November/December '02 --the latest incarnation - Page 20

[majazama]

Brayg~Your baby sleeps for 3 hours every day? Wow, I'm impressed. A 2 hour nap is the most I can get out of my DD. But recently she's been sleeping more. Must be the breastmilk, I think.

[Brayg]

most days he does. He's also been sleeping 12 hours/night lately. He's on hyperdrive during his waking hours, so it's great that he sleeps well! :LOL

[Brayg]

I forgot to add that we do have a standing playdate once a week with a friend who is only one month older than Owen. The mom and I get along so well. I just love her!

We do ECFE (early childhood) classes during the school year as well.

Next week, Jacob starts swimming lessons, so we'll be hanging out at the pool (they have a wonderful kiddie pool) for 2 weeks. Yay!

[tea olive]

saying hello here. i'm in a bad mood and it will go away but i don't want to share too much of it. i cracked a rib, i think, monday and it is starting to wear me down along with everything else. my kids are really happy lately so really i must be doing something right. summers are pretty hard here for me. they are like minnesota winters where you turn on the car to get it at a reasonable temperature and you run from the house to the vehicle, and walk the short distance to the place you are going so that the heat doesn't get you. i'm exaggerating of course because now that i have kids i have at least try to go outside even if they complain or they get crazy and i'm okay with sweating and getting wet but the mosquitoes and fire ants are another story. today i even walked to the grocery store up the block that i'm so grateful to live near even though it won't take my food stamps so i hardly go there. but it was still tough and i hadn't done it in months even with the actual breeze today. what the summer really does is makes me feel isolated. this is the first year i have not stated that i'm moving away from here just because of the durned climate. i'm beginning to despair that i will not ever figure how to garden manageably here which is a small thing compared to my dissatisfaction with the house and money. aack, i've complained enough. and i know it's stupid and wasting my energy. it's when i don't complain about the millions of little things gnawing at me, that is usually when life is actually hard. i guess i'm tired of being in either state. i know that bliss is just in my mind. at least i have a home and dh and healthy kids to feel disgruntled about. okay, i've shared too much already.

[eilonwy]

casina. Sorry you're having a rotten time.

I have new pictures in my sig line (I think!) There are some really great pictures of my Very First Tandem Nursing. :LOL I was so excited! :LOL

[majazama]

AWwwwww... rynna, your babys are so cute. eli with his big green eyes, and rivkah sure looks smart!!! Just one month old, and looks like she's 4 months old!

[eilonwy]

Thanks, Jaz! I'm totally impressed by Rivkah, she's already done some very cool things. It feels to me like she's older than three weeks, I just can't remember the family dynamic before she was here.

[Mona]

casina-- s to you.....

[lilmiss'mama]

brayg--- Scarlett is really into rocks and sticks too.

((hugs)) casina. I don't think complaining is all bad. It gets it off your chest so to speak, and sometimes just that helps. I know what you mean though... it seems as soon as I complain about something I hear of someone having a much worse time. Occasionally it will make me feel guilty, but mostly it helps me to remember the blessings I do have. Which is good to be reminded of now and then.

[Brayg]

Casina

Rynna--how's Rivkah doing?

[kerc]

Scarlett is really into rocks and sticks too

YAY!!! remember I am a geologist and thrilled to hear of more kids who are into rocks.

We're back from about a week with my inlaws. Including a little camping in pictured rocks national lakeshore (VERY pretty, going back for sure) and then some time spent with ga-ga and ginga at our house. It was fun overall and except for : "erin don't you think you're too old for ju ju?" Not terribly confrontational.

Now I'm back to work and back home -- it is hot for the first time all summer here in Duluth. 80s next week. I know, I know, some of ya'll are in hotter weather, but I need to adjust, KWIM?

Casina -- i think complaining and recognizing that you are complaining is constructive. Sometimes it helps me a lot just to get it out.

Pictures are beautiful -- thanks for posting.
back to work now, I think.

[DecemberSun]

Passing the peace pipe to casina s. Take a deep breath, and I hope you feel better. Take it easy on yourself- especially with an injured rib!

Brayg- I know exactly what you mean about not being able to go anywhere during the day because of naptime. I'm (sort of) involved in a playgroup (not AP) in my area and they keep meeting at 10am, or 1pm, and I'm like "I CAN'T MEET AT THOSE TIMES!!!" My kids sleep from 11-2 ish also, Zach usually sleeps from 12-2 and Julianna from 11-2 or so. I like to go places early in the morning, before the heat kicks in, and be back for a little nap, then take it easy playing at home in the afternoon, YK? I'm going to really get cracking when I get back to AZ about having a weekly outing again with our AP playgroup. A nice early morning playtime with some fellow AP mamas... I need to surround myself with other nursing moms, I am so sick of getting looks and comments from the mainstream people in this world about my toddler nursing!

Oh, I met some MDC mamas up here in WA! I posted in the "finding your tribe" forum that I would be here, so they came up and we had a campfire and made S'mores. One little boy was a little older than Zach and the other little boy was a little younger than him . They were both still nursing, and cloth diapered, and I felt so comfortable hanging with other people 'like me'. I need to find more people like that in my area, for sure! I didn't need to make excuses for why Zachary needed the "bobby" when he fell down and got hurt. "He just does, OK?!?" LOL.

Rynna, how is Rivkah doing???

