A Little of This and That

for today. Norah woke up sick last night and was throwing up into the morning. So, we watched a little t.v., Mama did a little knitting, in recovery, we did a little playing. Not too bad for a sickly night and a sleepy day...

Spring Children's Books

Gerda Muller "writes" four of my all-time favorite children's books. There are only four of them, one for each of the seasons, and there are no words, just simple pictures. Spring, which I have recently pulled from the collection in hopes of sunnier days to come, pictures children planting vegetables and adults plowing land. Many of the activities pictured show life a far cry from what our children experience today, and there is something about their simplicity that lends comfort to the reader.
I also just picked up Elsa Beskow's Peter in Blueberry land at the library. Last year, Norah was much to young for her fantastical writing, but this year the book is grabbing her a bit more. Beskow's books require imaginative leaps from their readers that Norah is just not quite ready to make yet, but the pictures are beautiful and spark conversations that take us in a nice direction. This is one book I am going to have to get for our Spring book collection.

A Bit of Healing

Amazing how my mind can take me far, far away from where I need to be the most--in the present and amongst my children. What fun we had today! Just a couple of moments of "presentness" from me and our whole evening transformed. We put on some music, Follow Me, got out the silks that I dyed for Christmas (which have been lying dormant for months now), and made me believe that we were going to Grandma's house through the forest and with a basket full of food.

I have been getting some help with this "presentness" in the latest book that I am reading: Buddhism for Mothers. Life has taken me too far away from my life and I am ready to get back to it. This book has some pretty effective strategies for letting go of painful thoughts and just being.

The beginnings of Spring around these parts (albeit rainy beginnings) are helpful in this as well. There are daffodils, cherry blossoms,and crocuses rearing up all over our world. And. we. are loving. them.


Oh! And we are all getting pretty excited about the newest addition coming to us in early July--right smack dab in the middle of the summer. Oh yes, finally a summer baby.

22 Weeks

We are getting there, me and this baby. Just over half way there. My pregnancies seem to get harder each time. I am trying to enjoy it more now though, trying to get to know this baby. We will get there.

My Knitting Now

Along with a whole lot of other things, I have let my knitting slide over the past couple of months. A sweater of Morehouse yarn for Brian has been dormant for the winter and a cabled scarf for his mom is also attention starved. But why complete old projects when there are new ones to be begun?! I started a baby blanket out of Blue Sky Organic Cotton, bought some sock yarn for my trip back east this week, and pick up stitches on the sleeve for Brian's "Christmas" sweater. getting rather discouraged on the last one though--it is looking small (hugs husband's boobs) and therefor I am unmotivated to finish it.
I stole a few moments of knitting time this evening. After an early dinner, the kids were playing and I snuck onto the living room couch--perched myself at the end of it quietly so as not to disturb them (and therefor disturb my knitting)--and watched my kiddos talking and singing in there to themselves. It was one of those moments that I described in the previous post--I have missed too many of them this winter. Luckily, each day offers more of them.

Retail Therapy Anyone?

We made a big, BIG purchase this weekend. The Nikon D90. What a camera. I truly have NO idea what I am doing with it in my hands but I have SO enjoyed shooting pictures this weekend with my new toy. What a complete pleasure it is! This camera is so good at capturing moments--almost too good. So good that you are thinking about the shot and not the moment. I have been living outside of the moment for quite some time now. This was a really expensive tool to remind me to get back into life.

Little Hands for Little Cups

We had tea and dumplings Chinese Gardens today, a rainy, bluish kind of Saturday. The general consensus upon driving up to the place was that it was going to be a bust--the gardens are small and are located on a rather dismal street in small Portland Chinatown. But once we got got inside, we realized how wrong we were. The smell of new flowers--gardenias, maybe lotus blossoms (do those smell?)--swirled through my nose and I was hooked, and so were the kids. Entranced is probably a better word for what me and Brian felt, and energized is certainly the word that would describe the kids' behavior. The rain made the experience even more calming. We watched together the little circles made bigger as the rain drops landed on the pools of water inside the gardens, we caught rain in our mouths, and we forgot for the moments we were there about the bluer moments we have had on the outside.