Carnivale in Acireale, 2013

Festivals are year round here in Sicily.  Most nights you can hear fireworks exploding from towns all around us.  In February, there is a particular festival called Carnivale that is similar to the American Halloween festivities.  Children dress in extravagant costumes and parades with intricate floats roam the city streets.  This year Greg was back in the States, so along with a friend, my kids and I loaded up and we were off for an adventure in Acireale.  My primary concern was parking.  Italian streets are not known for being, well, car friendly much less when many cars are involved.  Thankfully, we found a spot easy to load in and out of with just a short walk to the parade route. 

 

On the way down, we purchased a couple bags of confetti the kids use to throw at the floats, or at each other, or at me… or basically whatever or whoever is around!  We plant ourselves in a spot that is clear of people all round us.  Not 5 minutes later, we were bombarded by teenagers and a large group of nuns.  The entire block was clear and the entire block across from us was clear, so apparently we found the best spot and it was necessary for everyone to crowd around us.  Or maybe we are just that cool.

We cross the street and begin to be passed by some extraordinary floats!  

 

 

 

 

 

The kids had a blast throwing the confetti and we even met up with a couple of other friends.  After meandering through the venders, finding a booth filled with olive wood wares, and buying lighted swords (that I didn’t realize until it was way too late that they played obnoxious music), we made our way back to the car.

Now, I had the kids in a sit ‘n stand stroller and it was all good going downhill toward the festival.  On the way back, however, uphill with a 1,000 lbs stroller and 2 giant kids (that’s how it felt anyways), I just about died.  Exercise isn’t my thing but totally worth it for the great time we had!

**Special thanks to my friend Rebecca for several of these pictures

Caltagirone- A Girl's Day Out!

When Greg returned home from a 2 week visit to the States, I jumped at the first opportunity to have a day out.  A couple of friends and I went to Caltagirone for a day of shopping and lunch at a nearby agriturismo. 

 

 

Caltagirone is known for hand painted ceramics and displays handpainted tiles on every step of the beautiful staircase in the center of town. 

 

 

 

Shop after shop displays their handcrafted wares.  After visiting a couple different shops, we settled in to a small place with a very friendly owner who showed us his workspace and let us take turns painting one of his unfinished pieces!

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to buy some tiles as gifts for loved ones and began digging through piles of tiles.  When I say digging, I mean we planted ourselves on the floor in the showroom and went through hundreds of tiles.  It became a game of stacking and restacking until we found perfectly matched sets.

 

As our reservation time for lunch approached, we made our way to the agriturismo.  The GPS led us down some questionable roads with significant mudslide action and sharp turns where we had to honk the horn to let the other side know we were there.  Driving is always an adventure here!

We enjoyed our lunch inside a cave!  The restaurant is actually carved out from the side of a mountain! 

 

To complete the adventure we met some goats in the street and saw a giant bird fighting with a bush.  I didn’t get a picture of the bird… I don’t do birds.

 

We had a fun day with lots of laughter and I’m ready to go back!

Our Little Stay in Rota, Spain

The academy would have been proud.  I'm certain the performance I pulled in the lobby of the Gateway Inn in Rota would have earned me Best Drama.  The clerk told me I couldn't stay because Juliette was under the age of 12 and I immediately went into the "ugly cry."  You know the one... bright red face, snot, hyperventilation, and where your nose seems to widen at least 2 or 3 inches.  It could have been the stress leading up to our travels, or perhaps the fact it had just been a long day, or maybe because it was midnight and all three seem perfectly reasonable reasons to have a complete emotional breakdown.  I even pulled the "you're going to kick me and my baby out in the middle of the night in a strange country" card.  Oh yes.  I did it.  It didn't work, but by the end of it I had one of the hotel clerks crying. 

But here's the good news and here's how I know God cares about the details in my life... I mentioned in the previous post that one of the women at the desk was on the phone when I walked in the door.  Guess who she was talking to?  Greg! (although you probably already guessed that).  How's that for timing?!  He had already made us a new reservation at a hotel in town, and yes, he is always that wonderful.  One of the clerks drove J and I in her own car to the front gate, helped us with our paperwork, they called a cab to come get us and told them where to take us.

Both of us were crying as we walked out to her car and she said "I want you to know there are nice people in this country.  You will see that the people at the gate and at the new hotel will be very helpful.  My cousin is living in another country and I would hate to know that she was in this kind of situation and people did not help her."

Our new hotel was very nice and had beautiful views of the harbor.  A family we knew in Georgia are in Rota and took great care of J and I as we waited to check in to our flight.

We had a great flight, sleeping most of the way in a sleeping bag on the floor.  I'm telling you, cargo flights are the way to go! 

USA bound!

The call came on a Thursday morning.  Juliette did not have a diagnosis for Lupus and her ANA level was higher than before.  This left us at a crossroad.  We either needed to go to a pediatric Rheumatologist (our choices were a doctor in Germany, one in Venice, or back in the States) or begin re-running tests here.  It did not take much to determine we needed to have her seen by the Specialist.  But where?  That choice also did not take long as the States seemed the best option. 

My parents live fairly close to Duke, so the process of trying to get her an appointment with the Pediatric Rheumatologist began.   By Saturday night, Juliette and I were on a cargo Space A flight (aka: free military flight).  By cargo, I mean we sat in seats along the walls of the airplane and the rest of the space was filled with cargo boxes. 

I have motion sickness and the thought of flying sideways made me nervous.  There were no meals or drinks served, no handy trays to fold down in front of us, and no warm towels to refresh our faces.  However, armed with a backpack of snacks, warm jackets, a sleeping bag, and ear plugs (no insulation = extra noisy airplane) we had an absolutely wonderful flight.  We could move around and be as loud as we wanted because you couldn’t hear anything anyways!   J sat on her suitcase using her seat for coloring and playing. 

