Category: thoughts

Me: ENFP
Sean: ISTJ
Faith: INFJ
Abby: INTP

Last week. Or something. December 14th, the same day as that awful business in Connecticut.

He had cancer, for five years, and now he’s gone. And I miss him.

So this happened.

Bede got a VIACOM and a SEGA shirt. They continue his collection of logo shirts: he has Warner Brothers, PBS, Nickelodeon, Google, Universal, and Coca-Cola.

Little girls with ponies and a castle.

Bigger girl with pony.

And other bigger girl with dragon.

Husband and father of a decidedly increased tribe.

Aww, look! He got me a box of ammunition! That’s love.

Gilbert and his LEGO.

Bede got Minecraft magnets, which he is using to spell “Google”.

It’s snowing here. Really coming down.

Not bad.

I put my phone in a Ziploc bag so Dorothy wouldn’t get drool on it and was surprised to learn that the touchscreen still functions.

I decided to knit hats for our two priests at the last minute. I really have until Epiphany to get them done. I can manage that, I think.

Dorothy has begun hungrily looking at my food and attempting to grab it. She cries when the food goes by her on my lap, on the way to my mouth, if she doesn’t get a taste. She can sit upright for a little while, having more trouble with balance than strength.

All that means, teeth or no, she’s ready to eat (sob!)

Mmm, soda cracker. Nutritious? Not really. But it’s fun, and the texture is crisp then dissolves quickly, and sweetens a bit as the salivary enzymes go to it. She liked it!

Gloria and Trixie eating apples. Trixie recently lost a loose tooth and can now eat un-cut apples again.

Four of my children are gone to Christmas Drama Camp this week. 8-5, Monday-Thursday. My house is very quiet and we keep trying to talk to the people who aren’t here. 

Bede deeply wanted to go too, but we don’t have a spare adult to act as his 1-1 aide. Next spring I’ll try to get him set up for the weekly homeschool class at the performing arts center where the kids take drama. Those classes are about two hours once a week, well within our grasp. Although, some of his desire was for a water bottle and lunch bag like the attendees got. And cookies. He woke up with them and got dressed to the shoes, even though he was being told (repeatedly) that he was staying home. “I AM NOT STAYING HOME WITH MOM! I DON’T LIKE STAYING!” He was okay once he was given a bag with a few cookies and told he would get to go in the spring. Poor dude!

He’s just fine now though.

I’ve used a ring sling for every baby, but tonight is the first time I’ve used a mei tai. See! how the baby is happy on my back! Marvel! at my free hands! Wonder no more! how I will cook dinner!

Ignore! the dirty mirror!

ETA: And now she’s fallen asleep.

The footings were poured last week at the new house! That was the last thing we were waiting on. We can move in next week if we like. I am going to wait to move until after Christmas, though. I think. I might be just crazy enough to attempt a move before then, but it is Highly Unlikely.

Here are some of the Wee Glees listening to Sean read today’s Advent scripture. Everyone likes it when we add a candle. The Light increases.

Here’s Dorothy, hiding behind Faith.

So the question now is one of light and doors. The double glass doors that currently lead to the outside patio will soon lead to two rooms. This will cut way down on the delicious natural light that streams into the living room. In order to keep as much as possible, I am inclined to keep the glass doors, even though they will lead into bedrooms. They can be curtained off, after all, for privacy when it is needed. None of the bedrooms in our house are occupied by only one person anyway, so true “privacy” is moot. In that way I hope to retain at least some of the light. Our builder is skeptical but I think it will still be rather a lot.

With Dorothy, I usually use man-made materials for her diaper covers. I have a real soft spot for wool though, and have used it to the exclusion of other cover material in the past with other children. There was a lengthy period where I had three in wool at once – that’s where being a knitter is the most useful!

I have one wool cover for her, a Disana soaker. These are such nice covers! Here’s Dorothy in hers, with a pinned prefold underneath.

And here she is with Gilbert. Aww.

NaBloPoMo! Thirty days! And I didn’t even blog about dryer lint.

I did blog a lot about this though.

but who could blame me?

My BMI today is 22.3, which is utterly normal weight. I feel like I look utterly normal too. I wear a size 10-12 and I’m five-eleven, 160 pounds (180 cm, 72.5 kg.) Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I remember that 24 year old girl who ran 3 miles a day, had no children, and lived on romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese, Pop Tarts, and cheap chianti. Who occasionally felt “fat” at 121 pounds (54.9 kg). Her BMI was an emaciated 16.9.

HOLY COW PEOPLE.

Here’s Keira Knightley at a BMI of 17:

Yes, I was that skinny! That is the minimalist butt and ribcage my dear husband fell in love with. How, I do not know, because he greatly favors the looks of this lady here:

The lovely Shakira, who at five-two and 127 pounds (157 cm, 57.6 kg) has a BMI of 23.2. I guess he just kept encouraging me to have babies until I got curvy enough. I’ve got a few more BMI points to eke out – I guess those are for the next babies. After all, the hips don’t lie.

Dorothy had a fever last night but she is fine now.

Bede has a hat he always wears. It’s an unassuming brown beanie with a tan brim and he is never, ever parted from it. He’s got it there in my sidebar photo and pretty much every picture taken of him since about 2009. It, along with an enormous pair of men’s chinos, rolled up and belted in, was the first article of clothing he was willing to wear – before that he was naked all the time.

It is his Scrat Hat, and it defines Bede.

I have sad news.

“Mom, can you fix my hat?”

No worries. I’ve already cast on for a new one.

Here is Dorothy looking over her father’s shoulder. Picture is unrelated to post.

Keeping the Bigs on task is difficult.

I used to be an unschooler. Unschooling has many definitions, but we hewed to the most basic: only self-directed study, no other-led directives. The kids did what they wanted, and if that meant they were uninterested in a subject then they didn’t do it. For us, that meant I had two daughters who were accomplished sketch artists, avid binge readers of fiction, and consumers of internet meme culture. They also had more academic interests: Faith was into birds in a big way and Abby was interested in wildcraft and biographies of famous Americans.

But they were woefully behind in math and had no real notion of history or formal science. This sis common, in unschooling, to have huge gaps in knowledge when compared to a conventionally educated child. Many homeschoolers are perfectly fine with that, but I was not. So, a few years ago we started schooling. For us that has meant, basically, math, with a few forays into history and biology. But always math, where they are either at grade level or above now. However, this year we are trying something new: Oak Meadow. It’s a bit rocky. There is more writing than the girls have ever been required to do and they are struggling a bit. When they do write, it is excellent, but getting it out of them is frequently unpleasant because they daaaawwwddddlle so. I’m committed to at least twelve weeks and we are on week 4. We shall see. I think it will come easier with time, and I think these are valuable skills to have.

Next year Faith wants to attend the co-op at our church. Abby may go as well. It’s once a week, but all day. They’ll need some school muscles for it, which is what I’m building now. Further on down the line they both want to go to college and they certainly need school muscles then.

This came with our new house.

I think the previous owner had it installed somewhere but I don’t know where. It’s full of ashes.

Advent begins December 2 this year. Last year was the first year we have ever had an Advent wreath at home, and it was so lovely. Ours is a Jesse tree theme, with a symbol and a scripture verse for each day of Advent. Then we all sing O Come O Come Emanuel. The kids love it, because kids love ritual. Last year Sean was gone for much of Advent, visiting his dying father. He missed out on quite a few nights and he’s looking forward to it this year.

I put up our tree, see

So that makes it official. No Nativity set until Advent, though.

18 pounds.

Dorothy insists I sit and Just Be for a bit. Thank you, little girl.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I think that needs a picture.

I happen to have one here:

We got the first issue of Laudamus Te today. It is so beautiful and perfect. It is truly a companion for the Extraordinary Form Mass, containing a missalette and all the propers for Advent, in Latin and English. Just perfect. I recommend all my Latin Mass peeps get a subscription posthaste.

As you can see, it is quite diminutive, about the size of a paperback book. It fits easily in a purse or pocket. The paper is smooth and white, but not glossy. It feels good. The whole thing is Good.

Anyway, get a subscription. It’s going to be a delight for us. Sean and I may need two subscriptions, in fact, so we won’t have to share!

Speaking of diminutive things, I knit this darling little hat

which is, unfortunately TOO little for Dorothy’s noggin. O well! I should know better than to knit form-fitting things for such a fast-growing person.

We went to Mass today, like we do every Sunday, and I sat in the narthex with three of my children. I usually sit with two, but Trixie has been having asthma flare-ups recently so I thought it best she stay away from the incense smoke. Anyway, there we were, and today I really felt blessed to be at a church that just oozes with children. Off the top of my head, in our small parish of perhaps 150 families, I can think of at least 20 families with five or more children. There is one family with eight kids and two with nine! My seven just fit right in.

The kids aren’t an afterthought, they are one of the reasons we’re there. There’s no nursery, everyone attends the same liturgies. These kids have been to Mass every Sunday of their lives so they are remarkably well behaved. It’s pretty quiet. But when Mass is over and they all come pouring out, all loud and happy, it is one wonderfully joyful noise.

Here are my bookends.

I’ve cloth diapered 7 babies now.

I’ve changed over sixty thousand diapers.

(Wow!)

I have used almost everything, from pinned flat diapers with wool soakers to fitteds with nylon covers to pockets to prefolds with wraps. My current diaper for the diaper bag, where convenience is more important that cost (since I only need a few), is the bumGenius Elemental.

It’s a one-size fit, which means it adjusts to fit from 7 to 35 pounds. I have my doubts that it will fit my kid at 35 pounds, but I’ll see about that. So far the pros are easy to put on and take off, great fit with no leaky leg gaps, and clean-washing. Cons are drying time. I’ll update in a few months as I use them more.

• That Boy is much improved.
• The experimental kids-look-it-up homeschool week is, ah, rocky. I still tell them where to look, and then later, what to do. Oh well. It’s a nice way for me to keep records anyway.
• Faith is so very into ponies. When she does something she does it with every fiber, and in her mind it’s as if she has always been. And as though she never really liked other things. I gotta say, just between us? I’m getting sick of ponies.
• I’m selling some cloth diapers on Craigslist. Bah. “I know you’re asking $50, will you take $20?” Uh, no! $50 is already half price. Argh.