Dress up Sunday

My oldest son Joseph is quite fastidious about his clothing. Okay, truth be told, he's a wee bit vain! He insists on picking out his own clothes each day (sometimes with interesting results) and he has been known to stand in front of the mirror combing his hair and exclaiming "I'm so handsome!" to no one in particular. He loves his "dress clothes" for fancy occasions and tries to wear them all kinds of places, even when they are way too formal. He also loves church and gets so excited about going there, which fills my motherly heart with joy!

This past Sunday, he ran off to get dressed before anyone else, and he showed up in his most fancy suit, complete with vest, tie, and what he calls his "dancing shoes."

 I figured hey, why not - let him dress up for church even though it was not really a special occasion. After all, I think its always nicer to be a little overdressed than under-dressed, and he's outgrowing his clothes awfully fast. Then his sister got in on the action and picked out her frilly pink Easter dress.

Then I had to dress Elora in her matching pink Easter dress, and then the rest of us had to dress up just to fit in! So we had a "Voss Family Dress-Up Sunday" which meant we all wore our nicest clothes for no particular reason, and it was quite fun.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try to take pictures of all 4 kids again, since I don't really have a good one and they looked so nice. I even offered bribes to sit still and smile. Here is what I got:

 Attempt #1

 Attempt #2

Attempt #3

After that, I gave up. My children do clean up nice...but they are determined that Mama will be the only one who ever knows that!

Moby

"What the heck's a moby?" is the response I had when I first heard the word. Well, I'm glad you asked, my friends, because it's only the most wonderful invention ever created. At least for us moms.

THIS is a Moby! It's the best baby carrier I've ever tried. I think the word comes from combining "mother" and "baby" - which is basically what the Moby does. 

(And before you read any further, let me assure you that I am NOT a Moby salesman. I don't make any money off of recommending it to you. I simply feel it my duty because I love the thing so much....I got the picture off their website. Mine, however, is not camo. I was really tempted to get an exciting color, but I didn't have the guts to, and my boring side reasserted itself by buying black because it goes with everything. Sigh.)

My mom was a big fan of slings when she had babies, and I tried them with my first 3. I liked them for the infant stage, but once they got a little bigger (and mine got big fast!) they were just too heavy and I couldn't stand the drag on my shoulder. We had a backpack that Robert liked a lot, but it was better for older kids and kind of a pain to put on, especially when the newborn was wailing. (Also, I seem to have misplaced it since the Great Mold Incident of 2010.) One day we were at the zoo, I think, and I saw a lady wearing this weird fabric wrap thing with her tiny newborn tucked inside it. The thing that attracted me to it was that it went over BOTH shoulders instead of one, which looked like it would be a lot more comfortable. I asked her about it, and she told me how much she loved it, and every other person I talked to about it told me how much they loved it, so...when I got pregnant with Elora I was determined to try it.

I ordered it off the moby website - they are not too expensive, about $40 for the basic colors, and then the patterned ones are a little more. It is basically just one long piece of cloth that you wrap over your shoulders and then around your middle to form a baby carrier. (Don't worry, it comes with directions! And its looks a lot more complicated than it is...) Robert had scoffed at the idea of wearing it - he said it wasn't a manly baby carrier, in spite of the fact that I showed him pictures of other men wearing it on the website!

See? Told you...

 But you know how he is about any form of new technology - the moment it arrived, he had to figure out how it worked by putting it on himself! And within about 2 minutes, Elora was fast asleep snuggled up next to him. After that, he was sold on it! I had the same experience. Every time I put her in the thing, no matter how fussy she was before that, she falls fast asleep. I think she just loves the feeling of being tightly held, safe and secure, snuggled up against your body. 

Now I admit, it is not perfect. You can't just slide it on and off - you have to take a minute to wrap or unwrap yourself. And the thing is so long that I always drag the ends on the ground while I'm first putting it on, which is kind of icky. (It IS machine washable though ;-) And you have to be careful to dress the baby - and yourself - pretty cool when you wear it because baby is right up against your skin, which can make you pretty hot.

But I still think the benefits outweigh these minor complaints. I can get SO much done with both my hands free (although after 4 kids, I have gotten pretty good at cooking dinner, doing dishes, and cleaning up with one hand. Several times I have even cooked dinner while nursing! I am so going to win the Mommy Olympics someday...;-). She is held tightly against my body, so I can bend over without worrying about her falling out. I must admit that I haven't tried it yet, but the instruction booklet even came with a few pilates/yoga exercises you can do while wearing the baby! Sounds kind of fun (and removes all my excuses for not exercising!) You can wear it all kinds of ways, even with older babies too.

The point of this whole blog post is: I love my Moby. I definitely think its worth trying. And hey, if you don't want to spend $40 without trying it, you are welcome to come over and try mine! ;-)

P.S. Also, I know of at least one secondhand store that has been known to sell Mobys - it's called Other Mothers. You might be able to find one even cheaper there!

