E turns four!

Today (at 3:29 p.m. Central Time to be specific) E turned four. To celebrate, we had breakfast with family and friends.


And yes, that is a slab of watermelon, not a cake. What can I say, we're weird parents!

Poem

So I've been a little lazy getting to the blog...my parents are in town, and I've been crafting up a storm (all part of my handmade holiday pledge). I did want to share this poem another friend just shared...for all the birth junkies out there:

My baby's not a library book,
so she's not overdue.
My baby don't take long to cook,
coz she's not veggie stew.

My baby's not an elephant,
and I'm not fit to burst.
The time and date aren't relevant,
we're blessed with days, not cursed.

My baby can't read dates as yet,
because she's very new.
So there's no cause to fuss and fret,
if she don't come on cue.

So stop your worry,
stop your asking,
there's no hurry
we're relaxing
in this golden pregnant time,
this pause, which is just hers and mine.

You leave us be, we are just fine.

© Rachel P (Wales)

Merry Christmas if I don't get back before hand. I should have lots of pictures to share after the first of the year!

My boys

Baby L at 6.5 months, with his daddy...

Mmmm...cookies

Thanks again for all the suggestions and recipes from the previous post! Here's my final result:



The swap was great fun...and I've been eating cookies daily (breakfast, snack, dinner - no joke) since Sunday! I also have more recipes and if you need any, I'll help out next time :)

Quick - Cookies!

Anybody have a fabulous cookie recipe to share? I'm headed to a cookie swap on Sunday, and must bring nine and one-half dozen cookies. Yes, 114 cookies. I found a recipe for mint chocolate cookies I might have to make, but if you have a favorite that wouldn't be outrageous to make times 114, let me know!

(and yes, H and M, I'm just now thinking about it. but worry not, I'll show up, cookies in hand!!)

Oh, and by the way, I'm making NO pretenses about "healthy" for this event :)

Promotion!

C was moved out of Montessori primary and into the elementary classroom! In other words, she just got promoted to first grade...that's the beauty of the Montessori though...it's not actually grades, and she'll just keep learning at her own rate. This is a fantastic opportunity for her - she LOVES her new class, has already made two "best friends," and is doing multiplication and lots of "challenging work," unlike in her old class. Don't get me wrong, her old class was great, but she was the "top dog," and without kids to push her, her schoolwork was pretty much stagnating. The new class has kids ages 6-9 (more or less), while the primary was for ages 3-6.

We were blessed with a fantastic primary teacher (Miss K) who has been guiding C from the beginning. When the school moved Miss K into the other primary room, she realized it was time to get C into the elementary. In two days, I'm already seeing a difference in C's work and interest. Her new teacher, Miss M, was also amazed at how quickly C adapted and is thriving in the new class.

Family crafting

The girls and I did these last night:

I got clear glass bulbs and cheap-o acryllic paints at JoAnn. I removed the "lids" and we dripped paint into the bulbs, then swirled them around. It takes a surprisingly small amount of paint (as I realized after the fact), and a little bit of patience to let the paint swirl around inside. We left them drying overnight in egg cartons, and these were the final results!

Yikes!

So I was sitting here at my computer, talking to D, who's sitting on the couch next to me...at 10:20 on the dot, we hear this weird popping noise, then a kind of grinding/harsh motor noise. It took us a second, then we realized it was the pool pump coming on...well, since I'm often sitting here at my computer at 10:20 p.m., I knew for a fact that was NOT the normal pool pump sound.

D opened the door and -whew- stinky burning smoke smell...so he runs around trying to find a flashlight to go out the front door and around the side of the house to flip the breaker. Yup, did you catch that - out the FRONT door and around the side. Nice place for a circuit box, huh? Well, we can't find flashlights anywhere! At that exact moment, Baby L wakes up crying, so I picked him up, and went out the back door to the flooded patio. I gingerly tiptoed through the pooled water, trying hard not to slip on the deadly concrete, to make sure nothing by the pump was truly burning...and then it stopped. Before D hit the breaker.

So...it's POURING rain, pitch black, and we very well may have a fried pool pump. Yippee!

Rainy day not-so-fun

So the good news is, it's raining!
But...the bad news...once again (as in every rain), our patio is flooded. In less than 10 minutes, using only a towel, I sopped up 28 quarts of water! I poured it on our poor neglected orange trees...


