I have almost survived our busiest week of the year, but it’s not over yet. This evening I took my girls to meet friends at the skating rink. This was only their second time skating; it’s not something we do regularly. They had so much fun and I felt awfully proud of myself for taking them. My girls thought I was silly when I told them with great enthusiasm that it had really been a great day because: we finished our lessons, I cooked dinner and took some photographs (of yarn) AND I took them skating! Huge accomplishments.
I somehow forgot how hard it is to do anything with a baby. I don’t mean for that to sound terrible. I guess it probably sounds more ridiculous than anything that I forget what it’s like to have a baby considering I’ve done this quite a few times before. I’m like a professional baby haver with a bad case of amnesia.
Milestones this week:
Beatrix had her first softball game and she was predictably fantastic and hilarious. She sang (loudly) and danced on each base until Jonny suggested that she might be distracting the girls at bat. She wasn’t pleased with him for interrupting her.
Mabel mastered thumb-sucking, my first baby to do so. I find it exceptionally cute. She’s drooling rivers and I wonder if she might get teeth earlier than my other babies?
Jonny had a birthday. He might tell you that he’s 27, but the candles on his pie give him away.
Tomorrow Seth turns 16. He scowled when I told him tonight that I can remember his brooding three year old face, but I do. I love that little face, just a memory now. I remember walking every day through the woods next to our college apartment with him on my back. I remember studying for my weed science exam with him on my chest. I remember acting super silly to make him laugh and him staring back at me like I was a total moron. I can’t believe 16 years have gone by so quickly. Oh man. It’s so bittersweet. But mostly sweet, right? I think I’m going to grab my pint of cinnamon ice cream out of the freezer and watch Poldark now to stave off “Where did the time go?” tears.
p.s. I almost cried when I came into the kitchen to find Job “making paint.” I still haven’t gotten the purple out of the table, but his face is back to normal, so that’s good.
p.p.s. I am updating my shop on Monday! 11 a.m. EST.
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I love this post. I think it’s one of my favorite’s yet. Must be all the pictures of your kids. I miss them 🙂 A drive to Virginia is in my future. When your able to handle me and some of my kids 🙂 I love those kind of days you mentioned…where you got so much done! I don’t have a baby yet I still struggle getting stuff done! Must be all the carting to and from school and feeling immobilized by a very active 2 year old. 🙂 I know we will miss these days when they are gone! Oh none of that talk — my tears fall easily when I think about the day when they are all big! (meaning 5 and up—it’s even worse when I think of 10 and up or worse yet 18 and up) Love you Foremans.
gosh my daughter infused friend Ginny – I have missed you! I tell myself how would she ever find the time to post anything with her busy home. But like the strongest women I know you do the impossible everyday. Love you and so love your photos you are so cute.
Love Bonnie S.
Haha! I think all “professional baby-haver’s” have a bad case of amnesia; I certainly do!
Happy Birthday to Jonny and Seth! Oh boy, which of you gets to teach Seth to drive, now that he is 16?
Those thumb sucking pictures are simply adorable. Mabel seems extremely at peace with herself.
Happy birthday to Jonny and to Seth!
And Bea is just so awesome! You go girl!
Oh, your ” great day” brought back so many memories ☺️. I remember dancing and singing round the kitchen to keep my first baby entertained until I had supper cooked. And how it is in many ways easier with older ones to hold and entertain the new little one but then there is so much more to do! Especially with a wider age range in a family I think we are caught between the need to be home based for the little ones and going out into the world with the older ones.
I so enjoy your blog posts for their beautiful positivity and reality too. Thank you. x
Balancing the home centered lifestyle vs “the out in the world” needs of the older children is certainly a challenge. It’s refreshing to have that stated so simplistically because it validates the experience of addressing both ends of such a broad spectrum! No wonder I feel stretched!! 🙂
Ah taking the girls skating. I remember spending Wednesday nights at the roller skating rink. Fond memories. And I think it is pretty easy to forget what it is like to have a new baby and how hard that makes accomplishing anything. So yeah for your day. Cute pictures.
My daughter Paige and I are wondering what type of rodent that is. It looks kind of like a Northern Grasshopper Mouse or perhaps a Deer mouse?
I have an almost-15 year old. I can’t hardly believe it … those years sure were short…
whew! I think it is normal that one forgets these things; just being so tired I think would cause both the feeling of elation and the forgetting of it! 🙂 God bless you and your lovely family!
Love those pictures of Beatrix, you can totally tell how much she’s enjoying the game! Wonderful. Hope she has many equally exciting softball games ahead of her! Those pictures of Larkspur holding Mabel are really sweet, too.
