"How many Pastors does it take"

asked a lady in the narthex, "to put a nightgown on a baby?" Answer "Two wonderful pastors and two moms to help." Today was the day of Ingrid's baptism. Wonderful day in Ingrid's and our lives. There is nothing that makes me happier than a baptism. What can I say? The day speaks for itself. Happy parents, Godparents and pastor baptizing. She cried through most which was probably my fault for feeding the poor thing beforehand and perhaps not burping her enough and she was quieted during the most appropriate times as well. I don't think she managed to pee on anyone before her diaper was snuck on in the pew afterwards.

As for the gown, it was my grandfather's nearly 100 years ago or perhaps it is 100 years now. From my understanding he was a big baby or at least that was the joke among his colleagues as he was 6 ft 4 in as a man and I remember a silly newspaper that was on his wall kidding him that he was born 3 ft tall etc. So perhaps putting a gown made for a certainly larger, older baby on a 7 pound something baby might drown the wee one in the gown alone as well as being 'drowned' in baptism. Breathe Ingrid, breathe! She is fine. She is most certainly baptized though.

The benefit of having Godparents who have 9 children plus one on the way is not feeling the obligation to have a party at the home of this not quite a week post partum mommy. Shocking that we did not party this afternoon but had a few quiet hours with my parents and will spend some time with the Godparents later in the evening. Perhaps I will have a gathering a month from now. Rest is key to this mommy feeling better and even standing through seven verses of the processional hymn was questionable at first but I got my bearings and made it through. I am always frustrated at this point to be able to do more but as history replays itself it does take a week or so to get over this point and it is very nice to have the family allow me to spend time with Ingrid and enjoy her before life speeds up.

I rejoice in a beautiful day and God's mercy in bringing her to this day.

It's a Girl!

Probably most people I know already know this but Monday evening at 6:00pm we were blessed with the safe and uncomplicated birth of a new little daughter, Ingrid Christina Irene. She is beautiful and healthy and I am thankful. She weighed in at 7 1/2 pounds and is 20 inches long. Anna may have posted her picture on her blog but I am not sure. This is my first venture to the computer. By the doc's dates she was almost two weeks early but by the ultrasound she was only a few days early. The Lord was indeed merciful in that things went pretty quickly and for that I am extremely grateful.

Charley said the funniest thing when she was born "It's a boy!" I guess the umbilical cord confused him and the doc said "No it isn't! It's a girl!" so that was an interesting announcement to me. I got to have her up close and personal right away so I knew the doc was right. Poor Charley.

Everyone is adjusting well including Stefan who I assumed would not be too happy but he loves her and touches her carefully. That is an answer to prayer for sure. He still hops in my lap if the baby is elsewhere so he certainly hasn't given up on having his mommy's attention.

Not sleeping

So last night was the third night of contractions, which has been proven with other babies in this family to go on for many nights with no result. They start in the late afternoon and persist till I can manage to get to sleep. It is definitely early to even expect any result from contractions and I have no memory of how this has gone down with the rest of the kids. I just know that with the rest of the kids 'false labor', if you can call it that, continues for quite a while before I know it is the real thing. Last night was the first night of this go around that my husband questioned me as to how I knew it wasn't real. The basic test we have found to use on my body is to drink a whole bunch of water and then try to get to sleep. It worked.....again. But now I am up and not sleeping. Oh, well. This has happened as well with the other kiddos. I wander around the silent house and perhaps clean a sink, read something or lay awake in bed. Some day soon I will be wandering around the house, heading for a place to feed the bambino. I think my body just likes to warm up to the idea of labor so perhaps I will be totally focused when the time comes. Since labor is something that can sort of run around my brain too much, practicing focusing is not such a bad idea for this mommy.

I suppose I will go try to get back to sleep again. Like I said it is early, as the due date is not till early September but who knows, stranger things have happened.

Processing

Veges and honey and a four monster chickens were processed yesterday. I think in years past my goal was to process at least 14 quarts of food daily. We overshot that yesterday. Our bees did not do too well this year but I believe that was our fault as they are in a bad spot. It rained so much this spring that they were sort of sitting in a swampy area with no hope of moving them so we are all processing trying to remember in December or January to move their home. I would say we only got 4 gallons so far but will check our other hive that is about 30 minutes from here in a week or so to see if the bees decided to cap the honey off. That was our swarm and it did surprisingly well for a swarm. No complaining here.

