nine months.

She loves to eat her baby food, but doesn’t like peas too much. She loves her o’s and drinking water from a bottle. She gets super cranky if she doesn’t get her proper naps and she her hair is pretty wild most days. I can hardly believe her first birthday is not too far from now. My baby is growing!

Here is 8 months, 7 & 6, and 5 to 1.  

Back in the kitchen and cooking feels good. Meals were simple this week, but still good. One evening, we had dumplings that we had frozen back when we had this party…

Despite how fancy or difficult you think they are to make, they are so easy! I plan on making and freezing another batch soon.

Another evening was for a super easy Turkey Tacos…

This is one of my go-to dishes when I don’t have time to plan much out. We’re still putting our house back together and Glow was sick for part of the week, so simple and quick was the way to go. 

Ingredients: 1 tbsp baking soda, 2 tbsp oatmeal, 1 tsp dried lavender. Directions: Ground up all the dry ingredients together. Add a bit of honey to your palm, then add some of the dry ingredients (about a tsp) and mix together in your palm. Proceed to wash face with warm water and the mix.

I doubled the mix and bottled it up in a little baby food jar, along with some honey, and I have my instant face wash. When I need it, I use a q-tip to dip in the honey and mix my merry little concoction together in my palm. 

Okay, so I am not an expert when it comes to these DIY natural facial cleaners at all. I have normal to dry skin, more dry I think, but this little mix is just what works for my skin and it may not for you. Though I must say that it does leave my skin feeling better than previous things I had been using. I didn’t even have to apply additional moisturizer after because my skin still felt moist. It’s nice. This little mix is based on a few different versions of this wash that I have seen online.  

I wanted to try a natural wash because what I was using was left my skin feeling really dry and I just didn’t like it. Plus, I have been using a DIY natural toner for over a year now, so might as well try a wash as well. I got the toner recipe here from Vanessa (Velvet Bird) and it has worked wonderfully for my skin. I tried the toner when I was breaking out really bad and after I used it, my skin cleared up. Coincidence? I think not! The toner is part water and part apple cider vinegar, so for nights I know Ben and I might get a little frisky, I don’t use it. He thinks it smells bad, while I kind of like it. 

I will definitely be experimenting some more with homemade washes and masks and will keep sharing my thoughts with you all. It just feels good to put something on my face that is clean. I am certainly not anti-store bought make-up stuff as I still love my store bought make-up products, but if I do find something that works well with my skin, by golly, I will use it. If any of you have a recipe that works, please do share!

Some of you had some additional questions and curiosities about HypnoBirthing and Glow’s birth story. Trust me, that’s normal. My BFF still thinks I am strange and new-agey because I chose to do HypnoBirthing. I had Glow at the hospital, my midwife knew ahead of time all about my birth plan and had seen HypnoBirthing be done successfully, so she was on board, and with the classes and all my practice, Ben and I felt completely ready for it too.

Below are some of the answers to your questions and I also had the clinical hypnotherapist that taught me all about HypnoBirthing, Dr. AnnaLynne, share some answers to a few questions too…

1. In your own words, what is hypnosis, particularly HypnoBirthing?

Me: So I know everyone’s first thought of hypnosis is a sort of circus act come to life where adults are acting like animals on a stage. That my friends is not HypnoBirthing.While that kind of funny thing can happen under hypnosis, it doesn’t happen while HypnoBirthing, unless you want it to of course. Then sure, why not?! 

To me, HypnoBirthing is kind of like when you are driving but preoccupied with something else that you are paying attention to your driving, but your mind is somewhere else and all of a sudden, you are at your destination and you’re like “Whoa! That was fast.” Or when you kind of space out, but you hear  and see everything going on around you, but you’re in real deep thought about something else. Make sense yet?

