Welcome to Motherhood

You are a wiggly baby and getting wigglier each day! Sorry to have taken so long to write to you/about you again, but you've been so considerate that there hasn't been much to report. (Although if I could make one request, I'd ask that you stop smushing my lungs - breathing for two with one set of lungs is challenging enough without having someone sprawling all around your lungs and diaphragm....) It's allowed us to get loads of work done around here in preparation for your arrival - upstairs bedrooms are reorganized and painted, along with some carpentry projects, and we just have to get the icky carpet out of the hallway. Then it will be time to demolish the kitchen and the bathroom! And we need to get the garden planted so there can be good homegrown vegetables in the pantry and the freezer for you to start out on next spring.

Don't know what we'd do without your grandpa and your uncle. They're both much more excited about you than they're letting on, I think, and they are planning to be here to get the kitchen and the bathroom work sorted out before you arrive. They aren't always good about saying how they feel, so their way of taking care of you is taking care of me, helping us get things ready for you, and making sure you have a nice shiny tub to take your baths in. I've got a long list of things to do, and while you're being very good, you're also growing very fast now, and I'm having a harder time keeping up, so help getting things off the list is so appreciated. And your grandpa did a quick repair job on your great grandma's sewing machine and then helped make up some curtains for our rooms and some pillow cases, so when you spit up all over them or spill apple juice on them (and you will), we'll be able to wash them right off. Right now, the pressure to get everything done is the only rough part of this process, and without much family, it's pretty daunting sometimes. But we're making progress!

I want that for you - to know how to do things for yourself. It's nice to have the convenience of paying someone, I suppose, but to feel useful, to feel like you contribute and can handle whatever comes your way, it really helps to be able to know how to do what needs done. Canning vegetables, patching drywall, sewing on buttons - all those little things let you live life on your terms so much more, and that's important. Not only that, but it means that you're always learning new things, not afraid to tackle a project that you haven't tried before, and a better problem solver because you have lots of experience to draw on. We're both looking forward to having you puttering around in the garden, making little things out of wood and fabric scraps, and learning to be useful to yourself and others!

Meanwhile, I'm happily learning that pregnancy is all about preparing for a baby. Growing you is important, but the whole process is pretty smart, because it also prepares moms some for how life will change once babies arrive. Feeling tired all the time? That's going to be normal after you get here. Feeling physically and socially limited a bit? Ditto. Learning that sometimes things around the house just can't be done as well as I'd like? Going to be the norm while looking after you. Too busy to shower or get my hair cut or find time for myself? Welcome to motherhood.

So, that's about it for now. Keep up the good work in there, stretch and grow as much as you need to (although again, keep the lungs in mind!), and we're looking forward to having you out here. Hardly a day goes by without your dad saying how excited he is to meet you, and that goes for both of us!