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Monday, March 26, 2012

Natural Parents Do It Yourself

It's that time again! You might remember the great post in December 2011 that highlighted the Natural Parents Network Volunteer's most popular or favorite posts from the year

Well, we are back and this time we are bringing you a collection of posts that focus on Do It Yourself projects, How To's, Tutorials, Recipes, and anything related to a step by step guide or informational how-to. There are a lot of really wonderful posts here and I hope that this serves as an excellent resource that you can pass on to your friends! Enjoy!  

Sunday, February 26, 2012

I'm a Natural Parent - BUT...

Welcome to the "I'm a Natural Parent - BUT..." Carnival
This post was written for inclusion in the carnival hosted by The Artful Mama and Natural Parents Network. During this carnival our participants have focused on the many different forms and shapes Natural Parenting can take in our community.
***


Hours old and never out of our sight.

 I have written before that I hate labels, mostly because they are limiting. No matter what the label is people have certain ideals that they think are inclusive of that label. I believe this to be true for just about all labels; political, racial, social and of course parenting labels. My parenting style is very much in line with principles of Natural Parenting but there are no rules as to exactly how that is carried out. What does that say about my parenting?

To me natural parenting is doing what feels natural to us as a family. It is about parenting with love, gentleness, care, and consideration. If I don't follow all the stereotypes that are considered to be a part of natural parenting, am I less natural as a parent?

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Petting Zoo Mini Carnival

We spent the day at a traveling Petting Zoo this week. ~B~ Had a blast and loved every second. One of my favorite things about being a parent is seeing the world though my son's eye. He was so excited to see and touch the animals. We had a fun filled day!





















Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sunday Surf - Mixing It Up


PhD in Parenting shares how Barbie and McDonald's are sending some is sending some pretty nasty messages to girls. 

Up, Down & Natural Shares how she took a stand for a Breastfeeding mom. 
I have to say she's pretty great!


Job Description: Mommy shares so awesome info on the placenta. 
Not to mention some pretty cool pics.

Dairy of a First Child shares some tips preparing for a homebirth. 
Someday I will have a Homebirth.  :)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Agree to Disagree Online and Remain Respectful



Welcome to the February 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: 
Respectful Interactions With Other Parents
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by 
Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have focused on how we can communicate with other parents compassionately.


I have been working with a lot of advocacy and parenting groups online which has helped me learn so much about different aspects of parenting and life. In some groups, I am pretty active and in others I am more of a lurker. I love trying to make a change in the breastfeeding world and I am constantly striving to parent more naturally and these groups help a lot with this. I for one am very thankful to be part of the Natural Parents Network Team, they truly are an amazing group of women. We have come together and support each other in many ways, whether it be a virtual fundraiser for a fellow mom who's baby was in the NICU, words of encouragement, advice, or even donating personal items for a mom in need. But not all online interactions are as up lifting and moving as these.  I have also had the privilege to meet a lot of people online while working on projects that I truly believe in. Online interaction certainly have their challenges; plain and simple, online can be tough. Messages are miss interpreted, you don't know the other people in the group,  people take certain liberties behind the disguise of the Internet that they may not in real life, and it can get heated pretty quickly, and people can get pretty nasty.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Playdates!

Play dates keep mamma sane and kiddos happy. 
They are one thing that help me get through the challenging moments. 
 

Playing with DJ

















Riding around with Emma

Snacking with Connor





















Fun in a Box with Emma

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Labor, Birth, and Babies Sunday Surf


An awesome post by Diary of a First Child, it makes me wish I  had pushed for a natural birth even more, it rocks. The pictures are by Joni Rae of Tales of a Kitchen Witch, they are so amazing, they should seriously be in a birthing book! (hint, hint to anyone writing a birthing book)

A beautiful birth story by Code Name: Mama.  An unexpected, unassisted, home birth.
(My dream birth)


Hobo Mama shares an awesome home water birth. 
(Another dream birth)

Momma Jorge has a beautiful post on how she overcame the idea of birthing a syndrome rather then a beautiful baby.  I love how she inspires me to look beyond the physical and really look inward.


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Missing Summer!

Winter 2010/2011
I really can't complain we have had a pretty mild winter (nothing like last year).  Somebody was not happy then. --->


This week we had our second snow sighting... I couldn't call it a storm as it was gone before it had a chance to stay, but I am really missing summer! I miss the beach, the sun, the warmth and the air! 