During HypnoBirthing, I am in complete control and I choose to make myself relax or not. Of course, I had triggers (i.e. my music and a special scent) that I would only associate with going into hypnosis, but I wasn’t under the control of someone else. Through the sessions I did with Dr. AnnaLynn, I trained myself to let my whole body completely relax like it was asleep and my mind was fully alert but just imagining I was in another place. This will sound funny, but usually I was under a big tree and there was a breeze and rolling mountains. When I had surges, which are contractions, I imagined I was swinging under the tree and the pressure I was feeling was me going against the wind as I was swinging. I honestly felt I was there and it was more peaceful than pain.

In short, it is a mind over matter thing. Just like when you get into a car accident and you aren’t supposed to grip the steering wheel tighter because if you tense up, you’re body will feel more pain. That is the same thing when in labor. You train your body to relax during surges that your body doesn’t fight your uterine muscles working and instead of feeling pain, you just feel pressure. While the pressure can get intense, it doesn’t register as pain. Really though, I have said this before, I am a chicken when it comes to pain. Heck, I hate getting shots! But with HypnoBirthing, I totally was able to do it sans epidural or any pain medication of sorts. That’s pretty big for this chicken.

Dr. AnnaLynne: HypnoBirthing takes the fear OUT of your experience.

Yes you have been in hypnosis before. You just haven’t realized it. You are in light trance when you are daydreaming, falling asleep, waking up and at other times when you are deeply relaxed. It’s nothing airy-fairy. It’s a normal, everyday experience which HypnoBirthing teaches you to manipulate and control.

2. How far along were you when you started taking classes?

Me: I started taking classes when I was about 7.5 months pregnant. It is 5 sessions and a couple hours each session. We did it via skype with Dr. AnnaLynn. It was nice because we got to do it in our home, in our bedroom, which really made it comfortable for me to relax and go into hypnosis.

Dr. AnnaLynne: The best time to begin your classes is around 28-30 weeks. When you finish class V, you will have four to five weeks to practice before labor begins. However, you can learn this method within just days of your expected birthing if you decide late in your pregnancy you’d like to use HypnoBirthing for the experience of a quick, gentle, calm and soul-filling labor and delivery of your baby. 

The average labor and delivery time for my clients really is 2.9 hours, even for first babies. Contact me at 909.297.6132 or [email protected] to ask any question. These classes work beautifully on skype and it’s soooo easy to set up.

3. How much time before my due date do you recommend practicing hypnosis?

Me: I say you would want to take it in your third trimester, so that it is fresh and you are constantly practicing it up until baby decides to come. It is a big investment of time and money to take the classes and practice, but it is well worth it. I felt like I was preparing for a marathon. It was constant practice to make sure I was able to get myself into hypnosis quickly and naturally.

Dr. AnnaLynne: It is best to have at least four to five weeks of practice, but I have had mothers come in as late as the week of their due date and be successful with HypnoBirthing.

4. Do you have to have the IV if you go the natural route?

Me: You don’t, but I opted for it, so I would stay hydrated.

5. Is it scary putting yourself under hypnosis?

Me: Once I understood it and understood I was in control, it wasn’t scary at all. It was fun and really relaxing. I think it is a good technique to have to help calm down or just zone out and chill. I still do it now, especially when Ben massages me. It feels nice. 

6. How did you choose your song?

Me: Michelle, a sweet reader, had sent me some music by her husband awhile ago and Lake Yarina was just so peaceful to me. It is angelic and just lovely. During our first session, when Dr. AnnaLynne told me I needed calming music, Lake Yarina was the first thing to come to mind. That was the only song I used. Even when I hear it now, I instantly calm down. It is a beautiful song by Josh Garrels.

If any of you still have any questions, just leave them here in the comments and I will get to them. I am no professional at all, but I am just sharing my experience. In the end, you have to choose what is best for you. I had the first three girls in the hospital with the magical epidural and their births are just as special as the last. I am proud of the way each of my girls came into this world and epidural or not, labor is hard work. It’s not called labor for nothin’!