This morning started with sleeping in until almost 8:30! It felt amazing because I have been sleeping poorly this week. I made a big pancake breakfast for the sleepover crowd. They all left by late morning.

We had a Freeze Family yardwork day after lunch. We got about an hour of work out of the kids before they petered out. I stayed and, with the help of someone I'm paying, we got a massive amount of weeding and cleanup done. I finished when Zari called me in for dinner.

We watched Vesper, a post-apocalypic movie that was interesting and a bit weird. Eric and I went on a walk this evening, appreciating the cooler weather.

Sleepover

Ivy and Inga invited 3 friends over for a sleepover and the house is loud and crazy. We had dinner and then went to the university track to play. There were thunderstorms rumbling on the horizon, but no rain. Eric made a big batch of crepes when we got back.

They had plans to watch Coraline, but they got distracted playing a whole-house game of hide and seek. And then, once it was dark, the storm arrived. We headed out to the front porch to watch the rain and lightning. The girls ran around in the rain and waved at cars passing by.

We'll make a big pancake breakfast in the morning (we = me) and put the movie on afterward.

It was so hot today that all soccer practices were cancelled, with the exception of Zari's 6:30 am practice.

After the sleepover horde went back inside, Zari and I stayed on the front porch and talked, mostly about relationships and how she overthinks them. Mostly I just listened because honestly, what do I know? But I reminded her that she should just enjoy the moment and not worry about what a relationship may or may not turn into in the future. That will sort itself out.

Too much Zoom

I had 6+ hours of Zoom meetings today! The last one ended at 10 pm. One was with two DNP students at the University of Seattle. One was to record our next video analysis. And one was a Board meeting.

The heat wave is getting better but it was still a high of 90 today and humid enough that some soccer practices were cancelled and games rescheduled later in the evening. By Saturday we should be over it. I have a morning walking group twice per week and today was super hot by the end of our hour walk!

Dio had a home game this evening, winning 2-1. He played very well, according to Eric. He brought Inga and Ivy and they played pickup soccer with a group of boys. Meanwhile I sat on a chair in front of a computer on a Zoom meeting.

I found sourdough starter in our deep freeze two days ago. I've been reviving it and it was good enough to make a batch of sourdough bread this morning! It was my fasting day so I will get to eat the bread tomorrow.

Soccer, quizzes, books

Half of our family was gone until 10:20 pm! Zari came home at 10 pm from her away soccer game, and then I had to go to the high school and pick her up. (I was supposed to go at 9:30 and totally forgot...oops...but it worked out ok). Inga and Eric had just pulled in when we came home. Dio's soccer practice ended at 8 and Ivy came home right before I had to pick him up. Such is life chez les Freezes.

I had a super productive work day, putting together an interactive online quiz that goes along with our breech birth video analysis (volume 3). I picked and edited 19 videos, cutting them into short excerpts, fast-forwarding parts and putting others in slow-motion, then worked on integrating each excerpt with a quiz question and discussion point.

We're filming the video analysis tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow...I have something like 6 hours of Zoom meetings! Aie!

Also 10 boxes of books arrived on my porch today. I'm teaching a group of 100-150 Amish midwives next week in Missouri and thought I'd bring a pile of books to sell.

Zari came home elated from her game; she played the best and hardest ever and scored 1 goal, assisted another, and had many shots on goal that were blocked. Her team won 5-0. I'm so proud that it "clicked" and she really notched up her effort.

We're past the peak of the heat wave. We were supposed to get thunderstorms today but I saw no trace of one anywhere! We need the rain.

Blast from the past--Zari's debut in Grazia

I had an hour-long interview today with journalist Clare Wiley about my experience having an unassisted birth with Zari. As I was gathering my thoughts, I remembered that our story had been featured in Grazia magazine when Zari was still a baby. (What is Grazia? Imagine People magazine + Vogue had a baby in the UK).

I found the magazine tucked away in a drawer underneath batteries and contact paper. I thought I had shown it to the kids, but none of them knew about it! So we had fun looking through the story and seeing me and Zari juxtaposed with pictures of Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham 🙂 Such a fancy life we lead!

The story is written in first person, but they are not my words. I had a very long interview with the author, and she then chose how to put my story together as if I were the one telling it.

On to other news: by a miracle of a heat wave (96°F or 35.5°C), all four children came home after school! All games and practices were cancelled. We ate dinner together and then went to the indoor track at the university. We picked up one of Inga's friends (also a soccer player). I mostly walked around the track while the others had a 3-v-3 game.

