Big Day!

I rang in the new year safely ensconsed in my flannel PJ's fast asleep in my own bed. I'm such a party animal!

Yesterday we took the FarmHands to see The Tale of Desparaeux after a quick trip to Rural King & Wal-Mart. They loved it...at least the older three did. Bitsy & I missed the last ten minutes of the movie because she needed to look at her self in the lobby mirrors & flirt with the teenage boy helping assemble a giant cardboard stand-up for Night at the Museum 2.

After that we headed to Pizza Hut & ordered pizzas with the kids' Book-It certificates, then off to see the Christmas Lights at the Park & finish grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Today they told their Uncle E, "We had a very busy day yesterday! We were gone ALL DAY LONG!"

Uncle E & Aunt C & their kids babysat all 4 FarmHands this morning so we could run into town to visit with a cousin & his wife who gave birth to their second son yesterday morning. Baby I weighed in at 6 lbs. 5 ounces & is 19 inches long. He's only 1 oz bigger than Bitsy was when she was born. So tiny. I told Husband it's a good thing I had my tubes tied after Bitsy or I'd stand a pretty good chance of getting baby crazy again.

I'm trying to gear myself back up for school to start again. I've gotten spoiled having Husband home all this time....I'm not ready to send him back to work on Monday. But then again, I am very glad he has a job to return to when so many don't.

I am a bad mom. I've already started stealing my kids' valentine candy. Well, what do you expect? This is what I got for V-day:

And that's only because the old door knob broke today when Husband tried to come in the house. No, I didn't lock him out. What ever gave you that idea?

Adventures in Maternity Leave

First of all, a GIGANTIC CONGRATULATIONS to Nana/Cate's Cath & P2 on their wedding. I cannot wait to see pictures & hear about the details. But as I know Nan's going to need some time to recover, I'll just have to be patient.

Secondly, I really thought we were going to make a trip to the hospital last night. In the course of about an hour I had at least 7 decent contractions. Not painful, but fairly strong. I decided a shower was in my best interest, so I hopped in. By the time I was done, the contractions had if not stopped, at least they were much farther apart & more irregular. C'est La Vie.

Today QM is going to watch the little ones while Husband and I go on the Great Nursing Bra Hunt. It really shouldn't be much of a hunt (please, Lord) as I know exactly what I want & where to get them, but the drive alone makes it an adventure. After that's done, I'm taking Husband to see where we have to go Tuesday morning since the hospital is in the same town as the mall....that way if I'm asleep on the trip there (yeah, right) he'll make it with no problems. He's not had a chance to go to the hospital as it's so far away (today I'm not thrilled with living in the boonies...but what can you do?).

I've been in the process of making lists for QM & MIL to refer to while they're taking care of the kids....and Husband when he's in charge. It always makes me a little nervous since I really spend no time away from the kids. I haven't spent a night away from them since B.B. was born (except when BabyGirl stayed home & the boys and I went to Did's wedding). I know they'll be fine & I have great faith in my mom (as she'll be handling them most of the time), but it's still a little unnerving to leave them to anyone else's care for long periods of time. I'm just not used to the idea.

When I was little I spent a great deal of time with Busha & Bucka. It wasn't unusual to find me spending the weekend at their house from the time I was weaned. They lived about 2 1/2 hours north of us, and Mama would call to have them meet her half way. I'd spend Thursday through Sunday & then Mama would come up after me. This was a common occurrence. Since my folks live more than 5 hours away, it's not something we've ever had the chance to do with my kids. MIL & FIL have their hands full with SIL, so that's out of the question. It's something I wish my kids could experience & I think it would make times like this a little easier on me as well.

We'll get through it. In fact, I'll be on so much medication, I won't care if they're being baby sat by wolves & circus performers. Ahhhh....the wonderful world of IV painkillers. Bring them on, Baby!

Multiplying like rabbits...

Above: (L to R) Will, Miss Swan, & Captain Jack. Do you see a theme?

They may not be multiplying quite in the way rabbits usually do, but the numbers are growing. I managed to keep the kids in the house Saturday until just a few minutes before Husband came home from work. When we did get out, no one noticed Sally was missing until BabyGirl asked to hold her about 45 minutes later. By that time Big BIL and his kids were here, so there was a lot of commotion to distract her when we broke the news. Tear were few & brief.

Above: New Sally

Later I told Husband that the second Rabbit Lady still had her add in the paper, so he had me call her. After the kids were in for the night, he snuck over to her house & brought back 4 more bunnies including a "New Sally." B.B. ran to the laundry room & peeked in the box & started yelling, "Two Sallys, Mommy! Two Sallys now!" I told him no, there's only one Sally & he seemed content. Broken heart avoided for the most part. BabyGirl decided that one Sally was better than no Sallys...& with all the other bunnies around she doesn't have much time to mourn.

Above: Leo the Lop and Chloe behind him. He's named for a book I loved as a child.

Besides that, she had to spend the day hunting for Baby's kittens that she'd hidden under the riding mower. And Cocoa had her kittens in the woods, but they're so deep in the underbrush, only Husband has been able to find them. Cocoa, unlike Baby, is taking excellent care of her kittens. Baby is rarely with her small brood. They'll grow up to be problem children....

Above: Hazel. He's officially New Sally's boyfriend.

