Home, Sweet Home

Well, we made it. We are now three weeks settled in at our new apartment. With an extra bedroom and a bit more space in the living room and kitchen, I think we are all feeling the benefit of spaciousness. We lucked out and found another place with gorgeous hardwood floors. Our landlord is a hoot. A shop teacher at West High who drives a Harley, he's quite the character. And takes good care of the place. We asked about gardening possibilities in the back yard, and he is planning on building us some raised beds when he gets back from Europe. Sweet!

Speaking of sweet. Baby O, how we love to see you happy! Our dear little one has made marvelous progress in the past month, with the help or our craniosacral guru. She is so much more comfortable and now spends most of the day smiling, laughing, and getting into mischief instead of crying, screaming, and struggling to find peace. Olivia is my little yogini. She practices downward facing dog, upward facing dog, plank, and half plank. She is growing fast, too: 17 1/2 pounds as of yesterday! AND she is getting two front, bottom teeth in!

The dog days of summer have not set in yet, but the mosquitoes are breeding like crazy after all the rain we have had. Just the other day I went out in the middle of the afternoon to pull the laundry off the line and got SWARMED by the little buggers. Ten bites in less than a minute. Ugh. At least they're not so bad when I'm on the move. Olivia and I have been able to get out for daily walks, which feels amazing. She loves her REI Piggyback carrier! It is loaded with straps to pull and suck on, and she gets to be queen of the world on Mama's back. We elicit quite the buzz while out and about on our adventures.

Papa Hayes has had many adventures with O recently, too, but I will save those stories for him. :) Thank you, my love, for being such an amazing partner! I have had a couple of busy weeks, heading out in the evenings to help with VBS at All Saints, or meet up with sister Sal and friends, or yoga class, or dinner and a movie with Spark (tonight), or APT with Mumsy (tomorrow)... It feels good to be so active and know that Olivia is having fun times with Daddy, but I must say that last night, the three of us together felt reeeeally good after (during) these busy times!

To close, I have an excerpt from one of the books I am reading right now: Momma Zen, by Karen Maezen Miller. The author used her experiences as a mother and a Zen Buddhist to create this memoir about motherhood as a spiritual path. Needless to say, I am loving it. :)

"Today's assignment is to drop the woebegone wishes and daydreams, the ruinous comparisons to the paradise lost or aspirations unfulfilled. Tomorrow, drop them again. When you need a change, make one. When you need a break, take one. When you need help, get it. When it's time to work, work. When you need to go to the bathroom, lay your baby gently on the floor beside you, give a coo and a smile, and let 'er rip. Ah! Free at last."