Sick

Oh, this bug has made the rounds, and just when I thought baby had escaped it's grip, down she went. We have spent the last 3 nights sleeping sitting up in a recliner. Last night she coughed less, but still pretty violently. Right now she is sleeping in her crib for the first time in a few days, and I got to brush my teeth and check the blogs. And drink a hot cup of coffee. Simple pleasures. Now I just hope she continues to improve and we can say goodbye to this nasty, nasty virus. I had forgotten the worry that goes along with a sick baby. I'll just be so glad when we can see the little sparkle in her eye again!

I have managed to stay on top of school with the other kids, and have been very pleased with their progress. Laundry is another story all together, and I predict a folding party later today (either that or a large donation to Goodwill, and far fewer clothes in this house). It is nice that the dirty clothes are getting clean, but when they sit in the basket, crumpled and neglected it doesn't give me any mental relief of a job well done. So, on tap for today, hold and nurse and soothe baby, direct many other hands to fold and put away laundry, and run through the reading and math lessons with the kids (at least). If I can accomplish these things, I will be satisfied.

Til later...

Blessings!

Ah, now that is refreshing!

We are finally getting the October we didn't have this year. The weather has been fabulous. It seems a bit odd, though, to be experiencing this lovely weather with the trees completely bare, and no color of fall at all. Not to quibble, though, because I'll take this weather whenever it comes.

Saturday our entire family worked outside to finish all the little projects we couldn't get to in October: cleaning out the gutters, finishing the last bit of sealing the driveway, one last mulching mow over the leaves, cleaning up the gardens for spring, and planting bulbs. Then 5 of the kids and I played catch, with a baseball, which I haven't done in years. My younger kids call playing catch, "Toss the ball", since they have never heard it referred to as playing catch. Way back when, I used to play softball. I was on the Varsity team, and through the years, became a pretty competent. I didn't play in college, so since then, baseball or softball for me has been pretty spotty.

Saturday, my seven year old son got hit in the mouth with the ball when his five year old sister threw the ball to him. He came running up to my husband and I, and was disinclined to toss the ball any more. Out I went, to teach him how to protect his face. Soon, the 11 year old, the 9 year old, the 13 year old and the five year old joined us, and I was throwing the ball to each of them in order, and catching a wide variety of return balls. I haven't stretched and run and jumped and moved so quickly since I can remember. My oh my, what a blast.

I was amazed how even after so many years, my body's memory of how to catch wayward balls, how to throw accurately and hard, how to field an errant bouncing ground ball came right back. I was awesome. I impressed my kids, I know that. I was also amazed how quickly the kids improved their throwing and fielding ability with just a few pointers.

Now for the big question. Yes, I was (and still am) pretty sore. But not as badly as I would have guessed, and since the weather is still quite temperate, we'll be back outside this week, playing and laughing in a way that makes me feel much younger than I have in years.

Gift

So, today, I went through all the newborn clothes that I had used for Melanie. All the little t-shirts, the gowns, the swaddling blankets, the tiny dresses and diaper covers. I sighed and remembered as I folded each one, dividing the bounty between two bags. One bag goes to my sister in law, Heidi (regular commenter here =)., who is about to have her 12th baby. The other goes to a friend at church, who just had her first daughter. Admittedly, I reserved a few pieces just too precious to pass on, but I was strict with myself, because I have no need to save all these baby girl clothes. Even if I need them again, I can get them back or get more. There is never a shortage of cute baby girl newborn clothes!

Melanie was sitting on the floor by me, playing with some toys, clapping, cooing, babbling. I enjoyed telling her about her newborn days, and realized with a great deal of satisfaction that my pregnancy with her, her birth and newborn days were truly some of the most glorious of my life. I treasure all the memories of my babies, of course, but there was something truly different about her birth, and I think it was my appreciation of the miracle and gift that new life is. You would think that would have happened before, but I wasn't as receptive to the notion of "gift" as I am now. Life has a way of doing that, doesn't it?

Now that she is the ripe old age of 7 months, I do feel some of the "magical" quality of the past year fading away. The appreciation I have for the gift of Melanie isn't slipping away, just the crystalline, extraordinary sense of unexpected joy. She is settling in to the comfortable joy of the entirety of my life now, and her smoothing in is a good thing. But my, oh my, do I treasure those early days.

