Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth

I found out today that I received my provisional status with The Bradley Method (R)!!! This means I can start teaching childbirth classes as soon as I get the workbooks! I am so pumped!
We took the Bradley classes for Enza's birth and it was awesome, I mean it worked so what more can I say!
At the Bradley training workshop in Orlando, one of the teachers ended our first night with some words....he wondered why we were there, what made us come there? He said that he thinks we were called to be there because someone needs us, needs us to teach them. This struck me, Enza's birth had such an impact on me, while challenging it was an amazing experience that was so empowering. If I can help more women experience that, to embrace birth and be active in the process. I believe God created our bodies with the ability to give birth, and to birth naturally (with a few medical exceptions of course). I hope that I can reach as many Mommy's as possible and change or enforce their perspective on childbirth :)

Enza & Ethan

We spent some time with some old friends last weekend. They have a little boy who is 5 days younger than Enza. Here is a few pics of them going after the doggy bell>

Diaper Sprayer

Here is our Diaper sprayer!! Jason installed for me last week. It is just a kitchen sink sprayer attached to the water line of the toilet, works like a charm! It's like power washing the diapers :)

My little Jackie O

Playing in the toilet

Yes, Enza has discovered the toilet and the water therein also! Usually not a big deal, I close the lid and move her to another room, problem solved.
Well, last week Enza finally really took to solids, so much so I had my first poopy diaper that I had to clean the poo off into the toilet (we cloth diaper). Of course this kind of stuff always happens when I'm home alone! So, I take the poopy dipe to the bathroom, pull on my rubber gloves and proceed to wipe poop off of diaper into toilet. Heeeere comes Enza, crawling just as fast as her little arms & legs will carry her. Pulls herself up on the toilet, I'm using my elbows to get her back away from the poop in and on the toilet. So, then almost in defiance she grabs the toilet paper, pulls it down off the roll and sticks it right in her mouth. It was literally like she was saying, "oh yeah, well than I'll just have THIS!" So now she has toilet paper in her mouth and I've got poop all over my hands! Note, I don't care if she were to just get a bite of toilet paper, but she gags and vomits when she gets these kinds of things in her mouth. I AM NOT cleaning up poop AND vomit! So I whip off one glove, swipe the tp from her mouth and proceed with my swishing dunking and massaging poo from the diaper. I'm sure it was a site to see, I've got the yellow rubber gloves up to my elbows, standing on one foot because I'm using the other to hold Enza back out of the bathroom!
Ah, these are the times of our lives :)
ps-Jason is installing me a diaper sprayer this week :)

Enza and an officer

Mom! Help I'm stuck!!!!

Found her like this after a nap...she was starting to get pretty frustrated!

Enza + 4 teeth

I wanted to get some pics with Enza and her new teeth! Her top front teeth came thru the first week of July. Here are a few pics of my adorable baby doll, I can't get enough of her :)

Breastfeeding saves $$$ (lots of it)

I've been working on my Bradley requirements a lot lately and was reading about why dad's should encourage Mom to breastfeed. I have strong opinions about the topic as Enza is still breastfed and has never had formula. I have been blessed with a milk supply to more than keep her content :)
At work today a few ladies and myself were talking about how much money I've saved breastfeeding for the last 9 months and I honestly didn't know. I've never bought or used formula so I don't know how much it costs or how much a baby goes thru. So I decided I wanted to know. I roughly(very) estimated that over 9 mo my God-given boobies have saved my family $864! That's just the cost of formula, not bottles or bottle liners. Wow, I think I deserve a night out!
So besides the butt load of health reasons why women should breastfeed, here's a reason Dad's might be interested in! That number will be over $1000 in the first year!
If you do any amount of research it's stated everywhere, "Breast is Best"....this is true, but besides that formula is not even a comparable option, it is far inferior. No formula company will ever be able to replicate what God has programmed our bodies to produce for our babies, the best most pure form of nutrition formulated for their specific needs at every feeding. What a perfect design!

Natural Remedy for baby cough

Towards the end of last week it was obvious Enza wasn't herself. She had a little bit of dry cough, that often turned to gagging & vomiting. I spent Thursday and Friday changing sheets, washing receiving blankets, and giving Enza bath's, not to mention I've gotten pretty good at grabbing a trash can or anything nearby to catch throw-up besides my floor!
Sunday night when she threw up it was nothing but thick clear mucus, poor baby. Monday her nose started running and her cough had become rattly. I started her on some homeopathic medicine for her cough and she seemed to be ok.
Monday night I tried a natural remedy I had read about, I put a two slices of a white onion on a plate in her bedroom for the overnight. When I was slicing the onion, I thought to myself "seriously, what are onion slices just sitting in her room going to do?" Let me tell you, the onion smell in her room was so strong!
Tuesday she was still coughing and snotting and having trouble napping because of her cough. I left work early and took her home where she was finally able to get some sleep, a 3 hr nap!! Tuesday night, she was so much better :) She didn't cough all night, her nose still ran and snotted a little, but much improved.
Wednesday morning, she was 90% better, no cough, barely even a runny nose. All thru this she never had to take baby Tylenol or Motrin or any other otc medicine. I love Dr Lauren Feder's book of natural remedies! We have had lots of success with everything we've tried and have never resorted to any type of "medicine".

Teething & Dr Doty

Enza has been working on her first top teeth and they have been painful! Her bottom two came in no problem, but these top have been a bear! I can finally feel the edge of her top left tooth thru the skin, hopefully it will be thru soon! Her little gums are so swollen!

My independent little explorer has been so needy and clingy lately not feeling well I decided it was time to take her for her first adjustment with our chiropractor Dr Doty. Dr. Doty has done wonders for Jason, myself and my mom. Jason was diagnosed with 2 herniated discs two years ago, the doctor prescribed him painkillers, physical therapy and an epidural. Jason, opted instead for the chirpractor and has been so blessed. He is pain free and doesn't have to rely on heavy narcotics for it.

Days off

Jason bid for his days off at work last week and I'm happy to announce we now work the same days! We will have Thurs-Sun off as a family!! We are super excited, this will allow us more time to do things together, and hopefully now we can get out on that boat we're paying for!

Waving

We've been working on waving for awhile, and the last couple days Enza has waved on her own and when she feels like it. This morning (6/24) when I dropped Enza off at Nanya & Papas she waved bye to me when I asked her to! Yay!

Enza's Bird Call

This was our second day at the beach (May 5th). Enza had just taken a nap and was feeling refreshed. There was a family in front of us off to one side with a few little kids. They had a big blow up yellow duck, I think Enza liked it!

Our Boat!!!

Here are pics of our boat! It is a 1995 SunTracker Party Barge 24. We have it in a boat slip at Lake Jacomo just a few minutes from home! We are so excited to get out on the water more this summer with our very own boat! Already bought Enza her first little life jacket :)

Busy Day

Thursday was a busy day for Enza & Mommy. In the morning we went to the Indpendence La Leche meeting. I picked up a great book there called Whole Foods for Babies and Toddlers. I started reading it right away, and so far so good. It started out with a little insight in to commercial baby food. The corporations who dominate the industry and whether or not they have the consumers best interest in mind. I'm really looking forward to the guidance. I know that following modern culture isn't necessarily the best choice for my baby. So I love to read about the benefits of making my own baby food, and the real reasons why it's better. I mean, basic fundamental values like nutrition and fillers in commerical baby food. It's really sad that our world is so focused on convenience that we choose to overlook contents. We aren't educated on simple vitamins and nutrients, what they're for and where we can get them naturally. Of course I myself am more inspired in all of this since I have Enza's interest to look out for besides just my own.
That night was the Holistic Mom's open house! It's is always nice to be around other women who do the things we do, who question todays cultural norm. Although I must say that some make me feel pretty 'mainstream'. My friend Jenni came along with me to the meeting. It's nice to introduce some of our friends to how we've decided to do things :)

2nd Day @ Beach

Here are some pics from our second day in Destin, we went down to beach earlier this day, and left afternoon when a storm rolled in. It was nice to be on the beach for a few hours and nice to be back inside in the ac and dry :)

Pooped

I have so much that I want to get out here on our blog, but we are so busy and so tired right now!
We drove straight home from Destin yesterday. Took 15 hours, arrived home @ 2am. This morning we woke up and starting unpacking and putting things aways, Jason cleaned the Pilot inside and out. We had to go to the grocery store to restock, go the AmFam to sign our paperwork for boat insurance. We are both exhausted!
And this Jason's Western Civ class ends this weekend, so he has a couple essay's and a test to take before Monday.
I go back to work Monday, Jason Wednesday. So, hopefully before then we can get some rest and I can get some more Florida blog out here :)

1st day at the beach

Monday was our first day in Destin, it was rainy and dreary most of the day. But afternoon it stopped raining enough to get out on the beach. Jason wanted to try out his new boogie board and Enza and I went along to watch! Enza was not fond of anything about the beach! She cried and hung on to us for dear life.

Teething

Did I mention that Enza's first tooth poked thru Monday night before we left home! Sunday after church my mom and I felt that she had a little bump on her gum, and sure enough the next night it had poked thru. In the week since then the whole top of the tooth is thru and moving up!
She had her first teething biscuit in GA she went to town :)