Preparing for Baby the Natural Way: NPN Blog Hop Summary!

Each month, one volunteer with the Natural Parents Network hosts the NPN Blog Hop, giving you a chance to discover new natural parenting blogs as well as to link up and share your own favorite posts.

May's blog hop featured the topic "Preparing For Baby The Natural Way". Today we're wrapping up the hop with a categorized summary of this wonderful collection of links. Enjoy!

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Healthy Pregnancy

• Momma in Progress writes a beautiful Letter To My Preggo Self.
• Code Name: Mama shares a video and description of Prenatal Massage Techniques.
• I Thought I Knew Mama shares 5 Easy Ways for Pregnant Women to Reduce Their Exposure to Chemicals.

Preparing for Birth: Classes, Books, and Preparations

• A Little Bit of All of It discusses childbirth classes in a number of articles, including:
• Childbirth Education
• Lots of Thoughts on Childbirth Education
• Not All Childbirth Classes are Equal; or, You Get What You Pay For
• Preparing for Birth: Childbirth Education
• I Thought I Knew Mama shares The Benefits of a Private Natural Childbirth Class and Experiments in Natural Family Living: 5 First Steps Toward Preparing for a Natural Birth.
• A Little Bit of All of It reviews the books Gentle Birth Choices and The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth.
• The Artful Mama describes her initial birth plans in I’m Only Half Planning a Natural Birth, and then shares how she handles changes to the plan in All This Over a Tub.
• Red and Honey also shares an update on her Birth Location Plans.

Care Providers and Birth Support

• A Little Bit of All of It offers her thoughts on Choosing a Care Provider for Prenatal Care. She also shares several links from other natural parents regarding Choosing a Care Provider and Birth Support, as well as a guest post on the topic of Doula Defined.
• The Artful Mama describe How (Not) to Interview Your Perspective Doula.

All About Siblings

• The Artful Mama offers her thoughts on Preparing Toddlers for Birth.
• Code Name: Mama describes How to Prepare Young Children for Childbirth. She also shares a very helpful collection of 30 Natural Birth Videos and Slideshows to Prepare Children for Labor and Birth (Plus Additional Resources).
• I Thought I Knew Mama talks about Caring for Your Toddler in the Last Weeks of Pregnancy: 7 Things That Work for Me.

Baby Needs and Registries

• Hybrid Rasta Mama shares some great money-saving tips in Don't Go Broke Because of Your Baby.
• Growing Slower offers her Green Baby Registry Part 2 with Printable Checklist.
• Strawberry Fields discusses Cloth Diapers.
• The Artful Mama details her Unexpected Registry.
• I Thought I Knew Mama suggests 5 Pregnancy Gifts for Mamas-to-Be.

Birth Plans

• A Little Bit of All of It describes her Birth Plan for Birth Center.
• Farmer's Daughter shares her Birth Plan, as well as a post-birth update!
• Hybrid Rasta Mama offers her thoughts along with a detailed sample Birth Plan.

Packing the Bag

• That Mama Gretchen encourage parents to pack A Birth Bag Especially for Dad.
• Momma Jorje shares her minimalist yet detailed list to help with Packing for the Hospital.

The Big Moment: Childbirth

• A Little Bit of All of It describes The Double Hip Squeeze – Comfort During Labor. She also shares the benefits of Waterbirth along with her own waterbirth experience.
• Barefoot, Christian and Crunchy finds peace in Understanding God will be my comfort in childbirth.
• The Hippie Housewife shares ways to encourage Birth Bonding between parents and the new baby.

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June's hop will take place over at Child Organics later this month, featuring the topic "Summer Fun for Children". Be sure to prepare your posts, new or previously-published, and look forward to another excellent collection of links!

Getting outside, rain or shine

Shortly after beginning our evening walk, the rain started.

Well, maybe it'll let up right away. Let's just keep going.

It didn't let up.

But you know what? It ended up being one of the best walks we've had in a while. We listened to the various sounds of rain falling on things. We inhaled the heady scent of rain and damp soil and wet moss. We licked raindrops off our lips and shook water out of our hair. When we returned home - wet through, tired, but in good spirits - we exchanged our dripping clothes for warm pajamas and snuggled in front of the fireplace. A snack, a bedtime story, and off to bed!

The rain has kept us inside far too often - but it doesn't have to. Getting outside in the rain is the ultimate sensory activity for children, with the potential to engage all five senses.

