Category Archives: Uncategorized

What Does a Giraffe Say?

When Ivy reached the age where her main “party trick” was to tell you what noises different animals make her Grandpa Moose (my Dad) was determined to teach her what a giraffe said.  Today I witnessed evidence that all that training many months ago finally paid off.

These three animals were set up on her floor today as I was watching her play.

She pointed to this one and said “Neeeiggghhh!”

She pointed to this one and said, “This one says “Pbbbbbbbb” “

Then with a twinkle in her eye and a little grin Ivy  looked at me, pointed to this one and said…

“This one says, “Hi Shorty!””

Congratulations Grandpa Moose you did it!

New Respect Part II

If you remember a post awhile back called New Respect you’ll remember I was having a bit of trouble with my lawnmower. The reason I was re-attaching the cutting deck that day was that it had broken and my Dad had fixed it for us. When I got the lawnmower back up and running Dad cautioned me that because of the way he had fixed it I should be extra careful not to run over stumps or rocks.

So I didn’t. I ran over tractor tire chains… Turns out that’s just as bad as stumps and rocks.

Tonight we again unloaded a freshly fixed up lawnmower deck back from my Dad, (thanks Dad!) and needed to put it on the lawnmower.

Tonight the girls were already sleeping.

Tonight John was home.

Tonight it was back in the barn in 10 minutes.


He probably would have done it in five minutes had I not been helping!

She Stands, and Stands, and Stands…

My Mom has always said that just when you think you can’t take any more of what a kid is doing, they grow and change and stop whatever was making you pull your hair out and start something new that causes you to pull your hair out.  The new difficult trait is new so it’s a bit different and that somehow makes it a bit better.  Clara’s new challenge has to do with the fact that she is pulling herself up to standing, on everything.  And I mean everything, chairs, couches, small toys, big toys, beds, cats, dogs, sisters and parents, everything! Now most of the time this has not been  a problem, she pulled her self up, stood around plopped back down and went and found something else to stand up with. Every now and then I had to go save a dog she had trapped or comfort her after an especially nasty fall but for the most part we were good.

Then enter the speed crawl and the speed stand. All of a sudden you can’t stop for more than 10 seconds without looking down and seeing this:

and sometimes that’s alright. For instance while outside, watching Ivy play in the sprinkler. It’s  great I can say “hi”, take a picture (like my lawn, it’s green, short, even a baby can stand barefoot in it, and it’s made out of creeping charlie), admire her cuteness, and just stand there so she can keep looking around.

In the house while I’m attempting to work on something it’s  whole different story.  Here are the three ways it can go:

1- She can be occupied elsewhere in the house, usually with Ivy, standing with the assistance of something inanimate which is happy to stay immobile for her.

2- After option 1 gets boring and she comes looking for me, if I’m actively doing things around the house I just start moving faster. When she goes into speed-crawl-hyper-drive-mode (is there a real term for that running crawl?) Clara really flies, but I’ve still got legs more than a foot long and I can out run her around the house. This often requires me pretending that we are actually playing peek-a-boo and not that I’m just trying to run away from her but it get’s the job done. This has the added bonus that sometimes she gets distracted on the way through the house and we end up back at option 1.

3- This is the bad one, and it often happens in the kitchen. This is where I am mostly immobile but need to move, say three feet to the left to get into the fridge and then back. This leaves me with a few options:

A-I can pick her up and carry her.- Bad option when cooking dinner.  She doesn’t want to be carried she wants to stand.

B-I can squat down, get her interested in something else, quick move once she’s off and try to grab everything I need on the other side of my kitchen before she notices. – Bad option while cooking dinner. Unless its OK that it takes twice as long, which is not OK ever. When describing myself I don’t throw procrastinator in there lightly!

C-I can plop her down on the floor and listen to her scream about it. -Bad option while cooking dinner.  If I’m having a Clara limpet problem while cooking that means I have most likely been on my own with the two girls for 11-12 hours.  Screaming at this point makes me insane and causes me to yell at the dogs far more than they deserve.

D-I can walk reeeaaaalllyyyy ssslllooooooowwwllyyy, then she can walk with me. – Bad option while cooking dinner see option B

Anyone seeing a trend here?

