what's up tri-weekly.

Oh, hello!  It's been a while, no?  I have SO much to tell you about what's been going on lately - way too much for a single post.  So today I'll do a fly-over of the last three weeks, but I'm hoping to be more regular around here from now on, so I'll get to the rest of it later.

Let's start with Mother's Day!  First of all, Juniper gave me a five-hour stretch of sleep, which was the first she'd done that since she had jaundice, and she hasn't done it again since.  I like to believe she knew it was Mother's Day, and it was an intentional gift.  I was still under self-imposed quarantine after having her (which was incredible, and I will never live the postpartum lifestyle any other way again, and I'll tell you more about it soon), so I stayed home from church.  Todd took the big kids, so Juniper and I just hung out in the quiet, cuddling, and I got some Bible reading in.  Best Mother's Day ever.

I've been sorting and purging all our kids' clothes.  The bins have been taking over all our storage space, and now that I have pantry shelving in my laundry room, there is even less room for them.  So I've been trying to set aside time when I can pare down what we're keeping, and putting everything in vacuum-seal bags, one bag per size.  I can fit three bags inside a bin, so I should have significantly fewer bins to store at the end of it all, but let me tell you, it's a job.  My house looks like a clothes-and-Sterilite store exploded.  It's bad.

Juniper turned one month old since the last time I posted!  (She's actually almost seven weeks old at this point, so I'm clearly overdue for this news.)  At the time she turned a month, she was starting to focus her eyes, was still miraculously in newborn-sized clothing, and still spent most of her days sleeping on the couch next to me.  Her days and nights were still pretty scrambled, and we spent many overnight hours cuddling on the couch and watching Friends together.

I've been getting used to The Kraken.  After my failed effort to Parking Lot many moons ago, I've been too intimidated to get behind the wheel again.  Once I was ready to get out of the house again, we would run errands as a family, and Todd would drive me everywhere.  It was a pretty sweet chauffer setup, but it's not exactly a sustainable method.  Last Wednesday, I got behind the wheel myself for the first time since the accident, and we headed up to the Amish.  I didn't cause any pileups on the highway or anything, so I'm feeling better about my driving skills.

The weather has been beautiful, and the kids have spent the majority of their free time in our yard, hunting toads, slugs, and blue-tailed skinks.  They haven't yet caught a skink, though it's not for lack of trying - even though the kids camp out in front of known skink residences, those things are fast.  The toads, however, are less fortunate.

Atticus built a 'museum' in the backyard.

We also got our summer garden in this week.  We'd gotten in some cooler weather crops last month, but our hot weather stuff went in on Wednesday.  In an effort to keep Finneas from digging in the dirt of our new bucket gardens, I let him put some dirt and green bean seeds in a little tub of his own. 

We did have a few rainy days in there, so one Saturday afternoon recently, I let the big kids watch the first Harry Potter movie with me while the little kids were napping.  It was so fun.

Juniper turned six weeks on Memorial day, so I'm beginning daytime sleep training with her.  She is getting big enough to be disturbed and kept awake by the chaos around her, so she's been napping in the pack and play in our room.  It's going really well, and she's catching on really quickly, but I miss having her next to me on the couch all day!  

Yesterday was Ascension Day, so we feasted it up like we normally do, with wine and a charcuterie board.  The kids and I had also baked cookies earlier in the day, which is an enormous feat for me.  Baking with the kids is always really stressful, but we did it!  And we were really glad to have something fresh and yummy to offer when a couple of friends surprised us after dinner when they came to do a bunch of yard work for us!  They ripped out bushes I've hated since we moved in.  They sprayed for weeds.  They raked up years worth of piled up leaves.  They hauled a bunch of brush away.  They disassembled this weird planter in the middle of our front yard.  We'll soon be removing a couple trees from our property, and hopefully boosting our curb appeal with some pretty plantings, and I could NOT be more excited.  I'm so grateful for all the help we've received from our church family in this!

There is so much else to tell you about, like our Mes'morial Day celebrations, our trip to the Big Burr Oak, the big girls getting their hair cut, Juniper's first bath at home, wrapping up our homeschool year, and tons more.  I'll fill you in next week!  Until then, enjoy Laurelai being adorable in her favorite new all-weather accessory: The Kerchief.  

release the kraken.

