A beautiful Lilly collage

Lilly collage by C.T.

I had a special treat in my inbox today - the above beautiful collage by one of Tabby's online friends, C.T.   I think she did such a wonderful job!  Thank you C.!

I mentioned in my last post that my dear friend, my camera!, had broken.  A camera shop in Raleigh was highly recommended to us by a number of people so Frank took my camera there for me.  Well apparently I own a pretty ancient camera!  They wanted to know how old it was and then said they couldn't fix it.  (It is a Kodak EasyShare Z980.  I bought it - refurbished - in June 2011.)  So I found an out-of-state camera shop that said they could fix it.  But they wanted $120 to do so!  I could buy the same camera - refurbished - for less than that.  So I'm not sure what to do.  In the meantime, Tabby kindly loaned me her old camera, which I'm thankful for.

Today Bongle found a new home.  Tabby and I were delighted with his new owner.  She is a young woman who said she and her mother have been looking for a puppy.  When she saw my ad and pictures about Bongle on CraigsList, she felt a connection with him.  She even had a present for him waiting for him the car - a big fuzzy pink pillow, which he promptly snuggled up on.  Seeing how happy she was with him made it easier to let him go.

Bongle

Today I heard from the family that took Watsonia.  They asked for an extension of a few days of the trial period they wanted to give her.  I said yes.  But at this point, since they are still questioning her fit with their family, I feel like maybe they should just bring her back.  (I guess I want to  know her owners instantly loved her.)  If they do bring her back, Tabby and I decided we will keep her, and find a home for Sherlotta instead.  That would be too traumatic for Watsonia to be hopping homes.  (OK - maybe that's too traumatic for us!)

Watsonia and Sherlotta

I had to spend a lot of time in the kitchen yesterday and Solomon was there to "help."  I finally decided it was easiest to give him his own bowl and spoon to play with.  So I gave him a few scoops of baking soda and some water to pour in.  He had fun and I got to accomplish my tasks quicker.

Solomon was also thrilled to be able to join his big brother and sister last week for one of our character study stories.  He wants to do everything the "big kids" are doing:

Hunter likes using our couch to create all kinds of things.  Last week he made part into a washing machine.  He used a whiteboard for the washer's control board.  (Our current dryer plays a song - Shubert's The Trout Quintett - which is why there is a song reference on Hunter's "control panel.")  Hunter asked me to put the pictures on this blog - LOL he thought the readers would be very interested (especially C. W-H. - our soap nuts lady):

control panel

inside the washing machine - the blankets and pillows are around the "agitator"

Have a blessed week!

The Goat Chick's Udderly Natural Goat Milk Soap

In case you missed Tabby's blogpost earlier this week, we have about 9 bars of goat milk soap left to sell.

From Tabby:

Soap is $4.50. (Plus shipping.)  This is VERY high quality soap.  The ingredients are:  Goat's Milk, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Shea Butter, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Eucalyptus and Spearmint Essential Oils.  

This is a very moisturizing soap. 


This soap smells really good too.  We've been using it this winter.  Thankfully Christa's milk supply is slowly increasing again, so hopefully we'll be able to start making soap regularly.  

If you're interested in purchasing some, just let one of us know.  FYI - the cost of shipping on one bar is $2.50.  Several bars could be packed into a priority mail small flat rate box for $5.80 shipping.  (I haven't yet figured out how many bars would fit.)

I need to get a more up-to-date picture of Tabby milking Christa (the goat that supplied the milk for the soap we made.  But here is one from last summer:

In the chicken world, we are still waiting for the chicks to hatch.  Chicks normally hatch at 21 days, which would have been yesterday.  I did read that it can take 25 days during cold weather.  I hope that that is the problem.  It will be so very disappointing if no chicks hatch.  A friend told us that we should be able to hear the chicks peeping inside the eggs.  We can't hear a thing and one egg was sloshy sounding.  :)

Earlier today a family came and got Watsonia to take home.  They have a dog and are going to keep Watsonia if she gets along with their dog.  As Tabby and I tearfully watched the family leave, we agreed we could never be dog breeders.  We'd be too sad every time a puppy left.

