Open Arms

Sweet autumn, welcome!

Today I woke up to a thin fog and air cool enough to make me slide my windows shut. Later, when I ran my errands the sun was out, warm enough to cause me to take off my scarf and drive with a breeze blowing through the driver side window.

As I ate my lunch, I watched as the sun became less bright and a delicious wind shook the trees outside.

And as if all those delightful meteorological conditions were not enough, I get to fall asleep to the comforting sound of rain. Big, fat, cold drops of rain falling outside while I am warm and dry in my bed.

Oh Washington, it is good to be home. Oh Fall, I am so glad you have come!

Vanity

Tomorrow morning my sister is driving me to the airport.

I will be getting on a plane to Nashville, TN... without Andy and without Jack.

For six days.

I haven't cried yet.

It doesn't mean I won't.

That is a long time to not snuggle your baby... or your honey for that matter.

But at the moment, the most distressing thing about the trip is that I can't wear my contacts for the entire trip.

I just had to go and get a swollen eyeball the day before I leave.

I had to make an emergency stop by the optometrist today.

He gave me eye drops.

And said, "no contacts!"

I hate wearing my glasses.

They are not cute.

And now every swanky person I meet in Nashville is not going to know me as "that really cool girl from Seattle." Instead I will be "that girl who would be cute if she just didn't have those awful glasses."

Sigh.

Well Nashville, here I come. Please know that I wanted to wow you with my style, but have been advised to refrain by a healthcare professional. Perhaps we will meet again (well, we haven't officially met yet, but you know what I mean) and I will show you my true identity.

Nashville here I come.

And while I may make light of the concerns about leaving Andy and Jack, I'm really nervous.

Wish me luck!

It's REAL

Just so you know,

In case you have been wondering,

Pregnancy brain is a REAL thing.

Earlier this week I discovered that instead of throwing Jack's cloth diaper in the diaper bin, I had thrown it in the garbage. Only I didn't know I did it. It wasn't like one of those putting your keys in the fridge kind of things where as you close the door you are like, "What am I doing?"

No, I really had no idea I had done it until I went to throw away a paper towel and low and behold, there is one of Jack's cute bottom covers in the trash.

Sheesh.

However, that is nothing compared to today.

Today I met a gorgeous and interesting woman.

She captured my attention immediately. She moved with grace and poise. I just HAD to talk to her! We were at church and so it was easy to sit next to her, hear bits of her story and enjoy her easy smile.

I hope that doesn't sound stalker-ish. It wasn't really. Some people just exude that "I'm interesting and your life would be better if you knew me" quality, and she did for sure!

This is an author edit.

Apparently I also have difficulty

telling stories when I am with child.

Because the previous paragraphs

sound really creepy.

Even with the "I'm not a stalker" disclaimer.

I didn't sit in her vicinity and listen to her talk to

other people. I sat next to her and

struck up a friendly conversation.

Please don't think I'm an eavesdropper.

Anyway, after the meeting she ended up staying until everyone had left except for me and the other leader (I may not have mentioned that I'm helping with a mom's group at my church, but I am... today was our first meeting). Anyhow, I asked this terribly fascinating woman if she was waiting for someone and discovered that her husband is away on business and she wasn't looking forward to going home.

So I did the only thing I could do. I invited her to my house for coffee.

And she accepted!

That meant that she walked into my house with the random garbage smell (not usual, and a surprise to me when we walked in, oh yay!), laundry all over the couch (usual), stains on my carpet(permanent) and all other manner of mess.

But hospitality doesn't wait for laundry!

We had a wonderful visit.

I was able to offer lemonade with fresh slivers of ginger, which I hope compensated for half the pile of laundry. And I was granted the distinct privilege of making the "best nachos" she had ever had. Yahoo!

I wonder why I put "best nachos" in quotes.

An hour and a half into our very pleasant and easy conversation my doorbell rang.

?

It was Lizzie, my sister. She had the phone to her ear and almost immediately I realized my mistake.

For those of you who don't know,

My sister Liz lives two floors below me

in our condo complex.

I had a dentist appointment scheduled at 2:00 and Liz was at my door at 1:50. OH MY GOSH! How did I totally and completely forget that?! How?

Here is how the whole thing went:

The previous day I had called my mom

and arranged to call her at 1:00ish to see if Jack

was asleep or awake.

If he was napping she was going to come to me

and if he was awake I was going to bring him to her.

When she didn't hear from me

she called Lizzie.

Lizzie in turn came up and knocked on my back door.

Which I also didn't hear.

So she came to my front door and rang the doorbell.

And that is when I realized that I hadn't called my mom.

Does it make more sense now?

So I called my mom, who was supposed to be watching Jack and she headed over. This wonderful woman who I just met today offered to stay with Jack until my mom arrived. And I accepted!

I dashed out the door without a proper goodbye just as my mom was walking in.

How embarrassing! What a confusing, sloppy first impression I must have made.

But the day is done. My teeth are clean and hopefully my potential new friend won't write me off as a nutcase after this encounter.

So seriously. Pregnancy brain. It is REAL.

Free Time

Abruptly, Jack has gone back to two naps a day.

I don't expect it will last much longer, but for now, it means that I have two separate chunks of about an hour and a half all to myself.

I could use this time to tidy up, or take a nap, or read a book. But I find myself totally restless and totally aimless.

