Nesting with Nine Weeks Left

Monte always says our babies come out full grown and it seems that this one will be no exception.  At my 28 week appointment, because of babies predicted size, my doctor moved up my due date by a few days and set an induction date for the end of July, nine days earlier than my original due date, which puts me almost two weeks ahead of schedule.  On one hand I am thrilled to have a date and a plan, but it sends me into a tail spin of list making, planning, cooking and cleaning.  Only nine weeks to go until there will be six children to care for, feed, and love living under our roof.  So what does a mother do to prepare for child number six?  

First of all we are skipping the whole nursery racket.  With Baby number one, the nursery was a masterpiece. We worked for months as the entire upstairs was remodeled in anticipation of her arrival. The perfect yellow paint and matching moon wallpaper boarder was purchased and matching bedding was made. Light switch covers in true theme finished off the room. It was perfect. The beauty of it all must have been overwhelming because neither of our first two children ever wanted to sleep in there.  This baby will get a corner bassinet in our room with a comfy rocker nearby to cuddle and nurse with mom in the wee hours of the night.  So washing up a little bedding and cleaning out a little corner of our room will be the extent of nursery prep.

When Gracen was born two years ago, I became obsessed with freezer meals.  I had two months worth (40 meals) between my deep freezer and kitchen freezer.  As a mama it feels like my family is taken care of when they are well fed.  It was so nice to just pull out a home cooked meal to thaw for the evening and spend that time cuddling with the new baby or giving much needed attention to the children instead of cooking.  So again that is the goal.  A couple of extra meals to send over to the grandmas and family helping with the other five kids during the delivery would also be great to help assist them in caring for lots of little people.
Another major task to tackle is a thorough cleaning of the whole house top to bottom.  I loosely follow flylady's zone cleaning and concentrate on one or two areas of the house each week until its done.    Organizing and decluttering each room will be a big part of the process.  This job is my least favorite but it feels so good when it is finally done.  My goal is to have this one done two weeks before the baby is scheduled to come and then just try to maintain and do regular weekly cleaning until the big day arrives.

 

After having five babies in our home you begin to realize what is necessary baby equipment and what becomes clutter.  This time I did purchase a used bassinet and we will use that for a little while instead of a crib.  It will take up less space in our room and give our two year old a few more months to transition to a toddler bed.  My personal baby must haves are a boppy for nursing (they last through 2 babies), a good breast pump, nursing covers, a bouncy seat, an activity gym (the kind that fold flat for storage), a swing (my babies have all loved to swing in the kitchen while I cook), baby sling or carrier, a car seat (duh), and later on, a stander (I love to use this outside to keep my crawling babies up off the ground so I have a cheap garage sale version).  I rarely use my pack and play but love to have it available for naps away from home or for baby safety by the pool during the summer.  These last two items are sort of my baby hoarding obsession.  I am never completely satisfied with what we have in the areas of diaper bags and strollers.  With strollers I need doubles, singles, big heavy duty and small compact fold up and diaper bags are a similar dilemma.  Luckily I have gotten smart and started buying used strollers.  I now have a decent select to choose from depending on the outing and combination of adults/kiddos.  I can

see Monte rolling his eyes now, but I would love just one more for this baby...the kind that is just a frame to clip our carseat on.  I won't buy new but if I see one at a consignment or garage sale surly we could make room in the garage for just one more (making 4...plus the two that still need to be donated).  Another piece of equipment needed for this baby is a new seat for our Yukon.  We have room for just one more if we swap out our captains chairs in the second row for a bench seat.  Monte found a good deal on a seat five hours away and if everything works out, he will be making the trip this weekend to pick it up.  It doesn't quite match our interior but it will do the job without us having to buy another vehicle. 

 

Lastly this baby will need clothes.  I started sorting through my baby boy tubs and am not to impressed by the selection.  ALL of my baby boys, including foster have been May birthdays and this one will be late July so seasons will be a bit off, especially early on when those little outfits only fit for a few months.  Bentley our almost twelve year old, was thrilled to go to Carter's and pick out some adorable newborn necessities.  I will keep my eyes open at consignment and garage sales as well.

So that is it in a nutshell.  The lists and sticky notes are everywhere as I try to get organized and make a plan to get it all done. We figured up that we only have four free saturdays until the baby arrives.   Time slips by so fast and before you know it this little one will be joining us.  I can't wait.  Tiny babies demand a life that slows down and we will all be ready for that after a busy summer.  We are blessed to get to experience this newness of life again. We know how quickly those moments are gone and we will intentionally take the time to breathe it all in.

Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.

