Watch Me Grow!

Left: Baby at about 6 weeks.  Center and Right: Baby at 20 weeks.

Left: Baby at 30 weeks.  Right: Baby at 38.5 weeks.

Left to right: Earliest photo, about 10 weeks.  20 weeks.  30 weeks.  37.5 weeks.

We're almost there!  As of tonight, he's estimated at 7 pounds, 11 ounces (larger than Lewis's birth weight, born one week early).  We have 1 1/2 weeks until this little guy's "official" due date.  He can come any day <3

The Waiting Place

Doctor Seuss describes it this way, in "Oh, The Places You'll Go":

The Waiting Place... ...for people just waiting. 

Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

I feel as if I ought to re-write these famous stanzas to apply to Waiting For Baby.  But alas, after six-plus weeks of incredible energy and creativity, my creative juices are just not in the mood.  

I am 37-and-a-half weeks along, so by some counts I ought not to be expecting Baby's imminent arrival yet.  I mean, technically at this point some girls are still going to be pregnant for a month!  But all along, I've felt that this little guy will be here early, and I am Ready.  

And today, with nothing to do on the calendar, I feel the Waiting more impatiently.  I'm waiting for the laundry to wash and dry so I can be Caught Up again.  I'm waiting for dinner inspiration, so I can feed my family something decent tonight.  I'm waiting for the UPS truck to arrive late this afternoon, so I can accomplish the task of rearranging our boys' car seats in the van (three!).  

I'm waiting to feel super-tired, because I didn't sleep well last night.  I'm waiting to see how this head cold will unfold, because after almost two weeks of avoiding Lewis's germs I went and took a drink out of his bathroom cup a few nights ago, having forgotten to bring my own water bottle upstairs...and that very night I felt the first twinges of sore throat.  Not happy about that.  

I'm waiting for contractions, for my water to break, for Something.  

Sorry, I'm complaining too much.  I just don't like sitting around waiting, and that's what my gumption has got me doing these days.  No matter what's going on, in the background of it all I'm Paying Attention.  And after awhile of that, you're just ready for it to happen :0)

What Do You Do When...

I'm going to have a baby soon.  Yes.  

So, for the past six weeks or so, I've been in crazy nesting mode.  Which has led me to ferociously tackle projects ranging from meticulously repainting my front porch and entryway to sorting and laundering the boxes of newborn comfy clothes to...

...today, deciding that the back hall window, where I've always kept my oils and vinegars, really ought to be cleaned off.  I read somewhere that, oh wait, you're not supposed to keep oils in the sunlight, because they'll spoil faster...  

Anyway.  What do you do when uncovering that window, scrubbing off the oil-grimy sill, un-wedging the screen to clean all the gunk and cobwebs behind it (AFTER a very careful inspection to see if there are any of those nasty, resident, ENORMOUS spiders set up in there, the way they do in the upstairs windows)--reveals a window frame that is terribly rotten?  As in, some of that wood I can spongy-press with my fingers?  As in, the outside house wall surrounding that frame is growing moss?  As in, the rottenness there to be cleaned up is literally rotten enough to have converted into dirt?  

What do you do?  

Umm.  Well, at this point in the yearpregnancybudget...

Ignore it!  Close and lock that window, make that rotten sill as clean as it can be, come up with something pretty to put there as a distraction, and walk away.  

It's always awesome to know what goes on next year's Project List when it's time to close up shop on this year's Project Season, right?  

Post Script:

There.  No one will ever know, right?  Haha!  A Before would have been a nice touch: picture grimy curtain, and a chock-full lineup of greasy oil and vinegar bottles...

I Mean Really

I sorted baby clothes most of the day, and just pulled the tiniest out of the dryer, fresh and clean and ready for Baby.  And this one, this little onesie in particular, just melts my heart.  

I can't make it look in the picture as small as it actually is.  I mean, go get a ruler: it's 12 x 5 1/4 inches.  My baby's torso basically fits on your piece of notebook paper.  

The sweetness!  I can't wait to snuggle this tiny baby boy!

A Taste of My Scattery Morning Brain

This morning I have woken up with the desire to decorate my home for autumn.  This is something like an overnight change; yesterday I thought, "Hrmmm...it's a little too early.  I mean, it's still August.  Let's not rush it."  

So, how convenient: today it's suddenly September!  Feel free to begin enjoying the autumn!

Tomorrow my Lincoln begins kindergarden.  Full-day, away-from-home, Big Kid School.  Oh my.  He has the same wonderful teacher as last year, but will have to do an awful lot more of things like math, and not so much watercoloring-and-playdough fun.  Such is the new era of What 5-Year-Olds Must Know.  He's trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Lewis will (hopefully) get to do some fall field trips with mama and baby brother...while he's at school.  I'm hoping he'll get a couple of class field trips himself.  He'll be riding the bus to and from school.  I'm thankful he won't be on the bus for as long each day as I had feared.  Still about 45 minutes in the afternoon, but only 15 in the mornings.  

He did request that for tomorrow, his very first day, we drive him to school in the morning. <3  And daddy starts school a day later, so he get to be part of all Lincoln's first-day Pomp.  

I'm all excited about my baby's room.  I almost ran upstairs a few minutes ago to paint a leaf garland on his walls, an idea that just struck me as an awesome and simple addition. 

I've got all sorts of creative juices flowing through my brain this morning, so I'd better get up and get going.  

Oh, and my Lewis just woke up.  At 8:15.  Lincoln is still sleeping.  This new phase of sleep they've entered is baffling to me.  And I'm not sure how we'll all handle the school year schedule, when they want to eat breakfast with daddy at 5:45 every morning.  Because, you know?  A 6:30pm bedtime just isn't super-feasible for us.  We'll manage somehow.  Everybody will be on new sleep schedules soon!

Here's a gem for you, from one of my favorite Psalms: 

The Lord is my CHOSEN portion and my cup; You hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Psalm 16:5-6