Meet Butter, Licorice, and Tulip.

Just call me a sucker. We went to Gecko Hardware, a new local hardware store/gift shop, on Monday to get a few things, and we left with three baby chicks.  Yes, we already have 6 grown chickens in the backyard as pets, and although we've truly loved having them I felt that was more than enough.  Technically, they're living with us temporarily until our new Urban Acres store is complete.

When we saw that baby chicks for sale at the hardware store, Steven looked at me longingly, and I shook my head with a solid "No."  But then...but then...a fuzzy black one jumped into my hand and didn't want to leave.

The chick area in the store was surrounded by a group of friendly older ladies who told us they'd grown up on farms.  They reminisced about sleeping with their chicks at night and the wonderful memories they had of raising the chickens from babies.

Aww, man.

And of course Luci Belle loved them.

And they were being so precious, faintly cheeping and hopping back and forth under the heat lamps. (Did you know they cheep with their mouths closed??)

And chickens are a lot easier to take care of than dogs, in my opinion.

So I said yes to the fuzzy black chick in my hand.  But the hardware store employee insisted, "If you're going to get one, you really need to get one or two more so they can cuddle with each other."

At this point, what's two more?  So we let two more chicks choose us and took them home.

The cuddling began right away... 

Meet our babies... 

Here's Butter.  Butter is a Crested, so she has a little hat.  There's also a sliiiight chance she could be a boy.  Let's hope not.

Here's Licorice.  Licorice is a Black Cochin, and she's going to look super awesome when she grows up.

And here's Tulip, a Leghorn, which basically means she'll be your basic white chicken.  Like Foghorn Leghorn.  But a girl.

Apparently, Tulip is Luci Belle's favorite...

I think these three are going to have to stay at the Bailey home permanently.  How could we resist?

Music Review: Rain For Roots: Big Stories For Little Ones

My latest post is up on Club JellyTelly - a wonderful website with positive programming for kids.  They have a subscription-based service (kind of like Netflix but only $5/month) for unlimited viewing of all their shows. 

These days, the moment I hop into the car and get my almost-three-year-old daughter buckled in, we start playing our current favorite kids’ CD, Big Stories for Little Ones by Rain For Roots, an enchanting collaboration of four Nashville songwriters, young mothers, and friends...

Continue reading here.  Enjoy!

Freedom afternoon.

On Wednesday, I had two hours of freedom that soaked in so deeply, they might as well have been ten.  My hair was windblown, my nose sun-kissed, my soul rejuvenated and restored. 

Late afternoon every Wednesday, our daughter goes to play with our friends who speak to her only in Spanish.  During that time, I usually go to a yoga class, but this week my shoulder was really bothering me.  It was a breezy, warm, gorgeous spring day so instead, I decided to dust of my cruiser bike and take her for a whirl.

It always strikes me how long it takes me to adjust to being alone, to having "freedom" time now that I'm a mother.  I'm with our daughter so much that it's become the norm to rarely ever be alone.  But the more I do it, the easier it becomes to jump out of my mother skin for a little while and remind myself of who I am outside of being a mother - I'm Christine, lover of outdoors and bike rides and journaling and reading and quietness.

After dropping her off, I rode my bike to the nearby meadow, the perfect place to have a few minutes to myself.

Not another soul was there.  

I walked my bike over to the park bench under the shade trees and unloaded books and journals from my bike basket.  I bit into a green apple I'd brought along as a snack.  And I sat.  And listened. 

I read some lines in an old journal and added to my list of "1000 Gifts."

But mostly I just stopped for awhile and took time to connect with myself again. 

~ ~ ~

Soon afterwards, my husband was done with work so I rode back to our house and traded in my bike for his scooter.  With our helmets and sunglasses on, I held on loosely to his waist and we scooted a mile down the street to the Bishop Arts District for a mini-date to enjoy fresh, crunchy salads at Eno's.  The only seats available outside were two adirondack chairs by the street.  Perfect.  As we munched on such a fresh, healthy meal, I realized my bangs were caked to my face and I smelled like sweat, but I couldn't stop smiling.

All of this happened in just two hours total.  But it made all the difference in the world to reconnect with myself and the things I love. 

Yes, I'm a wife.  Yes, I'm a mother.  But mostly, I'm Christine.  And I can never lose that.