Adversity vs. Maturity

One good thing about being "older" is having the perspective not to freak out (too badly) when things go wrong. Especially when multiple things go awry, all in one strange series of events during the course of one weekend...

Case in Point: Saturday Jon was working on his Bobcat at friend Derek Johnson's garage. I was home, sitting in the living room, looking out the window as I fed baby Leila. It was windy out, and I was watching our trees blow back and forth while an unusually big gust of wind swept through our woods. And what do I see? One of the trees blew back and forth a bit further than the rest, until it broke off about ten feet up and fell all the way down. ONTO OUR VAN.

Actually, it bounced off of the van, landing beside it. The roof, door, and hood are now dented and scraped, and the window shield cracked. This is the one vehicle we don't have full coverage on, but we're going to see if it might be covered under our homeowner's insurance.

I called Jon, and he had a suspicion about which specific tree had fallen on the van. He said that brother Don had pointed out a dead tree during his recent visit, and had observed that it was within falling distance of our vehicles. But don't get too excited, Don-- as it turned out, it wasn't that particular tree, but another (smaller) dead tree.

Jon has purposely left some dead trees up around our property, in an effort to be eco-minded and help out small animals and birds who like that kind of habitat. In fact, just the day before, another small dead tree from our land had fallen into the road, and Jon moved it aside so traffic could get through. I'm starting to think that dead trees fall down pretty easy around here.

Anyway, think we had our quota of bad luck for the weekend? Nope. The next day, on Sunday, I went to town for some errands while Jon watched the kids. They were all downstairs watching TV when they heard a big crash and the sound of shattered glass upstairs. They rushed upstairs to discover that a partridge had hit one of our dining room windows, broke through the screen and two panes of glass, and was lying dead on our floor.

We've had at least four occassions since we've been here when other kinds of birds have hit our windows, and we had joked about what would happen if a turkey hit a window some time. Well, I think we have a better idea of what would happen, now. We're just glad no one was sitting at the table!

Jon called me on my cell to let me know what happened, and make sure I was on my way home. I was nearly back when he called, so pulled up the driveway a few minutes later and parked in the garage. As I walked up to the house, I thought I heard the garage door hit the ground rather sharply, and looked back in case I had accidentally left the back end of the car hanging out of the garage. It looked like the door had shut without landing on top of the car, so I continued on my way up to the house.

When Jon was outside a few minutes later, wrapping up the broken window in cellophane, he discovered that the garage door cable had snapped and the door had fallen down to the ground. Luckily that didn't happen until after I walked out from under it!

Now, this morning... what do we wake up to? Snow-!! Sigh.

The funny thing is, while all of these wierd things were happening, we remained calm. We joked about it and I instantly recognized what an interesting blog entry this might be.

It also made me feel appreciative that Jon is able to roll with the punches as well as he does. A lot of guys would rant and rave and take their frustrations out on their family, under similar circumstances. And I'm not sure... maybe a younger Jon would have done that. But when a partridge flies through the window of 45 year-old Jon Hurlburt's house, he picks up a broom and starts sweeping. Then he buries the partridge (so the dog won't eat it), removes and wraps the window, and nails up plywood where the window used to be.

There's a lesson in that, somewhere.

Bill Visits and Grandma Jane Turns 75

Well, baby Leila is almost three weeks old and it finally looks like spring has arrived here in Colfax. Jon rakes a section of our new yard whenever he gets the chance, and green grass is sprouting up everywhere. There are buds on the trees, shoots in the flower beds, and all the snow has melted away. The other night we had our bedroom window open, listening to a thunderstorm.

The kids enjoyed their recent visit with Uncle Bill, newly arrived from France. Bill stopped by on his way to Minneapolis, where he hopes to find an apartment and summer employment soon. He's ready to start graduate school, and is hoping to student teach at the university, as well.

Good news: we've finally found renters for our Eau Claire house. Actually, this time took longer because we didn't just go with the first renters to come along; we let the rental company who showed our house to people do background checks on applicants, so were much more selective than in our first rental experience (about 10 years ago, when we selected renters who burned the place down). So hopefully we'll fare better, this time. We're glad to finally have help with that extra house payment we've been making.

The same renters who have signed a lease for the upstairs are also interested in the basement, but won't need that part of the house until September. So that should give us time to clean it out and make the necessary improvements.

Sunday we went to Pat and Ann's cabin for Jane's 75th birthday party. I don't have pictures to post from that event-- we remembered the camera this time, but didn't use it. Sometimes it's nice just to go somewhere and enjoy the visit.