For those of you who are now freaking out because we have 7 bunnies I have a confession to make. You may want to brace yourselves. FarmFairy, please do not let Jonas & Savannah read this...send them out of the room. You see, we eat them. Yes, you read that right. We will eat these poor defenseless bunnies. Not soon, no, we'll fatten them up, breed them, raise more, but come fall...BBQ. And if you've never had BBQed rabbit, you're really missing out. Hassenfeffer. I need to learn to fry them. I'm told it's really good. Sorry, enough of that. What can I say? It's farm life.

We took the kids to see Charlotte's Web on Christmas Day. As we were leaving the theater, I asked #1 Son what his favorite part of the movie was. He said (and will still say if asked), "When Charlotte dies." I'm not sure about that boy, but since then I tend to ask the kids this after every movie.

Yesterday we took them to see Shrek the Third. I liked it, they loved it...even #1 Son who was adamantly opposed to going to see it. They begged for popcorn, but since it tends to cause more trouble than it's worth, I said no. On the way home I asked what everyone's favorite part of the movie was. BabyGirl said when the Princesses beat the bad guys. #1 Son said when Donkey & Puss switch bodies. B.B. said, "When I ate the tootsie roll but no popcorn." OK, man. As long as you liked something.

And here's another reason to live in a small town. When we saw Charlotte's Web, we left B.B.'s ball cap in the theater seat. Yesterday, on a whim, I asked if they happened to have a lost & found. Guess what was in it. Yup, the ball cap.

Tomorrow is #1 Son's birthday. He'll be 4 years old. Yikes! I have a house to clean, a cake to bake, and a few presents to wrap. Oh, and I'm not walking so well today. This could get interesting.

Good Day, Better Date...

Last night I wrote a fabulous post called "The Post of a Thousand Links." I had at least 15 links on it when my computer puttered out on me. I'm beginning to wonder how long this thing is going to hold out. I fear that once it dies, that will be the end of our computing days and I'll have to go back to infrequent blogging in other locations...this I do not look forward to.

I will not try to put 8 million links on this post...I think I'll just let you look up anything you find interesting (not that anyone would want to follow 8 million links anywhere anyway). I won't say the kids slept in late yesterday, but we did get out the door to church not only on time, but with minimal arguing and no melt downs (thanks in part to a beautiful white dress with a generous sprinkling of bright flowers and a bright pink bow around the waist that Grammy/Q.M. got a certain little girl last year on clearance). Praise the Lord!!!

We even made it through Sunday School opening services without a major problem. In fact, #1 Son sat next to me with his hymnal on his lap and sang at the TOP of his lungs. Since he didn't know the words to the hymn we were singing he just sang, "La! La! La!" slightly tuneless, but very loudly. No one could miss him, and few of us could sing for laughing (including Uncle E who was trying to lead song service). Church was a different matter. #1 Son had a meltdown during song service and his dad had to take him out to deal with him just before communion. He was not a happy little boy...I could still hear him in the sanctuary...but his dad handled it well.

It was nasty and cold out, so I knew Husband wouldn't spend all day out of doors. He wanted to butcher some chickens but that doesn't take him long. I called Uncle E and Aunt C to see if they could watch my brood so I could take Husband on a date. They said no problem (it's pretty much a big party at their house every Sunday afternoon), so Husband and I went to see Ghost Rider.

I have a soft spot for comic book inspired movies (thanks in part to my high school boyfriend who's idea of a good date was bagging the new comics at Phil's comic book shop), so I really wanted to see this one. When the Man suggested taking Emily to see it for Valentine's Day, I thought it was very romantic! Husband proposed to me after we'd been to see Spawn. The last non kid's movie Husband and I went to see was X Men 3. Ghost Rider was right up my alley. Besides, who can resist Sam Elliot wearing his duster and battered cow boy hat, riding off on a black horse?!

Husband and I did notice that Nick Cage has lost quite a bit of weight (for this role?), and had something done to fill in the scars on his face. His channeling Elvis through the movie cracked me up (especially in light of his Elvis obsession & past marriage to Lisa Marie), but in all, I really like the movie.

What I liked more was being out alone with my husband. We haven't gone out (just the two of us) since I was pregnant with #1 Son. When we went to see X Men, we went with Princess, Axl, Bubba, and Silver Belle's J.S. I had a great time then, but did miss being alone with my husband (when not on the way to the doctor or Christmas shopping). We may have to do this more often...at least until Bitsy gets here.

I didn't want to tell the kids what we were doing because I figured they'd flip out when they found out they weren't going. They were thrilled with the idea of going to Uncle E's without us, but I wasn't sure that would last. Finally #1 Son asked me point blank where Husband and I were going, and I didn't want to lie, so I told him we were going to see a grown up movie. "Are you and Daddy going on a date?!" Uh, yes... "Oh Wow! BabyGirl, Mommy & Daddy are going on a date!" Then he announced it as soon as he hit Uncle E's door, "They're going on a da-te!!" (in that sing song voice third graders use when their friends like someone of the opposite sex). When we got home BabyGirl wanted to know all the gory details...did we hold hands, did we "smoochie kiss," who paid for the date? And she kept singing at her dad, "You were on a da-te! You were on a da-te!" We'll definitely have to do this again.

BTW, you may want to scroll all the way down the page and check out the pregnancy ticker at the bottom. It's very appropriate considering the past week... Oh, and BabyGirl got out the door with no serious issues this morning (thanks to a LOT of prayer and a calnder with stickers for good behavior in the mornings).