::this moment::

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, SouleMama.  In Amanda's words: "A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

This week this moment has no photo, for the savoring was so great I didn't want to disturb it with a snapshot.  Yet, here's how a saw it:

~A toddling boy on a day of adventure with his mama and 2 of her friends

~A refusal to sit still, he's running more than toddling, in an environment where many may think "you must sit still!" ... yet for us, we found..

~JOY!  Joy in the running around!  Not only for the little boy, but for all of us.  And perhaps especially, for the Man among us who'll be meeting his own baby boys very shortly.  He did some chasing & running for this mama, so I found Joy in sitting with a few fine ladies.  And Joy in ice-cream, too.

~There was laughter... smiles ... fresh air ... ease

Please share a special moment from your week in the comments below!  Have a blessed weekend ~ Lis

17 months

A prevailing thought these days about mothering a young one:

I can not savor it enough.

No matter how much I relish the moments with my baby boy Sly, my first born, the one that gets my full focus for most of the day, he still is growing up too quickly.  I suppose he is growing up right on time actually, but it feels too quick most days for my soft mama-heart.  He'll be 17 months old tomorrow.  So before Sly hits that one-and-half-year mark, here's a little update on the toddler he's becoming.

We've got a runner, people.  And a climber.  Climbing in and out of chairs, reaching for things off the counter tops, and running down the driveway are all amongst Sly's favorite doings.  I call him "The Great Collector" because he loves to fill baskets and buckets with his treasures, or Mama and Papa's treasure he is claiming for his own.  Markers, books, water bottles, tinctures, and leaves are some of his favorite collectables.  I opened up a kitchen cabinet last night to find a few pieces of kindling he had stashed in there.  It's really cool to see him mimic our work with all this collecting.  He especially loves bringing wood into the house for making fires.  I let him carry small pieces and, happily, we've had no splitters yet!

Just struttin' around in his BOGS with no pants on at the Women's Herbal Conference

Sly's quite the talker these days.  A lot of what he says is still indecipherable, but he has some very clear words now, too.  Here are the words he says consistently:

Papa or Pa-paj

Mama or Ma-My

Steve (Stevie, the dog)

Dog & WooWoo (woof)

No!

Socks

Hot 

Tuck (Truck)

Boos (Boots/Monkey Boots)

Poop

Baby
Shoes
Dis (This)

There a lots of other words that he repeats after hearing us talk and he understands most of what we say.  He follows simple directions: "Bring the book to Mama", "Go get your black shoes", "Let's walk up the hill".  And there is LOTS of laughing!  His personality is coming out so strong and he's learning what he can do just to get a reaction from people (like poking Papa's belly button, putting a scarf on his head, or chasing the dog).  

Perhaps my 2 favorite developments are: he gives kisses and he dances to music.  Even if I'm just singing the boy raises his arms and wiggles his fingers - this is his dance move.  He kisses Mama, Papa, Stevie, his stuffed Lion, his friends, and he brings us things to kiss, too.  

Our days are so fun right now!  Exhausting? Oh, Yes!  Demanding?  Certainly.  And so, so sweet.  I can't savor it enough, but I'll try.  This boy is growing before my eyes.

just like that

My, we are in the thick of it (in more ways than one, you'll see!).  The first week of December turned to week-end, and there was holiday celebrations on Friday, Saturday and Sunday!  Drinks, and sweets, and things I normally don't eat.  Laughter and cold, fresh air.  Giving of the first gifts.  It was an invigorating and fun weekend.  My Monday was been spent in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, Sly in his jammies all day, cleaning up, resting, and preparing for more merry making to come!  I have five projects going at once, along with the usual suspects: dinner, dogs, dishes.  But, I have peppermint bark and the Charlie Brown Christmas Album for motivation, and just like that, the holidays are upon us!

Quick changes have happened with my baby boy in one week's time, as well.  He sits!  He crawls!  He eats!  Just like that, I've been expanded into a whole new realm of parenting.  I'm baby-proofing, watching, and most of all enjoying Sly's delight in his new moves.  With these new skills come some bumps of the noggin', of course, but mostly it is just shrills of delight from Sly, and laughter from Mama and Papa Bear watching our baby focus on an object, and then crawl, scoot and boogie to go get it!  Amazing, these babes are.  I love to watch him learn everything for the first time.  It makes me feel like I am learning it all again, too.

