The Grateful Woman

I am starting to feel so much better. It's great to NOT be pregnant anymore, and it's great to be feeling mostly recovered from labor. It would feel even better to be fitting into something other than maternity pants....especially considering I only gained 6 pounds this pregnancy. I guess my body has redistributed itself. All in time.

I have to say that people have been so kind to us. I haven't had to cook a meal yet, and Danielle will be 4 weeks only in a couple of days. The first week my ward brought in meals, My mom was here the second week and cooked for us. Then, my kind homeschool group signed up for 14 days of meals. I've still got4 more days of meals coming, and I'm starting to feel almost guilty for letting these busy people serve me, but also grateful for such kindness.

It seems such a small thing, bringing a meal, yet it is such a large thing for me. I can savor this first month with Danielle and have extra time for all my kids. I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed a baby more, and I'm also happy that my other kids thrill in every moment with her. She is so wonderful.

I'm also grateful to my sister-in-law for recommending the book Becoming Babywise: Giving your baby the gift of sleep. She has been only waking up once at night, and I could go a long time with the sleep I am getting.


Danielle's umbilical cord finally fell off when she was three weeks old, so we were all excited to give her a real bath. She hated it. She screamed the entire time. That was a first for me. But I'm happy to report that they are growing on her.


Also, they always say that the last babies hardly have any pictures taken of them, but I'm pretty sure we have more pictures of Danielle than any of our other children put together, thanks to Brandon. He has photos of her from about every angle. We have 78 pictures just from last week. This is the first child that we've had a digital camera, so the kids go a little crazy. Of course, she is so beautiful that it's easy to get carried away.


Things are easier this time around as well. If she's sleeping when I need to go pick up Nicole from pre-school, I can leave Brandon with her. I can't tell you how many times I was forced to wake up sleeping babies with my older crew. The kids hold her while I take a shower in the mornings or while I brush my teeth at night, and they love every second of it. She's also my first child who loves her binky. I may actually have a pacifier baby this time around.


All in all life is great, and I feel richly blessed.

Experimenting With Kids

I found a book several years ago on clearance at Barnes & Noble called 365 Science Projects and Activities . For several summers I invited different friends to join us once a week for "Science Summer." I would do 5-10 of the experiments and teach the concept behind what we were doing.

After we moved to Colorado, I never got around to doing Science Summer, and I have to admit, I didn't do much of anything regarding Science for a couple of years, other than what they learned on Brainpop.com. This school year I wanted to add something fun to our school day and I remembered our past Science Summers. I gathered together my trusty Science Activity book and designated Monday afternoons to be our Science Experiment days. The kids have loved them!

The interesting thing I have discovered in teaching my kids, is that I often learn concepts that I must have been taught at some point, but somehow they never stuck. I have enjoyed really understanding Density, pH, Air Pressure and Calories in a whole new and interesting light.

All the kids have their own Science Notebooks. We set up the experiment and then I ask them to each form their own hypothesis of what they think will happen. They write it down and then we see what in fact will happen. Sometimes they guess right and sometimes they are surprised to be wrong. They were shocked, for instance, that the room was 10 degrees warmer by the ceiling than by the floor.

Sometimes I am even surprised by an experiment. I was amazed that you could heat a can of water with a burning nut and discover how many calories the nut has by the temperature change in the water. Walnuts have more calories than Almonds, which makes sense, since they are fattier.

I have many favorite experiments, but my all-time favorite experiment has to do with purple cabbage. If you boil it for 30 minutes and pour the juice into several cups they will act as a pH indicator. When you add something to the liquid it will turn the juice a new shade. The more pinkish it becomes indicates that it is an acid. The more bluish it turns means it is a base. I find it absolutely fascinating.


The biggest surprise for me was to learn that dishwasher soap is a strong base. Who would have thought? What I enjoy the most though, are the conversations that spring up from these experiments, sometimes even months later.....and the smiles on their faces.

Motherhood

I had my first child when I was 24. I had a decent case of baby blues. I felt a loss of freedom, a fear of ability as a mother, and then terrible guilt for feeling this way. Of course I also felt a tremendous love and care for my son, and eventually got through those postpartum feelings. My next three children were born over time and I was so busy with all my other children that I never had time to have baby blues.

Pregnancy and childbirth are an amazing experience. They are full of many ups and downs....and pain. But the most wonderful part of it for me, is when I see my baby for the very first time. It is miraculous.

I had baby blues again with this fifth birth. But this time it revolved around endings. I had a severe case of the nevermores. I will never get to hold my newborn child and kiss her sweet cheeks again. I will never feel my baby kick in my stomach again. I will never look at those exquisite little feet and marvel at the life I am holding.

I suppose all I can do is savor every moment I have now, so that I remember this time.

And also remember that there are still really great memories left to come.