He Sows, She Sews

Somebody

2011-01-13T07:00:00.006-06:00

Somebody (cough...cough...Knut)

Has been playing with my new camera.

Instead of taking out the dead amaryllis plant.

At least I'm guessing it was him. This doesn't look like David's handiwork.

Future Therapy

2011-01-12T13:14:00.000-06:00

There are times when I do something as a mother, and mentally put some money aside for my kids' future therapy fund. Although usually it's because of a mistake I made. However, although this may put my younger kids in therapy, I've made a decision.

I'm not getting a baby book for Solveig. I know. Awful.

I got a baby book for Silje. I filled out a lot of it, in fact. She reminds me constantly that I have yet to complete her birthday pages up to age 5.

I got a book for David. The year he was born was really crazy because Silje was still a baby herself, and he was not an easy baby. So I made a valiant effort, but it isn't as filled in as Silje's.

I bought a book for Elias. However, there's not much in it. Maybe his name. Maybe not even his whole name. I probably just put "Eli" and got distracted.

So I'm throwing away all pretense that just because I buy a book for Solveig, that I will actually do something with it. I'm saving my money and being real. It's not going to happen. If I let myself get into scrapbooking, maybe I'd have one of those. Maybe someday I will. Maybe. Right now I have no more space for another craft in my house. When all of my kids are gone and I take over a room bigger than my laundry room and outfit it with whatever crafting accessory I want, I will probably get into scrap booking. Right now, if I start getting into it, I'd have to give up some sewing or fabric space. That's just not going to happen.

For now, my kids' baby books will come in the form of this blog. When they ask where their baby book is, I'm going to press the print button, wait about 3 days for it to finish printing, and then hand the book to them. (Actually, I'd probably get one of those companies who turn blogs into books do it for me. They'll be grown. I'll have the money for that then, right?)

So future adult children: I'm sorry. You will have no baby book. It doesn't mean I love Silje the most. It means I got real. Please inquire about a payment plan from your therapist.

Yarn Along

2011-01-12T09:04:00.000-06:00

I'd like to thank Ginny at Small Things once again for hosting the Yarn Along. I've really enjoyed meeting so many new people who love to read and knit each week! If you'd like to "meet" some as well, head on over (when you're done here of course) to her blog.

This week I've picked up once again a project that was nearly forgotten. It's a sweater for me. Imagine that. If I remember right, I abandoned it before because I got to the point of dividing for the armholes and I realized it was actually too short for me. Since I'm so short, I wasn't expecting that, but I had to undo a lot of work if I wanted it to look nice, and at the time, I didn't feel like undoing a lot of work. So it got stashed in my unfinished pile. Now it's out, and I've fixed the problem and am currently working on lengthening it. I may even make this little cropped sweater go to my waist. I don't know yet. We'll see.

For reading, I put one of our homeschool books in. Silje just started studying Greek Myths and let me tell you, she's so so so in love with them. I wasn't sure how she'd react to them, but she won't put this book down, and even rereads sections over and over again. As a literature major, I'm excited that she'll have this base for studying classical literature in the future. (I'm of the belief that knowing both the Bible and Greek Mythology are both essential for studying higher literature. Why schools these days have cut these two out, I'll never figure out.)

So far her favorite story is Pandora's Box. There's one other that she loves, but I can't think of the name just now.

The other book that I put in the picture is one sent to us this week all the way from Norway! One of my dear friends, Lise, who lives there thought that if Silje is studying geography, she should have an excellent book on the most beautiful city in Norway. Silje hasn't put that down either and even brought it to town yesterday so she could look at the pictures in the car.

That wasn't the only thing in the package from Lise. She sent the most gorgeous little dress for Solveig.

How can I not show a picture of it? She also sent a Norwegian chocolate bar. That however...

did not make it to this post.

Back to School

2011-01-11T10:02:00.000-06:00

We're back! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

I'm posting today and Friday since there's so much going on this week. If I don't post today, the one on Friday will be 10 pages long. Just spreading out the love.

I'm not sure who was more excited to get back into school: the kids or me. We took a month off as Christmas vacation/maternity leave and it was more than enough. I don't know how we'll survive all summer without school, and I'm thinking I may not try. Of course, the kids will play outside more then.

Yesterday morning started quickly. I got up at 9am because Solveig had a bad night and Knut had the morning off. So on my way to get coffee I started telling the kids to get dressed for school. To my surprise, both Silje and David eagerly got dressed and showed up quickly without any argument to the dining room table to get work. (I hit the floor running since the day was so late, and didn't get a chance to change until much,much later.)

David actually sat nicely for the morning devotional, and then asked what he was going to do.

I didn't have anything really planned for David, but I have work-boxes of things for him that I pulled out. First I brought out his level 1 (kindergarten) reading program that he zipped through at the beginning of the year. I had him read all the little books in there, which he did with great enthusiasm. Next I had him do some Mighty Mind puzzles.

(I know David looks like he's dressed as a Christmas elf. I sort of let them pick out their own clothes when we're just chillin' at home. You know, since no one sees us. Just the people on this blog. ;) )

Finally, I brought out Uno. I saw it on clearance at Walmart for only $1, so I bought 2 decks. I figure it's a game with colors, numbers, and a few sight words. Perfect for school! He was eager, so even though it took him a few minutes to catch on, and he needed a bunch of help, he ended up beating me in the end.

He also did some jigsaw puzzles, practiced writing his name (gasp! That's a huge goal for this year!) and he completed a total of 13 pre-handwriting worksheets (dot-to-dots and mazes mostly). This from a kid who normally hates worksheets and I have to bribe to hold a crayon.

Elias had no interest in playing in the playroom, or watching t.v. He did so well playing upstairs around us. I just couldn't believe what a great start back it was.

Our schoolgirl did well as well. I'm adding some more handwriting drills to her days this week because I'm convinced she is getting sloppier lately. So after she had written her memory verse and her spelling words, I gave her another blank handwriting sheet and had her fill the front with capital "A's" and the back with lowercase. After the second and third lines of lowercase letters began to look more like the letter "u" I gave her one more sheet to do. I did get an eye roll for that, but she did it, and much more carefully.

Today we have our homeschool group this afternoon, piano lessons and choir practice. On Friday, Knut and I are hosting a homeschool group field trip to go cross country skiing. So far 3 families are signed up so we're pretty excited about that. I'm still in my 6 weeks of no exercise, so I won't be skiing. I'll be looking after Solveig and Elias and helping out getting skis on and off at the "lodge." It should be fun!

What Do You Think?

2011-01-10T14:58:00.001-06:00

OK, I finally finished redesigning the blog. Hopefully there won't be a new look everyday anymore. I've been wanting to do it for awhile, and I was actually getting to the point of getting someone to do it for me, but I finally got it mostly how I want it. I'll hopefully add some new pictures as they come along. I also got a new widget for my store...so it's kinda having an ad on here. It's for my store, though, so I think it's relevant. I'd rather advertise something to do with our family than, say, Toyota or whatever random ad that blogger would assign me if I put up ads. We don't even drive a Toyota. Not that I have anything against Toyota. Shoot...now I feel like I'm making a political statement.

I moved the pictures/descriptions of family members to "About Us" near the top right of the page. There are a few reasons for doing that, but if you want to see it, there it is. It didn't disappear, just moved.

And since you've been so nice as to read that, I'll treat you to some pictures of Elias. He's really into saying "CHEESE!" these days.

Bye!

Growing Up

2011-01-10T11:33:00.002-06:00

We are blessed to live in a lovely home. My dream home, actually. I don't think I've ever lived in a place so nice. Our house was built in 1900 and it has the details of a home built at that time. However, it has more closet space than most homes I've seen from that time, which makes me even happier.

However, our house is old. Obviously. It doesn't need a lot of work, as in it's unlivable. It's just that it needs a lot more work than a new house. There's always something going on. We're trying to get through each room of the house one by one. However, our project doesn't just include tearing down wallpaper and adding shelves.

Besides working on our house, we're trying to work on the things inside our house too. As in furniture. Right now, every last piece of furniture in our house comes from either a friend's house, garage, or attic, or from a garage sale or craigslist. I would really like to go out and get some grown up furniture, and get rid of some of the pieces that Knut and I got dumpster diving in college.

For the past 2 years, Knut and I have put away a little, tiny sum every month towards a new living room set. It's the room that is closest to being finished with the fireplace Knut installed. After looking at some couches when we were saving, we realized our taste was more expensive that I thought, and when our 2 year savings plan had matured, we may only be able to afford a couch and not a whole room set.

We reached our savings goal in December, and waited until this month to pick one out, because I've read that the best furniture sales are in January. Plus, we were pretty busy in December! You know, new baby and all!

We went to several stores this last weekend, and found the perfect sofa in our price range at the second store. We were both in love with it. Since we had several more stores to go, we took the saleswoman's card, and moved on, though convinced that we had found the one.

After going to several more stores and not finding anything we liked even close to the other one, Knut talked me into going into just one more store. Wouldn't you know, we found another sofa we liked. Still great quality, although half the price of the previous one we had looked at. With that price, Knut could get a leather chair to go in the living room that he was gawking at in one of the other stores.

We measured so carefully because our antique house has little doorways. I measured the doorway into the living room before we left, and found it to be 33" wide and just a hair over 77"tall. The half-the-price sofa was exactly 33" at the smallest point with legs removed and pillows squished, and for some reason, Knut didn't trust my measurements. Since it was so close, and so tight, Knut wanted to go home and measure the doorway for himself before we ordered it. I picked out fabric for it and the pillows. I wanted a red sofa. Bold, I know, but I've always wanted one, and I think it would be perfect for this room. If we're buying a brand spankin' new piece of furniture, I wanted it to be exactly what we wanted. No compromising.

So after taking down every measurement of the sofa, and the fabric swatch numbers, we headed back to the store with the leather chair and bought it, although it was back ordered and it will be ready when the couch was at the other store. It was so perfect.

When we got home, Knut went right to measuring the doorway. I was right. 33". However, he then looked around and measured the other doors in the house. The doorway to the front door, back door, porch door. The biggest doorway into the house was only 29". We realized we had small doors when my parents gave us their old sofa. They drove it all the way up from Arizona, and when they got it here we realized that we never measured and it was seriously a miracle that the thing got into the house. It only fit through the doorway into the den, which was fortunate because that's where we planned for it to go.

Knut measured the height of the doorway. He got 78" inches from it. He then looked at the measurements of the sofa and saw it was 80" long. It couldn't go through upright either. As we both stomped and fumed around the house, we then both sulked that we had spent a whole day furniture shopping, picked out the perfect sofa and even put money down on a leather chair, and we'd have to go back and start from scratch. Not only a whole day wasted, but we wouldn't be able to figure out babysitting, and time off and all those other stars that need to align for Knut and I to go shopping together.

The next day, Knut called his friend in the "big city" where we went furniture shopping and asked if he could run by the store for us and measure the sofa one more time and try to see if there was any possible way to get it into our house. Since we were ordering it with a special color, it would be unreturnable, so we had to be sure. As Knut was on the phone with his friend, he did a double check of the measurements he had taken in the store. When he got off the phone, he told me that the first sofa we liked was 80" long. He was looking at the wrong set of measurements. The one we were going to get in the end he had marked as only 76" long. Plenty of room for it to go through the doorway upright. I was so excited I cannot even tell you.

He wanted to have his friend double check that it would work, but at the end of today, we get to call in the order. I'm so excited. It's funny. I've graduated from college, paid off that college debt, gotten married, had 4 children, am living in the second house that we have owned, have been called "ma'am" more times than I can count at the grocery store and somehow, buying a little couch makes me finally feel like a grown up.

Too Much Fun

2011-01-08T13:39:00.000-06:00

A spoon and a flat diaper were somehow left in the living room. I'm not sure why. However, my camera loves them. (Somebody stop me...)

A New Adventure

2011-01-07T16:42:00.001-06:00

Watch out. This blogger is about to go a bit picture crazy.

After 2 ebay auctions (the first ending with the seller saying "Oops, I forgot to set a reserve. You weren't supposed to win that at that price." That was an unpleasant experience.) I finally got my Canon 30d digital SLR camera. I'm very impressed with the mint condition this used camera is in. It comes with a bunch of sweet things. It's heavier than I thought it would be.

I've wanted an SLR ever since I took a class in photography in high school...(ahem) 13 years ago. So with a bit of a rusty memory, I'm trying to remember all the cool things you can do with a camera like this.

It may take awhile to figure this out.

Fortunately, reading a manual is pretty easy to do while sitting and feeding a baby.

Right now there are about 200 pictures on here of whatever happens to be in front of the lens.

Now I have to get back on the ball with Nerdy Gerdy so I can save up for a photo editing software...

A new addiction is born.

On the Brain

2011-01-06T11:48:00.000-06:00

It seems that Knut is not the only one in our house with skiing on the brain. Silje drew this picture in anticipation for her ski league starting this next Saturday. (Notice she Notice she won "1st place" in her picture and has a ribbon?) Knut ended up signing David up too. I guess Knut "volunteered" to help coach so he figured, why not let David tag along. Hopefully he'll listen well.

The kids are only asking about every 4 minutes if it's Saturday yet.

Yarn Along

2011-01-05T11:58:00.001-06:00

I'm loving this yarn along party, as it's fun to see what others are doing with their knitting and reading. Thank you to the "Small Things" blog for hosting it again!

For the reading, I thought I'd post a picture of the books Knut picked out for the kids this year for Christmas.

We've done this for years now. Well, actually he does it. I recommended for Silje this year "The Secret Garden" and it has been a hit so far. Knut picked out for David a Robin Hood book based purely on the amazing illustrations in it. Although I think the reading level is much too high to even read aloud to him yet. As always, I'm sure that it will soon be his favorite book, as other Christmas books in the past have become.

Since Elias is really into trains right now, "The Polar Express" was Knut's choice this year and I'm so excited to have this book in our house! It's so full of magic and the pictures are just stunning. Solveig got a little "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" board book.

My favorite part of this tradition isn't just the books, but the notes inside. Knut writes a long letter to each of the kid in the front cover of their books. He spends so much time composing each letter to each kid, sometimes coming up with several drafts before the final copy is penned into the inside of the book. So far, the kids breeze right past them and don't notice them. I hope, though, that someday they will be very important to them. Each letter makes me cry each year when I get to read it.

You thought I was the only writer in the family? Oh no. Knut is a great writer. He just doesn't know it. When we were dating long distance, states apart, he wrote me every week. I don't think many couples have a stash like this as a reminder of their courtship. Knut said that it was the most strategic thing he's ever done for our relationship. You see, whenever he does something stupid, or I'm mad at him (which can often occur at the same time) I can always go to my desk and read all the things he wrote back then, and I'm reminded of how much he loves me, and how God brought us through so much. Makes his life pretty easy.

He doesn't write me weekly anymore, but I still get a few letters from him a year. The last one was during harvest, and it was during the time when all I saw of him was traces that he was home sometime when we were all sleeping. It was so sweet about how he appreciated how much extra work I did when he was gone, and how he missed spending time with the family. I love things in writing because you can always come back to it time and time again when things aren't as "sweet". I feel bad for modern couples whose only "documentation" of their love is through text messaging. A whole generation of instant gratification. Words said with the purpose of speed, rather than deep thought. I won't go down that tangent any further, though.

