I just washed all my dishes that won't fit into the dishwasher...now I
just need to empty it, fill it, and run it again. Yeah! But I got to
listen to music while I was working (Randy Travis's Great Hits), and
it was surprising what a difference it made. All our other houses were
too small to really listen to my own music without getting on Roy's
nerves. Even though he did actually buy me that CD, it's not easy for
him to listen to country--it's much easier for me to listen to his
"socially-conscious hip-hop." So the past three years haven't really
been a time for me to listen to my own music that much. And I'm not
complaining about it--certainly my musical experience has been widened
and enriched by participating in Roy's music. But there is nothing
like listening to the music that you loved at first. I am not very
good at being diligent in the kitchen--I either look at it and think
"that's going to take forever--I'll just do it later" or "that's not
going to take too long--I'll do it later" and then, of course, it's
"later" and all I want to do is go to sleep. Anyway, I am getting
better about running the dishwasher, AND I can't stay on my feet for
too long, so I don't feel bad about sitting down and eating a
Marshmallow Supreme from the freezer and blogging. Lately the internet
has been pretty boring for me, so I guess I'll put something into it
and see if we can get something back out.
Also today, when it comes to housekeeping, I have hung two loads of
clothes out on the line, and washed one. That doesn't make too much
sense because Roy washed a load yesterday, so I hung it up today (it
took us a while to find the clothesline), and then I washed a load and
hung it up--it's drying right now. I hope it finishes before dark.
[Sidenote: baby is kicking me.] Having clothes on the line DEFINITELY
makes me want to do more laundry (also something I'm usually not to
eager about), even though that first load is sitting in the sun room,
waiting to be folded, so I haven't gotten the whole process completed.
But my clothes smell AMAZING, and my towels make me think of the
Bivins, and I feel like I am saving money and the environment, and
getting more exercise than is my wont. It's nice to have a reason to
be glad it's hot. Hopefully, we will get a dryer soon, for the winter
and emergencies, etc., but for now, I just feel really cool with my
clotheslines and my two knots that I know that are holding them all
together. We think we really like our $90 Craigslist washer, but
there's some leakage that's going on during the first half of the wash
cycle that we are concerned about.
I just heard Iris waking up (really weird nap cycle today)...I'll be back.
[three hours later....]
So we are not sure exactly what's wrong with Iris, but we think she
has a tummy ache. She actually threw up yesterday, twice, so we ended
up taking her to the doctor (whom we met in Costco!). Actually, Roy
ended up taking her to the doctor, because *I* was at the OB, getting
my first visit in since late May. Fortunately, the pediatrician we met
has an office just down the street from my doctor. Roy was able to
take Iris, get her seen, and still get back to my doctor in time to
see the ultrasound! Tada! We're having a boy. ...back to my born
child--the doctor said it was probably just the start of a virus or
something, but Iris has just been a little weird all day...tired, but
not really sleepy. We watched a LOT of Dora the Explorer. I was
reluctant to put her to bed-bed, because I kinda wanted to be closer
to her if something did go wrong (i.e., more vomiting OR crazy poop),
but even though she would stretch out and cuddle with her blanket, as
long as she wasn't in HER bed, she wasn't going to sleep. I'm afraid
she gets this from me. So we just put her in the crib and hopefully
things will go okay.
I really want her to be in a good mood tomorrow because Roy is
preaching at one of the churches in town tomorrow, and then we're
having dinner/lunch with a family afterwards. Sundays are never easy
for our nap schedule, but if she's cranky to start out with, I'll be
worried. And pregnant Emily doesn't deal with cranky Iris as well as
one could hope. Also we have to be at church at 7:45, and it's 20
minutes away, and there's two services, and because of the throwing
up, I'm wondering if it's even ethical to put Iris in the nursery. She
might do fine in church, and she might be a menace...it's hard when
Roy's in the pulpit and not sitting with us. (Hurray for RUF!!!!)
Anyway, I'm thinking we'll go to early service, me-n-Iris, and then
see if she can get a nap during the late service. Hopefully her tummy
won't cause problems, either.
