Teaching Patience to Teens

        We had our ultrasound on a Wednesday at noon.  Since we have most of our family in town, in an effort to avoid a competition of "who knew first" and to have a little fun with Samantha, we decided to keep the gender a secret until we told family on Thursday evening.  Which meant that I wouldn't tell my students until Friday.
       

opening the present

Pink means a sister!

SO excited, although she knew it from day 1

  And to be even more evil, I refused to tell them until 8th period.  Why?  Because poor 8th period never got any surprises.  By the time they walk in, they know everything that is going to happen in class.  When I announced my first pregnancy, they all knew.  When I announced the second word spread before 2nd period even started.  So this time I made sure THEY got to spread the news.

Amanda is responsible for the "sextuplets" guess

    
And although I hated not telling family and friends for a whole 36 hours, I loooooved lording it over my students that I knew and they didn't.  We had fun and I got to promote the culture of life at the same time.  Win-Win!

Too many cooks

When Jeremy and I first got married, one of the tension points was what we were going to cook for dinner.  This is because I had entered our union with the idea that this would be my area and I would have a husband who swooned over my cooking, just like everyone else had while I was in highschool and college.  I had all of my recipies handed down from my grandma and mom.  We were given a recipe book filled with favorite recipies from friends and family.  I. was. set.

Then two things happened over and over.
1) I was cooking too much so we had a lot of left overs.
2) Jeremy never ate ANY leftovers and was constantly trying to correct my cooking.

I remember breaking down into tears as we went through recipe books.  He didn't like ANY of the recipies I had in my stash.  I labeled him a 'picky eater'.  I fumed.  I was hurt.  This was not turning out how I'd imagined.

When Jeremy cooked, it was different.  He made things without mixing them.  By that I mean, there were no casseroles.  I thought it odd, but soon realized that his chicken was so moist and succulent that it didn't need gravy-- a totally new concept for me.  He introduced me to green beans (previously I had to gag them down while they were burried in mashed potatoes sandwhiched in a dinner roll).  Soon I realized that I had it all wrong- Jeremy liked to cook and was *gag* better than me.  Why was I making such a big deal out of this fact? 

After Samantha was born and I was on my no dairy/soy/beef/chocolate/tomato diet, being in the kitchen brought me to tears. 

And so Jeremy's uncontested reign of the kitchen began.

Over the years his cooking has become legendary.  All of my family loves to eat his food.  Plus he's teaching everyone how to cook.  Meat is cooked without drying it out.  Canned vegetables with cheese have been replaced with fresh cooked in olive oil.  We haven't bought a can of "cream of _____" in over 5 years because of a thing called a "rue".  He carefully saves his bacon grease to use as flavoring for his hashbrowns and soups.  And he does this every day after he comes home from work.

Now, before you get to jealous and think I'm so spoiled that I no longer merit the title "Mom", he's had to learn a few things too- such as planning ahead.  One simply cannot have dinner ready before bed-time when one comes home and tries to thaw out a frozen chicken at 5pm.  And as much as Samantha and I love his chicken, it's nice to have variety too :) 

So where am I going with this?  Well, there are two areas that I still maintain in the kitchen.  Baking is the first. I've been on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie (who knew, it had it's own website all along).  Jeremy does swoon over my cookies.  Baking is simply not something he can do as he struggles with scoffs at things like recipies and measuring devices.  And so my reign of the baking remains.

 The second area is scrambled eggs.  I currently hold the crown for scrambled eggs.  All I use is eggs and cheese.  That's it.  And what's even funnier is that Jeremy is the one who taught me how to tell when eggs are cooked right.  It's just that his knowledge is all theory and what he's watched Alton Brown do.  He has yet been able to make them without a puddle of liquid sitting below them.  He gets so frustrated and I just smile. 

I smile because it's not a cooking issue, it's a listening issue.

Week 1 attempt:
Jeremy: How do you make the eggs?  Just eggs and cheese and put the pan on high?
Me: No, I just make sure the pan is hot.  And I don't stir them.  I just let them sit like an omelete and scramble them right before I take them off.

Sam calls me to come eat "dinner" (breakfast is just too hard to say)
As we sit down he sets the plate of eggs down with a frown and grumble.  The eggs are swimming in their juices.

Jeremy:  I did it just like you told me.  Get the pan as hot as possible and let them cook through.
Me: No, I said until it's hot.  I use medium heat.
Jeremy: grumble grumble. 

Week 2 attempt
Sam calls me to come eat dinner.
We all sit down and Jeremy sets the plate of eggs down with a frown and grumble. The eggs are swimming in their juices.

Jeremy: I just don't understand it.  I did it just like you said you do it. 
Me: and how is that?
Jeremy:  Eggs and cheese.  Lots of cheese, nothing else.  And get the pan as blazing hot as possible.


And so lives my reign for the best scrammbled eggs in the family.  My guess is it will be a long one. 

