Happy Halloween!

One Little....

Two Little...

Three Little Indians!

 (feather, not dot).

A Sho-Sean-ee Indian! 

If you haven't been to our house lately, Sean is on an Indian kick.  We have read nearly every book the Charleston County Library system has about Indians, read about Lewis and Clark, studied Indian face paintings and practiced killing buffalo.  He was so ready for this costume.  It was a blast to make and I am so proud of Sean for all the effort he put into it!   

After all his research Sean requested that I be Sacajewea and Sissy be her baby, named Pomp.

Did you know that Sacajewa was actually  married to a good looking lawyer?

And did you know that little indian braves really like tootsie roll pops?  To add to the aunthenticity of the costume, Jamesie put diaper rash cream in his hair (and all over his body) before our Halloween party to achieve this mohawk. He then smeared his red face paint all over his face to get the post-battle bloodied look. 

 

Just for fun.  How can you resist this smile? 

 

We'll be out trick or treating tonight, and hopefully have some more sweet pics of our three little Indians later...Happy Halloween!

Boone!

Cody's sister Meg and her husband Tim and their sweet baby Ruby live in Boone, NC.  Boone is awesome in the fall-- it actually is fall, unlike Charleston which still feels like Michigan in July, even though it is now Halloween.  Every year since Meg and Tim have moved to Boone we've tried to go up to visit in mid-October.  Sean constantly talks about Boone as if it were Disneyland.  He likes to plan our next trip to Boone, plan what toys and books he will take with him and what we will do (usually involves throwing leaves with Tim in the front yard).  This year lived up to his dreams....

Sean waiting for the leaves to fall in the front yard so he can gather them and throw them.  

Meg and me at the Farmers' Market with our sweet babies in varying degrees of wool.  

You would never know it, but its actually about 60 degrees in this picture.  Sean was so excited to get to wear gloves, he wore them for about 6 hours straight on Saturday. He also needed his hood on at all times and needed to drink hot chocolate to warm up.  

Here is Sean on our hike.  The theme from Little House on the Prairie is playing in the background.  Gloves still on.  There were some horses on our trail and when we first saw them he said, "There must be Shoshones  (Indians) around!"  We learned recently that the Shoshones were great lovers of horses.  Therefore, where there are horses there are Shoshones.  He also asked a woman with feathery gray hair on the trail if she was an Indian.  

Baby in a backpack!

Cousin Ruby.  The boys LOVE her.  Can you blame them?  She is so sweet. 

Satisfaction.  

Love. 

They are practicing for their modelling job for the Kelly's Kids catalog. 

Throwing leaves....I've been waiting for this all year!

The picture is kid of dark, but you can get the picture-- We are hiking with many children strapped to us in different ways.  I like to call this look "Crunchy Catholic."  

A view from above with three of the four babies with us.  I love this picture.  Everyone doing their own thing.  

Some thoughts while walking...

Between Halloween costumes (forthcoming) speech therapy, pre-school, breastfeeding and sleeping, I realize I've been neglecting our blog for sometime now.  I'm going to try to be better.

  The other night I was going for a walk/run in the neighborhood and a thought occurred to me.  Over the last 4 years I've been pregnant 3 times.  3 times my body has housed another person, expanded and shrunk 40+ pounds, and then sustained that person on nothing but my own milk for another 6 months.  I am tired and worn.  In this very fertile stage of our life I found myself wondering why (and how) I try to get back in shape and "get my body back" during these brief windows of not being pregnant or post partum.  It's like I need to reclaim as my own what has been given over to another person for the past year. Being pregnant is hard.  Its nauseating and painful.  It stretches muscles and ligaments, shifts bones, bruises and breaks your body in ways sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent.  Delivering a baby out of your body is hard work.  It breaks you in mind in body.  You are simultaneously at your most vulnerable and most powerful, as you are using all of your strength and will to produce another whole person.  Breastfeeding is hard.  Physical pain and sacrifice at first, time and energy sacrifice as it goes on.

As I was walking and thinking about these things, I wondered if there was even a point to me trying to "get my body back" when for the last four years, and likely a few more years, it belongs to someone else?  Am I here for any other purpose other than to house and feed the next generation?  Is this the reason God made my body and put it here on earth and then gave me Cody?  For the good of the people we make together?  I almost feel used. My body is (and thus I am), here for other people to use.  I feel used up sometimes-- sometimes broken, like I will never be my whole self that belongs only to myself again.  Then, as my walk turned to home, I realized the beauty in being used and broken for the good of someone else.  My God, literally, My God--did the same thing for us.  He was put on earth to have His body used and broken.  His mind and his will tested to the limits.  So yes, my body is being used in this vocation.  It is sore and broken and tired.  And dignified.  And the suffering required for the good of another person (or three little people) is sanctified because Jesus did it first for us.  When He was at his most vulnerable-- stripped, beaten and broken, He was ironically at his most powerful because his sacrifice was powerful enough to save the whole world.  At my most vulnerable during these cycles of fertility, I am doing the most powerful thing imaginable-- making new people and new souls.  And I thank God for the ability to have a small taste of what He did for us.  Especially because my body is being used up for these little people:

Just some thoughts while I was out walking.  

More from Sean.....

This morning: "Mom, if you don't let me watch my Scooby Doo movie sometime soon I think God will be mad at you." 

And, add one to the Questions for God Book this morning (in addition to whether He will be mad at me for not letting Sean watch SD), "Mom, why don't men have babies?"   Good question.  For God. 

Sissy Smiles!

Riding in cars with Sean

Sean chats almost constantly from his perch in the far backseat of our minivan.  He often tells me to turn the radio down so I can hear him and we can have a conversation.  Sometimes the conversations are nonsense, but sometimes you can just hear his little mind working and soaking up knowledge.  Lately conversation in the car (and at home) has centered around American Indians and buffalo.  But the other day we deviated from that ever popular topic for this conversation:

Sean: Does anyone like going to jail?
Erin: No.  Jail is not a nice place to be, no one likes going to jail.
Sean: Why not?
Erin: [long explanation of the concept of "freedom"....]
Sean: Well do Daddy's clients like being in jail?
Erin: No.
Sean: When will they ever get out?
Erin: Well, that's Daddy's job.  He goes and talks to the judge about his clients getting out of jail.  He explains to the judge that either his client didn't do whatever they say he did, or maybe he did do it, but for some reason it wasn't really that bad, so Daddy explains that to judge to try to get his client out of jail.
Sean: What's a case?
Erin: Each client has a problem, and that's called his case.  So either Daddy talks to the judge about the case, or he takes the case to trial.
Sean: When is Daddy having another trial?
Erin: I'm not sure.  He might have one next week, but we're not sure yet.
Sean: Well I hope its soon so you and me and Jamesie can eat pancakes for dinner. (!)
Erin: [hmmm....] Yes, being in trial is hard work, so sometimes we have pancakes for dinner.
Sean: Daddy's trials are such hard work that he will be sweating really bad by the time its over.
Erin: [hmmm....] Yes, I suppose Daddy does sweat during trials.
Sean: Like, really a lot.  Because its such hard work.