Bubble Bath Recipe

Rayna wants "purple bubble bath" for christmas. I went shopping; the ingredients scared me! So I went online and found a recipe. I am going to try it this weekend.

Here is the recipe in case all your kids want for christmas is purple bubbles:
Bubble Bath:
1 qt (4 c) distilled water
1 bar (4 oz) castille soap, grated or flaked
3-4 oz liquid glycerin
Mix all together and store in airtight container. Pour in running water.

another recipe uses
1 qt (4 c) distilled water
1 bar (4 oz) castille soap, grated or flaked
2 oz coconut oil
2 oz liquid glycerin

add 3 drops essential oil (and food coloring).

Experimenting with Food Coloring is going to be fun! I wonder if it will rince right off or her hair will come out purple?

Pumpkin Patch Photos

Halloween

I wrote some for the blog, but it wouldn't post, so I will have to ask the webmaster to fix it for me so you can learn more about the family soon. Have a great day!

answers to the standard questions

It has been since this summer since I updated this blog. We have had a lot going on, but mostly I have just needed to slow down. The girls are so awesome! I am glad I have made the effort to slow down and spend more conscious time with them.

Potty Training:

Rayna has been using the potty off and on since before Alizah was born. I thought she was potty trained and just being difficult when she would pee her pants 3 minutes after I asked her if she needed to go or choose to wear a diaper because she is a baby. And people would continue to tell me, some kids aren't ready until they are 3. Well, what I noticed in the last 3 weeks (and some days she is still choosing to wear a diaper) is that she can think about going on the potty and make a plan about it without prompting. Even overnight. So there is a cognitive shift that makes it not just mom training. And since I have a determined child I'll just have to continue to ask, are you going to wear a diaper or underwear today.

Sleeping Through the Night & Teething:

I wish we were. But it will be soon enough and my dad reminds me that by the time they are teenagers, I won't be able to get them out of bed. Alizah is getting a few more teeth. She has 2 front teeth and fangs on the top. The next 4 will be arriving soon (I hope because it has already been weeks), she sleeps terribly when she's teething, up about ever 2 hours. We moved her into Rayna's room this week hoping that would help if we weren't so close by, but it hasn't made much difference (except since I am not falling asleep nursing her in our bed and her pushing and turning all over when she is sleeping next to me and waking me, I am actually getting a little more rest). Rayna sleeps through most of the crying and when it is too much, she just crawls in our bed, which she was doing anyway.

What are the girls doing now?

More and more Rayna is reading books to herself. And singing more songs. She loves the Wiggles and sings lots of pertinent lines to the play she is doing. The other week Wiggle Safari was her favorite. 1 day we watched it 4 times, the rest of the week at least 2 times per day until she started to get crazy demanding and uncooperative and then no videos for a week. Lately the videos have been a treat for when she is going on the potty well and being nice to her sister.

Alizah is really on the move. She has been pulling up on the furniture since she started crawling at 4 months. She chases us around the house and loves to cruise the couch. She is very intrigued by what Rayna does and wants to be a part of it. Rayna doesn't want her so close or to share, so she likes to push (we have to go over how to touch and ask mom for help). Alizah loves to chase and she's starting to practice standing independently. Rayna is strong enough to move stools and chairs to get into high cupboards and on top of my dresser. In the last 2 weeks Rayna is really beginning to be more of a 3 year old, she loves to explore and do things herself and she's pretty quiet about it.

Snow:

We finally got some good snow this week, just after I put away all the forgotten yard stuff. Rayna was so excited there was a lot of snow and wanted to get her boots and snow pants on so she could help Levi shovel. Later that day she had me take her outside to pull her in the sled and she even went down a little sled hill 2 times by herself.

Halloweeen Fun

We went trick-or-treating in downtown Eau Claire yesterday afternoon. That way Rayna could see the costumes in the daylight (she's still pretty afraid of masks and some costumes, even though she loves Halloween books). The Halloween Witch came and traded most of Rayna's candy for a book, The Monster under the Shed (Thomas and Friends).

Cut and paste this link to see Levi and Rayna dressed up, they are the 3rd photo.
http://www.leadertelegram.com/Multimedia/TrickorTreat2008/index.html

Hi

We're still here. Hope everyone is well, and wish you a very happy day. It is sunny and warm, and we plan on packing a picnic and taking a ride to the pumpkin patch for some fall afternoon fun.

July

I just joined the Eastside hill Less Grass group. I put a few pictures of our gardens online.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lessgrass/
Everything is growing now that I've put some time into getting the weeds out and the rabbits must have found something else to eat.
I'm done with Mulberries. And after 1 failed attempt at fruit leather and 1 saved job, I am on round 4 of attempts and only 6 more to go before I give up. I think, like the jam, I will have it figured out by then.