The solution, I think she needs to discover stairs, or walking, or something!  I’m really tired of this stage and I’d like a new one… before I have to cook dinner tonight…

*Don’t leave me a comment saying that they grow up quick and I should enjoy every minute, I hate that.  I think one day soon I’ll elaborate on why I hate that, and then if you do leave a comment like that you’ll end up feeling bad so lets just not go there!*

Aszani and The Madison Birth Center

The  Madison Birth Center is a free standing birth center in Middleton that draws from the best of both the hospital world and the world of midwives and home births. It is a place where a girl like me who hates hospitals can feel at home. Where everyone knows your name by the time you are approaching your due date. Where Ivy loved to visit because  she could help find Clara’s heartbeat and when that got old, visit with the staff and play with baskets full of toys. Where the birthing suites have real beds with real bedding and both are nicer than what we have in our house. Where the showers are huge and the bathtubs even bigger. Where they help you deal with insurance companies, and where you are welcome to stop by for a visit at lunch just to say hi. Where they send you home soon after you have a baby but then have home visits so you don’t have to leave once you get there. Where the  same small staff you have appointments with is there at your birth. Where your birth assistant and her small son sleep down the hall, and the boy asks to meet the new baby before he goes to school. Where my two girls were born with no regrets.

And then there is Aszani, the lady who was the founder of the birth center. Who knew all the right things to say at the scary times of the pregnancy, and all the right things to say at the fun times. Who teased my husband unmercifully during check-ups, and who yelled at him when he left the exam room door open.  Who will send you to acupuncturist or an obstetrician for consulting depending on the circumstances, and who will use herbal inductions to get a labor started, but grab the pitocin first for excessive bleeding after. Who gives the best hugs.  Who caught both my girls.  And who is moving to Minneapolis next month.

Aszani is moving to be closer to her family and will be working at a birth center in the cites. The Madison Birth Center will stay open with new midwifery team. Sadly the other midwives we also grew to love and trust will be moving on as well, and I wish them all the best. I’m sure the new midwives will be wonderful,  but I will always miss the women who where there for me.   Things wouldn’t have been the same without  Anastasia and  Mary, but most of all Aszani.   She was the woman who caught my babies, but she was so much more than that. As I write this through my tears I know the woman in her new practice will realize what a gift they have in her, and I’m sure she will earn a special place in their hearts as she has in ours.

Scattered Thunderstorms

It was a day of scattered thunderstorms, and not just the weather. The weed-whacker broke, the lawn mower broke, realized the tractor dump box was broke, final touches on the remodeling of Clara’s room went poorly, and rain came and went interrupting an already unproductive day even further. Fortunately like the weather the sun came out tonight. Clara went to bed early and John, Ivy and I had dinner together.  It was delicious, grilled pork tenderloin from our own pig,  Andy’s asparagus, potatoes and schaum tortes with strawberries for dessert!  A great end to a rotten day.

Barefeet and Sheep

Yesterday I went to help my cousins Sue and George with their sheep. There were nine of us working yesterday, if you count Clara, which you really shouldn’t.  Activities ranged from trimming hooves, worming, and vaccinating sheep to hydrating the sheep catchers, making lunch and watching Clara, which is why she doesn’t get to count as a helper.  I believe Sue said that we worked with about 150 ewes and their lambs, (but she can correct me if I’m wrong!) a big work day but one I try to help out with every year. 

I like to help out for quite a few reasons:

– George and Sue are always willing to help us out so it’s always good to reciprocate so they don’t just laugh next time we ask if they will come down with their weed wrench for the day and teach us more about building fences.

-Most of the people helping were family and it’s nice to see people and get some visiting in, between getting dragged around by sheep.

-Ten of the sheep got to come back to our house when we were done to inhabit our pastures for the summer.

-Nobody else lets me give them injections.

-I do not believe I am  alone in thinking there is something fun/satisfying in being able to catch a sheep and move it somewhere else, don’t ask me why, but don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it!

-But most of all, I got to see George working in his barefeet.

