37 weeks and counting....

The count down is now on and I am now at a place where I have only a few small things on my calendar things that can be done if and when I feel like it.  Up until now I have been busy and it seems like suddenly here I am, 37 weeks (tomorrow) pregnant.  Whoa hold up...we get to meet this wee blessing in 3-5 weeks times!  I have eluded before to the fact that as a homeschooling mama it is like I have a full time job as well as being a stay-at-home mama. Life is busy but then isn't everyone's.

I do enjoy it but the pressure is there.

But for now the school holidays are here and there is nothing that is really demanding my attention. I can do what I feel led to do and napping in the afternoon is a high priority.  Do I dare admit that?

I will say that this pregnancy has been by far the easiest one so far. For this I have been blessed in itself. Of course I can't really remember the first two or three but by golly its has definitely been easier than the last two, especially the last one!  Its only now that I am beginning to feel the normal aches, discomfort and tiredness that pregnancy often bring. 

The rest of our kids are SUPER DUPER excited and keep asking me how much longer until the baby comes out.  Its hard for the little ones to understand that I don't actually KNOW when it will happen but just that it is sometime soon.

I excitedly washed some baby clothes and hung them in the sun to dry a few days back.  A sight that I will never tire from. There is something delightful about wee baby clothes hanging on the line. Especially the ridiculously tiny socks where one pegs envelopes the whole thing. CUTE!!!

I only ever wash the unisex things and one of each boy/girl thing. The job will be that much bigger if I washed everything I had only to put half of it away!

The more children that we have had the more I have come to realise the less 'stuff' you actually need.  I have "de-stuffed" the baby gear over the years and I am still doing it.  Perhaps its because of the way I parent that I can do this. In all honesty I don't even know if I will even bother with a cot this time around. It proved to more of a hindrance than a help last time.

The only piece of equipment that I think is essential first off is a car seat. If you don't have one of those then you ain't going anywhere.  Everything else I have found to be superfluous. So because of that I don't have a lot to get ready.

For me, one of the things I need to get ready is my head space.  This is the most important thing of all.  I am about to embark on a journey that will take great strength and stamina, so head space is important for that.  Secondly, there are things that when one is planning on birthing at home must prepare for so they can be accessed in plenty of time.  Things like a birth mat, buckets, towels, ice, flannels, baby's clothes ready and warming in the hot water cupboard, heat packs and hot water bottles, birth pool (if using) etc. Oh and food, lots of yummy things and sparkling grape juice to toast the new arrival and even a birthday cake!  

Those are the things I need to work on in the next week or so.

Someone once said after being present at the home birth of my fifth child, "that is was the most raw yet sacred event that she had ever witnessed". I love that description, so love it,because it describes the time and moment so well.

Please don't get me wrong, yes I am a VERY big advocate of birthing at home but also recognise that it most certainly not for everyone and hospitals do a jolly good job of caring for people who need it.  A woman will give birth best in a place and surrounded by people that she feels most comfortable with and for some that place is the hospital and that is perfectly fine.  My only wish for all woman is that she explores all avenues of care and that she educates herself well in pregnancy and birth and not just solely focus on buying the maternity clothes, the cot with the matching change table and the cute little baby clothes.  Those things aren't going to prepare you for the journey ahead.  Birth is a sacred event that encompasses the mental, emotional, and spiritual not just the physical. I don't think that birth and the act of giving birth is given the respect that it should. 

 God has blessed most of us with this gift of conceiving, carrying, nurturing and birthing the most wonderful gift ever.

Lets give it the respect that it deserves!

37 weeks pregnant (tomorrow)

Please excuse the strange look on my face.

 I was desperately trying not to laugh at my husband.

What are you up to these school holidays?

Spring is Coming!!

"Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much." - Psalm 199:140

Over time I have made no secret that we have been going through a "winter" season and not just in the literal sense but in a metaphorical sense as well.  This winter has been nearly three years now and our spring "feels" like it maybe just around the corner. We are hoping and praying. Praise God!  Like the time as winter fades and slowing becomes spring where we see less frosty days, more glimpses of colour in places where there was barrenness and dead-ness and we see and feel more of the sun and its warming rays. So is it for us. Gradually we are seeing less and less of the hard, dark and gloomy days where everything seems to be just plain sucky, more glimpses of days where there is a little more colour in our moments and more experiences of lighter times, brighter days and days where we can bask in the warmth of the sun.

Please understand that our winter hasn't been all bad or doom and gloom and while we have had some pretty low days and weeks, it has been an amazing time of cutting back, pruning, reassessing, and walking out our faith one small step at a time.  We have seen God move for us in the last three years than we have ever seen him move in our entire lives. Yes people we are a living testimony that Gods promises are true and his miracles are well and truly alive today as they were over 2000 years ago!

Yes things may have not gone to plan like we thought best but Gods plan for us as individuals, as a couple and as a family has been far better than we could of imagined for ourselves.  Our steps of faith have literally been one day at a time, one meal at a time and one bill at a time.  We have grown in character and in faith over these years.  I can say that while times and days have been hard, damn hard. I will be forever thankful that we had these years.

But in all that......there is a time for everything, a season for everything and I am up for a change now and "feel" that our spring is around the corner. I am believing for it now. And while I am thankful for our winter, and know that our winter has been important,,,,I am tired of winter. Its time for spring! Time for the sun, time for the flowers and the new life that spring brings.  (hey maybe that's why this baby will be a spring baby).  Unfortunately we all need winter times to bring us back to Him, back to our Creator, back to needing him and recognising that we are nothing without Him and without Him everything is pointless.  Without winter we simply cannot have regrowth and new life, redirection or refreshment.

Without winter one cannot simply bloom!

On a lighter note.....thanks to a beautiful friend and her gift to us, we now have a new "member" to our family, Meet....Clara.

She has made herself at home, like a favourite great aunt who comes to stay and sneaks peppermints to the kiddies when the parents aren't looking.  Oh how I love Clara. She is grandly beautiful!!

Only five to seven more weeks to go until we meet our wee blessing!! I have never been one for due dates so somewhere towards the end of Oct-ish, whenever this one decides to make its way into the world.  Exciting times!  Yes I know I need an updated pregnant belly photo...I'll work on it, promise!

One of my favourite things.
For me it epitomizes the new-ness and sacred-ness of a new blessing into the world. 

What season are you in?