Is it over yet?

The week, I mean.

Monday featured a field trip to Independence Lake, a recreation area, with I's 2nd grade class. The kids see and hear a presentation about amphibians which includes slides, recordings of frog and toad calls, and live frogs and toads to hold. From there you go out to the swamp, also known as a vernal pool, scoop up muck from the bottom using a large net, and dig through it for living things like snails, crawfish, bugs, and eggs. The weather was absolutely delightful, featuring both rain and snow. This activity is followed by a picnic, usually outdoors, but we ate indoors due to the inclement weather. On the way home it hailed large chunks of ice, astonishingly hard, leaving a one inch coating on the ground.

Tuesday J. went to the orthodontist, a place that is always a little nerve wracking to take the little ones to, since it is located in a beautifully restored historic mansion. The waiting area is luxurious and quiet. Thankfully, they are always on time, so the wait was very short. I was requested to come into the exam room, which is unusual. After 2 years of spacers, braces and retainers she is hardware free! She doesn't need to wear the retainer any more.

Wednesday morning was a La Leche League meeting which I was leading. As a Leader I should get there early to help set up and be prepared, but I skated in just as the meeting was supposed to begin. It was a good meeting. The official title was "The Advantages of Breastfeeding" but I decided to focus on the emotional aspects rather than just the health, convenience, and economic advantages that are usually discussed. I asked moms what their baby would say the biggest advantage is, and I asked them how breastfeeding had changed them as a person. A nice discussion ensued.

That evening we discovered nits in L's hair. We knew he'd been exposed to head lice, and had checked several days prior and found nothing, so were relatively unconcerned. We've never had lice before, and I'd always dreaded it. Luckily he was the only one with any, and he has short, sparse hair. I wasn't sure at first that they were nits, although they did cling to the hair shaft like glue as described, but we examined one under the kids' microscope, and compared it to photos we found on this website: www.headlice.org. I kept him home the next morning and combed them all out. He had around 20 or so. He stayed home the rest of the day and after finding his head clean the next morning I sent him to school. I spent the rest of the day vacuuming furniture and laundering bedding. The psychological scalp itching has been the worst part for me.

Thursday night I. had a 2rd grade concert, featuring singing. It was nice, but made the evening challenging. I started out behind due to Mt. Washagain in the laundry room, and was trying to pay the bills. I lost track of time while trying to get Quicken to do a year end file saving and creating a new one, which not only didn't work, but seemed to crash the program making my file unrecoverable. ARGHHH! False alarm, I was able to restore the checkbook file.

I took I. to her piano lesson, but was now 15 minutes late to pick up J., inconveniencing her soccer coach, who waited until I arrived, despite my phone call assuring him that I was almost there and he didn't need to wait, since she was outdoors at the highschool where there are crowds of people attending many other events, making it a safe place to wait. D's practice ended at the same time as J's so I was even later to get him, but his coach didn't feel compelled to wait. I raced home, getting a phone call just as I approached the house informing me that "Keegan had a blowout." He was soaked, and when I changed him I discovered his apparatus was pointed up (not how I'd left it so he must have been exploring). I raced out the door and took J. to piano and picked up I. Then I went back to get J. 20 minutes later, at 6pm. In between I threw together leftovers, cheese crisps, sandwiches, for the kids to eat. Then off to the concert at 6:45pm. When we returned, as I walked in the door I smelled the unmistakable odor of poop. I was quickly informed that K. had ANOTHER blowout, #2 this time. D. had swabbed him off with wet hand towels (has he never heard of a diaper wipe, or "butt wipe" as they are known in our house?) K. had refused to get in the bath because D. had unknowingly tried to lure him in with a large swimming turtle that K. is terrified of in the bath. He loves it when he is outside the bath and it is in. I cleaned up the heap of poopy clothes and towels, tracked down K. and put him in the bath. Daryl went upstairs with antibacterial wipes and wiped off the remote and several other items that K. had managed to smear.

Friday dawned with me feeling a little depressed and overwhelmed. The kitchen was a wreck, the bills still weren't paid, Mt. Washagain hadn't diminished in size, and we were completely out of fruit, milk and several other staples, like diapers in A's size. I attempted to whine to my depressed sister, but she was easily able to one-up me in a game of "who is having the worst day." I was able to wrap one of K's big diapers around A. and after successfully whining to a friend on the phone, off we went. We stopped at the Golden Arches for sustenance and then visited Meijer, a store that is similar to a Super W--a grocery store combined with a low cost array of "stuff" ranging from lawn chairs and bbqs to clothing to toys. I detest this store because of its poor service and unpleasant atmosphere, but it defines one stop shopping, not to mention low cost. This store has an unusual bagging arrangement. As the cashier fills bags she loads them onto a small bag carousel and keeps turning it. It is the customer's job to take the bags off the carousel and put them in the cart. However, if you have a large order, which I invariably do, since I avoid this store if it all possible, so when I go I need EVERYTHING, you are still unloading your cart when the carousel is full, since they don't put very many items in their flimsy plastic sacks. The cashier then proceeds to stand there and WATCH while you stop unloading your cart to remove the bags and put them in another cart, if you are so lucky to have one. A typical response is, *Heavy sigh* "I suppose you're going to need a second cart?" as they phone for someone to bring a cart over to their register. On Friday I had to snag my own extra cart from an employee passing by. The cashier stood there staring off into space, completely ignoring me and the 3 small children I had just finished dragging through the store for 90 minutes, as I loaded the bags into the cart and then resumed my unloading of the $300 of groceries onto the belt. At one point I attempted to ask her a question, but after 3 attempts all I got was "Are you talking to me?" She was apparently trying to wait on me while pretending that I was not actually there. I then informed her that I would need assistance pushing the 2nd cart out of the store. This was greeted by another sigh, and she grudgingly phoned for help.

(Only once while shopping at this store have I had a cashier bother to put a sack into my cart. When I commented on her behavior she told me that it is store policy that they still must help any customer that needs it, especially those with small children. I was astonished and told her of my past experiences. She said that many cashiers are unaware of the store policy on this issue.)

One of my purchases at Meijer on this day was a large bottle of premixed margaritas, and I was planning to have a little "happy" hour. On my way up the hill from the car to the house, it slipped from my hand, dousing my feet and the path with broken glass and mighty tasty smelling margaritas.

I took the kids to Dairy Queen (they ask me to take them EVERY DAY! As if.. LOL) On our way home after ruining our dinner, Daryl called. He was just departing the retirment party of his former advisor and colleague. The official party was over but people were heading to a local restaurant/pub with a beautiful patio and backyare, one of our former hangouts and a place I love but rarely go these days. He said he would meet us at the 7pm piano recital. I was counting on his help with dinner, or I would have once again served "whatever" had I known he wouldn't be there. I rushed through the barbequing of hamburgers, cleaning up of faces and out the door again. Daryl was late, and K. felt he needed to speak to me in his loudest voice, so after a few minutes, I had L. take him outside, where, thankfully, there was a playground. Daryl arrived just in time to change the recently filled diaper of K. :) He missed the girls' performances but after the recital during the refreshments they got back on stage and played for him.

All of Us

All of Us, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Clean up good, don't we?

T. (5), I. (7), and L. (9) in front row.

J. (11), Grandma (D's mother), D. holding A. (5 months), Paula holding K. (22 months), D. (12).

First Communion

First Communion, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

I. received the sacrament of Holy Eucharist for the first time on April 30.

I Want To Be the Baby

I Want To Be the Baby, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Yes, he does have this issue!

Troublemaker Boy

Troublemaker Boy, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

As he is affectionately known to us.

A Girl's Best Friend

A Girl's Best Friend, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

A. is supported by Spot. She can sit up on her own for a short time, then over she goes!

Five!

Five!, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Preparing to blow out the candles on her rainbow cake. Those are m&ms forming the stripes of the rainbow.

You Can Bet On It

Three people have told me recently that they are betting we'll have another child. They seem so sure. "If I had to put money on it..." and "my money's on you, Paula" (meaning they think I'll prevail should D. initially disagree). Do I think they're right? Only time will tell. Will I do my best to convince D. and make it happen? You can bet on it!

