Ellie's To Do List

1. Scream and throw books off the shelf at the library (bonus points if you can do this in the adult section, double bonus if the librarian is looking on!)

2.  Refuse to nap

3. Hide under brother's bed eating pilfered jelly beans

4. Grind cracker crumbs into the couch

5.  Shimmy along the window sill in the bed room

6.  Fancy a snack, disrobe down to the skin in order to climb onto the counter and eat a peach

Good thing I'm so cute, right Mom?

In related news, my to do list this afternoon was

1. Pull out hair

2. Repeat

{PHFR}

I am joining the ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real} for the very first time this week!

Pretty

Look at the red on those radishes!

We have been eating a lot of salads lately, and the proportion of radishes to everything else has been slowly rising.  In addition to being deliciously bitter (my current flavor obsession after my two year fling with everything lemony and tart), they are the most gorgeous color red!  Many of my culinary choices these days are purely aesthetic, I must admit!

Happy

A rambunctious trio

For my kids, happy means a cacophonous trio on the piano with a good friend! The best part about having the electric Clavinova as opposed to a real piano is that I can turn the volume waaaay down so the kids can have their fun without inducing any migraines in Mom!

Funny

I went out with a friend one evening, leaving Amos to put the kids to bed.  When I went to check on D upon arriving home, this is what I found:

Oh, dear

Like any good parent, the first thing I did was snap a picture before tucking him in properly and turning out the light.  When I told my husband about it later, I discovered that the poor child had been like that for some time, since it had not occurred to Amos to remove the book from our sleeping child's face! The difference between mothers and fathers, I guess!

Real

No picture for this one, but my real this week is saying goodbye to my best friend and her family as they head over seas for two years.  We have been best friends since the very first day of freshman year of college, and I will miss her desperately.  She is the friend I trust to watch my kids while I am in labor (and have watched hers), and can call if I am feeling crummy and need someone to keep an eye on things so I can rest.  Our families always spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter together.  I am feeling a little adrift thinking of the next two years without her.

At the same time, I am so excited for her and her family as they start this long-awaited and worked for adventure.  This afternoon we said our farewells, and there were definitely tears shed.

Answer Me This!

One of the perks of coming back to blogging is being able to participate in Kendra's Answer Me This, which is my very favorite link-up!

1. What's currently on your To Do list?

Cleaning the table, going to choir, spending time with friends (my best friend before she moves to Rome and others we have not seen in far too long).

In the bigger picture, getting things organized, clearing the weeds from the back beds before they completely choke out my roses, getting laminate flooring installed in the bedrooms and hallway, finishing my incomplete grad school papers.

2. Better type of superhero: magic/radioactive powers? Or trauma/gadgets/hard work?
I think this is definitely a false dichotomy -- how can one choose?  I must admit that I am personally more inclined to the magic/radioactive powers camp, simply because I find Batman (who is the primary exemplar of the other category) too depressing for my taste.  I like my comic book movies light and entertaining, thank you very much!  But that isn't to say that the trauma/gadgets/hard work set might not be intrinsically more admirable.  I don't know.

3. Finding out if baby is a boy or a girl before birth: Good idea? Bad idea?

Before I had any children, I was completely sure I would wait to find out, since that is what my parents had done.  But then I was pregnant with my first and very sick, and thinking of my baby in more concrete terms as a little boy really helped me get though it.

Since we found out with the first, we figured we might as well find out with the other two, and have thus not been in the position of my parents when my youngest sibling was born.  

My Dad made predictions for the sex of each child, and when my Mom was pregnant with the youngest, he was 3 for 3.  He was completely sure that the baby would be a boy, so they picked out a boy name and packed boy clothes, and went to the hospital.  They were caught completely unprepared with the doctor announced that the baby was a girl!  They hadn't even thought about a girl's name, and Luke clearly wouldn't do  We called her Jessie for her first couple of days, and she finally ended up as Anna, a name that suits her very well indeed!

4. Have you ever appeared on a stadium jumbotron?

No, never, nor would I ever wish to!  I have actually only been to one professional sports game in my life -- a Red Sox game at Fenway with my grandparents and an assortment of cousins.  It was fun, but not something I feel the need to repeat.  Neither Amos not I watched sports growing up, and it seems to be a taste that one must acquire early or not at all.

5. Are you more book smart or more street smart?

With my on-again-off-again affair with doctoral work, I think the answer is pretty obviously book smart!  I was a really spacey kid who grew up to be a rather less spacey (but still a little spacey) adult, but I have always been good at school.  Among my siblings, that was sort of my role.  Jill was creative, Anna was athletic, and I was good at school.

