Happy Halloween, Boo!

So I pulled a near all-nighter last night trying to get Liam's Halloween costume done in time for him to wear it to school today. Yup. Procrastinated. Thought that maybe if I put it off long enough I'd forget that November is coming. Ok...really, I've just had so many other things going on that making costumes was one of the last things on the list to do. Bigger fish to fry, is what I keep telling my hubby. But you always have bigger fish, says he. Yeah, but some fish are bigger. So I catch them, fry them up, and eat them. I throw the smaller ones back. Eventually they grow into bigger fish. Then I do it all over again. Very much like the mythological fella that pushes the rock up the hill every day. Can't remember his name. Something about sleep deprivation. So yes...there are always fish. Particularly since those smaller fish left in the pond always seem to be procreating. And no, you can't overfish the pond. The fish procreate to quickly, and I'm not so good at catching fish anyway. Worms, Roxanne, worms.

Anyway, I bought goodies yesterday for the costumes and set about trying to figure out how I was going to put it together. Part of me was hoping to find a pattern online or in the craft store that I liked, but that was a no go. Once I found their knockoff suede fabrics though, inspiration hit. I chose a few yards of dark brown faux suede and an embroidered faux suede along with a few packs of feathers. I already had some large beads and felt in my stuff at home that I knew I could use. I didn't have enough time to get as elaborate as I really wanted to get, but for a costume that they were going to wear for a couple of hours, they really turned out pretty well, I think.


I took a pair of Liam's chinos and a long sleeve tee and used it to trace roughly for the sizes of the pieces while giving some extra fabric for selvedge and for fringe on the outsides of the pants and under the sleeves. I used the patterned suede to make the loin cloth and then used the brown suede to make fabric ties. The pants have just a drawstring in them (no elastic, didn't have time), but that seemed to work ok. When I made Liam's, I actually did set in sleeves (why, oh, why did I do that...), because his shirt that I traced from had them and I wasn't thinking of drop shoulders. Dumb. You can believe I didn't repeat that mistake on Jonah's. Hence the boxier fit. I made Liam's pants like pajama bottoms. To do the fringe on the outsides, I sewed those side seams on the right side of the fabric, and then I cut the fringe from the fabric outside the seam. Jonah didn't get pants because I ran out of time, but he didn't seem to mind. The tan cords seemed to work pretty well in lieu.

For Liam's headdress, I took a felt strip, hot glued feathers in it and then folded up the felt over the quills to make a felt sandwich. I cut out circles and hot glued the white feathers between two on each side and then hot glued it to the corners of the main headdress. I strung wooden beads on a piece of pipecleaner for stability and then glued the strip onto the headband to cover the end of the top of the felt. I had a small piece of elastic and I sewed it to the ends of the felt strip to make a full band. Jonah's headband was a piece of the embroidered fabric folded and zigzagged to make the band, and then I hot glued the feathers in the back of it and covered the quills over with a piece of felt. The loin pieces were simply rectangles that were hemmed around 3 sides with zigzag and then the top was folded over and stitched leaving enough room to thread through one of the fabric ties. Liams necklace was a heart-shaped piece of index card with hot glue reinforced holes punched for the yarn tie. I hot glued the feathers to it and anchored it all by glueing a diamond-shaped piece of felt to it.


Overall, I probably spent more thand I would have if I'd just bought a cheapie costume on clearance yesterday, but I think they turned out pretty well....and I got to craft, so you know, two birds and the such. Someone else we all know and love was supposed to be a banana, but she went and grew out of her costume. She heard it was a bunting and she didn't like the idea of being without use of lower limbs for more than 2 seconds. So we ended up borrowing this costume from friends (and some war paint). She was very true to the costume and flitted about from halloween basket to halloween basket just like a little bee (hmm, any candy for me? she says)

Hope you had a great Halloween!

Movin' it indoors

So today was the first day of indoor soccer. Indoor soccer is definitely a much faster game than outdoor soccer. The fields for the boys are similarly split where they take a full field and divide it into two smaller ones with the goals where the sidelines normally would be. Liam had a grand time, once he got away from socializing with the goalie.

Liam hanging out telling his favorite jokes to the goalie, while the goalie's dad (who was in the stands) has a conniption because his son isn't "on it"

So far I'm learning that there's a lot of biting your tongue when you're the mama of a sports playing child. The dad of the kid who was in the goal in the above picture is a real type A. He spends most of the game yelling at his kid about where he needs to be and what he needs to be doing, despite the fact that his kid is doing just fine without the feedback, as the coach is giving guidance. Part of the idea of the game is that the kids go out there and have fun, no pressure. They aren't even supposed to be keeping score, as evidence shows that with all the pressure and yelling and score-keeping that most of these kids won't want to play soccer anymore by the the time they're old enough to be in high school, because the pressure is just too much. I don't want that for Liam. Before and after each game, I make sure I tell him I don't care if he scores, it doesn't matter if they win or lose or if he makes mistakes, I just want him to go out there and have a good time and play hard. I also tell him that other parents yell and that I'm not going to do that, but that it doesn't mean I don't support him.

The fella in the foreground of the picture above was really something. His shirt had organic chemistry all over it, which I thought was pretty interesting and cool....then I saw the rest and it was something about how God created the world and then there was beer. Kinda lost something after that. He was really dancing in Clinton and Stacey's "what not to wear" territory.

So the really exciting part about today was that I played my first game of indoor soccer. Yup. Me. Out on the field. Running around. A lot.

I had a great time. There are 4 women's teams this session (up from 2 last), and the women's league has only been in existence since last January. When they started, only 3 women actually had any previous soccer experience, so it has been a learning process for everyone. Which works great for me, as I have zero soccer experience and very, very little organized sports experience. I played a little ultimate frisbee with my former roommate while at IU and I did the two years of Little 500, but other than that, no team sports.

All the gals there this morning were super nice and very welcoming. One of the ladies is a neighbor down the street, and we played against a team that the neighbor next door to the IL's is on. And she is really good. Everyone was really great about the fact that I had NO clue where I was supposed to be at any particular time and that five times out of six that I tried to kick the ball, I missed. I did make a couple of good stops, and I did try my hardest, so I think that's all positive.

Because of the nature of indoor, there is not much in the way of stopping the clock, so I spent most of the time out on the field going full throttle, which my body is really NOT used to. I'm a little (Ok, a lot) out of shape, despite the fact that I'm back down to my prepregnancy weight. It was very windy. As in I was sucking a lot of it, but I'm sure that will get better with time. Gotta get into a regular exercise program, that's for sure. I sprained my left ankle last weekend when I stepped backward into a hole after peeking in the dining room doors to look at the floors, but the ankle didn't seem to bother me too much today. I did, however, need a big nap this evening.

So I had a good time and met some new friends and got some exercise and will likely be sore for the next 3 days, but it was all good. I forbade anyone from taking any pictures or coming to watch me for this game, so there is no evidence that this event even took place, but I needed that so I could get my bearings and get over some of the anxiety of playing with the big girls. I told them that maybe next week they could come watch. Which will be convenient, as I'll be in Michigan for a leadership retreat.

Apple pickin'

I have fond memories of going to the apple orchard on school field trips as a child, but I haven't been since I was younger. Liam had the chance to go with the Waldorf school when he was there, and he loved it, but we never got to go with him. So this year when friends asked if we wanted to go and take the kids, I jumped on the opportunity.

The weather here has been spectacular (there are those who don't enjoy 80 degree temps in October, but I don't happen to be one of them) with lots of sunshine (though the bottom is dropping out of all that today with rain and temps in the 50s). Sunday was the perfect day to take advantage, so we packed up all the children (three of ours and their five girls), and headed to the orchard for some pickin'.

The children all tasted an apple or two to make sure they were the kind we wanted. We picked Winesap, Yellow Delicious, and Melrose. I like firm apples, so we tried to steer toward those. We also bought a bag of Rome and a jug of cider.


We climbed a couple trees, since many of the apples were out of reach. Once Liam got into the trees, it was hard to convince him to stay out of them. Not only did he climb, but he insisted on doing it barefoot.


A good time was had by all, and yesterday we took some of these beautiful apples and made applesauce to freeze. Yum!

Don't eat too much candy this Halloween, otherwise...

...this could happen to you! Maybe this is why he never smiles in his pictures.

MIL found these teeth at the grocery store and thought they'd be great fun. Jonah enjoyed them, but Liam didn't want any part of them at all.

Crazy with the camera

Ok...got a few pictures of the upstairs. Only room with boxes unpacked is the kids'. Everything is out on the floor since we haven't moved in the shelving yet. Aren't the floors pretty, though? Yeah. Let me just tell you how much work those were. Like on hands and knees scraping kind of work. And fighting with polyurethane to get the thickness of each coat just right. But they're done.




