Busy Days

This is picture of the little guy after the first surgery. It was done laproscopically so he only had two little cuts (only about 1/2 inch each) under his diaper and a bandage over his belly button. The second surgery left him with about a 2 1/2 in. scar on his stomach. I'm hoping since he's so little that it will fade in time. Besides the scars you'd never know anything had happened to him. He's as active as ever and has even started walking.

We're in the last few days of Ramadan and gearing up for Eid on Wednesday which means buying new dresses for the girls and and dress shirts and pants for the boys. I've already bought them some small gifts and on Eid we'll take them to Chuck E. Cheese as a surprise after the masjid. We're hoping the make a big present out of going to see their grandparents. We've got the tickets reserve but still have to get them. If all goes well, that means I won't be around until about mid-November. (unless I get a chance to post again before we go) I'm hoping to get at least one quilt top made while we're gone if I can get the pieces cut before we go. I'm pretty sure I'll have time to work on it since we'll be hanging out with the relatives and I can hand piece it while everyone chats and plays. I'm planning on doing a sampler in black and batiks while blocks from a quilt a-long at crazy mom quilts but switching one block out to use a star block from Judy's latest BOM at Patchwork Times.

Between preparing for Eid (shopping, gift wrapping, cookie baking and house cleaning), packing, quilt prep and the regular chaos of running a 7-person household I don't think I'll have much time for anything else right now. Speaking of chaos, the little guy has dumped his bowl of (dry) Cheerios all over the floor and is having a mini-meltdown so I've got to run.

Have a great day everyone.

I'm back

I know, I know. Long time, no post. But I've got an excellent excuse. A couple of weeks or so after the last post, I learned a brand new word...Intussusception.

What is this strange and exotic new word? you ask. It's a somewhat rare medical condition where a portion of the intestines rolls up inside of another part of the intestines. The medical websites give the metaphor of a telescope being collasped but I think a more accurate description would be to compare it to those kids' toy-water worms or water snakes. You know-the ones that are like a continuous donut-shaped tube filled with water that rolls out of your hand if you squeeze it. Ya didn't know that the intestines could act like a water snake, did ya? Well, neither did I.

How did I learn this fun new word? One night our little guy woke up crying. It started as a little cry but quickly progressed to scream-crying that nothing would pacify that would cycle-2 mins. crying, 30 sec. quiet, 3 mins. crying, 40 sec. quiet-you get the idea. After about half an hour of this, he threw up and seemed to calm down a little but he looked so drained we called the dr. Dr. says take him to the er just in case. Mind you this is 2 a.m. So we wake all the other kids and get everyone loaded in the car and head not to the nearest er but to one further away but better. By the time we get there (3 a.m.), little guy is calm and only throws up a tiny bit as we are checking in. Fortunately, the er is quiet so we see the dr. quickly. She takes a quick peek and orders an x-ray. X-ray doesn't show anything and the dr.s not sure what's going on so she orders ultrasound but they want to wait until the change of shift so a pediatric radiologist will be on hand to look at it. During this time, he's sleeping while nurses are trying to find a vein so that they can get a blood sample and an iv started just in case. Three tries and no luck when the night shift radiology tech comes in to takes us down before he leaves. (At this point I'm thinking that this might just be a waste of time because little guy is sound asleep and seems to be much better now. {It took three more tries before they finally got the blood and IV started.}) It was a change of plans but I'm glad he is the one that did it. Within minutes of starting the ultrasound, I could tell from his actions he had spotted something wrong. And this guy was good, checking and rechecking, asking a senior tech for advice and then grabbing the first available radiologist. Without saying what it was he redid the ultrasound of the radiologist with me following along trying to keep up. This is when I learned this great new word. My little 9 month had a portion of this small intestines rolled up about 6-8 in. into his large intestines (up and about half way across his belly).

At this point, we became the teaching case of the er. The cause is unknown but may be trigger by the lymph nodes swelling up after any kind of illness. (He'd had a little cold for a couple of days. Later findings make me think it was caused by something else.) It mostly happens in boys around 3 mo. to 6 years old. There are two methods for trying to correct this anomaly-1)an enema administered by a radiologist using continuous x-ray to monitor the progress and 2) surgery. Because the enema is deemed less invasive they always try this first. Either way we were told he would be kept at the hospital at least over night to make sure it wouldn't recur. (We called some friends who came and pick up the kids for us.) They performed an air enema and let me tell you, I would not call that the best option. It may be less invasive but I think it's far more tramatic. There were three of us trying to hold him down and as still as possible while he screamed in pain each of the three times they tried. He would collapse back down exhausted each time they relieved the pressure. The x-rays should that the enema couldn't complete push the intestines back in place so he ended up having to have surgery anyway. He had laproscopic surgery around 2 p.m. The surgeon told us that the intussusception corrected itself by the time he went in but half of the appendix was swollen and purple so he removed it just in case. (It wasn't the cause but likely got caught between the two layers of intestine.) We get settled into a room and dh goes to pick up the kids and get some rest. I bounce around between trying to rest, keeping an eye in the little guy (whose snoozing soundly from the trama of the day), trying to deal with being very uncomfortably engorged (He hasn't nursed since 1 a.m. and won't be allowed to nurse again until after the surgeon checks on him in the morning) and finally being incredibly bored since the only thing I brought with me is the diaper bag. It was a shared room with only 1 t.v. so I couldn't even turn that on to pass the time. By 8 a.m., I finally break down and ask the nurse if they've got any kind of reading material I could borrow. She was so great. She knew exactly what I was going through and managed to find me a couple of magazines. Amazingly enough, we left the hospital before noon with a happy baby and a passing post-op warning to come back in if he should any sign of a recurrence but with the assurance that this was very rare.

How rare is it? It only happens in 1 to 4 out of 1,000 kids.
How rare is a recurrence? When an enema works, there's a 10% chance of recurrence within 72 hours. After surgery, there's only about a 3% chance. (Do you see where I'm going here?)

Given these odds, I decided to hope for the best but prepare just in case. I got some little travel-size toiletries and stuck them in the diaper bag. 9 days later, at almost the exact same time of night, he had a recurrence. This time I grabbed a book, magazine and a quilting project along with an extra shirt and the diaper bag. (I forgot to mention that my little angel peed on my sleeve during the ultrasound the first time around and I had nothing else to wear.) We didn't bother calling the pediatrician this time. No point waking her up at 2 in the morning when we already knew what we'd have to do. Woke up the kids and headed back to the hospital. Ultrasound confirmed what we pretty much knew only this time it wasn't quite so bad. (Once again, our friends where kind enough to come and take our kids to their house.) The decision was made to wait for the day time shift change and the pediatric radiologist to try the enema again. (This doc was a much older man, who thankfully was very gentle as well as cautious. It was still tramatic but not nearly as bad as the first time.) No good but the surgeon decided he'd rather take a wait and see approach this time. Around 2 p.m. he showed symptoms again so the surgeon ordered another enema. Back to radiology we went, only this time with the surgeon watching from the other room. No luck again but this time the radiologist pointed out a mass/dark spot that he had seen the first time around and felt is was somewhat larger. So back to surgery, this time with a larger incision so that the surgeon can feel what this mass is and decide whether or not to remove it, but first more waiting for antibiotics and an open operating room. We finally head down to surgery around 8 p.m. Around 10:30, the surgeon comes out to give us the update. He couldn't identify the mass so he decided to remove it but to do that he had to remove part of both the large and small intestines and then form a new connection. We'd have to wait for the pathology report to find out exactly what was removed. We finally got settled back in the room around 1:30; nearly 24 hours after we arrived. Dh finally went home to sleep around 2. (It was a very cramped shared room.)

I didn't sleep much since the nursing staff in this department wasn't exactly attentive. They didn't hook him up to a single monitor despite him being on morphine and post-op. In the morning his i.v. alarm sounded for 40 min. (starting before shift change), we were right across the hall from the nurses station even and no one came. Fortunately, because of being short-handed, a nurse from a different department took over his day time care and immediately hooked him up to the monitors and checked up on us frequently during the day. When dh came later that afternoon, I told him about my annoyance with the night time staff. He encouraged me to ask if we could move to a different ward. I'm so glad he did. Our wonderful nurse stepped right up and got us moved to a big private room on her normal ward. It made the rest of our stay much more relaxed. Our little guy needed alot of holding during his recovery in the hospital so I didn't work on the quilting I'd brought but it came in handy at night as an extra blanket. :)

We had to stay at the hospital for 2 1/2 days after the surgery and wait another week after that to find out that the mass was a diverticula. A diverticula is just an extra little pouch that can form on the intestinal wall. Usually they happen on the lower end of the large intestines in older adults who haven't had the best of diets. His was a rare occurance on the beginning portion of the large intestines that he was probably born with. I believe this is was triggered the intussusception. I also think it was the cause of other things he was experiencing that were different from our other kids. He always had very loose, frequent poops. He was, also, awful about eating solid foods. It could take 45 min. just to feed him about 1 oz. of food. Now he's a much better eater and his bowel movements are much more normal.

So, between helping him recover and taking care of all of the normal everyday stuff, I just haven't had to time to blog.

Oops

I hadn't realized it had been more than a month since my last post.

We've been pretty busy around here. Passed around a nasty little infection that started out like a cold but progressed to ear and eye infections in nearly everyone so I've been busy passing out doses of antibiotics and eye drops to multiple kids over the last month. Fun, fun, fun.

I came down with it the night before I was planning on going to a huge, homeschooling used book sale so I missed out on that. :( I have one more shot of finding some deals on used books at a convention in the middle of July before I break down and have to pay full price for the stuff I want to use this year. For now, we've started up again using our McGuffey Readers, some math workbooks and DVDs from Netflix for history.

I've been busy doing some clothes sewing as well with tons more to do (pants and skirts for the girls and me). When I get more done, I'll post some pictures.

As my birthday present, Mohsen watched 3 of the kids while Safiya, Husein and I went to the local annual quilt show. We had tons of fun, probably bought a bit more than we should have but enjoyed ourselves so it was worth it. I haven't had a chance to transfer the pictures I took but hope to this weekend if I can get my sewing projects finished.

The little guy just woke up from his very short nap so I've got to run. I'll try and post again this weekend.

Finally some pictures

Thank you to everyone that has been popping in to see if I've finally gotten around to updating my blog.

First, here are two pictures of the baby quilt I finished back in March. No new quilting has been going on but I did make 2 pairs of pants for the girls as well as a swimsuit for myself and new swimpants for the girls before we took our trip. (I still have to make the girls new tops. The color is almost completely bleached out of the old ones.)

The trip was great. We ended up not going to Disney but still had tons of fun and didn't even get to all of the attractions I had planned. (We did, however, go to Downtown Disney to check out the Lego store and the big lego creations like the sea serpent behind us in the last picture.)

Staying at a rental house was definately THE best way to go. Lots of space, very comfortable, economical and quite relaxing. If anyone out there is planning to travel in the near future, especially if you'll be travelling with kids, you should really consider renting a house rather than a hotel. Just google "vacation rental" and the city or state (or even country) you'll be heading to. Just goofing around, I've found some amazing looking places all over the US and abroad. If anyone has any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them.

I, also, want to say a big thank you to Sue at Quilting Chatter. I had completely forgotten about the Pay It Forward thing until this wonderful box arrived on my doorstep this week full of great stuff. Sue was so incredibly generous. She sent two pincushions, two bags as well as four crochet dish clothes. I haven't had a chance to take a picture yet but will include one in the next post. I feel guilty now because I haven't gotten any takers for my offer to Pay It Forward so I'll offer once again to whoever would like to participate. I'll send you something if you promise to Pay it Forward to 3 more people.

Long time...

no post. Sorry about that. Thanks to everyone that keeps popping in to see if I'm back to blogging.

I came down with the flu just two weeks after I'd been sick with a cold. (Stunning since I hardly ever get sick and I get struck twice this year back to back.) Then one week later dd2 gets it, followed the next day by ds2 and a week after that dd1. So all of that took close to a month to get through. Then I had a friend's baby shower. I managed to make a baby quilt in one week and a day. (Machine pieced, hand quilted) The shower was at 2, I put that last stitch in the binding at 1. (Pictures with the next post.) And all this week I've been putting in computer time planning a surprise trip for our kids to Disney. (I'll post more on our Disney plans later too.) We plan on putting them in the car and not telling them where we're going until we get there. ;)

We're also surprising them with a trip to the circus next week. They haven't been yet since before they were too little and/or we were too busy. I'm pretty sure that they will think that the trip to the circus is the one and only surprise we have planned. Heehee!

Right now I'm trying to finish up our taxes since we'll be on vacation when they're due, so I'll leave you with funny things my soon to be 3 year said a few days ago.

"I'm gonna get two catapiller poops for my birthday from Chuck E. Cheese's."
(With all the excitement in the world in his voice and yes, I did ask him to make sure he really said/meant what I thought he did.)

Later the same day, regarding fish we just got.
"Ew, the fish went poopy! You have to give him a bath in the bathtub."

Have a great day everyone!

Gratitudes:
1. Kids that keep me on my toes so that life never gets boring.
2. A husband that took a whole week off of work to take care of things while I was sick and recovering.
3. Everyone is healthy again.
4. Having the financial cushion to take a vacation this year and finding great ways to save money on the trip.
5. The forsythias are in bloom and the hyacynth is almost there!

Sick-again

Ack! I'm sick for the second time in a month. I never get sick but this bout really hit me hard. I actually spent most of the first 22 hours sleeping on and off. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful husband. He's stayed home from work this week to take care of me and the kids. Unfortunately, it seems like 3 of the kids are sick including the little guy. I think we probably picked something up from the doctor's office last week when I took him in for a check up. I hate when that happens! Anyway, I'll be scarce for a little while longer while I get us all healthy again.

I hope everyone out there is healthy and enjoying you day.

"Women & Money"

Oprah and Suze Orman are offering a free download of Suze's book "Women & Money" until 8 p.m. central Feb. 14. (TODAY) I haven't read this book yet but I have read other books by her and I urge you to take advantage of this offer. She provides wonderful information in a straight forward manner.



Go to http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200802/tows_past_20080213.jhtml?promocode=HP14 and click on Women & Money about halfway down the page.

Still here

I'm still here. I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I have a post I've been working on but it's been slow going since I've mostly only been able to get on-line when I have a baby either nursing or in my lap. Right now it's about 1:30 a.m. so everyone else is asleep. (Knock on wood.)

