I am in the middle of teaching my first series of natural childbirth education classes. I am a "provisionally affiliated" (read: in the final step -- teaching a class -- of certification) Bradley Method (R) Instructor. I love it! Cory and I took classes when we were pregnant with Lucas and have used it for all 3 of our births. I've been wanting to teach for years and am so excited to finally be doing it.
So, friends, I bring to you, "You know you're a childbirth educator when..."
1. EVERY time you see a Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control store (with the acronym VABC out front), you read it as VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).
2. You are excited when your Birth Atlas arrives in the mail!
3. You have your pelvis model lying around in preparation for a class, and your 8 and 6-year old boys pick it up and say, "WHAT is THIS?"
4. You hear same 8 and 6-year old boys tell their friends about their mom's "Bradley".
5. You take your "Growing Uterus Charts" and emotional signposts of labor visuals to be laminated, and the girl ringing you up says, "Cute" (pointing to the faces on the signposts of labor).....because she didn't know what else to say?
6. You have words like "uterus" on your family's blog
7.Every time you see a pregnant woman in public, you think, "I wonder if she knows her options..."
8. You find yourself able to relate even seemingly unrelatable things (i.e., your husband's job as a DC lobbyist for a trade association) to childbirth and/or the modern mismanagement of maternity care.
To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition. -- Samuel Johnson
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Cory's Dream
This is Cory -
So I usually don’t write much on the blog, but I had a dream the other night and I had post it, just to see what you think it might be about. I usually have strange dreams, but this one took the cake.
It starts out with Janna, me, and my parents at what looks like a large university campus somewhere in the Northeast. Not sure why or how I know it was in the Northeast, but for some reason in the dream I seem to believe we are somewhere in New York, although I can neither confirm nor deny this. Anyway, the four of us are walking around at this large campus and we come to a large and spacious building, and I think, ok crap, I was hoping I wouldn’t be one of those people…
Wait, wrong dream – we were walking around this large campus in warm weather. We made our way to a very large building, made with brick, lots of windows, and had a glass dome top. We entered the building and quickly made our way to the top floor (one of those weird dream deals when you are one place for one moment, then in a totally different place the next, but I knew I was in the building). We were at the top floor to attend what apparently looked like a large, swanky party, complete with a big band and lots of food. Oh, and I need to mention that during that weird dream thing, Janna somehow disappeared. She was with me outside of the building, and then she wasn’t with me when I was inside with my parents. Anyway, I didn’t seem to mind, because while at the swanky party, I went straight for the petting zoo. Yes – there was what looked like a petting zoo at the party. Weird – but this is just the beginning.
I somehow got roped in to being the person that had to feed the large walrus sitting in a pen that had foam padding a foot high to prevent the large, one ton animal from getting out of its pen. Well, even in a dream I had enough sense to say “no thank you” to feeding the walrus, and then took off my apron and white sanitary gloves and put them in the trash. As I did this, I saw my parents dancing together on the dance floor. Not to hip hop or anything – now that would have been a great dream – but to big band music. Anyway, for some reason, I then decided that I needed to find a restroom. Now, typically in a dream when I have to use the restroom – well, you get the idea, but that wasn’t the case in this dream. I just wanted to see the building’s bathroom. I asked, and someone told me that it was on the bottom floor. So while I can imagine great looking buildings, I obviously cannot plan one out very well.
Anyway, I get to the bottom floor using another one of those magical dream warps and walk around trying to find the bathroom. Instead of finding the bathroom, I find rooms full of workout equipment. Bench presses, squat racks, free weights – you name it, rooms full of them. I then saw a sign above a small door that said “bathroom”. I opened it, and there was just a small sink sitting there, no room for anything else. Above the sink was a mirror, and I saw myself – with jet black hair, looking 15 years younger (yes, 15 years), and I was wearing shorts and a hoodie. I honestly remember thinking in the dream that I wasn’t very well dressed to go to a party, but none the less, I decided to leave the weight room area and I went up some stairs that led to a large open area on the north side of the building I was just in. There were some statues of people apparently important to this university, along with a large grassy field with some people playing ultimate frisbee and flying kites.
Apparently not that impressed, or impressed to leave said area because somehow I knew what was coming (…), I went back down the stairs and started walking down a long hallway, past all the weight lifting rooms. There must have been 5 full size, glass enclosed basketball courts on either side of the hallway, followed by 20 or so racquetball courts. It was all very new looking. To this point, my dream has been somewhat comical, but this is where it gets very weird.