Watsonia (left) and Exhaust Pipe (Hunter's dog)

 Bongle is the last puppy needing a home.  I've had a few inquiries so we'll see if any pan out.
 

Bongle - feeling sleepy in the sun

 Finally, here's a quick science experiment that Hunter enjoyed recently.  Very easy to do if you have kids that like fizzy foamy type experiments.  It has sort of a lava lamp effect.

Pour some water into a plastic bottle.  Add a few drops of food coloring - your choice of color.  Then add corn oil.  (I think this is the only time I've ever bought corn oil!  I imagine it's awful GMO stuff.)  The water and oil separate.  Then the fun part - drop in 2 alka seltzer tablets.  Fun to watch!

Hunter added alka seltzer tablets several times and really enjoyed watching it as we talked about what was going on in the bottle to cause the reaction.

March Farm Update + Tabby's Federation results

I haven't given a farm update in awhile and yesterday I determined I would do one today.  So when I took Solomon outside yesterday afternoon, I took along my trusty camera.  We walked into the chicken coop and I snapped a picture of our broody hen's adopted eggs, and then thus said trusty camera proceeded to break.  Horrors!  The off/on switch completely stopped working.

Honestly I feel almost like my arm has been cut off.  I bought that camera during Lilly's life and took pictures of her almost daily.  And after she died, I have continued to take pictures almost every day.

Hmmmm ... I'm wondering what the first picture I took of Lilly with that camera was?  Let me check!  Flashback:

Awwww ... how sweet!  It's of Tabby & Lilly on a Sunday.  (June 2011)

OK - back to the farm update.  Earlier this month, we got a dozen fertilized chicken eggs from Bentwillow Bunnies farm and put them under our broody Buff hen, My Precious.  Frank first labeled egg with a "P" for Precious, then Tabby put them under her.  They are labeled so that when Tabby goes to collect eggs each day, she gets the right egg from My Precious.  (All the below photos are from earlier this month, due to the sad state of my camera.)

 

Tabby has a funny story about My Precious's assistant here on her blog, The Goat Chick.  Once you put fertilized eggs under a hen it usually takes 21 days until they hatch.  The woman we got them from said the eggs on her farm tend to take 20 days.  Tomorrow is day 20 so we will be running out to the chicken coop a lot to check and see if any biddies have hatched yet.  A very exciting homeschool lesson in action!

Our "goaty girls" Nutmeg and Pip are doing well with their pregnancies.  Their babies are due in May.  Goats typically have twins, so it will be interesting to see how many babies these girls each have.

Nutmeg, Pippi, Tabby

Lucia had been doing really well, for at least a month, out in the yard loose every day.  She hadn't hurt any chickens.  Until recently, when Frank found Knucklehead dead.  Sigh.  (You can see a picture of Knucklehead and read more here in Tabby's blog post.)   So we're down to 11 chickens.

At first we decided to try Lucia in the goat pen, as she likes going in there with us.  Big Christa  - I don't remember how the "Big" got added to her name - didn't take anything from Lucia, and kept her in her place.

But then a few days later, there apparently was a big fight and Big Christa ended up with a hole in her ear.  So Lucia is back in her normal place, on a long cable during the day, and loose once the chickens are in for the night.

The previous owners of this house told us that well over 250 bluebirds were born here, in the blue bird houses.  Wow!  Babies were born here last year but didn't survive, thanks to Mr. Rat Snake.  The bluebirds are busy building their nests again this year.  We know for sure that at least one of the same ones is back.  A male bluebird I named "Peepers."  Why Peepers?  Because, just like he was last year, he is proving to be a regular peeping Tom!

 

I don't know how he does it but he seems to be at the window of just about every room I walk into!

