a hippie with a minivan

So… the Ecofest was today…

Besides it being miserably hot and humid in Montreal today the ECO fest was pretty cool and our presentation went really well… there were not too many people there but it was a lot of fun anyways and the reaction was great also…

We (Geana and I) talked about UP/UC defining it and explaining how we got to that point…

How for both of us, our negative experiences with past interventions as minimal as they may have been (from even just the presence of a mw being too much greater interventions) brought us onto the path of birthing unassisted… (well, she hasn’t birthed yet, but is getting close)

We talked about it being empowering as women an act of feminism even. Taking back the role of a woman, getting away from the medical establishment that seems to want to control a woman in pregnancy and in birth.

How for us, pregnancy and birth are just part of our ordinary life and how much less stress it brought to us and how natural pregnancy and birth can be.

It felt great to stand up in front of an audience and talk about going unassisted… I really enjoy talking about it and sharing it.

I can’t believe that it has already been nearly 9 months since I lived that amazing experience and held my sweet Khéna for the very first time…

little update….

The construction here started last week and besides for last Friday, there was someone here every day last week… first to take the walls out that were damaged and then replace them and then the plaster…
Over the weekend Simon took all of the furniture out of the guest room and the Office and put it all in the Play room… and then yesterday a guy came and ripped out all of the floors in those two rooms… Today, they are putting the new floors in and then we can start transferring things back… then they are going to paint the walls where they need to, put new tiles in the little corner in the laundry room and then disinfect the floors… hopefully being done by the end of the week….
Though it is a real pain and I wish it would not have happened there are some good things that will come out of it….
First, the old owners didn’t do a great job of putting the floors and they used the cheapest possible… the new floors will be better quality and will be professionally installed and I was able to choose the colour so it will fit with our furniture.
Another good thing is that I am going to be very careful about goes back into those rooms. There was WAY too much clutter there. My sewing space was in the Office along with the computer desk, Simon’s Computer, all of our bookshelves and books and really my sewing space was overrunning the rest.
The guest room was also a sore spot. Too much furniture and too much stuff in there that didn’t have a space… It is also where Simon keeps his dresser and clothes and with all of the stuff in there we had to make room for people if they came over… really not ideal. So… I got rid of the excess furniture by giving it away 2 weeks ago and I would like to put Simon’s dresser in the Closet… that way I could have my sewing space in there.
So hopefully by the end, we will have two rooms that function well and that we can really use to their full potential without extra clutter. They will hopefully be easier to keep clean also..

Montreal Ecofest

On Saturday Aug 25th from 11am-12pm “Le Groupe MAMAN” will be doing a presentation on UP/UC at the Montreal Ecofest. The VP of the group, Catherine and I will be the ones doing the presention so if there are any readers here that are in the Montreal area and want to come and see us please do!

New friend :)

A while back I was given the contact number of a fellow mama of two girls, UPer and future UCer… We talked on the phone a bit and got along great but we didn’t talk for a while after that… then we talked again and we both knew that we just had to get together…

So last week, me and the boys went to her home for the day and it was great!! It felt really good to talk to someone in person that has the same parenting philosophy. Someone who truly respects her kids as individuals and equals. Someone who believes fully in the importance of Breastfeeding, Babywearing, Co-sleeping, Consensual living and living simply and naturally. Of course, she is also a fellow unschooler…

As VP of a group that advocates natural birth in Quebec, and a vocal UP/UCer she was asked to give a presentation on the subject at the “Ecofest” in Montreal. However since she has not yet had her UC, she asked me to help. One of the reasons that I went to her home last week was to talk about what we are going to say and it felt great just sitting there, lounging and talking about the experiences and feeling that brought me to decide on a UP/UC and not only talk about it but have the other person understand completely where I was coming from and agree with it and understand it.

BTW… if you read French check out her blog here about her UP journey…

When you think that they can’t go further….

No reincarnating w/o government permission

Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue – In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.” But beyond the irony lies China’s true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region’s Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

I’m speechless…