The Land Down Under

Are you excited? That has to be the number one question that people keep asking me.  I honestly feel like I am reciting a recorded message when I respond to that now. It is really difficult to be excited about it when I’ve trained myself for so many years to not even think about it. The hysterical crying and desperate homesickness I experienced in my first year away from Australia made it so I had to find a coping mechanism or I wouldn’t be able to function. When I got on the plane as a newlywed at a mere nineteen years of age, I had no idea how drastic a change I was really making. Now at twenty-seven I’m heading back to a country I’ve never really lived in as an adult.

That’s right, we’re moving back to Australia! I actually did get a little thrill of excitement writing that!

We are still closer to the beginning of the process than we are to the end, but things are well in the works. We’re getting ready to list our house for sale in the next two months, and we are selling virtually everything we own. There goes my clutter problem! Although selling things is easier than it sounds. It is very difficult to let go of things.

As I was sorting through some of my boxes of keepsakes, I came across a little card from my best friend that contained a quote along the lines of ‘Friendships are more precious than possessions’. That is what I’ve been trying to keep in mind as I struggle to let go of things.

I am fairly sure as we do eventually find ourselves a new home in Australia, we will end up being much more conscious of our belongings and what we hang on to. Matt and I have talked about how despite loving having our own home, there is some appeal to the idea of having so little that you could just up and go on an adventure without having those deep roots, if you wanted to. One thing is for sure, I do not want to go through the paper work of moving to a third country!

Image source: dicktay2000

Sunday Snapshot

February Snapshots

Desana, three years old

Freya, thirteen months

Desana with two little friends

Beautiful baby toes

Family Updates: November

Image source: sleepyjeanie

I decided that since my family are all back in Australia it might be a good idea to focus at least one post a month on our little family updates. I don't always or even often blog about the kids milestones and things like that, so this way there is at least one post out of how ever many I write in a month that is dedicated solely to that.

To family and friends who are interested, here's a little run down on what we've been up to this November:

Desana:

• took right to vegemite sandwiches and regularly has one for breakfast
• continues to work on using the toilet and is for the most part doing very well
• loves to sing I can sing a rainbow and Twinkle, twinkle, little star
• colors inside the lines and likes to drawer pictures of things (then explain to us what they are, we usually can't tell!)
• is slowly learning that she needs to share her toys with Freya

Freya:

• third tooth just broke through and fourth is soon to follow!
• has started climbing on everything, the couch to look out the window, the dining room chair to look in the fish tanks (eek!), LOVES climbing up into her sisters toddler bed
• started standing up from sitting and took her first step on Saturday, now just a few days later she's taking four steps at a time!
• LOVES standing in front of the fish tanks and watching the fish
• is learning to laugh evilly (muahahaha!) as trained by her Daddy

Matt:

• has been playing on a touch football team once a week
• is hard at work remodeling our bathroom
• is reading The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Amy:

• is having a short article on co-sleeping published in a local publication for the Winnipeg birthing community; The Birth Vine
• scheduled to return to work on December 20th
• is reading Introducing Aunt Dimity; Paranormal Detective by Nancy Atherton

A Day at the Zoo

Over Matt's holidays we took one day to head to the zoo with the girls. It seemed like a chilly day but with all the walking around it ended up quite warm!

Desana was most excited about the lions and kept asking to go see them again for days afterwards. "See lions today?"

Since I've started blogging regularly, everything seems like a photo opportunity.

After getting over her initial fear of the slide Desana loved it. Matt tried to sneak her past another slide later on but she wasn't having it! "Whee!"

Despite the majority of the zoo being closed to the public due to renovations, it was a nice day out. It's a lovely walk through with the kids, we only wish we lived closer!

Meet Athena

Warning: The following post contains pictures of a snake and a rat. It does not end well. Not for the squeamish!

Matt has a pet jungle carpet python named Athena (Greek for Wise). He bought her two or so years ago at the reptile convention that is held roughly twice a year here in Winnipeg. It was not a spur of the moment purchase. He researched and researched, then researched some more before pursuading me that he knew a lot about the subject and genuinely wanted one.

I don't think a lot of wives would be ok with having a snake in the house, but here are the pros. It is an extremely low maintenance pet, so no more nagging your husband to take the dog for a walk twice a day, or empty the litter box, or having to put up with the cat meowing at your bedroom door all night because you forgot to pick up some more cat food. Plus it stays in a container most of the time unless being handled, so you could say out of sight out of mind.

Athena is about two and a half years old and currently is fed twice a week. Her container only needs to be changed every two weeks or so. Right now she is about to graduate from weaned sized rats to small. Matt purchases the rats in bulk frozen form, and yes, they are kept in my freezer. Eek!

I figured I'd take advantage of Athena's mealtime to snap some pictures. Here she is:

Athena lives in a plastic container with air holes drilled in the sides, lined with paper and a bowl of water. What a glamorous life! ;)

Here is her food:

The rat is frozen so it has to sit in a pail of warm water until it gets to around room temperature for Athena to eat.

Once she figured out something was up she started moving around.

You can see her stretched out a bit. She is actually very long now but since snakes spend so much time curled up it's difficult to tell just how long.

Matt distracted her at one side while dropping in her food at the other.

