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EXTRA!

Several weeks ago, I got to spend some quality time with my college girlfriends (Peyton, Nicole, Tracey and Stephanie). This trip was a little different than past visits together and it was an incredibly special one. Tracey is about to bust with her FOURTH child and Stephanie is pregnant with her FIRST child! Tracey planned a Red Tent party to celebrate her last child instead of the traditional baby shower. Peyton and Nicole have thrown a red tent party every year for the last 5 years for their moms group in Chicago. I had no idea what to expect.

History of the Red Tent

In such ancient cultures as that of Native Americans, Africans, and Chinese, red is a symbolic color of strength or female power. The Red Tent is rooted in ancient Christian history as a gathering place for women. In biblical times, women were admitted to the Red Tent when giving birth or menstruating because the men in their communities feared contamination from these biological processes. In the book "The Spirit of Indian Women", the author states,

"When a woman is having her moon, her blood is flowing, and this blood is full of mysterious powers that are related to childbearing. At this time, she is particularly powerful...a woman's power and a man's are opposites, not in a necessarily bad way, but in a good way. Because of the power a woman has during this time, it is best that, out of respect for her men and for their medicinal trinkets and beliefs, she stay away from them. During this time, the men would often build a small lodge for the woman while other female relatives serve on her needs."

Thus, the Red Tent.

The Red Tent eventually became a sacred gathering area where women went to celebrate life as they learned from one another to strengthen themselves, their families, and their communities.

It took a lot of effort to pull this thing off! We helped Tracey set up for the party Friday and Saturday. It reminded me of days in the sorority house working along side these girls preparing for RUSH. It was a lot of fun. Peyton and Nicole actually made the beautiful red tent themselves!

Tracey's boys enjoyed having battle in the tent with their imaginary light sabers!

The party was touching and beautiful. There was a video of the guests with pictures of their pregnancy and birth streaming in the the background. There was a henna artist making beautiful designs on pregnant bellies! A lady taught us how to belly
dance.





Then, about 50 women gathered in the red tent to sit on pillows and share stories about motherhood, friendship and to honor family. We each introduced ourselves in a special way, "I am granddaughter to Dibbon, daughter to Lynda and mother to Chase and Calhan". Then, we read poems about motherhood and shared stories by candlelight. It was incredible touching and emotional. It made me so very thankful for the girlfriends in my life as well my incredible family!

Extra was there to get some footage of Shaun (Cassidy) for some upcoming projects he will be working on. He wanted to have them film the Red Tent party because not only is it a celebration of his beautiful wife who is about to have their fourth child, but also they were giving back to the community. Tracey asked all the guests to bring diapers instead of a gift. The diapers were to be donated to CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). CASA is an organization Tracey works with when she is not having babies!

So were were all included in the Extra segment!!!!! I aired yesterday, but might be on again today! Check it out!

I am back!!!

I have been thinking for a long time that I should get back to keeping up this blog. When I look at friends blogs, I get a little sad that I let mine go. Then, I went back a couple years to read my postings and realized that it really is an excellent way to document our lives. So many funny things I forgot about were right there to spark my memory. So here I am again...I am gonna try to keep it up....we will see.


La Fortuna, Costa Rica...a view from our room!


Dawson and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Cinco de Mayo. We treated ourselves to a special adventure packed vacation to Costa Rica. It has been on our bucket list for a long time. We stayed in the Arenal Volcano area so we could be closest to the activites we wanted to do. It was our first time white water rafting. The class 3-4 rapids were pretty intense for us amateurs, but no one fell out of our boat!!! I did have a close call though. At the mid point, we all had a break to eat some of the best pineapple I have ever eaten. Before Dawson and I could eat with the rest of the group, we repelled down a 120 ft waterfall!!!!!





We toured the active volcano and hiked through the rainforest. There were so many different bugs, spiders, frogs, birds and Dawson even saw a jaguar!




Genuine mud facial!

One of my favorite things was zip lining through the rainforest. We started with Superman! It was the highest and longest zipline (1/2 mile) of the 16 we did. It was an incredible feeling to be that high above the ground going at speeds up to 55 mph!



It was everything we wanted it to be and more. Costa Rica is a beautiful place with so many things to do. We were ready to return home (on Mother's Day) to see our boys. Chase got to spend the night at Max's house for 2 nights while we were away. This was his first sleepover and he did great! Thank you McLaughlins! Calhan stayed at Nina's (grandmothers) the whole time and had fun playing with Nina, Mammaw and Ashlyn.
;

album 06/20/09 (9 photos), by Allison Brinkley

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
http://www1.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=458211245592744048/l=1590856017/g=5706862/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=784147017/a=5706862_5706862/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=9%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Allison doing the Straddle Whip!



Dawson doing the Knee Hang!

Forgot to put a 5 month pic of Cal on here. I have been a little distracted since he got sick with 2 ear infections and RSV over the last few weeks. All seems to be getting better now and he is almost done with his second round of antibiotics. Cal is growing so fast. He has already had apples and bananas. He doesn't really seem to like the baby food too much. He will get used to it soon. He has also discovered his feet. He tries to pull them up to his mouth so he could get a taste. I think soon, he will no longer be swaddled at night. He seems to be breaking out of it. This is much sooner than Chase did. I just hope he will continue to sleep well through the night once the miracle blanket no longer fits.



Chase will be 3 soon. He is getting so big. Today, at the YMCA I watched him go with his class to Cardio Kids. Yes, he participated in his very own fitness class. It was so sweet seeing him walk past our spin class in a single file line. I was afraid he would come running toward me when he saw me on my bike, but he didn't. He got a huge grin on his face and waved to me. He is getting to be such a big boy now.

Chase asked if we could paint today. He had been doing it at the Y and I thought it would be a good day to try it at home (with washable paint of course). Chase takes after me. He loves doing artwork and sat there for about an hour coloring and making a mess. It was a blast. When he was done, he brought his art over to Calhan to show him. This was done without me provoking it. I am so glad I caught that special moment on film. He is such a wonderful big brother. Cal loves him so much. He gets the biggest smile on his face when he sees him!

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I have made a huge change in my life. My last day at Nemours was today! Today, I am officially unemployed. Granted it is just til Monday, but it is the first time in my life since college that I have been unemployed. I made the hard decision a few weeks ago to go back to Arnold Palmer Medical Center to work as an outpatient dietitian for their Pulmonary group. I will be working with two physicians and a nurse practitioner that I adore. It was a difficult decision, but I am doing what will be best for my family. It is crazy that I have to think about "my family", but I am so thankful that I have to. I am really looking forward to this new opportunity and I know it is the best decision. Basically, I will be doing the same work (part time) with better benefits. In this insecure economic situation, I have to look out what is best for those beautiful blue eyes that look up to me. I know I am making the right decision, but it still is a difficult time. After all, these people have been there since I first started 10 years ago and have seen me grow into the person I am today. Fortunately, it is an amicable split and I know that I will still be in touch with my friends from Nemours.

Today is also a very special day. Not only is it my nephew Liam's 3rd birthday, but Tracy and Stephan welcomed their second into this world. Callie Anne Balderach was born today at 6:59pm weighing 6#6oz. I briefly talked with Tracy just after the delivery and their family is doing well. How beautiful does Tracy look in this picture, not to mention the little future daughter in law! Unfortunately, her Papa (grandfather) was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her Papa is such a wonderful man with so much spunk. You always feel so good being around him. I am praying for his peace and comfort at this time. Kirk, Chad, Sandy and Coleman are in my prayers as well during his last few days.

I wish so much that I could be there with Tracy and Stefan as they transition into this world of a 4 person family, just like they did for me. It was so awesome to have Tracy there with me when Cal was just 3 weeks old. Those memories will forever be cherished. Please know that I am there for you in spirit and just a phone call away. Here is a beautiful pic of my very best friend with her new beautiful Callie (who will marry Cal and we will call them Cal squared)... I will summarize some advice you gave me: "These first few weeks/months are rough, but soon you will be back to your normal self and getting more sleep. This period of time will not last forever. Enjoy it!" I love you guys!

Enjoy the next post of Chase singing "Happy Birthday" to Liam. You can tell his independence is really starting to shine through! Just for the record, this film was made 2 minutes before Callie was born. That is why I miss your phone call Stefan! :) Can't wait to come down for Liam's big birthday bash and to see the boys playing together!

It has been a busy week at the Brinkley home. Last week, Cal developed a cough and was not acting himself. I thought he may have caught my cold, but he had a high fever of 101.5 on Wednesday. We went to the pediatrician's office and it turned out he had a terrible ear infection and RSV! He was started on antibiotics for the ear infection. I had to just watch him and make sure his breathing was normal and not labored. He did sound a little wheezy for about two days, but was was soon starting to act like his normal happy self. He has not had a fever since Wednesday when we went to the doctors office.

Saturday night, Cal and Chase got to sleep over at Nina and Mammaw's house. They had a blast! Dawson and I were invited to Catherine and Jimmy Ellspermann's house for a Valentines dinner. We had great food, great wine and great company. It was such a fun night.

Today, Dawson had the day off today for President's Day. He had a wonderful idea to take the boys to Sea World. It was so much fun. Chase really enjoyed the Shamu show. When he woke up from his nap today, he demonstrated how Shamu splashed all the kids with his new stuffed Shamu toy. The weather was beautiful today. Chase even got to enjoy the splash pad in the kids playground. Click on the image below to see it larger.

Today is the birthday of a very special lady, Mammaw! She is 94 years young today. We had a big family get together to celebrate her birthday today. We also celebrated Taylor and Dino's birthdays that are in February as well. It was a great day visiting with family.

Thank you Norma and gang for hosting. We loved your yummy spaghetti and alfredo sauce.

Chase and I had fun making pizza the other day. Unfortunately, he didn't eat much! He is my picky, light eater (like his mamma). He was very proud of his creation though!

Funny things Chase has said or done recently:

• Chase recently has become scared of dark rooms. Instead of saying it is scary, he calls it "scare me".
  
• When Dawson leaves for work in the mornings, I tell Chase to say bye to him and to tell daddy to bring home the bacon! This morning, Chase yelled to Dad as he was walking out the door, "Bye Daddy, bring home the pepperoni's!"
• He calls parmesean cheese "shakey shakey".
• All bugs are called "lady bugs".
• Chopsticks are called "Hi Yah".
• He uses drummy sticks to play his drums.
• Last night. Daddy was attempting to cut his pizza and Chase told "Don't snap the pizza!"
  

Last night, we decided to start giving Cal rice cereal with a spoon. He made the funniest faces. I am not sure if he liked it or not. Most of it got all over his face. That is ok because he is just learning to use a spoon.







Calhan went to his 4 month check up on Monday. He is perfect in every way! He is so much bigger than Chase was at this age. I don't need to worry about his weight!
Here are his anthropometrics:
Ht: 25" (50%ile ht/age)
Wt: 16#14oz (80%ile wt/age)
WOW!!! His legs are so thick and juicy. I love it!


I was nervous about going to the doctors office alone with both boys. I worried that Chase would get tired of waiting or freak out because the last time he was there he got the flu shot. So I started preparing him days earlier that I was going to need his help when we have to take Cal to the doctor. I told him that it was Cal's turn to get shots and he would need to comfort his brother. Right when we got in the car, Chase looked over at him and said in a sweet little voice, "Cal, it will be ok". Chase was in his best behavior and sat so still while we waited and while Cal was getting his check up. At the end, I told Chase that he could hold Cal's hand while Cal got his shots. I should have thought that through a little better because the look on Chase's face when shots went in was complete shock!!! The look was priceless though. Chase's 3 year appt will be interesting. I hope he won't need any shots. Last time he got the flu shot, he cried and then as we were leaving he stopped in the middle of the waiting room and told all the other kids "I got hurt in there!"