Mama Says

It's only 10am and....
-our kitchen is chaos...full of dirty pots and pans, waiting to be washed so I can start my mega-batch of baby food
-the counters are covered with squash, beets, plums, asparagus, quinoa, fresh parsley, lentils...
-I'm having a hard time finding a starting place...because it's so chaotic....so I'm running the dishwasher and blogging so that I can avoid it. =)
-My daughter practically put herself down for a nap by coming over to me, sticking her thumb in her mouth, and resting her head on me....
-My son has spent the first part of the morning in his "police car" (under the bathroom sink) handing out tickets to his sister for "speeding by"....
-and the current half of our morning 'playing the drums' with our homemade drumsticks banging the couch cushions....while the music plays...asking me to play the 'guitar' while he plays the drums...
-the plants have all been watered....(I'm so great at procrastinating!)
-we've had a hodgepodge breakfast....of raisins, trader joe's whole wheat pretzel sticks, and a smoothie (beet greens, costco's organic salad mix, juice, banana, mango, whole yogurt, a raw egg, and coconut oil)....which once he took the first sip he said "let's save these for later!" I thought that was such a polite way of turning it down! I inhaled mine, plus part of his, had him take several courteous swallows and then gave the rest to Grace.....
-We've cuddled, tickled, disciplined, sung our verses, 'rode a boat', laughed, kissed, "huggled", pulled things out of Gracie's mouth, played 'trucks and cars', wiped up spills and bums, taught a rhythm lesson.....who says this is not the best job in the world...and it's only 10am!

Every weekday morning the alarm goes off at 6am. I press snooze twice, then put my feet on the floor at approximately 6:12am. Sometimes there's a little boy in between us who woke up 'wet' and timed it just right so that he could spend early morning moments with daddy before he's up...around 6:25am. If not, we're both soft stepping so that mommy can keep a few quiet minutes before she's on duty. The first thing I do, sometimes even before I turn the light on, is to flip that electric kettle switch. If I'm on top of it, it's filled the night before, Brent's travel mug and my teapot sit side by side already out on the counter, waiting for the "just before boiling point" moment when...ahhhh.....curls of steam warm my face promising soothing sips...served 'straight up' (no milk, no honey). Brent has been known to laugh at me as he walks out the door with his 'mate' cocido' (yerba mate', in tea bag form, with splash of raw milk and honey) cause he knows I won't actually drink my tea till it has reached optimal drinking temperature (no risk of burning the tongue, warm enough to feel going down, cool enough to take a long drink). 'Optimal' becoming a very loose term, because sometimes I wait too long, and I drink lukewarm to cold tea all day long.  By the time Brent returns, he sometimes finds the pot still half-full (not half empty) and has occasionally make the mistake of tossing this unused brew down the drain....only to find me asking where my tea went an hour later. 

My morning ritual usually includes some sort of green tea, then it is a hodge podge of whatever I have in the cupboard.  I started this routine as a goal to use up that which I already have before I went out and tried something new....I'm still whittling away at it...determined to make some level of a dent on the tea shelf. I'm dreading when I reach the last box of "Coca" tea that I brought back from Bolivia...or "cocaine tea" it was affectionately named by our friends. Same plant. =) That will be an interesting week....