The Facebook Status Updates That Could Have Been:

I admit it, I spend way too much time on Facebook. Even more alarming is how much time I spend thinking about Facebook. Going about my day I find myself narrating my life in Facebook status updates of 420 characters or less. Plenty of them don't make it to my wall for one reason or another but some are worth sharing somewhere. Don't judge me. I'm not the only one (yeah, yeah, I know, if everybody else jumps off a bridge are you going to and all that) and you Twitter junkies are just as bad. I won't even mention die-hard bloggers, the ones that do things just so they can blog about them. They see life as one giant blog post. Not that I have any knowledge of this personally.


Without further ado, the Facebook Status Updates that could have been:

- High Fructose Corn Syrup is the body and blood of Satan.

- Squiggle Bug eats PB&J by opening the sandwich and eating it from the inside out.

- Lady Gaga is like cotton candy: disgusting over-dyed fluff sugar that you know isn't good for you but you just. can't. stop.

- Is it a bad sign if I'm thinking of what I could put on my Facebook status just seconds after posting one?

- With the laundry and dishes done nobody notices that I haven't showered in days. Clean laundry and dishes are way more important.

- No, I don't just sit around doing nothing all day. Yes, I did just spend an hour getting smiles and laughs from Smunchie. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it.

- I wish I had two washers, one would just be for diapers.

- 11 is the new 2!

- I do not recommend stuffing a crochet wool play cookie in your mouth even if it is to impress a 9 year old.

- You do not want to know where I just found poop.

- It turns out randomly bursting into song really does happen in real life! Either that or my children think we're in a very long musical. A very long musical that sings about everything and I do mean everything.

- When it comes to music, crap is the new pop!

- If I posted every Facebook status that comes into my head I wonder how many times poop would show up in my word tracker thingy.

- Do not threaten me or I'll be forced to spray you with breastmilk. I'm not joking.

- We started watching V and I can't stop! Which totally means I think everyone around me is actually an alien lizard thing.

- All I want to do is sit down and knit.

- "I've got my happy face on today, Les!"

- What are you doing? Nothing? Nothing doesn't look like that. You have the look of something. Something you don't want to tell me.

- "You're not my teacher!" Uh... did I not explain homeschooling to you?

- Copy and paste does not a Facebook status make. *Copy and paste this into your status if you're tired of copy and paste status updates. Only the really fed up will have the courage to do this, most people will just pretend they don't see it.*

- Awwww! Squiggle Bug is an artist! You should totally see the mural in the bathroom.

- I'm starting to think you have to already be organized to get organized.

- Dear child, as long as you are under the age of at least 14, maybe even 18, if you use the phrase "when I was a kid" I will laugh.

- WTH! Did somebody pass out crazy pills and skip me?

- I hate cupcakes. Pinocchio nose? I have no idea what you're talking about.

- Smunchie hates being alone. This works out well. With 4 big sisters being alone won't even happen when she learns how to use the bathroom.

- I totally came up with, like, 6 great status updates in the last hour but didn't want to appear like I have a Facebook problem by sharing them all. Oh, guess I shouldn't have said that.

Another perspective

This isn't exactly about my birth story with Cosette but it does include some of our birth story. My good friend Linda attended the birth last week as support and birth photographer. I haven't seen the images yet (she took a lot, I'm sure she's wondering what she was thinking now) but I've seen other samples of her work and I'm sure they are beautiful. What I appreciate about this post though is another perspective entirely and not from camera. I am well aware now as as someone who attends women in birth that there are always several stories happening, not just the birth story from the perspective of the mother. Everyone there, while sharing in the same developing experience, is experiencing their own version of the story coming from their own already in progress narrative. These tales are beautiful to me and getting to hear them, even in small snippets is a gift that those who attended Jeremy and I in our births bless me with when they share. I warn you, this post may make you cry. It took me a few days to find the courage to read it but it was worth it. I hope you are touched by what she shares there and if you can, take a minute to leave her a comment to thank her for sharing such depth of her soul. I'd also love to hear what you think in the comment section as well.

A week ago today- SROM or the begining of a birth tale.

There are moments that we mark in red on the calendar of our hearts and minds and quietly observe them on our own when those events are revisited. Some of them are annual, some or monthly, some are weekly, some are precious and beautiful, some are painful and sad, some are a combination. All are important in an intensely personal way.

This was me a week ago today.


