Finally! Dagyn's Unassisted Waterbirth Story

Well after some computer issues (where I lost the story and had to retype it all UGH) and some internet issues (several days where it was out) and some blog issues (basically it is a PITA to put pictures in with text in blogger) I FINALLY have the birth story posted!!

It is long (not the birth, the story) because I record all my thoughts/feelings and the events. I find that the more I do it, the more I want to record everything so I can 'relive' it when I read it years later.

I had mentioned that I was splitting the blog in two.  I am keeping this blog for all the Kozy related stuff and updates (and there are plenty to share) but I started a new blog where I could focus on just the opinion, craft, family, natural living, birth etc. stuff (and there is even MORE of that to share, LOL).  I felt like it was getting all mixed up with everything here on this blog.  I imported all the relevant posts from here to there, though I will leave them here on this site for a while longer.

I figured Dagyn's Birth Story could be the first new post over there. I have lots of birth pictures and video stills. So go check it out if you dare (or have time for a novel) . . . 

The Unassisted Waterbirth Story of Dagyn Beannacht Mason.

And come follow me over there (as of right now, since it is new, I have 0 followers . . . so lonely . . . LOL).

Dagyn Beannacht Mason

 Thanks everyone for the kind words and congrats!!  We are really enjoying our little guy!  On his 1 week birthday last night we all laid hands on him and thanked God for a safe birth, a healthy baby and for future health and happiness for him.

A minute or so after birth

 I have been informed (thanks KM) that I neglected to announce the name we chose for our little one! (bad Kelley, bad Kelley).  At about 2 days old we settled on Dagyn Beannacht.  

With his placenta, a few hours after birth

Dagyn is pronounced Day-gin (like Meagan).  There are many different ways you can spell it and apparently each spelling can also be pronounced differently.  This spelling is often pronounced like da-jin but that was a bit 'Sweedish' for us so we are sticking with pronouncing it our way.  The name is Hebrew for 'grain or wheat' or gaelic for 'dark haired'. Since neither of those applied to our Dagyn we went with the Gaelic word Beannacht, which means "blessing".  It is pronounced like Bannock but with a "t" at the end.

first bath, less than 1 day old

I have really enjoyed my week in bed!  I am pretty sad the week is over, it went by WAY too fast.  I loved just cuddling up with him and nursing and having everyone take care of me and bring me food (and we have SO much great food here . . . which is good because I am always very hungry and everything tastes SO good!!).  I plan to continue to take it easy for as long as possible.

We actually went out for the first time today.  We went by a friends house, the chiropractor, and to JoAnns so I could get some fabric to make him a baby blanket.  I usually love going out with my newborns and showing them off to people.  But I was really anxious to come home and crawl in bed and cuddle again.

1st picture of the family together . . . 1 day after birth

Hopefully this weekend I can get the new blog up and running, get some 'stills' off of the video camera and get the birth story (which is pretty much finished) posted.

It is March 10! Today is my EDD!

(been trying to post this all day, but my internet went out so it is going out a bit late).

I figured I'd still be pregnant today, but instead I have this . . . .

And if I were to still be pregnant, I suppose it would be something like this . . .

Still working on the birth story.  Just because the labor was shorter apparently doesn't mean my story is, LOL! For those of you who have read my birth stories, you know that they are like novels!  I am so long winded but I just want to make sure I get all my thoughts and feelings down so I don't forget them. 

I'll try to post more pictures soon though, assuming my internet doesn't crap out on me again, ugh.

It's a BOY!! and baby/pregnancy pictures

Yes, another boy!  That makes 5 boys (and 1 girl).  

 Born unassisted at home in the water (dad and most of the kids were right there, the little ones and Grammy missed it by less than a minute . . . though granted, after pushing for over 2 hrs I didn't give them much 'heads up' when it was finally time, so only the fastest ones made it in the room LOL!!).

My earliest baby, born at 39 wks exactly.  Weighing 8.4 and 22 1/4" long with a 14 inch head.  I had wanted to go late but thank goodness I didn't!!  He would have been over 9lbs!  No name yet, we'll figure that one out soon.

I should be able to get the birth story out within a week.  I had been planning on splitting up this blog into 2.  One for the opinion/personal stuff and then keeping this one for just the Kozy related stuff where I can put all the updates and new stuff (because we have new stuff I have neglected to post about).  So I am thinking if I can get my act together I can start the new blog with the birth story (I have already duplicated most of my non-kozy posts from here, over there)  We'll see.  But I'll let y'all know.

Anyway I had this whole post planned out with all my pregnancy pictures.  I was going to post it yesterday at 39 wks but . . well, I had a baby instead. LOL.  So I am going to go ahead and post all the pictures since I already had them downloaded and in here ready to post.

