Yesterday after church, the parents got a long nap! Hooray! While the older children played with Zachary! He really loves being held and so while the older children are watching TV, playing Wii or on the computer they can hold him (especially since he still doesn't weigh very much). Which is very nice. After church, Thomas and Jeannine and baby went on a long drive around the lake (Utah Lake). It is very beautiful on the other side and really like taking a vacation to just drive around it for a couple of hours. The colors of the mountains and skies and clouds and and the vibrant sunlight are just amazing. Thomas is continuing his job search. Julia is in the middle of finals right now at Lone Peak High School. The month of May is very beautiful, but amazingly enough today it snowed and it's sticking and we have a fair amount right now.

Sunday, May 22, 2010

Ok, I didn't blog yesterday as I was ill. My stomach has been hurting for weeks, along with my feet and my back (must go to chiropractor). I am very tired and hope I don't have Candida. I may need an antibiotic for my stomach though (which increases likelihood of Candida, so then will need to eat more plain unflavored yogurt and probiotics). The baby Zachary has been needy, maybe on a growth spurt (eating constantly - where are the full diapers though?) meaning I had a very difficult day yesterday. We bought some formula just in case he wasn't getting enough milk, but no way was he going to take a bottle. :) It is a lot of work but worth every moment to have this precious child in our lives. My moments of peace and calm in the nursery are wonderful. It is how I stay as rested and as energized as I can to do for and be what this baby needs. I can be relaxed in there so I can nurse well and the beautiful sunlight coming in the window is light and bright (almost like going to the mountains, but not having to go through all the work of preparing to go and actually go :)). The aspen trees of our neighbors flutter and the leaves are like silver dollars in the breeze. Having a nursery is imperative with a brand newborn. Because it is a space and a place for comforting and being present for the new life in the world. Without all the hustle and bustle of everything else. Have a great day, all!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Well today the five schoolchildren had school as normal: Julia, Gregory, Claire, John & Lewis. Thomas had afternoon work as usual. And the baby Zachary and I rested a fair amount. We both got sick I guess from the exposure we had earlier in the week. We may be ill and need to rest a lot the rest of this weekend. And definitely will need to go to chiropractor on Monday. Hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday we'll be better. This evening for Date Night we watched an interesting show on kbyu (psychology, psychotherapy, depression, sadness, anger, fear) and had Haagen Daaz - yum!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Well, today was a more restful day than yesterday. This kind of ebb and flow is very necessary right now. One day trying to do one or two things out of the house with the baby means the next day baby and I are very tired and must stay in the house and rest. The ratio is really even more than 1:1. It's more like 1:2 or 1:3 or so. Well this morning, the toothpick Julia had stepped on caused an infection in the bottom of her foot and she had to go to the doctor to get the pus drained and a week's worth of antibiotics as well. Gregory stayed late after school again today for Art class. And, Claire, John and Lewis all had a normal day at school. Then tonight while Thomas was holding him, Zachary hit his head lunging forward on the computer desk in the computer room, and now has a tiny cut/swollen area at the top of his right eyelid, near his eyebrow. We cleaned the area with water and put on some antibiotic ointment. Earlier in the evening, Thomas did some weeding in the backyard, and has been getting lots of dandelions out. I am very tired (I may have already mentioned that). Oh, and the new idea we are trying out is to motivate Claire, John and Lewis with stickers. Every Good behavior gets a sticker (worth 5 or 10 cents - still under negotiation), and then they can cash them in to buy something at a store, between 1-4 times a month (as long as it is healthy and Good). Cheers!

March 19th, 2010. Zachary is over two months old now and his cheeks are starting to look fatter. Lewis, John and Claire danced in Cedar Ridge Elementary's Dance Festival today held at Lone Peak High School. Gregory stayed after school today to work on an Art project, and stayed up late tonight cooking for Foods class. This evening Julia played trombone in a concert given by Lone Peak High School's Jazz Band (very impressive music and musicality). After that Julia received the exceptional Foreign Language student award at Lone Peak High School's annual Knight of Recognition event for her abilities in Japanese (btw, the HS's mascot is a knight). Adam is in school this summer at USU looking for temp work. I am tired and keeping this short because I can only type with one hand. Thomas is also looking for work still as well. Ciao!

10 Days!

Well, this is my very first blog entry ever. I am almost due to give birth to our seventh child, and it takes me back about 19 years when I had my oldest child. I look at the family pictures and see how quickly the time has flown by and wonder where their childhood went. The oldest is now in college, and the second in high school and the third about to start high school this Fall. And the other three are in elementary school. When I look at those pictures (thank goodness we took pictures) I wish I could have my children back and I could just pick them up again and say hey, you are going to grow up so fast let's read some more books and play awhile longer before the march of Time changes things. But, I can't. And if that sentimentality isn't enough, another child who will probably be called Zachary (was always on the boy list but you can't exactly start a family with a Z, so our oldest is Adam instead) will start the whole life cycle over again from the start. And Time will fly by and even though I will try even harder to cling to it, Time will probably march on even faster (it does go faster as one ages). Time sprouts wings and what can I do about this? If I can figure out how to continue blogging I hope to include photos, favorite pasttimes and maybe explain a bit of the systems management of it all (not as bad as some think, really, just a lot of creative organization/efficiency and like Steven R. Covey says that while much of the time we we may fall off track as long as we keep our vision then we will arrive at our destination together).