My futile attempt to minimize flooding - placing containers where the water seems to pour off the roof the most:

In about 20 minutes, the blue bucket (14 quart) is overflowing, and the gray tub is full too! Yikes. Do I hear home equity loan??

Happy Birthday Auntie A!

Far away in Jaipur, India, my baby sister celebrated her 22nd birthday today! I tried calling to sing the song...but can't seem to dial international numbers on my phone...

A was born at home November 30, 1985. I was just shy of 11 years old, and was lucky enough to witness her peaceful entry into the world. I don't doubt my witnessing her birth set me on the road to homebirth my own little ones. Thanks Mom for showing me early on just how natural and wonderful birth really is!

And...Happy Birthday, baby sister!

(pics taken during A's visit in June)

Rainy day fun

Trying to get into character as a SAHMM (that's stay-at-home Montessori Mom), I pulled out a new "work" for E today. Using a no-cook play-dough recipe from this cool blog (she's a Montessori teacher in rural Mexico), E could make it all herself:


Mixing:

More mixing:
Gathering up the stray bits:

The final product:

Improvised rolling pin (thought up all on her own):

Uh-oh...nothing's safe now!

Baby L is not only horizontally mobile now, but vertically too! Yikes! I'm not ready!

Playing together

This was the scene moments ago...it makes my heart simply melt to see all three kids playing together so nicely! And yes, Baby L is really that mobile now.

Squash braid

I made bread for Thanksgiving dinner...a 100% whole wheat and squash braid!

Before cooking...
And ready to eat:


I found the recipe here, and followed a tip from the first review on using whole wheat flour. Though I'd never heard of it before, there is "white whole wheat flour" (100% of the wheat germ and bran), so as she suggested, I substituted 1/2 white whole wheat and 1/2 traditional whole wheat flower for the all-purpose flour in the recipe. Healthy and tasty!


Oh, except it was extra good with a bunch of butter on top! So long, healthy...

Rearrangement

Catching up after a long weekend away (more on that soon!):

I got the itch again last week (week before?), and shuffled our living room around again. I tend to "need" to rearrange some room just about every month or so!

It's much more cluttery than I'd like, but I took the picture to show off the newly formed reading nook. Those are Waldorf-style playstands creating the wall, and the kids' kitchen and IKEA storage bins making up the other side. Behind the chair you can see the finished wall we added. Long-time readers will remember an early post about putting the wall up. It was bare sheetrock and mud for about 6 months. I think D did a lovely job, no? Careful comparison with the older pictures will also reveal a bit of a paint job, from the teal to a more avocado green (same color as the dining room). D found the paint in the garage, and I rather like it.

Food for thought...

Click the image to get more information on why I'm trying to buy (and do) handmade...

and why you should consider it too!

Try some of these sites for ideas:

Babywearing and Truss Moving

On Saturday morning, the BBBB guests and hosts geared up to move some trusses. Kelley just shared this picture of part of the gang. Since all of us were necessary to move the stack, we strapped our respective babes on our backs and did the ol' heave-ho:

Three Bs

Birthday, Basses, Birth & Babies Bed & Breakfast!

1. November 16 was D's 41st birthday...happy belated birthday, dear (old) husband!

2. November 18 Baby L's first tooth finally poked through. Interesting fact about the Bass Babies' first teeth: C's poked through at exactly 6 months; E's at 6 months, 1 day; and Baby L's at 6 months, 2 days! How weird is THAT?

3. November 15 I flew to Illinois to attend my friend Rixa's BBBB (Birth & Babies Bed & Breakfast). Since most of my readers were also there, I won't go into great detail...but:

A few "real life" friends and a few "blog buddies" all converged at Rixa's gorgeous house and spent the weekend discussing birth, babies, breastfeeding, friendship and more. The "royal we" hosted a viewing of the Business of Being Born, the much anticipated documentary by Ricki Lake. My take on the film? Disappointing. I really enjoyed the first half - it shows some great out-of-hospital and birth center births, using upright positions; it interviews families, experts, and attendants; the overall feeling is light-hearted and informative. Some of my favorites are included: Marsden Wagner, Michele Odent, Ina May Gaskin...

