Ezra has a very special way of helping in the kitchen!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Heritage Harvest Festival 2010
w
Each year Monticello hosts the Heritage Harvest Festival. This year it was on the grounds of Monticello. Such a beautiful setting. We all enjoyed a beautiful day.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Walking in Belvedere
Every day my sons and I go out walking in our neighborhood. Belvedere is a new development, so there are many houses under contruction, which means a lot to look at. I love watching the new homes go up. At first they spring up out of nowhere. Once framed, the progress seems to pause as subcontractors work on the interior. Later the exterior progresses once more, blossoming into a beautiful future home for a future neighbor.
At first I was alarmed at some of the houses. I had loved the houses that had been completed when we first started to consider the neighborhood. Once we moved in it seemed as though they were building "frankenstein" houses. Luckily the builders and architects have more imagination than I have. Each home, once completed, has complemented the neighborhood well. Sometimes just one finishing detail is the difference between a monstrosity and a beauty.
This Labor Day Weekend Nick & I took advantage of a little extra time and explored the trails here at Belvedere. On Sunday we walked down the road toward the manor house. Just before the old house we veered to the left on a road that goes down to the sewer access. I know, this doesn't sound pretty, but all you see of the sewers are a few manhole covers. This runs parallel to the railroad tracks, at one point going down a steep embankment. At the bottom of the embankment you meet up with the Rivanna Trail. We turned left and walked until we found a short spur taking us to a lovely little shell covered beach by the river. We had hoped to swim, but the Rivanna is always low by this point in the summer, so we were out of luck. Instead I rested on a perfect sitting log with the baby while Ezra threw rocks in the water an Nick chased after him.
On Monday we started on the same road. This time we took another road to the right, again meeting up with the Rivanna Trail. We turned right and walked on a gorgeous wooded trail which took us behind Dunlora. Eventually we connected with the Dunlora Farm Road, and came upon their community garden. Here we saw sunny open fields with bales of hay. We continued on the trail and ended up walking all the way to Pen Park. We found a shady spot, threw out our blanket, and enjoyed the snacks we had brought. Ezra found a huge pile of dirt. According to him it was a real "mess!" Dad, who had joined us on the walk, made use of a bench overlooking the river, while Nick joined Jacob and me on the blanket.
I am so happy to find the trails here in Belvedere so beautiful, secluded, well maintained, and best of all, easy to get to! The convenient connection to nature adds a very special element to our new neighborhood.
Cranio Sacral Therapy with Kate White
Here is Jacob getting cranio sacral therapy from Kate White of Belvedere Integrated Healing Arts.
Jacob started having a strange clicking when nursing at 7 weeks. At about the same time he changed from being our amazingly calm baby to crying for about 2 hours every night. As with may things about Jacob you could almost set a clock to these crying spells. I assumed he would outgrow the crying and didn't really worry about it. I was, however, worried about the clicking, pulling away, frustration and discomfort Jacob was displaying during nursing. I had already consulted with numerous lactation consultants in his first weeks who helped us successfully address a variety of problems. When the clicking started I worked and worked on correcting the latch, but to no avail. I was actually considering quitting breastfeeding when I mentioned my troubles to Kate, our next door neighbor.
Kate kindly offered to observe us and see if she could make any recommendations. It took only a few minutes before Kate noticed that Jacob's head was slightly deformed. I had noticed that he always slept with his head cocked to one side, but didn't realize that he was getting a flat spot there. Kate worked with Jacob a few times. The evening after the first cranio sacral session Jacob did not go on his usual crying jag. For us, that was like a miracle. I now believe that the same discomfort that was causing the nursing issues was also causing him to cry so much.
Next, Kate recommended that we consult with Dr. Karen Steele, an osteopath in Lewisburg, WV. It was a 2 hour drive each way, but we made the trip. Since then we have continued to work with Kate and Dr. Steele together and after just 2 visits with Dr. Steele Jacob's plagiocephaly is noticeably diminishing.
I feel so lucky to have been neighbors with Kate. Jacob and I are cruising ahead with the nursing, clicking eliminated! Since not every new mother will be moving next door to her, I want to spread the word far and wide about her gift for working with babies. For more information on her work go to http://belvederearts.com/. Please share this with new parents you know!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)