Too much

I have missed very few days of journaling since the start of the pandemic in 2020...until now. I really want to put my foot down for next year and say, "No more."

Driving Inga 3x a week to extra club practices (2.5 hrs round-trip), Ivy going 2x a week to her extra club practices (almost 2 hrs round trip, fortunately she can carpool), plus 6 sets of soccer games between 4 kids. We hardly ever see each other because the kids don't even get home from normal soccer practice until 6 or 6:30 and then Inga and Ivy are getting home at 9 pm or 10:30 pm.

I've told Eric many times that I thought it was too much and I still feel that way. It's ok say to say no to things, even if they are individually good opportunities.

SAT, sleepover, live music & food festival

We had an early start for Zari's SAT test, leaving at 7 am and getting back before noon. I went grocery shopping, bought a journal at a book store, and stopped by a thrift store near the testing site.

I left Dio and Ivy with instructions to do some chores once they woke up.

I got home just in time for a breech live session--amazing and informative, as usual. Then it was time for Ivy's friend to come over. We're having a heat wave, so it was hard to get Zari and Dio out. But Ivy and her friend played in a sprinkler and had a great time. It wasn't too bad sitting in the shade. I read a book and enjoyed the live music from the food festival across the street.

After dinner, we watched a movie of Ivy's choice: Legally Blonde. It's still so fun many years later. Then we went outside for a bonfire and Smores. Music still going strong, cicadas whirring, streetlights coming on.

Inga's first game they were up 2-0 but in the last 3 minutes, the other team scored twice! They won their second game 8-0 with Inga scoring 2 goals.

Chicago tournament, SATs

Eric and Inga left this evening for a weekend-long tournament in Chicago. And Zari takes her SATs tomorrow!

We had a rare afternoon with 3 of the 4 children coming home after school instead of staying for soccer practice. I had them all help me with some gardening and yardwork tasks. There was a bit of grumbling but they still did it.

Then we watched a movie: for lack of anything else available, we tried out Sharknado. It was terrible, just as expected. Zari couldn't stand to watch it. The funniest part was listening to Dio narrate the plot to Zari afterwards. "And then the shark, that swallowed a woman who mid-air when trying to bite a helicopter, landed on top of a man holding a chainsaw, and then he somehow sawed through the inside of the shark and came out the other end, but also he didn't saw through the woman who was inside the shark, and then he pulled her out and she was still alive."

I started the day with a run (1 mile each way) to the university gym, 10 minutes of rowing, and weight lifting. Then lots of sitting for most of the day!

I did take a late afternoon gardening break because I needed to be outside after all that computer work. I pulled hundreds of thistles, which have invaded a few areas of the landscaping. I'm going to also have to spray them every few weeks as they start to sprout again, because the smallest bit of root left in the ground allows them to regrow. What a pain.

Another late night for Inga; she and Eric got back at 10:30 pm from her soccer practice! I will be driving her tomorrow night for the same practice, since Eric wants to see Dio's home game.

Soccer season is in full swing. Zari and Dio both had games today (in different locations, one an hour away). I drove Inga to her practice yesterday, a bit over 1 hour drive each way. On the up side, there is an Aldi nearby so I did grocery shopping during her practice.

I've been doing massive amounts of video editing. I've received an influx of breech birth videos lately, which is great both for general educational uses and also for our video analysis project. I saw Zari's soccer picture up on the high school field.

The weather has been amazing lately: lows in the high 50s, highs in the low 70s. I even had to wear a light jacket when I went walking this morning!

Soccer and swimming and soccer (movie)

Dio had a tournament this morning at the high school; they won both games. While he and Eric were gone, I weeded and mulched. I WILL beat this yard back into submission!

We had a birthday party / pool party for the whole family after lunch. Ivy and Inga swam nearly nonstop for 3+ hours! I put my feet in but couldn't muster the drive to get wet. At one point I had a cat nap in a lounge chair.

Zari drove a few times today, once out in the country and once around town running errands.

We watched an old Will Ferrel soccer movie. I'm not even sure of the title. (Just looked it up: Kicking & Screaming). It wasn't that great but it was nice to sit and relax together.

I need to put some beans on to soak. Then bedtime.

Chauffeur

Due to thunderstorms and downpours and 6:30 am soccer practice, I drove Zari and Dio to and from school today. Because of their different start times, I made 5 trips! So very American.

