June is Blooming, Nov '05 Mamas! - Page 14

[*Amy*]

Y'all: Brynn said her A-B-Cs today!!

Gunter, it's so good to see you as always. I was just thinking that I want an ergo too; they are so perfect for this age.

Spughy, I'm glad Rowan's pukey-ness is over. That's so exciting that you are going to visit Helen soon!

As for as the whole juice cleanse, I don't think I could manage to cut my calories by that much but I do notice a huge difference in my energy based on how much water I drink. And it helps make milk too!

[flapjack]

From what I hear, Australia has a sizeable alternative minority, Gunter. There's a few Australian mamas on the HBUK list, so I would think you'll find someone to hang out with- and on a birth attendant course? Yeah, you'll be laughing. Have a fantastic time travelling though
I think Skye is weighing somewhere between 19 and 24lbs now- she's definitely still dainty, despite being an 8lber when she was born. Isaac, my ds2, is the smallest kid in his yeargroup as well so I'm not too worried.
Spughy, why did I think you had family in the cotswolds? Anyhow, we have some nice b&b's around here, or we can get to Cambridge to see you if that's easier. LMK. And no, it ALWAYS rains in England. We have 6 months rain and 6 months foul weather- apparently Yorkshire (next county down from where I grew up) is flooding again and there's been some deaths. It's one helluva way to prove that global warming is real

[spughy]

Originally Posted by *Amy*

Y'all: Brynn said her A-B-Cs today!!

OMG! Wow! You must be so proud!


Gunter, great to hear from you! That sounds like some exciting times coming up for you guys!

[spughy]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Spughy, why did I think you had family in the cotswolds? Anyhow, we have some nice b&b's around here, or we can get to Cambridge to see you if that's easier. LMK. And no, it ALWAYS rains in England. We have 6 months rain and 6 months foul weather- apparently Yorkshire (next county down from where I grew up) is flooding again and there's been some deaths. It's one helluva way to prove that global warming is real

My sister dragged the family to the Cotswolds when she was over there so she could get some good walking/hiking in, and it's closer than the Lake District (she was training for some wilderness adventure race). I think I'd prefer to come see you due to the aforementioned family dysfunction. I love my grannie and my uncles, but they have a very weird codependent relationship plus one uncle has some alcohol-related issues so it'll be good to get away from them for a bit. Unless you really really want to visit a rather boring corner of Cambridgeshire - the actual town is Wisbech, it contains nothing of historical or cultural significance beyond a proximity to Ely Cathedral and King's Lynn.

Last time I was in the UK the weather was fine, and it was November. I will pray and make offerings to the weather gods before I come

[DreamsInDigital]

Drive-by post really quick:
No jobs news yet.
We get to keep the car (but we have to make slightly bigger payments til we're caught up).
We got two adorable little kitties.
Someone gave me an Ergo and I love it.
Happy birthday Mary!
Gabriel made a new friend today on an awesome nature hike we went on and I am so excited for him.

Okay I gotta go, fussy baby.

[HoneyTree]

Mary, happy birthday!

Gunter, I have been thinking of you as of late, wondering how you were doing in that great solar house of yours with your adorable girl! What prompted the year of traveling ahead?

DiD, that is wonderful news about being able to keep your car.


Spughy, poor Rowan! If only our own digestive systems were still so well tuned: Something that's not quite right comes right up, everything else goes right out!

[flapjack]

DiD, it sounds like someone or something out there is smiling on you. This is going to be the year it all comes together, maybe? :
Sarah, I'll PM you with some ideas. I do know wisbech though, that's the town that my train was stuck in during my 6 hour delay on the journey from hell (literally, sat at a table with a stuffed shirt with a laptop and a mobile, a rabbi and an elderly gentleman with a breastfed 7 month old in blazing sunshine in July 99.) Nuff said?

[*Amy*]

Oh, DiD, I HOPE HOPE HOPE that you get some good news about DH's job soon!!! And glad to hear you didn't have to give your car back, too! Oh, and kittens - how fun! I would really love to have a couple of kitties, but we just don't have the room for it now. I'm looking forward to sometime in the future when we can have pets again. I can't believe someone *gave* you an Ergo - Lucky Mama!! I'm excited this morning because I think I'm going to get one on the trading post for $65! I was kind of sold on them when I was up in Indy and got to use SoulJourney's for a few moments. And the one for sale is black with cranberry lining - very cool! The ring sling is just getting to be more difficult as Brynn gets heavier and heavier.