As far as my knitting, what you see will soon be frogged. I put my notebook in the picture too, because I've finally decided to push myself even further and start trying to design my own patterns. Why not? It can't be rocket science. This is just a prototype, and I don't like it, and so I'm recording the areas that will change, and making plans for the next tester. This is the 3rd tester that I'll be frogging, and I'm waiting on a reference book that should be coming any day to help me figure out the stitch I've been trying to accomplish. Don't worry, it's not frustrating at all. I've been kinda giddy so far in this whole process. When I finally have the pattern done, I'll show you what it actually looks like, and what it actually is.

Solveig's Birth Story

2011-01-04T19:36:00.001-06:00

I know some people love to read birth stories, and others feel it's something very private. If you are the latter, this post is not for you. I personally love to read stories of how women give birth. I've heard one woman say that giving birth is such a huge life changing event that many women need to tell their stories as a means of mentally processing that life change. I can completely relate to that.

I'm not sure when to say labor started. As most of the readers know, I was in the hospital twice before the birth, thinking I was in labor. Well, not totally true. The first time, I was in intense pain, but it wasn't coming in waves like normal contractions, and I was more worried that something was wrong. However, the monitors were picking up contractions, so we all assumed that I was in labor. In hindsight, I was probably overworked (the day before I mopped the kitchen floor on my hands and knees...and completely felt the foolishness of that later) and dehydrated.

The second time, I timed contractions, and headed in. However, when I got there, the contractions stopped, and the intense constant pain started. I should have recognized it as dehydration to begin with, since I had a similar experience with Silje. As soon as I got an i.v. everything returned to normal, and I returned home. In tears that time. (In my defense, I wasn't even thirsty. I normally drink tons when I'm pregnant, but keeping those fluids up in the third trimester requires that I slosh around all the time. If I'm I'm not sloshing, I'm usually dehydrated.)

Needless to say, knowing when labor started was tricky. I was having painful contractions every 10 minutes for those weeks. However, they'd slow when I went to sleep, and I could sleep through them. They felt exactly like labor contractions, and they were regular during the day. I normally have fast labors, so Knut and I were worried that when I did go into labor, it would happen too fast.

The morning of the 11th, I woke up at 4am with a contraction. Contractions normally don't wake me up, so I took notice. 10 minutes later, I had another one. After the third one, I got out of bed to see if I could do something different to make them go away. First I went into the tub, which usually scares away the contractions. However, this time, it didn't. I went downstairs to the basement to watch a movie (I picked "White Christmas") while the rest of the house slept. By 6am, they were much stronger, and still 10 minutes apart. I remember swaying through a contraction in front of the warm corn stove in the basement, and thinking to Solveig "I'm going to meet you today. Today is the day you'll be in my arms." I was starting to allow myself to get excited again that this was "it."

Just before 7am, the kids and Knut came downstairs for breakfast, and I told Knut to clear the schedule for the day. My bet was we'd be at the hospital by 10am. The only thing we had planned for the day was taking the kids to the library to see Santa. They'd be disappointed, but what do you do?

Our plan was to go to the hospital when contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. We normally go in when they are 5 minutes apart because I do deliver fast, but we had done that twice and had come home twice, so we weren't planning on having that happen again.

So while I labored at home, Knut kept the kids away from me as much as possible. When it was 9:30, and contractions were still 10 minutes apart, although they were hard and over a minute long, I told Knut to go ahead and take Silje and David to the library. I couldn't seem to pass that "10 minute mark" and it was frustrating me.

Knut called from town and asked if he had time to pick up a tree. There contractions were still not any closer together, so I told him to go ahead and pick one up. Just when he and the kids got home, I was in the middle of an intense contraction and the kids were pulling on me and asking me for food, etc. I could not handle it, and actually called Knut on his cell phone in the garage (he was untying the tree) and told him I could not in any way handle the kids and he needed to get inside. He said he'd be right in and I could help him with the tree.

Help him? As he dragged the tree through the house, I was in another contraction and started crying. I couldn't help him put the tree up. He must have misunderstood. I needed his help and had no help to give. It was the first of emotional break downs, but I quickly got over it, and held the tree as he tightened it in the stand inbetween the contractions. They were still 10 minutes apart, but now at least a hard 2 minutes long. That gave spurts of 8 minutes to help.

The stupid tree kept tipping over, and I really did not want to deal with it anymore so I left for a different room and left Knut, the tree, and the kids. He promised to keep them away from me. I went to lay down, and didn't get a contraction for another 30 minutes, which made me cry again. I thought labor was stalling again, and I couldn't handle this on again-off again feeling. I had let myself believe once again that the baby was coming that day, and to be disappointed again was more than I could handle.

To my surprise, they started up again. Every 10 minutes (are you getting tired of me saying "every 10 minutes"? I was sure sick of it.) However, they were still 2 minutes long, and it got to the point where I had to seize control of my brain.

I have had epidurals in all of my previous labors, however, not all of them had come in time. My labor with Elias I was mentally prepared to not be able to get an epidural, and I did end up having time to get one in the end. I only got to enjoy it for 10 minutes or so, and was kicking myself afterward that I had gotten it. I could have just avoided the whole uncomfortable procedure and kept my ability to move around during labor, and afterbirth.

So for this one, I was determined to not get any drugs. Not because I felt I was superwoman, but I had done it before, by accident, and I knew I could do it. I knew it was in me. I just had to take control of my brain and not let fear take over. I was more afraid of losing control than the pain.

So as the contractions got more and more intense, I chanted this determination to myself. I would not lose control. I may not be able to control what happened below my neck, but my brain was completely mine. I counted, I breathed, I did whatever I could to make myself feel like I was in control of my thoughts during this time. I wasn't scared, and I didn't have to yell or moan like previous births. I felt totally in control.

I even, at times told myself to let the pain come. If I felt like I was inviting the pain, I felt like I was in control of it. Inviting the pain to come helped. I was glad I had read up so much on natural birth, because I learned so many tricks that really helped deal with the intensity of it all.

There were times I asked Knut to come be with me so I could lean on him. However, by the time he shook a kid from his body to get to me, the contraction was over, and another one was still 10 minutes away and he was gone by the time it got there. He really had no clue how intense things were getting.

Around 5pm, the contractions finally sped up to every 8 minutes. They were crazy intense, and I was worried that at this rate, I couldn't deliver naturally. If this was going to go on for hours and hours, I just couldn't do it. 8 minutes apart made me feel like the end was still so far away, and I just didn't think I could do it. I told Knut to call his aunt to watch the kids, and we needed to get to the hospital. I didn't care about the 2-3 minute apart goal anymore. The contractions weren't close, but I needed a coach and didn't want to do it by myself anymore. He had just put the supper in the oven for the kids, so he called his aunt, and she and her daughter said they'd head over. The kids were eating supper by the time we'd arranged for everything to go.

I need to back up, though. Around 5pm, I hopped back in the tub to help with the pain. Knut came to check on me, and by then they were 8 minutes apart, and I told him it was time to go. He was in the middle of getting supper ready, and I told him there was probably enough time to finish that as his aunt and cousin came over. I told him this with such certainty that he didn't question me, but with contractions only every 8 minutes, I don't think he was rushing.

While everything was being arranged to leave, I recorded the next contraction only 7 minutes later. The one after that was only 6 minutes. Then 5 minutes. 4 minutes. By the time the contractions were right on top together, slurring into wave after wave crashing on me, I attempted to get out of the tub and dressed to go. It was tricky. I thought of calling Knut up to help me, but I knew that would only delay him getting things ready to go, and I wanted no delay at this point. The few seconds between contractions I'd race to get another item of clothing on. When I was ready, I waited at the top of the stairs for a the few seconds given to me between waves, and raced down in between them.

