My Water Baby

Storey Mae and Aunt Kylee hanging by the pool-side

Our first time in Grandma's pool

We love it!

Crashed out with Aunt Jackie

The Great Outdoors

Summer in Texas has arrived in all its shining glory. It has been unbearably hot this week, and I wonder how we will survive the summer (indoors). Storey is in love with the outdoors. We have begun our days in our backyard to soak up as much of nature as we can. I carry Storey, still in my pajamas some days, and she is in awe of the trees, the flowers, the sound of the birds. Her and Josh have made me fall in love with nature also. I have never been so content to just sit and be still in it. Josh has explained his admiration for the outdoors because it is the only thing he cannot control. Nature has its will and will do what it wants. We can help it a long the way, but ultimately, it is of its own. I admire it for its simple complexity. What else can bring you such enjoyment by just being in its presence? No need for words or actions. But at the same time, it is a Creation I will never fully comprehend. I try to learn as much as I can from Josh, who is completely in his element when he is outside. Each plant is different from its root system to the color on its leaves or petals. Who dreams of such things?

I love how Storey can go from a crying mess to thoroughly at peace when we step outside. If we are outside and she is standing (on my lap) she can not be happier. I love how her head turns and tilts in all different directions and angles to see as much as she can. She is soaking it in. I think she could be a naturalist when she grows up.

Today while we were taking a walk, we met one of our neighbors down the street. Storey was in her stoller and the woman had to come down her sidewalk to take a peak. She peered into Storey's stroller and: "Ay, gordita!" I will add this name to our list: Miss Mae, Sweet Mae, Baby Mae, Sweetheart, Sweet tart, Love, Muffin Top, Maeflower, Tulip, Peanut, and Gordita.

Hurricane

“To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” --Maya Angelou

I cannot describe how sentimental I was about Mother's day. I don't think I have truly understood how special this day is until this year. I just felt so very honored and thank-full to be able to celebrate this day. I thought about all the mothers that have come before me and all the mothers that I shared this day with.

I Am A Mother.

It was a beautiful day. Josh planned an early trip to the zoo, which I had been dying to do for some time. The weather was perfect; Storey was perfect. She started out in the stroller, but of course preferred our arms after a while. She loves to be close. I am convinced there is no happier place for her than in our arms. Josh carried her around in the sling as we walked around the zoo. It was so much fun, and I loved to watch Storey look at these animals for the very first time.


After the zoo, we grabbed some tacos from our favorite place here in town, took them home, and followed brunch up with a nap. It was all three of us napping in the bed. We hadn't done that since Storey was first born. It was sweet; it topped off my day.

That evening, we went to Josh's parents house and spent time with Debbie. Grandma carried Storey in her arms and loved on her the whole time we were there. I loved to just watch them together. I looked at Josh's mom and thought about what an amazing job she has done and continues to do. I have such beautiful models to follow right beside me.

(Almost) summer time, and the livin' is (almost) easy

It is true what they say: time goes by way too fast when you have a baby. Here we are at the brink of the summer, at the brink of four months. Our garden is in full bloom, all different shades of green, the daylight is long, and we are craving a day by the pool-side.

I am feeling so Okay with the way things are going. We have successfully made it out of the fourth trimester. There are definitely new challenges that we face, but Storey is enjoying this world outside of the womb more and more each day. She is becoming an individual and developing her very own personality. The little things that make Storey who she is fulfills me like no other person on this planet. I feel I am getting a small taste of who she is to become. I am head over heels for this little girl.

In the last few weeks, Storey's neck has gained complete control; it is able to work all on its own. She can now sit in a boppy pillow, without any aids propping her up.

She can follow me across the room. And Storey has this way of knowing whenever her mamma is around. Sometimes I like to think she cannot see me and tip-toe across the other side of the room to finish some chores while she is hanging out in her swing. But she is on to my sneaky ways. Storey will let me know she sees me either by letting out a cry or by a letting go of a big smile- that I just cannot resist.

