~~~~May 2004 Mamas ~~~~ Feelin' Thankful it's November ~~~~ - Page 7

[nuggetsmom]

Wow, what a lot of stuff went on today.
Me, I am sitting for the first time today.
I took N's class on a field trip to a farm, I then took her to soccer and ran after Julia, then we rakes leaves and jumped in them outside with the neighbors and then we went to the pizza fund raiser for our school. THen I put the kids in bed. Why they are still awake I don't know. I am ready to pass out.
Tomorrow I have a lot of TV planned. After a trip to the yarn store and maybe the bead store if I can find one...

[TurboClaudia]

S is making a new pattern for himself the past few days: awake for a couple of hours in the morning, nurse and sleep for a few hours, wake up and nurse, awake for another hour or so, nurse and sleep for a few hours, wake and nurse, awake for another couple of hours, nurse and then sleep for a few hours, change into nighttime clothes, nurse and go to sleep in bed with mama (and sometimes dad, if he's not doing crazy work things or sleeping in M's bed with him), nurse and sleep throughout the night with mama, cluster nurse from about 5am-7am each morning, repeat the whole cycle. makes things a little more predictable.

went to see a friend today at her new house, which is only about 5 miles/10 minute drive away from our house instead of the previous 20 miles/35 minutes away. she has a boy who is turning 2 next week and when they see one another regularly, he and M play well together and we mamas get to shoot the shiz together. i'm so excited she is so close now, as she is a really good friend.

S is snuggled up sleeping in the moby wrap on me right now and M is watching his nightly just before bed half-episode of Thomas the Tank Engine to wind him down a little. i'm sipping my own glass of wine and going to lay down with M to put him to sleep.

i'll post another note about the putting to sleep thing tomorrow because i really need ideas from you mamas of more than one about how you do the going to sleep thing... it's driving me batty here.

~claudia

[elsanne]

oh Claudia, the bedtime routine was just wonky for quite a while. Mostly now, Amara goes down around 7ish, and Sol goes down about 8.30, so that gives me a chance to focus on each child individually. I insist to Sol that Amara must go to sleep now and must nurse (almost every time she sees her nurse she wants TEEETAAA).

Sounds like a hectic day, Jacqueline! Hope you get some fun craft/tv time in today.

What crafty hobbies do the maymamas get into? Maybe we've gone over this and we all know that Heather knits like a madwoman, but I'd like to hear it again. I absolutely adore paper crafts--cardmaking and scrapbooking. I have a formidable rubber stamp (aka building block) collection. Another vegan nun futon is in the works downstairs, king size. I can sew a bit but don't do so regularly--did diapers for the girls, the occasional blanket. No clothing.

[A&L+1]

Originally Posted by mcsarahb

I am doing a group project on lesbian health care for my Reproductive Health class. Lesbian-specific risk factors, etc. Do any May Mamas have any input for me??:

Don't get me started...but taking the bait nonetheless...

Please Do Not Go On About the No-Babies=Higher-Breast/Cervical Cancer Assumption. If I get told one more time that being a lesbian is a health risk because we don't do the normal womenly things like reproduce I will scream! Some women do not see themselves ever having children so they are less connected to their reproductive health then they could be, but again tread carefully here because I hated when people assumed that I was not intending on having children because I am a lesbian. I have had more than one medical provider say, "you should be happy you don't need to worry about birth control" while also telling me that I am at a greater risk for reproductive system/breast cancers because I am a lesbian. Um, no, I am at greater risk, by some studies if I never have children but it's not because I have sex with women, thank you very much!

Also, some lesbians have/have had sex with men - so lesbian-specific risk factors depends on how specific the scientists are being about who gets to count as a lesbian. STDs are really mystifying for some lesbians (i.e. lesbian transmission rates are not well studied but medical providers feel the need to go on and on about transmission possibilities even though they have no language with which to talk about lesbian sex) so a lot of lesbians seem to believe that STD transmission is a myth or at least very unlikely. I personally think that the big area of interest should be lesbian fertility. There are lots of issues there from lesbians having sex with random men to get pregnant to feeling the need to jump right to high cost ($ and to their bodies) fertility treatments to waiting until older to realize they can/want to reproduce. I think that is an area worth a lot of thinking and effort (oh my future plans...).