Then the last half hour completely changes tone. If you want to see the film and not have it "spoiled," stop reading now.

The producer of the documentary, Abby, gets pregnant during the course of the production. She half-heartedly plans a home birth with parallel care from an OB. We see her ultrasound, some discussion about transferring if she changes her mind, etc. Then a few weeks "early," she goes into labor. The CNM shows up, determines baby is still breech, and a hectic trip to the OR ensues. So we have a C-section breech 3 lb baby born. Eight months later we get a wrap-up and Abby says something about how good the C-section was, since baby was "not strong enough for vaginal birth," and the "cord was around the neck." Baby is shown being bottle-fed, and Abby says something about breastfeeding being difficult. So my take on the whole movie? It starts going somewhere good, then covers its own rear by reverting to stereotypical, misinformed standard American birth. She can't know whether baby was "strong enough" for vaginal birth. A nuchal cord (around the neck) is hardly a disaster - C and L both had nuchal cords - it's quite common. To avoid rambling on, I just thought the movie ended up being a little mini-documentary on Abby's birth, and left me with the same ol' "thank goodness for my doctor and my C-section" vomit taste in my mouth.

Aside from my dislike of the film's ending, the weekend was fantastic! Many thanks to Rixa for hosting and keeping us all fed in gourmet style. And thanks to her kind husband for picking me up at the airport in the middle of the night, and for putting up with a LOT of estrogen and birth passion invading his house all weekend!

Including babies currently in utero, between the five of us, we covered kid numbers 1-5:
Rixa - 1; Judit - 2; Me - 3; Kelley - 4; Joy - 5

So there was plenty of baby, birth, and breastfeeding talk to go around all weekend long - and hopefully enough extra to spur on another little one soon (*wink*)!

We not only talked birth, but also had a craft night. Rixa and Kelley shared their respective experience in silk painting and jewelry making:


Rixa downloaded the fetal image and I traced it on the silk, then added the squiggles and color. She has a picture on her blog of some of the other paintings done.

The bracelet has the birthstones from D, me and the kids...from the bottom, amethyst (me), diamond (C), blue topaz (E), emerald (L), and yellow topaz (D).

It was wonderful meeting new friends and catching up with old. I wish I'd taken more pictures though! I hope this can become a yearly event...

Left to right: Kelley, Erin (blogless friend - hint, hint), and Joy! Not pictured are Rixa and Judit.

Quick update

So...last weekend the girls were sick (E on Friday, C on Sunday) - E just vomiting, C had fever with vomiting. This weekend, Baby L joined in...though his version is funny. Every once in a while, he'll projectile vomit all over (all over me, usually), but is otherwise fine, and actually sleeping better than he has in a month! His two bottom teeth are right there - another week or so, they'll be out I think. That would also put him exactly on track with big sisters; C's first popped out the day she was six months; E's was the day after six months.

We had teacher conferences for both girls last week. Both are doing great in their respective Montessori programs.

And last, but not least, Aunt B got married yesterday! I'll start with a few pics of the flower girls...more to come soon :)





And with daddy, who was a groomsman:

The unforgotten princesses

I forgot to post the girls from Halloween! We had a lovely, mellow night...the LDS church a block north holds a chili party (fry bread, a gazillion kinds of chili, and root beer) every Halloween for the neighborhood (and the congregation, I assume). Thanks to nice weather, it's in the parking lot!

We went there, ate easily 8 kinds of chili (we put 2 kinds in each bowl just to sample lots)...the girls loved seeing all the costumes - who am I kidding - so do we :)

After the dinner, we returned home and Gma S, Aunt B and soon-to-be Uncle M took the girls around the area trick-or-treating. Upon their return, the girls dumped their loot, sorted out the dyed candies without being asked, and sampled from the remaining "good candy." They were so excited to hand out treats to the kids who came to our house...as I'm sure my faithful readers surmised, we don't buy candy to pass out...kids chez nous get play-doh, pencils, sticky rats, and other silly toys like that. This year we also found little bags of pretzels we handed out.

The girls also pass back out the "bad candy," a practice I'm torn about promoting...but since I don't run the diets of everybody else, I let it go.

All in all, a wonderful evening.

Without further ado...the princesses: