Baby Love

Since we can't name this baby ourselves, we get to think of Grandparent names: what should we be called?  I'm too young to be Grandma.  Mark is not really a Grandpa type.  His first choice is Grandad, but that might be hard for us who have a place reserved in our hearts for the Grandad we still miss.  We think Grandude is more his style! I'm going for Nana; it rhymes with Anna and I was named after my Nana's "second" mother.  Anna-Nana was my nickname for awhile.  So Nana-Anna might be me!  And it's a good thing we don't get to name this baby- so far the kids have come up with Henry, Thomas, James, Gordon, Percy, Jupiter, and Garden.  The baby is due around Christmas, so a name like Kris Kringle, I mean Junior, would be fun.  Or Claus.  Or Heyseus. (I'm totally kidding)  Mark says Silver and Gold would NOT be good names. Any name Kris and Ami come up with will be wonderful, I'm sure!

Psalm 139:13

Auntie Lula is not supposed to be the main focal point of this picture...she just happens to be sleeping while I work on my grandson's first blanket... with love in every stitch.

Surviving the Heat

"Chewla" Joy

"Hey, who stuck their chewed-up bubble gum on my footstool?"

Shane in a Tree

Still banned from swimming in the pond, Shane entertained himself by climbing a tree.  In this picture he is standing on the lowest branch; anyone who wants to climb the tree must climb a rope tied to the lowest branch first.

He quickly disappeared in the higher branches and my mama heart beat irregularly as I tried not to panic.  I wasn't this much of a wimp when I was younger.  I was quite the monkey myself and clearly remember the recess duty telling me I wasn't allowed to climb so high in the school's trees.  But now that I've had children, watching them put themselves in danger, no matter how insignificant, causes me distress.  All I could imagine was Shane falling from the tree, so I turned my attention to my other children swimming in the pond and worried when they didn't surface for air fast enough after jumping off the rope swing.  When Ian and Evie had a paddle board race, I turned the movie camera on, hoping for a fun movie.  About 15 seconds in you hear Mark say... well, watch it yourself and enjoy...

If the volume wasn't loud enough, you can hear Mark allude to the small branches breaking and falling out of the tree.  Then we hear a louder crack and we both gasp.  Shane hollers, "I'm fine!"  We asked him to come down after that (after I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes-I tell you, I'm getting pathetic!)

Daddy's Home!

Mark is home from a four day/three night survey at Lake Cushman.  We missed him so much.  As soon as Daniel went down for a nap, we hauled Mark down to the pond...

The blackberries are starting to get ripe!  Yum, yum, yum!  I still have two gallons frozen from last year.  It was nice having blackberry pie porridge all winter.  But nothing compares to sun-warmed ripe blackberries, fresh off the bush.

We watched Fiona swim slowly across the whole pond.  Watching her struggle, I wondered if the swim was too much for her.  As soon as she reached us, she popped her arm out of the water and exclaimed, "Look at this leaf I found!"

 But Evie found something cooler...

I had to make this picture extra large so you can see the scratches on her face.  She was attacked by a baby guinea this morning!  She was just trying to catch it, but it obviously didn't want to be caught.

This is a predaceous diving beetle.  Evie found it on the far side of the pond and Ian brought it around in a cup.  (Shane had been sent to the house because I didn't want him swimming with that open wound on his knee)

Daniel woke up from his nap and was very cranky that he had been left behind...plus he still hadn't forgiven Mark for leaving him for four days.  You can see Lula under the green hat in my new...

...homemade K'Tan-style baby carrier.  I found a lovely piece of knit fabric at the local thrift shop for $.75 and threw the carrier together on my serger this morning.  It works so much better than the Moby-style wraps.  Plus I can tuck things like pacifiers and bottles in the folds and go to the pond!

Daniel fell in the mud and ended our lovely afternoon at the pond.  And yes, Mark has decided that after five years of blogging, we can start using our REAL names.  We have not had any obvious stalkers or kidnappers and Mark is tired of remembering who is who on the blog.  I will never go back and change the previous blog posts...

Monday, Tuesday, Friend-Day, Park-Day

Monday was another fun-filled day with the S family and L!  We were so happy to have L come down and visit us.

We sent the kids out back for a picnic lunch...

Bunny Ears-the latest fad at my house

...and then booted them off the blanket so us moms and big sisters could chatter away in peace.  F got a hold of the camera and took some great candid shots...

Proof of L :) by F

...and some not-so-great ones which I deleted!  Who wants to see a picture of me making a funny face? Or a picture of the power lines?  Or the moms' knees? Not me!

Self Portrait ~F

But a funny picture of The Pirate is okay:

"I took a picture of him breathing on me" ~F

Speaking of F, she is such an attentive big sister.

The novelty of holding the baby hasn't worn off and neither has...

...feeding the baby.  The older kids say things like, "Are you coming to rescue me from the baby yet?" and "Can I stop feeding her now?" to which I respond, "Are you going to do the work I'm trying to get done?" and "Is the bottle so heavy that you need to take a rest?"  D also likes to feed the baby.  I can't leave those two alone for a second.  D isn't that great at bottle feeding a baby.

IJ's best friend

 Tuesday we met a bunch of friends at a park that isn't part of our normal rotation.  Because I stayed up late with L watching a chick flick and then had to get up with a bottle-feeding baby (I miss night nursing) and then get up with a dog and then get up with the chickens, I only got four hours of sleep.  I was so tired by the time I left the park I almost rear ended a truck.  I saw the brake lights, but the message to slow down just didn't get to my feet fast enough.  I really wasn't that close, but I did have to give my brakes an extra punch.

D has a new haircut!

 I was so tired, the picture of D eating a chip was the only one I took at the park.  But we did have fun!

Co-sleeping-it's why my kids are close!

The picture above is the last moment of peace I had for the next 24 hours.  Baby LJ woke up today.  She hasn't been too happy to be awake.  Maybe I ate something that disagreed with her.  Maybe I had too much coffee on Monday and Tuesday.  Maybe she just hit that 2-3 week growth spurt and wants to eat non-stop.  But she has been fussy-not as fussy as other babies I've had, but fussy for her.  I was too tired to stop by the store and get milk Tuesday, so I went today.  Of course I picked the line that had the new cashier that was sooooo slooooowwww.  LJ woke up and cried and cried, strapped in her baby carrier with nothing but an unsympathetic IJ to hold her bottle.  I'm glad the store was mostly empty. I spent the afternoon feeding her, changing her diapers, burping her, walking her, getting her to sleep, sneaking away, and going back to start over a few minutes later.  D got no nap, the other kids fended for themselves...it was a long day.  But we did two loads of laundry, the shopping, made meringue cookies and sugared strawberries, and had a salad with dinner.  I couldn't have done it without those older kids!  But if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have had to make dinner or do laundry-haha!