When I am pregnant I gain 35 pounds. I can eat carrot sticks for 9 months and gain 35 pounds. I can eat Taco Bell for 9 months and gain 35 pounds. Apparently my body needs to gain 35 pounds to have a baby. So each time I am post partum I lose about 20 to 25 pounds in the first 6 weeks, and the rest hangs on until I take drastic measures. By drastic measures I do not mean starvation or something crazy like that. I mean, admitting that I feel awful and that dropping the remaining weight by myself is not working. I really try too, I eat better, I exercise (sporadically at best. It’s hard finding time with 6 little ones and being really sleep deprived). Once I see my efforts are not working, its time to call Weight Watchers. So here I am, doing Weight Watchers for the third time. Why 3 times you may ask? Its because it works for me, and i like it.

I am in my 4th week and doing well. Six pounds gone. Hooray!!!!

Today is a monumental day, Anna Maria is 9 months old. She is crawling, babbling, she cut two teeth last week, and is a bundle of fun. The other kids adore her. I see such a maternal instinct in both Evelyn and Mya. They really look out for her as well as their other little sisters. Peter is a proud big brother. He gets super grossed out over spit up, which is very funny, and poopy diapers are something he can do without. He does love to hold her, rock her, and he will feed her if he is asked to. The other very nice change in our lives is, I have gotten a full nights sleep for almost three days. It is finally happening, Anna Maria is really sleeping through the night. I have never had a baby that woke during the night for as long as she has. I could get all frustrated over this, but instead i see it a little differently. Anna Maria is probably my last baby, and they are babies for such a short time. Instead of being annoyed I am choosing to cherish every minute.

Wow, 9 months old, where did the time go?

Anna Maria was born today at 12:12 pm. She weighs 6lbs 15oz, and is 19.5″ long.

Mother and baby are both doing fine.

Heather is doing exceptionally well, thanks to the fact that she opted to do without the duramorph in the spinal. The pain is there, of course, but she’s handling it well with just Motrin (toridol?whatever the hospital-grade liquid Motrin is called.)

Peter was working on an illustration for a paragraph he wrote for English class. The paragraph was about what he thought heaven would be like. He had been diligently coloring a picture for sometime and I had been sitting next to him preparing for our next subject. Peter, not taking his eyes off his picture, asked me a question,
“Mom how does Jesus pick out who will get the stigmata?”
I blinked a few times, thought quickly, and said, “Well honey I don’t really know. I guess Jesus picks out some very holy and special people. You know receiving the stigmata is a gift, it isn’t bad.”
Peter looked up at me, and said, “I know that. Does it hurt?”
I told him, “I’ve read that having the stigmata was very painful but that it smelled beautiful. It smelled like beautiful perfumed oil.”
I asked him, “do you remember talking about Padre Pio? He was blessed with the stigmata.”
Peter said, “I remember that about him.” Peter stopped talking and went back to his picture.
I looked at him and asked, “do you want to receive the stigmata?”
Peter said, “I’m not sure yet.”

This was one of those rare days when Peter floors me with deep religious questions. After I do my best to answer him I just shake my head and wonder what is in his future.

I am happy to say that Matt has had a job interview! Unfortunately they liked him but didn’t see him as a good fit for the position thus not offering him a job. We tried to not get our hopes up too high, but in reality we got our hopes up too high. I was very upset, I cried, a lot. I know this will not last forever, it just feels like it will.

On the up side of this whole situation, Matt now has two freshly dry cleaned suits and a new pair of shoes all ready for the next interview. Even though I am sad over this, I can still find the positive. Thank you God for making me see the positive.

Are you aware of the EXTREMELY DANGEROUS legislation that is currently being passed in our congress? If you are not, you need to pay attention. My children and yours are in more danger now than they were 10 days ago, while this has not passed in the Senate, yet, it most likely will because we conservatives have no power right now. The congress is an automatic green light for every piece of INSANE LEFT WING legislation introduced.