We are undergoing our decontamination tonight--showers for the sweaty soccer-playing kids, then NIX cream, complete with totally washed bedding and all clothes going through the wash. Yay us.

I have a dermatologist cousin and, at my mom's prompting, I sent him an email. Nothing like saying, "Hey, we haven't talked for years, so how about I tell you all about my weird skin rash?" He said, "I love weird skin rashes! Tell me all about it."

He's leaning towards some other type of bug bite but said it wouldn't hurt to treat for scabies since we have the cream.

Amazingly, we were all home for dinner tonight. Most weeknights that isn't the case due to soccer (also so very American--everyone running everywhere and rarely sitting down together for dinner). It was so fun to just be together and joke around. We watched "A Man Called Otto," which definitely was not a comedy as advertised!

I 100% get engineers and their need for order in the universe. (My dad is one, my grandpa is one, and in another life maybe I would have been one. As it is, I do plenty of on-the-fly engineering between my renovating and my breech work, like designing and building the foldable simulator frame with my dad, or the giant pelvis.)

I took Zari driving today. It was her first time driving outside of a parking lot in the US! We went far out on a country road and I think she's much more comfortable now. She even went--gasp--55 mph! I hate to admit it, but it is so much easier for her to learn on an electric car, compared to our 5-speed manual transmission Mazda 5. This new (used) car has 1-pedal driving, which means you basically never need to use the brake pedal except for emergencies. It's a bit weird for me but more intuitive for new drivers.

The pestilence is upon us

Before I left for the conference in KY, I noticed 1 or 2 small itchy bumps on my hips and thought nothing more of it. By time I got home 5 days later, I had about 15-20 bumps on my waist/hips/butt and several on both ankles. Now the 3 girls have also presented with the same bumps in the same locations: waist/hips and ankles. They're not mosquito bites--they are a bit more hard and raised and poison ivy level itchy.

I went to the doctor 2 days ago and she was flummoxed. One possibility is that it's scabies. (I had to look it up.) Although none of us have the classic tunneling, the fact that 4 of us have the same spots in the same parts of the body is suspicious. However, the doctor doesn't have the equipment to test for it so it's just a guessing game. We're going to treat the whole family with NIX cream, wash all clothes and bedding, and see if it goes away. Another option is taking ivermectin rather than using the cream. Double yay.

Otherwise the doctor is stumped. She suggested going to a dermatologist, but it would take 4-6 weeks for an appointment and it would only be a nurse practitioner or PA (nothing against them, but for something as weird as this, I'd prefer to see a specialist).

So yeah, on top of everything else going on, we have The Pestilence chez les Freezes. Yay.

Life keeps speeding by. I'm back from the conference as of Monday late afternoon (Aug 12). Yesterday was busy--I was finishing up the Italian translation of Breech Pro (huge project!). We had a dinner picnic at the President's house. Bonus for not needing to cook dinner!

I got the translation finalized and published this morning, leading to some celebratory weeding and gardening. I needed a break from computer work.

I got to drive our new car (used Tesla model Y, 7-seater) for the first time today. I'm amazed I figured it out because most of the controls and buttons are missing! You have to find them on the dashboard screen. It's weird not needing to use the break pedal basically ever. As soon as you take your foot off the accelerator, the car slows down and brakes. Something to do with energy capture.

Eric and Inga are off at her 3x weekly practice north of Indianapolis. Ivy also has 3x weekly practices near Indy. Plus all the kids have their usual 5x weekly school soccer. Phew. So much soccer. Plus Eric is helping coach middle school soccer.

I had to run a quick errand to Home Depot and came home with 2 flats of perennials. This is not my first flower purchase since I've been here. It's going to be so pretty out front!

Feeling better

I've been feeling progressingly better throughout the day, thank goodness. I was able to attend all of the conference sessions, do a simulator session, and hang out in the hot tub with a group of attendees after the final dinner.

It's been a long weekend filled with laughter and sharing hard stories and hugging and crying and feeling nurtured.

Morning simulations tomorrow and then a 2.5 hour drive HOME!!

Sick and tired (at, not of!) the conference

I was feeling a bit icky last night but figured it was due to conferencing for 13+ hours. But no...this morning I woke up quite sick: fever, body ache, headache, sore throat. I made it to a morning session that I really didn't want to miss. Then Dr. Stu and I worked on revising a draft of our paper (comments from peer reviewers).

