Only 11 Days Until Yule

And 14 days until Christmas!

My husband and I both enjoy traditions, both the invention and the continuing practice. Since our religious holiday is Yule (or Winter Solstice) instead of Christmas, we had to decide how we intended to celebrate our religious holiday and the Christmas holiday and where gifts and Santa fit in to our traditions. We both intend to include the magic of Santa in our traditions.

The way we decided to work the holidays is Yule will be our spiritual holiday and we will each get to open one gift that night. All other gifts will be saved for Christmas morning to be opened with the family. Santa will deliver his gifts on Christmas Eve after everyone is asleep, so they will be opened Christmas morning as well.

Part of the reason we were struggling is because we know many people who only observe their religious holiday and none others. The problem we had with that is that all of our family observes Christmas, and we're the only ones who observe Yule. We will explain the origins of both Yule and Christmas to Tree Faerie when she's older, but she will get to observe both in a way. Plus, since the current Santa beliefs are based around him delivering all his presents in one night, we were trying to avoid a future debate on the reason Santa delivered toys to Rowan on a different night.

I'm happy with the final decision. Our spiritual practices are not lost in light of other Christmas traditions (such as Santa), yet Tree Faerie will not feel like the oddball for celebrating something completely different than everyone else. Plus this gives us an opportunity to introducing her to other religions and their practices, which I feel is especially important since we practice a minority religion.

Speaking of my minority religion... Several of you asked what Wicca is, and while I don't feel quite up to explaining it in a post today, my husband has done a pretty good job of explaining Paganism at Summerland Grove's website. This is the link to the information page, and there are additional links on the lower half of the sidebar that explain some of the common Sabbats (holidays), tools, and traditions. If you don't want to go check it out, I'm currently working on a post in my head to explain my beliefs, so stick around for a while.

And the countdown continues!

EDIT:

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are about emotional connections and bonds. You are happiest being around those you love. You celebrate the holidays in a minimalist style. You are likely to only give one great present and decorate your house with a few special items. During the holidays, you feel magical. You love all of the decorations and how happy people are. You like to sit back and take it all in. You think the holidays should be decadent and indulgent. You never mind gaining a few holiday pounds... it's worth it! Your best holiday memories are of childhood foods and traditions. You secretly still wish you believed in Santa Claus.

What Do the Holidays Mean to You?

What do you mean, "...wish you still believed..."? I DO still believe in Santa! If I didn't believe in Santa, he wouldn't still bring me presents!

11 Months

Dear Tree Faerie,


As always, you never cease to amaze me. You're beautiful and intelligent, plus you have a great sense of humor and love music of any kind. As long as it has a beat, you'll dance to it, even if it's just me tapping the spoon on the side of the pan while cooking! If one of us is laughing, you'll laugh, too, and try to make us laugh more. You must be the center of attention, and when you're not, you do everything you can to be so, from the cute babbling to the not-so-cute fit-throwing.



Tooth #2 finally broke through and has slowly been working its way up. It is taking its own sweet time doing so, though, so you've been chewing on everything. You have learned what you are allowed to put in your mouth and what you're not, though that doesn't necessarily stop you from testing the boundaries. Odds are, if it comes off the carpet, it's not allowed, and you're really good about opening your mouth to allow me to remove things without much of a fight.


We managed to only go to the doctor's office twice this month - once for the flu shot and once for your labial adhesion. Thankfully the adhesion should go away as you get older. The day we went to the doctor for that, though, you also came down with croup. We didn't give you any medicine for it because you were scheduled to get the flu shot a few days later. We didn't turn on the heater, and I put Baby Vicks on your feet each night to help us all sleep a little better. I was surprised at how well it worked at keeping your cough at bay!


You got to see Grams and Papaw for Thanksgiving, along with my Grandma and several other members of your extended family. I love watching Grams play with you because her face lights up just like it used to when I was a little girl. It's wonderful to hear you both laughing. You didn't want to try the banana pudding, but there will be other opportunities for you to try it later. You and I wore matching outfits - our striped overalls and red shirts - and Papaw wore his striped overalls, too.



