Mom Remembers

I have long wanted our family's midsummer festival to be a celebration of balance.  My motto every year has been: "Just enough is more."  I have tried to pare back on the excess in my life and make more room for the simple pleasures. But this year, I took to heart more than I ever have before.  Something clicked and I finally "got it".  I was so excited to slow down and do less--not just for the weekend camping trip but for the whole summer!  Maybe even for my whole life. So I made a list of things that I was going to give up for Midsummer.  I wanted to make more time in my life by doing less stuff.  For starters, I was going to be done with homeschool after Midsummer, whether or not we finished our reading list.  Also, I was going to forgive my chore and blog post back log.  And I decided to take a break from potty training Sven and put him back in diapers for the summer.  Plus, midsummer marks the beginning of our media-free summers, which is always nice.

My baby is pretty cheerful now that he's getting more sleep. And he's getting more sleep now that we are lettering him cry it out. It's awful.  But it's also much, much better.

ME:  You are such a good brother. SVEN:  That's right.  I am Carl's brother. ME:  And you are Leif's brother and you are Soren's brother. SVEN:  And I am your brother. ME:  No.  You are my son. SVEN:  No, I'm not your son.  I am your brother.  Daddy is my brother. ME:  No, Daddy is your daddy. SVEN:  He's not my daddy.  I'm Sven. ME:  Whatever.

Dear Leif, We almost didn't make it to your blessing day.  It was scheduled for April 12, the first Sunday we planned to spend in our new ward.  But our plane flight to Chicago was cancelled and we ended up making our big move on a train, arriving less than 24 hours before your big day. That was enough, though.  We woke up in our own house for the first time the morning of your blessing. The whole building had a jubilant feel to it that day.  The church members were eager to welcome our family into the ward and that spilled over into eagerness to welcome  you .  So many people who loved your dad and watch him grow up are excited to have that same experience with you.   Mother and Father Duede travelled from Michigan to be with us.  Grandma and Grandpa came from Kentucky.  Nan, Poppy, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Ash, and Maddy drove the five minutes from their homes; we live near them now!  How wonderful it was to be surrounded by family on that day and to know that we would

Easter this year butt up right against our family's impending move to Freeport, Illinois.  Although it would have been fun to celebrate newness of life in our own new home, I lobbied for the move to be postponed until the week after Easter.  I wanted to have time for reflection as well as resources for celebrating. Here are some of the things we did to mark the season: 1. On Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, the kids and I watched the Bible video on lds.org about Christ's triumphal entry .  Then we set up our Easter table and talked about our plans for the week. 2. On Monday night, we planned an Easter program that we would share with our dinner guests on the upcoming Sunday.  There would be music, stories, and scripture readings.  Carl and I spent the week practicing a solo he would sing ("It Shouldn't Be Hard").   3. Of course, we spent a lot of time that week cleaning and packing.  During all that time, our Easter candle burnt and I kept replac

January 10, 2015 was a very long day of evenly-spaced but non-active contractions.  They began around 3 in the morning, tapered off around noon, and finally progressed to full-fledged labor in the early evening. That's when this story really begins. My emotional state was less than ideal for the long work ahead.  I felt frustrated and insecure.  I know that I was more than a little whiny.  But my contractions had closed in to about six minutes apart and I was ready to be comfortably ensconced in the birthing center's tub ... as well as the arms of my support team.   I called it in and the midwives asked me to give them about an hour.  That was just enough time for one more episode of Babylon 5 .  And then, with renewed optimism we made the trip with my friend, Monique, along for the ride.   At the birthing center, I was checked out "down there" (6 cm), then checked in (at about 7:30 pm), and finally I checked out (mentally).  My mom arrived, straight f

Wow.  I have a huge backlog of posts to write.  I am planning to forgive it (as well as my chore backlog) for Midsummer this year.  Since some of these planned posts are really important to me, I am hoping to cram them in before our family's traditional camping trip.  Which is June 19th. Here's my optimistic lineup: Tuesday - Leif's birth story Wednesday - 2015 Easter post Thursday - memories from Leif's baby blessing Friday - brief homeschool record for March - June Yeah ... we'll see how much of that I actually get done.