Hey everyone thanks for all the love and support you have been sending our way. Someday I will get around to personal responses to e-mails as for now……..

Today it has been 8 weeks since we had Owen Trinity Page enter into our world and he has been rocking it ever since. He went on his first hike this week. However our lifestyle has shifted and with it our perception of time and what has higher importance in the moment. Nothing has a sense of urgency anymore because we know we have the rest of our lives to do it. I have healed, recovered and adjusted to my new full time job. The perks I have discovered are I am finally my own boss, I can take family vacations, the payment is far more rewarding than money, I get to enjoy each moment of life with my son and husband, there is so much to smile and laugh about and it is the most important job in the world!!!! Who knew motherhood was the job I had been looking for all these years. Yes, it has been a huge adjustment but we are so happy and grateful to have this precious son who looks up at us with the purest of love and trust. We cannot stop smiling. He just creates this radiant glow of joy that even strangers can’t help but want to partake in, everyone loves a baby.

Tim has adjusted to fatherhood quite well from day one he was taking good care of both of us while I rested and healed and he hasn’t stopped helping with chores and meals. He seems to have multi-tasking with Owen down while I am still a bit slow at that one. Most of all I love watching and hearing him singing to Owen. I also think he is the better cloth diaper changer, he is quite good at wrapping so that it seals and there aren’t so many blow outs.

All in all I think we are getting the hang of this parent thing and of course we are biased and proud of our son….I mean come on he can blow bubbles already……wink, wink. But most of all we are very grateful to have a healthy and happy son. He is so content with the world he wakes up smiling. Loves to check things out and let out coo’s and screams of joy as he tries to use his voice. He only cries when he is hungry or wet or tired. Even then that is cute with his little pout faces. I always heard parents saying they grow so fast and well I can now testify to that. At two months I am amazed at how much he has grown and developed. So I guess I should stop now because I might ramble and ramble and sound a bit like a proud parent or something. Just wanted to do a quick up-date and let people know the full name and see some pictures. Hope you guys are all doing well and find yourself with friends and family for the up and coming holidaze. Much love to you all. Oh and here is a quick poem from my “Notes from the Nursery” journal, love the Page family.

Mobil Magick

It begins with music

This Mobil magick

Is really quite fantastic

I could never get a fill of my Mobil

it wiggles I giggle

It spins and I grin

It’s a dream and I scream

At the joy of this toy!

Breast are the Best

They are there when I awake

And put them to the test

I love to be nestled

Right up against the chest

When I go back to rest

Because………. Well

Breasts are the Best.

This story begins at 1am on Friday Sept. 18. Well it actually began about ten months ago in a cabin in the woods with lots of snow around. But on the 18th Natalie had her first signs of an imminent birth day. She’d been having minor “surges” all week and we knew the time was near when I headed to work that Thursday night. Natalie called me about 1:30 (I work overnight shifts) and told me that I should get my on-call guy prepped. We decided we would both try and get some more rest and that I would come home near sunrise.

Natalie got a little rest and I had a client wake me up at 3am and basically with that and my excitement I really didn’t get any restful sleep. Natalie called me again around 5am and let me know that contractions had started but that she was handling them well and that if possible I should pick up some biscuits and gravy on my way home. The Old Town Café opens at 6:30am and agreed to have some biscuits and gravy ready at 6:30, perfect! My relief showed up at 6am I hopped on my bike and pedaled to Old Town where I waited outside for a very, very long 15 minutes. Finally they opened the doors and I picked up the Breakfast and headed home.

When I arrived Natalie was reclining in bed listening to whale songs and meditating. She said she was happy to have had the alone time to find her own strength and go inward and tap into her own womanly energy and focus.All morning we

enjoyed time together talking, timing and taking notes on the contractions. Natalie was so confident and focused it was hard for me to know what to do for her. It felt like anything I offered might just break her perfectly natural meditative breathing.

