a little sister

from grandpa's wood shop out of virginia on etsy.


a precious babe has arrived within our community so early today! she was all rosy and round when i left her with her parents this morning. as soon as her birth story is up, i will link you all to it. trust me when i tell you that the mom was amazing beyond amazing and i hope that will be part of what shines through in the details!

ps. it's snowing here at almost 2pm!!!

could i have been parking a lot attendant?

have you ever blogged from a hospital?  this is my first time doing it although i have watched a few dads post on their blog while their wives where in labor.  my friend and doula client is resting and trying to get some sleep before 'the big push'.

our nurse had to walk out for a minute to prep a table for a mom who just came in ready to have her baby.  less than two minutes later, we hear one loud but short scream.  it distracted all of us, of course.  we talked about it for a few minutes.

isn't it interesting how some people come into the hospital verrrrrrry ready to have a baby while other people may come and go once or even twice before they are ready to give birth.  i wonder what keeps people at home or wherever they are before deciding it's time to come.  lots of my doula clients will ask, "at what point do we call you?"  and for those planning hospital births, "at what point do we go to the hospital?"  they want to know when will they know?  how common is it to arrive at the hospital as ready as the lady mentioned above?  

having given birth to both of my girls at home, i sometimes wonder at what point i would have gone somewhere else to have my babes.  i wonder if i would have gone sooner into labor or waited until the last minutes.  would i have been the mom who gives birth in the car on the way to the birth center?  

considering what i would have done, just reminds me of the words of dave, "could i have been anyone other than me?"  there is no way to know what i would have done had i not planned to stay home the entire time.  but it is a curious thing to consider this aspect of giving birth.  

You are 30!

how are these two gonna get along over the next decade?
last thanksgiving at your house.  we need more pics of us together in front of the camera, i see!

Today is my best friend's birthday!!!  In about an hour, 30 years ago she came into the world.  She is one of the most amazing women i have ever met.  And, not only have i met her but i get to call her my best friend, my sister.  

Through our friendship, we have taken turns offering and receiving support from each other but they both feel so right that it's hard to tell the difference sometimes.  Who is standing on whose shoulders this week?  I have never had such completeness is a friendship.

From the silliness of mr. adams and too many mojitos to the seriousness of animal rights and birthing babies in each other's presence, i enjoy it all with you my dear one.  thank you for everything.  

so glad that you were born!  watch out, babe, this is going to be the best decade of our lives!!!

welcome to the world precious baby

the web of support that we wove just a few weeks ago. and, now, precious joey is here!!! thank you, ladies for that day of support. it was present with us today as she labored on!

my friend called me at 4am. i love getting calls at 4am. most people do not like to be woken up at that time and especially by a ringing phone. i, on the other hand know the sound of my phone ringing means a woman is in labor. and, wants me to join her! isn't that about the most honorable thing ever... to be asked to attend someone's labor and help them through the process of giving birth? i can never convey how honored i am to be able to have this as my job!

i won't spoil the mom's glory by telling her story here. but, once she's ready to type it all up, i will link it for you to read. it's a glorious story my friends. she is incredible. totally amazing. really strong and courageous.

these are the hands of her mom, too. her mom is an amazing with words. her prayers are so right on and she's full of encouragement. thank you for being you. i think that you are wonderful.

get ready for the nativity

beneath the rowan tree on etsy.com has a gorgeous felted nativity set. i tried to share the image but it was huge and everything became misaligned. please check it out though!

the bear isn't feeling well today. she's been fussy, clingy and kicking her feet/flailing her body. she has bit me about 12 times while nursing over the past 24 hours. she's sleeping in my arm now and feels warm. she also has a mild runny nose. teething? the broccoli she chewed on yesterday at lunch? poor babe.

forest school

Yesterday, I plowed through the latest edition of Mothering magazine. I must confess that I really enjoy looking at the toys. I often think if i accumulate enough wooden toys and non-toxic crayons, my kids will be well-equipped for life. I am not joking. I really sometimes hope that in spite of my parenting, the toys will serve them well enough. Is that pathetic or what?

One of my favorite articles, other than the ones about the play items is about the forest kindergarten is Switzerland. being outside is just one of my favorite things in all the world. i especially enjoy the warm sun on my skin. it's not very warm here but the temperature is just mild enough to be pleasant all morning long. after reading the article about kids and their teachers spending time outside regardless of the conditions, i was inspired to so the same. it's easy for me to make excuses to stay inside when it's too cold/hot/rainy/wet and just play with all those wooden blocks, cars and finger puppets.

so, this morning while e slept in, i got our warm clothes ready to wear. after she ate her oatmeal and chocolate hemp milk, we went outside to play. first, we walked through the backyard and into the front. we raked some leaves then she and the bear played in the leaves. she ran and jumped in them while the bear watched. i swept our sidewalk then raked some more. we made a "fire" out of sticks and e lit it with her fire lighting stick. unlike the kids in the forest kindergarten, we only pretended to light the fire. we roasted vegan marshmallows. then, we put the fire out and collected leaves in a basket. a big truck was in front of our house doing work on the water for our town. we watched them hitch up the trailer and drive the backhoe onto it. e commented that the trailer was a lot like her bike trailer. true. she pointed out that it didn't have seats like her bike trailer does though! the men chatted with us and our neighbor's dad stopped by to say hi. his daughter and her son came by, too. we took a brief walk by their front yard.

