the edel gathering
Yes, the bonnets and caps are ready for your delights in my shop, Whole Parenting Goods!!!! It was a lot of tweaking and playing and re-fashioning (I felt like Lydia Bennet in Pride & Prejudice taking my bonnets apart!) but I am thoroughly satisfied with them and hope you are too. They fit perfectly for new babies through small children // sorry not for us, ladies // and the ties are ribbons. Rickrack for fun if you will, or just quiet cotton ties. They keep out the sun and add some zest to my life, at least. Tell me your life is zesty enough, eh? These are just a few of my more than dozen offerings of different fabrics. EDEL: if you’re going to the women’s conference in Charleston next next weekend, I’m so sorry I’m going to miss you. BUT I’m sending along a box full of my products for your purchase. Cash & credit accepted 😉 Come find my handcrafted numbers at the Blessed is She table!! Lurve ze fabric! As usual, subscribers to my Whole Parenting Goods Domestic Arts newsletter get first dibs and a nice discount of some sort. They took a BITE out of these! Thanks for the support, you special friends! If you want to be on the list, subscribe here. But they did leave some pickings for you. I tried to go with fabrics that were nongendered for the most part, and fashioned the caps so they can be with or without a brim. The brim…
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If you’ve had the joy of becoming a mother, you know this to be true: it takes a village. Or else you die doing this. If my daughter is ever a mother, I want her to know about the village. I’m sure she will, given I’m raising her with one. And in this dress, made by my friend Sarah for her company, Sassy Knitwear? To die for. I’m hoping I can partner with her to bring some to you. But I digress. Someone asked me the other day how I seemed to positive in the abysmal cliff of parenting young children. I didn’t have a really strong answer. I thought about how long the days are with small kids. I thought about what I shared over at Blessed is She about how we can justify anything through our emotional lens, and how it’s a struggle to be kind and keep our temper with those who are closest to us. I thought about my interview on Michelle & Amy’s podcast called Little House Mothering about weaving children into the fabric of our daily lives to stay sane. I thought about my many dirty toilets. I gave her query more thought and realized, really, it’s all about the village. If you have a village of women supporting you while you’re going through the body-breaking and heart-breaking and mind-bending moments of motherhood, you will be okay. You will survive. You will even thrive. But in the modern day norm of moving away from our…
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A follow up letter after my open letter to my electronic friends who gathered in Texas: My dear readers, BabyLoves and I went to Texas for the Edel Gathering. We made it there and back. Together. Attached by the sling, as it were. The weekend was lovely, truly lovely, for so many reasons. It was, in many parts, whatever the attendee made of it. If you wanted private time to ponder, think, and just breathe, there was that available without the rigors of a jam-packed schedule. If you wanted to chat it up with new friends, hit Austin together, hang by the pool, there was that. If you were me and rooming with a very old friend whom you hadn’t seen in six years, and had your two month old in tow, you would probably do what I did: rest and hang by the hotel. In between sessions I had to head back to the room to rest. Given that it took me almost 7 weeks to recover from bebe’s epic birth, I should have known I’d be beat up by travel. Good thing there was lots of chocolate around. I didn’t see any of Austin, except the Cathedral for confession and mass. And we’re okay with that, me & the bebe. I didn’t get to the pool. I didn’t get to the outside restaurants. I didn’t get to the late night fun talks with ladies. I didn’t even get to see the amazing karaoke past 10pm. A little person…
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Dear electronic friends I haven’t met in person, A la Bonnie, I too am going to post a little open letter to the universe toward you. I have my baby with me. Yes, he is big. No, he will not take a bottle. Yes, he will spit up on me and I will wipe it off my arm with my dress, possibly flashing you. Yes, I will be wearing a dress mostly because I cannot bear the squeeze of clothing postpartum. No, he does not sleep in a pack n play. Yes, he nurses all the time. I might flash you with the upper body parts doing so. I’m sorry if he screams on the airplane, in the hotel room, in the bathroom, in the conference, or any other time. I can’t help it. I love to meet new people. I promise not to glom onto you, though, so don’t worry if I chat happily for a few minutes with you. I may knit at the same time we’re talking. I’m making blankets for my etsy shop to pay backwards for these trips. You may not like to gab with a knitting, baby wearing mom. If so, sorry again. I cannot successfully put my hair in a knot top bun without having the front look flat and greasy. If that’s all I could muster in the hotel bathroom while bouncing my baby before coming down to the conference events, I’m sorry. For you, that is. I’ll just be glad it’s…
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