With that in mind, here are a few favourite outdoor rainy day activities to spark your imagination (and mine!) during this rainy spring season:

Puddles: The essential rainy day activity, puddle jumping is particularly tantalizing and satisfying for children.

Mud: Get dirty? Yes, please! There's nothing quite like the feeling of mud squishing between fingers and toes.

Sticks: Find a fast-flowing ditch of water and start dropping things in. What sinks? What floats? Play Pooh sticks and see which one wins the race!

Ditches: Use shovels and sticks to channel a stream of water through ditches in the mud or sand. Add popsicle-stick bridges, mud castles, and stick flagpoles to make a whole city!

Nature walk: The classic family activity, a nature walk becomes a whole new experience in the rain.

So break out those rain boots and splash pants and get outside!

What is your favourite outdoor rainy day activity?

Natural Parents Network: Volunteer Posts

Natural Parents Network is a community of natural-minded parents with a mission to inform, empower, and inspire. “Natural parenting” is based on a desire to live and parent responsively and consciously, including Attachment/Responsive Parenting, Ecological Responsibility and Love of Nature, Holistic Health Practices, and Natural Learning.

As Articles Editor, I can vouch for the great work Natural Parents Network is doing. Today I'd like to share with you some of the best posts written by NPN editors, mentors, authors and moderators, all volunteers for this growing community. If you haven't yet, I encourage you to join the NPN community on their website, Facebook and Twitter.





Joella at Fine and Fair discusses her unique perspective of a controversial toy in her unusual gripe with Bebe Gloton.

Amy at Innate Wholeness offers simple tips to be present with family whether you're having fun and want to soak it up like a sponge or would rather run and hide in a cave.

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares sound bites from her miscarriage journey of forgiveness and gratitude.

Shannon at Pineapples and Artichokes writes about how she is trying to raise her daughter to be accepting of everyone.

Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses the overuse of the word "no" and offers some aid in finding creative ways to avoid "no."

Melissa at The New Mommy Files: Memories, Milestones and Missteps makes a compelling case for instinctual mothering.

Amanda at Let's Take the Metro shares a comprehensive list of food she always keeps on hand.

Suchada at Mama Eve writes a heartfelt letter chronicling her journey through a difficult transition with sleep, crying, and balancing closeness with boundaries.

Shannon at The ArtsyMama shares her list of ten things she wishes she knew before the birth of her son.

Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings offers tips and tricks for babywearing two.

Julia at A Little Bit of All of It tells the story of how motherhood came to her and how a miscarriage shaped her feelings and perceptions surrounding the birth of her first daughter.

Emily at Embrita Blogging shares a collection of photos depicting ten things that make her happy.

Lauren at Hobo Mama discusses postpartum sex versus sex before kids.

As part of an ongoing series about balance, Amy at Anktangle writes about a daily ritual she has adopted to help her maintain balance in her life.

Cynthia at The Hippie Housewife is reminded that while the days may sometimes be long, the years are short, and after a rough day the best thing to do is give thanks for the best parts and try again tomorrow.

Dionna at Code Name: Mama offers seven alternatives to saying "good job", ideas to really connect with and nurture your child.

Darcel at The Mahogany Way has the ultimate boredom busting activity for children of all ages.

Alicia at Lactation Narration discusses the long journey of child-led weaning, during which she thought several times that her child was weaned before she really was.

Mandy at Living Peacefully With Children talks about how letting go of the illusion of control opens up a an entirely new world.

Luschka at Diary of a First Child talks about the battle between breastfeeding and formula feeding mothers and the industry that stokes the flames of a war on mothers.

Mary at The Accidental Natural Mama recounts her journey to mama-hood.

Sheryl at Little Snowflakes talks about the the benefits of nursing a child to sleep.

Rachael at The Variegated Life meditates on the moment when she first saw herself fully embodying her life as a mother.


I hope you enjoy these links, and that they give you plenty of encouragement, inspiration, and a little something to think about!

Do you have a piece you are particularly proud of? Share it in the comments below!

Sweet dreams

Hush little baby, don't say a word,
Momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird.
Last night as I was laying in bed beside my little boy putting him to sleep, he snuggled up against me and put his arm around me, resting his tiny hand on my back. I think I melted. It got me thinking back over the months of co-sleeping - months of little fingers grasping mine, months of warm snuggles, months of peaceful sleeps and easy wake-ups.

