Journal #27

Out My Window:

Rain and mist and clouds.  A touch chilly, but not too bad.  Hopefully enough moisture to make a difference for the farmers!

Clothing Myself In:

Orange MS Walk t-shirt (I seem to have an endless supply of these - must be from doing MS Walks for about 10 years - hah) and Franciscan University Lady Barons gym shorts, with bare feet. ---This is how I roll :)

Around the House:

I recently had another organizational epiphany.  I moved most of the children's clothes and  my own into the laundry/storage room.  Well, let me back-up a minute.  First, my dear hubby decided that it would be ok to store some of our things in the garage.  Keep in mind this is HUGE as when we first started building this garage he made it abundantly clear that it was NOT for things like additional storage, lawn mowers, or bikes.  (Crazy, right?  What exactly was he going to put in there?!?!)  Anyhow, a couple of years have passed now. . . and he has finally gotten his shop area somewhat sorted out and decided that there would be space for some storage.  However, I have always been against storing things in the garage, especially clothes, as I remember bringing boxes in from our garage when we were kids and everything was dusty and dirty and full of spiders and bugs and just gross.  So it took me a bit to come around, too.  Then finally he concluded he would build me some shelves to store "the few things" I thought would be ok in the garage (namely our outdoor Christmas Nativity).  After pricing the cost of wood for said shelves he concluded buying them might be cheaper.  After pricing the cost of purchasing said shelves he got a little stuck in the mudd as either way it was more than he was expecting.  

Fast forward, now we are about a month ago from today when I got this crazy idea in my head and concluded that plastic storage tubs of clothes, WITH ATTACHED LIDS could not be that bad in the garage.  As long as the lids stayed on, the stuff should be fine.  Some of my lids were a bit sketchy, so I taped those boxes.  And bonus, storage bins STACK!!  (Especially if they are mostly the same kind - which several of ours are since I purchased several on sale at once.)  About a million trips later (or so it felt) I moved our small fortress of storage tubs out to the garage in the space allotted for my storage shelves.  I am still seriously in awe that I managed to fit all those tubs somehow in our basement laundry/storage room.  Anyhow, with them in the garage I moved my dresser and one of the kids' dressers into the laundry room.  I already had shelves in there and Rebekah and Samuel's clothes (and some of Jacob's) are now in open boxes on the shelves.  So far that appears to work well - especially for Rebekah who was never very neat with her dresser drawers.  I sold Rebekah's and Samuel's dressers.  I could not part with Jacob's as I just like it too much, so it houses Miriam's clothes and a few for Samuel and Jacob.  

Pardon the MATCHED sock pile on the floor.  I kept putting off taking this picture, thinking I would eventually get it ALL CLEANED UP.  Then I woke-up and realized that was never going to happen, so I snapped the photo.  This is reality.  The dresser on the left is mine.  The smaller one on the right is for the kiddos - and the shelves.  The hanging clothes are not permanent - that is temporary clothes drying and then they go off to the closets.

I was often getting dressed in the laundry room anyhow since I like to get up early and exercise and do not want to be bumbling around our bedroom waking the Grouch my husband in the morning before he is good and ready to get up and/or I am holding coffee for him.  So having my dresser in the laundry room is making things so much smoother for me.

We are still working at sectioning off little parts for gender-specific changing.  (Not as in anyone is changing their gender, but a "boys" changing area and a "girls" changing area.)  Granted we are still a bit young for this to be a major issue, but we need to start thinking in that direction and it is good for me to have an area to change separate from the boys.  I have a few little spots in mind - now it is just a matter of training everyone to do as they are told.  (Or another option is for said child to take their clothes and change in the bathroom or another open room.)

The only clothes not kept in the laundry room now are the hubby's and Zipporah's.  But no more will fit and since their rooms are on the same level as the laundry I do not mind this set-up.  However, in our next house, whether we buy or build, a large "dressing room" for clothes sorting and storage, in the same room, or next to the laundry room, will definitely be a serious consideration.

The Baby:

THANK GOD SHE IS GROWING A LITTLE FASTER!!  She gained 15 oz in the past four weeks.  Although she is still in the third percentile for her age, her growth curve is now curving again, rather than just flat-lining out.  The doctor said she does not need to see her again until her next regular check-up, which will be in a couple months at her yearly visit.

