Downside Up and Outside In

Fairy Garden Clips

2011-07-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

I recently whipped up these cute hairclips based on some doodles which my Little Berry drew of our fairy garden (a large flower pot loaded with moss, feathery carrot tops, blossoms, rocks, found items,bird feathers, etc)
You can find the clips in my Etsy shop. What sorts of ways do you find to bring your children's artwork to life?

PSA:

2011-04-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

You should know...

I'm blogging somewhere else now! I'm not quitting this blog, exactly, but focusing more on posting over at Beaufulah.

Pop over and check it out!

Beaufulah Giveaway

2011-04-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

If you like my ridiculously cute reversible kids clothes, then you'll love this super easy-to-enter giveaway that Kitchenwitch is hosting this week: $20 worth of credit to my Etsy shop for one winner. That's a skirt or pair of shorts of your chosing! This giveaway is just in time for spring.
Hop over and enter!

Play with your food!

2011-03-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

I know, it does seem contrary. But we've always allowed Little Berry to make her own food choices, and as an almost three year old, I can tell you it has payed off. If she's hungry, she tells us what she wants. If it's mealtime, we serve whatever we are having, and she eats what she wants, (and this girl EATS). So, today while I was cooking her some corn and prepping dinner, she was finger painting, I handed her a piece of corn cobb to play with and this is what she did with it.

It was genuinely one of the best times she's had in ages.

The mushroom was definitely her favorite, and the carrot she used like a pencil or to roll. I love the prints that resulted and would love to do something like a piece of paper pizza, print on tee shirts or cards for friends. They're fun and pretty, too.

It doesn't hurt that it kept her busy for a full thirty minutes while I prepped dinner, either :)

What veggies would your kids enjoy painting with?

*no vegetables were harmed in the making of this blog post. **by harmed I mean we didn't eat them after they were covered in paint.

little boxlings

2011-03-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

So you've no doubt heard of the cuteness that is seed bombs, but this is for those of us with a wee bit more patience and some recycling on our hands. I find that these are a bit more gratifying to receive but much less inconspicuous to plant.

You will need:
plant seeds- I chose carrot, bell pepper and wildflower seeds.
a paper bag or newspaper or just old office paper for folding
Dirt, water& a sunny spot

I used a Trader Joe's paper bag because it was handy and because they say "recycle this bag!"

The bag will compost eventually when you drop your little seedling off in the wild wild world, or when you carefully transplant it into your garden space.

Step one: make a box. You will need a square of paper about 4.5x4.5inches.
It doesn't need to be perfect because you're just filling it with dirt :)

Fold your square in half each way, then unfold and fold in half the other way.

Repeat this diagonally. It will look like this:

Then, Fold the corners in to the center so they touch, unfold.

Fold the tips of the corners in this way:

and now fold each edge into itself and across diagonally:

unfold again, and then repeat all the way around of course.
Next, unfold completely, find a corner, point it away from you, and label it with what seeds you will be planting, like this:
(be as fancy as you like!)

Now fold two corners in towards the center,

Fold up their edges,

and then fold the ends up to close!

Finish the other side
(yay! a box!)
fill with dirt,sprinkle seeds in, water gently and set in a nice sunny spot until you're ready to drop it off somewhere lovely...and repeat!

These would make sweet gifts for your small friends, neighbors, or left in a pretty line at the park

Easy Peasy Kid-Friendly Marbling

2011-03-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do with little berry is get creative. From day-to-day this takes on different meanings, but today it was a simple water and coconut oil marbling craft.
I've done this before with baby oil but I don't own that anymore so coconut oil is what I used. You will need:
Paint (we used watercolors, which were very light and food coloring which gave darker colors but less variations)

*Oil (again, we used coconut oil which I melted to a liquid)
*a pan you don't mind getting oily (filled a third full of cool water)
*Paper scraps or pretty paper for making cards and tags
*a place to put your finished papers on to dry
*and of course, an energetic and joyful toddler.

To make pretty paper like ours, fill your pan a third full of cool water. Add a few drops of your oil and allow it to spread out and ball up across the water.

Then add about a teaspoon of different paints and shake the pan slightly so the oil separates and begins to roll through the paint across the pan.

Next, dip a piece of paper in the mixture and let it settle beneath the oil so the paint sticks around the spaces where the oil didn't hit, like this:

Then, lift, allow to drip a little, and place on a plate to dry.

Vóila! You've made marbled paper.

Enjoy, and please make sure your whirlychild is wearing art project friendly clothes :)

Nature home

2011-03-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Around the time of the winter solstice this year, I began a small nature space inside for little berry to enjoy. It was very small at first, a few pebbles, a leaf. Now that spring has slipped around to our part of the world, we are outside more and therefore when we are inside, we tend to bring the outdoors with us.

Besides the nearly constant open doors that allow the outside and inside to merge, we have a beautiful little collection of touch-and-feel nature items where little berry can stop&touch, pat, smell, admire, be creative and even sometimes, sing.

I was hesitant at first because I assumed it would be pretty messy, but I've enjoyed it. It tend to calm her down when she's acting wired or anxious and has her looking at her world closet when we're out and about, thinking about things that she can bring to the little space.

I also love that it tends to present an opportunity to learn about seasons, animals, plants, insects and weather all at once. We're also not a religious family so our table conversation is always science-based, but nature is a very important part of our life and lifestyle.

Does your family do a nature table? What items generally find their way inside in your little one's scrunched up fist or pockets?

Wordless Wednesday: "Pappa wear me!"

2011-03-09T06:42:00.001-08:00

Tales of a superhero kitty (raccoon) rescuer

2011-02-25T07:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as Little Berry and I were heading out the door with the dog to take an early afternoon run, I saw a small shadow move under the door of our neighbor’s apartment. I *felt* something-someone? There, and at the same time I hadn’t seen our neighbor come home nor did I hear footsteps as I was listening. I made a big noisy show of locking the apartment (alright Little berry! I’ve got the keys here and let me lock the deadbolt so we can go!!) up tightly in case it was an intruder and then I took off, because I’m ~~chicken~~ brave like that.

As soon as I started jogging though, I realized it was just their cat. I’ve noticed kitty litter boxes stacked outside their door with their recycling a few weeks now and it made purrfect sense. I think she adopted a cat around Christmas. So in the end my fear of the axe bearing intruder was pretty far off.
But the whole thing reminded me of this time when I was a kid, probably about ten, when I thought I saw a cat in a tree on our property one early evening and set out to ‘rescue’ the thing. I grabbed a length of nylon rope and my pet hero rescuer face, and started up the tree. I was a great tree climber, but, come on, it was a big tree, and I wasn’t really as brave as I looked; so by about the time I realized It was a BLOODY RACCOON not a cat, I also realized I was BLOODY STUCK.

Of course, I was not only freaking out about it being a RACCOON I was also now panicking because I was stuck, and too proud to call for help because, let’s face it, that would be quite embarrassing. So I tried to tie the rope off on a branch so I could lower myself down, fashionably at least, but mostly I just used the rope to wave violently at the poor, shivering raccoon and warn it that I was not only ten, but I had fierce extendable wavy rope! So don’t jump on my please, BLOODY RACCOON.
Mostly I just fell out of the tree. There was very little lowering of myself down and pretty much zero fashionable about it, but at the end of the day there was no BLOODY RACCOON attacking me and so I was pretty pleased with my determination to live dangerously and bonus, I got to wear my pet hero rescuer face for an hour. Of course another bonus was a dozen bruises and not being able to ride my bike for a week.

My mom (hi mom!) asked for months why there was rope tied in that tree, but everyone denied having anything to do with it. We never did figure that mystery out :)

Overrun

2011-02-17T11:50:00.001-08:00

Because little berry is an only child, she is pretty spoiled. I've always tried to keep her toys and books and belongings from overrunning the whole home, and I have had a few rules that help me keep the peace: no licensed character toys, because they usually dont inspire any imagination and are just noisemakers,
no toys that require batteries, though she has two of the latter, they get kept on top of the refridgerator for those times I need a real trick to distract her,
And that art supplies/books will be within her reach to play with whenever she wants.
And for a while, it worked. We have a great storage system in place for her toys and she knows how to clean them up because things go in the same place every time-and everyone was happy.
Then I started getting a nagging feeling. Looking around our living room, I thought: 'Wow. She really has a lot of toys.' And I would gently encourage her to clean up, and order was restored again. Then, small toys began wandering away, to this corner and that, a train here, a small marble there and there and there! And one night we brought home one more toy-a small broom& dustpan set for the girl who is ever copying mama's routines-and suddenly our space was TOO full. There seemed to be toys everywhere. I couldn't round them up, I couldn't corrall her things fast enough! I felt crowded and exasperated and she wasn't playing with things I knew she loved.
What I've done to change it:
I picked a big plastic basket and filled it with those tiny plastic animals, people, and other wonky toys. The ones that never get played with or were broken got tossed (which was a lot, actually). That basket goes in the bathroom-for bathtoys, and suddenly it seemed so much less daunting. I culled a few more toys, a few outgrown books, broken art supplies, sorted through each basket of toys she owns to clean/toss/ and make sure things were in their proper places, and voila! Peace again. Those toys are NOT the boss around here any more :)
What do you do to keep your child/ren's toys from owning your whole home? Or do you find them simply endearing?

Late night musings of an eternal mamma

2010-09-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

I give her little face a kiss and she tucks her head into the crook of my neck. I smell like a mama, she smells strongly of bubbles and strawberries, a result of her affinity to sneaking the soap bar when she's fully clean and my hastiness to pull the tub stopper as the water gets chilly.

I knelt by the tub tonight, watching her soap her own toes and firmly refusing to brush her teeth. I swept a washcloth behind her ears, under her curvy chin, and wondered: how long she will need me yet? As I scooped water into the palm of my hand to rinse the day away, I glimpsed a bigger girl with memories and stories to spill out, with an eagerness and lightness of her father's and a the voice of a dreamer like me. Her hair swirled down around the top of her neck in a way I had never seen it do before, tracing rivulets down her spine and joining the bath again. My heart whispered: will I always know her this well?

The night is long at times, spent shuffling (those ever growing) little feet back under the blankets and getting up for water, worrying over my two dearest loves as they sleep, as if they were both my children, and I suppose in a very primal way they are. Both are sound in my nest all night, tucked around one another and oblivious to this mama's dually committed heart thrumming away, wanting to hold them both at once.

I fear her growing because I'm terrified I haven't got it down. I want longer to get it right before she will know that I am misguided, before she sees my faults. Eventually I'm sure she will recognize me as a pawn. I don't know the rules. I don't know the steps, I can't dance this fast and in these shoes.

As I scooped her from the tub and she pressed her face into the crook of my neck, we went in search of pajamas for the night. Pulling from the basket nearest me, I found my fingers wrapped around a tiny set of pajamas too small for any girl of mine. These were hers nearly two winters ago, just as we were seated deep in worry about our future, cold and jobless with no hope or vision for that to change, when there were too many hours each day spent sitting in classrooms waiting to graduate so I could hold my daughter whenever I pleased; hoping that my classmates didn't see my breasts leaking, at times wondering that they did not smell my fear that this route they celebrated with joy I counted as hell and yearned for it to end.

Darker hours in the shivering winter spent fighting with Pappa Starbucks because my heart was never in school again, I could spare it all just to be a mamma. These were the pajamas she wore the morning we drove to the polls to vote for idealistic "Change," and the morning my sweet friend Jessy came to visit after her weekly Chemo battering. She smiled and yet looked faint, she sang to my wee babe about teething gums while I worried about my girl, who had immediately fixed herself on this splendid friend to investigate her thoroughly- I hope that my own girl will be as open-minded, loving and generous each step of the way as this beautiful young woman I am blessed to know.

This instinct to protect is not exclusive to the faces we see and love each day. It is not limited to the hands we hold or gently scold, and the tiny feet that pitter-patter and sometimes "THRUMP!" around, making tangible progress and marking the traits that will be theirs for life right before our eyes. It is for the children we don't get to hold, the ones we were ourselves, the ones we see on the television while their mother's wail. These children, these little sparks that flash for only a moment, that always have to face the cold with empty tummies, they are why my heart is breaking for my own. I stood in front of my mother when I was seven and told her I wanted to save all of the orphans, and asked her why we didn't try to help. Her reasoning was complicated and altogether simple at the same moment, yet her theory fell deaf to my ears and I am sure that day I stopped believing in universal love.

This is the joy called motherhood, I share it with many strong and willing women now, and before me. Surely more will come after me as well. Some bear a multitude of souls into the world and some never kiss a single tear frosted cheek, but all have willing, loving, open hearts. We swap tips and laughs and fears. We all dream big, and none of us wants our children to resist our open arms. This is the joy called motherhood. It is the voice of universal love.

Do something kind for another person today. Do it for your heart, and mine, which needs reminding that humanity is always embraced by mothers.

Missing Shoe

2010-07-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

On the hottest days of summer..

2010-07-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

I like to find the nearest water.

We tickle our toes in the grasses

Or fill the air with tinkling songs

Fill our tummies with sweet fresh foods

We seek out color

and we always wonder..."summer, won't you stay a little longer?"

Bedsharing

2010-07-13T13:53:00.001-07:00

Cosleeping is a beautiful thing. It provides comfort and sustenance to babes (through snuggles and breastfeeding), it regulates body temperature and allows everyone to get plenty of rest (without having to "teach" a baby to fall asleep or a toddler to sleep alone-things they will do when they're developmentally ready).
Here's what it looks like to an almost 2year old:

Or this:

Sometimes this:

Very very rarely, it looks like this:

And sometimes it looks like this:

Or (gasp!) even this:

Cosleeping and bedsharing isn't for everyone. But in our house, the family bed is where it's AT.

-mamma pie

My audacious nursling

2010-07-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the July 2010 Carnival of Nursing in Public

This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Nursing in Public hosted by Dionna and Paige at NursingFreedom.org. All week, July 5-9, we will be featuring articles and posts about nursing in public ("NIP"). See the bottom of this post for more information.

***It was in my third trimester that I fell in love with my daughter. Her tiny self nestled inside my womb, she would roil and tumble, acrobatics in the safest place we can ever be. I began feeling connected to her, the realization that she would soon be my girl as I sat in an English class in sweltering summer heat at a rectangular table with my sweet (and radiantly beautiful) friend Jessy, who was sometimes there and sometimes not. I began finally talking to her, singing to her and dreaming of her. I would imagine her at two, at three, at ten. I imagined her smiles and her kisses, her little knees and her sweet curls, fluttering eyelids and precious baby kisses. I read about breastfeeding and mama blogs about natural birth in beat up dog eared copies of Mothering while munching on fiber bars as the other students in my classes read the newest Cosmo articles and IM’d their girlfriends and sipped on latte’s. She would twist and turn and at times I had to leave the class simply because the tumbling was so funny to me that I couldn’t keep from laughing in the middle of our section on grizzly Vietnam poetry.

In my 37th week I made a switch from the University’s Women’s hospital to a midwifery practice five minute’s walk from our then apartment. They loaned me books and encouraged me to attend La Leche League meetings held in their tiny spare room. Meanwhile, my partner stared at me in awe and signed us up for cases of free formula samples and bought huge bottles of ready-made Enfamil for “just in case.”

When she was born he held her first. She gnawed on his shoulders searching for sustenance while I received stitches for tearing and cried that I wasn’t pregnant anymore. I was terrified of latching her on that first time and did it while no one else was in the room to hide what I anticipated to be inevitable failure. The midwives had mentioned that they would be there in a few minutes to help us nurse, and so I asked my partner to find me some food. When he left, I curled her against my chest and let her feed as she would. In the coming days, breastfeeding was hard.

We found out later that we had thrush and together we fought that nasty yeast and spun me through phases of depression. The second night of her life, my partner fed her a bottle of formula because when I started feeding her, blood gushed from her umbilical cord. It was old blood from it beginning to dry up, but he convinced me somehow that I must have hurt her while breastfeeding, that I was squishing her stomach, and gave her a bottle. After we realized she was fine, I contacted a La Leche League member who was in our area and she gave me the emotional support via emails that I needed to continue feeding on demand. I began to nurse at the University when she was two weeks old, for my last semester in college. I would feed her in the hallways between classes while young ladies streamed around me and young men gawked, and surely I was awkward still but in my mind those moments were full of elegance. I nursed in the car while he drummed his fingers impatiently at my anxiety about feeding her, because she had a bottle of expressed milk at home and if that wasn’t enough, he could always just give her formula.

I took her with me to a job fair one evening at the University and sat feeding her in a corner when I was approached by the organizer of the event. She told me “this was inappropriate and I needed to leave.” It happened again when I tried to feed her at the gym before heading to a class: “you’re not allowed to do that here.” Both of those times I simply left. It is hard to nurse a squirming baby who wants to know why a stranger is leaning over their mama and making angry faces, so I would leave, hungry babe in arms and try to find a place that wouldn’t disturb anyone, embarrassed. But then one day I finally realized how ridiculous that was. Restrooms are nothing if not filthy and loud, stairwells are terribly uncomfortable and sitting here in this comfortable chair where I was before I started nursing is actually pretty great!

I was literally shocked to learn that I had breastfeeding rights. In most states (my own included) it is legal to breastfeed when and wherever you are as long as you the mother have the legal right to occupy that space. And so I began feeding her wherever I needed to. I nursed her in Target and at the restaurant, at Starbucks and on benches at the park and eventually I found the blessed ERGObaby Carrier that allowed me to breastfeed while walking, while shopping at Old Navy, while traveling abroad. It made me feel more justified somehow, to not have to sit down to feed her, to be able to nurse AND pick out tomatoes or breastfeed and walk the dog. She will be two in August and we have nursed across many states and several countries, with obvious results: I have a healthy, thriving, happy, easily comforted, blissful toddler.

