#breastmilk saga

[autisticandroids]

hey breastfeeding anon. you won this one.

[kittietron]

So I have been silently watching the cheese saga. And since you can't be a follower (your lactose intolerant) You should make your own army. Something opposite of cheese. Like bread or crackers or something.

alr well funny thing im actually not lactose intolerant i don't have a gastro issue where i lack lactase i will actually get covered in hives and go into anaphylactic apon consuming milk related products which tbh i find really goofy, now my position on the whole cheese saga is interesting i do feel it sounds like the beginning to my villain arc and i will have like anti-cheesists. I do have a particular facination with cheesism but it must fall. I am hereby declaring the cheese saga has started my villain arc i am envious of you people that are capable of consuming hormone infused fermented cow breastmilk. saltiness crackers are now a symbol of a new hope, ritz crackers will be my mockery to the little cheese people. MWAH HA HA HA

[pass-the-bechdel]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend s04e02 ‘I Am Ashamed’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, seven times, and with more than two female characters at the same time.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Eleven (52.38% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Ten.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Episode Quality:

Ok.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Paula tells Rebecca about the inflammatory article. Heather tells Rebecca to stop looking at the article comments. Rebecca calls Dr Akopian. Rebecca confers with Valencia. Valencia puts on a seance with Rebecca, Paula, and Heather, in two scenes. The girl group meets up at Home Base.

Female characters:

Debra.

Rebecca Bunch.

Paula Proctor.

Heather Davis.

Jana.

Kathy Najimy.

Noelle Akopian.

Valencia Perez.

Madison Whitefeather.

Stacy Whitefeather.

Maya.

Male characters:

Darryl Whitefeather.

Nathaniel Plimpton.

Nathaniel Plimpton Senior.

Bert.

Brent.

Tad.

Hector.

Tim.

White Josh.

Josh Chan.

OTHER NOTES:

See, I hate the tone of this show. Whether intentionally or not, it regularly comes across self-righteous to me when it levies an opinion (i.e. all those damn times it snarks on ‘the wrong kinds of feminism’), and consequently, I rarely feel at ease with what it’s trying to say. A prime example here with Darryl’s breastmilk saga: the mothers in the park are correct, breastmilk does have a host of proven benefits which formula cannot replicate, but sometimes formula is the only viable option, and parents should not be shamed if that’s what they’ve got to work with; as such, the ultimate affirmation that Darryl is a good parent and it’s ok that he can’t provide breastmilk should feel like a positive thing, and something that I agree with. And yet, the tone of the story as it unfolds, the tone of that conclusion (complete with Stacy’s declaration that she didn’t actually breastfeed Madison after all) feels so judgmental to me, so dismissive of the ‘breast is best’ perspective, it makes me want to put my foot through the screen. The tone of this show has rubbed me wrong since the very beginning, and there’s more than one way it does that, but that self-righteousness? Definitely a big part of it. 

And meanwhile, the whole ghost plot was fun in itself, but also weird and out of place and damn, I just can’t win with this show any more than it can win with me. The bone dresses were great though.

[brainsinmyheadfeetinmyshoes]

Three weeks postpartum & preschool

Oh man, I better get writing. So many little things.

Celia is growing so quickly. When she was first born, for about a week, she would flinch every time she was touched. Like she really wasn’t used to it, haha. I just don’t want to forget that little quirk of hers, since it was so short-lived.

As her tears came in last week, she appeared to have clogged tear ducts because both eyes would get goopy. Apparently it’s pretty common and can persist up to a year. I swabbed them routinely but nothing seemed to really do the trick until I put breastmilk in them. One eye seemed to clear up immediately, the other got much better but kept gooping up for the next few days. Last night, the membrane must have opened though, because I haven’t had to swab either eye all day. Hooray! Even though it’s harmless, eye goop looks pretty gross.

We still haven’t given her a bath, just wiped her down as needed (neck folds, leg creases, under arms) but I think today is the day. I’m excited because I think she’ll enjoy it.

She’s still pretty low-maintenance with periods of tanking up, gas, diaper blowouts, and sleep. They’re not predictable patterns but she’ll spend time looking at the high-contrast books, and tries to lift her head up now, in the waking periods, so that’s fun for everyone.

I’m feeling pretty well recovered. So much so, that I’m shocked to realize that it’s still only been 3 weeks and some change since I pushed a baby out. That’s the miracle of childbirth, for sure. I just feel so... normal?! most of the time. Yesterday, I was on my feet for probably six hours. I could NEVER do that pregnant. Cooking meals is a semi-welcome endeavor now, because I have more than a shred of energy to put some time into it. When I wash dishes, the freaking knobs on the cabinet doors no longer press painfully into my abdomen. Many of my non-maternity shirts, skirts, and dresses are fitting again (pants and shorts, not yet). Most importantly, with Lucian having started preschool (more below), I’m going to do 30min of walking every weekday for the month of September, and hopefully October too. I can push Lionel in the stroller and wear Celia. Yesterday was my first day and man, I was BEAT. As ho-hum as a walk seems, it was a serious workout. I was very tired, glistening with sweat, my muscles felt engaged the rest of the day, and I was a little sore this morning. Even though I don’t much care for walking, and it’s inconvenient to do it with two kids, I want to take advantage of nice weather, and jump right into improving my baseline fitness/health. 

