Mastitis, Paper Crafts, Etc.

Yesterday evening, after tucking my sweet children into bed I realized I was feeling the soreness I connect with Mastitis. I went and drank a glass of water, but didn't feel up to eating fresh garlic (which has helped in the past) and didn't have cabbage to help with inflammation. It was too late to take a hot shower, so I put hot clothes on the infected area and pumped to try to clear the clogged duct. Although I did a couple of the things I know to do, I still came down with a fever, chills, felt nauseated, and got one of the worst headaches I've ever had. I slept horribly and just knew I was going to have to call my new friend to tell her I wouldn't be able to come over for our little visit. This morning I couldn't walk around without making my head pound worse, so I took 2 Advil and within 20 minutes I felt much better. I took a quick trip to town to check my mail and get some cabbage before deciding I felt up for a visit after all and packed up some paper craft items to play with.

As I was headed over for the little get together I realized I had left the house nearly 30 minutes too soon, so took a little drive to look for wild flowers. I didn't find the Paintbrush flowers I was looking for, but saw some other pretty ones that looked too prickly to pick. After our little detour, I drove the rest of the way to our destination.

Our kids had fun playing outside for about 5 hours on our new friends' swing set, trampoline, and sandbox and eating watermelon, strawberries, kiwis, and Popsicles. While the kids had lots of outdoor fun we enjoyed our relaxing time making 11 cards - mostly birthday invites. It was a lovely afternoon!

Now that I've bored everyone with my mundane life I had best be going. It's past my bedtime! :)

Weekend in a Nutshell

Here is the outline of my past weekend:

Friday:
Big hail storm. We had a hail storm with hail that was about 1 inch in diameter that lasted about 5 minutes. It was probably the loudest storm I've been around. My hubby was able to hear it off in the distance about 10 minutes before it even hit our place! Before the storm hit I noticed a big, beautiful rainbow outside...



I put the kids to bed at the usual time, because last year when I let them stay up for the fireworks they were off schedule for about 10 days. It just wasn't worth it this year. (I do have a slight twinge of regret concerning this. After all... fireworks only come around once a year.)

Saturday:
Robby took his first step!

I had a friend over for lunch and crafts, which was fun.

Sunday:
My kids and I spent the day with my parents and sister who live 1 1/2 hours from here, we did some grocery shopping at my favorite big health food store, went to a used bookstore, and hung out for most of the day. Here are a couple of pictures (the first one is my dad and Robby, and the second is Madeleine climbing a tree.)



Robby took 4 steps in a row after we got home from our visit with my parents. He'll be walking in no time!

Today:
It's my 6th wedding anniversary! How time flies!

I took some pictures earlier of my three cuties and was happily surprised they all smiled at the same time for me! It must be their anniversary gift to me.

Circling Robby

One of the things Robby really likes to do is go around and around and around in circles. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

I took a video of it after I saw him learning how to stand on his own. I thought he'll probably forget all about those cute circles when he learns to walk!

Here's one of our young turkeys (we have two) peeking in our window this morning:

This Week

What a crazy week I've had! I don't even know where to begin. I'll just tell you the minor details of the week. Things like my aching knees, hip, back and shoulder. I feel about 80-years-old and it doesn't feel very nice. I'm not even sure how I threw something out of place. My guess is when I took my dog, Lady for a walk about two weeks ago and she kept jumping off the trail forgetting she was on a leash. My arm and everything else kept getting jerked this way and then that way... I came back aching, then within a couple of days of that I noticed my knee hurting, then my hip, then my back, and shoulder. Or maybe it was when I was helping chase sheep around to give them their shots. You get in all kinds of weird positions doing that. Whatever it was, I think it's healing. It's hard to tell, though.

My right arm is all bruised up from helping my goat, Ruby get unstuck from the fence for the past couple of weeks. She was out grazing with all the other female goats, but always wanted to get to the water or food in the male's pen, so she would stick her head through and get stuck (her horns wouldn't allow her to get out). So, I finally put her in the pen. I decided it would be better for her to get bred the wrong time of year than to die of dehydration or heatstroke if I didn't get to her on time. Summer is finally here and I don't want her dying! The problem didn't come to an end, though! Now she sticks her head out of the pen and I've decided there is no method to her madness. She is just a very dumb animal. I'm starting to wonder why I had to have this goat in the first place! We were taking care of her and a bunch of other goats all winter for an acquaintance and I decided I really wanted her. Maybe because she is the daughter of the best goat we ever had, Snowflake. Maybe it was because she had just had kid goats who were females and they were so cute I just had to have them. Whatever the reason, I ended up with the dumbest goat a girl could ask for! I may have to find another home for her. One where they don't use cattle panels to pen up their animals.

Well, I better sign off for now. I'm going to have a lovely day of crafting with a couple of my very good girlfriends. I made up a good lunch for us - Thai food and pie. Yum! I hope you all have had a lovely week!

Snow!

A couple of days ago I was astonished to see snow flying outside! Back east it was in the 80's and 90's and here I was turning my heat on again and bundling the children up when they wanted to go out to play. Since the ground hasn't been frozen in awhile the snow melted as soon as it landed, but even so it was crazy seeing snow in mid June! It was in the 30's and the winds were strong and freezing. I can't remember another time that I've seen snow in June! Now it's in the 70's, blue skied, and sunny. Quite beautiful. I have finally begun the process of planting our indoor garden outdoors. If everything turns out we should have plenty of corn of several different varieties among many other vegetables and herbs. I sure hope it stays a bit warmer from here on out! At least until October...

Pajamas

Every morning, unless someone is supposed to come over, I like to hang out in my pajamas for at least an hour. There's something so comfortable and cozy about pajamas. This morning, as I stretched my time in my pajamas, I realized that I also like to leave them on to help me feel productive. How so, you wonder? Well, in my mind, when I'm wearing cozy, comfy PJ's, then it's morning! I got up this morning around 7:20 a.m., started a load of laundry right away, got Ethan and Madeleine breakfast, and started my kitchen clean-up/catch-up (I didn't clean any yesterday during the Sabbath day). I loaded the dishwasher and filled the dish drainer full of clean dishes. After those were done, I switched loads of laundry. Robby woke up around that time, so I fed him, changed his diaper, and got him ready for his day. I then got busy peeling and slicing apples for an apple pie. After the pie was in the oven, I switched loads of laundry again. Then, I put away all the clean dishes, loaded the dishwasher part way again and filled the dish drainer full of more clean dishes before heading down to switch loads again. Each time I went to the basement to switch loads of laundry I took hampers full of laundry down or other items that belonged in the basement to make the trip fully worth it. After loads were switched that time I went up and started folding an awful lot of laundry, then went around collecting clothes from various rooms, took the children's sheets off their bed, put away clothes, checked my email while I fed Robby, and went back to the basement to switch loads. I don't know if I wrote all of them down, but I had six loads done in my pajamas! I felt really successful. I finally took my shower around noon, then switched loads, got the pie out of the oven to cool, and made the children lunch. It was a productive morning, don't you think? And the best part is, I feel perfectly clean and as if I'm only now beginning my day!

Tired

I was just hit by how tired I feel. I sat down to write, my dinner settled suddenly, and now I feel ready for bed! It's only 6:30 PM, though. I often wonder why grownups feel tired after a meal. I've noticed that after a child eats they usually have too much energy to sit still. They need to talk, run, jump, play... do something! I remember being just such a child. My sister, Kara and I would run around the living room until we were so hot we would throw our shirts off and continue our run. I remember hearing my mother comment once while watching us, "That's what food is supposed to do for you." She said this with her chin in hand, leaning on the table, looking quite sleepy. I thought it was funny at the time, but now that I feel the same way my mom did (does) after a meal it isn't so funny.

If most mothers are like me, they're often tired. They just seem to notice it more when they slow down enough, slightly relax for awhile, and think about themselves for a moment. That usually comes right after a meal. I haven't figured out whether it's all the responsibility (because I seem to get enough sleep now), my metabolism, my age, or the constant testing. Testing of my patience, testing of my character, testing of my position as mother, testing. It's an interesting, priceless, difficult job being the mother I want to be and the mother I am. It's all so tiring. Completely worth it, of course, I just wish I had more energy!