She is here!!!

The Lord blessed us with a healthy baby girl, January 30^th! She came early and quickly too! With a short and uneventful labor she was in my arms so quickly I could hardly believe I was holding my daughter! My husband and I are thrilled as are our three sons! I’ve cried tears of joy over the last month as I gaze at this beautiful gift we were given.  She is a nursing champ and has already gained her birth weight back!

We have been overwhelmed with love by our family, friends, church family and neighbors. Through baby gifts, home-cooked meals, phone calls, play dates for the younger boys, diapers and loaves of bread! Each one has touched our hearts reminding us that we are truly blessed!

My husband has really stepped up to the plate again juggling the household chores, caring for me, entertaining the boys and, yes, changing diapers! He is a great husband and I am so thankful for him and all that he does.

Our little girl has colic most evenings.  Those are long days.  So we take turns rocking her and walking her around the house in the late evening.   She loves the sound of running water so I expect our water bill to be higher this month.  The Baby Book by Dr.William Sears has been a life saver.  I read his book when I had my last two sons and have been re-reading it again! He has such great practical advice…I highly recommend this book!

I have never bought a baby sling before.  But this little girl loves to be held and my back was beginning to get really sore…I finally just ordered one. Dr. Sears recommended the adjustable Balboa Baby Sling.  I love it, she loves it and my back loves it!  

Boy, I forgot how tired one gets in the evening when you have been up and down with night feedings! Each week I have felt a little better!

Everyone is adjusting to this new family member and our new schedule!

 

The boys have been very, very patient and I compliment them often as it has really helped me recover faster.  They keep themselves busy playing computer games, Legos and the Wii and also reading. They are in love with her and ask to hold her often.

 

My oldest son has come up to visit twice and has fallen in love with her too! He is so, so good with her!

 

I am really looking forward to some spring like weather so I can take this little one on walks!

Well, I'm off to take a little nap!

we are waiting...

We had a little excitement last week when one evening contractions started coming closer and harder and it was beginning to look like the real thing! Alas, they slowed and disappeared.

But we are so close and so very excited to meet this little girl! Everything is set up, our hospital bags are packed and the car seat is already in the car!

All we need is our daughter.
Daughter! I still can’t believe it!

After washing all the beautiful clothes that have been given to us as gifts or handed down, I am seeing pink lint for the first time in our dryer’s lint catcher.

I am trying to maximize the free time I have left. I have made several frozen meals, cleaned, organized piles that had been accumulating since summer and threw out stuff that was simply taking up space. The nesting thing is in really high gear!

My right foot is cracking me up! It looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy foot! There is no definition, not even an ankle in sight, just a pudgy little foot! I am walking around in flip flops in January while my husband is trying to stay warm with two pairs of socks.

We got some more snow here so the boys are thrilled! Apparently, we are experiencing our second “Polar Vortex” this month. So the wind chill is -12 below! It is cold here!

If all goes well, tomorrow, I plan on making a spinach quiche to freeze and oatmeal cookies! We’ll see!

introverts and motherhood

I just read this article about introverts and motherhood (via the Aquila Report) and thought I would share it. I wouldn’t say that I am a true introvert but I absolutely volley between needing to get out and be around people and then needing some (or a lot of) alone time to recuperate: maybe a bit more of the later. It was very encouraging to me to read that there are other mothers out there who struggle with the same issues but that there are ways to accept who you are and work with your strengths and weaknesses.

If you can relate to this struggle, I hope that this article encourages you.

little things

Summer break is just around the corner we can actually feel it!  We had our first really hot day so the boys were outside a lot cooling off in our blow up pool.  It’s just big enough for them at this age and they don’t really care as long as they get wet.

 My boys at home are nine (but, oh, so close to ten) and seven. They are growing up, but I like that they will stop their world to race over and show me the tiniest, green inchworm, because they know I care. And I take the time to show my interest in their discovery because they grow up too soon.

These days, there are many things

 that tug at a mother’s attention.

I try to choose wisely. 

Most days, I get it right,

 the other days, I can’t get back.

I can simply learn from them. 

Don’t forget to pay attention to the little things

 because those little things

 may really be the big things.

treadmill 101

Turn off the treadmill before leaping off like a Superhero to save your child from imminent danger.

I was on a treadmill at the gym two weeks ago. My husband was walking next to me and the boys were playing on a jungle gym where we could see them. I like exercising with my husband because it feels like a date and his dance moves on the treadmill crack me up. I had done all the weight machines and was three minutes into my warm up on the treadmill when my youngest decides to pull a Houdini move and go through a tiny slot in a step about eight feet from the ground. My mother instincts again flew into high gear and I knew this wasn’t going to end well! Sure enough, he got stuck with his arms twisted above his head and he couldn’t get back up or down; he was just dangling there…stuck! Like any Super-Hero-Mom, I instantly turned to leap off the treadmill to rescue him. Except I didn't turn the machine off!!! I ended up taking the biggest tumble of my life!!! I twisted and fell very hard on my shin and when I tried to get back up, I fell again and the treadmill proceeded to sheer off the skin on my left knee.

