ahhhh fresh paint

things i am inspired by today

                                      aboveccopyright melba levick

i need it, because my once white house is now painted and awaiting decoration....

six & six

the lovely stephanie at ordinary life magic tagged me for this six/six game!

"Open the 6th picture folder on your computer, open the 6th photo and blog it. Write something about it. Then tag 6 more people to do the same."

this was almost one year ago, feb 21, 2008.... we went on a short hike with some friends to find this sun circle. i was 7 months pregnant and had to scale a sand embankment... which was hilarious all on its own.

i slipped a little, and irs'a little hand grabbed me... this story is still told by ira and it goes like this, "one time, we were climbing a mountain and momma fell, but i caught her and saved her! im a reeeaaally good climber"

its usually told right after we ask her not to climb something dangerous!

i hereby tag

anna

ashlee

des

julia

kiza

trinity

hilarious, but i didnt alphabetize on purpose.

batteries

"mama"

"yes love?"

"i need to ask you a question" (ira prefaces every statement with this phrase. question or not).

"i need a magic wand"

"you have like 4 magic wands"

"no" she says "they do not have batteries"

"why do you think you need batteries to be magic?"

"that girl at the park said only wands with batteries are magic. They light up & make rainbows" 

"well, that doesnt sound right. All you need to make rainbows is an imagination" 

ira's eyes grow TALL & WIDE!

"huh?!? i already HAVE an imagination! a really GOOOOD imagination!"

"oh, good!"

"get me my wand mama- im going to go make some rainbows"

ramblings

The daylight is streaming in later and later and so spring cleaning has commenced.

Liv helped mop ;)

Ira helped set up a racetrack and stadium for the big race.

And the hurdles. I put an end to the pole vaulting competition.... "maybe next week" we agreed.

something has definitely shifted between ira and i. 

I read continuum concept when she was 3 months old, it revolutionized where I was headed as a parent then. I recently started reading "you are your child's first teacher" with a group of lovely ladies at MDC.

It is doing much for me in ira's preschool years as the continuum concept did in her infant stage.

I cannot quite explain it either. NOthing really has changed in practice. But it reminded me that I have set out to raise her in her own way. On her own path. With her as my teacher and guide. I follow her. NOT in the sense that she was the "leader"or that I chase her around searching her little eyes for what her next whim may be. She is my teacher in the way that I believe that she is an individual, that all children are, and that none of them are going to fit any mold, or timeframe in any more of a standardized way than any birth will fit a standardized protocol that a hospital may put in place.

And just like with birth in a hospital, the natural process is interrupted by even the tiniest, most well meaning intervention. Even more so when that intervention is more for our own needs than for the needs of the person living the event. Birth, childhood, adolescence.... who knows best for any age. 

I think the person living that life knows best, and it is most wise for us to sit back and watch, observe, listen, and only intervene when safety is involved or it is requested.

Which isnt necessarily AT ALL what this book is saying. 

I am only to chapter 3. 

I am just reflecting after a few passages in these first few chapters sparked a little of the passion for childhood preservation I had once felt.

But sometime after liv was born, I think I started maybe thinking ira was ready for more, she seemed so BIG, there standing next to this teeny tiny baby. She seemed so grown up.

This book couldnt have come at a better time in our life.

It reminded me, that while she is so big in comparison to liv, she is still so small compared to me.

Even the age difference of a year is vast in these early years, and her sensitivity deserves protection. Her influences imprint on her in ways that I may not understand anymore.

She is much more observant than most would credit a three and a half year old. More observant than I for sure.

so, maybe it is just that I am seeing her clearly. or, maybe she has felt a difference in my voice.... 

whatever it is, we are laughing, smiling, joking through the moments of our days. 

I caught this beautiful moment with my camera almost by accident.

Ira said, "look, mama, liv can stand on her own. LIV- can you do this?"

sisters.

its all so INSPIRING isnt it?

so cool...

i have TWO kids....

which just saying that out loud sounds so perfect.... they are amazing, and I think I could have about 20  more....

anyway, so I have two kids, two girls...

and they both wore the SAME tights the very first time they played in sand...

completely on accident.

well, if you believe in accidents.

in which I do not.

This is Ira- april of 2006. San Diego....

This is liv on tuesday....

AND, as if that wasnt cool enough all on its own.... those tights- came from my bestest lady miss chandra.... who I can pretend put them on both of her girls as well.... however, Im pretty sure she only put them on her youngest, but i can dream....