I'd like to introduce you to someone.  Blog friends, meet The Kraken.  The Kraken, meet my blog friends.

I know you've been aware of his presence in our lives for a while now.  I'm assuming you're also aware that, upon captaining my maiden voyage in this big guy, I decimated someone's bumper.  So I felt The Kraken was a fitting moniker, as our van is monstrously oversized and a very real menace to all vessels in the immediate vicinity.

Upon starting up the van before any trip out of the driveway, Todd and the kids have begun chanting, "RELEASE. THE. KRAKEN! RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRR!" as the engine roars to life.  And then we all venture out to terrorize the land.  Naturally.

naming Juniper Elise.

If you've been reading along for a while, you know that we like to put a lot of thought into our kids' names.  (Maybe too much thought, I don't know.)  But a name is really the first gift you bestow upon a person, and it gets carried with them through their whole life, so it's a monumental responsibility to choose intentionally and well.  We try to imagine what we hope our kids become, who we hope they are, what we hope they embody, and give them a name that's a challenge and a blessing to grow into.

We loved the name Juniper, because the juniper tree is the one that shaded Elijah when he was being hunted by Jezebel.  The land had experienced drought for three whole years, and yet here was this tree in the desert, not only still living, but living abundantly enough to provide shade, which in turn provided comfort to a persecuted prophet that found very little comfort elsewhere.

We want Juniper to be a safe place for persecuted people, and a strong help to strong men.  We want her to grow to be the caliber of woman that stays strong enough to not only live abundantly herself, but that her strength would manifest itself in comfort and safety for God's people.

I loved how Todd put it in his own blog post about her name:

"The Juniper tree is a symbol of feminine virtue and strength: able to endure difficult days by God's grace, beautifully adorned with evergreen in a world full of tan, a place of respite from the woes of this world, nourishment and care in the form of a soft place to nap and a comforting meal to replenish. As women of God are safe havens for sound doctrine and soft places for those fighting hard battles, so is the Juniper tree and so may my daughter be by the grace of God who sustains her.

"My desire is that my daughter would be a genuine help to mighty men of God. That she would be upheld by God and given the high privilege of coming along His work and aiding His saints in their valiant efforts and finding her efforts memorialized along with theirs and inextricably part of their story."

We had a difficult time choosing a middle name to go with Juniper.  We like middle names that honor and acknowledge our extended family, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to choose a name from Todd's mom's side.  Todd's maternal grandmother, Esther Louise, was actually born on April 19, 1919, (almost) exactly one hundred years before Juniper's birth on April 15, 2019, and we were really wanting to come up with a name that referenced her, but it was difficult finding just the right fit.

We racked our brains trying to find the perfect name, but it just wasn't coming.  As we were leaving the hospital, with no name yet chosen, I told my sister that we were really struggling.  She texted back that she thought Juniper Elise was pretty (and that her hilarious husband suggested "Juniper Becky.")  I loved how well Juniper Elise flowed, and when I mentioned it to Todd, he loved it, too.

I love that it references Todd's grandma (Esther Louise; see what we did there?) and that my sister played a part in the naming process!  Elise is also a derivative of Elizabeth, an incredible woman of God.  As a mother, she provided safety and comfort to John the Baptist.  She was the kind of woman that married a prophet, bore and raised a prophet, comforted and befriended other women who were carrying the weight of greatness, and trusted God through all of it.

This is what we hope for Juniper Elise: that she would be great, and that her greatness would find its source in her ability to comfort and care for others in their arenas of greatness.  I pray her life will display great strength and great softness.

I am confident this is just the perfect name for her - she has already provided so much comfort after a drought season of so many unknowns.  She is strong when they said she would be weak.  She is rest and transformation and comfort and joy.  She is Juniper.

If you haven't already, you really should read Todd's take on her name.

'what's up' weekly.

This was a week of dichotomy: lots to celebrate, and lots of (attempted) resting.

