the strange, the ordinary, and the divine

One of the perks of living in Australia is having strange and unusual friends...

Today is Mothers Day. Well, for me it is anyway. Since Ryan was was still overseas last weekend he decided to wake me up with a beautiful breakfast and a thoughtful pressie this morning. I was okay with that.

And then we went to visit some of our friends at the billabong down the road.

At times Levi couldn't be bothered. After all, there were sticks everywhere to play with...

...and what fun are koalas when they just sit there in trees looking cute? (Boring mom!)

Birds on the other hand... birds are on the move and fast and fascinating.

And of course the "dogs" are awesome. And these "dogs" even have really long tails and huge, funny feet. Oh, and they bounce around a lot... in between their lazy episodes of sunbathing. (Weird, but cool mom!)

Isn't it strange how becoming a mom changes things? Like how a great day for me is now one where I see my family enjoying themselves. Soaking in the warm sun. Glimpsing blue sky between the rustling gum trees. Minutes morphing into hours while chasing ducks, picking up sticks, and seeing life through the eyes of a very, very small and curious person.

Because to a very, very small and curious person... the world looks large and grande and full and... friendly. And I really like seeing it that way.

Through those eyes scary things don't look threatening... they just look amazing. (Even more amazing than on the pages of our storybooks.) And I like seeing it that way, too.

I reckon that sun on your back, dust on your feet, and a child on your shoulders (or in your belly) just make the world feel a little bit more right.

But of course kids will be kids... and even on a made-up Mothers Day they still don't "pose" for photos.

But that's ok. Because each little glance, each expression, each mid-sentance hand gesture frozen on film... all bring a sense of normalcy.

And that normalcy does nothing to detract from the divine gift of an animated and spirited child who doesn't yet know how to say "I love you mama." But I know. I know I am loved... in the ordinary moments as well as the extraordinary ones.

So this Mothers Day we come home and place our shoes by the door. Some of us go for naps while others fold laundry. The sun continues to sink on an extraordinarily ordinary, beautifully unusual, simply wonderful normal day. And I count my blessings, the best of which are the man and the boys who have made me a mom.

For this mom... on a Sunday... in May... with my boys (all three of them)... the world is a very good place.

Knowing that this is my current reality makes me a very happy, happy woman indeed.

Dear friends, how have you seen the divine in the ordinary this week?

glad to be a mama,



Current giveaways: Two Peekabooby nursing covers and one copy of The Pregnancy Companion (book).

Pregnant Blogger? Join in with the Bloggin' Babes & Babies of 2011 (a link-up for expecting mamas).

Linking in with Chelsea for her "friends" theme:

Being deliberate about resting, refreshing, and enjoying family:

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011
do not reproduce without written permission

making the moments count

It was going to be our last weekend together for a month.

How would I make it count? How would I slow down enough to savor it when there were bills to be paid, banking to be done, paperwork to wade through, suitcases to be packed, and a million things to be checked off The List?

But we did. Make it count, that is.

a day off on magnetic island.

We are still reclaiming Sundays.

Last weekend, our Sunday was on Friday.

Knowing that my boys would soon be separated for far too long, I relished the moments they played together in the sand, sat together in the shade of our beach tent, walked along the shoreline, swam in the shallow, and whispered nonsense under their breath.

I sat in amazement watching my littlest drink milk from a box - such a small thing and yet such a marker of toddlerhood.

{Sippy no longer required.}

pretty impressed with himself... and life in general.

I watched as my husband teased him and tickled him, trying to distract him from one of his favorite times of the day - snack time.

Little moments, regular moments... precious moments.

i can't get enough of watching these two together.

It's good to have good-byes every now and then. They help bring your priorities into alignment and gently pressure you to make your moments count.

Our "Sunday" gave way to Saturday - a bustling day filled with an early Easter egg hunt and a backyard full of friends, lots of to-do's and packing completed, and then a nice night out with my beloved before I (temporarily) lost him to an airplane headed to another nation.

first father-son easter egg hunt. presh.

I'm grateful for the time we have. It never feels like enough... but it is. It's enough. What we're given is always enough... as long as we make it count.

the closest thing we're going to get to a family easter picture this year... and as you can tell,
levi is a far cry from being a poser. camera on = instantly disinterested... but still as gorgeous as always.

