Introducing...

3:03 AM, Thursday, September 1, 2016.

8 lbs 14 oz, 20.25" long.
Mother and baby are both doing well.

"A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple,
of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard
us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended
unto the things which were spoken."
Acts 16:14

Preserving Summer (aka Nesting)

So this is a lot of what's been keeping us busy lately. There were also swimming lessons for almost half the kids and miscellaneous school prep for the older 5. And all but QB got to spend at least one Tuesday with Grandma C at the cousin's house across the border. But now pretty much all the canning I wanted to do is done (we probably should make more applesauce though) and the official due date is tomorrow, so we're down to the waiting for baby game.

What I love most about this picture though is how much time it represents that I was able to spend with various individual children.

Over 100lbs of butternuts (25lbs pictured here) were collected over five days of swimming lessons at the local park. While the kids in lessons were swimming most of the others played on the playground and one or two kids would help me collect shopping bags or feed pails of nuts off the ground at the park. This gave me time with just about all the kids individually. Later when we dried the nuts in the dryer, it was Dolly who spent hours washing out the walnut stain that was left behind each time we dried a batch of nuts. I'm sure she was happy to see the long range forecast with record temperatures and no cloud cover that prompted the nut drying process to be moved outdoors. Without the threat of rain, we spread the butternuts across the driveway and let the sun dry them for us.

This pail of apples came from the two trees we have, and I got to spend time with Hal and QB picking them up off the ground. Well, I carried the pail and they picked up the apples since they are already a lot closer to the ground and can bend over better than I can currently. :) These apples are the best of what we collected and have been reserved for school lunches. We collected other apples and pears from the neighborhood trees and Granny sent bags of windfall apples from her house to us via Grandpa and Grandma C. Butler was my one-on one applesauce maker - we made 6 quarts, but then ate one quart right away because everyone loved the samples from our canning leftovers. QB especially loved the 'app-sauce!' and in spite of his size, he probably got the lion's share of what we put out for dinner. The plan is to make more since we still have buckets of apples sitting outside the front door, but they can wait until after the baby comes.

The 4½qts of hazelnuts were Ricka and Dolly's specialty. They were my 'hazelnut hunters' and we had a lot of fun wandering the property identifying trees together. Ricka still brings me an odd hazelnut that she finds every once in a while.

PC nearly did all the work involved in making the 10 pints of peach salsa and he willingly helped me pit and chop a whole pail of plums that I needed for later. Emma worked with me to make one of the two batches of plum jam including picking the crab apples in the sheep field that we needed for making the jam pectin. We ended up with a total of 5 pints of plum jam and 4 more of plum jam/sauce (those didn't set up quite as nicely as the first batch).

Dolly worked in tandem with me to make the first two batches of peach jam which was a really fun project because she did all of her batch herself after watching me and copying what I did on my batch. She took a few minutes longer to get her batch off the stove, and ended up with a darker jam that set up better than my lighter colored batch. It was a rainbow after the thunderstorm type of thing and I was really thankful for that because she had worked so hard and thought she ruined everything by letting the jam cook longer than it was supposed to. For the other batches of peach jam I had random helpers that came and went, but we ended up with a total of 16 pints and the kids gobbled one up in sandwiches the first few days after we made the first batch.

The five older kids collected the one pail of pears that we let ripen in the living room for a week before I turned most of them into baby food. Any leftover peaches and plums were also turned into baby food and we ended up with a total of 18 half pints of baby food split between the three flavors. It works out to about 36 jars of store-bought baby food. Again, I had random helpers during the baby food batches, but they came and went and helped while there was something that kept them interested in the job at hand. One of my favorite quotes was from one of the older kids, "Don't worry Mommy, when I grow up, I'm going to do canning too!" And it was immediately followed by a sibling's enthusiastic, "Yeah! me too!".

I think it was rewarding to all of the kids when we collected everything we put up during the month to take a picture and they could see all their hard work in collecting and preparing the bit we did all in one place. And it's rewarding to me to see all my children learning and appreciating the value of projects like these while they're still young.

"Go to the ant.... consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."
Proverbs 6:6-8

The Tie-Breaker

5:16 AM, Sunday, November 30, 2014.

9 lbs 5 oz, 20.5" long.
Mother and baby are both doing well.

And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy
brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten
loaves... and look how thy brethren fare."
1 Samuel 17:17-18

Announcing...