Over the weekend, my parents came down to help celebrate Penelope's birthday.  Penelope wanted a 'bumblebee' themed party, and my mom delivered.  She made a bumblebee cake, complete with rock candy 'honeycomb,' which was adorable and loved by all - literally, all, as it was even gluten-free, so Callista and I got to join in the fun!

Finneas, showing how much he loves the cake by taking on the 'cheesiest smile' challenge.

Penelope is a 'gifts' person - she loves giving gifts, and she loves receiving them.  And she got some great ones this year.  In addition to the small cards and presents her siblings made her, Finneas also bought her The Sound of Music (and gave her an old "Pizza Party" cap he no longer wears).  She also got a set of the first five Nancy Drew books, which have totally enraptured both her and Atticus all week.  (This is the first time Atticus hasn't wanted to put a fiction book down, and he finished one of the books in under twenty-four hours.)   And she got a kit to make glitter bracelets, which she's crazy thrilled about!  All in all, she was delighted, and felt so loved by the gifts everyone gave her.

The day of the party, Rocco turned three-and-a-half.  Which is weird.  On the one hand, I am shocked he's getting closer and closer to four - that's preschool age!  How can he be a preschooler when he's still a tiny baby?  On the other hand, how is he still only three?  He's so articulate and participates in pretty much all the 'big kid' stuff.

Most of the rest of the week was spent camped out and cuddling.  This is what most of my days look like at this point:

Everything needed for a good day is close at hand: a sweet baby, a good book, some chocolate, and my phone.

Juniper has been having rough nights this week, so I've been doing what I can to rest during the day, but because the weather has been so beautiful and I'm wanting the kids to play outside as much as possible, I haven't napped much.  (I don't allow them to be outside while I'm asleep.)  I did endeavor to undertake reorganizing our clothing bins while the kids were outside - I'm always trying to get more creative with our storage in this house.  I purged a bunch of clothes in less-than-stellar shape, keeping only what will actually get use again, and inventorying items that need to be replaced.  I plan to vacuum seal each size of clothing, putting multiple vacuum bags in each bin.  Hopefully that will free up some physical space (and mental space)!

We got quite a bit of school done this week, and I graded a bunch of papers from last term.  I added up our logged hours, and the kids have officially done everything legally required of them for the year!  While I do still have some work I'm wanting us to accomplish through May and June (we're on a year-round schedule), it's a huge relief to know that I don't have to log anything for state requirements from here on out!

And other than that, our week has mainly consisted of fighting over who gets to be the lucky duck that gets to hold Juniper at any given moment.  This has been a really wonderful season of cocooning and getting to know our newest sweet girl.

Penelope is like a baby whisperer - she knows just how to hold Juniper to calm her down when she's fussy.

And just like that, another week is in the books!  Happy weekend, friends!

what's up monthly. (alternately titled, one month in photos of babies and cheese boards).

Oh gosh.  I haven't written a Friday post for the last few weeks, so I'm outrageously behind.  I'm going to just cover it all in one super epic post to get you caught up to speed.

I've filled you in on our most pertinent news, but there's been other stuff going on.  (Admittedly, most of it is still at least related to Juniper's birth, but I think you could have probably guessed that.)

Backing aaaaaall the way up, we took this forty-week photo on the Sunday before I went into labor.  Here's where I divulge a secret: my pregnancy photos were all taken a few days before I actually rolled over into the week displayed on the board.  Why?  Because I actually get dressed on Sundays, so even though that wasn't the day of the week that my gestational count rolled over, I figured I'd be happier than if I waited until Thursday each week and ended up looking like a hobo in every photo.

There is a NINE POUND BABY in that belly right there.  HOW THO?

All that to say, that's why I have a 40-week photo, even though I didn't actually make it to 40 weeks.  Whatever.  This is the last photo documentation of my pregnancy with Juniper.

Okay.  Then some major stuff happened, including having a baby, and the subsequent hospital stay.  Since I already blogged about that stuff, I'll skip over it all in this post, but go back and read the links if you missed it!

The first morning with Juniper home, she was the main attraction.  The kids were so excited to wake up to still find her here!

We spent the next few days ogling her.

