I typically schedule my OB appointments for first thing in the morning so that the kids can stay home with Scott. This time however, his work schedule didn’t cooperate, so I brought the circus crew with me for my check up. I knew at 28 weeks they wouldn’t be doing an exam, so I felt comfortable having them tag along. I did come prepared with coloring books, crayons, snacks, and even lollipops which I saved for the very end if they were “super stars.”
First stop was of course the bathroom so I could “leave a sample.” So, in the 4 of us went. I thought peeing in a public bathroom with my crew was an invasion of privacy, but that holds nothing to peeing in a cup with 6 eyes staring at you. Thankfully the older two obeyed and faced the wall and just my youngest stared questioningly at me.
Of course I was bombarded with questions as I did my business.
“What are they going to do with your pee?” “How do they test it Mom?” “Why did you only pee a little?” and my favorite, “Hey, can I see the stick you peed on to find out you were having a baby?” (that would be my oldest, of course)
We filed out of the bathroom and then went to the nurses station where they checked my blood pressure and then I got to step on the scale. As I stepped up my son said, “I bet it’s going to say a lot, because your heavy!” (I knew there was a reason why I typically leave them home for these visits). All I could do was chuckle as the nurse told them you, “never, ever tell your Mommy she’s big!” They couldn’t figure out why in the world not.
Having been the source of numerous smirks at this point, we headed back to the room to wait for the Dr. I knew I’d be having my glucose test done as well, so I also prepped them for the fact that they’d be taking some of Mommy’s blood to check and make sure Mommy and the baby were healthy. When the woman came in to take my blood, she had a captive audience. Crayons instantly fell to the floor as they gathered around with wide eyes and watched. I assured them that “it doesn’t hurt, and she won’t take much, but Mommy typically doesn’t like to watch while they do it, so I usually look away.” They of course didn’t want to miss a thing. And thus I got to receive the play by play of the blood draw process. “Why do they tie that thing on your arm?” “Will she give you a band aid?” “Will she put the blood back in when she’s done?” and “Look, Mom it’s coming out, she’s getting lots.” I reminded them of when Daddy gave blood at church, how he gave lots more and this was just a tiny bit and my body would make more, just like Daddy’s did. They then told the lady how Daddy gave a whole bag of blood when he gave blood. Suddenly my two little vials seemed unimpressive.
Finally, we saw the doctor. The kids could now eat their beloved snacks (Trader Joes letter cookies) and we got to listen to the heart beat (my absolute favorite part). When I lifted my shirt there was a line on my skin from my pants. Of course, my son pointed this out and asked the Dr what it was. She told him my pants were probably a little tight and left a mark. Thanks son for drawing attention, yet again to my size.
Thankfully, everything looked good and we were on our way. As we checked out (“Like at a store?”, “What are you buying mom?”) I was able to make my appointments for just about the remainder of my pregnancy. I scheduled all of them up until the week before my due date (they weren’t scheduling into that final week yet). I couldn’t believe it! We’re really rounding the mark and coming in for the final stretch! In fact, tomorrow is the first day of my third trimester!
This post is being linked up to Tiny Talk Tuesday at Not Before 7.
My girls, especially my youngest, love to change clothes. And often. It borders on ridiculous. I knew if I didn’t document it, no one would believe me.
So, take a look at Thursdays attire here at the circus. (I will mention that we never left the house today).
The day started at 7:00am, didn’t have the camera ready then, but here she is at 8:30am. (wearing the clothes she wore last night plus a coat)
11 minutes later at 8:41am she is sporting her “bubble bathing suit” (so named b/c of the polka dots on the ruffles)
This lasted all of 18 minutes because by 8:59am she traded swim suits with her big sister
By 10:57 am, she added her winter boots, hat, and mittens. She was determined to go outside, but didn’t make it past the door. (hmmm… wonder why)
At 11:17am (20 minutes later) she discovered the too short Winnie the Pooh sailor dress from last summer that I keep trying to hide and she keeps discovering.
Thankfully the scandalous dress didn’t last long as she changed into her lady bug pajamas at 11:42am.
15 minutes later at 11:57am she again had donned the hat and boots and was ready yielding a rather dangerous looking light saber.
She then changed into her leotard and accessorized with my high heel shoes at 12:33pm.
She napped in her leotard (hence the 3 hour reprieve on outfit changes). Upon waking up at 3:33 she decided to change back into her lady bug pajammies.
By 5:20pm however she was back into her sisters bathing suit and they were having swim class on the living room floor (note her sister is wearing her brothers bathing suit…apparently all bathing suits are up for grabs here).
At 5:40pm, I discovered her sporting her Dora and Boots undies, but decided it best not to post such a picture on the internet.
Since Daddy was coming home soon, I prompted her to put on some clothes. Here she is helping with dinner at 6:10pm in an actual shirt and pants!!
But, Daddy didn’t get home in time to see his daughter in real clothes because by 6:38pm she was back in the “bubble bathing suit”
She ate in the bubble suit and kept it on until bedtime when she changed into her “footie pajamas” at 8:04pm
13 hours and 13 outfits changes…seriously, this kiddo has more costume changes than a Broadway star. And I promise, this is a normal day…including the multiple changes and the preference for swim suits and pajamas…
Mary has created a carnival to help us record those funny and precious things our kids say, so we’ll remember them in years to come. Some weeks I’ve got nothing…this week, however, my kids gave me a few gems I don’t want to forget.
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Last week my five year old and I were working on handwriting. Handwriting is often a battlefield for us. This particular day I knew he wasn’t giving it his all and I wasn’t seeing his best work. I told him he needed to do his best and reminded him that his tutor would be looking at it the next time he goes his class. His response, “What? I thought this was just a scrimmage!”
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I have a thing for those red hot candies at Valentine’s day. Seriously, could eat em by the handful for hours. And I was having a hard time waiting till nap time to sneak them so my kids caught me and thus, I had to share. When my son had his first taste of a red hot he described it as tasting “like Michael’s smells at Christmas time!” I just loved his description and his simile.
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And don’t forget my post on Friday when my 4 yr old told me she doesn’t believe there is a baby in my belly.
I love my life at the circus and the endless source of smiles and laughs my children give to me.
Last night I was holding my girls on my lap when they began to play a little rough. I reminded them that there was a baby in my belly and they needed to be gentle.
My 4 yr old then said, “Mom, I don’t think you really have a baby in your belly. I think it is just food.”
I assured her there really is a baby in there and reminded her that she’s seen the baby’s picture and heard the heart beat.
“Yea,” she said, “But I think your wrong, I think you’re going to go to the hospital and that is not what is going to come out.”
So basically, my daughter thinks I am fat and she told me so to my face.
Motherhood: Not for the weak of spirit
In Science we’ve been talking about what God created on each of the 6 days of creation. Currently we’re on day 6 and discussing the creatures that walked on the land.
While the kids were playing on Friday, they got the idea to group their stuffed animals according to classification. Of course they didn’t use these exact words. But, they made a pile of non mammals and another of mammals and then called me in to take a look. I praised their scientific efforts. They then decided to find ALL of their stuffed animals to group.
I was excited that they were so easily self entertained and let them go at it, while I worked to clean other areas of the house. (trying really hard not to think about the mess huge pile of toys that was being formed in the schoolroom).
Every few minutes one of them would come out to ask me, “Is this a mammal?” “What about horses?” I reviewed with my son the criteria for mammals. A short while later he appeared and said, “Mom, what about boys? Are boys mammals? We have hair, but we don’t make milk.”
They were so excited to show me their giant mammal pile, themselves included as they too are mammals.
One thing my husband and I try to stress to our kids is that life is not all about them. We love them dearly, and pour much of our time, love, energy and attention out onto them. But, because we love them, we also try to teach them that life does not revolve around them.
We are a family of 5 soon to be 6. So, in a lot of ways this is a lesson that is taught early on out of practicality. We just can’t meet everyone’s needs all the time right when they think they should be met. Sometimes you have to wait. And sometimes you have to go to places and events that you may not want to go to. But, if you cry and throw a tantrum about either, you will calmly be told, “I am sorry you are disappointed and don’t like this, but life is not all about you.”
With this in mind, I thought it was so funny the other day when my almost four year old said to me quite out of the blue, “Mom, ya know, I wish life was all about me.” I wanted to chuckle, b/c like I said it was totally out of the blue… it wasn’t like a few minutes prior we had discussed this. In fact, I think she was sitting on the potty, truth be told.
I love her honesty. Truthfully, don’t we all wish the same thing? I know even in my roles as wife and mom, selfishness creeps in poisons my attitude and outlook. I often need to remind myself that life is not about me.
All that being said, she is quite excited about her birthday in a few weeks. Because birthdays at the circus are a big deal and they are a day when things get to be all about you. (Within reason of course as my son quickly pointed out the other day, even on your birthday it’s really all about God, not you).
One of my favorite things we did this Christmas was take the kids shopping for each other and for us. It is heartwarming to see them get so excited about giving. I also loved seeing what they picked out for others.
My son is an excellent gift giver. He is very thoughtful and thinks very hard about finding a gift the person will truly like.
I just had to share the story Scott told me about taking him shopping for my gift. It’s a memory I don’t want to forget. Ah, the innocence of youth!
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According to Scott, my son really wanted to get me mistletoe and flowers for Christmas. This is truly sweet and actually quite perfect b/c I have always wanted to have some mistletoe to hang in the house.. guess you can call me a hopeless romantic.
