Baby Belle

pumping milk!?!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:31:50 -0500

i would be a terrible dairy cattle owner! I have a hard enough time pumping my own breast milk! But the job is getting done! Thanks to losing more sleep that I already don’t have and dedication to the fact I do not want to supplement any formula~! i did however buy the Earths best Organic formula yesterday for our wedding coming up. Hopefully tho I will not have to supplement due to the rising scare of what our government is right now- with Monsanto etc.. I am a nervous wreck about ALL the food at this point. Can I even really trust the FDA that things are indeed organic anymore? This food thing has gotten out of control making the need for my own garden VERY high. I will be starting a compost today that will hopefully grow all the food that my baby girl will need!

Fighting Sleep

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:23:27 -0500

My daughter’s new thing is to fight going to sleep. She does not like to take naps and once she is awake at night, she does not want to go back. I have tried swaddling-she HATES it, as soon as I un-swaddle her, she is quick to go back to sleep that way. I don’t know what to do. Luckily we have had success with a pacifier. However, she isn’t too keen on it for long, she would rather sit at my boob than take a paci! Oh my so, what does this do for me? I am already exhausted and add her willingness to NOT go back to sleep, I get very frustrated. I am trying to learn how to handle this frustration. It’s not good for either one of us. Breathing works after I have walked away and have had to let her grunt it out for a minute while I walk out of the room. It is really hard. I then feel guilty for feeling this way. But I am human and I have these feelings is something I need to realize. and not be so hard on myself. But this weeks goal is to get her to sleep at a regular hour and wake her up in the morning. Which means-I get a schedule too. Yay! (sarcasm here) I would rather sleep all day and drink lots of coffee when I wake up, but this week and for many more weeks to come this is not going to be a dream come true.

Help me to be strong this week and let go of all frustrations so that way I am not apt to take frustration out, near or on my baby girl.

namaste~

Photo

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:30:17 -0500

a friend once asked me.....

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:18:00 -0500

I was honored when a friend of mine ask me to interview for a women’s studies class she was in. You never know who in this world looks to you as a strong influential woman, and when they do, I feel as though it kind of makes you take a step back and evaluate yourself and not the negatives parts but what it is that makes people look up to you. So here is how I responded to this:

Okay so like I said in the text I’m in Women’s Wisdom and Nature for block, it’s pretty cool I think you’d enjoy it. We have to do an interview of a woman whose connection to nature inspires us, and someone we think we can learn something from! I thought of you Immediately, I found a lot of inspiration from you even in the short time we spend together I’m not positive what I’m supposed to ask you, so I apologize if the questions are kind of vague, I’d be more than happy to clarify!
How do you connect with nature? Do you have practices that help you balance yourself? How do you find time for yourself, if you do at all? Do you feel like nature has had any kind of influence in your life’s path? If so how? What do you try to do in times of high stress? In class we’ve talked about the moon’s connection to the woman’s menstrual cycle, do you believe in this? If so how do you feel the moon influences you? What kinds of emotions has your menstrual cycle caused for you? Like for me, I’m just annoyed by it =] Hehe.
In times of high stress do you feel that grounding yourself helps? Or other kinds of maybe meditations, or yoga?

My response:

When it comes to nature, I feel more at home when I am in it [nature] than ever. I tend to find myself in a state of mediation when say, I am in the woods on a hike just enjoying the fresh air. It’s very calming. I even the other day was sitting outside and thought to myself ‘I sleep so much better when I am outside’. Which is truth, so nature in itself is an overall blessing to me and I appreciate and respect of bit of it. From sitting by a creek listening to the sound of water or climbing rocks. It’s all the same to me. I feel very much “home”. When I do find time, seeing as I am a new mother, I take every minute for all it has! It may be just going to the bathroom and fixing my hair or when the universe allows to go out and play in nature. Life is an endless trail and for me it’s all about choosing the right path, so I guess you could say that nature has everything to do with my life. It is the air I breath. Literally. Also with nature, I am a river guide so the connections follow me every where. For example, when you are guiding, you have to learn to read the water, if you can’t read it, chances are you are going to get stuck on rocks or flip your raft, you name it something is bound to happen. Once you have become a master at reading water, you then learn to look ahead, set up, and prepare- always three steps ahead. In my daily life, I try to always use this teaching. Look ahead of what life is throwing at you and plan and set up for it. I think I would be a mess if it were not for what the river has taught me. It has been an amazing connection between life and nature for me.

Goddess of the moon! How I love thee! I am a firm believer in the the connection between the moons gravitational pull it has on women. I love every thing that the moon does for me. I am usually always in sync with the moon with my menstrual cycle, when I am not on the same cycle as the moon, it seems that I am always off in some sort of way, a way that I am still learning about. When I am off the cycle my emotions tend to be more intense and more chaotic. When we are in sync I feel very balanced and very in touch with my feminine side. I may cry more than others and may be very quiet sometimes. I think it depends on the moon and what she is offering me that month. Every month is different for me. I really enjoy the connection though and it is really amazing to be so in tune with our bodies as women that we even have to opportunity to share such a beautiful cycle with something as big as the moon. It is very rewarding to share that bond.

