business quail

(this post was written by Joe on the blog he and his siblings write to each other-- I figured it was too good to keep to ourselves)

Our neighborhood is overrun with quail. The other day Lincoln and Daniel pointed out one on the roof. They consulted each other and agreed that this particular bird was a business quail.

Joe: A business quail?

Lincoln: Yeah, because it has business.

Joe: It has business?

Daniel: A mullet has business in the front and party in the back.

Joe: OK, and this quail has business in the front?

Both boys: Yeah.

only a baby...

...can manage to grin at you while puking on your shirt.

all better

Our thrush is gone! We only had to use the gentian violet twice and the calendula oil did turn out to be nice and soothing.

Thanks for your well wishes

purple people

We've got thrush (or Candida Albicans, if you want to get all technical). And it is no fun, not at all. Jack's got thick white patches on his tongue and inside his cheeks and I'm in some serious kind of pain when he nurses-- like I'm on fire.

Thankfully, I think we're on the road to recovery. We've both started probiotics, which has helped, but not completely knocked it out. So today we tried gentian violet. It sure is messy, but I'm already feeling some relief after only one application. I'm following Dr. Jack Newman's instructions for use, which is once a day for three or four days. We'll both be a little purple in the meantime, but I'm okay with that.

My midwife also recommended that I apply calendula oil after feedings to help soothe and encourage healing. I'm making some right now-- 2 oz. of calendula petals (from the health food store) in a glass jar, just covered with olive oil. Put in a warm oven or out in the sun for 6 hours, then strain.

I'll let you know how this is working for us. Just in case anyone else out there finds themselves with a thrush outbreak.

just keepin' it real...

Okay, I showed you my mess. I triple dog dare you to show me yours.

2 months

Jack turned two months old yesterday. What the heck?!

Our reward for making it this far? A mega-blowout and a case of thrush. woot.


But in spite of that, we think he's just about the best thing ever. See for yourself.

Arts and Crafts Thusday: Color Hunt

We ventured downtown for a color hunt. Our target: red and pink. Our photographers: Lincoln and Daniel. Here's what we found.

soda pop truck

Lincoln's flip flops



Pink Bubble Gum


Petunias


Mosaic Mural


Sign

Fire Hydrant

Litter

Faucet

This was a ton 'o fun (aside from the part about keeping Daniel out of a busy street). We'll be doing it again soon.

New Park Wednesday: Boys' and Girls' Club

This is our new favorite local playground. It's on a quiet street, has lovely shade trees and the boys love the playground equipment. Best part? It's within walking distance.

LA Times on state of maternity care in the US

On Sunday, the LA Times ran an interesting article that focuses on the problem of rising rates of c-section and labor induction to discuss the “perinatal paradox”: as we continue to rely on more and more costly and risky interventions like c-section, too many outcomes for women and babies are worsening, instead of improving.

Food for thought.

Arts and Crafts Thursday

"Look at my American fingers, Mom!"

Some ideas for future Thursdays:

photography-- color scavenger hunt

crayon rubbings

sculpting with clay

potato printing

stringing beads

If you know of any awesome art/craft projects for little ones, send them our way!

new park wednesday: Nielsen's Grove

This summer, we're going to be trying out a new park every Wednesday, and post a review for the blogosphere. Up this week is Nielsen's Grove in Orem. The Grove has walking trails, beautiful landscaping, a decent amount of shade, a fishpond, and great playground. We highly recommend it!

And if you go soon, you can see these cute little ducklings!

Do you have any recommendations for us? Where are your favorite places to play in Utah County?

weekly rhythm

I have always wanted to be an organized person. Waaay back when I was 10 years old, I made a detailed daily schedule at the start of the summer. It started at 6:00 am and kept me busy doing all kinds of good things all the day long. I was very good at sticking to this schedule, until about 10:00 on the first day, when I bagged it all and sat down to watch cartoons for the rest of the summer. The next summer I tried again, and my beloved schedule lasted two days. The next year was the same, and so on and so forth. I'm what you might call cyclically-organized.



These days, my schedule has taken on a different form-- and frankly it doesn't really feel like a schedule, more like a rhythm or ritual. Maybe that's because the smallest block of time I'm willing to schedule rigidly is a day (there's a part of me that needs flexiblity). Anyhow, for a long time, Monday has been family night, Tuesday has been my laundry day, Friday has been movie night, and Sunday the Sabbath. I'm talking a couple of years here, which is a heckuva lot longer than I ever succeeded at my summer schedules.



And then my friend Kate over at the ever-so-thoughtful blog, Simply Mother, wrote about the different days for different things idea. I, too, love the idea of different days for different things. It just seems to be such a nice and orderly way to live. And the boys love to keep track of the days of the week and what we should be doing. I figured it was time to take things to the next level. Here's our new weekly routine (which is basically the old with a few new things thrown in):



Monday: Park day with friends in the morning. Family night in the evening with a yummy treat!

