attached

(photo taken by our good friends the Moreys)

Katie is not a good sleeper. Her naps have always been irregular, and she still wakes up once or twice most nights. I can only get her to sleep by nursing her. How I got myself into this predicament, I'm not sure. It all happened so quickly. Other people can rock her or hold her and she'll drift off, but not Mama. She knows what she wants. I'll probably be nursing until she's 3 or something.

On hot days like today, she doesn't settle down easily, though, even nursing her. She turns and twists and babbles and kicks - all while very firmly latched. Not at all comfortable. And then these words come to mind.


Blood and Milk
by Sharlee Mullins Glenn

I dreamed of Oxford . . .
(spires, a thousand spires, endless lectures, musty halls
a solitary self in a Bodleian expanse
A good life my dear Wormwood. An orderly life.)

then awakened to laundry
and things to be wiped
countertops, noses, bottoms

How did this happen? And when, exactly?
Time flows, it flows, it flows
and there are choices to be made:

left or right?
paper or plastic?
blood or milk?

There's freedom in the bleeding;
bondage in the milk—do not be deceived.
Ah, but it's an empty freedom; a holy bondage,
A sweet and holy bondage.
Five times I chose the chains, those tender chains,
(though once will bind you just as well!)
and checked the crimson flow.
Suckled while dreaming of Trinity Term
but awakened, always awakened, to the laundry
and to that small and cherished captor at my breast.

-From Segullah

Motherhood is a Holy Bondage. And I am quite attached.

new york! new york!

So, New York City was awesome. And it was made even better by the fact that we got to spend it with my sister and her 6 awesome girlies. But I don't want to bore you with a travelouge, so I'll just let the kids tell you about it.

Ana:

What was your favorite part of NYC?

Going to Mary Poppins. (Dave took just Ana to the Broadway musical.)



What was your favorite part of the show?

When the kids came halfway down the stairs and they gave their tokens to their dad because he lost his job. It was pretty sad I guess.

What did you think when Mary Poppins flew for the first time?

I thought it was real. But then Dad told me that she had strings.

What was your favorite song?

Super-cali-fresh-a-listic-extra-musha-dosha

Who was your favorite character?

The little girl (Jane) and Mary Poppins

Tell me something else about it.

I liked when the colors came out. It was awesome.

What was your favorite store we went into?

The American Girl Store!


Jack:

Tell me your favorite thing about NYC.

The building when we looked down from the tallest building. My favorite part of New York City was when we went to the top of the Empire State Building and seeing the Statue of Liberty.

I liked seeing the building that they are going to keep building until it's the tallest in the world.


Also: When we saw the Statue of Liberty on the island that the Statue of Liberty was on.



What else did we do in NYC?

Sleep. I saw the hole in the pools there. (9/11 Memorial)



What did you think of the Subway?

They go underground. Here's the road and the grass and we went through the tunnels. It was SUPER fast. I plugged my ears. It went dunka-dunka-dunka when it passed the poles that looked like smiley faces. It was too loud for me to hear.



What did Katie do in NYC?

Play! Play with me. (Jack)

What was your favorite store we went into?

The Candy shop. We should have bought a giant gummy bear for me.



Other highlights--

Central Park Zoo:

Going down the glass elevator at the 5th ave Apple Store:

Popsicles at the park:

Skyline from Liberty Island:

Dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History:

Grand Central Station:

Not Pictured: A trip to the Temple and an awesome Chilean Restaurant for me and Dave, Ellis Island, good conversation and great food with my sis and her family, Times Square and being stuck in traffic trying to leave the city.

Now we just want to go back!

god bless america

We celebrated America's birthday with a small town parade, an afternoon picnic, and evening BBQ and then a major thunderstorm. Fireworks were rained out, but we made up for it by splashing in puddles.













I love this day.

“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” -Alexis de Tocqueville

katie baby!

We got back from NYC on Friday night. We had a great trip and I will tell you all about it another day. But for today, here is a video of Katie at our hotel.

local adventures

Ana got out of school on the 13th. She loved school and loved her friends.



I can't believe I have a first grader! And a reader! She is getting so big.


Since then we have been soaking up the beautiful weather and doing lots of fun stuff. Have a mentioned that I love Summer? And that I love Vermont in the summer?


Moss Glen Falls:




The Beach!


