autumn to winter to spring

some images from the past months.

I made this stork mobile for my son's class' nature corner, for Autumn.. it's a while ago, I know.

it was fun and the kids helped with the glue.

I wanted to make a raincoat out of a plastic table map.

this was the first one:

it lasted one wearing and then tore completely. the backing was made of paper.

then I found this sort of - I suppose that's what oilcloth is - in Ikea, and made one for each of my bigger kids and one for my son's friend. but I only have my daughter's photographed:

the boys' are dark blue with white dots and with no lace. naturally. sadly, there isn't that much rain around here...

Amalia and I made this little fairy boat in our back yard one afternoon:

Thea and her blanket:

A winter walk to the beach:

And a walk in the forest nearby:

...

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. see soulemama for more magical moments.

via made by Joel, I found the science toy maker which made me want to jump a few years into the future and make an origami glider with my children. it warms my heart to see people put so much time and attention into sharing their so valuable knowledge with others, especially when this knowledge can bring beauty and a little magic into life.

Baby yoga

September 1st

My son started school today. first grade. I can hardly believe it. here he is, proud, serious and full of hope and expectations, walking towards the flower gate through which all the new first grade students walked. Ori took the photos of all of the children and they all had this wonderful tense excited expression. so lovely to watch.

Thea started to check what real food tastes like... so early for my feeling, but she really wants to, tries to grab my fork as I eat, and now they say start at 4 months instead of 6. so here goes. Butternut squash for now. she loves it (as long as mommy's milk follows).

Amalia had a rough day I think.

my 2 girls. I'm so in love.

One Month Old

...and I'm so in love...

we named her Thea.

she's peaceful and quiet and gentle, and her eyes seem like they belong to someone who's been here before... My mother said she makes her think of weeds, long and delicate and something about her movement.

The kids are crazy about her. She brought a gift of love to the family, a quiet and simple and light sort of love.

Baby time

Our third daughter, still with no name, arrived on the night between saturday and sunday, april 11, at 2:40. The house is full of baby bliss and baby love, and some children freak outs too.

The birth was all I could hope for. When I was thinking about giving birth this time, my hope was to go through it with no fear. I had a strong experience of fear with the two previous births - the first one was full of panic even, it wasn't planned to be a home birth but happened too quick to get to hospital; the second was wonderful but still there was an element of suffering and fear towards the end. I think there's a difference between experiencing pain and suffering. Sure, births are painful. but this last time I succeeded in going through the pain with courage and joy and with no suffering. and it makes me very proud.

At the last phase I could feel my body tear apart almost, and the strong strong pressure and pain, and at the same time I could see it as a big pipe full of light, opening up for her to pass through. so I could call it "open" rather than "tear". and I had in my head the words of my friend Karmit, about how not only the body needs to open up but the soul too to let a baby come. and in my ears the words of my wonderful midwife: "just give it space, lots of space. You don't have to do anything, it is happening to you". and for the first time I could let my body push without stopping or pressing actively. I stuck with the beautiful harmonies that me and my support team (Ori, Michal the midwife, and Inbar who came to be and help) created with our low sounds, rather than shout - as I did both times before. I invited the baby to come out (and they all with me: come out, come out..) and out she came. I keep coming back in my mind to this moment of deconstruction and creation when a baby slips out of my body, such an ultimate moment of life, and I'm surprised to find myself willing to do it again, right now... (but I do think 3 is enough for me...)

She's so sweet, relaxed and peaceful, and we all adore her.

And I was thinking, it would be good if I could take this as a sort of a lesson in letting go of fear and control. I wish I'll be able to let things happen in their own pace and time, to wait and listen and mostly have faith. at least sometimes.