Brainstorm

It has been increasingly difficult to hold Melanie on my lap while trying to do anything on the computer. She is very intrigued with the keyboard, and wants to pound and pound on it. This has led to a few deleted blogs posts, closed tabs, and other minor mishaps. So today, after a futile attempt to distract her while on my lap, while I was trying to watch a netflix movie on the computer, I had a brainstorm.



We have lots of spare computer parts around here, so my son grabbed an old keyboard, and set it on the floor. Let the pounding begin!!

a very good day

Yesterday, I went for a long walk, first time since Melanie was born. It was a beautiful fall day, mid '50's, sunny, light breeze. I got the baby to sleep, swiped my husband's iPod (mine was lost, but I found it later in the day), donned my new walking shoes, fleece jacket, and new-to-me coral colored wool/hemp knit hat, and off I went. I estimate I walked about 4 miles. Loved every step. I am so refreshed, that I know I MUST make this more of a priority. I got to think through many thoughts that are interrupted at home. I think that is what is so refreshing about a good long walk, aside from the obvious physical effects. Uninterrupted lines of thought.

After returning, I busied through the rest of our day, and at dinner time my husband called from the train to invite me out to dinner. LOVELY! I thought, and the plan was to go to a little hole in the wall bar that has the best burgers. About 15 minute before he was to arrive, he called and suggested I meet him at a much nicer, much better restaurant by the train station.

So, I got ready to go, and realized that my walking clothes and tennies were fine for the hole in the wall place, but for this other place I would need to tidy myself up a bit.

I had a new pair of dressy trousers, a black turtle neck sweater, a black wrap, turquoise jewelry and my new-to-me coral colored wool/hemp knitted hat. It came together so quickly, looked so good, and was SO fun to dress up to go out. The dinners was delicious, I loved spending time with my hubby, and then was happy to go home again.

Overall, a refreshing day, restorative day, and a day I am grateful for.

Here's to more of those!!

Halloween '09

Our little Princess
Our Little Lamb with her handsome dad.

Our own Mr. Baggins


Elizabeth from "Pirates of the Caribbean"



Our Ice Queen, plus her cousin as ??

Our slightly creepy rag doll


Our little Lamb

Our Knight in Shining Armor

Perception

Good day, all! It seems to me that Melanie's addition to the family is just now starting to cause some serious re-arranging of my expectations. Up until now, she slept regularly, could be put down and stay there, and there were any number of arms clamoring to hold her. NOW, she is not content to be held very much. She is crawling rapidly, stuffing everything into her mouth (so now we vacuum daily. I know some people always vacuum daily, but around here, this is BIG NEWS). She is pulling up on everything, and needs constant supervision. She rarely naps in the morning (drat), but is a stellar cat-napper while nursing. One good 20 minute nursing session seems to equal a 2 hour nap for her.

Anyway, this is leading to me being a bit squeezed in the keeping of the home. Once again, I am back to priority only mode, this meaning meal prep, laundry, school and running kids from here to there and back again. No baking, no garden clean up, no long fall walks. But it is just fine, especially because watching Melanie discover so many new things is just as amazing as it was the first time I saw a baby explore her world. Even though this is the eighth time, it is just as exciting and amusing as ever!

BUT, praise God, I got the kids Halloween costumes a month ago, so that is all ready to go, and I am going to try to feed off the excitement building around here from the "middle kids". (I classify the 4 kids between 5 and 11 as the middle kids. They used to be the "little kids", but are now taking offense at that classification, so it has been duly changed). Just now, my 7 year old son walked into my room, and asked me when I was going to do my room for Halloween. He has made many paper bats and ghosts and wants me to hang them from my ceiling. I let him keep them all for his room, but he is aghast at my lack of decorating. The "middle kids" decorated the front porch with carved pumpkins, a scarecrow they made and various other hand made paper crafts.

I am amused by the difference in perception about the fall foliage between myself and my 7 year old son. While driving my eldest to school this morning, I was bemoaning the recent rain and wind had knocked all the leaves off the trees prematurely. It was so beautiful earlier this week, but didn't last long at all. My son, however, came to me this morning (with his shield made from cardboard and duct tape and a stick/sword) and said, "Thank you, trees, for looking so scary just in time for Halloween." See? It is all about perception!

