the minivan voorsts.: what's up weekly. (We actually went to church on Easter, Atticus is driving, etc.)

Hey guys! Here we are, back around to Friday already - how does this happen so quickly? I have a feeling that between the improving weather, the waning school year, and the impending arrival of the baby, time is just going to start picking up speed more and more each week around here.

Official numbers at the moment: 33 weeks down, seven to go. I had a midwife appointment yesterday, and she said the baby is in an amazing position for delivery and sitting very low, to which I answered something to the effect of, that will come in handy in another two months. (Not unreasonable to think - I tend to overcook my babies a bit.) To which she answered she doesn't think I will go two months. Which is both a relief ("Whew; I can't do this for two more months") and a source of anxiety ("I have to actually deliver this baby so SOON?!?")

I tend to be anxious about birth. There are so many knowns that I don't like, and yet still so many unknowns, which I also don't like. So I tried taking a "fearless birth" webinar class this week, which was maybe a good idea and maybe not? I'm still not sure if it was a net gain. Additionally, I'm starting to feel the pressure of all the things I need to do yet: make meals, pull out the baby stuff (how does one get out the clothing when one doesn't know the gender yet?!), clean and organize a few things, rearrange a few bedrooms. You know: all reasonable things to expect to accomplish when I can barely stay standing long enough to start dinner, and while my days are packed with homeschooling and other real life that doesn't stop just because a baby is coming.

I know it will all get done and we will get through it - I've done this eight times before and never failed to make it through. BUT. It gets to feel like a lot in the moment.

The kids are wonderful to me, though. They are constantly looking for ways to help me, or ask me how I'm doing. I get volunteer massages, and food and snacks offered/brought, cheerful responses to requests for help with housework, and "assistance" getting off the couch. (Poor, sweet six-year-old child; you have no idea the risk you're running asking me to use you as a lever.) They are such a gift.

I mean, just look at them:

The kids keep saying they hope the baby is a boy, since we haven't had a new boy in our house in a really long time. That makes sense, since all of these manfolk are clearly adults at this point.

These photos were taken on Easter - which serves as photo evidence that we actually all made it to church on Easter for once! It has been quite the stretch. 2019 we missed church because Juni had been born a few days before, 2020 everything was closed for the initial Covid hysteria, 2021 we stayed home because the barfs were circulating in the house, 2022 we actually went!, but last year only a few of us went because The Barfs Again. So this was only the second time since 2018 that I have actually been at church on Easter. It was nice!

I still tackled all of our typical holiday meals, though, and it made for a fun but tiring day.

Prettiest meal of the entire year.

Lunch

Dinner - and done!

In the afternoon, while I rested in between meal prep, Penelope and Atticus organized an egg hunt for the younger kids. They even had two "hunting" areas: inside the fence, there were lots of easily-found treats for the littlest kids, and outside the fence were the more challenging finds. Everyone loved it.

The next day I woke up exhausted. I used my lunch/exercise break in the middle of the day to take a nap, and then I ended up napping on the couch after dinner as well. Which was a good thing, because Juni developed an ear infection in the evening and we didn't end up getting much sleep that night. We moved her mattress to the floor by my side of the bed, and she was up crying every hour for the first few hours. I kept trying to roll over her to comfort her, but that's easier said than done when you have a 27-lb sandbag in the way of you doing any rolling. I'm pretty sure I pulled every single muscle in my stomach. But she finally fell asleep for good a little before 5:00 a.m., and slept in the next morning, and after a few applications of drops, she seems to be back to 100%, so all's well that ends well.

On Wednesday, the younger three girls had eye appointments. They all did so well. Juni and Laurelai are going to need to start wearing a patch for much of the day, because their vision is still pretty bad and not improving, so that was a bummer to learn. BUT! Callista had her first exam and is seeing just fine, so she will not be needing glasses, which is a huge praise. I wasn't sure because she's been getting headaches, but it doesn't appear they're due to her vision. Next week, the big three kids will have their exams, and then everyone will have new glasses for the first time in over two years- the kids will be so relieved. Their glasses are in rough shape.

Thursday, the window cleaners came to tackle my big windows in the living room and dining room! Todd asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and this was it: to look through ungrimed windows at the view. So he made it happen, and I couldn't be more thrilled. Those windows are so much of the visual space in our house; it makes a big difference when they're clean, but I just can't reach all of them to clean them myself so they get gross.

Additionally, Todd fixed a couple of window screens that have been broken since we moved in. The windows are having a shining moment.

If you had only seen how janky this was before, you would sigh a mighty sigh of relief with me just looking at this photo.

This screen had a hole in it the size of a small plate. It was totally useless. Now it is gorgeous. It's the little things that make a big difference!

And that brings us to today! Atticus is working today, I have a couple errands to run, and we'll try to tackle some more of our schoolwork before officially closing the books for Spring Break next week. If there is time over the weekend, Atticus will probably want to log more hours behind the wheel (Todd took him out driving for the first time last weekend).