One of the things we've been up to lately is snow days. Since the 15th it's snowed twice here. The first was just a little bit that was gone by the next day but the second snow gave us at least 5 inches, a full day of play and there is still snow/ice on the ground. During the day of play the kids decided they wanted to make a snow slide, so they shovelled snow on to our deck stairs so that they could slide down it into a pile of snow at the bottom. We don't have any hills for sledding in our yard so I guess they decided that this would be the next best thing.

Here's a tip for reusing out-grown socks-Not too long ago, I went through the girls dresser and took out all of the sock that don't fit anymore. The frugal part of me decided I should keep them in case I should need them for "something" so time soon. Well the sometime soon came sooner than I thought it would. While the kids were playing out in the snow, I noticed that Z.'s coat sleeves kept riding up. We didn't buy her a new coat this year since this one still seemed to fit back in late Sep./early Oct. Finding out that it no longer fits during a snow fall in Jan. isn't exactly the best timing. Anyway, I sat for a minute trying to come up with something that would keep her little wrists from getting frost bite. (She's a full contact player. Laying in the snow, sticking her hands down in it as far as they'll go, carrying around big chunks of it.) Then I remembered seeing some knitted wrist warmers while following blog links. Now obviously I couldn't knit her a pair of anything right then but I did remember the bag of socks. I went inside, grabbed a pair and a pair of scissors. Snipping the toes off and an oval for her thumb, gave us something very similar with almost no work. As an added bonus, we got to reuse something that still had usefulness left in it and I gave my kids another example of how to be creative with the things you already have.



The other thing I've been working on is M's quilt. I finally got the borders on and have started quilting it. I was going to try machine quilt for the first time on this quilt but my machine seemed to be acting up a bit while I was attaching the borders so I decided to just go with hand quilting. Now I've procrastinated quite a bit with this (and the other 3 quilt tops I've got done) and I realized that I've been avoiding trying to machine quilt since I've never done it before. If I had just decided to hand quilt them from the start, I'd probably have at least two of them done and in use by now. Go figure! We'll see how quickly I can get them done now that I've figured this out.

Ok, I think it's time to go to sleep now before the little guy wakes up wanting to be fed again.

Women's contributions

This is something I've had running around in my mind for a while now. It started when we were discussing life insurance with a friend of ours and he asked why bother getting a life insurance policy for me. Now, he's a good friend and well meaning, is the father of 4 and has a wife that was stay-at-home but now teaches at her kids school to cover the tuition. I, of course, reply by asking him what he'd do if something happened to his wife. (Hopefully giving him something to think about.)

After this, I started thinking about all of the financial books I had read. Every one of them touted the importance of life insurance for a wage earner while ignoring the financial contributions a stay-at-home wife gives to her family. What contributions could they possible be since she's not bring in any income? Surely no one is depended on them, right? Well, let's think about this for a minute. A stay-at-home mom at least provides child care services. That alone represents a pretty big chunk of change the family is not paying, especially if there is more than one child. What if the kids are school aged? Well, until they're at least in their early teens, according to many states' laws, they still need after school supervision. How about eating? At least at the beginning, there will likely be a good bit of eating out because of all of the other things dad is trying to adjust to.

Another big point to consider is if you homeschool, what will happen if you die? Will dad try to keep homeschooling them? Hire someone to watch them during the day while he works then teach them in the evenings? Or maybe hire a tutor? Will he send them to school? Public or private? Obviously, private school is a lot more expensive than homeschooling and most homeschoolers really don't want to have to send their kids to public school.

These are just some of the bigger, more obvious ways we contribute to the family finances. There are plenty of other some times smaller or less apparent contributions. Many stay-at-home wives/moms are frugal and know when and where to get the best prices on everything from groceries to toilet paper to clothing. If your spouse has to manage the shopping and work then chances are convenience will take precedence over cost. Do you do the family taxes? That's a cost that will change as well. If the family eats out more, chances are good that the food won't be nearly as healthy as if you cooked it so there is a higher chance that the kids will get sick more often.

Without too much effort, it's not difficult to see how the death of a stay-at-home wife would impact the family's financial situation. Could you're family survive this impact without the extra cushion life insurance would afford? How much life insurance would be necessary is up to the individual families but don't let anyone try and convince you that life insurance is never necessary for a stay-at-home wife just because she doesn't have any income.

Lookie what I found ->

"The Gentle Art of Domesticity" by Jane Brocket, a fellow blogger at yarnstorm (http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/knitblog/). It's not even published here in the U.S. yet and only came out in Britain at the beginning of Oct. Where did I find it? At a library booksale that I almost didn't go to. It was only $4. Now this is normally a bit more than I'd pay for a book at a book sale but I couldn't see how I could pass up such a find.