You see it just so happens that I hate wearing shoes, but not as much as I hate wearing socks, and so I go barefoot when possible. This means that I frequently get harassed about going barefoot, or wearing flip-flops in November,or about how I’m going to hurt myself, or get tetanus, or whatever the person harassing thinks is the biggest icky danger out there.  I of course think I’m completely reasonable in my shoe choices or lack there of, but when I watch George work I realize that it’s all relative. Yesterday I wore tennis shoes, with socks. * All the pictures in this post (except my bare toes) were taken by my Aunt Helen who added photo journalist and weeding to her list of chores yesterday.  Thanks for letting me use the pictures Helen!*

** It seems according to both my spell checker and Websters dictionary that barefeet is not a real word. I decided I don’t care, it should be and I’m using it anyway!**

Roofing

Over the big Memorial Day weekend, we headed to Pewaukee to help my Mom and Dad re-roof their house. Below should be (emphasis on the should I’ve never attempted this before) a time lapse video of the project. At the end of the movie you can see the shingles going up above the garage and over the porch they are brown so look close!  Notice, how the video ends before the roof is completed…

Sorry ’bout that guys…
From Movies

I wasn’t actually on the roof though.

Ever.

Because I would hate that.

A lot.

Instead Sarah and I got to be the child watchers/ food prepers…

What I have learned about roofers is that they eat a lot and that they get really tired.

This is my Mom.

I think she is sleeping.

On her roof.

What I have learned about myself is that sometimes chasing after kids and trying to keep them from climbing ladders while making dinner for…counting on my fingers…oh man it was eleven if you count the babies, is not a lot fun even when doing it with your best friend!

But I’d still rather do that then climb around on a roof.

I mean really do they look like they had fun to you?

Little Friends

This was the first weekend James (Sarah’s son, more on him over at The Little Cherubs)and Clara spent together that they really started to interact. Just four months apart it has still taken quite awhile for Clara to “catch up” enough to be able to “play” with James. This weekend they shared toys, food, sippy cups and kisses… this week I’m sure we’ll discover that they shared a few viruses as well!  But until the snot starts running I’ll just be happy Clara has a new little friend!

Crafty Piper

Awhile ago I wrote a bit about Piper and mentioned that she was a crafty dog. I’m sure half of you just laughed at me thinking my big ‘ole dog was crafty. But she is, and I’ll tell you about it.

All dogs are bred to do something, point, flush, pull, track, retrieve, and Great Dane’s are no different. Originally bred as boar hunters they later became “estate dogs” when boar hunting fell out of fashion.  Estate dog = big dog, sit around, look pretty, bark at stuff….. and that’s Piper.  And let me tell you, she takes that sitting around portion of her job seriously!  In fact in Piper’s world, sitting around is everything. Preferably this should be done on a nice soft surface, a couch is preferred, and  all sorts of irritations  can be dealt with so long as you can keep that spot…

Piper will put up with unwanted affection from kids…

…from adults……and from dogs..

…and she will share, when she would rather not.

The only real problem Piper has is when she has no comfy spot…

A few years ago Piper and I were visiting my Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad’s house has a big tiled living room with one big couch in it. In Pipers world the couch is the ONLY acceptable place to lay down, tile is not comfy and the carpeted areas are too far out of the action. This night however my parents three dogs had already taken up the entire couch. Piper whined and stared at them, but to no avail.  Then my Mom and I watched Piper leave the room,  go over to a basket of dog toys, pick one out, come back and drop it in front of the couch. Three dogs then jumped off the couch to investigate the toy, and Piper jumped up in her favorite spot.

Crafty.

She must have realized how effective the bait and switch tactic was because a few weeks later she tried it out on John. John and I were going to bed one night and Piper wanted up on the bed too. She was told to go away, and after many pathetic looks and whimpers she finally “gave up” and went down stairs.  Just after that Piper started barking. I (the wimpy, I’m not checking out strange noises in the dark)wife, sent my (big strapping I’ll be a man and investigate) husband down to check out the problem. Turns out there was no problem. As soon as John made it downstairs Piper stopped barking, ran upstairs and jumped on his side of the bed.

Crafty.

Piper has got some brains in that thick head of hers, she just needs the proper incentive to use them.

Oh, and sometimes she pheasant hunts.

But it makes her tired!