If that mocking bird don't sing,
Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring.
It also got me thinking back to how our co-sleeping began. We hadn't planned to co-sleep, not really, but we knew we wanted our baby close in those first few months. He had a bassinet right next to our bed. He slept in it at night and during the occasional nap - the rest of his naps he slept either on my lap or snuggled close in a baby carrier (usually a wrap back in those days).

If that diamond ring turns brass,
Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass.
This worked for a while. We were extremely spoiled with a baby who slept six hours straight each night by the time he was a week old, and slept ten hour stretches by the time he was a month old. Like I said, extremely spoiled. But he started making up for it when he turned 3 months old (as those early sleeping babies are prone to do), waking up first once each night, then twice, then more and more until he was up nearly every.single.hour for a stretch of I-was-too-tired-to-remember-how-many weeks.

If that looking glass gets broke,
Momma's gonna buy you a billy goat.
Exhaustion. At first I kept up the whole bassinet thing. He'd wake up for food, I'd sit up and feed him, try not to fall asleep, change his diaper, and put him back to sleep in the bassinet. Repeat as many times as he woke up in a night.

If that billy goat won't pull,
Momma's gonna buy you a cart and bull.
One night it was same as usual - he woke up, I fed him. Suddenly, I don't know how much later, I snapped awake in a full-out panic and realized I had no idea where my baby was, had no memory of putting him back to sleep, the light was still on, and oh-my-goodness where was he and was he okay and how could I do such a thing? I frantically searched the bed and the floor. Finally I noticed him sound asleep in his bassinet - apparently I had put him back to sleep after all, despite having no memory of it and having fallen back asleep with the light on.

If that cart and bull turns over,
Momma's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.
From that night on, he slept with us. When he woke up, I'd latch him on and we'd both lie there peacefully until we fell asleep again. He didn't start consistently sleeping through the night again until he was a year old, but co-sleeping made it so much more bearable. We both got more sleep because of it. But more than that, there's just something so sweet and so natural and so right about having your children tucked up beside you while you sleep at night. Now that we do it, I couldn't imagine it any other way.

If that dog named Rover won't bark,
Momma's gonna buy you a horse and cart.
We still nurse to sleep most nights, but we've had a few nights lately where he's fallen asleep with me kneeling down beside the bed and singing to him instead. He even has his favourite songs already. He'll point at my mouth when he wants me to start singing. If it's not the song he wants, he'll cover my mouth with his hand until I stop, then point at it again for a new song. When I finally start singing the song he wants, he breaks out into a big grin and lets out one of his adorable little maniacal giggles that I love so much.

And if that horse and cart fall down,
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town.
Much to my chagrin, he has decided that his favourite song is Hush Little Baby. While I am pleased to have finally memorized the lyrics to this song (I used to always get confused somewhere around the looking glass breaking), it's never been one of my favourites. I mean, what a materialistic song! I most certainly will not buy him all of those things! I think I should rewrite it, sing him my own version.

Hush Little Baby, don't you cry,
Momma's gonna sing you a lullaby.

When your blue eyes start to close,
Momma's gonna kiss you on your nose.

When you wake all bleary-eyed,
Momma's gonna be right at your side.

When the laundry must be done,
Momma's gonna let you in on all the fun...
And so on and so forth. Brilliant, no?

Sheer brilliance

First they came up with a chicken pox vaccine.

This, as anyone with an ounce of common sense should have been able to forsee, led to an increase in adult shingles.

So what did they do?

They came up with a shingles vaccine too.

It's sheer profit brilliance.

(Oh, but it's not about the money. Really.)

Oh yes, and did you hear? There has been an increase in measles outbreaks recently. Measles are, after all, a "potentially deadly disease". Darn those religious homeschooled non-vaxers.

A few years from now, they'll be writing the exact same article, only about chicken pox instead of measles. Forget normal childhood illness (with lasting immunity, unlike the chicken pox vaccine's immunity). No, no, chicken pox is a "potentially deadly disease". Beware!

Look Ma, No Leaks!

Well, we've finally made the switch.

Our little boy is in cloth diapers.

I'm loving them! And, I'm sure, so is he. It just looks so comfortable to have that soft fabric up against his skin instead of our previous disposable diapers.

For the first four months of his life, I felt guilty every single time I changed his diaper. I felt guilty for all the garbage I was creating, I felt guilty for all the chemicals and crap (heh, no pun intended) I was putting right there next to my son's most sensitive parts, and I felt guilty for all the money we were throwing on when we could wash and reuse cloth diapers instead. Finally I told my husband, I'm sorry, I just have to try cloth. If I hate it, I hate it, but I have to at least be able to say I tried.

