Harmony is what I'm after

Welcome to the January 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: The More Things Stay the Same
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have talked about the continuity and constancy in their lives. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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If you read my post on Celebrating Change, you know that I love a constant stream of change.  I welcome constant change because I am afraid of being that woman who wakes up at 40 years old and says "oh crap, what have I done with my life other than live it for everyone else?"  and decides to go skydiving.  So every day must be skydiving adventure for me.  My poor husband.

I Hit A Kid Once

Well, not really.  At least I hope he didn't tell his parents I hit him.  Because I didn't.  Okay, you be the judge.

We were at the playground.  You know, the indoor one at the mall.  It's the place where I take my kids when I am fairly certain we have been in the house too long.  I can tell because Xavi begins punching with his sister for no apparent reason, followed by hugs and kisses which obviously escalates into more hitting.  No, that's not when I hit the kid.  Though, I am going to be at a loss once that boy is too heavy to pick up and move.  Ehh... that's for future Jaye Anne to work out.

So, we were at this playground.  Bella had gone into this dome thing with a little boy.  I was concerned what would happen between two three-year-olds of opposite sex in such a private space, so I watched them closely to find out.

I could tell there was tension between them.  The boy was trying to convey something in whatever language he was trying to speak.  It was a mixture of English and Spanish and unadulterated toddler speech frustration.  The one language he clearly spoke was boy.  The same language that Bella's brother speaks.  That little boy picked his foot up and --tapped-- my little girl with his foot on her CHEST!  He meant to kick her harder, so he tried again.

As his foot raised,  Warrior Mama came out of me, wanting to kill him. I jumped across an airplane runway and dove into the dome.  Fortunately, for everyone, Peaceful Mama brought Warrior Mama down a few (thousand) notches.  I pointed at his chest and in a powerful (not yelling) voice said, "YOU do NOT kick her!"  He ran off, crying to his mommy.  I felt both victorious and guilty.  I made someone else's kid cry by defending my own.

What would you have done?  How do you handle altercations between toddler acquaintances?

Celebrating Change

Welcome to the December 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: The More Things Change . . .
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared stories and wisdom about life changes.
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Xavi before his haircut

Change feeds my soul.  The concept that despite how great (or not great) life is in this present moment, things can always get better.  I welcome that change.  I welcome the subtleties of this change.  I love the contrast between the transition and the end result.  The transition never looks hopeful in that instant.  Then all of a sudden, the desired outcome appears seemingly out of nowhere!  This is my favorite beauty.

The LoCo Locavore Takes OVER

Welcome to the 30 Days of Change Blog Carnival hosted by Living Peacefully With Children and Hybrid Rasta Mama. In celebration of the New Year and forgotten resolutions , we're sharing the results of our 30 day commitment to addressing one habit the we either needed to eliminate, reframe, or include in our life. We hope you are inspired and energized to make one positive change in your own habits.

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Hi, I'm Jaye Anne and I want to tell you about my 30 days of change... sniff... I smell...

LOCAL FOOD!  (crash, camera flips over, falls on ground.  View is sideways as you see me transform.  I now have crazy hair and am holding heirloom squashes.)

What the heck is Conscious Parenting?

So this conscious parenting thing...  It seems to be a--erm--movement?  And it is moving in a BIG way.  Fast.  This is awesome!  But... I have my concerns with this quick-moving movement.  Do these people really understand what conscious parenting is?  I'm reminded of the organic movement.  How it started with a feeling and ended up with a bunch of homeless hippies on one end and the USDA owning the word on the other.  While I don't think the USDA is going to own our parenting styles (that would be a mess), I want to define this word here since it is the crux of why I spend all this time on the Internet.  Why I have this blog.

95% of what we do in life is unconscious.  The choices we make in food, jobs, entertainment, spouses.  We know it, too, though maybe not to the extent it controls our lives.  Have you ever heard someone say "so-and-so made a conscious decision to this and that?"  The worst part (or maybe the best part) is that the framework for this unconscious activity was laid in the first six years of our lives while we were in a brain wave state called "theta."  This is why change is so hard.  We want to keep our unconscious stuff going on, for good or for bad.  Conscious thinking takes a lot of energy, and it is the slower-firing part of the brain.  Our unconscious is there to help us make quick decisions based on past experiences.  The conscious brain is there for innovation.  The future.

