September Pagan Circle - Page 20

[Maiasaura]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Well, it's sorta happening :S yours truly is having a hard time keeping up her obligations in the brief bits of time when I can get this fever to go down I've been like this for a few days now and it's getting annoying, although I'm sure it's just the 'crud' and nothing major.

Aww, man. Feel better today, I hope?

Originally Posted by DaughterOfKali

How do I keep my boy safe? Other than a bubble.
Ok, I'm not really talking magical stuff and I do try to surround him with shield of sorts. He won't take supplements (can't hide them in the foods he eats, either.)

I'm even wondering about going to church. Even more exposure for him. Gah.
Think I'll call the doc in the morning and see if I can talk to him about my concerns with ds's immune system.

Poor little guy! Can you stick powdered C in a popsicle even? I know we've had convos similar to this before, but I can't remember the details. Just trying to think outside some box or other. I have this Vitamin C that is way too strong for a little kid, 5000mg per teaspoon, but you could sprinkle a little somewhere if he likes tart flavor. My kid loves sour (blech!).

Or, those Hyland's tabs, they dissolve immediately under the tongue; I bet you could do that at night, even. They come 25mg to a tablet. You can find them online a lot cheaper than a healthfood store. Like half the price, even with shipping. I used to buy them by the sleeve when ds was a baby.

Originally Posted by singin_angel

The car beside where we park got their windows smashed in. How scary!

Tonight...Mabon rit! Yay! Should be a good time! I can't wait

That is scary. How did your ritual go? And did anybody find who broke into that car?

Originally Posted by gun

Well, everyone- it's almost tomorrow. They will be inducing the birthmom tomorrow. I am beyond a nervous wreck! My house is about as clean as it will ever get! I am soooo done cleaning.

My new neighbor came by this afternoon and dropped off a while almost new bedroom set for DD and is it ever cute! We are going out for ice cream to celebrate the equinox and maybe a new baby tomorrow for us!

I will let everyone know how it goes ASAP. Wish us ALL luck!!

WOW, gun, here it is! I hope it all goes perfectly! Keep up posted!

DS lost his 7th tooth yesterday. Finally! He refuses to wiggle them, EW! I worry that he'll get infection by doing that. This one, though, he finally twisted it. Yay! Poor guy, though; he's got some rash on his butt cheek; it looks like poison ivy and itches like mad. I can't figure out what else it might be. He got it right after playing in the woods, which, there's a ton of it in there. But I can't figure out how he got it on his butt. He had long pants on, and underwear

[bluets]

Originally Posted by Maiasaura

Poor guy, though; he's got some rash on his butt cheek; it looks like poison ivy and itches like mad. I can't figure out what else it might be. He got it right after playing in the woods, which, there's a ton of it in there. But I can't figure out how he got it on his butt. He had long pants on, and underwear

could it be chiggers? they've been super duper bad here these past few weeks. and they make it through clothing. straight-up lavender oil on the bites really helps.

[boigrrrlwonder]

Butting in -

So I sing to my daughter a song that includes a line "We come from the Goddess..." My 2.5 yo has been correcting me and singing it, "We come from the garden." I love it - definitely reminds me to think of our garden as a manifestation of divinity.

[liza-s]

Originally Posted by bluets

could it be chiggers? they've been super duper bad here these past few weeks. and they make it through clothing. straight-up lavender oil on the bites really helps.

Lavender Oil is really great for poison ivy itches too. I had a horrible case 10 years ago that took a full year to go away (it was internal & systemic so would pop-up randomly). Even 4 cortisone shots didn'te help much, but I used lavender oil soap every day and dabbed some on the rashes a few times a day (I cut it 1/2 & 1/2 with olive oil - mostly as a cost savings, but also b/c my skin was so dry from the rash).

I hope he feels better soon.

[liza-s]

We just had our equinox dinner. Pork slow-cooked with apples and dried apricots, acorn squash, purple potatoes (cuz purple is fun), and collard green slaw. Yum yum yum.

Our newspaper ran an article today pointing out that even though the equinox is on Tuesday, we have more day than night until Friday. (Gotta love high latitudes). I never needed an excuse to celebrate dates late! - but now I have a good one. The previous excuse was - I'm an unorganized, lazy slacker.

