Lessons Learned

Turns out my last night at work really was my last night at work.  I was scheduled for a few shifts through the end of the month, so I left a note asking if anybody wanted them.  They all got taken, so as far as I know, I am done!

The years I spent working, particularly the last eight months, have taught me a lot about myself.  I can work more hours, and sleep fewer, than I would have thought.  Staying up all night is much easier for me than getting up early in the morning.  I will never be a "people person" but I can work very well with folks, thanks, in part, to my naturally high tolerance for B.S.

Finally, I learned that I can't have it all.  I don't want to have it all.  When I first started working, I thought I was unhappy because it was "just a job".  So, I found a job that, in theory, might have led to further education and an advancing career.  The possibility seemed exciting at first, but soon I wasn't so sure.  Then I found out I'm pregnant, and it became obvious that what I really want is to be home again.  There is nothing wrong with balancing career and family.  I have utmost respect for all Moms who do it!  It just isn't right for me.

So while I am grateful for all my experiences and opportunities of the last four years, even more, I am happy to be home full time.  I am also ready for the lessons that this next season of life has to teach me.

I Gave Notice

My adventures in Employed Motherhood are coming to an end. 

Pretty soon I will be home full time again, and I am very thankful.  I am grateful to have a husband who understands my heart on this, who is willing to give up his own time with the family so that I can be home.  For the last four years, no matter if I was at home or at work, I almost constantly felt I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Soon I will be back to living my vocation the way I believe God intends for me to live it, and it is thanks to the sacrifices Chuck is making. 

So, thank you Sweetie.  You alone can truly understand how much this means to me.

2013

January is almost over, and this year is promising to be full of new things.

#1- New Job  Chuck left last night for truck driving school.  As much as we hate to be apart, this seemed like our best option.  It seems sudden, but we've talked about this for a long, long time.  Which leads to...

#2- New Not-Job  Hopefully very soon I will be able to put in notice at work.  I already had to quit my part-time position with Mental Health because scheduling conflicts prevented me from getting enough hours to justify the drive.  The full-time job has been wrong for me from Day One, so I am excited to quit.  Even more, I am very excited to be "just a mom" again.  Everybody has done a really good job keeping things going since I've been working full time, but I have ideas for things I want to change and improve.  It just can't hurt to get more housework done.

#3- New Baby  This one we still have a while to wait for.  Our baby #8 is due mid-June; on Father's Day, actually.  I am 20 weeks today, so halfway done.  I'm feeling pretty good.  Hopefully there will be some ultrasound pictures to share after Tuesday.

That's not everything, but those are the main things.  It feels like we just gotta get through the next few weeks, and then hopefully things will be easier and better for all of us.

God bless!

Just for You Know Who

I can't think of a better way to update this ol' blog than with a few pictures of Christmas! Enjoy!

Raechel, relaxing with the fam. Isn't she pretty!

Thomas with his favorite gift: a camping shovel.

Mary is at that perfect age where Christmas is nothing but magic and lights and sweets. Oh, and Jesus. We try to not forget about Him.

Last year, Lucy was just a little baby. She spent Christmas morning lying under the tree, staring at the ornaments and drooling on herself. This year, she is a big baby! Here she is, opening her first present from Santa- a baby doll that she just loves.

We're missing a few kids there, but I assure you, the rest of them are equally photogenic. See, here they are, all together:

L to R, First Row: Mary, 4; Joseph, almost 10; Thomas, 7; Daniel, 12; Robert, 16Back Row: Raechel, 14, holding Lucy, 18 months
I just love how my "big kids" are not too embarrassed to sit for pictures with the "little kids". And lookit all their little bare feet! Too cute!

This picture is out of order, but here's this year's tree. It's beautiful! Thank you, Sweetie, for cutting it down and trimming it and dragging it into the sauna to dry and helping to set it up just perfect. It might have been easier to just buy one, but it wouldn't have been ours.

And I'll close with a picture of me. This one is rare because I look at it and think, "That's actually a decent picture." I'm so vain. ;-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

FINALLY

As in, "Yay, I finally am feeling human again!"

It started with a slight cough and "nasal drip" sore throat on the Saturday before Easter, and escalated from there. The cold wasn't so bad- the sinus infection that followed was pure misery. It lingered for a while in my right sinuses. There were two days when I thought I was feeling better, then suddenly the left side of my head clogged up. In all it has taken almost two weeks of sinus headache, ringing ears, sore jaw, toothache, bloody/green mucus, low energy, and general grumpiness with occasional bouts of self-pity for me to feel like myself again. Let's just say it was unpleasant for all involved. ;-)

In other news... Robert and Raechel attended a one-day retreat in preparation for Confirmation. They will be confirmed on May 2. Joseph will receive his first Holy Communion on May 16, so he also had a one-day retreat. It has made me so proud to see how they've prepared themselves (and helped each other prepare) to make these important steps into the Faith. It's a good reminder for me, too, at just what a special honor and privilege it is to have these precious souls entrusted to us.

The chicks that we ordered with some friends were finally feathered out enough to join our flock. There are 13 of them- I believe we ended up with ten hens and three roosters. Meanwhile, the four old hens that survived the multiple dog attacks of last fall have been doing well and we still get 2-3 eggs a day. Enough for a breakfast if we save 'em up for Sunday. The others should be ready to lay sometime in August.

Baby has been doing very well. I've grown a lot in the last month, feeling lots of movement, and the heart beat is always easy to find with our fetoscope. My midwife is supposed to be coming tomorrow around noon for a check-up. After this, it is already time to visit every two weeks! We haven't started any of the practical preparations yet. We have enough clothes and a carseat up in the garage to dig out and wash. The diapers are still clean and in the stacker in the bathroom even though Mary has been toilet trained for quite a while now. We don't have anything for the birth yet, so I guess that is the first thing I should make a list for.

Chuck and the kids are at the park in Greenland right now. I stayed behind to finish up lesson plans. The house was so quiet, just me and the dog, that I got done a lot faster than I normally would. Why is it that when I get a little of the quiet time I so long for.. I don't know what to do with myself? ;-) But, it is almost sunset now, and I have laundry to bring in, so this is good-night.

God bless!

This and That

Mary told me a story this morning. I'm not sure why all my toddlers have been convinced they need company while on the potty, but I suspect it is so they will have somebody to talk to while they take care of business. (It works out well for me, actually, since I can monitor their rate of t.p. usage.) Her story went like this: "Mom, Me tell you a story. Once upon a time a boy went outside. Then a man said 'Nanny-nanny-boo-boo'. That was all, but I was impressed. I don't remember the other kids even attempting to make up a story at only two and a half. So, that settles it... our Mary Mae is fantastic. ;-)

Baby and I reached another milestone this weekend: 25 weeks. This is significant to me because Robert was born at 25 weeks; I always feel a little better after passing this point, and it is kinda neat in that I have seen first hand exactly what a 25-week-old baby looks like. It's strange that such a tiny baby makes me feel so big! In the comments, Mom F. said that my exercise may make my labor and delivery "different", and that made me smile. I've read that exercise makes l&d quicker and easier. If it goes any easier or faster this time than it did the last two times, I'll wake up one morning to find Baby already born!

We have been enjoying unusually spring-like weather, unusual for the U.P. at least. Most of the last two weeks we've had highs in the 50's and lows just below freezing. Usually there is still significant snow cover through March, but our snow has almost completely melted. I really enjoy being able to go outside in just a t-shirt, and the kids are (of course) running around barefoot. Chances are we will get at least one more snowstorm before the snow season is over, but who knows... My dad always says "it is perfectly normal to have abnormal weather". I'm just glad this spring is "abnormal" in such a pleasant way.

That's all for now, God bless!

Quick Pregnancy Update

We had a nice visit with the midwife today. Baby has really had a growth spurt, which almost explains why Mama gained about five pounds this month. ;-) We are easily able to feel little hands, feet, elbows, and knees in there... the fun part is trying to guess what knobby bump is what. At 23 weeks and 4 days I'm measuring 26 weeks, but measuring ahead is pretty normal for me. Baby is definitely head down, and his-or-her heart rate was around 140. My blood pressure was 112/70 which is really good for me; usually during pregnancy my bp is at the high end of normal. She said that can probably be attributed to the fact that I'm continuing to exercise. I think my fluid intake (about a gallon a day, almost all water) helps a lot, too. It is about time to get another picture; I'll try to remember to do that this weekend.

That's all I can think of. I'm feeling good, eating and resting well and getting through the day with just enough energy. Really, I can't ask for more than that! Every day I thank God for this precious little soul He has entrusted to us, and I ask that Baby will be safe and healthy.

God bless!

Good Morning!

We had a pretty good weekend, especially welcome after having a rough day on Friday. It was over too quickly, though.

On Saturday we ran some errands in the morning, went to Mass in the afternoon, and had friends over in the evening. That night we met a milestone for this pregnancy- Baby was moving around strong enough for Chuck to feel it, too. Baby is moving more and more every day; it is so much fun to feel those little kicks and jabs and imagine what position s/he is in.

We had a quiet Sunday morning. I had to work in the afternoon. Since it was Super Bowl Sunday (which I wouldn't have known before getting to work if Dad hadn't mentioned it) I expected to be busy for most of the shift... and I was! But even after kick-off time, people kept coming in. Usually being so busy makes the time fly by, but not last night. I guess I was anxious to get home. I'm already looking forward to next Sunday; it will be my weekend off!

We don't have too much planned for this week, although I have a feeling we will manage to stay busy nonetheless. My next visit with the midwife should be on Saturday, so that's another reason to look forward to next weekend. That's all the update for now... I hope all of you have a beautiful week!

God Bless!

Here We Grow

It occurred to me that through all my pregnancies, I have exactly three "belly shots". This time around I plan to take pictures regularly, every few weeks at least. This first picture is Baby 'n me three weeks ago, at about 15 weeks...



Next picture is this weekend, at about 18 weeks (not quite 4 months).

The pictures look a little odd because I'm twisting to photograph myself in the mirror. Still, as you can see, I'm carrying quite high so far. I can't remember if that means a boy or girl, according to the old wives. ;-) The e-mails I receive say that at this point Baby is about the length of a bell pepper (5 1/2 inches) and weighing somewhere around 5 ounces. I first felt movement about a week and a half ago, and by now I'm feeling Baby saying "hi" a couple of times a day. I just love being pregnant! (Well, now that I'm over the first trimester I can say I love it!)

Everybody has been doing well... Chuck did end up getting sick on the night of his birthday and into the next day, but that was the end of it. God bless!

Tummy Woes

What a long weekend! Our first round of illness for the season, and it had to be a stomach bug. Really, I shouldn't complain- we got off pretty lucky! Robert never did get sick, but I'm hoping it is over. Everybody seems to be feeling well today, but we probably should stay on a bland diet a while longer. Too bad... today is Chuck's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! I hope it is a good one and that nobody throws up today! ;-)

January Thaw

If the weather forecast hold true, we're going to get a lot of snow today and then tomorrow- January thaw! We could get as warm as 36 degrees (F) on Wednesday! The January thaw (we also usually get one in Feb. or March) is a great opportunity for those chores that are a real drag when it is cold, like cleaning out the car or tidying up the garage and mud room. We've had about 130" of snow this season, which is just a bit below normal for this time of year.

