Candace's Quick Water-HypnoBirth Story

This is a water birth story from Candace, who took HypnoBirthing classes from LauraLyn Curtis in Northern Utah. If you live in Salt Lake or Utah Valley and are pregnant, take her class. She's amazing.
Candace gave birth an hour after getting to the birth center. What I loved about this story was how she contrasts her first birth at the hospital with her second birth in a birth center. What a difference your care provider and environment makes in your experience!

Photo via Live Earth

Home Remedies Book by Cristina Starkman, MD, ND

I was so excited to find a naturopathic doctor who was also an MD, and then I found out she is in Europe. Of course! But she has a great home remedies book for everything from acne to yeast infections. She has personally used these remedies on her patients and has had great success. Go to her book's website to learn more. Apparently its on sale for only $19.99. I really like her ear infection remedy.

Father's Day Breakfast

So good. My husband doesn't do protein for breakfast (He's Argentine/Italian- they eat sweet things and tea) So since I couldn't make him a big plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, I decided to do the next best thing: a huge platter of fresh fruit, accompanied by homemade whipped cream. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've felt that good after breakfast. Definitely a must-do-more-often breakfast for the whole family. Yum!

Post-partum Hair

Ok, I promise this is my last look back at my pregnancy and birth- I was just missing my post-partum long, thick, shiny tresses. Why does hair do that after birth? This was at a wedding one week after Hazel was born. You can see her tiny head in the baby carrier. I'm probably smiling at all the ladies cooing over seeing her for the first time.

A look back in time...

This was me four years ago next month, nine months pregnant. The midwife at my birth center was doing some sort of Chinese herbal heat treatment to the outside of my little toes. Its supposed to help you go into labor naturally. I was approaching 40 weeks and everyone wanted me to go into labor but me. I was happy and loving being pregnant. I had Hazel two days after this picture was taken.

Birth Expectation

In birth, your expectation and preparation make all the difference. Did you know women even have orgasms during birth? This clip from ABC's 20/20 by JuJu Chang showcases how labor can be different with proper preparation (like from a HypnoBirthing class) and new expectations.

Lollipop Chalk Drawings

We were bored on Sunday so we made some chalk drawings. Lollipop squares, circles, stars, bicycles and hearts were in Hazel's imagination.

Los Cabos, Mexico

I've been in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for the past week, on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Here are some photos from my trip.

Ben and Javier surfing. Hazel is trying her best at a crazy surfer face :) I unknowingly went out at high-tide and got seriously "poned" by some big waves (on a boogie board- but it was still scary!) An interesting fact about the ocean in los Cabos: It has a strong under-tow because the currents of the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet there. You really have to know what you're doing to venture too far into the sea, unless you're in a bay. But this beach had the perfect waves, even for beginners like these two. It was over-flowing with surfers everyday.


We stayed at the Cabo Azul Resort in San Jose del Cabo. If you ever go to Cabo, I would totally recommend staying here. Absolutely beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Bougainvillea was their plant of choice since I had just planted one in my own garden and am loving it. There were about 2,000 around the resort. You could also see them growing all over the buildings in town.


Me in my Cabo hat. Do not go there without one.


Pool beds! Loved these.


Our own private wrought-iron door entrance to our villa. We had the whole floor to ourselves.


The penthouse villa


The penthouse view...


And wrap-around patio


Beach umbrellas and chairs...


The grassy stone paths that connected the resort...


And some sandy ones too.


The pool-side dining.


The swim-up bar- our favorite part I think. Virgin Mojitos all around! You could even eat lunch there, which we did a couple times. That's where we really feel spoiled.


And the pod cabanas. Loved these. The best place to relax and read a book- except for maybe the sleek black hammocks strung between palm trees throughtout the grounds- but I didn't get a photo of those.


One night we made homemade gnocchi pasta in our cook-in kitchen. We used Javier's mom's recipe with ricotta cheese. I don't know what is better, the gnocchis themselves or the homemade, bone-in red sauce. Delicious!


Ok, and then there was some playing in the sand (actually a lot on Hazel's part).

It was the perfect vacation! Can't wait to do it agian.

Strawberry Patch Finished

To start we added some more flowers in my little oasis...


Cemented down some river rocks on top of the black weed block material ...


Added two Blue Salvia plants to attract bees for better pollination...



Put in the Bouganvillea ...


And voila, the finished product. Done and done.