Nibbles,
Say what?!
Nibbles.
What are you working on right now that is stuck?
Heres how to breakthrough the shame or guilt or mom critiques you push around in your head.
Nibble it.
Nibbles. Daily. Thats all. Teeensy baby steps.
The dude who was on my zoom Wednesday for this class im in said hes got kids and hes nibbling away at his childrens book wriitng. Electrician by day and childrens book author by night.
Cool!! I wanna publish my miscarriage and pp book!
He cant focus it all on the books bc hes a Dad and husband. So he just is going slowly. Sooo slowly.
Me? I think if i go slowly im bad. Or not worthy. I have to be perfect and it was shocking to hear him say he doesnt have a website. And is going so slowly. But hes a man. And im like huh wheres this coming from? Dont men have to be perfect? Dont they have to be these big ceo rulers and always have it look fantastic??
Where is my little trigger coming from that says I have to go so fast and be so perfect and do it all at once?
Trauma. Duh. We all have it.
So toss that out the window and take one nibble a day. And it doesnt even have to be a big nibble- it can be a thought you had while peeing. Text a friend. Remind yourself. Text yourself. Message a bestie. Type it out. Save it. Make a drawing.
Draw on the shower door washing your hair. As if you wash your hair.
Doodle on a receipt while sitting in the driveway w sleeping babies.
Whats your nibble?
Would you like a group of nibble encouragers? How much could you get done if you had a group JUST for nibble encouraging?
Does this sound cool for moms? What do you need uplifting for? Parenting? Business? Pregnancy? Eating healthier? Breastfeeding support? Art?
Comment and let me know! I promise ill read it.
Im calling you! Pick up! Answer my text. Stretch your brain!! And your body!
Look this isnt just for kids.
Maybe we women need to do some fun stuff, too! You dont need to be a mom to do this stuff. And you can be a grama or you can be an auntie! Or a mentor for children or older humans!
Be a winner at whatever you do. 🏆
I went to Montessori school soooooooo Maria believed any 2+ year old can do anything even use knives and cut and cook. Not the fire part but yeah almost that too.
Heres a quick brainstorm I came up w for a mama who wanted all ideas and tools and tips and tricks and curricula and everything wild un home skoo…and ages.
Any age. All ages.
Beads
Lacing projects
Clay
Air clay
Pom poms
Cooking
Baking
Playing outside
Library time
Crocheting
Knitting
Playing w rice
Beans
Sticks
Yarn
Bubbles
Chalk board paint inside on a wall
Medical terminology- i got 1,000 flashcards. Laminated every single one. A sheet holds about 10. Hole punched the sheet. Popped in trapper keeper three ring binder. Sharpie marker the definition on thr back and tah dah!
Singing
Maps on the wall
Dirtballs
Grow mushrooms in your bathtub (i did this recently)
Grow things in windowsills
Grow sprouts to eat or for chickens
Fermenting kombucha
Making yogurt
Making bread
Making butter
Balancing activities
Identifying plants, birds, animals, grasses, seashells, creatures, bugs, footprints, scat, antler sheds, flowers
Listening to bird calls
Go to a zoo unless youre boycotting
Tie dye stuff. Sooo fun
Make your own treasure hunt
Read & write limericks
Read Shakespeare to your kids
Make a salve for cuts w calendula
Blend up some womb tea
Make your own ground up spices w a coffee grinder
Make your own holistic first aid kit for the truck/car/van and one for friends then give it to them
Make flower seed balls then drop them all over by stop signs and signs and mailboxes and street corners
Design a cool deck patio front porch railing plant area where you live
Make a fairy garden w stones cheese graters from goodwill. Old spoons 🍴. Cups from thrifty. Plates. Mugs. Dishes.
Make a water table tub out of a plastic bin and play float or sink
Play w a bottle of vinegar and baking soda
Paint the deck w washable paints
Chalk up a driveway/ tennis court/ basketball court
Read about famous artists. Degas. Manet. Monet. Cassatt. Kahlo. Botero. Pollock. Rivera.
Go look at stars at night in a verrrry dark part of the outskirts if you live in light pollution areas. Drive to the country.
Practice drawing upside down and focus on shapes not the thing
Watercolor postcards
Melt crayons and make everything cupcake tin filled broken bits
Mail a hand print letter to loved ones
Make footprints out of paper and hang them on the wall. See if you grow each month- measure height for a year
Take weight
Make a homemade scale
Learn a new language
Get some crayons and do rubbings of tree bark. Concrete. Flowers. Textures. Sticks. Rocks
Paint rocks into animals or bugs
Get a magnifying glass and study anything tiny. Newspaper print. Fingerprints. Leaves. Feathers. Sand. Water. .
Get agar and petri dishes and cough and grow anything. Touch it and swab places and grow mold and bacteria and gross stuff.
Make a temperature blanket/poster/lapghan
Go to a nursing home assisted living center and read or sing or paint fingernails or do bible study or play piano or bring colored pictures or color there or dance or do stretches w the grammies and grampas. Call ahead and see what you can offer them. Weve done such fun things for them.
Sleep all day and stay up all night and go on patrol for nocturnal animals/birds/bugs.
