How you feeling? Hot! Hot! Hot!

Warning: This post contains personal details about bodily functions. If you don't want to know these things about me, stop reading now.

When I first became pregnant with Adam, I was amazed that anyone ever complained about any aspect of pregnancy. I mean, I was growing LIFE. I was consumed by this incredibly sacred knowledge, glowing with the joy of it all. I loved the purchasing of tiny baby socks and researching every baby product under the sun. Sure there was nausea (eventually), but that was just a good sign of a healthy growing fetus. Nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) could overshadow the joys of fulfilling my purpose on earth (which, to tell you the truth I do still think is pretty amazing). I loved being pregnant. It was new and sacred and I had nothing else that was nearly as important in my life. I even found giving birth to be somewhat of a breeze compared to what I had expected. In fact, with Adam, I went in to be induced and was told that I was already in labor. I was surprised to find this out - I didn't even know I was contracting! I looked forward to my next pregnancy.

Recently, I commented to my doctor that being pregnant at 37 was a lot harder than being pregnant at 30. He told me that it had nothing to do with age - it was that subsequent pregnancies become more difficult as you go. It makes me wonder how on earth that Duggar woman can handle pregnancy. If you don't know who she is, she's the woman who has 18 kids and is pregnant with her 19th. If you want to learn more about her, their website is here:

http://www.duggarfamily.com/

So, since I'm awake anyway, I thought I would share a few very personal details. I do this in the hope that should I get baby hungry again for ANY reason, I will read and reflect upon the following and remember, with fondness, why I never wish to do this again. The children are beyond worth it, but two babies in 15 months time is quite enough, thank you!

Things I will NOT miss about being pregnant (in no particular order):

1. Night sweats. Nothing like waking up drenched in sweat in the middle of the night. Can you guess what woke me tonight?
2. Waking up with cotton mouth (thanks, night sweats)
3. Leg cramps. Waking up and dragging my cramping legs to the bathtub every two to three nights.
4. Sore legs for two or more days from said leg cramps.
5. Heartburn. Don't eat two hours before bed, yet somehow eat several mini meals throughout the day. Don't drink with your meal. Don't eat anything with onions, garlic, spice, seasoning, flavor, texture, or salt.
6. Nausea (Yes, I'm a lucky one who gets to be nauseous first AND third trimesters)
7. Constipation (When I say this one, I always seem to say it to the tune of Carly Simon's Anticipation) It's constipation whoa oh, oh - it's consti-pay-ay-shun and it's making me mad...)
8. The lack of the ability to walk more than 1 block at a time
9. Aching hips from sleeping on my side
10. Throwing up EVERY time I brush my teeth
11. Pregnancy incontinence (can't sneeze, cough, throw up, or laugh too hard)
12. Being 10 degrees hotter than everyone else and having my friends feel the need to dress as though they are headed for an arctic expedition just to come hang out with us.
13. Maternity pants - the way they slide down my body, creating that baggy gangsta look.
14. Having to climb into my SUV, rather than just hop in.
15. Rushing to the bathroom with great urgency, only to find I only had a teaspoon of liquid to expel. (aka, Max thinks my bladder is his personal trampoline, and to be fair I guess it's not like there's really that much to do in there).
16. Using the bathroom 15 times each day.
17. Seeing my doctor on a weekly basis. I mean, I like the guy, but I have better things to do than sit around his office for two hours while I wait for a five minute appointment.
18. Body smells. Why on earth do my armpits smell ten times worse when I'm pregnant? I seem to make smells when I'm pregnant that I didn't even know were possible for the human body to make. Where is that cat pee smell coming from??? Oh wait, that's not cat pee - that's me.
19. Being unable to gracefully stand up without assistance
20. Sleeping on the couch for back support. I miss being next to my husband each night.
21. Grasping for words and saying the wrong word even though I know perfectly well what I meant. (Shut the gate -- I mean door.)
22. Hormonal emotionality. 'Nuff said.

