a year in review

Here it is. The end of another year. And what a year it has been! Since I started off this year on a different blog, switched to a 365, had a baby and had to give that up (no time to keep it updated, even though, I DID manage a picture a day for an entire year!) and am now here, I figured a year review would be the best way to keep track of how blessed we were this year.

January:

We rang in the New Year at my sister's place... just a week after announcing the impending arrival of baby #5. Hubby underwent heart monitoring to find out that he is ok. :) Peanut started on Adderall for ADHD and made HUGE strides in school! Had our first midwife appointment and got our official edd, July 23 (or 26 lol).

February:

SweetPea turned two. Mama had a birthday too. In fact, so did two other family members. February is apparently a busy month. lol Got to hear baby's heart beat for the first time. Spent time in the hospital for a massive kidney issue which turned out to be a few tiny kidney stones. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

March:

Had an unplanned ultrasound of "Gravy" because of concerns from February. Nothing bad to report. Daddy found out the sex but mama and siblings did not. SweetPea had a cardiologist appointment because of random "blue spells" that she had been having for a few months. Found out that she has a very small ASD (atrial septal defect) that will need to be re-evaluated when she is five.

April:

Punk turned 11! Our family vacation got canceled because of hubby's work hours picking up. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Punk's soccer season ended. Peanut's Little League season began. Was a very busy month for sports. Peanut was awarded a special award at school for her continued advancements. She even made the honor roll! Began home renovations.

May:

Hubby had a birthday. SweetPea, hubby and I were in a car accident. Turned out to be another blessing in disguise because we found out that I was having pre-term labor. Spent some time in the hospital again. Had to temporarily wean SweetPea. Went on partial bed rest. Had a family bbq on Memorial Day with a sister that I hadn't seen since I was Peanut's age. Made the trip up to the beach to see my cousin and help him celebrate his graduation.

June:

School ended for another year. Made another trip to the beach to help my other cousin celebrate his high school graduation. Finished painting the "pond" room for SweetPea and "Gravy" while very pregnant. Went to the fishing derby... none of our kids placed this year. Went to Punk's soccer award ceremony. Watched Peanut end her first year in Little League. Took SweetPea to see her beloved dinosaurs at the zoo.

July:

Watched our caterpillar "Chubby" become a beautiful butterfly. Spent tons of time outdoors in the water with the kiddos. Welcomed our little PorkChop into our family unassisted (which was not the plan). Had a scary first few days with him. Birthed on the hottest day of the year (record breaking temps hottest). Got Pickle from his mom's so we could enjoy a few days as a new family of seven. Hosted a welcome baby party. Discovered the joys of tandem nursing.

August:

We relaxed and fell into new routines! :) Went to the Renaissance festival with friends. Prepared for the coming school year. Punk started soccer practice.

September:

Peanut turned nine! Pickle started 8th grade, Punk 6th and Peanut 4th. Took our family of seven to the Renaissance festival. Took our family of seven to the cider mill and apple picking on the hottest day of the month. Punk started soccer with a new team. Peanut had her first slumber party... possibly her last.

October:

Had a wonderful month celebrating Halloween. Took the kiddos to the local Boo Bash and the school sponsored haunt. Took SweetPea and PorkChop pumpkin picking. Trunk or treated with Little Red and Link. Trick or treated with most of our kiddos. Dealt with a severe allergic reaction on Peanut's end.

November:

We counted our blessings and found them numerous. Celebrated Thanksgiving with our family here. Celebrated with family from far away and friends near to our hearts. Discovered that I was ready to take the plunge back into homeschooling again. Helped my nephew G celebrate his 12th birthday.

December:

Pickle turned fourteen. Began a new holiday tradition of celebrating the 25 days of Christmas. Took SweetPea on a train ride, one of the highlights of her life. Watched Christmas through the eyes of our many children. Enjoyed our last baby's first Christmas. Took another trip up to the beach to see family. Day dreamed and planned our next year.

For the coming year? I have goals already in place. I want to again make sure that I can do a 365. I want to have a set crafting goal for each month. I want to continue to work on "greening" our lifestyle here at home. I want to make time to read one classic a month and one "modern" tale. I want to learn how to crochet. Simple goals but ones that define me.

"Kindle"ing the passion to read

We are a pretty literary family. All of us, from hubby and myself, right down to SweetPea and PorkChop, all enjoy reading or being read to. This year for Christmas, we started the tradition of giving the littles a new book every Friday to read together from. This coming year, we will be delving into our list of "100 must read books before Kindergarten" as a way of starting our new homeschooling journey. As presents, each child received a new book this year, both older boys got some form electronic readers and hubby and I both received Kindle Fires.