Dear friends, how have you made your precious time count this week?


making the moments count,

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Are you pregnant? Link up with the Bloggin' Babes and Babies of 2011.

Share your creativity and Easter inspiration by submitting your Easter card to our Easter card linky (closing April 21).

This post is part of my Reclaiming Sundays project - an intentional effort to carve out family time every week to rest, refresh, breathe, laugh, relax, enjoy... Please feel free to join me if you'd like.

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011
do not reproduce without written permission

reclaiming sundays... carefree and clothes free

Sometimes life feels like a runaway train and it takes everything from within to make a stand for slowing things down.

Raising kids is like that.

Regardless of jobs and deadlines and finances and responsibilities, just being a parent seems to propel life into fast forward. With each new milestone, developmental leap, and growth spurt the passing of time is amplified.

And so is the challenge of slowing things down, which is why I'm thrilled to say that our last few Sundays have looked a lot like this:

Sun, grass, a cheap wading pool, a garden hose, tall glasses of ice water, thrown together plates of cheese and cracker snacks, sticky, juicy orange slices, lounge chairs, sunscreen, floppy hats, a well-loved swing set, and sweet, mellow playlists providing the perfect soundtrack to the unfolding joy.

They have been lazy; they have been perfect.

No one straining to finish a project. No one sweating to cross things off the list. No one stressing to get one last errand in before the shops close.

Just resting, refreshing, relishing, enjoying.

But one of the best things about this time--these days--of our lives is this:

Little boys with bare naked bums.

I know if I'm not careful I'll blink and Levi will be too grown-up to run around the backyard naked without a care in the world.

So for now, we're savoring these days. Carefree and clothes free.

Life is good.

Dear friends, what are you savoring these days?


love,

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Are you pregnant? Link up with the Bloggin' Babes and Babies of 2011.

Share your creativity and Easter inspiration by submitting your Easter card to our Easter card linky (closing April 21).

This post is part of my Reclaiming Sundays project - an intentional effort to carve out family time every week to rest, refresh, breathe, laugh, relax, enjoy... Please feel free to join me if you'd like.

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011
do not reproduce without written permission

unearthing joy with a garden hose, a kiddie pool, and a rusty old swing set

Do you ever have those moments where you feel like you're catching a glimpse of your life on a movie and you think to yourself "Wow, I really am a grown-up now!" or even just a simple "Oh my gosh, I'm a MOM and this is my family!"?

I had one of those moments the other day as we were Reclaiming Sunday.

It was a rare day of sunshine and blue skies smack dab in the middle of monsoon season and to maximize it we decided that instead of going out to a park or the beach we would slather on sunscreen, gather up our beach towels, and head out our back door.

Oh, it was glorious.

We pulled out the small, brittle plastic wading pool that we got from Freecycle and let Levi fill it with cool hose water. Ryan put up our "new" swing set (another Freecycle score) and attached the shiny, new toddler swing that Levi got for his birthday. Buckets and shovels and balls scattered across the surface of the yard. I reclined in a lounge chair under the frangipani tree eating grapes and feeling like the luckiest woman on the planet. Levi ran loose, buzzing between the pool and the swing set, the dirt patch and my lounge chair. Friends dropped in and stayed for a cool drink and to watch the unfolding show as Levi learned how the hose worked and stumbled gleefully through the sprinkler. Ryan got his BBQ groove on.

We laughed. We relished. We relaxed. We soaked it all in.

Yes, it was glorious. One of those days that is so simple, so unpretentious, so "normal", and so perfect.

One of those days that goes down in my little mental record book titled "Best Days Ever".

We got to the end of it wishing we could rewind and do it all again.

Not every day off is so Norman Rockwell - our lives are not perfect - and yet it's days like these that somehow make their way into shaping both ideals and memories of what family time is all about. It's days like these that prove how easy it is to find joy in the simple things... if only you take the time to slow down and look for it.

Dear friends, what are you doing to create some family time or good memories this week? What are you doing to unearth some joy in your life?

for the love of a sprinkler,

This post is part of my Reclaiming Sundays project - an intentional effort to carve out family time every week to rest, refresh, breathe, enjoy, laugh, relax... 

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011

do not reproduce without written permission

heaven and a donut: a pregnant woman’s living wish

I never used my golden ticket.

Nine long months and not once did I demand pad thai or cinnamon raisin bagels or Honey Nut Cheerios.

