Jean Skirt

Matt and Sam left for California yesterday afternoon to attend Matt's mother's retirement bash on Sunday. I decided to stay here with very needy, teething little Arlo. Two, 14 hour drives iced with a weekend of familial tension, sprinkled on top of the teething baby sounded like a recipe for a large headache...no thanks.

I am going to miss the party and that makes me a little sad. I do want to wish Pat a fabulous retirement. It will just have to wait until August when we spend a week in the San Juan Islands with the entire Grieshop clan...a family reunion. I am looking forward to it. The Grieshop Family Reunions are quite fun.

My weekend sans son and husband began with a visit from a dear friend in our AP group here that moved to Seattle shortly after Arlo was born.

Then a night of summer drinks and great conversation with my other very dear friend, Sherri. We made beaded jewelry in her bead room and laughed with a neighbor of hers. It was fantastic. Arlo was happy in the sling or sitting on the floor next to me with a wooden spoon and a little tin cup. He napped and slept late into the evening. I returned home after midnight.

This morning I woke to see that it was 10:30 a.m.!! I haven't slept that late in soooo long. Arlo and I then proceeded to lay in bed together and giggle and gurgle and nurse. It was fantastic. He is so precious.

After a bagel and coffee and the NEWSPAPER (I never get to read the newspaper), I helped my neighbor move a tree out of her truck bed. Then came home to make a skirt out of a pair of old jeans. It was fun to sew again! I was so inspired by it's success that I turned around and made a simple drawstring bag for the odds and ends in my diaper bag. I will share photos when the boys return. Matt took the camera. I am so excited about the skirt...it is very cute. I also love it when I can be thrifty. I am not very good at it, though I try very hard!

Tonight should be a fun evening with Sherri and her sister Janet. They just returned from a 2 week trip to Belize! The stories should be fantastic!

Karma

I think the big difference between karma and irony is the spiritual element that karma implies. I love the idea of karma and really try to keep it in my fore thoughts as I live my days.

Last week my good friend, Z, was visiting and we had a knock on the door from a couple Mormon men seeking my time. I have never been good about confronting them and decided this time to simply ignore the knock. It worked and within a minute or two they had left. No harsh words exchanged, no awkward moments. I thought nothing of it.

Today the weather was amazing and I decided to take the boys by bike and buggy to Washington Park for some outdoor play time. Arlo hadn't been in the buggy yet and I wasn't sure how this adventure was going to play out, but nonetheless, we went on our way. The bike ride was harder than I had expected, but I was pulling nearly 60 pounds of kid and buggy and stuff. A half an hour later, we arrived with the park full of kids. Sam immediately ran off to play and I found a shady spot by a tree to sit with Arlo. It was beautiful to see so many moms and kids playing and enjoying the weather. A mother near me started up a conversation as she had a 7 mos. old daughter and we spoke for a bit. i twas nice. Then another women started talking and she asked if I was with the LDS group. I, of course, answered "no" and proceeded to ask what group it was. She answered, The Church of Latter Day Saints, we're Mormons"!!! There I was smack dab in the middle of a very large group of Mormon women!! I immediately felt very strange and out of place and I could tell that Sam did too. He kept sitting with me and on me and didn't want to play, very unlike him. I looked around and saw lots of babies, but no one breastfeeding and one mother had brought her jumparoo thing to the park, plopped her baby in it and then sat right next to her baby!
Sam came to me again for some snuggles and I asked him if he'd like to leave. He said yes and ran for the buggy. I felt the same, picked up Arlo and dashed for the bike! We were invited to return as we were leaving, but I think we likely not.
At any rate, once we returned home, had some lunch and water, I was able to reflect on the morning. I realized how much I miss my mom's group here. I haven't been attending much lately because Sam in preschool at the same time as playgroup and Arlo usually naps. So, I need to make it a priority again...and I will.

Sam's Day

Sam at 3 years old. Hard to believe, but he is definately growing up and acting and looking very much like a big boy. He'll tell you as much too.
His birthday weekend was magical and I know he feels this way because he still talks about it. Family, friends, good food, and being surrounded with love...the makings for a wonderful time, birthday or not.

The following pictures are just a handful from the weekend. You'll meet lots of Sam's friends and hopefully get a sense of what I think childhood should be...what we aim to give Sam and Arlo.

Amira has been one of Sam's best friends while in Wenatchee. She is a fabulously wild girl I used to describe as being made of rubber bands! She will wobble all over the place, tripping and

falling, but having a great time. She has so much love in her and I know it is because her mama and papa give her everything. She and Sam play so well together, though she sometimes smothers Sam with too much of her love!

Jaadyn and Holly are also a couple of Sam's best pals. He really enjoys both of thier comapny and seems to be especially interested in Holly when we see her. She is full of energy and spunk and can fill the room with such joy when she is happy.
Jaadyn and Sam have a long history here and have been playing together through so many developmental stages thier friendship has had to adjust. Lately Jaadyn is asserting himself much more and has no problem telling Sam what to do and how to do it. Sam is fine with following orders until he decides not to and then we have a blow-up, though they aren't common. Now both in preschool, we don't see much of Jaadyn.

