Blog

Close your eyes right now and feel the relaxation in the best cuddle you've had. Perhaps it was when you were cuddling someone or when they were cuddling you. Either way, do you remember the feelings it brought up?

Maybe you felt tired, relaxed, safe, secure, protected/protective, grounded, quiet, peaceful, loved/loving, etc.

Today is International Kangaroo Care Day. I get emails, notices, posts and all sorts of reminders that we have a day to celebrate this important type of cuddling. Sometimes the reminders are fun, some are triggering. I have to be mindful for my own health so I don't fall down a rabbit hole that hasn't yet been completely healed. 

The piece I'm always grateful for with these reminders is having the capacity to learn from what has happened and what I can do about it. 

I had a video come through where Julie and John Gottman were on a talkshow sharing their knowledge about hugs. They said that with either a 6 second kiss or a 20 second hug, we secrete oxytocin and i...

Exhaustion.
Fatigue.
Overwhelm.

These words probably bring weight to your body and images to your mind of a time, perhaps presently, when you have been overloaded with what's happening around you. 

Recently I have felt these things and my body decided to tell me to take a break the only way it knew how, by giving me a cold. 

I believe that when you are overwhelmed and frustrated with the events, people or things around you, you have a new opportunity. An moment in time when you can choose something different than trudging along your current path. 

Whether it's a new point of view, a new feeling you allow, a new direction you take with your heart or your car, or whatever... there is a opportunity to choose something different.

How do you get to the point of seeing your options? 
Well, you practice.

It takes time and some effort in order to get into the habit of seeing all of the options in front of you when you're exhausted and just done. It is never impossible, it's just practice.

So many times you may feel you're going in the right direction because of what you thought or what you decided to do and yet it doesn't really feel like the correct way to go. For some reason there's hesitation, you might be having more questions and inner dialogue inside of you, and you want to step forward but you are a having a tough time proceeding.

Are you assuming that you are going in the right direction?
Or
Did you ask all the pertinent questions that you could in the moments you needed to?

I remember times in the NICU when I was assuming things - like what time Skye was going to have more blood work done or that his little stomach wasn't handling the amount of milk they were pumping into the tubes so he would just spit it up. I was angry.

Looking back I know now that I didn't always ask questions. I would either get upset with anger that would come out as tears or I would have a bit of a fit in my husband's company and then he would go and ask the questions. He was always so ...

When too many things keep coming at you, what do you do? How do you cope? Where do you turn?

All too often as a parent in the NICU, there is a ton of stuff coming at you. Information from and about:

Nurses
Surgeons
Neonatologists
Blood needs to be taken
Vitals are needed constantly
Diapering with cords
Holding in and out of the incubator
Pumping
Feedings
Breathing
... and the list continues, but this isn't including the things that you as the parent needs!

You will deal with these things slightly differently than I did and the next parent over will deal with them in their own way too. The concern comes up when you get overloaded and can't see or hear straight anymore.

It's become too much.

When information, issues, unexpected turns, and your own health issues come at you all at once, what are you supposed to do?

Story: (may be triggering)
When Skye's brain surgery was a few days away I started getting really sick. I couldn't eat and was pumping and depleting myself every day. This turned ba...

What are the things you forget to do this time of year for yourself?

My video today is about bringing back those tools and replenishing moments in order to ground yourself and be more who you want to be in these days.

Happy Holidays my friend.
Have a listen and be good to yourself.

Can you revisit a magical memory in order to build yourself up again in the moment?

When a person is in the thick of their own lives and the lives of their baby's and people around them, they can't always remember how they got there and the work that has been done.

The point of holding memories is to learn and grow and become a better version of yourself all the time in order to make the world a better place with each and every moment.

So can tapping into the old memories that hold Love, joy, excitement and pleasure bring those emotions to us in the moments when we're not joyful, feeling Loved or feeling a bit stuck?

YES!

The short answer is Yes!

I have to believe that we hold these things within us, our minds and our bodies, so that we can build out from the stuff that others have put on us as we grow.

Now, some of this stuff from others is not very nice. Most of it did not have malicious intent. Those actions were coming from what those adults and guardians thought was the bes...

How are you doing?

Do you believe that I really and truly want to know? I do want to know, yet others use it as a simple greeting.

When I hear that question being asked, or have it asked of me, I sometimes ponder if it's a genuine wonderment from the person asking. 

I'm sure it could be, but sometimes the person who asked it doesn't actually want to know the real answer. The answer could have elements in it that the receiver might not know how to handle, not want to hear or be too rushed to spend the proper time on with you. (This happened often when we were in the NICU with Skye. Too tough for some people to fathom - heartfelt, but uncomfortable.)

And then there are those dangerous answers too like: "Fine." "Alright." "Okay." If someone answers with these I often offer a space to say more because the one word answers can contain a lot behind them.

Those answers roll off the tongue and don't seem to have any substance, but you and I both know we have a ton of substance because the...

Honouring yourself and what your needs are is not always an easy task. You're a parent, a caregiver, a child, a partner, a worker, a grandchild and much more I'm sure. Those who need you the most are your children because they are the ones learning from you and teaching you every day.

The close runner-up to being the first to need you, is You.

I'm a culprit of forgetting this and sometimes life takes over and makes me stop.

That's what happened over the last few weeks, I got really sick and my body made me stop physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually for a while.

At first the break was all about not getting worse and actually sleeping a lot.
Then is was about getting better in case my Skye or Scott got sick - which I quickly learned, I can't force myself to get better, it's just about doing what you can while you feel like crap. :)

The next stage for me was realizing I had time to rest and to think. My spirit finally came back through to me consciously and asked me "...

So many times we take our breath, our lungs and our body for granted and recently I've had a lot of conversations around anxiety and having too much going on.

Interestingly enough, when I ask what people are doing to care for themselves they often don't say breathing.

Now I know it's easy to say to take a breath and not always easy to remember it in the moments you need it, however, if you practice while you're in a good headspace then remembering the tools when you need them will come more naturally.

In this vlog, I remind you of some ways to use breath as a tool with Box breathing, Belly breathing and Back breathing.

You may have heard of all these, you may not have. Either way, remember yourself and how you can care for your body that takes so much good care of you all the time.

Love you tons!
Leanne Rose 

Being able to look at your child's abilities and be able to interpret them for the child's needs turns into how you can better support them at home and at play. It also helps you lead others to support the child along their journey.

When Skye was four days old at 9 weeks early, the doctors and specialists told us he wouldn't walk and he wouldn't talk.
When Skye was 3 weeks old, they told us he was scheduled for brain surgery. (He never had the surgery.)
When our wee man was being released from the NICU, they told us not to get our hopes up, but he's doing great! 

How was I supposed to process all of those other people's thoughts and words at me, as well as what we were going through AND now taking him home and worrying about keeping him with us?

As a NICU Mom the struggles are real. The overwhelm still happens all the time and the unknowns are constant.

Skye is now 8 ("and a half Mama!" Skye always says to me) and he talks like a teenager and walks like a champion! Why? 

Miracles. 
H...