What to do Now?

When it comes to things like "dilation" and "effacement," my doctor decided yesterday that I'm just not ready to have this baby. As I said, I'm very disappointed because we had made plans assuming this baby would be born today. My biggest disappointment comes from the fact that today is my father's birthday. Since this child is likely to be his last grandchild, I thought it would be special for her to be born on his birthday. Oh, well. I guess it's not to be.

When my doctor told me that I wasn't ready, he was disappointed, too. And he was very apologetic, but I pointed out that I was not arguing with him, not trying to persuade him to go ahead and try. If I'm not ready, then I don't want to try to force the issue. I certainly don't want to end up with a C-section just because I was impatient. Mostly, I'm taking comfort knowing that God is in control. He knows what is best for me and for this baby, and He will work things out for our best.

Since I'm not having this baby today, I'm left with a little bit of a quandary. I mean, I've basically gotten everything ready because I thought this baby would be arriving today. However, I'm left with another whole week with nothing to do. Actually, I've come up with a few ideas:

• bake Chocolate Minty Melts. I've been waiting for the Mint Truffle Kisses to come out for Christmas just so I can make a batch of these cookies.
• bake another batch of "Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies" for John because he loves them. (Who am I kidding? I like them, too!)
• watch Christmas movies with my children to get into the mood.
• finish the Christmas shopping.
• crochet snowflakes as ornaments for our Christmas tree.
• rest.

Do you have any other suggestions? If I get really ambitious, I might even make some Vanilla Wafers. Can you ever have too many cookies in your freezer? I didn't think so!

Disappointment!

At my doctor's appointment this afternoon, he decided that I'm not quite ready to have this baby. We're going to try again next week, but I'm so disappointed right now that I just want to cry. My parents drove down six hours to get here; some friends planned a small shower for me next week; John has made plans; etc.. We were counting on this baby coming tomorrow. Ugh! So I guess we were all wrong in my "contest" Monday. But thank you for your prayers.

A Baby Contest

Assuming that my doctor declares me "ready" at my appointment Tuesday afternoon, I'm planning to be induced on Wednesday. I thought it might be fun to have a little contest with my readers to see who can come the closest to the actual delivery date and time. Since I'm being induced, we already know the date. My other children were induced, too, and they were born at 12:01, 12:16, and 12:18, so I've been bragging that this baby will be born at noon, too. (I've probably jinxed myself!)

What do you get if you win? Well, for the person who comes the closest, I'll give you 100 points. But if you hit the nail on the head, I'll give you 1000 points. If you even get the date correct, I'll give you five points.

What can you do with these points? I don't know. As Drew Carey used to say on "Whose Line is it Anyway?," the points don't matter. (Wasn't that a fun show; oftentimes, it was too crude, but funny!)

So what do you think? When do you think this baby will be born? (For reference, here is Daniel's birth story and here is Rachel's. I haven't gotten around to getting Sarah Beth's up here yet.)

A Quiet Thanksgiving

Addendum: We found the box!! It was hiding in the playroom behind a little table. Hooray!!

Since we planned such a quiet Thanksgiving Day, I thought maybe I could be a little productive, especially since I have so much to do before our baby comes (hopefully) next week.

In the morning, we sat around a little bit and enjoyed each other's company. Then it was time for John to head outside with the older two children to fry the turkey. (And boy! was that turkey good!) Rachel had to stay inside with me because she is not trustworthy around the turkey fryer. I finished up the casseroles and got them in the oven. The pie was already made; yea for preparing ahead!

Meanwhile, I started washing all of the baby's clothes. Goodness! Babies have a lot of clothes, don't they? Is it because they go through so many outfits in one day? Is it because their clothes are just so cute that we can't keep from buying more? Maybe a combination of both?

I also washed the covers for the swing, the car seat, the bassinet cover, burp cloths, bedding for the crib, and blankets. (We seem to have lost a box in the move, the one with all of the blankets that my Granny crocheted a border around and all of the blankets that I crocheted for my older children. Ugh!!!!!) Then I put everything back together and made the crib, although I doubt she will sleep in there anytime soon because she'll be in the bassinet.

Then I sat down and put my feet up until suppertime. John and I weren't hungry, so we just fed our children some sandwiches which they gobbled up. How could they be so hungry after such a huge meal for lunch?

After supper, I was so tired I couldn't get out of my rocking chair, so my sweet husband finished putting the last load of clothes into the dryer. Today I plan to fold all of those little, bitty clothes and put them away.

Our house is starting to look like there's a baby coming!

What are your plans for today? Did you do anything out of the ordinary (like I did) yesterday?

Thanksgiving Plans

With our having moved twice in three months and the baby coming next week, John and I decided to have a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. Certainly, we don't need to be driving up to middle Georgia two weeks before my due date. And while I do have family here in north Florida, it will be nice to have a quiet celebration at home. (And we did invite my aunt and uncle over here, but they needed to stay home, too.)

Since we're having a small, quiet meal here at home, I'm not preparing too much, just some of our favorite dishes. John is frying a turkey breast which frees up the oven. And fried turkey is soooo much better than baked, don't you think? Oh, you haven't tried it? You need to! We are also having:

• sweet potato casserole
• green bean casserole
• 5-Cup Salad*
• Grasshopper Pie (Sarah Beth has been asking for this all year long. I haven't made it since Christmas, but every time anyone mentions a pie, she says she wants the "green one." She didn't care for my chocolate pecan pie.)
• Sister Schubert's rolls (I'm cheating this year and not making any homemade rolls.)

As I looked at last year's menu, I realized that I prepared these same dishes. Oh, well! I reckon we're making traditions!

*If you're wondering what 5-Cup salad is, it's a super yummy salad containing five cups, hence the name. There is one cup each of crushed pineapple, mandarin oranges, chopped pecans, sour cream, and marshmallows.

Giveaway!

Laura at Six Little Arrows, one of my good real-life friends, is having a giveaway for this beautiful baby hat that she crocheted. (I shamelessly stole this picture from her post.) If you would like to enter, you can go here. And if you don't have a baby and aren't going to have one anytime soon, feel free to go ahead and enter. If you win, I would be glad to take this hat off your hands!

Book Review: Not by Might by Al Lacy

In Not by Might by Al Lacy, John and Breanna Brockman are a happily married, newlywed couple in the late 1800's. John is the Chief U.S. Marshal, and Breanna is a traveling nurse. There are a couple of plots in this book, but the main one is how a gang of outlaws want to kill Brockman. Breanna has several patients that she cares for; one is a woman who has just had a baby, and another is a newly-paralyzed doctor.

What did I think of this book? Two words: unbelievable and unrealistic. Everyone in this story is so sweet and nice to everyone else, even the outlaws. No one ever says anything mean to anyone else, and at one point, two of the outlaws apologize to each other for arguing. Everyone that Breanna and John talk to becomes a Christian, and men argue over whose wife is the prettiest. The dialogue is disgustingly sweet. Combined with that are unrealistic plot developments. I won't go into these, just in case you read the book because I don't want to spoil anything for you.

In short, the only reason I finished this book was because I had agreed to review it.

I want to thank WaterBrook Multnomah for my (kindle) copy of this book, but my opinions are my own.

Moving Day Pictures

I forgot to show you these pictures of our children on moving day. They were funny that morning as we were preparing to leave our rental house, well, at least two of them were.

We didn't explain to Rachel what was going on, but she picked up on it anyway. She gathered her special toys together and toted them around so they wouldn't be forgotten.

Sarah Beth did the same thing, gathering up everything that she was afraid we might forget and carrying it around just in case....

Poor Daniel, though, was sick that morning. He felt pretty lousy, so we made sure to get his special toys for him.

All I Want for Christmas...

I was going to show you just this picture this morning. We were sitting on the couch, watching television Saturday afternoon when I heard Sarah Beth say, "Oh." She had pulled out her tooth. This tooth was the third one she had pulled out. But before I could get around to posting that picture, Sarah Beth pulled out her other front tooth on Monday at lunch. *Sigh* She's going to bankrupt the Tooth Fairy.

Since I had a few pictures of my older daughter, I thought I would include some of her younger siblings.

Aren't they precious?!

Pictures of Our New House

Here are the pictures from our new house that I promised you yesterday. I'm sorry that there are so many, but there are even more on our computer!

Our living room. Yes, it's as big as it looks. The opening on the right goes down one step into our sunroom and then down a few more into the playroom.

Here is our sunroom. It runs the length of our living room. We're not sure what we're going to do with it yet, but we do know that we need some chairs for it.

Our kitchen.

Another view of the kitchen. It's dated and needs to be re-done, but it can wait a couple of years.

A view of our kitchen from the living room. Don't you love the "saloon" doors? John took them down the same day that we closed!

The master bedroom. We have a small porch through the sliding doors.

Our bathroom. Isn't the color of the sink, shower, and even the toilet lovely? This too will be redone...eventually.

What do you think of the harvest gold sinks in the kids' bathroom? Yes, the shower and toilet match.

Our house has a lot of strange features like this sink. The knob on the left is for hot water, right? Nope. It raises and lowers the drain plug. The home inspector said that he has inspected over 30,000 homes and has never seen this before.

The playroom. This room is HUGE, measuring 25 x 25. We plan to use it as a playroom and as the school room...once we get a table and storage for the school books.

Another view of the playroom.

