It took long enough, but sometime in April, this whole "having a baby" thing started to get real. For one thing, scarves stopped doing the trick for disguising my belly, which meant that I had to confess to other people besides my family that yes, in fact, I was expecting (and no, I wasn't really flying completely under the radar before that, but it was close enough that I was still able to convince myself). Once that happened, all the stops came out. The kids started fawning over every baby they saw in the store, at church, walking down the street . . . anywhere and everywhere. They are very excited!
On the other hand, there is still a
lot of work to prepare to have a baby after eight years! We don't have any baby clothes or baby accessories left. Long gone are the pack-n-plays, car seats, swings, and strollers that ruled our lives for so long, and I find myself reluctant to reinvest in them for just one baby. I scoured a yard sale or two when a neighborhood yard sale took place, coming home with a cute swing and a lightweight stroller, but we're still going to need to scrap together a crib, a pack-n-play, and a car seat before we bring our little treasure home.
Our life did have another dimension, however, and I tried my very best to keep pretending that I didn't feel pregnant (ha! I definitely did) and carry on as normal. We had a lovely Easter week this year, including taking the Easter photos that have become something of a tradition with me. Since Easter Sunday fell on General Conference weekend this year, it worked out especially nicely that Aaron was playing at Calvary Lutheran--not only did it allow us to get gussied up in our Easter finery for the Sunday service (I thought myself rather clever in having the boys rather than the girls wear the Easter hats this year), but we also were able to attend a Good Friday service that was compelling and beautiful and something we hadn't had the chance to be a part of before. I played again this year for the Lent services that took place on Wednesday evenings in the weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter, so the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services were a lovely culmination to that--particularly since I took one of our kids with me to each of the Lent services during March. There was a dramatization of the crucifixion at the Good Friday service that was very moving--there were seven candles representing the seven last words of Christ, each put out as the events of the crucifixion were depicted. The Easter service was chock-full of jubilant, joyous music, culminating in a sing-in performance of the Hallelujah Chorus, which it was wonderful to be a part of. Afterward, we spent the afternoon with the same friends as last year, at a lovely party with fantastic food and a clever Easter egg hunt for the kids.
Emerson and Sera were especially exceptional students this month, and were both honored at the end of their school term for their accomplishments, Emerson in mathematics, and Sera in citizenship. I have enjoyed teaching art in each of their classes so much, and executed probably the final projects for each of their classes this month. Asher and Addy both participated in track and field this season, bringing home ribbons for various events in their meets. Asher especially put his excellent jumping skills to use in the high jump, and Addy found herself pulling ahead in running events including the 200 m. dash and hurdles. Though the meets were hot, it was fun to see my kids carrying on in sports I have always loved.
We also visited Carlsbad's famed Flower Fields one Saturday (though sadly sans Asher, who was on a campout), and enjoyed the beautiful weather and views we are spoiled with in this gorgeous town. We've gotten a fair bit of rain (though not nearly enough to compensate for the terrible state of drought the area has been in), and it has been beautiful to see everything greening up and blossoming around us. Our other Saturdays have been spent pretty close to home, with visits to the pool being my one respite from my bitter enemy, gravity. As nervous as I am about having a baby again--it's been a
long time--the one unhateful thing I can say about pregnancy is that it prepares you for the stress of having a baby by reminding you that it simply must be better than carrying another human around inside your body. As I have said probably a thousand times, I will never understand why it's not yet possible for humans to just lay eggs--we've invented the
internet for heaven's sake!