I get to the other end of the hallway which led to the outside, no doors leaving the building. On either side of the exit were stairs leading up to the south side of the building where my parents were (I assume) still dancing in the top floor of the glass-dome building. I decide to walk up the stairs on the right hand side, and as soon as I get to the top, I look back towards the building. There was a field – well, not really a field, but about 100 yards of open area between me and the building. There were people walking on pathways and sitting on benches – just talking. I then heard a noise and turned around. Looking up in the sky, I saw two large objects, both of which I quickly surmised were meteors. Both were coming in at a wicked fast rate, and both landed just on the north side of the building. I saw a large explosion, with debris quickly filling the air behind the building. Bricks, glass, dirt, a statue, cars – a lot of things were flying in the air above the building and heading toward me. So I dove down the stairs and found cover in the hallway where the racquetball courts were.
After a few seconds, the sound of the explosion died down and I looked at the other end of the hallway – nothing but rubble. I then start to walk about of the exit, but in another one of those weird dream things, I have Gabey in my arms. He was scared, but never said anything in my entire dream. As I walk with Gabey in my arms out of the exit, I see Lucas walking, dazed, dust all over him, with a blank stare on his face. I called to him and he ran toward me, pushing a bike with a bag on it (in the bag were boxes of granola bars and water, so we were set!). I asked him what he was doing here (like I even know what I was doing there) and he said he was trying to find his grandma and grandpa. He had some locator on his wrist and it was directing him to where my parents were – pointing into the building. I told him that he would not go into the building but I would check it out to see if it was safe. We walked up the stairs to get back to the south side of the building – again, debris everywhere – and we started to walk down a sidewalk leading to the entrance of the building, I saw people running out of the building, but a fire had started on the second floor and I could tell that some of the floors were gone. I told Lucas that we couldn’t go in and that we had to find a way out of there (sorry mom and dad, but you’re on your own. Maybe you could ride the walrus out of harm’s way).
Anyway, in another one of those weird dream warps, we (Lucas, Gabriel and I) were standing just outside of a medium-sized tour bus, trying to barter our way on to the bus. We got on, and started to drive away. As we started to drive away, I saw the building I was just in – the one with the swanky party and weigh rooms – and it was completely demolished, except for the front. Nothing but a large crater was left starting from the front of the building past the large field were the statues and people were playing frisbee (once again, sorry mom and dad, unless you were able to escape on the walrus, you were probably doomed).
As we were on the bus, I got suddenly remembered we had three kids, not two. I asked Lucas where McKay was (since apparently he was in charge of him) and he said that he was with mommy. Phew! While I had no idea where Janna was, at least I didn’t forget McKay! He was her problem, wherever she was.
I then got Lucas and Gabey to sleep and overheard some people saying that it was an alien attack. I thought “how foolish, it was a meteor.” Not two seconds later I look out my window and see two fighter jets take down what looked like some type of alien space craft. My last thought of my dream – “Oh crap, it is aliens. We’re all screwed…”
So tell me – what does that mean?
A few things I get out of this –
• Swanky parties and dangerous petting zoos never work well
• Never go to a university in the northeast with my parents – it won’t work out too well
• If Armageddon hits, find Lucas. He’s got the granola bars and water. Oh, and a bike
• If I ever own/run a gym, make sure I build a bathroom with at least one toilet
• If there are two large fields, one with statues and people playing frisbee, and another where people are just sitting and talking, always choose the latter
• People in glass buildings won’t be protected from meteors
So I usually don’t write much on the blog, but I had a dream the other night and I had post it, just to see what you think it might be about. I usually have strange dreams, but this one took the cake.
It starts out with Janna, me, and my parents at what looks like a large university campus somewhere in the Northeast. Not sure why or how I know it was in the Northeast, but for some reason in the dream I seem to believe we are somewhere in New York, although I can neither confirm nor deny this. Anyway, the four of us are walking around at this large campus and we come to a large and spacious building, and I think, ok crap, I was hoping I wouldn’t be one of those people…
Wait, wrong dream – we were walking around this large campus in warm weather. We made our way to a very large building, made with brick, lots of windows, and had a glass dome top. We entered the building and quickly made our way to the top floor (one of those weird dream deals when you are one place for one moment, then in a totally different place the next, but I knew I was in the building). We were at the top floor to attend what apparently looked like a large, swanky party, complete with a big band and lots of food. Oh, and I need to mention that during that weird dream thing, Janna somehow disappeared. She was with me outside of the building, and then she wasn’t with me when I was inside with my parents. Anyway, I didn’t seem to mind, because while at the swanky party, I went straight for the petting zoo. Yes – there was what looked like a petting zoo at the party. Weird – but this is just the beginning.
