My Heart's in the NICU Daybook

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Outside My Window ...
I am in an interior unit. The windows look out into the nurse's station and the well baby nursery. It's nine months since Valentine's Day--the nursery is full of plump, happy babies.

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I am listening to...
La Traviata. Earlier, it was 1980's Lite Radio love songs. Slow dance, anyone?

Towards a daily rhythm ...
I visit Sarah. I return to my room and try to rest. I pump. I repeat the pattern. But tonight, I go home..

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I am thankful for ...
the incredible hearts of the neonatal staff.

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From the kitchen ...
blech. Thank God my brother-in-law lives a mile away and brings me real food.
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To live the liturgy...
I had a baby on the vigil of All Saint's Day. Time stood still.
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I am wearing ...
a pink nightgown, my medal necklace, fuzzy socks and four hospital bracelets.

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I am creating ...
memories. It will take me years, I think, to sort them.

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Towards a real education ...
Ahhh...all my children are learning is this crash course in fetal development outside the womb and tricks on their cousins' trampoline.
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Bringing beauty to my home ...
I miss my home. I desperately miss my home. I want to bring my daughter home and hunker down for the winter. I want to hold her and nurse her and let my children snuggle in close to us. And then I never want to leave.

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I am reading  ...
Preemies, by Linden et all. It was in the NICU library. I heard Dr. Sears has a preemie book. Wish they had that one.

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I am hoping ...
Sarah can come home soon.

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Around the house ...
Ah, the house. See above.

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One of my favorite things ...
good news.

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Sarah is writing the plans. We'll do whatever she tells us.

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   
No pictures this week. I have the camera but no cord and no photo program on this computer. Trust me, there is a deluge of photos coming in the not-too-distant future.

Please keep praying!

My Heart's at Home Daybook~ October 20

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Outside My Window ...
The ground is covered with a fine layer of frost! There is a decided chill in the air - I really do need to find a way to get those pansies in the ground. Or to get those pansies at all;-).

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Towards a daily rhythm ...
We are persevering in our newfound normal..

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I am thankful for ...
prayer. There is so little I can do physically to support my family and to ensure the health of my baby, but I can pray. And I do. Almost incessantly. But it never seems like enough. That's when I remember all the reminders of your prayers, the notes and phone calls, and I am so, so grateful.

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From the kitchen ...
 I miss my kitchen. I really do. I'm going to start making menu plans for January, just so one day I can remember how much I missed my kitchen and wanted to cook .
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To live the liturgy...
St. John of Capistrano has a feast on the 23rd, which just so happens to be Mary Beth's birthday.
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I am wearing ...
an ESPN hoodie and baggy pants.

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I am creating ...
a baby.

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Towards a real education ...
we've instituted a new tradition. At the end of every week, Mike reviews the children's notebooks.The little kids are thrilled with this and love to show proof what they've done. The big kids are much less enthused. For teenaged boys, there is no substitute for Dad when it comes to accountability. I'm finding it keeps me accountable too. It also gives the boys just a little taste of competition as they compare themselves and their efforts to each other. Competition is not a bad thing in my house. As a matter of fact, my boys are highly motivated by it.
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Bringing beauty to my home ...
Lynn hung an autumn wreath in my bedroom. It's so pretty and so cheerful!

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I am reading  ...
books for the Lewis and Clark list for Serendipity. Stay tuned..

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I am hoping ...
for a healthy, happy, holy labor, delivery and recovery. Or at least a simple c-section:-).

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Around the house ...
I have relinquished all illusion of control.

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One of my favorite things ...
The way we've got the computer set up in my bedroom allows us to turn the monitor away from the bed. Christian likes to come in and pull up a chair and sit there with the wireless keyboard. He does all his school work there. He shows up around ten every morning and stays with me all day. He's the last to leave my room at night, after watching ball games or debates or such. He is such good company and I'm looking on this time with him as an exquisite blessing. It amazes me how attentive a hyperactive teenaged boy can be when his hyperactive mother is forced to be still.

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
An MRI tomorrow and a doctor's appointment on Thursday, followed by a flower fairy birthday party.

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   
This is a St. Anne chaplet I made a few weeks ago. I plan to write a whole post on St. Anne, but for now, it's just picture thought.

My Heart's at Home Daybook~October 15

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Outside My Window ...
The window is open and the morning air feels crisp.

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Towards a daily rhythm ...
Our weeks and our days have taken on a somewhat predictable pattern. I've noticed that with one exception, my children are staying closer to me than under usual circumstances. My bedroom (and my bed) is usually a bit crowded these days.

