we are waiting...

We had a little excitement last week when one evening contractions started coming closer and harder and it was beginning to look like the real thing! Alas, they slowed and disappeared.

But we are so close and so very excited to meet this little girl! Everything is set up, our hospital bags are packed and the car seat is already in the car!

All we need is our daughter.
Daughter! I still can’t believe it!

After washing all the beautiful clothes that have been given to us as gifts or handed down, I am seeing pink lint for the first time in our dryer’s lint catcher.

I am trying to maximize the free time I have left. I have made several frozen meals, cleaned, organized piles that had been accumulating since summer and threw out stuff that was simply taking up space. The nesting thing is in really high gear!

My right foot is cracking me up! It looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy foot! There is no definition, not even an ankle in sight, just a pudgy little foot! I am walking around in flip flops in January while my husband is trying to stay warm with two pairs of socks.

We got some more snow here so the boys are thrilled! Apparently, we are experiencing our second “Polar Vortex” this month. So the wind chill is -12 below! It is cold here!

If all goes well, tomorrow, I plan on making a spinach quiche to freeze and oatmeal cookies! We’ll see!

slowing down and keeping things in perspective

I am 33 weeks along and getting very excited about meeting our little girl. Things have been busy and my energy is starting to disappear, like gone after 6:00 p.m.

I can sense the holiday stress/frenzy on the road, I see it in people’s eyes and I can feel it just starting here in my home. It’s a shame that consumerism is the focus of this time of year robbing people of their money, peace and sanity. I know it is a choice.

We all make choices how to celebrate this time of year and my husband and I have chosen to keep it simple and give our boys three to four affordable things on Christmas day and that’s it. It is what they have always known and experienced so they don’t expect more. We also intentionally have them focus on family, neighbors and Christ's birth throughout the month of December so they begin to think outward during this time of year and not merely focus on themselves.

I wrote about this in a post a while back but it is a great reminder for me as Christmas is right around the corner.

Post 1: encouraging little ones to think of others

Post 2: slowing down and keeping things in perspective

Hopefully it will encourage you too!

30 weeks

I’ve reached the thirty week mark in my pregnancy. Sleep at night is starting to get patchy: an hour here and an hour there, a full night of sleep is long gone. I know it is expected and also preparing me for those night time feedings which are right around the corner. We are narrowing down a name and I am finding it a lot harder to pick a name for a girl than it was for a boy. We have, give or take, ten more weeks so we still have a little time.

I am getting apprehensive about several things:
~ My last three deliveries were pretty easy and uneventful. What if this one isn’t?
~ Will I have everything I need?
~ How will I juggle home schooling with a baby and sleep deprivation?
~ How will my middle son adjust to the extra “noise and activity” that comes with a baby?
~ I know from experience that it takes a long time after having a baby to start to feel like your self again. How long will it take me this time?
~ Am I ready to mother a daughter? I only know boys.

I know this is normal to be apprehensive as the delivery draws closer so I am trying to keep things in perspective by focusing on the following…

~ Every delivery is different and special. The things that are out of my control are just that, so I have to let go and let God!
~ Realistically, babies just need diapers, a blanket and their mama’s milk.
~ I did start home school early and have gone strong so far. I plan on not teaching for a month after the baby comes, ease patiently and slowly back into a routine and if I have to…I will teach into the summer.
~ All in all, the noise and activity will stretch my middle son in a good way.
~ Experience tells me that day will come, though I don’t know when the magic day will be when I feel like my old self again, it will come.
~ As far as raising a daughter, I will take it one day at a time.

I find it extremely helpful to combat worrisome thoughts with strong, realistic statements. It eases the mind, and hence the body relaxes, and hence the rest of the household is relaxed.

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and I hope you can find the good even if life gets tough. If I look hard enough I can always find something to be thankful about.

I love this story here! There are people who find ways to give back to others, even strangers!

I am off to make my delicious dessert, I mean, side dish…………Carrot Soufflé!!!!!!!

Enjoy the family or friends that God has given you,

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

my three boys and our little girl on the way