{pretty, happy, funny, real} Ducklings!

{pretty}

Our future slug patrol arrived yesterday!  I might characterize them as cute, rather than pretty, but I think pretty works, too.  They’re Indian Runner Ducklings, two chocolate and two black.  Ghirardelli, Dilletante, Boadicea, and Cleopatra.  Hannah and Naomi spent enough time watching them yesterday that they figured out who’s who and can tell them all apart.

 

{happy and funny}

We left the ducklings pretty much alone during their first day – coming through the mail is stressful, you know.  So the kids were overjoyed to get to hold them (briefly) this morning.

Hannah and Boadicea

Naomi and Dilletante

The ducklings had better ideas – they wanted to get free, so we had some funny moments of climbing arms and attempts to jump off laps.  Ducklings don’t have a lot of foresight;  What will I do when I get up to the shoulder? doesn’t even occur to them.

I didn’t get any pictures of the younger two holding them because they needed the help of my hands, so I couldn’t take pictures.

{real}

These little girls will be inside for a few weeks, and they’re going to outgrow their brooder very quickly.  We’ll have to find a bigger container. 

And they can’t fly, but the can certainly jump (the shoe box in the first picture wasn’t nearly tall enough, and the kids had to keep their hands around it to keep them from jumping out while I changed out the bedding in their brooder), so we’ll have to find something with high sides.

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More {p,h,f,r} over at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Ducklings!

5 Favorites – Pregnancy is not a terrible disease edition

One of my challenges with pregnancy is that everywhere I look, I see that pregnancy means limitations:  no alcohol, no soft cheeses, no lunch meat, no sushi, no lifting more than X amount of weight, no – well, the list goes on and on.  Pretty soon one begins to feel like some sort of invalid to whom normal activities are completely taboo. 

Obviously, lots of people do have harrowing pregnancies.  I have not had a harrowing pregnancy, but I have spent most of my first trimesters trying to figure out how to get the nausea to go away and how to get to the nearest surface that would allow me to lie flat, because first trimester is just yuck for me…and for lots of people.  So during the first trimester I do feel like an invalid a lot of the time.

BUT, many people (including me) go on to have fairly normal, if expanding, second and third trimesters.  This pregnancy I came across a few things that have made me feel like a normal person.  Pregnant and normal.  Instead of a person who *might* some day be normal again…maybe.  So I thought I’d share them, in case anyone else feels the pressure of regular ol’ pregnancy as a malady.

1.  Natural Pregnancy Natural Birth post on Katy Says

“The first thing to understand is, while pregnancy may seem like an unnatural position for your body to be in, it is quite natural actually.  What makes it feel so awkward and possibly uncomfortable is the extreme loading done on an unbalanced, rickety frame.” – Katy Bowman

Right.  Pregnancy is actually natural – one of the many natural functions of the human body.  Huh. 

2. Mama Baby Alignment post on Katy Says

This post answers questions about alignment during pregnancy.  Here’s a quote:  “Keep in mind that while Gail is asking about alignment during pregnancy, that there is no difference between alignment in the pregnant versus non-pregnant body.”  -- Katy Bowman

3.  The Missing Mass post on Katy Says

She addresses the very prevalent idea about the changing center of gravity during  pregnancy – or is it changing?

4.  Suzanne Bowen’s Slim & Toned Prenatal Barre Workout

So it’s pretty much impossible to feel like an invalid if you do this workout, because although it’s for prenatal, it’s a really good workout.  She offers modifications for later in pregnancy or for those of us who aren’t at the top of our fitness.  BUT the woman who works out with her (who shows some of the modifications) is 35 weeks along and very fit.  She doesn’t seem like an invalid at all.  And Suzanne (who isn’t pregnant in this video) says things like, “I am on fire right now!” when she’s doing some of the tougher segments.  She certainly doesn’t approach pregnancy fitness as if she’s dealing with someone who may have a condition that means she should be lying on a fainting couch all day long.

5.  The older siblings of the baby in utero

Okay, so these are my favorites of the favorites.  By their very existence, they keep me doing things that are everyday and normal.  When I was pregnant with my first, I could much more easily justify not doing something that I didn’t feel like doing (not because of pregnancy, just laziness).  With my kids around, if I opt not to do something it’s probably because I really don’t feel at my best.  Daily life doesn’t get put on hold easily with kids, and if I do stop the routine, it means I have plenty of catching up to do later, so there had better be a really good reason for it! 

