Days Like These

I am just loving this spring weather. I'm thinking having a spring baby is really going to work nicely in our favor, as we'll be able to get out and enjoy the sunshine. The sun really picks me up, and hopefully force me to get outside, even when I'm exhausted. If that doesn't work, I'm sure the kiddo below will encourage me to go anyway. :)
I am so impressed by this little girl that will soon be a "big sister". She has so much life inside of her, so much curiosity, so much joy. We've spent our fabulous afternoon playing outside, planting flowers, having some of Daddy's ice cream (shhhh!!), and drinking this. I love days like these!

God has made motherhood such a special responsibility. It's hard and demanding and tiring, but it's the most rewarding role I've had yet. :) I feel like I should be thanking her for being such an incredible person than for her to be thanking me for being her mommy. She's way cooler than I am, no doubt.

Flower Power

E helped me plant these flowers on Saturday. They were on serious markdown, so I wasn't incredibly concerned if she was rough with them. Mostly she liked putting the dirt in and watering the flowers. "More water" she kept repeating. This is one of the fun aspects of parenting - teaching her, helping her learn, and seeing her eyes light up with excitement. I wish I had bought a few more plants, because flowers just make everything happier, don't they?

She has loved watching her Daddy work on our house, and it feels like we're getting somewhere, thank God. We're going room by room (ignoring the kitchen and living room at the moment), and each night we've tried to get something done - even if it feels minor.

Something that's helped us get our bottoms moving is 1) my nesting instinct 2) the fact we've decided to go without cable once again. No cable = no channels. We went cable free a few years ago when we bought our first house, and didn't want to pay for cable. I don't remember missing it (though, we relied heavily on our friends T and B to record Lost episodes).

We found that we were using cable as background noise, and we ended up watching shows that we never even cared about. There's nothing wrong with vegging once in a while, but it sucked up more time than it should have. So we're back to pocketing some extra cash, and being "forced" to find something to do in the evenings, even if it is just reading, etc.

Of course, don't worry. We're still feeding our Lost addiction and watching it online. Some shows are just worth keeping up with. :)

So, I'm Done

This is the one thing that I'm going to miss about our duplex - our lilac tree (er, bush). I really love the scent of lilacs... maybe our landlord/realtor will still let us clip a few as a thank you for all of our great business? :)

My main goal was to get a little more prepared for baby this weekend. The car seats are in the car, the baby's room is sort of up and running. The dipes/covers are ready to go with some disposables thrown in. Clothes are sorted. Blankets are folded. Swing is ready to go. Now we just need baby.

And, boy, this weekend made me decide that I am SO done being pregnant. This whole pregnancy I've been panicked that we have so much to do, so much on my mind. I'm certain that God makes us go these 40 weeks so that we welcome the birthing process by the end of them.

I'm uncomfortable and my belly is huge. :) Getting on the floor is probably humorous for my clients to see. Getting up is even funnier, I'm sure. I had some pretty strong contractions over the weekend, which encouraged me to get my bum moving on all things baby.

My doc says I'm dilated 2 cm, my cervix is thinning "nicely", and the baby's head is pretty low. He jokingly said "I bet you're feeling every pound of that". Why, yes, I am Mr. Doctor, which is why I am now waddling, and much of the reason why I'm ready to be done.

And I will be soon. Maybe later than sooner. Maybe sooner than later. But eventually, right?

The Girl's Room

So we're going room by room, trying to get ourselves situated, so that we feel like we're actually accomplishing something. E's room isn't finished - her wall art is somewhere in the box abyss, but we're slowly making headway.

Here's what we have for now. The "Before Shot" - no carpet, and yes, they did paint the window green. Gotta love it.

And a couple "in process/maybe after depending how ambitious we get" pics:

The All Over Post

This was taken at the end of April last year. I hope May allows us many beach outings... I'm itching for some consistent warm weather.

I feel like things are starting to come together for us - in more ways than one. We've moved in to our house (though we're still swimming in boxes), and just the other day we had carpet placed into all of the bedrooms. E's room is the most "put together", so hopefully we can get a lot done this weekend.

