Welcome Baby Boy!

Charles Earl, named affectionately after a great-grandfather and grandfather

arrived safely at home in the quiet of the night

January 30, 12:50 am

8 lbs, 14 oz  22 1/2 "long

An older sibling awoke to the surprise at 7:30 am and shouted the news down the hall, all came running and declared it was more exciting than Christmas morning.   

I'm still marveling.........and feel so very blessed.

A verse for the kitchen

There was a blank wall in our kitchen that was asking for something.  I searched for prints at thrift stores, browsed etsy and ebay, and even considered creating a wild collage with the whole family.  But when I read this meal time verse in Shea Darian's Seven Times the Sun I knew it was just what our wall (and family) was asking for. 

Love - feast

We gather 'round this table,

Where  bodies are renewed,

Where hearts appease their hunger,

For we feast on more than food.

Clara stayed up late and helped me with the simple process.  We used this tutorial to get started and enjoyed layering color and glaze until it looked ready for the final words.

I considered using clean stencils for the words but that seemed too sterile for the message I hoped to convey.  So I just went at it with a narrow paint brush.  It didn't turn out as clean and evenly spaced as I would have hoped but James reassured me the rawness of it is quite artistic.  And I'll add what made the final writing most difficult is the decrease of arm span from my body, it was really hard to get close to the canvas with my protruding belly in the way.

So there it is up on the wall in full view of my cooking area to remind me to add additional love to the food I prepare, cooking is more than a chore, it is an act of love.  

It sits straight faced against Paul at the head of the table as a gentle reminder that there is no place for an iphone, laptop or newspaper at the table while we are gathered.  

It tells the older boys to slow down their consumption, take a few breaths and offer a few words between bites.  

And when the younger ones complain about what is placed on the plates before them, I will read them the verse and tell them whether or not they choose to eat is their choice.  I choose not to invite that battle to our table.  

Instead I'll invite their smiles (or sometimes honest frowns) and presence because our family mealtime would not be completely nourishing without them.

Week 39

Today is my due date.  There were several evenings last week that I thought the baby may on its way but all action fizzled out by morning.  And as much as I can't wait to hold this baby I am happy for the wonderful and nourishing experiences that came my way during "the waiting".  

Krissy, an old childhood friend from San Diego flew out to visit.  Her visit has been incredible gift as we hung out in the same carefree spirit that we did as teenagers, laughing ourselves into tears.  

On one of the evenings my midwife came for a visit and they put together an impromptu gathering to celebrate this pregnancy and up coming birth.  Some call this alternative to a baby shower a "blessingway".  So we gathered the two other little women around us, Clara and Maryanna to join in the celebration.  Krissy and Maryanna prepared some rose water to set the mood and be used for pampering.  

They also made a floral wreath for me to wear, it was beautiful, and for as big as I am I felt beautiful wearing it.  We lit candles, shared a small tray of snacks and uplifting stories of motherhood and birth.  The little ones pooped out after just a few rounds of snacks and stories so they missed out on the pampering.  My midwife and Krissy offered a salt foot rub and brushed fragrant oil through my hair and I have to say as a busy mom it felt incredible to just sit and be on the receiving end.  I love that this was such a simple and spontaneous gathering, I felt more nourished and supported than I ever have before heading into any other birth.

Clara on the other hand declared that "that was the worst girl party ever, who ever heard of a little boy named Henry joining a girl party."  But what better way to celebrate motherhood than let a snugly boy fall asleep in your lap.

Krissy is a children's yoga instructor and was very generous in sharing her gift each morning with the little ones.  It was joy to observe (on a very comfy chair).  

Here is George, still recovering from last week's rash, practicing "namaste" while sitting in the baby bassinet.

He's actually been spending a lot of time in that bassinet, perhaps to remind me that he is as of now still "the baby".  Here he is flipping through the quick barn guide to birthing sheep.  

Luckily we didn't need the assistance of such a guide.  On our way out to church Sunday morning Paul went out in his suit to let out the animals.  He was breathless in his return to announce we welcomed another addition to our farm.  A baby lamb was born just that night and since the first 24 hours is so critical Paul quickly changed into farm clothes and stood watch over the little lamb.  We didn't make it to church so a few members questioned whether we were having our baby, but we answered that we were just being good shepherds watching over our one little lamb.

Here he is, the boys named him "Buckbeak" and decided this generation of lambs would all be named after Harry Potter characters.

We put a little sweater on him to keep him warm and you may notice the other ewe below, "Dulce" is looking a little red and ready.

There is something about getting together with another woman that always sparks some sort of craft or project, in this case we chose henna.  Neither of us have ever done it before but Krissy took to it like a pro painting my belly and feet.

This was an activity the girls could not resist.

They formed their own designs with a marker and we traced them with henna.  Below is Clara's design, it is a cute little duck swirling on water and should last a couple weeks.  Maryanna's is just as unique and was so pleased with it she took her boot and sock off in a restaurant to show it off to the lady at the table next to us.  