  

A compelling argument

There are many arguments in favor of exclusive breastfeeding: nature's perfect food, healthier children, plumper babies, better teeth formation, etc, etc. It's quite a list. But I think this t-shirt perfectly sums up the most compelling reason for breastfeeding your babies:

I know that's why I do it!

There are several other hilarious breastfeeding t-shirts (although I probably wouldn't actually wear any of them...at least in public...) at this website. 

Hard copy, if you please

With technology advancing on a daily basis, and all the options available, our society is moving away from the printed word. Nobody subscribes to "the newspaper" any more - they simply go to foxnews.com or some similar website, or have the news articles emailed directly to them (guilty!). We write emails instead of letters, blog posts instead of Christmas cards, and text rather than making phone calls. My husband doesn't even take his Bible to church anymore, because he has a program on his phone that lets him view the Bible in any translation, any language he desires!

I have recently been downloading a lot of books from Project Gutenberg, a website with thousands of books available for free, much of it classic literature. While I enjoy having so many books readily available for my perusal, I've started to realize how much I miss  the physical sensation of reading "real" books.

"But they save so much space! And you can get them for free! Without wasting paper! And you can put them on your laptop, or iphone, or kindle, or even on a thumb drive, and take them anywhere!" 

Yes, but....

Here are my old-fashioned arguments in favor of good, old fashioned bound paper real books:

- nothing can replace the feel of the paper pages and the smell of the ink you experience as you turn each page

- it may take up more space, but there's also the sense of accomplishment you get from seeing that thick book in your hand and realizing you've read 800 pages

- the individual uniqueness of each book - the beauty of the leather cover, the gold embossing, the choice of typeset, or even the flimsy paper-back with its cheap cover - is incomparable

- a book doesn't shatter when it hits the ground 

- you can see the lovely full-page illustrations without having to view them in pieces or scroll down

- the sunlight glares a great deal less on the pages of a book than the screen of a computer

- you can take a relaxing bath while reading a book without worrying that you are going to electrocute yourself if you drop it in the water...and even if you do drop it, the pages will dry out. The kindle, not so much. And books are far less expensive to replace.

- you get a sense of awe from walking into a library or a bookstore and seeing shelf after shelf of books. Of taking one down and reading just a page here or there...of caressing the spines and judging each book by its cover...there is just no such joy in electronic browsing. You have to know exactly what book you're looking for in an online catalog.

- you never have to wait for your book to boot up. Or plug it in to recharge, or worry about it running out of battery right in the middle of the most exciting scene! Even when my kids tear up my books, I can tape the pages back together long enough to finish them.

Finally, a few visual illustrations to prove my point:

 The Library of Congress

 Trinity College Library

The library from Beauty and the Beast

Technology will never replace the printed word...at least not with me. How about you?

P.S. Is it ironic that I am publishing an online blog about the printed word? Hmmm....

Survival

My new baby Elora is 3 weeks old now. In some ways having a new baby has been wonderful...but in many ways it has felt a lot like my own personal version of Survivor. In this version, its parents vs. children, and I'm not sure we're winning. We're outnumbered 2:1, and the opposition is both smart and devious. There are many days when I'n not sure our team is going to be the last one standing!

Don't blame it on Elora! She has very little to do with my newfound parenting difficulty. She is actually a very good baby! It is more due to the sheer fact of being so greatly outnumbered! When Gabriella was born, everyone shook their heads and warned us that the third child was the hardest since there are only 2 parents...but somehow it wasn't too bad. I held the baby and the two boys played together...it worked. But now there are 3 of them running around together...plotting together...getting into things together...destroying Mama's sanity together...

A few examples from the past 2 weeks:
- 2 dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, and a gallon of apple juice mixed together all over the floor
- 1/2 a cheesecake smashed all over the sofa and floor (that one made me mad because it was a criminal waste of perfectly good cheesecake)
- smearing wax all over the couch
- climbing the 10 ft fence and escaping the backyard
- climbing the fence into the pen with the beehives - and trying to add frames to the hive...(amazing that nobody got stung...)
- breaking down the door to the shed and sprinkling fertilizer everywhere

The list goes on but I don't have the heart to type it. Everything just feels...overwhelming. Yes, that's the word. The first week went great, because Daddy (mostly) took the week off and was around to help with the kids. But unfortunately, the 2nd week he had to go back to work...and I discovered that apparently I am not prepared to cope with 4 kids! 3 kids are fine - any combination of 3. Whenever one is asleep - or spending the night at Grandmas - or out on an errand with Daddy - I do just fine with the other 3. It's just when the 4th child gets back...chaos ensues...

You know what they say: "if you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans..." My plans and good intentions are kind of circling the drain right now. I want to be a sweet, kind, even-tempered mom. (Ha!) I want to keep the house clean and get laundry done. (Double ha!) I want to feed them healthy meals. And yet, here on Survivor Island, it is more like...peanut butter and jelly wearing yesterday's clothes with a grumpy mama...oh dear.