May and June

The months of May and June were extremely busy. My cousin Bobbi got married and so my sisters were home to visit. (see photos http://picasaweb.google.com/levifelling/June2008

Alizah has learned to roll over both ways, although now that she has the back to belly roll over mastered, she forgets to roll to her back when she is tired. She also really gets her heels into the floor and scoots around. I love her laugh! She's a really easy going baby most of the time. I have been practicing Chinese Pediatric Massage on her for her colic and excess drool- it is helping a lot! I am really excited about what I've been learning and so have practiced on a couple other babies (1 with vomiting and 1 with constipation) with a lot of success. So, I bought another book about it to continue learning.


These are a few photos of the girls around home between our busy schedule.

Father's Day Adventure

This year Sarah took me on an adventure for Father's Day. Actually, it wasn't on Father's Day but it was to get my surprise Father's Day present. This is quite funny in it's own because for forever I've teased Sarah that she cannot not keep a secret. So her putting this together and keeping it from me was a pretty big deal.

So the morning of our adventure we packed a picnic, got the kids together, and set off for adventure. We had a beautiful hour and a half drive through northwestern Wisconsin. As we drove my mind wandered over the possibilities, several times wondering out loud as to our destination, but Sarah was not going to give this one away. She merely laughed and shrugged off my suggestions: hot air balloon ride, wood fired pizza, garden sculpture, new drums, a goat, motorcycle.

Finally, we had arrived. Sarah pulled out her directions and verified the fire number by the mailbox of a rural driveway. We pulled up to a typical country home: well kept gardens, many flowers, birds, a big friendly dog, and I was introduced to Nels Linde. Still no clue what we are doing, Nels lead us to his showroom. It was only then that I saw the room full of drums and percussion instruments that I realized that Nels was the owner of HawkDancing Studios. Nels is renown in the industry for providing top quality, professionally instruments, made in Africa by master drum builders.

I guess now I need to give you the back story. It's probably not new to you that I'm into drums, I have been for a long time. I bought my first drum when I was about 10 yrs old at Global Village in St. Paul, it was a African hand-drum commonly called a talking drum. I had just finished reading Drumming at the Edge of Magic, a wonderful book that explores the rituals, spiritual, emotional, and healing aspects of the drum in different cultures throughout history. I was hooked and had an incessant need to learn more and experience more. I soon bought a drum set, started playing in a 8 piece blues/show band, had several grungy garage bands, sold a drum set, bought a better drum set, met and opened for Asleep at the Wheel, Forrester Sister's, Buddy Guy, Luther Alison, toured Europe, bought a couple more drum sets, released a CD, released another cd, started a band, and another band, and on and on.

Towards the end of high-school, I got word that the local university was going to be putting on a production that was set in Africa, and involved much drumming and dancing. Furthermore, they had a budget and would be bringing in a professional drummer who would be in residence for several months to instruct the musicians in West African music. I jumped on the opportunity, and as a high-school student enrolled in the theater class so that I could play drums in the play. This is where I really learned about West-African drums, and the Djembe - the lead drum in a West-African drum ensemble.

Skip ahead a few years to when Sarah and I got married. When we where planning our ceremony we knew we wanted enough pomp and circumstance to make the event significant, but we didn't have any desire for a traditional wedding. So drawing from our individual experiences and backgrounds we designed a ceremony that honored each other, the earth, our elders, our guests. The music for our ceremony would be provided by four djembe drummers playing traditional West-African rhythms.

Sarah tells me that I've been teaching our girls drums, and that this gift is for me to further share my experience and joy for this music with them. She's right, I sing rhythms to them, give them phrases to repeat, allow them to explore the instruments, and encourage them to express themselves. I never dreamed how much fun this would be, and now to have Sarah sharing this experience with me is wonderful. Thank you Sarah!

April 28th, Big Snow

On April 28th we woke to about 1 inch of snow on the trees. Levi said, "Rayna, look out the window and tell me what you see." Her reply "oh, big snow!"

I wanted to share this photo. We are hoping the snow is done now until Nov/Dec.

Are city rabbits afraid of owls?

Alizah is 2months now- smiling and laughing now, coughing and squealing sentences to us. She is delightful, must be why her name is Joy Joy.

Rayna loves when her sister is awake. She says "he got eyes wide open! He awake!" or if she is sleeping "Hi Alizah! Wake up!" Rayna has started reading Alizah her favorite books- mother goose (she remembers almost all the rhymes and which rhyme goes with each page).