Knut helped me into the van, and for the first time that day, we were alone together as I was dealing with the contractions. I felt I could relax because he was there. I felt I could make noise because my kids weren't there and wouldn't get scared. Knut was excited, and assured me that he thought with all of the laboring I had done that day, I'd at least be dilated to 5cm, and he was sure they wouldn't send me home this time. I was more worried at this point that we'd get to the hospital in time, but I didn't tell him that. The roads were icy, and the last thing I needed to worry about at that point was a crazy, scared driver. All I told him was I'd better be at least at an 8. He laughed, and held my hand.

As we drove closer to town, I felt the baby descend lower and lower, and I could no longer sit squarely on the seat, but had to lean over to one side, as if the birth canal was open and ready to push, although I felt no urge to push. When we finally got to town and were about a mile from the hospital, I told Knut calmly that I was pretty sure we'd make it to the hospital, but I wasn't guaranteeing that we'd make it up to the birthing center. He smiled, and told me that I was doing great.

When we got to the hospital, Knut parked in the emergency parking, and helped me inside. The receptionist recognized immediately that things were going fast, as I couldn't even walk, and Knut helped me into a wheelchair. I remember staring at it, trying to figure out how I could make my body sit down at this point. It had no wish to sit down. Squatting was more like it. However, I somehow managed to sit, but leaned over to one side as far as I could. The woman in the emergency room, where you check in, saw my position, and literally ran me upstairs, yelling ahead to a doctor to press the elevator button so it would be there when we arrived. Knut left me at this point to go park the car, and said he would meet me upstairs.

When the nurse and I arrived in a birthing room, one lone nurse came to help me out of the wheelchair. The floor was empty, and only one reserve nurse was there in case someone showed up. I grabbed onto the side of the bed. I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure and thought the baby was coming soon. That sent her into motion quickly as soon there were 2 nurses there, and I think one was assigned just to repeatedly page the doctor on call.

When I finally had the gown on and the monitors beeping, the nurse checked me and announced "she's complete and ready to push" just as Knut entered the room. Seriously, he looked like he just saw a ghost when she said that. I've never seen that look on his face before. I had labored by myself for most of the day and he had no idea it was this far along.

At this point my water had not broken, and one nurse told the other that she thought that was the only thing holding the baby in. I still had no desire to push, and so I just lay there breathing. They told me to try not to push until the doctor got there, but I had no intention of obeying. I didn't feel like I needed to push yet, but I thought it was stupid to wait for the doctor. For the purpose of avoiding tears, or some medical reason I would, but I figured a nurse could catch if she needed to.

We were all relieved to see Dr. N run in in his sweatshirt and jeans from home. Knut said the only thing that Dr. N got on completely was shoe covers when my water broke and the urge to push came. He got his arms into the paper gown when the baby started to crown.

I honestly don't remember pushing. In fact, I know I consciously didn't push. As silly as this sounds, I just let the baby come out. I endured her coming out, but I certainly didn't mentally push her. She came out in one contraction and I just let it happen. I don't mean to sound all calm about it. I wasn't at the time. My eyes were closed and I didn't open them for a minute or two after she was out. I'm told her cord was wrapped several times around her legs, binding her up. Dr. N. held her up in a little ball and said she was a girl. Knut cut the cord, and they lay her on me right away. When she was placed on my chest, I finally could get my eyes open, and I saw my little girl. We had been in the hospital exactly 18 minutes when she was born.

As the afterbirth was delivered, someone gave me a shot of pitocin in my leg to help me contract. Solveig began to nurse and she had a perfect latch on her first try, which I had never experienced before. She sucked for almost an hour, and the nurses just let her lay on me and didn't ask to take her to weigh her or anything until she had stopped. I was so thankful for that time. I didn't get to hold Elias for many hours because of his breathing issues. It was very healing for me to be able to hold her for so long without any pressure to let her go. However, as the adrenaline was finally setting in, I was shaking all over.

As they were weighing her and checking her vitals, I kept passing blood clots which worried the nurse. I couldn't remember if that was normal or not. I had been anemic during all of my pregnancies, and knew this could happen, but it hadn't happened before. She called the doctor, and he put me on some drug to clamp down the uterus to stop bleeding. It was a miserable drug. A "necessary evil" as my midwife friend called it when I talked to her by phone the next day. (She had recently given a mother that same drug, and knew how uncomfortable it could make someone.) It messed with my body temperature and that whole evening, I went from sweating through my gown to uncontrollable chills. However, it did what it was supposed to do and stopped the bleeding. However, my hemoglobin was so low that my doctor offered me a blood transfusion, which I turned down since he didn't insist and the whole idea freaked me out. He said if I didn't take it, I would just have a longer recovery, and be on lots of iron. He said it would be about a month before I was at full strength again.

Knut and I were both comfortable with the decision to avoid the transfusion and just have me "take it easy" longer. They kept me an extra night in the hospital so I could rest. Normally Knut was racing me out of the hospital (he hates hospitals), but with his Grandpa failing in that same hospital on a different floor, he felt that home would be too stressful for me and quickly agreed to me staying longer. After about a week at home, we noticed my color returning well.

Solveig Joy was 7 lbs, 5 oz. In the first 2 weeks she had exactly 2 diapers that weren't poopy, and was the only one of my kids who never ever looked jaundice-y. She is a champion nurser, and is putting on weight quickly. I'm so happy that I decided to go natural this time around, and found this to actually be my easiest labor. Each woman, each baby, each labor is so different, and this one is a big example of that! I was just surprised that having a drug free labor was less painful than any epidural labor I had in the past. It was truly all a state of mind and controlling the fear factor. For me, this was definitely the way to go!

Ahhhh....

2011-01-04T12:18:00.001-06:00

Well, after all of the "taking it easy" before Solveig was born, going through the birth and following anemia, celebrating Christmas and New Years, all with the help of my wonderful husband, my in-laws, friends, and lastly my parents who flew back home last night, I'm finally on my own with the 4 kids.

I used to get so nervous the first time I was left alone with a newborn. A newborn and a 15 month old (Silje and David) terrified me. Even after Elias was born, I was nervous to be left alone with all 3. However, as much as I've enjoyed all the help, I'm so excited to be on my own this morning with all 4.

My parents caught us up from the holiday back-up that was our messy house. Yesterday the tree was taken out since it was no longer drinking water, and most of the decorations came down much sooner than they normally do. I actually woke up this morning at 8am, and snuck in a shower before Knut headed off to work. I had a hot breakfast of cream of wheat (the best anemia-buster out there, in my opinion).

Before I let myself get overwhelmed, I started a list of all the things that needed to get done. Picking up the back hallway, cleaning out the diaper bag, washing diapers, bathing Solveig, etc. One by one, everything got done. We even did a few fun things this morning.

I finally completed stamping and stuffing all of the Christmas letters. (One of the many great things about having a baby, is that you always have a legitimate excuse for being late...even if you're normally late without a baby.) The room that the tree was in got vacuumed, and I dared move the couch back to where it belonged. (It's not that heavy at all. The kids could have moved it.)

We finished the broken crayon project. When my parents were here, Mom and Silje started this project that I was inspired by this site to do. Well, Ginny let her kids paint with the melted crayons. I let them cool and harden. You basically sort broken crayons into a silicone baking mold, melt them in the oven, let them cool, and you have fun shaped funky crayons. Eat your heart out,Crayola. Elias will have a blast with these. Well, he may have to fight his older brother and sister for them.