I support the rights of breastfeeding mamas because I know how hard it can be to be alone in a room of people who are horrified and offended at your audacity to feed a baby. I have come a long way since I started breastfeeding, but the best sights I’ve seen were not those moments I spent huddled on lidless toilets in uncomfortable and dirty restrooms trying to feed my girl before someone disturbed us with the roar of a toilet in the next stall over-but were the peaceful perfect moments I was able to relax and enjoy her beautiful face as she filled up with breast milk and fell asleep to mama smiling sweetly at her, knowing I had given her everything I possibly could.

Welcome to the Carnival of Nursing in Public

Please join us all week, July 5-9, as we celebrate and support breastfeeding mothers. And visit NursingFreedom.org any time to connect with other breastfeeding supporters, learn more about your legal right to nurse in public, and read (and contribute!) articles about breastfeeding and N.I.P.

Do you support breastfeeding in public? Grab this badge for your blog or website to show your support and encourage others to educate themselves about the benefits of breastfeeding and the rights of breastfeeding mothers and children.

This post is just one of many being featured as part of the Carnival of Nursing in Public. Please visit our other writers each day of the Carnival. Click on the links below to see each day’s posts - new articles will be posted on the following days:

July 5 - Making Breastfeeding the Norm: Creating a Culture of Breastfeeding in a Hyper-Sexualized World

July 6 – Supporting Breastfeeding Mothers: the New, the Experienced, and the Mothers of More Than One Nursing Child

July 7 – Creating a Supportive Network: Your Stories and Celebrations of N.I.P.

July 8 – Breastfeeding: International and Religious Perspectives

July 9 – Your Legal Right to Nurse in Public, and How to Respond to Anyone Who Questions It

Free to be cute

2010-07-04T06:32:00.001-07:00

Happy independence day. Around here that means being free to be adorable in vintage polkadotty pajamas and enjoy two days (the only two in the past 4weeks she's seen him!) with (a very sleepy) papa.

- mamma pie

ERGObaby Carrier Review (and a chance to win!)

2010-06-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

The first time I put on an ERGObaby Carrier, I was surprised at how weighty it felt on my shoulders. My girl was only about six months old and she fit snugly in it, her chin rested on the soft shoulder straps. We borrowed that ERGObaby Carrier for our trip to Europe when she was nine months old, and it was the single best thing we took along. I used it first in the airports when my hands were full of bags and our passports even zipped neatly into the front pocket.

Throughout the trip it continued to serve us more purpose than anything else we took for our daughter. On the blustery streets of London and to the churning Underground, I wore her, up stairwells seven stories deep and through street festivals in Dublin, on to the Tour de Eifel; we wore and wore and wore her. But the best part was that I quickly learned how to breastfeed her in it, saving me countless hours of awkwardly perching in minuscule European restrooms or trying to lull a tired babe to sleep with no bed to lay her on. I happily Nurse in Public whenever she asks to, and the ERGObaby Carrier has become synonymous with breastfeeding for her and I. I simply drop the length of the straps down, lift up my shirt (I like wearing tank tops underneath my blouses for breastfeeding) and she leans to one side and rests her head on my elbow to bliss out on mama milk. One of my absolute favorite breastfeeding moments with her was in a small French garden outside of Paris where I laid the ERGObaby Carrier on the ground as a small blanket and snuggled down beside her to rest and nurse her to sleep. An elderly French lady who didn’t speak a word of English came and sat right next to me, patting her leg and crooning as my girl nursed away.

(our little one has a ride in the ERGObaby Carrier in the Wicklow mountains of Ireland)

Ease of Use: The ERGObaby Carrier isn’t just for adventures though, and it’s truly the one and only carrier you will ever need for your baby. It goes from newborn weight (with an insert) through 40pounds, but they’ve been tested to hold much more than that. I personally can’t imagine my girl being too big for it as she’s almost two and I still wear her. I’m currently a single mama while my partner is away for six weeks this summer and it has liberated me to do things I didn’t know I would struggle doing. Grocery shopping, for example, is difficult when there’s a wee one trying to snack on everything in the cart, and hard enough if there are two adults along. But if I go right during nap time, and put her on my back in the ERGObaby Carrier, she will snooze the trip away. I put her in it again to unload the car and free up both of my hands to grocery bags. And, if she wants a nurse while we’re out, I simply snuggle her into the ERGObaby carrier and pull my blouse aside. She doesn’t need much more encouragement than that to “murse.”

Comfort: At work (I‘m a part-time Nanny), I put her in it when she needs a break or a cuddle) and I’ve had the pleasure of wearing other sweet babes in it too, though my girl does get a bit jealous at seeing other wee ones in “My ERGO!” It is brilliantly comfortable and actually reminds me of a well-fitted backpack. Even my partner enjoys wearing her for snuggles or out at the farmer’s market (to free up his hands for watermelons and fresh strawberries!) as it’s so comfortable and easily adjusted. Another great point is that you can easily wear your child in different positions. My favorite is the front carry, but my partner prefers the back carry. You can also wear it on your hip or wear two at a time (front carry and back carry) if you have more than one little one.

Value: The ERGObaby Carrier is on the pricier side of all carriers I have ever owned, ranging from $120-$148. With that being said, it is truly worth the price, and is also going to last through as many babies as you may be blessed with. I truly love my ERGObaby carrier. It is blissfully soft, sturdy and has allowed me to nurture my babe any and everywhere I go. She asks for it “the ERGO!” by name when she wants a snuggle or a “mursie” and I have loved every minute of having it. It's also probably our most used baby item besides our stash of cloth diapers.

You can visit the ERGObaby website at http://www.ergobabycarriers.com/
ERGObaby has graciously offered one of our Carnival of Nursing in Public participants an ERGObaby carrier (valued between $120 and $148). *Preferred color cannot be guaranteed and is dependent upon stock available.
To enter to win an ERGObaby Carrier, submit an original post to the Carnival of Nursing in Public by June 30th.
Rules for entry – There are 3 ways to be entered in the drawing. You will get one entry for each submission up to 2 drawing entries in each category (you can submit more than 2 items but you will only be entered into the drawing 2 times per category for a maximum total of 6 entries per person). Here’s how to enter:
1. Submit an original post – This should be a well-written, unpublished piece submitted by June 30th using the original post submission webform.
2. Submit a NIP photo – Please submit your picture via email to CodeNameMama {at} gmail {dot} com and BabyDustDiaries {at} gmail {dot} com. You must own rights to share your pictures.
3. Submit a Tweet – Submit your Tweet that shares a NIP tip or bit of encouragement in 140 characters or less using the Tweet submission webform. Be sure to include the #CarNIP hashtag and your Twitter ID in that 140 character count.
Also: please comment to let me know which ERGObaby Carrier you will chose if you win!

Waste not....

2010-06-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't really call us frugal. We make lots of careful choices with our money but we also spend a lot on things we value. But we're not wasteful.
Last night at dinner I piled a plate full of lettuce and baby tomatoes, carrot slivers and broccoli for Little Berry and myself. She enjoys dipping her veggies in cream cheese and so I reached for the container to give her a separate dish of it for dipping.
I turned around to find her shaking the rest of the bag of lettuce into the garbage. She looked so proud of herself, like she was helping me. I think in her mind she was being genuinely useful. But it got me wondering:

How do we teach children about not being wasteful?

-Give them age-appropriate tasks they can complete. When we're leaving rooms or the apartment I will pull a chair up to the light switch and ask Little Berry to turn the lights off for me. She enjoys it and it gets her practicing the habit of noticing such things. Make it fun or a game and they will remember it.
In the case of food, I will start involving her more. Perhaps from now on she can be in charge of putting the lettuce into a Tupperware container or picking just as much as we need to eat at a time from our container garden of lettuce.
- Volunteer with them doing something like picking up trash in the park or cleaning out their toy box to take items to a local thrift store. This way they get to see their efforts pay off and see an alternative to simply throwing things away.
-Use less myself and model appropriate behavior. I am guilty of some times pouring a glass of water down the sink if I am finished. We can use that water on our plants or start leaving a bowl of water outside our apartment building for smaller creatures in this summer heat. The fact is- everything we do means something to our children.
-Be wary of what I am modeling as "trash" to my daughter. Recycling is something kids can get involved in and teaching about waste isn't just for the environment. It's ideal for the health of your family as well because your choices will lead to a healthier childhood for your little ones and a better parenthood for you.
-Talk about it, read about it, make up your own stories about it. This one is a given and probably easiest of them all. But just talking about it means nothing if you don't also model the behavior.
-Relax. Sometimes kids are wasteful. They don't comprehend that splashing in the sink is wasteful- to them it's pure bliss to have chilly streams of water everywhere. Sometimes you need to let go of the rules and just enjoy the moment.

What are your tips? How would you approach wastefulness with your child/ren?

Something exciting

2010-06-23T16:51:00.001-07:00

I know most of my readers are like-minded mamas who practice AP or cloth diapering and most likely are interested in supporting breastfeeding even beyond infancy. There is an exciting Carnival of Nursing in Public approaching soon. It's being hosted by Code Name Mama and Baby Dust Diaries. The deadline for submitting your posts, pictures, poems, artwork etc is approaching soon and I would personally encourage each of you to submit a piece. The object of this carnival is to push towards the normalization of breastfeeding, something I think we all support.
And there are prizes. I hear that ERGO baby is donating an Ergo carrier to one participant!

One other thing- you should share this carnival news on your blog and grab the sweet button too so more people participate and voice their support. Nursing Mamas need all the support they can get!

Panic

2010-06-19T11:46:00.001-07:00

What makes you afraid? Fills your chest up tight with dread? Is it death? Spiders? Mold? Is it being alone, the dark, deep water?

I'm afraid of driving. I suppose specifically I'm afraid of *getting lost* while driving. Yesterday I wanted a frappuchino, but instead of getting in my car and driving down the street, I walked with little berry. In the heat, for two and a half miles! Just for a cold coffee drink, then two and a half miles back. Imagine what I'd do for groceries!
I've been trying to untangle my fear. I'm not afraid when I know exactly how to get where I want to go. But I'm afraid somehow I will miss a turn and not know exactly where I am
anymore. Before little berry, I was adventurous. I would drive to see pappa starbucks in the big city, I would take wrong turns just to see where I wound up. I've always been terrible with directions but this is ridiculous. It feels suffocating. Confining! There's this big huge fun city at my feet and I am going to
learn my way around.
So tell me. What are you afraid of? And what are you going to do to start overcoming it?

- mamma pie

Summer is....

2010-06-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

The pool.
Is there really anything better than dipping your feet or plunging yourself into the pool in the summer? I think not. Little Berry thinks not too. Where's your favorite place to go swimming?

Sunshine.
Just make sure you put on sunscreen. Pappa Starbucks never wears sunscreen and so I finally showed him research stating that African Americans can also get skin cancer. Little Berry is always needing a re-coating because she sweats it off so much. What's your favorite sunscreen?

Fresh Foods.
Tomatoes. Zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers! Cherries, watermelon, pineapple, mangoes, raw garlic, basil! I love summer foods and we go through them so so quickly. What's your favorite summer food?

The smell of summer.
Grass growing, freshly cut grass, the smell of water. The neighbor's grill, even sunscreen has a distinct smell that I can't really get enough of in the summertime.
What are your favorite summertime smells?

What I keep

2010-05-26T12:30:00.001-07:00

I've been doing a lot of deep cleaning lately. In preparation for an eventual move and the knowledge that a lot of what we have in our home we don't need, I am scaling back, freecycling, goodwilling and selling things that are worth my energy to even TRY selling. We have so much baby stuff, we were extraordinarily blessed when I was pregnant. Everything we needed we got, mostly as gifts but a few items, like my $300 breastpump, we bought ourselves. In the process, I'm noticing the sweetest things we own. A box of love letters

collecting dust on our cheap Ikea bookshelf, a vintage wind up radio

Little berry's beautiful book

collection, a vintage ride on horse

and Pappa starbuck's old Teddy bear bank. These things, sweetened by my sentiments and the knowledge that they can't be bought at anyoldmart, are the things I keep. The rest I am happy to pass on to anyone who needs them because in their place I'll get more room to love on my girl, a place to put fresh flowers, a chance to see my girl's pretty handmade dresses, and a better view of the two smiling faces I love the most.

- mamma pie

What's on your plate this summer, mate?

2010-05-22T21:18:00.001-07:00

(baked artichokes instead of chips with fresh salsa)

I was talking about grocery shopping with some friends recently. Around here, we spend around $125 a week on groceries. Yes we coupon.
At least $60 of this is going to produce each week. Then dairy (cheese! Milk! Yogurt! Kefir! Local fresh eggs!) and bread and tofu/ice cream/other random groceries such as couscous or maple syrup!
It got me thinking about how much fresh food we eat (comparatively speaking) and I thought I'd ask as well as share in hopes of picking up some new ideas (because I'd honestly rather spend less but not get less quality and fresh food, and I think if I learned more fresh food recipes then my prepackaged (I.e. Veggie burgers) meals would be even more reduced. Here is what we buy most weeks in the summer (and all from the farmer's market) that is fresh::
Eggplants 2-3 large
Yellow squash 7ish
Carrots
Artichokes 4-6
Onions (green/red) lots
Tomatoes 4-6
Aparagus 1 large bunch
Mangoes 6
Strawberries 1pint-1quart
Blueberries 1pint-as much as a gallon
Sprouts
Peaches 5-6
Apples 1-3
Corn 9cobs
Bananas 1large bunch
Pineapple occasionally
Lettuce red/purple lettuce and spinach both
Bell peppers red/green 5-6
Watermelon 1-2
Lemons 9ish
Garlic of course
Avacadoes 2-3
And I think thats it. So tell me- what would you make with those veggies and maybe just one or two other ingredients? I want to make the most out of our summer meals and we really love food, so please share!

- mamma pie

Working Mama

2010-05-17T17:32:00.001-07:00

The reason I've been away so much lately? I have a job. I'm nannying part-full time for a family who share many of my own views about parenting (not "child rearing," because I don't think children need to be "reared.")
They're very nice, their daughter is a joy. I don't love working, I won't lie to you about that.
It's hard. My girl gets a bit jealous, she is a copycat of the finest sort, picking up the few things I'd rather she didn't notice. Their girl can be a bit bossy to Little berry, and naptime is a killer.
In many ways it feels like having another kid. It makes me not want anymore to be precise. The rivalry, attention seeking behaviors, and the balancing act of handling two is more than I want.
I know many women with more than one child and while I don't think they regret it, I do see that they seem to be able to balance things much better than myself.
And I think I would regret having two or more. I need more than two hands for my one kid as it is.
- mamma pie

Let's call her baby starbucks

2010-05-11T15:21:00.001-07:00

How to make the best cup of coffee, a story in pictures by little berry.
First turn on dada's coffee mach-masha-mashene.

Are you paying attention? It's this belly button right here. Don't touch those other belly buttons.

Hey! Look at me. I'm trying to show you something!

Now get some more coffee. Dada says you can't ever use too much.

Pour some in the cup.

Check and make sure you got it in there, alright?

Now stir it around so it looks pretty. Mamma says it smells like poop.

Hmmmm. What am I forgetting....?

Oh, some magnets would be yummy. Let's add those. Mamma says that's a no-no, but I think it's a yes-yes!

Now taste it to make sure it's yummy. Sometimes the magnets don't dissolve very well.

Yep! It's good. We sure did make it yummy! Those magnets give it a real earthy flavor.

*no coffee was harmed in the making of this post. Thanks for dropping by!

Etsy features: Le Petit Owlet

2010-05-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is my first Etsy feature shop and I know you are going to love it.
This shop has so much creativity and love going into each item. I'm a huge fan of cloth diapers but I think that the commercial diapers that are so popular (which I use) lose a lot of character. This shop, Le Petit Owlet, satisfies me on every level. Her diapers are CUTE. I mean, hello, ADORABLE, babylust inducing, lovely.
Each of her diapers are handmade with lots of love and care, and in case you don't know much about cloth diapers, these are excellent quality. She offers choices in materials like wool, which is all natural and eco friendly. easy to care for, great for baby's bum. You can even custom chose your fabrics if you don't see anything that suits your fancy, but you will. She has the sweetest prints!
How much better could it be?
Well, as it turns out, it does get better. This shop has so much character and charm, from her really beautiful vintage dresses to her lovely little boy's face and her handmade pads for breastfeeding mammas.

Please go check it out, and visit her blog as well. You're going to love her.

Take my word for it

2010-05-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

This morning, as Pappa Starbucks was walking out the door, he unplugged my iphone and handed it to me. I was standing in our kitchen and I turned it over in my palm and gave him a smooch goodbye. As he walked past me in the kitchen, his arm brushed my iphone out of my hand and it landed face down on our linoleum floor.
Little berry saw it on the floor and lit up. She loves the Peekaboo barn App and thought she was going to get a turn.
I quickly swooped down to pick it up. I've dropped it getting in the car before in the parking lot and thought "yikes! glad that wasn't on cement!" But I never put a cover on it because I love the sleek lightweight feel of it in m palm, the ease of carrying it in my pocket without a case.
The screen is glass, so all those cracks are slivers of glass waiting to cut your face, making flicking the screen nearly impossible. Go put a case on your iphone. Even pricey hardcover ones are cheaper than replacing it. A new screen is $79 and a new Iphone is about $100. A new iphone PLUS a new case is about $120. Even if you're terrible at math you can see that a new cover is your best option, just go do it. You can thank me later.