What is that about?

What a waste of all of those hours of napping!

Shame on me!

But it is okay right? To waste time on occasion?

Please tell me it is okay.

And please tell me that you have been thinking all day about the premier of Biggest Loser.

And please tell me it is okay to enjoy BL so much.

Oh dear.

I'm a mess.

But a happy mess.

For all my aimless hours, lacking in productivity, I find myself enjoying lounging on the couch watching my newest obsession and dreaming of all the things I would some day do to make over my bedroom.

I am glad that I have space in my life to dream.

Well here I am, blathering on. Not making any sense. Please forgive me.

Pregnancy does something to my brain.

As excited as I am to meet our new miss or mister, I will be delighted to have my body and mind back to myself (as much as can be with a newborn and toddler).

Speaking of meeting our baby... we get to find out the gender in about three weeks!

SQUEEEEE!

Pleasepleasepleaseplease let it be a girl!

Captain Jack

What Jack wore to the pirate themed birthday party this weekend.

Arrrgggh! (hook finger)

The Way We Work

Lately I've been getting that rearranging bug. I don't think it is nesting... it is just watching a lot of HGTV and having the urge to make things beautiful.

I like making things beautiful.

So the other day I was scheming with a friend about building a cool headboard... yes building... and from there I started thinking about paint and furniture and pictures and all the trappings of a fun room.

Side note:

I have never had a room

that is all the way finished.

It is my dream.

Someday.

But for now,

in this "starting out" phase of life,

I always run out of money

and energy

and time

before all my dreams are realized.

Mostly I run out of money.

But I still hold hope that

one day I will have a beautiful

finished

HGTV worth

room.

As my mother would say,

"Go on dreaming dear, it is good for the soul."

Anyhow, on Sunday (my brainstorming all happened on Saturday night) morning Andy and I were sitting on the bed talking while Jack roamed the house.

I started talking about all the projects I had been thinking about, "... and we could build a new headboard like they have on HGTV, it wouldn't be hard, and then we could paint the walls and hang up those pictures we have and we could get new bedding and ta da! we'll have a new room!!"

Pause.

Andy says, "Do you have a mouse in your pocket or something?"

Huh?

I don't get it.

I say, "I don't understand."

He smirks and says, "You keep saying 'we.'"

Ha ha. Clever honey.

I say, "Oh yeah. Excuse me. I will build a headboard, I will paint, I will shop for new bedding. You will hang pictures and you will pay for it all."

Now before you go all up in arms on my behalf, I knew Andy was teasing. Well, not teasing exactly because that really is how it will work out, but I am okay with that.

Especially the part where I don't have to make the money. Hooray for a honey who works hard and cheers me on for being an at-home mum!

And who indulges me decor dreams.

Even if they never get finished.

Someday the will.

Someday.

And in the event that you

are wondering about the use of

someday

vs.

some day

either is acceptable.

I looked it up.

Flash

Andy and I went to church tonight, as usual. Our post-church routine is to stop somewhere and pick up dinner. By the time we get home around 8:00/8:30 Jack is either asleep or pretty near, so we put him to bed and then eat dinner while we watch CSI or some other mindless entertainment.

Tonight, however, we deviated from the customary and went over for a co-op dinner at a friend's house. Four couples were there and we each brought something to contribute. It was a truly lovely time, but of course it meant that Jack stayed up WAY later than usual.

It is now just a few minutes before 11 and we are just settling into home. What is so very charming though is that Jack was out cold in the car. Andy got him out of his carseat and as I admired our baby's sleeping face and Andy enjoyed the rare moment of snuggling I off-handedly said, "Doesn't it just make you want to go in and sit on the couch and let him sleep on you?!"

To which Andy replied, "Maybe I will!"

And he did.

So my sweet husband and my adorable son are laying on the couch enjoying each other. A flashback to when Jack was an itty bitty new baby. And a flashforward to our new addition.

Sweet Life.

Up and Down

I just had one of my monthly pre-natal appointments. Though I'm not given to fear or worry (that might be a lie, I think I worry just as much as the next gal) I found myself anxious to hear the heart beat of the baby and know that he or she is still growing strong and healthy.

The doctor gave me his usual delivery about "if we don't hear the heartbeat right away, it doesn't mean something is wrong..." and as he was reminding me that sometimes the sweet spot takes a while to find he was setting the doppler on my belly.

Wouldn't you know! With no searching, with no preamble, there was the sound of the baby. Loud and clear.

And I remembered that God loves me. And he loves this little baby.

I'm trying to remind myself of all the sweet things that come with growing a baby. This time around I find I'm much more prone to complaining or pouting. Granted, I think that number two for me is legitimately more difficult, but there are still sweet things to be dwelt on.

When I sat down to write, I glanced over at the couch and noticed my pair of size-up jeans that I bought a few weeks ago when everything was feeling tight. The first thing I thought was NOT sweet. I thought, "Oh my gosh! The butt of those pants is huge! Is that how big I am in back?!"

That is where I started.

But now that I remembered that there is a wee little babe growing inside of me and that my other big baby is taking a sound nap, my large tush doesn't seem quite so important.

It is unfortunate.

But not important.

I won't let it spoil my day.

Today anyway.

Ah the fickleness of emotions. Isn't it grand to be a girl?