Nothing is Safe!

Nothing is safe in this house anymore...Otis is on the move. Although is only army crawling, he is FAST! I absolutely can not assume he'll be safe anywhere unless he is in his high chair or crib. We knew it was coming and he is happier for it, but life is certainly different around here.

All the months of me warning Sam and Arlo that their toys would not be safe on the floor have come to fruition and Otis destroyed a balsa wood airplane yesterday. He can easily get to the Christmas tree and gravitates there first (I think we are taking it down on Friday!) My Dad brought Sam's old "Tot rider" (walker) and Otis loves it! He quickly figured out that he can move and while the bump in between the kitchen and dining room only kept him contained for a few minutes, he still only moves backwards!

Otis has three signs that he recognizably uses at this point, "all done", "more" and I am pretty sure he is using "poop/potty".

Otis' first Christmas was very sweet. My Grandma, Dad and sister were here and we sat by a fire and opened gifts, had a lovely and large Christmas dinner. We went sledding, we made candy...we did all the usual holiday celebrations and though I am usually feeling down about this time of year, I feel pretty good these days.

December was a busy month for us with parties every weekend and school events and I am just glad that it all went so smoothly! I feel like I was was orchestrating a huge holiday event called, "Family Life". It is a lot of work creating a month long experience for three kids! My office looked like Santa's workshop for weeks and now it looks like a department store that just had its going out of business sale, with strips of ribbon and little pieces of wrapping paper strewn on the floor and empty boxes haphazardly piled in the corner. I'll get down there and clean it all up once my motivation returns from its vacation. I think that will happen when Sam returns to school.

I did loose my mind momentarily when I signed Sam up for a swim class at the YMCA for Tuesday afternoons. As it works out I will be taking FOUR kids to the Y for swimming once a week for 6 weeks (Sam's friend from school will be joining us)! Yes, like I said, I lost my mind momentarily. By the time it returned, the damage had been done. I think it will probably be crazy, but worth it and I never really liked my life much when it wasn't crazy anyway, right?

Arlito Turned Three!

Matt asked me recently if Facebook had taken the place of my blog and I said no, but after sitting down to post about Arlo's birthday and realizing that it has been a month since my last post....maybe he is right! I guess look for me on facebook...or don't and help me reconnect with my blog. I really want to.

So my sweet middle son turned three on December 5! It really is amazing how fast they grow up. It seems like yesterday I was writing about his birth.
Arlo is such a darling boy...when he wants to be (which is most of the time)! We went through the potty training haze a few weeks ago and shortly before we made the plunge and just did away with the diapers, Arlo was a monster. I think it was a developmental "bump in the road". He was so disagreeable to everything and had tantrum after tantrum, but once he made major progress his behavior changed. I feel like I can safely write that he has officially learned!! It is really nice to only have one child in diapers...the first time for me since Arlo was born. He is very proud of himself and we are so proud of him.

His favorite thing to do right now is imaginary play with Sam and they will do it for hours! I am not kidding. I have been feeling like the luckiest mom lately with my two older boys entertaining themselves in an imaginary world all day and a baby who sits and watches it all happen happily. There are some days when I just can't believe it is true...then someone screams or gets hit with a light saber and I remember that I do have real kids!

Arlo will wear a red cape pretty much every day and sometimes that is all he wears! He and Sam are really loving anything Star Wars related. Matt and the boys along with Uncle Andy and Grandma watched the first two Star Wars movies during Thanksgiving break. They LOVED them!! I was a little dubious about the movies and the boys' ages, but they did fine and really have been "in another world" with their play since then.
I can't think of any better than watching them pretend they are in an imaginary place! Yesterday they were telling each other that they were best friends. It was so sweet.

Arlo wears a size 3T, but just barely! He weighs 35 pounds and I am not sure of his height. He still needs to have his 3 year check up which will likely be after Christmas.