Storey is also getting better at grabbing onto things. She is not yet able to grab things on her first try, but her little arms move through the air like she is conducting an orchestra before she can snatch the desired item.

Her newest thing is to blow bubbles. It is the first thing she does in the morning; it is usually how I know she is awake. I am almost certain she has picked this up from Ethan Faunce. Everytime we hang out, Storey has learned something new. (This will be something to take note of for when they grow older :) ).

And just yesterday, her Grandma came over and apparently showed her how she can touch her toes. It was a proud moment for them both.

It is also evident that Storey is beginning to have her own thoughts. I think she has all these ideas about the world that she just can't communicated yet. She will make squawks and squeaks, coos and little laughs. Josh and I want to record them and wake up to them in the morning. They sound like heaven.

(and a shout-out to our Nani!!)

Chacos on a Tuesday

Yesterday, Storey and I ventured out to Whole Foods for nothing other than baby wipes and Kettle Potato Chips. It was a good enough excuse for me to go through the prepping, packing, and risking an unhappy car-ride that it takes, just to get out of the house. It turned out to be a pretty successful trip. We usually have a distinct window of time that I feel is most opportune: after the morning nap and afternoon feeding.

While we were in line with our 2 items, I noticed a mother and her son in the cafe. This was the scene: a boy, about the age of 8, chowing down on a salad, intently listening to his mother, dressed in a pair of torn jeans, Chacos and a spaghetti-strapped camisole, while she read "The Story of the World" aloud. Josh and I have kept the conversation of homeschooling open. Josh is all for it, as he was a home-schooled child, but I have felt better making that decision later on. But the more I have fallen in love with being a mother and the more I am amazed at what Josh has learned as a child growing up with his mom as his teacher, the more open I have become to the idea. Standing in line at Whole Foods, I wanted to be that mom that can share a salad with her child in her favorite worn jeans in the middle of the week, taking the classroom to the cafe- or wherever it takes us.


Tonight was a good night. In between chopping vegetables for our dinner, Josh juggled the potatoes, and Storey and I danced together to the Gipsy Kings in the kitchen. She has definitely found her laugh. It melts her mom's heart.

Happy Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day on Saturday, Josh and I took Storey down to Woodlawn Lake to participate in the festivities.  It was a great day- beautiful weather, beautiful friends, beautiful baby.  Storey Mae was such a trooper.  She had a great time, despite missing her morning nap.  She was content people-watching, feeding in the park, taking a ride in her stroller (-even though the stroller became a cart for our free trees for a while), walking around in mom and dad's arms.

Good friends, Jon, Rachel, and Ethan Faunce and Uncle T.J joined us while we also met up with more good friends, the Everetts and the Menjivars.

I absolutely enjoyed being in the outdoors, good conversation with Uncle T.J and Josh, walking, connecting with our friends.  But I could not help but be a little disappointed with Earth Day.  

On our trek over to the Lake, we all could not help but notice trash piled up and polluting one end of the lake. It was disgusting.  Meanwhile, less than half a mile away, we were supposed to be celebrating and advocating for a healthy, clean, sustainable natural environment.  To add to my disappointment, there were vendors upon vendors handing out paper pamphlets and fliers, plastic utensils for the food and drinks.  Then, when we looked to dispose of our trash, there were plenty of trashcans, but no recycling bins?  I believe there was even a booth promoting recycling present at the festival!

No doubt there were plenty of positive things about Earth Day.  There were a lot of really great organizations and individuals promoting good ideas and making the effort to educate and engage people.  I just wish that our Earth Day had taken a more active role in not only evaluating the cost of the festival on the environment, but also utilizing all the people that gathered to clean up the park around them.  If the festival would have organized a clean-up every 30 minutes or so, where everyone was involved in proactively helping the environment, I think it would have had a greater impact on not only people but also the Earth. 

I have spent the morning trying to research the organization that put on San Antonio’s Earth Day.  I hope to make some suggestions on how Earth Day can be more Earth-friendly next year. 

