July 31st, 2009
Today I talked about a fun place to go in Little Rock. And it looked ideallic, right? You have one kid and wonder how I do it with 4 under 8 and me 7 months pregnant to boot. That’s because I pick and choose out of the 100 or so pictures that were taken what I want you to see. And because I can’t help but be real, the serene pictures I posted have bothered me just a bit. I know the rest of the story.
As much fun as the day was, and it was fun:
There was another side:
The side that was 90 something degrees hot. On a day that I didn’t pack enough water cups, that I’d already had my blood drawn at the doctor’s and was feeling less than stellar. Where the kids had been cooped up in the doctor’s office for 2 hours and then in the van with my hubby waiting on my lab work for another 20 minutes. Where we threatened to not go down to the river at all to a bunch of loud fighting kids. The day where I balanced 5 sandwiches on my lap with peanut butter spread everywhere (because for some reason I decided to make the sandwiches in the van instead of at home ahead of time) while everybody whined about how hungry they were. Where after approximately 5 minutes at the park ThePrincess needed to go potty. In the well-used porta-potty. Where when we returned to the park I went and stood by my husband who was taking all the pictures. Where ThePrincess couldn’t find me – in plain sight. Where she walked back up the hill alone to the porta-potty to find me. And skinned her knee. Where I discovered she was missing as she was walking, crying, back down the hill. Where I accusatorily asked her where she’d been and why she wandered off. Salt to the wounded knee. This is the day where she started crying and screaming and throwing a fit for 15 minutes. Where nothing I did consoled her. Where my 2 year old took my leather shoe that I thought I was guarding and “washed” it for me. Where I got too hot, too tired, too cranky and rushed them through the Quapaw exhibit. Where I rushed them through the “leafy tunnel” and waddled with my hands on my hips (never a good sign). Where I told the kids to steer clear of the homeless man on the bench – like the good samaritan I am. Where, while my husband took sweet pictures of the 3 older kids, I stood bent over at the van cussing in my head about a 2 year old that wouldn’t hold still for me to change him into dry clothes. Where I realized I was a complete party pooper when this whole water park had been my idea from the beginning.
But I know the whole story. The one where there are ups and downs. Where you take the good with the bad. Where you know good days aren’t ever worry-free and completely careless. Where you make up your mind that you’re going to have fun. If it kills you. Where you dwell on the good and make fun of the bad. Where when you look at those pictures you know that someday you’ll cherish all of them. They’ll all hold such special memories and create a complete picture. A picture that, as a whole, is so much sweeter than it’s individual parts.
July 31st, 2009
The Little Rock River Market has a great place for kids to play. A water park. For free. It’s beautiful and my kids love it. So much so, that it’ll be kicking off my Central Arkansas Showcase series. By the way, if you have suggestions for this list, leave me a comment or drop me an email.
Here are a few pics from our recent trip. These show off the park more than my kids – those pictures will follow, of course!
In addition to the park itself, the view in the background is gorgeous.
There’s a jungle gym to climb. And look at the river in the background from this view.
There’s a place to learn about the Quapaw Indians and how Little Rock got its name. BigMan called him DumDum!
A mini waterfall to play in.
A leafy tunnel to walk through.
And trees to climb.
Hope you find a sunny day to enjoy it soon!
July 30th, 2009
We have a 3 bedroom home. That’s always confusing to my brain because in my head the parents’ room is a given and should be exempt from the room census. But I guess I’m bucking the system. So what that means for us is that we have one bedroom for the parents (and currently the 2 year old that I can’t trust as far as I can throw him), the three bigger kids share a room (7 year old boy, 6 year old boy, and 4 year old girl – she couldn’t possibly be left alone in a room of her own where it’s no fun, right?), the 3rd room is getting a makeover (if you can call it that) for when the 5th child arrives in October – not a nursery per se, just a room with diapers, low lighting, and big mattresses for the all-night nursing and everybody else wandering in revolving door fun that is having a newborn. But we’re not here to talk about that room, that’s for another day.
When my 3 olders wanted to share a room my husband got creative and suggested a loft. We looked into buying one, but oh my goodness, the prices. So we built it. No, we didn’t knock out the ceiling, silly, I just bump my head every night for the tuck-in routine.
My husband drew up some plans, recruited his dad and set to work.
The top holds 2 twin sized mattresses with a small space between for all their stuff.
We removed the ceiling fan light fixture and installed a recessed light.
The kids chose a jungle theme so I plan to find animal print sheets.
I still have to hang a few decorations and I plan to mural the big outside wall at some point, and staple gun some fake leaves onto the loft for effect. What can I say, it’s a work in progress.
We let the two older boys paint the outside. While my husband and I did touch ups and the youngest threw fits about not being able to help.
The room is approximately 12 feet by 9 feet with a window and closet. Your average kid room. The loft is 8 feet by 6 feet and 5 feet high. Which leaves a kind of hallway around it to the closet.
The bottom has a built-in bed for our girl.
The rope lights already have a few lights out, we’ll have to fix that too someday.
My father-in-law built the railing and my husband built the ladder. All from scratch. We picked paint that popped, don’t ya think?
