Seriously?

Just a quick note to say that I am still alive and to rant on something that kind of blows my mind.

First off, Baby 2 is moving down and has been given the all clear for delivery anytime! We are at about 37 1/2 weeks, so sometime between now and mid-June we'll be off to the birth center. I definitely feel the preparations my body is making more this time around. And I can feel parts of the baby more than with Little Guy. It is so interesting how different two pregnancies can be! Especially around 9:30-10pm when Baby 2 gets hiccups. I never felt them even once with Little Guy and they are almost a nightly event now. If you don't mind, I would love it if you would keep Baby 2 and me in your prayers. We are Strep B + (again) and will be monitoring things closely as we labor towards a safe, natural delivery!

Second, have you seen this? I saw a blurb about it a few weeks ago and thought it just couldn't be true. Yet, I absolutely knew it was. And now they launched the advertising campaign. I wonder what Jamie Oliver would think of this? If only they had strawberry flavor than it would perfectly set the kids up for school. They would drink plain old breast milk or formula for 12 months (poor kids with no flavoring in their lives!) and then from 12-36 months they would enjoy vanilla or chocolate (maybe strawberry if we lobby hard enough) whatever you consider this beverage to be and then go into Head Start or preschool or K-3 (whatever your area calls it) and start drinking flavored milk! It is perfect....

Ugh. I seriously cannot believe that there will be parents who will feel that their toddlers need this drink. They will feel that since the little one doesn't always want to eat this new product will balance everything out and make sure their kid is healthy. Then when that same child doesn't ever want anything that isn't artificially flavored or processed they will continue to give in to more junk foods "just so they eat something." I feel so sorry for those kids! And I cannot believe that any adult would give in to that. Kids will not starve themselves. Little Guy loves veggies and fruits and yet has meals where he won't touch a pea or a bean (his two favorite veggies). It doesn't mean we break out the chocolate. It means we don't make an issue out of it and at the next meal we offer more veggies. He was totally anti-broccoli for a while and now he has been eating it really well. The answer was not to avoid giving him broccoli for the rest of his life! In fact I always tell him how much he loves carrots or beans or whatever veggie he is turning away at that particular meal. I figure it can't hurt to be reminded! And there is no vegetable that he has avoided continually, which tells me that sometimes he just isn't into what I made or he is just asserting his independence. That's fine, but he'll still eat veggies every day of his life--or at least until I have no say over it anymore!

This kind of thinking is why the most common vegetable eaten by 12 months old kiddos is french fries. Seriously, does anyone (besides those running the school lunch program) think that a french fry is a vegetable?

Sorry for ranting, but seriously does anyone think this is a good idea?

Heather

**I do realize there is an unflavored version, but that is sure not the one being advertised! It is all about the flavors...new flavors...how exciting for you 12 month old! I sure hope anyone who feels the need for this chooses unflavored, but I'm guessing that will be much harder to find and not very popular.**