They came out multicolored, but the kids just love them.

Fun snowmen to warm up the day.

This chunky girl got a much needed bath in the sink. Did I tell you that when we went to her 2 week check up, she had gained a whole pound from her birth weight? My babes come out small, but they get fat quick. Just the way I like it.

Ahhh...all clean and changed.

I will admit that the last few weeks, the kids (especially the boys) have watched way too much television and we haven't been regulating it like we normally do. Today is no exception. I figured that my first day "back at work" wasn't the best time to cut the t.v. off cold turkey. Silje's aching to start school again, but I think I'll put it off until next Monday. However, I think there's no harm in letting her do some Chinese on the computer.

I'm not totally back to normal. My tummy is still pretty rubbery, and I have no intention of exercising whether skiing or yoga until a full 6 weeks has passed. I'm actually getting excited for that too. I cannot tell you how good it feels to feel productive and useful again. I know. Resting and taking care of an infant is productive and useful. Maybe I should say it feels good to feel more like myself again.

Baptism Sunday

2011-01-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

This morning Solveig was baptized, and it was so special. With lots of thought and prayer, Knut and I have brought all of our kids to be baptized as infants. While I don't believe that baptism is merely a symbol, there are many special traditions surrounding baptism that have no "magic" but do point to Christ. OK, some of them are just fun. For instance, I have a special Norwegian broach that I wear to each baptism. That's just fun.

Other things, like this gown aren't "magical" but serve a purpose. I'm reminded of the pillars set up in the old testament to serve as a reminder for something God has done. Something that when you walk past it, your children ask "why is that there?" it is an opportunity to remind us how much God has done for us.

This gown is one of the 2 gowns that have been passed down in Knut's family. His dad's family has a gown and his mom's family has a gown. This one is his mom's family's gown which I've always had our girls wear because it's lacier. His dad's family gown is still lacy, but it seem manlier because Knut and his dad Richard were both baptized in it.

Both gowns are well over 100 years old. Yes, I am terrified when my children wear it that they will poop all the way up the back. I'm always nervous that my child will be the child to absolutely destroy one of these priceless heirlooms. Still, I'm so grateful they have each gotten to wear one, because it's a "pillar" in our modern times to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness.

I look at this gown in awe of all the intricate lace and stitches. I can only imagine the work it took to make it. The gown that Solveig (and Silje, when she was little) wore was first worn by Knut's grandma's great-aunt. I think about how many generations that goes back. The other gown that the boys wear...we're not even sure how old, exactly, it is. Think about that for a minute. That side of the family has no memory of ever not bringing their children to the Lord. That is a truly profound thing. Having no memory of not knowing Christ in a family.

What a testimony of God's faithfulness. I know for a fact that my great-grandpa on my dad's side was agnostic. He believed there was a God, but wanted nothing to do with Him. While I haven't researched or would be able to defend the idea of generational sin, I do know for a fact there is something very real called generational pain.

It's not a matter of Knut's family was perfect and mine was not. I just have a glimpse of what a family looks like when they shake their fist at God. Some turn from that, and turn to God. Generational sin/pain is never too great for God to overcome.

Growing up, I'd hear these amazing testimonies of living as a drug addict or in a life of crime, and suddenly and dramatically being redeemed to a new life in Christ. The fact that my history was only knowing Christ seemed "boring." The older I've gotten, the more amazed I am by the grace given that as far as my memory goes back, I can only remember knowing Christ. Not that it's better than the other type of testimony. I think that I've learned to be thankful for the testimony God has given me.

The sponsors this year were our friends Tony and Carolyn. It was funny because I almost put our boys in the same outfit their Sam wore, and she almost put Sam in the same sweater my boys wore, and Carolyn and I wore the same sweater but in different colors. All by accident. This proves that both of us are addicted to Target, and we must have similar taste! We must be friends!

We were so glad all Solveig's grandparents could be there!

"Oldefar" and Great-grandma R. were both there.

However, this was the first family event where Great-grandma M was there without Great-grandpa. I'll admit, there were times when I looked over, and felt his abscence very acutely. I can only imagine how that was for Knut. One of his biggest regrets is that even though Solveig and Grandpa were in the hospital at the same time, they never got to meet this side of Heaven.

Look at my family. We are so blessed!

Snow Days

2011-01-01T15:44:00.000-06:00

These days are full of snow and wind and all sorts of winter-y things. As the inches of snow stack up outside, we've been tucked inside our home with my parents visiting from Arizona.

We had a tea party.

We've been enjoying our amaryllis in full bloom. I love fresh flowers in the house all the time! However, the height went a little nuts here!

Occasionally, someone will venture outside.

I guess you can take the man out of Arizona, but you can't take Arizona out of the man. (Papa finds very few occasions to put away the shorts.)

Christmas Knitting

2010-12-29T10:24:00.000-06:00

Well, now that Christmas is over, I can share my middle-of-the-night-lighted-pictures of my Christmas knitting. I really wish I took better and more pictures of these! This year all of Knut's siblings (and their spouses) got mittens. I used this luxurious 80%merino wool/20%bamboo yarn. It was lovely to work with!

5 sets in all, each mitten had a thick stranded design on the outside and is fully lined with another mitten in a contrasting color in the same yarn on the inside. I used this "Northman Mitten" pattern which boasted to be big enough to fit large man hands, but after I made the first mitten to gauge, Knut tried it on to test it and it was way too small. I had to increase the gauge significantly for the ones for Knut's brothers. Knut now wants a pair and wants them even bigger and wants me to add a ribbed cuff as well, and to do all that I may have to pick a thicker yarn. You know, when I get to it. I love how my family comes up with all of these custom requests without batting an eye. Silje still "orders" dresses from me using illustrations from her Cinderella book as reference. ("Mommy, can you make me this dress? But in purple, and sleeves like this other dress and...)

Here's each mitten with the liners exposed.

The big mistake I made was when I was making one of the boys' mittens, and accidentally made 2 right mittens. I had no desire to frog an entire mitten, so after fuming about it for a few weeks and moving onto another pair in the meantime, I finally broke down and bought more yarn to make 2 left mittens. (Originally I had intended each pair to be a different color.) It took some time to track down the exact color and yarn on the internet because my yarn store was out, but it all eventually worked out.

So, now after these and Solveig's stocking is done, do you think I have fulfilled my personal goal of developing the skill of the stranded/fair aisle technique so I can finally make Knut the Norwegian sweater he's been begging me for? Perhaps you'll need to tune in next Christmas...maybe. I'm still a bit nervous about that project.

It's Been Too Long

2010-12-28T19:00:00.000-06:00

since I've posted a picture of Solveig. She changes every day, you know.

Here's her wearing her mama-made Christmas dress.

My two girls in their dresses. (Silje's was not mama-made.)

Nothing beats a nap with a newborn!

So far her personality is...sleepy. She sleeps a lot, and we whip out the camera almost every time her eyes are open, which isn't often. I'm not sure if I remember my other kids sleeping this much, but maybe that's because I have a 2 year old who doesn't stop moving. Remembering them like this gets pretty tricky!

Everything

2010-12-27T14:56:00.002-06:00

Solveig had her 2 week check up this morning. Where has the time gone!? She's already up one whole pound from her birth weight. That's what she gets for being born during the holiday season! MMMmmmm...cookies...

My parents are flying in tonight and will be staying with us for a week. Knut's grandpa's funeral is tomorrow. Knut will be a pall bearer. Solveig will be baptized on Sunday.

My friend Jillene who dyed the blue and purple yarn for me lost her baby at 33 weeks on Christmas Day due to a freak cord accident. She's had so many pregnancy complications and was starting to show signs of pre-eclampsia, but her doctors were watching her closely to let the baby go as long as possible before her kidneys gave out. To have gone through so much and have lost him over something so little seems so unfair.

