Coconuts Galore!

MMMM..... Coconuts!

Get them fresh from the local tropical market for about 20 cents!

Young coconuts are great for coconut water, which is naturally alkaline

Also great is the flesh, it's like coconut pudding

There's mama coconuts and they have a sweet treat inside, looks like another white nut. It's incredibly sweet with a funky after taste

I believe that it's the mama coconut that the oil comes from as the inside it quite oily

The middle aged coconuts also have good water (I prefer young coconut water)

These are great for shaving out the coconut

My FAVORITE is coconut cream. YUM! You take the middle aged coconut, shave it and then put it in a milk bag and squeeze the juice out. It's so delicious

Island Eating

The best food here on the island I've found is the fresh produce. There's an open market where dozens of women stay the week Monday through Saturday afternoon and sell their produce around the clock. Everything is sweet, the sweetest carrots and lettuce I've ever tasted!

Some of the women make prepared foods at lunch time, I have no idea what they call the things. The have some kind of potato thing with fish or chicken and various sauces. I sometimes go for what looks like a huge rolled pancake made of tapioca with coconut cream inside. It's very rich and so scrumptious. There's a little french restaurant with delicious cream desserts. For the most part we've been sticking pretty close to a raw diet.

Husband eats everything but I had a light case of traveler's sickness and have been eating produce that has a peel on it. Got a peeler yesterday though, so I'll be able to expand my diet.

Mangoes just came into season and showed up in the market today, will definitely be getting some! Fresh grapefruit grow on our property and they're not at all sour, very sweet. Husband and I share one of those in the morning with fresh coconut cream that husband makes by opening a coconut with a machete, then using a coconut scraper to get the meat out, then squeezing the meat which makes the coconut milk/cream. DELICIOUS!

Flying with Infant

About 30 hours of travel time with a 7 month old - I thought it was going to be horrific!

It actually went surprisingly quickly! The first flight of 13 hours was overnight so we all slept most of the time. Baby slept through most of it with the occasional potty break and diaper changes. Daddy put Your Baby Can Read! on his iPod for her to watch in her car seat. That was the only time she was in it, the rest of the time she was strapped to me.

There was a little potty accident... I was changing her diaper and trying tp decide if I should potty her or not. I decided not to and went to get a diaper. Well... my indecision cost me and she wet the seat! Then I took my sweet time putting a diaper on her as I used the diaper I was going to put on her to clean the seat.... and of course she pees again! LOL. Good thing it was on daddy's seat ;)

Selling Everything to Leave the Country

Five weekends of garage sales, dozens of EBay ads, hundreds of craigslist ads later, several truck loads to donation centers and 4 dump runs later.... WE HAVE SOLD ALMOST EVERYTHING!!!

We're down to 6 bags to check, 3 carry ons and a car seat. We also have a tote of keepsakes we're leaving with family and a small box of things to be sent to me for when I have the next baby.

What baby hAS TO Say about the whole thing.... hfdzsqzca 43333333333333333333333333 nn dvf 8i m,
I totally agree baby girl!

Necessities I'm taking... I suitcase full of cloth diapering supplies, a baby potty, jack LaLane Juicer and our Athena water alkalizing machine. We sold our blendtec (like a vitamix), our bed, my jewelry, most of my clothes, baby things I was hoping to keep and several other things I thought I could never part with.

I feel amazing at peace with the whole thing, though I did have some rough dreams... that'll be my next post :D

Update!

Okay friends.... It's been a looooong time since I was here.

We're moving!! ...Out of the country!!

We've sold almost everything. We have about 6 bags of belongings that we have to take with us, 3-4 small boxes to store at my parent's, and 3-4 boxes of things still listed on EBay and Amazon oh and half.com. I've been a busy little bee.

We've had about 4-5 excruciating weekend garage sales. During which I had many strange dreams - like the one where I was on the titanic when it started sinking and I swam to the bottom where I found all my jewelry (that I had sold that day in the garage sale).

We've sold stuff on craigslist, donated truck loads of stuff and even more truck loads for the dumps - How do two people accumulate so much stuff? Boxes and boxes of stuff. And two huge closets of clothing. Now I have A suitcase.

COUNTDOWN We leave to visit family in less than 2 days. We fly out in less than 2 weeks!!

Today we went to Thrive in Seattle. We had ginger lemonade - very good. Mightly Thai salad - which I think is their best dish. Chia Bowl - Husband liked that one. Porto Bello burger - which I thought was just awful. For dessert chocolate moose - okay and key lime pie - which is delicious!



Baby is 7 months now. She's sitting up, which is a huge relief for me because she is so much more contented these days - though she was never really a fussy baby to begin with. I started playing some sign language DVDs a week ago... She's already signing!! Her favorite is "more milk" "more more more!!". She's kind of talking... She was watching her signing video and when they said milk, she replied "mill" - not a typo. Then just a couple days ago she signed more and said "more" - not exactly as we pronounce it, but I can't figure out how to get what she said onto a computer.

She's about 22 pounds! A bit of a chunk :D

The answers to your questions are most likely yes! Yes, we still carry out baby. I know, she's big. No, she doesn't hurt my back. I just sold my moby-like wrap as I didn't like how stretchy is it, also sold the baby bjorn active, which hurt my back for long trips. So I bought an Ergo carrier off of my good buddy craig (craigslist). I've also got a Storchenweige wrap on it's way - Which is a long woven wrap that gives a lot more support than the stretchy wraps so it's better for mommy and baby's developing and growing back. Found the cutest bear tonight that promotes babywearing... Organic Sleepy Bear Sleep Wear.
http://www.sleepywrap.com/index.php?page=news
It's a bear that has a baby wrap carrier and carries a little baby bear!!

Yes, she's still breastfeeding. Yes, she still sleeps with us. Wait, here's a no... She doesn't sleep through the night but she doesn't pee all night! She wakes up with a dry diaper and I put her on the potty first thing, she almost overflows it!

Daddy got peed on!

There are definitely misses when you practice elimination communication!

Most of the time at home she doesn't wear a diaper. I generally do have a prefold (thick cloth diaper) under her and then a fleece blanket wrapped around her, which keeps misses from getting onto me or the couch. I also have her bouncy chair set up similarly. As you can see in the pic with Zoamore, she has a blue fleece blanket and then a prefold on top of that. So much easier to just switch the cloth out instead of changing a diaper everytime. Also makes it to she's not sitting in a wet diaper long, because i notice it quicker and also helps me to learn more of her ques.

Scrumptius Carrot Cake with Orange Frosting RAW

I got this recipe off of www.goneraw.com Submitted by earthintruder

Here's what I did different...

Cake: Instead of shredded carrot, juice carrot and use pulp and juice - makes for a more cakier cake

Grind Cinnamon sticks in a coffee mill so that there's little chunks of cinnamon

Topping: Shredded coconut on the icing. The decoration is carrot slivers and parsley!

Servings: 

 6-8

This cake was adored by everyone I shared it with at work. It is highly fiberous with just the right amount of sweetness.

Ingredients: 

2 cup shredded carrot
2 cup soaked seeds + handful walnuts
½ cup diced pineapple
½ cup raisens
¼ cup agave, honey, yacan syrup, add more or less to taste
1 sprinkle cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 sprinkle fresh ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or scrapings of bean
1 pinch celtic sea salt
½ cup shredded coconut, optional

Preparation: 

Soak seeds 6-8 hours in purified water, or overnight.
Rinse and Drain. In a food processer, combine seeds and walnuts. Grind until smooth, but be careful not to make into “butter.” You may have to scrap the sides down more than a few times to get well blended. set aside.

Combine all other ingredients in large bowl. Taste as you go along. After mixing all the ‘sweets and spices’..add the seeds and form into a round circle. I then freeze this cake for about 2 hours, then frost it with the orange frosting I posted earlier. =) peace and love, enjoy!

The first time I created this cake, I put way too much cinnamon, and apparently Jonny ( my BF ) claims it tasted like ‘Big red’ the chewing gum.

Servings: 

 enough for one cake-or about 1 1/2 Cups frosting

this “frosting” is a perfect compliment to carrot cake. I absolutley love making carrot cake with pinnapple and raisens and topping it off with this decadent fluff. Make sure to adjust sweetner to your tasting as I don’t like that sweet of stuff. enjoy! peace and love

Ingredients: 

1 cup coconut butter
1 tablespoon orange zest
juice of an orange
1 teaspoon vanilla, or scrapings of bean
pinch cinnamon
pinch sea salt
extra water for consistancy
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

Preparation: 

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except extra water. Add water slowly as needed to make that “fluffy” dollop frosting.

Elimination Communication

Basically, it's being in tune with baby's nonverbal cues of when they are going potty and putting them over a potty instead of in the diaper.

I've been doing EC with Zoamore since she was 6 weeks old, about 2 weeks now. We go through the whole night dry as I can tell when she needs to go better when I'm sleeping! When she needs to poop she'll kick and sometimes make a funny squeak. She's often content sitting on the potty and sometimes after she's done her business she passes out! As you can tell from this picture.

