Ash & Alys Babes Blog
Midwife of the Month February 28, 2013 14:23
For February, we’ve decided to recognize a midwife in lieu of our regular mom of the month column. Between my bleeding heart and Alyssa’s newfound passion for maternal health issues, we’ve been so inspired by Geraldine Lee of Fremont Midwifery, and her recent volunteer work at the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Somaliland.
I was lucky enough to have Geraldine as my midwife for my second baby, and loved every minute of the time she spent with our family. Each check up felt like I was hanging out with a friend rather than going in for a medical visit. She was confident, respectful, kind, professional, direct, understanding and so much more. I was able to birth my baby on my own, in my home – and I feel grateful that Geraldine helped make that possible. All these qualities and more are what make her an amazing midwife and why her clients sing her praises.
When I learned about her five-week volunteer trip to Somaliland to provide care to pregnant/post-partum women and newborns, it made perfect sense. She obviously has a passion for midwifery and for providing excellent care to mothers and babies. From reading her blog posts and Facebook posts about the experience, I felt a renewed interest in and passion for increasing my own education about maternal health issues around the world.
We wanted to honor Geraldine to commend her for her service to the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital. Please read her blog for a candid look at real life struggles women and infants face in underdeveloped countries, as well as the challenges presented to their care providers. I’m sure that reading her stories will be eye opening and hopefully inspire to you to make a donation to Edna Adan Maternity Hospital.
http://fremontmidwifery.wordpress.com/
Here's a photo of Geraldine's lovely baby Mohammed and his mother.
-Ashley
The Mom for More Happy and Healthy Children December 10, 2012 14:59
Ashley and I enjoy taking nominations for our Mom of the Month. We love people sharing stories with us about an amazing mom that they know. It’s awesome! But, the mom that we are honoring this month happened more by chance. As a grad student, I was scanning the Internet to find information for a project I am working on and stumbled upon a blog post by Jennifer Burden.
Jennifer, mother of two little girls, founded World Moms Blog, which writes about global motherhood, culture, social good and human rights. Since discovering her blog that day, I’ve read many of her posts. I don’t personally know Jennifer, but I am truly inspired not only by the work that she is doing, but also by the determinism and strength that she demonstrates.
After learning that a child dies every 20 seconds from a disease that could have been prevented through a vaccination, Jennifer became a strong advocate for providing children in developing countries with live-saving vaccines. She has dedicated herself to spreading awareness and raising funds so that so that there are more healthy and happy children in this world. Jennifer works with the UN Foundation's Shot@Life campaign as a Champion, and recently went with the organization on a trip to Uganda. In addition, she is also the creator of the "GAVI Global Tea Party" to continue advocacy for life-saving vaccinations for children in the developing world.
By reading her blog, it’s not hard to tell how much she believes in this cause; she has even been brave enough to share her own personal story in efforts to raise awareness. We wanted to honor Jennifer as Mom of the Month to show appreciation for all of the work that she is doing. She’s not just leading by example for her two little girls, but she is showing all of us that we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
We encourage all of our readers to learn more at http://www.worldmomsblog.com/ and http://shotatlife.org/.
-Alyssa
Holiday Spirit: Teaching Thankfulness and Battling Greed December 3, 2012 13:24
One of my biggest goals as a parent is ensuring that my children grow up with a real sense of appreciation for how truly blessed they are, and a deep responsibility for serving others. The holidays provide a unique teaching opportunity to help instill these values, but it is juxtaposed by the challenge of keeping our feet on the ground when it comes to gift wish lists, shopping and general overindulgence.
Setting a good example is priority number one. Our children largely emulate us as parents and grow up with the values they see us demonstrating. I am a person who easily gets drawn into the hubbub of the holidays, but I have been making a strong effort lately to tone it down so my children take to heart the importance of giving, appreciating and reflecting during this special time.
Here are a few ideas I’ve read about lately or that our family has implemented for making the holidays extra special, while sending a positive message to our children:
1) Adopt a family in need and provide them with a generous Christmas; or as I remind my family, ‘give until it hurts’
2) Take a new twist on Advent Calendar ‘treats’; instead of candy or trinkets, provide notes to your children, a coupon for a family adventure, a charitable assignment and other sentiments that encourage family bonding rather than consuming and wasting
3) Encourage your children to choose one toy they receive as a gift and give it – new and unopened – to Toys for Tots or another charity
4) Limit spending so gifts are about the thought rather than the price tag
5) Talk about what’s really important and engage in community holiday activities that bring people together
6) Shop small and don’t get too caught up in the hustle and bustle
7) Gift donations to charities that have a significant meaning for the recipient
8) Ask your children to make gifts, rather than buy them, for their loved ones
9) Use your children’s artwork from school to create gift tags, greeting cards and wrapping paper – this makes them feel special and saves waste
10) Spend quiet time together reading holiday stories, enjoying your favorite holiday movies, cooking and sharing traditions
Here are a couple articles with some great ideas – these provided my most recent inspiration, and reinforced some of the things we were already doing:
http://www.greenchildmagazine.com/holiday-spirit/
Mom of the Month - Maya Thompson October 5, 2012 16:39
Every month, we’ll be featuring a ‘Mom of the Month,’ someone who is the embodiment of strength, love, sacrifice and responsibility. Someone who is not afraid to admit that parenthood is hard, and that sometimes we don’t feel strong enough to carry on. Sometimes our choice might be someone you’ve heard of; sometimes she might be just another mom from down the street. If she advocates for a charity or cause, we will add that cause to our list of beneficiaries for our Ash & Alys Fund as well. Our Moms of the Month will come from all walks of life, but they represent the invisible thread that ties together all mothers around the world.
This month, we welcome Maya Thompson as our inaugural ‘Mom
of the Month.’ We heard about her through the blogosphere, and were deeply
touched and saddened by her family’s tragic story, and the real lives and loss
that have brought Rockstar Ronan into notoriety. We don’t know her – and she
doesn’t know us. But our hearts grieve for her family’s loss and for every
family that loses a child.
Reading this woman’s blog is heart-wrenching and terrifying. Despite my tears, I read on, if only to support her in spirit. And I learned something. What I have learned from reading about Rockstar Ronan is the surprising lack of resources and research that is given to pediatric cancer. I’m truly shocked that something killing children at such an alarming pace can go without more funding. I learned 46 children are diagnosed with cancer every day; seven of them will die today. Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer of children.
In honor of our Mom of the Month, the first contribution
from the Ash & Alys Fund, which will be made at the end of 2012, will go to The
Ronan Thompson Foundation. The Ash & Alys Fund is funded by Twosie™
and SlumberSling® sales. For more information, click here. To learn more about Rockstar Ronan visit http://rockstarronan.com/, and to learn more about his foundation, visit http://theronanthompsonfoundation.com/.
Please join us in supporting these causes and in extending kindness and encouragement to anyone grieving the loss of a child. Love and treasure your babes every day.
If you would like to nominate someone for 'Mom of the Month,' please email us the details at info@ashandalysbabes.com.-Ashley