You can call me a Hippy! I call me Happy!

I'm a home birthing, breastfeeding, bed sharing, cloth diapering, baby wearing, recycling, homeschooling, organic eating, green mom. Let's start with the beginning. When I was a young teenager I saw the MTV video for the song We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel. The part were the teenage hippy girl was burning her bra that was my connection. I was not brought up in bra burning evironment but when I saw that video I felt a connection. I could not see any hippy or earthy parts in my life except being totally connected to nature from birth and through out my teenage years. However during my first pregnancy I got the bra burning sensation and by following the instant I have found myself. Home birthing was my first adventure.

 
I love home birthing. It's natural and pure. No bright lights or beeping machines. For me it was the warmth of my home, my own bathroom, my own bed to snuggle with my newborn baby. Almost every day when I rise in the moring and walk into the living room, I know that's were my son came earthside. One of my favorite books was reading Ina May Gaskin's Spiritual Mifwifery book. All the stories and pictures from the 70's as well as the groovy talk made me feel right at home.

I love watching old movie's with Woodstock and other footage of that time when mama's were breastfeeding their babes and toddler with the shirts pulled up or down. None of the blanket or fancy cover stuff. Just let them hang out and let the babes get their milk. No bottles or pacifiers either. When I breastfed my 1st son any attempt at concealing it in public did not work. He hated anything over his head, wanted to eat when ever he wanted to eat and would only take me - no substitutions. My shirt came up or down and my breast were out everywhere I went, from Costco to the bench in the middle of the mall. All in all I enjoyed the freedom.

My mother and father bought a beautiful crib for my first son. Unfortunately the crib has had a total of may 30 minutes of use from both my boys. My babies slept in bed with me from the start and have always slept with me. I think of the good old days when families didn't have the luxuries we do today. They shared a family bed. I often wake up in the middle of the night and just listen to my son breath. When I'm old and gray I believe I'll be grateful I had the close moments and didn't count how much sleep I didn't get.

What did we do before disposable diapers? Cloth diapers were around. Babies pooped and peed in them. They were washed, hung out the dry and reused. It's really a simple process. Scientist can't even determine the exact hundreds of years it will take for a disposable diaper to decompose. Plus how many disposable diaper users actually flush there babes pooped in the toilet where it belongs?? All and all as a human race we can make a difference by using cloth diapers. Yep, the earthy mom in me cringes everytime I pass the isle of a store that sells disposable diapers. I got my husband on board and we cloth diapered our boys.

I was carried on my dad's back as a baby. These are actually the earliest memories that I can remember. When my son was born I instintually knew that's what I would do. I did not realize what an amazing selection I would have to chose from. Today baby carrying in the in thing to do. I love this! My boys hated their infant car seats and would never sleep in them or transfer into a handy dandy stroller. From newborn until they could walk they would go into a carrier of sorts. I have a collected a few varieties. My favorite times is when they were new borns. Tiny little bundle that need to be close to my heart. I toted my babes around on me. The best part was they had easy access to the milk supply aka my boobs too. My husband is a baby wearer too. Always so proud the have his babe close to him.

Now my oldest is approaching school age and I'm excited to start putting together stuff for us to do as "school" at home. On his own he's already teaching himself to read and write but mostly we learn life skills by living life. My boys do everywhere with me and help with everything. They love shopping and going to our local farms for food. They know where a majority of our food comes from and from whom. I love seeing them connected. We spend a lot of time at the beach too.


I live a simple life, I say I live a hippy, earthy, connected, simple life.