Richard's Job

Richard works for the city as a water and sewer operator and as such gets to drive a cool "work truck" and do all sorts of interesting things. The kids LOVE to hear about his job, especially Moses, who thinks his Papa has the best job EVER. (After all, he drives a truck with lights that's full of tools, including a chainsaw. Can you get much cooler than that?!)

Thanks to the sweetness of Richard's new iPhone, the kids were recently able to watch some video of Papa at work, going up and down in a boom truck. I'd like to share, for your viewing pleasure, Richard at Work:

36 Week Prenatal Visit

We had our "home visit" with our wonderful midwife last week in preparation for our upcoming homebirth. She did my prenatal visit and toured the house (of course she has delivered a baby here before, but that was 19 months ago!) and checked all our supplies to make sure we have everything ready for the birth.

She also went over with Richard what to do if I have a precipitous (i.e. extremely fast!) birth where the baby is coming before the midwives get here. The midwife who is assisting ours at our birth lives less than 10 minutes away, so even if I deliver quickly the chances of us being alone are slim. Still, you never know when it comes to babies! So Richard got the crash course and I feel confident that he would be able to handle a precip delivery. :)

Our midwife also helped us figure out where and how to set up our birth pool, how to keep things dry and comfortable, and how to organize our small space to the best advantage! She then made sure she knew things like where the food and dishes are in the kitchen (everyone needs to eat during and after labor!) and where the laundry room is so she can do the laundry after the baby is born! Aren't midwives awesome!? They help deliver your baby, then they feed you and start your laundry before they leave. Now that's the kind of maternity care I like!!

My First Nieces

My very first nieces are arriving today! In about an hour, Richard's brother Dusty and his girlfriend Megan will be welcoming twin girls via c-section. I'm excited to be an auntie again so soon! Please pray for healthy girls (they are about 35 weeks gestation) and for Megan's recovery. Pray for lots of support for these two parents as they enter into the joys and struggles of parenthood!

[Update: Welcome Avery Victoria Novak (5lbs 6oz) and Alexis Jo-Ann Novak(4lbs 2oz)! Born at 9:15 and 9:16am, September 25th 2009.]

What's So Scary About Homebirth?

Is homebirth the risky, elitist, fashionable and fringe "extreme" way to give birth, or is it safe for low-risk women and a legitimate alternative to hospital birth? The statistics and studies will tell you one thing, and the Today Show will tell you another.

Watch this segment on "The Perils of Homebirth" and then read this great response by Amie Newman entitled, "What's So Scary About Homebirth?" The video will certainly tug at your heartstrings and leave you with a distinct impression about the safety of homebirth, but it won't inform you of very many facts. The story of a couple whose baby died after being born at home is certainly tragic and heartbreaking. But,

As Alison Cole, midwife-in-training, notes in her RH Reality Check reader diary on the segment, "My heart aches for this family, but their experience does not shed light on the safety of birthing at home, just as the story of one family mourning the loss of a hospital-born baby is not evidence that all births should be removed from the hospital."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amie-newman/whats-so-scary-about-home_b_287455.html

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After citing safety, satisfaction and cost-effectiveness of homebirth, Amie concludes her article by saying:

What is most important to highlight, ultimately, is that women in the United States are increasingly seeking alternatives to hospital birth for a variety of excellent reasons. For some women it's a desire to experience their low-risk, healthy pregnancy not as a medical condition but as a natural state - a healthy state - with a provider who encourages them to trust their bodies. Maybe a woman doesn't wish to expose herself to potentially unnecessary medical interventions, but wishes to create an environment and experience that speaks to the ways in which she and her family envision welcoming their baby into the world - in a way that seems most compatible with midwifery and out-of-hospital care. Other women are distrustful of our health care system's tendency to treat pregnant women (or any seeker of health care) as merely a consumer or a number without a name, on the receiving end of depersonalized care. Some women view the mainstream medical establishment as patriarchal and demeaning, in general, and reject the idea that "doctor knows best" in any and all situations regarding pregnancy and childbirth. This is not say that ob-gyns cannot be excellent, loving and responsive care providers. There are millions of us out there who are indebted to these kinds of ob-gyns, undoubtedly. Midwives understand the value and importance of a trusted, respectful physician as a partner in a woman's care, should she need it.

The midwifery model of care may be an appealing option for many women because it starts from a place of empowerment - if you can envision it, you can do it. Start with an intention of the kind of birth you wish to have, my midwife and doula told me, and we'll go from there. ... Or maybe you'll plan for the homebirth you've been expecting and midway through your pregnancy, or after hours of labor, your midwife tells you you'll need an emergency cesearean section, in a hospital. Birth doesn't always go the way we plan - no matter where or with whom we choose to birth. The issue at hand, however, is not that we can possibly know exactly how it will end up but why we wouldn't think that we deserve to do everything we can to experience pregnancy, childbirth and the days and weeks postpartum in a way that feels best and right for us - most importantly, winding up with a healthy newborn warm against our chest, asleep next to our body. The Today Show may present homebirth as an option to be feared but that's only because the unknown is often times a scary venture. If you look at the evidence and listen to women's experiences, it doesn't have to be that way.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amie-newman/whats-so-scary-about-home_b_287455.html

35 weeks

Here's what our baby looks like right now! How cool is that? I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone. I remember when my baby ticker had over 100 days on it!

When I consider that this might very well be our last baby, it makes me sad to have it almost be over. I really do enjoy pregnancy and am blessed with no morning sickness and good health. There is nothing quite like feeling a baby move around inside your body. I will miss feeling that unique sensation.

I am starting to gear up for our birth, buying and collecting birth supplies (everything has to be assembled by 36 weeks), getting our birth pool (I am SO excited for a waterbirth!!!) and scheduling our home visit with our midwife. Baby clothes have been washed and folded, blankets and diapers inventoried and put in drawers. We received a nice big-kid car seat for Judah as a gift, so the baby will have Judah's convertible car seat. I've been going through my fabric stash, thinking about making another sling... (do I really need another one? Yes! How dare you ask.)

All this preparation at times makes me nervous, because I'm aware that nothing guarantees us a living, breathing baby at the end of 5 or 6 weeks, and then all this preparation will feel so pointless. Matthias' death has made me so much more aware of the fragility of life and has kept me from putting all my eggs in the "healthy, living baby" basket.

It's hard for me to feel totally comfortable preparing for and expecting a baby. Sometimes I think that I shouldn't let myself imagine a new baby wearing these little clothes and cloth diapers or being wrapped in these blankets. What if our baby dies? How much more painful will it be to have already pictured him or her in my arms?

But then I know it's right to be looking forward to this baby's arrival, and to be imagining how wonderful it will be to hold him or her for the first time. That's part of the bonding and loving that a mother does with her baby even before birth, and I don't want to take that away from this child! Somehow making preparations without letting my heart be affected would be taking something special and important away from this baby. So I let my heart be fully vested and totally in love with the baby inside me, cherishing his or her little life, come what may. I don't want to keep my heart aloof from love in order to somehow keep it safe from pain.

Photo Contest Winner!

My little Moses has won a place in the 2009 Real Diapers, Real Babies Photo Contest! This means that he will be featured in their 2010 Calendar, available for purchase in October. You can go here to see all the winners.

The Real Diaper Association is a non-profit organization which provides support and education to parents all across the U.S. for the use of simple, reusable cloth diapers. The goal of the Real Diaper Association is to put more U.S. babies in cloth diapers. To do this they aim to create a cultural shift in understanding cloth diapers-their environmental impact, their ease of use, their accessibility, and their acceptability. The Association will help parents understand that cloth diapers are real diapers.

We have never regretted using cloth and many is the time I've put a freshly laundered cloth diaper up to my face and enjoyed the thought of putting something so fresh and natural on my baby's bum. We started out using them with Moses, used the same diapers with Judah, have loaned them out a couple times, and now are getting ready to use them with our newest baby. What a great investment!

You can read my previous post about cloth diapers if you're interested in learning more about them, or check out the Real Diaper Association Resource Center!

If We Have a Girl...

Many of you know what our girl name is already.... but in case you haven't heard, here's a clue:

The Birth Pool

I can't wait to give birth in this!!