It's really a lovely book with wonderful pictures. It's a bit hard to describe though. It's sort of a collection of essays on all kinds of domestic pursuits with tips, recipes and lots of eye candy mixed in. Definitely worth the $4. Her blog is just as pretty. BTW, she was railed against in the British media for promoting the domestic arts and setting unfair standards for the poor working feminist who has much better things to do with her time. In my view, she like some many generous women out in blog land are trying to encourage others who stay at home or would like to by showing the value in this choice that doesn't come with an easy to calculate price tag.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone enjoyed thier holidays. Now it's time to settle in a bit and relax with few obligations on our calendars than in the last few months. The only thing we've got coming up is S.'s b-day. The kids already did their testing for their required grade level so they (and I) have slacked off on keeping up with doing something everyday. We've shifted to a more unschooling mode lately where they do things of interest to them for a good chuck of the day. I do still have them doing workbook pages but let them slide a little about doing them every day. (For those wondering how we've done this, we started back in June so we've already put in more than 100 days of "school".) Having a new baby in the house has really thrown off our schedules for longer than I had anticipated. This is not a huge deal since I know that they are all at or above grade level in most areas and they pick up on new stuff everyday through their play or our daily activities. i.e. They've been earning and saving money and all decided that they wanted to order some fun things from a homeschooling catalog we had lying around. They all practiced reading and budgeting skills pouring through the catalog to figure out what they could afford that looked/sounded interesting. M. and S. were also introduced to calculating with percentages so that they knew how much the shipping would cost. I just ordered their choices this morning and added some learning games that everyone can play which I think they'll enjoy while learning new things.

One activity we've been doing is Mad Libs. There are few things more fun for learning parts of speech than Mad Libs. The kids have really gotten a blast out of those lately. If you haven't done them before, give them a try (you can find some or similar forms like wacky webtales on-line). The key is to be as outragous as possible with your word choices. If asked for a verb don't say something boring like walking or talking, try bob sledding or prognosticating. Need a noun? How about sea cucumbers or kumquats? And they absolutely should be done with group participation.

I haven't made any resolutions for 2008 specifically. I'm still working on my weight. (After 5 kids, like that's a big surprise.) I still haven't finished the quilts that I showed back in Sep. so those are on the list of "to be finished sooner rather than later". I, also, have to add 2 more baby quilts to the list-one to be finished by the end of Feb., the other by the end of April. I'd like to add a few receiving blankets to the quilts, but those are easy and shouldn't take more than 10 min. each. The fabric for most of this was purchased at Jo-Ann's after Thanksgiving Day sale. I may have to add one or two things but I haven't had a chance to compare what I have to what I'll need yet. Along with those I want to try my hand at a smaller version of the strip twist quilt, this time in blues and white-on-whites for a wall hanging. I've just gotten swimsuit fabric for making myself a suit so that I can continue the kids' swimming lessons. Hancock had a great deal on this. ($3.50/yard and then this week it was further discounted to $1/yard so I bought more for making the next size up suits for the girls) Hancock also has a really great deal on the Janome Sew Mini ($40) which I got to teach the girls on. I've read good reviews for it so I'll let you know what I think once we have a chance to get some sewing time in.

It's time for me to get busy with other things. Take care all and have a great day.

Completely unrelated photo of kids and their cousin at the Persepolis ruins

50 things I'm thankful for...

Ok, prompted by a post by Patty at Morning Ramble, here are 50 things I'm thankful for in no particular order.

1.My family and I are all healthy.

2.The gift of sight so that I might truly appreciate everything God has created.

3.The gift of hearing without which I wouldn't be able to enjoy the laugher of my kids.

4.Baby laughs each of our kids has had their own little baby laugh and now H. is finding his.

5.A wonderful husband who willingly helps out around the house and with the kids.

6.A good job for my husband that provides both a good income and flexibility.

7.Having finished my B.A.

8.Great bosses at dh's job that gave him increased flexibility to adjust his
schedule as needed to take care of the kids while I worked on my B.A.

9.The patience that I've gained over the years since I've become a mom.

10.Becoming a better mom now than I was at the beginning.

11.The ability and strength to follow my heart when it matters most.

12.Taking on the often challenging and rewarding work of homeschooing.

13.Having a husband and family that support the decision to homeschool.

14.My in-laws, despite cultural differences and occassional miscommunication, we get
along pretty well.

15.Finding good books that I can't seem to put down.

16.Passing on a love of reading to all of the kids.

17.Our new house which has just about everything we wanted but didn't think we would ever be able find or to afford.

18.Spring breezes.

19.Watching the waves.

20.Wonderful memories of summers spent with my grandparents.

21.My best friend, Monica

22.The chance to spend a year in Iran

23.The internet, which has really brought people so much closer.

24.All of the inspiring and educational blogs I've stumbled upon in the last year and a half.

25.TV and movies-Yes, there is some junk out there but there are also some very good things as well.

26.Netflix-I just love that I can rent movies so easily and now even watch them on the computer. (Can you tell I like movies?)

27.The willingness to try new things.

28.The messege of life long learning in Islam which says that humans should continue learning new things from the cradle to the grave.

29.Having a wealth of opportunities to follow the path of life long learning.

30.The women that open up their lives and homes through their blogs. Often I just lurk, but I'm so thankful for their willingness to share their knowledge and wisdom with others. They have proven to me time and again that there is so much we have in common and that we can learn from each other despite any differences.