 The good news is we can be reprogrammed using our conscious brain.  The difficulty lies in what do we want to reprogram and what do we want to keep?  What is even there?  Well, since our unconscious makes a lot of our decisions, we can deduce that the course of our lives is a printout of our programming.  We can see where we have been and make a conscious decision to change where we are going.  Sometimes the past is so difficult that we need help seeing what it looked like.  This is why therapy changes lives.  We can get up on a hill to see which way the forest ends.

So, what does this mean for parenting and natural living?  Well, we can reprogram things we want to change.  For example, I grew up in a house where we were late all the time.  Then I was finding myself being late all the time.  I have thought to myself, "do I want to keep this program or rewrite it?"  Then I decided, and acted accordingly.  We can do the same thing with every parenting decision we make.  I have a hunch that this conscious thing erupted so greatly in the parenting sector because maybe parents have an altered state of brain activity, too.  But that's my personal speculation.

The point is, conscious parenting is about the why and not the how.  For example, many people demonize spanking.  They question what the difference is between spanking and beating a child.  In some cases, there is no difference.  The intention creates this difference.  I will freely admit, my parents spanked me as a child.  My mom called it a tool in the toolbox of her parenting techniques.  She had a very conscious way about her spanking, and used it when it was necessary.  One would not use a hammer to fix a porcelain dish, nor glue to build a house.  The intention is the difference.

So all of you out there wanting to have a "certified conscious parenting" experience, you will have to look for more than unschooling, elimination communication, freebirthing, and breastfeeding.  Those are all things "crunchy" people might do and can be great for health and the free spirit, but may or may not be conscious.  I would argue that in the right person public schooling, disposable diapering, elected c-sections, and bottlefeeding can also be conscious.  Look more upstream than that and answer why.

Conscious parenting is about knowing yourself, knowing your child, paying attention, and making your own decisions.  This is a lot of work.  None of these things has direct output metrics, so if you say you are a conscious parent, I'll believe you.  No one knows more about you than you.

The best part of conscious parenting is being able to tailor the how to each child and to myself in our current stage of life.  I own the tools, not the other way around.  The over arching goal? To maximize happiness and love in each member of my family, including myself.  Especially myself.  If my children see that it's okay for me to be happy and loving while they are in their "theta" state, they would be better off as parents in the future.  Maybe that could continue to the seventh generation.

Traditional Christmas Tree

Welcome to the December 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Childhood Memories
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have talked about memories of growing up — their own or the ones they’re helping their children create. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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Xavi looking for trees in the wagon

I am the eldest of four.  As my mom says, "it goes girl, boy, boy, girl."  We are each three years apart and have recently begun to actually enjoy each other's presence.  Year after year for Christmas, we have typically gone to a Christmas tree farm to get the bit of outside to bring the outdoors in.  Weird, I know.  We drive past all the fancy Charlie Brown-style lots to pay more and chop a tree down ourselves.

Bella found her perfect baby tree!

But traditions are more about why than about what.  I think there is some visceral connection to the earth that we remind ourselves of when we chop down this ceremonial tree.  The fresh air, the great scenery (our tree farm is on the side of a beautiful mountain), the pictures, the stories (remember the time Nathan forgot his jacket-- and his shoes!  He had to be carried from tree to tree until we picked out the perfect one).  These are the things we bring back other than our tree.  There is something also to be said for taking the responsibility for the energy required to bring our tree home.  There are no transportational middlemen here.

We leave things too.  The money we spend goes to the farmer and the farmer's children.  This is obvious since we see both of them working with us.  Some of the children sell snacks as a personal business.  Their house is slightly farther up the mountain than the barn and trees for Christmasing.  By patronizing their farm over a cheaper tree, we allow them to thrive and flourish as people.  They are nice, too.  They always help us hoist the tree up to the roof of the car (can't help us tie it due to insurance regulations) and wave goodbye as we drive away.  For the purchase of something so ornamental, there is a real connected feeling about the whole experience.  Of goodness, of love, and of kindess.  Of Christmas.
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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be updated by afternoon December 11 with all the carnival links.)

