shh, shh, shh!

Last night I went to book club! The exclamation mark is used because it is the first one I was actually able to attend since moving. I had read at least 2 other books, but something always came up and I wasn't able to make it. I love reading and have really missed my Oklahoma book club.

It is a great book club and I had a wonderful time. The book that we read was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One member of the group brought an O magazine that had an article about/by Harper Lee. Surprising, because she has been relatively media silent most of her life. A new Capote movie with Sandra Bullock is coming out. Sandra plays Harper Lee who was good friends with Capote from childhood. Lee says that the character of Dill was inspired by Capote. There is even a "rumor", if you will, that Capote wrote Mockingbird! At times he has denied it and at other times he hasn't. Hmm. *cough* phooey *cough* I thought this was very interesting information that I had never heard before. I also didn't realize that the movie "To Kill A Mockingbird" was made just one short year after the book's release. That would make it 1961, (I think) and 1961 America was definitely still very much segregated. It gives an interesting new take on the movie, don't you think?

At one point in the discussion, I had an 80 yr young lady on my right saying something and a 60 yr young lady disagreeing on my left. It was very interesting to hear life experience vs. education.

My favorite thing about the book was it's subtle promotion of unschooling ideas. Scout goes to first grade where she is told that she shouldn't be able to read, that Atticus (her dad) has tought her all wrong and that the dewey dicimal system is the only correct way for children to learn! Throughout the book Scout, Jem and Dill learn through playing together, reading with Atticus and being around people in their town. The only things they learn in school are not tought by their teachers, but by being around other children. I really liked this because I am leaning heavily towards unschooling my children.

All fun stuff! Next month: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

wahn, wah, wahn

Yesterday, over dinner, Tuan repeated to me a conversation that he had with Emma that morning. Some neccessary background: Emma is nearly night-dry but still wears a pull-up, just in case. Back to the story! Emma will usually get up with Tuan in the morning and then come back to bed with Daniel and I for about an hour or so. So Tuan is usually the one to take her to the bathroom first thing after she wakes up. And of course, if you're Emma, you must remove your "jammy-pants", your "pull" and your "jammy-shirt". Then, you may go potty! When Tuan asked if she wanted to put her pull back on as it was dry, my little nearly-two-year-old replied: "No. Pull for pee night." What a cutie!

bumpehy, bumpehy , bump!

This is Emma reading to Daniel. She may be singing to him as well - this is the cloth book that I made for her. The words are actually a song in our children's songbook - My Heavenly Father Loves Me. I really love this picture of them together.

beep, beep, beep!

Does anyone have a caption for this picture? Am I just the meanest mom for taking it? Hee, hee.

I like to call it: "Just one more piece of candy, mommy, and I promise I'll go right to sleep!"

mood eh bat!

Tell me if you can that this is not the most adorable picture ever! I just love babies little dimpled bums.

wish, wish, wish

Guess what? My brother got married yesterday! Guess what else - no one knew until the day before!! Luckely, Tuan had the day off and so we drove down and saw him and Glen and two of my sisters and their family. Oh, and a wedding. Hee, hee.

I love this picture of Emma with my sister. Yes, she shaved her head. Yes, she looks HOT! She jokes that it looks like a Tibetan monk is playing w/ my daughter.

wound eh wound

Dear avid blog readers: (I know there are some of you out there!)
I am starting a new title series. Emma really is a neverending wealth of inspiration. ;o) However, I'm not going to be revealing the title or subject of this new series until the end. A little game shall we!

I just poot!

Book Review: The Captain of Her Heart by Anita Stansfield

I am, what is the right word. Irritated? Frustrated? Livid? Disgusted? I am all of these in response to what I read in a novel tonight. A bit of light reading. I got it as part of a book exchange book group. It is a light romance novel set in the 1770's. It is really not very well written - many phrases or words blared 1990's. What made me feel all of the above was the scene of a home birth near the end. This author is the mother of 5 children, none of whom I respectfully surmise were born at home. There are no less than 4 accounts of characters being ever so glad for a doctor, even when a neighbor woman is there already helping out. Had male doctors really already taken over the women's place in childbirth in 1770? But I will share with you the gem of this paragraph. My apologies ahead to anyone whose birth experience may have been like the one she portrayed. Perhaps this does happen, but I will never believe it is the norm.

While he'd (the father) believed that this couldn't possibly get any worse, suddenly it was. Rather than coming and going, the pain became constant. She groaned and pushed, digging her fingers into his arms while she nearly went mad from the pain. She raged and protested, swearing that she couldn't possibly do this, and she cursed him for causing her so much trouble and grief.

WTH!! After b$%^g to Tuan about this for a bit I came to the conclusion that what really bothers me the most about this is that a romance novel aimed at a young female audience would have this bullspit in it. Who wouldn't read that as a teen and vow - "I'm never having babies! I'll just adopt! Sign me up for the epidural right now!" I will clarify - none of those things by themselves are bad. But I feel that girls/women who decide to do them because this kind of info about childbirth was constantly fed to them through these kind of books are in a way robbed of their rights of birthing. There is so much more that I want to say and rehash, but that's probably enough to get my feelings across.

One final thought. I felt very dis-empowered as a woman after reading this book. I will not be reading any sequels or recommending it to anyone I feel very strongly about this. Had I not stumbled upon the correct information, (thank God for you, Sarah!) I would have been a victim to this kind of propaganda.

On a lighter note! Tonight while Tuan and I were discussing a chapter in Alma with Emma, she wandered into the bathroom and played for a minute or so with the door mostly closed. I know that she gets some of what I say even if it seems she isn't listening, but I was especially tickled when she opened the door and in the middle of my thought said "uh-huh! uh-huh" While vigorously nodding her head. It was adorable and I told her that she was about the most adorable thing I had ever seen. No sooner had I finished saying this than she pushed out quite a loud poot! I started cracking up but soon completely fell down laughing when she ran over to us declaring "I just poot!" Now, I may enjoy an occasional cathartic release myself, but I don't suppose I am quite as proud of them as Emma is!

Here comes!

Do you believe in resurrection? Don't get all philosophical on me - yes or no? I believe in resurrection. (note - please don't take this too seriously!) The resurrection of the most annoying toy ever!! While we were staying with my sister, her daughter came into the position of one toy phone. Voila - Emma loved the phone and soon having only one phone and two toddlers became a problem. So, not having tons of money to blow, I found Emma a toy phone at a dollar store. It had, excuse me, has the most annoying sound bytes I have ever heard. With the push of a button you are subjected to a clip of barbie techno-disco-whatever-it's-called that plays for a good 15 seconds. If your child loves this "music", 15 sec is then repeated over and over again. But hey, problem solved - no more fights over a toy phone. So we move into our new apartment and the phone craze kind of dies out with the cheap batteries. The phone is, ahem, "lost" and all is well. Then I find myself laboring in our birth pool 3 short hours from giving birth to Daniel. What do I hear? Na, na, nah, na, na, na, na, nah! During labor! Where did it get the extra juice? I had Tuan put the kibosh on that one pretty fast, let me tell you! Daniel is born and the phone is "lost again". Well, today the phone somehow re-appeared. Ugh. Emma loves music and after nearly every song on a cd will ask "wherza da next dong?" I tell her that it is coming, just wait. And when it starts I say "Here it comes". Now Emma is playing with the phone and I hear the tunes get lower and lower and slower and slower. Yea! The battery is finally giving up the ghost. She asks me "whereza da next dong?". "I'm sorry Emma, the batteries must be dead". 2 min later I hear "here comes, here comes"! What do you know, the phone is resurrected and producing it's lovely sound bytes once again . . . and again . . . and again! This thing just won't die. It's like my own personal cockroach!

I'm eating my feelings!

At the height of my cold, I made some cupcakes. What kind of cupcakes? Well, I like to call them "I'm eating my feelings" cupcakes! I also made "I'm eating my feelings" no-bake cookies and "I'm eating my feelings" marshmallow croissants. Don't worry, this was all over the coarse of three days. Ugh, so much for losing weight! And speaking of losing weight - tell me if this is a connundrum. I am despising this spare tire around my waist and trying desperatly to get rid of it. This hated 'spare tire' is what would save my baby's life if I was to suddenly be without food. It is my biological protection for my child, yet I hate it and want to rid myself of it. Ok, I have made myself dizzy. I guess I will just say that I am grateful for it, but want to get rid of it at the same time and leave it at that!

