What, What?! Could Be Any Day!

Yep, you heard that right, we could meet our Bean #2 ANY DAY! God has done a wonderful thing in our hearts and worked to prepare them and excite them despite how full and maxed out both of our minds have been lately. I have been praying fervently over this. Our God is always so good.

For the most part, I have been so so tired. Like, pass out on the kitchen rug and just call it a night kind of tired. With managing all we have going on, taking care of a wild 21 month old boy that literally never sits still, and growing and carrying around a baby inside my body, I've been a little worn out. But, no rest for the weary, sleepless night here we come! :)

Kevin and I have worked and worked to have a TON accomplished before the baby arrives, and it has paid off. I can't even list the crazy number of wild and different things we have had to wade through in the last 3 months to get to where we are right now---finally just resting and waiting on our sweet boy.

Even just looking back at the highlights and skipping over all grunt work in the middle and all the unplanned stuff that comes up, it's kind of mind blowing.

We've:

(Kevin) has changed jobs

Moved out of state with a toddler while pregnant

Moved into temporary housing

Bought a new house

Moved into a new house

Moved our renters out of our property in Texas and listed the house for sale

Sold our house in Texas

Major damage to tons of furniture in our move, and it took two months to settle the claim with the moving company, which just happened this week---so now we can replace all the furniture that we lost

Prepared for the baby and set up his room

And now we're about to have a baby

so all the stressful major life events, plus, mudslides in our backyard, being audited by the IRS, brand new washers breaking, bad new mattresses, manufacturer defective wood floors, tons of brand new home warranty issues and service appointments, a stink bug infestation, lots of kidney stones, no sleep, and the list goes on. BUT, at the end of the day, I do not serve nor am I defined by this world or my circumstances. I am a daughter of the most high God, and I know all is for my good.


We are so overjoyed to meet this very special boy. Kevin is getting so antsy, he says, and just cant barely wait any longer. I have mixed feelings from day to day. Some days I can't wait, and others I can totally wait. I can wait because my Mamma heart hurts for Preston. He doesn't understand what is about to happen, and all he will know is that he has to share me all of the sudden. And, sadly, he already has been having to share me with this move and all the crap that's come with it. This really hurts me. So I'm being really cognizant of the time I have left and trying to really engage in each moment with him. I can wait also because I know the work, number of sleepless nights, and the level of pain and tired I'm about to experience all on the heels of this exhausting move. It's cute and lovely to have a newborn, but at the end of the day, IT'S WORK! And I do not romanticize that reality one bit. It's going to be a different type of hard for us in the very near future, at least for a bit. Two boys under two. :)

BUT, I also know as looooong and exhausting as the days will be, I will have something that is so sweet and beautiful, and something many take for granted and many long for. And it's just for a short, short season, and little ones do not keep. So I'll do my best to soak up every ounce as best I can.

So, to sum it all up: Kevin and I are as ready as we can be. And Preston has no idea. I'm trying not to let my excitement about the baby be marred by my worry and concern over Preston being home with either his sitter or Carter and Mary ( depending on when he decides to arrive--they will be here on the 28th). His routine will be thrown off, I will all the sudden be gone for a few days, and the next time he sees me he'll have a little brother to share his Mamma with. Hate those things for him. But I know this is all just normal Mamma worry stuff, and people have been having babies for ages, and all will be well. :) I'm having an " induction" acupuncture session this Saturday afternoon to help ensure a fast, smooth delivery. :)

Preston is doing super awesome and fabulous! He's beautiful and perfect in every way. This boy is wicked smart, and just blows us away daily! Seriously! He is so loving and fun and interactive and learns things in about a second---even things we aren't trying to teach him. What a sponge he is!! I love this age! Well, I've loved all his stages, I think. He is in LOVE with Trains, Tools, and Dinosaurs, and Tractors right now.

I hope to write again before Wicker Bean Dos shows up, but no promises. :) Trying to leave my plate super empty with no mental ' to dos'. But we love you all and will update as soon as he makes his arrival!



Here are some updated pictures--

 37 Weeks

38 Weeks

 First ride on the Choo Choo with Dad

Have to reshare---loooove these painting pics!

TWO MORE WEEKS!

I cannot believe that I only have two more weeks left until I'm hopefully holding our Wicker Bean #2! So dang exciting!

I am in full nesting mode, too. Dang, I can't seem to get enough done. I've officially conceded on the idea of having the house done-done. It's far from it. But within the last two months I've compartmentalized the areas that aren't going to be done, and I'm partially okay with it. But everything else, no way, I feel an intense urge for all to be settled and 'ready'.

But you know how life likes to throw curve balls...