Gonna put a coat of stain on the floors downstairs tomorrow. Hopefully we'll make our Halloween self-imposed deadline to be in the house.



In the meantime, I'm enjoying the change of the leaves and the warm weather.

A quick blurb...and gratuitous photos...

We rented a truck last weekend and started moving things in because we finally finished the upstairs floors. Three rooms from the old house are mostly moved. No pictures to show of that...but I do have others to share, just because.

I know I've said this before, but I love my new camera.

As promised previously...Outdoor soccer...


I got pictures of baby girl in a dress that was lovingly gifted from Uncle L. and Aunt C. She's worn it several times, but I just got the chance to get pictures of her in it today.



She and the big guy were sharing grapes, and each time she'd take a bite of grape, she'd screw up her face like it was really sour. Didn't stop her from eating them, though!


I also have been doing a little bit of knitting. Only washcloths and baby hats for the moment. Not enough time to do anything else big.

Playing soccer

Liam loves soccer. I've never seen a kid play a sport where he's smiling the whole time.

See my only tooth?

The other is nearly through. I think she and Liam are on the same schedule.

last bits of summer

The funnelweb spiders have been going gangbusters this year thanks to the dry weather. I tried so hard to actually catch the spider in the picture, but he was just far enough in his hole that I couldn't.


I did, however, catch this bee on one of my flowers. Not that I remember what the name of this plant is...but I love the big blooms on it.

Four years old

Jonah was so excited to have his birthday party at school. He was SO serious when it came time to actually have the celebration.

Here he is on his actual birthday:

See? I'm four and outside...and you're not!

So serious on the rainbow bridge

Another one bites the dust

His second tooth fell out tonight. What a great smile he'll have for picture day!

Thoughts on Birth, The Play and BE BOLD (very long)

Yet another month has slipped past faster than sand through an hourglass. I somehow managed to survive this month, though I think I did so only because I cried. A lot. There have been many sleepless nights and much soul searching going on this past month, yet I don't feel like I'm any closer to where I want to be than I was when this month began. For those of you here for family updates (all is well, kids are growing), I'll post that separately...maybe tomorrow, Scarlett. Tonight, I need to put text to screen in an effort to process tonight's play. If you care about birth (well...my thoughts on it, anyway), read on...Otherwise, I see you again soon, my friends. Hopefully with pictures, because, honestly...my kids are cute. :)

Tonight was a presentation of the play Birth, by Karen Brody. I had previously seen the play as performed by our birth network last fall. It was moving then as performed by members of several chapters of our organization for a small group of us from out of state and those locals attending the conference that preceded the day. Tonight's performance was well-rehearsed and planned and incredibly well done as a part of BE BOLD (birth on labor day) going on across the country this month. Next weekend is the Red Tent Event that goes along with the play. Following the play was a panel of speakers -- an OB/Gyn, a certified nurse midwife, a doula/childbirth educator, and an independent (homebirth) midwife. During the play, listening to the characters tell the stories of their births and how they got there, the frustration I have with the current system of maternity care and how our society treats birth really got to me. The play details the stories of several women, all of whom could be any low-risk woman seeking maternity care, and their journeys through birth. The main character goes from being a spectator in the process to a real participant empowered by the birth of her fourth child. There are a variety of experiences portrayed, from the "I want to schedule my c-section," to the closet "my body rocks" unmedicated birther, to the woman with an episiotomy forced on her. They talk candidly about how their labors and births affected them and the actions of those around them during the process, and it was easy to get emotionally involved and wonder how these women got to where they were.

Everything I've experienced as a human being has helped to shape who I am. My own birth, my childhood, having two loving parents who cared about me and believed I could do anything I set my mind to and put me to doing just that, losing one of those parents before I'd really become an adult (or really got to know who he was for that matter), finding that one person who I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with (and who would want to do likewise), and, at least for now, growing and birthing three beautiful children in a way that celebrates them as human beings and not as a medical event. I could go further on how raising those children even still is moulding my beliefs and being...but that's for another day. But thinking back on the births of my children, what I different person I could be if they had gone differently. If I hadn't cared. If I didn't believe that "My body rocks." If I'd put all my trust into a system that has acknowledged that it's broken. Realizing that, and that there are women out there every day who don't believe in their bodies and put their faith in a broken system...well, it just breaks my heart because I know what they are missing out on.

