Resistance is futile....I will get you (and you will love me for it)!
Today I chased down a woman who was wearing her baby in a forward facing out carry in a Mei Tai baby carrier...yup, that was me!! (See * and ** below for how this all panned out!)
Here is the thing. I really am not some crazy lady going around badgering all moms out there who I think are not doing things 'right'.
What I am is an experienced babywearing mama and a certified babywearing educator. I have spent the last 4 years carrying my children around in baby carriers on my tummy, my hip and my back and the last year educating myself and gaining even more experience as a formal babywearing educator. I understand the mechanics of babywearing, the benefits of babywearing and the joys of babywearing.
When I stop a mama or a daddy to discuss their babywearing, I am not doing it to be a nosy ninny or a crunchy mama know-it-all. I am doing it because, even if they don't know it, what I am about to tell them WILL help them do it better! My advice will likely make their use of the baby carrier more comfortable for them and for the baby. The information I share is meant to inform. Decisions to do or not do what I say are completely up to the parents.
And that is my goal. To help parents make better decisions about what baby carrier to get, what babywearing can really mean to their parenting and how to do it so that all parties involved are getting the full benefits of this amazing practice.
Today, I worked a wonderful trade show and co-ran the show's "Stroller Check". The concept being that you come to the show, check 'in' your stroller, check 'out' a baby carrier and do some hands-free, paraphernalia-free shopping. What I learned, yet again, is that there are many misconceptions, much misinformation and so many mamas who need to know more about using baby carriers and jumping on this amazing babywearing bandwagon!
Here is some of what I heard today:
"Hes' already 14 months old, I can't wear him anymore!" (Says who??)
"There is no way my toddler is going to like that!" (this from the Mama who's little one immediately fell asleep and had a good 45 min nap in the Pipa Pack while her Mama finished off her shopping)!
"I have a Baby Bjorn, but I don't find it very comfortable". (Uhm, duh!)
"But, my baby only likes to be worn facing out." (Have you tried a back carry?)
And then there was the whole slew of new mamas who were given a carrier or bought a baby carrier or sling, but had no idea how to use it.
And so I wrapped, and tied and buckled all these mamas into different Stretchy, Woven and Gauze Wrap Carriers, Mei Tai's or Soft-Structured Baby Carriers. And the results where pretty close to unanimous. Almost all of those babies came back sound asleep or just waking up from a lovely nap. And almost all of the mamas came back with this look of wonder on their faces, like they never knew life could be SOOOOO good.
And that MAKES MY DAY and my job so worthwhile!
Yes, yes, I know, I run a retail business. I am in the business of selling a product and making a profit. But the true joy in what I do is knowing that the products I sell and the services I provide actually have an impact on someones life. What I do changes peoples lives for the better, even if it is just a little bit.
....and I get to hold babies all day long. And trust me, THAT, never gets old!!
Happy Babywearing Everyone,
Natasha~
*For more info on WHY I chased the mama, please read THIS comprehensive article about babywearing and the reasons behind why forward facing out is not a recommended position for wearing your baby.
**and P.S. The Mama was leery of me at first, but listened to what I had to say and we eventually found a proper position that worked for both her and her baby!
Bloated and Lopsided
If you have been reading my blog for a few months then you know a couple of things about me already, or more specifically my medical history! I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for 20 years, I have had both of my hips replaced, I recently dislocated one of said hips and this week I had some minor knee surgery.
As a result of my, as I like to call it, 'Oh, So Crappy' start to 2011 I have not been able to DO anything active or physical or remotely resembling exercise in almost 2 months. I miss my Bikram yoga terribly, but have not been going for obvious reasons. And because I am often an emotional and self-pitying eater, my diet and eating habits have not exactly been up to snuff either.
Oh David, how I miss you.....
And no, not because he was super hot (I mean he wasn't hard on the eyes by any stretch) or because of his adorable Aussie accent. Mostly I miss him because he really GOT me. He understood my goals, my limitations and above all, he understood how to motivate me. He really was (and likely still is) one of the best personal trainers I have ever met. The problem now is that he works on the exact opposite side of the city to me and my life is definitely not what it used to be.
I actually have a home gym in my house. We built a room specifically for that purpose, mirrors on the wall, TV hanging from the ceiling and everything. It houses a spin bike, a bosu ball, a regular exercise ball and multiple free weights and resistance bands. You would think that I would have no excuse or problems working out since it is all just literally 20 steps away from where I now sit.
Sadly, that is not the case.
I need outside motivation. It is how I work, especially when it comes to this part of my life. I need someone to be accountable to (aside from myself) and I need help with this. In other words, I need someone to kick my ass into high gear and get me to just DO IT already! Because on my own I can find an unending list of reasons that I can't just right now, and I'll start tomorrow, or next week, or next month on the 2nd at 8:00 PM every night (yeah right).
