September

Despite a summer that was more wet and cold than hot and sunny, we are having a glorious fall here in Michigan.  Lots of sunny days with perfect temperatures has made for great days with the kids.  Here my girls are below, enjoying a sunny day car ride.

For homeschooling our time spent on structured learning includes reading, writing and math which takes about one to two hours on the days that Violet takes good naps.  The other 96% of the time, it takes all day as we work between Violet's fussy periods.  I usually work with the older girls with Violet in the front pack carrier as I sway back and forth while stuffing a pacifier in her mouth.  Fortunately the older girls don't seem to mind and we have accomplished what we need to so far.

At the top of each week's lesson plans I have a reminder posted: Read Stories!  Play!  Have Fun!  This has definitely helped me to keep things in perspective when Violet has other plans for our structured learning time.  One of the reasons we decided to try alternative schooling as opposed to the all day kindergarten offered where we live is to ensure that Lucy has age appropriate free play throughout her day.  I am beginning to think that Violet may not be the road block I initially thought, as the time I spend taking care of her ensures that I don't get too carried away with busy work for the girls and they are free to play as they wish for most of the day.  I had to capture the below center picture the other day as I was cracking up.  Emma was playing with a Barbie quietly on the bed next to me as we were resting during our daily afternoon Quiet Time.  All of a sudden I heard a snap.  When I looked at Emma her back was to me, but I saw her freeze then dart her eyes from side to side.  It was then I noticed that the leg had snapped off of her Barbie.  I said nothing, curious to see how Emma was going to react.  After a long pause, she resumed playing - this time with two toys - the one-legged Barbie and one long Barbie leg.  As she danced both of them around, one in each hand while singing a little song I couldn't help but start laughing at how she seemed pleased that her Barbie now had a dancing partner!

We have been practicing what I call "immersion science" as the girls help us raise twenty meat birds and six new laying hens.  Lucy absolutely loved playing with them when they were baby chicks and would have to be dragged out of the pen when the sweat started dripping off of her from the heat lamp.  As if my life wasn't crazy enough caring for our current laying hens, our cat, 60,000 bees, some frogs, butterfly chrysalises and my three kids we just had to add twenty six baby chicks.  At the beginning of this past month I got a text from Will that the baby chicks were ready to be picked up at the Post Office.  Picture me standing in a horribly long line as the girls and I listened to the peeping of chicks coming from behind the post office counter.  When it was finally our turn, I was asked for ID to prove that I was who I said I was to pick up the chicks.  Flustered, I explained that my ID was in the car and who else would come to the post office in the highly suburban town we lived in, requesting a box of baby chicks!?  Without waiting for a reply, I took the chirping box off of the counter and walked out with my three girls and twenty-six chicks.  At this point we were running very late for an appointment so I called our favorite sandwich place and asked if they could deliver the food to our car when I pulled into their parking lot.  Imagine the look on the guy's face when he handed my sandwiches and fries through the window and heard peeping coming out of the giant cardboard box sitting in the front passenger seat.  Yes, we practice a fine balance between fast food and slow food!

The chicks have grown fast and are almost full grown and ready to be processed.  I have tried to distance myself emotionally from them to help make the final part of their life easier.  Our garage is getting stinkier by the day and the birds have definitely lost their cute baby chick look.  My heart strings aren't completely hardened however, as they are still making sweet baby chick chirps.  We also had to let the frogs go this past month, which was emotional for the girls.  As the days continued to become more and more like fall it was becoming harder and harder to find food for the frogs.  Here are the girls below letting the frogs go in our garden.  The bottom left hand picture is of Lucy holding a baby chick.

