Hats and jerseys are included in the registration fee for Ezra’s tball team, and the finally handed out the hats on Monday night – the jerseys will come next week. Young Ezra’s eyes were shining when they got their spiffy new hats. On the way home from t-ball practice that night, I said something about how we were going to be able to go to the aquarium the next day. Ezra’s response startled me: “I don’t care.” Surprised and peeved I asked, “what do you mean you don’t care?!” (after all, it is no small thing to take 4 small children on a 6 hour round day-trip! And Ezra was the one who had been most excited about the prospect!)
“I don’t care.” he said. “I don’t care if we go to the aquarium or not,” he explained: “I have my new hat.”

Best of both worlds

I went downstairs yesterday and pawed through the box of electronic relics in the basement. In amongst the old computer mice, keyboards, and numberless AC/DC converters for long-forgotten electronic equipment (where does this stuff come from? I almost believe they go off in the corner and breed..) I found an old set of computer speakers! Finally, I can use my laptop (plus the speakers) to accomplish something really good/healthy…. I can use it to watch TV while I walk/jog on the treadmill in the storeroom! See, walking on the treadmill staring at a blank wall is just about as boring as watching paint dry, and getting audio books on tape or CD from the library has never worked well for me (frequently there’s a problem with the tape or CD and I miss part of it, or it stops working or something), but, alas, I will do anything to watch TV. Maybe now I will finally be able to start shaking off that remaining baby weight. Is it a problem if I rot my brains out at the same time?

Judah loves to craft, in case I haven’t mentioned it before. But his crafting tends to be more about volume than concentrated effort on a few exquisite pieces of art, as I’ve mentioned before. So the other day, when he wanted to paint with watercolors, and I knew that would inevitably lead to 10 or so pieces of computer paper with stick drawings on them (using paint just like a pencil), I told him that if he did a complete painting, where the whole paper was all filled in, I would take a picture and post it on my blog. Which promise greatly excited him, and he promptly did as asked,two of them, in fact, and I am finally keeping my end of the deal. So, because everybody desperately WANTS to see  watercolors from a 6 year old,  here they are:

Fish Underwater

Flowers

In case anybody was wondering, I haven’t been not posting because I’m busy caring for a newborn – alas, I am currently 3 days past due and still counting. I was 3 and 2 days early with the boys and 6 days late with Monica. Naturally, I was hoping that this little boy would be early to on-time like his brothers, rather than tardy like his big sister, but one doesn’t get to decide these things. However, there is a silver lining: thanks to his continuing failure to show, we have been able to attend and accomplish a number of things we would’ve had to pass on otherwise. We made it to the Kings Academy Dinner Theatre last Saturday, Parish Meeting on Sunday, cleaned up the house on Monday, kept it mostly clean all week in anticipation of this Saturday when we were all able to attend Judah’s first piano recital and immediately host a small, low-key cake and ice-cream birthday party for Monica! Pretty good for “Due-Week!” When  I was expecting Monica, we naively put faith in her showing up on or before her due date, and therefore blocked off about 2 weeks around my due date, essentially putting life on hold in expectation of having a newborn during most of that time. As a result, we missed most of the things going on (May is a busy month around here), and I for one, was nearly bored out of my mind during the 6 super-long days that we waited for her to show up past her due date! I decided that we were NOT going to do that this time, so I RSVPed, signed up for, and planned numerous activities during that same two week block, and it’s worked out swimmingly. Monica’s birthday party was the capstone – planned with the constant caveat of “only if we’re not in the hospital..”

Only, now all of the activities are pretty much over and all that’s left is the just the pinch from having Family Camp start 3 weeks from Sunday. And we’re still waiting. “I for one, am ready to have this baby now,” declared his father this afternoon. Ditto.

On a lonely tax season evening the other night I finally got a chance to watch Becoming Jane, which I had borrowed from the library. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed it. I decided before-hand that I would just try to watch the movie as a piece of fiction, not as an autobiographical documentary, and as such, it was enjoyable. And I don’t usually say that about movies where I’m crying at the end. But knowing that it was ostensibly Jane Austen’s story prepared me for the bittersweet ending. (even partially informed Jane Austen readers such as myself know that Miss Austen never married – thus any romance involving her was doomed) I enjoyed looking at Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy, and the glimpse into into 19th century England, as always, was intriguing. A chick flick with some historical context. Enjoy.

For those of you who commented (on facebook) and prayed, thank you! Monica woke up this morning without an itchy bump to be seen and seems to be feeling fine. She slept in really late, which is kind of odd, but other than that, she seems to be normal. Praise God!

Monica got hives last week. Yes, I know, it’s an icky topic. I especially think that hives are icky;  just looking at them makes me feel slightly sick to my stomach and itchy all over. But, indeed, she did get a terrible case of hives last Wednesday morning, which continued until Friday and only stopped, so far as I know, because of the steroid the doctor kindly prescribed her to ease her discomfort. We’re talking about full-body, head to toe, itchy red bumps, spreading to patches that didn’t fade for a long time and made my baby, and yours truly, totally miserable. Why? I don’t know! I wish I did, but I have no idea what caused the reaction.

Saturday morning was the first morning she didn’t wake up all broken out again and I was just thinking we were home free after 4 hive-free days when I saw one jump up right under her eye where I noticed the first one 6 days ago. That was this evening, and you can bet I dosed her with an antihistamine right away. The hive faded significantly, then I put her to bed, and I am praying SO HARD that that was the only one and was just a final insult from a case of a finished hives breakout. But only time will tell. So, although this hardly qualifies as a life-and-death scenario, and of course, children have suffered much worse than hives, I would appreciate any prayers for my little girl – for NO MORE HIVES!!

Did you see that my blog is all prettied up? Well, if you did, you can thank my brother, Ben and his wife, Emeth, who took it upon themselves to spend much of yesterday afternoon updating my blog. It feels nice to have a fresh new face on the blog. And perhaps I’ll be motivated to post more frequently?

But my real announcement is that: It’s a boy!

Yes, I had an ultrasound on Dec. 23, early in the morning before we left for my parent’s house for Christmas, and the results were unmistakable.  A (currently) healthy little boy will be making his appearance somewhere on or around May 19, 2010. I would post some pictures, but doubt I’ll get around to scanning/photographing  and uploading them.

We were going to wait to find out the sex of the baby this time, but as the days to the ultrasound grew nearer, my resolve weakened. Michael didn’t mind, so I asked the vital question and I’m rather glad I did. It’s friendlier to think of this frequently moving little person as “my son” or “him” rather than, “him or her.” Plus, we only have to pick out a boy’s name, which will save us considerable effort.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and continue on to have a grand New Year!