Here are some pics from this summer,
July/August 2011, 
I can not wait for this summer!




What's your favorite season?



Sunday, January 29, 2012

Still with the Breastfeeding Theme for This Week ;)



In this past year it seems as if women’s breasts are under attack, as long as they are being used for something besides selling burgers, booze, cars, clothes, shave gel, antiperspirant…etc


Most moms who wanted to breastfeed, but ended up formula feeding, will be able to cite a reason or two. Breastfeeding advocates generally say that most of those hurdles can be overcome...



A collection of Great Breastfeeding Quotes. 



Most of us have heard about the many benefits of breastfeeding, and although my decision to breastfeed was based upon reasons like breast-milk being the ultimate food for babies, why I am continuing to breastfeed, convenience plays a huge role.


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Can We Get These Commercials On Every TV Satiation?

The Breastfeeding Stigma continues; Facebook is still removing photos, they have not agreed to completely stop. Fine or Die is the latest site to remove a BFing video. Moms and Babies are still being harassed. I just read of a women who was harassed in a Walmart today.  

 
A lot of the negative comments I have been reading compare BFing to going to the bathroom or having sex. It is disgusting that this is the image people have of the natural way to feed a baby.  I can't comprehend  how they can compare them. 

The other thing that is being said all the time is; Why can't you just go to the bathroom and nurse in there? Would you eat your lunch or dinner in a public restroom? 





Tuesday, January 17, 2012

How did "Bring BFing Back to Sesame Street" get started? And Pediatricians Reactions!

Art Credit Joni Rae
Bring Breastfeeding Back To Sesame Street Started As One Mom's Wish.

While on pregnancy bed-rest I was searching the internet for videos and information on breastfeeding in an effort to learn as much as I could about breastfeeding. I was so afraid I would be unable to breastfeed that I began to research every possible problem so that I would know how to fix any that could happened. That is when I came across the Sesame Street videos from the 70's and 80's depicting breastfeeding.  I thought to myself, "I would love to see those come back to television."  Recently, after endless news stories regarding nursing mothers being publicly harassed while breastfeeding, I  blogged asking Sesame Street to bring breastfeeding back.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

My Favorite Post about "Bring Breastfeeding Back to Sesame Street"

Image By Joni Rae
This has been an amazing two weeks! I never thought that this would happen! The momentum is unbelievable, as I am typing we have over 25,000 signatures and they are continuing to go up! The Petition was only posted 13 days ago. I have come across a lot of post about my blog post / the petition these are my favorite.  First some amazing places that my blog has been discussed on. The most exciting was TIME.com, I was ecstatic when that showed up in my Google Alerts and it is so supportive!  Huffington Post was our first big break in the online seen. Annie from PhD in Parenting did an amazing article on Care2 which set the ball in motion. Thank you Annie! Now for my favorites! 



Saturday, January 14, 2012

Natural Birthing Celebrities

For the next few Friday's I will be featuring Celebrities that have helped bring back Natural Parenting in one form or another. It all starts at birth. See who has had a Natural Childbirth and their thoughts on it.  

Cesarean rates in the United States have reached an all time high of 35% and this number is climbing. This may be why there was a 20% increase in the number of home-birth in the United States over the last five years, this number is climbing as well.  Home-births may still only count for 1-2% of the births in the United States, but this increase shows that women are becoming more educated about their birthing choices. Realizing that it is possible to have an intervention free birth at home, or in water, or even at a birthing center.

Ricki Lake "BBB"
Ricki Lake has definitely become one of the Hollywood faces advocating natural birth. Her documentary, "The Business of Being Born" (BBB) gives a look inside hospital births, how they are setup to go a certain way and it can be very difficult to brake that cycle.  She also shared her home water-birth of her second son. The four part series “More Business of Being Born” also includes “Celebrity Mother’s Talk Straight Birth”.  Against popular opinion, not all of Hollywood wants a scheduled designer birth followed by a tummy tuck. 

Take a look at who in Hollywood have had a natural birth, home-birth, water-birth, and even some unassisted births. See what they have say about there amazing experience. I was sure to included some of the proud celebrity dads who have supported the wives!


Jessica Alba
Actress Jessica Alba and husband Cash had a Hypno-Birth. She told Us Weekly about the delivery of her daughter Honor saying, "I didn't scream. It was really Zen. The labor was more like a meditation. I did yoga breathing."

