Pineapples & Artichokes

Wordless Wednesday: Fatherhood

2012-01-31T09:49:00.001-08:00

Linking up at NPN and Hobo Mama.

There's a line from the Daddy to the Mommy

2012-01-31T09:37:00.000-08:00

Today Moira asked how babies are made. This is not a new conversation, and we have plenty of books that explain the idea. Some of them, like Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole, do a good job explaining the actual mechanics in a silly way. Sadly, the euphamisms and hyperbole that the parents in the book use (so the kids can explain it the right way) are a bit above Moira's head.

This is the second page of her latest book, entitled "Kitty oh Kitty." The text is blurry but it says "They are babies eating and drinking inside they Mama. And then the egg and the sperm and the seed came in from the Daddy."
So we were clearing up this confusion. The egg actually comes from the Mommy, the sperm IS the seed. Then she asked how the Daddy's sperm got into the Mama, and I told her.
She said "No, that's not it." I promised it was. "Well, I know another way." "How is that?" "There is a line from the Daddy to the Mommy."
This is when I had to explain what a metaphor was. That was not what I expected to be the hard part of that conversation. I guess it's one of the hazards of being more open about sex then the kids books are.

Menu Plan Monday

2012-01-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

Breakfast all week (for me): Baked oatmeal and sausage or bacon.

Sunday: Lentil soup
Monday: Tacos and mexican rice
Tuesday: Oven baked prawns with fries and veggies
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Dinner with my parents
Friday: Dinner with friends
Saturday: Honey sauced chicken and veggies

Sunday Surf

2012-01-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

All of these are pulled from my Google+ page, so if you follow me there, you have already seen them. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only way I can remember what I read and liked.

So Much Bullshit but we Won't Give In. I have long thought that more violent reactions from women would be a good counteraction to rape culture, not that I condone violence, or think it's primarily women's jobs to stop rape. It's more of a warning if you ever try anything against my consent.

There's no Such Thing as "Healthy Food." "Food is meant to meet our needs, and can only be evaluated on its ability to do so. Even a Twinkie is “healthy” for a person starved for caloric energy."

Parenting a Teen. If you know me well you know I am terrified of the teenager stage. But I know a number of awesome teens, and they all seem to have been parented this way. It's not a shock to think that treating a teen like they are a person would lead to a good relationship.

Adorable Doll Protests Piss off Russian Police. Awww! The most adorable protest ever.

Your Daughter Doesn't Have to Apologize for Anything. I have been trying to explain this to a few people in our lives. Moira liking pink and princesses is not the problem. Everyone assuming that's the only thing she likes IS the problem.
We took her to the Disney Store to return the Buzz Lightyear she got for Christmas that didn't work. Since they didn't have the exact same Buzz, she wanted to look around the store at all her options. We talked about anything she seemed interested in, and pointed out a few things she might like (like the Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals) that she hadn't noticed. She actually didn't notice the princess section so we took her over there. Her final decision was to get Bullseye, for Jesse to ride on.
And her favorite game right now? Firefighter Cinderella.

Craft Hope's latest project is beanie hats and tote bags for kids with cancer. I'm getting Moira involved with this one. We already picked out tshirts to turn into bags.

Visit Hobo Mama for more surfing.

Sewing again!

2012-01-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

I lost most of my attention span halfway through this pregnancy and have been unable to sew since then, but this week I finally got back in there. Here is what I made!

We traced the little hand just after Christmas. I almost didn't do these because I was just so burned out, but I'm glad I did. Especially since I did for Moira. Davis woke up from his nap and was helping me take the pictures at this point which is why it is a little blurry.

A shirt for Moira, rescuing the dog from a tank top our friend Pearl gave her that is much too small now. The sleeves are cut from the back of the tank. The body is from an old tank top of mine. I'm not happy with the belling in the neckline, but I don't care enough to fix it. We'll see if that's true after I see it on her.

Finally, I rescued a shirt of mine that had a hole near the hem and combined it with an old dress of Moira's that had a hole in the bodice. I was planning on just turning the dress into a skirt for her, but then I pulled the gathering out on top and realized it was actually big enough to fit around me. I loved the fabric in that dress more then she liked the dress. Plus, I'm slightly less likely to cut a hole in it. It looks a little odd I suppose, but I wore it a whole day and it's very comfortable, although a little awkward to nurse in.
I also started planning out another shirt for me as well as fixed the pockets on a couple of things. I am hopeful that the sewing mojo is back for good.

Snow snow snow

2012-01-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

It's hard sometimes to be reasonable in the face of snow in the Pacific Northwest. It just doesn't happen often enough to be common. Walker and I dealt with being snowed in with an infant and a 3 year old by doing (almost) every snow related activity.

Moira painted snow, inspired by this post. It wasn't until the snow got all dirty that I realized we should have given her juice or flavoring to do it with and then she could have eaten it afterwards. She was very excited that Walker let her eat some snow, and that was just plain.

They built a "snowman," even though the snow was much too icy and dry for an actual snowman shaped one. They also trekked through the snowy woods to the grocery store, followed by hot chocolate and marshmallows.

I set Moira up with a tray of supplies (and precut white circles) for her quiet time one day, and this is the snowman she made. She's obviously been heavily influenced by snowmen in children's books. After quiet time, the pom poms disappeared. She only wanted them on there while the glue was drying.

Right before the rain started up, we let her have one of the icicles hanging from our roof. She ate the whole thing, and was very sad the next day that we hadn't saved the second one for her.

Moira also fed the birds in the break between big snowfalls. The birds didn't find it before it all got covered with snow, but we were pleased that this little Douglas Squirrel found it when it was revealed during the melt. Also now that the snow is mostly gone, she decided it was a perfect time to shovel the walk, and spent a few minutes out there with her plastic shovel.
We lucked out pretty well with this storm. There was no where we had to go, so we didn't have to shovel the driveway. We had stocked up on groceries (completely accidentally) right before it started. We lost power for 11 hours, but it was at nighttime, so we all just went to bed. Walker enjoyed Moira's enjoyment of the snow that was so much a part of his childhood, and I enjoyed cuddling by the fireplace with the baby. The only downside is that Walker's family was supposed to fly in on Friday, but all their flights were cancelled due to ice at the airport. Hopefully the can reschedule and come to meet the baby soon.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

2012-01-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Inspired by this dragon craft, here is Moira's Chinese New Year's Dragon dance(s).

She has already planned out the craft she wants to do for Groundhogs Day. I'm not sure how we can make a ring with a groundhog on it, but hopefully Pinterest will help.

Linking up at Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network.

Menu Plan Monday

2012-01-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

There were a couple of alterations to the menu last week, one because we decided meatloaf was too much work, so we had home made hamburger helper instead, and two because of the snOMG our visit from Walker's family, and the trip we were going to take were cancelled.
Wow, that was quite the sentence. Moving on!
We have also had great luck with letting Moira select how much of each thing she wants on her plate, although we still have some trouble remembering to have a few extra options available in case she doesn't like the main course. At any rate, she has stopped jumping down from the table after two bites (which always lead to extra crankiness and requests for snacks and upsetness that we wanted her to eat her dinner.), so that's a win.
The zucchini bread recipe I made last week made enough for two weeks, and I'm tired of eggs so breakfast is set. As for dinners...

Sunday: Chinese takeout
Monday: Chili
Tuesday: Dinner out
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Roasted chicken, potatoes and veggies
Friday: Sweet corn soup
Saturday: Chicken and veggie nuggets, salad

Skeptical baby is skeptical

2012-01-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

We were going to have visitors this weekend, but their flights were cancelled due to the snowstorm. We are trying to come up with a plan that doesn't involve being stuck in the house all weekend, but that assumes enough snow melts that we can leave our driveway. And that all the melted snow doesn't just turn into ice.
Davis is understandably skeptical about our plans.

Wish us luck!

Early mornings

2012-01-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

Last night was tough, with a power outage adding extra steps to bedtime prep, and the power coming back on waking up Moira around 4am. Even though she's started sleeping a little later since Walker has been home for paternity leave, it still seemed way too early when she was ready to get up.
To buy us an extra 15 minutes, I suggested she get her camera and take pictures of all the red things she could find.

She was frustrated when we came into the living room because the camera wasn't working. I checked it out and then held a bunch of red things for her while she stood across the room and took pictures. None of those turned out because the little flash isn't strong enough to reach that far, so I was surprised to find all of these photos when I cleaned off the camera tonight.
I think I should start letting her look at the photos as when I take them off the camera. The close up photos she's taking are getting better and better (just look at this, but most of the pics she takes of people she is standing as far away as possible, and it just doesn't work.
Anyway, I give this distraction technique/learning opportunity two thumbs up. We'll see how tomorrow morning goes, she may be hunting for a different color.

Wordless Wednesday: Snow days

2012-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

Linking up at Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network.

Babies

2012-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure this is the best comparison, since Walker insisted on putting the bunny in front of Davis' face, but I figured I should post these together so people can talk about how much they look alike.

Davis at 1 month, taken at 10pm because I almost forgot and had to wait for him to wake up to do this.

Moira at 1 month. Oh look! She's covering up her chin, so it is a good comparison.

They actually do look similar, but to me just in that "we are siblings" way. Which makes sense since they are siblings, and also because Walker and I looked very similar as babies.

Walker. I have seen that exact look on both of our kid's faces. Our babies love to raise their eyebrows.

Me. I was actually going to make this a "guess which baby is who" thing, but this picture of me in a dress looks so much like Davis that I just had to use it. For everyone who has asked if Davis is going to keep his dark hair, I didn't and what grew in was the color of Moira's hair. I guess we'll just have to wait.

Menu Plan Monday

2012-01-16T08:07:00.000-08:00

This is my first time participating in Menu Plan Monday. It's part of my attempts to reestablish a family rhythm now that i have energy again. Because we planned starting on Sunday, I can say that so far it's working well. Moira enjoyed helping us cook today, and it was nice to know what to make well in advance.

We actually combined the start of meal planning with a new attempt to get family dinner back on track, by letting Moira select how much of each thing she wanted on her plate. That worked great for Sunday, since she stayed at the table for longer then 5 seconds and had more then one bite of her dinner before announcing "done!" In fact, we could have served her an adult portion of the salmon and she would have eaten it all.

Breakfast for Moira and Walker and lunch for all of us are a rotating selection of things we always have in the house, leftovers and eating out. As such, I'm not planning those meals, but if I don't plan and make in advance easy to grab things for me to eat for breakfast, it doesn't happen. Also, my inlaws are coming for the weekend so we don't need to plan anything for then.

Breakfast all week: Egg pie and Zucchini muffins

Sunday: Salmon with dill sauce and garlic rice
Monday: Morrocon chicken and quinoa (instead of the couscous.
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Rosemary and garlic meatloaf and maple mustard potatoes and green beans.
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Cashew chicken, rice and broccoli.
Saturday: Dinner out.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

2012-01-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

After New Years, Moira asked what holiday was next. "Martin Luther King Day," we told her, without bothering to explain anything about it. She immediately set about making her friends Martin Luther King Day cards, and presents, and decorations for our house.

This is a holiday that I've always had a sentimental attachment to. My school, which I attended from Kindergarten through 12th grade, made a pretty big deal our of it with special assemblies, and lesson plans, and singing, and one memorable year, the encouragement that the upper grades attend the anti war rally happening downtown. I think something about the radical nature of our school's origin lead to the staff having a fond spot for equal rights and the struggles of the 60's.

I finally got a chance to explain to Moira a basic level of why we celebrate this day. That once a long time ago some people thought you could tell how good a person was by the color of their skin. That people thought the lighter your skin, the better a person you were. That Martin Luther King was a kind man who happened to have dark brown skin who proved to everyone that that wasn't true.

As soon as I was done talking, Moira said "I don't want to know that. I want to know why Christmas trees have lights." So we talked about that for a little bit. Maybe tomorrow I will teach her the song we always sung at school. Maybe next year, we will have the conversation again, and she will want to know.

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith
that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope
that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

State of play

2012-01-10T16:24:00.001-08:00

Moira has a few pretend games she loves right now.
She loves to put sparkles all over things with her wand, and I love that I realized I could make it a thinking game and request that she sparkle "Something square" or "Something black." Really the possibilities are endless.
She loves to pretend she is someone else. It used to be me she was pretending to be, but after a Halloween party where one kid was dressed as Cinderella, she is now pretending to be Cinderella. What's great about that is that she has no idea who Cinderella is other then that she is a princess who wears a blue dress.
She also pretends her penguin pillow pet is her kitten.
After our trip to the fire station yesterday, she has started pretending she is a firefighter. This combines well with pretending to be Cinderella, so she is actually firefighter Cinderella. She put a fire out in my pretend house today and then wanted to put out the fire at Daddy's pretend house.
We still have to be very clear that things are pretend. If she is pretending to be a kitty and I say "Hello kitten!" She will correct me and make sure I readdress her as "Pretend Kitty."

After months (almost a year) of agitating to go to school, and the assumption from one of the teachers at the emergency day care that she was in school somewhere else because she was so in to the system, Walker and I decided to investigate preschool options for her. We found one that can take her right now with a 2 day a week program and asked if she wanted to go, with the caveat that she'd have to skip library story time and gym class. Apparently she'd rather continue those activities then go to school. Good to know.

Davis is currently the right size to wear my most favorite of the baby clothes we saved, including this outfit and the level 1 human onesie.
He has decided that diaper changes are pretty nice, especially when Walker is the one doing them. And they don't drag on too long.
He prefers to sleep lying down in bed. If he's sleeping out where stuff is happening he will usually wake up after about 10 minutes. And then he is not happy at all by the end of the day.

This is my view

2012-01-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

Heave! Ho!

2012-01-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

This week, Walker was in charge if the lesson for preschool, and I think he did a great job. We learned about pulleys!
First, the four big kids tried to lift Moira's new red wagon with just their hands, but could not do it.

Then Walker hooked the wagon up to the single wheel pulley outside of the kitchen playroom, to see if they could lift it with that. Nope.
That's when the block and tackle pulley (in the first picture) came out. Each additional wheel in your pulley makes it easier to lift things, so with these six wheels, tada!

The four big kids (plus the occasional help from David) were able to lift the wagon. They could have gotten it higher in the air, but they ran out of horizontal space.

Then they tried two at a time, and were still able to lift it up the same amount. We didn't suggest that they try one at a time, although I think that might have worked.

Walker's original plan was to have them lift *him* with pulleys, but Moira couldn't lift more then 10lbs on her own when he was figuring the lesson out, so he didn't think it would work. Given that two of them could lift the whole wagon, I think it might have. We may have to revisit this when everyone's muscles are bigger.
I found Pull, Lift, Lower by Michael Dahl at the library, which manages to be informative without being too long for the 3-4 year old set, although sadly it doesn't mention that bikes and motorcycles also work with pulleys.