Well, we have a full, busy, and fun weekend coming up, so I wish you all the same, and until next week, blessing to you all!



(Gratuitous baby picture. Notice her blurry hands? When she is being held, and sees me, she gets so excited she flails her arms and legs and smiles).

Seven Months

The Picture Tree

The trials of getting eight children all looking good in a photo. I am going with the first one for the Christmas card. It's as good as it gets!

Was it seven months ago already!

My hubby and I went away for the weekend with just the baby. It was fabulous, wonderful and refreshing. While we were there, Melanie turned seven months old, and began crawling all over the place, finding all the power cords and pulling herself to standing and pushing around a rolling ottoman. Wow. I'll post pictures of the wonderful time we had, when I have time. Until then, I am just enjoying remembering her tininess, now that she is getting just a bit more independent.

Blessings!

Baby

For our anniversary we went to a lovely aquarium, and of course, I did not bring my camera, because I always forget. However, my daughter brought hers, and took a million pictures of fish and reptiles, and one or two of Melanie. Here is one, and I love it! We had a fabulous day!

A Day to Celebrate

Today is my 17th anniversary. This morning my husband brought me a Starbuck's Latte to celebrate, and on the cup was "The Way I See It, #76". It reads as follows:

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life." (Anne Morriss)

Now I could quibble here and there with a few word choices, but I am simply going to be grateful for the commitment my husband has to our marriage, the commitment I have to our marriage, and the shared liberation we therefor enjoy.

I also think it is pretty cool that this was the cup he was given while getting me a latte. Seems to me as if God was giving us a little thumbs up!!

The day I got married, I have to say, I could not see the fruits of our marriage, not even in a foggy, hopeful sort of way. I had no idea what life was going to bring. This morning, as I was sitting in the nursery (that used to be my icon room), with the baby, one daughter bringing me coffee, another bringing me some delicious cinnamon toast with pumpkin butter, and a few other children just sitting around, being a little sleepy, my husband walks in with the latte, a card and a nice bottle of wine for later. It occurred to me, that had I been asked seventeen years ago what my life might be like now, I wouldn't have ventured a guess that I would have a baby on my lap, seven other children, a bigger icon studio in the basement, 3 acres, and a vibrant life full of friends and family.

Mostly, I couldn't have even begun to understand the way love deepens and smooths, becomes so rooted and solid. And God willing we are less that half way finished with this process, so now, looking forward, I have a glimmer of what awaits me in love; and yet there are so many unknowns. But I have hope, the same hope I had on my wedding day, but now it is a hope that is far more formed. And for that, again, I am grateful.

For more ruminating on marriage I have the "Fourteen Years and Counting" under my favorite posts on the side bar. It is all still true.

A Break

School is chugging along in full force. I have actually been enjoying the process more than I expected, but I am busy every moment of the day. We have been having lots of conflict about internet use and rules regarding internet use. Part of our plan to implement restraint and intentionality about the time we spend on the computer is to take an internet fast. Probably for a week, maybe more, maybe less, but I will be absent from cyberspace for a while.

I have been doing a nature study co-op with 4 of my children and 4 other children, and it has been much fun and very successful. When I return to the blog, I will post some photos of out projects. This has been very fun, interesting and creative. I am looking forward to sharing our success!!

Anyway, God bless, and I'll be back soon!

Multi-tasking professional

In the last hour and a half I have taught a science class (including a lab) prepared chicken enchiladas for the kids' supper, nursed the baby to sleep, took a power snooze, scrubbed the shower, showered, changed, and am ready to pick up my younger kids from their co-op, take them to choir, bring them home, and then go out with my husband for a date. Phew. That beer is gonna taste FINE!

Gratitude

I weighed Melanie yesterday,and she now, at 6 months, weighs 17 pounds, just about doubling her birth weight. So, even though I haven't been worried about her weight gain for some time, it is nice to now she is "officially" at a weight that is "normal".


Melanie is giving me the best squishy hugs. When I first get her up in the morning she clings to my neck, and squishes her cheek up against mine. It reminds me of the icon at the beginning of this post.