As of yesterday, our newest Babe is 15 weeks old. According to an e-mail I get s/he is now about 4 inches crown-to-rump and weighs around two ounces. Mostly I'm feeling pretty good these days. We had to reschedule with the midwife again, but I'm supposed to be seeing her this Thursday afternoon. I'm keeping up with my exercise better than I was before; that makes a big difference in how I feel. I finished a little sewing project this weekend. I turned a pair of regular jeans into maternity jeans. I had a pair of maternity jeans that I had turned into swimming cut-offs when I was pregnant with Mary. I cut the tummy panel off of them, and sorta just patched them onto a pair of jeans I already owned. They fit a little funky in the front, because I really haven't started showing that much yet, but it is wonderful to finally own a pair of maternity pants that are long enough. It is hard enough finding normal jeans with a 36" (or longer) inseam... maternity pants that long just don't exist in my world. ;-)

That's all the news from here for now. The children are all healthy, being good and keeping busy. Now that the festivities of Christmas are officially over, it's back to normal routines for us. I hope all of you have a blessed week. Love you all!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's. Rather than going to a friend's for the evening, we stayed home; the snow was coming down pretty thick that evening. Driving in white-out conditions can be scary enough during the day, and even worse at night. It turned out just as well that we stayed home, because my body had apparently only two things on its agenda- food and sleep! We had a late supper and I started dozing off on the couch almost immediately after we ate. I woke up about 12:02. The kids were already in bed; we were quick to follow. That was our big New Year's party. ;-)

Compared to the last two weeks, this week will be a breeze. Raechel and Joseph will both celebrate birthdays, and I will have my first prenatal appointment with my midwife. I am 14 weeks along as of today (or three months tomorrow), and I'm feeling so much better than I was a few weeks ago. I'm always so thankful to make it to the 2nd trimester!

God bless you all, have a blessed week!

I exercised today!

I've had to take a long break from exercising, thanks to feeling almost constantly sick the last several weeks. I did a 3-mile walk today, with some yoga stretching to cool off. I enjoy exercising so much- if I had it my way I'd probably workout three times a day. :-) I just figured my exercise minutes for the year as of today- 8,425! To reach my goal of 9,002 minutes for the year, I'm going to need another 577 minutes of exercise in the next 13 days. If I get 45 minutes or more every day for the rest of the year, I'll make it.

I'm feeling somewhat better most of the time these days. I'm still feeling nauseous (funny how I always need spell-check for that word...) most evenings, but I'm having more energy during my good part of the day. Last night in the middle of the night it occured to me that I might have miscalulated my due date. So this morning I grabbed my last chart and visited a few websites. Sure enough, I was off by about a week. I had thought I was due June 27, but according to the due date calculators I tried I'm actually due around July 4th or 5th. I'm not convinced it makes much difference, since Baby doesn't use a calendar but will instead prefer to come when he or she is ready. I should be having a preliminary appointment with a new midwife soon, so we'll see what she thinks.

Everybody has been healthy and staying busy. Winter has officially arrived to the UP! Today we are having a brilliantly sunny day with temps in the lower 20's. It's so beautiful.

That's all the update for now. Only 7 praying days until Christmas! Love you all, God bless!

Long-Overdue Update

My goodness, how do I recap the last busy few months? I'll do my best!

My job at the grocery store is going very well. I don't mind the work, I like the people I work for, and the hours are working out so much better for all of us. Typically I work three days a week (sometimes two when it is my turn for a Sunday off), but many times I've been able to pick up extra shifts. There are three very important aspects of my job... making sure the till is as close to "right" as possible, counting the cigarettes, and stocking the beer cooler. Not necessarily in that order, especially now that we're into hunting season. ;-) Besides my job at the store, I've also been "hired" to play music at our parish for Mass. I've never played organ until two months ago; it is a whole different animal from piano! Some weeks it comes together quite well, other weeks I feel completely silly up there, masquerading as a musician. Chuck assures me that when everybody is singing loud enough, nobody can hear my mistakes.

The kids are all doing well. The first round of flu went through town, but nobody in our house has been sick. Thank God for that! Between chores, lessons, and their own interests they manage to keep busy most of the day. Mary Mae celebrated her second birthday nearly two months ago. She is so much fun! Sometimes when I look at the older kids it seems like they have grown overnight and I hardly recognize them. I love having little kids, because it is so much fun to watch them learn and develop and grow. I am realizing that the older kids are still changing just as much and almost as fast. Suddenly they seem like young men and women.