**please excuse poor quality photo-it was a copy shoot**

thank you linda

My Mother in Law passed away three months before i met jared, and she left him and therefore me, many beautiful gifts...some REALLY weird things and about a million wicker baskets. 

Sometimes i find little treasures here, in the house she lived in, that i feel were left so that only someone worthy would find them.

My last gift from beyond, pinking shears.

Might I add, about a week after i said outloud to jared- "babe, i need to get pinking shears, can you remind me tomorrow?"

i forgot.... he forgot to remind me.

then as we were cleaning the office, we decided to clean out one of her old sewing machine tables that we keep meaning to refinish... and found these.

not ever knowing her, these little things always make me sad... i think we would have gotten along so well.

popcorn

BEHOLD- my first attempt at ever popping popcorn that was not pre packaged.....

i havent had popcorn in years..... now- im eating it like its about to become illegal....

liv oblivious as to what popcorn is....

ira totally uninterested in the process- just awaiting her bowl.....

hiking

while on a hike a week ago- the kids found this little shaded area with clovers growing in it!

beautiful thing to find here in the desert.

daddy, im hungry

came a small voice.... four hours after we retired blissfully to bed.

daddy being rockstar daddy, he went & fetched a banana & water, chatted while she ate... and then coaxed her into cuddling... (not very challenging as he is a jedi master cuddler).

then- it came. the fever.

the disoriented, too hot to think emotional wave of "im not okay but i dont know why or what to do" irrational state that a 3.5  year old can not grapple out of.

daddy, being sleepy and  missing completely the increasing heat radiating, is trying desperately to reason & trying even harder to understand what is up with our normally sweet pleasant happy to be anywhere little lady.

im half awake, nursing liv- and trying to whisper to her that "all the things are alright, all is well". 

meeting every irrational request with an "okay sweetie, sure love, we can get up", looked to a confused daddy who thinks im now bonkers too, at 430, mumbling about how much "i too, love wallE and that i will most certainly read her a book, just give me two seconds to unlatch sleeping liv."

so even longer story short, we are all up by 5, jared & i are slamming coffee and water to stop our sleep deprived shaking hands & foggy brains..jared saying things like, "blessing, this is a great opportunity to get my homework done so we can go to the farmers market..." etc etc

.. and then....

her fever breaks, she is asleep on the couch.

we are wired, im reading blogs and crying at the magnificent  serendipitous morning events filling up what would normally be a darkened, quiet sleeping house.

liv has reached a new milestone....

she crawled away from me.

like, right down the hallway, into the playroom to go with her sister. 

didn't. even. look. back.

up until now, we have not been more than maybe 10 feet from each other unless she was within 10 feet of her daddy.

I was in shock. 

If I am cleaning the kitchen or cooking, she plays at my feet or is in the sling.....

If I am knitting, or checking emails or reading- she is nursing or playing at my feet or is in the sling.....

so ira went running into the playroom, i was standing in the living room talking to jared and liv squirmed to be put down. 

she took. off.

fast.

jared said, "wow, you are no longer a food source to be kept in direct line of sight, you are a permanent fixture to her, she feels safe to leave you".

i was about to feel sad, until he spoke... then, his words framed up my emotions and put it up in front of me to see the beauty & magic that is intuitive/attachment parenting. 

this is what all those awkward sleeping babe in sling trips to the restroom were for.... this is why i sit silently, holding her while she sleeps for naps.... this is why i nurse her in the mei tei while i dance to brazilian music and cook dinner and clean and craft with ira...

so that she may feel safe and secure enough to take off and explore.

 

breastfeeding campaign!

in marin county, ca!!!!!

i was catching up on some blogs while breastfeeding- and caught this on eco chic family blog!

I LOVE THIS!

click here to read more!

ira is an artiste

and you cannot stop art..... 

even when it is on my cloth napkins.....
 or a storage bin....she hangs her own grocery lists on the message board....

she creates gorgeous centerpieces from found things ;)

and draws portraits of her favourite, long distance family members....

she did all of this while i cleaned and made us fresh juice from these fine lookin' fruits & veggies....

what do sick days look like?

if you love a good give away....

check this blog!

also check out her etsy! i foresee some of these items popping into miss ira's life VERY soon!

i am full

this moment is clear.

we are present.

we are the present

we are the children and the grandchildren

of the revolution

witnessing the change that began with the butterfly's wing-

my camera is with my husband

but i need to document this moment.


joyous.

my camera is with my husband

but i need to document this moment.


joyous.

it was a creed.....

.. written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.