Tuesday, July 06, 2010

A Half Dozen

Per my request, Matt told everyone on Sunday that we're expecting Kennedy 6.0 in early February. I'm a mile wide at 10 weeks and I could tell everyone was looking at me and wishing they could ask. I was seriously toying with the idea of waiting until I was almost giving birth before admitting it and forcing so many loved ones into awkward social trauma by saying aggrievdly, 'NO! I'm just fat! And I'm throwing up because I have a chronic flu! What kind of person are you?'

We're all tickled pink. The children are wildly picking names and making plans. Elphine wants it to be a girl named Violet. Aloucious wants a boy named Daniel. Romulus wants it to actually be Spiderman. I'm pretty sure the only person who won't be uniformly thrilled will be Marigold, but who knows, she might surprise us all.

I've been telling everyone that I feel terrible, but it must not be too bad because I stripped all the kitchen wall paper and painted the kitchen last week, and yesterday I surprisingly decided to make French Fries from scratch (a stupid thing to do because I'm the only person in this family who will eat white potato and so I was forced to eat the entire bowl myself, lathered in mayonnaise--the fries, not me--Delicious!)

I have one small regret. Years ago I told everyone I 'wanted six'. The response overwhelmingly has been 'well, now you have your six' with a slight raise of the eyebrows. WHAT is everyone going to say when we go for #7? I wish I'd said from the get go that I wanted to be Michelle Dugger and have 20. But, I didn't know about her back then, and I was young and foolish, and six seemed like an outrageous lot of children. Am I allowed to grow in wisdom and maturity and up my number at this late date? How 'bout not 20 (I'm already too old) but, say, an even dozen? Isn't there a book about that? And also, my grandmother wanted 12. Its a Biblical Number.

18 comments:

Emily (Laundry and Lullabies) said...

Congratulations! Blessings for the rest of your pregnancy!

Kerry said...

Congratulations to the Kennedy clan!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! My best friend in high school was number 8 of 9, and she had the "coolest" mother - someone who was always ready to listen, who wore jeans, who made her own bread, and when the last child left for college, who went to law school, passed the bar, and practiced law for a decade or more before retiring.

Polly said...

Excellent! I guess this means we won't be drinking wine together in a couple weeks. I suppose tea will have to do. :)

Dr. Alice said...

Many congratulations! That sounds wonderful.

Rev Dr Mom said...

Congratulations!

When I was in high school I used to fantasize about having 12 kids...in reality four was enough for me! But there is something wonderful about big families.

Anonymous said...

IIRC, Cheaper by the Dozen, a great read, was written by the FATHER......evidently the mother didn't have time.....
All best wishes to you. My sister-in-law is one of 10, and their mother was the eldest of 10, and it most certainly has not all been a bed of roses, but there are things they have and know that others don't.

Charlie Sutton said...

You are thinking of "Cheaper By The Dozen," the story of the Gilbreth family in the 20's and 30's. One of the daughters wrote it. The parents were efficiency experts, and it showed in how the children learned how to do chores - and even in bathing.

My dad is the sixth of ten; I am the oldest of seven - but we failed to keep on with the tradition; only two for us.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, "Cheaper By the Dozen" was written by two siblings, a son and daughter, Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. Frank was a newspaper reporter/columnist for years for the Charleston (SC) News & Courier.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Many blessings.

-Katie in Georgia

eulogos said...

I once told someone-who had said 'now you have your boy and your girl you can stop-that I was going to have a baby every 18 months for the next ten years. She turned white, turn on her heels and disappeared.

Shame on those folks who are saying, "now you have your six" .... Every one is a gift.

Personally, I expect you to surpass my nine!
Susan Peterson

Kevin Seaver said...

Anne and Matt,

Very happy news. I will be praying for you daily from Tokyo (so you get, you know, global coverage).

You're pulling out ahead of Jeff and Karen Adams (fellow outcasts at VTS).

May Christ's peace be upon your growing household.

Kevin

Lauren said...

Anne, you give me belly envy. Ah, my baby is not a newborn anymore. I'm very excited for you!

Lauren said...

Oh, and Cheaper by the Dozen was actually written by the aforementioned siblings PLUS two ghost writers (they each had one because they lived in different cities at the time of writing) PLUS they each had an editor and a typist, and there was one more editor at the publishing house, so that makes NINE writers I think.

(I'm happy to clear up the confusion.)

Anonymous said...

Re: Cheaper...., thanks for clearing up my confusion - I think now that I have always thought the Frank author was the father, not noting he was 'Jr.' (I was 13-14 when I read it.)
Wow, a mile wide at 10 weeks - at 10 weeks in my first pregnancy I didn't yet know that I was!
In any case, congratulations, and take advantage of the word processor to start the notes for the inevitable book, proceeds from which may help defray costs....

eulogos said...

She's not a mile wide, she has a nice little belly bump that is really obviously not fat. I am one of the ones who stood looking at her thinking...she must be pregnant, but what if she is not, she'll be offended if I ask. But really, I shouldn't have wondered. Fat looks different, you know, more spread out. (I should know.)
Susan Peterson

Jessica Snell said...

Hooray! More Kennedys! The clan increases!

Teacher Mommy said...

Mostly I'm sitting here in shock, but then I'm not exactly one to talk these days, since I'm choosing to suddenly jump from two to five children all in one Swell Foop, as my daddy says. And I'll even admit that while MTL and I have no plans or true desire or even really the physical ability to have any more children, there is that one little part of me that aches a bit at the thought that I will never have a biological child with the love of my life.

Such is my craziness.

May there be much health and blessings galore and may your children all Cooperate.