Tori's Blog

  • My Personal Reinvention: Part 1 (of 3)

    Sunday, December 6th, 2009

    Alexander & I in Wyoming this summer

    I seem to have had a revelation today. And that is that if I am to truly write a blog, it is going to have to be completely genuine (which it has been), but what that really means is that it has to be so much more than just a pregnancy and new baby information source. Pregnancy and birth are truly such a huge part of anything I think about or write, but the truth is, it isn’t everything.

    I have...

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  • Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Long Weekend

    Sunday, November 29th, 2009

    DownloadedFileI am thankful for so many things. Enjoying time with family, friends and loved ones is, of course, so important. We enjoyed that very much. We also spent time with and helped feed our community in San Francisco who don’t have as much as we do.

    What is also really important is something we just don’t get enough of … just plain downtime. We slept in, we saw two movies, we played ALOT of Monopoly® . Did you know that owning...

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  • Parenting Memories – Anna Quindlen’s Essay Is True For Us All

    Monday, November 23rd, 2009

    headshotAs we approach Thanksgiving I have thought about what to say about being thankful. The idea became crystal clear when I received an email from my good friend Tam in Oregon. My friend Tam, who has a four month old baby, and whom I don’t talk to or see nearly enough (through my own ridiculous doing). Lucky for me I will see her over the holiday.

    She sent an article that I have seen numerous times before . It is written...

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  • Good Shoulder Report

    Friday, November 20th, 2009

    Just a quick note to say that my shoulder is healing really well. The pain is MUCH better and I will not be having surgery just now. I may in fact do it in the future because it may not heal 100% but it will be something I can then plan for.

    For the moment I will have Physical Therapy and wear the shoulder sling. Thank you all for your kind get well wishes.

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  • Pain

    Saturday, November 14th, 2009

    index_pain Pain is such an interesting  and complex subject. For so many reasons. How it feels is entirely personal,  it has some cultural influence, and how we deal with it is greatly affected by our previous experiences, our level of exhaustion, our state of mind and what kind of support we have.

    Personally, I am thinking of pain in great detail this week because I am fully in the face of it. The MRI I had on Thursday shows that I have truly...

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  • Uh Oh… No Time For an Injury

    Sunday, November 8th, 2009

    I hurt my arm. My shoulder, actually. I mean really hurt it. I slipped down the stairs, on a normal morning (last Friday) and bam, an entire series of repercussions have appeared. I instinctively put my arm down to brace my fall and landed on it, straight down on my hand with my elbow locked. The culprit was a rather large duck — a dog toy that was on the staircase.

    Buster and Roxie with the Evil Duck Toy

    Roxie and Buster with the Evil Duck Toy

    So here I...

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  • Indelible Bonds

    Monday, November 2nd, 2009

    1111655_family_with_newborn_2 I’d like to share with you what it feels like to be so much a part of a family’s birth experience that an almost immediate and indelible bond forms. One that becomes forever etched in each of us. Birth is always magical for me but as with many things, some experiences are more powerful than others. Here is my story from last Tuesday.

    Elena and David were expecting their first baby and came in for a labor induction as Elena was...

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  • Celebrity Scientists? I Don’t Think So

    Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

    amy_tuteur1218486038

    I get fired up about things. Those closest to me definitely know this. Those I often meet for the first time, quickly learn this. I teach Alexander that his passions and his beliefs matter. And that having his own thoughts and opinions, regardless of who agrees with them, are much better than having none at all. So what am I getting to?

    Amy Tuteur is an OB/GYN whom I’ve been following for some time. I like her very much because she...

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  • Taking A Minute

    Saturday, October 24th, 2009

    Stickies & Pencil I have found that by the time I sit down long enough (which is so frequently in the night) to write about what passes through my head during the day, I am tired. My thoughts seem less interesting and certainly are less coherent. I suspect, like all parents who make their children their primary focus, that I am not the only one for whom this is true.

    So, in my tired state, I want to share my appreciation for how hard we,...

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  • Interesting Birth Facts

    Sunday, October 18th, 2009

    ist1_3342273-bright-red-umbrella-with-pathIn the last week, we have had rainfall that we aren’t ready for quite yet. My little town got 5 inches less than a week ago and yesterday roads and portions of the 101 were shut down from flooding. Our mom/baby center was bustling and, as I said out loud yesterday afternoon, “of course it is, it is raining.” This made me think about all the “truths” we accept, whether or not they actually have any merit to them. Since...

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