christmas cousins

Posted in familyness by

cousin cutout

ahhhh, it never gets old, does it? sticking kids heads in wooden cutouts. it is funny. yes, yes it is. celebrating christmas with these girls gets better every year. I’m really glad they have each other. they love each other immensely. I hope it will last a lifetime for them, as it has for me. i’m sure we’ll go through some awkwardness in high school when cousins start to distance because you don’t know if your cousin is cool because, shit, you don’t even know if you’re cool. but then cousins reconvene in adulthood and are all like “hells yeah, you’re cool and i’m cool. our family is the coolest!”  just speaking from slight experience…

charlie brown cousins

but i’m getting ahead of myself. these days are filled with cousin love and happiness at the simple things in life, like imitating charlie brown kids outside of restaurants. i really just love them right now. smiley…hearts…smiles…flowers…love…emotions…love.

ps. that little guy knows that he is in for it with these two already. just look at him. sorry little man.

sleepytime tea

Posted in yum yum eat good by

schmidts

sleepy schmidts

babies sleep through meals in a restaurant. almost-4-year-olds do not. they might sleep on the way into them, though. hubster and i took darla to a quite a number of dinners-out when she was a babe. we just did some babywearing and she slept the whole time! i can’t even believe that i once thought toting her along was so much work. we haven’t been doing the restaurant thing very much lately for several reasons but one being that darla is pretty hard to contain these days. it was nice to get back to an old favorite even if darla did wake up at the table and turn the table place card holders into a set of cymbals.

oh. well.

lucky

Posted in doula work by

there are days, even on the heels of a great birth and a fantabulous prenatal sesh, that i question my calling to birth work.

yesterday i was sending up little conversations to the cosmos asking for guidance and some reassurance that i’m on the right path. lo and behold, i received a notification that i was the winner of a national contest from The Midwives Alliance of North America for their Doula Love package. i am so pumped!

and immediately after i received a message requesting an interview for services next year.

thank you, universe, HP, and MANA. i am feeling like one lucky lady today. sharing another one of these great vid-yos just to celebrate.

overwhelmed

Posted in Momma Needs a minute... by

i’m feeling just a bit overwhelmed over here. excuse me this, if you will.

there’s normal life stresses. there’s the list of things i want to be able to force myself to accomplish on the spot. then there’s the holidays. i don’t need to elaborate. you all know what i mean.

but on top of it all is the overwhelming emotion of this craziness that is happening all over our country.  i feel we’re a people united by the feeling that it’s almost just too much to take. a gandalfian voice keeps ringing in my head saying “how can we endure it?”

we are not naive enough anymore to think that this will never happen again. we know better. we will just wait until it happens again. and again. and again. and our hearts will break and we will wonder how we will endure it.

we know better than to think that it could never happen to us. the fact that 2 other men were arrested on the heels of the connecticut shooting for plotting the EXACT SAME THING means that this is reaching epidemic proportions.

how can we endure it?

i don’t have any answers. my for-the-moment solution is to just share my feelings of being overwhelmed by it all, of standing beside those of you who feel the pain and the fear and the disbelief, sharing my need to just crawl in bed tonight and have a good cry because i’ve been holding it back for days.

sometimes we need to just stand in that flux and flush our emotions before we start scrambling for a solution. good luck sorting through yours.

sending lots of love and positivity out there. huggie wuggies.

and this.

Posted in doula work by

dear santa,

please, please bring me this. i will wear it proudly around my neck while helping parents bring their babies into the world.

smiles.

pregnantbelly

i wasn’t going to do another post about an material item that i want but this is sort of a celebratory post. i just got to witness another amazing birth. and this time something just clicked. i’ve been grooving along on this path for a while but today pieces fell into place. momma’s got a whole new bag of tricks.

today is the day i became a doula.

hypnobabies

Posted in doula work by

when i did my DONA doula training my instructor spent a good bit of time speaking about Hypnobabies. i loved the idea of it then and have often thought i would seek Hypnobabies education for myself whenever wrucker #2 is on the way. through my involvement with Birthworkers of Central Ohio i have been able to meet and get to know a few Hypnobabies instructors, one being the sweet miss Maloree Munn. Maloree and her cutie pie son were kind enough to meet up with us for a play date and us mommas got to talk birth. i’ve asked Maloree to answer a few questions about the Hypnobabies program.

ladies gestating babies take note. enter Ms. Munn:

1) can you sum up in 3 sentences or less the essence of hypnobabies?

Oh boy! Ok, Hypnobabies is a COMPLETE childbirth course that also teaches moms to use Hypnosis during their birthing time. Our moms are able to walk, talk, change position and move around during their labor by using our Eyes Open Childbirth Hypnosis. Our Hypno-moms and their birth partner also learn four other hypnosis techniques, which enables the mom to enter hypnosis easily and aids her in an easy, comfortable birth.