I am processing things that hardly seem a reality at the moment but I know will become reality soon enough. Lord willing the new little tiny person will be here in the next few weeks so I am trying to rearrange clothes etc. and find supplies for the little guy ;o). I look at new born/infant diapers and their SIZE is hard to process. Can a newborn bottom dollar be THAT little????!!!!!! Sigh. So much to think about.

I am also processing parenting strategies and trying to figure out how to combat forgetfulness in the kiddos. Or is it selective deaf behavior. I am not a fan of nagging but seems that is my title at times. To think I was so appalled at nagging as a kid. Shocking isn't it?

What I really need to do is go wash a few floors and perhaps take a nap as the honey processing didn't end till nearly midnight. Bed magnet.....can I get by you to the bucket and the mop???? Here's hoping!

Confirmation and other things

Our family has been having a vacation at home. We have had two college friends and their families (15 total people) through since last Thursday and the house suddenly seems very quiet. Stefan's Godparents and family were through and should be back this Friday simply because they were in the area. They have eight kids and are convinced the baby is a girl as our count by girls and boys is exactly opposite. Erik's Godparent's were through for his confirmation and that mom is convinced the baby is a boy and says she is usually right. Well, it will be one of those ;o). The kids have been spoiled with at your disposal friends and entertainment. That is why I call it a vacation without leaving home.



Erik's confirmation went very well and I was of course proud of him. In his examination Saturday night as well as when I went over things with him, he usually forgot his wife but remembered the land and animals etc. He didn't know I was smiling. Don't forget your wife Erik! I am sure he is relieved though and ready to move on but not stop going to church. He worked very hard on his memory work so he should be happy about how things went as well.



My parents both have medical issues going on so we are in frequent contact with them. We won't know anything conclusive till Wednesday so I won't elaborate on that but that is what is going on presently.

Benjamin says the cutest things. There is a friend at church who was finally able to come back after knee surgery and complications and Benjamin saw her Saturday night and talked with her. She has a wheel chair and a brace so this sort of caught his attention as well. He fell asleep during the examination part and remained asleep till we left. So on Sunday morning he saw her again in the same spot he saw her the day before and he asked in a very put out way "You're still doing this????!!!!" It was pretty funny. She got quite the charge out of it.

It is a day later than I started this post so need to go pay attention to garden stuff and cleaning up the house despite the fact that everyone seems pretty tired still. Maybe it is just me so I will take the 'slow and steady wins the race' attitude.

A lot to do

Our guests are coming a day later than they originally planned but perhaps that is for the best. We have so much that needs to get done around here our heads are spinning and we had too much fun yesterday so I am certain the kids are at least tired where as I am good and tired. Where to turn first? Benjamin came and talked to my stomach this morning insisting that that the baby come out now. He started searching my sweatshirt pockets for the baby but only found his hand on the other side.

We definately need to pay attention to the garden today. It is a good thing my garden pal is returning so she can process some winter goodies too but she will probably be exhausted as well. All these tired people........that is a good thing. :o)

We visited a different fair yesterday and I did see the pros and cons of each. Their fair is more fair as far as entries as they don't require tons of expensive stuff like framing etc in order to enter. That was nice and refreshing. The hoops our fair requires you to jump through can be pretty ridiculous especially in the expense department. There seemed to be less of an age restriction as well. The only con I observed was I think I understand they all turn their exhibit stuff in on the same day and the lines are long. I am not sure how I would feel about that but I guess it would get it over with. We have several turn in days and we need to keep track of them all......that can be a pain as well but the lines are not so long.

Off to work......

