Missing Birthdays

I thought I was going to be good and post a picture of each child on their birthday with their cake and all that good stuff.  Good intentions will never get you anywhere!  I must remember that.

"S" celebrated his birthday in June.  His dad was out of town and "S" ended up spending that weekend with his uncle, where he was able to celebrate his very important day with his cousins.  Here at home, he had a BIG chocolate chip cookie with frosting on it.  We don't have very many pictures of him, so I am posting a recent picture of him with his little brother. 

He is a sophomore this year.  He lettered in Cross Country (Varsity) and made it to Regional's back in October.  Basketball just began and JV games will be starting after Thanksgiving. 

 

"A2" celebrated her 4th birthday in July, and like all 4th birthdays (maybe even mine!  I should check with my parents about that one.), we spent the evening with Chuck E. Cheese.  We bought a bunch of tokens, split them up and let the children have fun!  All tickets won went to A2 and she picked out 10 Laffy Taffy's and a little toy.  Her cake is supposed to the castle cake out of the Family Fun magazine, but it didn't quite work out, although she enjoyed it. 

Doing the "Chicken Dance"

I celebrated my birthday in September.  The girls really had fun with this one.  For days before, they were making birthday cards and wrapping up their favorite toys for me.  I believe I opened up at least 100 different cards from them!  They decorated with balloons and hats, and made it a very special birthday! 

My husband's birthday came about two weeks later in October and sadly, we don't have any pictures from his birthday.  Of course, it didn't help that he was out of town on his day!  Again, the children went all out and wrapped up their favorite toys and some other very interesting items (plain notebook, a book pulled off the bookcase, etc!) and made him lots of birthday cards.  He had an Angel Food cake.  Here is a picture of him with baby.

Three weeks later, our youngest son had the most special kind of a birthday!  No cake for him!

 

One week later, "E" turned 9!  Since his dad was off work for the baby, they went out together and shopped for a birthday present.  After much deliberation, he finally picked a game for his DS.  His sisters were excited to give him another Webkinz.  His dad was going to make work for his birthday cake with relighting candles, but wouldn't you know it, they never relit themselves!

Less than 2 weeks later, we had yet another birthday!  "A3" turned the big 3!  We celebrated her birthday the day before due to Wednesday night church.  Since she enjoyed her big brother's chocolate cake so much and ate more than the frosting, she had a yummy chocolate cake!  It took awhile for her to say she was 3, she kept saying, "No, A2 three, me two".  After she understood it was her birthday, she kept singing the "Happy Birthday song" to herself!  Just days after her birthday, she started to sadly say, "My birthday all gone!"

Everybody in our family is now a year older and we must wait until January to celebrate another birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

So Sweet...

A1 has had a hard time accepting that the baby is a boy. She really, really wanted another little girl. Today, we were talking and I watched as she fully understood it.

She went running to A2 (who has been praying morning, noon and night since we told the children we were having a baby, for a baby brother), tackled her in a hug and said, "A2...God answered your prayers! The baby is a boy! Isn't God so good?"

I love it that she didn't start crying about God not answering her prayers, but instead rejoiced with others whose prayers HAD been answered the way they wanted!

The SECRET is out!

So...I had a sonogram about one and a half weeks ago and went by myself. My husband did not want to know if our baby was a boy or girl...I on the other hand wanted to know. Let's just say that I had no doubt what our baby was after about 2 minutes into the sonogram and the technician did not need to say anything! I was able to keep this to myself for about a week and then in conversation I slipped up saying something about when our youngest leaves the house and HE...whoops! I tried to cover up, but I am a horrible liar and with my husband looking right at me, I was turning all sorts of shades of red!

Joseph Michael, we will see you in late October or early November, although if we find another name we like, you may not be Joseph Michael! You may be Joseph Andrew...then we can call you by your intitals...JAZ!

Update on Me

I obviously complained too much about my minor health problems, because after that I had a huge scare.