When they were shopping for mistletoe they had a very hard time finding it. My son was convinced it had red berries and Scott was fairly certain it had white. They asked two different people and both sided with my son on the red berries.
Soon they found a plant with red berries and Scott told my son he wasn’t sure if it was really mistletoe.
My five year old then totally innocently and very seriously said to Scott,"Dad, why don’t you just hold it up over somebody and see?”
Ha, ha, can you imagine? Your minding your own business shopping at Target and a man you don’t know puts something he thinks is mistletoe above your head. “No ma’m, you have to understand, my son asked me to do it… no really, tell her son, we just wanted to know if …”
Sadly, they weren’t able to find any mistletoe for me, but this is one case where it truly was the thought that counts and I did greatly enjoy the pink roses he gave me on Christmas morning.
FYI – According to wikipedia, mistletoe has white berries…so Scott was right!
Visit Mary’s blog for more Tiny Talk Tuesday…where others share the innocent, cute, and laughable things that come out of their children’s mouths!!
Last week we were at my parents house and my son came into the kitchen quite exasperated from going to the bathroom.
“Mom,” he complained, “can you puh-leeze tell the girls to put the seat up when they are done going potty? They keep leaving it down!”
I had to laugh. Women have complained for years about men leaving the seat up, but never, never have I heard a complaint about us leaving it down.
Guess it’s all in how you look at things.
I was feeling pretty good about myself this week. Got a little boost of energy with week 12 and began to tame this household which I had slacked off on over the first trimester. Finally, I can leave the guest bedroom door open as well as the master bed room. I even cleaned out the van which had reached its height of total messiness, threw away all that trash crammed in around the car seats and brought in the plethora of coats and shoes which were strewn all over the floor. This was also the week of the harvest party at our tutorial, which me and another mom were in charge of. I spent all day Wednesday at the tutorial setting up, running, and cleaning up after the harvest party. And yet I even got all, yes ALL, of the laundry washed and just two baskets left to fold and put away. And this was the week, Scott was out of town for 3 days/nights on business.
Yes, I was feeling pretty darn good about my week.
And then I picked my son up from Sunday School.
Funny how something so simple can take you down a notch or two.
The teacher greeted me with a smile on her face and said, “I have got to tell you what your son said today. He always says the funniest things.”
Uh-oh, I thought. I’ve worked with children enough to know that this will not end well for the parents.
“We asked the kids what their Moms and Dads did during the day and you son said that you lay on the couch and sleep and comment on other peoples blogs while he watches TV.”
Nice.
What I failed to mention is that last night I was feeling quite sick. Got home from the end of season soccer party with a killer headache and nausea. Scott had to go to the homeless ministry, so I sat on the couch with a bowl on my lap and let the kids watch cartoons as I dozed and snuggled with them.
How sad that a weeks worth of hard work can be completely forgotten because of one evening of slacking on the couch.
It appears my oldest daughter is trying to prepare me for life with 4 kids. She has taken on the job of mothering her baby doll “baby Eli” literally 24-7.
When we sit down to eat, she makes sure Eli has his bib on and a special seat at the table. We now set our table for 7 (b/c our youngest has to include her baby Eli too).
When she’s getting ready for bed, baby Eli also gets tucked into his bed, with his own baby and she is always certain to read him his special Bible story as well. In the morning she’ll tell me that “baby Eli had a very good night sleep”.
Occasionally, baby Eli requires babysitting from me. Yesterday she asked me to baby sit while we went to the school room for school. She left me with a bottle, a spare diaper, his bed and his stroller. She walked me through all the details of how to take care of him and when she returned from her “time at school” she asked how he did. Did I change his diaper? Did I feed him? I told her he slept soundly in his stroller the whole time she was gone.
Yesterday when we overslept and were running late, I was scurrying to get the kids fed and dressed and out the door in 30 min. My daughter was concerned that I also prepare food for Eli. I didn’t have time to feed Eli that morning and told her he could eat when we got back. She said, “Mommy, he needs to eat, he’s hungry.” I suggested a bottle and she said, “he eats more than just milk Mom.”
I can tell she’s getting me ready for life with four. Seems I am going through baby boot camp as I now have an extra diaper to change, mouth to feed, and car seat to buckle when getting ready each morning.
I am so glad when I have this extra little one to care for, he or she will have such a wonderful big sister to help me take care of him/her.
At dinner last night I was telling Scott how cute it is to watch our 3 yr old in gymnastics. Every now and then she’ll look at the observation window, get a big grin and wave to me. Sometimes she’ll even give me a thumbs up sign. At which point she chimed in and said,
“Yea, this means good.”
“And this means Ravens”
What can I say? That’s my girl!