She's the sneeziest

2010-04-29T10:15:00.001-07:00

Little berry has allergies. She's a red eyed, stuffy nosed, dark under eye circle-mouth-breathing mess. It's been this way on and off for most of the past three months. At first I though she had a ridiculous and persistent sinus infection, but now I'm more than certain. She's not sick but allergic. I'm frustrated by the lack of choices to help her. She still will not breathe through her nose while she nurses, something that has persisted over the past two months. TWO MONTHS of "latch on, suckle, unlatch, gasp for air, relatch..."
I've tried everything in the world. I've had help now from over fifty different people, I even requested a lovely lady to do Reiki to help her relax. But she's doing it out of self preservation. She just can't hardly breathe. I am disinclined to use a prescription for it not only because we've tried that with no relief (although I do recognize that we may have to try a new RX if I can't relieve her symptoms any other way). I don't want to medicate her if I don't know what's going on in her body. I am interested to know: what do you do to relieve a very young child's allergies naturally?
Anyone?

One more word about that

2010-04-27T07:12:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year that everyone is bragging about their garden. We live in a very small apartment in a big city in North Carolina.
There are CSA's and farmers markets and produce stands and food fairs and earth day celebrations to prove that city living doesn't have to be "detached."
There are as many different ways to green as there are people to garden. My way is unobtrusive an dual purpose. Actually, make that multi purpose.

I keep my plants on the edge of our little concrete square: the edge of our "personal outdoor space" which also houses a very small kiddie pool and my clothesline. This way, I can open our sliding door and little berry can go in and out. She can't get into the grass because it's blocked by my 'garden.' this isn't me being mean but realistic. If I'm cleaning inside and she wants to be outside she can. She knows exactly what her boundaries are when she's outside without me (and I'm always keeping an eye out, just not holding her hand) and she doesn't step in dog poo or go wandering.
She gets to enjoy watching our garden grow (she keeps plucking mint leaves and not ripe strawberries and bringing them to me to share) an the things that come with it: ants, caterpillars, butterflies, even bees. We have a few lizzards out there as well that she just loves watching.
We've seen quite a few honey bees which makes me so happy.

usually, she gets to water the plants. She could do that all day long. It's fun to her and helps her develop those motor skills and the plants get a little water in the process.

I started grabbing plants early this season and starting seeds but around here, plants are a low as .25 cents each, and when your garden is as small as mine, this is plenty affordable. I do compost a little: fruit pieces and bread crusts get tucked in the middle of my buckets.

I'm under no illusion that these pots are big enough for long term gardening. I just haven't found a good alternative yet- hopefully that will be either a real garden to transplant them into or I will find several large wooden containers on craigslist again as I have in the past.

Currently my garden looks pretty silly. But I'm loving it. If it yields just one edible tomato, I'll
Be happy.
- mamma pie

Revisiting those baby days

2010-04-23T12:02:00.001-07:00

I was just browsing some of my old videos and found this one of Little berry on her first Christmas morning. She was 4months old (and we were not using cloth diapers yet) and so stinkin' CUTE.
(this makes me want another baby soooo badly!)

The "Little Tyke" Moving Co.

2010-04-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks, Pappa Starbucks and I will be moving again. We'll be packing up most of our possessions and putting them in storage for several months while I spend the summer with Little berry and some wonderful family, and he spends the summer working his butt off for Teach For America.
We've done this before. We've moved some four times since we've been together- first from college into an apartment together, then into a bigger apartment where we lived when Little berry was born, and then we stored all of our things for last summer and went to Europe. Then we moved into this apartment and have been here for not quite a year. Moving is hard, especially when you have a little one underfoot. I'm not sure it will ever be easy, but I've found that there are a few things that can make it not as rough.

(little berry shows her displeasure with our new digs on moving day)

1) Plan ahead- with lists of things that need to be sold/given away, things that need special care or to be returned to friends who've loaned them to you.
2) Try to use up all of the food you can several weeks prior to your move. We make a point to only buy fresh produce for about two weeks before we're moving, so we can use up all the other food.
3) If you can afford it, hire a cleaning crew to come behind you. This can save your deposit and a lot of frustration and energy. Tell them you will tip well if they earn you your deposit back and it will be worth it for both you and them.
4) Check Craigslist and local stores for free boxes. We were out a few weeks ago and saw a local chain restaurant unpacking new chairs and throwing the boxes away- all perfectly sized and identical. No one wants to pack into 40 different sized boxes.
5) Keep boxes handy for items you want to freecycle or take to the thrift store. No one wants to have to dig through already packed boxes for that thing that was going to be given away, nor are you going to want to keep everything.
6) Stock up on tape and markers ahead of time. You're never going to have enough!
7) Leave some boxes empty for the kid to play with while you pack. Maybe throw in a roll of tape. That's what they are going to want most and you don't want to have to keep pulling them out of yours!
8) Enlist friends to help for a few hours or to bring over food and drinks on the day of the move, because you're going to have tossed all that food and moving makes you hungry!

What are your tips for moving with a little one (or more)? I'd love to hear what you do to make moving with kids easier.

Blog Hugs, or "Blugs!"

2010-04-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

Mama Christina from Diary of a Mom gave me a bloggy award! I am so flattered as it's my first!
The rules are:
One: Tell us about a memorable hug you’ve had. It can be a person, pet, whatever…
Two: “Hug” at least one other blogger or as many as you like.

Part One:

Wow, this is very hard for me. As many people know, I'm not a hugger. I'm not touchy-feely or lovey-dovey, and I have to remind myself to give physical affection, even to Pappa Starbucks. He, however, is very very much a hugger and is always asking for them and so is Little Berry. I think this will be a good exercise for me to write about hugging though since I've been trying to work giving them more....eagerly?
On my 20th birthday, Pappa Starbucks and I were meeting for breakfast. We were in college, we knew each other fairly well but were not involved. He was gushy-mushy-lovey-dovey-always-grinning around me and I knew he liked me a lot. One of the reasons I was at that point hesitating to date him was actually because of how exuberantly affectionate he was.
I got up that morning, showered and dressed in my favorite button down plaid shirt that my best friend always picked on me for wearing (good naturedly of course) and fixed a bowl of very crunchy granola to take to breakfast even though we were meeting in front of chic-fil-a (he's vegetarian and I didn't eat meat in front of him for a very long time) so I wouldn't be chowing down on a chicken biscuit while he ate his frosted flakes or oatmeal.
It was a chilly and frosty-aired morning, and I walked from my dorm to the cafeteria to meet this silly guy- trying to make sure my hair wasn't all frizzy from the sweater I was wearing, and generally wanting to look good but not have anyone know I was TRYING. It was, after all, my BIRTHDAY.
He met me inside the cafeteria with a cheerful grin and leaned in to hug me- "Happy Birthday!" he said. He smelled like Tide and toothpaste and I realized I had flutters- genuine nervous butterfly flutters in my stomach at that moment, and I knew we'd be together for a long long time.
And we've been together ever since!
Part Two:
I hug Ittybits and Pieces, The Milk Maid, Erin, Milk Donor Mama, and last but never least, my Friend Monica!

My city garden

2010-04-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

We live in the city. In a cramped two-bedroom apartment with no yard. I wish it were bigger, but it's not, and that's not stopping me. I have- garlic, two tomatoes, a yellow squash, a spearmint, four strawberry plants and a cantelope, rhubarb, a pot of wildflowers, ten basil plants started from seed) and a few soapnut sprouts. I don't have fancy pots and I may have *pilfered* my soil- but I've got what I can.
I also have a clothesline for my clothdiapers and a kiddie pool for little berry all in the same space. Because some things, I cannot compromise for. As a side note- if I'd planned better, I would have completely planted all of these in a deeper kiddie pool. They're $15 (the biggest ones, which is twice as deep as ours) and perfect for the plants I have.

Things I'd like to have but don't, and can make do without- cucumber, bell peppers, and watermelon.
What do you just have to have no matter what? What are you willing to be cramped to hold on to, or to give up other things for?

Solo Parenting

2010-04-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the April Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting advice!

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month we're writing letters to ask our readers for help with a current parenting issue. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

***

This summer I will be a single parent for 6weeks. Little berry's pappa will be training to be the next Teach For America teacher in a "gruelling six week crash course called institute" that will put him in rural Mississippi, some 12hours away from baby and me. I'm a fairly confident mamma, normally, and I do so love the job, but this...these six weeks?
They have me wrapped up on nerves studded on porcupine quills of terror.

I will need to work because he won't be, which I haven't officially done since my Little berry was born. If you've been here a while, you know I was a full time university student for three semesters after she arrived (and I was back to school full-time just 12 days post partum).

So I need advice. How do single parents handle all the responsibilities of doing things alone? What's the hardest part? What kind of job should I look for where I can be with Little berry (because child care would just eat up the money I made) and still earn rent? How do I honor my parenting philosophies without support?

Any tips or tricks? Also I would love to hear advice on how to I deal with her missing her pappa (she will be 2) for six weeks (and work and live by myself) in the city all at once? Maybe you're a single Mom or were raised by just your dad, maybe you're an army wife or your husband travels a lot...I bet you've got something brilliant to say. Please share with me your advice.

Mammapie

***

Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be updated by the end of the day April 13 with all the carnival links.)

Replace hitting with…? — Acacia at Be Present Mama is at a loss on how to handle her three year old's hitting.
Two Questions — Alexandra at Breastfeeding Momma would like some ideas on how to strengthen her bond with her 8-month-old daughter; she's also looking for input on an emotional topic: vaccines.
Balancing Needs When Baby Trumps Mama — Alison at BluebirdMama wonders how her child's need for noise and energy balances out against her need for quiet and space. (@childbearing )
The McDilemma — Annie at PhD in Parenting is on the arches of a McDilemma. (@phdinparenting)
Where is the mutually agreeable solution? When parenting calls for blood draws — Arwyn at Raising My Boychick has a child who needs regular blood tests that are torment for him. How does a parent honor a child when his health is on the line? (@RaisingBoychick)
When To Wait To Nurse — Cave Mother wonders what age toddlers can be asked to wait to nurse.
I don't love you Mama! — CurlyMonkey wonders what to do with her daughter's intense feelings. (@curlymonkey_)
Help a Mama Out — Danielle at Born.in.Japan isn't getting much sleep with her cosleeping, night nursing, cranky little guy and hopes you can help with some suggestions for shuteye. (@borninjp)
Dear Abby: My daughter really misses her Daddy — Darcel at The Mahogany Way needs to know how to help her daddy's girl get the connection with her father she needs — and not feel left out in the process. (@MahoganyWayMama)
What's Going on at School? — Deb at Science@home is in a quandary: how can she find out what really goes on at school without stepping on the teacher's toes? (@ScienceMum)
April Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Advice — Dionna at Code Name: Mama wants to find volunteer work that includes her toddler. (@CodeNameMama)
How do you deal? — Erin at Beatnik Momma does not want to engage in "mommy wars." She'd like your input on how (and how much) to discuss her natural parenting choices with curious friends and family who parent differently. (@babybeatnik)
Dear Abby — The Grumbles at Grumbles and Grunts gave her son a banana...and no solid food since. What's the next step in baby-led weaning? (@thegrumbles)
Excuse me, I have a poop question — Jessica at This is Worthwhile has a question for you about toddler tinkling. (@tisworthwhile)
The Half Empty Nest Syndrome: What to do when Momma gets replaced by a cow? — Joni Rae at Kitchen Witch Momma is suffering from "half-empty nest syndrome": what do you do when your babies start growing up? (@kitchenwitch)
Peer Pressure — Kate at Momopoly worries what message her daughter's new friend is sending — but how to break up such an infatuation? (@Momopoly)
When I Fall Down — Katherine at Momioso.com needs your wisdom on how to be more gentle and at peace with herself. (@naturalparent)
A question of sleep and sanity — KeepingMumSane needs your toddler cosleeping advice in order to, well, keep mum sane! (@keepingmumsane)

April Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting advice — Lauren at Hobo Mama needs a chiropractor … or help getting her 36 lb toddler to walk up the stairs. (@Hobo_Mama)
Driver's Ed for Mommies — Maman A Droit is a self-confessed terrible driver and is scared to drive with her baby in the car.
Solo Parenting — Mammapie at Downside Up and Outside In needs tips for being a single working mother while her partner's away. (@mammapie)
Itsy Bitsy Biter — Mamapoekie at Authentic Parenting needs your advice about her daughter, otherwise known as the pitbull.
How Can I Avoid Beauty Obsession? — Melodie at Breastfeeding Moms Unite! is at a loss ever since her tomboys turned into wannabe princesses. (@bfmom)
Seeking Stability in Chaos — Michelle at Seeking Mother is in a heart-wrenching position. She needs your input on how to make a toddler feel secure during a time of transition, the illness of a parent, and multiple (new) caregivers. (@Seekingmother)
Mama, That's Too, Too Boring! — Michelle at The Parent Vortex started out asking how to encourage her preschooler to get dressed — and four days later, she began to without prompting! (@TheParentVortex)
Dear Lovey Hart, I am Desperate. — Mommy Soup from Cream of Mommy Soup has several questions for you, from how you play favorites when no one's your favorite to how to tell off strangers curious about the ample size of your family. (@mommysoup)
Diaper Duty Dilemma — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries has a simple request: talk to her about cloth! (@babydust)
What Do You Need My Son — pchanner at A Mom's Fresh Start wishes her calm four-month-old hadn't turned into an inquisitive and dramatic six-month-old. How do you handle changes in baby's personality? (@pchanner)
Dear Natural Parenting Community — Sarah at OneStarryNight wants to know how to respond to criticism from family and friends over breastfeeding. (@starrymom)
Natural Parenting Carnival — Help — Sarah at Consider Eden feels like either her to-do list or her parenting is suffering, because she can't do both! (@considereden)
To potty learn or not to potty learn — that is the question — Sheryl at Little Snowflakes wants to know whether it's time to start potty training. (@sheryljesin)
Seeking Patience — Starr at Earth Mama looks to the collective tribal wisdom of this community to learn how to teach patience to children.
A Dirty Girl Comes Clean — Tashmica at Mother Flippin' is struggling. How do parents deal with their inability to keep their children protected from danger? (@Mother_Flippin)
Uli and the Pussy Cats — Thomasin at Propson Palingenesis has a toddler who likes to put kitties in headlocks and ride them like horsies. How best to separate the little beasties?
Perceptions of Discipline — Zoey at Good Goog doesn't use conventional discipline with her child — and doesn't know how to respond around people who do. (@zoeyspeak)

raising a wild child

2010-04-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

We love the outdoors. We don't have a lot of wild place to explore, but I want my Little berry to see that the world is beautiful. She notices the littlest things, a tiny bug, a bee on a leaf, a golden flower smashed underfoot. This week we played under the blossoming trees and built tiny houses for imaginary fairies, butterflies, snails.
I know she doesn't understand the concept of "imaginary," but she concentrates so hard helping. She fetches grasses and sticks with precision, plucks tiny violets and pebbles out of the way, waits for an ant to cross before stepping.
Here is where we started:
And when we finished, we had this tiny teepee of twigs:

capped with a lovely golden flower and a million brilliant rays of sun
Waiting to spin a little mystery into the everyday of some unsuspecting soul.

What have you taken the time to build with your child lately? Next time you're in the park, I challenge you to pause, find a small space, and make a fairy home (take pictures and share them with me if you do!)

I wish I were a different kind of thin

2010-04-07T09:01:00.001-07:00

It had to happen eventually. Today, Little berry is twenty months and three days old (young) and I am worn thin. She.is.in.to.everything.
She found an old yogurt raisin in some cranny she'd hidden it in last week (oh let be honest, I don't know when she hid it) and stuck it in her diaper, then tried to dig it out. I noticed just in time that she had pooped...
She mocked me while I did crunches and half hearted yoga poses: "huff huff huff (giggle) ahuff huff (collapsing in giggles)" all while poking a Dora the explorer bubble wand in my belly button calling it a boobie. At least she didn't call me fat.
She unfolded all the towells and spilled a liter of sugar water I'd made so we could have lemonade tonight, tried to climb in the fireplace and turned her nose up at all her breakfast, tore up my favorite copy of DOMINO while I loaded the dishes and tried to let a bee in the back door while I vacuumed. I'm trying very hard to be patient but I think- and this is just an idea, that today might be best spent OUTSIDE where there is no simple syrup to spill, dishes to break, bees are already "in"...no yogurt raisins to find and hide in her diaper and at the very worse she will find some lost Easter eggs.
So tell me faithful readers, what do you do on those days that you wish you'd stayed in bed?

or to put it another way, when you feel like you have two left feet, which way do you go?

- mamma pie

Summershine

2010-04-02T11:26:00.001-07:00

My little berry is growing so quickly. She is sweet and thoughtful and bright. Today we spent hours outside in the sun, chasing bubbles and romping barefoot through patches of silky soft wild violets. We nursed in the shade of a flowering apple tree, our backs to the world and our hearts to the sky.

Birds flitted by, building nests and singing wordless songs about the joy of having wings.

This day with it's simple bliss of spinning light and gentle laughter is one I want to remember forever.

- mamma pie

Wordless Wednesday: we found fairies.

2010-03-31T12:58:00.001-07:00

- mamma pie

Spring giveaway winner!

2010-03-30T18:37:00.001-07:00

Little Berry has a cold and had a rough day today. She's not nursing at all though she has tried and I'm handling it as well as I can. She's sad, but will get better and be back to nursing soon hopefully. So this is why I haven't announced a winner yet- I was rather busy playing mother comfort (which is a role I am normally happy to have but is hard when she wants me to comfort her with nursing and can't nurse).
All that to say-our winner also is a mamma, in fact, she calls herself Mama Bennie. She has two sweet babes and a blog over here that's been a bit quiet since the arrival of her youngest Mamma Bennie, I hope she enjoys her new dress!
If you'll email me your mailing address and link to the one you want I will send it your way!