We have been doing more gardening. We risked putting in a few annuals and so far they have not been frost bit (even though there was a heavy frost in most of the area last night). I started my brussel spouts and the rabbits have nipped a couple. For Mother's Day, Rayna and Levi gave me a scare owl. I asked "do city rabbits even know what owls are?" I don't think they do because another brussel sprout was gone this morning.

Rayna has her own little garden bed. So far she planted 1 grape tomato plant, peas, radish and spinach. It is framed with a headboard and footboard I scavenged on Throw Anything Trash Day. I also found a slide for her that we set up to our picnic table.

Just so you can see the similarities and differences- Alizah and Rayna at 1 month. (Rayna is in green). I think they have the same nose. Alizah has Levi's hair color right now.

Alizah just started smiling in a big wide open laugh about 2 weeks ago. Last Wednesday the Public Health Nurse visited and she was 21.5" and 10 lbs and 4.5 oz- she's holding her head well. A very strong baby! And very easy going. She only wakes every 3-5 hours to nurse at night. (I am getting a lot of good sleep!!!! Which is so important for Mamas.)

Rayna loves Alizah, and this week, as promised, she has begun snuggling her! This week we began practicing more on the potty again. She is very interested and is really getting the hang of it. (it will be really nice to only have newborn diapers!)

"Oh, These are sparkly shoes. Oh, beautiful shoes. They were in the closet. These are for you to try on." -Rayna

I have recently had requests for more stories. The trouble is, when I have time to write, I sit down and forget what to share. So, what would you like to know? If I have a starting place, I'm sure I could go on and on about the girls for pages!

We are enjoying the backyard again now that the snow is gone and its above freezing. Rayna has a green turtle sandbox and lots of trucks to push around the patio. She also likes run and kick the ball around the yard, draw with chalk on the patio and crawl along the raised garden perimeter. Yesterday it was so wonderful out that Alizah and I took time to nurse in my garden bench (last year's mother's day gift). I was noticing how the rabbits had eaten all the vines of morning glory as high as their hind legs would reach them atop the snowbanks, which is about 3 feet. The tulips are up about 2-3 inches.

Alizah Joy

VBAC Home Birth! At 5am in the freezing cold Levi and I went for a walk up and down our city block to work with the contractions and help strengthen them. I turned to Levi and said, "by now we would have had all kinds of interventions at the hospital." At 10:40 am our little girl was born! We are both extremely healthy and happy! This was the experience I wanted- a normal birth- not to be treated as high risk.

Levi was an amazing support throughout the long labor, about 39 hours of contractions never closer than 5 minutes apart and 1/2 hour of pushing.

A special THANK YOU to our midwife, Jane Kirby, CPMW and her birth assistant, Tracy for their patience and gentle listening, suggestions and care. Another special THANK YOU to Jody Hagedorn for assisting my labor progression with reflexology and EFT!

This is an image I created last week in response to needing to find an icon that somehow represented me. You see, I wrote an article about nutritional cleansing for the local women's magazine Queen of the Castle, that will be coming out in March. Nothing seemed to represent me more at this time than a Mother and Child image, but nothing available seemed right. So I had to draw my own.

We are excited about the new arrival! Less than a month to go! This Saturday I officially qualify to have my home birth because I will be 37 weeks, Full Term.

Rayna has definitely been showing signs of being 2- curious and stubborn. She thinks she is much bigger than she really is. The fun part is her desire (occasionally) to try out the potty successfully.

Rayna loves to snuggle in the morning. I was talking with her that the baby might take away some of mamma's attention to her and maybe she would have to snuggle with daddy in the morning. She said "I snuggle the new baby." She loves her book from Grandma Sally "I'm a Big Sister" by JoAnna Cole.

Christmas 2007

It took Rayna unwrapping 3 gifts to realize that there was something fun inside the pretty wrapping. From them on, she wanted to open everyone's gifts. We had a great time playing in the snow at Levi's parents. We put a new photo album at the Picasa web. Here's a sample, click the photo to check out the rest.

Weekend Getaway

Levi surprised me last weekend by planning most of our pre-baby getaway in conjunction with our midwife appointment. We stayed at the Covington Inn, which is a tow boat (barge boat) that has been converted into a B&B. It stays still nowadays at Harriet Island, St Paul, MN. The photo of us is taken in a little nook with 2 porthole windows just above the ice. We even had a goose serenade us in the morning and wander past the window.
We went to the Georgia O'Keefe Circling Around Abstraction exhibit at the MIA and visited with friends at the BullPen. On our way to the Bull Pen we happened to drive past our friend Steve Bateman's zebra sculpture. Levi's saying- "here's a photo for you Steve."
The baby is growing perfectly! I don't have any good photos of my growing belly as of yet. I hide it well. Less than 2 months to go!