Around the House

Luke is sick.  Even fun things take a long time to get psyched up for.

New baby's blanket started!  Lots of stories for the sick boy.  This week's favorites include:  A Visitor for Bear, and Where the Wild Things Are.

Portzelky (Fritters, New Year's Cookies).  Thanks to my husband for braving the hot oil.  I'm a big wimp when it comes to hot oil.

oh it was worth it!

Baby thought so too.  I lost count of how many I ate that day.

A moment

There are times in our lives when there's nothing to say. And is there a need?

Ambition

Perhaps I've mentioned how hard this winter has been.  Perhaps I've complained about how LONG it seems.  Perhaps I've moaned a wee bit about how depressed I've gotten this winter.  Perhaps I've moaned a Lot.

I apologize.   But here we are again.  I'm sad.  And maybe it's SAD (seasonal affective disorder).  Or maybe it's just sad.  Or maybe it's just impatience and discomfort combined with a crazy-cold windy, snowy day outside.  Sometimes it seems like people are dying and getting deathly ill, and the weather is going down the drain again, and my projects are few and far between, company coming over seems cheering but means cleaning, and I'm
just
tired.

Where is my ambition?

I think I left it in my pants pocket.  And my pants are WAY over there, across the room.

Story

Yesterday morning I was telling Luke, "You can show your baby brother or sister all kinds of things when he or she comes.  You can show baby how to play in the sand and throw Linus' toys."  Luke immediately jumped off the bed, grabbed Linus' toy and insisted I raise my shirt so that, "Baby can see me throw!  Look baby, watch, are you watching?"

Green Grass

makin' meatballs.  I will share this recipe with you soon - it was REALLY good.

 

This is sort of unusual, but we've had temperatures hovering around freezing for more than ten days this month.  It makes me LONG for Spring.  It makes Luke and Linus really really happy to play outside.  And it makes spending time outside a lot less onerous.  Look at our grass!  It's been months since we've seen you, fair friend! I've been dreaming about Spring since we got back from California, and I can't begin to express the joy I feel at seeing my lawn peek out from under the snow.  It's priceless.  It's miraculous.  It's a gift from God, even though I know it will most likely get covered up again - maybe for weeks - before Spring truly arrives.

Happy Valentine's Day

First Ever Ice Skating

This picture makes me laugh out loud, every time.

Our church had a Valentine's Day Social at the Winkler Arena last night.  So we borrowed some skates for Luke and he went out on the ice for the first time!  I laughed harder than I've laughed in weeks watching Luke's little legs pedaling under him like a spider on roller skates.  He was just running in place and Derek was holding him up, pulling him around the rink.  He made several loops without figuring out his balance, so we finally gave him a chair to hold on to; and when he got tired of falling down and pulling himself up, he climbed up on the chair and Derek pushed him around the ice for a while.  After a snack and an ankle rest, Luke hit the ice for a second time in his tennies, and really enjoyed running around and falling down like the big boys.  Luke won the award for youngest skater: a storybook about Noah and a stuffed dog.

I haven't skated in years (though I own a pair of skates), so I thought it best to stay in my boots until my center of gravity is more dependable.

Before the Flu

I took these photos a few days ago...before I got the flu.  Now my stomach might actually look smaller.  I don't remember ever being so sick in my life.  And the worst part was I couldn't hunch over or curl up in the fetal position because of the belly!  On the plus side, I got lots of good couch time with the baby, and boy did s/he take advantage of it!  That was some serious movement!  There were a few big rolls that actually made me dizzy.  It was a relief to have so much movement from the baby since I was fighting a high fever and was one big hurt from head to toe.  I am praying you don't get the flu.  It just doesn't seem fair that pregnant people can get sick - as if being pregnant wasn't enough of a challenge.  

Today I'm feeling much better, but still officially in recovery.  See you next week, when (hopefully) the flu is gone altogether.

Rules were made to be broken

The official rule is, of course, no shoes in the house.

