I am 29 weeks pregnant and I am definitely doing what a lot of people would call “nesting.” I don’t know whether it’s “instinct” exactly, but just like anyone wants to straighten their home before visitors arrive, I want to be ready for a guest that’s going to be arriving late this spring, taking up all of my time and attention, and staying for a couple of decades.
It’s a matter of knowing that in my whole life is about to change in ways that I won’t be able to completely understand until after it’s already happened, and I want to be as prepared as I possibly can be. This means a lot of things.
It’s looking at the screen door to my back porch that I have never once cleaned in the 20 months that I’ve owned the house and seeing all the dirt shoved into crevices that I never noticed before and thinking, “It would really be nice to have that clean before the baby comes,” for the simple reason that I have no idea when I might have the opportunity or inclination to clean it later.
It’s finally emptying the backpack that was somehow never cleaned out after graduation from college almost two years ago because I found it shoved in the closet of the soon-to-be-nursery.
It’s suddenly caring that the dishes get washed and the stove gets wiped down every night before I go to bed because I’m trying to get out of the habit of letting little things pile up and become big things.
It’s getting down on my hands and knees to look under cabinets and other furniture trying to think like a crawling eight month old as I add task after task to our “projects to finish before June” list.
As a new father, Daniel could be seen as “nesting” too—although he doesn’t have it quite as bad as I do, so maybe a little bit of instinct is involved for mothers. And some of what I worry about may be a bit over the top… But whether it’s instinct or just plain smart, or a nice combination of both, it’s good to be ready.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Spring Is Almost Here
The glucose test wasn’t so terrible after all. The orange drink, while it wouldn’t be my beverage of choice, really wasn’t bad. The doctor suspected this to be because I have a sweet tooth, which is in fact very true. And the blood test hurt just like any other blood test, which I knew it would so I was not worried about it to begin with. The rest of my appointment went well, too, and my next couple of appointments will just be quick checkups.
Here in Maryland, it is really starting to feel like spring! Today I sat outside on my deck in the 75 degree sunshine to read and eat my lunch (and hopefully soak up some Vitamin D), and it was perfectly wonderful. In just a few days the first day of spring will be here, and as the weather slowly gets warmer I’m getting closer and closer to meeting my baby. He or she will arrive before summer does. This summer is going to be very different from every other summer of my life—I can’t wait!
There is plenty remaining to be done around the house before the baby comes, though. The nursery is still a storage and project room, and there are several other projects that Daniel and I hope to finish in these last few pre-baby months, which will give us plenty to keep busy. Not to mention those unexpected projects that continue to crop up which are not on our list at all.
For example, part of this beautiful springy weekend will be spent (at least for Daniel) replacing several shingles on our roof which were blown off during a rainstorm last week. What fun! I, of course, will be spending that time standing out on the deck watching him, as though the strength of my stare could be enough to keep him from falling off the roof. Really, though, our roof is not at all steep. I shouldn’t need to worry.
Now for one last thing that I just thought I’d share that is rather random—this Saturday morning I will be going to a big yard sale with my friend Laura, the first of many I will be searching this spring I’m sure, and my quest is to find good children’s books to start our library. First of all, I love bargains. Second of all, I love books. And third, I love a good quest! (All three of these things I get from my mom) Wish me luck; I’m so excited!
Here in Maryland, it is really starting to feel like spring! Today I sat outside on my deck in the 75 degree sunshine to read and eat my lunch (and hopefully soak up some Vitamin D), and it was perfectly wonderful. In just a few days the first day of spring will be here, and as the weather slowly gets warmer I’m getting closer and closer to meeting my baby. He or she will arrive before summer does. This summer is going to be very different from every other summer of my life—I can’t wait!
There is plenty remaining to be done around the house before the baby comes, though. The nursery is still a storage and project room, and there are several other projects that Daniel and I hope to finish in these last few pre-baby months, which will give us plenty to keep busy. Not to mention those unexpected projects that continue to crop up which are not on our list at all.
For example, part of this beautiful springy weekend will be spent (at least for Daniel) replacing several shingles on our roof which were blown off during a rainstorm last week. What fun! I, of course, will be spending that time standing out on the deck watching him, as though the strength of my stare could be enough to keep him from falling off the roof. Really, though, our roof is not at all steep. I shouldn’t need to worry.
Now for one last thing that I just thought I’d share that is rather random—this Saturday morning I will be going to a big yard sale with my friend Laura, the first of many I will be searching this spring I’m sure, and my quest is to find good children’s books to start our library. First of all, I love bargains. Second of all, I love books. And third, I love a good quest! (All three of these things I get from my mom) Wish me luck; I’m so excited!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Home Again
So, we made it home from Alabama safely and without any further damage, thank God! Of course, I guess we would have to be extremely unlucky to have a problem on both legs of the trip (or be extremely bad drivers).
At the rehearsal dinner last Friday, Daniel and his cousin Michael dressed up as Lloyd and Harry from the movie “Dumb and Dumber,” which they all love. Daniel was in the orange tuxedo and Michael was in the blue, with matching top hats and canes, which they used to swordfight into the party as they made their entrance. This was a surprise for John (Daniel had received approval from the bride, Katherine, beforehand), and as far as I could tell it was quite a hit—and of course entirely unexpected by nearly all of the guests.
As the wife of the best man, and family, I was present at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, then also had to be at the church at 8:30 the next morning (2 ½ hours early) for pictures. It was fun to be part of an event so steeped in southern traditions. Everything was planned and carried out just so—and from what I understand nearly all of the planning and decision-making was done by Katherine’s parents, so it was pretty stress-free for the bride and groom. It was also a Presbyterian ceremony rather than Catholic, so all in all it was different from ours on multiple levels. Still lovely, though, and I am so happy to have been there to help celebrate their union in Christian marriage.
In other news, I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon (27 weeks!). This is when I’m scheduled to do my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. I’m hoping that the orange glucose drink is not as bad as some people have said it is, and that I don’t feel like passing out after I drink it, like others have said they did…
I’m pretty sure that after this appointment I start going in every two weeks rather than every four, since I’m starting my third trimester! Time is really flying now. My official last day of work is set for Friday, April 16th, only a little over a month away. I can’t believe that I’m almost “finished working”, but I am really looking forward to meeting my baby (duh!) and spending every day loving and taking care of him or her. It’s just incredible to me that I’m already six months pregnant—two thirds of the way there!
At the rehearsal dinner last Friday, Daniel and his cousin Michael dressed up as Lloyd and Harry from the movie “Dumb and Dumber,” which they all love. Daniel was in the orange tuxedo and Michael was in the blue, with matching top hats and canes, which they used to swordfight into the party as they made their entrance. This was a surprise for John (Daniel had received approval from the bride, Katherine, beforehand), and as far as I could tell it was quite a hit—and of course entirely unexpected by nearly all of the guests.
As the wife of the best man, and family, I was present at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, then also had to be at the church at 8:30 the next morning (2 ½ hours early) for pictures. It was fun to be part of an event so steeped in southern traditions. Everything was planned and carried out just so—and from what I understand nearly all of the planning and decision-making was done by Katherine’s parents, so it was pretty stress-free for the bride and groom. It was also a Presbyterian ceremony rather than Catholic, so all in all it was different from ours on multiple levels. Still lovely, though, and I am so happy to have been there to help celebrate their union in Christian marriage.
In other news, I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon (27 weeks!). This is when I’m scheduled to do my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. I’m hoping that the orange glucose drink is not as bad as some people have said it is, and that I don’t feel like passing out after I drink it, like others have said they did…
I’m pretty sure that after this appointment I start going in every two weeks rather than every four, since I’m starting my third trimester! Time is really flying now. My official last day of work is set for Friday, April 16th, only a little over a month away. I can’t believe that I’m almost “finished working”, but I am really looking forward to meeting my baby (duh!) and spending every day loving and taking care of him or her. It’s just incredible to me that I’m already six months pregnant—two thirds of the way there!
Friday, March 5, 2010
On The Road
Right now, Daniel and I are in Birmingham, Alabama for the first of five weddings we will be attending this year. Daniel's brother John is getting married on Saturday. He was best man in our wedding last year, and now Daniel is best man in his.
