Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be

My father recently started treatments for lung cancer, so I, along with my three small children, took the trek across three states to come help out.  I may be a bit hindered with all my groupies, but I can still be of some help in the midst of all that needs to be done.

I've been here almost a week and it seems like a whirlwind.  So much has been done.  So many things still on the to-do list.  Today, the exhaustion was catching up to me.  I decided to "take a break" and just stay at my mom's house with my three kids...

I was busy making knots for my pumpkin knot rolls (recipe), when I realized how very far removed the kitchen was from the various play-areas throughout the house.  I decided that if I were ever in the market for a new home, I would assuredly *not* get a set-up like this.  I mean, who knows what could happen while I'm in the kitchen and the children are elsewhere?

I am not lying when I tell you I had these thoughts.  You will think that I am when I tell you what happened next...

After such thoughts of my potentially-trouble-making children, I realized that they were indeed silent at that moment.  Silence, with kids the age of my children, is never a good sign.  I went in search of them and found my two older ones (ages 5 and 2), playing downtairs...laughing.  Hmph.  Not normal.  But, I was tired.  And in the middle of something. At that very moment, it seemed like a fine idea to leave them be.

About ten minutes later, they came running up, still chuckling to each other, and started running around.  Wow.  Seems like this day of rest must have been good for them too.  What a blessing.

Then my two year old daughter came up to my one year old son, grabbing his hair to a pair of scissors, and said, "I'm going to cut your hair!"  I wheeled around in a heartbeat and said, "noooooooo way!  We never cut our brother's hair!"

Shocked, my daughter looked at me, let go of her brother's hair, and quickly threw the scissors to the floor.  But there was something wrong.  Something very wrong.  With HER hair.

Yesterday, my daughter looked like this:

Adorable, right?  I know.  Sometimes  I just look at her and think about how absolutely adorable she is.  Especially those eyes....and that hair...!  Oh, what wonderful hair.

Yesterday her hair was beautiful.  Today, her older brother took her to the salon.  And I only wish I could glue this back on without anyone knowing any different....

I think I'm in mourning.  My adorable daughter is no longer so adorable.  I'm wondering if there's any way I can get her to wear a hat for the next four months until the hair at the top of her head grows back.  This is going to take a considerable amount of creativity.  And you can bet I won't be sleeping much tonight--I'll be too busy hoping when I wake up, this was all just a bad dream.

Sleep Eating

It's about time for a funny post!  

My youngest son went for his 15 month check up a few weeks ago.  We were at the doctor's office for hours, and everyone came home exhausted.  I knew my son was tired, but  I figured he must be hungry too.  I thought it'd probably be a good idea to feed him at least a little something before taking him up to his crib.  I put a blueberry-banana muffin on his tray.

He grabbed the muffin.

Squished it in his face, double-handed.

And then.....

fell asleep.

With hands, and muffin, still pressed against his face.


But the best part?  It's like he was dreaming of eating.... so he was still chomping down on his muffin while thoroughly asleep!  You could even see his eyes moving as if he's in REM sleep!





It was hilarious.  I stood there for a minute just laughing.  And then I did the only thing a parent can do in these types of situations... I got out the camera.

On Loss

If you are squeamish or generally uninterested in reading about the personal and medical matters of another's life, you best stop here.  I have plenty of other interesting, not-so-personal posts that will mostly likely suit you.  But today, I'm getting a little deep....

This was a hard week for me.  A week of confusion, uncertainty, disappointment, and ultimately loss.  My husband and I have three beautiful, young children, and at this time last week, I was pregnant with number four.  At least, I thought I was pregnant with number four.  I could hardly believe that I had kept the secret so long, since I have such a *huge* mouth.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I talk about anything with anyone.  So the fact that I was 10+ weeks along and hadn't told more than a handful of people was quite an accomplishment.  I couldn't wait to see my family in a few weeks and tell them the news--they'd be shocked that I was almost three months along and they hadn't even known!!

But then there was spotting.... and then a doctor's appointment without hearing any baby heartbeat... and then an ultrasound with only a six week sac... and then blood levels that showed my pregnancy hormones dropping... Days later the actual process of miscarrying begun, and the blood flow and pain was more than I ever anticipated.  As if knowing you lost your precious baby wasn't bad enough, then you had to actually get all of that nonviable pregnancy out of your body--not an easy thing to do, especially at 11 weeks along.  My heart breaks even more now to think of women who are even in their second and third trimester and lose their babies.  I think I'd probably become a hermit for a *long* while until I could deal with all that pain and loss.

"Blighted Ovum"--first time I heard the phrase and it's certainly taken over my week.  There was an afternoon and evening where there was still hope it wasn't a blighted ovum, just that I was much further behind in my pregnancy than expected.  But blood tests the next day confirmed it.  So many emotions.  So much confusion.  I thought I was going to be okay with it, but then the actual process started to happen.  Back at the hospital, I decided this wasn't so easy after all.

