Things have been happening so fast around here and I haven’t taken the time to write everything down. I knew I would feel like this the closer we got to our due date, but now we’re 11 days away and I still feel like there’s so much I want to get done. But, Clay’s keeping me in check and my doctor keeps hounding me about taking it easy, so I’m doing my best. Let’s see…where to start???

Snow. Ethan LOVED playing in the snow a couple of weeks ago. I really wasn’t sure what he would do, but he had a blast. Clay took him outside to walk around, and it was almost 2 hours before they came back in. We’ve never bought him any real winter gloves (it’s Texas, right?!?), so his little hands were bright red and he kept saying how much they hurt. But he loved looking at the icicles, making and throwing snowballs, and laughing at the sounds the snow makes when you walk through it. We actually kept one snowball in our freezer and he likes to look at it every once in a while. This day was also fun because our neighbors are both teachers and they were off that day so we had them over for an impromptu lunch. We don’t get to hang out with them much, so it was nice to just have a relaxing lunch and catch up. We’re very blessed to have such good neighbors.

Rachel’s room. We have been very busy getting everything ready in her room…well, Clay has really been the busy one, but I have been doing a lot of washing, folding, organizing, etc. I should be able to post pictures tomorrow or Monday of the FINISHED ROOM! As we speak Clay is in the garage painting Ethan’s old rocking chair, some toy baskets and a picture frame. It is so pretty and so girly and I love everything about it. Ethan has also really enjoyed getting her room ready because he thinks all of his old baby toys are now suddenly fascinating. I have no idea how long he sat in there and played with this little toy where the bobble heads pop up when you push a button. I know he doesn’t remember having them as a baby, so I guess he just thinks we now have a bunch of new toys to play with! But his favorite thing is the baby swing. He’s hilarious climbing in and out of that thing, and really couldn’t be happier when he’s in it…keeping in mind that he wanted NOTHING to do with the thing when he was a baby. I’m getting to that anxious point in the pregnancy just wondering if Ethan will feel left out when we bring Rachel home, and if he’ll understand that she’s here to stay, and how he will react to her, etc. I know we’ll have an adjustment period, but I pray that he soon comes to love her. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like growing up without my brother, and I hope Ethan and Rachel feel the same way about each other.

And Clay isn’t the only one who’s been busy…my mom has about worn her sewing machine out getting things ready. She’s made the curtains, bumper, crib skirt, pillows, lamp trim, and then today gave me some burp cloths that she did. These are no ordinary burp cloths…they have trim and buttons and lace and monogramming and they’re so pretty! I’ve been telling her for years now that she should open up her own sewing business because she’s so talented. So, this is a picture of the burp cloths in case anyone is interested in placing an order for a friend, family member, etc. There is one that is very dear to my heart because she used lace on it that she had left over from one of my dresses that she made when I was a baby. I really did tear up when I saw it. Mom – you’re the best and I love you so much.

Now that I’ve gone down to working 2 days a week, I’ve been trying to do something fun for Ethan on the days we’re home. I know he’s ready for Rachel to come so that I can start getting on the floor and playing with him again. But for now we’re having friends over so he’ll have someone to play with. Jack and Josie came over last weekend to play for a while and Ethan was so excited to have them over. That morning he walked around the house picking out things that Josie could play with – 2 cars, a vacuum cleaner and a ball. Jack and Ethan both LOVE Mickey Mouse, so we let them sit on our bed and watch. Before long Josie was in on the action and they just looked so big sitting on the end of the bed watching Mickey. And yesterday Lauryn & Allison came over to play for a while. Ethan was very intrigued by the noises Allison was making (she’s 5 months old) and kept laughing at how she was “talking.”