Soccer:


Indian Brook Reservoir:



Not pictured: the local farmer's market, family bike rides and gardening. And many more adventures to come.

just barely

Katie and Zach (the baby of some friends who I babysit a few days a week now) at the park. Zach is 5 months younger than Katie.

About a year ago I heard a new twist on a familiar adage. "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well just barely." Meaning that there are lots of "worth doing" things that we do not have the time or energy to do as well as we would like, but that doesn't mean we should drop them altogether. I've thought a lot about that the last few weeks.

That is where I am at right now. My life is pretty full of things getting done just barely. All weekend I fetched Dave clean underwear out of the dryer because I just barely got them washed and dried, but didn't get around to folding them and putting them away. Basic housework is barely getting done. My family is fed, but we've been eating a lot more french toast or grilled cheese for dinner than before. And sleep. Oh, boy, am I running on a lot less sleep than I ever thought possible.

A few days ago I had a friend watch the kids while I went to a (routine) doctor's appointment. My doc is located close to the school and when I got finished around the same time Dave was scheduled to finish up a test, so I waited around for him. I sat in my quiet car for about 45 minutes and read a book. I think it was the first alone time I had had in weeks. It felt so good. Unless you count the handful of times I stayed up later than Dave doing nothing but sitting in silence. I've done that too.

I've also had a lot of those "time freeze" moments lately when I look around I realize that I am the Mom here. Mostly that thought fills me with gratitude that I have such wonderful kids. Sometimes, though, I can't believe it - like I feel different than I thought I would. That I don't really know what I'm doing but am just bumbling through things. I don't really have it all together like I thought I would.

But I keep doing things - dishes, laundry, play with the kids, scripture study, showering - because those things are worth doing - even if just barely.

a poem

My children's actions inspired an impromptu poem from me today:

Do we draw on tables?
Do we draw on walls?
Do we draw on the floor?
Do we draw on balls?

Do we draw on toys?
Do we draw on beds?
Do we draw on faces?
Do we draw on heads?

Do we draw on paper?
Yes, that is where we draw!
We draw on paper,
or we don't draw at all.

(Please, do not copy my work. I know this poem will be cherished for generations. Be sure to give me credit for it!)

to my dad, on father's day

Every so often a big C-130 flies over our house here. It makes me think of my Dad. I always watch it and point it out to the kids and say, "That is what Gramps used to fly." Then I try to imagine him in his younger days dressed in his flight suit and dropping tanks out of the sky.

A few weeks ago was a repeat of the Hope of America program that Ana did last year. Once again, the band played the songs from each branch of the military and I imagined my Dad standing up at the line, "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder."

I have always been proud of my Dad. He is smart. He is faithful and faith-full. He is funny. I remember him being "tickle monster" when we were little and hiding our bowls of cereal when we weren't looking as we got older. He has also managed to convince each of his 8 daughters that they are his favorite. (Though I really AM his favorite.)

I remember driving in the car with my Dad once and asking him what is favorite scripture was and he said 2 Kings 6:16. I had never heard that story before and it has been a favorite of mine ever since. I have always loved talking about the scriptures with him.

He loves me. He has blessed and taught me. He even sometimes rescues me. And I feel so lucky to have such an amazing Dad.

Happy Father's Day!

'tis the season ...

...for popsicles,



laundry on the line,


and a garden growing.
Ana has two more days of school and then summer will be in full swing. Plans include: a trip to NYC, camping in Maine, and of course, eating lots of Popsicle.

happy happy birthday jacky boy

My sweet little boy is 4! He's been 4 in my mind for a while, so it isn't that surprising, though I loved his little 3 year old self so much, I'm a little sad to see it go.

He got to have a few friends over for cake and ice cream yesterday.









4 things I love about this little boy:

1. He loves to make paper crafts. For a while it was coloring and cutting out pictures and then taping them to the window. Then it was making valentines. Lately he's into making paper snowflakes and writing letters to grandparents.

2. He is super into being a boy. He likes to play with "boy" toys and play with boys and do boy things with dad. Sometimes I will suggest things and he'll respond, "no, that's too girlish." Yet he still wants me to paint his toenails (blue!) and he loves flowers.

3. He often picks me flowers and draws me pictures and is frequently found to say out of the blue, "I love you, Mom."

4. He is very grateful. He says "thank you" after a good meal and this morning he said, "thanks for the new soccer ball, mom. I love it!"

He is such a sweet little guy. I am wrapped around his finger.