And in other "Megan is Crazy" news...

A whole lot of pizza has been getting ordered for dinner in our house lately. Laundry is piled up more than usual and the only time the house is truly clean is Thursday afternoons after my cleaning crew has been here.

I'm pregnant!

A couple of years ago I wrote this post and would have sworn to you that it was the truth. But seeing as how Tom still hasn't had a vasectomy and I'm terrible about taking the pill... Oh, is that TMI for you?

I'm excited. Tom isn't hating the idea anymore and we've been tossing around baby names. Only girl ones though since I'm pretty sure that's what we're having based on the level of my sickness. And I don't have enough heads of hair to get ready on Sunday morning.

I'm also excited for the back-to-school countdown, which is now 2 weeks. Yay! Maybe by then I won't be snapping at the kids for bouncing on my bed when I'm trying to quietly consume my Queasy Drops and lemon-y mineral water.

For Mommies Everywhere

Sorry I've been making such short posts lately. I've been having major writer's block lately and the heatwave we are in the middle of is sapping all my energy and brain cells. Here's a little pick-me-up.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Gleeful

Anyone else in love with this show? I admit that it's become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me (I watch the episodes online when DH is working late) and the songs I have downloaded are pretty much the only thing I listen to on my iPod. The musical ability of the cast just amazes me and singing along makes my work around the house move a little quicker.

How can I......

think that my life is hard? How can I still be in my pajamas at 9:30? I have been so humbled by watching the following video this morning. I hope you are able to feel the message of hope that it is meant to bring and that it may strengthen your testimony of Jesus Christ.

Slavedriver

This past weekend we trekked out to Harper's Ferry for the baptism of Tom's niece (is she really my niece too, even though she never talks to me?)

*Some background information for those who don't know the topography of West Virginia*

You can't just drive across it. The entire state is in the Appalachian *just for the record it's pronounced app-a-LATCH-in, not app-a-LAY-chan* mountain region and although there are many two-lane passes through the mountains, it's usually faster to take the interstate. We live right in the smack-dab middle of the state and to get to the Eastern Panhandle we have to go north, then east through Maryland, then south again back into WV. So because my kids think that driving 40 mins. to the nearest mall and Toys'R'Us 'takes a long time,' the four hours it should take to get to their aunt's house is an eternity. Thus, we have the celebratory cheering when the Potomac River is crossed and we're over state lines.

This past weekend when I announced the crossing Tweedledum asked why the river divides the states which led to a mini-lesson on the Civil War. Citizens of the area that now makes up West Virginia didn't feel that they were fairly represented in Richmond AND they were in favor of abolishing slavery. Quick thinking on my part gave a child-sized definition of slavery as "making someone do work for you without paying them." Can anyone guess the next comment by Tweedledee?

"But you don't pay us for stuff we do!"

A Hundred

by Tweedledee
(fill-in the blank poem from school)

I wish I had a hundred books.
I wish I had a hundred Crayola crayons.
I wish I had a hundred wheels.
But, I wouldn't want a hundred teachers.

What's in a name?

My brother is such an ogre. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. That's him in the picture with the Tank. When I was a freshman in college he legally changed his name to Ogre. Well, it's actually Ochressandro Rettinger but he goes by Ogre. I still have a hard time calling him Ogre and not the name he was given when he was born. The name I grew up calling him, Timothy Alan Gideon. Not a bad name in my opinion. In fact, if The Bug had been a boy I would have really liked to use Timothy.

Now, my brother never wants to have any kids and neither does his wife. They say they're afraid of what would happen since both of their sisters had naturally-occurring twins. Really, they're just not kid-people. I know that in the eternal scheme of things that everyone is a kid-person, but you have to be in the eternal-frame-of-mind. They definitely are not. She grew up Catholic and has nothing to do with religion now, he grew up in the Church like me but when he was in high school he went completely inactive. He is as far as you can get from organized religion. But he hasn't had his name removed for Church records so I still hold out some hope.

Each time I was pregnant DH and I were so picky about the names we considered. It could never be something trendy and we always ended up sticking with family names. Tweedledum was named after DH's uncle who was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11 and Tweedledee was given my middle name which is also the first name of several family members. The Tank was named after DH (DH is the Third and Tank is the Fourth) and The Bug....... I was walking the halls of the hospital in labor and we were still discussing names. It was down to three and I finally said that we would just have to wait and see what she looked like. Because of the baby-naming process I would be devastated if any of our kids ever changed them.

Before I was a mom I always thought what he'd done was pretty crummy (mostly because our dad found out from ME by accident) but now I would just feel rejected. Rejection of everything that I have striven for as a parent. All the ideals and values I'm trying to instill and all the love and thought that went into choosing THAT name for THAT child.

So, what do you think? How would you feel?