Featured Homeschool Blog: 2 Teaching Mommies

2 Teaching Mommies is a collaborative blog written by Madonna and Amber. Their goal is to inspire creativity and a love of homeschooling in moms just like you. With big imaginations and an even bigger hearts these ladies guide you through well thought out lessons at no cost to you. If you are seeking a place to start your journey homeschooling your preschool through Kindergarten child, 2 Teaching Mommies, should be your first stop. The effort used in putting lessons and unit studies together is unmatched. Each themed lesson will contain a letter, number, basic science, social studies, color, and … Continue reading

Thoughts on a Successful Labor and Delivery

How do you define a “successful” birth? Clearly, success can only be defined on an individual level, since every woman’s ideal birth is different. But ultimately, a successful labor and delivery is one that avoids all unnecessary or unwanted interventions and complications, while still adhering to the mother’s wishes as closely as possible, and results in both a healthy mother and baby. The surrounding details of a successful birth vary from case to case. For a woman who desires an epidural, getting total and complete pain relief is success. As you may know, epidurals don’t always work the way they … Continue reading

How to “Act” Like You’re in Labor

Actress Dianna Agron is doing a little personal research for her upcoming birth scene on the show, “Glee.” She has been getting advice from her mom and friends about what she should do since she has never given birth in real life. What advice would you give Dianna? Obviously she could go with the classic Hollywood birth scene. You probably know it by heart. Woman is doing something ordinary and abruptly either 1) howls in pain over her first contraction or 2) displays a look of horror on her face because her water has broken at a completely inopportune moment. … Continue reading

Book Review: In My Heart, by Molly Bang

I finally have my wish, which I blogged about nearly three years ago, to see pictures of adoptive families in books that aren’t specifically about adoption. In My Heart, by author-illustrator Molly Bang, is a wonderful author and illustrator who has received three Caldecott Honors. In My Heart is a book that will be wonderfully reassuring to all children. It helps them deal with separation from a parent. It portrays the life of a working family, narrated by the mother, who tells how she misses her child when she is at her job (a veterinarian), but then reminds herself to … Continue reading

Music, Love and Labor

The first time I fell in love, I was sitting in a pile of overstuffed pillows underneath my dorm room loft. My husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, had watched a movie with me on my tiny TV and the credits had long since rolled. The pillow pile, a college budget attempt at a sofa, was our favorite spot. I threw on a CD, and while our favorite song played, I realized, “this is it… this is where I belong.” That song would be played again in front of all our friends and family while we danced for … Continue reading

Untamed Heart (1993)

I liked it—I liked it not. I liked it—I liked it not. “Untamed Heart” was one of those movies that left me confused. I really liked the parts I liked, and really hated the parts I hated. I guess I should elaborate, huh? Marisa Tomei stars as Caroline, a waitress in a seedy diner. Her best friend is Cindy (Rosie Perez) and together they try to figure out life—Caroline’s is a mess. She’s dumped by guy after guy, she’s trying to finish beauty school and can’t seem to manage that, and she wonders if she’s just doomed to failure. One … Continue reading

Singing Away The (Labor) Pain

When I was in labor with my daughter (18 hours worth) I could barely see straight, never mind trying to belt out a song in front of a panel of judges. But that’s exactly what Antoria Gillon did Monday while auditioning for TV’s “American Idol.” No joke. The Dallas contestant performed her audition while in labor. And not only did she manage to endure contractions while she was on stage, the “Idol” hopeful also spent hours standing in line at Texas Stadium with 13,500 other contestants prior to getting her shot in front of the judges. Gillon told news reporters … Continue reading

A True and Valiant Heart

This upcoming weekend is stake conference for our stake. Instead of my regular lesson-oriented scripture study, I’m hitting the topical guide for phrases that have peaked my interest. Every once in awhile, a phrase catches my heart and leads me to the scriptures. Today, I heard the phrase “a true and honest heart.” The Spirit pricked my heart, and I decided to find out what the Lord might mean when He referred to this. There are so many scriptures that refer to an honest heart, however, that I am focusing today only on the first part. The word ‘true’ has … Continue reading

The Pregnancy Blog Review April 11-21

A sick, cranky baby kept me from doing the week in review last week. If you are pregnant, you will soon know what this is like! I’ll combine the past two weeks into one review. April 11 Infertility Testing: The Post Coital Test discusses this common infertility test and what to expect if you need the test. April 13 How to Use a Home Doppler offers tips for learning to use a doppler to monitor your baby’s heart rate at home. Who Will Be Present at the Birth? offers some suggestions for choosing who will witness the birth of your … Continue reading

Labor of the Heart

I’m not qualified to make a true correlation between physical labor while giving birth to a child, and the labor pains of the heart in adoption. I have never experienced child birth first hand. I had the honor of being invited while a long time close friend of mine was awaiting the arrival of her and her husband’s first child, a beautiful son by birth. I remember her contractions, the waiting for her next stage of labor to approach (she had a very, very long labor); the praying for her son, and for God to be with my friend to … Continue reading