Ready or Not

My very own Reliance Peach about to bloom.

My yard seems convinced that spring has sprung.

I'm ready and not ready.

Every tree and shrub has broken dormancy, except the Hardy Kiwi which may not have survived the winter...I feel a mix of relief and mild consternation at that prospect...same thing with the peach tree. It's blooming a little early and rain is forecast for the next ten days. Rain means fewer insects buzzing about to pollinate. If pollination is terrible and I get no peaches, then I won't have to worry about spraying for brown rot fungus or fighting off the squirrels. So, I guess I'm okay with whatever happens. That's good, right?

Preparations for Real Reason farm are thoroughly underway. Over 700 seedlings under the grow lights:

Spinach seedlings

I've got cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, leaf lettuce, head lettuce, carrots, baby carrots, cylindra beets, celery, 9 varieties of tomatoes, parsley, giant zinnias, 2 varieties of marigolds, and snapdragons (yeah!) growing. My broccoli seed was WAY too old though, and the ones that did manage to germinate now look like franken-sprouts. Hideously malformed and unnatural. Bummer. Still holding on to the franken-sprouts, though, cuz' I love broccoli more than I should. Guess I'll have to grow a few more brussels sprouts to fill in the gaps.

Found this hibernating toad when I pulled back the straw from my strawberry patch. Had to relocate him/her carefully. 

I started to prep the garden beds in the backyard and discovered that it took 2 hours of hard labor to double dig just 16 sqft of garden bed. At that rate, I'll need about 40 man hours to finish the backyard beds (300sqft) and 120 more man hours to finish the Orchard Downs plot (900sqft). It's a lot for one person with a full-time job already, but I don't feel discouraged quite yet. I've got a plan to recruit some interns or pay teenagers or lower my double digging expectations for this year. Maybe all three.

See that fluffy brown mound of dirt next to the wheelbarrow? That's ALL I managed to accomplish in 2 hours. So much more to go! Bonus points for spotting the wayward chicken.

So, I feel like the plants are on schedule, but the ground needs a lot more work. Can't do any ground work while it's raining. Working muddy soil ruins the soil structure and creates a cemented mess instead of light, fluffy garden beds. Gotta wait. Still have a little time. 2-3 weeks until the first round of plants NEED to get into the garden. Fingers crossed. Close eye on the weather.

I'll leave you with this little beauty from our recent Spring Break trip to Peoria. Alice was at a friend's house while Bobby and I took the boys to see the sights. Here they are at the Caterpillar Visitor's Center:

Loved this place!

Farm Name

I think I found a farm name...for now. 

Real Reason Farm 

My inspiration comes from a Story People print that my sister introduced me to a long, long time ago. 

It has hung in my house for 15 years. 

I saw it again for the first time just the other day and I was struck by how it describes me more now than ever before. My garden, my faith, my life as a mom, my constant quest to find the real person I want to be and the real reason I do anything in this life...all wrapped up in this simple self discovery:

There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good.

10 Years!

Alice turned 10 years old today! Usually I write a letter to her on her birthday, but today I thought I would share something different. I started this blog when she was about 6 months old. The first 6 months of her life were exclusively recorded in my journal and in letters to family members. I thought she might like to read what I wrote in my journal when she was only 5 days old...

...it's longish, but not abnormally graphic...just "birth story" graphic with references to bodily fluids and my own maternal anatomy...proceed at your own risk...

**************
3-19-07
27 years old

So much to share! She's here! Our precious Alice Elizabeth decided it was time to make an appearance 3 weeks before her due date. I couldn't be more pleased, and everyone was so surprised. It started with a "pop" on Tuesday, March 13th, at 10pm. Bobby heard it, since we were quietly lying in bed trying to sleep. We had just finished our Childbirth Education class at Carle Hospital that night. The "pop" felt different from a regular kick, but it wasn't painful. I used the bathroom and went back to bed and suddenly felt a warm gush. Instant panic and excitement at once. I flew out of bed and rushed to the bathroom to confirm my suspicion--fluid streamed out and I shakily said to Bobby, "Uh, I think my water just broke." 

We were both a little panicky. He searched for the number to Labor and Delivery while I continued to leak. I was shaking, trembling, cold and in shock. When we called the hospital, I hadn't felt any contractions yet. They said we could stay home until they got 2-3 minutes apart or too hard to walk + talk through or 4-8 hours maximum. So I put on an absorbent pad and we went back to bed. Neither of us had any intention of sleeping, but we kept the lights off and tried to stay relaxed. The contractions started weak like menstrual cramps, then got stronger. I had pelvic pain and lower back pain with each contraction so I got out of bed to count and walk it off. We thought I would have many hours of this so we didn't take it too seriously.

Bobby finished packing the hospital bag. There were a couple really bad contractions that lasted twice as long as the others and made me want to throw up...I nearly did. They started at 15 min apart, then 7, then 3. We decided to go. We had been using some of the coping techniques learned in the class--counting, breathing, different positions, walking, swaying. They all helped. I was really looking forward to the jacuzzi tub. 

At 3:00am, we arrived at the ER and checked in. I thought we might have come too early since the contractions felt a little weaker. They showed us the L+D room we would be using. I changed into a gown. There was a lot of mucus coming from down there and a little blood, too. They attached the fetal monitor and started asking me all the questions I should have completed earlier. Oh well, I had tried to do it a week earlier but they said they were too busy to take my call right then. So I laid in the bed, with Bobby right beside me, and took on one contraction at a time while answering questions, signing papers, and making my drug preferences known. Bobby stood at the bedside and held my hand through each contraction--he counted for me, helped me to breathe more calmly, and literally worked me through each one. 

The nurse asked if she should start an IV for pain meds and I said I would like to know how far along I was before making that decision. She checked me and said I was 9cm dilated, fully effaced, and the baby's head was engaged. Bobby and I both gasped and couldn't believe it. Well, I thought, if this was as bad as it was going to be, I could finish without drugs. It wasn't easy. It wasn't pleasant. I needed Bobby right there for every one. He left my side for a moment to get another cold washcloth for my head, but a contraction was starting and I started to panic that he wasn't there. He came running back just in time. 

The midwife, Lori Evans, asked if I was ready to push. I didn't feel the urge to push so much as a lot of back/pelvic pain with each contraction. When I paid attention to the pressure in my bottom, I decided I could try pushing. I did it just like the instructor had shown us in class that day. I pushed the hardest I could imagine. And when I matched with the peak of the contraction, I felt like my pushing was magnified 2-3 times. I could feel the baby's progress. It was painful, but I knew the only out was to push this baby all the way. When she crowned, they asked me if I wanted to feel her head or bring over a mirror. I was so focused on pushing and pushing that I didn't want to open my eyes or take my hands off my knees. I knew she was there and that she was very close to coming out. 

When I pushed out her head, she stopped sliding back between pushes. Bobby said her face got smooshed a lot, but everything down there was so swollen and abnormal looking that it wasn't an easy thing to observe at length. A few pushes later, I hear them say something about an arm, and then all the pain went away with a gushing, warm flow. She was out. She was here. She had had some cord wrapped around her, but they quickly untangled her and lay her on my belly. 

She was so blue, coated in vernix, and flailing. Then she cried...a deep, throaty cry that I loved to hear. They wrapped her up in towels/blankets and I just held her. She cried a little, then calmed down. I stared at her and wondered, "Now, who is this person?" "Who are you?" I didn't cry right then. I just couldn't believe it. Bobby held her, cradled her, put his face close to hers and said, "Hello, little Alice." That was her name, and we knew it long time ago. None of the other names were even in my mind. 

They started to stitch me up--apparently Alice wanted to enter this world like the superhero she is. She had her arm outstretched up by her face and "flew" out like Superman. The extra pressure from her shoulder made it necessary to get a few stitches. It didn't hurt, though, and I was simply in awe of this amazing creature who looked a little like Bobby, a little like me, and a little like my dad. 

Bobby said he was feeling a little light-headed, so he handed Alice to me and sat on the stool next to the bed. He then got this very peaceful look on his face as he slumped over and hit the floor. He had fainted dead-out. He doesn't remember hitting the floor or falling. He just woke up there. The nurse brought him juice and the midwife said he had to go to the ER because she heard him hit his head. They wheeled him down there in a wheelchair, asked him a few questions, checked his pupils, and sent him back up. Meanwhile, Alice was getting weighed and measured in the L+D room. A healthy 6lbs 15oz and somewhere around 18 inches long.

We held her and tried to nurse her, but my nipples were pretty flat. It was hard for her to latch on. We were moved to the post-partum room about 7am or so. Alice was taken to the nursery to be seen by the pediatrician during rounds. Bobby and I tried to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about her. I felt guilty that she wasn't sleeping with us. At 8am, I asked Bobby to go get her. He was gone a long time because the pediatrician wasn't done yet. She spent the rest of our hospital stay in our room. The lactation specialist gave me a nipple shield to help with nursing. Bobby and I "relaxed", tried to sleep, tried to feed her, and changed diapers until they discharged us. We brought her home and showed her her room. We lay her in her crib and rested some more. 

The days that followed were some of the toughest and sweetest days of my life to date. I had an intense and instant love for Alice--I thought only of her. Feeding was frustrating, she was still losing weight, and I was still insecure with all the newborn sounds and behaviors she was making/doing. I kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong with her, all the ways she could starve to death or suffocate or anything. 

Sunday night was the most terrifying night. I was holding Alice in my arms and she was eating with all those gasps and squeaks and coughs that she normally does, but I didn't know they were normal. I started thinking she might have a breathing problem and might stop breathing any minute. I couldn't put her down. I couldn't leave her. I started to cry because I wasn't ready to lose her. I knew I needed help, so I woke up Bobby. He was startled and worried and yet very sure what we should do. He said we should kneel down and pray. He prayed for Alice, he prayed for me, and I just sobbed and sobbed while Alice slept in my arms. Bobby told me I needed to sleep, that Alice would be okay. He put her in her crib and lay with me in bed while I revealed all my fears--so many things I could do to hurt her, so many things I could forget to do that would hurt her, and she was so vulnerable. I loved her so much that I thought she might be taken from me. Bobby promised me he wouldn't leave her side all night. I cried myself to sleep absolutely certain that that would be the last time I saw my baby alive. Bobby fed her with the formula samples they gave us at the hospital and I slept. I slept + slept + slept for 7 or 8 hours. In the morning, I felt much better and Bobby was wasted.

We went to the doctor for a weight check and she had started regaining. Then we asked about the breathing and learned that she was perfectly normal for a newborn despite how scary it sounded to us. Then we went to the breastfeeding clinic and purchased a breast pump to help with my supply + nipple shaping. I left the hospital that day a much more confident and happy mother. Things have been much better since then. I can see she's getting fatter and stronger. She poops and pees plentifully, and she's a content little baby who sleeps a lot and hardly cries. 

****************

Reading this again, after so many years, I see that my feelings for Alice have not changed much. I still have an intense and instant love for Alice. I still sometimes worry that my inexperience might do her harm. I am a more confident and happy mother, despite being distanced from Alice's current bathroom habits :) I've mentioned this time and again on this blog, but here it is once more...my relationship with Alice is complex. She is bright and empathetic and strong in her own right and I'm so stinking proud of her for being true to herself. I admire her strengths and worry about her weaknesses and wonder how best to navigate our future together. She's not a boundary-pusher, but her experiences help us shape the first boundaries/expectations for all of our children, and sometimes she gets reigned in because her younger siblings can't handle greater responsibilities. That's hard. She is truly good. Deep down inside. She acts on others' needs as soon as she notices them. She's responsible and self-motivated. She creates ideas and makes plans to bring those ideas into reality. She gathers/organizes/motivates people around her. I can trust her to do what's right every time, no matter what. I marvel at what this girl is capable of and everything she's already taught me. She is a powerful force in my life and I love her fiercely. Ten years in, and I am still "simply in awe of this amazing creature."

Happy Birthday!

Saturday

Woke up to a hot breakfast of whole grain chocolate pancakes already made and waiting.

Kids were super motivated to finish all of their chores in time for a birthday party that afternoon.

Bobby finished our tax return.

Robert's piano practice happened on the electric keyboard, minus the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth that typically accompanies the first day of a new practice assignment.

Took the kids to swim lessons and I swam half a mile in half an hour. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't all freestyle, and it didn't kill me. Milestone! The kids also fell in love with their new (fitted, streamlined) swimsuits.

Bobby made the best Brussels sprouts I've ever tasted.

I planted another 400 seeds for this year's gigantic garden. In order of most to least: marigolds, celery, cabbage, parsley, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, Amish paste tomatoes, artisan grape tomato variety (6 beautiful varieties!), colossal red tomatoes, red grape tomatoes, leaf lettuce, and head lettuce.

It was a good day.

Can you find the 2-year-old who passed out in the middle of quiet time?

A little more swim

Another swim lesson today. Got some tips to make my freestyle more efficient. Realized that freestyle is so stinkin' hard because my teacher wants me to take a breath once every three strokes, not every two as I have been accustomed to (yes, I'm ending this sentence with a preposition). I also wore my tiiiiiiiiiight new swim suit and felt fabulous in it. Fabulous! Nothing jiggled once, and my shoulders are actually looking pretty strong these days, so I admired them in the mirror more than a couple times. Maybe every time I walked past a mirror. And sometimes even in the pool.

Ah, vanity.

After my lesson, the little boys and I enjoyed free swim. James is gaining more and more confidence every trip to the pool. He's learned to paddle around the pool with a couple noodles under his armpits to help him stay afloat. That makes him SO happy. Freedom!

Matthew let me put a floatie belt on him and pull him around by my fingers. Can I call that "finger swimming"? None of my previous children have been so comfortable in the water this young, even with a full life vest.

The best part, though, was afterwards. Only two kids to shower and dress! Both old enough to hold a towel around themselves and walk to the changing room. Both able to listen to instructions and wait patiently for their turn. James is even old enough to dress himself (though he prefers not to) and will help a little in that way, too.

This growing up thing is beautiful.

A couple funny bits:

In the dressing room, Matthew started shouting potty words. James tried to scold him, but Matthew contended that we WERE in a bathroom. James thought for a second, I thought for a second, and we had to agree. He was allowed to continue.

At dinner we were talking about our day. The pool came up and Matthew stood up, in all seriousness, with his chin lowered a little and his eyes wide and eyebrows up, "Me pee in pool." He said it like he was telling on someone else. I wasn't sure what he expected from this big reveal, but it wasn't a joke. We just kinda acknowledged that kids his age do that until they're potty trained. Then he sat down.

Literacy Strikes Again!

James read his first few words today! It totally, totally surprised him and made him laugh out loud. Thanks, Mom, for the BOB Books that I could keep on-hand for just such an occasion. What a feat! He's so proud of himself!

And it's a relief to me.

From birth to 3 years of age, I watch for autism in my kids.

From speaking until about 3 years old, I watch for color blindness.

From preschool until about 7 years old, I watch for dyslexia.

Of those three concerns, dyslexia is the only one with any real family history/precedent. I'll keep watching, of course, but this development is a very, very good start.

New swim suit

'Cuz I'm a champion...or will be...or just want to look like one...or whatever...

Here's what it looks like out of the box:

Neck to knee...should take me a good 10 minutes to get it on. I wasn't in the market for a super-tight technical swimming suit, but I really wanted full coverage and the price was right and I had a couple discounts that gave me free shipping and 2 kids' suits practically free. So, technical suit it is! Now Alice and Robert have form-fitting suits for their own swim lessons. Regular suit for Alice and knee-length biker shorts thingies for Robert. They should help Robert immensely. He said he'd try them, at least ;)

Scone festival

I've been asked to help with the food at an upcoming Relief Society activity. It's a Tea Party. We have several people in the ward with food sensitivities (including me...I only eat dairy when it's worth suffering the consequences), so this morning I shopped for and prepared three completely different versions of gluten-free, dairy-free orange cranberry scones to see which would be the most fantastic addition to our Tea Party.

It was like comparing apples to oranges to grapes. Holy cow!

