A few tears

While my mind may seem to be completely focused on when this baby will arrive, I have not forgotten that two of my good friends will be leaving soon.

My good friend, Sara, will be leaving today and heading to FL with her family to begin preparing for their new life in Jacksonville. Sara and I connected 3 years ago (Randy ran into her at the grocery store and gave her my phone number) and have been friends ever since. Before our oldest children were born, Sara and I would get together once a week to watch Survivor. It was a great way to keep ourselves busy while our husbands studied. The following year, we got pregnant (7 weeks apart). We had so much fun keeping our same schedule of once a week get togethers, but instead of watching Survivor, we ate and shared our pregnancy experiences....it was so neat to see how each pregnancy differs.

During the last 2 years, our families had grown by one son each. Unfortunately, when you add a little one to the mix, things can get kind of crazy, so we haven't been able to get together as often as we would like, but when we do, we start right where we left off from the last get together. Josiah and Grant have so much fun now but they've always enjoyed each other's company. In fact, when they were infants, I remember a time where I had set Josiah on the floor next to Grant...and all of a sudden, Sara and I heard a conversation. It was the sweetest sound we'd ever heard.

Now, 3 years later, our families have each grown by one more (Mason and AJ will be 6 weeks apart). And it saddens me that our children will be separated, learning a new place, new people, etc.

In addition to sharing our experiences as mommies, we have been a source of support for each other when our husbands were busy studying, when things didn't quite go as planned, when we needed guidance about being a Biblical wife, and most recently, when our lives got flipped turned upside down with planning for our moves to begin residency.

I knew that this time would come, and we would go our separate ways. But it doesn't make it any easier to say "good-bye". Sara, I have been blessed to know you. I will miss you, dear friend.

His timing is perfect

So we are STILL waiting for AJ to arrive. I was fully prepared to welcome our new little one on Sunday, which would have been 3 days before my due date (the same timeframe when Josiah told us he was ready). But it was a good thing that I didn't go into labor on Sunday. Josiah was up ALL night with one of his allergy-induced asthma attacks/incidents where he requires a breathing treatment every 2-3 hours. And because he has such a hard time breathing, he's miserable and can't be consoled to sleep. It would have been extremely difficult for me to tend to my little boy while dealing with the discomfort of labor. God just knows. :-)

So anyway, for the past 3 nights, I've been preparing myself for "this could be the night". And each time I get up in the middle of the night to empty my crushed bladder, I wonder if I awoke because I'm in labor or that I just have to empty my pea-sized bladder. :-) The anticipation has really "got me up in arms"....I have done a complete 180 degree turn on my attitude towards this upcoming labor experience. A couple of days ago, I would have said that I'm not ready to deal with the pain, etc...but if you ask me today, I'll definitely tell you that I'm more than ready to get it over with.

I know that His timing is perfect...I just have to be patient. Maybe tomorrow.....the actual "due" date. Very few babies are born on their due date, without induction anyway....so that would be pretty cool. :-)

I'll keep you posted.

Just Waiting

Nope, no baby yet. We are just patiently waiting. Although today I've had A LOT of Braxton-Hicks contractions (at least what I think they are). I've had more back pain today but I think it's associated with my cleaning the bathroom, washing sheets, making beds, and doing a little bit more organizing.

I have not been "checked" by my doctor since my visit 3 weeks ago since there really is no correlation between dilation/effacing and when baby will arrive. And since I really didn't "progress" much before I went into labor with Josiah (my water broke at 2cm and 20%), I didn't want to go through the similar disappointment for the last 3 weeks.

I must admit that I'm feeling a lot more anxiety with this labor and delivery than I did with Josiah...I guess it's because I didn't know what to expect the first time. Now I'm all too familiar with what childbirth is like. I'm especially anxious about just how long it's going to take to push AJ into the world since I had to push for 4 hours with Josiah and even then we had to agree to use the vacuum...his poor little (or rather HUGE) head. :-(

I'll be sure to post as soon as "little one" arrives.