By early afternoon Natalie was having leg pain so we called our Doula Hayley over and got her in the tub to see if it would help. After an hour or so in the tub we decided Natalie should try and walk around some. Contractions had been progressing steadily, getting closer together that is, but when she got out of the tub they spiked some and jumped to 3minutes apart and were very intense. Haley got behind Natalie and pushed in on her hips with both hands to provide some counter-pressure, this provided some welcome relief to the escalating contractions. This counter-pressure became a vital element of our support efforts. Natalie says it made a huge difference for her. This was all around 4:00 or so in the afternoon.

We got Natalie Back in the bathtub to see if contractions would ease back off again, when they continued at about 3 minutes apart we decided it was probably time to head to the Birth Center. Natalie stayed in the tub with Hayley supporting her while I gathered our many things. The

cooler was stuffed with fresh squeezed juices from our friend Heather, home-made calzones for microwaving, fresh fruit, various flavors of popsicle ice cubes, champagne, and some crazy oxygenated water things, and then there were the snacks in the suitcase. Cookies, jerky, granola-bars, ramen, trail mix. One might have thought we were going camping or something. Of course if you know Natalie you might know that she keeps these dry goods pretty close at hand all the time anyway. Somehow I think our overpreparedness allowed Natalie to feel confident and have less to trouble her mind, nonetheless we barely used any of the stuff we

brought but it was there just in case, that's what mattered.

Once I had everything in the car we got Natalie geared up for the ride and made our way to the car. She had several contractions on the way to the car and was able to just lean on me while Hayley or I pushed in on her hips. Once I drove us very slowly to the Hospital. It wasn’t like the race you might see in the movies because, of course, she was so vulnerable I just

wanted to drive as gingerly as possible.

We arrived at the birth center at 5:50pm, Eloisa, one of our attending midwives, checked for

dilation. Natalie was at 4cm, not as much as we’d hoped, but was 80% effaced so a lot of the hard work was done. We immediately got her in the tub where she leaned over the side and I held her from the other side of the tub.

Eventually I got in the tub and there was a little seat where I could sit high

er and she could lean against me with her arms over my forearms or thighs. Later I got all the way down in the tub so that Natalie could recline against me and push against my hands or knees with each contraction. From this position I felt like I could really lead her breathing, groaning Ohm, and relaxing between contractions largely by example. Hayley and the midwives kept offering ice and the cold rag and advice on keeping vocal tones low. Contractions eased up a little and I told her she was over the false summit, i.e. transition, the baby had really dropped and the bag of waters was bulging out with each contraction. She was able to rest better between contractions sometimes sleeping even. So, after much incredible, beautiful, hard work by Natalie our little boy was born with Natalie in my arms at 8:30pm on Friday Sept. 18th.

Katriona, another attending Midwife, lifted him to Natalie’s chest.

We enjoyed a few minutes together in the tub. I got out and changed but Natalie stayed in the tub holding him for some time. After the cord had stopped pulsing I cut it at around 8:45. Soon after, Natalie was reclining in bed holding him and beginning breast-feeding. After we had some alone time as a family, measurements were taken: 9#6oz., 20.5inches long. What a success! It’s now been three days and we’re feeling more blessed with each moment. Natalie and the baby are learning to feed and napping lots.

Will Brew for Baby...

On Father's Day Natalie assured me I was already a father and that I should celebrate a little. I feel that I may not be fully deserving of the title until I too am losing sleep and changing some diapers or something. So far my part has been limited to being supportive, going to our classes, assisting in exercises and helping lift things.





Personally I’ve been doing things to prepare for fatherhood, like brewing beer! If I’m still preparing that must mean I’m not all the way there yet, right? We, early on, decided we would do some trimester home brewing. During the first trimester Natalie was craving apples so we decided to brew a batch using apples. We found a recipe for a Belgian Abbey Ale, we added apples and we now have a tasty Apple Abbey ale. Unfortunately, this means the name Abbey is out of the question because we’d hate to tell our kid we named her after a beer.