Our amaryllis plant bloomed right on Christmas Day. It still has 2 more buds to go. It got so freakishly tall that I'm not sure where to put it. It has to be at least 3 feet tall.

It's amazing to me what extreme reactions I get from people when I tell them Solveig's name. Some people go over the moon swooning over it like great-grandparents and some people at church (and us of course). Then there's the polite "Oh. Interesting." All the way to the lady at Walmart today who got a sour look on her face and said "Well, whatya do that for?"

My (borrowed) camera is somewhere, but we've barely been home. we've been at Knut's parents a lot over Christmas and have been living out of bags and it's probably in one of them. I won an auction for a new camera on ebay, and for the first time, the seller flaked out on me and doesn't want to send it to me for the price I won the auction at. He "forgot" to put a reserve on the item and was disappointed at how much I got it for. Ebay will be refunding me my money in 6 more days if the seller doesn't, and I'm annoyed I have to wait even longer for my new camera. There's another one in the "Buy it Now" section from another seller that I want to pick up, but I need to wait for my refund. The whole thing was terribly annoying, but at least I don't have to worry about getting my money back. I'm thankful for buyer protection, although I've never needed it before this.

If I did know where the camera was, I'd take a picture of the boys' room right now, as Silje is moving in for the week when Grammy and Papa are here. She moved in "just the essentials" and it looks like a pink monster threw up in there.

I also took pictures of the finished handmade Christmas presents I did. I guess that's destined for a different post. (Wednesday's yarn along perhaps?) Knut's cousin Liv drew my name for the girl cousin gift exchange and she is currently living in China and flew in just in time for the Christmas Eve gift exchange. She brought me tea direct from China. How cool is that! Not quite as cool as the paper snowflakes Silje made and wrapped for me, but close.

Everyone asks how Solveig sleeps. Well, she wakes up every hour from midnight until about 3am and screams her head off until I feed her...every hour. Then from 3am she sleeps for 4-5 hours straight. So not conventional, but I'm not complaining. I get to sleep in with her as Knut is not back to work yet, but I'm sure eventually he'll have to go. Since we've brought her home, she has had exactly 2 diapers that were not poopy. She poops during diaper changes as well more than all of the other kids did combined. Probably not so ironically, she's the only kid of mine who has not shown any sign of jaundice.

Yup, I think there's not much more to talk about after the "how the baby's pooping" part. That about wraps everything up.

Saying Goodbye

2010-12-21T11:42:00.000-06:00

This isn't Solveig, but David. This is one of my favorite pictures of him as a baby. He's being held with the large hands of his Great-Grandpa.

My children have been blessed that up until now they've had 7 living great-grandparents, 4 of whom live close by and come to birthdays and other family events.

This great-grandpa is Knut's maternal grandpa. His favorite thing was to hold babies. He loved holding babies. (He has Silje in this picture.) For as long as I've been a part of this family, he was blind. I remember asking him once if his glasses helped even a little bit. With a twinkle in his eyes, he handed me his glasses. I looked through them, and saw they were just glass. I asked him why he wore glasses that didn't do anything. He grinned and said "They make me look handsome!" Well, I couldn't argue with that.

Great-grandpa M. went to be with Jesus last night. While we kinda knew it was the beginning of the end for him, getting that phone call in the middle of the night seemed to still catch us off guard. Please be in prayer for Knut and his family. This is the first death close to the family he's ever dealt with before. Grandpa M. will be very, very missed. As our hearts ache, we're trying to remember that Grandpa can now see again. He can now walk without any assistance. He gets to hold the little great-grandbaby of his that we lost in pregnancy last year. (Something Knut's mom pointed out to me that touched my heart.) Most importantly, he gets to worship at the very throne of Christ. One can only imagine how Jesus' birth is celebrated there.

Getting Antsy

2010-12-19T22:49:00.001-06:00

I'm so very thankful that Solveig is such a good baby thus far, especially with my slower recovery because of my anemia this time around. So far, our new normal is me feeding her on demand during the day, as often as she wants. Sometimes it's every hour. Sometimes every 3. She's a great eater, besides the fact she has a tough time staying awake for feedings. We're working on that. Her super-soaked diapers every 2 hours shows me that she's eating plenty though! I haven't always embraced the feed-on-demand philosophy, but once I figured out that is the easiest and less stressful way to go for me, and rid me of all of my supply issues I had when I did scheduled feedings, I'm all for it.

At night I restrict her to eating no more than every 2 hours, which has come down to giving her a pacifier every once in awhile. She loves the paci, which I'm so so grateful for, as my last 2 babies thought they were poison. It's so nice to have a tool that works to easily soothe.

I've been very disciplined to take at least 2 naps a day. Solveig and I snuggle in on the couch for a good 2 hours every morning and afternoon. With all my supplements, and all of the rest, I'm feeling so much better, and a lot faster than I anticiapated. It's hard, though, when you do start feeling better, to continue that rest, and continue to be disciplined to see the healing process all the way through. I'm not sure who exactly is getting more antsy for me to be back on my feet: me or Knut.

We both have cabin fever, and have it bad. I haven't been out of the house except to go to the hospital and church in about a month. I told Knut that I am planning a trip to Target on Monday for some last minute Christmas shopping. It will just be Solveig and me going, but now I hear there are chances for snow. I think if I can't get out of the house for this little treat of a Target run I've been looking forward to for days, I think I may cry. I don't want to do any major grocery shopping or a whole morning of errands, but I just need to get out of the house so bad. I did get to church this morning, and that completely wore me out. It was well worth it, I think.

Knut is getting very antsy to start training for this year's Birkie, and it's been tough these last few days for him, as the weather conditions are ideal for skiing and he's stuck inside making peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. We keep reminding each other that it won't be too much longer, and each day I see huge improvements. Over the last weeks that he's been kinda in charge of seeing everything done with the house and kids, he says he has a new respect for single parents out there.

The kids are getting antsy for Christmas. They've stopped asking for things, and have started pulling together presents to give each other. I find that very sweet. I can't believe Christmas is already this week! There is so much I'd like to be doing right now that I'm holding myself back on. There are a few decorating things around the house I'd like to do, but just can't muster up the energy for. I'm a little disappointed about that because this is our year at home and not in Phoenix, and I really wanted to do it up big.

I also have 0 Christmas cookies. I made one batch of sugar cookies, but those got eaten up. Knut made a batch of Ritz-cracker-peanut-butter-sandwiches-dunked-in-almond-bark cookies, and those got eaten up too. I told Knut I think I'll feel less guilty about not having Christmas cookies if we look on it this year as a winter long activity. I don't want to miss out on any of the cookies, but maybe we'll just make sure we get through one batch of each kind by the end of winter. He thought that was a great idea. That way, we're still getting to eat the cookies, and we're just removing the deadline of Christmas.

All in all...pretty much everyone in this house, myself most of all, is ready for me to be back at 100% again. However, no matter how I wish it, I'm just not there yet.

Morning at Home

2010-12-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

This morning we all woke up in our own home. Knut, me, and our 4 children. We had breakfast, did the advent calender, and then Knut took the boys outside to shovel snow as Silje had to clean her room inside. Then she headed out in time for some sledding in the yard with her brothers.

A little off-roading while Daddy shovels.

Hang on tight little bro!

Lena is very excited that everyone is back home! Finally the little people are back to play with!

I remember doing this as a kid...although on a beach... Sand...snow...same fun right?

And just for Grammy, some extra pictures of little Solveig:

Home Again

2010-12-15T10:03:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we got home safe and sound. Little Solveig (prounounced soul-vay) is doing so well. She eats like she's been doing it for years and has the tiniest little cry.

