Friday, October 30, 2009

Let The Wild Rumpus Start!

Happy Halloween, kids ;)

After a couple of days of basically abandoning my blog, I've done it -- I finished J's costume!

This was the first time I've done any such elaborate sewing project, my model was very finicky about letting me fit him, and I was following a YouTube video for instructions, so it's definitely a little wonky. But hopefully the imperfections will just add to the charm. I also made a crown and scepter, so I'll have to post photos later of the whole get-up.

As I was sewing, I randomly hearkened back to one of my favorite episodes of The Cosby Show. Remember in Season 1, when novice designer Denise offered to help Theo out by sewing him a copy of a Gordon Gartrelle shirt so he could impress his girlfriend? Hilarity inevitably ensued:



When I watched that scene tonight I think I laughed just as hard as I ever did when Theo ran in and screamed "DENISE!!!" Awesome.

Anywho, I hope J doesn't look quite as wack when he tries on his Max costume to go Trick-or-Treating! I'll keep you posted.

While we're on the topic, what are you doing for Halloween? Please share!

Uterus Love


Uterus plushies from Vulva Love Lovely and I Heart Guts. Menstrual Flow Chart from I Heart Guts, via Jezebel.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Photo of the Day

This photo was taken in 2006 in Manilla, Philippines, at a mass-breastfeeding to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week. Read more, here.

While we're on the topic of breastfeeding, I encourage you to read this fabulous and thoughtful essay that recently ran in the Huffington Post, Peaceful Revolution: Why Support for Breastfeeding Matters More Than Ever.

Patouche



I am totally smitten with the fashions from the Patouche Fall/Winter 2009 line, which was inspired by Treasure Island and Little Red Riding Hood.

Shoe Love

How magical are these!!! I want a pair, like woah. Via Design Mom.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sakura Bloom Triathlon: Interview Question 3

If you could spend a year traveling with your family, where would you go and why?

Even though my oldest son is not yet two and a half years old, he is already rather well-traveled. Together, we have crisscrossed the U.S. visiting family and friends, and last year we even went to Paris! While there, we hiked all over the city, climbed up inside dizzying cathedral spires, took a moonlit cruise on the Seine, and spent untold hours in museums -- and everything was as easy and exciting as could be. Traveling with a toddler was made infinitely more enjoyable thanks to babywearing.

Not only do I dream of traveling far and wide with my family for fun (and the ultimate unschooling experience!) I actually have often envisioned taking them on a worldwide babywearing tour.

My idea began with a more locally-inspired concept: I planned to start a street style blog (in the spirit of blogs like The Sartorialist, or Face Hunter) focused exclusively on the colorful, beautiful, stylish babywearing I see around me all the time in New York. However, my vision soon expanded: Why not travel the world seeking such images? One day I hope to meet and document women all over the world going about their lives, wearing their children, and being fabulous.

Over the course of one year, I would love to visit cultures that still predominantly wear their youngsters. As my family and I circle the globe, we would research more about local customs and traditions of babywearing by observing, interviewing, and getting to know people who babywear. I want to learn firsthand about the many forms of baby carriers that are out there and how they are made and worn. I would, of course, document the entire experience on my blog in photos, video, and words, and at the end of the journey I would turn it all into a book celebrating the gorgeous, proud and vibrant art of babywearing.

I love to collect beautiful images of babywearing, and the ones that I have seen from distant places always inspire me and make me determined to act on my idea of an international babywearing tour. Here are some of my favorite photos, along with the places they might one day take me (click on the name of the country to see the photo source)...

Sakura Bloom Triathlon: Interview Question 2

How is your personality reflected in your parenting style?

I am an intensely inquisitive person. I love to read, research, and explore. I am in a constant state of Wanting To Gain Knowledge. When it comes to parenting, I have an even stronger sense of inquiry -- I devour books, articles, and blogs on pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, parenting, and education. I strive to constantly learn more about these topics for the benefit of my children, as well as to understand myself on a deeper level, and (hopefully!) become a better, wiser parent.

This trait also leads me not only to encourage my son's own sense of inquiry, but to relish being by their sides as they explore the world for themselves. I am inspired by watching my boys absorb new ideas and information, and I feel privileged to be able to facilitate that learning process each and every day.

Sakura Bloom Triathlon: Interview Question 1

What first interested you in babywearing?

Even before having children, I had very strong ideas about how I wanted to be a parent. I wanted to hold my children as much as possible. I wanted to breastfeed on demand. I wanted to respond to their cries. I wanted to practice co-sleeping. I was not interested in bottles or cribs or pacifiers or nannies. I wanted my children to be integrated into my life completely, and yet I somehow thought that a stroller would be an immediate necessity from birth on!

When I was pregnant with my first son, I had only a peripheral awareness of the concept of babywearing. I remember filling out my shower registry at Babies R Us and stopping in front of a giant kiosk devoted to the latest models of Baby Bjorn. My husband and I puzzled over the options -- did we want the simpler-looking standard model, or were we more in the market for the top-of-the-line-serious-looking carrier with lumbar support? Bright, happy faces of parents and babies shone out from the glossy fronts of the Bjorn boxes, encouraging us with their perky smiles. We knew we wanted to wear our baby, but still, we felt overwhelmed. Could this contraption really be comfortable and practical? And how would we ever learn to put it on? Most of all, where in heaven's name would we be carrying all the BABY STUFF we were in the process of registering for?!? I envisioned taking a jaunty (short) walk in the park with the baby in the carrier, my husband pushing the STUFF in our giant stroller. OF course, if I needed to DO anything, I could just put the baby in the stroller and carry on...

Little did I know that within months I would get rid of that precious stroller (and cumbersome Bjorn) and find myself gallivanting all over the place with my baby held close to my body in a wrap and the drastically edited stash of BABY STUFF handy at my hip in a compact little bag. It really took having my first son and experiencing life with him for a while for me to mend the disconnect that had led me to initially overlook the amazing array of baby carriers that are out there. My first conversation with an experienced babywearer caused an "ah ha!" moment and I immediately became obsessed with learning more about wearing my son. Becoming connected to the vast and exciting community of passionate babywearers helped even more to show me that this was going to be more than a handy parenting tool. It was going to become a lifestyle.

Carrying my little ones just makes so much practical sense -- I can continue to do all the things that I enjoy doing in life, with my babies along for the ride, hands-free! In a city like New York it has proved invaluable to be able to hop on and off the subway or bus unencumbered by a bulky stroller. I love not having to worry about finding a comfortable or discreet place to nurse because I can breastfeed so easily in a wrap or sling. Most of all, I love how much babywearing soothes my children and fosters an incredibly strong bond and better communication between us. It helps me to be the kind of parent I want and need to be for my children.

Often, people stop me on the street and ask questions about the carriers I use or remark that "we didn't have those back when I had babies." I always acknowledge how wonderful it is that babywearing is becoming increasingly popular with today's generation of parents, but I point out that it is in fact an ancient art.

I am mindful now of stories my grandmother told me when I was little of her own mother, who raised ten children in rural Mississippi during The Great Depression: my great-grandmother carried her tenth child, who was born prematurely, from the time she came into the world. Even as my great grandmother returned to picking cotton under the blazing southern sun, she wore the baby skin-to-skin. The better part of a century later, modern science has begun to show the beneficial power of skin-to-skin contact with infants, and although her daughter stood little chance of survival at birth, my great-grandmother's instinct to wear her might have been what made the difference and helped to save her baby's life all those years ago.

Now that I have two little boys, I am incredibly grateful to have inherited the ancient wisdom of babywearing, and I am proud to have translated it into my very modern everyday life.