Awaiting the Lazy Days of Summer

As the school year winds down, or finishes with a BANG! as it is actually doing in our world, my kids and I are anxiously awaiting our days of back yard playing, afternoons of book reading, and days spent pool-side. And so, until next week, we will do dance recitals, kindergarten beach days, and try to finish up all the loose ends before our bike rides can begin. Last weekend we got a delicious taste of what is to come, playing at one of the fountains downtown Pueblo... My children delighted in the cool water... ahh, to spend our days this way... magnificent. If you are looking for us, we will be at play this summer.

Chemo is Complete

My life is getting ready to return to normal. As normal as anyone's life can be I suppose. My Erik's chemo treatment of six months is finally complete, and we are ready to more forward. Blessed Spring arrives with a renewed sense of love and appreciation at our house this year.

I feel a deep desire to clean out and reestablish our personal space... and our new eco-friendly bed comes in a box this afternoon... time to purge the chemicals from our family bed.

Erik and I are patiently walking through these days, realizing that the time to regenerate and restore are upon us, and this doesn't mean easy, but simply taking it one day at a time. After all, it is all one day at a time, I am not sure why I always forget that!

Connecting with the Trees... Gratitude in My Life

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. -Meister Eckhard

As I traverse this time in my life, as my husband's life changing Hodkings Lymphoma makes a deep and lined impact on our family in so many ways, I am finding the wisdom and truth in these words. The gratitude that I feel for the community that is continually reaching out to hold us up is so powerful for me. I find that in the days as I struggle, I give thanks for the food and support that are coming our way... almost daily. I had a week where for five days in a row, I received cards and support via the mail. What a powerful thing, to feel five days of endless support.

My children are struggling through this time... missing daddy and the normalcy of our family, but they too are striding through this time with as much grace as they possess. They are beams of light and say things that make the world easier to navigate. 

Here Scarlett announces: "this is my favorite tree... it has been waiting for me". What could I say.... "yes Scarlett, it has". May we all find solace and peace from standing in the trees.

Great Home Birth Books for Kids Make Me Smile!

Traveling through the desert of SouthEast Utah, I had the delight to find a book embracing home birth. I adore kids books supporting home birth, breastfeeding and the natural, and this book made my heart sing (and my kids smile!)

As a child I read "A Chair for my Mother" by Vera B. Williams again and again, and have enjoyed reading it to my kids. I found the sequel, "A Chair for Always" a gorgeous depiction of the natural way families bring babies into their worlds when they choose to have a baby at home. Simple and beautifully illustrated, this is a book to give to a big sister, brother, cousin or friend who is having a close person birth at home.

Here's to happy, healthy babies, being born into warm and inviting homes.

And, here's to caring for our children in ways that nurture their souls and the great mother earth as well!

My Personal Divine Secrets emerge

I am in a phase of reading... this happens really quite seldom, now with little kids and my exhaustion at night (I am sure many parents can relate!)
However I picked up the first "Ya-Ya" book at a tag sale "Little Alters Everywhere" by Rebecca Wells, and fell in love.

I love books about women and for women. In her second book (made into a movie I saw years ago and can hardly remember)"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" I came across this quote... I love it:

"... As she walked over Mother Earth, Sidda prayed: Stretch me wide so that the divine secrets that lie inside my mother, inside myself, inside the earth itself, will find room enough in me to bear fruit."

I loved this thought... and feel that we must consciously remember where we are from, to tap into the wonder and the connection that comes from the mother who carried us, and too, the Great Mother that now cradles us in her embrace.

So, in short, do I recommend these books?... well I am not finished reading them, but sure, if you like books about women in the deep south with too many issues to mention... I do!

Here's to a happy spring read!

Wearing Babies never Gets Old

This is a deight for me, to see women with their babies in slings. This woman, Alison with her sweet boy Sammy from Colorado Springs, called me when she was big and round and had in her mind a vision of carrying her baby when he arrived in this side of the world. Here he is! And I think they are beautiful, both mother and child. Thank you Alison.

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of helping a woman locally who has a special needs baby, learn how to wear her sling. He was a premature baby weighing approx. 1.5 lbs at birth, and here he was, a year later weighing 20 lbs, and she wanted to carry him. We were able to figure out a way for her to put him in the Maya Wrap, and comfortable place him so that he was able to see the world. What a delight for me to see happy mothers and babies slinging around.

Here's to another wonderful mother, choosing the best thing: carrying her baby.

Extended Breastfeeding

As my nursing days slowly come to a close with Scarlett (who will be three next month) this video came to me via email. It made me laugh until I cried. I hope it delights you as much as I did. And, encourages you to know, that if you are still nursing your toddler, there is hope... at least you aren't meeting their date!

HAPPY BREASTFEEDING!