I had lunch and of course got loved on by all of the amazing midwives. They supplied me with all sorts of remedies (Vitamin C, beet extract, goldenseal...). It's the best possible place to fall ill, although a very inconvenient time.

I took it easy in the afternoon, doing a bit of computer work and going outside to get some much-needed sun and fresh air. Once I felt like I was starting to burn, I headed back inside to lie down and read.

After dinner, I went to the hot tub and soaked for a while. Several of the midwife organizers and attendees joined, so I got to hear lots of birth stories and other midwife shop-talk. This is where I feel most at home. Definitely my tribe.

We had a previously scheduled Zoom live session, so I invited the conference attendees to join us up on the rooftop. We had a nice crowd gathered around the laptop, including many of the conference speakers and presenters (Gail Tully, Nicole Morales, Betty-Anne Daviss, Denny Hartung, etc). Despite feeling ill, I was so energized and excited to be in this amazing group discussing one very difficult sacrum posterior breech birth and one lovely spontaeous unassisted sacrum posterior breech.

I had a lovely moment today while we were watching traditional Mexican midwife Dona Lina demonstrate her rebozo techniques. We were all crowded around the stage, sitting on the floor. I must have done something to stretch my neck and back, because someone sititing behind me starting giving me a lovely massage. I finally looked behind me--it was Betty-Anne! And then Carol Gautschi sitting next to me gave me a lovely arm rub. I felt so nurtured by these wise women.

I managed to take a picture today! The first once since the conference began.

All conferenced out!

I left the last session a bit early (well, technically an hour late as it went overtime) because by 9:30 pm, I was just wiped out. We've been conferenceing since 8 am with no downtime. Today was my busy day, between 1.25 hours of video analysis, then almost 2 hours of simulations, then another hour of extra video analysis just for fun.

I ran up to the hot tub before it closed. Ahhhh...I really wanted to exercise but it's hard for me to do that late at night. I am a "first thing or it doesn't get done" kind of person.

I've sent off invitations for tomorrow's breech live session and now I'm going to do one of my favorite things in the world: like down and read until I fall asleep (which will not take long).

I made it to the Born Free Twins-Breech Conference in Louisville, KY! Super exhausted. My presentation is tomorrow morning and I think it's ready, finally. I know I won't have time to get through all of the videos. Maybe I can continue via an optional video analysis during one of the breaks...those who are very interested can stay to watch a few more.

Once my presentation is done, I can kick back and enjoy.

Once again, the conference rooms are so cold that I've had to put on long pants and wrap up in my rebozo. And I'm still cold! My hotel room was set at 69 F (20.5 C) when I came in. That's colder than I tend to keep my house in the winter. What a waste of energy. I don't need to live in a fridge. I HATE being too cold in the summer!

First day of school

It's weird having an empty, quiet house. We're used to kids coming home for 2-hour lunches and, the older kids, coming home at various times throughout the mornings and afternoons.

Zari and Dio had after school practice, but Inga and Ivy's doesn't start for another week or so. Then Inga had her far-away practice (1 hr 15 min drive each way).

We've very reluctantly decided to buy a second car in order to get children to their various practices and tournaments. We just can't figure out a way to do it with one car. Ugh. It will be a used electric car, so at least we will save on gas.

I'm heading to the Twins-Breech Conference in Louisville, KY tomorrow! I've been busy prepping my presentation materials. 150 signs later, I think I'm ready.

Lumberjacking and whirlwinds

The pace of life has picked up significantly, and school hasn't even started yet! (It does tomorrow)

We've had to cut down 8 trees, one of which is an enormous pin oak, probably 5-6 feet in diameter. We had some very sad children. However, watching the lumberjacking over the past 2 days was quite fun. I have lots of videos but no time to put them together into a montage tonight.

We're trying to figure out how to get all of the children to their various soccer practices--some are on 2 different teams and some of those teams are as much as 75 minutes away in different directions. We're not sure we can do it with one car. I am so frustrated because having two cars is just so wasteful and antithetical to the way we've been trying to live. It's not sure...but we're starting to look at used electric vehicles.

I'm going to a big twins-breech conference in Louisville in a few days. I've been prepping some fun props for my video analysis presentation. It's a new idea but it should be fun and interactive. I also sewed two sets of stirrups for the Sophie and Her Mum simulators.