[Vojerleda]

might be a no-brainer, but do purple taters taste different than the other ones?

[spiderdust]

We had the purple theme going with our Mabon dinner too! I mashed beets with potatoes (got the idea from someone on this board) -- made a hot pink/fuschia batch!

We got some Concord grapes in our CSA drop that I had no idea what to do with (really don't have time to make jelly with it), but I remembered my mother mentioning a grape pie that she made last summer. It took a little bit of work (but much less than jelly!), but it turned out awesome!

All we needed was purple pole beans to complete the purple theme, but we opted for green beans instead.

Our friends prepared a pork roast and an apple dish... we did ritual before dinner with the kids, including the harvesting of the pumpkins that were planted during the Spring Equinox ritual. Awesome evening!

[Aeress]

spiderdust- I love how your spring ritual worked into your fall ritual. It is hard for me to plant at the spring equinox due to frost.

Ritual- I did a much more private ritual while under the stars friday night since that was the only time I had to myself. It was very powerful, the stars were so bright!

Gun- thinking of you today!

Maia- My friend put a special salve on the poison ivy but I can't remember what was in it. I will ask her when she arrives later this morning. Hope ds is feeling less itchy this morning. Goodluck on your exam!

What yummy ritual food you all had.

Gillian is officially 5. We had a bowling party and cake/ice cream at our house. *yawns* Momma is tired but had a good time.

[DaughterOfKali]

Clay- Maybe they should give you a different abx.

Cari- I hope you get some meds and kick whatever it is that you have.

Bluets- I'm glad I didn't upgrade my OS. I figured I'd let everyone else experiment with it first.

gun- Thinking of you!

Originally Posted by Maiasaura

Poor little guy! Can you stick powdered C in a popsicle even?

Sorry if I left anyone out. Time to get us ready to bring ds to school. (he has a cold today and was up many times sniffling last night. ugh.

[CariOfOz]

Well mamas, I don't have pneumonia thank goddess! Might have if I'd have waited till the end of the week to go to the doc though... as it is I have a junky nasty chest infection and antibiotics for same. Orders for rest (as if I have a choice, I feel like death on toast!), lots of fluid and nurofen. So I'll probably be a day or two before I'm up to normal computer use or normal anything. I may pop in to say hi but that'll be about it

I'm going to take some medicine and see if i can sleep now nite nite.

[Aeress]

Cari- I wonder if your immune system is a bit down after the last year? Get better sweetie! You sure have had a rough year. *hugs*

[mary3mama]

Originally Posted by bluets

could it be chiggers? they've been super duper bad here these past few weeks. and they make it through clothing. straight-up lavender oil on the bites really helps.

IME I've found that if it is chiggers you will get almost instantaneous relief if you put a bit of nail polish on each bump, which is what my grandma would do for us when I was little. Now I don't have nail polish around ever, but I've found that the 'new skin' stuff (for those places where bandaids just won't stay on) has the same effect. IIRC the nail polish 'cuts off' the oxygen supply to the little buggers and they die.

Originally Posted by boigrrrlwonder

Butting in -

So I sing to my daughter a song that includes a line "We come from the Goddess..." My 2.5 yo has been correcting me and singing it, "We come from the garden." I love it - definitely reminds me to think of our garden as a manifestation of divinity.

I love that comment! "We come from the garden" sounds like a great song to create for/with her.

Originally Posted by Vojerleda

might be a no-brainer, but do purple taters taste different than the other ones?

The one's I have tasted potato-like, but also tasted a bit like carrots.

Originally Posted by Aeress

Maia- My friend put a special salve on the poison ivy but I can't remember what was in it. I will ask her when she arrives later this morning. Hope ds is feeling less itchy this morning. Goodluck on your exam!

Gillian is officially 5. We had a bowling party and cake/ice cream at our house. *yawns* Momma is tired but had a good time.

A salve made out of Jewelweed maybe?
Yeah Gillian! Hope you got some sleep!

