Learning

I'm really enjoying a new book right now (who knew that I had time to read?!) -- it's called "Mitten Strings for God." I'd love to tell you why it's called that, but it's very sweet to discover the meaning as you read. So I won't spoil it for you. One of the things she writes about is that our children teach us things. While I don't disagree with her, it isn't where I've found the most pleasure in the book. I bring it up, however, because of what I learned from Baby L today.

When Baby L was days old, I learned that my "too much movement overstimulates babies" philosophy isn't always true. And it wasn't true for him. I learned this after several nights of full-blown newborn infant screaming. Poor guy. In desperation I told J (my husband) to find some batteries for the bouncy seat; maybe there's a reason they all have that vibrate-y function?! Yes, that seemed comforting to him. A friend told me her secret: deep knee bends. What?! I learned one of my own: rocking so vigorously in the rocking chair that I thought we'd tip over.

Fast forward six months. Baby L has never been an easy sleeper. Over the months we've had many variations in sleep -- none simple, relaxing, or predictable. (Unless you count "predictably unpredictable.") Last night we were back to just plain difficult, and no one got any sleep. And today he was very tired all day. But, he couldn't get to sleep. We were in the kitchen, I was holding him, and I remembered that a couple days ago he had fallen asleep while I bounced to a new cd (this was not my intention at the time). This cd was playing.

I learned today that movement I wouldn't think conducive to sleep still works to coax this guy to sleep. I learned that Jack Johnson's new cd "En Concert" is perfect for dancing babies to sleep. It's the perfect combination of upbeat and mellow for hip-swayin', foot-tappin', knee-bendin', booty-shakin' snuggling a baby on your chest, nuzzling his sweet head under your chin mama-dancin' in the kitchen.

And, it's a really good cd.

Counting my blessings... and gingerbreads

'Tis the season for gingerbread!

Waldorf Winter Faire Gingerbread (Streng Brothers?)

Whoville Gingerbread (won in a silent auction)


Gingerbread House a la Sela & Dafna!

(Smells & tastes as good as it looks)

Light Cruise Gingerbread Village on Eastern Avenue

Surprisingly Delicious Gingerbread in a Box

... and Shopping Gingerbread

Warm wishes for a sweet & joyful holiday!

I LOVE Christmas

I love Christmas. I didn't realize how much I loved Christmas until S loved Christmas. We really do it up for Christmas. And, we don't feel run ragged by it. I love that we seem to have settled into our favorite traditions. We cut down a tree (a silver tip -- our favorite), we decorate it -- and the house. We get two trees. (Last year we bought a 3rd for the porch because it was $1.50 & way too cute to pass up.) As we unpack our Christmas things, we greet them as dear friends who have been away from us. We bake, we craft, we donate, we volunteer. We shop, we wrap, we make tags, we make gift wrap (not in that order!). We make gifts for friends and for each other. We have 3 different advent calendars! We go to the Nutcracker, a Waldorf winter faire, and we go for "light cruises." We live on Christmas music. We watch Christmas movies and specials. (We even watched the Garfield one this year... yikes.) We add to our Santa collection, our snowman collection, and our Christmas tree collection. We read Christmas books. We buy more Christmas books. (Little House Christmas Stories has been a very sweet addition this year -- I highly recommend it.) We make a gingerbread house (or two). We eat candy canes and drink hot cocoa. Lots of hot cocoa. Everything is celebrated with hot cocoa in December. This year I chose a book for book club with a winter theme (Mr. Popper's Penguins, just in case I could squeeze in a little more winter fun. It worked -- I have a great excuse to use the igloo cake pan I bought last year!).
We love celebrating so much, we've branched out this year. S asked if we could light Hanukkah candles. So we are -- with the most beautiful Hanukkah candles I've ever seen. The colors are beautiful and soft, they smell so good (beeswax) and even feel good to touch. We also celebrated St. Lucia's Day with St. Lucia buns (inspired by Kirsten, the American Girl who is a Swedish immigrant). We are neither Jewish nor Swedish. Just very festive, apparently.

Here I go...

I have a blog. Why?? Why am I doing this?? I have been toying around with the idea for a while now, but I still can't answer this question! And I've really thought about it. If you know me, you believe me when I say that. I thought I would do it. Then I thought I certainly would NOT do it. Then, yes, I will. No. You get the idea.

Then Christmas time came, and I was inspired. December always does that to me -- and to my daughter, S, too! I was spending so much time checking out others' blogs and thought, "I'm going to do it!" And I quickly registered before I could analyze it (again).

But the question still begs to be answered: why??? Will it simply end up as a "laundry list" of sorts? Like the hundreds I could probably uncover around my house, of things that need to be done, have already been done, want to be done. (I do love lists.) That doesn't sound quite right. And certainly not something I want to subject anyone else to. While I love the satisfaction of a good list, I don't assume that's a passion for everyone : D Perhaps I feel like doing it so that I can share things that others may find interesting? I know I use the web this way. The time others have taken to share their projects has contributed to our family life -- perhaps I could contribute in some small way to others' family lives? Does having a blog meet my need for creating something? With an infant, my ability to "create" is veeeery limited. Maybe that's it?

Maybe by taking a bit of time to post about what we're doing, I'll be more likely to really notice all the good stuff we do. Life can get so busy these days. And just getting us all fed seems like it takes so much time and energy lately. Maybe it creates a little space where I can hold onto moments and savor them just a little longer than I can in real time. Maybe it's a way to organize my thoughts? (Sounds like a stretch, but again, if you know me, that probably makes a lot of sense!) Maybe it's another way of connecting with others -- with friends near and far?

Or maybe, just maybe, there doesn't need to be a reason at all?? I might just be on to something with that one...