Parenting Primer: Ten ways to connect with your child for Spring in San Jose

Parenting Primer: Ten ways to connect with your child for Spring in San Jose

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Pregnancy101: Looking good and feeling gorgeous!

Pregnancy101: Looking good and feeling gorgeous!

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#MagnificentMondays#9: Power, passion and purpose!

Quote of the Week:Possunt quia posse videnture.

Rumination: They can because they think they can. This is a time of year in which renewal and more light reveal what is inside our minds and hearts. This is a time of projects, workshops, trainings and all sorts of improvements to both home and self. This is the time when our passions have the power to move us with purpose! Harnass this power and start getting behind those self-improvement projects which most speak to you! Show the world that you stand out from the pack as a proud pink panda! If you think it, you will achieve it once you believe it! P3 power!

Mantra: Power, passion, purpose plus perserverance provide plenty.

Recipe: A Sunny Chicken Curry to gladden the Heart!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

1/2 teaspoon white sugar

salt to taste

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup plain yogurt

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Saute onion until lightly browned.

Stir in garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt.

Continue stirring for 2 minutes.

Add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove bay leaf, and stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

Simmer 5 more minutes.

Serve with basmati or jasmine rice.
Nutritional Information Amount Per Serving Calories: 313 Total Fat: 21.7g Cholesterol: 38mg
Nutritional InformationIndian Chicken Curry IIServings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 313
Total Fat: 21.7g Cholesterol: 38mg Sodium: 268mg Total Carbs: 14g Dietary Fiber: 3.8g Protein: 19.1g

Exercise: Gentle stretching
1. Sit on the floor.

2. Stretch legs out in front of you.

3. Gently and slowly reach arms out towards the toes.

4.A stretch of the muscles should be felt.

5. Hold without forcing the position for 15 seconds.

6. Release.

7. Repeat 2 more times.

Salutations: It is the time of year when Mother Earth is preparing to show off a whole new look. Taking a cue from her, we should be doing the same!

Bis vivit qui bene vivit,

Doula Angelita

San Jose's Community Doula
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Go Red! for Women Weekly Digest 0312

Last week, it was strongly advised that you visit www.goredforwomen.org/hearthealth and enter your numbers. Within approximately ten minutes, you will have your own personal set of numbers and risk factors for heart disease. With this information comes the power and responsibility needed for change.

In your hands, this checkup becomes a weapon against impairment or death. Contemplate the results. How do they make you feel? What can you learn from them? What questions do they provoke?Most importantly, what will you do with these pieces of information?

Here are some pieces of information to help you to decipher your pathway:

1. Total cholesterol levels should be lower than 200, better if below 150.

2. The LDL(lousycholesterol) ought to be below 100 and closer to 70.

3. The HDL(good cholesterol) ought to be above 45 for men, 55 for women.

4. Triglyceride levels ought to be below 150

5. Blood pressure should be around 120/80.

6. The four best health practices are: activity, diet, stressbusters, quitting smoking.

This is why the diet and exercise topic came up last week. Why? These are the two areas in which all of us have crucial input. We buy our own food and are responsible for our own locomotion. Therefore, the power is in our hands to fight off heart disease!

GO RED! FOR WOMEN HEART HEALTH CHECKLIST 0312:
1. Start taking a multivitamin.
2. Begin eating 3-5 vegetables and fruits daily.
3. Make an appointment with the doctor/followup appointment and get started with a PLAN to care for your heart!

With every heartfelt desire for your success, and
From my heart to yours,
Doula Angelita

Heart Health Ambassador

San Jose American Heart Association

Life's Lessons: Fire! or, Don't do things when you are tired

Life's Lessons: Fire! or, Don't do things when you are tired

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Back to Sleep Campaign to reduce SIDS

SIDS is a leading cause of infant death. Though the exact causes are not known, everything from genetic predisposition to biological failure are being investigated. SIDS is something that every parent should be on guard about and have a heightened awareness of.

