How Daddy Has Fun at the Fair?

~ by...um...standing in long lines? paying for admission, food, and rides? oh, I know, he receives joy from giving joy to his family...thanks, Daddy-O, you're the best!!!

How Josiah Has Fun at the Fair

~ by riding the rides, of course!!! Josiah knew the agenda for the evening: look at the animals, eat food, then ride the rides...but he kept getting ahead of himself and asking about the rides before we finished with the exhibits...thus, the reason that I didn't get to look at every single sheep at the fair :)

While Josiah rode the rides and Jeff waited with him, David and I walked around, ate our snow-cone, and chatted with some friends we happened to see there.

How David Has Fun at the Fair

~ holding a silky-soft young rabbit
~ enjoying a snow-cone -- David and I shared this grape snow-cone (while Josiah was having his "fun at the fair"); and even though it tasted almost exactly like cough medicine, we relished its coolness and ate/drank it to the last drop!

How a Pregnant Mama Has Fun at the Fair

~ eating a bloomin' onion, that's how!

In the Livestock Barn

Our county fair is being held this week; and--OF COURSE!--we couldn't miss it! After all, this is something we look forward to all year!!! I have such good memories of the fair from when I was a little girl attending it yearly and occasionally entering things in it. The highlight of my fair career was the blue ribbon I won for some gladiolas I entered; I'm still proud of that accomplishment! :) Maybe next year, we'll enter something...

~ our visit to the fair began in the livestock barn where Josiah posed by a friendly goat...
~ and David checked out a curious pig...
~ and we admired the big, fat cows

Just for the record, I could have spent MUCH more time in these barns than the males in my family were interested in...so we hurried through pretty quickly and moved on to the next item of interest: the food! :)

Week 17

What's new this week in Pregnancyville? Well...

I had a bit of a scare last week when I took my customary Sunday afternoon nap on the couch (I am so thankful for that tradition!); and when I woke up, for some reason, I felt like I had not been feeling much movement and I quickly grew concerned about it. I don't know if I had a dream that something had happened to the baby or what exactly prompted it, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. You know those dreams/feelings that are so gripping that, after you wake up, you have to remind yourself over and over that it's not real? That's how it was. On the one hand, my head was telling me that at 16 and 1/2 weeks, it's not at all uncommon to go a significant length of time without feeling movement; in fact, some women aren't feeling anything at all by then! But my heart--oh, my heart--instantly seized up with worry. Jeff tried to listen with this old-fashioned fetal stethoscope (there's an official name for that, but I don't remember what it is) that my dad had given us to try to sell on eBay :) -- but Jeff could barely hear MY heartbeat with it, much less the baby's! I was thinking maybe I should call my midwives...maybe I would have to go in to their office the next day...maybe I was going to be hit with tragedy again.

Then I calmed down (a good IM chat with my friend Julie helped!) and decided to just take some time and lie down and try to focus on the baby's movements. Well, I don't know about you, but as soon as I started doing that, I was OVER-analyzing everything. "Was that a movement? I don't know. Maybe that was? No, I don't think so...Hey, baby, would you please give me a good kick so I could know you're alive in there???"

In the end, after a day or two, I gradually became convinced that I was indeed feeling real movements and not merely tricking myself into thinking I was feeling them. Last night as I laid in bed, I found it amusing that less than a week before, I had been so scared about lack of movement...when last night, I was feeling plenty! (The movements last night made me think of someone gently kneading my internal muscles like bread dough. It's always hard to describe early fetal movements, in my opinion; but that's the image that came to my mind.) Again, I'm reminded of the fragility of life...and of the need for much faith and gratitude every step of the way.

Now I'm 17 and 1/2 weeks along, and already I'm beginning to feel some discomfort sleeping and some back pain when I wake up in the morning. I'm considering getting one of those "egg crate" foam mattress pads to sleep on because I've heard they can help. Any moms out there have any opinion about those pads or any other good ideas for dealing with this problem???

I'm discovering that the night is the time when I think the most about the baby. Days are busy, of course, with Josiah and David and everything else in life. But at night, when I lie down and try to go to sleep, I feel like it's my time with the baby, and it's really special. Jeff is invariably already asleep by this point because he has the uncanny ability to decide to go to sleep and then literally be asleep in less than 30 seconds (he inherits it from his mom)! On rare occasions, he will mention that he's having a hard time going to sleep; and it will usually be less than 5 minutes that he's been lying there trying to sleep--yeah, that's some really bad insomnia. :) Oh, well, that characteristic is just one of the many things that make Jeff unique and that make me love him so fiercely!

Anyway, during the past few nights as I've laid in bed, I've been thinking a lot about whether this baby is a boy or a girl. (I almost wrote "whether this baby will be a boy or a girl," but then I realized that's definitely already been decided!) For a little while, I'll try to wrap my brain around the idea of it being a boy, and I'll imagine what it would be like to have another son. And then I'll switch and roll the idea of a girl around in my head to see how that feels. It's a fun mental exercise which always leaves me full of longing for the real knowledge of whether it's a son or a daughter. I can hardly wait to know what we're having--to imagine it so much more clearly--to start putting the appropriate baby clothes in the armoire--to be able to call it by name, etc. Although, if it's a boy, he's going to have to wait a while to hear his name because at this point, we're in a huge quagmire about boy names! It surely is a good thing we've got plenty of time because right now, I don't know how in the world we're going to resolve this one!!! :)

Josiah's Sunflowers

Josiah helped me plant these bright bursts of sunshine; and, although they have not received a bit of pampering, they have still managed to grow and bloom and add a splash of color to the white wall of our woodshed. When we were buying seeds back in the spring, I decided to try a little different kind of sunflower, so I bought the variety "Autumn Beauty" and have been quite pleased with the results.