I somehow got roped in to being the person that had to feed the large walrus sitting in a pen that had foam padding a foot high to prevent the large, one ton animal from getting out of its pen. Well, even in a dream I had enough sense to say “no thank you” to feeding the walrus, and then took off my apron and white sanitary gloves and put them in the trash. As I did this, I saw my parents dancing together on the dance floor. Not to hip hop or anything – now that would have been a great dream – but to big band music. Anyway, for some reason, I then decided that I needed to find a restroom. Now, typically in a dream when I have to use the restroom – well, you get the idea, but that wasn’t the case in this dream. I just wanted to see the building’s bathroom. I asked, and someone told me that it was on the bottom floor. So while I can imagine great looking buildings, I obviously cannot plan one out very well.
Anyway, I get to the bottom floor using another one of those magical dream warps and walk around trying to find the bathroom. Instead of finding the bathroom, I find rooms full of workout equipment. Bench presses, squat racks, free weights – you name it, rooms full of them. I then saw a sign above a small door that said “bathroom”. I opened it, and there was just a small sink sitting there, no room for anything else. Above the sink was a mirror, and I saw myself – with jet black hair, looking 15 years younger (yes, 15 years), and I was wearing shorts and a hoodie. I honestly remember thinking in the dream that I wasn’t very well dressed to go to a party, but none the less, I decided to leave the weight room area and I went up some stairs that led to a large open area on the north side of the building I was just in. There were some statues of people apparently important to this university, along with a large grassy field with some people playing ultimate frisbee and flying kites.
Apparently not that impressed, or impressed to leave said area because somehow I knew what was coming (…), I went back down the stairs and started walking down a long hallway, past all the weight lifting rooms. There must have been 5 full size, glass enclosed basketball courts on either side of the hallway, followed by 20 or so racquetball courts. It was all very new looking. To this point, my dream has been somewhat comical, but this is where it gets very weird.
I get to the other end of the hallway which led to the outside, no doors leaving the building. On either side of the exit were stairs leading up to the south side of the building where my parents were (I assume) still dancing in the top floor of the glass-dome building. I decide to walk up the stairs on the right hand side, and as soon as I get to the top, I look back towards the building. There was a field – well, not really a field, but about 100 yards of open area between me and the building. There were people walking on pathways and sitting on benches – just talking. I then heard a noise and turned around. Looking up in the sky, I saw two large objects, both of which I quickly surmised were meteors. Both were coming in at a wicked fast rate, and both landed just on the north side of the building. I saw a large explosion, with debris quickly filling the air behind the building. Bricks, glass, dirt, a statue, cars – a lot of things were flying in the air above the building and heading toward me. So I dove down the stairs and found cover in the hallway where the racquetball courts were.
After a few seconds, the sound of the explosion died down and I looked at the other end of the hallway – nothing but rubble. I then start to walk about of the exit, but in another one of those weird dream things, I have Gabey in my arms. He was scared, but never said anything in my entire dream. As I walk with Gabey in my arms out of the exit, I see Lucas walking, dazed, dust all over him, with a blank stare on his face. I called to him and he ran toward me, pushing a bike with a bag on it (in the bag were boxes of granola bars and water, so we were set!). I asked him what he was doing here (like I even know what I was doing there) and he said he was trying to find his grandma and grandpa. He had some locator on his wrist and it was directing him to where my parents were – pointing into the building. I told him that he would not go into the building but I would check it out to see if it was safe. We walked up the stairs to get back to the south side of the building – again, debris everywhere – and we started to walk down a sidewalk leading to the entrance of the building, I saw people running out of the building, but a fire had started on the second floor and I could tell that some of the floors were gone. I told Lucas that we couldn’t go in and that we had to find a way out of there (sorry mom and dad, but you’re on your own. Maybe you could ride the walrus out of harm’s way).
