Author: poolepartyof5

I am a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend living in Seattle and exploring all things creative, a few minutes at a time.

Product Testing

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So did I mention that my baby spits up?  There are many words for this: burp, spit, spit up, puke… you get the idea.  Whichever name you like, it is a total mess.  As a mother of three, with two kids who didn’t spit, I didn’t understand this element of parenting.  It is part preparedness and part spontaneity at all times.  You learn the signs and you learn the best way to hold the baby, as well as where every type of towel resides all over the house.

In addition, you learn the value of a burp cloth.  I had been given burp cloths with the other children and found other uses for them… rag for wiping down counter, lovey, face wiper after spaghetti, but never spit up.  Now I get it.  Now I am a pro.  Now I know burp cloths and understand the merits of what makes one good and what makes one great.  There are many burp cloths out there.  From plain old dish rags to embellished treasures, I believe the magic lies somewhere in between.  Having a background in clothing production, I am a self-proclaimed stickler for details.  I notice the small things and there is a part of me that is always ready to give my feedback:

  1. Absorbency is paramount: I believe that cloth diapers reign supreme in this category.  Most other cloths allow the spit to just slide right off.
  2. Style details: The importance of this has to do with the fact that it will be your primary accessory for quite a long time (the doctor tells me 12 months is totally possible – yikes).  This is your chance to add that splash of color that you might not feel bold enough to wear on your own!  Go for it.
  3. Attractive from both sides: Sometimes its important to be able to flip the thing over or find another corner.  You get my drift.  Life moves fast, you’ve gotta be ready for anything.

Through months of daily product testing and market research, I’ve found that there might be some room for improvement in the category of burp cloth.  I’ve come up with a solution that incorporates my love of style and cool fabrics with the function of a truly absorbent (read: boring) diaper.  I have been having fun experimenting with this and have been so inspired by the incredibly fun fabrics from a local business, Drygoods Design in Ballard, WA.  (Check out this site if you have a hankering for some great fabric: http://www.drygoodsdesignonline.com/.)  I’ve come up with some winners and we are getting plenty of use out of each and every one I crank out.  If you come over for dinner sometime,  feel free to hold the baby ~ we’ll arm you appropriately…

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A Space

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Today is Father’s Day and I am so thankful for my husband.

Each year on Father’s Day we typically plan to treat him royally, but inevitably today (and Mother’s Day for that matter) has been filled with an extra bout of tantrums, sick kids, and unexpected hiccups that make me feel that he is not quite getting his due.  Yes, we made him coffee and brought it to him in an awesome new mug, and yes, we gave him loads of cards that were made at preschool and squirreled away until today and yes, we love him very, very much.  Alas a house with three kids under five a relaxing house does not make, even on Father’s Day.

So since he isn’t getting props from the kids today, he will get some from his wife.  I am so, so thankful to have you as a partner.  We do things that I wouldn’t even imagine tackling without you by my side (walk around Green Lake with two children under five years on bikes, another one in the stroller and a dog just to kick things up a bit… anyone, anyone?)  Your confidence to try anything and everything amazes me and gives me the feeling that I want to be brave too.  I hope that we have the rest of our lives to be brave together!  And yes, in 2029 I will go anywhere in the world with you…

I mentioned in my first post that my husband worked very hard helping me to envision and then create a space just for me within this busy and chaotic house we are running.  It was something that was difficult for me to wrap my brain around and I wouldn’t have done it, if it hadn’t been for his relentless prodding and encouragement.  Now I have the mental and physical space to let my imagination run.  To take the line from Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”  Similarly, it appears that he built it and the ideas are coming!  What an amazing concept.  So, on this day, I would like to share some pictures with you of My Space.  It is not perfect – whatever that means.  It is still being fine-tuned – and probably will be forever.  It is teeny tiny, but it is mine.  This is what it looks like today and I am so happy to have it.

Thank you, Gus.

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Holding A Memory

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I was given a lovely gift this weekend from a close friend.  It was a journal titled, “Mom’s One Line A Day.”  The purpose of this book is to log a quick thought about each day as it happens, realizing that we are all so busy that one line might just be attainable.  It has room for 5 years of thoughts, all lined up for easy comparison between year one and year five.  A snapshot of what was happening then, as compared to what is happening now.  Or years from now, it would be an easy way to look back to see what we were up to during a certain phase of life.

The question of how we hold our memories has been one that spins around in my head periodically with no real solution.  There are moments when all I want is the ability to stop time.  As I lay on the floor, watching my baby learn to roll over, I want to wallow in the moment, hold it close, and imprint it on my brain.  As I see my four-year old son ride his bike without training wheels for the first time, I want to know that this proud, bursting feeling will be with me for the rest of my life.  Having been through the baby stage before with two other children I know that I will be able to hold onto pieces of the moment, but not the whole thing.  It will pass.

People who have lived through parenting often tell others to “treasure every moment, it goes by so quickly.”  I understand the validity of this statement, but I also find it absurd.  Even when one feels blessed with health and happiness, there are still dirty dishes, sleep deprivation, and shirts covered in spit up to distract from beautiful moments.  Hence my frenetic efforts at documentation… taking photographs on the last day of school, creating baby books, and writing down these random moments.  As I do these things I wonder why I cannot trust my brain to keep these moments for me for a later date; why I must rely on these outside mediums as vaults for something so treasured?

As my friend gave me this thoughtful gift, our babies were laying side by side – hers, six weeks old and precious for all his scrunchy newbornness, and mine, (almost) six months old and stretching out for her freedom.  The miracle of growth and the passage of time were staring us in the face as we looked at what happens in just four months of life.  We sat there in awe of what is occurring before our eyes and in our hearts.

I am left knowing that I can (and will) keep documenting with the best of them, but the real key is to try to stay present for all of it.