We have our basketball goal laying down right now because of huge storms and my husband's car already has a dent from it falling once. I had our big van parked in front of the goal and one night (the night before our home school convention) I went out to the van to get something. It was nice and dark and on my way out, I walked around the goal. On the way back in, with my arms full, I forgot about the goal and before I knew it, I belly flopped right onto the gravel. Scared me! I did end up with a few more bruises and scrapes to add to my collection from spraining my foot, and while I didn't have any cramping or anything, the whole event did not leave me with a peaceful feeling. Fast forward a few hours to Friday and a dear friend watched my children while I went up to the doctors office to make sure we could find heart tones...We did! His or Her heart rate was in the 160's and moving around! What a relief! I even made it to the home school convention in time for the lunch time keynote speaker and drop the boys off at the children's program!

Woo Hoo! 1/4 of the way to HOLD MY BABY!

I can't wait. I know most people use their trimesters as milestones, but I am way too impatient. I think my impatience is one of the reasons God has blessed me with 7 children...I like to think that each child has taught me to be a bit more patient, but I'm not quite sure. I like to use a lot of milestones! 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, THE DAY (that I always go over...hmmm, I wonder if that goes back to the whole impatient thing?!), 1st trimester, 2nd trimester, 3rd trimester, once a month appts, every other week appts, every week appts.

Anyway, all that to say that I am ten weeks along in my pregnancy. As of this week, I am still 5 pounds less than I started at. My uterus is now the size of a grapefruit (I love all the fruit comparisons during pregnancy). My baby is about the size of a lime, maybe even a bit bigger! Although I can't feel it, my baby enjoys kicking and swimming these days. The nails are growing on baby's toes and fingers. If you would like to see a picture of what the baby should look like, go here.

A3 (who is 2) and I sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to our little baby every night. She likes to talk to the baby through my belly button!

And the Sonogram says.....

ONE BABY!

Now, we know. What we don't know is how come I have been so completely overwhelmed by sickness with this baby and none of the previous ones.

Some of the comments to this news:

"Awwwww"

"Now it has to be a girl!"

"Good" why? "Because I didn't want two babies at the same time." why?
"They would always being fighting over who was born first or the one who was born first would always try and do everything first and that wouldn't be good."

There you have it!

I'm Grand!

I am now a "Grand Multipara", which means I have given birth to 5 or more children. Here I thought I was going to have to wait to have grandchildren before I was called Grand anything! How about that?

Root Beer Floats

It has been either 6 or 7 years since I have touched root beer. I can't remember which child it was, but I tried to send myself into labor drinking Castor oil mixed in with Root Beer. Yech! It didn't work by the way. All it did was make me say I will never again touch root beer! I was successful until this child. Last week, I really wanted one, so drove up to our local Sonic (which, in my opinion is not worth going to unless you want a root beer float b/c the large is $1.00 cheaper than Dairy Queen's medium) and it was SOOOO good! I have had at least 4 since then! Having these root beer floats really makes me want to drink a root beer from the old A&W Drive In's (do they have any of those anymore? All I ever see are regular fast food restaurants) in a nice, frosty mug. Remember those little mugs that were for children? Those were my favorite! Along with the ice cream in plastic baseball caps.

Meat is Murder....Tasty, Tasty Murder!

This was seen on a t-shirt at Threadless. If it came in any other color except pink, my hubby would probably be wearing it!

Meat is very tasty! I used to love sweets, until this pregnancy! I will now take any meat over cake any day! I ate a piece of chocolate yesterday because I was shaking so bad and needed something and it was the grossest thing I have eaten in awhile. Last night, at a dinner, I could only take 3 bites of my piece of cake...the others at the table all said it was wonderful, but it was all I could do to eat 3 bites! I wanted to run back to the buffet for seconds of the chicken and beef!

Naming the Baby

Our oldest daughter, who is 5 (I promise, I will come up with some cute nicknames soon!) said to me the other day, "Mommy, if the baby is a girl, the girls can name her and if the baby is a boy, the boys get to name him!"

Ummmm, I don't think so! The little boys' name of choice is "Jonathon Park OurLastName".

Seven Must Be The Magic Number!

I have decided that 7 must be the magic number. With babies 4, 5 and 6, a lot of people expressed concern over us having more babies. With baby number 7, it seems that the overwhelming majority of people seem genuinely happy for us! I must say it makes the whole pregnancy that much easier, knowing others are supportive of us.

