Saturday, June 12, 2010

Catching up

I know I have slacked off the blogging recently. Things are really good, but really, REALLY busy. I'm teaching seven hours a day. The new baby is due in three weeks. It is hard to be away from the kidlets so much, especially since by the time I get home I am too tired to do much with them. I can tell that they are feeling it, too, but we are all coping OK.

My birth kit arrived yesterday, and I am getting really excited! Aside from the birth supplies, I have stocked up on Señorial (a sangria softdrink from Mexico), I've got all the ingredients on hand for a chocolate layer cake with cheesecake filling to be made during early labor, and have been talking with the kids about what to expect. I don't know how much, if any, of the labor they will be around for, but they've seen several birth videos and I've given them examples of the kinds of noises I might make. I was doing some low moaning-type vocalizations and they burst out laughing and said it sounded like a cow mooing. :D It kind of did.

It will come as no surprise to most of you that I have always heard voices and seen things. ;) For the last several weeks, I keep getting pictures in my head of us standing in the middle of a tornado. Everything around us is whirling chaotically, but there is perfect calm inside the spot in the middle where we are. It has been true. Despite everything going on right now, I've felt so much peace. It definitely hasn't come from me, and I am so, so grateful for it. We've been able to happily ride the storm.

We still have a long ways to go. I have three more weeks of class (I keep telling my students that the baby can come as soon as we turn in final grades), then in the middle of July we are planning to head to Puerto Rico for a few weeks. Yeah, I know. The timing is less than ideal. However, when Elena was born, because of passport laws she was too little to go to Mexico so the kids and I stayed here while Carlos went. Based on that experience, I am convinced that it would actually be much easier to take a newborn on a trip like that than try to be here with all four little ones without Carlos.

Still haven't picked out a girl name. I believe that names are extremely important--throughout the Bible, they showed a special significance in people's lives. I keep waiting for the right one to jump out, and it hasn't. At least not for a girl. We agreed a few days after the pregnancy test on a boy name. The ultrasound showed a girl, though... We'll see what happens!

1 comment:

Carrie said...

Wow! Three weeks, huh. Time is flying by. I'll be thinking of you.

Flying with a newborn isn't too bad---easier than a toddler :)

And, my in-labor noise sounded like a cat in heat. LOL!

With our fourth child, we didn't have a girl's name picked out until about a week before her birth (I was sure she was a boy). You'll get there eventually.

Wishing you all the best!