3:54 PM, Sunday, February 17, 2013.

8 lbs 8 oz, 21.75" long.
Mother and baby are healthy but tired.

"But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him:
for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them
to inherit the land which thou shalt see."
Deuteronomy 3:28


8 lbs, 8 oz


Wide Awake


Mommy & Baby

And the Pressure's On...

It has been for a while now, but it's getting worse. Still, there is no new baby here.

Tuesday morning I woke up with a flaming sore throat. By Thursday it was feeling better, but now I'm congested. And it's going to my lungs. (That's where most things end up with me).

Thursday Sir and I finally made the last decision on a baby name. I know it wasn't a huge deal in reality, but it always has been a huge deal to me. So having complete names for both genders was a big relief for me.

Friday I saw the Dr. I told you, I thought the due date might actually be tomorrow right? Well, paperwork rules in these parts, and the numbers said I was 5 days overdue. I was 5 minutes late, but that's usually not a problem because they make you wait 30-40 minutes before they get to you most days. I ran up the two flights of stairs anyway and when I walked through the door... there wasn't a single person in the waiting room. I submitted my urine sample, they rushed me to the scale - down 3 lbs from last week to their surprise, not really to mine since I've been battling this cold all week. I had less than five minutes to wait for the doctor to show up, and then it wasn't my normal doctor! I do not adjust to quick surprise changes very well. On top of that, this new doctor's original language WAS NOT English, so that made communication that much better. I did figure out my normal doctor was in the building and would join us later. Ok great, so now I have a doctor in training. I figured if my normal doctor was going to come in later, I could handle a newbie for a few minutes. So first she takes my blood pressure, but I had to sit 'just so' while she squeezed my arm off. I could feel the stress levels increase at each step of this appointment, so I was only a little surprised when she claimed my pressure was high. It's never been really high, so I asked her what it was, and she said it was 155/80. For most of the pregnancy it's been 110/70.

Anyway, my normal doctor came in right after that, and there was someone to communicate with! She re-took my blood pressure and got 120/80, which was understandable I think. I also think I've mentioned that this baby seems smaller than the rest of my kids... the chart has backed me up on that. I've been measuring smallish throughout most of the pregnancy. All the more reasons to think the due date might just be a little off. Wait until I tell you about the dating ultrasound way back in July...
It was scheduled for 6pm and they'll cancel it if you're not there 15 minutes early, so I got there and checked in at 5:42. There was no wait. I was in, scanned and driving away at 5:58. It was a "so when do you think you're due?" I answer "Feb 10-17ish probably". Jot jot jot - they write down my answer, took a few ultrasound snapshots and sent me on my way. It seemed like, yeah, the baby appeared to be in that range... let's just pick a day. But somehow my doctor missed the actual EDD (estimated due date) indicated on the report. That said Feb 12th (kindof in the middle of the range I gave, huh?). And somehow the 10th was written across the top of my paperwork and that meant the prenatal chart said I was 5 days overdue - only 3 based on the ultrasound report (which I did point out). So, I now have 4 days left to have this baby whether the baby or I think it's ready or not.

They've already scheduled a 'non-stress' test for this coming Tuesday. That's where they put a belt on me and monitor the baby's heart rate for 45 minutes. And their plan is to send me in on Wednesday (a whole 24 hours later) to be induced if the baby isn't already here by then. Believe me, my blood pressure never went back to normal yesterday. I was a wreck. Ask my family - actually, don't.

Now if I can stop stressing about getting over this cold in time to meet my 'deadline', I'll probably just have the baby already. But you kindof need to breathe during labor... at least that's been my past experience. It would probably help if I can somehow also ignore the feelings of being pushed into doing something before I'm ready. But for now, I have other things to do, like feed my children breakfast before they finish taking the house apart.

And taking a deep breath.

On a more cheerful note: Ricka came to me this morning with her diaper down her pajama leg and fussing about 'potty'. So I let her rush to the bathroom and she successfully went! Usually, she fusses after the fact so this is progress for us. :)

Fattening Up...

I figured if we're all going to be waiting around for this baby to decide to make it's debut, we could play a little estimation game in the meantime.

Object: Guess the exact weight or be the closest to the actual birth weight.

To help you out, I've included pictures of the other kids and a small blurb of information regarding how close they came to their due dates.

