Sharing Our Feelings (Boy Style)

The other night I tucked the oldest two in bed and had a rare moment after prayers to just sit and talk with them. Many changes have taken place in our family in the last two months and I've been so busy trying to hold up the fort, I hadn't really taken the time to check in on them and see how they were adjusting.

Me: Since we've moved and Papa has a new job and we're expecting a baby, I want to know if you have any concerns or if you want to talk to me about anything at all.

Oldest: Hmmmm....Nope.

Me: OK, How about you Alex, do you have any concerns?

Alex: Yes...I just...Well' it's just that...When we first moved here...I um, well, no, We... found lots and lots of lizards but in the last two days, we really haven't found any at all.

In Honor of Mary's Month of May

Unproductive vs. Reproductive

I've spent most of the last week and a half either on the couch or in bed. I've managed to get out a few times and get a few things done, but each time I get out or get much accomplished in a day, I have to spend the next two days in recovery. Recovery usually involves spending long hours on the couch watching laundry pile up followed by finding some way to get out of making dinner for the family. I'll get take out or frozen pizza and then go to bed at 6:30 PM. The next morning my husband greets me with a "Welcome back from the dead." I reply, "I'm still tired." So, that's where I'm at but I am not complaining.

I don't consider this fun, but I'm completely at peace. Maybe it's my age. Maybe relatively I can see that a trimester just isn't an eternity, however much it sometimes feels that way. Maybe I know that this will all be over so soon and I will again say as I have said every time, "That was so worth it."

Maybe it's experience. Experience tells me that the laundry will still be there when my energy returns and I'll get it done and have laundry again. The laundry is always with us.

Maybe it's that my children are older and if not more helpful, at least less dangerous to themselves. I'm not chasing a toddler around this time. I've done that. That's hard.

Whatever the reason, I am so much more at peace this pregnancy with these days that feel so unproductive and well I should. The truth is that these days haven't been unproductive at all. A little research tells me that in the last week and a half we've finished forming all of baby's joints and baby is already using them to stretch and flex. We've also completed most organs now including ears, nose tip, and tongue. Though they're not fully functional, we're continuing development at a rapid rate. And we're proud to say that Baby has lost the embryonic tail. Oh, and we're experimenting with an exciting new gripping reflex and we're even working on a unique set of fingerprints! So, I'd say we've accomplished quite a bit sitting on that couch, wouldn't you?

Mother Porcupine...

...Sitting On Six Eggs
by Zachary

It may not be accurate, but it makes a lot more sense than birthing them live. Doncha think?

Picture of the Day

"The Fwoot Basket" --Jacob

Don't Miss

Elizabeth Foss' big news! Happy, happy.

Thank You All So Much!

Thank you, thank you, everyone for your kind words and congratulations. They mean so much. Every time I feel a wave of nausea, I come here and read your nice comments and it all just lifts like the morning fog, until it comes back again and I need to drink a bottle of Ginger Beer. I liked the stuff even before I read this (scroll down to the part about morning sickness). It helps.

Now, I don't have the worst morning sickness, and by that I mean I'm not as bad as some people I know who turn green and can't move or even some who have to be hospitalized to keep from becoming dehydrated. No, I just get queezy and woozy, and crave strange things. Nothing tastes good and everything smells wretched and sometimes I get dry heaves and gagging... not pleasant. I seem to be on a pattern this time around of two bad days, two goods days, two bad days. The good days are good. The bad days are...not pleasant.

About the cravings, they're really crazy. I don't mean that I crave ice cream with pickles in the stereotypical pregnant lady way, I mean my mind is constantly searching itself for something, anything in memory that might taste right, or even make me feel better or something like that. It just amazes me what my mind will come up with. I'll be driving along and suddenly I'm struck with this idea of American Chopped Suey like it's my salvation. Not just any American Chopped Suey either, but the fifth grade school lunch variety with the greasy hamburger meat and thin tomato sauce. Yuck. Thinking about it now just makes me ill. I didn't even like the stuff in fifth grade, but the appeal is this notion of a pure taste-- a true taste-- unlike all the funky off-tastes I've been enjoying lately. It wouldn't be saltier than I thought or spicier than it smelled, It would be just as I imagine it...or so I imagine.

I didn't chase that miracle Chopped Suey because I'd had a guacamole experience just like it two nights before. That time I did make the guacamole and put everything in as I should. How was it? Disgusting. The awful stuff lingered with me for the rest of the evening. I learned my lesson. These cravings are just thoughts of tastes I once knew, but cannot enjoy or even experience now. They're the devil's promises, I told my husband. I think I'll go have a Ginger Beer.