I will always remember this week.  And I am so thankful for my friends who have been there when I needed them--to listen to my heartache, to take my kids at a moments notice, and to bring me dinner when I could hardly stand up.  In this time, I am finding hope in a God who is good, who has planned good for me since the beginning of time, and in whom I can always put my trust.  May this Scripture give you encouragement in whatever trials you face, just as it has brought me encouragement in mine.

Isaiah 55

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
² Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
³ Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
¹² You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

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Metamorphosis

I know the word, metamorphosis.  And of course, I knew, in theory, that a butterfly becomes such after first being a caterpillar, and then forming a chrysalis.

But watching the process happen in my own home was something entirely different.  Watching our itsy bitsy caterpillar grow to two inches in the span of only two weeks was miraculous.  And after hanging upside-down in a J shape for half a day, suddenly our caterpillar started disappearing all together.  I was amazed.

(And here's an interesting video catching part of this process....)

I had jumped at the chance to "raise" a baby monarch because I thought my kids would enjoy it.  I didn't realize how much I would enjoy the process as well.  I think in the end, it was I who was mourning when the butterfly took flight, not my children.  I felt somehow connected to its life, and then I had to watch it fly away.  The only remedy to my disappointment that I can think of is to mark it on the calendar...next year, I'm going to find another egg.

Etsy 100 GIVEAWAY!! :)

Hello out there friends and fans!  I'm hijacking the blog for business-related items for the next week or so in order to celebrate getting up to 100 items on my Etsy page!  It took a whole lot more time and effort than I expected, but now I'm enjoying being in the triple digits!  To celebrate this achievement, I'm hosting my first giveaway.  :-D

There will be two items that you can try to win, and I'm going to let an awesome website called Rafflecopter do all the work for me!  There are a few ways to get "points", and each point will gain you added advantage in the winners pot.  At the end of the giveaway, Rafflecopter will choose two entries at random.  And the best part?  I'll even ship you the item for FREE! :)  A gen-u-ine  giveaway!  Can you tell I'm excited?

So, here are your options.  Do note that some of the options for getting points you can do multiple days in a row.  Might want to keep that in mind if you really want to win! :)   (Reversible bow ties are a $12 value and the Satin Flowers with Ostrich feathers are a $15 value.)

Good Luck! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Didn't know I had an Etsy page?  Go check it out!! :)  Crafts By Libby

Out on a Limb (Or stem, as it were)

In recent weeks our family acquired two baby monarch butterfly eggs.  At this moment, they are both in chrysalis form--it's been an exciting process to watch!!  One particular part of the process keeps hanging on my mind, as it seems it could be a metaphor for so many of life's adventures.

I suppose it wasn't a part of the process, exactly.  It was more a simple moment in the process.  Every couple of days I had to change the milkweed leaves out so that the caterpillars had enough food for their exponential growth.  On this day, one of the caterpillars had eaten itself onto just the stem of the leaf.  For a solid three inches of stem, it had consumed all of the leaf substance previously surrounding that area.  All that remained was stem and caterpillar.

I keep thinking about life on a limb....  pondering how my life might be compared to this caterpillars... bent on nothing but consumption?  Risking injury to get what I want?  Pushing until there's nothing left?  Needing new direction?  Thinking about the present, without too much thought to the future?  Focusing on one area without seeing the big picture?

I'm not sure that all of these would apply to me.  I am sure that one could probably derive many more "wonderings" about life based on this simple picture.  It's just such an interesting image....plentiful milkweed, and there hangs the caterpillar, alone, on the end of the stem....

Just pondering.  Guess it's been one of those weeks, just to wonder about life and what we're all really doing.  (And what are we supposed to be doing....?)

A Fun Project

My four year old begs almost daily to do a new craft--a new craft that's "different" and more "exciting" than we've ever done before.  This is not only a difficult request, but truthfully becoming an increasingly annoying one.  While my head is swimming with all the things I have to get done, the pressure from a four year old to come up with an amazingly creative craft, is simply irksome.  As much as I try to dissuade him from crafting, he will not have it.

Thankfully, we recently read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Home-Mouse-Elisa-Kleven/dp/1582462771/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344993482&sr=1-2&keywords=a+home+for+mouse

It's an adorable book--both in content and artistry.  My children had me read it again and again until finally it was due back to the library.  In the book, the clumsy elephant creates a beautiful replacement home (since he accidentally ruins the first) for his new friend mouse.  The house in the story was what we might think of as a diorama, made with a box and other small random objects.  Thankfully, this book gave me an easy idea for craft time....

I was so appreciative of the hour or more I got to spend doing the dishes in quiet...while my son tirelessly worked on making this house a home.  We had even made popsicle stick people the day before (another days craft that I had to come up with...), so the house even had inhabitants upon its completion.

So, there it is, a nice new house....  would you want to live there?