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To Whom It May Concern:

We wash. we dry, we fold… …and still the laundry pile keeps growing.

It’s starting to concern me, if (knock on wood) any of our laundry appliances should break down I fear it would only be a matter of hours before the dirty laundry would swell to proportions large enough to smother us in stale milk and pee smelling fabric.

So, please, if you don’t hear from us for a few days, if John misses work, if I miss a previously scheduled appointment, if our girls don’t show up for story time…

…send reinforcements armed with detergent because John and I will have lost the laundry war.

We will likely be trapped under a growing pile of laundry at the bottom of the stairs, but don’t worry about the children I’m sure they will be fine. Once you dig us out if you can make it through the laundry you’ll be able to find them at the top, happily changing outfits, wetting the bed and blowing out diapers.

Transformation

Jane undergoes a drastic transformation when you give her a bath.

She goes from a sleepy, stinky, cutie…

…into a sweet smelling, wide eyed, curly haired, cutie!If it weren’t for the prevailing cuteness I’d wonder if it was the same girl.

The Loss of Power and Ambition

This morning we lost power just as John was getting ready to go to work. There I was thinking that the older girls are grandparent visiting today, Jane is sleeping and John is leaving, I could do something!  I ran through a list of things I wanted to do in my head, take a shower, give Jane a bath, wash laundry, write a blog, make lunch… and they all required power. Then I thought about the possibility that my desire to do something was perhaps linked to my overly contrary nature and it was just the fact that I couldn’t do any of those things that filled me with ambition. Then I thought that ambition to take a shower probably only counts as ambition when you have a newborn… But I’ve got one of those so ambition it is! Then I dismissed that whole line of thinking as too much soul searching before lunch.

I let John run down the water pressure with a quick shower, used the last of the water to fill Storms water bowl and sat in the kitchen feeling annoyed that I only wanted to do currently impossible things and I was hungry! Deciding that the best thing to do would be to find a bit of food for lunch I took one final survey of the kitchen and saw lots of food. Lots of food that required water or heat or both and settled on a trip to McDonald’s.

I had changed and fed and burped the baby, started a fire, the truck was running the gate was opened and I was just setting Jane into her car seat when the power came back on.

Dilemma:

Do I turn off the truck, close the gate, un-pack Jane and make lunch?

Or do I carry on and find french fries?

It was a dilemma, but not a very hard one.

Piper’s Embarrassing Day

In the weeks since we’ve lost Piper, Ivy and I have shared Piper stories every time she comes to me teary eyed saying she misses Piper. When it’s Ivy’s turn to share a story, she tells about when she snuck up on an unsuspecting Piper in the kitchen. Ivy then crawled up on a chair and climbed onto Pipers back while Piper stood and looked at me cooking dinner with eyes that said, “Seriously?”. I told Piper to sit, which she did. Piper’s problem was solved, and Ivy thought the slide down Pipers back was hilarious. One of my recent favorite stories of the late, great Piper is one that I always meant to share and never had a chance to. So in honor of Piper, who would actually hate the fact that I’m laughing at her, here is what was possibly one of Piper’s most embarrassing moments:

First off you should know that while Piper loved the water she never liked to swim. In fact, for all the time she spent on and around water I only remember her swimming four times. Once was when she dumped us out of a canoe, another was when she slid off the end of a dock, once when she accidentally ran out too deep in the water and one time when she was chasing a pheasant over a water filled ditch (I’m guessing she didn’t know how deep it was). Swimming was not a voluntary activity for Piper. What she did love was running and splashing in the shallow water.  Piper would do one of two things. Either run gigantic crazy circles that were half on land half in water or she would wait just out far enough that she could stand but the other dogs couldn’t and then jump on them when they came by. I loved my dog, I miss my dog, but my dog was undeniably a butt-head at times.

