slow birth

  Having just read Gloria Lemay's blog on slow birth, i am feeling awakened to how our cultural values on how fast = better have seeped into birth, even "natural birth". With my first 2 i had  average birth lengths, about 8 hours with each, always jealous of the women who could pop out those babes and then leave in their skinny jeans. (2.5 years after my third, i am still looking at those damn skinny jeans.)
  We've all either told or heard the stories, "the baby just shot out", "3 hours of labour and 2 grunts, and she was out...and that was my first!", or " i went from 4 cm to birth in 40 minutes"..OK the last one was me. I fell into the trap of competitive birthing!! How could've i been so duped?! The ironic thing is, is that the last super fast birth i had, felt like i had a semi coming out my behind...and made me feel like i was lucky to be alive afterwards. And THAT was my brag story, simply because it was fast. How lame of me. But my grace is that many of us do it, a reason many moms like avoiding new mom groups like the plague, since we will all be forced to tell our story and either amp it up with tales of horrible pain and incredibly long painful hours, or make the rest of the women feel like itty bitty wimps(or at least not very efficient) by saying how fast and easy peasy it was. Either way to say it, we still like making a statement of how powerful we are. We all have many ways in which we are powerful, and a good slow birth is a thing to be proud of as well.

Gloria's blog and article here:

A lovely birth here:(also taken from Gloria's blog)

   

good ol' propaganda

I love this poster...i'm going to hang it on a wall in my kitchen. Read the history of it here:

Merry Christmas friends:)

  Tonight was lovely..i had my folks come up from Salmon Arm, and i tried some new foods that i had never made before (always try new foods when you have company)...I made bruschetta on sour dough and then a fried zucchini, fennel and mushroom dish, with a fennel, tomato, poppy seed salad..did i mention i love fennel? I could smell it all day, well maybe for at LEAST 20 minutes. Then for dessert we had avocado ice cream, followed by raspberry sorbet with a bittersweet chocolate crispy brownie. And for the naysayers who wouldn't eat the avocado ice cream i bought some stolen and Cool Whip (to put on the ice cream to make it sort of Albertan-ish). But everyone liked it! And i got to show off my Vita-Mix in the process. Oh Vita.  Its now off to drink a little vino and wrap the presents from Santa (i switched the more expensive gifts that were originally from Santa...the cheaper ones are now from him, why should he get the credit?)

        Merry Christmas friends! Here's a poster i would love to give to every pregnant woman as a gift from their doula :)  Ashley G's drawings exude coolness.

glowing Christmas babies

Well, i'm ready for Christmas..in my world at least...i'll think about what we're going to eat the day before we eat it. I'm shunning turkey as i just don't like it, and i think we may just have a big brunch, and i'll try and make some gluten-free cinnamon buns. Yummy? I'm hopeful...The really exciting part of Christmas for us is Christmas Eve anyways, the candles at the Christmas Eve service, the anticipation for the kids, and the whole "night before Christmas" feeling. My kids just watched ET, when Levi started watching the movie he said, "Is ET a child hunter?"..no Levi he's a friendly alien...I didn't remember this part, but the teenie tiny Drew Barrymore call ET a "penis head"...my kids will be sure to use that one :) And for my pleasure i will post a picture of a hard plastic baby that glows AND is also a piggy bank...and is BLUE! The french made this one up...and its so tacky, its cool...you can find it at Basic French.

a simple craft

I love crafts, but i like simple ones..something where the process is creative yet not too tricky, so i can relax and not get frustrated..especially when children are involved! Its also nice to see a bit of the creator in the craft as well...not just Martha hiding in the glue and sparkles ;) Here is a craft idea that is simple and  chic with all of those beautiful colours...last year i thought i had bought some of these felted balls at a market, but it turned out they were dyed cocoons..strange but pretty.
Here is a link for the craft materials.

fab prints and toothpaste

 I just got up and noticed Ruben had been brushing his teeth with toothpaste...Scott's toothpaste, the flouride type...i was panicked thinking about all the paste he'd probably just eaten, and then i thought about how toothpaste was one of my favorite snacks as a kid, and i lived...and i realized that he's not yet smart enough to squeeze, so he couldn't have gotten that much. I love these prints from http://www.riflepaperco.com/ .

Christmas spirit anyone?

