{this moment} bookstore

A Friday ritual. A single photo, without words capturing a moment from the week (well, this week it's actually from a few weeks ago because my camera is currently out-of-order. Boo). 

A simple, special, wonderful 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. -via soulemama. 

Life Well Lived: Dealing with Little Disappointments

I've been really fortunate to not have too many major disappointments in my life. Of course there have been serious disappointments here and there but nothing I couldn't get over with time. I consider myself extremely lucky.

But there are always the little things from day to day...and they seem to be the ones I struggle with the most. Perhaps it's pregnancy hormones or just lack of quality sleep but lately when something little gets me down, I've been having a hard time recovering in a timely fashion.

Consequently, I've been trying to do a few things to help me deal with my little disappointments more effectively. 

First, I've been trying to allow myself time to be upset. Instead of pretending everything is fine, I'm trying to let myself feel my emotions when they happen. Obviously, I try to avoid crying in the middle of the grocery store because they're out of gluten-free pancake mix but if I'm at home I just let myself cry if I need to. (This has prompted some good conversations with my daughter. The first time she saw me cry she was a little freaked out but now she seems to understand that sometimes mom just has to let it out...just like she does when she's upset.)

Simplicity and Productivity: The Art of Compromise

Welcome to the August 2012 Simplicity Parenting Carnival: Productivity

This post was written as part of the monthly Simplicity Parenting Carnival hosted by The Lone Home Ranger and S.A.H.M. i AM. This month we are discussing how we balance simplicity and productivity, i.e. remain productive while also maintaining a slower pace of life. Be sure to read to the end to see a list of the rest of the excellent carnival contributors.
***
Recently I've been re-evaluating how I measure productivity. Since I've been trying to slow down, relax, and let go of my obsessive list making, this has been a challenge.

In the past I've always considered myself productive only if I accomplished things beyond my everyday responsibilities. If I made yogurt and cookies and bread and played house with my daughter for 3 hours and did finger painting and went swimming, but the house wasn't clean, the dishes weren't done, dinner wasn't made, and the laundry wasn't finished...it didn't count. I didn't feel productive. 

Prenatal Yoga

Inspired by my friend Justine's recent post about yoga over at the Lone Home Ranger, I'm finally writing this post. It's been in my head for a while but blogging has been on the back burner for the last few weeks!

I've done a lot of non-pregnant yoga in my life. I did Bikram yoga for years and also some vinyasa flow and some basic hatha yoga. Yoga always makes me feel better. No matter how reluctant I was to get up and get moving, I'm always glad I did.

That said, prenatal yoga has a special place in my heart. While I was pregnant with L, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a WONDERFUL prenatal yoga class. Some of the women from that class are still several of my dearest friends even though we now live thousands of miles apart.

What made it so special? Here is a bit of what I wrote after coming home from that first class over three years ago:

I went to my very first prenatal yoga class last night. It was more wonderful than I could have dreamed. It's part support group for all ladies currently preggo and part yoga class. Not knowing many people here (and definitely not knowing anyone pregnant) I was really hoping the yoga classes would be a place to meet other pregnant women. But this worried me. I've spent years hoping that I would make friends at yoga (not having a wide range of options for successful ways to meet people outside of work) and I was secretly afraid that it would be like every other yoga class I've ever been too--everyone comes in and either doesn't talk at all or only talks to the friends they brought with them. Fortunately, this was unlike any other yoga class I've experienced.

{this moment} pregnancy henna

A Friday ritual. A single photo, without words capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, wonderful 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. -via soulemama.

Thankfulness

L and I just spent a week back home with my family. I'm spending today adjusting to being home again. I'm trying to figure out how two places can feel so much like home at the same time.

I'm thankful for a little girl who is such a good traveler.

{this moment} three generations

A Friday ritual. A single photo, without words capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, wonderful 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. -via soulemama.

