It's Already One of Those Days

Good morning! If you like wet, rainy days, today is the day for you. While I don’t mind the rain, I do feel like staying in bed when it’s like this. Also, I was kind of hoping to clean out the goat shed this afternoon and if it continues on like it is now, that won’t happen. On the other hand, I’m not going to plan this afternoon according to this morning’s weather.

Yesterday was quite a day. Seth stayed home, of course, because he wasn’t feeling well enough to go to school. I might keep him home today, depends on how he feels when he comes downstairs.

Joanna had an appointment with an allergist. I didn’t have to worry about getting her to that but she doesn’t feel that it was worthwhile. She is definitely 19 right now. Anyway, she was out with Zak all morning and I was hoping she’d be home until she had to leave.

The reason I was hoping she’d be home is because I figured Seth was going to be home and Paul and I were going to play shuffle-the-vehicles and then pick up some goats. We ended up only picking up goats and we ended up taking Seth with us because he didn’t want to stay home alone and I didn’t want to leave him home alone.

Zoey. Isn't she pretty?

Anyway, we now have three new goats. A doeling named Zoie. She’s very pretty. Two bucklings (at what point do they become bucks?) named Bailey and Leroy. Zoie is dark and obviously young. Bailey is black and white with some brown; he has curly bangs and cut himself on his head getting out of his enclosure a week or so ago. Leroy is black and white with waddles. Our plan was to only keep one of the boys for breeding purposes; the trouble will be deciding which one to keep because each has characteristics I like. Bailey is obviously part La Mancha due to his ears.

Leroy. He's a nice-looking goat as well.

Monday at Meet the Doula Night, I arranged to visit with Liz because I’d forgotten to write down that Emily was coming over for sewing. I didn’t want to seem flaky because I’d made the arrangements with Emily first but really wanted to visit with Liz because the visit will include more positional therapy. So last night I messaged Emily to ask if we could do sewing later and she responded that due to circumstances she actually was wondering if we could cancel today. SIGH! I still feel kind of flaky that I would want to change a prior commitment for a newer one though.

Bailey. Love those bangs!

Well, I’ve got to get some lunches together. I should be back relatively soon.

Seth is going to go to school. I’m not sure if I already expect a call or not. I am sending him with a note stating that if he needs to, they can call me anytime. Which goes without saying anyway. His behavior says to me that he’s feeling pretty okay at the moment.

I finished reading my book yesterday which is something of a minor miracle considering the fact that we were gone getting goats in the morning. Cedric had an appointment with the eye doctor yesterday and I actually got quite a bit of reading done then. Finished the book, in fact. Very good book. I highly recommend it for anyone who is pregnant, thinking of becoming pregnant, or knows someone who is. The Natural Pregnancy Book: Herbs, Nutrition, and Other Holistic Choices by Aviva Jill Romm. Excellent book.

Now I am reading Three in a Bed: The Healthy Joys & Remarkable Benefits of Sharing Your Bed with Your Baby by Deborah Jackson. Based on articles and blogs I’ve read recently, cosleeping is currently under fire so it will be interesting to see what this book has to say. I read a few pages last night and I think it will be a fairly easy read and will probably just reinforce my own thoughts and ideas. We shall see.

Right now I think I’d really like to go back to bed. It has been a struggle this week getting up at 6:00. The 5:00 wake up for Amena has been fine but actually getting up to stay up hasn’t been fun. And tomorrow I have a doula shift. As much as I’d like to be there if someone is in labor, I’d really just like to stay home. Actually, there is a lot more to it than that but for now I’ll leave it where it is.

Have a fantabulous day!

Time. . .is going by. . .

I’m getting a head start on tomorrow just so I don’t forget and this is for my mother and anyone else out there who might have blood sugar problems. Dandelion root helps to regulate blood sugar. It can be taken as a syrup or as an infusion or as a tincture. Just so you know.

(I wrote the previous and the next paragraphs yesterday.)

So, I went to Meet the Doula Night and there were three pregnant people there. That was nice—it’s always nice to see pregnant bellies. The lactation consultant gave us a presentation which was very good. Meredeth was there and I really really wanted to stay and talk to her but at the same time, I really felt like I needed to get home. When I got here, I found out why. Seth was curled up on one couch with a blanket while everyone was reading scriptures. I sat down and Joseph came over to sit with me and he whispered to me that Seth had thrown up twice. Ahhhhh, the reason I needed to go home. We finished reading and everyone was sent to bed and I got Seth some water and dead Coke we have for such things. He had a tiny bit of each and I went about helping Joseph get in bed and when I came down, Seth was already utilizing the bowl I’d gotten him. Poor kid. He made it up to the bathroom and rinsed out his mouth and I told him I thought he should sleep on the couch because it would be easier than getting up and down off his bed (he’s on the top bunk). So he did. I got him situated with two blankets, his water and the Coke. And a bowl for in case.