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I am thankful for ...
the generous outpouring of friends who are helping Mike and me to care for our home and family and the friends who are too far away to help daily but have found creative ways to send help and made time in their own busy lives for encouraging e-mails and phone calls.

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From the kitchen ...
 patrick has big plans to do some freezer cooking with our friend Joe, who is a chef. since Patrick aspires to be chef if professional soccer doesn't work out, this could be the start of something for him! .
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To live the liturgy...
Today we'll celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Avila.
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I am wearing ...
one of four new nightgowns my mother sent. This one is green with buttons all the way up the front..

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I am creating ...
a Christmas list.

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Towards a real education ...
Guess what? I know the answer to the perennial question, "How would our homeschooling look if I didn't have to cook and clean and drive people all over the northern Virginia region?" I don't cook and clean and drive. We get a whole lot of narrations done. I can sit here and let them dictate their narrations to me for hours on end and I do. I read aloud a whole lot, too. Without the daily driving and  dishes and dirt-sweeping routines, I am also able to adapt more of a delight-driven curriculum. I have the time to diverge from our Revolutionary War studies for the one child who has a burning interest in Pearl Harbor and desperately wants to stop and take a week for me to read two great books to him. In the afternoons, when everyone but Karoline, Katie and Christian have left for activities, Christian and I can read poilitical blogs and research to our hearts' content. This is my favorite way to homeschool and I do hope that I can keep some balance that includes plenty of it when many more domestic duties are demanded of me.
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Bringing beauty to my home ...
Ever notice how beautiful a house becomes when Mama smiles? I have and I'm endeavoring to make my house so beautiful much, much more often.

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I am reading  ...
Imitation of Christ. I think one of the marks of a great spiritual classic is that it holds a different meaning at different stages of one's life.

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I am hoping ...
for a healthy, happy, holy labor, delivery and recovery. Or at least a simple c-section:-).

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Around the house ...
It was Mrs. Kelly Weekend last weekend. My friend Lynn Kelly swept into my bedroom on Saturday and spruced it up. She focused on the windows across from my bed and added darling red and white checked valances. Then, she switched the bed to the fall/winter quilt and put flannel sheets on for the first time this year.It's so cheerful--she's got a great touch! And Cindy Kelly came up from Florida. She brought a decaf latte and lots of energy. Our schoolroom was suffering from "basket syndrome." The room didn't look terribly horrible (well, maybe it did) but it was terribly disorganized. All the books were in the wrong baskets and all the discarded paper was in no basket at all. Since Cindy is following the same curriculum we are, she knew exactly what went where and she restored peace and order. At least for awhile...

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One of my favorite things ...
whipped cream. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream, apple crisp with whipped cream, fresh strawberries with whipped cream, chai lattes with whipped cream....

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
I think I'll just hang out in bed all week.

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   
This is the nook Mike and I created at my bedside. He has all the wires for computer, phone, cellphone, and such under the table. The actual computer is under the bed so that if something spills all is not lost.

My Heart's at Home Daybook~October 6

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Outside My Window ...It's dark as I write this morning. I can hear the cars heading towards Starbucks work. It promises to be another beautiful Virginia autumn day.

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Towards a daily rhythm ...
Everyone is adjusting to the new normal. Karoline is sleeping much better and the weather is truly a blessing. They are spending hours and hours outside and hitting the hay hard at the end of the day.

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I am thankful for ...the generous outpouring of friends who are helping Mike and me to care for our home and family and the friends who are too far away to help daily but have found creative ways to send help and made time in their own busy lives for encouraging e-mails and phone calls.

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From the kitchen ...
 Its apples, apples, apples. Nicholas' godmother took everyone apple picking on Friday so we have lots of apples for eating and baking.
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To live the liturgy...
Tomorrow is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
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I am wearing ... one of four new nightgowns my mother sent. This one is peach with a crocheted lace inset.

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I am creating ...a new booklist for the revised version of Real Learning.

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Towards a real education ...This week's only interruption during the school day is a doctor's appointment early this morning. Katie is looking forward to doing a Cajun infused mini-unit this week, compliments of Cay. Everyone else will plug along at previously planned lessons. Patrick's curriculum will undergo a major overhaul. MODG is just not working for him.
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Bringing beauty to my home ...Mary Beth will work on the October mantle today.

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I am reading  ... The Love Dare. I figured that if I couldn't go see the movie I might as well check out this book.

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I am hoping ... for a peaceful productive week.

