The Love of Birth

 

I’m so proud of this in so many ways.

First of all it says everything I want it to. I love childbirth. I want ALL moms to love their childbirth experience – even if everything doesn’t go exactly as they planned.

The Love of Birth is my passion of educating and empowering parents to know that childbirth is not to be feared. It’s something natural, beautiful and it’s an irreplaceable time in the lives of expanding families.  I’m so excited to start this new chapter in my life!

So much for 10 years of school for environmental science and chemistry…. :)

Can I also brag that I made the logo and I’m super proud of it. I could hardly figure out how to open Photoshop. So for me to create something that seems so simple is really exciting for me :)

If you follow me on this blog, I hope you will follow me in my pursuit of my dream at The Love of Birth.

It started like this

OK, as I started this blog Elijah just looked at this picture as I was uploading it and said “Mommy, you’re so pretty! But you’re not pretty any more.” Oh my goodness…I can’t stop smiling at the thought of his comment. It actually goes perfect with what I’m trying to say.

As I was saying before I got insulted …It started out like this. May 25, 2008. It’s so beautiful to see how much we’ve done and accomplished together. So naive and stupid back then –really, stupid is the best word I can think of.

So as you might know we take our photo at the Jewel Box every year on our anniversary since that is where we were married. We were a little late this year, but definitely better late than never. I love looking at the progression of our photos and see how each year gets better than the last. This year is by far my favorite.
May 2009

May 2010

May 2011

June 2012 (We we’re late this year)

Next year will be the big 5 year anniversary. Hopefully I will be late getting the picture next year too because we’ll be on the beach instead :)

I love seeing how our family has grown. I love seeing how I'VE grown. I was a clueless bride before, and now a fulfilled wife and mother.

I’m so thankful for my family – and especially thankful for innocent insults that I would have never dreamed of hearing 4 years ago.

Meet the new Kleopatra!

Yesssss!! I knew she was a girl all along!!

She was born June 2nd, at 11:54 am. She was 9 pounds 6 oz and 22 inches long. Look how beautiful she is!

They already nicked name her Bubbles :) I can’t help but think of her and my poofy girl (why, who knows?). She’s my little Poof Poof!

Here is the new family of 5!

Can you believe how squeezable she is already? There she was only hours old!

Now she’s 8 days old, and I will finally get to see her tomorrow! Her birth came at the most inconvenient time for me :) – But what I’ve been up to is another blog for another time….right now I am still in awe of how beautiful she is. I can’t wait to post pictures I take of her tomorrow!

Steph had the most amazing labor. I was able to attend a lot of it – which was so fantastic. I’m so grateful, because watching Steph I learned so much! She had the most  calm and mild manners dealing with her contractions. Maybe her great coach had some things to do with it too :)

Watching her and George labor together was so cool. They made me want to go through it again, in hopes that I could labor (and be coached) as well as she did.  - She was a perfect example of a Bradley labor. I am so proud that I got to be apart of that, and I am so thankful to them. In the end she had an unintended cesarean birth, but no less beautiful in my opinion. They truly defined the meaning “labor of love” on Kleopatra’s birthday, and have a healthy, beautiful girl to show for all the hard work!

Now, I wish I could take credit for the name….but I’m just lucky enough to get to share it with my niece as we are both named after my YiaYia (her great-yiayia), Kleopatra.

I can’t wait to go see both of them tomorrow! 

Steph and George, I love both so much. You had a beautiful labor and an even more beautiful baby. I’m so blessed to call you my family.

Happy anniversary to us!

Brad and I have been married 4 years today. It has gone by fast! I think back about how we met 6 years ago in June. In only 6 years of being together we’ve been able to pack in a lot of memories!

We’ve overcome the depths misery and have soared high in martial bliss. Just like anyone, we are happiest fulfilling our dreams. Part of those dreams is to see the world. Literally. So for our anniversary I put together some photos of our travels so we can hang up in our home, and one day hopefully we can cover a wall from floor to ceiling from all of our adventures. Here’s what I made (and some of the places we’ve been)

This was our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. It was Brad’s first time seeing the beach too!
In March of 2009 we visited Amsterdam on our way to Greece. I was about 5 months pregnant with Elijah here!
This was Brad’s first trip to Greece. We went to Athens, Loutraki, Kalamata, Coroni and Hydra the island. We may have seen more I can’t remember now…
Next trip was Mexico! We were planning to go Florida but the BP oil spill scared us from that. This was Elijah’s first foreign country visit! – I was also almost 4 months pregnant with Athena here!
Last summer we visited Greece again! It was so much fun being there in the summer versus the winter of 09. This picture was taken in Loutraki – my favorite place in the world.

