I'm afraid if I go too long between posts, some people will start thinking I've gone into labor. ;-)
Well, I haven't.
38 weeks today, and the anticipation is growing; but no real labor is in sight.
What IS in sight, however, is a thunderstorm, so I'm going to get off the computer and settle myself on the couch with the book I'm currently reading (My Jerusalem by Bronwyn Drainie). Maybe I'll fall asleep to the sound of raindrops... :)
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Six Babies
But not the human variety. ;-)
It seems to be turning into a seasonal ritual for Jeff. Sometime in the spring, he thinks, "Chicks! We must have more chicks!" And then he goes and buys some. He did it last year, as recorded here; and he did it again two days ago. He's funny: he never actually tells me in advance that he's going to add to the number of our critters, so it's always a surprise to me. But after being married for almost 15 years to that man, I've come to really appreciate that aspect of his personality. He's exactly what I needed to help me become more spontaneous and flexible! ;-)
On Wednesday of this week, after their monthly breakfast out together, David and Jeff returned home; and David bounded in the front door, excitement oozing from every cell of his body and every vibration of his vocal chords as he announced, "Guess what? We got CHICKS!" And then those of us who had stayed at home that morning left what we were previously occupied with and gathered 'round to "ooh!" and "aw!" over the sweet little things.
They ARE sweet. And they ARE little.
But I remember from previous years that they don't stay that way for long.
So, while they're still in the such-a-cute-little-fluffball! stage, I'm enjoying every glimpse I get of them...
...but even more, every glimpse I get of my boys enjoying them!
Josiah, of course, remembers having chicks before, so he wasn't apprehensive at all about holding them.
Shav, on the other hand, didn't want to get too close to them; but he's happy watching them from a distance, especially if someone like big brother David is nearby.
David was fearless, and only expressed caution because "they might poop!"
This breed of chicken is different than the other chickens we have; and if I could remember the name, I'd tell you what it is.
Apparently they grow up to be kind of ugly-looking things, but their eggs come in a variety of colors--even green! That will be a treat for Josiah and David to find in the chicken coop as they gather eggs. :)
From the time he was very young, Tobin has always had a special love for animals; and I was sure he would be fascinated by these chicks.
Such sweetie pies (boys and chicks)!
Goodnight, chicks! Welcome to your new home! We're very glad to have you here! :)
It seems to be turning into a seasonal ritual for Jeff. Sometime in the spring, he thinks, "Chicks! We must have more chicks!" And then he goes and buys some. He did it last year, as recorded here; and he did it again two days ago. He's funny: he never actually tells me in advance that he's going to add to the number of our critters, so it's always a surprise to me. But after being married for almost 15 years to that man, I've come to really appreciate that aspect of his personality. He's exactly what I needed to help me become more spontaneous and flexible! ;-)
On Wednesday of this week, after their monthly breakfast out together, David and Jeff returned home; and David bounded in the front door, excitement oozing from every cell of his body and every vibration of his vocal chords as he announced, "Guess what? We got CHICKS!" And then those of us who had stayed at home that morning left what we were previously occupied with and gathered 'round to "ooh!" and "aw!" over the sweet little things.
Out of all the boys, the one that I expected to be most interested in the chicks is this darling fellow, my Tobin Bear.
Sure enough, he's the one that I find crouched by their box, watching and watching and watching them. He's the one who most wants to drop handfuls of grain into their feed dish. He's the one who holds them and studies them and smiles at them.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
It's a Start
Yesterday I mentioned that I was nesting in the area of food and was hoping to get started with freezing meals for those time-consumed-by-care-of-a-newborn weeks after Baby Girl is born. And today--happily--I started! The freezer, which I got a chance to organize yesterday, was waiting for its first contribution to the Post-Baby Food Fund.
The entire top shelf was emptied of everything and eager to be filled.
And here is its first new resident: curried lentils.
It's slightly ridiculous how giddy this food preparation is making me.
But ridiculous or not, I don't care. I'm having fun. :)
One dish down...how many more will I get done before Little Miss arrives on the scene? :)
One dish down...how many more will I get done before Little Miss arrives on the scene? :)
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Baby Blessing: Week 37
This week of pregnancy started off great when I glanced at the pregnancy ticker on this blog and read these words: "Baby is now full term!" That is a fantastic feeling, to know that we've made it safely into the end zone and any time she wants to poke her head out and say hello is fine and dandy! :)
I don't, however, have a sense that labor will start soon; in fact, I'm back to feeling mostly terrific physically, so it's easy to accept the fact that I might still be pregnant for several more weeks. But sometimes, when rough days come, I think, "I am so ready to be done!" Eventually though, I regain my mental equilibrium, and the world doesn't look quite so dark, and my energy goes up a little, and I find again the peace and strength to not only endure this last stretch, but embrace it joyfully.
Not surprisingly, the question of when she'll be born takes up much of my thinking time these days. I realized with a start that, if she follows the example of her big brother David and is born 12 days before her due date, that means she would be born on Monday, just five days from now! But although I wouldn't mind a March baby, I don't really picture the birth happening this month. I have a feeling when April rolls around, the upcoming birth (if it hasn't happened yet) will feel MUCH more real--and CLOSE--to me.
After Jeff told me that his guess is that the baby will be born on April 2 at 2:12 AM, I decided to make an official guess, too, so I chose April 10 at 10:00 PM (trying to prepare myself mentally in case she's overdue). ;-) If you haven't already guessed, you're welcome to do so (and if it's not too much trouble, could you click over to this post to leave your comment so all the guesses can be in the same place? = easier for me to find after the birth when I probably won't be thinking too clearly!). By the way, I forgot to mention what the prize is! It's a $20 gift certificate to christianbook.com. :)
I had an appointment this morning with Marty, one of the midwives at SWHC. It was the kind of late-pregnancy, short-and-sweet appointment that can seem almost boring but is actually very reassuring. She heard the baby's heartbeat (and we were talking about other things at the time, so I forgot to ask her what the heartbeat was this time), felt the position (seems to be head-down still, thanks to God for that!), told me that the Group B Strep test I had last time was negative (it always has been for me, but I suppose they have to check every time), asked if I had filled out the birth plan that I got at the hospital when I preregistered (oops-I forgot about that birth plan; I'll do it before my next appointment), saw that my blood pressure was fine, talked about how it's not a problem if there's no weight gain at the end of pregnancy (I was 184 pounds today, which is exactly what I was two weeks ago at my last appointment), asked if I had any questions, and that was about it. I had so much other stuff I wanted to do today, so I didn't mind getting in and out quickly!
But before I talk about what else I did today... I was looking back at my pregnancy posts with Shav and noticed in this week 37 update that I weighed 174 pounds. Now I'm 10 pounds heavier than that, which bugs me a little...but only a little. There will be plenty of time to think about losing weight after the baby is born! :)
OK, so today, nesting hit me in a major way, in one area of life: food! More than ever before, I have been feeling the need to prepare meals for the freezer that can be pulled out and reheated in the hectic days after the birth; and today I had the time to sit down and make a list of 7 or 8 meals that would be relatively easy to do that with (and with some of them--like lasagna--I'll double the recipe and be able to freeze two meals from one batch). Then I made up a grocery list and got to go grocery shopping (with only Shav! it's so easy to shop with only one child!!) :) for the ingredients to make those meals (plus other stuff that we needed). Tomorrow Pre-Baby Meal Prep begins in earnest...hopefully...if I can find the time and energy and don't have one of those days in which I absolutely collapse! I feel so much better this evening, not only because of having meal ideas but also because of having lots of food in the house. Now I'm convinced that we won't starve after the baby is born. Not that there was any danger of that happening even if I hadn't gone to the store today. ;-) But I feel much better about our food situation tonight than I did 24 hours ago. :)
Two other pre-baby things got checked off my mental list today. First, I went by Jeff's shop and got one of the stylists to wax my eyebrows (which prompted David, who was watching the process, to say, "I am SO glad I'm not a girl so that I'll never have to do that!!"). ;-) And second, Jeff painted my toenails for me tonight--a lovely pink color this time. :) When feeling as big as an elephant, it's mood-lifting to know that at least one's eyebrows and toenails are in good shape. :)
I don't have any pictures for this update which is a bummer, but oh well. I wanted to get these thoughts jotted down and not wait for a photo opportunity before posting this. But to tell you the truth, it's been incredibly difficult to make myself sit here tonight and write this. I'm as antsy and fidgety as can be, and I have no idea why.
It's time to hit the sack and try to make my restless self be still. Hopefully sleep will come quickly! :)
I don't, however, have a sense that labor will start soon; in fact, I'm back to feeling mostly terrific physically, so it's easy to accept the fact that I might still be pregnant for several more weeks. But sometimes, when rough days come, I think, "I am so ready to be done!" Eventually though, I regain my mental equilibrium, and the world doesn't look quite so dark, and my energy goes up a little, and I find again the peace and strength to not only endure this last stretch, but embrace it joyfully.
Not surprisingly, the question of when she'll be born takes up much of my thinking time these days. I realized with a start that, if she follows the example of her big brother David and is born 12 days before her due date, that means she would be born on Monday, just five days from now! But although I wouldn't mind a March baby, I don't really picture the birth happening this month. I have a feeling when April rolls around, the upcoming birth (if it hasn't happened yet) will feel MUCH more real--and CLOSE--to me.
After Jeff told me that his guess is that the baby will be born on April 2 at 2:12 AM, I decided to make an official guess, too, so I chose April 10 at 10:00 PM (trying to prepare myself mentally in case she's overdue). ;-) If you haven't already guessed, you're welcome to do so (and if it's not too much trouble, could you click over to this post to leave your comment so all the guesses can be in the same place? = easier for me to find after the birth when I probably won't be thinking too clearly!). By the way, I forgot to mention what the prize is! It's a $20 gift certificate to christianbook.com. :)
I had an appointment this morning with Marty, one of the midwives at SWHC. It was the kind of late-pregnancy, short-and-sweet appointment that can seem almost boring but is actually very reassuring. She heard the baby's heartbeat (and we were talking about other things at the time, so I forgot to ask her what the heartbeat was this time), felt the position (seems to be head-down still, thanks to God for that!), told me that the Group B Strep test I had last time was negative (it always has been for me, but I suppose they have to check every time), asked if I had filled out the birth plan that I got at the hospital when I preregistered (oops-I forgot about that birth plan; I'll do it before my next appointment), saw that my blood pressure was fine, talked about how it's not a problem if there's no weight gain at the end of pregnancy (I was 184 pounds today, which is exactly what I was two weeks ago at my last appointment), asked if I had any questions, and that was about it. I had so much other stuff I wanted to do today, so I didn't mind getting in and out quickly!
But before I talk about what else I did today... I was looking back at my pregnancy posts with Shav and noticed in this week 37 update that I weighed 174 pounds. Now I'm 10 pounds heavier than that, which bugs me a little...but only a little. There will be plenty of time to think about losing weight after the baby is born! :)
OK, so today, nesting hit me in a major way, in one area of life: food! More than ever before, I have been feeling the need to prepare meals for the freezer that can be pulled out and reheated in the hectic days after the birth; and today I had the time to sit down and make a list of 7 or 8 meals that would be relatively easy to do that with (and with some of them--like lasagna--I'll double the recipe and be able to freeze two meals from one batch). Then I made up a grocery list and got to go grocery shopping (with only Shav! it's so easy to shop with only one child!!) :) for the ingredients to make those meals (plus other stuff that we needed). Tomorrow Pre-Baby Meal Prep begins in earnest...hopefully...if I can find the time and energy and don't have one of those days in which I absolutely collapse! I feel so much better this evening, not only because of having meal ideas but also because of having lots of food in the house. Now I'm convinced that we won't starve after the baby is born. Not that there was any danger of that happening even if I hadn't gone to the store today. ;-) But I feel much better about our food situation tonight than I did 24 hours ago. :)
Two other pre-baby things got checked off my mental list today. First, I went by Jeff's shop and got one of the stylists to wax my eyebrows (which prompted David, who was watching the process, to say, "I am SO glad I'm not a girl so that I'll never have to do that!!"). ;-) And second, Jeff painted my toenails for me tonight--a lovely pink color this time. :) When feeling as big as an elephant, it's mood-lifting to know that at least one's eyebrows and toenails are in good shape. :)
I don't have any pictures for this update which is a bummer, but oh well. I wanted to get these thoughts jotted down and not wait for a photo opportunity before posting this. But to tell you the truth, it's been incredibly difficult to make myself sit here tonight and write this. I'm as antsy and fidgety as can be, and I have no idea why.
It's time to hit the sack and try to make my restless self be still. Hopefully sleep will come quickly! :)
Monday, March 19, 2012
My Knight Lost His Steed
Even before the wheel-disconnecting-from-vehicle-while-driving-down-the-road incident, Jeff knew his Jeep had problems. It was old and sort of junky (in the nicest possible way) when Jeff got it a number of years ago, and it had faithfully carried Jeff to and from the barber shop many, many times, in all sorts of weather, since then. Periodically Jeff tinkered with it, fixing up its various ailments with duct tape, bungee cords, and (no joke) surgical scissors. But it was now 30 years old and was wearing out, plain and simple. Would it be worth the cost to get all the repairs made that were needed? Probably not. The Jeep's days were numbered.
The steed has been shot out from under my knight; and my knight--ever resilient, ever forward-looking--doesn't seem to mind. But silly sentimental me has to pause and take a moment...
...simply to bid farewell to a piece of metal and rubber and wires and glass...that happened to be part of our family life here in our Virginia years.
Goodbye, ol' friend.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Before I Fall Into Bed
I feel like I ought to post something, but this full-but-wonderful weekend has taken the starch out of me...and not just the starch...it's also stolen my words! It's time for this introvert to have some quiet, alone time--preferably with a pillow and blanket--to recharge. :)
Before I head up the steps to the bed I can hardly wait to crawl into, I'll simply post these pictures as a way of remembering how peacefully David and Tobin got along yesterday afternoon. They were looking at the children's Bible that David has been reading, and talking about the pictures, and David read some of the pages to Tobin. I happened to overhear David pointing out Jesus to Tobin, and Tobin's rebuttal of "That's not Jesus. Jesus always wears a blue thing!" True, true. Most artists of American children's Bibles give Jesus a blue sash. But in this particular children's Bible, it happens to be red. :)
* Formerly Known as Sandpaper Boys ;-)
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