I love this season of gift-giving.  It has always been incredibly satisfying to me to give a gift of love, small or large, to those I hold dear.  This time of year I generally have to hold back from giving too much or too many.  If that's even possible.  As I write those words, I feel understanding for my own Mama, who so often has given us so much.  We try to stop her, but I guess it's the way some Mama's show love.  I agree, it is fun.  This year, I am giving lots of home-ade items, more than ever before.  I hope they are enjoyed and appreciated, as I have enjoyed truly putting love and energy into each gift.  That said, I can't show too much here on the blog or it may spoil the magic of surprise!

This week I aim to finish up the making, and doing, so I can sit back in enjoyment of my home and son before the traveling for Christmas begins.  I want to be present, fully, in this time of dark, feeling it's stillness, appreciating it's zen, before the light shifts again. 

looking here

So often these days I catch myself looking forward, anticipating the joy to come as my family grows.  I look forward to holidays with kids old enough to make crafts, and I imagine the adventures of Sly and his possible siblings.  I think of the things Papa Bear and I will teach Sly, and the ways we will play.  While this is all exciting, I am feeling a need to remind myself to look here.  Look right here, this moment, these days, right now.

It's not that I think happiness exists in the moments to come; I know so well that happiness exists in the present.

Humans have the gift and challenge of reflection and anticipation.  We can look back on and look forward to.  Many times in my life I've gotten lost in either of these.  Then, I remember, I feel my feet on the ground, and I slip back to the present.  


Right here, this is what I see, what I love, what I oughta be savoring, because I must (I must!) believe all the Mamas when they say it goes by so fast:

--a baby boy working so hard just to sit up on his own.  Working every muscle of his body.  And being purely delighted by his work.

--naps.  They are few in comparison to those newborn-days, but they still happen multiple times a day, everyday.  And in those naps, this Mama breathes enjoys her own desires.
--a floor baby, content to cruise around on his tummy much of the time.  He's working on crawling, but far from mastery, so I don't have to worry yet about what-in-the-world Sly's gotten in to.  When he's not "working" on the floor, Sly loves to be --
--a ride-along baby.  The ergo is an almost constant piece of my wardrobe.  Sly loves to be close to Mama or Papa.  He loves to see whatever it is we are doing.  And he loves to be within hair-pulling distance.
--an excuse to buy nothing for my child this Christmas.  This is an area where I do a lot of looking forward - looking forward to the creating, the giving, the surprise and joy.  Yet, right now, Sly won't know the difference.  And most importantly, I know that for right now, being near Mama is the most important thing to him.  It is a wonderful time where I can actually be the gift.  I get to save energy by not making or buying anything, and put that energy into loving my boy as much as possible.
--nursing my nursling.  I am endlessly amazed at how this baby grows from my milk.  He pulls and gets distracted, he's started showing interest in foods, but nothing trumps the breastfeeding yet.  When he settles in and gazes up at me, intent and content, I am overwhelmed with love.
--lots of time indoors at home.  I don't know that I've had so much time at home since I was a baby myself.  This is the time to dream, the time to sit, the time to do nothing except take care of my baby all day and know that that is okay.
--the joy of just one.  Much of my looking forward has to do with more children in our home.  While I do want more babies, right now I have just one.  This means, when that one is napping the house is truly quiet.  Or if that one is needing me, I am not being pulled by another.  I can strap on my one, and walk two dogs.  I can pass off my one to Papa when I need a moment alone.  Best of all, I can savor and really get to watch my one son grow, as he is doing so rapidly.

Reminding myself to relinquish some of that looking forward, and instead, look here.  Right here is where I am.  Right here is a sleeping boy, two resting dogs, and a cup of tea amidst a messy kitchen. Right here is a full moment, a deep breathe, space to think and do.  I'm taking a lesson from the dogs, and my baby boy on presence.  Thanks, family.

::this moment::

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, SouleMama.  In Amanda's words: "A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~If you feel inspired, leave a link (or description of) to your moment in the comments below.  I plan to be around here a bit this weekend and hope it's a wondrous one for you!  Happy December!~

first sniffles, and more

Sly's first cold has settled in this weekend.  We had a solid five-and-a-half months of health before the sniffles and coughs came on, so I consider us lucky.  I made up a little cold medicine for him out of tinctures I had on hand: lemon balm, echinacea, and elder mixed with vegetable glycerine.  He's been taking it for about 24 hours now and seems better in spirits, if not in body.  Sly actually has a pretty good attitude considering his clogged nose and my frequent probing of it with a bulb syringe, (do any babies like the bulb syringe?).   But there's still lots of extra crying, holding and nursing going on, leaving me one tired mama.  Today we all felt groggy and sniffily.  Lots of tea, a eucalyptus bath and a pot of vegetable soup are my remedies of choice.