The view from our sunroom.

The back of our house. Can you see it through all of the live oaks?

The view I have every morning as the sun comes up.

I don't have pictures of the kids' room or the baby's room because they just didn't turn out well. But the kids' room is really big and looks like a dormitory room with the two beds and Rachel's crib. The baby's room is a good size but smaller, and it's an absolute wreck right now. I've got to go through things and make it neater. Oh, and I forgot the laundry room. I really should include a picture because the linoleum is soooo ugly. Oh, well. The pictures of the dining room didn't turn out well, either, but I think you've gotten enough pictures for now!

Pregnancy Update: Almost 37 Weeks

I technically won't be 37 weeks until Thursday, but I thought that you may be more interested in knowing how the baby and I are doing instead of seeing pictures of our new house. (But I could be wrong. And I hope to get those pictures up tomorrow.)

John and I agree that I am bigger with this pregnancy than with my previous ones. I haven't gained that much more weight, only about five pounds, so we don't really understand why I seem so much bigger. The baby isn't especially big, either. Oh, well! But I really do look huge in this picture, don't I?!

How am I doing? Well, I'm tired. And I feel bulky. But I seem to be sleeping better, although I think that's because I'm doing so much during the day. I feel a little overwhelmed, too. My mother came down for the move, and she was a tremendous help, but I still have boxes to unpack. And I have things that are unpacked that need to be put away. And I have casseroles to prepare for after the baby comes. And I still have my daily chores to do. Oh, and I can't forget that I still have three children and a husband who need me as well. I feel like I have so much to do and so little time.

At my appointment last Wednesday, we agreed that I should be induced. I was induced with my previous three pregnancies, and I had great experiences. I want to be induced with this one, too. It certainly helps with the preparations! My doctor wants to schedule my induction at 39 weeks. That's just two weeks away. Two weeks! And I've got so much to do!! I think it's time to prioritize. And to realize that I may not get everything done. *Sigh*

My other good news is that my baby has turned so that she is head down, in good birthing position. Praise the Lord!

It's hard to believe that in a little over two weeks, I will be holding my new baby daughter in my arms. Where has the time gone?

Book Review: Sunrise on the Battery by Beth Hart

In Sunrise on the Battery by Beth Hart, Mary Lynn and Jackson are on the verge of entering the social elite in Charleston. They have worked their way up from poor beginnings and are thrilled that they are about to "arrive." While Mary Lynn is a nominal Christian, Jackson is not one at all. On Christmas Eve, Mary Lynn prays that God will touch Jackson's heart and bring him to Him. But she is not prepared for what God actually does in Jackson's life. After a lot of struggling with himself and with God, Jackson embraces the Truth whole-heartedly and is willing to give up everything he and Mary Lynn have worked for. Mary Lynn is happy with her shallow faith and her social status and isn't sure she wants to stay with her husband who is so enraptured with his faith.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was enlightening to read about Mary Lynn and Jackson's beginnings through flashbacks. And it was fun to see how quickly Jackson's life changed when he believed. I was challenged in my own faith as I saw how Jackson lived out his faith and how he strove to learn as much as he could about it.

I want to thank BookSneeze for my (kindle) copy of this book, but my opinions are my own.

Finished Object Friday: A Blanket for MY Baby

I wish I could say that I worked on this blanket during all of my "off-line time," but actually, I finished it the night before we moved. And I didn't do too much crocheting because I was too busy unpacking and spending time with my mother who was here to help us move.

Anyway, I made this blanket for my baby. Since I think that every baby deserves something handmade that belongs only to him, and since I enjoy making baby blankets, all of my babies have had at least two blankets that belong only to them. (Here is the other blanket I've already crocheted for this baby.)

I found the pattern for this blanket in Crochet Today!, and I thought it would make a nice, warm blanket. Yes, we live in Florida, but I hear that it does get a little chilly here. Better safe than sorry, right? Here is a close-up so you can see the pattern a little better.

The raised stitch was something I had never done before, so I enjoyed learning something new. And the strips were single-crocheted together or else I would not have made this blanket. (I hate sewing things together.) This was a fun blanket that I will probably make again...at some point.

For more Finished Object Friday, head over to Fresh from the Chari Tree. (Check out that scrumptious-looking cake she made.)

I'm Back!

I just wanted to let you know quickly that we're back online. Finally, finally! It feels like it's been forever! I've got too much catching up to do to post anything significant today, but hopefully, I'll get back into the swing of things next week. I can't wait to show you pictures of our new house! And I may just have some information about my baby for you; don't worry, it's all good! Everything is still fine, and she has flipped into the correct position for birthing. Meanwhile, I will be trying to catch up with your blogs, facebook, and other things that I haven't been able to do during the past two weeks.