Almost baby time

So the few weeks before baby can be sort of weird and awesome at the same time. They are weird to me because this life within kicks and squirms but does not have a face to me and unlike most expecting parents we don't know if it is a girl or a boy. As soon as the baby is born I can not imagine life without that little one but before I might have a freak out over worries of how to handle life afterwards. Unfaithful me. Throw in a little worry over the baby's welfare and being anxious about labor and my mind just keeps spinning over all these different thoughts. You would think that this would be routine. My brother commented once when I was starting labor with Cecilia that giving birth must be like going out for pizza anymore. Well.......I hardly describe it as similar to going for pizza but still labor and delivery are not my favorite topics after one pretty bad back labor where the baby never turned and has a permanant bump on his head to this day in memory of that grand event. I had to laugh at the pastor this morning about saying 'in reality (or something like that) that a person should really die in the labor process" Thanks pastor, that really helped my pysche but believe me I can't argue with that point. That back labor kid was the time I was really ready to check out. So stop worrying Karin and God WILL help you through. I just seem unfocused this time around. All I can do is proceed, pray and trust things will go ok and afterall labor and delivery are not a permanant condition........

So wiggly baby, what will you be like, look like, cry like etc. I am excited to find out and am looking forward to the afterward.........

Life lessons

Anna's career of ham has come to a close. No tears were shed and basically she quit. Three weeks in a row of not being notified that she wasn't needed to work and having bothered to drive over there for nothing is sort of a hint that things are not working out. The woman who hired her is not in management anymore and is a friend and even she upon hearing what happened again said "That's ridiculous (different word) just quit". She felt bad as she led Anna and us to believe that she would be able to get some decent hours etc but since she is not involved in that way anymore couldn't really change anything. Anna's dad was less than pleased. But, with no tears shed I suppose Anna is a person who is not going to get too emotionally upset about someone else playing games with her. It all is a little more complicated than that but she is a better 17 year old than I was. I never had to work for anyone outside of the family until college really so didn't have to deal with such games. I worked at a summer camp and then at the bookstore where my mom worked until my Junior/Senior year of college. Spoiled........

That is all from the farm today. Cucumbers are taking over, beans need to be canned, and the house needs to be cleaned some more. Someone did mention to me that I might want to find the baby clothes sometime.........true. I dreamed the baby was born with teeth and looked really too old to be a newborn. Weird dream.......

Bible study

I forgot to mention the biggest frustration. No it is not Bible study but the inability to go to Bible study. My whole adult life I have for the most part been able to attend Bible study in one form or another but ever since Stefan became a wiggler, screamer that has not been the case. So I got the idea from another family to buy an MP3 player and have my daughter record class. That helped a lot but stupidly I attended Bible study a week ago Monday and it felt so good to actually be with the rest of the people there and not just hear it long after the fact. My mean and selfish self would just like to be there. But I have concluded that this in NOT my time in life and won't be for quite a long time to be able to attend. I knew that before so why did I torture myself with a taste of what I love? Of course I love my babies and want to do what is best for them above my selfish needs but that doesn't mean it isn't hard. So that was the reason I lost it Monday night this week. Ugh. Since we have this lovely upcoming schedule I am trying to work it out with dh that we can get the younger kids to bed by 8:00 at the latest and I will cheerfully stay home and do this. I did mention it might be nice to be able to go these last few weeks to class for just a little treat. Sunday mornings are great as Sandy does watch the little noise makers during class so that has been very nice and have I mentioned that the new schedule will be nice with the 5 to 9 year olds busy in a class of their own. Thank you Pastors! Oh, I said that last time. Sigh.

Time to go find my house.

Frustrations

I have dug in my heels and am insisting we have some return to routine around here. Life has been very unpredictable this summer with kids going hither and yon and the parents staying home and picking up the pieces in between their journeys. I have almost consistantly broken down in tears every Monday evening at church or at home for the sheer exhaustion of trying to keep up or maybe make some progress on a 'summer' project. Sigh. I think I am scaring some people away from me but truly it is not just hormones. It is a combination of a lot of things but as one friend observed, our weekends tend to be a scramble to get things done with little to no schedule outside of church and then Monday comes and I let down my guard and......lose it. My ultimate conclusion is that we MUST have some routine and limit to the nuttiness of our little homestead here and do weird things like eat at a predictable hour, keep up with the house and maybe spend some time together doing things other than slave work. The husband has been extremely frustrated with his tools that are supposed to be so wonderful and a project that was supposed to be somewhat easy to accomplish is becoming tedious. I told him to just do what he can do today and it will eventually get done but doing things like eating on time and putting his exercise, children, wife etc ahead of 'the project' will not hurt him or anyone else. This is probably too much information but.......I dare to blog.

