I have been blessed to have had all of my children at home, under the watchful eye of a midwife.

As we have moved a lot, and one of our midwives moved, I  have had a different midwife with each child, and two with Benedict.

But each of those women have been supportive and have helped me to have the best birth possible…and never batted an eye when I wasn’t very nice during transition.

They did not push their opinions on us, only gave options. Nothing was forced on us, no unnecessary interventions, no requirement to be at a certain point at a certain time, no one size fits all labor.  Nature has been our guide during each labor.

Thank you, my wonderful midwives, for all that you have done and continue to do!

A few comments about living in The South.

First, today, I had a conversation with our pest control guy. About cockroaches. Where do I live? We have a few a month and I could bleach every night and we would still see them from time to time. Last week, we had dinner and a movie. Margaret screamed “Cockroach!” and flew (yes flew) from the floor to the recliner. (I ran to the dining room.) Joshua was a man and dealt with the situation. I told the pest control guy about this and he said they were trying to get away from the rain…and that cockroaches in the south are no different than having crickets.

Yeah, but crickets aren’t creepy looking!

Second, last night we were listening to the Wings game and man, what sort of accent do you Michiganders have? I am a native and I swear I don’t sound like that. Okay, maybe I do, but seriously, last night, the announcers and the commercials were very, uh, accented. Also, Wings, let’s aim for a win next time.

I want to introduce you all to a new blogger in the blog world. I met this woman, in real life, just about 10 months ago, shortly after we moved to Georgia. She was the apprentice to my midwife, so I can honestly say that she got to know my belly, my blood pressure, my weight and my other check up stats before we got to know each other. She was at Benedict’s birth (she had taco bell for lunch that day, something I am sure she 1. doesn’t expect me to remember and 2. didn’t expect to have as I didn’t except to have a long labor!)  She took a picture Benedict on his way out and called the time of birth at the same time, she is that talented.

However, it was only after she stopped by to pick up some diaper covers for her new baby, five months later, that we discovered that we really had a lot in common, being Catholic, homeschooling and totally in to home birthing. While I am in denial that she is 11 years younger than me, she has become a true and good friend down here in South Georgia.

Edited to add: We have also been asked to be the Godparents to her beautiful little baby girl, Luca.

(I stole this picture from her blog, mwahahahahaha)

So, without further ado, I introduce to you, Cassie @ Beginning with Faith.

Yes, I realize that a majority of my readers live in a land similar to Narnia under the reign of the White Witch. Yes I know that you live for the days when the sun just shines, regardless of the temperature. Furthermore, I get that you have only seen 70 degrees a handful of times since this year. I understand, I really do, that was me just a year ago!

No, this is not a post to complain about the above average temperatures (read lots of 90 degree days) we have been having here in South Georgia for close to three months now.

This post today is to tell you that I turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows today. I loathe turning on the a/c because I know  what my electric bill will look like in a month, but for the sake of the children and my husband, I do it. So, today it is chilly and the windows are open and things are airing out and I love it! I think we have another day like this on tap for tomorrow too! Yahoooooo!

The picture comes from my phone in a slightly darkened living room, so the picture is not all that great, but I wanted to introduce you,  now, at this moment, to my new friend, San Pellegrino Limonata. No HFCS and 18% lemon juice, a wonderful treat!

Click over to Sarah’s blog for a chance to win a signed copy of Ben Hatke’s new graphic novel:

Last night our family went to the Vigil Mass at our parish, as is our tradition.

We were running a bit late as Karol’s shoe was missing. We have a shoe bin right by the back door and all the kids are to stop there before going any further and deposit their shoes there.Turns out it was in the van?!

Even though we were running behind, I was not going to leave the house before we took a few pictures. Little girls with bonnets and gloves.

The Papa was standing behind me, making faces and dancing to get the girls to smile. Margaret really was not in to it, but you can see that Karol decided to imitate his papa.

We managed one picture of the whole family, just so you can see that these children do, in fact, have parents.

HAPPY EASTER!