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Discover the essential knowledge of natural movement development, social interactions and self-motivated learning in the baby’s first year in the Amazing Babies Moving Program for Educators, Professionals and Parents. The Amazing Babies Moving Program provides participants with a unique two-part framework for understanding natural movement development in the baby’s first year. The benefits of this approach is that it provides a clear guide to understanding movement development, pre-verbal communication and self-motivated learning in babies. Parents, educators, and professionals will find it an effective way to communicate this important information to actively support parents and babies in the first year.

The Amazing Babies Moving Approach covers natural movement, communication and learning development from birth to walking.

• The Pre-Locomotion Baby: Newborn–5 months
• The Locomotion Baby: 6–12 months

With spring upon us, Laurel Fertility Care offers some tips on how to improve your chances for motherhood by being good to both yourself and Mother Earth.

This spring, clean Mother Earth while improving your chances of motherhood. “Women trying to conceive often forget the importance of taking care of themselves,” commented Dr. Lee Kao. “We often see patients who are so focused on caring for everything else that they actually decrease their success by not focusing on themselves first.”

On behalf of Laurel Fertility Care, below are four tips to help you on your journey to motherhood while making the Earth a better place to grow your family.

1. Clean your kitchen: increase your veggies; decrease your red meat. Researchers reported that “shifting entirely from an average American diet to a vegetable-based diet would reduce the same emissions as 8,000 miles driven per year.” Harvard doctors suggest in The Fertility Diet to replace one meal of red meat with veggies per week to increase your fertility success.

The Parents Center is moving! Offering support, advice, information, and activities for parents, parents-to-be, and young children, the Parents Center moves out of its original home in San Rafael's Heller's children's store and relocates after a brief hiatus to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin in Terra Linda. The Parents Place will operate out of Heller's until May 5, and programs start again at the new location on May 18, starting with Little Music Circle. Little Music Circle, taught by Parents Center founder and program director Georgia Montgomery, has the distinction of being the only program of its kind in Marin where families only pay for classes they attend (make-up classes can be attended at any time); drop-ins are welcome, too.

Their drop-in New Moms Support Group, with a breastfeeding and newborn care specialist facilitating, begins May 31 and continues on Tuesdays at 11 am. The Parents Center also offers infant/child CPR and choke-saving classes, as well as other special programs througout the year. Check their website for schedule and registration information.

Veteran parents will probably remember joking about forgetting to pick up the manual for their new baby when leaving the hospital. Of course there isn't a baby user manual, but the Secrets of a Baby Nurse: How to Have a Happy, Healthy, and SLEEPING Baby from Birth (185 pages, Rising Star, 2011; $17.95), the new book by seasoned maternal-infant nurse and "baby sleep wizard" Marsha Podd, RN, might just be the next best thing! Marsha has over 20 years of experience working with parents and small children, and is the author of numerous articles, including guest posts on Marin Mommies.

In Secrets of a Baby Nurse, Marsha provides new parents with just about everything they need to know about their new baby, especially when it comes to sleep (both yours and the baby's). Her helpful advice and tips are the product of years of experience and plenty of scientific research. It's kind of like having your own personal baby nurse on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I really really wish I had this book when my kids were babies—I don't think my son slept at all until he was three (at least it seemed like it at the time).

Join a community of parents interested in holistic health and green living with Marin's new chapter of the Holistic Moms Network. The Marin Chapter's kick off and open house takes place this Thursday, April 7, at 6 pm at Stretch the Imagination, 47 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera. Bring husbands, partners, parents… everyone to this fun kick off event featuring snacks, courtesy of Whole Foods, local holistic resources, and a free raffle donated by Power of Birth that includes goodies by Moby Wrap, Breastfriend, Melissa & Doug, Lila Bean Nursing Covers, and more.

The Holistic Moms Network is a non-profit organization connecting parents who are passionate about holistic health and green living. There are more than 100 chapters across the United States hosting monthly meetings and playgroups. Through a dynamic e-mail discussion loop, members build strong support networks and often share life-changing advice and information that empowers them to create positive change within their families and their communities.

This guest article is from our friends at Laurel Fetility Clinic, a local fertility practice with offices in Mill Valley, San Francisco, and Modesto. Visit them online at www.laurelfertility.com.

Vitrification is the latest method for freezing unfertilized eggs to preserve fertility options for hopeful mothers. “This cutting edge practice is still fairly new and not many programs are doing it,” commented Laurel Fertility Care Lab Director Dr. Marlane Angle, PhD. “However, survival rates using vitrification are much higher for eggs and embryos when compared to previous freezing methods like slow cooling.”

Why Choose Vitrification?

“It's the technology of the future,” commented Dr. Angle. “People, especially women, need this and are asking for it. We were originally used fertility preservation for women undergoing cancer treatment. These women often experience fertility challenges following radiation or chemotherapy. If these women preserve their fertility before cancer treatment, they have a much better chance of conception down the road.”

Are you passionate about natural childbirth or homebirth, and are you looking for like-minded families for support, information, and friendship? The Marin Alternative Mothers Group (MAMG) may be for you. The MAMG is a group of women devoted to alternative birth choices and proud of their educated and informed decisions to birth drug free in a safe and supported environment.

MAMG was founded by Marin mom Ozzie Ozkay-Villa—whose son was born at home in 2010—after she wasn't able to find exactly what she was looking for through existing local mother's groups. She and her fellow MAMG moms have found that surrounding themselves with like-minded women who support their decisions about childbirth and parenting gives them a strong sense of empowerment and community. "When we get a new pregnant mom in MAMG I feel over-joyed because I know she will find the support that I didn't have," says Ozkay-Villa. "Every once in a while I have a mom email me and say something like "I found my people" and it just makes my day."

The MAMG meets every other Friday at 11 am, and holds family days one Sunday a month. The next Friday meet is on March 4th. The group is rapidly growing, so more activities are planned. Membership dues are $35 a year or $60 for two years. For more information on the MAMG, visit www.marinalternativemothersgroup.com.

Marin mom and childbirth educator Tara Brooke took her lifelong interest in pregnancy and motherhood and developed Power of Birth, a studio offering childbirth education classes, doula services, new parent support, and more. We asked Tara to tell us about herself, her business, and her passion for helping new moms and moms-to-be.

Please tell us a little about yourself. What's your background?

I was born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey.  I spent most of my adult life in New York City. I began practicing as a labor and postpartum doula in New York over a decade ago. I opened a studio called Power of Birth that housed doula services and childbirth education classes. A lifestyle change brought us to Marin and now I practice as a childbirth educator and postpartum doula coaching parents during the 0–3 months age.

The Fall 2010 San Francisco Birth & Baby Fair is coming to Fort Mason Center's Herbst Pavilion this Sunday, November 21, from 10 am to 5 pm. Event highlights include gift bags, door prizes, rejuvenating spa areas, refreshments, local resources for moms and moms-to-be, shopping, free workshops, demonstrations and more.

Tickets are $8 each or two for $12; children 18 and under are free. The first 150 families to enter will receive a gift bag with discounts and products from many of the fair exhibitors and sponsors. Free and discounted passes are available from event sponsors. Check their website at www.birthandbabyfaircom to see who's handing them out and to get all the details about this event. Fort Mason Center is located in San Francisco at 99 Marina Boulevard, at the intersection of Buchanan Street.

Photo: iStockphoto