Meet Stephanie!

Here's my official introduction!

Stephanie Brandt Cornais, is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Infant Massage Instructor, Happiest Baby on the Block Certified Instructor, Certified Doula, Certified Yoga Instructor, she has been trained and certified through Birthing From Within,  and Itsy Bitsy Yoga, she is a Reiki Master, and holds a BS in Environmental Science.

She started babysitting infants at age 11, and before becoming a mother herself, she was a Nanny for 5 years. Most of her time was spent with one family, taking care of two precious little girls, Ava and Ella, who are twelve months apart in age.  Ella is also her Goddaughter.

On 11.11.09, she finally became a Mother herself.  I say finally, because literally, she has been waiting to be a mother since she was 5 years old.  Penelope Nadyne Cornais (named after Stephanie's paternal grandmother) was born at home, in water and into her own two hands.  Although, she had the birth of her dreams, breastfeeding was extremely difficult and you can read more about it here.

Stephanie has always loved movement as a way to release and relax, starting with her early days as a dancer. Dance is what brought her to yoga at age 13. 

She loves to be creative and is a natural storyteller.   Both yoga and being creative have helped her heal old wounds, and she enjoys sharing her wisdom with women and mothers in our now global, online community.

Her desire is to help women and mothers create a truly supportive community in which to grow, learn and heal on every level; mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.

She used to do this through mentoring and helping women, by teaching her classes and owning her yoga studio and organic boutique.  Now, she inspires mama's here on the Mama and Baby Love website, while she is a work at home mama to Penelope, the love of her life.

She hopes that mama's find who they truly are through their own self-discovery process. She views birth and parenting as sacred, soul experiences that are opportunities for personal growth and exploration. She believes that the specific way in which we birth or raise children does not matter, but only that parents are present, conscious, mindful and bring unconditional love to each moment. 

Through this website she hopes she can help women and families be more present, looking within for answers. She also hopes to lead by example in regards to excercise, yoga, nutrition and overall health and wellness inspiring other mother's to be more concerned about their health and their children's health.

This Moment: Spring Break

When we went on our little family vacation during spring break we drove to Disney and then onto Miami to visit friends and family. Along the way down and up we stopped at a little surf spot about 30 minutes south of St. Augustine so Papa could surf.

These pictures melt my heart.  Her little sandy toes.  It reminds me how big her feet are getting.  I must do a foot stamp print soon!

She was so excited by the water.  She is such a water baby and wants to dive into water whenever she sees it.

Little surfer girl in the making.

Easter Wreath DIY

I did this wreath last Easter.  It was one of the first crafty things I did since Penelope was born.  I remember putting her in her bumbo and letting her play with an plastic egg and she watched me while I worked. Oh, what a difference a year makes!

It was really easy to make.  I bought a wreath from Michael's for a couple of bucks. I left the plastic wrap on the wreath, but it probably would have been cuter if I had wrapped in a colorful ribbon first and then hot glued the eggs to it.

Then I just picked a spot to start and started hot gluing eggs to the wreath.  I did the colors in a specific order and tried to line it up best I could, so that no two of the same colors were touching each other.

It probably took me 30 minutes to complete.  I was worried that it wouldn't be able to stand up to the elements outside or being tossed about while in storage, but it did great last year on the door and great all year in storage.  This year some of the eggs sort of opened up but they were easy to close back up.  And really you can't even tell unless you are up close.



I also thought I would show you a picture of this little decoration I have. I didn't make it, I bought it at Target a couple years ago the day after Easter for less than a dollar.



But it would be super easy to make!  You could cut out felt petals and hot glue it to the center circle of felt.  Then you could find the wooden letters and eggs at Michael's, pain them and then hot glue it all to a gross grain ribbon!

Yoga Mama's Way to Reduce Frustration

It's been a frustrating couple of days with Penelope being so sick. She has had two colds before this, but this Roseola really threw her for a loop and she was miserable for almost a week.  Constantly crying and cranky and wanting to be held and wanting to nurse all the time.  It reminded me of a colicky newborn who just cried. all. day. long.