I heard people around me gasp and ask if I was alright but I just bounced back up and raced over to save my son. I lifted him up so he could maneuver his arms around and come through the slot and set him gently down on the ground. As soon as he was safe, I felt this intense pain in my knee and leg that took my breath away. I hobbled over to a bench and asked my son, “What were you doing?” trying my best to sound like Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother!  Another wave of pain overtook me and I told my middle son to tell dad that we needed “to go now” as I fought back tears. I lifted up my yoga pants and saw my knee was bloody. Somehow, I managed to hobble out of the gym without making eye contact with anyone…then into to the car and then into the house.

my knee; you really don't want to see my shin

As soon as I got home, I elevated my leg and started icing the growing egg on my shin. I knew it was bad by the size of the swelling. I didn’t think I broke my bone but it didn’t look good. I couldn’t walk that night and could barely sleep. The next couple of days I stayed off my leg as much as possible and kept icing and elevating it. After a week my shin was still very swollen and still in pain so I went to my doctors where she wanted x-rays taken Stat! The next day I had to see an orthopedic doctor and I was more than relieved that all was O.K. there were no fractures and that the swelling and severe bruising would subside. Of course, he added - to stay off the treadmill for a while. Nice!

I’m kind of hesitant to go back to the gym as I am sure people will recognize me as “that girl who fell hard.” And of course, I had to fall in January when the gym is packed with people striving hard to keep up their New Year’s Resolutions! In time, I will go back, as soon as the pain subsides and the swelling goes away.

As I grow older, I am more confident in who I am and who I am becoming and care less about others' perceptions of me, and they are only perceptions.

I leave you with this quote that has really encouraged me when I have felt like giving up!

 Press On

 Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.

Talent will not;

Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.

Genius will not;

Unrewarded genius is almost legendary;

Education will not;

The world is full of educated derelicts.

Perseverance and Determination alone are omnipotent.

- US President Calvin Coolidge

mothers

Happy Mother’s Day

 to all the mothers out there;

new, veterans, forever mothers

 and those who mother others!

God is Good. God is Always Good!

Dear friends of ours

welcomed a beautiful, baby girl

into their family today.  

Happy Birthday

Chloe!

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Psalm 139: 13-16

loved ones

My grandmother is here for a three week visit!

It all seems right when we share the same zip code.

Living far away from loved ones is hard.

I am soaking up our time together.

Rumors abound that she plays a slick hand of Bananagrams.

Excuse me while I brush up on my Bananagrams skills.

My Grandma Helen.

encouragement

Stephanie Nielson never fails to deliver an encouraging perspective.

If you need encouragement today,

 read her post,

 “Post Surgery and My Dream!”

***

Ps. I've been busy, all good stuff, I’ll recap on my class and other fun things soon!

I'll never get tired of little boys racing over to me

 with smiles on their faces, dirt and all,

 delivering “flowers” for their mama.

a little note

((( I.Love.Raising.Boys )))

crocuses & babies

My crocuses popped up this week to announce
that spring is right around the corner.
I can't wait!
We also spotted our first robin today!

*****

I am amazed over how many of my friends
have had babies this past year.
There are still a couple more bundles of joy
on the way that I am looking forward to holding.
One of my best friends is expecting a daughter in May.



This little baby will be surrounded with a lot of love!
She will have two big sisters
and three big brothers to snuggle with.
I can't wait!

a cave and a swing

As the cold settles into November and the sun slips out of sight earlier and earlier each evening, I begin to wander and search for a cave like a fluffy, little bear. The cold makes me desperately want to hibernate. Around two o’clock, I want nothing more than to take a nap and snuggle deep under covers in a dark, quiet room, for a long, long time.

Alas, at two o’clock, I have, what seems to be – two “spring chickens” hatching and flapping their wings, hunting for ways to burn off energy.

So, I bought a swing.

A swing for inside.

I know…inside?

We are fortunate enough to have a basement and I have had my eye on this IKEA swing for several years.
I finally bought one and attached it to the steel I-beam in the basement.

The boys love it. The cousins love it. My kitchen floor loves it. I love it! After a full week my husband loves it!

Now, on a rainy day, the little ones can burn off that energy constructively.

