Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Baby #6

Congratulations to Michelle on the announcement of her pregnancy. God bless all unborn babies, but especially those whose mommies have to undergo the, "Don't you know what causes that?" question 8 times a day for the entire pregnancy. She wrote a great post that I want to xerox and give out to busybodies in the grocery everytime I am asked dumb and rude questions.
I was blessed yesterday during a long expedition at the commissary to have 5 well behaved children. Two people even told me how beautiful they were (of course they are, they are MY children). An older gentleman asked, "How do you keep them so quiet and good?" I responded, "I bribe them, plain and simple!" The grocery and Mass are the only places I do this, the first with candy at the checkout if they are good and doughnuts for children that I don't have to take out for the second. It only took a few times without for even a 2 year old to understand.
We have been asked numerous times in the past few weeks if we want to have more children (do they know something I don't?) and have taken the cheater's way out by saying, "I would like another girl to even things up." Sunday I was asked by an older lady, "Why you have so many children? Why you not normal?" She was Japanese so I didn't take offense at her word usage and tried to explain that we follow Church teaching regarding contraception and how much we love our children. What makes a family with 2 children "normal" and a family with 5+ children not? I so wish that more Catholic families would be open to life and welcome more babies, even if the culture at large does not. I expect many more rude comments and questions, but I am grateful for the internet, connecting friends who help celebrate and commiserate about our large broods!

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