Hero

My precious son has been born!  He's almost 3 days old now, he was born on Sunday evening.  I can't wait to share the story.
Before I do that though, I am mostly inclined to write about Charlie.

Today is my first day home with all 5 children (FIVE?!), and so far it has gone very smoothly.  Charlie should be home from work in about an hour to hour and a half.  We're all dressed.  The house is maintained, and I've even managed to do some laundry and make the bed.  We all ate well today.  It's not like I can't handle this.

All that being said, my quality of life when he's here is so much better.

Charlie has always been so good to me.  He's always kind to me, he treats me with love, and sometimes that is really hard to do I'm sure.  It's in the times like these though, these days of waiting for a baby (16 days overdue) and laboring and caring for a newborn, that he ramps it up even further.  I am completely undeserving of his care, and he offers it anyway.

If you've read The Five Love Languages, Charlie is very clearly an "acts of service" person.  I know that by taking out the trash, or holding the baby so I can take a shower, or changing the 2-year-old, he is loving me.

But it's more than that.  He hasn't just helped out, cleaning and cooking (a fabulous steak dinner last night, by the way) and made sure the children survived the day.  He's protected me at my most vulnerable, he whispered strength into my ear as I brought our son into the world, he supports me rather than blaming me in the night when the baby cries and I know he's just as tired as I am.

So, even though by all appearances my home is peaceful today, we're fed and dressed, and happy - the only reason is that there is someone in the background making it possible for me.  He deserves the credit for heroically loving and protecting our family through such a transitional time.  And even though I had to be the person to endure 10 months of pregnancy and the pains of labor, he's the one who had to stand by and watch the person he loves suffer.  He didn't just stand by though, he has looked for every opportunity to lighten my load, whether through actions or his amazing gift to say just the right thing at just the right time.

In the joy of the arrival of our precious son, I still fall asleep at night thanking God for Charlie.  I praise God for him and for our happy marriage, I know it's an incredible blessing.

*As a side note, I wrote this yesterday and forgot to hit publish!  Same goes for today though!  

No baby.

Do you see my baby counter there, over on the Left side bar?

Today it says 41 weeks 1 day.

And it is empty.

As should be my womb.

I almost cried when I saw it today, but thankfully instead I noticed it with Charlie near by and he made me laugh.

He's so great.

No, there is no baby yet.

Baby Boy Room - a new adventure

No I haven't had the baby.

Here's another indulgent post!

We set up a baby room.  I wouldn't call it a nursery, because I don't actually plan on using it that way.  My babies don't sleep in a crib until they're much older (like, over 1).  Also, we have included a full sized bed for guests, and for me and the baby if we need to escape, and an extra bed is always handy for nap time if someone needs it.  Also, I have four girls worth of stuff in their bedroom closet.  For goodness sake, I needed somewhere to put the baby stuff!

Here are pictures of what we've done so far:

Here are the beds.  The crib is brand new, a very generous gift from my lovely inlaws.  I'm so thankful, the one we had before was looking rough!  I made the bed skirt (this afternoon actually) and the matching flannel blanket (as well as the throw pillow on the bed).  My sewing is not great, but these were pretty simple and very fulfilling projects.  Funny enough, the blanket on the end of the bed was another one I made back in high school for Charlie!  Please note, however, the best part: the cardboard Moose trophy!  hahahahaha  I love it!  I need something more on the walls here, so I ordered some eeBoo number cards to hang over the crib, per Charlotte's suggestion on Facebook (she actually suggested the birds, which I like best, but I thought the animal ones fit in a little better).

For now, Fina's actually sleeping in the baby crib, since we had to take her's down in order to put this one up!  She likes it!

Here's the rest of the little room.  The dresser holds all the essentials and I found a pretty coat tree on Amazon to hold my nursing cover and baby carriers (my preferred carriers are the Moby wrap and Ergo).  And, joy!  You can see that moose in the mirror!  hahahahahaha

I made these curtains on the suggestion of one of my sisters-in-law who pointed me in the direction of THIS tutorial on how to make painter's drop cloths into curtains.

