I've been away from a computer for a while as my little girl was born!  Elora is now 2 months old.

Balancing coven work and new baby is often challenging but it is a challenge I welcome each day.  Elora was in her first circle at only 3 weeks old and it was so lovely.  Samhain was perfect as we celebrated the passing my dear uncle who fought cancer for many years and was finally free and I called the spirits to celebrate the new baby.  It was a perfect representation of the complete circle, death and birth.  It was too dark to get good pictures though, but it will always be in the memories of my husband and I. 

I joined cafemom.com as now I'm a new mother and found lots of women there who are also here!  Wow!  So I sent out friend requests....

:) 

October 3, 2007, Elora Jane Sullivan was born.  I'm suddenly a new mom and Elyzahn a new father!  LOL!  Well, we consider ourselves parents from the time we found I was pregnant, but life is certainly wonderfully different!  It's amazing how little sleep I can suddenly survive on and how broken up it can be.  *grins*  We love life!

Elora was 7 pounds and 12 ounces and she was 20 1/4 inches long at birth.  Elyzahn is the perfect father, too.  It's cute how he's still not sure about diaper changing.  He's worried about her sensitive skin and all.  He loves feeding her.  I'm breastfeeding but I also pump since I'll be going back to work in December.  The expressed milk also allows for Elyzahn to share in the bonding experience of meal time.  And I don't have to give her formula.  I can't tell you how much I love my breast pump sometimes.  There are times I have her to my breast and I wonder if pumping is worth it, but then I watched my grandmother give Elora her bottle of breast milk and then later my husband feed her and I think, yeah, it's worth it.  I get the private moments of her at my breast most of the time.  I love it when she's awake and she looks deeply into my eyes.  So much love in those little eyes.  I'm totally mesmerized.  There are times I wonder if I should just express my milk and give her bottles only as it *is* easier, but then I have to my breast and I know I can't give that up either.  So, we'll stick to our plan and do both.  She's so wonderful. 

Samhain is coming up.  My Uncle is now passed on after a long difficult fight with cancer and I can't wait to honor him.  I'm also going to call my ancestors of old to join in the circle to celebrate Elora.  It's her first circle.  She'll be officially Wiccaned on Beltaine of 2008.  She's not quite a full month old yet so she'll most likely sleep through the ceremony, but we're still so excited about it.  I'd like to hopefully have soon more families in my circle with children of different ages.  I love the energy children bring into the circle and I've never found it a distraction.  Yes, sometimes the very little ones or the toddlers will get bored, tired, and cry some, or they'll want to play, but they still add the most wonderful energy with their innocence, love, and youth.  It reminds me that though I have made the transition into Motherhood, the Maiden still exists in the fabric of life.  The Goddess is three fold and children as well as Elders remind me of that. 

I attempted to post about this a couple of weeks ago, but for some reason covenspace was having an issue.  Oh, well.  Nothing's perfect, right?  So..what's the news? 

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I joined the Cill of the Flame of the Hearth and became a Daughter of Brighid.  I'm a flame keeper and I just had my first flame shift this weekend.  It was a wonderful ritual that I did at home.  The shifts are in 20 day cycles with the 20th day belonging to the Goddess herself.  It was truly wonderful and with all the changes going on around me, it was also very grounding. 

I'm getting classes going on again in Neo-Wicca for my coven.  With my Uncle's illness, and my new baby on the way, along with a member's wacky schedule, we put things on hold again.  things are finally settling down and I can't wait to get the coven back into the swing of things.  We're a very young coven and still working out some things, but overall it is going to work out fine.  Also, because of the weather, the drumming circle was put on hold for a while.  I can't wait to get that going again this month.  Every second and 4th Sunday we'll get together for some drumming.  I can't wait.  ;)

An inbox message today reminded me that I do indeed have this blog.  I've had so much going on.  I don't even really want to go into all the bad news, bad luck, and drama that has happened to me and my husband lately.  f

On to happier stuff, Elyzahn and I did find out we're having a little girl.  Her name is Elora and she's due in October.  I can't wait.  Only a few more weeks.  About 11 more actually.  I've been doing well so far.  Much better than my first trimester.  Today I'm feeling so well.  Headachy and my stomach feels 'off'.  Not really upset but I'm not wanting to eat today either. Hopefully just relaxing and drinking some water will help.   

I have a copy of the Pagan Book of Payers and there are some nice prayers in there for new mothers, fathers, pregnancy, etc.  I posted some of them today in my live journal. 

Looking forward to Litha celebration. 

Going to need maternity clothes very soon.  The baby is growing pretty strong.  The little kicks are so sweet. 

Tarot card for today:

The Moon.  Wolves keep coming around me lately.  In my dreams, they are totems of friends of mine and I have recently found out, they even show up in my tarot.  I have much to learn from friend wolf and the Goddess is trying to tell me I need to listen.

Lessons I know from Wolf:  courage, family, peace, justice, patience.