Nurturing the Earth: May/June

On Earth Day this year, I made a pledge for my family to make changes towards more earth-friendly living. I pledged to use the computer three hours or less per day, have at least one car-free day per week, plant native plants on our parking strip, and find one new green change that we can make in our family, each month. How has it been going? The computer commitment has been difficult, but I have been close. I have been reading a lot more, which I am enjoying immensely! Having one car-free day each week was too easy, since we already do that; I may have to increase that to two days per week. The native plants are on hold, but I am going to replace that promise with another until I can look into a mini-grant through Portland Bureau of Environmental Services for our street.

As for the promise to find one new change each month: In May, I remembered that I had been given It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living, and I pulled it out for help in finding ideas. This book is a terrific resource for examining areas in your day-to-day habits and finding areas that can be changed or improved. The book has a ton of resources, tips, and a whole section of ideas for improvements with boxes to check off as "want to target", "currently working on", and rate your success. The ideas, or "tips", are broken down into categories such as work, bathroom, kitchen, energy, etc. The great part about reading this book, for me, was seeing how much my family is already doing, as well as finding concrete ideas for doing more. Having the ideas broken down, as they are in the book, helps me find one specific change that we can implement each month. I chose to create a box in our house to store batteries that need to be recycled. That way, when an opportunity for recycling batteries comes up, such as Swap-n-Play's Trash to Treasure, I will have them ready to go.

I couldn't pass up posting this video clip, which I found when searching for a link to It's Easy Being Green-the same title as this clip...


Courtney Jarecki and her partner have started a Facebook pledge to get rid of one thing in their house each day for 50 days. For my June commitment, I have joined that and have been doing a modified version by getting rid of seven things each week and making sure that I bring those items to a place where they can be repurposed or reused. I am also implementing a "buy nothing" days during which I will not buy anything for 3 day blocks. I plan to do this each month, if not more often. Courtney shared this video to inspire downsizing, and I would like to share it with you.

Mama Mantras

Tornadoes happen in our house, on a regular basis. These swirly, high energy twisters are typically amidst the fantastic chaos of learning, growing, playing, exploring, and creating; all activities that I welcome in my home. Sometimes, during these heavy weather growing events, I experience a physical and emotional reaction commonly known as stress. As I feel my shoulders pinch and my jaw clamp, in response to the feeling of my personal world spinning with objects flying by me in directions I could never have imagined, I find that it is helpful to turn inward and find a little message for myself that provides reassurance, calm, and grounding. This message becomes a temporary mantra, if you will, that I repeat softly or in my head until I feel my feet firmly replanted on the ground.

One of my favorite, or rather, most often used mantra is, "It is just a mess, we can clean it up." I have found this simple phrase immensely helpful, especially when I am trying to stay out of the way of my children's exploring and playing. I try to keep the messages short and easy, yet specific to the need at hand.

If you have a favorite mantra you have created in the midst of fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, or parenting challenges and would like to share, send it my way and I will post it. I also, be assured, have many more to share.

Life is messy, messy can be beautiful, and all messes can be cleaned up, if needed.

It is just a mess, we can clean it up.

crafty/creative family: make garden markers

As spring begins (happy spring to all), we have been finding ourselves drawn to the garden more and more despite the crazy Portland spring weather. Every bit of shining without clouds and every cloudy-yet-dryish chance we get we grab our seeds, boots, and shovels and get out. Playing in the dirt feels so good. I have saved seeds from years past to give my son something to plant when we have run out of seeds that are ready to be planted. He has gardens all over our yard and who knows, maybe we will have an extra bounty this year.

But Portland is Portland, the weather is fickle, and some days we just don't want to tough it out through a hail storm. While we are indoors, art projects are the next best thing to freely being messy in the dirt. Making garden markers is an activity that ties together two of our favorite activities!

What you will need:

• tongue depressors or Popsicle sticks or something similar (the wider the better)
• medium sized smooth rocks also make cool markers
• paint/water proof markers
• sealant that can withstand the elements

optional:

• ribbon, yarn, etc.
• beads
• glue that can withstand the elements
• pictures from magazines, etc.
• bendable wire
• bits, scraps, toys, etc.

Decorate the garden markers anyway that you would like. Write the name of the plant, paint a picture of the plant, decoupage a picture of the plant, create symbols of the plant, write a poem, blessing, quote, or thought about the plant...the possibilities are endless.

If you do not have sealant on-hand, you can create plant markers for the indoor starts or houseplants. Other favorite garden markers are random toys/parts of toys and plastic animal figurines to "keep watch" over the plants.

(pictures coming soon!)

crafty/creative family: make a terrarium

Terrariums are fun to create, educational, easy, and children love them.