I tried and tried to get my milk supply to come in, but it just wouldn't.  Juniper was sleeping a lot (for her first five days of life, I even had to wake her up through the night just to feed her at regular intervals), and her eyes and skin were beginning to turn yellow.  At her three-day follow up appointment, it was discovered her bilirubin levels were quite high.  The diagnosis of jaundice came with every-other-day doctor appointments and lab visits for blood draws, as well as a bili-blanket I was directed to keep her on as much as possible over the next few days.  It sounds simple enough, but the one they gave us was kind of defective, and would turn off if it was bumped/moved, which made it hard to hold her while she was on it.  It was a rough stretch.

You better believe that when the finnicky light would let me hold her, I'd just sit there as still as possible for hours.

Because I was taking so long to recover from labor, and I couldn't carry her car seat on my own, Todd and the kids drove me to all her doctor appointments, and Todd would carry her to the door for me before going back to sit with the kids in the van while I went in for the appointment and lab draws.  It would often take close to two hours, so we were grateful for the new van - the novelty and the extra space seemed to make the situation less unbearable for those stuck in the car.

Also, side note: how do you know you bought your giant passenger van from a Baptist youth group (besides the fact that the faint outline of the former "______ Baptist Church" vinyl decals are still mildly visible on the side of the van)?  Leftover gems like this:

Good Friday and Easter took place later in Juniper's first week.  I didn't have much in me in terms of energy to go 'big,' but we did do a cheese board on Friday night, and a simple ham dinner on Sunday.  (In our pajamas, because we didn't get dressed and go to church Sunday morning.)  We also did a cheese board for lunch on Sunday.  So three big but super simple spreads in one weekend.

Sunday evening, Atticus executed an Easter egg hunt he had planned for the other kids.  He had spotted some discounted plastic eggs at one of the Amish stores we were in a month or two before, and he bought them with his own money and kept them a secret from the siblings for all that time.  He had so much fun hiding the eggs, knowing how much joy he'd bring to everyone.  (Though, we hadn't thought through what he would put in the eggs, so together we put a single last-minute Altoid in each egg before it was hidden.  Anticlimactic, but I didn't hear any complaints from the peanut gallery.)

Then, we spent another week ogling Juniper.

Callista's interest in (and possessiveness of) Juniper regulated and got much more manageable, but it was still present.

This past Monday was the day Todd was supposed to go back to work (he got two weeks of paid paternity leave!), but since it was Penelope's birthday, he used a day of vacation time to get to spend one more day at home celebrating with us.  I let the kids choose all the meals on their birthdays, and this year Penelope chose peanut-butter-and-honey sandwiches for breakfast, takeout from a local barbecue joint for dinner, and... cheese board for lunch.  So we put together yet another cheese board.

Tuesday was Todd's first day back at work, and while it has been a transition having him gone, and we both are actively praying that one day he'll land a job that allows him to work from home so he can be with us all the time, the first few days on my own haven't been nearly as overwhelming as I thought they'd be.  My bigger kids are so helpful in keeping the house running smoothly, and most of the kids are pretty independent.  Our church and our family have come alongside us in this time to provide meals, and friends have come over to help me fold laundry.  One friend has made my Amish run the last two weeks.  Another friend has offered to mow our lawn this weekend.  I'm so grateful for the help we're receiving.

Totally unrelated photo, but we even got some school done during these last few weeks.  Nothing too taxing, just cuddly reading time.

Juniper has been more alert this week, which I anticipated being the case now that her jaundice has cleared up and we've headed into the third week.  I swear, the hardest time with a baby is from the beginning of week 3 through the end of week 6.  Babies suddenly don't sleep as well at night, and often don't sleep much during the day, either.  They hit a couple of growth spurts in this window.  Meal trains and paternity leave dry up right around this time, and you're suddenly on your own with a baby that is suddenly much harder.  But I feel like a lot of grace was poured out this week, and I still have an overwhelming amount of help from the kids and our meal train.

In all, I think this drawing by Laurelai sums up the last few weeks: God is the best!

That's Laurelai and Jesus holding hands, if that's not immediately obvious.