August Blooms

In spite of our August heat, very minimal rain, and severe lack of attention from me, a few things have managed to bloom recently to beautify our corner of the world!

~ crape myrtle (which, I just discovered, can also be spelled crepe myrtle...both spellings are acceptable...isn't that great?)
~ more crape myrtle
~ these gorgeous lilies are almost done blooming; this was really the last decent lily standing...my mother always thinks of these lilies as Jeff's lilies because the very first time he ever came to visit us--way back in the summer of '96--these lilies were blooming when he arrived, and Mother used them to decorate our table...they really are striking flowers, I think

My Calling

I'm one of those people who, when they hear about a great opportunity for volunteering or serving others in some way, immediately think, "Oh, I'd like to do that!" If I could, I would be currently volunteering for our local literacy coalition and at our local pregnancy center...and probably more. Instead, I stay at home, care for my children and husband and home, and that's it. Big deal, right? If I was really disciplined and organized, surely I would be able to care for my family and teach my children and keep house and still have plenty of left-over time for worthwhile service outside the home! Right? Right???

While reading the (simply outstanding!) book Things We Wish We'd Known (compiled and edited by Bill & Diana Waring) recently, I came across this gem. I think I might need to get it tattooed into my forehead so I'm reminded of it every time I look in a mirror...or maybe to have it written on my hands would be more effective so I could see it constantly throughout the day. :)

I do not ask that Thou shouldst give me some high or noble task. Give me a little hand to hold in mine. Give me a little child to point Thy way, over the strange, sweet path that leads to You. Give me a little voice to teach to pray. Give me two shining eyes Thy face to see. The only crown I ask to wear is this, that I may teach a little child. I do not ask that I may stand among the wise, the worthy, or the great; I only ask that softly, hand-in-hand, a child and I may enter at the gate. - Anonymous

Just Another Day in Our Homeschool

Saturday is a "school day" for us (although the more I learn about homeschooling, the more I realize that learning is a lifestyle and not simply something that is fit into the schedule during certain hours of certain days). That is a whole other topic though...

Here are some snapshots from school today:

~ We've been reading the book Lentil by Robert McCloskey this week; it's one of the books from the Five in a Row plan (which I'm a huge fan of, by the way). If any of you have read that book, you might remember that the boy Lentil learns to play the harmonica; and he prefers practicing in the bathtub because "the tone is improved one hundred percent." So, of course, we had to try it out!
~ Here David gets a turn with the harmonica, and Josiah pipes along on the kazoo. You can't see it well in this small of a picture, but David's eyes look so soulful in this shot. My little 2 year-old playing the blues! :)
~ At one of the bookstores in our town, there was a special storytime with Curious George today; and that made an enjoyable (free!) field trip for us. At home this morning, we read the two Curious George books that we have, and then we also read Katy No-Pocket because, although it was written by someone else, it was illustrated by H.A. Rey, so the style and color of the pictures is very similar to Curious George. (Josiah thought it was neat that "H.A. Rey" rhymes!)

Tennis

At this stage of life for Josiah, tis the season for introducing him to various activities/skills to see what interests him and in what areas he shows potential. At least, that's what all the "experts" say. :)

So our latest "extra" was a series of tennis lessons! Josiah actually participated in this program last year as well, when he was a young 4 year-old. Now that he's 5, he's able to hit the ball more times than last year. :) Best of all, he's having fun, acquiring some knowledge of tennis, experiencing peer relationships, and learning from (and submitting to the authority of) a teacher besides me. It's really a great program--with coaches who are laid-back and extremely patient with the kids--perfect for this stage.

Josiah was thrilled to have Grandpa and Grandma come watch him play on Wednesday and Jeff on Thursday. I really appreciate Jeff taking the time off work to come watch his little/big boy!


While Josiah had his lessons, David and I got to play together: rolling cars back and forth to each other, throwing/kicking a ball back and forth, etc. Plus, David got to make friends with some other little siblings who were there, especially these two cute little sisters, Kate and Claire.

What I Have--and Have Not--Accomplished This Week

If I want to guarantee that I will NOT get a certain project accomplished in a particular week, all I have to do is write it in my planner for that week. It's simply a given that if I write it down, I will inevitably not be able to find any extra time to do it...or more commonly, I'll spend any available extra time on a DIFFERENT project. Makes a lot of sense, I know!

For example, in my planner for this week, I wrote down three special projects: 1. put pictures in album, 2. organize pics folder on computer, 3. make & pass out invites for neighbor potluck. Sounds simple, right? Well, here it is, late Thursday night, and none of those projects are done. None have even been worked on this week, in fact.

Instead, I did the vitally important job of organizing some of my kitchen cupboards yesterday and today. Why I suddenly felt the need to do that, I'm not sure. But I was compelled.

One of the benefits of undertaking an organizational project like this is that you discover things you didn't know you had ("oh, I have cumin! and look at all this powdered sugar that was hiding!"). Another benefit is you suddenly have more space for things. In the picture above, look at that one whole section of cupboard that is completely empty. How wonderful! I wonder what I'm going to fill it up with...