The Swan Family: Update

We are so close to some Spring relief. I feel like we're all holding our breath waiting for it and just trying to push through the last little bit of winter any way that we can. Ruby in particular is just plain sick of being cooped up. The other day she was taking out her frustrations on Ollie, so in an attempt to redirect her energy, I put some boots and a coat on her and sent her outside to demolish the last remaining bits of the snow fort. Whatever it takes, right?

My little Rue. She's been such a handful lately. The other morning she got up at 4:30am for no reason whatsoever. She kept coming in and out of our room, we'd put her back to bed, only to hear her five seconds later playing in the school room at full volume. After everyone else was up, and I'd finished feeding Cal, I noticed that I hadn't heard her for awhile. After looking around for a bit, and worrying slightly that she'd snuck out and run away, I finally found her sound asleep in her bed.

I couldn't be too mad though. At the beginning of February a family in our ward lost their 4-year-old son unexpectedly. Everyone in our neighborhood's hearts are breaking as we mourn with this family. And I'll tell you what, it sure puts things into perspective. So what if I haven't gotten much sleep in the last 10 years. I'm tired, but I can still walk into Ruby's room and watch her peacefully sleeping like an angel at 9 o'clock in the morning. Even though she tears through our house like a Tasmanian Devil, leaving all our possessions scattered in her wake.....she's still here to follow me around and be my shadow and my buddy. I still get to hear her cute little voice practicing new words, and asking "What's that? What's that?" This week particularly, the messes and the crazy are taking a back seat, and blending in as part of the wonderful whole, that is my healthy, happy, living child. I wish it didn't take a tragedy to remind me. But I am glad that we live in an amazing ward where people come together and lean on each other and care for each other. Since I'm in the Relief Society, we got to be involved in some the details of the funeral and luncheon. There was such and outpouring of love and support from the beginning to the end. And even though it was such a sad, sad day; the Spirit was in the room and the feelings of peach and comfort were the most dominant. We were all uplifted, even as we cried with the family. And I just remember thinking, "This is it, right here. This is the gospel in it's purest and truest form."

Switching topics: Cal is five months old! I love this cute little baldy-head. He has been such a light. I finally caved, and he is eating solids now. Wolfing them down and begging for more, would really be a more accurate description. He's rolling all over the place now, back to front and front to back, he's pretty mobile. He loves to watch his siblings. He's always been wide-eyed alert, but now he's starting to be social, making eye contact and smiling; jabbering at you to try and get your attention. Giggling. No predictable schedule yet. He doesn't nap super well, or super long, but he is usually happy anyway. He loves to go places, and is very happy and well behaved out in public. He doesn't seem to mind strangers, and will let anyone hold him. I'm REALLY leaning more and more towards the Type 1 every day. But I hesitate to say that for 100% sure. Lincoln was a really happy, social baby, and he's a Type 4. But time will tell, and I'm content to watch it develop and makes notes as I go, until I'm positive of one Type or another.

We have had a couple warm days where the sun has come out. And those days have been so wonderful. I've been letting the chickens run free in the yard when it's warm. I figure they can eat any bugs that have wandered into my garden, and they can fertilize the lawn while they're at it. Right now is the perfect time to let them have a little vacation from their coop and run, because I haven't planted anything yet. As soon as I plant, they'll be banished so that they don't eat my baby plants.

I've been inspecting things around the yard while we're out playing. It's almost time to prune my trees, probably next weekend, if the weather stays nice. I discovered a bunch of blackish reddish sap around the base of our peach tree. After doing some research, I figured out that it's Peach Borer, a moth that lays its eggs at the base of a tree, and when the eggs hatch and turn into grubs they eat underneath the bark of the tree and it kills the tree. Aaron and I had to wash the sap away and dig around the tree, we found 5-7 grubs and fed them to the chickens. We'll need to spray to kill the moths a little later in the year. I'm hoping we've caught it soon enough to save the tree. Because I will probably cry if my peach tree dies.

Since we've had such cabin fever, on the days when it's not warm enough to spend time in the backyard, I have been making a real effort to leave the house, and it has had such a positive impact on my mental state. Mondays we've been going to the grocery store, Tuesdays we hit up Springville Library story time, Wednesday Ollie usually plays with a friend, Thursdays we go to Provo library story time, and Fridays we go to the indoor playground with our homeschool group. This is all very loose. Last week we changed it up and swapped out one of the days and went to the BYU Paleontology Museum instead, because Ollie wanted to see a T-Rex. :) I love where we live, because there are so many options of free things to go and do nearby.