This morning Amena didn’t want to get up. You know how you know your children? Well, when I went to make sure Amena was up, or at least awake, at 5:00, she was still in bed and I just knew that today was going to be one of those days when she’d still be in bed when I went back in at 6:00. Sure enough, she was.

During the night, Seth came to me and said, “I feel a lot better. Can you help me find some pants? I threw up again and got some on my shorts.” Hmmmmm, yeah, he feels better. I think he’s not going to school today in spite of those words out of his mouth. He admitted to me last night that he didn’t want to miss school today because he wants to run the mile in gym. He can run it Thursday but he will have to run it alone or with anyone else who didn’t run it today. Based on the current weather, I’d say there’s a fairly good chance that they won’t be running it today. Based on the predicted forecast, I’d say there’s at least a small chance they won’t be running it Thursday either.

When I got up at 6:00, I noticed that the bowl was in the bathroom so I’m not sure if Seth got up or Cedric used it to soak his shorts in (he wanted me to wash them last night but I’d put a load of towels on that were used to clean up Seth’s vomit because they really stunk and they weren’t done washing when I went up to bed.

Currently Cedric is on his way out to water the goats and I just fed them. Seth and Joseph are sitting at the table. They both have tea. Seth is bundled up in a blanket and Joseph is eating a toasted bagel while still in his pajamas. In spite of not getting up until 6:00, Amena was still ready for the bus when it came which is a very good thing because I didn’t want to play tag.

This was taken on the 24th. I like the one up by her face.

Kitty is a good mama and her babies are growing. I think I’ll have a picture to post from yesterday. She just came in with Cedric in spite of the fact that she has her breakfast and water outside. I guess it’s just a habit she’s gotten into and we all know how fun they are to break. I think Cedric is getting her some fresh water.

This was taken yesterday. They're so cute! And they're old enough their eyes could be opening any time and we all know what that means--we can pick them up!

There will be some pictures but because Cedric took so many videos, it’s taking a few minutes to download. Scooter just made her appearance for the first time this morning. She’s gotten in the habit of sleeping in Paul’s office (which means the carpet there is going to need to be taken out and burnt because she is in desperate need of a bath). I let her out and Cedric is going to fill up her food and water dishes.

Good thing Seth isn’t going to school today.

Yesterday I got all of my reading done which is really good. The only bad thing about it is that I also ate a bag of peanut M&Ms while I was reading. The book is really good and I’d tell you the name of it but it’s currently upstairs and I don’t currently feel like going up to get it. I also watched the most recent episode of Call the Midwife. It was very good. They usually have two story lines going. One was about Jenny and Alex and if you’ve watched it, you’ll know already what happened there and if you haven’t, I’m not going to tell you. The other was about a woman who was pregnant (imagine that, eh?) and Jewish. Her mother hadn’t left the house in 12 years and her husband had been offered a good job in another part of the city that would require them moving. I loved the way a very Jewish woman (who had lived through the horrors of Nazi Germany) and a nun interacted and got along very well. THAT is the way we are supposed to be.

After Meet the Doula Night, the doulas get some continuing education and as I mentioned earlier, it was about breastfeeding yesterday. The lactation consultant at Heywood gave us some very grim numbers about breastfeeding in the United States. According to some dated (from 2005) information, the US was ranked 24^th for all those who initiated breastfeeding and 18^th for still breastfeeding at 3 months.

	Initiated	6 months	12 months	Exclusive 3 months	Exclusive 6 months
US 2014	76.5%	49%	27%	37.7%	16.4%
Me 1986-2008	100 %	100%	87.5%	100%	25%

I guess I was just born to be abnormal.

Anyway, another busy day today with some reading, vehicle tag, and picking up goats.

Have a splendiferous one!

Heaven IS for Real

Good morning! It is a lovely sunny day out. Kind of cool (38°), but lovely.

Heaven is for Real is a good movie. Basically, it’s about a little boy, 4 years old, who, during an operation, experiences the separation of body and spirit. I’m not sure you could call it a near death experience because although he was in a very grave situation, he didn’t ever actually die.

Being four, it’s hard for him to not share what happened to him and it is then up to all the adults around to either believe what he says happened to him or not. Many have a hard time accepting that what he says he experienced was real. I have a hard time understanding why people have a hard time believing.

If I did not believe that I will be with Daniel again one day, there would be no point in living. People might say, “Well, you have other children.” Yes, that is true, but if I couldn’t have Daniel, too, it would make no difference. People who have not lost a child do not understand how it feels to have your heart ripped out of your body; they do not understand what it means to have your life so altered that you would rather die than continue living.

