Daley Ponderings

My due date was February 21. Jonathan, Noah, and Faith had all been exactly five days late. Joy was early, but we weren't sure of her date and the more we thought about it the more we figured she probably had been late as well. So we had Linda and Porter schedule their flight to arrive... (More)

How do I begin? Not really at the beginning. June 15, we sold the house we were living in and drove to New Hampshire in two moving trucks and a minivan. (A very hearty and grateful "thank you!" to Ron and Ron for driving the trucks!) The days preceding that day were extremely full,... (More)

I think Heather generally does a good job (though I think she might not be taking as many naps as she should be at the moment) of getting rest, and happy to have people come cook and clean for her, but it is always a good reminder to make sure we get enough rest . (More)

Recently, I read One Thousand Gifts , which was recommended by someone whose blog I read, but I can't remember who anymore.  It was a beautiful book and has inspired me to be thankful for the little things once again.  (Briefly, the hesitations I have in recommending it: she writes... (More)

8/21 - I can't remember when babies are "supposed" to get object permanence, but Joy definitely has it.  She was playing on her tummy on the kitchen floor with two toys.  When she lost them under herself, she looked all around trying to find them again. 8/24 - Jonathan called the... (More)

Jon was with a bunch of people we don't see often last night, and one of the men mentioned that his wife was discouraged by all these homeschooling mother-of-many type blogs where everyone has all their lives together and nothing goes wrong.  So I thought I'd post how my life is not... (More)

Noah (while we started the woodstove): Can fire do anything to metal? Dad: It can melt it, if it is hot enough. Noah (wide-eyed): So, you could melt the metal into a sword? Noah then relays the conversation to Jonathan, who is taking a bath. After some discussion about where one might get... (More)

I'd been having these strange contractions for a few days. Not the simple Brackston-Hicks that I have throughout pregnancy that feel tight but do not hurt. Not crampy labor contractions, either. They were very tight and they hurt. They came usually when I was sitting – on the couch or... (More)

We bought a "new" minivan last year, and it had the lowest mileage, and highest cost of any car we've owned so far.  It is a 1997 Oldsmobile Silhouette, and it had 107,000 miles on it.  We did a lot of driving (I hit 135,000 today, after a year and a half).  Heather and I both... (More)

11/1 - Jonathan, "My favorite color is green."  Noah, "My favorite color is green, too!"  Jonathan, "Faith, what's your favorite color?  Is it green?"  Faith, "No, flower." 11/1 - Jonathan lost his left front upper tooth!  He bit into a grape (boy, that tooth must... (More)

We arrived at the Fitzkees' house on Thursday night, and Nick said we could stay as long as we wanted.  We ended up extending our trip by a day and coming home on Tuesday, which was a good decision.  I think we spent the right amount of time for the whole family to enjoy the... (More)

We cooked bacon and pancakes (I found a nifty plastic pint jug in Walmart or somewhere that you simply pour water into the jug, shake it up, and pour it on the griddle) for breakfast, and then packed up and planned to meet for lunch at Great Falls, 15 miles away. Heather went back to... (More)

I've wanted to bike to DC for a while, but there never seemed like a good opportunity to do so.  Once we purchased the tandem bike, and started thinking about the possibility of biking all over the country, the Washington trip seemed like a good first step. The trip did get... (More)

As Heather mentioned , it did take us a while to get this post written, but I thought it would be good to have a record of it, so here goes... Each year for the last several years, Paul has organized a two day bike trip for the kids of BCF.  This year, we drove to Rockwood, PA... (More)

6/1 - Noah's use of /f/ in everyday speech has increased immensely and he now uses it in a substitution.  3 = "free" 6/1 - Jonathan cut Faith's bangs "because she asked me to."  Forgot that part about asking Mom or Dad...  He actually did a good... (More)