PHFR - What it REALLY Looks Like

I've been really pleased that despite being in the adjustment period of adding a newborn to two toddlers age 3 and under, the house has been relatively tidy at the end of every day.  HOWEVER, I felt it behooved me to document a little more of the reality of the situation - partly just to make Aaron laugh when he gets home.  This is a quick post to show what our house REALLY looks like, at least before the baby naps every day.  And he doesn't usually take a solid nap until after 11:00 so this is most of our day.  

{Pretty} and {Happy} and maybe even a little {Funny}

This sweet babe.  I put Chickadee's hat on him while he was in the baby carrier so I could run out and take the diapers off the line.  It used to be my hat when I was a little girl.  I think he's manly enough to pull it off.

{REAL} and {Funny}

The children's bathroom.  I need to find a child lock for the medicine cabinet.  I already don't keep anything too toxic in there, but this morning while ostensibly going to put on pants Chickadee climbed in the sink and got into the cabinet.

The office.  Not bad, not bad.  Just some trains, books, a baseball hat and a jelly fish stuffed animal on my work desk.

The living room.  Also not bad - I got all the laundry (that was currently done) folded and put away yesterday, so just toys are out.

Oh yes, and the top of my desk.

Dining room and kitchen.  I HAVE to get the kitchen tidy to think straight.  It's almost always the first thing I clean up.  Because whatever else happens, these people need to eat.  And I do too.  Sparrow has gained 2 1/2 lbs since birth.  That's in less than 4 weeks.  I have never been this hungry, and so far, I'm still LOSING weight.  This mama has to eat!

And last but not least, the garage-turned-play-room.  Note the children NOT fully naked.  This is also a victory.  Why is it so hard to get toddlers to keep their clothes on?  This is something I generally give up on at some point during the day.  Daddy usually gets home to children in various states of undress.

What's funny and real in your world these days?  

Fidelity

I just finished a book and I cannot help myself, I have to proclaim from the rooftops how wonderful it was.  

Copyrighted material

Wendell Berry is one of those unequaled American writers, I want everyone to read at least one of these stories.  Fidelity, however, was the one which made me want to run out and tell all my friends to read.  Berry does not just write about nature, agriculture and our connection with the land, he writes about our connectedness with one another. Who else can communicate love between people, real, serious, meaningful love, that transcends romance, in such a truthful and real way?

Ok, I'm done gushing.  I'm just going to say again, please go pick up this book.

New Baby Daybook!

Outside my window... The birds are coming to the three bird feeders we have set up, I enjoy watching them so much.  There are baby clothes drying in the sun on the makeshift line my husband rigged up for me.

I am wearing... First trimester maternity jeans, gentle on my no-longer-pregnant tummy, a brown and red peasant top and a grey sweatshirt.

I am thankful for... The amazing birth of this dear new baby, the moments of intensity and the memories of the support I had from my precious husband and dear midwives, right here in my own home and bedroom.

I am thinking about... Resting and going slow.

Learning all the time... I am learning to be a mother to three little ones and not physically over-do things at the same time (also known as obeying my husband, these days).

From the kitchen... Right now, this means: from our wonderful church family.  We have received meal after meal from our friends at church, who set up a meal train for us.  This has meant so much, especially after this birth, when Aaron has been taking care of us in every way, but has been relieved from having to cook, which isn't an area where he's particularly at home.  And the meals have been DELICIOUS. I can't say enough how grateful we are.

I am creating... Lots and lots of milk :-).  I also have a crocheted blanket almost done for Chickadee, but I haven't been able to pick it up since Sparrow was born.  Yes - I picked a name for him!  It was almost Robin, since he is so sweet and cozy and friendly, but Sparrow won out for me.

I am working on... Resting, reading, being peaceful.  I have only three more days with Aaron home full time, and need to treasure every moment of it.  I am also working on having faith that my three children and I will figure out how to manage each day, meals, nursing and everything else, when he does go back to work.   

I am going... Nowhere.  We plan to stay at home as much as possible throughout my forty days.  We only have two more days of preschool, and other than that, nothing planned until Sparrows baptism.

8 Day Naming Blessing - our wonderful priest came to our home to do this.

I am hoping... I feel like everything I've hoped for is here.  What else is there to hope for right now, with a new baby in my arms and such a sweet family taking care of me?

I am reading... I just finished Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica.  Whew boy, I can't say enough good things about this book.  I will be picking it up again and again, if only I can stop lending it to people. :-)  I am also reading Fidelity: Five Stories by Wendell Berry.  He is a beautiful writer.  I loved the first story.  And, on my list of books to acquire: Everyday Saints and Other Stories.

I am praying for... Sweet little Sparrow.  My husband.  My extended family.  Matushka Anna.

I am hearing... Chickadee and Grandpa, playing with measuring spoons in the living room. 

One of my favorite things... Newborn babies!  And an amazing husband who does everything possible to take care of the rest of life's responsibilities for a few weeks.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Cuddling Sparrow, learning to keep the toddlers busy while nursing a baby. Last day of preschool for Bluejay.  My baby shower on Saturday (this is the first "after" baby shower I've had!  Kind of excited to bring the wee one with me).

