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| Rosie the Riveter can do it ALL. (You can tell because her baby is smiling.) |
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| I know I'm hiding somewhere under all these things to do! - The Hidden Mother |
This last picture was taken after he woke up - Mama's eye view of Baby O in the carrier.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Bronner's, here's a picture of the bottle. Cool design huh? It also makes for excellent toilet reading, as it's creator (yes, that's "Dr. Bronner") was somewhat of a nut, as well as being religious, eco-friendly and a proponent of Fair Trade. Insanity + righteousness + cleanliness = an awesome soap for your baby.
The much anticipated arrival of my firstborn kiddo has come to pass: welcome Oliver! I'll likely not be posting as much as I'd like to as I'm occupied with this latest creation. While I learn how to be a mama I have a bunch of new ideas and projects gestating, and when they're ready you'll see them here.
Called the "Ultimate Breastfeeding Book" by my pre-natal educator Julie Keon of Mother Nurture Childbirth Services, the new edition of Breastfeeding Made Simple is coming out this month. One of the biggest pieces of learning I've done since becoming pregnant is that breastfeeding isn't some easy thing I should expect to come naturally...it's a process of learning to communicate through body language, intuition and trial and error with your baby over a period of weeks! Thanks to Julie and La Leche League Ottawa, I feel like I've been able to access some good resources to support the efforts of baby and me when we start nursing.
While the image of the white lady wearing an entirely white getup and turban was a little off-putting, the title Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful was irresistible to me! Coming from a Kundalini Yoga perspective, the author Gurmukh organizes her helpful information and yogic mother practices into first, second, third trimesters and birth. What I enjoyed about this book was it's acknowledgement of the emotional process of pregnancy and becoming a mother. With guidance on imagining best possible scenarios and positive intentions, it's a wonderful tool for a pregnant woman to use on her journey to becoming a capital m Mother.
Mothering the New Mother is a very cool book designed at showing couples how to tap all the practical, emotional and community resources available to them in their local area. I think many women about to have children in our culture are hesitant or even clueless about how to ask for help (myself included!). We can be so individualistic that it can be a real leap of faith to do this without feeling that its always "too much" to ask. There are also some women who don't have a family or close-knit group of people to rely on in a way that feels good for them or their baby. This book helps to address these issues and I felt it was very good at making me feel more empowered to seek the kind of help I need. A must-read!
As a pretty voracious non-fiction reader and a huge advocate of Public Libraries, I've managed to come across some books during my pregnancy that are have been really helpful and inspiring for me as a mother-to-be. Above is Living Simply With Children, which encourages families to cut down on the static and focus on what's important in family life together.
This next gem is a personal favourite (you can tell because it's overdue at the library and I have no intention of returning it even after 4 weeks!), and has simple and beautiful knitting patterns for things babies could actually use without destroying them with their various bodily fluids. I'm knitting Baby's First Blanket, from Natural Nursery Knits, which I chose a Kelly green pima cotton for. Follow my progress for this project on the link above to Ravelry.com.
The Baby Book has been recommended to me by some dear friends who've recently done the first baby thing and swear it's the best. The bums on the cover alone are pretty great, but after some perusal it look chock full of help. Since baby's not here yet, we'll see!
This book was given to me by my Mum's oldest and best friend J. who's a La Leche League leader (lots of "L's") and breastfeeding pioneer of the 1970's and 1980's, when many women had stopped breastfeeding and common knowledge and wisdom of this most womanly of arts was scarce at best. Her wishes for me to do what's best for my baby rather than what's socially acceptable are an inspiration, and so is the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.
Being a parent and a Mum have figured prominently in dreams (and nightmares!) I've had recently, and so I thought I'd check out some of the feelings I've been having with the book Breaking the Good Mom Myth. So far it's reminded me to take on new tasks with the courage and ego less-ness of a toddler learning to walk: they get up every time they fall because they want to master walking, not to be "perfect" at it. Great advice.