When you come right down to it, I am simply a lazy person. I like TV, a lot, and my lopsided butt is spending way too much time on the couch these days. But here is the REAL problem. All of this is really starting to get to me and I don't feel good about myself. I don't feel sexy or desirable and it has been a long time since I have turned myself on when I look in the mirror, let alone anyone else (if that sounds weird to anyone, then you are just not as vain as I am)!
So, I have made a decision.
I am going to get me a new personal trainer. I am looking at it as an investment in ME and a damn good one too. And I am expecting BIG ROI too, so whoever it is has his or her work cut out for them. Money is also a big motivator for me. If I have to pay for something, then I had better get my money's worth!! I place more value on services that I have to pay for and I also expect more when I am shelling out my husband's hard earned cash for something. (Oh, he's gonna love that!)
I need someone to be able to either come to me or work within my schedule. I need to find myself a new 'Dave', a trainer that gets me, understands my medical history and limitations and can help me get back on track and to that point where whenever I pass a mirror I have to stop and take a second look at myself because I am so damn HOT!
I have about 6 weeks of healing to go, but in the meantime the search is on for "Natasha's New Trainer". If that is you or if you know of anyone who might fit the bill, send them my way. I think I will interview a few different candidates before I make my final decision. But the decision has been made, I am going to turn this crappy year around and make 2011 the year of HOTNESS!
And on that note, I must go elevate my leg, put more ice on the damn knee and pray to God that I can still fit into BOTH sides of my jeans once the swelling goes down and I get my lopsided butt moving again.
Be Healthy Y'all!
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| My younger, fitter years! And just look at those BOOBS!! |
Scrubber Sponges, Chinese Philosophy and my husband...
We sort of have an unwritten rule in our house, no writing about Natural Urban Dada. I am a blogger, yes, and I am very open about my feelings and my life here, but he has veto power about anything that crosses that unwritten "line in the sand" and is about him. Today however, he has given me carte blanche to blog about him! (It may not be exactly what he had in mind).
This was our conversation last night as I was cleaning up and washing dishes after dinner.
"What are you doing? Why do you wash away all the soap you just put on the scrubber? Wha....You just did it again!"
"Whatever, the dishes get cleaned don't they?", I said glibly.
"But, you aren't doing it right. You're wasting too much soap and water. I can't believe you call yourself green!"
"I just do it differently than you."
"No, you do it wrong. Put the soap on the sponge part and let it run through to the scrub side. I need a blog, then maybe I can educate more people like you about how to do things properly."
At this point I put the soap on the sponge as he has instructed me and say (with not a hint of sarcasm, I swear), "You mean like this honey?"
"Yes, that is better. I'll just stand here and watch for a bit and make sure you are doing it right."
And so I humor him and do it 'the right way' while he is watching. He eventually walks away shaking his head and muttering something about "it just makes sense, I don't understand..."
Here is the thing. My husband and I have very different ways of doing things. Pretty much ALL things. I mean fundamentally we have the same values and morals and all that, but we are pretty much exact opposites on the surface.
I am loud and extroverted. He is not.
I cry at the drop of a dime. He never cries (not once in the 11 years I have known him or according to him, not since Spock uttered those classic words to Kirk in Wrath of Khan "I have been and always shall be your friend.")
I like to pile my clothes on the chair in the corner of our room. He puts his away right away.
I cook and make a mess and THEN clean up when I am finished. He likes to clean as he goes.
I never go to the bathroom with the door closed. He never goes with it open. EVER.
I would go happily pack up the kids and the dog and go on a two week camping trip through the Rockies. He would happily book a hotel with running water, toilets and little to no risk of ants in his bed.
I need to be able to have a fight and get out my emotions and let it go. He needs to figure out what his feelings are, go away and assess for a while and then discuss. (This is very frustrating BTW!!)
Maybe part of the reason we are so different has to do with our upbringing. Him by a very typical Chinese Tiger Mom, and me by more of a "Single with 4 kids trying to keep a roof over our heads" Mom. Both ways seem to have had good results. He is a very driven man, who works hard to provide for his family and knows how to clean a toilet (score!). And I am a very strong-willed woman, who has learned a lot the hard way and knows that I could do it all by myself if I had to, but am so, so grateful that I do not!
I am not sure why or how we work, but we do. We complement each other and we balance each other out. And it seems to be working well. We have managed to stay together for 11 years, we still laugh at each others jokes and maybe sometimes just at each other and we are very much in love.
Wikipedia describes Yin and Yang as this:
Yin yang are complementary opposites that interact within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, but either of these aspects may manifest more strongly in particular objects and situations, and may ebb or flow over time.
