new year revolutions

I've been thinking about my new years resolutions and I've narrowed them down to the following:

1. go to more movies. I have the ability to see them for free, and there are SO MANY coming out that I want to see this coming year (including final harry potter and twilight!). I used to love going to the movies, I just need movie buddies.

2. craft more. especially while listening to my pandora station. I've never been in a better mood than when I'm doing that.

3. do more with my husband. we have free babysitting and we just don't see each other enough.

the holidays have been so much fun with the baby. she's such a little person now and she was so excited to open presents. everything was "ooh!" I'm going to start a youtube channel to upload all our videos (we got ourselves a flip camera - thanks for all the advice i freaking LOVE this thing!!) and link it up on here.

and the best christmas gift of all - baby is sleeping in her OWN big girl bed. we skipped the crib, since she spent her crib-age in our bed and went straight into a toddler bed! and since night one she has slept through the night. the best part about it is jack now gets up to get her if she wakes up in the middle of the night. no more night time nursing! my boobs are almost my own again. yes, we're  still nursing. and yes, she still doesn't go to sleep until between 10 and 11, but she sleeps through to 9am. it is lovely. now we just need to wean b/c she's still nursing when i get home from work and throughout the day on the weekends. but its so much better than all night long. i should add that to my new years resolutions.

with the baby sleeping in her own room, I'm able to read a bit more and I've been reading The mortal instruments series. It's pretty good - especially if you like twilight or harry potter. I've also had time to sew some and am making the coolest something for my mumma. its a big ol surprise. i also have some ideas for a rude cross stitch sampler for my husband (although it would be perfect for work). I found  a great website : http://www.whatdelilahdid.typepad.com/ she has some wonderful patterns. I'm turning into such an old lady.

i also start my doula class soon - i need to do some reading so I'm sure I know what fully effaced means. I've also been working hard on my other blog: http://mamadna.wordpress.com/. i actually have quite a few readers, which is both exciting and scary. I'm planning on describing my venture into birth assistance on the same blog.

all in all its a been a busy, wonderful year and i can't wait for next year.i settled into my new job and still like it, we led our amazing daughter into her first year, and i had my first white Christmas. happy holidays!!

fall pics

 oh yea!! check this out. sure to be placed on the mantel of a certain friend....

and baby's second halloween. oh and those pumpkins rotted wednesday before halloween. damn global warming!

the fall

Ah my FAVORITE time of year. it's cool and beautiful outside, our wedding anniversary and halloween happen, and of course - my birthday and thanskgiving right around the corner. time to make soups out of the leftovers from the garden and all the great fall vegetables, apple picking, pumpkin picking, trick or treating (sort of), cooking...
cooking. so lately jack had been doing a lot of cooking. and he's a great cook. our new favorite: thai basil pesto chicken. i made up some thai basil pesto substituting peanuts for pinenuts and cutting out cheese, and adding canola oil (although next time i think peanut oil will be better) instead of olive oil. mix with a little coconut milk (  a LITTLE, i hate coconut milk), peppers and chicken and its pretty freaking good. even baby loves it. i also went on a soup spree a couple of weekends ago and made broccoli cheddar for the baby (she loves broccoli cheddar soup), corn chowder (not my best effort), and a minestrone/italian veggie style soup. all fair attempts. we brought home some amazing curry from south africa (the spice guy at a little market we went to mixed it up right in front of us. incredible!) so that soup recipe up there should be fantastic. plus i bought some nann at whole foods we've yet to make anything to eat with. we also have so many little green tomatoes we may need to do some fried green tomatoes too. yum.
i'm also on a quest for some pate here in richmond. i was thinking olio might have some, but i tweeted them and got no response. still have to go check that place out though. i also know belmont butchery carries pate..a pate search is planned for saturday.

for our anniversary jack and i (of course) went up to the vineyard. we dropped the baby off with her cousins and spent a lovely monday up in crozet. this year we stopped at blue mountain brewery which is literally down the road from King family and had lunch and did a beer tasting. lunch was a bratwurst pizza with apples, caramelized onions and brat. sooo freaking good. our beer sampling consisted of (among a few others) a lighter pilsner, a pumpkin ale - the best thing i had, and even a chocolate stout for ol jackie. highly recommend this place! too bad it was drizzling, it would have been nice to sit outside. the view isn't great, but it isn't terrible either. we wanted to go to Starr hill brewery too but they're only open on the weekends. the vineyard is as it has been for the past three years - raining everywhere but there for our wedding day. we got a bottle of meritage (my favorite there, besides the crose), didn't bother with a tasting, and missed some wonderful pate they usually have that i have been CRAVING (hence the pate excursion this weekend).