Now, I need to go wipe some spit up off the floor.

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Inspiration

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Inspiration comes in all forms… in this post you will see what actually inspired moving the sewing machine out of its box.  Today we celebrated one of my dearest friends and the upcoming arrival of her first baby.  K has applauded all of her friends’ babies in the last few years and today we got to return the favor by honoring her.  K is a planner and appreciates both parties and details, so it was clear we needed to raise the bar.  Teaching myself to sew in a month seemed like a good idea at the time…  Debatable, but fun!  Keep in mind I am 5 months postpartum and possibly a little cuckoo.

I was in charge of decorations and focused my energy on creating custom onesies and burp cloths for the new babe.  We displayed these with hand-decorated clothespins and lots and lots of polka dots… my favorite!  As the party neared, I thought about sewing place mats and a runner for the table and quickly became overwhelmed, so came up with a pretty creative solution (if I do say so myself) and used wrapping paper to create our table top decorations.  It worked beautifully in a pinch – lots of pop, plus I can use the paper again.  It was a lovely day and I believe K felt celebrated and special – total success!

So the moral of the story is that K and baby have been my inspiration (muses?) and I thank them for all the fun that I have been having over the last weeks!  And now, anyone for some place mats?

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Singer Brilliance

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My fingers feel itchy.  As a mother of three children under five, this is a bit unexpected.  It is not as though my hands stay idle for long – there is always something to attend to.  But this is different.  This is the desire to work on a project that allows for completion.  I have noticed as a mom, it can be wonderfully satisfying to dive into something, other than dishes or diapers, that has a beginning, a middle and, thankfully, an end.

Over the last year, this quest to find something to quell the itch in my fingers has covered a number of areas, from learning to preserve foods through pickling and canning to my newest endeavor, sewing.  It is not that I am trying to win the star of Molly Homemaker, but rather, I see that these types of projects have a timelessness.  They have been around for ages and are activities that our mothers’ mothers had available to them as well.  Moments in time that are both productive as well as soul satisfying.

About a month ago I broke open the box of my new Singer sewing machine.  It had stood in the corner of our house for about a year and a half silently mocking me, or possibly just waiting for the right time to be discovered.  This was something I bought myself at Costco, on a whim, for Christmas; on some level knowing that there would be a time when I would find space (in house and head) for this new craft.  My intention was that I would teach myself to sew and that I would love it.  During my pregnancy, in addition to getting the nursery ready, the area of house that we chose to “nest” was the creation of a laundry / project room.  I consider this new space my office and am so excited to have it.  My tendency to leave projects rolling (read: messy) is something that can drive my husband crazy, so I believe that the evolution of this room was for his well being  as well as mine.

It is amazing to me how sometimes things just come together and work.  My little Singer and I are getting to know one another in my new room and are developing a beautiful relationship.  I do love it.  Sometimes I can only turn it on for a moment or two before there is a wailing cry from another room, but even that is enough to feed my soul… for now.

Now, onto a new project to help these itchy fingers!

Rain, Rain Go Away

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It rained, and rained, and then it rained some more…

  1. Thankfully I am married to an ingenious man who built tarp city in our backyard.  Note to self for future parties, May is not a reliable month in Seattle for backyard barbecues (oh well, chalk it up to optimism)!
  2. I think we did provide a first to our good-natured party-goers – I’m sure no one had participated in pinata thrashing in the pouring rain before Sunday (still fun)!
  3. The party was a success in that the birthday boy was thrilled to have his friends over.  Cupcakes were consumed.  The food was a hit, as we served Copper River salmon, hand delivered by B from Cordova, Alaska!  What a treat.

Thanks for being good sports, friends!

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Party Time

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The day has arrived!  Today is my son’s 3rd birthday party.   Weeks of planning, preparation, and agonizing over internet photos have come to an end and I am excited to celebrate with our friends and family.

In my last post I did not mention my hopes for this blog.  Over the past five years I have been figuring out my roles as mother, wife, etc…, but had placed the role of “creative force” on the back burner ~ this was true with the exception of “the birthday party.”  I found that “the birthday party” was a palatable enterprise because it was a contained event, did not need to be duplicated, and still supported the above mentioned role of “mother.”  Now that I am beginning to feel inspired to be creative in other areas of my life, I will remember “the birthday party” as something that reminded me that (as tired as I am sometimes) the creative spark is still inside, waiting for its time to shine!

I grew up in a house that truly celebrated birthdays. It was a day to feel honored and special.  My mother would set the scene with some fabulous theme and my grandmother would bake the cake.  Her beautiful creations live on in my memory from checkerboard and rainbow interiors to a three-foot bright green crocodile that supported my Crocodile Dundee themed party.  As I frost my son’s cake today, I am thinking of the women who raised me to appreciate hard work and beautiful things.

Now, if only the rain would stop…

Rebirth

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I find myself in a period of rebirth and re-imaginings.  My third child was born almost five months ago and I think she will be our last.  As I transition out of having babies, there is something wonderful going on inside my head and heart.  I love my children more than life and have devoted all I have to them and our family for the last five years.  Although I expect to continue doing that for all my years to come, there is something more going on.  I am finding myself again.  Stay tuned… good things are coming!

The attached link is a very thoughtful piece that was brought to my attention and speaks to my soul.

I have been in a phase of “motherhood as all consuming life force”.  I am moving towards a rediscovery of who I am and who I have always been.  This rebirth feels like a marriage of something that existed before, intertwined with something new and different – something that has been evolving and exists in an embryonic state.  I find myself feeling excited about what is next for me.

“This is what women do not tell each other. I want to say it here: You will die when you become a mother and it will hurt and it will be confusing and you will be someone you never imagined and then, you will be reborn.” posted in The Sage Mama , Sept 22 2011.