Crazy Days (and daze)

It's been a while since I last posted--nearly two weeks. Things have been so crazy that I've barely had time to potty--okay, that's not true. There is nothing that is going to stop a 39 week pregnant woman from making the usual 20 trips/day to the potty. :-)

One of the reasons why I've hesitated to post is that there just have been so many things going on that I just can't nail down a post topic, so here is a bunch of completely random events/thoughts that have gone on during the past two weeks.

My 2nd Degree burn is SO much better. It's a bright pink color, but that's the normal new skin color. Now I just have to make sure to keep it covered when I go outside at the risk of "burning" it again due to sun exposure. I just have to figure out how to do that when we're moving to the beach.

We are T-minus 10 days....just a day shy of being in the single digits...before we offically become a "Table for 4". We are ready....the crib is up and "dressed", NB diapers have been purchased (boy, I forgot just how small they are), NB/0-3mo. clothes and car seat have been washed, infant carrier has been installed in the car, and carry-all tote for TWO small children has been ordered. This week I hope to pick up the baby's take-home onesie as well as Josiah's "I'm the BIG Brother" t-shirt, which I had embroidered at a local shop. This pregnancy has been, for the most part, pretty similar to what I experienced with Josiah, but there have definitely been some differences--bad headaches, more lower back pain, and just an overall sense of "being done"--I never reached that point with Josiah. As I've watched my friend, Sara, embrace being the mother of two young boys, I wonder if I'm going to be as well-equipped. I know the Lord would not have blessed me with two children if He didn't think I could handle it, but it just suddenly seems so overwhelming. How am I going to maintain my relationship with Josiah AND take on a new little one? I'm really praying that once we get settled in TX that I can concentrate on my family as opposed to: when is the baby coming?, when is family coming to visit?, how am I going to get everything packed?, what is the layout for Randy's graduation?, and how am I going to handle driving to N. VA by myself, in the truck, with two small kiddos while Randy makes his way to our new home in the rental truck? But then, my next thought is, how will Josiah handle the move to a new home, new surroundings, new weather patterns, etc.?

Mom and Dad are heading to DC this week to attend "D.O. Day on the Hill" so they're hoping that AJ makes his/her debut next Sunday so that they don't have to drive all the way back to IL and then return to VA a few days later...that's a lot of driving. My good friend, Sara, and her family are moving on the 28th and 29th to FL to begin their Residency, so the 27th is looking like the day we NEED for AJ to arrive. AND if we base it on Josiah's arrival, 3 days before his due date, the 27th would be perfect. Of course, babies come when they are darn, good and ready. :-)

We also got word this week that Randy PASSED both parts of Step 2 of the Board Exam. Yea! Congratulations, Randy, I'm very proud of you.

Randy headed to TX on Friday in search of a place for us to live. I would have loved to tag along, but the airlines would have refused me. So we sent Randy's dad down with him to be our construction inspector....to help us narrow down which homes seem to be built well for buying purposes. On Friday, Randy met with a property manager to look at a rental home....it's okay, but the kitchen is small. And BOTH of us are in agreement that we need a larger kitchen, at least one with more storage (we would LOVE a pantry and island). We also love to entertain, so an open floor plan would suit us best as well as an area large enough to facilitate a large dining room table. Okay, so I'm describing more of our dream floor plan, but really, if I'm going to pay $900/mo on rent, then I want to find something that I'm going to like....I'll sacrifice smaller bedrooms for a bit more room in the kitchen. And today, he met with a realtor to view some homes that we would consider buying. Well, at the end of the day, of the 6 homes viewed, only 2 made it out on top (but another rental property did land in our lap--brand new home, 1600 sq. ft., 3 bed/2 bath, nice open floor plan, $900/month). Now Randy and I just have to compare the advantages/disadvantages of owning vs. renting.

If you're still with me, bless you. I'll keep you posted on what we decided to do about the housing situation.

Blessings.

Can Water Jump?

