Circuit Training

In desperation I cried out to Breastfeeding in Ballincollig for a "reason to walk somewhere" and I have now found myself all set for circuit training on Tuesday. God only knows why I need BFing support for my lack of fitness....I suppose it is related to being pinned under a little person on my couch a lot of the time....

...excuses...

...excuses...

Just Eat

Someone mentioned this ad on "one of the BFing groups" and I had to have a quick look at it before bed. It's great to see BFing getting such a subtle, natural mention ... product placement! lol

Newsflash

Shops are currently unable to sell formula as breastfeeding rates soar!

Chapter 1 Avoiding Daily Battles

I'm reading "Loving your Child is Not Enough". I'm reviewing each chapter as I go along and sharing with you -partially coz it might be of interest and partially so that I retain some of it.   

I love the title of this chapter -do we even need another chapter? I really love that there are more chapters as I think there has to be more to it than getting though the days. Daily battles can be all consuming in our house at times so I like that it was tackled first. This chapter talks through multiple conversations and situations and it is really easy to see how our own daily battles mirror those in other houses -I felt a little more normal immediately. The following subtopics are covered in some detail:

• Which battles are worth fighting?
• When it isn't negotiable
• Consequences
• What can I do to get my kid to listen?
• Fight starters
• Choices
• Letting the child solve the problem
• Defusers

Book: Loving Your Child is not Enough

Loving Your Child is not Enough: Positive Discipline That Works 
Nancy Samalin with Martha Moraghan Jablow (1987)
I borrowed an older edition of this book from my local LLL library (sincere apologies if you were looking for it while I had it longer than expected). I don't tend to read a lot of books as time is limited between work, 4 kids and my facebook addiction. I enjoy reading but I'm selective about what I read. I'm careful to form my own perspective on things as I'm well aware that some books are utter tripe and could have me looking at things from an unhelpful perspective. For example if I read Gina Ford books I'd surely be thinking I'm lacking routine and structure and a terrible mother. I might find myself trying to improve that and it's something that hasn't been a problem for us. We are baby led and I think that's best for my children, my own sanity and possibly coz it's just easier.

EBI secret

I'm so excited about the new EBI twiddle cluster. It's a nursing necklace only available to members of the facebook group - Extended Breastfeeding in Ireland. It's a FB group that I started in January 2012 and has really been the main source of members for other groups -it's the most fantastic interesting village of BFing mammies and it has the capacity to eat hours and even days. The idea is that this necklace will be a little something that might be spotted out and about and group members will be able to identify each other in real life. It also gives baby something to twiddle with while feeding.

I'll be wearing mine proudly -though I'm not sure if I'm ready to take off my old EBI twiddle Buster. I just love the design -the colours represent all the real life breastfeeding support organisations. It'll be another few days before they arrive and then I'll be busy busy busy getting them out to people who have ordered!

If you like them but are not a member of EBI you can always order something similar from Monkey Mama on Etsy.

Cuidiú Coffee Mornings

Cuidiú coffee mornings, La Leche League meetings, Sling meets and Nappuccinos are my real life "Bubble". I don't feel strange BFing, co-sleeping, BLWing, using cloth nappies or slings and I feel generally supported in my parenting choices -everyone does things their own way of course but I don't find myself explaining myself. No strange looks. It's lovely to have RL company with so much common ground, "likeminded" people who don't burst my bubble. If they think I'm nuts they haven't mentioned it so far! :P

Somehow I don't remember any details about my first Cuidiú Coffee Morning, 

it must have been in Cork.....

Erin Darcy Designs

Erin Darcy Designs 

Isn't there something very cool about that name? She should be in a novel or something! Erin is a "Starving Artist" somewhere in Galway -you can read about her life and work on her blog here. We *met* on EBI back in 2012 when the bubble first began to grow and we are yet to meet in real life. She's part of my village. Part of my bubble. I'm a little star struck and in awe tbh. I think of her often and hope life is as magical as it should be for her.

She said it was me!

At some point Erin painted this lovely picture of a lady wearing a sling and hanging cloth nappies on a line. She said it was me.

I find that very special and soul touching. It's hard to describe. There is something perfect about it. There is comfort in it's simplicity. I like to think she wasn't far off capturing the real me but on a busy day she got me all wrong. She missed the mayhem and the noise. But some days, some moments are just like that, nappies on a line, baby on my back. Serene. I treasure those moments. I cannot fathom how Erin Darcy captured them all the way from Galway. We've never met IRL! 

Earth Baby Fair

Cloth Nappy Library Ireland organised it's first baby fair this year -April 18th 2015! 

My job was to organize the talks and I was happy with the topics covered and the speakers were very interesting, I thought. I took advantage of all the group I admin and the picture shown above was the cover picture for a lot of group in the run up to April, 2015. It was relevant to most, I think. All for a good cause :P

The fair as a whole went very well and feedback seems to be quite positive for our first big event!

Back to Work and Breastfeeding

Well, I'm at it again -boobs out in the carpark! 

(Not that I'm not being accommodated by my employer

- it's just little miss would be very distracted anywhere else so the car works best for us.)

Who loves a homebirth story?

I first became aware that home birth was an option when I did an antenatal class with Geraldine Cahill from Cuidiú. It all seemed very lovely but it was a little late for us to go about organising and we'd have needed time to consider the whole idea. I did meet a few very normal people who were "HBers". That helped and somewhere between baby number 2 and baby number 3 I began to think HB was a good idea!

Back in the Bubble!

Back in the Bubble

I began this blog a while back, it was actually 2013 so a little longer ago than I thought tbh. A bit like my children, a blog comes with a date attached and doesn't let you pretend two years ago was only a few weeks! I abandoned it all in November 2013. I suppose I was busy with work and the kids -we had 3 back then. Number 4 was born in May 2014, so I would have been in the first trimester at that stage too. That first trimester is a bit of a blur now, almost 20 months later -but I vaguely remember crawling into bed after work at any chance I was given and eating lots of crackers.