Jonah Lisa Land

Saying Yes

I've got a new post up over at Unplugged Sunday today.  Go have a look and I'll be back to regular posting here next week.  It always takes longer than I expect to catch up after a trip.

Best Multi-Purpose Kid's Room Lamp

I discovered this idea totally by accident but it works so well I'm not sure I'll ever go back to using a regular lamp in the kids' room. 

See, a lamp broke right before bedtime.  Oh No.  The entire Universe was now out of whack.  There woud be no sleeping until this tragic event was recitfied.  These are the moments that make or break you as a mom and I'm happy to say I pulled out a win on this one.

I dug a battery-operated Coleman lantern out of the tub of camping supplies in the garage.  The kids thought it was very cool.  It worked so well that I recently replaced it with two small, LED mini camp lanterns from L.L. Bean.

Not only are they perfect bedside table lamps, they can also be carried into bed for reading, down the stairs to light the way to Mommy & Daddy's room in the middle of the night, or into the basement playroom for sleepovers.  And, of course, they are great individual lanterns for camping, playing outside at night or walking home from a party in the neighborhood.  They're very durable and I expect them to last for years.  They have 3 separate LED tubes so you can light 1, 2 or all 3 of them at once for more or less light.  They also have a no-slip rubber base, an on/off button easy enough for the tiniest fingers to operate and a flashing feature for emergencies.

Help! I need a glass of water!

Plus, they come in cool colors with a matching carabiner for hanging them places.  

I hadn't really intended it this way but having their own movable light really gives them each a degree of independence at bedtime.  After we read books, if one of them wants to continue to look at their book, they bring their lantern into bed with them, and turn them off on their own when finished.  It makes them feel big and in control.  

Anyway, they love their bedside lanterns so much that I decided it was one of those accidentally brillant ideas worth sharing with you.  

Sleeping Potion

We've started toying around with a new evening ritual: "sleeping potion" before bed.  

Can you excavate the desperation out of that statement?

Sometimes we have Nighty Night Tea, which is a mild herbal blend made by Traditional Medicinals especially for children, with milk and honey.  But recently we tried something new I learned abut during my Spring Cleanse.  

Warm Almond Milk
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
pinch of Cinnamon

I usually stir all the ingrdients together in a small pot with a little spout on the stovetop, but you can also warm it up in the microwave. 

Most of the time I buy almond milk at the store but it really is easy to make.  Try this recipe or this one or maybe this one or this one is good too.  There are a lot of them out there and the main difference is amount of water and the sweetener used, if any.  It's all a matter of persoanl taste.  I did homemade when I was on my cleanse and it really does taste even better than store bought.  Plus, you can use the leftover almond milk in all kinds of tasty baked goods, which many of the links above elaborate on.  Despite all that, somehow making almond milk regularly just hasn't made it into my weekly schedule.  Maybe this winter. 

But here's what I really need to tell you about the new sleeping potion thing...  

It works.  

I say it isn't really "drugging" them if it's natural, but Stephen pointed out that opium and marijuana are 100% natural, too.  So I guess I have to admit it, I'm drugging my children at night. I don't do it every night, just the nights when Mima has taken an afternoon nap or they seem particularly keyed up and we need something a little more ritualistic.  

Besides the calming warm blend of milk and spices, you have to sit very still when you're holding a warm mug.  This act alone is sometimes all that's necessary to let sleepiness creep up on them.

They also both love to have a scented eye pillow (seen above hanging over Mima's bed rail).  It feels good, it smells good, and again, you have to be still to keep it on.  

They've co-opted a few really old ones I had that don't have a ton of scent left to them.  This fall I'm planning to cut up an old silk dress of mine (a size 2, so it has hung in my closet unmolested for about 10 years now!) and make them their own eye pillows filled with buckwheat, flaxseeds, chamomile and lavender.  I think there are also instructions for eye pillows in Amanda Soule's Handmade Home. 

My Unplugged Sunday Post

Today my very first post, Home Spa Night, appears on the fabulous new blog Unplugged Sunday. I'm really honored to be in on the ground floor of this project. 

Please pop over and take a look.  

Love Induced Insomnia

My kids come down and climb into bed with us at between 5-6am every morning and we all snuggle and keep sleeping for another hour or so. It's a holdover from our early morning nursing days.  I'm sure some people would not be okay with this situation, but we are.  