A few more picture thoughts I am sharing with you... 

I wanted to add a few pictures of Aaron with his new son, he is always behind the camera, but I know we got a few good ones.  They must not be downloaded yet... next time.   

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The Simple Woman's Daybook

The Third Trimester Begins

I've been wanting to put up a new post for the past few weeks, ideas float around and then disperse into pieces of ideas, vague memories of having had an idea, or an occasional word, hanging there alone without it's string of context.  I realized that I have reached that stage in my pregnancy where I am much less mentally present, and yet much more physically and emotionally at one with my surroundings, with what Bluejay calls "the beautiful world".  This is a lovely and disconcerting place to be.  Driving has become an exercise in focus.  I find myself noticing the hillside on my left, or light on the grass, or sheep in a vineyard, and when I glance back at the road, I have no idea for how long I was being a sheep in a vineyard or a ray of light on the hillside as opposed to a 30 something (ahem) mom driving a minivan to preschool pick-up.

People talk to me and I hear them, I really do, but when they are done, I cannot often tell you what they said.  The children are very understanding and forgiving of this.  I think I am more in tune with their way of being part of the world.  Even when I forget, the moment after he tells me, that Bluejay is stuck and needs my help, he just tolerantly, if somewhat more urgently, reminds me.

I have found that this altered state of consciousness makes it, not easier, but perhaps more compelling, to concentrate on spiritual growth.  I do not mean that suddenly I am "growing spiritually", oh wonderful, look at me (although pride is one of my great failings), but that I am finding myself aware of the possibilities for growth, and actually able to notice the rewards of grace that accompany such effort.  It took some serious searching through my mind's archive to remember where this came from, but I believe it was something I read on Matushka Anna's blog that lead me to think, not so much about learning to address my personal neuroses, or psychoses, or whatever, but rather to ask God, not to remove, but to give me the grace to bear certain burdens.  Anyway, this stuck in my mind, became a part of my current world, while it's source, it's context even, floated away.  And, when I came across a situation and this small piece of the wisdom of a spiritual father was available to me, in one attempt, one painful, difficult attempt, this was rewarded, with grace.  

I am sure this post is also reflective of my state, I can't remember when to use it's versus its, I don't recognize the letter order of the word consciousness, and I don't have any motivation to look them up, even though normally I gleefully like to relearn grammar rules.  We made an unplanned trip to The City today and boy was it beautiful.  Some of these pictures are from little adventure.

You know you have toddlers in the house...

1. When there is a brightly colored bandaid stuck to the wall in the hallway for no apparent reason.

2. When you debate with yourself for three weeks about whether you should throw away a decrepit, torn and re-taped repeatedly paper snowman, for fear of the explanation that will be required should someone suddenly remember how much they loved it and wonder where it is.

3. When you feel like a rock star because you managed to put on earrings one morning.

4. When you burst in to tears because all you want to do is make your own bed, like a normal grown-up, and you failed at the last three attempts.

5. When you open a dinosaur backpack and find your missing can opener.

6. When your primary set of car/house/etc. keys go missing for more than 2 months, and you're sure you left them somewhere public and they're gone for good until the not-yet-two year old starts playing in your nightstand drawers and deposits them on the rug outside the bathroom.  [That one, let me tell you, made my week! I tried to let it go but it bugged the heck out of me thinking that my keys could be anywhere in anyone's hands.]


They look so innocent,

but...

they're not:

 (At least, not always.  I love these little people like crazy!)

And then there were three (or more accurately 5)!!

I'll start the New Year with our news... there is another little birdie on the way!! We are very excited.  This one is due to arrive right around Pascha, so I'm anticipating that it will be quite an interesting Holy Week (and Bright Week) in this here household!

And, to get me going on the new year of blogging, I'll start by joining in on another Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real with some fun from our December and Christmas joys.

{Pretty}

Excited children finding out what St. Nicholas left in their shoes.

Also, the two handsomest men ever.

{Happy}

Finally getting our Christmas tree.  We made those poor little birds wait days and days!!  I think it just added to the thrill of it all.

And finally decorating said tree!  This was definitely joy.  Note that 80% of the ornaments ended up at toddler height in the center front of the tree.  I didn't have to redistribute right away though, since most of them were removed to be "looked at" by the next day.  I just rounded them up and hung them in more even locations later.

Happy is also a refrigerator box house in the play area.  Oh, the fun that was had.

And happy is most definitely arriving at Uncle Gabe's for Christmas and finding out he has a REAL hard hat to wear while doing big work.

{Funny}

Funny is... this girl.  She cracks me up.  

{Real}

Cousins.

My brother surprised us be showing up on Christmas Eve, we thought he was still in Afghanistan for a few more weeks.  Here he is finally meeting his new nephew, the Wood Duckling.

Putting out cookies for Santa Claus.

 And Santa's work, after the littles were in bed.

Making Christmas breakfast with my siblings.

