Okay...I'm Ready!

I am 34 1/2 weeks pregnant. I have 5 1/2 weeks left until our baby is due. I had a doctor's appointment today and I asked a million and one questions about when I should go to the hospital, what contractions feel like (because I truly didn't get any with Elijah until I was in the hospital and I don't remember them now!), what it feels like to have my water break, if it's possible to not know that my water broke, etc. I think I was smiling like an idiot the entire time I was asking questions because I can hardly believe we're already at this point!

I already have my diaper bag for Aliyah. It is packed and ready to go! I have made a packing list for the hospital for me so that I will be able to throw that together really fast when the time comes to leave. I need to figure out where Elijah will be going for sure and have a bag packed for him soon. I know exactly where to go in the hospital and what to say when I get there. Aliyah's room is totally ready.

The doctor told me today that at 38 weeks they will strip my membranes, which is what the doctor did 3 days after my due date with Elijah and put me into labor right away. She also told me that they do not want me to go more than a week over my due date, so around my due date if nothing is progressing, they will schedule a date to be induced. So for sure by 10/10/10, I will have my baby in my arms! It's crazy knowing that!

All this to say...I'm READY! I cannot wait to go into labor and have this sweet little girl! I can't wait to meet her and hold her and look at her and see who she looks like. I can't wait to dress her in her cute girl clothes and put ribbons and bows in her hair (assuming she has any...and even if she doesn't, I can still put headbands on her head!). I am excited to rock her and nurse her and put her to bed in her bright room. I am excited to see Elijah with her and watch them interact. I know she will love just looking at him and watching him as she gets older, and I think he will be a very good big brother to her. I am so ready for our family to be a family of 4 instead of 3! It's just so exciting!

Anyway...just wanted to say I'm ready! I want her to grow a little more in my tummy before she comes out, but after 37 weeks, I'll be happy with her coming at any time! If she wants to go ahead and be a September baby, that's totally fine with me! :)

New Adventures...

AJ and I were talking the other night about the way our life has gone. We are both in school right now (although I am taking a break to grow and have a baby), and we are parents to a young son (and almost to two children!). We don't feel like we get the adventures we always dreamed we would be getting, but I think we both came to the realization that it doesn't need to be that way! We can plan adventures and make our life just as exciting as it once was! Goodness...I mean, having two kids under the age of 4 is a pretty big adventure in and of itself! :)



Anyway, we made some adventurous plans for next summer which I think will really be fun to try to achieve and work towards all year! I am going to go through the entire 90 days of P90X as soon as I can exercise after having this baby. Then I'm going to start running, and we are going to do at least a 10k together next summer, but our big goal is to do a half marathon together at the end of next summer! Also, we are going to try to get in really great shape this year and to take a fun vacation just the two of us somewhere next summer where we'll have to show off our awesome bodies! Okay...so that's not the point of the vacation, it's really just to get away and have fun together, but still...it will be great to work towards that all year!



That's all we're for sure planning right now, but just making these plans has made us both more excited and has added a little "pep" in our step as we go throughout our days! It's fun to have a husband who wants to plan things with me and who encourages me to still be young and live life to its fullest even when life seems so full of responsibility and structure! :)

A Whole Lot of Nothing

Well, it's summer. I have always thought it would be really fun to be pregnant in the summer. Guess what...it's not all it's cracked up to be! I have been soooooooooo hot lately! We don't have central air in our house, so it gets pretty hot. We have slept on the couch the 2 onights because it's just too hot upstairs. It makes me very grateful that we switched Elijah's room to downstairs. I actually have to admit, though, that the couch seems more comfortable than our bed, so I have gotten some good sleep the last couple of nights!

I have less than 3 months until I have this baby. I will be in my 3rd trimester on Saturday! I can hardly believe I'm already at that point...it just doesn't seem real. I want to enjoy this time left with just one kid, but I am so anxious to meet our new little one! I feel very ready to add another member to our family!!! Plus, it's a little girl, and I won't be outnumbered anymore!

