Viability! Yippee!

We've made it to 24 weeks! That, folks, means that if this little girl were born today, she'd have a shot at surviving. Obviously I want her to cook for another 15 or 16 weeks (oh, who am I kidding - 14!), but it's always relieving to make it to this point.

Ben has entered the Terrible Twos. I love this child. I mean really, he's my heart and soul. But he's trying my patience these days and with pregnancy fatigue, some days I want to put my head through a wall. Or run away and hide. Or go back to work! I'm reading John Rosemond's How to Make the Terrible Twos Terrific and so far, so good. I'm really diggin' this guy.

I'm finding it hilarious that with each passing day, the room left on my lap for Ben to sit on shrinks considerably. Tonight as I was rocking him and reading to him before bed, he kept slipping off my leg. Poor kiddo. Makes me want to hold tight to these last few months of just him and me.


The 24 week belly
And no, my belly button hasn't popped and it won't. Never did with Ben. Weird, right? I guess I have the world's deepest belly button. You're welcome.

My nest.

I had the weekend all to myself! It was lonely and great all at the same time. Of course I missed my husband and little dude more than anything, but I got SO MUCH ACCOMPLISHED. Maybe a little too much, even.

Should we chalk this up to nesting? I think so. Let's see, I painted our living room and most of our master bedroom (minus a wall I couldn't get to because, well, I'm pregnant and can't really move furniture unless it involves scooting it across the wood floor). I completely gutted and re-organized all three hall closets and the master bath. I cleaned out some kitchen drawers/cabinets. I even started working on the nursery. I'm tired just rehashing it. But man, it looks GOOD. And it feels even better than it looks! I like organization a little. Okay, a lot. One might call me OCD. Up until Ben started walking, our house was nice and clean. Always. Now? Not so much. Who has time to keep a spotless house with a toddler running under foot and demanding most of my attention?

But then that old pregnancy friend, nesting, stopped by for a visit. And the stars aligned when a weekend alone presented itself (not that I intentionally chose to be away from my family, but thanks to our dogs, that's the way it worked out).

Let's take a look-see, shall we?


The ugmo before color...that I somehow picked out.


Pretty, pretty blue. Much prettier than this picture even does justice. It's darker and deeper and richer and oooh, so awesome!


Master bedroom before color.


And after. Sooo much cozier and homier.



I so wish the before picture hadn't vanished off my camera. This closet was pure, unorganized INSANITY!


This is my happy place.


Aha, finally, a before!


Much, much better.


Before. Yikesey!




Again, happy place.


Um, I am so embarrassed that I let my junk drawer get this bad.



Even Ben's playroom got a nice organizational overhaul last week!









And this is the next project. The current office/guest room/junk magnet/MY WORST NIGHTMARE that will soon be Ben and baby girl's room.









Thought for the day: Organization supplies are a pregnancy expense no one warns you about.

Gender reveal, GENDER REVEAL!

I have an amazing husband.

Did I mention our gender "back-up plan" here before? We (er, I) decided to have the tech write the gender of our baby on a piece of paper, stick it in a SASE straight to Tim's office where I wouldn't be tempted but would have it as insurance of sorts in case I had a severe moment of weakness. This way I wouldn't go spend $100 to get an optional u/s.

Well I've spent the past few weeks pestering Tim about opening that envelope. It started as a joke and then I just got more and more insistent. After the u/s, I was pretty convinced that this baby was a she. At the same time, I was scared to let myself feel that way because should delivery day come and they hand me a little boy, I didn't want to feel disappointed.

Plus, I'm just an incredibly impatient person.

Fast forward to Saturday. Tim goes out to run errands and comes home sporting a gift bag under his arm.

"I have a present for you!" he says. My stomach turns a big flip-flop because I have a small feeling I know what this present could be. I swallowed hard as I pulled the tissue paper out. I caught one tiny glimpse of a color near and dear to my heart and my legs almost gave out. Then I ripped the paper away as fast as I could to reveal THIS.

I burst into tears and hugged Tim for what seemed eternities. We. Are. Having. A. DAUGHTER. It's still so unreal but I feel so incredibly blessed. In an ideal world, I always said I wanted a boy first and then a girl so that my daughter could have a big brother to protect her. And that's exactly what God's giving me!

I'll be riding a high for a good, long while.