________________________________________________

jstar- I know you're gone on your trip, but I agree with everyone else - run from that mw and get a new one pronto.

I am cringing at your description of your daily routine with S, Claudia - although you sound like a total rock star! I have completely forgotten how much lather rinse repeat it is to nurse/sleep/nurse/sleep a new baby. I am so scared of a second child. With E, Alison and I were both home with her for three months and them Alison for another year or so. This time one or the other of us will need to be working after the first six weeks. Crazy time ahead.:

Even though it is Veteren's Day and I work for the government I must now go work.

Love and happy weekends all.

[elsanne]

Originally Posted by A&L+1

I have completely forgotten how much lather rinse repeat it is to nurse/sleep/nurse/sleep a new baby.

OOOOOH I really like this apt description! That's what I'm going to be thinking as we go through the cycle.
Amara does the same, but I just don't think about it. I don't have time!! (not that tc does, either!) Basically, Lisa, it IS scary buuuut: you just realize that every two hours, approximately, they will sleep (after the newborn sleepies wear off). So, been up for two hours? Time for sleep! No biggie! I would like to semi-encourage you because it is true true true that #2 (unless there are unusual circumstances) is much easier. No more freaking out over every tiny choking noise, etc etc. You just don't have TIME, so #2 gets plunged into the family routine.

[KKmama]

One fits WOMEN--not people--for diaphragms.

[A&L+1]

Oh, come on, KK - women are people too!:

[mcsarahb]

Thank you, Lisa, for your ideas. We were definitely going to touch on some of the points you brought up. I'm glad you reminded me to very specifically define what a "lesbian" is. We were going to some stats in the beginning just to make people realize - how many women identify as lesbians, how many have ever had sex with a man, etc. And we're also going to be very explicit about language to use about lesbian sex. It's basically going to be a laundry list of tips for providers, so your input is greatly appreciated! If you have any other specific tidbits you think I should know, please PM me! Thanks!

KK, in my midwifery education, the only people I talk about are women, so it's just obvious to me...

Another bunch of kudos to those of you doing this for the 2nd/3rd time or about to...yikes.

Ok, must go attend to shrieking toddler...

[orangecanoe]

Please someone tell me why I thought it would be a good idea to go to the zoo today?? Did I really think I would be one of only a few dozen (and not hundreds and hundreds) who had the same idea....yikes!

Our whole lather, rinse, repeat cycle is way off today. :

Okay...must go wrangle my napless girlies and get out of the house before we all go nutty. First must find new pants as I spilled my drink all over them and C thought it was funny that I looked like I peepeed my pants.

[mcsarahb]

OK, must revise my previous post. I meant to say, "very specifically define what a lesbian is, i.e., not a stereotype. So providers get it into their heads that WSW are unique and have unique health issues just like anyone else." Duh.

[elsanne]

Happy Saturday! Let me be the first to greet you. It just started raining buckets just as I arrived home LATE after the dance show (end of the workshop). Fun! Tomorrow night, another show. I am the money lady. I sell the tickets at the door. Not quite like dancing in it, but a) I have other priorities this time around, and b) strangely enough there was little dancing done by the locals (she brought her company too). More dance theatre than strictly dance. She had a codirector who is big into dance theatre.

So, girls asleep (Amara apparently had a hard time of it, crying a bit), mama taking a few moments before I join them.

[jstar]

oh ladies let me tell you the empress hotel in victoria is FAAAHHHbulous! it was lovely. a lovely getaway. albeit too busy. conferences are way too scheduled for the woman who needs at least an hour a day to sit on my booty on the couch and breathe (pregnancy rest i say) but it was fun. and very empowering. there is some statistic about only 10% of working engineers are female but this conference featured presentations by some *amazing* smart beautiful and extremely accomplished women of all ages. i'm talkin power career mamas...many of whom have families so it isn't like they have had to sacrifice 'life' to do all this. it was totally inspiring to me. i wonder if it is because the field by nature (environmental causes) are more attractive to female engineers than say....building robots. this organization/conference is all about air quality, sustainability, green buildings, and that type of thing. i saw one incredibly depressing presentation by a guy who did tree bark sampling around this town libby in montana next to a vermiculite mine which was contaminated with asbestos. it is a superfund site now. anyway the tree bark has TONS of asbestos fibers embedded in it far and wide from the mine and the town uses mostly wood heat. asbestos doesn't ever break down and go anywhere and if you're burning contaminated wood you're putting it all into the air freakin sad. other topics like growing algae for biodiesel and the progressiveness of portland in terms of building green buildings were more uplifting

anyhoo i think i enjoyed it even more because as i ate my $28 bacon and egg breakfast no one was throwing eggs or screaming and i wasn't paying for it!!! i even had high tea! (sans screaming toddler)

i talked to the screaming toddler on the phone every day. he did fine and was very well behaved while i was gone so he descended into screaming tantrum as soon as i got home as predicted. my friend carrie hung out with him all 3 days instead of taking him to school. so he got to go to her mom's farm and sit on a horse and feed ponies and just generally had more fun than usual. the nap schedule shifted to like......5-6:30pm so now we are going to be course-correcting. greeeeat!

