cartoon time!

achtung baby

here's the newest whocaresian! thanks all for your calls and prayers over the last week. i feel and appreciate the support even from a long distance.

it's been a crazy time. here's the short version: after a long labor, it was clear that we weren't making progress due to ben's position, so the midwife recommended a c-section. yeh. all went fine, and recovery continues to go okay except for a really interesting amount of swelling.

ben was born with a belly button problem that required a minor surgery to correct, so he's in the nicu and is recovering well. it makes me absolutely hysterical when they do routine things that make him cry, so i've been feeling some stress. got to feed him myself today, which benefited me much more than him, i'm sure. anyway, wow. hard to find words for the enormity of feeling. lots of you already know. motherhood is a force of nature.

learn from my errors

if you see these chips, run! for some strange reason, my sweet-tooth has turned salty & the snack that always sounds good is plain tortilla chips.

monday night was fantastic. jason kept the kids while i went into town for groceries & a few returns. i ate dinner with kate, returned a few things, & got to kroger's at 8:45. it's so wonderful to grocery shop alone.

and in the periodical section of the store there's a little area with leather chairs so you can sit down & relax with a good magazine. sparing you the details, i read some magazines & got side-tracked & was in a hurry to get the stuff we needed. and i ended up grabbing a bag of LIGHT tortilla chips.

this is a big mistake. i had stomach cramps for the past 2 days after eating those chips made with "olean". the side effects listed are: abdominal cramps, diarrhea, & anal leakage. beware!

A Son is Born

the water breaks! the labor begins! and continues for 22 hours! and finally...

by way of c-section, benjamin andrew was born last night, or early this morning, weighing 7lb 14oz (i think). darby is calm, serene & a bit loopy (aaah, medication).

congratulations, professor. we love you!

charleston and the swamp--better than europe and the mountains, respectively

hi friends.

here are a few pictures from my southern adventures. brooke came for a visit over her fall break and we made it down to charleston and then to the conagree swamp. the swamp has lizards. and bootleggers' stows. and loblolly pines and bald cypress knees. and charleston has the ocean (and beach gnats that bite you where it's not modest to bite, but oh well.) and sweetgrass baskets. good, good times. and i promise to show you no less of a good time if you come on down and see me.

Okay, someone has to buy this. A little Princess Lea costume!?!

Caron? Lindsay? You have little girls. Daphne, Anne Marie you have nieces. We already have a costume for Ada, but man, this is so tempting.

Interesting name.

Today I'm working on a large memorial scroll for a hospice organization in town. I'm writing out 230 names of people who have died this past year. One of the names was Rebeljane (first name, not last). Makes me wish I would have known her. How could someone named Rebeljane not just be the most interesting person ever??

growing pains

Our little church is in week 7 or 8 now... working out all the kinks and talking about our foundational principles, our vision, our dreams. One structural thing that was decided on before our first meeting ever happened was that kids would stay with their folks during worship and then be dismissed to their classrooms. This has been stated and explained during service nearly every week since we started, along with other basic things that we want to be/do as a church.

This last Sunday we were waiting for our pastor after service to talk for a few minutes and there was a gal waiting to see him right before us. She obviously was very passionant about what she needed to say to him, not afraid to have a public/private conversation (I could have easily heard them talk had I not tried to be distracted). To my surprise, he answered her with more "passion" than I would have expected from him (since he is a pretty gentle spirit). She seemingly took his reply in stride and they finished thier conversation amicably enough. I know I heard them both thank one another for talking.

Later as we talked with him, he apologized for being stuck far too long in that conversation while he knew we were waiting. He was caught off-guard but felt she needed to be addressed. In a nutshell, her struggle was over how rude and inconsiderate the parents and children around her were during worship. They were not totally quiet and the parents apparently were not concerned to keep them quiet either. His reply to her was that she was like the disciples, who didn't want the children to draw near to Jesus. Her response was to re-defend her point and contend that he (our pastor) wasn't understanding where she was coming from... but I am telling you friends, something inside of me has been set-free by his simple defense. It is hard for Nate and I not be concerned when Isaac wants to dance off-to-the- side with his little friends or if he makes car noises running his cars along the floor during a song... but wow, has my heart been freshly cared-for as a mom wanting and praying for her kiddo to know who and what Jesus is really like.

update: wild oats

I just drove by today and everything in the Omaha store is 35% off! Must have been in the past couple of days, because my mom was in there on Monday and said nothing was on sale yet.

Amish Delight

I have a couple extra bags of amish friendship bread starter. Anyone want one? sorry you must live in omaha for this offer to apply. I am leaving town at 8:00am tomorrow morning. Call me if you want some and you can either pick it up or i can drop it off.

I added the following goodies to the regular recipe, which made it extra delightful
--dried mixed berries, cherries
--coconut
--pecans
--zucchini (small amount, maybe half of one)

mmmmmmmmm, i know you want some

still pregnant

despite being told by the midwife that i could possibly go into labor over the past weekend, i'm still waiting. eating pineapple. going for walks. what have you. next on the docket: castor oil. come on baby, come on!

p.s. i'm not the belly in the picture, but i feel like the belly in the picture.

Any suggestions?

I've asked this to a few of you gals before-- so please, please feel no guilt or anything like that at all just thought I'd tap the WhoCares mind.

