Scooting and Cooing!!!

This is the stage in every mother's life when she awww's and oooo's over her baby's great accomplishments. Holding up their head, scooting across the floor, looking around and recognizing your voice you are so excited that you take pictures of every moment right!!! Well what if you have twins? One baby is scooting, and looking around getting on their knees and taking notice of the world around them and well one baby says NOPE I'm not ready yet!

bayareasupernanny.com

Well if nothing else twins will let you know that they are definitely individuals. They do everything in their own time. While one baby loves the floor scooting and trying to learn to crawl the other one loves the water. Splashing every way you can think of. Does this mean one baby isn't developmentally on schedule of course not. As a matter of fact, I advise any mother that bought all those books to throw them away! Because your baby is going to be on their own time schedule, even if you have twins. Just think even though they were in the womb together doesn't mean they are the same person. They are going to do everything when they are ready. They weren't even technically born together. Rather a minute or two apart the only thing most twins have in common is the day they were born! SO don't be alarmed and go to the local neurologist because one baby just lays around on their back all day while the other baby is moving around and looking for something to get into, regardless to the books and specialists, at the end of the day, babies are going to move to the beat of their own drums or beat machine EVEN TWINS!!!

two fresh beats

FDA says throw out infant positioner

Today, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement telling parents not to use this popular product because babies can suffocate.







The governmental agencies have received 12 reports of deaths involving babies who have suffocated in a sleep positioner or became trapped and suffocated between a sleep positioner and the side of a crib or bassinet. The babies were between 1 month and 4 months old. Most suffocated after rolling from a side to a stomach position.






“The deaths and dangerous situations resulting from the use of infant sleep positioners are a serious concern…” says CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “We urge parents and caregivers to take our warning seriously and stop using these sleep positioners, so that children can have a safer sleep.”

“To date, there is no scientifically sound evidence that infant sleep positioners prevent SIDS,” says Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner and a pediatrician. “We want to make sure parents, health care professionals, and childcare providers understand the potential risk of suffocation and stop using infant sleep positioners.”







Many parents use these products to help their kids fall asleep. They create a snuggly environment, which babies like because it reminds them of being held or even of what it was like in the womb. Also, some product manufacturers claim the positioners prevent flat head syndrome (plagiocephaly) and aid in food digestion to ease colic or the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).






CPSC and the FDA are telling parents and child care providers to:






STOP using sleep positioners. Using a positioner to hold an infant on his or her back or side for sleep is dangerous and unnecessary.


NEVER put pillows, infant sleep positioners, comforters, or quilts under a baby or in a crib.


ALWAYS place an infant on his or her back at night and during nap time. To reduce the risk of SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends placing infants to sleep on their backs and not their sides.

information provided by The Baby Center

Sunflowers and Coffee

So here we are once again. I must say where the inspiration for my Seed and Bean came from and is now headed. Seed and Bean first started out as a brain child in my head for a wholistic vegetarian/vegan book store here in Alabama. Well as my Seed and Bean grew so has the dream!Sunflower Seeds and Coffee beans is going online. WE will launch very soon to see how you all take to the idea of having books from African/African in America authors, natural products from venders that are personal to my heart such as Mocha Mango and Devine Khemistry as well as others. I hope to be launching at the end of the month as we have to get the site just right. I'm very excited to see what happens and watch my dream become a reality. IT is very important to me that we offer something well known but unique in its character.

If all goes well I hope to launch the food and beverage portion of the business soon after (end of the year first of January). I thank you for your continued support in hopes that Sunflower Seeds and Coffee Beans is a great and humble sucess!

Blessings in love

Empress

mocha-makeup

www.mocha-mango.com/

Finding Center

Greetings on what has become quite the beautiful day family. I have found that being a mother has its ups and well more ups! I smile at the thought of my little ones growing. What will they become, who will they be, and can I properly pass on my values to them? It's funny that thing called value. I value family. And although I may make some decisions and choices along the way that may not be quite so the actions of an "empress" I"m still standing on the square of family.

It means the world to me to know that I have a strong support system in place. MY seed and bean will grow strong and healthy, mentally and physically and most important, spiritually and emotionally because they have a strong family. I have a new raspect for my mother. She has shown me the ways of motherhood and for that I'm eternally greatful. To all the mothers that have lended advice and counsel, strength and encouragement I thank you. I don't know if I could have made it through this pregnancy or birth and now into nursing among other things without the guidance of those who've done it before me.

