18 Days

Almost ready for little Hallie Ruth to make her appearance.

Been doing baby laundry for the last couple of days.  Love the smell of Dreft. ♥

Eeek... so much pink!!

Eighteen days until her due date!

Nesting Projects

I have a little over three weeks to go until my due date.

I'm freaking out a little.  Okay, a lot.

I still have so much to do to get ready for Hallie's arrival!  I'm also a little worried because I never really started "nesting" with Gabriel.  I mean, I did get a lot of projects accomplished in the last couple weeks before he was born, but it was more me forcing myself to get off my backside and do them than an urge and the inexplicable energy to get them done.

Now, with an active sixteen-month-old, I'm even less motivated.  Scary.

When we moved, we stuck all of our miscellaneous junk in the spare room closet... the closet that is supposed to be Hallie's.  This week, my number one project goal is to get it cleaned out and organized.  Lovely.

Gabriel's room looks like a hurricane blew through.  He's in the middle of outgrowing his 18-month clothes, so all his 2T stuff that just arrived from my mom is everywhere.  He's been getting dressed every day from the floor.  I need to run out and get some plastic bins to store his old clothes, but haven't found the time/energy yet.  On top of that, his closet is also disorganized. -sigh-

I need to wash all of Hallie's clothes and get them put away.  Easier said than done, as I don't have any drawer space for her yet.  Only so much baby stuff can be hung on hangers!  I also need to get her more clothes and blankets.  Gabriel had tons and tons of itty baby clothes and he went through all of them in those first couple of weeks.  Hallie has very few things, and most of them are sized 3 months!

Well, I should probably get to work.  I need to get groceries and get a load of laundry going.  I've entitled this post "Nesting Projects" in hopes that maybe I'll actually start nesting for real.  Ha.

The Past Two Months

This is terrible.  I can't believe I haven't updated about Baby in over two months.  Actually, I can.  March and April were absolutely crazy with school.  I could hardly focus on my last assignments, as I was looking forward to being finished and being able to devote all my time to preparing for Gabriel to arrive.  It was hard to care about Romeo and Juliet and Huckleberry Finn (the subjects of my final papers for two of my classes) knowing that in a few short weeks, I would be a mommy. :)

In any case, I finished up (and managed to pull all A's) and began working on projects around the house.  Some may call it nesting, but I'm not sure if I'm to that point yet.  With everything I've heard about nesting, I feel like it's random inspiration to do random projects around the house -- like organizing spices that you haven't touched in a year.  These projects have been on my plate for a looong time; I'm just forcing myself to do it before Baby's arrival, as I know my time afterwards will be... better spent. ;) But maybe I am nesting.  I don't know.

So far, I have cleaned out our closet and the guest closet (making room for all of Gabriel's stuff; that room will eventually be the nursery).  Both Drew and I had tons of clothes and shoes that we just didn't wear any more.  It was kind of unreal.  So, about four boxes and five large bags later, I made a couple runs to the good will.  It felt good to get all that stuff off of my hands!  I still have a box in my car and one in the closet... just in case I find anything else that needs to go.  I also finished all of the thank you cards from both of my baby showers and washed all of the new baby clothes/blankets and put them away in a nice, orderly fashion.  Five loads of baby laundry was a project in itself, needless to say.

My next project is either to reorganize the kitchen or the master bathroom, depending on my level of energy and commitment.  The kitchen is a huuge project, as I never really organized it when I got married.  I just kind of stuck stuff wherever it would fit and moved it around as I got more things.  It's a mess.  The bathroom cabinets are semi-organized... just junked out.  What I really need is to get shelves put in them (for some reason the builder didn't think to put those in?), but I doubt that'll happen before Baby.

So, that's been my life for the past two months.  Meanwhile, I'm getting bigger and more uncomfortable. I am also trying to take a 30 minute walk every day; apparently it helps to build the muscles that I'll need for labor/delivery.  It's incredibly hard, especially now that I'm starting to have PMS-like cramps nearly every day, but I know it'll be worth it.

One week and five days until my due date!

The Wiggles

There really is something surreal about having life inside of you.  Sometimes, when I'm busy doing other things, I forget that I'm expecting.  That is, until Gabriel decides to remind me of his presence with a wiggle or two.  Sometimes it's just enough to remind me that he's there; other times, it's enough movement to make me pause in whatever I'm doing and just feel him.  It's incredible.  Pregnancy is incredible.  Sure, it's often uncomfortable and tiring, but that feeling that a little person is growing inside of me makes all of the hardship so worth it.

I feel so blessed that God has honored me with the gift of giving life to another.  There is such a joy and contentment that comes with knowing that I am fulfilling the purpose to which God has called me:  being a wife and mother.