Friday

When you are pregnant with your third child everything is very different.  There isn't the same level of nervousness when you get your ultrasound; you can recognize things on the screen; all is fine.  We're having a girl, it was discovered, and I'm very pleased.  As is typical of us, we have no name chosen but lots of ideas.  I don't feel any panic, though.  We'll figure it all out.

Today the telephone person is supposed to come and fix our line, and I have intentions to take Samuel to the library and possibly even playgroup, depending on how optimistic I am.  There will also be something decadent for dessert, although I don't currently know what that will be.  Possibly homemade popcorn balls.

Thursday Stuff

We are so blessed today to have someone to watch both of the children while David and I head into the city for the ultrasound to find out if the baby is a lady or a gentleman and all of the other measurements.  She's a wonderful girl and adores the children, who know this and probably take advantage of it.  They're excited to have company, and I'm trying to figure out what to make for lunch so they can all eat without having to defrost things.

In the meantime I'm on cup of tea #2 in order to face the day.  And when I say cup, I mean vat, since David kindly purchased some huge mugs for me a few years ago, and I use them daily.

I have been fighting with the cats (and losing) on whether I'm allowed to keep even one houseplant in this life.  They eat everything.  And the children aren't helping the situation - but I think I've solved the problem.  Cacti.  No one will want to touch them, no one will want to eat them, and I can forget to water them.  Perfect.

In Between Day

Yesterday's trip to the OB was exactly what I had hoped for - quick, efficient and productive.  I even had all of the blood work that modern medicine seems to require done, and done quickly.  The ultrasound is booked for tomorrow (!!) and so one of today's big to-do list items is going to be finding care for the children whilst David and I make a trip into the city again.  I'm hopeful that we can get some grocery shopping done as well, buy a zipper to repair David's winter coat, some embroidery floss and possibly a storage solution for our bedroom.  The last will only happen if we have neither child with us, because then the back seat, usually filled with coats and boots and carseats and angst, will be empty.

And I came home to a functioning shower!  And a non-leaky sink!  It was a glorious day, let me tell you, and getting to have a shower in my own house for the first time since August was wonderful.

We had honey garlic marinated steak for supper, and I made a double meal and froze half, which is how I'm freezer cooking this week.  Tonight will either be green chili pork tacos or chicken enchiladas.  I think...I think I want the enchiladas.  And since I'm the one making supper - hallelujah I can decide.

And so this morning has become, through no fault of its own, an incredibly busy day.  I get to do all of the work from yesterday's cleaning schedule (Tuesdays are mopping), and today's (Wednesdays are vacuuming upholstery/dusting) and Thursday as well since I won't be home (Thursdays are scrubbing the kitchen table and highchair and windows).  But the very first thing that needed to be done was to give Samuel a haircut - which he wasn't happy about at all.

And David, before he left to lead prayer group, called the phone people to tell them that our line is still not receiving calls, and they've booked an appt. to arrive on Friday.  

Supposed to be Monday

This pregnancy is going by so much faster than either of my others; I'm over halfway (22 weeks and change now) even if you factor in that there's no chance of my giving birth at 40 weeks.  I like to think that, because it involves less pain and frustration on the other side of it all when you're huge and hot and uncomfortable and want someone to put you out of your misery and all you can do is sob to people "but I'm full term...".  No, much better to think about these things now, while I still have some shreds of sanity about me.

And this morning is the joy of my OB appointment, which I have been thinking of in terms much less pleasant than I am prepared to share, but which just now, this very moment, I have decided to be grateful for and happy about.

While I'm gone one of our handy parishioners is going to come over here and fix our shower, which I am unreservedly thrilled over.  We've been living in the parsonage since August and haven't had a working shower, only a bath.  I like baths, but having a bath seems to be Such An Ordeal in a way that showers aren't.  I need to find time for a bath, I need to prepare a beverage, a book, a schedule...is there hot water in the tank?  A shower is easy, and easy is what I like.

I am also going to actively be Very Optimistic about this shower thing because I have a feeling that it isn't a quick fix but is going to require removing part of the wall and fixing the plumbing.  And I shall write a note for the gentleman to also take a look at the leaking sink.

Yesterday, when I intended to post this, was not a great day.  I had high hopes of getting all sorts of freezerish food prepared and such, but went over my grocery budget (not surprising, I hadn't researched it well and was shopping with everyone) and that frustrated me.  The children, who had been promised rides on the mechanical pony if they behaved in the store, did not get their rides, and cried loudly.  The embroidery floss I needed to continue this cross stitch was gone from the store.  I was exhausted and barely managed chicken and rice for supper, which neither child wanted or ate anyway.  And our attempted family tv show ended in everyone going to bed.

Today is going to be wonderful!

