Reprieve

The last couple of days have been so nice and warm. (Warm being about 50-60 degrees.) It was so nice to have a little break from Winter, especially over the weekend while Billy was home and we could get things done and play outside. The kids have been outside for hours over the last three days. We didn't even do school until about 2 this afternoon, after they'd spent the morning playing outside.

I feel like we might pay for this once the weather goes back to Winter mode again. But it was good for my soul to have a little warmth and sunshine to break up the cold and gray. I am living proof that S.A.D. is a thing.

I told Billy that this weather made me so excited for when Spring will come around again. I know we have a little ways to go for that, so I'll try not to jump the gun. It also serves as a good reminder to continue to try to enjoy every season (of life and the weather), because they each offer moments that I'll only be able to have once.

Open to Interpretation

Homeschooling wasn't always something I wanted to do. There was a time when I didn't even think I wanted kids, much less to homeschool those kids. I now really appreciate big families, but growing up it wasn't always easy to be part of one. Same goes for homeschooling. Growing up I didn't always appreciate all the extra it required of my parents, financially or time-wise, but appreciate the benefits I feel I have reaped from it as an adult.

That said, choosing to homeschool once I had kids was kind of the first option for me. It was just something I wanted to do. Even though Billy went to public school, and had a great experience there, it was something we always agreed on. Also once he realized not all homeschoolers are weird, he was all for it. (I'm a homeschooler, I am allowed to say that sometimes we earn that "odd" label. And I feel like recently, with the uptick in those choosing to homeschool and it being more mainstream, we are getting even less weird. Yay!)

Anyway, just because you choose to homeschool doesn't mean you automatically turn into a fabulous teacher with loads of patience. It's been a struggle, but I love being the one teaching my kids. I also love sharing their interpretive readings with the world. Like the time Merrick read the picture above as, "Phil likes elf nuts." (He couldn't understand my wild outburst of laughter.) Or like yesterday, when he interpreted the picture below as...wait for it..."eggy poot". That's just all kinds of disturbing if you ask me. Maybe even worse than Phil and his elf nuts.

Moral of the story...if nothing else, homeschooling will help you learn to have patience.
And provide you with loads of good material for the future embarrassment of your children.

Fancy Teething

Amaryllis was beginning to have me worried that she wasn't going to get teeth. That probably sounds silly, but all my other kids had teeth by now. Jericho was the latest to cut a tooth and he had one on his 6 month birthday. She is getting close to 7 months and was still gumming it up with no signs of teeth.

This kid is the one who has made me question all my baby-handling skills...right down to if I somehow didnt give her teeth while in the womb. I can't make her sleep through the night, I couldn't make her stop screaming for nearly 3 months, I can't seem to make her want to roll over or sit up either. She's determined to help me keep it humble. (I know I really can't make a baby do any of those things, but I guess after 3 babies you do tend to get a little cocky about your mommy skills. Point proven, fancy pants.)

Well the other day I just happened to notice that she had a tooth in her mouth. Where did that come from? She didn't make a peep in the process of getting it, and not only that, but the next day I realized she actually ahd TWO teeth broken through. I gotta say, I appreciate her low maintenance teething after how fancy she's been with so many other things. We still have some work to do on that sleeping through the night thing. 7 months without a full night's sleep really starts to make a person's eye twitch.

Feather Remember

About a month and a half ago, I got a sweet Facebook message from a friend of mine who I haven't seen in far too long. She knew this amazing artist who has started painting portraits for families who have lost babies, as a way of helping heal and remember these little ones we have yet to meet. I had never heard of doing this, but when she told me she was going to have a portrait done for us of Charis, I was just so thankful.

I take pictures, of everything, but Charis is the one of my babies who I was only able to take ultrasound pictures of. Not nearly enough, and I miss all the chances I would have had to see her sweet face in my camera lens. So when I realized I could have a visible reminder of her, thrilled doesn't really cover it.

I corresponded back and forth with Laura, the artist, and we both exchanged ideas and inspirations and chatted through what this would look like in my memory and heart coupled with her amazing artistic ability and interpretation. To say I'm thrilled with how it came out doesn't express it...I just cried and cried when I opened the package. It's fabulous...and does so much to help with the healing and the missing that we go through daily.

I told Laura how I pictured all my babies playing together, and that Charis's middle name is Eden, so it seemed fitting that they would be playing in an Eden-like garden. Paradise is the only home Charis has ever known. I imagine her showing her siblings around, and them all being so happy to finally meet each other, running wild like they do. My kids talk about her constantly, and I can't wait until they all see each other. I can't wait to see my twin baby girls together...wondering if they'll look just alike or different. Laura talked about the closeness, and love for each other, she saw in the photos I sent to her of my kids. So she offered to paint them all together in this portrait instead of just having Charis symbolized somehow. 

I think it turned out perfect. I love how they look just like themselves, and how we have a visible reminder of what we have to look forward to in the future. I love that Charis will be a part of all the art splashed on our living room walls that features these laughing kiddos. I am so grateful to the friends and the talent that made this happen, and how they let God use them to help heal and remember.

(Please go look up FeatherGreyStudio on instagram for a look at Laura's work. It's amazing and I definitely want to pass it on to others who may also know someone who needs help remembering and healing.)

Who comes up with this stuff?

I've always wondered who in the world first said. "there is no use crying over spilled milk"? I mean, really. That person either never paid for milk, or never had to clean up that milk. It seems like cleaning up milk is one of my hobbies these days. I am trying desperately to let my kids be more independent. But that definitely comes with a side effect of mess.

This particular kid, however, is not on the list of those who are allowed to pour milk. He took it upon himself however. I came around the corner just as he was spilling it all over himself and the floor. I can't tell if he was trying to drink out of the jug or put it up on the counter. Either way, it made a fabulous mess and got his favorite batman jammies wet.

My next post might a second edition of this. Where I intellectually discuss why the saying, "sleeping like a baby", is also ridiculous.