My Baby's Birth Photos

So my baby just turned two, and I got to thinking about how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday he was born. His birth was different than any of the others. This time, I was going for the ultimate earthy birth. I had a water birth at a little house that was a birth center. Since this was my last birth, I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted to document everything. For all the other births, all the pictures were tastefully posed: me smiling pregnant in my hospital gown and robe, me all freshened up holding my baby, you get the picture. This time, I got some video of my labor, and photos all through the process. I even got exit photos! Those were really embarrassing to have developed. I was at Walmart using one of those machines, hunched over it and looking furtively around. But I ended up with my awesome birth, just how I was hoping it would be, and the photos to remember it by. Only a few people ended up seeing them, but they were for me, you know? Alas, and woe, they didn't stay just with me. About a year ago, we were sitting at the dinner table, Lewis clears his throat and says, "Jon over at (My husband's old job) was cleaning out a cupboard and found a strange CD." His eyes dart to me and look away quickly. "He put it in, and when he recognized who it was, he took it out immediately (yeah right!)." Blood leaves my face, my heart contracts, and I ask with numb and tingling lips "What disk was it?" "Um, your birth photos." My heart actually stops beating at this point, and I lay there on the bench beside the table in an agony so exquisite it can not be described. Jon, who was just at our house, seeing me like that. Down there! My husband was quick to reassure me, don't worry, he didn't look at them all, just until he recognized who it was! After my heart began restoring blood to my head again, I asked for the offending cd, and investigated exactly how exposed I was. There was a little good news. There weren't any photos of a gynecological nature at all, just ones of a, ahem, mammary nature- which is almost as bad. I guess it serves me right, having those pictures around. It does beg the question though, How in the world did those pictures get left in a cupboard at my husband's work!

A Sneek Peek at Henry

After I finished the script, I got pretty overwhelmed at all the things that needed to be done to get ready to start filming. The thought of costumes made me want to crawl in bed and hide. One day my mom offered to come over to help me figure out who needed what. We went through each scene and got a rough idea of casting and costume needs. We made diagrams of different tunics, capes and cloaks. I got to work yesterday, and found, to my surprise, that many costumes didn't need to be sewn at all! All I need for a tunic is a rectangle with a hole cut in it for the head! This was very freeing, and we made a ton of progress. In the next day or so, I anticipate most of the costume work will be done.

New Family Photos!

We didn't want Kuba to leave without getting some family pictures taken. My friend Lee does FABULOUS work, so we asked her to come over and capture the feel of our life together. She did an amazing job. Here are some of my favorites.
Above, Kuba looks all serious and dangerous. I just don't get that whole gangsta thing. I like the one here; where everyone is smiling. It's not so hard, is it Kuba?

This one cracks me up!

Why did it have to be my Favorite pair?

So I'm buzzing around, keeping everyone on task, feeling so efficient. I have boy 1 washing the walls, boy three is picking up toys in the yard, boys 4 and 5 are playing happily in the tub. I'm on the computer setting up a math program for boy 2. All of a sudden an alarm sounds "Poop, Poop! It's GREEN!" I heave a sigh, knowing the next ten minutes are going to be very unpleasant. I linger for a moment or two, not in a hurry to face what I know awaits me. I drag my feet on the way to the bathroom, thinking I have some fishing to do of the not-fun kind. Instead, I pass a naked runner, in whose chubby cheeks the evidence is still wedged. I follow the gleeful sounds of his grossed out brothers to my bedroom- that's right MY BEDROOM! Among poopy footprints all over my floor, I find a load on my favorite shoes. The ones I've worn almost every day for years. I promptly put the offending shoe in the dumpster. The best part of this story is what happens next. Boy #2 comes and puts his arms around me, and tells me he knows how I feel. He remembers how it was when a little brother peed in his bed. He retrieves the favorite shoe, santitizes it with gloved hands, and returns to me with the question "Is there a lady in the house?" Can I get any luckier?

Fishing Nirvana

I love to fish, I just don't have much success. My husband had a few days of vacation last week, and I prevailed on him to take us camping and fishing. The camping was a nightmare! Our littlest was running around screaming, diving head-first into people's tents. The other boys were buzzing around, high on fresh air. We hardly slept a wink, but the fishing the next morning made up for everything. We found this fabulous pool between some rapids. It was quite a hike to get there, in prime rattlesnake country. We had to follow a skinny, slidey trail cut in the side of a basalt cliff. When we got down to the river, there was no level ground, just boulders and chasms. When we finally got our family down there, my husband and I just looked at each other, exchanging a "how are we going to get everyone out of here alive?" look. We had the baby tethered with twine, and tried to keep everyone from falling to their deaths. The fish started biting right away, and each of us got to reel one in. I was so shocked when I felt the tug on my line, I started shrieking! It was just a little Sqawfish, but I was over the moon. We were reeling fish in hand over fist, so when I caught my next one, dear husband was occupied. I actually grasped the fish in my hand, got the hook out of it's lip, stuck the metal pointy thing in it's gill and out it's mouth, and secured the line to a log in the water. It was quite a triumph, but I confess, I could feel the cold slipperiness of the fish on my hand for a long time afterward.

Things I never thought I would have to say...

Have you every had a parenting moment that borders on absurd? I've been thinking about some of the things that have come out of my mouth that I never would have imagined having to say before kids:
Hey! Check your quarter staffs at the door!
That's why I said no millipedes in the car.
Don't lick my neck, it's something that's just wrong, I don't care if it tastes good.
You change your underwear every day, right? You do, don't you? (ringing silence)