• Childhood Memories of Peace, Support, Joy, and Love — Amber at Heart Wanderings wants to make sure the majority of the memories that her children have as a part of their family are ones that are positive and help support the amazing people that they are now and will become as adults.
• Hand Made Baby Books — Destany at They Are All of Me talks about why baby books are important to her for preserving memories of her childrens first years, and shows how she made one by hand for each child.
• Can your childhood memories help you keep your cool? — Here's To A Boring Year uses memories of being a child to keep her on the path to peaceful parenting.
• Inter-Generational Memories {Carnival of Natural Parenting} — Meegs at A New Day talks about her own childhood memories, and what she hopes her daughter will remember in the future.
• Snapshots — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings reflects on the ways our childhood memories appear to us, and hopes her own daughter's childhood will be one she remembers as being happy and fulfilled.
• What makes the perfect parent? — In a guest post on Natural Parents Network, Mrs Green from Little Green Blog reflects on camp follow and camp no-follow...
• In My Own Handwriting — Laura from Pug in the Kitchen talks about her journals and the hope that they will be able to keep her stories alive even if she isn't able to.
• Candlelight, fairylight, firelight — Lucy at Dreaming Aloud re-discovers the ingredients for bringing magic to life, especially at Christmas.
• Making Memories (or) How We Celebrate Christmas — Rosemary at Rosmarinus Officinalis talks about creating new memories at Christmas, and the joy their adventures bring to her whole family.
• The Importance of Recording Feelings and Emotions and Not Just the Experience — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares why she puts pen to paper every day to record more than just her experiences as a mother and her daughter's experiences as a child. Jennifer looks at the importance of capturing feelings and emotions that accompany the experience.
• Dredged up — Kenna at Million Tiny Things has been forced to recount childhood memories at bedtime, due to the failure of her middle-aged imagination. She resists, of course.
• Crafting Memories — Handmade is what makes the holidays special for Christy at Eco Journey In the Burbs, and she wants to create the same connection with her daughters that she remembers with mother and grandmother.
• My Childhood Memories; beacons of light in the darkness — Stone Age Parent shares the impact of her childhood memories on her life as a parent today, listing some of her many rich childhood memories and how they now act as beacons of light helping her in the complex, often confusing world of child-rearing.
• 10 Ways I Preserve Memories for My Children — From video interviews to time capsules, Dionna at Code Name: Mama wants to make sure her children have many different ways to cherish their childhood memories. Dionna's carnival post features ten of the ways she preserves memories; check out her Pinterest board for more ideas.
• Memories of my mother — Luschka at Diary of a First Child remembers her mother and the fondest moments of her childhood, especially poignant as she sits by her mother's sickbed writing.
• Creating Happy Childhood Memories through Family Traditions — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells why family traditions are so important to her and her family and shares how she’s worked to create traditions for her children.
• Traditional Christmas Tree — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake, Half Asleep remembers the great times spent with her family driving for the Christmas Tree and the lessons learned.
• Wet Socks and Presents — Kat at MomeeeZen writes about her favorite Christmas childhood memory and why it's so special. And she hopes one day her kids will also have a feel-good memory of their own to look back on.
• Stuff does not equal memories — Lauren at Hobo Mama learns that letting go does not mean failing to remember.
• A Child's Loss- Will They Remember Dad? — Erica at ChildOrganics writes about their family's loss of their husband and father. She trys to find answers to the question: Will they remember their Dad?
• Childhood Memories - Hers and Mine — Jorje of Momma Jorje wished for her daughter the same passions and experiences she loved as a child, but learns the hard way to accept whatever passions strike in her child.
• Holiday Non-Traditions — Erika Gebhardt enjoys her family's tradition of not having traditions for the holidays.

Culture of what?

Prince Charles said that a culture is defined by its religion, its language and its cuisine.  I don't know about you, but I have felt cultureless for a long time.  Being a white girl who grew up in just-barely-middle class America, I felt like our culture was so bleached out that I grabbed for anything that felt like culture.  Much of what was available, though was out of context so I could not really feel like I was a part of something.  Experiencing others' cultures is only useful when a person has their own sense of what their culture feels like.  Otherwise, it is a noncontextual glimpse of something that feels random to the onlooker.