Right now he has a sinus infection and is coughing all the time. He is on amoxicillan and a nasal spray. I was able to convince him to use the neti pot in the shower with me last night and he seems to be doing better today, though he is still pretty mellow and tired. Kind of a nice change for me, but I feel bad for him because I know he is not up to par.

Arlo really wants to go to school and because his birthday falls 4 days after the district cut off date, he'll be home for 2 more years before he can start the Spanish Immersion program Sam is in. We may look into something for him part-time next year, but it is very expensive. I have been trying to participate in other activities for him on a regular basis, but with Otis and Sam (or Arlo) getting sick every other day (it feels like), we haven't been able to maintain much of a regular routine aside from going to the YMCA 2-3 times a week. He does enjoy the tot-watch there and there are lots of other kids his age, but there is no organized play and sometimes the TV is on the entire 90 minutes I am working out. However, I know we'll figure something out eventually and most days he is happy to just be at home all day (as am I, when we can actually do that!)

Perhaps I am just biased, but Arlo is a very clever 3 year old. He will ask questions or make statements that astound me. For example, yesterday we were in Target and he said (a bit louder than I would have liked), "Mommy, I have a birthday because I came out of your vagina, right?"
Yeah, like I said, clever.
He is also extremely polite saying "thank you" after everything!

He's been climbing into our bed every early morning lately and he snuggles up right next to me and goes back to sleep. Some mornings I don't even notice that he has climbed in until we wake up for the day. I am really enjoying it as he has never really been a cuddler, like Sam. I am trying to absorb all I can while I can.

I was afraid after I had Otis that Arlo would get lost in the mix, but so far he is holding his own and I am so thankful. He is really becoming a big helper with Otis too and wants to feed him and get toys for him. I love my days with him when Sam is at school and the days when we are all together.

And a Month Passes By...

It seems when the week begins I dread the early mornings of school drop off and nap time fights, then I blink and it is Friday afternoon and a weight has been lifted from my mind...then I blink again and I am dreading the week's beginning again and before you know it a month passes by.

I remember my mom telling me that once you have children time seems to pass faster and I think that the more children you have increases that sensation exponentially!

Here is what has happened in the last month in the form of a list:

• Otis cut2 more teeth and now has 8 total. He is still sitting-ish, trying to crawl, but falling on his belly and spinning in a circle! It is very cute.
• Sam has made at least one drawing a day, if not more and can draw so well! I love being involved with him making art.
  
• Arlo is making it closer to being potty trained, though he still fights it most of the time. We've tried all tactics at this point and the next step is to simply stop using diapers. Cross your fingers for us.
• I read all 4 Twilight books in two weeks and started seeing vampires everywhere I looked. I really enjoyed the escape and it has started me on a reading binge, which is really, really nice!
• Matt tried to ride his bike to work one morning, only find that the pine squirrels in our garage had filled his saddle bag with munched nuts! HA! He proceeded to try to kill the squirrels, but failed.
• I set the yard on fire with the lawn mower trying to mow up the leaves. I am now banned from mowing when Matt is not around to help put out fires. No kidding.
• Our friend Nik shot two bucks in our back yard with his bow. One was a 7 year old, 9 point buck weighing 240 pounds dressed. We will have venison in our freezer soon.
• Otis woke with a nasty fever that kept rising until it spiked this afternoon at 104.5 degrees (rectal). Both Matt and I are still a little worried, but out pediatrician assures us we're doing all the right things and the ER is not necessary yet.
• We clebrated Halloween for the first time in our neighborhood. Sam was a knight, Arlo was Superman, and Otis was a lamb.
• Matt and I dressed as 70's disco studs and went to an adult Halloween party. It was a lot of fun!
• The leaves have all dropped here at our homestead. The chickens are ready for winter and the yard is mostly ready.
• This weekend was unseasonable warm so we spent it trying to finish up last minute "get-ready-for-winter" tasks including scraping and painting the front door frame. It looks nice now.
• My sister applied for a job transfer to East Lansing, had two rounds of interviews and will hear the final decision this week. We are on pins and needles wondering if she'll move here.
• Sam has a loose tooth.
• The cat killed a mouse in the basement and then put it in her empty food dish. She has a great sense of humor.
• We had 25 turkeys wander through our yard this afternoon. That is the most yet at one time. I was thinking about Thanksgiving when they walked by.
• I no longer have a cell phone for the first time in 7 years. We now have a home phone which Sam will answer if he can get to it first. If you don't have our number, email me and I will give it to you.
• I am still knitting a sock I started in June.
• I have been going to the YMCA 3 times a week and am beginning to notice a difference.
  
