I like old women.

I specificly like old women with sharp wits, tongues and memories.

We younger women guard our words. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, or give anyone a poor impression of ourselves, our husbands, our children. We often choose to say nothing at all, for the sake of peace and polite society.

At some point, women stop caring so much about what other people think. They decide that if they have something to say, they'd darn well better say it.

That's when they get interesting. I love to hear the voices of experience.

 I look forward to someday being old enough to be free with my words, too. When my work is done, my children are raised and my life has spoken for itself, I won't care either what anyone thinks of me. I'll say what I want and let my listeners decide if I'm just a crazy old bat or wise woman with words worth hearing.

I am thankful to have so many wise women in my life with words worth hearing. Thank you, ladies, for being brave enough to share them with me.

potato and spinach soup

Yummy, healthy and simple.

3 red potatoes, diced
broth, stock, reconstituted bouillion, whatever you use to make soup. I use Vegeta, a soup base imported from the Balkans and worth every penny.
Water to cover
1 large spring onion
2 cloves garlic
oil for sauteeing
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained or equal amount fresh, chopped

add potatoes, broth, stock, soup base, whatever to pot. If using nonliquid, add water to cover. Bring to boil and simmer till tender.
mince onion and garlic. Sautee till translucent.
Add onion and garlic and spinach to potatoes and stock. Add more water if necessary.
Heat through. Serve with crusty whole grain bread.

William's Birth

This is me, at 5am, the morning of my induction. I'd been having contractions off and on for 2 and half weeks. I was exhausted and ready to meet my baby.

I'm very sad that i didn't get any pictures of my doulas, Kira and Jenny. They were the most amazing labor support. I am terrified of pitocin. I wanted as natural a birth as possible. Unfortunately, due to complications, we all agreed (my doctors-OB, High Risk OB, and Endcrinologist- my husband, and I) that a scheduled induction was the safest choice. My OB was great, though, and let me go as sowly as I wanted. It took 5 or 6 hours to get the pitocin up to the point where I was having active labor. The rest of the time, we were hanging out. Kira and Jenny helped me stay calm and made the experience a positive one.

Derek kept the kids at the house, about 5 minutes from the hospital. They came by to visit periodically.

After about 5 hrs of physically and emotionally intense, but not painful, labor,  I got to meet my beautiful baby. At this point, I still didn't know if it was a boy or girl. And, to be completley honest, I didn't care. He was safe, healthy, breathing on his own. That was all that mattered. 

8 pounds, 8 ounces of perfection.

So happy to have this precious little person.

Still gunky and already beautiful.

Derek and the kids arrived within minutes of the birth. They had to wait in the hall while the nurses helped me get presentable. :) Ben and Jeff were so excited to be "more involved this time." They both took the experience very seriously. 6 weeks later they are still talking to me about how wonderful it was to be able to be there. These pictures are from the next day, when they came to visit. William had to be monitored in the nursery every few hours. He did very well, and we got to home after 24 hrs.

Baby Jason took the experience much less seriously, but he too was happy to be there. He also enjoyed the chicken nuggets Derek brought me. I was ravenous.



Here are two more, just becasue I want to show him off. Isn't he stunning? I love this precious little boy.

 









I'm not worried about missing out

When I was a young woman, and especially when I became a young mother, I worried about missing out. I worried that my child would miss something, that there were experiences we would not have, sights we would not see. Did we spend enough time at the beach? Did he get enough opportuinties to swim? Should we visit the library, zoo, museum, festival one more time? Should we spend one more hour here before going home for lunch and nap? And what about all those classes he isn't taking? Art, music, dance, graphic design, molecular biology? Don't want him to miss those!

Now that I've been a mom for a few years, and have a few more kids, I have realized something. Each child is going to have a different experience. No one is going to see or do or learn or experience everything. My first child took a lot of classes, went to a lot of attractions. He was the first, the only. My second child has spent most of his time at home. I've been busy having babies and schooling his brother. My third is watching his brothers play sports everyday, listening to their lessons. And the fourth? Who knows what life holds for him. He will see his brother leave home before he reaches his teens.

When I just had one kid, I could only see the right now. I had no perspective. Time had not yet passed. But now, watching each kid thrive in a different circumstance from the last, I see things more clearly. None of my children has everything. None of them get to experience everything the world has to offer. Each has his own story. One is no better or worse than another. Just different and unique.

The pressure is off. I no longer risk a tantrum to get in just a little more fun. I don't stretch the budget for one more class. We can all relax and enjoy the life that we have right now, knowing that tomorrow, next month, next year, will be different. And that's OK.