My Blogging Vacation?

It's been over a month. Truly sorry. There's been so much going on and most of the time I'd rather not discuss it! lol

My baby is a 4 month chunky monkey. Still so beautiful and still so good natured. Van trips are not so bad--she's getting the point that we can't stay home always, poor thing. I'll try to post some new pics soon.

Lucien's sister flew in Thursday. They're out on the porch at the moment enjoying the gorgeous sunny day we're having (I'm inside feeding the sleepy baby). We've been having a grand time and wish we could see more family and more often. But we're not able to get to Maine presently so please come to us!

We're hoping Zeke will start dual enrollment at the community college in a few months for nursing. He's excited. His SAT scores were super high on one part and just a tiny bit below what we aimed for on the other 2 parts. I think he'll do fine the second time. It was a hard thing for him to go into as we've done very little formal testing. I'm trying to figure out how to get more practice for my others as I do think it makes a great deal of difference--you know, it's one thing to do a test at home among those you love and another thing being shut in a weird large room with a bunch of guys you've never seen before.

It looks like we'll be moving soon. No, not back to Maine. We've had some difficulty with a neighbor and that added to the simple fact that there's not enough bedroom space here--it's just too much. We have a potential buyer who wants the electrical checked and we'll go from there I guess. Just waiting on that...

I can't think what else we've been up to. Lucien has been working a lot but is off this weekend--yay! He really is so back to normal and I am thankful God has brought us thru a difficult time. To Him be the Glory.

Fall, mold, cello, and stuff

Fall came last week. I need to find my cool weather things although I'd love to wear capris and t-shirts forever. I've made sure all the children had warmer things out but I suppose I thought if I put off looking for mine then it wouldn't happen.

I realized last week that since we had the mold in the basement taken care of, my husband has nearly been back to being the man I used to know before the last 11 months or so. This is good and yet it frightens me. I think maybe even though it didn't seem as though the basement was too bad mold wise before July--it was adversely affecting all of us. We were sick nearly all winter. I wish I'd had it taken care of a year ago, but it seemed so little. I guess I should be thankful the dryer hose fell off and made the mold grow very well.

I was able to get Elijah a cello from ebay recently. I paid a fourth of what I was expecting and so far it's great as a student cello. Some more experienced friends said I got a good deal. Yay! He's so happy with it!

Our school routine is going well lately. So well that I'm thinking of adding Latin again. Crazy lady, I am.

We were able to take the children to Tweetsie Railroad last weekend. When we returned, 2 dogs we had seen at the end of our lane had found our front porch and decided it was theirs. On Monday, I called about who I should call about strays, but, honestly, my children were already in love. So they're still here (outdoor dogs). They're is a male and female, both fixed, both good. We found out yesterday that the male is a shar pei. I think the female is a boxer mix. So far they don't bark all night. If they start, they'll have to go! We haven't let the children name them in case the real owners show up.

My baby is 3 months. She's gaining fast now--like her sister did. I need to find the 6-9 month clothing today. The things I have out that are basic 6 month are tight--esp on thighs--hard to zip up!

I've been using my nordic track regularly and I feel great! The weight is coming off too. Baby belly is shrinking.

Sometimes I think of interesting discussion type things to post but the ideas fly away. No time, I guess. In the meantime, I plan to update occasionally,but that's it.

We're all excited to have a dear relative flying in beginning of November! She'll be the first relly from Maine to meet baby!

Thankfulness

A friend's daughter was missing for 8 hours yesterday. God brought her back to her family unharmed, but what a day! I just want to squeeze all my children today and I'm so thankful they are here and healthy and happy.

My husband is doing much better. Amazing how alleviating some pressure, prayer, and time to talk can help. God has blessed me so much.

We were able to trade violins with someone so Ethan could have a bigger one and the other person could have a smaller one. This saves some money! I don't want to buy him a great one until he needs a full size and he's only up to 1/2 size. We also may be able to get Elijah a student cello soon. We were going to wait and try to get a great one but the same lady who traded violins also has children with cellos and encouraged me to get the student one. Since Elijah has been asking for over a year--this is a relief.

Julia is growing so well and is healthy and happy almost always. Lucien had to work today and I confess that we have stayed home from worship because I couldn't handly trying to drive the 35 minutes there with her crying all the way. She winds up making herself sick. If Lucien is driving, I can ride beside her and help her. Hoping she grows out of this soon.

I wish you all could hear Miss M sing You are my Sunshine!

more confession stuff

I've been learning a lot lately. Maybe not as much I should, but a lot. There are times when you think you've most nearly arrived, you think you're on top of it all and waiting for the next awesome revelation from God .. then you get a year that shows you where you really are.

For months now, I've been blaming much on my husband's mid-life crisis. I couldn't see it because I was pregnant and when I'm pregnant, I'm sick, and when I'm sick, I'm very, very selfish. As opposed to when I'm not sick and only very selfish. We're all quite self-centered beings, you know. Anyway. So in the last few weeks, I've realized that yes--he's been a jerk sometimes, but there were things I could have done to make it better.

1. I have a few ideals left. And one of them esp. was putting undue pressure on him.

2. There are now 7 of them and 2 of us. It's hard for him to talk above them. The noise is too much and the house is small. I know he likes to get out of the house with just me (and non-verbal nursing baby now), but he's not a planner.

3. I was pretty caught up in my pity party. Ant not praying for help to love even when someone may be acting in an unloveable way.

Pretty shallow, huh? Being 10 years younger, I was used to being the --well not the baby of the relationship. I've always been sort of 'mature.' But if there was a crisis, it's usually been *mine.* All mine. I've been through HG with 7 pregnancies--that alone is a lot of crisis.

