Guess who I met today?

Auntie Leila! And Bridget, and Rosie, and Pippo, too!



Some years ago, I think in early 2010, I stumbled across Like Mother Like Daughter. I don't remember who directed me there, although she deserves my very great thanks. Perhaps it was Jessica? And I don't remember precisely which post I read first. What I do remember is that I spent the next couple of days reading my way through Leila's archives, drinking in her wisdom and encouragement, and getting my butt kicked (nicely!) to go and do homemaking well!

So this morning, knowing that I was about to actually meet this dear woman, I cleaned my bathroom. Reasonably. (Somehow it seemed the thing to do!) And cleaned my kitchen, reasonably. Josiah and Thomas and I did school together, and then we planted flowers to beautify our front entrance. And then, feeling quite gloriously on top of my homemaking and mothering life, we drove down to Carlsbad.

It was fascinating to meet Leila and Rosie and Bridget; I've followed their blog long enough to feel like I know them...but of course in many ways they are complete strangers. Such nice strangers, though! Bridget is quiet and reserved, with a sweet smile and a way with small children.



Rosie is an amazingly composed new mother. Pippo is just one, and her husband just deployed with the military, and yet Rosie exudes a calm happiness that is a pleasure to be around.


(Of course there was much taking of pictures.)

Leila is hospitable and welcoming; she made everyone feel included as we mingled and mixed up and chased after errant children in the middle of conversations.



And of course the other half of the fun was meeting all the other readers - such lovely women! Most of them had multiple children and it was fun to be in such a happy gathering of like-minded people. We're all doing our best to do well for our family.

Before we left, Josiah and Thomas and I took an exploratory detour through the glorious trees



and Thomas climbed a fabulous hill.



Yes, it really was that high. I was surprised that he wanted to tackle it, but he did, and he conquered!

Thank you, Auntie Leila, for organizing the meet-up. It was totally worth the drive.

Mommy Guilt

Glennon's article nails Mommy Guilt. This is exactly what it sounds like.

And so now I’m a stay-at-home mom. And the thing is that Mommy Guilt stays home with me. These days I experience her less as a drive-by-shooter and more as a constant commentator. Now she sounds like this:

“Did you go to all three of those college classes just so you could clean the kitchen and play Candy Land all day? And how is it that you don’t even do those things very well? Can you concentrate on nothing? Look at this mess! A good mom would clean more and play less. Also, a good mom would clean less and play more. Also a good mom would clean more and play more and quit emailing altogether. Additionally, I’ve been meaning to ask if you’re sure you feel comfortable spending so much money when you don’t even make any. Moreover, when was the last time you volunteered at Chase’s school? What kind of stay at home mom doesn’t go to PTA meetings or know how to make lasagna? Furthermore, nobody in this house appreciates you.”

By the way, Momastery is an amazing blog. The past week she's been re-posting some of her best (for the benefit of newcomers like me!) and they're just wonderful. Go check it out!

Expedition!

On Tuesday, Jonathan stayed home from school. He wasn't sick any longer, but his school has a "24 hours without fever" policy (which I really appreciate!) Having spent the previous day lying on the couch, Jonathan was quite ready for an adventure. So we went on an expedition!



They brought nets and shovels and collecting containers and archeological brushes (you know, to dust off the dinosaur bones?)



We shouted "adventure is out there!" (a la UP) and off we went. :)







It was only an hour; a walk down the busy, noisy street to a small "creek" that passes next to the road. But we found a ladybug and a baby earwig, discovered a tiny pine tree growing next to an old pine cone, ran relay races, ate our expedition snack, and collected dozens of rocks. I think it was probably the best hour of the whole day.

DIY salvage bookshelf

Jonathan asked for a bookshelf of his own in his (our) room. To put it mildly, there just isn't much space for one! But we found a small, 12x12x30 bookshelf offered on craigslist for $1, and since that fits the space and the budget (ha!) I went and picked it up today.

I wish I'd thought to take a "before" picture, because it was pretty ugly. Black laminate and quite beat up. I keep reading on DIY blogs that spray paint is the easy way to fix problems like that, so we asked Jonathan to pick a color and gave it a shot.