• We had mold removed from our basement and now I have an office space again.
  

Six Months...Now Seven

Otis turned six months old last month! I started this post then and here were are at seven months old!

Whether it be that he is the third baby or that I am more comfortable with nature taking it's course in the realm of health issues; Otis had his first pediatrician appointment right after he became six months old.

He weighed 20 pounds and was 27 inches long! He is wearing size 12 months strongly and last night I put him in and 18 month size footed sleeper. His feet filled the slippers!

He sits really well now and is making major signs of movement. Today he scooted about 2 feet across the carpet while I was sitting in the chair beside him reading my book.

He's nursing like a champ again and all the issues we were having have subsided! I took Fenugreek and pumped for a while and then he started nursing lots and now I don't even need the Fenugreek anymore. We've been working with him on putting himself to sleep and sleeping longer stretches at night and he seems to be responding with ease. I am so glad. We had a very rough month where I was getting less than 4 hours of sleep a night. My under eye concealer was becoming my best friend. Last night he went down for a nap at 4:30 pm and slept until 4:30 am, nursed, then slept until 7 am!! That is a bit unusual, but we are getting from 8 pm until about 3 or 4 am now without a waking. I can lay him down in his crib awake and he'll just babble himself to sleep. So sweet.

He giggles and laughs a lot and has lots of babbling words like "ba, ba, ba" and "da, da, da", and "bumpfff". It is fun to hear him talk.

He's becoming more aware of strangers and will sometimes cry when a particularly large man gets too close to him and he is definitely my little "cling-on" most of the time. I have a great back-carrying pod that I love and wear him in a lot.

Otis has five teeth (three on bottom and two one top) and the sixth tooth is getting ready to push through any day. The teeth sure do help him with his eating! He can feed himself cheerios and little finger foods of the like. He seems to be doing fine with dairy baked into foods and I hope he'll be ok with milk and yogurt in a few months. He LOVES meat and tonight ate a piece of venison 2 inches in diameter!

He really is a a very jolly baby and I am so thankful. Getting ready to crawl, he'll sit and then lean forward onto his arms, rock back and forth and eventually end up on his tummy. Everyday he is a bit closer though and I know my life will be very different once he's a mover. I am enjoying the "sit and play" days while I have them.

News on the big brother front: Sam has a loose tooth on top and Arlo is making major potty training progress, though not without a fight.
More in the big kids later....

Finding Comfort

Being married and having children at younger ages (wed at 22 and birthed at 26, 29, and 31), has forced me to age earlier. I don't mind it; in fact I am really excited about the transition in life I am about to make. I think my thirties and forties will be exciting years. I am going to get to watch my children grow and pursue some things for myself at the same time. I have found comfort in where we are in our lives.