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Around the house ...  I'm fairly certain the house is trashed. I will go downstairs this morning on my way to the doctor. I will breathe deeply and remember that this is all temporary.
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One of my favorite things ... Goodnight phone calls when Mike's away. They're sort of bittersweet, but I'll take 'em.

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Monday Night football tonight. Drew Brees will do very well because he's my fantasy football quarterback and so far this season, I'm looking like a genius of a general manager. Linda is going to take the little guys to Cox Farms. We're looking forward to seeing the Ashwells and then Friday everyone has a little arts and crafts action in the plans. The weekend holds soccer tournaments in Pennsylvania and Virginia Beach. Mike will head north with Patrick and my dad will head south with Stephen.  I'll be right here:-)

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   
Linda took this picture of Katie at the orchard. Linda is a great photographer and she has a great camera. Just as soon as I figure out how to properly download (instead of copying the image from my email), I'll replace this with the sharper image and upload some more to Blossoms and Bees.

My Heart's at Home Daybook~The New Normal

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Outside My Window ...I can hear children at the bus stop and traffic bustling by, but all I can see are the rooftops of the houses across the street and the very tops of a redbud tree.

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Towards a daily rhythm ... My goodness!We're working out the kinks. Elusive rhythm has been the challenge of the past few days since returning home from the hospital. Thanks to the generosity of my friends, I think we have a schedule of help in place. I've long been a proponent of going TO children in order to get them to obey or to listen. I'm not a call them to me type at all. That's changing due to our circumstances and I  definitely think the go-to-them method is far better. I like to be alongside them and I think it makes all the difference in both relationships and outcome. Going to them also allows for inspection of anything I expected them to do. My children are just ordinary sinners--inspection is crucial. They are also in crisis. Poor Nicholas doesn't want to go apple picking because he doesn't want to come home with all those apples and "not work with Mom in the kitchen to make all the stuff. It won't be fun without Mom." Karoline's entire world revolved around my holding and carrying and nursing her. Now, Karoline and Mary Beth share a world and it's a strange, new one for both of them.  As I said, we're working out the kinks.

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I am thankful for ...the generous outpouring of friends who are helping Mike and me to care for our home and family and the friends who are too far away to help daily but have found creative ways to send help and made time in their own busy lives for encouraging e-mails and phone calls.

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From the kitchen ...
 I haven't seen much of the kitchen these days...but the kitchen is dedicated to birthday and feast day goodies this week.
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To live the liturgy...
Our week of super celebrating .
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I am wearing ... a Laura Ashley nightshirt my Mom gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago, a medal necklace I made with the Miraculous medal, St. Therese, a scapular medal, and St. Gerard.. 

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I am creating ...a St. Anne chaplet, rosaries for my girls, and a new rosary for me. Have the beads, but still waiting for a few parts. I'm also making chaplets for the everyone in the family for the St. Andrew Christmas prayer.

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I am going to breathe deeply ...This is the exercise note. Hmmm. Christian is going to bring three pound weights up from the basement so that maybe I can work my upper body a bit. I'm drawing alphabet letters in the air with my feet, mostly to entertain my toddler and keep from getting blood clots. I lost five pounds in the hospital. I 'm fairly certain that's all the muscle I had managed to build between this pregnancy and the last. Perhaps the spring will see blog entries dedicated to returning one's body from absolute jello-ness.
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Bringing beauty to my home ...Today's project is my bedroom. In all my earnestness to have the house in order should I be on bed rest, I never gave a moment's thought to the fact that I'd be stuck happily ensconced here for hours on end. I ordered some candles from Trish and some new sheets. Megan and I will brainstorm some other ideas.

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I am reading  ... these meditations every day. And this stack.

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I am hoping ... to get through the next few weeks without sinning against faith, hope, or love.

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Around the house ...  I am assured that everything is neat and tidy and in order. I'm highly skeptical.
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One of my favorite things ...My sweet baby rolling and kicking in my belly. There is nothing in the world more comforting.

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:  The perinatologist. Then, the Ashwells are coming to co-op on Thursday and Nicholas' godmother is going to take everyone apple picking on Friday.

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
 
   

 

It was crucial to figure out a way to eat dinner as a family. I have a couple of children, in particular, for whom the deviation from family routines has been very, very difficult. So, we threw a blanket on my bedroom floor and carefully set the places in the same order as they would be on the table. We gave it its first try on Sunday night when Michael was home to celebrate his birthday. This is my view from the bed. Michael took the picture.

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