All in all, this lesson was pretty cool. I need to remember to plan more full body lessons. It's so easy to default to arts and crafts, but the kids have loved the physical lessons we've done.

WW: Fuzzy baby head

2012-01-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

Linked up at Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network.

2011 in pictures

2011-12-31T09:41:00.000-08:00

Only one more sleep till Christmas (Eve)

2011-12-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

Now that Davis is making this face, I can totally see the resemblance to Moira.

Moira wanted to join in the photo shoot fun, so she arranged a tableau. And then she didn't mind me taking a picture of her taking pictures, which is nice because the last couple of days I've seen a lot of her hand in front of her face whenever I try to capture the cute things she's doing.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend.

Wordless Wednesday: Oh Christmas tree

2011-12-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

Linking up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Best of 2011 Blog Blitz

2011-12-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

I am proud and honored to be volunteer with the Natural Parents Network (NPN), a community of natural-minded parents and parents-to-be where you will be informed, empowered, and inspired. When you visit the NPN’s website you can find articles and posts about Activism, Balance, Consistent Care, Ecological Responsibility, Family Safety, Feeding With Love, Gentle Discipline, Healthy Living, Holistic Health, Natural Learning, Nurturing Touch, Parenting Philosophies, Practical Home Help, Preparing for Parenting, Responding With Sensitivity, Safe Sleep, and so much more!

The volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to make NPN the outstanding resource it is also spend countless hours informing and inspiring others on their personal blogs. To close out 2011, the NPN volunteers have come together to provide you with some valuable reading material. Each volunteer has selected either their most viewed post of 2011 or their favorite post and shared the link here. Please take a few moments to visit each post. Our intention is to expand our reach as bloggers and informed parents and parents-to-be who are still growing as we move through our own journeys. Each volunteer has provided links to other social media sites where you can follow them as well.

On a more personal note, I have been humbled and awed by the amazing support the NPN volunteers have provided me and each other over the last year. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have made it through the last few weeks of my pregnancy without them to complain to every night.

We hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as we enjoyed writing them. We are always looking for new volunteers so please, contact us if you are interested. Just a few hours per month can help other mamas in a huge way!

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter shares her Christmas Cookie Swap Blog Hop, which is her fourth annual virtual cookie swap and most popular post of the year. Please stop by and link up your favorite holiday recipe until Dec. 31. You can find Farmer's Daughter on Facebook and Twitter.

Adrienne from Mommying My Way shares Fear vs. Faith, one of her favorite posts about how often living a life of faith can look like a life of fear, but the two are really quite different. You can also find Mommying My Way on Facebook.

Alicia of Lactation Narration retells the story of her oldest daughter's 5 years of nursing and weaning in her favorite post of 2011, The Weaning Party. You can find Lactation Narration on Facebook and Twitter.

Amy of Toddler In Tow shares Finding My Mommy-Zen, her most viewed post of 2011. In this post, she shares her desire to balance her own self-esteem by choice in order to parent with peace and compassion. You can also find Toddler In Tow on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, and follow Amyables (Amy W.) on Google + and Ravelry.

Arpita of Up, Down, and Natural shares one of her most popular posts titled Reflections. This is a beautiful look at the type of mother she wants to be. You can find Up, Down, and Natural on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Charise of I Thought I Knew Mama shares Why Do Children Have More Food Allergies Than Ever Before?, her most viewed post of 2011. This post explains the shocking info that one unsuspecting mother discovered when she started researching why her daughter had a violent allergic reaction to eggs. This is a must read post for ensuring the health of your family. You can also find I Thought I Knew Mama on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Stumbleupon.

Christine of African Babies Don’t Cry shares The Best First Food for Babies, one of her favourite posts of 2011. This well-researched post delves into the healthiest and most nutritious food to feed your baby. You can also find African Babies Don’t Cry on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

Cynthia of The Hippie Housewife shares Gentle Discipline for Toddlers, her most viewed post of 2011. This post describes five gentle discipline tools for parenting toddlers. You can also find The Hippie Housewife on Facebook, Google +, and Pinterest.

Darcel of The Mahogany Way shares how Babywearing As a Way of Life one of her favorite post of 2011. This post showcases some beautiful woven wraps that she has purchased, traded, borrowed, and sold over the years. Darcel also talks about the benefits of babywearing from the newborn through toddler stage. You can also find Darcel{ The Mahogany Way} on Facebook, Twitter, Her Community for Mothers of Color, and Pinterest.

Dionna of Code Name Mama shares 50 Healthy Snack Ideas for Kids Plus Fun Serving Suggestions, her most viewed post of 2011. Most of these snacks are quick to fix and portable, so you can pack them to send with your child on play dates, at preschool, or to just have handy in the refrigerator for when your child wants to grab a bite to eat “all by himself.” You can find Dionna on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Erica at ChildOrganics shares a post that is not only close to her heart, but also her most viewed post for 2011 titled Attachment Parenting in the NICU. This post shares her top 10 tips for parenting should you find yourself with a baby in the NICU. You can also find Erica on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Gretchen of That Mama Gretchen shares her personal experience of returning to work, expressing milk, and the ups and downs in between in her 2011 most viewed post, Mama's Milk. You can also find Gretchen on GFC, Blog Lovin', Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Isil of Smiling like Sunshine shares how to make an autumn tree using pumpkin seeds, her most popular post in 2011. This post features a lovely craft activity that you can do with your kids! You can also find Isil on Facebook and Twitter.

Jennifer of Hybrid Rasta Mama shares 80 Uses For Coconut Oil, her most viewed post of 2011. This comprehensive post provides background information on the benefits of coconut oil as well as outlines 80 uses for it. You can also find Hybrid Rasta Mama on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and Pinterest.

Jennifer of True Confessions of a Real Mommy shares her most popular post of 2011, Weekly House Blessing (Otherwise Known as Cleaning Once a Week). This post outlines a once per week cleaning routine for busy moms. You can also find Jennifer on Twitter.

Joella, the mama behind Fine and Fair, shares An Unusual Gripe with Bebe Gluton, one of her most popular posts of 2011. In it, she discusses the controversy surrounding a "breastfeeding doll" and offers her take on the gender role implications of dolls in general. Fine and Fair can also be found on twitter and facebook.

Julia of A Little Bit of All of It shares the story of how her co-sleeping relationship ended with her daughter, her most viewed post of 2011. This post shows how her daughter transitioned to her own bed on her 2nd birthday and the emotions involved for her mom. You can also find A Little Bit of All of It on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and Pinterest.

Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment shares True Blessings: White Noise and Grandparents, her most viewed post of 2011. In this post, Kat talks about how she maximizes getting sleep and how grateful and blessed she is to have her parents be so involved in helping and spending time with her kiddos.

Kelly of Becoming Crunchy shares That Cup Does What?, her most viewed post of 2011. This post is one of a series of reviews and information on switching to all natural menstrual products - having heard so many different options and recommendations, Kelly decided to give a whole bunch of them a try and pull all the reviews together in one week for anyone interested in making the switch. This post in particular covers the ins and outs of the Diva Cup. You can also find Becoming Crunchy on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest.

Kristin of Intrepid Murmurings shares a popular post from 2011, something she and her husband made for their girls for Christmas, great for open-ended play and construction: Handmade Tree Blocks. You can also find Kristin on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Lani of Boobie Time shares Helping a Fellow Breastfeeding Mom, her inspiration for starting to blog. This post discusses the importance of fellow moms supporting each other and some tips on having a successful breastfeeding relationship. Lani can also be found on Facebook.

Laura at WaldenMommy: Life Behind the Red Front Door writes about finally entering "spring" when her child with special needs begins preschool. After battling post-partum mental illness (post tramatic stress disorder) after the preterm birth of her third child, she finally begins to feel healthy and whole again in "It's Fall, Ya'll-Again."

Lauren of Hobo Mama shares On not having an AP poster child, her (OK, second) most viewed post of 2011. Lauren's first child shook her certainty that attachment parenting meant babies never cried and toddlers grew independent — and that's all right, too. You can also find Hobo Mama on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

Luschka of Diary of a First Child shares Lactivism, Breastfeeding, Bottlefeeding and Mothers at War, one of her most viewed posts of 2011. This post discusses how the breastfeeding/bottle feeding debate causes a division between mothers, leading to the alienation of women and babies, while divisive companies prosper. You can also find Diary of a First Child on Facebook, and Twitter.

Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children shares how With Privilege Comes Responsibility, one of her most viewed posts of 2011. This compelling post explains her strong felt desire to stand up for those less privileged. You can also find Living Peacefully with Children on Facebook.

Melissa of Vibrant Wanderings shares a Montessori-Inspired Checklist for Choosing Toys, her most popular post of 2011. The article outlines some important Montessori principles and how they relate to children's toys, translating that into some simple guiding principles. You can also find Melissa on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

Melissa of White Noise shares Modern Day Wet Nurse, her most viewed post of 2011. In this post, Melissa shares the benefits of human breast milk and human milk sharing. You can also find Melissa at Mothers of Change.

Momma Jorje shares Amniocentesis - What is it *really* like?, one of her most viewed posts of 2011. This open and honest series offers not only the technical process of amniocentesis, but also the emotions involved in awaiting (and receiving) the procedure and a diagnosis. Momma Jorje can also be found on Facebook.

Moorea of MamaLady: Adventures in Queer Parenting shares Fluoride: Another Reason Breast Is Best, her favorite post of 2011. This post provides research on the harmful effects of fluoride in drinking water for babies and toddlers and ways to limit fluoride consumption in your home. You can also find MamaLady on Facebook and Twitter and her Parent Coaching Site.

Rachael at The Variegated Life is Calling the Muse in her most viewed post of 2011. In this post, she describes how she uses ritual to help her tap into her creative spirit. You can also find Rachael on Twitter and The Variegated Life on Facebook.

Rebekah and Chris from Liberated Family shares Using Cloth In a Disposable Society, their favorite post of 2011. This extensive post provides a lot of information regarding the varied uses of cloth as well as the many benefits. You can also find Liberated Family on Twitter.

Sarah at Parenting God's Children shares her most viewed post: Confessions of a Breastfeeding Advocate: I Couldn't. She confesses her struggles with breastfeeding her daughters, but shares why she'll continue the good fight. You can also find Sarah on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Seonaid of The Practical Dilettante offers a science- and reverence-based meditation on The Living Earth, her most viewed post of 2011. This meditation was originally written for Earth Day, but it provides a way to reconnect with your place in the living breathing planet at any time of year. You can also find Seonaid on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +.

Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes shares I Recommend (But Moira Likes This Book Too), her most viewed post of 2011. This post is a review of a wonderful book that talks about all the different ways that families can be made up, along with some of why this topic is so important to her family.

Sheryl at Little Snowflakes shares her experiences with tandem nursing in Tandem Nursing – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, her most viewed post of 2011. You can also find Sheryl on Twitter.

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2011-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

Today Davis is one week old. Here's what we've learned about him so far.
He has the huge Hillinger feet, just like his sister.
Diaper changes are his least favorite thing ever.
He also hates swinging movements, or really any sudden movement, especially at night.
If he's annoyed about something, he lets us know by starting with a full tilt scream.
Unlike his sister, he usually wakes up if I try to put him down while he's sleeping, but he will also sleep for 3-5 hour stretches right now, so I figure it's a good trade off.
He likes it when Moira sings to him.

Moira hasn't been sleeping well lately, so she's been extra cranky, but she's also been increasing her in her independence. Possibly that is causing some of the sleep issues. Her are some if here new skills.
She can clip her own fingernails, with only a little clean up help on the edges.
She can get into and zip up her footie jammies.
She can open the car door.
She will climb up the ladder to her playroom and back down with only minimal supervision from us. (She has been able to do that for awhile but was too afraid.)
She also loves to get the new diaper out when Davis needs a change, to the point that she will come running from across the house if she hears the words "diaper change."

I've been borrowing my friend's fixed focus lens, which I already knew I wanted, and I love the pictures I can get with it, although I need to get used to standing farther away when taking photos. I am hoping she's too busy to get it back for a few months.

Wordless Wednesday: Pirate baby

2011-12-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

I'm linked up at NPN and Hobo Mama

Welcome baby

2011-12-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

I finally went into labor the night before we were planning an induction. My midwife had told me on Wednesday that the reason things weren't starting on their own was that the baby was hanging out with it's head resting on my on pubic bone. She tried to push him off, but he wasn't interested.
He continued to rest on that bone for most of my 15 hours of labor. We tried a lot of things to get him to move off, but nothing worked until my water broke. Seconds later, he was crowning and 15 minutes later Davis Owen was out.

Apparently my body is designed for a quick active labor and pushing stage, and too much bleeding afterwards. With both Moira and Davis, I had a super speedy delivery and then post partum hemorrhaging that landed me in the hospital. In California the bleeding was entirely stopped by my midwife and the EMTs, and the Dr I saw only tried to shame me for having a homebirth and watched my stats without doing any tests other then making sure I could stand up and walk without fainting. I insisted that they let me eat a sandwich before I tried that one since I had just, you know, given birth.

This time, everyone was wonderful and complimented me on my home birth, and complimented my midwife on her excellent care of me, and basically treated us both like people. Oddly, I was much more compliant and willing to do things their way this time. Just like last time, nothing was actually wrong with me, except for a slightly paler then normal appearance, some slight shakiness, and a tiny temperature. The thing that kept me in the hospital so long was the iv antibiotics, which means I saw three Dr's (day, night, next day) each of which wanted to do a new test, just to be sure. I guess the last Dr couldn't think of anything else to test for after the test to see if I had pre eclampsia came back negative, so we were released slightly earlier then expected.

While all of this was happening, Moira was visiting her friend Jenna. They had both been hugely disappointed last month when my first round of labor stalled just in time for Moira to come home for bedtime. Jenna's Dad is a saint who apparently had to go into the room they were in every hour to settle her back down. I expect the next few days will be interesting while Moira settles back into our regular routine after a night away.

Jenna's Mom helped her pick out flowers for me, and a present for Davis, a pink ballerina ornament which she was excited to show him, but explained it was fragile and we should put it someplace high. The present I let her pick out was this pink blanket bunny thing, which she was less excited to give him, because she really wants it to be for her. She really wants to help change his diaper, but so far every time we've tried with her help, it's been clean. She got to "help" him eat, but I'm probably going to have to explain now why she doesn't get to slap my breasts every time. She also wanted to put him in a dress, but sadly, all the dresses we have are for bigger babies. I pointed out that Davis gets to decide for himself what to wear, just like she does, but I'm sure he'll end up being her doll for awhile.