Tuesday: Homemaking day. Laundry, cleaning, bread making (I make four batches of dough-- eight loaves-- and freeze them. I put one out to defrost every night and then shape it into a loaf and bake it in the morning for almost-effortless fresh bread every day).

Wednesday: Out-n-About day. I'm going to try to keep all our errands and running around to Wednesdays. And to appease the kidlets, a picnic lunch at a new park every week.

Thursday: Arts and crafts day.

Friday: Library day and Pizza/Movie night.

Saturday: Morning Turn-outs with Dad and family projects/activities in the afternoon.

Sunday: The Sabbath. Church in the morning, breakfast for dinner and a penny walk in the afternoon.

Oh, if only there were eight days in a week! Then I could have a lay-on-the-couch-and-read-and-eat-ice-cream day.

I'll keep you posted on how long we manage this. What about you? Do you have any special routines?

Daniel Hadfield: free spirit

Jack-attack!

The brothers think they can make me laugh by pushing my belly button.

Blast you, Pillsbury Doughboy!

So I'm fat. You got a problem with that?

Yeah, I know I'm adorable.

Check out my man boobs!

introducing the Hadfield Family Band

With Daniel on the drums and Joe on harmonica

And Lincoln on the ukelele.

Any requests?

(What about Jack and me? When they're jamming out, I make strawberry jam and Jack sleeps.)

mama mia

So, I spent three hours this morning trying to coax my miserable constipated four year-old to poop. No success.

Happy Mother's Day to me.

No, really. In the midst of his travails, my very unhappy little boy looked up at me with his big, teary green eyes and said, "You're pretty mom. I love you." A very tender Mother's Day gift, I think.

I'm the mom of that sweet bundle of boy and his brothers. Their mother. I love my job (usually). I'm not always good at it. Sometimes I'm impatient. Sometimes I let them eat cookies 10 minutes before dinner will be on the table. Sometimes I count down the hours (and minutes, and seconds...) until Joe comes home from work. But for the most part I'm okay at this motherhood thing. And almost all of the good things I do for my kids, I learned from my mom.

This is my mama, Jan. She raised 6 kids (almost. two are still at home-- the verdict is still out on them) as well as providing a foster home for developmentally disabled men for almost 20 years. She also ran an in-home daycare so she could be at home with us while she put my dad through graduate school. And she's currently the world's best nursery teacher. That adds up to a whole lot of mothering. I was so lucky to be able to learn motherhood at the knee of someone who was (IS) so thoroughly good at it. Here's a short list of the lessons I learned:

Don't sweat the small stuff. Most problems/concerns with kids will eventually resolve themselves with patience and a healthy dose of practicality. Stuffy noses and tummy bugs usually heal on their own; behavior issues are usually grown out of; picky eaters won't starve; and siblings usually grow up to like (or at least tolerate) each other. Stress and worry are rarely productive. Maternal instinct should be trusted.

Childhood should be magical. Kids see magic in everything: sprouting seeds, rising bread dough, sunsets, bugs, flecks of glittering mica in the sidewalk, etc. A wise mother encourages this and joins right in. A wise mother nurtures imagination.

Beauty feeds the soul. A home filled with simple beauty in all its forms (good music and the laughter of children, the scent of baking bread or clean laundry, cheerful colors, etc.) is a happy and peaceful place to be.

Family dinners are important. My mom is a wonderful cook. Wonderful. I could write a list longer than my arm of all the delicious food my mom makes. But the food wasn't the most important part of our regular family dinners-- it was the stories shared, the jokes laughed at (crass as they may have been), and the companionship. And man, that food was good.

Creativity can equal sanity. My mom seems to have a never-ending list of creative talents. She's an incredible seamstress, and an amazing florist. She can paint, embroider, cross-stitch, build cool stuff (she never met a power tool she didn't love...), and grow beautiful gardens. Motherhood can be intense, and having a crafty project or two going is sometimes the only thing keeps me from losing my mind.

Kids should be allowed to get dirty once in a while (or in Daniel's case-- all the time). Life can be messy. And really experiencing life occasionally requires getting messy. So, peanut butter smudged faces, sweaty hair, and dirt-caked bodies are signs of kids who are really living.

I used to worry about turning into my mom someday. Now I'm realizing that's not such a bad thing. Happy Mother's Day!

for the quote board

Joe: It looks like someone put a big wad of toilet paper down the toilet.

Lincoln: Yeah, maybe somebody did.

Joe: Was it you?

Lincoln: Maybe somebody did today, I don't remember.

Joe: That's funny, because you're the kid who always remembers.

Lincoln: I just remember Florida and sometimes to shower in the morning.