And when it comes to others who have gone before, Papa, my dad, Robert Lee, Uncle Mick, etc., etc., how profoundly sad it would be to think that I would never, ever, see them again. I have never had any visions of heaven, although I have dreamed of Daniel, Papa and my dad, but I do not doubt its existence.

There ended up being ten of us go. I think there would have been more had I known sooner that we needed some rides for some. Anyway, there were eight girls plus me and Diana Chunn. Only two girls (other than Amena, of course) slept over but it was nice.

Thursday Amena had invited five of her friends over. She actually invited more than that but five were able to come. What a bunch of crazies. Listening to and watching them really made me wonder if boys with sisters are less likely to marry than boys with no sisters. It would be fun, and maybe enlightening, to conduct a study to find out.

Friday Seth had his unbirthday party since he never got to actually have a birthday party. He invited eight boys and three came. Two weren’t able to spend the night but one was and I have to say, the boys were much quieter than the girls and actually went to bed and sleep and a more reasonable hour. I do realize that they are a bit younger than the girls we had over but still, it was a nice change.

Saturday the boys and I went to the Hubbardston Library to check out books because I had five books in that I’d requested. I need to read about 150 pages today to stay on schedule and get them back in time. We also went to the Gardner Library because Amena needed some books and Hubbardston didn’t have them. Gardner actually only had one but at least it did have that.

Sunday was Sunday until Paul talked to a guy in Rehoboth who listed a silver Jetta TDI wagon on craigslist. He asked if I’d like to go with him to look at it and I said I would even though he said it was a two-hour drive and I really, really needed to get some reading done. The drive ended up being just a little over an hour and he liked the car so much he decided to pay for it on the spot and drive it home. I didn’t mind the idea of buying the car but I really didn’t want to drive home. It was getting dark and we had to drive through Providence, Rhode Island, and even though it was Sunday night, there’s still traffic and I’ve only driven down there once and I just really didn’t want to drive home. Still, I drove the white Jetta and followed Paul and everything was fine, especially once we got almost to Worcester because at that point I could get home without help even if we got separated.

And today is today. Much reading on my agenda today as well as some phone calls. And eating of peanut M&Ms. Should be pretty darn exciting.

Have a beautimus day!

Just like a heartbeat. . .

Good morning! Yesterday we ended up having some rain that I didn’t realize was on the forecast. Which isn’t to say that I live my life by any forecast; I actually don’t because half the time they are wrong. I actually hadn’t looked at any for a few days.

Kitty on Easter Sunday.

Yesterday turned into the day that it was. I cleaned off the front porch with a little help from Cedric and Seth so that we could put Debbie’s old crate out there for Kitty and the kittens. It was just about ready when there was some commotion upstairs. I’d told the boys and Amena to leave Kitty and the kittens alone and to in fact stay out of the boys’ room. As usual, there was some compliance but not total. Amena and Joseph were in the room and Amena was singing a song (quietly, I might add) that was annoying Joseph so he told Paul that Kitty was in the house. I really wanted to wait until this morning to take her and the kittens out but that didn’t work because even though Amena stopped singing, Joseph told Paul again and he said to get Kitty out of the house.

Kitty and her kittens.

Amena managed to get them all on a blanket without touching them and came downstairs and set them on a couch. I took the top off the crate so we could get Kitty and her babies in. Kitty was pretty upset and I don’t blame her one bit. She got out of the crate and wanted in the house, probably not quite realizing that her babies were outside. Then she went in the crate and picked one up and would have taken off to who knows where (probably attempting to get in the house) had we not shut the crate door. Amena stayed out with her while I went to get some food and water and Kitty calmed down and curled up around her kittens.

I did give Joseph a lecture about what happens when mama cats get upset. He was informed that sometimes a mother cat will eat her babies if she perceives that they are in danger. At the very least, the mother cat will take her babies and hide them somewhere she feels is safer. I asked him if that’s what he wanted and of course he said no. His eyes were big; I know that he had no idea the consequences his actions might have had.

Seth and I took a walk after lunch. It was an overcast day that was rather warm, especially compared to the temperatures we’d had just a few days earlier, and humid so by the time we got back, we were a bit sweaty and very hot. Seth wouldn’t look at the creek on the way back because he was so thirsty. We went almost as far as I did when I did Ragged Hill last time by myself. Google maps is pretty funny because when I plug in our address, it puts us about 433 feet, or about a twelfth of a mile, west of where the house actually is so I click on the map rather than use our address. When I plugged in the nearest address to where we turned around yesterday, it put us on the other side of a little creek that we didn’t quite get to. I like that distance, 1.1 miles, but I know we didn’t go that far (we actually went .8 of a mile one way). Oh, the joys of modern technology.

Tonight the Young Women are going to see Heaven is for Real at the theater and then coming here for a sleepover. That should be interesting at the very least. Hopefully fun as well. We are going to have pancakes for breakfast and that should be interesting as well.