2) does hypnobabies differ from other childbirth prep courses? how so?

Yes, it sure does. The Hypnobabies course is very detailed. We teach our moms everything they need to know about natural childbirth, staying healthy and low risk, and how to incorporate hypnosis during their birthing time. Our “Eyes Open Childbirth Hypnosis” is completely unique to Hypnobabies, and is a very popular reason why people choose Hypnobabies. We are the only course that teaches this technique of Hypnosis, which allows our moms to remain comfortable and completely anesthetized while being mobile in their birthing time. One of the most powerful things that our course does for moms is eliminate fear that is associated with pregnancy and birth. We do this by literally re-programming the mom’s brain through Hypnosis CDs, Hypnosis scripts, and their “Daily Pregnancy Affirmations” CD which provide positive suggestions to the mothers about their pregnancy and birth. We also have changed many of the traditional words used in childbirth classes and birth to more positive words. Our classes are taught in a very positive way. And our moms also are taught to have a “Protective Bubble of Peace” which ensures their mind will only accept the positive views on pregnancy and birth.

3) what is your own personal experience with hypnobabies?

When I was pregnant with my son I came across a forum on babycenter.com that was titled “Hypnosis for Childbirth”. I was completely freaked out by the thought of people being Hypnotized to have babies but I was also intrigued. I started reading the posts in this forum. I read comments like “un-medicated and pain free birth”, “30 hours of labor that felt like 10 hours”, “5 hour labor for a first time mom” “really comfortable birth without an epidural.” After hours of reading birth stories and watching Hypnobabies birth videos I knew this was something I had to do. I started the Hypnobabies course when I was 20 weeks pregnant and it was amazing how different my pregnancy was from 20 weeks and on. The second half of my pregnancy was much more positive, I was much more in-tune
with my body and baby, and I just felt better. My confidence level was so much higher when it came to natural childbirth. And I was able to make some really tough decisions at the end of my pregnancy. When my birthing time started I was so calm and relaxed and I knew just what I needed to do. My “pressure waves” really did only feel like pressure. And I was so comfortable the whole time. My husband/birth partner was such a great support and was very involved as well. After 7 hours, and 25 minutes of pushing, I was able to meet the sweetest baby boy that has ever entered my life. My midwife had never seen a first time mom be so calm and relaxed before. She had many questions for me over the next couple of days.

Because my birth experience was so relaxed and peaceful, I am able to remember it so clearly. Once I had my Hypnobabies experience, I had to recommend it to every pregnant woman I came in contact with. Which led me to become an instructor. And it really is the best feeling to be teaching other women how to give birth peacefully. I just love it.

4) what is your most important piece of advice for expecting moms?

Well, I will tell you what I always tell expectant moms: Please look into Hypnobabies if you plan to have a natural birth. It is amazing how peaceful and comfortable your birth can be. And please don’t let anyone tell you how your pregnancy and birth will be for you. Not all moms experience morning sickness, not all moms are miserable their last month of pregnancy, not all moms experience pain or discomfort in their birthing time. Every woman and her body and baby are so different, and your pregnancy and birth can be positive!

I look forward to learning more from Maloree this coming year. If you’re in the Columbus, OH area and are looking for a childbirth education class please consider Hypnobabies education with Maloree! Her information can be found at her page Special Deliveries.

Simply Tangled Giveaway

Posted in giveaway, Shopping by

we love giving and getting gifts from simply tangled ceramics so i thought i would extend the giving to you, dear readers!

one of my favorite christmas gifts from last year was my highly coveted ceramic flask. for mother’s day mike gifted me a matching vase. both these items adorn our kitchen window shelf because they make me so very happy to see every morning. and just last week darla and i gave mike a belt crafted from lance’s handy work.

my point is, we love their work. we feel very lucky to have such talented friends. we hope you will love it too!smallyellowbowltopsmallyellowbottom

simply tangled has generously offered up this hand crafted bowl to a MomJeanz reader. If it were coming to our house it would become a lovely little candy dish to stow our non-individually wrapped christmas candy. or used for some peppermint ice cream for our little miss.

but it’s not coming to our house. it’s going to yours. do what you want with it. keep it or give it away as a gift since that’s what the season is all about.

head over to simplytangled.com and check our their portfolio. leave a comment on this post letting us know your favorite simply tangled piece and you’ll be entered. winner will be announced friday.

  looking forward to your comments and GOOD LUCK.

oh, and there will be a discount for readers on their etsy site. stay tuned later in the week for discount info!