Disbelief

Bryan and I were having a quiet, end of day conversation when there was a soft tap on the door. It was so soft that, when I opened the door just to check, I was almost surprised to see Mason standing there in his pajamas.

"Mom," he said, "Nolan just peed on his pillow."

My mouth dropped open and I just stood there, speechless.  Mason must have felt that I needed confirmation because he nodded his head briskly, as if to say "Yes.  It's true,"  before pulling the door closed.

To help you understand my complete disbelief, you should know that Nolan was tucked into bed wearing a pull-up under his footie pajamas.  The amount of work required to accomplish the stated misdeed would be considerable for a not-quite-three-year-old who can't always get his elastic-waist pants down in time.

Finding my voice, I pointed at Bryan, "Tag. You're it."

He graciously went to investigate the pillow and returned with the report that the pillow was indeed wet, but did not smell of urine.  (Bryan has the most sensitive nose on earth.) A upturned cup nearby seemed to justify his theory that the wetness was harmless.

An odor of urine in the room warranted additional sniffing.  This further investigation revealed a puddle in an old army helmet.  When questioned, each boy pointed to the other, but the circumstances (see aforementioned reference to pull-up, footed pajamas and toddler dexterity) suggest that it was NOT Nolan.  Which leaves me wondering, why did the guilty child bring the topic of pee to our attention in the first place?

many hands make light work?

The first weekend of October, Bryan was home for a visit from Arizona. It was to be his last visit, although we didn't know it at the time.

The house, car and family were all in need of desperate attention. The budget dictated that he spend some time fixing Vanilla Bean's brakes. Our savings were dwindling after a week requiring repairs to both Pickle and Vanilla Bean totaling a couple grand.

Thankfully, Bryan is great at working with little helpers and Saturday morning found half our crew watching and "helping" Daddy fix the car.

Madelyn, 11, holding Evelyn, 8 months.

Mason, 5, driving. Nolan, 2 1/2 "working".

Nolan repeatedly tried to push Daddy out of the way, saying "Me do it. My turn."

He is actually quite dexterous for a toddler, operating the torque wrench was no problem. Well, except for exerting enough torque!

In the end, Vanilla Bean was repaired for a budget-friendly $9.97, with the added bonus of building relationships with Daddy-starved kiddos.

Back in the day, Bryan and I watched The Red Green Show, where a common refrain was "If she can't find ya handsome, she should at least find ya handy!" I am exceedingly blessed to have a man who is both. Besides fixing Vanilla Bean, he replaced an electrical outlet that was shorting out and magically fixed the bath tub drain lever in the front bathroom.

Before Arizona, I would have taken all these for granted. The experience of being handy-husbandless for 3 months gave me new eyes to see and appreciate all those little things that I can't take care of, things other people have to hire a professional to fix.

I am not sure that the work was accomplished

more efficiently with these many hands,

but it was accomplished more joyfully.

a one minute photo shoot

Although the weather was cooperative, the children weren't especially interested in sitting still for photos. I snapped these off in just under a minute, without even checking the settings on my camera. Thankfully, there is an angel somewhere who has mercy on frazzled, sandy mothers who *just* want a photo of all their children together.

Mason, Madelyn, Gavin, Mara, Sirena, Sarah, Nolan

All smiles...because this is the last picture!

wistful

On a hot, hot day, two very small people contemplate the unfairness of toddlerhood.

Nolan (14.5 mos) and Liza (17.5 mos)

See? Madelyn's having a great time out there...

Nina is clearly having a fabulous time...


Gavin, too.

Cousin, how long does it take to grow up?

4.5 months and a TOOTH

Now we know why the little guy hasn't been sleeping so well! We found a tooth on Saturday. He is such an easy going little guy that I missed some of the cues. There hasn't been any screaming, just a strong desire to be held plus the inability to sleep more than 2 hours at a time. I am tired!

Mara and I took some pics of Nolan in a little sailor suit that my brothers wore, once upon a time- before they grew into Big Friendly Giants.

Handsome boy!

Blue Eyes!

Let sleeping boys lie...

More photo editing.

