Sunday, September 18, 2011

Saturday Bliss

Since my last post a MILLION years ago, lots 'o stuff has been happening in the Williams clan.  Our little boy Jacob Wade entered the world on July 11th weighing in at a hefty 8 lbs and 3 ozs.  Go little man!  Our natural birth went amazingly well, and only a very few times did I catch myself thinking, "Now why did I want to do this?"  I still wonder that every now and then, especially having experienced the pain-free bliss that is the epidural w/two of our girls.  But, I also wanted to know more about my body and how God designed it to work - childbirth is a gift, after all, and I figure He gives pretty awesome gifts.  Thanks to Todd, our doula, Jenny, and lots o' prayer and memorized Word, it was truly a wonderful experience that I will never forget.  I am ever-amazed at how much I love telling my own labor stories and how much I enjoy hearing other moms tell theirs.  It truly brings us moms together.

Jake (We're still not sure what we're calling him, but this is what comes out most of the time.) has almost doubled his birth weight at only 2 months.  Go "little" man!  He laughs and smiles a lot, and you would think that we'd never seen a baby do these things because the whole family has to stop and take notice of his cute tricks. 

So, life is trucking on pretty normally.  We're doing a little bit of school - trying to ease back into real life.  I'm trying not to drown in laundry which normally gets washed in a fairly timely manner but then stays in the baskets until I have to dump those clothes out to fill up the basket w/more dirty clothes.  The girls are an awesome help, and the house would be a complete pit of despair w/o them.  They practically run the house and have a great time helping out. 

On to Saturday bliss.  Todd took the girls out to the hunting lease to put out a few trail cams.  (I'm not sure who was more excited, Todd or the girls.)  In the meantime, I had Jake and the quiet house to myself.  Saturday bliss.  Complete and total.  Now I really missed my clan while they were gone because I would have loved to be out on the trail, too.  I've got a good eye for picking up deer sign.  But, the thought of having some time to myself just about brought tears to my eyes so I figured that was a good sign I should stay put and enjoy the silence.

So I did.  I got some sewing done and then did something which still perplexes me.  I cleaned house.  I didn't just clean.  I got out the carpet steamer and cleaned our sofa (which Todd couldn't sit on because it was so dusty - poor allergy-affected man) and the carpets in two rooms.  I washed clothes and aired out sleeping bags.  Crazy you say?  Probably.  But I had the best time taking care of our home.  It's strange to me what marriage and family have done to me.  I NEVER would have thought that I would be called a home body one day, but that is exactly what I have become. 

I love drinking my morning coffee w/the kitchen window open listening to the geese land in the pond behind our house.  I love the sound of the girls working together to empty and re-load the dishwasher.  I love the smell of Todd cooking breakfast.  (He's taken over this job most days since Jake's arrival.)  I love when the girls play for hours making up their own quirky games.  Shocking to say, Saturday bliss wasn't shopping, eating out, or watching a good movie (all which I enjoy).  I think because time to get things done comes in such precious little chunks when taking care of a little one that bliss for me, for now, was having time to check just a few things off of the never-ending to-do list inside my head.  Because I don't have time to even write it down!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Keeping It Alive. . . Barely

So, after another protest from my dad, I've returned to blog world. I really do love this world, but, honestly, I have not had the time to read blogs or maintain my own. Have they made a camera that can "beam" your pictures to the computer w/o having to plug it in. every. time? Call me lazy, but the hassle of getting pics to my computer and then uploading them to the blog is just too much for me. Facebook is quicker, but I can't remember the last time I uploaded a picture there either. Anyway, that's my excuse for having a pictureless, boring blog. When I actually blog, that is.

So, the girls are resting, my hair is in a towel, and I'm snagging a brief moment to update the handful of blog readers that stroll this way. Just be prepared for random. . .

For those not on Facebook or for those who just missed it, we are expecting bambino numero 4 this summer sometime mid-July. And, it's a boy. Who would have guessed that? The girls are thrilled, and already we have folks offering to give us little boy clothes. Can I just say that it looks a lot easier to clothe a boy than it does a girl? Shirts, pants and some shoes, and you're set. Oh, that it were that easy in girl-world.

We had a snow day, of sorts, today. We had some sleet yesterday evening and later, some snow which miraculously stuck and was still there this morning. So, Todd encouraged me to let the girls play in it before it melted. (Can I just say that it is STILL there - hardly any melting yet.) So, being the generally agreeable person that I am, I let them go out right after breakfast. After and hour or so of the in-and-out, "I'm cold," drying wet cold things to only go back outside to get wet and cold again, they were in for the morning.

Well, since things were already off-track, we decided to clean the mess that was our home a bit. The bit turned into an hour or so. Then, of course, we had to have hot chocolate. The temp. as I type at three o'clock is 25 degrees, and temps like that require warm sweet drinks. After hot chocolate is finished, it's just about time for lunch. Still no school done. At all. Grrrr. So, lunch is served.

I have to digress just a moment to express my excitement at fixing poached eggs for the first time ever for our lunch. We had a very light eggs Benedict - minus the Canadian bacon and hollandaise sauce. Anyway, my mom had always had an insert that fit into one of her pans for making poached eggs so I had to muster up some bravery to try these suckers on my own. Have to say it was really fun and yummy.

So, after lunch, on to school. Finally. We just attempted our group school which consists of our memory verse, Bible reading and astronomy. Did you know that there was an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter? Well, I'm sure I'd been taught this before, but it sure did pass right by me. There's even a theory that the belt was previously a planet that exploded. This would also account for planets and moons that have craters on one side but relatively none on the other. Well, I was impressed anyway.