And, we have been for quite a while, but with everything going on in "real" life, I haven't had (or made?) the time to pop in here and say hi. :)
We've had two baby showers in the last two weeks (Yay! We're getting a good start on what we need for babykins.), and with school starting again next week I'm back to my full time daycare schedule here at home again.
The "nesting" instinct is growing a little stronger by the day (a very frustrating thing with not having the time I'd like to devote to organization/preparation projects, or the energy- I'm starting to feel the third trimester fatigue), and I'm working hard to keep myself calm and not stress out (ha!) over the fact that we still haven't been able to get started on our room remodeling project. BUT, we are creeping closer to starting it- my wonderful hubby is, in fact, going after work today to look at windows- so it will get done (it will, it will, it will...). :)
We're now right around 7 1/2 months along- yay! I feel so unprepared for her birth, let me tell you! Excited, but slightly terrified. :) Pete says he's feeling pretty much the same way- and we try to console ourselves by telling each other that we'd make for some pretty poor parents if we weren't afraid of somehow messing it up! ;)
So, without further ado, here's the 7 month picture:
(please pardon the pained expression- that morning sun was fierce!)
Yes, the poor, poor garden. It's been a strange year for gardens here in our corner of Iowa. Lots of cool temps and lots and lots of rain. So, the weeds love it (the ever-growing belly doesn't- bending to pull weeds is not a plesant or easy task!), and the flowers, well, they're green and leafy, but the blooms are fairly minimal this year (at least, they have been in our gardens).
My mental "To Do List" is growing too- between now and when I start my several week maternity leave I'd really like to accomplish the following:
* Finish organizing the house. It's a small two bedroom, growing smaller by the day! I'm going to feel so much more peaceful once everything has a place, and everything is in it's place.
* Get the master bedroom completely remodeled, and all of our "stuff" in it. This includes all of the baby's "stuff"- at least the absolute necessities- since she'll be bunking in with us for quite a while (her room is next on the remodle list). By the time this project is done I hope to have a peaceful and pretty room to snuggle into with my brand new girl. :)
* Get all of the puppy's paperwork and "things" together for her move to her new home.
(*sniff, sniff. Yes, we're saying goodbye to our little Ceiba. She's a sweet little dog, but like I said, this house seems to be shrinking around us- and two dogs plus a baby, I do believe, would be just too much.)
Thankfully she's going to my sister and her hubby, so she's not
really leaving us, just becoming a farther-away part of our family.
* READ, READ, READ! Pete and I have two main books that we're trying to get through before the baby's born- "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" and "Birth Outside the Box" in order to prepare ourselves for the labor, birth, and those first few weeks with a brand new baby.
Mixed in with all of this are several more days of Preschool Playgroup that I'll be teaching here at home, as well as daycare Monday through Friday, working on designs and products for
Mama and Nonni, and the (sometimes never ending) task of getting the produce out of the garden as it ripens and doing...
something... with it.
So, like I said, I'm doing my best NOT to panic! ;) Somehow, it will all come together, and in the end the things that may end up falling to the wayside will end up being the things that really, truly, didn't matter that much in the first place.
Here's to being productive these next 8 or 10 weeks! :)
