Q & A, & Q

I've received a number of questions regarding my current pregnancy, so I thought I'd take a minute and answer them.

Q. Where is Aubree in the "bun in the oven" picture?

A. Someone had to be the photographer, and Aubree graciously agreed.  

Q. How far along are you now?

A. 14 weeks.  I may look much further along, but don't be fooled (my midwife kindly commented that that's normal for later pregnancies, and I'm choosing to believe her). ;)

Q. How are you feeling?

A. Much better, thank you very much!  The first trimester and I don't get along too well.  Granted, I have it WAY easier than many of my friends and family who are sick for the whole 9 months.  I "only" felt pretty pukey from about weeks 5-10.  But 5 weeks of nausea is more than enough in my opinion.  Oh, and whoever decided to call it "morning sickness" is an idiot.

In addition to feeling icky, the biggest symptom I struggled with was complete and constant exhaustion.  I told Mark I just wanted to "sleep until Valentine's Day," and I'm pretty sure I could have done it too!  The fatigue is slowly easing, but it's still a battle.

I'll admit that I give myself a lot of leeway during my first trimesters.  I hold myself to a very low standard -  the kids are fed and safe?  Great! Mission complete.  Blogging? Church Calling? Socializing? Cleaning? Serving? Keeping up with friends and family?  Extra trips or activities?  Bare. Minimum.  

Now that I'm solidly in my second trimester, I'm slowly trying to pick up the pieces and get back to a semblance of normal.

Q. Is Aubree over-the-moon excited? 

A.  Anyone who knows Aubree can answer this question without hesitation.  She was born to be a big sister and "over-the-moon excited" is probably a very apt description.  She's taken it upon herself to ensure that EVERYONE knows our big news.  If she sees me talking to a friend or acquaintance or stranger, she immediately whispers in my ear, "did you tell them yet?" 

Q.  Do the boys care?

A.  Thane? Not so much.  When he hears us talking about a baby, he looks around for a few seconds, but then probably assumes we're all nuts as their clearly is no baby in the room and continues about his normal monkey business.

Bryce, on the other hand, is very excited.  When we first asked him if he wanted a baby girl or boy, he answered boy, but quickly changed his mind to girl because, "we already have two boys and only one girl."  He's maintained that stance, and even suggested we name her "Loris."

The first day after hearing the news, however, he was quite concerned about the idea that the baby was in my "tummy." Every time the topic of the baby would come up (which, with Aubree around was frequently), he'd scrunch up his face and ask seriously, "the baby's not really in your tummy, right Mom?? You're just teasing about that, RIGHT?"  

After a day of thinking and talking about it, he came around to accepting the crazy idea, and now tells everyone very intently, "my mom has a baby right here" (said while rubbing his own belly).

Q. Any guess about baby's gender?

Mark's not the guessing type. 

Aubree says, "I really want a girl, but I think it's probably a boy." 

I knew, 100%, that Aubree was a girl.  I was 80% sure that Bryce was a boy.  I was also sure that Thane was a girl.  Oops.  

This time around? I'd say I'm about 60% boy, 40% girl.  When I imagine Autumn-time, I see myself with Aubree and three little boys.  BUT, with all my siblings, all the boys were born in the first 6 months of the year, and all the girls were born in the last 6 months.  So far my 3 kids have followed the same pattern.  That suggests girl.  We'll find out for sure April 16.  

Q. Are you going to find out the baby's gender?

A. Do you know me at all?  OF COURSE!  The Midwife had the audacity to suggest that we'd find out, "if the baby cooperated."  

Excuse me?  Who says the baby has a choice about whether he/she will cooperate?! ;)

Q. Did you always know you wanted four?

A. We always thought we'd want at least four.  And the answer to the inevitable follow-up question?  No, we're probably not done.

Q. You must have the patience of a saint! 

A. (Granted this was a statement, but I think it warrants a response.)  Ha!  Haaaaa, Haaaaaa, HAAAAAA!!! *snort

Now for a couple questions:

Q. When a fairly regular blogger suddenly falls of the face of the Earth, do you wonder if she might be pregnant?  

I do, so I tried to throw up a blog (pathetic though it might have been) at least once in a while to try to avoid excess suspicion.

Q. Is it possible to turn from a "night person" to a "morning person?"

I've heard of morning people becoming night owls, but haven't heard success stories the other way around.  A couple months ago, I was up having breakfast with the boys (who are incurable "up-with-the-sunners"), and noticed the sunrise.  Instead of marveling at the beauty, I found myself grumbling, "I don't want to see the sun come up! I want to be asleep." (waaaaaahh)  Pathetic, I know.

I also recently came across my journals from High School (another topic entirely!).  I was amused by how frequently I mentioned hating getting up for seminary.  Seminary itself was fine.  It was just the getting up part I hated.