Rockin' Halloween

Happy Halloween from my family to yours!

Have a SPOOKtacular weekned.

Basking in the Glow

The scent of homemade chai tea and pumpkin muffins still lingers in my home from last night's New Moon Circle. The positive, peaceful energy we created is lingering as well. I feel like I filled the well - my senses and soul alike delighted in a cozy fire, yummy fall treats and positive intentions & affirmations, made in the darkness of the Scorpio new moon. I have been basking in the warm glow of sisterhood all day. How very blessed I am.

Creating Space

The Old Moon in the New Moon's Arms

Credit & Copyright: Laurent Laveder

Tonight, I will gather by the fire with my moon sisters to welcome the New Moon in Scorpio. I've been thinking about my intentions for the lunar cycle ahead and they are BIG. I feel an intense need for space. Not physical space, but a sense of openness around myself and my relationships. Some of my specific intentions are to:

• Be more compassionate with myself and give myself space to be imperfect and to fall below my own ambitious expectations.

• Give my children space to exist individually as they need to - a little healthy detachment parenting is called for.

• Choose a more spacious response to petty irritations. A line from Buddhism for Mothers, by Sarah Napthali, speaks to this: "If you add a spoonful of poison to a glass of water then a mouthful could be fatal. Add the same amount of poison to a vast lagoon, take a mouthful and you suffer no harm."

I waited until I had thought through my intentions to read about the energies at work for this new moon. Then I visited astrowisdom.com for Lisa Dale Miller's message, which states it is the most serious new moon of the year. She suggests intentions and rituals focus on truth-telling, tempered with compassionate understanding. I am ready for this Scorpio moon, the perfect time to release old truths and create space for new wisdom. The work may be hard, but I believe the payoff will be great.

Perhaps you'll join me in honoring this new moon with some intentions of your own...

Ghost Starts with "G"

With a child in preschool, my weeks are now marked by a letter of the alphabet. We are closing out "G" week over here today and it's our turn to bring snack for Selby's class. Inspired by Tribeca Yummy Mummy's post on Graham Cracker Cut-Outs by guest bloggers Meredith & Alison, we will grace the group with Graham Ghosts and Grapes. The homemade graham cracker recipe was easy & fun for Selby to help make, plus healthy and yummy - so I would rate it grrrreat! Try it out this weekend and I guarantee your little ghosts will gobble these goodies up.

Another week gone by... Goodbye "G" - Hello "H." Happy Friday to all!

The Simple Things

Some days, life goes by so fast I can barely keep up. Wednesdays are often like this for me. When I feel like I'm spinning out of control, I try and put my attention on the simple things that bring me joy. A few favorites to bring me back to Earth:

- A steaming hot cup of flavored coffee with a splash of milk and a whipped cream top.

- Books & magazines. Currently reading: Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children and Buddha . Favorite mags: Mothering, Domino and Real Simple.

- A view of the water: from my back porch, at the beach, by the Bay... wherever it flows.

- The blank pages of a beautiful journal and a good pen.

- Long hugs from my nest-mates: little chick snuggle sessions at dawn and the strong arms of Daddy Bird at night.

- A little kitchen therapy involving a hot, hearty meal to feed both my soul and my loved ones.

And so I am reminded, instead of dreaming of a more simple way of life, to find the beauty in the ordinary moments, natural spaces and simple things that already surround me. And once again, I can breathe.

Fall Festival #2

I look forward to our local Pumpkin Festival every year. Since becoming a mother, it marks the passage of time for me. We made our first visit to the festival when Selby was four months old. We propped her up in the pumpkin patch for a photo and a tradition was born.

The following year, we went back and it was a whole new world. Selby (16 mo.) ran all over the pumpkin patch, visited the petting zoo and danced to the country music. She too was captivated.At two, Selby rode a pony, painted a gourd and traversed the mini corn maze.

Last year, Selby (3 yrs.) rode the tractor-pulled kiddie train and gobbled up pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin pie (me too at 9 months pregnant!). Too bad my photos of this day were lost in a computer crash. This year, we introduced our newest little pumpkin to the festival! Sage (11 mo.) experienced her first pumpkin patch photo shoot with 4-year-old Selby... and the cycle begins again. The fun, the food, the photos - it's all a part of the richness of the Pumpkin Festival. But it's the custom itself that I love so. It serves as a yearly reminder to be present in the moment, to be grateful for the blessings of the past year, and to look forward to the opportunities of the year to come. This is the beauty of tradition, which promises some constancy in an ever-evolving world. I'd love to hear what family traditions you have and what they mean to you.

My Cozy Nest

Well, I made huge progress (see earlier post) ......and I have a clean, cozy nest for the weekend (as long as we don't open any closet doors). Happy Friday - may your weekend be full of cozy moments!

Tidying Up the Nest

I'm on a mission today to clean up my house. My goal is to have the laundry, the toys, the dishes, etc. all tidied up by 2 pm today, when I go to pick up Selby. The reward - a clean house for the weekend. The bonus - a date with my hubby tonight (thank you righteous babes Maggie & Megen for watching the girls) knowing nothing else needs to be done. Here are some before shots:Check back later to see the transformation! And wish me luck...

The Blue Spoon

Despite all the beautiful wooden and plush toys I have surrounded Sage with, she is madly in love with a blue, plastic tablespoon. It goes everywhere with her throughout the house including in the bath and at the table. Of course, it also comes along in the car.Lately, she has even taken to sleeping with it, giving a whole new meaning to "spooning."

Her right fist curls tight around the handle, and beware to the poor sucker who tries to pry it loose! Every once and a while she trades it out for a set of pink, plastic measuring cups or the wooden utensils from Selby's play kitchen. But always, she comes back to her true love, the blue spoon!