Not a great picture but you can see the rat at the front right hand corner.

Matt said that he thinks he didn't let the rat sit long enough because Athena took a very long time deciding to eat it, and she didn't pounce on it the way she usually does (which includes a strike and then really quickly curling around the rat the way a snake would with a live prey, to squeeze the life out of it).

Instead she just sniffed around for a few minutes before slowly. . .

Eating. . . I'm not a big fan of snakes but I do find this part pretty fascinating (and yes, creepy).

It is insane the way a snake eats!

I wanted to get more pictures but right about now Freya started screaming her head off and insisted on being held, then Matt insisted I stop taking pictures and sit down and eat our own dinner. ;)

So here is the poor after shot I got of Athena and her full tummy.

The large bulky part in the back is where the rat is. Over the next few days that bump will shrink as she digests it. She will eventually grow to be 7-8 feet long, and can live for 25-30+ years.

So the cons of owning the snake are, well, there's a snake in my house, and frankly if it ever got loose (which is pretty impossible right now as the container is clipped shut) I would literally move out and never move back in unless it was caught. While I was pregnant with Freya some of my crazy pregnant dreams involved a giant snake coming after my children. At one point I insisted to Matt that he had to get rid of the snake because I couldn't take the dreams anymore! Other than a snake being a snake, it doesn't bother me too much.

Next time Matt handles Athena I'll get some better pictures where you will be able to see her length and color more clearly. If you're brave enough to look!

Introduction

My name is Amy and I am 23 years old. I was born, raised and married in Australia then I moved to Canada to my husband's hometown 2 months later. We met on the Internet.

The person I am today is all because of my daughter. I think being a parent makes me more aware of the world around me. I want it to be the best place for her and I want to give her the best start in life possible.

When I found out that I was pregnant I was fortunate enough to be able to find a midwife to have our care through. To be honest I don't entirely remember how I came to the decision that homebirth was what I wanted, I think as soon as I read about that being a viable option in this day and age something clicked into place and I knew it was what I wanted. Because I am an Immigrant and at the time had no medical coverage that was also further reason to pursue a homebirth. A standard hospital birth would have cost a minimum of $3000-$4500, however even if I had been covered homebirth would still have been my choice.

I went on to amuse my husband and impress my midwife by borrowing nearly every conceivable book on pregnancy and natural childbirth from the library and coming armed with long lists of questions at each prenatal apppointment. Believe it or not there did come a point where I ran out of questions because I seemed to know it all!

My husband and I attended only two prenatal classes when we made the joint decision to stop attending as neither of us were learning anything we didn't already know.

When labour came I was completely prepared for it. We were at a family friends house for our traditional yearly pre-Christmas dinner. We were watching slides from when the kids (including my husband) were young and I laughed so hard that my water broke! I was 39 weeks 5 days pregnant. We stayed for another hour or two because I wanted to play cards with everyone. I got a few strange/paniced looks because in this day and age when a woman's water breaks it is expected she will run off to a hospital. But unlike what you see on television the baby generally doesn't follow 15 minutes later. I knew early labour can last a long time and figured I might as well stay while I felt comfortable.

When we went home, my husband went to sleep for a few hours as he was still on night-shift hours. I laboured mostly on my own for 4-5 hours with my sister and midwife silently observing and occasionally coming to monitor the fetal heartbeat. I was leaning over my birthball for the first couple of hours, then I moved to leaning on the back of the couch. I retreated within myself and just focused on breathing calmly and swaying and 'singing' through contractions. I didn't feel panic or frightened, I knew exactly what was happening and I trusted in my bodies' ability to safely labour and deliver my baby. At about seven hours into labour I moved into the birthpool and laboured for the next three hours with my husband sitting behind me on the outside but holding my hands. He kept me grounded and I was able to stay calm and focused just by having his hands to hold. I vocalised through contractions (I did not practice breathing exercises previously) by making the most natural sounds as I breathed in and out. They were 'haaaaa hoooo' type noises, that is just what came out, at different pitches depending on what I was feeling. I had the first pushing urge at the end of a contraction about an hour before my baby was born. I never intentionally pushed other than when my body was pushing. It wasn't really something I could control, it knew what it was doing. My midwife advised I move on to my knees because that would make it easier for me. My husband had his arms around me supporting me and my daughter was born into the water about 15 minutes later. I was only in labour for 10 hours. I remember saying "I did it! I can't believe I did it!" and I said "That was easy!" I did not tear and only had minor abrasions. My midwives said that I gave birth as if it was my third baby, not my first, and that I should be teaching women how to birth like that. It was such an empowering experience and really one I wish more women could experience. I think that today too many women trust in medicine and machines rather than their own body and its ability to deliver a baby. People may think I am crazy but the experience of giving birth is one I wish I could have on a regular basis. Unfortunately our bodies are not designed that way!

So that is a somewhat summarised version of my birth story. I am open to questions if you have any.
Now that my little girl is here, my desire for knowledge (I think of it as 'informed consent/knowledge' of the world in general') has stuck around. I have an attachment parenting style, I co-sleep, breastfeed and wear my baby. I can't help but want to think green and want to be sure I am making the right choices for her health and best start in life.
That's what this is all about.