Next Steps - Part 2

Silly friends!
NO I'M NOT PREGNANT. If THAT was how I set up a pregnancy announcement I would be:
A) Not good at surprises.
B) Not good at hints.
C) Just a plain 'ole silly pants.

Now, when I said that babies are in my future, I wasn't kidding.  The thing is, they just won't necessarily be MY babies.  Sooo. There ya go.

Friends, you may, when you read the words below, think that I am entering into the unique world of Birkenstocks, long broom skirts, incense braided hair and tevas with socks. But I'm not (well who am I kidding I do love incense). I'm just going to be a doula.  This is the question I most frequently get asked after making the previous statement:

"A doo-lah?!? What in dee sam heyul is a doo-lah?"

Well, kinds sirs and ma'ams, I'll tell ya.  Read this from the DONA website - I think it words it pretty well.

"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." (emphasis mine)


Basically in short - a doula is a labor coach.  After coming up for air after my birth experience (you can re-live it here and here), I really continued to stay interested/passionate/excited about the whole labor and delivery experience.  I have battled those feelings that inevitably come when you feel a calling to do something 'out of the ordinarily accepted path.'  People literally look at me like a crazy goob when I even mention natural childbirth.  The reality people is that people don't choose natural childbirth because they WANT to experience an inordinate amount of pain. C'mon. We are daughters of Eve after all; completely averse in our nature to doing anything contrary to what we WANT to do. No, people choose natural childbirth becuase they want to have some say in what they want their birth to look like. They choose to because they consider birth to be natural and safe until proven otherwise, not the other way around (as most of our many people [but NOT all] in the medical profession would have you know).


Didn't mean for that to become a soapbox. :)


So, to prepare for certification, right now I'm reading or re-reading up on the following books:

• Husband-Coached Childbirth
• Natural Childbirth the Bradley^® Way 
• Children at Birth 
• Assistant Coach's Manual 
• Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

 Are you jealous yet? I know, you can totes borrow my bfeeding book later (to see how I feel about bfeeding, watch the video from this entry).


Anyhoo, I just wanted to share how excited I am about where life finds me right now, and the direction I feel God moving me in.  So, in light of that, along with allowing friends to keep up to date on the life of the mac-freakin' cutest babby EVER, i'll also share tidbits from time to time on clients and resources and good thoughts about natural childbirth.  So that you won't block me out forever, I'll make sure to be more concentrated on the cute baby side. :)


Go Go NCB. Over n' out.

Next Steps - Part 1

So last week my dad...er..boss :) wrote this email out to our company employees:

All,
I knew this day was coming but I have to admit I am still in denial :)
I wanted to email you all and let you know that Callie is going to be transitioning her role at Macfarlan. Being a mom and adding to her covey has won out over her commitments to MCP. AND RIGHTLY SO…I NEED MORE GRANDBABIES! While she will be phasing out of consistent office hours, we look forward to engaging her particular gifts on special projects that will arise from time to time. Going forward she will likely be retained on a project by project consulting relationship with MCP & TMR. We are still in the process of brainstorming all of the areas where she might be deployed, but I wanted to let you all know so that if you have needs that would fit her skill set, don’t hesitate to let me, Todd, Greg or Mac know. Callie will continue to come into the office on Thursdays throughout October as we complete the development and migration of the website, and from there will contribute on an as needed basis to special projects as the arise. She will also be around to help finalize the transition of her current responsibilities.
We are thankful for her time here as a full-time and part-time employee, and are excited to continue that relationship in this new role.
Dean

In the back and forth-ness of email writing preparing to send out the above, through the coarse I wrote this to him:

Dad,
Yours is so much better. :) I love u dad. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to watch you 'discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness' in nearly every facet of your life: as a husband, a father, brother, son, elder, and boss. You remain consistent and steadfast amidst each one. Would that every daughter would get the privilege to work for a man and dad like you.


I'm sad but excited about this new phase of life. Glad you'll still be a huge part of it.


Callie

The reason for re-living this is two fold:
ONE - to honor a particularly increidble man who I have gotten to watch live life particulary well. My dad has been the champion of our family. Few women get to see their parental units live so victoriously in so many areas of life.
TWO - To self-disclose the ending of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Hint - it has to do with babies. I'll update the rest in Part 2!

Perky Goes Foxy-Style

Ya'll. SOOO Proud of my friend Patrick Ryan Clark. He was featured on Good Day Fox this morning playing his new single, "What Was I Fighting For." Check it out below and way to go Perky!!! Jeremy and Phil, mad props to you too - you both rocked it.

Patrick Ryan Clark Plays Good Day: MyFoxDFW.com

1. Buy this homie's CD. It's truly awesome.
2. Come to the CD Release Party Tuesday nigh, 7pm, watermark. Git on iiyut.

Like Heaven.

