Around These Parts...

My blogging has been lagging a bit lately. With Seeley keeping us up all night due to teething combined with the fact that she's almost crawling; I haven't had much time to sit down with a computer! Hopefully things will settle down a bit and I can get back to my routine or, more likely, develop a new one that allows for more "me" time. We've been able to do some cooking and storm-watching lately, and even though we're exhausted we've still maintained good spirits! Happy Summer!

Out to lunch. She's looking cool just like her papa. 



The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile was parked outside our apartment complex. Why? Good question!

Seeley's first storm. She got to watch it from the safest spot possible:)

veggies for soup!

White bean soup for dinner! Veggies and beans in a pot and Ta-da!

Orzo salad. Perfect for summer!

Time

I was looking through Wes' pictures on his computer and was floored by some old pictures of Seeley. She's growing so fast!

About two months.

Today:)

What I've learned in 28 years

Birthday sweet treats!

It's my 28th birthday today! Wes knows me too well; he came home from work yesterday with some of my favorite treats. I have a ridiculous sweet tooth and have loved DOTS candy since I can remember. My ultimate indulgence, though, are cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting. Mmmm! I barely looked at Wes when he walked in the door with such goodies.

But really I feel so loved and supported everyday by my family and friends that cards and gifts and things are an afterthought today. I've learned a couple things in my 28 years:

1) Family and friends are the most important things in life. Our society is obsessed with individuality and getting things for yourself and living in your own little isolated unit away from your extended family. But I think real happiness comes from being connected with the people you love, helping eachother out and working in ways that benefit your community.

2) Growing up is scary. It's awesome but strange being a parent and developing a serious career. Even though I don't miss the aimlessness of my early twenties, it's kind of scary having to put down roots.

3) It's not important what other people think of you. People say this all the time but it's sooo hard to practice. It's not too common for women my age to be stay at home mothers. I've had so many doubts and insecurities about what I will do when Seeley's older, I wonder if people think I'm lazy, blah, blah, blah. But this arrangement really does work for Wes and I, so I just hold on to that.

4) I have an amazing life. I have the best family, the best friends, live in the coolest city and am proud of who I am. How'd I get so lucky!

Weekend Pics! Container Gardening

Time to get our tiny, yet productive garden going! After a visit to Portland Nursery we set our porch up with some yummy stuff! The key now is to keep them alive!

So much to see at Portland Nursery!

Let's cool those feet off1

Green thumbs!

Ladies of the garden!

Mixed lettuce.

Chives and Rosemary.

Basil. Mmmmm

Cherry tomatoes.

Love my porch garden!

We Have a Tooth!

Seeley has been teething lately and a couple of days ago we saw the cause of all that discomfort. Her bottom, middle tooth has popped up! She's a pretty cute baby as it is, but with this little tooth sticking out, she's off the charts! Her tooth combined with her being sooo close to crawling is freaking me out. When did she get so big! It's also amazing to watch her figure things out and witness how fast she grows and learns.

She's quite proud of her new tooth! I'll try to get a picture that doesn't have my hands in her mouth!

Mother's Day Weekend Pics!

I had a great mother's day weekend, and the weather in Portland couldn't have been better! There's so many things to say about being a mother that I think I'll write another post, but for now let's just say I got spoiled! We started the weekend by going to a craft fair at the Multnomah Arts Center and some cute shops downtown in the Alphabet district. We also went on a bunch of sunny walks as a little family. I got it pretty good over here:)

Ready for summer!

handmade in Portland!

I woke up to these all over the house!

Beautiful gifts from that husband of mine.

My favorite mother's day gift.

weeeee!

Goofballs!

Attatchment Parenting, Feminism, and The New York Times

The New York Times is running a series of articles in their "Room for Debate" section about motherhood, feminism and attatchment parenting. The articles are written by a wide range of women, from author Erica Jong to actress and attatchment parenting advocate Mayim Bialik. As a feminist and semi-attatchment parent, I'm happy to read these articles.
There are so many ways to parent and so many variables with each child, mother and father. For example, I personally believe in nursing-on-demand and not crying it out, but I also think some aspects of attatchment parenting ("childwearing" has killed my back and co-sleeping results in a grumpy family) are not for me. I'm also a bit sick of categorizing things as "attatchment parenting". How 'bout we call it parenting? Or "what you/I do"?
The articles also discuss feminism's role in motherhood. I firmly believe that feminism does not need to be, should not be, so completely tied to capitalism (financial independence is obviously a major part of feminism, but it is not all of feminism). It's too easy and lazy to say that stay-at-home moms aren't feminists and working moms are. I'm glad to see smart, diverse women starting a dialogue on these issues.

Hello May!

The flowers are blooming and all the May babies (which for some reason are half the people I know) are celebrating birthdays! We are getting out as often as we can, and I've taken some pictures of all the beautiful flowers right outside out apartment. Also, Wes turned 29 last Saturday and I made a cake that was no where near as good as his mother's chocolate birthday cake:) Enjoy!

Time to start the herb gardern! I'm thinking sage, basil, mint, and we might have to steal from our uncle's rosemary bush;)

So pretty!

Gotta love the colors.

Our eldery neighbors have lived in their apartment for years and have planted flowers everywhere. Love it!

Happy belated birthday husband!

Something I'm Looking Foward To...

I've been following the Alternative Education Resource Education Organization (AERO) for a while now. Their website is a great place to find literature, video and links to people and organizations that believe in democratic, student centered education. Whether Seeley goes to a public school, an alternative school or is homeschooled, her education will be her power. AERO usually has their conferences on the east coast, but this year their annual conference will be in Portland! I'm really hoping to go in August, check out what AERO has to offer!

Keynote speakers

AERO is proud to present the following line-up of keynote speakers for this year’s AERO conference: Finding the Catalyst for the Education Revolution. More keynotes will be announced in the next few months as we approach the conference!

• Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He is also one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries. He works with governments in Europe, Asia and the USA, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. Sir Ken will share his thoughts on shifting the paradigm that many education systems still manifest around the world.

• Naomi Aldort is an international expert on parenting and parent/child relationships and author of the book Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves. Naomi is an expert on raising powerful and peaceful people through attachment parenting and by protecting their innate freedom to be themselves. Her parenting advice columns have been internationally published covering all responsive parenting issues from babies through adults with focus on raising self-reliant, autonomous, powerful, and peaceful people. For her keynote she will be talking about raising self-directed and powerful children who act and learn from their inner passion without coercion or manipulation.

• Occupy Portland’s Our School project will present a panel sharing practical ways that individuals and groups can organize the education revolution in their own communities. AERO’s Director, Jerry Mintz, will introduce the panel by outlining AERO’s new international representative program. Their panel will end with a group discussion and visioning session to help focus and spur on the education revolution beyond the conference.

• Yaacov Hecht (pictured above) is the founder of the Democratic School of Hadera in Israel, the first to call itself a democratic school. He is also the founder and former head of the Institute for Democratic Education. He currently the founder and CEO of the Education Cities organization which helps transform entire cities’ education system

Kindness

Wes and I saw this sign posted at a laundromat downtown a couple weeks ago. It's nice to feel like people are looking out for one another.