While we were in Greece we took a few days and toured Rome. We are in front of the Fontana De Trevi. I was terribly sick that trip with strep throat, but I would rather be sick and travel than stay home :)

Our latest trip took us back to Mexico – only this time it was just the two of us (and I was not pregnant)! It was a great get away for just the two of us.

Traveling around is just a fraction of who we are. We’ve grown and overcome so much in just four short years. I don’t even need to mention what beautiful children we brought into this world! If Brad and I can do what we’ve done so far, I can’t wait to see what we can do in the years to come.

Our unintentional weekend

We woke up Saturday morning and for the first time, in a long time, had nothing planned. It’s amazing how quickly we fill up our free-time!
First, we took the ferry over to Illinois. Elijah loves all things that move so we thought he would love it. And he did, a little too much. The ferry ride wasn’t long enough so he was pretty disappointed when we  had to buckle up in the van just after a few short minutes.

Check out how big he’s getting. It sounds so redundant, and I know EVERY parent is amazed at how fast their kids grow up – but I feel like I am in shock sometimes when I think back to when he was still my little Tootum Pie.

                       
Athena didn’t really even notice that we were on the ferry. As long as she had a cheesy Pringle in her hand, not much else mattered :)

  You probably know by now that I want family pictures of everything, all the time.

 
    I try to get sibling pictures, but they never turn out as cute as I envision them.

     After the ferry ride we stopped to throw some rocks – one of the kids favorite things to do. I love this picture of Brad and Athena!

     You’d be surprised how far Elijah could toss a rock! (future baseball pitcher Brad hopes….)

 
     He’s giving his sister flowers. How sweet is that?!

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, we decided to get together and have a barbeque. For the first time all of us got together at a park. With the kids getting so big and active it is a perfect place to have a family get-together and avoid having your house turned upside down. Everyone from my side of the family could come except my mom and Allison.

It was a great time for the toddlers though. Swing sets, slides, sand and softball field dirt – can’t get much better than that for these kids.  

     If only his sandbox was a big as a volleyball court….

 
     Brad and Emma playing kickball.

    Aubrey in the cutest green dress!

    My little Athena – she doesn’t think she’s any smaller than her older cousins.

     One of my favorite pictures of the day! Isn’t he one of the most handsome little guys you’ve ever seen?? Dirt and all!

   And here is my all time favorite picture of the day! (Steph, don’t hate me if you didn’t want me to share this!) Obviously she is ready to have my “mystery” niece/nephew any day now! And it’s always fun to have her stand next to Becky, just to emphasize Becky’s not even 5 foot

:) (Don’t hate me either Becky)

Our evening concluded with going out with some friends of Brad that were visiting from Germany. I love chatting with Europeans, and getting their opinion on how different it is there versus the U.S.

Later this week Brad and I have our 4 year wedding anniversary coming up. So now I’ve gotta brainstorm about what we’re going to do….

I never had fast labors

And I was kind of resentful back then.
Although, labor with Athena was much faster than Elijah’s it wasn’t fast by any means. I’ll be honest, with both of my labors, I didn’t want to endure what the whole world knows to be ‘the most unbearable pain’ for any longer than I had to.

I’m glad I know better now.

Firstly, the pain of labor wasn’t unbearable. That’s what I love about the Bradley Method, it taught me how to work with the pain, rather than endure the pain. Secondly, I HAVE known worse pain. My right femur was shattered in a car accident and I look back on that and consider many days and moments as pure agony.

I came across a great blog explaining why a long labor may not be so bad. It’s called The "Slow Birth" Movement. I really appreciate the author’s insight and tone. It really made me think and appreciate having average, healthy labors.

Some people may call me a sicko – but, I can look back and cherish all my hard work through labor. It was intense, but more than worth it. Dare I say - I am looking forward to it again (if we decide on #3).

Anyhow, I wanted to share this blog. I think its a great and I hope you enjoy it too.

Summer’s a comin’!

We have had quite a few fun days lately. Even the rainy days have been fun, but I thought I’d post some pictures of some of my favorites.

 
Can I even say anything about Athena in that picture above. I mean, I could go on about how hilarious, cute, adorable, predictable and sweet it is – but this time, that picture is worth 1.000 words!

Check out my little man. He is going to have a blast when we go to the beach this summer (no, not Greece unfortunately –sniff, sniff) .

