Crafting Hope for Haiti

Last week, after the tragic earthquake in Haiti, one of my blog readers alerted me to the fact that Craft Hope, a wonderful blog/organization that helps all sorts of people and families in need, had opened an Etsy Shop specifically to assist in funding the doctors without borders in Haiti.



All of the proceeds from items sold in this shop go directly to the doctors in Haiti, and so far the shop has raised about $10,000 in just a few days! When I first heard about the project, I knew that I wanted to contribute something. I ended up making two birdie t-shirts, and they are now available for sale in the Craft Hope for Haiti Shop.

The first one is a size 18 months (fits more like 18-24 months), organic cotton dyed chocolate brown and appliqued with a sweet bird. The listing is here.

The second one is size 12 months (fits more like 12-18 months), organic cotton dyed avocado green and appliqued with a fun and funky bird. The listing is here.


Check them out and all of the other fabulous handmade items that have been donated to this shop! I also just learned that the two amazing mamas in charge of this operation have decided to stop accepting new donations tomorrow, so if you feel inspired to craft for Haiti, do it now! Email your submissions (photos, description and price) to sarah at crafthope.com .

Our hearts are aching for the many, many, many people in Haiti who have lost their children, parents, loved ones and houses. And we are finding solace in the many people who are now working so hard to help. I have seen this quote from Mr. Rogers, floating around on Facebook, and it's so very true:

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me. 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day especially in times of 'disaster', I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are ...still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world."

Small Favors from the Universe

As full as our life is right now, as chaotic as days occasionally feel, I do often take a moment to appreciate the small favors that the Universe has sent our way in conjunction with our four sometimes-wild children. In other words, I like to reflect on the fact that this could be a lot harder than it is. For instance, sleep, the hallmark of parenting headaches, has not really been an issue for us. Perhaps this is more due to our low expectations about our kids' sleep--we never expected them to sleep through the night, and thus we're fine with the fact that they don't-- than it is an indication that our kids are good sleepers, but we've only very rarely had to fully wake up in the middle of the night (the first six weeks with twins notwithstanding; I have no memory of that time). Then there's the fact that none of our three older boys feels the need to pee standing up. They're all happy to sit. Which is really nice for our one bathroom. And even though we have four kids who are exposed to all sorts of germs every day, we have yet to experience them all being sick at the same time.

Currently, I'm feeling especially grateful for the fact that Leo seems to be taking after his big brothers in that he's the kind of baby who does not put tiny things in his mouth. I was grateful for it when our other kids were babies too, but I honestly cannot imagine how we would get through the day if Leo was the type of baby to pick itsy bitsy things up off of the floor and deposit them into his mouth. Because we are currently living in the house of itsy bitsy teeny tiny things (legos, crumbs, marbles, pennies, you name it, it's on our floor). And Leo finds it hugely entertaining to crawl around collecting these small chokeable objects. The favor from the Universe is that he doesn't--yet--show even the slightest inclination to put these little bits in his mouth. He just clenches them in his fists and keeps crawling.

But when he comes across big things left lying about on the floor? Like, for instance, a heavy, metal, meter stick?

There is zero hesitation.

There's nothing that's too big for Leo to try and put into his mouth.

And that is just absolutely fine with me.


Thank you, baby, for knowing just who you needed to be
to survive in this sometimes-crazy family.

Boys and Babies

I love babies. I have always loved babies. It is a love that I have often wished might possibly diminish with time, so that I might feel less consumed by it. But if anything, it simply grows stronger. The vast majority of my childhood memories involve playing with babies--either doll babies or the real babies of my parents' friends--and much of my childhood was spent counting down the days until I could become first a baby-sitter (my parents made me wait until I was 11 years old) and then a mother (an additional 11 years of waiting).

<--- Me, at Luke and Jaz's age. Wearing my favorite clothes (soft and black), and holding my favorite thing (my baby, Payson). The fact that Luke, Jaz and Zeb are at this moment living one of my earliest fantasies (the arrival of a baby brother) is a reality that brings me great joy. Oh how I love witnessing their love for baby Leo. I think I appreciate it all the more because I didn't expect it. I had no idea that our three older boys would be so very enamored with our baby.

