what's up weekly.

This week has been a strange one.  I have felt myself slowing waaaay down all of a sudden: needing more rest, not being able to push myself as hard, suddenly falling asleep at weird times.  I can tell I have left the second trimester behind, which is always a bit sad.  There seems to be a freefall from order to chaos from now until the baby is around seven months or more, so here begins the next year of entropy.

Last Friday, Todd took the kids on a walk to a park.

Rocco mastered the monkey bars for the first time.

There is an extremely long, steep hill by our house - this photo was taken probably about halfway up already.  It's not such a bad thing on the way down to the trails, but not so easy to persevere up on the way home.  Rocco calls it The Hill Difficulty.

Callista seems to agree with Rocco. 0/10 would not recommend.

But I say it's been a strange week because, at the same time I'm slowing down, we also had a busy week.  We got some grass seed laid in the back, which I'm grateful for, and I had a lot of help with it from the big boys, which I'm extremely grateful for.  Atticus hauled twenty 40-lb bags of soil from our van to the back yard, then he filled in a lot of the collapsed areas from last spring's rain.  Then I overseeded everything, which wasn't too much bending so it wasn't too bad, but then we needed to put straw mulch down and oh my dear heavens.  I was not up to the task.  Thankfully, both Atticus and Finneas came to the rescue and did the majority of that work for me.

We had a lot of space to cover, so I'm so glad the boys were able to help.

Early in the week, we also finalized our decision to do a home birth this time around, so I got a last-minute appointment scheduled with my new midwife.  I've spent the last few months going back and forth about it - I have always hated the hospital environment, but the idea of doing another birth without pain meds makes me feel so anxious that I've just bitten the bullet in the past.  But with all of the Covid nonsense happening, I absolutely do not feel comfortable spending any unnecessary time in the hospital right now.  Staff shortages, vaccine mandates, mask mandates, visitor restrictions, mandatory testing... just NO.  

So here I am, doing something I never thought I'd be doing: preparing for a birth at home, preparing for another unmedicated birth... and actually increasingly looking forward to it!  I really like my new midwife, and the quality of care is already so dramatically better than anything I've ever received from a hospital midwife.  I am genuinely loving that aspect of it, and I feel so confident that it will be a less risky, stressful experience than I'd have at the hospital right now.

In addition to my afternoon spent with the midwife, I spent the next morning making a special trip to the Amish with a friend.  Todd and I have been trying to order a new dining room table for what seems like forever, but every time we stop at the furniture store, the guy in charge of pricing and ordering is out.  First, I stopped in on a weekday, and was told he was only there on Saturdays.  Then I stopped in on a Saturday, and was told he is only there on weekdays.  So I stopped in this Wednesday, and was told he was usually in on Wednesdays but was at an auction that day.  So... we'll see what happens with that.  

But while we were up in the Amish settlement, I got to go to a kitchen supply store, a surplus store, and a greenhouse that I often don't have time to stop at when we have all the kids in tow, so it was still a fantastic trip.  After I got home Wednesday afternoon, a friend with a new baby came over for a bit to chat about mom-things.

Todd and the kids brought me flowers to celebrate the sixteenth anniversary of my baptism!

"This is my house.  I have to defend it." - Kevin McAllister, "Home Alone"

Finneas whittling a knife for Rocco's upcoming birthday; Rocco looking on, having no idea it's for him.

This kid CRACKS ME UP.  "Why do you have those raisins on the counter? Oh, is it just for good measure?"

Atticus made himself a rifle out of scrap wood.  If you're sensing a "TO ARMS!!!" theme this week, you wouldn't be wrong.  Don't you dare tread on us.

Callista hasn't been feeling quite herself lately - extra tired, and complaining of bellyaches and headaches after she eats dinner in the evening.  No fever or other problems; I'm not sure what's up, but I'll gladly take the extra cuddles as long as we both still fit on the couch.

Juni, watching Thunderbirds with the brothers.

Then Thursday morning, we all had chiropractor appointments.  And we crammed all that in with a full week of school, so it has been a very full week.  

School time.

I'm tuckered out.  We finish school early on Fridays, and I think I will take a nap in my extra free time this afternoon.  Or make a Fall wreath for the front door.  Either/or.