A Pinterest review

Lately, I've been trolling Pinterest for some indoor activities for Happy Baby. I found this one and thought it a good idea. Seems simple enough, and very little prep time.

http://ecemadeeasy.com/posts/painting-with-condensed-milk/

I covered the floor with a bit of newspaper and taped it down. While L played with some tape, I opened the can and mixed up the "paint". I taped a paper to the newspaper and put a little of the paint into a big cup. I went first, putting my fingers in and running them over the paper. Then I helped L give it a try. Finally, I let L have a go on his own. He soon discovered that condensed milk is super sweet and tasty. Painting was over quickly and l spent the next several minutes trying to eat the "paint" out of the cup.

I'm calling giving this project a :-/ on a scale of :-(, :-) or :-/.

Honestly, at 11 months I think L was too young for this one. He was far more interested in the tape and licking the paint. He was sticky and messy so we had a bath right after. That's really no big deal, he needed a bath anyway, but it wasn't something I had figured into timings. Also, the "paint" takes FOREVER to dry. Lennon was pleased with himself, as seen in this awesome photo. That gets a :-) from me.

Thankful

I'm really thankful to have found Ashtanga yoga. With every new life challenge, it's been a constant. Sometimes I can do more and other times less but I can almost always do something. And doing something sure feels better than doing nothing.

We have an Intro to Ashtanga class going right now and I hope that I can convey even a little of this to the group. I get it... Ashtanga is really hard at first. Remembering the poses is a challenge, but boy does it pay off. I'm never on my mat wondering what's next or what I should be working on. It's all crystal clear. The sequence allows for a more in depth exploration of what the body is presenting.

Recently another teacher said "You shouldn't do the same thing all the time. You should go to different classes and different teachers." Honestly, I've yet too see a practitioner that really worked for. I'd rather be really good at one thing than mediocre at everything. It's also exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of the system. I have four sequences to choose from based on the system I follow. Additionally, once a practitioner has gained a good understanding of a sequence, it could be varied by focus or intensity depending on need. That's key. And immeasurably helpful... And liberating.

I get that Ashtanga is not for everyone. It's a lot of work and a big commitment. In my experience, however, the pay off is super sweet. 🙏

How to bathe a baby octopus

The short answer is quickly. But in case you find yourself with a wet wiggly one, he's a quick list of how baths tend to go at the Harris house.

1. Most important! Set up the tub and towels ahead of time. If I forget this critical step I'm sure to be fishing Lennon out of the toilet.

2. Strip down your wee one AS YOU WALK TO THE BATHROOM. Yes, this process starts at the other end of the house with unsnapping the onsie.

3. Turn on water and watch babe clammor up the side of the tub. Hurry and you can also unsnap the diaper and let it fall to the floor before he notices.

4. Baby + Bath ASAP. Lennon doesn't even mind if the water is a little warm or cool. He wants in. But I can't relax just yet, since he immediately stands up to play in the running water. We do a frightening amount of standing in the bathtub. Ugh.

5. Once the bath is full, insert ducky and ball. Here's a chance for several seconds of rest. Ducky is fun for a minute or so unless you really work it. I've managed to entertain for upwards of 5 minutes on a good day. Also, squirting water and splashing is hilarious.

6. It's unlikely you've made it this far with the standing and climbing out efforts. This is a great time to soap up and rinse off arms, legs, belly, bum and back.

7. When the splashy fun ends, help baby octopus out on one of the climbing efforts. Since the towels are all ready to go, you can dry while baby tries to climb back into the tub.

8. Swoop up babe and head to the bedroom wrapped up in adorable towel. I'm always nervous about this step since there's no time for a diaper but so far so good.

And there you have it! Clean and cute baby octopus. Ready, set, go!

Friday Fun

As many of you know, I pracrice Ashtanga yoga which means each day I do one of a couple different sequences.  Yes, that's the same series of postures over and over and over again.  Honestly, I love the routine and the slow but steady progress it brings.  Recently, I've started have a little fun at the end of the week by throwing in a posture I don't normally work on.  Usually this is inspired by a picture I've seen or a conversation I've had.  Last week when my fun posture went better than expected, I videoed it.  Here are the results...

I know, I know.  It's not quite right just yet and it's totally not my style to post something a bit raw but I thought what the heck, it's Friday Fun after all.

Peace at last

Yesterday we dropped Matthew Sweeney off at the airport and finished the evening by having dinner with a yoga friend. At long last, the Sweeney event at our studio has come to an end. I feel good about the week. Logistically, everything seemed to work out, my practice went well, and I had a most amazing opportunity to assist Matthew. It was wonderful.