Also, because I have these older kids, I know from experience that the more normally I go about my daily business, the more I do my usual things around relationships, chores, exercise, nutrition, and rest and relaxation, the more I will benefit when I’m postpartum, because things will come back to a more balanced state much more quickly if I haven’t completely changed everything beforehand. 

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Go see Hallie to see more favorites around the blogosphere!

Easter

No pictures from the Triduum, because we didn’t take any.  We did go to Tenebrae Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings.  Tenebrae was lovely.  The silences between Psalms were silent, which meant that Tess’s running commentary on Thursday morning (“What’s Fr. Daniel doing?  Is he walking?” etc…) was fairly audible.  However, Friday morning she talked mostly during the singing, which meant that her announcement, “I need to go poop!” was not heard by everyone.  So that was a bonus.  The older kids really enjoyed Tenebrae this year, and even Tess’s distraction didn’t prevent her from picking up some of the words to the Psalms.

I went to Mass Holy Thursday, and Michael went to the Good Friday evening service.  Michael also went to about 90 minutes of Tre Ore with Naomi and Simeon.  Simeon napped through part of that.  2/3 of the family also got haircuts on Good Friday:  Michael and I, Naomi and Sim.

We went to the Easter Vigil and the two oldest stayed awake this year.  It was truly lovely.  I’m thinking of trying to convince our liturgist to have Mass in the dark more often, because Tess pretty much sat and watched with silent, grave interest until she fell asleep during the homily. 

Of course, despite our efforts to encourage the kids to sleep in, Sim was up at 6:30 a.m., and when Michael told him to go back to bed, the resulting upset woke Naomi. 

Tess was so thrilled about her Easter dress (which she wore to the Vigil) that she put it on as soon as she woke up – even before calling us to come get her.  Easter morning ended up being quite relaxed, with a big breakfast and then a walk/bike ride/roller blade and stop at the playground. 

Easter morning we did eventually remember the camera. 

Each child got a new book in his or her Easter basket.  Hannah finished hers in about 3 hours. 

 

Yep.  Hannah’s reading.

The egg hunt was held at the local aunt and uncle’s house, and the weather was sunny and mild…rain had been predicted but didn’t appear.

Naomi put her Easter dress on for the gathering.  Hannah did not, but her dress matches Naomi’s.

Michael helped with the egg hiding and was proud of some of his placements. 

Sim wore his Easter shirt and pants, but didn’t go to the formality of the tie. 

Tess’s egg hunt was highly successful, and she had to look through each egg as soon as the hunt was over.  I sat next to her and kept the eggs she’d looked in separate from the ones she hadn’t, because her original strategy had been to just put the eggs back in the basket…a recipe for an unending egg check.

Following the big kids’ egg hunt we had the egg hunt trading.  Apparently this year jelly beans were the hot item, even more than the money that had been in some of the eggs. 

Michael also took off Easter Monday and spent most of the day putting up a fence…but I’ll do a separate post about that. 

Happy Easter, everyone!

Easter Vigil

Awesome!  Beautiful!  I do love the Vigil.

Sim and Tess both napped for parts of it.  Well, Sim napped from the 4th reading until after the recessional.  Tess took more like a 30-minute nap. 

Pictures of Easter morning to come (none from the Vigil, because no camera), but for now I’ll leave you with Tess’s loud comment in the silence following the end of the Gloria, which was complete with organ, trumpet, and trombone:  “I like those trumpets!”

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Botanical Garden

Linking up with the ladies of Like Mother, Like Daughter today.

{pretty}

Last Friday we didn’t have our usual sewing class, and we did have unusually warm and sunny weather, so we headed out to a nearby (ish) botanical garden that we’ve visited many times, but mostly in the summer.

{happy}

Tess has recently decided to do lots of stair practice, and she found a short series of stairs to go up and down while her siblings did some other exploring.

Meanwhile,the older kids love the little hobbit hole door in this garden.  It’s locked, of course, because what halfling wants to welcome any and all comers to the botanical gardens?

{funny}

You’d think, after being mom to a boy for over 5 years, besides experience with other males in my life, I would learn that saying, “We’re going to the botanical gardens!” and following it with a description of trees and flowers in bloom would not inspire my son.

