Joel Rendall

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.

I ordered it less than 48 hours ago, and now it’s in my hot little hands. That’s right, I bought a Vitamix, which is one of the best blenders you can buy.

I was also looking at Blendtec, who is web-famous for blending iPhones and crowbars in their series, “Will it Blend”. But most raw foodists recommended Vitamix. Besides, making iPhone dust is not an important feature I seek anyways.

Since September, I have been abusing my roommate’s poor budget blender. And I am not the least bit sad to be sticking the busted-ass thing into the deepest, darkest corner of our kitchen cabinet.

I was surprised at how large the Vitamix actually is. I feel like I should be opening a restaurant or something, because it feels very industrial. I was inspired to clean and organize our kitchen, so I thought I’d take a picture now, because this is the best it will ever look.

I made a milkshake, and then a cold soup thing with avocado and vegetables. Later, I made some crackers and fruit bars / cookies that are currently in the dehydrator. This is the first time I’ve attempted to make any crackers or fruit bars, so we’ll see how they turn out in the morning.

Thanks to Zander (zandersherman.org) for prompting me to do this test. I learned a bit about myself. Go to http://www.humanmetrics.com to try for yourself.

I find much joy in the impressive, tomato-cutting mastery of my Forever Sharp knife… But today I didn’t appreciate its power quite as much, when I found it on an epic journey to the deepest core of my thumb.

Since going raw vegan almost 2 months ago, I have been eating about what seems like 20 times the amount of fruit and vegies of a normal human. Many a fruit slice, I’d been wondering when my hand-eye coordination would finally fail me. That day was today.

I consulted my on-staff doctor, (Google.com), and found a solution. I mixed together water sea salt (the only salt I had at hand… pun intended), and dabbed. Within a couple minutes, the gushing stopped.

So there’s my tip of the day - if you find yourself with an accidental cut, and don’t want to bleed (nothing against the emo teen population, of course), now you know the best way to make it stop.

(pic by Zander Sherman)

I felt like blogging just for the hell of it, but this is pretty useless, since nobody actually knows about this blog. Well, I know of at least ONE person who might read this.

It turns out that I am glad I made the decision to work for myself this summer doing computer work. I am making more money than if I was still on the payroll - which was my goal.

It honestly doesn’t seem like I’m going to work when I wake up in the morning. I can leave whenever I want, and I don’t have to feel apologetic for taking time off. And this summer, I can actually spend time recording and practicing music. Seriously - I am NEVER working ever again!

I’m also playing lots of gigs (drums). On average, I have about 4 gigs a week: A steady contemporarish rock gig, plus 3 different local jazz groups (background swing, bebop, and good ol’ corny dixieland stuff). I find that the more I study music, the more the genre lines get blurred. Everything that I practice can apply to any genre, and I enjoy playing each style equally. It’s all about attitude, right?

I am learning to relax more when I play. I generally have good technique when I practice, but in the past, my hands tensed up when playing in front of an audience. Now I feel like I’m finally able to relax and notice my body while playing, which is helping to close the gap that exists between my skills in the practice room vs. live performance.

I’m having a great summer and am learning lots about myself… but damn am I looking forward to going back to school!