Journal #28

Out My Window:

Sunny today.  It is still pretty wet from yesterday and last night (off and on rain).  About 60 degrees.

Clothing Myself In:

Sporty clothes - a new blue striped exercise-type-shirt and some stretchy black capris, finished off with bare feet.

Around the House:

I took the left-over pieces of mat from the upstairs of the garage and glued them together  (with hot glue) to make a play mat the baby.  She loves it.

Here are the pieces before put together - they were the left-over edges from the large mats in the garage that linked together.  You can join them to each other to make strips (top piece in this picture) and then I glued the strips together.  I'm pretty proud of myself, in case you did not notice.

Zipporah says, "Mom, this is the best!!"

The Baby:

She appears "thicker" to me, but I have not weighed her recently (and the doc said she does not need to see her again until her next check-up at a year).  She still loves her food, loves to nurse, loves to play, loves her siblings, and appears to just love her life!

She is doing physical therapy which she often cries during (and if you have ever done physical therapy, I think you can understand that feeling sometimes!) but she is slowly getting stronger.  She sits for MUCH LONGER periods of time now, but still cannot get there on her own, or get down safely (she just topples back).  She still hates tummy time and rolls out of it promptly.  She still does not have the concept of rolling or crawling to move around.  Perhaps she is really just royalty disguised and expects everyone to cart her around for the rest of her life!!?!?  Good thing she is cute, and fairly small, so we do not mind so much.

"Thanks for the new pull-up bar, Mom" - Zipporah

The Kids:

They have been showing their grumpy side lately, but in their defense, I have been all work and no play to try and get the school work done so we can enjoy the summer!!

Rebekah finished all her math (which was quite an accomplishment as she was a bit behind) but still has the rest of her subjects to finish.  Samuel and Jacob have both finished a couple of subjects and Jacob will be done with everything very soon - most likely by the end of May.  Samuel will be close behind.  Rebekah might take a bit more, but we are still hopeful that she will pass the fourth grade this year :)

Due to my focus on the big kids, Paul and Miriam have started stirring up no end of trouble.  But fortunately, for the next two weeks they get to go to the high school for a special class there (where the high schoolers work with preschoolers - brilliant!) and they both LOVE that.  The teacher is amazing and the students really thrive under her care and do a wonderful job with the kids.

In the Kitchen

I'm trying a new "meal plan" for myself, called Whole 30.  It is basically paleo with a kick and goes for 30 days.  I'm on day five and so far it is not too bad, but it does require some extra effort to cook for myself separate from everyone else.  (I would just cook this way for everyone but aside from them likely grumbling, it is a bit more expensive to eat so many vegetables and so much meat!)  I am keeping a running journal of the experience that I will post when I'm done.

It is funny, though, that I am finding a self discipline I never tried to tap before.  I made a cake (from scratch) for a surprise baby shower last night and I did not lick the bowl or my fingers after frosting it.  And obviously I did not eat any last night or today as I fed the left-overs to the kids.  It was more difficult to say "no" today as I was REALLY HUNGRY when I was feeding it to the kiddos (and had not eaten my own lunch yet) but I survived.

Check out my cake decorating skills.  I'm awesome, right?  :)

Thinking About:

Being on the local Catholic Radio station, KVDM Divine Mercy Radio, tomorrow for their Care-A-Thon.  I am speaking with a friend of mine about encountering Christ in Church documents.  It will be at 1pm on Wednesday, May 6, and you can listen on the internet here if you want, there is a link to the right side of their page.  Hopefully I get a chance to mull over my thoughts again before then or it might be a bit choppy!!  But perhaps that will allow the Holy Spirit to work best :)

Bringing Me Joy:

*My kids.  They are great.

*My husband.  He really loves me.

*My friends.  The laughs I had with them last night were THE BEST.

Pictures To Share:

 Here Miriam (in front) and Rebekah (back right) are all smiles with our neighbor in their tree.

Enjoying some rain with our neighbors.  Four of the kiddos are mine.  Can you tell which ones??