Why I love being Pregnant..... NOT!

Yesterday when we got to church I ran into the tactless, yet easily offended, socially inadequate woman in our ward.  I try not to, since every time I encounter her she says such flattering things as,"Are you having twins?".  Alas, yesterday I was not fast enough to waddle away before she initiated the conversation.  

"When are you due?" She asked.

"Today!" I said brightly.

"No, really?"  She said in surprise.

"No" I said honestly, "But I'm still hoping.  I'm not due for 2 more weeks."

She eyeballs my lovely bowling ball belly and says, "Are you sure you're only having one?"

Thinking that a stupid question deserves a like answer, I respond, "I'm having quintuplets!" 

Her eyes get big, "You are?!"  

"No," I admit, "Only one."

"Well, you sure are big!  You get bigger every week!"

I walk away thinking, Wow, thanks for sharing.  I always feel so attractive when I hear stuff like that.  Sigh.  Like I don't feel big and miserable enough already. 

Baby Thoughts

First let's start with some fun pictures:

Joshua had a birthday and he was ecstatic to get some Legos.  He's my big boy now!

Delaney was hamming it up for the picture. As was her sister!  Such silly girls!

There was a fun Primary Activity yesterday, and our Primary President thinks that Callie is just adorable to begin with and she thinks that this is just the cutest picture ever of her.  How can I argue when she is right?!

And here we have.... ME!  Courtesy of Callie.  I didn't realize how much bigger my belly looks from the shorter perspective!  Here I was thinking that I wasn't as huge as I was with Delaney, and now I have proof that perhaps I am!  Its a bit blurry, but as I said, Callie took this, and I'm not entirely sure what her focus was.

And now onto the purpose of sitting down today:

I think you tend to hang on to what you have heard growing up, and I know that in reference to bearing her 6 children, my mom would say she knew when it was time to start and she knew when it was time to be done.  I guess I adopted that philosophy myself.  I knew when it was time to start.  I had told Dan no kids for the first year of marriage, and after that first year was over, he started off right away with the nagging.

There were a couple issues going on with why I wasn't ready, but I had prayed about it and felt like it wasn't the time yet.  It took another couple months before the answer I got was yes, now is the time.  It took 3 months of trying to get pregnant.  And interestingly enough, every one of our 5 children has taken exactly 3 months from decision to conception.  But I digress...

After each baby, I knew we had another one coming, and I wanted my children close together.  Partly because I grew up with close siblings, and a lot because I wanted to get childbearing over and done with as quickly as possible.  I did not want to be changing diapers and raising children for 40 years.  I wanted the kids out of the house, all grown up when I was 50.  Okay, so I won't make that goal, but you get my drift.

When I was pregnant with Delaney, I decided I wanted a bigger space between her and the next baby.  We'd gone 18 months between Joshua and Marian, 2 years between Marian and Callie, and 18 months again between Callie and Delaney.  I was tired!  I knew I wanted them close, I just hadn't stopped to think about how rough it would be!  So I wanted a little break.  I figured 2-3 years and then we'd talk about baby #5.

However, Delaney was a joy baby.  She was so happy and content and wonderful!  I loved it.  I had never enjoyed a baby before!  And as she got older, it just didn't seem like I wanted to get pregnant again.  Still, there was that desire to have all my kids close together, and I didn't want to wait too long.  Dan and I talked about it.  We prayed about it.  We went to the Temple about it and we got... nothing.  No definite Yes, multiply and replenish some more!  Yet, also no Yes, you are done!  I really needed to feel strongly one way or the other.  I needed to know I was done, or I needed to feel like we had another baby waiting.  But I felt.... nothing. It was really hard for me.  On the one hand, I really was enjoying the children and having them be older and able to do stuff.  On the other hand, I didn't want to deny a little spirit into our family if they were suppose to be here.  I was afraid my feelings were making me less receptive to an answer.  I wasn't thrilled at the idea of going back to ground zero and putting my life on hold again for another 5 years.

After talking about it, we finally decided that no answer probably was an answer.  Since we didn't have the certainty that we were done, we would go ahead and try for another.  So we did.  3 months later, we were pregnant. And I want you to know that I know now, with utter certainty, I am done!  I have no doubt that this is the last baby.  I have my answer now and that means I can enjoy every second of this baby, because its the last one!