31.The plethora of information and resources available to homeschoolers now.

32.That I was born in just the right time and place for me. I can't imagine how hard life was/is for women in previous generations or those living in very poor countries where the things we take for granted would be considered great luxuries.

33.Modern medicine which gave my niece the chance to hear with a cochlear implant.

34.The smell of brownies baking. (or just about any sweet for that matter)

35.Learning to let things go.

36.The lessons I've learned about accumulating too much stuff after moving 3 times in a year and a half. I'm getting much better now that I've seen how easily things add up.

37.God's influence in my life. I could never have imagined how my life has turned out so far.

38.Being a stay-at-home mom. Yes, there are tough days and evetually I'd like to get my Master's and start teaching at a college but I'm where I'm needed most right now and that what I do is important.

39.That marvelous, relaxing feeling of the sun's warmth on my skin

40.Peace found in quiet moments

41.The diversity inherent in our world

42.Cushy couches

43.The tension-relieving sounds of a rain storm.

44.Chocolate-in pretty much any shape, size or form!!!

45.All of the modern appliances we tend to take for granted. Try to imagine what life would be like without refridgerators, stoves/ovens, sewing machines or washing machines. Eek!

46.The experience I've gained from being a mom.

47.A great imagination.

48.Ice water.

49.Books that educate, entertain or both.

50.Warmth in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.

There's so much to be grateful for in life but these are just a few things to come to mind. Why don't you try coming up with your own list? If you do, leave me a comment. I'd love to see what others are thankful for.

Happenings

I've been meaning to blog for the past week and I have several things on my mind to blog about but life has been busy lately and although I've been able to keep up with reading other people's blogs, I just haven't been able to post anything here. It seems that the only time I can get on-line is when I'm feeding the little guy and it's a bit difficult to type one handed.

On top of that we've had two celebrations this week. Wednesday was the second Eid (festival) of the year. It's called Eid al-Adha and it is the celebration of the end of hajj (the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca). It's not as big of a celebration as Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan but still big enough. For comparison, celebration size-wise you could probably compare it to Easter in relationship to Christmas. Our second celebration was tonight. Iranian families get together on the longest night of the year (sort of like celebrating New Year's). So tonight we had Mohsen's relatives over for tea, fruit and sweets. It seems one of the main fruits of the evening is watermelon. This time last year there were people everywhere selling watermelons from their packed trucks. I wish I had taken pictures. I've never seen so many watermelons in winter before but, at least in Shiraz, they're everywhere this time of year. The picture above is a selection of some of the things I served this evening-zucchini bread, triple chocolate cookies and cream cheese snowcaps. I also had snickerdoodles and brownies for sweets and we had oranges, tangerines, bananas and watermelon for our fruits. Dh picked up some fresh corn while he was out today and roasted that in the wood stove while they were here. Tea is pretty much a given whenever you are hosting Iranian guests. I'm not a tea drinker so I made myself some hot chocolate to enjoy while they drank their tea.

Despite the rather varied assortment of sweets on our menu this evening, Iranians aren't really that much into sweets so the snowcap cookies turned out to be a good choice. I got the idea to make them from a picture on Quilting Chatter. They looked so yummy that I decided to look up the recipe. The recipes I found for them included either almond extract or lemon extract. Both of these contain alcohol which I won't use in my baking so I substituted orange zest and they turned out quite tasty. I made extra cookies because we have our Homeschoolers' Sewing/Needlework Day on Wednesday. Here's hoping that people actually show!

You'll have to forgive me ladies for not being more interesting tonight but it's (Egads!) almost 2 a.m. and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. (How'd it get so late???) I promise I will make time soon to write about some things that have been on my mind lately that I'd really like to share. In the meantime, take care all and Merry Christmas to those that celebrate.

Pay It Forward

I'm once again going to offer up a Pay It Forward opportunity. This one I found at Quilting Chatter. Just like before, be one of the first 3 people to comment and I'll send along something handmade. I'm not sure yet what it will be but I'm sure I can find plenty of inspiration in blogland. I can't promise when since right now demands on my schedule vary a great deal but I promise it will be less than 365 days from now. In exchange for you patience, I'll even try to accomodate any color preferences you might have. How's that? :)

In exchange, you promise to make a similar offer on your blog.

Feeling much better now

I'm feeling much better now. I've learned a few things about myself, my dh and how technology is affecting social graces.

I only heard from one of the women and that was only after my dh called her dh to find out what had happened. I wasn't about to but he felt it necessary to take them to task for how they had made me feel. Her excuse was that she didn't know that that was the day and she had not gotten either of the two emails I had sent her. Now, I had told each and every person invited 2 weeks in advance, in person. I trusted that they were smart, capable women who could hold a date in their minds or mark it on their calendars without constant reminders. Apparently, I'm wrong.