It is my surmise, though, that when a person is firmly grounded in their own culture, they are better able to understand others' cultures.  Look at the humble tomato.  Juicy and delicious, it is a native to Mexico.  We all think of Italian food as being steeped in tomato sauce and cheese at every turn.  Tomatoes did not become a part of their cuisine until Columbus discovered the New World and brought tomatoes back.  Because the Italians were firmly grounded in their own cusine, they were able to incorporate this new fruit into something that we view to be Italian.

So what of America?  What is our culture?  There is a part of me that wants to say we are too geographically large to have one culture.  I can tell you how I grew up.  My food was ramen noodles, mac and cheese, and fresh vegetables.  We had honey ginger chicken a lot, and occasionally meat loaf or casseroles for dinner.  Lunch was usually sandwiches (and for awhile, pizza), and as my years went on my parents began as staunch low-sugar breakfast cereal promoters (if we had sugary cereals, it was always mixed with a healthy one) to we don't like it, but we are too tired to fight you on this issue, and we are happy to have breakfast with you.

As for religion, we were very Christian.  We hid in the back while getting dressed for Halloween, hoping that the trick-or-treaters would see our dark house and skip it.  We then drove to church where they had what they called the "joy jamboree."  I have never really heard jamboree be used in a serious sense since.  I can remember the part during church between worship and the message, where from the awaiting silence a prophesy would speak out some kind of heartwarming or horrifying thought.

My language was predominately English because that's what my mom spoke.  My father is deaf, so he signed to us quite a bit, though he was very good at speaking.

But I always felt we were not normal.  That there was something out there that was more normal or cultural than us.  Maybe I was searching for an idealized cultural normal that I thought existed.  Something to the effect of "getting the chip."  Maybe I made it hard for myself to be accepted into the culture because I kept telling myself that I was different, and then my self-fulfilling prophesy was fulfilled.

I don't know if America has a culture, but it certainly contains a lot of them and blanket-sweeping some type of cultural norms across the entire country snuffs out the beautiful variation that we have.  Naturally-and conciously-minded people do this too.  We say "we do thus and so (insert breastfeeding, cloth diapering/EC, homebirthing here)," and the rest of the world does "blah, blah, blah (insert formula-feeding, disposable diapering, or epidural-sporting comment here)."  I know a lot of people do respect the microculture that is our day-to-day life, which is a dynamic, ever-changing set of actions that become our mark on the earth and on humanity.  Sometimes we need to turn around and put the spotlight on ourselves with this conscious living.  Is it really conscious, or is it just anti-perceived culture?

Conscious Selfishness

I have been letting the last few weeks slip away.  This is mostly because I am very inward-focused now.  Focused on my health, focused on my consciousness, and focused on looking for a job.  My birthday came in the middle of all of that, which is my favorite day of the year.  Again, it was an inward, self-focus.  I have been kind of "getting through" breastfeeding lately.  From the outside, this might look selfish or lazy.  I really feel that if we work on ourselves as a being, we will become better mothers and our children will be better for it.  The important thing is to know whether the selfishness is an addiction, an escape, or just an energy booster.  There is a balance in everything.  I know this is a short period of time, so I am enjoying being me and maybe being a little selfish.

Trouble With MILs--Ourselves?

Welcome to the May 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting With or Without Extended Family
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how relatives help or hinder their parenting. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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I was so excited to see the topic for this month's Carnival.  I was planning to write about the relationship I have with my mother-in-law.  It was going to start with a discussion of baby poop, which is a big point of contention between the two of us (she has never seen exclusively-breastfed poop and told me constantly that my daughter had diarrhea.)  Her good intentions are founded on the belief that American-developed products are superior to those of their natural state.  This is because she came to this country many years ago (very precariously, I might add) to have a better life for herself and her offspring. We are like two ships passing in the night.  I have a natural parenting perspective and want to do things like breastfeed exclusively and use cloth diapers and drink raw milk.  Everything I want for my children is backwards to her and seemingly negates everything she came here to do.  We have a constant back-and-forth with the same goal in mind: the best interest of the children.  We do not speak each other's language, literally or figuratively.  Our perspectives are opposite and deeply rooted.  And we are both stubborn.