He ended up having a great time.  But he didn’t set out with any hope of that.

What I should have said was:  “Trails!  Rocks!

Waterfalls!  Ponds!

Exploring!  Thrones!  Hobbit holes!

Outside!”

Then he could have looked forward with delight to the things to come.  But now he knows what “botanical garden” really means, and he won’t be fooled by my stories of lovely landscapes any more.

{real}

The photo above of all of my children together and smiling was a fluke.  I’m not sure how it happened, except that I didn’t tell Tess what I had planned. 

This is what usually happens when I ask them to all sit together for a picture.  No Tess.  She loves having her picture taken in general, but not with all the other kids in particular.  Why?  I don’t know.

Maybe it’s because she’d infinitely prefer to be photographed alone, on her throne.

She likes order…in its place

We recently had a fund raiser for the girls’ scouting group.  Each year about this time, they sell pies.  The pies are delicious and quite an easy sell, because around February all the people who bought pies last year begin asking when they’ll be able to get more.  Of course, there’s an order form that comes with the pies.  Hannah, being the wonderful Hannah that she is, got a file folder and stored the order form, moneys received, and her own lists that she made (outlining things like who ordered what and how they paid).  “I love lists!” she’ll occasionally tell whoever is nearby. 

At some point she decided to calculate which was a better deal, the regular-sized pies for $14 each or the 6-inch pies for $30 for 6.  The price per square inch was about 2.5 cents different – the regular pies won out on pure monetary basis, but for those with only one or two people they’d normally serve pies, the mini pies are probably a better deal in the long run. 

The order forms needed to be turned in on Tuesday, so Hannah spent some time during the day compiling and adding.  And then figuring out trends:  “Hey, Mom, nobody who ordered a marionberry pie ordered any other type of pie.”  Or:  “Hey, Mom, the peach cobbler is the only one anyone ordered.  Nobody got the berry cobblers.”  Or:  “Hey, Mom, only ONE person ordered an apple pie.”  Or:  “Hey, Mom, raspberry rhubarb and cherry crunch are the most popular pies – much more than the others.”

And then, she made an algebra problem about the number of raspberry rhubarb pies ordered.  And she tested it out on Michael.

Of course, this love of order does not extend to her actual physical belongings, but it is really fun to see it blossoming in other realms. 

Negotiations

Tess:  Mama, can I wear my square dress today?

Me:  Your square dress is in the laundry.  Remember we were planting yesterday and it got dirt on it?

Tess:  Oh. 

Me:  Do you want to wear your Valentine’s Day dress?

Tess:  No.  Can I wear my strawberry dress?

Me:  It’s also in the laundry.  How about your snowflake dress?  You can wear it with tights.

Tess:  Oooooo…kay. 

For a kid who doesn’t like to wear socks, she LOVES tights, but only with particular dresses. 

Bedtime questions

Sometimes snuggle time at bedtime turns into hard questions for Mom time. 

Simeon:  Mom, where do they get the stones?

Me:  …?  What stones?

Simeon:  For throwing at people.

Me:  [remembering reading part of the Gospel about stoning earlier] I think they just pick them up off the ground.

Simeon:  Oh.

****

Naomi:  Why are babies born premature?

A new, terrifying beast

Simeon is very much taken with mythological beasts ending in “-taur.”  The other day, out of deep contemplation, he suddenly said, “I bet centaurs have to eat a lot, because they have to feed their human part and their horse part.”  Something I’d never actually considered, but I’m sure he’s right.

Now Sim has created a new –taur beast, modeled after the legendary Minotaur.  He calls it the Marmotaur:  head of a bull, body of a marmot.  A marmot, for those not in the know, is a largish (for a squirrel) member of the squirrel family.  I don’t know if a Marmotaur has a larger-than-usual body for a marmot (otherwise, how could it support a bull’s head?), but the Marmotaur is apparently an extremely dangerous beast. 

[If I were a more skilled computer user, I’d take one of our many marmot pictures from our Yellowstone trip last year and splice in a bull’s head.  But you’ll just have to imagine it yourselves, because I’m not that awesome, and I don’t have the time to learn to be that awesome right now, either.]

