Timberrrrr!!!!

In order to use our new wood stove this winter, it was necessary to acquire a quantity of wood. This pile represents about 3 full cords.
It is also necessary for said wood to find its way in to nice, neat stacks somewhere so that we can continue to park our cars in our driveway. Enter the children!
I've always said that I didn't have all these children so that I could spend all my time emptying trash cans or shoveling snow. I can now apply that same sentiment to hauling firewood. Stack faster boys, winter's coming!

ZZZZzzzzz

Yes, ok, more pictures of the baby sleeping. At this point it's still the most exciting thing he does.
I wouldn't mind seeing a little more of this pose at, say, three in the morning.
For some reason, he thinks the wee hours of the dawn are a good time to be wide awake. I, however, prefer to be asleep at that time, so we've been having a battle of wills every night. I'm gonna win this one (it just may take a year...)

Wascally Wabbitt

After dinner this evening, Joe came in the house and asked me in a very hypothetical-sounding way, "Mom, can I catch a bunny?" "Sure, kid" I told him, "Knock yourself out."
I didn't think he was actually going to catch a bunny. I should know by now to never underestimate a small boy with a big net.
And off he goes. Hopefully he's learned that our yard is a dangerous place for silly little bunnies.

Wash the dishes, wash the baby

In a house with eight people and only one bathtub, we often run into a bit of a crunch come evening bath time. We also tend to run out of hot water well before we run out of dirty children to bathe. So, we improvise.
I'll usually just dunk a baby real quick into another kids' bath water, having long since done away with special 'baby bathtubs'. After several showers last night, there was not quite enough hot water for poor Renee's bath; and while she can suffer lukewarm bath water, it was a bit too cool for the baby.
After a short while, we did have just enough warm water to fill the sink. David rather enjoyed his bath, if not all the publicity surrounding it.

Three Weeks

Baby David is three weeks old today. He's getting bigger and more alert, which is about as much as you can expect from a three week old baby.
The novelty of a new baby has not yet worn off with the bigger kids. They still all clamor to get to hold him, and fight over who's had the most turns.
Funny how three weeks can feel like an eternity and a blink of the eye all at the same time.

I did it!

This monstrous green beast has been parked in our driveway for just about six months. Over that entire time, Matt has been the designated driver whenever we took it out for a cruise. Quite frankly, I was scared to drive it. I mean, it's HUGE. It doesn't even fit in a regular parking space. It's too tall to clear the ceilings in parking garages. I have to climb up three very high steps just to get into it. But today, I drove it. All by myself (well, myself and my half-dozen children along for the ride.)I didn't get into an accident, and we all are home safely. I needed to run some errands, and our mini van was in for service, so my destiny awaited. Funny, because I remember being just as scared to drive our mini van when we bought it. At the time, it was much bigger than anything I'd ever driven before, having mostly owned two-door subcompacts up until that time. Compared to the Green Giant here, my mini van looks like one of those circus clown cars: you open the door, and people just keep climbing out. This beast at least was engineered to hold that many people.

All together now...

I realized the other day that I had not taken any pictures of all six children together. So, here we are!
And more of baby, just for good measure. You can't really have too many baby pictures, now can you?
He's growing already. Of course, with the amount he eats, it's no wonder. I'm sure I'll be sad when he starts growing right out of his little baby clothes.

...and even MORE baby pictures!

The blog has been very picture-heavy and word-light lately for two main reasons: sleeping babies are cute to look at, and new babies don't really do anything worth writing about. Add into it that I am still very much in recovery mode and not really able to form complete thoughts, let alone anything sharply witty and insightful, and I'm sure you'll agree it's best to let the pictures do the talking.

Here is the baby awake. He is not often both awake and content, unless he is nursing. As soon as he finishes, he either goes back to sleep, or starts complaining. This makes it rather difficult for me to do anything other than sit and nurse him, which is even less exciting than it sounds. Sitting still has always been a challenge for me, even while recovering from major surgery, so I'm feeling pretty antsy.
I've done this all before, and I know that this, too, shall soon pass. Until then, I'll take lots of pictures.