Easter Blessing

5 years ago yesterday my sweet T. was born. It was Saturday, the day before Easter. Friday evening, as I stood in line at the video store, I noticed a pretty strong contraction. Since I was already a week past my "due date" and I'd had several nights of fruitless contractions, so I didn't get too excited. I came home, ate dinner, and watched "Message in a Bottle", the movie I'd rented. All evening long I continued to have one strong contraction every 30 minutes or so. They were even more noticeable when lying down on the couch during the movie. It ended around 11:30pm and I went to bed. A short time later I heard a loud unidentifed noise, so woke D. up to investigate. He didn't find anything and unfortunately was unable to fall back to sleep. Meanwhile, the contractions become stronger and about 10 minutes apart. D. got up and went into the office to do some work while he had insomnia, and I got up and paced around the bedroom. After a while I went out and told him "this is it." I paced in the family room while watching PBS documentaries till around 3am, when I called my midwife, Lylaine Gavette (CNM). I told her "I think it's time," and she said "You think it is?" "I know it is."

We called my friend Tammy to come and be with the kids and headed off to the Bethany Birth Center. We almost forgot the infant carseat, but luckily I saw it sitting in the driveway where D. had set it when he carried it out of the house. It was about a 30 minute drive away, but much to our surprise, the freeway we needed to take was closed during the night for construction. (It was a very heavily traveled area so they only worked on it at night to keep daytime traffic moving.) I began to panic, but luckily D. knew how to get there via surface roads.

When we got there, Lylaine examined me and said I was 5cm dilated and very stretchy. She asked if I wanted her to break my water, and I said yes. She told us to call our family if they were coming because she thought it would go very fast once my water was broken. We called Tammy and told her to bring the kids. They arrived around 5am. J. came into the room to say hi and stayed. She was 6 at the time, but did not seem bothered as things got more intense. D. kept asking her if she wanted to leave but she said no. The birth center had a family room area where Tammy and the rest of the kids were waiting.

It was an unusual labor because the contractions alternated, one hard one followed by one less intense, continuing that way through transition. In addition, she wasn't coming down completely straight and pressing directly on my cervix, but was a little off to the side. This may have been the cause of the alternating strength contractions. Whenever I laid down, every contraction was strong. I preferred pacing/standing. Lylaine said this was OK, that it would just take longer, which it did. Finally I was at 8.5-9cm and she said, "I think you need to have about 8-10 good strong contractions and you'll be ready to push." I said, "Aren't these strong?" and she replied, "I mean in a row." In great irritation, I laid down on the bed. After 4-5 very hard contractions in a row I began involuntarily pushing.

We called in Tammy and the kids. I had been on my side, but now got on my back, semi-upright. I., who was 2 year and 9 months at the time, was fascinated, and leaned on the foot of the bed watching closely. Tammy had to move her over so Lylaine had a spot! Lylaine told D., "Come her eand catch your baby." I pushed out the head halfway, the contraction ended, and during the next one I pushed it the rest of the way out. Then I prepared to rest a moment while waiting for another contraction. Everyone began urging me to push the baby out the rest of the way. "What do you mean?" I asked in annoyance. "I'm not even having a contraction!" At this point Lylaine looked me in the eye and said very seriously, "Paula, I need you to push the baby out right now." I took a deep breath and began pushing, with everyone cheering me on. Lylaine eased her shoulders out as I pushed and out the rest of her slid. She put her on my chest and began rubbing her vigorously with a towel. "Wait! What is it?" I asked. She paused and removed the towel. I saw that it was a girl and that she was rather blue. She seemed to be breathing but not very vigorously and she hadn't cried. Meanwhile, the nurse had brought over the oxygen and had the tube arranged to blow in her face. After a moment or two she gave a little cough, then cried and began breathing strongly.

Apparently the cord had been around her neck, although not really tightly, and Lylaine had been able to loosen it once her head emerged, but it was being compressed between her body and the birth canal so she wasn't getting any oxygen. The others could see this, and that her head was rather blue, but I couldn't see her head from my angle. That was why D. stepped out of the way and didn't catch her after all. Her intial Apgar was only 6. The nurse who was there told me that in a hospital birth (she worked in a hospital also) it would have been handled much differently. She said they would have screamed at me to push, and pushed on my belly or pulled on her if necessary, and whisked her away from me right away. I asked Lylaine how serious of a situation it had been, and she said, "Well, we like to have to resuscitate as little as possible." Her heartbeat had been monitored frequently during labor, just as in my hospital births, and there had never been any sign of distress (or they would have immediately transferred me to the hospital), so it must have only become a problem at the very end. Her face was very bruised from pressing on my pelvic bone and remained blue for 24 hours or so. She also had darker bruises around her eyes that lasted several weeks. I was very sore on the inside, bruised also, even though I had no tears or stitches. She arrived at 7:57 am, weighing 10 lbs. 7 oz., and I went home about 2 hours later (the minimum stay required).

Tammy had taken the kids home earlier, and after D. retrieved them we all napped. The next day we had Easter dinner with our friends down the street.

She is my sweetest child, naturally polite and grateful. She was the baby for the longest and during that time I referred to her as "my best friend" because she went everywhere with me and was SO easy, truly a delight, even as a toddler. I'm so glad I have her!

Sweetness Personified

IMG_0232, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Five months later, I continue to feel so blessed to have you, graced by your presence in our lives.

Wide Eyed Wonder

IMG_0234, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Pretty in pink

IMG_0238, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

T Holding A

IMG_0244, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Big sister T is 5 today and lil' sis is 5 months.

5 Years and 5 months

IMG_0246, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Vacation Recap

DAY 1

We left home early enough to eat at a fast food Mexican restaurant (Mexican Meal #1) on the way, to prepare ourselves for the delicious Mexican food that would soon be available to us.

We arrived in Arizona around 5:30pm--the flight had been delayed 30 minutes. By the time we picked up our rental bus (12 passenger van) and got to the hotel (Pointe at Squaw Peak) it was 7pm. I checked in while D. and the kids wandered the resort, partly to stretch their legs, partly so the staff wouldn't be aware that there were really 9 of us instead of the 6 I told them and partly so we could carry our own bags and avoid the massive tip we'd have to leave. We had 13 items of checked luggage and an additional 7 carryons.

We let the kids go for a swim, and then went to eat dinner. It was now near 9pm, and the waitress commented on how good our kids were. Since it was nearly midnight Eastern time, they were basically asleep in their chairs, too busy keeping themselves awake and upright to cause any mischief.

DAY 2

We hung around the hotel, which had a water park, until 3pm. Then we headed north to Sedona. Along the way we ate at little hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint (Mexican meal #2) which was delicious! We just hung out and watched movies that evening. I was still pretty congested and pretty tired.

DAY 3

We spent the early part of the day at Red Rock Crossing along Oak Creek, a truly beautiful and sacred spot, which we had visited many times when we lived in Arizona.

We spent the afternoon around the pool. For dinner, we asked the concierge to recommend a good Mexican restaurant (Mexican meal #4). We were all standing there in front of her, dressed and ready to head out the door of the hotel. She looked at us and said, "Somewhere that can seat all of you?" D. very politely said, "That would be preferable." We should have taken that ridiculous question as an omen.

She called a restaurant and had them reserve us a table so we headed right over. We were seated on a patio with heaters. Most of the tables around us had families with only 1 or 2 children, and we soon became aware that we were being stared at. People were literally pointing and counting heads, nudging one another to point us out to their companions. After about half of a potent margarita, this started to seem somewhat amusing. D. had to restrain himself from standing up and holding up 7 fingers to the crowd, and yelling "Yes, they're all ours!" The restaurant had a glass window that looked out on the patio and the diners inside were checking us out as well. During dinner we managed to spill 2 drinks (the kids, not the margarita soaked adults) and have a (mercifully short) toddler moment. One woman brought her little girl over to "see the baby" which gave her an opportunity to check us out more closely and ask me a few questions. By the end of the meal, we were laughing hysterically. I was the last one out, and I hurried to buckle A. into her carseat, knowing that I would be cornered. Too late, some nearby diners seized the opportunity to ask if they were all mine, tell me they couldn't do it, and bless me for it.

Although we've attracted attention in the past, it was never like this. Bizarre to have an entire restaurant full of people watching you.



DAY 4

D. took the 3 eldest children to the Grand Canyon. They hiked 4.5 miles down and back up and had a great time. I stayed at the resort with the 4 younger kids. I., who had been behaving as a true princess, complaining about the food in restaurants and refusing to eat, whining that she didn't have flipflops, refusing to sit where we told her on the airplane, etc. was perfectly happy and very helptul that day. I don't know if it was just that laying around the pool, watching TV while K. napped, and laying around the pool some more was right up her alley, or whether it was the fact that she was now the oldest child. Anyway, I'd been worried that it might be a drag of a day for me, but while it was a little boring, it was a very easy day.