As a Virgo who can often over think things, I am trying not to over analyze Sage's attachment to a plastic spoon. I am sure it will be the first in a string of choices throughout her life that I will not entirely understand. Whether it's a lovey at 11 months, a boyfriend at 16, or a career path at 25, the choices my girls make, ultimately, will be theirs and theirs alone.

And this is where mothering gets tricky. I can be their guide, their teacher and their example, but in the end, I know, they will be their own selves. My job is simply to support their journey of the soul with unconditional love, no matter what choices they make.

As Kahil Gibran wrote in the The Prophet:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

From My Notebook

I don't have the time I once had to devote to regular journaling. So recently, I began recording small bits of inspiration, quotes, ideas, random thoughts, funny things the girls do or say, etc., in a beautiful journal I got for my birthday. I thought it might be fun to share a few of my notes now and then. Here's a sampling from this week:

• "Focus on the patient work of taking care, rather than the buzz of acquiring and accomplishing." (I can't remember where I found this quote on mothering, but I have recalled it many times this week.)

• Selby is all about marriage and weddings right now. Usually, she pretends to marry daddy or her beloved friend Banyan; today she married "an invisible man." (hmm...)

• I have been fantasizing about living like SouleMama...knitting by a warm fire, making homemade pies and canning my harvest, and taking long walks through Autumn woods. I realize I will never live this type of rural life, at least not as a young mother residing in the suburbs by the beach. So I am loving living rurally through her fabulous blog. And I am inspired to enjoy the beauty and blessings right here in my world. There are so many...

• Sage is now 11 months old and I can't figure out how this is possible. Wasn't it just yesterday she was born into our cozy nest? My eyes can hardly recognize the little person she is becoming. My heart both breaks and swells with love as she grows and changes by the day.

• Day 5 of "quarantine" with the girls - I have discovered there is very little that two ibuprofen and two cups of hazelnut coffee can't get you through.

So now you've had a peek inside my notebook; I'd love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts!

Tea for Two

While home sick for the past 3 days, Selby has taken to drinking warm chamomile tea with lots of honey and lemon. This is new for her and she is enchanted. We make it in a delicate porcelain tea cup and she carries it - very slowly - to where she wants to sit and drink it. "Just like a lady," she says. "A real lady." I too am enchanted by her enthusiasm - and also a bit saddened to see how she already wants to act like a grown up.

Against all my determination not to catch this nasty virus, I am now laid out as well. So after dinner tonight, with a little help from daddy, Selby made me some tea. She suggested "camile" (chamomile), but I asked for decaf Chai instead. She scurried in to me from the kitchen, "Daddy says it's tea calf," she reported. "Decaf," I corrected her, emphasizing the d. "Da-da-da-decaf," she repeated and ran off. When she returned, she presented me with my "tai chi." I thanked her and gently told her it's Chai tea.

It was one of those moments that makes the hard work of mothering - especially sick children - well worth it. I am so touched by Selby's heartfelt desire to share with me some of the warmth and comfort I have tried to give her this week. Not only has she discovered tea, but also the importance of giving back.

Now off to bed, where I belong...

Slowing Down

Time slowed down today as both girls were home sick with colds. It occurred to me, at some point, that I couldn't name the last day we were all home, all day - no preschool, no parks, no parties. Just a simple, slow day in jammies. We colored, read books, listened to music and played made up games on the floor. Selby used up an entire roll of tape to decorate her kiddie table with Sage's blocks...Nana brought Daisy by for some pet therapy...

And we made fresh ginger cookies for a snack.Overall, despite the sneezing, sore throats and weepy eyes, it was a sweet day. We keep so busy all the time, always running from one activity to the next, I often forget to "schedule in" time to just be together in our cozy nest. It is here, in these gaps, that we discover the simplest pleasures in the most ordinary of things. Next time, we'll just skip the snot!

Setting My Sights...

I believe we can manifest whatever we want in life. The most powerful example of this I have experienced was the birth of my youngest daughter, Sage, last November. I knew what I wanted her birth to be and I created it through visualization: a morning birth, in the water, at home, with my oldest daughter Selby present. Every element fell into place and it was truly amazing.

Since then, with all the chaos of raising two babes, keeping house and working when I can, I haven't put much attention on what I want in my life now. At the suggestion of an intuitive, Jeff and I have begun work on a vision board to visually represent things we want to do, be or have in our lives. We have set it up, as guided, in four quadrants: wealth & prosperity, love & marriage, health & self-cultivation and travel, friends & family; plus a career area in the center.

We've just started and it's already helping us focus on what's important to us, both individually and as a couple. Here are just a few things I'm setting my sights on now: a natural flow of money, dates with Jeff, a sleeping baby, writing my book, a relaxing vacation, a whole food diet.

If you're familiar with the metaphsyical law of attraction, you know we attract into our lives whatever we put our attention on - good or bad. This vision board is an opportunity to spotlight our dreams and then watch as they effortlessly and gracefully manifest into reality. Now, back to the board...

Fall Festival #1

We kicked off October and the fall festival season today at the Florida Friends of Midwives 1st Annual Fall Festival (honoring Florida Licensed Midwives Week). Selby spent almost 2 hours in the bounce house, decorated a pumpkin cookie and had her face painted as a black cat.

I enjoyed the apple cider and a breezy autumn morning that actually felt like Fall. Have I mentioned I love this season? I'm having a romance with pumpkins: pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin spice ale, pumpkin lattes... And I love pumpkin patch photos. So with our family-favorite Pumpkin Festival just around the corner, as well as at least two other fall festivals on the calendar, more pumpkin pix are sure to come! Check out this one of my midwife Harmony's pumpkin "bump."

Here's to October, midwives and pumpkins! What do you love about Fall?