On the agenda for today is getting the counter cleared off again. I’d really like to know how the heck it gets so cluttered all the time. And seemingly overnight. Other than that, the library needs to be finished or at least done more to; the back room needs to be cleaned because that’s where we’ll be sleeping. There is also a ton of laundry, again as usual. We also might make a trip to the library and if I’m going to fill out campership forms for the boys, I have to go to Lancaster to do it because today I think is the last day. I should double check on that to be sure.

In other news, Laura has done a couple of websites. One is for her book(s) and the other is a blog. Both pretty cool. If you can, you should check them out (I’ll post links in the email).

Have a fantabulous day!

One of the cacti in the house.

And the drumbeat carries on. . .

Good morning! Please don’t ask why because I don’t know the answer, but I just haven’t really felt like writing as of late. Well, writing here.

I’ve been working on doula homework and that requires some reading but lots of research first, especially for the handouts that I’ve been working on. I enjoy that. Part of the homework has been walking for half an hour each day. I’ve been logging that; today is the last day of the two weeks and I’ll get to report on it. Next is spending half an hour each day for a week with water. I was kind of hoping to get a membership at the fitness center and spend half an hour each day in the pool but I think spending half an hour down by the creek would qualify because it’s living water, so to speak; moving, running, full of life. The pool would just be nice.

Kitty had her kittens this morning. Cedric came to me about 4:30 and said, “Kitty is giving birth!” Where? On his bed! He spent the rest of the night on the couch to give Kitty her space although if she was okay with giving birth on his bed, she probably would have been fine had he stayed. He reported this morning that he at first thought it was her leg or something but then he heard it squeak and he figured out what had happened. In spite of the light being turned on and my going after Cedric to tell him to not touch Kitty or the kittens, Seth was completely unaware of what had happened when he woke up. However, I discovered a way to get Joanna up fast: tell her there are new kittens!

Amena wasn’t feeling well last night before bed and she ended up vomiting three times during the night. Joseph had the same thing Saturday except he vomited once and had diarrhea. I had something at least similar Friday with just diarrhea. Too much information? At least you know what’s been up with us. (Insert smiley face!)

Friday I got to go to Joseph’s class. Another mother was helping with egg decorating and she’d brought her own helper (another child). I ‘helped’ with coloring by providing crayons when they didn’t have a color they needed. While they were doing that, they got to watch some Easter videos. Some of them were rather corny; one was an adaptation of the Velveteen Rabbit.

Sunday afternoon the boys and I went to the park so they could ride bikes. Paul actually dropped us off and then went to talk to Ray. I didn’t want to go but I’m glad I did because I really don’t think three boys, especially those named Cedric, Seth and Joseph, should be dropped off at the park on their own. It was kind of fun, anyway, and I got to ‘chase’ Joseph around in the playground.

Yesterday Seth informed me that since this is April Vactation, we shouldn’t have to do any work. Although it sounds like fun, I generally don’t agree. There is far too much that needs to be done to not do any work. Yesterday the living room was cleaned and the library was begun.

Since Saturday Cedric and Seth got to go to Walmart to use their gift cards, I took Joseph yesterday. Seth wanted to go as well because he still had some money to use. Amena wanted to go to the library because she has some reading she needs to get done. We stopped at the bank first, which was open, and then the library, which was closed. I’m guessing because it was Patriot’s Day? I’m also guessing that Patriot’s Day is something that New England can actually claim because I’d never heard of it until we moved here.

Up for today? More cleaning. Laundry. A walk. Doula homework. Pretty exciting, from the look of it.

Have a fantastic day!

April Catch Up

Good morning! Thursday I didn’t write because it was a busy morning getting ready for soaping at 9:00. I had to go for my walk and shower and get the kitchen ready. By the time I was all done with all of that, there wasn’t a whole lot of time even though Julia didn’t get here until sometime around 9:30 I think.

Friday I really wanted to write but there was need of a doula at the hospital at 7:00 so I had to get ready for that and go.

Saturday morning the boys and I had electronic recycling at Hubbardston Center School for scouts. By the time we were ready to go for that there wasn’t time for anything else.

Sunday morning was Sunday morning. I had an early meeting at church which meant no time for writing.

And now it is today. Although I have many things on my agenda for today including a trip to the chiropractor and a walk this morning, I am going to get you up to speed. It will take a while because as soon as the boys leave on the bus, I’ll be going for my walk and then showering. Once that is done, I have to check my email and get a couple of things in the mail. If there is time before I have to leave for the chiropractor, I will write more then, otherwise when I get back will have to suffice.