I'm willing to bet there are more, but 22 is good for tonight. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Things I will miss about being pregnant:

1. The sacred and powerful knowledge that our Father in Heaven trusted us enough to allow us to bring one of His children to our home.
2. Baby kicks from the inside
3. The wondrous anticipation of dreaming blue or pink

That's it - only three. They are a pretty amazing three though, I must admit.

And so, to answer the question: Are you done?

As far as Michael and I are concerned, we're done. However, I don't want to do anything drastic because life is unpredictable. I would hate to do something I couldn't undo only to discover that I made a mistake. That being said, I am 37 (nearly 38) and am uninterested in having three babies under three in just over three years. I am also completely uninterested in raising teenagers in my retirement years. So unless I receive a very strong personal witness that there is another spirit waiting to join our family, I am totally good with being done. I will always be sad that I didn't get a baby girl to raise, but I will be equally grateful to never have another adolescent girl to raise. That being said, I trust my Father in Heaven with my whole heart and soul, and know that He knows what is best for our family. As for baby Sara Flora (our girl name, named after my maternal grandmother and incredible great aunt), perhaps I will be able to have her in the eternities. No matter what though, I am so grateful for the beautiful children I have, and look forward to the birth of Max Tucker Hooten, some time in the next two and a half weeks.

And so, until next time (which hopefully will be to announce the joyous news of Max's birth)...

Halloween Smilebox

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What's for dinner ... and a few other things.

October has been such a busy month - I'm glad to be transitioning to November. At this posting, I'm five weeks away from delivery (I get to be induced a little early). It's hard to believe this is happening so quickly! It's been a very slow pregnancy with a very fast last trimester. Tons of heartburn -- so if the old wives' tales are true, we'll have another baby with a full head of hair. The house is a wreck, and I feel incredibly urgent about cleaning and organizing, yet so very worn out at the same time!

Frankie's been having a rough go of things, but that's life with her - ebbs and flows. I just don't understand how teenagers can make such utterly stupid decisions! It's like they hit puberty and their ability to be reasonable exits the building. Hopefully the nearness of Christmas will help her be a little more on the nice side and less on the playing with fire side.

Adam is our sweetheart - he just has the gentlest, kindest personality. Yesterday, totally out of the blue he turned to Frankie and said "Sis, I just want you to know that I would die for you if it would save your life." Where does he come up with this stuff? He constantly amazes me. Today, he was referring to a tv show he likes - Phineas and Ferb. He was asking me if the secret agent character on it (Perry the Platypus) has a good heart. I said "I guess so." He responded with "Well, he must have a good heart because he loves his nemesis. I mean, how many nemesises (sic) love their nemesis?" He loves the Mr. Men shows, and he's returned to loving Scooby Doo. He sings the "What's new Scooby Doo" theme song far more often than I care to hear it, but I'm very grateful he's not into violent cartoons. I will take what I can get!

Thomas is our busy boy - into everything! He's so playful and curious. He walks several steps (with assistance) but seems pretty content to crawl most of the time. I can't blame him - he's a very fast crawler, and he has places to explore! He calls Michael "dee dee" and me "mamamamama" and Adam "Adee." He doesn't really have a name for Frankie yet, but he lights up every time he sees her. He can nod his head in the affirmative and understands "no no and night night." He's actually understood "no no" for quite awhile now but has never really liked hearing it.

And baby boy Max is quite a kicker. Not that there's much else to do in there, but so far I'm predicting another Thomas. I have to admit, I'm still a little sad that I'll never have a baby girl, but I'm extraordinarily grateful that I'll never have another teenage girl!

That's about it for now, except for the what's for dinner part. So, I leave you with our November dinner calendar. I didn't include our Thanksgiving menu, but for what it's worth, I tend to prefer fairly traditional Thanksgiving foods.