Elijah is such a boy. All I hear day in and day out is AJ and Elijah going back and forth with things like "ppppphhhhht...oh! You farted, Daddy!"..."pppppphhhhht...oh! You farted, Elijah!" I mean, seriously? I have to admit that it makes me laugh, though, and I do love having a boy. I never thought I would like it that much because boys are gross and I didn't want to deal with all the boy stuff that I had no idea how to handle, but it's been pretty easy! Elijah has changed my perspective on boys. Sure they're gross sometimes, but they are also so sweet to their mommy's. :) He can always make me laugh and he is always willing to help me out with whatever I need.

I have been working on Aliyah's room a lot lately. It's so cute. I love it. I love that it is mostly yellow, with some pink and white. It is bright and cheery and girly. She's gonna love her room! I have even gotten crafty! I made a ribbon mobile that turned out EXACTLY how I imagined it would! I was so excited! I didn't have instructions...I kinda just went with it, but it's perfect! Elijah walked into Ali's room after I hung it up and said "WOW! COOL!" So, I think it's a hit! :)

Well, I don't have much to blog about...just hadn't updated in a while. It's a rainy day here, which I'm actually enjoying a lot. I kinda needed a mellow day. It has seemed so busy around here lately! I hope you all have a great rest of the week/weekend!

A Simple Text...

I love my husband for many reasons, but one of the things I love about him the most is that he says the sweetest things to me right when I need to hear them! Last night we were just sitting in the living room watching the movie "Invictus" (which is so good and I recommend everyone watch it!), and I got a text message on my phone. I looked at it and AJ had texted me this: "I love you, and thanks for carrying our baby girl." Wow...talk about perfect timing. I have been feeling HUGE lately and this just made my day! :) I have a great husband, and I'm so thankful that he says romantic things like that to me. It wasn't anything big...but it's the simple things that mean the most to me. :) Anyway, I just wanted to share how amazing my husband is!

I've been inspired....by MYSELF!!!

I have been inspired by my former self. AJ and I watched Elijah's baby videos last night. I have been thinking about how different it's going to be with a new baby in the fall. I was having a hard time even remembering what it was like! So, we watched Lij's baby videos. Let me tell you...I'm so excited now! I forgot how fun it is to just love on a little baby and watch them grow and change. Elijah went from just making funny noises to making funny faces, laughing, smiling, rolling over, scooting, and crawling! We stopped watching it when he was around 6 months. He was so adoreable and I am so excited to have another little baby to take care of! It'll be especially nice to have Elijah with us this time to enjoy the whole thing with us.

Anyway, you're probably wondering what inspired me. Well, I was working full time and taking care of a little baby and I kept our house so clean all the time! I loved how it was arranged in the videos (it went through a couple changes in those 6 months) and I loved how clean it looked. I have been having a hard time keeping our house clean since AJ got home! It's like it has doubled my workload and with Elijah being older and wanting to play with his toys all over the house, it just gets to be crazy around here sometimes! But, I figured if I could keep it clean back then, I can surely keep it very clean now! So I woke up with a purpose this morning, and spent the next few hours cleaning and rearranging our house! It feels great and I'm motivated to keep it that way and even go ahead and get the baby's room done, too. I'm just going to have be diligent about it and ask the boys to pick up their stuff whenever they can!

Have you guys ever been inspired by your former selves?

It doesn't seem possible...

I was thinking about how much I love Elijah today. I know that sounds wierd...who really sits around thinking about how much they love someone...but it's what I do sometimes. I love him more than I ever thought possible. It's wierd because when you're a parent, you love your child in such a different way than you love anyone else. I love AJ so much because he's an amazing person and I was captivated by him right when I met him, but I have such expectations of him. I feel like I'm disappointed when he lets me down, even though I quickly get over it and realize it's not a big deal. I get disappointed in a lot of people at times because I feel like they should act differently or treat me differently, but I shouldn't have those expectations of people. That's not right. No one is perfect, and no one is supposed to be perfect...people make mistakes. The only perfect One is God, and I shouldn't have expectations from Him either because I don't ever want to put him in a box...He is the only One who will ever exceed my expectations every single time. It's amazing...and I'm so grateful to know Him and to have a relationship with Him!