In the mean time we are pumping her full of food, especially protein.  But the funny thing, she LOVES IT ALL!!  Some of her favorites are my homemade taco meat (lots of beans, some tomatoes, and cream cheese!) and my chili (again, lots of beans, but some serious spice - this girl likes things a little spicy!)  Tonight she had calzones and gave them two fists up.  She also enjoys lasagna and pretty-much anything else we cook up.  I just finished a batch of breakfast cookies, made especially for her (with no honey).  She loves those, too.

One of the reasons the doctor was so concerned about Zipporah's weight is because she is not meeting her physical milestones.  She does not sit up well.  

She often topples over and even hurts herself - her head fell unexpectedly to the ground the other day - she was sitting on the ground in front of me (with her back to my front) and I was jiggling a toy for her to reach - she just got off-balance and her head went straight for the concrete in front of her and I could not get my hands there fast enough - poor kiddo got a bloody nose and a small scrape.  I only felt like the worst mom ever.

She also does not tolerate tummy time - immediately rolls over and does not roll from back to tummy yet.  Obviously she does not crawl or anything like that either.

At our doctors suggestion we did an evaluation with our local Children's Center and she just started some physical therapy last week.  I keep expecting her to just "figure it out" but in case she does not, I am grateful for some support on the matter and suggestions to encourage her along the way!

The Kids:

Even though we homeschool, the kids can sense that the end of the school year is near!  Samuel and Jacob have already finished a few of their school subjects and we are closing in on the rest.  Rebekah is a bit further behind, but we are hopeful that she will not be schooling ALL SUMMER (although she is prepared to go into June - her goal is to be done by her birthday in the beginning of July).  Since this is our first time with this program (the online virtual school) I'm not exactly sure what to expect.  I don't think she has to complete all of her coursework, but a certain percentage that I cannot remember now.  Perhaps she is closer than I realize.

As for the younger children, Paul and Miriam are curious as ever.  I have been doing reading lessons with Paul because he is incredibly ready.  He knows all his letters and all their sounds.  I have been using Jacob's little readers (that Jacob did not start until about 2/3 through the school year) for Paul and Paul is blowing through them. . . as a preschooler.  Paul is enrolled with the virtual school for kindergarten next year.  Either it will be incredibly easy for him or they will bump him up.  I am open to whatever.  If they want to challenge him, fine, but if they want to just let him coast, I'm cool with that, too - no rush.  Plus I will be adapting to four in school, so that might give me a corner to cut while I figure things out!

In the Kitchen:

Tonight we had calzones.  They were delicious.  For lunch we had potato soup and homemade rye bread.  That was a hit, too!

I've made up a bunch of taco meat and keep an open jar in the fridge all the time now since the baby loves it.  I'm planning some more chili tomorrow and calzone left-overs (as I make two breadmakers worth of calzones - four large ones - at a time).

Crafting:

Rebekah has been doing some sewing.  She sewed some clothes for her dolls and some patches on her stuffed rabbit's feet (actually it was my rabbit from when I was little).  I am hoping to sit down and knit some with her soon.  I printed off some directions for a dishcloth and for a bookmark - both good simple projects that I think she might enjoy  - and me, too!  But we have to get that school work figured out first!

If you look closely at the rabbit's feet in this picture you will see the "cast" that Rebekah sewed on her, over the torn feet poor "Boonie" had from a run-in with a cat in her previous life.

Thinking About:

*Our future.  My hubby keeps talking about wanting to move in the country and although I would like to live in the country (I think) I am often fearful of change and I am not sure how to make it work as living in the country is EXPENSIVE!!  The land around our town is expensive and then there is the driving to and from town, etc.  And as much as I like to be out in nature and such, I honestly think I could live in the same house I do now for the rest of my life (and even 15 more kids) and be totally content.

*Family Chores.  I am the QUEEN of making chore charts, but I am so horrible about following through with them! Here check these out:

Are those not the most awesome graphic routine/chore charts ever?!?!  Unfortunately, when push comes to shove I would much rather just have the kids go keep busy in another room so I can get the cleaning done!  Ugh.  But that is not realistic, I know, and doing all the chores is just not possible for one person. (although I certainly give it a valiant effort!!  As I was cleaning up the other morning, Rebekah commented, "Mom, when we are all grown up, your house will be very clean.")  My new resolution is to work at following through with training my children to obey and do their chores.

*Family Meetings.  I think we are in need of beginning family meetings (maybe once a month or every two weeks).  I am still trying to decide how these need to run and who needs to be there (as I think the younger three would just get in the way).  I'll let you know when we figure this out.

Bringing Me Joy:

*Family night!  We have been trying to have a weekly family night.  It has been pushed around and skipped and such all too often, but we had one last night and it was really special.  It was so simple - we just played shoots and ladders  and a made-up dice game, but the kids all loved it.

*Good friends.  God has really blessed me with some wonderful supportive friends and I am so grateful!!  I could probably live without them, but they certainly make life so much more bearable!

Pictures To Share:

Paul, Rebekah, Miriam, and Zipporah

Daddy and Zipporah

Slow Transformation to Restorative Exercise and a More Alignment-Friendly Living Space

In case you missed it earlier, I have fallen in love with a newish (to the world of exercise and medicine) understanding of the body, often referred to as Whole-Body Alignment and/or Restorative Exercise.  In a nutshell it says that a lot of our troubles (aches and pains, etc) are caused by lack of movement and lack of moving the "correct way" (but don't get caught up on "the correct way" as really all movement is good - but some ways of moving can do better things for your body - especially ways of holding your core or ribs, etc that affect large chunks of muscles and bones and such, over large amounts of time. . . like your whole life up to now).

Anyhow, if you want to read up on it I recommend this book called Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman.  It is a good introduction and includes some basic exercises.  She has written a few other books and has some more in the works.  Her latest books is Whole Body Barefoot and I have not finished it (or really gotten further than the introduction) but it also seems like a good place to start.

*Side Note: Katy's earlier books (such as The First Five Years) are really just her blog posts put together for accessibility, but they are still very helpful I think.  She also has TONS of information at her blog, KatySays.com and lots of other resources like DVDs, online courses, etc.

Now that I have set the stage I would like to share a few ways we I have attempted to make our home "more alignment-friendly."

First I sold one of our couches, as sitting, especially in the position you would on a couch is an over-used position that does not promote proper length in your muscles.  (In other words, your hamstrings shorten when you sit - and over time and repeated sitting your body will adapt and you will not be able to lengthen them to their proper length and that will affect how you walk and how you hold your organs and everything else.)  I would like to scrap the other two couches, as well, but the hubby wants me to keep one and the other one is apparently not tempting enough to sell at this time.  Although I have mixed feelings about it not selling as it is by far the most comfortable and durable couch we own and if I had to pick one to keep I would keep it.  But hubby wants to keep the "nice looking one" so right now we have both.  Whatever.

Paul, in need of a haircut, preparing to show his skills on the rings.  (Side Note: One of the rules is nothing can be under you while you are on the rings, the pillow moved before he began, in case you were concerned.)

Ditching one of the couches has freed up some space in the living room so I could hang some rings!!  Hanging and playing on rings or monkey bars is VERY GOOD for your upper body - and especially good for developing kids to play on as they need that motion to help with brain development.  Seriously, I remember reading it a couple of times from different sites and I would link it now, but I'm too lazy to go look it up (and I have been linking stuff like crazy in this post already).

Paul showing off on the rings.

Even if you do not get what this "Alignment/Restorative Exercise" bit is all about, anyone home with your kids all day can appreciate some indoor play equipment, right?  Now, it is not perfect all the time.  Sometimes the kids fail to follow the rules and the rings come down for a time, but generally, they LOVE THEM and take turns and what-not.  And the kids have all gone from just swinging on them in the beginning to flipping.  And then not just flipping one way, but flipping the other way.  And then inverting with feet straight up and then hooking their feet and pushing their chests out.  And. . . well, let's just say it has been pretty awesome to see them all progress.  

Samuel showing off on the rings.

Perhaps the most notable change in our home atmosphere has been our table.  Although my husband is not in quite as deep as me in this new way of living, I think he has secretly wanted to be Japanese all his life, so when I asked for a short table we could sit on the floor at, he did not even flinch.  Since our current table was not suitable for adapting (and we have really outgrown it anyhow) we decided to adapt an old table we picked up second-hand.  It has proven to be exactly what we wanted. . . other than hubby making it just a touch lower than I would really like (but that was mostly a miscommunication and I am over it now. . . although maybe some day he could figure a way to make it just a few inches higher so I could put my legs under it!  But I digress. . . ).

Horrible picture of the kiddos, but notice the table.  And all of the cushions now have covers, except for the extra-large one under Samuel.  I'm not sure how to cover that one yet.

We had some old couch cushions that the kids would use to build forts and such and I found some outdoor cushions on a local swap meet that work well.  I have since covered them with pillow protectors (to absorb spills) and am working on getting zippered pillow covers, but in the mean time we just use pillow cases and I rotate them as they get dirty and need to be laundered.  It is not glamorous, but it works well for us and makes me happy.

Rebekah happily modeling our standing desk.

Our schoolwork is mostly done in the front room of our house because I like to have the whole family together and this is really the only room that can fit us all comfortably, at the same time.  Although we all "could" just sit at the table, it is nice to have another desk to plug in the laptops and hold books and such.  Plus, sitting at a traditional desk with a chair is not all bad, it is doing only that ALL THE TIME that can cause problems.  So we do still have a traditional-height desk.  However, I modified it slightly to make it a standing desk, as some standing is good for you.  I also moved up a tall chair we have for when the student using said desk gets tired of standing and wants to sit.  In a perfect world I make sure to check that the children are moving and changing their positions and such throughout the day.  Since our world is far from perfect I simply provide the best environment I can to enable my children to move and wiggle and such as they go about their day, even when not outside for recess or playing upstairs in our indoor gym.

This is an accidental picture of our futon on the floor.  I was washing the sheets and the girls decided it was a good place to play.

One final area we are going more minimal is our sleeping arrangements.  My dear husband slept on a futon before we were married and I often slept (by my own choice) on the ground growing up.  My parents had to buy me a brand-new fancy bed to get me to sleep in one when I was in high school.  Anyhow, futons are great, but the bars of my husband's frame were poking through the thin mat, so we simply moved the mat to the floor for our first bed as a married couple.  It worked wonderfully.  Although we did use my "fancy" new bed for a brief time (a couple of years) after moving into our first house, we soon returned to a futon on the floor, mostly for the sake of comfort while co-sleeping.  With a king-sized-futon on the floor I had plenty of room to nurse the baby to sleep and leave said baby safely in his/her area as I wiggled back over to snuggle with my husband.  There was no fear of baby falling out of bed and we could actually fit most of our family comfortably!  (Although, oddly enough, now days the kids all stay in their own beds and the baby, too!  Who knew that would happen?!? )

Here is Rebekah's "bed."

Rebekah had recently taken to sleeping on the floor as she complained her bed was not comfortable.  (But she had the most comfortable bed in the house really - a pillow-topped fancy mattress a friend had given us!!)  In any case, I sold her bed and bought her a little futon mat and she has been so happy with it.  It is nice to have less furniture in the girls room and to be able to move Rebekah's bed so easily - she potentially could sleep anywhere in the house at any given moment and she could probably take her little mat camping, too, if she wanted.  I am considering doing the same for the boys and Miriam, but our bunk beds would need to be modified with OSB or some other support so the mats would fit.  Another hindrance at this time is my young children that occasionally wet out of their nighttime diapers.  A crib mattress is considerably more waterproof than a futon mat.  We do have a cover on Rebekah's mat, but I am still hesitant to lose the security of a plastic-covered mattress for the little ones.

This concludes my "update" of changes I have implemented to make our living space more alignment-friendly.  I have seen some serious improvement in my personal health by implementing some restorative exercises and changing our house this way.

P.S. A special thanks goes out to all my friends and family that still come to visit despite all these changes.  As I often say, I know I am crazy, but I'm in too deep now! 

An old picture (for the changes anyhow - as the couch in the background is the one we have since sold!) but I could not resist sharing Miriam's smile.  She loves the rings.

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118:24)

Samuel's First Communion

Today we had the joy of Samuel receiving Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time.  It was a wonderful day.

My dear husband decorated the cake.  Why I have no had him decorating cakes our whole married life is beyond me, but in any case he did a great job and will probably be the sole cake decorator from now on!  P.S. The cake was chocolate (Grandma's recipe) and it tasted delicious!!  

Samuel and his siblings: Paul, Jacob, Miriam, Rebekah,and Zipporah, who all were extremely excited for him!  (Either that or they were thinking about the cake they would get to have after Mass.  Either way, they were most joyful!)

Samuel with Mom, showing his muscles

Samuel and Dad.

Samuel with Dad and Mom

Samuel with Nana and Papa