By the end of the week, I was at the end of my rope, and several times I had to do some serious deep breathing to keep from screaming at her.  The urge to scream was so strong!  

On top of that, Peter and I are still at each other's throat's these days. So instead of having a doting partner, once she is asleep, to help restore me after a long day.  I have another battle to fight.

So Monday night, I dove into a bottle of red wine and a box of cookies.  That got me through the evening and Tuesday I was adamant about starting fresh and remembering and implementing healthier ways to reduce my frustration.

I remembered something my energy healer/therapist told me about before I even met Peter.  She told me to rip up newspapers or paper grocery bags as a way to process and release anger and frustration.

What triggered the memory, is I had just gone to the grocery store and forgot my cloth bags so I had 10 brown paper grocery bags in the kitchen.

So I took them all down and put on the floor of the kitchen.  I told Penelope we were going to play a game and that it was going to help Mama with her anger. I told her that I have lots of frustration pent up and that I needed to get it out!!

Then I started ripping the bags as loudly and dramatically I as I could!!

I was even grunting and was sighing heavily, to entertain Penelope and in an effort to get more of the pent up negative energy out.  Penelope helped and joined in too.  Mostly, she watched me very intently.

When I ripped every last bag, I rubbed my hands together and then shook them over the pile.  I told her that we are going to shake, shake shake our anger out!  There is a song she loves, called Shake, Shake Shake your sillies out, so she thought this part was awesome.

Then we did a couple of deep breaths and Om's and cleaned up our mess.  It made me feel better and I was happy to have used this opportunity to teach Penelope how to deal with her emotions.  I want her to know that its ok to be mad, but that it needs a constructive outlet so it doesn't get taken out on somebody else.

I still needed to do some yoga, and I was thankfully able to go to a yoga class that night.

It reminded me of my two favorite yoga poses for when I am about to loose it and need to calm down.

Child's Pose and Reclined Bound Angle Pose.  Both are what I consider "close circuit" poses.  What I mean by close circuit, is that your body becomes a sort of circle or loop, and the energy meridians have an opportunity to reboot, rebalance and realign your parasympathetic nervous system.

Child's pose is so easy, but it can be difficult for some people if they have tight hips.  In that case, you can spread your knees far apart or lift your pelvis up and put a blanket under  your bottom.  You can also  stack up blankets and put them underneath your chest and lean over them if you can't actually get your head to the floor.

You can have your arms outstretched in front for an additional shoulder stretch or down by your sides.  I think arms down by your sides is more restorative and more "closed circuit".

For Reclined Bound Angle Pose lie on your back and bring the soles of the feet together.  Your feet can be as close or as far away from your body as you want them.  You can place blankets under your back and under each knee for an even more restorative version.  Then place your hands over your stomach and clasp them together somehow that is comfortable for you.

Don't you love how I am doing yoga in the middle of a mess of toys.  You know its Mama Yoga when.

Then BREATHE.

Natural Remedies for Broken Bones

Phew! It's been a rough month for Penelope medically.  Is that not the saddest picture you have ever seen?  Oh, to see her in a cast, broke my heart.

First, she broke her arm.  Then she got diagnosed with mucosa contagiousum and recently a fever that has lasted more than three days.  I want to share, in three different posts, what I have done to help treat each issue as naturally as possible and hopefully it helps some of you out there in similar situations.

So for her broken arm:

She had a Buckle fracture in her right radius.  I am not even sure exactly how she did got it. None of her falls seemed particularly disastrous, and she falls on a near daily basis. She does seem much more fearless than other toddlers, but her falls still seemed pretty normal to me. Although post arm break, she does fall less, not sure if its from me and Peter making sure we had some sort of hold on her for awhile, no matter where she walked to and constantly saying "watch your feet!" or if she was just going through a clumsy/daredevil stage.

Only when I reached out to grab her hand to put soap in it, and she let out a scream, did I realize something was wrong.  Then I noticed that her wrist was swollen.   I don't know how long it was broken before I realized it.  The Dr' seems to think that I caught it within a couple of days if not 24 hours based on the swolleness being a immediate inflammatory response.   He also said that kids get this type of fracture all the time from falling down and breaking their fall by falling forward on their arms.  He said it often goes undiagnosed and heals on its own.

Now I know to check her arms for swelling after she falls.  

Once I noticed the swelling, I immediately packed her in the car and went to the ER. Well, first I had to get gas.  I will never let my car go past a quarter tank again.  If it had been some sort of real emergency, I would have been up Shit Creek without a paddle.

We got x-rays and that was probably more traumatic then the fall itself.  They were forcing her arm to stay still in a position that was obviously painful for her, on top of her being terrified of the huge x-ray machine. Not to mention all the radiation she got from the three x-rays. I also was holding her and there was no way for me to wear the safety jacket thing, and keep her in the correct position, so that sucked too.

She got a  temporary cast and we went to the orthopedic dr. a few days later and she got a real cast with a ace bandage for the top cover instead of another layer of cast, so I could remove it for bathing (and for once daily playing in the sand box, shhhhhh).

 She kept the cast on for three weeks.  Then when she took it off I was instructed to just watch how she was with her arm, if she was using it like normal and putting weight on it.  It seems to have healed perfectly.

We didn't do a follow up x-ray, her ortho dr. said that it wasn't needed.  Thank God.  Between her broken arm and her Atlas vertebre issues she had as a newborn, she has had a total of 5 x-rays.  Their is a debate whether radiation in your body is cumulative and it never goes away or if you can eliminate through various natural dexox methods. Either way it sucks it was in her little body at all.  Can you imagine if we lived in Japan?  Sigh.


Anyway, here the natural rememdies I used to aid the bone healing process:

• upped her Vitamin D.  I gave her a Solaray chewable Vitamin D, in a lemon flavor of 2000 IU every day.  I have continued to do this.  I have no idea if this is the "correct" amount for a 16 month old, but it felt right in my gut.  
• upped her Vitamin C.  Hyland's makes a dissolvable tablet.  I give her this once a day if I remember.
• I juiced her spinach and pinapple every day for about a week.  Usually, I juice every three or four days, but I wanted to make sure she had plenty of perfect, fresh juice and so did I (so she would get in through breast milk). Spinach and other greens are natural chelators.  They bind to anything bad in our bodies and help flush them out.  They are also full of B vitamins which help restore cells. It will help her body detox the radiation and the Tylenol I gave her the first couple of days for her pain.  Pinapple has something in called bromelian in it, that reduces swelling and inflammation.  
• I rubbed an arnica cream on her arm every time I took the cast off. Later, I found out this is not enough arnica, and the tablets are needed in a case like this.
• I went to a homeopathic Dr. in town and was given a vile of Arnica, Rutta, and Calcarea Phosphorica.  He told me to give her arnica until the swelling was gone and then give rutta, and then the Cal/Phos.  
• He said that the arnica would help with the pain and I didn't need to give her Tylenol anymore.  I also gave her some Camomilla to help with the pain as well.

Here is a site that I got some of my information from.

My first thought when Penelope broke her arm is that she had some sort of calcium deficiency and her bones were weak.  I still have not gotten her calcium levels checked, because the Acupuncture Dr. I talked to about it, said that if we tested her while her arm was healing her levels would be off since her body is pulling more calcium to the bone to heal it.

When I was talking to the homeopathic Dr. he told me that Cal/phos is great for all over bone growth and spine development, for hair and nail growth and helps with teething.


Apparently, if you are calcium deficient your teeth can come in slow.

So I might be on to something, Penelope's hasn't gotten any new teeth in a long time and her molars have been huge and swollen but not pushing through for months and months. Now that her cast is off and her arm is healed we have an appointment to check her levels. I will come back and let you know what we found.

If you know of any other remedies, please share and I will add them for future reference.  Hope this helps!

Unconditional Parenting Chapter 8: Love Without Strings Attached

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Chapter 8.  Only two more chapters to go!

This was a really important chapter to read.  It is the one that had the most concrete advice about what to say and do with your children if you want them to feel loved unconditionally.

"The first step is simply to be mindful of the whole issue of unconditional parenting.  The more we're thinking along these lines, reflecting on whether the things we do and say to our kids could reasonably be interpreted as conditional affection (and if so, why), the more likely we are to change what we do."

"Second, we need to get into the habit of asking ourselves a very specific question; "If that comment I just made to my child had been made to me-or if what I just did had been done to me-would I feel unconditionally loved?"

"Even when we disapprove of what they've done and we want them to know it, our reactions should take account of the big picture-specifically, the imperative to make sure they feel loved, and lovable."

Here's how:

Limit the Number of Your Criticisms:
"If kids feel we're impossible to please, they'll just stop trying".
"But the main point is that too much criticism and disapproval may lead a child to feel unworthy."

Limit the Scope of Each Criticism:
"Focus on what's wrong with the specific action (Your voice sounded really unkind just now when you were talking to your sister) rather than implying that there is something wrong with the child ("You're so mean to people!")

Limit the Intensity of Each Criticism:
"Be aware of not only what you are saying but only your body language, your facial expression, your tone of voice.  Any of these communicate more disapproval, and less unconditional love, than you intended."

Look for Alternatives to Criticism:
"Explicit negative evaluations may not be necessary if we simply say what we see ("Jeremy looked kind of sad after you said that to him") and ask questions ("The next time you are feeling frustrated, what do you think you could do instead of pushing?)

"It may sound obvious, but we sometimes seem to forget that, even when kids do rotten things, our goal should not be to make them feel bad, not to stamp out a particular behavior out of existence. Rather, what we want is to influence our the way they think and feel, to help them become people who wouldn't want to act cruelly. And, of course, our other goal is to avoid injuring our relationship with them in the process."

Vision Boards

My friend Julie recently started up a Women's Circle and at the first gathering, everyone created vision boards.  I was sick as a dog and didn't get to go, but it inspired me to update my own vision boards by myself.


I have been making vision boards since I was 18.  Around that time, I started working with an energy healer and she suggested that I make one.  I have been hooked ever since and I try to re-do each one about every 6 months.  This is the first time I updated them since Penelope was born though.


Vision boards fall in line with positive thinking.  It's the idea that whatever you think about, is what you create.  Whatever your thoughts are, is what you manifest in your life.   If you have seen The Secret, you know what I am talking about.


I usually have two or three going at once, so that I can sort of group the themes.  I have found that the more specific your wish lists are, the better success you have in manifesting them.


Vision boards are a really fun thing to do, you get to harness your creative side and its a very mediative process.  You can just zone out and daydream.  It also makes me feel like I am doing something to achieve my goals and helps create that fire to continue to stay in action to make my dreams a reality.  If y'all know me personally, you know I like to get things done!


The picture above is my "career" board.  I keep in my craft nook area.  I have got big dreams for this blog!  Between my blog, my other ventures and network marketing business, I hope to be making an awesome living, without being away from Penelope, and being free from any financial stress and worries in the very near future.


For this one, I wrapped fabric around an empty canvas board and stapled in the back and glued the pictures to the fabric.

This one is my "house" vision board. This one changes a little bit more frequently. Usually, I post things I want for the kitchen or house or just other design ideas. I had the picture of the Ikea desk I got for my craft room on it about 4 months before I bought it. As soon I got it, I took down the picture and put something else up I am aspiring to do or have.


This one, I just pin the pictures to board.  I think I got it at Target several years ago.


In fact, I just got a great rocking chair at a garage sale a couple of week ago, it kinda looks like this.  It is a hideous pepto bismal pink color and needs to be reupholstered, but I can take down my rocking chair picture on my board and move on to the next thing I want!


I so wish I had taken pictures of the boards I did right before I was pregnant and got married.
Everything manifested almost to a T, except for the breastfeeding curve ball I was thrown. I had all kinds of pictures of water births and Mama's catching their own babies.


 And for a long time I had a separate "health" one, of fit ladies with six packs, eating vegetables and women cooking, etc. I am not perfect in that area yet, but I certainly have done a pretty good job manifesting better health in my life and the vision boards are big part of what got me where I am today.


Do you make vision boards? What's on yours right now?