Peace to all

This amazing little person who came through me, is such a gift. Here is another one of so many stories. A couple of days ago we were out at our favorite funky local resturant where baby engaged in his usual nonverbal, but oh so clear, communication style (looks, smiles & sweet sounds)with the woman at the next table. Once he had managed to make her day daddyman headed out ahead of me with the baby. Much to the womans delight and surprise baby gave her the peace sign over daddy's shoulder.

A quiet place

Amazing how my world has been altered so profoundly. My life of as a midwife required much of me. And my life as a wife and mama requires even more. At this moment my husband is asleep on the couch. Our son was asleep, but just as I had the thought of writing he stirred. Given that the iPhone is so portable and our only Internet in the house, here I am giving nourishment to my baby and words to my world. Before Child (BC) I had many quiet ways of being in my life. The most obvious, the hours of yoga and mediation, have taken on new forms. As a midwife I often said "the only people who work harder then midwives are mothers" and now I know for sure this is true.

Baby and I went to yoga class this morning. He is quite the yogi. It is so fun to get creative; triangle with him on my hip, tree pose with him in the sling, sun-salutations with him on the mat under me (he giggles as my head gets closer). Nicely at the studio near our home baby is welcome at all classes with me!!! Mostly this has gone very well.

Meditation has presented different challenges. One monk said that "the only real excuses for not meditating as much as you know to, are shark bites and children under five". Some mornings we sit just as we did BC but even more often I find the spaces between, to be quietly alive. Yesterday my quiet moment was with my head under water, in the bath, chanting. This made it impossible to hear fussy baby who was being well cared for by daddyman. Thankfully there have only been a few times like this in the last 3.5 months. Not wanting to "take over" when there really is nothing more I can offer, submerging my head worked very well. It was quite the kufu, as we say in Japanese. (kufu means 'a creative solution to a problem').

Smiling Baby

This baby, my son, is the happiest baby I know. He does most of his sleeping at night (today he didn't get up until 8am, usually it is closer 5or6)and always wakes up smiling regardless of the hour. This sure helps for those feadings after midnight.
The other day I'm out with baby in a carrier as usual. We had gone for a walk and he fell asleep, as he often does. We were in the hair product section when he woke up. I noticed he was awake and started talking to him about where we had been for our walk and were we are now. A woman shopping near us turned, upon hearing his name, and said "I know this baby. The one who smiles when he looks at you". It turns out they had met in a coffee shop, many days prior, with my husband.

In a few of my saddest tear-filled moments not only has he smiled at me but giggled too.
"He really is an angel" to quote my sweet husband.

"Today like every other day..."

But today is not like every other day. Today I've started a blog. I was inspired by a blog link sent to me by a dear friend. The blogger spoke of writing on the days that don't look so ideal. Today was one of those days for me, or rather a few moments of this day were that way. As a new mama there is so much newness. My sweet baby does not enjoy the carseat. On good days he tolerates it, today was not one of those days. We got through it together. A few extra stops. Thankfully we usually have all the time we need to do with as we do. What wasn't so pretty was my attempt to reason, with a 3 month old. Forgiving myself in that moment of frustration allowed me to see what baby was communicating. This being mama is such a joy unfolding!