Zari doesn't need to take any more classes to graduate. However, she has to be enrolled in at least 5 classes to play soccer! She may be able to audit some university classes in lieu of high school classes; we've got to look into that more. But at least she has several fun electives.

I met with a potential person to help out with yardwork. I could do it (and have been doing it) but there's just such a massive amount and I need to prioritize my time. He used to run a landscaping service so he knows his way around plants. It's funny that I feel like I need to apologize to the interwebs for possibly hiring out a task! I think it's the thrify, I-can-do-that-myself ethic I was raised with.

Family lessons, frisbee, swimming, Sherlock

Eric is still really sick, so he and the kids stayed home. We had an impromptu family gathering where I showed the kids a Ted talk on empathy, Eric shared some spiritual thoughts, and the kids (well, only Ivy had prepared anything) shared anything they wanted to. Ivy's lesson was on how to argue less.

Ivy was also the only one up for playing Ultimate Frisbee with friends this afternoon. Then all of us but Eric joined them afterwards to swim in their pool! These are the friends who worldschooled last year and stayed in Le Chateau for almost a month.

After dinner, we watched a riveting episode of Sherlock that ended in a cliffhanger. Despite begging to see the next episode, we said no. It was time for bed. Dio has a 7 am soccer practice so we all needed to get to sleep on time.

Review of the past several days

What a tornado of airplanes and border crossings and illnesses the past few days! We're back in the US as of about 44 hours ago. Very quick summary of what we've been up to...

Tuesday July 30
Our last full day in Wales. We visited Caernarfon Castle (10/10, immense and you could wander various corridors and turrets for hours and still not have gone everywhere). After lunch we went to the nearby beach. Eric took a group (including Zari, Dio, and Inga) to a faraway little hidden cove another mile+ down the coast, and eventually they called and asked the rest of us to come (including me and Ivy). They were catching spider crabs and said it was amazing. We made the long trek over there and then decided to swim--why not? Inga caught a big crab and was so proud of herself that she caught dinner. Then Eric caught a few more, including one even bigger. Eric convinceed Inga to put hers back and then as he was going to kill his crab, he looked and discovered it was a female full of eggs. So he put it back instead, leading to a crying Inga because she really wanted to eat her crab! It took a long time to console her. And then a very long walk back home.

Wed July 31
We got up very early, drove 2+ hrs to Liverpool, had a flight that was delayed 2 hours, arrived in Nice, hurried to the post office with 4 minutes to spare to pick up 250 kg of books (10 boxes of 25 kg each) and transport them home (the mail carrier refused to deliver them because they were "too heavy" even though we had paid for door-to-door delivery). Then we had to pack, wrap, and label 77 books that evening. I started coming down with a fever around 7 pm, right when the rest of the family left for the Canadian women's Olympic soccer game (I had to stay home to get hte books done). I finished at midnight, right when they arrived home

Thurs Aug 1
We were up at a good hour, in time to carry all 77 books to the post office. The man at the counter made several remarks about how one customer was taking up so much of his time. Well, yes, that IS your job, you know! It's not like we sign an agreement that we will only ship one package or one piece of mail at a time. We got all the books mailed and were on our way to the airport by 10 am.

We were super lucky and only had 2 flights to get back to the US, rather than our usual 3. Direct from Nice to Philadelphia! I was super super sick all day, fever, chills, body aches, sore throat, the works.

We got stuck in a special screening at customs due to having a few pieces of fruit that the kids hadn't finished eating. But we still made it to our next flight. We finally arrived home close to midnight (6 am to our bodies). Everyone collapsed into bed but of course I couldn't get to sleep for a while and slept fitfully and woke up early. It's my curse when I'm sick. Eric, on the other hand, goes into a sleep coma when he is sick.

Fri Aug 2
Unpacking, opening 7 months of mail, looking with horror at 7 months of weeds, pulling weeds despite my best intentions not to (and still feeling very sick...but I just couldn't resist), buying groceries, buying and planting some herbs and perennials (what can I say...they were so pretty!), watching Sherlock. Eric started feeling sick this evening.

Sat Aug 3
I slept ok but not great, was up too early again. Ah well. Did more weeding, unpacked more stuff, ran some errands, bought more plants, went to the thrift store and farmer's market with Ivy and Inga. I still feel pretty terrible and now Eric is super sick. He's already in bed (see: sleep coma, above). Kids are playing games or something downstairs with instructions to go to bed at some point. I made fresh pesto with basil that I bought and planted yesterday.