Dec07 thread for May04 Mamas -- just waiting for a new Ducette...

[TurboClaudia]

the month in which we meet another May04 sibling from...

Ducette!!!

babywatch stalking to commence AFTER she finishes her school work!

why the heck am i up at 3am pacific time, you ask? talk to stefan. gas, or teeth, or sum-fin. :

~claudia

[orangecanoe]

Yay...new month, new baby!!

Claudia--hope he settles down for ya!

I guess I shouldn't complain, HJ got adjusted yesterday and slept the best he has in a while (well, before the 4am partay) --so not bad for a 1mo!

Glad the weekend is here, but not glad that it means I get to catch up on all my cleaning!

Okay...it is the weekend and I just fed the boy and passed him off to DH so I'm headed back to bed! Yay!

[elsanne]

Oh, I was so gonna start the new thread!

Alas. Beat to the punch by wakey mamas.

I finished putting curtain loops on a cool big red Indian tapestry that will adorn my dance studio! Yay! This weekend I have a workshop here in my home studio and it should be lots of fun. Lots of women coming!

TC, I hear ya on the OY thing. just want to commiserate. Social things are so annoying sometimes.

[orangecanoe]

HJ says word to the mmf!

Els---is this the first time for the home studio? and jealous! I wanna come over!

Claudia--more to sayoy when I have 2 hands free --totally get where you're coming from!

*waves* to our sweet lisa if she's at worky worky this weekend!

[Jacqueline]

just subscribing...have a turkey in the oven and we're going to put up the tree today.

HJ is such a cutie, Heather!

[elsanne]

Super cute shirt, Heather! Very very very cute.
It's not the first time--actually been using the home studio for a while now! Pics to follow.

[DucetteMama21842]

Awww.. thanx for the love MMF's!
:

Whoever brought up the celery stalk for heather.... I will never look at the word "stalk" the same again.

Still having continuous contractions... but even if they aren't doing much in the way of progress- it's been a real bonding experience between baby and I. It's kind of a romantic thing. I've reached the month of my due date and when I'm having the contractions I pause to think about the beautiful symbiotic work the baby and I will be doing together. All of this is a part of it, and neither can happen without the other. Yes, I am a birth junkie and this is such a romantic notion to me. : With my anterior placenta I cannot however feel ANYTHING. I feel baby move and kick... but I can't tell what body parts are what and we have not been able to successfully get the heartbeat but twice with the fetoscope. So I allowed one vaginal exam last week at my 37 week checkup to determine whether baby was breech or not. (The heartbeat we obtained was nearly up in my ribcage.) Baby is not. Head down and hopefully stays that way. So there's some stalking details for you. Typing that made me think of Christmas stockings though... stalking/stocking...

Well... off to write a papers on the tropical rainforest, the nature of warfare in man, and childbirth.

[orangecanoe]

I can't take credit for the cuteness of the shirt; twas a hand-me-down from one of our very own babystars... :

Looooooooooooong day here and might not do the tree tomorrow as it's supposed to be butt-chapping cold + snow + ice. Maybe Wednesday instead. I think I'll try to get all the presents wrapped anyhow.

grunty babe is calling me....

[Miss Juice]

Crickety Crike. It's been crazy crazy busy around here, and I thought I'd missed a day, but sweet cracker sandwiches, I didn't realize so much could happen in three days! And a while new thread to boot.

Originally Posted by DucetteMama21842

Whoever brought up the celery stalk for heather.... I will never look at the word "stalk" the same again.

: Guilty, but at least I'm not alone! Happy happy for 37+ (and yes, baby, please wait until your mama has a chance to sit down) and heading the right way (pun intended). Vegetables peering quietly around corners for you, now.

Originally Posted by KKmama

Also, dh found out some good news: state law here is that after 12 mos of self-employment, we have to be allowed to opt for the group plan, and they can't deny me coverage--major (even though they can deny me in the interim).