Or maybe I'm just feeling old. ;-)

We are expecting company any minute now, so I guess that's all the update you will get from me. I'm not going to close this post with hasty promises to blog and post lots of pictures from now on. I do promise, however, that all my family and loved ones are close to my heart always!

One final note... check out Chuck's blog for a very special announcement. :-)

Love you all, God bless!

One more week

I have one more week working at the restaurant, and then I'm free! Well, not so completely free because I'll be starting at the grocery store the day after my last day at the restaurant. Training in on Labor Day, how appropriate is that?

Today is cool and rainy. The kids and I spent most of the day catching up on all the housework that didn't get done during the week. My kitchen is now so clean that I'm reluctant to use it. Supper tonight will be grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade tomato soup. Hoping we can't make too big a mess out of that.

I've decided that we will go back to school on the 14th of September. That's a little later than is traditional, but I think it will work better for us this year. We can always make time up later if needed, like in May when we are still waiting for the snow to melt. ;-) That gives me a little more than two weeks to decide what we're going to use for the basics this year. I've never been one to plan too far ahead, ya know. I'm sure it will be a good year anyway!

We don't really have plans for this weekend. Chuck and I are going to try getting out together for a couple of hours on Saturday mornings. Tomorrow will be the first such morning, and I'm not sure what we will do. We have Mass tomorrow evening, and I work Sunday morning. There is about a ton of laundry to do (only a slight exaggeration- the boys cleaned upstairs today), but we have to wait on the weather to clear up.

I hope all of you enjoy this last weekend of August. God bless!

Well, that was fun...

We enjoyed our two weeks of summer; too bad it's over now. ;-) Today's high temp was 69, and we had light rain most of the day.

No news, everyone is doing well. I'm hoping to get my camera working so I can get some pictures up. All the kids seem to have grown a lot!

God bless!

Summer! (Finally....)

Well, we've waited for months and finally got a bit of summer weather here in da U.P.

For most of the country, mid-August highs in the upper 80's would hardly be impressive. BUT we gotta take what we can get. We have been to the lake three evenings in a row, and the kids are loving it. I've got probably forty pounds of sand built up somewhere in the guts of my washing machine, and twice that in the floor of the suburban.

Right now, while I sit at the computer typing up this post and sipping coffee, Chuck is making omelets. Mary Mae, Thomas, and Joseph are already eating. Robert is helping cook, Daniel is building star ships out of legos upstairs, and Raechel is working on her book. After breakfast is cleaned up we have some housework to get done, and I plan to try to get all the laundry done. I need to practice music for Mass this evening, and I'm hoping we will have time to get a workout done. This evening we will probably head out to the lake. Tomorrow is Sunday, but I work in the morning. If we get enough done today we will have next to nothing to do tomorrow afternoon, so if it stays hot we might make it another lake day.

God is good! I hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Back to Blogging

I mean it... I'm seriously going to continue updating more regularly from now on! ;-)

First, some good news... Chuck has found a job working at the local car dealership/garage; he starts tomorrow. We are so relieved! I will continue working at the restaurant for now, depending on how well we can juggle schedules. Hopefully this will give us enough to squeak by. Thank you, Jesus, Amen!

All the children are doing well, staying healthy, working and playing lots, and growing like weeds! Robert celebrated his 14th birthday last week We are so proud of him, happy birthday, honey! Our next birthday will be in September when Mary Mae turns two. All my babies are growing up too quickly. :-)

We have enjoyed a very cool, comfortable summer so far. Actually, I can hardly bring myself to consider this summer! I don't think we've had a day above 90* so far, and many days we don't get out of the 70's. So far today our high is 68, and it is already after 3pm. We're enjoying it, but our garden not so much. We've got some plants that may yet do okay, but there's really no hope of getting peppers or cukes this year. Most of the other seed we planted didn't even germinate at all, not even the lettuces. :-( BUT we've got a few good-sized rows tilled that we can keep weeding, then mulch over really well this fall to use as potato beds next season. I figure that any time and effort we put into the garden is not ever wasted, because of the experience we gain. For example, I've decided that trying to grow veggies is pretty much pointless unless I can figure out a place to start the plants indoors ahead of time.

