Mommy and Sweet Pea

I should be packing right now. Tomorrow we will travel across the country for a family reunion and a week of fun with relatives. For this trip, for the first time since I packed for my 6-month study abroad adventure in 2003, I made a packing list. Normally I am disdainful of such crutches, which lead to things like always having enough socks and contact solution. Who needs that kind of predictability? But it is a different story to be planning a week away from home with a 5-month-old. Sweet pea doesn't need much, right? No toothbrush or toothpaste, no underwear or bras, and she doesn't even need any snacks yet. BUT she does need enough diapers and enough wet bags and enough outfit changes for multiple spit-up events. She needs a car seat and a carrier (we use the ERGO ), and maybe a stroller. She needs her birth certificate because it is her only form of ID so far. I'm just not sure I can handle keeping everything in my head that I'm going to need (including the items t...

Our garden is going crazy! I didn't pick for 2 days because the ridiculous heat (100+) kept me inside, or in air conditioned locations as much as possible. So today I went out this morning, and lo and behold, all the beans got too big, and I discovered two ENORMOUS zucchinis. This is our first year really growing a garden, and it is so exciting! We have corn, zucchinis, cucumbers, onions, peppers, tomatoes, snap peas, bush beans, okra, raspberries, strawberries, and herbs in our 8' by 8' beds (we have two). The most frustrating thing has been dealing with the slugs who like to feast on our delicious crops. Slug tracks on the plants really grosses me out, and even worse is actually touching a slug or snail when reaching in to grab a veggie. Plus, they eat the stuff we want for ourselves! They are the competition. Our solution, for now, is to put out dishes full of cheap bear, slug swimming pools for lush slugs. The slugs climb in, get stuck, and drown. Tossing out the slug c...

Our baby goes by many names. From her first day on this planet a variety of nicknames for her have popped into my head, as I'm changing her diaper, rocking her to sleep, playing, or interacting in any way. At first, I marveled at how I could come up with these. I have never been one to use nicknames - I am usually the one person in the group who calls our friend by his given first name, instead of nicknames which include but are not limited to A-bomb, Cub, and Nancy. So it was atypical of me to go overboard with nicknames for our little one, but for some reason I couldn't help myself. I thought the names I used were unique and adorable. Some of my most-used nicknames: sweet pea (obviously this one has stuck) peanut little bug little beetle little miss babycakes sweetie pie a variety of rhyming names Then one day I was at a popular children's clothing store, and saw a rack of onesies with cute nicknames on the front and was crushed by the realization that almost none of my n...

Before I had a baby, my only friends with babies were using cloth diapers. My parents used cloth diapers, my husbands’ parents used cloth diapers, and all the things I believed in pointed to using cloth diapers. So it was natural for me to choose cloth as well. I initially thought of it as just one more option in the many things we were deciding about how we would care for our baby. However, cloth diapers are so much more for me than that now. They have turned into an obsession for me. Using cloth has changed the way I think about many things in terms of disposability, made me think more deeply about what I choose to put on my baby’s skin, and kept me in tune with my baby’s bodily functions and daily changes. I am a cloth diaper evangelist. OK, you’ve been warned. If you are not already a cloth diaper devotee, I will try to convert you. This is a blog post singing the praises of cloth, and not addressing any of the benefits of disposables (not that there really are any in my opinion). ...

I have been thinking about writing online - blogging - for a long time, maybe years. I've been thinking about it seriously ever since my daughter was born in February, when I started spending a lot of time alone with a baby, who doesn't respond to my interesting questions or profound statements. I've been researching it (not that seriously) for the past month. Today I thought, what do I have to lose? It is WAY too hot to be outside, and my little sweet pea is sleeping happily in the carrier so I can actually type with both hands. So, I made a list of possible names, chose one at random, and signed up for my free blogger account! Woo hoo! And so begins my blogging life... I have literally tens of ideas for topics to write about, but I'm not really sure yet how I will organize my posts or what will end up as the main purpose of this blog. I just know that for now, I would like to do some writing to keep my typing fingers sharp and practice writing in a form besides forum ...