ElementalMom

Unemployment #1 and Unemployment #2 are over at my other blog, Excellent Adventure.

This morning, I am grateful that I am unemployed.

Aurora is cutting teeth. By this, I do not mean she’s teething. No. She’s doing exactly what Rowan did; running a fever so hot it’s scary, being listless and uncomfortable and unhappy, and simply waiting for the teeth to push through. Her gums are red and puffy, and she’s doing the diarrhea thing (thank goodness for EC!).

Last night, I think I got maybe three or four hours of sleep. In fifteen-minute bursts. And through it all, I was able to stay relaxed and groovy, understanding and empathetic. Why?

Because I am unemployed. Because I knew that I could take it as easy as I needed to today, catch up on naps as necessary, and just focus on alleviating her suffering. Had this happened just a few weeks ago, I’d be juggling childcare and meetings and hostile emails and not giving her what she needed to come through this. But as it is, we’re still in our jammies, hanging out. working on ways to make her more comfortable, catching up on sleep as we can. And it’s all good.

The world is a far more peaceful place this morning, simply because I am able to be present with my child. And that is worth more than a paycheck.

Aurora is growing rapidly now; she’s teething, she’s rolling over, and she’s doing pushups, which everyone knows is a prelude to ::gulp:: crawling. We’re in trouble, clearly.

Kestrel wanted me to take a picture of him and Aurora. He had been holding her for a while, and thought they looked cute. So I picked up the camera.

Clearly, Kestrel was far more interested in being photogenic than Aurora was.

Jason stepped in to try to get her to focus in the same spot, and maybe even get a smile out of her.

Kestrel even tried to help, to little photographic avail.

Finally everyone gave up.

The irrepressible Kestrel decided to entertain himself…

And got Aurora in on the act… providing a better photo op than all the others together.

Yesterday, I received an email forward simultaneously from both of my favorite Jessicas in the world. They were pointing me towards a woman who had a bunch of frozen milk to donate to some worthy baby, and they both thought of Halima.

I pounced, and immediately sent the woman, Gal, an email asking for the milk on Halima’s behalf. And then went and read her blog, Growing Inside. For a while. And then I sat and held Aurora and cried (I’m actually crying again just typing this out now).

Gal’s baby girl, Tikva, passed away at 8 weeks old. That’s how old Aurora will be on Friday. And Gal has been pumping all 8 weeks, not knowing if she was going to be able to feed Tikva or not, and wanting to keep her supply going. So there are now three huge ice chests of milk for Halima, and Willa, another baby whose mother cannot nurse her for medical reasons. They are Tikva’s milk sisters, as Aurora is Halima’s.

Women are so strong, so tough. They go through so much just to keep the species going. I am struck by the fact that these little girls are all of different ethnicities and religions. At some place in the world, the men of each of their heritages are trying to kill each other. And here in the Bay Area, women, mothers are coming together in a heartbeat to nurture our young in the best way we possibly can, and take joy in the connections we can make.

Hope, apparently, and love, come through breastmilk.

Aurora's Dolphin Dreaming

Miss Aurora down for the afternoon nap. Who knows what babies dream of? We can only guess.