Take a ball of string and make a spiders web across a stairway/room then try to get thru. Study spider silk. Study silkworm silk. Study fibers and fleece and yarns.
Dye some yarns/ strings w natural dyes- beets. Onion skins. Cochineal. Turmeric. Spirulina. purple carrots. Blackberries. Cloves. Coffee. Orange peels. Matcha. Mulberries.
Batik
Take photos w old film. Get it developed. Make a cork board and hang it up.
Make a vision board.
Sleep on the floor
Study a country. Make their food. Eat how they eat. Make costumes of their national outfits. Learn to sing happy birthday in their language. Learn to say i love you in their language. Learn to say please and thank you.
Make a compost pile
Take boxes of dog and cat treats to the shelter. Walk some dogs. Pet kitties.
Make your own tinctures. Cure for 4 months.
Make salt clay. Clay. Dough. Make hand prints.
Boil citrus peelings. Make your own cleaners. Have them sweep into a taped square.
Vacuum
Use chalk paint sharpies to write roman numerals. Alphabet on chalkboard painted wall
Call up or go- see or video important people and interview them- mayor. Firepeople. Post office. Garbage truck drivers. Emt’s. Police station. Librarians. Veterans. Military. Veterinarians. Local bakeries. Local restaurant owners. Local chiropractors. Ask a set of questions and find out everything you can.
Make some fun foods or desserts and take them to the fire people - always a HUGE HIT no matter the season.
Ask for a tour of the firestation.
Go to the ER’s around you and take them thank you cards. Colored pages. Poems. Origami.
Make origami.
Mail origami to pen pals
Get pen pals
Make a sundial
Read banned books
What would you add?
What if you were allowed to not know and simultaneously be in the moment?
What if you didn’t know if you were pregnant quite yet?
What if you weren’t sure if you were losing the baby?
Has anyone ever given you permission before to not know the answer?
She asked- does this look like Im losing my baby?
I replied- so theres nothing really to be done if it is a loss.
And if it is implantation bleeding then yay!!!
I would say no matter what either way- theres nothing better than resting. Take the day off tomorrow.
Stay home. Or be gentle. Do happy things. A nice wonderful day of eating everything you love. Be outside if you want. Walking. Beach wherever you are. Mountains. Grass. Lawn. Walk the dog.
Just do all the happy things bc no matter what youll have that beautiful happy memory of the day. And being kind to yourself.
If you have ever experienced a loss- I am so sorry for your baby in heaven not meeting you.
I dont think chemical or early or any adjective should go before a loss. A loss is a loss. Like who cares if it’s an early loss or late loss. Does that make your heart break less? No.
To every mama out there reading this-
I wish I were closer!
Id bring you some tea! Do you know how to make womb tea? Do you have some nice hibiscus? It is for sexual trauma. And loss is trauma. And our womb is our center of sexual reproduction. Miscarriage is a fountain for releasing emotions and grief. Allow it to come.
Don’t push it away. Be kind to yourself in the unknowing. When else do we get a chance to not know?
Time goes by so fast. Emails are instant. Messages ding and chirp and click and beep and sing. Voicemails vibrate and buzz and technology almost just barely thinks for us by predicting what we want to watch on tv next.
Can we stop and breathe for one second? Who do you need to let you take a moment? Not me.
God says you get to rest. So rest.
Im praying for you. Amen. ✝️
The world of fertility is one tied directly into the health of a woman. When she gets her period it is a momentous day. What did you do the day you got yours? Where were you? I was on an airplane bound for Argentina, without my mother, or father, for that matter.Why on earth was I there? I was headed to camp. I was 15. How old were you?
The most important thing to discern - really - is the purpose of your cycle. For those who care to have a cycle and enjoy the cleansing it does for our bodies in a way God designed I know that you don't find the same comments surrounding the hopefully monthly cycle.
Why is this? Why do people not like their period? Who on earth would want to stop it? I wrote a little note a long time ago.
Stopping your cycle is stopping your health. Subjecting yourself to hormones that aren't yours, don't come in anyone's body, and are created in a laboratory will do nothing but harm and maim. So many autoimmune issues come from birth control con"trap"tions.
I offer you this. What if you could enjoy the cycle you have by understanding your body and why God put each part together in the way that He did? Did you know that living you life according to when you have your period actually makes you more productive when you need to be? There are cycles on earth, seasons, winter and summer, spring and fall. We have cold and warmth. We have life and death. There are times for rest and times for activity. We sleep and we wake.
I want to challenge you to think about your life and what you do on a regular basis that works. Our bodies are designed to do the exact same thing. We are created as women to flourish and create, invent, produce, be fertile, and to cleanse. The purpose of a period is to build up the baby house. Make up gorgeous blood vessels and invest time and energy into making the perfect garden to plant the baby in, metaphorically speaking.
Did you know there are ways to track your period that involve temperatures? Your spit? The moon? Your cervical mucus? Your cervical height? I ask you to think about the best way to holistically track your fertility aka your health.
What would your life look like if you could track your period, know when your period is coming, to the minute, all without any outside medical pills or technological apps hooked up to your phone?
I'm praying for you.
Birth control can be a tricky web to weave. Christian? God designed family planning?
What's the big deal anyways?
How do IUD's even work?
Read more...