Despite the exciting start, everything is going well. Even the little dent in Davis' head from resting on my pubic bone for so long is gone. There was a short grumpy period from him while we were in the hospital but since then he's been eating and sleeping well. The midwife didn't have time to do the full check on him because I was being so overdramatic with the bleeding, so we don't know how long he is yet, but we should find out tomorrow. What we do know is this:
Born at 12:08 on 12/11/11, weighing 9lbs 4oz.
(Added after his check with the midwife) Length is 21", head is 14".

Moira at birth

Davis at birth
I was looking to see how similar they look, and it amused me that we randomly have a picture of both of them with the same expression at roughly the same number of hours post birth. I don't think they really look that much alike, other then that most babies look generically baby like at first. There's also the 3 and a half week difference in their gestation that makes a huge difference.
That's all I have for now. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in my comfy non hospital bed tonight and I think I will head there shortly.

Comfy baby

2011-12-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Baby is still happy and healthy inside and has no plans to come out as far as we can tell. Eviction notice will be served on Sunday, although we hope it decides to make an exit before then.
At least all this waiting has given me an idea for what kind of ornament to get for baby's first Christmas. I found a snail ornament the other day and that seems like a good idea for someone who takes their own sweet time.

I had a second day in a row of sewing, but my energy for that is gone again. I got this blank dress for Moira decorated. She's very happy with it because...

It matches the baby's stocking. We've been careful not to refer to her new dress as a Christmas dress though, or she would refuse to wear it until Christmas. Instead we told her it's a winter dress, and she's happily worn it twice since I made it.

Well rested

2011-12-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

Even though the baby is still stuck on the inside, Walker decided to start his paternity leave today. My friend Willow has also been visiting for the week, and Moira is in love with her, so I'm finally well rested. This means among other things, I finally got the photos from the last few weeks off the camera.

This is what Moira decided to wear to see "A Year With Frog and Toad" with my parents (the umbrella stayed at home).

I told you she's in love with Willow, even when her PSP is not out. It's been at least six months since she was willing to sit next to anyone at dinner other then me or Walker, but she wants Willow to sit next to her all the time. She is also very sad that Willow is not going to stay here all the nights forever.

Also because of all the rest I actually managed to make something today. Moira loves playing tic tac toe lately, although she doesn't care to try and draw circles or exes in the grid. My theory with this is that we will be able to play even at restaurants that don't supply paper or crayons. And waiting rooms.
I have been wanting to make her a busy book, because she has loved every one that other kids have brought over to our house. I'm trying to decide if it's something I'm actually going to get around to or if I should just buy one. Making this little board was fun, I'm leaning more in the direction of making it myself. I suppose we'll see.

Wordless Wednesday: I have officially never been this pregnant

2011-11-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

Linked up at Natural Parents Network and Hobo Mama

Per Mom's request

2011-11-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of Moira in her Halloween costume, made by the lovely pearl. I didn't take any pictures on Halloween, despite bringing my camera with me. We went trick or treating at Walker's work, but Moira really didn't want to actually say the words "Trick or Treat." We compromised by having her just say "Thank you" instead, which she was willing to do to get people's attention. Then we came home and traded the candy she couldn't eat for lollypops she could. She has plans to have another Halloween with the baby after it gets here, and she will teach it how to trick or treat.

I do love me

2011-10-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the I Love Me! Carnival!

This post was written for inclusion in the I Love Me! Carnival hosted by Amy at Anktangle. This carnival is all about love of self, challenging you to lift yourself up, just for being you.

Please read to the bottom to find a list of submissions from the other carnival participants.

I am lucky. I was a skinny kid, with parents who modeled good eating habits but didn't make treats off limits, who also valued who I was as a person and rarely made negative comments about my appearance or eating habits, who loves to eat vegetables and always has. I was also mostly oblivious to social pressures. When I finally did notice that I was an odd kid, like from 5th-9th grades when I was mercilessly teased, it never occurred to me to actually try and conform. Much of my internal angst was centered around wondering what was WRONG with the kids who teased me that they couldn't just accept me for the comic book reading, weird clothing wearing, gaming girl I was.
So I came into adulthood pretty happy with my body. I had plenty of emotional stuff to work through, but I never thought there was anything wrong with the shell of me. Even my one major issue with my body isn't something I really get a lot of sympathy for. You have large breasts? Oh you poor thing! Please ignore that they make it just as hard to buy clothes as a poochy belly, or big hips do, it's societally acceptable to have a big rack, therefore, it can't be that bad. Sure it's hard to buy a bra, or a fancy dress, or play pool, but I can't even be that upset with them. It's just genetics, a natural genetic predisposition to gain weight there.
I stopped participating in conversations with other women about body hatred sometime in my early 20's. Partly because I never felt like I was allowed to be a part of of. I'm too thin, and my boobs are too big, and I can't possibly understand what it's like to have a really horrible body like person A over here. I realized after awhile that it was like the conversations about our hair that my friends and I used to have about our. The one with curly hair wanted straight, and the one with straight hair wanted curly. I always wanted long, thick, wavy black hair. But that's not something you can really change.
And neither is your body. Sure, you can gain or lose weight. You can have surgery. You can buy compression garments to make yourself look different. But if you don't actually like what you look like, you won't even if you manage to lose those inches. You will always see the 'flaws' because you are looking for them. So I decided to stop.
Here are the secrets I want to pass along to my daughter. Your body is beautiful. Keep it healthy and strong and it will take you far. Think about the things you can do, not the things you can't. Anyone you date who doesn't like your body, or wants you to change it doesn't deserve to sleep with you. Be happy before you worry about making other people happy. How you feel about yourself directly effects how other people think about you. Treat yourself with respect and ignore anyone who doesn't.
A couple of years ago, I had a chance to have boudoir photos taken for Father's Day, through my mother's group. I was so sad at how many turned down the chance because they were ashamed of their bodies. I've only shown this photo to Walker, and possibly one friend. It's also the only one I kept because the rest of them featured my post pregnancy tummy. But I'm glad I tried it, and I'd be up for doing it again.

You don't have to be my daughter for me to want you to love your body. You are amazing. You are beautiful. Your presence lights up this world. Please love yourself.

Thank you for reading this post from the I Love Me! Carnival. Please take some time to read the contributions from the
other carnival participants:

(This list will be updated by the afternoon of October 28th with all the carnival links.)

The Art of Being Thoughtful – Becky at Old New Legacy likes that she is mostly thoughtful but wants to become more thoughtful. She shares a story that demonstrates that giving gifts doesn't have to be expensive.

I love me (and running)! – Sheryl of Little Snowflakes writes about her new love of running and how it has helped her learn to love herself!

For the Love of Moe – Valerie at Momma in Progress shares her thoughts on a body forever changed, but forever loved.

Where I Find My Worth – Sarah at Parenting God's Children shares how finding her worth in worldly things always falls short.

Oh Yeah, I'm Cool – Tree at Mom Grooves shares her very favorite gift and the thing she most wants to pass on to her daughter.

Loving – Rosemary at Rosmarinus Officinalis talks about some of the things she loves about herself - some easily, and some by choice for the sake of healing.

caught in a landslide – jaqbuncad of wakey wakey, eggs and bakey! shares a list of reasons why zie loves hir body.

I Love Me! - A Rampage of Appreciation! – Terri at Child of the Nature Isle stops waiting for anyone else to tell her she is wonderful and goes on a rampage of appreciation for herself!

Raising Healthy Daughters – In a guest post at Natural Parents Network, Kate Wicker offers tips to pass on a healthy self-image to the young ladies in our care.

Unexpected Benefits of a Healthy Pregnancy – How does it feel to have a healthy pregnancy? Dionna at Code Name: Mama discovers that making positive choices can be empowering.

Filling Up Our Watering Cans – Nada at miniMOMist believes that practicing Sabbath is the same as being a gardener who lovingly tends to the flowers in her garden. She needs to fill up her watering can first.

Better Body by Baby – Jess from Mama 'Roo and Family Too! shares how having her first baby makes her feel even more beautiful and confident about her body than ever before.

These Breasts Were Made for Nursing – Becoming a mother helped Mandy from Living Peacefully with Children to embrace her womanhood and improve her self image.

Yeah, I'm Pretty Cool – Amanda at Let's Take the Metro writes about her own self love and how she hopes to foster the same self-respect in her children.

Who I've Become – The future is bright with That Mama Gretchen who shares her past and present perspective on body image and how she hopes to become a change agent with her daughter.

Ever-Evolving Me – Joella at Fine and Fair writes to her daughter about her innate drive to continue learning, growing, and evolving.

I love you for your mind – Lauren at Hobo Mama turns a dubious phrase on its head with a little self-loving slam poetry.

Stop Think of Love with Your Body – Amy of Peace 4 Parents shares an exercise to gradually transition from hating to loving your body - stretch marks, sags, imperfections, and all.

I Love Me! – Jenny @ I'm a full-time mummy shares the things that she loves about herself!

First, I'm Superwoman. Later, I'm Supperwoman – Patti @ Jazzy Mama explains how she loves taking care of her amazing body. It birthed 4 children, after all!

Baby Strikes A Pose – Emma from Your Fonder Heart writes about her family's decision not to let their 7 month old model, and uses the opportunity to think more deeply about girls (young and old) and how they determine their self-worth.

Love Your Tree – How do you picture the ways your body and mind change? Amy at Anktangle writes about how trees help her have perspective about her own growth over time.

Pumpkin Butt – Zoie at TouchstoneZ writes about how birth and pumpkins are the way to accepting her body

I do love me – Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes talks about the lessons about loving herself she wants to pass along to her daughter.

Appreciating Who I Am – Linni at An Unschooling Adventure describes the things she likes about herself and the way she appreciates who she is as a person.

I love me! : A journey – Christine at African Babies Don't Cry shares her journey on arriving at the point where she can say: I love me!

My Daughter Doesn't Care So Why Should I? – Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama calls herself on the carpet for the image of self love and beauty she portrays in front of her toddler.

Finding out who I am – Melissa at Vibrant Wanderings shares an exercise that helped her identify positive qualities she possesses, and how that has helped her learn to love herself.

Sunday Surf

2011-10-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

A few things I found interesting this week (and last week too).
A Fuller Understanding of the Light, toddlers are rough when playing, but only because they are trying to understand the world, not because they are mean.
What can Happen When we use the Word Fat, insulting your body is damaging to you, your kids, everyone. Please stop.
A Google calendar of Caspar Babypants shows which Walker put together with the information from his website. If you are local and have kids, you can pretty much go see a Caspar show any day of the week, most weeks.
Why are Adults Allowed to say Shit but Kids Aren't? I've always planned on allowing any language as long as it's being used in the right context, and not thoughtlessly.
A Lanolizing Tutorial by Amy at Anktangle, just in time as I was trying to explain this process to Walker and not doing a super great job.

The only thing missing here is a jarred squid.

2011-10-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

I have been bemoaning the fact that I can't rustle up the energy to sew, and that among my currently neglected projects is a quilt for the baby, with blocks already sewn by members of the quilting bee I was most recently in.
This Monday was my quilt group meeting, and they presented me with this lovely quilt! They decided to make jars of things, because I was deep in canning season when they planned it. I'm overwhelmed by their generosity. Also in the works is a quilt made with squares decorated at my baby shower, so really, I'm totally off the hook on quilting for this kid for at least 10 years.
I have to say that while we had local friends when I was pregnant with Moira, I've found much more of a community up here. All the support and help and amazingly thoughtful gifts has helped this be a much happier pregnancy then my first. Even through all the exhaustion and not being able to eat. Thank you to everyone who has helped me or thought of me in the last few months.

Moira helped draw the noses.

2011-10-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Moira has always had a basically negative outlook on life. One we've tried to be accepting of, but not draw her attention to. I've heard of kids who were happier in the car as soon as they could have a conversation with their parents in car, for instance, but for Moira, that just increased the things to complain about. If I point out a fire truck, for instance, the response is almost always crying and asking for "more firetrucks!"
She is also still struggling with sleep. We have convinced her that if she wakes up at night, she can come into our room and go back to sleep with us, but she is usually waking up at 6am and not able to go back to sleep. The rule is that if you can't be still and quiet in Mommy & Daddy's room, she can play in her room until the light turns green at 7, which hasn't been a problem for a long time.
It's obvious to us that there is something bothering her. She's been much more clingy to both of us, and less inclined to let me out of her sight, or let go of my hand in public. She can't tell us what's wrong, so we are trying to meet her increased need for us. I have a really hard time being patient and happy during the day if the first hour of it is her kicking me in bed though.
This morning, rather then go play in her room, she decided to just cry, first on the floor of our bedroom, then in the hallway between our rooms so she could check every minute to see if the light turned green. I told her that as soon as the light was green we could have wiggly snuggles in our bed for as long as she wanted. This was all about 8 minutes of waiting, and by the time she crawled into bed with us she was pretty upset. So we snuggled and tried to talk. But this lead to the another thing that happens a lot when she's upset where she starts thinking of more and more things to be upset about. We kept talking and snuggling, and she eventually asked if we could have a lesson about emotions.

This is what I managed to come up with in the hour she was having breakfast and watching TV. Please excuse my odd phrasing, I'm really not my best in the AM right now. Oddly, the internet was not so helpful with ideas for this. Apparently preschoolers are still learning to identify emotions, but that's really not something she has trouble with. What she needs help with is realizing that when you are sad it's not forever. (Did I mention that if one thing she doesn't like happens at an otherwise pleasant experience, then she had a horrible time the whole time? She didn't want to look in the microscope at the vet's yesterday, so she told Walker she didn't like any of it, which isn't actually true if I ask about the individual activities.)
She was in a good mood when we did this, but I was still pleasantly surprised that her happy list is so much longer then her sad list. I also like that her list of things that make the baby happy (her idea) is pretty good, although I mentioned the milk. Everything on the Stewie list is actually something that makes him nervous (that would be everything) and makes Moira happy, but whatever. My biggest hope is that we can refer back to the list of things to do when she is sad the next time she is upset and give her a little more agency in feeling better.
I have so many conflicting emotions about how to help her with this. On the one hand, I don't want her to feel like she's bad because she has a negative outlook on life (or because she's wiggly), but on the other, I don't her to be struggling to think positive about anything into her late 20's like I was. I have been trying to validate her happy feelings, but it is somehow so much easier to say "Moira is feeling very sad," while she's crying then it is to point out how happy she is. I feel like I will jinx it and she will be pulled out of her happiness because I've drawn attention to it.
I would love suggestions on helping her with this. Leave her alone? Continue to draw attention to the things she enjoyed when she says she didn't have fun somewhere? Something genius I haven't though of?

Yet another aside, I tried to use photos of her for the happy and sad faces, but she was very upset at the idea of taking pictures out of the photo album we never look at and not putting them back. Sigh.

The hours of time I've sunk into Pinterest have already paid off!

