first.
We're weaning Violet off her binky. --- I knew there was a reason why I preferred to do this at four months. The last two bedtimes have just been painful. But I am NOT going to keep crawling around on the floor in the middle of the night to find a binky so she can go back to bed. --- Especially since my expanding belly is making that increasingly uncomfortable. And I am NOT going to have two babies in my house using binkies, ya know?
second.
I went to Parent Teacher Conference with Lilie's teacher this morning. Lilie is amazing. Here are a few things her teacher loves about her.
Lilie is incredibly creative and artistic.
Lilie is a friend to everyone, very kind and inclusive. She takes others under her "wing" so to speak, and helps them feel a part of the group.
Lilie is always thinking. Her teacher says that she feels like she can literally see the wheels in Lilie's head turning. Thinking, thinking, thinking.
Lilie is almost always happy, happy, happy. Very confident, very self-assured.
Lilie is very smart and has had no problem with any of her work. Mrs. Ball has moved her up to the first grade reading level, along with one other girl in her class. She loves learning and loves school.
The only problem that she mentioned with Lilie at all, is that sometimes she doesn't pay attention to what is going on, because she is caught up with whatever is going on in her head. :) Mrs. Ball said that it is probably just because Lilie gets a little bit bored sometimes with the Kindergarten curriculum.
I love my Lilie. None of the things that her teacher told me were really new or surprising, but it's nice to hear such positive feedback about my little wild girl from someone else. :) Lilie is so wonderful. She loves learning and she loves school. It is such a joy to be her mother.
third.
This pregnancy, that I am now . . . 17 weeks into (wow!) . . . has been really emotional for me. And guess what? I don't even really know why. To answer the shock/surprise/incredulity of, I'm sure, many of you --- yes. This baby was planned and we are WAY excited. But, FIVE! Holy smokes?! Can you believe that we are going to have FIVE kids???!!! (That's one little piece of the emotion.) I'm only going to be 29 and have five children . . . . . . . . . FIVE? I'm not even 29 YET! (That's a second piece.) Also, I feel like I'm entering a new phase of life . . . the one where I have five(!!!!) kids and I'm going to turn thirty and I'm getting to a point where covering up grey hair is a real problem (and I'm not talking about like, 4 hairs here gals. I know some of you that are complaining about four or five --- that's NOT what I'm talking about). I'm entering a phase where I can remember my mom at this age. I can remember my mom and I can remember being 18 and thinking that 29, 30 was really . . . old? mature? I don't know. All I DO know is that I wasn't expecting to get HERE and really feel like I'm still 18 years old. (Enter pieces three, four, five (FIVE?!), and a million.)
I am stoked about adding another little person to our family. I know that this is the right thing. I'm SO happy with where we are in our lives right now. I LOVE having my kids as close as they are. But at the same time . . . how the heck did we get here???!! I'm just having one of those step-out-of-myself moments where it feels like I'm kind of removed from my life, looking in from a distance and trying to figure out how I got here. It happens to me on occasion. We're going along, taking life a day at a time, when BAM! I realize that my kids just got years older right before my eyes . . . only this moment is not lasting for like a day or a week, it's lasting for months and it's really weird.
fourth.
I don't really know if I want to tell ANYONE the gender of this baby before it arrives. After having four girls, I can tell you now, people say some idiotic things about the gender of your children when you have multiples of one gender. And I feel like for at least my last two babies, people have been actually DISAPPOINTED when I tell them that we're having a girl. (And for those of you who can't follow what I'm rambling about here, no. I don't know what THIS CURRENT baby is yet.)
With both Elsie and Violet, I repeatedly got this reaction to our announcing the gender of my baby. "Ohhhh . . . . . . . . really? Well . . . you're going to have more kids, right?" or "I'm sorry . . . well, at least it will be cheaper!"
I am so sick of people only getting excited if we were going to have a boy! And I am so sick of stupid people's comments! I don't want people's condolences if we have another girl and I don't want people's OVER excitement if we're having a boy.
I would be thrilled to have a boy, and I am thrilled if this little baby is a girl too! I'm so excited for whatever little person is going to be joining our family, because either way, we certainly don't make them dull! :) . . . . . we'll just have to wait and see if I let you all be excited with us or not (on Monday!), when we find out or if I make you all wait another 5 months!! :) Rude, huh?
fifth.
oh. my. goodness. FIVE?! AHHH! ha ha ha ha ha! we're nuts!!! I love it!
