I AM NOT A DUCK!

33 weeks along. That should explain the title of this blog entry. When I was younger, (ahem), I knew that in these last days of pregnancy the inescapable "waddle" took over my body. I would fight the urge to just let my body move naturally...because it certainly didn't LOOK natural. I have found that now....it is painful NOT to waddle. So I walk slowly...or should I say I waddle slowly. I've always thought it was cute to watch a woman late in her pregnancy. There she is...ALL OF HER. If she was standing still, you could sometimes catch a glimpse of the little one within bumping around for some more room. I love to feel my own wee one wiggling around. The other night I was playing with her...(did I tell you it is supposed to be another girl!!!) She would kick, and I would rub her little foot. Then she would kick again in the same spot...and I'd tickle her again. It was almost as if, she would pause for a moment...wondering what it was that she was feeling...then she'd kick again. I do love these last days...but it sure is tiring on this body of mine.

Some of my maternity clothes have almost become immodest to wear, I'm getting huge now! Those of you who have had large mammoth sized babies know what I am referring to! Mrs. Joyce Nymeyer bought me a beautiful outfit with one of my winter pregnancies...and I still remember the day, the skirt was too tight to wear...I think it was an XL. That baby was weighed in at 9lbs 14oz, one potato shy of a 10lb potato bag. I've never looked at a sack of potatoes the same since that baby! Of course my little sweet angel Ellie, was 10lbs 40z....a little more than a sack of potatoes. How odd that I would compare my babies to a sack of potatoes!

We have moved into a 4 bedroom 2 bath apartment, PRAISE THE LORD! Much roomier I must say. We also have a washer and dryer in the unit, so this is VERY NICE! I about have things back in order and organized. So for the past week or so, that is where I have been, moving. Our internet was just switched on this week, so I should be keeping up with you more. Of course, It may not be too fast...because I am only waddling at this point.

Life or death?

The other day I noticed our little hampster, "Hampy" was walking funny. How odd of a hamster to walk with his front legs, and drag his back legs...hmmm??? Later on I checked on him again, and sure enough...he was not walking right. I took him out of his cage and placed him on the floor, thinking maybe his chance at freedom, would "fix" him. It didn't. Then I noticed the bottom half of his body looked....smashed, flattened...definately not right.

I began to GENTLY ask the little boys questions, "Honey, did you drop the hampster today, or accidently drop something on him?" "Did you close him up in a door?" On this particular day, David (Hampy's owner-6 yrs old), had made him an outside home inside of our cooler. He added lots of grass and pretty rocks and soft leaves. I made sure to tell him right away to leave the lid open so he wouldn't suffocate. David always takes him outside, nearly every day and plays with him in the sunshine. He then will bring him back inside, put him in his cage...until the next day.

No one had any answers.

The next day Joey had caught a toad and put it in the cooler. I went outside to check on the boys and there was the toad...dead on the sidewalk. I asked Nathan, 4yrs old, what had happened. He told me the toad was trying to get away, and he went running to catch him, and stepped on him...but it was an accident, he didn't mean it. I got down on my knees and looked into his eyes and asked, "Nathan, did that happen yesterday with Hampy? Was he trying to get away and you stepped on him?" "Yes Mommy, but I didn't mean too!"

So now we have a handicapped hamster. My husband said it was inhumane to let him live. The problem is...he still eats, drinks, and drags himself all over the place, and neither of us can think of a HUMANE way to kill the poor thing. David still plays with him. Kevin still greets him each evening with, "Hey little rat, whats up???" I told Kevin, perhaps it would be better to let him die slowly...and just not wake up one day, than to kill him. He doesn't seem to be in misery at all? Poor little guy. Not sure what else to do now, but to let him live!! I thought about letting him go, to live his last days free!! Then I remembered the hawks I see every now and then flying by...How terrrible to let a handicapped hamster free...with hawks flying overhead!! I suppose we'll just keep him. I thought of making a little wheelchair for him out of some toys...we'll see how that project comes along.

So what do you think....

Childhood Memories

One of the newest blogs I have decided to keep up on is:
http://athousandwordsandthensome.blogspot.com/

I really enjoy writing, and this is a nice outlet for me. Amy has given us a topic of Childhood Memories to write about. Many things have come to mind throughout my day, feel free to share some of your own Childhood Memories here or on Amy's blog if you'd like.