Papaw is growing his beard back out, and you weren't quite sure what to think of it at first. He let you play with it, as I'm sure he will for years to come. He also took us for a ride in his Mule, which I call his Old-Man-Wheeler. You sat very, very still, but you seemed to enjoy yourself. I know I did!





One of your favorite things to do lately is "help" me with the laundry and cleaning. Of course, your idea of helping is by pulling all the clean clothes out of the basket or dryer and strew them around the floor to create your very own pallet.



You also enjoy wiping down different things like the window sills and the bathtub. You even 'wash' yourself when you're in the tub. I finally found a bath mat I like using, and it has saved me a lot of stress.



You are currently transitioning to the toddler room. I'm glad that your daycare transitions you slowly, however you seem to have no problems with the toddler room. They tell me you were great every day and just played and checked things out as if you belonged in there. I was the one who was nervous! But I've talked to the teachers in there, and they are both very nice. I'm sure you'll continue to have a great time!

One of the things I was worried about was that they don't allow toddlers to have bottles, only sippy cups with whole milk. I was afraid you would have a hard time giving up the bottles, but you seem to have taken that into your own hands, similar to when you stopped eating food from a spoon. The only thing I can consistently get you to take from a spoon is yogurt, which I have to feed you again because you had thrush. You've pretty much stopped taking bottles at daycare, though. I was about to take you to the doctor to see if it was an ear infection when you came down with yet another cold. I'm going to wait until after this cold is over before taking you in, because I still want to confirm that it is just your will and not something else wrong. You haven't stopped nursing, so I'm not too worried.



You seem to love your daddy more and more each day. I love how you sit at the bottom of the stairs and holler up at him when he's upstairs and you're not. You call to him quite often when he's not in the room with you, even when he's not home. He loves you so much! He doesn't cave in to you like I do when you throw tantrums, though. And it's not necessarily that I cave in, I just try to get you to stop screaming by distracting you.



You've been practicing your walking skills this month. You now only need to hang on to one of our fingers in order to walk around the house. I can see that you want to take a step completely unassisted, but at the last minute, you just plop on your butt.

On the weekend before your 11-month-birthday, I put up our holiday tree while you were napping. I got the tree put together, lit, and had about half the ornaments on before you woke up. The look of wonderment on your face was well worth the rush! After I finished decorating the tree, we put stuffed animals under the tree instead of presents. I know how much you enjoy ripping paper, so I figured you could play with the stuffed animals and we'll keep the presents elsewhere. Storm has taken over one of the stuffed animals, though. She keeps kneading biscuits on the dog wearing the Santa hat, which your daddy thinks is a violation of the dog.

As always, thank you for being such a wonderful kid. You have brought so much to our lives! I love you, Tree Faerie!

XOXO,

Mama

Finally Friday - Sickies and Such

Tree Faerie only took 2 oz. of breast milk yesterday at daycare, so I finally broke down and called the nurse last night. I told her about Tree Faerie not taking the bottle and being generally fussy, and she suggested I call the doctor this morning to rule out an ear infection because she wasn't really exhibiting any other symptoms except for an occasional cough.

In the wee hours of the morning when she woke me up to nurse, I noticed she felt a bit warm, but because she didn't seem actually hot, I didn't check her temperature until after she got up. Her temperature was not high enough to keep her home from daycare (101 is the cut-off, and the highest temp reading I got was 99.9 - though she wouldn't stay still for me to take her temperature under her arm and I didn't feel it was necessary to subject her to any other temp-taking methods this morning), so I gave her a dose of Motrin and continued getting ready. Before we left the house, her fever was already coming down. When I dropped her off at daycare, it seemed to be back to normal, but I asked her teacher to watch out for an actual fever.

I'm one of those people who believes that a low-grade fever is actually beneficial to the healing process if the fever is caused by a virus. Our bodies heat up in order to make a hostile environment for the virus to live in. Our noses run to try to flush the virus out. I understand the process of how the body works to protect itself. If Tree Faerie was going to be with me all day, I may not have given her the Motrin yet and would have used other methods to make her more comfortable. Since she was going to daycare, however, I gave her the Motrin to make her more comfortable for an extended period of time.

