Thursday, South Florida was hit by Hurricane Katrina. She made landfall in Hollywood, Florida as a category 1 storm. Packing 75-90 MPH winds, she soaked the east coast of Florida and jogged south as she made her way to the Gulf of Mexico. Although Elena, Emma and I were spared this time 1.4 million people lost power, among them friends and family. Thankfully no one we know of was hurt as a result of this storm. As I write this, Katrina is making her way north toward Louisiana. She is a much bigger and angrier category 5 Hurricane packing winds in excess of 175 MPH. Category 5 is the highest ranking a storm can get. To put things in perspective, the following table lists the wind speed and damage description associated with each category:

Say a little prayer if you can for the people of Louisiana as they brace themselves for Katrina's explosive arrival.

This week we had a Dr's visit for a routine checkup. Emma appears to be in position. Let's hope that she stays that way. With all the kicking and squirming you never know. Elena is convinced that Emma is not going to wait to celebrate her birthday on October 15th.

We also attended a breastfeeding class on Tuesday. I was the only male in the room out of six woman. It was very informative and we learned a lot. Like, the average length of time a woman breastfeeds world-wide is 4.2 years. In the US, the average length of time a woman breastfeeds is 0.25 years (or three months). Breast milk changes as the child develops, providing them with the specialized nutrients they need as they get older. Breast milk immunizes a child and reduces the incidents of many illnesses, diseases and maladies such as painful ear infections, upper and lower respiratory ailments, allergies, intestinal disorders, colds, viruses, staph, strep and e coli infections, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, many childhood cancers, meningitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, salmonella, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS) as well as lifetime protection from Crohn's Disease, ulcerative colitis, some lymphomas, insulin dependent diabetes, and for girls, breast and ovarian cancer. For more info click here. Elena's personal goal is to breastfeed Emma for her first six months of life. We know how difficult it will be but the benefits are too hard to ignore so we will try (or rather Elena will try). Here are some more reasons to breastfeed.

Emma received a package from Hawaii from her Uncle Fernando and Aunt Jennifer on Friday. They went nuts and loaded up a huge box full of goodies for Emma. She was jumping around in Elena's tummy as we opened her gifts for her. Thanks for the lovely presents. :)

Tomorrow we are scheduled for "Infant/Toddler CPR" and Thursday we will be seeing Emma in 3D for the first time. How cool is that! We will actually get to see her face and body in 3D as opposed to the black and white ultrasound pictures we are used to. I will post the pictures here Thursday night so be sure to come back Friday morning for a special mid-week update.