Winner will be announced on Saturday, November 12th in a new post.
Click this photo of Flurry being worn on Daddy’s back and…
…have a chance to win an ERGO baby carrier just like this one!
Yes, I’m giving one away to one of you!!!
Win a Petunia Pickle Bottom organic ERGO baby carrier!!!
November 10, 2011
Winner will be announced on Saturday, November 12th in a new post.
Click this photo of Flurry being worn on Daddy’s back and…
and I love it
October 20, 2011
and I love it
summer used to be my favorite season, but now it’s this one
weather turning cooler
a warm baby held close
milking goats while my young shadows ones watch
little sister hugs my leg
Mama’s eyeliner, self applied, still on her face
wonder what day it was she put that on
a breeze blows
Daddy’s at work
if we listen hard, we pretend we can hear him hammering
bang, bang, bang
kittens scamper
our dog chews her bone
I have more meat on my bones that I should have
perhaps it’ll keep me warm this winter
or so I joke
being outside makes me forget for a time that I still face struggles
like anxiety and overeating and control issues
and then there are the money ones, too
filing bankruptcy
hate to admit
but it’s what we are going to need to do
so I choose to face that decision
look it in the face
like I do the cold wind early in the morning when I walk to the barn
past the field
the beans are all harvested in that field
we caught our guineas finally
found them roosting in the big barn and caught them
our second son was brave
yes, he caught one himself
so did I
but I screamed all the while
they are all in the hen house now
eating leftover steel cut oats from our breakfast
some of the corn still stands in the field across the way
though not for long I’m sure
there are lots of fields across the way
so that maybe was not the most apt description
but you get the idea
the ground so dusty
fields begin to lie dormant until next spring
soon enough they’ll be frozen
our baby girl had her birthday
frosting and wrapping paper still litter our home
looks less like litter and more like happy decorations though
proof of her beautiful day yesterday
four years
so why clean it up yet
instead we enjoy the cool day
a baby cuddle keeps me warm
and him, too
perhaps I need to start saying toddler
but that’s hard to admit he is that old already
maybe I want another baby
yeah, maybe I do
I smile because there are two double chins
the toddler’s is cuter
his hair smells like strawberries
the air smells like leaves
and leftover fire from the sticks and leaves Daddy burned last night
this is the life
being with my children
babywearing on The Farm
trying to love and respect my husband the best I can
being me
being okay with being me
and I love it
“Excuse me, Ma’am.”
April 15, 2011
“But did you know that there’s a baby on your back?”
how to
February 21, 2011
here,
it’s how to
wear
your baby
on
your
back
‘
in
ten
easy
steps!
Who needs YouTube babywearing tutorials!?
questions and answers
February 18, 2011
You asked. I’m answering!
What have you been eating while you’ve been in Kenya?
Goat meat, rice, chapati (flour, oil and water made into flat pancake sort of things that are so good!), vegetables and stew. Usually, we eat dinner under a tree each night.
When are you leaving?
I am in Nairobi now, having left Isiolo, Kenya early this morning so I could spend the day with our two Compassion kids from this country. I’m staying at the home of a friend of Wubshet and Habiba (our Kenyan hosts) tonight. The rest of our team will come tomorrow and we’ll fly to Ethiopa then for a week in that country before heading back to the States the following weekend.
How is your family?
Great! I Skyped with them last night and talked to them again today, too. They are in great spirits, my mom is at our house helping, and everything is going well for them.
How do you pronounce Ola Nagele?
The village’s name is pronounced OH-lah nah-GELL-eh.
What are you loving about this trip?
So much! I am really loving seeing traditional babywearing and watching how and when women breastfeed their babies. If it involves a baby, I usually have my antenna way up, watching for clues about how mothers here mother their children.
What are you learning?
More than I can even explain! Lots and lots of what I’m soaking up are concepts about providing sustainable help for poor villages, not temporarily satisfying aid.
How are you getting internet service there?
Very carefully! Ha! Cell phone and internet service has come a very, very long way in Kenya in a short time. Even in the most remote areas, the Kenyan USB modems we have for our computers more often than not give us pretty decent internet service for pretty cheap! The internet is making the world smaller and smaller. This morning, villagers who live in grass huts 30 minutes from the nearest town Skyped with the group of people back home who have adopted their village. Their stories are getting told. It’s amazing.
It’s worth noting that the internet service in Ethiopia is typically nowhere near as reliable as it is here in Kenya. If you don’t hear from me as often when I’m there next week, that will probably be why!
What will you blog about next?
I don’t know! I have some awesome video footage I want to show you, the well digging/water bringing stuff to share with you and of course lots to share and show about my day with our Compassion kids today. Decisions, decisions.
How have you been feeling?
I’ve gotten a tiny bit sick to my stomach, but it passed quickly. Already I’m feeling better. I’m sleeping pretty well, even though jet lag was hard and it’s hot here. Over all, I feel great physically. I’m missing my family like mad, and all the emotions that come with missing them are present.
Is your face painted?
Why yes, it is. I’m so glad you asked. It’s getting pretty crusty, though, so I may wash it off soon!
Are you glad you are there?
Yes!!
basil and an elephant
August 18, 2010
The other day, I was harvesting basil from our garden. Feeling like such a farmer. Or at least a wanna be farmer. Or at least someone with a green thumb. Or at least a kind of green thumb. Carrying MckFlurry in a baby carrier (Yes, I got it from here!). Doing my thing. With my baby. Because that’s how I roll.
And then Small Fry saw me. Or, rather, us.
(By the way, freakest thou not out! MckFlurry got a teeny bit of sun while I took this picture, but I followed through on my motherly protection duties and covered his head with the aptly named head covering part of my baby carrier after I took this. Just so you, ahem, know. As their mother, I do have their my children’s best interests in mind, so in the future you can freakest thou not out as well if stuff like this comes up. Ahem. Again.)
Anyway, after my daughter saw us, it was monkey see, monkey do. Just like many times before. Remember? (Man, that was just over a year ago, but I cannot get over how stout and chunky and babyish she looked then!!)
So, we had to march back in the house and get her tiny baby carrier (Also from here! This is not an advertisement or endorsement, by the way. I’m just telling you where we got our carriers!). And a baby to put inside. And some leggings, just for fun.
Yes, she was dancing.
Except, unlike this time (How on earth did I get her ponytails so straight and why haven’t I been able to replicate them since then!?), Small Fry didn’t want a baby, per se, in her carrier.
An elephant did just fine.
I know all too well that before I know it, little MckFlurry will feel like an elephant when I carry him around. I’m so enjoying his teeny tiny-ness! It’s so easy and fun and wonderful to carry him around. And pick basil. Or wash Christmas underwear. Or take pictures of our garden or of myself by holding my camera above my head. Or eat Mounds. You know, all the important things in life.
Except I don’t dance when I wear my babies. Well, not usually at least.
Goodnight!
babywearing baby wearing baby
September 20, 2009
(My apologies go out to Big Mac in advance for the fact that he appears in none of the photographs in this post. He was born in the dark ages before I had a digital camera.) Sweet baby Small Fry has indeed become herself a babywearing baby. She spent a great deal of time today [...]
You can truly do almost anything while babywearing.
January 7, 2009
UPDATED:“I deliver for you.” I may not be the U.S. Postal Service, but I do deliver. When you guys ask in droves, that is. So, what the heck is a Miracle Blanket and why on earth do I keep talking about it!? Shame on me for thinking all of you would know. Miracle Blanket is [...]
