Random Thought Thursday

(Sorry in advance for all of the weird font/formatting issues... Blogger has been freaking out on me the last couple of days. Anyone else having that problem?)

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One month from today! That's when I'm due. Hip hip hooray! (And may it be just a little bit sooner! :)

For the last week, I've been having fairly regular, although fairly mild contractions (I guess...... no matter how light the contraction, it's still no walk in the park - cramps are cramps) every two hours. Now, I know that you aren't in labor until they're 3-5 minutes apart, etc. but I thought maybe it at least meant something might happen soonish. Well, I talked to my doctor about it on Monday and he laughed at me and told me that it's just my body practicing and that he has patients who have had four or five babies who start having contractions like that at 20 weeks. (Uh, no thank you.) Anyways... we'll see. I'm excited to have this little one. With how different things have been, I can't imagine her making it all the way to February 7th (or beyond!). I start getting checked for progress after next week. The good news is, though, that progress or not, the doctor said he won't let me go even a week overdue and induction day would be on February 11th. So, one way or another, come February 11th, we'll have a baby!

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Look at that cutie. :) I just love it when she "cooks" things for me - especially when she comes in wearing her little oven mitt :) Little kids are smart. Elena makes me smile.

Getting so close to baby #2 arriving is making me excited, but also very nervous. A little bit of "wow! can we really handle more than one kid? what are we getting into?" nervous and a lot of "can I really love another little person as much as I love Elena?" nervous. It probably sounds ridiculous, but I feel like if I love this new little baby a lot that I am cheating on Elena. :) I know that the majority of people have more than one child and that they love all their children tremendously. I know it, but I just can't feel it (haha... name that movie).

One thing that amazed me with Elena was how instantly and intensely I loved her from the moment she was born. It was totally automatic - I didn't have to think about it or work at it. I just loved her so much and knew that I would do anything for her. I've grown a lot since I've had Elena - I mean, I feel like being a parent has helped me grow in a way that nothing else has or could. I've felt more pure joy than ever before, I've felt fear like I didn't know I could feel, and I've loved more than I knew I could love. I imagine that there is something similar that happens with each new child that is born. At least, I really hope so. I hope I have enough love and time and energy for two kids. I'm starting to freak out a little now that things are getting really close. I love our little family of three. It's so fun getting to spend so much one on one time with Elena and track her every development. Although at times I get really excited thinking of us as a family of four, at other times I feel a little sad when I think of the dynamic we have changing.

Any words of wisdom or testimonials out there? :)

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Tender mercies - holy cow, have we had a bunch of them! Two of note that happened yesterday:

1. Our relief society president stopped by unexpectedly yesterday with leftover food from a funeral they had just finished, so I didn't have to worry about making dinner. Right on. :)

2. And.... wait for it..... we found renters for our condo!!! HOORAY! Most of you know the drama and can appreciate what an amazing miracle this is for us. To make a long story short for those that don't know: we evicted our old renters after not receiving rent for four months and having to pay for their utilities at the end. We've been trying for months to get new renters with only a call here and there. This last month, we've had a ton of calls (which was a blessing in and of itself), but the downside was that out of 6 calls that resulted in appointments to show the condo, we had 5 no-shows. So frustrating! A lot of wasted gas and wasted time. If you can't make an appointment, why don't you just call and let the person know? Argh... anyways... that's all past. Anyways... our frustrations turned out to be blessings in disguise as some of the people who called didn't sound like the most savory characters/reliable tenants. So, Monday night we went out to the condo to show it and had a no-show. Tuesday morning, we sat feeling a little frustrated, discussing options when we got a call from someone who wanted to see the condo immediately. Eric made him promise to actually show up (hehe.. :) - and later that day, we found out that they wanted to rent our condo! We met with them again last night and got things all set up. Hip, hip hooray!! They sound awesome - their previous landlord had great things to say about them and they seem nice, dependable, and like they'll be great tenants.

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It's official that clementine oranges are indispensable babysitting aids. :) We've gone through half a bag in the last two days. I think every little kid loves those things. And I do, too!

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And speaking of babysitting, the night before last, my little niece, Sophie, spent the night at our house and stayed over the next day. Elena was in heaven - a sleepover and a friend to play with all day! :) Here are a couple of awesome Sophie-isms from the day:

1. The girls woke up early yesterday morning and so I didn't get a shower in before they got up and I spent the first half of the day (until naptime) in pajamas, my glasses, and with some awesome bedhead. Several times during the day Sophie would just stop and stare at me and then say, "Brana, you need to get ready. Go get ready!" haha.... thanks Sophe. Nothing like the honesty of little kids. :)

2. After a hearty breakfast, Sophie ate a ton for lunch - I couldn't get food to her quick enough. It started with some apple, then a little bit of macaroni and cheese, then a string cheese, a clementine orange, two glasses of milk, a graham cracker with peanut butter, a tortilla, fruit snacks, popcorn, and some M&M's as a treat for going to the potty after she finished all the food listed above. This was all in about a ten or fifteen minute period. After she came back from going to the bathroom, she requested more popcorn. A few bites into that, Sophie stopped and looked up at me and said, "I feel sick." But don't worry.. nothing happened. :)

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Change is in the wind for us.... nothing earth shattering, but exciting. More details will come later, but the most exciting thing is that Eric is going to be graduating in April instead of August! Hooray! Some classes that we didn't think would work out this semester are going to work out after all. He's taking 18.5 credits. So, it's a little insane - definitely a race to the finish. But, I think he feels well motivated and that it's worth it to be able to have the goal so close in sight. We can do anything for four months, right? :) And then it'll be off to graduate school either in April or a few months later, depending on how things turn out.