Stress. That has been a big thing for me lately as I have become a new mother and my husband is also new we are both learning, and to top it off I am exclusively breastfeeding so that can be very stressful since it is seems like a non-stop job! This all can be very stressful and wearing on an individual. I once was very bad about dealing with stress but I am in a new phase off my life with my daughter, I have had to learn how to handle stress. With my current life, stress is passed on to my daughter who is very sensitive to what I am feeling so being mindful of this is key. What I have done is arranged for one night a week to join other women in the beautiful art of belly dance that incorporates yoga. It has been an amazing stress reducer, very refreshing, and shared with other women with their own shit, and just once a week we cone together and let it all go. I leave the negative behind and bring all the positive home. It has been working out great! Since I don’t have this positive setting all the time, I to really just breath in moments of stress and I try and talk about it with my partner or best friend as soon as I can so that way it is not festering in my mind and body all day. Stress is hard for me sometimes and I take it as it comes, and i like to stretch it out, laugh it out, or even wine (a delicious red cup that is) it out! ;)

I really enjoy being able to look into myself for these answers. I have found that we don’t engage ourselves in enough conversations like this everyday. I think it is essential to stay aware of who we are and what makes up the wonderful people that we are. As a mother I find that it is extra rewarding to find these things. I am blessed for the wonderful ladies and women in my life. If it were not for them, I don’t think I would be the woman I am today.

Namaste~

Life with Baby.

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:11:26 -0500

Each day gets easier and easier. Each day is also becoming more exciting as my little girl is starting to have more and more smile conversations with me. It really is quite the experience being a mother. Even my fiancé is getting better with her and able to bond with her more. It really is an amazing experience I can’t say how amazing it is enough!

With being able to have my adult mama time once a week I have been able to find a balance in my daily life. It isn’t so consumed all the time with the thought that I need to just sit and watch new life. As much as I could just sit and watch her. I also have to find a balance. Sometimes this is hard. But, we got to do it. I find that yoga and meditation have helped out tremendously! All these thoughts that I have I can just allow them to come to center and let them go. Ahh! breathe! Life with baby is all in all wonderful. I will continue to say it everyday.

thisbigcity: Making waste disposal more enjoyable. 這樣丟垃圾更愉快。

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:15:34 -0500

thisbigcity:

Making waste disposal more enjoyable.

這樣丟垃圾更愉快。

Finding Time in Unpredictable Moments

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:27:06 -0500

No one ever said that balancing new baby and time to be creative would be easy. Tip for success: after you have overcome sleepless nights instead of staying in the messy mama mode, get into sexy woman mode and do something that lifts the sprits. I have found myself involved in a belly dance class once a week. Papa stays home and I am able to get out and be sexy. It is a win win situation. If you can’t seem to get out of the house due to being a single parent or busy with more than one child. There are some great videos on you tube that will teach you just about anything that you would want to learn. So get out- dance a bit. Most important love whatever time you have to love yourself. As women we tend to take care of everyone else around us. We need to take care of our selves too. Showing yourself attention will make you feel and look better. Energy will arise when, even if for ten minutes a day, you give to yourself.

Dance Dance ladies, pull out a paint brush and canvas and create something for you. Namaste~

“THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE”“The Optimism of Uncertainty” by...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:20:40 -0500

“THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE”
“The Optimism of Uncertainty” by Howard Zinn
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the
process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can
transform the world … An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly
sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not
just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a
history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage,
kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will
determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to
do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so
many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the
energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a
world in a different direction.”

Toothless Smiles

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:57:26 -0500

So as I watch my little girl grow everyday, her newest thing is starting to smile. Wow, how wonderful it is to see a little human learn new things. Watching her eyes light up to music and crack a toothless smile at the funny and sounds that I make when I am with her. It’s a beautiful blessing to experience these things. So, how is it that so many parents are able to be so terrible to such wonderful little beings? So adorable and brave little beings at that.

I encourage every new parent to record every moment and never miss a moment. You never know when our children are going to do something new and amazing.

"[The young black males are] shuttled into prisons, branded as criminals and felons, and then when..."

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:44:01 -0500

“[The young black males are] shuttled into prisons, branded as criminals and felons, and then when they’re released, they’re relegated to a permanent second-class status, stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement — like the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, the right to be free of legal discrimination and employment, and access to education and public benefits. Many of the old forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind during the Jim Crow era are suddenly legal again, once you’ve been branded a felon.”

- In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, legal scholar Michelle Alexander writes that many of the gains of the civil rights movement have been undermined by the mass incarceration of black Americans in the war on drugs. (via nprfreshair)

"Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation..."

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:42:34 -0500

“Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.”

- Michelle Alexander, on the number of blacks in the criminal justice system. On Monday’s Fresh Air, Alexander details how President Reagan’s war on drugs led to a mass incarceration of black males and the difficulties these felons face after serving their prison sentences. (via nprfreshair)

"breast-feeding women should be called Galactic goddess! Thats because ancient Greeks invented the..."

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:26:34 -0500

““breast-feeding women should be called Galactic goddess! Thats because ancient Greeks invented the words galaxy and galactic out of their words gala, which means milk. Legend said that the stars in the heavens came from milk spraying our of the breasts of the goddess Juno, which is also why we call our galaxy the Milky Way.””

my Daughter and I.

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:11:20 -0500

my Daughter and I.

Audio

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:10:35 -0500

"According to this philosophy, satyagrahis—practitioners of satyagraha—achieve correct insight into..."

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:09:48 -0500

“According to this philosophy, satyagrahis—practitioners of satyagraha—achieve correct insight into the real nature of an evil situation by observing a nonviolence of the mind, by seeking truth in a spirit of peace and love, and by undergoing a rigorous process of self-scrutiny.”

Photo

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:22:50 -0500