Since I was given my Christmas present the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I have forged ahead with reading the classics. I started with "A Christmas Carol" and quickly realized just how much I enjoy the older styles, the novels filled with morals, the feeling of peace that I get from reading works that have been deemed "out-dated" and yet "timeless" in the same breath.

Today, I started my sixth novel since Thanksgiving. I think that this is the most that I have read in years. I am used to re-reading books over and over again for the enjoyment factor but am not used to reading books based on how they make me feel. Reading the classics is bringing an odd sense of peace to my life, a centering and balancing feeling. I still adore my modern books, don't get me wrong. And I am sure that I will tire of reading the greater works eventually. But I think that one of my goals for 2012 will be reading a new classic every month. Which, at the rate that I have been reading, will not be a hard goal to meet.

sweet beginnings

Do you remember being a child and learning something new? Something exciting, something wondrous, something amazing? Do you remember wanting to share that something with everyone that you met? Wanting to do it again and again to see if the outcome changed?

SweetPea learned how to play Candyland this week. To some, it might be a small thing. After all, its a preschool game aimed at moving a little gingerbread pawn around a brightly colored board with absolutely no reading or math skills to speak of. And to most, that's exactly how its viewed. But to SweetPea, it was a rite of passage into "big girl" things. It was the chance to PLAY a game with her siblings and mama. It was the ability to delve into the previously undiscovered territory of "board games". It was a voyage into pure discovery.

With wide eyes, she would draw a card and yell out the directions that she saw. "One orange space", "Two purple spaces... One, two", "I got a popsicle! Now where do I find that popsicle place?" As time and time again, SweetPea beat Punk, Peanut and myself, her confidence grew. SHE could do this. She didn't need mama to read complicated directions to her. She didn't need Punk to move the pieces the appropriate number of spaces. She could do this all by herself.

And it was just the first step.

SweetPea is growing up. She is learning and expanding her horizons. She is showing her thinking skills and engaging us all in her play. And we are happy for her, celebrating with her, helping her to challenge those goals that she puts up for herself each day. Candyland is only the first step in gaining that independence from toddlerhood that she wants. But its such a sweet step in that direction.

*stepping onto the soapbox*

Today was a very important day for mothers and children everywhere. Today, well-meaning ladies everywhere took part in taking a stand for their rights and the rights of their children. You see, at the beginning of the month at a Target store in Texas, a mother that was feeding her child was asked to move from her seat and segregate to another area of the store. This mother refused and had the police called on her. Why? Because she refused to move while feeding her hungry child. Makes no sense, right? After all, why shouldn't someone be allowed to feed their crying child?

Well, this mother was *shh* (breastfeeding) her baby. And the Target employee in question felt that this was a violation of the rights of the other customers NOT to see nudity. Ok, I understand that. But its not like the mother looked like this:

Yes, that is me nursing PorkChop for the first time. In the comfort of our own home, in our room, completely nude (it was July, the hottest day of the year, and we didn't have central air... so sue me). Him and I both dressed in our birthday/birthing suits and yet, not a single flash of nipple is being shown. But that's ok because its in the privacy of OUR home, right?

Well, how about this then?

This was taken IN PUBLIC at the Highland Fling, August of 2010. Can you see any of the offending breast? We were right in front of a group of kilt-clad bagpipers who were practicing for their turn in the competition. Not a single word was said to us because other than the fact that its very obvious what is going on, nothing can be seen. Other than the fantastically cute diaper cover showing that we have pride in nursing in public (just as I have pride in nursing at home, in a school, store, or anywhere else that I may happen to be when my baby gets hungry).

So maybe that's not the best example then since you can't see anything. But what about at the beach where women wear far less than in a public forum. What then?

No cover and STILL showing less skin than most bathing suits out there. True, the beach wasn't very crowded that day seeing as how this picture was taken right before a good-sized squall hit Myrtle Beach but again, not a single complaint or eye drawn to the fact that my toddler was eating. I could show other pictures from this day of women walking around in less than a nursing bra covers. I could show pictures of women with so much cleavage showing that you could possibly fit SweetPea inside. But the point of this is not to show the most amount of skin possible but to show how natural feeding your baby is.

I wish that I had the forethought to take pictures of my children eating breakfast, lunch and dinner on our road trips. Food stops at restaurants, meals in the hotels, snacks in the car, breaks at our destinations....

And sometimes, I do. I do remember that those fleeting moments are precious to both mother and child, that they are a natural part of the ebb and flow of each and every day. Our state is not known for being very pro-breastfeeding and yet, I managed to sit quietly and feed my toddler on the steps to the capital building without turning a single head. It wasn't a slow day but a busy one with crowds of people lined up to watch a freedom parade. But the steps were the most secluded, quiet area and there wasn't a better way of celebrating my freedom than by exercising my right to nourish my child when they are hungry.

