It's been how long since my last post?!!  That's just craziness.  I'd chalk it up to being busy, which has actually been true the last week or so, but probably it's mostly because I haven't had much to say as of late.  Try to at least pretend like you're surprised at that....

It was my (and my husband's, actually) birthday last week, which was pretty uneventful.  I had a prenatal appointment with one of my lovely clients, and then I went home and....  Nothin'.  In theory, it sounds fun to share a birth week with your spouse, but what it really boils down to is paying for license tabs instead of birthday presents.  Hahaha.  Sigh.  It was a rough week for us in some other uninteresting (to you) but annoying (to us) ways, so we are planning a birthday do-over soon.  Goodness knows, we need it.

While my neck has been healing, I have taken a hiatus from riding the horses--not because it felt bad, but just because I decided I would be really, really mad if I happened to fall off a horse and rip my neck open.  That would be unpleasant, probably.  I was given the okay to swim last week but the crazy weather combined with work schedules made that a little problematic for me.  However, I broke the ban on both of those things yesterday when I rode, took a swim with 3/4 boys, then proceeded to be five minutes late for wherever I was supposed to be next.  Oops.  Good thing that person loves me and only glared for a minute before moving on.

Friday night, my friend (also co-worker, midwifery student, and sister doula) Kristin Lacy invited a couple of us to hear her step-daughter and her band play at the Crofoot Ballroom.  They were amazing!  And last night I attended a lovely concert at DTE (Yep, still Pine Knob to me, but....) with my husband, my parents, and a friend and her family.  It was gorgeous outside, the music was fantastic, and the company was aight, too.  I have to get these carefree summer days packed in before babies decide it's time to turn my calendar upside down--which should be any day now.

A week ago we had our first meeting of the Doulas Share Peer Support Group, which was an idea that popped in my mind after hearing for so long about local midwives getting together to exchange ideas, information, and offer support in light of certain cases they had recently experienced.  Ten doulas attended, and we had a great night meeting a lot of new (or new-to-each-other) faces and I am expecting this to be a great tool for seasoned doulas, aspiring doulas, and everyone in between.  Please contact me for details if you would like to be included in this in the future.

Not much to catch y'all up with at the moment, but I'll post if it comes to mind!  While you're waiting, fill me in on YOUR happenings!

Yesterday I went in for super-minor outpatient surgery under local anesthesia to remove a cyst from my neck.   By all means, I should be fine and carrying on with my day.  They told me I could drive myself to and from the surgery, no problem.  I'm pretty glad that I didn't listen because I'm still really hesitant to turn my head.  Bending over or raising my hands over shoulder-level.... yeah, not cool.  Picking up Mr. Chubs?  Ha. 

After the surgery I spent most of my time laying down watching movies and being a bump on a log.  Today I went to visit my mom, who said she'd help with the baby so I didn't have to worry about lifting him.  I proceeded to take an hour-long nap on her couch while the baby played with cars and watched Thomas the Tank Engine.  Wow.  Guess I was tired!

Right now, I'm thanking my lucky stars that I accidentally decided to schedule this surgery before my July families start heading into their birthing times.  This would be so, so miserable if I couldn't exert myself at all out of fear of popping stitches.  Eek! 

Here's to healing!

Good people...... I'm looking for a family or two who would be willing to let an aspiring doula observe the process from start to finish to see if this is something that may be doable for her and her family.  

I would still be caring for you and your family as I normally would, but she would be observing and helping as she is able.

If you are interested, please let me know. 

I'm not a big fan of credit cards because, well, they can be evil.  But I realize that's just because I like to shop and don't much care for when the bill comes my way....

For those of you who could use the flexibility of paying your doula fees via credit card and don't deal with PayPal, I'm happy to announce that I can take credit card payments in person or over the phone via  www.squareup.com.

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More blog goodness coming later this week.  I'm a busy girl this week! 

Do you love Arbonne?  The first comment on this post will receive 40% off a pure, safe, beneficial (did I mention vegan?) Arbonne product of their choice.

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It wasn't that long ago that my world was a simpler place.  I stayed at home with da boyz, rocked out some serious yoga pant action,  the husband worked random hours, and it was my deal to keep the house in some sort of order.  The house may not often have been clean.... but it certainly didn't look like a bomb had blown up.

I have been busy.  Really busy.  And I've been steadily gone for the past week, bringing home the bacon and all of that.  That's good for our family--really good for our family, because we really like living in our house and eating food!  However, Mr. Mom is apparently not a concept the husband is embracing just yet.  I wish I could, without shame, show you what the house looks like at this very moment.  Actually, I probably will go take pictures just to prove a point before I hike up my sleeves and dive into the archaelogical dig that is going to be de-man-caving my house...  Will you get to see those?  Not likely.

If it didn't suck the essence of life out of me every time I stepped in the door, and if I wasn't worried about my babysitter getting tetanus when she comes over next,  I'd be tempted to leave it as some kind of science experiment.  I can see it now:  "If you look very closely, you'll see one of the native creatures has popped his head ever so slightly above that mound of dirty laundry over there...  Uh-oh, I think he is looking for his next meal and has caught our scent..."  Take that, National Geographic!

I just can't leave the mess, though, which feels like the men have won some sort of game I wasn't aware we were playing.  Sigh.  I'm not pregnant, and this place makes me conversely want to nest until I collapse from sheer exhaustion or light a match while some heavy metal ballad plays as I walk away.

I totally get that my husband is not a cleaner.  Take one look at his garage and you'll know even if you know nothing else about him.  But maybe he needs to learn to be that kind of person--at least a little bit more.  So, ladies and gents....  My question to you is, how do you encourage your partner to clean up when you're away?  Besides the tried-and-true screaming match, that is.  I would really, really love some ideas because this seems to be the one thing that is an issue with our current "arrangement".

PS - Guess who I found tinkering around in the garage when I rolled in at 11 p.m. last night?  That's right....