.oOo. May 2006 Mamas ~ I think it's time for a new thread! .oOo. - Page 2

[~*max*~]

Big hugs Mamabeakley. That sounds rough, but it also sounds like you are doing exactly what dd needs of you right now. I hope your sweet babe is feeling better very soon.

[Marylizah]

Hugs, Mamabeakley. I hope your sweet LO feels better soon!! Poor her, and poor you.

[~*max*~]

Mamabeakley, how is dd today? I have been thinking of you both.

Today my 8 year old dd was dx w/H1N1. The strange part is that she is not all that sick. I only brought her to the doctor bc we were supposed to travel by airplane tomorrow and I wanted to make sure she was OK to fly (she had a fever & cough). They prescribed Tamiflu, which we are taking. My only hope is that it stays mild & she builds immunity, and that if/when anyone else in the family gets it the same applies. So far, everyone else is generally well. Needless to say we had to cancel our trip to visit family, which is a bummer for all.

Hope everyone else stays well!

[ecoteat]

Max, how is the puppy? How is dd? This H1N1 is such a bother! My school was planning on doing a vax clinic at the local hospital because the school nurse wanted nothing to do with injecting kids at the school 15 minutes away from the hospital. But the CDC and hospital said on Thursday afternoon that we had to have a clinic at school on Friday. It was a little chaotic, and it broke my heart to see the youngest kids all crying about it, but it went about as smoothly as could be expected.

Mamabeakley, how's the baby doing? How are you coping?

Blue Lotus, good luck with finding land and homesteading. It is wonderful--I can't imagine my family doing things any other way.

Phoebe and I have been enjoying our day off together. We went out to lunch and ran into a bunch of friends, so there was a bit of a crazy scene in the co-op with 4 preschoolers all having lunch in the crowded cafe! My friend came over to help set up her floor loom that she doesn't have room for anymore--so I'm going to keep it for her and I'm SO excited to learn how to weave!

[~*max*~]

Amy, very cool about the loom! That sounds like fun. Please tell us all about it as you learn. The puppy is so much better, thanks for asking. Once his abx kicked in he bounced right back. Then, the next day he got his head stuck in our garden gate. I had to hold him still & dig out underneath him to get it out. Dd is doing OK. I think we caught the swine flu really early, as she has been showing more symptoms as the day has progressed. But she's a trooper. Gotta get back to the kids. But I think you might be seeing a lot of me on here the next few days. Since I am housebound, I am going a bit stir crazy & need as many distractions as I can get!

[Mamabeakley]

Hi, everyone -

DD is doing better this morning - no fever! She's still congested and clearly not feeling her best but . . . whew! I'm crossing my fingers that we've turned a corner. It's been a really hard 48 hours, practically & emotionally. I started crying last night at bedtime because she was crying inconsolably unless I walked her and it was just such a sad sound. Each child is so different - DS1 never cried like that - when he was sick he just nursed non-stop. I don;t think DS2 was ever quite this sick.

Max, so glad your puppy is okay, and I'll be thinking of your whole family as you deal with H1N1.

Thanks for your thoughts & prayers, everybody.

[~*max*~]

Mamabeakley, so glad to hear dd is feeling better.

We are on the mend here. DD(8), the first one who got H1N1, is doing so much better. The flu-symptoms are over. She is just a bit drained from it all. I have been keeping her home just to get extra rest and build her immunity back up. She's one who catches one thing after another once she's really sick. LO(3) is also on the mend. She slept well last night & mainly just has cold symptoms now. Amazingly (and knock on wood!) no one else has come down w/it, yet. Although our cases have been so mild, I was almost hoping we all would & just get it over with!

How are the rest of the May Mamas? I hope everyone is healthy & happy and enjoying the fall.

I wish I had time for personals, but gotta get the healthy ones off to school. Have a great day all. :

[~*max*~]

Sending out a big Happy Thanksgiving to all the May Mamas! I hope everyone has a wonderful day with your families.

Sydnee, how are the girls? I hope everyone is healthy. Are you cooking?

Amy, I bet you're looking forward to a nice long weekend. How's the weather in Maine? Mud season?

Mamabeakley, how's your LO? I hope she is fully recovered and everyone else has stayed well.

Mary, will you all do something special this weekend? Or do you let it go being in Paris? How are you feeling? Are you doing any knitting? Mine has slowed down quite a bit since getting the puppy.

Blue Lotus, it's nice to have you back w/us. I hope you & the family are all doing well.

Alaskaberry, are you still in Alaska or have you made your trip yet? Regardless, have a great holiday!

We are all well here. We survived H1N1. My three girls had it we believe (only one was tested, but the other two had the same symptoms). And it wasn't all that bad. One did turn into Bronchitis & "a touch of pneumonia" and one turned into a sinus infection, but they both cleared right up w/abx. There is such a panic about it around here (and everywhere I'm sure). I keep trying to reassure people that it's not always like the news is reporting.

We're looking forward to a nice long weekend, Dh got off work a little early last night and he'll have part of Friday off. Although I think the weathere here is not looking to cooperative, so we may be stuck inside a lot.