So that was going to be my blog post, in a nutshell.  Until I read Hobo Mama's miscarriage poetry.  I, too, had a baby that I put in a plastic baggie.  My 21st birthday was a Friday.  I didn't go out or even feel like drinking.  I knew what was coming soon.  I paid a doctor to confirm my suspicions weeks earlier.  The next day I went into labor while out "celebrating" my birthday (or actually spending most of it in the bathroom at the Melting Pot ).  I took my baggie to the doctor's and they returned its contents (but only after I begged them and several weeks later) "properly processed" and marked "products of conception."  It took me awhile to decide what to do with this "tissue", and even longer to actually carry it out.  I was afraid of what I would find.  Would it be human-like?  Would it be accusatory?  Would it stink?  Since we would be moving a lot, we decided to put it in a pot and plant an aloe over it.  Aloe vera is known to be healing and soothing, a metaphor for beginning the healing process within us.  They're also known to be very hardy, and impossible to incorrectly take care of.

I watered it every day; got upset when a leaf would fall off or broke.  I was afraid to use it though, the processing chemicals were in the soil.  I had no idea what to expect would be in the plant's chemistry.  Sometimes when the leaves rubbed against the white wall, it was a little red.

Then I went away to chiropractic school.  Pablo's mom took care of the plant while I was away.  I came back after 4 months, and it was in better condition than I had ever seen it.  A tiny aloe vera had sprouted up right next to it, even.  I took charge of it and it began to get sick.  Nothing from the Internet seemed to work.  I was too afraid to dig up the smaller plant.  I was afraid of Pablo's mom digging it up too.  I was afraid of what either of us would find under that dirt.  We moved one last time and then I left it in the darkest corner of our house.  I didn't know how to fix the problem and I didn't want to fail at it anymore.  Eventually, while I was pregnant with Isabella, the aloe died.

On June 9th, exactly three years after the first baby evacuated my uterus, Isabella was born.  I thought it was a circle of healing commemorating the date.  What really happened was I emotionally replaced the first baby with the second, and I successfully placed all my inadequacies of caring for a plant on my self-esteem as a parent.  I overcompensated by arguing (in broken Spanglish) with my mother-in-law on every piece of advice she wanted to give me.

I learned I injected my past experiences into the relationship I had with my mother-in-law.  Does she have completely opposing viewpoints on child raising?  Absolutely (the whole family thinks I should have weaned my daughter at 1 and that my very chubby 8-month old is not getting enough milk due to tandem nursing...).  The truth is that we are coming from the same place: a love for my children, tiny people who are also known as her grandchildren.  So the next time you have a fight with an opposing maternal viewpoint, remember that your hot-button issues may be made hotter by something totally unrelated.

I now tell myself every day that my horticulture abilities (or maybe lack thereof) have no indication of my parenting qualifications.  This has improved my relationship with not only my mother-in-law, but more importantly with my daughter.  Conscious parenting saves the day!


