Sunday morning at the farm

We spent this morning before church visiting a local farm, a friend of my husband's.

Our little girl brought her tractor with and was excited to see a tractor immediately upon arrival.









We started the day out with an amazing farm breakfast: fresh apple juice, fresh from the cow milk, Swedish pancakes with homemade strawberry jam, sausage and cheese.





Then we visited the animals:






























We enjoyed looking at their gorgeous landscaping and learned about how corn on the cob grows.















Our little girl even was able to take a peacock feather home with her, which excited her beyond belief as she wire her favorite peacock barrette to the farm and saw a real peacock!


A fun experience that we are grateful to have shared this morning!

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The cradle

This cradle has been in my family for four generations. It’s old, roughly 90 years old. And it likely has monetary value as an antique, but the value to me is more sentimental.
I remember when my grandma first suggested it to me when I was pregnant with our first baby. The conversation went something like this:
Grams: “Do you want to use the family cradle for your baby? It’s really old and came from the dump. I slept in it when I was little.”
Me: (leerily envisioning a very unstable piece of furniture after eyeing up all the shiny new baby furniture in the store. Not because I am opposed to reusing/repurposing!): “Is it safe? If it’s that old I bet it has lead paint…”
Grams: “It’s been stripped of old paint, repainted, repaired and is surprisingly sturdy, given all the usage the cradle has had over the years.”
I checked it out…and I was in love. The idea that this cradle has been in my family for decades (and who knows how much it was used in its prior life before my great- grandpa found it at the dump) and has been used and loved and passed back and forth warms my heart. And it really is beautiful. It’s sturdy and rocks back and forth and if I am being honest, it is made better than the modern day baby furniture I ordered once the cradle has been outgrown.
With the large family I have, I cannot fathom how many babies have slept in it. My grandma and her siblings were among the first when the cradle was brought into my family then their children, and their children’s children and so on. Our little girl slept in it when she was brought home from the hospital and still sleeping in our room in those first few weeks.




Now our next baby will also take it’s turn, sleeping (hopefully through the night very quickly!) in this family heirloom.




~Angela

A week without kids

We spent last week at home, just my husband and I, as our little girl has been on “vacation” with my mom. Vacation consisted of staying at my mom’s house and getting lots of love and attention from her favorite uncle and my extended family. It’s strange without her at home in a rare quiet way. Her laughter, energy and presence fills our home and without her here, I could feel something missing. And although it’s comforting to know that she was having so much fun she doesn’t want to talk to me on the phone, I missed hearing her sweet little voice, her giggles, her squeals and the look on her face when I pick her up after work each day.

We had big plans for the week, filled with date nights and getting extra sleep. But life often has other plans. There was the night I was SURE there was an armed and dangerous man in the woods behind our house and calked the police who came over to check it out. He was not there, but I still spent most of the night wide awake, too scared to sleep. Then there was the flat tire my husband and his friend had that stranded them in a hail storm so I ventured out to pick them up. The errands that I had been putting off for weeks, knowing I’d have more time for them this week could be put off no longer. Little stresses in the grand scheme of life and comical to me, even now. And although not necessarily high on the fun scale for most people, we have been getting a lot of things done around the house and yard. The crib is assembled and ready for baby, the dresser in the nursery stocked, the diapers organized in the baby’s bathroom, baby book is full of information up to this point. Laundry is done. Our house is clean. Christmas shopping is under way. The to-do list is shrinking. It’s a combination of nesting and the extra time on my hands. Time that is usually spent being a parent. And although I feel “caught up” with a lot of things, I miss the chaos that can be the bedtime and morning routines, the exhaustion of playing outside late at night after being tired from work. I miss my little girl.

In between errands and both my husband and I working this week, we had a fun day out with friends that we are still talking about, we’ve squeezed in a few dates (eating dinner at 9:00pm like we did when we dated- late night dinners are something we still enjoy, but are just so much less practical with children). We’ve slept in (taking full advantage, knowing this will not happen for some time, especially with a new baby on the way). And we’ve had uninterrupted time to talk, just the two of us. To plan, to dream, just to be together. And it’s been nice. It’s been rejuvenating.

But I am was so ready to get my little girl back in my arms, to have my family together again. And yesterday was a low key, wonderful day at home, filled with hugs and cuddles and little moments that we missed.

~Angela
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Differences

I was out running errands the other day with my little girl and we were racing through Menards “superfast” (which as of late, is a brisk walk at best. My running days are over until after this baby is born) and I hear my little girls say “Stop, Mama.” We never stop when I am pushing her cart superfast; if anything, she encourages me to go faster. So I stopped. “Mom, look, that man only has one leg. Why does he only have one leg?” Indeed, there was a gentleman on crutches with only one leg.
I often think how I will answer these opportunities-to-learn questions my daughter poses to me ahead of time, because when put on the spot, I know the words out of my mouth are important. They are setting a standard for how she will treat people. These innocent questions from my three year old deserve an honest answer and I know she doesn’t forget anything. I think back to the questions/observations that have been thrown at me, just a sampling so far, although I anticipate more like this in the curiosity that is childhood, at which currently we are on the brink of: “Mom, look, that man’s chair is fast! I want one of those” referring to a person in a wheelchair. “Why does that girl laugh funny?” “Her skin in black.”
So how do I answer this question of the man with one leg? I replied to her “Everyone is different.” And her reply “Like my birthmark? My friends don’t have a birthmark. I’m different.” With tears in my eyes, I thought to myself exactly and went on and said as much to her. Thinking to myself, She is getting it. She may be young, but my little girl understands some concepts and this is one. A big one. “It’s ok to be different, right mom?” she asks me. Oh boy. I guess we did not quite hit the nail on the head with this one.
I went on to explain that it is absolutely ok to be different. Some people are taller than others (my little girl: “like Daddy? He is big as the sky!”), some people are shorter. Some people have dark skin and others have light skin. Some people have freckles and birthmarks and long hair and short hair. Some people have one leg and others have two legs. But we treat everyone the same.
She listened intently and I hope she understands. As important as this discussion was (spawned by a simple honest question), I know my little girl learns by example just as much. I strive to treat everyone the same always, but this reminder was a good one for me as well.
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The stump

On a recent vacation along Lake Superior, I found this beauty floating in the water and knew it was meant to be in my home.

I said to myself, “I wish my husband were here with me because I really want that stump” as he is always game to go along with my crazy ideas. Like the time I filled a backpack full of rocks on another trip to Lake Superior and he insisted on carrying that, even though he was on crutches at the time… But since he was not on the vacation with us, I instead took matters into my own hands and dragged this beautiful piece of wood out of the water (which was no small feat) and attempted to roll it to my car, which was parked approximately ¼ of a mile away.

Since I am 7 months pregnant, I gladly took on assistance from my mom and a few other strangers on the beach.

Then I recruited a few more strangers to lift it into my vehicle. It’s heavy because it is so large and because it is water logged and covered with sand.

I estimate it will take a few months to dry out. We have the perfect place for this stump as a table in our home, filling a spot recently created when I sold my husband’s favorite table (oops).
Stay tuned for an update in a few months…
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