collecting firewood

A Christmas Tree Choosing

State of The World's Mothers 2010

Women on the Front Lines of Health Care

http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/what_we_do/every_one/news.html

Why doesn’t the United States do better in the rankings?

The United States ranked 28th this year based on several factors:

␣ One of the key indicators used to calculate well-being for mothers is lifetime risk of maternal death. The United States’ rate for maternal mortality is 1 in 4,800 – one of the highest in the developed world. Thirty-five out of 43 developed countries performed better than the United States on this indicator, including all the Western, Northern and Southern European countries (except Estonia and Albania) as well as Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. A woman in the Unites States is more than five times as likely as a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece or Italy to die from pregnancy-related causes in her lifetime and her risk of maternal death is nearly 10-fold that of a woman in Ireland.

␣ Similarly, the United States does not do as well as many other countries with regard to under-5 mortality.The U.S. under-5 mortality rate is 8 per 1,000 births.This is on par with rates in Slovakia and Montenegro.Thirty-eight countries performed better than the U.S. on this indicator. At this rate, a child in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as a child in Finland, Iceland, Sweden or Singapore to die before his or her fifth birthday.

␣ The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy – both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid – of any wealthy nation.

␣ The United States is also lagging behind with regard to the political status of women. Only 17 percent of seats in the House of Representatives are held by women, compared to 46 percent of seats in Sweden and 43 percent in Iceland.

Robin Lim's Placenta

One of my mentors and dear friends wrote a book recently entitled, "Placenta, The Forgotten Chakra". The illustrations, photographs and words are all world changing graphics. I am only a few pages into the book and already being wowed over and over. Also, there are concepts explained in such clear language that I am finally understanding them deeper. The story of her dog, Madu giving birth to nine puppies and reviving the still-born pup by stimulating the pup's body and placenta is as awe-some as when it happened to a newborn human babe the same week!

You will want to get a copy of this book asap. If you are going to the MANA Conference in Nashville, you can hear her speak and pick one up there. Here are a few qoutes that stick out to me so far:


"The natural process of bringing new human life into the world became a medical event in which the mother-to-be was hospitalized, drugged and the baby was delivered from her, not by her."

"Medicine became divorced from nature and forgot to respect the diversity of human culture and tradition. Somehow in the application of such efficiency, we lost our humanity at the fulcrum of the most tender of life’s moments: the birth of a child."

It may not even be assed whether everyone is ready for the umbilical cord to be cut; it is just assumed and done very soon after the baby's body is born. Lim reminds us to pause and asses:

"At birth, it is important to be sure that the baby, placenta, mother and family are truly ready for the umbilical cord to be cut."

"Following parturition (birth) the placenta falls neatly away from the shrinking uterine wall and is born approximately eleven to twenty minutes after the baby. The birth of the placenta is best accomplished without complications if the mother is properly nourished and has the energy reserves necessary to accomplish this third stage of labor."

blocks

long blocks from palumba get played with every single day

there is a whole lot of block playing going on around here. the long blocks become houses and stalls for the sheep. also, they are laid as tracks, roads and paths.  the little square blocks came from the back of a craft store.  we brought them home and used watercolors to paint a rainbow of colors on them.  these two sets of blocks are used in the girls' play every. single. day. in a variety of ways.  awesome!

candle making

this pound of beeswax has been sitting atop our fridge for months

It sometimes takes me a lot of research, review and courage to try a crafty thing like candle making. the mama at childhood magic gave step by step instructions which included pictures. thus, i finally got my head wrapped around making them and had all of the tools and materials.

playdough made it's first entrance into our home for this project.

