PreK to College ~ What Happened?!

Completely caught off guard, Abigail runs to me after Daddy brings her home from from vising her surrogate Grandmother and hands me a bright pink flier saying... 

"Mommy, please read this important special paper", folding her hands in front of her in the prim-n-proper little way that she does. 

It is an invite.... to her PreSchool Graduation Program.

Reading each line aloud, smiling yet crying more with each word... All I can think is,

How is this happening?! lol

She JUST STARTED PreK!

I was JUST sobbing uncontrollably in the hall as I watched her class get further and further away from me (after managing to hold it together until she couldn't see me anymore, of course) on her first day of school, clutching my wrist where we had drawn a smiley, peace sign and heart on ourselves so we could think of each other every time we looked at it on that momentous day.

It may have been nearly a year ago... but the days, hours, minutes.. where have they gone?? 

Somehow even in the midst of grasping on to each day as if it were the last, excitedly helping her with her once-a-week homework, watching her carefully (and eclectically) get her school clothes ready every night,  helping her choose something for 'Show & Tell' for every Thursday morning and eagerly asking her how her day went everyday when I picked her up.....

Somehow it all passed us right by, and now our baby girl who we brought home at just 4.5 pounds is graduating PreK and will be starting Kindergarten. :(

{....crying again....} 

All of these tiny milestones keep creeping up on us, and no matter what they are, they grasp my heart and instantly remind me that these precious times are just that; Precious.

I cry now for the woman in me that will one day be as I sit on the bleachers on the day of her High School Graduation crying at the years that passed us by... wishing I was only crying at her PreK Graduation Day again, rather than getting her packed for college. 

I cry now for the woman in her that she will one day be... Not because I don't want her to grow up, but because she must grow up. 

She must face this world as a Woman, Adult & Individual. 

And if we as parents {in general} are sure to remember exactly WHY we are living, working, breathing...

If we are sure to allow ourselves to FEEL and CRY in these times so that we are reminded to slow down and ENJOY our little ones during these precious years that we'll never get back ...

It is then that we can be sure to give them the quality kind of CARE, LOVE and ATTENTION that they need to one day face this world confidently, intentionally, thoughtfully and successfully.

These 5 years have gone by in a flash, and it is our promise to you, Abber-dabbers, that we'll be here for you at your every achievement/milestone, with smiles on our faces and with tears swelling in our eyes. 

Mommy & Daddy loves you baby... And we're so very proud of you. 

You're sweet, caring, creative, smart, loving, intuitive, polite and you love to learn. 

What more could we ever expect of you. <3

"Today I Lived and You Did too".... Guest Post by Rachel @ Hands Free Mama

Introducing Rachel @ Hands Free Mama

"I’m going Hands Free. I want to make memories, not to-do-lists.  I want to feel the squeeze of my daughter's arms, not the pressure of over-commitment.  I want to get lost in conversation with my spouse, not consumed by a sea of unimportant emails.  I want to be overwhelmed by sunsets that give me hope, not by extracurricular commitments that steal my joy.  I want the noise of my life to be a mixture of laughter and gratitude, not the intrusive buzz of cell phones and text messages.  I am letting go of distraction, disconnection, and perfection to live a life that simply, so very simply, consists of what really matters.  I’m going Hands Free.  And if this sounds like a life you want to start living, come along.  A Hands Free revolution starts here!  I hope you will join me!"

It is with absolute HONOR that Rachel has allowed us to broadcast her beautifully written ode to Motherhood, Womanhood & Life, and we are THRILLED to bring it to you on this special day, Mother's Day.

For me, her words are a great reminder to slow down and simply LIVE the moment in the Present. 

She reminds us that life is made up of tiny fleeting moments, and if we don't slow down, we'll miss them.

Her words in this post, as well as her entire new-found philosophy, is such an inspiration and is.... in my opinion...

So "hippie mommma" of her. :) 

Please be sure to visit her page to finish reading her post!  
You MUST read the entire post to appreciate it! 
She has recently accepted a book deal (YOU GO GIRL!) so we're being SUPER careful about this Guest Post. :)


 So, without further ado... We share with you...

Today I Lived and You Did Too

Originally Posted on May 7, 2013 by Rachel Macy Stafford @ Hands Free Mama

Today I was awakened by the sound of shuffling feet.
It was my early-bird riser in her big sister’s pajamas that drug across the floor.
I wanted to pull the covers over my head and feign sleep.
But instead I got up and made toaster waffles that she said tasted “divine.”
She kissed me with syrupy sweet lips.
Getting up wasn’t my first response. But I did it.
Today I lived.