For the frog release, we made sure that Charlie was locked in the garage.  Charlie has taken to sleeping on a blanket on top of the chicken pen and I can only imagine what his dreams are about.  He also loves paying close attention to whatever daily catch is in Lucy's bug box.  On more than one occasion, Charlie has eaten the butterfly, frog or other unsuspecting bug when the girls forgot to put the lid on the bug box.  Charlie now has to be locked in the garage when we take walks as well.  In the top two left hand pictures below, Charlie is taking a walk with us.  Usually he will turn around three houses down, after lots of upset meowing at us.  On this one hot and incredibly humid afternoon he decided to be brave and follow us.  The further we got from home, the louder his irritated meowing became.  Will became embarrassed when people walking dogs were yanked by the leash as their dogs noticed Charlie.  Finally, we reached a bridge over a quickly moving creek and Charlie refused to go another step.  He was panting from the effort and the heat and none too pleased with us.  As we stood on the bridge admiring the view below, two teenage girls pulled up on their bikes and stopped by where Charlie was.  The next thing we know, we heard them oohing and ahhhing and even saying, "Oh, the poor kitty!  He looks so thirsty!"  Before we could say a thing, one of the girls started giving Charlie a drink from her water bottle.  Will and I exchanged glances and one of us muttered, "Should we tell them he is ours?"  "Naw, at least he is getting a free drink."  When the girls decided to take him home with them we finally had to step in.  "Um, that's our cat.  Sorry."  If looks could kill we would have dropped dead.  Both girls looked at us in horror and said, "You took your cat for a WALK???  He looks like he is exhausted and dying of thirst in this heat!"  After some nervous shuffling and mumbling from us, we started the walk back home.  Soon, we noticed that Charlie wasn't following us.  After repeated pleading and begging, Will ended up having to chase him down in a thicket full of brambles and carry a clawing and scratching Charlie all the way home.  What a miserable walk that was and none of us were happy.  Will ended up having to throw out his shorts as they were covered in so many brambles he couldn't get them all off.  It's a good thing Charlie is so cute.

To complete our immersion science this past month, we harvested plenty of things to eat from our yard.  Our apple and pear harvest was very small this year, however our dill, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets and raspberries did great.  In the bottom left hand picture I made a bowl of applesauce with all of our apples as they were too small and tart to eat.

 The girls started dance class again this fall, and were excited to share their tap class with their cousin.  I was overcome with emotion when my babies were being fit for tap shoes.  I teared up watching their tiny baby feet be measured while at the same time wondering how these beautiful babies of mine were old enough to be proudly strutting around in tap shoes!  They love their tap class but miss their ballet class from last year so it looks like starting in October they will be taking a ballet class directly after their tap class.  They are very excited, and I am excited that their ballet shoes still fit from last year as the dance expenses are really adding up!

They are also in a yoga class with their cousin, which has been a lot of fun so far.  We share a picnic lunch at the park before class and while our girls are in class, my cousin and I get to hang out and talk about our babies.

The girls are also in a weekly science class at the library and have enjoyed meeting at the library park with friends before the library events.

As part of our social studies classes we are enjoying everything there is to love about fall.  Jumping in giant leaf piles, doing fun crafts with acorns and felt balls, bringing out all our fall clothes...

 …and even enjoying a Fall Festival with friends at a local park.

We have gone on a cemetery tour by our house with Aunt Jane and have enjoyed two separate trips to the apple orchard with family.

My brother Joe came to town this past month with his girlfriend who we met for the first time.  By the time they went back to Florida, we felt like she had been a part of our family forever and we miss them both already.  Here they are below.  It was Joe's first time meeting Violet and his girlfriend won me over immediately with her love of my brother, chickens and bees.

It had been over a year since all of my siblings were together last, and we had a lot of fun.

We have started a new tradition this past month of a weekly Family Movie Night where we have a picnic dinner of fun, usually unhealthy foods while watching a family friendly movie.  So far we have enjoyed Pete's Dragon, Mary Poppins and Cinderella.  It is challenging to find movies that the girls are not afraid of.  So far both girls loved Mary Poppins, but Emma was afraid of Pete's Dragon and Cinderella.  In the meantime, both girls have been playing the soundtracks to these movies repeatedly with some of our favorite songs being "Razzle Dazzle Day" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite."

It has occurred to me this past month that homeschooling is really just an extension of the daily activities we already do.  I feel so grateful that I get to spend this year with all three of my girls and am looking forward to what the next month has to offer in both structured and immersion learning!

Violet at 5 Months

Our ViVi is really coming into her own personality this past month.  Violet prefers to briefly contemplate someone new before deciding whether or not to smile.  Violet saves her instantaneous smiles for Will, Lucy, Emma and of course her mama and greets each of us slightly differently.  For Will, she sticks out her tummy when she spots him and starts waving her arms and smiling.  We can now officially say that Will has three daddy's girls.  Or maybe better yet, three little girls have Will!

When Violet sees Lucy, she breaks out into a huge grin and looks so adoringly up at her big sister.  Lucy has gained another faithful little sister, and has proven herself worthy of Violet's adoration.  Lucy loves playing little mommy to Violet and knows exactly what Violet needs at any given time.  Her favorite thing to do lately is carry Violet around, which only happens under adult supervision, but Lucy still beams with pride.

Emma talks so sweet to Violet and never seems bothered by crying or my preoccupation with her.  When Violet sees Emma, she starts wiggling around like she is ready to play.  Here Emma is below, showing Violet the frogs that Lucy collected and talking in her special baby talk voice:  "Oh, Violet, see?  These are frogs!  Say hippity hop!  Oh, Violet!  Aren't they cute?"

