When I heard Michael and Vi singing ‘My Savior Lives‘ together, I popped into the room to capture the cuteness on video. And there was Vi, drumming away, just as she has seen Michael do day after day.

So great to have front row seats to this train track, scarf, and violin action while breastfeeding David.

All three kids nestled in a chair with Goodnight Moon. Enjoy!

We had fun this past weekend buying a larger violin for Nikki. She has outgrown her 1/16 violin, Sakioroma, and her measurements were somewhere between a 1/10 and a 1/8. Amazingly, we found a vintage 1/8 violin that was shorter than more modern 1/8ths. Still a touch too big for Nikki, but she’s growing quickly and has, with her teacher’s help, adjusted her fingerings to play the new violin.

She decided that this bigger violin is a boy, and that his name is Zakioromo. Sakioroma’s big brother, perhaps?

This video features Nikki playing around, getting the feel of her new instrument. She mentions that the G string sounds a bit like a cello, and she also plays some double notes. Enjoy!

an April improvement: outdoor toilet with integrated sink

April was a fun and busy month! We celebrated Easter with playdough and reading all about the week leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross, as well as his miraculous resurrection three days later. Michael capped the celebration by drumming and singing Tim Hughes’ fabulous Easter song, “Oh, Happy Day!”

The kids all helped with the transition to cooler weather by trying on clothes, and we also resumed Lex’s toilet training after a brief hiatus while our leaky outdoor toilet was replaced.

Nikki and Michael continue to memorize the Shorter Catechism, at a rate of one question per week. We’re up to question 63, “What is the 5th commandment?” We have also added one passage of scripture per month, with the older kids memorizing Psalm 23 this month.

Vi has been adding to her spoken and signing vocabulary. It is very fun to hear her say “pleeesss” and “dank you.” We were struggling with what to do so she could ask nicely for something one of her older siblings was playing with. I asked Nikki if she had any ideas, and Nikki suggested that Vi could sign with her arm extended, palm up, indicating the thing for which she was asking nicely. This is working amazingly well, with much less taking or trying to take, and fewer tears all around.

Something I discovered this month, is that we use a lot of recipes. It took more work than I anticipated to get over 250 recipes stored in various formats – from handwritten through to scanned images – organised into sections, typed in, formatted nicely, and amalgamated into one large PDF cookbook for my soon-to-arrive eReader. Now that this project is complete, the recipes should be much easier to find and access in the kitchen.

I successfully navigated my backup hospital visit this month, receiving the official green light to birth at home on the government-sponsored Community Midwifery Program. I’m now at the stage of pregnancy where Midwife Vanessa will visit me at home every two weeks, rather than once a month. Getting closer to meeting the new baby in late June!

Nesting instincts are in full force, and I am very thankful a friend lent me her sewing machine, which made stitching together the Roman blind for the kids’ room much easier than the slow task of hand-stitching two panel curtains together. Of course, having a sewing machine in my house makes me think of a few other (simpler!) projects I could whip up while I wait for the hardware we will use for raising and lowering the Roman shade to arrive.

Ben put in a lot of effort measuring, cutting, planing, painting and installing bookshelves to fit in the little nook leading to the kids’ room. His offshore exploration well that he has been working on since 2009 also started drilling this month. Barring further cyclone activity near the drilling site, the well should be completed before the baby arrives.

My goals for May are to:

• finish the Roman shade for the kids’ room once the hardware arrives
• load up the new bookshelves with books
• sew two little gifts for the older kids from the new baby
• get some ideas out of my head and attempt to draw up a design on paper for a simple, elegant breastfeeding dress that doesn’t look like a breastfeeding dress. Thank you to MaryAnne for the impetus to take this first step in turning a longstanding dream into reality!

Michael drums and sings Tim Hughes’ song, “Oh, Happy Day.”

Nikki, Michael, and Vi each share the Easter message in their own way.

Ben took some video during a recent Sunday adventure and recorded this priceless moment.