Back to Nature

First of all, I am doing well with this pregnancy. I feel pretty good and have a fair amount of energy...at least enough to get stuff done.  Heartburn is always a problem, but I am dealing with it the best I can. Since my laptop blew up, I have been a bit lax getting blogs written.  It just takes more effort to walk myself down to the basement and sit in front of the desktop. Laptops are so much easier. It accommodates my laziness.

Since we have moved into this house we have made a concerted effort to walk more.  Many things are much closer. The main thing is church.  It only takes us 10 minutes to walk there with little legs.  For the first couple of weeks, there was a lot of complaining and the wah-mbulance almost had to be called a few times. But the kids are now used to it. I just wanted to say that walking has been such a blessing. Continuing with my thoughts from the previous blog, I am becoming  more acutely aware of connectedness.  The cyber world makes it easier to stay in touch with people, but we become more emotionally disconnected.  It really is not much different with the car, if you really think about it.

I have realized how disconnected I have been from nature.  It didn't help that I spent seven years of my life living on Mars, I mean Las Vegas.  But still, I have found myself being very lazy when it comes to the car.  I think I use it way too much for our family. My new attitude is...Why drive somewhere when we can walk?  We walk to church and I make my kids walk to Boy Scouts at the church building also.  We also have a park around the corner and we definitely walk there. I have been walking to people's houses whenever possible, as well.  But it has been such a blessing.

I do feel more connected to nature.  We are all going slower and therefore have time to notice stuff.  I can hear the birds singing and see strange things, like a little fluffy white dog chasing a car down the road, or stop and say hello to the horses who live in a field by our house. We wave to a lot more people when we walk and Rinar loves that.  There is a lot going on for that stretch of road and if I was driving, I would miss it.

Just this last Sunday, I was walking with Harry and he was asking me lots of great questions.  We stopped multiple times to look at ant hills and strange insects and foliage in the trees.  I told him the names of the plants that I knew and held his hand and talked to him, just the two of us, with no interruptions. I have also enjoyed watching my kids and how their confidence grows each week as we make the trek to church and home again.

And it seriously cracks me up to see someone pull into their driveway from church, a mere five houses from the building. They are really missing out.

But even without the walking, my kids have been enjoying nature in other simple ways. They have become fascinated with snails and spend hours digging them up and playing with them.  Harry and Julia love finding insects, and especially Roley Polies.  Harry calls them "Holy Holies" and Julia calls them "Roley Holies". They will also enthusiastically report on any bumblebee sightings. It is simple things that they are seeing and experiencing, but the moments are priceless. I cherish them.

And I cherish every walk we take. They grow stronger and smarter. Nature is a blessing and I am so glad I can be back in it.

Walk and Dive

It was a momentous day today for Miss J.  She took some significant steps. As we were doing the walking game, Eli decided he wanted to join in as well so he carefully walked from me to Rinar several times. I informed him that I knew he could walk, but now it was Julia's turn. He went back to playing with his cars.

Julia started out by taking a step or two and then falling into our arms with a delightful squeal. She thought it was great fun.

Harry has got the whole walking thing down now and he now chooses to walk 95% of the time. By Wednesday, I am sure crawling will be a thing of the past.