Hopng for health

Nearly 10 days later, and we are now having a healthier time of it. Ori and Beca both woke in the night Monday/Tuesday night puking and crying and needing mamamamamamamamamamama. Ugh. I tell ya, the benes for this job are seriously not cutting it. I need some vacation time! So, by this afternoon, Beca had slept a lot and was feeling better, and O...well, he was still whiney and complainey but seemed to be feeling ok. We'll see. He missed art class on Tues. (again), which was sad, but hopefully we can make the next week ones and catch up by one class. Tomorrow we get to go talk with the orthodontist and see how much her brace/expander work is going to hurt us. UGH! Friday I'm getting snow tires put onto the Honda - hopefully that will make the slippage problem nonexistent. That was SCARY last year, coming back from Jimminy and sliding around on those narrow roads...YIKES! Getting the Blizzaks, so hopefully not to be an issue. Of course this means we'll get next to no snow this year lol!

This weekend we've got the holiday party at Jackie and Mike's place on Saturday, which we've all been looking forward to a ton! We've got our gifts, though three of them still need wrapping lol! The weekend after we're going down to manhattan for mom's birthday - hopefully we'll get to squeeze in a movie and some window shopping!

We've finally got our own tree up, and I'm really liking it this year. A true fir, it smells divine and is very full and beautiful. Pictures will, once again, not do it justice, but I will take them as we move along in our tree-decorating.

Chanukah starts on Friday night - very exciting! I still have a ton of wrapping to do for that, but I've decided that it's only going to be one gift per kid per night, no exceptions. Christmas will be more, but not a TON (since they already got a bunch!), plus their stocking. And I'm looking forward to getting to use my pretty new candle holder thingee for solstice. :D So the holidays are looking up! Tomorrow I'm going to the butcher to see whether we can't get a nice chunk of ham for christmas. Not sure about solstice, but I'll get a nice big roast chicken for Chanukah - and LATKES!!! YUMMMMM! And this year I'm going to make the applesauce ahead of time, so it's nice and cold for the latkes. :-)

Still sick after all these weeks

Well, we're into the 1st week of December, and the first snow has flown (though admitedly not a heck of a lot of it), the boys are sick here, and have been for a long time! Poor O has had a cough pretty steadily since mid November. And JAC has stayed home 2 days now - unprecedented, really. He's been sick since last Thursday! I have one photo of the two of them together, sick as dogs. I'll post that up when there's more than 30 seconds to make a post. Hopefully the winter turns around a bit and people get and stay healthy around here! Luckily Beca and I have both held our own in the healthy department.

Decadently December

December is just around the corner now, Thanksgiving weekend come and gone. JAC and Dad suffered in the rain, but the kids LOVE that parade! Beca was especially pleased to see the big fat sponge bob balloon, while Ori seemed to just take it all in. Sweet!

The Corns are looking good, Saraine has gained some weight and looks very healthy. Bernie was really awesome with O, playing happily with him while the rest of us rolled our eyes. :D

Also finally got a decent picture of Beca in her gi - though I'd have liked something a little less DRAMATIC! They do a lot of these release type moves.



I passed out trying to put Ori to sleep (who did eventually capitulate, out of boredom, I think), so now I'm up at 1am. Mad face. Well, there isn't really a BETTER time to update blogs, is there?!

Leaving Fall

Today we had chinook winds...or hurricane weather...or Indian Summer with high humidity and periodic rain. Funny weather. We've got the raking almost done, the gutters cleaned, the patio furniture put up (other than the table, which splintered in a big wind last week :( ), so other than the actual weather, it feels like we're leaving fall!

Ori is taking a new class this fall - imaginart! He really is digging it!

Here he is, hamming it up for us at the camera.

The first week we did hand prints, turning them into funny little turkeys. Ori LOVED painting on his hand. I actually got the impression that he's somehow paint deprived or something. The other children were equally enthralled.



Cartwheels also has a sensory table that the children can use. Last week it was full of corn.



And some gratuitous pictures of my georgeous children. :D





Aren't they pretty!




Orin is very fond of playing games these days - peek a boo is certainly one of his favorites!