Admittedly, this room still needs some color (I really like neutrals - what can I say).  One thing I would love to add is a beautiful print or icon of St. Joseph.  I've been scouring the internet, but haven't had any luck finding one that I love for the price.  This cute print from Etsy would be great in green too: Personalized Moose Nursery Art.

We'll see how things evolve in here....for now it's still a bit of a blank canvas.

Now, if this child would hurry up and here, that would be great.

Time Keeps on Ticking

Well.

It's always disappointing to watch my due date come....and go.

True to form, this 5th child of mine has decided to stay tucked away a little longer.  Despite my pleas.  Despite my prayers.  Despite my preparation.

The only thing consoling me is that Ina May says that healthy women on The Farm who eat healthfully typically go to 41 weeks.  I've been healthy this pregnancy!  Heck, I've literally gained half the weight that I usually gain.  AND I've lost yet another lb as of this morning. 

::sigh::  41 weeks.

That means I'd be pushing it here, literally by single digit days, before I have family arrive for the Thanksgiving holiday.

I'd really like to enjoy the visit, rather than be cooped up in my room recovering and potentially feeling like and looking like...death warmed over?

We shall see.

So, to make myself feel better, I'm going to write a completely self-indulgent post about the things that I most look forward to, when no longer pregnant:

• Jeans that button.  And don't slip down.  Good gracious, I am tired of maternity jeans.
• Being able to reach my toes.  I tried to go get a pedicure today, and small town living being as it is, nobody is answering phones or apparently open.  BOOO!
• Turning over in bed without waking up my whole family.
• Significantly fewer trips to the bathroom.  My master bathroom is lovely, but I'm tired of seeing it.  Especially in the dark.
• I won't cry.  I've cried more in the last week...and I hate crying.  I don't cry.  Ugh.
• Cleaning my house when I can actually bend over without a HUGE effort will be delightful.
• Wearing heels again.  I wear heels through most of my pregnancy, up to a point.  While I'm THRILLED that I can still wear my tennis shoes that tie (totally not normal for my pregnancies!), I still look forward to pretty heels again.
• I can't button or zipper any of my coats.  It's almost Winter here in WY.  I'm so cold when I go out!  I can't wait to wear a coat and be warm!
• Sitting down without getting all out of breath.  From the sheer act of sitting.  (This applies to most movements.)
• My own pajama pants.  Charlie looks forward to this one too, because I just keep stealing his.
• Being able to reach the pedals in the car.  My wonderful suburban is being fixed right now, so I haven't had it for a little while.  That leaves me driving Charlie's giant truck around, which is not made for women I don't think!  I am sort of short, so I have to scoot my seat really close to reach the pedals, but with my stomach in the way, I can't...quite...get there.  
• Focusing on a precious little person, and a shift of focus off of me, the pregnant lady.  I always appreciate this shift of attention.  
• Loosing weight, rather than gaining weight.  Duh.

On that note, I'm going to head out and get myself in the line for confession.  Maybe that will unlock the mind-body connection and I can get this guy out.  Time's up, Joe.  Time to meet face to face, my little friend!

Six

My sweet Gabrielle turns six years old today!


Six years ago today was probably one of the happiest days of my life.  In the top three, I'd say.  After all the drama of Felicity's birth, Gab came peacefully and in the way God intended.  From the beginning, she was such a sweet and snugly little girl.  Also from the beginning, she has proved that she's got a major set of lungs!  One of the nurses in the maternity ward noted that she screamed like a velociraptor, much to her joy now, since she loves dinosaurs!  (This has manifested itself into a loud talker.)

Gabrielle has always had a killer sense of humor, a great desire to serve others (yesterday she folded all the cloth diapers out of the dryer, just out of the kindness of her heart!  that's no easy task!), and a sweet disposition. 
Her generosity is sometimes overwhelming.
She loves dinosaurs, frogs, animals, bugs, and playing in the dirt.  But she also loves coloring, pretty things, and playing dress up.
She's got one of those tender hearts that helpless animals and innocent babies are drawn to.