DAY 5

We layed around the pool all morning, then had lunch in Sedona and drove down to the Valley of the Sun (as the Phoenix area is known to locals). We met friends for dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants (Mexican meal #4). This just about caused an uprising, since the kids were tired of Mexican. Unfortunately, this restaurant featured the worst service I've ever had. We were there for an hour before we even got drinks. Since we'd been munching chips and hot salsa, we were VERY thristy. After about 45 minutes, D. went and inquired, and they said the drinks were coming right up, but it was still another 15 minutes before they materialized. The restaurant wasn't very busy, so I have no idea what the problem was. We spent that night at a Comfort Inn in Tempe, so as not to interfere with our friends' getting ready for school and work.


DAY 6

D. had to work this day, he was training with neurosurgeons at Barrows Neurological Institute in Phoenix. The kids and I went to breakfast at the Wildflower Cafe, my favorite bakery, and then the phone started ringing, girlfriends wanting to know when they could see me. Sharon, who had invited us to dinner that evening, was surprised to learn that we were in town since she had thought we would be there the following Friday. She had a very nice drinks and appetizers get together at her house that evening and other friends stopped by. We spent the next 3 nights with the H. familly, who has the most space.

DAY 7

The women hung around the house while the men took the older kids hiking up Camelback mountain. Friends came over and visited. My friend had arranged a babysitter for evening, so a dozen adults (and A.) went out to dinner. We had a lovely time, staying out late.

DAY 8

We ate breakfast at the Wildflower again, then headed out to the desert for a hike in the Superstition Mountains with some friends. We even found a geocache! It was a lovely day. Afterward, we went out for ice cream and then met more friends at the park where we all used to play when the kids were little. Our hosts made a lovely dinner for us that evening.

DAY 9

We flew home.

Girlfriends

Here I am with some of my closest friends. I miss them SO much! We met at the park where we'd often spent hours together with our kids when they were small. I'm 2nd from the left in the pink shirt with K.

Hiking in the Desert

I am the baby wearing mama with A. in the sling. We hiked the Wind Cave trail at Usury Park in the Superstition Mountains. The great thing about Arizona is that the wilderness is always nearby. This was about a 30 minute drive from where we were staying.

Top of the Canyon

Top of the Canyon, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

D. took young D., J. and L. to the Grand Canyon. They hiked down 4.5 miles and back up well before dark. I stayed at the hotel with the young set and enjoyed the sun and pool.

Playing in Oak Creek

Playing in Oak Creek, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Red rock crossing in Sedona is one of our favorite places, and this particular spot is where we always go. Known for its spiritual energy, the spot attracts a lot of New Agers. Some meditators actually asked us to tell our kids to stop throwing rocks because it was interfering with their meditation! This is a public place, but we did move downstream a little.

Oak Creek

Oak Creek, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Frolicking in the 50 degree water of Oak Creek.

D & P

D & P, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Here we are, enjoying the sun. I am feeling much better!

Cool Shades

Cool Shades, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Everyone got new shades at the dollar store before we left. Here are L. and I. showing theirs off.

We're Leaving On a Jetplane

Here's the crew, waiting in the airport. The only flaw in this trip was that I got sick the day before, an awful cold or severe allergy attack--I'm not even sure which. I was pretty miserable this first day, and while the photo was being taken I was in an airport store purchasing overpriced pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately they did not carry Valium or its equivalent.

Jet Lag

We returned home very late (Eastern Standard Time) on Monday night. Discovered that you can't get a pizza in our small town after 11pm so were forced to stop at the grocery store, which thankfully stays open until midnight, to get some dinner and breakfast for Tuesday.

Although Arizona is 3 hours EARLIER than Michigan (after daylight savings time begins), so theoretically I should have felt less tired than usual on Tuesday evening, I was exhausted and in a complete fog. D. was in slightly better shape than I. The children were apparently feeling like it was 3 hours earlier, because they were extra vigorous. Sensing our weakness, like a pack of bloodhounds, they frolicked and ran amok until after 10pm. By then I was basically awake with my eyes open! LOL

A great time was had by all....more to come later.

Headed for Sunshine

This coming Sunday we leave for sunny Arizona--a spring break vacation. We will see our old and dear friends (YAY!) and visit Sedona and the Grand Canyon. We return on the 11th. I can hardly wait. We will be staying in a combination of nice resorts and our friends' houses--hopefully a true vacation for ME!

Struggling In My Leadership Role

On Easter Sunday morning I fully intended to take the older children to mass. D. and I had been the night before, so he would stay home with the little ones, since Easter mass is a little longer and you need to get there almost an hour early to get a seat. This is a real frustration of mine. Although I am happy that people who infrequently attend mass are moved to come on one of the holiest days of the year, I am resentful that it makes it so difficult for those of us who attend regularly. Small children don't have the patience to sit (or stand!) for over 2 hours and there is no nursery available on holidays. Usually the day is packed with other activities as well, meaning it has to be timed just so.

J. had agreed to go early with me on Easter and then D. would bring the others close to the time mass began. We hunted eggs and ate candy and breakfast, and then J. asked me to help her install her new computer game. At that point it was over an hour until we had to leave. The next thing I knew it was about 5 minutes until we needed to leave (although it was still an hour until mass began and we only live 5 minutes away). At that point I decided not to go. I figured the kids wouldn't complain. WRONG! They were shocked and upset that we didn't go.

D. supports me in raising the children Catholic, but doesn't really support or encourage me in my role as spiritual leader of the family. He thought it was a fine idea to skip mass. Sometimes I wish the burden of the decision making and the "making it happen" regarding religion didn't all fall on me.

When I saw how bothered they were, I held a small ceremony. We read the mass readings and listened to several Christian rock songs, very uplifting music, said the Our Father (Lord's Prayer) and lit a candle. I apologized to the kids for failing them and promised it wouldn't happen again.

Bittersweet

Terry Schiavo died today. I am happy that her suffering has ended, and by this I do NOT mean the suffering of being in a persistent vegetative state, I mean the suffering of dying of thirst and starvation. Apparently those who made the decisions that she should die and by the method of eliminating her food and water supply, believing that she could not feel the pain caused by this, were unaware of the irony that she was not suffering in any way staying alive, either.

I do not believe that anyone, even the most sincere family member, has the right to end another person's life even if they believe that is what the person wanted. Perhaps Terri should not have been resuscitated when her heart stopped--that would have been a natural death, but obviously that is water under the bridge. It would have been a different decision to not pursue any further treatment she might have needed to stay alive, but nourishment, even when provided by a tube, is not really a medical treatment.

Easter Vigil

D. and I were honored to be asked to be the godparents of Ilaria, our friends' new baby daughter. Her baptism took place on Saturday night during the Easter Vigil, at which time all people who have been preparing to become Catholics are initiated into the faith through baptism and confirmation. Any of the adults participating in this ceremony who have children that need to be baptized can do so at this time. Her father was being confirmed that evening. It is a beautiful but rather lengthy ceremony (3 hours) including full immersion (hot tub on the altar) baptisms. The adults and older children were head dunked 3 times, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" and babies and tots were dipped in up to their neck. Ilaria didn't cry, nor did most of the children.

Afterwards we went to their house and celebrated with some wine and laughter.

We gave her a Miraculous Medal as a gift. The medal looks like this:




The Meaning of the Front Side of the Miraculous Medal :

Mary is standing upon a globe, crushing the head of a serpent beneath her foot. She stands upon the globe, as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her feet crush the serpent to proclaim Satan and all his followers are helpless before her (Gn 3:15). The year of 1830 on the Miraculous Medal is the year the Blessed Mother gave the design of the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine Labouré. The reference to Mary conceived without sin supports the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—not to be confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, and referring to Mary's sinlessness, “full of grace” and “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28)—that was proclaimed 24 years later in 1854.

The Meaning of the Back Side of the Miraculous Medal:

The twelve stars can refer to the Apostles, who represent the entire Church as it surrounds Mary. They also recall the vision of Saint John, writer of the Book of Revelation (12:1), in which “a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.” The cross can symbolize Christ and our redemption, with the bar under the cross a sign of the earth. The “M” stands for Mary, and the interleaving of her initial and the cross shows Mary’s close involvement with Jesus and our world. In this we see Mary’s part in our salvation and her role as mother of the Church. The two hearts represent the love of Jesus and Mary for us. (See also Lk 2:35).



I wear this medal. It was created by Saint Catherine Labouré. The Virgin Mary appeared to her three times in 1830 and instructed her to create a medal that looks like this. The Blessed Mother told her, "Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck."

