifesaver! When I hear Alex cry I can look at the monitor and see what's happening, especially with Alex's reflux issues I look at the monitor a lot. Alex has made all sorts of noises in his sleep since birth. I have been attentive and have learned which are his normal sleep noises and which are the sounds that tell me he's about to wake up. From the beginning I made it a point to give Alex a brief moment to try to get to the next sleep cycle without me. I don't let him cry for hours on end (or even seconds on end when I can help it). I just pay attention to the cues that his body gives me. In doing this, I'm helping him learn how to sleep.

By respecting what his body is telling me, I'm teaching him to do the same. In the same way that we pay attention to the cues he gives when he's hungry or when his tummy is hurting him, we pay attention to signs that he might be sleepy. When he wakes up we pay attention to signs that he might be going right back to sleep or that he's fully awake and ready for what's happening next. In the process of respecting what his little body tells us we send the message to him that it's important to listen to our bodies- sleep when tired, eat when hungry, stop eating when full, get up when you've had enough rest.

I hope that all made sense and maybe it'll help some tired mommies out there. Alex is two months old, sleeping six hours at night and I think we could be sleeping through the night any day now.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow I return to work. Philip will stay home with Alex the next two days and then next week it's off to daycare. I absolutely hate it, but I am forcing myself to focus on the positive and all the good things that will come of it:

I work so that:

• We can pay off our student loans from our education that allow us to provide a better future for Alex.
• One day we can buy a house and Alex can have a yard, and a dog, and walls of his own to color on and mark his height in the door frame.
• Alex will know that women and moms are just as important in the workplace as men and dads.
• Alex will know that his mommy cares about people who often don't have anyone else to care about them.
• We can provide the best life possible for Alex.

I've heard many working moms say that they feel like they are better mothers because they work, and that they find the time they spend with their children is sweeter, richer, and more intentional than when they were at home.

Now to watch Alex sleep some more. :)