barn raising

16 February

over the moon

Hello sweet friends!  I'm back over at Rhythm of the Home with my thoughts on celebrating the full moon.  I'm having a blast over there...please stop by and say hello!

27 January

pants!

I've been waiting for a bright day, bright-ish even, to show you Coco's new woolen trousers!  The stormy west coast may be perfect for imagining mermaids in the misty seas, but the wintry overcast light here can prove difficult for taking photos.  Still, as chance would have it, when I saw some great ones here just yesterday that are also made of wool, and when the sun came out, it seemed that was all the push I needed to get these pants photographed.  There are lots of great versions of these trousers out there, but the inspiration for our woolen Quick Change Trousers (pattern by Anna Maria Horner) came from 100% from Ella, whose clever idea to pair wool and flannel together seemed to me to be just perfect.

Perfect for keeping warm, perfect for throwing rocks into the sea, perfect for playing, baking, and long rambles in the woods.  And jumping, they are perfect for that too!

26 October

milo

There is one particular handknit that is getting a lot of wear in our house this autumn.  The Milo vest has been perfect for fall days spent warding off the damp chill of fog and rain, as well as wearing on long walks beachside and in the woods during our recent incredible stretch of sunny, crisp, dry fall days.  It's perfect for all kinds of northwest autumnal, pre-winter weather, really, and the fact that it is so wearable makes it one of my favorite knits for Coco to date.  I love how the fit is snug enough to cover her core, keeping her vital organs warm, but loose enough to wear with woolen undershirts and other sweet little tops.  It's much like the comfort and reassurance I get when dressing her in these, which we actually use as pants (the waist reaches her chest, keeping her warm all day). 

I love Coco in this vest.  She looks like a magical little fisherwoman in it, and it seems to match with wellies and cowgirl boots alike.  I have some other knits on my list before I come back to this pattern, but I do plan on knitting larger sizes.  I think it would look great in light grey, and also in a heathery lavender.  Oh, but perhaps also in a woodsy tweed, or a soft and sweet shade of pink.  Hmn, it sounds like I'd best get knitting!

Ravelry notes can be found here.

3 October

warming and surrounding

There is nothing quite like creating special and magical moments of love and warmth for a little one.  The fall is my favorite season for that, I think.  Before Coco was born, when the leaves began to turn, I already felt the "nesting" that comes with preparing for a change in season and rhythm.  Now that I have Coco I feel that immensely more so.  As the days grow mistier and the smell of earth and woodsmoke fills the air, I love clothing her in her woolens to ward off the damp chill.  Our kitchen is seeing more stews and soups these days, and our snacks have turned from berries and homemade popsicles to cooked apples and nut butters.

We're bringing some new rituals into autumn this year and I think my favorite is Coco's bedtime treat of warmed milk and honey.  She loves to watch me pour it from the pan into her little cup, and she holds it tight between sips as she listens to her bedtime story (or stories...sometimes that milk takes a while to cool). 

These are precious and sweet little moments.  The gift of warmth, both emotional and physical, is a profound and fundamental intention in our home, and simple comforts like this feel almost ancestral in my wish to provide them.  This time of year, as the season darkens and we draw more inward, the joy in surrounding, drawing near, and warming my little one seems innate to my role as mama and my heart and soul combined.  Children remember these sweet moments too, and the longer I'm a mama the more I understand that powerful childhood memories don't only involve celebrations and family outings; they are made just as dear through these expressions of love and warmth.

Which, to me, is the most powerful of all.

21 September

little eras of life and mothering

I found myself on the bus the other day begrudging public transit and wishing for a car.  It was raining outside and the bus was packed full of people.  Errands take much longer by bus and grocery shopping is much more cumbersome.  And busing around in the rain?  It is time, I thought, I've had enough. 

And then, I felt the hint of the end of a mothering era.  The era where Coco and I walk everywhere.  The era where she is content to sit in her buggy and ride, and I could walk for hours staring down at my luck- a beautiful baby girl sleeping all cozy in her stroller.  I walked like this throughout Coco's first year and well into her next.  But, as she is growing older we are both changing.  We are doing more, exploring more, and she, especially, does not have the patience for strolling that she once had. 

Sometimes I can sense that as frustrated as I can be when I wish for parts of my life to be different, there is also a huge part of me that will miss the comfort, ease, and beauty of how we've always done it, or, how it's always been.  And if I can miss it, then there must be beauty in it.  Busing isn't ideal anymore for many reasons (for me, for us), but I will miss the simplicity of doing fewer errands in a day, not having to worry about traffic and car expenses, and the sweetness of so frequently strolling about with my little one.  It's not so much a nostalgia as it is a realization, and it generally applies to the "wishing" areas of my life.  In order for things to change, something must be let go. 

And so it goes.

22 August

a year of sewing: the pinafore

Years and years ago I saw a little girl out and about with her mama wearing the most adorable little pinafore.  It looked quite plain in the front but the back straps crossed over making it the most precious little outfit I had ever seen.  I asked about the pattern, but it was one of those things where it was gifted to them by a distant friend of so and so and tracking down a pattern wasn't going to be easy- especially because they were complete (but very nice) strangers to me.

Since then, I've been on the lookout for a pattern very much like the pinafore I fell in love with. I searched thrift and fabric stores, but nothing seemed quite right.  I did find a lot of pinafores without the criss cross in the back, but none just like the one I wanted.  Thank goodness for Etsy!  I found a lot of pinafore styles on Etsy that are equally as adorable (and well crafted- I bought a couple as gifts) as the one I saw that day, and there are a lot of patterns too! 

In the end, I used what I loved most from the patterns and pinafores I ordered- shortening here, widening there.  The end result is my own interpretation of the pinafore and one that is closest to the pinafore that started this whole journey in the first place.

I'm sure it will fit Coco for a long time to come, but I'm going to work on sizing it up for the next stage.  If you are equally as smitten by this design, here is a great pattern to get you started.  Mine is reversible and I can't wait to make these in all fabric combinations as a staple part of Coco's fall and winter wardrobe, paired with a woolen shirt and pants. 

I'm excited to get back to the sewing machine!  My heart brims over to be able to make clothes for my sweet little one!

18 August

cake celebrations

We weren't quite through with Coco's birthday celebration, for what is a celebration without a house filled with family and cake?  I will admit right away that I am intimidated with gluten free baking.  We've been gluten free for a year now and I still lament the loss of fluffy pastry and whipping up my much missed pound cake without looking at the recipe.  And one kind of flour...I do miss that.  But in order to celebrate my daughter turning 2, I overcame my apprehensions and started baking.

The idea for this cake was 100% inspired by this cake, right down to the layers of pink inside.  It's a beautiful cake (hers), don't you think?  And perfect for a little girl on her 2nd birthday.  Baking our version of this cake took, ah, a long time.  Thankfully, my barn raising family- mother, brother, sister, husband and nephew- were around and kept the birthday girl busy drawing, reading, playing, and otherwise constantly giggling. 

One thing I've learned about gluten free baking is that a lot of time is saved by premixing your flour mixture.  Things would have come together sooner had I done this the night before.  Also, we had to attempt a second, easier frosting after the Swiss Meringue Buttercream spoiled (my timing was off for adding the butter, though that didn't stop my mom, sister and I from dipping our fingers into the bowl for taste after taste- delicious but, sadly, unspreadable).

And then we have the layers of pink- they really look so perfect in the picture.  I decided not to use food colouring and opted, rather, to colour the layers with cranberry juice.  It takes a lot of cranberry juice to get a lovely shade of pink, I discovered.  The result was a graduation of lilac, or if I'm to be honest, grey.  But, nevermind.  In the end it was healthy, adorable, and delicious.