It seems we've become so dependent on technology that we no longer exercise our memories as much as we should. Have you noticed that most dr.'s offices will now call and remind you a day or two in advance that you have an appointment? My library even e-mails me 3 days before our library books are due as a reminder complete with a list of everything that is due. That's in addition to the printed receipt that you receive when you check out. I don't think it was so very long ago that we were expected to remember such details of our lives on our own.

Technology is certainly changing our social mores and expectations in other ways as well. People get annoyed when told that dh and I don't regularly carry a cell phone everywhere we go. Dh and I share one cell phone of the pre-paid variety. I carry it when I'm out with the kids in case something happens (at his insistance) or when I'm out on a "free" morning in case he needs me. He'll carry it from time to time when he goes out, especially if he'll be out for awhile and going to a few different places but not always. If he hadn't programmed the number into our home phone, I wouldn't even know the number since I've rarely if ever called him on it. Just last week, a man ranted over the fact that my husband was "unreachable" and hadn't gotten into contact with him less than 24 hours after leaving a message with me and he did the ranting at me, much to my annoyance. It seems technology has made people rude in more ways than one.

On a decidedly lighter technological note, there is a great website that helps you feed the hungry while you exercise your brain. Go to http://www.freerice.com/ and test your vocabulary skills. For each correct answer, you win 10 grains of rice that are donated to the UN World Food Programme. How cool is that?!?

The Depths of Despair

Ok, I'm not quite in the depths of despair but I'm incredibly disappointed at the moment.

What do you do when you extend a hand of friendship and get the cold shoulder in return? Two weeks ago I invited several women that I've known for a long time to come here today for a couple of hours of sewing/knitting/whatever craft and just hanging out. At least 6 enthusiastically agreed to come and had no problem with the day. It's now an hour and a half after we were supposed to have it and not one person showed up! :_( I was so looking forward to this and no one even bothered to call. For the last two years, it seems like I don't have any friends to talk to any more. I thought I had found a good way to start building friendships again but this is just too much. I worked so hard getting the house all nice and clean and setting up a nice assortment of tea and sweets and it was all pretty much for nothing. (Not that I'd complain about the house being clean.) (Oh, and the last sewing session I had set up for homeschoolers-only one mom showed up and she hadn't even brought anything to work on. It ended up just being a playdate to see if her son would be comfortable enough around my kids. This and the other mom not showing up at all just totally threw me off kilter so I probably wasn't as good of a hostess as I should have been. Not that I think I was rude or anything, we had a nice conversation and I did what I could to get her son warmed up to my kids. She even ended up staying the full hour and a half despite initial indications she'd only stay for a little while. But she is Iranian and she's related to many of the women that were supposed to come today so maybe she didn't like my hostessing abilities or I caused some slight offense that I'm not aware of.)

The picture above is sort of indicitive of my mood right now-rather grey and soggy. I don't know if anyone out there can understand how I'm feeling right now but I just had to get this out. Inspired by Patty at Morning Ramble, I intended to post a list of 50 things I'm thankful for but I'm just not up to it right now. I am grateful for a lot of things but lack of good friends isn't one of them. Maybe later.

Black Friday

I know alot of people out in blogland don't even like to step out their doors on Black Friday but I love it. You see, I love to find good deals and usually I can find some pretty good ones on this day. So, I have a standing arrangement with dh that he gets to watch the kids while I shop in the morning. I don't normally like crowds and/or standing in line to check out but it really doesn't bother me on that day. Now, that being said, I'm not about to stand in line before the stores even open or for an hour or more inside the stores. No deal is worth that kind of time wasting. And the stores this year opened at ridiculous hours with the outlet malls opening at midnight. Sadly, one mother was arrested in the area because she left her 2 year old in the car while she shopped in the wee hours. The news reports said the little girl was taken out of the car at about 2:30 am. That's just insane. I take any nursing baby I have at the time with me when I shop but I would never risk my children's health or safety like that. No deal is worth that risk.

This year the deals weren't nearly as good as some years but I did get some bargains. I only spent money at 3 places this year-Jo-Ann's, Walmart and SuperTarget. I did go to two other stores but at one the line was too long and at the other I didn't like the style of the jeans I had come in for. The funny thing is that at Target, I only spent about $10 on non-grocery items, but, hey, I got pretty good parking on the grocery side of the store and I practically had the grocery aisles to myself. ;) I spent a bit more at Jo-Ann's than I probably should have but it was all things I would use at a much lower price than I would normally spend so I think it was justified. Walmart's only really good deal for us was skate shoes for the kids. No these are not necessary items but it seems that 75-80% of the kids we've seen lately have been cruising around on these and the kids have been asking for months to get some. I wasn't about to pay the $60 or more per pair that I've seen them for but Walmart had them for $20 so I considered that reasonable enough. And the kids love them. They've spent an hour or more most days since they got them skating around inside the garage or in the driveway. They're getting extra exercise and enjoying themselves so I consider it money well spent.

How did my colicky baby do? Amazingly, except for a diaper change and two feedings, he slept for most of the 5 hours we were out.

