Writing of a Hobo Mama

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Poetry of a Hobo Mama

Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three YearsEnjoy Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years.

Poetry of a Hobo Mama is a collection of poems by Lauren Wayne, inspired by the initial three years of parenting her firstborn son, Mikko.

Buy a softcover or PDF e-book version on Amazon:



About the book

I sling my baby like a bindle on my back,
tramping along the tracks
countless feet have worn before.

Poetry of a Hobo Mama contains three years' worth of parenting poetry, written from the time Lauren and her husband, Sam, were preparing for Mikko, through watching him grow to three years old. She has included poems that speak of their natural parenting journey — breastfeeding, the family bed, elimination communication, and natural birth among them.

The book is a combination of free verse and more traditional poetry forms, and the topics and tone run through all the variations the poet felt when writing them: the grief of miscarriage, the anticipation of trying to conceive, the upheaval of the newborn months, the joy of parenting, and the balance of motherhood and personal passion.

About the author

Lauren WayneLauren Wayne lives and writes in the Pacific Northwestern USA, with her husband, Sam, and their two sweet boys: six-year-old Mikko and two-year-old Alrik. She has been writing and publishing poetry for twenty years, but parenting has added even more inspiration. Poetry allows her to be honest about her emotional journey and to show an image, pin down a feeling, in a way that other writing does not.

Lauren blogs at Hobo Mama about natural and attachment parenting, and gives a behind-the-scenes look at writing at LaurenWayne.com. She co-hosts the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting and is a cofounder of Natural Parents Network, a site that brings together attachment parents interested in a natural lifestyle.

Lauren and Mikko grace the book's cover — that's Lauren and Mikko breastfeeding in public on a Seattle beach when Mikko was just a few months old.

Buy the book

Buy Poetry of a Hobo Mama at Amazon for $11.99, eligible for FREE Super-Saver Shipping and available worldwide (at local Amazon sites) and as a Kindle e-book (for $9.99). Or buy through my CreateSpace author store for $11.99. Shipping starts at $3.59. Use code SAP84AYJ for 20% off the cover price at CreateSpace.



Reviews for Poetry of a Hobo Mama

From ourfeminist{play}school:
Lauren’s ability to capture the reality and heart-galloping love of parenting is unique in its honesty and breadth. Through the flow of her concise language a reader is taken into bedrooms, hospitals, and the intimacy of a nursing moment; the depth that this poet is able to extract from a single stanza is not to go unnoticed.

Too often when parenting we are reminded by those who have taken the journey ahead of us to snap photos, to write it all down. […] Lauren Wayne’s poetry gives parents the gift of retracing their own steps through their own winding road of parenting by sharing what is most intimate and paradoxically the most commonly shared among us. A gem in the parenting poetry genre.


From Amy of Anktangle:
Anktangle
I’ve been a fan of Lauren’s writing since well before I knew her personally, because her writing is just so incredibly easy to relate to. There’s no pretending and no putting on airs or avoiding the touchy and controversial subjects, only the reality of her life as a wife, mother, and woman. She reveals her true self through her words: the humor and wit, the wisdom and growth, even the taboo and painful parts.



This is a beautiful, funny, truth-filled collection that I believe would resonate with any mother. The focus on Lauren’s experiences as an attachment-focused parent gives it a unique perspective which any parent on the natural parenting spectrum could appreciate. But it’s not just for the “crunchy” mama in your life; it’s truly about the human experience: about life and love, about laughter and loss. It’s about the joyfully heart-wrenching reality of loving someone as deeply and fully as a parent loves her child.

From MomAgain@40:
I am really enjoying the honest look into motherhood. […]

I love her honesty as well as her excursions with attachment- and natural parenting style.

The poetry is a raw and honest account of pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, babies and motherhood. […]

I am copying one of the poems. One of the most poignant life-altering changes that new parents have to cope with. "Mothers are never alone" But is also a reminder to me that mothers also share the same journey, and in that we are never alone!