Take care all and have a great holiday.

[alaskaberry]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm glad to hear that the H1N1 has passed on through.

BlueLotus, where are you homesteading? Will you be "off the grid"?

We are currently in New England. It's been lovely and "warm" (50s F). We spent a few days last week in NY, then in VT, now back to NY again for Thanksgiving. I think I will be cooking at my own house next year. All I will say is that at least the turkey was good! I spent the rest of the day sleeping...

Poor Orion, though, he spent 4.5 hrs in the car this morning and as soon as we got here he went nuts running around, and tried to go into his grandparents bedroom (where their psycho dog is during the day). DP's dad *flipped* and we had to go downstairs for an emergency nursing session. Orion looked up at me and said plaintively, "I want to go back to Nonni's" (my parents). It's really hard in NY because he's not allowed to touch *anything* and people are telling him "no" all the time. At least we'll be back in VT soon!

[Mamabeakley]

Gah. My brain is fried, mostly due to my back having thrown itself out this morning.

Hope you are all well and relaxing after the holiday (if it's your holiday )

We had a quiet Thanksgiving locally and then went to my family about 3 hours away by car to introduce DD to my grandparents, who hadn't met her yet. We took a picture of her, me, my mother, and my grandmother. We have a picture of my grandmother as a baby with her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother <3

DS1 and DS2 (my May baby) are playing "turtle" where DS2 uses the laundry basket as a turtle shell and DS1 finds him on the beach, etc.

[~*max*~]

Hi all. Just wantd to share the new big news/plan in our lives - we are looking into buying a home to share with our ILs. (MaryLizah, are you screaming NOOOOOOO! yet? ) They want to scale down in house size for an affordable retirement. We are busting out at the seams in our little house. So last night, after having a conversation w/MIL about their needs, I proposed the idea to dh. He thought it was great & quickly called his parents who were absolutely thrilled that we would consider such a step with them. It's been a lovefest ever since - . We get along really well w/dh's parents and I think it will be a nice fit for everyone. We haven't told the kids yet, but they are going to be overjoyed when they hear. Has anyone read that article in this month's Mothering about this? It would be a similar situation. I envision shared dinners, gardening, and lots of family support. Now, the tricky part is going to be telling my mother (which we will not do until everything is finalized). She has always wanted us to get an inlaw apartment for her, but it would be a total different situation - us taking care of her due to her financial irresponsibility (harsh, but true), high stress, etc. We are actually going to look at a house tomorrow. We will have to do some cosmetic stuff w/our current house to get it ready to sell & I cannot imagine living here while it is on the market, but we'll figure it out somehow. So, what do you think? Have we lost our minds?

[Mamabeakley]

No, you haven't lost your minds! I wish I could realistically plan to do something similar. Alas, my inlaws want to move half way accross the country for their affordable retirement, to a place I have no desire to live (sorry TXMominCT!)

Sounds like a great idea. Although I'm sorry about the situation with your mom. I love my mom to bits but the idea of living with her at this point in my life is . . . frightening.

[Sydnee]

Hello my May mamas! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I cooked dinner here which was wonderful. I love to cook for people, and it was just my Mom and her husband, so very quiet and relaxing Although Miss A ended up with the stomach flu that night Emma has it now, poor girl.

I am feeling very "together" this holiday season, lol. I have my cards done, advent calender done and only a few more gifts to buy. I started very early with everything so that I wouldn't feel overwhelmed.

Max- I think that sounds like a wonderful idea! How great that you will have your "village" How is the dog doing? Wasn't he sick??

Mamabeakly- I hope your back is better! How neat to be able to introduce your daughter to your grandparents. I feel so fortunate that my girls had a chance to know my Grandma's.

Alaskaberry- Hugs to you for having to put up with the inlaws, lol. Hope the rest of your visit goes better!

Hugs and healthy thoughts to all of you!!

[Marylizah]

Hi everyone!

Max, I did laugh when I read your post-- but I think it sounds like a great idea, especially if there will be separate kitchens and living spaces for each family! I wish we could set appropriate boundaries with DH's family (well, appropriate as far as I'm concerned, anyway!) but it'll never happen.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy and had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was nice and drama-free, but DS was quite sick and we ended up going to see a doctor while in Germany (where we spend our Thanksgivings). So not enough sleep and a fair amount of worry, but he's doing well now. T-day itself was really, really nice.

I'm busier than usual these days; I've become an editor of a magazine for an expat group I'm part of. It's a volunteer job, but still lots of work and very stimulating creatively! I'm loving it!

Happy early December-- I can't believe how quickly time is going! I'm due exactly two months from today.

[Peppamint]

Hello all! I had to come and peek to see how the May Mamas are doing! I enjoyed reading up on all your updates!

Mary- I saw you post something on facebook the other day about pg and I was just thinking how wild it is that some of our may babies are big siblings now too.

Max- how cool that you're combining forces with your ILs! We actually came quite close to doing the same thing with MIL (moving in with her that is) due to her health problems but didn't. Now we can't decide if we've waited too long to do the right thing or if we barely missed making a huge mistake.