One of the few moments Sly's had floor play this weekend.  Mostly, he's been an in-arms baby.

In the last two weeks there were some serious immune suppressants happening for Sly that set the stage for the cold to get us.  We had a tough week of teething, the hardest yet, though no pearly whites have broken through yet.  And before that, we started dealing with a funky skin rash.  It started small and dry, slightly pink, and I was hopeful that it was teething rash.  Over the last two weeks it grew and grew, all over his cheeks , behind one thigh and spotchy in his diaper area.  It became obvious that this was a case of eczema.  It even changes in redness, dryness and just general intensity at different hours of the day.  Eczema, or any rash on the skin, can be seen as a big red flag for something off balance internally.  The imbalance can come from any toxin from the environment, food, emotions, and on and on. With a solely breastfed infant in a mostly controlled environment, the imbalance is often from digestion. 

What does this mean for us?  It means I'm altering my diet again.  I had almost three months off of dairy and cruciferous vegetables in the beginning due to a gassy baby.  I try to stay far away from peanuts and soy still, because the fussiness they caused in Sly is worthy never being repeated.  Otherwise though, I've really, really enjoyed eating what ever I want (and lots of it!  Thank you nursing!).  But food sensitivities have been a reality for us since the beginning, and Papa Bear also experienced them as a baby, making our children more likely to have them.  So for about one week now, I've been on the elimination diet, attempting to keep a food diary and seeing how it effects Sly's skin.  One week off of gluten and the eczema is way better.  I wish I had taken before and after pictures, but I didn't.  It's now pink, not red, and much less scaly.  I'm still on the look out for other possible allergens, because it is not totally gone, but the improvement is so much that it makes me feel positive about missing out on fresh bread and all the baked holiday goods I was getting excited for.  

Nothing like your kid to hold the mirror for you and point out what you really don't need.  When I was pregnant, Sly curbed my sweet tooth in a way I'd been hoping to do through sheer will power for years.  Those first few months off dairy put into check how much dairy I really need, and if I can only have a little, what will it be?  (For me that answer is butter, hands down.).  Now out goes the wheat, and with it, those nightly beers I've been savoring with Papa Bear.  Really, it's for the best.  And really, and truly, I'll do about anything for this boy.

Sick, scaly, or well, this little man's on the move!  He pushes up to hands and knees and rocks now!

Now, we rest, because that is the best medicine of all, I believe.  

{thanks for hanging on as i took that little hiatus!  i had big plans to change things on the blog format, but really didn't end up doing much here besides changing the photo.  life happened instead.  i plan to be here lots through out the week.}

{ happy halloween }

Aaaaaargh~!  Happy Halloween to all!  Stay toasty and enjoy something (naturally) orange!

I'm going to spend this week trying to update the blog, giving it's look and feel a more "finished" presence.  I truly am not internet and computer savvy, so there is a great learning curve here for me.  I'm doing my best, it will just likely take some extra time to get things feeling the way that I want them to here.  So, I might not post much while the changes occur, but please check back in a week to see the updates, posts, and love to come!

::this moment::

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, SouleMama. A single photo (or two) capturing a special moment from the week. In Amanda's words: "A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

this is what happens when i send them to get ready for bed

:: This Moment ::

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, SouleMama. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Four Moons Old

Sly was born on May 27th, just days before the New Moon of June.  Today he is 4 months old.  And today is the 4th New Moon since his birth.  In the last few weeks of my pregnancy I wondered how his birth would correspond to the Moon cycles, just as I used to observe my fertility in relationship with the Moon.  Would he come out in the powerful, loud, brightness of the Full Moon?  Or wait for the introspection, the moment where death and birth join, the stillness of the New Moon?  He was 4 days from the New, and his personality is a mix of both with a tendency towards the introspective side.  He has a great balance of curiosity and comfort, sometimes shutting out the outside world and other times flirting with everyone.  I look forward to seeing how he unfolds as he grows (and I really want to have his chart done!  anyone know of anyone good in the Boone area?).

And, my! How he's grown already!  It amazes me how much change can be held in just 4 months.  From 7 lbs to 17!  From sleeping all day long, to just 3 naps (sometimes very short, or nursing Mama the whole time, albeit) a day.  These four months feel like a life-time.  A year ago, when I was just discovering the baby in my belly, well that is EONS ago.  A friend asked me yesterday if I knew I'd be doing this, mothering, one year ago.  My response was that I did not know how cool it would be.  It is so cool.