Today she lost her shoes for the 37^th time in two weeks.
It was right before we needed to head out the door.
I wanted to scream, to scold, to throw my hands in the air.
But instead I held her. I held her. My shoeless girl.
Together we found them wet with dew in the backyard and she whispered, “Sorry, I am forgetful, Mama.”
Being calm wasn't my first response. But I did it.
Today I lived.

 Today the birds....  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE 

Please visit Hands Free Mama to read the rest of this well written post that does exactly what we try to do here at Modern Hippie Momma with every one of our posts.... Inspire Thought. 

Happy Mother’s Day!

"May is For All Women" Project Post 2

May is for All Women and I have a Post Project for you this month to celebrate just that!

***Don't worry if you're just now learning about this.... You can jump on board at any time this month!!!***

Join me in a series of posts about, not just biological Mothers, but also of those women throughout our lives that have impacted us, helping shape us into who we have become and will become, all simply by being the beautiful embodiment of Motherly Support RIGHT when we need it most.

Here are the guidelines:

• Please become a follower of our blog Modern Hippie Momma and please 'like' our Facebook Page. Be sure to leave us a comment if you're participating so we can follow you back!! :) 

• Find a quote that inspires thought and reminds you of a particular moment in time with a woman in your life that you know has impacted you in some way... The way you live, think, deal with things/people/kids/LIFE in general, etc.

• Write a post about all that you are reminded of with that woman and a particular moment. 

• Repeat this at least once a week (more if you'd like) for the entire month of May. 

• GRAB THE OFFICIAL "May is for All Women" BUTTON ~ Post it proudly on your sidebar and especially at the bottom of your posts all month to help spread the word and get other's to join in!  Be sure to type a one liner just above it to encourage other's participation! 

• Don't forget to share it with us on our Facebook Page < HERE >!  We want to read your stories!!  

• If you can, share the story with the person who inspired you to write your post. I'm sure your lovely thoughts and reflections would be a beautiful and memorable gift to her. :) 

Thought inspiring quotes..... Oh how I love them. 

They spark one simple thought and BAM! 

All of a sudden you're reminded of moments, people, smells... and sometimes find yourself asking a few questions, inspiring more thought.. and BAM! 

You realize there's nothing left to do but... Oh yes.. 

Blog about it. :)

So what are you waiting for?? 

Search for quotes, get inspired and get your BLOG on!

"May is for ALL Women" - Post 2

     by Amanda* @ Modern Hippie Momma

This morning came early.  I lay dreaming snuggled up next to our little man as the sun just began to rise and awoke to my loving husband laying across my back holding me tight, with his tears streaming down my shoulder. 

Opening my eyes and with an immediate knot in my throat, I asked him what's wrong....

He had already gone to work and had come right back home because he didn't want me to  have to learn of the news of my Papa's passing (my father's Dad) and have no one there with me. 

It was nice being able to hear it from someone I love and it was even better to have someone there to hold me as the cries from my core bellowed out in sorrow, saying Papa's name, crying out to him as if to beg him to stay just a little longer. 

Life goes by so fast. 

One day you're sneaking out of your house, told your parents you're "going to work"...

...but really you're jumping in the car with your high school sweetheart to run off and get married... 

.... and then the years fly by in the blink of an eye and suddenly you're telling nurses 

where to put the hospice bed in your house... for your high school sweetheart.

Papa was a living, breathing, walking example of LOVE, EMPATHY and LAUGHTER. 

We were all so lucky to have him in our lives, for as long as we had him. 

He outlived the doctors that told him 10 years ago he'd only have a few years to live. 

It is the strength of Granny that kept Papa going and the humorous & lightheartedness of Papa that gave Granny hope.  They were each other's other half and they fit like puzzle pieces. 

Today when I write for the May is for All Women Inspirational Writing Project, it is without question that the woman in my Granny has everything to do with the man that was my Papa.

Resting in my husband's arms, I am sure to FEEL him and appreciate him, as I know one day I too will be feeling the emptiness of losing my best friend and other half. 

Opening my back door and letting the breeze come in today made me somehow feel closer to my grieving family who are way across the country. 

Closing my eyes and feeling the sun on my face, I took a moment to remember life as a child with Granny & Papa........

The smell of peanut brittle throughout the house after waking from a nap.

A salty watermelon on a hot, Florida day.

Running in the field of daisies in my Easter dress. 

Banana pudding.

Papa's sweet voice over the phone.  His piercing blue eyes and handsome smile.

Papa's drenched shirt and hair as he passionately preached his sermon, dancing all over the place with the Spirit running in his veins.

How Granny & Papa were always so in love... flirting and picking on each other.

 I always wanted a relationship like the one they had.

The sound of Papa praying.

The sound of Granny praying.

Papa's piercing blue eyes and handsome smile.

....I could go on forever.

The quote above is a great reminder that we never really leave this world; we just leave our bodies. 