Our Turkey Day

I just thought I'd share how our Thanksgiving Day was spent. The weather all morning was so warm that we spent a good chunk of the day outside. DH and the kids took care of some yard work including bagging or chopping up about 8 billion leaves. (the one big drawback of having so many trees) I spent part of it sitting in the sun going through the next day's sale papers to plan my day. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here. It's not that we're not thankful for all that God has blessed us with; it's just that it doesn't feel right to give thanks by me working all day then stuffing ourselves silly. I'm also descended from Native Americans so that has played into my thinking about how the day is spent.

Growing up we did celebrate Thanksgiving but I think it was more because that's what society expects everyone to do. As an adult I've been blessed to have my DH, who didn't grow up with these traditions. It's led me to question the why of what we do rather than blindly continuing to do them because it's what's "expected". Now, in case, you're wondering, that's a two-way street where I've questions some of his traditions as well. Because if this we've truly become a blended family, taking what is good from each side and leaving out what no longer feels quite right and making something new for our kids. Now that the kids are older, we talked about the origins of Thanksgiving and included some history about both the pilgrims and the Native Americans. Since popular history is written by the victors, I want my kids to be able to dig a little deeper and try to see both sides of history, or at least at this age to understand that there is more than one view to consider.

It's important that we remember to be thankful every day for the blessings both big and small, whether it's a new job, house or baby or just the ability to spend 5 min. outside feeling the sun shine on your face and soaking in the beauty of the world around you. Even more importantly, we have to teach our kids to do the same.

The kids helping with the yard work.
Z. enjoying more time to practise her newfound jump rope skills.
The kids playing on the swings DH made for them.

Creating opportunities

A while back someone in one of the homeschooling e-mail groups I belong to suggested that if you didn't see an activity you (or your children) were interested in you should be proactive and put something together yourself. So I've done just that.

You see, I used to get together at least once a week with my two best friends so that we could chat and kids could play together. Well, one friend moved back home to TX and the other has become a full-time teacher and so no longer has much time to get together between work and keeping a 6-person household running. I had thought about joining a quilting group but their meeting time falls during our dinner time. I decided a week or so ago that I was tired of having only kids or dh to talk to besides the occasional though long calls to my friend or mom. DH is great, it's just not the same as talking with other women.

I decided to take my que from our foremothers and set up a sewing/quilting/needlecraft group. Women used to get together every once in a while to work on handwork but also socialize and share their talents with others. However, because of people's schedules, I've now set up two groups. One is going to be just me and two other moms and their kids that will meet once a month (for now) during the day time. The other includes women from my masjid (almost all teachers at the school) that will meet once a month on a Sunday morning. I've decided to keep both groups very informal, bring what you want to work on, ask others for help as need, kids join in if they want to but don't have to. I'm doing it at my house so that we can keep it informal, give space for us to work, chat, snack and give the kids a safe place to play either inside or out.

You see, last year were got involved in a sewing class that met at a masjid, but the kids basically had to spend 2 hours in one room with little to do if they didn't want to knit or quilt. With 10-12 kids and 3 moms in a modest-size boardroom that got to be a bit much some days. This way the kids can quilt/knit/crochet/embroider, play board games, color, play with playdough, play in the yard or even watch a movie. It's their choice.

The first meeting with all of the kids will be next week, so I'll let you know how it goes.

The picture is a "Pay It Forward" potholder/kitchen quilt that I made for Patty at Morning Ramble.

My 1 month old

The first image is a sight rarely seen in my house these days-a sleeping baby. I'm not sure how this happened but I somehow have managed to have kids that just don't sleep. M. was the only one to consistantly take naps-that is until S. arrived. Since then none of the kids have consistantly taken naps and H. is proving to be no exception to that rule. (The little mark on his nose and redness on his forehead are because he was snoozing in his favorite spot, on my right shoulder resting his head against the blanket I had there in case he spit up.)

The second picture comes alot closer to representing good sized chunks of my days, especially now that the little guy has developed colic. He's not a thumb sucker or a pacifier baby so we spend a good bit of time each day going through a cycle of him nursing to feel soothed, over eating, spitting up, crying, me walking him for 20 min. or more, only upright on my right shoulder will do, then start the cycle over again. The funny thing is that he switches the times that we do this. If he's grouchy during the day, he'll have a good night then he switch the next day. Of course, since I've identified this pattern, in true baby fashion, I'm sure he change everything tomorrow. :P S. was a colicky baby too and I spent the better part of her first three months going through my days with her in a front pack carrier. Now she's the least touchy feely kid in the bunch. She's a very reluctant hugger and is perfectly happy maintaining a bit of personal space. Go figure. Compare that with Z. who doesn't really get the idea of maintaining personal space especially where her baby brothers are concerned.

I can definately see that I'm a different mom than I was with the first two. I've learned a lot about myself over the years, gained a whole lot more patience and insight during that time and fortunately, I've learned a great deal from my mistakes and amassed a wealth of experience. Having 5 babies in 9 years will do that for you. :)

It's time to get some ironing done while the little guy is snoozing.