From Jennifer of Hybrid Rasta Mama:
Hybrid Rasta Mama: A reggae loving mama’s thoughts on  Conscious Parenting, Natural Living, Holistic Health and General Mindfulness
Lauren Wayne of Hobo Mama fame, one of the two lovely mamas who founded and run the Natural Parents Network, is both an author and a poet in her own right. I had known for some time that she had a collection of poetry but had kind of ignored it. I always felt bad because I love supporting other mamas in their creative endeavors but truth be told, I was worried if I read it I would not like it. This would not be a function of Lauren or her poetic skills, but instead a function of my indifference to poetry.

Did you know that April is Poetry Month? Well it is and I decided what better way to support Lauren than to sit down, read Poetry of a Hobo Mama from start to finish, then share my impressions with you. I took off my “aversion to poetry glasses” and put on my “let’s see what Hobo Mama brings to the table glasses.” You know what? I am really, really glad that I did.


From Laura of Authentic Parenting:

Her book guides us from miscarriage, onto birth and into parenting, with the full scale of emotions it brings. And emotional it is, her poetry. I was often brought to tears, only to suppress a giggle at the next page. From pumping, to PPD, to renewed fertility, Lauren shuns no topic.

This is poetry straight from the heart, with all the flaws and failure, all the successes and joys parenting brings. Sometimes raw and crude, other times gentle and loving, but always recognizable.


From Arpita of Up, Down & Natural:

For me, the beauty of poetry is for an author to be able to take a basic human emotion that countless people before have felt, and give that emotion life.  It is an interesting experience to be reading truly beautiful poetry and have it feel as if the author was with you during a specific moment in life, and writes for you, as if they have had a glimpse in to your heart, in to your soul, and in to the quiet feelings and thoughts that lurk only in your own heart and mind.  To see your exact thoughts and feelings poured out on to a paper, and given new beauty, meaning and character is truly a beautiful gift. Lauren Of Hobo Mama has given me such a gift through her incredibly powerful, moving and poignant writing.  As I read "End Of Bleeding", a poem on miscarriage, I truly felt as if Lauren had been there with me through the raw emotions that I felt, and had been the voice to release in to the world the thousands of feelings and emotions that coursed through my body during those times in my life.  

How Lauren is able to purely encapsulate the emotions of the heart and give that softness and warmth of reassurance, I have no idea.  I don't question it, as I am wrapped up in the comfort of her poetry and writing.  I simply allow myself to be taken on the beautiful journey with her, and be taken in to her words as she somehow seems to know my own journey as well.



I most certainly will be including this book in future Baby Shower gift baskets, and very much look forward to more writing by the wonderful, and always inspiring Lauren Wayne.

From Living Peacefully With Children:
Lauren Wayne's Poetry of a Hobo Mama is motherhood as art, speaking to our very souls, asking us to cry from sadness and happiness, reminding us that there is no other greater purpose while at the same time allowing us our own small place in something much bigger.  It is raw and honest, exposing our fears and hopes, calling us to grow rather than callous and stunt ourselves, just as we nurture that in our children.

From Code Name: Mama:
Visit Code Name: Mama
I never understood that becoming a mother would  connect me to the heartache and joys and wisdom and love - all of the beautiful and ugly things that go along with motherhood and every other woman who has carried a child in her womb or her heart. I never understood that reading about another woman's pregnancy loss could touch me so deeply. That someone's thoughts about the first time her son would have a broken heart would make me ponder my own future reactions so fervently. Poetry never tugged at my heart strings quite so profoundly . . . until I became a mother.



I wasn't quite prepared for the laughs, tears, and head nods that I'd be doing as I devoured Lauren's poetry. Sometimes I found my body swaying softly to the rhythmic lyrics she often composes. Or brought up short by twisty endings. Or zinged by a clever turn of phrase that always made me think, I want to write like that!