*this post was written under the influence of birth hormones :-)

more of the past months

Purim is a holiday of costumes and sillyness. Since my kids go to a Waldorf kindergarten, some order and seriousness have to remain in place.. each group has a theme and the children have to think of costumes that would fit within the theme. It is actually not such a bad idea, seeing how children in other schools and kindergartens go for the ready bought superhero or TV characters costumes, whereas in our community a bought costume was a rare sight and we avoided all the ben10s and bakugans and the rest. In Hilel's group the theme was "sea world" and he, after a year of planning on being a mamuth this year, shifted immediately to the idea of a killer whale. funny enough in his 3 years of kindergarten Purim celebrations he was already a squid

and a swordfish

and he only got out of the water once to be a monkey.

here he is this year, with Amalia.

Her group's theme was "circus", and she found the loveliest reference for an acrobat in our Pippi longstocking book, with the wonderful drawings by Ingrid Vang Nyman. She just had to add some plastic bits, the crown and a butterfly shaped key holder as a ring, and her fairy neckless.

It was a rainy Purim and we stayed mostly at home and made some masks together.

On fine, sunny winter days I try to take the kids out as much as possible. I pick them up from their kindergarten with some fruits and snacks packed along with my knitting, and we go to a playground. these are from February first:

and now that it became more spring like we had some really warm days, and started going to the small stream near Amikam, not far from here, usually with more friends. For these outings I add an empty plastic box, to collect tadpoles and then release them again when we're about to leave.

and this happened in our back yard, while I was hanging the laundry:

what a monster. They have been living in our yard since before we moved in, in a beautiful co-existance with a pretty big pack of eternally hungry street cats that wander through. A few months ago we found a tiny little turtle, I suppose there's a chance of that happening again sometime soon.

getting ready

this is yesterday. The mirror needs cleaning but I'm entering week 37, so I'm allowed to let it stay dirty for a bit... towards the end of this pregnancy I feel like a glass so full of water, that with every movement I might spill some. so I'm quiet relieved to reach week 37 with only reminders of the coming birth and not an actual beginning. Now I can be sure that this birth will happen at home, as the midwives only take a home birth from this pregnancy week and on.

both previous births took place at home. This time I feel less ready, less focused, so I'm trying to set my mind on home and family. I was very busy with getting as much work as possible done, drawing patterns, cutting fabric, sewing, passing some parts on to my seamstress. but somehow there isn't that much done...

Here are some things I was working on during the past few months:

a granny square blanket for the new baby. It's the first crocheting I ever did... it was fun. and the yarn is lovely soft Merino. I tried to save the knitting for any time when I'm outside or visiting someone, or at home next to my children, in short, any time I couldn't do more demanding work. It was fun to have strangers react on this activity in places like the dentist's waiting room or a playground. It's the kind of thing that immediately makes people feel friendly and smiley and talkative.

and now that it's finished, I feel the baby can finally come out.

This is Ayala. I participated in a doll making course organized and taught by Shiri, another mother in my daughter's kindergarten, who has the most wonderful talent for making beautiful things. it took quiet a while to make her, and my children were waiting from week to week to watch the slow developments. they were excited when she was done. here she wears some other doll's outfit, but by now she has a dress of her own and I'm hoping to find a moment to make some more clothes for her. Amalia doesn't want to part with her, so Ayala even tasted some strawberries once... I had to clean her and now her face is not as new looking. But it turned her (for me mostly) from some desired object that Mom worked so hard on, into a real toy.

new fabrics for an old design, these cord trousers are for ages 2-5.

Thanks to Amy Karol and her "Bend the Rules withFabric" book, I learned about the EZscreen kits for making home scale screen prints relatively cheaply and safely. so I ordered a kit and started playing with that. I made a bunch of these little blouses (ages 18 months to 4 years) and printed some of them with 3 different bird drawings. I only have this one photographed, the others are still at my seamstress' studio, being sewn.

A simple summer dress.

there are more clothes in the making, I hope to slowly be able to show more things. My strategy for these pregnancy months has been to just work and work as much as possible, and face the selling part later, when the baby will be here. so I might open an online shop sometime in the near future.