Pamela Anderson
 Actress Pamela Anderson with then husband Musician Tom Lee Jones, said on Larry King “I gave birth at home both times natural with a midwife, in water with nothing. Not even Tylenol."


Erykah Badu
Singer Erykah Badu, had all three of her children at home. She says. “Maybe to some it’s scary, but preparation is the whole key. When a mother has found out she’s going to have a baby, her whole life — her diet, her mood, her energy — should kind of prepare her. After she prepares herself, fear is never a part of it. I expected success and health, so I made sure I surrounded myself with it. By the time I had my third baby, childbirth seemed a very natural part of life to me.” Erykah, now works as a Doula and is training to be a Midwife, she says her clients refer to her as “Erykah Ba-Doula”.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mommy's View


This week it's MOMMY'S VIEW!

Even in these very close up views I can't find anything offensive, can you?
What is it about nursing that has the country in such an uproar?

My ~B~ Heaven in my Arms!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Experiments in Natural Family Living - Natural Toys!

Welcome to the January 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: 
Experiments in Natural Family Living

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have reported on weeklong trials to make their lives a little greener and gentler. 
Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

Dress Up with Hat and Mom's Headbands
I am excited to join in the Carnival of Natural Parenting for 2012 year. One of my goals is to participate every month. This month challenge was pretty fun for us and liberating for me. Our goal was to only use natural toys for at least a week maybe longer. My criteria was the following;
battery = put away, plastic = put away, if it manipulated the child = put away, and if it did not inspire open-ended or imaginative play = put away. We also tried to do no television. We don't watch much as it is, but I wanted to eliminate that as well. My son is 19 months so it was not to hard. I was surprised at how many toys we had that really are useless when it comes learning and developing. Being the fourth boy in our family as far as cousins go he has received a lot of hand-me-down toys.

Elephant
A couple of exceptions to the rules above were; plastic animals figures, Legos, and puzzles. These are the reasons I chose to keep them out. The animals; he loves them, he plays with them constantly. ~B~ does things like make them kiss (if you ever see an elephant and a lion kiss it’s very cute), puts them boxes and carts, lines them all up, and takes them for rides on his train. I feel that they do inspire imagination, open end play, and of course love for animals. The Legos; stimulate creativity and lateral thinking, they help build dexterity and aid in developing simple math and pattern skills. The way they interlock helps children learn problem solving skills as well. The puzzles; I was on the fence about this one. They don't inspire open ended or imaginative play. They stayed because they help develop problem solving skills, build dexterity, they help teach concepts like colors, shapes, and language skills when done with an adult.


Monday, January 9, 2012

What Nursing in Public REALLY Looks Like

There is a HUGE  misconception that nursing in public is indecent and women are exposing themselves just because they can. But as nursing moms we have no more interest in showing you our breast as you do in seeing them. These are pictures of real moms nursing in public. 

Are they indecent? Exposing themselves? Flashing the world?  I don't believe so.

They are simply feeding their babies the way nature intended. 

Thank you to all the moms who shared their beautiful pictures.

Me and ~B~ nursing on a walk in a Baby K'Tan Carrier.


Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sunday Surf ~ Nursing In Public

I am still going with Nursing in Public Theme for This Week


Basically breastfeeding in public IS legal in the United States, though sometimes people simply don't know it and therefore might complain about it.


Children learn by observing and interacting with their world, and every moment adds up to form the basis for the values, beliefs, habits, and memories which will carry them into adulthood.



I’m thankful for not having boobs thrown in my face all the time by offensive and indecent breastfeeding mothers.



There's absolutely nothing wrong with breastfeeding, because it's the normative way to feed your baby. But just because it's the biological norm doesn't make it the cultural one, which is why breastfeeding in public can take some getting used to, even for the boldest mamas among us. 

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sunday Surf: Happy New Year and new to me surfing!

This week has been all about Breastfeeding and making Nursing in Public the norm, acceptable and common place.


A timeline detailing the journey of the average breastfed baby.


If you’re easily offended or like a good fight, now might be a good time to look away. 
I’m talking about the World War 3 of parenting: breast vs bottle.



Nursing mothers have no more interest in flashing you a breast than you do in seeing one.


Most of us have heard about the many benefits of breastfeeding. These are the 5 reasons why I don’t want to give up the convenience of breastfeeding.