Anyway, back to what I was saying...I was thinking about how much I love Elijah. I don't have the same sort of expectations for Elijah that I do with other people. He makes mistakes probably more than anyone else in my life, yet I never feel let down by him. It's like I just realize that he will make mistakes and that's okay. It is easier for me to show him grace than anyone else in my life. He's 3, so he is learning how to live life. He's learning what behavior is acceptable and what isn't. He's learning the things he should or shouldn't say to people. He's learning to live! Every time I look at him, my heart is FULL with love. So, I guess that's how I love him differently than anyone else.

I was also thinking about Aliyah. I haven't even met her yet, but I feel like I'm already getting a glimpse of her personality in the way she kicks or moves or reacts to people touching my tummy. I'm so excited to see what she looks like and to just really get to know her, but it just doesn't seem possible to love her as much as I love Elijah. That sounds bad, I know, but I just can't see how I can have that much love to give. And sometimes I wonder if loving another child will take away from loving Elijah. Everyone tells me that it is possible to love all your children as much as each other, so I know that will happen. But when I really think about how much I love Elijah, it just seems impossible! Luckily, God makes the impossible possible, and I know I will love her just as much as Elijah and that won't take anything away from Elijah. I'm excited to see for myself how this happens. It excited me to think about loving another little child as much as I love Elijah! I'm so blessed already with the perfect husband for me and the perfect son for me...and it overwhelms me to think I am also being blessed with the perfect daughter for me! Praise the Lord for His blessings! I do not deserve them, but I am very thankful for them!! :)

Crazy dream, Crazy boy, Not-So Crazy Life

Hmmm...I don't have much to blog about these days. I have been loving the summer weather more than normal this year. We have been outside so much and my tan is coming along pretty nicely! Although, I have a million tan lines...but that's besides the point! :) It's been rainy this weekend, so we've spent a lot of time cleaning and playing games and watching movies. It's been a very nice, relaxing weekend. I'm ready for some sunshine now, though! I feel too lazy when the weather is gray and cloudy.

Elijah has been coming up with some crazy things to say lately. He went through a pretty whiny phase for a couple weeks, and I think he now realizes that when he whines he doesn't get what he wants. If I hear him whining I say "Mommy doesn't listen to your whining," and he will repeat it without whining. I've had to say that less and less the last few days, so that is encouraging. He is also learning to ask nicely for things. I just don't give him what he wants until he asks nicely and that seems to be working. Man...this kid is so cute, but sometimes he can be so cranky and whiny! I love him, though, and his bad phases make the good phases just that much sweeter. I can deal with it, and that's what parenting is all about, right?

Anyway, I decided to paint Aliyah's room yellow and white. I'm going to do 3 walls white, and the wall with the crib on it a bright yellow. I would love to find a cute saying or something in white letters to put up on the yellow wall, but first I would just like to get it painted! I actually priced out the primer, paint, and supplies today, so we'll be getting it sometime soon.

I had the WIERDEST dream last night! The gyst of if is that I went into labor at 26 weeks. I gave birth to a boy and we were so shocked that instead of naming him Lincoln like we wanted to, we accidentally named him Blinkin! Then I asked if we could change it, and it just seemed like too much work so I was thinking of keeping the name. I couldn't understand why they told me that I was having a girl when I had a boy, so I asked and they said that I had another baby in there that would probably come at 9 months like she was supposed to. I just couldn't grasp that I was having twins, but they would be born 4 months apart! Crazy! AJ had left right after I had the baby, and my mom and sister were there, but they didn't seem concerned about anything except what channel to watch on TV. And to top it all off, I realized that I had only fed the baby once in 3 days! I kept forgetting to feed him, but he was still so happy. Needless to say, I was so happy when I finally woke up!!

So that's it...I hope you're all enjoying your summer so far!