I can't say all the boys were pleased with this activity though.  James came in and asked me why I had to be so weird, he then continued with his concern about allowing girls aged 5 & 6  to participate, he thought they may get the wrong idea about defacing the body.        

Paul and I completed a few projects together as well.  We finally assembled this armoire we bought off craigs list several months ago.  The mirrors were replaced, new shelves finished and installed and then anchored to the wall.  This piece will allow for more storage as we will soon be sharing our room with another child.  I can't say that this project was fun to get done but the result is beautiful.  

The last project we did was a body cast of my belly......this was really fun and funny.  It took me awhile though to actually to accept the final result as beautiful.  For that reason I decided to keep it up above my mirrors as a reminder to celebrate my flesh and let go of any desire to be a walking skeleton.  

So now we are on to week 40, I'm not overly anxious but very uncomfortable, maybe too uncomfortable for any more projects so I look forward to either rocking a baby or a week of great netflix......

p.s. Paul just reminded me that had I not been expecting a baby this week we would at this very minute be on a plane to Maui to join in an executive retreat that his employer was hosting.  

Waiting, resting and nesting

I'm just a week away from my due date but I've learned that doesn't mean much, our babies have arrived in a range from two weeks early to two weeks late.  I'm trying to find a balance between being overly prepared and impatient, and having to frantically rush around the house unprepared in the early stages of labor. I've experienced both.  So here is a record of week 38 and how we passed the time.

The girls have kept me laughing practicing their yoga partner poses.  These are from their yoga pretzel cards  and they had me laughing even harder as they pulled out a card and suggested I attempt it with our favorite neighbor Beth who was visiting.  

  

We also visited a newborn horse at a neighboring farm.  

And gave lots of attention to this mare who is due to give birth any day now..... I felt a kinship.  

We then celebrated George's 2nd birthday.  He doesn't really look like himself with blisters still healing from the hand foot mouth virus.  He also has really puffy eyes from lack of sleep, and his lack of sleep = lack of sleep for me which put me in no mood to sew a felt birthday crown (I may let that tradition keep to itself in 2011).  Thank you Maryanna for putting the stickers and construction paper to good use!  We celebrated simply with lots of hugs and happy birthday singing.   Besides a few new trains what more could a 2 year old boy want?   

Here is a better picture taken just a week before on Peter's birthday.   This boy seems to always be in his jammies and always getting into food.  

Somewhere along the week I persuaded the boys to help me clean out the homeschool room closet.  In the process they rediscovered zometool and have been building ever since.

Maryanna's been helping me "stock" up.  We made chicken stock, beef stock, batch of falafels x4, batch of waffles x5, muffins, and ziplock baggies of rice pilaf.  And washed a lot of dishes.

Martin Luther King day was a major clean up day.  While Paul was off with the younger children at Costco the older ones helped me wash windows, scrub the tub, mop the floors and even vacuum under the beds.  Their reward was to pick out a new mural from art projects for kids, they picked Kandinsky's circles.  

I also got Paul to finally hang a pile of pictures.  I'm still waiting for the growth chart to go up and for him to also finish some shelves and put together the co-sleeper and fix the side gate..... the list could go on but there is something about the last weeks of pregnancy that really pushes projects.

 I also realized here that the younger children are unfairly represented on our wall, Henry pointed it out to me as well. 

And finally our second batch of paper whites popped.  Our first batch we planted the first week of December and I told the kids Christmas would be here when the paper whites bloomed - and it worked with perfect timing.  This second batch was planted only 3 weeks ago and I told them the baby would be here when they bloomed.  But this winter has been unusually warm and it looks like they popped before I did.  They smell yummy and it seems the girls have been keeping their room unusually tidy since they've bloomed.    

Not sure what next week holds, we've got plans but also the plan to break plans.  One thing is sure, I'm experiencing a strange aversion to the sewing machine right now so the list of sewing projects I planned to keep me busy before the baby may not happen.  Maybe it's time to pick up the knitting needles or paint brush again.........or maybe I'll just sit and do nothing.  Which might be a good idea since week 38 was pretty busy.

Herbsicles

We were hit with a few nasty viruses this week.  And since I am less than two weeks away from my due date my midwife gave me some good tips on nursing everyone back to health, herbsicles was one of them.

First I brewed up a big batch of family immunity tea.  This one included what I had on hand but there are many variations.  Below is a mix of echinacea, nettles, oat straw, red clover, rose hips, red raspberry and alfalfa.  Just before bringing it to a boil I turned off the heat and covered it letting it steep for around 4 hours.

After the herbs were strained (and then reserved for the chicken scrap pile) we were left with a strong beverage.  I mixed a little with berry juice and encouraged Paul to finish a tall glass of it.  He did with all sorts of gasps and great facial expressions. 

I don't mind drinking bitter herb blends but just like Paul most my kids won't take it alone.  I was generous with the spoonfuls of raw honey I added because not only does it add sweetness but raw honey is also an immunity booster (still I would not serve raw honey to babies under 1).

Usually I'd just serve this infusion up as a beverage but since we were dealing with sore throats and sores in the mouth I poured it into popsicle molds.  

