How time can go by so fast...

  August 15th, 2010. Exactly 1 year since my baby was born. The thought of this is bittersweet. I have enjoyed watching him grow and learn but at the same time my eyes fill with tears at the thought that my baby is now my toddler. Where did the time go? One minute I am nursing my newborn baby in a stuffy hospital room and the next I am chasing after this little person that says words and eats what I eat!
   We celebrated by throwing a birthday party in my mother's home. I spent the past couple weeks creating the decorations myself. If you really knew me, you would know that this was due to my obsessive compulsive perfectionism. Those store bought decorations with that pooh bear guy holding balloons and skipping around didn't even seem the tiniest good enough. Sure it would be easy, head over to party city and drop a good amount of money, pick up all the  party necessities and then just worry about the food. That is not me.
  I bought a package of eco-friendly scrapbook paper, colored cardstock, ribbon, a hot glue gun, and a few other things and I was good to go. I made a birthday banner,Ceaghan's Birthday crown, cupcake picks, party hats, a birthday card and a photo display with 1 photo from each month of his life. All with a "woodland animal-eco friendly-foresty-naturalish type of theme.

 

   As for the party food, I planned his party only a couple hours long which I think is a good idea for a 1 year old. So I opted to only provide appetizers and cake.  I made fruit kabobs with orange flesh honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple, and grapes and mini wraps with spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers and rep pepper hummus. (YUM) Then to go along with the theme I made "toadstool mushroom appetizers." I did so by taking hard-boiled eggs, then topping them with a hollowed out tomato cap and piping on dots of miracle whip. I think they are adorable. Then instead of one large cake I decided to do cupcakes and a mini "smash" cake for Ceaghan. The cupcakes were half "regular" yellow cake with red and white icing decorated as toadstools and Sugar-free Vegan carrot cake with sugar free vegan coconut creme icing. The smash cake was also made from the Carrot cake. Our guests seemed to love the food and the toadstool appetizers were a big hit!

   Ceaghan had a blast at the party and that was all that really mattered. I know that he can't appreciate the decorations yet but I had so much fun making them I do not care!   It was a great party and I couldn't have asked for it to go better. Even though he is technically a toddler now, he will always be my baby. I am amazed by him, so in love, and excited about the future!

How everything comes together...

   Life is good. I don't share that enough. But really it is. I get to spend the days with my baby and do my studies at night while he is sleeping, cuddle with my hubby and catch as many play dates as I can.' It's all good' as one would say.
   Currently I am studying the communication portion for school and I am enjoying it much more that I assumed. I am very intrigued by the impact certain things make in a conversation.
  The biggest lesson so far has been that of learning to empathize over sympathize. It seems easy enough, but it comes with great struggle to most. I have been practicing and I am reaping great benefits from utilizing this. It is always good for one to take a step back and examine how their words are being used and interpreted. I hope I can find the right words to say to help and support my future clients.
  There is such a need to revert back to ones own experiences when challenged with another persons', however it is more effective to focus on how they feel rather then how you would. Am I rambling or am I making sense? It makes sense in my mind.  For some however the biggest challenge is excepting another decisions. I too will struggle with this. I will remind myself that I am supporting women in *their* choices and not my own. All you can do is put the information and facts out there to ensure they can make informed and educated decisions. Something that is right for you, might not be right for another.
   Anyway, I didn't imagine I could learn so much within this topic. My next challenge is completely the extensive paper I need to complete. This will be a challenge, mostly from having to reflect on my birth which I found traumatic and such.
  I recently bought a Mei Tai style baby carrier (Kozy brand) and I love it dearly. I have many different types of slings and baby carriers and this one is my favorite and by far the most comfortable I have ever worn. Ceaghan seems to like it as well. I cannot wait to have a reason to use it for an extended period of time!  That will most likely be at next weeks Health Fair. Here is a photo of him in it...

 

And then my blog was born...

This is my first blog and soon this will be rather obvious to you. Lets learn together as I make spelling and grammatical errors, babble on forever and talk freely about my opinions as if they were fact.
What's with the title? Well it pretty much describes me, even if there is more crunch than class. I am a wife, a mother, an aspiring Doula, a future breastfeeding counselor, birth and lactation activist, and general birth, baby and all things natural obsessed individual. We are vegetarians and attachment parents. We planned our pregnancy after we got married. I don't drink or do drugs and I am the strongest willed and most optimistic person I know.
Oh and I happen to be 19 years old. Shocked? Most are. Who knew that a "teen" could be as mature and responsible as most 30 year olds'.
All of this said, this is my life and who I am. I don't claim to be anything else. I will write down any thoughts that I wish and hope deep back in the edges of my mind that someone else out there might someday take a glimpse at it and enjoy or learn from something I have written.
Here is to a blog about my life, my career, and doing it all with nothing less than crunch and class.