Three Years Ago Today...

...I was thinking that I was soooo smart. We had gone to my brother's house for a 500 party the night before my due date and I thought I had at least a week left of the pregnancy. My partner was my bro in law, Mathew, and he kept giving me sneaky glances and giggling to himself because he insisted that I was in labor. HA! What a dummy. Didn't he know that I was a WOMAN who CERTAINLY knew better than him when I was going to have this baby thank you very much? Hmph. Okay, so fast forward to the 40 minute drive home...past the hospital where my baby would be born...the following week...boy oh boy, my stomach REALLY hurts...Butch is passed out in the seat next to me buuuuut, maybe I should just stop into the hospital just to get checked? NAW, I'll just go home and go to the bathroom, then I'll feel better, but OH, that is crampy!
We got home around 2 in the morning and Butch dragged his butt up to bed but I "slept" on the couch because I was so uncomfortable. I tried and tried but couldn't sleep because, darnit, I'd had coke and caffeine affects me so much. Well, to get to the point, by about 5 in the morning, my denial had broken and I called my sister to tell her she'd better think about meeting me at the hospital in an hour or so. BUT MATT answered the phone (darnit).
Matt: Heeeeeeellloooo? (in a cutesy, smug voice)
Me: Uh, Hi! Is Trine there? (trying to sound very not in labor and innocent...at 5 in the morning...on a weekend day after getting home at 2 in the morning...on my DUE DATE)
Matt: WHY?????HMMMM????
Me: Just let me talk to her, sassy pants.
Matt: Okay, fine, she's right here hehehehehehe
Me: (Grumblemumble)
Trine: HELLOOOOOO? (excited and freaked out)
Me: Um, yeah, I'm actually in labor so you'd better meet me at the hosp. I gotta go wake up Butch and pack a bag, I guess.
Trine: (shuffleshufflemumblemumbletellingmattthathewasright) Matt says "I Knew It"
Me: Yeah, okay, fine, he's a genius. What is it with him and knowing things about women in labor?????? He's a freak of nature.

Seriously, that dude grew up on a dairy farm and my theory is that he got some sort of gestational zen from the cows, anyway...

What Matt DIDN'T know was that I was about to have the WORST birth experience of my life (so far, anyway) and that that baby was 10 pounds 6 ounces of sheer, horrible PAIN! Even the epidural couldn't block the pain of all of that chunky baby-ness and I could have shot the idiot doctor who delivered him.
Bygones.

Now for the good news: Niklaus is the funniest 3 year old kid I know. He keeps us in stitches and giggles and comes up with the funniest phrases and thoughts. He is sweet and always says, "Yes" instead of "Yeah" which is so cute. He looks most like his daddy than any other child in this family, except he has light brown eyes and strawberry blond hair. His eyelashes are longer than a boy's should be but that makes it so much harder to get mad at him or put him in a time-out. He loves his brothers and sisters and has taken to calling Matty, "My Buddy". When Daddy comes home at night, he goes on this marathon talking spree that's like a run-on paragraph that only Butch and I can make sense of. Someday maybe he'll be a story teller or a writer.

I kind of wanted his birthday to be on the feast of St. Nicholas (even had the day set to be induced by the doctor!) but WHEW am I glad he was born when he was. Right on time and the date was 11-30-03 at 11:30 in the morning which is kind of a cool set of numbers, don't you think?

I know this picture has Mari in it, but she and Niklaus look so much alike and it was such a pretty picture. She and Niklaus are the closest in age and hopefully will be very close as they grow together. Even though he's rough on her, she just loves him to pieces.

Just What I Think

I have this same conversation with my sister and I always try to explain that it doesn't "bug" me or surprise me when this subject is brought up in casual conversation, but it really just kind of rubs me the wrong way. I think Pansy explains my point nicely.

NO WAY!

Seriously, they must have dumbed this one down just for me because I didn't pay ANY attention in high school! I was too busy reading novels and trying to catch me a boyfriend. I guess teaching the kids at home has given me a second chance at an education for myself. Yay! Another good reason to home school!

You paid attention during 100% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

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Thanksgiving

A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Okay, most years I don't get all excited about Christmas because I mostly get worked up about all of the work it becomes. Extra shopping, groceries, laundry, organizing, decorating, making sure to follow traditions that the kids holler for, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, wet out door clothing...the list goes on and on. Also, there's the whole "end of the holiday season let-down" that really gets to me as a mom who homeschools and is home EVERY DAY with her children in the sometimes too cold to go outside weather. But for some reason, I have a lot of peace this year and I am looking forward to the holidays. Tomorrow night, Butch and I are going on an actual DATE to see one of his co-workers play in a band at a bar and I'm really looking forward to it. After that, we have Thanksgiving this week here for his parents then later in the afternoon at my parents. Then it's shopshopshop with the kids for their presents for each other (so cute that they love to do that, we never did that for our siblings!) and for their godparents and friends. We are going to take a family picture at Thanksgiving, finally! Hopefully we can get a good one that we can blow up and hang in our house and give out as Christmas cards (yay, snapfish!). Oh, before I forget this little factoid. Last week we had our first "sticky" snowfall and the kids scrounged up their snow gear and headed outside to build a snowman.