2011-10-19T09:58:00.001-07:00

Our homeschool preschool was cancelled this morning, but I figured Moira and I should do a lesson anyway, as she always wakes up excited for school on Wednesdays. I pinned this Does It Dissolve? from The Picky Apple just last night, and it seemed perfect. We did xantham gum, coffee, tea, corn meal, corn starch, sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Of those, three half dissolved, two dissolved all the way, and the didn't dissolve at all.
After, I suggested we write down our observations, and she enjoyed that for about 5 minutes and then got really upset that I had written in her notebook. I made the suggestion that we could buy a special notebook for school, to write about what we did, and she liked that idea for about 5 minutes and then decided that would be upsetting too, and maybe we should buy her a new school notebook and NOT write in it. I suggested that if she didn't want me to write in a new notebook, we just wouldn't buy one.
What I have learned from this lesson is that hands on activities are always welcome, but we may have to wait until she can write to make any notes.

Wordless Wednesday: Walker's birthday (observed)

2011-10-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Linked up for WW at Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network.

Hello oxytocin!

2011-10-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Through an accident of scheduling, I only spent about 4 hours with Moira yesterday, and by the end of the day, I was really missing her. We made up for it today, as Walker was gone racing, so we had a whole extra day together. These days have been really hard for me while pregnant because I was pretty much spending the weekends napping and staring into space so that I can be present during the week. This time, it was a joy, partly because I'm feeling so much better lately, and partly because I missed her. Also partly because we slept in until 8:30 this morning.

There was also a get together with friends at a local pumpkin patch, and having a thing to do, and people to talk to always makes the day better. I even had the presence of mind to request that someone take a picture of us together, which hasn't happened in awhile. Especially a photo where I don't look like a zombie.

All the kids who tried shelling beans were really into it. We literally had to bribe them with pony rides to get them to be willing to move on. These were Christmas beans, which I'd never heard of , but there were three distinct colors that could be in the bean, so it was a little surprise each time.

Moira was even willing to touch the dirty pumpkins in the field this time, although not enough to actually find one she could carry back to the wagon. Maybe next year, when she has more upper body strength. I promised her she could go out with Walker later and he would help her get a pumpkin, since lifting the one I picked out was way too hard for me.

This was my favorite part. Most of the time we were going anywhere, she was holding hands with one or two other kids. I love watching her relationships with the kids we know grow and expand. Sometimes knowing that we are going to see one of her "Very bestest friends ever" (a list that usually includes anyone we've seen in the last week) is enough to turn a cranky morning into a happy one.

Thanks

2011-10-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

I should be writing a post about the amazing time I had this weekend with these amazing women (photo lovingly photoshopped by Lauren of Hobo Mama (photos taken by her husband Sam) so that we are all present and looking at the same camera. Marvel at her skills.), but I'm a overwhelmed and can't think of what to say. I had a wonderful time, and I'm so thankful for the gift and baby blessings they gave me.
Instead I'll just show you a picture of my Halloween costume and leave it at that. And look, two pictures of me in the same post. It's like a Halloween miracle.

*Edited to add. I'm caving to extremely gentle peer pressure. If you want to read about what when down this weekend, here is the linky with who was there and who actually wrote about it. (They caught me last night, so now I'm on the links to. I need to learn to be more sneaky.)

To learn more about all the members of the Natural Parents Network team, visit our about page. To become a volunteer for NPN, first please check out what we're in need of, then contact us if you're interested in helping out. Here's information about some of our lovely volunteers, including all of those who are writing about the gathering today:

In The First Annual Natural Parents Network Cross-Country Get Together, Natural Parents Network thanks the many volunteers who made our first annual get-together a success, and the awesome companies who donated to fill "welcome bags" for the Midwest group.

Northwest Gathering Attendees:

Lauren at Hobo Mama writes Meeting My NPN Friends. Also find Lauren on Twitter and Facebook!

Amy at Anktangle writes Meeting the NPN Family. Also find Amy on Twitter and Facebook.

Arpita at Up, Down & Natural writes Me And My Ladies ~ First Annual NPN Team Gathering. Also find Arpita on Twitter and Facebook.

Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings writes Seattle Bloggy Meetup & Gluten-free Shortbread! Also find Kristin on Twitter and Facebook!

Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy writes Meeting Those People.... Also find Jennifer on Twitter.

Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes writes Thanks.

Moorea at MamaLady: Adventures in Lesbian Parenting writes The Natural Parents Are Coming! Hide the Stroller!

Midwest Gathering Attendees:

Dionna at Code Name: Mama writes Wanted: More NPN Volunteers in Kansas City! Also find Dionna on Twitter and Facebook!

Jorje at Momma Jorje writes Vacation Weekend with Volunteers. Also find Jorje on Facebook!

Amy at Peace 4 Parents writes The Value of Parent-to-Parent Support, Truth, Love, and Healing. Also find Amy on Twitter and Facebook.

Amanda at Let's Take the Metro writes The Gathering. Also find Amanda on Facebook.

Joni Rae at Tales of Kitchen Witch writes The One Where I Go to the NPN Gathering. Also find Joni Rae on Twitter and Facebook.

Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children writes First Natural Parents Network Get Together.

Rebekah & Chris at Liberated Family. Also find Rebekah & Chris on Twitter.

Fabulous NPN Volunteers who were unable to attend:

Melissa at The New Mommy Files writes Building a Modern Day Village. Find Melissa on Twitter and Facebook.

Rachael at The Variegated Life. Find Rachel on Twitter and Facebook.

Luschka at Diary of a First Child writes Dear Screen Name, Are You Really My Friend? Find Luschka on Twitter and Facebook.

Darcel at The Mahogany Way writes The Natural Parents Network Gathering I Couldn't Attend. Find Darcel on Twitter and Facebook.

Sarah at Parenting God's Children. Find Sarah on Twitter and Facebook.

Julia at A Little Bit of All of It. Find Julia on Twitter and Facebook.

Things that are awesome right now

2011-10-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Moira and Walker brought back Pie for me. The peach/cherry was super fantastic.

My laptop is fixed and we can pick it up tomorrow!

Moira's outfits are getting better and better. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her after nap outfit (red polka dot leggings, floral corduroy jumper, inside out and backwards striped sweater dress, frog boots). In the picture above she is wearing a baby sweater (maybe size 9m?) knit by my great grandmother that has been used as doll clothes since I was a kid. Over a sweatshirt. Why? Because Ithaqua had been wearing it earlier, and she is pregnant so she needs to wear her husband's clothes now.
She got that idea from one book, and despite her hopes, I haven't started doing it. Probable because Walker and I wear roughly the same sized clothing, so I'm outgrowing his at the same rate as mine. Also, I bought, you know, actual maternity clothes.

Tomorrow I get to meet some of these fabulous people! I am of course anxious and made too much food for my potluck contribution. We've been exchanging nervous secrets in preparation for the get together, which I guess means a game of "I never" is right out.

I'm finally taking a combination of supplements that mean I feel slightly less miserable. Now if I would just look a little more pregnant. My dentist asked me if I'd already had the baby. I managed not to kick him.

Moira is full of fabulous ideas lately. She is dead set on us having a lesson where we make watercolors and bake them in the oven. Maybe this is what we will do for Christmas presents this year. She also likes to tell me sad stories now. My favorite so far is "My best friends Eve and L are dead. It's very sad that they are dead. Now they can't play and I have to find new ones."

She also listed off about 6 kids we see regularly as her "Extra super special bestest friends ever!"

Her anger at boys seems to have been cured, after one incident with a friend's very sensitive boy whose feelings were hurt when she didn't want to play with him. She's even decided that Jahleel, (the boy she blames for everything any boy does) is okay and has started happily inviting him into her games.

She would really like our house to burn down so she can meet firefighters. I keep telling her that we can meet them without losing our home, but she doesn't believe me.

She is into Halloween this year! She fell in love with this haunted house foamy kit and has been playing with it ever since we put it together. We can walk near the Halloween section of any store without complaint! She's still not sure trick or treating is a good idea, but I'm sure once she sees the candy, she'll change her mind.

The baby is big enough to start pushing against my ribs. That's more uncomfortable then awesome, but! It means the baby is also old enough to roll to the middle of my belly when I take a bath. Moira did this too and the triangle belly always amused me. This kid doesn't have the stamina that she did, as it usually gives up after a few seconds and slumps back into it's preferred spot on the right. Moira would stay there until I got out of the water.

Preschool is fun

2011-10-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Despite starting the day off on completely the wrong foot (Totally my fault, I am apparently skilled at taking a happy, bouncy morning and turning it into sadness and anxiety. Go me?) and Moira being worried about having to share her toys with her friends during school day, the lesson I planned was a big hit.

We made direct ancestor family trees (I premade the layouts for each kid, as everyone had a slightly different family configuration.) and pasted pictures of our loved ones on them. I'd have loved to include aunts and uncles, but unless everyone only had one sibling with no kids, that wouldn't fit on a single posterboard. The older kids were interested in putting the pictures on and talking about when and where people were born. The youngest participant didn't quite get it, but he was excited to take his "Grandma picture" home with him, after his Dad did the work.

We also drew circles around the places people in our families were born. We pretty much should have just drawn a giant circle around the Seattle area to encompass all the different cities in a 20 mile radius where people were born. (Not shown, the circle in Germany where my Dad was born, he was the only one born off this continent.)
I have to say, I think our little home based preschool is going well. There was a bunch of screaming today (mostly created by Moira), and someone had to leave early due to not listening, but this is the fifth get together and I was surprised at how well everyone was getting along before. Hopefully next week will be calmer. I'll certainly try to start our day next Wednesday with significantly less nagging. Moira is loving the lessons every week, and has now twice fallen asleep after a class, I think because she's concentrating so hard on what she's learning.

{This Moment}

2011-09-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Inspired by SouleMama, a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Step 1

2011-09-28T22:09:00.001-07:00

This is the lamp on my side of the bed. I love the lamp, but I've always hated the shade. I'm also oddly terrified of the process by which you recover a lampshade, so I finally decided to try just recoloring it. I think the test patch turned out pretty cool, and it looks better with the light then I expected, so I think thiss plan is a go. I'm going to glue some ribbon around the top and bottom when I'm done, but I haven't figured out which one yet. I'd also like to spray the actual lamp part silver eventually, and rewire it so that it's happier with modern lightbulbs, but those are much farther down my do list.

Her nails are colorful too.

2011-09-22T17:50:00.001-07:00

I'm glad she hasn't discovered where my actual makeup is. This pen lipstick will wash right off, but my lipstick is the never come off stuff.

Sunday Surf

2011-09-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Things that have caught my eye over the last two weeks. I also joined Pinterest, that sucks up a lot of time, but what pretty eye candy.

Pregnancy not a Disease, pulling apart the pro life movement's argument that birth control shouldn't be covered.

Why I mix Play Dates and Politics, it's so much easier to make actual friends if you try talking about the sensitive topics with them. Plus, then you can weed out the people who disagree with you on important things before you get attached.

10 ways to Guarantee you will Hate Doing Kids Crafts, I'm usually pretty good at relaxing into the process of crafting with Moira, but sometimes I let internal pressure for perfection mount. When that happens, I usually just walk away and let her keep having her fun.

That's What you do in a Herd, it is not required that siblings fight. I hope that's something we can encourage.

My Post Baby Body, your kids don't mind your squishy bits. Please celebrate your body for all the amazing things it does for you.

Are we Protecting our Kids From the Right Things?, of course I agree with this author. There's no point in encouraging everyone to be the same.

The Storytelling Incident, and in that vein, what can happen if you help your kid embrace their weird.

Sunday Surf

2011-09-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is not as long as last week. Apparently, I was less inspired. Or something.

Do Inspiring Blogs Make you Feel bad About Yourself? So much of Mommy guilt is self inflicted. I always try to assume that mothers who are doing something 'better' then me are also probably not doing something I do as well.

Exaggerating for Effect, I love these tips. It seems like now would be a great time to be more silly as I am more likely to be cranky all day long. It's not much harder to threaten with pretend consequences then it is to tell her to "just leave me alone!" for the 5th time in 5 minutes.

The Kid Should See This is a website with nothing but interesting videos of all sorts of things. They are not all made for kids, but they are all interesting to kids. Moira and I watched a time lapse of a butterfly emerging from it's chrysalis.

Your Furry Toys Traveling to Paris! Awfully expensive, but what a cute idea.

To my Someday Daughter, "You don't have to play second fiddle to a game, and you don't have to accept his guilt-tripping and the cruelty of his friends, all of whom play, all of whom resent you for the loss of their raiding buddy or playtest partner. You don't have to accept his culture and that culture's ignorance to your needs, nor do you have to subject yourself to their biases." Sexism is so pervasive in gaming, from the top down, and it makes me so sad. I sincerely hope that by the time this man has a daughter, she won't need to read this letter.

And, stolen last minute from Mamapoekie herself, Of Course I'm a Feminist, Aren't You?. I especially like the last line.

That should last us a couple of weeks

2011-09-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

I met my last preserving goal of the year (minus of course, chicken/veggie stock, and beans which I just do as necessary throughout the year), and made tomato sauce last weekend.

I bought 3 25lb boxes of canning tomatoes and made 14 quarts and 1 pint of sauce, with one whole box getting frozen whole because I ran out of energy. I had forgotten that even though some of the steps, like cooking down the sauce and the actual pressure canning, take a long time, there's very little actual downtime.

Because I had forgotten, I decided to roast and can the chiles that had been piling up in our fridge, and also make salsa when I neglected to grab all the chiles out of the fridge on the first pass. Plus we had some miscellaneous tomatoes lying around in the fridge and were going out of town the next weekend.

It was a lot for one pregnant person to get done in 24 hours, but at least the last few hours were pretty low maintenance. I even decided to get more chiles so I can do more of the chopped chile pieces, although I will probably make Walker do the peeling and chopping since he seems to be impervious to capsacian burns. I love those little cans of pre-chopped peppers, and use them all the time, but I'm sure the commercial cans are lined with BPA and other horrible things. Since that was really the last canned item I hadn't managed to replace, I'm hopeful that these will turn out successful, but I'm not sure when chili is going to sound like a good idea again.
In other news, I finally tried papaya enzymes and I'm pleased to report that those seem to be effective at keeping my heartburn under control. Sometimes, I even want seconds of dinner! Unfortunately I have been experiencing a new pregnancy side effect where some bathrooms smell like used kitty litter to me, including one of the bathrooms in our house. Not fun.

