Time for more pictures of things I’ve made. Somehow, it made sense to me to take my precious quiet after the kids have gone to bed time to make Esther an Easter dress. It was very simple, so that helped. This first picture is how the dress looked nicely laid out on the table. The shoulder straps were tie-ons to… Read more →
I do not know how I manage to craft while not managing to blog about it. It must be that crafting puts me at my limit and blogging runs over. At any rate, I wanted to post a blanket I started for Esther back in November. This was before the gift avalanche, when I had nearly no girl things and… Read more →
Today, I was set to record a podcast over the phone with a guest at 3 p.m. Ransom takes his afternoon nap from 2:30 to 4:30, so is usually quieted down by 3 and it’s a favored recording time. At 2:50, Esther is sleeping. But I hear noises from Ransom that are loud enough to make me think he’s playing… Read more →
While pregnant with Esther I wondered how having a daughter would change me and create a different relationship than with our son. Here is one discovery. One of the obsessive worries I and many women have is to be attractive. For me, that usually means not “looking nice enough” but perfection. Which, as you can guess, is impossible. Even so,… Read more →
Dear Esther, This letter is to inform you that you have repeatedly violated the UN Convention on Human Rights. It quite clearly states that extreme sleep deprivation* is a form of human torture. You must cease and desist immediately, or face the terrifying consequences of seeing blue, helmeted peacekeepers sing kumbaya on our lawn. Either that or you risk losing… Read more →
I know—and probably will continue to know for some time—gobs of pregnant and new mothers. Since I’ve also gotten several asking for advice, I thought I’d condense the vitamin and gadget recommendations into one nice little Amazon list and post it here for easy reference and sharing. These are simple, natural things I found immensely useful for managing this uncomfortable,… Read more →
Waking every two hours at night with Esther has altered the cycle of days for me. Watching the street and heaven’s lights fade and brighten in their slow waltz means each morning seems no longer a fresh dawn but the old dawn renewed. I am more conscious of this cycle, though I would rather be unconscious. And the light shone… Read more →
Long, long ago, on a farm far away, I knew that being a mother was hard. I didn’t know experientially that everything about pregnancy sucked except the baby (which, when it gets out, almost exclusively wants to suck), that the weeks after the hardest thing I have ever done in my life (getting that baby out) would make me look… Read more →
I’ve been thinking about popping in here for weeks and everything else has been instead so pressing. I try to fly through as many professional to-do items as possible during work hours so I can devote evenings and weekends to my men; and many evenings find me composing lesson plans and grading assignments for a group of promising high school… Read more →
Last night just before 10 p.m. I decided that, while I was definitely not having a pregnancy craving, I would not mind at all if I could, at that moment, have some potato chips. We don’t ordinarily keep chips in the house because I gorge myself on them if they’re available. But this time I would not eat them all…. Read more →
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