These two pictures are from a couple that was having their first baby.

You can tell from the drawings who felt what about birth! 

The first picture is of Dad running into the room nervous (drawn by Dad).

The second picture is mom thanking God for a great birth and husband cheering her on and Dr. being very impressed (drawn by Mom).

The beautiful thing is, they had the birth that the mom drew about!

I thought I would fill you in on life here at placid farm. 

It isn’t the most exciting, but it sure is relaxing and beautiful.

The kids just love to spend time with the grandparents. 

We are trying to keep our garden small this year.  We have only planted a few things.  Last year we over did it and ended up having our garden demolished by squash bugs. 

We also have so much going on at the church that it is very hard to keep up with the daily work in the garden and our hectic schedule.

We do have a new batch of chicks in.  We lost our last hens to some local wildlife while they were out free ranging it. 

The boys are so excited to see them growing.

We are really looking forward to fresh eggs in the fall.  We will definitely be sharing the love with people come September.

We had a visitor on Saturday.  He sure looked harmless, but not harmless enough.

I took this picture from a distance.

Robin found another one in our barn last week.  Hopefully they will make their homes somewhere beside our back porch.

That’s it for now.  We are just enjoying this lovely weather and spending lots of time outside!

Here is an idea.  

 ABC News reports a list of Tax Deductions You Should Know About, including the fact that:

Wonder if Doula services would be permitted, too?

The first class of each series, I give my class their first project. 

One is that they have to track their food intake for the next week and the other is that they have to come back the following week with some type of artwork.

This art can be in any form, from paper to clay. 

I ask them to simply put into art what they feel about birth and this pregnancy.

It is SOO exciting for me to see what these ladies and their partners come up with. 

It is really probably a selfish project on my part simply because I enjoy it so much and I don’t have to do anything for it.

I really love how the art reveals so much about their attitudes and deep feelings about birth.

The following art work was from a lady who has a child already (which is obvious from the use of crayons) and will be giving birth in a birth center this time.

This is a picture of the latest group from the Complete Childbirth classes.

I just love them!

They are full of questions and have such a great attitude about birth.

We had our labor rehearsal class on this night and it was sooo much fun.

I always love this class because it is so hands on.  I am a very hands on kind of person, so it makes it so much easier for me to understand and communicate when there is stuff to actually do instead of say.

We made rice socks which is always a hit with everyone. 

We fill up a long crew sock with rice and add some essential oils and tie a knot in the end.

They can then take it home and stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes and have a great smelling, good feeling heat pack.

 We also practiced lots of different relaxation positions and techniques while using aromatherapy and listening to some lovely relaxation music.

It was great fun.

My wonderful husband made me some great new business cards, that are actually grammatically correct.

My last set of cards were pretty on the eyes, but said “labor assitant”.

Obviously this is not a good thing for many reasons.

1. I only have two jobs listed on the card which makes it all the more noticeable.

2. I don’t want people to think they are hiring a teacher who is illiterate.

3. I just want my card to look good.

I also ordered some great new stuff for my childbirth class.

One of which was a beautiful and VERY detailed chart of everything from human anatomy, conception to birth.

Let me just say here that I have a good bit of advice to all other childbirth educators, if you decide to purchase this particular chart from Childbirth Graphics, you should not view it with your children or husband present.

First of all it will immediately and I do mean immediately bring about LOTS of questions from your children and then quickly following that will come lots of muffled laughing and “wait, what on earth was that” and “is that really necessary?” from your husband.

I mean really, this is a great chart but……(on the off chance that you are a man reading my birth blog, stop reading this now, before you are totally grossed out)

do we really need to show the penis in the vaginal canal????? Don’t we all know (adults anyway) that this is where it would naturally belong.

The point of the whole page was to show you the female reproductive system, ovaries, uterus and egg.

Unfortunately at the bottom of the page, you are casually looking at the picture and then…out of no where…

A penis in the birth canal! Come on. They already described the male reproductive system on another page, couldn’t they have just given the woman her time alone!