I awoke this morning to Papa Bear saying "Happy four month birthday" and smothering Sly in kisses in the dark.  When the sun came up we went outside to "Cheers" the day.  I took some photos to compare his growth.  And as the sun sets tonight, we embrace the dark of the new moon, celebrating my boys fourth moon on this earth.

Here's is some photos of his first few days of life and from today.

Five days old

Six days old

Two weeks old :: Photo by Susie Mitchell

I'm gonna turn my head and this babe will be crawling!

Thank Full

To begin the week in gratitude, I offer thanks that:

.:baby Sly got to enjoy time with his Grandparents this weekend
.:the first weekend of Autumn was beautiful and leaves are just beginning to change
.:Papa Bear was off of work on a Saturday!  A rare treat!
.:I have friends who remind me that when I say "no" to one thing, I am saying "yes" to something else
.:my old-fashioned Campbell's soup mug has been filled daily for a week with delicious soups
.:I received a scholarship to attend a Doula Training this week!
.:my almost-4-month-old baby can hold his head up so well that he now rides on my back in the Ergo!

Sowing my seeds of intention for the week ahead in soil of gratitude

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

The Space In Between

Coming so soon, Autumn is!  Oh, I feel it in the crisp, cool of the mornings, and in the evening when I snuggle under the sheets and use a blanket for the first time in months.  There's a shift in the energy; with or with out visible signs of Autumn, I can feel that it's on the way.  To be fair, Summer still has a week to blow it out.  I'm loving the produce, and the blue skies.  But what I really love is riding the cusp of a season shift.  The space in between.  So exciting to anticipate and prepare for change.

Autumn has always been my favorite season.  I savor the colors, the smells, the chill.  I love it for it's beauty as much as it's signal to turn inwards, to let go, and be still.  It is something to honor - the vibrancy of nature as it dies.

We are celebrating the shift over here.  I celebrate each time I pull on a sweater.  I celebrate with a hot beverage each morning.   We celebrate with dinner on the front porch.  I celebrate by (slowly) putting up herbal medicines for winter.

Here's some photos of other ways we are taking in the change of seasons.

Sly rocks his Guatemalan overalls ...

and his Yoda-suit!

pumpkin, stout and belgian brews!

lots of walks outside ...

many, many knitting projects to start ... too many?  perhaps.

AND .... a P.S. for the last post AWomen's Choice, A Women's Widsom:

some links you may enjoy ...

-more info on the Midwifery Bill that can legalize homebirth in NC filed in the NC Senate and hopefully passed in 2012

-awesome resource for info and videos about midwives and birth at One World Birth

-and if you haven't seen The Business of Being Born you really, really ought to.  you can get it from Netflix and i doubt anyone would regret seeing it.  Ricki Lake is even making a sequel, there is that much to say and show about Birth.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo (or two) capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Not the best in quality, but this papa-baby moment is bliss to me.

Away & Back Again

Sure, he looks innocent enough while sleeping ...

We left The Mountain! Quite a journey with a 2.5 month old, and much debated before we decided to actually do it. It being a vacation to Amelia Island with 2 other couples. Well, we went for it, and while it was wonderful to be there, I returned with a much greater appreciation for being here.

The Ocean was healing, friends are jewels of the soul, but long car rides (7 hours turned into 13 hours!) with a newborn is not something I look forward to doing anytime again in the near future. I'm sure Sly would say the same thing!

Crying in the car or not, we got some pretty great smiles on the beach, eh?

Since we've returned temperatures haven't been above 85, and there's a luscious breeze in the morning and evening that whispers of Autumn. I've actually started putting pants on Sly, something I have only done 2 or 3 times before - the joys of a summer babe. With the sense that Autumn's creeping in I feel simultaneously 1) Excited for the cool, the colors, the coziness and the crisp apples! and 2) An urgency to enjoy whats left of summer out of doors!

To celebrate both feelings at once, I baked 2 pies today. The first, a Shepard's Pie, with grass-fed ground beef and organic vegetables from Creeksong Farm. The second, a crunchy-top peach pie (I use the recipe from The New Moosewood Cook Book) with fresh, juicy, perfect peaches. Every fruit and veggie used was grown locally (in NC or SC) and at the prime of the season. A great way to enjoy warm, cozy comfort foods and the bounty of summer harvests at the same time!