joyfully capturing a renewed life
Beautiful and peaceful are two descriptors I never really expected in the same sentence with “I attended a hospital birth”. But, that’s exactly how I’d describe my friend Diana’s birth. What an amazing first experience as a doula. I think I’ve mentioned my reasons for my own non-hospital births before. I can’t seem to find […]
News spreads like wildfire. Thankfully in this case. A close friend of mine, whom I’ve known since childhood, Diana (from Hormonal Imbalances) almost lost her twin boys at 18.5 weeks when her water broke this past Friday. She made the decision not to induce and was forced to fight for that decision up until yesterday […]
The menstrual-like cramp rippled through my body. “Could this really be it?” I woke up with a start around 8:00 on the morning of Monday, March 26, 2012. I laid there for about twenty minutes timing the contractions. They were ten minutes apart and I prayed they were real. Maybe, Little Man would become a […]
Just a short post to share some pictures and share the news. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you already know this, but our newest addition arrived at 6:06PM on 3/26/12 in our home in water. We felt this delivery was the best decision we could have made and I will share the […]
Torture. That’s always been my definition of waiting. I know, impatience isn’t very yogi of me. Even at the height of my yoga practice, I found waiting difficult. Waiting for my body to do what I wanted as my practice progressed? Not my favorite part. Parenting, though, has served as the most amazing lesson in […]
Ready for real. I know I’ve said this for a few weeks now, but I was sort of lying before. Unintentionally lying to myself and others. I’d tell someone how ready I was for this baby to arrive and then find myself immediately stricken with fear and say to myself “but, hopefully not today”. I’ve […]
It’s so strange to think about how much different my life, thus far, could have turned out… The birth of our second baby quickly approaches and nearly every person I met over the past week has asked at which hospital I plan to deliver. I find myself at a loss for the words to adequately […]
I feel like I’m on another planet these days. My to-do list is so long, I’m having difficulty staying present. It’s not just the house. I mean, yes, the house adds to the list, but there’s so much more on my mind (despite my watching HGTV almost nonstop for the past week). I’ve spent so […]
Com’mon people! I don’t understand some of the questions I get when I say I had an unmedicated birth and I’m planning to have another. (I’m not going into the preconceived ideas about home birth right now. That’s a whole other post.) Yes, I understand my super short birth story doesn’t make me an expert […]
Every once in a while I have one of those moments where I feel this spark light up inside me. A moment where so many things I never saw as connected, connect. Does that make sense? I’ve always been a little bit of a dreamer I guess. Not in a living on another planet sort […]
I believe love and forgiveness matter and set us all free.
I want to model courage, compassion, and humility to my children through encouragement and respect. I'm working on it a day at a time, not to earn anything, but because I know I'm forgiven by grace and I'm living with a changed heart.
I used to call this blog "NAMAmmaSTE", due to a love for yoga and holistic living. Though still crunchy and a yogi at heart, I felt the title didn't fit me as well as it once did.
Here you will find the thoughts of a very human, somewhat broken wife and mom trying to live in the light and focus on love, courage, and compassion. Welcome to my beautiful mess.
joyfulerika
joyfulerika
joyfulerika
joyfulerika
joyfulerika
joyfulerika