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Elisha’s First Fishing Trip

On Friday Morning Mom and Dad picked up the kids and me in the truck and we all drove to the lake for a day of fishing.

Elisha was itty-bitty the last time we went, so it was the first boat trip he didn’t sleep through.

gettin in jacket

He got to wear his infant life jacket, play with worms, and find his sea legs.

E & Worm

Things got a little more complicated when he got tired. We both had to take off our life-jackets in order for him to nurse. He streched out that moment as long as he could.

Snuggling

“Oh Grandma, you’re not going to make a kid this cute get back in that nasty jacket, are you?”

Yup.

W/ Papa

But he recovered, and spent some time figuring out what Papa was doing.

Melody

Everyone was tired and snuggly by the trip home.

I didn’t realize till I went back through the pictures: I got none of Natasha.

But this shouldn’t be my last picture post, so I’ll make up for it somewhere.

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So long… Farewell…

So we’ve had to end this dog-round-2.

Reasons we could give, but that’s the conclution.

Two nights ago after the new home was nearly confirmed I told the girls.  Melody was impassive, but Natasha was very sad.  Distressed.

I told her what I could, and felt how unhappy she was about it.  And prayed about it.  Thought a lot (and asked advice) about what else to say.

Came up with nothing.  Kept praying.

Next morning Natasha got up and, very cheerful and lucid (she’s not normally a morning person), explained that she was very sad last night but she thought about it and had a dream, and was thinking about it and now she knows that Shadow just has to go.

“Because, she’s just, got to go.” She gesticulated with her open hands and made that self-conscious grin and the half-laugh she gives when she’s testing the waters about being more grown-up.

Just like that.  The most simple, basic answer to prayer I could have gotten.

God is so good.

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Ouch!

Natasha was playing on her bed today, flopping backwards onto her pillow. After a while she misjudged and fell into her headboard instead (there was a nasty crack).

For a while she could only cry while I held her, and wouldn’t answer my how-are-you-feeling question.

“Can you see okay?” I asked, trying a different tack. She nodded. “How about when you hit your head?”

“When I hit my head it really hurt, and my eyes twinkled.”

“Are they twinkling now?”

“No, not any more.”

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Back on Tuesday the girls were at Ruth’s house while I was in class.

Ruth was sort of surprised at Natasha, because she’d been hitting and throwing things. When she threw a spoon into the lake Jon had to use a rake to get it out.

At that point Natasha said, “I’m ornery tonight. I didn’t get a good nap.”

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Weekend Nuggets

Twice as we were driving to Wasilla and passing roadwork Natasha shouted, “Daddy!  Look!”  Both times there was the quick glacing about for the source of her delight before she pointed to the side of the road and said, “Dirt!”

We couldn’t help laughing.

On the way home the girls were asking something about clouds and where they come from and where they go.

Melody shared her content analysis matter-of-factly :  “Don’t you know– that snow and milk make clouds?”

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Storytelling class

I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I recieved a scholarship for the Summer Arts Festival’s storytelling class.

This was very cool because I wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise.

The combination of personalities and beliefs creates an interesting chemistry.  Elisha’s been sleeping poorly again, and my awareness is  being filtered through that tiredness, so sometimes I feel like I am missing something in the interaction.

Picking a performance story for the class has been interesting, too.  My mind keeps changing and taking on new ideas (and guessing how others will perceive those ideas), shifting my thoughts about what’s appropriate for this group.

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Lingering

Well, this illness has just been holding-on, finger- and toenail.

Thankfully no one else seems to have gotten sick, and I only cough when I’m tired, but that seems to be pretty consistently every evening now.

I was pretty useless last night, from a bit before Jay got home.  As much as I enjoy the license to just sit around and read, I’m beginning to want more to go for walks or take Shadow for the runs she’s not gotten in so long.

It also seems like everyone is having some species of sleep issue several nights each week. I honestly feel that we’d lose 85% of all our attitudes, disobedience and tensions here if we could fix that one problem.

But I guess that could be true of most households.

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Admiring Daddy’s Work

Jay did a fantastic job cleaning up the house Saturday while the kids and I were visiting a friend.  He’d picked-up all the floors so I could see most of the living room.

I was complementing Jay again on how nice the new floor looks, thanking him again for his hard work.

“Isn’t it great?” I said to Melody.

“Yes!” said Melody, enthusiastically.   “I like the new floor.  Daddy made it all slippery and stripy.”

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Improving

Jay is so kind to me.

I’m noticeably improved today (less tired, less coughing) and he is still staying home to manage things and let me rest.

It really is the sensible thing to do– not to quit too soon– and I’m thankful Jay has the flexibility at work to be able to choose that for us.

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Never get sick with something you can’t spell.

Pneumonia.

There. Got it right. I had a test and correction when Jay e-mailed work this morning to tell them he was staying home with me to take care of the children.

I was at 1st Care yesterday for about 3 hours (most of it waiting) that culminated in an x-ray and being called into the back room again to say yup I have pneumonia in the middle of my left lung (I think it was).

Doctor said that was why I’ve been feeling so tired lately. I asked how one distinguishes that from the general tiredness of motherhood, and she didn’t really have an answer.

But it was very nice to have a “note” from my doctor telling Jay to stay home a couple days to take care of the family and allow me to rest. I told him he’s not allowed to get sick this time– that I ought to be able to be the only one sick once in our marriage. (Okay, I didn’t put it quite that way.)

Talking with someone else I heard something that made the tiredness make more sense– the pneumonia makes the lungs less-efficient, so I’m getting less oxygen than usual, and that contributes. I’d always just thought it was plain being sick.

So I got a nice nap this morning after breakfast– Jay took the kids to the school park.

Natasha told me how much the pink and orange dinosaur liked playing on the slide (I didn’t know the thing had left the house. Funny how much they love it…).

While I was reading nap-time stories to the girls Jay came in with his pleased look and said his “1-2-3 of park, pizza, and popcorn” had worked, knocking out the boy for his nap too.

After nap Jay will be taking the kids out to Derek’s because Uncle D e-mailed this morning asking if his favorite nieces could come out and visit. Jay said he hadn’t told Derek he was home with the kids, so I pointed out this was God’s answer to our prayers for something to do (Jay was frustrated first thing this morning, finding it hard to find something all three kids can do).

So in a minute I’ll be done with my lunch and lay down again, too.

I’m on an antibiotic, so I guess I’m praying too that the pneumonia is a bacterial infection and responds to the treatment. Apparently it could be viral too– then who knows how long this would drag out…