And One Thing Leads to Another

I am sitting in my living room, enjoying a picturesque morning.  Seriously, I might pinch myself because it's meeting all my definitions of "perfect" right now.  Coffee in hand, candle burning, windows open, cool breeze coming in, Ava napping...ahhhh.  Bliss.  Oh, and to top it all off, our sweet Ryley is also curled up at my feet, snoring :)

It has been the biggest blessing ever for our summer schedule to be "over" for the most part.  Last week was relatively quiet and this week is even quieter.  I am catching up on stuff all over the house and spending my days playing with a little girl who lives here.  And did I mention that it's 71 degrees right now and sunny???  Let me just tell you what no humidity and cooler temps do for this pregnant girl, they make EVERYTHING better!  I do love summer, I really do, and normally I'm savoring every hot day because we don't get a lot of them in Minnesota, but I think because I'm 8 months pregnant this year, I can't WAIT for Fall to get here!  Everything about it in fact.  I'm so ready.  Travis told me last night that he's ready for me to make a hearty vegetable & beef stew and I could have kissed him.  In fact, I think I did.  I'm kind of over the grill and ready to use my oven again.  I'm actually dreaming about sweatshirts, apple cider, COLLEGE FOOTBALL every weekend, pumpkins and a certain little guy joining our world.  I have about 8 weeks to go or so, but I know they are going to fly off the calendar and life will be different again before I know it.

(Here's a recent picture of Carter and I, at 32 weeks.  Not a great one, but recent!) 

And different is good.  I'm already gearing myself up for our routine to change, for my days to be full of new challenges and for my nights to be interrupted.  I've officially reached that stage in pregnancy where I'm up to go to the bathroom at least once, if not twice each night.  I'm not sleeping great, I'm very uncomfortable and sore when trying to roll over or move.  It was the exact same way with Ava, unfortunately much earlier with her, but I know that it will soon pass and in God's wisdom, He's really just helping me adjust to what lies ahead.  It will be a few months before we're back to "normal" nights and long periods of sleep :) Hopefully by Christmas.  That might be all that I want this year!

He's also really begun to change my heart and my outlook about having two little ones so close together.  When we discovered we were pregnant again, although we were thrilled and very shocked, I was a little sad too.  Not sad about the new baby, but sad for Ava.  I felt extremely guilty, like we were robbing her of time with us and our full attention.  I realized then and now that most of that was hormonally driven, but it's been great for me to really see how much she's going to love having a little brother around here.  What a blessing for HER!  I know we'll have some adjusting to do, some jealousy to get over, but all in all I think she's going to be tickled at someone else to watch, "play with", and enjoy.  She gets a kick out of other kids and is at the age where she's starting to want to play with them.  Just a little bit anyway :) She's still not thrilled about the idea of sharing!  I find myself daydreaming about what kind of siblings they'll be, it's certainly our prayer that they will be close all their days and (eventually) thankful for one another. God is so good and to see Him expand our family in His way and in His time, is amazing...

As you know, we're still digging out over here from all the upheaval and transition.  I'm in LOVE with our "new" home (praise the Lord!) and slowly accomplishing one thing after another.  But, as with all moves big and small, just when you tackle one thing it always leads to another!  I have "projects" in every room that have compounded from the "switch" and I'm fighting for the contentment and satisfaction to only do what we need and can afford right now.  It feels as if we are bleeding cash :) But truth be told, I could make you an instant list of everything I'd LIKE to do in each room if we could.  It's a hard thing to balance dreams with goals and priorities and budgets, when you have a mind like mine!  It's a good thing we're busy with other things because I think I could quickly blur that line if I'm not careful!

I think I hear my little sweetie, talking and playing in her crib.  She's handled this transition like a pro, sleeping so well in Carter's new "room."  Our plan is to move her to her big girl bed this weekend and see how it goes!  So far she loves to play on it and might be getting the idea that it's for "her."  We tell her constantly that it's "Ava's big girl bed" and she grins and then tries to climb up on it.  I'm close to letting you see some pictures, sorry for the delay but I just want to finish a few more things :)

I hope you have a blessed Tuesday, whatever it holds for you and whatever it leads to!  I've got laundry to tackle, bathrooms to clean and a kitchen that needs attention.  The beautiful thing about it is that I'm happy to be doing all of those things with my little helper at my side!  Happy Tuesday :)