Temporary Single-Parenting, Boobies in Public, and the Home Kombucha Factory

Michael has been gone about three days so far, and the help I was hoping to have has been non-existent so far. he made it to Vancouver and then to Winnipeg, and he is spending time with his team before the tournament begins. Hopefully my language skills won't devolve from 95% of my speech talking to the cats and a baby while he is gone. Luckily, Penelope is pretty stinkin' cute, and makes for good company. She also gives me a break here and there, while she's sleeping or sometimes busying herself in her bouncer. We have plans to meet up with a friend tomorrow, so that should be fun and a change of pace. 

So far we've gone for lots of short walks around the neighborhood, visiting the local playgrounds and cafe, our mums group, and the farmers' market. Penelope is getting better at napping regularly, so I guess that's one of the positives of less going on to interrupt her "schedule". She's also started tasting solid foods, although the only thing she's really indicated that she likes is banana. 

Speaking of babies eating, I just found out that women are finally legally protected to breastfeed in public in all 50 states in the US. On the one hand, this is a win. On the other hand, that took a really long time. Women have been breastfeeding their babies for thousands of years, and only recently in our modern times is it more acceptable to do so in public. It's sad that so many people have a problem about it that it even needs to be legally protected. Here in Australia, it is legal everywhere as well. I saw a comment a woman left on social media telling other women that even though it's now legal, to be "respectful and classy" and try not to expose their whole breasts in public while they are feeding (adding that she was a mom who breastfed her kids, as if that made her an authority or something). I thought this was a kind of un-classy comment. I know quite a few women who are breastfeeding these days, and none of them are trying to expose themselves. They're trying to nourish their babies and probably also stop them from crying, as efficiently as possible. There is absolutely nothing sexual about it, and it has nothing to do with how "respectful" or "classy" they are as people. God forbid that for a moment, during a transition, their nipple is visible. I personally think that if anyone has a problem with that, it's just that - their problem. If they're so offended by someone trying to feed their child, maybe they shouldn't leave their houses then. Something tells me that most of these people that are so offended by breastfeeding woman's nipple are not also offended by seeing a man's exposed nipple at the beach or the pool, which would be just as absurd. New parents are judged enough on everything they do to/for their babies, so I'm glad that this is at least a step towards allowing them to do what they need to do without judgment.

And now for something completely different... My little home kombucha factory is running nicely so far. Earlier on, one of my bottles exploded due to over-carbonation/use-of-a-cheap-bottle, and we are very lucky that neither I, nor Penelope, were near it when it happened. It is actually good that it did happen while I was home, though, so I would know what happened and could look it up and solve the problem in the future (as opposed to thinking the cats knocked it over or something), and clean it up immediately. Now we know how to avoid it, and I even keep the bottles away in a cardboard box, so that in the unlikely event that one does explode again, it would be contained and not send random shards around the apartment.