I'm looking for someone to watch Ada or Ada/Linus for 4-6 hours a week so I can get some calligraphy work done. I'm sort of picky and would really like someone who I (or you) trust a lot. If you have any ideas, would you mind emailing me? Thanks guys, I really appreciate it a lot. And if I don't say this enuf-- you are a swell group of folks. Love you all.

pew.

any quick tips on how to get stink out of shoes? finn's got two pairs that are beyond putrid.

what cuts the weariness

we woke up this morning & were all a little foggy from all of the hours of sleep we've missed this week, the hectic past months, & practically no time alone as a family. our first saturday morning in our house.

it was cold to hot in an instant. it was lightning bolt fast. it was a conversion of the mood.

kelly called. she said, "jason & i have a present for you. you are flying to new york in november to visit me. we're going to a concert. we're doing all sorts of stuff. for 4 days. it's my birthday present to you."

i spent most of the morning crying. so happy. so excited. an adventure to look forward to.

she lives above this superhero store in brooklyn. oh man. i just can't wait.

I never win anything,

but I did today! A month or so ago I entered my name in an on-line contest sponsored by Ryka athletic shoes to win a new pair of shoes. Behold! On my doorstep today was a brand-new pair.

hoot & holler

just reheated some coffee from this morning. the girls are laughing like hyenas in their room where i've ordered them to stay since they're boycotting the nap (vi lost her pacifier cold turkey this week. my advice: get rid of that pain in the butt apparatus at a young age!). henry is rolling around in the pack-n-play. and i'm listening to song clips from musicians i quit listening to, but need to revisit. you'll catch the similarities. feel free to add to the list:

white heart, margaret becker, sarah masen, raspberry jam, uthanda, rich mullins, charlie peacock (the secret of time-GENIUS), small town poets....

Bye-bye Wild Oats

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I just found out today that Wild Oats will be closing its doors this month. What might NOT be common knowledge is that someone who works there tipped me off that around the 15th or 16th everything in the store will start to be marked down to 50% off.

rabbits. you were right alicia.

you might think i am pulling your leg, but OUR baby number two is due just a few DAYS after alicia! i about died of laughter when i saw alicia's post on monday morning. that makes four whocares babies on their way. at least four that we know of...

the intuitive garden

this is my favorite etsy.com find-- THE INTUITIVE GARDEN. candace, the artist, makes some fantastic pendants, earrings, rings, etc. she is warm & friendly. i got this love bird pendant.

The funniest thing I've heard all day.

Today we met Kyle for lunch in the Gene Lahey mall near Union Pacific. We were meandering along the path on the way climb the "mountain" (a big hill that Linus likes to hike up) and out of no where this squirrel whizzed past my face to which Kyle says, in all seriousness: "Did you see that squirrel? He was, like, all up in your grill." I've not been able to stop giggling about it since.

well versed in "i take that back"

usual pattern: i knock something i know very little about & end up with my foot in my mouth.

i went to my first MOPS meeting last friday morning and it was, of course, a lot of fun. i met some cool moms, my kids had a great time, & the speaker had a lot of great advice. i left the meeting thinking, "why am i such a dummy about things like this?".

are you kidding me?

no, i am not. go here to preorder radiohead's new album, due out october 10th. CHOOSE HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO PAY FOR IT. you can buy the download version, which they email you the code for purchase on october 10th. if you buy the actual album, i think you get it later.

anyway, we did it. and are excited.

whocares multiplies like rabbits...

ok, we aren't multiplying THAT quickly, but Nate and I are contributing one more to the "family". We are prego with kiddo numero dos.... about 8 weeks into it and this pregnancy is a DREAM. After the first one, I was ready for nearly anything and thank the Lord in heaven (and all of your best wishes and prayers) this has been a smoother and much less vomity experience so far.

P.S. Daphne, sorry I alluded to not being pregnant at the concert friday - I should have just told you :-(

hey remember that time when i would only smoke parliaments?

(that was for you, Daphne - i know you love that tune) :-)

I heard Regina Spektor was playing at the Sokol, and since Al was the one who told me about her in the first place, we got tickets and went last night....and ran into Daphne & crew - a nice surprise! Regina was fabulous, coy & clever & a really fine musician; and Daphne & Al even more so for finding a spot for short ol' me to get a glimpse of her at the piano. A great show - but Al & I ditched the encore due to bad (but cute!) footwear choices...we just couldn't take the heel/back pain any longer. Daphne says the 4-song encore was better than the whole rest of the show. Go figure. But I felt so hip, going to a Sokol show and then hitting Mark's afterward for last-call dessert & coffee. I was up half the night still reveling in the unspoken therapy that a girl's-night-out afforded me. FUN! What a novel idea!

Here's a little Regina for you, live from Omaha:

ON SALE!

just wanted everyone to know: i was at wal-mart today & they had razors on mega-sale. ahem.

ah, me so crafty

i'm laughing about the title of this post. still laughing. oh, no one else may "get it" but it's funny to me.

anyhow, i want to do some crafts with the kids, but i do fear the dumb craft ideas. anyone have any good craft memories from your youth, or any good websites to visit? i got the oriental trading company catalog yesterday & we actually ordered a few things (A) & (B) to satisfy.

A WhoCares Family Outing??

Dan Zanes is one of the best children's musicians we've found. He's coming to the Holland Performings Arts Center in April, but tickets are on sale now($10/$15). My family is planning on buying a block for ourselves. We were wondering if you all would be interested in coming with us. Kyle works downtown and could buy them and y'all could just pay us back. Anyway, if you are interested, let me know by Monday. (You don't have to have kids to come, by the way!)