Where to begin...

Ug, it's been so long and so much has happened I almost don't even want to catch up.  But then my annual mother's day gift came- my blog book.  It's getting thinner and thinner, but each year I go through it and can't believe how much life has changed in two years (it's roughly 2 years behind).  So, for prosperity's sake, I'm going to just jot down the highlights from the past 2 months and then try to keep up from there.  Because honestly, time is going by so fast.  And as much as I tell myself "Oh, I'll remember this", I don't.  And reading my blog-books helps me to remember this.
So here we go.


The new little one
I've told this story so many times that I know I won't ever forget, but it's still worth sharing.  After we lost Baby Eddie in October Samantha would randomly (and often) talk about the baby not being in my belly anymore.  "There isn't a baby in your tummy anymore, right mommy?," she'd ask solemnly.  Then one day (a week before Jeremy's birthday) she switched and told me, "Mommy, you have a baby in your tummy, right?!"  I'd gently remind her that no, I didn't anymore, that the baby died and went to heaven.  She'd insist, but eventually walk off with a shrug as if to say, "Whatever mom, you obviously don't know anything."

 She did this a few times. 

Then, on Jeremy's birthday I decided to take the last test at home.  I'm not sure why, as the chances of there being a pregnancy were very slim, but part of me was curious, as I hasn't been keeping track of my cycle (first time since we've been married).  Why?  Well, my body was still returning to not being pregnant, we were going to start trying again the next cycle and it still stung a little that I had to return to the routine since I was suppose to be pregnant still.

Anyway, the test came back positive and my heart started racing.  Jeremy had no idea that I was testing, so I was upstairs alone while reality started to sink in.  The first coherent thought that went through my head was "How did Samantha know?!?".

 I immediately made a mental note to ask Sam later how many were in there and the gender, since she obviously had a connection somewhere.  The second was, "When in the world did this happen?"  Like I said, the opportunities had been very slim.

So I pranced downstairs and made Jeremy his b-day card.  On the inside was the outline of Samantha's hand holding up a peace sign (so 2).  On the outside is said, "Roses are red, violets are blue, in October you'll be a father of __________(Sam's hand)"  We quietly celebrated, not wanting to tell Samantha yet.  When we finally did tell her, she insisted that it was a sister.  And that her name was Priscilla.  We believed her on the gender, not so much on the name. 

When time came for the ultrasound I was convinced that we were having a boy.  So much so that when it came to the ultrasound, if I hadn't seen the very distinct lady parts myself, I wouldn't have believed her.  It took a good 24 hours before I was able to change my view of the future.  Don't get me wrong, I was actually relieved that we were having another girl.  But I had just convinced myself otherwise, so it took a while getting use to the idea of two girls! 

Oh yeah, we're having a girl!  She was going to be Felicity, but since we already have a Samantha, I was very hesitant.  Every time I told someone our age that we were thinking of the name we'd get the same response, "OH!  I LOVE Felicity! *pause* Wait...Samantha and Felicity?  Did you read a lot of the American Girl books growing up?"  So Felicity will be on hold for the next girl.  This one is going to be Charlotte  (middle name to be decided).

The first words out of my mouth at the ultrasound were "Oh no, Papa is not going to be happy!"
My poor father.  Don't get me wrong, he LOVES his girls (each of us has a #.  My mom is B1 (Beautiful #1), I'm B2, Amanda is B3, Lucy is B4 etc...) but girls vastly outnumber the boys both on his side of the family and in his immediate descendants. Fifteen neices and seven nephews.  Three daughters, one son.  This fall there will be four grand-daugthers, and one grandson.   He just wants less dolls and pink at this point! 

I told him not to worry, the next one will be a boy.  Jeremy puts in "orders" and usually gets what he wants (me, Sam and this one), so he told me his next order will be for a boy.

Hm...this post has turned into a lot longer than I'd originally intended.   I'll have to continue with how I tortured my students, Sam's antics, a big-brother for Sam and her fourth birthday later...

Well hello there

I woke up today and looked down and exclaimed- where did THAT come from?! 

It was a bump!
And every time I look down I'm all, "Ah! a bump!"

Holy moly.  I didn't have a real one until I was 25 weeks with Sam.  And seriously, it happened overnight.  It was like the kid said, "Woah, look at all this room up here!" and moved headquarters four inches up and out.

I would post a before and after picture, but I've been a little gun-shy about taking belly shots since the miscarriage, but to be honest, there wasn't anything to take a picture of.  Seriously, I looked like the picture on the right below yesterday, and the left is me today:

15 week with Sam

15 week with #2

26 weeks with Sam

Let me just say a quick change like that makes for a very uncomfortable mommy all day as the muscles try and adjust super fast.  W-OW. 

