Pregnancy quirks

Well I am half way thru my pregnancy now. Tomorrow we find out we keep the Crutchmer tradition of all boys or if a girl will sneak in to the mix! I really am glad I don’t get to pick. I would love to have a girl in one way and yet boys are awesome! I can’t go wrong. Thankfully God is in charge of picking that for us! Phew…

Ok before I forget the random things….

*Especially during the first trimester, I could not drink water with my meals. I would be nauseous if I did. If I drank something else, like kool-aide or coke it was much better….

*I apparently laugh a lot more! I get these laughing attacks at night right before bed. I can’t stop! Over nothing at all. And then I start laughing at myself for laughing. Matt has gotten quite the kick out of it.

* The old-fashioned candy “DOTS” taste fabulous to me! So random. I much prefer chocolate over candy but I have picked candy over chocolate quite a bit during the pregnancy.

*Chips taste fantastic too! Not that I didn’t like them before, but they certainly haven’t been a weakness of mine. SunChips in Harvest Cheddar have been a hit!

*Little “Blueberry” loves to eat in the middle of the night. I have had to get up SEVERAL nights to eat if I want to have a chance of getting back to sleep. However I have noticed if I basically eat a big meal before bed, I can get thru the night. I am sure the heart burn will kick in here soon.

*Although I have talked about food a lot it really has been a struggle for me to eat as much as I need too. The Joy of food certainly wasn’t there during the first trimester. And now still sometimes I have to force myself to do it. All the yummy Holiday food tho is helping.

* I drop things. ALL the time. It is like my brain is not getting the message to my hand that I actually have to squeeze things that I pick up.

*Migraines rocked my world for the first trimester but b/t now being in my second and going to a chiropractor, life has been much happier…. SO thankful. 

Overall, I have can’t complain at all. I am so thankful for this pregnancy and that God is entrusting another human life to me. I know I will need to depend on Him fully to do a good job. And that is exactly where he wants me. 

Blueberry

So once a week I get updates on the baby’s size. It started as a lentil bean, then something else I can’t remember, then a blueberry! I thought that sounded so cute! The name has stuck! Our baby is now always referenced as “blueberry”! It has since been a grape, cumquat, plum, a couple others and a peach! But he/she is our little blueberry. I plan to find a cute little blueberry-like  outfit to take him/her home in.

Big brothers

When we told the boys that we were expecting they both just looked at matt with blank stares for about 10 seconds…. Then they looked at me and I smiled a nervous smile, and immediately they jumped up threw their arms around me and were SO EXCITED. It did my heart good that day. They have been such sweethearts! Great big brothers already. So sweet with me when I am tired or sick. They pray for him/her and talk to him/her already. SO CUTE!!

A brand new day…

SO that is the title of the new “theme” I picked for the look of the website. I picked it purely for the title. It seemed fitting. So much has happened since I last talked about Cheese curds…

Quick Recap: After years of planning for it the Lord redirected our paths and we are now staying in MN rather then Finland. How do I feel about this? At total peace. It has been a VERY difficult year in many many ways…. but without going into it, it has been a sweet year as well. God is taking care of us thru the good and the bad. He has taken a lot away, and yet given us  a surprise gift of adding a new Crutchmer to the mix! Lord willing coming next May there will be five Crutchmers under the same roof! We are excited and still a bit in shock over all the changes that have taken place. But like I have always said, I am just hanging on for the ride watching the Lord prepare us one day at a time. For what? Well I guess it would just be life and all that it will still bring. Here is to a “brand new day” and hopefully many more to come.

Cheese Curds

So the other day we had some friends over for dinner. I had gotten a mix for the breading of “cheese curds” for Christmas and finally decided to buy some curds and give it a whirl and fry them up! I was standing in my kitchen with my friend talking and watching the oil get hot, when I had this little “moment”. I realized about five years ago I didn’t even know what cheese curds were!! I am from New Mexico remember!? I had them for the first time on our first trip to the “Minnesota State Fair”.  Along with Walleye  and Salmon on a stick too.  :)

But it was just a funny feeling, here I am living in Minnesota frying up cheese curds for dinner. It is funny where life takes you sometimes. And another five years from now I wonder what things I will be making in my kitchen in Finland that I don’t even know that exists now. As I feel like I have been saying a lot lately, “Here is to the great unknown!”.

And for all you Non-Minnesotan or Wisconsinites who may not know what cheese curds are either check out the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curds.

p.s. FYI if you get the oil too hot the cheese melts out and all you have is the fried breading.  First batch good, second batch bad.

YMCA (sing it everybody…)

THe boys and I went to the Y the other day to run around in the gym and get the wiggles out. They brought their soccer ball and starting kicking around. Two boys who were a little older were there too and asked if they could play. So they formed a little “pick up” game. They formed  Teams, rules for the amount of space they had, etc. And I sat on the sidelines watching my boys interact with them. After awhile they moved on to playing basketball. Same kind of game. They all did it so well. They played hard, got along well, and worked out the kinks when they didn’t. And I couldn’t help but have my mind jump ten years ahead and picture them doing this as teenagers and even young adults.