It reminds us that living in our bodies is only a part of our existence, and that we continue on by returning to this earth in our most truest form.

The bittersweet cycle of life.

Our daughter Abigail is only 5 but she appreciates the beauty around her better than most adults and was quick to appreciate the sun this morning, saying that Papa made it "sunshiney" to make her happy.  

"I'm certain he did", I told her.  :) 

♥ I love you, Papa. We miss you already. RIP. ♥ 

Please Join Us in the 

"May is for All Women"Project to 

Celebrate All Women, All Month Long!

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What the Sun Does to Her

Oddly enough, right in the middle of Spring... the Sun came out!

It does not go unnoticed up here in Washington, especially with Abigail and, I'm sure, the rest of the Pacific NW children.

She rises quickly on a weekend morning, the sun only just barely peaking through the crack in her window.  The clouds are still huge and heavy in some places, and the wind remains, but even the back and forth between the Sun and the grey is enough to make her Aura instantly vibrant and energized.

All morning she has consistently asked me in many polite, Abigail-like ways if I would go watch her out front while she played...

WHY is the front yard so much better than the back yard?? LOL I'll never know. The backyard is bigger!

"Mommy...  would you so kindly, if you mind, you could watch me as your beautiful self.. um... in the front yard while I run and jump and play?"

<bats eyes, smiles and tilts head>

She's... irresistible, really.

She is amazing, smart, bright, kind, polite, stubborn, FREE, beautiful, and strong... She is SUCH my daughter.

It is the middle of the day now and she dances and twirls in the front yard sporting her multi-colored striped tights, her pink jumpsuit (as she calls it), a long sleeved shirt underneath, her shiny black dress shoes with her favorite lip gloss on.

She picks some of our Lavender and holds it out in her hand...

"Close your eyes and smell that, Mom."... as she lovingly smiles. 

She's just so beautiful to me, inside and out.

We ran giggling as I chased her around the yard for at least 5 minutes. She makes me feel like a kid again.

Children are the most amazing, magical beings we are so blessed to have and to raise, love and cherish.

I love all of our children, even if they drive me nuts half the time.

Life would not be the same without them.

Happy Sunday  :) 

My Wonderful Complaints

After deciding to stay home with the kids and not work for a while, my brain has been going nuts with ALL of the things I have ever wanted to do, try, create, and all the NEW things that I am discovering I may want to do, try and create.

Nursing Carlin is my new reality, as I have joined the club of millions of selfless women who choose to nurse their infants by sacrificing our bodies 24/7 for a year (or more) of our lives.

And being that I probably nurse him 8-10 hours in a day, fitting in all of my creative aspirations can be a bit difficult. 

Well... a lot difficult. 

It probably doesn't help that my brain is not exactly as organized as it once was, which is hard because when that happens, I feel like I am not doing everything to its fullest!

For example...

1) The bathroom is half painted. To be fair, 3/4 of the way painted. :) Started it yesterday but woke up with a cold!! So I have been trying to catch up on the bloggy world because now I feel crummy and do not want to do anything physical.

2) Also, (and speaking of the bloggy world) I have been nominated for 3 Liebster Awards, and after discovering I was nominated for the 3rd one, I had only JUST finished finding the first 21 blogs I wanted to nominate from my first 2 awards!  

Now I need to find 11 more blogs to nominate. Trust me, these are good things to have to whine about! :)  It's just... I really do take the compliment that comes with the award to heart, and when I nominate 11 other blogs as the rules state to do, I take it seriously and want to take my time!  

3) And... I have gone to the thrift store twice in 2 weeks, found new t-shirts to restyle/upcycle and got inspired! So now I have 3 unfinished products for my Etsy shop. <face palm>

4) I even admit to spontaneously finding (and maybe.. searching out intentionally... occasionally.. Or, a lot. Don't judge me!) yard sales on the way home from dropping Abigail off at Pre-k, and inevitably accumulating MORE things that inspire yet another project.

All the while... when I am nursing our little man, or sitting still for any reason, I'm thinking of something else I'm working on and what I can do to it next. 

Still, I am on my own time, doing things at my own speed. It's a nice change from the working life when my time revolved around what the corporate world demanded of me 40 hours per week, which means the house, family, chores and creative ventures had to come second. 

In the midst of my creative mess of a brain... I do feel like a sense of clarity has set in. :) 

For once, it feels good to have complaints. 

Time flies, and I will one day miss these days. 

Life is good when my these are my kind of complaints. 

Living Life Openly, waking up ready and receptive to all that the Universe has to offer each day. 

:)

Hello, Balance

The days run together with taking care of our infant Carlin for this past month, and that has been OK. But today... today I found some balance that I didn't necessarily know I needed. One word: YOGA.