From Positive Parenting Connection:
In her book Lauren explores everyday parenting milestones, trials and tribulations. From conception, pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing and more, motherhood is explored with passionate, witty, raw, and intense words that melt beautifully together into poetry.

Lauren is inspiring, a passionate mother and her honesty and reflection on motherhood from poem to poem shows a journey of transformation, inner strength, doubt and frustration, empowerment and self-reflection that every mother can relate to.

From I Thought I Knew Mama:
I Thought I Knew Mama: A window into the adventures of stay at home mamahood, natural parenting, & green and healthy living
Lauren's poems cover the full gamut of the early parenting journey from 

miscarriage (Why were we led all that way, and never to see your face?)
to
conception (Charting, temping, noting fluids and marking good days on each month’s calendar.)
to 
pregnancy (Kicking me under my heart for all those months. Just under my heart.)
to
the first taste of mother's intuition (People told me when you were due, as if you were a term paper and to turn in late would earn a failing grade. We ignored them, didn't we?)
to 
birth (Light sped into your eyes, and electricity arced in connection between us, as I defied gravity and orbited you.)
to 
the mourning of the life you left behind (I have wanted people to know there is more than joy in being a mother, that there is frustration and regret, strain on a marriage, lack of sleep, lack of time, lack of peace.)

Lauren also writes about postpartum depression, breastfeeding, pumping, babywearing, her love for her husband, and the magic of the smallest moments of parenting that seem to make the most lasting impressions upon us.

Some of Lauren's words will haunt you as you recognize the thoughts you may have been afraid to speak out loud, and some will remind you of the incredible universality of the mothering experience. No matter which end of the spectrum her poems touch, and regardless of what you have experienced yourself, I have no doubt that Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years will provide you with a real and refreshing take on motherhood. I look forward to revisiting these poems and to seeing how Lauren captures the continuation of her parenting journey.

Excerpts from Poetry of a Hobo Mama

Read some sample poetry:

Purchase a paperback copy or Kindle version of Poetry of a Hobo Mama at Amazon for $11.99, eligible for FREE Super-Saver Shipping and available worldwide (at local Amazon sites) and as a Kindle e-book (for $9.99). Or buy through my CreateSpace author store for $11.99. Shipping starts at $3.59. Use code SAP84AYJ for 20% off the cover price at CreateSpace.







What Will We Learn Today? Easy Homeschooling Activities

what-will-we-learn-todayWhat Will We Learn Today? is an ideabook of more than 550 quick and simple homeschooling activities.

Buy the PDF e-book version on Amazon:


About the book

Are you a homeschooling parent, or do you want to be? Maybe you wonder how learning can fit into everyday life. Or maybe you’re sure it can, but some days you and your child simply run out of ideas of what to do that’s not the same old-same old.

That’s where this book comes in. It's an ideabook of more than 550 fun and creative ideas that teach and reinforce learning under eight key curricular subjects. Whether you're homeschooling, unschooling, or regular schooling, your preschool and school-age kids will enjoy these quick and fun activities that engage their minds and creativity.

The ideas are time- and child-tested activities that our kids enjoy. For them, there's no division between "learning" and "life" — it's all of one piece. These idea-joggers use very little in the way of special materials or money but give a lot in terms of natural learning and family connection.

About the author

Lauren WayneLauren Wayne lives and writes in the Pacific Northwestern USA, with her husband, Sam, and their two sweet boys: six-year-old Mikko and two-year-old Alrik. Sam and Lauren share both working from home and homeschooling.

Lauren blogs about her unschooling life and natural parenting at Hobo Mama and gives a behind-the-scenes look at writing at LaurenWayne.com. She co-hosts the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting and is a cofounder of Natural Parents Network, a site that brings together attachment parents interested in a natural lifestyle.

Connect with Lauren on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.



Excerpts from What Will We Learn Today?