There is no superstition, nothing of magic, connected with the Miraculous Medal. The Miraculous Medal is not a “good-luck charm”. Rather, it is a great testimony to faith and the power of trusting prayer. Its greatest miracles are those of patience, forgiveness, repentance, and faith. God uses a Medal, not as a sacrament, but as an agent, an instrument, in bringing to pass certain marvelous results. “The weak things of this earth hath God chosen to confound the strong.”

Saint Catherine Labouré is an incorruptible. This means that although she died in 1876, her body has not decayed. She was exhumed in 1933 and her body is on display at 140 Rue du Bac, Paris. I had the privelege of seeing her and praying at her shrine when we visited Paris in 2002.

Heidi's Legacy

Found Friday afternoon, almost 2 weeks after her departure: a PILE of moldy vomit under the couch cushion. (And no, my house isn't that dirty--it amazingly had almost no odor). Ewww!

Blog Help--Leave a Comment, Please!

I have 2 computers online at home. Both are Macs. One is a laptop, the other is not. When I look at my blog on the laptop, it has a brown background, with ivory under the words, and you can clearly see the list of Blogs I Visit and the heading Archives is clear white. This is how I assumed everyone saw it. Then today I looked at it on the other computer, and saw that the background was brown, but no ivory under the words, so it is brown on brown, hard to read. I couldn't see the names of the blogs I visit (although the heading was there) unless I scrolled over them and then they appeared and disappeared again when the cursor moved away. The headings Archives and Recent Posts were white, but blurry and hard to read.

How does my blog appear to the rest of you? Please comment and let me know! I want it to appear as it does on the laptop and if it doesn't I'll fix it.

Look What I Can Do!

Look What I Can Do!, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Literally overnight, she went from being oblivious to toys/objects to reaching for them, successfully grabbing them, and putting them in her mouth! Amazing how quickly that happened (too quickly!)

The Princess at 4 Months

4months, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

She is beautiful and happy all of the time, even though she rarely naps (much to her momma's dismay!). She has 2 teeth and weighs in at 16 lbs. 8 oz. and is 26 1/2 inches long.

Birthday Food

I forgot to mention J's bday food choices: Eggo waffles for breakfast, hot lunch at school, and meat, cheese, bread and Russian dressing (bottled kind is always too sweet!) to make sandwiches from a (literally) world famous deli called Zingerman's in our area. For dessert she wanted cheesecake, which I made and decorated with strawberries in the center and mandarin oranges around the edge so it looked like a giant flower.

For her family birthday party, I needed food to serve 24. I'd picked up a 9.5lb. pork tenderloin for $17 on sale the previous week, so I marinated that and we grilled it--delicious! My mother in law brought potato salad and I made a Caesar salad. I ended up making 2 cakes, because I went to the store wanting to buy 2 boxes of Mam Papaul's Black Velvet cake mix (tastes like homemade) to make one GIANT cake and they only had one box, so I bought one chocolate and one lemon velvet. The box contains a frosting mix, which you add milk to and simmer in saucepan till thick. Then you cool it and add a LOT of butter and some cream cheese--absolutely delcicious. So I made the cakes one day and did the cooking part of the frosting, added the butter and cream cheese and frosted them the next, and decorated them the day of the party. The chocolate frosting was light brown, and I made it purple, but then D. said it would look MORE purple and less muddy if I added yellow. I tried it and now it was dirt brown! Added more purple and it was now darker purple. Adding orange made it look like darker dirt, so added MORE purple and called it quits--it was an iridescent dark brown, actually looked nice on a light brown background.

What I'm Reading

I just finished a book called "Inside the Kingdom" by Carmen bin Ladin, former sister-in-law of Osama. She was married to one of his many brothers for 9 years, is now divorced. Interesting first person story of the extreme repression Saudi women live in. Not great literature, but an easy, fast, interesting read.

I am currently still trying to finish "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie. My book club read it last month and I never finished it. Very long and a difficult read, but it grows on you if you stick with it.

I am also reading "Little Earthquakes" by Jennifer Weiner, author of "Good in Bed" and "In Her Shoes." This one is about a group of women in a prenatal yoga class that become friends and the life events they help each other through. Each chapter is told by a different woman character. I liked her other books and this one is enjoyable as well. Not deep, just fun.

Something I Never Thought I'd Do

Saturday our dog Heidi went to a new home. This was actually a happy event for her and for the adults at my house. However, my 11 year old daughter J. was griefstricken by this event. She threw herself on the ground and wailed, said she hated me many times, begged, screeched, and carried on for hours. She kept saying we didn' t care about her feelings, that she loved Heidi so much, and that she'd give back all her birthday gifts if she could keep her. I never thought I'd deliberately do something that would hurt one of my children so much. It was a hard bit of parenting. I wavered, but D. reinforced our decision. It was the right thing to do. She was picked up at 7am Saturday morning. J. got up to say goodbye to her, but the hysterics were over and by that afternoon she seemed almost cheery. It helped that that was the afternoon of her family birthday party, and all the relatives were coming to celebrate with her. Since then J. hasn't said much about it, but seems happy.

No one knows how to push your buttons like your sister. My sister, who is a "neat freak" and boasts a spotless house even with 4 children living in it, and has only a gerbil for a pet, felt that I was making the wrong decision, which she made clear. I called my sister in the midst of the hysteria for moral support and she sided with my daughter! And after we hung up, she let my niece call back and commiserate with J., telling her that her whole family was sad, too, whipping her into a real frenzy. I did not appreciate that. My sister didn't care how Heidi felt, but felt that she should stay for J's sake. The facts of the matter are that J. actually didn't spend much time with Heidi, and Heidi wasn't very attached to the kids. She prefers adult attention, which we don't have to give. The time and money that the adults spent grooming, cleaning up messes, and repairing damaged doors will now be time and money we can spend on and with our kids. So my sister said, "We'll just have to agree to disagree." She is right, but she said it in a smug way and I could tell she felt better than me as she said it. I'm an easygoing person, but I could feel my temper flaring, so I bit my tongue. She claims that she would have taken Heidi if her husband would agree, but after 2 rounds of diarrhea she would have wanted to get rid of her, guaranteed. We lived with that and other problems this dog had for 7 years.

A rescue organization called Tails of Hope from Maryland took her and will be finding a new home for her. They had volunteers each drive her a leg of about 60-70 miles of the journey from Michigan to Maryland. I didn't contact them, they approached me after seeing an ad I placed in Petfinder.org.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my daughter J's 11th birthday. She is my 2nd child, my oldest daughter. Stealing an idea from Kim, I'll share her birth story here.

My due date was March 8, 1994. My first child had been a week late, so I wasn't surprised that she hadn't arrived yet. It was around 10am and I was showering while D. watched Barney on PBS. After the shower I went to the bathroom and as I sat down--POP! my water broke. I really had no doubt that that was what happened, but I sat on the couch on a towel for a few minutes just to be sure. I paged D., who was teaching a class and this led to great excitement on the part of his students. Our insurance company provided free pagers to expectant couples (this being before the day when everyone carried their own phone!) Next I called the doctor, who said to go to the hospital, and our neighbor, who had said she would watch little D. for us.

D. came home right away and we went to the hospital. I ate a pear on the way since I knew they wouldn't let me eat anything once I got there. I wasn't having contractions, so they put me in a room and had me walk the halls. I got frequent drinks from the fountains since they were only giving me ice chips. Around 1-2pm contractions got going and after that I stayed in my room. This would be my first VBAC since I'd had a c-section with my first child. I had read the book "The Silent Knife" in the meantime and had lots of ideas about preventing that from happening.

My doctor was supportive of a VBAC but wanted me to have continous internal and external monitoring and an IV. We compromised that I would have external monitoring only, 30min. on and then 30 off alternating. I confronted him with the fact that research didn't support the need for such intense monitoring and he agreed, but said it was the standard of care, and that if we were ever to go to court and he said he did things other than the standard of care because it was what the patient wanted that he would lose. I appreciated his honesty, although I did try to change to a midwife but my insurance company wouldn't let me switch mid-pregnancy. In the end, he wrote a little statement in my chart which said that he'd explained the risks of my choices to me, which he read to me in the hospital in the presence of the nurse. CYA--can't say I blame him in our litigious society.

The nurse kept offering that I could change my mind any time and have an epidural, until D. told her we knew that and asked her to quit bringing it up. My doctor had told me that not having an epidural would increase my chances of a successful VBAC. I wanted a natural childbirth anyway. The nurse brought me a rocking chair so I could rock during my time on the monitor and I liked it so well I rocked most of the time. I was doing OK until I hit about 7cm. I had gone from 5 to 7 in about 30 minutes so after another 30 they checked again and I was still 7, which was discouraging. Luckily it was my nurse's dinner break about this time so another nurse came in to be with me and she was VERY encouraging, a real cheerleader, sat right down with me and talked me through some of it. Soon they had me get on the bed which had a bar above my head which I hung on to through some of the contractions.

