New Niece

Here are some photos of our meeting with my new niece Aliya.....

A Mother on a Mission!

Many of you know that I have been taking Corbin to regular Speech and Occupational therapy. Each week we have the privilege of meeting with the most amazing specialists. I've been astounded by how much improvement I've seen in only a couple of months. At each appointment, I'm given practice suggestions for things I can do at home with him. Many of the suggestions involve games.

Unfortunately, games are not cheap. (Especially when coupled with $300 co pays each month!) I've collected what I can, but it's adding up quickly. In an effort to help Corbin, and not pay retail prices, I'm posting the remaining list of suggested games.

Hopefully one of the six people who read this blog will see the list and think "Hey, I've got that game out in the garage and we never play it." If any of you find that this is the case, and would be willing to part with the game at a reasonable price, please email me. Don't worry about missing pieces, I'm adapting some of the games anyway. For pieces on games that don't need to be adapted, I can easily contact the company for replacements.

Here's the list:

Cariboo (made by Cranium)

Colorama

Boggle Jr.

Upwords (Doesn't need to be Upwords Jr.)

Chopstix (I haven't been able to find this one anywhere! I'm pretty sure they've quit making it.)

My intention is not to be pushy here, but for so long I've felt helpless, and this has given me the chance to feel like I'm doing something. I'm just so impressed with how much these activities seem to help.

Soccer Photos

Nya started playing soccer this year. She absolutely loves it (when she's playing forward.) She's still not fond of being on defense. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few pics. Nya is #2. None of the photos are very good. I'm definitely not the best photographer. . .I'm just happy to have finally remembered my camera for once!

Today they played a team that hasn't lost a game in 3 years! I hear they practice 3 days a week. Several of the girls on that team play for U9, as well as Nya's age division, U8. (Some of them were monstrously huge!) Anyway, we were glad the girls only lost by 7 goals. The final score was 2 to 9.

I don't think I've ever yelled so loud in all my life! At one point during half time I found myself telling Nya "Those girls are rough! Don't be afraid to get in there and man handle 'em! If they shove you, shove 'em back!" Nya seemed pretty surprised to hear me actually telling her to rough somebody up. When did I become so violent??? However, the pep talk worked! The other team only scored 1 goal during the entire 2nd half! Nya was much more aggressive after that.Here she is playing defense. The girl next to her is the coaches daughter. Luckily it didn't start raining until right after the game ended. I had a few more pics, but they were all too blurry to see anything. Maybe I'll get a better shot at next weeks game.

And The Winner is. . .

I'm pretty excited, since I had this name (and logo) before. Here is a sample of my business card. It's been several years, and I still love it. All I had to do was tweek it a little. Thanks for all the opinions, it really helped!

Local News

Nya's class was featured on the weather portion of our local news. I wanted to post the video clip, which showed Nya front and center, but this was all I could find on the website. Nya is pretty excited though.

Naming the Business, HELP!!!

I spent this past weekend at a doula workshop. After meeting a group of lovely ladies in my area, and realizing that I now have support and backup, I have decided to get back into Doula-ing. I've been taking a break for awhile now (sort of), after a really traumatic birth experience. (Traumatic for me, NOT for mom or baby ;)

In light of this decision, I have decided that it's time to get a business license. My biggest quandary, is what to name the business.

So, I have a few names I've been considering, but I'm also open to ideas and suggestions. Here are the names:

1) Gentle Birth (I like this one alot, I used it in NM. It's probably the easiest one, because I already have the logo. It just doesn't have the personal significance the others do, but it may be the most marketable.)

2) The Sacred Path (This one has particular significance, in that it's where I go in my mind while I'm birthing! Also, it could mean the actual birth path the baby passes through, or the sacred path of motherhood. I can visualize some great art for the logo on this one.)

* I took off the 3rd & 4th choices, since I really prefer the first two, and it appears as though everyone feels the same way.

So, you can see I NEED some help. I realize that my views of birth are a little outside of the norm for many women. I really want the name of my business to be something that the average woman would like. I don't want to choose a name that would seem too extreme and turn people off.

Which name do you like, if any? Do you have any suggestions or ideas for names I haven't considered? Please leave a comment with your opinion.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! and Happy Birthing!!

Pass it on!

I just had to share with everyone my latest exciting news! (First off, let me answer the question that seems to be weighing on so many peoples minds lately. NO!!!!! I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!!!) As a side note on that subject, Brian says my desire to 'test run' new birthing methods is not a reason to have another baby. In an effort to be diplomatic, I'm taking his word for it. :)

Anyway, back to the subject. Mark your calendars! Grand Junction is having its first-ever Birth Fest September 11, 12, and 13th 2009! The birthfest will be focused on giving pregnant moms and families all of the goods, services, and resources available to them on the western slope of Colorado. BirthFest is sponsored by BirthSmart, a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate pregnant women on their birth options, because an educated mother has the best chance for an empowered birth. Our logo is, "Educate your belly." We are expecting around 1500 participants!

BirthFest will be featuring six incredible events:

• Birth, a play by Karen Brody at the Art Center
  
• A Birth Art Show- featuring the work of several artists
  
• Film Festival at the Avalon featuring the films "The Business of Being Born" and "Orgasmic Birth"
  
• Guest Speakers (Suzanne Arms author of the New York Times bestseller "Immaculate Deception" is the keynote speaker!)
  
• FREE Red Tent Birth Story Telling Festival
  
• FREE Vendors Expo in Sherwood Park (You can rest assured that HypnoBirthing will be well represented!)
  

Just thinking about this great event gets my heart palpitating! I will share more info as I get it. Otherwise, for anyone interested in learning more (or volunteering to help out) you can go to the website http://birthfest.org/