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Well mamas, I don't have pneumonia thank goddess! Might have if I'd have waited till the end of the week to go to the doc though... as it is I have a junky nasty chest infection and antibiotics for same. Orders for rest (as if I have a choice, I feel like death on toast!), lots of fluid and nurofen. So I'll probably be a day or two before I'm up to normal computer use or normal anything. I may pop in to say hi but that'll be about it

I'm going to take some medicine and see if i can sleep now nite nite.

I'm glad you caught it before it turned into pneumonia! Hope you are resting well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tired but well here. We got the pickup on Friday and it is great to be a 2 vehicle family again. I forgot what 'freedom' comes with that after sharing the van for the last 15 months.

Had a wonderful time with 2 mama friends yesterday. I called it "Fiber Arts Fun Day" because we met at a local Panera and nabbed the comfy couches and sat there for a few hours. I taught them to knit and they attempted to teach me how to crochet. It was lovely and kid-free, which is so restorative to have from time to time.

Off to eat breakfast, go on a nature walk, attack-with-glee our homeschooling day and somewhere in there, practice my nascent crocheting skill before it evaporates.

[southernmommie]

I'm glad you don't have pneumonia! That would be aweful! Hope you start feeling better soon. It's never fun being sick. Especially being sick and taking care of your family still too.

Well, this week is non-eventful for me until Friday. I have a retirement (military) ceremony of a friend of ours and an appreciation luncheon for me to go to that day. So I'll be gone most of the day. I'm hoping that I at least don't go into labor until after next Tuesday afternoon. After that I'll be okay. I got some negative news yesterday. My husband's sister is filing for divorce from her husband today. Apparently they were having some problems for a year now (my husband and her are not very close and never talk to each other) and she caught him in bed with another woman. Well, after doing some investigation on her own and hiring a private investigator, found out that he's been having this affair with this same woman since February. She worried about how her 2 girls are going to handle this. I always hate hearing about people still having to deal with these tragedies. And of course my mother-in-law is having a hard time also dealing with this too. That's her only daughter. No mother wants their kids to have to deal with some of life's hard lessons. Ya know? Well, that's my speil of the day. My housecleaner is here right now doing her job helping get things clean so I can do the more in depth stuff getting ready for baby's arrival. Talk to you gals again this afternoon.

[saphire]

Gun- Thinking of you today!!

I've gotten a late start today, and haven't read to catch up. I hope everyone's week gets off to a great start.
We're off to hs outside today.

[doubledutch]

i've been lurking but just wanted to say YAY for mashed pink'tatoes! how did they turn out, spiderdust? i posted that on the fall/winter traditions thread at the t.a.o. board. we're enjoying summer squash, eggplant, tomatoes, etc but soon it will be time for the root veggies and winter squash. my favorite.

[wombatclay]

Good luck Gun!

Happy birthday to the Bean!

Yay for catching things in time Cari, and hopes it's the beginning of a healthy season for you!

mastitis- I'm in a bit of a Catch-22... I have chronic and massive oversupply/overactive letdown issues. The up side is I can donate milk till the cows come home. The downside is I have to block feed, use positions where gravity slows the milk deal with foremilk/hindmilk imbalances and gassy colic in the kiddos, and work to prevent engorgement (and plugged ducts) more or less all the time (no steamy showers/tubs with water on my breasts, no shirts that can't conceal triple layer nursing pads, no topless nookie, etc).

So the treatment for oversupply and the treatment for mastitis are basically opposites. For the mastitis I'm trying to gravity/dangle feed but that means ds ends up gasping in a pool of milk. But if I lean back so ds isn't flooded then the milk might pool and worsen the mastis. I can use warm massage to help break up the lump but my breast balloons with milk and the engorgement lumps bury the infected lumps. If I try to drain the breast ds ends up puking... I simply keep making milk and having repeated let downs every 10 minutes or so. Again leading to engorgement.

