A day in the life of . . .

The title for today’s entry seems appropriate since lately I only have been blogging about what is happening in my day-to-day existence. But since I have had little time for much else than that existence, it is really the only thing for me to blog about.

On the home/baby preparation front, I finally found a bed for Evangeline today. The other day I saw a new mattress and box springs at a little mattress store in a nearby town. It was out on the porch of the store as an “only one left display model.” It was a good deal, and Mark and I decided that it was worth it for something Evangeline will likely use until she is off to college. So, I stopped today to pick it up. Upon talking with the salesman, he said he had a used twin bed frame in the back if I wanted to see it. I agreed to go look, and when we walked in, I ruled out the one he was trying to sell me because he had a used off-white twin headboard and footboard in the room with a price tag of $12.50. So I bought that along with the accompanying rails. They delivered the frame and mattress set this evening, and Mark and I put it together for Evangeline. She is pleased. Ideally, I want to paint the head and footboards a true white, but for now, I am going to leave it as is with a little bit of touch up where it is scuffed. I am soooo tired of painting, and I am about out of energy for these extra chores. So the painting of the bed will wait until after the baby is a few months old.

I can’t stop with just the bed though. I also put a coat of polyurethane on the chest of drawers for the baby. All I have to do to it now is replace the hardware after I am finished cleaning it up. Probably tomorrow.

Finally, a t-ball/pitching machine game update. Mark and Evangeline took Nevin to his t-ball game tonight. Once again, the Minco team beat their opponents (the NewCastle Racers) with an impressive margin (Mark wasn’t sure of the score, he just knew our boys won by a lot). I took Calvin to his pitching machine game tonight. They lost, but it was a close game with a score of 6 – 5. The best part was Calvin scored tonight after hitting a pretty nice single. He hit another single, but he didn’t score because the team struck out before he made it beyond second base. He was really excited, as this is the first game he has had even one hit.

News of the day

Had an ob appointment today. Things are progressing towards delivery. I was thankful for the news.

Nevin had a t-ball game tonight. After a loss last Thursday, his team was back in good form tonight. They won by a large margin. Before eating his sandwhich in the van on the way to the game, Nevin thanked God for it and included a request for help to “pay attention during the game.” For anyone who has been to a t-ball game, you can understand this request.

Calvin had a pitching machine game tonight, too. They had their first win of the season, and everyone was really happy.

Evangeline had a conversation with me tonight that made me ask the question, “When is the best time to explain sex/where babies come from to children?” She was sitting on my lap while I sang her lullaby before bed. Her tummy was laying on my tummy, and she felt the baby kick. She got a puzzled look on her face. I said, “Did you feel that?”
She said, “Yes.”
I said, “What do you think that was?”
She said, “The baby.”
I said, “Yes. Isn’t that funny?”
She agreed. Then she put her hand on the right side of my tummy and said, “I think her head is over here.”
I said, “I think her head’s a little lower and in the middle.”
She said, “I think she better move, or she’ll fall out.”
Not knowing what to make of this statement, I just said, “Hmmmm.” Then I put Evangeline to bed.

Things are about to change

I have to confess something. I am starting to get a little anxious about life after the birth of our 4th child. Don’t get me wrong. I am looking forward to meeting this little girl. I love babies, and I know I will welcome this child with lots of love. But I have gotten pretty used to being the mother of 3 small children without having an infant to care for. My 3 have reached the ages where they can do many things independently. They can play for hours at a time while I work on some project or just clean the house. Since they were born in a stairstep fashion, I was really busy with them for about 5 years solid, but the last 2 years have been relatively easy. So now, as I think of adding an infant to the mix, I guess my selfishness is rearing its ugly head. I am not having good thoughts about all of the personal time I will ultimately need to give up in order to care for this little one. I want to cherish her because I am as certain as I can be that this is the last baby we will have. I know it will be easier in many ways since none of the others are wearing diapers or even training pants anymore. They are all capable of helping me at some level, which will certainly be different than when the others were born. So, if you think of it, pray for me as I adjust to having a baby in my life again.

Life

I feel the need to blog since it has been over a week since my last entry. However, all I have to report on is daily life in and around our house. So if you are bored already, please stop reading now. I was busy with the children last week since Mark was off on a church trip until Wednesday night. Boy, was I glad to see him when he got home! The next two days were filled with chores of various sorts.

Saturday was a fun day. A friend in Norman hosted a baby shower luncheon for me with a small group of women. It was all very elegantly arranged with really girly food and lots of pretty things. This is just the kind of thing I love. The big surprise was that my mother-in-law and sister-in-law (along with my cute 9-month-old nephew, Nicolas) drove up from the Dallas area for the event. I was really touched that they went to all the trouble to make the 3+ hour drive to be there. It was a very special day, and I appreciated all the effort that went into making it that way!

Sunday was interesting as well. We had a family visit the church from a town about 60 miles north of us. They were a boon to our normally small group. God also used their visit to take care of one issue of concern for us as our normal pianist was out with stomach flu, and we thought we would have to sing acapella. Instead, one of the daughters of the visiting family volunteered to play the piano for us. We were able to enjoy a meal and fellowship with the visitors and one other couple from church after the service, too. Of course, the distance this family is from our church will probably prevent any regular attendance at our church, but we appreciated them while they were with us. It was a good Sunday–really the way we wish every Sunday could be.

This week has started with 5-year-old Nevin’s t-ball team winning their first regular season game. This comes on the heals of their winning the league’s pre-season tournament last weekend. So our hopes are starting to build for Minco’s first-year t-ball team to have a great season! (By the way, as soon as I get a refresher on how to put photos up, I’ll have a couple of pictures of the winning team with their trophies.)

Something a little different from me

Anyone who has read my blog knows that I hardly ever address issues of a theological nature. My husband’s blog had enough of that for one family. However, as you might imagine, Mark talks theology a good bit around our house. In conversations with him, I have had the opportunity to hear about all the controversy surrounding the AAPC conferences and now the whole PCA debate about NT Wright. In the midst of these “controversies,” I have often asked the questions, “Why does the debate have to be so devisive? Aren’t these men Christians?” This article, a link from George Grant’s blog, provides some clear thinking from a pastor that I think all of those involved in the discussion (whether actually in it or just watching from the sidelines like me) should heed.

Progress report

This week, I was able to get a matress for the crib and a chest of drawers that will double as a changing table. I just finished painting the chest of drawers. Progress is happening. The chest of drawers is key as I have been given several bags and boxes of baby clothes by my sister-in-law and a couple of friends. And, up until now, I have had no where to put any of these clothes. It will be so nice for these little clothes to have a home now.

Coloring

One evening last week, Mark watched the children while I was out. I came home, and Evangeline was happily coloring at the kitchen table. She showed me a picture and said, “I colored this Mommy.”

I replied, “Did you really?”

She said, “Yes. Do you like it?”

I said, “Yes, but are you sure you colored it? I’ll have to ask Daddy.”

Then Mark came around the corner from the other room. “Hey, did you see the picture she colored?” he asked.

I said, “So, she really did color it?”

“Yeah,” Mark said. “I was pretty impressed. She chose the colors and decided to color each ear of the bear a color different from his body.”

As I have mentioned before, she colors much more intentionally than the boys did at her age. She also has really improved with coloring in the lines and completing entire pictures in the last couple of months. But this picture looked better than anything she had ever done. I hope no one thinks that my lack of belief indicates that Evangeline regularly lies. She does not. My experience with the boys having little interest in coloring even to this day just made me a skeptic.