Had coffee today with my witchy friends. We get together every other week, we call it Cacklefest. Witty wenches, eh? Only it's been a *long* time since I've gone, since before Aeyrn was born, and she's nearly 2 months old. wow. Anyway, it was great to see them again and laugh and chitchat and get caught up. I was going to go shopping after, but Rayney started in screaming, so I just packed them up and headed home. Rhiannon had fun in the kids' area for a long time, but I think we were getting on people's nerves when I couldn't keep Rayney quiet.
She's had a tough couple of days. Yesterday my friend Melissa (my doula!) came over with her little boy for a playdate, and Rayney started in. We tried everything; various positions, diaper on, diaper off, nursing, gripewater... so then I did the magic baby hold (Happiest Baby on the Block - Harvey Karp, remember?). I just knew it wouldn't work, since I'd talked it up so big to Melissa, but Rayney stopped crying just like that. Melissa was shocked. She said she was actually a little freaked out by how well it worked. It's a little weird to see it in action, it really is like flipping a switch. Thank Goddess my midwife showed that to me, I think I'd be going crazy by now if she hadn't (not that I'm not anyway).
But other than that, she's doing really good. She's starting to interact with us, which is awesome. She's cooing, laughing, smiling, and will stick out her tongue to mimic us. It's so cute, because her arms and everything start wiggling before she gets her tongue out. It's like she's not sure which muscle does it, so she tries them all until she gets it. I need to get her in for some photos. I'm afraid Rhiannon is going to have more professional portraits, since I went a little nuts her first year, and we had the money for them then. I took her to the Picture People for 1mo, 3mo, 5mo (because I had Valentine's Day coupons), 6mo, 9mo, and 12mo. That's still not as bad as my neighbor, who took her daughter every month. But since then it's been just once a year. I want to take both girls for Christmas pictures this year for cards - I didn't send birth announcements for Rayney, so I figure I can justify it. Sheesh, I didn't even send out birth announcements? I'm a bad mom. Poor Rayney's getting the short end of the stick. Speaking of which, my brother and sil didn't even send a congratulatory card. I mean, I know she's my second baby, but come on. It bugs me because both my sil's sisters, who are my age, had babies this year and I'm sure sil sent them gifts and made a big deal of their babies. He just bought a Mercedes freakin' SUV, and then he can't even send an outfit for his niece?
But whatever. My petty pity party is over.

Thanksgiving! My new friend Melissa invited us over there for Thanksgiving dinner. That's cool, because I wasn't in the mood to cook the whole big meal for just us. So they're smoking a turkey breast on the grill (a first for me), and the mashed potatoes and rolls, and I'm going to make the green bean casserole, the stuffing, and an apple pie. I haven't baked an apple pie from scratch before - apple crisp, and pumpkin pie, but not the double-crust type pie. So I'm going to make a test pie first. If that turns out good, then I'll make another one and bring it. Otherwise it will be a frozen one. Barb's so sweet - she's going to bring over some fresh-picked apples from the orchard tomorrow. She's stopping over to pick up some more essential oils and candles, so she can take them home and package them for me. How nice can a person be? She has been such a huge help. I've been able to make more candles than I ever would have otherwise. In fact, I'm feeling confident enough that I'll have plenty of candles made for Christmas, that I'm going to have my first home candle party in a couple weeks to debut the new holiday candles. I really hope I make some good sales, and possibly some that come will be willing to host a candle party with their friends.

Speaking of feeling like a lousy mom... I'm on a bulletin board with some ladies I met while I was trying to get pregnant with Rhiannon. It's been pretty much the same group for the last 4 years, and we have reunions every year to meet face-to-face. It's pretty cool, although most of the moms are pretty mainstream. So there was a question on there about what are you getting your kids/spouses for Christmas. And some of the women had these totally detailed lists, and they were huge! Like no less than 10 different things, and they were pretty big too. I didn't respond, because mine would probably look pretty pathetic. It sounds really lame, but we're going to get Beaner a winter coat, with matching hat and gloves, and maybe some boots too. For one thing, I want to take her to Mt. Charleston this winter to play in the snow, and she only has a jean jacket. (I mean, we're in the desert!) But for another, I know she'll be really jazzed to get that too. She loves clothes. On the other hand, it's sort of a necessity, so wrapping it up as a Christmas gift might seem pretty lame, like we're poverty cases or something. So I just didn't respond. We're going to get her a couple little toys of course (the accessories to the Little People castle that we got her for her birthday, for example), but we're not going to be able to do "the big gift" this year. So I'm a little bummed, but luckily she won't even care. She's at that great age where stuff like that doesn't matter. I want that to last forever. I'm going to hate the day when she gets that attitude that she needs designer clothes, or the latest and the best and the most expensive whatever. And that having or not having defines your worth. I so hate that whole mentality, which is why kids are so awesome. They're just the purest, kindest part of us. That innocence is so precious. Every kid Rhiannon meets at the park is her "friend". "I'm going to go play with my friends, Mama." She's hugging her little friends goodbye when we have to leave. And she probably doesn't even know their names. That stuff just doesn't matter. I wish adults were like that. We all carry around our baggage, and examine everyone else's at the same time. Judging and being judged. And perhaps not measuring up. Acceptance or rejection. What a drag.
I hope Rhiannon hangs onto that ability to see everyone as a friend. That child-like, carefree time when life is all good and rejection is not even a thought, letalone a painful memory. I think watching that innocence die will be very hard. Maybe that's why parents hate to see their kids grow up.