Every day that the weather is nice and slightly warm, he wants to be splashing in that pool. Athena – she’s not so convinced yet.

I’m looking forward to all the summer activities with them. I’m still a little nervous about trying to take them to a community pool. I mean, if Athena goes one way and Elijah goes another – what happens then? Anyway, no need to stress about that now.

They were semi-excited to go see some fun transportation vehicles yesterday. I thought Elijah would be in heaven seeing all the fire trucks, police cars, diggers, etc – but he was still a little intimidated to explore without me right next to him. Aside from the 90 degree heat, they managed to have a great time.

 

Elijah in the fire truck. He’s disappointed they wouldn’t sound the siren :(

 

In the police car the officer let him press the buttons!

There’s Athena and Logan in the garbage truck.

Aren’t they adorable in their hats?!

 

The digger was a big hit!

 

She wasn’t too interested in the vehicles. She was just happy to get to walk around and be the cutest little fire fighter ever.

Why do I feel like the next time I get a picture of him on a school bus it will be in just a blink of an eye. You know he’s going to be 3 in July. 3! I remember this day like it was yesterday.
 

It was much cooler in the 2 Men and a Truck truck so she happily stayed in there. Can you see how hot she was? – It’s only May…good grief!

That’s the latest for now. I’m still working on recruiting more students and now prayerfully considering going to training to become a DONA certified doula! I’m feeling really blessed to have an opportunity to possibly establish a career and still be at home with my kids. God is so amazing, He can truly exceed any expectation we ever had for ourselves.

I’ll keep you posted!

A Secret Weapon for your Pregnancy

Ok, well maybe it isn’t quite so secret, but if you didn’t know, it can make a world of difference!

What I am talking about is The "No Risk" Pregnancy Diet and Blue Ribbon Baby.

My brother and sister-in-law, Steph, are taking my class and I was so excited to hear that some of her uncomfortable pregnancy symptoms were relieved through The Bradley Method’s teachings (which follows Dr. Brewer’s nutrition diet I linked to above).

It’s always hard starting something new, and I love my brother and sister for taking the class for me – but on the flip side, I whole heartedly believe in this method – and I think they are doing a great thing for themselves - whether they took the class from me, or another instructor! I would be worried for her health and the health of my unborn niece/nephew if it wasn’t for this method! – Now, that’s not to say I don’t believe in anything other than the Bradley Method, it’s just that I feel it’s best when possible.

If you are pregnant, check out the websites above – nutrition is SO important. Also, if you’re pregnant and interested in having a intervention-free labor and birth check me out through The Bradley Method!

You're gonna have to bear with me

As I overload you of super cute pictures of my family and kids. I can't resist though. With the great weather we had a few weeks ago, we've been enjoying every moment!

Brad went and got the kids these lawn mowers - they love them! -- But don't be too fooled...Brad hates cutting the grass so much this may be part of his master plan to train them early :)

We also had a scare of losing our cat Caesar for a few days. It was really so relieving when we all found him safe and sound. Elijah was especially happy - he loves his kitty!

We went to Purina Farms, and I have to say it was awesome!  I love when we are able to take the kids to things that make their books come to life - so instead of reading about cows, chicks, farms, etc - they can  experience it first hand. They loved it. Especially Athena who has an addiction to small furry things.

Those pigs were such a hit with Elijah and his cousin Logan!

You can tell Athena loved them! Doesn't she look a little "Darla-ish" from Finding Nemo? - Hopefully she learns to be a bit more gentle than Darla!
 

My little Athena enjoys yummy chocolate just a tad bit more than fuzzy animals.

And maybe ice cream even more than chocolate....

And yes, she crashed shortly after her sugar rush that day!

Here are some more pictures from that day. It was really an awesome day (aside from our tire blowing on on I-44 on the way down there - very scary!!)

He was so gentle with the little chicks!

Little Logan LOVES blueberries!

My Chickadee looking at some chicks :)
 Aunt Natalie helping Athena get her chocolate filled egg.


Logan kept trying to get more than one (smart guy!)

 
I love this picture of the kids with their Grandma!!

And I love any opportunity for us to get a family picture! Can God's blessings be any more evident that in this picture!?

You know...I just deleted a few more I wanted to put up.

I may find it hard to believe if you made it to the end considering all the photos I just put up. I hope that it is evident to you that I love my family and I can't help but praise God for what we have.

So go hug and kiss your kids, mom, dad, spouse, brother, sister, in-laws and friends, because they are truly gifts to cherish!