Initially I thought it was doomed to failure. You can't see very well in this photo, but the paint did NOT want to stick to the laminate. It was uneven and drippy and definitely uglier than it had been while black. :(



We sanded off the drips and tried again. Hmm. Better. But we ran out of paint.



Gabe ran back to the store to get another can, and we kept working on it. I think part of the problem was just that it is hard to adequately cover black with any other color!



But after all that, it turned out pretty nicely, don't you think?



Maybe we're not DIY failures after all. :)

Sewing for the kids

Usually when Jonathan asks me to make something for him, his imagination wildly outpaces my skills. But this morning we were both inspired, and look at the results!

Power Rangers!



Of course, it took all morning. But that's what vacation time is for, right? :)

Hybrid shopping

Shopping has never been something I enjoy, and shopping for clothing is the worst. But Jonathan's shoes have been pinching him, and I've simply worn out most of my pants. Something had to be done.

I noticed two fabulous coupons for JCPenney in the weekend paper. Hmm! So last night, after the kids were in bed, I spent about 30 minutes online looking through their site for options. The beautiful thing about online shopping is the opportunity to sort by size, color, style, price, etc. I found four pairs of pants that looked like they had potential, and two pairs of shoes that looked perfect for Jonathan. But pants and shoes really are the sorts of things that should be tried on before buying them! So I put everything in my cart and then printed it.



This morning I headed off with my printout (and all three boys) to Penneys. Just over an hour later, we walked out with three pairs of pants and a pair of shoes. Did I mention that I had all three kids with me? And no one had a meltdown? Not even me?

I love the fact that the "browsing" stage was vastly simplified online. I hate wandering through aisles and aisles of clothing and never finding quite what I want. Online browsing took that entirely out of the equation. All that was left for the store was finding the right section, trying on four pairs of pants, and buying the three that fit. Jonathan's shoes were even smoother: we walked in, asked for the size and color, put them on his feet, paid and walked out.

Seriously, people, Hybrid Shopping. I don't know why I never thought to do it this way before! :)

Crowning Achievements Doula Services

Gabe and I spent some hours working on my website today. New photos, new comments from past clients, some new content and better page organization. It is a thing of beauty (and a joy forever?)! Would you take a minute and look around?

I'm working hard to get my name and website more visibility, so that potential clients can find me. If you've known me in any birth-related capacity, could you take a few minutes to write a review? The most important places are yelp and Google maps.

Friends and family with blogs, every time you link to my website it helps Google searches find me. I'd be grateful!

Your help is invaluable! Thank you!

Christmas!

It was a very merry morning!









Oh look, I was there, too. :)



Hours spent playing together.




And Christmas dinner: brisket, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, and green beans (Great)Grandma-style. Oh, and pumpkin pie for dessert. After 8 years, we've finally hit on the perfect Christmas dinner tradition for our family; this is it. Yum, yum, yum!



Jonathan approves. :)



A beautiful end to a lovely day.

smiling today!

Because of this post from my sister. :) Love you, Sarah!

December in SoCal

Animal Discovery: Alligators

Alligators were the favored creature today during playdough playtime. We had tribes of them waddling across the table. Since there was obvious interest, when the boys tired of playdough I printed alligator coloring pages for them. We looked at color photos to see what they "look like, really, Mom".



We talked about their skin and what it might feel like, and how they like to live in the water more than on land. "And do they eat people when they open their mouths like that, Mom?" Um, sometimes, dear.



Finished up with an alligator jigsaw puzzle. It was interesting watching Thomas do a puzzle, and remembering how Jonathan used to do them. Jonathan was fast and furious, completed it once and was quite finished, moving on, we're done now! Thomas is methodical, a bit slower, and chose to re-do the puzzle three times, getting better each time. It is so fascinating, watching my boys learn!

8 years is long enough to wait, right?

I finally have a Kitchanaid stand mixer. Last week I stumbled across a phenomenal deal online. And since I expected a check for almost the same amount only two days later, I bought it. :) Isn't it beautiful?



