Magic Number

Photographs totally unrelated from a family cleanup we did out in the sagebrush somewhat close to our house.

 This article that I posted on facebook really touched me and had me pondering family size in our society. I think all of us who happen to have more than two children had a magic number when the public comments started. Maybe it was the third baby, or perhaps the seventh. Well, apparently four is the magic number for me. It's quite comical to me because I don't consider my family large by any means. I still see us as quite small at the moment. Ask me again when we have seven, maybe. Then again the amount of food I need to cook each meal does have me feeling like a larger family some days.

The other weekend my family and I went to our local farmers market to pick up a couple of things.  I wore Baby F up on me and our other three children were walking with us. I heard a woman's voice  loudly say, "You know how that happens, right?" I looked around, not sure of where the voice came from or who is was spoken to. Then she repeated herself, "You know how that happens, right?" This time I saw that it was one of the vendors speaking and she was talking to me. I wasn't quite sure of how to respond to a comment like that. It actually made me giggle and I thought of a few comebacks but then I ended up just smiling shyly and saying, "yep."

I think I giggled because, since I had Baby F, it is starting to become expected that I will get some sort of comment about the size of my family when I am out and about. Most of them are sweet (lots of bigger families around these parts) but every now and then I get comments like the one above, from people that just might not fully see the gift that children are. I don't get offended but rather feel sorry that they feel that way. I would love to engage them in a conversation, show them how filled with joy I am because of my precious gifts, and let them see first hand how incredible children are. I never do, though. I worry that something inappropriate might be said by in front of my children by the commenters. Maybe one of these days, though, I can build up the courage.

What was your magic number when the comments started coming? Do you remember the first comment you received?


Since we are such a large family now *Ha, Ha* I thought I would share one of the ways we save a little money as well as help out our planet. I make our own baby wipe solution. Actually I also do this out of necessity for Baby F as his skin is very sensitive, but we did this for all of our children, as well. I just use water, essential oil and cloth wipes. Easy peasy. It is fast to make, too. You know, so you can get right back to chasing around your large brood. I bought a wipe warmer like this one (many moons ago) to keep the solution warm. I just fill it about 1/3 of the way full with water. Then I add only one drop of essential oil. For the oil, I like to rotate between Gentle Baby essential oil and lavender essential oil. You could do whatever essential oil you like but be certain it is safe for baby first, many are not! One drop is all that is needed because essential oils are very strong and a tiny bit goes a long way. Once I have my water and essential oil in I add the cloth wipes. I fill those to the top. Over a short amount if time they soak up all of the water solution. I then plug the wipe warmer in and am ready for the next diaper change. See? Super simple.

Magic Number

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.


 All of those sheep at the fair inspired me to cast on a Baa-ble hat. I have plans for this hat, let me tell you, but first I need to knit it through and then go from there. I am using leftover yarn from some of my very favorite projects in the past. Lots of wooly memories there.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

at home

I missed posting at the end of last week for a good reason. It was due to sheer exhaustion following a day's events. My children and I rose before the sun (something that hasn't happened pretty much since we moved here to Idaho) instead of our usual 9 -10 am and dropped Kevin off at work. As hard as it was to wake up that morning, it reminded me of just how much I do like starting my days off early. I feel so much more alive when I do. We then took the hour long drive to Glenns Ferry to go support our friend's daughter in the Elmore County Fair. We had such a blast cheering her on. She is such a natural with her pigs and apparently it wasn't just obvious to my children and I - she won overall grand champion that day.

When our friend's daughter was in between classes we spent most of our time loving on the sheep. I look forward to that day when we can have some of our own. My children look forward to this, too, and were begging me to buy them a sheep that was for sale there. If we didn't have a cubicle sized yard and strict housing rules on base I would have gone for it and sneaked him in. I doubt Kevin would have even batted an eye upon our arrival home with it. Eh, what's one more animal to our current count of eleven? But I will remain patient and wait for the right time to begin our flock. While I wait I'll just keep up with my knitting skills and practice spinning and natural dyeing more.

I honestly wasn't very sure of how Baby F would handle being out all day. I was expecting him to be quite upset with the whole thing but boy, did he prove me wrong. He was so at home up on me in the baby carrier listening to the pigs, sheep, alpacas and goats. He never slept so well nor smiled as much as he did that day. I think he was trying to tell us something. Alright, Baby F if we must have our dream homestead to make you happy, I guess we will. *Wink. wink* 

Much to the dismay of my children we had to leave the fair before the carnival rides opened up. We had arrived there at eight in the morning and I knew we weren't going to last until five. Plus we had to pick up Kevin at work. I decided to make up for it with something my children had never had before - shaved ice. They looked at me in amazement when I offered it to them. K kept saying, "But Mama, it's just chemicals and food coloring!" Not that she didn't want it, but she just couldn't believe I was offering it!