As mentioned earlier, Thursday morning Julia came over ready to make soap. She brought as many of the ingredients as she could and made two molds. She was pretty excited about that. Kim Trivett and her mother came over sometime after 11:00 so I could look at Kim in different wedding dresses she’d tried on. I told her that this is definitely a project I can take on. Since she and Adam think it won’t be until August that they can get married due to various circumstances, there is plenty of time in which to work and make sure that things are right. I’m kind of excited about this—I love making wedding dresses.

Thursday evening I went over to visit with Elizabeth and Jonathan about pregnancy related things. They had an appointment Monday at Heywood for an orientation-type thing where they were given a lot of information and another appointment for two weeks from then.  I reiterated much of the information they’d given them about morning sickness and such without realizing it. I think that was a good thing. The one thing that Elizabeth would like is a water birth and that is one thing she will not get at the hospital here. In Greenfield, yes, Gardner, no. So, I’m going to talk to midwives for them about pricing and payment plans and see what would be a good fit for them. At that point, they can determine which direction they will go.

So, at 1:13 I am finally getting back to this. I’ve done all but one thing on my list and returned from the chiropractor long ago. Relatively speaking, of course; everything is relative.

As you may recall, I sent three letters to midwives Monday. Thursday before I left to go see the Shakespeares, I needed to stop at the library to return the long lost book of Joseph’s and Staples to get some boxes in which to put soap that is cured and ready to go. In order to do these things, I wanted to leave no later than 4:30 because I wanted to arrive at their house a little after 5:00. Well, at 4:15, I got a phone call from a name and number I did not recognize. In spite of this, I answered. Guess who it was? One of the midwives!!! She asked if I had time to chat. Because I only had a few minutes, she gave me her numbers and I wrote them down.

When I got back from visiting with Elizabeth and Jonathan, I got children fed and we did our before bed routine and then bedtime routine. Then I looked for the paper on which I’d written the numbers. I couldn’t find it. I sent Joanna messages because she had class. She finally called and said she’d taken some of the papers that had been on the table to her room so I went and looked and there it was (I don’t know why I wrote the numbers on Joanna’s papers other than proximity to where I was, but I did)! I proceeded to call and we had a lovely visit.

She is fairly new to the area as she just moved to New Hampshire from southern California about a year ago. She has a student midwife but she’s about ready to move up to senior student midwife and when that happens, she’ll be ready to take on another student. She told me about another option for midwifery school in case the Midwives College of Utah doesn’t work out which is really cool. And we set up a time for us to meet in person because, like she said, if you are going to be working closely with someone, you really need to know that it will work. So exciting! The wait until tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 has been excruciating but is now almost down to a 24-hour wait.

Pretty exciting, eh? That’s why I really wanted to write Friday.

And then there was Friday at the hospital with a woman whose water broke and another who was being induced. Pretty cool as well other than the fact that they were slow labors. I got to meet one of the new doula’s who just completed training the first weekend of this month. Friday morning was her very first shift.

Friday after the boys got home from school, we went walking. Joseph just about died and decided that if I was going to walk for half an hour, he wasn’t going to go again. In the evening Paul and I went out for Thai with Devon. That was nice.

Saturday was the electronic recycling day for Hubbardston Cub Scouts. We went from 9:00 to 11:00. I did take Cedric over to the rec field at 10:00 so he could hang out with some friends. Dominic, another friend who still does scouts showed up shortly after that and was disappointed, I think, that Cedric wasn’t there. The day turned out to be very successful; the boys netted over $1,300. I am impressed.

Sunday was Sunday. I decided Sunday that I am very allergic to hay. I hadn’t figured out why I have a rash on my arms, neck and lower face. Then I realized that I’d been feeding the goats hay with short sleeves for the past few days since it’s been nice enough out to not wear long sleeves or a jacket. Mistake! The rash itches like crazy and consists of little bumps that have a white raised center (until I scratch them; then it’s red). I think I should either wear a jacket when I give them their hay or wait until I’ve done my walking, feed goats, and take a shower immediately.

Saturday I took an ibuprofen because my head hurt and yesterday evening I noticed that my ankles, especially left, had swollen up. They weren’t bad, but they were noticeable. Today when I went to the chiropractor he noticed even though it wasn’t as bad as it was last night. I don’t know what the deal is but it certainly isn’t due to high blood pressure.

Anyway, that’s been the past few days. I am looking forward to meeting with Katie McCall and her student midwife tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, have a spectacular day!

Day

Good morning! It looks to be sunny and clear today. Hopefully we’ll have a spring-like temperature today. Other than feeding goats soon, I need to go for a walk. More about that later. Right now Seth is studying for a rock cycle test that he has for Friday.

Busy-ish day yesterday. Bread was successfully made in the morning as was pumpkin cake baked in dinosaur and teddy bear pans. A couple of the dinosaurs stuck in the pan because I put too much batter in but other than that it turned out well.

