Tomatoes… inconceivable!

Littletree started reciting lines from a cartoon she’s been watching, Charlie and Lola.

She’s got all the lines down pat, accents and all. So accurately that at first, I thought she was watching the cartoon!

At first I might jump on the thought that she watches Charlie and Lola too much, but the reality is that she doesn’t watch it all that often, and I myself have a tendency to memorise quotes from films after only one or two viewings. Then I sit around for hours with my friends quoting and reciting endless quotes from Monty Python or The Princess Bride.

Littletree got the idea that perhaps since she’s so good at doing voices she could be an actor in movies. We talked a bit about what that entails; as soon as I mentioned having to always do exactly what the director says, she changed her mind!

Still, it’s a useful skill to have :)

The ultimate in Green Transportation

There’s a lot of defunct railway lines in our area. Sadly, because a local rail system would be awesome, but the railways authority obviously decided that they couldn’t stand against the competition of cut-price internet airlines so we have no local trains.

However, being that folk around here are a very eco-conscious and innovative bunch, seeing this on the run-down railway one day wasn’t much of a shock

Seriously cool!

Really, we should all be developing these things to get around the area – there’s loads of railway lines and no trains.

Littletree and Anasho had a go of it – a bit tricky or Littletree’s little legs

And in other exciting news: My blog is celebrating 100,000 hits!!!!! Wow. So this post is dedicated to all my regular readers :) You ROCK! (coz without my readers to keep me in line, this blog might have gotten over-the-top radical LOL) Thanks everyone for following my life, and for all the wonderful comments. awwwwww.

A visit from the Butterfly

The other exciting thing that happened last week was that Chrysalis (from Thailand) came to visit with the beautiful Sahyan.

It was great to see them again, and see how little Sahyan is growing.

We had some outings, went for a picnic

I enjoyed getting about with a baby in a sling again :) He’s really such a sweet, calm little guy – the poster child for gentle, water birth.

And Littletree was so good with him, she’s so good with babies!

We also had a visit from Zell and Zayne (don’t worry, Zell isn’t always looking so scary LOL)

I managed to get this lovely photo of me with a few clients as well :)

We were sad to see them leave, but it was awesome to have a little visit. And hopefully they will come to New Zealand at the end of the year for the World Rainbow Gathering.

It’s Curtains for Me

So what was I doing with my time while I was computer-less and off-line?

Making Curtains!

We’ve wanted to get curtains in our house since the weather started getting chilly back in Autumn – there were a few nights before we went up to North Queensland for the rainbow that were bitterly cold.

It didn’t seem to matter how many layers I put on or how many logs I put on the fire, we were still shivering. It was clear that having seven metres of glass doors in the living room was letting a lot of heat out, and good curtains would make a huge difference.

Procrastinating, as I am wont to do, meant that nothing happened on the curtain front till after we got back from rainbow, but finally, a cold night sent me into action, and I went on a mission to town to search the op-shops (charity thrift stores) for cheap second-hand curtains.

In the op-shop, I lucked upon a set of curtains that would do perfectly in the big bedroom, but nothing sufficient for the living room. At least it was a start. On the way home I stopped at the supermarket, and lo! There was a guy set up by the entry selling bolts of fabric at clearance prices.

I found a nice sage-coloured fabric for $1/ metre! It’s like unheard-of cheap :D I bought 20 Metres.

Without really having a clue how to make curtains, I jumped on in, measuring the doors, and cutting fabric

 

Then it was loads and loads of sewing.

I bought curtain hook strips from the sewing shop in town and sewed them on to the top of the curtains for the ‘professional’, gathered effect, and so we could hook in proper curtain hooks and rings. Which was more sewing

Finally they were done, we spend a good long while sliding all the curtain hooks into the strips, and hooking in the curtain rings. We even bought nice curtain rods (thank goodness we saved a huge bundle on the fabric!).

And here’s the finished product :)

I’m so pleased with how it turned out – they look way more professional than I’d expected. And of course, just in time for the freaky heatwave we’ve been having – This week was the hottest winter days on record in this area; around 36 centigrade (that’s like having 97F in mid February for you Northern Hemispherians)!!!

Adventure Circus

I’ve not posted for a while… my computer has been playing up, and then our phone line was playing up and we were without internet for 5 days.

But of course, we’ve been busy as usual, last weekend we went to the Adventure Circus’ Right to Homebirth Tour. It’s a great homeschooling family circus, travelling down to the Homebirth Rally in Canberra, putting on performances to raise awareness along the way.

Since I was on the door, and then helping out with their little girl while the show was on, I didn’t get any photos of the juggling or magic acts, but I did snap a few shots of the fire show.

The kids all had a great time, Littletree loved it, and even got up to do some hula hooping.