Unfortunately, the kids both have Spring colds right now and have been making their way downstairs earlier because they just don't feel well.  Last night (or rather a few hours ago), I woke up at 3:30 AM sandwiched between a sweaty 5 year old and chilled 2 year old.  Stephen, unwilling to sleep in a petri dish had defected to the guest room.  And for some strange reason, since I am typically a long, deep sleeper who wakes very slowly and grudgingly, I was fully awake.   

So I just laid there between the two of them and listened to their breathing for about an hour.  I rolled from one side to the other and I smelled their hair and kissed their soft cheeks and turned their little hands over and over in mine.  I fell in love with every little sleepy sound they made and could imagine them both as my helpless, milky-smelling babies again.  Their innocence was intoxicating and I felt absolutely refreshed and invigorated by how far away the whining demands of our regular days were from that moment and these perfect children next to me.

I stayed there for a long time just mainlining the love.

Finally I got up, made some Chai and sat in the living room in the darkness watching the wet Spring snow fall until the house began to wake up.  

Now, they need breakfast and are arguing over whether we should have waffles or porridge and who gets to play the piano.  Thank god for moments of solace and infatuation like this morning.  I really cherish them and writing about them ensures I always will.  They keep you going as a parent. Or as my mother says, they keep you from drowning them in the bathtub.

So...on with my regularly scheduled unplugged Sunday.   Have a happy day.

Monday Morning Stuff

Interesting article from the NYTimes this morning: Keeping Kids Safe from the Wrong Dangers.

Heading out to more meetings today.  Should I keep posting my photo entries of this stuff?  Not sure if it's interesting to people or just feels like I'm running victory laps.

Spent most of Sunday at parks along Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier.  Playing and people watching.

Best way for a Mom to get some R&R?

Walking Pneumonia, Walking Pneumonia

You'll come a Walking Pneumonia with me

I am so sick.  But to look on the bright side, I really am getting a ton of rest and relaxation.  

I told my nurse practitioner that I would do anything to stay out of the hospital so she put me on bed rest through the weekend and wrote me a prescription for the World's Most Expense Antibiotic.  The label doesn't say anything about taking it with food, but it does caution, "This drug may cause you to bounce checks." 

But hey, it's cheaper than IV fluids and a 2 night stay in the germ factory.  

And really, it's been a little like being at Mommy Sleep Away Camp.  

From the comfort of my big bed I have watched the entire current season of Last Comic Standing and America's Got Talent (I do love a good talent contest) on the computer.  I have completed a few small knitting projects, including a great baby gift that I'll show you a little later.  I have drunk tea and surfed the internet and slept a few afternoons away.  I have stayed in my PJs for...oh, who's counting.  And I have not taken a shower, though I think tomorrow might be the big day.  

I have big plans for the weekend, too.  Between the internet and The Happy Hooker, I'm going to teach myself to crochet! 

If it weren't for the pain and coughing, it would be a fabulous week.

Weaning

The time has come.  

I'm at the point where I really want my body to be my own.  I'm also feeling like I need 100% of my mental capacity these days and, for me, the hormone shifts associated with nursing get in the way of that.  So, while I really prefer the idea of child-lead weaning, I'm taking matters into my own hands for the second time around.

With Huck I weaned at 27 months.  I was 2 months pregnant and having serious nursing aversion and exhaustion.  I took it as a sign from my body that it was time to shift my energy to the new baby.  He was already down to twice a day and took the news like a champ.  In fact, he was such a big boy that Stephen tells people we just left him a note.  I explained things to him and he said okay.  He asked for my milk once more, the following day, and when I reminded him that we weren't having mommy milk anymore he said, "Oh, right!  I have cold milk in a cup."

So Jemima is 18 months olds and was down to 3 times a day--first thing in the morning, before her nap & before bed.  For the last 3 days we've cut down to only the first morning session.  Stephen has been putting her to bed at night instead of me and she's done great with the change.  We'll wait until the new routine is good and set and then I'll start putting her down again some, too.

She's done so well and my breasts have already adjusted to the once a day nursing (I think), so this morning I told her this was the very last mommy milk.  She grinned and nodded her head like a foreigner pretending to understand English.  Actually, I know she understands the words, just not the implications of them.  It was sad and I tried to really enjoy looking down at her sweet face while she nursed.  Grinning while nursing is my all time favorite baby expression.

