Served Fresh Daily.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama, one of my favorite bloggers. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama, one of my favorite bloggers. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
I now have a 3 year old. This past Monday was her birthday, one she entered a bit reluctantly insisting she wasn’t going to be 3, she was staying 2. When I told her the day before her birthday “Yay! Tomorrow is you’re birthday, you’re going to be 3!” She scowled at me and said “No, I’m going to be Evangeline. I like 2, I’m not going to be 3.” As a friend put it, if anybody could stop aging it would be her.
But yesterday she did in fact turn 3 and decided after chocolate cupcakes and a few presents maybe being 3 years old wasn’t so bad.
Three of Squiggle Bug’s favorite things are suckers, stickers and swinging. Constantly asking to go to the playground there is little else she enjoys quite so much. And so it was after a busy day of homeschooling, writing, working, house work, phone calls (including an interview in New Zealand) and other miscellaneous activities I decided to brave the Houston cold (hey, the high was only 46 and with wind chill 42, don’t make too much fun of me) and bundle us all up to play on the playground. I thought of everything, fruit for snacks, a blanket to sit on, my knitting, warm cozy hats I made on everyone’s head, layers, the camera, etc. Feeling successful at juggling all my different hats today I set out confident and ready to enjoy this time with my children. We’d play in the cold, I’d knit and keep an eye on Smunchie and then we’d all come home for something hot to drink and soup and soup and homemade bread for dinner. I was like freakin’ Caroline Ingals.
I felt proud of myself getting us all to the park even after dealing with drama about who was riding in the stroller or the Beco, what hat was on what head, and who got the purple water bottle. It was cold for Houston but that didn’t stop us, we bounded energetically to the park collecting seed pods, leaves, interesting sticks and rocks along the way. I had opted out of the Beco after drama had ensued so I was carrying Smunchie while Squiggle Bug road in the stroller. Should have gotten the carrier.
Finding a patch of sun at the park I set about taking pictures of Smunchie as the big girls dashed off to climb the kiddie rock wall, hit the slides and swing. Colder than I expected I figured we’d last maybe a half hour and I would knit with frozen fingers.
It was then that Squiggle Bug appeared by my side, eyes wide, her agitated feet dancing.
“Mommy, I need to go potty!”
Uh-oh. We didn’t go before we left the house! I should know better! I’m experienced. This was a rookie mistake! (In my defense I haven’t had a 3YO in 5 years.)
“Mommy, I need to go potty NOW!”
Wildly I looked around. No bathrooms at this park and no place to duck behind a bush to tinkle, it would take us at least 10 minutes to get home. Dread filled my stomach.
“Can you hold it?” I asked her, already knowing the answer.
Twisting and turning, her feet pounding the ground as she ran in place, her hands clutching desperately to keep it all in, an anguished expression on her face she looked at me as although I had just spoken to her Russian. There was no way she could hold it, she didn’t even understand the concept. As though we were in fact speaking different languages she slowly and loudly expressed her desperation.
“I’M GOING. TO. GO. PEE-PEE. I NEED. TO. GO POTTY! HELP ME MOMMY!”
Behind me I heard some laughter and a quick glance back revealed lines of kids for school pick up at the elementary school that shared our park. The first group of kids, all about 3rd grade were staring our direction, some laughing. Lolie and The Storyteller were ducking behind some bushes, embarrassed by the unwanted attention at our situation and Smunchie was happily munching a piece of mulch.
Suddenly, Squiggle Bug froze. Her face morphed from anguish and desperation to shock and horror.
“I pee-pee” she barely whispered her hands up in the air.
I dropped to my knees in front of her, followed her gaze down and saw little streams running out of her pant leg. Her bottom lip trembled and I wrapped my arms around her as she stood there. And she peed. And peed. And peed.
And peed.
Like a damn breaking, there was a pee flood down her legs. I swear, she must have held it all day because I started to worry I was going to be kneeling in a rather large puddle of urine.
Cowboy stance assumed she looked up at me when it was all over.
“I go on the slide now?”
Our park trip lasted all of 5 minutes, once home and cleaned up we warmed up with hot chocolate, snuggled and read a book and ate apples. Nodding off against me holding her mostly eaten apple loosely in her hand as I nursed Smunchie, I heard Squiggle Bug whisper.
