what's up weekly. (TWO feast days, and a return to real life.)

Well, this week marked the return of certain levels of 'normalcy' around here.  While I am still trying to prioritize laying low and healing, I also can't put all of my real life on complete hold for the six weeks I set aside for intentional postpartum rest.  Todd went back to work on Tuesday, which was also the day we started back to school and I took back over as much of the normal grind as is necessary to keep the house running and the kids fed.

First snowy day of the winter.  Our house kind of looks like a bomb went off.

Because there was such a rough stretch there in the last few months of pregnancy, with nearly a month of dealing with Covid in there, plus then taking time off for birth and recovery and the holidays, we are now playing a bit of catch up.  But we're not nearly as behind as I assumed we would be - I honestly can't remember if we did school when I was sick, but I had assumed we hadn't.  Luckily, though, we're only a few days off of schedule, so maybe we did actually do school in there.  Either way, we should be close to caught up after today.

My biggest challenge with the new transition is that Ophelia spends a 6-7 hour stretch each day awake and wanting to cluster feed.  I actually don't mind it, because she is such a rockstar sleeper at night (two nights ago, she gave me a seven hour stretch, went back to sleep, and I had to wake her up two hours later to start the day!).  Her rhythm makes sense to me and works well, but it means that for 6-7 hours of our school/home/meal time, I am not really able to get off the couch or use both my hands at once.

Why so seriousssss? I mean, awake.  Why so awake?

The kids have really stepped up and helped, though, and after a bit of an overwhelming first day back on Tuesday, things have settled in much more smoothly and I would say they're going really well.

My midwife came yesterday morning to check on us.  (Another benefit of home birth: you do not have to take your postpartum self or your tiny newborn infant out into 16-degree weather to sit in waiting rooms full of sick people.  The appointments come to you.)  I feel like I'm physically and emotionally recovering really well.  And Ophelia is getting big - already 9 lbs, 9 oz!  

I am finding I've been craving a lot of red meat, root vegetables with raw butter, raw milk (some days I drink almost two quarts!), oat-based baked goods, and some red wine.  I may or may not have cooked an entire chuck roast just to keep in the fridge for quick meals and snacks for me.  Weird much?  But I think it has really helped with nursing to eat what feels nourishing, and she has been eating and sleeping well, and growing quickly, so I think it has helped start us off on a good foot. 

Hmm, what other news is there to share?  Oh yes, last Friday was New Years Eve!  We started a new tradition of a lunchtime popcorn party with Harry Potter, and maintained our established tradition of cheeseboard for dinner.  

Todd, Penelope and Rocco each wrote and recited original poems about the past year, and Atticus and Finneas drew portraits of our family.  I think this is one of my favorite family traditions, and it has kind of sprung up on its own.  I'll post the poems soon, but in the meantime, here is Atticus' drawing.  (In true, complete, endearing Finneas fashion, Finneas lost his before he could share it with us.  Is anyone remotely surprised by this?)

Here is how Callista felt about being drawn with "short hair."  (You will notice in the photo that her hair is, indeed, still short.  But she feels this was a misrepresentation and is now suing Atticus for libel.)

Her eye is black because she fell backwards off the piano bench and smacked her face on the edge of the table.  Rough stuff.

Our Christmas celebrations are coming to an end.  Yesterday was Epiphany, so we celebrated with (you guessed it!) another cheeseboard feast.  Juni found the bean in her piece of our King Cake, so she was Queenie Beanie for the rest of the night.

We wrapped up the Christmas season with a few of our favorite Christmas season movies this week - Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Chronicles of Narnia.  A few months ago, I found some imported  Turkish Delight at Marshall's, of all places.  So I surprised the kids with it after our viewing of Narnia.  I have to say, it isn't nearly as good as The White Witch's magic ones look in the movie.  But isn't that always the case with stuff from the White Witch?  It always looks better than it turns out to be in reality.  (Insert youth group sermon illustration here.)

And a few other items of note this week:

Natural Grocers ran a killer sale (25% off everything in the store! Even on-sale items!), so while I hate to leave the house during my postpartum weeks, I just couldn't pass it up since we rely on a lot of things I can only get there.  We got bundled up and Todd drove us all there, but I went inside on my own.  It was nice to get out of the house without overexerting myself.

Getting Ophelia ready to go out in the cold involves not ONE adorable hat, but TWO adorable hats.

Todd finished my new coffee table!  He did an amazing job!  I took the following photos to capture the 'before'.  Our old coffee table was basically an oversized basket.  Cute, but starting to fall apart after eight years of daily use.  (The hole in the top of it is so much worse than it even looks.  The whole surface is collapsing, so you can't really even set anything on it, especially if you need it to remain level.  The edges have sharp metal spikes poking out at regular intervals where the basket material has disintegrated - the kids' clothes catch on them all the time and rip.  It is bad.)  Unfortunately, I forgot to take an "after" photo with the new table in place.  (Derr.)  So I'll have to show you next week.  But believe me when I say it looks GOOD.  

The coffee table is the main surface in my home office/magpie nest.  It takes a beating.

This 'before' photo doesn't do it justice.

Lolo and I did some sewing and baking this week.  She made muffins, and we worked on a blanket for Ophelia.  (She bought the flannel for it herself.)

Penelope has become obsessed with Bananagrams, so there has been a lot of that going on around here.  She also has been my LIFESAVER when I need a few moments to shower or eat - she is so good with Ophelia, and finds a lot of joy in being with her.

And, well, dang.  That was kind of a full blog post for a week that was supposed to be a 'rest/recovery' week.  But I did a lot of resting in there too.  We are at a good spot, and I am feeling good.  Here's to more full and restful weeks!