We're keeping busy here... my girls are almost 9 and 3.5 (of course) and my boy is 6.5 now. The kids, the two youngest especially, keep asking me for another baby but dh swears he is done (just like he did last time haha). I can't seriously consider getting pg until next fall so I figure we'll just wait until then to see if the kids and I still have the bug... if not, dh will be happy. If so, we'll have to try to change his mind.

[~*max*~]

BBM, so good to hear from you! How are the midwife studies going? That's so sweet about you kids wanting another baby. That just shows how loving they are.

Mary, how great about you editing the magazine! That sounds really cool. Tell us more! And I'd love to hear more about your pregnancy - do you have names picked out? Birth plans? Inquiring minds want to know.

Sydnee, I wish I had it as together as you for the holidays! I am still finishing up a couple knitting projects. We haven't done cards yet and we haven't finshed decorating. I hope the girls are all recovered from the stomach bug.

Mamabeakley, those picture you took of the generations of your family sound wonderful. What a nice thing that will be to have as part of your family history.

Alaskaberry, I hope you are having a nice visit in New England, and enjoying the "balmy" weather.

Amy, any special plans for you holiday break? And I'd love to hear what you've been working on for holiday projects. You always amaze me with your creativity and I love your Maine lifestyle.

We are still in the information gathering phase of our plan to house/property share w/our inlaws. They have a fabulous house on 5 acres near the beach, which is now too big for them. We are trying to find a way that we could buy their house and they could build an addition onto it for themselves. This would be our first choice, but I'm not sure if we can swing it financially. Our second choice would be to buy a propery w/them w/two houses or a house w/a good sized inlaw. It is exciting, but overwhelming at the same time.

We had an interesting day here yesterday. Mr. Puppy decided to chew on my very-first-sweater-that-I-ever-made-and-worked-so-hard-on. I turned my back for a minute. He silently pulled it off the table, dragged it into the kitchen, made himself comfy laying on it, and proceeded to chew on the cuff of the sleeve. I was devastated! I think it can be repaired (by a professional, not me). But I am still crushed about it. This sweater represented my lifelong desire of wanting to learn to knit and finally learning how. I am trying to let it go & move on (it's not like me to get so upset about a material thing), but I'm still struggling. The weird thing is, after he chewed on the sweater he had this wild chewing thing going on & destroyed two of his chew toys. I think because the sweater was wool, he sensed the animalness about it and got this primal hunting instinct. I called my husband at work & asked him to pick up some more rawhide bones. Thats seemed to help some.

Then we moved on to tree trimming with the kids. In the exitement of it all, puppy pees on the floor & then later LO (who has been 100% potty trained) pees on the floor. But, we had lots of fun decorating the tree. I brought all the kids to the dollar store previously & they each picked out a gift for each family member. We exchanged the gifts last night. It was so cute to see what they chose for each other & how thoughful they were. I think this is going to be a new tradition for us.

So that's my exciting life! I hope you are all well and having a wonderful weekend!

[alaskaberry]

BBM-- I want another baby too. But I doubt my man will change his mind. He said he doesn't want to be raising kids right into his retirement.

Sydnee--Lucky you, having it so together! I haven't even started knitting things for people yet. I guess it's going to be another round of holidays w/ pics of WIPs!

max--hmm, that sounds pretty neat. But you get along with your ILs! I wouldn't mind living near my parents in a sort of house share, but that would mean moving back to New England...and I just can't do hat. We love Alaska too much, and they feel the same about VT! I hope it works out for you guys though. Maybe you could put a "MIL yurt" on the property for your mom to stay in whenever she likes, so she doesn't feel left out? Not sure how well that would work out for ya though.

Mamab--the turtle shell game! Mine play that too, only ds2 uses a blanket, being only 11m old.

BlueLotus--I hope you find some decent land for your homestead!

Amy--how is weaving going?

Mary--What kind of birth are you planning? Will you work from home w/ your new job?

We are enjoying our stay in VT much more than the trip to NY, I gotta say. It's been warm out (well, warm for us!) and *sunny* (I miss the sun in winter!), and the best part is I don't have to leave the dinner table if I need to nurse the baby! (My mother is a lactation consultant/lamaze teacher/LLL leader, so friends and fam are similarly chill about bf'ing) Even tandem nursing brings no bats of the eye. I haven't gotten much holiday stuff done, instead I've turned into a bit of an Internet addict. I'd better get on that!

[Mamabeakley]

Ah, Alaskaberry, simply do your shopping on-line and you can combine internet addiction and holiday stuff!

I finished my shopping last night in exactly that way!

Here's a link to my family photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...2&l=b7d5a2824c - and I don't think any of you are FB friends, but I'd love to have you ;-)

[~*max*~]

Mamabeakley, you are a beautiful group of women! I loved seeing your pictures.

[alaskaberry]

Mamab, those are some wonderful pics! And, actually, I did do holiday shopping online... But presents are easy for my fam. Everyone loves books, and they don't mind if those books are pre-loved! The WIPs are for my girlfriends.