I forgot

Baby Boy is 5 weeks old. I forgot how demanding and time consuming an infant is. Can you believe that?

ps-Dear BabyBoy weighs over 10 pounds now!

Reading

The question, "What are you reading these days?" makes me squirm. As a kid, I read constantly. I really enjoy reading, both for pleasure and instruction. Unfortunately, the answer to the aforementioned question usually has more to do with my little people than myself. I LOVE children's books, so this works out alright for me, but it does little to impress my friends!

I borrowed a book from the library to read on vacation. I have been wanting to read it for more than a few months, so I am glad to have found it.

My oldest was not impressed with my choice:

"Let the little children come to Me"

This morning, we sang,

"All who believe and are baptized shall see the Lord's Salvation; Baptized into the Death of Christ, they are a new creation. Through Christ's redemption they shall stand among the glorious, heavenly band of every tribe and nation."

We prayed to the Lord:
"That You would behold Andrew according to Your boundless mercy and bless him true faith by the Holy Spirit, that through this saving flood all sin in him, which has been inherited from Adam and which he himself committed since, would be drowned and die.

Grant that he be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving Your Name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that with all believers in Your promise, he would be declared worthy of eternal life; though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"

We renounced the Devil's works and his ways and confessed what our saving God has done in the words of the Apostles' Creed....and then, wee Andrew's sins were washed away by water and the Word and he was made an heir with us of all the treasures of Heaven!

We will all, together, live in the Light of Christ and be ever watchful of His coming so that we may meet Him with joy and enter with Him into the marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom.





And we sang once again:

"With one accord, O God we pray: Grant us Your Holy Spirit.
Help us in our infirmity through Jesus' blood and merit. Grant us to grow in grace each day
that by this sacrament we may Eternal Life inherit."

And so the Church grows again :)

THE Day!

Andrew Peter arrived Friday at 3:36pm! He weighed 7 pounds 13 oz and was 21 inches long. He is as perfect as one can be ....until his baptism next Sunday. I am so glad he is in my arms instead of my belly! I am also humbled that God would see fit to give us yet another healthy child...and safe delivery.

I love babies!

The end

Four more weeks to go.

At this point, I am always dying for the end to come and this time is no different. I do not have an "early" track record. #3, #4 and #5 were early, that's all. The rest were on time or late.

I see babies everywhere. I want all of them.

I sit in the Dr's offices and watch those Accent Health tvs that talk about parenting and getting your baby to sleep through the night and, find myself thinking, "Oh! I should try that!" and then by the third time it plays I want to throw something at the screen. I HAVE tried..either I have no willpower or my babies are so contrary that it never works for us...five hours of screaming is so much more easily averted by pulling that hungry baby into bed with me where we can both snuggle and enjoy each other. Maybe that is why I am feeling grouchy right now.....

The baby needs to come so my brain can settle down. The craziness of pregnancy hormones is very, very strong right now. I can think of nothing else but the baby. I have 9 other "babies" who need my attention. At least the bigger ones understand (and can't stop thinking about the baby either!)

Now I need to find those baby boy newborn clothes. I accidentally got out the girl ones yesterday. I spent ten minutes in WalMart today wondering if I should buy some new baby clothes cause they are so adorable!

Sickness

All the kids are sick with a cold. No fever, just general misery. This is one of the times that having a big family is not fun. Let me try and look at the bright side:

• no puking

• everyone all at once...not spread out over six weeks like usual

• almost all are big enough to manage "on their own" - the three year old is the only one that NEEEEEEEDS me.

• we live one mile from WalMart. In other words, I can run out and replenish tp/tissues and meds super easily

Testing

It is that time of year. Friday, I ordered our CAT Tests for our end of year standardized testing required by the state of North Carolina.

Last month, dd#2 took the ACT and today she took the SAT. She is extremely happy to be done with this aspect of schooling.

I even remember taking the SAT! I remember that my allergies were horrible, I had forgotten to bring tissues and I zipped through that test so quickly I was one of the first ones done. (no writing portion in those days.) I even remember that I had scored just 20 points shy of my goal score, and was therefore not taking it over :) My dh scored just 20 points more than my goal score, so he qualified as marriage material. (I had decided early on I had to marry someone smarter than me. LOL)

Oh and one more item of note: Sixteen years from now I will still be taking a student to take that exam..when I am 61 years old!