It occurred to me the other day as I munched on my favorite chocolate dessert bar (that I snuck off to the grocery store to buy one morning after dropping Abigail off at Pre-K) ... that, with all of the sitting around I have to do to nurse Carlin, I better start doing something, anything to combat the fat cells accumulating in my body. I imagine them gathering in my hips, thighs and booty, and believe me, I don't need more of a booty or  more shape to my hips. Although, my hubby, Paul, probably would think differently. LOL

So, this morning I got up (more like, rolled out of bed 20 minutes later than I should have) got dressed, put Carlin on the boobie while I instructed Abigail to get dressed and keeping on her daily routine of getting ready, made myself and Abigail our full breakfast (Carlin is still attached to the boobie), got her to school and came home determined to start that yoga DVD I've been glancing at for the past few days and make myself start something that would hopefully turn into my morning routine.

It... was wonderful. I could feel everything stretch that has felt cramped up after being pregnant, giving birth and from taking care of (and sleeping with) baby Carlin. My muscles were all but thanking me for the blood flow and deep breathing, as I found myself flowing with the moves as if I never stopped doing them.

Today, I found my center again, and found that I am more strong at my core than I ever was. My balance was superb, and only once did I sway off balance in transition from Warrior 1 to Warrior 2 for the first time. Being it has been a while... probably close to 2 years.. since I have done a full yoga workout, a couple of breaks were definitely needed to get a drink of water, which was fine because Carlin demanded my attention a couple times.

It is important when doing a yoga workout that you find a routine that helps you find your breath, your center, then gently leads you into cardio, giving you stretches that you can feel deep within your muscles, stretching your spine, opening your ribcage... and then ends with gently bringing you back down to the floor into brief meditation, finding your breath again, clearing your mind, leaving you feeling ready for the day (or night if you wish). For me, starting my day with yoga has always set the scale for the day, and I do it with "SHAPE Magazine's Long, Lean & Strong DVD", that I just happen to find on sale for $5.00 one day. Still, it is the best I have tried yet.

Today, I found my balance. I do believe I will repeat this at least Monday thru Friday, for the better of my body and mind.

<3 MHM

Something About Sundays...

Sundays for us are the day of renewal. It is the day we fill the cupboards, do the laundry, clean the house...

There's something about Sunday's that seems to raise my serotonin. It is always so refreshing to wake up on a Sunday morning to my wonderful husband (who spoils me) making breakfast (he's our chef, that we won't share with the world), to the foot steps of our 5 year old up and down the hallway, in and out of her room as she dresses up in 3 different outfits and dances in front of her mirror singing her own made up versions of opera, and now to the grunts of our little man, Carlin. The teenager doesn't sleep in too late, but rarely awakes before the rest of the house.

Carlin seems to never leave the boobie. We don't offer him a pacifier or bottle, so I am both his binky and food supply, which makes it to where he pretty much is always attached. Even though gathering dirty clothes and tidying up my bedroom before going downstairs is a bit more difficult with him attached like a little parasite, it doesn't matter. These days are precious. This is exactly what I asked for when dreaming of having just one more child.

The morning always starts off busy. We eat breakfast, our teenager, Devlin, starts laundry, our toddler has already strung half her bedroom across the living room floor and couch, the hubbers (being the chef, he also does the grocery shopping) spends his time typing his grocery list on his phone and cleaning out the leftover food that will not be eaten, while Devlin divides what goes in the compost and what does not. But then he and hubby leave to "forage for food" and then there is a still in the house as my little girl, my infant and I are left on the couch, cuddling and ready for a movie.

Once the movie is over, the boys return, the cupboards get filled, I have my teenager back to help me straighten up the house, the clothes get washed, sorted and distributed, I usually vacuum.. although yesterday didn't allow for that part of the ritual as Carlin was exceptionally hungry, and after a full day of little break from nursing him, my energy tank was pretty low.

Although I do enjoy our weekly ritual on Sundays, it usually takes less than 24 hours for the house to look just as it did (minus all of the dirty laundry) before we began cleaning, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

One day these kids will be grown, and the lack of frilly tutus, tiaras, tiny toys, and all that Devlin leaves in his trails, as well as all that Carlin will soon leave in his path in addition to his cloth diaper landry... will, before we know it, be replaced with the memories of when our children were completely dependent on us.

Sure there is a sense of liberation to one day be able to only have to plan for ourselves and dreams of traveling far and wide via RV with little worry in the world are pleasing; and even to show up on our children's lawns and have them take care of us for a few days in the meantime, has crossed our minds. But these are the golden days. The days of innocence, first experiences, development of mind, body and soul before we send these soon to be grown individuals into the world, hoping we did all we could to be sure they can contribute and help advance a society.

So, I'll continue to enjoy my Sundays waking up to our little opera star, and cleaning up tiaras, tutus and tiny toys.

<3 MHM