Freak Show

I only work on an as needed basis and didn't have any shifts this week so Ben took the week off too. It's been great having him home. He worked 2 48 hour shifts last week so having him home has been very needed, appreciated & definitely wanted. He usually works 24 hour shifts which is very long...48 is too long.

We went to Out of Africa last Wednesday. Fun experience...We probably should have done it a little sooner in the pregnancy or after baby comes. It's definitely better than a zoo experience, but I'm not sure that it's so much better that they should charge what they are charging, even if we did use their $7 off per ticket promo. Still worth going to and experiencing atleast once. Here are some pics from our day.




We decided to go home through Flagstaff since I miss luxuries such as Target here in Show Low. After the shopping, we went to dinner at Oregano's. This was some good eats!! I highly recommend it and they do a good job entertaining the kiddos. They pass out little balls of uncooked pizza dough to the kids while you wait for your food. My kids loved it.

So why am I titling this blog "Freak Show?" Whilst eating, a young couple came in the restaurant and was seated right next to our table of 6 + 1 on the way. They didn't say anything to us directly, but they may as well have. We could feel the judgements. I am so used to the comments...

"Wow, you have your hands full!"

"Are they all yours?"

"Are any of them twins?"

"You don't look old enough to have this many kids." (I'm sure that my size has something to do with this. I always assure people that I am plenty old and that I was almost 25 when I had my first.)

"You know what causes that?"...(one of my personal faves!)

There are others, but these are the ones I/we get most frequently. Most of the time the comments and looks are made in good taste or out of genuine curiosity. Occasionally, I would get a look and/or comment that seems a little disgusted. Those kinds of people usually make me laugh. So this young couple sitting next to us was so cute. The boyfriend had a clear view of our table, while the girlfriends back was to our table. I saw the boyfriend notice our family. He continued talking to his date. Of course it was an assumption, but it appeared and felt like the conversation was about our clan...still not sure. So I casually mentioned to Ben that our family had been "noticed" when the girl casually looked to the side and then out of the corner of her eye at our table and did the visual count of the kids. It was too obvious now. Ben and I were laughing. Looks and comments obviously continued and Ben and I just laughed at these amateur people watchers. See, Ben and I are pro people watchers. This was a regular date for us when we were newlyweds. We would go to the mall, get a pretzel and an Orange Julius and sit and people watch...good times. When there was a particularly good people watching night, we would call it the "Freak Show."

Our family finished our lovely dinner and yummy dessert and we figured we better all go potty before the 2 1/2 hour trip home. We had a couple of the kids go potty and Ben told me that I could go and then take the two that had gone to the car and he would get the other two and follow shortly behind me. As I started to gather our things and started scooting towards the edge of our booth to get up, the "discreet" glances from the young couples table started again! What in the world?! Then it dawned on me!...I told Ben, "They are realizing that I'm pregnant too!" In the past I always thought that these looks were funny, but for some reason I was not wanting to get up! I was feeling self conscious. I sat there wondering, "Why am I feeling like this now? I haven't ever cared in the past." I looked at Ben and said, "I'm part of the Freak Show!" We couldn't help but laugh and when I got up the couple would not look at me. I think that they had realized that we caught on to their conversation or maybe their conversation had moved on to a much more worthwhile topic. When we all got settled in the car I talked to Ben about the possibility that it was all in my head, but we both agreed that it was all much too obvious. Ben and I came up with a lot of things that would have been so much fun to say to the couple that would have made them laugh too, but we refrained! I thought about sharing some of them with this post, but would not want anyone to take something the wrong way. (Remember my last post? I'm working on not saying something the wrong way or saying too much.) So go ahead and give Ben and I some more chuckles and tell us...What would you have said or wanted to say? Just to get you started, Ben wants me to add his favorite that he came up with: "If you had me, you wouldn't be able to control yourself either!"