Books and sleep and others

I'm watching out the nice window (as opposed to the not awful but certainly nothing to write home about windows) in the living room as my pastor husband makes his much-bundled way through the snow to check on his flock.  I myself have to make a trip out to relieve the thrift store workers so that they can eat their lunch in the chilly but relatively quiet peace of the church.  I'm being hampered by the fact that I decided, completely on a whim and without any thought or prayer, to teach Clara today how to fall asleep on her own for nap time.  She used to be in possession of this skill when she slept in a crib, but once she learned to climb out of the crib we had to put her in a toddler bed, which for safety sake I've kept in our bedroom (is there anything more terrifying then knowing your child can open doors and wander around the house at night?).  This means that she's fallen into the habit of needing someone to lie down with her for nap time.  I'm not a fan of this - I have little enough time (not to mention energy) to slog through the endless round that I can't be lured towards my pillow or this increasingly pregnant lady won't be up again for hours.

The church is having a bake sale today; a friend of mine commented to me the other day that we always seem to be doing things in this church, and it's very true.  I waver between thinking this is all a very good idea and that we should be more focused.  But if everyone is happy, and enjoys each other's company, well then God clearly knows this situation better than I do.  I came to the bake sale with my meager offerings - why is it that when you make something in your kitchen it always appears more substantial then when you show up with it?  I'd made a loaf of my mother's excellent cinnamon bread, and another loaf of challah, because braided bread looks impressive and people buy it.  But I sincerely hope more food showed up after I came because it wasn't much of a table.

And I'm reading a book!  Two books!  Two quite good books that I'm liking a lot.  The first is Name Above All Names by Alistair Begg and Sinclair Ferguson and the second is Left Behind In A Megachurch World How God Works Through Ordinary Churches by Ruth Tucker.  Ruth's book is wonderful in such a very relevant way.

I have to go get that child again.  Sleep isn't here.

Two Soups

We made both of these this week, and I thought perhaps, if you had similarly ravenous family members, then you would appreciate them.

Cream of Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Take three large bunches of broccoli and chop off the florets and peel and chop the stems and wash everything.  Put it in a pot with some water and simmer until they're still nice and green.  Throw them in a blender with four cups of milk and puree.  In a separate pot, make a white sauce from 2/3 of a stick of butter, flour, and four cups of milk.  Add it to the broccoli.  Grate cheese and mix.  Salt to taste and freeze it.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Roast an acorn squash (Halved and seeded), a sweet potato (don't peel), two cloves of garlic and two green apples until the squash and potato are done.  You'll want to add some fat to the roasting pan, like oil or whatever.  Puree the vegetables with the stock from a roasted chicken.  Add a tsp of cumin and salt.

Stuck in the Driveway.

"Let's run away"  I said, as we frozen chosen picked our way to the car this morning for yet another bitterly cold trip to playgroup.  David refused, but he did pick me up and insist that we go for a drive.  And on the way we passed a parishioner's house who I thought might like a visit.  Which in no way means that it was MY fault that we got firmly, unmoveably stuck in their driveway.  Despite quite a lot of shoveling it was pretty obvious that the two adults, both of whom were laughing that sort of kinda crazy hysterical laugh you get when you discover you and your small children and one pair of gloves are stuck in the driveway of a farmhouse where no one is home, were not going to do it.  The cows found us pretty amusing, though.  And once the bag of kitty litter was discovered we did, in fact, get out and on our way.  And we bought them another bag of litter.

The long days

It's, um, February.

Hello.

I know how trite and over played this phrase is, but boy life is just crazy.  At least it was crazy, up until quite recently.  And now it's still somewhat crazy but in a totally different way, and all of this is to say that the written journal I've been keeping in the 30 seconds of alone time I get just isn't quite cutting it - and here I am.

A few weeks ago I sat myself down and had a little chat about all of the many, many decisions piling up around me that needed to be handled in some way.  That's the problem with choices - eventually they have to be made.  I spent an entire 12 hour day just...deciding stuff.  The trick was, I realized, to just chose something, because ultimately you could very well make the wrong choice regardless of how much research and care you put into it.  And so I looked at my list and started in - and I got a fair amount done.  But already I can feel the decisions piling up around me again and I'm not certain I have the emotional capacity to do another day.

One of the things we decided on was our car seat arrangement.  I've mentioned before how much I find car seats to be right up there with baby poo charts and circling things in flyers on the list of Most Boring Mom Topics Ever, but it had to be done.  Our choices were somewhat limited.  We could:

1)  Sell our car (a mid sized 5 seat thing) and purchase a mini van.  Besides the fact that the thought of driving a mini van makes me want to cry a bit, we also couldn't afford it.  Even if we sold our car.

2)  Only put two car seats in the back of the car and never go anywhere as a family.

3)  Buy three new car seats that were specially made to fit in the back of a car.

We chose option 3.  There was no choice, really.  And those seats are very, very expensive.  But that's what had to be done, and so I did it.

I also just dealt with the fact that we were NOT going to get a doctor in town, and instead had the family 'enrolled' (Is that it?  That's not the word I'm looking for) at the nurse practitioner's office.  And I went to my first appointment in this pregnancy, at *cough cough* 19 weeks.  Yes, yes, I can see you rolling those eyes and you can keep those opinions to yourself.  The boy and I heard the new baby's heartbeat and it was all quite something.  And now I've got myself an OB, who I will see next week, and I'm sure that the next 20 weeks will be filled with, oh, all sorts of frivolity and excitement.  Hurrah.

You can get the gist of the list by those sorts of things - all important, all necessary, all dull and stressful.

I can feel another 12 hour day coming on.