We all had a great night, and it was great to meet Firespiral and her lovely family :)

I can’t wait to see them when I get to Canberra for the Homebirth Rally. Speaking of which, if you can’t make it to Canberra, Homebirth Australia has extended the deadline for getting a virtual rally ticket.

Juggle!

Today at the homeschool group in town we had a juggling workshop. One of the parents taught everyone how to make juggling balls, and then how to juggle.

It was a really fun process, filling balloons with rice using a funnel and empty bottle.

 

Of course, we also managed to spill loads of rice everywhere and make a big, colourful mess.

 

Here’s the first ball Littletree and I made:

 

Our finished balls:

 

The test run:

 

Then everyone learned how to juggle

 

Littletree got pretty good at juggling two by the end of the day

 

But mostly we got exercise picking balls up off the ground!

 

I really enjoyed making these juggling balls; it was such a great day! :) All I can say is: Home Schooling Rocks!!!

Sign of the Times

I saw this traffic sign on the highway the other day; hilarious!

We’ve been doing a lot of work around the house lately, getting new furniture, painting, sewing, gardening. I found out what happens when you ask a man to do the dishes:

And we’ve had a lot of houseguests lately too, including this one:

 

The possum was cute, but not as cute as this one:

 

Yoga Baby

Littletree has been getting into yoga lately. I think since the yoga workshop at homeschool group recently, she got interested.

She is, of course, insanely flexible.

But mostly it’s been a great way for us to connect in a really positive way. And I’ve gotten back into the habit of getting up and doing yoga in the morning – I used to do it every day for years before I gave birth to Littletree, and then I didn’t have so much time or energy with a newborn. Not to mention she would come and climb on me anytime I tried!

 

Homebirth: a Woman’s Right to Choose

In Australia, the government is considering passing a law that would essentially make homebirth illegal. The law is thinly veiled as an insurance loophole – they’re saying that independent midwives will not be able to get indemnity insurance.

It seems that under the new law, anyone caught practicing midwifery, as well as the birthing woman, would face fines up to $30,000.

I could go on and on about how homebirth has been proven to be as safe as or safer than hospital birth again and again. About how it’s a human rights issue – women have the right to give birth at home.

The United Nations Statement on the Rights of Women (1995) that states "Women have the right to have control over, and decide freely and responsibly on all matters relating to their sexual and reproductive health"

Imagine a world where homebirth is illegal, as the Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon is trying to make it.

Most women will be forced into hospital births whether they want one or not. Renegade independent midwives will still practice, underground. So in order to hire one, a pregnant woman would have to be connected to the homebirth community to find her.

The underground midwife would be attending births in her area. Everything is fine but she has to transfer now and then, and let's be realistic, even the best midwife with the best stats still needs to transfer occasionally.

So she would either need to say "oops, we were planning to come in and the labour was really fast and now there's a problem, I'm just a friend who happened to be there and I'm helping them get to the hospital." At some point the hospital will get to know her as a woman who "happens" to witness a few too many births and they investigate... OR the midwife would need to "abandon" transferring mothers at the hospital door.

Not only that; even if the birth goes without a problem, there you are, after your yummy homebirth, basking in the warm glow of new baby bliss… But then you need to register the birth. If you're going on the story of "we didn't make it in time" you'll still need to get up out of bed pretty soon after the birth and go in to the hospital to register.

Basically, it would really suck, and be an affront to women’s rights.

Looking at the two main models of maternity care - the US model, which has almost no homebirth, the highest rates of medical interventions and cost, and among the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in the western world, and the European model, where in countries like Holland around two thirds of births are attended by a midwife, around half of which are at home, at a much lower cost and with a significantly lower rate of maternal and neonatal mortality, Why on earth would the Australian government choose to follow the US model? Why?

Well, I could say a lot. I could rant on for hours and hours, quoting this and that study, talking about safety, and rights, and choice, and freedom, and witch hunts. But I’m pretty sure you all know all that. I can highly recommend Lisa Barrett’s blog.

There will be a rally in Canberra on the 7th of September; I will be going. If you can’t make it there, you can show your support by purchasing a virtual rally ticket.

And just because I think it’s great, I’m posting my friend Currawong’s inspired song:

Gentle Discipline

A new article of mine was published on Essence of Life, about Gentle Discipline – probably it will be the last one; sadly the English site is closing down and it seems I am also out of a paying job now.

Ah well, I’ve been writing for them for about 3 years now, and it’s probably time to move on and open up for other things. (hint: I’m happy to hear from anyone who might have a job for me)

Anyway, the article can be read HERE, at least until they close the site. They are keeping up the Hebrew edition of the site, and my articles will be there, albeit in Hebrew, though apparently there will be a translate button.