And for a certain 2 year old it was nothing less then perfect.

8 August

two

Coco turned 2 on Friday.  She woke up bright and full of beans and 2 years old.  Am I the only mother who was a little emotional for this birthday?  Especially the night before, as I searched through hundreds of baby photos for ones to include on her birthday ring.  At the time of her birth, I knew she was small- all 4 lbs of her- but despite her size she was strong and healthy.  Now, looking back, my heart skips a beat at how little she really was and I feel the longing to want to hold her tiny like that again and to smell the incredible woodsmoke smell that was hers in those first few weeks.

I also felt a little emotional remembering our birthing day.  After weeks and months of unknown, on the day of the full moon, I finally got to hold my darling little girl.  We all wish for beautiful and natural births, and we tend to hold them in the highest regard- home births, midwives, complication free.  But, despite our wishes, not all of us are able to experience pregnancy and childbirth in that way.  My pregnancy was a full leap of faith.  It was dealing with fear and excitement all at once.  It was lots of ultrasounds, lots of intervention, lots of bed rest.  And, still, it was beautiful.  In the midst of it all I was able to connect with her and grew to know her rhythm.  When I held her for the first time and whispered to her, she turned to the sound of my voice and I fell in love.  There are many roads to a happy ending, and there is much beauty to be found along the way.

And so it is, my girl is 2, and I am still amazed at all it took to bring her into this world.  I think about feeling nostalgic for my babe in arms and then I turn to this bright eyed little girl who is ready to forge ahead in her life adventure as a 2 year-old toddler.  She is not nostalgic.  She is sparkling and learning and filling up with the world around her every day.  Her hair no longer smells of woodsmoke, but it does smell just like a skein of the best yarn.  She no longer makes those irresistible newborn squeaks and coos, but she is telling me stories and singing me songs.  She is no longer a baby bundled and tiny, but we both know that 2 is going to be great! 

I've thought a lot about the traditions I want to hold on her birthday.  I was inspired by a friend who, on the eve of her daughters' birthdays, will decorate the house so they can wake up to magic.  She keeps things small, the gifts simple and the celebration mostly just with family.  This really seemed right to me for this birthday and those to come while Coco is young- simple and magical celebrations.

So, we celebrated her birthday morning under tissue paper pom poms and cuddling her new "Baby".  Later, we took to the seaside with friends and spent the afternoon knee deep in clear salt water, tossing rocks into the ocean.  As Coco begins her new birth year I'm reminded that motherhood is a perpetual ebb and flow of feeling both wary of time speeding by too quickly, and excitement for all that is to come.  The key, I believe, is to pause in what is happening now, today, so that even as I may feel it's all going too fast, I can trust that we are making the most of every age, every stage, and every moment.

4 August

a day in our life

 

I was inspired to document my day after reading Kyrie's words, "I feel like I have spent a lot of time trying to capture very specific, small moments of beauty, and now I'm moving in the direction of wanting to capture our big, wonderful life as a family."  I love it.  The original idea came from here and I'd love to try a whole week at some point, but for now a day is all I can commit to. 

I truly enjoyed doing this today.  I didn't think taking pictures throughout one day would impact me in any particular way but somehow it really did.  Partly this is because today is the last day my daughter will be one and I'm surprised to find I'm a little emotional (and overjoyed) that her 2nd birthday is tomorrow.  With each click of the camera, and with planning for tomorrow on my mind, I was reminded of life's swift, sweet moments that come and go in a flash.  There's so much beauty in that and, as a result, I feel a desperation sometimes to try and hold on and remember it all so poignantly.  Yes, today was the perfect day to experiment with documenting a day in the life of the Elliott's.

Today:

• We woke up to Coco pretending to be a bunny jumping around on the bed.  I called her Bunny all morning.

• we enjoyed our breakfast in the bright, morning sun and marvelled at the recent taming of the chickadees flying around our back deck (can you see one sitting in the tomato plant pot?).

• made strawberry and greek yoghurt popsicles and enjoyed them in the afternoon.

• walked Scout around our neighborhood and passed many dream houses before returning home to one.

• Coco napped for almost an hour exactly.  Enough time for me to prep dinner.

• left Scout at home while we hit the farmer's market and bought 10 pounds of organic blueberries to eat and freeze.  We'll go back for more next week.

• caught up with family.

• tidied, vacuumed and cleaned up the floor for the zillionth time.

• created some masterpieces.

• found a little magic lying around.

• worked on laundry throughout the day.

• read books, sang songs and danced a little.

• took photos for an upcoming blog post.

• had a lovely back deck feast of beef and corn chili, salad, sauerkraut and corn tortillas.  

• after Coco went to bed, stayed up late getting things ready to surprise her in the morning when she wakes up a 2 year-old.

• stayed up even later preparing this post.

 

I'd love to try to do this once a week, I found I was ever more aware and surprised by the amount we pack into a day.  Beautiful, ordinary days are the most special of all, indeed.

7 June

all together now

When Coco was born I consciously, for the first time in my life, tried to make friends.  I can tell you, that is difficult business!  I was surprised how many mothers weren't interested in widening their friendship circles and, shockingly, I realized how many mothers only hung out with mamas whose children were the same age, or who worked together, or who knew each other in some other capacity.  There is much to gain from befriending those who have similar life circumstances as you do, definitely.  It is important, necessary even, to have friendships that walk a similar path in life to you.  But, they are not the only connections that matter.  Imagine the connections we could have if we worried less about connecting similar lifestyles and more about connecting similar hearts and souls?  I believe it.

The idea of community is always near to my heart.  Whenever we move, I introduce myself with a loaf of bread or cake in hand to my newly acquired neighbours.  On our dog walks to the woods I say hello to whoever is out and now we have unlikely friends nestled in different houses on the streets around our home.  I take my time to chat to the elderly man who is always, rain or shine, weeding his very weedless garden.  I love to pass the house on the corner near the park to say hello to one of the kindest couples I know, the ones who have designated themselves as an extra set of grandparents for Coco.  Just to the right of us lives a woman who feels more like a sister then a neighbour.  It feels safe and old-fashioned to know so many people around us and countless times I am reminded of how grateful I am to know all of them. 

I first realized the true importance of community years ago, at a time in my life when I felt it was lacking.  It can happen easily, I think, especially living near or in the city, or when people's lives change.  People are busy, indeed, and our tendency to email rather than call undoubtedly helps to widen the connection.  I believe deeply in all that this blog stands for- connection and celebration, and the foundations for living a whole-hearted, magical life.  I believe in slowing down and grounding oneself and one's family.   And, I must admit, that while I believe in the connections that strengthen us when we turn off the tv, our laptops and our phones, I am also a big believer in the community that the internet in and of itself creates; this wonderful technology that allows the physical distance between us to shorten and for the connection between friends who may not have connected otherwise (or at least not as often).  I have met wonderful friends and maintained inspiring and beautiful friendships as a result of my time on the computer. Someday, when we move to our quiet island, I must first make sure that there is internet service available!

If I could, I'd love to knock on your door with some cupcakes wrapped in parchment.  I'd love to wander by the sea with you or put the kettle on while we chat in my kitchen.  Above all else, in whatever way speaks best to us, we are all mothers doing our best to create wonderful experiences for our children.  For those of you I can do this with, well, I am so grateful to be able to do so.  And to my friends farther afield, I am thankful for this branch of modernity and technology that allows for our friendship.  It is quite amazing that we are able to connect via cell phones and computers while we're cooking dinner, doing laundry and nursing our little ones.  Yes, it's a different kind of community than I could have ever imagined, but in many ways the connections we have make it seem so very old-fashioned.

Yes, I do believe it.