[Posted on Monday evening because I don’t know at all that I’ll get back over here tomorrow.]
Well, I have reached my final month. 36 weeks and counting! Everything is softening up & spreading out, (And guys, I’m sorry, I should have warned you), but the truth is I fairly clack when I walk.
So I don’t. (Walk, that is.) I lie on the couch; I lie on my bed, I lie on my green La-Z-Boy recliner.
(Make that a La-Z-Girl, okay?)
What else? Well, here’s a TMI tidbit for you: George has finally started potty training. For those of you who need a visual, this means that he basically gads about in various stages of undress. He’s naked a lot, and we condone this.
(Still won’t go Number 2 on the potty, though. When he asks for a diaper we know why.)
You wanna hear something really, really sad? The best part of my day today was finding the source of a horrifically foul smell. No, it wasn’t a dirty diaper; it was a dishtowel that’d been used to sop up a bunch of spilt milk, and then got dumped—and forgotten—into the hamper.
Pew.
Pew pew and I mean pew.
Also? The fact that finding that towel was the best part of my day should tell you plenty about my life these days.
What else? Well, remember that iProject I got this summer? I finally finished the 5th (and last) book! It was an iBook on various types of sonnets, and though admittedly I felt very distracted throughout, I found myself moved tonight by Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame.”
In it, Hopkins says that every mortal created thing does what it was made to do—the bird that dives expertly to the water to catch fish, the string that plays its note beautifully. Everything does the one thing it’s created to do…except man.
We are meant to do more than we were brought into the world to do.
We are called to transcend ourselves. We are called to be a reflection of God.
After reading this sonnet, I found myself both inspired and ashamed. You see, I have been very cranky lately—not a reflection of Christ at all, I’m afraid, and—perhaps even worse—finding it hard to see Christ reflected in others. They’re the ones at fault, you know? They’re the ones with the unpleasant breath & bad habits, and no overtaxed pregnant momma should have to deal with that.
It’s as if I want everyone to cater to me, because—after all—I’m the one that’s big with child, I’m the one that’s so very uncomfortable.
Except…I’ve been really good at sharing my discomfort.
And so I’m grateful to poets who help me (please, God) get past this.
Well, it's about 12:30 am (Tuesday) and I'm pumping. I have been thinking about you so much. I was where you are last year, and we did nothing. I hate the end of the pregnancies…well, I guess I hate it the whole time…but at the end, it's that every step is just painful…it's that, "I have to park and walk all the way in?" time.
Stay on that couch. Watch Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, nonstop til Christmas!
Praying for you, love to you
I have a little one who refused to numero dos on the potty too and always asked for a diaper. I fought her on it and eventually gave in. Then I started bribing her with candy and juice boxes – which are hardly ever in our house. Now she goes like clockwork – and for my TMI moment – one day she went 4 times just so she could have her treat!
You are in survival mode, and that's okay. *Perfectly* okay for a very pregnant woman. Especially a very short pregnant woman (it takes one to know one. Not that I'm pregnant now, mind you, but I've been there — very short, very pregnant — done that.) 🙂 It's hard! Take care of your baby, take care of your big babies, take care of yourself. You were created to do that, and in your openness to life you have done more than you were created to do … transcended mere reproduction — you have opened yourself to cooperation with God.
So take care of yourself, you very-pregnant image of God, you.
Oh man…ALL my kids would not go #2 in the potty without some serious tears shed. Then after that first one, they were fine. I am not looking forward to all that jazz again.
Oh! I have to laugh! the same thing happened to us last week. There was an absolute foul smell in my boys' room. Everytime someone went in there to get the baby or grab something someone would tell me they thought the baby needed a diaper change. NOPE. I finally figured out that they had thrown some nasty towel in thier laundry basket. It was the highlight of my week, let me tell you!
I have had my share of smells…like the time I took out a chicken from the freezer, set it down(foolish me) and forgot all about it in the bsmt.PU!
Keeping my toddler in diapers till her oldest brother turns 17..then I will think about it.
Hang in there. We are so anxious to see this little guy.
I wonder which smelled worse , the mold in our water softener or your sour milk towel. Probably the milk towel, especially through the olfactory glands of a pregnant woman. But I'd bet we were equally relieved to find the source of the smell. Bad breath though – do you think people know if they have halitosis? I admit to having a tough time over the weekend conversing with a relative with bad breath and a 5yo with her two front teeth rotting away. I mean, what do you say? Anything or nothing? (((Sigh))) I, too, have a long way to go when it comes to seeing Christ in others and adjusting my comfort level!
We still haven't been able to get Ben to sit on the potty for more than about one minute. Even with M&M bribery. So you're obviously ahead of us.
Praying for you in these last days, dear Margaret.
I enjoy your blog.