My doctor confirmed that it was time to push, but told me he'd be waiting in the lounge because women often push for several hours, especially with first babies, which is what I was considered since it was my first vaginal delivery, and he found pushing to be boring. So irritating. I pushed through several contractions, and then the nurse began getting the cart ready and herself dressed in mask and gloves. I asked what she was doing and she told me that the baby was almost here, she could see the head, and she called the doctor, who was very surprised to be called back so soon. He gave me a large episiotomy as she was crowning because he said I was tearing inside, which I never saw/felt any evidence of but didn't really care at that moment. I was sitting up holding on to the bar as she slid out and I saw that she was a girl. I was elated! I really wanted a daughter. She was 9lbs. 12 oz. and arrived at 9:16pm.

I held her and nursed her for a while and then she was taken to the nursery for a bath and "observation" which was supposed to take about an hour. They moved me to another room and brought me some dinner--I was starving. D. went up to the nursery to check on J. and found her naked and screaming in a warmer, which dismayed him. He wanted to stay with me until they brought her back but they told him it would be a while, and he needed to get back home and relieve the neighbor's son who was now at our house with a sleeping big brother D. They didn't bring her back to me until 1am! Even then I had to call and bug them and they basically told me they were busy so it would be a while longer.

She is sweet and sensitive, nurturing, smart, quiet, creative, a talented writer--I'm priveleged to be her mom.

Brag

My oldest son, D., who is 12 and in 7th grade, was invited to be in a program called the Midwest Academic Talent Search (MATS) run by Northwestern University based on his standardized test scores. Part of what being in this program means is that he had an opportunity to take the ACT now. He took it a few weeks ago and we got his scores today. He got a composite score of 26 with a percentile rank of 86th percentile as compared with all the highschool seniors who took the test! His section percentiles were: 99% in Reading, 84% in English, 65% in math and 58% in Science. The composite is an average of his scores in each section.

Personally, I am very impressed with how well he did, especially since I was a good student and I got a 28 composite in highschool!

I know you are wondering, as we did when he was first offered the "opportunity" to take the test: what is the point? He will receive offers to attend special programs and even be approached early by colleges if he peformed well.

Nearest Book

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!


"They will spread a scarlet cloth over that, and finally a covering of goatskin leather on top of the scarlet cloth. Then they shall insert the carrying poles into the table. Next they must cover with a blue cloth the lampstand, the lamps, snuffers, trays, and the resevoir of olive oil."

It's from the bible: Numbers 4: 8-9.

Don't be impressed, I don't usually have the bible so close at hand, but I'm trying to read daily scripture for Lent.

Today

I. is my most defiant child. She hate the taste of the chewable antibiotics and has been complaining and refusing to take them. My MIL brought Froot Loops and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and she was told that she couldn't have any until she took the medicine. Later my MIL found the pills in the bathroom garbage. I guess I'll have to run the house like a mental institution, and stand and watch the inmates take their medication. LOL I will call to get the liquid form on Monday, but she hates all medicine and I don't anticipate that being any more acceptable.

I. and I had to attend a church retreat today for First Communion preparation. We had to bring a loaf of homebaked bread, to reinforce the theme of breaking bread together. She and I made Irish Soda bread this morning, since we didn't have time yesterday to make a yeast bread. The retreat was from 10am-2pm, about an hour too long, IMO. Sadly, my MIL had to leave at 3pm. How many days till D. returns?

The Icing on Cake

I awoke an hour earlier than usual , after a very sleepless night with A., to get up with the older kids since D. usually does that but he is out of town. I went to make coffee, which he usually does and I for some reason HATE to do, only to find that we were OUT of coffee--the icing on the cake. I found a few crumbles and mixed them with some decaf and it was enough for one cup and enough to prevent a caffeine headache.

I called the doctor first thing in the morning to get an appointment for I. and I made one for T. as well, since she has had the same nose issues for a week, without the fever, and her entire face is chapped, giving her a Fred Flinstone beard and mustache look. First I had to talk to the nurse to even get an appointment, which irked me since I do NOT take my kids in at the first sign of a sniffle. Then the only appointment was at 9:15am. I called the dealership and they said I could come at 11am and I called my babysitter, who was going to watch K. while I had lunch with a friend to see if she could have him earlier so he wouldn't have to ride around to all of these places. She picked him up at 9am. I took the girls to the doctor, who agreed that I. has a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics. He thinks T. is getting one and gave me a prescription with the instructions to wait a few days before filling it to see if she improves. I had him recheck A's ears and he said that they are still infected and painful and that she may be developing a sinus infection as well. He gave me an antibiotic prescription for her with the same instructions. They only charged me for 2 office visits--Yeah! the 2nd best thing that happened this week. I dropped T. at preschool, and off I. and I went to the dealership. (In the meantime the car was running normally again and the engine light had turned off!) My sister couldn't pick us up now because her kids had a half day of school so she had to get them at noon. We didn't have anything to entertain us so I stopped and bought a deck of cards. They had a nice children's playroom, with a Playstation (something we don't have at home and NEVER will!) so we played cards and video games. The repair took less than an hour and they also fixed the passenger side window which wouldn't roll down.

We blasted home and my friend came over so we could ride together to a rather late lunch. There was nowhere to turn around with her car and the sitter's in the the parking area so I attempted to back down the driveway, and got stuck in the snow. I just wanted so badly to do something fun and had been looking forward to this all week. It took the 2 of them and sacrificing my bathmat for traction to get me out. We had a lovely lunch, and I got home around 4:45pm. I was talking with D. who had called when I suddenly realized that I had to pick up young D. from a middle school dance! Off I went AGAIN. I stopped on the way home at the coffee shop to get a bag of coffee, and will be forever grateful to the nice young man who ran out to the car after I left the coffee I'd just purchased on the counter. My MIL pulled in the driveway just ahead of me.
We ordered pizza and she had brought DVDs. The kids enjoyed "Yours, Mine and Ours" with Lucille Ball and we watched "Shall We Dance?" with Richard Gere, who gets ever sexier with age. It was a GREAT movie, really romantic and affirming of marriage--I highly recommend it.

The High Point of My Week

occurred on Thursday morning, when I was able to snap the lens back into my sunglasses without unscrewing the frame. I was on the way to my sister's house to visit, and it was a bright snowy day, and a long drive. I knew that the lens had fallen out of them but I hadn't had a chance to get out the mini screwdriver and play with them, and last tiyme I couldn't get it in without unscrewing the frame, and even with the screwdriver I didn't have the fine motor coordination necessary to hold the lens in place while screwing in the screw, so D. ended up doing it for me. I was so thrilled when it snapped back in on it's own! Just a symptom of the type of week I had when that was the best thing that happened.

I had a nice visit with my sister and her kids, and headed home. While on the freeway, the van suddenly slowed and would no longer go over 60mph, even with the pedal to the floor. This was accompanied by the engine light on the dashboard lighting up. This happened once before, but after turning it off and restarting it the problem disappeared. I got off at the next exit with the intent of trying this, turned left and found myself not on the service drive, but on a loop which was the onramp to the freeway going back in the direction I'd come from! (with no sign saying this). It was 9 miles until the next exit, where I tried turning off the engine and restarting it, and it the problem remained, more sluggish if anything. I drove home slowly. I had received a recall letter about a part needing to be replaced that could cause the engine to be underpowered and the engine light to go on. We hadn't taken it in yet since there were no nearby dealers that service Dodge Sprinters because they have Mercedes engines. I then called all the nearby dealers to see if any of them had begun servicing Sprinters in the meantime, but none had. Ironically, the nearest dealer that did was right near my sister's house, about a 45 minute drive away, where I had just come from! I was able to make a 10am appointment for the next day and was told it would take 60-90 minutes to repair. My sister agreed to pick me up so I wouldn't have to hang around the dealership.

That evening the girls had a piano lesson about 1/4 mile away and D. had an indoor soccer game about a 20 minute drive away. Usually his dad takes him, but he was now out of town. D. thought I should drive the girls to piano, take him to soccer, turn around and come back and get the girls, and then go right back and pick him up. I felt that 2 hours of car riding was not in the best interests of his younger siblings, not to mention that the van was acting up, so called around to get him a ride with a teammate. When I picked up the girls from piano, the piano teacher mentioned that I. was not feeling well. She hasn't been herself since having the flu 2 weeks ago, and has had a severe stuffy nose with lots of drainage. When she hugged me goodnight, she felt feverish. I attempted to take her temperature, but since she couldn't breathe through her nose at all and could not close her mouth, I couldn't get an accurate reading.

Wednesday Dawns

It is the morning of a La Leche League meeting, and I am a Leader, and I am supposed to lead this meeting, but forgot that so have not planned anything. I have to take T. to preschool at 9am and get the house picked up a little before the cleaning person arrives at 9am. I call my coleader and arrange to go to her house and brainstorm meeting ideas after I drop off T. Meanwhile, D. wants to have lunch with me so I have arranged for my babysitter to pick K. up from my coleaders home at 9:30 (meeting is at 10am and I am meeting D. at noon). However, K. is sleeping late and I am not as ready as I should be, so it is apparent that this plan won't work. Then I remember that N., who cleans, is happy to have me leave a sleeping K. for a few minutes while she is there. So I call my coleader and cancel going to her house, and plan to just run T. to school, come back and get K. ready and have the sitter pick him up here. I quickly pack T. a lunch since she will stay for lunch at preschool today because the sitter is taking K. with her to a class she teaches for toddlers and won't be able to pick up T. when the preschool part of the day is over.

When N. arrives she can't get up the driveway so she walks up the long driveway in the deep snow, leaving her car near but not in the road. She is wearing an open toed tennis shoe because she had foot surgery last week. She is uncomfortable leaving her car in that spot and so cancels cleaning and departs. Now T. is ready to leave for preschool and so am I, but K. is asleep. I hurriedly get him up and fed, and the sitter picks him up, and we FINALLY leave for preschool at 9:45. I arrive at the LLL meeting at 9:59, but luckily my coleader and I had hashed some discussion ideas out on the phone so I feel somewhat prepared. We normally have 8-12 people at a meeting, but there were about 15 there when I arrived and over the next 30 minutes they just kept on walking in, giving us a total of close to 30! Absolutely astonishing! I left after the formal part of the meeting was over, and rushed into town to meet D. for a quick lunch, as he only had about 45 minutes.

The church had arranged for Mark Price to portray St. Joseph (the church's patron saint) for the kids at religious education, but Tuesday's RE classes had been cancelled due to the weather, and we were told that we could bring our kids to the performance he was doing for the Wed. classes. I loaded up my kids, waking K. from his nap, picked up I. from school and the 2 daughters of a friend who just had her 6th child a week ago, and went to the church. K. is a very sweet child, but only 20 months old and my most rambunctious toddler to date. He proceeded to get very loud, shouting all the words he knows, "Book! Door! Coat! Byebye!..." and all of our names, quickly escalating to shrieks of glee. The church was silent except for the voices of the performer and my dear child. After a few minutes it was obvious there was no hope of him quieting down so I tried to remove him, but I was carrying A. and he lifted his feet so I was now dragging him by one arm down the aisle. My older kids, mortified with embarrassment, were pretending they didn't know me. At this point our priest rushed up and grabbed A. so I could pick up K. and we took them downstairs to the nursery. K. played happily with toys until someone came to tell me it was almost over. We cleaned up the toys and went back into the church where a question and answer session was going on. Unfortunately the questions went on for quite a while, and K. resumed his earlier behavior immediately, so I handed A. to J. and removed him AGAIN. The kids loved the performance, so it was worth the effort.

Things I forgot to mention

On the way out of the doctor's office on Monday, I fell and skinned both knees, without damaging my pants. They hurt a surprising amount and for some reason, my children felt the need to run their hands over my knees every time they walked by that afternoon, despite repeatedly being told, "Please don't touch my knees!" "Sorry Mom!" Repeat 20 times and you have the rest of my day.

Tuesday I got stuck in the driveway when I returned from retrieving Spot, so I left the van there, blocking the driveway. We share the driveway with our tenants, who live in small guest house behind our house, but I thought they were gone. Later, as I was bathing A. (who hadn't had a bath in longer than I care to admit), they came down the driveway and were unable to get around me. J. came running in to tell me, but I had to finish the bath and dress the baby. Then I handed her to D. and went outside, where one of the tenants was shoveling with this large scoop shovel, and he had moved enough snow that I could now move my van. Luckily, they were not in a hurry to go anywhere.

My sweet MIL sent me an email on Monday offering to spend the night on Friday since D. would be out of town for a few days, which I was unaware of since he hadn't informed me of his upcoming business trip. When confronted with the fact that I would prefer to be the first to know and that I would appreciate more than 3 days advance notice, he got mad at me for giving him a hard time. He said, "You don't have to take it out on me because you're in a bad mood." I said, "I'm not in a bad mood." He said, "Well, I am." I love him dearly, but accepting criticism is not his strongest area.

This Week...Where Do I Begin?

Saturday

A. had a bad cold accompanied by a fever, and had slept terribly for several nights in a row. D. got up with her in the morning and let me sleep for another hour or so, which helped tremendously.

I took J. to Piano Student Achievement Day, where they are tested in 4 areas: Performance, Auditory Awareness, Theory and Sightreading. (She got her results today and she scored 93.5 out of 100! ) When we got home, we decided to go downtown as a family and have dinner and visit a used bookstore. A new Mexican restaurant opened recently, Senor Lopez' Taqueria, and it is very good authentic Mexican cuisine (something there was a dearth of in Ann Arbor prior to this restaurant, although almost every other ethnicity, including Ethiopian, is represented) so we went there. There were 4 tables open when we arrived, each seated 4, and 2 were next to one another. Unfortunately the waitperson who seated the couple in front of us was oblivious to the fact that a large group was behind them, because she gave them one of the 2 adjacent empty tables. When she asked us how many, and we said 8, she looked confused and walked away. This was repeated 2 more times with 2 other waitpeople. Finally one came back and said we'd have to wait until a table opened up and they would push 2 together. We ogled the other patrons and cheered every time a table emptied until we were seated. The service was unfortunately very slow, and so we had eaten 4 baskets of chips and spilled 2 sodas (spilled by older and younger D., respectively, ages 42 and 12--not the little kids) by the time the food came. We scarfed it down, but now it was dark and colder, so we scratched the bookstore idea and stopped at a coffee shop with live music to listen for a little while. A. was getting fussy and had been not nursing well all day, latching on and pulling off repeatedly and often refusing the right side, so I was glad to get home.

Sunday

Another rough night with A., but again D. let me sleep in.

After church, we decided to go on another family outing, and went geocaching. We were successfull, even in the snow, and discovered a neat small area of public forest to roam in. We had to hurry home because D. had a soccer game.

That evening our church was having the first of 3 peformances by a man named Mark Price, whose ministry is traveling and bringing several biblical characters to life. He was doing Simon Peter that night at 7pm and I wanted to go. I had to take everyone with me because big D. had taken young D. to his soccer game, but the church was offering free childcare so I thought it would be OK. I didn't have dinner ready quickly enough and by the time everyone ate and donned their winter garb, got buckled into their seats and we arrived and disembarked, it was 7:15pm. I peeked in the door and it was a full house, and the performance was underway. It would have been horribly disruptive to troop in and climb over people to sit down, so we went home.

Sunday night A. coughed continuosly, keeping both of us awake most of the night.



Monday

No sleeping in on a Monday morning.

I made a dr. appt. for A. She had ear infections in both ears, which I'd suspected due to the fussy nursing. Useful information, but since they won't treat them unless they are severe, didn't really change anything. The nurse practicioner told me that she is too young for cough medication, but that she could take Benadryl before bed to dry her up and help her cough less.

The second night of the Mark Price ministry featured him acting out Judas. I went alone this time, got there early and got a seat well before it began. It was very moving. The performance was supposed to be followed by Reconciliation (formerly known as Confession). Our priest and 3 visiting priests would be stationed in different spots around the church and we would take turns confessing to them. However, there was a major snowstorm going on, and after the performance our priest announced that in view of the weather, and the large number of people and small number of priests, he felt it would be most prudent to perform a Communal Reconciliation, where he a said a prayer and then absolved all of us of our sins at once. A freebie! I was elated: absolution without face to face confession.

I went home, directly to bed, dosing my sweet baby with both Tylenol and Benadryl, and we both slept like babies that night.

Tuesday

Snow day!!

Halfway through the day the phone rang, and it was our vet. "Are you missing something?" they asked. Spot had run away again, was apparently picked up by a Good Samaritan and taken to the sherriff station, where they were unable to identify him using his license (?1?)

The Good Samaritan then took him to the nearby vet, who happened to be our vet. They recognized him as a client, but had to call and find out who the owner was from the license.