She often cries when she's wet herself in a diaper until I change it so I think she likes using potty too. Plus I rarely have to change a poopy diaper now, yay :)

This is a great website about EC... http://www.tribalbaby.org/ECindex.html

6 Week Checkup

Zoamore and I went to our 6 week check up two weeks ago. She weighed a healthy 10lb 13 oz! Wow is she getting big. At least I think so, people keep saying how tiny she is but she's growing too fast for me.

My midwife also checks her heartbeat and listens to her breathing. I got a physical exam and everything is well with both of us.  :D

Ten Days After Zoamore's Birth

Belly is almost back to normal and have been back to prepregnany weight since the day after the birth. I definitely ate a lot during the pregnancy but for the most part ate really healthy, mostly raw fruits and veggies. I'm still craving oranges and pears, which I've been munching down on since the first trimester. I eat about 3-5 oranges a day now! yumm

Breastfeeding Difficulties

I count my blessing that I have not gotten thrush - Which I'm told feels like shards of glass when the milk lets down. Ouch... As wonderful and pain free as the labor was, breastfeeding started with difficulty and pain.

Poor latch - Baby girl did not like opening up wide, leads to sore nipples, which lead to blisters, which leads to scabs, which leads to cracked nipples (didn't get cracking, as they healed). But with blisters it leaves the breasts susceptible to mastitis. Which I did get. I had the chills and sweats one night and 101.7 degree temperature and one of my breasts was painful near the armpit, where the lymphnodes are. I didn't want to call the doctor, knowing that an MD would just prescribe me antibiotics... which can lead to developing yeast and then thrush... as I mentioned before... ouch!

So this is what I did and it cleared up within 48 hours...

• Lots of prayer!
• Husband gave awesome neck rub to help with tension I was carrying in neck and shoulders
• Kept a good diet of fresh fruit, veggies and Glenn juiced for me yumm
  
• Lymphonest added to my water (this helps to strengthen the immune system and clear lymphs)
• Echinacea (the one I took has shitake mushrooms added, it's called Lysine and it tastes awful)
• Cabbage or a slice of potato placed over the painful area (this draws out toxins)
• Before feeding on the effected breast I would place a warm pack on area (this helps with the flow)
• Stayed in the bedroom and got lots of rest
• Super hydrated, I upped the pH on my alkalizing machine too as bacteria (which is what mastitis is- a bacteria infection) cannot thrive in a high pH environment
• As I read on several other sites, Nurse, Nurse, Nurse
• While nursing, massage effected area to help unblock any blockages
• Keep areolas clean
• Don't wear a tight bra, better to go bra-less during this time

My temperature dropped really low, from 101.7 down to 96.6. This is the body's way of fighting off infections, best not to mess with it as it knows what it's doing :D

Within 48 hours my temperature was back to normal, with no pain in effected breast and no need for antibiotics.

If you are having high temperatures, it is recommended that you seek professional care. Mastitis left alone, untreated, without healing, can lead to the breast needing to be drained surgically.

Daddy Loves His Baby Girl

First Cloth Diaper

The first two days I decided to use Earth's Best disposables, so that the meconium wouldn't stain the cloth diapers. Today Zoa is 3 days old! Since she's already passed all the meconium, she's now wearing her organic cotton prefolds with either a sugar pears wool cover or wool pants. Here she is in her prefold with a snappi (the yellow thing-has claws that grip the cloth instead of using pins)

First Chiropractic Adjustment for Baby!

Dr. Steve Thain of Wellness One in Bellevue was so sweet to come to our home the day after her birth to give Zoa her first chiropractic adjustment. Her neck was tilted slightly to one side after the birth and now is officially perfect ;)

http://www.bv.wellnessone.net/team_bellevue.html

Baby Zoamore Rachelle

Zoamore (Zo ah mor ay) Rachelle (Rah shell)

Born in water at home into her Daddy's hands!

Born on 1/21 at 1:21pm and 21in long!   8lbs 4oz

Zoamore was born painfree and I'm so blessed to be a new mommy.

Pain Free Childbirth

So contractions started around 3:30am. I did some reading online, took a shower, and crawled back onto the bed. I slept in between the contractions and when the contractions started I would roll off the bed to get onto the birth ball. I would either bounce on the ball or rotate my hips around in circles.

Around 11am I went to get an adjustment from my chiropractor, Dr. Steve Thain. He's my midwife's husband and his practice, Wellness One Bellevue, is attached the Eastside Birth Center. He gave me one adjustment and I started having a contraction, so I went over to my husband who was sitting on the chair and I held his hand for support and did a little hula girl dance (rotating my hips around in circles).  I got back onto the correction table to finish the adjustments, my whole back released very well and I laid on the table for a minute in pure bliss!

