The Mama

Monkey, Mama, Educator, Educated, Wife, Womyn, Fashionista, Feminist, Doula, Doer, Vintage, Vegan, Crafter, Crazy

I am the Mama to four amazing babes.  With the birth of my first babe, I found myself.  There was a renewed interest in my love of art and creativity.  There also emerged a desire to parent naturally and educate myself in birthing arts.  With each subsequent birth of my babes, my desire to nurture mamas in their prenatal and postpartum journeys through emotional support and art took hold of my heart.  This blog began as a way to journal of my day-to-day experience of loving, nurturing, educating, laughing and raising babes.  

This blog is dedicated to the literal and figurative mess in becoming a Mama.  Our journeys may be our own, but they are similar.  Full of love but sometimes consumed by chaos.  Maintaining ourselves as individuals while supporting the growth of our littles, is a blessing but difficult navigation.  It is a task that we share but one with little guidance and an adventure that we have undertaken without understanding.  My goal is to hopefully inspire and share the truth in its beauty.  

Mamahood begins with the first sweet breaths of a babe.  The little baby bird falls into your nest.  It is woven with love, nurturance, joy through each small movement of their fresh wings.  The baby bird blesses the day with fragility and purity and fills your heart.  It swells and grows.  You become inspired.

I am the Mama to four amazing babes.  They have inspired me through with their beings.  Their love of nature is profound and deep.  Their love for each other is wild and free.  Their love of creating is untainted and awe full.  It is through my babes that I wish to honour their lives through my craft of creating. 

33 years old living in a small town in Ontario an hour away from where The Papa and I grew up - Ottawa.  We live in a 100 year old house in a small town.  I spend my days with the babes, our two bunnies and puppy, Peppermint, homeschooling, cooking, dreaming and doing.  In the summer of 2015, I launched my business Ivy & Wren.  

May my heart always be open to little birds

who are the secrets of living."  - E.E. Cummings

ivy & wren focuses on the beauty and nature of birth, nurturance, bonding, creating and loving through art.  It is a small Mama-made company that is a nest for all my pursuits to honour that which I find beautiful between Mama and Babes.

My creations will be posted for purchase soon.  It is a labour of love. 

Please enjoy the journey of this little space. 

An Ever-Widening List of All those Things that Make me Smile:

* my hubby for making babies with me and for making me so HAPPY

* my babies for making a great mommy out of me and for making me so HAPPY

* Douglas Adams, Bret Easton Ellis, Margaret Atwood, Max Brooks, Shakespeare, the guy who wrote my Marketing text book, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 

* The Periodic Table of Elements especially good ol' H

* Leonardo DaVinci...what a clever little man

* Fashion Television with Jeanne Beker

* Astroboy

* Pretty in Pink and Throw-back to the 80s Murder Mystery Parties

* ETSY....lalalala

* the knitted slippers I found at the Salvation Army and non-matching white sweater to go with it

* trench spikes

* my miniature grow-in-the-water-jar brain

* gothic aprons

* Dorothy's slippers

* any Abbott & Costello

* Jesse Eisenberg playing the same character in ever movie he's been in

* the complete and utter head explosion after watching Super with Rainn Wilson

* my sister for being the complete opposite of me...that's why I love you...you non-crazy thing you

* Nixie Knox Grayscale, Betty White and Peppermint - the little lion head bunnies and pup that are free-range in my house

* exposed brick

* kids on leashes - gives me total mommy brownie points 

* Double Chocolate Chip Cookies made by El

* 6 months of nausea while anticipating the birth of my babes

* the guys at the gym who talk about how inadequate they feel around other equally inadequate guys 

* the laughable content of tabloid reads - I just flip you over when my girls are walking by

* black nail polish

* Crimped Hair

* The Wuzzles, Huggabunch, Care Bears, My Pet Monster, Rainbow Bright, Teddy Ruxpin, Popples, Fragglerock, Smurfs, Cabbage Patches  and any other cute little character I so happen to miss

* Forgetting the meaning of simple words like "candle"

* Oh Marty McFly, Alex P. Keaton, Scott Howard...

* My Ewok Complex and Jabba the Hut Doll

* My JEM play tent

* Bright Pink and Blonde Wigs a la Scarlett Johanssen in Lost in Translation

* Amelie

* The name Siobhan

* My ever expanding family of babes