As we said good-bye to our friends and packed up to leave K told me that she had so much fun that day and that she will never forget it. I asked her why and she said it was because she got to cheer on her friend and eat shaved ice for the first time in her life. Her siblings nodded in agreement. Days like these are my favorite. Simple, laid back and spent with friends, animals and the people I love most in this world.
p.s. This happened about ten seconds into the car ride home and lasted until we carried him into the house:

at home

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.
photo from 2013

We had such a fun time hiking with L's Trail Life troop that I completely forgot to snap a Crafting On photo. I am cheating and using an old photo from 2013 but it is at least of the project I am currently working on. I just found my unfinished sweater in a box as I was cleaning out my office closet. I hadn't touched it in nearly three years. I am still in love with it but K was with me when I pulled it out and she let out a squeal when she saw it. It is her favorite color, after all. I let her try it on and it actually fits her rather well. So I thought I would finish it up (it just needs the sleeves) and surprise her on her birthday with it. She will treasure it more than I ever could. And who knows, maybe I can get around to knitting myself another one someday in the future.

I wanted to thank all of you for your encouraging and thoughtful comments on my post yesterday. I felt a bit silly and like I just typed up a long whine after I hit the publish button. I almost took it down. But it also felt good to just get that out there. Your responses truly made see it all from a different perspective and helped me to make peace with it all. Thank you, truly.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Judge not

Can you guess who added sharks to the nature table? Lately I have been feeling the pull more and more to close myself up and hide myself away from this world. To become a hermit, protecting my empath heart and thin skin from the cruelty outside my home. Granted, I would never really do such a thing but the thought has been there. I am sure Baby F's dislike of any place that isn't our home (well, except the pool and being out in nature) hasn't exactly helped the matter, but I understand and accept that. He is new to this world and still learning what it's all about. I don't blame him for not wanting to go out to crowded noisy stores. I don't really like to either but every two weeks I know it must be done if we want to eat, so I venture out.

That brings me to my experience over the weekend. It was payday so we did our usual grocery shopping. Shopping is a family event for us and Kevin and I take the opportunity to get one on one time with our children as we go off to look for things. As I mentioned, Baby F does not like going shopping in the least bit. He'll tolerate it some days but usually Kevin and I take turns wearing or holding him, trying to keep him happy, while the other one shops. Well, we were near the end of our shopping and Baby F lost it. I was wearing him at the time so I took him out and tried everything within my power to comfort him and make him happy but my efforts were in vain. I was on the opposite side of the store of my family so I had to walk over to let them know that I was going to go outside with Baby F and to see if they could finish the shopping for me (there was no cell phone reception in the store, by the way, so I couldn't just call Kevin to let him know). Well, as I was walking through, lovingly holding, kissing and sweetly talking to my crying baby I received a numerous amount of dirty looks, whispers, harsh stares and judgemental eyes. So many, in fact, that I walked the rest of the way with my head down so I wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. I am not going to lie - it hurt! As if it didn't break my heart enough that my poor little guy was miserable and I couldn't calm him. I just don't understand - Why would anyone think that making someone else feel even worse would bring about good?

I feel that it is not my place to judge. I know I have been guilty of being (internally) judgemental in the past and I continue to fight that demon as many of us do. Maybe this day was a reminder of how hurtful it can be. It definitely humbled me down even more. I try to go out of my way when I see a mother struggling and give her a reassuring smile or kind words. Anything to help her through that moment because, really, we have all been there. I feel like it is the least I can do.

 My heart breaks a little for the people that went out of their way to make me feel horrible. Thankfully as I sat outside with tears in my eyes a sweet old man came up and started talking to me. He was telling me all about his ten children and how 3 of them had red hair like mine. I think that man was an angel in disguise.

On another note, some beautiful bird music to meditate on.

Yellow headed black birds:
A red winged black bird (and Baby F singing along):

Judge not

Steady now

Life is good. I am alive and that in itself is something to be grateful for. But some days I just need to remind myself to give in and realize I am not always in control. I wouldn't call it failing necessarily but learning when to admit defeat. Days like this call for sewing nights. The steady rhythmic hum of the sewing machine drowns out my worries and upsets from the day and allows me to center myself so that I may try again tomorrow.

Steady now