this kid is awesome

It still amazes me that I helped create an individual, a soul. I pushed a mind out of my body. Woah. I gave life to a person who will grow up and be a citizen in our world.

 

As S is getting bigger, I am becoming more aware of the individual he is. I could just sit here and observe him all day. He is becoming more and more interesting every single day. Tomorrow he will be 10 months old! Wait, what? 10 months old????

He crawls, laughs, yells, babbles, loves to eat (especially blueberries, whole blueberries!) and totally enjoys hanging out with other kids. He listens, observes, plays, climbs and pulls himself up to stand. He thinks dogs are hilarious and he chases his chickens. This kid is awesome.

Man, I love this life!

Tree of Life

 

This year was my first Mother's Day and a beautiful one it was. It was pretty laid back for the most part, but I had one thing I was determined to do.

 
 



Before I jump straight to it, I'm going to explain. While pregnant with S, I explored my options regarding my placenta. Our plan was to get it encapsulated. It sounded like the best option for me considering it helps with milk production and the baby blues along with many other benefits. Well, his birth came and went and the placenta remained in our freezer. I thought about it countless times. As the weeks passed, it no longer seemed necessary to have it encapsulated. Months past and it was still hanging out in the freezer.





As Mother's Day approached I finally had my mind set on what I planned to do with my beloved placenta, my tree of life. I couldn't imagine just throwing it away. Letting it rot away in some land fill next to garbage. I decided to plant it under a baby peach tree. This amazing organ that my body grew then housed and cradled my baby boy was now going back to the Earth. Back to the Earth to fertilize the soil and give back to us for years to come, in peach form.


 


So on Sunday we woke up bright and early to pick up the tree before Jordan headed off to work. S and I spent the day livin' easy. Took a long walk around the park, S napped, nursed and napped again. Once Jordan got off work we headed to GG and Paw's (my parent's) for a Mother's Day dinner. Before the sun set we headed home to dig, plant and water.


 


When the hole was ready we placed the placenta at the bottom then topped it with the tree. S was getting really tired at this point and was just ready to go to bed.


  


We mulched the tree and gave it a big long drink then headed in for bed.

After S was snuggled in our bed, I sat on the couch and remembered how I wanted to plant a tree for him, his birth tree. I envisioned him watching it grow as he, himself grew too. I envisioned him playing under it, climbing it, kind of like a close friend. Ended up killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

It was the best Mother's Day I ever had ;)

my old block

Talk about nostalgia. This afternoon S and I went on a walk through the neighborhood I grew up in. The weather was perfect, a warm sunny day with a touch of wind and a few clouds to keep us from breaking a sweat. I pushed the dude in his stroller down the sidewalks that created my childhood memories.

Every shaded strip of side walk brought back another memory. Every large bump created by tree roots growing underneath gave me good feelings. I couldn't help but smile.

Everything looks exactly the same. Mature trees lining the sidewalks, so beautifully shaded and green. Backyards filled with toys and chill dogs that stop what they are doing just to smile. Short fences that allow evening chats with the neighbors while barbecuing.

It's funny how big things seem when you are a kid. So tall and open.

Walking past 4059 I remembered my older, much wiser neighbor friend, Fransis tell me how she could count to 20. She pulled me in the wagon while counting over and over again. It seemed like it took forever to reach 20 when really it only took a few sidewalk squares worth of time.

As we turned the corner I remembered picking up a lost baby squirrel and bringing it home with me to give it a better life. Turned out my dad wasn't to fond of me carrying around a live city squirrel so we had to let the baby go.

On the next block I couldn't help but laugh while looking down the slope of the sidewalk. It made remember the time when my best friend, Christine and I came up with a genius plan of pulling my little sister (at the time about 5 yrs old) down the hill in the wagon. Since we pulled her down it was only fair that she had to pull both of us up the hill. Christine's mom drove by on the trek up and told us to get out and pull her....

I feel so lucky to live within walking distance of my old stomping grounds. Having S here makes it that much better knowing similar memories are being created and stored in his fresh little brain. Knowing that he is listening to the same church bells that I did when I was a kid makes me comfortable. It feels like the color green. It feels soft and free. It feels like the sun setting behind huge motherly trees with the scent of bbq steak floating in the air.

I feel thankful.

Forever Young

I don't have many words today. I just want to remember this moment.

"May you stay forever young." -Bob Dylan