The little boys were both crashed out on our bed last Saturday night. We had partied hard at an open house to celebrate my brother's wedding and everyone was T I R E D. Well, they were just so cute, lying there asleep, that I HAD to snap some pictures.




Then it occurred to me that Bryan doesn't really like his boys to be associated with anything pink. Aha! GIMP to the rescue! (Have I ever mentioned that I love open source software?)

And so we have...

"Mason and Nolan Sleeping on man-colored sheets"

blog bites

I wanted to call this post sound bites, but since you are reading instead of listening that didn't seem quite right. And now to the news...

1)Nolan is growing bigger and more delightful each day. Sirena and I weighed and measured him this morning: 14 lb 7 oz and 26 in long. He is not quite 2.5 months.

2)Mason is also growing. He's a big boy now as I had the "diapers are just for sleeping-time" talk with him about a week ago. He gave me a lot of grief the first day but now loves running around in his McQueens (Lightning McQueen underwear). Today he is quite fetching wearing nothing but McQueens and a pair of tap shoes from the dress-up box. He doesn't sound fetching as he stomps around the house, but he looks cute in a crazy sort of way. I would take a picture for future blackmail purposes, but I haven't the least idea where the camera is.

3)It's $5 Quilt class this weekend and, as usual, the girls and I will spend today sewing in order to be ready. At the moment I am procrastinating through blogging. It's a proven method around here.

4)I've read some fascinating books lately and am trying to find time to review them here.
Final Salute, by Jim Scheeler
The Omnivore's Dilemna by Michael Pollan

5)Through an amazing gift, I was introduce to the art of Katie M. Berggren. Her painting, "Love Affair" now hangs in my bedroom. It is perfect for this midwife mama of many. Someday, I would love to hang it in my midwifery office (as in, when I have a midwifery office.) Thank you, Kaley.

That's all the news that's fit to print...or all the time I can justify printing it.

Nolan news

Nolan the Grublet is turning out to be quite an easy baby so far. Yes, he fusses but mostly because his diaper is full, his tummy is empty or because he is ready for another nap. He is a great sleeper which is all the more a blessing since life just keeps racing on. He is a smiley little guy and occasionally lets out a manly chuckle. The whole family gathers around him, making outrageous faces in the hopes of being the one privileged with a grin or a bit of cooing conversation. Tonight, his forehead is all sparkly from the glittery lip-gloss kisses of his big sister. This is one child who is not at all love or attention deprived!

See how he has grown?
These pictures were taken last week. (6.5 weeks old)

The Promised Acknowledgement plus a little extra

Surprisingly enough, only one person placed a guess for May 9th! Perry, our friend over at Just Another Day in Cubeville, guessed 5/9/08 at 11:46 pm. Thank the Lord I didn't have to wait another 9 hours to meet our little guy.

I am almost tempted to break my own rule against sparkly, noisy animations and insert some confetti or applause. Almost, but not quite. Perry, you will have to settle for congratulations!

PLUS-

Nolan is doing well. We had a rough couple of days earlier in the week as breastfeeding wasn't going very smoothly. Thankfully, the problem was fairly easily corrected and we are back on track. He is a mellow baby right up to the moment he feels those pesky hunger pains and then it's apparent that his lung development is more than adequate.

He is fairly well on his way to being spoiled by his siblings. His parents would give it a try if we ever got to hold him.

We are leaving town tomorrow for a 4 day weekend Wedding Festival in Sunriver. My brother, Kam, is the groom and 5 of our kiddos are in the wedding. I can't wait to see Gavin in a tux! We promised to get some "James Bond" type photos in order to reconcile him to the idea of escorting a young lady down the aisle. (He knows all about girls, having 4 sisters, and isn't enamored with the fairer sex at all. Of course, he is only 12. There's still plenty of time for that...)

The girls, as Flowers Ladies, will be fine but my dear readers should expect a good story out of Mason's performance as ring bearer. The big kids have been coaching him, but I have a hard time imagining a smooth performance when it is showtime.

Traveling prayers would be appreciated. This will be our first outing as a family of nine. NINE. 9. Hmmmm, it doesn't matter how I type it, nine is still a crazy big number. This will take some getting used to.

Stories when we return!