Wherein I admit I trod on toes

2010-03-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

My nieces, thing one and thing two, came to visit this past weekend. They're charming girls with lots of quirks and brave for staying out of town in the city in our cramped guest ~~closet~~ bedroom. Generous for blowing bubbles over and over for my little berry, helpful for vacuuming and cleaning the table behind themselves, brave for trying new foods and loving them, inquisitive for visiting our local park and exploring it like it was their own back yard.
I had hopes to surprise them to a fancy day out at the mall followed by a really delicious dinner out and home for movies and ice cream. But I forgot to ask their mom to pack them something dressy, and in my usual way I stepped on kid toes and hurt their feelings trying not to spoil my surprise. They probably would have complied if I'd been forthright but having your Aunt tell you you have to dress up for no apparent reason is not the same kind of fun as getting girlied up the way you feel best and going out for the day.
I know all too well what it feels like to be at someone's house and regret that you're there at all. When I was a bit younger than them my own mom (hi mom!) would leave me at her sister's house for ~~weeks~~ days. Long, long days. And perhaps my sharpest memories are from those days and how much I wished I was somewhere else, not being ~~gouged with sharpened sticks~~ teased by my cousins. So dear thing one and thing two, I hope you forgive me for not being as generous and sweet and loving and kind and openminded as you each are yourselves.

Wordless Wednesday: kisses

2010-03-24T14:24:00.001-07:00

- mamma pie

vintage ((spring)) giveaway

2010-03-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today I have a giveaway of the finest sort.
I'm offering one reader an item of their choice from my etsy shop, shipping included. You can pick whatever suits your fancy, you can keep it for your own cherubs or give it away to be loved by another dearie.
There are dresses (lots of dresses!) perfect for Easter or summertime, a couple boy items and two sweet dolls handmade by me.

To enter, hop over to my etsy shop and peek around, come back here and tell me what you would pick if you win. I happen to love all the sweet items I have over there so I hope you do too.
If you are the winner and the item you've selected is sold by the time I close my giveaway I will ask you to select another item or give you store credit equivalent to the item's price.

This contest will be open until March 30th and is open to residents of the US and Canada.
For additional entries, tweet about this giveaway (up to twice a day) and link to that tweet (in your RSS twitter feed) in your comments. Also for 3extra entries (each) you can follow my blog publicly and/or favorite my etsy shop.
Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

And...comments are open!

A little heads up

2010-03-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

My fantastic SIL the MilkMaid has been blogging on and off (mostly off :) for the past few years but has recently started again.
She is living the farm-life, homeschooling my two beautiful nieces and SHE MAKES HER OWN CHEESE.
And right now she has a very sweet giveaway up on her blog "12hats and a sombrero" for reusable cloth feminine products by an etsy shop Cre8tive Mama. Please go give her blog a peek and be sure to enter the wonderful giveaway. But not too many times because I want to win for myself.

Three steps forward

2010-03-19T04:27:00.001-07:00

Want to know a little secret? Pappa Starbucks and I, after months of heated disagreements, are now seeking help from couples therapy. There are many levels to this decision, from things we cannot agree or compromise on (parenting choices) to things we have said that deeply hurt our partner, to past actions left unforgiven, therefore unresolved.
It's called couples therapy but that's not really right. It's about learning what makes my individual person "me" and what makes his "him," and then learning how to interract on an adult level as opposed to an "adolescent" or "child" level. It's about modeling mature communication for my own child to see and enjoying the benefits of being an adult (making my own choices about my own body, and understanding what I am and am not comfortable with, since this IS my body).
I'm starting to love the freedom that comes with new knowledge- freedom to say "your words make me feel angry" or "the way you spoke to me in front of your friend made me feel like you would rather I'd stayed at home." And he loves being able to talk about things we've been putting on 'autopilot'- and instead of fighting about them, working to find "the win-win" solution, the one that makes neither of our wants/desires/wishes a "Lose."
It's actually still a very new thing for us. But it is empowering: it has already helped me mind my word choices and has enlightened him into the nuances that cause us conflict. We read and reread the book "Snow People World" and it has helped tremendously already.
If you find that interracting with other people leaves you feeling angry/vulnerable/confused/etc you should check this book out.
Tell me, what makes you uncomfortable in other people? Is it quietness, "authority," pushiness, people with different gender identities, different values or beliefs? Is it "flashiness" or showy attitudes? Or maybe you're comfortable with everyone (come on, really? Share!!)?

At the end of the day

2010-03-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

I lifted my baby into my lap last night. She was warm and sweet, smelling of the days little mysteries and many adventures. She settled in, snuggled into mismatched pyjamas, one freckled over with puppy dogs and one with ponies. Her teeth brushed and flossed, tired out from day-long playing, laughing, growing.
We spent full hours in the sunshine together, bicycling round our neighborhood, eating watermelon while we watered our container garden and hung laundry in the sun. She chased shadows around and giggled at a sneaky lizard stealing the warmest place in the sun for itself.
Her laugh tinkled through the apartment as she ran back and forth, inside, outside: free-reign over the tiny spot we call a yard, freedom to run across a square of grass without holding someones hand.
I never foresaw this as being my life and yet it fits so perfectly, just as she does onto my lap. Her legs now dangle far too long and her chin tucks only on my shoulder, too big to kiss and cuddle her plumsized cheeks at once, her hair clings to the back of her neck now, longer and curlier than I foresaw in any dream. She is beautiful and sweet, gentle with her friends and dogs. And each moment mothering her is perfect.
Winding down, she croons at first a letter-song: g, b,q,s. A,a,a, two-three-four-five-eyes-ears-teeth-Oreo. Dog.
And then she sleeps, blissfully and deeply settled into my arms in a way that only my daughter can. This is one of those sweet sweet moments I will miss when her figure stands a tall as her pappas and her voice loses it's honesuckle sweetness, but for now, I hold her; I am mother-comfort, and I am grateful for the job.

- mamma pie

Maggie's Soap Nuts winners!!!!

2010-03-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

The two winners of the Maggie's Soap Nuts are:

Winner #13,

who was The Milk Maid. She said:
I blogged about this review/giveaway!
(Entry 3)
http://12hatsandasombrero.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/everything-we-need-god-has-provided-in-nature/

(a little funny thing- The Random Number Generator picked the Milk Maid as winner #2 as well. I didn't think that was fair so I ran it a third time)
and the second winner is number 29:

who was urban craft. Urban Craft said:

I didn't know that they were from Big Sur, but I used to live in Monterey and went to Big Sur often. I must add that I the people there are amazing. The most environmentally in tune spiritual holistic people you will ever meet. There are so many chemicals in everything we use. Soap nuts are another discovery that needs to be embraced for a healthy lifestyle, along with so many other natural products.

Winners, please email me your mailing information (patrick.marybeth/gmail) so I can pass it on to Maggie's Soap Nuts. Also indicate if you would prefer the soap nut liquid or the actual soap nuts please!

A big thank you to Maggie's Pure Land for sponsoring this review and giveaway and to all of you new and old readers alike for entering. I hope you enjoy your product as much as I did!

MammaPie

My birth story with little berry, part 2

2010-03-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

This is the final part of my birth story with Little Berry. For the first installment, see here .
Around noon on August 4th, I was still laboring hard. My water had still not broken, but I was having strong contractions every three minutes that I could not talk through. I was using the shower for 10-20 minutes at a time and it really helped. At one point, I began to feel guilty about the water usage and came out of the shower. My midwife suggested I use the birthing tub, and filled it for me. It was bad timing.

Pappa Starbucks was at home (remember, it was just around the corner) to walk our dog. I was exhausted so she filled the tub for me and I got in, leaving me alone. I felt suddenly and intensely overwhelmed by how alone I was and I started feeling tense, upset, perhaps even scared. I felt hot and painful and angry and loathed the birthing tub, although I think if I had tried it again with Pappa Starbucks there to would have been able to relax and enjoy it. I got out and put my headphones back on, listening to the same song over and over. It was "Crazy" by Seal and I had been using it throughout the morning. Something about it helped me relax and I kept it on repeat. I bounced on the birthing ball, tried the birthing chair, and when Pappa Starbucks returned, I was exhausted and realized I needed sleep. I had thought there was no way I could sleep in labor but I did-for almost an hour I was in a heavy hard sleep that was lucid and also very deep. When I woke up, I felt like I was coming out of a trance and I began laboring hard again.
I know my midwife checked me and I was almost fully dilated. I tried the shower again and I remember standing under the sharp splattering of hot water, the sound of running water filling the room, when I entered the third stage of labor. I wanted to push, I needed to push, but I was in the shower alone and there was no one else there to keep me from falling. I had a vision of responding to the urge to push and then slipping and hitting my head, or of the baby falling down the drain, a bizarre frantic airless panic sank in. Looking back on moments like this I wish wish wish I had sought out a doula. I could have used someone throughout my labor to just "be" with me. I was alone a lot. My midwives were busy with another mamma to be who had arrived (they complained about her while I was pushing!) "only two centimeters dilated and already screaming."
I crawled out of the shower on my knees, found a towel, and went back to the pretty yellow room that was around the corner. I think if I had not been alone in the shower I would have probably given birth rather quickly standing up there, it felt natural, compulsive.

When I went from the rushing water to the quiet yellow room I also felt tense again and instead of still needing to push, I began walking. I spent about 15minutes walking, my contractions very strong and consistent. I was on my knees breathing in and out to Seal when my midwives started insisting I try different positions. They were tired I'm sure. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and I had been there since about 8am. It occurred to me that this is going to happen soon and I'm almost there!
I know I was anxious. I felt very unsupported. I'm okay saying this now, I've worked through most of the feelings I have about her birth. Writing these things down for me is the last step in moving past the sorrow I have over what I expected versus what I experienced. Not all births with midwives and "natural birth centers" are peaceful or beautiful. Not all women who choose unmedicated births have support teams and I was one of those women.
My midwives were fairly aggressive during the last stage of labor and the 45minutes I spent pushing. They held my legs, they told me when to push, they moved the lip of my cervix back forcefully without asking if I wanted them to. They massaged me forcefully with olive oil and never once asked if I wanted them to. And I didn't have the energy, knowledge, stamina- to tell them they were hurting me. I wish I could have that hour back, I would do it differently, I believe firmly that these are all interventions, that left on my own I could have found a natural position (rather than flat on my back, really, the most unproductive position) and I would be sharing different words.

But I lay, and I pushed and I cried, and I yelled words about how "I DIDNT WANT TO BE PREGNANT ANYMORE!!!!" And after this feeling of immense anger and solitude passed,
I breathed in and pushed down down down through the end of the world and out into the spinning light of a yellow room I birthed my beautiful daughter whose cord was tucked in spirals around her neck, where Midwives clamped it and cut it even though her pappa had asked to do it himself, and lay her on my chest to learn how to breathe.
We went home that same evening around 9:00, 4 hours after she became my daughter, little berry was safe at home, in a small apartment on a pretty street that will always be a little special, it was where I began to feel like a mama.

My birth story with little berry, part 1

2010-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

On August 3rd 2008, I was a week past my due date with my little berry. I was finishing up my Junior year at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. At 30weeks, Pappa Starbucks and I toured the labor and delivery wing of the Womens Hospital there. As we walked through the doors, the staff member was telling us about ankle bracelets used to prevent babynappings, that would shut down the entire hospital wing if the infant cane within five feet if the doors with this device on. It is standard procedure. I was already having concerns about my desired birth being compromised, and felt very unsupported in my delivery wishes. Pappa Starbucks is very pro interventions (he says that doctors have been to medical school and therefore are better prepared to make decisions regarding our health care needs, from cesarean deliveries to vaccines) and while that is good and right for him, it isn't right for me.
My philosophy was that if a baby was left with their mother to be weighed, to room in, etc, at least in most cases, this would be unnecessary. I was also upset about the way birth was being presented. Instead of telling me about the support staff that would be available, the tour guide was pulling stirrups out and showing the women in my group the fold down panel of lights and medical equipment and television setups that were in the ceiling "just in case," and that "the OR was right around the corner in case they needed to do a c-section." I asked about waterbirthing, and they answered, candidly, that that was considered unsafe and I needed to consider the monitors.
At this point I told pappa starbucks I was ready to leave, and we went home.
I was hormonal and irrational and pretty mad because I thought I had no other choice; but I knew this was not the right place for me to give birth to my daughter.
We discussed our options (I wanted to have a home birth at this point) and as luck would have it, there was a birthing center within walking distance of our apartment at that time, the only one in North Carolina. I was so excited that it was that close.
I would like to say I was reading up on natural birthing and attending birthing classes, but I wasn't. I was busy with a work-study job, taking several summer courses, and crashing in the early evenings, exhausted and also a little depressed. Pappa Starbucks was also working and going to school, as well as nannying part-time. To say we were busy and trying to do too much is an understatement. I think this is partly why our relationship has been so strained since her birth.
Making the Switch:
We didn't get a first appointment at the birthing center until I was 37weeks along. But because I was healthy and didn't have diabetes or any other conditions, they took me on. Their policy is that all patients take a birthing class before delivery, something I think hosipitals don't often require, but in the end they actually waived this requirement for me since there was no way I could get into and finish a birthing class in time.
After I got into the birthing center I only had 3weeks until my due date. We saw the facilities, met the midwives, and I began to read a lot of their books on breastfeeding, which was my biggest concern. I was more fixated on being able to nurse than on my impending unmedicated childbirth! August 3rd rolled around and I was huge. I was hot, tired, beginning to feel aneimic, and a week "overdue." I was craving vegetarian summer rolls and peanut butter and peaches like no one's business- eating those three things almost constantly.
I felt ready to deliver and had been 50%effaced for days, dilated to a 2for a week. I was using EPO and feeling... ready. I had the "nursery" set up, a huge room devoted to our little babe, diapers all lined up, clothes sitting waiting to be worn. I would sit and fold and refold her things, excited, eager, I had her coming home outfit picked out and the camera batteries charged.
On August 3rd, I felt two big contractions somewhere around noon but then nothing after that. Pappa Starbucks and I took to the mall, walking and walking and walking, finally ending the evening with dinner of Vegetarian Summer Rolls, and at about ten o clock that night I knew I was about to go into labour. I wish I had taken that chance to sleep, but I was suddenly feeling bursting with things I needed to do. I stripped all the sheets off of our bed and replaced them with bright white ones (I get the biggest laugh out of this now) and removed all the bedding from Little Berry's crib, thinking it needed to be cleaned again. I scrubbed the stairs one by one because they just looked SO dirty all of a sudden!! and I woke up Pappa Starbucks to tell him I wanted him to install the carseat. I was scrubbing the refrigerator, folding towels. I was nesting.
We spent the rest of the night "resting," (not sleeping, unfortunately) though my contractions got very close together quickly. They were 5 minutes apart andstrong by 3am. We hung out, walked the dog, and at 5am we called the midwives and drove to Starbucks. I wanted to stay home but he was adamantly against this, and yet he had HAD to get his coffee fix, a true coffee lover. I was very nauseaus and just wanted to be MOVING. Walking. We went into Starbucks a few minutes after they opened (he has once worked at this starbucks and knew everyone) and while he got his free coffee I tried to eat a croissant. When Pappa Starbucks is nervous, he
makes lots of jokes, talks a lot. Getting coffee took forever. We left at about 6, even though I wanted nothing less than to get in the car again and would have been happy staying there for the rest of the day.
When we got to the birthing center, the midwives unlocked the doors and let us in. We were both excited but knew I would probably spend the rest of the day in labor.

I was in back labor, so the midwife wrapped a sheet around my tummy to help Little Berry turn. This caused the contractions to feel extremely intense and she did turn later but not until I was enjoying a hot, hot shower.
.....to be continued!

Green and clean: Maggie's Soap Nuts review and Giveaway!

2010-02-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Giveaway closed! Winners will be announced shortly. Thanks for entering!

What are Soap Nuts?
Do you know what this is? This is a soapnut. Or rather, the husk of the fruit of the Sapindus tree, and it has completely changed my perspective on cleaning. It is a powerful shell and when wet, it produces a deep-cleansing solution. Maggies Pure Land offered to send me both the soapnuts and the liquid soapnut solution (which smells of a cheerful and clean tea-tree & lavender scent) to try. As many of you all know, I am committed to making green choices in our home.

Why I love Soap Nuts
Since we cloth diaper, I am quite picky about the detergent I use in our washer. Most detergents contain whiteners, brighteners, surfactants, and fragrances, which will ruin a diapers absorbency. Cloth diapering is part of my commitment to use only the best and most natural products on my family because I truly believe these choices are linked to our health. Maggie's soap nuts delivers on this promise on every level. Take a few (2 at a time is recommended) of these little berries, toss them into the included drawstring bag and then into the wash cycle of the laundry. The nuts themselves smell of an almost chalky vinegar scent, but the laundry, once dried, will only smell of a fresh and breezy clean scent (it truly is just the smell of clean) that many manufactured detergents try to (and promise to) create but with the use of chemical fragrances. Maggies Soap Nuts have none of those harmful ingredients and still does the work better than any detergent I've ever used. This is a 100% natural, do-it-all cleaner, and it has been used for cleaning for thousands of years.