You will need:

• a jar (glass or plastic) with a tight-fitting lid
• gravel
• charcoal (must be activated charcoal--can be found at most nurseries)
• sand
• moss or peat
• loose dirt/potting soil
• small hardy plants (water-loving)
• small objects for decoration

Start by cleaning the jar thoroughly. Add the gravel about 1/4 inch to cover the bottom. Add about the same amount of charcoal as you did the gravel. Combine the sand, moss/peat, and dirt and put the mixture on top of the charcoal. Add plants and decoration. We added moss on top of the dirt between the plants. Water the plants. Put the lid on...and that is it! You do not have to water it or do any other maintenance except an occasional pruning.

Succulent and/or cactus terrariums can be made with more sand in the soil-mix and no lid. This type of terrarium will need to be watered but not very often.

A Doula Story

Doulas mother mothers in their journey into motherhood in so many ways beyond labor support. Loretha Weisinger works tirelessly to support young mothers throughout their pregnancies, labors, and postpartum to become the mothers that they really want to be. When I saw a link to this movie, A Doula Story on Citizens for Midwifery's blog, I felt compelled to share it. It is free to watch on-line and is about an hour long. It is such a touching story, I really hope you have a chance to watch it. Loretha is an amazing woman, so full of tenderness, understanding, and strength. She has taken her personal experience and used it as a source of energy for the work that she does.

From Black Public Media's Website, a description of the film:

A Doula Story
Produced by Danny Alpert
A Doula Story documents one African American woman’s fierce commitment to empower pregnant teenagers with the skills and knowledge they need to become confident, nurturing mothers. Produced by The Kindling Group, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization, this powerful film follows Loretha Weisinger back to the same disadvantaged Chicago neighborhood where she once struggled as a teen mom. Loretha uses patience, compassion and humor to teach “her girls” about everything from the importance of breastfeeding and reading to their babies, to communicating effectively with health care professionals.

Rollercoaster of Life

I saw this movie, Parenthood, long before I was a parent myself. This particular scene moves me. I think about it from time to time, especially now that I am a mother. The wonderful thing about rollercoasters is: even if you are in the seat alone, there is someone in front of you, behind you, or both...it is a shared experience with many others, the cars are all connected. That was a helpful thought in labor; that other women, somewhere in the world, were also laboring. It is a comfort as I parent, that others are riding the waves of mothering. There are so many ways to parent, but we are all connected by the emotional experience of parenting. Here is to enjoying the ride...

Orgasmic Birth will be on 20/20 Tonight

Passed on from the Big Push for Midwives who passed it on from the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) e-news...pass it on...

Orgasmic Birth will be a featured segment on ABC's 20/20 tonight (Friday, Jan. 2) at 10:00 pm Eastern. Filmmaker and former CIMS Leadership Team member Debra Pascali-Bonaro presents the ultimate challenge to our cultural myths by inviting viewers to see the emotional, spiritual, and physical heights attainable through unmedicated normal birth. In this revolutionary documentary, physiologic childbirth is revealed as an integral part of women's sexuality and a neglected human right. Learn more about the segment on the ABC News Web site.

Carol Gray wrote a blog post about ecstatic/orgasmic birth with a wonderful explanation of physiology-side of all of it.

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I am glad that after many reschedules the 20/20 segment is finally going to air tonight.

Speaking of Stories

Karen Garland-Kidder and Joni James of A Perfect Birth in Maine are putting together a book of collected stories by and about mothers meeting their babies: birth sotries, fertility stories, adoption stories, and so on.

Here is what they say:

Mir·a·cle-
Any amazing or wonderful occurrence; a marvelous event manifesting a supernatural act as a divine agent.

When a woman births her child in whichever way her body chooses, it cannot be called anything but a miracle. To embrace your birth, whether you planned for a vaginal birth and your body chose a caesarean or going into labor you told yourself “no drugs” , but at the last minute your body cried out for relief, it is nothing less than your miracle, your birth, your moment of motherhood.

A woman comes to define herself by her birth. It is the moment that she becomes “Mother”. Over the last decade, the movement toward natural and mother-led childbirth has led us to a beautiful embrace of a woman’s natural abilities. With this transition, however has also come pressure to birth naturally, both from the woman herself and also from society. When a woman fails to obtain her “perfect birth”, it often leads to regret, depression and a feeling of inadequacy.

Our purpose is to allow women to share their birth stories, to work through them, embrace them, and then share them with the world so that all can see that birth is not defined by one woman’s experience but by the community of the mothers of the world. To show women that there is perfection in each and birth.