“I had fun at the playground mommy. Can we do it again tomorrow?”
Uh, I hope not. I really, really hope not. Not without going potty first, that’s for sure.
Hi XiLan,
I again apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. The Page was disabled initially disabled in error and appears to have been affected by some sort of glitch.
We are currently looking into the matter that you reported, and will respond as soon as possible. Please be assured that Facebook takes users’ concerns around content very seriously. We apologize for any inconvenience this delay might present.
Your Page has again been reactivated and you should be able to use it shortly.
Thanks for your understanding,
Lysander
User Operations
Facebook
(XiLan is the username of Jessi, the person that originally helped me set up The Leaky Boob on Facebook.)
The thing is I don’t understand. It sounds like he just said: “I’m sorry, we here at Facebook don’t know what we’re doing. It must be some sort of computer thing, it’s completely out of our hands.”
Mark Zuckerberg, get someone who knows what they are doing STAT! As TIMES man of the year, surely you understand the importance of hiring people who are not only experienced and trained but also give a damn when they screw up.
The thing is, this “glitch” he speaks of continues to disable the accounts of women, other pages and groups that have shared breastfeeding photos. Additionally users and pages deactivated receive little to no response to their inquires as to why. I got some sort of an apology and an excuse but most do not. It’s starting to feel like we’re living with an abusive partner. Many of us that share breastfeeding photos are on edge now, there has been a rash of deletions and more coming out and saying they would share breastfeeding photos but they are afraid of getting pulled.
So why do we stay? I’ve addressed before why The Leak Boob is needed on Facebook and why we choose to carry on our little community there. But still, wouldn’t we feel safer if we moved on to some place where accounts don’t just suddenly disappear?
Of course we would. However, I’m refusing to accept being told to hide to feed my babies, virtually or otherwise. The easy access on Facebook makes it such a simple step for women and those that support breastfeeding to participate in The Leaky B@@b community, providing a wealth of information and resources in a place where they are already active and connected. Beyond that though having an active presence on Facebook does something else: normalize breastfeeding. Shunning breastfeeding moms to “discreet” (read: obscure) corners of the internet does nothing to encourage accepting breastfeeding as a normal and beneficial piece of family life. We have to stop communicating one thing (i.e. “breast is best”) and doing another (i.e “but I don’t want to see it“).
Facebook told the ABC 13 reporter that they are not against breastfeeding and that breastfeeding photos are permitted on the site. In an email response to her inquiry regarding the deletion of The Leaky Boob they invited her to search the site stating she would see many breastfeeding materials pop up. She did and yes, there were other groups and materials related to breastfeeding including photos. They restated their terms of service regarding nudity, obscenity, hateful content, etc. and maintained that they are pro-breastfeeding.
Yet just as recently as yesterday another page was deleted for breastfeeding photos and another just a few days before that. Several participants on The Leaky B@@b have had photos removed and a warning issued that they posted a photo that violated the TOS. There are at least 7 others that I know of that have had their accounts deactivated, 1 after posting just 1 breastfeeding photo within just the last week. Historic Photos and Prints of Breastfeeding had a good chunk of their photos and art prints removed this week as well. Personally I had 5 photos deleted and warnings issued last week and am surprised my account has not been deactivated. This just a sampling and it continues to grow. Groups and pages like Removed: The List, Stop Deleting Mother’s Support Groups F. B., Breastfeeding and Birth Pics that were deleted by bots, and more dedicated to keeping tract of who was removed and petitioning to bring back users are being created almost as quickly as breastfeeding photos are being removed.
When these individuals and groups request information as to why they receive the same form email I did. Upon appeal they receive yet another form email. If they hear anything at all. Facebook may claim to the media that they support breastfeeding and women but their actions and lack of communication with the users they’ve deactivated indicate something entirely different. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, looks like a duck…
Hello Lysander,
Thank you for your personal response regarding the deactivation and request for reinstatement for The Leaky B@@b page. I genuinely appreciate your apology and having the page reinstated again.
As excited as we are to have The Leaky B@@b back, the situation has not changed. Any page, individual, or photo is at risk of being deleted when related to breast health. Because of message size constraints, I will send the list of pages and profiles still deleted to you under separate cover.
Facebook has a responsibility to its customers to clearly communicate that they are pro-women by creating a new way to moderate materials flagged as obscene and providing protection for pages that register as breast health or breastfeeding related.