I have always encouraged our kids to play with baby dolls. And they have indulged me from time to time, occasionally with true devotion.

3-year-old Jasper, nursing his baby Danny

But for the most part, over the years, the kids have not shown themselves to be particularly interested in babies. So while I knew that they would love Leo, I did not predict that they would love him with as much enthusiasm as they do. From morning until night, most of the time, the big kids just can't get enough of their baby brother.

Zeben plays with Leo (or "Leelo," as he still calls him) more as a peer than as a baby. Their difference in age (2.5 years) is small enough that Zeben can easily relate to much of Leo's daily experience. The other day I spied on Zeb pushing Leo in the kitchen swing and making faces that were causing Leo to giggle deliciously. I said something about how he knew just how to make Leo laugh, and then added, "you and Leo are going to be great friends someday." Zeb looked at me like I was being silly, and corrected me: "we already are great friends, mom!" Zeben is convinced that Leo can say, "hi" (he did say it once, accidentally), and thinks it's completely unfair that Leo gets to nurse in the night whenever he wants to while Zeben himself has to wait until morning.

sitting in the snow together

playing with pots and pans on the kitchen floor

The kids are all so eager to include Leo as a member of their pack, and I try to console myself with this fact when it seems that they forget how little Leo still is. It's not uncommon for us to have to rescue a crying Leo from the depths of a darkened fort that the kids have made especially for him, or to have to remind Luke and Jaz that running around the house with Leo in their arms truly is not a safe choice.

a typical scene of wrestling between Luke and Jaz

minutes later, Leo gets the same treatment

"Leo loves to wrestle, Mom!"

Leo is one of them now

I'm so glad for Leo that he's getting to grow up with these rambunctious big brothers, who I'm hoping will provide him with near-constant entertainment for many years to come. I believe that they are already enhancing his development and they certainly ensure that he gets plenty of attention, even as the fourth child in our family. And I'm just as glad for our older kids to be getting to experience baby love in such an intimate way.

Leo's kisses are still a bit sloppy

But I realized a couple of weeks ago that as far as Lukas and Jasper's development was concerned, we were not taking full advantage of the fact that we have a baby in our house. I was thinking about how if it was six-year-old me in their shoes, I'd be all about the baby care tasks of bathing and dressing and diapering my little brother (in-between using him as a prop in my games of "house," of course). And I came to the conclusion that perhaps Luke and Jaz weren't involved in these aspects of life with a baby because they are boys. Perhaps the messages from their peers at school ("babies are for girls") were out-shouting the messages we'd always tried to give them ("boys play with babies too! Girls grow up to be mamas, and boys grow up to be papas, and both mamas and papas take care of the babies"). Or maybe it was just that their natural approach to hanging out with the baby involved teaching him how to wrestle and play hide-and-go-seek, not learning how to take care of him. But in contemplating which types of life-skills I want our children to learn while growing up in our home, I concluded that how to change a diaper or how to dress a wiggling baby are definitely on the list.

Thinking about all of this reminded me of a book I read many times when I was in second grade, "Oh Boy! Babies!" about a project an all-boys' school started in 1978. The fifth and sixth grade students in the book were given the opportunity to take a 6-week elective course called "Babies" that covered everything from feeding to bathing to diapering. It is a wonderful documentation (that can now be found quite cheaply--I managed to grab a copy for 1 cent!) with some amazing photographs and hilarious quotes. The "Babies" elective turned out to be a hit and was continued for many years. Re-reading this book after it arrived in the mail inspired me to start expecting more of Luke and Jaz when it comes to Leo's care. And thus, when choosing which type of cloth diapers to buy for Leo once he reached size medium, I decided to get something that would be easy for a six-year-old to use.

Yes, it's true. We now have two more diaper-changers in our house. And they couldn't be more thrilled--and proud--about it.

"are you ready?"

removing the old diaper

spreading out the new diaper

laying a--very twisty--baby down on top of the diaper

pulling the front of the diaper up

fastening one side

and then the other

a job well done!