Emily West came over for sewing and Zak got to hold Adelaide. He’d never really gotten to hold a baby before and it seemed pretty obvious. She was pretty happy, though, and he did an okay job.

I had an IEP meeting at school for Cedric. He is all caught up to grade level and they considered doing away with his IEP altogether. The problem seems to be that it requires a battery of tests in order to do so and they quite disrupt the normal flow of things. I’m not sure why it would be any better to do this next year than now but for now he’s just on observation. Mrs. Chabot, Cedric’s teacher, had to tell me again how impressed she was with Cedric’s book trailer. It appears that there is someone who teaches college who also spends time at HCS and she saw the trailer and wanted to use it for one of her classes. I’m not sure exactly why because there are mistakes but still, pretty cool.

I was going to make some rice to have with broiled fish for lunch but I completely forgot to start the rice and then it was suddenly 12:00 and by the time the rice would have been done, it would have been time for me to go to school for the meeting. So, no rice. And the fish didn’t happen until I got home about 1:30 which means I didn’t eat until almost 2:00. I did have another yogurt before I went to school because all I had for breakfast was a yogurt.

For dinner we had lentil soup with salami and salad. We still have some of the salad left over from the April Fool’s dinner. It’s going away but the going is slow. It’s iceberg lettuce which doesn’t help me want to eat it no matter how it’s fixed up.

Today has already been an interesting day. I started making sandwiches for Amena and Cedric and Amena reminded me about the same time I remembered that today is a half day so they don’t need lunches. Snacks, sure; lunches, no.

So I sat down to start working on this and my computer dinged at me letting me know that the battery was getting low. So I looked for my cord. And couldn’t find it. It wasn’t any of the places I normally put it or any of the places I don’t usually put it. Very annoying. I looked on the counter, on the hutch including drawers, upstairs on the desk, in Amena’s bed, in the back room. Nada. I kind of just gave up after a few minutes while I helped the boys with their morning tasks. Then Joanna wanted a paper printed out she’d done on Zak’s computer (which is very much like mine). It wouldn’t recognize the printer and it wouldn’t install it. More annoyance. So Joanna asked if I could email it to myself and print it out. I laughed and said my computer might die. She got Zak’s cord out and I plugged in and emailed her paper from my Hotmail account to one of my gmail accounts on Zak’s computer. I opened mine and opened the document in gmail and it was proving to be a somewhat time consuming process to either copy and paste and fix the formatting or open in google.docs so I went back to Hotmail and opened it from the ‘sent’ folder. Then I was able to print it out rather easily and plugged my laptop back in with Zak’s cord hoping to get as charged as possible before he left.

In the meantime, the goats got fed in spite of the fact that the bucket for grain wasn’t in the back room with the grain where I keep it and it wasn’t with the shoes by the stairs which is where Cedric said he left it. It was, however, on the shelves in the kitchen where the orange pitcher usually is. They got lots of vegetable scraps as well as grain. I still need to take them some hay.

Yesterday afternoon, Joseph decided to water the goats because they didn’t have any water (they must have been thirsty). He took the pitcher out about 2/3 full and was attempting to pour it over the fence like I do but he’s a bit shorter and wasn’t having much luck. He had a light bulb moment and set the pitcher down and walked away. I wasn’t sure where he’d gone and thought he might come in and ask for help. In a couple of minutes, he reappeared with a short ladder. What a good idea! Still, it wasn’t quite enough to give him the height he needed so he left again and came back with a slightly taller ladder. That did the trick. In a few minutes he came inside with the pitcher wanting more water to take out and then a few minutes later he wanted the pitcher filled once again. When he came in the last time he said, “Did you see what I did?” He was pretty proud of himself. Rightly so, I think.

Today looks to be another busy day with all the fun things I have scheduled plus scouts for Joseph and church tonight.  I was going to add pictures for you yesterday but Picassa was having difficulties. When I checked this morning they were still having difficulties so I am afraid pictures might have to wait yet another day.

In the meantime, have a splendiferous day!

I Need a Cool Title But Can't Think of One

Good morning! There are some days when I wouldn’t really like to lay in bed but I would like to just sit around and do pretty much nothing. You know, I like breathing and all but other than that it would really be nice to maybe just sit on the couch and read for a bit. Paul wakes up around 7:00, reads in bed for up to an hour, and then gets up and showers and eats. He doesn’t really have to be to work until 10:00 since he works usually until at least 6:00. Wouldn’t it be nice?

The past few days have been somewhat busy. I’ve meant to write several mornings but as you can see, nothing happened. Friday morning when I called the hospital, there were two women going in to be induced so I kind of took my time and left right before the bus picked the boys up. Both were very slow labors and one wasn’t interested in having a doula so I spent a lot of time doing very little. I did get rooms ready and I did take a book. Friday evening Paul and I went out to eat at SS Lobster.