Her birth was quite a whirlwind. I might type out a blog-worthy birth story sometime. The cliff notes version is she was born exactly 18 minutes after we arrived at the hospital after an entire day of 10 minute apart contractions at home. It was intense, but as my first planned natural birth, (I've had unplanned natural...where I planned on getting an epidural but the baby just came too fast.) I felt so mentally in control and it went so so well. I didn't need any stitches and she's just perfect.

I did have some complications in the hours after the birth as my uterus' afterbirth contractions just weren't doing the job. I lost more blood than I realized and that left me very anemic. If I'm really good about resting and taking my pills, I should have somewhat normal hemoglobin levels in about a month. They kept me an extra day at the hospital just to let me rest more, and I sure appreciated it.

So I'm back home now, and grateful more than ever that Knut is not harvesting right now! Things are pretty slow around here, except for the fact that Knut's maternal grandfather was in the hospital the same time that we were, and will probably have to be moved to a nursing home at this point. The stress of that situation weighs on the family, especially the extended family, but what a good time to have a baby to bring an added dose of joy in this season.

So unfortunately I'll have to rely pretty heavily on Knut for just a bit longer. Although as he was on his way out the door this morning to run some errands, leaving me just with Solveig, we realized that it was nice that we didn't have to worry about me going into labor while he was gone. The feeling of being a walking time bomb has left.

Plus, Christmas is just around the corner, and traditionally we hang out at Knut's parent's house quite a bit with family in town. I'll have lots of help, and we only live 5 miles down the road if I need to take Solveig and spend some time in quiet. Just after Christmas my parents will be coming to help take care of me, and so I doubt I'll have anything close to my full chore load until next year. Right now, the only 2 people I need to take care of are Solveig and me. The kids will be back home from Grandma's this afternoon, and I'll definitely be involved with that, but Knut will be here to get snacks, and help with cooking and laundry, etc.

The kids are just so in love with Solveig. It will be nice to all be home together now. I'll have to post some more pictures soon, but I'll be honest...it's not a high priority now. We ordered my new-to-us camera finally that I've been saving for and should be here in the next few days. (Digital SLR Canon 30D...ooooo....ahhhhhh) Then you'll be smacked with picture overload! Until then, I'm just going to soak in this little one all to myself, nap along with her, and eat a bunch of iron.

Solveig Joy

2010-12-12T23:39:00.000-06:00

We are excited to introduce our little girl Solveig Joy. She was born around 7:00 PM on 12/11/10 weighing 7 lbs 5 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long.

Mom and baby are doing great.

Homeschool Friday

2010-12-10T09:14:00.000-06:00

Well, we made it to Friday and we haven't been to the hospital. So at least for now, we can once again return to "Homeschool Friday."

Sooooo...how do you catch up on 3 weeks worth of homeschooling updates? Things have been going pretty well. It was much easier when Knut was home and didn't have to work. On days where he has to haul corn and I have all 3 kids, it gets a bit trickier. There were one or two days where all that got done was Silje did her reading. Other days we got a day and a half's work done. Overall, we haven't fallen behind at all, and I'm pleased with that.

I talked a bit about the Mountain Born book that we've been reading. We got caught up on her read alouds by having her read one of her read alouds by herself as one of her independent readers, as she's still a month ahead in that area. Her read aloud turned independent reader was Henry and Ribsy which was a really fun read for her. So now we're all caught up on our read alouds, and still way too much ahead on her independent readers. We are in desperate need of a library run or she may finish all of her readers for the year before we know it. I hope that one of these mornings that Knut is home we can squeeze that in.

We're finishing up our huge unit on ancient Egypt in history, and will be moving on next week in our year of ancient history to Greece. I'm really curious how she'll like it. Our read aloud book will be many stories of Greek mythology which could honestly go either way. I know many parents who use this curriculum skip over the Greek myths, thinking that it can be confusing and unnecessary to teach kids. However, I'm a firm believer that it's nearly impossible to discuss many literature "greats" without a firm grasp on 2 things that public schools don't really teach anymore: the Bible and Greek mythology. Stories and analogies from those 2 areas show up everywhere in literature and it's very foundational information.

Now, maybe she won't major in literature like I did. In fact, I hope she does her own thing. I guess I just love the idea of a classical education too much, and Silje will just have to suffer through that.

We have had a bit of time off from our homeschool group, and will have our Christmas party with them next week. I've almost not had Silje go to her piano lessons and choir practice with all of the upheaval in the house, but Knut has managed to be home on those afternoons to drive her, so she hasn't missed a beat. It turns out that instead of a Christmas choir program, her choir will be caroling at a local nursing home, which I still need to get the details on. I think she'll enjoy that, though.

David has started asking for more schoolwork again, which has surprised me. He's asked to start learning more about reading, and he's been working on his learning puzzles and I think I might even be able to get him to do a worksheet again *gasp!* He and Elias have been playing together almost non-stop lately on their wooden train set and that's been fun to watch their friendship really deepen as Elias gets old enough to keep up with David.

The big new thing that will happen soon is our "Physical Education" that Silje will be doing this winter. We were planning on signing both kids up for our local chapter of MYSL (Minnesota Youth Ski League) which only lasts 8 weeks this winter. However, Knut recently found out that Silje isn't quite old enough for our chapter, but she's so close, and the leaders/coaches know her and her ability and said that they'd be willing to take her. David however, is definitely too young, and they'd take him only on the condition that Knut stays with him to help out at every practice.

So we've been having lots of discussions as to whether or not we should put both kids in the league. David certainly has more enthusiasm for skiing, but Silje could use the incentive to get outside and stay active much more. Both of us are leaning towards putting Silje in this year and keeping David out. While he's a great skier, and would probably learn some things, his maturity level just isn't ready for that type of training. He can still ski in the yard, and with the rest of the family when we go to the ski gaard, and perhaps Silje can come home and tell him all about the things that she's learning.

Silje is so pumped about being in this ski league. She now wants to go outside and practice everyday which is very uncharacteristic of her! She's usually found in a corner with a book...not outside running around!

I've already begun some research as to what we might do next year, with all the computer time I've had lately, as Knut is still handling many of my chores. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to attend some sort of Homeschool Conference this spring and page through all the different vendors with curriculums there instead of just researching online.

As I close this rambly post, I'll point out that when this baby comes, I'm officially calling "Christmas Break" until January at least. We're already more than half way through most of our subjects and I could call it now...but it fills our days and Silje just likes doing it way too much to stop right now!

Timing

2010-12-09T11:00:00.001-06:00

Still here! As I spent a bit of time this morning typing out the next 2 weeks worth of lesson plans for Silje, I remember distinctly thinking while I did the same thing 2 weeks ago that I probably didn't need to do it, but it's good to have everything set up in case someone else was watching Silje and she was begging for something to do. However, we got through 2 weeks, and now I'm working on the next set of 2 weeks. Surely this baby will come during this next 2 week time span.

I feel a bit bad for this little girl, and the hard time and jokes made about her being so stubborn. Jokes Knut and I have said as well. We talk as if she's late, when really, I'm only roughly at 39 weeks. She's not late at all! Each pregnancy of mine has become shorter and shorter that we just weren't expecting her to actually come near her due date. We're thrown a bit off guard by it.

I think we're so eager for her to come for 2 reasons. First, I just want to see and hold her! My arms just ache to cuddle her, and it's tough to wait for that. Second, life is just not "normal" right now. Knut is working so much around the house, I'm just not much use to anyone, the kids sense that we are jumpy. I'm not going grocery shopping, or window shopping, or bringing Silje to lessons. Knut just doesn't feel comfortable with me running errands, and to be honest, I'm not sure my body could handle it right now either. You should have seen my feet last night. I don't think I could have squeezed them into shoes to go out anyway! My ankles had completely disappeared and my little sausage toes were so fat that they could barely move.