We're well into the swing of life now, with school and Aikido forming the major pattern, Girl Scouts (and my Service Unit responsibilities), Sunday School, Ori's art class and toddler montessori classes, babysits in the coop, and the occasional meet up with Brig, Lori, or Lynn filling out the schedule. I've joined (well, gone twice, but intend to continue going) a writer's gropu that I like very much. Sometimes I even remember to get from the library and read the book club book, sometimes not. JAC still likes meetups with his fella friends on Thursdays, especially during football season.

I'm enjoying my writing a lot, working on and thinking of the depth of the characters and the twists of the plot, an enjoyable way to fill out my time. I made some big leaps last Tuesday with the group, and look forward to working on their work. The group is usually pretty small, but thoughtful and intelligent. Can't ask for much more than that!

Beca is doing very well at Aikido. She passed her first stripe test a few weeks ago, and is enjoying the movement, contact, and challenge that it offers. Censai Rick is really wonderful with the kids, they learn well from him and respect him a lot. I hope to take some pictures of them soon - she is quite sweet looking in her Gi.

Ori is starting to communicate better - words and sentances intermixed with Orinish - a mixture of ancient Mandarin and angel speak. We've been doing lots of babysits lately, enjoying having other children his own age over for a play date. Josh is still his best buddy, but these other children are fun for him as well. Today he beat up on Maggie a bit too much, but accidentally. He was very generous with his time, toys, high chair and food. So nice to see.

Falling Back

Since the swing of life has turned into a rather fast paced routine, I thought I'd hit upon some highlights, and then try to post in some pictures. Wish me luck with that!

We had a smashing halloween party on 10/28. The majority of revellers came disguised, the rum punch got finished (BIG bowl!), and there was more food than we - a small army - could eat! We played games, had a nice little parade, gave out lots of prizes (all the kids and a lot of adults, too), and shared a lot of laughs. It was nice to see so many neighbors over, and their kids. Beca was the real queen of the party - all the kids deferred to her. Nice to see her fill her hostess roll so well! She had a blast! Ori was in full swing with his partner Josh, the two of them stumbling along and when his name was called for a costume prize - he threw his hands up into the air and laughed and danced jubilently! What a sight...



We've had some other fun weekends, but mostly we spend Saturday doing house/yard work, Aikido in the morning, and maybe a bit of shopping sans toddler in the p.m. Sunday we are going pretty regularly to FUUSA, I am teaching twice a month. We did our first session on Sukkot, which was great fun! JAC came in and helped, and we built a sukkah! The kids loved it. Tons of people came after the services/classes were over and shared a snack with us inside. It was lousy weather so we did it inside the classroom, which took some inguinity! Thanks to JAC and Dee for their incredible help!

This past Sunday we celebrated Diwali with Indian Pudding, Rangoli painting, dice games and making clay pots for tea lights. I'm enjoying think of creative and hands on ways of teaching the kids about these foreign and sometimes difficult to grasp holi/holydays. Next month is Chanukah! I get all the good ones LOL!

Next weekend we're going camping if the weather holds - we found an AWESOME camping spot along a lake in the 'Daks, very quiet tho only metres from the road. Pit latrine and excellent camp spot, plus built in hiking trail. It'll be awesome to take Ori on his next camping (in a tent and sleeping bag) expdition. Although he's not so easy to get to sleep in the tent (on the air mattress, of course!), once he's asleep he sleeps well. All that outdoor time and fresh air do him justice!

Well, I think that's it for now. Smaller highlights, like Beca's excellent sleepover at Gabby's, Star Lab with Brownies (our hike is tomorrow) and our less than fun relations w/the D's are worth a honerary mention, but we'll get on to posting pictures (before the internet connection breaks lol).

Return to Routine

Wow - Summer 2006 is GONE!!! Unbelievable. It was a fabulous summer, I gotta say, but all too fast we are back into homework, regular meals, and the STUFF of everyday life. Beca's new teacher is Tim, who, along with Sandy, seem to have a great class this year. I'm the parent liason once again, which other than the Friends meetings is fine with me. Sue West Evans is my co-parent liason, and she's wonderful. I'm hoping to get in touch asap and start to gel into a unit.

Summer kicked off with swim/dive lessons. Beca really did well, and has the rudiments of both the front flip and back dive. She worked hard, and seems to feel confident with them both. Hopefully she'll hang onto that feeling and next summer won't be start from scratch!