This child is such an incredible gift to our family.  We praise God for her today, and always!

Here are some photos from her big day so far (I'll probably update with more later):

First thing in the morning!  (Poor thing got my hair!  All kinds of crazy!)  Birthday mornings are always early for me, I usually get up before the sun to go to the store and get donuts and various decorations.  Gab doesn't like donuts though, so I had to go even earlier so that I could get back in time to make pancakes for everyone before Charlie had to leave for work.  This year, for decor she got a giant balloon that cracked her up.  It really freaked the dog out.  hahaha

Coffee and homemade buttermilk pancakes for breakfast!

She got to open two gifts this morning.  One from us, and one from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Gary (I mostly let her open this one because I peeked and saw it was a cute outfit!  That way she could wear it today!).

She tried on her new outfit (this was pre-birthday bath, hair braiding, and mani/pedis), and played with the penguins that she REALLY wanted for her birthday!

Then we had a very loud dance party, featuring the Beetle's Birthday Song (a tradition in my family growing up), followed by some intense coloring time.  Gab added birthday hats to everyone in the family that she drew, including Bree.

Finally it was time for the most exciting part of every birthday girl's day: a lunch date with Daddy.  Charlie always takes the girls out to lunch on their birthdays, they get to pick where they want to eat, what they want to eat, usually get a soda (a huge deal), and a dessert.  (There's no shortage of sugar on birthdays!)

True to her generous nature, Gabrielle picked a trip to the local fudge shop so that she could share her special dessert with her sisters and me.  Charlie told her she could have ice cream, a hot chocolate at the coffee joint, or fudge - she picked fudge to share.  Her sisters were very excited, and Charlie and I were of course thrilled at her kind heart.  Her kindness inspires greater generosity among all the girls.

Last night, Felicity brought Charlie some of the money she had been saving and asked him if he would buy a birthday gift for her sister for her.  She could hardly wait to give it to Gab, so as soon as lunch and fudge were over, Gab got to open another gift!  (Yes, this picture was totally staged!)

That's it for now!  The birthday cake is made (Coke Cake - if we're friends on Pinterest you have to try it!  SO tasty!), dinner is in the crock pot (the Birthday Girl requested homemade spaghetti with LONG noodles and garlic bread), and the little girls are taking naps.  I'm going to go do some intense cleaning in hopes that my boy child will arrive -he's due today, by the way- and then we start round two of celebrations later on tonight with more gifts, more sugar, and maybe a fun movie (we were hoping to score Cars 2, but it's already gone from the Red Box!  darn!).

V. 14 7 Quick Takes

1. St. Charles, Pray for Us!
Today is the feast day of St. Charles, one of the Saints my boy is named after.  Don't you think it would be a great evening for him to make his arrival??
Either way, today I was surprised, blessed, and so very touched by the generosity and thoughtfulness of our dear friends in Texas who organized a "snail mail" baby shower for us.  I received several sweet packages today with gifts for our little guy (and some for me - what fun!). 
I'm not the kind of gal who cries at the drop of a hat, or...ever, really.  But this just had me dissolved in tears.

2. Home!
The girls and I have had quite an eventful week of everything from Halloween fun, to dog drama, to waking up to chicken parts strewn about the yard (that was this morning- sigh).  I am SO, SO thankful that Charlie is home from his trip to Chicago.  I'm also very thankful that he doesn't have to do this kind of travel too frequently.  I really like him, and I like having him around.
And I like that he doesn't mind disposing of chicken heads.

3. Big Day for the 2nd Grader
We found out a few weeks ago at her well-child appointment that Felicity might have needed glasses.  We took her to the optometrist, and sure enough, she does, especially for things that are up close.  (I think this has contributed to her slight struggle with reading, despite a complete understanding on how to read - she was having a hard time just doing it.)
Needless to say, she's very excited about her new glasses.  And I think she's very cute in them.