Christmas can be such a sad time for so many people, and i fall into a melancholy mood every single year since i was about 12. Its really hard to enjoy what my own family has, without looking around to see what others don't have. I am trying to focus on what i can do, and not allow myself to be taken over by what i can't change. Here are some things that i can do:

1. Be thankful always.

2. Give my time to certain community services (Salvation Army), or people i know who need help and friendship.

3. Do not be a crazy consumer..it only makes me feel worse, and doesn't benefit anyone. Carrying a light load gives room for other experiences.

4. Pray. It really does have power, i have experienced it many times over.

5. Practice surrender everyday. Jesus never asserted his rights and neither should i.

6. Have positive boundaries. I will not have to assert my rights if i have proper boundaries in the first place.

On another note...i sure do love this ribbon...i'm wrapping my gifts this year with mostly newspaper, and this ribbon would be a perfect addition.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/applesandeggs

flippin cute!

hello my friends

Updates:

1. My dentist was awesome...told me that "we're going to take it slow since we just met, and that we're dental dating right now, so you can relax"...dental phobia is 1/8th of what it was.

2. The raw food challenge went to the wayside end of November...who was i kidding? All raw till Christmas Eve...yeah right. ( I'm planning to start in January though...around Jan.2nd(ish) unless there happens to be cake around ;)

3. Ovio Christmas party was a fun, relaxing time with friends...thanks for coming!!! New website will be up very soon since my good friend Lenna shot some super creative photos of the products.

4. I am off to have an amazingly delish meal for my health food store staff party...Rick (former owner of Oops cafe) is cooking, and i'm going to eat every scrap.

5. I have a crazy addiction to grande americano mistos, with soy and half sweet gingerbread syrup...please make it stop.

6. I need birth stories people! E-mail me @ abarker54@gmail.com . I'm planning on posting a birth story at  least once a week.

7. is my favorite number . Ciao!

beautiful birth story

My Journey to a VBAC from Lindsey Meehleis on Vimeo.

dental fear..

I hate going to the dentist...i never used to though, especially when i lived in Strathmore and would travel all the way into Calgary to see a holistic dentist who would sing along with opera while drilling into my teeth, .. he was cute, so i put up with it. Since then i have been to 5 dentists (all in Kamloops)..yes, 5..most of the time they never got past my first initial meeting. They were either not very nice, too rough, told me my teeth were big (um, really? 'cause i thought they were small...doesn't everyone have 2 giant chiclet sized teeth?), or still used those damned mercury fillings. And, if they got the privilege of drilling into my teeth, they had better not touch a nerve or put the needle in wrong, or they'd be fired. But now, i have a broken tooth...and i need it fixed...and it actually hurts more not going to the dentist, than going and dealing with it there for a short period of time. I have a sort of 'plan of action' when i go, i tell them how sensitive my teeth are, and i tell them not to touch them with that poking piece of metal horror..and then i pinch my hand really hard when they insert the needle. My hand has actually gone numb from me pinching it so hard. All this comes from having a dentist that did work on me without freezing me properly, it felt like i was being tortured, and he wouldn't stop...i even yelled "dish ish worsh dan childbirf!!"  So tomorrow i meet yet another one, and i'm going to try and be relaxed and not give him directions, and just go with the flow....BTW, i had gotten an appointment with a certain dentist here that someone told me was the hottest guy in Kamloops, (after i had made the appointment)..so i cancelled that one...

i want to make one!

I Love Anthroplogie (the store), they are always so creative in the way they represent their collections. Here are some photos of how they're displaying their jewellery this season...i'm going to make some of these with my kids this week, and then i'll post the pictures..Happy Sunday.

babycakes

I love cupcakes (ok who doesn't?)....I got a super slick vintage (yellow!) cupcake holder from my mom for Jaida's birthday tomorrow. We're trying as much as possible to go gluten and dairy free for her party, eating at fancy-ish place for her party of 8 girls and i'm bringing the cake..so i want them to look good and taste good enough :) It is very challenging to bake the perfect cupcake with garbanzo bean flour and potato starch..let me tell you! There are other ingredients that most have probably never heard of  (like egg replacer and xanthan gum), but i'll spare you. The important thing is that i have a Babycakes cookbook, and all of everything i've tried is amazing!! (Even for regular people with regular tastebuds!!) I'm making the vanilla cupcakes, and if you want the recipe..ask me! Those little kids better not waste a crumb...

so lovely

These pictures are from one of my favorite picture blogs Froken O. So dreamy...

i'm so excited for this film!