After her swim/dive lessons were done, she had a week of Girl Scout Camp at Is-Sho-Da. She enjoyed the activities, and had fun at the sleepover, but again the social issues were not easy for her and she wasn't exactly looking forward to her 2nd week. Luckily she had a nice long week at home with O and I in between. We bored her sufficiently that she WAS looking forward to the week come Sunday! The sleepover on the 2nd week didn't go as well, and somehow she and A. got into some kind of grr-err on the first or second day and never really got over it. So it was not a great experience. Oh my. Well, next summer perhaps something different ALTOGETHER! I'm actually considering 2 weeks of Undirondack camp. I'd like to visit it and also talk to other parents who sent their young-ish girls there. It's not a decision I will make lightly, or alone.

Remind me to come back here before NEXT summer and put in some new pictures.

A few days after camp ended, we left for RUBY CREEK!!!

The flights out were ok, not great, but I nursed O almost the entire way there, and he seemed to sleep well. Renting the car through Budget was a MISTAKE of grand proportion. Although it didn't cost us our entire savings, it was NOT cheap, and it took over THREE HOURS to even GET a car! Anyway, it worked the entire trip, so I shall stop complaining. It was just a rough start. Once we got to RC things really took off for us, and we all had a nice chill session.



Jerry had a meeting with the sibs and lawyers the next day, so we worked around that, and really it was fine. It put a bit of a bitter taste on his chill time, but he was back before dinner and got in a swim and stuff. I think Jerry really enjoyed his time up there - kite flying, exploring with the kids, swimming, watching CBC news. Since we only got the one channel, it was easy to decide what to watch!

We had a load of visitors there, including cousins and second cousins, friends like Joanne, Lukas and Jacob,

Tasha, Loreena, and old family friends.

Pat and Jim were able to come up a few times, which was fabulous.


Ken and Di were there for our first few days, but Ken was out of vacation by the start of the next week, and we really didn't see a ton of them. The time we spent together was great, though!



Beca has some fun sleepovers at Loreena's and at Lucas's houses, then we all trooped off to Robert's Creek and stayed at D'Arcy's for 3 nights. WOW WOW WOW!!!

D'Arcy is living in a geodesic dome that is awesome to be in, and her property is amazing.


The cabins are so cute!






D'Arcy has recovered so well from the car accident, you'd never know she has had a major brain injury! Everything isn't back to perfect, but she's got her same flare and wonderful sense of humor, and she's running her B&B with only a bit of help, now.




And the beach is wonderful.






I'll have to process my thoughts and feelings about all that and write more on a diffferent day - time to go get dinner going here already! - but it was awesome to see D'Ar and a truly wonderful place. Sigh. I miss her and RC a lot.

Once we got back from our trip there were only a few days before school started. And that brings us back to homework and dinner and me skipping out on the rest of the afternoon! Bit embarrassing really. Ok, I'll try to get back later tonight and post up pictures. Hopefully everyone is REAAAAAALY tired. :D

Another year in the blink of my eye

A Life Reborin

Oh me, oh my, just another year of my life gone by!

Amazingly enough, I no longer count the years by my birthday, but by the birthday of my sweet little girl. EIGHT!!!!! Eight amazing years have come and gone in the blink of my eye. She is confident and agile, ferocious and sensitive. She has sense and is whimsical. She is my shadow and my future, brave and solemn. She cries at TV show drama, refuses to sit long enough to read, frightened of the dark, thrilled by thunder, enthralled by bugs. Good god, I don't think I could love anyone else this way - never again, I say. Never again. One amazing, georgeous girl is all this mama can handle!

End of School 2005-2006

Today is Beca's last day of school. She's had her dance recital (which went swimmingly - no broken legs hee hee), taken her standardized tests, and finished her workbooks. The paints and pencils have come home. She had a long year - full of ups and downs, lots of learning, and a few memorable moments. Her class play on the rainforest was terrific - she spoke clearly and loudly, and was one of the better speakers. She made her own costume from conception to paint. It wasn't the fanciest, but it sure was colorful! She was a Cock-of-the-Rock (not a chicken)! Her chorus efforts are rewarded today - she is part of a nice big group singing rainforest songs (think Jungle Book).