I've always believed that the joy of having a new baby in the house is an amazing gift for each member of the family. Leo is the best antidote to anyone's bad mood. But it wasn't until my recent revelation that I came to appreciate just how special it is for our two nearly-seven-year-old boys to be getting to experience Leo's infancy so fully, especially for boys like them, who wouldn't otherwise be spending much time playing with babies (pretend or real) at all. Maybe they'll grow up to be baby-lovers like their mom after all.

Jaz's daily check for Leo teeth--none yet!

In One Hour

Today I had an hour before I had to leave to go to work for the afternoon, and I decided to use that hour to be my most productive self, finally starting--and finishing!--a project that I've been planning for months. Our beloved carpenter friends recently finished putting up a bunch of shelves in our kitchen (we designed the shelves to match our kids' play kitchen, and they are so perfect), and I'd been eyeing the empty space between one set of shelves and our kitchen stove, sensing its potential.

the before picture

Our Hearth is finally finished now too (all that had been missing was the wooden rim around the edge, but it had been driving me crazy). Our talented pals used some of the cherry leftover from the kitchen shelves project to make the rim.

Finished!

And I can't tell you how overjoyed I was to find out that there was still a bit more cherry remaining, a piece that wasn't needed for the Hearth. I knew exactly what to do with it. One piece of cherry wood (2" x 34"), and one wooden dowel were about to add a wonderful touch to our kitchen.

the materials

first I drilled 11 holes in the cherry, each 3 inches apart

next I cut the dowel into 3-inch-long pieces, sanded them,
and glued them in the holes
(note my helpers' feet!)

the final step was to add some beeswax polish . . .

. . . and then hang my finished work on the wall!

I love the way this simple, simple project that took no more than one hour to complete, has added so much to our kitchen. The new-and-improved stove set-up:

And I apologize, once again, for my continued difficulties in finding time to write in this space. Because I would like to be writing here more--much more--I am going to give myself a bit of a jump start by blogging every day for the rest of this month, hoping it will start a trend for the rest of 2010.

The List

The list.

The skeptics.



The adoring fan.



The threesome, united.



One item of many, found.


It took me one minute
to write this list
of a few ordinary treasures
that took
three smallish boys
20 minutes
to find and gather
outside, where
they did not want to go
(so very cold)
but where
they found much more
than they went
looking for
including,
among other things,
joy

Six Months Later

Over the course of six months in New England, the weather changes from hot summer to cold winter. We go from playing on beaches to playing in the snow. Our t-shirts and bare feet are traded in for snowsuits and bogs (yes, it's true, we each have a pair). Pregnant bellies turn into crawling babies. Yet the sun is the same sun, causing our blue-eyed family to squint through photos all year round. Our family, six months ago and currently:

Happy New Year!

Christmas Crafting

Please pardon my absence; we've been experiencing some technical difficulties here in the land of Smitten Mamas. No internet OR phone! How very un-2010! I'm borrowing a random wireless signal at the moment (and it is soooo slow!), but hoping that we will finally be back to our regular life of modern technologies sometime tomorrow after the phone company workers pay us a visit.

It seems like it's been ages, but really it was just a couple of weeks ago that our little home was transformed into a bit of a craft-crazy workshop. On Christmas morning, we travel a short distance to Lena's parents' house, where we gather with Lena's parents and siblings (and their families), and exchange gifts with each other via a fabulous collection of mostly-handmade stockings. Our goal is to give only handmade gifts on Christmas, and we try to make as many of the gifts ourselves as we can. This year I found it especially difficult to find the time to make everything that I wanted to make, and I ended up not making anything for Luke, Jaz, Zeb or Leo (though I'm guessing the ideas I came up with will indeed come to fruition at some point this winter). And I forgot to photograph some of the things that I did manage to create. It was craziness around here, I'm telling you. We are still in recovery.

