Read It All
When you meet wonderfully awesome ladies on the internet, and no, not in the mail-order-bride sort of way, and you discover you have tons in common, including etsy’ing in up, and they also love to eat copious amounts of olive oil on their baguettes, you know it’s time to feature their sweet etsy shop! Jenna of Call Her Happy {wonderful blogging} is also an artisan. You’ve simply got to check out her beautiful necklaces. They’re truly lovely. To get to know her & her shoppe better, I whipped out a few questions from my I-guess-I’m-a-wanna-be-journalist-not-lawyer back pocket. Check it, and order yours with the code CALLHERMAMA for 20% for Mother’s Day! Don’t think I haven’t already used my coupon! SHOP HERE! Jenna, you have a talent with a needle few can boast. Your beautiful needlepoint also brings needlepoint into the 21st century from the 19th!! No longer associated with our grandmothers, you’re bringing it back. Tell us a little about your craft, how you got started on creating, and why you love it. I think you underestimate just how granny I can be! But, I am going to take all of your kind words and run with them. Anyway, I started with embroidery after Sam was born (so a little less than a year ago). I have always loved creating, but once I had two kids, time for that was less than minimal. I discovered that embroidery was easy enough to pick up and put down when someone fell off…
Read More
I just love Gabby over at Design Mom. Who doesn’t? She’s a great writer, manages a big household with lots of kiddos, and shares her eye for beauty and design with the rest of us. Her series on Living with Kids is one of my favorites and a while back I contacted her timidly, seeing if she’d be interested in including us in her series. She has been gracious, kind, and everything lovely about the process, despite my ineptitude at getting her photos that were the right size–for a very long time. Without further ado . . . our crazy commune: Come see Whole Parenting Family at Design Mom! And no, baby is not here yet. I’m regaining my zen after our false fluid leakage. Full story coming, promise!
Read More
— 1 — Jen’s lovely book (Something Other Than God) arrives in my mailbox TODAY! Yes, I am excited to read it because yes, I find an atheist’s conversion to Catholicism fascinating. And I love reading her blog, so there you have it. It will keep me great company in the last week of pregnancy. And watching her video preview, watching 33 authors and writers do little bits (some of whom I know) was really touching. Call it pregnancy, but I got misty eyed. Check it for yourselves here on youtube. — 2 — This interminable pregnancy waxes on at 39 weeks yesterday. But you know what? I’m glad he’s still in there, getting all the fat, brain development, and lung work babies need at the end. Would I rather not carry around a watermelon? Would I like to just get it all over with and meet him already? Would I rather not wonder every night before I finally fall asleep if this is the night my water breaks? Would I rather AA know when he’s coming so he can plan and cope with all the craziness of work? Yes, yes, yes, blah blah. But as is my plan with this birth, I’m focused on being present in love, not enduring. That means being present to this full term pregnancy. Not anticipating his arrival (though I SWORE he was coming early by the feel of things!), not bemoaning he’s not here yet. I’m confident he’ll come when he should, and when he’s…
Read More
This is our 22nd guest post in the Birth & Parenting Series! The other 21 guest writers’ stories may be found here. Contact me (wholeparenting@gmail.com) anytime if you’d like to share your story of your child’s arrival, or a parenting perspective. My girlfriend is one of those beautiful mothers who always comes with something baked, something dreamed up, something divinely inspired, on time, or even early, to every event you invite her to. Her son is just one, adorable, hip as hip can be, and all smiles all the time. Her husband is like my other little brother and I feel so blessed by their whole family. She writes frequently for I Believe in Love, and I love seeing her insights there as well. When I asked her how she balances her part-time work with full-time mothering, wife-ing, hostessing, volunteering, etc, she just smiled. So I pressed her–no REALLY? The answer? A little blog post for you: — Work/life balance – it’s a struggle for me to achieve it. I’m really good at saying yes, and really bad at saying no, most especially when everything is something that I want to do! However, this spring, I was overwhelmed – overwhelmed with being a stay-at-home-mom (mostly), working a couple of part-time jobs (to help financially), moving into temporary housing, buying a home, painting said home, moving again, and saying yes to too many commitments. Something had to go. So, after much discussion with my husband, prayer and figuring out all options in…
Read More
This little lady has suddenly grown up over night: big girl bed, potty trained (not including sleep times, because really, who includes those??), talking non-stop, and really ready to be a big sister. Did I say she was rrrrrrrreally ready? I mean, I’m moderately ready too, I supposed suppose (LET’S HAVE THIS BABY NOW). Things she says ::get baby out now; change his diaper; I nurse him; where’s Boy?; I burp him; where’s baby?; why he stuck? Things she does squeals and runs toward her B I G G I R L B E D with all her entourage in tow: including Big Darlin, Choe, Thumper, Baby Thumper, White Thumper, Jesus, an assortment of pacifiers, baby pretend bottles, swaddle blankets, mama-made-me-this blankets. The whole kit & caboodle. This she thinks going on the potty is FUN! going on the potty is TERRIBLE! going on the big toilet without the booster thing is AWFUL. going on the big toilet sans anything is GREAT! going potty and getting a health cookie is the BEST. going potty and getting an akmak cracker is BETTER. never going potty again is an option. The rest of us are along for her ride, that’s for sure. (I decided on a duvet cover! Dangerous color?) Me & almost 39 weeks are dying over yonder these here hills. I’ve been sick (use your imagination) for a few days and am hoping it’s pre-labor. If it’s not, that’s fine. If it is, let’s get this unmedicated double doula water…
Read More
SweetPea checked out the blueberry bushes Dada & her Godfather planted. They’re looking nice–so are the raspberries & strawberries. But indoors, it’s the Wild West. We’ve been planning the garden since it was subzero. We is a term I use loosely. You know who actually does all the gardening work around here, inside and out. Yup, Mr. AA. He’s our gardener in residence. Literally. There are five large cookie sheets/trays/something of that kind all around the house, anywhere they can get the maximum light possible. Sometimes he’s put them on my desk, near my preccccccious computer. Sometimes they’re in the bathroom at night under the kid’s light that stays on for SuperBoy to make his way to the potty, and then that same tray is whisked to the bench that’s living on the front stair landing in front of floor-to-ceiling windows. These things creep and crawl and grow like heck. The cat also tries to eat them. I’m all about the plants, honestly, but do grow weary of watching them grown toward nothing as the ground is barely unfrozen around here, it snowed today, and the chance of getting them into the ground before the baby shows up in basically nil. Somehow, if only I could put away all the winter clothing, get the garden going, and write my fiction novella about being a Catholic-work-at-home-mom-of-X^10-children, I’d be so profoundly satisfied. Nesting. It’s a burden and joy. I do feel sorta surrounded. And watched. It’s a little weird. Anyway, the garden!…
Read More