On completely unrelated to the farm update (unless you relate by saying it's about the farm girl), Tabby got the results for the piano competition she was in.  (She competed in the National Federation Junior Festival under the North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs.)  She got an "excellent" on her theory test.  She got an "excellent" for the two classical pieces she played by memory ("Winter's Serenade" and "Ballade."  And finally she got a a "superior" rating for the two hymns she played ("Come Though Almighty King" and "What Wondrous Love is This?")  We're so proud of her.  :)

Finally, I had to laugh when I found Solomon's cars the other day.  Just like Hunter used to, he likes to line them up neatly:

"Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion." - Psalm 103:22

Two puppies still needing a good home

This is just a quick post with cute puppies needing homes information.

We have two puppies left.  These puppies are FREE.  And we need them to leave soon or our hearts will break when they go as we keep getting more attached to them!

This is Watsonia.  She is a sweet girl:

This handsome boy is Bongle:

 

We do not know what kind of dog the father of the puppies is.  The puppies mother, Dixie, is a German Shepherd - Collie mix.  She is very sweet and great with animals and children.  We are not giving her away, but I wanted to share a picture of her:

 

Please let us know asap if you are interested in one - or both - of the puppies!

Lilly's (graveside) spring tree and book giveaway winner

We have our winner for my book giveaway in honor of Trisomy 18 Awareness day!  Our winner is Jeannette, a very sweet woman that is a huge help to so many of us within the Trisomy 18 community.

Tabby & LillyBear helped randomly select our winner!

 Jeannette's son Caleb lived for over two years with Trisomy 18.  You can read his blog here. And wow - his birthday is tomorrow!  He lived from March 20, 2009 - August 29, 2011.

Caleb

This past Christmas I bought a little pink Christmas tree for Lilly.  I had in mind that it would be a spring time tree for her.  I decorated it with bird, butterfly, and flower ornaments.  She now has the girly and cheerful little tree at her graveside.  I staked it into the ground so hopefully it will stay upright and be a bright spot in the cemetery:

Solomon's lead level, book giveaway reminder, and puppies

REMINDER ABOUT MY BOOK GIVEAWAY! In honor of Trisomy 18 day (Tuesday, March 18) and for Trisomy Awareness month, I am giving away a copy of the book "Audrey Bunny" by Angie Smith. (Angie has also written "I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy" about her daughter Audrey, who had an "incompatible with life" diagnoses and lived 2.5 hours on this earth.) This is a very sweet children's book about a stuffed bunny, named Audrey, who fears that a mark on her body - an imperfection - has made her unworthy of love. She soon learns though, that that is untrue. And that everyone is special and wonderfully made by God.
You can enter by:
1) leave a comment to this post (with your contact info) OR
2) e-mail me at: LittleFirecrackerLilly @ gmail. com (remove spaces) OR
3) message me on Facebook
I will randomly select a winner on Wed., March 19.

Good luck!  :)

Today Solomon had a re-test to check his lead levels.  Praise God they have dropped!  His blood test came back under 3 which means great improvement.  He is no longer in a range where there is really much concern.  He will be tested once more at his 2 year check-up, in September. 

The government worker with the lead detection gun never did show up.  (Bureaucracy!)  So we don't know if something environmental was causing it.   But perhaps the combination of the detox I've been doing with Solomon, the fact that he no longer puts EVERYTHING in his mouth anymore, and God's mercy, is what dropped his lead level back into the more normal range.

What else would a boy push in a stroller but a dump truck!

Here is what I have been giving Solomon to work as a lead detox:  Vitamin C, multivitamin (I use Beeyoutiful's Superkids), cod liver oil (Green Pasture fermented), calcium (from Meadow Mountain Herbs) and iron (also from Meadow Mountain Herbs).  I was also prepared to bath him in bentonite clay (see article here from Bulk Herb Store).  Also, I washed his hands frequently throughout the day, gave him several snacks, and damp mopped our wood floors a bit more than usual.  (Those were suggestions I received in my educational packet from the government workers that visited us in January.)


"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

Today my favorite puppy Houdini was the first of the litter to leave home.  I was happy for Houdini but I sure miss the furry little guy and was surprised I wanted to cry after he left with his new family.  Bye Houdini!

Houdini

We just have two puppies needing good homes.  The first is Watsonia, a girl:

Watsonia

 The other is Bongle, a boy:

Bongle

Let us know if you are interested in either of these two cuties! 