Each Peach Pear Plum

Today was a good day. Usually by 3 pm, I am so tired that I just coast for the rest of the day, but today? Today I baked. First cornbread for the dinner of cornbread salad, and then, because there were some peaches about to turn on the counter, I set about making a pie.

Classic pie on the window sill shot here, mostly to get the last of the fading daylight!

I used to think that homemade pie crust was onerous, finicky, and not really worth the effort, but I have actually gotten good at it, and now I strongly believe that you might as well not make a pie at all if you are not going to make your own crust! I have had very good luck with the Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe. 

My pies have come out a lot prettier since I got a pie crust mat, which takes the guess work out of how big to roll the dough and makes it a lot easier to transfer the dough from counter to pan. This pie is pretty simple -- I want to learn to make a proper lattice crust some day, but with the kids "helping" me bake, today was not the day!

I tried an egg wash today, which is what make the crust so shiny.  Next time I might sprinkle it with turbinado sugar for even more sparkle!

This little boy is eating the last of the peaches, and being very patient while the pie cools!

Hello, Little Blog...

...I have sadly neglected you for the past, oh, year maybe? Can it have been that long? It wasn't you, it was me -- can you forgive me?

In all seriousness, I haven't had much to write the past year, between being very busy with work, carpool, and housekeeping, and my health/ anxiety issues.  But this summer has been a good break, and this school year I am not working as much (possibly not at all, which has me feeling a bit conflicted), so maybe there is a little space for writing.

Not yet sure what that writing will look like. I am reading again, after a long stretch of not having energy for much beyond blog posts and YA fantasy novels, so maybe I will write about that. My current projects are The Buried Giant for a book club and The Wings of the Dove so I can discuss it with a friend who is planning a dissertation on Henry James. My progress is slow (particularly on the latter), but both are very good so far.

(Here are the kids at Easter -- I don't take enough pictures!)

In the meantime, here is the update: the kids are now 6,4, and 2. The older ones go to Montessori school. D will start the Elementary program in the fall, and A will move up to full day in the primary program, leaving E and me home together for the whole day. Our routine will change pretty dramatically, but I think it will be really good.

My husband is still working for a software company, but is also writing poetry again and hatching some exciting creative plans.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I think God was talking to me this morning in the mass readings.

Worry, worry

The Ebola case in Dallas has been all over the news lately.  Especially here in Irving, just 20 minutes from the hospital where the poor soul is suffering.  I had a lot of trouble finding a charitable word for the man who introduced that disease into my area, the area where my children are.

 I used to be pretty nonchalant about the possibility of terrible things happening. I flew to Europ just months after the 9/11 attack. I thought Well, if I am going to die, I am going to die.  But that was before I gave three hostages to Fortune in the form of my three precious children.

 Ever since word of the Ebola case broke, I have been on edge.  Unable to focus, unable to sleep.  I spent the afternoon yesterday compulsively taking my children's temperatures.  And now I am sitting in Daniel and Anastasia's room watching them sleep and typing a panicked blog post at 1:30 in the morning because I feel like if I go to sleep, everything will fall apart.

I thought we won a victory today by going out and not being afraid. Amos had an errand to run in Dallas, picking up some books for his poetry give away, and instead of staying home while he went, we all got into the van and came along. (Did I mention our new van? It is very big and very red, and not at all inclined to overheat!)

We went to Wild Detectives to pick up the books, and then wandered through a neat little outdoor fair that was going on with hand made goods from local companies, and ended up going to dinner at Eno's, which was a great treat.

We came home, gave baths to grubby, happy children, put the baby to bed and then had a movie night with the older two.  Monsters, Inc. was a hit with Anastasia, but Daniel deemed it too intense and spent most of the movie calling from his room, "Anastasia, is this a scary part?"  He definitely liked the end credits, however, so I guess over all it was a win.  But now I am sitting here being crazy alone in the middle of the night.

It is moments like this that I feel responsible for Daniel's intense reactions to things, because I am the same way. I still get up for a drink at suspenseful moments in Doctor Who episodes, and over all, I see so much of myself in Daniel. It is both amazing and terrifying, seeing yourself made over in your child, knowing exactly how he is feeling-- the squirm of anxiety in his stomach when he has to speak to an adult he doesn't know, even just to say thank you or ask for a drink of water -- the overwhelming imagination that brings so vividly into presence the dangers depicted in books or movies, or in the news, that it is almost unbearable.

"Mama, why are you afraid so much?" he asked me today. I didn't have an answer for him.

What I Wore Sunday

This is the first time all summer that I have been ready for mass in time to take a picture of what I wore.  We are a very last minute family, so when we are all dressed and ready for mass 30 minutes before we actually have to leave I start bracing to see which child to have a poop accident or find some paint!

Dress: Ann Taylor Loft, via the thrift store (three is one thrift store where I always find Ann Taylor dresses in my size.  I go there as often as possible.)

Cami: Target

Shoes: Madden Girl from Famous Footwear.  These were my not-so-much-crazy-as-just-fun shoes from Edel.  If you look closely, you can see the matching toenail polish!

Necklace: WalMart.  I hate going there, but for some reason that is where I found all of my favorite accessories.  My favorite bright yellow scarf came from Wally World too.

Coffee mug: IKEA

The reason we are ready so early for mass is that we are getting a ride there from a friend.  Our faithful Saturn Ion has finally crossed the line from venerable old car into money sucking death trap, and we have so afar been unsuccessful in finding a suitable replacement.  We going for a minivan, but it looks like it will be a few more days until that happens. In the meantime, we are driving as little as possible and never with the kids, since we have to run the heat to keep the engine from overheating, and it is already 100 degrees outside!

Find more What I Wore Sunday at http://www.finelinenandpurple.com/2014/08/31/what-i-wore-sunday-volume-98/

I am still working on my big Edel post. Going has me inspired to blog more, but we shall see if it happens! While I finish getting my thoughts together about the conference, here is an installment of Answer Me This!

1. When driving, are you more likely to listen to the radio, to CDs or an iPod, or nothing at all?

The CD player in my car has not worked in a couple of years, and the announcers on our local Classical station are patronizing and annoying, so I end up listening to NPR a lot. I have a principle of selection when it comes to car listening: I generally like NPR best, but I would rather listen to classical music than the NPR commercials. I would rather listen to NPR commercials than the Classical station announcers, but I would rather listen to the Classical station announcers than President Obama, whose voice is frequently featured on NPR. So I do a lot of station flipping.

2. Do you prefer window or aisle?

Even traveling with kids, I prefer the window. Less chance of escape for the little squirmer that way. I fly Southwest as often as possible, and my strategy is to take the window seat, but put my baby on the middle seat. That way, my row is sure to be the very last one chosen and there is a high likelihood that I will get it all to myself. If the flight is booked, of course, that doesn't work, but I have occasionally had the only empty seat on the entire flight next to me.

3. Do you fall asleep on your side, back, or stomach? What position are you in when you wake up?

Lately, I have not been falling asleep in any position. My fibromyalgia pain and insomnia have teamed up to make my life miserable. I think last night I fell asleep after 2 am on my back, and woke up at 4 to Anastasia coming into bed to snuggle. No more sleep for me till around 7. :(

4. Do you have a favorite quote or inspirational saying?

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 (probably a couple different versions cobbled together in my memory)

5. When is the last time you attended a zoo, circus, carnival, county fair, or parade?

Here in Irving, there are occasionally these sketchy carnivals that pop up in mall parking lots during the spring. I had never been to one before this year, but then a friend and I were out planning to go see Captain America 2 on a Friday night, and (surprise!) couldn't get tickets. So we ended up at the carnival. We did the Ferris Wheel, and that was fun, and then she convinced me to go on one of those fast, spinny, scary rides. We both screamed our guts out and had a grand time! I think I am done with that sort of thing pretty much forever now. I used to love rollercoasters etc, and it was fun to revisit that part of myself, but I have no desire ever to do it again!

6. What's the best thing about summer?

Ummm.... AIR CONDITIONING!!!! I am not too keen on summer here in Texas, honestly. I do like the availability of cheap, fresh produce though! I have a bunch of peaches ripening on the counter, and two pounds of blueberries in the refrigerator just waiting to be baked into something delicious (if we don't just eat them all first!).

Answer Me This

Joining the fun with Answer Me This again, because why come up with my own blogging topics when Kendra asks such fun questions? :) (Edited to Add:Evidently I fail at reading instructions, because I seem to have answered the wrong questions! Sorry!)

1. How did you get your name?

My birthday is just a couple of days before Christmas, so Natalie was an appropriate choice! The other serious contenders (I am told) were Noelle and Leah.  I think I could have been a Leah, but Noelle just never would have suited.  My middle name, Rose, is for my paternal grandmother.

2. Do you have a set time for prayer in your day?

We pray consistently at meal times of course, but that is about it right now.  Some times after dinner we do a song and a reading from the Office of Readings. My father in law is visiting and we have prayed Compline with him a few nights while he has been here.  I recently set up a little shrine with an icon and some holy cards and candles (inspired by Auntie Leila!) and I hope we can begin to develop more prayerful habits now that there is a space set aside for the purpose.

3. Did your mom work or stay home (or both)?

My mother only worked very briefly while I was growing up. She was a waitress at a sea food restaurant, and one of my best memories was going with he for dinner one night.  It was exciting for me to be out at night, especially at a nice restaurant. I had a plate of pasta with mussels and felt like royalty!

4. Do you vote?

I know I ought to vote, but I don't. Part is just laziness, but I also know I am not well enough informed to make good decisions in local elections and I am frankly fed up with both sides in national elections.  I really just want to send ALL of our politicians to the corner and take away their toys until they figure out how to act like adults.

5. What's your favorite drink?

Depends on what category we are talking about.  After being indifferent to soda for many years, I recently developed a taste for Pepsi if we are talking non alcoholic.  But nothing can beat a good margarita!

6. How are your photography skills?

Pathetic!  I am not even going to put any pictures in this post because I don't have any good ones from recently.

Answer Me This

Well, I am in time for the link up this week, so hurrah!  :)

1.  Are you becoming your mother?

In a few ways I think I am. I laugh like her sometimes and my sense of humor is a bit like hers.  I wish in other ways that I were more like her.  I am not as accomplished of a housekeeper as she is, and I am not comfortable with people or able to put them at ease like she does.  So, lots to aspire to!

2.  Coffee or tea?

O coffee, coffee my love!  I have been a coffee addict since 9th grade.  Maybe that is why I am the shortest of my siblings?  But really, coffee is the best.  I love the taste, I love the smell, I love making it in our little air press...  The only time I don't like it is in my first trimester of pregnancy when the smell of coffee or even the smell of someone who has been drinking coffee is enough to make me, well, you know!

I do like tea as well, especially Lady Gray or Constant Comment, but not with the overwhelming passion of my love for coffee!

3.  What foreign country would you like to visit?

Well, it has been so long since I have done any traveling that I would not be particular about the destination of I could just GO!  Right now I would love to go to Paris and walk along the Sien, but it would also be lovely to go back to Rome or London!

I would also someday love to go back to Prince Edward Island where we spent our honeymoon.  It is so peaceful there, especially before tourist season starts, and so lovely with the blue and rose lupines  and the ocean and the red sand...

4.  Do you cry easily?

Yes.  Which is to say, I tear up over everything.  A picture of a kitten or a baby is all it takes.  Last night we were at a party and I got all terry over a sweet story someone told. It is embarrassing!  I have always been this way, but pregnancy and ahem, certain times of the month are even worse! (Not pregnant, just to be clear!)


5.  How often do you wear heels?

I wear them to work and church and really any time I feel in need of a little extra confidence (which is to say, often!). I am on the short side at 5'2" so heels really do make a difference for me in the "not being overshadowed by my students" department!

6.  Do you play an instrument?

Not really.  I dabble on the piano, but that is about it.  I sing though, so maybe that counts.  I have been an alto (and sometime tenor -- my range is very low) for so long that I compulsively harmonize. I catch myself humming along my own back up vocals to the songs in stores.

Amos is a bass and my secret hope is that Daniel will be a tenor (real tenors are a rare breed) and at least one of the girls will be a soprano so we can do 4 part harmonies together as a family someday.

Answer Me This

I know I am a little behind the times joining in for Kendra's Answer Me This, but I am going for it anyway!  :)

1. What did you and your family wear to Mass on Easter Sunday?


It is always my goal to get a picture of the whole family in their Easter finery, but that desire is counteracted by the goal of getting the children OUT of their Easter finery before they ruin their new clothes!  Here are the little ones before they got into the Easter candy:

(Well, at least one of them was looking for this one!  Also please ignore our dead/overgrown lawn!)

I am particularly pleased with the girls' matching outfits.  Daniel's current favorite color is pink, so the shirt and tie were his choice.  I had intended to cut his bushy hair before Easter, but I didn't get around to it until Easter Monday.  He now looks like a little shorn sheep!  :)

I wore a bridesmaid's dress from a friend's wedding -- bright green J. Crew with a white lace cami underneath and a white sweater (no picture, naturally) -- and Amos wore a white shirt and bright green tie.  We looked unusually sharp, if I do say so!  ;)



2. Easter Bunny: thumbs up or thumbs down?

After the idea of Saint Nicholas coming into our house and leaving things in his shoes so profoundly upset Daniel, we decided to pass on the Easter Bunny and such things!  Our family tradition is to have the children choose little gifts for each other for the Easter baskets (and stockings at Christmas).  This year Anastasia chose a little Lego set for Daniel and he chose crayons and a new pad of drawing paper for her.  I made a little date out of taking each child alone to shop, and they enjoyed seeing how much their sibling liked the gifts they chose!

(A boy and his Legos!)

3. Do you prefer to celebrate holidays at your own house or at someone else's house?

Humm... Bless you, it all depends!  If we are very close to the people we are visiting and they have small children it is nice to go to someone else's house for holidays.  Less frantic house cleaning that way!  But I also like to host because then I get to be in charge of the menu and the details! (I am a perfectionist and an oldest child -- I like to be in charge!) 

(Beatrix Potter coloring book courtesy of Auntie Duckie)

This year I really wanted to have Easter here because it is our first holiday in the new house.  We had one family that we are very close with (they are Anastasia's godparents and we are their son's godparents) and one of my grad school friends who is far from her family.  It was very low-key and relaxing, despite the fact that I was still rolling out pie crust as the guests arrived!  I made ham and roasted potatoes and salad and cheese cake and strawberry rhubarb pie, and E. brought fresh baked bread and green beans, and T. brought wine and a fancy appetizer, and we feasted and watched the children play (ok, watched them bounce off the walls because of the excess of sugar!) and talked poetry and had a grand time!


4. What is your favorite kind of candy?

Do you mean favorite Easter candy or favorite over-all candy?  Because for Easter (and only for Easter) I adore Spring Peeps.  Yes, the deformed, sugar coated marshmallow chicks.  I know they are gross.  I just can't help it!  

The rest of the year, it is a toss up between really dark chocolate (preferably with a glass of red wine) and Butterfingers.

5. Do you like video games?

Until quite recently I would have said no, but in the past year I started playing Sims Medieval and now Amos and I are playing Monkey Island together.  

Monkey Island is the best because in order to sword fight (you are a pirate, so sword fighting is very important) you need to know the fine art of insults.  For example, if someone were to tell you that you fight like a dairy farmer, your obvious response would be "How appropriate!  You fight like a cow!" Yes, I know, I know.  A 32 year old woman should not be as amused by this as I am.  I have no regrets!!!

6. Do you speak another language?

I can't speak another language, but I can read French and Latin, both of which I had to learn for my graduate program.  The French was not too difficult, since I had a fair bit in highschool, but I am pretty proud of my Latin skills.  I took Advanced Latin at the end of my pregnancy with Eleanor and took an exam on Augustine's Confessions a week before giving birth!  

Apart from my academic pursuits, it is useful to me to know Latin because our family goes to a Latin Mass parish and I love being able to translate the readings and Propers directly.  I have to be careful in choir though -- if I pay attention to the text as I sing, I slip into Classical pronunciation and my v's turn into w's!

I went back to the doctor Wednesday  afternoon (well, to a different doctor at a clinic) and it turns out that I have a stealth case of strep throat.  The doctor on Monday looked at my throat and said that it didn't look at all like strep so she wasn't even going to do the test.  The second doctor said the same thing, but since I have a little fever and we just wanted to rule it out, she did the swab.  She was so sure that it was going to be negative that we were talking about how long the probable virus would last when she checked the test and was amazed to find it positive.  So I am on antibiotics that make me vaguely nauseous, but that is a world better than laboring on with untreated strep throat!

The concern now is that one of the children will have caught it from me, so we are keeping a close eye on them for fevers or sore throats or rashes for the next few days.

The up side of being sick in bed for three days is that I have had the luxury of burning through not one, but two novels in three days.  I have been going through Laurie King's Mary Russel novels, about an older Sherlock Holmes and his young assistant, and enjoying them immensely.  I have only read one of the original Sherlock Holmes stories ("A Study in Scarlet," if you are wondering) but I am a devoted fan of the Sherlock BBC series and even the Robert Downey, Jr. movies.  The Laurie King novels are not perfect.  There is a lot of dubious theology, and some rather unnecessarily edgy sub-plots that don't add significantly to the story except to be provocative (the current novel has a marriage of convenience between an English Duke and his lesbian childhood friend).  Another thing I don't like about them is that it is impossible for the reader to piece together the mystery apart from the characters -- that is, there are no carefully laid clues that we could, in principle, follow along with the detectives.  Things are often revealed fortuitously or coincidentally just at the right moment for Holmes and Russel to solve the case. But mostly they are good fun, and what they lack in mechanics they more than make up for in style.  The first person narrative by Mary is authentic and engaging, and Holmes is extremely well drawn.  The first (and best) in the series is The Beekeeper's Apprentice.
The ones I burned through during my illness are O Jerusalem and Justice Hall.

Today has been spent largely in bed, due to the nasty virus that has been making the rounds of our family.  Anastasia had it bad yesterday with a fever and sore throat, and we are both in sad shape today.  Amos was able to take a sick day to help me out, and I haven been drinking tea and resting and watching dumb action movies around going to the doctor and nursing the baby.

Yesterday (before the sickness hit) we were at mass and choir.  Our church has a tradition of doing Tenebrae during Holy Week.  The past there years we have just done the chants, but this year we are working on four of the responsories by Victoria for Good Friday.  The plan is to learn a few more each year until we have the whole set.

In case you have never had the pleasure of hearing them, here is one of the ones we are working on:

(In case the video doesn't show up, see http://youtu.be/zHL9GIchStI)

I love this time of year in choir, because it reminds me that the high feast of the year really is Easter and the Resurrection of our Lord.  We work hard for Christmas, of course, but Holy Week...  Well, that is something else!  With three kids I can't be as much a part of it as I'd like -- the Easter Vigil is just not possible right now -- but I love what we do, and remembering the joy ahead even in the middle of Lent because we get to practice all of the happy music too!

Singing is one of the balancing things for me. I am very, very happy when I sing regularly and we are blessed to have a parish where we can use the musical treasures of the Church!

Danielisms

I love having an almost five year old in the house.  The other day, while pretending to be a robot, he was running around the house doing "robot arms" (you know what I mean), and shouting in his best monotone, "Call-a-nerd!  Call-a-nerd!  Danger!  Danger!"

It took me a while to figure out that "call a nerd" is Daniel for "red alert."

Today while playing pirates he burst out with, "Timmerme Shimmers!"  (He has also taken to plundering the living room and secreting his spoils in a blanket tent.  I reminded him that he would have to clean the whole thing up before lunch, but it has not quenched his zeal for theft.)

My impulse is to laugh and then correct these little malapropisms, but then I remind myself that he won't be doing things like that for much longer as he gets older and becomes more savvy.  I also try to resist the temptation to laugh.  I remember being laughed at as a child for silly mistakes like that, and it was always a little mortifying.  My mother laughed heartily when I applied the adjective "livid" to a pink house I particularly liked when I was about 9.  I know she didn't mean to be unkind, and it was pretty silly, but 20 years later I still feel a little writhe of embarrassment every time I hear the word.  

7 Quick Takes: Catching Up!

To get into this blogging thing, I am going to try joining 7 Quick Takes, hosted by Jen.

1

As I mentioned in my little post of the other day, I now have three children.  D., our oldest, is turning five at the end of the month.  He is very excited about this birthday because then he will start school.  We are sending him to a Montessori school founded and run by a grad school classmate of mine, and are very excited for him to begin.  He is very precocious in many ways (he was reading at 3.5), but he doesn't have a lot of friends his own age, and he isn't very good at things that require hand-eye coordination, like drawing.  Maybe it is because he is a lefty.  At any rate, I think the Montessori environment will help him with the latter, and just being around other children will be good for him.  

At present his main interests are building with blocks or his train set and riding his tricycle at alarming speeds.  He reads voraciously.  He idolizes his Papa, and wants to do everything he does, including carrying around an old brief-case with his "work" in it.

2

 A., who I was pregnant with right before I took my massive break in posting, is now almost 3, and a sweet, milky-skinned, golden-curled little lunatic.  I mean "lunatic" in the best possible sense, of course.  She is crazy and sweet, and a lot of fun.  She is my bravest child by far -- D. is always a little hesitant in new situations, and is afraid to do things like go down the tallest slide at the playground, but A. just charges right in.  She runs and turns somersaults and climbs like a monkey.  She also loves having me put her hair in pigtails (although she can't resist pulling them out longer than about five minutes), and helping me dress and put on my make-up in the morning.  

She is obsessed with cats -- she and D. play "Baby Kitty Cat" or "The Uglified Kitty Cat"  (I don't know, so don't ask!) all the time.  She mews and insinuates herself into any available lap to snuggle... and then abruptly transforms into a dragon and roars fearsomely!!! 

She, too, will be going to the Montessori school, but just one morning a week for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  Next year, if we can afford it, we will send her for the morning program.

3

Our newest family member is E., born May 25th.  She is a sweet, cuddly little bundle and we all dote on her.  D. wants nothing more in life than to hold her, and kisses her extravagantly at every oppertunity.  A. likes to say, "That is MY baby sister!" and to help me change and care for her.

She made her entrance into the world a little dramatically two weeks early, precipitated by a nasty 12 hour stomach bug that swept through our family.  I think I will save the story for a separate post though!

4

Since my last post here, my husband finished his coursework for his philosophy PhD, took his comprehensives (he passed) and is now starting to think about a dissertation on Plato while working at a computer company.  He loves the work he is doing, and is pretty sure he won't want to go into academia full-time.  He is happier now than he has been in a long time, and is getting back into creative projects that have lain dormant for a long time.

5

One of those creative projects is the resurrection of the literary magazine he used to run back in the days before children and PhD work.  The Grub Street Grackle has been on hold since a couple of months after D.'s birth, but now he is running a kickstarter campaign to get it going again.  I don't think anyone reads this blog, but on the off chance, you should check it out!!!

6

I am getting used to life back at home with three kids after a couple of years back in school.  The first two semesters I took it really slow, just three classes the whole year.  Then I decided to take a full load in the Fall, and then found out that I was pregnant a couple weeks after the last day to drop classes.   So I just did it.  It was probably the hardest semester of my life, since I get pretty awful morning sickness during the first trimester, but I made it, and then took a full load in the spring as well, which wound up exactly one week before I gave birth!

7

I think the combination of adjusting to three kids and not having the intellectual outlet any more is hitting me pretty hard.  The balance between my vocation as wife and mother and my "other" vocation as a student (and hopefully someday a teacher) has never been easy for me to navigate.  I have gone through phases where I felt that it was my duty to give up the academic life altogether.  I know now that is not right for me, but at the moment I am so exhausted that I have trouble stringing a simple sentence together, let alone writing about Big Ideas!  I am hoping that in a couple of months I will be able to gracefully keep the delicate balance in all of this, but for now I will be happy to get through the day without yelling at my children!!!

It has certainly been a long time since my last post.  In the intervening years (yes, years!) I have had not one, but two babies, gone back to school to finish my M.A. and most of the coursework for my doctorate, and am now, once again, starting life at home with my three sweet children.  So, it seemed like the time to start blogging here again.

I am not quite sure how I will fill this space.  Probably just little tidbits from our days, recipes, some pictures if I can ever find the cord to my camera, maybe some posts about the books I read when I start preparing for comps.  Anything is possible!

After determining last Saturday that painting over high-gloss paint was more of a chore than we wanted to take on, we decided to just move already. So, Monday morning we bought a couch at the Salvation Army, and Monday afternoon, we carted all of our furniture over to our new apartment.

We are fast settling in, and it already feels more like home than the place we have lived for the past year. After all of the anxiety and indecision, it is good. So, so good!

Daniel was really thrown off at first by the whole proceeding. "Go home?" he kept on saying. He spent a couple of days acting out, and one night in our bed, but now he seems to have taken it all in stride. I need to work on our routine, to minimize the bad behavior that comes out when he gets tired or hungry. I hope I can have things well in hand before the next major upheaval of his little world happens in about seven weeks (is that possible?!?).

My favorite place in the apartment, and where I spend most of my time, is the kitchen and dining room, which are divided by an island. It is so nice not to be isolated from the rest of the house while I cook,, and it is amazing to have more than two inches of counter space to work with. I am in the enviable position, for the first time in years, of having more cabinets than I have things to put in them!!! I am already plotting all sorts of culinary adventures, now that it is not so darned cramped to cook!

My mother in law has been here for the past week, helping out with the packing, moving, cleaning, and settling in. She is wonderful -- I don't know what I would have done without her help. Probably put myself into pre-term labor lifting heavy boxes. Daniel is thoroughly enjoying her company, too, especially when she lets him sit in her lap and listen to silly Danny Kaye songs on her computer!

In other news, my pregnancy continues uneventfully. I have the usual aches and pains, for which I have been seeing a chiropractor, and recently started having long bouts of Braxton-Hicks contractions, especially when I forget to eat or rest, but other than that things are going along just swimmingly.

I am now 33 weeks, and finally got to meet with the midwife who will be delivering the baby. It turns out that I had met Helena before -- she was just starting her internship after Daniel was born, and sat in on a couple of my postpartum appointments with Kelsey. Over the past two years,she has finished all of her formal training, and has been attending births alongside a midwife in her home town, five hours away. Now she is back at FBS to help fill the vacancy left by Kelle's departure and to finish up her last few births before certification. I really like her. She is older -- she has a grown son and a couple of grandchildren -- and has a very peaceful, serene air about her. She is very businesslike about the whole thing, but also kind. I feel very comfortable with her, even after just one appointment.