Last night and all day today Clay and I were at a leadership retreat for 10 couples at our church and we went through the Myers Briggs seminar with our preacher. I have done this several times before at work, but it put a whole new spin on it to do it with Clay. Apparently, according to the Myers Briggs communication chart, our 2 personalities are the hardest to mix together when it comes to communication. Seriously, on a scale from 2 to 64 (2 being the worst), we were a 2! Hilarious! Despite all of my discomfort from sitting in a very small and hot meeting room in an uncomfortable chair, we really had a good time and learned a lot about everyone else. Just to make some of you laugh who know us well, one of the categories that you score yourself on is called thinking/feeling. Most people have some characteristics of both of these, but you’ll prefer either thinking problems through, or using more feeling/emotion. Well, Clay had absolutely no points in the feeling category, and I had no points in the thinking category. This could be the root of our head-butting…

And then there’s sweet Ethan. In the past few weeks he seems to have grown up so much. He’s talking so much now, we’re working on potty training, his imagination cracks me up, he wants to be so helpful, and I just see him turning into a little boy. The other day we were sitting at the table eating breakfast and he was pointing out the “bumps” on his hand. I told him that everyone has these bumps on their hands because that’s the way God made us. He looked up at me and said, “silly God.” I’ve never really thought of God as “silly,” but I guess to a 2 year old he’s pretty silly. Tonight we were eating dinner – pork chops and mashed potatoes – he just kept eating and eating. After a particularly large bite of a pork chop, he looked up at me, licked his lips, and said “that’s pretty good.” I’m laughing just thinking about it. Tonight he also had his first experience with a puppet. A friend of ours gave Rachel this little book that has a cat puppet on it, and I showed it to Ethan. He liked looking at it, but really enjoyed me singing If You’re Happy and You Know It (clap your hands, shake your head, say Amen, dance around, etc.) with the cat. Clay and I were cracking up and him getting into this.

Well, I guess that’s about it from the SFB for now. Oh, well Clay and I did stop by the hospital today where we’ll have Rachel just to get our bearings and make sure we know where we’re going. We’ll deliver at Methodist Mansfield Hospital, and it is so nice! It just opened last month, and the really cool thing is that Clay’s office designed it. I love the thought of being in a new place with new furniture and equipment! And the best part is that since it has just opened, they’re only delivering about 2-3 babies a day so we’ll get lots of attention. No new progress to speak of at my appointment last week, so we’re still shooting for a c-section on Feb. 7 at 7:30 a.m. (it’s still so weird to know exactly when you will meet your baby) We’ll keep everyone posted!

Although Ethan is supposed to be taking a nap right now, I can hear him in his room singing the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle,” but he’s just inserting the word “lightning” for every word of the song. This is of course in reference to Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars – I just peeked around the corner and he’s sitting on his couch all stretched out looking at his Cars tent over his bed and singing. Right now he’s on verse 4…. So, apparently even when your head is nodding during lunch because you’re so tired because you woke up – again – at 5:30, that in no way means that you are ready to take a nap. If it wasn’t so cute I’d go in there and tell him to get back in bed. And unfortunately the camera is downstairs or I would take a picture, but I certainly don’t have the energy to go downstairs right now just to come right back up. Oh, but I do have a picture of the tent. This is one of my grandmother (yes, Ethan’s great-grandmother) in the tent over Christmas with Addi, Ethan and Libby. I can only hope to be this active when I’m 78!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures (Clay…please get those pictures resized!) to post, but I did want to put something up real quick about sweet Ethan. Over the past few weeks he has become very protective (in his 2 year old way) of me because I’ve been having some pain/contractions/uncomfortable days/etc. Well, yesterday when he woke up, I got him out of bed and asked him for a kiss. He gave me one and then leaned down to kiss my belly and said that Rachel needed a kiss, too. Then, this morning, I was getting ready for work and I wasn’t feeling too good. So, I went into the living room where he was playing to sit on the couch for a minute. He looked at me and said, “Mommy, tummy hurt?” I said yes and he walked over and gave my belly 4 kisses! He said, “All better now!” I had no idea how much I would love being the mom of a 2 year old!
(side note – of course this is the same 2 year old who yesterday when his Nana was changing his diaper told him that he needed to start putting poo poo in the potty…Ethan responded with “I know!” and walked off)

Just 4 weeks from today we get to meet little Rachel Ryan!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

ABC’s