Health & Wellness
Health & Wellness
Matrescence
April 18, 2013
Lunchtime.Sweet baby Apple was sound asleep and my two "big" kids were eating at the table. I was sitting between them and after a few moments Ainsleigh creeped over and climbed up on my lap. She was facing towards me and grabbed my cheeks, looked me straight in the eyes and smiled....over and over again in between kisses on my cheeks.Something about the way the sun was shining behind her, something about those sweet dimples that she has.Something about the way her tiny fingers were stroking my hair and clinging to me.Something about the way she clenches on when she thinks I am about to get up.She, too, wants it to last.I desperately wanted to jump up and grab my camera but I didn't. I held her tight. Soaked it in. And am doing the best job that I can right now to repaint it as a memory.
The weather here in Texas is changing.
It nudges at my soul.
Today I was thinking.
Recently I had to take a personality test for some "work" related things. We wanted to see where we fit best
Health & Wellness
Fitness
February 06, 2013
I can’t believe we are entering the second month of 2013 already! I am among the many people who welcomed the new year by re-examining their hopes and goals for the upcoming year - and just like so many others - that included my health and fitness. I’m an urban mama and that means that I travel on foot a lot. I walk everyday! I take the kids to music class, the library, the playground and the grocery store. Still, all that walking isn’t always getting my heartrate up. What we do usually resembles more of a leisurely stroll than a brisk powerwalk (unless we are running to catch the bus, then it’s a comical sprint). So, at the beginning of this year I decided that I was going to try to make all those steps count by trying to take them a little more quickly and deliberately. I’m hoping this makes them a better workout that naturally fits into my life - and maybe I’ll even end up with some extra minutes for myself since I’m shaving time off my commute.
Now, nearly a month into this
Health & Wellness
Matrescence
October 22, 2012
Christy Turlington Burns is a pretty incredible example of just how much one mom can do: International supermodel, check. Designer, check. Mother of two, check. And in 2010, Christy founded the organization Every Mother Counts (EMC), which helps fund programs that allow mothers around the world to get prenatal care and medical support to safely give birth. This month, Every Mother Counts and Ergobaby are launching the Ergobaby Guest Designer Series. A portion of the Series’ proceeds will benefit EMC; Christy is the first guest designer. Here, she shares a little more about motherhood, managing it all, and what makes her so passionate about this project.
The Ergobaby
Health & Wellness
October 04, 2012
As a part of National Down syndrome Awareness Month, I’ve been thinking about people with Down syndrome, the unique gifts that this Tribe with an extra chromosome brings with them, as well as the marvelous contributions they make to the world. There are so many – both people with Down syndrome and unique contributions being made:
Zhou Zhou, the internationally acclaimed symphony conductor with Down syndrome. Pablo Pineda, the charismatic teaching expert, who graduated from a major Spanish university and is now a movie star. Karen Gaffney with her astounding athleticism. Sujeet Desai, the highly accomplished musician. Michael Johnson and Bernadette Resha, talented artists. Lauren Potter of Glee. Monica and David , young couple in love. The German dancer, Laura Bruckmann, as photographed by Conny Wenk.
Health & Wellness
Matrescence
September 29, 2012
When I read the first Mamas Who Inspire post by (and about) Rachel Coleman, I was awe-struck at the challenges this mama has risen to meet. Two special needs children, one deaf, one with spina bifida/cerebral palsy. Nobody would blame her if she had given up; instead, she carried herself (and her children, literally!) gracefully above the obstacles!
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with her about life and motherhood – here’s more about this inspirational mama!
Motherhood is so all-consuming at times, it’s easy to forget the person we were before we had children – what was life like for you before kids?
I was
Health & Wellness
Matrescence
August 11, 2012
Babywearing is a topic that comes up when I go on interviews with potential clients. It is a topic that came up when I first met Lindsay Price from 90210 and Lipstick Jungle fame.
I assured her that I would help her get established with babywearing if she decided to have me as her postpartum doula. Mutually, we agreed that we were a good match and the day Lindsay brought her newborn son, Hudson, home from the hospital, I was there to support her in her new role as a mother.
I encourage babywearing from early newborn days to toddlerhood and beyond if possible. The benefits to both parents and babies are priceless. Early babywearing is beneficial to foster bonding between parent and baby. Hugging baby close in a carrier is a wonderful way to get to know
Health & Wellness
Matrescence
June 22, 2012
When my daughter Leah was born in 1996 I knew that I would wear her. Baby wearing was new to Salt Lake City, Utah and people always stopped and stared as I passed by. Even more people stopped to look when my husband Aaron carried little Leah in the sling. We loved slinging her! I could nurse her privately in public. I could take her anywhere, keeping her close, and still having my hands free.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="209"] Marthas Vineyard 1997[/caption]
We didn’t own a stroller and we had no interest in getting one. Leah was comfortable living out of her “pouch” and experiencing the world closer to our eye-level rather than from the compartment-like stroller. We wore her through the streets of Boston, on a ferry to and from Martha’s Vineyard, and on the subway in New York City. She snuggled up against us in Los Angeles,
Health & Wellness
February 01, 2012
“I want my baby to thrive.” Can it be as simple and easy as nature intends? Not every doctor integrates nature’s wisdom in their standard recommendations, so this book can be your supportive guide. Your choices and decisions are restored to their rightful, healthiest place in honoring yourself, your intuition, and your baby’s true needs. This is crucial for giving your family and your baby its best first steps towards thriving. What Your Pediatrician Doesn’t Know Can Hurt Your Child; A More Natural Approach to Parenting takes an in-depth look at the choices that are sometimes missing, as they have been removed in the sterile procedures and interferences of history, habit and some hospitals. Knowing what these choices are and the reasons behind them makes your decisions as a parent more optimally grounded in confidence and facts.
Author Pediatrician Dr. Susan Markel points out that too often babies and parents are subject to the opinions of
Health & Wellness
December 01, 2011
It’s a vivid memory. I was a new mommy with a very tiny new baby. I was just beginning to feel like I was getting a handle on mothering, when she began to cry. And cry. And cry. Every night, my tiny, precious baby would wail. It always happened after dinner, and always lasted for two or three hours. I was so very confused. She was well breastfed, lovingly carried throughout the day, changed, and clean. She was happy most other times and engaged in life. Yet night after night she would enter this crying zone and no amount of anything would console her. The doctor said she was healthy and thriving, and he could find no medical reason for her tears. So I did the only thing my heart told me to: I carried her and walked with her through her crying spells, until one day they just stopped, and our evenings became peaceful times of connection and play.
I am here to tell you that time passed quickly, as is often the case with babies, but the memory remains. I learned a lot through that
Health & Wellness
Sleep
December 01, 2011
The No-Cry Sleep Solution
Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night
By Elizabeth Pantley
For those many parents who first tested Elizabeth Pantley’s “No-Cry Sleep Solution,” thank you for your combined patience and persistence proving the efficacy of this system with your own babies. I imagine some parents first picked up this book in a hazy state of mind-altering sleep deprivation, read the title through half-shut eyes, and muttered, ‘My baby? Sleep through the night? Are you kidding?’
The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night delivers: there is a ten-step plan you can follow, borne of “dissecting truth from fallacy.” There are insights into the mutual agony for parents and child with the cry-it-out method. You will know you are not alone on this journey as you read parent testimonials and their email updates on their progress, such as, “It was one