I think we're better, finally!

Man were we sick. But now we're okay!

We went to co-op yesterday, after being away for over a month between holidays and sickness. Everyone did pretty well. I keep the uncooperative ones (ha ha, you see what I did there) in the vestibule while the students are in class. It's a pain to stay and a pain to leave, but we usually choose to stay. It takes an hour and a half to drive home and back to the church and the kids are there for... an hour and a half. So there's no point in going home. And as far as doing anything other than going home, the church is ten miles outside of city limits in the middle of a wheatfield. So going anywhere else is problematic too. We usually just sit around and wait.

Yesterday was tolerable though, because I brought brand new markers and three pads of heavy paper. Bede, Trixie and Gloria spent the whole time drawing. I never liked to draw as a child, and I certainly don't as an adult, so it's kind of alien to me that someone could spend hours making marks on paper. And the marks look like, you know, art.

Dorothy spent the whole time in my lap. She's less shy than she has been, but she wasn't quite up to snuff yesterday still. Here she is, still slightly snotty.

See how I'm keepin' it real? Just ignore the incredibly messy house and focus on the crusty haystack-headed toddler. Wait, that didn't come out right. Oh well, she's sure cute.

It is nice to have a reason for the house to be messy, though. Usually it's just because we're kinda lazy.

Carseat get: SnugRide 30

With another baby comes another carseat. Now, we have a big car (a Freghtliner-branded Mercedes Sprinter) but we also have a lot of folks to fit in it. So a round of carseat juggling is in order.

Dorothy has a convertible Graco My Ride 65 much like this, although a year older. It's a fine seat but man is that thing wiiiiiide. And tall! I mean, it fits kids to 46 inches (116 cm), it has to be tall. Anyway, it's a big seat!

We wanted something a little smaller for Clementine so we would have more options as to where to place seats. We do like the Graco line in general, so I looked at their infant seats.

(A brief aside to those less knowledgeable about carseats: Infant seats are the smaller, baby bucket type seats. They fit younger babies and toddlers, and are only rear-facing. Convertible seats are the larger seats that always stay in the car. They can go from rear facing to forward facing, hence "convertible". They fit babies from newborn to 40 pounds and beyond.)

A recent trend in infant seats is a welcome one: they are available for taller and heavier infants. They used to go to 22 pounds and 29 inches tall, which my kids would bust rather quickly. (Wee Glees are not really so wee.) Many newer seats go to 30 or 35 pounds, and fit 30 to 32 inches (76-81 cm.) The reason all this matters is: the longer a kid can rear face, the better, as it is much harder on the body to be in a car accident facing forward, especially young bodies with disproportionately heavy noggins and scrawny little necks.

There were two Graco models in the running, the SnugRide 30 and the SnugRide 35. I went with the 30, because I wanted to be sure someone could ease past it to sit in the middle between it and the Barcalounger, I mean, My Ride 65. I got this design for the cover

SnugRide 30

because it was the lightest color, and in Oklahoma summertime the car gets Very Hot. I would have loved it to be even lighter, but there you go.

Thus endeth the long Carseat Ramble! I may thrill you even further with photographs of the install, if you are really, really good.

Still sick

Pale and tired, but much better than I was.

illness ebbs and flows

Last night was rough for the ill, but Dorothy, Faith, and all the other wee Glees are unfevered today! However, now I have it. Ugh! Being the mother, I get no sick day unless I am near death (and mercifully I am not.) So my plan is to sit very still, sleep if possible, and read Pete the Cat a hundred times to Dorothy.

Dorothy calls it "meow Oh No!" while she signs "shoes".

A wee test

In the interest of spamming all my friends, I mean, blogging more, I have set this to autopost to both Google+ and (using ifttt.com) Facebook whenever I blog. If it becomes tiresome I'll stop it.

Below is a picture, which I hope the autoposters pick up for the post photo, instead of the standard sidebar photo.

It's a cool Chesterton t-shirt, available here.

That looks handy

Found floating around Facebook:

22 Absolutely Essential Diagrams You Need For Camping

Sick kids

Faith and Dorothy are both ill.

Dorothy and the Aristocats

She is very Meow! Meow! Dah! Meow!

Two cart day

And so it begins

Dorothy can climb up on the benches.

Dorothy at Mass

Since I'm halfway there, I'm easing Dorothy into care from others during Mass. She spent about 20 minutes not in my lap, quiet and happy. A good start!

Gloria's haircut

I did a good job!

Ramona Quimby redux

It was so quiet. I've been a mother long enough to know that that is often bad and sure enough...

This little girl ate one bite out of each of these apples.

 She's not actually sorry though, see?

Little scamp!

Park day

We went to the park today with friends. I am exhausted. I think it was too much sun more than activity. I need a nap.

Halfway there!

I am in my 20th week of pregnancy 8! I am still so surprised by this baby that it doesn't seem real. But as you see, she's real!

Baby blanket and names

I'm knitting a little garter stitch blanket for the new baby. This isn't the best photo on this gray fall day but I am making progress.

This is the third such blanket I have knit. The first was for Tabitha's third child, Toly, and the second was for Gloria.

I will know next Wednesday whether I am knitting for a daughter or a son. I am having a hard time with the wait and I wonder how I went without knowing until the birth three times! (Gilbert, Trixie, Gloria)

We have finalized names to call the baby for either sex. We toyed with some names earlier but these are The Names:

Boy: Duncan
Girl: Clementine

I can't go to the ultrasound without knowing the baby's name. I know some people say to wait and then you'll have 50% fewer names to consider but I want to say right then "It's Clementine! Hi baby!"

We decide on the name the child is called together, but Sean picks middle names and I don't know what he's currently thinking over. He sometimes doesn't know himself until the baby is baptized, or when we register the birth with the state, whichever comes first. He teases me about it too, coming up with ridiculous names, and since he fills out the paperwork I don't know until it's final.

He keeps me on my toes.

Rawr!

Dorothy the Fierce! Only she can't say rrr, so her growl is more like "Yie!"

Such short posts

Since we moved this summer, we have had extremely limited internet. It means that we get 60 GB per month, which gives each of us a bit more than 200 megabytes of data per day.

That is not much data.

It means that I use my phone and the kids use a single computer. We have no Minecraft, no Netflix, no YouTube. (Well, maybe a little YouTube. But with only 200 MB, not much!)

This is both good and bad, but mostly bad. I have friends with similar bandwidth diets who have no trouble with it, but they have much smaller and younger families. It simply will not work for us but we have essentially no alternatives - the only other option is a T1 line at around $660 per month.

Since I don't use the computer much, most of my typing is done on this phone. It's certainly better than nothing but it is not ideal. I guess my point is this: have pity on me and my autocorrect typos, and also don't judge me by my brevity.

I guess that's it for now.

Hmm

Something got lost in translation...

Halloween pics

We had a nice Halloween. Faith was 41, from Return of the Dapper Men, Abby was an airship pilot, Bede was Timmy Turner from the Fairly Odd Parents, Gilbert was Mario, Trixie was the Great and Powerful Trixie from My Little Pony, Gloria was Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony and Dorothy was a fox kit.