Violet has definitely transformed from a baby blob to a wiggly, squirmy, roly poly girl.  She is at that awkward stage where when she is being held she is squirming to get down, but moments after she is set down she starts fussing because she is unable to move how she wants.  Her most frustrating challenge is that she tries her hardest to move forward, but can only scoot backwards.  The first time I discovered that she could scoot at all was a bit scary.  I had set her on the play mat so I could take care of a few emails while I sat on the nearby couch.  After a couple of minutes I heard Violet start fussing.  When I looked down to see if she needed a new toy, she was gone!  I started yelling for Will - not realizing that I could hear her fussing right by me.  After several frantic seconds I calmed down enough to discover that Violet had scooted her way into the corner of the room and was fussing because the basket of blankets next to the couch was blocking her from further movement.

 Violet is doing very well in her Occupational Therapy and has also responded well to Prevacid.  We are hoping in the next month that she will graduate from OT and the stomach doctor even said that we could potentially lessen her dose of Prevacid once Violet can sit up on her own.  Here Lucy and Emma are below, providing moral support at one of Violet's doctor appointments.

 Violet is still very vocal, and "talks" all day long.  This past month she has discovered how to spit, and the loud sound she makes when spitting still startles me every time!  She sounds like a teenage boy, spitting throat clearings out at the bus stop!

Violet's sleeping continues to improve, but she still prefers to sleep in a carrier strapped onto me, or next to me in my bed at nap time.  Some of our best naps are with me sandwiched between Emma and Violet.

We had Violet baptized this past month and it was a beautiful day.  My older brother and cousin are Violet's God parents, making Violet one lucky little lady.

There have been certain instances in my life where I have felt overcome with peace and joy.  Violet's baptism day was one of them.  I felt so close to heaven that day and couldn't stop smiling.  Not only did I feel and see a major connection with my cousin's dad who passed away around the same time Luke did, but I also received a sign from Luke as well.  When we were leaving the church after Violet's baptism I was the last person out and Will had already pulled the car up to the front of the church and loaded the three girls in.  As soon as I sat my bottom in the car, the song "You're the World to Me" by David Gray started playing.  I've had that song playing for years on this blog but have rarely heard it on the radio.  In fact, the first and last time I heard it on the radio was when I decided it was Luke's song.  It was not long after he had died that I was visiting his grave with Will and decided I couldn't leave. Will had to practically drag me up from the ground and back to the car to go home.  Will started the car and I was still bawling about driving away from my baby, when that song came on the radio.  The words, "You don't have to turn the sound up, Babe, I want you from the ground up, Baby, baby, you're the world to me."  The fact that this song came on after Violet's baptism, with Will and the girls all there to hear it too is not a coincidence to me.  I immediately started crying tears of thankfulness, joy and sadness.  To have a sign from Luke, that he was there with us on Violet's special day meant more to me than I could ever say.  I just kept saying, "Thank you Luke, thank you, thank you, thank you" as we made the short trip from the church to our house and our awaiting family to continue celebrating Violet's baptism.  Luke gave me a sign on Emma's baptism too, which I wrote about here.  Yes, I felt many connections that day between heaven and earth and the little yellow tulip booties that my cousin gave Violet to represent Luke on her special day was icing on the cake.

Speaking of cake.  We ordered a special cake from Whole Foods made with all natural food dyes so that Lucy, who seems to have a food dye intolerance, could eat it without getting sick.  It turns out Whole Foods uses natural food dyes but not spell check.  It was still a beautiful and delicious "Bablism" cake, made even more special when Will and I cut the first piece with the cake knife from our wedding.  If you haven't noticed by now, let me be the first to tell you that I love sentimental traditions!

 All in all, we had a great month with Violet!

August Metamorphosis

Our last month of summer went by in the blink of an eye it seems.  Will is back to work and we had fun visiting him before the students returned from vacation.  The biology teacher at Will's work has quite the collection of animals, reptiles and amphibians and seeing them was the highlight of our visit.

We scrambled to finish up our summer bucket list and spent a couple of evenings swimming in our aunt and uncle's pool while soaking up the extra love and attention from them with yummy eats and story time cuddles.

We tried to get in as many play dates as possible before everyone headed back to school...

And we celebrated Grandma Hines', Auntie Cate's and a cousin's birthday as well as enjoyed a weekend visit from my old college roommate.

