Spotlighting
A wonderful electronic friend of mine (one of my sisters says that’s a weird way to introduce people on my blog–but it’s TRUE!), Kendra from Catholic All Year, wrote a book. And not just any old Catholic book (as if there is a serious category for “any such x-religion book). It’s a little guide to confession for kids and parents before the Big Day. If you’re still following with this conversation and you’re not Catholic, I’ll give you the quick version: Catholics (and other Christians) believe that people were born with something called “original sin” on their souls, their spiritual life within. After baptism, that’s wiped off by the Godparents & parents making promises and declarations on the baby’s behalf. But subsequently, because we are human, we build up spiritual dirt on that soul by choosing to do things, say things, etc that separate us from an all-loving God. Specifically, we break some or all of the Big Ten (commandments). By going to a priest to say confession and ask for forgiveness of those sins, we get grace infused in our hearts by God (grace is His life within us), and our soul is wiped off again. Now you’re thinking, why do you have to say your offenses out loud? Can’t you just apologize in your head to a loving God? Won’t he or she forgive you? Sure. But consider the psychological piece of this. If you don’t have to verbally articulate what you did, when you did it, and…
Read More
A girlfriend through the Enlightened Mama community & natural birth world, Cori, makes these beautiful organic postpartum herbal bath kits. And when she asked if I wanted to review one and do a giveaway for my readers I jumped at the chance. Find HealFast Postpartum Herbal Compres & Bath Infusion on etsy & facebook & youtube with a great new video! If you’re local, you can also purchase them at Enlightened Mama or Blooma. Cori Levin as the founder of HealFast is a mother of two girls, prenatal yoga instructor {Blooma Minneapolis}, birth doula, and Thai massage practitioner {Enlightened Mama}. She teaches people on and off the mat to follow their hearts! —- My own doula, Liz, chief mama at Enlightened Mama, brought them to the hospital when I was recovering from my 10 pound baby. I filled the tub in the room up and draped the pouch of herbs under the running water with the string slung over the faucet. The smell was what hit me first–oh, wow, that’s refreshing after being surrounded by hospital smell (you know what I mean). Then the bath was relaxing, soothing, and I used the same bag again and again, just wringing it out and letting it dry beside the tub. The nurses kept asking about that nice smell in my bathroom. I can only suppose most of them don’t smell as sweet. HealFast is an organic herbal therapy designed to relieve pain and boost emotional and physical well-being. A handcrafted selection of herbs is…
Read More
I have this wonderful platform to share when my friends do great things–and I get to share it with you, lovely readers! My girlfriend Karen is one of those warm souls you meet and immediately want to just go to get a hot cocoa with and talk and talk. She’s mellow but passionate, gentle but intense, and happens to have been a practicing doula for quite a while now. She’s officialled herself as Filia Birth Services (not a word? sue me!). We got to do a little Q&A about what she’s up to, what this is all about, and why you want to contact her when you’re expecting for her expert & loving guidance through the birth journey. With no further ado: I give you: Karen. Tell us a little about your new venture of Filia Birth Services. How did it come to be? What drew you into the birth world? Over the past several years, many friends have had babies, and I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside them and learning from their experiences. What I’ve found is that regardless of the circumstances of labor (e.g. how long or short the labor was, or whether they had a natural or medicated birth, or whether they welcomed their baby vaginally or via C-section) their overall perception of the birth and of themselves hinged on one factor–how supported they felt in labor. A labor may have been long and arduous, but if the mama was surrounded by a loving partner and one or two knowledgeable, compassionate…
Read More
When you meet wonderfully awesome ladies on the internet, and no, not in the mail-order-bride sort of way, and you discover you have tons in common, including etsy’ing in up, and they also love to eat copious amounts of olive oil on their baguettes, you know it’s time to feature their sweet etsy shop! Jenna of Call Her Happy {wonderful blogging} is also an artisan. You’ve simply got to check out her beautiful necklaces. They’re truly lovely. To get to know her & her shoppe better, I whipped out a few questions from my I-guess-I’m-a-wanna-be-journalist-not-lawyer back pocket. Check it, and order yours with the code CALLHERMAMA for 20% for Mother’s Day! Don’t think I haven’t already used my coupon! SHOP HERE! Jenna, you have a talent with a needle few can boast. Your beautiful needlepoint also brings needlepoint into the 21st century from the 19th!! No longer associated with our grandmothers, you’re bringing it back. Tell us a little about your craft, how you got started on creating, and why you love it. I think you underestimate just how granny I can be! But, I am going to take all of your kind words and run with them. Anyway, I started with embroidery after Sam was born (so a little less than a year ago). I have always loved creating, but once I had two kids, time for that was less than minimal. I discovered that embroidery was easy enough to pick up and put down when someone fell off…
Read More
The ultimate mommy blogger, Grace over at Camp Patton, is giving away a new mama package–and a little sweet skirt from yours truly’s etsy shop is included. Come and visit Grace, and see what’s giving. I love her blog, and if you don’t subscribe, you’re missing out. We’re pregnant along the same lines–due around the same time! She’s with her fourth and I’m with my third. I have no idea how she keeps keeping on, if you know what I mean. I’m dying and I only have two kids!!!!! On the only having two kids so far, we had a quiet romantic weekend away from the kids to celebrate our almost-five-years of marriage. My ah-mazing family played with the kids and held down the fort while we did absolutely nothing. But eat ice cream for lunch. Eat pizza for dinner. And lay around. The quiet was deafening!! I also revealed to AA his birthday surprise that will unfurl next weekend . . . will tell you all once it’s happened. As an aside, if you run a shoppe or know someone who does and would like to talk retail with me about my products, drop me a line! wholeparenting (a) gmail.com. Giftsets of Bandit Bib & Contour Cloths are my most popular retail item. This set was a giveaway with Grace a while back! Pretty sure this is all the kiddos did all weekend:
Read More
If you’re wondering how low-income moms can have doulas, childbirth education, breastfeeding support, yoga, and acupuncture, look no further. Everyday Miracles provides this and more to their moms, truly facilitating miracles everyday. Breastfeeding rate of 97% for over 8.5 months? Babywearing and carrying? Empowered births? I was blown away by talking with Debby and Mary. Please share with others about their important work and contribute slings, strollers, pack & plays, cloth diapers, maternity clothing, baby clothing, and good old fashioned monetary donations to keep these moms supported and loved. Find them on the web and facebook. And come to their 10 year birthday party on July 11th! —- Tell me about how you, Debby, met you, Mary, and how Everyday Miracles began. We were working at Unity Hospital, both doing doula work as newly trained doulas. We saw there was such a need beyond the hospital, beyond the county lines, beyond the insurance. We sat at a bagel shop one day and said How hard would it be to start your own nonprofit? Good thing we didn’t know! Because we didn’t know, we had such lofty ideals and people helped us along the way. We took it one step at a time, and it’s just been exploding ever since. When did you first find the space? How did you build it up? We got our nonprofit status in June of 2003. We’ve been in existence 10 years now. We worked out of our homes for the first seven. We knew it…
Read More