They seemed so grown up! Starting organized pick up games?? When did this maturity happen? Wasn’t I just changing diapers, putting shoes on for them, potty training?  Now we are past learning how to ride a bike. They take showers and brush their teeth by themselves (which I love by the way) ,  and baby teeth are falling out left and right.
And now they read, practically run faster then I can (although it is still debatable), do chores, and no apparently play pick up games at the Y!

Going back to the moment, I sat there just being SO thankful for my boys. The Lord has blessed me so much by allowing me to be their mother. I am amazed that He has been so gracious. I pray I am mothering them well. I am thankful that I have the Lord to guide me as I try and that He is bigger then the mistakes I make as I try to rear them into adulthood.

****DISCLAIMER**** Please read before reading any past or present posts.

I would just like to address your attention to the name of my blog… “Ari’s RAMBLINGS”. Yep, ramblings. If you are a proper english enthusiast and reading improper grammar bothers you, this blog is not for you. It is not that I don’t know proper writing skills completely, it is just that I don’t want to take the time to read and re-read, edit, contemplate deeply, on things I want to get down. I write how I talk. I know that is a “No No”  in writing class. But this is a blog. I am lucky to actually sit down and write my thoughts at all. So for those of you who are reading, I apologize ahead of time for all my fragments, run-on sentences, double negatives, made up words and improper use of punctuation. And as you have already probably noticed I use WAY to many smiley faces and exclamation points for my own good. But that is just me. And I am ok with it. !

And the couch and I were one…

So my family and I have not escaped the horrifically long virus that is sweeping the country. The one that gives you that nice choking cough that will not let up and makes you spasm and your heart race when you have the coughing attacks. Yea, that kind. All that to say, is all week (plus some) I have had that. Yet I had to still do carpool, errands, make food for the family etc. Basically going at a normal pace of life despite it. Minus the thousand cough drops, and complete bottle of Honey I went through.

Anyhoo, I woke up Saturday thinking I was going to carry on with my day of errands etc. When all of life decided to cave in on my shoulders….Ok not really at all, it just felt like it. I had the guilt of looking around at all the things I hadn’t been doing well. The laundry piled high, the dishes in the sink, the less the perfect bathroom etc. Then I thought of the homework I am behind on, the emails I hadn’t responded to, the Bible I hadn’t read (which i actually had that day, but felt the need to feel guilty about the days before!). Are you feeling my despondency?

I shared my feeling with my husband and he proceeded to speak truth to me. Ari, you fail. It doesn’t mean you are a failure. Yes you could be better at some things, but it is not what you do or don’t do that makes you who you are in Christ. (overall jest of it). And on top of that you are a human and you are sick. So don’t worry so much about it. In my despondency I didn’t love what he was saying until it resonated an hour or so later. With all my coupons cut and ready to go to the store, Around 1:00pm I went and laid down on the couch…..

And then I pretty much didn’t get up from the couch except to eat dinner until midnight. Yep and I pretty much slept the whole time. Then I moved to my actual bed and slept until 8:00am. Soundly. And my body and mind said “Thank you, thank you very much.” Matt took the kids to the Y and back, went and got pizza, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and finally woke me up only to get me in bed. And he did it all with a smile.

Thank you Matty Patty.  Thank you for speaking truth and also doing it in love by taking care of me as well. So tomorrow is Monday and my coupons are still cut, I have done a few loads of laundry, and my heart is a lot happier. Oh and I have a new appreciation for how comfortable my couch is.

OUCH, that hurts.

So I took Eli to the orthodontist the other day, at his dentist’s recommendation, to put a spacer in between his molars because one is growing sideways into his other tooth. (and apparently a whole lot more is going on his small little mouth but another time…) The orthodontist said it shouldn’t hurt really at all just a little tap as he squeezed it in between his teeth. Well it did! A lot! And it didn’t want to go in. It kept breaking. So they put some numbing agent on it and then tried again. Again it hurt and again it broke. So he put some more numbing agent on and went to try it again. By this time Eli is NOT happy and is scared of more pain. The ortho and his assistant  kept trying to assure him that it won’t hurt anymore and it will just take a second. He obviously wasn’t believing them. And was getting more worked up. I finally butted in and said “Eli it probably will hurt some. But a little pain is ok. You can do it.” At that, I saw his demeanor change slightly. He calmed down just enough for them to try again and they were able to get it in this time!  PTL!

It got me thinking though how often we try to shelter our kids (or ourselves) from the truth or pain so they don’t feel bad or won’t be scared. But as Eli showed sometimes they just need to know. And they need to know that they can get through it. Pain is unescapable in this broken world. Wether physically or emotionally, we will all endure it to one extent or another. Sometimes we just need to squeeze their hand like I did Eli and  let them know that we are here. And that we will always be there for them…Even when it hurts.

Mmmm Ribs…

Braden had just gotten out of the shower and I went in to tell him to put lotion on. He was staring at his rib cage and said “look mom!” and went on to make his ribs go up and down. I said yea, those are your ribs! Which he then answered with “Mmm Ribs…Yum!”.  Silly Boy.