Monterey Bay MamaBaby

What to do?

2008-12-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well folks, I hate my jobs, I hate where I live and it's really cold. So what's next? Flood me with ideas, I need some guidance.

Oh how things change!

2008-10-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I last found a spare moment and a free hand to share any news. Mr. Ryan has developed not one, not two but three, yes that's three teeth!

He also has a great time eating his homemade baby food, with an organic packaged supplement every now and then. I am very happy to report I just ordered my first shipment of TastyBaby food, a fresh frozen product from Malibu. I'll be sharing more info on that when it gets here.

Happy fall everyone~

gShirt and gDiaper

2008-09-07T08:19:00.001-07:00

Here is Ryan's fabulous, limited edition, sustainably made, and totally adorable gShirt! He's also wearing his groovy gDiaper cover that came out this summer. Enjoy!

Picture taken July 23, 2008- Ryan's only 4 months old here! You think he's chunky in this pic, wait til you see the current ones.

Mama's other life

2008-09-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Check out this great family pic I found on grandpa's camera! This is just an hour or two after Ryan's birth, I look pretty good for just delivering a baby!

The time has come...

I'm going to *gasp* do some LAWYER work!

Now, before you get all excited, let me explain. For those of you who know me, you know I work for a non-profit providing restraining orders to victims of domestic violence. This sounds like lawyer work, but it's not.

I'm going to start taking those services a little farther, and provide low cost family law services to folks with a limited income. People who qualify for legal aid will be referred there, but the rest of those stuck with limited funds and a need for some basic legal work...come on down!

It's going to take a little time to get the kinks worked out, but I'm looking forward to this. I see a real need in the community for low cost legal help, and I need to branch out and use some of my education.

I'm still looking for doula clients, I'm still spending as much time as possible with Ryan (my handsome assistant), and I'm still trying to maintain some semblance of a life. Ah, yes...the balance each working mother strives for!

World Breastfeeding Week

2008-08-04T03:08:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I just wanted to tell all you fabulous breastfeeding mamas out there that it's our week to celebrate. All over the world this first week of August, breastfeeding is being put in the spotlight as a wonderful choice. And why not? It's free, it's easy, and it's the absolute best thing for mama and baby.

So grab your baby, sit back, and really enjoy nursing because one nursing mama at a time the world just might realize that breastmilk is truly the best milk.

gDiapers T-Shirts

2008-07-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for pics of mama and Ryan in our new gDiapers T-Shirts! And I must say, gDiapers made an extra $25 off of me just by marking one "limited edition" because of course I had to order it right away!

Loving my gDiapered baby!

http://www.gdiapers.com

Sleeping through the night

2008-07-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

It started by accident. We put Ryan in the swing in the late evening while we got ready for bed. The next thing we knew, Ryan was sound asleep. I decided to leave him in the swing, and to get him out and bring him to bed when he first woke up. Well, I woke up about 6 times that first night. Ryan...he didn't wake up at all. He didn't wake up until the morning when it was time to get out of bed!

I was shocked and amazed (and sore if you breastfeeding mamas know what I mean). But I decided it had to be a fluke, there's no way a 15 week old baby sleeps all night!

So, the next night we tried again. Put Ryan in the swing around bed time and went about our evening routine. Sure enough, within 15 minutes he's sound asleep. And sure enough, we all woke up in the morning.

Last night, same thing! Three nights in a row. Of course, now I'm sad because my little boy is so big he doesn't need to sleep with me. Is this the end of our co-sleeping? Stay tuned!

gDiapers

2008-07-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

We love love love our gDiapers! They are one of the many diapering choices we have made for our family and they are awesome.

The gDiapers are three parts- cover, liner, and flushable insert. The covers are adorable, they have a cute little g on the butt portion. There are many colors and they are made very well. The liners snap into the cover and hold the flushable insert.

The flushable inserts are great. Even in my house with our grumpy toilet I have no problems flushing them. When we are home, I usually use cloth inside the liner instead of a flushable insert, but only because I have a diaper service that washes the diapers for me. I'm not quite green enough to wash them myself!

Here's my cute little gBaby Ryan, modeling his g for us all.

A little more about us

2008-07-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you just getting to know my family, I thought I would include a few more details.

My husband Kevin and I were married December 20, 2004 in Jamaica. We did a destination wedding so our wedding and honeymoon were at the same place and it was awesome!

I graduated from CSU Monterey Bay in 2002, and Monterey College of Law in 2007. I took the bar in July 2007, and two days after the bar I learned that I was pregnant with Ryan. My original due date was April 7, 2008 but Ryan decided to come two weeks early.

We've got two fur babies (of the canine variety), Riley and Gus and we loaned a fur baby (Skittles, dog) to my parents. She's happy being the house dog there and our two are enough to handle with the new baby.

Once a week Ryan and Mommy go to Parent's Place in Pacific Grove. This weekly outing has kept me sane. I've learned about attachment parenting which has been great for our family. Co-sleeping, breastfeeding on cue, responding promptly to Ryan's cries and baby wearing has created an amazing bond between Ryan and Mommy. Daddy has even gotten the hang of most of the attachment parenting and has become very supportive.

I work for our local 911 system. When I got pregnant I had been an EMT for 5 years but decided to transfer into the dispatch center. Now that Ryan is here I've stayed in dispatch and will be there for awhile. Why dispatch if I'm a lawyer? Well, even though I passed the bar I've decided to spend as much time with Ryan as possible and being a lawyer right now is not going to work. I do spend a couple days each week working for a non-profit organization preparing restraining orders for victims of domestic violence.

Since the birth of my son, I have begun a knew journey. I am now training to be a doula and I am in the process of completing certification by DONA International. That's where Monterey Bay MamaBaby and The Doula Circle come in. Being a doula will give me the opportunity to help other women make the transition into motherhood.

Welcome to Monterey Bay MamaBaby

2008-07-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, welcome to our blog! And welcome to www.mbmamababy.com, Monterey Bay MamaBaby. This site is dedicated to providing new families information for the birthing year and beyond. For more information on doulas and lots of great resources be sure to explore the site.

This is my attempt to keep folks updated on our Green Baby, Ryan James (03/23/08) and the ways one small baby has impacted our life.

As of today, we are a gDiaper, cloth diaper service, Fuzzibunz pocket diaper sort of family. We use what is convenient at the time. We have several cloth diaper covers, from a few different companies and they are all about the same. The Fuzzibunz are reserved for night use and the gDiapers are used for going out or with caregivers.

So far so good! We have switched to Charlie's Soap, we use organic and natural when possible and I am taking the whole green thing one small step at a time.

I have also teamed up with several other local doulas to form a brand new and very exciting doula collective. Curious? Check out www.doulacircle.org for more info.