A Hate Crimes Bill, S909 if you want to check it out, has been introduced and has already been passed in House and is being sent to the Senate for approval. This bill protects people from hate crimes based on sexual orientation, and sexual orientation is not defined, so we can conclude that ANY SEXUAL ORIENTATION is covered so it offers protection to the more “abnormal” types of sexual deviancy such as bestiality, necrophilia, and pedophilia. Did you read that right? The pedophiles are being protected, my children can be preyed upon, raped, molested, and heaven knows what else and if I try to protect my child I AM THE BAD GUY. Thats right the sexual predator may get charged with a sex crime which is a felony, but I as the mother speaking out or physically trying to PROTECT MY CHILD gets slapped with a FEDERAL CRIME. This is complete insanity. This is not really a hate crime legislation, it is thought police, it is terrifying.

Some people may think I am raising my children in a bubble, and I admit it, I am and I’m proud to do it. We, on the conservative side of things are being turned into criminals because of our belief system, our morals, our values. As of a few weeks ago the Department of Homeland Security sent out a document alerting law enforcement officials to be looking for RIGHT WING EXTREMISTS. You know who you are, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-family values, Christians. We are being stripped of our first amendment rights, we Christian Conservatives have no rights anymore because we cannot speak out against what is morally wrong with our society, lest we get charged with a federal crime.

I am angry, I am scared, I am feeling helpless. I know God is in charge.

So, today is Matt’s first full day as an unemployed Michigander. You’ll never guess where he is today? At work. Working. Fixing things. Keeping things up and running. Not getting paid. No kidding!!

So most people know Matt is losing his job. He was supposed to be fired on Friday April 17th, but as that day loomed near he got word that the bank had approved funding for his position until the end of the month. WONDERFUL!! What a blessing.

Our health insurance is going to end as of April 25th. I do not want to go on Medicaid, it is not a “pride issue” it is an “I want to avoid the government as much as possible issue”. I have had to work with them when Lily was born and while it all worked out, it was not a pleasant experience. So as the loss of insurance quickly approaches, God has opened a window and has put new and affordable insurance options in our path. Another blessing.

Now as April draws to a close and EAS, the company Matt works for, is closing its doors, next Thursday, Matt comes home and tells me that one of the “higher ups” at one of the sister plants talked to him and asked Matt to contact him once all the EAS business wraps up. Matt told the “higher up” that they don’t need full time IT support, only about two days a week. If Matt could get hired or contracted in at a reasonable rate, for those two days, he will be bringing in only $1000 less/month than he makes now. Yet another blessing.

In January 2008 Matt and I prayed for financial wisdom and to become good stewards with the money God has given us. God has done just that. More blessings.

So here we are on the brink of unemployment, another baby on the way, and five other little mouths to feed. Am I scared? No not really. Due to answered prayers, Matt and I will be able to LIVE on unemployment, not lavishly, but we never lived lavishly before. We will be able to LIVE on 1/4 of his previous income, and be able to put some money in the bank for a rainy day.

What an amazing blessing!!

Tonight the older three kids and I were sitting at the kitchen table, eating a snack, while Peter and I were finishing some math. Evelyn piped up and asked if we could go on a summer vacation up north. Matt parents have a cottage up in Elk Rapids and last summer my side of the family spent a week at Crystal Lake. Evelyn specifically said she wanted to go to Crystal Lake because she wants to learn how to swim. I sadly had to break the news to them that Crystal Lake was probably not happening this summer. The kids were disappointed and wanted to know why. I reminded them that daddy was losing his job soon so what money we have needs to be spent on other things. I also added that Uncle Drew and Uncle Fuzzy didn’t have jobs either. Evelyn smiled and said, “I know, I’ll let you open my crayon bank and take all the money out so we can all go to Crystal Lake”! I smiled at her and thanked her for being so generous and coming up with a a very clever idea.

Sometimes I see such a good spirit of generosity in the children, and it always makes me happy.

On Sunday afternoon Peter, Evelyn, and Mya were playing outside. Once they came inside Evelyn and Mya moved on to different activities and Peter started telling Matt about something he made in the garden. I thought I heard him correctly but got closer to their conversation just to make sure….yep I did hear him correctly.

Peter: “Daddy when I was outside I made a SEMINARY stone.”
Daddy: “A seminary stone? What is that?”
Peter” “You know, just in case someone from our family dies. You can put it on where you bury them.”

So apparently these are just in case we have future seminarians in our family who happen to take ill.