Catholic v. protestant sign wars….

My cousin, Andrew, posted this link on Facebook. It was a great laugh to start the day, so I’m linking it here.

The Catholics proved that they have a sense of humor. The Presbyterians proved that they’re kinda cranky and possibly unaware of the difference between living and non-living organic matter.

I did think that this is great commentary on the state of Christian affairs in the U.S. If humorous sign wars between Catholics and Protestants is usually as serious as conflict gets, we are so blessed….

In other news, the morning sickness has subsided a good bit in the last few days. I’m very thankful. My stomach still prefers carbs and junk food to the raw spinach I try and eat, but we’ve come a long way in a few weeks…

9 weeks…

Hi, all. Thanks for the sweet congratulations. We’re excited and surprised and happy around here…

I enjoyed the first couple of days after we found out, and then a lot of anxiety set in. I had very little idea when I got pregnant or how far along I was because of my long cycles, and I couldn’t get in to see my doctor for 3 weeks.

Those were 3 very stressful weeks. It was really hard to believe that everything was ok. My poor ovulation on one drug probably caused an early miscarriage, so I worried that my body’s wacked out system hadn’t gotten this right, either.

It was a HUGE relief to see a beautiful little 8-week-old baby on the ultrasound screen when I finally went in. I think I was more stunned by that than by the positive pregnancy test.

Things have been going along pretty smoothly. I’ve been battling some morning sickness, and I’m tired. It’s more difficult to keep up with things right now with two little ones underfoot. David has also been doing some traveling and working late, but my sainted mother came to help me while he was gone, and that, as it happened, was the worst of the morning sickness so far. God bless her… she didn’t bat an eyelash when I threw up my breakfast in the sink (it was the side with the disposal. =)

I’m tired today, but I want to type down for myself the things that I actually have accomplished, and the things I do need to be thankful for…

- Getting my Bible study done instead of falling down to nap as soon as the boys went down.

- Freezing the spaghetti sauce I made over the weekend.

- Making a couple of early Valentines with Seth.

- Reading lots of books and playing pet shop and restaurant with both boys.

- Playing Cadoo with Seth even though I wanted to lie down on the floor instead. =)

- Figuring out and installing the blessed baby gates on both doorways of the playroom.

- Evan’s willingness not to challenge the gates. Hallelujah!

- Going on a playdate this morning.

- Doing 3 loads of laundry.

Ok, it wasn’t that bad today. I did get some stuff done. And now off for that nap… =)

a christmas miracle…

It’s the day after Christmas. We’ve gone to sleep with snow falling, and there’s the hope of waking up to a still, white wonderland.

I get up, realize its the first night in a week that I haven’t gotten up in the middle to pee, and decide that this would be a good time to waste $8 and take another pregnancy test. It’s been 55 days, long even for me and my crazy long cycles.

So I take it, completely sure I’ll see that one line, just like always. I’m just taking this so I can stop worrying about forgetting to take one of my just-in- case prenatal vitamins, blah, blah, blah…

The one line shows up, right on cue. And then… another one. I am shaking.

I put on my robe and go downstairs. David is already up, a bowl of cereal in his hand, mouth full of corn flakes. Yes, we are surrounded by blinding white snow from every window, but I’m not paying attention to that right now.

I hand him the test. He joins me in being stunned.

I don’t “get pregnant”. I have fertility drug bills and records on file with two different clinics to prove it. We have always joked that it takes 3 people for us to have a baby: me, him, and a fertility doctor. I have super long cycles- 40 + days. I have no indications of ovulation.

Years of infertility, years of feeling broken, years of unanswered prayers for healing…. up in a blaze of winter white glory.

And Him whispering to my heart through my tears…. “I have always given the best Christmas gifts.”

Friday randomness….

- Seth is having cutting practice in the playroom. He’s just figured out how to cut all the way down a piece of paper. He has long green paper strip “trees” all laid out, but trying to cut red apples didn’t work out so well. =)

- I’m considering getting baby gates for the two doorways of the playroom. Evan wanders around the living room all the time now, and I don’t trust him in there for a second. It would be nice to trap him in where I can know what he’s doing without having to chase after him every few minutes.

- What about playpen time? I’m thinking that may be what I have to do after he completely gives up any morning nap. I can’t work with Seth very easily with him roaming around…. Anybody done it? Had it work?

- Seth has just learned to “read” to his baby brother. He can flip the pages and tell Evan the story he’s memorized. It’s very sweet to see Evan run up to him with a book sometimes, and it makes Seth feel pretty tall.

- We’re getting ready for a big 4th birthday around here. Seth is excited about it for the first time, and he’s been mentioning it for days. I’m going to make him a fish cake for the big day, and my parents are coming for the day. We’re not going to do anything really fancy, but that’s because we tend to think that you can go too big on birthdays when they’re small, and they get more out of a small celebration.

- David’s been in and out of court and traveling a lot in the past couple of weeks. I hope this weekend will give him some good down time to relax. I can’t do anything to make things easier for him at work, but I can try and make it easier when he’s home.

- I’ve never been so ready for spring. Having two active boys cooped up in the house is a new experience for me, and I don’t like it much. A lot of the play places are germy, so I hesitate to go in flu season. I miss sunshine and bird song.

- Evan is more of a snuggle bug every day. He likes to curl up in the crook of my arm and suck his fingers, and I get lots of smiles when I kiss him all over. Love it…

Kangaroo stew….

Seth and I were digging around in my box of old children’s books this morning, and this little gem surfaced. The binding was stapled, and it was covered in contact paper. A couple of pages had been taped.

I remembered that “Kangaroo Stew” was well loved in my house. There’s nothing like a familiar book in your hands; one that you haven’t read since you were your own child’s age. It’s a feeling I really can’t describe to read it again for the first time years and years later.

Dad requests kangaroo stew for dinner, so the little boy goes to the zoo to get a kangaroo. Well, the kangaroo doesn’t want to be chopped up, so he goes to the store for some canned kangaroo. When he opens it, a kangaroo hops out. Nope, no good, so back to the store for some frozen kangaroo. That thaws on the way home, and another kangaroo hops out. One last try with a box of instant kangaroo… but when he adds water, POOF!, another kangaroo. The book ends with the kangaroos making a good, kangarooless stew for the whole family…

If you see this book in a pile at a used book sale, pick it up. It’s a sweet, silly romp for young kids…

Sethisms…

This morning, I was invited by a certain almost 4-year-old to join him in a little train ride. He asked me to pull the chairs from the little table in the playroom so they touched, telling me that that was “hooking on the car in the back.”

After he was seated in front with a plastic ring held in his hand for a steering wheel, he realized that he’d forgotten the tickets. “Here’s your ticket, Mommy,” he said, as he handed me a Duplo block. Another Duplo block was his “chipper,” and he proceeded to chip my ticket.

After we were on our way “to the train museum where you can watch trains and push buttons to get the trains going,” he asked me if I’d like a snack for my ride. What was on the menu for the day? “Candy bars.” (Funny, since he doesn’t see a lot of candy bars.)

My candy bar was a “blueberry orange” candy bar. I was also given “apple juice” to drink. He had to stop the train and hunt up a straw for my apple juice.

At this point, I needed to take a potty break. When I came back out, the engineer informed me that I was going to get a “special toy” for the train… if I agreed to sit down in the train. It was a little car and a mini car transporter.

Best train ride I’ve had in years…. =) And when I was done riding, Mrs. Turkey got on. I suggested that Bunny ride with her, but apparently Bunny doesn’t like trains. Go figure.