a hippie with a minivan

Anarchist Book Fair

Last Sunday I was invited to speak at the Anarchist book fair in Montreal to talk about alternative/unassisted birthing along with my friend Martine who has also had two unassisted births (and who was present at my last birth). We only had a few minutes each to talk but we talked about our experiences, our paths that brought us to our decision, the way we looked into our fears and how we prepared ourselves. Then we took questions and before we knew it, it was over.

The day continued though and right after us was an unschooling presentation and a talk about free-schools etc., and then finishing off the day with a discussion about child protective services, which as I am realizing more in hearing about others’ experiences is a very real problem when you are choosing to live marginally.

The greatest part of the day though was getting together with likeminded people, people that I knew, people that I met, people that came from far away and who I might not meet again. When you are together in a group like that, where your choices and beliefs are the “norm” it makes it easier to not just keep going, but to move forward and want to do more.

All in all it was a great experience and I hope to be able to speak again next year and maybe to have even more of a voice in that community.

Heat Wave…

We just came out of our first heat wave of the year and unfortunately our pool wasn’t ready for it… So we suffered, yes, suffered through a few days of heat…

Wilhelmina had the right idea and slept through the hottest part of the day yesterday…

The boys played in the kiddie pool and with the hose and in the mud and had a great time…

The temperature finally dropped last night and each gust of wind was so refreshing… of course this morning, after the heat wave had passed, the pool was ready… Simon did the last touches, cleaning and and the getting the steps in (with some help from Khéna)

When the pool was ready the boys didn’t hesitate to jump in… and neither did we. The temp of the pool was actually warmer today, at the end of May, than it was the while of last summer… it was perfect!

Of course, Wilhelmina couldn’t miss out on the fun… she absolutely LOVED the water! she went in 4 times and each time she got more and more excited and when she was out she showed very clearly that she wanted to be back in. It is amazing how much she is growing.

So, though summer is not officially here, for us it feels as though it is…

4 months old!

I can’t believe it, my baby is now 4 months old…

Her birth seems so far away but then again, it seems like yesterday. I guess that is the way we feel for a long time, isn’t it?

She is such a beautiful and smiley girl…

Recently we started to put her down on the floor and the first time we did, she turned over and soon after turned over the other way. No problem, she is now a pro…

EC is going great. Nights are still easy and though we sometimes have a small miss in the morning, the potty is full and she is dry until then. At night she wakes up once or twice to potty but will often skip the nurse and just fall right back asleep.

In the day she is more often without a diaper at all and has barely has a miss… she is clear when she needs to go and will hold it in especially when we are out and about. Some people think that EC is hard and time consuming…. it is so not that at all… I can’t imagine going back to diapering a baby.

Wilhelmina is the little princess of the house, her brothers (and parents 😉 ) adore her and they love to make her laugh and smile. Her growing also makes me realize how much they are growing also.

Xavier loves to hold her and to walk around with her. He is getting comfortable picking her up and walking her around and putting her down gently. Today he tried out the sling even 🙂 You wouldn’t believe how amazed and proud I was to see my son, carrying my daughter.

He was proud too…

Quebec City…

Last weekend we headed to Quebec city for a family party. It is so rare that extended family gets together is happy time (not a funeral) so I jumped on the chance…

An old friend and his wife invited us to sleep over at their house that night also which was amazingly kind considering that we are six people and they have an apartment. It was one of those weekends that everything just turned out great and we all had fun.

The party was for my mom’s cousin’s 25th anniversary. There were a lot of happy tears and catching up and meeting second cousins and relatives that I had never met before. The boys had fun running around outside and picking at the buffet and hanging out with their grandma and going to the bathroom downstairs all by themselves. All dressed up we were able to get a pic of the family… This is the first time that we are all in a picture as it is usually Simon and I who are behind the camera…

(Khéna was fixated on the fountain that was in front of us)

My grandmother was really happy to spend sometime with the kids also…

After the party we headed back to our friend’s apartment and then in the morning we headed to a flea market and then to the old city. It is amazing how you can go along the street and then meet the walls of the old city and be taken back in time. Buildings, centuries old, line the streets crowed together, and you are taken back in time. We parked the cars in the lower city and looked for a place to eat lunch.

(Chateau Frontenac, the most photographed Hotel in the world)

After lunch we decided to take the Funiculaire up to the upper city and then walk down again so that we could walk around more without us all getting too tired. The Funiculaire first went into operation in 1879 and worked on steam and counterweights. In 1907 it went electric and over the years it has been updated. It is a short ride that costs 2$ but is well worth it, and the boys loved it…

(from the street in the lower city and the view going to the top)

At the top, there are the remains of the fort that stood on that spot nearly 400 years ago. The boys loved going around in the remains and seeing where things used to be.

Of course the view from the top is also spectacular…

(another family pic!! and again, Khéna is not looking… )

After walking a bit in the upper city, we headed back down… It was a beautiful day, it was the weekend and their were tons of people, but it didn’t hinder the experience at all..

We had Gellato, we people watched and looked at murals on the walls of the buildings (click on the pics below to see in big) We saw street performers (Khéna was quite intrigued by the statue lady) and heard music and just enjoyed the history around us…. I look forward to returning in the near future for another adventure…

Marche dans le Marais…

Right after I wrote my post last week about being discouraged, I went for a walk in a marsh near my home which is also a bird sanctuary. It was a beautiful day, so I got the kids ready and headed out…

I received my new Ergo recently also so it was a perfect opportunity to put Wilhelmina on my back and have my hands and front free for the camera.

I am ashamed to say that I had never been there before, it is a 15 minute drive so I have no excuse, but I will be going back often I hope…

The walk itself is not long at all,and if I didn’t have the boys I would have done it twice at least, but going at their pace and taking tons of pics was really nice.

I saw so many birds but wasn’t able to capture them all… Since coming back from Annie’s I have a new interest in birds, I used to love watching birds but now I want to identify them and learn their calls… and what an amazing place to do so!

(Tree Swallow and Yellow Warblers)

(Great Blue Heron)

It was a lot of fun being out with the kids and just enjoying the walk…

Of course getting a bit of exercise was also great, but because I didn’t feel challenged at all by the walk, I headed out to the pool in the afternoon… I am starting to see a lot of opportunities to help me get fit this summer and a lot of places to discover…