Queen of the castle

2011-09-11T15:35:00.001-07:00

I have reached the point of pregnancy where I can no longer order pizza, or make plans reliably. Today I had plans to take Moira to Remlinger Farms this afternoon, and had already told her about them. But when I checked the website before we left, I discovered that they were not in fact open until 6 today like I thought, but only 4:30.
Since paying $8 a head for 15 minutes didn't seem like a good idea, I apologized to Moira and offered up the alternate plan of playing in the play area at Bellevue Square, which she gleefully agreed to. She is actually in a fabulous mood, I think because she was so happy to actually be doing something special with me on the weekend. It's a refreshing change to the usual afternoon crankyness for me, and the special time with me while we leave Daddy at home is probably a pretty big thing for her.
Usually, the evenings and weekends are mostly Daddy time, excepting the rare autocross or something. In fact, since I've been pregnant, the actual number of things I've done with them on the weekends can be counted on two hands, and I'm no longer even eating dinner with them. By the time he gets home from work, or the weekend rolls around, I'm just too exhausted and overwhelmed to even have a conversation. I'm an introvert normally, more so while pregnant, and being around another person all day who is constantly talking to me is more draining then I can put into words.
Walker just handles the extra responsibility without complaint, but after awhile he starts getting a stir crazy look in his eyes, and that's when I try to actually let him have a couple of hours to himself. Fortunately today I seem to have a random burst of energy, possibly related to sleeping and eating better for the last couple of days, so I was able to actually do this. Moira is having a fabulous time playing on the castle, and I can just sit and watch.
I have to say that she is much more fun lately, coming up with plans and ideas, actually being able to work out a few compromises with me, and generally being awesome. I am waiting for her to start just deciding things on her own though, which is probably not something I should be looking forward to since she will usually ask me if she can, for instance, dump some paint on the porch. Usually though she does the things I would say no to, like cutting her own hair, without asking, but then asks me (I am not exagerating) 6 times in 2 minutes if she can wear the outfit she wore yesterday today. In her defense, she was checking out all the permutations she could think of. Can she wear it ALL day? Yes. Can she wear it when we go out? Yes. Can she wear it to the farm? Yes. Can she still wear it today? Yes. Note, she changed her shirt while I was out, which doesn't surprise me since yesterday's shirt was pretty filthy. I don't know why, but the answer is probably something along the lines of, it got wet.

Sunday Surf

2011-09-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone is talking about back to school now, which is not a big surprise. Moira had her very first co-op, at home, preschool experience this week, which I mostly did because she has been asking and asking to go to school for almost a year. Any homeschoolers have experience with little kids who pick up how exciting school is from books and media? Did that wear off as they got older? I've been conducting some minor brainwashing on the subject, but it doesn't seem to be working very well. I'm pretty sure that she would not enjoy a traditional school experience, but if she is persistent in this idea, I'll have to respect her decision and send her to school which, honestly, will be SO much more work it makes me tired just to think of it.

Back to the Wrong School, why are we trying to make a system designed to churn out factory workers work for our current job market?

What Should a 4 Year old Know? I'm not worried that Moira has 'stalled' at the same level of reading readyness for a year and a half. Or that 13 appears twice between 1 and 20 when she counts. This is a helpful list of the social and personal skills that children are usually developing at this age.

In Which I am a Woman, not a Girl, there is no universe in which I would want to be a teenager or young adult forever. Every year older I get, the happier, more confident, and more competent I am.

Study Says Confronting men About Sexism Makes Them Nicer, this study is actually about workplace relations, and I wonder if it translates to personal relations well.

I will not Obey, why does our society put so much emphasis on teaching children to be obedient? Not only does it rarely work, but it can be harmful in healthy sexual development. (That is not a point Teacher Tom makes, just my own personal soapbox.)

Backroad Learning, this is related to the first link, at least in my mind. Much of our current schooling emphasis strips everything 'extra' out of our kids lives. Kids need to be creative, move, explore, and have the room to develop tangents.

You're not Homeschooling Because... I've been enjoying this series from Jazzy Mama. Not that I need convincing, but I love her take on all the different obstacles people have to homeschooling.

Homeschooling With Babies and Toddlers, are you bored with homeschooling links now? Too bad! This talks about how it works to homeschool with multiple age kids.

Officially homeschooling

2011-09-09T20:44:00.001-07:00

Moira was super excited to have our first day of school this week, with our co-op, home based preschool with friends. She woke up full of plans of what to wear and what to show at show and tell. (She didn't end up wanting to stand up in front of the group. Maybe next time.) She also didn't want to stop doing the lesson, even after painting 7 pictures to everyone else's 2.
Because she was so into it, I came up with a second "lesson" for the afternoon, where we took a walk and gathered leaves. I also decided to fill a basket of books, loosely themed around fall. That basket is pretty popular already, so I think we try to change it every week with the library storytime's alphabet themes.
Planning ahead for that, I decided to make a letter page for next week, with lots of pictures of A things. I was taking a break when she and Walker came downstairs to tell me it was bedtime. She assured me that Daddy could finish my work, and we agreed that Daddy probably could. He didn't even try though, maybe he couldn't think of any more A words.
I don't really think I'm planning anymore activities then normal, but it seems to make her feel really grown up when I call them lessons instead of projects. If that's all it takes to keep her happy, I'm fine with that.

Wordless Wednesday: Sightseeing

2011-09-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Linked up at Natural Parents Network and Hobo Mama

Wordless Wednesday: Fun at the fair

2011-08-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

Linking up at Natural Parents Network

And then they went to the park to play!

2011-08-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

In the last two days we've had to have conversations with Moira about why we don't lock the door to the bathroom (fortunately, our locks have a slot on the outside so we can unlock them with the help of small change), and why she can't cut her own hair. Since she's never been the type to do things like that, so I'm assuming it has something to do with her recent explosion in play both by herself and with other kids. So it's totally worth it. Don't tell her this, but I'd let her cut all her hair off with her safety scissors.

As long as this keeps happening. She spent more then 20 minutes pushing Mimi on the baby swing. Talking to Mimi. Exclaiming, "Oh no! Mimi is not having fun at this park and I don't know what to do!" Occasionally at home, I hear her narrating to herself. Obviously, I haven't managed to catch that on video, or I'd include it here.
It's hard to hear her on the video, and I'm VERY loud, but she was waiting for her quilt group to come to the park for their meeting. They were all going to push their babies on the baby swings. It's hard to have a meeting when babies are crying.

How very Waldorf of us

2011-08-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

When I was taking the laundry today, Moira asked for one of the clothespins so she could pretend it was an ice cream cone. Rather then just say no and get grouchy when she started asking "Whyyyyyy?" I remembered that I bought her mini clothespins a long time ago (long before she was capable of operating them), so I pulled those out. "Can I hang up my laundry?" she asked, so I hung up a ribbon and we got a box of her doll clothes.

She did four loads before she decided to take a break. Including one with paper clothes she made herself. She's actually hanging up more clothes now. It took her awhile to figure out how to hold the clothes and the pins at the same time, which is why she's holding one in her mouth in this picture. Well, that, and I tend to hold a second clothespin in my mouth while I'm pinning something up with the first one. She's really happy to have this right now, I guess I should look for a little ironing set for her too, since she's been agitating for one, but I was skeptical that it would actually be fun. Do they make wooden washer and dryers too?

If you were wondering, this is what happens when I don't plan an interesting enough after nap activity. She is in love with drawing on herself lately, so it made perfect sense to draw some ballet tights on.

Small Style: Post rainy days

2011-08-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how excited I am that Moira no longer picks the same outfits over and over? And that clothes no longer need to be strictly color coordinated? In my mind, this is how "real" kids pick out outfits, although I know that's silly.

Stewie stayed home with us two days in a row, so Moira decided he needed a walk. And since it was a chilly 78 degrees, she needed a sweater and boots to do it. Admittedly this was after a night of rain so the ground was slightly damp. Whatever.

Stewie is not a fan of being walked by Moira, and she is not a fan of the fact that he ignores all her commands. They'll work it out eventually.

On Moira:
Sweater: Just Kidd'n, sadly no longer in business
Dress: Naartje
Pants: Gymboree
Boots: Circo, used from Tree House Consignment

Small Style is hosted by Mama Loves Papa

The flowers are happy and so am I

2011-08-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Walker has been saving up his vacation days so that when the baby is born he can take the maximum amount of time off work, but he was about to accrue two extra days that would get lost if he didn't use them, so we had a long weekend as a family, which was wonderful, while being both extra tiring (because we did things), and relaxing (because he let me spend hours lying down watching TV) for me.

The "big" activity was a two hour trip to Alki beach, as Moira has been begging to go to the beach. She was a little surprised that this beach trip was not like the one she and I took last year with friends, so we had to talk her into putting on her swimsuit and not wearing a sweatshirt on the very sunny day. She refused to go into the waves, but had a lot of fun digging in the sand with Daddy, and trying to fly her kite.

We had actually started the day at Farm Tots, and took my car in for an oil change, and we had lunch, which is why we were only at the beach for a couple of hours. 1) There wasn't much of the day left when we got there, and 2) I was completely wiped out. Sitting in the sun and not moving is ridiculously tiring for me. We decided to stop for ice cream at Molly Moon's on the way home, and since they had replaced the strawberry lemonade sorbet with tomato basil, we decided to reintroduce dairy to Moira. We are going to do it very slowly, and I'm already not sure it is a good idea, but it's worth a shot.
Saturday Moira's friend Evelyn came over with her Dad so that he and Walker could play Portal 2 while the girls entertained each other. I went out with her mother and little brother for lunch. Then I napped the rest of the day. Sunday we had brunch at Anthony's and then did some gardening, on the hottest day of the week. That was a great plan. Monday, Walker took Moira out for the day to try and wear her out so she would go to sleep early as I was hosting my quilt group that evening. They went to Kids Quest, Moira came back with a train she made from toilet paper tubes, and was indeed completely wiped out. It didn't help her go to sleep any earlier though.
I have more pictures of the weekend, mostly of some of the interesting outfits Moira and Ithaqua wore, but I haven't gotten around to taking them off the camera yet. Hopefully the transition back to our regular schedule won't be too hard for me. It certainly helped to have rain yesterday, and it looks like today will be cooler too.

Window painting

2011-08-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Inspired by this and many other posts I found looking for recipes, I decided to let Moira try painting on our windows. You know, outside, so I wouldn't get annoyed at the paint getting all over, and naked, so she wouldn't get upset at paint getting all over her.

It started out so calmly, with Moira insisting on using just one color of the three she insisted we make, and painting with a tooth brush.

Then some paint got knocked over, and she remembered that I said she could use her fingers. After trying that out, she wanted to "Stomp in the mud!"

Every time she got paint on some part of herself, she had to wash it off, which eventually lead to a full on bath in her water table, totally her idea.
This whole process, stomp in the paint, rinse off, stomp in the paint some more, continue, was worth more then a half an hour of entertainment. And all the windows she could reach got painted. Also, because it was mostly soap and water, clean up was pretty easy. And it was a bath night, so Moira's clean up was pretty easy too.

Small Style: Fairies get married too

2011-08-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

While the wedding dress was being washed (and it needs to get washed again, and have the trim fixed. Uh oh.), Moira started exploring the contents of her dress up box. She also has to buy everything she wants to wear out of there, for reasons unknown to me. This is actually the third outfit she wore yesterday, and it was the first one to make it outside. She is dancing with her husband, Ithaqua.

Shirt, knit by my mother
Tutu, made by Pearl
Pants, Naartje
Shoes, Crocs (which I hate and refuse to link to, because they are constantly falling off her feet at inconvenient times and then we have to STOP! and sometimes cry and frantically brush off the soles of her feet, even in the middle of the street, and if anyone buys her another pair when she grows out of them, I will scream. I'm looking at you, Dad, and now you, Sika, because I said they would annoy me)
Ithaqua, made by me

Linking up at Mama Loves Papa

Imagination gone wild

2011-08-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

At least if I'm still physically exhausted right now, I appear to be out of the mental exhaustion. I think I've taken more pictures of Moira in the last week then I did in all of June and July. And now I'm going to spam them on the internet! Yay!

Inspired by an episode of Cailou she saw at least a month ago, Moira decided to make a drum. I managed to let her figure out how to do it, even though she needed my help. Usually when we point out she needs a string for something, she goes to draw one at her art table, and asks me to cut it out.

This time, she found the ribbon (attached to an old balloon) and then asked me to tie it onto the tin. When I pointed out that that wouldn't work, she suggested we stick the ribbon inside the lid. I tied knots in it, to circumvent the obvious problem with that idea, and she ran off. Of course the lid popped off, and the ribbon fell out. After a couple of times of that, I asked what we should do. She suggested tape, and I made her show me where the tape should go (on the ribbon, inside the tin). The ribbon stayed on, but the lid still popped off, so she asked for more tape and showed me how to tape the lid on.

Now she has a functioning drum, which she's been taking on a lot of parades outside. She always uses the same spoon and fork set as drumsticks, despite my suggestion of chopsticks, and unreasonable demands that they be kept in the kitchen.
When I make a demand that she thinks is unreasonable now, she tells me "You are not being fair! You need to be reasonable!" I'm not entirely sure where she got that phrasing from.

Moira also made this sign, to hang on the wall between her bedroom door and ours, so that the new baby knows it's not allowed in either of our rooms. The faint white lines are another person, and I think the faint yellow lines are the words. I am pretending that the brown person is Walker because the way she drew the eyes look like glasses to me, but I didn't actually ask.
I helped her hang it up, but I pointed out that when the baby is born it will be sleeping in my room, so her sign can't keep the baby out of there. I'll stop here and save the pictures of naked window painting for another post.

A little bride

2011-08-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

I think we can count the wedding dress I made for Moira as an unqualified success. I think she wore it every day last week, and the only reason she hasn't worn it today is because it got wet yesterday and I decided that would be a good time to give it a wash. Shockingly, my request that it only be worn inside has been ignored, but since it's not as see through as I thought it would be, that's okay.

Getting married by the horses to her husband, named either Paula or Polie. The husband is a different person then her boyfriend, apparently. I hope she's told them about each other.

Driving to the hospital immediately after the wedding to have their baby. Despite appearances, her husband is driving.

Playing with her pet cat (the polar bear) while waiting for her boyfriend. This was yesterday, and I'm ridiculously proud of myself for actually going outside and watching her play for awhile. And then managing to make dinner. Being pregnant does not make me the most interesting mother.

Her husband was pushing her on the swing because I wouldn't. She wanted me to keep taking pictures too, and since I could do that sitting down, it seemed like the easier choice.
After her dress got wet, she decided to dress like a fairy, but I wasn't allowed to take a picture of that.

It's too bad I already posted my {This Moment} for the week

2011-08-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

When I came upstairs so the baby sitter could head home, this is what Moira's face looked like. She decided to put on some makeup (using red chalk) while Faye was in the bathroom. Moira did not want to let me take pictures of this, because it was "too special," so I promised we would print a copy for her photo album so she could always remember.