My new favorite part of the house is the sun room. We finally cleared
it out/cleaned it up--for the longest time it was just a messy
compendium of Iris's toys and random contents of boxes, some of which
Iris had investigated and strewn the contents everywhere. But Roy
spent some time in there, and I helped a little, and now it's pretty
amazing. It's the best at night, though, because it's cool, and you
can hear the cicadas. It's so peaceful. Iris has been up when it's
been dark lately, and we have family time (not really on purpose) in
there--she and Roy play and roughhouse, and I lie (lay?) on the sofa
and take pictures of them. It's pretty sweet.
Also, about our baby being a boy. We're excited, even though as Roy
said, there's always a sort of letdown after you find out. What did
move my emotions was when people said, "oh, so you'll have a boy and a
girl--are you done?" That kinda made me mad. And actually, that we
want to have a bunch of kids is pretty important in our life and in my
birth desires. And by bunch, I mean no more than five. It used to be
that they said after one c-section, that you were done having babies,
and then it was two, and now they don't really mind as much--the
doctor that did Iris's c-section said he'd done 8 c-sections for one
lady, and my current doctor said he'd done a fifth one for someone
just the other day. But all the likelihood percentages of worrisome
things go up the more c-sections you have, so that's why I want to
avoid them. My doctor said that it was fine for me to have a trial of
labor, but he wouldn't let me go longer than 41 weeks... at that
point, I probably won't care, anyway, but if you would go ahead and
pray that I would go into labor all by myself, before 41 weeks, and
have an uncomplicated birth, I'd really appreciate it. I'm going to
find a doula to help, too, so that should be good to have an advocate.
So, little Jonas Martin should be here no later than November 14th.
Jonas is a variant of Jonah, and we just like it....even though
writing it and making it real is a different feeling than talking
about hypothetical Jonas. Martin is for Roy's deceased brother Martin,
Martin Luther, AND Martin Luther King. I forget what Martin means, but
Jonas/ah means "dove." I'll look Martin up real quick--hold on:
funnily enough, it means "martial, war-like." I wonder what Ghandi's
name meant.
I can feel him more more and more, too--at one point, he and Iris were
both kicking me. Yes!
He's moving right now, actually...I'm not sure if he wants me to eat
or sleep, but I don't quite feel like doing either.
Let's see, what else did I want to say?
Oh! One of our neighbors gave us tomatoes from his garden AND told Roy
he would mentor him in becoming a gardener. When I knew that we had
tomatoes, I bought bacon and lettuce and even though we had plenty of
leftovers to eat from when we had two potential RUF students over, I
kept making BLTs until all the bacon and tomatoes were gone.
SOoooooooooooooo good.
I finally have clothes that fit...or that are too big, which at this
point is just as good. Hmmm...I think I might have some pie and
ice-cream.
Oh, our other news is that we got iphone-4's. I've finally joined the
smartphone nation. Roy had a blackberry before, but it just wasn't
working like it should, and campus ministers said that iphones were
really the way to go. It's funny how ashamed I feel that I have
something _nice_. When I was out clothes shopping the other day and
had to sit down and eat lunch, the bus boy saw it ('cause I was
texting with Roy), and said, "Oh, is that an Iphone 4? Can I look at
it?" I felt so silly. But I did let him hold it. HOWEVER, the good
thing about my having an iphone is that now I can take LOTS of
pictures of Iris (and later of Jonas)(and Roy's gardening exploits).
Our old camera, which probably has the same megapixels as my phone had
battery problems and was difficult to use. So: if you want to see
current pictures of us, especially Iris, check out my latest facebook
album. Sorry, we don't put pictures on the blog. That's what we have
words for! (joke). Also if you can see the pictures of Christy's
wedding, they are gorgeous and you should look at them. I love my
wedding the best, of course, but hers was AMAZING.
And, Roy took three written presbytery exams and has some more stuff
to do actually at a presbytery meeting, but he's on the way to getting
ordained in November. Pray that I DON'T go into labor on that day. :)
Okay. I think I need to eat something. Or go to bed.
Much love!