it is funny (jacquie) because as i drive around with isaac everything is 'my daddy took me to fred meyer' 'my daddy parked upstairs' 'my daddy took me to school' i'm thinking 'your mommy does that 2343546 times a month.' but carrie said he talked about ME nonstop while i was gone 'my mommy this and my mommy that' so how's that for making a mama feel better?????????? : i'm sure G would talk about YOU nonstop if he were with dh.

i totally agree with ya'll that i should not waste another appt going back to that midwife for another appt. and thanks for listening to my freakout.

my house is a *disaster* ~shudder~ and i actually have to do some work this weekend but dh is at work. so i'm going to attempt to take isaac to my office right now which i pretty much *know* is futile. i think mcdonald's might give me a blessed half hour to focus :

EL - did af arrive? i will still hold out hope if af hasn't arrived but you might know by now.

[jstar]

threadkilla forgot to answer the crafty question. i wish i had more time to be crafty!!! i knit. i wish the yarns i covet weren't so pricey. i have yet to make myself a sweater because i think it would be $90+ and what if i don't LOVE how it fits? i'm freshly back into sewing although i haven't sewn in years because i sewed my finger. last weekend i made isaac a new blanket for napping at school. flannel on one side/cotton on the back/batting in the middle and ribbon edging. i just did a grid pattern for the quilting. i have a bazillion quilt triangles cut out to make him a quilt but i have yet to stitch one. i like scrapbooking. or crapping as my mom calls it. i have scrapbooked exactly 2 pages since isaac turned 1. yeah. i better get on it. but i went to a little scrapping party and now i have realized i *need* these oval/circle cutter things. and rounded corner cutters. i can't possibly scrap another item without them.

i need to go pay my bills : joyous occasion.

[elsanne]

IT's the weekend. You know how these girls get over the weekend. Like, too good to be posting with us, are you?

So, here's the thing. I spent tonight selling tickets for the dance performance otra vez. Two nights out on the town. This particular night, no wakies! Not a one! Can you HANDLE it. I cannot!
Feeling good. Returning to now. Been a helluva day, in terms of the two kid thing. My head felt like it was going to explode with the details of trying to leave the house. My details, Sol's details, Amara's details. House details. It is way too much to organize in any semblance of timeliness. I wigged! I had me a meltdown. Sad.

But, I was paid to go out and drink wine and watch dance. That's my idea of a good time! And the pay only just covered the babysitting, the taxi for the babysitter, and a glass of wine. Alas. At least I got to go out and not pay out of pocket for it!

happy sunday!

[fiddlefern]

craft: scrapbooking! Did me a bunch of it this weekend. Finished up Luke's birth and first few days. Being preggers and doing this activity is a recipe for sentimental tears.

Wow. I really have nothing else to say. That's a first. Peace out, wonderful mamas!

[KKmama]

When are we going to do the secret santa assignment? If there's any chance that I *might* do something crafty, I'm going to need *time*, and I might like to know *who* before I decide what I'm going.

Speaking of crafty, who asked about it? There are a lot of things I *used* to do (sewing, spinning, knitting, beading, etc.) but which I don't really have time for anymore. : I have a fantasy that when my kids are more independent/off leading their own lives, that I will get a floor loom and take over a bedroom as my craft room. (That's about 10 million yrs from now ).

I'm online, because I'm emailing PV installers requests for quotes. This war thang has driven us over the edge, and we're ready for energy independence (well, at least for electricity at our house).