Final Chapter: Popper Teese

Fear not, my avid blog readers! You know that I would not leave you hanging on the final chapter of my series. Well, not forever anyway! My appologies for making you wait this long. Any guesses as to which kind of cheese this is? Here is Emma enjoying some:

Not the best picture, I know but our camera is curently on the fritz and I used our phone to take this one. Ok, give up? Emma's favorite (at least for now) cheese is parmesan cheese. This girl seems to be constantly eating it! I love the way she asks for "more popper teese"! Actually, because I have waited so long to post this, she is now also calling it pommer teese.

Series: Teese Tedar

The second post in the new cheese series is yet another type of cheese Emma loves. Any guesses? Cheddar Cheese. Sometimes she prefers grated, and other times likes sliced better. I'm a fan of both, but Tuan doesn't much enjoy eating just cheese. Woot! She may look more like him, but she likes cheese like me! She's probably glad that she looks more like him and hopefully won't mind liking cheese like me. :o)

Last week - wow it doesn't feel like that long ago - we got the opportunity to meet up with one of our best friends. We both moved away (to different places) around the same time and haven't seen each other since. He is doing grad work with his university's music program. Since their football team was envited to play a bowl game only 2ish hrs from us and he traveled up with the band, we couldn't resist the chance to see him again. He, another music friend of ours and I used to get together as often as we could afford (usually whenever the cravings hit) at a local Chinese/Tai buffet and restaurant to chat for hrs. He's tons of fun. We only had about 2 hrs to catch up, but it was really worth it. Emma barely remembers him and it was the first chance he had to meet Daniel. Golly I miss hanging out with him. It was so much fun to see him again, and hopefully there will be other opportunities later. Unfortunately we didn't get to attend the bowl game - his team lost anyhoo. *sniff* Speaking of sniffing, I'm off to nurse my hubby and infant through the tail ends of their colds. Emma and I are finally showing improvement!

Series: Cottage Tease

Emma LOVES cheese! Reading this should make at least one of my siblings very happy to hear (yes, I'm talking to you Glen!) At least once a day she will ask for and devour a small bowlful of "cottage tease".

Not much more to say - everyone has been sick here at our house. But we are slowly getting better. I'm trying to pump lots of my milk 'cause it's got extra special good things in it right now to help Daniel and Emma get better. I figure all those goodies can only help out later if I need to use it.

Pahysee?

This one is one of the cutest things Emma says. It is also one of the hardest to phonetically spell. Say "spicy" without the 's' at the beginning, with a strong southern drawl and start high and go higher like a question. Got that? Also - look at whomever you are addressing with an earnest, quizzical look. Emma has started saying this in response to almost every new thing that she tastes. I'm not sure why she has started applying it in this way. We tell her that she won't want any of daddy's food because it is too spicy for her - Tuan loves really spicy (read: hot!) food.


On Christmas day my oldest sister joined us at another of my sister's farm. Whew, got that? My brother-in-law pulled the kids around in a sled behind their 4-wheeler. All of the kids had tons of fun and I loved watching them. Emma joined her daddy on the sled, bundled up to the eye-brows and not exactly sure what was going on. My brother-in-law reved the engine and pulled forward a little bit. As soon as they began moving forward, Emma got this look on her face that I regret so much not catching on camera. Her smile literally took the rest of her face off! We don't get many white Christmas's in Oklahoma, so this one in Idaho was a real treat.

Oh min!

This morning Emma decided to climb into the bathtub (still in her footed jammies, I don't know how she made it over the side without breaking her neck!) and pile all of her bath toys into her toy bowl. Then she dumped the bowl onto the floor and promptly moved on to other toys. This evening when we went into the bathroom for her bath, I turned on the light, she took one look at the toy-strewn floor and exclaimed "Oh min!" (Oh, man!). It was so adorably grown-up sounding. *Sigh* I can't believe she will be two in only two months!