We would like to invite you to join us in creating a book of compiled birth stories. Our purpose in writing this book is to examine the different ways that children come into our lives. We would like to include a diverse collection of stories from c-sections, adoptions, vaginal births, fertility issues, unique labor experiences and any other birth stories that tell a tale of mother and child uniting.

If you or someone you know may be interested in submitting a story, please feel free to copy and distribute the following information. We are exited to share with the world the stories that make each birth perfect and unique.

Thank you for helping us on this journey to help encourage women to embrace their
births!

~For more information or for a release form to participate, please feel free to send us an email. a_perfect_birth@yahoo.com

The Joy of Diapering

There are many diapering (or not) options out there in this land of many choices including: cloth, disposables, diaperless (Elimination Communication or EC), and flushables.

Finding the best route for your family can take some research, whichever path you choose, here are some tid bits to get you started...

Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers are reusable and can save money in the long run if you plan ahead. BabyWorks, located in NW Portland, has a cost analysis (see page 35) of cloth versus disposables as well as a lot of other helpful information about washing, preventing leakage, etc. If you have enough on hand, it will save you in laundry, but the initial costs up-front can be high. You can also use a diaper service such as Tidee Didee. There are many types of cloth diapers and accessories available; Baby Works and Milagros both carry a wide selection and both have expert knowledge to help you navigate the product decision-making process. There are also a lot of local mamas who make cloth diapers and sell them, that is how Cynthia Thompson started Zoom Baby Gear in N Portland.

Many people sell their used cloth diapers at local shops such as LilyToad and Milagros (and the new Queens Mab, I believe, is planning on taking them). You can also find used cloth diapers on Craig's List, Urban Mamas Exchange, Mothering.com Trading Post, Diaper Exchange, Orange Star Fish, and E-Bay. With Craig's List and Urban Mama Exchange you have the advantage of being able to see the diapers before buying them. Be sure to check the integrity of the fasteners, lining, and elastic leg bands.

If you are interested in cloth diapering but do not have the financial resources available to get started you can put the diapers and accessories on a gift registry or wish list, ask friends to pass theirs on, and/or encourage local nonprofits to start a donation or exchange program. As Nurture grows, this is one project we plan to start, but for now you can look into programs like Miracle Diapers, Lend a Hand Diapers, and Grandma Jacquie's Diaper Barn, which are all nonprofit programs that help families with financial constraints get cloth diapers.

Disposables

Like cloth, there are many brands and styles of disposable diapers on the market. If you are looking for chlorine free diapers Seventh Generation and Tushies are both options and can both be found at New Seasons. There are also Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, etc. which can be found at most grocery stores, Target, Fred Myers, etc and some of the stores also carry generic store brands. For good deals, look for sales and coupons. Target often has good sales on disposables.

Elimination Communication

For information about EC visit Diaper Free Baby. There is also a local group Oregon Diaper Free that shares resources, ideas, support, and education about EC and has regular get-togethers. Heather Caliri has an essay about her adventures with EC titled, Relieving Myself, in the Winter 2008 issue of Brain, Child.

Flushables

There are flushable diapers liners and flushable diapers.

Flushable diaper liners are used with cloth diapers and they basically make cleaning the solid matter (poop) from the diapers easier (not used to increase absorbency). For newborns and small babies you can cut the liners in half to save. Some brands hold up okay if they are washed in the washing machine and can be reused (wet only, not if they had poop), but that is not how they were designed.

g-Diapers are the only flushable diaper system on the market, that I know of, right now. They use a diaper cover ("little g pants") and a flushable refill. If you cannot flush them, the wet ones can be composted.

Other Information

Some families choose a combination of diapering strategies or use a certain type when they travel or at night. There are so many guides and resources on the internet that it would be difficult to list them all, but you can do a Google search for more information. Good luck!

Car Seat Safety Check

The Child Passenger Safety (CPS) a project of the Alliance for Community Traffic Safety of Oregon (ACTS) has a calendar full of free child car seat checks each month throughout Oregon. The next two Portland car seat checks will be June 21st from 10am-1pm at Burlington Coat Factory at 10506 SE 82nd Ave. and on June 28th from 10am-1pm at St. John's Christian Church at 8044 N. Richmond Ave. If you are unable to make it to either of these events, check the CPS calendar for future offerings.

The CPS website also has educational materials such as an Infant Seat Check Up flier, a flier about Oregon Passenger Safety Law Changes, and other materials.

A Mother's Words That Bear Repeating

On Mother's Day, a local mama shared this excerpt (scroll down to "NOVEMBER 2000 IF NOT FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS") from the book, Loud and Clear by Anna Quindlen, author and Newsweek Columnist. It is a touching reminder to live more for the moment, worry less, and go with the flow as much as I can...