Uncle Tom

My mom's uncle, Tom Chamberlain, passed away this morning at age 94....isn't that incredible?--he was born in 1913! We all think it is very sweet and fitting that the Irishman chose St. Patrick's Day for his departure.

Tom was one of three brothers: Tom, Dick, and Harry....no, I am not kidding you. Dick was my mom's dad. Since Tom lived in Bend we saw him occassionally, and he was the epitome of a dear sweet old man, with all of his marbles--full of stories, too. In fact, he was at our wedding, and I have been told repeatedly my him and my mother, that our wedding was the time of his life. He was VERY impressed with the belly dancers...I don't think a good Irish-Catholic boy like Tom had seen anything like that up close before!

My mom had been visiting him often, and saw him the night before. He lived in a house in Deschutes River Woods that he himself had built (he was a woodworker by trade)--actually when our family of 5 first moved to Bend, that was the house we lived in, and I remember it well.


An Irish toast:

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

two shots

The New Neighbors

So far, in one week orange juice, canola oil, a hand-held blender, babysitting, herbal tea, some cal/mag, extra chairs, and a muffin pan have all been passed from one house to the other--sometimes escorted by our 5 and 6 year old daughters. I look out my window and see her in the kitchen and feel like the luckiest girl around.



The Animal Man

Our pets flock to Blake everytime he sits down. Morning tea is their daily opportunity to get some serious B lovin' in before he heads to work. Notice the kitten playing with the bigger cat's tail--he didn't put up with that for long!

been sewin'

a few months ago i was at fabric depot to get some stuff for a quilt and it just happened to be their huge 40% off of everything sale--i grabbed the last cart available and started piling in bolts of cute stuff i liked. didn't know what i would DO with most of it but that didn't matter! one cute fabric i found was in the baby/nursury secion, it was a grey flannel with skull and crossbones, too cool to pass up. well i am happy to say i have finally put it to use! i made myself some cloth pads for after the baby is born--postpartum pads they call them. it sounds nice to have some soft natural cloth up against you those first few weeks as opposed to some synthetic gel-filled plastic pad, which i've used in the past and yes, are convenient...but i am going to be washing diapers anyway, these will slip right in. i based my pattern off of this mama's pads (who if i could afford i would have bought a ton of!) on Hyena Cart, a place for crafty mamas to sell their goods. the construction is flannel on top, a cut up prefold diaper in the middle, and fleece on the back (which should protect against leaks) which Breana GAVE to me. so each one cost less than three bucks to make (online ones were over $13.) now i am working on the next size down, for normal periods. i wonder when i will have to worry about that again! Ahhhh!!

the funny thing about this pattern is that when i am done with them, if the baby is still tiny, i can use them for diapers--ha! they are totally unisex.....i'll just add some velcro.


34 weeks today. had a wonderful visit with the wives. they are so on it, and attentive and we're all feeeling very hopeful that things will go smoothly. baby is growing everyday, and is still extremely active (more than any of my other babies....) and responsive to us listening and groping. both girls used their hands to feel where the head was (headed down, thank goodness!)
in two weeks, the wives come to our house for a home visit. slightly mind boggling, because i don't FEEL ready but that is b/c i am not ready at 34 weeks.....hopefully after that visit and the mother blessing (and our bedroom being finished--blake has been doing awesome working a little bit everyday on the cork floor) i will have had that shift into true anticipation and openness to meet what our friend Fawn calls "the Last Nomad." no arguments there--lol!

yes, i still exist

this is the last photo i took of myself--about a week ago, in the almost finished bathroom. i have completely survived my laptop withdrawls, and now do laundry and bake regularly. if it were warmer in our house i would be barefoot, then i could be barefoot and pregnant and bake and do laundry all day. it suits me well, i tell ya.

i could do some complaining though. for starters, i am kind of freaking out! time is moving WAY too quickly for me right now. i am 32, almost 33, weeks. that means i could comfortably have a full term baby in just over 4 weeks. Hell's no, i say. i need AT LEAST 6 more weeks. baby is doing very well, very active, and shaping up so far to be a peanut like the others. i won't complain about that--my baby can be small as long as baby is healthy and thriving which is the case thus far. baby's bony little buns keeps trying to poke through the top of my belly but keeps running into my ribs. possibly related is that a good three-inch patch of skin has gone completely numb just under my right boob--it's either that or the sheer weight of my boob is causing the numbness. regardless, i had it with my other pregnancies too and i am confident the feeling will return soon after birth. on the hip front, now that i am well into my third trimester, the relaxin (the hormone that helps widen the pubic bone) is for sure kicked in and doing its job. at night when i go to roll over, it feels as though my hips have "melted" into the pillows and mattress, and i have to be oh-so gentle in readjusting. same goes for getting up to pee, which thankfully is not very often (maybe once a night, sometimes never) as i hear with third time moms, the bladder has developed more nightime resiliency or something to that nature. speaking of pillows, i must always create a sort of wedge that goes from my waist to my head and props me at a good 30 degree angle, so as not to upset the Heartburn. if i fall off of my wedge in the night, and wake up with acid eating at my throat, i always have a cup of milk there at the bedside ready to sooth me.