In the last 6 weeks or so I have been having some trouble maintaining a sufficient milk supply for Otis. I never thought this would be an issue for me. I nursed Sam strongly for 2 years and Arlo for 16 months. Never once did I have more than a minor nursing issue.
It has been important to me to parent in such a way that I foster and nurture the attachment relationship with my children. I consider breastfeeding to be one of the core elements. This situation I am in is very foreign to me and I am not happy about it.
As my milk supply has decreased, Otis has been more and more reluctant to nurse. We've been supplementing with little bits of solid food, but rapidly he is wanting MORE! He loves it and has only encountered one foe so far: carrots!
In the last week he's been waking at night, wanting to nurse but becoming very frustrated with my lack of milk and extremely slow let-down (3 minutes or more) and just giving up and refusing the breast. It is not a good feeling to have your baby refuse your breast.
Those of you that know me well will know that when I write that I have been extremely reluctant to offer any other supplements, you know I mean it with valor.
However, after two particularly rough nights, we have started giving Otis some goats milk in a bottle. I offer him the breast first, but if he refuses I will give him a bottle.
He loves it.
Tonight he drank 4.5 ounces of goats milk, about a 1/3 cup of peaches with oatmeal cereal, nursed on both sides (based on my pumping experience, I'd guess it was about 5 ounces of breast milk) and he gummed a teething biscuit to death. Now he is sleeping soundly and should be with a tummy as full as he must have!
Becoming comfortable with this is very, very hard for me. Part of me feels like I am failing Otis; part of me is embarrassed; part of me is scared to tell some of my friends, as crazy as that sounds. Most of me knows this is all okay and is such a minor thing in the grand scheme of raising him; that there will be much harder challenges in the future. I just never thought I that I would find myself having to remember to grab a bottle of milk before I head upstairs to bed.
Tonight when I nursed Otis he fell asleep at my breast and he hasn't done that in months. It felt wonderful and easy. Nursing Otis up to this point has not been wonderful and easy and so I am now comforted just a little bit...

Visual Aids

Just a few snap shots of my world. I haven't done anything to these images. They are what they are...

Done.

A month or so ago I decided to make a list of all the reasons I know I am ready to be done having children. As the list grew it became a long list of negativity. I decided not to finish it and not to post what I wrote...
...instead here is a list of what I love about having my three boys in all of their stages...

I love it that/when...

...Sam still would rather be naked all day than wear clothes.
...Sam wants to cuddle every morning in bed.
...Arlo knows what a Zeppelin is.
...Arlo puts on his cape first thing in the morning and assumes "Super Arlo" duties all day.
...Otis plays with my hair while he nurses.
...I can fit all three boys on my lap when I read books.
...I can communicate with Otis pretty well even after only 6 months.
...I do have time for all three of them, one-on-one, at some point during the day.
...Sam wants to have serious "talks" with me when I tuck him in.
...Sam has freckles.
...Arlo has amazing blue eyes.
...Otis has chubby legs and two dimples.
...I can lay Otis down in his crib once he's fallen asleep and he'll stay AND I can sometimes lay him down while he is still awake and he'll put himself to sleep!
...Otis will still nurse to sleep sometimes.
...Arlo really wishes he could use a bottle still and some days wants to be the baby again.
...I love the way each of my boys smells.
...Sam is a great big brother.
...Arlo is a great big brother.
...Otis LOVES his two big brothers.

...I am really okay with being done having children. Now is the time to settle in and enjoy each of them as they grow. No more big changes for a while. We need to be still...to slow down.

Just Playin' Around

Matt bought me a sweet little gift to help me curb my appetite for drawing and painting while the kids are sleeping...a Bamboo Digital Pen and Tablet!
Here is a work in progress as I learn Corel Paint and how to use the pressure sensitive tool. So much fun and it opens such HUGE possibilities. You can apply masks of sorts to digital photos to make generic photo paintings, but you can also actually paint and draw with all sorts of media tools. I am enjoying it, but there is a lot to learn! This is a painting I am working on to learn the different brushes and get the hang of mixing colors on a palette. Using individual strokes is much more appealing to me...

Overdue

I am so very overdue for a post. I know. We've been living our lives so sweetly as summer has come upon us. Parties, visits from family, lazy days at home, chaotic days at home....the days just keep passing.

The kids are fantastic. All growing so fast. I will post some summer photos soon, but have been cleaning up my photographic archives and am not quite organized enough to find things I want.

I have been thinking a lot about herb gardens and growing herbs and gardening. It is a good feeling. I read a lot and talk herbs with friends.