By the way…this was all illustrated by a woman.

So, now I have a very wonderfully graphic chart that I will have to put a post-it note over when showing the female reproductive organs.

I got some great handouts and such that I will be using in class, I also got a new breastfeeding video that should be here shortly.

So exciting!

I love birth.

Every morning when Jude wakes up I ask him what he would like for breakfast.

The options are usually, O’s and milk and honey, waffles or oatmeal.

The O’s in our house are basically Cheerios except the organic healthier version that is wheat free from Central Market.

Every morning I get a good dose of happiness.

Jude usually requests “O’s and milk and honey with a bowl and a spoon”.

Is this not hilarious.    As if I would forget to give him the bowl and spoon and just pour it all into his hands.

I can’t get over it.  Every day when he asks me for his list of things for breakfast I laugh.

Then I go and tell Robin how funny it is.

This morning was a little different tho. 

I started reciting it to Robin and he looked at me and said “you tell me this every morning and you know what, I think it is funny that you tell me that every morning.”

I just enjoy so much that my child is so sweet and innocent that he thinks he needs to ask me for a bowl and a spoon.

God is that way with us so much of the time.

We think we have to ask for everything that goes along with our desires, when he already has it prepared for us.  

He is probably laughing to himself.

His word tells us that..

Matthew 7: 9 -10

9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for^(L) bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then,^(M) who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will^(N) your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

And most importantly…..COMMUNITY!! 

A community garden that is.

I have really felt a need for our church to grow in the community, after all our mission statement is to   

“Spread the Gospel to people
in the San Marcos area, and bring each of them into
an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.”

And what better way to start building friendships and relationships that will bring them into that relationship with Christ than when we work together to build something that sustains everyone.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I am really an aspiring green freak and naturalist.

It takes a while after being raised on the golden arches and such, but I am definitely on my way.

I am soooo excited about this.

It is still in the brainstorming process of how it will all function, but on March 1st we are having a church wide work day and we will be clearing land for a new playground for the kids, parking and a garden area.

I am hoping to recycle some of the cedar posts used from the land clearing to build a fence around the garden and then go from there.

I have had lots of thoughts and I would love to hear yours.

Here are some of them, not in any particular order.

• Organic with no pesticides or toxic treatments 
• Individual plots for people to individually plant, work and harvest from
• Community garden that we all share the work in for all that is done
• A small monthly or yearly fee for using the garden
• Monthly community farmers market (possibly joining the one in town already)
• Giving a portion of the harvest to the community food bank

These are just ideas that have been rumbling around in my head.

I would love some feedback so start typing!

If you haven’t been to our church site yet…here it is.

PromiseLand San Marcos
 

I have finally come full circle to pursuing my education for midwifery.

Trying to decide where to get my education is the hardest part.

I really want thorough and good quality.

There are lots of programs that offer the short and quick route to get your certification.

As much as I want to become a midwife as quickly as possible, I feel like the quality of my education is of utmost importance.

I want a program that gives me in depth knowledge so that I can care for women without having to thumb through a book at every turn.

I have had experiences where I felt like people were just making up answers so that they could save their pride (which I am guilty of as well).  I don’t want to have to be in that position. 

I certainly don’t have a problem with saying I don’t know, but you don’t want to be saying that all the time; even if it is just being transparent.   

I really want to be able to know what I am talking about and provide good care.

So, I have been looking into different academic programs.

They all have to be coupled with an apprenticeship.   I am in search of the right midwife to apprentice with, but it takes time.

Here are the the two that I am looking into:

Ancient Art Midwifery Institute

Association of Texas Midwives

 They both take about 3 years to complete the program.

I watched this video today. It is really thought provoking.

We eat so much junk unknowingly. I hope it inspire you like it did me to eat better and READ THE INGREDIENTS.

This is something we do already since our boys have food allergies, but now much more so just for the health concerns.