So as the water was flowing over the dishes, and we were having the silly discussion about my scrubber-sponge technique, it was all good. Because tomorrow, or maybe the next day my Yin will manifest more strongly and ebb all over his neat-freak Yang butt!
Natasha~
F'in Perfect!
I wrote a post last week that seemed to really hit a cord with a lot of people. If you missed it ,you can read it here.
Essentially, I was having a really bad week and feeling quite crappy and needed to just 'let it out' so to speak. Which is one of the big reasons that I have this blog. To let all the crazy, random, sometimes silly, sometimes profound thoughts and conversations I have with myself OUT. I am an emotional person and sometimes I can't quite verbalize my feelings as eloquently as I can when I write them down and so, here I am.
I received quite a few comments and emails and personal Facebook messages from a lot of you and I wanted to thank each and every one of you who did comment or send a message (and those of you who didn't but I know felt the same). You don't know how much I needed to hear that I am indeed NOT alone in feeling sometimes inadequate or ill-equipped for this whole motherhood job!
Here are a few gems that really stuck with me.
Pam wrote this and I could not help but feel better about myself (and not just because of the skin comment!)
"Please try to be happy with who you are - the amazing mama that loves her children more than anything and has a beautiful smile (and great skin that women half your age would kill for)."
....and Shannon wrote this,
"...you are exactly where you are supposed to be at this time and it is your choice on how to perceive that."
....and Allison really got me thinking with this,
"I have been preaching to my daughter from the time she was just a baby that she should never say anything to herself, about herself - aloud or in her head - that she would not say to her best friends. If it is not kind enough to say to a friend you love, then you should never say it to yourself either."
....and Kim actually wrote this post that I think you should read too.
And then I really listened to the lyrics of Pink's new song and saw the video and cried (again! Yoohoo, remember me, Miss Emotional!). And so I am dedicating this to all mothers out there, young and old, vibrant and wise, baking 17 loaves of bread or watching a movie with your kids.
YOU ARE ALL FUCKIN' PERFECT!!
Especially in the eyes of the most important people in the world...your babies.....
Much Love,
30 Days of Truth: Day NINE - Someone I did not want to let go, but just drifted.
Today is my day NINE of 30 Days of Truth and it is about someone in my life who has drifted....
She is still around and I see her a lot, but our relationship is not the same.
When we first met it was like we were meant to be forever friends. She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and had the most beautiful golden locks and I said to myself--how can I NOT be her friend. She is the most patient being I have ever known and can sit and listen to me for hours. She was (and is) still my most loyal friend.
She stayed by my side every day for two months when I was on bed rest while pregnant with our first child. She has this weird sixth sense and has always known when I am sad or hurt or in pain and tries her best to comfort me.
We have traveled together and experienced many firsts together. And we have a lot in common. She loves the woods, the mountains and swimming, as do I.
Although she will never be a mommy herself, she has taught me more about nurturing than a lot of others. How to pay attention, to be patient, and most importantly to love unconditionally.
We don't do as much together as we used to. Kids and life in general have taken up more and more of my time. I miss the things we used to do. Going for long walks in the river valley, taking exercise classes together, heading to the mountains for a weekend getaway, and much more.
The thing is, that no matter where my life has taken me, she has always been there for me. Ready to go at a seconds notice, whenever I call. And my kids love her too! She has unending patience with them.
So although our relationship has changed in the six years that I have known her, she is now and has always been so, so dear to my heart. I know our friendship will keep changing and one day we will do more with each other again.
For now, I believe she knows how much I love her still.
.
.
.
.
.
.
....and really how can I not? Just look at that face!!
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| My Willow |
Lots of love, Natasha~
I am a tired old mama and I am having a pity party.
Sometimes I wonder at the choices I have made in my life and if I am strong enough to live them.
That statement might give you some indication of the week I am having. Or maybe the month I am having.
I have never been one to really focus on my age. My life really started for me in my thirties. I FOUND myself in my 30s. I found my husband, my career, my happiness in who and what I am and in what I was doing. On Janurary 1, 2011, I turned 39. And here I am, almost out of my thirties, and this year more than any other I am feeling my age.
I guess you would call me a 'late bloomer' in the getting married and having kids gig. I was married at 31, got a dog at 32, had my first child at 34 and my second at 36. And we are done. We have our 'perfect' little family and this old girl really can't imagine having another baby (even though I get some REALLY strong urges just about every day to do just that)!
And here is the thing. When I really start to think about it, and for some reason I am thinking about it a LOT lately, I am WAY older than a lot of the mamas that I hang out with. To the tune of up to 10 years older then some of them. And yes, I know, I should not compare myself to other women, other mothers, others' lives, but let's be real here, WE ALL DO IT! We can't help ourselves.