Matt is getting busier with work as the Fall semester draws near. He'll be teaching in the beginning of September and he always has a lot of preparation to do. We're starting to think about Sam returning to school too...with only a little more than a month left to our summer break.

The weather is finally warming up and I think we might actually get some real summer activities in during the month of August. We'll actually be at home the whole with only visits from my sister, dad and grandma int he middle of the month. I am excited to see them.

Matt's mom and dad and Aunt Annie just came for a visit and it was wonderful...simply wonderful.

We are gearing up for a small road trip next week. We'll first drive to Maryland to see Matt's Aunt Meg and Uncle John. We'll also see Matt's cousin and her kids there. Matt will be in D.C. for a day meeting with some federal USDA folks. Then we'll drive south to Virginia to visit my Aunt Pat, Uncle Bill, cousins and their children. We'll make the 11 hour drive back to Michigan on August 4th and that will end our summer travels...whew!

Laundry to hang, dishes to put away and some cookies to bake...nap time is so nice.

New Places and Old Friends

We first met Olgaly and Warren in Kansas in 2001. Olgaly and Matt were in the same Ph.D. courses and we became fast friends. Warren and Matt were always up to some crazy adventure and Olgaly and I felt so very comfortable together, despite our two very different cultural upbringings.
After the Ph.D.'s had been awarded in June of 2005, Olgaly and Warren returned to Puerto Rico and Matt and I made our trek to the Northwest. We hadn't seen them since that day when we waved goodbye to a packed Subaru, 2 dogs, and Olga and Warren....until June 19th when our whole tribe landed in San Juan and Olgaly picked us up! What a fantastic reunion. FIVE BOYS later (Olga and Warren had twin boys, 3 years ago), we were all back together again...and it was as if time had never passed.

Olgaly's mother has an apartment in San Juan right near the beach so we stayed there the first few days. We explored Old San Juan, El Yunque Rainforest and Cava Ventana, before driving the 2 hours to Utuado in the mountains to the 37 acre farm that Olgaly and Warren own.

Old San Juan

Arlo with Pablo and Diego

Sam LOVED this lizard. When it was finally time to let it go he cried and cried. It was very sweet.

Entering the cave.

Inside Cava Ventana...so beautiful!
Looking across Olgaly and Warren's acreage at their house, the white building on the outcrop and below the view from their wrap around, second story porch in the morning and then at night.
When we all lived in Kansas Warren used to tell stories of his 1966 Land Rover. It sounded too good to be true and then we got to meet the 'ole gal. Warren took us for a ride through the jungle of his land and it was fantastic! Sam and Arlo went for a ride the next day and LOVED it!
Both Olgaly and Warren had to work some so we explored the island on our own a bit. We went to Guanica Dry Forest (one of only five in the world)! We swam in the Carribean Ocean and played on the beach. Even Otis went for a dip!
All in all it was an amazing vacation. We loved the culture, the food, the natural variations of the island and most of all it felt so good to be reunited with our dear friends and to get to know their children. All five of our boys played so well together despite the language barrier. Sam attempted Spanish with them and by the end of the trip both Pablo and Diego had some English phrases they were using with us. It was hard to return home to 95 degree heat with 70% humidity, laundry to do and lawns to mow....but we've settled.
Thank you Olgaly and Warren...we'll be back!

Chickens and Such

About this time last year I was writing a lot about the gardening and chickens and such. This year it feels like we are slow to start, but then again it is only June 1st. In Michigan our growing season is just really getting off it's feet. If you are a very dedicated gardener you might have seedlings going inside or have been planting outside, with great care, for a few weeks now.

I am not a dedicated gardener...yet. Small children make it hard for me be that dedicated. My time will come though.

We have been busy and the weekends do sometimes feel more crazy than the week days, and so is the nature of summer.

One of the more recent projects we undertook was building a chicken tractor! For those of you that are not savvy in the chicken department, a chicken tractor is a movable chicken pen! We've been wanting one since last spring when we first began our chicken adventures. The new baby chickens we took on this year (twelve barn yard chicken mutts) needed some new digs as they out grew the brooding box. We weren't ready to introduce them to the big girls as we have a pecking problem...and so we decided it was the right time!