Piper waiting to jump on Storm at the Shack

On to my story –  this fall I was walking with my friend Jessie and all five of our dogs on some public hunting ground that Bad Fish Creek runs through. Bad Fish Creek at that place and time was no more than 15 feet or so of running water with an equal sized area of very shallow slow moving water on our side of the creek. The problem was that the shallow water seemed to be about 5 inches of water on top of 10 inches of thick black mud. We justified getting the dogs messy by walking them back through the fields where they’d be mostly dried off and mud free by the time we packed them all in the vehicle. (Have you ever seen a Great Dane a large Lab mix, a Wimeranier, a Pudlepointer and a Britney puppy all in the back of a station wagon? It was like a clown car for dogs!) On this particular day Piper was feeling especially good, we had recently got her arthritis under control and boy was she excited to see the water! So excited she started doing her gigantic crazy circles. The circles were a little more impressive than normals since the bank on the side of the creek was quite steep and covered with long grass. She’d run down jump into the water and then have to actually  jump back up on the bank to do it again. I was watching her enjoy herself when on her way into the water both front legs got caught up in the long grass. With the amount of momentum that she already had going Piper continued to fly toward the water… nose first.  Unable to recover her footing whatsoever she splashed into the water nose first and slid on her chest a foot or two before she was able to get her legs back under her and stand up. By this time, sensitive dog owner that I am, I was already laughing, but when she stood up and looked at me I completely lost it. Piper had sunk into the mud up over her eyes to the tops of her ears. When she stood up she was completely black from the top of her head down to her feet.  Her white eyes were startling as she looked out of her black face, and while I think I could fairly accurately translate the look that she gave Jessie and I, this is a family blog and it wouldn’t be appropriate.  When she was done giving us a her death glare and we had regained control of the laughter and dried our tears. Piper made up for the embarrassment by jumping on a few of the other dogs. Which, while unfortunate for those squashed under her, it did help get some of the mud off. Only some of it though, there was enough left that she required a bath when we got home (except that she only took showers, but that’s a different story) and we got another disgusted look from her as we laughed all over again telling John about it.

I can still picture it, and no doubt if Piper were still here today she’d see me laughing at her, crawl up on her couch, heave a big sigh, and then attempt to ignore me. Yup, I do miss that dog!

Camp Out

It’s possible that a combination of the new baby, the unfavorable weather and general life with the almost five and two year old have brought John and I to the end of our patience… and sanity.

Possible.

Really possible.

Today John came up with the brilliant idea that he and the girls were going camping. Chores were done in the morning, their room was cleaned and in the afternoon we erected our tent in their room. Once John convinced Ivy that they were playing camping and not “You be the prince I’ll be the princess” we had a fun afternoon. There was “sleeping” and playing in the tent, fishing down the stairwell. (Ivy caught a musky, John caught a tiny blue gill  and Clara caught a “gill” but she said it was no good and she threw it in the garbage… or so I heard.) Then John and Ivy cooked baked potatoes and hot dogs in the wood-stove for our camp dinner.  In general it was an afternoon of fun, lots of sanity saving fun.

Then tucked in their new sleeping bags, flashlights beaming, the girls  were ready for their exciting night of camping out… …for about five minutes.

Then Ivy tearfully hollered that she wanted to sleep in her bed…

… and Clara didn’t, but nobody wanted to be lonely, but everyone needed water, and Clara needed Chap Stick, and it was too dark, and, and, and….

Ahh camping…sanity.. patience… they were good while they lasted.

Resting

In the bed, on the bed, around the bed.

When John and I had Ivy that advice was given to us by our midwife. Meaning that the first week after you have a baby you should be in bed, all people who might visit should be family and those close enough to you to see you in whatever state you may be in – in your bed. The next week you can be a bit more mobile but mostly you stay on your bed, and by the third week you should be up and moving some, but staying in the house, taking it easy – staying around the bed.

It’s possibly the best advice ever and, fortunately for me, John is a true believer.  Jane and I (as with Ivy and Clara when they were born) have had such a great chance, to rest, heal, sleep when we need, remember how nursing works and spend an amount of hours probably only new mothers and babies can spend staring at each other.

Of course now that I’ve been hanging out in my bedroom for a week and half I’m getting a bit restless. “On the bed” I’ve been getting our Christmas (turned New Years) cards ready to send out, folding laundry and reading to the big girls. Every now and then I even sneak into a different room for awhile – until John finds me and sends Jane and I back to bed. Then for few moments of completely uncalled for self pity I think that I would much rather go outside and do something, it’s January, January weather is great. Then I look out the window and remember there is no snow. Then I look at the mud covered dog and remember that until today it wasn’t even that cold.  Then I look at the pictures John took of Clara playing in the sandbox last week and think that the weather is completely ridiculous! Then I look at Jane and happily snuggle into bed with her. One of the very best things in the world is taking a midday nap with a warm baby on a nasty day. My weeks of rests are almost up, so I’m going to enjoy it while I can!

A Memorable Christmas

Christmas celebrations are full of traditions and while I love traditions of all kinds, they do have the effect of making past holidays blend together

This year that won’t be a problem.

