Hannah commented that I was permitted a lapse in posting, as long as I don't fail to give proper notice when our little girl arrives in a few weeks. I'm sure that won't be a problem - in the ecstatic glow after birth, I generally write up several pages of a birth story, and this time probably won't be any different. But in the meantime, I also thought I shouldn't fail to give homage to another birth, in which my sister Mary K. produced a snugglekins of a little girl just last week.

Welcome to the world, Lucca!

(That's her dad's chest, by the way!)

She was born at home, arriving well after her due date and weighing in at 9 pounds, both factors which would have had doctors itching to induce, and thus likely robbing my sister of the peaceful birth I believe she experienced. So it's primarily for that reason I am so glad she was able to be at home. But really more than that, I am thrilled that Mary K. had the opportunity to become educated about birth before having her first baby, so that when the time came, she was able to know what she wanted and to make her own choices, and I'm proud of her for having the confidence to trust in those choices, wherever she might have chosen to have her baby. Not many of us are able to do that at the very beginning of our mothering experiences; most of us have had to learn things the hard way. My own journey has been a long winding one over ten years, covering a variety of birth experiences as it has led me to where I am now on the birth spectrum. Despite the fact that there were things I would have done differently for those births early in the journey, I do value being able to relate to moms and their different birth experiences, as well as being able to look at my sister and her delicious pink bundle and feeling so relieved for her that both of them were spared those effects of medically managed birth that I really do regret. (Episiotomy - need I say more???)

But I do not mean to wax too philosophical here. We are just so happy to have this new niece and cousin, and the kids, who prayed faithfully for her safe arrival, were very excited to meet her the very same day she was born.

Here's the oldest and the youngest of my parent's grandchildren, girls nearly ten years apart.

And the boys waiting their turn....

And Amita enjoying a snuggle (I am NEVER called Aunt Anne). Did I mention this baby is snuggly?

Excuses, Excuses

I see that once again, I have let a ridiculously long period of time lapse in between posts. This used to happen because of the whirlwind of activity that kept us on the go most of the spring semester, and then it happened because I was just trying to be done with school for our mini summer break. During this period of time, my goals changed almost hourly - "Let's get this book done... or at least to lesson such-and-such... Ok, let's bake a chocolate cake and celebrate being done with school today! I rationalize this by adding to/elaborating on my educational philosophy, and explaining (to myself) that since I am not passing my students off to anyone next year, what does it matter if we just pick up where we left off in certain subjects? Even if we didn't make it to an even-numbered lesson in the book. And now that I've said that I feel obligated to explain that the kids did make it through some of their books, and if we didn't see the end of a book, it was usually because I didn't find those particular books a priority and felt we could easily "catch-up" later. The kids aren't "behind" on any subjects, and in fact, Aimee's standardized test scores arrived a couple weeks ago, and...well, it seems she's doing more than fine. So.

But now that we're finished with school proper for several weeks (and get this, I don't have a plan AT ALL for when we're going to start back up again! Our usual schedule would have us starting July 5th, and we might be a little preoccupied with other things around that time this year.), my excuses for not having posted are...are... I'm not exactly sure. It could be because of my intense nesting projects that have been going on in the house the past several weeks, and are scheduled to wrap up in the next couple weeks. It could be just the general tunnel vision into which my perspective has been narrowing, as the time for a certain little girl's arrival steadily approaches and I find myself hunkering down and getting mind, body, and spirit ready for the task - and the glories - ahead.

Or it could be the time-consuming business of attending to my current mothering projects, such as the one who walked up the hallway a few days ago, brandishing safety scissors and a particularly impish grin. "I gave Duchess [the cat] a haircut!" he announced proudly. Thankfully, he's not at all sneaky. For him, there's not much fun in doing something if you aren't going to let people know you did it. I didn't think the cat would really have sat still long enough for him to have snipped any fur, but I still went investigating, and sure enough, I found a not-insignificant pile of white fur on my bedroom floor. Then yesterday, just as I went into the bathroom (of course it never fails), both little boys came in from outside, calling my name. They found me, and Chase came right in (of course) and said, "Mommy, I have a worm present for you!", thrusting said "present" into my face and then laughing hysterically at my involuntary reaction. That same little boy is sporting a bloody nose this morning after the morning's wrestling session with his brother didn't go so well. But despite of, or because of, all this sort of thing, he's just so cute, which makes the necessity of keeping my eye on him at all times not such a hardship after all.

So all that doesn't explain much, but at least it comprises something to post this morning!