We used cookie cutters as the mold. we put the candles into the freezer to firm up. they popped out really easily.  next time, i would add more beeswax as they were way shorter than i had wanted.  they did not burn as long b/c of how shallow they were.

floating stars

simple book nook

there are over a hundred things that i really like about my house.  

one is how the stairs split so there is a little landing half way up/down.

last year, we created a space to hang out for a bit while people were in between...  in between what?  well, at the top of the stairs is the bathroom and at the bottom is the backdoor where all of our shoes are kept.  we often sit on the bottom of the stairs to put shoes on and sit on the top of stairs to brush teeth.  inevitability, someone is done before the other someones in our house are done.  so, it's nice to have a simple place to hang out in the in between. 

the runaway bunny, apple of my face, god made me, the itsy bitsy spider, owl in the garden, something by ezra jack keats and a few indonesian books.

the frog has been with us since e was about two years old and who knows where i picked up that basket and stuffed it with books?  they both fit just right into the book nook.  it's a great place for books that we are not really reading at the moment to get stored.  sometimes, they find their way into the playroom or by the bed, of course.

quick beach

at the ocean with her dada

 one day this summer, we decided to take a quick trip to the seashore, to a part of the coastline that we had not experienced with our daughters.  so, the drive took way longer that we expected and people kept giving us inaccurate directions to our lunch destination.  we finally arrived there and got our bellies full.  it took another round of 'way longer than expected' driving to get to our destination, which was an aquarium. 

two silly little geese

 

 

 

 

 

because we arrived at the aquarium as they were closer, we were not required to pay the entrance fee due to the kindness of a man who will remained unnamed.  THANK YOU!  it was great to explore this new to us aquarium as we have been again and again to the one on the outer banks.  we were glad to get some energy out before driving a few blocks up the beach.  we hung out there all afternoon into the early evening.  then, we went back up for a later than usual dinner.  we went to an amazing burrito place and ate outside.  i just sat here racking my brain to think of where we stayed, what the hotel room looked like, the parking lot, checking in, anything...all just to realize that we did not stay the night or ever plan to stay the night.  it was a quick day trip, remember?  haha.

she was loving the sand

a summer of river sundays

is that a crane?

the bear with her unca anthony

the lovely haw river

early morning

fun by the river in western part of ye ole north state

E is for...

my E bear!

Although this picture is from over a year ago, it was worth sharing.  Last year right before Christmastime, we met up with my grandparents.  They live in Georgia so we met halfway. We visited a cool children's museum that happened to have her letter big, bold and made from recycled cans. Super cool!

the ways of the bear

the bear is rather consistent. 

1. she has always slept "well", meaning she doesn't fight sleep, does rest for a decent stretch of time and wakes up refreshed.  in the very early weeks, i had to check in with hubs and other friends again and again b/c i just not not used to a sleeping baby who was also an efficient nurser.  it was so different from e's pattern of needing to wake up and nurse more.  i do understand, of course that e's early birth and low weight contributed to her needing more frequent nursing sessions. but i did not realize until the bear was born what a difference it would make!
she has taken naps regularly.  she goes to be easily most nights.  there were a couple of seasons where she woke up in the middle of the night inconsolable.  hubs i were so confused by it. which leads to number two...

falling asleep quickly mid-snack

2. she sometimes is inconsolable and does NOT want to be touched or comforted.  when she was barely a year old, we taught her to say, "space" to let us know she didn't want to be touched or talked to but was okay.  it was her way to say she needed to figure it out & it helped us to know she wasn't in pain and to leave her be.

beginning to say, "space" and putting her hand out as in "stop, don't come any closer.".

Oh, my this was such a huge, hard lesson for me who worked my butt off to be an attachment parenting type of mama and who had a first child that was into being held plus easily consolable.  she still has times when she needs her space and i give it to her.  if you see her on the floor crying somewhere and me sitting by, no worries.  i really am doing what she wants me to do & not ignoring her.  and, trust me, nobody wants her to stop crying more than i do.  i really do not like to hear yelling or crying.

playing quietly all by herself one morning

3.  and 4. she likes to wake up early and play by herself for a bit.  she's been an early riser even though i tried to 'fix' that and get her to sleep in, as i prefer to do.  nope.  e bear still will sleep in but rarely, rarely ever would the bear.  if she had a long night of waking or late, late bedtime, she may sleep in a bit.  she is like her dada, a morning person.  anytime of day, she likes to play alone with sticks, wooden animals, beeswax, train sets, puzzles, books, dress up, coloring, playdough, little cups and bowls, etc...she is not picky about what she plays.  but she is totally fine to play for a solid 30-60 minutes by herself.  i was just looking back at pictures from this summer where i took one at 8am of her playing quietly on the floor and the last one was at 8:30am of her still playing on the floor all by herself while i had coffee and her sister slept.  she had moved through three different activities but she was content the whole time to just peacefully flow like that all on her own.  this isn't just a morning thing, either.  she is totally content to play quietly by herself for 45 minutes or so at a time.  it's just precious and heart-warming to me how happy she is doing this kind of thing.