It is nice to hear them laugh and giggle downstairs and negotiate whose turn it is and how many minutes they get this time.
They have of course come up with one safe game – throw the “yarn sea urchin” at the person on the swing. And because they are boys; the unsafe game – throw-the-cool-paper-airplane-that-‘only-Grandpa-can-make’ at the person on the swing.
What is the saying…."It’s only fun and games until someone loses an eye!" well, I’ll keep you posted.

And I will leave you with a song my mother used to sing to me when she pushed me on a swing.


A swing, a swing is the best of fun,
For taking a ride in the sky.

You need no engine for a ride,
Just give a push and away you go,

Look out below,
Away you go,
You’re taking a ride in the sky.


I still sing it to my boys!

Now for that cave…..



my spring chickens


my grandmother and her pet bear

it's oh so quiet

It’s peaceful and very quiet in my house right now.
There is just the hum of the refrigerator and me.
My sweet husband took the boys out camping.

I love that he is willing and brave enough to stand up to the midday heat, relentless mosquitoes and inevitable camping mishaps.
Oh, the stories they’ll come home with.

I get to relax or race if and when I want to. I rarely get long stretches like these and, boy, do I need them. They are gone just long enough for me to begin to miss the CiRcUs AtMoSpHeRe again.

It is nice to have quiet in one's life.

The ebb and flow of mothering is constant, and yet always changing.
They are growing. I am growing.
It is a fun dance when you learn when to lead and when to follow, when to speed up and when to slow down.
But mostly, when you make a mistake, learn to pick yourself back up, smile gracefully, grow from your experience and pass your wisdom on to someone else.

Each time the boys come back from camping with dad they seem older. Their voices are deeper, they have grown an inch, they have learned new skills (like using a two-man, hand saw to cut firewood; Oh, they can skip that story!) and they seem to be growing beards.
I think the beards are sticky remnants of s’mores and dirt but I really can’t be sure.

I do know they haven’t been coddled by a mother and they need that time as well.
There isn’t a hovering mother wiping dirty faces, forewarning them about the dangers of campfires, cautioning them to be careful in the lake and reminding them not to pee under that tree.

The boys need their quiet too.

I will welcome their sweaty hugs, stinky laundry, tall tales, the spider that hitched a ride in their backpack, the deeper voices and then...after all the adventures have been told…………………then I will check their heads for ticks and let them soak in the tub until they are squeaky clean again.

chocolate bird nest

My mother said she really enjoyed her 70th birthday party!

Yay, Success!!!!

All my siblings pitched in, in various ways, and we really had a great time!!

My sister totally rocked her organization skills! Thanks, Alice!

Relatives and friends from the past flew in from out of town and all twelve grandchildren made it there too!

We had a dear friend cater the lunch. Thanks, Michael!!

We hired a professional photographer to take family photos. Thanks, Caity!

There was music, an entertainment section, memorabilia, a computer slide show and, yes, there was a cake!

The Cake

There is a tiny bakery in Baltimore that has been around for over 90 years; Fenwick Bakery! And, Oh, Boy, do they know how to make a delicious cake! My mother picked out this delicious lemon pound cake.

Yum!

They baked and iced it! And then my mom wanted me to decorate it for her.

Wow, what a privilege!

She knew she wanted some sort of flowers on top! I tossed ideas around in my head. I wanted something dainty, feminine and understated but altogether unique. I ended up deciding to make a dark, chocolate, bird nest! I went to my favorite cake supply store, The Cake & Wedding Cottage, and picked up chocolate wafers and browsed their sugar paste flowers!

I was juggling quite a busy schedule, and time was precious so I opted out of making flowers and swooped up their most adorable cherry blossoms to add around the nest.

Making the Chocolate Nest

I have experimented with melted chocolate before and made the following:

a crocodile, blades of grass, a white, chocolate bunny, carrots, leaves and a pirate treasure chest, but, I have never made a chocolate nest.

I was up for the challenge.

I melted the chocolate wafers on the stove top with an improvised double broiler.

I then poured in into a small plastic bottle which had a pointed tip on the cap. I bought this bottle a while ago, which is specifically made for melted chocolate; great tool!

I decided to make several nests ahead of time.

I picked a small bowl, turned it upside down, sprayed it with cooking oil spray and squeezed some of the melted chocolate around the bowl. I put it on a pan and let it set in the refrigerator. When it completely cooled (a couple minutes later) I took it out and squeezed more chocolate around the bowl. I repeated this process until I had the thickness and look I wanted.

I then did the same thing with a balloon.

My Results


Ceramic bowl: It was difficult to pry off in one piece. It actually broke apart.
It still tasted heavenly!

Plastic bowl: It was difficult to pry off. Only one piece broke off which I was able to put back on with the melted chocolate acting like an adhesive.