By reinstating The Leaky B@@b page, twice, Facebook indicates that you are aware there is a significant problem with your current system and it appears this has been an ongoing problem since 2007.
I respect that you need a system to maintain a site free of inappropriate groups and pornographic images and I appreciate the efforts to keep Facebook safe. However, when images, pages and user accounts are deleted it is nearly impossible for these to reinstated without the involvement of the media. The lack of response for requests to appeal disabled accounts or at least to receive an explanation for the action communicates you do not support breastfeeding or breast health which means you do not support women.
Lysander, I know you are not personally responsible for this flaw with Facebook, however, you are the only person that has attempted to contact me personally. I would appreciate your attention to the list of names and pages I’ve included that are currently deactivated for posting breastfeeding photos.
I would love to report in my next round of media interviews that Facebook has a solution to this problem, can you tell me how you plan to make this situation permanently better? Also, when can the deleted pages/profiles expect to be reinstated?
Thank you for your time and quick response on this matter.
Sincerely,
Jessica Martin-Weber
{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama, one of my favorite bloggers. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama, one of my favorite bloggers. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama, one of my favorite bloggers. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
I have a bunch of reviews to do and I’m excited to start with one from a Leaky I’ve known for years. I knew Lizabeth before she ever leaked a drop. Now though, she’s a veteran breastfeeding mom running her business, A Mark of My Own, and caring for her 3 year old daughter. She also makes awesome apple pineapple cider and is a good friend.
This past week, in the middle of preparing for Thanksgiving (she had 3 turkeys in a cooler and baking to do!), Lizabeth had our family over to glaze some of her beautiful unfinished ornaments and to drink some of that delicious cider of hers. She had a dazzling selection of bisque laid out for us and we all selected our favorites. Amazingly, even with all the hubbub and little ones afoot, not a single ornament was broken and no paint ended up on the carpet or walls. While I consider avoiding disaster a success in an of itself, the beauty of the ornaments we get to bring home is even better. We painted well over a dozen of her designs and are excited to have some beautiful handmade ornaments not only for our own tree but to give as well.
Through A Mark of My Own Lizabeth creates handmade works of art that are beautiful left plain just as they are or as a canvas for customers to unleash their own creative flare. As gifts, gift tags on packages, family memory keepsakes or to create the perfect designer touch for your tree, A Mark of My Own helps you bring a unique artistic touch to your holidays. Lizabeth fired the ornaments we glazed in her kiln but customers that order through her can either glaze and fire their own (pottery studios will make kilns available for a small fee usually) or use other art supplies that don’t require firing in a kiln.
The bisque ornaments- I want a basket of these sitting on my table as decoration:
The artists at work:
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| Of course I breastfed while painting, Smunchie got hungry! |
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| I swear, this was totally unintentional, I didn’t even realize it until Lizabeth pointed out that it looked like a b@@b. |
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| Considered writing “The Leaky B@@b” on it but stuck with the rainbow plan. |
The finished product after firing:
In case you’re not sure, here is a little information about what these ornaments are.
Q: What is “bisque” or “bisqueware”?
A: Let’s first start with “greenware”. It is simply air-dried clay, an unfired clay form that can be destroyed by water.
Once the greenware has been fired it is called “bisqueware,” fired ware that resists MOST water, but is beyond the point of being able to be destroyed by normal means. At this point it may be decorated with paint, such as acrylics, colored with a permanent marker, decoupaged, etc.
Bisqueware is also the point where most potters will apply glaze. “Glaze ware” (or finished ware) are ceramic forms that have been bisque fired and then glazed (creates a shiny surface as well as adds protection to the piece). The forms are fired one last time after a glaze is applied, this causes the glaze to adhere and usually pushes the piece to full vitrification (accepts NO water).
Lizabeth is a delightful WAHM to work with, be sure to check out her shop and let her know I sent you. Tomorrow she is having a sale for CyberMonday that you won’t want to miss. I’m already planning my next ornament, I’m thinking beeswax block crayons or oil pastels with marker… The possibilities are endless!
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| Squiggle Bug and Lizabeth’s daughter Zuzu enjoy homemade tomato basil soup and cheese together after painting. |
{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama, one of my favorite bloggers. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.