ALSO, I think my gestational diabetes has resolved in record time. Thirst was an obvious signal whenever I would overdue the carbs/sugar during pregnancy and I’ve still had extreme thirst since Celia was born, but there are many reasons for it--losing all the excess pregnancy water with heavy sweating, and lactation requiring more, to name two. But in the last few days, my thirst has become manageable, so I began to suspect the GD was gone (despite being quoted a 6-8 week target for resolution). After breakfast this morning (a muffin and banana, two no-no’s during pregnancy, and a death knell in combination, surely putting me in the 160-180 range I would guess), my blood sugar was at a model 105. I’ll keep checking here and there, but I’m pretty thrilled at not feeling like I’m harming my body if I put a piece of fruit in my mouth, let alone a cookie or boba smoothie.

So, Lucian started preschool last Thursday. We had a whole, painful, nauseating saga early in the week because we were offered a spot at our chosen Montessori school for him. I was THRILLED. We’ve watched our waitlist number dwindle down and I was so excited at the prospect of a) Montessori, and b) early dismissal. (Most schools go until 3:15-4pm in the area, even for PK3, because it’s easier for parents who work, but it’s such an unnecessarily long day for the age.) But lo and behold, they require kids to be potty trained. And Lucian simply is not. He’s been wearing underpants at least one day a week for three months, sometimes more, but hasn’t been motivated by any of our half-hearted training attempts. M&Ms, stickers, “isn’t that icky on your bottom,” and big boy underpants just haven’t done the trick. But in the last week before school, he started wearing them every day. He’d use the toilet maybe 4 times, and go in his underpants 1-2 times. I was tempted to enroll him anyway, with the thought that maybe he would move away from diapers if he had a school=underpants association, the social pressure, and the reinforcement from teachers, but in my heart of hearts I knew that was wrong, and Erik said he would never have allowed it anyway. That would have been a ton of potential trauma/pressure, when starting school is momentous/stressful enough anyway. And more urgently, if we were asked to pull him from the school, we would have NO other seats open to us. So I cried and cried. Sobbed. Then declined the offer. We were SO disappointed. And disappointment is just such a bitch of an emotion. The irony is that Montessori is all about child-led learning, and we’re letting our child lead on the one thing that disqualifies him from child-led education. Such BS. The other bit of irony is that he’s probably going to be totally toilet-trained within a few weeks at any school, because he’s riiiiiight there. Boo hiss. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the whole thing now. Just totally burns me.

But la-dee-dah, he started PK3 at our local default public school. It’s not a bad/unsafe/dangerous school whatsoever. But having taught Montessori, that is my preference. And being a bilingual household, a bilingual school would also be my preference. Oh well. The DC school lottery is a special beast and we simply didn’t win the lottery.

He’s taking school really hard. He’s such a sensitive/clingy little guy, and has never been in a social setting like this, so we expected a big adjustment and we’re getting it. The first day he cried allllll day and didn’t pee/poop until evening. He was also starving when he got home, even though he’d eaten much of his lunch. The second day, he peed once on the toilet (at the insistence of the teacher) and told me he only cried two times. The teacher asked us to print out a wallet-sized family photo to keep in his pocket. The third day (yesterday), the teacher said he cried 80% of the time, but the 20% that he didn’t was good. The minute he saw us, he said, “I miss you so much today, Mama. Lionel, I’m back from school. I miss you so much. Where my daddy?” So he’s definitely taking in language from the teachers (we’re having to press him to keep using Papi instead of Daddy, so we’ll see how long that lasts.) He only peed once again, and only when coerced, and the minute we went through the door at home, he torrentially wet his pants. Today, he woke up with a runny nose, and his crying started in the car rather than at the classroom door. He said he peed his pants while in the carseat, but I think now it was a ploy to go home, because he was dry, and I told him his teachers had a change of clothes for him anyway. He asked to sleep and sleep at school, so maybe the runny nose will become a worse illness, or maybe it was another ploy. At the classroom, he agreed to pee in the toilet and exclaimed how hungry he was, all through dramatic tears, so I don’t know what to make of it all. He’s cheerful/unscathed at home, and doesn’t even act exhausted (though he looks it). And the cutest thing of all, even through his pitiful weeping one of the days, he consistently used please, thank you, excuse me, etc. It was precious. Anyway, I’m definitely able to detach and stay strong through this adjustment, but I’ll be so relieved when crying at drop-off is behind us. It’s just such a raincloud for starting the day.