I was reading this article on the hearing about Big Oil posting record profits while we all pay out the ass for gas as they jack the prices. I think this little blurb sums up all big corporations:

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., cited multimillion-dollar bonuses — atop multimillion-dollar salaries and stock options — the executives are getting while "working people struggle" to pay for gasoline and face the specter of soaring home heating bills.

"People are concerned about fairness and justice at a time of sacrifice," Boxer told the executives. "Your sacrifice appears to be nothing."

None of the executives responded.

Geez, how did that happen?

Things are going really well around here lately. My midwife showed me a soothing technique for Rayney, and it's been working wonders. Dave can even do it and calm her down, so he feels good about that. Lately things have been tough because Rayn has colic, and Dave gets frustrated because he can't do anything to soothe her. We have to listen to her cry all evening, which gets a bit old after 6 weeks.
I guess my (backup) midwife got certified as an educator for the Happiest Baby on the Block techiniques, so she was able to show me exactly what to do to flip on Rayn's "comfort reflex". Basically you swaddle her really tight (she showed me a hard-core swaddle wrap that really works), turn her on her side, give her a pacifier to suck on, and bounce and make a loud shushing noise. Something about that particular combination of things, done in this certain way, just clicks something with the baby. So it's awesome. She's still colicky, but at least she's quiet and we have something to do to comfort her.

Rhiannon's been pretty good lately. She was having so many freak-outs (tantrums, whatever), so I decided to give her something to work toward. I made up a sheet, and for every day that she's good all day long, and doesn't freak out, she gets a sticker. After 5 stickers, I told her I'd get her the Cinderella dress (with gloves!) that she's been coveting. She's done great with it - a couple of times she would start up, and I'd just ask her if she wanted to get her sticker for the day, and she'd say "yes" and then calm down. Yay!

My friend Barb has been helping me with the candles. It is a HUGE relief to some of these things done. It's also nice, because then I get to have some adult conversation when she's here, and I haven't gotten out visiting much since Rayn's been born. I still need to get my butt in gear - I haven't gotten much sleep the last couple of nights, so it's hard to motivate myself when I'm so exhausted.

Ok, Rayn's up from her nap, but I just wanted to check in. :)

I posted some pics on our family blog (title is linked). We had fun! Bean and her little neighbor friend pooped out after a few blocks, but they had more than enough candy by then. When we got home, Dave dressed up and scared a few trick-or-treaters, and he and Bean hung out in the garage greeting people (and I think Bean ate a ton of candy under Daddy's "watchful eye"). They were out there until bedtime, and all the candy was gone. So it was fun.

I think Rayn is a little diva. She must be held ALL THE TIME it seems. Which is fine, but it's hard to do some things with one hand, or with her in the sling (like make candles, for instance - care for a little hot wax, dear?). If I didn't have the sling, I wouldn't get *anything* done, so I'm grateful for that. She is growing like a weed, I can't believe she'll be 6 weeks old already tomorrow. Wow. I'm tired, since she didn't go to sleep until 1am, then she was up about every hour until Rhiannon woke up at 8:00, when I got up. Since then she's taken one half-hour nap.

My house is an utter disaster. I got some baking done yesterday, which was fun. Had to make my awesome (if I do say so myself) pumpkin bread for Samhain, and we roasted the pumpkin seeds. It was a fun day yesterday, but it's back to work for me. I'm scared to go in the kitchen, which is why I'm blogging. LOL Oh, well, off to tackle that chore, if Rayn will crash out again for a little bit.