Book giveaway for Trisomy 18 Awareness Day (March 18)

Lilly - 12 months old

Lilly, aka Little Firecracker, was one of only about 10% of babies with Trisomy 18 to live to celebrate her first birthday.  (And that is of the low number to survive birth and then make it past 2 months old.)  Trisomy 18 (and Trisomy 13) is unfortunately known as a "lethal condition."  Or, as some doctors put it, "incompatible with life."

When I was diagnosed as being pregnant with a baby with Trisomy 18 I thought "what is that?"  Like most people, I had never heard of Trisomy 18.  The only Trisomy I had heard of was Trisomy 21, Down Syndrome.  (Though at that time I didn't know it as "Trisomy 21.")

Trisomy 18 is a genetic condition meaning there are three copies of the 18th chromosome instead of the usual two.

"Trisomy" means three so that is why March, the third month of the year, has been adopted as Trisomy Awareness month.  The 18th is specifically Trisomy 18 Awareness Day.

Jordan

Little Jordan lived three days with Trisomy 18.   Her mama is working to raise Trisomy awareness with a fundraiser.  She calls it "Trisomy Tea" and seeks to raise awareness "one cup at a time."  For  $5.00 (plus postage), you can buy a "tea cup".  It is a paper "tea cup" card and has a package of tea inside.  Jordan's mama suggests:
Have you thought about what you can do with your Trisomy Tea Cups?
Have a tea party with your children,
Share them with the therapists working with your child,
Take some to the hospital/staff/doctors that helped deliver your baby!
The ideas are endless; also consider sharing recent research for them to review; I have a list of helpful websites included with the tea. Last year I took them and research to 2 NICUs in West Virginia to share with the doctors and staff

Here is the Trisomy Tea Facebook page with ordering information:  https://www.facebook.com/TrisomyTea       I love unique ideas like this!

Now for my book giveaway announcement!

Recently I read a book called Audrey Bunny by Angie Smith.  (Angie has also written I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy about her daughter Audrey, who had an "incompatible with life" diagnoses and lived 2.5 hours on this earth.)  This is a very sweet children's book about a stuffed bunny, named Audrey, who fears that a mark on her body - an imperfection - has made her unworthy of love.  She soon learns though, that that is untrue.  And that everyone is special and wonderfully made by God. The illustrations in this book are just precious.  They are drawn by a young woman named Breezy Brookshire. (You can see her style in her Etsy shop here.)

Obviously I see the connection with this idea and my Lilly.

Lilly and Mama - July 2011 - photo credit Steve Rubin Photography

So ... I have one copy of this book to give away.  You can enter now through March 18 - Trisomy 18 Awareness Day.  I will randomly select a winner on March 19.

You can enter by:
1) leave a comment to this post (with your contact info) OR
2) e-mail me at:  LittleFirecrackerLilly  @ gmail. com   (remove spaces)  OR
3) message me on Facebook

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well." - Psalm 139:14

What book is this? And NILMDTS photo session from a photographer's viewpoint

My brother P. had a comment to make about NC State's BookBot that I mentioned in my post on books yesterday:

They finished the BookBot after I was done at NC State, so I never saw it, but one of our neighbors works at NC State and he helps run it.  I think the main reason for it is that they can fit many more books in the same amount of space compared to if they were on regular shelves--so you actually have more access to books that way.  I believe that only the engineering and science books are in the BookBot, though, so the history, philosophy, and religion books are safe and free to browse for on the shelves :-)

Ha!  I thought that was interesting.  I bet the engineering and science types are the ones that appreciate the BookBot.  (Our resident engineer/science guy (Hunter) is still pouring over the BookBot article and pictures every day.)

Watsonia. Tabby has decided to keep one of the black puppies instead. The puppies can start being adopted out next week!