Tomorrow morning (at 6:30am!) when Stephen goes up to get her, I'll have to jump right up and disrupt the old routine of him bringing her to me for an hour of nursing and snuggling in the big bed.  We'll make it back to the snuggling part at some point, but only after she's let go of the expectation to nurse.  It'll probably only take a week or so.  For her.  For me, it will take longer.  

For 4 1/2 years I have used nursing to calm, quiet and soothe my kids.  It will be hard for me to change my ways.  This will be a week of quick reactions and creative solutions and keeping busy and out of the house and not sitting down much when I'm home so she isn't temped to crawl in my lap and ask for it.  

We'll make it through of course, and I'm the only one who will remember the tears.

My Standing Friday Date

No, not with my husband, although that's probably a good idea too.  

My standing Friday date is with Huck.

I've been putting Jemima in daycare on Fridays, which is a regular preschool day for Huck.  I have one glorious day from about 9am until 3pm ALL TO MYSELF.  Even when I just use the time to do bookkeeping or clean house or something, I'm really enjoying the down time from the unrelenting onslaught of motherhood.  I know you know what I mean.

It also makes me feel so refreshed that I've instigated this nice little Friday ritual.  After my day alone, I pick Huck up from preschool and before we go get Jemima the 2 of us head down the road to the Victor Emporium.  It's an old-fashioned soda fountain/fishing shop that been around for 60 years and it's the home of the World Famous Huckleberry Milkshake.  

They really are divine.  Made with delicious huckleberry ice cream and a generous handful of local huckleberries and served with a jumbo straw so the berries don't get stuck on the way up. Mmmmm good. Huck usually gets a huckleberry or rainbow sherbert cone.  I'm a purist so I go in for the house specialty.

It's not a huge amount of time but that doesn't seem to be the key for him. It's the intent, I think. It's our "special time."  Just us.  In fact, it was actually his idea.  The first time we went after school we picked Jemima up first and she came too.  The next time he specifically asked if we could go before we picked her up.  I thought, sure, why not?  Then it clicked.  As much as I needed my time alone on Fridays, Huck needed some unadulterated mommy time, too.  And this was a perfectly easy time to accommodate him. 

So, we have a Friday ice cream date.  We talk about stuff.  We tell each other jokes.  We have fun sitting at the counter together.  And it's a nice way to end the week and transition into the weekend.

I've been thinking lately about doing some more local flavor (pun intended) posts.  This is such a quirky valley I live in and I think you'd all get a kick out of a glimpse at the small town life.

Toddler Nursing

I nursed Huck until he was 27 months old.  I assumed I'd nurse Jemima at least that long but, at 15 months...I'm already feeling like I'm ready to stop.  Or nearly ready anyway.  I know there are women out there who give it up for the team way longer than I have, but I'm just feeling ready to have my body back to myself for a while.  I'm trying to hang on until the snow melts and the weather turns warm here. 

Toddler nursing can be...challenging.  Thank god neither of my kids were biters, but Huck was a twiddler at this age.  He'd reach over to my free breast and go after the nipple like he was trying to find a good AM radio station. 

Jemima is more of a honker.  She just likes to give me a few quick squeezes--Honk Honk.  Note to self: put an old-fashioned bicycle horn on her tricycle when I start to wean.  Honestly, it doesn't bother me that much.

I'll take a honker over a twiddler any day of the week.

The other difficulty with nursing a toddler is the acrobatics.  This is currently Jemima's favorite nursing position.

She's also partial to this one.

It's a damn good thing I don't have much occasion to nurse in public any more since we're down to first thing in the morning, before naps and before bedtime.  But every once in a while when we're out, if she falls down or gets scared of something, she wants it a little comfort nurse.  Naturally, I oblige and she's usually pretty chill about the crawling around and standing on her head antics.  However, she insists that no fabric of any kind must come closer than a foot from her face in any direction and if, god forbid, she sees a dog or hears a bird tweet, she must stretch my nipple five inches until it pops out of her mouth with a giant slurping sound.  So...

It's time.  

I'm ready to buy a bra that fits--even if it's smaller than before.   

I'm ready for my body to be my own again--most of the time at least.  

I'm ready to have a libido--even if it's smaller than before. 

I just hope she's ready, too, because I'm thinking June is just around the corner.  

Update:  Made it to the warmer weather and successfully weaned her at 18 months.