these days...

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Celebrating CQ's first Birthday!

We celebrated our first birthday as a family. April 4th this year came so quickly I am again and again amazed at how tangible time has become since CQ joined us. We had a fantastic fun picnic in the park the Saturday before CQ's actual birthday. All our lives merged for a moment, the past, present and what seemed like the future. Friends and family came from the north and the south. It was really special and watching CQ rise to the occasion, priceless. She dug into her special cupcake Grandma Terrie baked, coconut and lemon, satisfying our baby girls tart taste buds.

On the 4th I was up and sleepless at 5am and filled with the memory of our first birth. How this moment forever and absolutely changed our lives. A year ago this time I entered into motherhood. Our first words..."wow!" became CQ's first word. I find it very appropriate that a baby's first word be "wow" and then "hi!". She had a great time with both her Ouma and Grandma at the wild animal park marveling at the butterflies and using her words every time she saw someone she wanted to befriend or a beautiful butterfly she wanted to share, lots of "Hi's "and "WOw's". Then more cake before bedtime stories with her Grandpa. What a life! I have been slow and slack online, blaming mercury being in retrograde, but also just processing the anniversary of this epic time, the birth of my first child... Hopefully I will gain some momentum back and more often share this crazy journey deeper and deeper into motherhood and doula-dom. I accompanied a mama with the birth of her baby boy, my first Doula moment. Empowered and humbled. Learning how different every single birth story is. Learning something everyday that awes me and inspires me. I love the power and brilliance of birth.

Being a Doula

I am now a trained doula. I am standing by, ready to be of service to women embarking on the journey into motherhood.

Understanding the epic transformation birth can be. From the moment of conception, the moment the human journey begin I stand in awe and readiness. For this means something different for each woman carrying a child. Every woman's experience is unique of this I am more and more aware. I am excited and honored to be a witness, to be a supporting hand that will allow each women to be empowered by her expression.

I have finally found my path, and the butterflies can't seem to find a landing spot in my belly. I love that this path leads to endless learning and discovery. There is sooo much to take in here. I am aware of how supported and loved we all are when its allowed into the space we occupy. May every woman that wants a doula have one. May our world, our societies and communities find a way to heal and become whole again, by acknowledging the impact our birth experience has. Living with the principles of Meta I love how simple it can be to live in peace. That we can be the creative force that seize to create illness and destruction and create more love, harmony, acceptance, love, patience, peace and trust.

aaah...February

I love February. It's by chance the month of love with Valentines day smack in the middle of it. My husband loves any reason to celebrate or have a holiday, and I have learned to go with it. It's fun and when its allowed create mostly joy. February is also the month that we celebrate our wedding anniversary, our official engagement, our first 'goodbye' after falling in love. Now its also the month we have the anniversary of the beginning of this new stage in our life. We moved to SoCal a year ago today. So it's a month filled with celebrating.

It was a very sweet Valentines evening, with CQ in bed early after a big day on the jungle gym. Her dad brought home her first Valentines card and it sprouted tears in my eyes, she's a lucky girl.

MetaMama: A little fact I became aware of today is that today is Nirvana Day. Buddha died on this day, he said something to the monk Ananda that made me reflect on Meta again and the value of the principles it teaches. He said:" What, Ananda, does the order expect of me? I have, Ananda, expounded the teaching without distinguishing an inside and an outside...Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, a refuge ubto yourselves, take the teaching as island, as refuge, have no other refuge!" I understand this to mean that we are responsible for our experience, that as within so without, that we should strive to match these worlds and take back our creativity, initiating our response to life and events from within.

San Diego Reader | The Cape, South Africa

San Diego Reader | The Cape, South Africa

Walking Baby

It's been 44 weeks of being a parent and lately things have settled into an up tempo rhythm. CQ is walking!

She gave her first 2 steps the day after her 9month birthday and a week later she gave 8 steps and about two weeks ago she started walking more than she actually crawls. Now she is at full steam and is waddling around getting from A to B at top speed. She never gives up. She does become frustrated and have mini tantrums but settles it with herself within minutes and then continues to roam the house like a penguin.

She definitely seems to concur her world a month at a time and what ever she sets her mind to at the beginning of the month she masters by the end of the month.

I am hoping this month it's sleeping through the night:)

Rooibos tee

I went to a great talk about nutrition last night a friend of mine, Elaine Bryan did. It was all about the facts and fiction around diets and weight loss. Again I realize how simple it can be to take good care of ourselves. If we really choose to listen to our bodies and not so much to all the noise that is mass marketing to us all. We are each so unique in every way, and when we learn to listen to the little voice pleading within, we might make simpler choices, healthier choices, real choices, knowing that our experience is our responsibility. (Okay that was MetaMama talking)

I decided to revisit my new found passion for Rooibos Tea. When I fell pregnant I had an intense urge to just get rid of all the rooibos tea in my house. Since its a South African staple I was stocked up to the brim and all my neighbors received a bag filled with this wonder tea. But then when CQ was born I had a sudden need for it again, the sweet subtle taste of Rooibos Tea.(wow...that sounds like an add campaign of some sort) I was nurtured on it as a child, and its benefits was never as clear to me until I had a baby. My mom started telling me about how wonderful it is for babies. It has no caffeine and has very low tannins. Rooibos has more anti-oxidants than even green tea and has anti-oxidants not even found in other teas. It's filled with wonderful minerals like magnesium, zinc and calcium. It has anti-spasmodic qualities so its amazing for babies suffering with colic. It is CQs staple drink when she is not breast feeding.

I now finish and start my day with a cup of Rooibos and feel more energized and balanced by this ritual. I think the key is that it relaxes me because it keeps my body stocked up with some good minerals that helps my ph balance. So that's my tit-bit for now, take it or leave it or ad a grain of salt, I'm just saying:)