The highlight of the day was meeting the Janssen family, the founders of the Live Lightly Tour.  I had stumbled across her personal blogs just this last week and fell completely in love with this family.  The wife, Sara, promotes green living, her spirituality, anti-consumerism, breastfeeding,  holistic health, attachment parenting, and a commitment to a vegetarian and organic diet to the extreme.  To me, this is what a modern-day hippy looks like (an idea I mean to flesh out in more detail).  I know that if the Janssens lived in San Antonio, we could be good friends J. 

Simple ways Josh and I do Green on a daily basis:

-Recycle.  We have 2 bins: one for the items that the SA  Environmental Services recycles and one for items that are not accepted.  (*Plastics must be cleaned out, and water bottle caps  must be removed)

      -Re-use:  We no longer purchase plastic bags for storing food.  We simply wash out and re-use baggies.  Same thing for shopping bags-  we take our own bags into stores-- not only grocery stores, but retail too;

     -Replace: Skip buying whatever paper products we can.  Instead, we use cloth napkins and rags in place of paper towels 

                      Switch out incandescent bulbs with fluorescent lighting to save energy and reduce greenhouse gases       

     -Compost:  All raw foods and organic material can be thrown into a compost pile and made into organic soil!  

     -Hang-it:  Hang light-weight items, towels, cloth diapers on a line outside to reduce energy

     -Turn it off:  This includes lights and appliances, as well as unplugging electronics, chargers and appliances when not in use (*Even though it may be turned off, simply having it plugged in still uses energy)

     -Garden:  Josh has created our own eco-system in our backyard complete with herbs, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, pecan trees, and soon to come: fruit trees.  We know exactly what we are eating, it is seasonal, pesticide-free, reduces cost of transporting goods to local grocer, we get our hands dirty on our land, and it saves money :)

     -Organics:  Josh and I have made a commitment to buy and eat everything organic as possible.  Yes, we do enjoy a meal out once in a while, but anything that finds it's way into our cloth shopping bag is of the earth-- for a sustainable environment and society and a healthy body.  

Intention

It is amazing how absolutely wrong you can be about your self. This includes who you are, what you think you should be, and where you feel you belong in this world.  That is not to say that I have not been pleasantly surprised with this misjudgment of myself.  Just when I thought I had it all figured out, Life throws me a curve ball before I’m even ready to step up to the plate. 

Pregnancy-labor-birth-and now being a mother has completely challenged my controlling nature.  Ever since I was a child, I have had this deep-seated tendency to play pilot.  I would say that my need to control bordered on an OCD with my never-ending lists and schedules of what must be done, when and exactly how I planned to carry it out.  I would have lists of lists.  I have not exactly gotten to the root of this behavior, but I think it stems from this idea of perfection: to reach this unattainable ideal of self and to create a space around me that I could guide, manipulate, change, handle.  I believe that Josh, a deeper connection to the Spirit, and now the birth of Storey has had a significant part in breaking me of this unhealthy frame of mind.  This new role of being a mother has forced my world to revolve around another person, unconditionally.  It is a beautiful place to be.  This place allows me to take a step back and figure out what is really important: whether it is how I spend my thirty minutes of free-time or time with Josh, how I want my child to experience this new day to its fullest, or how each decision I make impacts this life-and the lives of others.  So some days this may take the form of planning a new system of sustainable agriculture in our back-yard, sitting on the porch in the evening to connect with Josh over catching my favorite TV show, dancing Storey to sleep at 10:30 at night when my arms just can’t take anymore, or missing a lunch with my girl-friends because I know my baby needs this time to nap at home instead.  It is so very challenging, but so very worth it. 

While I have not completely given up my lists, as I think there is a good balance between going crazy and being organized, I am working on simplifying.  I have a new standard of tidiness and show myself some grace when I may not complete anything on my list.  I have found, instead, to approach my day with Intention: whether it is to make it through a humid spring afternoon without turning on the A/C, breastfeeding without a distraction or connecting with a friend over the phone.     

Happy three-months, Storey Mae.