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference. We watched all the sessions which I hadn’t done for a while. Saturday morning Cedric was busy making a slideshow book trailer. Basically, a book trailer is a little blurb about any chosen book in order to get other people excited enough about it to go read it. His was a book he’d read at school about Martin Luther King, Jr. Here is the youtube link if you’d like to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0op-9JREDo. If you’d rather search for it on youtube, just search for MLK by Cedric. When I just looked, it had been viewed 22 times and had one like. Anyway, because he was busy with that, I didn’t really have time on the computer to write a post.

Saturday afternoon Joseph got to go to the Ecotarium with Jameson. He had a lot of fun and is ready to go again partly because they didn’t get to see the beavers. Amena spent the night at Jayden Mederios’ house; her mom was Cedric’s 3^rd grade teacher. They only live a couple of miles away from us.

Sunday morning I made cinnamon rolls and picked Amena up. That was pretty exciting.

Yesterday I called the eye doctor to make appointments for Cedric and Amena. They said I had to call their doctor to make sure they’d had physicals within the last year before I made their appointments because they would need a referral. I hope this isn’t something we have to do every time I make appointments for them. Anyway, I called the doctor and they both had physicals in July and are both scheduled for August this year. Then I called the eye doctor back and made appointments. Cedric’s is in a couple of weeks but Amena’s isn’t until next month because I wanted it to be after she gets home from school. So what happened is that it took a good fifteen minutes to accomplish something that should have only taken about two. Good grief.

That was the first thing on my list.

I also finished writing the essays I needed to for my application to the Midwives College of Utah. Now I just need some money to finish because I need to pay for a couple of transcripts and the application fee. Also as a part of the process I need to find a local midwife willing to be a preceptor with whom I can work. To that end, I wrote letters to three midwives and I will need to follow up with phone calls next week. That part was pretty fun, actually.

Since I was writing letters and getting them ready to send, I also took care of the electric bill. I had to ‘borrow’ four stamps from Joanna because I used up the last six I had last week sending letters to some people who have moved in hopes of obtaining new addresses. Only one has come back thus far and it says “NOT DELIVERABLE AS ADDRESSED/UNABLE TO FORWARD”. Not much help but at least I know she isn’t at the address I have.

I also folded about four loads of clothes. That’s always exciting. I really wish the boys would have put all their clothes away yesterday; it’s really annoying when they stay on the couch for days on end.  I made Seth take his up before the bus came and Joseph took almost all the rest of his up so we’re looking pretty good right now.

Other than that, I took some pictures of three bars of Amena’s Baby Bars (won’t it be funny when she has a baby and uses it?) to send to someone in Houston because I’ve donated three for an auction to raise money for the Improving Birth Houston rally. Pretty awesomely cool, I think. I actually emailed gift certificates and then it’s up to the people who win them to actually order the soap but it’s a free bar of soap with free shipping to three people. What could be better?

The only other thing that was on my list was working on doula homework and I did lots of that. If you’d like to read about it, you can check out my other blogspot blog (unless you are Grandma, in which case I can email it) once I post it there.

Seth had a bit of homework to do after school. I know he did it and hope he remembered to take it with him this morning. Joseph didn’t have any homework because he said he had one or two tests. I hope that is really the case. I do know he didn’t have any in his backpack. Cedric said he had one side of a paper to do and I have no idea if he ever did it or not.

I do know that Seth took forever to bring in a load of wood (I never actually got a fire built because he took so long and it really wasn’t that cold) and Cedric spray painted part of his bike black after I specifically told him not to. Not a happy mother about that one. I don’t know what he was thinking; the smell of paint was very strong when I opened the basement door to go downstairs and the can of black was missing from the counter where it had been.

In other news, I emailed Cedric’s teacher the link to his book trailer and she responded:

“Pam,

“Thank you so much! This is wonderful! I can't wait to talk to Cedric about this tomorrow! My class has really embraced this topic!

“Jackie”

Of course, I like that! Cedric told me when he got home yesterday that she really liked it and now some of his classmates want to do something similar. I know he wants to do another one. He’s reading a book about the Vietnam War and wanted to do it to Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2. At first I thought it might not really work because the song is anti-war but after giving it more thought, there were many people who were not in favor of the Vietnam War so it might be appropriate. We’ll see what happens.

And that’s all for now. Emily West is coming over today for sewing so I need to get a shower taken and the floor swept for Adelaide. I also have an IEP meeting for Cedric at 1:00 this afternoon. And there are many other things I would like to get done as well.

Have a fantastic day!

Goats

Good morning! It is a beautiful day out; currently sunny and 41°. It’s an okay day in—just too much laundry to fold.

Yesterday was an okay sort of day. I went to Julia’s to make cards and we ended up talking more than anything else. I did cut out some things with which to decorate cards. And then we had lunch consisting of hot chocolate, grilled cheese sandwiches, and tomato soup. Had I eaten at home, I would have only had a grilled cheese sandwich. Anyway, it was fun.

