Autumn Right Around the Corner

I've been telling Nora that when the leaves fall off the trees and it turns cold and frosty that you'll be here with us, and every day now, a few more dry leaves drift down in the driveway. Conveniently, as of July 31, you'd been growing for 170 days, so that means that as of today, you've only got roughly 73 days to go! 73 days doesn't sound so bad, but 10 weeks sounds pretty scary and I'm trying very hard to get lots of things done so that when you get here, we won't have to worry about anything. Looking forward to snuggling up with you in snowy December and not needing to worry about much besides feeding you, feeding us, and getting all of us to get some sleep. According to your dad, you've reached butternut squash status in there. (He loves his weekly emails that let him know what you're up to and he keeps me updated on your various fruit/vegetable stages, minus all the stuff that would make me antsy about things I haven't done yet....) This must mean you have plenty of room to wiggle still, because most nights between 10:00 and 11:30 or so, you rassle around, punching and shoving with your elbows and your little feet, working as hard to get comfortable as I am. But generally, you're pretty peaceful. Hiccups don't seem to disturb your rest, although occasionally I dump some cold water or hot tea on top of you, which doesn't seem to be appreciated. Sorry about that. I'm pretty tired pretty often now, so most afternoons, you and I settle down for at least a half an hour together, just to think quiet thoughts and talk to each other a bit. I like thinking about what you're up to in there and what you'll be like and how much better you'll be than anything I can think of, but I realized that after having your sister - we put so much faith in our imaginations, but in reality, they are so painfully, disappointingly limited. You'll be so much more and so much better and so much more everything than I could even hope to be able to conjure up, so I just mostly content myself with thinking cozy thoughts of you resting and snuggling and waiting. And at night, you listen to Charlotte's Web sometimes as we're drifting off to sleep. I listened to E.B. White read so much when I was little that his voice is pretty much permanently associated with peacefully dozing off in my mind. In my spare time, I've been working on piecing a little quilt for you, with some plans to work on a little hat and a crocheted blanket too. Mostly, everything is here, just waiting for you, and so am I! Love, Mama