Well! An Update!

Shocking, I know, but here I am after 4 months.  I still think about writing very often, but either exhaustion or other priorities trump me getting here.

(This is NOT a complaint as it simply has to be right now, but) my life is not my own these days.  The beautiful mama of the family I'm working for is not doing well with her cancer treatment.  She's been working SO hard - especially on the restrictive diet that the alternative treatment requires - and so it was heart-breaking to hear the results of the most recent scan.  I'm not sure what the next steps will be, but I hope - for her sake - that a new diet plan (should they choose that) will allow her a little more leeway and enjoyment!  She did splurge the morning after receiving the news and had a blueberry muffin that she said "tasted like Heaven and was the best blueberry muffin I've ever had"!  And her not having eaten any sweets, sugar or refined flour in 8 months . . . I can only imagine!!  :)

Bundle of Joy turned five in December, and she's a very mature 5 years old!  She's not on the best of terms with Bopee (yours truly) right now, though, which breaks my heart and has me questioning (in my weak, knee-jerk reaction moments) what I may have done.  But, once my brain kicks in over my heart, I totally understand where she's coming from:  the biggest reason for her seeming resentment of me is, I know, the attention I have to give the twins (and, therefore, not give her).

They are just over 17 months old now and still require 90% of my time.  And, even though I TRY to make time for just her and me (generally when the twins go down for their nap), invariably something comes up that I have to do, and she is - once again - disappointed and frustrated.  And, then, of course, there's the I-can't-imagine-WHAT horrors/fears/whathaveyou going through her little brain about her mama.  She sees Mama weak and sick some times or wearing bandages from surgeries, she hasn't had her normal time with Mama in these past 8 months, she sees her daddy scared and/or frustrated as a result, etc., etc.  It's just awful.  I can only hope with all my heart that, when she's grown up or even an adolescent, these memories (of the bad times and anxiety) will quickly fade.  All that said, she's really doing VERY well.  Considering!

The twins are a hoot, though, and - aside from the recent and occasional tantrums that the Little Man is throwing - doing oh, so well.  He's always been more "sensitive" to what is going on around him and so he, unconsciously, tunes into whatever vibe might be pervasive on any given day or hour.

They both have the majority of their teeth in now - the Little Lady busts 'em through like nobody's business and really handles the pain and discomfort like a champ!  She's just very laid-back - about pretty much everything!  (Unless you have to wake her up early from a nap for some reason!)  Sensitive Little Man seems to struggle through every tooth pushing through - especially those nasty molars.  But, I just think how WE, as adults, would handle such physical torture!  I'm sure we'd all be medicated up the ying-yang and flat on our backs!  ;)

They are both gabbling up a storm now - absolutely sure of what they're saying . . . although WE have no clue what that is!  Little Man started out with "bahh" for ball a couple of months ago and now he's up to "Bapah" for Bopee, and "uh!" for up.  ;)  His auntie, who covered the nights last week when Mama & Daddy were away for the medical appointments, greeted me with the news one morning that he'd strung 3 words together into a sentence!  I don't remember what it was, exactly, but it was something like "I drink milk!" when he'd finished his morning sippy cup.  I'm sure it came out something like "Ah dingh milh!"  :) 

Their mama was brilliant in teaching them sign language early, and I think this is KEY in communicating with babies who don't yet have verbal language skills.  We regularly use "more" (mostly for food), "please", and "all done" (eating).  It helps SO much!

We rather purposefully haven't taught them "no", so we have yet to hear this come out of their wee mouths . . . which is a blessing because, I know that once they DO learn it, we're going to hear a lot of it!

We had little real winter this year, and so, since spring has come early, we're often playing out on the deck in the mid-afternoon sun.  And, they HATE coming back inside!  Especially the Little Lady!  She hangs onto whatever she can and loudly OBJECTS when it's time to head back in.  :)

Speaking of the weather, look at what we're to expect this week:

YUCK!  We *do* need the moisture as we didn't get the regular amount of snow this winter, but . . . ugh.  So much for afternoons on the deck!

Excellent backing-up form!  ;)  This is the Little Man.  It was so warm on the deck on Friday that I was worried he'd get his fair little head burned.  We haven't pulled summer clothes out yet, so he didn't have any sun hats available.  And, since I was folding laundry out there while watching them and happened upon this t-towel . . . I made it into a handkerchief for him to wear!  ;)

They both feed themselves almost completely one their own, and here is a fun shot of the Little Man playing with his soup spoon.  He is absolutely a character and loves to be silly!

Bellied up to the bar:  I gave them popcorn the other day, and they MUCH enjoyed this over their organic mac & cheese with peas.  Note to Bopee:  food first, popcorn AFTER!  Little Man looks bigger here, but they're actually pretty much exactly the same height.  I think he will be stockier like his dad while she will be thin and willowy like her mom's side of the family.

Little Lady, waking up early from nap time, brought all the blankies and soft toys over to their dog and proceeded to (try to) cover her with them. 

Then, she sat down and pulled L's ear up to inspect inside.  :)  L is SUCH a good example of a Pit Bull mix who should help break all the awful stereotypes!

I talked Mama Pea into putting down her garden plans and come out for a visit last week.  Little Lady was very happy about it and passed right out in her arms.

Yogurt kisses / fish mouth!  He is hardly EVER this messy when eating, but I was letting him play with his almost empty bowl.  I couldn't get the camera out in time to snap a photo when he was wearing the bowl on his head!  ;)

Smiley Little Lady.

Tucker, who just turned 9, got his spring haircut a week ago, and now that I can see what size he really was under all that hair, guess who's on a diet?!

I had fun with this recent picture of Bundle of Joy and her little brother.  :)

I love this picture of Mama snuggling with her little man.  :)  She'd been watching something on her DVD player and he - who hardly ever sees TV - was enthralled, as you can see!

Bundle of Joy's daddy's favorite cookies are Peanut Butter, and since she wanted to make them the other day, we suited up and got down to business!  It was a nice treat for him when he got home.

The Little Lady LOVED her first-ever sip of apple juice that big sister Bundle of Joy shared with her!

My days off - which are generally the weekends although that also changes week to week depending on what's going on - are usually spent in a cocoon of as much isolation as I can get in plus work around my (as usual) disaster of a wee cabin.  I house and dog/cat-sat about a week ago, and it was SO much easier to eat properly just having, especially, the space to prepare food and work . . . but running water also made it nice.  I'm usually flat-out exhausted each work night and have no oomph to get anything DONE around here, so - since today is a rainy, inside day - I'm going to continue to work on getting things more organized and useable.

Yesterday was GORGEOUS, and I got quite a bit of outside work done - primarily cleaning out the chicken coop and doing a good bit of chainsawing, wood stacking, and cleaning up the yard.  (I sure can feel that chainsawing in the ol' bod' today!)

I'll leave you with this picture - I only tapped one birch tree this year, but it's started producing NICELY!  This is a half-gallon jar pictured below that I empty each night.  I was hoping to start boiling the sap today, but - since that needs to be done outside and today's weather is NOT conducive - it ain't gonna happen. 

May your sap flow sweetly!

Thanks for hangin' in there with me!

:)  XO - Chicken Mama