Aussie Foxes Book Tour Responses

As a mother, I can’t imagine subjecting my child to anything like foot
binding for the sake of societal acceptance. Do you think there are any
practices in today’s world that might indicate a similar symbol of female status in our society? What are they?

I am not sure if we have any practices in our society today which force us to subject our children (daughters) to such horrendous pain. However, is life not cruel enough to our children without us inflicting the pain ourselves? Bullying, sports, education, clothes, popularity, disabilities and money are only a few of the things our children will endure in their lifetimes that will cause them pain and cause us pain in return to watch them have to endure these things. I also could not imagine sending my daughter (or son) off to marry into a family and know they would not be treated properly and have to be a slave or be treated cruelly just because she is a female.

Why was Lily so forgiving of Snow Flower and her betrayal, yet so angry with
her family and Madame Wang? Isn't the betrayal the same? Why are we so
forgiving of friends but not of family members?

I think maybe Lily was so forgiving of Snow Flower and not her family as maybe we have more trust and love for our family and therefore we expect more from them? I was shocked that Lily was able to shut out her mother with such ease. But then the more I thought about it, the more I realised that
the relationship between mothers and daughters was completely different than it is now. Girl children were a burden on their families and perhaps since they were not showed love and affection from their families, it was easier to turn their back on the family. The relationship Lily had with Snow Flower was one she never experienced with her family. The love and affection was something Lily had never encountered before and would never encounter again.

How do you feel about the concept of "old sames" (being in an arranged
friendship)? Were you surprised at the way it turned out for Lily and Snow
Flower? Have you found yourself in a "sisterhood" kind of friendship
throughout your life? How was it able to last through all of the changes you
have gone through in your life?

I think the concept of “old sames” could be a beautiful thing. However, as we saw in the book – the girls ended up betraying each other and hurting each other in the worst possible way. I am not sure there is any way for two women to have a friendship and for it not to end in heartache at some point. I am not surprised at the way things turned out between the girls. Their whole friendship was based on lies from the very beginning. Trust is a sacred thing and it is impossible to trust someone completely who has lied to you in the past.

One sick puppy...

We had such a great/awful weekend in Ft Lauderdale with Mike's parents. First of all, Tuesday night Leah began having coughing fits whenever she tried to sleep. They would wake her up once or twice a night and we felt really bad. By the time we got to Florida, she was waking up 4 and 5 times a night and crying. Saturday night was the worst. She woke up every hour and thrashed around. Nothing would comfort her. She would just cough and cough and eventually throw up all the mucus in her little throat. She was SO cranky during the day because she was sleep-deprived. We gave her a medicine phobia too because we tried so many different kinds. She started saying "No, Mommy" in her pathetic little voice everytime she even saw a medicine bottle. Somehow Sunday night we broke through a little and she slept a bit better. Then last night at home (finally) she slept from 6:30pm until 7am! She did wake up coughing a few times, but it didn't really wake her up.

It just occurred to me yesterday when our plane was landing, that maybe she has an ear infection. I realized that when she was little, the first sympton I noticed when she did have one was the coughing at night from the drainage. And THEN I put that together with how on each flight she started crying out of control on decent and didn't stop until we were on the ground. I made my poor child FLY with a possible ear infection and had NO clue! Horrible mother, here!!! I was going to take her to the doctor today and just pay everything out of pocket (new insurance doesn't kick in until Friday of course), but she slept so well last night and seems okay today. So we will see. I have read that ear infections CAN go away on their own. Maybe this one will, if that's what it is.

Onto the good stuff. We bought the best contraption EVER! It is called the Go Go Babyz Travelmate and it worked so well at the airport. We bought Leah her own seat for the first time so we took her carseat on the plane instead of checking it. This thing attaches to the carseat and turns it into a stroller for getting around the airport and then can go right on the plane with you. Everyone in the airport was impressed with it :) Friday we went to Ronni's teacher supply store and Leah and I had a BLAST! We found lots of stuff we wanted. Too bad we were limited by our suitcases.

That night we went to Melting Pot for dinner. I am sure Leah would have enjoyed it more had she been eating at the time (oh yeah, forgot to mention the coughing robbed her of appetite too). But she was still good and everyone else enjoyed it immensely. Funny story: At the end of the meal, the waitress asked when I was due and I said August. She said (and I quote) "Oh, honey, you are big!" I responded that I had just eaten a big meal and she said, "No, you really are just big." Um, hello? What gives people the right to tell pregnant women how big they are and how they don't think we can make it? Ridiculous!!!

Saturday we played at the playground in the morning and went to the beach in the afternoon. I didn't get lots of pictures because it was too hard for me to get in and out of my beach chair. That darn big belly. :) Leah REALLY loved sticking seashells on the sandcastles with Brynn and digging holes with Halle. She was terrified to go in the water though. It was pretty rough and the lifeguard actually had to warn the guys to stay out because of the rip currents. So they buried Mike instead. Then we had a barbeque back at Steve & Ronni's.

Sunday we went to our friends Nicole and Min's for a taco dinner. We called the grandparents to pick Leah up after like an hour because she was SO grouchy. After that Mike and I had a little peace. We even talked about getting a hotel room for the night and just not going home :) But we would never leave our sick peanut.

So that was our trip, and boy were we glad to be home last night. I slept very well in between Leah's coughing fits. I missed my pregnancy pillow so much. I never want to leave home without it, but it is gi-normous.

How was everyone else's weekends?

Book Tour #1 Questions

Okay ladies, only four of us finished the book and submitted questions. You can answer as many or as few as you want. My mom does NOT want to have a blog so I will post her answer on my blog when she emails it to me. Here are the questions:

At the end of the story, Lily has done everything within her power to seek forgiveness for the way she treated Snow Flower. Share an action or situation that you later regretted and if applicable, how did you make amends for that mistake?