Today Chuck and I finished Day 51 of our 90-day exercise routine. I'm so proud of us! :-) Out of those 51 days we've only missed four... I'm just amazed that we're doing as well as that! For July we logged a total of 1,693 minutes. My YTD is 6,060. I'm more than two-thirds of the way to my goal already! :~D Chuck and I have both definitely noticed major improvements in the last eight weeks. When we did the Day 1 exercise we were both huffing and puffing before the end of the warm up. Neither of us are even close to being in "athletic" shape BUT we have both gained strength, endurance, and flexibility.

That's all the update I have time for right now. It's dinner time. God bless you all, please say a prayer for us, too.

Hello, July!?

Is it just me or is time speeding up?

I was just telling Chuck that he needed to update his blog. "My blog?" He says. "You need to update your blog!" So, here I am... updating my blog just in case there is anybody who still checks in on me from time to time. :o)

We didn't do much for Independence Day, just did our normal morning exercise and then worked around the house most of the day. We met some friends at Mass and then afterward went to a neighbor's house for a potluck dinner. That was fun, and we leared quite a bit about the area from folks that have lived, and farmed here for almost 30 years. Just don't ask me how to pronounce their (Finnish) last name!

Speaking of exercise, I bet you're wondering whether or not I've been keeping track of my minutes. (Remember my resolution to get 9,002 minutes of exercise this year?) Well, I don't have the exact number in front of me now, but I've gotten somewhere over four thousand minutes of exercise through the end of June. Thanks to P90X, Chuck and I are getting at least an hour of exercise a day, six days a week. We've just completed week 3!

The big event from the last week was a new addition to our family. No, I'm not pregnant again... yet! ;-) We adopted a new dog named Sophie. She is a St. Bernard; she's actually small for her breed weighing "only" about 100 pounds. I'll admit, the first day she made me nervous. Such a huge dog around the little children would make any mother nervous, I think. The fact that she got away from Daniel and killed one of our chickens that first day did NOT help matters. However, as she has been settling in this week, I've realized she really is a very gentle and well-trained dog. We just don't take her anywhere near the chicken yard! She has very good leash manners, will heal and sit on command, and she's already house-broken. Either Chuck or I will get some pictures up pretty soon, I hope.

It's been so long since I last wrote, you would think I'd have more to write about. Well, that's all I really can make time for right now anyway. The kids and Chuck and I are all doing well. God bless you all!

I'm Still Here!

I think it is funny that my last blog update was on April Fools' Day. Ha!

We are all doing well, we've just been so busy. I'm only getting on the computer every couple of days, and when I do it's only for a minute. Quite a change from a year or so ago when I'd sit at the computer any time Mary Mae needed to nurse, several times a day!

As of yesterday, Chuck has been home for exactly three months. Every once in a while one or the other of us will have an attack of doubt and worry, but for the most part we encourage each other right out of it. Lord help us if we ever have an attack at the same time! ;-)

Well, since I last updated we went and got a pair of dairy goats. Cocoa is a 4-year-old Alpine and Lily is a 2-year-old Toggenburg. They are both sweet as can be, very well behaved as far as goats go, and they are giving us about 5 quarts a day of the sweetest, yummiest milk we've ever had! We've also increased our chicken flock to 40-some hens. Not all of them are laying yet (the younger ones) but we're getting around two dozen eggs a day. We've put up signs to start selling eggs... only sold one dozen so far, but gotta start somewhere. Now if we could just get the garden in it would feel like a "real" homestead around here.

All the kids are well, staying healthy and spending as much time as possible outside. They only come in these days to eat and sleep, and even then they come in reluctantly. ;-)

There really isn't that much to share as far as news goes. Our little lives in the North Woods just goes on, day by day, one way or another. God is so very, very good to us. I cannot begin to tell all the little ways in which He has blessed us these last few months.

I'm posting this message with a bit of haste and a lot of love... God bless you all!