KK, I'm so thinking of you. This is a carpy situation. And I'm so glad that they can't deny coverage... but... they CAN charge you an arm and a leg for it. I can share deets if you want... between DH's seizures and my pregnancy, family coverage would have been over 2K each month :

Originally Posted by elsanne

That said, I do think a woman sans children is somehow not fully realized as a woman.

that: and a little bit of a : because I feel bad admitting that. Whatever.


OK, so what I came here to say was that I had a freakin' fabulous dream last night, that a friend and I went to visit TurboClaudia. TC, you were at the beach house, and coming back early in the evening but left your place open for my friend and me in the afternoon. We got in and made ourselves comfortable (we drank some of your wine, apparently ) and then you came home and apologized for not being there when we got there, and pulled some great snacks out of the fridge, and offered us wine or tea (??) and your family was really welcoming and your kids were just sweet as could be. I've lost some of the details in the past 14 hours, but we admired your garden and swam in your above-ground pool.

So, how much of that would be true? It's as much as I could remember.

[Miss Juice]

: I'm not pinklish anymore :

[elsanne]

Aw, Juice, I'm so sorry you're not in the pink!

I feel bad saying that too (about a woman sans children) but I figure it's safe enough on mdc...I think it's a crappy thing, but true. And I have many friends without children! There really is a "mommy club" of sorts. You just can't look at life the same when someone else's life is in your hands.

Getting ready for the workshop today--fought off an illness yesterday (still today) and need to clean up--definitely a drawback to not having the workshop somewhere else.

Meanwhile, the girls keep pulling toys out into the space I am wanting to get clean...

[orangecanoe]

Have no fear, my Juicey dear. You shall regain your pink before too long! : A little birdie told me so.

Els--illness--no! not allowed! Giggling at the idea of toys underfoot whilst you're dancing away.

Must say that chiropractic rocks my socks. HJ has slept awesome the past two nights. 4.5 and 3+ hour chunks last night! yippee skippee! Of course the boobs aren't too happy with that plan, but

[A&L+1]

Ah, heather, thanks for thinking of me at work.

I am working today, but I was off yesterday enjoying time at the Maidu Interpretive Center in lovely Roseville, CA. Alison had a funeral to go to so my mom and I took the girls to check out the cool Native American center there. Eleanor came home from school singing "Ten Little Indians" last week so it seemed appropriate to show her some reality --- totally over her head, by the way. The highlight for her was the bear poop that they had on display and the lowlight was that she was not allowed to keep the rock she picked up on the trail because it is protected space. Not sure what I expected her to get out of it, but questions about animal poo was not it.

Things my kids are into -
Annabel:
-hugging dolls
-pushing her hippo toy around the room
-trying to walk
-biting when nursing
Eleanor:
-matchbox cars which she names after loved ones and acts out stories
-dolls, but especially doll accessories like strollers, carseats, highchairs, etc.
-singing (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is in serious rotation).
-ROLEPLAYING endlessly. As in, "you be the daddy and I will be the baby and you come home from work" or "I am Mama and you are Ellie and this [stuffed sheep] is Annie." Cute, but she can sustain it for hours and therefore rarely spends awake time as herself.

About women sans children and quality of life differences pre/post baby: Y'know I still regularly struggle with being a mom. I dislike having people dependent on me (there, I said it). I am rebellious about it and I too romanticize the time of my life when I could up and leave on a plane to anywhere. I love my children more than I thought possible, but there is this part of me that is set up for a huge mid-life crisis.

Jac - hmmmm, turkey in the oven sounds so good.

Juice - When is school done? I am already feeling stalky but I am hoping that you get some rest after school before the babe arrives.

Els - Oh, your tapestry has inspired me. I have a sadza batik print that I bought in Zimbabwe and I have never known what to do with it. Now I am thinking hem the edge and sew curtain hooks on it and voila!

Mwah to the may mamas
I am going to see if I can get all my work done and leave early to go to the Stanford Women's Basketball game, by myself.