I suppose I’m lucky to say that my only lingering regret from my first pregnancy was never cashing in on my free pass to satisfy my every hormonal urge and craving. (Not counting my perfectly reasonable obsession with crushed ice by the bucket during my final two months. Side note: unless you are Indiana Jones or Houdini you just. won't. find. snow. in tropical Australia in the dead of summer... or the dead of winter for that matter. Crushed ice will just have to do.)

But no, my golden ticket sat collecting dust on the shelf while I happily munched on ice and my belly grew to busting point.

What a waste of power.

But this time, things are different.

I’m older. I’m wiser. I’m… hungrier.

I was eleven weeks along when I went out last weekend for a girls’ night out with friends. I had contentedly sipped my Sprite for two hours when my first craving hit me like a hurricane.

Donuts. Front and center, they stole the stage of my mind and took my every thought hostage.

All I wanted was one. Or maybe two. 

Three at the most.

I wasn't asking for anything fancy, just cinnamon donuts… a whim easily satisfied by a quick detour to the grocery store on our way home.

I loaded up my accommodating girlfriends and headed to the only supermarket in town still open. It was 9:57pm when we pulled into the parking lot (yes, shops do close that early here, even on a Saturday night). I was determined to be in an out in record time with my precious cargo.

After a frantic and fruitless search of the bakery section (twice), I left defeated and dejected.

There were no donuts. Not even a trace.

My head hung low, my shoulders slumped, the sparkle stolen from my eyes…

They locked the doors behind me at 10:02pm as I left empty-handed. It was in that moment that I wished my belly was just a little bit bigger. Then maybe somebody would feel sorry for me.

I just wanted a little sympathy.

And a donut.

My girlfriends tried to console me as best they could and I resigned to the fact that perhaps this pregnancy wouldn’t be so different than the first. After all…

I am woman. I am strong. I can live without donuts.

Yes, yes, yes!

I am woman.   I am strong.    I.  can.  live.  without.  donuts.

The next morning I woke to a gloomy, rainy day. It was Sunday—our day—and we decided to head to the mall, if just to have a place that Levi could run his little size four sneakers free without getting hammered by the torrential downpour that drenched our day-at-the-beach plans.

As soon as we stepped into the mall my husband turned to me and said these magic words: “How about we go and get a coffee and donuts?”

Right there on the spot I fell in love with that man all over again.

He knew not of my fruitless endeavors of the night before. He knew not that the baby and his* mama needed donuts.

And honestly, we aren’t even “donut people”. Ryan’s suggestion was left field… but sounded to me like a song from heaven. Surely Someone Divine whispered that thought into his mind. Surely.

I got my donut without so much as a whine or a fuss… or even a golden ticket.

In fact, I got two. Two fresh, warm, dunk-able cinnamon donuts.

Donuts have never tasted sweeter.

I have a sneaking suspicion my second pregnancy is going to be fabulous.

###

Dear friends, did you have cravings during your pregnancies? During my first it was ice, ice, and more ice. (Only because I couldn’t figure out how to get snow shipped in from my parents in Oregon.) During my second I’ve only had the one-off donut craving so far…. But we’ll see where it takes me. And you? How much did you use your golden ticket??

happy about my sweetie bringing me sweets,

*No, we don't know the gender of the baby yet. I just despise using the pronoun "it" for my child. Sometimes the English language is highly frustrating...

Also friends, this post is part of my Reclaiming Sundays project. For the record, our "gloomy, rainy day" turned out to be a perfect family day filled with muffled mall music, fake rides on a stationary Thomas the Train, and of course wonderful donuts. How were you deliberate in taking some time to enjoy those close to you this weekend?

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011
do not reproduce without written permission

reclaiming sundays... with beans and a side of enchilada

Our last couple of Sundays have been rainy. Not just the skies-are-gray-things-are-a-bit-wet type of rainy... but more of an I-just-might-drown-trying-to-get-from-my-house-to-my-car type of rainy.

Relentless pounding tropical downpour.

Although Oregon is thought of as a state that is constantly wet, I'm from a very dry area in central Oregon, where we typically get 6-12 inches of rain per year. I don't even remember owning a raincoat or umbrella for most of my life.

And then I moved to the tropics.

Here during the wet season we can easily get my hometown's entire annual rainfall in a single afternoon. {I am soooo not exaggerating.}

Sunday was one of those days.