Left to Right: ATK custom blend, Bob's Red Mill Baking and Biscuit blend, Pamela's Biscuit and Scone mix

I have a textural/overall favorite (Bob's), a flavor favorite (ATK), and a technique favorite (Pamela's). But here's what I heard from my taste testers:

Alice: Bob's
Robert: Pamela's
James: ATK!!!!
Matthew: Pamela's
Bobby: Bob's
Marie: ATK
Dani:ATK
Toria: Pamela's

We're evenly split 3:3:3 on our overall favorite. So, I've got a difficult choice ahead of me. A tender, flaky, sweet, and delicious difficult choice.

100 years old

Robert tells me it was the 100th day of school and his class was assigned to draw a picture of themselves at 100 years old. This was Robert's piece:

Trying not to read anything into this...but sakes alive! Nice bow tie.

Robert Piano Tinkering

Robert and Alice are taking piano lessons from a conventional teacher, but she has the kids working on all sorts of things. Robert has been going through the beginning Suzuki method book. It's allowed him to play really complicated music really early on, which he loves. This morning, Robert was playing around with some chord progressions he learned from Suzuki and he figured out a couple more on his own to create these little songs that I caught on video:

Check out that big smile at the end! He's so stinkin' proud of himself.

What?!

How Robert managed to throw up on BOTH sides of his bedroom door, I may never know, but it's impressive.

One day, I will be done cleaning up someone else's barf.

*sigh*

Mantis Update

I thought I'd let you know how the mantises/mantids are getting along.

Five weeks ago, we found 9 baby praying mantids in Robert's closet. About 20 more hatched out over the next week or so while I struggled to find food for them. Even after I found food, a couple have died every few days. Last week, we were down to 9 again and there was a HUGE size differential between some of them. I'm pretty sure 4-5 were female (big!) and the rest were male (small!). Today, I'm down to 4 huge mantids. Well, huge is relative, because they're about half an inch long. Maybe 3/4ths of an inch for the biggest.

I'm calling them all "she."

It's hard to tell how all the males ended up dying over the last couple days, but I can tell that some of them were consumed (i.e only head and legs left).

When your natural instinct is to pounce on and eat anything that's smaller than you, you might end up hurting the ones you love, y'know? Erk.

They're certainly growing and they're starting to change colors. They're a little greenish. I added a few more natural items into their container, thinking they could probably use some hiding places from each other. The crickets appreciate it, to be sure :) Here's a video I took of the mantis ladies in their enclosure. I had just dumped in a fresh batch of crickets and the girls wasted no time filling their bellies. One mantis, in particular, caught an especially "large" cricket for her size. I was too late to record the pounce, but you can see their little wrestling match as she tries to get a good grip with her spear-like front arms. The mantis eventually wins (not shown). If my awesome commentary drives you nuts (like it does me), feel free to watch the video in mute. You won't hurt my feelings :)

Swimming

I caught James' stomach flu full force yesterday. Not pretty. Not fun. Almost all better today. Better enough to attend my second swim lesson and swim .85 miles over 1.75 hours (.48 mi/hr average). I wore my sexy, hot pink swimsuit. One lap showed me this suit had much less drag but the same baggy problem as my last one :( I ended up knotting the shoulder straps just to keep it from falling off. Ugh.

I also tried all the strokes I remembered from junior high (breast stroke, freestyle, backstroke, sidestroke) and discovered that freestyle is definitely the toughest for me. Maybe it's the only one I'm doing right ;) Anyway, that boosted my confidence a little.

The sleeker swim suit instantly improved my flip turn, too. Much less drowning this time.

Once I got the flip turn basics, my swim teacher asked me to do as many laps as I could without a rest. Um, well, my first attempt was a whopping 1.5 laps. By the end, I could just barely get to 2 laps (50 yards), then had to stop and suck in oxygen for a couple minutes.

So, it's hard, but I'm not discouraged. I'm really pleased that I had the energy to swim almost an hour straight with short breathing breaks between (30sec-2min). I'm glad to be pushing my limit.

The swimsuit issue makes me rethink the kids' bathing suits for their swim lessons, too. Robert, in particular, wears those ridiculous baggy, knee-length shorts and a short-sleeved rashguard. I wonder if I could get him to try something sleeker. Would he even put it on? Worst case scenario: he hates it and I just try it on James and Matthew when they get older :)