A Mindful Life

What I’ve done today:

Said farewell to my MIL as she headed back to her home in Port Townsend, WA.
Stocked the larder with lots of groceries (went with Husband and Claire, and she was so fascinated by everything).
Made a pasta dinner and a salad.
Washed seven loads of laundry and possibly broke the dryer.
Vacuumed the living room [...]

From the first post I authored each month this year.
January: My friend who is fighting breast cancer has decided to join the blogging adventure.
February: The movers from Hansen-Smylie arrived at 8:30 a.m. on Monday the 29th, and they finished unloading the truck at 5:00 p.m.
March: I’m pretty darn happy these days.
April: I’m not [...]

Being There: The Benefits of a Stay-At-Home Parent
This short book discusses the issues of attachment disorder and behavioral problems that may arise from inconsistent care-giving provided in day care centers and by nannies at home. Its purpose is to provide a rationale for having one SAHP (stay-at-home parent) care for the child until at least [...]

Claire is getting heavy to carry! I think we may have a baby carrier that’s a winner.
When she was born, we first tried the Infantino sling. Claire hated it. It required her to be horizontal, and this wasn’t comfortable with the reflux. It was also dark and hot.
We tried a Moby wrap. Getting the [...]

Today Claire is 16 weeks old (nearly 4 months), and she graduated to wearing clothes for 3-6 months of age. We guess she weighs 12 pounds by now. The clothes are a little baggy on her, as she’s still long for her age but not roly-poly.
Fortunately, we have plenty of clothes for this age/size range: [...]

The Tulips Are Too Excitable

We have a bank account with the Bank That Owns Everything. An added wrinkle is that this account was opened in Texas. When we moved here, we were told that California is Special, and we’d need to close the Texas account and open a new one in this state if we wanted to use the [...]

Today Claire was a bit subdued and sleepy. It could be due to the circadian rhythm of winter. It could result from all the excitement from the 24th and 25th. Could be she’s fighting off a cold or other illness that she was exposed to. She wasn’t cranky — just quiet, and she slept a [...]

Normally I put up holiday decorations the day after Thanksgiving and put them all away on New Year’s Day. This year I didn’t adorn the house until December 8th and, desperate for floor space again, we packed the tree and other items up yesterday afternoon. All our presents are living in their appropriate places for [...]

Unlike my apple pie crust for Thanksgiving, the pie for Krismas Day came out very well. I’ve got my pie mojo back.