No, we do not plan on any permanent methods to ensure no more children.  I liked the IUD a lot and will go back to that.  But I have the certainty I wanted, and I can say also that yes, I knew when it was time to start, and I knew when it was time to stop!

Pet Peeves

Today's Top 3!

1.  I was watching something on TV and they had a preview for some tell-all interview with Jon Gosslin.  I will say that I enjoyed watching Jon & Kate Plus 8, up until they split up.  Now I don't want to see anything about them.  I was really annoyed when this preview showed Jon saying how he had twins at age 25 (I think) and sextuplets at age 27 and "there went his twenties".  Like having children ruined the best years of his life?!  I did not watch the interview, I only saw that snippet, but I was ticked off!  What do you think your life will be like once you have children? You think you can be the same person with no responsibilities?  Children make you into an adult.  Life isn't meant to be one big frat party for you to enjoy.  I hate that the media and everyone gives the message that life is suppose to be easy, that work isn't suppose to be hard and that having children just means you have more friends to play with.  Ug. It really bugs me.

2. Terrible Twos.  I hate that people call it that.  One of my recent parenting magazines had an article about "surviving the Terrible Twos" and I was really irked by it.  This automatic thought that your kid is suddenly having a tantrum because they are 2, is so silly.  I feel like it gives parent's an excuse.  Oh, I can't help it, my child is 2.  News flash!  2 is this amazing age where your child is learning all kinds of new things and they are exploring and pushing boundaries. Its the time when mom and dad really have to step it up and be parents.  Fun time is over, now its time to work and be a real parent.  Do kids to terrible things at this age?  Yes they do!  Are they intentionally trying to drive you bonkers?  No. They just have these little brains that are going a million miles a minute and they are going to get into mischief.  LOTS of mischief.  And they are going to throw colossal tantrums- they think the world revolves around them and its not fun to learn it doesn't.  

I hate that some parents' philosophy seems to be that they just have to endure this age, and then they are shocked to discover that the terrible two's are also the terrible threes.  Here's what you do:  You expect that your kid is going to be trying new stuff, and getting into trouble. You expect that you are going to deal with tantrums.  You expect that you are going to have to set the boundary here and now, and you plan to be firm and consistent.  You also can look at all the new stuff they are learning and take great joy and delight in watching them grow and develop. It really is exciting to see them developing into their personalities and becoming real people.  And here is the amazing thing- you end up with a pretty great kid at age 3!   And that's my soapbox on that!!

3. Parenting Magazine had an article titled "Raise a Slim Kid in a Supersize World", and they had this sentence in it:"It's frustrating that many of the factors contributing to the obesity epidemic... seem to be out of our control."  WHAT?!!  I'm sorry?  Who feeds your children?  Who lets them (or doesn't let them ) sit in front of the TV or computer or game system all day?  Are you kidding me?  We don't have control over the obesity epidemic?  Who else does?!  Sure, Mc Donalds doesn't have healthy meals.  Sure, Schools don't offer PE like they use to.  Sure, restaurants serve huge portions.  However, that's not what's making anyone obese.  Personal choices are.  When I choose a Big Mac, or when I let my children rot their brains all day in front of SpongeBob, or when I let them buy school lunch every day...  That, my friends is what contributes to obesity.  Nope, you don't have to eat the entire portion you receive at a restaurant.  That's why they have to-g0 boxes.  Heck, you don't even have to go out to eat.  Its much healthier and cheaper to make food yourself.  It is more time consuming, but its worth it.  This statement really had me fuming.  Can you tell?  Let's take responsibility for our choices and own up to the fact that we are a lazy lot and its easier to let kids sit in front of the TV than to fight to get them to play outside, and its easier to nuke some chicken nuggets than it is to fix a healthy meal.

Those are my pet peeves for today and now that I've gotten that out of my system, I feel much better!  To any who may be offended by any of my tirades, I apologize, its not personal to you... well, unless you endorse such thoughts and comments as mentioned above.

Random Tidbits

Delaney makes me laugh.  She has been obsessed with Callie's underpants and wears them over her diaper most of the time. Today she actually wore underwear and no diaper for part of the evening and all potty went into the potty and she stayed dry.  I'm in trouble now!  She really is going to potty train herself. Aack!

Another thing Delaney has enjoyed is the fireman's hat.  It makes Callie crazy that she wears it backwards, but Delaney thinks it is so cool.

Yep, check out how cool she is!

Whoo-hoo!  Mom's got the hat on now!

Yesterday we went bowling.  Hey, I titled this "Random Tidbits".  That means its all random!  And yesterday we went bowling!  That really means that the kids bowled 3 frames and went to the arcade and scavenge trash off the floor while Dan and I finished the game.  Oh, Delaney had a blast pushing the ball around, so she helped too.

Here's Marian.  She nearly put holes in the floor with her huge heave and drop technique.

Dan did not do too shabby himself. Okay, that's a total lie.  None of us bowl well and we only had one score that broke 100. (It wasn't Dan or me!)

My 3 funny girls.  They were obsessed with the bowling balls.  Delaney carted hers all over the place.  Surprisingly, she did not drop it after the first time.

Joshua had a good time, and cracked me up. After he sent his ball down the lane, he would squat down and watch it from right in front.  Very cute.

And today.... ah, today was the first day of school!  Hooray!  I got up early and made breakfast.  Marian said she wanted Dutch Baby, so that's what we had.  They ate it all and seemed happy to head off for the bus!

Marian refused to smile or do anything else.  This is them before walking to the bus stop.  Thank you, thank you Grandma White for shoes that Marian loves!  Check out that they even match her clothes today. It was raining, and I walked to the bus stop with them and they got on the bus with happy faces.

They had even happier faces getting off the bus!  I was so glad.  Marian said she had a good day and liked her class and teachers.  I had been really worried.  They both seemed to have a great first day and are excited to go back.  Whew!

Um.... before this next picture, let me say that Marian told me she learned a new bike trick.  She wanted me to come and see and to bring the camera.  So I did.
I nearly had a heart attack when I saw this!  One week ago she couldn't even ride the darn thing and now she's doing this?!!!  Oh my.

Tonight has been interesting.  2 minutes ago Marian came sleepwalking out of her room.  I guided her back in to her bed, and she came back out skipping.  Skipping, I tell you!  She's in bed now, but this must have been a doozy of a school day.  She hasn't sleepwalked in a long while.  And Delaney.... where to even start!  I put her in bed at 8 pm, all sung to, tucked in, and ready to sleep.  In the last 2 hours she has had 2 diaper changes, jumped on her bed, tapped on the wall, opened her door and asked for things 4 times, and cried 3 times.  No wonder she won't wake up and get out of bed till after 9 am! (And I open her door, pull the shades and turn on the hall light at 8 am!  She just keeps sleeping!)  I'm trying to figure out how to get her to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier.  Its hard to put her down for a nap if she's only been up since 10 am.

And that's all the good stuff I can share with you tonight.  I'm tired and I'm going to go to bed, so I can lie there awake for a few hours while getting pummeled and getting up to pee 500 times.  Whoopee.

Look Mom! No Training Wheels!

One of the wonderful (when its not infuriating!) things about Marian, is that when she sets her mind to something, she goes for it.  The problem is that it occasionally takes her a while to decide she wants to do something.  Take Potty Training, for example.  She knew what to do, and how to do it, she just wasn't going to do it.  She stayed in diapers for probably a year longer than she needed to.  One day, shortly before she turned 4, she decided she wanted to wear underpants.  And that was it. In 24 hours the kid was diaper- free and accident-free.

This year Dan and I thought Marian was old enough for a big girl bike, so she got one.  She got it on her birthday, which was nearly 6 months ago.  Marian refused to ride it.  Dan took her out a few times, but she wanted nothing to do with a bike with no training wheels, and preferred the old bike with the extra wheels.  Unfortunately, for her, that bike developed some serious issues, and went to the big bike rack in the sky.

This week, something switched on in Marian's brain.  I do not know what.  I do not know why.  All I know is out of the blue, I look up and here is my daughter, wheeling her bike out to the front and giving it a go.  We had some trouble with the chain coming off, which was really annoying.  Thanks to a wonderful and more knowledgeable neighbor, we got the chain thing fixed, and there was no holding her back!

She started a bit wobbly.  She needed to use the driveway slope to get started.  And then she was off!  She road up the street!  She rode down the street!  She pedaled slowly at first, and then she went faster!

And now, this is all I see of her.  8 am yesterday and 8 am this morning she was out there.  I sit in the house and watch her zoom by going one way.  2 minutes later, she's zooming by the other direction.  Dan took her on his run this morning and said she did great!  And yes, Dan does make her wear a helmet!