So I had a professional photographer come over on Tues (just 2 days before he was born) to take pregnancy pictures.  It was FREE because she wanted more photos for her portfolio . . . score for me!!

 I am 38.5 wks in these . . . little did I know that in 2 days . . . 

Here are pictures of my belly/baby growing.  I was trying to be really good to take pictures consistently this time, with the same clothes and the same pose.  It is so cool being able to go back and see the body changing, AND to compare my body/belly from this last pregnancy to the others.

12 wks

16 wks

20 wks

24 wks

28 wks

32 wks

36 wks

38 wks

Valentines Day 2011

Yes, Yes, I am still here.  I have just been busy sewing panel Kozys in whatever spare time I have (where I have energy to do anything ;0)  SO much I want to blog about and like NO extra time!  There are a million things I want to do and I am almost 38 wks YIKES!!

Anyway, I made a bunch of stuff for Christmas (necklaces for the neices, and silk/velvet purses) but I forgot to get pictures.  I did get pictures of the soap we made, I'll post those soon.  

I did manage to take some pictures of some of our Valentines creations (and we made Valentine lighted Jars, but no pictures).

I was hoping to post these before V-day but, well a week late will have to do.  We had a Valentines gathering with our local families for natural living group so we made cards and treats to share.

First my favorite of all . . . . . dipped pretzels

I thank my friend Barbara for these.  She gave us some for Christmas.  I was like eeeh, pretzels are not my favorite . . . that is until I took a bite!!  They have a layer of CARAMEL and then chocolate!  They are like a candy bar . . . SOOOOO good!!  So of course I had to make some.   Yes, I used icky food coloring to make them more festive.  I'll do another post about how to make them (super easy).

Then the kids got to making Valentines for their friends and Piper and Ever wanted to make bags to hold their Valentines.

Piper and Ever love doing crafts the most

We made butterfly valentines, another idea I got from Family Fun.  We made them differently though.  I cut out butterfly shapes from construction paper and the kids decorated them with markers, glitter, stickers, etc.  Then I taped a roll of smarties in the middle.  Fairly easy and quick and they really enjoyed it.

Here are some Valentines with the bags that Piper and Ever made (just took gift bags, covered with construction paper and made faces etc.).  Pipers is of course Pikachu (pokemon for those of you who don't know, but I am sure most of you do ;0)  She did the whole thing herself, and she helped Ever with his heart man.

Hope all of y'all had a wonderful Love Day!!

Panel or Bling Kozy anyone?

Some of you may (or may not) have seen or remember the panel and bling Kozys I used to make.  For those who don't know what they are . . . 

Panel Kozys are chainstitched silk panels hand made in Kashmir that I put with 100% cotton velveteen to make Kozys. (above right)

Bling Kozys are panels that are made with metal type of material coiled into patterns on top of velveteen, which I also pair with 100% cotton velveteen. (above left)

They are time consuming to make and though I made over 100 of them, I haven't made any in a couple years for lack of time (for some reason, having more children takes up more time AND energy . . . what is up with that?  LOL).  

You can see pictures of over 90 of them (made and sold already) here www.silkkozy.homestead.com

silk panel on red velveteen

I had a friend ask me to make one for her baby (due like a month before 

 mine) and I was like . . . I think I can manage that.  So I went into my sling/fabric closet to see what I had and realized that I have got all these velveteen straps made up, and all these panels (over 40 of the silk, not counting the blings) that have just been sitting on the shelves for like 2 yrs.  And with Christmas coming up I thought that maybe I could find time to make a few if people wanted them.  I used to charge between $120-150 but considering the fact that I know money is tight for everyone, I would probably only ask $100 (plus shipping ;0).  

silk panel on teal velveteen

silk panel on maroon velveteen

 Soooo, if anyone is interested (or know someone who may be) shoot me an e-mail and we can see what I have available and what I may be able to manage to do ;0) kelley@kozycarrier.com

 

gold bling on black velveteen

Arah (6 now) in my olive panel kozy

 

New "Black and Whites" Collection

 

So Kristi gets the credit for this one as it was her idea and she choose all the fabrics!  And a fabulous idea it was!   I literally gasped when I took these out of the box for pictures.  I don't know what it is about the black/white contrast but they are stunning.  My friends really liked them too.

See all the pictures HERE

 There are 5 prints. I think they would be fab for Christmas, well especially the one with the red bird (first picture above) with red straps (you can see a picture of it on the site).

They seem a bit more formal but I think that is just because of the contrast and black straps in general come across as more formal, as you see they also look good with jeans.

Not a fat roll, but my 22 wk baby belly

 The prints are canvas like the straps, but a more of a med weight canvas.  I like this because they should wear at the same rate as the straps.  Black can fade but if you take care to spot clean or hand wash in cold water they hold up nicely.  Most of my black Kozys look almost new and they are a couple years old.