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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Dealing With Unsupportive Grandparents — In a guest post at Natural Parents Network, The Pistachio Project tells what to do when your child's grandparents are less than thrilled about your parenting choices.
• Parenting With Extended Family — Jenny at I'm a full-time mummy shares the pros and cons of parenting with extended family...
• Parental Support for an AP Mama — Meegs at A New Day talks about the invaluable support of her parents in her journey to be an AP mama.
• Priceless Grandparents — That Mama Gretchen reflects on her relationship with her priceless Grammy while sharing ways to help children preserve memories of their own special grandparents.
• Routines Are Meant To Be Broken — Olga at Around The Birthing Ball urges us to see Extended Family as a crucial and necessary link between what children are used to at home and the world at large.
• It Helps To Have A Village – Even A Small One — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses how she has flourished as a mother due to the support of her parents.
• The Orange Week — Erika at Cinco de Mommy lets go of some rules when her family finally visits extended family in San Diego.
• One Size Doesn't Fit All — Kellie at Our Mindful Life realizes that when it comes to family, some like it bigger and some like it smaller.
• It Takes a Family — Alicia at What's Next can't imagine raising a child without the help of her family.
• A new foray into family — As someone who never experienced close extended family, Lauren at Hobo Mama wrestles with how to raise her kids — and herself — to restart that type of community.
• My Mama Rocks! — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment is one lucky Mama to have the support and presence of her own awesome Mama.
• Embracing Our Extended Family — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares 7 ideas for nurturing relationships with extended family members.
• Doing Things Differently — Valerie at Momma in Progress shares how parenting her children far away from extended family improved her confidence in her choices.
• Snapshots of love — Caroline at stoneageparent describes the joys of sharing her young son's life with her own parents.
• Parenting with Relies – A mixed bag — Ursula Ciller shares some of her viewpoints on the pros and cons of parenting with relatives and extended family.
• Tante and Uncles — How a great adult sibling relationship begets a great relationship with aunt and uncles from Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy.
• Tips for Traveling With Twins — Megan at the Boho Mama shares some tips for traveling with infant twins (or two or more babies!).
• Parenting passed through the generations — Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes talks about the incredible parenting resource that is her found family, and how she hopes to continue the trend.
• My Family and My Kids — Jorje of Momma Jorje ponders whether she distrusts her family or if she is simply a control freak.
• Parenting with a Hero — Rachel at Lautaret Bohemiet reminisces about the relationship she shared with her younger brother, and how he now shares that closeness in a relationship with her son.
• Text/ended Family — Kenna of A Million Tiny Things wishes her family was around for the Easter egg hunt... until she remembers what it's actually like having her family around.
• Two Kinds of Families — Adrienne at Mommying My Way writes about how her extended family is just as valuable to her mommying as her church family.
• My 'high-needs' child and 'strangers' — With a 'high-needs' daughter, aNonyMous at Radical Ramblings has had to manage without the help of family or friends, adapting to her daughter's extreme shyness and allowing her to socialise on her own terms.
• Our Summer Tribe — Justine at The Lone Home Ranger shares a love of her family's summer reunion, her secret to getting the wisdom of the "village" even as she lives 1,000 miles away.
• My Life Boat {Well, One of Them} — What good is a life boat if you don't get it? Grandparents are a life boat MomeeeZen loves!
• Dear Children — In an open letter to her children, Laura at Pug in the Kitchen promises to support them as needed in her early days of parenting.
• Yearning for Tribal Times — Ever had one of those days where everything seems to keep going wrong? Amy at Anktangle recounts one such day and how it inspired her to think about what life must've been like when we lived together in large family units.
• I don't have a village — Jessica Claire at Crunchy-Chewy Mama wishes she had family nearby but appreciates their support and respect.
• Trouble With MILs-- Ourselves? — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake Half Asleep explains how her arguments with her mother-in-law may have something to do with herself.
• A Family Apart — Melissa at Vibrant Wanderings writes about the challenges, and the benefits, of building a family apart from relatives.
• First Do No Harm — Zoie at TouchstoneZ asks: How do you write about making different parenting choices than your own family experience without criticizing your parents?
• Military Family Separation — Amy Willa shares her feelings about being separated from extended family during her military family journey.
• Forging A Village In The Absence Of One — Luschka from Diary of a First Child writes about the importance of creating a support network, a village, when family isn't an option.
• Respecting My Sister’s Parenting Decisions — Dionna at Code Name: Mama's sister is guest posting on the many roles she has as an aunt. The most important? She is the named guardian, and she takes that role seriously.
• Multi-Generational Living: An Exercise in Love, Patience, and Co-Parenting — Boomerang Mama at The Other Baby Book shares her experience of moving back in with Mom and Dad for 7 months, and the unexpected connection that followed.
• A Heartfelt Letter to Family: Yes, We're Weird, but Please Respect Us Anyway — Sheila of A Living Family sincerely expresses ways she would appreciate her extended family’s support for her and her children, despite their “weird” parenting choices.
• The nuclear family is insane! — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle is grateful for family support, wishes her Mum lived closer, and feels an intentional community would be the ideal way to raise her children.

Baby's First Bath

This video looks like it comes from somewhere in France.  It is so sweet and peaceful the way this woman gives these babies their first baths.  My favorite part is how careful she is to cover the baby's face without getting water in their noses.  This active consciousness is the kind of care I want to be giving my children when caring for them.  I felt like I was watching a new communion of soothing between the caregiver and the babies, and she was welcoming them into the world by giving them a type of nostalgia of what life was like sometime before that difficult time of labor and birth.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/04/skip-your-morning-meditation-watch-this-instead/