we also did the classic apple picking this past month - four words to describe it: hot, dusty, buggy, and crowded. i think we're going to venture out and find a new place to go. carters mountain is way too popular. we had to climb a second mountain to find apples. with a 25 lb baby on your hip, its just not quite as fun.

and halloween: my goal was to use the baby as a candy-getter. but my conscience got the best of me and i felt bad collecting candy with a 1 year old who obviously was not going to be doing the majority of the eating (unless i was a REALLY bad mom). but we took her out saturday and sunday. and the friday before we attempted a movie night at dogwood dell (alice in wonderland!). but it was cold and we had no warm cup of fun, so we left pretty early. ah well, these things will get more fun as she gets older. hopefully.

note - i wrote this obviously about a month ago and never posted. feel like its time to post now?

horcruxes

ok yes, I've been reading way too much harry potter lately (getting ready for nov 19!!!!). but this is just a brief post to mention that i will be, in fact, splitting my "soul" not into 6 but into three. i'm going to start up two new blogs. wha?!! you say? i'm crazy! you say? hell yes. and i don't know where I will find the time, as I can barely keep this one going, let alone keep up with the blogs i like to follow. but things are important to me and i want to do this so i am damnit!
blog 1: this one. keep up with me, my baby and my life. more of the general hows amy doing and whats she into type stuff. full of typos and bad writing style. classic.
blog 2: working mom/breastfeeding blog. since having baby i've realized how little there is out there in terms of resources for working moms who want to breastfeed. i had a hard time finding help myself so i want to be able to help out other moms in the same position. this will be co-hosted by my sister-in-law who is a SAHM with 5 kids. she's been through just about everything boob-related that i haven't. its a good match.
blog 3: my journey to doula-ing. i registered for the course, i'm collecting for the reading list. this will be my viewpoint of the entire doula process. b/c i am not your average "doula". i am not the hippy crunchy earth mother (no, really, i'm not) who wants to "ohm" with you while you labor. this will also be a crash re-course in my genetic counseling background b/c i have definitely forgotten a lot.

so there ya go. this is what i will be hard at work at work with (get that?). suggestions for names of the two new blogs highly appreciated. i am not clever or witty, but my friends are. and i PROMISE (katie) there is a new merit post coming - full of pumpkin pics and halloweenies. oh and these new cupcakes i want to make and my new sewing projects and crafty things i've been thinking about since we are starting to get stuck inside with the weather.

Pondering doula-ing

I'm seriously considering doula training and becoming a doula/birth assistant. The training isn't until January and I need to get my deposit in by November, so I have some time to think about it. To be a doula, I feel like most that I've met are very quiet, relaxed, zen. that isn't really me. I am however, very forceful, a "bulldog" as one friend put it, when it comes to defending or needing to stand up for something (as so often doula's do during the labor when the mother can't speak to the doctor herself). I also understand and know a lot of medical jargon and am not intimidated by doctors. I went to school with a lot of them - they are no smarter than me, that's for sure. just more specialized. I am also so passionate about healthy births and birthing for the mother and baby, not for the doctor, which is what makes me want to do this. I love being able to support someone, in whatever decision they choose. I feel like doulas need to be there not only for the easy, natural births, or home births, but mothers going through labor who end up with c-sections, who have complicated pregnancies, those who probably need the support even more so. Which is why I'm considering "selling myself" (for lack of a better term) as one who can help with births where genetic disorders and congenital birth defects play a role. Although these women are the high risk category, they too may want as natural an experience as they can have, and they need more support. With my background in genetics I definitely feel i could help. so....thoughts?

The woodland party first birthday post!

Finally! I've been so busy at work, which is (shh!) where i do most of my blogging, that I have completely neglected not only my blog, but reading other blogs! booo!!! i have so much to catch up on - recipes, crafty things...i have found a little bit of time to find a new tattoo idea and a recipe for buffalo chickpea salad. in the meantime, i've also been working on a new embroidery project full of woodland creatures that is long overdue as a gift for someone and rereading harry potter (starting at book 5) to get ready for nov. 19 when deathly hallows part 1 comes out.

So onto baby's first birthday! much thanks to malissa without whom it wouldn't have looked half as nice. unfortunately we didn't get quite as many pictures as i would have liked - the food labels were quite inventive! but the food was fantastic (pork carnitas will be my new go-to slow cooker recipe, and taquitos will be on the menu regularly as well - anyone have any tips for rolling corn tortillas? our kept ripping). We had a huge turnout - i didn't realize merit knew so many little babies! The only hiccup - I found an underground bee's nest in the backyard hours before the party. since we normally do everything in the backyard, everyone ended up staying inside mostly which made for a very crowded house.