River and Nakai are sisters of a dear friend of mine. They are also fabulously wild girls and I love it that Sam loves them. River is 5 years old and Nakai 3. They have a spicy sybling relationship and hardly sit still (thus the photos illustrate). Sam has a great time with them and has had his first dose of real "girl" with them...painted toe nails, pink dresses and dolls. He also has learned from the great joy in exploring the outdoors. We have had great walks with them on the canal and dancing...oh, the dancing is so special.

We had a big bowl of ballons sitting on the table for the kids to enjoy and boy, did they ever. We had the living room full of ballons of all sizes and colors and the kids danced and played with them for a long time. It was so wonderful to watch...childhood at its greatest. Each kid ran around in their own way exploring the music and the moment. Some kids simply sat and observed, others kept the energy vibrating. So much fun!

The evening grew cool and pushed us inside or into thick sweaters and as folks trickled home I walked around observing the remnants of a birthday celebration and kids enjoying a simple spring afternoon with their families. I felt so content and so settled in my being. Arlo loved wathing everyone as they moved around the space of our home and he was happy to be in the sling or in someone's arms until he could no longer keep his eyes open. It was a weekend I hope to remember so fondly forever.

Support

I have been receiving emails from the list-serve of the Greenhouse Birth Center moms group in E. Lansing. Below, in italics, is an email sent by a mom looking for support in her decision to co-sleep. Underneath it is my response.

Hi everyone,
I just put away our un-used Pack N Play bassinet, after having this charade going on in my
mind for 9 weeks that we'd use it eventually. I was so determined all day yesterday to try it
out last night, but when the time came it felt so wrong to have Fenton sleep 3 feet away from
us. I was so lucky that Brandon agreed that there was something "not right" about not waking
up with him - and it just can't be wrong if we BOTH feel that way.

I'm feel really, REALLY guilty about all of the money spent on this stupid thing by my in-laws,
not to mention the obscenely expensive crib they bought us. Can someone please remind me
that things bought simply can't override what our instincts are telling us?

And WHY didnt' I just register for a bigger bed? :-)

Amen, sister! I know exactly how you feel. My parents drove the crib I used as a child from Maine to Kansas, so my first son, Sam, could sleep in it as a newborn. We dutifully set it up. My mom and I ceremoniously cleaned it, washed all the crib sheets, put on the matching crib bumper with little fringe on the top...and Sam never slept more than one nap in it. By the time he was 6 mos. old it had been taken down and stored...guilty feelings accompanying the entire process. Still we moved the crib across the country to our current home in Washington State and I, again, went through the same ritual, without my mother this time, as I grew closer to my due date with my second son. Arlo is now one week from being 6 mos. old and he has never slept in the crib. I have never changed the sheets from the first day I put them on. It has become a good place to sit Sam's stuffed animals.

And I have realized the magnificence of co-sleeping. I love the mornings when I wake with all 3 of my boys (husband included) in bed and soundly sleeping. I love watching their sleeping faces.
I was thankful we are a co-sleeping family when Arlo, at 2 weeks, woke with a 105 degree temp, limp and unable to nurse. We rushed him to the ER to learn, after a spinal tap and multiple IV attempts, that he had a kidney infection. If we hadn't been co-sleeping I may not have heard his soft whimper. I can't even imagine what could have been the outcome.

So, you go girl for following your instincts in what is the hardest arena of life to do so, parenting.

This Week...

Oh, what a week it has been. Monday came with amazing weather, of which, of course, I used as a sign to get more yard work done. I worked my butt off and was so sore by the end of the day. Sam and Arlo were great kiddos helping me in one way or another throughout the day. It felt so good to accomplish as much as I did. My friend Sarah came by that evening and gave me a DEEP tissue massage. I meet with Sarah once a month or so to work on my asthma and she has never done a massage this deep. It felt great and after I thought I was walking on air!
The next afternoon I began feeling ill. I felt ill for the next 4 days off and on.
Tuesday Sam had school and I visited a friend recovering from an appendectomy; Wednesday an old pal from college, Z, came to visit and we watched the final American Idol...fun!
Thursday Z and I took the boys to Issaquah to the Cougar Mountain Zoo, then to Trader Joe's and then I dropped Z in Seattle. Sam and Arlo asleep, I was looking forward a nice quiet drive back to Wenatchee...until I started getting a headache. It grew and grew and by the time I arrived home (after 2 stops for gas and nursing), it had become a full blown migraine.
As I lay in bed with Arlo next to me chewing his foot and gurgling, I had this thought that maybe the massage released some toxins and my body was processing them...thus all the illness, headaches, etc. I called Sarah and sure enough, she agreed it was possible.
Our bodies are amazing!
By Friday afternoon I was feeling better and by the evening I felt very tired, but good.
Sam has been very needy this week with questions non-stop and intense feelings. He talked a lot about his birthday being over and how sad that made him feel. Then on Friday he was supposed to have a friend visit. At the last minute his friend didn't want to come play and Sam was incredibly disapointed. He cried and cried and was so sad about this big change in his afternoon. I felt so sad for him and his disappointment that I took him for an ice cream cone. He was beginning to feel better, then we visited a friend who has goats and Sam was well on his way to forgetting his sadness. By the time we returned home, I thought Sam was satiated. Within an hour he said to me, "My sad Jaadyn no play". It is so hard being a mommy.