I love the fall schedule for church and am excited that things should work out fairly smoothly from week to week and my little ones can get to bed at a reasonable hour as well. Thank you Pastors! The fall school schedule also seems to be good and is not sending me into panic attacks wondering when laundry and cooking will get done.

The baby coming in 4ish weeks is of course on my mind and some days I feel calm about that and some days I have too good a memory of the process of their entering the world. The last time went better than it ever had so I shouldn't worry so much about it. The doc knew what to do with back labor and suddenly things were not so bad. Same doctor so I am grateful for that.

So I am just hoping to not set myself up for public crying next week and dh and I are trying to work out a schedule that will work best for the kids and sanity. Cooler weather would help too......and if I am caught crying in public, please do not avoid me altogether and I will pull myself together eventually. It isn't just hormones or upcoming birth, it is a huge combination of stressers that processing outloud usually helps me find where relief might be possible.

Off to nighty, nighty land.

Baby names

Specifically girl names.....we have apparently not decided on a girl's name yet. Dear husband announced a week or so ago that he wasn't crazy about the girl's name. The kids all like it and I am not going to say what it is/was online as we don't like too much outside influence. So now I am trying to figure out possibilities and it is sort of hard. No....don't make suggestions as I like the name to come from one of us and frankly I have mulled over so many names that it probably would just rule out more. Oddly I like to have ownership over this process with the dear husband so there are no opinions stated.

I have looked and looked at A LOT of name sources and there really is nothing that jumps out at me as one that I just love. So then what? We have a lot of old names that we have chosen for a girl each time and then the baby was a boy so we seemed to start over again each time. I think I will write all of those out and give them to Charley and see what he comes up with. I do not like trendy names so I have to check out that list too. Although when we named Anna the name wasn't popular at the time but apparently it became very popular around that time. We still like the name (of course) so the trendiness was not such a big deal.

Then of course there is the time and energy we put forth in this process and the baby obviously could be a boy. We seem to have a few boys around here........I hope Charley is ok with our boys name. Maybe we just will change all previously thought of names and surprise everyone.

Better go sleep on it.

Sticking to the mundane

I think it best to remember to stick to our everyday happenings around here. I tend to not be able to express myself too well otherwise so........there. It is safer that way....

Another Saturday

It happened again. My cell phone fails to notify me of messages until days after the fact so we missed the message that Anna did not need to come into work today. I packed up the little kids and Anna and away we went. We suspected that something was up when there was no one at the store when we got there and our suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later. I am sure I had stated it was better to call the home phone as I am not married to my cell phone but I guess they missed that somehow. So now I feel a little less enthused to get anything done and it is already late.

Our sprinkler is being disagreeable again. This is the third or fourth sprinkler we have tried this summer and they seem only to work for a few days then they stop. I will have to wait for the hubby to examine this one when he returns from the fair.

Interesting auction

I thought this year's auction would have a poor response with the economy etc. becoming more of an issue for most people. Nope. Low and behold the boys did better at the auction than they ever have! That was pretty surprising to me. Perhaps the buyers figured that they would give a little back to kids who worked hard or something. All three buyers were new to the Horner scene and were very nice to the kids when they talked to them after their sale. This mom is happy. Usually we get half of what they went for this year.

I mistakenly bought them ice cream cones after the sale and the little children found various reasons to make ice cream into an ordeal. All my guilt for buying ice cream at odd times when they weren't around is washed away. I personally love dairy barn ice cream, especially peach. I neither wrestle with it or have it dripping all over the van or scrutinize the amount compared to my neighbors. Ice cream just makes me happy in general. ;o) But.......it is an ordeal for hot, can't walk, bored little children who have not eaten enough ice cream in their days to keep drips and holes in their cones from developing. Sigh. Till next year Dairy Barn! We won't be practicing this skill too much in the meantime with the kiddos.......