Family Pictures

Not much has been going on in our family lately...hence the blog absence. We've had some cute pictures though.






So precious...my 2 sweet boys.

E made my bed for me as a surprise one morning and left this note "I made your bed love e"




The BEST time to be in NYC...the UN General Assembly! Since we live just a few blocks from the UN we get to see it all. Lots of road closures, buses not running, cops/firefighter milling around(not sure what the firemen will do but it sure does look secure), foreign people everywhere, rallies, the President driving by OUR house. What excitement. Every year Cannon captures the drive by on tape. This year L was just as excited as he was....if you look really close you can see a black dot that may or may not be his car. But all the SS guys hang out of the windows of the 57 Lincoln SUV's (not the year 1957 I mean there are actually 57 SUV/cars) to make sure there's nobody suspicious lurking on a street corner. C'mon, this is NYC...there is always someone suspicious lurking on the corner. And all of them hanging out the sides pretty much ensures that the Prez is not in THAT car...so he must be in the ONLY one that doesn't have 5 people hanging out of it) Luckily this all only lasts a week and then we're back to normal. And we can feel safe again knowing that if there is some kind of emergency like say a fire or a mugging that the cops/firefighters will be able to respond. (literally everyone from the NYPD is hanging out in the 10 block radius of the UN. I felt like I was doing something wrong just going to the bank...they all stare and make sure you're legit...or it could be cuz I'm so h* o* t pssss. hot haha) ahem, moving on.



Since my last potty post L took a bit of a break from pottying only going every now and then and then since we were in DC for the summer it totally stopped. When we got back I decided that the only way it would work is if he was pant less all day. So he was and it worked. He had a few accidents, after just a couple weeks he was accident free and now runs to the little potty when he has to go. He is a bit freaked out by his poo and always runs to get us when he goes, urging us to put it in the big potty. Too cute!



So basically L is ALWAYS either all naked or half naked while we're at home, which is very cute, but you do have to get used to the not so pretty angles of a naked toddler : )

Marathon Week

I had a marathon week this week! In the past 8 days I have been to 4 births that have produced 5 babies! 1 hospital, 1 birth center and 2 at home...it was amazing! (and yes the 2 in 1 birth was Rachel's...contact her for more details!)

Women are so incredible! We have the power to create life and then bring it into the world....we are so lucky! I know that labor is hard and it hurts but it is amazing and I can't WAIT to do it again.

I worked with my incredible midwife Valeriana 2x this week...what a neat woman. I have learned so much from her. One of the homebirth's was a VBAC...it was so incredible to see a woman who had a vaginal birth after she was led to believe that her body couldn't give birth to a baby vaginally. So empowering!

I borrowed Orgasmic Birth so stay tuned for my review of it...I am so excited to see it! There will be a segment on it on 20/20 on Oct 24th. It is so nice that something other than negative views are coming out about birth. There was a segment on a show that I had never heard of called The Dr's about homebirth. And what do ya know? The only thing they tell a couple who is weighing their options is that homebirth is bad and scary and that birth is scary and look at all the things that could possibly go wrong why would you want to be at home? AAH!!! I was at the gym watching it and I wanted to start yelling at the screen! I know that everyone has their own opinions and experiences to bring to the table but I think that it is best to be open minded and really research your options for your birth. THROW away the what to expect books and really read good evidence based books. And get a second opinion...just because your Dr tells you one thing does not mean it is the gospel truth. And TRUST you body!

The girl that I helped today switched from the Birthing Center at Roosevelt b/c she did her glucose test and it came back high. She is a nutritionist and started doing her own readings at home and knew that she didn't have diabetes...her midwife just couldn't do anything about it though because of all of the protocols she has to follow, so she was risked out of the birthing center. So instead of succumbing to her fate of induction and scare tactics by an Ob who didn't even know her name, she searched out a homebirth midwife and found Valeriana and guess what? She had a beautiful homebirth.

I think that my favorite part about homebirth(other than the obvious freedom and the peacefullness and the respect of the laboring woman) is the family bonding after. When we leave (usually about 4 hrs after birth) the baby is nursing away and the family is tucked into bed. No separation. Its great.

Phew...I haven't been on my soap box for a while. I guess it was a much needed break for all my readers : )

So I feel like I want to share a few pictures from my own homebirth experience with Levi.

This is kind of in reverse order


About 10 minutes after the birth I got out of the tub to birth the placenta. We were all laughing at how surprised we were that it was a boy!



Elyse was a HUGE helper in the tub. She poured water on my back which felt great!


Me just laboring after my water had broken.



Cannon was supporting me so well while my midwife looked on.

This was such a great experience for us!