other than that i'm goooooood. i am trying to swim once or twice a week which feels AMAZING. the first time i went, i did four laps and thought i might die. but friday i did eight, in about a half hour, with no problem and it felt so good. i was extra pleased to have the slow lane all to myself--'cause let me tell you, i am slooooooow. still doing yoga once or twice a week, too.

the house is shaping up. the only thing keeping me from posting pictures of our new uber-cool bathroom is that i need to find a cool shower curtain rod. the ones at home depot are hideous, i tell you. IKEA has what i want but i am saving my strength since everytime i go there i leave with the gnarliest backache ever. the person who designed their carts with all 4 wheels to swivel, so that the cart is always carreening out of control and it takes every muscle in your back to keep from crashing into the stacks of beautiful swedish-house-crap, should be shot, in my humble opinion. i have successfully painted our bedroom and am ready for blake to pull up the carpet and lay down the cork floors. add curtains, a comfy chair, and some tidying and my "suite" will be ready for me and the baby to rock and nurse all day long for a few solid weeks. diapers are stacked, organic baby clothes folded neatly, wool diaper covers are lanolized, and i am even finishing up on my own home-sewn cloth postpartum pads. they are so cool, they have grey flannel tops with skulls on them. now that is some post-partum bleedin' in style. too much information? ah, well, i am not sure anyone is reading anymore anyway--lol.

mayan's blog is much more interesting--go check it out: http://www.mayanszoomtozoom.blogspot.com/

Nomad celebrates 15 years

a worthy headline! it really always has and always will that Blake opened the THIRD piercing shop in the country--and began a movement that still ripples today. the existing shops at the time--Body Manipulations and the Gaunlet--just didn't make the connection that he had (inspired by his Grandmother's travels), that piercing was not merely "play" but ritual and adornment and above all else it was ANCIENT, a practices seen since the earliest civilizations acroos the globe. it has deeper meaning. on Haight Street in San Francisco, his biz partner Kristian and him filled their shop with tribal art and a fountain with trees and birds, walked the streets fliering everyone they saw, and it didn't take long at all--before they knew it they were doing 50 piercings a day.

he definitely hit a chord, and everything just happened at the right place and right time. 15 years later and when i see the grocery clerk with stretched lobes and bone spirals in them, i think "wow, blake impacted this." and i think it works so well for him becasue of his passion. he is dedicated, driven, and intense--but that could have been applied to anything. anything wouldn't do: poking holes, adorning bodies--this is what called him. it's really cool to be even near that kind of passion. i am honored to be "Nomad guy's wife."

the early crowd--KC reads the kids a book in the new "kid zone"

Blake with River, our 8-year-old friend who just got her ears pierced last week

did i mention Nomad has kid zone?

what is the difference between the first nomad party crowd and this crowd--15 years later? um, we all have FAMILIES!

Blake helping Johann (aka the Red King, an old friend and bandmate) pick out something sparkly for his lady

the sadness

well, i should officially report that my laptop is no longer with us......she had an unfortunate accident and though the hard drive is saved, she is a totalled vessel. *sigh*

much less blogging is the result. but i must remind myself that, yes, there was LBL (life before laptop) and i will adjust.

i'll try and post some belly pictures soon. and i got my hair done last night and it looks really cute. the much slower and very stationary home computer is my only connetion to this world but at least it's something.


don't cry for me, i'll be fine! *wipes tears heroically*

what we look like

this is what i look like 25 weeks pregnant from the left:

this is what Humper looks like when he sleeps:

this is what Blake looks like when he is doing house projects:

this is what Mayan looks like riding her bike without training wheels:

this is what Isadore looks like floating on her back:

this is what Nomad looks like in the evening:

this is what Isadore and I look like watching Sesame Street first thing in the morning:

this is what my belly looks like in bed:

this is what the girls look like taking a bath:

and finally, this is what i look like 27 week pregnant from the right: