weekly 'what's up.'

Even though I missed posting last week's 'what's up', I'm not sure there's been much going on around here that I haven't already filled you in on.  It's been mainly just a flurry of baking, eating, cooking, eating, wrapping presents, unwrapping presents, eating, cooking, and eating.  It's been fun, but I will say, if I never eat again in my life, I'll be okay with it.  We've eaten really well, but after our big New Year's Eve dinner has come and gone, I am decidedly ready for something a bit more... austere, diet-wise.

I'm considering doing another Whole 30 (or perhaps something along those lines, but a bit less strict) in January.  First of all, I need to kick the Carb Demon again.  I've gained quite a bit of weight already this pregnancy (more than is typical for me at this point, I think), and to be honest, I feel pretty sick a lot of the time - not 'morning sickness' sick; more like 'carb loading' sick.  Just tired and grouchy and queasy and slow.  It's a good feeling, let me tell you.  Plus, Callista's been having some pretty serious stomach issues for a while now that are just not resolving themselves with the limited number of 'fixes' we've tried, so it's time to get more serious about figuring out the root cause and helping her to feel better.

Beyond food-related stuff, the rest of life has been pretty same-old, same-old around here as well.  (Minus Christmas, of course! But I already filled you in on that.)  I'm working hard on trying to get the laundry room ready for a bit of a redesign.  I need to figure out some better storage solutions in my kitchen, so I think one wall of my laundry room is going to become pantry overflow, which will free up space in the kitchen.

There are only two problems with this plan: 1) We bought a house with a pantry; why do I now need to buy the stuff to make a new pantry?  IT SHOULD HAVE COME WITH THE COST OF THE HOUSE.  Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I fully expect that a house should be exactly what you want when you buy it.  Is that just me?  And 2) We are not handy people.  Like, at all.  Hanging shelves is perhaps one of the easiest projects I could undertake (or, so I've heard from people who have experience in doing projects) and yet I'm intimidated.  I can birth a million babies like 'whatever, shrug, shrug', but I can't muster the courage to go to Lowe's and buy shelf brackets.  (What if I get the wrong ones?!?!?)  What's wrong with me?


So, in an effort to keep feeling like things are moving along in the house, without spending any money or attempting anything handy, I got Todd to help me roll up the family room rug on Christmas Eve.  Big stuff.  The blue-and-white rug from our Cedar Falls living room was too big for our current living room when we moved (yes, our current living room is even smaller than the one in CF! I didn't think that was possible), so we put it in the basement family room.  But because it's been sitting on top of carpet, it kind of slides around, and has actually been getting ripped and warped.  It's so sad - I love that rug.  So it was time to get the sectional off of it and roll it up.  Small but fruitful project, and it has me making big, potentially unrealistic, plans for the basement (paint the ceiling, paint the walls, paint the trim, hang some shelves, put up some shiplap??, hang curtains, etc. etc.).  All simple stuff, but like I said, we're not handy, and I haven't figured out alchemy yet, so we'll see.

Do I need to tell you how much I miss this pretty living room?  Look at that rug, why don't you, in all her shining glory.

Her last hurrah on active duty.

Okay, enough blahblahblah.  Here are some photos.

Callista doesn't like baths, but at least she's subtle about it:

SISTERS ARE JUST THE BEST:

I chew on stuff when I blog: my hair, my shirt, the blanket.  I'm chewing on my shirt at this exact moment, to tell you the truth.  I don't know why I do it, and I don't know why I only do it when blogging and at no other time, but there you have it.  Here's an intimate look at how the sausage gets made:

Racy.


24 WEEKS ALONG, SUCKERS!  I'm not really craving anything at this point; probably because the very idea of food sickens me.  I've been having terrible round ligament pain and Braxton Hicks contractions, which seem to come earlier and become more intense with each pregnancy.  So, that's cool.  BUT my headaches seem to have finally subsided (for the time being, anyway), and the baby is moving and shaking, and can actually be felt (and sometimes seen!) from the outside at this point.  As far as her development goes, we have no newer information than the results of my blood test, so everything seems to be normal, as far as we know.  We do have an ultrasound and a heart echo scheduled for January 8, if you'd be so kind as to pray that goes well!

And just like that, another week has flown by!

christmas shenanigans with the van voorsts.

You guys, Christmas was SO FUN this year!  I am just loving the opportunity to watch the kids grow and change each year, and witness how their perspective and appreciation for this season grows and changes with them.

We had a whole day of fun on Christmas Eve, eating lots of great food and playing board games and cards.  In the evening, we opened Christmas jammies, and then popped some popcorn, drank some cider, and cuddled on the couch to watch the Nativity Story.

Callista was NOT thrilled with present-opening.  She was kind of in meltdown mode.  I handed her her box of jammies, and she promptly kicked it on the floor, which is what that blurry thing is in the lower left corner.  Needless to say, she went to bed almost immediately after this photo was taken.

Stairstep kids, headed down the stairs for movie time.

The kids begged and begged for a slumber party after that, so we caved and let them carry their Christmas Eve celebrations on into the night.  I really have no idea what time they all fell asleep, but I'm sure it was after 11:00.

The next day, they woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at around high noon.  HAHAHA, I mean, 6:00 a.m.

By the time Todd and I got up around 8:30, they'd already been playing in the basement like maniacs for a couple of hours (read our wake time policy here) and were getting hungry for breakfast.  Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to buy bagels, so we did some last minute rearranging of the food schedule.  I put our snowflake bread in the oven to warm up, and while we waited, we dug into our stockings.

Once everyone was fed, and heavily equipped with the prizes from their stockings, they spent a little time playing cards (all the kids got card games in their stockings) and eating the candy they'd received.  (I only do a little candy each year, and this year, I just let them eat it all after breakfast so it's not hanging around the house after this.)  We tried Dutch (read: hard, chewy, black, cat-shaped) licorice for the first time.  It was polarizing.  The candy canes were a universal win, though.

Around 10:00 or 10:30, we all sat down to open gifts from under the tree.  It seemed to work well this year to sort everything into piles first, instead of trying to distribute them one by one during gift-opening time.  As it was just our little nuclear family this year, we only opened gifts from one another, and it was wonderful.  Just enough unwrapping to really scratch the excitement itch, not so much that everyone ended up overwhelmed and exhausted.

(Well, I was still exhausted, but that's always true.  Todd caught this glamor shot of me, mid-yawn, and I yawn every time I look at it.  I'm literally yawning right now as I type this.)

The kids really loved their gifts from us and each other.

Mittens from Laurelai were a big hit!

Atticus splurged on a book of Egyptian gods and goddesses for Penelope, and she was 'speechless.  Just... speechless.  That's why I'm not saying anything.  I'm just... speechless.'

This mermaid tail blanket was so Lolo.

Have I told you about Finneas' Dead Things Collection?  Basically, it's a collection of dead things.  Snakes. Bugs. Etc.  This set of acrylic-encased bugs came with a magnifying glass, and paired with the flashlight he got in his stocking, it has already provided HOURS of intense study.

This is his "Captin Mare-ka" face.  He does not break character for ANYTHING, other than to ask, "Does Captin Mare-ka have muscles?  Big, stwong muscles like DIIIIIIS??"

Todd and I didn't skimp on gifts for each other, either.  I got the whole set of Harry Potter, which was the realization of a five-years-long dream, and couldn't have come at a better time - later in the day, while reading the library's copy of the Order of the Phoenix, I was dismayed to discover that fifty pages were missing in it... something weird with the printing.  Luckily, I had another copy at my fingertips so I didn't have to miss a second wondering what was happening in the Department of Mysteries.

Todd got an inordinate number of stroopwafels, and some Christmasy beard baubles (among other, more dignified but less noteworthy gifts).

The rest of our day was spent reading, playing, examining dead bugs, and, in the case of Penelope, investing hours and hours into creating her own little woodland creatures from her new kit.

It was a very merry Christmas!

just call me the keebler christmas elf.

I BAKED SOME STUFF!

That was part of the reason I wasn't around toward the end of last week - I was busy being busy.  I had big plans for Christmas food, and I needed to get on top of things.

I pulled out my stand mixer for the second time since we've lived here.  I love that thing with my whole heart, but it's been in Rolling Stones retirement (which is, fully committed to not being at all committed to retirement) for the last few years, since I haven't baked all that much since we moved.  It felt good to hug see it again.

I started out with some gluten-free cinnamon rolls (which were only okay) and some gluten-full cinnamon rolls (which I didn't try, but looked amazing.  "I don't know what gluten is, but apparently it's the stuff that makes bread taste good").

Pre-icing.  Someone please explain to me how they came out looking SO PERFECT. 

I also made some mini quiches, a birthday cake (for Jesus, of course), and even got a wild hair to try making snowflake bread, which is basically just a cinnamon roll that you fuss over way too much, but looks beautiful.  Again, it is not gluten-free, so I will just have to take everyone else's word for it that it ended up tasting good.  (Well, it's Sugar Butter Bread with Sugar Butter Sauce on it... I really don't think it could have gone wrong.)

I actually let the kids help me with some of this.  I know, I know.  I'm supposed to be all 'domestic arts instructor' and take advantage of any and every opportunity to let the kids come alongside me in stuff like this.  But you know what?  My kitchen is so tiny, and I have a million kids, and when one 'helps' (read: makes the job fourteen times harder), they all want to 'help'.  It is so stressful, I can't even tell you.  Which is why I usually don't even bake in the first place, and when I do, I don't usually invite the kids.  But, in the spirit of Christmas and everything, I let the big kids help out with the snowflake bread.  *patting self on back*  *really congratulating self*  *seriously, can't stop feeling superior to Normal Self*

I served the quiches and the cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas Eve, and while the snowflake bread wasn't planned until lunch time on Christmas Day, it had to unexpectedly get moved up to the breakfast slot.  See, we normally have bagels and lox for breakfast on Christmas, and I'd gotten everything - the lox, the cream cheese, the tomatoes, the red onion, the dill... I just forgot the bagels.  Which are a pretty necessary component.  So I was glad I had something fancier than scrambled eggs to serve as a stand-in.

Now, I'm off to rest on my laurels, and not have to bake anything for the next 360 days.

what i haven't told you about the baby, and an update.

Last week, I shared the exciting news that we'd had our ultrasound, and we are thrilled to be welcoming a baby girl!

What I didn't share at the time was that the ultrasound appeared to show some significant anomalies, and we have spent the last week awaiting the results of some further tests.

Essentially, the sonographer noticed a few things that caused her concern, and so she left the room to go get a doctor to speak with us.  What the ultrasound was showing was some thick webbing around the baby's neck, and a stunted growth trajectory - intrauterine growth restriction.  Specifically, the baby's thighs are not measuring where they should be according to her gestational age.  All of these are soft markers for chromosomal abnormalities - most typically, Down Syndrome.

Because of these things, I was scheduled to have a follow-up ultrasound at 25 weeks, along with an echo of Baby's heart.  Then, at 32 weeks, I would begin weekly ultrasounds to track her growth, and at 38 weeks they would induce me, if I hadn't gone into labor by that point.

All of this was a bit overwhelming to learn, but I was surprised by the complete peace I felt as the doctor was speaking to me.  I wasn't shocked.  I wasn't afraid.  I honestly didn't even feel a need to run further tests at that point - whatever our daughter is like, in whatever unique way she is knit together, we will welcome her with excitement, joy and gratitude!  All a test can give you is information in cases like this - it can't offer a fix for anything, and as I already felt peace, test results couldn't even offer me that, either.  So we declined further testing.

Later in the day, however, after discussing it more, we decided it would be a good idea to at least have a blood test run.  While an amniocentesis is the most accurate and most thorough test we could have pursued, it comes with a lot of risks to the baby that we weren't willing to take.  But there is a simple blood test that they could run on me that would test for the three most common chromosomal anomalies - Trisomy 13, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome, by far the most commonly occurring abnormality), as well as any sex chromosome abnormalities such as Turner's Syndrome.  While the test isn't 100% accurate if it comes back with positives (though it is very accurate if it reports negative findings), it would at least give us a glimpse at what we could be facing, which could help us not only mentally prepare for the birth, but also know if we needed to pursue extra medical help shortly after the birth.  (Often.children with chromosomal uniquenesses have secondary issues, such as heart, intestinal, or kidney problems that require intervention.)

It has been a long week of waiting to hear back.  Of imagining worst-case scenarios in which our baby doesn't make it, or suffers after the birth.  Of stressing out over being induced, which I am strongly opposed to except in cases of clear medical necessity - which I wasn't convinced this would be.  While I felt at peace about whatever the potential diagnosis might or might not be, I felt anxiety about all of the other unknowns.  And then when I fell while I was up at the Amish, it just exacerbated the stress.  ("What if all the worst-case scenarios I had been imagining have just been trumped by a worse-than-worst-case scenario, of my own doing?")  Needless to say, the week has felt heavy and strange.

Todd has spent the last week fasting and praying for miraculous health and healing for our little girl, and that the results of our tests, as well as what we find during our upcoming ultrasound, would astound the doctors.  I've spent the week praying that God would equip us for whatever is coming.  Whatever happens, I just want to receive our daughter with gratitude and joy, knowing that God is a God of purpose and goodness, whose ways are always good.  I want to receive his blessings in whatever form he offers them, knowing that they're perfect gifts from a good God who loves us.   Todd and I make a good prayer team.

On Sunday, we were talking about how the weight of the unknown just wouldn't leave either of us.  Even when I was sleeping, I have been aware of the waiting.  I have been aware of the heaviness all the time.  I took a lot of comfort at church on Sunday when Todd preached about Jesus, and called back to Genesis 1, when "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good."  I was reminded that God makes light in dark places, that he forms beautiful things in places where there is nothing.  That my womb is not too far away, or too dark a place for him to hover, and create, and make light, and declare it good.

And then on Sunday afternoon, the mental weight just... let up.  It stopped.  I moved through Sunday afternoon and all day Monday aware that something had definitely shifted.  I was aware of the fact that life felt very normal all of a sudden.  Which is why, on Tuesday morning, when the doctor called to give me the results of the blood test, I wasn't surprised.

Every marker came back negative.  From what they're able to tell from this specific test, every single thing about our baby is fine.  Normal.  Underwhelming.  Boring.  Miraculous.

I called Todd to tell him he could break his fast - the wait was over!  As a celebration and a sign post, we took the kids out for pizza last night.   We want them to see that God answers prayers, and we want to give them an event to remember this by.  We are all so grateful to learn that our baby is healthy and safe - whatever her chromosomal makeup looks like, our ultimate goal is simply a safe, healthy baby - and the kids' joy was palpable.  (They even performed a 'thank you God' parade when we got home from the pizza place.)

So, now you're caught up and in the loop, and what has been true all along is still the case: we're all thrilled to meet this baby in the next few months!  While we're still not completely out of the woods in some ways, we're so glad to be reminded that God is writing her unique story already - we're privileged to get front row seats to see his hand at work in her individual life!

i'm actually planning to cook something other than chicken nuggets!

Oooooh, Shelby.  I have spent the last 48 hours menu planning.

Remember Younger Paige, who had her act together and would menu plan like a boss?  And then she'd write out a no-nonsense, estimated-down-to-the-dollar shopping list?  Oh man.  I hope I grow up to be like her someday. 

As it is, I'm years-deep into the throes of "just buy the same things and cook the same meals all the time, and then you don't have to plan anything" mode.

However, Advent has come upon me at last, a time of preparing my heart for the coming of Christ, and a time of girding my loins for Holiday Cooking.  And I can tell you something, this year's food is going to be epic. 

First of all, I'm in that sweet spot of pregnancy where I'm actually hungry and have lots of motivation and energy to do something about it.  Just the other day, I was reading a recipe for a tart de soleil, which is a much-too-fussy twisted bread thing, and Todd walked through a couple times, and finally said, "Are you still just staring at that same picture?"  Oh yes.  You'd better believe that's really all I did for about ten full minutes.  So it's going on the menu for one of the many days up ahead.

Because second of all, there are a lot of days up ahead on which I plan to cook.  We've always done big meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we're also adding in New Year's Eve this year, and my parents are coming up the weekend after Christmas, so I'll be cooking for extras in there as well.  It will be a busy, filling two weeks, and I'm getting prepared!

And third of all, I need this.  I need to act like I'm not surprised three times a day when it's time to cook something yet again.  It seriously sneaks up on me EVERY SINGLE TIME.  I have been relying pretty heavily lately on routine, which has really served me well and has kept our food costs to a minimum.  But the next few weeks will offer me the opportunity to act like food does more than just check boxes and fill bellies.  It can be a ministry and a source of a lot of joy, thankfulness, and memory-making.

So I'm embracing it!  ...Though, perhaps a bit too much.  I've spent the last 48 hours on Pinterest, getting in way over my head.  I hate Pinterest.  Every time I check in over there, I'm like, "This is so great! Why don't I check this site more often?  And then like twelve hours later, when I haven't blinked a single time, and I'm completely discontent with my home, and convinced that I could muster the wherewithal to complete a craft if I just had the materials, and completely famished from just looking at all the pictures of cheesy potatoes that have ever been taken in the history of time, I'm like, "Oh, right.  This is why."  At least the burnout comes quickly for me, so I learn my lesson right away and duck out of there as soon as possible.

BUT! At least all that time on Pinterest has proved fruitful for once, and I have nailed down menus (for the most part) for our big feast days coming up.  I thought I'd share!


Christmas Eve:

Breakfast:
We always do a big traditional breakfast this morning, with eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, etc. etc.  When we were in Ames, and I was able to eat gluten, I'd buy Dutch letters in the shape of V's from the local Dutch bakery.  (OmGosh.)   One year, after we'd moved and had no Dutch bakery nearby, I wanted to find an adequate replacement for those - something else kitschy and memorable. So I tried some Pinterest hack to bake some bacon into hearts, but they just ended up looking like little crispy rings of intestines.  Mmmmm. 

Plus, at this point in my life, frying enough bacon to satisfy a family this size is just mentally insurmountable, so I'm looking to try something new (read: baconless) this year.  I've settled on a western omelette quiche, and my verrrrrrrrry favorite cinnamon rolls.  (This recipe for the rolls, this recipe for the glaze and icing.)  I'm going to be attempting to make these gluten-free so I can join in, but I'm a bit worried they'll be a flop... so maybe I'll also make a batch of normal ones as a back up.

Lunch:
CHEEEEEESE PLATTER!  Ever since I put one together on Thanksgiving, I'm locking in my vote for Cheese Platter for President.  After a huge breakfast, we'll just want to graze, and I won't want to cook, so bingo bango.

Dinner:
Potato soup.  My mom made the best potato soup growing up, and I have the best memories of it.  She'd make enough for us to have leftovers for a few days, and it just never got old.  It's been a while since I've made it myself, so I think this is the year it makes its comeback.

Dessert:
Popcorn party and cider while we watch the Nativity Story, our annual Christmas Eve movie pick.

Christmas Day:

Breakfast:
It is Van Voorst Family Law that we have bagels and lox for breakfast on Christmas morning.  The kids talk about it all year long, since it's really the only time we have bagels in the house and they love a good bagel.  (They could live without the salmon and the tomato, thankyouverymuch, but give them a bagel and some schmear and they won't shut up about it for the next 364 days.) 

I'm also going to make that tart de soleil I couldn't stop salivating over, in the form of this snowflake pull-apart bread.  Again, attempting it with some GF modifications.  If the dough turns out to be a dud, it still has whisky in the caramel, so who cares?  Also, strawberry pineapple mimosas, because it's Christmas Day, and the house is filled with gift shrapnel, and the kids carbed up for breakfast and are in full-on stroke mode, and you just need a proactive coping mechanism.

Lunch:
CHEEEEEEEEEESE PLATTER!  (Or leftover soup.  Which feels less presidential, so probably just the C.P.)

Dinner:
BIG FAT CHRISTMAS HAM LIKE A DOGGONE AMERICAN, whaddyathink?  Penelope will be making her 'famous' cranberry sauce, and I'll toss a salad and whip up some scalloped potatoes.  And then we will all explode.

Dessert:
If we can pull our combusted selves back together for an encore, we'll have some birthday cake!  Because it's Christmas, y'all!


Day After Christmas:

I am not cooking- or eating- a blessed thing, I can tell you that already.  And if the kids still seem to think it's necessary to eat after all that gorging, they're free to John-the-Baptist it: "Forage for bugs and dip them in some ranch or something.  Can't you see I'm in a coma?"


New Years Eve:

This will be a pretty normal day until Todd gets home.  Then we'll switch on the black light strobe and have a rave.  Guess what we're having for dinner?  CHEEEEEEEEEEESE PLATTER!! (It won't get old, I promise.)  But if a regular cheese platter is presidential, this one is slated to be positively royal: wine-soaked blackberry baked brie?  Yes.  Fried goat cheese drizzled in honey?  Oh yes.  Oh, I just can't even wait.


New Year's Day:

Time to start back on Trim Healthy Mama again like a responsible, if kind of sad, preggo.  If I haven't ballooned past the point of being able to reach my arms far enough around my front to hold the cookbook... I suppose there are no guarantees.


And there you have it - my lofty cooking goals for the last hoorah of the old year.  (Or, more accurately, the Kickoff Hoorah of the new Christian year!)  Super excited, but now I just have to make the shopping lists and the shopping trip... maybe now's the time for Instacart, because I kind of Can't Even now that I think about it.

GENDER REVEAL!!!! (also, 'what's up weekly', but no one cares about that at this point.)

Another day, another dollar.  Another week, another 'what's up.'

Now, I know why you're likely here.  And I could do that click-baity nonsense that forces you to scroll all the way to the very end of some stupid slideshow to get to the information you're there to see, but I won't do that to you.  I'll just come right out and tell you that the baby is a...*drumroll*

…

…

…(okay, it's a little bit Clickbait Slideshow; I just couldn't resist)

A GIRL!!!!!!!!!  The pattern is broken!

We couldn't be more thrilled, though I will say we're a bit shocked.  Statistically speaking, we had a 1.5% chance of continuing the boy/girl/boy/girl pattern on, uninterrupted, for seven kids.  BUT we've also had a bunch of kids already, and not one of them had broken rank yet, so it was also a little weird to wrap our minds around!  Even Penelope, who has been saying all along that she's thought the baby is a girl, and calling her 'she', was having a hard time believing it at the ultrasound.  "I thought she was a girl, but it's weird that she really is one."  But we're all excited for the opportunity for a brand new experience: two sisters in a row!  Can you imagine tiny Callista tootling around with a an even tinier sister?!  Oh my gosh, if I think about it any longer I'm just going to melt into a puddle.  (Just add it to all the other puddles that have been absorbed into my couch cushions at this point.)

So.  There you have it.  Now that you know the baby's gender, you're free to go dink around elsewhere on the internet at this point if that's what you want to do.  I mean, if that's really what you want to do.  If that's really what you really want to do.

Oh, you're staying!  Oh goodness me.  I'm flattered!  Let me see if I can recall anything interesting from the rest of the week...

