Shopping trip

Went to the fabric store today to get supplies for my 2nd round of making pocket diapers. I hope I will be able to get them done before the Hubs goes back out on the road so he can run interference w/Mojo while I am sewing. I was irrationally nervous about spending the $$ for the fabric and stuff to make dipes. I know that it was less than I would spend in a few weeks on disposables, but I always feel guilty when I spend more than $20 at a time. I know once I have enough pockets to get through a day I will not need the 'sposies, and right now they seem free to me because I am still using ones I got at the baby shower when I run out of pockets. I am also hoping I can save up enough $$ in my Hippie Witch fund to buy stuff to make slings, nurseing covers, and maybe dipes to sell at the town festival in August and then online once I perfect my pattern for the dipes. I have always wanted to do this, make things for my family, be creative and maybe even make a little $$ at it as well. My problem has always been I have too many ideas, too many directions I want to go in and then I just end up going nowhere. Have stayed focused on this goal for a while, maybe I can make something really happen. I just want to find a way to turn one of my obsessions into a way to make $$, enjoy it, and stay home w/my kids.
H.W.

18 days old

Have not been on, too busy falling in love w/my new baby girl...and breastfeeding...and washing cloth diapers! The whole cloth diapering experience has been interesting so far. I made 8 fleece pocket diapers. We had some leakage issues, and so they evolved into diaper covers with the inserts moved from the pocket to in next to Mojo's skin. This worked better, but still a little leakage from the leg holes. Today I used the last of my elastic to sew a second gusset into the sides of 4 of the diapers and this had worked much better today. I hope in the next few days to make a trip to the fabric store to make a second go at it, w/the new ideas. Will also make them "medium" w/velcro crossover tabs so they will fit for a while, the "small" are a bit too small and will not fit much longer. Part of me wishes I had the $$ to just order some AIO diapers from somewhere, but a bigger part is really enjoying this process and is wildly proud I change Mojo's pretty yellow diaper and the mess was well contained. The 8 I made are only enough to get through the day, now that they are "covers" and I can just change the insert for some smaller changes, and at night we use the disposables we got at the shower, we have not yet had to buy 'sposies. Once I get a good pattern/system figured out I hope we can go fully cloth. The fact my husband will go back to work next week will give me more funds for those fabric store trips!
H.W.

Mother Moon

For a lot of reasons that would take pages and pages to document, I have been putting off doing a ritual to mark the "Mother" phase of my Preistesshood. I have been a mother in the practical sense since I married my husband nearly 7 years ago and gained a stepdaughter, and have since had a biological child and am pregnant. I, however, did not feel that my path had entered the 'Mother' phase yet, until early this year. After much thinking, planning, and consulting, the big, formal ritual I thought I wanted with many friends in the circle fell apart, and every thing I planned on my own just did not come together. My child will be born by c section on Thursday, and I felt strongly I should mark this transition while pregnant. So, last night as the moon rose, my husband and I sat around the fire pit in out back yard and as the moon rose above the trees in the park behind our house I decided to wing it, and a ritual was born organically as I was moved by Divine to do what I needed to mark my trandition from Maiden to Mother in the service of the Lady. Man plans, god laughs. Truer words have never been spoken. I cannot imagine how a big, showy ritual could have meant more to me than the quite communion I shared with the moon by that fire last night, my beloved husband close at my side.
H.W.

Granola Tally

OK, kids, here is my Granola, Hippie Witch list for baby preparation---all made by H.W. for baby Mojo!

fleece pocket diapers

ring sling

nursing cover (for Mamas comfort, not the publics, boobs I will show, but my fat rolls are private!)

all other 'big ticket' items borrowed or freecycled and will be passed back or on later

on the project list...

cloth wipes/solution

any suggestions for my next project?

H.W.

Almost time...

In a few short days I will be having a c section and my 2nd child will finally be here! It has been a long road, and although it should have fueled furious blogging, I just didn't. I was on complete and strict bedrest for quite a while there, and was just too down to reach out into the world. I am freed from bed now, because if the contractions I have been having for months turn into 'real' labor the baby is ready to come now. All that remains now is furious nesting which could not be done during bed rest, made even more frantic by the fact my Mom is coming 4 days after baby to see for the 1st time what we have done with my childhood home...gulp! Mixed blessing #2...husband was laid off work just as I was put on strict bedrest, and so we were at least getting unemployment while he had to be here as full time Daddy to me and our 4 yr old. Lay off sucks, unpaid leave sucks more! But now the end is near, he is looking for a new job because this is 2nd lay off, plus after being home so much in the past 6 weeks he doesn't really want to go back on the road. Baby Mojo will be here in 5 days, and I just plain HAVE to believe that light at the end of the tunnel is not a train coming to mow us down!