**~~**Spotlight on AugustineM!!**~~**

[Erlaine]

Where did you live growing up? Did you move around a lot?

I'm feeling desserty...
What's your favorite kind of cookie? Pie? Ice cream? Candy? Do you like to bake?

[nurnur]

when was the last time you wore a dress?

do you speak another language?

do you like ginger ale?

if you had a million dollars....what would you do with it?
btw...love that bare-naked ladies song!!!

[BundleFishMama]

Hey, Augustine, as you're my old June '06 DDC-buddy and now we're together again, I have to think of something to ask you!!

So....what are the cutest and the most frustrating things that your DCs have done recently?

And semi-related, what do you think is your best quality as a mama, and OTOH what is the aspect of motherhood that challenges you the most?

[AugustineM]

Originally Posted by Erlaine

Where did you live growing up? Did you move around a lot?

I'm feeling desserty...
What's your favorite kind of cookie? Pie? Ice cream? Candy? Do you like to bake?

I grew up in a small town in Alaska. My grandmother was a homesteader who came here from Chicago after WWII with my grandfather. There was no road to the place they homesteaded (they had to walk about 100 miles) and no other women (just two single guys). So they built a small cabin, had four kids and 1000 chickens, and tried to eke out a living by farming. My dad then stayed here and commercial fished and had me and my brother and sisters. My mom is also from Alaska. I grew up in a small log cabin my parents built on the homestead. We had lots of animals (in the summer) and huge fields of potatoes and vegetables. My parents were/are very self-reliant. We basically made all our money from commercial salmon fishing in the summer. We would spend a couple months in hawaii every year, usually. The town I grew up in grew into what is now Soldotna, and a fairly medium sized town (for Alaska). We lived in that cabin until I was 10, and then we moved about two miles away to a larger house that my parents built.

Mmmmm, I love dessert. I am a big sweets person. My favorite cookie is white chocolate chip macadamia nut, and pie... I guess I'd have to say coconut or banana cream pie. I also love pumpkin and apple pie. I'm a pie person. I'm not huge on candy, but lately I've been loving jolly ranchers.

Yes, I do like to bake. When I had more time I baked bread a lot.

[AugustineM]

Originally Posted by nurnur

when was the last time you wore a dress?

do you speak another language?

do you like ginger ale?

if you had a million dollars....what would you do with it?
btw...love that bare-naked ladies song!!!

It's been a looong time since I've worn a dress!! I do have a favorite hippie skirt I wear a lot, though.

I speak spanish embarrasingly poorly... barely enough to make it through Mexico or Spain. Enough to get laughed at, a lot!

Yes, I like ginger ale.

If I had a million dollars I would buy a house in hawaii (kauai), and a house in seattle. And probably a nice boat.

[AugustineM]

Originally Posted by BundleFishMama

So....what are the cutest and the most frustrating things that your DCs have done recently?

And semi-related, what do you think is your best quality as a mama, and OTOH what is the aspect of motherhood that challenges you the most?

Really good questions! The cutest thing my DS has done lately is to be fascinated with birth and this baby coming out. The other day he asked me, "So, mom, does the baby just come out while you're sleeping and come out onto the bed?" I was like... boy, that would be nice! Then I explained that I had to work hard to push the baby out. And he was like, "Oh, well then I'll help you. I'll just push really gently like this. (And he pushed my belly with his hands.) My DD, who is very close to 2, is this adorable chubby blonde girl with wild curly hair. She is so sweet, and is starting to talk a lot. She calls her brother "bubba" and she wants him to come play with her all the time, so she runs around demanding, "BUBBA!! BUBBA!!" :lo

My best quality as a mama... I think it's probably a mix of being extremely willing to let my children be children and need me, and then also allowing them to explore and make their own way. I don't know if that makes sense. I don't demand that my kids "grow up" in the way that mainstream america does. I understand that they need/want to nurse for years, to be held often, to sleep close to me, to cry and to be frustrated with the world, and to not be told to tough it out, or get used to it, or "learn to soothe themselves." But at the same time, I don't hover over my children. I love the continuum concept. I believe in letting them explore and play on their own, in letting them do things that might involve a fall or frustration. I very much try to limit how much I say No, and how much I say, "be careful" or "don't do that." It's hard, and I have to bite my tongue a lot, but I try.

My biggest challenge... wow. There are a lot! I sometimes am too quick tempered, and I am sometimes not patient enough. I yell when I get angry. Not that I yell mean things, but I shout orders. I also have a very difficult time with my kids fighting over toys or with each other, and I'm not sure how to handle that one.

Wow, I wrote a book!!

[BookishVonLiberal]

Last book read?

Favorite food or drink during this pregnancy?

[slinginhipmama]

Well, since you have one of each ( a boy and a girl) do you have any vibes for this LO?

Is this pregnancy anything like the other two? How is it the same/different?

[AugustineM]

Originally Posted by BookishVonLiberal

Last book read?

Favorite food or drink during this pregnancy?

The last book I read was "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. I've never cried so much during a book. I would not recommend reading it while pg or even with a newborn, but it is an amazing book. One that I'm sure is so much more... emotional... once you have a child.

Favorite food or drink during this pg... well, I've constantly been snacking on olives. I love olives. And I've made two pumpkin pies in the past two weeks... .

[AugustineM]

Originally Posted by slinginhipmama

Well, since you have one of each ( a boy and a girl) do you have any vibes for this LO?

Is this pregnancy anything like the other two? How is it the same/different?

Actually I found out recently at an ultrasound that it is most likely a girl. But I guessed it was anyway! I dreamed she was a girl very early on.

It is different in that I actually had morning sickness this time. Well, it was all day sickness. I never had that with either of my two before. Other than that, once the m/s was gone I have felt so great. I am surprised. But I have been seing a chiropracter at least every two weeks... it helps so much!

[Erlaine]

I want to know, when you were growing up on the homestead, did you crave being around lots of little kids or were you into homelife? What was your experience with home, travel, and people living more mainstream lives?

[AugustineM]

Those are good questions. I remember always asking my mom to take me to visit my friends. Especially two close friends that I had growing up. But I did also have a lot of cousins to play with that lived close by. We had huge holiday gatherings. But mostly I spent a lot of time at home, especially in the summer, since my dad was a commercial fisherman, so he was gone a lot of the time, especially when I was young. My favorite pasttimes were fishing for trout in the creek on our property, wandering around in the woods, and taking care of/bothering our animals (we had chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs, dogs, cats, etc.)... oh, and riding my bike up and down our road.

We travelled mostly to Hawaii when I was young and I remember people there always asking me funny questions, like if I lived in an igloo or if we had a sled dog team (we didn't though lots of people around here do), or if we wore mukluks and stuff (no, we're not native). I even remember one time, after explaining to a kid in Hawaii that I was on break from school, look at me with utter shock and say, "YOU GO TO SCHOOL IN ALASKA??!" As if I lived on an iceberg with no other people around. I also remember always being amazed at how close people lived to each other, because we lived on about 30 acres with no nearby houses at all. But for Alaska, we were fairly normal. Lots of people lived that way when I was young, although now it's changed a lot and it's more "neighborhoodish" in a lot of areas, and there are actual developments going up.

Moving back here has been weird, though, and I realize now that it's not for me. Of course we don't live like I did growing up, and I don't think we ever would now. I have lived in Seattle for 8 years before this and I much prefer it to living in a small northern/arctic town. I'm at the same latitute as Helsinki, Finland, the southern tip of Greenland, and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (59 degrees north). And it's way too wintery for me here.