Walking in Savannah

Dear Little One:

You fix on the tree tops and  sky with your far-off gaze, you're  swaddled close and tight: hot bodies walk under dark green leaves. You smash your nose against me.

My legs are getting stronger from all this walking. We circle blocks and allys. I flex my back muscles too as I hold the weight of you in swathes of stretchy pink jersey.


I wear athletic shoes, and while you napped I squatted a few times to stretch. Plump children need a strong mother.  

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I've never worn the shoes that are supposed to recreate the muscle action of walking on sand. I'd like to find them cheaper than a cnote though. Or relocate to sand.

This is baby carrier/sling I use. Mostly in the "kangeroo" hold. It's a dreamy spot for a newborn.

We just had a new baby

And I sing hazzahs to midwifery. What a pleasure it was to be well cared-for during my gestation and delivery. My husband and I also hired a hypnobirth instructor about two months before my due date.

Intense, hypnotic, therapeutic concentration changed my life. I was so relaxed, free of fear and able to gently bring my girl into the world. I hope someday I can share this magical process with another pregnant mom so she can enjoy her birth as much as I enjoyed mine.

And the perfect book for post-delivery bliss: The Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent. This smartly-written account of a California nurse-turned-midwife was a love story to babies and birthing mamas. Vincent's prose is sharp and readable, and her stories of attending births brought me to tears and swelled my heart with pride and awe. It's a page-turner, and a great book to have beside the glider while the new baby latches on.

Best Parenting or New Mom Book?

As a book lover convinced that all questions and problems can be discovered through careful research and reading, when I had my first child I spent a lot of time finding books to help guide my parenting strategies.

The Baby Book by William Sears is one of my top recommendation to new parents. The first time I heard the term "nighttime parenting" was from this book. Not only did Dr. Sear's advice affirm my instincts that babies needed attention and love not just in the day, but also through the night. But he gave real strategies for making this time more loving and relaxing for both mom (dad) and baby.

There is a lot of practical advice in the book, dealing with bathing baby, immunizations, personality types, etc. It's a go-to sort of manual that works like the Dr. Spock books of an earlier generation. It's hard to imagine how many little questions you'll have throughout the early years, but it's nice to have a place to find answeres. By the time I was ready to pass my original copy on to friends, it was well-worn and only a bit stained with pureed carrots.

I'm always looking for more smart books about raising kids. Especially now that we've entered the school-age years, I'd love to find some good books for that age group.

Please share your recommendations!

Flea Market no place for deals this Saturday at the Landings

I got there around 10:30 and it was very crowded. Overall I was disappointed with the quality of goods for sale. While the whole event seemed very well-organized, with different sections for different categories of goods, in general I'd say it was well picked-over.

I did see a lot of framed art in good condition. I particularly liked some South West prints for sale at $6 a piece in 36" frames. Too bad we have a lot of frame art that still needs a place in our home.

I don't tend to have good luck at Flea Markets in Savannah. I think I'll stick to the sale's rack at Belk's this weekend. Or a good garage sale downtown - the art students at SCAD tend to sell quirky items for cheap!

I have not Facebook doppelganger

Here's a picture of my grandmother, the most adorable woman in the
world.

She's in her late 70s here - I hope to look like her at this age!

Walking in Savannah in the very early spring

Futuraligist Ray Kurzweil says:

"The first step [to living decades longer than your regular life expectancy] involves adopting a good enough diet and exercise regime to live long enough for biotechnology to unravel the ageing process and for nanotechnology to be capable of slowing it down and ultimately reversing it"

I had already gone on my morning walk and eaten raw food when I read this.

Inhaled a lot of asphalt and diesel too.