free concert
/free concert
Originally uploaded by Three Peas
free concert
Originally uploaded by Three Peas
free concert
Originally uploaded by Three Peas
all kinds
/One of the best parts of being involved in births is that they are all so different. When I started into this whole doula thing I guess I expected each birth to be pretty much the same: contractions, pushing and then a baby. Not so.
There are short births, long births, very very long births, messy births, extremely messy births, births with profanity, births with laughter, births with friends, births with people I am meeting for the first time. There was a birth once with naked man that made me blush. And how could I forget the birth with non-stop-all-night-long-russian pop music.
Some births require a lot of me- hand holding, encouraging words, back rubbing, barf-bowl holding, cold washcloth blotting...you get the idea. It is me giving to them.
Other births leave me breathless in a completely different way. Total awe. Almost as if I am trespassing into the middle of a miracle. I usually find myself quiet, taking it all in from a distance as the mother and father work so beautifully together. Completely, wonderfully absorbed in only each other they exchange private whispers and tender kisses. They share tears and songs and prayers and eventually that warm wriggly little being who slips into their arms. In this case they are giving to me, and I am so blessed.
Welcome little Jocefin, your birth was quite lovely.
(this is where I spent most of the afternoon recovering, thank you netflix for offering WALL-E on "watch instantly" so that I could catch a nap while the girls hovered nearby over my laptop.)
**Just getting back into the swing of things after some weekend travel and then a birth on Monday. Upcoming blog posts: meeting up with old friends, a fledgling garden, next year's homeschool curriculum, an awesome summer pasta, and if there aren't any more babies this week maybe some sewing?!?
Focus
/My day-to-day activities have boiled down to just a few things:
Training- not as fun in the moment...but good to be getting stronger. I have a little more than a month to go and am now doing brick workouts (swimming and then hopping on my bike. Or riding my bike and then running right afterward.) Each workout takes about 1.5 hours. Early morning is when it all happens. There is something very natural about waking up early for me.
Reading- spending ALOT of time with Bella, Edward and Jacob. I'm devouring the final book now. I have been surprisingly and embarrassingly emotional about it. My family and friends absolutely love making fun of me over my obsession. I think that I'll stop making reference to it in every conversation. I downloaded the soundtrack the other day. This song helps me rock it out on the treadmill.
Eating. All the exercise is making me hungry as a horse. I haven't lost a single pound- perhaps the two are connected somehow? I don't know, what do you think? Eating a lot and not losing weight? Isn't there some logical weight-loss explanation about calories in and calories out? I must've missed that somewhere along the way. Here are a few of the yummy things we've been eating.
Tilapia Puttanesca. Okay, so my kids did not eat this one. They made pb and honey sandwiches for themselves. Apparently kalamata olives and capers are not their thing.
Four Bean Salad. Endamame might be my new favorite food.
Grilled Veggie Salad (from Feeding the Whole Family). Basically you grill your favorite vegetables and some chicken- then coat them in this dressing:
4 T Olive Oil
3 T Rice Vinegar
2 T Brown Rice Syrup
1 T Dijon Mustard
2 T Poppy Seeds
1 t Dried Dill.
Pile them onto a bed of lettuce and sprinkle with feta cheese. Tasty.
Orange- Banana Popsicles. I use this mold. I love the shape that they turn out in- old fashioned or something. The kids (and neighbor kids) love these! I pretty much make a new batch every other day.
Hope your days are slowing down too and that you are unloading all the "busy" stuff. Focus on your favorites.