Welcoming Hugo

Having a baby, welcoming a new member to the family, is such an epic event. Of course it touches, challenges, and changes everyone in the family as each person shifts into their new roles . . . big sister, mother of five, oldest of a large sibling group. All of my kids have been so helpful as I passed (again) through the demanding tasks of pregnancy, birth, and caring for a newborn. We are now six weeks in with this new little person, and somehow they feel like long and incredibly short weeks simultaneously. Life is nowhere near as “back to normal” as I wish it could be, but that will come. For now we try to enjoy each little breathtaking smile and soak up that glorious newness that Hugo shares so generously with us. Hugo Winchester, little chunk of a boy, 6 weeks old. Yeah, we like him.

far too long . . .

It has been far too long since I paid any attention to my lonely little blog. *pats blog on head* Life has just been insane. But I've been happy and well.

We had a nice Halloween

and the kids got absolute gobs of candy. It was literally insane and, for the first year ever, I felt compelled to buy it off of them to spare their poor teeth.

Now we're gearing up for Thanksgiving next week:


Homeschooling has kept me very busy, but the girls are thriving, making it so very worth it.

My own schooling has also been stealing away my hours. Even painting class has been a source of some stress this semester as I have struggled to find myself there.


I don't even want to try to go back over the past several months and play catch up, but I do want to try keep up, so I'll let go the past and make that my goal.

It was another ordinary day here, and each one is so precious. I am so wickedly blessed that I get to live every day with the most extraordinarily lovely people. I can hardly believe my good fortune some days. I dreamed I was a very old woman today. It was a terrifying place to be in and I remember feeling some hopeless frustration in forgetting things I should have known and in not being able to move myself properly or clean myself properly. But there was a comfort with me because my daughters were there, caring for me, loving me still. I can't think about that place and time yet, not really, the end of all my things as it were, but I dreamed of it and everything was alright and that is a comfort because it didn't feel like a fantasy or *just a dream* to me. Things are alright and things will continue to be alright as long as I have the ones I love with me, and they will always be with me, even if not physically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-r-_pzqwo&feature=related