At 36 1/2 Weeks...

One should not have to -

1) Scrub the porch floor, walls and ceiling with a mop and bleach

2) Re-organize the garage and attic

3) Lug objects of various size and weight half-way up the pull-down attic stairs

4) Repaint the corners of the kitchen (long story)

Note - my poor husband has done the most unpleasant jobs so kuddos to him...I'm just venting about the leftovers. :)

WOW. This is a very different pregnancy than I experienced with Charlie. At 36+ weeks with him, I was sitting on the couch, eating ice cream and feeling sorry for myself and going to the gymn and getting pedicures at my leisure.



In any case, we've done some prep work for Elliot, including assembling the bassinet Ryan's parents gave us for Christmas and purchasing some sheets for it. My newly-ordered double-stroller sits in its box in the garage, waiting for someone to find the time to assemble it. And my friends here were sweet enough to host a little shower for me on Saturday, making both Elliot and me feel very special. And miracle of miracles, we did remember to take a picture (the 3rd in 9 months). So by popular demand:








I'll be sure to post some pictures of his cute new monogrammed possessions soon.

Happy Sunday!

Things I can't wait to do once I'm no longer a human incubator: #2

I can't wait to RUN again!

I'm not one to run while pregnant. I hate the feeling of running on a full stomach and that is how I feel when I'm pregnant - yuck!

Just as soon as I'm able, I'm planning to break out the treadmill and start the Couch-to-5K Running Plan, which is what I started not too long after Charlie was born. And it was great! I have a lofty goal of running in three races in '08 - we shall see!

Things I can't wait to do once I'm no longer a human incubator

#1 in a series

Enjoy a guilt-free* FULL glass of wine, like one of my favorite cheap wines, Jacob's Creek Shiraz.

I could really use a glass of wine tonight, and every night until I give birth as I have been suffering from terrible insomnia (I have been up since 3:45am this morning). Thankfully (?) caring for a newborn is a very natural sleep inducer!

Week-end plans include a trip to Savannah for Ryan to work and for us to attend our pre-construction meeting and "design session" (this is where we get to pick our colors, lights, etc for our new house!) on Monday.

Stay warm this chilly week-end! And enjoy a big glass of vino for me.

*Guilt-free because I have on occasion in recent weeks enjoyed several half-glasses of wine...(Gasp!)

I have been quite negligent about this blog and the primary reason for this is the sheer volume of news and happenings that I have to share. So my M.O. has just been do and say nothing blogging-wise and just try to keep my head above water. But I'm going to turn over a new leaf and start updating more often, which will hopefully help me to stay on top of all our news and not feel so overwhelmed...we'll see, especially since one of my New Year's Resolutions is to NOT waste so much time on the Internet! But that's another blog post...

The biggest bit of news is that we have bought a house in Savannah! Or rather, "commissioned" (is that the right terminology?) a house to be built. And we LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! The location is perfect (Isle of Hope area, just off Laroche, for you Savannah folks). We have been looking at two neighborhoods since around Thanksgiving, knowing that for a new house, we didn't have much time. I took a whirlwind tour of both developments during Ryan's on-call week-end in Savannah in mid-December and after that, we both new which was our first choice. So we went down to Savannah again last Thursday and Friday and looked at house plans and already-built versions of those plans in other neighborhoods all over Savannah; we discussed financing with the lender; we met with the builder and the agents; we walked around the property and finalized our lot choice; and at the end of the day on Friday, signed a contract. AAAHHH! We still have to finalize the exterior and some other details but basically, our decision has been made. We have another trip planned for the 21st to do our pre-construction meeting and pick out our floors/cabinets/counter tops/colors/etc and then we wait. They are going to try to have the house ready in June but it might be July before we can get in...which brings me to our next bit of stressful news: Ryan's job...

We had been thinking that he'd take July off to move, settle in, etc but just found out yesterday that that is not the case. His contract specifies a July 1 start date and they really need him to start then. So considering his fellowship technically ends on June 30, this is going to be um, interesting. This the end of medical training and the beginning of Ryan's "real job" is a monumental change / milestone for Ryan and for our family, the importance and significance of which is hard to describe and cannot be overstated. This is probably a bigger change than the others I've described and one that makes both of us more nervous than the others put together...

And then tonight, we met with the agents who are going to be (HOPEFULLY!) selling our house here in Augusta. For buyers, life is good. For sellers, not so much. And we are both right now. If we sell our house in the timeframe we need, it will be a miracle. Everyone, go ahead and put this on your prayer list right now. I don't want to own a vacation home in suburban Augusta! We are putting the house on the market on Jan. 28, as in the week after next. AAAHHHH! And we have to get it ready before then - clean out closets, clean the exterior vinyl siding (??), clean out the garage, deal with the carpet, etc. And then I'm going to be responsible for keeping the house in "show-worthy" condition while caring for a newborn and a wild 2-year old? I can't even think about that right now! I really can't believe that our 3 years in Augusta is nearly over...our first house, place where both our babies will have been born...but it's true - we have the FOR SALE sign in the garage to prove it!

So you can see why the last few weeks have been quite a blur and why I have been so absentee. My last really clear memories are of the week we were all sick (weeks like that are not easily forgotten!) And at 34 weeks, I'm feeling quite pregnant and am really starting to feel the stress of December / early January. I have been having lots of contractions and lots of just, um, discomfort, mostly due to being climbed on and kicked and pulled and pushed by wild Charlie! I have a sonogram tomorrow so we'll know more about how little Elliot is doing after that! From my perspective, he's strong and active! :)

Thankfully all of the tasks and trials that are before us do not have to be accomplished on our own...we have a God who goes before us; who fights for us; who is strong when we are weak; who promises to be our our Strong Tower, our Helper and our Shepherd; who loves us with an everlasting love and holds us with everlasting arms. He is also the One who accomplishes all things for us and works out all the details of our lives. We have decided that our verse for '08 is Psalm 127:1 -

Unless the LORD builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the LORD guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

We are clinging to these promises and really praying for grace to trust in the face of so many changes and such intense stress. We hope you'll come along side us and pray for us and rejoice with us!

Need I say more?

New Year's thoughts from John Piper, via his blog...don't miss this!
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10 Resolutions for Mental Health
December 31, 2007 By: John Piper Category: Commentary

On October 22, 1976, Clyde Kilby, who is now with Christ in Heaven, gave an unforgettable lecture. I went to hear him that night because I loved him. He had been one of my professors in English Literature at Wheaton College. He opened my eyes to more of life than I knew could be seen. O, what eyes he had! He was like his hero, C. S. Lewis, in this regard. When he spoke of the tree he saw on the way to class this morning, you wondered why you had been so blind all your life. Since those days in classes with Clyde Kilby, Psalm 19:1 has been central to my life: “The sky is telling the glory of God.”
That night Dr. Kilby had a pastoral heart and a poet’s eye. He pled with us to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature. He was not naïve. He knew of sin. He knew of the necessity of redemption in Christ. But he would have said that Christ purchased new eyes for us as well as new hearts. His plea was that we stop being unamazed by the strange glory of ordinary things. He ended that lecture in 1976 with a list of resolutions. As a tribute to my teacher and a blessing to your soul, I offer them for your joy.
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/976_10_resolutions_for_mental_health/