The second batch we brewed is a maize ale. We chose it because it is light and something different and probably a good summer beer. It was also a fairly fast beer to ferment, etc. We wanted to make sure that it was ready for the move to our new house. We plan on having a little shindig following our move. We’d like to reward our friends and family with homebrew and tasty eats for their help with the move. Our good friend Dan has very generously lent us his brewing equipment and helped us with the brewing. He has kegs that we used for the beer but, don’t worry we bottled a little so Natalie can have some down the road when it is safe for her to be drinking. Currently, as you probably guessed, she is not drinking. Dan will be in Alaska when we move and drink the beers so he and I had to have a taste of the Apple Abbey while we were brewing the Maize Ale. Quite Good!



The past two or three months have been rather hectic for me personally. We were short-staffed at work so I was able to pick up a lot of extra hours. This was beneficial financially but was challenging for me. Part of the challenge was having all the pressures of the home buying process peaking simultaneously. The home purchase requirements have subsided now and I’ve now gotten a schedule that should be ideal and will really allow me some time to focus on family needs. We are very close to completing this home purchase but are at a pivotal point in the next couple days. So send some good vibes toward the banks today and tomorrow. I know that may be hard to do these days but that’s what we’re up to.

As you can see from the photos Natalie is getting larger. That’s a good thing! She has been plugging away at packing, writing children’s books, exercising, eating healthy and volunteering. She finished teaching her fire dancing class last Friday and will not start another class up. It seems her belly can get in the way of the fire. Maybe not the best situation!Nonetheless, she has been amazing through this whole string of busy times and has managed to keep herself focused on nutrition, exercise and mental health.

We hope all of you are doing well and look forward to sharing

more than a fat belly with you. Like maybe some Beer, HAHA!

Much Love, Tim, Nat, Ruby, Singer and Squishy Feet!

Spokane Baby Shower

On April 18th I was surrounded by friends and family. What a great feeling of support and love! I never thought a baby shower could be so fun! Yes there was some quality girl bonding time and even a few tears from mommy as she opened sentimental

gifts. Not to mention lots of laughing as mommy tried to figure out how to use such new and foreign concepts. Some seemed mommy proof rather than child proof. Point is it was a great time had. Thanks to all of you who showed or sent your thoughts to us. I am working on writing the thank-you notes on some cards that my sister in law made (she makes and sells them if you are ever interested) so know they will come someday in May or June.
Going green is the way to go. Judging from some of the gifts our child will already be an environmentalist, world traveler and an organic baby. We have received a good chunk of what we need and it is mostly used!!!!! So we are going to have a green baby after all!!!! I have also up-dated our wish list and taken off stuff we now have. There is still a shower in Bellingham that will happen sometime this summer.

So now we have to move so that we have room to put all the baby stuff! I am kidding (kind of). However we are planning on moving when our lease is up in June or July. Keep your fingers crosses for us, we are hoping to buy a home and working with a community land trust group. They strive to keep housing affordable for people like Tim and I. We just got confirmation yesterday that they have some grants available for us. We walked out of the office quite grateful and star struck with the possibilities that are now going to be available for us. So as you can see it will be a busy summer just before the baby is born.

As far as baby development I now have a belly that sticks out more than my breasts. I guess you really know that you are pregnant when you have strangers asking and cute little ten year old girls at the pool talking to you about being pregnant. Our child is moving around a lot now days and Tim has even been able to feel the movements with his hand. We are past the half way mark already. For some reason I thought nine months would be a long time???? We just started taking our birthing classes. We have chosen to use the Bradley Method. They focus on the natural birthing method and understanding the female body and how it is naturally equipped for childbirth. They have me doing all kinds of good exercises so that my body will be ready to help with the birthing process.


Key Notes: The most important thing is to never lie on your back!!!!! Yup it inhibits your tailbone and pelvis from moving so the baby can pass through easily plus your uterus is working against gravity instead of with it!

