Anyway, I digress, the simple fact is, I'm a busy housewife, and mother, with a large grocery bill (that i'd like to shrink) and rental payment that leaves basically nothing for the finer things in life....well maybe there's room for a five guys burger on the credit card, but otherwise this last year has been a HUGE eye opener for our family financially at least. Going from two salaries to one salary- My long suffering husband, hard working federal employee, (yes they do exist) haha, slogs the almost 2 hour commute into Washington DC everyday to provide for our family and I raise our daughter as best as I can. There's tremendous pressure on mothers and father for that matter, today when it comes to raising your child. I did that thing i never thought i would do, I joined a mothers group and whilst it did enable me to make friends in the area after our move, it also exposed me to this pressure I never knew existed, Montessori!!! I mean what is that? Next thing I know I'm buying colored pompoms and jugs from ikea for sorting and pouring exercises...
Ok, yes, it's a bit nuts and yes, I love it really, I feel like I'm making a huge difference for my child, helping her build a stronger foundation for the future, I mean, she's 15 months and can stack 10 blocks for goodness sake, I must be doing something right! She says A, B, C already, well, it actually sounds more like. A, Eeee, Ayeeeee....but who cares. She's a genius. It's sad but true, we put huge pressure on ourselves as parents to raise the next great scientist or athlete or artist. I go to a play dough playdate and I see the eyes around the table, we're all looking, judging, encouraging and hoping our child decides to sculpt rather than eat the play dough. when did Lucy start walking, when did she say her first word? The first words that come from meeting a new mommy is (after they've sized up your child for milestones) how old is your child? Because you know, as sad as it is, that we're all VERY familiar with what a child should be capable of at a certain age, we've all been on the baby forums, and checked out those milestone charts, thrilled that little Jayne walked backwards and she's not even two yet. Is your child better than mine???????? That's the question. Do we even want the answer? Does it even matter?
My husband and I, we've just celebrated 8 years together, I recall our conversations before children. He would often discuss how he wanted our child to learn languages....Farsi, Mandarin even Russian...we must give our child the best opportunities in life, we must have him/her learn self defence....and Music, I want them in Suzuki violin by the age of three! Well, I am a musician and I will expose my daughter to music lessons, but of course by doing so, im going to be subjecting myself to that pressure, from myself, from other mother..."you should wait until your child is old enough to decide for themselves that they want piano lessons" or..."you should enforce a strict practice schedule, don't let your child give up " what's the right answer? There isn't one. It boggles the mind, I know we're not alone in this, though most of you will be pleased to know we are not completely nuts and have not forced our child into 'mandarin for babies'. Well, not yet...though I did briefly consider the Spanish. Any who, this isn't wholly what the blog is about, but in part it's a reason for its existence. This blog is about a parent, a mother, a family and our ideas and struggles and experiments in child rearing (because yes, I feel we are experimenting) and living.
Homegrown, OK, home grown....Not just growing your own, but home made, home baked, home sewn..anything I can do for myself in the home and not purchased in a store. It's an all encompassing Home grown.
Back to pinterest here, I met a kindred spirit in my friend Lorien, we're both young mothers, we're both financially restricted, but we're creative people, with a concern for the environment and the health and well being of our children, well that could be most parents actually. But isn't that the point. We want to try to be better parents, we make stewed lentils with tomatoes as an entree for example..I think that's good parenting right there! Haha.
We recently switched to cloth diapering and I hope to write a whole blog entry on this alone, but...it was liberating, a small but equally huge change to our parenting lifestyles. Yes, it actually is money saving, I feel better about myself, I feel like I'm genuinely helping to contribute to a cleaner future for my child. It really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It's one of those things I think a lot of parents consider, have every intention of doing, but often never actually get around to accomplishing; but I did it, I DIDN'T procrastinate, I did it. I want to do more of that...I'd like to grown my own herbs and vegetables and fruits. I like to make my own lotions and potions, I bake from scratch, I want to learn to sew, I've made Jam and pickle. I even own knitting needles somewhere, I know it, I have googled knitting classes!!!! I even own sewing patterns and I once was the proud owner of a broken singer sewing machine!!!! All vital to becoming an accompanied home grower. I know deep down inside there's this Amazingly skilled, crafty home maker just dying to get out. We all have to start somewhere and this is where I start, and Lorien too. I'm not super mom, but I super try. Yes, there's days when I use the TV to babysit, there's days when I stick in a frozen pizza, there's days when our daughter gets undiluted Apple juice and Chocolate milk at bedtime...god forbid! But I do always try, I will always try by providing structured play and montessori and crafts and lessons in nutrition and this blog will prove it.
Rebekah Wilbur, mother of one, cake baker extraordinaire, musician, writer, culinary anarchist and home growing virgin.
And....Lorien Reynolds, mama of two boys, nutritionist, culinary alchemist, cloth diapering, food loving home growing, star wars loving ultra nerd!
This blog is a journey of home growing discovery, join us on our quest.
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