TheLionRampant.net

Dear blog readers:

If it were not for your blog reader or RSS feeds, you would likely not even bother to look at our blog anymore. As it stands, I hope you’ll see this one and know that I’d like to post more. With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, it seems I can keep tabs on friends without reading blogs and anything intelligent I might want to share I can do so in the space of 140 characters. I think blogging, though, has its own appeal and I shall try to update the blog more often than once a quarter!

Here’s a short update (more thought-provoking stuff and pictures later): We’ve moved into our first home in November 2009 and love it, love it, love it. It’s a beautiful, comfortable spot with an endless list of fun projects to work on. We also have become legit Utahns as we traded in our Scion xB for a snow-worthy Subaru Outback. Now it’s harder to find our car, but it’s nice to feel safe driving after a snow (and coincidentally after Ashley had a fender bender skidding out during a snow fall). We also, have very sadly, given our beloved dog to another family. We weren’t able to give him enough attention and walks and Ezra liked wrestling a bit too much (and pulling his ears) with him. We are convinced it was a good decision for us at this time and the family he’s now with is great — 5 kids who love on him all the time, without any wee ones who want to crawl all over him. We love you and miss you Francis! We are looking forward to visiting him in a month or so (he now lives about 30 minutes from us).

In other news, we are getting into the swing of the spring semester. Bryce is working hard with RUF, we’re having students over regularly which is fun for me and the kids, and I’m getting 2 mornings a week to work on my PhD. Ezra is in a music class where he enjoys dancing around and banging on drums and we have a lovely Mom’s group at church. Porter is at 10 months (!) starting to walk and is a delight for us with his ever-cheerful demeanor.

“Cheese!”

Halfway through the month and I’m not too sick of the dress. Have now washed the dress twice.

Sorry for the lack of Dress Project posts.

Here is today’s:

One of the first days I’ve actually not worn pants or tights underneath (though, this may have to change once I go outside again). My red boots are sure getting a lot of use! I’m finding that I’m being much more adventuresome in my clothing combos than normally — ‘normal’ often consists of picking whatever’s on the top of my drawer. I hadn’t ever gone out with a dress over pants before. Now I really don’t care too much what people think or say about my clothing choices, so that’s a nice change.

The kitchen

Downstairs Bath

Master Bedroom (incl. dining room with plaster that needs some fixing). We plan to knock out the wall between the
dining room and bedroom to make a master suite.

Basement bedrooms

AND SOMETHING THAT’S FINISHED!! Bryce sanded, stained and dyed our Living Room floors. Aren’t they gorgeous?

If you want to see them bigger, check out the Flickr photoset.

Wearing pants, tights or leggings under the dress makes me forget that I am even wearing a dress…almost.

Day 5 of The Dress Project. Leggings, red boots and tweed jacket not pictured.

So I’ve been wearing the same green dress for the last five days to participate in The October Dress Project, a project that started from the inspiration from The Little Brown Dress and The Uniform Project. It’s a month of ‘fasting from our clothes’ in efforts to re-prioritize and think creatively with the things (in this case, clothes) we’ve been given.

A few disclaimers: 1) I’m not nearly as fashion-forward as most of the women are who are wearing their dresses for one year and because their dresses and accessories are so versatile, they never look like they’re wearing the same thing day after day, and 2) I’m not one of those super-hip, super eco-friendly, re-purpose everything sort of gals. I’m a mom of 2 and a grad student on the side, but I figured that even though I don’t buy many clothes for myself (still trying to get that pregnancy weight off!), that there’s something to be gained by wearing the same dress every day.

What, you ask, is the point of wearing the same thing every day? For starters, it’s a practice in reorientation. Though given the stage of life I’m in — mother of two little ones — I don’t normally spend much time on my appearance, wearing the same green dress every day enables me still care about my appearance — after all, I try to make the same thing look different each day — and to learn to care about my appearance through the lens of stewardship. I admit “retail therapy” has appeal; even buying small, inexpensive things like red nail polish can instantly make me feel better about myself. Not only am I being prideful that I’m being frugal by only buying nail polish but I’m also finding my satisfaction in things at some level, so you can see, I’m a mess. But, wearing the same dress every day helps reorient that default position of my heart — finding satisfaction by outward things, whether clothes, or nail polish or what other people think of me — and in turn, leaves room for much more. It reminds me that I don’t need much, that I don’t need a closet full of clothes and that a green dress can serve as my ‘daily bread’. It inspires me to be creative with what I have rather than longingly flipping through magazines wishing I had ‘that’ thing.