Ori has some new words, and new signs. He says night-night, car, bus, truck, dog, and ball (maybe some I'm forgetting?). Ok - not exactly Whitman yet, but he's getting there! He signs milk, ball, more, food, juice (a little bit), hot, cold, car, star, potty, and water (sort of). He's growing well, curious and adventuring all over the yard. He loves to eat, this kid! He eats his veggies better than his fruits. He is currently suffering from what I think is a high body pH, which means he isn't processing acidic foods well, and the acids remain in his excretia, burning his skin where they touch. He's always had fleece liners in his diapes, but the burns are bad, and it's very sore for him. I've taken him off the most acidic foods (meat, meat products, refined sugar) and we'll see how it goes. It doesn't change his diet all that much (for me), tho I know that JAC will not be happy. Poor little guy - we've got to get it cleared up soon though! He's screaming with every poop in the diape (you'd think this would be a perfect opportunity for him to get into using the potty, but when I ask if he wants to use it, he'll go find it, bring it to me, and then not want to sit on it at all. Just wants me to know he knows what it is. *roll eyes* ), and he wakes and cries about two or three times a night, too. We'll deal, and hopefully learn.

So as summer approaches, so does Beca's birthday! She is excited!!! This year we are having a crafting party - tie-dye, fabric painting, rainstick making etc. It's a nice bunch of girls coming, so I hope it is a success. We decided to do an evening event this year - 3:30 - 7:30. Dinner on the BBQ with some salads and snacks, cake/ice-cream, and drinks is easy enough for me. Daddy will be a big help with the bbq, and Jackie and Mike will be here with Max and Liana, so they can help a little too. I also asked Nesh if she would help, and I think she will. So that will give us 4 adults and 10 children, plus O and M. Should be INTERESTING!!!

Interest and shopping

Ah - the interesting thing about my life right now is how quickly it changes. From having a school aged kid to having a school aged kid and a baby - and now he's a toddler! He's itching to get out of shopping carts, kicking the back of the seat in the van, and generally letting the world know he's THERE and wants to check it out. We've done a lot of shopping in the past few days, mostly because I kept forgetting what it was I needed (printer cartridge, d'oh!), so he's gotten to be expert at the 'cart fidgit'. Well, we finally did get the cartridge and hopefully won't need to shop much in the next few days. Today the fields were so soaking wet that Beca's softball was cancelled. We're going away this weekend, so we will miss 2 games - one sat. and one sun. On top of that, we're probably going to miss one more game June 7th, hopefully because Lisa and Lauren are coming! If they don't come, we'll be at the game. If they do come, we'll take a road trip to NYC and show them the stars - or at least times square at night.

JAC is away tonight. I have Lori and Finn and Evelyn coming in the morning, so time for me to pack it up and tidy and sleep. Ori has been sleeping like a CHAMPION these past few nights. Let's hope that keeps up!

Words...

Words...their impact is amazing. They record our history - the wins and losses of our lives. They mark time, remember our people, and without them, we forget it all. We forget the last time we said I love you. We forget the last time we connected with distant family. Words bring us to each other, to our mercy, to our needful places. Orin says 'thirsty' to me, and I bring water to him. He hugs me, and we drink together. We share his words, his first ever words after Mama and Dada. Thirsty. He is my soul and my love, and his words bring me to my knees in offering.

A Life Reborin

Just some interesting things to do when time permits...

What's Your Personality Type?

Now try this one: FYI - I was pretty good at US history, and I flunked!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

Well thank goodness we've survived it, Ori's had Roseola. It's even less fun than the chicken pox! We are now enjoying SPRING weather! It's in the 70's and rains often at night. Makes for muddy trails, but VERY enjoyable backyard afternoons. Beca is painting now, some water color action, and Orin is exploring his backyard world. We've got the new climber out there, which he uses quite a bit, tho I haven't seen him use the slide (but reports from the neighbors are that he does use it, just slowly lol!), but he likes to go inside the little door and just hang out. (you can just barely see it - to the right of the big playgym and behind that tree...sorry, crappy shot) A real clubhouse kinda guy - does this mean he's going to turn his room into a CAVE???

Catchup

I suck big time for this being such a loooong gap in postings. Things have been busy, with a real bi-ped on our hands who loves to investigate, take apart, taste, climb, and otherwise keep his mama busy.