We had a hard time getting out the door on Wednesday for our first married road trip, and our goal of leaving home at 3 p.m. turned into 4:30 p.m. because of circumstances beyond our control (story of our lives), so we got on the road with the GPS telling us we would reach our destination at 4:48 a.m. (We had thought about stopping somewhere halfway for the night, but figured we might as well drive straight through and save ourselves 50 bucks.) We packed sandwiches and snacks for the car so that we could minimize stops, and we were on our way.
Daniel drove most of the way himself, not asking me to take over at all until around midnight, when I drove for an hour and a half. I took a turn again at 3:20 a.m. and drove until a little after 4 just so that Daniel could have a quick nap... and at 3:45 while I was driving on a long stretch of empty highway in Alabama, an unidentified sitting object appeared suddenly in my headlights in the middle of my lane. It was large and dark, and it was obviously dark outside, plus the pavement was black, so I didn't see this object until it was directly in front of me. Driving at 70 mph (that was actually the speed limit- I wasn't speeding!), I had just enough time to swerve into the left lane in an attempt to avoid it. Whatever it was still hit the front right corner of my car, and hit loudly. It did not sound good. Sure enough, when we pulled over to look at the car at the next exit, the entire right side of my front bumper was cracked and pieces of the fiberglass were completely gone. What was left is now hanging to flap in the wind. If we were worried about money before we left, (who doesn't worry about money, right?) we are even more now. Auto body work is always expensive, and this definitely needs to be fixed.
Thank God, though, that it was not worse than it was. I am convinced that if there had been another car on the road driving next to me and I hadn't been able to swerve into the other lane, we could have been hurt. I still have no idea what that object was.
Regardless of our worries, though, we got to John's apartment at a little before 5 a.m., which was actually 4 a.m. Alabama time-- and we are here to celebrate! Daniel's brother is getting married and we are gaining a wonderful new member of the family. We are so very, very happy for them. I'm sure it will be a beautiful wedding.
We will be driving home on Sunday, hopefully this time without incident... and we're trying very hard to trust in our God to provide for us. Take care, everyone.
We had a hard time getting out the door on Wednesday for our first married road trip, and our goal of leaving home at 3 p.m. turned into 4:30 p.m. because of circumstances beyond our control (story of our lives), so we got on the road with the GPS telling us we would reach our destination at 4:48 a.m. (We had thought about stopping somewhere halfway for the night, but figured we might as well drive straight through and save ourselves 50 bucks.) We packed sandwiches and snacks for the car so that we could minimize stops, and we were on our way.
Daniel drove most of the way himself, not asking me to take over at all until around midnight, when I drove for an hour and a half. I took a turn again at 3:20 a.m. and drove until a little after 4 just so that Daniel could have a quick nap... and at 3:45 while I was driving on a long stretch of empty highway in Alabama, an unidentified sitting object appeared suddenly in my headlights in the middle of my lane. It was large and dark, and it was obviously dark outside, plus the pavement was black, so I didn't see this object until it was directly in front of me. Driving at 70 mph (that was actually the speed limit- I wasn't speeding!), I had just enough time to swerve into the left lane in an attempt to avoid it. Whatever it was still hit the front right corner of my car, and hit loudly. It did not sound good. Sure enough, when we pulled over to look at the car at the next exit, the entire right side of my front bumper was cracked and pieces of the fiberglass were completely gone. What was left is now hanging to flap in the wind. If we were worried about money before we left, (who doesn't worry about money, right?) we are even more now. Auto body work is always expensive, and this definitely needs to be fixed.
Thank God, though, that it was not worse than it was. I am convinced that if there had been another car on the road driving next to me and I hadn't been able to swerve into the other lane, we could have been hurt. I still have no idea what that object was.
Regardless of our worries, though, we got to John's apartment at a little before 5 a.m., which was actually 4 a.m. Alabama time-- and we are here to celebrate! Daniel's brother is getting married and we are gaining a wonderful new member of the family. We are so very, very happy for them. I'm sure it will be a beautiful wedding.
We will be driving home on Sunday, hopefully this time without incident... and we're trying very hard to trust in our God to provide for us. Take care, everyone.
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