Preparations Have Begun

I made the stock-up grocery trip today. Kind and generous people will be bringing us meals for at least two weeks after delivery, but I still feel like I need to have plenty of food on hand for almost mindless meals that can be prepared by myself or Husband. As I was shopping, and especially checking out, I realized that we might be on the brink of being a two-buggy family. Which means I'll need help grocery shopping from now on. I usually don't buy quite that much, but knowing that I'll be somewhat out of commission motivated me to make sure we have a lot on hand and can reduce trips to the grocery store. I know my readers with eight or nine kids are probably thinking that doesn't look like much, but it is a LOT of groceries for us. And I finally decided to start buying five dozen eggs at a time. I'm tired of running out every five days.

Also, really need to get a second full-size refrigerator/freezer. Will I ever be used to the size of my family? And in the interest of full disclosure, I came home and put away all the food that needed to be in the fridge/freezer, but the rest of it is still sitting in bags in my kitchen. I'm just too tired to put it away this minute.

This is my post-grocery shopping reward.



A veggie delite sandwich (I call it stinky breath sandwich) with unsweet iced tea, perhaps the most perfect beverage on the planet, and a Hostess cupcake. Yum! Husband and I had veggie subs during Lent and I discovered I don't miss the meat at all, so now it is my standard order. I call it stinky breath sandwich because it has pepper jack cheese, onions, bell peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, avocado and a light amount of chipotle dressing on it, on roasted garlic bread. So delicious. How do you like your sub sandwiches?

On Anxiety

8 days! In eight days this little boy will be on the outside, rather than the inside. So, the anxiety levels get higher.

I know I am not the only pregnant woman to experience this anxiety. With each child it seems to get a little worse. Statistically speaking, it is incredible that I have had five previous pregnancies that resulted in five healthy children. So we might begin to feel like we are pushing our luck. Why should we be spared the heartache and sorrow that so many couples experience as they suffer miscarriage or infertility or stillbirth? Will we defy the odds once again and deliver a sixth healthy child? I hope so. I know that whatever should happen or present itself next week, we will be given the grace to live it out the way God wants us to do. But I'm still anxious and a little fearful.

I wake up at night to go the bathroom (just training for being up with a newborn) and lay back down and wait to feel BTS move around a little bit. I might even push and poke on my belly to wake him up and make him move. I have zero reason to believe something is wrong, but like anyone I can let my mind go where it shouldn't and do a decent job of imagining a myriad of problems. But then he moves and I wince in pain because he's so strong and I go back to sleep.

I'm ready to be done with this pregnancy. For the unknown to become the known and to move on to being anxious about other things.

Plus, I want to meet this little (big) guy and see what he looks like and get some newborn snuggles and see our family multiply in love. And that is way better than being anxious.

I'm Not That Kind of Mom

"Play Mama!"

LCS says this to me, and she does not mean that she is pretending to be a mom. She wants me to play with her. This is new to me, even though she is my fifth child. Since I had the first three so close together (23 months between #1 and #3 with #2 in between!), they have mostly played with each other and rarely called on me for entertainment. Sure, they would ask me to color with them or to read them a story, but for imaginary play they pretty much didn't need me.

Confession: I don't like pretend play. I'm not very creative or imaginative. Getting down on the floor and acting like I care about what the animals and ponies are doing is hard for me. I would much rather read her a story or have her sit on my lap while I browse blogs or whatever. I'm just not a playful person. But she doesn't know that, and she doesn't care. If we are playing in the girls room, she does tell me to lay down on the bed and I just watch her play with the animals. But today the toys were in my room, and she expected me to sit on the floor with her and play. So I did. Thankfully she only expects me to sit there and kind of watch her. It is kind of fun.

And now she is calling for me to play again. So I guess I will. Even if I would rather be doing something else at this moment. Because I'm trying to overcome my selfishness and she is helping me do that.

Sinking In

That white behemoth is in MY driveway. That is the car I drive now. It is one seat shy of our soon-to-be family of eight to fit in twice. It is enormous! I don't trust my depth perception all that much, so I plan on parking from other cars and in pull-through spaces as much as possible. I want to limit the backing up to getting out of my driveway whenever possible.

The good news is my kids love it! They think it is just amazing to have so much room. It is a 15-passenger van, but we plan to keep the back bench seat out most of the time, to allow for storage. We can now give rides to friends, something we could not do in our old car (which was a Ford Freestyle that we loved). Also, I know this is what we'll be driving for a long time, as we can't possibly outgrow it. I mean, I can't have six more c-sections, really.