L is almost sitting. Amazing the difference a *week* makes at this age. She's also doing "more stuff" with her mouth... I can see her little pink tongue moving around, her lips doing more (and wowee zowee, Z did *NONE* of this at this age, or for that matter, at a year, or a year and a half). I really appreciate what y'all told me about your kids and food at this age--very helpful.

[elsanne]

Hey kk, what is PV? Are you involved in off the grid activities? This is news to me.
What does tongue movement mean in relation to food/eating issues? I ask because Amara has an outta control acrobatic tongue. She also seems really abnormally interested in food already (4 mos). She's almost at the grab-it-off-your-plate stage. I am not interested in feeding her yet, because of her pristine digestive state. Anyway, glad to hear L has an active tongue! And that she's almost sitting! Coolio!!

[mcsarahb]

PV = photovoltaic. Right?

Crafts: beginning knitter and crochet. I've made several knit and crochet scarves, and do mostly tatting (teeny tiny thread lace and flowers) with crochet. Love beading - currently making beady things for Christmas gifts. Beginner sewing, but very interested and have tons of fabric that I WILL eventually something with! Miscellaneous craftiness - whenever I see a cool idea I have to try it.

Elsanne, Lily was very interested in food from 4 mos. on. We held out until about 5 mos. and let her gum a peach slice, suck on an ice cube we held, etc. But as soon as 6 mos. hit we let her try avocado, sweet potato, etc. She was interested in theory but never really ate much (at all) until over a year.

jstar, the hotel sounds fun. I think I would have liked it.

Finishing up a group project tonight and then on to reading articles for tomorrow's class. How can such an interesting subject be so boring when it HAS to be done???

S.

[elsanne]

So, I thought of a couple really positive things about today and wanted to share:

a) I purchased Sol a castle/loft bed with a slide! I am so psyched. She played with it in the store tons, and it was a great price! Early Christmas 'round here.

b) And it's from Denmark, with cotton tent drapings! (I didn't dare peek until I got home, so the madeinchina wouldn't deter me.) Vegan nuns tsk tsk at my cowardice.

c) Sol and Amara and I and a friend and her two children all went to Queretaro (an hour away) to the MALL. This is a couple times a year event. It was packed, and I had no way to control Sol, and she was a champ--stayed with the pack! First time I have attempted anything like this and WE DID IT!! And MY KID IS AWESOME!!! I was so happy with how she "minded" me. It was extremely stressful overall anyway, but no crises or tantrums or grabbythings or breakythings, even tearing herself away from REALLY interesting things to mind me.

[Mama Faery]

I may not have that much time to respond...it's Monday morning and I have been in PA ALL WEEKEND!
Heather, I am SO SORRY we never hooked up! I underestimated the madness of The Shopping with my relatives! And let me TELL you about my MIL's sister! (okay, maybe I should say something about THAT in the YG! Ugh ugh ugh)
So I had no car of my own and I had no idea where I was, except we stayed at the Inn at Reading, which was lovely. And ate at this fabulous restaurant called Viva, across the street from the outlets and I had martinis! Fun times were had, even when I wanted to my...aunt-in-law? Anyway. Yeah.

Laundry is buzzing, Rowan is not letting me out of his sight, so I will answer the crafty question and then write more later:
I crochet, but I only know how to make granny squares and I make baby blankets a lot. It's usually one biiiiiiiiig granny square, where I go around and around and around...I can do it without looking at this point though (been doing it since I was 16) and it's great busywork at church.

I also make beaded jewelry, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and hanging thingies (like crystally things to hang from windows and rearview mirrors; one of my friends used one as a lamp pull-chain), and occasionally earrings and wine charms. I do craft shows when I can (just started up again oh, two and a half years after Rowan was born! ) and I loooooove doing it, even though it doesn't make a whole lot of money. I have been beading since I was 16 too, and I am hoping to make a little $$ from it. We'll see.

I also adore collage, paper-related crafts (not as cool as Elsanne but I have stamps and glitter and stickers! ) and the art of making a mix CD. Music=

I could go on, but I'd say I was pretty crafty.
Have a great day, mama-jamas! It's all grey and yucky out here but we have a playdate with some friends (the anti-raisin mama! ) for the first time in TOO LONG--everyone is feeling MUCH better.