My LIFE CHANGNING trip!!

I guess you could say that my life was changed when I had my beautiful kids. No doubt about that, right? Well, for me that experience has gone to a new level.

In April of 2009 Brad and I took birth classes. Not just any old “Lamaze” classes, specifically The Bradley Method. It was a long, fun 12 weeks for us to become educated about childbirth. I am proud to say (as many of you know) that the training equipped us with the knowledge to bring Elijah into this world completely unmedicated and as God intended.

Fast forward a few years later, beyond the unmedicated birth of Athena nearly one year ago, and I have a new INSANE driven and passion for unmedicated childbirth.

I had the privilege of flying out to Washington D.C. to attend the Bradley Method instructor training. I was surrounded by incredibly strong, motivated women that share my passion for childbirth as it was intended – without “professional” intervention.

Now…before you go and start calling me names and giving excuses why you chose to have your babies in whatever way you did, I just want to say that I don’t think there is a wrong way to have a child enter the world. It is a miracle every time. And some circumstances do require medical intervention. I do however feel that there is a best way to give birth, and the Bradley Method teaches that.

I have always been a bit of a chemical-phobe. I’ve worked around a lot of horrible chemicals in my pre-motherhood days in the environmental industry. So the Bradley Method was right up my ally.

The trip was 4 days long (long isn’t an understatement either) and I learned SO many things that it would be criminal for me to not share it. So I am extremely excited to start my journey as a childbirth educator. I have a few academic things I must complete first, so I am hoping in January to start changing people’s lives. Check out the website if you’re interested in the details. The Bradley Method

Through my blog I can’t wait to update experiences, information and tools to help couples have a natural childbirth. So stay tuned for that in the coming months!!! I appreciate your support and prayers, as I also find there can be no better way to praise God than through His indefinable miracle of life.

Halloween Fun!

 

How fun is Halloween when you have kids?! I personally despise the idea of the evilness and spooky related ideas that go along with it. But I decided we can make out of it what we want. I’m glad we didn’t boycott anything, because we’ve had so much fun in the last few weeks!

The above pictures were taken at a Daniel’s Pumpkin Patch in St. Charles. It was so much fun, it made me wish I was a kid again!

We never go to the Bass Pro shop, but stopped by because they had trick-or-treating in the store. Even more awesome is that there was a costume contest and our little pilot won 2nd place!

The night before Halloween we went to a trunk-or-treat at a nearby church with Brad’s family. How sweet is Logan as Scooby Do?! And probably my favorite is Athena using her charm on Grandpa to get more candy! And by the end of the night, I think our family picture says it all. They were TIRED!

The next photos are of Halloween evening in our neighborhood and New Town. They had a blast!!

Those two would not smile together to save my life!

My precious butterfly kept her hood on all night! SOOO sweet!

Elijah wasn’t so interested in getting candy in the beginning, he just wanted to run around. One time he tripped and fell (he was okay) and people were teasing of an airplane crash!

I love this picture of them together. Brad is an awesome dad.

She was working about 20 minutes to get the wrapper off of this candy….

I’m sure you guessed she finally did. AND threw her first temper tantrum when Brad tried to take it away. She is a feisty little thing!

(in the end she won, as you can see)  :)

What a blast we’ve had the last few days. I am SO thankful for all the blessing in my life!