{This Moment} Bug face

2011-08-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Two things

2011-08-11T08:47:00.001-07:00

"Moira and Evelyn getting married (and Daddy)" 2011
This is the first time Moira has ever titled a picture like this. She has certainly told me what she was painting before (last night it was a lake and chicken nuggets), but this was the title. She also let me know when she was drawing the individual parts of it, her, Evelyn, Daddy. I checked, and this is a picture of her and Evelyn getting married, with Daddy in attendance. He is not also getting married.

This is her favorite activity lately. She has been spending a lot of time outside shoveling the gravel in our parking strip to "build a palace" but I have been lax in taking pictures. Partly because she never wants me to take her picture, and partly because I'm tired and I don't want to attract her attention when she's doing something that doesn't require my input.

Moira's wedding plans

2011-08-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo today, and many, many things seemed to remind Moira of weddings. There was even a little girl wearing a gauzy white dress. I told her that people have weddings at the zoo, and I'm expecting that knowledge to get integrated into her plans soon. So far, here are her plans for her wedding, and married life.

She will get married in Seattle, and then she and her husband will ride the carousel. She will ride one of the horses that doesn't move.
Her husband is going to be a pirate.
I am going to make her wedding dress, and while she sleeps a handkerchief and a tiara with a veil.
I will also be driving her and her husband to their wedding, and then to the airport where they will fly to their new castle in Africa.
They will have triplets at the hospital, and she will feed the babies milk from a bottle.
Their new neighbors in Africa will wear hats and bring them a swing and a trampoline to put in their yard. Then I can come and visit.

That is not a good compromise

2011-07-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

We have been working with Moira on how to compromise. It seems to be helping when she is with other kids, or possibly she's just verbally adept enough now to convince them to do what she wants. There are still two major problems for her.
1) Boys. Considering that she's still obsessed with weddings, and is waiting for her husband to show up so they can go to Seattle and get married, I would expect her to be a little more interested in boys. Instead she seems to be getting more and more antagonistic towards them. Yesterday at a birthday party, she refused to get into a bouncy house because there was a single boy playing with multiple girls inside it. She also refused a wagon ride because she would have had to ride with another boy (who was very confused by her refusal). I think this is some of the reason she frequently tells me she "hates Daddy" and also why she likes to tell me that she doesn't want to see my friend's son, who she appears to have decided is the "everyboy" and blames for everything bad any boy between the ages of 2 and 6 has done to her. On the plus side, she has no problem with boys under two, so maybe she just likes younger men. I should tell her she'll have to wait longer for her wedding that way.
2) Us. I don't try to explain about compromise too much when she's angry/sad/overtired, but she has started suggesting her own compromises in the midst of her screaming. For instance, today she and Walker were getting ready to go outside, when Walker got distracted and Moira decided it was a better idea to watch TV. We said no, and suggested some other alternatives, playing a board game, going for a walk... She said no and said "How about I watch Arthur by myself and Daddy fast forwards through the dinosaurs. Is that a good compromise?" She suggested it three more times before I suggested that maybe calming down before we decide what to do would be a good idea, and how about Daddy reading her a book.
I'm hoping that if we can get her to start understanding how to negotiate, it will cut down a bit on the screaming fits. Especially since the current best way is to remove whatever thing was causing the repeated, long drawn out screaming. That wasn't really an option when clothing was the problem, so instead we had to force her into getting dressed (and putting shorts under the dresses), and I doubt it will work well with her current problem with drinking water, since we keep going places where other people are drinking non water things.
Anyway, I'm rambling now, so I will leave you with a picture of her in the wedding dress I made her for dress up. She has only put it on once, and it was specifically so I would take pictures of her in it, but hey, that's better then her previous plan to save it for her wedding.

Mad skills with sharp things

2011-07-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Moira has recently been insisting on making her own sandwiches. She gets the ingredients she can reach, helps spread, and most importantly, puts the top on when it's done. She does a good job spreading when she is patient about it, but frequently she smushes things around a bit and then lets me have a turn.

Last weekend she was very upset when we wouldn't cut her sandwich into a circle for her (and also cut the crusts off, I assume she picked this up from television, like her knowledge of who Kai-Lan is), so I pulled out the cookie cutters. Now cutting her sandwich into a fancy shape is a big deal, something she also wants to help with. So far we've done a wide variety of 'pretty' shapes, Tinkerbell, hearts, bunnies, stars. She's got a little work to do on figuring out which ones are too big, but most of the ones she likes are small enough to fit on her bread.

I was doing something terribly important the other day, like being grouchy on the couch and reading Facebook, when she asked me to cut out this paper doll for her. Since that required getting the scissors I promised to do it in a few minutes. Moira said "That's okay! I'll do it myself!" and ran off to the art table where she started snipping. I geared up for what I assumed would be our conversation about how once you cut the paper doll into tiny pieces, Mommy cannot tape it back together, but this is what she did. I'm SUPER impressed, she only crossed the line twice, and one of those is a rip, so it was even less intentional. She picked out a dress for the doll for me to cut out, and then carried her around for the rest of the day, even insisting that she sleep with her.
I have always loved cutting paper, and I'm glad she seems to like it too. I remember spending a lot of time cutting out friend's paper dolls from an early age while they oohed and aahed over my ability to cut on the lines. Now I get to ooh and aah at Moira's ability to do the same. Mother daughter paper doll days, here we come!

Hooray for craft day!

2011-07-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last week, Pearl and her daughter came over for a craft day. M decorated a jacket, Pearl worked on a shirt, Moira did beading, and I started a wedding dress that Moira had been requesting for a couple of months.

I finished it up the next day, but have been unable to convince Moira to actually wear it. She prefers to save anything she deems "too pretty" for a special occasion that never comes. I am trying to explain that when she actually gets married I will make her ANOTHER wedding dress, this one is just for pretend, but I think that like all the purses and bags she has packed that we can never ever unpack, this may be a losing battle.
I have been saving a wide variety of laces and ribbons, mostly given to me by people when their grandma's stop sewing. This is the first time I've used more then a yard or two. Pearl was very impressed.

After a couple of hours of beading, Moira got bored, so I suggested she could decorate a onesie for the new baby. She wasn't actually that interested in this activity, probably because it was close to naptime. She scribbled on it for awhile and then declared herself finished. I have another blank onesie, and I think we will have to try this activity again when she's not already cranky. Not sure when that will be since I tend to pull out activities as a distraction technique, but we'll get to it.
I'm glad we had a craft day. We have a sewing play date set up for later this week, but I think the kids are just supposed to play. I'm assuming that the presence of other children will be enough to keep her from wanting to work with me too much.

It must be true that children will pick the things to be excited about that will drive you the most crazy. First there is the pink/princess/fancy/bride thing we are in the throes of, and now she's started cleaning. Since we have a bottle of vinegar and water, I'm not worried about her using as much as she wants, but she keeps trying to clean the windows with one of our pot scrubbers. I finally hid the spray bottle on Friday just because I am so tired of the conversation that happens while she's cleaning. "I'm a cleaner Mommy! Now I'm cleaning this window! All done! Which window next?"
This would make more sense as an obsession if I ever cleaned, but I am doing less while pregnant then normal, and I didn't clean often to start with. She loves to mop the floors too, but that takes a lot more intervention on my part, so I don't let her do it often. I should probably be encouraging this, shouldn't I?

A bride will wear some of your shoes, and Daddy's shoes, and my shoes!

2011-06-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

I mentioned how Moira is always talking now. I am not kidding. She had just figured out how to sit on this swing (the seat isn't fixed) and she was still talking. She talks all throughout her swim class, even when the teacher shows her something new.
She has started telling people she's shy too. Usually after trying to engage them in conversation, so now I'm trying to explain to her the difference between shy (which she really isn't) and reserved, since she usually wants to warm up to people before she'll talk to them or even look at them.
If she does engage you in conversation. These are the things she will probably want to tell you. Unless you just gave her a present, in which case, that will also be added to the list.
"My name is Moira!"
"I turned 3 on my birthday!"
"Mommy has a baby in her tummy."
"I have a dog named Stewie."
"Angelina is my friend."
She'll cycle through these until she hits the one that you understand. Then she's usually confused by any clarifying questions you may ask, so she'll move on to one of the other topics.

C'est la Vie

2011-06-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

It turns out that I keep thinking of things I could blog about, but then I decide that I would rather play Gemcraft Labyrinth or read. I have been reading a LOT lately, mostly because I've had to have the radio off most of the day because Moira is talking all the time now, and the sensory overload was getting to be too much for me.

But I have done something I'm actually bothering to blog about. I finished my 365 project and it only took me 14 months! I started on my birthday last year, but I decided that it was okay to skip days as necessary. Sometimes many days. So here is a mosaic of some of my favorite pictures, at least today, from the last six months. I think I did something similar for the first six months, but I'm not going to bother to look.

I also made a pair of leggings for me which turned out great if a little long. I was worried this would be hard and now that I've done it, I'm not sure why. I have tried it out a couple of times before, without a pattern, and since this time I had a pair to copy, it shouldn't have been intimidating for me.

I Recommend (but Moira likes this book too)

2011-06-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

I was recently at Third Place Books buying a gift. I usually avoid bookstores and the children's section specifically because I could spend all my time, and all our disposable income there. If you've ever seen our house, you know how little Moira needs more books. (maybe people don't know that, since that is 90% of what people give her, which is fine, because she loves books and we do tend to read them all) But I was there, and I was spending money anyway, and I fell in love with a book, so I brought it home for her (me).

The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman. Inside there are pictures of all kinds of configurations of families, single parents, grandparents, gay couples. The illustrations show multi-cultural and multi-generational families all throughout the book. After covering the basic, it goes on to explore the different choices, and sometimes lack of choices, that families make with jobs, school, showing feelings, hobbies, getting along, etc. No judgements are cast on anyone's choices, be they homeschooling or going to school, eating home grown foods or fast food. People of both genders are shown taking care of all aspects of family life from work, to childcare, and no one is made to seem incompetent. There are boys and girls in dresses and playing rough and tumble games. The only thing it could have included to make it more diverse is transgendered people, but I can understand that that topic hasn't successfully filtered into children's literature (Amazon has a list of books for and about transgendered children. This one looks particularly cool
This book is helpful for us right now. Moira and I have been having a lot of conversations about boys and girls lately. She started trying to lock Walker downstairs, saying she didn't want boys in the house. She routinely tells me she hates one of our little male friends; she seems to remember every bad thing any boy she doesn't know well as done by him. She informed me while we were playing hospital that Doctors are boys and Nurses are girls. I pointed out that our doctor is a woman, and a friend we went to the beach with last year is a man and a nurse. She refused to let me pretend to be seen by a female doctor, so I refused to keep playing. We were at Costco buying her a bathrobe to wear to swim class and after a conversation about how all clothes were for all people and she could chose from either side of their sex segregated bathrobe display, the lady putting our purchases back in the cart looked at her blue fish covered bathrobe and exclaimed, "Isn't this one for boys!?" I told her that we loved fish and blue and it was for us, and we walked away. Fortunately, Moira had picked that bathrobe partly because my friend's teenage daughter loves blue and Moira idolizes her, so as we walked out we talked about how SILLY that lady was, and what M would have said, and how much M loves fish (a seriously huge amount), and Moira has not rejected the bathrobe.
She is clinging to a lot of the gender stereotypical stuff right now, and I want to support her desire for pink things, and to be a ballerina/bride/princess/queen, and to be fancy. But I want her to know that 1)she doesn't have to like those things, and 2)boys can like those things too. And that she can like pink and trains. Or fish, for heavens sake.

Take a deep breath

2011-06-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

I can't find the post right now, but awhile ago I mentioned how I was trying to teach Moira deep breathing to help her calm herself down. She wasn't interested/able to actually hold her breath, and she preferred to do 'doggy breaths' (pant pant) over anything that would actually slow her breathing down. Surprisingly, the doggy breaths actually seemed to help her focus and calm down, so I kept plugging away at the lesson. Rather then focusing on her when she was losing it, I tried to point out that this was how I handle things when I am losing it.
In the last couple of weeks, Moira has started coaching me through deep breaths when I start getting agitated. "Deep breaths Mommy! Breathe in, breathe out! Phew!" She has also started doing it on her own when she's having trouble settling down, especially at bedtime. Not that this has made her a calm and reasonable three year old, there is plenty of screaming and losing it, but I'm so glad that this technique is working for her.
My current worry is how negatively focused she can be. It's strange, because she is most of the time a pretty happy kid. It just seems that sometimes she needs to be sad, and she will start with something and work her way through everything she can think of that makes her sad. On the one had, I really don't want her to feel that she isn't allowed to be sad, but on the other, I worry that if I don't help her learn to let go of those feelings she will end up sad and anxious like I am. Right now we do a lot of empathizing with her about her feelings, but I did insist that she couldn't be sad all the time in the car. I also decided that it's not okay to scream while you are sad, and if you need to scream you have to go to your bedroom. Fortunately, that's a rule I follow too, so it's easy to enforce.

What we've been up to

2011-05-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

You know, in the last 20 days.

Parties

Art

Birthdays

Gardening

Finding

Projects

Quilting

The sequel

2011-05-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

It turns out that if you don't blog for a few weeks, never go anywhere, and nap a lot when your in laws come to visit, people start worrying that something is wrong with you. Everything is fine, I'm just pregnant. The baby is due at the end of November, and Moira is super excited. She thanked me for making a baby for her to take care of, and let me know that I need to make another one for me when I'm done with this one, and then one for Daddy. She would also like to name this baby Moira, or possibly Angelina. I have explained to her that people do not belong to anyone, and we will all take care of the baby. I also told her that Mommy and Daddy get to pick the name. Now that we've established those two rules, she mostly asks if it's Thanksgiving yet, because she wants the baby to come out and play. I have promised her that Thanksgiving will not sneak up on her, but she doesn't believe me.
As for me, I'm starting to feel much better, less tired, and more willing to eat. This never happened when I was pregnant with Moira, so I'm pretty excited too. I've picked a midwife, and I'm happy to be giving birth in Washington this time.

She cried when I put the acrylics away

2011-05-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

I decided last year after seeing it in a blog post (on a now private blog, so I can't link to it) that I wanted her to make a "real" painting every year near her birthday.

This is what she made last year. She really wasn't into it, which was probably not helped by me deciding that she needed to make mini ones for her grandparents. I kept her engaged by switching the instrument (brush, sponge, potato masher, fork, whisk) she was painting with with each color, but it was still not her favorite thing ever.

This year she loved it. I let her pick out a new acrylic since I only have printers primaries, black and a brown. She chose Yellow Ochre, which seemed odd given her current obsession with pink, but I didn't complain. It did lead to a rather horrible color of grey mixed with the other brown and black (and all the other colors), but that is the art developmental stage she's in.