My green dress isn’t going to change the world, and it probably won’t change my immediate community — after all, most of my friends think it’s pretty cool, if they even notice I’ve worn the same thing the last several days in a row. And it likely isn’t going to change my life that I begin to really enact the art of the commonplace in my daily life — again, my life is besot with little sticky hands and dishes! and laundry! — but I do hope that my practice of wearing this green dress will cause me to pause and consider that when I’m quick to complain to instead think not only of the copiousness of what I’ve been given, but also of what I can offer and with small means and imagination, how something ordinary can become beautiful and new.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on my version of The October Dress Project and check out the Facebook group.

(Published simultaneously on the Mothering by Grace blog).

I’m not sure if anyone still reads our blog. If you do, please comment!

We’re alive and getting settled and re-settled in Salt Lake City. We moved back in July and are moving again during the month of October to a house we are BUYING! I’m stoked. It’s in a fab location: 1 block to the city’s largest park, 1 block to shops, our church is across the street and it’s 2 blocks to Bryce’s office. It’s a great 1907 house that doesn’t need loads of work to really make it shine. Bryce and I have been slightly obsessive about decorating. We close at the end of the month and then we’ll be doing things like killing the yard (weeds as it’s a foreclosure), knocking down a wall, refinishing some wood floors, and painting. We’ll get pictures up once we begin work. For now, you can check out a few shots of the house here. (Don’t worry that awful pink color will go too, but probably not until the spring).

In other news, I’m really considering and getting excited about participating in The Dress Project. It’s a month of ‘fasting’ from our clothes and choosing to wear 1 single dress all month. The website mentions this helpful note:

My dress provided a type of canvas. It reminded me that I do not need half of the things I desire, and if I focus on something for a while, I can get to know its character as a “thing” in creation. There is a wealth of hidden possibilities in every part of life that most of us are too lazy to uncover. Rather than pursue mere novelty, I had the opportunity to bring out the possibilities inherent in the dress, molding them into something slightly different every day.

I think I’m going to do it and will blog about it. Who’s with me?

Really there’s not much of a story here. Many moms have a very hard time breastfeeding their first child (latch problems, supply issues, etc). I didn’t but I was worried about my milk coming in late. Since it came in so late with my first (see post below), I wasn’t sure if that was due to the circumstances of his birth or that my milk just came in that late normally. So I continued to nurse Ezra through my pregnancy with Porter partly because I wanted to make sure that Porter had something to eat when he was born.

The birth was beautiful (although a bit crazy). Porter took to nursing right away and has never looked back since. He’s consistently gained much faster than Ezra in fact. What has been interesting is introducing the whole concept of tandem nursing an infant and a toddler. Would I have enough milk for both? Would Ezra (since he’s older and more developed) take too much so Porter wouldn’t get enough? How could I tell Ezra ‘no’ when Porter was nursing?

First let me say that the resources at Kelly Mom have been fabulous, as has Nursing Two. And mainly, I don’t analyze it much. I make sure I’m eating and try to drink lots of water to keep my milk supply up. I generally only let Ezra nurse 3 times a day and when he asks other times, sometimes I’ll let him have a sip, or other times he’ll get something special like lemonade or juice (watered down). Porter is happy and gaining weight so I’m not too worried. What I do love is watching Ezra get excited to nurse with Porter, that he says “Ezra’s side” and “Po-po’s side” when he’s nursing by himself at night. Some might think that a bit weird. But he’s already learning to share his most precious resource before he’s yet 2 years old. He already is learning to think of another and that’s a big deal for this mama. (He does not always watch his feet and so coupled with the lovely caring of his younger sibling regarding nursing, is the chance of kicking said sibling in the face if he’s not watching where he’s going ).