We took a day trip to Big Meadows yesterday for Jonny’s birthday. Ambrose, who doesn’t enjoy van rides, did all right on the way there, but the trip home wasn’t so great. I declared that I won’t be going anywhere else in the near future. I think the words I used to describe my experience riding in the middle of our giant van were, “special kind of purgatory.”
Now that I am not listening to Ambrose cry in the van, I am glad we made the trip. At the very least we took some photos to commemorate the day, though I’m not sure how much fun anyone actually had. Ambrose mostly slept, but he’s a little baby and a fussy one, so that was okay. Lark has a hurt foot, so walking was a challenge for her. Silas is obsessed with fishing and could talk of nothing but the fact that we weren’t fishing. Seth, Gabe, and Keats were all busy with either school or work, so they didn’t join us. Of course, they would have chosen not to go anyway. None of them are inclined to spend hours in the car with rowdy younger siblings and a crying baby. I can’t blame them, but it did lead to Jonny and me talking about all the day trips of the past, particularly those to Big Meadows, and how much life has changed. We miss those kids and the fun we had. I hate to be depressing but honestly, the trip left me feeling kind of melancholy. I wouldn’t want to move backward, but it’s an adjustment to have your kids grow up and start being absent. This is life though! Eventually, Ambrose won’t hate riding in the van and we won’t be so sleep-deprived and day trips will be fun again! I am grateful that we still have all these younger kids to share them with!
p.s. Knitted things in this post are Ambrose’s cardigan, Bea’s gray sweater, Mabel’s orange sweater, and blue hat.
Ginny, the more I read your posts, the more I find I have in common with you! I have 7 boys and have always homeschooled. My oldest is 17 and doesn’t tag along on our little outings as much and it gets me down although I know it’s just life. Can’t keep them little forever but it sure is hard having them grow up when you’ve always had them around. I suppose I should just be grateful for the days we spent together, right?
Just have to tell you I have a Job Benedict and our last baby was Ambrose for a couple hours until we realized there was a recent Ambrose in the family already.
I love reading your stories. Thank your for always sharing your honest thoughts and feelings with all of us.
I feel like this already, and I think it has mostly to do with Covid. It feels like the past 18 months have just vanished, and so much childhood (at least, the joys of childhood that went along with our particular lifestyle) has been lost, never to be regained. I can’t seem to get over it. At least, well, not while we’re still in the midst of it. 🙁
Oh gosh, Ginny, once again we are feeling a lot of the same stuff….my youngest, though, is 14. No babies, but boy do I miss it. We went to an orchard yesterday, and it was lovely and fun, but I always have a pang of melancholy at this kind of outing, just our 14 and 20 year old with us…thanks be to God they like to hang out with us, otherwise it would just be our doddle girl puppies and us getting donuts at the orchard. 😉 Life is good, but they really don’t prepare you for how emotionally draining some of these transitions are….I’m looking at my avatar now thinking, Sheesh….that was 10 years ago, I look nothing like that and my girl is 14!!
A while back you posted a formal portrait of Job’s first communion, which featured your handsome boy and a striking polymer clay bead rosary. I wonder if you could share a link with us to where you got it? With thanks in advance.
Once again, I could have written this exact post. We recently celebrated our four September birthdays with a five day cabin adventure. Except… one of our adult kids couldn’t come due to work. One of them lives too far away and is expecting our first grandchild. One came but was preoccupied with his senior year in college and making plans for graduate school. Another came with her fiancée for two days, which was lovely but also not just “us” one last time. The younger kids all loved the trip. Well, except my 7 month old who loathes car rides as much as your sweet boy. So yes, it was bittersweet. Life is changing, again.
Our oldest granddaughter had a cry button on her bottom when they put her in her car seat and never even seemed to draw breath as she screamed at the top of her lungs on every occasion in the car. They learned to ignore it but it really was hard for this Nana when ever I had to ride with her. Yes, yes, yes it is so sad for the older ones to be absent! I was thinking that while looking at your pictures and then you said it. I still feel it even though our nest has been empty for nearly ten years.
When I was nursing, all five of ours had a problem with one of these four foods-pork, all nuts, dairy or chocolate. Even a teaspoon would set them off and once I figured out the offending food life was so much easier. Our very wise pediatrician said a good sign is a lot of weight gain because they are nursing too much trying to make their tummy feel better.
Hello Ginny, Thank you for your very nice pictures, as always. I appreciate your honesty in your post (in all of your posts actually) and it will help me cherish even more my current time as the mother of a 2yo and a 6yo. I think that your kids will dearly keep in their minds (for all their lives) those trips, including the not-so-great ones. That’s really precious, and you are pretty brave in my opinion, to even have those trips while caring for a young, and sometimes fussy, baby. Happy birthday to you husband, and all the best for your post-partum time 🙂 Your commitment to your family is very inspiring I find.
Thank you for your honesty Ginny; I really feel this post. My eldest daughter is 14 and I am beginning to experience this new dynamic and see how fleeting the time together as a family is. Makes me want to have another baby! sigh.
My precious little one–3 now!– was such a serious and often unhappy baby. She is a joy now! Almost always happy, always determined, curious and confident. But those first 6 months–oof. I remember looking with hope at a friend’s beautiful little girl who I knew cried hours on end as a baby and maybe it’s true, maybe it’s coincidence, but these little fighters who seemed to rebel against life their first few months, eased into life as a toddler. As long as I don’t lock wills with her. lol
Thanks agin for being so honest, Ginny. It always makes me feel, what shall I say, so NORMAL as a mom, especially with regard to my emotions.
While struggling to let go off my older ones (18-year-old son – VERY independent 😉 & 16-year-old daughter – independent but still spending time with us intentionally), I truely enjoy the time with my 12-year-old daughter and to plan a lot of interesting activities for the two of us.
Admittedly, there are days when I am looking forward to the eldest moving out, since, although he is a friendly, talkative and active young man, his routines, interests and energy level are quite different from mine.
Claudia, I know exactly what you mean about different interests and energy levels! We are struggling with that here. I never thought I would look forward to kids moving out, but I am there now! Simply for the reasons you stated. Having my extrovert busy-busy kid coming and going (past my bedtime) is hard! Particularly when I’ve got a baby waking me up throughout the night.
Some seasons you just have to get through.
Survive them. Then you can look back later to find the humor and the beauty. There is always some.
It seems to me now as a Grandmother that the “fussy babies” end up being very independent, opinionated, stubborn children who are leaders and not followers. So, they ease our minds in their teen years. I had a fussy baby daughter, who in her teens threw a rude boy out of her car on a California freeway and drove away. I was appalled, mostly because I personally never would have had the guts to do it myself at 16. Her answer to me, “He’ll catch a ride and maybe he’ll think twice about talking to another girl like he did to me!” And that crying fussiness ends quickly. It seems interminable at the time tho.
And yes, it’s hard to lose them. When our youngest was 18 we moved 2 hours from our previous home. Over the course of a few years my other two children moved near us. Close family stay close even when they aren’t close. The hardest part of letting go is shifting from the mother role to the friend role. Waiting to give advice is a learning process for we mothers!
I love your story Rita – I hadn’t thought about that connection between fussy babies and independent adults, but I think you might be right as I think about my now 17yr old son who was definitely my most difficult and fussy young one and is now blooming into a strong yet empathic adult. I wish I had had the confidence to be as assertive as your daughter at 16!!
Rita, that seems to be true with my kids so far! Both Seth and Beatrix were very fussy as babies and they sure are opinionated, independent kids now!
Thank you for sharing your family trip with us. Joan says that when Marilyn and I were babies we would get sick in the car. Once they went around the corner and we got sick already. Needless to say there weren’t many car trips . In fact we never got over being sick in the car.
Joan,Marilyn and Marion
I am knitting my first sweater right now and I am saving Bea’s in my Ravelry queue. 🙂
You and Jonny are just so cute together, I love it.
As one who has exited the ages where teens/20’s no longer want to be with parents and younger siblings, I want to encourage you by saying that there IS a return for those adult children, too!
Our son is now 41; he and his wife have twins who are 4. There are no words to say how special it is doing day trips and other activities together as a family. We are planning to take a family camping trip sometime before too long, and I cannot wait. Our family camped often at Big Meadow in previous years, and while that won’t be our choice of location for this next camping trip because of various moves, I can tell you that the reconnection with those adult children is something to look forward to and savor.
I’m so glad you were able to celebrate Jonny in a special way, and all of the knit projects are beautiful.
Lynette, Thank you for that encouragement! I love the thought of get togethers in the future with my grown kids!
Your family has changed so much it’s so neat to see. Sorry for a fussy baby in the car. No fun. They will still be special memories and I’m sure Ambrose will probably one day hear about it from his siblings. 🤣 you have a beautiful family. Thanks for sharing 🌻🧡
“But it’s an adjustment to have your kids grow up and start being absent.” So true and hard. I too am glad I still have littles. (Are they still little at eleven?!) I wish we’d had seven more.
A good reminder to savour childhood, in spite of the endless string of challenges it brings to parents on a daily basis! And great pictures, thanks for sharing.