Crunchy

Eka Pada Uttana Padasana - One Legged Raised Pose

I still slide my hands under my hips to support my lower back.

& Featuring what fun it is to be a hippie yogini (mommy).

PLASTIC - it’s everywhere!! I’m pretty sure my underwear is made of plastic. I am just so over plastic. & Chemicals. Unnatural clothing, bizarre body products. PLASTIC. …

Post-birth of each child I give myself a pass — the generosity to be gentle and relaxed with my otherwise crunchy ecological, home and health rules. (EG processed foods ordered in, tacky crafts or mittens overnighted in bulk.) But, youngest Bébé is now three, so I am no longer in ‘survival mode’ and am empowered - aka ruthless and rageful - against the world’s BS once again. 🐅 All crap must go.

Infinite

Ardha Padma Anantasana - Reclined Half Lotus Pose

Kubera Mudra for focused intention 

Sacrificing for your dream. Some days I look around (at my little life) and I feel overtaken with awe and immensely ‘blessed’. So much so, that the beauty of it can feel precarious (“too good to be true, so much to lose!”). But, as my husband elucidates, this life did not appear out of nowhere - myriads of sacrifices (countless other possibilities passed up) befalls when we make each choice. We are choosing one of infinite. So when the bliss is so joyous we panic, remember we had our hand in this; these are the steady and continuous - unprecarious - fruits of our labor. 🍇 

Destroyer of all diseases

 

Matsyasana - Fish Pose

Reduce stiffness in shoulders and neck. Improve posture. Balance the thyroid.

Self-compassionate healing après over-giving. 

What fresh hell is this?

Supta Baddha Konasana - Reclining Bound Angle 

With a bolster, two blocks and blankets.

OH the sheer agony of caring for the family and tending to the home while feeling unwell. We know it from periods, pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, traumatic or sad events, the common cold, chronic illness, heartache, heartbreak and beyond. There is no relief to be found. My personal solution? Complain (and blame) loudly and incessantly until someone (my husband) tells me they feel sorry for me and then all is a little bit more right in my world - merci beaucoup, dankeschön. 

Head cold

 

Parsva Savasana - Side Lying Corpse Pose - Fetal Position

What is your illness telling you? STOP most of what you’re doing, get quiet & listen intent-ly.

My head is now submerged in what feels like a giant cotton ball and I’m hearing from my dis-ease that I’ve been consuming too much. Intaking kids’ equipment, junk food, other’s opinions, gossip, media, activity, meetings… throat, nose, ears and eyes are ailing. As I have been actively releasing much of this worldly influx as of late, I can also concur this is another important, physical step in the cleansing. ☁️ 

Course of inaction

 

Wake-up-got-nowhere-to-be-but-here is my 💛 preferred vibe. & what I am ⚡️ currently choosing. 

SuperCareGiverHeroStar 🌟

 

Utthita Eka Padasana -  Standing Balance, One Leg Raised

As I watched another woman caregiving today (I had a few hours away from my own supportive duties,) it stopped me dead in my tracks how important, beautiful, and fulfilling it is - the work of caring for others. On my end, rearing my children nonstop has felt demanding and intolerable as of late, but the image of this smiling lady pushing a grinning older gentleman in his wheelchair on our wooded path was just what I needed to startle me back into recognizing our shared guardian superstardom. 🌟 

Present parent, calm kids 🎁 

Babies ARE yoga

 

Ananda Balasana - Happy Baby Pose

FYI Kids don’t need yoga class — CHILDREN are our GURUS. 😻🧚‍♀️

❤️🤍💙July 4❤️🤍💙 with PHOTOS

 

⭐️ Star Pose ⭐️

❗️Parade & meet up with everyone I know to stroll

Luncheon at the Club

BBQ & Pool Party with extended family

Boat Ride on opposite town’s side

❓ Fireworks, or in fire country: Laser and Drone Show - visible from home 💥 🛌 

Late night House-party

God bless me — I may just choose 1 ❗️or 2❓ activities to commemorate the USA today 🤩 *

* update — Plan for very little and REALIZE so so much more !! - 

✔️Bike ride to parade with water fight 🔫💦 

✔️Locals ski club party 🎿 

✔️Romantic stroll and - shhh - some shopping 🎩 🤫

✔️Chic adults oyster lunch 🦪 

✔️While children ✔️Nap ✔️Bus ✔️Playground ✔️Bakery Etc.

✔️Family putt-putt ⛳️ 

✔️Quiet mountain and river play ~ nature-made boat races 🍃

✔️Drone show viewing from home 

✔️Movie night 🍿 

All with ease and energy to spare. ✌️ By making SPACE for MAGIC 🪄 

Happy Baby Steps

Ananda Balasana - surely the most cheerful pose to say 💛

There truly is enormous power in putting one teensy foot in front of the other in (even just pretty much) the right direction. 🎯 
 

Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy

 

Asteroid cotton bloomers and top with extra crystals.

“Your children are not interruptions. They are your greatest work and the best investment of your time.”

- Elizabeth George, A Woman After God’s Own Heart

Rest in the arms of God

“…detach from the opinions and prizes of the world, and rest in the arms of God.”

- Marianne Williamson

To rest in the arms of God; in downright opposition of how I have been intellectually doing life for the previous two decades. The Truth hidden - from little me, at least - in plain sight. Luckily our Spirit always resides here and look how beautiful this existence is regardless of our silly superficial surface selves!