In fact, she went through quite an interesting process of underlayers and mixing both in the pallet and on the canvas. There's a lot of texture on this, which is why the final project looks so sparkly. I guarantee that it is just plain griege though, no glitter. Maybe we'll add that next year. She was very excited about her finished artwork. While I was finding the picture hooks, I had to caution her that we don't rub paintings on our clothes, even when they are dry, because she was just too happy to not hug it.
I can't wait to see next years. Maybe we'll buy some sparkly paint.

Norwescon post mortem

2011-04-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

I had a great, if busy (and sleepy) time at Norwescon. I think I did less dancing and drinking this year since any year since I started hanging out with Pearl. She was a remarkably good influence on me this year, but don't worry. She was a horrible influence on at least one other person. Probably more while I wasn't looking. It was also the first Norwescon (ever! In my 19 years of attending!) where I didn't burst into tears about something silly.
The last two years I have taken my camera, only to abandon it in my room and take maybe 3 pictures with it. I did take a number of pictures with the camera on my phone which had the added bonus of letting me upload them straight to Facebook. I'm going to share my favorites here with a bit more commentary. But first! Pictures of the costume I was working on, taken by the amazing Sika (the group shot was NOT taken by her, but was with her camera).

My full costume. Parasol was made by Jeanine, hair flowers by Mirella, and jewelry by Pearl, but I did the rest. You can kind of see that there are two different colors of red crinkle cotton in this shot. The ruffle on the bodice, under sleeve ruffle, and bottom layer of the skirt are all the darker red. The sleeves are just pinned up, and I need to make that permanent before I wear it again. I decided after I saw Pearl & Mirella's sleeves that I liked them much better that way.
The green/red fabric I used for the jacket part is a shot silk sari Sika brought me from her travels, although neither of us can remember which travels. I was saving it for a different long time planned costume, but the red was perfect with this. The trim on the jacket was given to my Mom when she was Baroness of Madrone way back when. I'm glad I finally found a use for it, but I only managed to use about half of it.

Here we all are. Sadly, this is the only time all four of us were together in costume, but there are plenty of shots other people got of different groups of the three of us. We are still in negotiations for what to do next year. We all got hall costume awards for these costumes. Mirella and Sika were in the right place at the right time, and then made Pearl and I lurk in the right place until ribbons were awarded.

Pearl and I checked in on Wednesday and spent the night running around forgetting things. Putting up fliers was our primary Wednesday responsibility and it only took us 6 or 7 trips back to the room to remember everything we needed and attach the signs in ways that they would actually stay on the sign boards. Sigh.

After that, it took us about 7 hours to get the first Daily Zine (my job this year) published. Mostly because of all the swearing I had to do at publisher. We never did remember to look for no breaking lines and how to stop it from auto-adjusting line breaks. I'm pleased with the job the Zine group did all weekend, and I'm never doing it again.
I kept wondering how I managed 12 hour days in KidKon for 10 years, with twice nightly security checks, until someone pointed out that I was much younger then. Oh yeah.

Norwescon sold out again. On Thursday, we had sold twice as many memberships as our previous high from last year. I think this means that more people are coming for the whole weekend and this makes me really happy. Sadly, we have no more room in this hotel, and our only choices are to spread to two hotels or go to the convention center, which is already booked on Easter weekend. I'm hoping that some insanely wealthy scifi fan will decide to build Norwescon it's dream hotel. Any takers?
I got to stay Sunday night this year which meant I went to my first Dead Dog party in more then 15 years. I have no pictures of that, and even if I did, I probably couldn't post them. What happens at Barcon, stays at Barcon.

Moira asked me today when it would be Easter again. Not soon enough.

NPN volunteer blog party!

2011-04-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been been volunteering for awhile now at Natural Parents Network. All the volunteers in this incredible network are so amazing and I'm happy to be a part of this group, even though I'm having a hard time speaking up and being an active member of the group right now. If you haven't yet, check out the NPN community on the blog.
We decided it would be fun for us all to share our favorite posts on our blogs. Read and enjoy! (Especially you, Becca.)

Joella at Fine and Fair has an unusual gripe with Bebe Gloton.

Amy at Innate Wholeness offers simple tips to be present with family whether you're having fun or would rather run and hide in a cave.

Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares sound bites from her miscarriage journey of forgiveness and gratitude.

Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses the overuse of the word "no" and offers some aid in finding creative ways to avoid "no."

Melissa at The New Mommy Files: Memories, Milestones and Missteps makes her case for instinctual mothering.

Amanda at Let's Take the Metro shares a comprehensive list of all the food she keeps on hand.

Suchada at >Mama Eve has some tips for balancing closeness with boundaries.

Shannon R at The ArtsyMama has ten things she wishes she knew before her little man arrived.

Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings shares tips for babywearing twins

Julia at A Little Bit of All of It tells the story of how motherhood came to her and how a miscarriage shaped her feelings and perceptions surrounding the birth of her first daughter.

Emily at Embrita Blogging shares 10 things that make her happy.

Lauren at Hobo Mama talks about the difference between postpartum sex and sex before kids.

As part of an ongoing series about balance, Amy at Anktangle writes about a daily ritual she has adopted to help her maintain balance in her life.

Cynthia at The Hippie Housewife is reminded that while the days may sometimes be long, the years are short, and after a rough day the best thing to do is give thanks for the best parts and try again tomorrow.

Dionna at Code Name: Mama offers 7 Alternatives to Good Job: "Good job'ing" kids can be a mindless habit to fall into. Instead of using a generic "good job," try one of these ideas to really connect with and nurture your child.

Darcel at The Mahogany Way has the ultimate boredom busting activity for children of all ages.

Alicia at Lactation Narration discusses the long journey of child-led weaning, during which she thought several times that her child was weaned before she really was.

Mandy at Living Peacefully With Children: Letting go of the illusion of control opens up a an entirely new world.

Luschka at Diary of a First Child talks about the battle between breastfeeding and formula feeding mothers and the industry that stokes the flames of a war on mothers.

Mary Michael at The Accidental Natural Mama recounts her journey from "Mother" to "Mama".

Sheryl at Little Snowflakes talks about the benefits of nursing a child to sleep.

Rachael at The Variegated Life meditates on the moment when she first saw herself fully embodying her life as a mother.

And one late arrival, Momma Jorje shares some good news and important information about Lindane and Lice.

{This Moment}

2011-04-15T07:55:00.001-07:00

DQS10

2011-03-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

I had a fabulous time in the Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr this round. In the past I've had very quiet partners, whose tastes weren't very similar to mine, and I struggled to figure out what to make for them.

This time I knew exactly what to do. I even had exactly the right fabric already in the house, having bought all the colors of the unicorns from Heather Ross' Far Far Away when they came out, and not managing to figure out what to do with them. They were just waiting for this, I guess.
The only sad part is that she was so specific, and I was so on target that Allie Kat Mom was pretty sure it was for her all along. It was nice to have my partner comment on the quilt every time I posted progress pictures, but I'm thinking I should have made a decoy to post along with it, just to throw her off the trail.

And this is what I got back! Sadly, it looks like I wasn't as good of a partner to Rebecca's Rags. I'm not sure if I commented on this one at all, although I loved it all along. I think it's especially great that she used the same fabric I did.
Moira is always excited about packages, and tries to convince me that the contents are for her every time. I let her win that argument with the last doll quilt I got, since it went perfectly with the sheets I made for her crib, but this one is all mine. I'm going to hang it up in the tv room, as soon as I get over my strange fear of hanging quilts.
I told her she could have the ribbon the package was tied in, and that I would use it on an outfit for her if she wanted.

She decided it was perfect for dancing in, and also for helping her follow me around the house; I have to hold one end and pull her along. Of course, as soon as I started taking pictures she started yelling at me to stop, so you do not get to see her cute ballet moves. Maybe I can talk her into it after nap. Or maybe we will sit down and figure out what to sew the ribbon on to.
Thank you to all the organizers of this swap, and my wonderful partners!

Delicious and nutritious

2011-03-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

We had to take Wheat and dairy (and spelt, rye, and pineapple) out of Moira's diet again. Just like before, it's an intestinal reaction and this is likely temporary, although our plan is to keep it our of her diet for the long term to give her the best possible chance of getting over this problem.
We don't have any problem with this at home. I make most of our food, and the few things we eat that are made with wheat or dairy have good options for her. Well, except for cheese, although she seems to like the rice cheese just fine. The problem is eating out. We love eating out, especially Moira, and there's a bunch of cuisines that are completely off the table, and while Mexican and Thai are easy to find and easy to alter for her needs, they do get boring after awhile.
Moira and I have been eating lunch together between library story time and gym class every Tuesday, and we've found a number of restaurants where everything on the kids menu is wheat based, and half of them have cheese. She'd be happy to have nothing but fries every day, but I'm not. I have been to a few places where the kid's menu has interesting choices, but they are few and far between.
I actually remember being pretty young when I started complaining about the limited selection on kid's menus. I believe my exact words were "Why are they all the same? We are at an Italian restaurant! I don't want a hamburger of mac and cheese!" My parents decided that if I was old enough to care, I was old enough to order off the adult menu.
That isn't an option for Moira yet. She eats a lot for her age, but not that much. For now, I've decided that I need to start writing letters, which means I should make templates. One as an explanation why we won't be patronizing this restaurant again, and one as a thank you for not catering to the lowest common denominator. Here is what I'm sending out to the restaurant we visited most recently.

Dear owner of the Wilde Rover,
We have loved your restaurant since we moved to Kirkland almost 3 years ago. Recently my daughter was diagnosed with an allergy to wheat and dairy, and on our last visit to your restaurant, I discovered that all the options on your kid's menu have one or both of those things in them. Because of this, we will not be able to patronize the Wilde Rover any more.
I know that it is easiest and cheapest to feed children hamburgers, fries, and chicken strips, and while I was pleased to see that you had one option on your menu that was actually an Irish meal, the Bangers and Mash have dairy in them so we could not order them. I ended up ordering the cheeseburger and fries for her without cheese or bun, but we were not offered anything to make up for the missing portion of the meal. At home, our daughter loves corned beef and cabbage, many vegetables, fruits, rice, quinoa, and many other foods. It is a shame that she cannot explore new options when we eat out.
I love it when a restaurant has multiple options for meals. Where you can pick your main course and one or two sides to go with it. Some restaurants are beginning to offer fruit, raw veggies, steamed chicken, rice, even shrimp, all of which we have ordered and my daughter has happily consumed. I am even willing to play a little more for a meal for her, if it is nutritionally complete.
We are sad to not be able to eat at your establishment anymore. If you decide to make changes to your menu to be more interesting and flexible for people with food allergies, we will be happy to come back.

Thank you for your time,
Shannon Hillinger

A beautiful queen!

2011-03-23T07:18:00.001-07:00

Moira is currently obsessed with weddings and I have been enjoying her misconceptions about weddings. She says girls wear big dresses, and then they are a queen, and they marry their Daddies (I've been trying to explain the difference between a Daddy and husband, but she really doesn't want to believe me.), then they dance in a castle. Most Indian .'restaurants are castles according to her, as is any fancy looking party in a book.
This morning as we are snuggling in bed, she noticed Walker's ring.
"Daddy has a ring just like you!"
"That's because we are married. He is my husband and I am his wife."
"No Mommy! You are not a queen because you are nakkie! Daddy is wearing jammies so he is getting married."

I think Walker is looking forward to this future wedding Moira is planning for them, if he gets to wear jammies for the ceremony.

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Moira's lesson plan*

2011-03-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

I just explained polarity to Moira, in the context of her trains. She came to the conclusion that "Polarity isn't nice."

In a similar vein, she would like me to stop erosion so that she can build a castle out of dirt that won't fall down.

She still doesn't understand the difference between letters and numbers.

She recognizes at least half the letters in the alphabet now though, but refuses to admit that she recognizes any of the numbers.

She loves to have me spell words for her, asking "What starts with cat?" Sometimes she just wants the first letter and will usually come up with another word that starts with the same letter. Sometimes she wants me to tell her the rest of the letters too.

She now knows how to spell her name, and loves to write it out, even though all the letters except "o" look the same. Today she made up a little song that went "M. O. I. R. A!"

She has started making representational art, this is a sea creature. She is likes to draw on this white board so that she can erase her mistakes with a paintbrush. I'm not sure if she came up with that on her own or not.

*All of these were self directed lessons. Or things that were bothering her that I then explained. We are planning on letting her lead the way with her learning.

Can you dig it?

2011-03-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that the sun is back, at least intermittently. I have missed non rainy days over the last month or so. Moira is very excited to help me garden which usually means she scoops the gravel from the road while I dig holes and level ground.
We have two large beds on either side of the walk way to our front door that the previous owners dumped mounds of dirt on and then sparsely planted. Since we moved in these have mostly been taken over by grass and other weeds. With the encouragement and inspiration of Kimberly, I am knocking down the mounds and digging up the weeds. I'm also redistributing the few non weed plants, and the various bulbs that are doing extremely well in my yard. As she pointed out, it doesn't matter if I lose 90% of the bluebells, I'll still have more then I could possibly use.
All this gardening has meant a number of trips to plant nurseries. We are now the proud owners of 4 blueberry bushes, one of which is pink, and a japanese pussywillow tree. It is my goal to get the front yard looking presentable this year, at least, the non lawn bits. I'm going to try and do as much of the big digging now while the ground is still wet as possible. I tried to take before and after pictures of the 1/2 a bed I've managed to tame so far, but oddly, it just looks like weeds and dirt. I will try again the next time I'm out there.

Nana's clip on earrings are a huge hit

2011-03-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

The continuing continue

2011-03-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Finally we are back to our regularly scheduled schedule. Walker is back from both his long long business trip and his yearly get away with friends. They used peer pressure to try and convince him to drink Four Loko. It backfired on poor Eric who informed me that it tasted nasty. I'm shocked.
Anyway, he went from a calm and drunken weekend of this

straight back to getting up early and putting up with a vaguely crabby wife. I must say, he handles it very well. Right now Moira is screaming "No way! No bath!" at him.
Since so many people have asked, I am feeling much better. My vitamin D levels were super low, and now that we are correcting that I am much less tired and when I'm less tired it's easy to be less anxious.

I even managed to sew while Walker was gone last weekend and got all the little blankets made for the EAP baby shower. And I discovered that when Moira is acting silly and refusing to do something, the best thing I can do is walk away and tell her to let me know when she's ready to brush her teeth/get out of bath/put on jammies/etc. It usually takes about 5 seconds before she shouts "Ready!" and I don't get frustrated. I feel a little silly for not having tried it earlier.

This has been a good start to the week. We got together for coffee with friends we haven't seen in a long time and ran around in the drizzle jumping in puddles. Moira is finally over her dislike of rainboots and puddle stomping. Her poor little friend has sadly just entered the phase where being dirty is scary, so he didn't actually participate much after he fell in the mud, but Moira did her best to get him to have fun with her. She has been so nervous of other kids and had such a hard time sharing and playing with them that I really relish every time she throws herself into playing with friends.