We are liking our house, though - and looking forward to making it "ours" as time passes (and money is saved). Some things I'm drooling over doing is this:

Composting: http://simplemom.net/how-to-make-a-compost-bin/
Line drying my clothes
Gardening... E has asked to plant flowers this entire week. Maybe she'll live up to her name and have a green thumb?

As far as baby goes, we're a little less than three weeks away from my due date. I'm certainly starting to get uncomfortable and tired, but feeling like there's still some time left until he comes. Some really good news though - I think we've found THE name, but we need to say a few more times before we announce it to the blogging world. L actually suggested it early on in the pregnancy, and I shrugged it off but now it just seems to fit?

I'm feeling better about going on maternity leave. I've gotten a lot accomplished over the last couple of months. My supervisor and I went over every.single.case. so she knows what to cover when I'm gone. We were both surprised to realize I went from eight cases last August to over 40 cases now. No wonder I have more gray hair? I just NEED to get through this week at work, and then leave for six weeks, and then back to my three days a week. Oh, how I've missed that!

E's potty training progress is slow, but re-emerging. The last couple of weeks were a mad dash of cleaning and working on the house so we didn't even push it. The past couple of days have resulted in her going on the potty three times. This morning she went by herself, while I was showering. I didn't even know until I asked her to sit on the potty afterward. Major sticker points on that one. :)

Hmmm.... this post is so random, but my preggo brain seems to be working this way. We hope that you are all experiencing some sunshine. Now I'm off to take a nap. :)

Procrastinating

I should be packing and gearing up for a big day before the move. I think we've reached our saturation point, so it's a good thing tomorrow it's "all over" (meaning, we'll only have one place to deal with!).

We've been preparing E for the move, and last night the "lellow house" was all she could talk about. How we could plant flowers (red and yellow ones) in pots, have a sand box, etc. Each time she would say something exciting about the house, she'd put her hands up in the air and exclaim "Hooray!" Her personality is really starting to shine through... she's a pretty neat kiddo.

We have gotten a lot done this month, as we've geared up for the move. We've put two plus coats of paint on every room in the house. We've put in a new sliding door in our house, repaired our deck, cleaned and cleaned (and need to clean some more), knocked down a partial wall in our house, and moved appliances inside. We are changing the carpet in the bedrooms, and are saving money for hardwood floors in the living area/kitchen, and maybe redoing the cabinets in the kitchen. So we're getting there, but there is still much work to be done.

Praise God for His provision in our lives though, as we love the layout of the house - it's great being able to see what E is doing while I'm in the kitchen. We were blessed to find such a steal (especially for the area), with a low, great interest rate. Our total mortgage payment (taxes, insurance, the whole deal) is just a little higher than our rent! Just in time for the baby to come, and just after a raise in such a struggling economy. We are trying to be wise with God has given us. We've entertained the idea of getting a loan to get everything done now, but have committed to using cash so that we don't get in over our heads... it's so easy to do with a house.

Well, time to scoot and get moving on the day. Much to be done, but at least we get sunshine to give us the energy to do it!!

We're still alive

Wow. I cannot believe that a month from Tuesday is my due date. I was thinking the other day that the date was the sixth or seventh of the month... only to find that it was tax day.

Things have been incredibly busy for us as we prepare to move into our house. We do have some photos, but they're still on my camera, and the cord is packed away, so it'll be awhile until they're uploaded.

We have been painting and painting and repairing and painting some more. Boy, things look so different than just a couple of weeks ago. It's crazy how a little (okay, really it was a lot of) paint can make a big difference in the look of a home. Every spare waking moment is spent working on the house, preparing for moving day. We're still not done, but I like to think we're getting closer?

We have been blessed to have many people offer to help. Our families have been so great at coming up to help, and we've had friends and co workers come over... we are surrounded by lovely people. We are SO thankful that they've sacrificed so that our house can get done in time for us to move. Praise God for willing hands and feet, yes?

So please forgive my absence. I anticipate even longer quiet spells once baby is here. :) Happy spring to you all and hope you had a lovely Easter.