Tidbits

Recent events/updates:

Sam's favorite bedtime songs are currently "Sanctus" (must be sung 3 times).  Her second favorite is "Hail Mary", third is "Sing a song of six pence" and fourth is "Our Father".  Whenever any of those is sung at mass (minus number three of course) she forgets ALL rules and shouts "AH!! They're singing MY SONG!!!"
It's cute, but we're working on just singing along, rather than announcing to the congregation that she knows the song.

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All day after the easter egg hunt at my parent's place Sam bragged about "winning" and "beating everyone."  She also "beats me" when she reaches a room/door/floor before I do.  But if I make it first she insists we weren't playing race.  Jeremy thinks I'm being cruel sometimes when I trick her, but SHE'S the one who makes up the random rules and calls "race" when she's halfway to the destination and I'm waaay beind her. 
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Our ultrasound is scheduled for May 1st.  Sam is still insistant that it's a girl (she knew we were pregnant before we did, so we're going with her guess).  Lucy and my dad are REALLY rooting for a boy, since my brother and SIL are expecting a girl.  Another girl would make four and poor Grayson would be the only boy.  I think I'll panic if it's a boy (which is funny, considering I really wanted Sam to be a boy).

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I finally have my energy back but have a 24-hour headache that only goes away if I slip an Advil (I know, I know, big no-no while pregnant, but my midwife ok-ed it if it just becomes unbearable and keeps me up at night).  After talking to a few medical professionals, I've been diagnosed with TMJ.  I've been fitted with a mouth guard and literally can't wait.  Seriously, I'm so tired of needles poking my eye and hear 24/7.  Jeremy's excited to stop the "REALLY LOUD" tooth grinding.

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Sam moved, without incident, to her BED.  And she stays there 99% of the time throughout the night.  She's woken up with a fit ONCE since she moved there.  It's just insane how well she's done in learning to calm herself down! 

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This will be my last summer with just me and Sam.  We're planning big.  Bubbles, swimming, gardening and (free) museums EVERY day.   Oh, and Arkansas too.

Home Update

It's taken a year, but the basement is 90% finished!  We added a storage room, put up drywall and my dad showed me how to lay carpet.  These pictures aren't 100% current as we've since replaced the fluorescent lights, put up window and door trim, but you can get the idea.  It adds around 400 sq feet of living space (one of the reasons we bought the place).  The rest won't get done until after the baby comes as we are doing all this with cash, but for now we'll live without a finished ceiling and baseboards. 

Before.  Notice the need for storage.

After- storage room to the right.

Inside storage room.  Jeremy built those shelves and was very proud of them.

Another angle, before

and after.

View from the couch before

and after.Our computer desk is currently to the left of the TV.

 The one area I didn't get a picture of was the area to the left.  It's slightly smaller than what is seen here due to a random closet.  Jeremy has his 6' x 4' gaming table there (he cut it down from 8' so it would give us more living space).  I'll have to post a picture later as I can't find the camera...I'm not sure why I didn't take a "before" of the other side of the room...
Anyway, we LOVE it and it's been worth all the exhausting weekends.  I really wanted it done so Sam and I would have a nice cool place to spend this summer (it stays 65 degrees down there no matter how hot it gets outside).  I keep telling Jer that every time I walk downstairs I feel like I'm in someone else's house!

Hope Francis

Today was quite an emotional rollercoaster as I sat on pins and needles with my students and co-workers waiting to hear who the next sucessor to St. Peter would be.  I laughed with delight at the fact that NO ONE saw it coming.  Although he's older than I thought the next pope would be, I've am falling in love with him the more and more I read about him!

Despite all this, the highlight of my day was hearing Sam re-telling the story after I tried to explain to her what was going on.  After I told her that I was listening to the radio to hear what they were saying I asked her to listen for them talking about "Pope Francis."  I almost forgot she was in the car she was so quiet and then randomly she would squeal- "Ah! They said 'pope francis' again!"

When we got home she asked if she could see a video of him.  She was very interested in seeing the black smoke first, then the white smoke.  Every time we'd see a video with him in it she's exclaim, "There's the new Hope Francis!" Later we went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate our Argentinian pope (my mom's words, not mine...she also kept saying "habeñero papus").   Sam started jabbering on and after a few minutes I realized she was re-telling the story of the "New Hope".  I'll try to get it on video later, as it's quite detailed, but the rough transcript is below (I had her retell it a few times because it was just so darn impressive).

"Once upon a time there was an old hope and he was old and got retired and said there needed to be a new hope.  So he went to sleep and everybody picked a new hope.  First there was black smoke and that means there was no hope, but then there was white smoke and that means they picked the new Hope Francis."

It seems so short when typed out...she repeats lines a lot and elaborates on a few details, but that's the  jist.  I can't bring myself to correct her anymore as it seems very appropriate to call him the new "Hope".

By the way, for those of you who speak Spanish, below is a commercial he did last year at Christmas.  Such a sweet smile!