Just plain weird

The other day Josh ate an apple. When he was done he showed me the seeds that had come out of it. I've never seen seeds that started to sprout while still in the fruit. You?

More of Lydia

I can not tell you how much I laughed as I watched her play teacher while sitting on this stool one evening after dinner. She called it her teaching seat. She was very official. She asked Penguino many questions (mostly how to spell a few names) and would write in her notebook while saying the letters she was writing out loud. Example: "Okay class. Spell Penguino. A-H-L. Good." She took her student on a field trip and then to high school. I just followed behind and quietly recorded her for at least twenty minutes straight because I loved it so much.

And the dressing up is still going full force:

And I love her:

Josh is proud

In a good way. Class photos came home from school with the three big kids the other day. All of them were left on the counter after being admired. At the end of the day I noticed only two were still there. Where did Josh's go?
To the fridge. Tricked out with magnets spelling his important name for all to see. P.S. Happy birthday to him!

Reusable snack-bags

For Julie for her birthday: Three sandwich-sized bags, one gallon-sized bag (for taking a bounty of snacks for the whole family to the park or on a road-trip or something). Two of cotton (machine-washable), two of oil cloth (wipeable). All with velcro closure. I learned a valuable lesson here: oil cloth is not my friend. I guess the stuff's just not made for lining/turning inside out, it took forever and raised my blood pressure. Also, there will be no documentation of the stitches on those two because they look ridiculously bad. I kept fussing with the tension and things like that but I had trouble all the way through. Julie-there may be some combination of blood, sweat and tears on those two, sorry. Also, I made the oil cloth ones first and then tried different method/design for the cotton ones and it was way easier. If I had tried that second way with the oil cloth we might have gotten along alright. But I ran out of it so didn't have the chance to try. And now I'm not so sure I want to. Because oil cloth is a jerk.

First Annual Overnight Mother/Daughter Bookclub

Go ahead and be jealous. I recommend to everyone reading a fantastic book and then leaving town for awhile with some people you really like to discuss it. You don't have to go far, Sevierville will do.

For Mom's birthday we three decided to give her an event. Is it selfish to give someone something you are really going to enjoy too? I hope not. Because I really enjoyed it, but I really wanted to do it for Mom because I thought she would enjoy it. And she did.

Before we left, posing by our big framed photo of a ceiling fan:Serious book-discussion requires pajamas and cake and cookies and cadbury mini-eggs:

We kept saying we'd make it an annual event, but I'm pushing for monthly...or at least quarterly. Maybe we could arrange one sometime when Jenica and Susan are in town? In the meantime, Cruze-women: anyone have a good book recommendation? I have a great idea...

First Free Felt [Project] Finished

Due to my recent felt windfall, all of the kids are getting new little pillows. They will each be different, but similar. This one is for Ben. (I waited nearly a week for a sunny day to take a photo of it. Grrr. Come back sun, my vitamin D is all but depleted! ) The rest of them are between 50-90% done. Emma keeps asking if I've been working on her pillow lately. Unfortunately, hers is the one that's just 50% done. I may need to put a rush on it. Stay tuned...

Lydia's dad has an iphone

And Lydia has a plastic pink cell phone (seen in Afton's mouth a few posts down). She has put it to use in the following ways lately:

"Let me take your picture with my phone."
"I'm going to play the matching game on my phone."
"I just need to text Dad real quick."
"I will read a scripture from my phone, now." (followed by "scrolling" with her thumb on the screen) (p.s. when she ad libs a scripture, it's usually about a witch coming to the bishop's house)

I really, really, really, really, really, really like...

...Joel Dewberry's new line. (herringbone is my favorite pattern...in general, not just for fabrics) (dogwoods are my favorite tree even though some people around here don't think they're tall enough...they're not supposed to be tall)

Go ahead and ask Lydia a question...

She will give you a very thoughtful answer after spending some time contemplating like this:

Happy - Making a Call - Laughing

Sundays = Forts and Houses

I love Sunday. It's the day when we dispense with all errands, laundry, and homework. It's the day when everyone knows the tv and wii are out of the picture so they don't even ask. It's the day when the kids create their own little community upstairs and they don't have to clean it up until Monday.

Behold: the animal swimming pool in the girls' room (dive on in):

The dormitory in the boy's room:

In the bonus room, each of the three big kids made an elaborate home for their stuffed animals.