Because she's also exhibiting other symptoms of having a cold, I decided to wait before making a doctor's appointment. I feel pretty confident now that her fussiness and such were signs of this impending cold, and antibiotics won't cure a cold. So, I'm going to keep an eye on her over the weekend and re-evaluate the situation on Monday.

In the past 11 months, I've spent a lot of time worrying about that child. It's all part of the job, right? (11 month letter coming soon)

Tears at work are not good

I just depressed myself. I realized this is the first year since my miscarriage 7 years ago that I didn’t mourn on the anniversary of the day. It fell once again on Thanksgiving Day. This year I had a happy Thanksgiving with not only my daughter and my husband, but with Mom, Pop, and some extended family, too. Is this the first sign that I’m really moving on?

100th Post

To continue with tradition, today is my 100th post, therefore I came up with a list of 100 things about me. Some of these I'm sure some of you already knew. Others may come as a surprise. I hope you're all still around by the end of the list... Here goes nothing:

1. I love egg nog and would drink it year-round if I could.
2. I hate liver.
3. I greatly dislike raw onions.
4. Besides liver and raw onions, I love food.
5. So much so that when I'm depressed, I eat.
6. I am a former smoker.
7. I quit smoking twice.
8. The first time I quit with self-hypnosis.
9. I know quite a bit about hypnosis.
10. I have been hypnotized by a stage-hypnotist (who also does hypnotherapy).
11. The hypnotist made me shout at a friend, "Out of the pool!" and accuse him of peeing in the pool.
12. I remember being really p*ssed about him p*ssing in my pool.
13. There's a video tape of it somewhere.
14. The second time I tried to quit smoking, I didn't fully quit until I got pregnant.
15. When I got pregnant (even before I knew I was pregnant), cigarette smoke made me very, very ill.
16. I ended up in the ER from being so ill the last time I smoked an actual cigarette.
17. 2 weeks later I found out I was pregnant.
18. I still sometimes have the urge to smoke.
19. On rare occasions, I will smoke a clove cigarette.
20. Oddly, having the cloves around helps keep me from picking up the habit again, even when I don't smoke them (one pack with 20 cigarettes lasted 5 months, and I shared almost half of them; I haven't had any out of the new pack, and I've had it for 2 months.).
21. My daughter also keeps me from smoking, because I will not smoke around her. Ever.
22. I enjoy a drink every now and then.
23. I love margaritas.
24. And Cafe' Zinfandel wine (a blush - not as sweet as a white zin, but not as tart as a red zin).
25. I refuse to drink alone or when I'm feeling depressed.
26. I have an addictive personality (in case you couldn't tell).
27. Because of this, I have rules for myself about drinking, smoking, and eating.
28. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mother.
29. And now that I am one, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
30. I also wanted to be a writer.
31. I used to write poetry regularly.
32. I also used to write short stories.
33. I started a 'novel' when I was 13.
34. I wrote about 7 chapters in pencil in a spiral notebook.
35. Due to my atrocious handwriting and pencil smudging, I couldn't read Chapter 1 by the time I finished Chapter 7.
36. So I quit.
37. I get bored easily.
38. I usually only start short projects or projects with multiple parts.
39. Because when I get bored, I quit.
40. I love to crochet.
41. I also love to sew.
42. I want to try my hand at quilting.
43. I know how to knit.
44. I also know how to do macrame.
45. I don't do either because they're both time consuming (see #37).
46. I also like to paint.
47. But I get frustrated with it because what comes out on the canvas looks nothing like the beautiful image in my head.
48. But for some reason my husband thinks I'm good at it.
49. I love my husband.
50. He's actually my second husband.
51. I divorced my first husband.
52. We separated after 14 months of marriage.
53. We had only known each other for 8 months when we got married.
54. I met my current husband 5 days after getting married.
55. He was married at the time, too.
56. We got together after running into each other after both of us were separated and going through the process of divorce.
57. My ex-husband's current wife paid for my divorce.
58. I really like his current wife.
59. The reason I married my current husband is so I could be on his health insurance because we wanted to have children, and his insurance was better AND more affordable than mine.
60. I was terrified of getting married again.
61. I went through a depression afterwards and gained 30 lbs in 6 months.
62. I'm still working on losing the weight.
63. I've already lost the "baby weight".
64. I gained 40 lbs while pregnant.
65. I think at least half of that was water.
66. I am still breastfeeding my 11-month-old.
67. She turned 11 months today (I'll do the letter tomorrow).
68. My daughter will be raised with the freedom to choose the spiritual path that she feels is right for her.
69. I do not believe one religion is right for everyone.
70. I believe everyone should choose the spiritual path that brings them closer to God.
71. Though I also believe they should be respectful and lawful, as well.
72. I am Wiccan. This is the path I found that brought me closer to God.
73. I was raised Christian.
74. I used to teach Sunday School and lead a church choir.
75. Christianity was not offering me what I needed spiritually, though.
76. I have nothing against Christianity or Christians.
77. In fact, MANY of my friends are Christian.
78. Some of my friends are Jewish.
79. And Muslim.
80. And Pagan (which Wicca falls under).
81. I am a High Priestess.
82. And a minister.
83. And a Reiki Master.
84. I believe Alternative Medicine and Western Medicine should be used to compliment each other.
85. I believe there is a place and time for both types of medicine, but not everything falls under one type or the other.
86. I am an empath.
87. Complete strangers open up to me and tell me their life story or problems.
88. I used to try to help everyone.
89. Though I finally had to admit I couldn't help everyone.
90. And some people don't want help (even when they ask for it).
91. My favorite color is purple.
92. My next favorite is green.
93. Then black.
94. I play the trombone.
95. And the clarinet.
96. And can kind of play the guitar.
97. I'm terrible at strumming.
98. And I can't sing and strum at the same time.
99. But I can chew gum and walk at the same time.
100. I'm not sure how I feel knowing I could probably come up with another 100 things about myself.

