Perspective for the New Year

The contented man is never poor; the discontented man is never rich. ―Anonymous

Real happiness don’t consist so much in what a man don’t have as it does in what he don’t want. ―Josh Billings

(HT: Feast of Booths)

Two Happy Girls

More Webster Wisdom

Let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God.  If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted.  If our government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine commands and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. --Noah Webster

Milestone for Another Big Girl

Eva lost her first tooth!

Many Faces of a Hat Model

Thank you, Mrs. Gildner!

Short, Sweet, and to the Point

Education is useless without the Bible.--Noah Webster

Ian's Baby

It's been a while since we've had an RC car around here, but Ian used birthday money to rectify that problem.  He's had lots of fun with his new prize and even inspired Lewis to spend some of his non-birthday money for his own set of RC wheels so they could play them together.

Audrey Labor and Delivery Notes

This post may only interest me, but I have to keep track of these things somewhere!

This time around instead of limiting my herbal intake to red raspberry leaf, I tried several new herbs and had excellent results.  My labor, which is usually a 12-24 hour affair, was MUCH quicker (the midwife almost didn't make it in time) and less painful.  There were more Braxton-Hicks and pressure, but that is way preferable to prolonged contraction pain.  Another benefit has been that my bleeding after birth has been almost nothing.

I want to make note of the herbs I was using so that if I can't find the exact products next time I can create my own brew as necessary.

Mountain Meadow Herbs Gentle Birth Tincture:
Blessed Thistle Herb
Red Raspberry Leaf
False Unicorn Root
Partridge Berry Herb
Blue Cohosh Root
Ginger Root
Skullcap Herb
Motherwort Herb
Wild Yam Root
Bayberry Root Bark
Other ingredients: vegetable glycerine, distilled water, 5% organic grain alcohol
Used as suggested for last five weeks: 1/4 tsp--2x/day for week one, 3x/day for remaining weeks

Sherry's Last Six Weeks Pregnancy Tea
Red Raspberry Leaf
Partridgeberry
Shepherd's Purse
Spikenard Root
Nettle
Comfrey Leaves
Alfalfa
Blessed Thistle
Peach Leaves
Peppermint
Suggested dosage was four cups/day.  I probably got close to that most days but was not overly careful.


Note to self:  Labor for Audrey started at bed time with strong hourly contractions.  About halfway through the night the contractions were coming about every twenty minutes.  This is when I should have called the midwife because a little before 5 a.m., after two or three hours of this routine, I suddenly felt like I was ready to push--only no one else was ready!

Born to Wear Yarn

Anna and I have used Audrey as an excuse to hone our budding yarn skillz.

In my case the emphasis is on budding, not skillz, but it helps to have such a cute model.

It was still fun and fulfilling for me to work on these hat and slippers projects while waiting for her arrival.

Anna hasn't officially presented her yarn works yet, but there will plenty of those pics soon.

Culinary Medicine

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.--Hippocrates

The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.--Thomas Edison

Audrey Week One

goofing around with Grammy and Eva

5 days old on her 12-12-12 due date

first bath for one week birthday

visiting with Meme

hangin' with the new big bro

sugar from Daddy

Sweet Sisters

Trying on the lovely Christmas dresses Grammy showed up with.  The fourth sister wasn't yet out of the womb for this photo shoot, but she will be getting plenty of photo opps soon!

(Anna--10, Jocelyn--6, Eva--5)

Proud Siblings and Day Old Audrey

Ian, 12

Anna, 10

Lewis, 8

Jocelyn, 6

Eva, 5

Cael, 3

Ugly Pills

"Remember that being discontented is like taking ugly pills, and they are addictive -- you will find yourself still taking them even after you get married" (For a Glory and a Covering, p. xiii).--Douglas Wilson

Audrey's First Swim

New and Improved

This was our family on Thursday night, December 6.

By 7:30 Friday morning, we had added one!

Audrey Saige McLeran

12.7.12

5lb 2 oz

Our New Texan

We all enjoyed meeting Leah Marie for the first time at our Pre-Holiday McBash.  Her 2yo brother Noah, and Uncle Jeff and Aunt Candi were a hit as usual, too.  I had a lot more pics, but unfortunately our three year old techie deleted them for me.  This one is cute enough to suffice, though!

Inquiring Minds

An atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman.

―Anonymous

HT: Feast of Booths

Random Jr. Mc Silliness

Know Thyself

Adversity introduces a man to himself.  

―Anonymous




HT: Feast of Booths

More Relatives

Uncle Paul and Aunt Mandy sent this funny pic of their full couch!

  

And one feline family member wasn't even in the pile!

Growing Pains

An adolescent is a teenager who acts like a baby when you don’t treat him like an adult.

―Anonymous

HT: Feast of Booths

Floridian Wildlife

Oops!

“Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.”

―Thomas Sowell

HT: Feast of Booths

A Weekend in Florida Spent Enjoying . . .

Aunt Linda

Uncle Stan

My Man

God's Creation

So thankful for my parents' generosity and my relatives' hospitality!