I never pegged my mom as being a feminist (and I know she'll say that she's not). It's not like I grew up listening to Gloria Steinem or anything. But growing up she did want me to be proud of my being a woman. As a woman, I can do things a man can't do. I can carry a baby and give birth. She always spoke matter-of-factly about my and my sister's births. She never made it sound scary, nor did she talk about it in an ethereal, Ina May Gaskin kind of way. It was something that was hard work, but was a part of what you did as a woman becoming a mother. I got the feeling that she was proud of her body's ability to do what it did....and the fact that she birthed a breech vaginally, which was well on its way out when my sister came into the world ass backward. She never talked about womanly things as something to be ashamed of. Never made it sound like it was something you just put into the hands of a doctor and said, "Ok...it's up to you. What do I do now?" So surely this has something to do with my own confidence in my body to do what Mother Nature gladly made it able to. What of those women who didn't have that growing up? If they have confidence where does it come from? If they don't have it...are they capable of finding it on their own without having a horrible experience to learn from first?

I usually have a table at baby fairs either for my own childbirth services or for our network, and I'm completely blown away every time by the women who don't know that they have choices to them in labor, that birth can be a beautiful, empowering process (even if you're not crunchy like me), that the folks in white coats (or scrubs) are human and do make mistakes and are many times misinformed, that it's your job as a healthcare consumer to figure all this out and know the right questions to ask, and that some of what the healthcare machine usually does is for its own convenience (and to save their asses) and not what's best for mom and baby. Sometimes I just want to scream at them to take charge of their bodies before someone else does...and does things to it that they won't like.

On top of this...I have been having the "where do I belong?" debate. Tonight's panel with the four attendants really was my list of options (well...there wasn't a family practice/OB, but close enough with the OB/Gyn as far as education goes). None of them seems to stick out as the perfect option, except that they are all where my heart is -- involved with birthing families. I'm only a step away from medical school, and right now, with all the second-guessing I've been doing elsewhere in my life, I'm completely scared about making the leap into medical school only to find out that it was the wrong move. On the other hand, being a physician would lend me more credibility and hopefully more power to do something, only partly because if it comes from the mouth of a physician, well...it must be golden. Midwifery speaks to my heart because it is the epitome of how I wish to practice. With woman. Guiding her. Helping her. But CNMs in our state can't legally do homebirths, and it's hard to find docs to work with. Some of our nurse midwives were having a hard time keeping their jobs due to budget cutbacks. Funny how the hands on approach that saves money is the first thing to get the axe. Then there's the independent midwifery, which would guarantee fantastic births to go to, but doesn't effect much in the way of change (well...except maybe making homebirth more of an option, but the population who's interested in that is much, much smaller than a majority). Then there's the educator/doula. A holding pattern, as that's right where I'm at. I could just chuck the whole thing and hang out with the status quo indefinitely. Keep teaching and attending births, knowing that I can only educate to a point and that it's really up to the caregiver that the woman has chosen as to how her birth will go. Keep running the network and hope that women will somehow start to get the message that they need to be informed and will take the initiative to do just that before they have a bad experience. At this point, it's a good thing my scores are good for a while yet. The above are only the considerations of choosing which would be the best option for effecting change. This debate doesn't even include familial considerations, which is a whole 'nother crap shoot.

As far as the panel went, once the four were introduced, no one in the audience seemed anxious to ask questions. Out of a room of probably 150 people, I raised my hand first and threw out a question to the OB (brave of me to dive in like that? Or just nuts. The latter, I think.). Asked her what she saw for future medical students who believe in normal birth and if she thought it possible to get through medical school and still believe that normal birth is possible. She seemed to think so, which was heartening. Yet...she was still the first one to throw out the danger, danger scenario when it comes to VBAC and states that she can't work with moms who choose homebirth because of liability. There were several other questions, which the panelists gladly answered, and most of it came down to recognizing that the system is broken, but no one really knows how to fix it. No one can really practice the way they should because of liability. Truly is a pity. Hubby tells me if I really want to effect change that I'm looking into the wrong career, but if there's one thing I'm not cut out for...it's politics (or insurance!).

If you've gotten this far, congratulations. I know it probably was a bit disconcerted, but it is 2 a.m. after all and dash-it-all but I'm tired. Thanks for listening. We now go back to our regularly scheduled dysfunction.

When the lighting is right....

First Wednesday in Rome

When we last left our brave travelers, they were taking a nap in their hotel room.....