When I got there, I told them I needed an appointment for Heidi for her rabies shot and for Spot because he's been scratching his ears and we thought he had ear mites. She looked in his ears, said he had an ear infection, and charged me $35 for a tube of cream and an office visit.

In the afternoon we played board games and ate popcorn while K. napped. Later we had a nice family dinner with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

New Quiz

I just took this Commonly Confused Words Test and got:

Advanced
You scored 87% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 66% Expert!

My 2 Cents

Many bloggers have been discussing the Duggar family recently. They are featured in a television story titled "14 Kids and Pregnant Again! " The Duggars are "quiverfull" which means they believe in letting God determine the size of their family, forgoing any type of birth control or natural family planning. Many people are critical of them. As the mother of 7, who would gladly have another, my only thought is this: If you act so horrified at the thought of having more than 2 or 3 or however many children you already have, what message is this sending to those children? That more of them would be so terrible? I feel that by giving my kids the message that I'd love another, it affirms my love for them. They are so wonderful that I WOULD love another, and I want them to know it!

Wedding

Yesterday was the niece's wedding. She got married in a Seventh Day Adventist church by a Lutheran minister, with the SDA minister saying the opening prayer. She is Lutheran and he is SDA. It took us ALL day to get ready. We needed to leave by 2pm and I wanted an hour for myself to get ready, and of course I ended up with 25 minutes to shower, do hair and makeup and get dressed. I had bought a pair of black pantyhose, and even though I'd just filed my nails, my skin is kind of rough and I put a hole in them while putting them on. UGH! They were ultra sheer. Luckily I had another black pair in my dresser, even though I can't remember the last time I wore hose.

Here's how it went:

Get up
Eat breakfast
Put load in wash
Give T. a haircut
Nurse A.
Call MIL and ask if I. could spend the night
Bathe K. and T.
Pack I's backpack to spend night
Nurse A.
Look in basement for A's tights and K's belt
Put in another load of laundry
Nurse A.
Feed K. lunch
Put K. down for nap
Look in basement for A's tights and K's belt--find them this time
Nurse A.
Tell D, J and L. to eat lunch
Pack spare clothes and PJs and snacks for little ones
Nurse A.
Eat lunch
Tell D. to iron the boys' shirts
Tell D., J. and A. to eat lunch
Nurse A.
Give Daryl a haircut
Nurse A.
Get in shower
Blowdry hair
Curl T's hair and tell J. to pack some hair accessories--I"ll do hers in the car
Get dressed
Curl my hair
Put on most of makeup
Get mascara on lower edge of left eye
Attempt to wipe mascara off without smearing entire eye
Grab last minute items and run out door

Daryl had gone out in the morning to drive I. to Grandma's to get ready for wedding (2 hour roundtrip) because she was a flower girl in the wedding and had to be there very early to have her hair done (by my SIL because I am hair impaired). She was supposed to go there on Thurs. for the rehearsal and spend Thurs. and Fri. nights, helping decorate the hall on Friday, but got sick on Wed. with the flu. She was still feverish in the morning, but not as bad, and that flushed, glittery eyed look was actually quite beautiful with her white dress.

Daryl also had to stop at Kohl's and get D. some dress pants. D. was in a foul mood--spent the entire day complaining that: he has to share a room and his brother left the door open, making it impossible for him to sleep late because the rest of us are so loud (the chronically sleep deprived mother was able to work up a lot of sympathy); his dad planned to take him skiing for the remainder of the long weekend but he had homework to do and trombone to practice and why didn't anyone inform him of this; that he had to wear dress pants in the correct size, not baggy; and obsessively asking me over and over what time we were leaving for the wedding and how late we'd be staying at the reception.

A. had a fussy day. would not nap at all unless attached to my breast. The kids took turns holding her, and J. dressed her and K. for us. K. didn't actually sleep because I put him down much earlier than normal, and managed to stay awake for the 1 hour drive as well. I did my best with J's hair, which amounted to pulling back the front and twisting it a little and putting in a clip on top. That combined with putting on eyeshadow made me feel very motion sick, so I consider arriving at the church without barfing to be a success. A. wanted to nurse as soon as we got there, and so I went to the basement where there was a nice sitting area and nursed her on one side, then was summoned to my seat as the ceremony was about to begin.

I. was strikingly beautiful as the flower girl, and did a great job of walking slowly down the aisle and strewing rose petals. The bride was beautiful as well, if a little teary.

Unfortunately with no nap, K. felt he needed to nurse. He sat on my lap and scream "MIMI" which is his word for nursing. I was not about to nurse him in church, so we took a walk, ended up in the basement in the room the bridal party got dressed in, and found some snacks. We went back upstairs, sprinkled Pringles crumbs all around the vestibule, and I caught the tail end of the ceremony.

There was general milling about during the receiving line, and Daryl tried to convince the relatives that they should have one large group photo of everyone with his 95yo grandmother, who was there but would not be attending the reception. She was recently very ill and in general doesn't attend many events, so there won't be many of these opportunities, but no one seemed interested.

On our way to the reception, we drove through McD's and got kids a snack, since we knew the food wasn't going to be served immediately. Even D., who hates McD's since watching "Supersize Me", had some.

K. didn't eat any dinner, drank about 4 glasses of soda, and each place setting had a bag of candy, so he ate lots of candy. There were also mini bottles of bubbles in the bag, which of course were spilled on the floor by my kids, and quickly wiped up so no one would slip on them. Another high point was while I was in the bathroom with T., K. spilled a bottle of water on the polished floor and was playing in it. I saw this as we walked up and before I could tell someone to wipe it up, T. had slid in it and fallen, banging her mouth on a metal chair. Lots of crying, no blood.

This was a small town wedding, so many guests were Daryl's highschool classmates, so he was busy reminiscing rather than helping me with the kids. No booze or wine, only beer, to my dismay. 370 people attended, so the buffet took a LONG time. There were the traditional dances of mother-son, father-daughter, bride-groom and wedding party, throwing of bouquet and garter and putting garter on catcher of bouquet (all of the single people had to be dragged out on the dance floor for this activity, and most of them jumped AWAY from the garter and bouqet), and a dollar dance. Then the music switched to classic rock and got gradually louder. It was deafening by the time we left.

The kids help up well until about 9:30pm at which point we left. J. was torn, because she wanted to spend the night at Grandma's but didn't want to miss skiing. She hadn't packed any clothes, and her cousin, who was also staying at Grandma's (and lives out of state so they only see each other a few times a year) was bugging her to stay. After a few tears she decided to stay at Grandma's. Daryl had decided in view of the snowstorm that was forecast for today (and has arrived) that they would just ski locally for the day, rather than drive to Northern MI for the weekend, so she wasn't missing a big trip.

All in all, It was fun, if a lot of work, and I got some nice compliments on the family.

So Sad

A woman who lives in a trailer park near my sister did something so unfathomable several weeks ago that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. She lives with her boyfriend and they have a 2 year old son. Each of them also has a child from a previous relationship. She became pregnant, and fearing that her boyfriend would be angry, she hid the pregnancy. Then she delivered a healthy 9 lb. baby boy at home in her bathroom. Her boyfriend kept banging on the door and asking what was the matter. She told him she had a bleeding ulcer and felt ill. She cut the umbilical cord, but did not clamp it, and wrapped the baby up in an old pair of sweatpants and put him under the bathroom sink. She told her boyfriend that she had vomited blood to explain the mess in the bathroom, and had him drive her to the hospital, stopping for a coke on the way. Once there, hospital personnel could tell that she had just given birth, which she denied several times. They called the police, who went to her home and another team to the hospital. She admitted the truth after a while. Her baby was found dead at her home. Smothering was the cause of death, either from the sweatpants or her hand. She faces a possible life sentence.

How could someone do that? Many states have laws making it unpunishable to hand your baby over to authorities like police, fire department or hospital, no questions asked. I'm not sure if Michigan does or not.

I also realize that she may have been a battered woman. It sounds like her boyfriend wasn't a very nice guy. He was angry when their 2 year old was conceived, and had stated that they couldn't afford any more children. He doesn't work; she supports the family as a waitress. He owns a car and she does not, but he refuses to drive her to work when he's angry at her. I haven't stood in her shoes. but it's hard to imagine any circumstances that would justify what she did.

I know we read about these incidents all the time, but this one seemed to hit so close to home. Perhaps because it happened not too far from where I grew up and very close to where my sister now lives.

Even more disturbing, a friend of mine commented that considering the number of times stories like this are reported, when the person is caught, there may be many more times it happens and the woman is not discovered. That never occurred to me, but I suppose it might be true.

I am praying for her beautiful baby, gone now forever

First Tooth!