When I was 6 or 7 my grandparents lived nearby, and they bought a farm. The two-story yellow house was on a dirt road in a small town in Michigan. In the summer time, it seems we spent a lot of time over there. You would not believe all of the fruit that grew on this property. Grandma had cherry trees, apple trees, pear trees, even plums! There was rhubarb growing on the side of the garage. Grandma always had a big garden that housed many vegetables...but also strawberries! At the edge of the property there was a line of huge pine trees, and right behind those trees, was the vast Michigan wilderness. At various times in the summer and fall, we would find blueberrries, blackberries and rasberries. It was like an unending feast when we went to Grandma's house. I remember always getting in trouble for climbing the apple trees. I also remember getting stomach aches for eating too many green apples.

A lot of times in the summer, Grandma would bribe us to weed her garden. "If you weed the garden, I'll take you swimming." How we loved to swim! Growing up in Michigan there was always a lake within driving distance. We would sit in the garden and weed for a while, get hot and go play...then Grandma would come out and remind us..."GIRLS, I'M NOT TAKING YOU SWIMMING IF YOU DON'T WEED THE GARDEN!!" And back we would go, to get the garden done. I remember sitting there, making the plants stand out brightly against the dark soil...without the weeds to dim their color...how beautiful it was to me, even as a girl...to have nice clean rows of vegetables. I still love to weed a garden and make it neat and pretty. I remember one time, I was halfway through a row before I realized, I had been pulling the PLANTS...instead of the weeds! OOPS!!

We did get to go swimming... many times. I also watched Grandma can the vegetables, make jam, fill up her basement with rows and rows of pretty jars of homemade goodness. It was so lovely to me. I even helped make sauerkraut one year. I stood in a barrel filled with cabbage and other stuff, (I'm still not sure what it was) jumped up and down for what seemed like forever...and got out, my feet never to smell the same again.

I saw baby goats born at Grandma's house. I was also chased by a crazy turkey, that was as tall I was! Even though I was terrified of that turkey, I cried the day he was cooked...and I couldn't eat him! I'll never forget watching through the window, as his body ran around the yard...without a head!

Life had some sadness growing up, but at Grandma's house there were many happy memories.

Flu bug

It has hit us. It began on Thursday with Kevin and David. Friday was Joey and Ellie's turn. Saturday it finally reached my stomach...and today it is Derek's turn. It seems to last between 24-36 hours. I'm not sure if it is because of the pregnancy, but it has completely wiped me out!! I think I was awake a total of about 4 hours all day on Saturday. I don't remember the last time I have slept so much. Today I thought I was better, so I got up and began to get myself ready for church. Derek woke up, not feeling so well, so we waited to see whether or not he was sick, or just tired. Sure enough, he was sick too. I stayed home with him, started cleaning up the "morning rush mess"...and all of a sudden I got sooo dizzy, I almost passed out. That happened twice yesterday. So now I am laying down AGAIN...with Derek to keep me company. Tomorrow it should be Nathan's turn, unless he has an iron stomach.

Kevin has been so good. I think as women we tend to push ourselves, even when we are very sick. Something in our nature I suppose, tells us to just keep on going. After all, we have a family to take care of right? On Saturday, Kevin took all the kids with him, to go to a picnic we had been invited to. I stayed home and slept. Then last night he took all of them to the store with him. As soon as I can find the picture I will post it....he had all of the boys in one of the little cars that are attached to the front of the cart at Stracks. It looked like a bunch of monkeys hanging off of it. I'm surprised he didn't get reprimanded by someone in the store, "Excuse me sir, only 2 children per truck is allowed." He said they all did really well. He didn't seem any worse for the trip either. The man has the patience of a saint I tell ya.

So now, I've been ordered by the man in charge to lay down...AGAIN, and take it easy today. Hopefully, this is the end of our visitor this week.

Corn on the cobb

For the 4th of July we went to The Mock's house and had a cookout. The Mock's have 4 boys, so
all of the kiddos had a good time playing with swords and running around. Ellie and I stayed indoors with the other "women folk" and just chatted.




While getting some corn ready to cook, Ellie seemed pretty interested in helping. I gave her a peice of corn and was showing her how to shuck the cobb....



She was ready to jump right in and help....



She was fascinated that there was corn in the midst of all the
green stuff....then she ate nearly the entire ear of corn...raw!!