 And since I don't think giving any of them back is an option (and you know I wouldn't, even on those days when I really REALLY want to) I am going to have to find some other method for coping with all 4 of them.

At the moment, my coping mechanism is consuming obscene amounts of coffee and chocolate...

A VERY Good Friday: our birth story

I am sitting here typing with my beautiful new baby asleep on my lap! A little girl named Elora Anne Voss; she was born April 22, Good Friday (we are NOT acknowledging so-called "Earth Day" ;-), and what a GOOD Friday it was!

 My due date was April 28, and we were kind of expecting/hoping the baby would be born any day, especially because my sister and brother-in-law were in town until the first of May. I really wanted them to be able to be here, and it was so neat that it worked out that way. In fact, everything about this birth turned out the best way it possibly could have, and I know that is all thanks to God! Here is our birth story:

After having our last baby at home, and really loving that, we decided to go with a homebirth again, although we went with a different midwife. Actually, it's a team of 2 midwives, Barbara Pepper and Jen Robinson - their business is called Rio Grande Midwifery. I'd been going to see them for all my prenatal checkups, and we like them a lot. I also had heard a lot of great things about waterbirth, and I really wanted to try it this time, so we got a kids inflatable swimming pool to use and had it all ready to go.

On Good Friday, we usually try to do something as a family each year. Unfortunately, Robert had to work, so the kids and I went with my parents and siblings out to the Petroglyphs for a picnic lunch and a walk. I was feeling better than I'd felt in several weeks, and I walked along the path for about a mile before getting tired. On the way back I started having mild, irregular contractions, but they stopped when I sat down, so I figured it was probably Braxton-Hicks contractions and nothing would come of it. Nevertheless, I was feeling kind of tired out, so mom and the kids and I came home and I took a nap. My family came over for dinner, but I didn't feel much like eating, and by 7:30 I was having contractions again - nothing too strong, about five minutes apart or so. My parents decided to take the kids home with them in case anything did happen that night, but we figured I was in for a long slow night of labor.

But by 9:30 pm, the contractions were strong enough that I couldn't go to sleep, and I got in the shower. By 10 they were really strong, and I asked Robert to start timing them. They were 2 minutes apart and lasting for 1 minute each, and they got pretty intense. By 10:30 I was saying "I can't do this anymore!" and asking Robert to call the midwives. (We realized later I was in transition, but somehow neither of us figured that out at the time - we were both a little busy!) He called them and my parents, and they both started to head over here, but still expected it would be at least another hour.

By 11:00, though, I told Robert "I feel like I have to push!" and he couldn't believe it. He rushed into the kitchen and started filling up the tub, which fortunately he had already inflated and set up. As soon as it was ready (he had to throw all our ice cubes in to temper the hot water!) I climbed in, and oh my, it was instant relief! The warm water took all the pressure off my back and hips, and my whole body was able to relax. After two pushes, Robert could see the head. He called the midwife, who was still en-route, and told her "the baby's crowning!" and then he had to hang up because with the third push the baby came flying out! A girl!! Robert scooped her up out of the water and discovered she had been born "in the cowl" which means she still had the membrane sack intact over her face! Apparently this is quite rare - 1 baby in 1000 or so. But he just pulled the sack off, and she was fine - a little blue at first, but she got pink very quickly. He put her in my arms, wrapped a towel around her, and she started nursing after just a few minutes.

About 5 minutes after she was born, my parents and Daniella arrived. They were pretty surprised to find that they'd missed the whole thing, but they got to be there for the most important part - seeing and holding the new baby! About 20 minutes later, the midwives showed up, and helped to deliver the placenta (I think it was bigger than the baby! But it was completely intact, which was a big relief since I had trouble with pieces being left behind and lots of bleeding with the last baby.) And Daniella got to cut the cord. ;-)

The next couple of hours encompassed all  the weighing, measuring, checking, cleanup, etc. while I just lay back and nursed my new baby! She was my smallest baby - 7 lbs, 13 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long. (Not that I'm complaining, with the ease of the birth!) Everything looked great, and I felt much better than I had after previous babies. We had a fun little celebratory "toast" around the bed with grape juice and matzo crackers with my family and the midwives! And then I fell asleep in my own bed with my sweet little girl cuddled up next to me. She turned out to be a really good sleeper, too.

P.S. Elora means "God is my light." And yes, it is also the name of the baby from the movie Willow. ;-)   

Introducing...

....the newest member of our family:

our daughter, Elora Anne Voss!


She was born at home on Good Friday, April 22, at 11:13 pm.


She weighed 7 lbs, 13 oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long.


**pictures and full birth story forthcoming; someone has been pestering me to update my blog so you would know she had arrived!*