Tracing, Drawing and Writing

This is a really cool dry erase board that has upper case letters on one side and lower case letters on the other side.  When Ez was 3, she really wanted to learn to write letters and spell people's names.  I think she learned to write Luci at the same time as her own name!  She was so young but I wanted to support her so I tried to find a way to let her pursue her dreams without the pressure that can come with learning to write.

This is just right for ez. She can do her thing just as she likes with no pressure to write a certain way as dictated by mom or dad.  It's up to her.  When she's over letters, she can just draw.

I found dry erase crayons, instead of markers so my brain wouldn't freak out by the mess.  She likes to draw pictures of Betsy's family and our family, as well.  Yes, Betsy's family did come first and it did include puppy, Calvin.  Precious.

the rainy season

Labor Day and Birth Day

She was born only 5 hours after this pic was taken but those 5 hours felt like foreva!

still smiling in early labor

 

it's all a blur, at this point.

 

my doula and my daughter.

 

my just born babe

doors around our house

these snails

Our Backyard Garden

We have a few fruit trees in the river house yard. You see the girls pointing up at the coconut tree. We drink the milk/water from them, eat the flesh and greatly enjoy it all. But on of the best delicacies is coconut milk oil, which our friend's mother makes for us out of our coconut trees. We use it in cooking and I cannot describe just how tasty it is...so rich and creamy. The fruit you see e bear picking is a passion fruit. She declined to taste it but the bear likes to eat them for breakfast. We pluck two, cut them in half and give her a spoon to scoop out the juicy seeds. It reminds me of watermelon with all of the seeds but is super sticky sweet.

What Lies Beyond the Gate

River House(s) Part II

The River House(s)

Bumi Sehat Haiti!!!

I am here in Bali at Bumi Sehat, an amazing birth center that does so much more.  Well, now Haiti will have their very own Bumi Sehat as supplies and funds are already being collected.  Touchdown in Haiti is Jan. 25th, 2010!  Check out the info below from a Bumi Sehat Team Haiti midife:


From Kelly Dunn, midwife, team member going to Haiti:
"With a team of medics, midwives, and builders we are headed to Haiti with the goal to build a long term standing clinic to serve the local community, focused on the birthing women and children. They desperately need our help during the short term and we will be establishing a tent clinic to meet there needs beyond birthing women. When Bumi Sehat went to Aceh we were able to immediately make an impact and long term were able to establish a clinic in Aceh that is run by the locals with our assistance to help over 7,000 people annually. We went into Aceh with a truck and supplies coming from Medan and opened a clinic in a remote area that was desperate for help that saw over 70 patients per day. I am very proud to tell you that very same clinic is STILL up and running today serving the people of Aceh. It is the ONLY clinic in Aceh that did not shut its doors after the focus of the world was off of the victims from the tsunami. We are going into Haiti with this very same idea. Our goal is to set up a clinic that will attract other NGOs and local community members to help their own people. We are planning on receiving help and support from larger organizations. We will be looking toward OXFAM to help us get clean water once we have a location. They were able to get clean water to our clinic in Aceh within hours of us opening. We will look toward UNICEF to supply us with birthing kits and infant supplies. They were our right hand in getting lost supplies to the traditional midwives in the region. WHO was our savior for malaria medicine, which we were able to put to use to save the lives of 2 children that would have died, had the medicine come even one hour later. We were able to link up with the Spanish Red Cross that gave us transportation in and out of the Aceh region. Catholic Relief Services gave us our moped to get patients to larger facilities. We will be using debris and materials that are available to build a structure that can offer a safe birthing space and medical aide to all. Our plan is to go in for one month leaving it to local professionals that will be connected to the other NGOs that are still there. Our clinic will be a resource center to connect the people with the aide that is available. This is the most important action. The amount of supplies and aide that come into a disaster relief area is huge. The trick is to direct those supplies and aide to the people. Rural communities are easily over looked. We will be in communication with all surrounding communities to help them receive what they need. This is the very same model that we used going into Aceh. Bumi Sehat, Aceh has helped over 1,000 people and has staffing volunteers from all over the world. It is managed and run by locals that have kept its dream and vision alive. We cannot move forward with this vision until we have funding. Going into a country that is completely destroyed and helping people 24 hours a day is the easy part of this journey. The difficult part is raising funds in order to do our work. The more money that we raise equals the more supplies that we can purchase and bring directly to the victims of this horrible nightmare. By donating money to our nonprofit organization (501(c)3) you will get birthing mothers to a safe place. By donating you will be helping Haitians with general medical needs. By donating today, you will support in teaching and encouraging mothers to breastfeed and sustain their children with the best food possible, breast milk. By donating, you will be helping to create a resource center that will eventually be a pride and joy of a community, for the Haitian people. You will be helping the Haitian people help themselves long term. We do not have any over head; we do not have any office bills to pay. We will be using every cent to buy supplies that will be going directly to the people of Haiti. Our list is long for the medical supplies that we will have to bring from the United States. Bumi Sehat is doing all that we can to raise money and supplies from other support organizations."

I am so proud to be part of such a problem solving team!  If you want to go to Haiti and help, please check out the link to get connected!  

On a Plane, I Can't Complain

Welcoming The Babies

In Bali, at the birth of each babe, the midwives and all in attendance would begin to sing this song.  As the babe was crowning, it was very important to begin singing.  I fumbled along but never really got the words stuck into my brain like I wanted them to be.  This time around, I want to sing along knowing both the words and their meaning.  The midwife did explain to me something along the lines of, "we are welcoming each babe.  telling them we recognize the god in them."

For me, seeing words spelled out really helps to understand a language.  If I spell your name, when we meet, I am likely to recall it!  So, seeing the song spelled out is helping me to memorize it.  I am so stoked to sing along this time.  Oh, wait!!!  I am tone deaf.  I don't know a beat or a rhythm.   All memebers of my immediate family have asked me to stop singing at one point.  It's true.  This holiday season, as I sang Ezra Jack Keats' version of "The Little Drummer Boy", my Ez asked me to "just read it, mom."  Now, what?  Sing anyway and ruin the otherwise melodic births of these precious babes?  Or just spell it in my head as I hum or mumble along inside pleasantly happy enough to finally KNOW the words.

The babes at Bumi Sehat hear these words being sung over them:

Om Bur Buvah Suvaha
Thath Savithur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhi-Mahi
Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayat

What does it mean, you ask?  Well, I asked the same!  It means:

Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life, Remover of pain and sorrow, The Bestower of happiness, Oh! Creator of the Universe, May we receive thy supreme sin- destroying light, May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

And, just for clarity, not every single babe hears these words first.  Why not?  It is tradition for the Muslim dads to whisper The Call to Prayer into their babe's right ear.  We are all quiet to honor this.  Everyone, including the dad, perhaps has been singing up until this point sometimes.  But, if we know the family is Muslim, all gets quiet for the dad to whisper.  I have seen it done with tears streaking down the dad's cheeks as he is so full of joy in welcoming his precious babe just as we, the birth attendants are.

Beautiful Mama of Multiple Babes

Charity by Adolph William Bouguereau

Merry Christmas

 Today will be a fabulous day, one where my family celebrates the birth of a sweet babe.

If you are looking to get crafty today, this looks like a beautiful project to do.

Matchings...Oops

First, let me share with you a blog post that makes me want to be a more consistent blogger and just a truer human mama person.  It's from my long-distance rockin' mama friend.  She even rocks in labor and birth, trust me, I was (HONORED TO BE) there to witness.

One of the bear's favorite books is Sandra Boynton's "Blue Hat, Green Hat" which ends in the word "oops". She reads it to herself on a daily basis now. One of her other favorite things (and e's, too) is to have matchings with her sister. Whether it is clothes, crayons, shoes or food portions, they both really like to have the same.

So, being a mama that really enjoys the visual imagery of Hanna Andersson dresses, I ordered them matching red snowflake dresses.  Now, I did not go to the official website to order them but rather spent time on ebay bidding frugally on matching reds.  The bear's came first and one for e came later.  If you know about Hanna, they are European sizing which my brain doesn't always compute.  So, the dress for e that came was a tad too big.  We laughed for a long time as she tried it on, already knowing it would fit Maggie better than ez.

Huge ole dress.  And, yes, the bear does have her dress on backwards and with a pair of pants that I put in the give away pile a week earlier.  Doesn't get much better.  We are awesome.

Somehow, the dress did get turned around but e never did get one in the right size.  Oops.  She really didn't seem to mind, at least.  Merry Christmas!