I have an antique cabinet (1930s?) I got from my mother-in-law's now closed antique store.  The shelves are covered with old pages from books and hymnals.  There is a page from a children's story that I found rather interesting and would love to know what book it is from.  (I tried to google parts of the story but couldn't find it.) It is the beginning of a chapter called "Doing Work Well." (If you by chance recognize this story, please let me know!)  In the below excerpt, the mother of two children, Bob and Louise, is sharing some things that help her work:

One day, mother said, “When I was a little girl, I learned a verse to sing as I worked. Do you want to learn it?”
Of course they did, so mother sang:When a task is once begun
Never leave it till it’s done;
Be it great or be it small,
Do it well or not at all.
“Tell us something else that helped you do your work when you were a little girl,” the children begged.
“Oh, there were many Bible folk who helped me,” answered mother.
“There was Miriam who looked after her baby brother Moses. She did not leave her job until it was done. I used to help look after my little brother. I played I was Miriam.”
“And Samuel helped me,” mother went on. “He learned to polish the silver and light the lamps and open the doors of God’s house. He found many things to do, to help Eli.”

And that's all I have!  I would love to read more about what other "Bible folk" inspired the mother in doing her work.  :)

The other day I got an e-mail from Lilly's Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep photographer.  He said he had started a photography blog and had up a post mentioning Lilly.  His post was about a particularly difficult NILMDTS photography session he recently had.  It involved an angel baby at the hospital.  I found the post interesting because honestly I never really thought a lot about what a photography session like that was like from the photographer's viewpoint - I've always been too focused on what it was like from my perspective.  (Note that this photographer has a preemie son with Down Syndrome who's twin died.)  You can read his post here.  

from Lilly's NILMDTS photo session

The photographer's concluding section of his blog post addresses people who don't understand why someone would want pictures of their dead baby.  Even though we were blessed to have Lilly survive birth and live 17 months, I still wanted pictures of her dead.  (And posted some to this blog.)  Why?  It is part of the healing process.  And it is something physical to HAVE when you no longer have your child in your arms.  Parents of angel babies may or may not choose to display those pictures permanently in their home.  (I know families on both sides of this.)  But no matter where they have those photos, they help prove that that baby did exist, and remind the parents of the details of the child's precious face and body.  (Even I have flashes of time where I think "Did Lilly really exist?"  I then study some of the pictures I have hanging up and conclude "of course she did!")

Still, I know there are some people that think keeping pictures of your dead child is "warped" or just wrong in some way.  Or that it is "unhealthy" to have pictures up of your now dead child (from when they were alive).  They say things like: "it's time to move on" or "get over it."  That is fine for you to have that opinion.  But please, please, please - give others grace to use their photos (or things from their dead child) as they need to.  We all grieve differently.

Ok.  I really didn't plan to say all that in this post.  But it just came out as I thought of our experiences and other peoples that I have heard about!

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up . . ."  - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

On books and attention spans

Awwww ... aren't Tabby and Solomon cute with their big smiles?  My main motivation for posting this picture though, is to point out the woefully small bookshelves in the background. 

Our house is overflowing with books.  We have bookshelves in every room of this house (including hallways) except for the kitchen and two bathrooms.  Before we moved here I donated several boxes of books and since then have regretted it several times.  Now I don't want to get rid of any more books.  And we still keep buying them.

So we decided on a new project - to build several floor to ceiling bookcases in our living room.  I'm excited!  I remember when my dad helped me build a little bookshelf when I was about Tabby's age.  I still have the shelf. 

I have loved reading ever since I was little.  (I was obsessed with Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Sherlock Holmes.)  I remember my brother P. used to wear pants or shorts with huge pockets so he could carry a book in them.  Everyone in my family loves to read.  Tabby goes through books at breakneck speeds.  Solomon will sit for long periods of time with us reading him books.  Hunter is moving quickly through his readers for school.  (As an aside, I was using the Sing, Spell, Read and Write program with him - that one worked great for Tabby - but Hunter recently said he couldn't stand the readers because they were "so unrealistic."  So I switched him to the original McGuffey readers from the 1800s much to his delight.)

You may be thinking I should "just get a kindle."  Well I may be forced to at some point, so I can read e-books and such on them.  But I am "old-fashioned."  I love the feel of a book in my hands.  I love that I can just PICK IT UP and read.  I don't have to plug it in and keep it charged.  :)  I can write in them, put sticky notes on the pages, and breathe in that book smell.