Mother Nature's Way
We do line drying with our whites (yes, even in the city!), and therefore we don't need to use bleach. The sun gets even the biggest and baddest baby stains out, and around here that's priceless. But if you don't line dry, and don't want to try it, you should use an environmentally friendly oxygen bleach when you do your whites, because these soapnuts don't contain artificial whiteners or brighteners. I'm going to point this out now for those of you who might not know: the ingredients used in standard cleaners are chemicals. Nearly all laundry detergents contain whiteners, brighteners, perfumes/fragrances, artificial surfactants. Just check out the label on your current laundry detergent and google the ingredients one at a time. You'll see that not only are they mostly toxic, they are also linked to many skin conditions such as eczema and other skin allergies and ingredients such as Diethanolamine is cited as a carcinogen, but still used in cleaners and detergents. Shampoos and body washes are also laden with toxins, especially sulfates which literally destroy your skin. Even plant-derived sulfates can be harmful, such as Cocamide DEA, which can even be in products that are labeled "organic" and "natural," but clearly has serious side effects. Also ingredients such as parabens, and disodium EDTA can be found in these traditional household products. I am now using Maggies soap nuts as a shampoo alternative.

How to use Soap Nuts
At the same time as Maggie's Pure Land sent me these products, I had decided that I was going to ditch traditional shampoo because I was developing psoriasis on my scalp, shoulders and arms. I'll be honest, I actually hadn't figured out that the rash on my shoulders was due to my "natural" shampoo, but I knew my scalp was suffering from the daily dose of chemicals, and I've always noted that when I wash my hair, I get a sharp metallic taste in my mouth.
I switched to an SLS free tooth paste last year due to sensitivity issues, and it makes sense to switch to a product that is sulfate free for my scalp as well. After using the solution for a week, I have no more rash on my shoulders, and my scalp feels healthy and clean. I filled a spray bottle full of water and soaked 3 husks in the water until it became a tea-colored solution, and added a few drops of pure lemon juice into my solution to lighten my hair naturally and freshen the scent, which also conditions the scalp. I reused the shells for making a cleaner for the home when I was done making my soapnut shampoo. I simply spray it on my hair in the shower, soak, and rinse. My hair has regained luster and body, it is soft and now has developed a natural curl/ wave that I've tried every chemical product on the market to force it to have for years. I love my hair now, and I have been actually enjoying wearing it down.

Other uses for Soap Nuts
Besides of using as a shampoo, you can use these soapnuts for anything you would do with a regular cleaner. Simply soak 2 soapnuts in a few cups of warm water and you've got an all natural household cleaner for washing the table, cleaning the fridge, even cleaning things like the baby's high chair. I loved how shiny and clean it got my stove, as well as the microwave which I am usually afraid to use cleaners on as I use it to heat water and milk daily. Pour an ounce of the solution into your mop bucket and clean the floor, or spray the shower down when you get out with your soapnut 'shampoo.'
For washing laundry, put the berries into the included sack (2 at a time is ideal) and toss into the washload. You leave them in the cycle until you're ready to dry your clothes. You can use them for cold cycles or hot, for regular washers and high efficiency. The berries are used up after a cycle or two and you'll know they're ready to be composted when they stop feeling slippery when they're wet. Composted husks will easily turn to dirt. They're very low sudsing, so if you're washing dishes with them (yes, I did this too, I'm telling you, they're the do-it-all cleaner!), you might want to do as I did and either put some solution into a spray bottle to spray onto dishes as you wash, or a cup of soaked husk solution like this

through the food processor, where you'll get this:

I found this worked really well, but didn't have much "grab" onto the dishes, so I mixed in a tablespoon of baking soda and drops of lemon juice to give a bit of scrubbing power. It was as effective as my regular dishsoap and completely natural, sensitive on my hands smells great, and is completely friendly to the environment. As for our laundry, I've been switching between the liquid soapnut solution that Maggies offers and the regular soapnut husks (link). I love both- the liquid is readily convenient and leaves a light, pleasant scent on the laundry when it's done. The soapnuts are small and compact, perfect for traveling, and as stated before, leave clothes extremely soft and have reduced the lint output on our loads. I don't use dryer sheets, and yet my laundry has been fluffier and undeniably softer. I love it for the diaper laundry as I know that there is nothing to worry about in terms of residue or irritants.
It's simply clean, the way nature intended it to be, and doesn't break down the quality of my clothes or the diapers in a way that ordinary products do. This is the best product I have ever tried in our home. The only downfall was that I now have many bottles of products I don't want to use any more sitting in the cleaner cabinet, and yet I don't want to throw into the trash and pollute the environment either. These soapnuts are a product that I will continue using and am certain that I will eventually transition to owning nothing else but a variety of essential oils to add to my solutions and a bulk of soapnuts. I know that their products are marketed primarily as a laundry detergent, but it really is a do-it-all cleaner. I can't imagine continuing to spend money on bottles of chemicals when I know this can do it all without the negative impacts on our health or my biggest fear: child poisoning. When you realize the things you can stop buying and use this on instead, you will understand that I mean it when I say this is an incredibly affordable product.

Maggie's strives to help normalize breastfeeding
There is another point that I simply must address because it is one of the reasons I love this company. Maggie's Pure Land is working to normalize breastfeeding, as is evidenced by this poster (link) that they distribute to stores carrying their product. I think this is a huge and positive step for breastfeeding women such as myself, and I also feel that it goes great lengths to support public breastfeeding. It says a lot about their philosophy that they are eager to support natural lifestyles and proactive choices.

The Giveaway:
Maggies Pure Land has generously offered to sponsor a giveaway to two readers. You will win either the lavender and tea-tree liquid detergent, or the convenient and easily portable soapnut shells complete with a washing bag.
To enter, you must visit Maggie's pure Land and tell me something unique you have learned about the company.
For additional entries, follow my blog publicly, tweet about this giveaway (up to 2times a day) or sign up for my email list. For five entries, blog about this review and giveaway and link back to it in your comments. For ten extra entries, visit Maggie's Pure Land and make a purchase before this contest ends on the 10th. If you are selected as a winner I may ask you to forward me your purchase receipt with personal information removed. Be sure to leave a comment for each entry that you complete.

This contest is open to the US and Canada and ends on the 10th of March. This is a sponsored review. I was not paid for this review although the company did send me products to review for free. For more information on my review policy visit my reviews page.

The sweetheart bag, a tutorial

2010-02-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

This is a very simple bag. The first one made of patchwork pieces takes longer as you have to sew together a few strips of different fabric. Do that first if you want to make that kind.
The first step is to chose two fabrics. I chose a pretty cotton print and a stiffer corduroy. The corduroy is for the liner, and help keep the bags shape, though it certainly isn't required.

Chose your bag size- I made two different sizes. I did not measure or make it perfect, just cut them into a square (you'll need two pieces of each fabric in equal sizes) that suited my fancy.

After you've cut your four squares (or rectangles if that's more your style) of equal size, cut a half-circle (this will be your bag closure) from each fabric. Place these right sides together and sew.

Then turn out and set aside.

Sew the right sides of the pretty outer fabric to the inner fabric just at the top

on the second side (this is the opening to the bag in the end), you want to tuck in the turned bag closure like this:

then proceed stitching those layers together. It should be -pretty outer fabric facing up, rounded circle closure, inner fabric facing down.

stitch those together securely, then turn like this:

and stitch the pretty fabrics together (wrong side should face out) and the inner fabric should not be tucked in.
It will look like this...

As you can see, you now have a sort of tube. Double stitch to make sure your seams are strong, then you're going to push the corners of the outer bag into triangles before turning the bag...

and stitch across in a straight line on both sides.

But wait! Now you want to stitch up the inner layer of fabric to make a long tube. Be sure not to sew down the flap which is your bag closure, and leave one side unsewn so you can turn it (I chose the very bottom)!

Now turn your bag...

Sew the space where you turned the bag right side out, put a button on the closure, and voila! You are done!
This is a sweet, fun project for any level sewer, you could make it larger and put handles on, leave the closure off for a book tote..or make it longer than mine and use it as a pencil case...have fun with it!

Petite Picasso

2010-02-15T21:13:00.001-08:00

Little Berry loves to color or "coror!" as she says- And we've put a good amount of money into buying her art supplies because if she's not given sufficient creative outlets, she colors on the walls. With her yogurt, her blueberries, a pilfered pen; anything. She has, among other things, a lovely easel from Ikea an this fabulous drawing board we recently bought-it basically consists of two colored pieces of fabric stretched onto a plastic drawing board. It resembles a magnadoodle, but it uses water filled pens. Which is great because it prevents stained faces/hands/carpet, and so far seems very durable.
Of course, that's not what this is about. This is about her consistent and deliberate art over the past week. Day after day she has bent fervently over sheets if paper and easel boards with crayons and pastels and paintbrushes clutched in her hand scrawling an image. The same one, over and over, different sizes, different colors and I could literally walk around our apartment and pick up fifty pages of these. It's a circle with a dot in the center, next to another circle with a dot in the center. Like this:

I thought she was trying to draw faces- she kept calling them "mamma" and eventually I asked her flat out: "what's that?"
It should be pretty obvious, but in case it's not, Little Berry will tell you she has learned how to
"coror boobies!!!"

- mamma pie

About seeing color:

2010-02-12T11:59:00.001-08:00

As a mother to a biracial babe, and a partner to a African American man, I want to put a few words on race out there for you all.
"I don't see color" is a phrase I've heard a lot since entering this relationship. I've heard it from friends and family, strangers, new acquaintances. It's a phrase that, despite what you'd think, does not make anyone think you really don't "see color." It says not "I think were all equal" but rather "I prefer not to comment on the fact that we are all different" or "I'm not sure what I think about race but I sure am uncomfortable talking about it."
Racial issues are still prevalent in our society. But it's more than a culmination if historical prejudices, it's that individuals often shy away from diversity. One of the reasons I love living in the city is for the blend of people. On any day, I see as many brown people as I see black people as I see white people. I meet Indians and Caucasians and Europeans and Africans and African Americans. And this is important to me because it allows me to see people who don't just look
alike, or like me, but with whom I have interesting and challenging conversations nonetheless.
It challenges the perception of sameness- because we are all living in the same community, enjoying the same resources, but we don't all look like one another. For the record, in case I haven't already made this clear? I think people are beautiful. Colored people, pale people, pink people. All of us.
I grew up in a predominantly white community in rural Appalachia. I never thought about race because it always seemed like everyone was like me: we were pretty much all "white."
I also never thought that being "white" made me better/ smarter/ more priveleged- but guess what? It does make me more priveleged.
Being "white" in America is like being normal in a room full of people who may or may not be "normal" too, but with whom you do not identify.
Being the standard by which others are measured. It's something we often take for granted: our neighbors will look "like us," that cartoons and books will depict people "like us," that we can find plenty of toys and story books and movies that have characters resembling ourselves or our children, that when we place a phone call to our phone service provider/ Internet/ paper/ local radio station- no one will make assumptions about us regarding the sound of our voice and our income/ lifestyle/ racial heritage. That when we walk into a grocery store at 11:00 at night to buy diapers- the cashier won't stare at us thinking we're there to rob them. These are all elements of our culture and they're a given for many many people. Saying "I don't see color" is like saying "I don't even think what you're (you're=others) going though, is real" or "I want to believe that everyone is like me." It ignores the history of racism, it is a process of ignoring the history of slavery, and it is, in my opinion, a 'white privelege' comment.
I want you to challenge yourself to see color. See race. See people's differences, see their character, see their names, their scars. Hear their voices, their stories.
Don't turn your head because someone has a different skin color and you feel uncomfortable sitting next to them on the park bench. Don't make blanket assumptions regarding their story. They may be African, Haitian, Mexican, Spanish, Dutch, Sweedish. But they're still an individual, skin color shouldn't be the only thing you see.
By allowing others to say these things or saying them yourself, ("blacks are ignorant, thrives, have poor work ethic, are disinterested in education," etc) we are hindering the progress that so many people are fighting for every day.it is hateful, and perpetuates the cycle of racism. We are still a far cry from having equal rights for all Americans, and all I'm asking from you is to push yourself that little step farther: ask yourself where your assumption formed. What is the basis of your reasoning? Why did you think what you just thought? Why is it okay to assume that our President is not an American? Or for Chris Matthews to say on live TV that he " forgot [Obama] was black for a minute" (an incredibly racist comment indicating that Obama's
speech was so good he could almost pass as a white man)?, Or to make fun of his middle name? Ask your children, your friends, your family when you hear them say these things. Ask yourself.
Most of the time, you'll be surprised that people don't know why they thought anyone would
feel 'better' (as if "they" were the one who was uncomfortable with their own skin color) hearing those words:
"I don't see color" or other comments of authority. In reality, it's the same as saying "I'ts okay, we can pretend you're just like me!"
One more thing, about my sentiments: that person you're talking about? That's my life partner. My daughter. My family.

- mamma pie

Feel free to comment but please be respectful and leave the hate-based/ fear-based comments for someone else.

Baby pace

2010-02-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

I was Holding my daughter today when she started counting. "One,two,free,foooour,fife!" she said. It was the determination and tone of voice she used that made me realize what she had just done. Around here, milestones are coming so fast I would be untruthful if I said I noticed them all. She's growing quickly, but at her own pace. And holding her, I noticed that she has her father's smile. She shares her energy and determination with him as well.
Nights ago, I watched them as they slumbered heavily. Snow fell on our roof for the first time this winter, and the deep silence that snowfall brings kept me awake. I've grown used to hearing the faint drifting sound of the city in my ears like a wanderers lullaby, some neighbors out starting their car on an odd hour, coupled with the sound of horns from a mile away are now dually expected tunes to my ears. I don't miss the country when it's cold, it might be that winter months make city life worthwhile, with bookshops and indoor gardens to explore, thrift stores with longer hours and the mall, always full of a mad crowd.
But as I watched them both tucked neatly around one another, a pappas chin above his daughter's curls and crown, I noticed her length. A foot protruded some long mile from her dimpled cheek, startling my justifications and constant sense of presence as a mother. I am intent on nurturing her babyhood as long as it will last, but I see now that I should place quick reserations for my sanity somewhere that they might not be lost, leave it waiting checked in at the door so when my mind, baffled and stunned at the difference between that new born daughter just wrung into the world hours ago, and the affectionate statue glancing sidelong in my direction with a quick grasp at piloting her own days and clear preferences at each turn, might be preserved.

- mamma pie

The pay IS great!

2010-02-05T20:44:00.001-08:00

It was icy cold and rainy here today, which on ordinary days makes for high doses of wound-up toddler energy and a lack of outdoor time to diffuse for her or refuel for me.

I generally expect anyday spent indoors to result in cranky outbursts from us all, as time outside makes us all feel better.
I noticed she seemed very sleepy through the day though and she took an epic nap in the late afternoon.
She stood at the window with me and pointed at rain droplets, tracing rivulets down the shivery-cold glass, murmuring about the "reen!" (rain) and "nose" (snow) that finally melted off the roof, she spent an hour scribbling over pictures that I hastily scrawled for her of dogs. While I folded laundry and stuffed her clean diapers, she 'read' all of her favorite books to me and then spent half an hour talking to a photo of her aunt, Pappa Starbuck's little Sister.

At lunch today as I sat her into her highchair, I kissed her yogurt-stained cheek and said
"I love you!"

She grabbed my face with one smooth palm all peppered over with dimpled fingers, placed it on my cheek and smiled back with an expression of complete glee and cognizance, then she said: "i-yuh-you!"

Might I just say, I love my job!

