Joyous Present

We had a giggle fest this lazy Sunday afternoon. Emma and Alexandra piled up pillows around their tent and I jumped around tickling them and acting silly for their amusement. Their laughter brings so much joy and love to my heart. For me it is the sweetest sound ever. I love them so much and they continuously amaze me with the things they do and say. One of my favorite quotes from Emma this week: "mama, you are the queen of children" which I thought she said: "you are the clean of children" and then she clarified to me that I am the queen not the clean! I figured my subconscious probably heard it that way because I worry a lot about cleaning which is a never ending task once you have kids. However, there are some days that I am just more relaxed about it and actually those are the best days were I completely enjoy being in the moment with them. Time goes my so quickly, Alexandra is 15 months and Emma 4 years old now. Life has been very busy for us with amazing learning experiences, opportunities, and change, some good, some sad. I look forward to our journey of life together and soon will be posting all of our adventures.

Joyous Nursing

Happy World Breastfeeding week! 

August 1-7

Nursing Children

Sometimes when I am nursing baby Alexandra, big sister Emma will find a comfy spot to relax and nurse her dolls. I've never used bottles or pacifiers with either of them, so the concept of nursing a baby to nourish and provide comfort to them is just natural to them. I was surprised and happy to see Emma teach her baby sister how to nurse a doll. It was so cute to watch her position the baby correctly and make sure that they were both comfortable, she reminded me of the lactation consultants I saw working at the hospital teaching new mamas while I was in nursing school. Lactation consultants are wonderful providing teaching and support to breastfeeding mothers. There is no doubt that we need them in society to encourage new mamas to keep on providing the best and most natural nourishment for babies and children. However, it would be wonderful for children to learn and model this natural behavior from an early age by watching their mamas and others mamas nursing their babies. They observe and copy everything we do, I realize this more each day by observing my daughters' behaviors and choices they make. 

I am glad my mom nursed my brother and I and I am sure that this registered in my mind as something that mommies just do. I also spent part of my childhood years in a country that nursing on demand anywhere and with no need of covering up was the norm. With my first born, I made the mistake of thinking that I needed to cover while nursing her. We both felt so uncomfortable doing so that instead I would search for secluded quiet places to nurse her if we were in public. I wish I would have realized then that it was her right to nurse and who cares if someone is looking because it is the most natural thing to do and if it bothers them it is their own psychological and emotional problem and our quality of life should not be affected by their hang-ups.

I nurse Alexandra on demand and I do not cover up because breastfeeding is a normal nourishing act of love. I will look for a secluded quiet spot for her to nurse if she is distracted by others and cannot concentrate or relax fully, not to hide from others. Children grow up so quickly that I wholeheartedly cherish every second that I am able to cuddle, nurse, caress and look into those sweet baby eyes. It is just pure joy and I pray that many more mothers embrace this sublime act of love while teaching future generations that it is the best, normal, natural and most loving act that a mama and baby can experience together. 

Baby's Firsts

This joyous summer month has been full of new experiences for Alexandra. She went to her first lavender festival, first sleepover, first concert, first drum circle, first berry picking, first hiking adventure, first canoe ride, first carousel ride, and first beach trip. 

The scent of the lavender festival was marvelous, it was sunny and hot, Alexandra took some sips from Emma's lavender lemonade as we watched bees zooming around the lavender fields and listened to some great live Appalachian mandolin music. We slept on some crispy fresh comfy sheets on my mom's bed on a little weekend out-of-state getaway. It was the first time we've spent the night away from home since her birth day. When Alexandra turned seven months, we celebrated by going to a Krishna Das concert. I love that man, he brings so much love, light and inspiration to this world.  

Drumming is one of my passions and Alexandra got to experience her first drum circle with over 100 people in attendance. She even had her little hand drums and joyously moved to the beat of the drums, bringing smiles to many. Almost every evening we go out berry picking around our property and Alexandra pretty much demands that we give her some blackberries, she just loves them! She loves being taken into nature, picking berries, hiking and canoeing. Nature makes us peaceful. 

We took a family trip to an amusement park and to the beach. Alexandra was excited to ride the carousel, with the music, colors, lights and kids. At the beach, she was relaxed playing in the sand, enjoying the soft caressing breeze, the sunshine and listening to the ocean waves roll by. 

We are having fun experiencing this amazing world and I am so looking forward to continue through this journey of life together. May we continue to share our sweet love alongside Emma and Juan Carlos. They are the loves of my life. 

Kale Chips

KALE CHIPS are delicious! They are light, crunchy and immediately dissolve in your mouth. My whole family just loves kale chips. They are so good, that when we make them, we have to ration them out to make sure everybody gets some. They are very easy to make, healthy and fun. 

Emma and I team up on making the batches and this is what we do:

Wash a bunch of kale

Tear of pieces of the kale the size of a chip on to a towel to dry, discard the stems

The secret to the perfect kale chip is to make sure that the kale is completely dry for it to be crunchy

Get two baking sheets, oil them with olive oil

Place the kale on to the baking sheets

Drizzle olive oil on top of the kale, sprinkle with salt, garlic and a handful of sesame seeds

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes

and voila! you've got the yummiest chips ever!

ENJOY and make sure to share :)

Hiking

I will jump at the opportunity to go trekking in nature anytime. Hiking is one of my favorite activities, and I am honored to walk the trails with my sweet family. We all love the peace of the outdoors, the fresh air, the healing green and the mountainous terrain. When I was a child, my mom used to take my brother and I hiking, and the walking and climbing we did together are some of my most cherished childhood memories. I don't know if it was the challenge, the company, the majestic trails, probably the combination of all now that I think of it, that fulfilled me so.

On our recent hiking trip, I was enchanted by Emma's excitement at seeing all the rocks as we were going up the mountain. I knew that it would take a longer than usual because she wanted to jump from one rock to the other and tell me what shape they were. She would say: "Mama, that's a pineapple, mama, that's a castle, mama, that's a pizza, mama, that's a triangle..." and so on she went enjoying all the shapes. I started appreciating the trail more just because she made me be present at what was there at the moment and I forgot about thinking to get to the top as soon as possible. I actually started to see what shapes I could see in the rocks too. The one that looked like a heart to me, looked like a shoe to her, so it was interesting to see how we would interpret them. I really didn't care if the walk would take us forever because we were enjoying the journey, and at the end, that's what it's all about.

Alexandra was quite receptive the whole time and I could feel her taking in all the green around us and she was happy and peaceful. She was awake the whole trail riding on her backpack and right before we reached the peak she fell asleep. When she woke up, I nursed her and she was ecstatic to feel the wind caressing her face at the mountain top. Juan Carlos and I had gone up that trail so many times during the years with our three puppies and various friends and family, that we conversed about all our adventures on that trail and how now we continue on with our beloved daughters. We will continue exploring and finding new trails as we also enjoy the old ones with our treasures and companions in life. We are the inner circle journeying together in the outer circle of life.

Tattoo Artist

Here's a great thing to do with your kids on a rainy evening. Give them a washable non-toxic marker to make tattoos on you or themselves. It is so much fun! Especially to see what they come up with. This was Emma's idea and she really got into it! She described what she was drawing and also came up with some stories along the way! She is my little tattoo artist.

A happy family :)