The favors: handmade felt stuffed woodland creatures  (and acorns and mushrooms). it took me forever to finish these, and no one took them. I think next time, i'll save my time and not worry about favors. but they (mostly) turned out cute!

The cake: the cake and cupcakes were made by my friend martina (with the help of unky shawn). freaking amazing!!! we looked all over the internet for ideas and came up with a personal cake for merit in the shape of a toadstool (complete with inchworm, grass, bees...) and a to die for red icing! i think i just love sugar crystals all over anything. the cupcakes came in two flavors: strawberry with a strawberry filling and chocolate with  a gooey chocolate center. sooo good!!! and the decorations - incredible!!! i really think she needs to go into business or get her own reality show. she would def. be great on a reality show. maybe a little foul mouthed but at least she's creative about it.

her new dolly.

she learned quickly to defend her presents from her cousins.

the end. i wish i had some better pictures, but the day was so busy i didn't even think to take pictures! and everyone showed up right on time, which i wasn't expecting so i had no lag time b/w when everything was set up and everyone showed up. oh well, it was wonderful and i thank EVERYONE who helped me.
so next year the theme will be.......

In response to recent home birth haters: my own non-scientific theories

http://press.thelancet.com/editorials3107.pdf

Its interesting that this editorial came out so soon after the meta-analysis that "determined" that home births are more dangerous than hospital births. The entire meta analysis was flawed - the studies that they used were outdated, did not specify between midwife assisted and spontaneous home births ("I didn't know I was pregnant!"), nor did they separate out healthy, low risk pregnancies versus high risk. And unfortunately so many people - doctors - see this study and use it as the word of God when it comes to advising against home births. The lancet editorial does a little bit of a better job - it mentions the meta analysis but also mentions the flaws. I'll be interested to see the data when the new study they mention comes out.
And maybe all this attention to home birthing has me on home birth alert, but lately a fellow home birther and i have been discussing the benefits of home birth versus hospital versus midwife assisted hospital births. My baby, born at home, had no jaundice, scored a 10 out of 10 on her apgar, and was basically as good as you get. The question of jaundice came up b/c all of the home birthers we've talked to never had jaundiced babies. Almost every hospital birther i've asked has. So this leads to the question - what is the reason for this discrepancy (and more importantly, why have OBs not been aware of this)? Is it the fact that the home birth baby is immediately allowed to breastfeed, on demand, no interruptions from the moment they're born until...they stop breastfeeding? Is it the immediate skin to skin contact? Is it the unmediated, vaginal birth? Its probably all of these things. But the evidence (based on our own flawed, nonscientific study) is pretty clear: these babies born without any interventions end up looking and acting much healthier than the "safe at the hospital" babies. But this polling led to this follow up: almost all home birthing moms had no problems breastfeeding. sure, there were initial " i have no f'n clue what we're doing" latch problems, but there were no milk supply issues in any of these moms (myself included). But almost all of the hospital birth moms I know have had supply issues, and definite issues with latching that have lasted well past the first week. So what is this about? My theory - again, the baby is allowed to be with the mom from the minute they're born, no one is whisking them away to bathe them, test them, stick them in the nursery. Mom and baby are basically forced to figure it out and keep trying until they get it right at home. And i think that the constant trying, latching, absolutely no introduction of bottle, helps. Could it signal to the hormones to make milk and keep on making it whereas if there is a lag time between trying - either b/c the baby isn't in the room, or there was a bottle feed so the mom could get some sleep - that messes with the hormonal signals?* its very possible. again - its my own theory. its extremely interesting that i've heard the same two sides from the two groups of moms.
of course, i'm completely biased. i had an awesome experience and i want everyone to have the same experience. what me and my friend both find so frustrating is this: you work so hard on doing the right things during the pregnancy - eating right, exercising, not drinking, smoking... and you work so hard to get everything perfect for the new baby - the best and safest. but when it comes to the actual birth and labor - everything goes out the window and moms just want to get through it with out realizing how incredibly important the actual act of birthing is and how much it affects both the mom and the baby. i wish the birthing classes spent more time on this point than anything else. maybe one day, i'll start my own birthing class.

*"Scheduling feedings for a baby or spacing feedings out more and more during the day (or night) will lead to the same decrease in milk production. Emptying the breasts frequently leads to an overall increase in milk production." http://lactinv.com/breastfeeding_qna.php?article=maintaining_your_milk_supply
-could this happen so early on it affects milk supply for the rest of post-partum?