Social media is a marvelous tool for my personal and business life and also a bane on my existence right now. On Facebook I read about Mama A doing amazing DIY crafts with her kids, Mama B taking her kids to a bajillion different music and dance classes, Mama C baking 17 loaves of bread and teaching her kids how to do fractions at the same time and I can't help but feel like an inadequate and tired old mama while I look over and see my kids watching 'The Lion King' for the tenth time this week.
And now I am crying...
Because I feel like maybe I have cheated my kids. Cheated them from having a younger, stronger and maybe healthier mom. Oh, believe me, I have cried about this before. I can't help it. I imagine the future and wonder what it will be like to be 50 and have teenagers? What about 60 with two kids in university? Will I be around for their weddings or to see my grandchildren? I know that it is useless to wonder about all of this, but like it says above-this is MY pity party and I'll cry if I want to!
I guess I am really just having a bad week. My kids are acting up more than usual. I am still recovering from my hip injury. My husband and I have not had a date night in almost 2 months. And to top it all off, we are likely going to be selling our house in the next few months (more on that in a later post). You know that feeling you get when you have so much to do or so much that you want to do, but you really don't know where or how to start and so you just sort of float through your days not really doing anything??
Yeah, THAT!
It will get better, I know it will, but for now, this month, this WEEK, I feel old and tired and constantly just trying to get through my days.
Please tell me I am not alone in this....
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| Me. Unplugged. So to speak... |
The Organic Box - Good Food LOVE!
A few weeks ago, mostly out of desperation because I had just dislocated my hip, I ordered the 3-week trial of The Organic Box. This fabulous local Edmonton company delivers Organic produce right to your door. Year round!! And since I really could not picture me in a leg brace and on crutches pushing a cart with 2 kids around Superstore, it seemed like a very viable option for us.
The Organic Box is Edmonton's source for local organic food, delivered right to your door. They source a lot of their produce from local Alberta and BC farmers and when they can't find it here (we do have a long winter) they ensure that it comes from a fully traceable source and only buy from small producers. They even have a list on their website of all of producer farms.
I really did not know what to expect that first week, but as you can see, they really do not disappoint! Just look at this fabulous organic bounty!
Here is how it works:
Weekly or bi-weekly, members of The Organic Box receive a delivery of seasonal organic fruits and vegetables from local and non-local organic farms and distributors. Members are notified late Friday regarding the contents of the next weekly Box and can use our website to customize their box contents until early Monday morning.
Delivery days are scheduled according to your postal code and along with your produce the Organic Box partners with some other great local companies to provide you with organic or free-run eggs, organic milk, organic dry goods and my personal favourite, organic chocolate!! I ordered us some milk for this week and will soon be getting our eggs from them too (as soon as it warms up enough for the laying hens)!
I love that I am supporting a local company, our local farmers and I have also found that I am spending WAY less time and money at the grocery store. We are eating healthier and my kids can't seem to get enough of the fabulous apples and pears these past few weeks. My three week trial ended last week and I am now signing up for it full time.
Good Eating Everyone!!
Natasha~
Twilli Pie Podegi Carriers
My daughter is 25 months old and is about 27 lbs. She still likes and wants to be worn in her carriers (as she likes to call them)! And lately, the one she requests the most and the one I am finding the easiest and most comfy, is our Twilli Pie Podegi carrier.
A podaegi (also spelled "podegi" or "podeagi") is a traditional Korean baby carrier, which consists of a rectangular "blanket" attached to a long strip of fabric. The blanket portion wraps baby onto babywearer, and then the strip of fabric is tied around them both. It is comfortable, cozy, versatile, and adorable, not to mention very convenient!
TWILLI PIE DESIGN is the brain child of Renee Holiday, a WAHM in Tennessee and she prides herself in creating "wearable art" in each of her one of a kind PODEAGI baby carriers.
Renee uses mostly vintage and/or reclaimed fabrics in the blanket (body) of the pods and the straps are made of all new materials, and always from sturdy, bottom-weight fabrics.
I was reminded once again today as to why I love this carrier so much. I wore L for almost 2 hours straight as we did our first Babywearing walk of 2011 today at West Edmonton Mall. And I did not feel any strain whatsoever on my shoulders, back or hips.
I find that the key with carrying bigger babies and toddlers-and this applies to all carriers, is that the higher up you carry them, the more comfortable it is for both of you.
The Twilli Pie Podegi carriers are great for babies of all ages, and are especially sturdy and ideal for toddler wearing!
We only have a few of these one of a kind carriers in stock. So if you like what you see, get it NOW before someone else snags it up!
And don't forget that this week we are also having our New LOGO Babywearing Sale and you get
