What’s up?

So I realized that I haven’t blogged in about a week, and thought that I should share what’s been going on. I had to look back through my pictures from the last week to remember. I’ve been busy coming up with a new kind of normal. Partly because we’re living with a dog now, and partly because Knut is busy doing field work now, so he is out of the house by 7, and doesn’t come home until 10 or 11pm. I’ve thought about it several times, because people compare it to being a single mom for a few weeks. I’ve come to believe it’s nothing like that. Sure, I don’t have to work outside the home like most single moms do, but I have to drop everything and bring him food out to the field once a day or so. I suppose I could pack him something cold, but that gets old after a period of time, and the kids never see their daddy that way. I still have to do his laundry, wash his dishes, etc. I don’t at all mean that I would rather be a single mom, but I will admit that at times it gets hard.

I’ve been calling my papa a lot asking for dog training advice, as he has trained several excellent dogs. Frustrated with Lina one day, I was talking with him, and he thought I may be overworking her, since she’s still a puppy, and suggested I let her have more alone play time, and shorter training “sessions”. The only place for her to be alone and play is tied up in the yard. She has one of those zip line things and we have a little built in doghouse by the summer kitchen. Although she whines when she’s out there, she’s always much better once she comes back in. I was telling my sister that I feel guilty putting Lina out there, but I keep reminding myself, she’s a dog…it’s okay. Really, she’s only out there by herself a few mornings a week when we’re in town, and I put her outside between supper and bedtime…about 2 hours. I’ve found that feeding and getting the kids to bed is much easier without her excitement rubbing off on them. Once all the kids are in bed (Elias now has the same bedtime as the Silje and David! Yeah!) Lina and I play, and then she lays on my feet while I work on some project (or…just veg on the couch and watch t.v.).

Silje plays dress up about every day still. She’s usually a princess or a ballerina. This day was princess.

Elias is getting cuter and bigger every day. He astonishes me in so many ways. Now that we have been working on establishing sleeping times, I lay him down, and he talks to himself for a few minutes, and then he’s out. Neither of the other 2 EVER did that. I had to use the cry it out method, or rock or nurse them to sleep. Either I’m getting better at this, or he is an astonishingly easy baby. He coos and plays so cutely all the time! He does like being in the sling I wear between 4 and 6pm every day when I’m making supper. (I don’t actually spend 2 hours making supper. He’s just in the sling about that long.) I think that’s a fussy time for all babies, though.

I ran out of clean diaper covers the other day, and actually got brave enough to put him in one of the wool covers I knit for him when I was still pregnant. People say wool works great for covers, but I’ve been too chicken to try it. So here’s my report. It works! I didn’t believe it until I touched it. He was acting crabby, so I checked his cloth fitted diaper underneath, and it was soaked. The wool cover? dry…both sides…not even a smell. I don’t get it; it has holes, like any knitted garment. I’m puzzeled to be sure, but not one to argue with nature, we used that cover for the rest of the day. He had a bit of a diaper rash the day before, and the wool breathed so much better than the plastic covers that we use, that the rash was gone in a matter of hours while he wore this cover. I’ve heard stories of that happening, and that wool is a good option for babies with sensitive skin because it helps eliminate diaper rash. (The wool doesn’t really scratch the baby…wool for baby diaper covers is actually very soft.) So there you go. I bet you learned something new today. I don’t think we’ll use wool all the time because clothes don’t fit over it, and I’ve heard it doesn’t work well if the baby is in the car seat for too much (compression wicking it’s called) but when we’re just chillin’ at home, it might be a very nice option.

Here’s David and Elias playing with cars on the floor, a favorite activity for both of them.