The boys were suitably enthralled.



(well, we were making St. Nicholas cookies, so perhaps that accounts for the interest.)



I'm in love. I'm so in love that I cleaned the kitchen so that it would match the beauty of the mixer.

Pretty, pretty, pretty!

Song stories

This evening Josiah asked for a "bear song" at bedtime, so I sang "The Bear Went Over The Mountain." When I finished, there was a long pause, and then Josiah said "but I wanted him to see something on the other side of the mountain!"

Me: Well, what do you suppose might have been there?
Josiah: A big giant thing!
Me: Oh my. Do you think the bear was scared?
Thomas: Oh, the bear said "please don't eat me, I'm very small, but there is another bear that is much bigger than I am."
Josiah: And then the other bear came and saved the bear from the giant thing!

Mixed up scripts

We have a couple of "scripts" that we use around here, to simplify resolution of conflicts.

There's the "sorry" script:

Brother 1: I'm sorry for X, Y, Z.
Brother 2: I forgive you.

and the "bothering brothers" script:

Brother 1: Please stop doing X, Y, Z.
Brother 2: Ok, I'll stop.

Josiah is quite happy to play along with this, although I'm not entirely sure he understands anything he's saying. This is evidenced by the following conversation which I have been hearing on a fairly regular basis:

Brother 1: Please stop doing X, Y, Z.
Josiah: I forgive you! :)

Auntie Leila on Advent

We're finding ourselves in a very busy life season right now. This tends to leave me feeling rather frazzled, and that has only been heightened by the nagging worry that I "ought" to be doing more with the kids for Advent.

Today I read Auntie Leila's post on Advent, and I'm feeling a bit more peaceful now. Because you know what? As usual, she's right. ;)

The simple act of lighting a candle in the home, if done peacefully and attentively, can open the door to wonder. Wonder is at the heart of Advent.

We can get frazzled and feel that we're not doing enough, that our children don't understand enough. Really, their understanding will grow with each year that they experience the same beautiful, simple rituals at home and at Church. . . . What I think the children tire of, eventually, is our jangling attempts to elicit some response from them, which, in the end, comes to this: That we seek affirmation from them. When really, we should confidently offer them what we know to be good, and trust that the good will be accomplished.

I don't need to have a perfect advent craft or activity planned for every single day. What I do need to do is be mindful of the season myself, and then offer the basic reminders to my children as well. So we light the candles at dinner. We pray and we sing advent hymns. We read books about Jesus and St. Nicholas during our morning story time. We unwrap our creche with care and set the animals in their stable. Perhaps we bake cookies.

And that really is enough. I don't have to *make* Advent special; it already is. I just need to point the way toward Jesus in terms and symbols that little boys can start to understand.

Thankful

During dinner today, I asked everyone what they were thankful for. The responses were so much fun!

Jonathan: Jesus, because he's the most important. Our cat, chicken, and flowers.

Thomas: . . . *crickets* . . .

Josiah: I'm thank-you for Christmas!

Gabe: Five Iron Frenzy!

I'm thankful for my family of boys who make me laugh so often. :)

Thanksgiving

"...It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth."

Abraham Lincoln

Vacation

There's nothing like a few months of school to make you appreciate the vacation that used to be normal life.

Drowsing in the morning while the children play together (honest, I think they play better when I'm not around!) Getting everyone dressed and doing chores without any rush. Morning playtime outside. Art and math at the kitchen table. Naptime without time constraints.

It is all perspective, isn't it?

laundry

Me: Laundry is the un-win-able battle. :(
Gabe: Honey, every day we wake up with clean underwear, you've won.

Isn't he sweet?

Where did my hour go?

I swear I just sat down! And now the children are up and ready to be changed and read to and played with. And I haven't started the laundry, and I still have emails to answer, and I think I was supposed to pay a bill or something, but I can't remember, and did I mention that THE CHILDREN ARE UP! and I really did mean to spend part of quiet time reading a book.

Thus is proven the wisdom of beginning quiet time with the Bible and a cup of tea. At least I got that! :)