I'm trying to find the balance between treating the existing infection and preventing new ones. I have another few days of abx and if it isn't "all gone" they'll try a diffirent abx but I think it'll be ok. I'm hitting this with everything I've got!

beads/mabon- I got beads today! I have the idea for the final piece but need to meditate more on the motherhood aspect and how to display that. My morning meditation guide described the equinox as halfway between the golden summer and silver winter and that inspired my mental picture. And I want to demonstrate mothering balance. But not sure how yet! For our holiday meal we're having burgers (spicy, homemade... I've been craving burgers!), fresh baked rolls, sweet potato "fries", and fire roasted honey apples.

[caiesmommy]

I've been popping in and out,sadly not as much as I had hoped to!

I'm loving how everyone is celebrating. We're having our meal Tues. We wanted to have some people over sun for a bigger meal but dh had a gig over dinner, so it's just the 4 of us on Tues(which works since he's off at 6 instead of 9 ) We went apple picking sun afternoon to enjoy the change..it was wonderful....all except the people who drove into the apple orchard, instead of walking the 3 min...a hummer almost backed into ds...almost put a damper on our day

I'm planning on taking the kidlets out as soon as naptime is over to find our centerpiece leaves/twigs ect.

Tomorro's meal isn't fully planned but ds and I are making mini corn muffins, apple crisp, I'm going to check the beets in the garden and maybe make a roasted beet salad and I'm thinking a really thick veggie soup for the main course...all vegan...yumm

[Valerie.Qc]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

mastitis- I'm in a bit of a Catch-22... I have chronic and massive oversupply/overactive letdown issues. The up side is I can donate milk till the cows come home. The downside is I have to block feed, use positions where gravity slows the milk deal with foremilk/hindmilk imbalances and gassy colic in the kiddos, and work to prevent engorgement (and plugged ducts) more or less all the time (no steamy showers/tubs with water on my breasts, no shirts that can't conceal triple layer nursing pads, no topless nookie, etc).

So the treatment for oversupply and the treatment for mastitis are basically opposites. For the mastitis I'm trying to gravity/dangle feed but that means ds ends up gasping in a pool of milk. But if I lean back so ds isn't flooded then the milk might pool and worsen the mastis. I can use warm massage to help break up the lump but my breast balloons with milk and the engorgement lumps bury the infected lumps. If I try to drain the breast ds ends up puking... I simply keep making milk and having repeated let downs every 10 minutes or so. Again leading to engorgement.

I'm trying to find the balance between treating the existing infection and preventing new ones. I have another few days of abx and if it isn't "all gone" they'll try a diffirent abx but I think it'll be ok. I'm hitting this with everything I've got!

Do you have the right kind of antibiotics? From Dr.Newman's site:

If you are going to take an antibiotic, you need to take the right one. Amoxicillin, plain penicillin and some other antibiotics used frequently for mastitis do not kill the bacterium that almost always causes mastitis (Staphylococcus aureus). Some antibiotics which kill Staphylococcus aureus include: cephalexin (our usual choice), cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, flucloxacillin, amoxicillin combined with clavulinic acid, clindamycin and ciprofloxacin. Antibiotics that can be used for community acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA): cotrimoxazole and tetracycline.

Since low supply isn't a concern, have you tried cabbage leaves to decrease your supply and help with engorgement? It might solve both problem at the same time.


I'm making a squash and apple soup tonight - no recipe, total improvisation. Hope it will taste as good as it smell.

We'll have a pork roast tomorrow night. Still unsure of the side dishes. Dessert will probably be a chocolate cake since it's DH's birthday and it's his favorite.

[wombatclay]

I rock the cabbage leaves! No, really, we have this spiffy red/purple cabbage from our CSA and I've been wandering the house in cabbage leaf chic since this started. It makes Dh laugh and dd1 keeps pointing to little bits of milk covered cabbage that has fallen off. Though the load of laundry where some cabbage was included was a bit... wiffy.

Has anyone read Going Postal? I'm all about the cabbage stamps.

I'm taking dicloxacillin on the "mastitis protocol" of 14 days... our family practice drs are very breastfeeding savvy. Actually, if you've seen the DVD "Homebirth Dads" (reviewed in Mothering) you've seen one of our drs. The office is pro-homebirth and pro-natural birth, pro-extended breastfeeding (and they have an LC on staff), pro-bedsharing, ok with delayed/selective vax, and up on alternative treatements. They often suggest things like CST, massage, homeopathics, and chiro before more "medical" treatments and are very conservative with abx. I think I'm just dealing with too much and my body isn't "focusing" well...

