I had published this last week, but I just noticed that it was in my drafts again... huh.
Oh, this boy <3
On Memorial Day, we went to St. Raphael's cemetery to pray the rosary with our priest. There was actually quite a large turnout. AS soon as Father Mick ended, it began to rain, but only for a bit, and then the sun came out again. It was a nice way to honor those who have served and died for our country (We knew several people buried there who served in the military). And it was good to catch up with some friends there afterwards (from a distance).
I cut Mike's hair on the back deck on Tuesday night and had taken the first chop of Toby's when a sudden downpour surprised us (it was stil bright and sunny). I was committed at that point, so we stepped under the small overhang, and I finished the job, but there were clumps of wet hair all over the back deck. We were all excited to spot a beautiful double rainbow our front once the rain stopped.
Wednesday was our last official day of school. We celebrated by ordering breakfast from Panera. I was asking the kids, "Who's excited to be all done with school?" here. Joel's exuberant response: "MEEEEEEEE!" He has no idea. Perhaps he'll get more time to play with siblings? Hehe.
When they were all finished with school on Wedensday, I took the kids over to the other house for a while so we could feed animals and play in the backyard/on the playset. It was fun to watch the forklift raising big sections of wood and the sunroom windows being cut out! It's always exciting to see the new progress there.
After playing at the other house for a while and doing a drive-by visit with some friends, we came home and had dinner. Abigail offered to get out the sprinkler and the little kids out to play in it while Mike and I went on our daily after-dinner walk.
I had napped earlier in the day and had forgotten to turn off my Do Not Disturb feature on my phone. So I missed Abigail's calls. When we got home, she greeted us and told us about all of the "excitement" while we were gone: Toby had swallowed a penny! He had come down from his room while she was washing dishes, and Abigail could see that he looked like he might throw up. She kept asking what was wrong, and finally got out of him that he'd swallowed a coin. It seemed to be stuck in his throat. He drank a bunch of water, and finally got it down. When Mike and I got home, he was playing in the sprinkler as if nothing had happened. I called the pediatrian and spoke with an after-hours on call dr. He said most of the time, they pass just fine, but to make sure that he ate something to push it down the esophagus and to keep an eye on him for the next couiple of days. If his stomach hurt at all (older pennies contain zinc which can cause intestinal problems) that we'd need to take him in. And we are supposed to monitor his stools (SO grateful Mike is home right now!)
35 weeks!
Pregnancy is going fine. Last week, I thought six weeks sounded like such a short time, and this week, five weeks seems like an eternity. Waiting is hard when you're in discomfort and can't sleep. My varicose veins have gotten pretty bad. I will have surgery on them at some point after the baby is born, but it likely won't be for a while. They improve almost immediately after delivery. They've just gotten worse and worse with each pregnancy and ache at the end of the day, despite my wearing support. I will have one more iron infusion mid-June. I wish I could get them more often, as they do help for a few days following, but my energy tapers off after that. Now, it is just difficult to sleep because of how active this babe is and how often I need to empty my bladder.
I was looking forward to having a full month of the kids (minus Joel) being in summer school every weekday from 8-noon, but that won't be happening this year, so we'll see how summer vacation goes without them being able to really go anywhere or see and talk to friends, other than on screens. We are implementing the summer Bingo sheets, personalized for each child, that I've used in the past. They need to cross out five activities in a row ("Read or listen to audiobook for 30-45 minutes," "Do art, crafting, or a science experiment," "Cook or bake something" "play games/work on a puzzle for 30+ minutes," etc.- the free time is 30 minutes outside) in order to earn afternoon screen time (conveniently during Joel's nap time, so I can also get an uninterrupted nap ;-)) .
The kids have been doing so well during this time, and I am incredibly grateful for them. They are so helpful- especially my big girls, who made yummy homemade pizza and salad for dinner tonight while I was out on a walk with Ashley around our neighborhood. I can tell they get stir crazy sometimes, but aren't we all getting stir crazy? I'm glad we can at least go over to the other house some days just for a change of scenery. Now that the weather is nicer, I'm sure we'll be doing that more often. Unfortunately, we're confined to staying in the backyard when we go, and we're not able to use the toilets in the house because our water has been disconnected. We've had a lot of things happening with the house, which I hope to give an update on soon (including some surprises that are making this a bigger project than we bargained for- hopefully, it won't extend the finishing date too much!).
Until next time...
Eggs & waffles for breakfast
Abigail was so eager to give her gift- a bag filled with lots of lovingly homemade items- some scented soaps, "fluffy slime," a peg doll that looks like Iris, some dear little clay creations, a handmade wooden cross... (as well as some of her clothes and doll clothes that Iris has admired :))
Some books to get this girl through summer!
SOOOO excited!
Joel explaining his card, directly before crumpling it up. She'd seen it, and that was enough.
Her morning project
Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa and opening their gifts...
More activities to keep her busy this summer! (She's already about done with the puzzle)
What a beautiful day to celebrate TEN years of this sweet soul! She had a relaxed day of gift opening, and enjoying her new gifts, getting calls, messages, and video chats from friends and family. She requested going to the other house to hang out for a while in the afternoon, so we spent some time there before coming home to some delivered Noodles & Company and cake and ice cream- and then topping it off with her requested movie, the new Little Women.
