Happy 1st Birthday, Lydia!

 Happy Birthday, Lyds!

Before another month flies by, I'm finally getting up pictures of our sweet #5's first birthday on April 16! 

 Lydia's cake! 

The family cake, Lydia's smaller cake, and an extra little cake enjoyed the next day :-) 

 A couple presents at breakfast... Sophia's favorite, although Lydia enjoyed it, too!

A picture with Aunt Emma before she had to leave

Singing to Lydia 

It was special to have BOTH sets of grandparents and some aunts present for the special day! 

Giving little sis a hand with the candle...

(Birthdays are about the most EXCITING thing in the world for Sophia!) 

The boys have long anticipated how happy Lydia was going to be diving into her cake. She did not disappoint!!  

She demolished that thing!! 

She started to slow down at this point... :) 

Aftermath: Daddy literally hosing off her dress 

Brother Michael giving Lydia a hand with the bow on Dress #2 (made possible thanks to the awesome resale shops and events around here, woo-hoo)

More gifts! 

Some downtime with Pops
(uh...ignore the strangeness in the background! Entirely normal and Michael loves it!)

A group picture during the visit from Washington grandparents!

12 Months of Lydia!

Our happy, chubby, busy-busy baby is ONE!

April 16, 2016

It was lots of fun looking at pictures from the last year to create this sequence! Last April seems a lifetime ago, so much has changed in our family since then.

 April 16, 2015

The Birth Day!

 1 Month

2 Months

 3 Months

(almost) 4 Months (made before our big South America trip)

(See her chunking up?! Turns out it was appropriate to use the elephant Grandma B gave her as a size reference, ha!)

 5 Months

 6 Months, 19 1/2 pounds

Sumo baby!! Weight gain slacked off after we left Bolivia - I guess my back should be grateful!

 7 Months

 8 Months

9 Months

 10 Months 

11 Months

12 Months

(She's so, so wiggly and busy, it's nearly impossible to get a picture of her straight on, with the sticker, and the elephant! There will be better pictures at her birthday later today...)

Becoming a Doula

"The word "doula" comes from the ancient Greek meaning "a woman who serves" and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.

Studies have shown that when doulas attend birth, labors are shorter with fewer complications, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily."

Read more here.

Since I was little, I’ve loved babies. Babysitting, big families, and the Bolivian Baby Home have all made up the best parts of my life! 

I can also add "birth stories" to the list, particularly a hobby when I was finally expecting my own baby at age 30. While I was thrilled that former CDA volunteer Katrina planned right from the beginning to travel to Bolivia and allow me to have a home birth, I read the stories with a new level of attention and felt compelled to prepare myself physically and mentally. I knew birth would be like a marathon, and difficult to switch from home to hospital in Bolivia. I was determined to do whatever I could on my end to make a natural home birth possible, even though the hospital transfer rate for first births is high. God was gracious and blessed us with a relatively quick, manageable birth, with an awesome support team gathered around Jake and I on that day as our family began. I was elated!

Inspired by the whole process, visions of becoming a midwife danced in my head. But first I became mother to four more children over the next 18 months and knew there was no chance of pursuing training in that demanding profession for a while yet. (Other times, my sleep-deprived self tells me that I’m crazy for even THINKING about an occupation with such an unpredictable schedule!) 

My current reading (and re-reading) stack

Fast forward to January 24, 2016. I discovered that a new church friend here in Tennessee wants to become a doula AND that training would be taking place in Memphis that very weekend. The wheels started turning. Quite honestly, I had considered becoming a non-medical labor companion “lowly” in times past. But to be fair, doulas had barely entered my thought anyway, since they weren’t an option for my births in Bolivia. One midwife was the best I was going to get! Within a couple of days, I realized it made sense to become a birth doula first, much more attainable with young children, and that way still become part of the birthing community. Jake told me it was a great fit, that it’s obvious I’m passionate about it. I wrote a group of friends to get their thoughts, and they were very positive regarding both their experiences with doulas and my new dream.

It wasn’t possible to arrange everything for the January training on such short notice with a frequently nursing baby, but I intend to participate in the next local training in August. Meanwhile, I’ve much enjoyed researching different aspects of becoming a birth doula! I am stocking up on the books needed for the training and DONA certification process, making lists of local birth professionals and studying what services they offer, solidifying ideas for my website and blog, getting the word out that I can help families at the birth of their baby without cost… And I now have a legitimate excuse to learn from birth stories all the time, ha! 

This week I began The Bradley Method Childbirth classes as an observer. I LOVED the first class and could see myself teaching them in the future! I’m grateful for special savings that allows me to begin this now, even as Jake works hard to get our income stabilized in our new life in the states.

Stay tuned for more news, especially if you are a woman living in the Memphis area!

Another stack of books we're working through - I'm picking up reading as a hobby again!

Washington Cabin WINTER Trip!

I decided to post the best pictures of our cabin trip on our neglected blog rather than FB, to better preserve the memories!! :)

Getting a bit of guidance from big brother (Sophia always turns heads in airports pulling her own luggage!)

I'm not going to spend hours getting them in perfect order. I figure they'll be enjoyable to those who care, anyway!

Packing S & L's clothes and accessories in plastic bags before the trip made dressing them DURING the trip lots easier!!

There were some long hauls on the road, but nothing our South-American-road-tripping crew couldn't handle!!

Crossing a snowy pass up in the mountains between Bellingham (the cousins) and Chelan (the cabin)!

Jake told us to jump out for this picture on our way to the cabin! Everyone got a taste of SNOW!

 Lydia got very good at napping in her car seat...

Jake preparing the troops to snowshoe in with our luggage and food for a few days (since the driveway hasn't been kept clear since winter began, it wasn't possible to drive all the way)

Lydia was woken from a nap upon arrival to the property and had an uncharacteristic "freak out" after being outside a few minutes. Here, she's chilling the car with the heat turned back on! This baby has my Texas blood, yessiree.

First time!! My Russia coat came in handy on the trip

Arrival to the cabin, before the fire was lit!

Melting snow for cleaning water! Jake eventually got the water pumping in spite of deep snow

Dinnertime!

Two babies in a tub, rubadub

Lydia, waiting patiently to be snowshoed out on our first leg to church Sunday morning

Sledding time!!

The boys played outside for hours on end

The weather was gorgeous during our stay - 40s during the daytime and sunny!

Lots of fun!!

Lydia checking out the snow (the cabin is way up behind the tallest trees)

 Some of our kids in dad's childhood room

Drying wet snow clothes by the fire...

Sunday Lunch!

I focused on making meals that were hot, tasty, and simple, since it's a full time job keeping up with the babies when they're awake.

 

View out master bedroom window

The best video I made of the boys sledding over what appears to be a sheer drop-off was too big to upload. This is a good one, too.

Sophia and Lydia, ready for a ride on the sled Grandpa B made for them!!

They loved it!! Lydia giggled the first few minutes and Sophia settled in like a queen on her pallet :)

Sophia finally decided she was capable of walking on snow right after this picture was made, using the flat, footprint-free area behind them

Brother pulling babies back at sunset...

The boys always insisted on pushing Sophia back up hills!

Leaving the cabin with daddy

The drive down to Chelan from the cabin

The kids! February 23, 2016

The kids (and Grandma B)! September 19, 2014