APRIL
April is fast approaching! Seven more weeks on the Peanut countdown. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and I was sorely displeased with the outcome. All is well with squirmy wormy Peanut-but in three weeks I gained NINE pounds. Ouch. Not sure why (although I HAVE been inhaling candy like there is no tomorrow. Surely that has NOTHING to do with it...) but now I have once again begun exercising. (I know I know. Exercising when you GAIN weight is NOT the right veiw of exercising. It SHOULD be a constant part of your life to keep fit. A lifestyle change-not a result of freak weight gain....) Onward ho. I got my first clue of my 'chubbiness' when I saw some pictures of my double chin and rounded face from the....
SHOWERS
...BABY SHOWER I had on Saturday. Sorry it has taken me so long to write about it. I have not had opportunity to spend any more than five minutes on the computer since then. So without further ado-I give you....
IT'S A BOY!
Yep. Baby Newman #2 is a boy, no doubt. Matt and I have thought so from the beginning so it wasn't a SHOCK! Matt really wanted a boy and I was sort of hoping for another girl~but really, we both see so many great things about both, we couldn't have cared less either way. I was sortof hoping for a girl for several reasons...
1) To prove Matt wrong. He has been calling him a 'he' since day 1.
2) I LOVE same sex stair-steps. They can relate to each other as they grow older, they can play together, and they are just plain cute to look at!
3) I wanted to avoid the in-evitable "OH! You have your boy and your girl! Now you are all done, right?!?!"
Of course-in the very same breath, some of the reasons I looked forward to the possibility (and now, reality) of higher levels of testosterone are...
1) Well, hey now. All my friends are having boys! ;-)
2) You know what they say about Mama's boys. I HOPE to get a cuddler this time around.
3) We are thankful for the chance to carry on the Newman name. Sounds silly, I know. But it is important.
4) I know how much Matt wanted one.
Peanut being a he doesn't come without a bit of trepidation. I am nervous to have a boy because...
~Matt almost killed himself so many times growing up. I am in fear of Peanut's life. Already!
~Boys need to be taught things I cannot personally relate to, being a woman. I fear that I will not find the balance of teaching our son(s) how to be a man and the responsibilities of a man while still encouraging him in ways that strengthen character. Thankfully, I am not in this alone-and Peanut will have the most wonderful role model when he looks to his Papa.
So-there you have it. Baby Newman is no longer a (s)he but a bonafide HE! My shower was a WONDERFUL success. I know why they call it a shower. People just SHOWERED me with kindness and gifts galore. In every corner there were special treats (from a beautiful ship cake my sister made to a boat quilt hanging as a 'take home for Peanut' decoration!) and at every turn there were unique and creative ways to celebrate this life that God has blessed us with. Hard-boiled babies to carry around with us to a table in which all the guests decorated a onsie especially for Peanut...lots of wonderful expressions of the great anticipation of a new baby Newman. And I must say, It is so nice to have few BLUE things now, instead of just yellow and white! Since this will be, no doubt, my last baby shower it was very convenient to be having a boy. Whatever subsequent children we will have, we will be prepared for-with girl OR boy clothes.
BRING
We have no news regarding the very 'secretive' and overtly vague post of last week. We expect to know more by this weekend. In the meantime, the Lord is seeing fit to keep it a secret from us. This news will bring many more tidy to-do's for my to-do list. Being already LONG, I will have to replace 'necessary' check-offs with 'fun' ones. Ah well. I hate being 'in-limbo'. I hate standstills but that is where we are...temperarily anywho. As you probably have guessed since he would have been leaving on Monday~ Matt will no longer be heading to Guatemala for two weeks. At least, not at this point. He may still go this summer, after the baby is born but he felt it prudent to postpone it for now. And I sure do agree!
MAY
I don't really know what to put in the 'May' spot so......May you enjoy the slew of shower photos to come! ;-)
FLOWERS
While my mind has been mostly occupied with Baby Peanut thoughts and excitement, I have still managed to find room for contemplating and anticipating the coming growing season! Only a bit over three weeks until SPRING is here! While it IS still winter and the grass is BROWN and dead-for the past few weeks there has been brown earth to tease me and blue skies to lure my thoughts toward all the growing possibilities this spring and summer has to offer. What I will do differently; what I didn't use a lot of that I DID grow last year, what I didn't grow but should have...things like that. My first canning season came and went without too many hitches so I plan to jack up the output this year and expand my endeavors. THAT won't be too hard to do since I only did applesauce, a TINY bit of spagetti sauce, salsa, cucumber pickles, squash pickles, blueberry lime jam, apple butter, and strawberry freezer jam. I will be growing some more flowers this year-preferably some for cutting. I also want to grow herbs. My plans are of course, dependent on how much space I have to work with.
So now. My mind is cleared of all the things I have been wanting to write-and you are all bored out of your skulls. SORRY! Hope you like the pictures... :-)
I personally am glad the cat is out of the bag- Boy was it hard to keep a secret, no pun intended! :)
ReplyDeleteI am not so secretly glad you are having a boy this time because I think it will be wonderful for Samuel to have another cousin so close in age to him that is a boy! Corynn and him love each other very much, but it will be fun, when Corynn starts getting into "girly" things for Samuel to have a cousin into "boy" things.
As for canning, maybe sometime I can come over when you do your canning to see firsthand how to do it. Bob and I both would like to try our hands at canning this year. I wanted to last year, but never actually took the plunge. Would you mind if I learned from you little sis??? :)
Thanks for sharing these; I feel like I made it down after all! (And I might as well have come down, considering in hindsight that there was little chance of Berry coming on my due date.)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you all had a grand time. Three cheers for the Peanut Boy!
p.s. I echo your thoughts about having a boy baby. I've been thinking similarly, with one addition- if Berry's a boy, how in the world will I protect myself while changing diapers?????? I'm thinking I would have to fashion a shield of some sort.
CONGRATS!! How exciting. Since you are having your boy before me, you will need to fill me in on all the diffference! WE are so used to girls around here! =^)
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures from your shower!
I am glad you are doing well. I had been wondering since it had been a while since you posted.
Even though all the clothes I am sending you are girl, do go through and see if anything will fit C before passing off the box. =^)
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog, and congratulations on your expected baby boy! I had a girl first and then a boy 17 months later, and they have been really close since the beginning even though they are opposite sexes, so I'm sure yours will be too. How old is your little girl? Your shower sounds great! I enjoyed reading about it from Elizabeth's blog too. Blessings on your last several weeks of pregnancy. It definitely is an exciting time!
Catherine