It’s irrefutable and indisputable (to this parent) that (our) children are God. It took the experience of creating, birthing, holding babies - at least 4 times! - for me to finally ask “if this is true, and they are God, then what am I?” 

Boys. Brothers. Babies. Buddhas.

flower child

Daisy: fresh, energetic, day's eye (the sun), darling.

Perennial; early Summer - early Autumn.

Aster, Marigold, Lily, Violet, Lavender, Sunflower, Bluebell, Daisy, Rose, Zinnia, Magnolia, Azalea, Chrysanthemum, Daphne, Jasmine, Ivy, Marguerite, Wisteria, Camellia ...

Names, decoration, motivation, muse, whim, notion, vision, introspection --- Look to Goddess Mother Nature's creations and you shall find it. When fancying inspiration there is no thing better suited than this natural phenomena. Flowers. Pure perfection. Heaven.

Violet, Aster, Marigold

(The baby has been channeling Daisy lately with her golden face and white hair; not to mention she often has bugs - even bees! - landing on her tresses, mistaking her for flora !!)

the face that launched a 1000 ships

Helen* ~ Bright, shining light.

Names are layered with meaning...
Having grown up with a very particular first 'title' - Astrid - I am ultra sensitive to names and considered designating them to my children an overwhelming task that I would ponder (obsess over) long after the birth certificate was ordered. I found it impossible not to daydream about other variances and still dwell on their first few days of life aiming to uncover what led me to my (our) ultimate decision. I still struggle with accepting their assignments. I am not one to choose the obvious option, either, and I wonder why I didn't go with more crystal clear family choices or blatant 'signs' while bébé was in belly. I fantasize about the monikers fictitous future children would/could have. It can be a preoccupation. My better half is not amused, and reminds me:
There is no right decision, there is no wrong decision, there is only a decision. 

*My grandmother's name was Helen, which served as the inspiration for our second daughter's name.

flair

The days are long, but the years are short. 

Lavish in the mundane, perpetual tasks of motherhood by adding your flair. This daily grind is, after all what you likely dreamed of and manifested when hoping and praying for offspring. Execute duties and chores with finesse and distinction!

off you go

Waldorf, Montessori, Country Day,  Public Education ... 

I visit first-hand the schools within a small radius, preferably walking or biking distance, and make a gut-based, heart-led decision. I try my best to commit and reconsider only at proper intervals (moving into lower, middle, upper). I trust my decision, but not dogmatically. 

Waldorf, Montessori & Reggio are the three progressive approaches to early childhood education, which appear to be growing in influence around the world. 

~

All three approaches represent an explicit idealism and turn away from war and violence towards peace and reconstruction. 

~

They are built on coherent visions of how to improve human society by helping children realize their full potential as intelligent, creative whole persons.

~

www.montessoricentrewales.com

Instead of 'teaching' our children 'how the world is' and how to 'succeed' in that world, let's get out of their way and let them shape a new world. 

starry slumber

It is night time. The folk of the forest are all asleep, the princess is asleep as well. But one little star keeps watch all night. 

-Sibylle von Olfers

Hello September! Time of transition. Often hectic. Get lots of rest and S L O W down. 

mmmmm bop !!

Some bébés just LOVE to put everything in their mouths, watch INTENTLY as others eat, and REEEEACH for any visible morsel of food; our second born is one of those babies - so much so we have given her a few samples before her official six months. But be aware, babies have an open gut until about six-months and allergies are a possibility.

OUR* first foods :

~ egg yolk, runny from a 4-minute egg with a pinch of sea salt

~ stewed peaches, because they were in season

~ lemon

~ butter, grass-fed, sucked off corn-on-the-cob

~ mango, dried mango is an amazing chew toy !!!

Next on the menu :

~ avocado

~ plum apple butter
~ pickles, lacto-fermented , in a strainer pouch

Then perhaps :

~ banana

~ squash, peas, sweet potato or other veggie ... one at a time

~ coconut oil, added into one of the above

~ pureed meat

~ soup stock or bone broth, to thin any of the above

~ cod liver oil and/or desiccated liver, although I myself take the cod liver oil and nurse, so perhaps this is redundant. 

All ORGANIC, grass-fed, free range, and local if possible. 

We hold off on all grains for as long as we can. 

*This is just what we happened to do this time of year with this baby taking into account what we read, what our parents did, and advice from our pediatrician and midwife. From there we use our INSTINCTS and INSPIRATION.

babies don't do yoga

Babies ARE yoga.

Free of preconceived notions, one with the Universe, ever-present, pure LOVE... can we teach children yoga? NO. We can learn yoga from them.

big boobs and rubber suckers

Breastfeeding moms often retain weight until baby is weaned (and then drop said weight that freeing day!) Give your baby gorgeous rolls, and yes, you may acquire one -or two- yourself. Nature is no dummy; her designs, like you holding onto a few pounds, are for your own good and for the sake of your offspring. Trust.

On the airplane. Though it may feel like servitude, there is truly no easier and better way to nourish bébé.

Also, my first was not a paci-girl, but the second needs extra suckling. I highly recommend looking into RUBBER pacifiers. Far better than silicon or other... you'll see, give it a suck for yourself.

Natursutten also looks so cute and vintage!

For the record, I still think the thumb should be first choice.