I totally don't want to complain though! I'd rather have over supply than under supply. And I know that if I don't kick this my docs will try something else.

[Maiasaura]

Yum, Valerie, chocolate cake

Originally Posted by bluets

could it be chiggers? they've been super duper bad here these past few weeks. and they make it through clothing. straight-up lavender oil on the bites really helps.

No, not chiggers. I've had those-- this is PI for pretty sure. I'm SUPER glad, based on my experience, that it isn't chiggers. DS would never handle that kind of itch level!

Originally Posted by boigrrrlwonder

Butting in -

good timing, biogrrl! coming on the heels of the butt conversation...was that intentional or an accident? That was hilarious!

Originally Posted by liza-s

Lavender Oil is really great for poison ivy itches too.
I hope he feels better soon.

Might have to try that. I was planning on just getting some of that ivy-itch or whatever it's called. I won't be near a HF store and I don't think I have any laying around, but I'll look.
Thanks on the well wishes!

Originally Posted by liza-s

We just had our equinox dinner. Pork slow-cooked with apples and dried apricots, acorn squash, purple potatoes (cuz purple is fun), and collard green slaw. Yum yum yum.

YUM. We'll have ours Wednesday, and a similar dish, but it'll have to be chicken, cause our roommate doesn't do pork. I have one called Autumn Chicken Stew-- reminds me, better go check recipe as I'm shopping tomorrow! Also maybe pumpkin or butternut squash soup, and apple tartlets. And maybe kale.
Love the purple potatoes idea!

Originally Posted by Aeress

Maia- My friend put a special salve on the poison ivy but I can't remember what was in it. I will ask her when she arrives later this morning. Hope ds is feeling less itchy this morning. Goodluck on your exam!

Exam...got a 78 But it's passing, so I'm down with that. It was a HARD exam. Took another one today; have no idea how I did on that one, but I think I got a 100 on the quiz

Originally Posted by mary3mama

IME I've found that if it is chiggers you will get almost instantaneous relief if you put a bit of nail polish on each bump, which is what my grandma would do for us when I was little. Now I don't have nail polish around ever, but I've found that the 'new skin' stuff (for those places where bandaids just won't stay on) has the same effect. IIRC the nail polish 'cuts off' the oxygen supply to the little buggers and they die.

A salve made out of Jewelweed maybe?

Chigger myth: they don't bury under skin. http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/arthopo/chiggers/
One of many sites that corroborates that. The ONLY thing that relieved them for me-- egads, it was awful; I got them the weekend I quit smoking, so I was skeevy from two days off of cigarettes, plus the chiggers, AND I had to wait tables in a high-volume tourist area in the summer-- was rubbing alcohol, rubbed on in copious quantities, with a cotton ball. It only felt good until the alcohol evaporated, which is what, seconds? It was bloody awful

Oh, jewelweed-- none on my property. I know where it grows, but of course not where there aren't roads but no time to make a salve just for this. I should probably make some, though, for future issues. Some people make it into ice cubes just for such an occasion-- but my roommate has the same grocery store affliction that I do, apparently (see below) and our freezers are overstuffed

Originally Posted by wombatclay

mastitis- I'm in a bit of a Catch-22... I have chronic and massive oversupply/overactive letdown issues. The up side is I can donate milk till the cows come home. The downside is I have to block feed, use positions where gravity slows the milk deal with foremilk/hindmilk imbalances and gassy colic in the kiddos, and work to prevent engorgement (and plugged ducts) more or less all the time

So the treatment for oversupply and the treatment for mastitis are basically opposites.

Oh man, Wombat, poor you! What a conundrum!

Online class tomorrow. I hate those. Basically I'd probably slack off if I didn't plan a study group for during class time-- good for me At least I can go grocery shopping in the morning. Which isn't good-- I LOVE grocery shopping. I am in deep debt and can totally tend to overdoing it
Must. Stick. To. List.

Gun? How'd it go? Any baby news?