Of course if you don't want black canvas, most of them go well with natural too.

You can order them or see more pix HERE

 

We also have a new colorful print (huge contrast to the above Kozys)

WOODSTOCK 

I saw a swatch of this print sitting at Kozy with some kid prints that were potentials for Kiddy Kozy pockets, and I was like . . . 'we have GOT to have that as a Kozy print!'

It is eye popping!!  Very fun and with red straps . . . bright!!  Totally makes a statement.  

For more info and pictures, you can find it on the site HERE

We have gone jar crazy! Check out our Autumn jars!

I love, love, love these lighted jars.  I love the ambiance they give the room and the house.  They are a perfect accent!  So when I took down our Halloween Jars everything looked blah, and I didn't want to wait till after Thanksgiving to pull out the Christmas Jars (and we need to make more anyway because we gave some as gifts).  So I said . . . hey, lets do autumn jars!! 

I figured we could just do autumn colors and to make things simple, we would just collect leaves from the yard and decoupage them on.  Much easier for me because the kids weren't cutting, making a mess with paper etc. 

I am not going to get into the process again, but if you want to know how to make them check out my 2 previous blog posts HERE and HERE.

Finally I got a picture of all 5of them gluing their leaves on (well Thrace is just watching)

 I had them choose which color or colors they wanted for their jar out of what I had.  I only had orange and rad tissue paper so I improvised and used napkins to get yellow.  I wish I had some brown because I was curious how it would turn out, but alas, none to be found (and I was not going to the store).  They really did most of the work again, with me helping mostly the little ones.  The napkins were a bit tricky so I did do most of the mod podge on those.

Then we went out and each kid collected their own leaves! We live on a mountain in the woods so we have plenty of trees and leaves.  The leaves on the ground were too hard so we picked smaller leaves that were left on trees.  The cool thing is that they could learn about the types of leaves and trees while we were at it (Charlie knows all that stuff, I am clueless.)

 I had them just glue the leaves on with glue (some were tricky and I had to work with them to get them to curve around the jars and stick) and then we did the mod podge once they were stuck well.  I know they will turn brown (though some were brown already) but it doesn't matter, they are for the silhouette against the colored tissue paper when the jar is lit.

 I used the multicolored lights again because I couldn't get to the white lights, but I think ideally white lights would provide the best light . . . though the colored lights are softer.

You could really do anything you want that is autumn theamed, but these were easy for us!  We actually did these start to finish in 1 day (had them lit by evening) which is a record for us (usually I have a table full of scrap paper and partially decorated jars for days before we are finished).

I love these jars so much that I am thinking of how I can have them year round . . . Valentine jars, Easter jars, July 4th or summer themed . . . so many possibilities!!

Now, for an added photo . . . because hey, pumpkins are autumn themed and I didn't want to do a separate blog post with just a picture of me . . . but I did want to show y'all how I dressed up for Halloween . . . . 

21 wks

I did the same thing the only other time I had a belly on Halloween, when I was 29 wks pg with Ever . . . LOTS of fun (and lots of comments from people).

Babies wearing Babies . . . Finally, we have Kid Kozys!!

This is Piper (8) and Ever (3) carrying their dolls in their Kiddy Kozys!  (Ever's doll of choice is his baby, Piper has her LPS penguin)  I made my first Kiddy Kozy for Piper LONG ago, I have made some for friends and for gifts since then but that is as far as I have gotten with them.

I have been wanting to add these to the site for years and thanks to Kristi and Dad (who worked out all the details of having them made, cost, materials etc. because goodness knows I can't find the time most days to wash my hair, LOL) FINALLY we have them!!  Check them out HERE

 What better way to teach our kids natural ways to nurture babies . . . how to meet their needs and keep them close, than to example babywearing!!  Kids have this desire to copy us and nurture their baby dolls in a similar way (and I know many of us have experienced seeing our kids nursing their baby dolls.)  This is why there has always been a need for kid sized baby carriers.  Yes you can use anything to make a baby carrier for your child to carry his babies, but it is also fun for them to have something that looks like ours!  

I only hope that my children remember the things they have seen me do and how I have treated them and their siblings, so that they keep that nurturing outlook into adulthood (and yes, I make sure to talk about it often too so they don't forget  ;0)

In coming up with the design for the Kiddy Kozy were trying to keep them as close to the adult Kozys as possible.  Most aspects are the same, only downsized for little ones.  There is no padding (not needed) so it is really lightweight.  It has a body pocket so they can carry extra toys if wanted (or toy diapers) and it has a cute little strap pocket and ties right on, just like Mom (or Dad's) Kozy.  