Things I've learned this week

2011-03-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's good to take advantage of every sun break possible.
If I keep making the same requests over and over in a gentle way, eventually behavior will change.
Self regulated bedtimes work really well for Moira.
20 minutes of sewing while Moira is playing outside feels great.
I really will regret eating that milk based treat.
Flash drives dry out.
Never delete your back up before you make a new back up.

Also, a few things I'm thinking about:
New mediation techniques.
Co-op preschool
Pie
Giving up cheese for Lent, and beyond.

Princesses love the dirt

2011-03-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

I was outside gardening today, and after a fruitless search for her rake, Moira came outside with her shovel and a little cloth doll.
"Look Mommy! It's a princess! She is getting married. She and her daddy are dancing. They are dancing in the dirt. They are dancing and she is getting married (note, she still hasn't figured out the difference between husband and daddy, so I'm not actually sure if the princess was dancing with her father or her husband.) and dancing in the dirt. Princesses love dirt. And so do their fathers."
"Yes they do honey. Do you love dirt?"
"No."
Eventually I had to kick her out to go play in the other bed so I could fit the eleventy billion beets I bought into the first one. That's when she started making a dirt mountain so the princess and king and queen could go skiing. Everyone loves skiing apparently. But she's not building a magic carpet, so they will have to hike to the top of the mountain.

I mentioned in passing on Facebook when I was offered a free copy of "Cinderella Ate My Daughter in exchange for a review, you know, if I felt like it. They even managed to get my name and the name of my blog correct, which is always nice.
I wish I had been more excited about this book, but it just felt a little light. Peggy wrote the article that was the impetus behind this book just last year, and I think that the rush is probably my reason for feeling that way. Plus, she's really preaching to the choir with me, so there wasn't anything mentioned that I didn't already know and/or agree with. I really wish she had explored a little bit more how princess culture is affecting boys, something she briefly touched on. I would have read it even without the review copy, but I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it.

Compare and contrast

2011-03-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

Compare this video from December with this from today:

It's quite a difference in tone and volume control. Thank goodness. She has also started singing songs she makes up (very occasionally) but usually only in the car.
She wanted me to take a video of her, but at first she just stood there perfectly still without saying anything. When I explained the point of a video, this is what she came up with.

She took this photo of my lunch today on her first try taking pictures with my phone. Is it bad that I'm kind of jealous that I didn't take this picture? I'm not sure why I think it's so great, but I really do.

What do you think?

2011-03-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

I'm making a 18th century country dress for Norwescon this year. I forgot to remove the extra hem and seam allowances on the sleeves before I sewed them together, so they are way longer then I was expecting. Unscrunched, the sleeve goes all the way to the middle of my hand. If I were to add elastic to make the top part poofier (I tried to replicate that here with the scrunching) this is probably the shortest I can make i. Should I do that, or should I rehem the bottom layer shorter, or do both?
The bottom is a darker color then the top, but you can't tell that in the picture. I am planning on adding a band of red satin where I would put the elastic, even if I don't add the elastic.

Yum!

2011-02-27T22:09:00.001-08:00

Moira_likes_Sushi (7)
Originally uploaded by mspurplepearl

We took Moira out for sushi for the first time (that she could actually eat it) and it was a big hit. She liked the shrimp and the roe. As you can see, she really liked the roe.

{This Moment} Leftovers

2011-02-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

Snow!

2011-02-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

We have managed to miss all possible opportunities to walk in the snow so far this year. Moira was so excited to see that the snow was still there this morning, and she asked if we could go for a walk in the woods.
It's the first time she requested that in a long time, but we had a rough couple of nights the last few nights, and I hadn't really woken up yet and I said no.
Fortunately I realized right away that that was the wrong decision. Other then making a few drivers nervous when we crossed the icy road to get to the woods, the walk was wonderful.

Moira had a lot of fun interacting with the snow, knocking it off bushes, dragging sticks along behind her, stomping in big drifts. Stewie is also a big fan of the snow and has been having a grand time romping around for the last couple of days and getting covered in snow.

2011-02-21T14:39:00.000-08:00

Today some of the ladies from my Mom's group and I got together to start on safe birthing kits for the latest Craft Hope project. Moira woke up with the sniffles, so she went out with Walker. I had already had to reschedule once and I felt like if I did it again, it might not happen.

We all had a good time, and we got 16 bags partially assembled (I was supposed to make 16 bags, but I miscounted when I was cutting). We didn't manage to get little soaps, and the lady who made the receiving blankets was unable to make it today, Kimberly and I are also going to try and have a softie making date before the deadline.
Most of the fabric I used for the bags is scraps that Sika brought back from the Peace Corps. Now it's on it's way to Haiti. That's going to be some very well traveled fabric.
I enjoyed hanging out with friends and working on this. I think I will have to make sure I host a crafting play date for the next project too.

Moira don't fear the reaper

2011-02-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we watched the Muppet Show episode with Alice Cooper. Moira was not impressed, much too scary.
Within the next week, I caught her singing Welcome to my Nightmare, and she informed Walker that it was her music. Yesterday she asked Walker to sing Dragula on Rock Band. Apparently that is Mommy & Daddy's music, but Welcome to my Nightmare is still hers. Needless to say, we have added that song to the lullaby playlist she listens to at night. We are either doing something very wrong, or raising the most awesome kid. Hard to say.

Little moments this week

2011-02-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

M: When I am a mother I will have 2 kids!
S: How many kids should I have?
M: 4 and Daddy will have 14!

My Mom brought us her copy of Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes. We read it yesterday (well, the recipe names) and today Moira wanted to show me a recipe in it. She flipped through until she got to the meringue recipe, called Stickjaw for Talkative Parents. "I want Mommy and Daddy to stop talking! I will make this one.

She is concentrating really hard on figuring out the letters, or as she calls them, numbers of the alphabet. She was bending a headband last week and came running up to me holding it with the bow pointing down and said "Look Mommy! I made a Q!" She also keeps telling us that O starts with Moira. This morning, she told Walker that apple starts with A P P.

I would show you our new lights in Moira's room and the kitchen, but I don't want to get the photos off the camera right now. Instead I will show you this.

Her teacher says that she can reliably do this flip on her own, along with the next flip they do. I don't remember what either of them is called, but she seemed impressed. Swinging on the bars is Moira's favorite part of gym class right now, and she tells me about it all the time.

We were hoping that gym classes would help her learn to fall and catch herself better since she's such a good climber and jumper. It has, but it has also taught her how to jump more efficiently, so we have had to stop letting her jump on the furniture. She pulled one of the ottomans over the bookshelf in the living room and used leverage to get herself jumping higher. I think a trampoline will be showing up at our house pretty soon.

Walker took Monday off from work and we went to the Science Center and rode the Monorail downtown for lunch. Moira's favorite part of the day was seeing two ducks in the pond at the center. She totally played it cool, and earned their trust, and then she fed them lint from her pocket.

We had lunch at Serious Pie. Moira was over tired and refused to try the sausage pizza. Instead she ate the brussel sprout pizza, minus the brussel sprouts. Story time this week was the letter P, and the librarian was asking what everyone liked on their pizza. Moira shouted "Brussel sprouts!" and then lots of the kids agreed that they ALSO liked brussel sprouts on their pizzas. What was even stranger about this, is that Moira usually refuses to participate in any way during story time, but this time she was dancing and everything.

I just cleaned the bathroom, and so now Moira is running around cleaning all the windows. Life could be worse.

Hello fishy

2011-02-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

Lately I am not coping with, well, life very well. I'm tired all the time. It's likely just a flare up of my anxiety disorder, and since I've been playing whack a mole with different symptoms for the last 5 months, I'm actually reasonably happy with this as the long term one to have settled on. Much better choice then constant nausea! Good job head!
But I feel like I'm drowning. The what I had hoped was a reasonable level of commitment to people, and organizations, and family is suddenly just too much. And now I need to figure out what I'm willing to let go of so that I can at least stop feeling worse and worse. I don't want to let go of any of it.
I'm not very brave. I talk to people about my issues one on one, but I have a hard time asking for help. Most of the time I don't even really need much help, I just need, I don't know. Support? Comfort? Understanding? I know that by posting this I will get an email from my Dad (hi Dad!) making sure I'm okay. And I don't really want to draw attention to this, because it's not a big deal. It's really not. I can manage, mostly. We can manage. I have the support I need, I am taking the time I need to feel better.
I guess I just needed to say that right now, this minute, this is all very hard for me. And tomorrow it will be too.

Quilt ghost! Whoooo!

2011-02-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Moira hasn't napped for about a week, although she still seems reasonably happy to play in her room for naptime. I'm stepping up decorating plans for the kitchen playroom, but for now, I'm taking advantage of the fact that if she's not asleep, that means I can sew during the day. This is really good since more and more I'm completely exhausted by the time Walker comes home from work, and I have a lot of writing that is also easier to do in the evening.

Tillie helped me take advantage of our wonderful sunshine lately so I could take pictures of this quilt. The top has been finished for awhile, and I just got the back done. Sadly, Tillie and I get extra silly together so she turned into a quilt ghost and I encouraged her so I could take pictures.
Moira freaked out. There is an Olivia episode where Ian pretends to be a ghost by dressing up in a sheet. Moira is terrified of this episode. We have explained that it was pretend and Ian wasn't really a ghost and pointed out ghosts in other things like the Muppet Show. She says she is not so afraid of real ghosts, but she is afraid of Ian pretending, and apparently, other people pretending. I'm glad the classic sheet ghost costume has fallen out of favor, so we don't have to worry about that for next Halloween.

This is the quilt I'm working on for the current round of Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr. I'm excited because this is the first time I've really had the same taste and style as my secret partner. It's also the first time I've had a partner who actively participated in the community.
After I put this top together, I was getting off the freeway near my house and realized that the colors are exactly the same and in the same ratio as that self storage place. In my defense, my partner, and a lot of others, commented that she loves this, so I'm not the only crazy person in the world.

Snip snip

2011-01-29T08:28:00.000-08:00

Moira is fascinated with scissors lately. She recently figured out, after watching me cut out something for her, that if you push the scissors forward, you can cut all the way through something. Before this she had just been making snips around the outside of her art. Now our house is covered with tiny little pieces of paper.
I am thinking that it's time to work on decorating the little play area in our kitchen, so we stopped to look at paint chips the other day. They didn't have the kind of paint I wanted (low VOC), but I let her pick out some colors anyway, figuring we would return them the next time we went to gym class.
She sat down to work with her scissors after nap that day, and asked for the paint chips, "the colors." I figured this would be a good time to try out precision cutting. I pointed out the white lines separating each color on the strip and asked her to cut along those.

She did a pretty good job. When she got bored with cutting, I suggested she make a collage, which she half halfheartedly agreed to. She actually made two, but this one was my favorite. The other one is hanging up in her bedroom now, so I think that one may be her favorite. We still have a few uncut paint chips, and a bunch of cut ones. I'll have to see if she wants to practice precision again later.

For the record, I leave her alone with the safety scissors on a semi regular basis. We've had to have a few conversations about leaving them at the table and most importantly, pointing them away from yourself while you are walking around with them, but she has yet to cut anything other then paper with them. I expect she will try soon enough, or it's possible that she has tried, but her grip isn't strong enough and the blades aren't sharp enough for her to have succeeded. Only time will tell.

{This Moment}

2011-01-28T13:11:00.001-08:00

145: Moira's new closet
Originally uploaded by Maydela

Update! New lessons learned

2011-01-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

Moira did indeed successfully deploy her breathing techniques the few times she got worried about a kid playing near her.
And then lunch happened.
I made the mistake of putting the pitas for our sandwiches in her lunchbox, and the tuna fish in mine. My theory was that the excitement about the tuna fish, which she really loves, would outweigh needing to share "her" pitas. Not so much. There was a complete and utter melt down. And unfortunately, the best way to help her calm down in these cases is to remove the problem from her eyesight, which I couldn't really do.
We talked, and I offered lots of options for calming down and her choice was a drive home. And indeed, as soon as we were in the car and she had her lunch, with the extra pitas removed she was completely cheerful.
I didn't actually get to talk to the friend we were meeting, longer then to say goodbye. She pointed out that Moira is almost three and this is what that looks like most of the time. It helps me to remember that she will settle down emotionally a bit soon enough.
And next time I decide to assemble some lunch part on sight, all the ingredients will be in my lunch box, not hers.

Lessons learned

2011-01-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

I planned for us to go to the park today, since our regular Thursday babysitter is sick and can't make it this week. I even put out the call on Facebook, so we will be joined by one of our friends. She called to let me know they are running late, and when we were done talking, Moira wanted to know who had called. I told her.
"I don't want them to play at the park with us," she screamed and immediately started crying. I tried to calm her down, but her immediate reaction combined with my current low emotional reserves meant my reaction was to tell her to suck it up.
Not so helpful.
So then I told her we both needed to calm down and we would talk before we went to the park. She told me when she was ready to go, and we sat down to talk and snuggle. She also untied the bow on my shirt, which I guess is why I stopped wearing it long enough ago that she doesn't remember it.
I told her we were going to the park to have fun, and that other kids would be there, also playing. She didn't have to play with them, but they would be there and that was okay. Then I asked what she could do if she started getting upset.
"Bees!"
"You want to look at bees?"
"No Mommy! Bees!" (demonstrates breathing)
That's right. She even stopped doing the puppy breaths and does deep breaths like I do, when she remembers, or is willing to be reminded. I pointed out that her two favorite things to do at parks (swings and slides) are solo activities, so she can always do that if she doesn't want to play. And now she's happy and I'm calm and we are ready to go.

Self reliance

2011-01-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

Moira loves to do things by herself, of course. She's super excited that we are going to Pie for lunch today and she will get "my own pie, not your pie?"
Right now, after a long morning of screaming because she wanted 7 zillion things before getting dressed, each one forgotten as soon as she thought of a new one, and me refusing to do anything before she got dressed, she is sitting on my lap for a much needed cuddle. She has very recently - since Monday - decided that I can kiss her sometimes, so I kissed the back of her head.
"Why you kiss my head Mommy?"
"Because I love you."
"No, I love me. You stop loving me."
"Sorry kid, that's not going to happen."

Ta da!

2011-01-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Moira's first "performance." We missed class last week, so I was unprepared for Show Off day. Also, suddenly there are twice as many kids in the class then there used to be. That must mean that vacations are over.
Everyone got a trophy and to pose on the #1 spot after for pictures. Moira wanted to drink from her trophy at first, but now she's decided to show it to Daddy, who will be so happy. I asked what the trophy is for and she said it was because she was so proud.
Sounds good to me.