[KKmama]

Originally Posted by Miss Juice

KK, I'm so thinking of you. This is a carpy situation. And I'm so glad that they can't deny coverage... but... they CAN charge you an arm and a leg for it. I can share deets if you want... between DH's seizures and my pregnancy, family coverage would have been over 2K each month :

Yeah, I realize that they will probably want to charge, charge, charge for it. There are a few other possibilities... there's some kind of ins. program in the state for "hard to insure" people (still can't believe I fall into that category ). Not sure of the coverage or cost, but I'll look into it. Another possibility is pursing more PT community college teaching (ie, teaching more than just my favorite class so I could teach more regularly) and buying into group coverage that way. And finally, of course, is one of us getting a non-self-employed-type job. I wouldn't mind hearing more, Juice. I feel like I have this period of COBRA to to try to alternatively heal my ovary, resolve whether or not to have another kid, resolve whether or not I'm willing to lose an ovary, and/or resolve whether or not I'm willing to forego coverage on the ovary. : Watched Sicko. I'm pretty pissed about the politics re universal coverage in this country. IMO, insurance companies are just there to suck money off the system... they do *absolutely* NOTHING to further health care... they're just a drain on the system.

Goodness.... tomorrow is sock day! I need to get my butt out and acquire socks. :

[elsanne]

OH, jeezus, the sock thing. Sock recipient: yours will be late-ish. Not terribly, but I have to send it from down under. So, if you don't get your socks next week, you'll know, I'm your man. Or woman.

Lisa: *phew* at hearing someone else say "I don't love having people dependent on me". I'm down with that. Even just saying it releases a lot of the yucky part of it.

Class today was AWESOME! 12 people came, yay me. I got invited to give a seminar in Puerto Vallarta, ooooh yeeeeah, in March. Loving that.
The Indian curtain thing looks beautiful, Lisa, and I feel like one needs to be burning incense constantly when one is in it's presence. I am psyched to have inspired you to enjoy your textile to a fuller degree.

[elsanne]

Ah! And under "what kids are doing/what they like", Lisa, Sol role plays allll the live-long day, exactly the same: I'm a duck, mama, and you are the little duck, and amara's the baby duck...I'm the mama, and you're the nina, etc...

Sol's latest/greatest is "Por que, mama? Porque Why?" Just like that. And it's cute...in spanish, Why/Because is Por que/Porque (very similar if not identical words), so when we speak in English and I ask her why, she repeats: Why? Why .... Using the second "why" as because. On the other hand, the why thing has started, and it's not my favorite. I respond to some and others I don't, as I see appropriate. I don't want to answer Why to the Nth degree.

Today she told me that my tetas are "cute", coming out of the shower.

She will occasionally throw her arms around me and exclaim, "I love you too mucho, mommy!"



I can't believe Annabel is already trying to walk. Where DOES the time go?!?
Wasn't she just born? What ever happened with you and second mama nursing? I suppose the need for that degree of pacifying is long gone.

Amara loves to, well, be with me. It has firmly convinced me that I might not survive another child, for myriad reasons, but especially for the 1.5 y.o. stage. She is picking up language faster than Sol did at her age, I think, or I'm better at hearing her words--she's so stinkin' cute. Very, very happy and cute.

[fiddlefern]

"butt-chapping cold." Snork!

"sweet cracker sandwhiches"

Oh, you mamas crack me up.

I got my socks yesterday Can't wait to reveal from WHOM I got them. Message to my sock-mama recipient:
a. I'm mailing them tomorrow
b. I'm sorry they're sorta practical/boring. That's just the mode I'm in. I threw in something to sweeten the deal. For a dear friend's wedding today, I got cloth napkins. I'm just really into gifts that are fair trade and useful right now.

Well, I've had a itsy bitsy life crisis. Last night I threw common sense to the wind and went out after the kiddos were in bed to help a friend move in to her new place. I hung out with the two wonderful women who helped me birth Will. Well, I got there at 8:30 and left at 9:45, and both their kiddos (aged 1 and 2.5) were awake and having a grand old time. And I realized: I am boring. I am very, very boring right now. And rigid. I work, I come home, I clean, I put my kids to bed on.time.every.night.no.matter.what. If Will does not nap when he supposed to, I CAN.NOT.COPE. I am leaving no room in my life whatsoever for the spontaneous or the fun.