Either that, or they have decided we are officially crazy and have figured out we probably aren't going to listen to them anyway!

Just like Grandma!

I never knew my grandma. She passed away when my mom was in her late teens. I heard she was a wonderful cook, baker and canner. She hand quilted a few quilts and as far as I know, my youngest aunt (half of a set of twins!) is the only one who still has a beloved quilt.

Last night, my mom and aunt were talking and my aunt made the comment that I was being just like my grandma having 7 children! Hers were a bit more spread out than mine. She had 4 boys and 3 girls, with my mother being the middle child. It will be interesting to see if I continue in her footsteps and have another boy.

God Provides!

It is encouraging to see God working. We had pretty much given away or sold all our baby stuff when we found out we were pregnant, but within days of finding out, my friend contacted her sister who was in the process of giving away everything she didn't sell! Today, I am going to pick up an infant car seat and a few bags of baby clothes. She said there is a lot of onesies and sleepers in there for both boys and girls! I am going to start 3 Rubbermaid tubs for storing baby stuff...unisex, girls and boys. That way, I can give away the one tub I don't use to the local pregnancy crisis center after the baby is born!

Seventh Baby Poems

I am going to pick one of these poems to announce our new baby in a few months. I am unsure of the authors of these poems, so if you know, please leave a comment, so I can give credit where credit is due!

A Surprise

Have you ever cleaned out your pocket
And discovered a ten dollar bill?
You really weren’t expecting it,
But it gave your heart a thrill!
Have you ever opened the door
And there before your eyes
You saw the flower man standing
With an armful of surprise?
Well a surprise is exactly what’s happened
To us as a man and a wife
The Lord has been gracious and perfectly good
By adding to us a seventh life!
We could have told you in person
But it’s very important you see
That we only see thoughts and reactions
Of happiness, smiles and glee!
So once you’ve had time to digest it
And been able to ponder it all
When you have a nice word about all that you’ve heard,
Feel free to give us a call!

- unknown

Expecting Again

We just can’t wait to tell. . .

Come November our family will swell!

Yes, it is true. . .Number 7 will soon debut.

Please join us in our glee,

As we anticipate so happily

This blessing from the Lord above,

And please welcome this little one

with lots and lots of love!

- unknown

Seventh

I know I’m number seven,

but the fact you can’t deny –

is that God, Almighty Giver,

is the Author of my life.

My soul is no less special,

and my spirit no less great

than those that came before me

be they one, or six, or eight.

So many eyes are blinded

by the whispers of this world –

to them, there is no miracle

in a human life unfurled.

A baby’s just a plaything,

a burden, or a chore,

and we must proceed with caution

to prevent too many more!

Only a fool would trust the Lord

to give as He desires

and live a life of trust in Him…

whatever that requires.

A new car may be exciting,

a new house may be a prize,

but my new life is better

than any thing that money buys.

So all the world may roll their eyes

when seven they now see –

but I can’t wait until I meet

the fools who welcome me.

-unknown

Six was sweet, Seven will be heaven!

Positive! Baby number 7 is on his or her way!

We tested on Sunday and there was no doubt about that extra line. God has blessed us with another child. My first clue was while I was baking bread and the olive oil smelled awful! I was also at the mall and went into a store and had to immediately exit due to the strong smelling candles. I have been eating oranges like crazy and I wanted an over easy egg on toast (eggs are not my favorite and I only really like them in my first trimesters!).

Our estimated due date will be in November. Now, the decisions begin. Home birth with a midwife or hospital birth with an OB? I loved my home birth with my last daughter, but it did get a little scary with the hemorrhaging. If we do end up going to the hospital a dear friend of mine is a nurse on the labor/delivery floor and said she would come in even if she is off to be my nurse. If she isn't able to, she will give me the names of the nurses to request that are for natural birthing.

Boy or Girl? We may not know until the end! Let us know what you think! My mom thinks twins! My generation has yet to spit out a set of twins and there aren't very many of us cousins still having babies! This is the first generation on my mom's side of the family to not have a set of twins, in quite some time.