So, there is my list of 100 things about me. Feel free to ask questions. I promise to answer all of them to the best of my ability.

Note: I noticed the numbers are not appearing, but trust me, there are 100.

Stomach Bugs Are Never Fun

Sorry I was MIA yesterday. I had what seems to be a 24-hour stomach bug. It started at 3:30 yesterday morning and ended at 3:30 this morning. Needless to say, I'm feeling much better now. I did take Tree Faerie in to daycare yesterday morning so I could rest and visit the bathroom as much as necessary. While I was signing her in, her teacher told me about a remedy that a doctor she saw years ago told her about. I've posted the remedy at Fey's Tricks of the Trade. I was surprised at how well it actually worked! *Link is now fixed*

Tree Faerie hasn't been taking her bottles very well at daycare, though she's eating about the same amount of solid food she's always eaten. I'm wondering if she's weaning herself off the bottle. If she is, that's a good thing since she won't get a bottle at daycare after the first of the year. I am still a little worried about her, though. She just doesn't seem quite right. How do you call your doctor and say, "I know I'm in your office every few weeks for one thing or another, but my child is not acting quite like herself and I'm worried. What do I do?" without sounding like a jumpy, over-protective new mom? Heck, I'm on a first-name basis (meaning they know me as Andrea instead of just Tree Faerie's Mom) with the nurses!

I know I'm just a natural worry-wart. This is the reason DTTF handles the finances.

Speaking of finances, I'm dying to win this giveaway from 5 Minutes for Mom and Parents Magazine.

Weekend Recap

This weekend, I was puked on 3 times, changed 5 poopy diapers, and was screamed at often by a baby with thrush. On the upside, though, I made a sock-monkey and decorated our Yule tree with baby-safe decorations.

I'm tired. Back to work.

*****
By the way, after the poison ivy conversations that Friday's post sparked, I've posted several remedies that work over on Fey's Tricks of the Trade. Check it out and leave a comment!