Montessori Beginnings

Tonight I visited Mountain Laurel Montessori School in Front Royal for a talk on their program Montesori Beginnings. This looks like a great resource for area families looking for an alternative educational/parenting community.

From their website: Montessori Beginnings is a gathering of parents or caregivers with infants and toddlers from 8 weeks to 3 years of age. It is a cheerful, relaxed environment that is scaled to the comfort of very young children. Beautiful toys and handmade materials entice babies to manipulate and discover, leading to coordination of movement and refinement of senses. Movement mats, balance beams, mirrors, and more encourage babies to joyfully crawl, creep, cruise, and walk independently. Parenting issues are discussed individually as well as in small groups, providing support to new parents from those who have "been there." Home consultations, observation/reflection journals, weekly educational handouts, and special events are all included in this program.

Montessori Beginnings meets on Friday morninngs, 9:30-11:00
Classes begin September 18, 2009!
3 Sessions are offered throughout the year.

Birth Matters!

Last night I attended the Birth Matters Winchester meeting. What an awesome resource this group has become! It was great to see so many familiar faces and make new friends. Last night's topic was "Meet the Midwives." It was super surreal for me to be on the other side of this conversation as a newly licensed midwife. Next month Celeste Youngblood, a local doula and homebirthin' mama, will lead the group in a labor simulation, offering coping techniques for contractions and the time in between. You can read more about Birth Matters and get information about upcoming meeting dates, time and location on their website:

http://www.birthmattersva.org/winchester/

Tree of Life

I sure do wish I had a better camera to capture the beauty of this amazing placenta, delivered by a homebirthing mama earlier this week. This photo really doesn't do it justice. The vessels were otherworldly and beautiful.

The Origin of the World

I had the pleasure today of viewing Jessica Clements' MFA thesis exhibition: The Origin of the World. I was dazzled by Jessica's amazing work. Here's a pic of Desiree and I posing with Jessica's painting depicting her first birth, which I had the privilege of attending in the midwife assistant's role. You have to see the paintings in person to truly experience how powerful they are. Jessica's work will be on exhibit at George Mason University, in the Johnson Center, until October 16th.

Check out www.jessicaclements.com/paintings/ for more images from the show.

~Welcome Baby~

This beautiful boy was waiting for the full moon to arrive..all 9 lbs 10 oz of him! Love those chunky little legs.

~*Celebration*~

After 13 years, my dream of becoming a Certified Professional Midwife has been realized! I am forever grateful to my teachers, especially Peggy Franklin, my senior midwife, for the gift of her knowledge. Peggy and I are posing with the card she gave me that says: Aimee Fairman, CPM! Many thanks to my sister midwives~your faith in me brought me great comfort as I navigated the certification process. Thank you Tammi, Desiree, Kim, Peggy and Leigh Ann for coming out to help me celebrate, and for the awesome gift and dinner!

Exam Day

Last week was a very exciting week for me, as I successfully completed the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) Skills Assessment Examination. Here's a pic of me at my exam site, with my NARM paperwork, after a long day of testing. What a relief to have the Skills Exam behind me! Thank you to Trinlie Wood, CPM and Lori Orme, CPM for their kindness during the process. (And to baby Zen and the sweet mama who were there so that I could demonstrate my skills.) Onward!