It certainly  doesn't help this nesting Mamma that we are very randomly having our 2011 taxes audited by the IRS and we just got a huge tax bill in the mail with ' two weeks to pay'. WHAAAAT! . We didn't prepare our taxes ourselves, so I thought all we needed to do was call our tax preparer and all would be well because certainly there was some error somewhere. oh no, " please submit < a ridiculous amount of documentation> to us, and we will review it and get back to you within 90 days. Well, I guess they don't know the IRS doesn't exactly just wait for their 90 day review process. Oh, and calling the IRS. That's a whole other joy. You must wait on the phone at least an hour to get someone on the line...and you pray and pray the entire time the person you get can actually assist you. Long story short, we decided to submit the ridiculous amount of documentation to the IRS for review because it looks to us like their reasons for the tax bill are bogus. We shall see.

On a fabulous note, and something else that's totally killing my cool, calm nesting ---our backyard has been hit by a mudslide and a small sink hole. No joke. We have a retaining wall in our backyard up against a conserved wooded hill area. Weeeeeelll..it rains A LOT in Georgia. And as of last weekend, it all came crashing down---quite literally, in our freshly sodded brand new back yard. Mud, standing water, erosion, and a sink hole in our backyard. OMG. And it's not the overnight fix that I want it to be. Tractors and equipment and digging and contractors will have to be brought in...whenever the rain decides to stop and the area has time to dry up. Yeeeaaa...right.  Doesn't the weather man know this baby will be here in two weeks?!  I have to be living in an alternate universe, right?

AND...we still have no progress on our moving company broken stuff claim. So two months later, we still have tons of broken furniture holding our garage hostage, empty rooms filled with clutter and boxes that all need to go into those rooms without furniture. For all of those who know me well, I hate it. I called the furniture adjuster last week to find out why in the heck it has been three weeks since he came out to do his assessment and he still hasn't gotten his report back to the moving company. No joke: his response was as follows: " I didn't want to have to tell people this, but within the last three weeks I've been hospitalized with a life threatening illness, I had to euthanize my dog, and both of my work computers crashed with all of your stored information on it, and I just got my computer fixed. And, of course, we had Christmas and New Year's thrown in there." No comment. True or not, REALLY??!

And I've become increasingly uncomfortable at night. Like, for real. To where I literally cannot sleep. It's the worst. My days are so full-on, that I dream of sleep, especially to prepare for the sleep deprivation that will be upon me for the next year in about two weeks. No position is without enough discomfort to let me sleep, so I just sit up in bed and try to fall asleep sitting up.

I'm sticking with no comment. I don't want to continue down the road of bashing life. So I need to switch gears.

As for the babe:

The baby is still high and has not dropped, so most days that makes me feel like I have a little time left. My Braxton Hicks are getting stronger though and I do feel more familiar vaginal pains that let me know things are moving in the right direction. But who knows, right. The body is in charge. I just like to think I am. :)

For all intents and purposes, we are totally ready for baby though. The bassinet, the monitor, the swings, the co sleeper, all of our bags and hospital stuff, all of his things are washed and ready to go...so we'll be fine. ...if I can find a way to mentally let go of all this other crud. I'm praying! Feel free to join me, please!

36 Weeks

Things are moving right along, and we are making some final preparations for baby's homecoming. We have the bags packed, the room all set up, and the car seat in the car. It seems I am getting more uncomfortable by the day. My belly skin is super tight, itchy, and very uncomfortable by the end of the day. I sleep very little. No position is comfortable. I get super hot while I sleep. I have to pee constantly. I'm fighting off all day terrible gall bladder fiery pain from the baby being right against my gall bladder---wish he would drop. And I have terrible middle of the back pain, oh, and I can barely eat anything at meals because I get so full so fast because there just isn't enough room in there. Within the last week I've also been having sharp shooting cervical pains when I walk---especially if I walk continuously. I wonder if this means my cervix is thinning/dilating. I sure need this boy to turn back around and drop.  BUT, none of this makes my excitement any less! I am so blessed to be carrying this life, and I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET HIM!

I do wish the house was complete and we didn't have so much still to do, but a lot of that is out of our control. And we have worked and worked and hired sitters, and done everything in our power to have as much complete as possible. So no regrets. It is what it is. We just have so many big things in the air that we're in the midst of, like having our tenants move out of our house back home and working to get the house on the market. It's not ideal timing to have to go through all the hoops of getting it on the market this month, or having their lease expire on my due date, but we will make it through. We always do.

I have one more busy week that I need to get through, trying to get some important things done that I can't do with a newborn in tow. So please pray I make it through, and get to at least 38 weeks.

Here I am at 36 weeks!