And the joy of new fireman helmets, penguins and baby doll strollers. Those joys have not ended.  I hope yours haven't either.  Happy Twelfth Day of Christmas!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Master Bedroom Edition

This week, Like Mother Like Daughter issued a challenge, to post at least one thing in your bedroom that you made useful and/or beautiful, with the appreciation that starting in the bedroom that you share with your husband is of key value to making your home life and marriage beautiful and God-fearing (that's my own paraphrasing).

So, here is a peak into our bedroom.  I did not do anything new beyond making the bed, which I succeed at probably two or three times a week these days, and clearing off a few surfaces of books, toys and clothes, which I succeed at once every couple of weeks (ok, months).  But I have made some efforts here throughout the short years of our marriage, and in the spirit of the statements above, I do try to keep this room from becoming too much of a catch-all and mess.  I think our room is vitally important as a little sanctuary.

{Pretty}

in my humble opinion

Here is our room from the door entering from the hallway.  The only pieces of furniture we have bought were the bed (before homebirth number one) and the rug at the foot of the bed (we had a rug prior to this but our former dog pooped and threw up on it, and homebirth number two was so fast that we did not have time to get out all the chucks ~ sorry if that is TMI).

I made the comforter cover myself, before any babies of course. I found two Ralph Lauren sheets at Marshall's for $7 each, and sewed them together.  I had to re-sew the top since it was much longer than the actual comforter, and more recently, I went in and sewed lots of ties to the inside, as well as to the top of the comforter, because it drives me nuts when the comforter slides down in the cover.  My husband does NOT like helping me change the comforter now.  :-)  

This little table was in the entryway of my parent's house for as long as I can remember, holding hats and other debris that got dropped off as we trooped in through the front door.  It is wobbly and not strong but I am attached to it.  And see!  I actually have my first little crafty project in the works in about 3 years... started a couple of weeks ago.

{Happy}

I found these elephant book ends at Marshall's ages ago, when I was a single girl with lots of time to help my mom Christmas shop for my five siblings and various relatives.  I bought them with her credit card and told her to give them to me for Christmas.  Even without the element of surprise they were my favorite gift that year. They had languished on top of a bookshelf holding overflow books, until my husband saw the messy stack on my side table and put them there one day to surprise me.  I was really touched that he thought of that.  Anyway, they make me happy every time I see them there.  Also {Real} they are very dusty, as is much of the room.  I.do.not.like.dusting.  So it gets done about twice a year.  At most.

This is the rest of the corner, I cover up my alarm clock because I can't sleep with light in the room.

A friend gave us her old glider rocker when Bluejay was a few months old, and it has made nursing SO MUCH nicer.  I mean, I love nursing.  But the glider brought the whole experience to a new level of comfort (especially when I was having some back problems).  My sister-in-law found the footstool at a yard sale, and we only bought the replacement cushion, which {Funny} or maybe more maddening, took 4 months to get here from somewhere in Canada from whence it apparently travelled by train, pony express, and turtle-pack animal delivery service.  Chickadee is going through the "write on everything in the house with ballpoint pen" stage, so I recently had to attack that cushion with hairspray, soap, and various cleaners.

{Funny}

My dresser is never this clear.  I just put away bunch of things including stacks of clothes. 

On my dresser are some of a recent haul of hairties which Chickadee picked out at Target, and now will not let me put in her hair. All she wants to wear are her Elmo and Big Bird clips, which she pulled out of her hair somewhere a few weeks ago, and I now cannot find.

We put the curtains up to hide our closet, which was originally closed by horrid gold-framed mirrored sliding doors.  The curtains are generally opened, I closed it to hide the mess for these pictures.  But I can also close it when I just want our room to look nice for US and no one else.  I like that.

{Real}

This is my husband's dresser top.  I feel bad about this.  While right now it is mostly covered with his clothes, because I finally did the laundry after he ran out of socks and work pants, it also often acts as a repository for things I'm hiding from the kids, random stuff that ends up in our room, and, I'll be honest, overflow from MY dresser.  Poor guy.  He doesn't even like his dresser (it was a hand-me-down from friends who moved) and has a lot of his stuff in boxes above the closet.  Also you can see a dress hanging there on his side, which is one of a bunch from my childhood that I'm saving for Chickadee, taking up his very minimal closet space.  

Also, not shown (I know, I should but I just didn't really want to photograph it) is the closet floor which is covered with shoes all mismatched, dirty clothes and toys, and the closet shelves, which we've organized several times but are pretty disastrous, because we both use them to stash things on top of other things, that are either a big problem when the kiddos get into them, or are meant to be surprises, or are for future use, or are just OURS and we don't really want to share with said toddlers or relegate to the garage or shed.

So that's it. It is pretty much the nicest looking room in the house.  The rest of the house is much more cluttered and messy so please, please do not take this as an example of my homekeeping skills.  In fact, as I type this, Aaron just called out to me "Maybe this weekend, we can figure out all the crap behind the couch, get rid of some of it."  So yeah.  It's just that I do try to keep this room a little bit nicer. It's important.