Now I would like to take a moment to brag. *Ahem* As you probably know, we use elimination communication with Daniel as we did with Emma. I am much more confident this time around and have found more little extras to make things flow more smoothly, like poquito pants - a fancy, extra-absorbent cloth diaper for when I am doing other things and not as focused on our communication. The others are as follows. I have made several pairs of fleece split-crotch pants and a potty cover for Daniel and his potty, respectively! Hooray for me. Now I can keep his little legs warm without having to remove his pants every time he needs to pee and his little tushie won't get cold when he sits down.

Ok, I know that he is naked (at least from the waist down) in this picture, but after he did this to me well, I say "all's fair in love and war"!



Boys! After all the trouble I went to in order to lay him on a pad! :o}

Two pairs of rosey cheeks!

The other day Tuan commented that Emma had not one but two pairs of rosy cheeks! Remember the clothing strike? It was pretty adorable, but I got concerned when she said that her bum and cheeks were "owie". So I put some medicine and lotion on them. After her bath I rubbed some major moisturizing gunk (don't want to advertise!) on them and the next morning they were no longer rosie and "owie". Thank goodness for major moisturizing gunk, huh! I took an absolutely adorable picture, but she's "nated" and I can't post it on my blog. Oh, well! She'll thank me when she's older, right!

Wherza da cookie?!

Last night, our family enjoyed our Christmas Eve traditions. Every year we go out to eat - at a Chinese Buffet since they are usually the only places open on Christmas Eve and also very yummy! This year, we didn't realize until too late that Christmas Eve was a Sunday night. But we decided to go out anyway and really had a great time. It was late in the evening and so nice to have the restaurant pretty much to ourselves. Then we drove around and looked at "titty heights" (see previous post for translation) on our way home. Tuan put on some lesser known (read: obscure!) Christmas music and we danced around a bit before reading the Christmas story from the Bible. As Tuan read the story, Emma and I set up the nativity. Then we popped in "The Polar Express" and waited for midnight to roll around so that we could each open one present. We then added the last ornament,baby Jesus, to our advent calender tree. Despite a late morning and late nap, Emma was pretty tired and cranky while we were setting out a cookie for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. (One carrot - 8 reindeer = not enough, I know, I know!) I wasn't sure if she was really getting what we were doing. So, Christmas morning rolls around and we all come out to the living room. We point out that the cookie and carrot are gone now. Emma looks at us in surprise and asks, "Whereza da titty?" (where's the cookie) We explained that Santa came last night and took the cookie and carrot after leaving presents for Daniel and her. She excepted this fabrication completely and without question the way only and innocent child can. It really got me thinking. For Emma, we are her entire world. If we tell her that something is truth, she has no reason yet to disbelieve us. This really impressed upon me the importance of my position in her life right now and the influence I have. I am humbled by this responsibility and more resolved to teach and nurture in Emma and Daniel the self-worth and courage it will take for them to become who they want to be and do what they want to do with their life. Wow - all of that from a simple cookie and carrot! Merry Christmas!

Ahhhhmen!

This is Emma trying on the costume I made her for her part in our church nativity. I decided that I wanted her to be able to be a part of it and didn't want to find a babysitter for her. So I asked the director if we could be Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and a Sheepheardess. She said that it would be fine, so we handed Emma a stuffed lamb and headed out onto the stage. If you don't know, Emma LOVES to sing. She loves to sing loudly, too. As we were going to be on the stage for 3 musical numbers, I was pretty nervous that she would break into song and be very distracting. Very lucky for us, she was entranced by the wisemen, the hay and the audience and only sang a little bit and softly. Whew! Oh, and after sewing nursing slits into my costume, Daniel slept through the entire ordeal. Double Whew! During the closing remarks, Emma started veering off to the side and the only thing that would get her to stay close to us was to sit on my lap and hold Daniel. It was a really precious moment.

I love the way Emma says Amen after we finish praying. Withy her usual chin-to-the-ceiling-then-down-to-her-chest head movement: "Ahhhhmen"

My two handsome guys!