George and Henry have been clearing the nasty Hand-Foot-Mouth virus where it is so painful to eat and drink that there is risk of dehydration.  I was very pleased to see both of them consume a couple of these herbsicles with no problem.  I had to make a few batches to keep up with the demand because even the older kids liked them.

Then before I could fill another batch Paul got to the molds and made his own version of a healing popsicle, he filled them with fizzy root beer.   Clara experienced a quick recovering from a high fever on the couch and has since been declaring it was all because of Daddy's yummy popsicles......Gak!

It's great to be 8!

We celebrated Peter's birthday last Saturday.  It looks like he may have turned 71 but that is just our version of "8" with what we had on hand.  So is the pile of crepes, I dropped the ball on a cake and the felt birthday crown.  But I was later told by the birthday boy that those were the best crepes ever (I suspect it has to do with the rich duck eggs I threw in).

In the past Peter's birthday always included Indian carry out.  You see my first two children arrived more than a week early and it was so frustrating to have Peter's due date arrive with a baby still nestled inside me. Paul had bribed me with the spending rights to whatever extra tax refund would come if he was born before the year's end.  I spent a week jogging on the treadmill and eating spicy Indian food to help facilitate the process.  Nothing happened except a bit of heartburn.  Peter came in his own time and what a thrill it was to finally hold him.  It was also exciting to later discover he loved Indian food.  He still does so I suppose we'll have to continue the celebration with some carry out or frozen Deep Foods sometime this week (or the weeks to come if I end up passing by my due date). 

But there was no complaining about the treats served on this year's birthday.  Paul took the kids into Jackson to the Parlour for a banana split big enough to feed the whole family.  This was followed by a stop at the Toy House where Peter picked out the Hogwarts Express Lego set.    

They spent the rest of the day lost in the joy of Legos.  

The celebrating continued into today when our kind neighbors brought by a personalized cake.  

And what made this birthday so special was Peter's baptism.  We kept it very simple and were grateful for family and friends who were able to attend and participate.  I'm still a bit sorry that my low energy prevented me from hosting even the simplest of gatherings after but perhaps that is what made this event all the more special - I got to focus on and enjoy the baptism without the distraction or pressure to entertain.

Peter is a great kid.  Full of enough energy, funny faces and funny commentaries to throw a whole crowd of children into "the goofs".  And just when this mother has had enough of "the goofs", this growing boy wraps his arms so tenderly around my giant belly and reminds me of the phrase I often chanted when he was smaller, "nothing could be sweeter than my little Peter".  A few years ago he suggested we start counting our hugs, we lost count beyond a couple 1,000 so now when we hug we make up some ridiculously large number like 1,004,562,001.  Oh how I love being the lucky mother who gets to share so many laughs and hugs with this special boy.      

Rembrandt faces of Jesus

This was the one field trip I was determined to squeeze in before the baby arrives.  How could we pass up such an amazing exhibit?  Especially when visiting the DIA was on the top of William's list for 2012.

I wisely left the younger two at home and invited Nanny and Poppy to come along and enjoy this experience with us.  

We spent over an hour strolling through Rembrandts works with self guided headsets.  I was comfortably engrossed but I can't say this was true for all my little tag alongs.  The girls were more excited about playing with the gadget that led the tour than the tour itself.  And after staying up the night before until 12:30 am to watch the Sugar Bowl the boys seemed to be sleep walking through it all, a security guard stopped us more than twice to keep them from leaning on the walls.  That said I suppose their impressions of the exhibit will surface throughout this week and maybe even along side our scripture study in the years to come.

Some where along the tour Clara asked "is that what Jesus really looked like?", "Why didn't someone just take a picture of him?"  To which I explained the significance of this exhibit.  There were no photos at that time, there was very little record of what Jesus looked like, but Rembrandt through much study, practice and pondering revolutionized the face of Jesus. Rembrandt was able to depict Jesus as serenely human.  We saw this through a series ink sketches, etchings, prints and paintings.  It was incredible to see so up close in such a large collection.

We made a stop at the cafe then on to our favorite stops - first the mummies, then Diego Rivera courtyard, the knights and finally the modern impressionists.

Every time we visit I am overwhelmed by the collection.  I wonder how I could not have appreciated it, or even the history of Detroit as child growing up not too far away.  I use to think Detroit was a place where people got shot and mugged not a place of amazing culture. 

I certainly appreciated it today, maybe because the sun was shining so brightly as it so rarely does here in winter.  It was bright enough to invite us to sit out by "the Thinker" for a while.

It was fun to watch my own little thinkers think about "the Thinker".  

But with only three more weeks until my due date by body was telling me I had enough walking and standing on my feet.  I was the one who was first to poop out on this field trip.  

William once again left with his camera full of pictures and head full of art projects to create, Poppy treated them to a trip to the gift shop where James picked out Newton's cradle then just before loading in the van Nanny handed me over a plate of fresh baked muffins for our trek home.  This is always a field trip worth taking.