Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Kids do the darndest things!!!

Okay, so, I am supposed to be staying off of my feet, and most of the time I am able to accomplish that, but then there are those days...

Poor Josiah was extremely restless today and for the first time asked me over and over to "go outside and play?". I knew I couldn't do that and stay completely off of my feet because he likes to walk up and down the sidewalks in front of the houses in our neighborhood and look for dogs and cats. So, I thought today is the day I will take him to Chik-Fil-A and to play...nice alternative, and staying off my feet 75% of the time, right? Well, off we went. We had a nice lunch and I let Josiah play for almost an hour at ChikFilA while I sat and watched him and talked to other mothers. I can not tell you how many looks of sympathy I got today, but I can tell you that 4 times I heard expressions like, "Oh my goodness, you are huge!", or "Good grief, you are about to pop!". I guess people are afraid to ask when a woman is "due" anymore because what if they are wrong and the person is not really pregnant? Anyway...

My most utterly, mortifying and embarrassing moment happened when we were readying to leave. I put on my coat and I was putting on Josiah's coat as we stood beside a nice older couple eating lunch in their booth. The older man was very demonstrative in his talking and talked with his hands extensively. In the hand closest to us, the man had his fork with a forkful of food on it and was just talking to his wife. I saw Josiah's eyes following the fork, but didn't think much of it. I thought Josiah was just a little intrigued. Well, that man kept waving his fork and I didn't realize how close to Josiah he was getting, and when he stopped moving his hand, Josiah grabbed his hand and shoved the forkful of food into his own mouth! The couple thought it was adorable and I was apologizing and wanting to hide under a table when Josiah uses his best sign language and words together makes the signs for "more" and "please" and says it to the man. Then the man gave him another bite!!! He said he couldn't resist and thought he was the cutest boy ever. I can laugh about it now, but I tell you, I was mortified! I finally talked the man into letting me get him another fork as he was originally content on eating off the fork that had also been in my son's mouth...well, what can you do?

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving day with friends and family. God Bless!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Falling behind, and falling in general...

I thought I would quit falling behind and update everyone on the Hodges happenings for now. We are 2 weeks and 1/2 day away from meeting our little girl. I am very ready, past ready, but also do not like the thought of having to deliver at 37 weeks as slight problems can arise. My doctor figures fewer problems can arise if I deliver 3 weeks early, so we are going with his decision. He is a very good DR and has take very good care of me, especially this pregnancy.

So, since I mentioned falling behind, the dishes sit, stacked elegantly, yet dirty, on my kitchen counters...a few on the kitchen table, and a few on the dining room table. There is a lot of laundry folded, just not put away. There is a lot of dirty laundry piling up again, but what can we say...it's only going to grow bigger, right? The living room is a maze of my son's toys, scattered here and there, and we won't even begin to talk about my bedroom! I am okay with it all though. I simply wish I had the energy I had a week, two weeks or even a month ago. Last week I was asking my mother in law what I could cook for our Thanksgiving meal and today I was telling her whatever could be bought would be what I could bring. Energy...where did it all go? It probably went away with all of the swelling that encompasses me. Yes, just like with Josiah, I am swollen again, but that is what happens though. My sister in law dropped by tonight and she was like a breath of fresh air...as she always is! Amber found me upstairs sitting in the bathroom while Josiah was vegging in the tub. He was grouchy tonight, but he seemed to be so happy in the tub that I let him sit and get prune-like. When it was time to get out, Amber did all of the honors, diapering, dressing, lifting! Whew, I was glad she came over. It seemed like she knew that I was tired and came to minister just to me...she is so sweet! Speaking of Amber, she and I were talking and I was lamenting, AGAIN, the fact that I feel HUGE and we were talking about the differences between last pregnancy and this and we were just goofing off. She remembered, when I was pregnant with Josiah, how I went on and on about how huge my nose got. All of my facial swelling really bothered me last pregnancy and all I could see out of my peripheral vision was my huge honker. Amber brought up my previous lamenting and without skipping a beat reminded me how big my nose is now! We laughed as she often makes me do!