Lionel is adjusting too, and definitely seems vaguely bored. He’s always been good at self-entertaining, but seems to want to interact with me more than usual, probably to make up for not having Lucian around. but it’s been refreshing to spend a bit more time watching him, since it’s evident when his wheels are turning, and gives me more patience/understanding when I see that in fact, he IS doing what I asked, just in a circuitous way, and I shouldn’t rush him. I need to be conscious of actively spending time with him, since it’s easy to feel like I get a break when I only have one of the boys. But we’ll find a rhythm soon. Today is only the second day I’m flying solo with all three kids all day, and I don’t have my footing yet. I’m starting from scratch with a new routine that includes school pickup/dropoff, a newborn, a new naptime, a workout, and meal prep, so understandably, it doesn’t resemble our free-flow from before. But little by little.

[jussivalonen]

Weird and Wonderful - The World of Saga

The world of Saga is absurd. You'll encounter robots with tvs for heads, a babysitter with her entrails hanging out and an author who hides radical messages of peace in erotic smut. Worry not though, it'll all make sense when you get started. And if it doesn't, you'll be so dazzled by the art that you won't even mind. The quality visuals support the great writing. Often while reading I'd screenshot quotes that especially struck me. Here's one given in answer to why the character is keeping their incurable illness a secret: "Because I don't want my final days in this universe to be filled with pity and sorrow. I want to spend this time doing what I like best for the people I care about most." Such nuggets of hard earned truth pop up often, but there's a lot of humor, one-liners and gags to leaven out the serious lessons. Just that one quote reveals that Saga isn't a typical space opera. Yes, there's an interplanetary war with enormous battles, bounty hunters chasing after the main characters and elaborate scheming, but that's just the setting. What the comic is truly about is the challenge of raising a child. Of the joys and sacrifices that parenthood brings with it. So take the plunge, get your hands on Saga volume 1 and enter the weird but wonderful world where cats can detect lies, grandparents teleport with swords and spells require secrets. Dark secrets like "I like the taste of breastmilk".

[autisticandroids]

Please may I have more fanfic of Dean breastfeeding Cas? Like all of it. Cas baby :)

this ask has been sitting in my inbox for a week and i've just been. thinkin about it

[autisticandroids]

OH my fucking god; Dean's soul is the breastmilk that nourishes Castiel

people love to say this

[autisticandroids]

Dean would absolutely have to breastfeed Endverse Cas. Think about it, Past Dean came from at time of abundant food, and Endverse Cas so hungry, so angry at Dean, so desperate for past Dean and his lovely addictive soul No more angry after so much warm milk. Dean thinks how Endverse Cas latches and drinks properly, unlike his own clueless version that has become fixated on cows and also asking weird hypotheticals about living in Dean's uterus

this might actually be my fave so far

[autisticandroids]

When you think about it, when Cas is human he's gonna be so weak - so, instead of kicking him out, Dean could start breastfeeding him then. It's his responsibility. Trouble is, very difficult to ween.

i love this one

[autisticandroids]

not lactation related but what if dean wants cas to worship his tits a bit and cas goes okay (gnaws until he draws blood because this is how flesh takes communion with flesh)

no that's how it goes. chomp

[autisticandroids]

Yes it was.

"Cas sucks at Dean’s nipple as though he expects milk to flow from it, and Dean takes a moment to smile at the image. Cas is using his teeth, just a little, and it hurts. Dean remembers how Mom used to complain to Dad about Sammy biting her when she fed him. But he doesn’t mind."

Dean loves this. And Cas deserves to be the baby. Dean should have just done this whenever they had a fight.

every day i receive asks and messages

[autisticandroids]

The breastmilk saga isn't a fetish to me... I'm a very celibate being, I just want to give birth to Cas and watch him grow up confident Ambrosia toddler milk ... for cherubs

hm.

[autisticandroids]

i think we should have deancas breastfeeding night

[autisticandroids]

Yes! Poor Cas fed Dean's breastmilk to survive but now he's addicted and too shy to ask! Is it ever coming back? Does he even deserve such a thing? Is it basically like eating Dean's soul? Can he taste His soul in the milk?? Should he stop?

oh i got another one

[autisticandroids]

Late 2 the party but I feel like this needs to be said. Anyways yes everyone is correct. The ideal deancas breastfeeding scenario is one where dean is breastfeeding cas. However the FUNNIEST deancas breastfeeding scenario is the opposite. Cas breastfeeds dean, they derive some sort of enjoyment from it, but both ultimately end up leaving that encounter vaguely unsatisfied and sort of unsettled by the whole thing.

yeah that's fair

[autisticandroids]

After the first time Dean feeds him, Cas is thinking wow he's a real solid animal, like a real mammal, a wild beast. Like a bee or a hippo. And Dean catches him staring at a baby cow drinking milk for ages

jesus christ