It’s spring, and along with blooms and blossoms come lots of baby showers. As the people in your life prepare to welcome a new little one, make sure you are helping them prepare with products that are Mom-tested. Everyone loves to purchase soft baby blankets or frilly dresses, but what mommas really need are gifts that make life easier. Here are the best baby shower gifts for soon-to-be moms.
Mother's Day Gift Guide 2014
This morning I stopped by WPSD Local 6 Today to help you find the perfect present for Mom this coming Mother's Day. From tech presents that make mom's life better to local finds around Paducah, I covered them all and have special offers on many of these fabulous finds for all of my readers!
You'll never believe that THIS is a crime.
Today is International Day of the Midwife. Began by the International Conference of Midwives, this year's theme is "Midwives changing the world one family at a time."
Obviously, I feel passionately about the cause of midwifery. My midwife is like a member of my family. She gave me the births I always wanted. She supported me. She encouraged me. She brought my two boys into the world safely, which is a gift I can never repay.
She also committed a crime.
How I'm Coping
I once heard a man interviewed on NPR. This man’s entire family had been killed in a raid on his village. He was telling the reporter that for many years he drank heavily in an attempt to cope with the trauma. Then he said, “I tried to drown my sorrows and then I realized they could swim.”
That quote has never left me. The image of ever-present sorrow was a powerful one to me. Sorrow and grief are something I became familiar with at a young age and the impact of that experience is something I’m still trying to understand.
The Reality of This Moment by Leo Babauta
This was originally published on zenhabits and it was so incredibly beautiful I wanted to share it here.
As you sit here reading this, pause and expand your awareness beyond your computer/phone … what is the reality of this moment?
You’re reading, and there are a bunch of other tasks you want to do on your computer, yes … but there’s also your body. How does that feel? There’s the area around you, perhaps some people around you. There’s nature nearby.
Take a pause to become aware of the actual reality of this particular moment.
As we go through our day, we’re often stressed because of all the things we have to do, the things we’re not doing. We worry about how things will go in the future, and procrastinate because we’re afraid of an overwhelming task. We feel we’re not good enough, we compare ourselves to others, we fall short of some ideal. We replay a conversation that already happened.
That’s all in our heads, but it’s all fantasy. The reality of this specific moment is that you’re OK. Better than OK, actually: there are so many good things to be grateful for, in this moment.
And there are the particulars of the moment that only exist, right now. The combination of sounds and colors and shapes and smells around you will never exist in this particular combination ever again. The way your body feels, the thought that pops into your head in the next moment, will never exist again, ever.
You yourself are changing all the time. We think of ourselves as one unchanging entity, but the self that you are right now is different than the one you were before you read this article. And that was different than the one who woke up this morning, because various things interacted with you to change you in small (or large) ways.
So the you that exists right now will change in a moment, from interacting with the particulars of the next moment. The you that exists right now will never exist again.
This is the ever-changing, impermanent nature of you. And in truth, every single thing around you is changing all the time, sometimes in less obvious ways. Everyone around you is changing. Each moment is a fluid snapshot of impermanent changing entities, interacting with each other.
That’s the reality of this moment. Don’t miss it.
And this awareness is available to you all the time. Throughout the day, as you start to worry and get lost in your tasks, ask yourself, “What’s the reality of this moment?”
Why I Love the Britax Pioneer 70
I'm psyched to be on Salt & Nectar today reviewing the Britax Pioneer 70. Huge thank you to Curt Stewart at Emerging Media Productions for helping me with my first video review!
Litany of Remembrance
Yesterday, we said goodbye to our baby in a small service at our church. Our rector put together the most beautiful service that I wanted to share a portion of with you today. Not only as a part of my own journey, but also because so many of you have reached out and shared that you have walked this road before as well. May this prayer give you the same comfort it gave me.
(Adapted from the Reform Jewish Prayer Book)
Memories of this child will come to this family, unbidden, sometimes unexpected, in all the various moments of their lives. Although memories may bring pain, they also bring comfort, for as long as you remember, this child is still part of you.
In the rising of the sun and its going down,
we will remember this child.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,
we will remember this child.
At the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring,
we will remember this child.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer,
we will remember this child.
At the rustling of leaves and the beauty of autumn,
we will remember this child.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends,
we will remember this child.
When we are weary and in need of strength,
we will remember this child.
When we are lost and sick at heart,
we will remember this child.
When we have joys we yearn to share,
we will remember this child.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make,
we will remember this child.
Merciful God, look upon the sorrows of this family for whom we pray. Remember them in your mercy; nourish them with patience; comfort them with a sense of your goodness; lift up your countenance upon them; and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thank you.
Yesterday, it hit me. Another package arrived in the mail. Another incredibly generous gesture from another incredibly thoughtful friend.
I had felt thankful for every bouquet, every meal, every message that had come over the past week but yesterday, as the sun shone on another perfect spring day, it was as if I felt all the love and the concern and the prayers rain down on me at once.
Loss can be so lonely. Grief can be so isolating. Losing a baby, especially when so much of your worth is tied to your identity as a mother, can be debilitating.
And yet I don’t feel depilated. I feel sad, but also hopeful. I feel sore, but also strong. I feel pain, but I feel so so much love.
For that love, I have to say thank you.