In order to simplify things and keep costs down we make them solid bodied and you choose the fabric for the body pocket.  But if your little one wants a Kozy matching yours we can custom make it for you for an added charge.  

Of course they are NOT reinforced to hold any weight so remember it is ONLY for dolls!  That is always the first things the kids ask, they want to carry their baby brother in their Kozy, LOL!!  I tell them that they can wear him in a regular Kozy (I can fold it to fit them) but that this Kozy is specially made just for their baby dolls and favorite toys (notice Ever has an airplane in the pocket of his).

For more info and to see fabrics and order just go to the Kiddy Kozy page at the Kozy Website.

Lighted Halloween Jars . . . and other spooky stuf!!

We made these a few wks ago and I have been trying to get them up here to show y'all but I am still having a hard time finding time to blog.

I got this idea last year when I saw the lighted jars at the Not So Idle Hands blog HERE  SO CUTE!!  But alas, I was too late for Halloween, so instead I made Christmas Jars.  Some of you may remember them, I blogged about them HERE.  They turned out great and the kids had a ball making them.  In fact we are going to have to make more this year because we gave a bunch of them away as gifts last year.

I was very excited though as Halloween came around again so we could do some Halloween jars.  We made them the same way we did the Christmas jars.  They are pretty easy to make, but beware they are a tad time consuming and can be messy.  Though I was doing them with 4 kids so that will take longer.  My oldest two (10 and 8) could do much of it themselves, I helped with cutting and stuff, but the younger 2 needed some help with the Mod Podge. And since you have to do multiple layers it does take some time.  But it is worth it!!

I'll go over the instructions again for those interested.

Materials

• Glass Jars (I save all our peanut butter, pickle, pasta jars etc. so we never have a shortage of these)
• Tissue Paper (I chose white, orange, black, and green for Halloween, but you can also find holiday paper that you can use as well, then yo don't even really have to decorate it, just decoupage it on)
• Mod Podge or some other type of decoupage 'glue'
• A brush to brush the glue on
• Construction Paper or anything else the kids may want to decorate it with (we have used glitter, stamped paper shapes etc.)

Decorating

First you want to cut your tissue paper in strips, then cover your jar with a layer of Mod Podge.   We usually cover just a small section at a time, applying the Mod Podge then the tissue paper till the whole jar is covered.
To make the pumpkins more 'pumpkin like' we did the strips vertically but in the past we have done them horizontally too.  For some of the other jars, I just let the kids put the strips on however they wanted.

 Piper, Arah and Ever adding tissue paper to their pumpkin jars

(notice the dummy hanging from the rafters of the porch in the window behind Piper . . . 

Charlie made this with the kids just a few days before . . . he is creepy!!)

 Once you have the whole jar covered with the paper (and have trimmed off the excess on top and bottom) do another generous layer of Mod Podge over the whole thing, making sure to cover all the tissue paper with a protective layer.  It is delicate so take care (and tell your kids to be extra gentle).

Once you have done that, then decorate as you wish.  Each of the kids designed their own pumpkin face, then they got to do another jar however they  liked.

Piper and Ever putting tissue paper on their 2nd jars.

Piper (8) drew and colored some black cats (one she colored very dark black, the other she drew on black construction paper and cut out) and we put them on top of her purple jar (with black construction paper stripes on top and bottom) for a silhouette.  Xian (10) did a green Frankenstein.  He used black construction paper for the face and hair.  Arah (6) drew a lot of ghosts and things that he thought were 'scary' out of plain white paper, and then cut them out and put them on his purple/black striped jar.  And Ever (3) made a purple jar too, but he added squares of other colors of tissue paper over that along with a few cut outs.  I made the white ghost.
Make sure you do a coat of mod podge over any additions to your jars.

You can use anything to light them.  Being glass, candles will work.  You can also use battery operated tea lights (I have heard that you can get them at the dollar store 2 in a pack).  I have them all lined up so using a string of lights is easiest.  Usually I will use white but apparently those were like in the bottom of the Christmas box and not so easy for Charlie to get, so we used multicolored instead and they worked fine.

For some reason my pictures of these jars didn't turn out as good as the ones I took of the Christmas jars last year, but you get the general idea.

We had a Halloween party with our local natural families group (love those guys!!).  The kids always have a ball!  We had pinatas, crafts, games, lots of goodies (we made halloween shaped sugar cookies).  Thank goodness we have friends with large houses and generous hearts who are willing to host our bi-weekly gatherings and potlucks (which can sometimes get VERY large).

 Xian (monster) Arah (ninja) Ever (lake monster) Piper (witch) and Thrace (giraffe) 

and our homemade skeleton man (made with PVC pipes, we got info from the Family Fun website)

Hope YOU have a great Fall season!!