Oh. My. Gosh.

A friend at work showed me this the other day. I it's from like a kid talent show on a hispanic channel. It gave me goosebumps. What presence and apparent love for Jesus this kid has! Watch and get goosey.

Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is quite possibly the most astounding and fantastically convicting book I have ever read. I beautiful portrayal of a war that infected not just a few years of soldiers' lives, but entire lifetimes. Laura Hilldebrand's ability to plant the reader in the middle of the action, I believe, is unparalleled. Amidst the pages I was brought to tears, disgusted, despondent, convicted and surprised with joy. I have been changed by this book.



View all my reviews

Bella Cita.

In May we got to go to Italy. With our child. And I died for a minute and visited heaven. The only word I can use to describe how I felt that trip was: Full. Just, full. Throw in an "Are you kidding me?" and "Is this really happening?" and you get the trip. Oh plus over 24 hours in a plane with a 9 mo and 15 mo old. Want to know what jet lag does to an infant? Call me. But that part was WORTH IT.

Anyhoo, I just want to share a few pictures from the trip.


The view over Rome from our hotel. It was the final stop on our trip.

Lunch w/the Fam at San Gimingnano. Home of bella ceramica. :)



Smiley pants.
Views from our 5 yr. Anniversary Dinner in San Gimingnano.
Pretty much just unforgettable.

Below: The Colleseum in Rome

Love the ruins and how they just keep digging deeper to find more cities.

We took a day trip to Florence. This experience might have been the most surreal. You know when you just get really overwhelmed at all the roads the Lord has taken you down, and where you end up? Like for me, I got to study here as a college student, and figure out what kind of woman I was becoming. Then I returned while Ryan and I were dating, to determine what kind of man I might marry. After we were married, we came for our 1 year anniversary, and I showed him the places I prayed for him and the places I found myself. Now, 4 years later, we bring our daughter - walking around the museums and seeing tapestries of God's handiwork, I'm anxious and prayerful about the journey He has planned for her. How quickly does everything seem to come full cirlce!

We stayed at Castello di Casole, a place that is equal to perfection.

The view from Mom and Dad's porch.

I love my brother and his wife. This is where she told us she was pregnant with Mac Baby #2!

Above - Ryan and Dad having 'man time.' :)

Prende un cafe on Piazza della Uffizi Nacionale

Mac's thinking spot.



Mac's other thinking spot. :)

Daddy - Davey time in Piazza della Republica

Lunch at Hotel Savoy. Cool Italian High chairs!

The fam.

Daddy needed some new italian shoes-DC was happy to assist. :)

on the ponte vecchio

An amazing trip that will never be forgotten.

Bad Momma. And a recap.

OOoooooh heavy sigh.

I look around blog-land for the first time in MONTHS and I just....feel....whatevs. So behind. A horses' patoot. As my giggly little NINE MONTH OLD crawls around on the floor beneath me, I realize it's been a solid 4 months since I have had time to dedicate to this blog.

Culprit #1 - WORK. It's picked up, and as much as I would love to only fill my days with Arboretum and Acquarium visits, work just kinda took over.

Culprit #2 - Performance anxiety. Even tho' the purpose of this blog is to keep family and friends updated as well as make up for what is best described as a horrid lack of scrapbooking skills, I still felt like I was letting 'someone' down. The further I got away, the harder it got. Who is the someone you ask? The proverbial 'world wide web'? Who the stink even knows. However, beauteous pics are loaded, my heart is ready and 'update' I shall.

Some cute pics from Davey at 2 months old. Love her chub face. These actually ARE from the arboretum, but hey, I was still on maternity leave. :)
Some Thanksgiving 4 month pics. Had a little photo shoot at the Nixons.

Fuzzy 5 mo. Christmas pic. I love having kiddies in late summer because their monthly milestones are on and around fun holidays.

5 months. Maybe one of my most delightfully favorite baby Davey pics.

6 month non-profesh pic.
6 month profesh pic. Amazing sweet and talented Matt Norine. Check out his photo blog.
8 month pic. How could this little pumpkin ever get in trouble? Woo meee? :)
9 Month pic. This one just so happens to be standing in front of a vineyard on the Tuscan countryside. Like the real one. We're not talking Olive Garden here, folks. :) You might think I'm crazy to put an 8 1/2 month old on an airplane for over 10 hours. I would actually tend to agree with you. Hee. But you tell me. If given the opportunity to go to God's chosen country, would you move mountains to make that happen? Uh huh. Thought so. Me too. So we did, and it was so worth it! Me thinks that is going to be the next post. Who knows, I could totally get on a role with this again. That is my hopeyest hope.

Thanks for the 'couragement. More to come. 9 months will not be caught up on, but little tidbits would just be wrong to not be recounted.