But here are some pictures of the things that did get made, with love and joy:

Blocks for Tucker

I made these wooden blocks for our 1-year-old nephew, Tucker. Yes, I made them. Somehow it seems that all of my wooden-toy-maker dreams are starting to come true, if only on a very small scale.


A couple of months ago, My Love and I met a local carpenter at one of our favorite festivals. He was selling some gorgeous cutting boards that he had made, and we happily bought a couple of them to try and liven up our new kitchen. After we got home, we realized that what we really wanted was to replace the formica counters in our kitchen with handmade wooden counters. So we called up the carpenter, and he happily agreed to the job. When he came to take measurements of our existing counters, he noticed our wood stove and mentioned that he had many, many boxes of scrap wood that he'd be happy to give us if we wanted to burn it. My mind immediately jumped to completely different conclusions, and we graciously accepted his offer. The first installment of (free!) scrap wood arrived a few weeks ago, and I was positively giddy as I stacked the boxes in the basement (in the room that will become my workshop . . . one of these days). Soon after, I bought a sander and got to work giving the scraps a new purpose.

Since our carpenter friend makes mostly cutting boards, the scraps consist of a beautiful selection of hardwoods, many of them already glued together into fun stripey patterns. After sanding them into the shapes I wanted, and making sure all of the corners and edges were smooth, I polished the blocks with a wonderful beeswax wood polish that made them 10 times more beautiful than they already were. I really love the way they turned out, and I cannot wait to make more.

Book Ends for Donald

After making the blocks, I just couldn't tear myself away from my scraps of wood. I decided to make some book ends for Donald, my father-in-law, not because he has any need for them whatsoever, but because it was the only thing I could think of to make for him out of scrap wood.

Aren't they pretty?
And, despite my wife's doubt, they even actually work.

A Pen-holder for Ethan

This gift idea originated in the same place as the idea for the book ends. Did Ethan (my brother-in-law) need a pen-holder? Probably not. But the wood was calling, and I figure that any handmade gift at least contains within it the gift-maker's love and energy, even if it ends up being entirely useless otherwise. I certainly had fun making it. Ethan is quite the city person--despite having grown up in the woods with My Love (who, herself, cannot stand cities)--and so I made him a city-scape pen-holder.

It's the thought that counts, right?

Brownie Mix for Max and Melissa

Last year for Solstice, some friends of ours gave us some homemade pancake mix (regular and gluten-free!) in beautiful glass jars, and I decided to borrow that brilliant concept and make gifts of homemade brownie mix this year. I spent years perfecting my brownie recipe, and I'm quite pleased with it at this point. And the ingredients for brownies, like pancakes (and many other things, the more I think about it), can easily be combined ahead of time save a couple of wet additions. These two batches went to Max (Lena's sister's husband) and Melissa (Lena's brother's girlfriend).


I put the Brownie Mix into cute glass jars (which themselves will have plenty of additional uses once the brownies have been baked and consumed), and stuck some cooking instructions on the back. This isn't exactly the way that I make brownies (I first combine the chocolate and the butter, then add eggs, then sugar, then flour), but I'm guessing that they will still turn out OK when the ingredients are combined this way. It's pretty hard to mess up brownies.

The Un-Photographed Gifts

Lest you get the wrong idea from what I have shared thus far, I assure you that there was plenty of sewing going on in our crafting madhouse this year as well. I can't believe I forgot to photograph all of the fabric creations. But I think my mishap will only serve to inspire me to add a couple more tutorials to this blog. I made two each of casserole-pan carriers (one for Merka, Lena's mom, and one for our friends Avi and Marc), and pouch slings (one for Addie, my sister-in-law, and one for My Love). I was really happy with all of them, and would love to share the know-how with you all (since, really, anybody could make these things and have fun doing it!).

I hope that all of your Christmases, for those who celebrate, were just as crafty and sweet as ours was. I really feel like we've found the perfect balance for our kids (finally! It took us long enough!) with these winter holidays and the potential for so much stress and excess. For the first time this year, the kids did not complain or wish for additional presents, and Luke and Jaz even remarked that it was the "best Solstice and Christmas Ever!" Less is, apparently, more.