50:41

as in "oh, it's 50:41! i have to go, grandma!" eve is experimenting with telling time lately, and i am rarely just mommy. today i have been assigned the roles of "mean computer girl" "mean queen" "nice morgana" (the sea witch in little mermaid 2. . . ugh, i'm more than ashamed that my children and i know that. . .) and "grandma." ruthie has been restricted to the sole role of "baby jesus" . . . "come on, baby jesus! i'm making a playground just for you! see-saw for baby jesus! wheee!" i don't really know what to say. 

we've all been cooped up a little more than we'd like lately (didn't leave the house once all week. three kids+ humidity= me hiding by air conditioner). so saturday we made our way up to lawrence farm orchards to do some berry picking. a few strawberries, mostly cherries and fun. we left right around "35:13" and had a great day. as usual, i am now desperate to live on a farm of my own. having inherited the desire from my dad, i've romanticized about living on a farm as long as i can remember. the thought of being so tied to and in tune with the land and life seems so ideal. maybe i should start a little smaller with the dreams and shoot for a backyard first. 

chip has declared that he could go cherry picking every week. if we can avoid charlie getting anymore scary looking mystery hives, i'm all for it too. strangers tried to be nice and pretend that he was just a beautiful little angel, but they were concerned. "oh look, look at that little babyyyy. . ." as they came in for a close up look at the little mess their voices would lower, slow down and a lot of looks of semi-hidden worry were exchanged. but, after we picked, licked all the melted ice cream off (i know, a farm with amazing ice cream. heaven.) and turned in our wagon we drove home with pounds of cherries and hot and sleepy kids. thunderstorms and dinner from friends welcomed us home before warm baths were given and i gave into my exhaustion. i'm a complete wimp in the hot humidity. 

sunday came and with it this cherry pie. and seriously, it was the best pie i've eaten, maybe ever. and bonus; crazy easy. after the cherries are pitted (admittedly a slow process but one i delight in) and after my stained hands are washed, its all about just throwing a few ingredients together and waiting while the goodness bakes. without tapioca or white sugar on hand i substituted corn starch and powdered sugar. worked perfectly. i had raw sugar that maybe i should have used, anybody have any tips for baking with it?? half cake flour made the pie crust magical. 

once the pie was gone (we had help eating it, but could have easily shoved it into our own greedy tummies) we were very sad. so sad, that i woke up this morning determined to make another. it is happily baking in the oven right now while ruth dresses in the cow costume, eve lies daintily on the bed in her cinderella dress and charlie sits in my lap contentedly staring at the glow in front of him. 

 

first day

today is the first day on my own with the three kids. this morning my sister and two (of her four) kids left for the airport to fly back home to oregon. sad for all of us, but especially my apartment, which has not been so clean or full of life in months. the girls are already making demands for sarah's return, and deep inside, i am too. it was glorious being so taken care of by one of my favorite people of all time.

so far the four of us are fine. an episode (or five) of diego and a super cape has eve happy while ruth seems satisfied staring at sleeping charlie and playing the "remember when?" game with me over and over. -ok. i just looked over at ruth and it turns out it wasn't the "remember when" that was entertaining her so much as the tube of lanolin she was smearing all over her lips, tummy and right leg. classic ruth.- if the rest of the day goes this well (ointment smearing aside) i may even be able to do something for chip, who is 33 today. happy birthday chip! here's hoping all you ever wanted for your 33rd birthday is leftover pizza and the latest episode of the bachelorette. . .

also, i've lost the ability to follow one line of thinking for more than four minutes, so here are eve and ruth with two of their respective current obsessions: mustaches (yogurt in this case) and animal puppets.

++ oh, and goo flu is gone. he died within 24 hours. so then came go-pen. i had high hopes for go-pen, he looked hearty. but four days later he was nose down too. the girls are now talking about death even more than usual, in semi-disturbing ways; "oh, i'm sorry mom, it looks like charlie's dead." so we're taking a break from fish for awhile. clear the air. and the water. 

charlie and bye

 

charlie's birth was the roughest of the three. being 9 days overdue (four more than ruthie, 22 more than eve), and the heaviest by one ounce might have had something to do with it, but i'm fairly certain that there were three other factors that made this one closer to what i hear the mainstream experiences of childbirth are. (i've been quoted as saying that childbirth- the actual process of natural childbirth, not just the result- is "glorious" and i've meant it, but not with this one. this one was just hard).

and here are the three reasons why:

#1: the boy was posterior. what you hear is true; back labor is no fun at all. i generally do not like being touched while in labor but other than getting the baby out, there is nothing i wanted more than someone to repeatedly hammer me in the back with a mallot and relieve the pain.  

#2: because i was so overdue i wasn't able to deliver in the birthing center where the two girls were born. the birthing center is heaven. a cozy heaven where chip, my midwife, one nurse and quiet are the only things i am aware of as i labor, deliver, recover and stare at my new baby. . . instead it was the regular labor and delivery floor for me. no jacuzzi tub. no queen size bed. no friendly watercolors of flowers hiding the tubes and medical equipment in the wall, no feeling of complete seclusion. just a fetal monitor that had to be kept on the entire time, five feet to pace between bed and chair and florescent lights (which didn't do me any favors for the post-birth photographs, either). . . also, shared recovery rooms aren't ideal; sometimes getting glimpses into strangers' personal relationships is really uncomfortable. 

#3: this, i've decided is the big reason charlie's birth was the roughest- the clock. there was a digital clock on the wall and i could not avoid looking at. the minutes ticked away, reminding me how long i had been in labor, reminding me how long i had been in the hospital, reminding me that as each intense minute ticked away i had no idea how many more were ahead. that clock made my attempt to stay focused on the miraculous process and not give in to the frustration and exhaustion much more difficult than usual. if there is a next time, the first thing i will do is cover up any and all clocks in the room. i'm not interested in being taunted like that again. i'm interested in being blissfully ignorant to the passing time as i focus and cope and my body works.

so, next time (again, if there is one) here's hoping for a timely arrival free of back labor and clocks. but really, these small complaints aside, i have never been more aware of how incredibly blessed we are and how incredible new life is.

since the evening we returned home with our newly complete family we've pretty much spent our days staring at this little guy. seriously, he's so great. i love few things in life more than brand new baby chicken legs. and now that his umbilical cord fell off, the girls are fully in love. a ton of staring, a ton of kissing a ton of "charlie's so cuuuute!"

but, we have some sad news too. as of last night our fish of more than a year- "bye"- is dead. at the end of a tragic day for eve (having to share the unicorn AND eat all of her quiche) i was trying to console her when i caught a glimpse of obviously dead fish and blurted out "dang it. bye's dead." smooth, mom. poor eve; head thrown into the pillow, sobbing screams, desperate clings to her insensitive mother. promises of fish heaven and a replacement finally dried up the tears and we were all able to go to sleep peacefully. kind of. dead fish are creepy. oh, and the cause of death? starvation. little baby came to town and fish was totally neglected. sorry bye. i can't decide who had the worst death; bye or our first fish who died of exposure (the heat in our building went out for several days during the coldest snap in winter didn't work out so well for the betta). . . 

here's the new guy. name: "goo flu" which eve informs me is "the most beautiful name." who am i to argue? welcome goo flu, here's hoping you make it past 14 months with us. history is not in your favor. 

+++

and thank you to all of your for your kind comments here! if i weren't so lazy or wrapped up in staring at charlie i'd love to get back to each of you individually. but, i am lazy and charlie is freakin' beautiful so a group "thanks!" is the best i can do for now.

meet charlie

june 2, 2008

5:22am

8 pounds, 1 ounce  

21.5 inches long

amazing.