Nervous

I know I've mentioned this already, but I'm going to whine a bit here.  I'm nervous about this school year. 

First of all, the number of preschoolers is up.  I will have an almost (but not quite) kindergartner who will sort of do some math and handwriting (without tears) and (rocket) phonics, at will, when someone has time and he's in the mood.  He's not the problem. 

We will also have a new, new, newborn.  He, or she, will, if I remember correctly, want to nurse a lot, be changed a lot, be held quite a bit and cry some.  That person is also not the problem.

It's the terrorists.  The Three, the Almost Two and the One-and-a-Half.  The G3.  The Three Musketeers, sans muskets. 

Example:  yesterday after breakfast I headed upstairs to spit in the wind (a.k.a. clean something) and as I walk, I encounter some bumgenius diapers here and there which had been hanging on my drying rack upstairs (the bannister).  This is my first indication that all is not well in the Land of Happy Children.  As I continue my course, picking up the diapers, I see a bread-crumb like trail of unused, unwrapped, unusable sanitary napkins, the disposable kind.  Hmmn, I think, I wonder what else they've gotten into.  I go in my room.  Dad's coin bucket has been emptied, as has my trash can (which had some used baby wipes, you can imagine what they were used for) and as I get up from a moment of solitude on my porcelain throne, I see that, along with the deposit I made, there is also something that did not come out of me - a flat head screwdriver. 

I'm in trouble.

My older boys are starting high school biology (apologia).  This is a huge step up from our elementary/middle school group science (God's design series).  Lots of reading and responsibility.  My oldest three are also beginning a year of going to a separate location for a whole day a week and taking 2 and then 3 challenging courses not taught by me.  They will have lots of reading and writing and, I'm afraid, some genuine thinking.  They will also have a significant amount of freetime which they will need to use wisely, not to mention, they will be responsible for behaving themselves out of my circle of influence (within earshot of my mad yelling voice).  They'll be on their own, pretty much.

Wow. 

In spite of the increased work load, extra reading, writing, thinking and dissecting, 5 middle and elementary students, and 5 preschoolers, we are maintaining what we normally do - Awanas, worship training set, soccer.  Eldest is adding a different house of prayer set, different time.  We are just graduating from doing pretty much everything together to a season of people being in different places doing different things at different times.  This means more responsibility for everyone to get all their stuff done, and more responsibility for Mom to encourage said responsibility, since I am responsible for all their responsibility.

Did I mention I'll have a newborn for all this? 

And, this just in, there is a possibility of having a C-section recovery on top of it all.  That's right, baby number 13 is comfortably breech.  The last few ultrasounds have shown our sweetie kicking him (her) self in the face.  Hopefully, baby will turn.  With help or without.  Certainly there is ample room in my well used uterus for the child to drive a small car around.  But in the context of nervousness about next year, this is certainly a factor in my forward thinking brain.

I am going back and forth between faith-filled, prayerful, worshipping supermom and pouring over the internet/crystal ball trying to figure out my future and to decide how to proceed in trying to encourage Thirteen to get into the right position.  There are some lovely ideas on spinningbabies.com about how to turn said child.  My family shrieked with laughter at the sight of me with my elbows on the floor, knees on the couch and butt up in the air.  My old ironing board barely holds up my iron, let alone me at a tilt.  But I'm trying.  Sort of. 

And besides, there are other things on my mind.  Like how to deal with little children dismantling the humidifier in the baby's room.