And Now.. More Waiting

So I was not cleaning the house today, (thank you Mimi!) and was instead making headbands and hairclips for some neighborhood friends (there was also a picnic we went to). I had a little bit of time to think about the time preceding each addition to our family. Cubby and Miss H came on a Sunday, (bonny and blithe and good and gay according to the nursery rhyme) after four weeks of "bedrest". I had spent weeks watching every moment of Olympic coverage in the cool of our basement. I would sew (and smock) and watch TV and lounge all day. Saturday before they were born we put the car seats in the car, purchased a digital camera and rubbed my belly. Mike leaned in close and said, "Kids, daddy has made sub-plans and has lunch duty this week. This is a great time to come, we are ready for you." At 3am that night my water broke,

We called Mimi, Papa, Josh and Abby who were at the beach to say we were headed to the hospital, thinking it couldn't take that long to have a couple of babies.. (WRONG!!) But then they were here.

And obviously they were adorable. I felt like we had prepared, and invited them and they had listened. Clearly, an indication that we were going to be excellent parents, with obedient children who would never give us cause for concern. (Ahh.. new parents, so full of bravado!!)

With Little Daddy, I begged and pleaded him to come early, just a few days before your due date I would whisper, have Christmas with all of us together, with twin two year-olds, I really didn't want to be rushing off to the hospital on Christmas Day. I also loathed the idea of having to spend Christmas in the hospital (not to mention imposing on one of my friends on Christmas to watch our kids). The time leading up to his debut was busy, we were coaching indoor track and we had Miss H and Cubby to distract us (not to mention the preschool I was teaching). Sure enough Christmas morning the contractions that had started and stopped so many times in the days prior didn't stop, and there we were relying on wonderful friends who would welcome our twins into their home on Christmas morning. The weeks were so busy, before he arrived, I can't remember being so pregnant (or have I blocked out that waddle?) I remember the excitement and the anticipation, but not the discomfort.

And so now we await baby Rachel (whose blogger name I can't even fathom because I don't know her yet) and my impatience to hold her and know her (along with the kink she has put in my spine) makes me grouchy and a little "unhappy" (read slightly short-tempered and loud). What is she waiting for I keep wondering, what have I left undone? She's not waiting for her "outfit" I finished it when she didn't come on Tuesday. What is it that she is trying to teach us I keep asking myself? Each arrival has taught us something different. Cubby and Miss H gave us the confidence to be parents, the illustration of a divine call to parenthood. Little Daddy gave us the gift of understanding the meaning of friendship based on Godly principles. It is not every friend you can call Christmas morning to take your two two year olds!! What gift will this new baby bring? What blessing have we left unnoticed that she will call attention to? Is she really waiting for me to finish writing the pole-vault pit grants?

She is now officially "overdue". (You should have seen the looks I got walking around the cross country course yesterday with my stopwatch!) Will I be waiting on this girl forever? (I'm told she'll come out eventually) but what I'm anxious about is, Is this a portent of things to come, is this one who will try our resolve, and have her own plan always? Is this the one that will truly stretch me into "Motherhood".

I know my Gramma will say, "She's waiting for my birthday" Oct 7th. and while the idea is fantastic, umm isn't the 3rd close enough?

Happy Birthday Gramma, here's hoping your present comes early!!