- mamma pie

Food of love

2010-02-03T13:13:00.001-08:00

I write about food a lot. I know this. But I'm going to say a few things today about *being* food. That's right, breastfeeding.
I love it. It has been a big struggle for me, physically breastfeeding Little Berry. Emotionally, however, it has been nothing but a beautiful, joyous experience. In the beginning, and for way too long, we had problems. I've always had plenty of milk, I can hand express 8oz effortlessly, but it has been hard in other ways. She is 18mo old this month, and we are still breastfeeding with no intention to stop until she self weans. When I was pregnant, I knew I would have an unmedicated vaginal delivery (and did).
I was more worried and did more to prepare for breastfeeding than I did to prepare for labor. I thought I couldn't do it. I thought it was gross. I thought it would hurt, it thought it would be inconvenient and ruin my breasts. And during the first weeks, it might have been all of those things.
We had latch problems, which later revealed themselves to be thrush, so I spent months cutting out carbs and sugars and fruits, boiling my bras and pump parts, smearing little berry and I with Gentian Violet until finally I just had had enough. We got on Diflucan (a giant pill made to kill yeast) and just like that *it cleared up.* I was so grateful. Suddenly nursing was easy. It was a joy, a way to relax with my baby.
She's bigger now and I take it for granted in that nursing has become effortless, but I realized this week we might be closer to being over these nursing days, and thats something I hadn't thought of before. I want to allow her to self wean, which most babes do before they're 4. Not all, but most. The global average for weaning.....
is seven.
I think extended breastfeeding is important for a plethora of reasons, not just nutritionally, because at this point it's probably similar to giving her raw cows milk (not pasteurized). But she gets so calm from nursing, even when she's angry or scared or hurt or overtired, a nursing session calms her down and sets her back into good spirits again or settles her into a heavy sleep. We can nurse anywhere, although people are prone to give us dirty looks because many people find breastfeeding a toddler offensive. Especially public breastfeeding, which is unfortunate. Her father is among those who want me to "cover it up" but lets face it, he's not the one trying to breastfeed, or even to calm an overtired, overstimulated hungry babe in the middle of Target.
Being asked to "cover it up" is like being told I'm doing something dirty that other people should be spared viewing.
Breastfeeding isn't "okay" or "good" or "bad" or "weird"- it's normal. It's perfect. It's the standard our bodies were meant for and built for, and if you believe God made us with a design in mind then that will also mean something more to you.
It's the primary function of the breast. Its what babies' tummies are made to digest. Breastmilk changes from nursing session to nursing session, it is species-specific and if you put a newborn, straight from the womb, onto his mothers lap s/he will CRAWL up that mama and latch on because breastfeeding is also innate.
Formula is full of chemicals and BPA and cannot provide the nutritional or emotional comfort breastfeeding does, but that's another story. We all have our choices and in some instances formula is an only choice or a best choice out of many unfortunate options.
It is, however, interesting that formula is "normalized." You'd never say hurtful things to a woman sitting with a baby and giving that baby a bottle in the shoe department of Target because it's just considered socially acceptable. Yet women get kicked out of places all the time for breastfeeding, and I've been told to leave my fare share of those places unfortunately, and especially when I was a student trying to nurse at a large state university. It is a womans' legal right to breastfeed anywhere SHE has the legal right to be, but it is difficult to breastfeed your child when you are being harrassed and humiliated, so many women comply with demands to leave.
And a big part of that is because the formula companies market their products as being acceptable/normal/ideal when in reality, in many developing countries that same marketing is responsible for the death of thousands of babies. Parental illiteracy, (renders parents unable to mix formula properly, or to chose a can of sweetened condensed syrup because it has the same NEST(le) picture on the can as the infant formula sample), no access to clean water to mix bottles or sterilise them with, and aggressive formula marketing causes new mothers to take the samples given to them by doctors and fail to establih breastfeeding at the start. By the time they're out of formula (and perhaps can't afford more) they're also unable to breastfeed because their supply has dried up. So we need to stop seeing formula as normal and start seeing it as an alternative. I think many women never get to see how lovely and important it is to breastfeed their child because they simply don't have the right support system in place.
Unfortunately, pediatricians and OB's often don't understand how important breastfeeding is either and many time undermine a womans breastfeeding attempts. Breastfeeding through toddlerhood almost eliminates a womans chances of developing breast cancer, it greatly reduces our risks of developing diabetes, and it provides immune boosting antibodies to our babies, speeds recovery time from delivery, causes (post partum) weight loss, boosts hormones that can reduce post partum depression. And yet it can be tough, as I was reminded again this past week.
My girl has a bad cold and has been having a nursing strike. It was painful for me, scary for her, and shes been lying next to me just holding my breasts at night, whimpering in a heart-breaking way at something that means so much in her little world. It has served as a reminder to us all how much nursing is a part of our daily lives, but finally she's on the mend. I wish I could convey the look on her dear precious and deeply relieved face that lit up this afternoon when she finally realized she felt well enough to nurse again. He eyes got dreamy and sweet smiles flitted across her face as she snuggled up close having some mamma milk and settling into a heavy slumber.
If, like a can of formula, my breasts had a slogan,

they would say:
It is bliss.

- mamma pie

Uh-oh...

2010-01-20T10:44:00.001-08:00

And down she falls.

Yesterday Little Berry was playing on her toy car that my mom (hi mom!) bought her. She stood up in the seat as I was stirring some boiling spaghetti...and fell. She chipped her front top tooth and now it seems to be causing her some sensitivity issues. I'm more than a little scared about taking her to the dentist. I don't want my daughter to be sedated...or drilled on...or scared either. I feel pretty awful. Hopefully (and I've been told) it's not that big of a deal. They should just be able to put a little cap on it/or file it down a little bit. I hope it is that easy.
(when this photo was taken, I had my foot on the car. I feel pretty stupid now for letting her do it at all. yes. I'm stupid)

Helping Haiti

2010-01-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

For many of us, it is difficult to fathom the tragedy of living in poverty and the despairing conditions that face the people of Haiti on a daily basis. Right now, however, we need to reach out and help in any way we can. Understand this: each of us DOES have the power to help. By virtue of being untouched by the disaster, we are also in a position to affect the people who are on the ground working night and day just to save lives. We have the power to reach out to our networks of people and help support the organizations that are there fighting to pull people from the rubble and provide food/water/shelter/medical support. It seems the greatest current need is money. Money to buy diesel, water, money to get children and injured persons out.

Here is what I am proposing: Each of us has the power of our networks and I don’t know one single person who cannot spare $1. I am asking you to go to Real Hope For Haiti and donate $1 via the paypal button. This organization is helping with injuries, children, and running low on critical supplies. On an average day, their positive outreach is greater than anything I’ve ever exacted in my life. Please help them. If, once you get there, you feel compelled to give more than $1, I commend you. But I am asking you to give at least $1. And then to tag 10 (or more) people and ask them to do the same. Let’s pour their account full. Let’s make money not be an obstacle to saving lives.Reach out to your twitter followers, your facebook friends, your neighbor, your address book.

Please go. give. And ask your friends to do the same. I am working on setting up a ticker so that we can track this. Please leave a comment if you have donated, please please tag others to do the same. If ten of us can get ten more people to ask ten more people…we can exact real change quickly. If you’re sitting there thinking “I don’t want to go get my wallet” then SHAME ON YOU. You're as bad as those who don't care. That’s all I have to say.
Get up, and give!

Please let’s meet their needs.

101

2010-01-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

My last post was my 100th post. I didn't even notice it. I guess that goes to show how fast things are moving these days. It's been feeling almost balmy here and this is such a wonderful thing because I was feeling so blue to be cooped up indoors all day every day. I'm sure it will not last, though when we were further East it certainly felt Springlike much sooner in the winter and I can't tell you how much I loved the way the city would fill our apartment in the winter. It made being inside seem like being just behind the curtain on stage to hear the rattling of the trucks on the freeway echoiing into our little space, filling the walls with the humming noises of someone else's adventure.
Little Berry loves being out of doors with me, brings me her shoes and my own, her jacket, the keys, just to get my attention that she wants to go walk. When it's bitter cold though she doesn't want anything to do with it, and squalls to be picked up so she can tuck her face into my neck and poke the freckles on the side of my face. She calls them each a "ball" though, or somedays, "murse?" which is Little Berry for nurse and I have no idea why she thinks my freckles are going to yield milk.
I'm in desperate want of a bicycle, I want a lovely vintage style one that's on display at Target and a sweet baby carrier that goes behind the seat. I've been spying on them at the Thrift stores and have found a few contenders but they all need work and they're not that much less than a new one here. So I'm saving my dollars and waiting, and when Spring comes and I have a summer to look forward to on flat roads of rural Mississippi (or Arkansas, who knows?) I will buy my bike and buckle in my Little Berry who by then will be quite a BIG Little Berry, and we will ride.
We're having that language explosion age, I've been warned about it before but it just slipped away from me that this is what's happening, until this morning I was putting laundry on the clothesline and she was standing a few feet away pointing at the sky and saying skyyyyeeeee? followed by burrrrd? 'reeeee? (tree)and turtle? In the past week or so, she's learned mouse, and keys, and socks (shocksh?) and cow as well as that cow's go Mooooo?! and points to their udders and says "Murse?". She can say Pig (pigsh!), which sounds a lot like her enthusiastic "fish!" and snort when she sees their picture. She spots airplanes in the sky that look like mere pinpricks in the clouds and shrieks about them until they've again faded into the mystery that is a cloud. This morning I was telling her something and I said the word "one"- I think I said "oops! That's only one shoe." And she said: "Two?" but she usually gets pretty lost after four.
I have two pieces to her little kitchen set painted a pretty white, and am waiting to paint the last, the stove. It is somewhat tedious because my minutes to do it are spare but the reward is great. She loves it immensely and has been pilfering from my silverware drawer every few minutes to play whatever games it is that gets her so wrapped up and immersed in taking things out and putting things back in again. I've decided to try my hand at making toy food for her. I have plenty of felt wool but I don't like the feel of wool toys enough to do that, so I've decided to use pre-knitted fabrics, like organic cotton sweaters I picked up at the thrift stores in heavy weight yarns and cut them apart to make them from. I will post photos of this when I'm done as well as a tutorial if I succeed.
Pappa Starbuck's mom and sister are coming to visit tomorrow and stay the night. His mother has a reading and a writing workshop and his sister is going to spend time with Little Berry and I , and Pappa Starbucks when he get's off work. His mother just won Poet Laureate for the Piedmont region of our state, and was featured on The State of Things on our public radio station this morning. Pappa Starbucks has a propensity to not tell me these things are happening, and then I end up looking non-supportive and disinterested in these issues, which isn't exactly fair because I am quite proud of her. She's worked very hard and is quite good at what she does.
Here's something to think about until I post again:
Which is cutest?
Little Berry, last January

OR: Little Berry this week

What you can buy for $38

2010-01-11T09:59:00.001-08:00

We were at the thrift store this weekend, and in the back of the store without a ticket was this three piece wooden kitchen set. I picked out some other items-
some very sweet vintage books for Little Berry,

some sweaters for $.50 each for my girl,

some super dear fabric for baby skirts (or for my stash of hoarded super cute fabrics, I'n not sure which yet) a coffee carafe for a lady I follow on Twitter who had broken hers minutes before I walked into the store, And these:

I have been on the lookout for Mary Jane's for quite some time, just so I can look up the company and order myself a pair. These are too big for my girl just yet, but you can be sure I will hang onto them until she can fit them. I also found these very pretty vintage doves
which were in the Christmas ornament section for %75 off (I paid $1.50 for all of them) and I think they're very Valentines-ey.
Here's my last purchase: a vintage Vera scarf that I will probably sell for around $20 on Etsy (definitely worth the trip, right?)

I left the store happy about my finds and also a bit sad inside because I had just that morning decided I wanted a wooden kitchen playset for Little Berry. I saw this one and it set me thinking how much Little Berry would love one herself.
After we had lunch and went grocery shopping, it was still nagging me. So I picked up the phone and called the store. After several attempts to explain what I wanted, I was told it was still there. No one had bought it, though they had I suppose removed the ticket and changed their mind. I'm not sure what company this one is made by, but I convinced Papa Starbucks to haul us back to the Salvation Army, getting there right as they're trying to close. It's priced $40 for three pieces- not unreasonable since they usually retail for $150 per piece. Previous owners had painted it a *hideous* navy blue, over the original exposed wood. This has me a little bummed out, and the tin pan that serves as the sink basin is rusty. I approach the manager on duty and he says he will sell it to us for $30. SOLD. So sold, so fast.

Right now, it's in the middle of being primed and painted a pretty clean white. It will get little shelf linings and some apron hooks and I'm stalking stores wanting so badly to buy up little wooden fruits and veggies like these and keep telling Pappa Starbucks (who thinks this whole thing is ridiculous, frankly) that we should go to Ikea, where they have metal pots and pan sets, just right for our little kitchen. I'm cutting down on plastic toys and that makes these situations a little trickier, because it would be easy-peasy to grab a toy plastic shopping cart at Target and some plastic play food...instead I'm going to dig out the felt and try my hand at making some myself, and drool over this, and these and this and wish that I could crochet these myself . This is bad, really. Someone needs to turn my internet off!

The best vegan cake, ever.

2010-01-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

Er, it was. Is. I do LOVE the flavor of this cake but it was pretty crumbly. Fluffy and light but perhaps I should have baked it in a deeper dish.

There are two main reasons I like vegan cakes...

You can let your Little Berry lick the spoon without the slightest concern for raw eggs.

And, even though
we're pretty much out of groceries, I had all the ingredients for this, except the vinegar. I simply left it out, though *if* I'd had pickles I probably would have used a tsp of picklejuice and just left out the salt. Here's the recipe with my modifications:

Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup honey (you can use a whole cup of sugar and leave the honey out or do more honey and less sugar)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine water, oil, vanilla and honey. Whisk with a fork until combined. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mix thoroughly. Ask your toddler to stop sticking her hand in your batter. Attempt to distract toddler with batter covered spoon and spend ten minutes trying to take her photo.
Pour into lightly oiled, floured baking dish, no idea how big it should be, bake on 350 for 20-30minutes.

I think if you have a good icing recipe mastered, icing (or glaze) would really help hold this cake together. Otherwise, just enjoy it. Toss in some chocolate chips to the batter or top with raspberries and ...oh my. That would be so yummy!

Here's the link to the original recipe:http://www.instructables.com/id/The-BEST-chococlate-cake-ever...that-happens-to-be/step1/Ingredients/

A box of words

2010-01-07T20:43:00.001-08:00

I'm giving up on fixing
My computer anytime reasonably soon. Pappa Starbucks has been working more than usual thus week because two weeks off for Christmas wasn't enough for the kindergarten of the girl he nannies, they had extra days this week too. I actually can understand why. Most people had busy holidays and children get shuffled from here to there and back again. Add In all the excitement, the being cooped up, the new toys and the sugary foods..Christmas should be a month long, not just a day. So let's recap, shall we? Our holidaze were calm, although we had colds.

I finally tried my hand at candying orange peels in an attempt to use the whole thing. It was super easy. Unfortunately, I made another batch with organic sugar and they were really not very pretty.

I made this dear little dolly....

And I made some amazing Ginger syrup which we consumed like nobodys business with a litre of seltzer water and some ice...

It was so. So. Good!

Little berry had a lollipop for the first time since our trip to Europe-

She thought it was grand

Washed it down with some broccoli (which she loves just as much as the lollipop I do believe)

And a trip to the pet store to follow people around and try to play with their puppies. And make bird faces at this pretty yellow parrot.

And this- this is a box of loveletters. I pulled them out the other day and as often happens I am surprised at all the things I see. They were exchanged between pappa starbucks and I before we were pappa starbucks and mamma pie. Before there was a little berry. Sometimes it's nice to remember those days of self centeredness, of believing in something purely because it was yours and made you happy.

Mementos of a time spent trying to express oneself through words on paper, of trying to condense a feeling into a letter. It parallels childhood: pure, selfish adoration and total beleif in something without the need for logic or reason. It's amazing to look at these, and I'm sure they will be treasured for years, though we didn't create them with an intention to preserve the paper, but to assuage the heart.

Hope your holidays
Were bright.
Happy new year!

....oooops!

2010-01-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

I spilled water on my touchpad on my computer. Everything works except my clicking keys!
So I'm on a bit of a n accidental break from blogging. Will
be trying to solve it and get back here soon!

Making a mini terrarium

2009-12-31T09:55:00.000-08:00

I know you are coming here just to see this. Right?
Well, Pappa Starbucks' Mom and Sister came over yesterday.
So I made a terrarium for his sister who is still just a kid. I wanted it to be fun and cheerful and a bit fantastic- like a mini fairyland in a jar. I've been saving glass jars and reusing them a lot lately (because suddenly I'm realizing all the things I need glass jars for!- buttons, q-tips and band-aids, embroidery thread, miniature toys that I keep for things like terrariums,needles,dried herbs, spices, ginger syrup for making ginger ale, candied orange peels that I made so I wasn't wasting the peels...and because they're deeeeelicious- etc)
I'm looking at my photos of this terrarium and a little disappointed. I've been "copping out" a lot lately and using my iphone camera for things I should just use the regular camera for. And I didn't take any pictures showing the side of the jar either and how full it is.
So Little Berry and I went on a walk taking this little jam jar that I had with us. We found a patch of moss and proceeded to find a piece about the size of the base of the jar. We also had a spoon with us and scraped up enough dirt to fill the jar about three inches. We gathered a few tiny grasses and acorns and took this all home.
At home I mixed in some richer dirt from a flower pot that was also much looser. And then we tamped the dirt down for the moss because moss likes firm surfaces. We placed the grass, acorns, and tiny bird next. There's about an inch from the top of the jar left.

Next I placed the polymer clay mushrooms. I got three packages of polymer clay at the check out at AC Moore or Hobby Lobby and made these mushrooms. It baked under five minutes and I chose to leave them unpainted. I would have left holes in the stems for pins if I had thought about it but they're fine without them and haven't fallen over at all.

I will definitely be making more of these. I think they would be really nice for college students or as gifts for young people getting their first apartment. Low maintenance (needs lots of indirect sunlight and occasional watering) and lovely to look at. Also is rather dreamy and I know a certain young girl I want to make one for still.
*I'm looking at you Caitlyn!*
--> on another note, I am looking for a seamless way to round the corners on my photos. I've tried photoshop (I only have 5.0) and can't get it to do what I want, and I haven't found any good online generators. Any tips besides buying a new computer?

Chrunchy new year

2009-12-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

**Achoo!**
We are a house of colds. Pappa Starbucks came home last week not feeling well and the cold has brewed since then. Now he's better and Little Berry and I have it. She sounds miserable and acts fine, so I suppose all is well. Just sneezes and sniffles, thankfully, no coughs.
Unfortunately I've been taking care of him and then I caught it, and then she caught it from me so now I'm taking care of her. No one lets Mamma recover. I'll get over it soon....I must!
I've got some things to share though that aren't germs, so you'll be grateful for that!
Okay, this is something I saw before Christmas and never made- homemade cough drops!
Hello!?! I want to make these so badly (even though we don't have coughs!) but alas: we don't own a kitchen thermometer. I know, there isn't an excuse for us.
Someday I will buy one. Seriously, if these as wonderful as they look, they might be worth getting sick for.

