A few of you noticed my remark about this being our last newborn. The underlying question being, “How do you know?”
I don’t know how we know. We just know. You know?
I thought this would be a good topic for a post because it stems from the most recent question being posed to us by friends, and of course, complete strangers.
It usually goes something like this…
“What a beautiful baby girl! She’s so new! And how great that you get to experience a girl after two boys!
So do you plan on having any more?”
I know I’m just as guilty of asking that question, but seriously. She’s not even a month old yet. It’s right up there with the question I get when I tell people the boys are 20 months apart, “Was that planned?”
Karen and I were talking about this last night (their two are the same age spacing). They brought supper over last night and our kids all played downstairs while we had uninterrupted adult conversation. It was wonderful. But back to the question at hand…
My response has been that I don’t want to be pregnant again. What? You’re surprised? I think I griped enough for three pregnant women during this pregnancy. Feeling Emily move inside was the most INCREDIBLE feeling, but apart from that I was pretty uncomfortable. Not as bad as some women, but bad enough to not want to go through it again. Or put Matthew through it again.
If we want to have a fourth someday, we will adopt. Some families in our church have adopted from China, and I think that’s cool. We have more of a burden for local kids, so we would probably start in Canada first. I have talked to a couple of people who have adopted toddlers and their stories have inspired me. To know that there are kids just like mine who don’t have a permanent home breaks my heart. So much so that we may have to do something about it when and if the time comes that we want a fourth.
In the meantime, we just give what we can to organizations that help kids. Our kids are too small to think about adding one more toddler right now. Though when my three are older, and if God leads, that is the course we will take.
But for now we will remain a party of five. And a party it is. An amazing one. Best party I’ve ever been to.
Karen and I were talking the other day about how we hadn’t posted much on our Recipe For Disaster site for way too long. The main reason being that summer doesn’t seem to be a time to try many new recipes. You throw some kind of meat on the barbeque and eat a lot of finger food (do potato chips count as “finger food”?).
Add to that the fact that Karen was working MORE than full time hours, as well as balancing being a mom to 2 kids under the age of four. My excuse? Being pregnant and a little uncomfortable. And maybe a little grumpy.
The day I gave birth to Emily, some of the girls came to visit (Amanda, Adele, Tianna and Erin). They brought treats and magazines. One of which was Fine Cooking’s Chocolate magazine:
I love, love, LOVE it! Not only does it have the most amazing chocolate recipes, it also has tips for baking with chocolate, etc. I like to cook, but I lurve to bake. I have pored over the pages of this magazine many times in the past few weeks.
I tried my first recipe from there this weekend (the fudgy brownies) and they are un-be-lievable. Seriously.
I plan on trying more of these recipes - at least one a week. That and some new supper recipes from the Real Simple magazine they also brought to me.
So, for those of you who have given up checking our recipe site, there is hope. I am back in action and I’m sure Karen will be too. She’s the true supermom. I just may buy her a cape for Christmas.
Enjoy!
We have been fighting a cold over here at the Dutch Blitz headquarters. Graham and Nathan got it first and then it spread to the rest of us…sort of.
Matthew was told about Cold-FX by our friend who is a pharmacist. He is now a solid believer, and at the first throat scratch/sniffle he starts taking his daily dosage. It hasn’t gone beyond the throat scratch for him and he’s pretty grateful.
When I was pregnant, all I could take for a cold was Tylenol and Vitamin C. While I enjoy the candy taste of the chewable Vitamin C, I don’t think it does much to alleviate the symptoms. Now that Emily has arrived and is no longer inside of me, I can take…Tylenol and Vitamin C. This is due to the fact that I am presently a big milk cow. One day I will be able to try the famed Cold-FX, but today is not that day. I can’t take any other cold medication either, but I’m doing my best to suck it up.
The worst part of it all is that Miss Emily got a cold too, green boogs and all. Lame, lame, LAME! She’s been super stuffy and had a few really rough nights of sleep. Which means that I did too. She was still stuffy during the day yesterday, but napped pretty well. My wonderful hubby sent me to bed last night at 9 and told me that he would give her a bottle at her next feeding so that I could get a longer chunk of sleep. Can you see why I love this man?
He brought her to me FOUR HOURS LATER. Cue the Hallelujah chorus. Four hours feels like twelve when you’re nursing a newborn. Funny thing was, he hadn’t even fed her a bottle. She had just slept on his chest for four hours while he slept on the couch. She did pretty good the rest of the night too. Today feels like a new day.
Everyone seems to be feeling better today. The boys’ noses seem less runny, as does mine, and Emily is sleeping peacefully in her chair right next to me. Life is good. Real good.
I hope yours is just as good…or even better.
During the summer we spent a lot of time at the beach. By “a lot” I mean we went there every morning and almost every afternoon. When the weather turns hotter than hot here in August, I am forever grateful that we live a short drive from a big lake.
As soon as we would get to the beach, Graham would make a beeline for the water. He would be in the water for about 99% of the time we were there. Splashing, using his floaty, and having a grand ole time.
When summer ended, we thought it would be good to get him started in swimming lessons. He was already completely comfortable in the water. We knew it would be busy with the arrival of child number 3 (now known as Emily), but worried that if we waited until the spring, his water confidence may no longer exist. So, five weeks ago, he started in the Red Cross swimming program.
Yesterday afternoon was his last class. In 10 short lessons he has gone from just liking the water to being able to float on both his back and his front. He also goes under the water, and can do a few strokes. I’m such a proud Mama, watching him swim.
There are a bunch of other things that he has learned. Because he learned them so well, he passed his Sea Turtle level.
He starts “Salamanders” in 2 weeks. Way to go, sweetie!
Little Miss Emily is a hit wherever we go. People love newborn babies and ogle at her. They ask her name and how we are doing. Then they ask the dreaded question:
“How are you sleeping?”
The truth? We are up every few hours so that she can nurse and I can go deeper into sleep deprivation. I’m seriously in the red right now. I have a nap almost every day (thanks, Honey!) but it just helps to keep me somewhat functioning.
My usual response is that she’s sleeping like a newborn, and people give you that nod and the “poor you” look. Then there are the other few that like to tell you how their baby slept in 8-hour stretches from Day One.
Bully for you.
I’m not complaining. I know that it is temporary and she will be sleeping longer stretches in no time. It’s also the last time I will have a newborn, so I am truly treasuring this experience. There’s just something about that sleeping question that makes you feel like you are doing something wrong.
Which got me to pondering the phrase that people use when they have had a fantastic sleep. The say that they “slept like a baby.” They obviously weren’t referring to a newborn baby. Maybe they meant an older baby?
Or maybe they’re referring to the quality of sleep, as opposed to the quantity. Because when a baby is sleeping, it is the most peaceful sight on Earth. On top of that, nothing seems to disturb a newborn baby’s sleep. Emily will be sleeping in her chair in the living room, with her brothers running willy nilly around her and she doesn’t even stir.
Doesn’t she look peaceful to you?