I love the name Samaya, Jasanna. "Haeven and Samaya" sounds good together! How is your DP handling the change of having TWO daughters now? You seem to have eased right into the flow... Except for a few hectic moments, I'm sure! Imagine me with 3 mo. old Zachary and then getting a 4-day old newborn going through drug withdrawels-- bottle-fed with reflux no less! It was a huge sleepless blur those first few months, but it is very nice now

Have a nice day mamas... Try to stay sane in the heat!

[Brayg]

Leah--I still don't know how you did it! Wowee!

Kristin--sounds like you had a great time. The most beautiful state park I've been to (I don't get around too much though! :LOL) is actually not too far from you--Jay Cooke. We went there when Jacob was 2 1/2 and I've been dying to get back there ever since! We camped 2 nights and then headed up to your neck of the woods to sleep in a hotel for one night. Went to the depot and were surprised that Thomas the Tank Engine happened to be there. It was such a great weekend.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by DecemberSun

Rynna, how is Rivkah doing???

I haven't heard back from her ped yet, I will Monday afternoon, most likely. Aside from that, she's definately growing and she's quite an interesting little person, already showing quite a bit of personality. And she's super kissable, too.

[*solsticemama*]

Another rock-lovin little one here. Ds has been enjoying finding small rocks, carrying them to the "gwate" and dropping them in one by one and not before examining each one in detail. I love watching his refined little hands feeling out the texture and shape of each rock before he gracefully releases into the grate or water or bucket etc.

He's napping right now finally. Camping trip has been cancelled. He's got the chicken pox, officially. It's about day 2 of real spots but a couple of days of random spots before that. I've stocked up on calamine lotion, oatmeal bath stuff and oatmeal lotion. I'll be calling our ped tomorrow who is a homeopath to see if she can recommend a specific remedy. Poor little guy, he keeps scratching and saying "eetchy"

Rynna sweet pics of your family. The babymoon love is palpable.

Casina, how'd you break your rib? Sending a spacious breath your way, mama.

[lilmiss'mama]

I just watched a video called Goddess Remembered and in it they talked about the rock being powerful sources of energy. Maybe our little ones, still being so close to the spirit world, feel that power/energy?


I hope the girls get the chicken pox before they get much older. It would be nice to have a mild case and get it out of the way. I remember having them around 11 years old, and I was covered in spots. *solsticemama* I would be interested in hearing about a homeopathic remedy if your ped suggests one!

[tea olive]

thanks so much for the hugs and the toke on the peace pipe......

solsticemama, i think now is actually the best time to get chicken pox. old enough to keep immunity, young enough that you can help take care of it. the warmest water y'all can stand in the bath will help release the histamine.

eilonwy, your family is beautiful i enjoyed seeing your pictures. eli is striking and rivkah is so pretty. hey, i'm reading the chronicles of prydain now. i wanted to see if reed was ready for them as a read aloud nighttime book and then i wanted to read all of them again. they were some of my favorite books when i was a kid.

rocks and fossils were one of my loves as a child. then i moved here which is without rocks. all my kids are interested in them, though ruby has a certain disposition towards sand and dirt and the tactile. one of the times i realized i was meant to be with my not yet then husband was when his family took us camping in arkansas and we two went crystal mining two days in a row. perched on cliffs of dirt in the sun with sweat dripping and covered with red earth, cutting our fingers working to get crystals out of the veins.

we're almost done building my dh's man space, his music studio. i was touching up some paint and foolishly perched on an amp with casters. i had put in carpet with two layers of pad, and that corner was not level and sloped up a bit. and i was already in a bad mood because i found out that day that my boys seem to think that dh does all the work around here and the house is making me crazy. i don't even think i would have got hurt had i not been so tense. i have never broken or harmed a bone before. my first thought was, i have given birth three times this is no big deal! my 2nd was that i cannot afford to be hurt since i'm the only one that can carry children and anything and do any work and such.

i'm in a weird space in that i have finally have no disasters to cope with and am working to make my environment beautiful and practical and to make my home and life and clothing as rich as i feel inside. i'm so used to dealing in survival reactionary mode and i have a lifetime habit of fearing success and money that i'm moving away from inch by inch.

my friend came home with their adopted baby from a chinese orphanage, who was born oct 02. the girl has made the primary attachment to the dad, which is really interesting and cool to me (and not surprising considering how children gravitate towards him) that he is such a receptive male. i'm not familiar with any other men that know what it is like to be absolutely needed at every moment of a child's life, to deal with the complete proximity (like she has been mostly held by him only). and the whole family is adapting so well i'm just so glad that she is open to touch, and she looks really happy it is amazing how flexible a child or any person can be in such circumstances.

good night sisters

[tea olive]

here's something especially for you mammas with new ones
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/hathor/index.html

[eilonwy]

Eli loved that cartoon. "Look at the baby!

Somoene who works with Mike sent me flowers, and Eli is dancing with a bright pink rose. Adorable!

[*solsticemama*]

I'll take a turn with the peace pipe, mamas...Ds was up for 3 hrs last night, lots of tossing and turning. We finally got up to put some calomine lotion on and that seemed to help somewhat. He's agitated and irritated with all the spots which are quickly proliferating. Can't go too many places with him either. His spirits are relatively good. He was wandering around our little garden this morning but he's definitely wanting to be with mama more.