to be smart.

I happened across a website the other day, and I found this. It's a list of qualities that a genuniely smart person should possess. Not book smart, but ... life smart, I suppose. As I read each one, I found myself hoping that you would grow into this kind of person.

* Establish an individual set of values but recognise those of the surrounding community and of the various cultures of the world.
* Explore their own ancestry, culture, and place.


* Are comfortable being alone, yet understand dynamics between people and form healthy relationships.


* Accept mortality, knowing that every choice affects the generations to come.


* Create new things and find new experiences.


* Think for themselves; observe, analyse, and discover truth without relying on the opinions of others.


* Favour love, curiosity, reverence, and empathy rather than material wealth.


* Choose a vocation that contributes to the common good.


* Enjoy a variety of new places and experiences but identify and cherish a place to call home.


* Express their own voice with confidence.


* Add value to every encounter and every group of which they are a part.


* Always ask: Who am I? Where are my limits? What are my possibilities?

I want to badly to make you into the amazing person I know you can and will be.

I'll try my hardest. Promise.


I love you,
Mama

thankful.

I am so thankful that I get to be a stay at home mama. I can't even begin to imagine having to leave you every day. I know the majority of mothers today have to put their babies in daycare and miss out on so much every day. I am so lucky that I get to spend every second of the day with you; watching you grow, learn, and do new things. People always ask me, 'don't you need a break?', 'don't you get stir crazy?' Nope. I love it.

I love you,
Mama

tree.

Finally, after almost four months, we planted your tree today. We chose a Jaceranda sapling. We planted y(our) placenta under it and you will grow together. Just as the placenta nurished you, it will nurish your tree.

I can't wait to see you standing next to it in ten years.

I love you,

Mama

I love you so overwhelmingly much that it hurts.

finally!

They said a few days ago was the first day of Fall, but today we finally felt it!
As soon as we got up this morning and felt how cool it was outside, I took you for a walk (still in pajamas, messy hair, and before we even ate breakfast)!

Then, as the sun went down, the sweaters went on! Your first time in cozy clothes!

I love you,

Mama

wearing you.

This week is International Babywearing Week!

I love wearing you, having you close enough to kiss. I can't wait until it cools off so it will be more comfortable for us both!

I love you,

Mama

you!

I made this for you / of you a few days ago.

I love you,

Mama

the rain.

I stood in the rain today
It was nice
I don't know why
As childhood fades
We run from the rain
Instead of into it
Umbrellas and newspapers
Cover our heads
Take cover
Don't get wet
But every once in a while
It's okay to stop
To look up and close your eyes
To get wet
To get soaked
I stood in the rain today
It was nice

I can't wait to splash around in the puddles with you.

I love you,
Mama

jello.

For some reason, this picture really inspires me.
Whenever I look at it, I feel like I'm in that movie the Science of Sleep.

breathe.

You're really testing my patience today, love.
I just have to remember to breathe, count to eleven, and think about this face.

and this one.

this one too.

Silly girl.

I love you,

Mama

your first.

You created your first masterpiece this evening.

knowledge.

Whenever I think about sending you off to school, my stomach turns to knots. I mean, the whole concept in it's entirety seems strange when you think about it. We trust someone we don't really know with our children's education. We send our kids off for eight hours a day, they're taught what the school thinks is important for them to learn, and then they send 'em back. Whilst all the while the parents haven't a clue about whats going on in there. I suppose if you think about it logistically, it's necessary for it to happen that way. Parents work, children go to school. However, this just doesn't seem right to me. (Which is ironic considering I chose teaching as a career). I made you. I feed you. I care for you. Shouldn't I be the one to teach you? I want to teach you how to read and write. I want to take you on field trips and to teach you about the dinosaurs and how big a blue whale is. I want to show you how to make shapes and multiply, and I want to be there when every lightbulb goes off in your head each time you learn something new. Shouldn't you and I decide together what it is you want to learn about? (Aside from the necessary basics, of course). I can't tell you how many times I sat in school thinking, "When am I ever going to use this?" And to tell you the truth, I've only taken about ten percent of what I learned in school with me. I don't want you to get the generic, run-of-the-mill education, spit out of the school system feeling like you wasted the last fourteen years of your life. I want you to learn about things that interest you and in turn discover your passion. I want you to want to learn.

Homeschooling might just be in the cards for us, kid.
We'll see where life takes us.

I love you,
Mama

officially fall.

In light of the fact that today marks the first official day of Fall, many things have been on my mind regarding the upcoming goings on.

Things I want to do:

Learn how to knit.
Make you a mobile.
Build you a shelf for your play area (you have too may toys already!).

Things I need to do:

Make your Halloween costume!
Make your paint handprint (I've got your foot already), which may not be so hard if you didn't stick your hand in your mouth all the time!
Buy you some sort of Fall-colored attire.

Things I'm looking forward to doing in the (semi) immediate future:

Making your Halloween costume!
Fall and all the things that come with it; cool air, beautiful colors, sweaters and hoodies, no less frizzy hair, Halloween, and cinnamon broom sticks!
Taking you to the pumpkin patch and picking out your first pumpkin!
Carving it!
Taking walks around town.
Having family picnics at the park.

I've got high hopes, Fall.
Don't let me down.

(I wish we saw these beautiful colors in Florida)

papa.

We really are so lucky to have your Papa. He loves us so much. He would do anything to make you and I happy. He works hard during the days and still comes home and helps me. He provides for us, protects us, and does everything he can to give his family a good life. As long as we are happy, he is happy. We love him.

mojo.

"The most important,
and perhaps the most obvious,
factor in nurturing your child's creative lives,
is to model a creative life yourself."

I have always promised myself that I would raise my child in a free-thinking, creative environment. I want you to see things from a different point of view than that of the normal and mundane. Sort of like the cloud game; I want you to find inspiration in everyday occurances. I want you to be so much more than I ever was. And not just artistically. (It's funny how girls spend their whole lives competing with each other, yet when you have a daughter, you want her to be better than you were in every aspect.)

Right now, though, I am going through an artist's block of some sort. It's been a number of months and I just can't seem to break through it. I've got no juice, no mojo, nothing. Maybe I used up all my juices when I made you, and now my tank is empty. I mean, you are my most magnificent masterpiece. No drawing or painting I've done could ever match creating a human being! It's not that I don't try. I do. And it's not that I don't have any inspiration. I've got lots. I just get in front of that canvas, and....nothing.

Regardless, I will help you to become an creative person. (If you want to, that is.) As soon as you are coordinated enough, we will fingerpaint. I will open you to the worlds of all different mediums; drawing, painting, sewing, sculpting, carving, gardening, knitting, anything! If you want to try it, I will help you. Even if that means that we may be eating less that week.


I love you,
Mama