Just to give some perspective on the Minnesota weather weirdness: That picture was taken on Monday the 13th of November. The previous WEDNESDAY we were wearing T-shirts and shorts. I'm NOT kidding. We spent the whole day outside like it was July or something and not even a week later my kids were making FREAKIN SNOWBALLS IN THE FRONT YARD. What am I DOING IN THIS MESSED UP STATE??? Okay, whew, got that one off my chest. Anyway, I wanted to mention a few of my favorite things (thus the title) so here goes:
1. My children
2. Snapfish (okay I realize I already mentioned those things but I like complete lists)
3. Sunbutter (Matty's allergic to peanuts and although he doesn't like anything that even remotely resembles or smells like the stuff that could KILL him, I love this stuff because it's sooo yummy and won't cause him harm just being in my house. The Natural kind is my favorite but the Creamy kind is on my grocery store shelf next to the peanut butter and it stays mixed and is a bit more like peanut butter.
4. This stuff is sooooo good smelling and it makes my skin look so pretty (I don't usually wear perfume so it has to smell good to get me to wear something scented like this, also if you look at the picture of Butch and I at that wedding a couple of blog posts ago, you can see how it makes my arms all shiny and pretty so I'll probably be wearing it to all of the holiday events this year!) But be aware that people who can't wear shimmer-type lotions could break out...that's not so pretty.
5. Tights in the winter with skirts.
6. Blankets in the living room and snuggling up to watch a movie when it's cold.
7. Kids who say "yay!" when it's time to go to the dentist (they actually did that this morning, I gotta get those guys out more)
8. Sisters who I can call to be background noise so I can do my housework. I swear I can't do my dishes unless I'm talking to her!
9. Books about triumph over hardship. I'm reading He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J. and it's taking me a long time to read because I'm forcing myself to read one chapter at a time to let his message soak in. Our parish priest is having the parish council read it and I happened to be at the meeting when he handed them out. I was practically salivating over the book and I guess Father saw the drool and asked if I wanted one to read as well. NICE! Free books rock. I'm also reading Charlotte's Web, the last in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and re-reading the Little House series (Little House in the Big Woods right now) to the kids at the same time. It seems a little frantic, but I love all these books and the kids are really reading a lot on their own too! Katrina is reading the Trixie Belden mysteries and Matty is re-reading his Bionicle books and anything else that is boy-ish enough for him. Analise is reading (well, I'M reading it to her but she can actually read some of the words herself now) Junie B. Jones and Niklaus is making me read his Little Critters, Berenstain Bears, and Clifford books over and over. PRAISE THE LORD for a love of books! Oh, I forgot, I'm also reading The Man Who Was Thursday. That one is taking a long time for a different reason. Read the first chapter and you'll see why. It blows my mind but it's GOOOOOOD. I love stuff that challenges like that, I guess that's why I hate romance novels. Blechhhhhh. One year I got into them and after about 6 or 7 of them they all sounded alike. Ever 5 years or so I read them just to "cleanse my brain palate" and get back on the good stuff. OK, I'm done now. I'm rambling over at my other blog too, in case you're interested...

Holy Moly, I Godda Eeacksent Doncha Knowwww

(h/t: Esther)

Boy oh boy, I always thought I had transcended the whole MN accent thing...guess I was wrong 'cause this puppy NAILED it (except their analysis of the movie "Fargo" is a joke, those people were doing a horrible caricature that anyone from MN was insulted by or at least thought it was stupid sounding...although I can think of a few people who they were not that far off from...hmmm):

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
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The Inland North
Philadelphia
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The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Mari's Gots the Skeeeeills

Go here for a quick video of Mariela. The other day I set her down in the living room with all the other kids to watch a show and after about two minutes I couldn't hear her so I asked, "Where's Mari?" and the kids quickly searched for her but started laughing when they found that she had climbed the stairs almost up to the top floor! I know I should have been freaked out that she could have fallen, but after so many years and many "trips" by children down the stairs, I've come to the conclusion that they have some pretty darn active guardian angels and I don't worry so much about that anymore!

P.S. I HATE my voice on the video, I sound like an old lady. In MY head, I sound like Alison Krause, especially in the shower, just so ya know.