The week before we attended a week long Sweeney intensive in Durham, NC. It was excellent as usual with some interesting side notes. Since we were traveling with Lennon and had to be right back to host our own workshop, we flew rather than driving. Lennon's first airplane ride was a success and he was a trooper the whole time.

I'm returning to this post a week after I started. It's been hard to get back in the swing of practicing, especially considering the moon day last week. I did second for the first time in well over a week. Kapo was rusty but still there... Thankfully.

It finally feels like things gave settled down both at home and at the studio. Back to business as usually, daily practice upstairs, by myself and trying to convert everyone I meet into any ashtangi. A girl can hope.

5 Months

Lennon is five months old today...
He can roll over and sleep on his tummy. His two front teeth are sprouting up and his hair is coming in much thicker. Yesterday, he ate bananas with milk for the first time. He has met all his aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas and even great grandmas and great grandpas he loves the household pets, being outside and standing.

I am five month post-partum...
I am still nursing. I know how to wash cloth diapers and rock a baby to sleep. I know a variety of songs to be sung while bouncing a baby on my knee and can tie up a sleepy wrap in less than a minute. I'm 10lbs. away from my weight goal. I'm back practicing six days a week and have been working where I left off in Intermediate Series. I have a wonderful husband who is active in Lennon's life and great support from family and friends.

I'd say all is well.

A Little Vaca

Last week, Lennon, Evan and I met my parents at a little camping resort in Mt. Carroll, Illinois. This trip was especially nice since the drive was just about 1.5 hrs. Enough for a baby to take a rest and play by himself just a bit. My parents had lots of time to visit with Lennon. They even took over for a while so E and I could sit on the little bridge each evening.

The little cabin was nice and the location was great. It seemed very family friendly with a pool, playground and plenty of room to run around. I'm thinking a family camping outting in a couple of years. It must have been off season still and the place was nearly deserted.

Lennon felt all this was way too exciting to sleep. Thank goodness for the hour long drive to Galena and back. I'm still working out the details of the best way to carry a baby around and shop. On this trip I used the sleepy wrap. Great for walking and wine tasting. :)

More adventures with Lennon coming soon. We are headed to Carbondale this weekend to visit with Evan's Pa.

And Now...

It's a new dawning at the Harris House.  Lennon has decided he now sleeps on his tummy.  And just like that, we have a totally new routine.

It came as a shock, and I freaked out the first evening. I think I check on Lennon every five minutes or so to be sure he was still breathing. I also googled the topic and between check-ins, read thread after thread about when it's ok for babe to sleep in his belly. How anyone every accomplished anything without google, I do not know.

Swaddling is now out, regardless of how much I like the tiny lions on this lovely cotton cloth. Sleeps sacks or gasp... nothing is now in. We rock L down as usual, lat him in the crib when he's asleep and watch as he curls into a little ball and rolls onto his tummy. It's so cute. For now, this is what we do.

Practice Notes

After a just over a week of shortened or interrupted practice sessions, I got in a complete practice today! Yay! Splitting thru Kapo, press-ups, drop-backs, handstand practice, "drop-over" practice and closing. Drop-overs is in quotes because it's mostly a kick up and then fall into urdva right now.
:-/
Flexibility is back to around 80%, strength and endurance hovering around 70% of my former self. All and all, four months out and I'd say it's not to shabby. Wanna know the secret??? Yes! Consistency! Everyday, everyday even if it is just a half an hour or I have to wait for the next nap to come around. I'm hoping to be back up to speed in July. I'm also thinking Kino at the end of May is very possible.
Who's in???

Fist Pump

Hurray-hurrah! We have a pass on the casts for at least 6 more months. Lennon still has a good bit of adduction, but the doc says his feet are still flexible enough to move back into place. No casts for now! Relief!

Tummy time success!

In the last week or so, Lennon has grown so much stronger. We can now enjoy tummy time and even play with toys. This comes as a great relief as I have come to worrying my baby had no motivation to do anything but stand and be nursed. I'm kidding of course... for the most part.

In other big news, this week we have our return visit to the ORA to check up on Lennon's feel. He was born with metatarsal adduction, which looks a lot like clubbed foot, but apparently is not. On Thursday we will find out if any casting is needed. Updates to come.

Lastly, I "fixed" the washer today by jumping in top to look at the back. I'm officially a super-mom.

You get what you ask for

What does an Ashtanga mamma get when she adds 30-60 minutes of walking to her routine??? Unhappy hamstrings. Gah!