But, regardless of the elements being pitted against us, we had already decided that we were going out to celebrate Ryan's birthday at a local wanna-be-Mexican restaurant (the closest the Aussies can get to Mexican at least), and so we scooped up our little and headed in search of ribs (for Ryan) and a burrito (for me).

Much to my dismay the restaurant had quit serving burritos. Yes, you read that right - a Mexican restaurant with no burritos. (Remember friends, we are talking Australian-Mexican food here.)

So instead I got the enchiladas.

To my shock and horror I was delivered a giant plate with ONE enchilada surrounded by two massive side dishes - beans on one side and lettuce on the other. My measly lone enchilada was nearly lost in that sea of lettuce and beans.

Now before you feel too sorry for me let me remind you that this occasion was not about me. (Keep in mind how hard it is for a pregnant woman to acknowledge this when it comes to anything food-related!)

Thankfully my enchilada (singular) was tasty... but far more importantly, Ryan's huge order of ribs was absolutely delish. Levi munched on bits of our meals and was happy bopping along in his highchair to the cheesy Video Hits that played in the background. But the best part of the meal was the end - just watching my boy love his daddy and my man love his son.

They are such a great pair.

Soaking wet and still hungry or not... there's no better way to spend a Sunday than with the ones I love most.

Dear friends, have you had some good family time this week? I dare you to be deliberate about making it happen.

estoy alegre,

Note: You can read my original post with more of what this is all about here. If you'd like to grab the Reclaiming Sundays button and join in with our family's quest to make some more time for rest in our busy lives, then please feel free. (And remember, your "Sundays" don't have to literally be on Sundays... any old day will do, as long as it's deliberate.) Make sure to leave me your link so I can visit!

<a href="http://www.themommyhoodmemos.com" target="_blank"><img alt="The Mommyhood Memos" src="http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m223/adrielmc/reclaimingsundaysbuttonimagesize200.jpg" /></a>
(And don't worry, the button will display on your blog as a normal button size!)

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011 

do not reproduce without written permission

reclaiming sundays... with mud and sticks

One of the perks of our work is that we get to take students camping a couple of times a year for lectures "in the bush". Imagine 200+ people in the middle of nowhere. We're talking massive bonfires, a sprawling tent city, long lines for the one toilet and shower (per gender), a trailer full of food, gas BBQs for cooking, and three generator-powered refrigerators.

Oh, and a make-shift classroom in a huge shed near the edge of the paddock.

It's madness.

And it's so. much. fun.

So last weekend, we had an amazing day "reclaiming Sunday"... on our day off up there in the bush: Monday.


It was a great time for being half-dressed and playing the drums on a log...

For stick hunting with little friends...

For chasing after very large bulls who kept roaming through "our" field...

For eating stuff...

For getting our hands dirty... along with everything else...

And of course for bucket baths (that baby used to actually fit in!)...

And cool hair-dos... 

... cuz being clean is the perfect way to end a rock-sorting, stick-pounding, grass-rubbing, bull-chasing, terrain-exploring, fresh air-enjoying sort of day.

And now that we're back all shiny and clean in our lovely home with electricity and phone service and one shower per three people... I'm kicking myself for not being more deliberate about taking photos that include a little more of Ryan and I. (I did get a few less than impressive ones.) 

But rest assured, Levi isn't the only one that had a great time.

Oh camping, how we love thee... rain, mud, dirt, gray skies, and all.

Dear friends, it was fun to have our "Sunday" on Monday this week and get to spend time with friends enjoying the Aussie bush. What have you done this week to be deliberate about making family time to rest and refresh and just have some plain-old fun?

home now... clean and rested,

Note: You can read my original post with more of what this is all about here. If you'd like to grab the Reclaiming Sundays button and join in with our family's quest to make some more time for rest in our busy lives, then please feel free. (And remember, your "Sundays" don't have to literally be on Sundays... any old day will do, as long as it's deliberate.) Make sure to leave me your link so I can visit!

<a href="http://www.themommyhoodmemos.com" target="_blank"><img alt="The Mommyhood Memos" src="http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m223/adrielmc/reclaimingsundaysbuttonimagesize200.jpg" /></a>
(And don't worry, the button will display on your blog as a normal button size!:)

adriel booker | the mommyhood memos | 2011 
do not reproduce without written permission