This week I’m linked up at A Soft Place To Land for her Do It Yourself Day – click over and join the party over there!
July 29th, 2009
Once again, original recipe from Hillbilly Housewife here.
And here are the changes I made.
It called for 2 crusts. I bought 2 small frozen crusts. I let them thaw, then attempted to follow the recipe. Obviously not what they were talking about. They were tiny. And they were supposed to be rolled out and placed in a casserole dish. That didn’t happen. So I used what I had. I kept one in the aluminum pan it came in, attempted to roll out the second one and cut hearts in it. I did this in on wax paper so that I could just flop the top crust over on the top of my filled pie (no picking up required). Then I placed the hearts I had cut out on the top of the crust. And because we had the small crusts I trashed some of the filling I had made – just too much for such a small pan.
I used canned carrots and canned peas (forgot to buy the frozen kind – this worked just fine for us). I will add canned diced new potatoes as well next time.
I used my frozen broth I had prepared from another time of boiling a whole chicken. Recipe for that coming soon!
It needed a tad more salt for my taste.
The filling: I loved it. I loved knowing just what was in it. And that they were all simple ingredients – broth, milk, flour, and butter. You make the creamy part just like you would make gravy. Keep stirring it the whole time. And when you add the liquid, add just a little at a time, making sure to mix it thoroughly before you add more liquid (this keeps it from lumping).
Overall, the whole family liked it, it’ll be a keeper. My picky-est eater (TheMiddlest) was not wild about any part of it other than the chicken, but hey, you can’t please everybody. And he eventually ate it knowing there was a treat at the end of the eating tunnel.
As always, happy eats, friends!
July 27th, 2009
We made it – we’re officially in the third trimester. We had our check up today and the children behaved well enough to actually make it back into the room to hear the heartbeat. And were good enough for me to think not nice thoughts at the woman that kept giving us “you have how many children?” ugly looks. Really. I’m not being sensitive, my husband is the one that pointed her out to me. My children weren’t jumping off any furniture this week, they weren’t throwing screaming fits in the floor. They looked much more like the picture from last month. The whole time. And therefore, it made me want to tell her a thing or two about having so many children. But I didn’t. Instead I smiled more than I normally do. Including at her. And laughed a little more with my children. And generally became more of the mom I wish I was all the time just to show her. Ha.
Okay, I’m past that now. Onto other more boring, more update-y kind of things.
I only gained one pound this month. I’m okay with that. I know I’m eating well. That makes a total of 17 pounds so far. Not nearly as bad as I had thought it would be by the way I started out. But I’m considerably less sick now than I was in the first trimester and can eat more of what I need to and less of just what I can keep down. Speaking of sick, I’m still struggling daily with the acid reflux. Pepcid AC was not the hook up for me. Zantac treated me better. I’m on the max dose twice a day. If I miss one, I sorely regret it. Even when I don’t miss any, it just barely keeps the sickness at bay. But it’s livable.
Also, I do agree that in the pictures I do look much less large than I have made myself out to be. However, for the record, I feel that big. And the doctor said once again that I’m measuring large. 2weeks+ larger. So there. I’m not too crazy!
And with that feeling biggerness… it’s now hard for me to roll over in the bed. Like, it takes a minute to roll from side to back to the other side. I’m out of breath all the time. People feel the freedom to ask about when I’m due. It’s hard for me to cross my legs when I’m sitting down. I waddle when I walk. I feel old. Last night while bathing the 2 younger ones, I bent over to scoop water and my lower back caught. Just like the old people in the movies. Stayed bent over, couldn’t move, instant catch. Never had that before. I’ve awkwardly limped around telling my baby that I can’t pick him up because my back hurts. I feel old.
And I’m not sure, but I think the Braxton Hicks contractions have started. It’s really early, and I have to hold my belly to see how hard it’s getting, but I’m fairly certain that they have started. Oh, and I had my first charlie horse of this pregnancy the other morning. The kiddos stood there staring at me like I was an alien. Other symptoms in the I-feel-big category: when I wear lace-up shoes, they have the tale-tell sign of being tied to the side instead of straight on like a normal person. I can’t shave my legs easily anymore. I turn to the side at the sinks to either put on makeup or do the dishes now. My husband painted my toenails the other night (please take a moment to imagine how funny that was, if you know Matt Parker).
Also, a side note. I was recently exposed to a known case of Fifth Disease. I called the nurse when I found out and was advised to wait to talk to the doctor. I talked to him today and he sent me to the lab for a blood test. We won’t know the results until Wednesday probably. I’ll let you know. Please pray that all is well.
BigMan made up a song about this sweet baby. On his own. So sweet. “Kenaniah sings a good song.” With “song” ending on a high note. Oh, it’ll make your heart melt. He’s also started taking note of friends’ babies. Makes me excited! And the other children are getting more and more excited to meet him. I can’t wait!
So, in summary: pray for his health, children are excited about the new baby, I feel bigger than I apparently am (that can’t be a good thing for the future), I feel comparatively less sick, however considerably still sick (makes sense, right?), I’ve gained minimally this time, and… I feel old. Oh, and I feel completely bonded now (such a relief) and so excited to hold him before long.
Sweet baby, we’re so excited about you!
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