Speaking of falling in general, about a week ago, I had three falls in one week...really abnormal for me. The first two were harmless, really, and could have been worse, but praise the Lord, they were not. The first two falls I missed the first step on my way to the bathroom upstairs and bruised my knees. The third fall I had was not so glorious. Let me start by saying, it could have been MUCH worse, so I praise the Lord for His mercy! I was getting Josiah a cup of milk and I leaned the baby gate against the buffet table in the kitchen. On my way back through the kitchen/dining room door with the cup of milk, I hit the corner of the baby gate and knew I was going down. Josiah was right in front of me, to my right was nothing but another buffet table full of glass items I had been cleaning [candle holders, glass pitcher, picture frames, etc] and I was so afraid I was going to fall on Josiah. So, as I was falling in slow motion, I was trying to decide how I was going to land to have as little impact as possible, not fall on Josiah, not hurt the baby and not break any glass, but I was not successful in all of my musings. I did not fall on Josiah, but I reached for the buffet table, knocking off a bunch of the glass pieces, scattering them and breaking them, and managed to fall mostly on my forearms, a little on my knees and my side. On my way down, as embarrassed as I am to say it, all I could get to come out of my mouth was, "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!". Josiah was terrified, screaming, and through his screams asking me, "Momma, are you okay?" over and over again. I gave him his milk and made him sit where he was because of the glass all around us. He and I were both barefoot which was not good. I yelled as loud as I could for Danny to come downstairs [since he works at night, it was perfect for him to be there to help me!]. He heard me and came to my aid. I thought I broke my big toe, but it is solidly bruised only, and most of my soreness is faded away. The worst thing to come of my fall is that Josiah has picked up on a new phrase, thanks to me. "Oh, crap!" How utterly embarrassing!

Well, that is all from me for now. Please pray for me as we have a few more check ups, then on 12/5 we head to the hospital for surgery!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Please forgive me!

I don't want to go into detail, but there is a reason I haven't posted lately. I am simply unable to sit in chairs without a tremendous amount of padding for a long time, so I haven't been able to spend much time on the computer. That is also kind of a good thing.

Well, to catch up a little, I have been given a tentative date for a c-section. I will go into the hospital early on 12/5/2008, Friday, and I will have an amniocentesis to make sure the baby's lungs are mature. If the test shows good maturity, a c-section will be on for around noon. If not, we will wait 1-2 weeks before scheduling a c-section. I am excited, yet still a little fearful, but I know and trust that God is in control and that is what calms my fear!

I told my husband that one thing good came from Obama being our next president...Olive Garden. Olive Garden, you ask? How on earth does Obama have anything to do with Olive Garden. Well, I am a realistically pessimistic person whereas my DH is an optimisit person, just not always realistically [I love you with all of my heart, honey!]. He was SURE that McCain would win just as I was sure Obama would win, so I smelt a bet in the works. I told Danny is McCain won, I would take him out to eat to Outback Steakhouse [one of his favorites] and if Obama won, we would go to Olive Garden [by far, my favorite and also one of Danny's]. So, tonight, to celebrate our last date night by ourselves, before the baby comes and without little Josiah, we will go to Olive Garden, Barnes & Noble and to the theater to see Fireproof. Josiah is going on an adventure of the first kind for him tonight. He has NEVER spent the night in someone else's house without mommy and/or daddy, so tonight, also to prepare for being without mommy and daddy when the new baby arrives, he will go and stay at Grandma and Grandpap's house until tomorrow afternoon. I really hope he does not give her a run for her money, but I know she knows how to handle them, so I trust everything will be well!

Well, I have sat here for as long as I possibly can. God Bless everyone!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Catching up...

I am catching up from last week. We had a busy week and an even busier weekend. We had the Troy Thomas family in town for the whole weekend and for the most part, we did a lot of nothing. I have been taking it easy as I get to the end of my pregnancy and they were content to sit with me and let me take it easy! I am so thankful for friends like that! We have another family staying with us Wednesday night so I have been busy preparing for more guests...I just love having people over and keeping guests in our home...if it has been a while, you should try it more often! So, let me start by saying...MY HUSBAND ROCKS!!! Danny had the opportunity to go to the Sara Palin rally in a neighboring city and I was feeling quite cantankerous and told him he could go if he took Josiah [halfway kidding...]. The next day he told me he got the tickets and he was going to drop Josiah off at his mother's house so Grandma and Grandpap could spend some time with Josiah. I was so excited at all the things it seemed I was going to be able to get done that day. I started working long before Danny went to the rally and by the time he left, I was pooped...too pooped to do anything but sit, prop my feet up and crochet and watch movies for the rest of the night. Danny is always trying to give me some alone time and this is just another reason my husband rocks!


I will close soon, but I wanted to share the crochet project I was working on. I love to crochet, especially baby blankets! So, here is the one that I finished for our daughter who should arrive in about a month. Hope you enjoy and have a great day!