Dolly in grams and pounds/ounces.

I thought Dolly was due around January 15th that year. The detailed ultrasound indicated she'd be born around the 22nd. She was born on January 30th.

PC in pounds/ounces. He would have been 3345 grams.

I expected PC to arrive around July 5th. The dating ultrasound suggested the 7th and the detailed ultrasound claimed the 10th. He was born June 30th.

Emma in pounds/ounces. She was 4369 grams.

My calculations indicated her due date was September 12th. The ultrasound opted for the 18th. Emma was born on September 22nd. I did know before she was born that she was going to be bigger than both the other kids had been.

Butler in pounds/ounces. He was 4301 grams.

For a change, everyone agreed on the due date for this guy - Mama, ultrasound and baby. He was born on his due date - November 8th. I did think Butler was going to be bigger than Emma though, and the nurse actually laughed at me when my first response to his weight was, "That's all?!"

Ricka in grams and pounds/ounces.

I expected Ricka on June 20th, the ultrasound said she'd come around the 19th, and she surprised everyone and came on June 11th.

For this baby, my original due date guesstimate was either February 10th or the 17th. The ultrasound suggested the 10th and that was yesterday. I think this baby is small compared to most of the others if that helps any, but that doesn't mean much... remember Butler?. Now we just wait and see how long this little one wants to fatten up before meeting the rest of us. :) I'll start the guessing off at... 8lbs 4oz on February 17 minus an ounce for every day sooner and plus an ounce for each day after. So if it's born tonight that would put my guess at 7lbs, 14oz.

What do you think?

When Ricka Came

Another of my Draft Posts. I think it was just waiting for me to pick some cute pictures of Ricka and re-size them. But if this post is going up before the next baby comes, I should get on with it!

July 28th, 2011....

We just didn't know that Ricka was going to come a whole week early.

It's funny how when you think you have everything under control nothing goes according to plan. I was NOT ready for Ricka to come when she did. I had the whole last week before she was due completely booked. We did not have a baby name chosen, I did not have my hospital bag packed. After Grandma C. got hurt we alternated between going up to the hospital to see her and having Grandpa C. and Dee over for dinner and hockey.

Thursday (June 9th), we'd gone up to see Grandma and the next evening Grace and her kids joined us for dinner too. I was almost one week away from my due date. It's kind of interesting that just as Grace was leaving that evening she said, "Thanks again for dinner, and I hope you have that baby soon!" I laughed and agreed as I closed the door behind her and then started to tidy up since everyone had gone and Sir was finishing the screen door project he'd been working on for a couple days.

A couple hours later after discovering I still hadn't finished packing a hospital bag, Sir insisted I do that before I went to bed that night. "I don't care if you just have one pair of underwear in the bag. I just want to have a bag somewhere that I can grab!". Of course he knew I'd never settle for just partially packing my bag. After all, that was why it wasn't even packed. I had piles of stuff all over the place that I'd been collecting for my bag, but I just hadn't put it all together yet. So, at 11 pm, I finally dug out a duffle bag and put all my piles of collected stuff into it, and with that I had a hospital bag packed. Then we started talking about more baby name options sometime around midnight and when we'd finally settled on something, it was time to call it a night.

I woke up at 4:30 because my water had broken. That had never happened on its own before so at first there was quite a bit of confusion as we realized it was actually labor. Then we had to figure out who to wake up at 5am and ask if they could come watch the older kids while we headed to the hospital. The PLAN was, for my mom to come up from CA on the 13th (a whole 6 days before my due date), and we'd have someone already here when the baby finally decided to arrive. Ricka had her own plans, and thankfully, Chasm's Lady graciously took on this task in all it's short-notice and arrived in good time. I felt terrible asking her to come over when my contractions during the first half hour - 45 minutes weren't even worthy of being called contractions, but they were steadily increasing in intensity, so by the time we left our house to make the 5 minute drive to the hospital I was very glad the ride wasn't any longer.

At first I kept thinking, 'We can't go into labor now! The mattress guys are supposed to call between 7 and 8am to schedule a delivery time for later in the day and we have to be home.' We had decided that since my mom was going to be staying with us for a couple weeks after the baby came, we'd finally upgrade our double bed to a queen which would also give us a decent guest bed. I'd figured I'd have a whole week before the baby came, to set up a guest room for my mom once we got our new mattress.

Anyway, we finally called Chasm's Lady and she got to our house around 5:30. I felt terrible interrupting her day so early - especially when my contractions weren't that strong by the time she arrived, but it was a bit frightening to see how quickly and consistenly they were intensifying. By the time we got to the hospital less than 10 minutes later, I had to stop and really work through a contraction every 2 minutes.

We got checked in, settled into a delivery room and resigned ourselves to this being the 'real thing'. And then there was the hour that seems to take forever. I remember looking at the clock at 7:15 and thinking, 'If this was Butler, he'd be born already!'. To me, it seemed like my most dificult labour, but I was exhausted before it even started. All I wanted was a little break, so I could rest before we got down to the business of having a baby, but Ricka was on her way whether I was ready or not. Just a note: Do not go into labour after less than 4 hours of sleep!

And so, Ricka was born on Saturday, June 11th at 7:43 - just over 3 hours after I had woken up. She came out screaming mad and healthy as a horse! She took center stage size-wise compared to her other siblings weighing in at 8lbs, 13 oz and 21 inches long.

And that, is the story of when Ricka came.
THE END

To tell or not to tell...

For the past few weeks I've been trying to decide if I wanted to announce early on, this time, or wait as long as possible like we've always done before. Announcing early on won out because it seems with each pregnancy, I'm more tired than the time before, and it's very hard to act 'normal' when you're exhausted all the time.

So, instead of being between 4 and 5 months we're only at 9wks right now. It'll seem longer for you than me actually, because with everything going on around here constantly, the time just flies by. At least it seemed to go a LOT faster during my pregnancy with Butler than the other three.

I'm almost certain the due date for this baby is June 20th, but because this pregnancy was a bounce-back right after a miscarriage, my doctor wanted to do a dating ultrasound anyway. We'll do that on Saturday, and I can barely wait because I'll get to see/hear a heartbeat then! At my last prenatal appt, my doctor and I got to chatting away so much that we both forgot to get to listening for a heartbeat. I didn't even remember until the next day! A doctor you really get along with is wonderful when you're pregnant and usually emotional.

We told the other kids just last night - we figured they'd be hearing from other people soon enough, so we might as well give them a heads up. But it's going to be a long wait for them. They were very excited once it actually sunk in. At first they just stared at us blankly like they'd been stunned which was not exactly the reaction I had expected from them. Then they wanted to know how we knew. Dolly concluded that I must have figured it out because I was tired. "You were really tired, so that's how you knew right?" She's just had a quick bout with a stomach flu, so she continued sympathetically, "Yeah, maybe you're gonna throw up all the time like when I was in your tummy."

Poor PC, he dearly loves babies, and he has a very caring and nurturing side to him, but he also is terrified of change. Last night he went from shocked/dazed, to ecstatic, to overwhelmed by all the change that will come as a result of this latest bit of information. By the time he went to bed, he was sobbing because of the littlest things like still having a lingering cough, or wanting a drink of water or not wanting to go to the bathroom before bed or needing to blow his nose. I ended up sitting with him for a while pointing out all the fun things we'd need to do to get ready for a new baby - like finding out if he was big enough to move into a booster seat so the car seats could be passed down the line of kids. Once he was on a brighter note, he told me all about the stories Uncle W told him when he had a sleepover back in August. After that, he was ok enough to settle down for the night. This morning, he woke up singing and beside himself with excitement about a new baby. I love his passion for life!

Emma's excited because everybody else is, but I don't think she really realizes the reality of it yet. She says she wants a girl baby, but I'm guessing she's just copying Dolly on that. It will be interesting to watch her when she discovers she's going to have to re-train everyone. And Butler doesn't have a clue.

Now the trick is figuring out how we're going to fit another car seat into the van. We found a very narrow booster seat online, but you have to buy them in sets of 8 and we're not sure they're up to the Canadian car seat standards which would make a big difference when it came to selling the extras. We have to do a bit more research on that, but there's still time.

Well, I should post this while I have a chance. It's already lunch time and I have yet to make lunch which we have to eat fast enough so we can leave on time to get Dolly.

To tell or not to tell... (abridged)

I was going to write a long, elaborate post with all kinds of detail tonight, but pregnancy tends to make me tired. I think I'll just go to bed now and try again later.

He's Here!