 

After a 3 hour flight we arrived in Rota, Spain and were to be back at the airport the next afternoon for our flight to Norfolk.  Before we left, Greg had made us reservations at the Gateway Inn on the base to spend the night.  It was close to midnight and I was exhausted.  J had been so good and was holding strong while we made our way to the hotel.  We walked through the hotel doors when a lady on the phone said “Are you Anna Harris?  I’m sorry, but we don’t allow children under the age of 12 to stay here.”

To Be Continued…

The Rash Post!

“It was a dark and stormy night…” well, not really, but on January 16 Juliette woke up with a rash.  That’s still pretty dreary!  A round of viral rashes were going around the community, so assuming it would run its course, I didn’t worry too much.  Not wanting to receive the “worst mother of the year award,” I took her in to the doctor after she had it for a week.  She had small bumps all over her body and she would scratch at it until she bled, but absolutely no other symptoms.  We were giving her Benadryl and got a script for some steroid cream to rub all over her.  That wasn’t helping, so we put the cream on and then covered her arms and legs with wet socks.  The wet press was to make the steroid a bit of a stronger dose.  Over the course of the weeks from when the rash began until we started doing the wet compress, she would scratch continuously causing her to wake up every night with her sheets covered in blood and because she comes in to our room in the middle of every night, our sheets were bloody too.  I have never done so much laundry in my life!  She would still be itchy, but because her arms and legs were covered, she couldn’t actually scratch her skin.  Poor kid!

So, the Benadryl didn’t work, the steroid cream didn’t work, another allergy medicine didn’t really work, and so she was started on a round of steroids.  It was a low dosage and only for about a week, and it helped!  The rash didn’t completely go away, but was no longer overtaking her body.  The week of steroids was up, and her rash came back with a vengeance.  Especially on her face and arms.  Now what?!

Thankfully she has a great doctor here who has been providing excellent care and has also been consulting with various specialists.  In the meantime, she was put back on steroids along with a new “itchy medicine” to help keep her comfortable while we continued to navigate through to a diagnosis.  A biopsy was taken of a bump on her back, we had a visit with an Italian dermatologist, she has had all kinds of blood work screenings, including allergies and a celiac panel, along with various other tests and screenings.  The biopsy did not reveal a clear answer and the only abnormal lab result revealed she had a high ANA level.  ANA stands for Anti Nuclear Antibody and while there are very clear and eloquent explanations of what these protein do, I’m not qualified to provide said eloquent explanation.  Basically, the test indicated that her body is producing antibodies that are not only fighting viruses and bacteria but are also attacking healthy tissue.  Mostly, the result from a high ANA level causes some concern she could have an auto-immune disease.  She had more blood drawn about a week ago to send for testing to determine if she has lupus.  We also sprayed her with DEET for a week, just in case she was getting bit by bugs.  The bug theory has done serious damage to my soul.  She has been weaned off of the steroid, which is good because she was beginning to eat…and eat… and eat, and now she is on an antibiotic.  Did you catch all of that?  So at this moment we are just waiting.  Waiting for test results, waiting for the antibiotic to potentially clear up whatever is going on, and waiting for something to give.  

Who knew a rash could be so mysterious and complicated!  Things could certainly be much worse and she is actually beginning to look better.  I am realizing that I need to start trying to look at the bigger picture.  There are always lessons to learn and God’s glory to shine through.  I was so wisely told that the situation is not out of control… out of our control, perhaps, but not out of God’s.  So, here we go, facing another week and just keeping the faith!      

My Sewing Cabinet... because my husband rocks!

I bought a cabinet.  Yay me! 

As exciting as this is, there’s more!  I bought the cabinet then called Greg, because that’s what I do when I have a brilliant plan.  I tell him about the cabinet (not mentioning we have to figure out how to get it into our house… one thing at a time) and then let him know I think he should build me a sewing table that folds out of it.  Brilliant, right?!

Even though I know he was super excited to figure out how to do this, he dryly said “I’ll see what I can do.”  And what he did was perfect!

This is how we do things in this family.  I get an idea and Greg figures out how to execute it. 

It is so wonderful to be able to cut and sew in my own space instead of at the kitchen table!  I have the most talented man!

p.s. This is one thing he has been up to, but not the most exciting... stay tuned!

A year long project... and it's only the beginning!

I turned 30.  Traumatic.  I don’t really have a good reason why I had such a hard time with it, but it was not pretty!  So here I was, 30 and at a point in my life where some of my focus was going to change.  Brady was going to be in Kindergarten and Juliette was spending time with her Italian nonna, which meant I was going to have some time on my hands.  After a great deal of soul searching, decision making, and vision, I realized I was a “maker” and needed to put this to some good use.  For me, being a maker meant I wanted to take nothing… a single strand of yarn, a piece of fabric, or even a simple ingredient and turn it into something worth having. 

I spent the good part of a year creating original patterns

 

hand sewing pieces of felt sprinkled with bits of using my handy dandy machine, bringing life to what began as a simple drawing on a brown paper grocery bag

 

With help of course...

 

and envisioning the business side to all of this

Now here I am, 31, actually excited for what this year holds!  I would like to introduce to you my (very) small business, bb&j!  I have participated in two craft fairs here on the base, opened my very own Etsy shop, bbandjBakery, and am working on a new business blog.  There is no way I could have done any of this without the unconditional love and support from my family and friends.  I consider myself so blessed to have such special people in my life!  Things are getting exciting around here! 

Check out my shop!!

www.etsy.com/shop/bbandjBakery

p.s.-The excitement level is about to go through the roof when I share what Greg has been up to this past year!