Gunter, Brynn is also on the small side. She's 21lbs right now, which is about 9th percentile, and she's also a picky eater and will sometimes go a couple of days without eating much food at all. But unlike Ezra, she was a pretty big newborn (8lbs, 10oz) and was off the charts for both height and weight for quite a while. But I know she's very healthy, so I try not to second-guess myself (or her) when it comes to the eating issue.

Teresa, you are so right! When you read TCOYF, didn't you have the feeling of, "Why didn't I know this already??!" I don't know how we make it to adulthood without *someone* passing on that information to us. I am really proud to think that Brynn will be so educated and liberated about her own sexuality, and (I really hope) will not feel any shame about her body!! And that is too funny that Woody was swimming, but still wouldn't take a bath!

I miss hearing from Fern on a regular basis!! Fern, are you sure you can't get internet? How is it going in the new place? Are you caring for other children here as well?

I think I'm coming out of my hormonal haze; I feel quite a bit better today even though we had a pretty rough night of sleep. I can't believe how much more difficult my periods are post-Brynn....but I guess I was on birth control pretty much my whole life up until I conceived her, so it makes sense. I know we talked about this last month but I guess I really should look into some supplements to help me get through it. The past week has been a doozy. :

[flapjack]

Annie posted a quick update on Fern down in yarn crafts, Amy. Basically they're in, and Fern has already turned the house into a home Or at least, she was working pretty hard on it, and that was a week ago- so I assume by now it looks even better.

[MamaFern]

thanks for missing me! i miss you all too. this is the first time ive sat at a computer since we left vancouver. its so nice to be away from computers1

funny about the update from annie. i havnt actually talked to her, so she must be getting info from my mom and sister

anyways, yep, ive been painting and working.. i got a job about 2 days after we moved in and ive been working 3 days a week (so only 3 days so far) cleaning motel rooms and serving food/iceacream at this roadside cafe kinda thing. its hard work, but fun, i guess. there have been some nice weather and a thunderstorm too. im pretty happy most of the time.

elwynn and ngaio are pretty happy with our new home. ngaio is into everything though and its hard. especially painting. she is so fast! she stuck her hand on the orange wall i was painting about 3 times yesterday and scraped a toy along it too

what else.. its a pretty quiet life out in the country. i played bingo last night at the community hall. it was fun. i never thought id think playing bingo with a bunch of oldies would be the most fun ive had in a week but it was. everyones so nice here.


love you all and ill update when i can.
off to read yer news.

[DreamsInDigital]

Yay HI FERN!!!

So my kitties are named. Cupcake and Hot Dog. That's what I get for letting two boys, who were apparently hungry, name them.

I got some gorgeous yarn that I'm hoping a friend of mine can teach me how to knit it into a soaker for Suriya.

Speaking of whom, on Saturday we went to the farmer's market and we had a bracelet made for her with her name on it. I will post a picture later, Photobucket appears to be down.

I have a freaking Mt. Vesuvius zit on my chin that will not go away! Anyone have any fabulous tips for clearing up blemishes (though that's putting it mildly)?

[flapjack]

Yay Fern! Yep, the update came from your mum Annie knew how much I was missing you, bless her. Congratulations on gainful employment, interesting paint effects and bingo

DiD, try:
toothpaste or crushed aspirin mixed with water (or better still vodka) or neat tea tree oil or lavender oil.

Amy, I forgot to say this earlier: my first six months or so on hormone-free periods were horrible, but then they settled down again. I'd also look at whatever sanpro you're using, and maybe think about a sponge or pads instead of a cup or tampons: less to cramp around. PLUS drink raspberry leaf tea, the protein and calcium will help. Here's to a gentle moontime next month, though.

[spughy]

Helen, do you mean DiD should DRINK the vodka? DiD - that sucks about the zit, dude. Stress, I bet

I booked my flight, I booked my flight!!!! :

Leaving Sept. 2, back Sept 22. Sometime in there I will visit with Helen. And Rowan and Skye can team up and terrorize the surrounding countryside!!! Woot!

Oh and HI FERN!!!! Glad you guys are settling in ok.