12 comments:
You are truly my hero! I just love how you're grabbing parenthood by the horns and bringing these sweet spirits (girls OR boys) :) into your home. :) I am in awe!!!
I LOVE how you wrote this!!! FIVE! Gaaaah!!! Squeeeeeeeee!
I am so excited for you, too. :)
Regardless what it is, I know it will be very happy in your family. We love our kids, it should not be disappointing when we find out the gender. IT is what we are supposed to have and I hate it too when people think it is the end of the world when we are given more than on baby of the same sex! Good for you for keeping it a secret...I love how mad people get when you don't tell! :)
I love it. Just sayin'. I love that your beautiful, fun, creative, sweet little girls are such an addition to the world. I'm so glad that we're gonna get another one, and another, and another! I can't wait to read about you freaking out over being pregnant with your 8th, 9th babies. It's gonna be great. Honestly, I absolutely envy your big, beautiful family and I can't wait to bring Addison up there to be a part of it all. Love you! I'm so, so happy for you (boy or girl).
P.S. I'm also having some major grey hair issues--not happy about it. I'm not looking forward to the salt 'n pepper look.
I think that whatever you have will be awesome. Your girls are so great and another girl would just had that much more greatness. And a boy would be wonderful. Whatever you have is what the lord intended for you to have. And it will be great no matter what. I love ya. It was so good to see you again this last weekend.
First of all congratulations! And second, we love all your little girls. They are so smart and beautiful and wonderful, each and everyone of them! And it doesn't matter the sex of your new baby, we will love that little person as well.
But really the real issue here is the binky situation! :) I have the same problem!!!! So for your next baby, here is my advice about binkies, have an extra one on a bedside table ready to pop in the baby's mouth when you have to get up. Then in the morning you can find the other one that got lost in the bed, or fell on the floor. Saves you some time and headaches, and you get to sleep faster. (which is the most important thing of all. Because if mom is tired and cranky, everyone is!)
Love you all!
Dido on everything that you said! I think that you are awesome to write what you really feel! Your girls are so cute and I love reading about them and all their adventures!
YOU are AWESOME!!! I love the post! I agree people really do say dumb things. My favorite part of the post is "either way, we certainly don't make them dull! :)" Your little chickies are fantastic little bodies!
Love you tons!
rachel, you are so awesome and i just love you.
one: i have thought of the same problem with the binkie & leah. luckily she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night when she doesn't have it, & we only use it for emergencies but still. i have visions of her grabbing the baby's binkies or going all ape-crazy if she sees her with it.
two: i just LOVE when you talk about lilie. the way you describe her, i just fall in love with her personality.
three: you having FIVE and with such a good attitude about it reminds me to get over myself!
four: i don't care what you're having, you have beautiful girls! and if you produce another chickie girl that would just be one more option for caleb to choose from when he's able to date! and if it's a fella, he and leah will be betrothed. i hope he likes older women. :)
five: if you DON'T tell me what you're having, i'll gut you like a fish! how else am i supposed to send a little gift?
six: i just love you.
Rachel, there are so many reasons to love you. And that's all I have to say. Actually, I have more. I always envisioned myself having 5 children by this point, or at least a few, but life always happens different than we were expecting. And really, 30 is old...that's what I keep hearing from my husband anyway (probably because I'll get there 6 months before him). But I just have to say that I think it's awesome you're having another one. It's always exciting when someone is pregnant and a new (unknown to us at this moment) little bundle of wonder and joy will come to their home. It's so cool to think about what personality they will bring to the family. I personally would think it's cool if you have 5 girls...think about the wonder that is, you would have 5 girls in your family and they are all unique in their own special way. We have some friends who just had their 5th boy and it's always a fun time at their house. There is NEVER a dull moment in a house full of one gender. It just seems fun and out of proportion at the same time, which is fabulous! Bring on baby Chick #5. (And PS. I think it's perfect for you to have so many girls with a last name like Chick!)
I love reading your blog! You always make me smile! I got the same reaction when my third was a girl (I have three girls) Aren't you sad its not a boy? NO I am happy she is healthy and here with me! :) So enjoy your new addition without anyone's comments! :)
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