Delaney! Easter! Caterpillars!

Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie are now parents to beautiful Delaney Grace. We hope to meet her sometime this week. Delaney was born on April 29th. Welcome to the family, sweet girl, and the world. It's nice to not be so alone at the end of April on the birthday list. Here's how the maiden Sinki family calendar looks:

1 - we remember Grandma P
6- Willa

7 - MaKenna

13 - Lisa

18 - Mom

27 - Amy

29 - Delaney

For Willa's birthday present, Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie gave Willa the complete Ramona book collection (LOVE) and the Butterfly Garden kit. We put our order in, and 7-10 days later, a small box was atop our mailbox.

I opened the box, and took a photo (left)of the 5 tiny caterpillars. Willa was - instantly - in love. Then we left them for a few days to visit my family for Easter. We got back, and were amazed by how much they had grown in 3 days! The last photo was taken 10 days after they arrived. Giant! This is the last day they were all caterpillars together. Hours later one was already a chrysalis.

Speaking of Easter... here's a few photos of that: Lisa brought the dye and the eggs. 4 dozen was more (way more) than plenty for 3 kids and 2 "grown-ups."

Lisa goes big for the holidays, though. And it was fun.

Now we have 5 chrysalis who I moved to their new quarters. In about a week, we should see 5 Painted Lady butterflies. This has been fun, but do you KNOW what happens when they turn? I always thought they spun a blanket of silk around them to do their changing in a more private environment. Nope. They just kind of harden off, change color and texture, and then... their heads and first few set of feet fall off. Not pretty.

In the photo above, you should be able to find 4 chrysalis, silk the caterpillars spun to aid in their transportation about the cup, a DETACHED HEAD (I still have the willies), and a slowpoke caterpillar with a fully attached head.

Snake

My buddy and I went for a walk at the Calvin College Nature Preserve this afternoon. There was also an entire middle school there, so... not so quiet. We did manage to find one trail for our own. We sat on the dock at the pond and talked about how a red winged blackbird sounded like he was looking for "Maria." We walked on. I heard a small rustle, and saw a little snake. The snake wasn't scared. Henry wasn't scared. Just for the record... neither was I. We sat on the ground and watched the snake watching us. Then we stood up, and walked away. Henry slipped his hand in mine and told me, "I'm glad we went for a walk inda woods."

New temporary charges

Oh Lordy, pals... a few evenings ago, I was sitting in our backyard and marvelling what real estate agents might call a "park-like setting" in our backyard. There were frolicking squirrels and a few rabbits that Henry chased after giggling. We've got a lot of nature here.

And if you've been around for a while, you know that nature likes Camp Sinki as a birthing center, which has been equal parts cool and vexing.

I knew there was a Cardinal's nest in our front pine tree. We've watched them collect materials to build their nest and recently they've been making lots of round trips. We've heard peeps from above.

On Thursday, I was rushing the kids out the door to get Willa to preschool. We immediately noticed a baby bird hanging upside down, beating its wings furiously. A closer cool showed two baby birds with one foot each tangled, apparently in the brambles of the old tree. I got a step stool and a golf umbrella and gently moved the branch while two very concerned adult cardinals kept close watch. Everyone had high nerves, so I called that good enough, loaded the kids up, and left.

Henry and I did some errands and returned home two hours later. The chicks were still hanging and had bloody wings and legs. Up I went again. This time I could see they both had thread twisted around their tiny legs. I grabbed them, the nest fell, the male cardinal dive bombed me (no contact). I sat with one on my lap and the other in my hand while I unwound the thread, which was wrapped at least eight times. And then I did the other. They were weak, and their wings were pretty bloody. I took the nest, an old pair of soft Henry pants, and the birds, and placed them in the recycling bin under the tree.

Their mom and dad made several concerned visits before starting the feeding visits.

Jim got home, and we strapped the recycling bin to the tree, about 5 feet up. We figured this would keep the baby birds safe from neighborhood carnivores (including, sadly, Greta the dog.). The whole bird family seems to have adjusted to their new home. The babies may have been ready to start learning flight, but they need some time now to heal and rest.

Photo to follow.

Stand back, they're loaded.

So, weaning hurts. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, imagine a balloon hooked up to a faucet. The faucet slowly fills up the balloon. Slowly, slowly, slowly... and then the balloon is at capacity and suddenly bursts.
Earlier this week, I woke up with a faint memory of an oddly amusing dream.
In the dream, I walked into a large room that had debris on the tile floor. I was annoyed that no one had swept and I was meeting someone soon. Unable to find a broom or mop, I used my breast as a hose. The end.
I can't imagine where that came from (smirk).
Thanks to AmyinMotown for her thought provoking post that helped me remember my dream. Really folks, if you're interested in breastfeeding or are scared of militant breastfeeders, go take a peek.
The good news for those of you who aren't interested in breastfeeding or hearing about my boobs is that I hope to be done with weaning next week. Ironically it's World Breastfeeding week.

OH! Also, a momma rabbit gave birth on our front lawn this morning. There are at least 2 slimy baby rabbits in the shallow hole she dug. With 2 dogs who roam the lawn, this is going to get tricky.