[barcelona]

hi all!
we've been sick sick sick with an AWFUL stomach flu. it was really awful. i haven't been that sick in years. it hit me the worst, and then hit finley last night. he has never been sick, except for a fever around christmas...so it was scary for me to see him sick like that, and so sad. but, thankfully, it only lasted last night, and once he was asleep, he was okay. today, so far, so good, though he definitely doesn't feel great, and is reading and cuddling more than usual. poor little guy. now we're just hoping it doesn't hit DH.

happy birthday, a bit late, mary!

and honeytree...where in orlando are/were you? i grew up there, and my family is still there. maybe one day we'll meet on an overlapping trip there. i'm going in july to see them. they live (and i grew up in) the college park area, near downtown.

and i'm the one who was asking about TCOYF, and i am LOVING it! can't believe i haven't learned this stuff before, and am excitedly jumping into NFP or FAM (what is it officially called?) now. bye bye, pill.

and hi fern! glad you're getting settled in!
and spughy, hooray for your upcoming trip abroad. HOW FUN!!!!
and amy and jaymi and michelle, i'm so jealous you guys got to meet up. thanks for sharing...it looked lovely, and i felt like i got to know each of you a bit better through your descriptions of the day.

amy, i know everybody says it, but i'm blown away by how verbal brynn is! wow.

DiD, yay for the car!!! and the kittens!
helen, you always make me laugh

oh, and we have a picky eater over here too. finley will, too, sometimes go a few days without eating hardly anything, except mama's milk. he really doesn't like that much food, actually. but he is quite big. probably weighs about 30 lbs by now, or almost that.

this posting is about as random and scattered as i feel, as i try to crawl back into the real world (from the stomach yuckies), slowly but surely.

tell me some food that would sound good to me. (i've only eaten toast the past two days, and nothing the two days before that).

[DreamsInDigital]

What do you mean by neat tea tree oil? Undiluted? Directly on it? I bet that would hurt but I so don't care. This thing has its own postal code. Yikes.

[DreamsInDigital]

Oh I forgot to say...
I am officially a SOCCER MOM!!!!!!!!! Gabriel started soccer today and his coach is SO cool. His name is Kerkula and he's originally from a West African country called Liberia. He has never coached soccer before but he said he played soccer all through school and just loves to play with kids. He was really sweet to all the kids, especially the younger siblings.
Yeah, and I forgot the sunblock. Ouch.

[Queen of Cups]

Re: TCOYF, it boggles my mind that so many women just have no knowledge of the basics of their cycle. I guess it was unusual that in my high school Advanced Biology course and in my high school Human Anatomy course we learned the basics. But, my teacher was really cool and also spent an entire day in both classes talking about breastfeeding. I've been using FAM (NFP is just abstaining on fertile days, FAM is if you use a backup birth control on fertile days - like condoms or spermicide) since my cycle came back when Ellie was 8.5 months old. I've been very pleased, except it sucks to abstain the day I'm fertile because my sex-drive is always through the roof! Sometimes we'll use backup a few days before ovulation when I think there's a chance I'm fertile, but if I know that I am we don't do the deed. I'm crazy-fertile!

Re: sexy undies - I am back to loving my thongs, and have been going a bit nuts lately buying cute ones. Also, since I've lost so much weight since Ellie was born (I'm down about 60 lbs since I was pregnant!) my breasts have shrunk out of many, many bras in the last 18 months. But, that gives me a good excuse to buy the cutest nursing bras I can find every few months! Target has added several cute ones lately, and I even found a pretty one with some padding in it at Walmart tonight. (yeah, yeah, start throwing rocks at me for shopping there)

Ellie is to freaking cute for words! She's talking more and more now, and popping out words that I had no clue she knew constantly. She's also become quite the instigator to her big brother - she'll take stuff from him now, hit him, and yell at him. He's a bit surprised by this behavior, but is giving her a wider birth now. I try not to get too involved, but stop them before it gets to bloodshed, of course. She does this really funny thing when she's mad at him where she'll grunt really loud, make a little fist, and then hit him in the chest. Its so funny to see her do that (they're less than 18 months apart, but he's about 10 inches taller than her and outweighs her by 15 lbs!), but I'm doing my best not to laugh and thus encourage her.

Speaking of size, at Ellie's 18 month appt she was 23 lbs which put her at the 25th percentile for weight and 31 inches which was the 40th percentile for height. I think its interesting that Killy looks a lot like me but has David's built (big and tall and STRONG) and Ellie looks like David but has my build (a little on the petite side).

