I have so many great pictures from our weekend at Twin Firs! This was Baby's first trip and we did our best to inoculate her with pollen, mold, and dust, just like we did with the rest of our allergy-free children. This was accomplished by rolling her around in the grassy pasture and having her breathe deeply in the shag carpeting... Just Kidding! We just went for walks around the property. This was also the first trip that AC #1, Child #5, and I have been on since Christmas! Our family is now so big we have to travel in two vehicles. We were also happy to host a good friend of AC #1 for the weekend.Here is AC #1 and her baby sister.
The first thing we early risers did on Saturday morning was go down to the pond and catch some trout for breakfast. My Pathetic Doberman had never seen a trout before, so when the first fish was reeled in, she went nuts. We have decided that she is part lab and we wasted our money on a purebred dog. I have never seen or heard of a Doberman that likes water, that plays fetch, or is so interested in birds and fish! Every time anyone reeled in, My Pathetic Doberman ran into the water and tried to grab whatever was on the hook. Sometimes it was only a hook.
Here is Baby's first trip to the pond! This is always a special event in the lives of our babies. Baby nursed nonstop over the weekend. And eating nonstop means pooping nonstop. I ran out of diapers in one day and had to do laundry! Finally her nursing problems are gone, thank goodness. I am so happy! But I am also exhausted from the catch up nursing we have
been doing. She nurses for hours straight all day and then sleeps deeply at night. We have an appointment with the lactation consultant today sometime and will have an official weight for tomorrow's post. I'm thinking she is almost nine pounds; birth weight at last!But one of the best parts of Baby's weekend was the start of the smiles! My heart thrills every time she gives a big ole grin! Of course she isn't really looking at anyone when she is smiling, but boy is she cute!
Child #4, without his magnetic letters, had to find a new obsession for the weekend: BUGS! Luckily, Child #2 knows exactly where to find the coolest bugs. She created this container, complete with habitat (vocab word for the day) and bugs, which Child #4 carried with him all day, every day. We had him let the bugs go at the end of every day and replaced them with new bugs in the morning. He had ants, potato bugs, beetles, some larvae, centipedes, and a stink bug. The centipede almost escaped a few times, so I had to remove him before he made a home in the couch.
Child #5 blossomed at Twin Firs. She was so funny and dirty and cute! Her grandad
really enjoyed seeing how much she had changed since Christmas. She had so much fun fishing (she was only holding the pole in this picture) and holding live fish. She played with her brother's bugs. She rode her bike. She ate junk food. She talked and sang and made jokes ("That's not a baby, that's a bug!"). She picked flowers. She learned to identify ferns and stinging nettles and buttercups and "fairy flowers."
Child #3 poses for me every Spring in the same place holding daisies. I told him the first year he stops doing this for me is the year he no longer loves me. How is that for mother guilt? Sadly, one of his pet goldfish died while we were gone. He cried himself to sleep last night after telling me he wasn't having a very good day. I asked him if he thought there were cats in fish heaven. I expected him to say no, but once again, he surprised me. This is what he told me: "Yes, there are cats in fish heaven. Just like there are lambs in lion heaven. The lambs and the lions snuggle together in lion heaven." I was shocked at this profound Biblical thought, because I don't remember telling him about the lion laying down with the lamb. And neither does DH.
And last, but not least, is a symbolic picture. This was a giant blackberry bramble growing over tree stumps that was so tall I had to use a ladder to pick the berries last year. Although the berries were tasty, the bramble was an eyesore and blocked our view of the driveway (not safe with little kids riding their bikes). DH mowed the patch a few trips ago and burned the stumps last weekend. Child #2 transplanted a cherry tree, reviving life in what was once ruin.If you can't see the symbolism, you need to go back to high school literature (haha)!
