Asking for YOUR Help

Hello fellow bloggers. I need you to help me brainstorm.

Recently I completed a course as part of my certification process to become a DONA certified birth doula. Many of you may be familiar with what a birth doula is, some of you may even have used a birth doula for the birth of your children, and then there is probably many of you that have never even heard the word doula before. A birth doula gives continuous emotional and physical support to a woman and her spouse before, during and after childbirth. The word doula is greek meaning woman caregiver.

As I am in the process of becoming a certified doula I need to come up with a name for my business. Here are some of the names of doula services in our area: A Loving Embrace, DouLA Birth Partners of LA, BEST Doulas, Baby Zen, Family Doula, Personal Doula, Sacred Passage, Reflexology, Quantum Touch, Synsational Births, etc.

So I'm asking for your help in coming up with a good business name for my doula services. Any ideas?

A few more words on what a Doula is: (this comes from the DONA Birth Doula Workshop Manual, What is a Doula?)

"A birth doula...
....recognizes birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life...
....understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor.....
.....assists the woman and her partner in preparing for and carrying out their plans for birth....
......stays by the side of the laboring woman throughout the entire labor........
......provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, an objective viewpoint, and assistance to the woman in getting the information she needs to make good decisions....
.....facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner, and clinical care providers.....
....perceives her role as one who nurtures and protects the woman's memory of her birth experience."

The Kings

So once Lance saw little Tea's costume, he just had to have one for himself.
And once Brooke saw Lance wearing it, she just had to try it on.....


And well Trevor wanted to feel this "transformation" they continued to talk about so......

I'M ALL SHOOK UP!!!

The King wanted to tell everyone HAPPY HALLOWEEN. (Special thanks to Jessica and Cindy for making the costume).

My Big Girl

So I finally went out and bought little elastic bands to put Teagan's hair up. It has gotten really long and wispy so this was long over due. I've been having so much fun doing her hair, my only regret is that I feel like she looks like a big girl. She's already growing up too fast.

Mom is funny

I thought this was a great little video of Little Tea laughing.

Daddy's Girl

I love this picture of Lance and Teagan. It's so cute to see her when her daddy comes home. When he walks in the door she starts waving her arms up and down and kicking her legs. And when Dad starts his silly talk she bursts out in giggles. She is already proving to be a Daddy's Girl.

I Love My Feet!

Tutus are Fun

What is it about a tutu that makes a girl smile? One of Lance's co-workers asked me to make a tutu for a birthday girl. This is what I came up with. I was able to make a little one for Teagan with the scraps. Don't they looked pretty?

Car Rides Can Be Tough

So the other week we met Lance's cousin, Hank, and his wife, Danica in Downtown Disney for lunch. We had a great time visiting with them. You can see a picture of all of us on their blog, if you click here. Teagan was great all day, well almost all day, the car ride home was a little tougher than usual.

Car Ride to Disney





Car Ride Home

As you can see Teagan is not one of those babies that instantly falls asleep when in the car. She definitely didn't think this photo op was as funny and cute as her mom did, but I couldn't help myself.

Dad Can Not Be Trusted

The other night I went running with a friend. I was only gone for an hour. When I came home I could tell Lance was up to something. He just had this sneaky little grin on his face. Teagan was already in her pjs and ready for bed, so I had no idea that while I was gone she had developed these tight little ab muscles. I should know by now, I can't leave Lance alone with markers.

Football Anyone?

Football season has begun. Teagan has followed in her dad's footsteps and loves football. We caught these two pictures while she was cheering for her favorite team.


I think her favorite thing about football is eating the ball.

But probably the best part of football season that makes her smile is getting to snuggle with dad during the games.

You can't hear her but she is saying yeah for football!

Fresh Produce

So recently we have joined an organic food buying club. The group leaders purchase produce from local farmers and then distribute it in equal shares. Last week we got celery, tomatoes, cauliflower, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, carrots, green beans, grapes, kale, and some big green leafy stuff. It was a lot of fun to get some produce I don't typically pick up at the store and to meet new people in our community. Even Teagan had a good time, she loved the peaches! We found this group on http://www.meetup.com/ that has a list of all kinds of meetup groups (travel, food, exercise, moms, hobbies, etc) in your community.

A New Dress

While I was in Virginia my mom took my cousin, Natalie, and I to a really fun quilting store. They had the best fabric. Well I picked out a few to make some dresses for Teagan. This dress was my first attempt. I had to start off with a simple pattern for practice. Hopefully I can get a little more creative with the next dresses.

Getting ready for church.


These cute girls are two of Teagan's bestfriends. The middle girl is about 2 1/2 months older than Teagan and the girl on the right is 3 days younger. They were in the hospital at the same time.

COMIC CON 2008

Comic Con is for geeks and lonely people. That is what I would have told you before my brother convinced me to go this year with him. I have to admit it was quite entertaining. The convention made for the best people watching I have EVER had, it was awesome. Some of the celebrities that we saw:

• Hayden Panettiere-Cheerleader on Heros
• Lou Ferigno-THE ORIGINAL HULK (He stepped on my brothers foot)
• Randy Couture-One of the greatest MMA fighters ever
• Jamie Kennedy-Comedian/actor

Not to bad huh? But the real stars of the convention were the thousands of people who came dressed in costumes. Below are some of the ones I was able to catch on camera-ENJOY!!

The Joker was a very popular costume

Wolverine-the blood is a nice touch

This guy was my personal favorite, I don't know what he was dressed as, but he came prepared for pictures with his own signs. I was lucky enough to get a picture with the "I'll Eat Your Kids" sign.

Team Spandex

Chewy!!!

Anime gang-they went around doing choreographed dances-PRICELESS

Awesome

Don't make him angry

Ironman

Popeye, and "Rocketboy", I really wonder what was going thru his head when he was picking his costume

Transformers-He was guarding the bathrooms

Lego Batman

Speedracer

Baby Haka

I received an email from the baby haka committee (my brother Aaron), apparently Little Tea has been chosen as Haka Baby of the Year.

This is what the email said:

"Announcing the 2008 Baby Haka Winner.Congratulations to Little Tea, This years winner!!! By far the best haka face that we have seen in awhile. Congrats again."

Baby Haka winner picking committee

Just in case you forgot....

Little Tea is still the cutest baby around (in our humble opinion). Just thought we would throw some more pictures up of our little chunky monkey. We promise an update soon.


My girls

Mom makes me wear these


A little siesta

Showing off the muscles

You like my mohawk?

Smiles

long day at work

Smiles