As a mother, I can’t imagine subjecting my child to anything like foot binding for the sake of societal acceptance. Do you think there are any practices in today’s world that might indicate a similar symbol of female status in our society? What are they?

Why was Lily so forgiving of Snow Flower and her betrayal, yet so angry with her family and Madame Wang? Isn't the betrayal the same? Why are we so forgiving of friends but not of family members?

How do you feel about the concept of "old sames" (being in an arranged friendship)? Were you surprised at the way it turned out for Lily and Snow Flower? Have you found yourself in a "sisterhood" kind of friendship throughout your life? How was it able to last through all of the changes you have gone through in your life?

Please post your answer(s) by June 1st!

Questions for Book Tour due tomorrow

You can either email me or send me a comment on this post with your questions. I am going to post all of the questions in a post this weekend and then we will all post our answers June 1st. Even if you type them up earlier, don't post them until June 1st. So far I only have 4 questions (mine included) so keep 'em coming!

My baby is TWO!!

Time flies! All day long I was thinking "This time 2 years ago, I was ___ dilated or they broke my water" or whatever. It is so surreal that I was in that position and will be again soon. I know I say it all the time, but it is so unbelievable that it is all happening again.

It hit home even more yesterday because Chase Maddex finally came home. He has been in the hospital since he was born April 23rd and it made things seem not so real. But I was thinking last night that Bryan and Laurie are starting to do the nighttime feedings and diaperings on their own now. That made me think that maybe one day I will be there too. Anyway, we are so happy for them and for us too because we couldn't wait to have another baby on the cul-de-sac. Chase has a giant ready-made family waiting for him to get a little bigger and play.

Leah's birthday and neighborhood party were so much fun but SO tiring. After her party was over, I couldn't even clean up. I just sat on the couch and relaxed while Mike and Ronni did it all. She has been such a help this past week. THANK YOU RONNI! Anyway, we planted flowers and painted T-shirts. Corralling 13 kids to do these things was just about impossible. Also we had planned on having Leah's swingset put together by the party, but following a comedy of errors (none on our part) it was not even started. So we decided to fill up her little pool, but no one knew to bring suits. Parents were hounded for 2 hours with "Please can we go get my suit." I felt really bad. But I think ultimately everyone had fun. Here are a few pics from Leah's actual birthday day and then her party. There are lots more pictures and some video on our homepage. Just click the link on the top left.

Leah trying out her new Power Wheel ATV


Enjoying a cupcake at Ian's backyard cookout


I look lovely, but here is the flower I planted for BABY


Leah's face was AMAZING when we sang Happy Birthday to her

Also, don't forget to email me your question for the Book Tour by Friday if you are participating. I know people get busy, but don't let me down. :)

Book Tour reminder

Just a quick reminder that your question for the book tour is due to me by next Friday. You have a week and a half to finish the book, so keep on reading!

On a similar note, any ideas for Book Tour #2? My sister recommends The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. Has anyone else read it/heard about it? I will start researching others too and report back. In the meantime, you do the same. :)

Mother's Day

I really love that my family has a tradition of having tea together on Mother's Day (or that weekend anyway). This past weekend, my sister Lauren flew up to NC and drove with me & Leah to Savannah. We met my mom and sister Carly there on Friday. We ate at The Lady & Sons that night. It's Paula Deen's restaurant that she started back when she was trying to support her two sons on her own. Good ole southern cookin'. It was yummy, but actually not as fabulous as I thought it would be.



Then on Saturday we swam in the hotel pool and Leah & I napped while the others shopped a bit. In the late afternoon we went to tea at The Tea Room, Savannah. Leah had been talking for days about having a tea party with "Gammy" so she was super psyched. It was so much fun! They let Leah borrow Miss Spider's Tea Party to read at the table. When we sat down, they took away her place setting and replaced it with a heavy duty teacup and tiny silverware just her size. She LOVED cutting her food up with her "knife" (it was actually a spreader). They gave her a fruit plate all her own and she ate a tomato sandwich and dessert off my plate. We sat near the sofa, so when she got bored, she climbed up and read her book. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was just right. We bought the book for Leah to take home and remember our tea party.

That evening we walked down River Street. Now we had gone on a girls trip to Savannah one other time so we were fairly familiar with the area. We had our tarot cards read last time and it was fun, so we hunted up the tarot card reader again. She was there (this time with a 2 yr old son!). So we did it again! Let's see, what did she say? Two things stand out: (1) she said that my husband had just had a very important business opportunity (getting hired on my BOA?) and that another one would follow shortly AND (2) my work situation was going to change (staying home full-time). After this change I would comtemplate starting a small business with a friend and it would be a success. Oh yeah, and I would be pregnant within a year of having THIS one and IT would be a boy. So yikes! Fun, though, huh?

Sunday we took the scenic riverboat tour of Savannah. Leah really liked seeing the other boats pass and going under the bridge. But you know what her favorite part of the entire trip was? Coming home. She asked to go home from the minute we got into our hotel room Friday. She was SO excited to see Daddy when we got home. It made his day.

I have been feeling okay. My sciatic nerve is really bothering me lately, especially with all the walking we did this weekend. I am just feeling so heavy and it is hard to control my body. On the other hand, I will begin my third trimester this Friday. Can you believe it's already here? I STILL don't feel like there is a baby coming to our house in 3 months, even though I feel him/her moving in there all the time. When does it become real with the 2nd one? I am so much more concerned with the bonding this time around, even though the tarot card reader promised that it would all turn out okay. That's a reliable source, right?