About a week ago, my paper journal, which I had been writing in a lot, suffered the unfortunate and career-ending mishap of being thrown into the toilet by my son. I screamed (not at him, I am proud to say), fished it out, and tried to salvage it, but it was really beyond saving.

So, here I am, back at my long-neglected blog.

How have things been? Good on the whole. We are getting our key to the apartment at the Colony on the 30th, and will spend a week painting before moving our stuff over. I am getting excited about it. I want to make it a beautiful, peaceful place, especially since I will most likely be birthing our baby there.

Speaking of the new baby, I am now 29 weeks, and starting to feel very third trimester (oh joy, oh rapture). I am planning to get a netflix membership to keep myself in cheesy vampire movies and mindless action flicks for all of the sleepless nights I know are ahead. On the positive side, I am getting more and more excited about meeting our little girl. I had a dream about her birth, and I really just can't wait to get her out from under my ribs and into my arms!

I think we are going to co-sleep with this one, which is something I have been considering for a while. Unfortunately, the loss of a washer/dryer in the apartment means that cloth diapers are not a viable option. I am looking to add to our collection of slings -- I am thinking about a moby wrap, since I think it will be easier on my back than the Mei Tai.

The pregnancy has been very uncomplicated. My prenatal appointments have hardly been worth the car ride out to Grand Prairie, since everything is normal and I really don't have any questions! How different it is with a second child! Unfortunately we have to start going every other week from here on out. Also unfortunately, I have to get my iron checked at the next appointment. Hopefully this time they will be able to find a vein -- last time I was left with horrific bruises on both arms for three weeks after the blood draw!

Daniel is doing well. I think he is having a growth spurt, since he now eats almost as much as I do! He continues to be a joy and a delight -- he loves to dance and sing (sometimes I can even tell what song he is going for -- various things from his Raffi CDs are great favorites) and play in the pool and cook soup and pancakes and "scous-scous" in one of my big pots in the living room. He also tells me stories (the one about throwing Mama's journal into the toilet is a great favorite) and runs up to me to tell me that he "luffs" me, and talks to his little sister who is "hiding" in my tummy ("Come out, baby!" "Ope tummy!" -- I think I need to explain to him a little better how babies are born...).

We read together a lot. He is still obsessed with "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" which he calls "Cloudy, Peepols," but recently he has been getting into his Bible Stories for Children (illustrated by Tommy di Paola). He loves the entire nativity story, especially the parts with angels, David and Goliath, and (of course) Daniel in the lion's den. But his favorite, especially at bed time, are the Psalms. He loves "The Lord is my Shepherd" and "Let Everything that has Breath Praise the Lord" especially. He listens attentively while I read and then says "Amen!" and makes the sign of the cross. I did not teach him to do that, nor did Amos. (The other thing he does that is just too sweet is, when we go into the little chapel at our church where the tabernacle is, he kneels down for about five seconds to say his little prayers, and then goes up to the crucifix at the far end and kisses the wall underneath it!)

Amos has been very busy with all of his various jobs. His boss at the tutoring center keeps giving him more hours, which is great, and the window cleaning business is starting to pick up. He is also reading Plato and Aristotle in preparation for teaching a section of freshman philosophy in the fall.

So, busy happy times!

It has been a bit depressing around here lately, as I continue sick and weak and largely unequal to keeping the house in order. To cheer myself up, here is a list of the things I would love to be doing:

-thoroughly dust, vacuum, and tidy the living room. This would involve washing the curtains, getting behind all of the furniture, and deep into the nook under the stairs that has become a storage dump.

-air, dust, and re-decorate the bedroom. I want to order vintage book plates of wild flowers from etsy to hang on the wall, get a new cover for our comforter, and more shelves to store the books that are currently taking up one of my laundry baskets.

-cook pizza and other treats for my dear husband, who has been so loving, patient, and helpful. He has not been eating well, since anything that produces smells is intolerable to me most of the time, and I can't wait to make it up to him!

-re-decorate the seasons table for Lent -- I am a little ashamed to admit that Baby Jesus is still the centerpiece (surrounded by much clutter...)!

-get back into my knitting projects. I bought yarn to make gifts for a few friends who are expecting babies in the spring and summer, and have not made much progress at all! And now I want to knit for my own little one as well. Before I got sick, I was hosting a weekly craft night with a few of my friends, and it was so great to have a little community for creative work. It will be so wonderful to get back to it!

That is quite enough to be getting on with, I think! And soon, soon, I will start actually doing some of it!