A few weeks ago Ethan pointed out a bird's nest tucked into the eaves of our front porch. Out of curiosity, Jason pulled out the ladder and took a picture of the inside of the nest. Three bright blue eggs! We were delighted with the little miracle occurring on our porch and as a fun experiment, Jason decided to hook up a webcam so we could live-stream the nest goings-on in the comfort of our living room. (Does that make us the nerdiest family you know?) Nearly every moment since then, the computer has been set up so we could keep an eye on our little visitors.
We've spent hours watching as the Mama Bird laid another egg and then sat on the eggs for days, the Papa Bird brought her food and stood guard while she left for a few moments to stretch her wings (Papa has never once sat on the eggs that we've seen. But he takes his guarding role very seriously.) Jason and I have especially loved to observe the interaction between the Mama and Papa birds, since we are in a very similar situation at the moment. While I incubate our own little offspring, Jason brings me snacks and checks often to make sure I'm comfortable.
The excitement when we noticed the first hatched egg was palpable. Over the next few days we watched as new siblings joined the Robin family and delighted in their arrival. We've witnessed the every 10-20 minute feedings with a mixture of love and disgust (did you know that the babies poop out fecal sacks as soon as they eat? Mama Bird eats the sacks immediately, which never gets less disgusting to me). We've empathized with the parents in their tireless effort to feed and protect their young, and I imagine we'll only feel a deeper connection to them when our little girl arrives and we've got our own round-the-clock feeding schedule.
We have lots of recorded videos so we can get a broader sense of their behavior. We're hoping to turn this into an award winning science fair project in the future. In the meantime, here's a little video of our dear Mama Bird laying her 4th egg. Makes me a tad nervous for the labor in my future, if I'm being honest.
I may be entering into a bit of a Nesting phase myself. I am suddenly overcome with the desire to complete unfinished projects (of which there are many). I am really excellent at starting projects, and so is my dear husband. Finishing is much harder for both of us. Over the weekend, we sat down and made a list of unfinished house projects and we've been crossing them off the list as quickly as time and energy allow.
Not only house projects are under attack. I'm also focusing on finishing up crafty projects that have been neglected. Such as a giant cross stitch for our monogram wall that I dreamt up a few months ago. I thought it would be an amazing addition, and I'm sure in the end it will be. However, it's also giant (that's a 12" hoop) and I realized very quickly that I was in over my head. I put it away for a while to knit on some socks and baby gifts, but it's back in the forefront again. I currently have lots of motivation (hormonal and otherwise) to finish it, so I'm hoping that will continue long enough to actually happen.
I'm also eyeball deep in planning for our next school year. How I love pouring over book lists and making my own lists of books to check out from the library and to buy for the upcoming year. Because we'll have a new little one I want the year to be as simple as possible. Planning now is helping me feel so much more at ease about our wide range of ages and the difficulty we'll face managing big kids' schedules and newborn feedings and toddler mischievousness.
Here's hoping that we can accomplish everything on our lists and be really and truly ready for the adventure that awaits us when baby arrives. It seems so luxurious to have so long to plan and prepare. After years of foster placements arriving with less than 24 hours notice, we hardly know what to do with so much time. Though, I hear it goes quickly.