Trunk or treat

Here's a little Halloween madness for you from a strawberry, static cling, and an x-ray:

We took the kids to the church Trunk or Treat tonight. Everyone had a good time. There was a chili competition, and I was truly impressed by a number of good chilies (chilis?). Ethan says he is not trick-or-treating on Monday because he doesn't need any more candy to trade to the Great Pumpkin. Scott says he is going even though he only gets to keep 15 pieces and will trade in the rest to the Great Pumpkin.

The Velveteen Rabbit

As a child, I loved listening to George Winston and Meryl Streep's recording of The Velveteen Rabbit. As a jilted college freshman, I saw myself in the rabbit, cast aside to be burned while the boy snuggled with a new bunny. Today, I heard Nana's voice as our pediatrician diagnosed Elizabeth with scarlet fever.

Once a dangerous childhood disease, scarlet fever is now easily treatable with antibiotics. In our case, it began with an ingrown toenail that got infected.  For several nights, Elizabeth has been waking up a lot, and the last few days and nights she has complained of pain in her toe. Yesterday we saw how awful it looked and on my dad's recommendation, we started soaking it in hot water for 10-15 minutes at a time.

When Elizabeth woke up last night at 9:30 pm, complaining that her foot hurt, her whole toe was red, tight, and throbbing. She had a fever, and she was shaking. The top of her foot was also red and hot. We soaked her toe again, gave her some Tylenol, and distracted her with her current favorite song while Mr. M lanced the infected area and released a goopy glob of white pus. Fever and chills, a pus-filled toe and what looked like a spreading infection were setting off my alarm bells. I really wanted to call my dad, but it was too late. Somehow he knew to call me. (My mom told me that he was lying in bed and jumped up and said, "I've got to call Erin!") When I told him about Elizabeth, he urged me to take her to the ER. We were both concerned about the dangerous possibility of sepsis.

Symphony tickets!!!

Sometimes everything feels right and good in the world. A few weeks ago, I got an email from Ethan's choir, offering me the chance for 4 free tickets on Saturday night to the symphony. What could be better? We arranged for a babysitter, and I called up my Messiah stand partner and friend. It was a double-date!

When we arrived at the theatre downtown and picked up our tickets, I was delighted to discover that we had front row tickets directly in front of the first violin section.  The seats were perfect for studying all the bow holds. I am amazed at the diversity of styles among professionals. One violinist had such a high elbow that he seemed to be playing on the G string all the time. It was also fun being able to hear the conductor sniff and snort and to observe his facial expressions.

There happened to be a Liszt piano concerto on the program, and we were well positioned to watch the soloists hands jumping all over the keyboard. He was amazing, although his choice of encores were, to quote my mother, "bombastic": all 10 fingers, all the time, making me want to bang my head against the wall, but in the best way possible, of course.

All told, it was a delightful evening.

Ethan at school

Ran into Ethan in the hall on the way back from parent teacher conference with Scott's teacher. Ethan was in a paper airplane contest with GT and looked pretty happy about it. He's heading to join the rest of his class.

Motherhood and a change of heart

 
Something is making my heart change. It's softer. I think it's bigger. It has to do with being a mom. While I have usually been happy that I have children, I have felt something different in the last few weeks. I feel greater joy in motherhood. I feel more commitment to mothering. It's something that I want do, not just something I should do. I feel more connected to my kids. I'm enjoying the time we spend together. My temper is not as close to the surface as it sometimes has been.

When I started blogging 6 years ago, I had a baby and a 2 year old. I found some online friends or to be more accurate, I found some mommy bloggers who probably have no idea that I exist, or if I do exist, they know very little about me. Despite never having met, I feel like I know them. I think of them as friends. I tell my husband about them. I've enjoyed reading their struggles and triumphs in mothering, the funny stories about things their children do. I've cried as I learned of the sorrows in their lives - divorce, serious illness, job loss, financial need. I have prayed for them. Their stories have helped me to navigate my own mothering.

Along the way, my family has grown. Now I have an 8 year old, a 6 year old, a 1 year old, and a tiny unborn child who we affectionately call "the lemon baby" right now (approximate size as of a few weeks ago). 

We had a hard time getting pregnant between #2 and #3. For a long time, I thought I would be happy with just two. Life was good, after all. Having 3 has been such a joy. I have loved seeing my boys love their baby sister. They are amazing helpers. When we were trying to get pregnant, we prayed daily as a family that another baby would join our family. 3 years later, the boys still thank God every day, multiple times a day in prayer, that Elizabeth is part of our family. Now they also thank Him for "the lemon baby". Perhaps it is the sincerity of their prayers and the mightiness of their affection for her that has helped change my heart.

I have found two amazing and faithful women who have significantly impacted my thoughts and feeling on motherhood. They are role models for me.  One is homeschooling mom of 10 and author Mary Ostyn of the blog owlhaven.net . You can read an interview with her HERE. I have read both of her books and absolutely loved every single word of A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family. Every woman even contemplating having children should read it. It debunks the myth that 10 kids is 5x harder and 5x more expensive than 2 kids. Beyond that, it was just pure pleasure to read. It really resonated with me. It also opened my heart to the possibility of adoption. (I'm not saying that I'm going to end up with 10 kids. I'm also not saying that I'm not.)

The other is Tsh, writer at SimpleMom.net and founder of Simple Media, which included 4 other blogs: Simple Kids, Simple Homeschool, Simple Bites, and Simple Organic. Tsh is the author of Organized Simplicity, which I have checked out multiple times from the library already. She has given me so many great tips and ways to organize my time, my home, my life. She is the one who taught me to begin my day by eating a frog (which basically means doing the worst thing first. I'm still working on that). More than anything, she is a great model of intentional living: thinking about what you want out of life and then living to make it happen. Tsh is also the one who introduced me to Pinterest. I had heard of it, but avoided it for a long time, but she showed me how to use it as a meal-planning tool in her e-book One Bite at a Time. (Only $5 and so worth it.) She is also a homeschooling mom, has lived abroad, and is an all around great person in my estimation.

I just remembered one other thing that my boys have been praying for on a daily basis, as I re-read this post to edit it. They have prayed daily that "mom can control her temper".  Yet another example of prayers being answered. (Not that I'm perfect yet. There is always progress to be made.)

God is good.  "...and if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them..."

Who inspires you?

Wild and wonderful

First, the wonderful: I just can't get enough of the Mormon Messages and I LOVE all the profile videos of different people. Here's the most recent that I've watched. Have you seen these? When I'm feeling glum, I like to sit down and watch one. When I'm feeling happy, I like to watch them, too:) These people are so amazing! What I love to consider is how many faithful church members are out there, whether they have a profile video or not, living the Gospel and letting God work through them. THAT is amazing.


And, now the wild: Tonight, 3 generations of men gathered for treats (and skipped the stake Father/son campout). Here is a photo of some of the wildness that ensued with the youngest generation: