The Talens' Tales

Joash has had some really funny lines lately. Here are a few. While in the bathtub, Joash was making a pretend cake. He said it was his birthday cake and I asked him how old he was. "56," he replied. Then he made another cake and said it was my birthday cake. "How old am I?" I asked. "52, " he confidently answered. "How old it Dad?" "10." I knew I married a man younger than me, but that is a little extreme. ****************************************** You know you have a farm boy (and a Dad who explains things in detail) when your two year old asks if you have seen his hydraulic cylinder. ****************************************** The other day we were outside drawing on our driveway with sidewalk chalk. Joash was asking me to draw things like a Christmas tree, a dandelion with lots of fluff and a hospital. "A hospital?" I double checked." "Yes," he replied, "like where Mataya...

Mom: Mataya, you are one month old today! Can you believe you have been here for one month already! M(ataya): It seems like it has take my whole life to get to this day! Mom: Well, first of all, what is going on with this hair? M: Don't you like it mom? It always sticks straight up on top.  Mom: I know. If there were more of it, I could put it in a little ponytail already. How do you spend your day? M: Well, I eat and then sometimes stay awake for a little bit. Then I usually get tired and should take a nap. But it is hard to nap. There is so much stuff happening in the house and  I don't want to  miss it. Mom: I know, but you need your sleep too. What things do you like to do while you are awake? M: I like my swing sometimes and I like laying on my gym. But mostly, I like looking at my brother. He gets so excited when I make any sort of noise or touch anything on my gym. He is funny and if I knew how to smile, I would smile at him a lot. Mom: He is a ...

We had a few days of rain this week, which meant that silage had to be put on hold. Joash missed his tractor time and decided that he and Dad needed to make some bales inside. Now we do not have all of the implements needed to complete the process, so they got creative and made their own. The red and green one is a rake. If you take the yellow bar out, it folds up, just like a real rake. The green and yellow one is the tedder. The small one in the front is the baler. It sure made one little farmer very happy!

When Joash was young, I gave lots of sleep updates on the blog. I certainly felt sleep deprived when he was small. With Mataya it has been so much better. I know I am sleep deprived, but it doesn't bug me as much (or I can't let it bug with a 2 year old running around.) She has been pretty consistent with her schedule. I would feed her around 10 right before I went to bed and then she would wake up at 2 and then again at 6. Not bad at all and she would go right back to sleep after this as well. Well, last night I fed her at 10 and I didn't hear anything from her until 4:30! I got up to feed her, but then she was quiet again. So I went back to bed and slept until 5:15 when she woke up and meant it! And then I just stayed up and had an hour of quiet to myself, which is why you are getting a blog post written at a rather early hour of the day. And what's a blog post without a few a pictures.  Mataya and Dad hanging out on a rainy day. Joash asked to hold M...

It is so wonderful to see Mataya growing and changing already. She is so sweet and right now quite a calm and content baby. It is wonderful! I just love looking in her little eyes.  And sleep! She is doing very well with her sleep. She naps several times a day with minimal fuss. The last few nights I have been feeding her at 8 and then again at 10 before I go to bed. Then she has been sleeping until 2 and 6. Her 6 am feeding I have been keeping short and then putting her back down for some sleep before getting her up at 8 to start the day. This works out nicely since Joash is up at 7. Then he and I can have an hour with just the two of us and I think he likes that a lot. We are swaddling Mataya, like we did Joash. I love this picture because her little hand snuck its way out. Joash is doing quite well. The silage started this week, so he has been spending lots of time at the farm and on the tractor. He is convinced that they can't do it without him. The other day, we wer...

Well, life on the farm is kicking into high gear. The first fields for silage were cut today. The one across the road from our house was the first cut, so Joash watched the tractor for a long time. Then later in the afternoon, he got to go along for a ride, so that was very exciting for him. There will be many more tractor rides in the upcoming days as well. Chilling in the chair, watching the tractor roll by. Taking a dandelion fluff blowing break  Mataya is doing very well. She had her two week check up a the doctor yesterday. She now weighs 8lb and 3 oz, so she has passed up her birth weight, which is great! We also started her in cloth diapers today. Here she is sporting her farm girl side. What a cutie. I love my kids!

Family. Where would we be without our family? How much does our nurturing effect whom we become? And how much of what is below the surface impact how we treat our family and those we hold the closest? These questions are key to the characters interactions in That Certain Summer by Irene Hannon. Karen has always been the reliable one. The sister that stayed around to care for her aging parents. The responsible one that would never let her employer or her family down. She often feels like she has too much on her plate, but is unable to determine what to let go. She has to take care of her parents, her family, her job and her church duties. Val is the sister who left. As soon as she could she left town and started a new life for herself in the big city. She is beautiful, talented and sought after. Yet she feels alone and unable to connect with anyone in a deep way. When their mother has a stroke, Karen quickly realizes that she can't handle this all on her own. She calls...