fresh colored pencils

with rather delightful names like 'moss pillows' & 'rambling rose in the thicket'.

solo parenting time

white water rafting on the upper gauley 2006

rafting 2008

This morning, hubs left for his annual rafting trip up in West Virginia.  He'll be back on Saturday afternoon.  This trip is so great for him; I have no interest in going rafting ever.  The guys who go each year are awesome dudes full of love for my hubs.  They come from all over the country to hang out for a few days on the water and camp.  It makes solo parenting a little easier when I know he is having such a great time.

a lil' kitchen

One of the favorite themes in our playspace is restaurant, which probably means we eat out too often! Menus are created, a full-service waitstaff from hostess to server to cook are available with booster seats and high chairs offered in this pet-friendly eating establishment.

stovetop and shelf that was left in the house when we bought it.

Some of our friends have really cool kitchen set ups in their playspace.  We wanted to keep it simple and flexible so just bought a little stovetop as the main part.  That shelf was hanging in the bathroom when we moved into the house.  I painted it with leftover "Dancing Light", which is a favorite color throughout our house.  It's a no VOC paint we used in the hallways, a bathroom and a bedroom.  Lovely color.  When we need to change things up, the shelf can turn into something other than kitchen space. 

 lil cups, bowls and baskets, lil colander and muffin pan, lil spatulas.  just right.

Over the years, we have picked up some great kitchen items just the right size.  The tiny cups are from a craft store in the doll section while the bowls are considered "ramekins" from a big bed, bath, etc store.  The wooden baskets are from our last trip to Bali and can become a well for dipping water out of or be taken outside to collect berries, flowers and food on our nature walks or in the garden.  The box storing pots and pans once contained tangerines, if I recall correctly.  The rolling pins are great for playdough.

elephant hook for aprons, kid broom, placemats my mom sent to us.

This works as our refrigerator or pantry space.  It has two shelves inside, a latch and is solid wood.  Somehow stickers got stuck to the door and will not come off!  on the left side, we drilled a screw to hang that basket.  There is a hand broom, and a tiny broom and dustpan in the basket. 

highchairs and booster seats (extra pillows, really) are available.

This little doll has been with us since staying with the Shavers in Bellingham, WA upon flying in from Bali back in Fall of 2007.  E bear was missing her friend, Ana who lives in Bali so this little doll became known as Ana on our cross-country trip back to North Cack.

book shelves

considering which book to view

Even before we learned about how forward facing books encourage people to pick them up, these bookshelves appealed to me.  They were so expensive and I was having no luck finding them on craigslist.  So, we had gathered up enough inspiration to re-organize the playroom a bit.  Then I got a 10% off coupon AND they went on sale!  I like that the top is a little shelf, too.  So, it was time to make the purchase and hang some shelves.

work in progress

Glammy came into town for the weekend and took the girls out.  This was the first time she has taken both girls on her own away from the house.  We were delighted yet nervous, of course.  Being able to complete tasks is thrilling when for years, it takes lots of breaks to meet the child's needs as one re-organizes, plants a garden, cleans out a closet, etc.  Hubs hung the shelves beside each other under a window and we placed two pillows beneath them.

the best part!

Drinking From the Saucer

Today was just such a beautiful day.  From start to finish, various incredible events happened with friends and people from different parts of life. 

When I kissed the sweet cheeks of my two little beating hearts that walk outside of me, I just about lost it all over, again as my heart fills so full.  just full to the brim.  overflowing.

in college, my dearest friend at the time was a person named jessica.  she gave me a poem for my birthday.  my favorite line was "i am drinking from the saucer because my cup has overflowed".  it was about how full this person's life was of riches beyond money.  and, today just was one of those saucer drinking sort of days.  wow.

thank you.

the grocery stories make me laugh now

Our three main food resources were our back yard (when we lived at the river house), the bi-weekly farmer's market and a little health food store called Bali Buddha which also is a cafe.  When we moved, our yard wasn't growing much yet.  We ordered from Kafe a lot as it's one of my favorite places on Earth and from Flava Lounge, which is owned by Robin's son, our friend, Noel. 