It's a strange thing being a mother. You can't prepare or read a book for what is to come you just have to learn on the job literally! But I smile every morning with my seed and bean and prepare myself mentally for the journey of parenthood!

Blessed love family
from the EMpress (Seed and Bean)
Look out for http://www.seedsandbeans.com/ soon to come

And here we are!!!

During the first two trimesters of the pregnancy, twins typically develop at the same rate as single babies. In the third trimester, however, the amount of weight gained by the two infants together is about equal to the amount of weight gained by the one infant in a singleton pregnancy. In other words, while a singleton's weight climbs until 40 weeks' gestation before slowing down, multiples have deceleration of growth much earlier--seen typically in twins at 30 to 32 weeks. Consequently, twins and other multiples tend to be smaller than singletons at the same gestational age.Early in the third trimester, twins actually may have an advantage when it comes to growth, because they generally develop slightly faster than singletons do until about 30 weeks. For example, a set of twins delivered at 30 weeks will probably have better lung development and may have fewer problems due to a premature birth than a singleton born at the same gestation.

 


1 month (6 weeks)

Each of your babies is about 1/10 of an inch long. This is about the size of a grain of rice.

2 months (10 weeks)
Your babies are about 1¼ inches long, crown to rump, and weigh about 1/3 ounce each--about the size of a golf ball.

3 months (14 weeks)
Your twins are probably about 2½ to 3½ inches, crown to rump, and weigh about 1 ounce each. Both babies are now a little smaller than the size of your fist.

4 months (18 weeks)
Your twins are likely to measure about 4½ to 5½ inches from crown to rump. Each weighs about 5½ ounces.

5 months (22 weeks)
Both babies are about 7 to 10 inches long, head to toe, and weigh about 1 pound each--the size of a large banana.

6 months (26 weeks)
Your bundles of joy are about 11 to 14 inches long, weighing 1½ to 2½ pounds each.


7 months (30 weeks)
At this stage, each baby will measure around 16 or 17 inches and weigh about 3 to 3½ pounds.

8 months (34 weeks)
By this time, your twins are probably somewhere between 17 and 19 inches long, weighing between 4 and 5 pounds each. You are now carrying more baby than most singleton moms carry at 40 weeks. No wonder you're tired!

9 months (37 to 40 weeks)
On average, at term--37 weeks for twins--each baby is 18 to 21 inches long and weighs about 6 pounds.

SO here we are, this is about what the seed and bean look like inside my womb. It seems like every day I can feel more movement and adjusting and growing. Sometimes its a scary feeling that comes along when I least expect it and sometimes we are completely in sync and I now when they are about to move around. When certain music is playing or something I may be reading or watching I can tell just when they are about to move. Funny thing they won't both move together. One will move and then make then the other one move. It's like they are in there waking each other up LOL. Like hey do you hear that song Moms is playing, yea I think I like it (smile) anyway here we are moving right along.

Breasting feeding benefits

I always hear stories that mother is the best food and that mothers should breast feed. Over the course of the Month of May since Mother's Day is coming up I'm going to explore just how supportive companies/jobs, family and communities are to mothers that choose to breastfeed their babies.

Pregnant in America (Among other things)

Leave Your Sleep (2CD)


So I just recently watched the documentary Pregnant in America (http://www.pregnantinamerica.com/) I must say I was moved and enlightened. I wanted a home birth and still want a home birth and am currently looking into my options to do so because well as of yet I haven't been that satisfied with the treatment of pregnant women by the health care "professionals" nor by the corporate American machine for which I work. Since I've been pregnant I've been threatened with firing, have almost lost my home, have been ignored by my doctors as to the problems I've been experiencing, and have all but given up on people's treatment of pregnant women. I never knew that people ignored a woman's feelings about discomfort or pain or questions that they may have. Just recently my doctor has taken steps towards "listening" to my concerns as a first time mother, however, previously I was treated as if I had no idea what I was talking about. They were very cavalier and callous towards my thoughts and concerns as if every pregnant woman experiences pregnancy the same way. LETS GET THIS CLEAR! Every woman is NOT the same so every pregnancy, every birth, every symptom is not the same. SO will all the people out there that think this is so please stop!