We enjoyed the finale of our library's summer reading program with friends…

And I even played the part of Cinderella when crossing a newly paved road.  This was not my smartest move, as the asphalt was still hot.  With nap time pressure looming and my kids getting crankier by the minute, I wasn't about to let fresh blacktop between our friends house and my car ruin my schedule.  We marched across and when I realized we were sinking into the road I decided to keep moving at all costs, despite leaving a flip flop stuck in the tar behind me, for fear of my kids getting stuck.  I think the kids were okay because they were light, but I didn't fare as well with Violet in a carrier on my chest.  Thankfully, my friend was lighter on her feet and went back to retrieve my sandal.  My charming hero!  Especially since finding sandals to fit my Flintstone feet is no easy feat.  Thankfully I didn't burn my foot and the tar eventually came off.

We tried taking walks every day, with our favorite destinations being the cemetery and the creek by our house.

We spent many afternoons playing on the porch, eating snacks and reading books.  Here the girls are below with a tea party they set up all on their own.  I thought it was beautiful!

Charlie enjoyed our time on the porch this past month as well.  One evening after Lucy and Emma were in bed, Will and I went out on the porch to enjoy the cool breeze and fading light.  While I was rocking Violet to sleep on the porch swing, Charlie jumped up onto Will's laptop and then nuzzled his way into Will's arms until he was positioned exactly like I had Violet in my arms.  Charlie gazed loving up at Will while Will shut his laptop and wondered aloud whose cat this was anyways.  Will has a hard time admitting the bond he and Charlie have, but I think it is obvious that they love each other.

Lucy has gathered quite the collection of frogs this past month, and they are living in an aquarium on our front porch.  We have tried various methods to keep the frogs safe from Charlie.  He is absolutely fascinated by the frogs and is usually lounging next to them or on top of the aquarium with his tail slowly wagging back and forth.  The girls have converted their water table to a frog pond, and have even let it fill up with rain water since tap water is toxic to frogs.  In the top left hand picture I borrowed one of Lucy's frogs to see if it could help tackle the fruit fly problem in my kitchen.  It barely made a dent and instead was intent upon climbing the kitchen window screen.

Lucy's interest in frogs has played nicely into our first official month of home schooling Lucy for Kindergarten.  After some serious thought, Will and I have decided that we do not agree with the mandatory full day kindergarten in our school district.  I have spent the last year heavily researching our options and have devised a curriculum to keep Lucy on track and hopefully create a seamless entry into first grade next year.  So far we are really enjoying our learning time at home.  Our first science unit is frogs, and Lucy hardly even realizes she is "learning".  We have also enjoyed more Kiwi Crate projects...

And in honor of our year of school at home, I have splurged on a bunch of highly acclaimed learning games and books.  Kindergarten is such a fun age for learning and I feel so privileged to be able to share in it with Lucy.

Emma is learning right alongside Lucy, and instead of doing a separate preschool program with her I am just modifying Lucy's lessons to suit Emma.  In order for me to have time to learn with them, I have involved the girls in more of the chores.  Lucy is very efficient at egg gathering, feeding the chickens, and helping me with Violet.  Emma loves helping and is very enthusiastic about pitching in when it is on her terms.  They both have been helping me fold diapers which is a huge help!

I can't forget to mention how helpful they are in the garden as well.  Dresses make the perfect basket and they both have been great at letting Will and I know when our produce is ready to be harvested.

Emma and Lucy love playing Barbies, Legos and house together and are starting to play more than fight.  

The fighting is still inevitable it seems though, and as soon as I hear a certain crazy giggle come from Emma I know that it is the beginning of the end and schtuff is about to go down.  I have been trying to stay out of their fighting, as hard as it is when it sounds like physical aggression is taking place however I've noticed that when I do pretend I have no idea that they are fighting that they almost always work it out, without ever saying a word about it to me.  I even overheard Emma say the other day, "Lucy I promise not to hit you anymore.  Can I please play with you again?"  A non-forced apology is so refreshing for me to hear!

Lucy lost her first tooth this past month and claims that she has two more loose teeth that are soon to follow.  I will take her at her word.  As much as I am fine petting frogs, handling bees and scraping chicken poop off of shoes I cannot handle loose teeth.  They give me the chills and frankly, gross me out.  I tried hiding my personal issues with teeth from Lucy but when she said, "Look mom, you can see the bottom of my tooth!" when it was still dangling in her mouth I couldn't suppress my feelings any longer.  I then had to reassure her that she doesn't gross me out but her tooth does and to please go show daddy the next time she feels the need to show and tell.  

We finally got Lucy and Emma's Five Year and Three Year pictures taken, rolled into the same portrait session as Violet's Four Month pictures.