I've taken up knitting with a real passion, so far I've made a very nice scarf, an elf hat for JAC, mittens and a balaclava for Beca, a bib for Ori, and working on the needles is an awesome cute fall sweater for Ori. He'll also get a jacket/hat set that I'll probably work on this summer (with Shirley near-by to help lol).

We've got some yard work left to do but got some new planters and motivated JAC to build some rectangular ones that I can use for herbs on the deck. Also making some plans to extend the deck, which will be awesome once it's aligned with the hot tub. :D Ideally I'd like to see it encompass the HT, going around on 3 sides. The 4th side (facing the house) needs to be left open so that we can access the pumps and stuff.

To hit some highlights -

we took a nice long weekend trip to Boston, staying at the Langham Hotel right downtown. VERY cool stay, and a nice relax. We had a Mass/NY reunion with Sheri & Bill, Laura & Larry, and all the kids. Sheri looks awesome preggo - tho at the time we didn't know it was with TWINS!!! Laura has lost a ton of lbs and looks like she's going to blow away in the wind... but she looks fab., and maybe I'm just jealous lol!

Jerry and I asked Jacky to babysit for us in Feb and we took our Anniversary night out to see Phantom of the Opera at Proctors Theater. VERY fun time! :D

Jerry brought me flowers and candies for Valentines Day, which is not only unprecedented, but WOAH - he REMEMBERED it was valentine's day! I was duly impressed. :-)

We incurred major repairs - again - on the Volvo, so I decided it was time to replace the much loved Black Sky with a new vehicle. Say hello to Babs! We sure are loving the space, it gets the same or better mileage, and so far - knock wood - no problems!

Beca did a report on Canada for the Cultural Fair at WHMS. It was fun, tho getting her to finish tasks is still challenging. She enjoyed the Fair a lot, and so did we all!

I've been doing quite a bit of work for Honest Weight Food Coop, including both Smoothie Events for WHMS, and an upcoming Fruit/veg sculpting session (not too sure what this is about, actually). Also been to a couple of fairs, and will be working next weekend (Earth Day) at the GMO awareness table. Orin and I canvassed the NY State Senators and Reps. for a group Lobby Day, which was fun and educational. He made a lot of friends there, I'll say! He was the littlest lobbiest who could push a baby-cart. Very sweet.

I've been doing some knit-wit days with Lori, Brig and - in theory - Lynn. She hasn't actually made one of our meet ups, yet, but she's with us in spirit!

I've decided to get cracking on working on my book again - I met a woman who will be helping me get a writer's group started in this area. She's working on some stuff too, so it'll be great for us both. Hopefully we can elicit a couple more people and get a good working group going! Wish me luck!

Jerry blew his knee out back in January, which it looks like will probably need some medicalization. Possibly surgery. Not looking forward to that, but this too, we shall survive.

April Fools we went down to Westchester for Liana Sasloff's birthday and party, just Beca and I. Jerry and Ori stayed home ALL DAY together. It was a LOOOONG day for Jerry, but he did great. The baby survived too lol! That inspired me to start night weaning Ori. He's been waking up on average 3 times a night to nurse, but he really doesn't need it, more a comfort thing. I started slowly, sleeping with him the whole night, but not nursing when he woke, then moving from his bed to mine to start the night, and only coming in after the 2nd waking. Now, week 2, he does sleep through the night 8pm until 6:30 or 7AM. Sometimes he does wake at 4/5, and I just go and nurse and cuddle him until it's time to get up - or until he just won't sleep any more ha ha. So I'm finally getting some really decent sleep, which is making my life a LOT better!

We celebrated my birthday this past weekend with a weekend long love fest. We spent all day Saturday doing yard stuff - Ori got a little climbing structure, fixing up the big gym so that he can't climb up there anymore, and cleaning up. Then we went to a Passover dinner at FUUSA which we all really enjoyed. Even Ori did well! Today we woke early and did easter egg hiding, and then easter egg finding! Beca found them all - with a little help. Ori even found some! Then Ori and I went and napped, and Beca and daddy wrapped up my birthday gifts and did a hunt in the backyard - with Beca to guide me hot hot hot cold, I found everything and really had a fun time, too! Thanks guys!!! I got some great new kitchen stuff, and some wool, and Beca made me a necklace! :D VERY happy me!

