2012 April

Better Brain for Baby? Try the Mommy Mind Meld!

April 23, 2012 By Jenni 1 Comment

In her new book Parenting for Peace, early childhood development specialist Dr. Marcy Axness offers us this idea and this challenge: What would it take to raise a generation of peacemakers? The simple answer is that it requires we practice peace ourselves, in front of and with our children. And if you’ve ever lost your mind and been angry with your child after a sleepless night, or the thousandth “mommy can I…” or, well, just because, then you know that the simple answer isn’t an easy one! I’ve about decided that every parenting book I’ve appreciated comes down to one thing: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Birth, Before and After, Bodymind Bliss, Motherhood, Parenting Tagged With: blog tour, Marcy Axness, mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, Parenting for Peace, self-care, Trust birth conference

A Long Courtship with Self-Care

April 20, 2012 By Jenni Leave a Comment

Spring Renewal Self Care Retreat Vision Board 1

A long time ago, in a life I’ve nearly forgotten—the one before kids—I had a one-dimensional view of self-care. It involved calling in sick to work for a “mental health day.” Or, “spa day.” It was all the same to me, really. One other time, someone told me I should schedule some “white space” into my planner. (Waaay back in the days of paper planners zipped into leather-bound binders!) The idea was to pencil in some “me” time. I was never very good at it. Even when I was responsible only for the care and feeding of moi, I didn’t get far with self-care. I piled … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Birth, Before and After, Bodymind Bliss, Classes & Workshops, Self-care, Yoga Tagged With: Athens Georgia, Baraka Elihu, birthing ourselves into being, La Leche League Breastfeeding & Parnenting Conference 2012, mother's group, mothering, parenting, Renee Trudeau, self care, self-compassion, Spring Renewal Self-Care Retreat, womanspace, women's circle

Marcy Axness: Parenting for Peace

April 19, 2012 By Jenni Leave a Comment

I can’t say enough how much I loved the sessions at last weekend’s Trust Birth 2012 conference here in Nashville! Being around women who are passionate about birth and parenting was so energizing. I’m looking forward to sharing what I heard about newborns’ awareness from Karen Strange, natural ways to ease perinatal mood disorders from Deanna Hlywka, ND, how Gloria LeMay sees language color our impressions of birth, the wonders Gena Kirby works with a rebozo during pregnancy and labor, and what biomechanist Katy Bowman says those pesky Kegels are doing to your pelvic floor. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Birth, Before and After, Bodymind Bliss, Parenting, Self-care Tagged With: blog tour, chronic covert postpartum depression, epigenetics, Marcy Axness, mothering, neurobiology, new book, parenting, Parenting for Peace, self-care

Birth Story: Jenna’s VBAC

April 5, 2012 By Jenni 2 Comments

It’s a perfect September fall day, warm and sunny, not as humid as summertime. We canoe down the Broad River—me in the front, my husband, Matt, in the back, and our son, Bodey, in the middle. Eight weeks pregnant with baby #2, I tire easily and can’t exert myself. I turn around in the canoe to sit. Leaning back, I simply stare up, noticing how the sky is edged by the trees. I feel like I’m one with those trees. It’s a precious moment in time, the kind you savor forever and recollect when you need to come back to happiness. THE PREMONITION What happens next feels … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Happy Birth Stories, Hospital Births, Natural Births Tagged With: Atlanta Medical Center, birth story, Brad Bootstaylor, Cesarean section, Guina Bixler, Intown Midwifery, natural birth, nature, prenatal yoga, prodromal labor, Teresa Worth Howard, vaginal birth, VBAC

The Cake that Love Baked

April 3, 2012 By Jenni Leave a Comment

So about that cake. We made it, but Spring Break is not proving to be cake. Or, maybe it's that yesterday was exactly like the cake we baked (yep, that's it in the photo)! Here's what happened on our Spring Break Monday: The kids prepped and mixed all the dry ingredients. And then I raced the clock to make the frosting while the cake cooked and cooled. (The frosting recipe was about three times as big as what we needed.) All this rushing was so we could deliver the cake as a surprise for my husband, in honor of our 7th anniversary, at lunchtime. A very late … [Read more...]