A Very Happy Weekend

Easter Weekend!  This was our last weekend off as a family for the next 8 weeks.  Yes! 8 weeks....​

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And, yes - we took advantage of the time off together.  Soren and I hit up an Easter Egg hunt in the morning in Washington Park, gathered materials for Easter buckets for Sunday, and got home in time for him to sneak in an hour nap before our neighborhood Egg hunt in the afternoon.  The evening was beautifully spent bringing our own Mt Carmel brew to Dusmesh for some sweet, sweet Indian food in the evening (which Soren delightfully scarfed up almost all the naan and more than half of my Paneer Masala.  The waitresses couldn't believe it... did I mention he is a huge​ flirt too??).

Then Sunday we were off to the Grandparents to hang out with cousins and snag some Ham.  That was Soren's third​ egg hunt and he had a blast with the girls.  The evening was spent with wine, my awesome dudes and the pup eating some homemade soup and munching cheeses.  It was, *sigh - perfect.  

I am beginning to strategize how I will make our intermittent day's off just as amazing.  Did I mention how awesome my fazam is yet?  Well, just in case - they are.  My 2 dudes and a pit - they complete me.  Here are some shots from our fun filled, action packed weekend.  Now off into the season home stretch and prep for Opera!​

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​Soren made a new friend at the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  These two blondies are too ​cute!

how do you maximize days off with your family?  how do you budget a busy schedule?​

13/52

'A portrait a week of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013'​​​

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His bed head.  I can't bring myself to cut his blond locks short and I LOVE his bed head.  He wears it so proudly apple juicin' it up before two​ Easter Egg hunts on Saturday.  Love him.

Autoimmune Deficiency

Eczema - A particular type of inflammatory reaction of the skin in which there are typically vesicles (tiny blister-like raised areas) in the first stage followed by erythema (reddening), edema (swelling), papules (bumps), and crusting of the skin followed, finally, by lichenification (thickening) and scaling of the skin. Eczema characteristically causes itching and burning of the skin.

Eczema, which is also called atopic dermatitis, is a very common skin problem. It may start in infancy, later in childhood, or in adulthood. Once it gets underway, it tends not to go quickly away.

​Yuck - I know.  Soren and I both have it and it is characterized under the autoimmune deficiencies.  Most medical professionals tend to blame it on consuming a food or the use of some kind of cream, soap, etc....  They never think a diet could be deficient in anything.  Well - except steroids apparently, their answer for any type of inflammation.  Since we are naturally supposed to take those anyway?!  (Yes - sarcasm)

As it turns out - the two of us are deficient in something.  What that is - I am not so certain, but Juice Plus+ seems to be fulfilling the void.  I ran out of my sample pack 2 days ago (we got our shipment today - yeah!) and I had two new patches in two different locations yesterday.  That speaks volumes.  My eczema was disappearing just last week - two days off a whole food supplement and I have brand new patches.  Unbelievable.​

Nutrition is so important and I fear we take it too lightly at times.  There's a pill for this - a steroid for that, a supplement for that side effect.  NO!  Did we ever think to check our diets?  To be sure we are absorbing the natural micro-nutrients our bodies need to thrive?  We thought we did, but we weren't serious enough about it.  I got serious - I wasn't going to be stuck on steroids the rest of my life and I was only paving a road for disaster with my son.  Lead by example, right?

This is a real deal product and I stand behind it because of what it has done for this family.  If you don't believe me - watch this video with Dr. William Sears (I bring him up A LOT in this blog - the man that coined Attachment Parenting.  He's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!)​.  Even better - here is a great, short article about autoimmune diseases and how Juice Plus+ has treated them.  It gives a quick, concise explanation on what happens with these diseases and how whole foods can affect them positively.

So now we are all on it (Juice Plus+) - and feeling fantastic.  Soren gets pumped for his gummies and its been awesome seeing his red cheeks turn pale pink again.  For more info click here - and to order click here.  If you have any questions or concerns contact me here. ​

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​This was one of the first shots I have taken in awhile, his cheeks weren't bright red.  My happy little reader!

are you on Juice Plus+?  how has nutrition affected your life/autoimmune deficiency?​

Home Birth

In reading Birth as an American Rite of Passage ​By Robbie E. Davis-Floyd - I came across this fascinating passage following a fact filled chapter on the debate between Home Birth and Hospital Birth.  I feel her conclusion best sums up the debate:

Birth is an amazingly resilient natural process.  It can be technocratically de- and reconstructed in the the hospital, or protected and nurtured at the home, and it will still turn out well almost all of the time.  "Safety" is the disguise worn by technocratic ideology.  The real issue in the home versus hospital debate is not safety but the conflict between radically opposed systems of value and belief.​

​Well done Davis-Floyd.  Well done.  

This is a great debate and one I have often as a doula and natural birth advocate.  I was that mother - 'We will be safer in the hospital, they have what we need should anything go wrong'.  But nothing did go wrong. ​

But it's not my birth experience I am worried about.  It's all of the future birth experiences being pre-determined by scientific studies that have been dissected and in some cases disproven.  Why can't the mother and her partner make this choice?  Why do we leave it up to society to choose what is safest for the ones we love? 

I think these are such important questions to ask.  If a hospital makes one feel safer, if that is a haven for them - I understand.  It was for us.  But if home is that place of safety - the warmth and comfort of one's own surroundings allows for a safe and loving birth - then why is it quickly questioned and discouraged? 

what are your thoughts on home birth?  have you thought/or had a home birth experience of your own?​

Why a Doula?

I LOVE this video.  It's from the ToLabor site and think it is a great, quick - concise response to why having a doula at a birth is so important.

Isn't a doula a part of the body?  I get that all the time...  No, no - a doula attends birth, as a birth advocate - for you.  Provides prenatal consultation and aids in postpartum.  Isn't that what doctors and nurses do?  mmmm... kinda...but not quite the same thing.  Doctors, Nurses and Midwives are wonderful people, but are practitioners.  They are there to catch babies and watch vital signs of both baby and momma.  Doulas... we are different.

​We are not a partner, husband or wife.  We are not a practitioner.  We are compassion.  We are love - we are support.  We hold your hand when you need it, provide breaks to the partner and make sure your birth is the dance you have designed it to be.  We empower. 

Having had a natural birth with our son, I understand more than ever - this is a civil right.  We had to police our son's birth to be sure we were given the opportunity to have the dance we designed for his birthday.  It changed my perspective, my hopes and dreams for myself.  I no longer can stand back or keep quiet.  I want to be there for other mothers.​

Mothers and partners that want to know more about labor and birth.  That need postpartum help.  I want to provide that love and support - the calm and comfort, empowering them that they ​are ​doing this.  They are ​bringing this child into the world and it is the most beautiful and unimaginable opportunity and moment.

For more information about Doulas and my services click here.​