So...today was the wedding of a very close friend from college. Back then, I did lots of spontaneous, crazy, fun things, like climb trees and wade in fountains in the middle of the night, and hang upside down from railings singing in 3-part harmony, etc. DH and I were planning on going to the wedding, but leaving early to put the kids to bed. Well, I decided, gosh darn it, that the kids could stay up late for once. And you know what? We had a good time. W gazed lovingly into the faces of many mamas as he was passed around, and L ran around the dance floor with the other kiddos and laughed his head off. Dh and I danced. Ask me tomorrow and the next day if the crazy sleep schedules that follow will be worth it. I am thinking yes.

Now, however, I am tired and it is late, so I think I will go to bed. Until 1 am. And 2 am. And 3 am. and.....

[Miss Juice]

Ferny, yay for some spontaneousness. I think overall the routines are totally the way to go, but once in a while it's great to depart. And so glad you had fun.

Socks! Like the organized and efficient person I am (ha!) I purchased my socks literally weeks ago. And like the procrastinator I am, I haven't mailed them yet (I also like to pet them when I walk by) and unfortunately now my morning is all blocked up and I can't send them until tomorrow. But I *WILL* send them tomorrow.

I love Sol's emerging bilingual skills! The super-cuteness! Allison's current language thing is that anything in the past must end with "-ed" so something might have dieded, or got fixeded, or been putted away.

I know I had more to say, but it has left me, and I am smelling a diaper that really needs to be changed. Blech.

[jstar]

juice i think you dreamt of claudia's beach house because there is a crazy 2-day storm going on and the beach here has seen CRAZY high winds. like up to 100 mph. so i hope the beach house is a-ok and judging by the tea-worthiness of your dream...it must be

ebin has discovered that rolling is actually a method of transportation. watch out christmas tree and basement stairs. i think he'll crawl before isaac did.

i get wistfull about my 'days of freedom' sometimes. i totally agree with the sentiments expressed above. pre-baby life was SO DIFFERENT (fun! easy!). but i so wanted to be a mother someday. and i mean the love and cuteness *are* amazing. but the responsibility can feel suffocating sometimes. i am the responsible party-always. doug is a helper of sorts but since i dragged him into this whole thing reluctantly when it gets hard i can tell he's got that 'and why did we do this?' thought going on. but then sometimes he surprises me

i feel like i can look forward to motherhood getting easier from the squashing responsibility aspect at least when ebin turns 2ish. babies are just downright needy and it feels like a marathon sometimes : especially the sleep thing. and worrying about feeding him and/or my boobs exploding if i go somewhere.

we had a lovely dinner out on saturday though for MIL's 60th bday. i enjoy every minute of being not responsible when i get the chance other mamas in the ebin (june) baby group were talking about how they haven't left their baby yet and while i can sort of get that.....i really can't!! but i know people are all different kwim?

beth - that's awesome that you cut loose and the whole family had fun!

we slept in until a glorious 9am this morning and i'm sitting in the glow of the christmas lights and drinking some mostly decaf coffee i looooooove having a tree.

i got some christmas money from MIL and made a beeline to the shoe store to get these adorable shoes that i saw when i went to purchase socks. yay! i can't wait to wear them today.

[mcsarahb]

Hello wonderful mamas-

Reading and thinking of you all...can't believe it's December...sounds like life is busy for all around this time.

I'm writing my LAST PAPER as we speak. It has really been a doozy of a quarter this go 'round. Way too many assignments. I feel like I've been writing papers for the last 3 weeks. But I will be done on Wednesday (except for call - two more days of that) and am so happy it's almost over! So much holiday stuff to do this weekend and next week before we take off for Florida.

Lots to respond to - I will - on Thursday!

S.