My Chaos and My Quilt

Here's the latest "creative playtime", in pictures:






I think one of them made off with my wallet. Is it any wonder I can't find it?

And here's the finished quilt from the women's contributions from my mother blessing for Elias. Lara worked extremely hard on it and it looks totally wonderful. I love it. Thanks to all who gave a square in honor of Elias.

The Mother Blessing

Instead of a baby shower again this time, I decided I wanted to do a Mother Blessing with friends-- women who are in my life that I am close to. It seems like there has been so much less of a fuss about this pregnancy and this baby than my first, and I really wanted an intentional time to celebrate who this new child is and who he will become.

It was a beautiful time, organized primarily by my friends Lara and Amber. There were 12 women who gathered, a wide circle of friends from many parts of my life. We washed our hands in rose water and circled together as we began the blessing, and committed to making the space a safe one in which we could share our hopes and fears with each other. Then everyone introduced themelves and talked about how they were connected to me and my life. The rest of the afternoon included a time of casting away fears, a time to talk about impressions they have of me as a mother and Michael and I as parents (and Kindred as a big brother), a time to connect with the baby and acknowledge his fears as well as his potential, a time of guided meditation (you are all welcome to my shell anytime!), and it ended with making quilt squares, eating yummy food and putting henna on my belly. (The pictures below are showing that process.)

I felt so peaceful when it was over, and I appreciated all who gathered with me in presence and in spirit, and I feel more ready to become a mama twice around. Love to you!

The Henna Belly!

We started by making an outline with washable marker on my belly.

The symbols we used were flowers, pomegranets, vines and trinities.

Then we covered the outline with the henna paste (which smelled wonderful!)
Then the paste had to dry and stay on my belly for 4-12 hours so that it would stain my skin. So we covered the design with medical tape so that I could walk around and sleep and not stain everything.

This morning when I woke up, I removed the tape (yowza!) and the stain will remain for up to 2 weeks. It is a light brown/ orange now, but will get darker over the next few days.

(Oh, this is kind of an aside, but for those of you who are wondering, my dad had his heart cath this morning, they found no blockages and he was on his way home when he called me this afternoon. Whew!)