Well, hopefully I'll have time for picture adding later on...for now, at least you are updated on our world. Thanks for checking in!

Our Manling is ONE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our sweet little boy. Our spotty boy on this day, he got the chicken pox yesterday. Poor little cub had a terrible night sleeping (and he wasn't the only one LOL!), and didn't nap well, either. But he's been a real trooper and when he scratches and I say "un unh" he shakes his head no and says "Un Unh". What a darling! Other baby tricks: he can high five, wave, and loves to hang upside down.

He's doing so well now - cruising, crawling, pooping on the potty (today for the first time he actually made his own way to the potty, sat down and pooped in it! What a thrill for me! :D I got very busy doing the diaper dance!!), being sweet, eating lots of new and different foods (newest favorites are lentils, mushrooms and BIRTHDAY CAKE!). Here he is pooping on the potty. He's wonderfully responsive to us, his sweet/ sly/ tricky/ loving/ longing looks tell us so much of what is going on in his mind. He tries to really figure things out - interest in the window is as much the things outside as the cool clear pane of glass, how it sits in the moulding, what it sounds like when you bang your fingers on it, how it feels against his cheek. Does it move? Even with a little help LOL! Well, he is certainly his own wonderful person, and we are LOVING having him in our world! :D

Beca had a great time celebrating with him for his big day. She carefully hid all his gifts around the house, and then - 10 hours later - had to remember where they all were! She made hima BIG banner that read Happy Birthday Orin! and helped to pick out decorations. Jacky Thorp bought him some mylar baloons w/helium in them, THANK YOU JACKY!, and I made him a yummy dairy/wheat free choc. chip cake w/chocolate frosting. Beca opened gifts for him, and made him beautiful homemade crayons from her own crayon stumps. They came out great and look like little mini cupcake crayons :D

So the end of his first year come to a close. He's busy snoring away upstairs (thanks to his daddy's sinuses), so I'd better start my knitting and hop to bed. YAY ORIN!!!!!!

January 2006

Growing Up and Breaking Out

Well, we kicked off the new year getting Jerry healthy after a nasty bout of pneumonia and then having Beca come down with the CHICKEN POX! Ugh. Now it's just a matter of days (or maybe weeks?) until we ssee how hard Orin will get hit. I tried to keep them apart today, but without much luck. Eventually I gave up and we had a drum-a-thon while Daddy came back from the store. I am only hoping that Jerry doesn't get them, as he never had any pox as a kid. His mom tried, so we can't blame sweet Dotty for it, but ... think good thoughts for him and us please...

And on other changes, Mr. Orin Clarence has moved from two to one nap a day!! He's still a bit cranky around 11, but will make it to one with a nice long restful nursing on the boppy. Then he'll snooze from 1-3ish and then make it until about 6pm, when the crankies start nipping at us again. Like his earlier bout, with a nice long nursing he makes it through until 8pm just fine.

Tonight we watched The Polar Express which both kids really loved. Orin was happy watching it for about 45 minutes. Then it was 8pm and like clockwork he needed his bed. *shrug* This child certainly is DIFFERENT from our first go-round!

New Years Eve 2005

The end of our first year all together.

New Years Eve Day we went into Albany for the Jingle Jog, which Beca WON! Well, they we're all Number One ha ha ha It was a great race, and Beca ran VERY well :)

The fireworks were GREAT this year. Beca enjoyed them so so much! Ori watched them from his Daddy's arms and was enchanted, enthralled! He would give a little puff of OH! when they would come shooting out of the cannons, then "vvvvvvvvvvvvrrrrrooooooooBOOM" he'd say and like magic they'd explode in the dark night sky. Just wide eyed throughout. Everything was beautiful with the new fallen snow, everyone was super friendly, and we really enjoyed all the events and activities. We got carrolled to, made decorations, we listened and clapped and sang with Mark Rust who played fun and wonderful songs on his guitar, dulcimer, and other instruments, saw stilt walkers and the Disney plays put on by the high school drama club. We saw the Salos and Brendan and his brother and parents from Woodland Hill. EVERYONE enjoyed the day and evening tremendously. Not to be out done by last year, Beca stayed up for the ball drop at midnight. At 11:45 pm Ori woke for a midnight snack, and I brought him down so we all counted down together and had a BIG family hug on the couch. It is my most favorite New Years EVER!