INSPIRATION THURSDAY: Link Up!

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I’ve mentioned this before—when I started this blog, I thought it was supposed to exist in a vacuum. I didn’t realize the connection of the online community, especially the community of parents and natural-minded folks that was out there.

And, of course, nothing can exist in a vacuum.

All my life I’ve been very open and susceptible to inspiration. I am awed by small things; I tend to have grand, dramatic emotions about things that inspire me. When I’m inspired, I create. When I create, I feel fulfilled and motivated and driven to find more inspiration. Which leads me to create again.

You feel me?

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Showering with Baby in a Sling

I wore Little M in the shower today. Now, if you’ve ever taken a shower with your baby, you know that wet babies are slipperier than your grandpa on a slip and slide. There was no way I was holding his slick little self in my hands. That's just an accident waiting to happen. One of my friends recently tweeted about babywearing in the shower, and I figured I need to try it.

After all, I’m supposed to be the babywearing expert in Wilmington, I teach babywearing classes, and I have never worn baby in the shower? That had to change.

When I first put Little M in the solarveil ring sling and turned the water on, I had second thoughts. Cold feet and all that. I have a lot of hair. It was getting caught in the back of the sling. It’s hard to put your hands above your head with a ring sling. And I had to wash my hair. With baking soda. And vinegar. (I’m trying the “no poo” method of washing your hair). I didn’t want any of that to get in Little M’s eyes.

HOMEMADE GRANOLA RECIPE WITH CLUSTERS

This post is part of a blog party showcasing delicious dishes. Visit It's a Blog Party for more yummy recipes or to add yours!

One of the hardest parts about trying to lose weight is my sweet tooth. Even after I have a rich, filling meal, I need something sweet. Just to tease my palate. Or add to my muffin top. (If I could only snack on that…)

I love granola. It’s crunchy, chewy, sweet, and salty at the same time. But it’s usually expensive to buy and has quite a bit of fat. So I decided to make some homemade granola myself. I scoured the internet for granola recipes—and there are quite a few—but I finally settled on this one because of the clusters.

If you have ever made granola from scratch, you know how it doesn’t usually form clusters. And those clusters are usually the best part of granola. So I found this recipe for How to Make Homemade Granola on The Prepared Pantry. I changed it up a little, and I still have to play with the clusters—my granola still didn’t really get good clusters—but it was amazing. Toasty and nutty tasting, crunchy and chewy, just the way I like it.

MONDAY MOMENTS: Attached and Connected Through Motherhood

I’m joining Capital Mom to share my Monday Moment. Check out her blog for other Monday Moments and to join in on the fun!

Today’s theme is Alone. When I read that, I dug deep down to think about what I could write about. The word is so far out of my vocabulary these days. I almost skipped this week, but then I decided to challenge myself and really let myself sit with that word for a moment. In between diaper changes, cleaning poop off the floor, tiptoeing between what seems like thousand little Hot Wheels cars strewn across the living room, showering with my toddler, discussing the challenges of mothering with my friends, nursing an infant, distracting a toddler who wants to nurse, bouncing a little one on my lap, and lots of hugs, I thought about the word.

Alone.

And I realized that it’s just not part of my vocabulary anymore. When I wrote my post questioning my parenting style and wondering if I can, in fact, label it as attachment parenting, I wasn’t sure. There are many things I do that go in the other direction.

SUNDAY SURF

• Change the World Wednesdays on Reduce Footprints challenges us to act in an environmentally friendly way. If enough people do this during the same time period, we can change the world. I'm definitely joining in, and will be blogging about it over at the Green Baby Diaper Service blog. The more people who join in on this, the more likely we are to change the world. Join us!
• I also stumbled across The Crunchy Convert at One Yawn: Parental Mutiny in the Heartland. She describes so well how we have all stumbled across our crunchiness. (Well, maybe some of us knew about it all along.). You would think that I knew I was crunchy after spending hours sewing flowing dresses to wear at music festivals or because I thought I looked pretty hot after spending a long weekend camping, with no showers, deodorant or hairbrushes. But, like the Crunchy Convert, I too really realized I was far from the mainstream after I had my first child.  
• While reading 5 Things Breastfeeding Moms Don't Really Need at Best for Babes, my first reaction when I read that they weren't suggesting the use of a pump was "but a pump is so convenient!" I don't have to pump for a full-time job, but I do have to pump when I leave Little M to teach birth education class. And I have found it's so much easier to just pump with a hand pump on one side while he nursed on the other (as opposed to strapping myself into the double-electric milking contraption). But then I kept reading, and the advice is good. Pumping can make moms who are uncertain about their milk supplies even more uncertain. It can change an on-demand feeding schedule to a tightly-restricted monitoring of ounces and hours. And if you're building your milk supply for the pump instead of the baby, well, that can drive you crazy too. This is a great article, especially because there are so many **things** you can buy for baby. You don't really need em!
• I also came across Liz at Mom-101.com. She really snagged me with her tagline, "I don't know what I'm doing either." I wanted to throw my arms around her and designate us BFFs for lifetime. And then she double-hooked me with her post about the Breastmilk Baby Doll. She had me on the floor laughing. Her tongue-in-cheek discussions about parenting and pop culture are hilarious and honest. She's a refreshing read.

UNEXPECTED GRATITUDE

When I opened up my feed reader this morning, the first post I stumbled upon was Amanda at Take the Metro’s gratitude post. I read it and thought how nice it is to take the time to express your gratitude, then went on to read the next post in my reader. And it was by my friend at reminders2bepresent about keeping a gratitude journal.

Initially, I wasn’t going to join in the gratitude-giving (at least not publicly—my heart is constantly surging with gratitude), but I felt like this was a sign. So here goes:

HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY, LITTLE M

Ha! Caught you sleeping.

Six months (and 3 days—I’m a little behind, as usual) ago I was hanging out at home lamenting the fact that you were doing things backwards. Your amniotic sac had broken, but you weren’t budging. It wasn’t a sign that you were stubborn—you’re just different. You’re relaxed and chill, and you go with the flow, but you know what you want. You wanted to stay for just a little while longer.

Maybe it’s because you’re such a snuggler. You were warm and cozy in there, and you weren’t ready to come out into the big, cold world. But you’re considerate; you made your entrance pretty quickly once things got painful. Thanks for sparing me the intense agony.

When I first saw you, I was surprised at how light your hair was. You looked nothing like your brother. As much as I compare you to your brother—I’m sorry, I don’t mean to, but he was just all I knew when it came to babies—you are completely unique.