I don't take my food into a dirty bathroom stall. I don't hide under a blanket to eat during the summer months. But I also don't expose myself to the world at large. I am a mother who breastfeeds discreetly where ever I happen to be. I take notice of those around me and try to make sure to keep both myself, my child and those around me comfortable. But I will not sit quiet while my right to feed my child is under attack. I will not allow someone to tell me that I do not have the right to comfort my hungry child just because I do not follow the "norm" in our country. I believe that breastfeeding is natural, beautiful and normal. I will not walk around with my breasts hanging out for all to see but I will continue to join the fight for my child's right to eat.

Poke-maniacs

What's the best part of the holiday vacations from school? Is it sleeping in? Staying up late? Lounging about in your pajamas all day long? Nope.... For Punk and Peanut, its all about cuddling up in the top bunk of the boys' room, plugging into their DS's, and spending the day lost in Johto, Kanto, or one of those other regions inhabited by Pokemon and trainers alike.

When Punk was little, his dream ambition was to go to Japan in search of Pokemon to train. Sadly, with age, he came to realize that that was a bit of an impossibility. But living in the mitten, we have found that our state is actually getting on the map for game development. So who knows? Maybe in fifteen years or so, he will be creating his own Pokemon-like tales for other children to follow.

Peanut never had those same dreams. Until the last year or so, she just wasn't into the whole realm of Pokemon as her brothers are. With the introduction of Adderall into her system though, suddenly, she became aware of how to focus her mind enough to enjoy those story lines. She is still more into her hunting games or, on the opposite side of the spectrum, the caring for animal games, that seem to fit her persona very well. I can see Peanut following a care into veterinary work, while enjoying a healthy love of hunting on the side.

(Harbor) beach bound

Not too many years in the past (less than three), I had no contact with my extended family. Not by choice either. You see, my parents divorced when I was eight and I had almost no contact with my biological dad past the age of thirteen. Which means that I had no contact with his side of the family. Enter July of 2009 and facebook.... I not only got in touch with my sister and sister-in-law, but I found some of my cousins (and by extension, aunts and uncles) that I hadn't heard from since I was a child. Ever since then, I have had the pleasure of being totally reunited and accepted back into this amazing, loving family. And it feels good! No, not good, it feels great! Especially since it means that my children now have the chance to grow up with more cousins, more aunts, more uncles, more love and acceptance.

Since they live about two hours away, its not every day that we get the chance to be together as a family. Some have yet to meet PorkChop but I am optimistic that that will change as when the warmer weather is back upon us. Being the holidays though, we made the trip up to see them again.... and so Peanut could see their fifteen new lab puppies.

As Punk enjoyed his time playing MarioKart with his cousins T, S and F, Peanut and SweetPea enjoyed pampering the new litters of farm puppies. No one snuck any home in their pockets, fortunately, but I forsee us bringing home a furry bundle in the future... probably in the close future. They are guessing another litter of yellows in the spring so a four-legged furry friend might end up being PorkChop's first birthday present.

Happy Christmas to one and all

Wow, hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone. This year's was such a special time, being PorkChop's first Christmas.Also a pretty sad time since its the last year that I can say that its "so and so's" first Christmas. *sigh* I knew that the time was coming to move on to bigger and better things but I am so going to miss these baby days.

Christmas eve was a blast! The kiddos all got what they wanted the most. Pickle got a tablet (e-reader/Nook?), Punk got a Kindle, a watch and a camera (he couldn't decide what his favorite gift was so that's why I am listing all three), Peanut got a new DS and an American Girl doll, SweetPea got a "Kindle Fire" (ok, so its really an Innotab but she calls it HER Kindle Fire) and PorkChop got a bouncer and a cool "Grouchy Ladybug" inspired Eric Carle toy.

We got to spend time with my family, which is always a great time. I love being so close with my sisters and our families. Its always made the holidays even more special, getting together and breaking bread. I especially love that my children are growing up so close with their cousin, G, because it reminds me of MY childhood and being so close to my cousins.

Christmas morning was a bit more low-key. Pickle went to his mom's before my family's celebration began and then Peanut and Punk went to their dad's after, so Christmas morning was just hubby, SweetPea, PorkChop and myself opening gifts. Well, SweetPea started and then got bored and PorkChop opened a few handheld toys and did the same. We had planned on saving the rest of the gifts for when people trickled over for our dinner but yeah... SweetPea still didn't want anything to do with them then either. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and maybe then we can get the rest opened.

Christmas breakfast was held at my mom's place. We all got together again and shared more gifts, love and repasts. Then Christmas dinner was at our house this year but most of my family didn't make it back out. Hubby's brother and sister-in-law did show for a bit but since neither were feeling well, they didn't make it a long night of celebrating. Which worked out well because, let's face it, two babies without naps for the better part of three days now means early bedtimes for all.