Of course, now I feel like writing up a storm, but that might take longer and result in an even later post. So, here's a quick update for any still wondering. I am working on another post with lots of pictures between feedings and naps though that might not appear for a day or two depending on how things start adjusting at home.

After almost 3 hours of labour, we welcomed our youngest - a 22¼ inch long, 9lb, 8oz little boy on Sunday November 8th at 6:18am. I woke up around 3:30 Sunday morning, and figured that we might actually be finally going into 'real' labour by 4ish. We got to the hospital at 5am, and just over an hour later we got to meet our youngest son!

And now we're at home where we'll be figuring out how things function with four kids. The adventures of life!

Another Week Passed

Baby Dearest,

I thought you might be interested in an update on things out here in the real world. After all this time, and rushing about lately, I believe everything is finally ready for you to come!

When you arrive you will have a lovely name of your very own. Daddy and Mama spent many many hours looking for just the right one, but we found it and we can't wait to introduce you to everyone with it. The hospital bags and the overnight things for your siblings are all packed. Thanksgiving has come and gone, so you won't have to share your birthday with one of the funnest family holidays we have.

Mama has even gotten things on the to-do list done that have been waiting for months and months. The pantry is neat and tidy, I did a whole pile of mending the other day and your siblings helped me put the garden away for winter today, so the yard even looks nice. I should vacuum the house again, but raking the leaves on the patio this afternoon made me wish later that I'd skipped that job, and now I'm procrastinating a little when it comes to the vacuum.

Daddy keeps predicting that you'll come any day, and I'm beginning to wish he was right - you're getting awfully big you know, and I would love to lie down on my tummy again one of these days. Besides, you're probably close to 9½ lbs now and even Emma was barely bigger than that!

Well, tomorrow is meeting which means I should get some sleep soon. Wouldn't you like to meet everyone at meeting? They too, are all eagerly waiting to finally see you. So Little One, you are allowed to come now - the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for being such a compliant baby and waiting 'till the middle of the month like I instructed earlier. Your big brother asks for you every single morning - he already loves you so much. I can't wait to see his face when he finally gets to hold you!

Daddy, Dolly, PC and Emma send their love and like me, they can barely wait to meet you. Daddy even found a verse just for you, so I'll included it here as well!

"Come; for all things are now ready."
Luke 14:17

Lots of love,
~ Mama

Just in case you're wondering...

Junior has not arrived.

Despite Sir's daily predictions of a delivery 'before the week is out', we have not had to make any quick trips to the hospital. I have had a few Braxton Hicks contractions here and there, but they're random and usually it takes me a while to realize that's what just happened.

Sir tells me I'm just in denial... and maybe I am, but there's still more than enough that I need to get done right now that makes sooner labour rather impractical. And I like practicality. (Baby... I hope you heard that!)

Besides, the 'official' due date isn't until November 8th... and the 'revised' one which is probably more accurate anyway, isn't until October 27th. And October 27th is still almost two weeks away. (Again, Baby.... were you listening?!)

I am making a little progress in the getting ready department though. We have a girls name chosen... now just to finalize one for a boy. I have found, washed and mostly packed some baby clothes for the hospital. I have lists of things to pack for everyone else although I've only gotten to packing a few things from the list for me so far.

And that's about all for now. So I will be going - I need to be rounding up my gang so we can leave for meeting in a few minutes anyway.

Calendar Space

Dear Jumbo,
The doctor says you're a big strong healthy baby - 7lbs already! She also says that the middle to end of October is more probable for your arrival than the early November date we already have.

This is fine, but since I am the Mama, let me set down some rules: My calendar is booked until the 13th. You are allowed to come anytime after that though. Besides, if you come before that, you might not get a name... and Mama won't have time to get a hospital bag packed (this is important because all the baby clothes are stowed away out in the shed). Life will be much more comfortable for all of us if you give me time to get ready for you.

Dolly, PC and Emma are all looking forward to meeting you, as are Daddy and I, and we'd all like to see you before the month is over! Just be patient, grow slowly for a week or two, and don't kick me too much.

Love Always,
~ Mama

And Then There Were Four

A picture says a thousand words, but I'll just add a few more. After all, I'm starting to feel half alive again finally. Some of you may have noticed my lengtly blogging slumps over the past four or five months. Beside cold after cold after cold that our family battled in the first few months of 09, there was our confernce (we had 10 guests stay with us for the weekend), more colds after conference, then spring hit with a vengence - being a lot warmer than usual and bringing the alergy plagues with it. On top of all that, there's been the general spring/summer busyness that seems to just whirl us into non-stopness for weeks on end. And through it all I was exhausted with no time to be tired. Definitely not a feeling I'd wish on anyone else!

Today we're celebrating PC's 3rd birthday, and the kids all got new t-shirts to wear for the day. I expect they'll cause quite the stir - but we thought we'd do something different this time. Anyway, I'll let the pictures do most of the rest of the talking since I have a few phone calls to make before the party.

Dolly's shirt


PC's Shirt


Excited Kids


Here's the reason why


Emma's shirt - the give-away.


A little better look

So, July 9th is officially the first day of our sixth month, and now that the news is out... I can dig out some more comfortable clothes! And wait until November 8th-ish. 'Cause we're gonna have another baby!

Introducing..... Emma!

Sir and I are happy to announce that our new little daughter arrived safely at 1:02 this morning (Saturday, September 22). She weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 10 oz, and was 21¾ inches long.

So far there haven't been any complications... everybody's healthy and happy, if somewhat exhausted. I'll be posting a more detailed update as soon as things start to settle into a normal routine!

Action!

Safe arrival at 1:02 am.
Everybody's healthy... more details to follow.

Lights... Camera...

Spice!

They say that you can learn a lot about your baby before it's even born based on how it behaves during the pregnancy. I believe that to be true for the most part. Both Dolly and PC were little acrobats while I carried them, and to this day, they still are. Dolly seemed impulsive - quiet and then suddenly active, whereas PC just kept going... and going... and going - never quite as explosively as his sister, but much more consistently. And they haven't changed.

Dolly is impulsive and gets excited or disappointed at the drop of a hat, where PC seems to think about everything and appears to plan out every detail which he methodically carries out. For example, say each wanted to get up on my bed. This is how it would work: Dolly would get to our very high bed, decide she wanted to get up, suddenly exclaim, "Oh no!!! I can't get up!" cry about it a little, and then start climbing up the footboard until she succeeded in getting onto our bed. PC would take a look at our high bed, leave the room, come back with a little plastic chair, place it beside the bed and proceed to climb onto the bed via the chair.

This baby however, has been much quieter during the pregnancy than the other two. It's also very deliberate. Sometimes I wonder if it will be the dreamer of the family. Lost in it's own little world oblivious to the chaos around. Either that, or it's going to be a little recluse and stubborn to boot. The one kid that misses (by various methods) the dinner call and needs a special invitation to join the family at the supper table! I guess we'll see. Eventually. Whenever it decides to grace us with its presence, that is.

Baby seems very content where it is, not caring whatsoever that it's officially three days past the doctors' estimated due date, and nearly three weeks past mine. Yesterday was my prenatal appointment, and as the doctor had indicated last week, they did try to give the baby a nudge of encouragement. But so far, nothing has happened. This baby could very well wait until next week when they pull out the big guns and actually take a step closer to induction. As I said... we'll see.

Anyway, according to myth... or old wives tales... or whatever else you want to call it, labour can be encouraged by spicy foods. I was reminded of this when Sir specially requested that I make him a favorite snack of his a couple nights ago. So, I thought I'd share it here. After all, it has been a while since I posted any recipes! Since I had just finished my supper, I didn't have very much room for this dish that night and given the amount of indigestion I've suffered recently, I didn't try too hard to make any extra room so I only got a bite or two in before I had to call it quits. Of course, nothing happened labour-wise either... not that I was surprised or anything. It just leaves more for Sir, and he deserves a treat once in a while I think.

Well, I hope those of you who decide to try the recipe, like it. Most of the measurements are estimated because when I make it I just toss a bit of this and a little of that in, until it tastes about right. You can experiment too.

Firecracker Shrimp Appetizer
Serves 3-6

• 1 bag (about 30 pieces) peeled, raw shrimp
  
• 15-20 large or about 30 small scallops (optional)
  
• 15-20 fresh sliced mushrooms (optional)
  
• Up to ½ cup butter as needed
  
• 3-4 cloves garlic - crushed
  
• 3-4 tsp lemon juice
  
• ½-1 tsp hot chili powder
  
• ½ tsp salt
  
• 1 handful of shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

- In a saucepan, cook shrimp (and scallops if desired) until done, draining water occasionally.
- Continue to cook until most of the water evaporates.
- Add (mushrooms if desired,)approximately 1/4 cup of butter and garlic. Saute shortly (or until mushrooms are done.
- Add chili powder (use half and sample - it gets spicier as it cooks), lemon juice and salt (to taste).
- Stir and saute for a short while longer, adding more butter, lemon juice and/or chili powder as needed.
- Remove from heat, garnish with Parmesan cheese and serve with warm crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Nesting. Already?

