HOW I MOM

so beneath my fashion loving exterior beats the heart of  a laissez fair hippie mama.  always has, probably always will.  i've wanted to be a mom my entire life, and now that i am i kind of do it up.  basically, i  stick to my instincts, and mom my little cub the way that comes the most naturally to me.  those first few weeks murkiness when you simultaneously feel like you've never been so happy and that you've also surely ruined your life cleared for me when i was able to just look at my little ophelia, respect her as a person, and go with the flow.

call it attachment parenting, or gentle parenting, what i like to think is that i treat her how i would like her to treat me if i wasn't able to move or communicate in the way the people i was completely dependent upon could.  
 
that being said, i also see that you gotta do what works for you and what works for me is not the right way for anyone.  (is it ever?!) so i try not to be a douchebag about how i like to do things.

for us, i had a totally natural birth at our amazing local birth center.  i nurse her on demand, and probably will until she's over it.  or i'm over it.  like i said, go with the flow.  (literally, the flow of milk.  i digress).  i don't push her to "meet milestones" and try not to sit her up, walk her around, etc until she is ready and able/doing it herself.  seeing her figure out her body and discover her abilities is so amazing and has led to a super impressive attention span, which is kind of life saving.

before i worked in retail, i worked as a montessori preschool teacher and the montessori environment of providing "toys" (or "work") to children greatly reduces the clutter of plasticy noisy things that make me insane around our house.  we also make them accessible to her, so she can chose what she wants to work on, and is free to move around our home.

some of my favorite parenting resources are:  Dr. Sears, Janet Lansbury, The Kavanaugh Report- so amazing for creating a montessori environment at home, How We Montessori

so i'm a big believer in that you don't need much to parent a baby.  definitely not as much as people would have you believe.  that being said, we like these two baby carriers

   

and i'd love um, a king size bed :)