We're loving life in the country, I take the kids hiking several times a week and we play outside all the time. There's a great playgroup here and lots of crunchy moms in the area. Plus, with both sets of grandparents around the kids get lots of opportunity to spend time with them, and DH and I even get to go out almost every week! We're having a bit of tough week, though, because my grandfather is dying of liver cancer. We've been up to visit several times this last month (my grandparents live about one hour away, we go up once or twice a week), and I don't know how I'm going to explain it to Killy when he dies. The hospice nurse said today that she thinks it'll be less than 48 hours now... My poor grandmother - they've been married for over 60 years. Its been really hard to watch her this week. I keep bringing the kids up to visit because that always cheers her up. I'm hoping that she'll come down and spent some time at my house with us later this summer. She and I have always been really close, and she especially feels a connection with Ellie. Yesterday we were leaving their house, and Ellie insisted on kissing my grandfather before leaving, even though he hasn't woken up in a few days. It was really sweet, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

I'm sure I've posted links to my blog before, but I update it every few days with tons of pictures, so here it is again: Photogrove - I've been putting up lots of hiking pictures lately!

[MelW]

I have a lot of catching up to do...

We made it back safely but exhaustedly from our trip- it was pretty crazy to travel home then go to word that same evening and work four days straight. I then spent my only day off at the hospital to support/advocate for a friend whose toddler dd was having dental surgery under general anesthetic (the day after Xeowyn did- thanks for posting Aubrey, since I told my friend that she wasn't the only mama in Oregon stressing in a hospital waiting room!).
Finally today and tomorrow I have a "weekend", then back to a little more normal work pattern. I had a wonderful day off today with a run this morning, a trip to the farmers market to buy fresh berries, a playdate at the park with friends and a bead shopping trip (please tell me we're still doing a bead swap) this afternoon. We had dinner this evening with new friends, and dessert was a new recipe for berry cobbler that I made. The kids played outside, and I got to putter in my garden briefly this evening.

Neela has had a few terrifically toddlerish days, and has learned a new high-pitched screech. But also moments of amazing cuteness and delight. She is also obsessed with the Alligator Pie rhyme, and called out from bed the other night "alligator soup, alligator soup, if I don't get some WANT SOME NURSING!"

And I know the knitters in the group will appreciate this event that we went to this weekend. Neela loved all of the animals, and DH and I admired a lot of the vendors.

Hi to everyone- even when I'm not posting I'm rarely more than a day behind on reading. I'll try to get back again sooner, but with my DH off school and writing from home over the summer computer time is a bit harder to come by

[carolynrosa]

Not a very active Nov '05 mama here, but I have news: we're pregnant again! My est. due date (based on date of conception) is March 02, 2008.
I have a feeling we'll have a boy this time, although DH thinks it'll be another girl. We'll see who is right (me) and who is wrong (him). lol
Amelia will be 2 yrs and 4 mos when the new baby arrives... I hope she'll be okay with it. I'm still nursing her, and I already planned on gradually weaning her around two years. I'm a little nervous b/c my last birth was five weeks early, and I'm afraid that maybe nursing late in pregnancy is not a good idea. But then again, I don't want her to feel that she is being weaned for the new baby... Wr'll see....

[flapjack]

Congratulations, Carolyn Does this mean you're coming to play with me and Strawberryfields in February DDC too?

Mel, how jealous am I of the Black Sheep Gathering? I've read a lot about it and I'd love to go. So, does this mean you bought stash? Are you now (gasp) a knitter?
I can't get over how verbal some of these girls are. Luckily, my dd does not have a word for breastfeeding and would never DREAM of calling from her cot for nursing- though that's mostly because she screeches like a banshee instead Yep, I think we should still do a bead swap, but I still haven't had a chance to go into Bath to buy some.
DiD- yay for association football, boo for calling it soccer Both my boys play, and Kerkula sounds awesome. Yep, put neat TTO on the spot (or crushed aspirin mixed with vodka) and that should suck all of the sheer gloopiness out. This is pretty much the only time that it IS ok to put neat essential oils on your skin, though- desperation.
Queenie. Your life sounds so blessed right now, it must be bringing so much happiness to both your grandparents to see you settled and happy. I hope the coming days bring gentle release for your grandfather, and that your grandmother can accept the strength of her family I know it's hard.
Barcelona, think brat: bananas, rice, apples, toast. No dairy of any kind, eat whatever seems like a good idea in moderation.