Halloween

This is what our Halloween looked like:

 Yes, snow. The temperature was somewhere around 22°and we probably got about an inch and a half of snow.  Our town didn’t postpone trick-or-treating, so we didn’t go. Nor did I see anyone else in the neighborhood out braving the elements. And since we didn’t tell Emry and Ethan anything about it…well, they never knew the difference.

Really I wasn’t too excited about going trick-or-treating anyhow. We already have enough candy in the house to last until next Halloween. For the weekend before, we met up with my sister Abby and her son Beto to go “trunk-or-treating” at my sister Jenny’s church. Which would have probably been ten times better had it not been pouring down rain and so we had to wind our way through a dark gym with thousands of other kids. Ed declared next year we were notdoing this again, but the kids didn’t know the difference and the three Spider-Mans were as happy as could be.

 Afterwards we went up to my parents’ for pizza and the kids got to beat open piñatas (a Sturm Halloween tradition) so we went home with plenty of candy and very happy kids.

The following Tuesday, Emry was allowed to wear her white Spider-Man costume to dance class. An occasion she kept telling me was “so exciting!”. Needless to say, she was the only superhero among a bunch of princesses…which she didn’t mind at all.

Boys, Boys and More Boys

Twenty-one years ago, my sister Katey and I taught a Sunday School class at our church in Texas of fifteen or sixteen 5-year-olds who had not yet started Kindergarten. Only three of them were girls. The other dozen or more were boys. Active, rowdy, real life boys. Almost everyone in that rather large church knew we had the most challenging group of kids, simply because most Sundays we had ten or twelve boys on our hands and maybe two girls. There was certainly never a dull moment! It’s hard to believe those kids are now in their late twenties. Some of them are probably even married!

Today Emry’s Sunday School class looks almost exactly the same: about ten boys and maybe three little girls. Most often it’s just Emry surrounded by bundles of activity with names like Caleb, Hudson, Michael, Judah, Harrison, Asher, Seth…you get the picture. One little girl in her pretty dresses in the midst of more energy than I probably ever had even a moment in my lifetime. To be honest, she’s mostly oblivious to that fact. I was always intrigued by the way the three girls in my old class responded to all that energy. One was a prima donna or right in the midst of the brawls, depending on what most suited her purposes. Another, who had only two elder sisters, looked at those boys as if they were aliens from another planet. The last one, very beautiful little Larissa, was the girl of every one of those boys’ dreams. They couldn’t be nice enough to her. She had no clue. But Emry has only a brother and all the cousins she knows are boys. It’s actually rare than she has a female playmate. And so, a classroom full of boys isn’t anything abnormal to her. 

But for me, well, I’m not eighteen anymore. I spend one Sunday a month teaching Emry’s class and three Wednesdays a month in Cubbies with the same group of kids plus six or seven more. And it is exhausting! But, they are fun.

A Busy Calendar

I knew that one day my seemingly empty calendar would again be full. More full than I wanted it to be. I thought this would probably come about when Emry was 6 or 7. I had no idea it would come when she was 4!

In Pittsburgh, we didn’t do much. Ed’s work schedule was all over the board, so we could never commit to anything. When he was at work, as far as the kids and I could go was as far as we could walk, which is a considerable distance with a stroller but it wasn’t as if Rochester had that many things going for it: the post office, park, library and grocery store. Not terribly exciting.

The move here brought more consistency to our lives. Ed works a regular shift (plus tons of overtime, but at least I know when it starts and about when it ends). And while we still don’t do much during the day (outings with Grandma, school, walks to the park), we seem to be in overdrive for the evenings. Unable to commit to anything in Pittsburgh and feeling somewhat starved of friendships or fellowship, we joined not one small group at church but two! They are very different from each other and we enjoy each for different reasons. One is every other Sunday evening and one nearly every Thursday evening. Then Emry has dance class Tuesday evenings, which she thoroughly enjoys. Somehow we got “trapped” into helping in the Cubbies group of Awana at church Wednesday evenings, which is fine considering we were going to take the kids anyhow. Which leaves only Friday evening every other week for grocery shopping, especially since Ed seems to work most Saturdays as late. With church on Sundays (and us teaching Emry’s class once a month with Ed on security another Sunday), our lives have become very busy.

With so much going on, I put a calendar on our refrigerator. I keep a calendar in my head, but I know I can fail to communicate that with Ed. So, I felt this was a good solution. As I added an event my sister invited me to this past week to the November page, I stopped short and realized there was hardly an empty day on it. Between all our regular activities, I have a playdate, my first doctor’s appointment for the baby, a show Grandma and I are taking Emry to, an event with my sisters…I stopped short and wondered when in the world my life became so busy. Especially when I all I feel like doing right now is sleeping 24/7!

Winter may slow things down a bit, which will be nice. I look forward to cold, wintery days and snuggling on the couch with the kids and some books I want to share with them. Before sending them out covered in clothes from head to foot because they’re bouncing off my walls and they need to go out no matter how cold it is! It will be good. It’s all good now. Even if it doesn’t allow any spare time to sleep!

1 Girl - 1 Boy

And the tie breaker arrives in June!

To be honest, I think we were a little surprised to find out number 3 is now on the way. Aging has brought so many changes already for me, I wasn’t sure if I was pregnant or changing yet again. And while I’m happy another baby is on the way, I think the other change might have been easier.

I was never this sick with Emry or Ethan. Sleep is the only thing that keeps the constant stomach fluctuations at bay. I don’t feel like eating anything. Sipping water is about all I can do. And while I’m not throwing anything back up, putting anything down doesn’t have any appeal either, even though I do eat. Making preparing breakfast, lunch or dinner all terrible daily ordeals. I have also never felt so exhausted. I honestly think I could sleep all day long. With both Emry and Ethan, I was out running on nearly a daily basis, alternating with kickboxing, pilates, strength training and keeping to my regular exercise routines. Now I fight through nausea every morning, pick up my kettlebell or stretch into down-dog and pray I have enough energy to survive 30 minutes of this. Why? Because even though I still feel exhausted and nauseated when it’s over, I also feel like I’ve done something to keep myself and this baby healthy. Which is always a good thing.

Hopefully, this won’t last much longer. My first trimester will end as December begins. And I’m sorely hoping I don’t feel sick the entire holiday season. One thing is certain, I haven’t any clue if I’m having a girl or a boy. My pregnancies with Emry and Ethan were very different – different enough that I guessed rightly Ethan had to be a boy. But this one? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Back on the Farm

Fall weather is in full force some days, so we decided to take one of the last pleasant ones and return to Fair Oaks Farm where we had visited a month ago for Ed’s birthday. Since it was just as economical to purchase a year membership as a day visit, we have now more than made back our investment. Plus, we will probably visit at least once more if not twice before our year is out.

This time Grandpa and Grandma joined us for the day. We visited the Crop Building, which we had not visited before, learning about farming, and raising crops, and interesting little things like the longest earthworm ever discovered was 22 feet long. (I am glad I did not discover him, although he would have surely caught a lotof fish!) Then we went over to the pig farm to see the hundreds and hundreds of pigs. Afterwards, Emry enjoyed the low ropes course again. We had lunch, bounced quite a lot on the large blow up bouncing thing, Ethan rode the train at least three times, and we watched a calf be born. (The other cow giving birth was taking her time, the kids were bored and my Dad and Ed certainly had no desire to watch any female – human or animal – give birth; so we didn’t stay for that one.) Emry also caught and brought home in a bottle her newest pets: ladybugs. A mom improved pet!

 “Driving” the old farm truck.

And sitting in the huge chair!