Hello and welcome to my blog.
I am Laura, wife to Russ and mother to Phoebe, three, and Ezra, one. We live in Cambridgeshire, in the UK, in a house and garden that we are trying to make our own. We are an unschooling, natural parenting family and are committed to raising our children peacefully, compassionately and with an abundance of love.
Why blog?
Oh my. This is such a big topic. There are many reasons I feel I need a space just for myself here. I started Roots and Wings (Phoebedot) as a photo journal back in 2007. It was read by friends and family who were interested in seeing what we were up to and looking at photos of our daughter as she was growing. We also used it for sharing our journey into Baby Led Weaning. As i started using a couple of forums I found the blog was my virtual home and a wider audience were viewing our pictures and reading my words. It is great to connect with other families this way.
I tried to start a couple of new blogs but it just didn't feel right. Not the right time or space. But still I had the urge to share, and was emailing links and thoughts about all sorts of things to friends, and still am, of course. Epiphanies I've had, great articles I have found and wonderful quotes have all been the subject of messages which have bounced back and forth between me and other like minded mamas. Often I would realise i few days later I had another friend who would like to read or hear a particular thing, and then I'd send it to her and have a similar conversation. This is such a great way of connecting but can be very time consuming and I still feel I would like to open up more and share in a more permanent way.
I believe that sharing our stories is important. Without the opportunity to express ourselves, and release our creativity - in whatever form feels right for us - we live an unsettled life. We stagnate, we don't learn and grow and feel free. Releasing our thoughts into the world is liberating. For me, writing feels a great way of doing this. It is one of the things that just makes my heart sing, and it is vital to have time to nurture ourselves so that we can nurture others... and just because it feels good!
I also believe that sharing our stories can help others. In fact, I know that it can, as reading the words of others has had so much of an impact on me. I used to write a lot as a child, but over the years with the pressure of having to write - for school and university - its joy had faded. I felt unable to bring pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, creatively. Becoming a mother is a great catalyst for change and I find myself a different person, and yet strangely, more myself than ever before. I have an insatiable appetite for reading - not just any reading, but particularly parenting books and later, blogs - and through reading about others experiences I found healing and growth and love. Sometimes I have been inspired to make changes in my own life, sometimes I have felt validated in the choices I have already made, sometimes a new way of looking at things has presented itself and my perspective on an issue has shifted entirely, and sometimes it is just good to know I am not the only one dealing with these issues. Whatever the outcome, hearing other people's stories has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for me, and I think if I can help contribute to that experience for just one other person, then my writing is worthwhile.