Leila met some of the Hurlburts she hadn't met before, including all of her aunts and uncles and her oldest cousin (age 38). It's hard to believe, but Bud and Jane have been having grandchildren for almost 40 years!

We had beautiful weather for the party, so everyone spent a fair amount of time outdoors. It was potluck, so there was plenty to snack on. We sang happy birthday and watched Jane open her presents. She did very well, as far as presents go-- one of her children is even having an Amish craftsman construct her a new bedroom set. Not bad, huh? But when you try to imagine all of the presents she has shopped for, bought, and wrapped over the years (I bet it's in the thousands, now) for her children, their spouses, and her grand and great-grandchildren-- it's hard to imagine someone who deserves it more.

The past few days here have been really nice, so the kids and I have been enjoying walks outside with Leila. We've used the stroller a few times, but she seems a bit small for that, so lately I've been carrying her in a baby harness. It's so nice to be outdoors and free of that pregnancy weight. Hopefully I'll be able to walk myself back into shape this summer.

Happy Spring!

More baby pics!!

Here's me and Leila!!

I thought I'd better write again and post more pictures of Leila with various family members, before I get too far behind. As you can tell by the photos, Leila spends most of her time sleeping these days (with a few noteable exceptions, including the hours of 2 - 4 in the morning, when she likes to be WIDE awake).

Actually, I feel much better rested now than I did in those last couple months of pregnancy. I had so much bulk around my middle I really had trouble breathing at night, and my trips to the bathroom were constant. Now I'm finally enjoying some deep sleep again (until the baby starts crying). But she only wakes me up about twice a night, and I usually get to have at least three hours of sleep between feedings. So she's a pretty easy baby, that way.

This weekend we went to Cornell, to introduce Leila to her other grandparents, Bud and Jane. Leila wore a sweater set that Jane had knitted for her. While we were there, some of Jon's siblings stopped by to visit, including his sisters, Ann and Sally, and brothers Phil and Brent. Everyone seemed to agree that she has "her own look", rather than bearing a strong resemblance to anyone on either side of the family (at this point), although Jane thought she looked more like a "Hurlburt baby" than Emma or Michael had.

Jonathan came to Cornell as well, and we had a 24th birthday party for him (his birthday is actually April 16th). Jane served a nice ham dinner followed by slabs of her rich, made-from-scratch chocolate cake, which is absolutely decadent with its thick fudge frosting.

This coming weekend we will be going to Cornell again, this time to Jon's sister Ann's cabin, for a 75th birthday party for Jane. Pat and Ann have a nice hunting cabin that is more like a second home than a hunting shack. Unlike the rustic hunting shack in Ruby, their cabin is clean and modern and NOT infested with miscellaneous rodents and vermin. They have a big fire pit in the back yard and wooded trails for 4-wheeling or walking. If the weather cooperates it should be a fun day outdoors.

Lovely Little Leila

She's finally here!!

Our new baby girl, Leila Jane Hurlburt, was born on April 4th, 2008, at about 1:45 in the morning. She weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and was 20 inches long (so my biggest baby yet). I was a few days over-due when I had her, but when she decided to come she came FAST.

Not long after going to bed for the evening, I woke up with contractions. I tried to time them, but they were really close together so I figured it was another false alarm. Also, they seemed to vary between two and three minutes apart, so didn't know if they fit the hospital's criteria of "regular". I called the maternity ward to see if I should come in, but they recommended I take a warm bath and call them back.

I took the bath but continued having contractions. So I walked around the house for awhile and debated whether or not to wake Mikey and Emma up on a school night, and whether or not to let Jon bother Phil and Jill with a late night phone call to watch the kids.

Sometime around midnight it became clear to me that I might actually be having a baby. Jon woke the kids up and had them started packing overnight bags, and I started to realize how seriously uncomfortable I was. Their packing took forever, and the drive from Colfax became excruciating. Jon didn't realize how bad things were becoming because I was trying to conceal my suffering from the kids, so as not to traumatize them. I was really quiet in the car. Jon wondered if we should drop the kids off at Phil and Jill's BEFORE going to the hospital. I told him that I would like to be dropped off first (inwardly screaming "??!!!??").

So Jon got me situated in a hospital room and left to drop off the kids. The nurse checked me and I was already dilated to 10 and baby's head was coming. Within 15 minutes of checking into the hospital, Leila Jane was born. Jon walked back into the room and made a little joke about "Is she here yet?" only to shockingly see her already laying on top of my stomach. He was able to help cut the cord, though.