Psalm 127:3-5

Happy Birthday Bubba

 

Today is our sweet baby boy's second birthday!  He was a surprise blessing and has given us two years of pure joy.  He is silly, sweet, and loves to wrap his little arms around us and shower us with kisses.  He is a gift.   We love you Bubba!

He loves his Cee Cee Cat...

and being silly...

and wants to read...



and read...

and read...

He adores his brothers and sisters...

and sometimes he gets a little too wild...but we wouldn't trade a moment of being his parents for anything in this world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACEN!!!!  WE LOVE YOU!!

Blessed by Servant Hearts

As many of you know, our last few weeks have been stressful around our house to say the least.  Two weeks ago our little Vaeh became very sick with a bacterial infection in her bladder that moved into her kidneys and eventually to her blood.  As an infant, before she came to live with us, she suffered many untreated infections that eventually shut down her left kidney.  After lots of medical treatment early on and continued monitoring, she has been infection free for over two years.  For those of you who know Vaeh she is very happy most of the time and her smile is contagious.  She has high pain tolerance and by the time she shows the effects of being sick she is often very sick.  We spent a few days in the hospital and then returned home with and I.V. still in her arm and returned to the hospital daily for I.V. antibiotics. We were only released with the promise and threat that we would return if we could not keep her hydrated or control her temperature at home.  She continued to run a fever for over a week but God's hand was on us as we barely reached the doctors criteria each day to stay out of the hospital.  At least at home we were all together as a family but it was a juggle to meet Vaeh's medical needs and appointment schedule along with all of the other children's emotional needs and keep up the house. 

Just as she started to get better and it felt like we were coming up to the surface for air, our baby boy broke his elbow.  Now this was far less serious than Vaeh's medical needs but it was another issue thrown into the mix and another hurting child.  As a mama watching your children hurt breaks your heart and between that and the exhaustion that pregnancy brings I was on the verge of a melt down. 

This is the point where I started to look for the blessings in the mess.  Vaeh was home and slowly getting better, Gracen's elbow was broken but everything was still in alignment and we already had a favorite and familiar orthopedic doctor, our little guy who needs his routine and structure so desperately was handling our crazy schedule and exhausted mommy well, and then there were those people with servant hearts.

God has blessed us with both sides of our family nearby and a treasured church family.  The grandmas and grandpas pitched in throughout the ordeal and stepped in to take care of the other children so that we could focus on Vaeh's care and later take Gracen to all of his appointments.  Many texted, said or sent kind words of encouragement.  Then the meals started pouring in.  Our family was fed for almost a week by some very special people.  Even before we knew how badly we needed it, a dear friend brought over not one but two meals and on Sunday when Gracen needed to be taken to immediate care for his arm, her meal was in the crockpot feeding all of the other children and grandma and grandpa while they waited at home to hear the outcome.  Now there is something about making sure that your family is fed that makes you feel like you are doing your job as a parent and it made me feel good to know that they were eating a home cooked meal when I couldn't be there.  It seems so trivial but its not.  The food that was made for us, those yummy homemade rolls, casseroles and the fruit and veggies cut up with care, along with those yummy pizza hut gift cards, not only fed our bodies but lifted our spirits and helped us to feel that we were not alone.  We felt the love of those who had prepared it but we also felt God's love through them.

Being a Homeschool Mom, this experience would become nothing less than a character lesson.  First of all what would I learn from this experience and what could I teach from this experience?  We started with a family conversation about the people who had provided our food.  They had servant hearts.  They were the helpers in the midst of our upside down world.  Now having a servant heart doesn't come naturally to me.  It seems that I always have an excuse for why I am to busy to help or why my help wouldn't be helpful.  But...I can cook...I love to cook and even when people say they are doing fine (like I did at first *wink*) a meal or even a kind word is truly appreciated.  In the midst of the chaos I didn't know what I needed.  I talked with our children about learning to stop and think...what can I do to help?  They struggled with seeing mommy and daddy so little and when they did see us, knowing that we were under so much stress.  They were worried about their little siblings and felt helpless.  We talked about what being a helper meant for them, seeing a job around the house and doing it or even just making sure that their own assigned chores were done without even being asked was a huge help to keeping our house running smoothly.  Helping the grandmas and grandpas take care of their siblings, not fighting, and helping around their houses was having a servant heart.  This morning I saw the character lesson lived out when I returned from an appointment and found the dishes done.  I assumed that Monte had done it but when I asked was told that our oldest daughter had seen that they needed done and did them.  So I will learn from her and I will learn from our experience to stop and think what can I do to help?  Even when it doesn't come naturally, I will work to have a servant heart because I couldn't have made it through the last few weeks without those who did.  For all of you we are truly thankful!