4. Pondering
All day long, this wonderful post from Elizabeth Foss has been turning over and over in my head.  As the mother of small children, I have to say I find the honesty refreshing, yet painful.  I don't think I've been under any illusions about whether my children will turn out to be perfect Saints based on how I raise them, but it has just been one of those things I hadn't thought much about.
If anything, anything good that they turn out to be will be despite me, I think!
The other day I posted on facebook about how I felt I was coming down with a cold, and that my girls told me the next day they had prayed for me to get better that night.  And I was better.  I got a comment indicating that it has been our example as parents that led them to do that.  While that is very sweet and I certainly appreciated the compliment, I actually feel that I mostly fail at being an example of a prayerful adult to my children.  Their goodness is not really a function of my example or parenting, I really think it's the grace of God. 
I hope that when they get much older and their little mistakes might turn into bigger mistakes, and their little sins turn into bigger sins, that I can return to this beautiful post from Elizabeth and remember her wisdom.

5. Biscotti
I'm craving biscotti.  Good thing it's very easy to make.  I thought about making it tonight, but I think I'll sacrifice and wait until morning.  I usually make this very simple recipe from All Recipes (I sub almond because Charlie hates anise - and I also dip it in chocolate), but if anyone has better suggestions...I'm open!

6. Holidays!
I'm always so relieved when Halloween is over.  I like the pumpkins, and fall traditions, and little kids in costumes...and of course, candy (all the Butterfingers are gone!  Boooooo!).  What I HATE and completely, utterly detest, is the scary decor.  So glad that's over.
I'm much happier now that it's almost time to listen to Christmas music, and watch Elf over and over again ("you smell like meat and cheese"), and celebrate Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas....  Very exciting!
AND, to add to the joy of it all, the holiday season will kick off with a visit from my wonderful in laws as well for Thanksgiving!

7. Our Lady
Can I just say, I have *loved* our family Rosaries lately?  My girls really inspire me, the older two are very serious about it and enjoy the Rosary so much.  It's interesting to me, that my children can lead me to my Mother.  They humble me.
I'm working on a homemade Rosary holder right now.  It's going to snow tomorrow, maybe I can get it done and post pics!  It seems that anything that holds Rosaries is for one person only.  What about the whole family?!  It's almost done - can't wait to finish it up and share!

For more quick takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

  ~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ {Pretty}

This is Barbara.  She's a Barred Rock aka Plymouth Rock chicken - and my personal favorite.  Isn't she lovely?  I really think she's pretty.

{Happy}

My freezer is full, which makes me very happy.  We have plenty of meat (about a quarter of a cow included), lots of summer fruits and veggies, meals, and some ingredients to prepare for Thanksgiving with my wonderful in laws (hence, the white bread).  I'm almost done cooking.  Probably 2-3 more dishes and I'll be finished.  

 {Funny}

I don't like to advertise to the world when Charlie is out of town for work, for our safety.  He's been gone for several days in Chicago (this is why the dog drama and All Saints Mass, etc. have been particularly challenging for me this week! ).  Now that he's on his way back, I feel like this is perfect timing to post this funny picture.  Bree LOVES Charlie, and when he could hear me video chatting with him he got totally confused.  It was so funny!

 {Real}

I cleaned my dreaded under-the-stairs closet today while the girls worked on math and phonics.  Why does this count as real?  Because I'm 39 weeks tomorrow, the nesting is getting intense (I actually WANTED to clean this closet), and the time is coming soon.  While I do things like clean this closet, wash the knobs on my dryer, scrub baseboards, and fold little tiny clothes, I am thinking about the upcoming birth of my son.  What will happen?  How will it go?  I pray that it is peaceful, uneventful, and full of joy for our whole family.  And lingering in my mind is this meditation from St. Josemaria on the fourth sorrowful mystery of the Holy Rosary, " See how lovingly he embraces the cross.  Learn from him.  Jesus carries the cross for you: You...carry it for Jesus.  But don't drag the cross...Carry it squarely on your shoulder, because your cross, if you carry it so, will not be just any cross...It will be the holy cross.  Don't carry your cross with resignation: resignation is not a generous word.  Love the cross.  When you really love it, your cross will be...a Cross without a cross."

