10 blurbs for Tuesday

1. I made pancakes this morning out of a store-bought mix. It is supposed to be a hearty whole grain, good-for-you mix and is priced accordingly, but it just stinks. I like my real pancake mix much better. Granted, it needs to be stored in the freezer, but at least it makes pancakes worth eating.

2. My mother has become the hero of this pregnancy for me. She is watching the kids literally every day as I go to the doctor or chiropractor or so on. I am amazed by what a difference it has made to live by my momma. This is, by far, the easiest pregnancy I have experienced. I think that comes down to three things -- First, I have been on a low dose of blood pressure medicine from the second trimester and my bp is good, still. Second, I am no longer the pastor of 150 needy people and third, I live by my mom. Most of these days, I'm inclined to think that #3 is of at least as much influence on my ability to cope with the final weeks of being prego as the other two.

3. Today, I went to the accupuncturist to try to get the baby to turn. It was an interesting experience. He stuck in the needles, which for the most part did not hurt, turned them a few times to make sure I could feel them, and then left me alone for 15 minutes. Emmeliese didn't move much until I started to do some deep breathing towards the end of the time. Then she was moving a whole bunch. Afterwards, I felt a little odd, but it was a decent experience. I'll go back for another session on Thursday.

4. We celebrated Annalivia's birthday tonight. Her birthday is actually tomorrow. I think at this point four years ago, I was about to get an epidural that would only numb one side of my body. I was listening to Taize Instrumentals and thinking about what it would mean to be a parent. I had no idea.

5. Annalivia got a new dress from my mother for her birthday. We went out to show Grammy Adaline the dress and take her some cake before the party. Annalivia is going to wear the dress to school tomorrow. She is over the moon about this dress. I'll post a picture of her in it tomorrow.

6. Daniel has taken to pretending to be a kitty a lot of the time. And whenever he climbs up on us for love, he pretends he's a cat. I have no idea why he has to pretend he's a kitty cat to express affection for us, but he does.

7. I mentioned the other day that Daniel sticks lots of things in bed with him. Last night, he went to bed well, but then we heard him rummaging around in his bedroom. We went in and found approximately 30 of his little metal Thomas trains in bed with him and his arms were loaded down with more. He was ticked when we took them out. Tonight after he went to bed, he got up, but only picked up three -- Harold the Helicopter, Bertie the Bus and James with his tender. I tried to take the tender out of the bed, but he was insistent that he stay. I guess it makes sense. How could James possibly go anywhere without his tender?

8. Tomorrow begins Lent and I'm giving up diet soda and a majority of my internet time. I'm limiting internet to nighttime only after the kids go to bed.

9. We're also picking up a new family worship time during Lent, the centerpiece of which was to be a cross candleholder, fashioned out of branches. I hadn't found branches until today when I drove by Annalivia's preschool teacher's house and saw several by the curb. I called to ask if I could have them and Dennis is going to go pick them up, as I type. We'll have a cross candleholder, after all! Lent is saved! :)

10. We have flowers pushing their way up through the ground at our house. On Monday, we glimpsed them through the snow. It was such a great sign of spring bursting forth! Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 50's again! Hurrah for new life!