A birth circle is a gathering of new mamas and mamas-to-be who explore the various aspects of motherhood or entering into motherhood. I find the culture of birth in our country to be lacking somewhat and these kinds of birth circles are a way for women to get in touch with the primal nature of birth that has been lost in a sea of politics, litigation and medicalization.

The first meeting of the group was today. It was another fantastic spring day, and I was tempted to skip the circle to spend more time outside but I’m glad I didn’t. It turned out that I was the only one to show up, and I would’ve felt bad finding out that no one showed up! But besides, the opportunity to work through some of the anxiety and frustration that I’m feeling at the moment was valuable. I got lots of attention, too!

Today, my friend and her co-facilitator, another midwife, led us through a birth art exercise. We were given three choices of themes: Becoming a mother, looking at birth culture and a third, which I can’t remember at the moment (probably something about feelings surrounding an upcoming birth). I chose to do my birth art on birth culture, because it’s become such an issue in my childbearing years, so far. My (poorly drawn) piece focused on the medicalization of birth. The neat thing about doing birth art is that while you have a theme to guide you, a lot of times you don’t really know how you feel about what you drew until after you sit back and look at the drawing. Though I knew that I was drawing something to represent the medicalization of birth, it wasn’t until during the discussion, that I realized that my drawing included a faceless mother and a closed door, among other things.  Some of this was based on my own personal experience but mostly, it represented the choices and obstacles that all mamas-to-be face.

One of the follow-up questions for the exercise was to think about how the process and the end product of doing the exercise might change something for us, going forward. For me, I think doing the birth art compelled me to be more pro-active about exploring my options for birth, and to also think about what I can do to bring about change in this country’s culture of birth. That’s a post for another day. The church bells across the street just rang 11 times, so that’s my cue to go to bed!

Today was just glorious. I broke out my maternity skirt (let’s not talk about pasty white legs, please!) and my birk sandals. I took Alice to check out a science discovery center in the next town over but by the time we made it to the path that runs along the river there, she was ready for nap. So, we headed home, she took a superlong nap, and after lunch, we headed out again, sticking to the neighborhood. We stopped for strawberry ice cream before making our way to Energy Park, where she got to peek inside a real caboose, and play on a wooden train. We also watched a freight train roll by the park, (the longest freight train I’ve ever seen! I think it took at least 15 minutes for the train to finally pass through!).

It was hard to get Alice to leave the park but she was covered in strawberry ice cream, and it was time to make dinner! She didn’t leave without a fight and I can’t say I blame her.

We were having a calm moment, and I was finally able to close my eyes for a few seconds, when all of a sudden Alice’s big forehead whacked into the bridge of my nose. I cupped my hand over my nose, my eyes closed as I got over the shock. I could hear Alice saying “That’s my mommy! that’s my mommy!,” obviously upset as Henry gently admonished her to be more careful. Henry urged Alice to say “sorry” and she repeated “sorry, sorry, sorry” over and over again. I opened my eyes to see my girl with the most mournful look on her face and my heart broke in two as she bent her head down to me, burying her face in my chest. “Sorry sorry sorry.”

I told her was sorry, too,  gave my girl a hug and all was right with the world. But man, that was heartbreaking…

So, the long and short of it is that I’ve made a conscious decision to not buy bananas anymore, even though Alice loves them. She’s at the age, though, where if they’re out of sight, they are pretty much out of mind, so I don’t think it’ll be too big  of a deal. Luckily, she is a fan of fruits that are more local to us– berries, apples, pears.

So, anyway, back to finances. There’s no getting around it– meat is expensive, especially when you don’t buy CAFO meat.  I knew, when I decided to stop buying CAFO meat, that we would end up eating less meat because grass-fed and finished meat is not cheap, even when it’s local. The same goes for milk and eggs, though those two items are weekly purchases in our house because they are more affordable than meat, and good sources of nutrients for Alice, and her pregnant mama.

Our goal is eventually to be as self-sustaining as possible. We’d like a small farm someday but even before that happens, there are things we can do now– canning, preserving, joining a meat CSA and just learning to do without, or better yet, learning to make do with what we have. I think that’s the key here– changing our mindset from “have not” to “have.”  I thought about this today as I was checking out at Whole Foods, where I buy our meat and fish,  the vein in my forehead bulging a little at the grocery total. Even without the impulse purchases I made (shhh, don’t tell!), the bill was high but the future health and environmental costs of buying conventional foods is even higher, I think.

Along with this great weather, came some hopeful news from the doctor. Though the baby is breech, the presentation is such that there is a good chance for the baby to turn. After a week of fretting and overanalyzing, this little peace of mind was very welcome. I can go ahead with all the natural remedies available to me, and the cephalic version. No matter what happens, I can feel confident that I did all that I could with the resources available to me.

Having said that, please shoot your strongest turning vibes in my direction, no matter where you are!

I know there are plenty of women out there that would disagree with me when I say this but there are plenty of perks to being pregnant!  Chief among these perks are permission to take 2 hour naps in the afternoon, which I did today and telling your husband that you are about to eat the last cupcake, without an argument from him, which I also did. Just now. It was really good, too. Cinnamon frosting, and banana hidden away in the middle. A nice surprise! I would’ve taken a picture but I don’t want to be mean. Also, I ate it. A cupcake waits for no photo opportunity.