And another thing...

Last week we hosted a student conference at the studio. It's a time for students to ask questions about the practice or how we teach. We had some especially good questions and I've continued to think about them over the last few days.
One student asked or commented on how she can't practice at 100% all the time. Clearly that's not possible and it's one of the most powerful and uncomfortable parts of this practice.

In ashtanga, the practitioner does the same sequence with some small variations nearly every day. Since the practice doesn't change, it makes day to day sensation more apparent. What you find is that you don't always finish with the happy go-lucky feeling we associate with today's yoga. This is part of Astanga's power; to shine a light on how things truly are. And perhaps it's the closest thing to being present and aware we feel each day.

Back to the question from conference. First, being able to accept yourself at less that "100%" is quite a task. It's really difficult in fact. Second, with practice we come to realize that 100% looks different everyday. As our awareness increases we are better able to walk the line between too much and not enough. What if 100% is more about how closely you can walk that line than what each posture looks like day to day? Hmmmmmmm.....

Private Yoga and Babies

A couple times a week I do a private yoga/massage session in the morning for this super nice lady at her house. Friday night she called me and asked if I would bring Lennon along. Her granddaughter offered to mind Lennon while we worked. I wasn't sure how it would go but ended up being pleasantly surprised. I was planning to go in early, come home and then head back in for another yoga/massage session later but we worked it out so that I could take babe in a bit later and do the session then.

Lennon has been doing much better lately with being out and about, and he was on today! I was worried he would fuss during the session and I would be really distracted. No fussing!!!! The granddaughter even took L outside and walked around the yard with him. She moved really slow and was very sweet with him. I was totally at ease and it was great! I think we found a new friend for Lennon while we are at the Shala. Yay! Good Day, Sunshine!

Welcome back Ms. Mysore

This week I taught both Wednesday AND Thursday Mysore! Woot! I ended up having a massage this afternoon so E and I switched out for the night. Before Little L, this was my usual schedule, but I haven't taughtawa Thursday all winter. Man I love that class!

We have some newer folks and the regs have added some more postures. It's awesome to see more people doing drop backs, others catching new binds and people doing more in general. It's a lot to come back to, but I think I'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Here's a fun photo from Wednesday. Note the hottie in black shorts and no shirt. That's my baby daddy!

So Cute!

Maybe I'm just feeling a little emotional today, but I just love this! Since Little L has arrived, I've been super emotional about kids and babies and stuff. At a restaurant a lady was being super mean to a baby in a stroller and I nearly lost it. Anyway enjoy!

A Monday Stroll

It was such a beautiful day! I took the day off from asana since I practiced on Saturday and decided to try the stroller again.
Lennon has been hating the stroller since we got it out last week. I'm not sure if it's timing, the hassle of getting ready or the car seat he sits in, but it hasn't been going well.
Today I waited until he was happy and I dressed him warmly long before the attempt. I put him in the car seat and waited until he settled down there. Then set up the stroller outside. In one fast swoop, I loaded him up and off we went. He fussed on and off for the first 10 minutes but I waited it out and was rewarded. He fell asleep and I got in an hour of walking! Woot! To the bridge and back 4 times!
I don't mind the same scenery. I have sort of strange walking habits anyway. We live in a really rural area and I often walk at night, up and down the driveway, down to the telephone pole and back. Evan calls it "night prowling" but hey, I've got to get it in sometime!
Not tonight though...

Starting...Now

The blog was supposed to start 10 weeks ago.  Ugh...

Admittedly, I've started a blog in the past and wasn't able to keep up with it.  I'm hoping this time is different. My intention is to use this blog to tell stories about my little family and my Ashtanga yoga practice.  I'm not making any promises, but I think it would be great to have a record of these times.

Lennon is now 10 weeks old.  He's an adorable little guy who giggles, drools and yes, sleeps well at night. I think we got pretty lucky with this one. He comes to the studio with us each Sunday for intro classes if we have them and Led Primary series. He's a social little fella and loves to watch classes and welcome students as they arrive for class.

My practice is coming along. I'm not up to full speed yet. More like third gear. In general, I get in 5-6 practice days a week and do one of four sequences: Primary, Splitting up to Kapotasana, Intermediate up to Pincha, or Moon.  Sometimes I even have to practice in two parts, but I'm doing my best to get it done.  Evan has been really supportive and hangs with the little guy so that I can practice. 

I leave you today with a snapshot from our post yoga lunch at La Rancherita.  Yum!