Everybody’s got a Water Buffalo

“Is that caribou ours now or something?”  This was Stephanie’s question as she swept in the door a few moments ago.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t you know? Everybody’s got a water buffalo,” I started to sing.

 

And Larry has it right. Cause we really do have one that has seemed to have adopted us.

On Guam a Caribou (pronounced Care – i – bow) is just another name for a water buffalo. They were used by the Chamorro farmers to help them plow the field and make roads. Now it just seems they can be found in southern village yards, eating grass, or walking along the side of a road or highway being led by an old man with a stick. Or perhaps you will see one walking through the village, pulling a little cart, as it is led by an even older man.

This one belongs to our neighbor but we have this luscious patch of grass that he loves to eat. Apparently my husband had seen the mutual benefits of allowing this animal to graze on the corner of our property. Feeds the beast and means less grass to mow.

So tonight as the southern stars come out, a water buffalo is sleeping next to my car in my driveway. He joins our dog and several cats and whatever toads and chickens venture near in the night.

Happy Birthday Maggie

Today is a special day in the Smith family household. It is the anniversary of our dear daughter Maggie’s birth and death. I’ve never really talked much about Maggie on this blog. Her story has been written before, on other blogs, but today I wanted to re-write it to commemorate her short sweet life.

Margaret Elizabeth “Maggie” was born on November 1, 2005. She only lived about 2 short hours. She was born 8 weeks early via C-section and weighed 9lbs. Yes, she was a big girl. Maggie had Fetal Hydrops, which basically is swelling and fluid retention in all her tissues. It was discovered in a routine ultrasound I had on that day. Prior to the ultra sound I knew things were not going well with the pregnancy. For the past month I had gained 20lbs and had severe swelling in my feet and legs, yet my blood pressure was fine. Since I am overweight the doctor did not take me as seriously as he should have and kept telling me to just put my feet up, that some swelling was normal, especially in our hot Guam weather. I knew this was not normal.

When we were told there was a problem with our baby and that a C-section was necessary in order to try to save her life, we agreed. We also decided it was time to close the “factory” down and consented to a tubal ligation. I also knew that the chances of my baby surviving were very slim.  We called our pastor and friends for prayer and I was whisked into the operating room where Maggie was born around 5pm. I was only allowed to hold her for about 10 minutes and then she was placed in her daddy’s arms and I was sent off to recovery. By the time I was taken back to the hospital room, Maggie had died. I never got to see her beautiful blue eyes. I’m sure they were blue, as all my babies had blue eyes.

There are so many things that happened that I look back on and regret that things weren’t done differently. No attempt was made to save her life. It was decided from the moment that she was born that she would not survive. I never found out if medically something could have been done and decisions were made for me that I never questioned. I have learned not to question these too much as it hurts too much to think about the “what ifs?”.

I do think that my life was in danger as what was affecting Maggie and causing her tissues to swell up, was also affecting me. I since watched a House episode where a mom was experiencing all the symptoms her unborn child was experiencing. I can’t remember what they called that, but I suspect that something similar was happening with me. In looking this up in google, I came across Mirror Syndrome.  I believe this is what I had. I do thank God that I am alive and am able to continue to raise the children He gave me. I do not understand why He felt He had to bring Maggie home so soon.  I do know she is waiting to greet me in Heaven, along with her two older brothers and sister I lost in miscarriages  between 1996 and 1998.

So for Maggie……

You would have loved being part of our family. Kevin, your oldest brother, would have been your champion and protector. He would have taught you that reading is better than watching TV and pretended he didn’t know who you were, but secretly would do anything to keep you safe. You may even have had his strawberry blonde hair and freckles.

Adam would have written you songs and played them to help you sleep. He would have made sure your toys were put away and taught you to sweep the floor with your own little broom. He also would pretend that you were nothing but a bother to him when he was busy, but would have protected you and kept you safe from anything that would hurt you.

Stephanie, your oldest sister, would have read you stories and sang you to sleep. She would have walked with you and rocked you when you were upset. She would have been the perfect big sister, loving you with all her heart and wanting only the best for you.

Eric would have been your knight in shining armor. He would have concocted all kinds of plays involving you and his other sister, Cassie, making sure the two of you followed him around and did whatever he wanted. He would have taught you to laugh and to run and to enjoy life to its fullest. He would have taught you to use your imagination, causing it to soar beyond this world.

And finally, Cassie, would have been your best friend. She would have taken such good care of you, being mommy’s little helper and making sure you were dressed up in the cutest outfits. She would have gladly shared her dolls and stuffed animals with you and taught you to crawl and act like a cat before you were a year old.

Sadly I have no pictures of you, but following are a few of your siblings that I think would have looked like you. I love you Maggie and you will always remain in a special place in our hearts.

This is Eric. It is the closest picture I have to what Maggie looked like when I held her in my arms.

Maggie’s sisters, Stephanie and Cassie. I imagine that Maggie would have looked very similar to her two big sisters!

Windows Live Writer

This will be a short post. Two in one day, I don’t want to overwhelm my few followers.

I just had to brag on this cool new program I found on my mini lappy I got for my birthday in September. Windows Live Writer. It is like a word processing program but specifically designed to work with most blogger programs. Basically you set up each blog you write on, and then when you desire to update your blog you can choose which blog you want to upload to. No more logging in and out of gmail if you run more than one blog using different email addresses like I do. I have my personal blogs, my business blogs, and a few others I write for. And there are cool editing tools like inserting photos, albums, tables, maps and videos easily using the handy tools in the sidebar.

So far it works great with blogger blogs. I have two others that are with a different blog platform that I still need to test but I have high hopes that it will work. 

So that is why I have been a more prolific blogger as of late.

Oh, I almost forgot. I have been using way more pictures now too as I discovered the memory card from my digital camera fits into the built in card reader on my lappy. (Lappy is what I call my netbook). So now adding pictures is easier than ever too. Thanks to Windows Live Writer.

The Shirt

We have this shirt that has been worn by all of my children (who fit it) so far. It is almost ready to be passed down to Cassie.

Here is Eric modeling it for us.

It has a nice little hoody at the back that is great for keeping the sun off the back of the neck when hiking. This is why this shirt has always been the hiking shirt. Kevin first wore it hiking through the woods of BC. Then it was passed down to Adam, who first wore the shirt here on Guam. Stephanie took her turn wearing it, and still on occasion puts it on. It still fits her. That is Eric’s goal too. That when the time comes for him to pass the shirt down to Cassie, that he’ll still be able to wear it from time to time. It’s just that kind of shirt.

I told Cassie that when she out grew it I would turn it into a teddy bear or something. Cut it up and use the parts for some kind of stuffed toy to be passed down the line. But then we all agreed that no, this shirt needed to be passed down to grandkids, and our goal is to see how many kids can wear it before it falls into rags. then turn it into a teddy bear!

I have no doubt all my children will agree. The shirt is THAT special to them all.

A Christmas Sneak Peak

Today I’m going to step off of the educational track and blog about a hobby of mine instead. Several years ago I started to get into stamping and making my own cards. Eventually I decided to become a Stampin’ Up demonstrator in order to get discounts on stamps and supplies. And maybe, just maybe I’d be able to make a bit of money on the side. Well, I haven’t been able to make much money yet, but I am having fun.

Because Christmas if fast approaching I have been working on Christmas cards. I decided to try a technique called One Sheet Wonder. It is where you take one sheet of designer paper and create as many cards as you can out of it. I found a template and managed to create 15 cards out of one 12” x 12” sheet of designer paper.

Following are some of my favorite creations.

Ug is Enuff!

I have raised a very proper daughter. So proper I’m thinking she should have been born sometime during the 17th century or something. After all this is my 15 year old who prefers to listen to French operas and read Jane Austin than the Jonas Brothers and Twilight.

Her latest peeve is the way her younger brother pronounces the word “ugh”. I had no idea there was a proper way to say such a word. Apparently it is not to be pronounced “ug” (hard “g” sound), but a more softer “g” because of the “h” after it. How to describe this sound? Like something a French person would say maybe? “uggghhhh”. Kind of like the sound a cat makes when it’s barfing.  Hard to explain without audio.

This is a big distraction for her. She really just cannot tolerate it when one of her siblings says “UG!” I have broken up two arguments in the past week over this particular word. I had no idea it caused her such distress when we abuse the English language.

But this is also the daughter after my own heart when it comes to proper writing. She refuses to resort to “chat speak” when writing a note or an email. The closest she gets to abbreviating words is the occasional LOL or ROFLOL. So I really can’t complain.

As I write this blog post she is entertaining her siblings with youtube videos of “Le Petit Prince”, the musical. In French, of course. She says it’s to follow up after reading them  Antoine De Saint-Exupery’’s The Little Prince.

Nerd Boy & Technology Girl

Today’s post has two special guest bloggers – My kids, Eric and Cassie. Cassie started it by dressing up as Technology girl.

So as dictated to me by my “technology girl” (and with some helping probing questions…)

technology girl: she love technology. Like ipods. and computers and video games. Her favorite game is Super Mario 3. Her favorite color is blue. She drinks iced tea while texting on her cell phone. she always talks in a loud voice because of her headphones.

Then of course, Eric needed to get in on the scene. So Nerd boy was created.

(Written entirely with no editing by Eric, age 9)

nerd boy : a nerd of course he loves all nintendo games except for the bad ones.he’s constantly on the computer trying to get the unfinished game:super mario galaxy 2  well he’s drinking Pepsi and  cuddling kittens.he loves animes .and hates it that game companies takes parts out of games like some really epic parts he finds on the internet even if it’s not possible to put it in the game. he really likes the comic book calvin and hobbes.oh and his favorite nes game is super mario bros 3 or Kirby's adventure  and his name is “chrono”familiar? yep nerd boy is SUPER EPIC AND HIS NAME ON A FORUM IS LOLLAZERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

(End guest post)

Together we have Nerd boy and Technology Girl. Perhaps the next super heroes for the homeschooling world?