Experiencing the Farmer's Market from a Different Perspective

Welcome to the August 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Farmer's Markets
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about something new they've learned about their local farmers.
***
As part of the Carnival of Natural Parenting this month, we were challenged to experience something new and different at our farmer's market. We love our little farmer's market. It's tiny compared to the one where we used to live but the farmers are there week in and week out with the food they worked so hard to produce.

I love that I recognize all the farmers and never fail to run into a friend. L loves saying hello to the farmer we've started purchasing meat from and listening to the guy who plays guitar and sings.

As our challenge this last weekend I decided to let L pick out all our produce. This might seem like a silly thing to do but she is right in the middle of the I-must-do-everything-by-myself phase and I figured it would be a good opportunity for her to exercise her independence. Unlike the grocery store where the fruit and vegetables are stacked neatly and at just the right height for a two-and a half-year-old to pick the apple off the bottom and cause an avalanche, our farmer's market is almost entirely child accessible.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo, without words capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, wonderful 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. -via soulemama.

August Call for Carnival Submissions: Productivity

If you feel like you're having deja vu, it's because you are. Justine and I posted a call for submissions on this same topic back in July. Feeling challenged in the area of productivity, we decided to postpone this carnival a month so we could devote more thought and time to the task. We hope you will join us in our challenge to become more productive and write about your experience for our next carnival!

Living simply might seem simple at first but it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the countless things you can do to simplify your life. How do you balance simplicity and productivity? How do you remain productive and maintain a slower pace of life? How do your children help and hinder your productivity? 

If you don't consider yourself a productive person, how could you change that? Perhaps you can challenge yourself to be more productive in one area of your life and tell us about it. For example, could you make something that inspires you from your Pinterest boards while you watch the Olympics?
 

Things I Currently Love About Breastfeeding

I love that L makes the same excited nursing noises as she did when she was a newborn.

I love the way she smiles and giggles every time she feels the baby in my belly kick while she's nursing.

I love that she wants to be close to me and cuddle and hug. It's not just about the milk anymore. 

I love that nursing is not quite as painful as it was a few weeks ago (pregnancy is making my boobies sore!).

I love how she's bonding with her baby sister while we nurse. She pats and rubs my belly and takes breaks to talk to the baby. She tell her all about how they'll take turns nursing when she's big enough to come out of my belly.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo, without words capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, wonderful 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. -via soulemama. This post is also linked to Joyful Abode and the Natural Parents Network for World Breastfeeding Week!

I'm a Milk Making Machine (or, Breastfeeding: The Early Days)

This morning I was reminiscing with friends about the struggles we all faced as first time mothers learning to breastfeed. I decided to go back and read what I had written on our family blog about my experience at the time. I wrote the following when L was about 2 months old. It's a bit long but I think you'll find it entertaining...Current commentary is in italics. 

"I feed you all the night and day,
You throw it back right into my face...

When I walk into the room you move toward me,
but it's nothing to do with personality,
I'm just the one with the milk."

-Ginny Reilly

Yup. I'm the one with the milk and I'm finally to a point where I'm glad be my own one-woman dairy.

(At this point I should probably mention that this is a very long post about my boobs. If you don't want to hear about my boobs I would stop reading now).

Hello August, Hello National Breastfeeding Week!

I never anticipated how much time I would spend talking about my boobs once I became a mother.

Nursing L discreetly at 3 months. She never liked being under the cover...

It honestly never occurred to me. But over the 2.5+ years I've been nursing my daughter I've realized that I talk about my boobs quite a bit--with friends and family, at La Leche League meetings, with my daughter, and occasionally in blog posts. My daughter especially loves to talk about boobies. She also likes to point them out whenever they catch her eye.

Now that it's officially World Breastfeeding Week (Aug 1- 7), I'm going to talk more about my boobs, breastfeeding, nursing during pregnancy, potentially tandem nursing, and who knows what else. It should be a fun week! I'll be savoring the good, remembering the bad,* facing the challenging, and the challenging.