Anticipation

I'm not the first one to have 4 kids, but somehow it terrifies me that soon (5 weeks and a day) I will have 4 kids. Most of the pregnancy has felt like it has passed painfully slow but all of a sudden it feels very near the end and I'm not ready. They say that we have 9 months to get ready, right? Well, instead of getting ready I was feeling sick and taking care of the 3 beautiful children I already have. What was wrong with 3 again? Oh, I remember. It was Rick announcing to me the day that I brought Darren home from the hospital that he felt like we still had another child waiting to come into our family. Not that I disagree with him, but his timing stunk.

I'm actually really excited to meet this new arrival and find out whether it is a girl or boy. I'm curious if he/she will look more like one child than another, what it will look like and will it have any hair? I'm curious to see its temperament and if it is a good sleeper like the girls or a not so good sleeper like Darren. I'm curious to see how the kids will react to him/her. I'm curious to see if Rick and I will ever find a name that feels right for him/her. I'm also looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I love to feel the baby move, but as everyone is so kind to point out, I'm huge already and I still have half the baby's growth to deal with. (Did you know that in the last weeks the baby is expected to gain a half to a full pound in a week? Yikes, I still have 5 weeks left. Do the math!)

To make my point, it isn't the actual baby that scares me. I LOVE that part about being a mom and having a baby. I'm scared of the pain from the c-section, even though I know what to expect. I'm scared that the other kids will act up or act jealous and that I won't do a good enough job balancing between them. I'm scared because our finances are tight and we are already pretty cramped in this little house. I'm scared of the mountain of laundry we already have that never seems to be any less. Ditto for the dishes. I had a meltdown last night at the thought of babysitting a little boy and felt like a total nut job. Oh well, I hope it is just pregnancy hormones going haywire and that I'll eventually feel a little calm. I know I will when I actually hold the baby, but it would be nice to feel calm before then.

'Twas the Night

'Twas the night before a school day and all through the house,
not a creature was sleeping, not even a mouse.
The parents were listening closely with care,
In hopes that soon sounds of life wouldn't be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of summertime danced in their little heads.
Mama-her impatience, and I in my wrath,
Had just shushed the kids for the twentieth time.


It needs a little work, but am I the only who feels this way sometimes?

One Joy of Motherhood

There are some things I never thought about when preparing to become a parent. Being the "poop police" was one of them. Maybe your children don't have this problem, but a couple of mine do.

Have you ever had to have the following conversation?

Mom: Honey, did you poop today.

Child: No.

Mom: If you don't poop by dinner you will have to have a suppository.

Child: No. Please no. I hate them.

Mom: I know, it would be much better if you could do it on your own. But if you don't, we'll have to give you one. Why don't you go sit on the potty to see if you can go?

Child: Okay.

Or this conversation?

Child: I want Sugar Puffs for breakfast.

Mom: No, it doesn't have enough fiber for you and you need to poop.

Child: Can I have a banana then?

Mom: No, you won't poop if you do. How about some apple juice?

Child: *sigh* Okay.

This one is my favorite.

Mom is waiting patiently at a store, friend's house, church, or anywhere when she hears:

Child: Mom. I went poop!

Mom: Great job. Now wipe really well and flush.

Child: No, you've got to see it. You'll be so proud of me. I didn't even need a suppository! Look how big it is. Mom, come see my poop! (All said very loudly.)

Mom: Okay. Wow. Good job pooping. Now wipe and flush.

Child: Okay. We have to tell Daddy too, okay? Tell him how big it was.

Ah, the joys of Motherhood. :)

Update- Birthday, Ear Piercing, Goodbye

Hey everyone, I'm on my new computer, and it runs much faster, thanks to Rick. I haven't downloaded pictures for a long time, so I'll try not to make it too long. No promises though.

We've had a busy April. I'll start with Rick's birthday.

I mentioned in a previous post that the girls wanted to dress up for his birthday dinner. This is what they wore. So sweet!

That's quite a little fire on the cake there. We had to sing fast! :)

This is the end of the movie when all the kids were sitting on Rick's lap. I love it. They love their Daddy so much, just as they should.

The next big thing was the girls getting their ears pierced. I think I mentioned that they had to earn it by being good and earning beans. They had a few not so good days, but mostly they earned it pretty quickly. I am still not sure I should have let Rick talk me into this, but the girls love them and take care of them pretty well for how young they are. We got a little choked up while we were there. I know its a lot of pictures, but again, this was hard for me so deal with it!

Annie before

Annie during

Annie after. She chose green birthstones (I don't know what month.) No tears, no flinching. I am amazed by my brave daughters. Rick tried to talk me into it and I still didn't dare and was secretly relieved that they wouldn't do mine while I'm pregnant without a doctor's note.

Carlyn before

Carlyn during. Notice that she has her lamby. Anyone who knows her well know her lamby too. She chose lamby that night to comfort her.

Carlyn after. She chose the pink birthstone, of course. Again, no tears and not even the tiniest flinch. Tough cookie! For at least a week they proudly showed their ears to everyone. They'd say, "Look, I got my ears pierced. I didn't even flinch!"

Darren was bored out of his mind and screamed through the whole thing. He also went through at least 2 suckers.

Now I need to mention that my brother,Mathew, had let us know he was working in Canada for the summer and would be leaving in May. I was having a hard time with it because we're pretty close and see him a lot and my kids just adore him, especially Darren. Plus, I'm pregnant and he won't be here for the baby to be born. I'm not sure why this is so huge to me, but it is. So we had their ears pierced on Friday night the week before Easter. That weekend was also conference weekend and a family Easter party on Saturday morning (to be blogged about later.) So Saturday morning I had everything timed just right so that we can eat, bathe, get ready and watch conference then leave to the party immediately after. Well, Mathew threw it all off :)

Rick hadn't gotten much sleep that night (thanks to WOW) and was sleeping in while I showered. Next thing I knew, Rick was up and dressed. I was surprised and he said I had a call from Mathew who was on his way to Canada that day and wanted to say goodbye to us on his way out! I just stared at Rick then finally said, "You're a little late for April Fool's." He laughed but then said it wasn't a joke. Mathew was on his way. Well, I lost it. I bawled while I got ready. I know he's a grown up and I think this adventure will be really good for him, but I still miss him. Its hard when you get used to someone being there, able to come play games or watch the kids most times when we'd call. (Mathew, if you're reading this I don't say it to make you feel bad. We really are excited for you.) Anyway, he came by hugged us, used our computer, then was off.

Look at that smile! Any questions how much she loves Mathew? He lived with us when she was born and for awhile she liked Mathew at least as much as Rick.

I don't think Darren would have been smiling if he had known he wouldn't see his buddy for such a long time :)

Carlyn is old enough to understand better what was going on and was a little more clingy to him, but it was also really sweet because every prayer for over a week prayed for Mathew to be safe and have a fun time in Canada. How sweet is that?

...just waiting

Hey everyone, I have lots to post about: my brother leaving the country to work, Rick's birthday, fun Easter stuff, a trip to my parent's, ear piercing, a new sprinkling system, and a new kitchen faucet. Guess what I'm waiting for? My computer. Rick took my old computer minus hard drive and gave it to my sister who is a teacher, and also has 3 kids in school, and they really needed one. So he's got my hard drive and I'm waiting for a new computer. :) He promised to have it done last week and then he started to work on a few projects around the house (mentioned above), which in all reality are more important than me having a computer, but still...

So here I am doing a quick post to say Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a great time. We sure did, but it was pretty laid back. We had a family party with Rick's family last week and then spent some time at my parent's house after that. We had our Easter Funday Saturday waking up early to have the kids look at their baskets followed by our neighborhood egg hunt and breakfast, then naps all around, and worked/played in the yard til it started pouring rain later. We enjoyed a nice relaxing Easter Sunday at church followed by a movie marathon and a yummy dinner of ham and funeral potatoes.

A Quick Happy Birthday

Rick is going to work on my computer tonight so no pictures. But I wanted to say (a day late) a quick Happy Birthday to my sweet man. I love you, Rick, and I'm glad you had a great day.

We had french toast for breakfast and he worked until after 4 when he had a massage. Thanks Massage Envy for getting some knots out of my husband's back because I can't. I frankly was a little jealous. I've feeling very sore and would love a massage, but I'll have to wait. I am glad he got one though. He requested golden rod eggs for dinner (I told him I wanted to cook but his first request was Sizzler.) He liked the movie night at home we did for his birthday last year and requested another one this year. We rented Bolt and had popcorn. Half way through we sang to him and had some rich chocolate cake. We had a great time.

The best was that while he was gone the kids made birthday cards for him. Darren wanted to get in on it too and sat at his booster seat and colored with marker on the construction paper. It was cute, he was very serious about drawing and got mad when I wrote Happy Birthday Daddy on the inside. The girls always take it seriously and made some cute cards. Annie put princess stickers on it and Rick laughed saying he never thought he'd get a princess card for his birthday. :) We gave him the cards at dinner and Darren knew just what to do with the card he made and proudly passed it to Rick. It was adorable. Then, when Rick gave the girls hugs after reading their cards Darren grunted and held out his arms. Rick said, "You want a hug too?" Darren, who says no to everything, nodded his head and said yeah. It was great. He gave Rick a big hug. I unfortunately had a sinus headache and wasn't feeling great, but I hope that Rick never questions how much any of us love him. :)