Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen Things about motherhood, pregnancies, babies, mine and in general as Shoshana sees it mainly by surfing the web. 1. Some tribes of people, like the Assam in Africa, don't call themselves families. They call themselves "maharis", or "motherhoods." [I like "families" coz I am sure that my children are much better off with my husband around fathering them too.] 2. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the orders that made Mother's Day a national holiday. [I didn't know this, but it's one more reason to remember President Wilson] 3. The average child will eat 15 pounds of cereal in a year. [Except my DS1 as he's allergic to most cereal. He does eat a lot of meat. It's like Atkin's diet, except unintentional, y'all] 4. Aside from medical costs, it's been determined that new parents in the U.S. typically spend $7,000 in a baby's first year on everything from diapers to formula to day care. [Hmm, I don't think I've reached this number yet. Maybe because my baby wears a lot of hand-me-downs from his older brothers, no daycare, and he's breastfeed.] 5. Babies in the womb will also react to sudden loud noises, even if their mother's ears are muffled. [I knew this one because my daughter, while I was pregnant with her, does not like my DH snoring on my lap. She actually kicked him in response to the snoring. I'll never forget it...the kick was strong enough to interrupt my husband's snores] 6. Children born in the month of May are on the average 200 grams heavier at birth than children born in any other month. [I'll never know, I never gave birth in May. I wonder why this is?] 7. A survey conducted at Iowa State College in 1969 suggests that a parent's stress at the time on conception plays a major role in determining a baby's sex. [Hmm, like, a "y" chromosome will likely be "shaken" off if "stressed" enough? What about genetics?] 8. During pregnancy, the uterus expands to 500 times its normal size. [Mine is much much bigger! I knew it!] 9. Human reproduction follows lunar time rather than sidereal, or solar, time: Gestation is about 266 days -- nine lunar months -- and the menstrual period is one lunar month. [Is this why we have so many lunatics running loose?] 10. Sweden has the lowest birth rate in the world, 1 in 100. Malawi, in Africa, has the highest, 5.3 in 100. [How come the Chinese has the most people?] 11. In 1996 there were 100,750 (50, 375 sets) twins, 5,298 (1766 sets) triplets, 560 (140 sets) quadruplets, and 81 (16 sets) quintuplets and higher born in the USA. [These are probably NOT all nature, I bet.] 12. The child tends to be of the same sex as the parent who is under less stress. [I have four boys, enough said!] According to Aristotle, wind direction determined whether a baby would be a boy or a girl. Well, as I never really made love and conceived in a naturally windy place, I cannot say. 13. According to a survey, women prefer blue bedrooms more than other colors; men are happier with white bedrooms. [I'm with the men on this one, and my husband doesn't care which way, as long as I am happy.]