we walked into the back yard and over to our other neighbors yard. they have a real fire pit that we have used in the past. we played fire started there, too and sat on their bench. the bear stood on the ground, holding on to the bench while e and i talked about which birds we heard and the watched leaves falling. then, we went back into the front 40, again for some more leaf play. (we have about .75 acres total thus the front and back 40. ) sherpa is feeling much better but still weak. he was brave enough to come outside and lie down near us. we were outside all morning which was really fun. we eventually went in to nurse bux to sleep for the second time and change her diaper; she had nursed to sleep in the sling earlier.

such a simple thing but it felt really good to be outside today.

the zoo

today, we spent the day at the zoo with precious friends celebrating still!

yeah, she's three.

the copperhead cake with it's egg babies. young copperheads have yellow or green tails that resemble lizards. they use their tails to lure the lizards as dinner! we learned this while researching the cake design.


although e turned three yesterday, she put each of these candles in her cake and blew them out.
going for a snake egg. (and, thankfully not going for the knife sitting so nearby! wtf?)

her face shows how thrilled she is with the gift her best friend crafted for her! thank you so much, ana b!

with her best friend, the snake maker.

i woke up this morning as a mom to a three year old. it's just not really registering, still. wow. yesterday's party at the park was really fun. we were glad to share cake and ice cream with our friends. thank you each for coming and for the kindness you show e. thank you for loving her and guiding her. thank you for being my mama friends and giving e a friend in your babes. from the youngest at barely 3 weeks to the oldest, she loves each of them in a special way. our nights are usually spent talking about what she enjoyed with one friend or another and when we can see them, again. some mornings she even wakes up with her first words, "when do we get to eat cookies with a friend?" and often when she doesn't get enough mama attention by the afternoon, she tells me, "i need a friend to come over and play with me." in a sad sort of voice. her life is as rich as the dark chocolate in the coppperhead cake.

happy birthday!

three years ago today, i became a mama.  it was such an amazing day with such a gentle labor and birth to my wee little babe.  i am struggling to face the enormity of what it means that my little one has grown up into a spirited toddler.  she's so big and older and full of life.  i want to snuggle her down into the blankets with me and shut the doors to the outside.  of course, she would not thrive in that for very long.  so, i meet the world with her sometimes outside our home at a park or the library and sometimes just in the kitchen baking muffins or feeding the birds in the front yard.  her intensity often rocks my body.  i look forward to how it will serve her well and try to stay peaceful in the present.  

she is my favorite little three year old, of course.  she brings joy and wonder and spark.  she is thoughtful, compassionate, strong, brilliant, intuitive, warm, funny and confident.  she meets her fears, tries to express her needs clearly and work to solve problems.  

she's just run downstairs to find me, yelling, "i want some pie!"  although we haven't had pie in ages!  naked saying, "i already got dressed!"  when i ask her to put her pajamas on and meet me in the bed for stories and one last little babe moment before we move into full blown three year old life!

love.  pure love.  

ps.  thank you for making me a mama.

gross and a bit disturbing

b & i were outside under the covered area beside our back deck. i was talking to a mom about breastfeeding her 2 week old. b crawled up the stair to the deck and was crawling around in the drizzling rain. i kept thinking, does she really want to be in the wet like that? she as crawling toward me and i see her hand pick up something. i walk over to her and realize that it's a little frog. so, i tell the person on the phone and try to hang up with her so i can bring bux inside. i have to pry her hands off the frog and realize once she lets go that it is no longer alive. so sad. i am not sure if she did it or if it was already like that. all i want to do is scrub her little hands. and, i am soooooooo thankful she didn't put it in her mouth...like she does to everything else! i get her inside and wash her hands really well then changed her entire outfit top to bottom as she had hit her hands on her baby legs, too and they were damp from crawling. i am so grossed out by the whole thing. ugh. feels better to tell someone though. thank you. hope it wasn't too disturbing.

in honor of that, maybe we can win the tree frog costume pictured above. isn't it cute?

a quilt

the batik was gorgeous! and so are those baby legs you see sticking out next to us!
oh so sneaky we were!

my best friend just gave birth to her fifth and final babe. i hosted a mother's blessing for her before the wee precious one was born. i wanted to really bless her with a handmade gift that drew all the women together. with the help of the best massage therapist in the world (who happens to be a master quilter), we pulled off creating a quilt without my friend ever knowing!

our co-op getting crafty

getting ready to do leaf rubbings.
concentrating on painting
you can tell this was taken a while back as the preggo pictured here is no longer preggo!
check out the cool bracelet made by fellow etsy mama.
e's fave july babe is "copperhead baby"! his mom is pretty hot, eh?
bastian listening attentively.
e and bas painting with leaves.
lib paints
liv painting away
chloe and her leaves
bas painting with leaves
nanja, the retired librarian hosting a fall storytime complete with leaves at the end!
our crew
how fun is this?