Should I continue the list?

The latest, helpfully passed on to us, since they didn't tell us this first-hand:

do they know they're going to have three in college at the same time?

is Annie going to be ok? Didn't she just have a baby?

The answer to both, of course, is yes. I was told, shortly after marriage, by someone I won't name, that I have good hips for childbearing. Just what I'd always wanted to hear. But the truth is, I handle childbirth pretty darn well. And by the time I give birth, Lucy will be about 18 months. That's more than enough time for my body to recover from the last birth. Good grief: some people get pregnant right after giving birth! (Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Now, to try to get out of my grouchiness, I'm going to include an email from my friend Lara:

"oh, just wait 'til you're having your 5th! ;)

we were afraid to tell anybody...friends, family, even the church, for fear of what people would say (and in front of our other children) or even for what they would think. there are some serious cultural prejudices against having more than the allowable 2.2 children. but we found that how people responded had much to do with how we told them the news, so we took to (1) having the children spread the word as much as possible- they were so overjoyed, who could possibly be anything other than happy for us? and (2) just not telling people who we thought might not respond positively until we knew we could handle their negativity in a positive way. in fact, although we usually tell really early on, this time we didn't go public until the second trimester when i was no longer sick and exhausted, so i could beam at them and tell them with all sincerity how great i felt.

people's comments often reflect their own values and priorities, so remembering that can help you let the comments roll off your back like water off a duck, or whatever the silly expression is. the college tuition person is thinking financially, not relationally. your children will be so close to each other! they can hold hands through some of life's tumultuous seasons. they will be there for each other during some critical developmental periods. i know i don't have to convince YOU, i'm just trying to help you see that people miss the best stuff when they focus on one small detail that seems important to them. i love the discouraging comments about how you only have two arms- what will you do with three small children in a parking lot? there is no end to the insensitive things people will think to share aloud with you, but eventually they'll see your joy and the beauty of your family, and they'll forget all about their negative assumptions.

my favorite retort for the really insensitive comment is, (and i'm not sure i've been brazen enough to actually utter this myself, but it makes me laugh to think of it in the proper circumstances), in a very sweet voice, "did you mean to say that out loud?" heh heh heh.

thank God for your baby, and don't let anyone steal your JOY!"

What a nice email to open this morning...

And, by the way, Lara's having her fifth; I'm pretty sure we're NOT planning on five.

Socially Awkward

So Bob and I have learned, really quickly, that people don't know what to say when you announce you're having a third (God forbid!) child. There are a couple standard responses:

1. I hope you don't mind my asking, but was this planned?
It is implied that either yes or no, we're idiots.

2. Wow!
In other words, they have no idea what to say, but we are probably idiots, and they're hoping we'll take their single-word response however we wish, as in, wow, that's great!, or wow, that's too bad.

3. (and I'll confess I don't really know how this gets communicated, but) Can you afford to have three kids?
Clearly, it is highly irresponsible of us.

It does take a bit of the fun out of telling people; in fact, Bob's ready to just stop telling people. I can't decide if it's better to beat people to the punch and save them the "embarassment" of asking an [unbelievably personal] question by saying, "And yes, it was planned."

Apparently, it's socially acceptable to have two children, but three is pushing it. A family at church (with three children) says that once you have your third, you've joined the "crazies". Perhaps so.

I've heard people say "I love so-and-so so much, I just can't imagine having another..." And I guess I feel the opposite. I love our girls so much, I can't wait to meet number 3. Social impropriety, and all.

I am so happy!

I'm 10 weeks pregnant, and we had our first OB-GYN appointment today. Everything looks great! We saw fingers, toes, the brain, the spine, we saw the baby moving around. I cannot describe how exciting this is!

It's been too long...

When I started this blog, I envisioned myself blogging daily. That does happen. Sometimes. But I think I've been feeling uninspired since I can't find the freakin' cord for my camera to link pictures on here...

Anyway, this will be a random, train-of-thought post today.

It's snowing outside, little snowflakes that are coming down rapidly. It's beautiful. I hear we're supposed to get somewhere between three and five inches. I'm lovin' it, to quote the McDonald's campaign [that I don't get at all]. Seriously, it's hard for me to imagine loving McDonald's.

I fought the gas company, and I WON! When I called in early December to turn on the gas for our new house, I requested budget-billing, where they average your annual use and then charge you 1/12th each month, rather than paying ungodly amounts of money for gas in the winter. Since we have only ever lived in buildings built before 1920, we tend to have high ceilings, big (drafty) windows, and high gas bills. Anyway, last week, we got our first gas bill. WHOA... not a budget bill. It was a horribly high number, and I'm hoping it's from a combination of the heat being set on 80 (we're not sure how long it was set that high-- it's low enough for Cecil to reach the thermostat, and we should definitely change that) and from the back door being left ajar on the coldest night (so far) of the winter.

I called Vectren and said, we're supposed to be on budget billing! I was told that no, we were signed up for e-billing (where they email your statements), but not budget billing. She gave me a couple different options, none of which were acceptable to me, since WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON BUDGET BILLING. So she offered (with a sigh) to research the phone call when I requested it. I gave her a window of about a week, during which I had called. She needed to know the number from which I called (I think it was Brian & Michelle's?), and I wasn't even sure about that. A couple days went by, and I assumed they weren't going to call back. But then they did, and sure enough, the records showed that I had requested budget billing! Woohoo! That just cut my bill for this month by three.

Confession: my Christmas tree is still up. I'm going to take the lights off today so Bob can drag it out to the street tonight. But I'm not really ready. Since I bought the tree by myself and we weren't here for Christmas and didn't even celebrate it the way I had envisioned (in our living room, with a fire in the fireplace), I feel like the tree isn't done... But the tree is done. It's incredibly thirsty and droopy. Objectively, it looks bad. But I still don't want to take it down.

Another confession: I want to be a Starbucks barista.

Here are some shots from Thanksgiving down in Evansville. We had a great time.

Stole from Michelle's Blog

You're supposed to copy and paste into your own blog, then boldface what you've done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower-- yup. On the beach, no less. It was glorious.
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo -- does it count if I was in 4th grade and it was for Mass?
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch--knitting, breadmaking
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning-- I was pregnant. It was not fun. Note to self: Wendy's salads? Not again.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train -- I've slept on a train in the middle of the night ... but never on an "overnight" train.
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked-- sort of. I took a ride from a stranger. I was out running in FL with my dog, and he collapsed. (It was hot, and we'd gone too far for him.) I was really scared for him, so I asked a stranger to drive us home.
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon-- for me, it was harder than childbirth.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29 Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33 Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41 Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46.Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64 Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66 Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67 Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy -- the girls love "Momma's bear" aka Fluffy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79 Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

There are definitely some things on here that I want to do.

Small Victory

We've been in the house since December 18th. Today I found a pair of scissors! It's hard to make it through the Christmas season without them, but I "made do" with the kitchen shears I had unpacked right away.

Still no luck with the camera cords. I'll keep looking.

Settling In

I think blogs without pictures can get old, fast, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. I'm taking them; I just can't find the cord that connects the camera to the computer. I hope to upload some pictures soon.

I've slept in the new house nine nights, now; Bob's slept here six. (He went to Pennsylvania for a retreat, and I stayed in the house alone with the girls -- and the cats -- and the dog-- for the first three nights.) I had announced in November that I wanted to have a New Year's Eve party in the new house. Bob and I both were disappointed that we never really had people over to the old house, and I wanted to start this one off with a bang. At the time, we were planning to close November 21st, so it seemed reasonable. Then the closing was going to be December 1st. Then December 9th. Then, finally, December 17th. And after staying in the house for a couple days with two girls and without Bob, I hadn't gotten much unpacking done. And then we took off to Tennessee for a week... coming back the day before New Year's Eve.

To say that December 31st was a mad dash, start to finish, does not adequately describe it. Bob had to work, at least part of the day, and he was on-call because someone was dying, and his wife was saying (desperately), "I need your help!" I wish that I had propped up our little video camera and recorded Wednesday afternoon, then sped it up with a musical background, for your viewing pleasure. The transformation of the house was amazing. Almost everything we own was in the living and dining rooms at 3:00pm; by 8:30, Bob had distributed everything to its rightful location, I had prepared some munchies, and we were relatively ready for the party. That I had forgotten to unpack glasses and wineglasses was a minor detail. And forgotten, despite specifically discussing it with Bob, to buy any beer.

I had a great time. It was fun to ring in the new year and the new house with our good friends. I was sorry that some people couldn't make it, but we still had a good time. If only Bob hadn't had to run back to work for an hour and a half ... but he did make it back in time for the countdown, and the champagne in plastic cups.