Pregnancy Etiquette

Well, who'd have thought I'd already be posting again! I found myself back in Kalen's office this afternoon after church so that I could check some things out online for my church calling (Enrichment counselor in Relief Society) so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and vent just a little bit.

I do not know what posesses normally sweet and polite people to make any comment they want to people who are pregnant! The larger I am becoming, the more I just dread going anywhere in public because I know that someone will feel like they have to open their mouth and say something about my condition. This is the 5th time around so you'd think I'd be more used to it by now but instead I find myself getting more and more annoyed and I am finding that I don't want to respond very nicely to some of these individuals. I of course have had the usual size comments--You're huge!; Are you sure you're not having twins?; You're too small, are you eating okay?; Haven't you had that baby yet? (I'm only 7 months along!) But this time around we are getting some other interesting observations. Apparently because this is our 5th, we have our hands full (yes, and we love it that way!); we've completely lost our minds; we're very brave; we should put our house on the market because there is no way we can all fit into the one we have now; and my favorite comment so far came from a lady who asked me if I knew they had pills I could take to prevent all of these kids from happening (No way! How can I get my hands on some of those???). I wish I would have asked her which of my children, who were sitting right next to me, I should have prevented, but first of all it was so unexpected coming from her that I almost couldn't think to say anything, but also, I find it is a lot easier to make those kind of comebacks to the strangers I meet who also have to comment on my family planning or lack thereof in their minds.

The thing that bothers me most about it all is that these are usually people who would never approach someone who wasn't pregnant and say "You've really been packing on the pounds lately--you look like you're ready to pop!" and they certainly wouldn't feel it okay to make inappropriate comments about one's intimate life. I've gotten fairly used to complete strangers who feel it is just fine to put their hands on my belly, but part of me will always flinch just a bit when it happens because it's still MY belly they are touching, not the baby. I'd like to see what would happen if I touched their belly sometime!

I just have to tell myself that most people are well-meaning. And one thing it has done is made me more aware before I open my mouth around other expectant mothers. I know that just because one is pregnant doesn't mean she becomes un-sensitive about weight gain, break outs, and varicose veins. If anything, we are more so and it is so refreshing when someone comes out with something that really gives you an ego boost like the lady at church today who said to me "I wish I could have looked as good as you when I was pregnant! You have the cutest little belly ever!" I appreciated that a lot better than another comment I've recently gotten: "Whoa! Wide load coming through!" Ugh!

Oh well. I guess it's just good preparation for the next phase of everyone feeling inclined to make comments or give advice about the new baby...

Things we do for our kids!

Today was the very first day of our kids spring soccer season. Yesterday was sunny and nearly 80 degrees out. This morning when we left for the soccer field our thermometer read 40 degrees. We layered the kids up in sweats and put their uniforms over that, brought a couple of blankets and headed out. The soccer field must have seriously been 15 degrees colder than our yard and the wind was blowing like crazy making it feel even worse. It took about five seconds after getting out of the van for me to realize that the kids weren't layered enough, and that my flimsy fleece jacket was not going to cut it. Kendall's game was first so I sat Lynnsey and Spencer on my lap and tried to use them as a shield from the cold. It was the first time in awhile that I didn't try to convince them that they both didn't need to sit on me! In spite of the cold, Kendall played really well. He really focuses on that ball and is learning to play his position really well. He didn't score a goal this time (because I was present--he usually does it when I can't make it to a game), but he did great. At half-time I took the kids to sit in the van so we could watch the rest of the game from there. That was warmer but I realized Kendall can't hear me cheering for him in there, so I felt a little guilty about that. Then Lynnsey played. By then Kendall was an ice cube and couldn't get warm even with a blanket. And it took Lynnsey nearly the whole game to realize that she'd warm up more if she actually moved and went after the ball. The last quarter she really had fun though. I did notice that the timekeeper seemed to cut a bit off of each quarter--for which I was so thankful! We had planned on then driving to Taylor's game but he woke up with a bad sore throat this morning, so we didn't have to go after all--I mean, we didn't GET to go after all. Of course we would have gone and maybe even enjoyed watching him play, but it was so much better to go home and have hot chocolate instead. Hopefully next weekend will be nicer but I'm bringing out the winter coats just in case!

No Promises

Okay, first of all I have to thank Alison for getting fed up with my noncommital "someday I'll start a blog" and just creating one for me. I actually am excited about it but I make no promises as to the interest of subject matter, frequency of entries, or creative extras that this blog may have. We are a technologically behind the times family. I am not kidding when I say that we do not own a cell phone (Kalen says he doesn't want us to be reachable at all times), a digital camera (try explaining to a child who's picture you've just snapped why they can't see it on the back of the camera or to the confused-looking adult when you've taken your last picture and the film rewinds what that funny sound is coming from the camera!), and that we do not have internet access at our house (I am sitting in Kalen's office on campus to type this). So even though I may not type often, will post pictures even less often, and may struggle to try to do both, at least I will be keeping in touch with family and friends and letting you all see a glimpse of the things that keep us busy. And at some point, we may actually aquire some of the aforementioned "luxuries" that will make this site easier and more entertaining.