We are crazy busy.

Soumaila and I are insanely busy these days. Soumaila is working 40-50 hours a week doing strenuous labor weeding and mowing solar panel farms in hot, humid North Carolina. He's also writing new songs, learning to play guitar, and studying for his GED. Oh yes, and he is busy playing with Nassim in the evenings too. Nassim is such a joker. He wakes up in the mornings and pretends to fall down on the bed over and over again saying "oh, no" or "whoa!" He also loves playing chase me games, and just laughing and dancing around the apartment. Of course running outside pretty much tops everything.

Nassim is at a new Spanish immersion daycare. The transition was a little difficult and there is not as much close supervision as I would like outside. However the caregivers are very loving to the children, and Nassim has some good buddies there. It is so funny to hear these little kids squeal, "Nassim! Nassim!" when he comes to daycare. Nassim seems to enjoy his friends, but prefers to follow his own interests. He doesn't mind a friend coming to see what he's doing, but doesn't feel compelled when invited to do something by one of his pals. He also prefers shaking hands to hugging. Some of his friends try to hug him and when he politely declines by sticking his arms out and shaking his head, they have bit him!

I am in clinical and class about 26 hours a week now, and starting October that will go up to 38 hours a week, and that doesn't include any outside work or studying. I am studying to be an internationally certified lactation consultant through the school of public health here at UNC. This training program is one of only 12 in the country, and ours will be the first accredited program in the country. This program is one of three pathways to becoming an IBCLC and includes a minimum of 90 didactic hours and 200 clinical hours followed by an international exam. I can't say enough about how much I love this program. Everything I learn is fascinating and heartening. We talk about really cool research in breastfeeding and I could go on for hours about this miraculous stuff! To name two things I think are particularly amazing are Lactoferrin which is involved with helping iron bind to the hemoglobin, and with bone mineralization. Also, HAMLET cells in breastmilk which KILL tumor cells while leaving normal cells unaffected. Crazy.

I have my first exam next week, so I better get to studying or get to bed!