The other cool thing about this class is we are excited to meet other parents to be. Who also have the same hobbies and due dates as us!!!
Well that is it for now, thanks for following along with us and Happy Sweet Smelling Spring to you all. Thank goodness it is finally here!

Just a little update! 

Natalie is progressing normally with the pregnancy, as am I. By normally mean she is eating about every hour and measuring her circumference even more regularly. Furthermore, Natalie continues to take time to meditate, exercise and generally put hers and the baby’s health ahead of mine. This is all well and good, I want my wife and child to be healthy. But surprisingly, I’m getting a little tired of being forced to eat all the junk food, beer and non-organic plastic wrapped stuff that comes through our doors. Yes I’m sure you all heard that we are having a “Green Baby” but what you didn’t hear is who’s really getting the leftover untouchables. Poor Poor Me. I’m kidding of course. 

Life is good here. This month I am working many extra hours filling in for a co-worker, and am getting a new schedule with more hours starting next month. That said we are feeling very encouraged about the coming months. In the meantime I am playing a lot on my biking and gearing up for climbing season. Natalie, as you might have guessed, is soaking up lots of sun when it comes and is focusing on relaxation and health. I’m very proud of her progress in the recent months. It’s been a real treat to have her in such a healthy space these days. It’s been long time and she deserves this healthy time and something new to look forward to. In the meantime she continues to work on writing projects, is taking a writing class and will soon be teaching her second round of a Poi Fire Dancing class. 

Today we had our first and possibly our only Ultrasound. I doubt if we’ll have another. At this point we got confirmation that there is a living breathing thing in there. It has a face, a healthy heart, feet, hands, diaphragm, spine all that good stuff. So, we are encouraged and grateful for a good report. We chose not to find out the gender and the Sonagrapher did a good job of keeping it from us. We had decided that we were both kind of indifferent as to when we found out but decided to stick with our original plan to wait it out. That’s all the news for now I guess.

 

P.S. I decided to make my own baby shower list. You know things that will be important for the Father’s part of the child rearing. 

· Infant climbing shoes and harness
· Infant Bike Helmet
· Infant Bike Gloves
· Biking Body Armor new helmet (daddy breadwinner can’t be getting hurt now!)
· Doggie Saddle (I figure the kid can ride Ruby on rides with me until it’s big enough for a bike)
· Climbing Harness (daddy breadwinner can’t be getting hurt now!)
Well you get the picture! 
Love to All, 
Tim and Nat

First trimester up-date

Wow that went fast! I am already three months pregnant….when I first found out it seemed like nine months would be a long time to prepare. Now it seems like three months just flew by! I have to say that so far I have been very lucky. No morning sickness just some nausea and tiredness, which is to be expected. The only craving I had was for dried apples they seemed to help with the nausea but apple juice would create nausea. Exercise has also been key.

We have over whelmed ourselves with parenting and pregnancy books and are kinda taking a break from them right now. I also learned not to read any of them before going to sleep because it just causes crazy dreams. However I have had some really cool magical baby dreams as well. Let’s just say that I think it is going to be a girl. And no we are not going to find out the sex until the birth day.

I love looking at my stomach in the mirror and watching it change! It is just amazing to be exploring how powerful and knowing your body becomes when pregnant. I have learned not to worry about “what if’s” since I have no control over those things and since my body knows what it is doing I just simply trust.

To celebrate the end of the first trimester we went for a 12 mile round trip bike ride along the interurban trail in Bellingham that took us to Clayton Beach. We were able to enjoy some sun while staring out at the San Juan Islands and feasting on yummy food. Tim bouldered around on some rocks while I just acted like it for the camera. Food has become a necessity every two hours. So then we treated ourselves to a local burger joint that has all natural hormone free burgers! Tim got to enjoy a nice beer and I got to buy some locally made ice cream to take home! The simple things in life are where it’s at!!!

So who knows what my cravings will be this trimester. I hear this is the best one for being active. Good thing it is Spring cause I am ready to be outside more often. We will keep you posted and look at the top right of this page for info on the up and coming baby shower in April.