Now with that being said Pregnant in America was a very informative documentary. I learned a lot and as I stated have already in some form experienced the horror of the medical professionals. They are there for you the "patient" and yet they treat pregnancy and eventual child birth as some sort of inconvenience. Being a first time mother they almost called me a liar to my face when I would tell them something is wrong. Everything became NORMAL! I mean everything. I threatened a miscarriage twice, this was considered normal. I have been sick morning noon and night and sometimes evenings and mid-conversation, this was NORMAL. I would wake up (if I fell asleep at all) and my entire body would be in pain. I couldn't move. My bones would hurt, my abdomen would feel like I was being stabbed I couldn't walk, stand, sit, lay, drive or anything without some sort of pain.

Now don't get me wrong I'm usually a healthy woman. I used to kickbox, I did yoga, tai-chi, I walked I'm a vegetarian/vegan. I am natural and pay very close attention to my health and eating. So when I started experiencing a very unhealthy pregnancy this was odd to me. I thought I was doing something wrong. But with out telling me what was wrong people would just tell me it was normal or to suck it up (in so many words) and get back to work or life or whatever I should be doing because hey being pregnant does not change your life right? WRONG!!!! I thought that people would take into consideration that hey a woman being pregnant is a delicate time in her life. WAS I EVER WRONG!? You would think that I made it all up. Like oh I'm not really pregnant I just want some attention lol. Nonetheless, I was and am determined to enjoy the growth and gestation of my babies. My seed and bean are growing more and more every day. My health is getting a little better and I'm getting back to meditating again.

It's amazing to me though how women are treating here in America when they are having children. Since when has this experience become some burden on society? Since when has being pregnant and giving birth become some unnatural process? So I'm looking into having a home birth or as natural as possible in a hospital as possible because I too found it alarming the rate of c-sections that women are having in the US. I just found it odd that the first moments of holding your child, latching on, nursing, crying together is taken away from so many women and they can never get that back.

Of course my concerns and risks are high. I mean I'm having twins how successful could I be with having a home birth with two babies? Especially with all the health problems I've had thus far? I know for sure I don't want any drugs and I don't want to be induced or anything of that nature, however, I will keep you posted as to the birth plan for Me the Seed and the Bean!
Blessings abundantly!
Empress

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Baby Wearing

There are tons of wombmen getting into wearing their children again. The facts are we as wombmen are going back to what seems natural to us more and more and baby wearing is just one of those examples. WE are listening to our spirits and the voices of wombmen who have come before that are telling us what is natural is not foreign. For far too long child birth and rearing has been made to be some handicap or burden that should be medicated or treated as an inconvenience; something unnatural and uncommon, when in fact babies have been born without medical intervention or interference since the beginning of births. I think mother earth was even born unto the universe without and epidural LOL! That's another discussion. Any who, so here is a video by a sistren that is very informative. She shows you how to wrap your baby and the benefits of baby wearing. The facts about the child's development as well as their social skills.

Pregnant and Fashions

I consider myself a pretty fashionable wombman. I love to look beautiful, rather it be in my jeans that fit your booty just right or that blouse that shows your skin in the most flattering way or that color of yellow or orange that makes you smile from the inside out. I just have one problem pregnant fashion. I've been doing pretty well thus far and I must say that there have been strives in making pregnant women look beautiful in the last few years (Shout to Heidi Klum for being one of the most fashion foward pregnant woman).

I just want to still look 28 I don't want to look like I'm a beached whale and I don't want to surrender my identity to do so. I'm young and vibrant and well I like the way yellow looks on my skin and this is the perfect time for me because It's SPRING YEY!!!


So I have an Idea. If you would email me (seedsbeans@gmail.com) all your photos of beautifully fashionable women while pregnant I'll post my favorites. I'll start with some celebraties and art photos just to get started.


THE BOHO~BOHEMIAN~HIPPY~LOW MAINTAIN LOOK













This look is just so easy and still quite beautiful when worn properly. I Love the long flowing gown type wear and the sandles just gives that bollywood feel.



























