It is official!
Everyone moved out and for approximately three days we had an empty nest.
Then our oldest daughter moved into Benjamins room and we have a fully grown roommate instead of a teenager in our home!
Ben usually shows up on the weekends and it has been so joyful watching him mature into his new life working a factory job and rooming with five other guys.
All five of our children have asked that I not over share their lives on my blog and social media and so I will not post too much more family content in this space.
I did want to give a shoutout about hitting this milestone though because it has been wild to watch our baby grow up.
Here are a few tweets encapsulating a musical theatre class that Ben made possible for me to teach. He lugged all the equipment into the school every week and helped me break it down and repack it into the car.
He participated as my assistant director, choreographer, tech, and was my male model for the universal costume that was required for the class. I paid him forty bucks to model our base costume and $10.00 an hour for the assistance to the class.
He played Lizard in Frog and Toad Kids and was just my all around support. Paul had just been let go from HP and taught homeschool that year, but our Friday morning class was a joyful time to share together.
When he came over this afternoon he shared a few new songs that have dropped recently from his favorite artists and we listened together. Then I shared a couple songs with him. Music is how we have always connected and I will always he grateful for it.
I attended the training for becoming an Amani childbirth educator in March and then took a break from my studies to focus on family matters.
Our youngest son graduated from high school and moved into a townhouse with five other guys close to his work in Louisville and my daughter Shelly moved back home.
We also enjoyed a wonderful family reunion with all five of our children, their spouses, and our two grandchildren. We were able to meet our new grandson for the first time.
My husband Paul has been ill and I have been distracted by his issues, but now feel ready to move back into my training and finish up what I started.
I only have to review the two childbirth books I have been reading, take my final exam, and teach one couple provisionally and then I will be certified again as a Doula and CBE.
I am really excited to get back more fully into birth work.
We worked as childbirth educators for eight years at the beginning of our marriage, teaching couples who wanted to learn how to give birth without drugs and surgical interventions.
A few of our students had home births and we enjoyed spending time and getting to know many people of different backgrounds and faiths.
Although Amani Birth is a Muslim focused curriculum, birth is birth and I found the teachings from the Koran in the workbook to be inspiring and informative.
I believe anyone who desires to have a baby naturally would be well prepared to give birth in any setting after taking this class.
If you know someone in Longmont who is expecting and looking for an independent natural childbirth class, Please pass along my contact information (jennymhatch@gmail.com) and let them know I will only be charging half price for this provisional class. ($200.00 instead of the full $400.00).
Thanks!
Jenny Marie Hatch
I am eating Vegan these days, but I used the Brewer diet to help me craft my three sons.
I still ate mostly vegetarian and even vegan at certain points in their gestations, but found it nearly impossible to breastfeed while eating raw vegan. Animal foods definitely helped up my protein and calories.
I hope each mother will prayerfully consider her diet while partnering with Heavenly Father to engage in the most creative act known to humanity!
While I was tandem nursing my two oldest sons I determined that if we could have afforded a personal shopper and chef I could have probably eaten vegan if all I had to do was eat and breastfeed all day long.
But because I had all of my mom chores of laundry, cooking, and dishes, a child in elementary school, and two wild toddlers… eating the animal foods filled me up quicker during a time when I was eating between four and five thousand calories a day and averaging 150 to 170 grams of protein per day.
Andrew doubled his 11 pound birthweight in three months, and was such a happy baby, even with Jeff nursing too.
Some of my most joyful memories as a mother are my boys holding hands while they breastfed together.
Now they are both college graduates, married, and Jeffy (featured as a toddler in my meme) is a new dad nurturing two of the most important people in my life.
The Brewer Pregnancy Diet – Your KEY to a Healthy BABY! @JennyHatch
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQgr8_OhZAr/?utm_medium=copy_link
I started eating this diet during my third childs pregnancy.
As I mastered the principles around this way of eating, each of my last three babies was healthier than the one before.
All good things tied to health revolve around purposeful kitchen work.
My friend Joy runs the best site on the internet to educate you about this diet that prevents toxemia.
You should be cautious about any healthcare professional who dismisses the Brewer Diet as pointless. There is a willful ignorance in certain obstetric and midwifery circles regarding the prevention of illnesses that prove deadly for both the Mother and the baby.
When I was expecting Jeff, who is featured in the photo above at age 2, I would grind whole grains fresh almost every day to bake our breadstuff. When the wheat grinder would kick on he would begin to dance in my womb anticipating the yummy food on its way.
I breastfed him for three years and he has grown to be a powerful and mighty man filled with robust health.
Here is a tutorial video that quickly explains how twenty minutes of kitchen work in the mornings sets the foundation for a day of healthy family eating!