Balloon: The winner!! It was so easy. I literally just cut a tiny sliver into the balloon so it would slowly deflate. The balloon shrank and I just lifted in out of the nest!




I will definitely use this method the next time I ever have the need to make a chocolate nest in the future.


Next...

The boys and I hunted for the best bird to put in the nest.

We browsed a craft store and caught one.


If we had the time, I would have asked my brother-in-law to catch a bird, as he did back in Trinidad as a young boy, and have him train it to sit still in the nest. As I mentioned we were short on time.

Maybe next time!

I scored some edible, green grass that was in the post-Easter sale section!

I also bought some pastel Jordan Almonds and picked out three pale blue ones for the eggs.

I also made a seven and a zero with the melted chocolate on wax paper.

And here is all of it put together!

I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas, experimenting and learning. I enjoyed the challenge of creating something unique and special for someone who is very unique and special!

my mom

Other fun stuff about the party to come later….check back to see the adorable garland I made!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day

to all of you ladies

who nurture other people

with daily doses of grace and love.

My mother’s 70th birthday party was beautiful!!!

Photos to come later,

when I catch up on sleep!

my mother

I love you mom!

anew

My grandmother is here from Colorado.

my grandmother, Helen, and my mother

Maryland seems brighter since she has arrived.

She has come to visit and celebrate her daughter's 70th birthday.

Yes, my mother is turning seventy and my siblings

and I are throwing her a party this Saturday.

I am excited and very busy with a lot of fun, party stuff.

I will post pictures later.

My two aunts are coming too.

It is going to be so much fun with them here!!!

***

Some new things this week:

a new smile

both front teeth are out....finally!

our new backyard visitors

golden finches

a green frog

a three week visit with my lovely grandmother

my oldest with my grandmother

my seven-year-old is looking for creative ways to earn money
this is what I found when I walked into the kitchen…hmmm?

"tasting new stuff.....10 cents!"

puffy eyes on my five-year-old….spring allergies

itchy, puffy eyes

the boys sudden interest in taking pictures

my middle son's picture

my youngest son's picture

And last but not least,

my seven-year-old wanted to know what

a fried egg would taste like if it were frozen.

Well, we found out. Pretty tasty, indeed!

sugar

Stay away from the cute, little bunnies… Stay away from the cute, little bunnies… Stay away from the cute, little bunnies…

Zzzz

I have been going to bed a bit earlier than usual, hence the lack of posts. Thanks, for checking back though! : )

I really can’t organize my thoughts and ideas until there is absolute quiet in the house. And, unfortunately, that means I have to wait until about 11:30 at night. And even then, there is no guarantee of not being interrupted.

We have been battling illness for some time. It has been wearing me down balancing the nursing hat longer than usual among the others I toss on and off.

I was able to grab a quick bite with my sister on the dreariest of grey, rainy days. We laughed, gabbed, ate and drank and ran through a typhoon back to our cars. It was good to wear the sister hat for a couple hours which makes it easier to put the nursing/mother hat back on with a smile.

This week, during another rainy day, the boys and I pulled out the block box. We set up villages and towns and grabbed some figures to occupy them. I smiled as I pulled out these blocks that I glued wiggly eyes to last year during a spat of inspiration.

if only I could keep my eyes open like this all day

If your little ones are past the oral phase, this idea might keep you amused during the endless hours of floor play and/or inspire some other form of creative play altogether.

These blocks ended up being “Spy Statues” in the town of Niceville!

7:00

After a long, busy day 7:00 p.m.
came and my body literally put me to bed.

It literally stopped.

I am thankful that my body is much
smarter than me!

Good night!

Answer to the “Don’t let the label fool you” post

coming tomorrow!

white fluffy mountains...white fluffy mountians...

I am sick.

It was trailing me on Sunday,
catching up to me Tuesday night and by
Thursday it snuggled in to stay.

Friday night it faked an exit
and slammed me again Saturday night!

Yup, I was on the couch all Thursday and today too!

As a mother, I cannot afford to take time off.

Things accumulate and piles multiply at an insane pace.

Laundry doesn’t get done and lists……

“What lists? I’m just blindly feeling for a Kleenex!”

I really, really dislike being sick.

My thoughts/dreams dance wildly about

with the random sounds that pull me out of my half-sleep.

I glance at the growing mountain of Kleenexes.

My burning eyes close

and I start visualizing things

I could make out of that white fluffy mountain.

So for now, I am consuming chicken soup, a ton of orange juice and rest, lots of it! Also, a bunch of TLC from my very patient and kind husband and my boys!

My youngest keeps tucking Elizabeth gently in my arms.

Too cute!

I’m off to grab another Kleenex!

I hope you are well!