Patience and the Joys of Parenthood

Okay - I'll start with the good news! We have a date! Baby Girl will be born on Friday, December 5th (unless God intervenes). I am very excited about this -- we're about 6 weeks away, and if she were ready, I would do it tomorrow. I am tired of not being able to carry my other children because she's getting so big (or is it ME that's getting so big?)! Needless to say, we're almost done with October, and then I have November, and then I give birth. Although I keep saying I'm ready to settle in, and yet my sick kids are proving me otherwise...

God is teaching me more patience. I thought I was doing pretty well with that lesson, going through the past year and a half with LJ and his OT, and spending the summer resting in God's grace. But over the last 2 weeks, LJ has regressed for multiple possible reasons (all the changes in his room, sharing a room with JD, baby girl getting bigger, change of seasons & weather, Daddy was at work alot...) and JD got sick (and got moved back & forth from LJ's room to the old nursery when JD had coughing spasms). At first, I thought most of LJ's issues was he was getting sick since he tends to sense when he is getting sick and then gets back to "normal" once it hits him. The last week and a half went by, and he showed no outward signs of sickness, but everything was wrong with him. A few coughs late at night, but nothing more. So today, while we had another long morning of resistance, we made it out and about, and he did fine or survived, depending on your definition of fine. They woke up from their naps, JD was in a great mood, LJ seemed in a better mood - I declared us on the road to recovery! I was in such a great mood, I baked some of our apples from the apple orchard trip (I never bake after making dinner). I went to Bible study tonight, and got a call from my husband, who said "Happy 8th anniversary! LJ got sick in bed and I had to change all of his sheets & pj's." (Well, he was more long-winded than that, but that was the gist of it.) I am going stir crazy. They have no fevers, they act well for the most part, but there is this random stomach bug that is nagging at them. And it's not 24 or 48 hours - it's a week to 10 days (or it was with JD)! Ugh! I had resolved that being out and about with friends was helping reduce how many mornings I had to be mediator in sharing between siblings (they share much better with others than they do with their siblings as many of you know), and now I'm stuck! Last week, my Dad made the brilliant comment of how when you have multiple kids, then you get 2 or 3 or 4 rounds of the same bug, so you get to stay at home sometimes for a month while it makes the rounds at your house. Thanks Dad! (He's usually much more encouraging than that.) I think he and mom are very glad they are no longer raising children. Now they go on cruises and abandon me in my time of need (ha,ha).
Does anyone without kids want to come visit me?


Anyway, there's my whining for the day. My great hope out of all of this is that LJ's horrible transitions this past almost 2 weeks will be radically minimized when everyone is feeling better. What day is it? How much longer??? Will I get to sleep before baby girl comes, or will I just see all of you in the spring, when all of my children are well, and I've come out of crazyland....???

Happy 8th anniversary, love. You are the most amazing husband in the world. I couldn't do any of this without you, and I continue to ask God that I won't ever have to...The boys adore you and you continue to show me your love for me in your devotion to God - a blessing that overwhelms me every day. I only pray I show you how much I love you half as much as you do for me.

Nesting

Okay, so I have spent the last few weeks "nesting". I had decided that I am one of those pregnant women that never really nests as compared to what I think nesting is; but then, on my 3rd pregnancy, I finally figured out why. I am so tired, that I have great intentions of nesting and all that it entails - organizing, cleaning, getting it all "together" - but I am so tired by the end of my 2nd & 3rd trimesters when my nesting tends to hit, I feel like I don't get to do the nesting us pregnant women crave.

However, my house was in such a state of affairs, both my husband & I agreed it had to be done. So we have taken several date nights to go out to eat, come home, and clean & organize the house. And I have forced myself to organize instead of take naps. I think I have finally gotten the house down to one area of chaos. The girl's clothes are in the nursery, the boys socks & shoes are sorted, and now it's down to me!

Honestly, my list is still so long of things to do and none of it includes house cleaning - when do all of you women do all of these things? I am very thankful that 80% of the time I'm okay with the stacks. My husband may throw me out with the stacks someday, though. :) He would say, stop blogging and get to work!