A month later, a local baby store finally had my trial basket of cloth diapers ready for me to use for a week. I'm very glad I tried the loan program first, because I would never had made the same decisions regarding what kind of cloth diapers to get if I hadn't tried it first.

It was a very nice cloth-filled week. For the first time in weeks, we didn't have the usual mid-sermon poop explosion at church that invariably necessitates a complete outfit change. I heard the rumble, I held my breath, I waited for the stream of poop to squirt halfway up his back...and it didn't. Phew. In fact, we didn't have a single leak the whole time. That right there was reason enough to switch!

After the week was up, we ended up buying a dozen prefold diapers, three contour Kissaluv diapers, six Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers with liners, four Bummis Whisper Wrap covers, one wool cover, and three doublers. It's a decent start, at the very least. I never would have thought I'd like the prefolds, but they are so much easier than I expected. Plus, getting a dozen prefolds for barely more than one Fuzzi Bunz? Economically, you just can't go wrong with that. I did want the Fuzzi Bunz for going out with and the Kissaluvs for easy diaper changes for my husband (who finds prefolds far too intimidating at the moment), but for general day-to-day use, prefolds are perfect.

Next up, as soon as I pick up some lavender essential oil, I'll mix up a simple cloth wipes solution to use with our myriad of baby washcloths instead of using disposable diaper wipes.

I'm very happy with our switch. Now I just have to keep control of the desire to buy all the cute diaper covers and woolies out there!

Baby Steps

The other day I picked up a spray bottle from the Dollar Store, mixed together 1 cup water and 1 cup vinegar, and cleaned my bathroom.

It's not much, but it's a start. When I was done, I was able to go pick up my son without worrying about my hands being covered in chemicals. The house didn't smell like harsh cleaners. I wasn't worried about what my family was inhaling.

Baby steps.

I've also been faithfully going to the organic farmers market every Saturday to pick up meat and produce for the week.

This week marked a milestone - it was the first week that I didn't need to make a second trip to the grocery store to pick up additional groceries that I couldn't get at the farmers market.

When I first started buying more organic and less processed foods, it seemed horribly expensive at first. But now that we've been doing it for about a month, I find that I'm actually spending less on groceries. I think mainly this is due to less trips to the grocery store, where all sorts of extra foods always mysteriously make their way into the shopping cart. Now, if I have to go, I go only to pick up a few very specific things. Our meals seem more well-rounded and definitely healthier now.

My fridge and freezer are satisfyingly full. We have fish, chicken, and beef. We have potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers. We have strawberries, blackberries, blueberries. We have eggs, cheese, and orange juice. (We also have milk, but it is admittingly not organic. I just can't bring myself to pay the same amount for 1L of organic milk as I would normally pay for 4L or non-organic milk. I just can't.)

What more could we need?

Tonight I'm making a salmon and fruit salad. Grilled salmon served on top of lettuce, cucumbers, strawberries, mandarine orange slices and a sprinkle of blueberries. Perfect for a gloriously warm Labour Day weekend.

Last night I made banana bread. Yum.

The night before, we had soft tacos for dinner. We made our own soft taco shells. They tasted so good, much better than store bought ones.

So that's our progress so far. They may just be baby steps, but they're still steps forward.

I Don't Wanna

The more I learn about the world, the more I find myself saying I don't wanna.

I don't wanna do what I'm told.

I don't wanna do it just because it's normal.

I don't wanna do it just because it's expected.

I don't wanna do it just because it's mainstream.

I don't wanna.

The more I learn about the world, the more I find myself noticing. Considering. Thinking. Deciding. Changing. Leaving the mainstream behind.

Countless unconscious decisions I once took for granted are now becoming conscious choices.

Maybe this is called growing up? (Except that I don't see most people doing it!)

I don't want to fill my house with chemicals just because P&G wants me to. I don't want to eat food filled with crap just because it's what the nearest grocery store sells. I don't want to take every medicine known to man for every little sniffle just because the drug company needs to up their profit. I don't want to give birth to a drugged-up baby just because the nurses tell me to have an epidural. I don't want to pump my kid full of toxins just because the doctor says he should be vaccinated. I don't want to leave my baby to cry it out just because society says he needs to learn to be independent. I don't want to send him off to public school in a few years just because it's normal.

And on and on and on and on.

So this is me, finally stepping up and saying, "Hey world! I don't want to do it just because it's mainstream!"