Since these photos were taken Matt modified the brooding box so it is attached to the door and they have a place to roost at night, safe from raccoons. Our grand plan is to keep moving the tractor throughout the garden and let the chickens dig it up and poop on it...a bonus for our soil. We haven't planted a garden yet and may not do more than some cover crops. We joined a great new CSA this year, so we have lots of great organic veggies coming our way.
Our chicks from last year overwintered at a friend's farm south of here since we weren't living at the house. They keep roosters and our girls were pecked pretty seriously. Minus the roosters here we thought they would heal up, but once the skin is exposed they can't stop pecking! We're learning a lot about this issue and have found pine tar to be the best solution so far. We've been applying it every couple of days to the exposed skin and it seems to be helping.
They are laying, on average, six eggs a day (we have eight layers) and recently we had an egg that was HUGE. When cracked open, it had a double yoke! We couldn't even close the egg carton.
Building our homestead is a slow process and having babies along the way makes it even slower. We do see progress though and we're enjoying the hard work. We just recently bought a new garden tractor to replace our old one that finally kicked the bucket and it is making our lives much easier. As time goes on we'll get to where we want to be....or so I think, hope. A hoop house is in the plan and maybe a goat or two...

It's in the Genes

Sam, 12 weeks

Arlo, 12 weeks

Otis, 12 weeks

Five Years Later

Sam turned five on May 18th. He instantly became a big kid. Where did my first baby go?
Today is his last day of preschool...and as I write this, I sit here with Otis in my arms. What a great cycle. Sam has become such a wonderful boy to be around; so filled with curiosity and creativity.
We recently moved the painting easel into the kitchen area so I can "keep an eye" on Arlo when he is creating. Sam has rediscovered painting at home and his drawings are beginning to take on recognizable scenarios. He's drawn some great family portraits!
Sam is an excellent big brother and is a real help with Arlo. He can perform many tasks on his own now and is not afraid to things without asking for help (which can pose problems, but often does not). Sam's new "best friend" is a little girl name Adrienne from his school. She happens to live very close to us and her Mom and I have become friends. Erin also has a son Arlo's age and another new son just 6 weeks younger than Otis.
Having Otis has helped me to really appreciate Sam's "maturity". I don't find myself missing him as a baby at all and instead find myself loving where we are at so much more!

Tomorrow begins our summer as a family and I have been plotting my survival at home with three boys! Lots of outdoor activities, slow mornings here at the homestead or out and about. I'd like to revive our weekly city bus rides to the library. We plan to meet some friends at the local splash park somewhat regularly, as well.
We're traveling to Puerto Rico for 10 days in June and Matt's mom and dad have rented a house on Lake Michigan for a week in July. They will take Sam and Arlo with them for the week and Matt and I plan to join them for a day or two as well. We'll have our (now) annual 4th of July party and my sister may come visit in August (yeah!). I'd love to take Megan to Saugatuck Dunes State Park and the beach for a day.
This summer will fly by as fast as the last 5 summers and I plan on trying to take things slow. The kids require some level of momentum, but I want them to have as fond memories of thier childhood summers as I do of mine.

Otis' Birth Story

Otis' Birth Story

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Fan Fiction Creative Writing birth story home birth

Six Weeks

Six weeks (and a few days) have come and gone. Though with the other two boys, I felt a definite sadness with the passing of time; this time I do not. It has been a really hard six weeks. I am not going to sugar coat it at all. Otis seems to have a bit of colic and that makes what would already be challenging, just down right hard. There are predictably fussy times (like evenings) and we are beginning to figure out his cues and what works to calm him, but there are also very unpredictably fussy times. He seems to be very easily over-stimulated. Why on earth the universe decided to deliver me a third boy that is easily over-stimulated, I'll never know! The poor guy has little chance for quiet. We try to provide it as best we can, but I am not going "shhh" Sam and Arlo all the time. We compromise and during his fussiest hours (which happen to be before bed times anyway), we try to keep it more mellow. He is an exceptional sleeper at night and that has been a saving grace. Things are certainly getting better. Whether it is because he is getting older, or I figured out the food sensitivities, or we learned some of the triggers and soothers, or the frequent trips to the chiropractor; I don't know, but I have stopped trying to figure him out and am just trying to accept him. I have also stopped comparing him to Arlo as a baby or Sam as a baby. He is Otis as a baby and he is pretty damn cute (even when he cries).

Sam and Arlo are doing wonderfully and taking this all in stride! I am very lucky to have such aware and accepting kids who really love their little brother despite his current disposition. They both try to offer suggestions as to why he might be crying like, "maybe he needs milk", or "maybe he wants to be held", or "maybe he wants to eat some cheese"...most of the time they are great suggestions. Arlo seems to be rebelling a bit lately and I have noticed him acting out for attention. We are trying to nip that in the bud with more direct one-on-one positive attention. Although today was a challenging day and Arlo threw a sippy cup onto Otis' head in the carseat and then a piece of cheese. Whether he was trying to "soothe" Otis with the cheese after the sippy cup hit his head, I'll never know!

The first two pictures below were taken by my friend Shelie, who took the amazing images of me in my last days of Otis' pregnancy. Otis was about a month old in them. Since then he has lost a lot of hair and now smiles! The lower three are more recent images I took. Otis is six weeks old and you can see the hair loss. Sam and Arlo are being the creative little monsters we usually see in the other two. They really have become excellent friends and despite the occasional argument, they play together very well and it is a lot of fun to watch. Sometimes we see super heroes or transformers running around our house and usually they carry some sort of gun they have made from legos, or blocks or something of the sort. Arlo especially likes to make guns out of everything, even the crust on his sandwiches!

All in all we are getting by quite nicely and enjoying most of our waking moments. Spring has certainly sprung around here. We have twelve new baby chicks in our brooding box, little flowers and perrenial herbs and things popping up everywhere and the apple trees are just about to blossom. There is lots happening outside on the homestead...but that is for another post...

A Non-Baby Post

Well, for those of you that read my blog somewhat regularly, I am sure you are getting sick of baby talk...baby this, baby that, isn't my darling chubby baby so cute, blah, blah, blah?
So, in an effort to keep all my readers entertained and to let you all know that even though my 24 hours a day is consumed by baby right now, even down to smelling like baby when baby is sleeping and I have a moment to myself...I am going to post about something non-baby.

I am a frequent reader of Franklin Habit's knitting blog The Panopticon. He's a writer, cartoonist, knitter and photographer in Chicago and I really enjoy his writing style, humor, sensitivity and his fantastic knitting! His most recent post, Strangers on a Train, made my jaw drop. Go ahead, click the link, read the post; I'll wait for you.

Appalling, isn't it? I suppose being a white woman in a more liberal part of the Midwest puts me in a fairly safe place. I am not likely to be in a situation where I will be heckled or singled out. Even breast feeding (oops, that is baby related) in public is accepted here.
Being so safe in my place I forget that there are truly ignorant folks out there. Franklin poses a great question at the end...if two very different people with opposing views can not find the gumption to endure a simple conversation on a train together; "how are opposing politicians and entire countries going to reach accord?"

There really is a world outside of my comfy little home and it isn't always as sweet as my darling little baby (sorry, had to get that in there).

Three Weeks Today

 

Tradition

When Arlo was a baby my father-in-law, Jim, found a photograph I had taken of Sam when he was about a week old (you can see it in Sam's hand). He suggested we take a photo of Sam holding his one week photo and Arlo at one week, together (see image at bottom).
Naturally, as a week drew near, Matt and I wanted to follow tradition and here you have it.

My three sons at one week of age,
2 years and 3 months of age and
4 years and 11 months of age.

Sam at 2 years and 7 months of age and Arlo at around one week.