Last year I decided to write down the titles of all the books I read during the year into a notebook.  On January 1 (of this year) I counted them all up.  My grand total was 63 books.  That was rather satisfying.  :)

Tabby playing at a piano recital - December 2013

Yesterday I took Tabby to Meredith College to participate in a piano competition called Federation.  She played songs by memory and also hymns in front of judges and took a written theory exam.  I knew I'd be waiting around some so I took ... a book.

It was bonus reading time - getting to sit in the hallway in the music building and reading.  At one point though, I looked down the hall and observed the many parents and the other kids waiting for their turn to play piano.  Other than some kids looking at their music or staring into space, every other person was tapping away on their cell phones.  I suddenly felt rather out of place with my book.

That then made me reflect on things I've read in the past few months.  (Such as articles like this: "Is Google Making Us Stupid"?)  How frequent computer usage is changing the way our brains think.  How people have a hard time concentrating on things for more than a few minutes at a time.  How fewer and fewer people are reading a whole book through.

I know that MY attention span has changed.  At least when I'm sitting at the computer.  I want to jump from here to there.  Anything that is long I think "I don't have time for this!"  (Are you thinking that right now reading this blog post?!)  My husband sent me a 6 minute video to watch last week and I shamefully still have not watched it.  I keep thinking "I don't have 6 minutes to spare!"

Really? 

I won't blame Google for it all though.  I think my kids play their part.  It seems I can rarely be working at anything for more than a few minutes when someone interrupts me.  ;)

Hmmm ... what book should we chew up? I mean read!

Last week, Hunter and I read a fascinating article in Our State magazine about North Carolina State University's Library and their "librarian."  The librarian is a "bookBot."  That is a robot.  If you want a book, you "order" it on a computer and then this robot fetches the book for you.  (See picture.)  It only takes about 5 minutes!

Uh.  Why?

It's so much quicker (and cheaper!) to just grab a book off the shelf, isn't it?  And what about if you want to compare several books on the same subject to see which one to take?  What about the fun of browsing and finding books you didn't know existed?  And just what if the bookBot is broken??!!

Broken bookBot means I don't get my dump truck book, right?

Ah me ... Did you know what the wisest man to ever live - King Solomon - said about books?

". . . the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body."  - Ecclesiastes 12:12

It's Trisomy Awareness Month (2014)

Lilly at 16 months

March is known as "Trisomy Awareness Month."  This is something I never even heard of before I had Lilly, so I hope to do my part to help raise awareness in some way.

First though, to read an excellent summary of Trisomy Awareness, please click over to this post on Jenny's blog:  http://jennychildress.blogspot.com/2014/03/trisomy-awareness-month-2014.html
Jenny is the mama of Julia, a little girl who had Trisomy 18 (like Lilly).  Julia blessed her family for a little over a year, before leaving this earth the day after Lilly did.

March 18 is the day this month that is focused on Trisomy 18.  I have a grand idea in my head of how I would like to spend a part of that day: a giant balloon release (with each balloon representing a child that had Trisomy 18) out on a big field, handing out informational brochures, and have someone from the local news station in attendance and filming.  Of course when that news footage aired, it would only be a 30 second sound bite and maybe brief clip on the news, but that would be OK! 

Now is this idea going to happen?  Sigh.  Not this year.  I just don't have it in me right now.

But I do plan to do a book giveaway on March 18, along with another little goodie or two.  I will do a post about that next week, with the details and how to enter.

I occasionally get e-mails from pregnant women who are struggling with whether or not to abort their baby who has been diagnosed with Trisomy 18.  Sometimes the woman wants to keep the baby but everyone around her is pressuring her to abort it.  Sometimes she just doesn't think she can deal with the baby.  I'm sure you know how I respond. 

No matter how long these children live, THEY ARE WORTH IT!!!  They will bless your life in countless ways.  You will have no regrets. 

Lilly - 4 days old

Lilly - 17 months old

These babies may be "defective" according to the world, but they truly are perfect in their own way.

"For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book    before one of them came to be." - Psalm 139: 13-16