adieu

We said goodbye to Jared and Corinne today. They are catching a flight to Chicago and then it's 15 hours to Qatar. There were lots of tears and Stella looking at each one of us with concern, and saying, "Grandma sad."We won't see them for another year. Stella had so much fun with her aunt and uncle, and I think that is what makes it harder this time around - she is older and talking and experienced some really fun times with them that I think she will actually remember: hanging out at Grand View Lodge, getting ice cream with Jared, and his giving her horsey rides. Bleh. This goodbye stuff is for the birds. Not fun. And they won't be able to see the baby when she's really little. I remember how fun it was when they visited us in the hospital right after Stella was born.

Stella has been quite challenging lately: testing her boundaries, skipping her nap altogether at least once a week; taking a super long time to get settled for bedtime; running away from me when I say it's time to leave. I have little energy, and the bigger I get, the harder it is to grab her before she runs off. We're trying to be super consistent in discipline and not let our toddler get the upper hand on our authority. When I'm so tired, it's so tempting to just let her do what she wants instead of following through and making sure she obeys. On the positive side, she has been playing really well by herself. Sometimes she'll just go downstairs with her dolls and play with them or her blocks. She is still incredibly sweet and affectionate. She loves sitting with me and reading books, and we have lots of little conversations throughout the day.

Her "big girl" room is slowly but surely coming together. We bought her bed and bed linens recently, and Brett just picked up a dresser from IKEA for her room last night. I still need better window treatments to block out light - the wood blinds just aren't hacking it. I've been told the honeycomb style blinds are good at keeping light out (her window faces the west so it's really bright in the early morning). In addition to the window treatments, I'll be looking for a rug, nightstand, and lamp.

The baby room, which Stella is currently still sleeping in, needs a glider (I never registered or asked for one when we were expecting Stella, and I really, really want one this time around. I'm still researching options), a rug, and better window treatments as well. We need to hang up the owl prints, too, and then that's about it for that room. Oh, and Brett will be replacing the doors in both girls' rooms in addition to our bedroom door and the bathroom door. The current doors are awful. They are thin and cheap; some of them don't close all the way, and the bathroom door has a small hole in it! Last weekend we bought 6 doors at Home Depot that he is going to paint white and then install. Besides the three bedroom doors and bathroom door, we bought the other two doors to eventually replace the door leading to the basement and a pantry/closet door. He'll do those other two later down the road - we for sure want to get the girls' room doors replaced before the baby arrives in November. We were going to pay to have the doors installed, but we want to use the money for other projects, and then we had to pay $1000 to get my car fixed this week. Bummer. Brett thinks he can get one door installed per weekend.

In other house updating news, we purchased a white kitchen table and chairs for the kitchen dining area and a desk for the mud room. I still have so much organizing to do, but the desk is a good start. We were dumping paperwork and mail and other odds and ends on the kitchen counter before the desk made its debut, so I'm glad for that. I HATE having non-kitchen stuff ending up in the kitchen. It's so cluttery and annoying.

There are still so many projects, it makes our heads spin sometimes, but this new house is starting to feel like home, and we are making progress in so many ways.

The new BSF year begins Tuesday, September 10th. I am so looking forward to this, and so is Stella. I was happy to find out that three of the women that were in my group last year will be in the same group again this year. We will be studying the book of Matthew through April. Having a newborn in addition to Stella will be interesting. Thankfully there is a three-week break in December, so hopefully I won't have to miss too many days post-natal.

In addition to the heartburn woes, I don't get much sleep at night at this stage in the pregnancy. Every time I need to turn over to the other side, my belly and seemingly every muscle aches terribly. Many times my side, an arm, or a leg go numb, or I get that pins and needles sensation. The baby moves around a lot and kicks me hard, which wakes me up sometimes, too. I'm already tired of wearing maternity clothes, and I can't wait to feel normal again. We're still trying to figure out a middle name. I am trying to picture what she'll look like, and imagining the possibilities of what her personality will evolve into. We are already bracing ourselves for the hazy newborn fog that will descend on us this November. We wonder what it will be like as parents of two children. We're doing all we can on the house, within reason, before the little one arrives. We talk about how we can't wait to hold a newborn again - to see her curl up in that little newborn way. Sometimes I feel dread when I think of having to go through labor and delivery (didn't I just go through that? :). I know it's all worth it in the end, but that whole getting the baby out part is anything but pleasant. I am 95% per cent certain we are done having kids, but Brett always says we shouldn't make that kind of decision while I'm pregnant and feeling miserable. True, I suppose.

In the last few weeks, on the days Stella has graced me with a nap, I've read a few books. I read Mindy Kaling's book; a novel called The Family Fang, and am currently reading Beautiful Ruins. I am still recalling the funny parts (plenty of those) of Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

As August peters out, I always feel blue. Even though my favorite season is right around the corner, and I often feel a renewed sense of purpose with fall's commencement, I also experience a certain degree of mourning for the end of summer. The last couple Augusts have meant saying goodbye to Jared and Corinne, so that could have something to do with it. Man, life this side of heaven can sure blow sometimes.

Well, have yourself a great Labor Day weekend. Don't work too hard. Soak in these last days of summer.