Language Arts: Have your child help you shop for groceries. Hand the list over — for a pre- or beginning reader, draw little images of all the items you need next to the words. Have your child read the list to you as you go and cross off what you've found.

Mathematics: Take the cover off an (unplugged) electric fan. Tape a different number to each blade, and put a piece of tape marking the top of the fan. Spin the fan by hand, and have your child make bets on which number will be at the top. Keep track of which number actually makes it to the top each time. Work out the probability of which number will be at the top — and the advisability of gambling on roulette…

Science: Make raisins dance. Fill a glass with water. Add 1 tablespoon of baking soda, and stir until it dissolves. Drop in 3 or 4 raisins. Slowly pour in 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and watch the raisins dance! Mixing baking soda and vinegar creates a chemical reaction that causes carbonation (carbon dioxide bubbles) in the water. Normally raisins would be too heavy to float or dance in the water, but the lighter-than-water bubbles adhere to their surface and carry them up. When the bubbles reach the surface and pop, the raisins sink again. Once the raisins are too soggy with water, they'll be too heavy to keep dancing.

Life Skills: Walk or drive somewhere while letting your child navigate with a map or GPS device. Your child can tell you which way to turn and help you look for signs and landmarks.

Social Studies: Pretend you're from a different decade or century. Go through your house or neighborhood marveling together at all the newfangled things you can spot. Try to compare them to objects familiar to your own time.

Health & Fitness: Toss a raw egg back and forth to each other outside as gently as possible, taking a step back with each successful catch. Try to get as far away from each other as possible before the egg drops or breaks.

World Languages: Learn the body parts for the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in your target language, and get singing and moving!

Arts & Music: Visit an art museum and head first to the gift shop. Let your child choose a postcard of one of the artworks from the museum, and then go on a scavenger hunt to find it. Read any information about the work to your child, and talk together about what you like about it.


Buy the book

Buy the PDF e-book version on Amazon:





The Natural Parent's Guide to Babywearing

The Natural Parent's Guide to BabywearingBaby carriers and baby carrying made simple.

Buy the PDF e-book version on Amazon:



About the book

154 pages, $9.99

Babywearing gives you a convenient way to carry along a little one, keeping your child engaged while allowing you as the parent or caregiver to continue with the routines of life — walking, using your hands for tasks, and even breastfeeding — while keeping your child secure.

This book is a Babywearing 101 class, giving an introductory overview of babywearing, along with troubleshooting ideas for special circumstances. We'll talk about the benefits of babywearing, types of common carriers, how to babywear safely, pictorial how-tos for how to tie and wrap the most popular carriers, tutorials for making your own carrier, and a list of helpful resources for information and support on your babywearing journey.


About the author

Lauren WayneLauren Wayne lives and writes in the Pacific Northwestern USA, with her husband, Sam, and their two sweet boys: six-year-old Mikko and two-year-old Alrik. Sam and Lauren share both working from home and homeschooling.

Lauren blogs about babywearing and natural parenting at Hobo Mama and gives a behind-the-scenes look at writing at LaurenWayne.com. She co-hosts the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting and is a cofounder of Natural Parents Network, a site that brings together attachment parents interested in a natural lifestyle.

Connect with Lauren on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

Read more and ask your babywearing questions at Lauren's babywearing resource page.

Reviews for The Natural Parent's Guide to Babywearing

From The Squishable Baby:

"The Natural Parent’s Guide to Babywearing is a nicely done, easy-to-read, easy-to-follow resource and an essential addition to any parent’s library."

From Erin on Amazon:

I recommend this book to any parent, grandparent, caregiver, or sibling interesting in learning more about babywearing. It's extremely detailed and is worth five times the price for which she is asking! This book will completely solve any of your babywearing woes. As I've read through it, it has already answered all of my questions and more.

Excerpts from The Natural Parent's Guide to Babywearing

See the post "How to use a ring sling" for a look into the book!

Buy the book

You can find the ebook on Amazon (Kindle).






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