30 Years!

I am 30 years old today, August 30th! In honor of these two "30s", I thought I'd post a list of 30 things. Those of you who know me won't be surprised that it's a list of BOOKS. :) I can't say that these are my 30 favorite books, because who could pare down their favorite books to just 30?! But I've tried to list books I've really loved and read again and again, from several different genres, over the last 30 years.

30 Books I Have Loved During My 30 Years

1. Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel - one of the first books I ever owned, given to me in 1981 by my great-grandmother. I still have that copy, and a new copy that I read to my kids all the time.
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl - I still love this book. Last time I read it I picked up some great marriage advise on the importance of complimenting your husband in front of your children:

   Mrs. Fox said to her children, "I should like you to know that if it wasn't for your father we should all be dead by now. Your father is a fantastic fox."

   Mr. Fox looked at his wife and she smiled. He loved her more than ever when she said things like that.

3. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken - My 5th grade teacher read this book to us and I couldn't wait to read it to Grace. Kids books should always be entertaining and enthralling to the adults who read them out loud.
4. Winnie-the-Pooh (and others) by A. A. Milne - I didn't start reading the Pooh books until I was almost out of my teens and I thought they were delightful! My two favorite stories are "In Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents" and "In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Gets a Bath." A. A. Milne's poetry books are wonderful, too, and Ernest Shepard's illustrations sweet and whimsical. Disney ruined Pooh, just for the record.
5. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - This is my favorite of the Narnia books, but I love them all! (except Prince Caspian which I don't like much.) The Narnia books are the best example of children's stories that are deep enough and funny enough and thrilling enough for adults to really love too. They were read to us and by us as children, but I had an amazing experience when reading them again in college, seeing truths in them I had never seen before! Make sure you read the books to your kids before you let them see the movies!
6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - I read this first in my late teens and have always enjoyed reading it again. Another one I'm excited for Grace to be old enough to read!
7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I remember asking my mom for a book one day when I was bored and she handed me this one. I thought it sounded horribly dull, but fell in love with it as soon as I started reading. My first and favorite Jane Austen, although Sense and Sensibility is a strong second. (The A&E mini-series is awesome Even Richard likes it - "Mr. Darcy is a stud!")
8. Watership Down by Richard Adams- when my best friend in 6th grade told me to read this wonderful book about rabbits I think I laughed out loud. But actually, it's one of the best adventures I've ever read, despite the fact that the characters are all rabbits! I have re-read this one many, many times.
9. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis - The first time I got done reading this book I couldn't believe how much I loved it or how little I understood it. I still don't think I really "get" everything he's saying in it, but it's a beautiful story!
10. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - Another book my mom gave me one winter day that I didn't think I would like, but then devoured! It's long, but an incredibly intricate, thrilling, nail-biter of a story. Way better than the movie(s).
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - My mom read a Reader's Digest condensed version of this book to me and my siblings one year and I had a hard time not reading ahead on my own! This book I would rate in my top 5 favorites. I absolutely love it.
    
12. Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers - Outstanding short-story mysteries starring the aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. Who could resist such tales as "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention," "The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach," and "The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag"? Even though I know the ending to all the mysteries, I love reading them again and again.
    
13. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien - Okay, I know this is technically three books, but I'm going to count them all together as one and call it the best made-up story I've ever read. I will never forget the mix of fear, suspense and excitement I felt listening to my dad reading the part about the Black Riders to us kids! The movies are good, but not as good as the books. I've lost track of how many times I've read them!
    
14. A Godward Life: Book Two by John Piper - We own more books by Piper than any other author (mostly because of getting free copies of his new books by attending his church!) and this is one of my favorites. With 120 daily readings, it is just the right bite-sized portions of incredible truth about God to fill my mind and heart throughout the day. I love "God is Love, God is God: Balancing the Complexity and Simplicity of the Bible" and "Augustine on What It Means to Love God: Thoughts on Love as Delighting, Not Just Acting and Willing"
    
15. Women and the Word of God: A Response to Biblical Feminism by Susan T. Foh - I seriously just picked this book up at a garage sale one year without even really looking at it. A few years later when I actually read it, I was surprised and pleased by her writing style and the content of the book. I know that Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem is supposed to be the be-all end-all resource on complimentarianism, but it makes me sad that there's only TWO woman contributers in 26 chapters! I love reading a woman on women.
    