So after our nap, we got up and showered. Our bathroom was not actually attached to our room but was out in the hall across from the flat's door. The bathroom was new and interesting. There was both a toilet and a bidet (I never have figured out how you're supposed to use that thing...seems a bit awkward, if you ask me). The shower head was mounted on the side of the shower wall on the longest wall of the shower (whereas here, most of us have our showerhead mounted on the shortest wall of the tub. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of it, since we didn't have this room the whole time. The water was not consistently hot, but was definitely hot enough and quite welcome after travel and nap. We dressed, met up with our flat mates, and set out to start exploring.

In the streets of Rome

In the alley (it's a technically street, but really...skinny enough for one car to get down) our hotel entrance was on, there were a few shops, a couple of pubs, a restaurant, and a pizza shop. We stopped into the pizza shop and browsed. The pizza was on display behind glass under hot lamps, and there were several different varieties, and the pies were all rectangular in shape. There were also other calzones and goodies, but I was all about the pizza. We weren't sure how we were supposed to order, and our pizza guy didn't speak English, so we motioned how much we wanted of a couple of different types. Everything I thought I'd learned in listening to my CDs all went out the window. All the ingredients on the pizza were fresh (no canned tomato sauce here!), and the crust was like a flat bread. Cliff and I shared some fresh tomato and mozzarella pizza, and I also chose some that looked like sausage with a tomato sauce. There was no cheese on it. After taking a bite, I was quite surprised to realize that it wasn't sausage at all but tunafish! And it was amazing. The tomato sauce was creamy, like there was some cheese in it, and the tuna had a kick to it. So we wandered up the street to Santa Maria Maggiore, a large church with a lovely square, and encountered our first beggar who had a baby that was not much older than Corinna. Seeing that we were obviously tourists, she asked for money. We took photos and decided to push on.

The square at Santa Maria Maggiore

The church Santa Maria Maggiore

We then wandered down past the Domus Aurea (which you can tour if you sign up ahead of time), which was in a park-like area and down toward the Colosseum. As we approached, I was taken aback at how enormous it was. It was early afternoon, and we decided to take a look around. A woman approached us and asked us if we were interested in taking a tour, and we thought about it and decided to go. Our guide was a Brit, and he gave us the lowdown on its history and was quite enjoyable to listen to. We climbed the stairs once inside and got a great view over the surrounding area and the Arch of Constantine.

Excavating at Domus Aurea

See how little I am compared to the Colossal Colosseum?

After our tour, our guide let us know about another tour of the Palatine Hill that would be going on right after with another English speaking guide. We decided to go and do that one also. Here, we learned about this being the site where Romulus, the founder of Rome, and Remus, his twin, were found. This was also the site of Augustus's birth and the palace of his wife and Domitian's palace. The sun was beginning to get low in the sky, and the light was spectacular. I just kept being blown away by the ancientness of it all. Our tour guide, Elaine, was a Canadian and a pleasure to listen to. We decide to do her tour of the catacombs the next day.

Inside the Colosseum

Arch of Constantine

How Miss C. traveled Italy

Domitian's Circus

On Palatine Hill

After Palatine Hill, we walked back toward the hotel and decide to eat at the restaurant down the street from where we are staying. It's not a large restaurant, and the server was quick to help us out. He asks us if we would like water, and we agree. We get a bottle and it turned out to be effervescent. If you want plain mineral water in Italy, you have to ask for water with no gas. I decided to try some of the house red, and was not exactly excited about it. So much for thinking that wine in Italy would really taste that much different. For my primi I ordered the bucatini amatriciana, which was penne with bacon and tomato cheese sauce. Yum. For my secondi, I ordered a breaded veal and greens, which turned out to be wilted spinach. I think I was expecting a salad, but the spinach was good. We then went up the street to Cottini, a little pasticheria/gelateria with a lovely outdoor seating area. We went in and ordered gelato (I got the chocolate, hubby got the braccio (he remembers what it is and I don't at the moment) and ate it topped with unsweetened whipped cream from frosted cups garnished with cookies at the outdoor tables. Corinna went into spasms of delight and excitement at our cups of gelato and was determined she would get some.

Yeah...that's what I was feeling too.

After our meal, we walked back in the cool night air to our hotel flat and crashed hard. It was a long first day.

By the way...this is only a small sampling of the pictures I took. I have nearly 450 photos (and I don't feel like I took nearly enough), so I had to really pick and choose what to post here. It's really hard to choose representative photos when there are so many that I liked. Hope you all enjoy!