Joel Rendall

How hard is it to be a raw vegan in Colombia? Not very. Here is a collage of different fruit vendors I saw around town in Cartagena. They were selling avocado (aguacate), watermelon (sandia), mango (mango), cantelope (melón), among others.

There were even a few fruits that I didn’t recognize. And with my “poco español,” I couldn’t understand what they were trying to tell me they were!

Not all gigs are created equal. As musicians, we all have those performances that aren’t the most thrilling. Sometimes it takes a lot of mental energy to stay focussed and interested.

This young kid is in the process of learning that right now.

But this is quite amazing – he’s playing the bass notes, plus two notes in his right hand. I can’t imagine the monster player this guy is going to grow up to become. That is, of course, is if he can still bare to look at a pair of mallets in 10 years time.

This photo was taken in Punta Arenas, Costa Rica. I’m wondering if this sign might have been subject to poor translation.

Imagine you were in the doctor’s office one day with an upset stomach that won’t go away, and left with the news that you were unexpectantly pregnant. This is exactly what happened to my friend Vera Teschow, and her husband Trevor Omerod six years ago:

“A few weeks after learning the news, I went to the midwife’s office. Desperate for some relief from the everwhelming “not-just-morning sickness” I had been having, the midwife took a listen to my tummy.  After a few minutes, she announces, ‘I don’t want to alarm you, but I think I might be hearing two heartbeats in there!’ (The increased hormone levels that come from a twins pregnancy can heighten pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness and swelling.)”

After finding out they were going to have twins, Vera and Trevor’s lives were completely turned upside down, with their goals and priorities immediately altered.

Apparently, an ever-growing number of couples are experiencing precisely the same thing, as multiple births are becoming increasingly common throughout the world. Some say this is partially due to women waiting longer to have children (every year over 35 puts a woman at increased risk of multiples apparently), or using assisted fertility (ART).

Taking everything she learned from having twins, Vera has spent the last 5 years running a prenatal consulting business in Toronto, ON. She has been driving around the city, helping countless other parents who are finding themselves in the same overwhelming position she once was.

On her spare time, Vera has been writing in magazines, and has been an influential voice in the multiple births community.

I can remember when Vera hired me to build her website 4 years ago. During one of our meetings, we had to make a quick stop to drop off some clothes and toys to a family… a huge family. First, the parents had twin boys. Then in an attempt to have a girl, they had 3 more boys – triplets! I guess that was when they learnt realize that the likelihood of having multiple multiple births is very high.

A couple months ago, after 5 years of prenatal consulting, Vera took another careful look at her priorities. Not only are she and Trevor raising twin 6 year old boys, they are also full time educators. (During the day, Vera teaches a grade 3/4 class in a high needs school in southern Ontario, and in the evenings, she delivers part of Tyndale University’s Faculty of Ed program to teacher candidates in the city’s north end.

She also volunteers with TPOMBA and Multiple Births Canada.)  With all this going on, Vera was struggling to meet the growing need for twins-specific prenatal courses. Her course has been in high demand in the GTA (General Toronto Area), and beyond.

With all of the responsibilities piling up, Vera felt that it was time to retire her local prenatal consulting business.

When I heard this, I was actually feeling excited rather than nostalgic. Why? Because I had an idea: Rather than Vera completely retiring from prenatal consulting and therefore wasting all of her expertise, it was time for us to take her business to the next level – the Internet.

It didn’t take much convincing. Vera and I sent a couple emails back and forth, and before we knew it, we had embarked on the new adventure that is BabiesinBelly.com. With my web design expertise and our eagerness to learn about Internet marketing, we have spent the last couple of months bringing Vera’s course to the masses.

We’ve invested hundreds of hours perfecting the content of this course, and it’s finally ready for primetime. Now we have to spread to word, and continue building this online experience that will enable Vera to share her specialized knowledge with the masses.

Check out BabiesInBelly.com to watch how our business unfolds over the next few months. This is definitely an exciting time for both of us, and we’re grateful for the excellent support and feedback we are receiving.