Here are seven tips from the Back to Sleep Campaign to reduce the risk of SIDS-related death:

*Always place baby on back for sleeping, even for a nap.

*Place your baby on a firm surface which supports the whole body.

*Remove soft and fluffy bedding and toyps from the sleeping area of the baby.

*Make sure the baby's face and head remain uncovered during sleep.

*Do not smoke or allow smoking in the house with the baby.

*Do not let the baby become too warm nor the room during the time the baby is sleeping.

*Alert and post these guidelines for all the baby's childcare providers, grandparents/relatives, babysitters and all other caregivers to be aware and to combat SIDS risk.

Caring for a newborn is a tough job but these guidelines make it a little easier!

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Doula Angelita is a trident doula/parenting coach/nutrition guide/women's advocate located in sunny San Jose, CA. She writes on everything and can be reached at sanjosecommunitydoula@gmail.com.

Follow her on Twitter: @sanjosedoula1

Safely Surrendered Baby Law, California

This past weekend, another tragic incident of baby abandonment led to the needless death of a newborn whose mother gave birth at a party and dumped the child into the garbage. What makes this story even worse: the baby was put into the garbage steps away from a designated surrender site. In the interests of education and in the hopes of preventing such tragedy from occurring in future, here are the salient points of California's Safely Surrendered Baby Law:
1. What is the Safely Surrendered Baby Law?
It is a confidential way of safely surrendering a newborn to proper authorities, without penalty nor prosecution, within 72 hours of the child's birth.
2. Who can surrender the newborn?
The parents or legal guardians can surrender the infant at the designated surrender locations.
3. Where are the surrender locations?
Newborns may be taken to public or private hospitals, firestations, certain churches, and other locations indicated by the Safely Surrendered Baby sign affixed prominently.
4. What happens when the baby is surrendered?
When the newborn is safely surrendered at a hospital, there are no questions asked. The newborn is given medical treatment, placed in a foster home or pre-adoptive home. At the time of surrender at a hospital, the baby is tagged. The surrendering party is given an identical bracelet, in case they wish to become reunited with the child within fourteen days.
5. How much time is allotted if the surrendering party changes her/is mind?
From the time and date of the surrender to a full and uninterrupted fourteen days later is the time allotted to reunite with the baby.
6. What is the age of the child that is to be surrendered?
The scope of the Safely Surrendered Baby Law enables the parent/legal guardian of any newborn to surrender the child within three days of birth.
This, of course, does NOT mean that infanticide is in order if on the fourth day, the ninth day, the fiftieth day, etc. it is found that parenthood is too much to handle. In these cases, the best case scenario is to surrender the child(ren) to a hospital, fire station, police station, church, synagogue, mosque, social service agency....anyplace where they will be cared for and SAFE.
7. Why is this law useful?
No shame. No blame. No names. The baby is enabled to live free from the dangers of freezing to death, being attacked by wild animals, suffocation in a plastic bag, bleeding to death from internal injuries, etc. The parent is freed from criminal child abandonment charges and the legal prosecution that naturally attends. In addition, the parent is often reviled and shunned, especially in cases when the media is involved.
The focus of the Safely Surrendered Baby Law is to provide parents with a way to gracefully, sanely, and humanely give their newborn a chance a life while giving themselves the time and space necessary to wrestle with their inner turmoil. In view of this, it is urged that all who are involved with those who do not wish to accept the rigours of parenthood at this time, safely and securely surrender their child following these parameters.




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DOULA ANGELITA, San Jose's Community Doula, is a designated Baby Safe Haven Maven*TM. She works with parents where they are, has a wide variety of experiences, and is not interested in passing judgement, only at giving newborns a chance of life.

DOULA ANGELITA is a trident doula/parenting coach/nutrition guide/women's advocate who lives and works in sunny San Jose, CA but who answers the call of birth from wherever it comes.

DOULA ANGELITA can be reached: sanjosecommunitydoula@gmail.com, @sanjosedoula1=TWITTER

If you are thinking about abandoning your newborn, contact DOULA ANGELITA first.