16. The Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney - This is a very small, short book, and incredibly dense with the beauty of Christ what it means to live each day IN HIM. It changes me and renews me each time I pick it up.
    
17. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones - Not just "theology", but a beautiful insight into Jesus and His teachings.
    
18. As For Me And My House: Crafting Your Marriage To Last by Walter Wangerin - My favorite book on marriage.
19. The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God by John Piper - These poems were originally Advent poems written and read by Piper to his congregation. I listened to an audio recording of them just days before Matthias was born and died and they have ministered to me many times since.
    
20. These Strange Ashes: Is God Still in Charge? by Elisabeth Elliot - this book about Elizabeth Elliot's first year as a missionary in Equador (before she was married to Jim) is a beautiful picture of the joys that God gives us in our losses.
    
21. Home by Choice: Raising Emotionally Secure Children in an Insecure World by Dr. Brenda Hunter - Incredibly formative for me in understanding and loving my role as a full-time mother. An outstanding book for any stay-at-home mom.
    
22. Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel - my favorite parenting book.
    
23. A Piece of My Heart: Living Through the Grief of Miscarriage, Stillbirth, or Infant Death by Molly Fumia - Although not from a Christian perspective, this book really ministered to me after Matthias' death.
    
24. The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two by Dr. William Sears & Martha Sears - My favorite book on childcare. It really is everything you could possibly need to know about taking care of your baby!
    
25. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League International - The best breastfeeding book ever! A classic for many years that is the only resource you need for happy, healthy breastfeeding.
    
26. The Vital Touch: How Intimate Contact With Your Baby Leads To Happier, Healthier Development by Sharon Heller - Very formative for me in understanding how babies need to be cared for and how many American parenting practices don't give parents and babies the intimate contact they need.
    
27. Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives by Catherine Taylor - A colorful, anecdotal, and research-supported narrative filled with observations on the working lives of midwives and the women who have depended on their skills and strength to help bring their children into the world. One of my favorite books on childbirth!
    
28. Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style by Harvey Bluedorn, Laurie Bluedorn - the first book I ever read on homeschooling. Reading it convinced Richard and I that we should homeschool, even though we were planning on sending Grace to a private school. God used this book to lead us to homeschooling and it has been a valuable resource every year that we continue.
    
29. The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise - Another incredibly valuable resource, but also fun to read and very helpful in forming my own views about educating my children.
    
30. A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola - The perfect complimentary book on homeschooling to go along with the other two. It has given my homeschooling philosophy just the right amount of freedom and gentleness to add to the structure of Classical education.

So there it is! I know I've missed a shelf-full of wonderful books that I love, but in order to work I had to go with only 30. I'd love to read a list of your favorite books, too!

Oh, and I just wanted to add that the BIBLE is very obviously missing from my list. Not because it isn't one I love, but just because I didn't feel like it belonged in this list. The Bible isn't one book in a list of favorites for me. It belongs all to itself as the most beautiful, most thrilling, most lovely and truest Book ever written. And it is my FAVORITE. Everything else ever written pales in comparison.

Have You Had One of These Days?

I read this poem on mothering.com and thought how perfectly it describes some days! Apparently I'm not the only one who experiences Cheerios crunching under my bare feet in the kitchen. But that's not so bad.


It's Not So Bad

Author:

Melanie Vogel

It's not so bad, when dinner's late
At the end of a too-long day,
When the big kids are clamoring to eat,
And Cheerios crunch beneath your bare feet
As you impatiently wait for pasta to boil,
And the quiet, self-sufficient toddler
Helps himself to an unfinished bowl of popcorn on the table,
And his chair tips over and ends his quietness,
And as you hug him against your hip,
He spots the ancient marshmallows in the open cabinet,
And cries still more earnestly when you tell him no,
And the baby, patient no more,
Begins to desperately slurp her fingers,
So you dig out some long forgotten music,
The grown-up kind you never listen to anymore,
And you scoop up restless baby,
And squeeze close the unhappy toddler,
And dance in the kitchen while the pasta boils,
Swaying and circling to bluegrass tunes,
And singing still-remembered lyrics,
While the baby clutches your hair in sticky fists,
And the toddler grins and hangs on your hip,
And Cheerios crunch beneath your bare feet.
It's not so bad.