I definitely don't remember nesting as early as four and a half months into my pregnancy the last two times around, but Sir will probably beg (er.. demand) to differ.

There is no doubt though, I am nesting. As with PC, OUTSIDE is what seems so terribly important right now. I want to finish planting a garden with Dolly and that means we need to actually make a garden area. It wouldn't hurt to mow all the lawns either. Last time I mowed, it rained before I could even finish the big yard so the other three areas are teasingly tormenting me. Beside the mowing, there's the fences that could use some repairs, weed eating that really should be done, the cardboard pile to get rid of, and most importantly to me at the moment, stuff to build. I want to build a kid's picnic table for our kids... and a playhouse someday too (wishful thinking, I know.), but getting the OK on that would take longer than the construction, so I'm not pushing it too strongly.

Maybe I did nest earlier than I thought during the last two pregnancies. With Dolly, we didn't have a yard that could be re-arranged. It was tiny and half of it was gravel. I did however rearrange the house, but I didn't chalk it up to 'nesting' because I was always rearranging the house. It was a tiny little house that had one room for the kitchen, dining room and living room areas combined. How I turned the couch or positioned the dining room table would change the whole area. Every time we'd have lots of company over, the house would transform incredibly. I still don't know how we fit over 30 people in that little place so many times! I thought the 'nesting' during my pregnancy with Dolly, was at the very end where I was almost in a panic state to make sure we had someplace for her to sleep. I started out with setting up a second hand stroller as a bassinet beside our bed until my parents gave us a crib that ended up in our closet which turned out doubling as a nursery.

I might have 'nested' earlier with PC too. When we were expecting him, at four and a half months along, we were starting to look for another place to live, plan our yearly trip to California to visit my family, and pack up for a move. In the end all the major changes happened closer to 7 and 8 months along. As with Dolly, I didn't chalk up all the planning as nesting because I thought I was nesting in the two weeks before he was born. At that time it seemed terribly important to move the chunks of concrete that were beside the house out of the way since I wanted to plant a garden in the area the concrete chunks were occupying. I also strongly recognized the necessity of getting our little lean-to shed put together (it's still in pieces since I went into labour the day after I moved all the cinder blocks around to the other side of the house).

This pregnancy however, is different. Maybe it's because it's the third time around and I know what nesting is finally. I don't know, but although my main interests are organizing and setting up the yards outside, the 'nesting' isn't stopping there. If it's raining and I can't get outside, do you think the nesting instinct is going to take the day off? You're right. It's not. Instead I take one look at the inside of the house and decide I've had enough of the paper piles stacking up in various areas. Suddenly I'm up to my eyeballs in ancient receipts that have needed sorting for months (or longer), and organizing the bookshelves alphabetically or by author suddenly seems very important! Sometimes it's the carpets. They just HAVE to be vacuumed (according to Sir, sometimes three times a week)! If it's not that, it's the boxes of tools and nails and nuts and bolts that must finally be given permanent homes. I guess there's no getting out of nesting this time around! Just a note for future projects... if you're procrastinating too much, the solution is simple. Find yourself expecting your next kid and suddenly procrastinating has no place to exist!

Halfway There!

Hopefully, all of the cards that we mailed out to our immediate families have arrived and it's safe for me to share our latest (well, not exactly latest) news with the rest of the world. This is what we sent out in the mail last week. Most of the cards had a little note asking the recipients to wait until yesterday to tell others so all the cards would have time to get to their destinations unpreceded by their contents.

The funnest part about this round so far has been the reactions we're getting from various people. Especially when they get the information that we put on the back of the card... which I've included below.

This means that the newest addition to our little(?) family should arrive right around the end of summer... probably no later than September 7^th. Our official due date is currently a week-long range from August 30^th to September 7^th. So, Tomorrow marks day #1 of our 20^th week of pregnancy. Halfway there!