What is your new years resolution?
I don't traditionally make one. But this year there is something I have decided I want to accomplish: removing processed foods from our diet. I would love to aim for a raw foods diet but I think a good first step in a house of different dietary needs is to remove pre-packaged and over-processed foods. I know this makes me sound like a crunchy granola Mamma, but I have good reason- Pappa Starbucks is vegetarian, Little Berry is on whatever we eat+ breast milk, and I eat everyone's scraps
(Just kidding~ I only snack on them).
But I have a serious sweet tooth, and I feel like its at a point that I'm putting more bad stuff into my body because I'm not being "conscious" of what I eat.
So more conscious eating is my goal.
First up will be stopping buying cookies/ice cream/cookie dough/candy.. you get the idea. We buy a lot of sweets. And secondly, I want to stop buying refined white sugar. It's cheap, unhealthy, and easy to use a lot of because it's so inexpensive. Switching to organic cane sugar will make me watch what I use it for and use less when I use it because it's pricey.
Living a healthier lifestyle is all about making little decisions. We can all change one *small* thing in our lives. Last night I sat down and cut up an old towel we'd had for years into squares. half went to be cloth baby wipes (because I HATE those disposables with cloth diapers! It makes no sense to fish them out of a dirty diaper and then throw them away when I can just wash the whole thing).
The other half goes into our kitchen for cleaning counters and wiping up spills. Pappa Starbucks is addicted to Bounty paper towels and buys them by the huge packs. we go through about 12 rolls a month. I hate them, but when there is a roll of them on the counter, it's so easy to just grab them. so I made my own dish cloths because I never have enough and I want to change that.
Next up is hanging my clothesline because it's just sitting on top of the dryer with a pack of clothespins. I keep asking *someone* to hang it and getting: "sure, I can do that. later."
So I will do it myself. If I can dry my diapers and dishcloths on it twice a week, it's worth the $2 I spent on it and the clothespins.
Re-usable shopping bags: I love these. They hold so much. They're easier to carry. They're convenient. But I always seem to forget them. What do you guys do? Do you use these? Are you good at remembering to put them in your car before you go to the store? Pappa Starbucks doesn't like to keep them in his car (he's embarrassed) so I have to remember to grab them or else they get left behind. Maybe if I started writing a list and putting a note to myself on top of the list I could remember better. We used to keep a note on the door that said:
Keys, Wallet,Cell Phone, Diapers! So when we went out the door we remembered those things. Perhaps if I reinstated this with an additional *grocery bags!* that would work.

not one, but two

2009-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

I forgot to share this yesterday. Sunday when we went out to do our regular grocery shopping, I had just given Little Berry a bath. Around here, that's quite an undertaking because she has such dry skin and hair. It's a constant battle to keep her healthily moisturized. She LOVES washing herself in the tub but letting her use soap is problematic. I have yet to find a soap that truly moisturizes her skin, let's not even talk about her hair. If you know of one that is great for biracial skin, especially babies, preferably one that has lots of olive oil in it, please let me know!
Lately I've just been giving her the tub with water in it and a little bit of Mr.Bubbles to play in and then after she's played for a while I get her hair wet and then I rub olive oil on her scalp. About a tablespoon but she doesn't have much hair so it doesn't take much.
Anyway, Sunday right before we left she was getting out of the tub and I decided to try a new hairdo. So far she has only had enough hair for a single little pony tail.

See it there? That tiny little wisp on top of her head?

And Sunday, just when I had given up hope forever,

I was able to wrangle her into TWO piggytails.It was a proud moment for me.

A few little things

2009-12-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to stop in and leave a little update over here while Little Berry is napping. The holidays were stressing me out this year, and Pappa Starbucks has had too much going on himself so we've declared it over. Pretty much. We bought little berry one toy (Which I would recommend to anyone, seriously, she has played with it SO much already- but more about it later) and we've gone ahead and given it to her. Pappa Starbucks bought gits for his employer and their children and I made this wonderful, fabulous, fun bows for them out of some felt that my MIL gave me.

I had so much fun making these bows! Instructions over here although I didn't follow these, I just cut and stitched and winged it. They worked out fabulously. The second one I made was a little different, I simply cut circles and then made cuts toward the center of the circle and stacked them on one another to make a poofy effect. He was surprisingly pleased with them- he usually doesn't like the results of my projects too much!
I also made some more babies lately and had my first sale in my etsy shop. This was pretty exciting for me.

We were at Trader Joe's yesterday and an employee came up to us and gave Little Berry a balloon (she calls them blublublub's, seriously, every time that's what she says)...here she is playing with it this morning. She loves it. And I need to sneak down and throw it out while she's napping because we are not exactly balloon friendly over here.
Alright, I'm off to make more things clean. Hope you are enjoying the holidaze.

Snow**

2009-12-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

\

We got snow flurries today. I guess they don't exactly count. Little berry loved them, staring out the window squealing about the "rain!" which is exactly what it turned to. We did Christmas cards last week with her in front of the tree:

Gave her a candy cane and a hat and she really loved it~

She loves the tree. After these pictures were taken she started trying to pull everything off the tree because she's now convinced it's candy.

Old pics

2009-12-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

I'm raiding Pappa Starbuck's hard drive this morning for photos I took in Europe. Most of these are from Dublin, specifically from Trinity College and the Trinity College area and are from May and June this year.

Lovely finds

2009-12-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

I was trawling through bins at the Goodwill last weekend when I came across a whole stack of sweet, great condition vintage children's books. They are so sweet! I've got quite a collection now and am finding a lot of great titles in the local thrift stores.

I keep telling Pappa Starbucks that I will sell them on etsy but once I get them home I always find excuses not to.

Excuses like how sweet is this!!? and oops, this one is a little scuffed up! and well..I don't know how to price them...

This last one, the Shopping Book? It is SO stinkin' cute! It has the best illustrations I've seen in a while, I love it!

Oh, I love vintage story books so! It's a bit of a thrill still to find ones in good condition for inexpensive prices simply because I know how much love they will get around here.
What's your favorite children's book?

Sewing Table

2009-12-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

Since we moved into this apartment we have lived in a seeming hodge podge of disorganization or non functional spaces. Finally I have created my own corner where I can actually point out as my own sewing space, (with my own sewing table!) or to write or just doodle. When we were students, I simply made my school desk work, even though it didn't. But when we moved here, and I became a full-time at home mamma, well, I begged for my own crafting space.
And I got it! I haven't included photos here of my fabric stash...or of my bookshelf loaded up with sweet vintage children's books, but I wanted to share my sewing table space and my sweet little wall behind it.

Strung up you see my vintage-style French children's "manners cards" we picked up in Paris. I wish I could remember the name of the shop...I can tell you we were accosted by a gentleman outside of the shop who was angry that A0 we didn't speak French and B) that Little Berry wasn't wearing socks and C) that the sun was shining. The sun! Shining on our daughter. How dare we let that happen!
You know, because we should have stayed in if the sun was shining, it makes perfect sense.
Anyway, back to my space.

I also put up some handmade mustache's. Because I can't seem to get enough of them lately and I can't decide what to do with these at the same time.
I have so many ideas though.

I have a little bit of room on the wall for things I don't want Little Berry to get her ~~grimy paws~~ sweet little baby hands all over- that's to say it isn't big enough to hold EVERYTHING I'd like to keep her from of course, but that would just be called a SEPARATE HOUSE.

The wrong way

2009-12-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that going through things together with your significant other either strengthens you as a couple or shows you a side you didn't know existed, or maybe ignored? Pappa Starbucks and I have been through a lot over the past year, good things and unforgettable experiences (like our trip to Europe for two months) and bad things (like graduating from college with no job prospects and coming back from Europe to not have a "home" anymore). Little Berry is a dream, but sometimes I get worn out being with her all day and let's face it, baby's don't measure out what they want from you in little request throughout the day. They want everything, they want it all the time, and they want it right away.
Sometimes I feel like I am failing to teach her patience, and just focusing on teaching her love, how to be happy, that I love her being sweet.
I know there is a balance. And from any outside view, we're doing a great job. But we disagree so intensely on the small issues that the big issues become pushed to the back of our minds. I know this is a recipe for disaster. I know that parenting is hard. Loving her is just the reward, the special reason that being a parent is worth it and the reason we all keep going daily. I have so much that I want for my life, and so much that I want for her life, and so much that I want for Pappa Starbucks' life that I don't know what to do first, where to put my passion. I want to do it all, and all well, but I'm not capable of that.
I take responsibility for other people's dreams and projects and desires, people not in my immediate three- and I do the best I can for them, but at the same time I am afraid I might be letting down the people who DO count on me. I can't be in charge of everyone's happiness and yet I want for us to all be happy. There is perhaps an easier way to say this, but it feels like I am being an underachiever because the only other option is to do everything, for everyone, so I please the people I know I can please, and I let the rest fall by.
I want to please, I have always been eager to make people happy. There are reasons for this, reasons I am just now beginning to understand but not willing to admit. There are consequences to treating myself and my partner and my daughter like we are last on our on list, but I don't know how to begin stripping away all of the problems and commitments that don't make me a better person, who I want to be, who I am, and focus on the ones that do. I am going the wrong way to get to my dreams but I am going to fast to notice it.

16 months of joy

2009-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

Today my Little Berry is 16 months old. She's so big, and such a baby all at once.
She is still not much of a morning person (see above photo for proof) but I'm in love with this age, this stage of development, with all of its words and even its frustrations. This morning she got angry ANGRY because she wanted so desperately to dress herself and isn't capable of doing it all at once, she just doesn't have nthe motor skills for it, but you should have seen her try. She was intense, desperate, breathing heavily, picking up her foot with both hands and trying to poke them into her pants. In the end she settled on letting me put the pants on her that she picked out because any other pair? Elicited shrieks.
And she tries to read, pointing at the words on the page, making up garble about them. Everything has a name whether she gets it right or not, but boy oh boy does she try! A few weeks ago she started saying "airplane!" and now everything in the sky- from the moon, sun, birds, clouds, to airplanes themselves are pointed and called out as such.
If we're in the kitchen, she drags over her high chair and waits to be fed, grinning, and making messes with it whenever it's placed in front of her. She's very sensory oriented and specifically, loves feeling, touching things to see what they do.
She rolls her eyes when she doesn't like what we're telling her. She's been doing this for about three weeks and it's simultaneously hysterical and absurd.
I bought a vintage quilt recently at the Goodwill and she has spent so much time while we nurse stroking it, pointing at different images, licking it and right this very moment she has her whole face plastered against my computer screen watching the letters be typed and saying NnnnnOSE!
My girl, she is a joy.

Another day older...

2009-12-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

Whew. Another year gone in just a day it seems. I'm always relieved when birthdays pass and my day returns to being just another box on a calendar, marked by slow, forgettable minutes, hours, days of the same routine that is life. In some ways it is sad to know that I will not pinpoint this day in time, remembering the lively sparkle of sunshine on Little Berry's hair as we take our afternoon walk, the smile my daughter flashed at a stranger in a wheel chair, or the kisses she planted on my mouth after I gave her a sip of my cocoa this morning. It is not a memorable day, not a spectacular day, it is only another moment in time lasting as briefly as the last.
But as I watch Pappa Starbucks taking out the trash and little berry fuss over a toy wedged between the cushions, needing a nap for her and a hair-tie to tidy up myself, I do wish that I could steal these moments away and never lose them, never have to wish I could remember that faint dimple on her face or that I could reach out and take her teeny hands inside my own because I would be there, breathing them, living them, smelling over and over again the crest of her perfect tiny head and sweet baby ears, holding her in my lap trying or grabbing me and trying to nurse in the store will be faint memories, but I also know my love for her will stay just as all encompassing as it is today, just as intense, just as perfect, tangible, and frighteningly bright.
That much, I know for sure.

24 things

2009-11-30T17:11:00.000-08:00

24 things because It's my 24th birthday!
Sweet things I love:
1) My Little Berry
2) My wonderful Pappa Starbucks
3) "Crazy" by Seal
4) Handmade toys
5) Phish Food ice cream from Ben and Jerry's
6) Co-sleeping
7) Vintage children's books
8) Sewing
9) Dogs
10) The color yellow
11) Bicycle rides
12) City life (and the bookstores that come with that)
13) Chap stick
14) Mint, paprika, rosemary, lavender....
15) Trader Joe's (and their mangoes!)
16) Sunshine
17) Rain
18) Pride and Prejudice
19) Chocolate
20) Cloth diapers-I'm especially loving the Bum Genius right now
21) These printable bookplates
22) These sweet fabrics
23) Vintage paper dolls like these
24) My new etsy shop! More dolls coming soon!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

Right now little berry is hard asleep on my lap
in a way she hasn't done since we were in Europe.
I am watching barefoot contessa thanksgiving episodes
and salivating at all the yummy food. The truth is,
I love food. It has given me lots of pleasure over
time but my tastes have changed quite
A bit through time too. When I was littler, I could eat
ham sandwiches with banana slices on them all
day long. Or tomato sandwiches with American
cheese slices. Pappa Starbucks is vegetarian
though, and since we began living together we
both began eating healthier. We go through the vegetables
in this house although they're rarely eaten raw. I used
to eat lots of easy foods and he ate lots of "vegetarian junkfood"
so it's nice to come to enjoy eating healthier
together. On our thanksgiving menu this year is:
roasted carrots
Stuffed mushrooms with vegetarian sausage
Quorn vegetarian turkey
mashed potatoes of course....
bread
cranberry sauce by pappa starbucks
mmmmmmm! Happy thanksgiving!!

From the "archives"

2009-11-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from this time last year. The first is of Inauguration night at the Governors party. We had just heard that Obama won.

It was so, so loud in that room. Perdue won as well and everyone was laughing, whooping, some crying. It was exciting for us as a family.
This second photo was taken at UNC as Pappa Starbucks picked me up on a friday afternoon. Have you been there in the fall before? It is so beautiful. Springtime, too.

Do you see this precious purple face?
We were struggling so hard with thrush and a cranky baby those days. Today she's well and instead of purple gentian violet stain...

Toothies.

Missing

2009-11-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

We all know what it's like to be busy, to be overwhelmed, to have more on our plate than we'd like. And sometimes it's not that we're busy, or too busy to do what needs to be done, it's just that we don't want to do what we need to. Oh, procrastination. The truth is, if I applied myself, I could accomplish a lot. A whole lot. I'm not what I would call a lazy person, but I am creatively motivated. By that, I mean I am highly motivated when it comes to things creative. Organizing the bookshelf thoroughly? Oh, I can do that. Baking bread? Absolutely! Folding the towels and patching Little Berry's pants where she ~~wiped out too many times~~ wore them out? Yes, yes! Sign me up. But when it comes to seeing that the bedroom isn't exactly in tip top shape or that the scum in our tub has began turning pink, well. I'm not the best at this. I look at it like this:
How long ago did I get on my hands and knees and scrub the bathroom/kitchen floor/ etc? And if the answer is more than a week ago I think
"well...I will clean it tomorrow."
And then the next day I actually DO follow through on those tasks and usually also end up doing way more than I *realized* needed doing. Of course. And then I get all huffy when Pappa Starbucks doesn't comment on how great everything looks, but that's another post.

What about you? How do you maintain a clean home?
(I'm talking to you, Nichole, Sharla, and Lynette!)
***And anyone else who might be following along here :)

Captain Jacques the pirate man...

2009-11-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

My niece used to come up to people and, covering up one eye, curl her other hand into a hook and say "Captain Jacques and his pirate ship! GRrrrr!"
I never really knew where she got it, probably a book or TV show. But when I started sewing this fellow yesterday that was all I could think of. So I will call him
"Captain Jacques the peg-legged pirate" (Grrrr!!)
I promise in real life his mustache looks much better. I need to stop taking so many pictures on my Iphone and start using my camera...I just loathe the uploading!

Hump day

2009-11-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

I am very unmotivated today. Well, unmotivated towards the mundane. I got up early, got a good start on the morning, and then Pappa Starbucks found out he didn't have to go volunteer at the Kipp School. So he was home and I spent more time chasing after Little Berry than starting the laundry or dishes, because when Pappa is home, she wants his attention. Naturally.
I DID make two dolls today already and then hauled myself away from the sewing table to do "chores."
At which point I didn't get anything else done except tell myself if I did get the laundry done and the bread into the oven and the floor vacuumed...that I could justify returning to the sewing.
This is one of those days I don't want to clean at all I suppose.
Here are some pictures of sweet things to look at...
Here are the two cuties I made today. This is Juniper. She has her head in the clouds just like I do today...

which she said was a bit chilly so we put together this little sweater for her

much better I'm told.
This is Gretta, who's feeling a bit lonesome and wants someone to snuggle and enjoy cocoa with. Per her suggestions I drew up a fellow and she's picking out his buttons, but a bit overwhelmed by the choices...

her choice is clear and her stitches certain.

and hump day is nearly over.

Sunny day

2009-11-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

Today it is a quiet day, Little Berry wanting much more attention from me than I have energy to give. We walked a while earlier and are both so tired that soon she will crawl up on my lap and pat me, wanting milk. I love the smell of her hair and her the way she grins at me while nursing like she knows how great she is. And she is, all the time. I know these tiny sweet moments will be sparce as she gets bigger, but seeing her become independent already has its rewards. She knows that when we are going to the car she needs to get into her seat, or that when I get my shoes she needs to get hers. When she needs a diaper change she will often bring me a diaper and when she's hungry she sees me cooking. She is already pretty able to content herself while other things are being done.
We had a lot of fun with my nieces and made a lot of noise, it was exciting, energetic. They took off this morning loaded down with new things and stories to tell at home about their stay in the city. We took them up and down the city hitting all their favorite types of places. I don't know or sure if they loved it but they kept forgetting they had parents, so I think that means yes.
I can see now how having multiple kids could make things both harder to manage and sweeter to enjoy. We've pretty much decided around here that we will be the house of three for a long time though, just because we enjoy one quite a bit and don't exactly want to have to juggle our attention around. This doesn't mean never though, and I have so many boxes of girl clothes stored away that she's already outgrown that I don't know what I will do if I don't end up with another girl someday.
The holidays are encroaching again and it seems like they are always sneaking up, perhaps not even sneaking but running in eagerly and announcing themselves "HI!! HELLO! IT'S ME! CHRISTMAS!" so I've decided that this year I'm not going to let them get the best of me. I will not get the holiday blues, greens, or reds this year. I will take it easy and be direct about my very minimum interest, and they will come...and they will go.
Today, however, I am going to continue kissing this sweet baby's head,
washing, drying and folding the mundane that is laundry,
baking bread,
and enjoying my new sewing space.