 

Dog Drama

*Disclaimer: I am a lady, and I hate discussing many of these topics - but today was so awful that it will go down in history and will at some point be very, very funny.  I just had to blog about it, please forgive me!  I'm hoping it will make me feel better.

It all started about 4 weeks ago. 

We don't have a complete fence around the yard, but we've never had a problem with our beloved Goldendoodle running away.  Sure, he would traipse around a little bit, but he spent most of his time in the house or right around the house.  He has two particular spots right in the sun where he likes to nap. 

Well, Charlie went out of town for about 5 days that fateful week, and Bree had fully immersed himself in the local irrigation ditch.  I wasn't going to let him in my house like that - I expected that he would go sun himself, get dry, and things would be fine, as usual.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.  Long story short, he ran off a little bit and got picked up by some people from town (we live outside of the main town area).  Who kept him.  For two weeks.  We live in a town of just over 6000, and really, there's no question about what you do when you find or loose a dog.  There's one organization who handles it, and so we notified them, as well as the local vets, and posted ads on the email group that most of the town is a part of.

After about a week and a half of him being gone, I figured he had been hit by a car or maybe ran the other direction down the highway (though, I couldn't figure why, he stays around here, he thinks he's one of the girls!).  We were all very sad.  Very sad. 

At some point, about 2 weeks after his disappearance, the lady from the pet organization called and said we should follow up on a classified in the newspaper about a "shaggy dog" found.  As it turns out, that shaggy dog was OUR dog!!  What joy!  Sadly, it was a very bad situation with people who had picked him up right down the road from our house, taken him to the vet and got him neutered in another town (we had thought about breeding - have you SEEN how much Goodlendoodle puppies can go for?!), and then kept him for two weeks before looking for owners.  They knew what kind of dog he was, it was written on the paperwork for the day after Bree went missing and they got him fixed, which they expected us to pay (really?!).  They offered to buy him from us.  They wouldn't tell us their names, or where to pick him up, we had to meet at a neutral location.  And I think they hoped we wouldn't want him back or find him.  It was really sad and more complicated situation, but we were thrilled that he was back.  So, so thrilled.

This long story leads to the horrific events of today...

I can't let him go outside for long, for fear that he'll run off and get stolen.  But, he won't use the bathroom if I'm watching him.  I let him out several times a day, stand there shivering in the cold, and he just looks at me.  Eventually, he just saunters back into the house and goes to sleep.

This routine hasn't been working for either of us, which became incredibly obvious today.  The happy FedEx guy came with a package I was looking forward to from Amazon, so as I was assembling in the baby's bedroom Bree took matters into his own hands.  (Paws?)

I rounded the corner to discover the HUGE, disgusting mess he made after obviously holding it while I stood in the cold watching him.

In my kitchen.

Hello, I'm NINE MONTHS PREGNANT!?  I stayed up late last night to clean and sanitize the knobs on my washer and dryer!  I'm getting closer to having a baby, with means that all surfaces of the house, according to my whacked out hormones, must be immaculate.

And this.  In my kitchen.

This would be horrific if I weren't pregnant, but the level of disgust I was filled with reached epic proportions which manifested itself in a couple of ways.  First, my formerly very clean kitchen was FAR from very clean at that point, which meant I had to forge ahead and clean up to get it back to sanitary conditions.  I tried to remain positive and think of it as an opportunity to bust out the lysol (which I don't usually use - I don't typically use harsh chemicals).  Meanwhile, the peanut gallery behind me was tossing out comments and dancing around and screeching, "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

At least it wasn't carpet, right?  (Well, one unfortunate kitchen rug was highly involved, so it went to the trash.  Now I have to buy new ones.)

I started cleaning up.  And gagging all the while.

I'm nine months pregnant.  A little sensitive.  And a little slow.

This is not the sort of thing that I usually admit to, but goodness it added to the drama: the clean up totally made me throw up.  Four times. 

To add to the excitement, the first time, because I'm large, and slow, and was cleaning the floor, I didn't make it all the way to the (very close in proximity to the kitchen) bathroom.  (I weighed myself this morning before all this went down, and I had lost 4 lbs from my weight last week, I'm thinking after today, all I should have to do is *give birth* in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy size. ha)

Awesome. 