The kids and I stayed home from church on Sunday because Callista had a really, really rough night the night before.  She hasn't been sleeping well lately - she had a cough a few weeks ago, and while she's totally fine during the day, it seems like it still flares up at night.  So she was coughing and crying, and we brought her into bed with us for a while.  But she was awake at that point, so she never went to sleep, she just picked my nose and pinched my face for an hour until I'd had enough and put her back in her own bed.  But she still didn't sleep, so by Sunday morning we were kind of zombified.

Which meant Todd went to the Christmas special alone.  Which marks two years in a row I've missed it, which is significant when your church is only three Christmases old.  Oh, well.  There's always next year.

On Monday morning we had some new friends over, and we got some school wrapped up in the afternoon.  We're finishing up our last week of Term 1 (out of 3), which means we're behind schedule from all the school we missed in my early pregnancy.  But the break is hitting at a really great time, so I'm not going to worry about how the rest of the year's schedule will stretch to fit everything we have left; I'm just going to get excited that we'll be doing exams this afternoon and then taking a rest over Christmas.

Tuesday was our ultrasound, which is obviously the biggest news of the week, and then we had a members' meeting at church Tuesday evening.

Wednesday was weird.  We woke up like usual - in a mad dash to get out the door to the Amish.  We try to be up there by 9:00, which is early for us to be anywhere.  So I was having Atticus help me load the car with our milk bottles and egg cartons, and he accidentally locked the keys in the car.  So by 8:30 a.m., I'd already shelled out $50 for the tow company to come and get them out.  Then, once we were up there, I fell.  Like, major, all-out, sprawled-on-the-ground-and-covered-in-mud-and-broken-eggs fell.  It was not graceful.  I was carrying Callista and two dozen eggs.  I stepped off the sidewalk funny, and went shooting forward.  I landed janky on my shoulder as I tried to fall in such a way as to not land on Callista, and I broke a bunch of eggs.  It was so humiliating - like, I swear I've walked before.  Plus, falling while pregnant is never good, but leave it to me to fall while pregnant and carrying a toddler, and carrying EGGS, of all things.

But then I had this shooting pain all in my shoulder, and was having a hard time breathing, and my chiro told me at my appointment the next morning that I'd popped a rib head loose under my shoulder blade.  I was all kinds of messed up.  You guys.  I am just a mess.  Why are you even friends with me?

Luckily my shoulder seems to be back to good, the baby has been moving, and Callista wasn't hurt.  So it all turned out as well as it could have, minus all the eggs that got wasted.

This is how Callista falls asleep: with a paci in her mouth, and a wubbanub shoved in each ear.

The girls had eye doctor appointments yesterday, so everyone in the family has had their yearly vision check at this point - I feel like I've accomplished something major!  No more eye doctor appointments until next winter!  Now, to just find the time to go in and pick out new glasses for myself.  (And call Callista's insurance to find out why her account is inactive... ugh.  It's always something.)

And that brings us to today!  I'm now 22 weeks, and seriously craving chicken wings and, to a lesser extent, reaaally cheesy cheese pizza.  I'm still dealing with headaches, but not nearly to the extent that I had been, and I'm starting to wonder if they're diet-related.  So I'm starting to mentally prepare for some diet changes.  (Sugar-free again, and possibly dairy-free.  Yikes!  As long as I can still have cheese pizza on a dairy-free diet... Oh, is that not a thing?)  I'm also fairly confident I should stop wearing this pink shirt, as it makes me look waaay rounder than I am in reality (or at least like to believe I am.  Let me just have my dream.  I need it.).

my december reading goals...

… are way too ambitious.  I will NOT get all of these read.  But I'm optimistic that at least some of them will get read, and that excites me - they all look so good!

Here's a quick summary of why I'm finding these books worth my time at the moment!  (Just a heads-up: these are affiliate links, and I do receive a small commission when you order through the links.  Just know that I promise to spend any earnings I may make on more books that I can tell you about later, so let that nudge you in whatever direction it will.)

The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson - I actually read this last month, but am already chomping at the bit to go back and read it again.  It was so full of encouragement, wisdom, straight-talk, and practical advice.  Not pushing Edith Schaeffer aside or anything, but I think Sally Clarkson is my new obsession.  (Actually, Sally Clarkson says she's drawn a lot of wisdom from Edith Schaeffer specifically, so that's probably why I like her so much.)

John Adams by David McCullough - I read this a few years ago, and am re-reading it.  Slowly.  It's hefty.  I love all the insights John Adams himself gave on virtue, education, family and democracy.  (Also, did you know he was a fifth-generation American?  Forty years old at the time of the Revolutionary War, and he was already among the fifth generation born on American soil.  Think about that for a second.  Incredible.)  Though I'm still actively in it, this one will probably take me another couple of months to wrap up, and I'm okay with that.

Own Your Life: Living with Deep Intention, Bold Faith and Generous Love by Sally Clarkson - excited to jump into this one for the first time after getting so much encouragement from The Mission of Motherhood.  I think I'm fangirling.  (Just FYI: Blogger did not flag 'fangirling' as a nonexistent word.  We live in a world where that's a real word.  LMK how you feel about that.)

Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper - I'm on a kick right now where I'm desperate to learn about investing in Family Culture: intentionally putting practices into place that reinforce our values, as well as our family identity.  Giving my kids the gift of traditions and routines that emphasize, "This is what Van Voorsts celebrate, and why," and, "This is how Van Voorsts celebrate those things."  I'm nearly done with this book, and it's so full of "what, why, and how" wisdom and suggestions.  I'm finding it really helpful.  Also... Noel Piper.  Can't go wrong there.

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp - you know.  The Sound of Music family.  (Though the book goes on to tell about three additional children they had after the original seven in the musical - a family with ten kids!)  I always love a good large family memoir, and this one involves escaping the Nazis.  Sign me up.

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton - because Todd suggested it to me, and he seems to have more faith in my ability to understand theological tomes than I have in myself.  I will (hopefully) rise to the occasion and prove him right.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson - about how the Swedish prioritize purging their belongings in their older age as an act of blessing to their families.  It's not a sad thing for people to do, but actually really empowering.  Fascinating!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling - I have to admit, I have finished this one already since taking the above photo, so it's no longer in my stack.  This book is the corner-turner in the series, I think.  The first three are good, but this is where HP gets goooooood.

The Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland - so, this is a Catholic resource, and therefore much of it is not relevant in our home, but there's meat in here: how do we live our lives in such a way that reflects and celebrates the Christian (liturgical) calendar as the backbone of our days, months and years?  How do the major events in the life of Christ and the universal Church (Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost) influence how we live and how we celebrate?


So there are the books I've had my nose in for the last week or two.  I'm hoping that this slow season of Advent will afford me lots of time to read!  What are you reading right now?

the quickest, easiest way to get kids exercising in the winter.

I had a friend in my elementary and middle school years whose dad would pay her to work out - a penny per sit up.  Needless to say, by high school, she had a pretty shredded six pack and a bunch of extra spending money.  Their family cared a lot about fitness, if that's not clear.

I, on the other hand, am not really gung-ho about formal exercising.  (Are you shocked, considering my ripped physique?)  I figure the kids, if given enough screen-free and/or outdoor time, will naturally find themselves moving a healthy amount.

But I've noticed over the last year or so that some of my kids really do need more physical outlets than just this.  One of the kids starts literally climbing up the walls, another one of the kids starts playing really roughly and fighting more.  So I started looking for ways to encourage more physical play, even when we're stuck indoors.

I bought the kids a balance board, and we received a spooner board as a gift.  Both of these are still big hits.  I'm currently considering putting a climbing wall or a peg climber in the basement.  We also received an indoor trampoline as a gift from my mom, which was a huge blessing while it lasted.  When the kids were getting wound up, I'd set a timer tell them to go jump on the trampoline until it beeped.  If they weren't breathing hard when they came upstairs, I'd send them back down to keep jumping.

But, since it was not made of welded steel beams and diamond dust, it eventually succumbed to its determined fate.  So we've been looking for other creative ways to get the kids moving.

At the beginning of the school year, I decided to add daily exercises to the kids' chore charts.  Each day, they have a couple of After Breakfast jobs and a couple of After Lunch jobs, and when they're done with these, it's time to EXERCISE!

A friend of ours sent us PDFs of Neila Ray workouts, many of which are superhero-themed, and all of which sport very simple illustrations of each exercise.  SO perfect for kids.

via

I cut out individual exercises into small cards, and laminated each one.  I put them in this perfect little box I found in the office supply section at Walmart.

When it's exercise time, the kids are to draw three cards, do the exercises on them, then put the cards back on the bottom of the pile.

This has been a TOTAL blessing to our family.  First of all, the kids can do this independently.  They can get their cards, find a spot on the rug, and move their bodies, all without me needing to be at a stopping point in my schedule.  Further, it doesn't require us to leave the house, put on special clothes or footwear, spend any money, or find tons of open space.  I have noticed a significant decrease in the pent-up energy (which then turns into unsanctioned activity); plus, the kids are getting crazy strong.  It's been fun to watch them go from being unable to do a single push-up, to doing triangle push-ups, and inverted push-ups, and one-legged push-ups.  It's really impressive, actually.

It's also hilarious to watch Callista try to copy the big kids.  Any time she finds the exercise box within reach, she grabs it, walks over to the rug, and starts doing some REALLY ambitious squats.  She also attempts push-ups, which essentially just involve her lying prostrate on the floor and lifting her head up and down.  Oh my gosh, it kills me.  (I keep trying to get video of it, but when she sees me get my phone out, she stops doing it.  Ugh.  One of these days!)