Three Girls

2009-11-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my two nieces arrived, bringing with them suitcases of clothes and bags and books, smiles and giggles and silly jokes abound and there hasn't been a five minute stretch yet that wasn't punctuated by some sort of chuckle. We started out this morning with a breakfast of choices, wherein my older niece turned down everything yummy in the favor of toaster waffles. This in my house is the breakfast of "there's nothing else left in the house to eat" and yet it was her first choice. We're knee-high in schoolwork this morning as I spend two days being a homeschooling aunt, and I must say it is pretty great.
To my benefit, they are wonderful children and aim to please. Last night, we sat down and made some sweet felt trees for their mother, a project we didn't get very far on for the dropping of needles and the tangling of thread. I've promised them I would help them make things for all their littlest friends, and I also thought I would share them here.
Here are the trees in minutiae

Here is Mollie Mouse, made my myself. She is seen here in her natural habitat with a wagon of acorns:
And who we call bitty baby and bitty mamma going for a stroll:

and I will leave you with this poem the sweet oldest wrote this morning about Little Berry and Myself:
family
by CBP

[Little Berry]
little, funny
yelling,squealing,laughing
baby,cousin, woman, aunt
sewing,creating,playing
fun, smart
[MammaPie]

I changed our names here in her poem for my own anonymity.

Plowing ahead

2009-11-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a day of pins and needles. I was nervous all day and kept waiting to hear from Pappa Starbucks. We've been weighed down, dragged down, we've felt insufficient and inadequate. We've felt like failures. True, we have eachother and a beautiful sweet daughter. But graduating from college left us in a limbo, a place where we knew not what was ahead. We fought for job after job just to see it crumble away until we were thrilled to find out he had been offered a position. A position nannying for someone elses kids, something he is so overqualified for but grateful to have nonetheless. Our biggest disappointment came last year when he was accepted into Teach For America but placed on a wait-list. This was a job he wanted so badly and was really ideal for, a job that meant more opportunities to learn and opportunities to go to grad-school afterwords, things that are virtually unattainable to us without such an opportunity because of financial reasons.
Last night at 7:00 we found out he has been accepted into Teach For America this year. We are thrilled, excited, nervous, but mostly happy. It will of course be lots of hard work and long hours, but I know he is intelligent and will do swimmingly.
Congratulations to us!

Friday Faves

2009-11-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

I've been saving some links lately and I want to share them with you.
I've been making, making, making!!
I was inspired by these bookmarks
and these tee shirts
I've been making these cloth diapers for Little Berry's babies.
I've been admiring these sweet mousies and making something like these soft baby shoes except felted, and folding these sweet cards to get back in touch with friends...and last but not least, making these perfect box bags
check them out! Get inspired!

You've got to check this out ...

2009-10-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Wow you have to check out this giveaway Noah and Lilah GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!. Those skirts are SO precious and I can't imagine the thrill I would have of winning...but here's hoping I do. Little berry spends more days dressed as a boy than I like to admit, so we could sure use it.

Nippy

2009-10-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

We made it to the pumpkin patch with the little one. We're in a neighborhood that's not all that festive but we've made an effort, and have a front door that looks ready to greet the hordes. Little Berry loved the pumpkins and kept trying to make off with them all. We haven't carved them yet but it will be done! It will!
It was a bit of an impromptu trip and as such we layered on almost anything we could find and don't look quite the part. I think they would look well in black and white but will enjoy these for now.

It's finally justifiable to say things like "we had roasted squash for dinner last night" and "I am so ready for a cup of tea"

In fact, as I sit here typing this, children scatter back and forth in front of our steps nearly dying from excitement and anticipation, the fireplace is going with a sleeping Little Berry in front of it, and my toes are a teensy bit nippy.

July

2009-10-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

In July I enjoyed a week with my two best nieces. They are wonderful girls, full of energy and always up for something creative. We immediately installed a blanket fort in the main bedroom

created a terrarium for random found turtles (and got a bad case of chiggers in the process)

hunted rocks (and made quite a splash!)

then painted them with elaborate scenes...(miniatures courtesy of the local thrift store)

played with buttons

admired a giant moth

and a teensy inchworm

and relaxed with some very chilly homemade blackberry icecream.

It was wonderful!

Carwash

2009-10-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

One weekend during the summer, Pappa Starbucks informed me as we were out and about, that he was going to run by the carwash. I grew up on scrub-your-own carwashes, and thought nothing of it.
Ten minutes later, I realized we were being lathered up from beyond at an automatic carwash.

Little Berry did not like it one bit. The thumping, whacking sounds of something hitting our car? The gushing water? She immediately began flipping out.

We reassured her with lots of Trader Joe's bbq chips,

kisses,
and music.

By the time it was over, she was ready to go again.

Creating....

2009-10-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been doing more creating than anything else. Mostly for Little Berry who seems to appreciate my energy thank goodness. These are for her:

I am also working on some projects for the Etsy Shop I've been dying to open for quite a while. Here's the product of my efforts:

I call her Ellen. She's been naughty and got into the Halloween candy again, as evidenced by her burgeoning waist.

Hopefully there will be as much enthusiasm for them from others as my little one has given me. I find that sewing is really great entertainment for those days I'm stuck inside with my wee babe.

Britches

2009-10-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Little berry wears cloth diapers. This is great, convenient for us, and cheaper than I expected. We use the highly acclaimed Bum Genius diapers and they are everything they claim to be, if not more. With them we've never had a single 'blow out,' and for overnight we just add a newborn insert on top of a regular and she's set. They're easy to wash, quick to dry, and they even have an excellent 'warranty' just in case something goes wrong.
You do have to use a good detergent: we use Charlie's soap. It seems to matter if you use regular detergent for other loads- so we use Charlie's for everything except once in a while. I find I can always toss a dryer sheet into other loads as they dry to make them smell good- which is important to Pappa Starbucks. He likes to smell good. When we went to Europe, we took the BumGenius diapers with us- they took up a lot of space but ended up being worth it. Because diapers in Europe, even Pampers- were so much thinner and different from their counterparts stateside. So for us, traveling with cloth diapers was an easy choice- I took those little spray bottles they sell at Target that are "Airline Approved" and filled them with the liquid Charlie's and put them in our carry on- it was actually very convenient because our rooms in Paris, London, and Dublin had front-loading washers and so we just sprayed each diaper down individually and they came perfectly clean every time. In Dublin, we line-dried them but they dry slower that way.
My issue with them is only that Little Berry requires a much larger seat in her pants. Which is complicated in that her legs aren't particularly long, and while it was fine in the summer- she either wore 3T shorts or just a diaper with a shirt/dress, winter is nearing and I don't know what she's going to wear for pants! I've tried larger pants but they are usually too long. I've tried making her some but can't find a good pattern.
Any suggestions? What do you do for your cloth-diapering baby's pants?

A copy of my birth plan from Little Berry

2009-10-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Due Date: July 31st 2008 (actual day of delivery, Aug 4th)
Labor and Birth Plan of Mamma Pie
I am happy to have the opportunity to deliver at ****, which I believe will allow me to have the most positive natural birth experience possible. I have created the following birth plan to help you understand my preferences for this upcoming experience. I understand that in certain circumstances, these guidelines may need to be altered. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
During delivery, it is our wish that Pappa Starbucks catch the baby if he is feeling up to it, and cut the cord once it has stopped pulsing, unless there appear to be complications regarding her delivery. After delivery, I would like assistance in breastfeeding if the baby is having difficulty latching.
I do not want the presence of visitors and it is our wish that only my husband and I will attend the birth besides **** staff. We have considered the presence and services of a doula, as recommended, but it is my desire to keep outside persons to a minimum and to be attended specifically by Pappa Starbucks, who knows best how to help me relax and what methods serve me best in terms of pain relief. He wants to take an active role in assisting my labor and delivery, and for these reasons, we have decided against a doula.
Early release from the center is a primary reason I chose ****. I believe that I will be best able to recover from delivery in the comfort of my home surroundings, however, I also understand that it is important to ensure that I am well enough, and the baby is healthy enough to return to home environment.
My greatest hopes for labor are:
A feeling of control and comfort in my surroundings, to be able to move about freely and to try various methods of relief to ease the intensity of contractions, including: massage, warm water, a birthing ball, walking, music, different positions, dim lighting, quiet surroundings and minimal intervention, and to be supported by those attending my labor.
My greatest fears regarding labor are:
That I might be uncomfortable in my surroundings or birth setting, that I am unable to relax despite various efforts to do so, that the birth could be stalled or complications occur. I am concerned about the possibility of needing an episiotomy, and would like to avoid having one if possible.
Hours after her birth I was released: 4
Number of stitches needed: 6
Number of hours of labor: 21
Having my baby kept in the room with me and nursing right away- well, it WAS priceless.

Tofu schmofu

2009-10-05T20:14:00.001-07:00

*Edited: due to technical problems between Blogger and my cell phone I am updating this post with its full-text. Sorry!
I have finally begun cooking with Tofu. I've only been living with a vegetarian for three years now so it's not like I am late to the game. Anyway, there is a delicious Asian tofu at whole foods that he and I both love and I wanted to make something like it. I came up with the following recipe, which hits the spot so well that I don't have any photos of it finished!
For best results, press your tofu first: to press the water out of the tofu, drain it from the package, place on a plate, place a second plate on top of the tofu, place a heavy weight on top of the second plate. Press it for 1 - 2 hours, or overnight in the frig. Drain the water and proceed with recipe.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, cube your block of tofu into small bite-sized pieces. Lightly oil a baking sheet (olive oil works well)and place cubes of tofu onto this, place in oven for 30 minutes until tofu has lost much of its moisture (If you pressed the tofu first, you can reduce this to about 15 minutes).

While this is in the oven, add 1 Cup of Teriyaki sauce, 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic to a bowl. Remove tofu, let it cool and then place in Teryaki/ garlic mixture. Best if eaten immediately, optionally add 1/2 cup of fresh, thinly sliced carrots and sesame seeds. ....mmmmmm!

a bicycle built for two

2009-10-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

I want to own a bicycle. I had one when I was in college, because doesn't every college student own a bike?
But now, well. I have the little berry girl and I wouldn't want a bicycle if I couldn't take her along. The problem is that while I can afford a nice enough bike, those baby carriers that go behind are quite expensive. I have looked on Craigslist and ebay but haven't found anything affordable and nearby. This is a common problem with large items so perhaps I should just keep waiting for the perfect one to come along.
Universe, I am petitioning you for the perfect bicycle, complete with a baby seat. Hear me, please, because really this is a petition for my old body to return (and we can all agree that would be nice).

The neighborhood

2009-09-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Lately, there has been a quiet in the daytime that comes from all the little kids that spent the summer riding their scooters and bikes up and down these sidewalks finally returning to school. And I usually am one of those people who thinks kids get too short of a summer, but I was so glad to see them gone.
There is no way to say it nicely, these kids? My neighbor's children? THEY ARE RUDE.
It started when I left my windows open one day. I looked up from cleaning to see about 10 little faces smushed up on my window screens and then the chatter started:
wow, you have nice stuff.
Is she your daughter?
What your name?
Can I come in and play your guitar?

The next afternoon, when Pappa Starbucks came home, they followed him to our door, I suppose expecting to be invited in. The youngest boy, about 3, began ringing our doorbell over and over until Pappa Starbucks blurted out a 'HEY! Stop.'
Then, after he came inside they stood there, staring in again. One of the older girls OPENED our door and out went the dog- happily, eagerly. Squealing ensued.
When Pappa Starbucks, exasperated at this point, retrieved him, he was met with:
IS SHE Yer WIFE? How come she's WHITE? Is that her baby? Does she have a daddy? You ain't as black as my daddy. Why is you with a white woman? My mamma says white women--

he told them that he had to go.

Yesterday I left the windows open again for most of the day, and in the afternoon I had them open when the kids all came home. They must have smelled them from their house because here they came, climbing on our doorstep, shimmying up onto our window ledges, jumping from the neighbor's stoop to ours.
It's my BIRTHDAY!!! One of them yelled.Did you get me a present?
I said no, but Happy Birthday to him.
Can we come in?
I said no.
Our Mammas aren't home and we bored. Can we come in and play with your baby?
I said absolutely not, that children shouldn't go into stranger's houses. I said that they shouldn't talk to stranger's either unless their mom said it was OK.
Well....our Uncle will be here in a while we will ask him.

I simultaneously feel heartbroken for them being all alone and angry at their parent/s for not protecting them. It is one thing to let your kids play outside, and another to leave them outside under the care of another child (the oldest girl is about 9) until an adult arrives an hour or two later.

It breaks my heart and sets my jaw, but I don't know what to do.

Sweet berry pie

2009-09-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Little berry today upon whopping her head on the wall instead of the pillow:
*hands over face* "OH! beBABY!!" *blows kisses to herself*

Loving this.

Random posting monday

2009-09-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

self interviewing questions because I cannot think of anything to say, except: nightmares=crap and I just want some decent sleep.

1. What is your favorite smell?
Mmmm...chocolate..or Lemon meringue pie...or,or clean laundry dried in the sunshine.

2. Did you/would you/are you co-sleep(ing)?

Oh yes oh yes oh yes. When little berry was born, I was convinced she would be one of those crib babies. We had it ALL READY. In fact, I was in labor and freaking out, rewashing her bumper at 2am....but then that night we brought her home (remember, I had her at a birth center, we came home 3 hours after delivery) and Pappa Starbucks had his mother over. BIG MISTAKE!!! I was, and still am, angry about that. I had a natural childbirth specifically because it meant I could go home and have my baby to myself!!!
Anyway, we brought her to bed with us and she's been there since. It was wonderful in Europe when we were traveling. Pappa Starbucks hates it and has recently began sleeping in the guest room which is OK because we are all happy at last. Don't even get me started on the 'marriage bed' right now.

5. What's your favourite colour?

Yellow. I remember being a kid and loving green, like forest green, and thinking "I will never love anything as much as I love this deep forest green it is just so beautiful!!" but of course that was my brain on childhood, so it didn't stick.

How do you feel about saving money, things, etc?

I'm a big saver.I am a thrift-store shopper and a coupon clipper and we really do save money. With that being said, we don't have much in savings. The economy wiped us out several months ago and we haven't exactly found our feet yet, also, we just did the math and Pappa Starbucks spends approximately $1200 a year at Starbucks. Which makes me ill. He is not a saver, so our methods are often at odds.

What do you like most about the current season?

Oh, pickles! I LOVE FALL. I have the most vivid memories of fall leaves blowing around, changing into deep colors, the smell, the feel of the air, fall is just spectacular. I guess mostly I love the feel of the air, how I can breathe in big lungfuls (nice after such a hot summer) and never feel overheated. Of course, it's 96degrees today so that may not be a constant!

Most recent dream?

I've been having nightmares lately, truly disturbing dreams where my family is in danger of being eaten by a grizzly bear that we can't escape or that I fall in front of a train and I am holding my baby. I don't like dreams very much!

Exercise Nine

2009-08-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

In the summer, the house grows hot, so hot
With steaming, stewing pressurized tomatoes
Deep sea green cucumbers in their baths
slowly turning to pickles in the winter.
Okra waiting patiently in a basket for
a turn at the sink,
Green beans sitting on the porch being plucked
away at until their boiling is due.
Once it's July, the whole kitchen floods
with mason jars, clear jars
quarts, half cups, pints all stacked in boxes
My mother assigns me with millions of them
and a single sharp brillo pad in the yard
Plunging my small hands into the jars
I scrub and scrub eager to hand them off to
my mother for approval. This is the task
hated most, readying the old glass banks
for prizes I would choose to never open.
Sometimes, I sneak away and bring back feathers
or plunge my toes instead into the cold hose water.

A genuine breastfeeding baby doll:

2009-08-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine just came back from NYC and stayed with us for a few days before starting back to college. She and I were talking about my renewed desire to nurse until Little Berry weans herself- whenever that may be, something Pappa Starbucks is horribly against but don't get me started.
Anyway, she mentioned this doll she had seen in the city. I give you the new hip doll

that I am buying at least one of my nieces for Christmas, if only because they aren't allowed to sit in the room (seriously) while I nurse.
That teensy part on the box is a flower that ties on and the baby latches onto (magnetically I suppose):

What strikes me as funny is that Cuppycake already does this with her babies, brings them to me and tucks them in my shirt, that is. The flower part seems like it could cause some confusion. And God help those girls who will grow up thinking those first days of nursing will be "that" easy.

Photos snatched from Google images

Proof

2009-08-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

I had so many ideas for blog posts this week and didn't get around to any of them. Things are hectic again here because Pappa Starbucks has decided he's applying for that program he wants placement into so badly, again.
Deadline is tonight.

I realized yesterday that I was letting a lot of things go that I normally wouldn't in order to help him out as much as possible, Little Berry confirmed that this morning, energetically pointing out my 'unkempt' nature taken yesterday: when I brushed my hair, she stood up in the crib, pointed, and said "WOwwwwwwwww!!!"

Europe

2009-08-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Some pics I just found in my phone of our daily excursions in Europe. It was so, so beautiful, so liberating. Wonderful.