Here's the Thanksgiving menu:

Sausage stuffed mushrooms
Relish tray
Roast Turkey (seasoned only with butter) with turkey gravy
Mashed potatoes
Traditional bread stuffing with Craisins
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Puree with pecan crumble and/or marshmallow brulee
Brussel sprouts with bacon & caramelized onion
Glazed carrots
Yeast rolls with orange honey butter
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie

I hate that green bean glop, so that stuff doesn't make it to our table. I do however, prefer that jelled canned cranberry stuff. Go figure. My father thinks that Thanksgiving is not complete without Lasagna, but I prefer Lasagna at Christmas.

As for the rest of the month, here you go. Feel free as always to email me for recipes.



Until next time...

I like bananas because they have no bones...

Me: Adam, do you want half of my banana?
Adam: Nope.
Me: Do you want 1/4 of my banana?
Adam: Uh-uh (negative).
Me: Do you want 1/3 of my banana?
Adam: No.
Me: What if I want you to want part of my banana?
Adam: Its good to want things.

October Dinner Calendar

October is my very favorite month of the entire year - the air becomes crisp, it's apple picking season, and it houses my favorite holiday of all - Halloween! I love Halloween the most because it is the most amount of fun for the least amount of effort. I love the excited feeling in the air as children prepare to trick or treat. I love watching the leaves on the mountains change colors. I love watching Fall enter in earnest.

My dear sweet friend, Paula, came over and taught me a great deal about sewing, and together we made both Frankie and Adam's costumes. Frankie has an amazing witch's costume, and Adam wanted to be a character from one of his favorite computer games - Bookworm Adventures. Here's a look at the original worm:

We modified an animal costume for the body, bought a pair of gold rimmed glasses, and a red bow tie. The resulting costume is fantastic, and would be very easy to convert to a frog next year, but I don't think Adam is having any of that. Thomas will be a monkey, because absolutely nothing fits his personality better. We'll have a motley crew of trick-or-treaters, but that's just one of the things that makes Halloween so fun.

For my neighbors, I always have hot apple cider for grown ups because it's usually fairly blustery out. For the kids, we get a great assortment of both candy and Halloween type toys, because not every kid can have candy. We also have Safe-t-pops for the smallest trick-or-treaters.

Oh, the dinner calender? Right - ok, here it is:


So, enjoy -- and feel free to email or ask for recipes. I'm always happy to provide them. That's about it for now. Until next time... (when our newest addition will be - gulp - almost here).

P.S. If anybody wants to come stay with us for a couple of weeks and help out after Max is born, we are totally open and have an enormous guest room! Any takers?

The return of dinner...

Well, the return of the dinner calendar anyway. It's not like we haven't eaten dinner all summer but I haven't been as diligent with my calendars. Summer is such a great time to be flexible, and with the combo of hot out and pregnant, my willingness to eat has been fairly unpredictable.

Now that the weather is (slowly) starting to cool down, I am once again making dinner plans. Now for the hard part -- sticking to them.

Here for your perusal is our September dinner calendar. Enjoy!

Here comes the .... groom?

So, it may seem like most of our posts are about Adam, but there's a reason for that - he's very funny. Thomas doesn't really have much to say these days beyond "hi, dada, and mama," and the things that Frankie says are typical of a teenage girl and well, I don't necessarily want to repeat those things ;-)! Adam's just at a magical age where the things that pop out of his mouth are very amusing. Even so, Adam recently shared with me that he can't wait to grow up.

"Mom," he said, "I can't wait to be 21." Gulp, I thought. Does my baby already want to know what it's like to drink? It couldn't be. "Why, Adam?" I asked with some trepidation. "Ummmmm," he hesitated with an embarrassed sound in his voice (adding to my concern). "Just tell Mommy. Why can you not wait to be 21?" (Please don't let him want to drink, please don't let him want to drink). "Ummmmmm..." he hesitated again. "Adam, just tell mommy." In sotto voce he said "So I can get married."

Who knew that my seven year old wanting to get MARRIED would be a relieving thought!!!