Thank you all, again, for sharing our joy!

Number Six

Six Signs It's Time For Another Baby...

1. You can no longer lift the current "baby."

2. Your other children cup their hands and talk into your belly, "Hey in there...There's an empty seat in our van!"

3. You're out shopping and see a dress you like. You stop to look and realize that it's a maternity dress and rather than walk away, you actually stand there and consider buying it anyway. (Darn, why didn't I buy that dress?)

4. You buy a new house. New house, new baby. Everybody says so.

5. You're on the brink of having everyone out of diapers.

6. You just really miss that new baby smell, the little o's they make with their mouths, the soft skin against your cheek, the first baths, the little onesies, the tiny socks, their sweet sleepiness, and the joy of a new life in the home. And you just can't wait to share that with the children you have because they are old enough now to help out and enjoy it all with you.

We're very happy to say, we're just passed six weeks along with baby number six!

Comments Open...

Thanks For the Email

Thanks, everyone, for your email! It is great to hear from all of you and nice to know that you're still out there. I'm trying to answer each email, but that may take me a little time, so I thought I'd answer some questions here...

A few of you have asked if I know that my comments are off:

Yes, I know my comments are off and I know there are down sides to that. I don't mean to be rude or give the impression your comments are unwelcome, they are welcome. I love to hear from you! But I find it easier to get my laundry done and floors mopped if I limit the back and forth of blogging to email. Thank you for understanding.

Someone wanted to know if this a big move for our family:

Yes, it is. It took us more than a day to drive here, though less than a week. This was one of our stops along the way...

where Nicholas picked me some of these flowers
(sorry, George W.)

and we now live in a place where these can be found in the back yard.

We're settling in well, one day at a time. I find myself staring for long moments at an object or wall hanging waiting for the thing to tell me where it belongs in this new house. I also feel as though it doesn't matter since I seem to be living more at Big Box Mart than at the house anyway. It's amazing how much you need to buy when you move. It's amazing how much you throw away!

Once, we were going to visit my sister and she asked that the boys bring their pillows as she didn't have so many extra pillows. I didn't think of it until we were heading to the car and I called the boys to get their pillows. When they came bounding of the house, I didn't think I had ever seen such filthy pillows in all my life. I was really grossed out and had to fetch each child a fresh pillow case for the trip. The fact is, if we hadn't been going somewhere I'd have never noticed their pillow cases were dirty and probably would have let them sleep on them that night as they were, but you bring them out into the sunlight and they simply must, MUST be changed.

Moving is like that. Everything you own, and I mean everything gets brought out into the sunlight and you realize half of what you own needs a darn good scrubbing and the other half just needs to be thrown away.

We're Here!

This is it! We have arrived at our new home in Somewhere Else, USA. Ok, we've been here a couple of weeks now, but as you might imagine things have been a little crazy and even once I found the cardboard box labeled "computer" and my husband set it up, I just couldn't find much time to spend on it. Now I feel sorta funny blogging as I don't where to start or if anybody is reading or what. It feels a little like talking into a tin can. Hello? Anybody there? We're here. And we're happy to be here.

I Couldn't Resist

One last thing...

Me: I'll miss my garbage disposal, I'll tell you that.

Jacob: You could always call it.

The Movers Are Here...

...We'll be back when we can.

Household Economy

Ever since he saw a set of nerf guns in a catalog and decided that he must have them for himself and his brothers, a certain son of ours has been overheard calculating...

"Five dollars and eighty cents, five dollars and ninety cents...plus that dime I found in the car makes six dollars," he counted in his room. "The tooth fairy owes me two dollars," he said later, "That makes eight dollars and if I work for one hour and get paid ten dollars an hour, I'd have eighteen dollars and I'd only need two dollars more."

Ten dollars an hour? Who's going to pay him that?

Doesn't he realize employment is down and we're in the middle of a recession? Ah well, since there is plenty of work around here these last few days before our move, we'll do our part to stimulate the economy and see if we can't pay him four dollars an hour for three hours of work.

Birthday Party Theme Idea For the Big 04

Zachary: Do you know what a disco ball is, Mama? It's a great big ball, but not the kind you bounce, and it has lights on it and mirrors and the lights blink and that makes you dance. That's all you need for a really great party. That, and cupcakes.

Me: Very interesting, Zachary, and where did you learn all this?

Zachary: In my brain.