{Thanks to my mom and Wendy for gifting us with a six pack of cupcakes from Bettie’s Double Decker Cupcake Bus, which has been parked in the lot of a gardening center near their house. It was an assortment and every cupcake offered the opportunity for a tasty surprise. YUM.}

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But for a 20 month old, the museum is a veritable playground. After having lunch at the cafe,  where Alice and I shared a cobb salad, we wandered briefly through the temporary exhibits, too conceptual to hold Alice’s interest and headed for the Sol LeWitt collection upstairs. This exhibit, if you haven’t seen it, is a natural attraction for babies and kids alike because it’s all about color, shapes and patterns. I’ve been asking Alice to identify colors and when I asked her where purple was, she yelled “Purple! Purple!” and went looking for him (her?). It was hilarious and I wish I had video of it! We do, however, have video of Alice wandering the exhibits; you can see the video here!

The visit ended at the Kidspace, where the exhibit was art made of candy. I was a little worried about it as Alice LOVES candy and I didn’t know if she would understand that this was not candy she could eat or take home with her!  She was obsessed with one artwork displayed on the windowsills, a depiction of a coral reef made out of froot loops, marshmallows and cheetos.  Amazingly, she was so good about not touching any of it, though she did get awfully close, thanks to a step stool.

She went back and forth between the windowsills for at least ten minutes, just looking and counting. Counting what, we don’t know and it wasn’t in numerical order, either. We finally managed to get her away from the windows and to the craft table. We needed a rest and at least, we could sit at the table! The kids there were gluing all manner of junk food to pieces of paper, and I’m pretty sure that this was Alice’s first time working with glue. Hilarity ensued on my part when Alice became frustrated with bits of food getting stuck to her fingers… *shake shake shake whine whine* I was nice and stopped laughing long enough to bail her out, don’t you worry!

We knew it was time to go when she had a meltdown upon being told that she couldn’t take the candy home with her. I carried her out of there kicking and screaming, snot running down her face, the whole nine yards. I said to the girl at the front desk, as I carried a screaming Alice out the door,  ”This is how you know you did a good job, when they don’t want to leave!”  She looked alarmed at the mess I was hauling but she did chuckle.

I cleaned her up, she calmed down and asked for her blankie, but was given a cookie instead, much to Henry’s consternation. Yes, mommy is a pushover. Whatever! Let’s move on…

We wrapped up our rainy Saturday with pasta fagioli, the ingredients of which I miraculously had on hand in the pantry and fridge, and a fresh loaf of bread that I shaped, rested and popped into the oven as soon as we got home (a win for Artisan Bread in 5!).  We packed Alice off to bed early tonight because we were all exhausted and drained but tomorrow, we’re looking forward to a visit from the Grandmas and brunch at The Hope + Olive.

]]> http://www.sehacecamino.com/2010/03/slice-of-life-rainy-day/feed/ 4 http://www.sehacecamino.com/2010/03/slice-of-life-finally-friday/ http://www.sehacecamino.com/2010/03/slice-of-life-finally-friday/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:45:21 +0000 Nancy Cavillones http://www.sehacecamino.com/?p=1487 I may not work, but I look forward to Friday just as much as anyone else!  Henry works from home, and the emphasis is on working, thought he has been letting me sleep in most mornings, because of the dreaded pregnancy insomnia. So, I’m still the primary caretaker during the week, just as I was when he had an office to go to everyday. When the weekend rolls around, Alice gets more daddytime and I get some alone time.

This weekend, we’re looking forward to Saturday morning pancakes, a yoga class for me on Sunday morning and hopefully, a visit from the grandmas on Sunday, as well.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

So, we’ve been eating a lot more vegetarian meals since we moved here, and tonight… mmh, it was YUMMY.

Vegetable Ragout with Polenta (adapted from Food Made Fast, by Williams-Sonoma)

(Note: This is a great way to use up veggies floundering in your fridge!)

Ingredients:

Zucchini
Tomatoes
Sweet onion
Garlic
Mushrooms (I like baby bellas!)
Prepared polenta (it comes in logs, usually found in the health food or deli section)
Shredded parmesan cheese
Balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Clean and quarter the mushrooms. Place in a microwave-safe container, cover with plastic wrap and zap for 6-8 minutes. Drain mushrooms and set aside.
3. Chop the rest of the veggies, seed the tomatoes, if using plum or bigger, and leave the garlic in big pieces.
4. Combine all the veggies in a roasting pan, keeping the garlic off to a side or corner of the pan (you’ll need to take those pieces out later and mince them.)
5. Coat with oil, salt and pepper. Roast until soft, browned and fragrant.
6. In the meantime, slice  polenta into rounds, place in a single layer on a baking sheet, and coat each side lightly with oil.
7. When veggies are done and removed from oven, broil the polenta slices until browned, then flip, top each slice with shredded parmesan cheese and broil until cheese is browned.
8. Mash up roasted garlic, and combine with veggies in a bowl.
9. Stir in a tablespoon of balsamic and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
10. Distribute veggies evenly among plates, and top with polenta slices.
11. Eat! Yum yum.