Contrary to this picture's main product, we did not purchase large quantities of beer here...or anywhere, actually.  I never drank alcohol in Ubud until the last two nights when I was no longer on call or volunteering with the clinic.  Just felt safer that way for me.

There were two main grocery stores we used and I certainly did not take enough pictures of the neat grocery store while we were in bali.  From the one you see pictured, we mainly, we bought produce, tempe, nuts, snacks and fun random items there.  This would include art supplies, dog collars and leashes for Bebe and Happy, a little kid's potty, and rubber animals for the girls to play with.  Most of the Bear's birthday gifts came from the grocery store: oil pastels, colored pencils that were watercolors, paintbrushes, notepads, rulers, and those rubber animals.   I am laughing just writing this!

At the other store, we mainly bought fruit, veggies, pasta noodles, sauces, and then random stuff like: towels, underwear, tank top undershirt things that E wore once and proclaimed too itchy to wear twice, notepads, some pots or pans and a poster with animals on it with their indonesian names below.  We tried to buy preemie clothes for one tiny babe at the clinic but never could find anything small enough for this wee one so bought the next smallest items we could find.  Oh, and we bought coffee here sometimes.  Available for purchase was also perfume and watches but we did not partake.  Fun times, really. 

I will spare you any details of how inadequate the bathroom facilities were; that was the very worst part of grocery shopping for sure.  They were horrible, oh, beyond horrible at both places.  If it hadn't been emergency situations in such a crowded on the street place far away from other facilities, we never would have gotten near them.  trust me.  yuh-uck.  i shudder.

The very best part is you now get to imagine us loading all of this stuff onto the back and front of our neighbor's  motorbike...with two kids.  It was awesome.  You may now understand my dilemma about wanting to buy the long handled broom and hubby's negative head nod when we thought about how to get it home...in the rain.  So, we settled for our short-handled one back at home.  Yep, laughing, again.

finger paints

actually, it was way more than finger painting, it was more like toe painting and full body painting!

smear and streaks are way more fun and easier to clean up when we do them outside. 

we unfolded a large cardboard box, put in on the deck where we knew rain would wash away the paint and cleaned up in the little pool.  just right.

 tiny feet and hands

a good friend

hanging at the clinic catching babies and such

considering helmets

 girls night out

at a ceremony

blessing my daughter

Ambulance

We had a huge celebration the day the ambulance arrived!  People, this is the ambulance that you all bought for Bumi Sehat.  It was bought with funds from the Rotary Club and generous donors.  If you gave $10, you have helped saved a life...or two.  Sometimes mamas and their babies need to be rushed to the hospital but usually it's just a really long labor where the mom is totally exhausted and wants to transfer.  Sometimes, a family walks up with a child in their arms who is having a seizure of some sort.  We've used the ambulance to help these people get to a hospital quickly and provide care on the way.

A little less posed here...and you can see Pagi's face, which was blocked by those beautiful flowers in the previous shot.  He's an amazing part of the Bumi, team!  I was at the birth of his second daughter the last time I was at the clinic.  It's so cool to see her grow up.  We're both parents of two daughters and both full of love for Bumi.  He is a much harder worker than me, though.  He has built stairs, poured concrete for a walkway, created and maintained an organic garden, driven people all over town, laughed a lot, and remained humble through it all.  When the ambulance was on it's way to us, he poured the concrete for the parking pad, used a blowtorch of some sort to make a metal roof complete with intricate swirly metal on the posts.  He's pretty much awesome and I am honored to work alongside him year after year.

Yes, it was tasty and healthy!

let's eat!

When There is No Playdough

there is rice flour!

more rice flour

 ibu duah, which means mama two

she is such a great mama two to my girls.  she lets them get crazy messy.  love her.