My husband is away tonight, so I am taking the liberty to sit and write now that the children are all sound asleep and things are finally settling down for the night. I rarely get to blog without constant interruptions so this will be a treat.
Today was our last day of summer vacation. We spent our time doing what I love best, spending the day at home. I would say, “having an ordinary day” but honestly, is there such a thing as an ordinary day?
It began when Seth woke me up this morning at 5 and I brought him to bed and nursed him. He fell back to sleep until 7 and at that time I went for a short walk with him, because the morning was so cool and peaceful.
We came back home and I made pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Seth can eat a little “cake” now, and it’s a very nice feeling to be flipping pancakes for six!
We usually give a pancake to the chickens. It’s just a thing I do, copying someone I admire, and read in one of her books (Tasha Tudor). The girls are so funny when they’re excited over a bit of pancake!
Our major chore of the day was sweeping and cleaning the garage and cleaning out the chicken’s cages. We have a shed coming, to use for a chicken coop, but in the meantime the chicks are all in the garage. The older group of 8 are in the dog’s kennel, and the 5 young ones are in a rabbit cage. The children worked hard for me and we got things nice and tidy again. Rich will be pleased.
I went for a short walk with Davy, who had a bee in his bonnet about monarch caterpillars. We searched for milk weed, and found some, but did not find caterpillars. As I was with just David, I took the opportunity to snap his picture.
He starts first grade tomorrow, and unlike half-day kindergarten, he will now be gone for a full day. My heart aches to think about him gone away from me and I wonder, “Did we make the right choice to send him to school?” I do second guess, which is why I am thankful for a strong husband, who has no doubts that this is the best for David. Next year, Lord willing, I will homeschool him with his older siblings.
Seth is continuing to crawl more and more. When David and I got back, and I opened the door to go in the house, Seth (who was being watched by Jacob and Ethan) started crawling toward me right away and made his way out to the porch.
Just a little note about his overalls. They used to be Ethan’s. I bought them for Ethan (my second born) the day I found out I was having another baby boy. That was almost 12 years ago now.
I hated to do it, but today I let Seth cry himself to sleep for his nap. I usually nurse him or rock him. But, he was fussy and didn’t want to do either of those things and I was hungry and hot and needed to have a break. I left him in his playpen in my room and went out on the porch. Ethan came to tell me, “Seth is wailing”, but I said, “He’s just going to have to wail”. Poor baby. But……………(a mama needs some space now and then)…….(and all the others were having quiet time in bed)………(I had to seize the opportunity)………..that ice cream sure tasted good! I got some of my book read, and did my devotions, too.
And Seth DID SLEEP. Like the sweet baby boy that he is. Although he did cry loudly in protest!
Oh, those arms! Those toes! That sleeping face! His baby stuff in the corner! What a yummy love.
When he woke up I was reading to David and Caleb and Jacob got to him first. Jacob is the “Little Papa” of the family. At one point today, when Seth was in the livingroom with the boys and I was in the other room, I heard Jacob say, “Be careful! Sethie’s very fragile! Sethie will crack!” And then in walked Jacob to me, with Seth in his arms, and he was kissing Seth and said to me, “Seth almost hit his head on the bricks!” Jacob rescued him.
I also had to rescue Seth today. He had crawled to the stairs and got stuck standing up and didn’t know how to get back down. He made “come rescue me, Mama” noises until I came.
Grace and I also found him here this weekend. This baby boy is amazing. None of my other children moved around like this so early. He’ll be 7 months old next week.
Dinnertime is so hard when Rich is not home with us. I usually yell and say, “Alright, no one say another word!” and tonight was no exception. Grace disappeared right as we were about to eat so I had to find her and for some reason they were ALL full of it, laughing and carrying on like the 3 stooges were in the room or something. I did a lot of groaning and tried to be patient.
Seth LOVED eating mashed potatoes for the first time.
After dinner I had some blessed quiet as I cleaned up the kitchen and the children all went outside.
When I was done, I grabbed the baby and headed out to see what they were up to.
I jumped up and down shouting, “They all smiled at the same time!” after I took this one.
If you lean in close, you can see Seth’s mouth open round and wide. This was his first trip down the slide.
We all went back to the house and I slowly but surely got everyone to bed, after reading several chapters of Homer, which I am DETERMINED to finish reading out loud to the older children. We enjoy the book, it’s just so hard to find the time. But, where there’s a will, there’s a way! Tonight we read despite the fact that the boys were tempted to play battle with their bionicles and not pay attention, despite the fact that David was sitting in just a towel, despite the fact that I had to keep swatting (nicely) at Grace because she was chewing her nails right next to me, and despite Seth’s busyness. I had to stop and change a diaper while reading details about the battle of Troy! Ha ha, life as a mother is NEVER ordinary! Praise God!
My friend Kathy came over with her five little ones, and it was good to visit and watch them all swim and run around as the two of us talked and played with our babies. One last big half-day visit before school starts! 
) but yes, for most men, it is a big step toward those lovin’ feelings when his stomach is satisfied after a long day of working away from home.
Good to be Home 