Joanna needed to be picked up from school at 12:15. I was seven minutes late. I needed to bake a cake but never got around to it. Amena did make cupcakes instead that turned out pretty well. They looked nice; I didn’t eat any because they were made from boxed cake mixes. Joanna needed to be to work at 3:30. I took her, got home, and then it was about time to take Joseph to scouts.

For scouts, they made megaphones out of construction paper for the skit they’re doing at the next pack meeting. Then they got to make puppets. It was pretty fun.

When we got home, it was time to make sure everyone got something to eat.  No homework was done. Cedric left to ride his bike to Paul Jeppson’s when Joseph and I were leaving to go to scouts. He was supposed to be home at 5:30 and he did pretty well, he came up the stairs from the basement (because he put his bike away) at 5:36.

This morning Joanna had to be to work at 5:45. Wow. She didn’t get off until almost 10:00 last night. Having to be back to work eight hours after you get off seems a bit ridiculous to me. On the other hand, it could have been worse. She took the car because I didn’t have to be anywhere today and gets to go to the doctor for a shot. Then she gets to take the paper she’ll get from the doctor so she can take care of her medical records which will allow her to register for classes Monday. That’s a good thing.

Laura has been working on her book. It actually is available to order online now so if you are able, you can see it here: https://www.createspace.com/4224640. Pretty cool! Maybe that’s what I should do with the one I have finished. Sort of finished. I’m not sure any book is every truly finished and I just spent 15 minutes looking for the quote I thought was by Mark Twain to the effect but had no luck.

Snowflake: she wants more!

I have decided that goats are just big cats or dogs. When I went out to take more water to the goats this morning, Snowflake had to stick her face into what I was doing as is her habit; she likes to be in the thick of things, you know. So I scratched her face and around her horns and she was just eating it up. When I’d stop and hold my hand out for her to smell, she’d put her head under my hand and wait for me to scratch some more.

Goldilocks: she was too interested in food.

And that’s all she wrote for now.

Have a splendid day!

April Fool's

Good morning! And happy April Fool’s Day!

Just kidding.

Really, it is a beautiful day out. The sun is shining, the ice we got yesterday is gone. It’s only 31° but that’s a sight better than anything less than.

Yesterday I finally got the text that I’d been waiting for. It was awesome! Really. In so many ways it was just one of the most incredible experiences ever.

Maybe more about that later.

Emily brought Frozen over for us to borrow yesterday. Amena and the boys watched it after homework and dinner last night. Watching it is actually on my list of things I want to do today. Anyway, Seth drew this just from looking at the cover of the DVD. It isn't perfect and he did take some artistic license with it, but I have to say it isn't bad at all. I guess we have another artist in the family for sure, eh?

Yesterday was a pretty good day, all in all. I didn’t get lotion made but I did review the process. It has been a long time since I made any so I didn’t want to jump right in without reviewing. I also didn’t want to start the process and get that phone call/text that I’d been waiting for. Lotion is more forgiving than cold process soap, but still, once started, I like to follow through.

I did get lots of laundry folded and towels washed. There’s more washing, drying AND folding to do today. That’s always a blast.

Paul had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. He went to Salvation Army and was going to get fuel on the way home but upon stopping at Salvation Army discovered that he’d left his money at home. He called to make sure his wallet was in the pocket of some jeans upstairs. It was. I said it was a good thing that he hadn’t pumped fuel and then discovered his lack of money. Indeed. He came home and got it, went back to Salvation Army and then got fuel.

Emily West came over and sewed a couple of seams. She’ll be back Thursday. She and Adelaide were still here when Amena and then the boys got home. Amena held her for a bit but she was tired. Then when the boys came home she was still tired but she saw Scooter at some point and started laughing. I’m not sure what better sound there is in the world than a baby laughing; it is so genuine.

It was after they’d left and while I was thinking about dinner that I checked my phone and noticed that I had a couple of texts. I warmed dinner up right then and there at that point and got everyone fed. Paul got home while I was getting ready to go.

I got to the hospital and that really was the best part of the day (which isn’t to say that the rest of it wasn’t good). I would love to tell you more about the birth but I don’t have permission to. I am going to go visit them at the hospital later today and will ask. If they agree, I’ll write more about it. If not, you’ll have to wait a few years and then read the italics.

So, other than laundry and dishes, I’m planning on a trip to the hospital. I am thinking about making a ball before I go because they only take a couple of hours and I’d like to aim for around noon to go. I also would like to make lotion. Friday my hands were in and out of the water so much while I was cooking and baking that they got really dried out and it took until yesterday to recover even with lotion. Mine works better so I need to get some made.

Have a splendid day!