We were picking up my chart and birth stool from the birth center and when she came to bring it to me she offered for me to come back into the center and get checked. On my birth plan I had asked to have minimal checks though was a little curious how far dilated I was... thinking I was only 3-4 cm. Well... I was 7-8cm!

We headed home with the midwife following us and our doula, Carisa Kimble, and the student midwife meeting us at the house. They were an awesome birth team and my husband and I are very grateful for them all. Another way I liked going through the contractions was resting my head on my husband's shoulder, my arms around his neck and hanging, which let me loosen up my body. So while my husband was busy filling the birth tub, Carisa supported me through some contractions. I then got onto the birth stool and totally felt something bulging out, but not a head. Called my midwife, Christine Thain, over to me to check out what it was. Totally forgot that my water hadn't broken yet and that's what was bulging. She told me that it was time I got into the tub, which felt great. Sometimes my calves would get a little tingly from sitting kinda funky and my husband would massage one and Carisa would massage the other!

Even though the contractions were intense, I was feeling no pain during labor. I have been doing a lot of reading and praying on painless and even orgasmic births and have been speaking that over myself throughout the pregnancy. My husband and doula were also in agreement with me and they both prayed over me during labor. Okay... back to the birth tub... So my water breaks and I say "my water broke!". It was a strange feeling to say the least to feel it break while being in the tub. My midwife told me that I could bear down if I wanted to but still had it in the back of my mind that it wasn't time yet. I was still waiting for transition! I had been told so many times that all women go through a stage where they want drugs or feel like they can't go any further. I never got to that part, skipped right passed it.

My midwife told me that I could feel the baby's head if I wanted to and sure enough I could. It was a soft ridge of skin and on either sides of the ridge was hard, which was the baby's skull. The soft ridge was the skin of baby's head. Finally it dawned on me that it was time that I could push. In between these contractions that I was pushing on I would lay my head on the tub or onto my husband and fall asleep. When the contractions came back I would hold my husband's hand and my doula's hand while I bear down working with the contraction and blowing breaths out or deep moans.

One of the last pushing contractions I even started laughing half way through it! I was feeling so much joy as the baby's head was crowning that all I could do was laugh. I think we got that part of video tape... so I'll get it up here soon.

My husband checked the cord wasn't wrapped around baby's neck before I pushed the shoulders out and he pulled baby up out of the water into my arms.

It's a girl!! Husband and I are shocked as we both felt so strongly that baby was a boy. We are both estatic to have such a healthy and beautiful baby girl. 

Am I in Labor??

So... it's 5am and I've been having contractions for a couple hours now. Um... I got up at I think 3am. These ones are definitely different than the ones that I have been having this past month. Before it was just a tightness of my belly that for the most part I could sleep through. Occasionally I would get figity or moan and that would wake me up! It's still a tightness, but the feeling is more intense towards my pubic bone area.

I took a shower and had some chamomile, hoping that I could go back to sleep. Through the contractions however, it's difficult to fall asleep as there's so much tightening. My husband and I decided to come downstairs, relax with the dogs for a bit and open up a contraction timer online. Here's the one that I'm using... http://www.baby2see.com/contractions_timer.html

So far they're about 3-6 minutes apart and 30 seconds duration. Drinking lots of water and bouncing during contractions helps the rest of me relax. Well, I'm going to head upstairs and see if I can get some rest or maybe clean the kitchen!

Eating with Chelly...

2 oranges

2 bananas

cantaloupe

juice - carrot, apple and then put in a blendtec with spinach

pinto beans

carrots & tahini

raw blueberry muffin dessert

Glenn made us a smoothie: banana, coconut milk, dates, vanilla, agave - would be great with some nutmeg or cinnamon yum!

ionized water intake: so far about 50 ounces... ideally at least 80, which is calculated...

1/2 body weight in pounds = ounces of water daily + more if perspiring a lot

Home Birthing Preparation

Finally have put everything together in preparation for a home delivery... well... almost everything together :)

Here's a list of some things that I have put aside:

flashlight (so that midwife can use instead of putting on the main light)

old towels

chuck pads

baby items - diaper, coconut oil, clothes etc

TIP: Coconut oil is great for using on a newborn's bottom while they still have merconium

receiving blankets

snacks for birth team

birthing ball (ya know one of those big workout balls that you can bounce on)

washcloths for use in a crockpot for warm compresses

cord clamps

bulb syringe

hot water bottle

sippy cup

labor bag, in case of hospital transfer

Just purchased a birthing tub by "made in water" http://www.madeinwater.co.uk/poolcom.html

Still need to get a pump to blow it up, a garden hose and attachments to fill it up

Also need to do:

music selections

scriptures - laminated

finish the hospital bag