Definitely a more dramatic childbirth story than I had with the other two. And definitely a "grand finale" as far as my childbirth experiences go!

I felt pretty good afterwards, so was able to come home on Saturday rather than Sunday. With about two hours to spare, we were home in time to greet my parents, sister, and three of my brothers, who had planned in advance to come see us that day. One sibling, of course, was brother Don from Arkansas, who only had a small window of time to come to Eau Claire for the visit. So we were glad the baby was able to oblige his tight itinerary!

Everyone got to hold Leila and pose for the obligatory Photo With Baby. Jonathan arrived about the same time, to meet this newest sister, 24 years younger than him! He also had to give lap time to the previous holder of the title "baby girl", his diva-sister Emma. (By the way: yesterday and today were declared "Love Emma Up Day" on our calendar by Emma, lest anyone forget).

It's impossible to tell whether Leila's going to resemble anyone else in the family yet. So far she seems to have her own look. Her hair is a lighter brown than Emma's was, with a tendency to spike. She has a sweet, sleepy disposition (so far), and stretches and coos a lot. She wakes up at least three times in the night to be fed, but lets me get a few hours sleep in between, which I appreciate.

We're still trying to get settled into the new routine here. It takes awhile to adjust to a new family member, but Michael and Emma are doing a great job with the change. They've had a lot adjustments to make, lately-- a new house, a new school, and a new baby. So every now and then we hit a sad moment or a conflict. But luckily Jon has been around lots lately to parent with me-- it's a nice change, after several years of him being gone most of the week. Him and Michael spent a lot of time together watching basketball's March Madness (which Michael has really been into, though he always roots for whatever team's wearing the white jerseys). And Jon and Emma have been able to start doing lawn work together.

A lot of our snow's melted, though it can be deep in patches. We can now see that no one did yard work last fall, so Jon's started raking areas where the snow's gone. It's so interesting to see things as they emerge from their wintery cover. There are some little brick paths around the back of the house, and flower beds with "mystery" sprouts shooting up.

I'll post more photos of our visits with various friends and family in later entries. Thanks, everyone, for your support and goodwill during what felt like a 12-month pregnancy.

Best wishes, and come see us soon!

April Fool's Day

Well, Mother Nature gave us a double whammy for April Fool's Day this year: 1) Just when it started to look like spring had sprung, we were hit with another six inches of snowfall-- sigh. And 2) although we've been expecting a March baby all these months, April's commenced with no additional need to hurry me to the hospital, as of yet.

On the bright side, though, the kids enjoyed another snow day home from school yesterday. Emma played outside in the snow fort Daddy built her, and had a winter picnic with Coco. And Michael opted to remain in pajamas most of the day and enjoy the comforts of life indoors.

After dinner we all went for a walk down our country road (a little tradition we've started since the days have become longer and we've moved to Colfax), and by then a lot of the snow had already melted. It's supposed to be warm all this week, so the melting should continue.

On Saturday we attended Pack 128's Blue and Gold Banquet, in Eau Claire. It was the first time in awhile Michael's been able to hang out with some of his old friends from Cub Scouts. He was part of the opening flag ceremony and even read some remarks to the crowd using a microphone. We had a nice potluck meal and enjoyed talking to the other parents (some of whom have become our friends, as well, after seeing them so much at the kids' different activities and at school).

We also enjoyed a presentation from a local wildlife rehabilitation center. It's a nonprofit agency (receiving no government funding) started by a local retiree and a bunch of volunteers, which now services over 20 counties and works closely with the DNR and other agencies. They take in injured animals, help them recover while being careful not to tame them, and release them when they're ready to be on their own. The little owl, pictured, had hit a window and was permanently injured, so she lives with one volunteer as a licensed training and public relations bird. The little owl can't fly and would never make it in the wild anymore; she will only recognize white mice as food, and will eat nothing else (part of brain damage she suffered).

Michael and other boys from the group were awarded their badges. Michael is excited to be moving on to Webelos next year; but we're going to wait for next school year before getting him started in scouting at Colfax. So far the scouting thing seems to be a good way for him to interact with other boys, and he likes working on the home activities in his scouting book. I do most of that with him, so it's one of the things we "do" together, just him and I. I will NOT be in a hurry to become a Den Leader again, though; no thanks.

Tomorrow I have another doctor's appointment. I will see if they can maybe hurry me along, in some way. I want to have as natural of a childbirth as possible, but don't want things to drag on another week yet. We'll see what happens!