Happy Birthday to both Seth and Jonny! 🙂
PS. How did I *just* realize that your names (Ginny & Jonny) sound adorable together? Ha!
Love everything about this post!
Nice job on all of it Ginny!
Oh I love that picture of Mabel sucking her thumb…so sweet. I’ve got a granddaughter that is 6 and she can’t seem to keep her thumb out of her mouth if she’s watching a movie or is tired or once she falls asleep.
I love the dishes you are using for Jonny’s birthday. Isn’t it nice to use the “fancy” dishes once in a while.
Happy birthday to Jonny!!
Seth is 16!! that is amazing, and I loved the teen years (I might have mentioned) I loved their breaking away, their awkwardness, their attitude and their thoughts on all sorts of things. I love how they form their own ideas independent of us and it’s all amazing.
I wish I felt like that when I had babies but babies stressed me out so much. Teens energized me and all was good in the world. Teens brush their own teeth!!!
Lovely post and you are getting tons of stuff done in your world. Do you remember Bea and all the painting of her face and windows? I do.
Ah, dear, sweet, Job. I do believe that child will test you on a regular basis for the rest of his life. I speak from the heart because I have one of them. Are you heading to Montpelier this weekend?
Ah, Poldark. I’m obsessed.
Jonny’s way of counting sounds good to me. I had the same birthday on Wed.!
Love Poldark too! This vet homeschooler is doing where did the time go as my oldest prepares
To be a mom with her first. Sweet.
Dear Ginny, You are the missing ingredient in my life. 💕💕💕
“I’m like a professional baby haver with a bad case of amnesia.” Oh my goodness this hit home with me today! But I don’t even have the baby yet. 5 weeks to #9, and I’m in slow motion unable to finish any task in any sort of reasonable time frame. Before you had Mabel, I was blown away by all you could accomplish while at the end of your pregnancy. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m 10 years older than you are! #7 was my one and only thumbsucker … still fighting it in preschool … UGH! So cute as a baby tho.
A wonderful and cheering post, as always xx
A thumb sucker! So stinkin cute!
My 9 month old, Lucia, started sucking her thumb at 2 months. So adorable and so helpful. She is my first thumb sucker and the ability for her to self sooth is astonishing. No more nursing babies to sleep. She would rather nurse and then go to her crib with her thumb. Amazing…
I sit here in my quiet home and wonder often at the passing of time. Yes, time goes by very quickly. Miss Bea has really grown, and I am thrilled that she is loving ball. A musical softball player? Love it!
Your Mabel pic is just out of this world gorgeous! I wish we could all relax as well as that.
” I’m like a professional baby haver with a bad case of amnesia. ”
That was awesome. Love ya Ginny. I just do.
My favorite line, too. 🙂
I don’t know what he made paint with but I do know if toothpaste or ground up chalk can take sharpie off wood without damaging the finish it’s worth a shot. And coming from me and my mother in law, both teachers by trade and mothers of boys, you can take those methods to the bank!
I wish I had a friend like you. Xxxx
Oh man….my third one sucked her thumb…and I’m with you..so cute. And she was one of those kids that had her thumb in her mouth constantly until she was 4…then decided to stop and that was the end of that. But it was so great at giving her comfort where ever she was-whenever she needed it. As you can see…I am Pro-thumb sucking! And no….didn’t wreak her teeth, or make her talk funny, or cause her to smoke…she is a beautiful, talented, smart, kind adult who has her life pretty much together. Do not listen to the anti-thumb folks…just don’t!
I loved my thumb sucker – great sleeper and great traveller! But she did not stop until she was 9 when the first orthodontic appliance was put in. She spent 6 years at the orthodontist and now has a permanent bar in her mouth and a retainer to wear for life (the new normal). When she was in a lot of pain with her braces a friend of ours asked her if sucking her thumb had been worth it, without a pause she replied, “Absolutely!” She has a gorgeous smile now. The goal is to have them stop sucking before they get their adult teeth.
Depending on what the “paint” was made out of and how deep into the wood it got, toothpaste might work. It got not-so-washable marker off our chairs after my littlest found an unattended marker and went for broke.
Fiberfest at Montpelier is this weekend. I don’t know if that is something you are familiar with, but it is such an amazing display of fiber from many sources–rabbits, alpaca, sheep. There’s sheering, displays of finished work, weaving, felting, and lots of local vendors selling both supplies and finished products. And sheepdog trials. Some food vendors, but many people bring picnics. Relatively inexpensive. Not sure how far it would be from you, but we have such a wonderful time there and always look forward to it. Nice family activity with LOTS of wiggle room for littles. http://fallfiberfestival.org/