The weather here warmed up several weeks back. At that time, my ankles disappeared. Today I had to stop wearing my ring. It wasn't even my wedding ring - it was a larger, replacement ring. Then last week I discovered a painful, purple spot on the back of my knee. Something different happens with each one of these pregnancies. Something's screwy with my circulation this time. I often wake up with my hands numb.
I'm shocking to see. I just keep my eyes down as I walk through crowds. The hardest place to go, ironically, is the gym. I get confronted there more than anywhere. And people ask the funniest, and often overly-personal questions. Unfortunately for them, I'm also irritable. Fortunately, I have the best doctor. He's no-frills. Yes, it stinks. No, you can't change it.
My kids are great about the whole thing. I didn't tell K & T till I was on month 4, and they hadn't complained much about all the extra sleeping and being sick. And after they knew, they just went along with it. Helped around the house more. Helped with Mel more. When we found out it was a boy, the girls were a bit disappointed but Thomas was just ambivalent. I really don't think he cared either way. Now he says he's excited, but I wonder if it's not just b/c people keep asking him all the time. He was baptized last December and it occurred to me that when this brother is 8 and old enough to be baptized, Thomas will be 16 and old enough to have the proper priesthood to baptize him. (I thought of that b/c Chad had baptized his sister and it seemed like such a special thing). Hopefully they'll get along 8 years from now.
Well, it's still 4 and a half weeks away. The weather is getting beautiful and we all want to be outside all the time. K, T & EV have soccer games every Saturday. Now's the time to get the gardening done. And it's been raining a bunch so the grass is very green and the flower beds are easy to dig in and weed. It's hard to stay inside and put my feet up. Chad's been out, working very hard all over the yard. With all this green grass, it keeps needing to be mowed. And he's getting the garden boxes ready.
It reminds me of that primary song "Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird" - it's Spring and inspiring. I can sit outside in the shade and just enjoy everything. In a couple of months, it will be too hot. A couple months back, it was too cold. I want to take my kids and wrap them up in hugs and not let them grow up. I want to enjoy everything all at once. Very odd feelings for someone with no ankles.