So, not only did I then have to clean up after my dog's disgusting mess, but my own as well (yay!  lysol in the bathroom too!!  one more thing off my to-do list!) - all the while the children were running around in complete chaos laughing, screaming, yelling at me about what is wrong with me...  And I found out later, that they wrote letters to their friends detailing the events of my vomiting drama.  Good thing I'm in charge of the stamps.

Ugh.

I am happy to report that I have a VERY clean kitchen and guest bath this evening.  I guess that means I can go to bed early, my work is done here!

For the first time ever, I can say that I'm thankful for the fact that it gets dark earlier these days.  It means I can put little children to bed early, make myself a hot cup of tea, and climb into bed and watch a movie.  I need to recoup after this incident.  My to-do list will have to wait for tomorrow.

The culprit.

Countdown

My due date is in 10 days and while I'd like to think I know what to expect, and this little one will come late, I can't really be sure.  Nothing about this pregnancy has been like the others.
I have all the *really* important things done.  The birth kit is here, the bags with sheets and towels and other homebirth supplies are prepared and waiting, and I have all the basics ready and clean for the baby.
Nonetheless, my to-do list is a mile long.  Everything from finishing certain home improvements (will I really want to paint the girls' bathroom after the baby's born?  or sew cute moose curtains for the boy room?  or create the coffee bar of my dreams? - well, maybe that one), to setting up the crib (which, really I won't need for a while), to finishing the Christmas shopping and lesson plans, cleaning closets, preparing snacks, and more - all these things have taken over my life!! 
I love nesting. 

Today, as predicted, we got a ton of snow.  It wasn't really beautiful sticky snow, romantic snow - no, it was snow that makes mud.
So, other than attending All Saint's Day Mass, we stayed home and I cooked and cooked and cooked!  One of my favorite things about Facebook is that the people I know are generous with their knowledge when I ask for it!  I got a TON of great ideas of things to stock my freezer with, since we're not really casserole people and that's mostly what you find online.

Today I made:

• homemade chicken soup (this cooks alllllll day in the crock pot and creates legitimate chicken broth - so good for you!)
• whole wheat banana bread
• six portions of pizza dough
• two pans of my father-in-law's famous enchiladas (these are hands down my favorite that I've ever had anywhere or ever)

I already froze 2 huge loaves of pumpkin bread, turkey and lentil chili, homemade breakfast sandwiches, slow cooked homemade spaghetti sauce, chicken pot pie filling, oatmeal raisin & chocolate chip cookies, and various homemade broths, sauces, and salsas.  Tomorrow I'll add King Ranch Chicken (all the flavors of Texas, made from scratch and fresh ingredients - no cream of anything soups), New Orleans Red Beans, and a huge batch of pizza sauce.  Finally, on Friday, I'm going to make pulled pork for sandwiches and burritos (and maybe some apple muffins).
After all that, I think I'll be done with THAT item on my checklist!  Between those meals and the tons of fruits/veggies and meat I already have frozen, all the basics in the pantry, and all the stuff I canned - I think we'll be set for a little bit.  Not to mention that I live in a great community that is typically VERY generous with offers for dinner after babies are born.  I don't want to presume, but that's usually how things go around here.  It's amazing.

Am I missing anything?  Do you have any great suggestions of things I should consider adding to the freezer this week?

Trick or Treat

I hope you all had a fun All Hallow's Eve with your families and friends!  I took the girls out trick or treating tonight (and didn't spend even $1 on costumes...they all came from the house - I just am not creative enough to come up with costumes), followed by Happy Meals (a once a year treat - goodness, how much bad stuff can we pump into those little bodies in one night!  Tomorrow: lots of salad.  ha), and finally we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" while checking out the loot!

 

Princess

Baker

Cat

Crazy Pajama Girl with Bedhead

Once a year Happy Meals

Playing Princess Memory while watching It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I meant to post this last night...but I fell asleep while the photos were uploading.  In that case, Happy All Saint's Day as well!!