I know the thought is "well, the worst that could happen is you'd just go into labor." If that were the case, I'd be at the grocery store right now. I wouldn't even ask Knut. (He's probably send me there right now if he thought it's put me in labor!) Actually, the worst that could happen is I'd end up in the hospital again, NOT in labor again, and ending up even more frustrated. It causes me a lot of pain and discomfort to do these things, but unfortunately does not result in a baby in my arms quite yet.

Knut and I are both very eager for life's new normal with 4 kids to begin. I'd like my routine back, and I know Knut would too. I've been trying to be positive, because it seems better than the alternative, and what can I do about it anyway? My attitude is really the only thing I can control right now, even though it seems that's hanging on by a thread.

Last night we talked about it at lot, and spent some time in prayer because I felt a bit at the end of my rope. I prayed about it by myself too last night, after both those attempts to rely on God for my attitude, because it was too much to hold together by myself anymore. I was struck by the thought of God's timing. We always have our expectation on when things should happen. We figure out when would be the best time and when would be the worst time for things to happen, and then pray and tell God about it, so that He knows too. You know, it's good to get everyone on the same page.

I thought about my friend who won the hat earlier this week. Her little girl was born on Christmas. If I remember her story right, it was Christmas morning and there had just been a huge snowfall and the roads weren't even plowed yet, and they had to figure out who of their friends to call Christmas morning to come watch their kids...in my opinion...not the best timing.

But it was. It was because it was God's timing, and God's timing is perfect. Sure, if we need medical intervention, and that's the wisest course, we'd go that route, but that's not even necessary to think about right now and will only bring about worry. Let's remember, she's not even late.

Think of Abraham and Sarah, and how God taught them about His timing. The problem is that God is always on time, and we'd all feel a bit more comfortable if he would just err a bit on the side of early. God doesn't err, though.

I go in between being consumed with wondering when this baby will come, and ignoring the prospect that she's coming at all. Ignoring it helps me move on and have some sort of life while waiting. Still, things happen throughout each day this past week with my body and I think "Hmm...this happened the same day Silje was born...I wonder." or "I remember this happened with my body just the day before David was born." Seriously, this baby cannot drop any lower, although she's trying her best. Every time I think to myself "it'll happen the next day or so...I'm sure of it...the signs are all there" nothing happens. And life moves on...and on.

After the time in prayer and reflection last night, though, I feel very renewed today in the confidence that the timing is all in God's hands. Had she come 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't have had this opportunity to draw on God's strength for mental stability, or to search Him in prayer, or reflect on His perfection, drawing me to worship.

So now that I've grown through this and learned the lesson You wanted to teach me and am content to wait for Your timing...she's going to come, right? Right, God? Sheesh, I must sound like one of my kids to Him.

Yarn Along

2010-12-08T09:43:00.000-06:00

Well I met so many sweet knitters last week, that I thought I'd give a yarn along a whirl again, even though I don't have much new to show, but merely follow-up. (Next week I promise I'll have something cool on my needles!) The idea of a yarn along is from Ginny's blog "Small Things" where everyone shares what they have been knitting and reading that week. Really...that's my kind of crowd! I'm a bit bummed I can't show you the gorgeous (if I do say so myself) Christmas presents that were finished this last week, and will be blocked today. I can't spoil the surprise, though. I promise to take pictures of them and post it after Christmas.

For knitting, I redid the heel and toe of the little one's Christmas stocking that I showed last week. (Does that mean she can come now?) I can't believe I just went off pattern and finished it my own way like that! I can't tell you the feeling of accomplishment that gave me! I also added the little loop for hanging and hemmed down the cuff. All that is left is blocking, so that along with the surprises, my dining room table will be full of wet yarn today! The foot part of the stocking was probably redone 3 times, and although the toe looks short to me, I measured it against all the other Christmas stockings we have, and it was right on. At any rate, I'm washing my hands of this project and declaring it done. I don't have any more patience for any more frogging. Then of course, I got the little avatrix hat done this week for the giveaway yesterday. (Congratulations again, Rebekah!) It was a really quick knit that I got done in one evening from casting on to weaving in ends, so I will definitely be doing this one again!

As far as reading, Silje and I finished a simply sweet book, Mountain Born from her Sonlight curriculum. This was by far, the most difficult read aloud book that we've done, and was the first read aloud book that we've encountered that is much out of her reading level. That's kind of the purpose of the read aloud books, most of which she could read with our without me.

It's a story about a boy growing up in a sheep herding family. While many of the books we read are silly, or having talking animals or something, this one was very real to life. What I loved about it was how descriptively it was written. It would spend pages describing this boy laying on a hillside and staring at the clouds. Then there was the heartwarming friendship between the boy, Peter, and his leader-sheep, Biddy. Maybe it's the knitter in me that loved hearing how the sheep were sheared, dipped, and set to pasture. Then the process of turning those fleeces into a coat for the boy. The author took her time describing all of this with no hurry, and it was a very peaceful and inspiring book to read.

Silje had to warm up to it, but ended up loving it in the end. It's just so different from the books she normally chooses, and the chapters were pretty long. I had to stop at the end of about every page to explain what I had just read, or to confirm that she understood. However, I will restate that she did end up loving the story in the end. She's a huge animal lover and loved reading of the strong bond between a boy and his sheep, and hearing tales of each of their heroics really touched her heartstrings.

I would also like to share one very special treat for me this last week. You see, Knut and I are at the point in our lives where we can't always surprise each other for Christmas. I mean, if we're going to spend money on each other, we have to be extra certain that it's exactly what the other person wants, because we simply cannot afford to buy something that won't get used, or will just sit around. The last couple of Christmas' we've gotten into the habit of just telling the other person what we want to get for Christmas. I mean, if I were to go into a ski shop and buy wax for Knut, I would have no idea what colors/temperatures etc. he would need. My head would be spinning.

Likewise, if I were to tell Knut I would want something crafty, he would have no idea where to start. I told him I wanted a set of interchangeable needles this year. So I did the research and decided that I'd like the set of small needles made by Hiya Hiya. (They have a set of large needles too, which I would eventually want, but I thought I'd use the small ones more immediately.) I hate having to tell him what to get me, and prefer a surprise, but I have to admit...I was pretty excited to get this set.

So Knut went to the yarn store to pick these up, and the lady there talked him into getting me both sets. Gotta love a good saleswoman, right? While it was way over budget, he did it, and even got me one other present at another store just so I'd have a "surprise" for Christmas. I mean, seriously, my man is awesome.

Oooooooo...mystery present! Now we just need a tree to put it under!
So why, you ask, do I have a picture of the smaller set when it's not even Christmas yet? Well, it's because there's snow on the ground, and Knut got a new waxing iron from me for Christmas. He said he "needed" to use it before Christmas, as he certainly wasn't going to wait until after Christmas to ski. So I negotiated that if he got to use his present early, so did I. Well, he's only giving me the small needle set early, but that was enough to satisfy me.

On a quick side note, I love that my needle set is called "Hiya Hiya." You see, when I was a teenager going on mission trips, I went with an organization where we met under a big tent for a rally every night of training. We sang songs and there was one song in particular lead by this 80-something year old woman who was the darling of all of us teenagers. She was known as the "Hiya Hiya" lady as she lead us in a song that went like this:
"Hiya hiya, hiya hiya hiya hiya,
Hiya, hiya...liftin' Jesus hiya."

I have to admit, whenever I see my needles here beside me, her little tune goes through my head...liftin' Jesus hiya.