And the answer is "yes". (If you have a weak stomach, turn back now)

Yesterday morning I was preparing my usual bowl of oatmeal, heating up some water in the microwave. I plugged in the usual 2:30 minutes. However, the water didn't come to a boil. So I plugged in another 30 seconds and then 1 minute.....still, no boil. By this time, I thought for sure that the water would be hot enough, so I went to grab the measuring cup. Thankfully, I felt that it was too hot to grab with my hand and put on an oven mitt. As soon as I grabbed the cup and moved it slightly from the base plate in the microwave, ALL of the water JUMPED from the cup and onto my arm, causing a 2nd degree burn. I don't think I've felt anything more painful (and I did have to push for 4 hours to deliver Josiah). But I do praise God that I was wearing the oven mitt and a long sleeve shirt...the burn could have been sooo much worse.

The only explanation (*I* can think of anyway) for this occurence is that the pressure, which is normally released through bubbles, was not released and, therefore, when the cup was moved, the pressure "let loose" and the water "jumped".

Needless to say, the oatmeal went uneaten....and this morning, I preferred to use the stovetop to boil my water instead.

Here is a picture of the damage, literally, to my arm after Day 1.

"Ba-ba" Update

I'm very excited (and sad) to share that our little man is growing up...too fast. A couple of weeks ago, I posted my dilemma regarding whether to buy Josiah more pacifiers and gradually reduce the amount of time with it so as to wean him from his dependency or to make him go "cold turkey". Well, I did go out and buy a couple more (just in case), but we did not have to use them. I guess he was weaning himself and was ready to give it up "just like that", throwing the last two in the trash himself. He's only asked for it a couple of times since then, and truth be told, there have been a couple of long nights when I was close to breaking down and giving him one (but I resisted), but when we tell him "your ba-ba was broken so we threw it in the trash, remember?" he seems to understand and is content with our answer. My hope is that once "AJ" arrives that he won't want to take his/hers. :-)

Feeling Overwhelmed

Oh, where do I start? Since we found out a couple of weeks ago that we'd be picking up our family and moving 1500 miles away, Randy and I have been going forward "full force" in obtaining moving quotes from moving companies, vehicle transport companies, and "move-it-yourself" companies, looking up houses for sale as well as for rent, and researching flights to get us from here to there. Can you sense my anxiety?

Not only are we trying to figure out the best WAY to move, but the best PLACE to move into. So I'm posing the most commonly asked question in our house today.....

Do we RENT or BUY?

In contacting some property managment companies, we have discovered that rent for a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house, close to the hospital, is about $1100. With that information, it's quick for us to say, "for that amount for rent, we should buy". However, knowing that we'd want to probably sell it in 3 years and thinking that the housing market may not be any better, we've slowed down in moving in that direction and thought more about renting. But the thought of putting $36,000 towards something that we would never own, kills me. There are benefits of renting, and we are thankful that we are not in the position of many of our friends who have to worry about selling their houses...what stress. I don't want to have to worry that in 3 years when we can really afford to purchase our own home that we won't be approved for a loan because we already have a mortgage. Oh, what to do!?

So I welcome any and all comments regarding your thoughts/experiences about renting vs. buying for such a short period of time. :-)

And then there is all that is needed to prepare for a new little one. I've been successful in getting the bowflex disassembled (anyone looking to purchase a VERY gently used Bowflex Extreme 2, please let me know), now we just have to move the boxed up equipment back downstairs so that I can rearrange the furniture to make room for the crib. I've hesitated in purchasing any "gear" for the little one until after we've moved....I refuse to move more than I need to. And we should have enough gender neutral sleepers, etc to last us for a couple of months; however, with the HUGE difference in climate, I'll definitely have to purchase some more summer clothes...but, again, not until AFTER we move. So I'm thankful that aside from making sure that there is a place for s/he to sleep, clean clothes and diapers to wear, there is very little that I'm going to need to get ready for this baby in just a few short 3-4 weeks.