The Belly OUT Full Throttle !!!
Now I'm not a fan of this look unless done right. I mean let's be clear everyone should not have the belly out it's just not a good look but some or able and brave enough to pull this off!!! As for me well NO, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! But you can't deny the glow of a woman enjoying her baby belly :)




NOW I WANT YOU ALL TO SEND ME YOUR PREGNANT FASHIONS, THE GOOD AND THE BAD! I still have 4 months to get so help me out here cause I'm going to get big LOL
Life is love ~Emp

A love Deep inside

I have a love inside that grows

Everlasting as my cup overflows

Never knew I was be so thrilled to be kicked

Never knew I would be grateful for the sick mornings

and afternoon naps

mid morning snacks

and sharp pains in my back

but I got a love for the pain you bring cause I know you're growing

I know you getting bigger and quicker

eating more cause I'm thicker

my hips are spreading my breast as swollen

Miracles manifesting inside my womb

and I assume

that your eyes will slant slightly like mine

that your fingers will stretch out and it's me you'll find

I'm forever transformed by the love we have

I dream of simple things like your first laugh and bath

It's funny how in one moment you got from girl to wombman from wombman to mother

And I know our love will never be like another

But I treasure you

The 7am kick in the bladder

the pure exhaustion as I get fatter

You are my Seed and Bean and we're in this together

as Mother I am your warrior, your rock, your sheppard

The Serenity of Morning

I am never more amazed at the wonders of life. I'm now five months in and can feel my seed and bean and let me tell you they are active. They are my balance, as I can feel one of them in my abdomen and the other right underneath my heart. It's amazing but I keep hearing Lauryn Hill sing nothing even matters because well it doesn't.

You know when you realize that motherhood is here you change. This change takes place at different stages for different wombmen but for me I think it's happened multiple times so far. I felt like a mother the moment I realized I was pregnant; I felt like a mother the first ultrasound, the first heart beat and now that I can feel life moving around in me it's like you have a different raspect a different approach to everything you thought you had planned for yourself.

I want so much for them. I read to them, and sing to them, they are my poetry audience and we listen to every type of music from Miles Davis Bitch's Brew (shout to Auntie/JahMother Earth CrySiS) to The Eagles In the City. Yesterday I was on a Stevie Wonder mood and then all of a sudden Les Nubians started singing to my heart and so we went there. And they started moving and fluttering and I knew then my babies were going to love the arts as much as I do.

Although everyone has their predictions as to what they are all different combos of boy/girl , girls, boys their health has been the only thing that has mattered to me and I've taken that and run with it. I am taking back my joy. I even listened to Anita Baker's you bring me joy LOL. I know that I'm a good sistar, friend, queen, person and mother and well I've placed nothing but positive in the UnI-verse so I know that comes back. You know how people say you feel love for your children when you don't even know them well that is so true and I vow to do everything in my life forever for them. I live love and laugh for my children, my Seed and Bean.

Mama (Yeyo)loves you

Often we spend too much time on things that aren’t of great importance

We spend InnaG and give powah to those that don’t deserve or merit and inkling of our spirits

Picture this the argument you had last week, last month last year

Festers in your being and eats away at your flesh and you can’t even remember what you were angry about

But life goes on and never stops

Birth, transitions, growth, rebirth, journey, labor, work, life, love, laughter, pain

While you sit and wallow in your bitter existence the hour goes on

The love keeps growing,

Children keep playing

Granny keeps laughing

Someone moves forward

And you are hindered by your need to hold on to the things that don’t matter any more to any one but your foolish pride

But what do you have to be proud of

Winning the argument

Conquering an enemy

What did you gain

What did you lose

Was the lost worth the battle

Search your soul and ova stand that your presence on this earth in this form is limited

Though the cycle continues you only get one chance at it this time

Then your return with a new mission so get it right

Or else you have nothing left

But bitterness and regret

Words you never got to say

Hugs you never received

Life you didn’t live

All to prove a point of your strong convictions

I say stand on your square

But kneel down and acknowledge the living around you

Because I don’t know who told youBut you don’t have time

To put it off

Or wait till later

To procrastinate on your progression

To delay on your succession

To put off those things meant to be done in the present

And correct the mistakes of your past

Once you’re older you put away childish things so there are no do-overs

No re-runs in life

This regularly schedule programming is live and in full color and you better take advantage