But when you have the opportunity to put together such a stunning outfit, there's really no resisting.

Especially if your shoes have googly-eyes.

Dreaming's Not Against the Law

I have a dream to make our church nursery function at a higher capacity.  Once I got started dreaming I was blown away by my ability to Dream.  I started by wanting to get parents, aunties, grandmas, and youth volunteering in the nursery so that we could all take turns sitting in church and actually listening to the service.  Now I want to punch holes in the wall, build toy boxes, add an entire room for nursing mothers, put in one-way windows, soundproofing, and the list goes on and on. 

A few people have encouraged me.  But the most frequent response I've gotten is, "I think somebody tried that a while back and it fell through".  This response makes me angry.  Why is it that people don't want to be involved in church?  Why can't people commit to certain tasks?  Do parents really not WANT to sit through church?  If that's the case, we've got a bigger problem.

Apparently a few years ago, when surveyed (our church is a big fan of surveys), the church resoundingly responded that they would not USE scheduled nursery volunteers.  So now, instead of having an organized nursery where parents can drop off their children, at least one parent for every child sits in the nursery and visits all through the service.  Children play loudly, parents talk over their children, and inevitably the sermon is drowned out until the final song of the service when parents begin cleaning up and putting on coats. 

If I get caught up in the failures of the past I can get very angry and I already feel a little ripped off that I haven't sat through a church service in over two years.  So I need to keep my dreaming hat on, charge ahead with full steam.  It's kind of like getting through a snow drift in the car.  If you slow down because you're scared, you'll just get hopelessly stuck.  But if you charge ahead, you'll pick up speed enough to carry you through the inevitable challenge, and out to the smooth driving on the other side.  I won't stop dreaming.  I will try to listen to my husband more (he's very rational, and thinks things through piece by piece - unlike me) and I must temper my enthusiasm in front of nay-sayers so as not to get too discouraged or angry (which has tended to be my final response to almost all my attempts at church involvement in the past).  

There was...a great...duel

click on the photo to see what Luke knows about duels.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Today.

There are no pictures from the last few days.  I've been taking it easy and rushing around getting stuff done (perhaps you know what this feels like?), and just haven't gotten out the camera or gotten down to the computer to post.  Luke and I attended a morning out for Mom's on Tuesday, had company for dinner, cleaned house yesterday, grocery shopped, and today I had a doctor appointment, an appointment to have my photo taken for my Permanent Resident card, and this evening I'm hosting an Usborne Books party in my home.  So you can imagine there's been baking, cleaning and preventative playing (preventing future messes by having very organized play). 

It's been a hectic week, and I've been emotionally all over the map - which is normal for me, even when I'm not pregnant.  I've had heartburn, leg cramps, felt super-energized and was even once found baking at 9:30 at night.  I have been sleeping soundly and laying awake at 2am (hence the new color scheme for the blog).  Luke has been naughty (running away when I say come is my least favorite form of disobedience); he's been very very sweet (rushing out of his room when I choked on a cracker and shouting, "Are you okay?!" before he tripped over the vacuum cord); he's been friendly ("I don't want to say good-bye to those kids mom!"); and he's been anti-social ("Mom go run some errands and Linus and I will stay home" - yes, he's TWO and he's telling me to go away....I feel like I live with a teenager!). 

I've also been experiencing lots of contractions which has been a little nerve-wracking since I went into pre-term labor with Luke.  They haven't been regular, just frequent, so we're not worried yet.  And this morning my doctor checked me out and there's no bladder infection and my cervix is still tightly closed.  So for now we just assume this is my body's "normal" response to pregnancy....whatever normal means right now, for me, in this place, today, until something changes.

So there's my update, and hopefully some photos tomorrow with a post on my dreams for our church's nursery (I'm writing that so I don't forget that I want to write about it, not because I think it sounds so exciting and exotic that you will be compelled to return to read about my church's nursery program).