In any case, Simeon now invents new mythological feats that the great and terrible Marmotaur has done.  Maybe the next generation will pass along Marmotaur legends, or threaten their children with reprisals from the Marmotaur, should they misbehave.

7 Quick Takes: pregnancy workouts, parties, books

Joining Jen again this week.

1.  New pregnancy workout DVD!  I got the suggestion from Grace, and it’s a good one.  Now that I’ve done it a few times I’m not quite so sore the next day.  Don’t be fooled by the fact that it has “barre” in the title – no barre is required.   I’m going to have to check out some of Suzanne Bowen’s non-pregnancy workouts when the day comes, because I really like the pregnancy ones I’ve tried. 

 

2.  Tess loves to join me for my workouts.  This is one of the cutest things ever, although it can be a bit dangerous, because she seems to like to stand RIGHT next to me when I’m trying to do arm exercises with weights.  I’m paranoid that I’m going to hit her in the head with a weight – she’s just the right height for it.  Another trick she likes to employ – if she’s not trying to do the actual exercises with me, which is too cute for words – is running around me in tight circles.  Dangerous again because she usually chooses the times when I’m doing side steps or alternating reverse lunges…but it makes the workout more challenging, for sure. 

And she’s usually dressed for success on these occasions:
 

 

3.  We had Naomi’s delayed birthday party last weekend.  8 little girls watching Robin Hood.  Michael took Tess and Sim to the zoo, since Tess is petrified of Robin Hood and Sim isn’t a girl.
 


I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as last year, because kids-watching-a-movie pictures turn out to be…remarkably similar to each other.  However, a good time was had by all – screaming laughter reverberated through the house at all the funny scenes.  Really screaming.  I hope the neighbors didn’t think I was torturing people over here, because I’m sure it could easily have been misinterpreted. 

After Michael left, I discovered that either:  a.  I’d already used the cool swirly candles I thought I had, or b. someone else had already used those candles.  In any case, I didn’t have 8 similar candles!  Ack!  And I couldn’t run to the store because Michael was at the zoo.  So Naomi got a math cake:  6+2=8.  She didn’t mind. 

The cake itself is Strawberry Country Cake, special request of Naomi.  Party favors were nail polish, and seemed to be quite popular. 

4.  I wanted to join in on What We’re Reading Wednesday, but the days get away from me, so I’ll just give a quick couple of the ones I’m reading at the moment. 

I’m reading The Spear, by Louis de Wohl.  He wrote a bunch of historical fiction-type hagiographies, and I’ve read several.  Once I started this one, I realized I must have read it in the past, because I recognized a lot of it.  I’m really enjoying it, and it’s a great read for right before Holy Week, since it deals a lot with characters connected to the events of Holy Week.  Interesting and thought-provoking.
 

I’m also reading Theology and Sanity, by Frank Sheed.  He delves into the mysteries of God in here – the things that seem to us as paradoxes, but which are true about God nonetheless, and he encourages readers to put a lot of thought into these mysteries because even though we can’t fully understand them, we’ll learn more about God from the application of our brains to these truths.  Lots of fruit for contemplation.

5.  I scheduled our family to go on the camping trip (we’ll be staying in a cabin; third trimester me does not do tents) with Hannah and Naomi’s scouting troop one Friday-Sunday in May.  Then, as I perused my calendar for some other reason the other day, I realized that Naomi has a concert on that Saturday.  And this morning I realized that the girls have a piano recital that Sunday afternoon.  I might just benefit from consulting my calendar a bit more.  The camp is only about an hour away, so I think we’ll be fine on Saturday, and we’ll be coming back Sunday anyway, but I think I might not have tried to squeeze quite so much into one weekend if I’d been thinking about it.

6.  Hannah began complaining that my nesting is setting in.  She’s right, it has, but I try to point out that I like a clean house other times, too, and many of the things I’m asking my kids to do are just normal pickup chores.  This doesn’t keep her from muttering “nesting” under her breath when I ask her to put her things away.  Of course, she likes to have all of her things out where she can see them, and this is an ongoing challenge for us, because she also likes to keep far more things than I think necessary.  She is getting better, though.  The days of saving candy wrappers are definitely gone for good. Thank God.

7.  Sim discovered the joy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe on CD.  Any time during the day that he disappears, he’s most likely in his room, listening to it and doing Legos.  It’s very endearing.

Have a great weekend!