Emma's bird's house:

Josh's Kirby's house:

Ben's idog's house:

(I never had a chance to ask him what is what, so you'll have to make your best guesses)

Deja Vu x2

Last week Lydia had an ear infection, and Afton had a sinus infection. Both were running a low fever, and neither one was sleeping well for a couple of nights. Generally, they were easy to soothe back to sleep with a quick cuddle or a drink when they would wake in the middle of the night. Once Afton woke at about 5:00am and was not so willing to go back to sleep. I picked her up and she was perfectly content and (seemingly) sound asleep again in my arms. I put her back in her crib like I would normally do and she immediately lifted her head and protested. I picked her up again and rocked her for a bit longer until I was sure she was out cold and proceeded to carefully and slowly lower her into her crib, attempting to not disturb her precious slumber (which was of course directly linked to my precious slumber). Again she was awake and crying as soon as I had gently put her down, despite my best efforts for making it a seamless transition. I can't even remember how long it's been since I've had to try to carefully lay down a sleeping Afton like that--months and months. Suddenly a deep and emotion-drenched wave of memories washed over me, all those nights with all of those new babies, performing this same dance countless times. Emma, Ben, Josh, Lydia, Afton, each one took a turn. I remembered putting my babies down then keeping my hands on them, only drawing them away an inch at a time so as not to disturb them. I remembered losing count of the number of times I would lay one down then pick them back up before it finally stuck. I remembered all of those silent prayers (please let him stay asleep, please let him stay asleep...). I remembered feeling exhausted and desperate after spending sometimes hours (Lydia) trying to get them to lay down and keep sleeping. I remembered once having the distinct feeling that the sound of my broken sobs must be the only thing that would get them to go down for the night (Lydia). But that night with Afton, spoiled by my months of good sleeping I didn't feel overwhelmed, and those memories just seemed sweet.

For my next tactic, I tried taking Afton to bed with me, laying down with her on my chest but she wouldn't go for that either. Not wanting for her to wake up the whole family, I gave up and just took her downstairs.

I grabbed a blanket and held her in my lap in the chair and a half--by far the most comfortable spot if you can't be in your own bed. I think laying in more of a sitting up position was what she needed, what with her sinuses all clogged up. She went quickly to sleep cuddled with me like that. I was comfortable enough to lean my head back and follow her to dreamland, but not before remembering she and I had spent many a night sleeping in this very same spot. And that was the second memory of those early morning hours I had that was miserable at the time but tender with some distance. The nights that we shared sleeping on the chair and a half were for the month or so before Afton was born. I remember distinctly it was the first week of October when I got a cold. It didn't seem like a big deal, and the fever and general sick feeling left within a couple of days but the cough stayed. It stayed and stayed and stayed. Then the wheezing started, which was totally new to me and I gained such a better appreciation for what our kids are always going through. I mentioned it at my prenatal checkups. The first time they said, yeah that can happen sometimes, what with your lungs and diaphragm being smooshed by that baby. The next visit, they were sure I had pneumonia from listening to my lungs, but the chest x-ray came back clean. The day after Thanksgiving, right after seeing Madagascar 2 with kids, Scott took me to the ER because breathing was so hard and coughing was almost nonstop. We went to the same hospital where I would be delivering Afton, and I ended up being admitted for two nights because my oxygen was low. (It wasn't really all that low, but they wanted to be extra careful for Afton's sake.) I went home on Sunday afternoon and then was readmitted at my follow up appointment on Tuesday. I was finally sent home for good the next day with a litany of drugs--steroids, inhalers, antibiotics, cough medicines, etc. I was significantly improved by the time Afton was born (12/15), but didn't stop coughing until sometime in late January. Anyway, backing up to early November, I first started sleeping on two or three pillows in bed because that made it easier to breath. Soon that just wouldn't cut it, and I'd typically start out in bed, but would wake up with a coughing fit that I couldn't stop, and of course the more I thought about it, the harder it was to relax. So I'd retreat downstairs to the chair and a half, where I could try to sleep fully sitting up. I often would watch a show off of the dvr to try to take my mind off of coughing and typically fell asleep with Oprah. So many nights. Those were long weeks. Those were long nights.

But. That was long ago now. Afton and I only spent one morning sleeping together on the chair and a half this time. That wasn't bad. Funny how things that seemed like they would be my undoing when they happened just make for good reminiscing now. (I'm so glad that it's now, now.)

Life of Pi -- bookclub refreshments

Ocean life, waves, circles (with circumferences and diameters marked), lifeboats...

...and Richard Parker.

I'm a winner too - OR - Luck o' the Lori

Thank you to Mom and Dad for their recent candy giveaway. The whole family has enjoyed stuffing our faces--see the Bradley's labels? (And no, my mom did not win my t-shirt just because I won her candy...take it up with the laws of randomness if you've got a problem with that.)

Thank you to Felt-o-Rama for their recent felt giveaway on Sew Mama Sew. Ever since my new stack of beautiful colors arrived I keep getting it out and just staring at it. I've got plans. Big plans. (Will they result in finished products? Only time will tell.)