Tidbits

• Today I'm going to make garlic scape pesto.  I dropped last summer's pesto remnants in a glass storage container that shattered on the kitchen floor and honestly contemplated trying to eat it in spite of the glass shards.  It is that good.
• We killed another baby bird last night.  Not on purpose of course.  This time a robin fledgling that fell out of the tree in the front yard last Saturday morning.  We read online to leave a fledgling alone and let its parents take care of it, but we have three children under seven and it was in the front yard right outside our windows.  It didn't stand a chance.  They couldn't leave it alone and we weren't willing to spend an entire day or more fighting them off of it.  The boys did their best, feeding it all kinds of chopped worms, but in the end "mother knows best".  Sad.
• The linden basswood tree in our front yard is in full bloom.  It is literally buzzing with honey bees and its flowery fragrance is almost overpowering.  I am extremely fond of this tree, feeling thankful for it (and the people who planted it) almost everyday.  The shade that it provides our home and yard below it is so luxurious, a haven to hide under on a warm, sunny day.  It is downright gorgeous undearneath its leafy spread.
• Schtinky AKA Jamie has been very opinionated about which breast he nurses on for awhile now.  He now says, "ah-side" when he is ready to switch.  Before that it was just a lot of squeezing and shirt-pulling.
• Last Saturday I slept in until 9:00 AM, very comfortable and dozing in and out of sleep throughout the morning.  Ladies, it has been a long time.  Probably more than year?  Maybe longer.  This too, felt like a luxury.  Wow.  It was amazing.

I laugh every time I look at it

Post title: The Bright Side
Picture caption: Only one of them was aware it existed.

Endless giggles: Awkward Family Photos

Obsessed with "chesst"

All three of our boys are going through a chess binge (otherwise known as "chesst" at our house).  We have three sets: one cardboard and plastic-piece set from Wilburn, circa 1974, one wooden set from Squeeze's childhood chess obsession, and a small magnetic travel chess set, also from Squeeze's childhood.  He used to play against himself in the car.  All three boards are in circulation.

Diego begs both Squeeze and I to play every day.  Most of the game is punctuated with "No, a pawn can only move one space forward", which seems to be the rule he has the hardest time remembering.  He obviously has no ability for strategy at this point, but he loves moving the pieces around the board and capture his opponent's pieces. 

Truen likes to use the pieces for his own imaginative battle scenes, complete with sound effects.  He doesn't play "chesst", per se.  Like Diego, he can set up the board with the pieces in the correct spots.  "I know how to set it up, do you know that Mama?" he said this afternoon.  And he had, it was set up perfectly.  Wow.

Jamie is very interested with both the pieces and boards as well, not only because they are new, but also because his brothers' major "chesst" jag.  He likes to suck on the pieces and throw them around the room as well as scrape the chess board against the kitchen floor.  Uff.

It has been a intriguing phase to be thrust into.  Who would have thunk it?

Silver lining

Every cloud has one, right?

While I was vacuuming our gargantuan living room today (a later addition to this old, patchwork-quilt-of-a-house, larger than the size of our first apartment), I was able to think of some good things about being done with having babies.

• Not having to be pregnant again.  This is two-thirds good news, as I only truly enjoy the second trimester anyway.
• Along the same lines . . . suffering less wear and tear on my body.  This last time around, I remember feeling like I was recovering from pregnancy, not childbirth.  One would think it would only get rougher.
• Less expense in our yearly flight to Seattle to visit my family.  And less insanity en route.
• Not having to reconfigure how to share myself with four children.  Everyone wants to sleep with me.  Everyone wants to snuggle with me at the same time.  But there is only one of me and I only have two arms.  (Though Diego has been snuggling with my LEGS at night.  He wakes up on his own and then comes and snuggles in at the bottom of the bed.  I actually like it, unless I am so cramped that I am unable to move.)
• Done with diapers and night-nursing forever 'n ever.  Yes.  That sounds nice.
• Not having to come up with another name.  Weird I know, but I honestly consider it an unpleasant task.  It is just too hard.

We shall see.  Squeeze is 100% ready to be done.  I am probably 75% ready to be done.  I think.  Some days I am okay with the thought, but I mostly feel mournful and incredulous.

Seasons in clothing and life

I finally finished re-organizing the boys' winter clothing for storage in our household's biannual seasonal clothing change.  Just yesterday.  It is a task that I both enjoy and dread.

On one hand, I am pleased to remember how blessed we are.  I revel in the base-level practicality of it all, knowing that I don't need to even think about clothes for the next boy.  I like the nostalgia of memories triggered of my boys at certain ages.  I love the frugality.

On the other hand, it is a fairly sizable task to tackle while my three little guys dance around me.  It always seems insurmountable and I usually put it off for weeks and weeks.

But as I folded baby clothes yesterday morning, the ones that Jamie has grown out of, stacked upstairs for later organization, I felt the weight of sadness.  The memories.  Those little, soft baby clothes with the sweet-smelling, fat baby that goes in them.  My tender heart!  Indeed . . . babies are very likely becoming a thing of the past for our little family.  It makes me so sad.  I can't even bring myself to speak of it in certain terms.

No more babies?  Never to birth again??  Never to hold my own newborn close, savoring every little snort and grunt?  Never again?  It hurts, ladies.  It hurts.  And it is probably - I think - pretty much, most likely, the end.  Probably.  I think.

I know we must all go through it to some extent, but it is just. so. sad.

Just like brudder

Just like brudder.  Always.

It is so fun to watch the wheels turning in his little head,

seeing how he works it out to mirror his brudders.

(I remember my sister squatting like this with me when she was a similar age.)

On a sidenote: Truen wore those shoes when he was 2.5 years old.

And they definitely won't fit Jamie next summer.

Currently: Schtinks = 27 lbs :: Truen = 32 lbs

I thought I'd try to get a good shot of the three of them while I was at it.

No luck . . .

Though I do love seeing what each of them are up to.

They are sitting in front of the chicken yard --

currently we have 9 chick(en)s which we will butcher this fall.

(We liquidated our egg-laying stock last fall.)

Same thing.  Just like brudder.

He insisted on having his towel wrapped around him

just exactly like Truen had his towel wrapped.

He has been wanting to "help" in the kitchen too --

In this case, making ice cream.

Yesterday he was "helping" me pound bread crumbs.

On the step-stool, a good 2-3 feet off the ground.  Gah!

I spent most of my time hovering,

worrying about a misstep vs. getting dinner done.

(: But how I love this little brudder. :)