WRITTEN LAST SUNDAY...A LEISURELY DAY...
Today I have been hanging out in a quiet house as Alan is out playing paintball, I decided to get some homework done for a little class I'm taking and then I began prepping some food for us a friend. As I'm using my lovely Instant Pot to cook 10 lbs of chicken and 4 lbs of brisket and (started*) making chocolate chip cookies, I began to wonder what it's going to be like cooking for 5 people...and yes, I realize, the quiet will no longer exist as I know it.
I imagine that I will need to meal prep a couple times a month to keep sanity. But logistically, I ask myself, how am I going to do that?! Will there be kids running amok? Will they go outside and magically not run in and out because they forgot this or that? Will I have to bribe a friend with dinner to take the kids for the afternoon so I can make use of this fancy Instant Pot? How do moms survive?
In church this morning we were asked if we were preparing. Honestly, I don't know how much preparing we can do! I mean, I know we need to move the mud room to the garage and add a pantry. I know it would be great to finish the downstairs for more space. We're on the lookout for a different bed for H (the girl), we have enough space for all of them and we have beds upstairs for B and Y (the boys). Yes, I'm thinking about needing to toddler-proof the house, and yes, the whole premise of potty training has been brought up, but how the heck do you prepare for that???
For the last four years, we have had this idea in our head of our children...two boys, four and older. In my mind, that's what I prepared for. But now, God is blessing us with something totally unplanned for and I don't even know what to plan! I have no idea what I even need to consider! Let me just say though, as I saw a momma carrying around a little one in a car seat carrier, I was thankful that we do get to skip that stage! I know friends who have kiddos, I know, it's not fair - some of you think we need to experience ALL the developmental stages, but know this - God compromised because we thought we would be starting with all older kids :)
*So, as I pondered what it means to plan, I decided to make cookies...and realized I had no flour.** I wonder how many times this will happen during the first year of having kids. What will I decide to do and find out I am totally unprepared for it? Thankfully, I have a hubby who will be by my side to help out. When he gets home he'll take me to the store so I have flour; later, he'll take me to the store when I planned something for the family and realize that we totally forgot something essential.
**When said hubby returned home, he informed me that the flour was just put away in the wrong spot, and so I wonder, how many times will things not be in the "right" spot? My world is going to be rocked...