It has been a really easy, accessible way to get our kids moving, and it has made some very noticeable changes in the kids' bodies, physical strength, and behaviors.  Now, if I could just discipline myself to join them...

how we buy christmas presents in our large family.

The other day, a friend asked me how I navigate buying Christmas presents - how to balance the desire to really bless my kids with the desire to not overwhelm my home, my husband or myself with the clutter or the expense.  While I definitely think this is a family-to-family thing, I'm happy to share what has worked for us!

2015.

To start with, I will issue a few caveats.

1. Gift-giving is important to us for special occasions, but not a love language.  That's likely different for some of you.

2. I am more minimalist by nature, which is only compounded by having a large family - stuff really accumulates quickly for us during gifting seasons, and our space is already tight.

3. We are on a budget.  We don't go into debt for gifts, and our budget is probably pretty small compared to many families, even considering the number of people we're buying for.


So that's the context for our Christmas season purchases.

Finneas and The Best Gift of 2014: the light-up Bonk Stick.

Organizing what we already have.

I have spent the last month or so purging the things we currently have, partially because it just needed to happen either way, and partially because I know Christmas is coming and I need to make room.  Having too much stuff really gets to me, especially when it's not easily organized.  Plus, I think kids become overwhelmed by it as well, which is evident when a kid with toys-on-toys-on-toys complains that they're bored.  Sometimes, I think that's caused by decision paralysis.  Then, once they do pull stuff out to play with, they never pick it up because it's just completely overwhelming to deal with that kind of mess.  You know what I'm talking about.

So first of all, I take inventory of what we already have, and the kinds of toys the kids are actually interested in playing with.  I get rid of anything broken, or random, or that no longer gets played with.

I've done a rundown in the past of how we store and organize toys (check out this post and this post for a rundown of what all we have and how I keep it organized), and they system we use is still the same: the kids have a few boxes of toys in each bedroom to play with, and we have a closet of 'special' toys that they can ask permission to get out - one box at a time.  Things are stored by category, which makes them easy to find, and easy to pick up.

I don't like buying toys that are going to need their own new category/their own new box, unless I'm willing to get rid of an existing category or box to make it happen.


Planning for what to purchase.

This is going to sound a bit crazy, but bear with me.  I picked out two personal gifts for each kid this year - one for their stocking, and one for under the tree.  This is in addition to the small, universal stocking stuffers all kids receive (a fair trade ornament, a few little candies, stickers, character Band-Aids, etc.), and I also get them each a pair of Christmas Eve jammies.  So it's not like we're having a Matchgirl Christmas.  But as for personal presents, I pick two per kid.  That's it.

Last year's tree and gifts.  There is one personal gift, one pair of jammies, and one book per kid in this photo.  We're definitely not shortchanging anyone by keeping gifts to a minimum.

I actually really like this system, because it requires me to put thought into what each kid would love.  I think about their personalities, their interests, the way they like to spend their time, what toys they already have.  And then I choose gifts from that mindset.  I have found that I get so excited to give them their gifts, not because I think they're going to be blown away by the sheer number of gifts, but because I'm confident their gifts are absolutely perfect for them.  I feel like it's an opportunity to show them that they're deeply known.

2015.  Penelope's favorite stocking-stuffer was this funny pencil eraser.

Why it works for us.

1.  The kids don't seem overwhelmed by their gifts, and do seem genuinely grateful.

2.  Between the gifts from us, and the gifts from each other, it's still a bit over-the-top around here, which is especially fun for my Gifts-Are-My-Love-Language kid (Penelope).

3.  All the gifts are very personal, and communicate to each kiddo that they're known as an individual.  Communicating that to them is really important to me.

4.  It keeps parental overwhelm to a minimum - less money to shell out (keeping Todd away from the brink of an aneurysm) and less stuff for me to organize, step on, listen to, and break up fights over later.

5.  It simplifies gift-buying, letting me get it all done in November, and having December to just revel in the Advent season with my family.

6.  It helps communicate our values that gifts are wonderful, appreciated, fun blessings, without getting as easily entangled in the trap of making Christmas about all the 'stuff'.  The focus of our gift-giving is still the people.

7.  It helps our kids see that gift-giving is accessible even to them.  They don't see gift-giving as extravagant or only affordable for us as parents, so they're actually really inclined to buy gifts for each other.  We have never required it of them, or have ever even been the ones to suggest it, but the last couple of years, they have chosen to save up their own allowance to buy gifts for one another, and they put so much thought into picking out the 'perfect' gift for each sibling.  The way we give gifts is an accessible model to our children in their own gift-giving.

2017.  Laurelai wearing the unicorn headband Atticus picked out for her.  She still wears it around, and keeps it in her cubby of her most special things.

That's what works for us!  Do you have a system for gift-buying that's been working really well for you?