Because you can’t T-vo the birth of your child

You can’t rewind the transition of a comrade

Your can not be grown if you’re not willing to grow

You will be reborn into an endless journey headed no where

Where the work produces no fruits for your labor

Absence of love and laughter and the abundance of pain and anguish

This will be your life’s existence

When it all boils down it’s a matter of reflection

Self-evaluation

Acceptance of error and righting of wrongs

I say to you

If you hold on to anger and frustration will it all be worth it to miss out on living

Burst through the walls of captivity placed on yourself with bottled up fury

And antagonizing annoyances killing you from the inside out

Otherwise you’re dead any way

So rest easy ! ~Empress

I just want to enjoy it

I have been filled with a number of emotions since I realized that I was going to be a mother. I've been excited, scared, nervous, anxious and worried. Would I be a good mother? What will they look like? How is my life going to change? How can I get my hustle back in my to get on my grind to be the mother and wombman I know I can be. I mean this is who I am but I've been in pain. I wake up some mornings and can't function. My body is hurting, my bones are mush, it takes everything in me just to get to the bathroom. It feels like the most excruciating pain in the world and yet I try to push through. I think I've lost my job which means I'm going to lose my benefits unless I pay out of my pocket and I've been depressed. I don't want this. I want to be happy. I want to talk to my babies and tell them everything is going to be alright. I want them to feel the love I have for them through me but right now at this moment it feels like the world is saying nope this is going to be hard on you. I wonder what I did in my life to warrant this. Is there some bad energy I've put out in the world that has made these things happen? I'm not really sure but here I am. Getting bigger, and stressing more as the days linger on.
I just want to enjoy my pregnancy. I want to gush when people talk about my babies. I want to discuss nursery plans. I don't want to be worried about am I going to lose my home, my job, my insurance because this society places more value on your value and not your efforts or the person behind it all. I've noticed that animals are treated more humanely than humans are and that sickens me. Since when has it become common and "normal" for pregnant women to say I'm in pain or I'm hurting or I'm not physically well and everyone shrugs and says oh well that's just pregnancy.

These callous and cavalier feelings have left me to feel very disoriented and thinking some things that aren't in my nature about where I am in my life. I thought children were suppose to be a "blessing". I thought pregnancy was a time to calm the mother and make her feel serene. I've gotten nothing but chaos and confusion and it frightens me. Is this where we are in this world. That we treat children and pregnant women like burdens that need to just get over whatever it is they are experiencing. Have we come to a point where life isn't important but the value of that life is? That we have to sacrifice being a mother and the health of ourselves and our children to make the almighty dollar because hey no one told you to have children!?

Words to grow on

My Seed and Bean

At the ripe old age of 28 I have discovered that I'm going to be a mother. The thing about it is that I knew. I knew I was pregnant before I went to the OBGYN, I knew I was pregnant before I took on any symptoms and I knew I would be a mother soon. For some reason I just knew. It wasn't as if I had done something differently in my routine of life. It wasn't as if something miraculous had taken place in my mind to let me know that Empress this year you're going to be a mother. I just knew. I will say that I was in a really good spiritual place this year though, especially over the summer leading up to the conception of my Seed and Bean. The fact of the matter is I've never had more clarity and never been so strong as I've been this year. Not only that but I realized just how many people really truly love me. So it happened I'm pregnant. And the only thing I could think about was okay let's get ready! Little did I know what lay ahead for me.

So my big sister and I (Earth Crysis) were discussing my pregnancy and soon too be children. We were talking about how much trouble I was having finding things to accommodate two babies. [I mean you would think that having twins was some anomaly or something] It seemed to me as if the whole world had not caught up to the idea that women have been having twins for ages now. I mean come on having twins in 2010 is like run of the mill compared to the multiples women are having these days, but nonetheless there seemed to be some sort of shortage in items for twins. So Earth came up with the brilliant idea that I should blog about not being able to find accommodating strollers or multiple car seats, having to driving all over town searching for bulk organic diapers and wipes and so on. [in the age of technology there has to be someone who can relate] I believe the hardest thing for me was realizing that there just aren't enough items available for mothers of multiples unless you are willing to pay and I mean PAY! Thus this blog was born.

I hope that my struggles, triumphs, pains and cravings along this pregnancy help some other mother or at least inspire some major company out there to get up and make more products for mothers and their twins or triplets or quads etc. Because for goodness sake we need convenience just as much if not MORE than a mother with a single baby!

until later
Love and light from the Empress (Seed and Bean)