For anyone trying to find new blogs, check out The Mom Salon, which Jennifer James of Mommy Too has created as a gateway to all the blogs in the mom world.

Meanwhile, in the ethereal, late-summer mood I've been in, I spent this morning pruning my mother's garden, literally, while she spent time with the baby. Talk about a win-win, especially since I had the much loved task of harvesting sprigs from her lavender patch to bundle up, hang in a dark closet, and dry so she can have that wonderful smell all winter. I was inspired after visiting a lavender farm several weeks ago (I still carry that soul lifting scent with me). Since then, we've had lavender on the brain. This morning I planted a white lavender plant we purchase while at the farm. Each morning, too, we've been making "lavender toast." The lavender farm keeps bees, to help pollinate the lavender. When the farmers harvest the bees' honey, it comes out tasting like lavender, mild and uplifting. We've been toasting bread, spreading some butter, and lifting some of the most delicious pale yellow goodness out of the honey jar to put on top. Hence: lavender toast, the current favorite food of my almost-eight-year old daughter. Mmmmm.

Yes, I'm giving up coffee, today I had but a wee bit of decaf--that's decaf, iced--at lunch. I'm on my way, and trading it in, apparently, for my new addiction, pandora.com. Admission: I am not usually much into internet music. I don't have an ipod, I don't download from i-tunes. I've never had the time to focus. I'm a former conservatory student, but I've never been able to remember the names of bands and songs that I like. Which is perhaps why I've found Pandora so incredibly wonderful. It's run by the "Music Genome Project." The way it works is that you type in the name of a band or song that you like. This becomes your "station" (and you can have many of them.) Pandora then plays some of that singer or band, mixed with a whole lot of songs and bands and music that sound like it, songs they think you will like. It's so fun, because they're often right. I've been leaving my computer on (and again, I'm usually not the much-admired techno-geek type). Right now I'm listening to Keane Radio, so-called, and am very happy.

Forget about good sleep advice, pediatricians, and finding time to exercise when we're new moms. Today, life is about finding the most excellent soundtracks to parent by.

I think there's a premium/pay service, but I've been listening to the free version and it's been just fine. More than fine. Enjoy.