What else is sinking in? In three weeks we'll be having a baby! I just found out that my doctor now does deliveries in the afternoon most of the time, instead of the morning like he used to do. So I might have to fast pretty much all day on baby day. Boo. I have some MAJOR organizing and cleaning to do before BTS arrives on the scene.

First, though, I have to prepare the house for me to be gone for 3.5 days for a retreat. I'm on a retreat team and the retreat starts tomorrow. Husband has to manage things while I'm gone, and he is more than capable of doing so, but I want to make it as easy on him as possible. There are practices and games to attend and lunches to make and so on. And I like to leave the house as clean as I can, so that he can relax when the kids will let him.

I'm way behind on my regular blogs this week, and that won't change since I'll be computer free until Sunday. I think it is good to unplug though.

Finally, here is a snapshot of our family (with my very helpful MIL too!) at TJS's soccer game (I wasn't there). A chance to see just what our life looks like at the moment.

Friday Faves

Today I will share some small things that are bringing me pleasure.

1. My Tervis Tumbler. It has an 'N' on it. So none of my children can claim it as theirs and leave me with no insulated, portable drink container. It insulates so well that I often refill the water before having to add more ice. I'm drinking way more water thanks to this beauty. Oh, and I just glanced at the website and there are some very cute designs. Get one!

2. Blackberry Pomegranate yogurt. I know I shouldn't like something with HFCS in it, and so on, but this stuff is good, and I could be eating something worse. I have texture issues with yogurt. I don't like bits of fruit in it--I don't want to have to chew my yogurt. But I also don't like the thick and creamy kind that my kids like. This particular flavor has the tiniest bits of fruit in it so I don't even notice them. It is perfect.

3. Sharpie pens. Okay, I've had these for a long time now. They are greatness though. No bleeding through the paper, but a nice, bold stroke still. They are better than fine-tip Sharpies, for real. I have a purple one that is my favorite.

4. Swagbucks. Yes, I'm still talking about it. Seriously, it could not be easier to use. You download the toolbar and use it as your search engine. The results are great (I used it to search for my links on this post) in the searches. You earn Swagbucks that you use to buy things in the SwagStore. Things like PayPal gift cards, or Amazon, or B&N, or whatever. Click on the link at the beginning and I get referral bucks. I'm saving mine up to purchase to something for me or BTS or both of us.

Visit the Other Mama for more Friday Faves (and leave a comment and get a chance to win jewelry!).

Blame it on Technology

I was going to write a post today about how I put on my good mom hat and dyed eggs with the kids last week. Somehow we had made it this far in life with children without dyeing eggs. Of course I had to correct that travesty. But, something is not working right with my photo software and so I cannot currently post any pictures of our fun evening. Not that they were terribly exciting. I mean, it was kids dipping eggs in colored water. Even LCS got in on the action, thanks to a tip from Family Fun magazine to put the eggs in a whisk and then have the kids dip them. No breaks!

We had a busy Easter weekend, but a very good one. Lots of egg hunting, with a side of tee ball. I failed to take any pictures of the kids in their Easter finery before Mass (maybe because we were running late, by my standards) and the girls changed immediately after. Husband posted a couple of pictures from the afternoon though. You can see LCS and our nephew, who is six months older, being criminally cute. LCS is quite the bossy child when she has a willing follower. I was so glad we had nice weather, as the kids played outside all afternoon and it was a very relaxing day for all of us.

To make up for the lack of pictures, and to reinforce the randomness you've come to expect, here are a few other quick thoughts.

1. I have no nieces, and likely never will, so I'm really glad I've got three daughters. My sister has four boys and my brother is preparing for the priesthood and my brother-in-law and his wife are expecting their second son. We're a little heavy on the testosterone in our family.

2. I check the mail every day with the giddiness of a child. For some reason I am always hopeful that there will be some unexpected surprise in there. I get magazines, but I know what days to expect those. Very rarely has there been a true surprise in the mail, yet I still have hopes of one every day.

3. I was at the craft store today, buying scrapbook paper for a project, and once again got all worked up about redoing the girls' room. But finding time and energy and money to do anything seems impossible, with all the sports and the retreat I've got next week and the whole baby in four weeks thing going on. Boo.

4. Is anyone reading anything good right now? I'm feeling burned out on my book choices lately. I need some suggestions.

Come back soon for even more random!