For starters there was Jane’s arrival.

Christmas with a two day old baby shall always be memorable.

We still went to Pewaukee for Christmas Eve and Day, for what was intended to be a small low key sort of Christmas. Just us, my Mom, Dad and Tyler.  We decided that we would still meet at Granny and Grandpa’s house even though they were in Florida.  And Granny and Gramps, if you want to stop reading now before I say any more, that might be for the best…

First off, lets just say that nothing is very low key with a four year old, a two year old,  a newborn, and a sleep deprived set of parents… and don’t forget the puppies.  While most of the dogs spent Christmas down at Mom and Dad’s by themselves, the puppies, who are fast approaching the six-month old crap head stage, were with us at the big house. You know the Family Circus cartoon? The ones where they show the tracks that the kids make as they run all over? Well Tyler’s dog Sunday would fit right in… you get him too excited and he leaves his own spotted trail behind him…all over the front steps,  your foot, your cousin’s pants…. Between Sunday’s Family Circus trails, Clara’s potty training and Jane just doing what a newborn does, it was a soggy sort of Christmas.

Soggy or not stockings were hung by the chimney with care and the next morning Jane wasn’t even upset that all  she got in her stocking was dog treats.  We moved right along to exchanging gifts, which went pretty well.  Only one tearful incident  and so long as someone kept an eye on Clara, who wanted to open everyone’s presents for them, gifts eventually made it to whom they were intended for.

Then there was dinner. Due to a combination of the new baby and Clara’s food restrictions, it was planned to be a much simpler meal than we normally have. Then it got even simpler when we opened the oven and stared flabbergasted at a turkey that wasn’t even close to done. Since the family routinely roasts large chickens and turkeys as an “easy” meal, the half-done turkey was a shock to everyone. But no worries, we were also having venison loin on the grill… which was great, except that it ran out of gas. Fortunately my family likes rare meat, really, rare meat.  After making it through dinner (thank goodness for the dog under the table to get the dropped food) we were ready for the annual lighting of the Christmas pudding.  A few false starts later, the chemist excused himself to the kitchen to help light the brandy and we only almost burned up Tyler’s place mat in the lighting of the pudding. (Really Granny… it’s fine!) 

All in all it was a Christmas to remember!

Sisterly Love

So far Jane’s older sisters have been happy to have her around.

Even Ivy who had been hoping for a brother and has asked multiple times about when she can have a brother she is still happy to help out with her new sister.  Ivy’s been a great helper when it comes to getting things Jane needs, things Mom or Dad need – that’s a different story…   And after a hesitant first day or two she now wants to hold Jane every chance she gets while she sings her “sleeping songs just in case she’s tired.”

Clara, is more in the smothering with love stage.  Jane gets blankets, toys, books, hats, and pacifiers shoved into her mouth whether she wants them or not.  So long as you’re ready to protect Jane from sharp edges and outright smothering under blankets and stuffed animals Clara’s attentions are pretty cute. This morning though John came in to find Clara crying on the floor next to Jane and I. When he asked what was the matter, Clara tearfully repeated her request that I had been denying:

“Me poke baby Jane eye please!”

At least she said please.

Welcome Jane Catherine Stevens!

Our biggest Christmas present came a bit early this year.

Jane was born at 1:50Am on the 23rd.  Like our other two girls she was born at the Madison Birth Center, unlike the other two she came too quickly for a water birth –  a problem I will not be complaining about!  She weighed 8lbs 3oz, was 19inches long and is sporting a full head of blond hair.  Jane and I are doing well, her big sisters are in Pewaukee “helping” with the final Christmas preparations and John is doing OK too. He had a moment this morning where he put cat food in the soap dispenser for the washing machine but after a few more cups of coffee he’s back to taking great care of  all his girls!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Naughty or Nice?

Ivy has been having a rough few days. I’m not sure if she’s got a bit of the virus that’s going around,  if she’s over excited, or if she’s just turning into a monster. Whatever is happening I’ve yet to figure out why it’s happening or how best to deal with it which has resulted in a trying few days for everyone.

Today I got desperate and brought Santa Clause into the conversation. We had a little chat about what happens if you are nice and and what happens if you are naughty. It was mentioned that with her current behavior Santa would only bring coal and rocks and sticks for her stocking. Ivy was quite for a moment and then said: “That’s OK if Santa brings me sticks I can play with Storm with them!”

I need a new plan.