Baby is 9 weeks now. I'm feeling quite well. Time to buck up. We discussed the ideal thing. I promised to try and let go of it. I promised to make time for us to get out more. And no more pity parties. Actually for the most part, since I promised those things, I haven't needed any help loving, but I am praying for it anyway. Just in case.

In other news...it's been a hard week. Julia hates her car seat now. Lucien has worked every day for 3 weeks. We had pest control come on Wednesday to kill mold in the basement and yellow jackets in my bathroom wall. Took several days for the guys (Zeke and Elijah) to get everything out of the basement and we've had to kill lots of yellow jackets that made it IN to my bathroom. Ethan has sort of a black eye. Simeon and Elijah got into chiggers. Mimi got stung by one of the yellow jackets in my bathroom. Between all that and having God show me what a selfish jerk I am--I'm ready for some better days.

Apology

My kind aunt emailed to see why I haven't blogged lately. I don't really know. I have been putting the pictures up at FB and I do the usual status lines there and I also was considering giving up on blogging altogether. But maybe I'm just in a season where I don't feel I have much to talk about or I'm just too busy with other stuff to think straight enough to write a post.

In the meantime, Eran has turned 8, we've started school (mostly--physics and world history should arrive this week. they were backordered), I've had a nursing sore which has been downgraded from severely painful to just a pinching feeling (thankfully), and we've started enjoying church picnics, etc. again. I'm still not sure how to handle the logistics of homeschooling 5 and some days I feel like I've been in a landslide. It's ok. I'm remembering periods of adjustment in classrooms growing up so I must be allowed the same privilege.

Baby is 7 weeks--the pic above is from last week. Her infant acne is nearly gone this week. She's gaining weight well. I love her so very much! So thankful God gave her to us.

In talking with a friend last night, I realized how much I have to be grateful for regarding my marriage. So very much. And even tho we hit rough spots sometimes, I need to remember there are times one of us will need support more than the other and usually that is me and maybe he deserves a turn once in a while? It's been a hard year---again more adjustment and I think we never really adjusted back to him being back working in town. We went right from him out of town to my being down and out sick with baby. So now there's work to be done and my selfish self reared its head and said NO! Trying to repent of that attitude. God is so merciful to me. I'm so glad He showed me that last night!

My front loader washer has broken again and we're quitting on it. I think it would cost the same to fix as it would to get a large capacity top loader so that's what we're looking at doing tonight or whenever we can. My basement got an overdose of humidity between all the rain and the dryer hose coming off so Labor Day weekend will be spent mold killing. I can't do anything about it until then and it's killing me to wait--I'm not a patient person about stuff like that! And advice on that front is welcome.

That's pretty much it. Zeke's nursing camp went very well and we're trying to get our chicks in a row so he can do dual enrollment in January. Speaking of chicks, the raccoons killed our remaining chickens. boo hoo. Hope to start over in the spring....

milestones

My sweetie is a month old on Monday. One night last week, I was wondering about lines under her eyes--whether they'd go away as she filled out (gained weight) and 2 nights later I realized they already had. I started crying. It's unfair that the changes seem to come quickly when you are trying to cherish every second.

My mind and body are returning to some sort of normal. So my mind works on dealing with how this past year has been. It's all unreal tho. Part of me says just move on, but feeling like I've finally woken from a bad dream is a weird place to be.

Princess the first is now 5. Her birthday was rainy so her dad came home from work early and that made her quite happy! One more birthday this coming week then we get a break until December.

Lucien and I are working on getting Zeke a life. lol I'm trying to get him into dual enrollment at the community college. This coming week he has an opportunity to do a nursing summer camp there. It's 4 days 10-3. Supposed to get CPR training and various tours. Free lunches and $100 at the end of it all. I hope it works out well for him. Could be a long week for me doing all that taxi driving! Also need to get the driver's ed stuff done so eventually he can do his own driving and he'd like to have a part time job.

We plan to start back into school work on the 10th. I was able to order much of what we need to get started. Praise God. The rest could wait until September.

I had mentioned using cloth post partum. Happy to say it's easier and nicer than I thought. Not sure I'll want to use it for the first day or so of a regular cycle and so far I only use it at home. I think when the regular cycles return (usually not for a long while), I'll look into using the 'keeper.' I like baby's cloth diapers. I'm planning to get her pic in one soon--they really are cute!

All 7! Am I blessed or what?

Me and my girls. Note that I'm 39 and no gray hair lol

She's so happy to have a sister! We have big girly type plans!

I've survived the first times out. Yesterday, we all went to church and today, I had to pick up a package at the PO and I stopped by our doc's office to weigh the little princess. (she's at 9lb 4oz now) Being back at church was great. Baby was baptized. A very good day all around. When we'd been home a while, the power went out leaving me no choice but to nap. ;0)

The package was a box of clothes for baby from my Aunt S in Maine! A nice surprise! Princess the first had a fab time looking them over! Speaking of princess the first--she's getting a bit ornery as she approaches her 5th b-day. In response to something I asked her to do recently she said--It's not going to happen! repeatedly. Of course, it did. But phew. The adjustment period of me getting back on my feet thus begins. (my children tend to think they're in charge lately-hopefully they'll figure out they're not sooner than later!)

I'm sad that baby's first 2 weeks went by so fast. I am happy that I feel so well tho. I'm wearing my fat jeans today. (odd that it's cool enough here in July for me to want to wear jeans but that's a rabbit trail...) I've got to get back into my walking routine.

Our poor attempt at gardening this year has produced a pepper AND several bunches of broccoli! I can't believe we have broccoli and it's from the seeds I started! Zeke is the gardener now and is doing well keeping out tomatoes staked, etc. I don't think we'll have peas or beans due to the deer....

Anyone have any good, easy, sort of natural tips for getting rid of wasps?