A week ago tonight at about 9.30 my bag of waters broke spontaneously as I was crossing the street with Jeremy and Evangeline following dinner with our neighbors, F and J. F had given me a hard time about not having my water break while we were there and I started having contractions with a little bit of regularity when dinner was over. Having had them off and on all day and the two weeks before, I didn't want to give them more than a passing nod of acknowledgment. I've been down this road before, you see, this could go on for weeks and weeks. We joked and I assured F that my water had never broken before either early in labor or as the first sign of labor. He promised me there's always a first time for everything! And indeed, he was right! Forty-five minutes later we were crossing the street when I felt a small gush of fluid. I wasn't sure right away that SROM had just happened but after a few more steps I told Jeremy my suspicions and by the time we got to the house I was pretty certain that I would get into the bathroom and know for sure. It didn't take long for there to be clear fluid running down my legs requiring a change of clothes. I was definitely ruptured. Contractions sputtered to a stop as I called the midwife to give her the report, I had checked myself (again) that morning (because I could- the danger of knowing just a little too much) and knew I was 75% effaced and 2cm but I hadn't felt the baby move since I ruptured. Because we had a scare not even a week before with low heart tones and I didn't have a doppler at home we made a plan to have a nurse friend come and bring a doppler so we could get heart tones. This was just for peace of mind, for my peace of mind. I felt like she was ok but I wanted to know she was ok. Sue came, bringing a doppler and set to work cleaning my kitchen after we listened to that beautiful swooshing train sound in my belly. Baby V was fine. I had woken up that morning pretty sure this was the day, I've had this with every one of my babies, I've just known when they were going to be born in the next 24 hours. All day long I felt like my body was trying to go into labor but was being held back. My FaceBook status twice reflected it: "Feeling like a car revving the engine" and even less poetic "You-know-what or get off the pot girlfriend. I'm going to dinner now." I couldn't swear on FaceBook for some reason but you all know what I meant. Having seen it before in myself and women I've attended I had a hunch that having my children around was keeping me from kicking into gear and so we planned to pack them up and send them on their way to our friends LKH and EKH where we knew they'd be safe, have fun and we wouldn't need to worry about them and I could get down to the business of birthing a baby.


With the girls gone I worked on getting in touch with Linda as we had planned for her to come and take photos of the labor and birth. Thankfully she checked her Facebook and saw the message I left her since her number was erased from my phone causing me to panic that we wouldn't be able to get a hold of her. She called and headed right out, getting to our place around 11 or maybe midnight. I don't remember because by the time she got there my contractions had indeed decided to get this show on the road and I was in early labor.

There is obviously more to the labor/birth story but I'll leave you with this. A week ago tomorrow I looked like this:

And today, we have this:

These moments are marked in red in the day planner of my heart for several reasons. They mark the beginning of the end of the journey of bring our daughter into the world, they speak of the healing of some very painful moments and relationships along the way, they remind me of dear friends both new and old that journeyed with me, they testify to my personal strength of surviving another HG pregnancy and the agony that caused as well as the labor and birth, they chronicle the love of Jeremy and I birthing together again, they are likely the last of their kind as we feel we are done having children, and they direct the eyes of my heart back to God, the author of it all. Moments such as these deserve the red marker, emblazoning them on my heart's memory forever. I hope you have learned to pause and cherish such moments.

I've got photos to share afterall!

My camera may be missing but I do have photos to share! I didn't take them (which explains the quality), our good friend Marc Brubaker did. I've been meaning to share them for a while but every time I look through them I can't imagine picking just a few to post, they are all so great! Marc's beautiful photography of his company Click. Wind. Repeat. will be featured in our first edition of our family newsletter due out next week. We are so fortunate to have Marc's work for our magnets and prayer cards as part of our fundraising for the ministry in France. Jeremy and I know through two of our favorite places: Taft Street Coffee and Xnihilo Gallery where Marc replaced me as curator and I currently serve with on the gallery board. Talented, creative, amazing with kids, and one of the most gracious people I know I would highly recommend Marc, Click. Wind. Repeat. to anyone looking for photographs that go beyond the overly-posed studio portriats. We can't wait for the next time we get to be photographed by Marc, it is an honor and a real pleasure to work with him.

Here are some of my favorite images. You can see more here or by subscribing to our e-mail newsletter, post a comment if you're interested in how to do that.