7 quick takes (or 7 reasons I need a therapist)

A day early but go see Jen tomorrow for enlightenment.  Until then, 7 mundane takes from a mama who needs to get a grip or a drink...

1. We bought a house. And for any future real estate agents wanting the $3.40 commisions from our sales, you are going to need to add a shrink to your team of stagers, photographers and lawyers. Holy stressful! I am aware that normal people don't need psychiatric help simply to purchase a home but a) I'm not normal people b) there is NO ZERO NO inventory in Atlanta and c) some sellers are bat.$&*# crazy. We close one month from today and I need to go bury St. Joseph (is that right?) in my yard so we don't have 2 mortgages and then I need inpatient psychiatric care.

2. Ross is bathing Thomas while I supposedly fill out school forms for Mary Kate. I just overheard MK ask "what's thaaaat?" To which Ross replied, it's his penis. His private part. I should rename this post, 7 reasons I need a therapist.

3. I saw the ob today to check on this baby I am supposedly carrying. Not supposedly because I don't look pregnant but supposedly because poor third kid, I just forget. Until the fire comes up my throat or I throw up in the Kroger check-out line like I did today. 2nd trimester, shrimester. I did score a new to me pair of maternity skinny jeans from super cute Callie and while they are only going to fit for about 2 more days, I can't resist an e-thrift deal from a stylish mama. Or any thrift deal. Back to the baby. He or she is healthy and happy and is SO EXCITED to join this family o crazy.

4. My precious Tom is almost 10 months old and has gotten about 2.3 posts on here. He is in the sweetest of phases where he adores his mama, wants to feed himself 2,402 blueberries and crackers a day, sleeps all night (took him 8 months to do so but we forgive) and isn't crawling (meaning I don't have to start mopping my floors regularly).  It's a pretty awesome stage.

5. Have you discovered Jesus calling? Please purchase. Or follow them on instagram because short of the Good Book, I have never picked up anything that speaks to me so strongly and so perfectly exactly when I need it. Today for instance... WOW!

"REST WITH ME A WHILE. You have journeyed up a steep step, rugged path in recent days. The way ahead is shrouded in uncertainty. Look neither behind you nor before you. Instead, focus your attention on Me, your constant Companion. Trust that I will equip you fully for whatever awaits you on your journey.

I designed time to be a protection for you. You couldn’t bear to see all your life at once. Though I am unlimited by time, it is in the present moment that I meet you.Refresh yourself in My company, breathing deep draughts of My Presence. The highest level of trust is to enjoy Me moment by moment. I am with you, watching over you wherever you go"

 

 

6. Change is a comin'. As I mentioned above, it looks like we are moving. This is a good thing. This is a good thing. This is a good thing. By the way I feel inside (and babble on and on and on and on), you'd expect a "we've moved..to AFRICA" card. We don't even need to get on the interstate to get to our new abode but in the world of small kids and nap schedules and I ABHOR change/ zero sense of adventure, 9.2 miles is a long way away. We will change churches and Mary Kate will start school with no one she knows (or mama knows). My stomach is in a constant state of knot. We prayed and prayed through this long process and I am 99.2% positive that these knots are because I am not trusting "that I will equip you fully for whatever awaits you on your journey." (see numero 5). And I wonder where Mary Kate gets her drama queen tendency... Again, shrink please.

 

 

7. Okay I must go make my dinner of chocolate covered pomegranates and sliced cheese. Feel free to show this post to your husbands so they raise their hands to the heavens in thanksgiving for not marrying me.

 

blurry but priceless.



blah blah blah

So I'm trying to keep the blog chugging along, mostly because it's the only record keeping I do for my kids and because I gain so much from going back and reading old posts. Plus, as much as I feel the need to go on hiatus, won't 3rd baby Ninness feel totally neglected? The reality is that baby could probably care less but I do know that Mary Kate loves her little shutterfly books I make the kids every year so maybe she'll love this too one day. Anywho, there are multiple things to blame on the lack o blogging. In no particular order:

• instagram. Many of my favorite bloggers have stopped typing and now make me stalk their lives via photo. I want to beg them to come back but am also enticed by how quick and easy instagram is.
• If I posted about the reality of life, it would be one long, drawn out post about how miserable I feel whilst pregnant. And that's just tacky for a multitude of reasons. I pretty much suck at suffering, prefering whining to gratitude and misery to perspective. But let me just say to all of you who love being pregnant, you are simply proof that God plays favorites.
• Thomas is a week shy of 9 months old and still wants mama's right hip all the time.
• Mary Kate has, for the first time in her entire little life, decided she too likes mama and wants to be cuddled and held frequently by me and mostly only me. It is sweet because it's new but not sweet because I'm tired and sick and I'm sure it's in reaction to the neediness of mama's little boy.
• We are in house hunting hell. I know inventory is low but how low can it go?!? (nerd.) The schizo voices in my head go something like this.
• If you want a house with the right square footage and not a total renovation with good schools, you must move to east egypt.
• But I don't want to move to east egypt. I value, mostly for the right reasons, access to the city, the friendships we've made. So we will just wait for something to come up. But the schools aren't as great (according to online "ratings", not personal experiences there). Does that make me selfish?
• But we can't wait too long because what if I go on bedrest again (50/50 shot). We definitely need the extra space then. And can we sell a house with a pool in the fall/early winter?
• But hasn't every generation prior to our "mcmansion" generation had multiple kids in small ranch houses? Is God asking us to live smaller? Or is He asking me to move to east egypt and trust that He'll meet our needs? Or is my desire for community and fellowship straight from Him?
• Holy cow, does your head hurt? Mine does. Over thinkers anonymous!
• I will write a whole post one day on the many ways this pregnancy rocked my world (ours, but a lot of it rocked me in personal ways). Clearly God thought there was some work to be done on ole Keri.
• Another reason to keep blogging is that in the midst of all my "life is so hellacious and miserable I can't lift my head up" thinking, I recently re-read some posts from last summer's bedrest. I was reminded of how much more hellacious it is to not be able to parent your babies. So, while not much will take me out of my "noone is more miserable than me" funk, those posts have made me think differently about the needlings. Knowing there's a chance I'll be bedbound again, I am jumping up a little faster to get the non-napping baby. I really am thankful to be ABLE to parent them, despite how hellacious it can be while in the throes of pregnancy.

Those are just some of the things/thoughts keeping me from sitting down to type- that and Thomas's one hour nap maximum (He and Mister Gates Raybon need to stop conspiring!) 

*too lazy to import instagram photos. Follow me there if you can't live without photos :)