Anyway, in another one of those weird dream warps, we (Lucas, Gabriel and I) were standing just outside of a medium-sized tour bus, trying to barter our way on to the bus. We got on, and started to drive away. As we started to drive away, I saw the building I was just in – the one with the swanky party and weigh rooms – and it was completely demolished, except for the front. Nothing but a large crater was left starting from the front of the building past the large field were the statues and people were playing frisbee (once again, sorry mom and dad, unless you were able to escape on the walrus, you were probably doomed).
As we were on the bus, I got suddenly remembered we had three kids, not two. I asked Lucas where McKay was (since apparently he was in charge of him) and he said that he was with mommy. Phew! While I had no idea where Janna was, at least I didn’t forget McKay! He was her problem, wherever she was.
I then got Lucas and Gabey to sleep and overheard some people saying that it was an alien attack. I thought “how foolish, it was a meteor.” Not two seconds later I look out my window and see two fighter jets take down what looked like some type of alien space craft. My last thought of my dream – “Oh crap, it is aliens. We’re all screwed…”
So tell me – what does that mean?
A few things I get out of this –
• Swanky parties and dangerous petting zoos never work well
• Never go to a university in the northeast with my parents – it won’t work out too well
• If Armageddon hits, find Lucas. He’s got the granola bars and water. Oh, and a bike
• If I ever own/run a gym, make sure I build a bathroom with at least one toilet
• If there are two large fields, one with statues and people playing frisbee, and another where people are just sitting and talking, always choose the latter
• People in glass buildings won’t be protected from meteors
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
M Turns 2!
The party continued the day after Christmas to celebrate Mackie's 2nd birthday! 
Helping make his birthday cake all decked out in his new chef's attire, thanks to Uncle James (the family Pastry Chef) and Aunt Sophie. Pants, monogrammed jacket ("Chef McKay"), apron and hat. Pretty darn cute.
His favorite parts: blowing out candles (did it twice),
Helping make his birthday cake all decked out in his new chef's attire, thanks to Uncle James (the family Pastry Chef) and Aunt Sophie. Pants, monogrammed jacket ("Chef McKay"), apron and hat. Pretty darn cute.
His favorite parts: blowing out candles (did it twice),
and opening more presents!
LOVE this. This is his new face.
McKay's catch phrase: "Mackie dood it!"
LOVE this. This is his new face. McKay, smile! (this face)
McKay, pretend you're mad (this face).
McKay, let Mommy do it (this face).
McKay's catch phrase: "Mackie dood it!"Love you, Mack Attack!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Glimpses of Christmas Day
Christmas morning dawned....
with excited kids,
and a bug for Cory.
I was feeling much better by now, but Cory decided he wanted to try (and M was still not 100% for another week).
We had to wake M up, but once we got downstairs, he was awake and ready to open presents.
L did a really good job not only being excited about what he got, but also being excited for his brothers.
He spent much of the rest of the day putting together Lego's.
We spent the day napping, putting together toys, playing new Wii games, and calling family. We had planned to host a Christmas dinner with some friends, but ended up cancelling, as we did not want to give them a virus for Christmas (fortunately, we rescheduled for a New Year's dinner). Instead, I pulled out all the stops and fed the few of us with an appetite corn dogs; what says Christmas dinner more than that?
with excited kids,
and a bug for Cory.
I was feeling much better by now, but Cory decided he wanted to try (and M was still not 100% for another week).
We had to wake M up, but once we got downstairs, he was awake and ready to open presents.
L did a really good job not only being excited about what he got, but also being excited for his brothers.
He spent much of the rest of the day putting together Lego's.
We spent the day napping, putting together toys, playing new Wii games, and calling family. We had planned to host a Christmas dinner with some friends, but ended up cancelling, as we did not want to give them a virus for Christmas (fortunately, we rescheduled for a New Year's dinner). Instead, I pulled out all the stops and fed the few of us with an appetite corn dogs; what says Christmas dinner more than that? Saturday, January 1, 2011
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve morning dawned....
with a "Santa Bowl" football game for Cory,
and a bug for Mommy and Mack.
M had been up for several hours Tuesday night throwing up, but acted fine Wednesday. Thursday he was at it again, and cuddled and slept much of the day. I got a milder version of the bug, so I slept most of the afternoon Christmas Eve. I knew I'd have to be on my game for the evening.
By Christmas Eve night, I was feeling a little better, though I still didn't have much of an appetite for our traditional junk food supper. Neither did M.
Writing letters to Santa and preparing a tray of goodies!
The kids opened their new jammies, then we all snuggled up to watch "The Santa Clause".
with a "Santa Bowl" football game for Cory,
and a bug for Mommy and Mack.
M had been up for several hours Tuesday night throwing up, but acted fine Wednesday. Thursday he was at it again, and cuddled and slept much of the day. I got a milder version of the bug, so I slept most of the afternoon Christmas Eve. I knew I'd have to be on my game for the evening.
By Christmas Eve night, I was feeling a little better, though I still didn't have much of an appetite for our traditional junk food supper. Neither did M.
Writing letters to Santa and preparing a tray of goodies!Another family tradition is to act out the Nativity. McKay played the part of Joseph to my Mary, Cory was the narrator, Lucas doubled as a shepherd and wiseman, and Gabey was the angel.
Unfortunately, they weren't exactly clamoring for this portion of the evening's festivities.
"Why do we have to do it again?"
"We already did one at church!"
But, once we got going, I think it's safe to say we all enjoyed it.
The kids opened their new jammies, then we all snuggled up to watch "The Santa Clause".It seems we may have confused McKay when, at the end of the night, he picked up the doll he had so adorably cuddled earlier as Baby Jesus, and said,
"Baby Santa".
Well...we're working on it.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Christmas Preparations
December found us...
Decorating for Christmas...
Looking very handsome...
(And older!)
Participating in our church's re-enactment of the Nativity...
While M was too young to actually be in it, he did get to try on G's donkey costume.
Decorating for Christmas...
Looking very handsome...
(And older!)
Participating in our church's re-enactment of the Nativity...
While M was too young to actually be in it, he did get to try on G's donkey costume. Though our church has done this every year since we've been here, this was Gabriel's first time actually doing the play. The first year, he was too young. The 2nd year, he had a meltdown on the stage, and last year had had some crazy allergic reaction during the dinner before the show that nearly sent him to the hospital.
A stable donkey. 
An adoring shepherd.
An adoring shepherd. L graduated from being an animal this year, and he even had his first line: "Let us go to Bethlehem."
(I bribed G to endure the rehearsal the morning of by allowing him to bring his Superhero Look and Find book)
Making and delivering Christmas cookies and candy...
And being excited for the big day!
(I bribed G to endure the rehearsal the morning of by allowing him to bring his Superhero Look and Find book)
Making and delivering Christmas cookies and candy...
And being excited for the big day!Monday, December 20, 2010
Mormon Cheese
This is Cory - just thought I'd post something from a recent business trip of mine.
I recently went to St. Louis with a group of bakers to tour the Monsanto facilities there. The 
night before the tours, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant close to downtown STL. After being seated, the waiter brought us our appetizers, starting with a cheese/spread selection with bread. He was going through the different types of cheeses and announced that one cheese was made by Mormons. Perplexed, I asked one of the bakers there (who knows I am a Mormon and was also questioning what he just heard) if I heard that right. He jokingly asked me if I knew about Mormon cheese, seeing that I was a little confused. When the waiter came back, I asked him if this indeed was Mormon cheese. He affirmed that it was Mormon cheese, that the Mormons had been making this delicious cheese for centuries. Things started to click then - I asked him where they made the cheese - he said somewhere in Pennsylvania. Ahh - you mean Amish cheese. Now the waiter seemed confused, not knowing the difference. One of the other bakers sitting at the table then helped the waiter out, saying something to the effect that "it couldn't be Mormons - they were kicked out of the East a long time ago."
night before the tours, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant close to downtown STL. After being seated, the waiter brought us our appetizers, starting with a cheese/spread selection with bread. He was going through the different types of cheeses and announced that one cheese was made by Mormons. Perplexed, I asked one of the bakers there (who knows I am a Mormon and was also questioning what he just heard) if I heard that right. He jokingly asked me if I knew about Mormon cheese, seeing that I was a little confused. When the waiter came back, I asked him if this indeed was Mormon cheese. He affirmed that it was Mormon cheese, that the Mormons had been making this delicious cheese for centuries. Things started to click then - I asked him where they made the cheese - he said somewhere in Pennsylvania. Ahh - you mean Amish cheese. Now the waiter seemed confused, not knowing the difference. One of the other bakers sitting at the table then helped the waiter out, saying something to the effect that "it couldn't be Mormons - they were kicked out of the East a long time ago." In all, the dinner was great and I am relieved. I was worried that I was not fulfilling some responsibility of being a Mormon, now having to make up for 14 years of not making cheese...
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