I can still hardly believe that I have been blessed with three girls and that I am the mother of four kids!  Lucy wore a purple amethyst pinned to her dress in honor of Luke for the photos.  It is hard for us that we will never have a complete family picture on earth.

After a particularly emotional week this past month with the passing of my cousin, we came home from church and found a large glass fish bowl filled with milkweed on our picnic table - a gift from our neighbor.  Upon closer inspection we saw two newly hatched monarch butterflies as well as three chrysalis still waiting to hatch.  We peeled back the plastic wrap punched with holes and the monarchs climbed onto our fingers.  Time stood still.  After a moment or two of fanning their wings they flew away.  It was a breath taking, beautiful experience for us and exactly what I needed to have my faith in God's Plan restored.  Despite how sad and difficult things are on earth, I was reminded that God is the creator of all things beautiful and someday our earthly pain will be turned into joy.  After the two butterflies flew away, we brought the fish bowl into the house and over the next couple of days watched the remaining three chrysalis hatch.  I was taken aback by the miracle of it all, from the gorgeous gold band on the turquoise cocoon to the way those beautiful, fragile wings emerged from such a tiny space.

I may never understand the painful things that happen on earth, but it is my hope that I will continue to find the beauty despite the pain and help my kids to understand that with faith, we will eventually experience the metamorphosis of sadness and pain into peace and joy.  

Violet at 4 Months

Our little Vi Vi is four months!  This past month has brought lots of changes in Violet's abilities and personality.  My favorite new development is that she babbles almost constantly and laughs now too.  The best giggles are brought on by her sisters, an orange slinky, and Will blowing raspberries on her belly.  In the left hand picture below, Lucy is getting Violet to laugh and squeal while playing in her jumper.

Violet is big enough to play in the jumper with a little board propped underneath so her feet touch the ground and she can now grab the toys hanging above her on her play mat too.  She can also hold on to toys and put them in her mouth which has added a level of fun for her big sisters to interact with her.  She is becoming independently mobile this past month as well by rolling from her tummy to her back, and from her back to her tummy quite easily.  She also enjoys chewing on her dress, her bib and any blanket or burp cloth within her reach.

Violet has found her toes, and grabs them at every diaper change, as seen in the above picture.  Speaking of diaper changes, this little girl continues to shock and awe us with her poopy diapers.  If she is pooping you better take cover.  Literally, you better cover any surface you don't want covered in poop.  A couple of Sundays ago we were sitting in church when Violet let out a loud poop sound.  We stifled our giggles until Will noticed that poop was running between his fingers as he held her.  He did a crouch walk out of church and ended up lining her car seat with reusable shopping bags and wet wipes to get her home to wash her down.  After Will left, I noticed a puddle of brown liquid on the pew the size of a dinner plate.  Imagine my panic when I had to figure out how to clean that up!  Needless to say, Will arrived back to church with about five minutes left in the service.  I wonder if anyone noticed that Will and Violet were freshly bathed and in completely new outfits?  I could barely hide my laughter when Will leaned over and whispered to me that, "the only thing that didn't have poop on it was my socks."

Violet is a daddy's girl, just like her big sisters and will stick out her belly, tuck in her chin and smile like crazy whenever she spots Will.

They've bonded under the ceiling fan on hot days, as well as naps on the couch together.

In the above right hand picture you can still see Violet's bottom lip that we have been working so hard on strengthening.  She revisited the dentist that did her tongue and lip tie procedure and ended up having her tongue tie wound opened back up as it was starting to reattach.  Unfortunately, by the time we made it home, it had reattached again.  At this point we are going to do the wait and see approach as to if we will have the procedure done yet again.  Her symptoms are better than before, but still not ideal.  I just don't want to go through the trauma of the procedure again.  Below are the little glasses she wore when she had the procedure done last month.  

Our month has been filled with appointments for Violet, from the occupational therapy that is strengthening her lips and tongue, to the chiropractor, cranial sacral therapy, the pediatrician and the pediatric gastrologist.  Violet is now on Prevacid like her old sisters were and it seems to be helping her eating challenges a little bit.  She still takes her best naps upright in a carrier on me and has grown enough to graduate to our more structured carrier which has helped to lessen my back pain!

Violet continues to be the star of any social gathering.  Here she is below cuddling with family and friends.

Finally, we had Violet's four month pictures taken in the same dress that her older sisters wore at their four month photo shoots.  It is amazing to me how similar they all look, and how I have to really pause and think to figure out which girl is which!  Here's our cutie below.

Violet no longer seems like a newborn, but a full-fledged baby.  I am really enjoying this age with Violet and am trying to savor all of the perks of her budding personality and cuddles despite my sleep deprivation!