Believe it or not, my baby, who will be 3 months old in 2 days, has cut her first tooth! She has been drooly for a few weeks, not excessive, but noticeable. Last night she slept terribly, had to have my nipple in her mouth the entire night, which didn't really work very well for me. Today she hasn't really been very smiley, and cried some in the car, but I wouldn't go so far as to call her fussy, just less happy than normal. She is such a good natured baby. She has chewed on her hands most franctically today and wanted to nurse nonstop, in a kind of "chewy" way that has left me with sore nipples. So I looked at her bottom gums, and there it is, a fine white line. All my kids have teethed early, especially the girls. She's not the first 3 monther. But still, I am sad--I love that toothless smile. Where is my little baby going? Glad I had her picture taken this week to preserve that toothless grin.

Spot

IMG_2132, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

A photo of the runaway.

Lucky Monday

Two good things happened Monday. The first was that our dog Spot ran away, which is bad, of course, but he was picked up by the animal control officers, rather than run over by a car, and we were able to spring him from jail for a mere $50.00. First I had to buy him a license, which was only $5. Then it was $25 boarding fee for the first day at the Humane Society and $20 for each subsequent day. He was there less than 24 hours, so I thought it would be only $25, but I was not in a position to argue that point. He had been gone overnight, leading to lots of tears on the part of J. Luckily, his appearance is very distinctive, white with brown speckles on his ears, a brown spot around one eye, which is blue and the other eye is brown, so it was easy for them to tell me over the phone that he was there. They are a 30 minute drive away so it turned into a lengthy errand. We were not subjected to any lectures from what we affectionately term "dog people" that work at the Humane Society, which was also good. Spot is a very cute and affectionate dog, which also worried me, that someone might just keep him. He had on a collar but no tags, just a box for the invisible fence, which works great when it is on but apparently there is a break in the wire. So I put his dog license tag on his collar and bought him a name tag for his collar with our phone number on it. I also had to buy a new leash--we own 2, but both are lost.

The second good thing was that the oven repairman came. We were having a problem with the oven. Whenever I turn it on, it wouldn't light right away, and when it did light, you could hear POOF! and the door would fly open a little due to accumulated gas. This seemed dangerous, and when the oven repairman visited 2 weeks ago, he said it was. He discovered the igniter was not putting out enough amps, and also noted that the oven was putting out a lot of soot. He said that the company had put out a soot kit to address this problem, and depending on the age of the oven (3.5 years) it might be warranteed. He called them and after a lot of talking, convinced them to warranty the repair. The soot kit contains a new igniter. Unfortunately the part was not in stock, so I had to wait 2 weeks, during which time he advised me not to use the oven as blowing the door off was a risk. When he returned he completed an expensive and extensive repair, and it cost me nothing! Now, if I can just get around to buying some oven cleaner, I'll be able to see in my oven window since it won't get covered with soot again.

I made a nice Valentine dinner, beef caesar salad with homemade croutons and homemade dressing, crusty bread dipped in olive oil, and chocolate cake truffle squares (Trader Joes) for dessert. I even bought the kids some sparkling grape juice (dubbed "kid wine" by my family). Unfortunately D. was not able to get home until 9pm, at which point I was exhausted, after rescuing the dog, having kids all home all day (it was an ice day) and making the nice dinner. I laid down with A. while he was eating his dinner, and put his valentine on his pillow. I was asleep when he came in the bedroom, but woke for a moment when he read it. 3 haikus about love, marriage and making love.

Valentine Haiku

In the homemade Valentine tradition, I made each of my children a Valentine containing a haiku composed by me:

Helpful and thoughtful

Lots of fun to converse with

I’m proud to know you

DILLON


Sensitive to others

Loving and affectionate

You make me feel good

JASMINE



Great sense of humor

Thoughtful and considerate

Fun to be around

LEVI



Always looks so great

Happy and independent

You light up my life

ISABEL



Always has a smile

Really loves her family

A very special person

TESSA ROSE



A lover of life

Busy learning and doing

A joy to behold

KEEGAN



Precious new daughter

So beautiful and happy

Here for me to love

ANYA


Cut out and pasted on a red doily, they were very pretty. I also made D. one, containing 3 haiku.

Traditions I Have Created

That would more appropriately read "foolishly created." One of those traditions is that store bought valentines are no good, and we need to make our own for them to be truly special. This year I didn't have any clever new ideas and no time to research any. J. found an idea online, and I. thought up her own idea. The kids' idea of a good valentine is one that contains candy. We went to the drugstore where they normally have a fairly good selection of craft supplies. The kids had been bugging me to go every day this week, but this was the first day we had time when everyone who wanted to go was available, and even now it was 6pm after religious education.

The outing started out on a sour note when I wouldn't allow T to bring her blankie in the store. The rule has been that it must stay in the car for several months, but lately she's been backsliding. We approached the door with T wailing loudly, so I instructed the others to go on in and I'd follow when she calmed down. She quieted down right away, but I got sidetracked by 75"% off Christmas decorations in the doorway (I bought a Santa cookie jar for $5.00). Now L. is complaining that he doesn't have an idea and that he has to go to the bathroom. The store doesn't have the pipe cleaners I. needs, or several items that J. needs.

K., who should have stayed home with D., who is too old in 7th grade to make valentines, had been mistakenly dressed and brought along by his siblings. I didn't have the heart to make him stay once he thought he was going, but had admonished J. that she must keep an eye on him in the store.

After several minutes in the store, T. finds herself so exhausted that she must drape herself over the top of the shopping cart, making it difficult to push. A. has begun to fuss and cry, and K. is busily deshelving as fast as he can.

I convince T. and I. that store bought valentines are OK, and we find some cute ones that aren't adorned with TV characters and contain suckers for $1.29 for a box of 22, which is all either of them need. This is WAY cheaper than we usually spend on craft supplies to create our own, and perfect for T., who would have needed a lot of assistance to create something and then sign her name on it. Just signing her name should keep her busy till Monday.

After L. uses the bathroom, we decide that we will recycle an old idea, which is to create small airplanes using a Smartie as the body, gum as the wings and lifesavers as wheels, with a rubberband holding it all together. You can write your name on the gum wrapper.

I approached the counter to pay. Everyone had been begging for candy, and I allowed them to get a box of Tictacs, generous woman that I am. Unfortunately they were too strong for T., who cried loudly that they were "too minty." I. magnanimously held out her hand for T. to spit in. The clerk looked revolted at this display, and pointed us to a garbage can. Unfortunately the store is designed so there is a bottleneck at the door, and we were now preventing people who'd paid in the rear from exiting, as well as holding up a line of people waiting to pay at this register. A. was now wailing loudly, and J. had disappeared.

I struggle out the door, another customer holding it open for me, only to find J., my primary helper and the one who most wanted to go to the store, standing outside because she was embarrassed by the mint spitting episode. Several customers had pushed past us in the meantime, muttering "Ex CUUSE me!" loudly.

I was mortified. They usually are so well behaved. L. and I. were embarrassed also. Then we came home, ate frozen mini pizzas for dinner at 7pm. Then they began eating "making valentines" which really meant eating some candy and making a big mess. Luckily they have a few more days to complete the project, since I made them clean up an go to bed.

Envious?

My sister just called to tell me her dh came home the other day and told her he thinks they should have another baby. She feels DONE. They have 4 and her last pregnancy was very difficult physicallly and emotionally--nothing serious, just didn't feel good and was miserable because of it. The day before they gave away all of their baby gear.

How I would LOVE to hear my dh say that! When I asked him to consider having #7, I promised I wouldn't ask again, and already I feel that will be a difficult promise to keep. I am not sure what he'd say if I did. There are so few people that feel as I do--I tire of being such an anomaly. I wish I didn't want any more children and could be satisfied with what an amazing family I've got. But I'll always wish for another.

Did God send me this desire? I have prayed for it to end, but it hasn't!

Kindergarten Info Night

A total waste of my time, but I attended anyway. Lots of first timers asking silly questions. Got my 2 big questions answered: Will she be morning or afternoon kindergarten? (Depends on where you live). Afternoon (like her sibs). Ugh! By the time I get organized and out the door in the morning it's almost time for her to be at school, and once she is gone, it is almost nap time, and after that , the older kids are returning from school.

Question #2: Are they offering all day alternate day kindergarten next year? NO. Bummer. I loved that for the above reason. With all day alternate day, I had all day free without any time restraints on both the days she went to school and the days she didn't. They will have AM and PM kindergarten, or all day every day where the afternoon is actually day care, but with the same teacher, and you have to pay $3600 a year for it.